-Lily-
It was a week after Remus returned, and my head had finally stopped pounding. I woke up in Violet's bedroom alone and found a large t-shirt on the floor to pull over my tank-top.
I staggered into the kitchen, rubbing my eyes, and sat next to where Violet was perched on Sirius' lap. Even though we were nearly the same size, Violet looked so small compared to Sirius, who was built like the beater he was.
"Morning Lily Bug." Violet said, mussing with my hair and shoving a steaming mug of coffee under my nose, which I gratefully took.
"I like my shirt on you," James smirked at me from across the counter. I realized that Violet had probably nicked the shirt from her brother. "You should wear my clothes more often. It's very sexy."
"I would take it off, but I wouldn't want to blind you with my magnificent chest." I said, groggily. Sirius about choked on his pumpkin juice, laughing.
"Oh, please do." James begged. Sev glared at him from the top of his glass. James noticed this, and was about to comment, but there was a tap at the window.
We all turned, looking at the owl tapping his beak on the glass. Remus pulled open the window, letting him fly in, perching on the edge of the sink.
"'Meda sent her letter." Remus said, smirking, and handing a thick package to Sirius. The other Marauders shared Remus' smile and I gave Violet a questioning look.
Violet rolled her eyes, smiling as Sirius tore open the package. "You remember Andromeda Black?" I nodded. Andromeda was the Head Girl in our first year, and Bellatrix's extremely opposite older sister. "She loves to spoil our little Marauders."
"She's my favourite cousin for a reason." Sirius passed boxes of candy to everyone in the kitchen, even tossing a box of Bertie Bott's to Severus, who looked surprised. True to his words, he'd been a lot nicer to Sev since the pool hexing.
"Awh, look," James said, sliding out a peace of parchment with a crudely drawn wolf on it. "Nymph drew you a picture, Moony." He nudged Remus, who blushed and glared at him.
"Shut up, Prongs." He muttered, flattening the picture on the counter.
"Who's Nymph?" I asked, biting the head off of a chocolate frog, my favourite wizard candy.
"Nymph is Meda's daughter." Violet supplied, nicking one of Sirius' Muggle Jelly Beans. She didn't like the chances of getting a vomit flavoured Bertie Bott's.
"Correction," Sirius said through a mouth full of marshmallow and chocolate, "Moony's true love."
"…She's two." Remus said, looking at Sirius oddly.
"Whatever, mate, Nymph loves you." James chewed obnoxiously on a wad of Drooble's.
"She's a toddler! She loves anyone who plays with her." Remus defended.
"So you admit to leading her on?" Violet joked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nymphadora and Moony, sitting in a tree," James and Sirius belted out.
-0-
"Do you really have to go?" Violet asked, watching Sev throw a set of clothes into his bag.
"I'll be back tomorrow." Severus said, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself than us.
An hour after we'd come back upstairs from our "breakfast", Mrs. Snape had sent an owl telling Sev to come back home for a night.
I liked Mrs. Snape. She was a timid woman, but fairly nice. Mr. Snape, though, was a frightening man that could be heard yelling at Severus and his mother at all hours. If I was Mrs. Snape, I wouldn't want to be alone with him, either.
"I'll go with you." I said, getting up from Vi's desk. "It's about time I went to see my mum and dad."
"Oh! I'm going!" Violet said, jumping up. "I don't really feel like spending an extended amount of time with the Marauders."
Severus snorted, "Tired of shagging Black already?"
Violet playfully punched his arm. "I'll never get tired of it. But I'd be bored here with just the Marauders, and I like Lily's parents. They're nice and always have neat muggle things to look at."
-0-
Sev said it'd be alright to floo to his house on Spinner's End; his dad was at the mill until 6 o'clock and we didn't know who'd be at my house.
We tumbled out of the fireplace one by one, greeted by Severus' mum. She was a small woman, the top of her head level with Sev's chin, with a long face, dark hair, and Severus' black eyes.
"Severus," She said, squeezing Sev in a hug, attempting to dust him off at the same time. "I've missed you since December."
"Missed you, too, Mum." He said, quietly. We knew Sev loved his mother, very much, but he just hated being with his father.
"Would you girls like something to drink?" Mrs. Snape asked, avoiding eye contact. She never looked anyone but her son in the eye.
"No thank you, Mrs. Snape," I said, with a wry smile. "I told my mum we'd be at my house by now."
Mrs. Snape nodded and patted my hair, walking away, Sev following her.
Violet and I walked out of the house as fast as we could, running until we reached the park, far away from Sev's house. It didn't matter what time Mr. Snape was supposed to be home; we didn't want to chance him seeing us. I'd only talked to Mr. Snape once, and he scared the dementors out of me.
"Is your mum even home right now?" Violet asked, catching her breath.
"She gets home from the dress shop in an hour." I said, walking towards my front door, rummaging through my hand bag for my key.
"Lils," Violet said, tugging on my arm. "Whose is that?" she pointed to a shiny blue car in front of my house.
"Oh, shit." I said, realizing whose it was. "Petunia has her friends over."
"Ooh!" Violet smiled, "I have an idea." She took my key from me, unlocked the door and strolled into my house.
As I thought, Petunia, Vernon, and some of their putrid friends sat in my living room. Even though it was blazing outside, they were all dressed in stuffy, fancy clothes. Violet and I looked out of place; cutoff shorts and too-large t shirts "borrowed" from the Marauders. The three non-Vernon males leered at us.
"Lily!" Petunia snapped as soon as I walked in behind Vi. "You aren't supposed to be here."
"I wanted to see Mum and Dad." I said, crossing my arms.
"Hi, Petunia!" Violet swayed back and forth on her feet and waved.
"I thought you said the freak was gone?" A girl with a piggy nose and saggy brown hair asked Petunia in a nasally voice.
"She was supposed to be." Petunia hissed.
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" One of Vernon's "High Society" friends smirked.
"Everyone," Petunia bit out, "This is my sister, Lily, and her friend, Violet Potter."
"It was really lovely to meet you all," Violet said, grabbing my hand, "But I think we'll wait upstairs."
Violet practically dragged me up to the office, giggling madly.
"That was your idea?" I asked, watching her search her bag.
"Light a fire, Lils," Violet said, smirking at me. "I think we need to invite my brother for tea."
Sometimes, it was good to know the Potters.
-James-
I'd only heard about Lily's sister, but I had imagined that anyone related to someone as gorgeous as Lily had to be at least somewhat attractive.
Petunia Evans looked like a horse in a blonde wig. And I first mistook her boyfriend for a baby rhinoceros.
"Hello, hello, everyone!" Padfoot staggered around Lily's living room like a drunk, nicking a hat from a pig-faced girl, and shoving a biscuit in his mouth. Lily, for the first time, was actually laughing at our antics. Maybe it was because we were annoying her sister, and not her.
"Who are you?" Baby Rhinoceros asked, his nose turned up at Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and I. Moony mumbled his name, trying as hard as he could to hide behind Vi and Lily.
"Sirius Black." Padfoot said, crumbs spilling out of his mouth, sticking his hand out for Petunia's boyfriend to shake. He stared at it like it was a rabid hippogriff.
Petunia stomped towards Lily, grabbing her arm and hissing, "What are they doing here?"
"Well, Tuney," Lily said, tugging her arm away, "You have your friends over; I thought I'd bring some of mine."
"James Potter, at your service." I said, bowing low. She glared at me, making my job that much more fun. I hopped over the couch, landing next to a red faced girl, who looked frightened by me, scooting far away. I'd heard stories about how muggles thought of Violet and I's "kind". It seemed like the Slytherins and the muggles had a lot more in common than I thought.
"What the hell kind of name is 'Sirius'?" Vernon spat. We turned back to Padfoot, who now had his arm draped over the pig-faced girl.
"Like the constellation." Padfoot said, simply, earning him a looks from Petunia's friends. Padfoot tilted his head back at Lily. "Merlin, do muggles not learn astronomy?"
"Muggles?" One of the boys asked.
"Lily!" Petunia snapped. Violet had told me about Lily's sister; she hated magic and any reference to it. "Get them out!"
"No, I rather like them here." Lily crossed her arms and gave a smirk that made me want to tackle her to the ground and snog her. Though, everything Lily did made me want to do that.
"I'm going to tell Mum."
"Tell me what?"
-0-
Gemma Evans was an attractive woman, who looked much like Lily, with bright red hair and dazzling green eyes. She poured James another cup of tea, and again commented on how cute Lily's friends were. By now, Lily was blushing just as much as Remus was.
"You should have brought them here sooner, Lily Flower." Mrs. Evans said, sitting in a big arm chair, looking around at the boys again.
"Oh, yes, they're lovely boys." Violet said, winking at her brother.
"Well, I thought we'd at least meet James!" Mrs. Evans exclaimed. "You're always talking about him."
James raised an eyebrow, saying "Oh, does she?" the same time Lily burned brighter and said, "Mum!"
"Oh, yes," Mrs. Evans said, ignoring her daughter. "She's either complaining to Violet about you, or telling me how obnoxious you are. But you know girls; they always mean the opposite of what they say."
"Yes, that's what we want to teach young men," Violet said.
-0-
"I wish she would just stay at that freak school of hers." Petunia huffed, angrily stirring her tea at the kitchen table.
"The lot of them should be contained," Vernon shook his head, "they're a danger to us all, with their abnormalities."
"She gets all the attention. Mum and Dad just love that little weirdo." Petunia complained, crushing her cookie in her hand. "Did you see how Mum swooned over Lily's freak boyfriend? I swear, she likes Lily's best friend more than me."
Vernon patted her hand, shaking his head again, "It's not your fault you're related to such filth. And the trash she associates herself with. It's sickening. She should know better to hang around people like that, even if she is a freak."
"Lily's going to get killed, messing with all those ridiculous spells." Petunia said 'spells' like a dirty word. "I overhead her one summer talking about some Lord that didn't like normal people. He wants to kill them."
Vernon scoffed. "Ridiculous." He said, like no one would ever want him dead. "Just hope she doesn't breed. Fat lot of good her children would ever do."
-Lily-
"Sorry about my mum." I said, to no one in particular as we entered my room. James grinned broadly. Of course, he didn't mind my mother at all; she was undeniably beautiful for a woman of 40 and she fed his ginormous ego even more than the teachers at school did.
"No, no, she was lovely." Sirius said, flipping through my records, looking at them like they were going to bite him. "I do get the impression she wanted you to have hot, dirty sex with our boy here."
Violet snorted, "I think Gemma would rather be having sex with James."
"Not sure how Mr. Evans would feel about that," James said, poking around my bookcase. "But, I wouldn't mind." I gave him a disgusted look. "Oi, Lils, if it's true what they say, and you grow up to look like your mum, I'd gladly be married to you."
"Yes, because the only problem you've ever had was Lily accepting your offers to go out with her." Remus said sarcastically. James was the only one not laughing.
"What's up your sister's ass, Lily?" Sirius asked, playing with my Beatles record. I grabbed it away from him before he could use it as a Frisbee.
"She's always like that." I answered, sitting on my bed.
"Yeah, the first time I came over here, she cried, saying I was going to poison her breakfast," Violet supplied. "I really should have done it when I had the chance." She said, no hint of joking.
"She scares me a little." Remus said seriously, looking down at the floor. We stared blankly at him for a moment before breaking into laughter.
-General-
Mrs. Evans insisted the kids stay for dinner. While Lily nearly tried to drag the boys back to the fire place, Sirius and James gladly accepted the offer.
Lily's father was ginormous man, almost taller than Sirius, with close cut brown hair and a thick mustache. He glared at James, who was seated very close to Lily, every chance he got. James tried not to look at him.
"Mummy," Petunia whined yet again. "Can we please go?"
"Tuney, we have guests." Mrs. Evans scolded.
"They're Lily's friends, not mine."
"I like to think of us as friends, Tuney." Sirius said, pseudo-seriously.
"Petunia," Petunia snapped. Sirius was about to make a sarcastic comment back, but Violet cut him off with an elbow to the ribs. She knew that Petunia would be insufferable if given cause.
"So," Mr. Evans said, in his low, rumbling voice, "James, Violet hasn't told us much about what your parents do in the wizarding world." Vernon, who kept his distance from the werewolf next to him, flinched at the mention of the abnormalities in the room.
"They're sort of like…ambassadors for the Minister of Magic." James explained, glancing over to Violet to see if he'd said it clearly enough for muggles. She nodded and Vernon scoffed.
"You people have a minister?"
"Despite what you think, Mr. Dursley," Violet said in a voice so posh it made the others think she'd borrowed it from one of Petunia's friends, "Wizards are a civilized people."
Vernon scoffed again, shaking his head.
"You know," Sirius supplied, swallowing his mouthful of potatoes, "You'd probably get on with my parents, Dursley." The wizards at the table suppressed a laugh. Vernon laughed, but for a different reason. "No, really, they're really big on judging other people based on blood status."
Mr. Evans let out a grumbling laugh. It frightened James a bit, but he took it as a good sign.
"I highly doubt Vernie would have anything in common with your kind," Petunia said. James thought that if she had her nose any higher in the air, she might catch a broomstick.
"You'd be surprised, Petunia," Violet said. "Some wizards can be fairly rude, also." Petunia glared daggers at her sister's best friend.
"What about you, Remus?" Mrs. Evans asked. "Do your parents work at the Ministry of Magic, too?"
"No, ma'am," Remus said. "My mother is a nurse in Cardiff."
"Oh, she's not a witch?" Remus shook his head. Though most Slytherins mocked Remus for it, he wasn't ashamed that his mother was a muggle healer. "What about your father, dear? Is he a wizard, or are you like Lily?" Mrs. Evans beamed proudly at her red headed daughter.
"He was a wizard." Remus said, quietly. Mrs. Evans seemed to catch on and gave him a sad smile and nudged the plate of chocolate cake towards him. He smiled back at her.
"What woman in her right mind would marry a freak?" Vernon asked. Remus looked angry and James and Violet both turned on Vernon.
"Oi!" They said together. "Don't insult his mum."
"I think you should leave, Dursley," Mr. Evans growled.
"I think I should." Vernon got up, Petunia going after him.
"I'm sorry about him, Remus." Lily said, patting Remus' arm. Remus shook his head, told her not to worry about it.
"Lily!" Petunia came back, wiping tears away from her horsey face. "You and your freak friends are ruining my life. Just go back to your magic school and never come back. I. Hate. You." She turned on her heel and ran up the stairs.
"Petunia Mary!" Mrs. Evans said. The Marauders looked down awkwardly.
Though Lily fought with her sister and didn't really like to be around her, it still hurt when Petunia reminded her of how unalike the sisters were.
James put a comforting hand on her back, and for once, she was glad he was there.
Consider this a New Year's Eve gift.