Black suede shoes implanted firmly on the worn, tattered airport carpet below him, Jim stared at me, then at the three surrounding me. He looked at a loss for words; like I had been moments ago when Sirius had introduced himself. With numerous straps of his duffle bags hooked around either of his shoulders, Jim finally moved his mouth and said after clearing his throat slightly. "Hi, Lily. . ." he broke off, one side of his lips quirked up in a bemused half-smile. His eyes discreetly roamed over the source of my happiness at that moment.

Peter got up and opened his mouth, "Hey J-," he broke off, starting to croak and squeak. I turned away from Jim for a moment to watch Peter cough into his hands, attempting to regain his voice. Because of my lack of attention for those few seconds, I had completely missed Remus' slightly smoking wand being hidden back in his pocket.

I rushed over to Jim, excitement making my eyes shine. I grabbed both his forearms with my hands and turned him so his back was facing the others and my eyes could just barely see over his shoulders to keep an eye on Black Magic.

"Jim," I breathed out, hoping Remus, Sirius, and Peter didn't mind that I was going to spill their secret to one other person, "Jim, it's them. It's really them. They're Black Magic!" I screamed through a whisper.

Jim gave a start, his eyes wide as he stared back at them with an incredulous look on his face. "Yes," I croaked out, "It's them."

"Yeah," Jim mumbled, going back to looking at me. He went on with the start of a question, "They told you-,"

"Jim," Remus said, standing up. Jim and I both turned around. Remus opened his mouth to go on, but I had cut him off before he could.

"You know Jim?" I asked, astonished, as I walked over to Remus. I blinked, my once numb brain actually working for once that day. Slowly, I stood, looking between the four in an effort to make sense of this. Jim- James Potter. James Potter- Jim. Jim-James. "Are you. . .James Potter, Jim?" I asked, turning my attention back to the black-haired man.

"No," he replied with ease, walking closer to the rest of us. Sirius still lounged in the uncomfortably hard chair, watching the scene unfold with interest. Peter was still coughing, though he was apparently regaining his voice more and more, and his ears were obviously tuned in to our conversation, judging by the look he was giving Jim.

"No, I'm Jim Tans."

"How do you know them, then?" I suspiciously asked.

"I'm one of the band's disguise artists," Jim replied, looking to the rest.

"Well, where's James?" I asked, still skeptic. I had started to run my hands through my hair, a sure sign of my rapidly bubbling excitement.

"He's. . ." Remus said, looking around the airport, "There he is." Sirius, Peter, and Jim all turned quickly to see where Remus had indicated. A guy with hair brighter and more golden than the hidden sun, eyes as blue as the covered blue sky, and a somewhat lanky body in comparison to the lean physiques the rest of the band had was making his way over to us. He had more bags than Jim had carried, but it seemed the extra weight hadn't succeeded in tiring him out. An easy grin was on his face as he tossed his head up to acknowledge the rest of them.

"Afternoon, lads," he greeted, letting some of the bags drop to the floor, "I've just gotten off the er. . .the telephone, I believe, with the Minister. A car should be here within the next fifteen minutes to take us to an appropriate floo departure." It was then that he finally realized I was there. And, the surprise of my presence was completely evident by the way his eyes bugged out of his head and he shot an uneasy glace at Sirius.

"It's alright, mate," Sirius said, waving his hand to toss the matter aside, "She's a witch."

James nodded, looking relieved. He turned back to me, flashing a smile. It didn't take Remus two seconds to jump in to action.

"Lily, this is James Potter," he introduced.

James looked back at Remus only for a moment before he turned back around and held out his hand to me politely, "James Potter, of Black Magic, miss. . ."

"Evans," I quickly supplied, doing him the same courtesy I was unable to show Sirius a while ago by taking James' hand and shaking it, "Lily Evans." Behind the two of us, Sirius, Jim, and Peter were talking in hushed whispers while Remus was just watching our conversation go by.

"Ah," he nodded his head, "A lovely name for a lovely lady."

I bit the inside of my cheek, which on the outside happened to be flushed a scalding shade of red. "Thank you," I said, suppressing a giggle, "I really love your music."

"Oh, thanks," he replied, "Yes, I'm rather fond of it, too. Takes a lot of work to come up with this type of music." He opened his mouth to go on, but probably realized it sounded like he was bragging, so he closed it.

"I would imagine," I nodded, smiling widely at him.

"Though, this happens to be the first time a fan has talked to us," James said, almost mimicking Remus' earlier words precisely, "It's. . .nice to be appreciated by such a beautiful woman."

My blush intensified, and just as I had opened my mouth to reply, Jim came over and intervened, "James, I think we should start taking the luggage out to the front. . .do you know where Frank or Gillian are with your equipment?"

"Oh hello. . .Jim?" James turned, something like curiosity in his eyes. I opened my mouth to inquire about the questioning tone. Quickly, James went on before I could, "I- I didn't think you were coming with us to this one, Jim." He shook the hazel-eyed god's hand, through his own blonde hair back out of his eyes.

"Yes," Jim replied, smiling, "Dillon backed out at the last minute- said something about accidently using a permanent make-up charm on his wife. Had to take her in to St. Mungo's."

"That makes sense seeing as how he won't just part with a few galleons to buy a faux modeling statue to experiment with new face decor," James said, smirking.

"Lily," Sirius broke in, now standing with Peter. I turned away from Jim and James' conversation, exchanging glances with Remus in the process. I smiled brightly at Sirius as he went on, "Do you have a place to stay until this dreadful plane is up and running?"

I missed the identical looks of fury that showed on both Jim and Remus' face; it was probably evident to Sirius that they knew what was to be coming out of his mouth next.

"No," I said downheartedly, leaning down to pick up my bags. Jim walked forward and helped me put the last duffle bag around my shoulder. I smiled and said softly to him, "Thanks," before turning back to Sirius, "No, I tried calling my father so he could wire some muggle money to me, but I think he's at his work." I rolled my eyes, adjusting the straps of some of the bags, "I don't know what his work number is, either."

"Well, since I've ("You've?" Remus snorted and rolled his eyes.) already made the arrangements, you may as well stay in the rented flat the Minister purchased for us," Sirius said easily as though he were offering one pound to me instead of a place to sleep.

"Y... you mean, stay at your flat?" I said incredulously, my heart racing.

"Sure," Peter said with a grin, "We've got plenty of room, I'm sure."

"Sirius could I speak to you for a moment?" James said abruptly, shooting him a look. He steered Sirius away from the rest of us, Remus close behind. Peter and Jim pretended to be doing something else so as not to focus on eavesdropping, but I wasn't as discreet about my curiosity.

All I could hear was murmurs, but the facial expressions could tell the story. Remus' hands were flailing about, James a little calmer, while Sirius just glanced around the area, shooting winks at a few girls flirtatiously. Sirius then looked to Remus again, spoke a few words to James that seemed to calm his and Remus' indignance slightly, and walked back to us.

"Need help with your bags, Lily?" he asked promptly upon approaching us.

I stared hesitantly at the five, going over each of their expressions, from Sirius' easy grin, to Remus' dubious stare, to Jim's subtle anxiety. Peter and James both shared shrugs when I looked to them. Going back to Sirius, I cleared my throat and licked my lips to prepare for my voice. "Are you sure?" I asked doubtfully. "I mean, I wouldn't want to impose on you all-,"

"Nonsense, we never get to help out a pretty, young damsel in distress," Sirius interrupted.

"I'm not a damsel in distress," I was quick to object.

"You're a damsel, and your obviously in distress," Peter pointed out.

"I'm not in distress," I maintained.

Jim quirked an eyebrow and did a sort of half-shrug of his shoulder while asking lightly and somewhat sheepishly, "Where do you see yourself five hours from now when we're still not on that plane, Lily?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but found there was nothing I could think to say. Closing it, I pressed my lips together as my face went through an variable amount of changes in expression. Bobbing my head about, I raised my eyebrows. Finally, I relented and said:

"Alright, in five hours, I think I'd be in distress." Five identical, amused, smirks flied about. Sirius moved forward and guided me along with my arm. We passed by many angry passengers, each dealing with their stress in their own, unique, way. One child had taken to kicking his reading father's leg in the midst of his mother's nagging for him to just take a nap. One woman was taking this spare time to crack her knuckles and glare over at another man I could only assume to be her husband. And, one man was just taking his stress out on everyone by the sound of his shouting and cursing at any passerby.

"Let's just take this route," Sirius said slowly, guiding me and the rest of the band- all of which, save Sirius, was carrying a bundle of luggage- away from the ranting man.

Next, we passed by some nuns carrying rosaries and in the middle of a prayer. After, some security guards rushed by, hopefully to calm the worked up man. And, finally, a few minutes later, we reached the entrance.

"Now," Sirius said, stopping just short of the rain once we walked outside, "just to get these petty little necessities out of the way, you're not an ax murderer planning on killing us all in our sleep, are you?"

I distinctly heard a snort come from both Peter and James and even caught sight of Remus hiding a smirk. Jim, though, wasn't so discreet as he walked to my side and waited for my answer with an amused smile.

"I don't know," I murmured in feigned thoughtfulness, "I don't know about an ax murderer, but I do like to hex unaware men while they sleep." I grinned and went on, "So, I can't believe I haven't heard about you all when I went to Hogwarts."

Before Sirius or any of them had a chance to indulge, a shiny, fancy car pulled up. "Come," Jim said to me with a smile, taking my bags and putting them in the most likely magically enlarged trunk. I hopped in to the car, Jim right after.

"Yeah," Sirius said, "We'll talk about this all at the flat." The chauffeur came up and helped the guys with their bags and soon the trunk had closed with a sharp click. Sirius climbed in to the car, followed by Peter, then James, and finally Remus, who muttered to Sirius:

"Yeah, we'll see about that, Sirius."

The resolute smile didn't waver from Sirius' face, though. I turned to my right and exchanged amused looks with Jim.


A/N: Hope you all liked this chapter. Sorry for the slight delay, but I had to send in my laptop to get something fixed, so I had to wait a few days. Anyway, tell me if you liked, disliked (though be nice about it, please), or have any nice, long reviews. And, now, I'll respond to some of my reviewers:

potterchick1: Just to clear it up, any time Black Magic goes out in public, they're wearing face paint, making their identities really almost impossible to decifer. And, I loved the poem. It realky made my day, I swear. Thanks for the really long review; those are the best.

SweetSouthernGal: Aw, thanks! That's really sweet, hun.

Reines im Herzen: No worries, I try not to leave questions up in the air. So, all confusion and everything like why he told her will be answered in later chapters. Thanks for leaving a long review, too. They're so interesting to read!

Pristine: I'm trying my best to keep this from being too cliched and immature. Hopefully, it's working. Thanks for reviewing, I'm so glad you like it!

: :bluurg: :- Yay! You caught that part! Don't worry, it'll be explained later on. Thanks for reviewing, too.