The following Saturday at 8:00 a.m., Sirius, James, Remus, and Lily, along with others they had convinced to help them, were standing in the parking lot of the same shopping mall where Sirius had first seen the motorcycle. Lily had gotten permission to hold a carwash in the parking lot and James, Sirius, and Remus had gotten people to volunteer to help them.

"So how much are we charging?" Sirius asked Lily.

"We don't charge Sirius." She told him.

"WHAT?" He yelped. "Then how the bloody heck are we supposed to make any money?"

"Believe it or not Sirius, Muggles will donate money if we do a good job." Lily told him. "I called a couple of my friends to tell them that we were doing this."

"Are they going to help or will they provide filthy cars?" Sirius asked.

"I think they're just providing cars, but once they see that you guys are working it…" She trailed off.

"Why do you say…wait a second." Sirius turned on her. "They aren't those girls we met down at the pool that one time are they?"

"Well, as long as you get donations does it really matter who it comes from?" Lily asked.

"Oh, Moony will love this." Sirius muttered. He strolled over to where Remus was filling up buckets with water. "Moony guess what?"

"You saw your motorcycle again."

"No."

"What then?"

"Remember when Prongs, you and I had that little sleep-over at Prongs' house?"

"Before 5th year? Yeah, why?"

"Do you remember going to that Muggle pool and meeting Lily's friends?"

"I actually hadn't until you reminded me."

"Well-" Before Sirius could speak the words, Remus whirled around and looked at his friend.

"Don't tell me they're going to help us." Remus said.

"Well, I don't think they're going to help us…I think they are bringing their cars though." Sirius said.

"Oh, this will be fun." Remus didn't sound very enthusiastic. "Will you please keep your shirt on this time?"

"I'll try, but it's gonna get really hot later." Sirius said.

"I honestly don't think we have to worry about getting hot. We have plenty of water." Remus told him.

"Oy! Padfoot! Moony!" Sirius and Remus turned just in time to get faces full of water, courtesy of James with a hose.

"Prongs! I'm gonna kill you!" Sirius yelled, shaking his wet hair. Remus spit out a mouthful of water.

"As I said, we have plenty of water. And Prongs with a hose." Remus said.

"We'll get him later." Sirius said as their first customer pulled up.

As the morning progressed, they earned more and more customers. Some cars weren't dirty at all, some were so filthy one would assume they were a different color than what they were when they were clean. In fact, one rather large car which they had thought to be gray turned out to be white, then left without paying them at all, leaving them a bit annoyed. When noon rolled around and they all paused for lunch, Sirius was a bit disappointed to see they had not made as much money as he had hoped for. While the rest of their crew ate and relaxed, a saturated Sirius pulled James and Remus (who were both equally soaked) aside. "OK guys, we have not earned as much money as I would like so I have a plan!"

"Oh no, a Padfoot plan." James groaned.

"This can't be good." Remus said.

"What if we made a sign that said something like, 'Donations appreciated!' and I walked around with it in my mouth?" Sirius asked.

"I think that would look rather odd." James said truthfully.

"No! I meant as a dog." Sirius whispered.

"Are you mental?" James asked. "Suppose someone figured it out?"

"But no one knows what we are except for us and Lily." Sirius argued.

"Prongs is right, Padfoot." Remus said. "Remember, you aren't registered! You could get in trouble."

"But who could refuse a cute little dog?" Sirius asked.

"Well, quite honestly Sirius, you're not that little, nor are you cute." James told him.

"I'd go more with ferocious-looking actually." Remus said.

"You're one to talk Wolf-Boy." Sirius said.

"Moony does have a point though. You might scare Muggles, especially little kids." James said. "Let's face it; you're not exactly a cuddly poodle."

"You may scare some wizards as well since you bear such a striking resemblance to the Grim." Remus said.

"Another good point." James said.

"Hey guys. What's going on?" Lily came over and laced her fingers through James'.

"Sirius thinks it's a good idea to go running around as a dog with a sign in his mouth asking people for donations." James told her. Lily's green eyes widened.

"That's not a good idea, Sirius. You'd scare everyone out of their wits." She said.

"OK, I was just thinking of how we could get more donations." Sirius said. Lily looked thoughtful, then a bit embarrassed. "What?"

"Well, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I do know how the female mind works, and you'd get a lot of donations if you went around holding a sign without…" She trailed off.

"Go on, say it." Sirius said.

"Without a shirt on." Lily finished.

"Moony already told me I'm not allowed to do that." Sirius glared at Remus.

"Well, I meant all three of you. None of you have bad bodies." She said.

"Especially James, huh Lily?" Sirius smirked. Lily blushed.

"I bet if you three held out signs on the side of the road advertising a car wash, you would get a lot more customers and donations." She said.

"Do I have to?" Remus asked.

"Come on Moony! It's not like we'll ever see these people again!" Sirius said.

"Well yeah…but…"

"You need more self confidence Moony." James told him.

"Hold on, when are those friends of yours coming?" Sirius asked Lily.

"I have no idea." She replied.

"OK, I'm sure we'll get large donations out of them." Sirius said.

"Especially if you agree to date them or something." Lily said.

"Do they remember us?" James asked.

"Oh yeah." Lily said. "They ask about you every time we talk."

"Not that I can say I blame them, but they need to get over us." Sirius said. "Besides, my heart belongs to another…" He added wistfully.

"Yeah, it's shiny and black and you can ride on it and it goes vroom vroom!" James said.

"If Padfoot ever does find a girl, I pity her because he'll love that motorcycle more than he loves her." Remus commented.

"Oh, I can make a list of all the reasons why I would pity her, and he being infatuated with a motorcycle is actually at the bottom of the list." James remarked.

"As much as I love standing here and being insulted, what do you guys think?" Sirius asked.

"I'm in." James said, smiling at Lily.

"Yeah, so you can show off your sexy body to Lily, right?" Sirius smirked.

"Padfoot, never say I'm sexy again." James glared at him.

"Never again." Sirius crossed his heart. "Moony, how about you?" Sirius could tell that his friend was doing some serious considering, so he said, "Keep in mind this is just one little afternoon. I put in years of work to help you, illegally I might add."

"Fine." Remus said, looking as though he was going to sincerely regret this.

"I'll go get the camera!" Lily giggled.

"WHAT!" All three gasped.

"You mean you're going to take pictures of us making total prats of ourselves in front of…everyone?" Remus looked horrified.

"Of course." Lily said with an innocent yet evil grin. She practically skipped off to find her camera.

"You know Prongs, for the first time in my life, I find myself having issues concerning you marrying her." Sirius told James.

"Memories, Padfoot my friend." James said.

"Don't you mean blackmail?" Remus asked.

"It's really not that bad, I'm sure plenty of guys do it." James said.

"Yeah, but it makes us seem kind of desperate, not to say that Padfoot isn't, but us standing on the side of the road, begging for money, with no shirts on, I don't know…it just seems kind of strange." Remus said.

"Oh well, if it works, I really don't care." Sirius said.

Lily's plan seemed to work fine until around 1:00 and it started getting unbearably hot.

"Can we just go back and wash cars?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, I'm beginning to think this was kind of a stupid idea anyway." Sirius mumbled. "Come on, let's go back to the hoses." As they made their way back to the carwash, Sirius suddenly gave a gasp, "On second thought, let's go back to the street."

"Why?" James asked.

"Because Lily's friends from the pool are here." Sirius hissed.

"I remember them!" James said. "They'll be happy to see you two." He smirked.

"I'm transforming now." Sirius said.

"No! What about me?" Remus asked.

"Er, you can hide behind me."

"That won't work. Maybe if we grab towels and sneak off to the bathroom or something we'll miss them." Remus said.

"We can do that." Sirius said. Very quietly, they sneaked behind a car that was getting ready to be dried. "Dung!" Sirius hissed to Mundungus, who was about to begin drying. "Dung!"

"Sirius, there you are mate. Listen, I was wondering if I could leave for just a few seconds, there's a bloke down in Knockturn Alley who just-"

"Not now! Get us some towels, will you?"

"But-"

"Come on, just get us some towels and you can leave, just make sure you come back! Without stolen goods please."

"Right. Thanks mate." He left to get towels, returning with small rags. Sirius rubbed his head.

"Thanks, but I was thinking more along the lines of beach towels, so we can hide under them." He said.

"Ohhhh…so who're you hiding from?"

"We'll tell you later, just go get us some real towels!" This time Mundungus returned with three beach towels. James, Sirius, and Remus were about to cover themselves and sneak out when Alice Longbottom appeared.

"Dung! What do you think you're doing? We need-" She stopped, spotting James, Sirius, and Remus on the ground, looking up at her from under their towels. "Do I even dare to ask…?" She started, eyeing them strangely.

"Shhh! We're not here!" Sirius told her.

"What on earth are you doing down there? Aren't you supposed to be helping? It is your carwash after all." Alice said.

"Alice, please! Stop talking to us! You'll let them know where we are!" Remus said.

"Who?"

"Lily's friends." James replied.

"Oh yeah, they were asking about you."

"Don't you think it might look a bit suspicious for you to be talking to a car?" Sirius asked her.

"Not as suspicious as hearing the car answer back." Lily said, standing on the other side of the car. "Why are you down there?"

"Well, we were about to sneak off to the bathroom until you all decided to come and talk to us and spoil our brilliant cover." Sirius said.

"Sitting in the shadow of a car under brightly colored beach towels, oh yes, brilliant, ingenious cover!" Lily rolled her eyes. "You look like a trio of kindergarteners who just spilled juice and are hoping that the teacher won't find out."

"Not to mention ridiculous." Alice added.

"Well, if one of you would move, we would be safely on our way to the bathroom!" Sirius said.

"Under towels?" Lily asked.

"Yes."

"That wouldn't look strange at all. Three grown wizards sneaking off under towels." Lily said sarcastically.

"Do you have a better idea?" Sirius asked.

"How about if I told you that my friends left?"

"They did?" Sirius and Remus asked excitedly.

"Yep."

"How did you get them to leave?" Remus asked.

"I told them that you and Sirius were in a dreadful car accident, leaving your once-handsome faces absolutely disfigured and that you didn't want them to see you like that." Lily said.

"Aww Lily, you do love us." Sirius stood and gave her a hug.

"Padfoot, get your disgusting paws off my fiancée." James snapped.

"Sorry mate, she's just so pretty." Sirius smiled innocently.

"Thank you Sirius, but you're all sweaty." Lily grimaced, pushing him away. James smiled with satisfaction and put his arm around Lily.

"He's sweaty too." Sirius pointed out.

"But I don't smell like dog." James pointed out.

"Neither do I." Sirius said. As one, Lily, James, and Remus raised their eyebrows at him. "How do you all do that at once? It's kind of weird."

"Never you mind Padfoot, never you mind." James told him.

The day continued. Sirius was pleased to discover once they were done that they had indeed made a fair sum of money.

"If we keep going like this, we'll only need a few more jobs!" He said happily.

"Joy." Remus said, not thrilled to hear that the Muggle job-fest was not over.

"And I was hoping we would be toiling like this until the day we died." A sunburned James said sarcastically.

"Aren't we kind of running out of Muggle jobs?" Remus asked hopefully.

"We're not that lucky Moony." James told him. "What do you have in mind Padfoot?"