Swan Song
Chapter 2
Reading Anna's diary had been closure for Sirius. And now that he had talked with Lily and James about her, he felt the best he had in a month. He charmed the soup he was making to stir itself, and ducked into the fridge to get out some milk. They were out.
Their favorite radio station was blaring through the house, and he heard Lily's voice singing along from the bathroom. He walked over there and stuck his head in the door.
"LilyBean!"
"AAAHHHHH!"
He heard the crash of a shampoo bottle falling to the floor and Lily scrambling to pick it up. "Damn it, Sirius! What do you want?"
"We're out of milk." He said innocently.
"And what do you want me to do about that?"
"Get some more? My soup is going to burn."
"I'm sorry, you're going to have to talk to James about that. I'm sort of in the middle of something…can soup burn?"
On cue, James came running down the hall. "What's going on in here? It sounded like you fell." He narrowed his eyes at Sirius peeking in the bathroom Lily was showering in.
Sirius rounded on him. "Did you finish the milk?"
"Yes sir."
"Did you write it on the shopping list?"
"No sir."
"Do you realize what you did wrong here?"
"Yes sir."
"Will you do it again?"
"Probably. Sir."
Sirius sighed. "Well go get some more!"
James obediently scampered out of the house, and Sirius resumed his bread baking.
"Honey! I'm hoooome!" James was standing in the doorway, holding a carton of milk.
Sirius untied the apron from around his waist and ran to James, kissing him on the cheek. "I've missed you so, darling! Don't ever stay away that long again! Come, sit down, I'll make you a cup of tea!"
James marched over to the fridge, put the milk away, and sat down at the kitchen table, expectantly.
Sirius was busy with the kettle when a crack came from right outside the door. It opened and Emily stood there.
"EM!" Lily cried, hearing her arrive and running out of the bathroom with one towel wrapped around her head and one wrapped around her body. She charged at the girl, hugging her for a long time.
They broke apart, teary-eyed, and looked over to the two boys, neither of whom had said anything. Sirius was putting a cup of tea in front of James.
"Just how I like it," he complimented him adoringly.
Lily cleared her throat. Sirius turned around to look at them, then abruptly screamed and threw his hands over his face.
"Ahhh! Lilian! Don't you think that's inappropriate attire?" He peeked through his fingers like a child. "But now I see why James never wants to leave the bedroom…"
James smacked his face lightly and Lily blushed profusely, running off to her bedroom to change her clothes.
"I see you two are too busy playing house to greet me," Emily nodded curtly in their direction. She went to sit down on the couch and flew up off the middle cushion as James and Sirius flopped down next to her on either side.
They caught up a bit until Lily came back out of the bedroom saying, "is this more decent for you, Sirius? Or are your eyes still burning? And speaking of burning…" she sniffed the air.
"My sooouuuuup!" He jumped up, and rushed toward the oven.
The rest of them laughed at his performance. They talked about how things had been since they left Hogwarts, and listened to Sirius reenact all the scenes from Lily's favorite new muggle movie that she had forced the boys to watch over and over again—Grease.
The door opened yet again, and in came Peter and Remus. Sirius left his salmon-garnishing and he shimmied over to them singing "you're the one that I want! (You are the one I want!) Remus! Remus! Remus! Oh! The one that I want!"
"What have you done to him?" Peter asked Lily, looking horrified.
"Just keeping him up to date with pop culture!"
"Who's ready to eat?" Sirius called, ending his song. They rushed to the table, chattering loudly.
"So Emily," Remus began, "how are things at home?"
"We're doing okay…except mum. She lost her sister and a son in the same year. I'm doing everything I can to help her out. I just wish I could have been there the night Anna…" she trailed off the same way Lily had the night before, unable to say the words. Her eyes slid over to Sirius, who sat next to her, hoping she hadn't upset him. Lily's letters had alerted her to how awful he had been doing, but his face didn't give away any pain he was feeling.
"It's probably best you weren't," Lily said from Em's other side, "we were a mess. I can't believe we haven't seen you since before that!"
"I know! It's really strange going from seeing you every day to not at all! Has anything exciting happened that I haven't heard about?"
Sirius spoke up with a smirk. "I think Remus has an answer to that."
Remus whipped his head around to glare at Sirius. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about that stupid grin on your face. Moony's in love!"
The girls and James gasped and leaned forward on their hands to hear more.
"Not in love!" Remus groaned, "I just met her."
"Ah! But there is a her!" Sirius shouted in triumph.
"Tell us about her!" the girls (and James) chorused dreamily.
Remus laughed, and his face flushed a little. "I met her on work for the Order. She's also a…werewolf. Her name is Cora. She's the most amazing person I've ever met," Sirius pretended to gag, "and thanks to Lily, I was able to ask her on a date. We've seen each other every day since then."
"That's great, Remus!" Lily gushed.
"So great!" Sirius mimicked her high voice. She and Remus shot him "the look."
"Well, who's ready to go?" James asked, pushing his chair back from the table.
They finished up their meals and stood around in a the living room, ready to stagger their disapparition to the temporary headquarters of the Order. James was the last to leave, and he turned on the spot, his house blurring around him. The second he landed on the street, it was obvious that something was wrong.
"JAMES!" he heard Lily shriek. There were jets of light shooting everywhere, and five hooded figures fighting his best friends. A hand pulled him down to the ground, just barely giving him the chance to see one of the Death Eaters stepping over a body.
