25th of February, 1979

James stared intently at his wife's face. His wife…he still laughed maniacally inside his head every time he said or thought those two words, and now that she'd come back to him, he liked to think them and say them as often as he could. It was 10 am in the morning, a cold and blustery day, and Lily was sprawled on the couch, fast asleep. Her face was drawn and slightly haggard, courtesy of several late nights keeping watch for the Order, her hair was rumpled and in need of a wash, she had smudges of jam from breakfast on her chin and she was snoring, but, James decided, she was utterly adorable even now…perhaps he ought to take a photograph to immortalise the occasion. He rocked back on his heels, considering it…no, he liked having Lily around again too much to do anything that might antagonise her once more. He grinned as she gave a little start, and turned over, burrowing deeper into the cushions. Planting a kiss on the side of her head, he unwound his long frame and popped out the door and across the hall.

'Morning, sunshines!' he said, beaming.

Peter grunted. Sirius threw a shoe at him.

'Wozza time?' Remus said groggily.

'Its after ten, so get your lazy arses out of bed…haven't we all got better things to be doing?'

Remus groaned and rolled over, sticking his head under his pillow. Sirius threw his second shoe.

'Piss off, Prongs, we aren't all married and fuddy-duddy and domesticated like you. No-one should be up before eleven on the weekend.'

'Its not the weekend,' James told him cheerily. 'It's Monday.'

'Fine – weekday, what's the difference, its not like any of us have nine to fives is it?'

Peter gave a groan, and sat up slowly, clutching his head.

'What was in that?' he moaned, squinting at Sirius.

'What happened to him?' James asked interestedly, looking at Peter. 'He's a good shade of green, isn't he?'

Sirius surveyed Peter proudly.

'Yep – my drink-mixing can't be beat, can it, Wormy my love?'

Peter muttered something under his breath, trying to scowl, but it came out as more of a wince.

'Want some nice scrambled eggs for breakfast?' James said, grinning. 'Or maybe some sausages…bacon…'

He and Sirius laughed as Peter retched, and fairly flew to the bathroom.

Remus gave a frustrated gurgle and flung his blankets across the room, stumbling to his feet.

'Never again am I drinking anything you even pour,' he told Sirius. 'Never.'

'What did you blokes do?' James asked.

'We hit the town for some fun,' Sirius said, 'and I treated these to a few Sirius Specials.'

'Without me?' James said, feeling a bit put out. 'I mean, I might be married and domesticated and whatever, but I'm pretty sure I can outdrink all of you…'

'We did knock,' Sirius said, grinning wickedly at him. 'Loudly. But no one answered. 'Spose you were up to some fun of your own last night – the married sort, eh?'

James went pink around the collar.

'Yeah,' he retorted. 'Washing the dishes, folding the laundry, feeding the cat, that sort of thing.'

'You haven't got a cat,' Remus yawned.

James whacked the back of his head, rolling his eyes.

When Lily came in three hours later, the four of them were about half-way through consuming the entire contents of the fridge, exploding snap cards scattered and smouldering about the room. Sirius and Peter had enchanted the cutlery and were overseeing a rather complex looking battle, and 'You cheated, Moony! You can't do that!' James had just been beaten at chess.

'Morning,' she said.

'More like afternoon!' Sirius said, smashing Peters fork out of the air. 'Had a late night, did you, Lily?' He smirked at her. James reached out and grabbed him in a headlock, tackling him into the floor.

'Yes, actually,' Lily told him coolly. 'We had a wild time – but then, you wouldn't know much about that sort of thing, would you, seeing as you haven't exactly had a girlfriend.'

Sirius made an odd choking noise and ducked out of James' reach. He straightened up, ignoring Peters and Remus' sniggers and Lily's smirk.

'Have we got anything for lunch?' James asked Lily, flopping onto his back and staring up at her. She raised an eyebrow at him and looked pointedly at the remains of a roast chicken, a near-decimated loaf of bread and a cake reduced to crumbs.

'That's just breakfast,' James told her. 'We're growing men, you know.'

'Yeah,' Peter said. 'Growing out, maybe.'

'I'm not fat!' James said indignantly. 'Remus, tell him I'm not fat!'

'James isn't fat,' Remus said obligingly. 'He's a weedy, wimpy looking little thing.'

Lily snorted with laughter.

'Mock all you will,' James told her haughtily. 'I may be tall and thin, but you married me and are stuck with me now.'

'We're stuck with you too, and we didn't even marry you,' Sirius told him. 'Our only crime was to go to school with you… you have to keep this husband of yours under better control, Lily, he came over here at some ridiculous hour and woke us all up from our well-deserved slumber…'

'You were hung-over!' James said. 'Sinners, all of you. I should have made you do laps of the park or something.'

'I'd like to see you try,' Remus muttered.

'I could,' James said plaintively, 'but I can't because I'm faint with hunger, and Lily won't tell me if we have any food.'

'There's left-over roast beef and potatoes,' she told him, 'but I'm not walking all the way back to get you food.' She prodded a mound of cushions suspiciously with her toe, and sat down on them, curling up in a distinctly cat-like manner.

'You go get it, Peter,' James said lazily. Peter sighed and got up.

'Make him get it himself,' Lily said, catching hold of Peters hand and pulling him back down. 'He's lazy enough as it is, without you aiding and abetting.'

'You're a cruel girl, Lily,' James said, 'turning my friends against me.' He pulled out his wand and smirked at her. 'Then again, I can summon all the food I want and not move an inch.' He jabbed his wand once in the direction of his apartment. Seconds later, the dish of leftovers came soaring into the room, skidding to a halt just above James. Several pieces of potato flew out and landed on his chest.

'Such a waste of good food,' Peter said in an elaborate show of mourning.

'I don't think so!' James scooped the potatoes up and crammed them into his mouth.

'You're disgusting, you know,' Lily told him, shaking her head.

'I'm disgusting?' James said. 'What about him?' He pointed at Sirius. 'He goes and buys a motorbike that flies…what a waste of gold…you could buy out Honeydukes with that many Galleons…'

Five hundred miles away, in a small, non-descript cottage centred in a paddock, an elderly wizard was pacing his parlour. 'Join us, and be safe, they say,' he muttered. "Join us and fight'.' He spun around and walked back to the window, peering out between the raindrops anxiously. Pointing his wand at the blinds, they drew themselves, and the room darkened. The wizard tapped his fingers nervously on the sill, staring unseeingly at the walls of his home. On the mantelpiece, in a wizarding photograph, a laughing girl smiled and waved at him, holding up the hand of a baby and waving it too. He looked at the image for a moment, the tenseness around his eyes lessening for a moment, and then he frowned, and a muscle in his jaw twitched, and he turned away, fingers drumming on the window sill. He sighed heavily, and then turned to an old wooden desk and removed a sheet of parchment. Five minutes later, he opened the front door a smidgen, and out flew a miniature owl, a tightly rolled scroll attached to its leg. He watched it fly away into the cloud and mist, and then closed the door tightly.


27th of February, 1979

It was nearing the end of the Order meeting, and James was tired. Exhausted from a long day spent watching, waiting nervously at various places in Muggle England, weary of the ever-increasing reports of atrocities being committed, always in places they hadn't thought to go, the people they hadn't protected vanishing silently from the streets. Sometimes, the bodies showed up days, weeks later. Sometimes, people just disappeared, existing only in the memories of those they left behind. He shifted in his seat, an unpleasant prickle running down the back of his neck. Beside him, Lily reached out and took his hand, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. He held her hand tightly in his, leaning back in his chair and wishing just to sleep for hours, to go a week without the worry that always squirmed in the back of his mind, to be able to have a day at home with his friends and family just having fun without the guilt that came afterwards.

'Potter,' Moody said, leaning across the table towards him. 'Old Mardicus – Mardicus Egg – contacted Dumbledore last night. We've been trying to get him to help us out for months, but he's pretty unwilling to be seen as taking sides – anyway, he's putting out that he might be changing his mind. Would you be able to go see him sometime tomorrow, let him know the protections we can give him, give his family, if he helps us.'

James nodded, knowing full well that although they could provide layers of protective charms and spells for the homes of their members, there was always the risk, every time they went on a mission, every time they walked out the front door, and they couldn't protect each other all the time.

'Who else is going?' he asked. Moody shrugged. 'Haven't asked anyone else yet. Take Lupin or Black if they're free – but don't go alone, it could be an ambush yet.' He slid a piece of parchment over the table. 'Here's how to get there – and keep an eye out. Have to stay vigilant, in these times.'

James took the parchment and read it, committing the details to memory, before touching it with the tip of his wand and burning it. Moody nodded in satisfaction, and turned back to where the Longbottoms and the Pepperdines were arguing over Auror deployment patterns.

'Padfoot,' James said in an undertone. 'You free any time tomorrow? Moody wants me to go check out Egg up in Kent, see if we can recruit him.' Sirius nodded.

'I can probably get away from London for about half an hour, at noon. That'll be long enough?'

James nodded. 'Meet me at the flat at twelve,' he said. 'We'll apparate from there.'


28th February, 1979

James and Sirius walked along the road, Sirius twirling his wand idly between his fingers. 'You should put that away,' James told him. 'This is a Muggle area, remember?'

Sirius rolled his eyes. 'Don't be such a goody-goody, Prongs. There's nobody around – besides, its hardly likely a Muggle would notice it for what it is.' He gave the wand an extra flourish, and a multitude of purple sparks shot out the end.

'Yeah, completely inane, isn't it?' James hissed, glancing back at the town behind them.

'Live a little, why don't you?' Sirius said. James shrugged, and didn't bother to reply. They walked on in silence for a few minutes, walking in and out of patches of crisp winter sun where it shone through gaps in the hedgerow.

'How much further?' Sirius asked.

'Just around the corner, I think,' James said. 'It's in a sort of paddock thing, Moody said.'

'I don't see why we couldn't apparate a bit closer,' Sirius said, kicking at the stones on the edge of the road.

'We could've,' James grinned, 'but I thought you needed the exercise, you lazy dog.'

Sirius aimed a kick at James' ankles, but missed. Laughing, they rounded the corner and caught their first glimpse of Egg's cottage.

James heart actually skipped a beat – the front door was swinging open, he could see even from here that the windows were smashed, the blinds torn and broken, and there were shadowy figures moving about – 'hurry!' hissed Sirius from beside him, and without further thought, he apparated straight into the garden. He sensed, rather than saw, Sirius arrive beside him, and then a sickly-yellow curse went flying past him – he could feel the heat from it tingling on his ear. 'Stupefy!' he shouted, pointing his wand in the general direction of the house – he heard some yells from inside, good, he must've got one…Sirius pulled him forward and they dashed up to the wall, James chanced a quick peek round the doorframe, and pulled back just as quick – something malevolent and purple had just missed his face. Sirius shot a stream of jinxes inside, and James could hear jumbled voices swearing – he pointed his own wand round the edge and let loose. Something hit his exposed hand, and a curious burning sensation crept up his arm – he yelped and dropped almost dropped his wand, catching it in his other hand just in time. Sirius shot off a particularly impressive Blasting Curse which rattled the very roof of the house, and dragged James back from the door by the shirtneck. 'You ok?' he said, still watching the suddenly quiet house.

James prodded his arm gingerly with his wand and nodded. 'Yeah,' he said. 'Don't think it'll do anything permanent.' Sirius nodded tersely.

'You think they're still in there?' he said, jerking his head towards the cottage. James shrugged. 'Check?'

Sirius nodded again, conjured a mirror, levitating it in front of the door. 'See anything?' he asked, squinting at it.

'No,' James said. He edged cautiously round the side of the door – nothing. The room was deserted, furniture scattered, a few scorch marks on the walls and the rug smouldering slightly.

'No-one here,' he said. They walked in, looking around them. A puff of wind blew in and ruffled the curtain – James jumped a little.

'Professor Egg?' he called out. Silence.

'Homenum revelio!' Sirius said, making a wide, sweeping movement with his wand. Nothing.

'Maybe he's dead,' James said, striding into the next room. It was empty. So was the next, and the next.

'Maybe he got away,' Sirius said, peering round the room as though he expected someone to reappear any minute. 'Yeah,' James said, walking over to the fireplace.

'You see any floo powder?'

'It's spilt all over the floor,' Sirius told him. James scooped up a pinch between his fingers. 'Watch my back,' he said, and throwing the glittering green powder onto the fireplace, he stuck his head into the flames and said clearly 'Department of Magical Law Enforcement!'

A sickening swirl later, and he was staring at the face of a frazzled witch.

'Name?' she said, shaking excess ink off her quill.

'James Potter – could you send someone to Mardicus Eggs'? There's been an attack – Death Eaters.'

'Location?' said the witch, not even blinking.

'About 20 miles north of Smeeth – just past a Muggle village, Summerby, I think it is.'

The parchment the witch was writing on folded itself into a dart and zoomed out of James' sight.

'Thank you for your call,' the witch said. 'Representatives of the Department will be along shortly – please stay out of sight and remain cautious until they arrive.'

James pulled his head out of the fire and sneezed, soot falling lightly from his hair.

'Well?' Sirius said.

'Someone'll be here soon,' James said, straightening up. 'Wait outside, d'you reckon?'

Moody turned up five minutes after the official representatives had arrived.

'Stand down, Shacklebolt, they're with me,' he barked at the tall man who'd been grilling Sirius and James since he got there – James vaguely recognised him as someone who'd left Hogwarts a few years before he had.

Shacklebolt grinned at them. 'Sorry about that – can't be too careful, you know.' And he strode briskly to join the rest of the throng now gathering around the cottage.

Sirius scowled at his back – he hadn't been too pleased about the suspicious manner the Aurors had treated them with.

'Any trace of Egg when you got here?' Moody said shortly.

'No – just a bunch of what were probably Death Eaters,' James said. 'About five of them, wouldn't you say?'

Sirius nodded.

'Recognise anyone?' Moody said.

'Yeah,' Sirius said. 'One bloke – looked familiar, think he might've known my father, name's Karkaroff.'

'Right,' Moody growled. 'I'll get someone onto that. You two get going to wherever you're meant to be – stay VIGILANT!'

'Yes sir!' James said (it was all he could do to stop himself mock-saluting). Moody grumbled something under his breath and stalked over to where three Ministry officials were having a huddled conversation, and a blonde reporter in an acid-green cloak was clearly trying to listen in.

'Back to London?' he said to Sirius, who shrugged half-heartedly.

'Yeah. Rather be doing something, you know?'

'You can always clean the bathrooms,' James said, smirking. Sirius snorted.

'Sure – and once I'm done, I'll iron your hankies, shall I?'

'I thought you'd never ask,' James said. Sirius reached out to whack the back of his head, so James hastily apparated away.

A/N
Chapter Three has been edited to fix continuity details about Sirius' motorbike - completely forgot during the Lily/James reunion that Sirius had mentioned already owning a bike! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, and read, so far, and I hope the story is meeting your expectations!
:) flutterby