The Marauders and the Horcrux Hunt

by teenage.tradgedy

In an alternate universe where the Marauders and Lily finish reading the Harry Potter series, they set out on a journey to find the Horcruxes, and ultimately to defeat Lord Voldemort before it's too late. Will they be able to complete the impossible? SEQUEL TO THE MARAUDERS AND THE SORCERER'S STONE (taken down for copyright reasons).

10. Moves

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the rights to it

---

"It's been almost two weeks, you know," Lily whispered, quirking a brow at Sirius. The two of them were standing in the small kitchen, speaking quietly so as not to wake up Remus and Peter. It was early, Lily was getting ready to head off to Mungos for the day, and Sirius had cornered her to talk about Hestia.

"Yes, thanks Evans, I had no idea," he hissed, rolling his eyes as he took another sip of coffee.

"There's no need to be snarky, it's your own fault," she chided, spreading strawberry jam on a piece of toast. She looked up to shoot him a stern look, "and it doesn't surprise me that you haven't heard from her since she showed up and crawled in your bed. You haven't made one move-"

"I made the first move," he scoffed, shifting backwards onto the counter, legs dangling towards the floor as he accepted the piece of toast from Lily.

"Yes, congratulations," Lily snorted, "but she did show up here in the middle of the night. You haven't spoken to her since."

"Oh, what, so it's my turn again?" he snorted. When Lily simply shrugged, Sirius groaned and looked up towards the ceiling, as if praying for patience, "Fucking birds, you're all insane."

"Maybe keep the insults to a minimum when wooing her," she tutted, and Sirius rolled his eyes again, taking an angry bite out of the toast.

"I should've just gone to Prongs, he was all for dangling the bait," he said, and Lily snorted.

"Is that some sort of euphemism?"

"Lily Evans, you dirty thing," Sirius sniggered, as Lily smirked, taking a bite of her own toast as she sifted through her purse, making sure she had everything she'd need for the day, "Did you just make a snide reference to my-"

"Yes, there's no need to make such a big deal," Lily sighed, as the boy continued to snicker, "You know, some of us have to go to work. I can't stand around here all day talking about your phallus."

Sirius barked a laugh as a throat cleared from the doorway, and Lily turned to see James standing there, smirking, "Want me to leave so you can continue to discuss Sirius' phallus?"

"Yes, if you don't mind," she winked at him.

"Shouldn't you be leaving?" James chuckled, walking towards her and dropping a quick kiss to her temple, as he reached around her to pour himself some coffee, "It's already five to."

"I'll leave in a minute," Lily said, waving off his concerns and turning back to Sirius, "Like I was saying-"

"Oh goodie, phallus talk," James sighed dejectedly, and Lily whacked his arm, lips pursed as she shot him an amused look.

"You are going to have to do something if you want to see her again," she said, and Sirius groaned again, "Especially given that this whole 'waiting for something to happen' plan has produced no results," she added, and James grinned, nodding his head like a puppet as Sirius turned to him for a second opinion.

"It's been two weeks," James added, and Sirius shot him a look that read he was clearly not being helpful. James simply grinned, leaning down to take a bite out of Lily's toast. Lily rolled her eyes, handing him the thing.

"Take it," she snorted, and James grinned.

"Oh Lily, you do love me!"

"And you clearly want me to starve," she teased, threading her arm through the straps of her bag. James gasped.

"Starve? Lily I'm simply helping you maintain your girlish figure," he said, eyes twinkling, and Lily snorted.

"Rude," she said, turning her head to Sirius as her stupid boyfriend continued to snicker. She raised her eyebrows, and Sirius groaned, dropping his head back against the cupboards behind him.

"Fine Evans, I'll do it," he whined, and Lily grinned self-satisfactorily.

"Well, my work here is done, don't do anything stupid while I'm gone," she said, winking at James, who grinned at her with jam-coated teeth.

"Attractive," Sirius snorted as Lily giggled.

"I think he's cute," she said, pinching James' chin and bringing his face down to plant a kiss on his lips, "Be nice," she added, throwing a scolding look at Sirius, who rolled his eyes.

"Cute, my arse," he snorted, as James kissed Lily once more.

"Mm, I've heard it's cute," she said, winking at Sirius, who rolled his eyes, failing to fight off his amused grin, as James sniggered and kissed Lily again, "Right, I'm off," she said, extracting herself from James' arms, smirking as he pouted down at her, before turning on the spot.

"You two make me sick," Sirius scoffed, and James grinned.

"Thanks."

"Why are you so happy today?" Sirius snickered, as James near danced to the coffee machine to make another one, "had a few too many essence of euphoria potions?"

"Better," James winked, and Sirius rolled his eyes as the boy sniggered dirtily.

"I do not need to hear about-"

"So glad you asked," James cut him off, hopping on the counter next to him. Sirius rolled his eyes, taking another bite out of his toast, "we had a magical night, the two of us, got barely a wink of sleep, and-"

"I said I did not-"

"Padfoot, really, I think you're far too interested in my sex life. Well, since you're asking, we started off-"

"PRONGS!" Sirius squawked, shoving the sniggering James off the counter, "Go shower or something, Merlin you're disgusting."

"Really, Padfoot, sex is a beautiful and natural part of life," James said, before shooting Sirius a wicked smile, "Well, it's a part of my life-"

"You're too happy, go away," Sirius grumbled, and James sniggered.

"You're just horny," he said, "you can't deal with us sexually satisfied, nay, over-satisfied men in your deprived state," he added, and Sirius shot him a sardonic look as James hummed happily to himself, trouncing out of the kitchen, ruffling a sleepy Remus' hair as the werewolf stumbled towards the kitchen.

"The fuck is his problem?" Remus grumbled, rubbing his eyes as he headed for the coffee. Sirius snorted, taking another bite, "the fuck is your problem?"

"My phallus, Remus, that's the problem," Sirius sighed. Remus blinked, stopping dead in his tracks, before rolling his eyes and turning on his heel, heading straight out of the kitchen, "Moony!"

---

"Lily, thank Merlin you're here!" Lily started, accidentally scrawling a line across her page with her quill as Alma near shouted, skidding around a corner in her haste to make it to the redhead, "I need your help."

"What's the matter?" Lily asked, sighing as she whipped out her wand and traced it along the top of her clipboard, removing the line, as Alma stopped in front of her. Lily was in the library catching up on paperwork for Damien's case, which for the past few weeks she had been solely responsible for. To her pleasure, he was healing beautifully, his skin no longer a charred black but an angry red. His personality was still unpleasant to bear, but she reckoned she couldn't win every battle.

"It's him, he's doing it again," Alma squeaked, falling into the chair beside Lily. She looked lovely, Lily noticed, her chocolate hair braided to the side, and…

"Alma, are you wearing makeup?" Lily asked, bewildered, interrupting whatever the girl was going to say next, and Alma froze.

"No."

"Are you sure?" Lily asked, frowning as she leaned in closer, "You look different."

"Maybe you just haven't noticed my beauty before."

Lily shot her a sardonic look, and Alma sighed, "Can't a witch just feel like making an effort once in a while?" Lily raised her eyebrows.

"But why are you making an effort?"

"Lily, really, can't you just listen to my problems?" Alma huffed, crossing her arms moodily and leaning back in the chair, blowing the few strands of hair that had escaped from near her forehead out of her face.

"Please go ahead, I apologize for being so self-involved," Lily snorted, and Alma smirked at her.

"I accept your apology love," she winked, and Lily rolled her eyes, lips pulling up in the corners as she picked up her quill and continued to write her reports, "but like I was saying, he's doing it again. He's showing up everywhere I am. The same ward, the same floor. It's maddening, it's like he's deliberately tryingto drive me completely fucking insane-"

"It's clearly working," Lily murmured. Alma shot her an annoyed look, but otherwise ignored her as she continued on.

"And he keeps attempting to come over and talk to me-"

"The nerve of him," Lily said under her breath

"But I refuse to give him that kind of satisfaction. Not me, no sir. Fuck him and his attempted hello's, I don't need those in my life. I'm doing perfectly find without them, you know. I'm successful. I'm hot, don't you think I'm hot Lily?"

"Yes, sure, gorgeous," Lily chuckled.

"Yes, thank you, I mean, it's not like I need him to be trying to talk to me, he's trying to distract me, you know? And I figured it out this morning Lily, I finally pieced it together, I think he's trying to sabotage me," Alma finished, slamming her hand on the table for dramatic effect.

Lily finally gave up on attempting to work and put down her quill, turning to face Alma with an amused expression on her face, "Sabotage you?"

"Yes!" Alma exclaimed. Lily winced as a few Healers shushed them from the next table. Alma ignored their disapproving glances, and stared at Lily imploringly, "It's sabotage. It's a conspiracy. They're trying to take us down."

"They? Us?" Lily giggled, and Alma frowned at her.

"You're not taking this seriously, there are only two of us, two of us female trainees. Think it's a coincidence?"

"Oh, it's the patriarchy again," Lily said, nodding in understanding, and Alma snapped her fingers, grinning like a lunatic.

"You see it too! They're targeting us, they want us to be those witches who get married young and shoot out a dozen little babies-"

"A dozen? Are you mad?" Lily snorted. Alma shot her a blank look, and Lily flushed.

"I mean, that's clearly not the point," Alma snorted, and Lily grinned at her friends' frustration, "They are the male trainees, they're targeting us Lil!"

"Nobody's done anything to me," Lily giggled, "and it's not they, it's just him, you know, Ow-"

"Don't say his name!" Alma hissed, looking around, and Lily rolled her eyes, amused, "He could be here."'

"You are paranoid," Lily snorted. They were quiet for a few moments, before Lily gasped, "Oh Merlin! That's why you're wearing makeup!" she hissed, and Alma flushed.

"No it's not."

"So it's not because Owen the cute Scottish trainee keeps popping up around you?" Lily giggled, and Alma looked around them again in a panic, "Or because he keeps suggesting you go for dinner together?"

"It's the conspiracy, I'm telling you, he's trying to take me down-"

"You are in denial," Lily giggled, shaking her head amusedly as Alma glared at her, "he's trying to take you to dinner, you are scared of commitment, that's what's happening."

"Lily, haven't you been listening? It's the patriarchy-"

"Your being female is a factor, yes, but it's not the patriarchy this time," Lily giggled, and Alma flushed, hiding her face in her forearms, which were crossed on the table, "You like him."

"He's dangerous," Alma's muffled voice came, and Lily giggled, "I can't speak when I'm around him. I freeze up like a stupid little girl. He's taking me down, chipping my dignity away bit by bit."

"Your life is so tragic," Lily giggled, and Alma groaned again, "Why don't you just say yes?"

"Because then he wins Lily," Alma said exasperatedly, picking her head up to look at her, "I can't let him win."

"But if you get to go out with the guy you like, then you win too," Lily said, and Alma huffed, crossing her arms irritably as Lily grinned.

"You don't understand anything," she scoffed, and Lily laughed, picking up her quill and continuing to write.

"We've had this conversation almost every day for the past week," Lily said, and Alma snorted.

"Then I should have known you'd be useless today as well," she scoffed, and Lily rolled her eyes as the frustrated witch stomped away.

---

"I think Lily's right," Remus mused, watching in amusement as Sirius grumbled, pacing up and down the living room between Remus' and Peter's beds. James sniggered from where he was sitting at the dining table, reading the Morning Prophet.

"Of course you do, you two are practically the same person," Sirius scoffed, and James guffawed.

"That's news to me," he said, and Remus rolled his eyes, throwing some balled up socks at him as James' sniggers renewed.

"Pathetic," Remus muttered, looking between Sirius, who was practically pulling his hair out, and James, who was now sniggering so hard he'd closed the paper, "both of you, completely pathetic."

"Oi!" Sirius barked, and Remus rolled his eyes.

"That's not very nice Moony, you're supposed to be in love with me, being the same as Lily and all," James sniggered, and Remus groaned, slapping his palm to his forehead.

"Oh just fuck off, the both of you, don't you have things to do?" he grumbled, and Sirius narrowed his eyes at him.

"Don't rush me, Moony, I won't do my best work."

"And where am I supposed to go?" James near-whined, pouting at Remus, who groaned, lowering down onto his bed and dropping his head in his hands, "Also the Prophet hasn't reported the attacks from last week, fucking typical. Lily didn't come home for days, remember?"

"What else is new?" Sirius snorted, before shooting James a dirty look, "And don't talk about the fucking Prophet, makes me think of Hestia."

"Why not?" James squawked, letting out a manly squeal as Sirius snatched the paper out of his hands, crumpled it up and threw it at the floor, "I was reading that, you stupid sod. It's not my fault you're fucking irrational, like a bloody woman."

"Twat," Sirius shot back, and James glared at him, leaning down to pick it up.

"As I was saying, I was reading in the Prophet-"

"Oh Prongs get off your fucking high horse-"

"The fuck is your problem Padfoot-"

"I can't do a whole day of this. Thank Merlin I have Wormtail," Remus grumbled, head still buried in his hands, rolling his eyes again as the two boys instantly forgot their argument and let out noises of protest.

"I'm off!" Peter called cheerfully, walking into the living room, fully dressed in muggle jeans and a button down top, a rucksack slung over his shoulder.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" Remus squawked, jumping to his feet angrily and storming over to Peter, who took a step back, alarmed.

"Home?" Peter squeaked uncertainly, shooting confused looks between James and Sirius, who'd broken down in peals of laughter.

"Why?"

"We, I mean, we decided this yesterday," Peter said, frowning up at Remus, "To make it official we were back from our travelling in time for Sirius and James to start Auror training in a few weeks," he said, and Remus huffed, "so I'm going to go see my mum."

"Well, you can't," Remus huffed, and Peter quirked a brow at him, "I cannot be left alone with these two, not today," he said, gesturing to the still giggling James and Sirius.

"Why, what's the matter with them?" Peter asked, and Remus groaned.

"Thanks Wormtail, there's nothing wrong with us," James said, tipping an invisible hat at Peter, who looked at Sirius, who'd renewed pacing angrily, confused.

"They're acting odd," he said to Remus, who shot him a blank look, "I'm not staying," he said, shaking his head, blue eyes wide, and Remus gaped as the other two burst out laughing.

"Don't be so selfish-"

"Every man for himself, good luck mate," Peter said, turning on the spot with a salute before Remus, who'd surged forwards, could grab him.

"The little shit," Remus hissed, glaring at the spot Peter had last been in.

"Such language," James tutted, turning a page in the Prophet, and Remus groaned, slapping his palm to his forehead as Sirius started to grumble about crazy women and moves.

---

"Lily!"

Lily groaned and dropped her head into her hands as the chirpy voice of Hestia Jones reached her ears in the fifth floor tearoom. Alma had been dragged onto a case and would be working through lunch, and Lily had been grateful for some uninterrupted alone time, in which she wouldn't have to listen to tales of woe about other people's pathetic love problems. Thank Merlin she had James.

"Oh Lily, I'm so glad I ran into you!" Hestia threw herself into the seat across from Lily, once more dressed to perfection. Lily almost sobbed as she took in Hestia's bright clothing and perfectly done hair and makeup.

"What are you doing here?" Lily near-whined. She knew what was coming, how could she not? Sirius talk. She'd already spent this morning having Hestia talk with Sirius, and Owen talk with Alma. Hestia flushed.

"I came to see you," Hestia shrugged, flicking a strand of hair over her shoulder, grinning widely at Lily. She flushed again, before clearing her throat, "I mean, I'm also working on an investigative piece on all the attacks and how frequent they are, not to mention the Prophet's significant lack of decent reporting," she snorted, and Lily's lip twitched.

"Nice to know there's at least one person there who can do their job," Lily said dryly, and Hestia shot her an amused look.

"Willing to give an interview?" Hestia winked, and Lily rolled her eyes, smirking

"No thanks, doubt I'll be a credible source anyway, being a trainee and all," Lily said, and Hestia laughed. The two fell into a silence, and Lily took a bite of her food, holding back a smirk as she watched Hestia twitch nervously, wringing her hands as she looked down at the table.

"Er, Lily, listen-"

"Finally," Lily laughed, and Hestia looked up at her, confused, "Have you been practicing restraint? That was a whole four minutes you didn't bring up Sirius," Lily giggled, and Hestia flushed, narrowing her eyes at the redhead.

"That's not very nice Lily," she grumbled, and Lily giggled harder, "I need your help."

"With what?" Lily sighed, grinning at Hestia, who huffed, crossing her arms and looking off to the side.

"He hasn't spoken to me in over two weeks, literally no contact. The last time I saw him was when, er, when-" Hestia trailed off, her cheeks turning a fiery red. Lily grinned.

"When you crawled into his bed in the middle of the night?" she suggested, laughing as Hestia near collapsed in relief.

"Oh Merlin, so he told you, good, I'm glad, now we're on the same page," she said, grinning at Lily, before her expression dropped comically and her eyes narrowed, "So you know why he hasn't contacted me then, don't you?"

"Er, no," Lily said, shrinking slightly under Hestia's accusatory glare, "I don't know anything," she said, and Hestia glared. Her harsh exterior broke and she signed, dropping her elbows onto the table and placing her chin in her hands.

"I get it, your loyalty is to him here, I know that," she sighed once more, looking so dejected Lily almost caved and told her, "I just, I really like him, I don't know what happened," she sighed again, and Lily smiled gently, reaching out to pat her gently on the arm.

"It'll all be okay," she said, and Hestia smiled at her.

"Was I too forward?" Hestia asked, and Lily snorted.

"For Sirius?"

"Touché," Hestia laughed, and Lily giggled with her, "Mind if I stick around for a bit? Want to get some more information on how many attacks exactly there have been," she said, and Lily shrugged, grabbing her tray and standing up as Hestia did the same, pulling out a quill and a piece of parchment as Lily put her tray away

"Be my guest," she grinned.

"Thanks," Hestia winked, before smiling at Lily, "and thank you."

"Any time," Lily chuckled. The two girls continued down the corridor in comfortable silence, Hestia scribbling down dates and columns and ideas as Lily watched on, amused.

"Let's do drinks soon?" Hestia asked, stopping at the top of the staircase as Lily began to make her way down. Lily turned to look up at her, and smiled.

"Sure, as long as nothing comes up," she said, and Hestia nodded seriously.

"We'll bring Bancroft as well," she added, and Lily grinned, nodding her head. Hestia sent her a quick 'ta!' over her shoulder as a senior Healer walked past, hurrying after the woman before she missed her chance. Lily chuckled and continued to make her way back to Cromwell's ward.

---

"Can you two please just stop?" Remus near whined, as James and Sirius started to snigger again, "I don't need this shit in my life."

"Nobody's talking about shit, Moony," James tutted, and Sirius sniggered as Remus rolled his eyes.

"Really Moony, didn't know you lived such a kinky lifestyle," Sirius sniggered, wagging his brows, and James howled with laughter as Remus shot Sirius a disgusted look.

"That's horrendous, you make me sick," Remus muttered, crossing his arms as the two buffoons continued to howl with laughter.

"Nobody's judging you Moony," James sniggered, and Remus groaned, hiding his face in his hands, "If you like to have your cake and shit on it too, I'll still be your friend," he winked.

"How Lily agreed to marry you, I'll never know," Remus muttered, and James sniggered happily.

"Well its interesting you should say that after all the talk of kinkiness," James smirked. Remus stood up and stormed out of the living room as Sirius roared with laughter, clapping his best mate on the shoulder.

"You'd think you two would be more focused on the fucking Horcrux hunt, rather than your pathetic sex lives," Remus called from the kitchen, and James scoffed.

"Speak for yourself, mine's not pathetic at all, I had sex this very morning, thank you very much," James sniffed.

"And I slept with Hestia Jones," Sirius said smugly, and James rolled his eyes.

"Two weeks ago, you can't keep using that," James snorted, and Sirius shot him a nasty look as Remus' guffaw sounded from the kitchen.

"Well when was the last time Moony had sex, hm?" Sirius scoffed, and Remus rolled his eyes as he walked back into the living room, a cup of tea in hand.

"I'd say not having sex was less pathetic than having sex once a few weeks ago and bragging about it," he said, shooting Sirius a sweet smile as he sat cross-legged on the floor, opening the book he'd been reading earlier.

"Oh fuck off Moony, at least I know my dick still works."

"What's wrong with Moony's?" James asked, frowning at Sirius and Remus, the latter of whom snorted.

"Nothing's wrong Prongs, I do appreciate your concern though," he drawled, and James shot him a wink.

"Wouldn't be a great friend if I didn't care, now would I?"

"I'd say a great friend wouldn't talk about my dick," Sirius snorted, and the other two laughed.

"But Padfoot, if we can't talk about our pricks is it even real friendship?" James gasped, and Sirius rolled his eyes, shoving at James as Remus continued to snicker.

"So can we get off this ridiculous tangent and get back to talking about the ring please?" Remus whined, and James beamed.

"You want to hear about how I proposed again? Really Moony, I think you're too obsessed," James tutted, and Remus rolled his eyes, smirking, as Sirius groaned loudly.

"If I have to hear any more about that fucking proposal-"

"You see, you absolutely picked the wrong best man," Remus said, nodding at Sirius, who shot him a dark look as James guffawed, "at least I care to ask."

"You know damn well you were talking about the Horcrux," Sirius muttered, and James beamed at him, ruffling Sirius' hair, earning a slap in the hand for it.

"Prove it," Remus challenged, raising his eyebrows, and Sirius narrowed his eyes.

"Boys," James said in a tired voice, "Can we just focus please?"

"Well I was asking for your advice before Moony went all fucking snarky," Sirius huffed, and Remus snorted.

"We have talked Hestia to death at this point, I refuse to hear much more about how fucking glorious she is and your fictitious moves."

"My moves are not fictitious-"

"Then make one," Remus said simply, and Sirius stopped short. James smirked.

"Moony one, Padfoot zero," he sung, and Remus shot him a smirk as Sirius blinked stupidly.

"So, the Horcrux," Sirius said, after clearing his throat, and Remus smirked, looking back down at his book.

"Yes?" James responded, an amused tone laced into his voice.

"Where do we keep it?" Sirius asked, and James shrugged.

"We could leave it here?" he suggested, and Remus sighed.

"He's right, but what if we get found out? We'll have no time to come back for it," he reasoned, and James sighed.

"Well one of us could keep it, but then the whole possession shit could happen," he said, and Sirius frowned.

"But it's a ring."

James and Remus exchanged a confused look after a few moments of silence, before Remus finally asked, "And?"

"Well, see, in those books, people only got possessed if they spilled their soul to the thing yeah?" Sirius asked, and the two boys nodded, "Well how do you do that to a ring? No-one is wearing it, and we can't write in it, so…"

Sirius trailed off, and considered the other two's bewildered expressions with a feeling of irritation, "I mean, there's no need to be so surprised by my intellect," Sirius snorted, and Remus rolled his eyes as James chuckled, "I'm almost offended."

"Almost is new, a refreshing change," James said, grinning at Sirius, and Remus sniggered as the boy rolled his eyes and shoved James again.

"So we can just make sure it's always with one of us," Sirius said, and the boys shrugged. James reached over and put the ring box in his pocket, "Oh, helpful," Sirius snorted, and James winked at him as Remus laughed.

"So wha-"

A loud pop sounded in the middle of the living room, and when they looked up a panicked, sobbing Alice was standing there.

"LILY?"

"Alice?" Sirius said, confused, making to get up.

"LILY!"

"She's not here," Remus said, shooting an alarmed look at Sirius, who was staring, frozen, at Alice. James hurried over and put his hands on Alice's shoulders.

"Alice, what's wrong? What's the matter?" he asked gently, shaking her slightly. Alice looked up into his face and burst into tears, dropping her head to his chest. James tentatively put his arms around her shoulders and hugged her as she sobbed freely, shooting a fearful look at his two friends, who were exchanging wary looks, "Alice?"

"G-G-Gideon an-and F-F-F-Fabian," she wailed.

---

"Oh for fucks sake," Alma groaned, closing her eyes tight. Lily giggled as Owen made his way into the ward, taking notes aggressively, following his Healer. There had been a lot of commotion that afternoon as an older gentleman had run in with a broken leg, followed by a flock of illegally enchanted chairs, which had taken to spurring around Mungos, knocking unsuspecting people so they were seated in them, scratching at them and leaving deep gashes to pull them in and prevent escape. The situation had resolved when the Ministry officials had come in to claim (and destroy) the chairs.

"His supervisor is in charge of illegal objects, what do you expect?" Lily asked, smirking as Alma's gaze flickered over to the handsome Scottish boy repeatedly.

"Oh shut up, shouldn't you be in pain or something?" Alma demanded. Lily giggled again, wincing slightly as Alma continued to heal some of the deep scrapes on the back of her legs, from a rogue chair that had managed to seat her.

"Your troubles are providing sufficient distraction," Lily quipped, giggling as Alma swatted her bum with the end of her wand before continuing the healing, "You should just allow him to take you out."

"Oh, I should allow him that honour?" Alma scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Why?"

"Because he's cute," Lily giggled, as Owen, noticing Alma and Lily, threw them a small grin, "and he likes you."

"What if I don't like him?" Alma demanded, blushing furiously and sending an awkward twitch at him in response. Lily laughed loudly, causing the brunette to blush harder, "Oh shut up Lily, I'm not going to allow him to bed me just because-"

"Bed you?" Lily wheezed, biting her tongue to hide her laughter, "Firstly, when did you turn eighty and why wasn't I invited?" Alma snorted, "and secondly, I never told you to bloody sleep with him, just go eat a meal with the boy, you and I eat meals together every day."

"Yes, but I don't want to jump you," Alma scoffed, "no offence," she added, and Lily burst out laughing, "these fucking gashes, why won't they heal?"

"It's the enchantment," a deep voice said from next to them, and the girls jumped. Lily lifted her head and almost choked at the sight of Owen the trainee grinning at Alma, "All right, Bancroft?"

When Alma didn't answer for a few moments, Lily cleared her throat, "do you know how to fix them, then?"

Before Owen could answer, Healer Cromwell rushed over, "Lily dear, I-" she cut off, expression falling as she registered Lily's position on the bed and the large gashes on the backs of her legs, "Oh dear, they got you, darling are you-"

"I'm fine," Lily smiled, wiggling her legs slightly to return some feeling. She held back a wince as the movement stung, "Is everything-"

"No actually, another attack it seems, I actually would need some help, but if you're not-"

"No! No I'm good," squeaked Lily, sitting up so fast Alma took a step back instinctively, "I'll come help, truly, they barely even hurt."

Cromwell shot Lily a disapproving look, and regarded her silently for a few moments. Having sat through many a meeting with Dumbledore in her Head Girl days, Lily stayed still and silent, waiting for the assessment, "well come along then," she sighed, and Lily grinned, hopping off the bed and shooting a wink at a very flabbergasted Alma, who was nervously looking for a quick escape from Owen.

"So what happened?" Lily asked, hurrying to keep up with a very stressed Cromwell, attempting to ignore the aches and stabs of pain from the backs of her legs, "another attack?"

"We're fairly certain," she said, shooting Lily another look as a traitorous wince escaped the redhead, "Lily really, there's no need, I know you want to help-"

"No honestly, I promise I wouldn't help if I couldn't," Lily said, shooting the older woman a reassuring smile. Cromwell nodded, her lip twitching slightly in response as she turned forwards again, a grim expression on her face. Lily sighed.

The past few weeks had been so full of attacks, it had taken a toll on everyone at Mungos. She herself had had multiple back-to-back shifts to cater to the massacres that occurred as a result from the Death Eaters behavior. Cromwell, Lily had noticed, had become much more reserved, and much less cheerful in the past few weeks, as the reality of the war sunk in. Lily and Cromwell had lost no less than fifteen lives in the past two weeks, as a result of fatal injuries and endless torture. Seeing bodies in such a mangled state had rendered Lily a tearful mess so many time she couldn't even count, she'd lost track of the days she'd apparated straight into their bedroom, and hearing her sobs, James had calmly walked in and put his arms around her. The other boys had learned that this ritual meant another attack, and when she'd leave the room, they'd be somber, eyes flickering over to the Horcrux sitting like a maddening reminder of their reality in the middle of their flat.

The boys had spent the past couple weeks madly researching ways to destroy a Horcrux, as having the ring in the flat felt like a beacon, a dreadful call for Voldemort to show up and kill them. Everyone had been on edge for a few days, jumping at every noise and peering outside the curtains, in case Death Eaters had figured out they had the Horcrux. Lily had barely had time to help them; so busy she'd been catering to the wizarding community and their sorrows.

"So, it's just a handful of people this time," Cromwell sighed, as she and Lily walked down to the ground floor. There were still remnants of scorch marks from where the Ministry had attacked and missed rogue chairs, and Lily smirked at the site of a small child mimicking the chairs as his parents laughed, "I was told it wasn't all that bad, but that two men had faced the brunt of it, having tried to fight off the attackers," Cromwell sneered the word, "by themselves. They saved all the people here, but obviously need our help."

"They're heroes then," Lily said, smiling, and Cromwell smiled slightly, some of her old sparkle appearing in her blue eyes.

"Absolutely."

The two women made their way into the ward they were unfortunately too familiar with, and Lily's jaw dropped as her eyes zeroed in on the two men that had faced the worst of the attack. They were covered in red bleeding gashes, and had purplish bruises spattering their bodies. One had an eye that was sticking out several inches, completely swollen. The other was coated in nasty smelling yellow pus.

"Lily Evans, as I live and breathe," Gideon rasped, wincing his smarmy grin caused a cut on his face to open back up, some of the pus dripping dangerously towards his open wound.

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" Fabian added, grimacing in her direction, his one good eye narrowing so he could make her out properly.

"What happened?" Lily gasped, heading forwards with Healer Cromwell, who was wearing another disapproving expression, "Are you all right?"

"Well if we were fine and dandy love, we wouldn't be here," Fabian quipped as Cromwell, with a large sigh, headed forwards and began to examine his eye.

"Blood build up, compartment syndrome," Cromwell sighed, conjuring up and putting on a pair of gloves, "Sir, we're going to just squeeze it out, it should make it right," she said, and Fabian grimaced as his good eye followed her hands towards his face, "Friends of yours?" Cromwell asked over her shoulder, and Lily grimaced as she watched Cromwell begin to squeeze the eye, trying to block out Fabian's whimpers of pain.

"Er, sort of," Lily said, and Gideon snorted.

"Way to kick us when we're down, love."

Lily sent him a smile, and walked over to begin examining the yellow pus on him, "Is this…?"

"Bobotuber, yup," Gideon wheezed, wincing, "Hurts like a bitch, dropped on us from above, the bastards."

"Bitches and bastards, oh my," Fabian sniggered, blinking his newly functioning eye. Gideon looked over and grimaced at the river of blood down his brothers' face.

"Lily, just cleanse that and use the same spell as on Damian, the pus will have burned him and that should work on most burns. If it doesn't work, well, we'll cross that road when we get to it," Cromwell grimaced, "I'd ordinarily not let you work on friends, but with the current situation I suppose we can't afford to cater to everyone's relationships," she sighed, shaking her head slightly as another victim appeared in the bed next to Fabians, "Then we can deal with his other injuries," Cromwell said curtly. Lily nodded, and inched forwards.

"Er, is she qualified? No offence Red, but you're a baby," Gideon said, and Lily rolled her eyes as Cromwell actually let out a rare chuckle from where she was working on Fabian's cuts.

"Don't think you're in a position to be picky," Lily said, and Gideon winked as she whipped out her wand. She glanced around quickly, only then realizing just how many people were in the room, "You saved all these people?" she gasped, and the two shrugged, wincing as pain shot through them, "There's about twenty people in this room."

"Twenty seven," Fabian said, and Lily rolled her eyes as Gideon snorted. As Lily opened her mouth to say something more, there was a large commotion outside the ward, followed by loud yelling, and the twins groaned.

"What? What happened?" Cromwell asked, eyeing their injuries once more for some source for their newfound complaining.

"Alice," they whined in unison.

At that moment, as if perfectly timed, the woman in question burst into the ward. It was as if out of a fairy tale. The doors flew open at once, and a mad-haired, narrow-eyed Alice Prewett glided in, dressed in her Auror robes, as if in slow motion. Lily had never seen such fury on her best friends' usually friendly face, which was tear-strewn and bright red with anger. Lily's jaw dropped when Alice stepped forwards, exposing two of her uncharacteristically timid roommates. James and Remus entered the ward warily, James wincing in anticipation as Alice approached the boys, and Remus throwing apologetic glances at anyone whose eye he met. Lily quirked a brow at James, receiving only a grimace in return as his eyes wandered the room, taking in the victims' injuries and the bustling Healers darting from patient to patient, arms overflowing with vials of potions.

"WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU TWO? NEVER IN ALL MY-"

"Silencio!"

Lily bit her lip to hold back laughter as Alice shot a scathing look at the Junior Healer who had charmed her.

"Ma'am, could you please keep it down, you're disturbing the other patients," he said in a calm tone that Lily could only admire, given the death glare he was receiving from the seething brunette. He gestured around at the twenty-seven others in the ward, and Alice, Lily was glad to see, had the decency to look contrite.

"Sorry," she mouthed, and the Junior Healer nodded, waving his wand and lifting the charm. Alice turned her glare on Gideon and Fabian, who were shaking with repressed laughter, "You two are in so much trouble for the complete pile of shit you've just put me through, I mean, honestly, what would I tell your mother-"

Alice continued to hiss and rage at the twins, flapping her arms about, and bringing a small smile to Cromwell's face as she continued to tend to Fabian. Lily took the moment to approach the boys, who were both warily eying the ailing people filling up the rest of the ward.

"What are you doing here? What happened?" Lily whispered.

"What do you mean what happened?" Remus whispered back, and Lily rolled her eyes, turning instead to James, who smirked.

"Alice came over looking for you, we promised we'd go with her," he said, and Lily sighed, reaching forwards and grabbing his hand.

"Thanks," she said, and he squeezed her hand, "Do you guys know what happened?"

"No, nothing yet," Remus sighed, his face paling as his eyes scanned the ward, "Is it always like this nowadays?"

"Pretty much," replied Lily, wincing at the crack of an ankle snapping back into place. James squeezed her hand once more, and she shot him a quick smile before sighing, "back to work," she sighed, and the two grimaced, James releasing her hand after another comforting squeeze. She whipped out her wand, and after subtly scuttling the still-ranting Alice to the side, removed the Bobotuber pus from Gideon.

Lily felt her stomach churn as she took in the raw, pink skin littered with boils that was exposed. Luckily the Bobutuber pus had been diluted, so Gideon was better off than he could have been. When the boy let out a pitiful groan as fresh air attacked his raw flesh, Alice stopped her hissing, eyes widening at the sight of Gideon's red skin.

"Merlin and Agrippa, what happened?" Alice whimpered, bringing her hands up to her face.

"I think we'd all like to know," Cromwell said calmly, as she healed the last of Fabian's cuts, "I'm done here, Lily, admit him overnight for observation and check his wounds every hour," she said, and Lily nodded, before Cromwell turned back to Fabian, "You're a very lucky young man, your brother, it seems, got the worst of it," she added, grimacing as Lily cleaned debris out of Gideon's exposed flesh.

"This time," Fabian muttered, smirking as he earned a guffaw from his twin.

"Not a competition mate," Gideon quipped back, inhaling sharply as Lily removed a particularly stubborn piece of rubble from his wound.

"Only because you're winning," Fabian retorted, and Alice sighed.

"What happened?" she asked again, taking a seat on the edge of Fabian's bed. James and Remus took a hesitant step forwards, bringing the twins' attention to them for the first time.

"Oh hello, welcome to my funeral," Gideon smirked, winking at them. Fabian snorted.

"I'm in a bed too, thanks."

"But you're a very lucky young man, apparently," Gideon snickered, hissing as the movements in his chest caused the raw skin to stretch

"Right, I need you to stop moving," Lily said, before shooting a nervous look at the three visitors, "You should wait outside," she added hesitantly, worried eyes shifting from Alice's tear-tracks to Remus' pale face.

"So it's going to hurt," Gideon rasped, and Lily sighed, nodding, "Right, you three, out," he said, nodding to Alice, James and Remus. The three opened their mouths to protest, but before they could get anything out, Lily held up her hand.

"Out, please," she said. When they didn't move, she looked up at James, "Please." James met her eyes for a few moments, before sighing in defeat. He grabbed Alice gently by the elbow and began escorting her out, despite her objections. Remus grimaced and reached over to pat Gideon's uninjured shoulder, before following suit, helping James maneuver Alice out of the ward.

"I love that man," Lily sighed, and Gideon chuckled. She grabbed his hand and squeezed, plastering a confident smile on her face, "Let's do this."

"Lucky they were here, Alice would've never bloody left," Fabian snorted, "Can you shift me closer so I can hold his hand?"

"Pansy," Gideon snorted, nevertheless reaching for Fabian's hand and grasping tight. Lily chuckled as Fabian rolled his eyes, holding his brothers hand with both of his own.

---

"Don't know why she had to kick us out-"

"It's for our own good, Alice, she needed to-"

"Fucking power trip, she thinks she's all big and cool because she's-"

"Alice, you know she was trying to protect you-"

"Well maybe I don't want her to protect me," Alice hissed, and Remus' mouth shut with an audible clap. James sighed, placing his chin in his hands as he continued to watch the exchange in front of him. They were sitting in the waiting area outside the ward, waiting for Lily to come out and let them know they could see the boys. Alice had spent the last twenty minutes seething, ranting and yelling at Remus about Lily kicking her out, while Remus had spent that time comforting Alice, not realizing that she was obviously just worried about her brothers, rather than annoyed at Lily.

"They'll be fine, Alice," James sighed, and Alice shot him a pained look, "Lily and the other Healers have got this."

"I know," she choked, after a few seconds of silence, finally shrinking down into the chair next to him, Remus on her other side.

"Where's Sirius?" Remus asked after a few moments, looking around, and James smirked.

"Someone ran into a certain witch he hasn't spoken to in two weeks on his way to the ward," James sniggered, and Remus guffawed.

"How did I miss this?"

"I think you were with Alice," James shrugged, and Remus grimaced.

"Would have loved to have seen his face, bet he almost wet himself," Remus sniggered, and James smirked.

"I just love Padfoots panicked expression," James chuckled, and Remus sniggered once more.

"Guess he wasn't prepared with his moves."

"He can't be rushed, remember?" James snickered, and Remus grinned, "Let's let the poor sod be, it's Hestia."

"Please don't mention that woman in my presence," Alice snorted, and Remus smirked.

"Holding a grudge, Alice?"

"Did she try to seduce your fiancé?" Alice retorted, and James smirked as Remus sniggered.

"What, you mean all those years ago? Before you were together?" James asked, and Alice rolled her eyes, elbowing him in the side.

"From what I remember, Frank didn't really mind all that-"

"One more word and Lily will have to heal you next," Alice huffed, narrowing her eyes at Remus' grinning face, and the two boys sniggered. Alice shook her head amusedly, before sighing, "At least that got my mind off those two," she said, nodding towards the ward, "bitch has her uses," she added, and the two boys burst out laughing, Alice giggling alongside them.

---

"Sorry," Sirius called over his shoulder to the man he'd walked into, "where are we going?" he squawked to the woman in front of him, as she proceeded to drag him around yet another corner. He twisted to avoid yet another collision, and huffed a lock of hair out of his eyes, "Really Hest, this is ridiculous, there's no need to take me prisoner-"

Hestia let out a laugh, before turning to shoot him an amused look over her shoulder, "Isn't there?"

"Well, there are more ceremonious ways of doing so," Sirius scoffed, attempting to ignore his quickly reddening face, "I don't need to look so much like a hostage."

"If you were a hostage I would have simply bound you and dragged you," she quipped back, checking an empty room before shoving him in. Sirius staggered slightly, gathering his balance before turning around to shoot the girl a very offended look, only to find her locking the door.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked, eyes settling on the wand she had pulled out, "Not that the whole bound thing isn't attractive and something I would absolutely try with you, but this is hardly the place," he added with a wink, and Hestia snorted.

"I'm not going to jump you, I'm not an animal," she scoffed, ignoring the wolfish smirk the boy directed at her. Sirius admired the way her skin flushed.

"Well, actually-"

"This is not the time," she hissed, stomping her foot as she glared at him. Sirius grinned, the infuriating bugger, "stop grinning, honestly, it's like you're enjoying this."

"Who's to say I'm not?" he countered, lowering into a chair, crossing his arms and looking up at her handsomely, "I quite enjoy seeing you so flustered."

"Fuck off Sirius, I'm not here to flirt with you, I'm here on business," she said, and Sirius quirked a brow, amused.

"I'm business?"

"Not you, you arrogant pig, I'm here for a story, not that it's any of your business," she huffed, crossing her arms and fixing him with a pointed glare, "what are you doing here?"

"Er, I was walking when you accosted me," he said, and Hestia rolled her eyes.

"I didn't accost-"

"Well no recently," Sirius conceded, and Hestia glared at his smirking face.

"Why haven't you owled me?"

"Why haven't you owled me?" Sirius retorted, lips quirking up at the corners. Hestia glared.

"You're pissing me off."

"You're providing quality entertainment."

"Sirius!" Hestia whined, and the boy chuckled, "I showed up in your bloody bedroom!"

"Which I very much enjoyed, you're welcome to do it again," he sniggered, and she huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

"Fine, I see you're not in the mood to have an adult discussion, it was very nice knowing you," she sniffed. She turned on her heel only to be stopped as two very masculine arms placed themselves on either side of her head. She whipped around to glare up at Sirius as he towered over her, looking down at her with a twinkle in his stormy eyes.

"You're very bossy," he said. Hestia flushed.

"Can you just let me go please?"

"Nope," Sirius grinned.

"Then why didn't you owl me?" she said quietly, looking up into his face earnestly, her big brown eyes melting into his and unleashing the depth of her hurt. Sirius sighed, before dropping his cocky façade.

"I should have owled you, I'm sorry," he said, but Hestia's hurt look didn't fade, and he swallowed his pride before continuing, "I was scared, all right?"

Hestia blinked at him once…twice…three times…before the corners of her lips turned up, pulling higher and higher until she was positively beaming at Sirius, who was feeling very hot around the collar as she continued to look at him like that.

"You were scared?" she squealed, and Sirius pushed himself off the wall, crossing his arms moodily and making to take a step away from her, muttering embarrassedly about stupid birds and traitorous mouths that wouldn't stop talking, but found himself unable to as Hestia wrapped her arms around his neck, "You like me or something, Black?"

"Well there's no need to make a sodding big deal about it," Sirius grumbled, looking anywhere but at the practically giddy girl dangling off his neck, "fucking insane the lot of you, I don't know why you have to get all batty just because-"

Sirius found himself unable to continue speaking, as Hestia leaned up and his lips were suddenly otherwise distracted.

---

An hour later, Lily found herself settling Gideon and Fabian into a private twin ward, one the Auror department had organized for them given their heroic acts.

"This is nice," Fabian said, looking around the small room as Lily levitated Gideon onto the other bed, "Not sure why I need a bloody bed though."

"It's standard procedure," Lily chuckled, directing him towards his own cot as Gideon groaned, readjusting himself into a seated position, "Get in your bed please, you need rest."

"I'm just covered in some fucking scrapes, a few swollen bits, that's all," Fabian grumbled, but allowed Lily to shuck him nonetheless, "You Healer sorts are overdramatic as fuck."

"So are you Auror sorts," Lily retorted, and the twins snickered.

"So we just have to stay until tomorrow?" Gideon asked, his voice raspy from the excessive screaming he had done as Lily healed his burns. Thankfully, the skin had pretty much healed over, the burns hadn't done quite as much damage as they had originally anticipated.

"Tomorrow night," Lily corrected, and Gideon rolled his eyes, "Your bodies have just been under a tremendous amount of pressure, mentally and physically," she added as Fabian opened his mouth to argue, "You need rest, you need time to recuperate." When the boys continued to shoot her skeptical looks, Lily huffed, "For fucks sake can you just stay here till tomorrow night, please?"

"Since you've asked so lovingly," Fabian sniggered, throwing himself into his bed and pulling the covers up to his armpits. Lily rolled her eyes as Gideon joined in the snickering.

"I should have just let you two die."

"Lily," Healer Cromwell chastised as she entered the ward, and Lily flushed as the twins' sniggers renewed, "I just wanted to ensure your arrangements were up to scratch?" she said to the twins, who grinned and nodded.

"Spiffing thanks," Gideon said, and Healer Cromwell's lips twitched.

"Truly astounding, I don't think there's ever been a room of such magnificence-"

"That's quite enough," Cromwell tutted, and turned to Lily with a chastising look, "Please try not to wish ill on the patients Lily, no matter how challenging," she said, and Lily grinned sheepishly, "Now, they'll need to be monitored for the rest of the day, and overnight, would you be-"

"No problem, I'll stay," Lily said, and the twins groaned.

"She'll kill us," Fabian whined, and Cromwell chuckled, eyes twinkling at the boy, "don't go!"

"That's enough," she said gently, as Fabian started to cough, "Now Lily, Miss Bancroft was trying to find you, something about your legs still needing to be healed?"

"What happened?" Gideon asked sharply, all jest evaporating as his eyes zeroed in on Lily.

"It's nothing, really-"

"Lily," Fabian said sternly. Lily opened her mouth to argue, but was cut off as Cromwell raised her hand.

"It is not important, what matters is that Lily gets healed up," she said with a stern look at Lily, who bowed her head shamefacedly, "I don't think you should be working for the rest of the day given your injuries, I will assign someone else to monitor these patients while you go home and rest up," she said. When Lily opened her mouth to protest, Cromwell silenced her with a firm look, "That's my final word Miss Evans, you're off duty as of now, I'll see you in the morning," she added, and Lily sighed in defeat.

"You tell her mum," Gideon said, and Cromwell shook her head fondly.

"I'll send Miss Bancroft to collect you, shall I?" she asked, and Lily shook her head vigorously.

"No, no it's all right, I'll go down to the emergency ward, she's probably still there," she said. Cromwell nodded her head, and gestured for Lily to leave the ward before her. Lily shot the twins a farewell grimace, earning a sarcastic thumbs-up from Fabian in return, before allowing Cromwell to steer her to the emergency ward.

At the entrance, Lily groaned as James, Remus and Alice, all of whom were still stationed outside the doors, looked up.

"How are they? Where are they? What are you doing? Where are you going? Why aren't you with them?" Alice fired, her voice rising in octaves with every question.

"Misters Prewett are up in Private Ward 4 on the third floor, where they will remain until nine in the evening tomorrow night," Cromwell cut in, and Alice nodded obediently, her attitude shifting from yelling at a friend to listening attentively to a superior, "You may visit them, but please refrain from overexciting them, they need their rest," she added, and Alice nodded. She shot Lily an apologetic smile, a mark that there was no bad blood between them, before making towards the stairs.

"You coming?" James asked, holding a hand out to Lily, as he and Remus stood up to follow suit.

"Miss Evans needs to be attended to first, following which you're free to take her home," Cromwell said sternly, and Lily grimaced as James frowned worriedly, and Remus' eyes scanned her for injuries.

"What do you mean?" James asked, the buried panic evident in his voice, "What's the matter?"

"Miss Evans sustained some injuries following an incident earlier today," Cromwell said, and Lily groaned as Alice, who had been within hearing range, turned and stormed back over to them.

"What the bleeding hell happened to you?" Alice scolded, and Lily sighed, "And you worked on those two for the past hour without being healed? Are you fucking insane?"

"If you'd like to continue berating Miss Evans you can accompany her into the ward, where Miss Bancroft will heal her," Cromwell said, and Lily shot her a traitorous look. Cromwell simply smiled and guided Lily into the ward, Alice, James and Remus on their heels. Alma was waiting by one of the cots, a knowing smirk on her face as her eyes scanned the small group of people heading towards her, "Miss Bancroft, your patient," Cromwell said, before turning and heading back out of the ward.

"Well, lie down," Alma said, and Lily shot her a dirty look, knowing that her friend was enjoying herself.

"What happened?" James asked again.

"Some weirdo brought in a bunch of enchanted chairs, which were intent on seating us all. Lily cut up her legs pretty badly when a chair wouldn't let her get off," Alma said, before turning back to Lily, "drop your trousers."

"Er, we can go," Remus said, flushing madly, eyes flickering to James, who simply looked amused.

"Rogue chairs attacked you?" he asked, voice shaking with repressed laughter, and Lily shot him an annoyed look.

"It's not funny James."

"Well, Alice seems to think so," James said, smirking, and nodding to where Alice was doubled over, shaking with laughter. Lily's jaw dropped.

"Alice!"

"Yes, yes, it's all very offensive, can you please lie down for Merlin's sake," Alma said as she pushed Lily onto the bed, "don't make me remove your trousers for you, I don't like you enough for that," Alma said, and Lily shot her a sardonic look as James sniggered.

"I can help."

"Shut up James," Lily huffed, and James grinned at her. Remus looked away awkwardly as Lily shimmied her trousers down her legs, and Alma threw a sheet over her bum to cover up her knickers.

"Merlin Lily," James breathed, as he full extent of her large gashes became visible. Remus took in a sharp breath as he turned back, and Alice groaned.

"Oh Lily," Alice cried, reaching out to hold her friends hand, "they look awful, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, they don't even hurt," Lily's muffled voice came from where she'd buried her face in the mattress.

"Masochist," Alma snorted, and Lily lifted her head to throw Alma an annoyed look. The brunette simply grinned back at her.

"Do you even know how to heal these?" Lily contended, smirking when Alma flushed.

"Er, yeah, I had some help."

"Well this looks like a story," Alice said, all worry forgotten at the hint of gossip, eyes lighting up as she looked at Alma's red face.

"Er, I don't know you," Alma said awkwardly, ducking her head and focusing on Lily's injuries so as to avoid eye contact. Alice rolled her eyes.

"Alice Prewett, nice to meet you," she said, waving off the introduction, "Now tell me what the story is."

"Alice," Lily chastised, "You can't just-"

"Shut up," Alice said, clamping her hand over Lily's mouth. This seemed to earn Alma's trust, and she grinned at Alice as James and Remus sniggered.

"Alma Bancroft," she said, and Alice beamed.

"This is the start of a beautiful friendship," Alice said happily, patting Lily on the head, "the things I could tell you about Lily."

"In exchange for gossip," Lily huffed, and Alice shrugged. Alma laughed.

"Sounds like a worthy trade," she said, and Lily groaned, burying her face in the mattress as Alma, Alice, James and Remus laughed.

"I'd like to know these things about Lily too," James piped in, and Alice smirked at him as Lily groaned loudly.

"Can you just heal my legs please? Surely Owen taught you how to do that?"

"Who's Owen?" Alice squealed excitedly, and Alma flushed darkly, looking around.

"We can't be so loud Alice," Lily giggled, as Alma continued to look panicked, scanning the room for Owen, "it's a forbidden love."

"It's not love, Lily, honestly," Alma huffed, flustered, as she whipped out her wand and pointed it at Lily's legs.

"Sounds a bit like denial to me," Alice sung. Alma glared at her.

"You don't know me, you don't know my denial," she huffed, and Lily giggled as Alice blinked, before smirking.

"I like you," Alice said, and Alma grumbled irritably, starting to slowly heal the cuts on Lily's thighs. Lily hissed as the skin started to stretch to seal the wounds, and James reached out to grab her hands in his. He crouched down so his face was level with hers, and smiled gently. Lily sighed and squeezed his hands back, allowing him to kiss her atop the head.

"You two make me sick," Remus grumbled, and Alma shot him a look of agreement. Remus opened his mouth, but before he could get a word out, he was interrupted by the arrival of another person.

"There you lot are, fucking hell I've been looking everywhere-"

"Couldn't have been looking that far when you found us in the ward we were going to," Remus snorted, as Sirius sauntered over to them, hands in pockets, disheveled hair falling attractively to his shoulders, a giddy grin on his face. His dark eyes scanned the room quickly, before zeroing in on the gashes Alma was healing. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"What happened?" he said seriously, dark eyes jumping from James holding Lily's hands, to Alma's wand, "Lily? Are you all right? Is she all right?" he asked, hurrying forwards. He knocked James aside, causing the boy to fall onto the floor, before kneeling down and taking Lily's hands, "Lily?"

"I'm fine, Sirius," Lily chuckled, lifting her head to grin at him as she squeezed his hands.

"Are you sure? What happened?" he asked urgently, eyes jumping to Alma, who was concentrating hard on her work, a small frown on her face. He looked at James, to see a very amused Remus helping James to his feet, "Is she okay?"

"She's fine," Remus snickered, clapping James on the shoulder as the boy straightened his glasses, "You might not be in a minute though."

"Fuck off Moony this is serious," Sirius said, turning back to Lily, "What can I do? Can I help?"

"Calm down," Lily giggled, withdrawing one of her hands and patting Sirius gently on the cheek, "I'm fine, Alma's fixing me up, it doesn't hurt."

Sirius shot Alma a look, and the girl rolled her eyes, "She actually is absolutely fine, the second these are closed up I would feel no unease letting her do whatever the hell she wanted," she said, and Lily snorted as Sirius rolled his eyes, squeezing her hands again.

"Want us to leave you two alone?" James asked drily, crossing his arms and shooting Sirius an annoyed look. Sirius turned and smirked up at him.

"Not my fault you go down like a bloody leaf."

"I'll show you a leaf-"

"Stop it!" Alice hissed, stepping between them as James made to lunge at Sirius, eyes twinkling with mischief, and Sirius stood up, smirking, "This is a hospital."

"Is it? Merlin, thanks so much Alice, I wouldn't have known," Sirius gasped, looking around at the ward dramatically. Remus rolled his eyes and, walking forwards, grabbed Sirius' sleeve, and began to drag him from the ward, "Oi! Moony!"

"You're causing too much hassle, we're leaving," Remus said. James laughed as Sirius' whines continued to sound until Remus had dragged him out of the ward.

"I should head up as well," Alice said, stroking Lily's head gently as her friend smiled up at her, "Go see my stupid brothers."

"They're fine," Lily said, "Just as annoying as ever."

"And how are their injuries?" Alice asked, eyes filling up with tears. James smiled slightly and wrapped his arm around Alice's shoulders supportively as she began to sniffle.

"They're all healed up. They just need rest, they'll be fine to leave tomorrow night," Lily said, and Alice let out a sigh of relief, leaning momentarily on James' shoulder as she reigned in her tears.

"Speaking of healed up," Alma said, taking a step back and admiring her handiwork. Lily let out an excited squeal and twisted so she could see the backs of her legs.

"Alma you're an absolute star!" Lily said happily, and Alma rolled her eyes as James chuckled. Alice beamed and ruffled Lily's hair.

"Try not to need me for the next few hours," Alma said nonchalantly, and Lily quirked a brow as she watched her friend's face turn pink.

"Why?"

"It's none of your business Lily," Alma huffed as she actively avoided meeting the redheads eye, "Honestly, you don't need to know what I'm doing all the time-"

"Merlin's pants!" Lily squeaked excitedly, pushing herself up into a seated position. James rolled his eyes and walked over to her legs to pull her trousers up so she wouldn't indecently reveal herself in her excitement. Lily gave him a quick kiss of thanks before turning back to Alma, a large grin on her face, "You took my advice!"

"It was rotten bloody advice, dripping in bloody maggots and whatever else is on rotten things-"

"Maggots?" Alice said confusedly, shooting a bewildered look at James, who simply shrugged, helping Lily off the bed.

"If it was so rotten why did you take it?" Lily gloated, stepping towards Alma, who huffed and crossed her arms, meeting Lily's eye with a hostile glare.

"You are going to cause the downfall of us all you know, you're letting him win-"

"Oh Alma this is so exciting!" Lily said happily, bouncing up and down, "What are you going to wear? Where are you going?"

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" James asked Alice, who snorted in amusement.

"That's, it's, just leave me alone Lily!" Alma squawked, and Lily grinned.

"You can never go wrong with a black dress."

"Dresses come off," Alma hissed, and James' eyebrows shot up as Alice sniggered. Lily winked, and Alma narrowed her eyes at her, "You're enjoying my miserty, you little-"

"Let's head up to see Gid and Fab," Alice said, giggling, as she grabbed Lily's hand and began to drag her away from the agitated brunette, "Have fun on your date Alma," she called, and Alma flushed darkly as the giggling girls and the very confused James made their way out of the ward.

"Say hello to Owen for me!" Lily called back, and Alma sighed, lips quirking up into an excited grin as she turned away from them.

---

"Sirius, really, I can walk," Lily said, amused, as Sirius refused to remove his arm from around her waist, and continued to help her up the stairs. James chuckled from where he was holding Lily's hand on her other side.

"It's his sensitive side, we should embrace it," James said seriously, and Sirius shot him an annoyed look as Lily giggled.

"She was just healed, you insensitive prat," Sirius scoffed, directing Lily's left arm around his shoulders for better leverage, "Surely you should be helping her-"

"If she needed help or was in any pain I would," James retorted, sounding offended at Sirius' implication. His eyes shot to Lily's face, wrinkled with worry, "Do you-"

"No James, I'm completely fine," she said gently, leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek, "I'd be better if you'd tell Sirius I'm perfectly capable of going to change out of my Healer robes by myself," she added, and Sirius snorted.

"A likely story, you'll go help some other ailing patient and disregard your own health completely," he said, and Lily shot James a pleading look.

"He's not wrong," James chuckled, and Lily narrowed her eyes at him.

"Can you at least tell him this is unnecessary?" Lily whined as Sirius physically lifted her up the last stair, and James chuckled.

"Think you're fighting a lost battle there, love," he reasoned, and Sirius nodded in agreement as Lily pouted.

"Alma said I was completely fine," she protested, and Sirius snorted.

"More of a reason to help you out," he grumbled, and Lily rolled her eyes as James smirked.

"I don't know what your problem is with her-"

"She's rude."

"You're rude," Lily countered, and Sirius barked a laugh as Lily huffed irritably.

"All this drama for one flight of stairs," Remus sniggered from behind them, and Lily twisted to glare at him as Alice giggled. They finally made it to the doorway leading into the Healers chambers, and Lily shot Sirius an expectant look.

"You can let me go now."

"Lily, really, I think someone should help-"

"I'll do it," James sniggered as Lily's expression transformed into one of pure irritation. Lily turned to shoot him an equally irritated look when he put his arm around her waist, simultaneously shoving Sirius away from her, and pulled her up against him.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Remus piped in, smirking as Sirius complained loudly about thankless heroics, "If he goes in there we may not see them for a while," he said, and Sirius preened at James as the boy in question rolled his eyes. Lily simply looked digusted.

"I work here," she hissed, and James grinned down at her as she glared at Remus. The werewolf simply shrugged, and turned to Alice, "Alice you be careful, I'll pick someone else to be my Maid of Honour," she added dangerously, and Alice rolled her eyes, clearly unthreatened.

"I'm terrified, truly," Alice drawled, and Lily's lips twitched with amusement, "James won't do that anyway, he won't want to overexert her after all of her injuries," she said. James pouted as the other two boys snickered.

"It's for her health," Sirius teased, and James scoffed.

"As far as I'm concerned, your health can only be benefitted by an orga-"

"And down the stairs we go," Lily said loudly, dragging her boyfriend towards the Healers chambers, effectively cutting off the rest of his assuredly inappropriate sentence as Sirius, Remus and Alice roared with laughter, "Honestly James, I've never known anyone else to be so inappropriate all the time."

"It's my one track mind, love, I can't help it," James quipped, and Lily rolled her eyes as he grinned cheekily, looking very pleased with himself.

"You can let me go now, I can walk perfectly fine," she said, attempting to pull herself away from James, who merely held on tighter, a look of innocent disapproval on his face.

"Sirius is right, you need to be resting, not overexerting-"

"I swear to Merlin James if you don't let me go-"

"There's no need to get Merlin involved Lily, I'm sure he has better things to do-"

"James," Lily deadpanned, earning a wink from her boyfriend.

"That's my name."

"Can you stop being a prat?" Lily laughed, attempting to tug herself away from James as he hobbled them down the stairs. She nodded him towards where her locker was, "I wouldn't tell you I could walk if I couldn't-"

"Don't lie Lily, that's exactly what you'd do," James scoffed, depositing her on the bench beside her locker, "Or did you not forget to tell me you were injured today?" he asked, crossing his arms as he looked down at her, eyebrow quirked.

"I didn't forget," Lily whined as he blocked her access to her clothes, "I just, I don't know, I was distracted by Gid and Fab!"

"At the expense of your own well-being," James said, "excuse me if I don't trust that you're telling the truth," he added sternly. Lily pouted up at him, "Don't try and get cute with me, Evans, I'm very cross with you," he said, lips twitching as she continued to pout.

"You don't look very cross," she smirked, beaming up at him, and James rolled his eyes, turning around and opening up the locker for her.

"You're impossible," he said bluntly, and Lily giggled, wrapping her arms around his waist and cuddling her face into his lower back, "You know, I'd prefer this position if I turned around-"

"You are disgusting," Lily giggled, pushing the boy away as he sniggered happily, "Insatiable. Completely perverse."

"But you knew all this before you agreed to marry me, so I figure it's fair," he preened, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead before putting his hands on her hips and bringing her to her feet, "Okay, come on, arms up."

"Really James," Lily scoffed, pining him with an exasperated look as she crossed her arms. The boy had the gall to roll his eyes.

"I wasn't trying to seduce you, I'm trying to help, you know, because of the injuries you recently sustained, the ones you forgot to tell me about?"

"I'm perfectly capable of-"

"Well, humour me then," he snorted, reaching down and pulling the top of her Healer robes over her head. Lily grinned at him as he folded them and placed them on the bench beside her, "What?"

"You're a sweet bloke, James Potter," she giggled, "a really sweet bloke." James rolled his eyes once more, reaching into her locker and pulling out her Muggle clothes, pulling the top over her head as she continued to giggle.

"Shut it," he grumbled, pulling down her trousers, and Lily quirked a brow at him.

"I think you're enjoying yourself too much, bossing me around," she huffed, crossing her arms, and he grinned, leaning down to press his lips to hers, "Stop taking advantage," she squealed, as he put his hands on the backs of her exposed thighs, "I'm half naked and recently healed."

"I thought you were perfectly fine? No issues of over exertion if you're perfectly-"

"Oh for Merlin's sake, James."

---

When Lily and James arrived in the Prewett's ward about ten minutes later, it was to find Sirius and Remus leaning against the furthest wall, focused on a terrifying man who was screaming at Gideon, Fabian and Alice.

"Disappearing in the middle of your shift to search for these two, unacceptable!" he yelled, and Alice bowed her head in shame, as he turned back to the other two, "No back up! Against a bloody herd of attackers! You'd think you had Doxy eggs for brains, the both of you!"

"Oh come on Moody, surely we've paid for it," Gideon grumbled, gesturing to his position in the hospital bed. The man simply glared at him.

His sandy hair fell wisp-like down to his shoulders, sticking out at odd angles at the back, as if unable to fall straight down to the ground. His face was jagged and marred with scars, as if he had fought a thousand battles in his lifetime already. Looking down, it was clear he had a fake leg, made of wood.

"Wonder when he loses the eye, he had a magical one in the books, no?" Lily heard Sirius whisper to James, who shrugged.

"Suspended! All of you!"

The three Prewett's began to moan and protest, but fell silent as the man tapped his cane on the floor in a threatening manner. Just then there was a knock on the door, and one of the receptionists popped their heads in, "There's a family named Weasley here to see you?"

"No suspension then. Send them up," the man named Moody growled. Lily couldn't help but notice that the corner of his mouth quirked up, as if amused at the latest arrival. The reason became clear as she turned to see Gideon and Fabian looking exceedingly pale.

"No! No, Moody, come on, we don't deserve this," Fabian near-whined, "We saved twenty seven people for piss sakes!"

"Aye, and you nearly got yourselves and those twenty seven people killed in the process," the man said harshly, and Fabian bowed his head.

"But we didn't," Gideon muttered under his breath. The man pretended not to have heard him, only then taking notice of the other people in the room, his eyes falling on Sirius, Remus, James and Lily plastered up against the wall.

"Who are you?" he barked, causing Lily to jump slightly.

The three boys rattled off their names like nervous students on the first day of school. Lily noticed as Moody's gaze lingered on Remus a fraction longer than the others. Remus must have noticed it too, as his hands clenched into fists, and he raised his chin, as if in a challenge.

"And you?" he barked at Lily, who had been distracted by Remus, and she cleared her throat nervously before answering, "Heard of you lot, I have," he said, eyes darting between them. Lily pretended not to notice the three Prewett's frown. The man said nothing else, limping towards the entrance of the ward, "See you in a few weeks Potter, Black," he said, and the two nodded attentively, "Expecting good things," he added with a pointed look, and the two exchanged an apprehensive glance. Lily noticed Remus' head droop sadly, "Prewett!" he called, and the three stood at attention. He examined them for a minute, an expression of distaste plastered on his marred face, "I'll be back in a moment, give you some time to bond with your, er, visitors," he said with a nasty smile, before clunking out of the ward.

"So much for suspension," Fabian snorted, "Empty threat if I ever heard one," he sniggered and Alice rolled her eyes as Gideon smirked at him.

"It's because he likes us," Gideon sniggered, grinning up at Alice, "Lucky you're our little sister, you are. He'd have actually punished you otherwise."

"Oh shut up you buffoons," Alice hissed, throwing a dirty look from one to the other, "Besides, he's not wrong you know, about your idiocy, who the hell goes into a crisis situation without calling for backup?"

"We heard the speech from Mad-Eye Alice, don't really need it from you," Gideon groaned, and Fabian snorted.

"Slightly less effective, if you know what I mean," he said, and Alice rolled her eyes, turning to look at Lily.

"You see what I have to deal with?" she sighed, and Lily quirked a brow, nodding towards James, Remus and Sirius, who barked out noises of protest as Alice smirked. She turned back to the twins, a rather devious expression on her face. They instantly looked wary, "No matter, I'm off the hook, I owled the real threat with all the details," she shrugged.

Gideon and Fabian looked horrified, "You did not," Gideon breathed, and Fabian groaned, burying his head in his knees.

"We're dead, actually dead," he said, and Alice smiled, satisfied, as she turned towards the door.

"How else would she have known to come here?" she said, twiddling her fingers goodbye at the twins, who still looked ill at the thought of this 'real threat'. She smiled at the three Marauders, and leaned in to give Lily quick hug, "I'd better get going," she sighed, looking at her watch, "Reckon I should at least get some work done today," she added, with a pointed glare at the twins.

As Alice left, Sirius quirked a brow at the twins, "Who's the real threat? Your mum?"

"No," said a harsh voice from the doorway. They turned their heads quickly to find themselves facing none other than Molly Weasley. Gideon and Fabian, who were usually so brave and carefree, shrunk under her icy glare as she made her way into the room.

She was a tiny little thing, thought James. He had somehow imagined her much larger. But the woman was no taller than 5"3, stout, with loud red hair and still wearing an apron. She had dark circles under her eyes, as if she had not slept in weeks. The answer to that became quite clear as Arthur Weasley, holding in his arms two small infants, followed her into the room. Behind them came three more red headed children, and Lily grinned as the youngest of the three glared irritably at the infants in his fathers' arms through his horn-rimmed glasses. The other two ran excitedly towards their uncles, but were stopped by their father as Molly Weasley placed her hands on her hips, heaved in a large breath, and began to scream.

The second she started to yell at Gideon and Fabian, who bore expressions appropriate to those of funeral goers, the three children retreated, the youngest hiding behind his father's legs as the older two inched their way towards James and Sirius, the closest adults, shamelessly hiding themselves behind them. James grinned down at the one behind him, reaching down and ruffling his hair. Sirius shot Lily an alarmed look as the other grabbed the back of his jeans, and Lily grinned.

"Bill, Charlie," Arthur hissed, snapping his fingers for the children to leave Sirius and James alone as Sirius let out a yelp, "Come back here. Percy, it's okay, don't worry, Mummy isn't angry with you," he said gently to the youngest, who had started to cry. The twins in his arms didn't look bothered; rather, they were watching the scene with interest, kicking each other repeatedly as Molly's yells got louder.

"Maybe we should go," Remus whispered to Lily, as Arthur organized his children onto the various chairs and sofas littering the room, Molly's shrill yells having caused them to cling to their father. Lily's gaze, however, was transfixed on the children, a smile on her face as she recounted the years of Harry's life they had read, and the interactions he had had with each child. The twins in particular had her grinning, as she watched one of them reach over and pull his father's spectacles off, having gotten bored of watching his mother scream at his uncles. The other reached across and attempted to steal the spectacles, causing the first to yell out, and Arthur to finally take notice of the fact that he had been blinded. The man irritably settled the twins into an armchair before stealing his spectacles back from the first twin, who started to cry in response, and slamming them onto his face.

James looked at Lily and rolled his eyes, smirking. He grabbed her hand and began to lead her out of the ward, knowing she was too distracted to be trusted to coordinate herself. Remus followed suit, a grin on his face as he watched Arthur massage the bridge of his nose as the second twin began to cry as well, triggering Percy's renewed tears.

Sirius ushered them towards the door, and, not wanting to draw attention to himself, to avoid Molly directing her attention to him, tip toed over to Arthur, "We'll leave you to it," he whispered, wincing as Molly angrily brought her hands down, whacking the twins on the sides of their heads simultaneously, "could you let them know we'll come back tomorrow."

"Go, save yourselves," Arthur muttered back, before making a grab for one of the twins, who had decided to roll off the armchair. Sirius smirked, clapped Arthur on the shoulder, and followed his friends out of the ward.

"AND WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?"

The four of them froze and turned slowly, to see Molly Weasley's thunderous expression now directed at them. Sirius prodded Lily in the back, causing her to stumble forwards. Molly's gaze narrowed in on her.

"Er, we thought we'd give you some privacy," Lily said nervously, but smiling kindly nonetheless as her eyes flickered once more to the twins, whom Arthur was now handing to Gideon and Fabian each.

"You're the Healer who helped my brothers?" Molly asked, the harshness in her voice dissipating, and Lily hesitated slightly before nodding. Next thing she knew, Molly had burst into tears and had her arms around Lily, "Thank you," she choked, and Lily smiled, gently hugging the woman back.

"Well that's a nice change," Fabian sighed, grinning at the twin on his lap. Arthur had collapsed onto the recently vacated armchair.

"Arthur looks like he's going to die," Gideon sniggered, and Arthur shot him an annoyed look.

"You singlehandedly bring five children and a raging Molly to the hospital," he grumbled, and the twins laughed as Molly finally disentangled herself from Lily, bringing the end of her apron up to dab at her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, have we met?" she said politely to James, Sirius and Remus, who grinned and introduced themselves, "and you are?" she asked Lily.

"Lily Evans," she said kindly, and Molly gave her a watery smile.

"Well it's lovely to meet you dear, please, sit down," she said to the four of them, gesturing to the empty seats.

"Molly, this is our room, surely we should be being hospitable," Gideon snorted.

"Perhaps you should," she snapped at her brother, who recoiled under her suddenly sharp gaze. James smirked, wrapping his arm around Lily's shoulders.

"We've probably got to head out in a minute anyway," Remus said kindly, obviously still of the opinion that the twins should be left with their family. They turned again, only to find their exit blocked by Moody, who had returned, and was watching the children now running around the room with distaste.

"Could hear you all the way down the corridor," he grumbled at Molly, who flushed, "good on you," he added with a crooked smirk, and Molly nodded politely, still pink, before attempting to usher her children back to the sofa.

"See? No need for suspension when you've got a sister like ours," Gideon said, earning glares from both Moody and Molly.

"Careful Prewett or I'll reinstate the damn thing," Moody growled, effectively shutting Gideon up. Sirius started to snigger at the twins' contrite expressions, but managed to cover it up with a skilfully timed cough, earning an eye roll and shoulder shove from Remus.

"Now, I need a report on what happened," Moody said, shooting a glare at one of the children, Bill, as he wandered too close to him. The boy retreated, seating himself back down on the sofa, eyes watching Moody carefully as if he was going to attack.

"Yeah, we'd like to know before we leave," Sirius said, causing every head to turn towards him. Remus' jaw dropped, and he stomped on Sirius' foot, "what?" Sirius hissed, and Remus rolled his eyes, muttering about tactlessness and foolish imbeciles.

"Looks like we're all on the same boat," Moody said, lip twitching with amusement as he watched Lily and Remus hiss at Sirius about knowing his place. James simply looked amused, arm remaining around Lily as he fought back a laugh.

"Well we were patrolling in this one area," Gideon said, and Fabian shot him a warning look, "What? I won't give anything away," he snorted, rolling his eyes before turning back to the room. Molly had seated herself down on Fabian's bed, and had taken the twin into her arms, trying to stop him from pulling at Fabian's hair, "And suddenly, BOOM!"

"BOOM!" shouted Bill, Charlie and Percy, and Sirius barked a laugh, ruffling Charlie's hair as James, Remus and Lily chuckled. Moody simply looked irritable, and grumbled for them to get a move on and tell the story.

"Precisely, boom," Gideon said, winking at his nephews, "explosion, multiple masked attackers, tons of people at risk," he said, biting his lip as he looked down at the child who had fallen asleep in his lap, "Er, I'll not go into the gory details, can fill you in on those later with a more appropriate audience, but basically there were a bunch of them shooting spells. We couldn't do nothing," he said, with a pointed look at Molly, who simply glared back, "so we whipped out our wands and did what any decent person would do," he finished, nodding his head. James couldn't help but notice the reluctant pride on Moody's face.

"And you saved twenty seven people without any backup," Arthur said, shaking his head in amazement. The twins shrugged.

"All in a days work," Fabian said. Molly rolled her eyes and allowed the still whimpering Percy to climb into her lap, the twin in her arms having fallen asleep. Fabian took the sleeping baby from her, grinning down at it as Percy made himself comfortable on his mothers lap. Arthur shot Bill and Charlie a warning look as they began to snigger and point at Percy. They stopped immediately.

"Wasn't that difficult until the new recruits showed up. There was this one, Snape, had the mad idea to threw bloody Bobotuber pus everywhere," Gideon growled.

James grabbed Lily's shoulder just in time as she blanched, stumbling in shock at having heard that name. Sirius had the tact to pretend he had pushed her and apologized.

"Snape?" Moody barked, whipping out a piece of parchment from inside his robes and scanning it, "Don't have a Snape on here. New recruit, you reckon?" he asked, all business, as he whipped out a quill and scribbled the name down.

"You sure it was Snape?" Remus asked, eyes daring warily from James' clenched jaw to Lily's pale face.

"Yeah, that blighter from Hogwarts, must have been your year, yeah?" Fabian asked, and the four nodded mutely, "Rotten little thing, I always thought. Greasy hair," he said. James managed a weak smile, his hand still gripping Lily's shoulder. Sirius barked a laugh, and Remus grinned, both of them warily casting glances at James.

"Any idea on a first name?" Moody asked, frowning at the four of them. None of the boys moved, eyes on Lily, who took a deep breath in.

"Severus Snape," she said in a passably calm voice. Sirius noticed Molly shoot her a peculiar glance.

"Any knowledge on blood status? Family?" Moody barked at her. She grabbed James' hand behind her back, squeezing it tight before nodding her head.

"He's a half blood, his mum is a witch. Last I knew his family lived in Spinner's End, in Surrey," she said. James squeezed her hand again as Moody aggressively scribbled down the information.

"Helpful having inside knowledge, could help with blackmail," Moody said, nodding his head as he folded the parchment and shoved it inside his robes. His eyes lingered on Lily, and softened slightly, "Know him, do you?"

"I did, a long time ago," Lily said in a clipped tone. Moody nodded, before turning back and questioning the twins some more, "I'm going to head back," she murmured to James, who simply looked down at her, jaw still tight as his eyes scanned hers.

"Okay," he said after a moment, releasing her hand, "Want me to come with you?"

"No, it's fine," she said, throwing him a poor attempt at a smile before heading out of the ward. James made to follow her, eyes filled with worry, but Remus placed a hand on his shoulder, following Lily in his stead.

"Leave it," Sirius murmured, as James made to follow after Remus anyway.

"But-"

"You're worried about Snape, especially after all that shit we learned in the Seventh Book," he said, narrowing his eyes at James as the boy opened his mouth angrily, "Don't lie to me mate, I know you worry about her leaving you because he loves her," he whispered. James simply clenched his jaw, turning away from Sirius to watch Moody continue to question the twins. Sirius was undeterred, "Until you get over that, she's not going to talk to you about it," he whispered, before leaning away. James nodded slightly, crossing his arms tightly.

He knew Sirius was right, how could he expect Lily to trust him when he was so untrusting when it came to her feelings for Snape?

---

Remus found her in the living room, sitting in the middle of the floor, a book on Horcruxes open on her lap.

"Lily-"

"You know, I had no idea making a Horcrux was as gruesome as it is," she mused, not looking up from the book as she turned the page. Remus carefully lowered onto the floor beside her. He took a deep breath, before placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You all right?"

"A bit grossed out," she snorted, placing her hand over a drawing of a man in considerable pain as a part of his soul flew out of him.

"Lily-"

"Remus," she sighed, looking up from the book and into the boys' scarred face, "How am I supposed to feel?" she asked, beseeching him. Remus opened his mouth, but found himself unable to make words, "It's just," she sighed again, looking down at the book, her vibrant hair falling in cascades down her shoulders, the ends littering the pages of the book, "I grew up with him, he was my best friend. You'll say I'm stupid and naïve, everyone did, but I honestly didn't see this coming."

"I know," Remus murmured, rubbing her shoulder in gentle circles as she continued to speak.

"And I mean, we read those books, we found out how he felt, and I just," she sighed again, closing her eyes and leaning her head back, "I just feel so bloody guilty."

"About what?" Remus asked after a few moments silence. There was a terrible knot of tension in his stomach as the possibilities of Lily's source of guilt rolled around in his head; was she feeling guilty because she loved Snape, because she was betraying James?

"Because I feel sorry for the bastard," she groaned, dropping her head into her hands, and Remus released a sigh of relief, "Why should I feel sorry for him?"

"Lily, maybe-"

"Remus, don't," she snapped, "Honestly, the four of you always make me feel even worse every time Severus is mentioned. I mean, for Merlin's sakes, do you really think so little of me, that my feelings for James are so insignificant that I could throw him away in a moment because of Severus?"

Remus shook his head quickly as she turned to look at him, but his eyes betrayed him. He looked down into his lap as her eyes filled with tears.

"You do."

"Lily-"

"Don't lie to me," she sniffed, blinking quickly as she looked away from Remus, "All of you think I'm going to bail at any second because of him."

"You've never told us how you feel about him," Remus said after a moment, wincing as Lily turned to look at him, her eyes wide with hurt, "You don't like to talk about it."

"Because it hurts Remus," she said sadly, shaking her head, "it hurts, and every time I bring him up, Sirius cracks a joke about shampoo and James looks like he's going to punch something," she added. Remus coughed, attempting to hide the unexpected spurt of laughter he was fighting at the bizarrely accurate description of his friends. Lily wasn't fooled, and smirked at him, "See? It's true."

"So you don't feel anything for him?" he asked, hoping Lily wouldn't hear the hopeful undercurrent to his question. Lily, however, was no idiot, and shot him a sardonic look before sighing, facing the wall in front of her.

"I don't feel nothing," she said slowly, chewing on her lip, ignoring the way Remus tensed beside her, "I don't feel anything romantic, I never did, so you can stop worrying about that," she assured, patting Remus' knee soothingly, "But that doesn't mean I didn't love him. Of course I did, but like a sibling," she sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head, "Remus, you don't understand. When I went home over the holidays, he was the only person from Hogwarts I spent time with, that I properly kept contact with. When I wanted to talk to someone, I sought out either him or Alice," she shook her head sadly, before turning to look Remus fully in the eye, "I imagine it's how you felt when you found out what Peter had done," she said.

"But Peter isn't in love with me," Remus said bluntly, and Lily smirked

"That you know of." Remus rolled his eyes, lips twitching amusedly as Lily continued to smirk at him.

"You've spent way too much time with James and Sirius," he snorted, and Lily beamed. Remus sighed, adopting a more serious expression, "But really Lily, it's different-"

"But it's not, that's what I'm trying to tell you!" she groaned, getting up onto her knees and staring down at Remus imploringly, "It's such bollocks Remus, to say that," she added. When the boy continued to look skeptical, Lily huffed, getting ot her knees and staring down at him imploringly, "Say Peter was in love with you, would it have changed how you felt? Wouldn't it still have hurt?" she asked shrilly. Remus heard a new sense of urgency in her voice, like she desperately needed him to understand her point, "Remus, even if someone does love you, it doesn't mean you feel the same way. Severus was a part of my life from the time I was nine years old. How can I not feel upset, or hurt, or caught off guard when I hear that the boy who told me I was a witch, who was my best friend, was actively involved in one of these attacks?"

Remus continued to look at her, before sighing and nodding, "So you don't love him."

"I do," she sighed, sinking back down to the floor and wrapping her hands around her legs and dropping her chin onto her knees, "Of course I do, but not romantically. I was never interested in that with Severus. It's flattering, of course, that he felt that way. But it doesn't change how I feel."

Lily closed her eyes and dropped her head so her face was no longer visible to Remus. The werewolf continued to look at her sadly, finally understanding and accepting that her love for Severus was completely different and separate to her love for James. He supposed she had a point really. If any of the Marauders betrayed them, as Peter had in the future, he'd be just as torn up, would have reacted the same way hearing that one of them had hurt Gideon.

"It's like he's not there anymore," Remus murmured, and Lily lifted her head. Her eyes met his, shining with unshed tears, and she nodded, biting her lip, "And that's why it hurts. Because it means he's completely gone."

"He's lost," she whispered in agreement. Remus reached out and grabbed her hand, and she squeezed it back, "And I feel guilty because I feel sorry for him, even though he's one of them, and he's hurting my friends."

There were a few minutes of silence, as Lily reigned in her emotions and Remus continued to hold her hand in a show of support. Finally, she let out a big breath, and released his hand.

"Let's just, talk about something else," Remus said, dragging the book she'd been looking at towards him. His eyes fell on the drawing and his face contorted with disgust, "I see what you mean."

"Grossed out," Lily giggled, nodding her head as she crawled closer so she could look down at the page with him.

"Why are you reading this?" he asked, reading the instructions on how to create a Horcrux, "Something you want to tell me?" he asked, wagging his eyebrows at her, eyes glinting with mischief, and Lily rolled her eyes, lips curved up in a smile.

"Oh no, you've caught me," she deadpanned, and Remus laughed, "I don't know why I was reading it to be honest, just thought it was interesting to know."

"By interesting I'm sure you mean fucking terrifying," he said, and Lily snorted, leaning her head on his shoulder, "Can I just say one more thing?" he asked, and Lily sat up straight, turning to look at his serious face. She nodded slowly, and he took a deep breath before saying, "Tell James everything you told me." Lily continued to look at him, not saying anything, "he needs to hear it."

Lily nodded, before looking back down at the pages in front of them. Remus smiled slightly, wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and turned the page.

"Are you okay, Remus?" Lily asked after a few minutes of reading, and he shot her a questioning look, "Moody-"

"I don't want to talk about it," he bit out, turning away from her. He felt her small hand slip into his and looked up at her once more, face burning with indignation.

"I'm sorry you're hurting," she said, and Remus sighed, running his hand through his hair agitatedly.

"It's just not fair, my application was just as good as theirs," he choked out, and Lily leaned her head on his shoulder.

"You'd make a wonderful Auror Remus," she said, squeezing his hand once more. Remus blinked quickly, before looking back down at the page, unable to speak through the lump of emotion in his throat.

---

When James and Sirius got back, it was to find Lily and Remus still seated on the floor, happily chattering away about the various books open around them. Peter was back as well, seated on the floor near his bed with a blank expression, clearly not paying attention to Remus and Lily's conversation. His head turned as James and Sirius appeared, and he waved hello. Lily and Remus were so engrossed they hadn't noticed the boys' arrival.

"How's your mum?" Sirius asked, dropping himself onto one of the dining room chairs. James continued to watch Lily as she giggled with Remus.

"Fine, nearly wet herself when I told her about the Prophet," Peter snickered. Sirius smirked, before kicking James' ankle.

"What?" the boy snapped, and Sirius rolled his eyes. James' sharp tone seemed to get Lily and Remus' attention, and the two looked up. Lily beamed at James, who managed a weak smile in return.

"When did you two get back?" Remus asked, frowning, and Sirius rolled his eyes amusedly.

"Been here a about a minute, you were busy," he sniggered, nodding to the books, "How are your legs, Lil-bit?"

"Fine," Lily said, smiling up at him before looking back down at the book, "Good as new."

"What happened to Lily's legs?" Peter asked, frowning.

"Hear you managed to make a move today," Lily giggled, winking up at Sirius, who flushed.

"How do you-"

"I happened to run into a very giddy Hestia Jones while I was on my way out today," she said, smirking as Sirius' face turned a darker hue, "Do you have any idea why she was so happy?"

"Er-"

"I managed to decipher something about feelings and someone being scared-"

"That's enough," Sirius barked, flushing darker as both Remus and James shot him gleeful grins.

"Did she say-"

"Scared?"

The two sniggered madly as Sirius shot them looks of deep loathing. Peter simply continued to look confused.

"What's going on? Moves? What happened to your legs?" he asked Lily, who laughed.

"Leave him alone," Lily giggled, as James and Remus continued to prod and tease Sirius, who was steadily curling himself into a ball to avoid their sniggers and wiggling fingers, "If you hurt him you'll have to answer to Hestia."

"Definitely official then, if you're no longer in charge," James said, shooting a cheeky smirk over his shoulder at Lily, who rolled her eyes, shaking her head fondly as she began to tidy the living room of littered books.

"I'm in charge," Sirius scoffed, causing James to let out a bark of laughter. Sirius shoved him in the side

"Oh that reminds me," James said, before launching himself at Sirius. Lily let out a squeal as the chair went toppling backwards, James and Sirius' wrestling forms barely reacting as they continued to shove at each other.

"What?" Peter asked again, frowning as an exasperated Remus attempted to pull the two boys apart.

"Oh for piss sake," Sirius whined as James sent a well directed kick at him, "You push a bloke once and all of a sudden-"

"Hardly sudden is it, you wanker. You pushed me hours ago-"

"Well excuse me for assuming you were a grown up-"

"You're excused."

"Why you little shit-"

With that, Sirius threw his arms around James' ankles, causing the bespectacled boy to topple over, pulling Lily down with him as he grabbed onto her to keep steady. Remus rolled his eyes and stepped over them as the three burst out laughing at their predicament, giving up on trying to achieve order and making his way to the kitchen.

"Remus! Wait, what's going on?" Peter squawked, pushing himself up and following the muttering werewolf into the kitchen. His reaction only caused James, Sirius and Lily to laugh harder, Sirius still lying on the chair, hands curled around James' ankles, and James lying half on top of Lily.

"Well, I think that settles it," Lily giggled as James pushed himself off her, and pulled her to her feet.

"I'm going to get some nosh, I'm fucking starving," Sirius chuckled, shoving James once more in the shoulder before following the other two into the kitchen, where Remus' irritable voice could be heard muttering to Peter about immaturity and why the fuck did he have to choose that day to go to his mothers.

"Well, it's been an eventful day," Lily said after a few moments' awkward silence. James sighed and ruffled his hair, before looking down into her face.

"Look, Lily, I-"

Lily cut him off, placing a finger on his lips, effectively defeating his ability to speak. James just looked down at her, his wide eyes alive with nerves and worry. Lily sighed, before wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling herself higher in his arms and pressing her lips gently to his.

"I know," she said, smiling slightly, "But we've had this discussion before, and this is the last time I am going to say this." James' jaw clenched and his hands tightened on her hips, "I do not love Severus, not as anything more than a very dear friend from my past," she said, noting that James' entire frame seemed to have relaxed a hair as she said so. She pinched his neck, scolding, earning a devastatingly handsome crooked smile in return, "I told you multiple times after we finished that damn book that you didn't have to worry about him, and that he always was nothing more than a friend-"

This time James cut her off, smashing his lips to hers. Lily let out a frustrated groan, attempting to push him off her. After a few pitiful attempts, James chuckled against her mouth, and released her, looking down at her expectantly as she narrowed her eyes up at him.

"Stop it, I'm trying to tell you something," she huffed, blowing a lock of hair out of her face. James chuckled, tucking the lock behind her ear.

"Go ahead, I won't interrupt again," he promised, and Lily rolled her eyes.

"Don't make promises we both know you won't keep," she snorted, and the boy winked down at her, "James, listen," she sighed, grabbing his collar in her hands and looking into his eyes, "I know you've never stopped worrying that I was going to run away with him, ever since we read that book. But, James, I said it then and I'm saying it now, he's never held any romantic interest to me. You're the one I want to be with, for some reason unbeknownst to me," she scoffed, flushing as James beamed down at her, "that's not going to change because I found out someone else is interested, and I hope it's the same vice versa," she said quickly. James chuckled, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer.

"He's not the only one interested," he said, and Lily rolled her eyes, attempting to shove him away as he grinned, "Or need I mention Benjy Fenwick-"

"I'm not listening to any more of this," she whined, fighting off a smile as he started whisper his murder plans, "And James, even if I did love Severus in the way you tend to worry I do, which I bloody don't," she added again, and James smirked, "I wouldn't be able to forgive him, because I know that if we do succeed at this James, he won't change in this lifetime, and he wouldn't have changed in those damn books if it had been anyone but me, he would have let an innocent baby die, and that's not something I admire in a partner." James burst out laughing at this, and pulled her close.

"Promise bloody broken, you said you wouldn't interrupt," Lily managed, but James simply chuckled, and pulled her face back to his, "I love you," she murmured against his mouth.

"You two make me want to vomit, you know that?" Remus groaned as he walked back into the living room, purposefully walking right up to them, separating them, and walking through the middle. James shot him a dirty look as Lily giggled, her face bright red. Sirius sniggered as he threw his arm around her shoulders, sticking his tongue out at James, who was still glaring at a very amused Remus.

"Poor Moony, hasn't been laid in so long," Sirius sighed, "Tragic really."

"He's so attractive too, bless his bum," James sniffed, smirking as Remus turned to glare at the two of them.

"Don't restart this shit, you twats."

"Such language," Sirius gasped, grinning down at Lily, who was exchanging an amused look with Peter.

"Explains the lack of lay," James sighed, "Come here, you need some practice letting people in," he said, opening his arms wide and heading towards Remus.

"Fuck off, don't you dare touch me," Remus huffed, putting the fallen chair between them as Lily, Sirius and Peter cackled, "James, don't you dare."

"I think he's scared of affection Prongs!" Peter called out, grinning as Remus shot him a look of pure loathing.

"Explains why he's still single," Sirius sniggered, his arm still draped around the laughing redhead, "That and the shit talk from this morning, remember Prongs?" he called, smirking as Remus glared at him

"Poor Remus, so alone, with a poo fetish no less," James sighed, before launching himself at the boy. Remus, who had been too busy looking disgusted as the others cackled about his supposed 'poo fetish', squawked and attempted to scamper, but was a shade too slow as James managed to grab the sleeve of his shirt.

"Lily!" Remus squealed, attempting to dig his heels into the floor. The redhead simply laughed at him as James, who was significantly stronger than Remus, managed to reel the boy in, wrapping his arms around Remus securely, one of his hands soothingly rubbing Remus atop the head.

"There there," James crooned, throwing Lily a wink as Remus attempted to push him off, his hands smacking every part of James he could reach.

"You're an idiot," Lily chuckled, crossing her arms as Sirius and Peter roared with laughter at Remus' struggling.

"You're next," James said, blowing her a kiss, before continuing to stroke the very agitated Remus.

"Geroff me! James you just wait till I-Fuckin-just-will you-Prongs!"

---

Hey all, so sorry for the delay, this has been the worst couple months for me. Not a lot of plot this chapter, but hope it was fun nonetheless! Thought it was time to deal with the fact that Lily and James were aware of Snape's sacrifice for her.

Hope this was worth the wait, I'll try and be better!