I'll put my little authors note at the end- enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor am I J.K. Rowling, but I enjoy playing with her characters!
"So where should we get started?" Sirius said, clapping his hands together as the five of them settled comfortably in the small flat above Diagon Alley he had bought with the money he had inherited from his great uncle. They had decided to use it as their base, as they hunted for horcruxes, returning there after every adventure. A small door to their left led to a reasonably sized kitchen, and to their right turned a small corridor, leading towards two bedrooms, Sirius' and a guest.
"Can't we sleep first?" Remus whined, rubbing at his eyes as he plopped himself down on his trunk. They had gone to Sirius' straight from Kings Cross. Their parents had all been told they were to be going travelling, which wasn't strictly a lie, but the dangerous nature of their journey was still a secret.
"We can't bloody sleep-"
"Remus is right," Lily said gently, placing a hand on Sirius' arm, "We're not going to get much done if we're this tired."
"We can at least decide where we're going to start," James reasoned, whipping out his wand and transfiguring the large sofa in Sirius' living room into a double bed for him and Lily, "I mean, we can't just play this whole thing by ear. We can at least decide what we're going to do tomorrow."
"As long as I can bloody lie down while we're doing that," Remus grumbled, getting off his trunk to lie across the bed, ignoring the kick James directed at him.
"That's for me and Lily, you ponce."
"Bite me," Remus grumbled, stretching out, and Lily giggled at James' affronted expression.
"Transfigure your own bloody bed," James grumbled, flicking his wand and turning the bed into a single, causing Remus to glare at him, whip out his own wand and transfigure it back into a double.
"If you want a fucking double you're going to have to share," Sirius said, closing the blinds of the windows, "There's not much space and we're going to have to be efficient."
"Are you offering yourself as my bed buddy?" Remus snorted, quirking a brow at Sirius, who barked a laugh as Lily laughed.
"It's my flat, I have my own room," Sirius said, and Peter snickered as Remus huffed
"You can share with Peter," James added, and Peter stopped snickering at once, as Lily laughed.
"Why do we have to share?" Peter squawked, and Remus snorted.
"Because I doubt Prongs is going to let Lily share with anyone else," he added, and James nodded, causing Lily to roll her eyes.
"You don't control me James," she said, and James grinned.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, love," he said.
"Since when does 'whatever' translate you and your bloody furnace of a body?" Lily shot back, and James laughed, kissing her quickly.
"We're trying to save space and be efficient remember?" he said, and Sirius sniggered.
"Why don't you just have two singles in here?" Lily said, turning around to face Remus and ignoring her stupid boyfriend, who had the audacity to grin at his snickering best mate, and lean down to press a soft kiss to the back of her neck, "There's no point to a double bed when you don't get enough space," she added, throwing a pointed look over her shoulder at James, who shook his head fondly.
"We're not having two single beds, Lil-bit," he said, and Sirius sniggered.
"I didn't say-"
"What shall we do for dinner?" Remus suggested, cutting off the tiff that would predictably follow, "I don't feel like cooking," he added, and Sirius snorted.
"Wasn't going to ask you to, I'd rather not have explosive diarrhea for the next week," he said, and Remus stuck his middle finger up at him.
"Why don't we get some take-away?" Lily suggested, nose scrunched in disgust, but otherwise ignoring the diarrhea comment as Peter sniggered.
"Don't think your muggle favourites are going to deliver here, love," James said, and Lily sighed, shooting him an exasperated look.
"There are restaurants in Diagon Alley, you turd," she said, and James laughed.
"You're far too easy to annoy, love," he said, and Lily winked at him, causing him to laugh again.
"I think take out is a good idea," Peter piped up. Lily didn't miss the way a dark shadow crossed Sirius' face every time he glanced at the boy.
"Sirius and I can go collect it, to make things quicker," she said, and Sirius shot her an annoyed look.
"What's the point of being able to order in if we have to go collect it?" he said exasperatedly, leaning down to open his trunk to begin unpacking.
"It'll be nice to get some fresh air," Lily insisted, walking over to Sirius' trunk, her red hair swaying slightly with the movement, and kicking it shut, Sirius managing to pull his fingers away at the last moment, "Now get up," she said, and Sirius grinned up at her, before standing.
"If what you want is some alone time, I'll be happy to oblige," he said, and James threw some balled up socks at Sirius from where he was rummaging around in his trunk, "You can share with me, I even stay on my side of the bed unlike some people we know," he said, and James snorted, looking up from his trunk only briefly to shoot Sirius an amused look.
"As much as I appreciate the offer, one Marauder is more than enough," Lily laughed, throwing James a wink.
"She obviously means to say she's super in love with her boyfriend and wouldn't want to share with anyone else, ever," James said, and Lily grinned as he winked up at her. Sirius snorted, throwing the socks back at James, who caught them before they could hit him in the face.
"Will you please go and get the Merlin-damned food then?" Remus groaned, and Lily laughed as Sirius shot the boy an amused look, "I'm fucking starving."
"Someone isn't the least bit polite today," Lily tutted, patting him lightly on the forehead, and Remus shot her an annoyed look.
"I'm hungry and tired, and we had a very emotional day," he said, and Lily smiled slightly. They had, indeed, left Hogwarts for the last time earlier that day, and it had taken a toll on all five of them. It marked the end of their childhood, of their innocence, pushing them into a world full of war, danger, death and responsibility.
"If you want, Lily, I'll come with you," Peter said, and Lily smiled sweetly at him as Sirius and James exchanged an apprehensive look.
"It's okay Pete, I want to spend some alone time with Sirius," she said, and Sirius whooped as James chuckled. Peter's face fell slightly.
"Knew it, let's go, before Moony eats one of us, or Prongs decides to jump you so I can't win you over," he said, leading Lily to the doorway and pushing her out onto the stairwell, hearing both boys snort as he shut the door behind them.
"I'll jump you when you get back!" James' voice yelled through the door, and Lily shook her head fondly as Sirius grinned down at her, throwing his arm around her shoulders in a brotherly fashion and leading them outside.
"Drop it," Sirius huffed, as they waited against the wall at some curry restaurant towards the end of Diagon Alley.
"Honestly, you need to move past it."
"I'm not discussing this."
"Sirius-"
"I said drop it Lily."
"Stop interrupting," Lily yelled, stomping her foot and moving so she was no longer resting against the wall beside him, but standing in front of Sirius, arms crossed and face flushed an annoyed red. Sirius smirked.
"It's like you don't know me, flower."
"Don't be a prat," she said, huffing as she moved a lock of her damp fiery hair out of her face, her green eyes narrowed as she glared at Sirius. They had been arguing for the past twenty minutes, ever since they had left the flat. It had started to spit rain as they had been outside, and Lily's hair had grown to twice the volume in the humidity, amusing Sirius a great deal, "You can't keep behaving this way, it's going to make this entire…trip, I suppose is what it is, difficult and frankly, much more stressful than it was already destined to be," she said, and Sirius groaned.
"Lily, how many times do I have to tell you, I have no interest in forgiving Pete," he near growled the name, rubbing the bridge of his nose irritably, as if massaging in some patience, "Because of him you and James died, and I ended up in Azkaban for twelve years!"
"Listen to yourself, Sirius," she said quietly, taking a step forward to grab his hand in both of hers, her green eyes melting as she looked up into his dark gray ones. He huffed, looking away, "James and I are very much alive, and as far as I know, you haven't stepped foot in Azkaban," she said earnestly, watching as Sirius' shoulders dropped slightly, his eyes moving back to hers, "Although to be honest it wouldn't surprise me if you had," she added, and he laughed.
"Way to ruin a moment, Evans."
"Can't help it Black, old habits and all," she grinned, and Sirius shook his head, cursing the petite redhead for being able to comfort him in a way not even James could, "Look," she sighed, closing her eyes briefly, "I know nothing has been the same since we read that third book," she said, and Sirius' eyes flashed with anger at the mention of it, "It was horrible, and I have never seen James like that," she added, eyes dulling slightly as she remembered the horrible wreck her boyfriend had been. He trusted Sirius above all others, and reading that book had made him question everything he knew to be true. They had had to stop reading for a few days following after reading the conversation between McGonagall, Hagrid, Rosmerta, Flitwick and Fudge, as James had locked himself up in his dormitory, unwilling to admit anyone, including Lily. He had only emerged a few days later, rapping his bloody knuckles, no doubt from having punched the walls in his dormitory many times over those few days, on Lily's bedroom door, having decided that he refused to believe that Sirius would have sold them out, that there had to have been a mistake, and that Sirius had to have been wrongly convicted.
Lily had been more skeptical, but also knew deep down that Sirius would never betray the two of them, that he had a deep disgust for the Dark Arts, particularly after what he had witnessed from his family, and that he was extremely loyal to his family, who was James. James was Sirius' family. She and James had gone to the Marauders dormitory to find Remus and Peter in there alone, unaware of where Sirius had been for the past couple days. Lily had contacted Sirius using his and James' detention mirrors, and when he had come to the Heads dormitory, looking miserable, drenched from the rain, and terrified that he had lost his best friend, James had said nothing. He had simply walked over and pulled Sirius into a brotherly embrace. Their friendship had come out unscathed, and James had shown no hint of surprise at finding out Sirius had been framed.
Peter, however, was a different story. Truth be told, even Lily could see Peter committing an act of such betrayal, succumbing to following the big bad bully in town, and she had a hard time meeting his eye for months following the book. Sirius and Peter's relationships had never recovered, with Peter in a permanent state of feeling guilty, and Sirius constantly thinking about that level of betrayal.
Reading through books four to seven had been awkward with Peter around, given he had never redeemed himself throughout the series, and though Lily had sobbed when Sirius died, she had felt no remorse when Peter had, not the least because it had come down to him or Harry. James had been acting normal towards Peter, but had confided in Lily that he had his guard up around the boy now, unable to forget about what could have happened in the future.
Remus, on the other hand, was in a similar position to Lily; they were both rational enough to understand that it was stupid to hold a grudge for something that had not yet occurred, and the two of them spent most of their time and energy ensuring a heated argument, or worse, duel, did not break out between Sirius and Peter.
"Lily you can't just expect me to forget about it," Sirius growled, "Did you not read-"
"Enough," Lily hissed, stopping Sirius before his voice could get too loud. Her eyes were so narrowed and angry that Sirius wouldn't have been surprised if they shot jinxes at him, "You will behave like a grown up, and you have no choice, because I have had it trying to make sure you don't kill Peter," she said, and Sirius quirked a brow at her, his eyes shining with irritation.
"I didn't ask you to-"
"And I never ask you to forgive him," she snapped, "But you're going to have to learn to be civil to him, because this whole situation is fucked up enough without all of us having to be concerned over this grudge," she said, and Sirius glared at her.
"You're behaving like this is a bloody insignificant little thing, how can you not get it through your head that he betrays us, Lily! If we hadn't found these books and gone down this path, you would die in a few years because of him," he said, eyes tearing slightly as Lily exhaled loudly, closing her eyes and looking towards the floor. He pulled his hand out of hers and placed both of them on her shoulders, shaking her slightly, as if trying to shake some sense into her, "How can you forgive the person who, if Dumbledore hadn't fucked with the future, would have been happy to hand you and my best mate, not to mention your fucking child, to Lord fucking Voldemort?"
"You think I've forgiven him?" she choked out, raising her eyes, which were brighter than usual, to meet Sirius' suddenly shocked dark ones, "You're giving me far too much credit Sirius, I can't even look at him the same way, and probably never will, even if we somehow manage to survive this insane journey. Maybe in time, I'll be able to move past it, if we defeat Voldemort and I get to live long enough to meet my grandchildren, maybe then I'll be able to look at him without feeling that small twinge of betrayal or wariness, but it's going to take time," she said, and Sirius dropped his head, looking at the floor. She lifted her hands to his face and placed them on either cheek, lifting his head so he had no choice but to look at her, "these things take time Sirius, but that doesn't mean we can't try to move past it."
"You're contradicting yourself," Sirius grumbled, and Lily rolled her eyes, "Be civil Sirius, but I can't forgive him, move past it Sirius, but I won't until I have grandkids. Fucking hypocrite."
"Don't be such an arse," she said sternly, dropping her hands to smack him lightly on the chest, and Sirius grinned, "This is not an easy situation to reason through, thank you very much, and I thought I gave quite a rousing pep talk just now."
"Rousing pep talk you say?" he chuckled, "All right Evans, I'll humour you, I'll be civil to that rat," he said, rolling his eyes and running one of his hands through his dark hair.
"Calling him 'that rat' is not behaving civilly," she said, moving back to lean against the wall beside Sirius.
"He's not fucking here."
"Will you watch your language please?" she whined, as a young woman covered her small childs ears, shooting an annoyed look over at the two of them, and Sirius winked down at her.
"You pick flower, civil behavior or potty mouth, you can only have one," he said, nodding towards the counter, where one of the waitresses was gesturing towards them, nodding towards four bags of food, "and if I'm not mistaken, you uttered a few profanities just now during your supposed rousing pep talk."
"Seems you only respond to your own language," she snorted, and Sirius laughed, picking up all four bags.
"Come on flower."
"I can carry two of those Sirius," she squeaked, attempting to pull a bag out of his hands.
"I was raised better than that, Evans," he said, winking, and Lily huffed at him, stopping in front of him and crossing her arms.
"Sirius, I am perfectly capable of carrying bags," she said, and Sirius rolled his eyes, well aware that she wouldn't budge unless he handed a bag over. He weighed the bags in his hands, before giving her the lightest two, "See, that wasn't so difficult was it?" she said, and Sirius rolled his eyes, shoving past her towards the doorway.
"You ruin everything Evans, I was raised to be a gentleman."
"Yes, well, your potty mouth suggests otherwise," she grumbled, and Sirius barked a laugh, holding the door open for her as they made their way back out into the rain, running across the street to where they could make a sheltered journey back to Sirius' flat.
"What do you think?" James asked Remus, looking around Sirius' guest bedroom that he had set up for himself and Lily.
"It looks like a room Prongs," Remus snorted from where he was lying across their bed, having been levitated from where he had peacefully fallen asleep in the living room, and unceremoniously thrown onto this bed by his arsehole of a mate. Peter was standing in the doorway, sniggering at Remus' irritation.
"But does it look good, you prick?" James asked, exasperated, picking up a pillow and whacking Remus in the face, causing the sandy haired boy to yelp and sit up, glaring at James through bloodshot eyes, his hair falling into his eyes.
"It looks like a fucking room Prongs, it's got a fucking bed, and a damn dresser, and a bleeding wardrobe for fucks sake, what else is she going to be expecting? An enchanted ceiling akin to the one from the Great Hall? A collage of memories coating the walls? A string quartet in the corner to play music while you shag? Fucking pixies flying around sprinkling glitter?"
By this point, Remus had exhausted himself and had flopped back onto the bed. James was regarding him amusedly, arms crossed as he bit his cheek to keep from laughing, as Peter cackled in the doorway, having sunk down onto the floor to clutch onto his stomach as Remus had gotten steadily more irritated.
"I think the pixies would be a nice touch," James said, and Remus groaned, grabbing the pillow and getting up, swinging hard at James, who ducked, grinning at Remus, "And the enchanted ceiling! Inspired Moony, honestly, such brilliance I have never encountered before. And the string quartet-"
"Shut your trap, Prongs," Remus grumbled, unable to whack James with a final few swings, and settling on throwing the pillow at Peter, who now looked like he was about to piss himself of laughter. Peter, who didn't have reflexes as sharp as James', was hit in the face, causing James and Remus to laugh.
"Where are those two anyway?" James wandered, walking out of the room, stepping over Peter, to look out the living room window, through which the main street of Diagon Alley could clearly be seen. Across the street, James watched as Florean Fortescue closed his ice cream parlour for the day, waving at a few passerby. His mind flashed back to the cheerful memories reading the second book alongside large chocolate sundaes.
"I'm sure they'll be back soon," Peter said, walking into the room and sitting down on his single bed, his eyes tracking James as he began to pace.
"I'm sure we would have heard if they encountered Voldemort in the middle of Diagon Alley," Remus joked, and James shot him a hard look.
"Don't joke about things like that," James near snapped, and Remus rolled his eyes, pulling out his wand and shooting a stream of Aguamenti water at James, who froze as Peter burst out laughing, "What the bloody fuck do you think you're doing?" James spluttered, looking as if he couldn't decide if he should be angry or succumb to his laughter.
"You need to chill out Prongs, you take things too seriously," Remus snorted, "And you kept ducking the pillows, so I figure this was a reasonably retribution," he added, grinning slyly, and James growled at him.
"Well in that case-"
As James pounced at Remus, who was unprepared for this attack, and the two of them began to wrestle on the floor, Peter sniggered, pulling a chocolate bar out of his pocket to enjoy the show, snorting as Remus let out a high pitched squeal as James poked him in the side. Peter had never felt this intense guilt before, and found himself terrified of being around his friends all the time. He was scared they were going to abandon him. Scared Sirius was going to kill him. Above all else, however, he was scared that the him they had read about in the books could be inside him somewhere. Watching James and Remus wrestle, he couldn't imagine ever selling James and Lily out, putting their lives in danger, being responsible for ruining Sirius' life. He hated that he could see the wariness in all their eyes as they spoke to him, and the hesitance that his brothers would encounter before they confided in him, sometimes succumbing to that hesitance and choosing instead to look for each other. He had lain awake in bed the night after they had finished the Harry Potter books, thinking about the Peter Pettigrew Harry had known, and knew that wasn't who he wanted to be. He didn't want that to be how James' son perceived him. He didn't want this to be how his friends thought of him. He had vowed that night that he would do whatever it took to gain back their trust.
He'd do anything to have his friends back.
The door opened them, and Lily walked in, her eyes seeing James and Remus on the floor. She simply grinned, rolled her eyes, dropped the bags onto the small dining table Sirius had in front of the front doo, and walked into the kitchen to grab plates and cutlery. Sirius followed her in, stopping in front of his wrestling friends and letting out a bark of laughter, startling them into a stalemate.
"What the hell is going on here?" Sirius laughed, placing the bags down next to Lily's and crossing his arms. As Lily walked back out of the kitchen, James jumped to his feet, walking over to take the plates out of her hands, ignoring her exasperated 'I-can-do-it-James' look he had become so accustomed to.
"Why are you all wet?" Lily giggled, reaching up to push James' hair back, grinning up at him adoringly.
"Moony shot Aguamenti at me," he pouted, and Lily shot Remus a faux annoyed look, causing him to snort, allowing Sirius to pull him to his feet.
"Did he deserve it?" she asked, and James gasped, slapping Lily's hand away from where it was now resting on his shoulder, as his friends snickered.
"Whose side are you on?" James demanded, and Lily shrugged.
"The wining side," she said, and James pulled a face at her stupid beautiful lovely infuriating one.
"He hit me with a pillow," Remus said, and Lily snorted.
"That hardly condones you shooting him with water," she said, reaching out to rub James on the shoulder.
"Yeah Moony," he preened, sneering at Remus, who flipped him off.
"He was asking annoying questions!"
"He was being rude!"
"I don't have the time or energy to mother you lot," Lily said, ignoring both of them and handing a grinning Sirius a bag to unpack.
"Must get confusing, mothering your boyfriend," Sirius said, and Lily shot him a disgusted look as James snorted, moving to help unload the bags.
"This looks great," Remus said happily, leaning over to grab a plate and starting to serve himself a generous helping of rice.
"It does," Lily nodded, pulling some Chicken Tikka Masala towards her, and grabbing one of the naan breads from a greasy looking brown paper bag. She daintily began dipping it in the curry, and James snorted.
"That's not how you're supposed to eat it," he said, and Lily rolled her eyes
"Because you're so cultured"
"I'll have you know-"
"This is going to be a long journey," Remus laughed, moving towards Sirius, away from where James and Lily had stopped serving food and bickering, large grins on both their faces, obviously enjoying themselves.
"It's nice to know they'll never stop bickering," Sirius agreed, grinning as Lily gasped and smeared some of the curry on James' face, causing him to freeze and shoot her an astonished look, before he got a mischievous glint in his eye and pulled her close to him and holding her within his iron grasp, ignoring her little shrieks of laughter as he rubbed his cheek against her face. Sirius turned to glance at Peter, who was still sitting on his bed, watching James and Lily with a slight smile on his face. He turned to look back at Lily, who, sensing his gaze, turned to him and quirked a brow. Sirius sighed, cursing stupid redheads who probably had a point, and his own damn pride and dignity and the fact that he was angry about something that happened years in the future and maybe he should try and be civil, before reaching out to grab a second plate, "Wormtail, come get some food."
Lily grinned, but had the decency to look down at the floor so nobody but Sirius would know it was there. Remus raised his brows, looking up, alarmed, at James, who looked stunned, but was attempting to look nonchalant by serving himself some rice, his eyes flickering nervously between Sirius and Peter. Peter looked more shocked than anyone else, but slowly pushed himself off the bed, walking over to grab the plate from Sirius.
"Thanks," Peter said quietly, nervously glancing at Sirius. Sirius nodded curtly, but didn't say anything more. Peter smiled slightly to himself, looking down at the floor as Lily took it upon herself to break the silence by asking James just exactly what the proper way to eat her food was. Perhaps things would be okay eventually.
I was going to continue this chapter with a little more plot, but I thought this was a good place to end it for now. I thought it was necessary to really establish where their friendships and relationships were at this point.
Next chapter, we start hunting!
Review please!
t.t