Author's Note: this one's for Ana. Everything belongs to JKR. Title's a Super Furry Animals song.

Hello Sunshine

I'm a minger

You're a minger too

So come on minger,

I want to ming with you

The morning Lily left for Surrey was crisp and cool. The day before, the rest of the McKinnons had arrived, three days before they were supposed to, much to Marlene's dismay. They were a messy, sprawling clan (there were eight in total, including Matt and Marlene) and very Scottish. Their father, David, was an aging hippy, with sparkling blue eyes and a long, greying beard.

"Marlene says you saw the band in Surrey," he said to Lily as she sat down to breakfast, an hour before her own father was due to arrive, "What did you think?"

"What – oh, yeah, I did," the McKinnons had brought an enormous amount of food with them, and Lily helped herself to some Frosties, "They were good! Inspired me to leave, actually."

"We kidnapped her," Marlene joked, and lit a cigarette. Her mother, a glamourous blonde woman who appeared to be much younger than her husband, smacked the back of her hand.

"Not at the table, Marlene please."

Lily shifted in her seat, a little uncomfortable, and Marlene looked from her mother, to her father, and back again several times.

"It's my body-" she began eventually, and her mother raised a hand to silence her.

"It's my breakfast – if I wanted smoked ham I'd have smoked it myself. Go into the hall, please, and don't ruin Lily's last day."

"I don't-"

"Don't pander to her, dear. Look at you, Marlene, you've gotten too used to living alone-"

"I'm not al-"

"You've gotten too used to living alone," her mother repeated forcefully, "You're practically feral."

"So is Matt!"

"Boys," she said simply, "will be boys."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "C'mon Lily," she muttered, "I'll help you pack."

She stood, and Lily thought it no use to mention she had already packed last night, and was now completely ready to walk out of the squat at a moment's notice. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the Marauders, gathered by the window drinking tea, watching the unfolding scene with great interest.

"Subs?"

"Thanks, Marlene," she said quietly, and got to her feet.

They walked into the hall, and Lily heard Mrs. McKinnon complaining loudly to David.

"Sorry about my mum," Marlene mumbled as they climbed the stairs, "She…I'm her only daughter, and she used to be a model until my dad corrupted her, or something, and she's got all these ideas about being ladylike and graceful in her head – she loves Emmeline, she'd adopt Emmeline tomorrow – but I've been away for so long, it's-"

"Marlene," Lily interrupted as they got to the top of the stairs, "it's okay. Mine's the same. That's not ladylike this, that's not ladylike that. My sister's bought into it all, but I'm…I dunno, it's not fair that the boys get away with so much when we can't even breathe without getting told to make ourselves smaller."

They turned into the bedroom that they shared, and Marlene flopped onto her bed.

"I wish I had Dorcas' mum," she groaned, "She's amazing, completely – she was sixteen, right, when she had Dor, and they were going to give her - Dor, I mean - away, to one of those Mother and Baby Homes, you know the ones I mean?"

Lily nodded – she did know the ones Marlene meant.

"But Dor's mum wasn't having any of it, said she'd rather die. She's from Blackpool, originally, Dor's dad was some day tripper from Manchester apparently, although she's never found him so we can't be sure. Anyway, one day about a week before she was supposed to go off to this home, she gets all this money she's been saving all summer, gets on a train to London and never looks back. Raised Dor all on her own."

"That's amazing," Lily replied quietly, "she must be so strong…"

"Imagine that," Marlene said in a strange, strangled voice, "Having a baby at our age…"

"We live on our own, pretty much – I can't imagine it's that different."

"I imagine it's like living on another planet," came the reply, and Lily moved to where Marlene was lying, and lay beside her. Their long hair overlapped, a criss cross of blood red and pale, pale white.

"What time's your dad coming?" Marlene murmured.

"Dunno – soon, I think."

"I'll miss you."

"You'll be okay – I'm only on the other end of the phone, and I'll be back-"

"For New Years," Marlene said confidently, "You'll be back for New Years. That's what – two weeks?"

In all honesty, Lily hadn't discussed when she would return to London with her parents. In every conversation they'd had since the first one at the start of the month, Lily got the distinct impression her parents believed she was coming back for good, and it was so comforting to hear their familiar voices she couldn't bring herself to tell them it was only a temporary visit.

"I'm not sure," she told Marlene quietly, "I don't know when I'll be back."

"But you will be back, won't you?"

The fear in her friend's voice made Lily's head spin.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course I'll be back."

They lay in silence for a good ten minutes, until there came a knock at the door. Celia, who carried a rather suspicious looking parcel and wore a wide smile, stood in the doorframe.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

They shook their heads, and Celia joined them on Marlene's bed. It was small, and creaked, but it was nice, the three of them together in the silence. Celia rested the parcel on her stomach.

"This is your Christmas present, Subs," she said eventually, and Marlene swore loudly.

"What?"

"Fuck! Fuck, I'd – fuck! I haven't got you anything!"

Lily laughed.

"You didn't have to! You don't have to! You brought me here, Marlene, that's enough."

"No it's not!" came the protest, but Lily wouldn't hear any of it.

"Don't be ridiculous, McKinnon – it is more than enough. It is everything."

There was a pause, during which Celia wordlessly handed Lily her gift (it felt like a book) and the redhead got to her feet, and stowed the parcel in her suitcase.

"Alright, no need to get soppy, Subs."

Lily smiled.

"Atta girl, McKinnon. Atta girl."

The car pulled up outside at half past twelve, and Lily saw them from the window. They had brought Petunia. Her heart in her throat, she slipped downstairs quietly, hoping the general hubbub of the McKinnons would mask her father's short rap on the front door.

She opened the door before any of her family had the chance to get out of the car.

"Hello," she said nervously, mouth very dry. "Hello, hello, hell-"

Petunia had made it out first.

"Why," she spat, pulling her sister into a very bony hug, "would you ever want to live in this pig sty?"

Vague answers about magic, and family and living came to the tip of Lily's tongue, but quickly died as her father hugged her tightly.

"Missed you, Red," he mumbled into her hair, choked with tears.

"Missed you too, Dad," Lily mumbled back.

"Give us the grand tour, then, eh?" her father said with a forced cheerfulness as he pulled away. Sheila Evans stood leaning against the bonnet of the car, looking very stern, and very clean.

"Don't be ridiculous, John, it's a hovel." Sheila sniped, and Petunia nodded in agreement.

"Oh, don't be a snob, She – I'm sure it's lovely, Lily, absolutely lovely. Come on, invite us in."

Lily glanced behind her. She thought her mother would vomit if she saw the inside of the house up close. There was a rat in the corner of the hallway, eyes gleaming in the dim light.

"Do you know what, Dad, it's a bit of a mess, and – and – oh shit, bollocks, I've left my suitcase upstairs, sorry," she kissed her father on his rough cheek, and ran back into the house, apologizing as she went.

"I'll be back in a minute! Wait in the car!"

As she slid the chain on the front door for the first time since she'd lived there, she heard Petunia tut loudly.

She was shaking as she got her suitcase, hands trembling as she ran them over the blankets on her bed, as she pulled out her chest of drawers to check she hadn't missed anything. She was going home, and she couldn't guarantee she was coming back. Satisfied she was leaving nothing, she turned to leave. James was in the doorway, and she let out a shriek of surprise. He looked grave and serious, and not like himself.

"Subs…" he said quietly. She smiled nervously.

"James…James…hi, hi, I'm-"

"Can I have a word?" A pause. "Please."

"Yeah, yeah, it's just – my dad, my whole – they're outside-"

"It won't take long."

"Okay," she cleared her throat, and clutched the handle of her suitcase so tightly her knuckles whitened. James closed the door of her bedroom, and Lily's heart rammed in her chest.

"You alright?" she asked, stomach churning. Why did he look so serious? Had someone died? God, what if Dumbledore had died? Everything would be ruined then, the whole thing would fall apart.

"Yeah, I'm – I'll be alright in a minute," he replied, and ran a hand through his hair, "It's just – well, I don't know how to say it, so I thought I might write it down, but I didn't know what to write without sounding like a tit, and I've got to get it right because-"

"James," Lily said shakily, "Spit it out."

"Alright then," he replied earnestly, "I'm in love with you."

Oh.

Oh.

"Oh," she said. He nodded.

"Yeah. So now you know."

She licked her lips. "My dad's outside," she croaked.

"Your – oh, okay," he seemed to deflate a little, and she wanted to weep, "Do you want me to help with your…?"

"No, no, it's fine," she made her way toward the door, and he stood aside quickly to ensure they didn't touch, "it's just the one bag, it's – it's fine. Have a nice Christmas, James!"

She didn't look back.

"What took you so long?" sniped Petunia as Lily clambered into the car.

A boy told me he loved me, and I didn't say anything back, she thought.

"Lost my hairbrush," she said. Petunia tutted again.

"How many people live here, then, Red?" her dad asked, as her mother fiddled with the radio. An ABBA song she hadn't heard since she left Surrey filled the car.

"Well, it's not really a fixed number or anything, Dad, people come and go."

"So it's a hostel?"

"Sort of, yeah."

In the early evening of the same day, Celia Mitchell wandered into the kitchen to find James Potter sat on the floor, chain smoking.

"Fags cost money, you know," she said sharply. He looked up, and she thought he might have been crying. Making a mental note to adjust her tone, she sat beside him.

"D'you want one?" he asked dully, but she shook her head.

"Don't see the attraction, myself – what's up, kid?"

"Nothing," he lied, and she laughed.

"Oh come on, Potter – you're not surrounded by your Musketeers, you're sat in the dark, you've smoked half of Figgy's cigarette counter. Something's up."

He didn't say anything, and stubbed his cigarette out on the floor.

"James…" Celia said softly, coaxingly.

He was silent for a while. And then –

"There are only three Musketeers."

"Oh. Well – you're not surrounded by your gang, anyway."

"They'd take the piss."

"Why?"

He shuffled so he was leaning against one of the only cupboards that had a door, and closed his eyes. Celia leant her forehead on one of the legs of the kitchen table.

"James," she half-whispered, "Why would they take the piss?"

"I told Lily I loved her," he said suddenly.

"Oh. Oh. Oh, okay," she crawled over to where he was sat, and took his thin hand in hers, "What did she say?"

He snorted. "It doesn't matter."

"James," Celia repeated, "What did she say?"

"Oh," he said bitterly, and pulled his hand from hers, "She said oh, and then she said her dad was outside and then she left."

Celia nodded slowly. "I see."

"Yeah," he ran a hand through his hair, "yeah, now you see."

She couldn't think of what to say, and so she said nothing. After a moment, he reached out, eyes still closed, for her hand.

"Thanks, Cee," he murmured, and she squeezed his hand.

"How long have you known?" she whispered, and he shrugged.

"Since last week. Since yesterday. Since the day she arrived. I don't know."

"You don't know," she repeated, and he nodded.

"Forever," James cleared his throat, "Feels like I've known forever."

"And she doesn't feel…?" Celia trailed off.

"I dunno, Cee. I don't bloody know."

They lapsed into silence again, and Celia rested her head on his shoulder.

"Oh, James…" she mumbled into his shoulder, "Oh, James…what are you going to do?"