Chapter 14

"Whaaaaaat's your favourite….. OOOH! Material for trousers?"

"Seriously? How are you still coming up with these?!" I ask, slightly amazed.

"Yes, seriously, give the girl a break!" Remus adds in smiling at me with what I think is get-used-to-it expression.

I did find the endless list of questions awkward at first, especially considering he hauled me straight up to his dormitory where as soon as I entered two pairs of eyes swivelled straight to me, but James seems to have an uncanny ability to make me comfortable around him.

I'm still trying to figure that out.

It's hard to put together what I know is supposed to happen to them with the joking, so full of life and so blatantly close boys I'm surrounded by but the knowledge alone makes it difficult to make eye contact with them. James however didn't accept this, he has spent the past three hours sitting on the other end of his bed facing me intently and firing off after question and every time I seem to get shy or awkward he just sticks his face up to mine and makes a face until I laugh.

How can something so horrible happen to people so good?

"I'm curious! I want to know everything about my new sister!" James tells them with a cheesy grin.

I don't feel guilty when he calls me his sister as opposed to how I do when I think of Charlus and Dorea now being my adoptive parents.

"It's been three hours and you know more about me than my biological brothers ever did." I tell him, smiling slightly while I nibble mindlessly on what's probably my thirtieth strawberry lace.

"James, I don't think you even know that much about us." Sirius adds in.

"Nonsense, I know everything about you lot and now I need to know everything about Mia! Plus," he adds, turning to me "we established your brothers were idiots and we will be waaaayyy better than them."

It's true, he had proclaimed it as soon as he got it out of me that I never really had a relationship with them and why. Remus had smiled at me, a little sympathetically,

I didn't disagree.

I haven't known them properly for even half a day and all I can think about is that how unfair it is that this is supposed to happen to them.

I don't want it to.

"Denim. I practically live in jeans." I say nodding towards my skinny jeans clad legs, changing the subject. I may not have been close to them but I still feel guilty for talking about them with their replacement when there's still a chance they may be dead.

The potion Dorea had cast on me earlier faded about an hour ago, but James had coaxed me out of my sudden stricken quietness and it isn't as bad now.

It's still bad.

But not as bad.

It hurts, I feel guilty, and the weight of knowing what is supposed to happen to them is weighing on my mind. I miss everything about my old life and am terrified of saying something wrong to James but I don't break down.

They're not even aware of it but James' joking, his eagerness to get to know me, Remus' gentle and encouraging smiles and even Sirius' inquisitive, brooding stare are all keeping my emotions in check.

I try not to let it occur to me too often that the man who fathered Harry Potter and lay down his life for his wife and son almost 2 decades ago is the same one who spent 10 minutes howling at how the bed creaked when I sat down, making it sound like I farted.

"I bet Mum lurrrrves that!" James laughs. "Has she taken you on one of her all day shopping things yet?"

At my wide eyed, serious nod he laughs even louder, sounding comfortingly like Charlus.

Genuine, loud and it makes me smile.

"How many times has she tried to get you in skirts and dresses?" He snickers, shrewdly.

He already knows I don't like either of them, having asked me on the previous question and practically glowing when I told him I preferred trousers.

I'm not sure if he realises that as a female, I'll have to wear a skirt as part of the uniform, but not wanting to burst him bubble I let it go for the moment.

"I left an entire drawer full of them at home." I tell him with my eyebrow raised.

"She's always wanted a daughter, I really doubt she's going to give up." He warns me.

I bite my lip.

Just spit it out!

"Are you okay with that?"

He blinks and looks at me. "With what?"

"Me. I mean this." I blunder. "You don't think I'm trying to push you out with Charlus or Dorea, right?" I ask nervously and turn to look at Sirius too. "And the rest of you, I don't mean to intrude on yo-"

"Oh Merlin, James don-" I think this comes from Remus but I can't be sure as for the second time today I'm too surprised to do anything other than flinch as my brother launches himself at me.

"Every time you say something stupid like that I'm going to sit on you, is that clear?" He says from his perch on my spine.

"Pretty clear." I tell him with a mouthful of pillow.

"Can you get up now, I've got a mouthful of cushion and I'm trying really hard not to think about how many times you may or may not have farted on it." I joke for his benefit.

This only serves to make James cackle and bounce. "FART FACE! FART FACE! FART FACE! FAAAAARRRRRRRT FAAAAAAAACEEEEEEE! MUAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!"

I can't not laugh as he does his deep pitched evil laugh and then chokes on it and ends up spluttering and coughing.

"For heaven's sake, James I can hear you from downstairs." A muffled female voice calls out from the stairs.

"Evans! My humblest apologies, oh flame haired one!"

"You can come in Flower, we're all decent!" Sirius calls out.

He's not said much other than the odd question here and there and has been watching me interact nervously with James and Remus.

The door opens and I'm pretty sure I gawk at the red haired figure in the doorway from under James' tush.

"Fairest Evans, what brings you up here on this fine day? Have you finally realised you can't do without me and my rugged manly ways?"

Holy.

Shit.

It's bloody Lily Pot- errr Evans!

I can't see what the heck he's doing up thee but it involves a lot of moving.

"What's up Lily?" Remus asks calmly.

"I was just coming up to let you know that Hannah and Jiles are covering our patrols today."

I don't look over at her but instead stare intently at the snitch covered comforter that I'm currently face down on and try to smother the resurfacing feelings of helpless desperation, pity and overwhelming smallness.

Every single person in this room is someone I'm trying to save.

He mutters a curse. "I completely forgot! Were you waiting long?" He asks anxiously.

"No, I told them they might need to when you told me about detention." Her voice says, slightly disapprovingly. "When you didn't turn up, I just sent them a message telling them we'd cover their next shift which is tomorrow morning, if that's alright with you?"

"Yeah that's fine. I'm so sorry, I got out of detention early but I completely forgot."

"Forget patrols Evans, meet my sister!" James tells her, excitedly.

My face is still in the fart pillow.

"I don't see her." Lily sighs.

"That's because she's under this gits fat ass." Sirius pipes up.

"Oi!" James huffs. "I do NOT have a fat ass, Lily tell him my bottom is amazingly peachy and in proportion to my luscious and muscular body!"

"I know this may disappoint you, Potter but I don't take note of you backside and have no intention of telling anyone otherwise."

Take it down a notch, babe.

I want to tell her but I remember James' wish for me to become friends with her.

She can't dislike him too much if she marries him and has a kid with him at some point in the next 3 years.

"Mia, I don't have a fat ass, do I?"

"Of course not." I mutter drily, my voice muffled.

"Wait- you're actually sitting on your sister?" Her legs and waist come into view and I still don't look up. "James! Get off her this instance! What kind of a welcome is that, you complete dunder-headed ninny!" She tells him off.

He does as he's told but not before poking my back and making me squirm.

I waste no time in getting up and glaring at him.

God knows how many fart particles I just inhaled.

"I'm so sorry about him, he's been going on about you getting here non-stop and this is your welcome! Really he should be ashamed! I thin-"

I interrupt as James starts to look a bit chagrined, "I arrived about 3 hours ago, he's actually been great, I thought it'd be awkward but he's made me feel really welcome." I smile at him.

"Oh. Well really he could hurt you, sitting on you like that. Are you alright?"

Dammit, why does she have to sound genuinely concerned, I can't be mad at her.

"I'm okay, thanks. He didn't do any harm." I say, still not looking at her.

"She was saying silly things, Evans. I had to teach her!" James pouts at her.

"It was perfectly logical! Some people feel that way!" I argue.

"Well I don't!"

"I was just asking!"

"Well don't!"

"Well fine!"

"Well good!"

"Well shut up!"

"Well I never!"

The offended, posh lady voice, James adopts while saying the last one gets me and I laugh again.

Traitor.

"HA! I win!" He completes his shout of victory and does a victory dance and a bum wiggle that's just too awful to not watch.

Smiling, I shake my head at his antics.

"Ermm- I'm Lily Evans by the way, it's nice to finally meet you." She says a bit awkwardly, holding out her hand.

Kind of have to look at her know.

I stare at it dumbly for a moment noting her delicate looking hands before taking it, I take a deep breath and look up.

Bloody hell, she's freaking beautiful! I think as I take in her slim figure, long red hair, delicate chin, straight little button nose and almond shaped emerald eyes.

She makes me sick.

"Oh right yeah, I'm K- glad to meet you. I'm Mia …err Mia Potter."

"Professor McGonagall mentioned earlier that you'd be in my dorm, I can show you up, if you'd like?" She asks, smiling.

I can't even be mad at her for being so pretty, she's too damn endearing.

Thoughts and several memories of Jamie, Esme and Becc who I used to share a dorm with and guilt floods through me.

"Ermm, w-" I stutter.

"She'd love that! She's just shy, right Mia?" James elbows me subtly before throwing his arm around me.

"I- err…well, we… ermm…."

"It's alright if you're doing something else" Lily blushes, "I – I just thought y-"

"N-no, I'd love to!" I blurt out, mentally cursing myself while I do. "I-I'm sorry, I just didn't k-know if it was okay with James seeing as we were just sa-"

"I'm okay with it! Go talk, bond, show the dorm and do all girly stuff that make you people become bff's or whatever." James says enthusiastically, pushing Lily and I towards the girl's staircase.

Subtly at its finest.

"James if you keep pushing me I'm going to drown you in your own saliva." Lily warns.

"And I'll help." Sirius adds making her laugh.

Good God, her laugh sounds like bell chimes.

For fucks sake.

She puts her hand on my arm which I flinch away from. "C'mon, everyone else has gone home for the holidays so you'll have some time to settle in before it gets hectic."

We leave as James yells dramatically about "betrayals in brotherhood".

She sounds as awkward as I feel.

Sort of.

If she was feeling everything else as well.

"Oh…right." I say, not knowing what else I could say.

I follow her down the stairs after an encouraging pat on the back from James and through the almost empty common room, up to what would have been the dorm I shared with my friends if I was where I'm supposed to be.

Over the next ten minutes or so she babbles on about this and that but I don't really pay much attention. The dorm looks exactly the same as my fifth year one, the only difference being the lack of my friends' things and the inclusion of Lily's and her friends'.

"I found it quite daunting too when I first came here, I can't imagine how much more so you must find it now." She says sympathetically.

"Errrm, yeah." I don't know what else to say.

I don't think I'm giving off a very good first impression and the thought's backed up when Lily opens her mouth, flounders and closes it awkwardly.

Now I feel like I'm out of my depths, guilty, lost, frightened, overwhelmed and feeling like an unfriendly bitch.

"I'm n-not good at first impressions o-or meeting new people. Or change. Or making new friends." I tell her quietly. "So if I'm awkward it's not you. It's me, I was the same with Charlus and Dorea and would've been with James too if he wasn't…errr…"

"James." Lily supplies with a small smile. "There's not words to accurately describe him, he's James Potter and that says it all." Lily tells me.

I smile slightly, not knowing what else to say.

I can almost feel my friends' presence in the room making my smile fade.

"If you ever need a break from James or the boys then I'd be glad for the company." The red head smiles at me.

The guilt and knowledge of her future creeps up my throat.

"I'll bear that in mind." I whisper, looking around so as not to make eye contact.

Way to seem normal.

"Is it true there's a Giant Squid in the lake outside?" I ask.

I'm not good at making conversation, this is my version of making an effort.

"Oh, yeah. I don't know what James has told you but he's actually really friendly and lifts students out if they fall into the lake."

"James didn't tell me, Charlus did." I say, defensive of my bro – him.

"Oh…the house elves make really good food here, just wait it'll be the best thing you've ever tasted!" She changes the subject nervously.

I doubt that, you've obviously not tried Dorea's fudge.

Oh!

"Try this." I say, walking over to where Dumbledore must've arranged for my luggage to me brought and sort through my stuff until I pull out a tub of fudge.

Offering her a piece, I help myself as well and smile genuinely at her for the first time when her eyes widen and she groans in delight.

"Oh sweet bloody Merlin this is yummy!"

"James' Mum makes it. I pretty much had the same reaction."

"She's a bloody genius!" Lily gushes, looking at the tub again.

"She's made loads under the belief I'd wouldn't make an effort and said 'Everyone loves my fudge so if you don't make the first move, once they see the tubs you have of it they'll do it for you!' Help yourself."

Lily laughs at my quote directly from Dorea and has another. "Thank you. When your food tastes this good, there's no need for modesty! Plus she's right!"

You worked through your guilt quickly…did they mean that little to you?

"James says you love reading?" I ask slightly desperately, trying to smother my thoughts with conversation.

When she raises her eyebrow surprised, I continue.

"He's talked about you a lot in his letters." I tease, making myself smiling a little. "That and the fact he's captain of his Quidditch team. You win out though, but by how much I'm not sure."

"You know, it's been the same on this end too, if he's not talking about Quidditch, flattening Slytherin and catching that stupid snitch of his then he's telling everyone about his new sister."

"You know, I'm starting to lose track of how many people have said that to me so far."

Not really, it's three

"I think it may be around the same amount of times he told me that you have the most amazing red hair and a temper to match...the hair, I get…but your temper seems pretty tame to me." I say, with a smirk.

She narrows her eyes, picks up the nearest pillow and goes to throw it at me.

"Fudge truce?" I say, looking at her hopefully which I hold the tub of fudge out temptingly.

"Only because I don't want to hurt the fudge."

"I can live with that."

Should I be finding it this easy to talk to her so quickly?

What happened to stilted and awkward?

I don't feel any less guilty over it – hell the more I talk to her the guiltier I feel.

"MIAAAAAAA!"

The shout makes me jump back, scaring me more than it should and the tub falls out of my hand.

Before it can hit the floor Lily has it all back in the tub which soars into her hand.

"He's made me do that more time than I can even count." She says drily.

"MIAAA!" James hollers again. "COME DOWN HERE!"

I can see the pity she's trying to hide at my still startled expression but I don't say anything.

I'm not the one who's worse off here.

Without a word I turn around and head downstairs.

"MIIIIIAAAAAAA!" James is stood right at the bottom of the stairway but looking at something on his left instead as he shouts.

A pillow flies past me and hits him squarely in the head.

"You can quit hollering now, I'm pretty sure every Mia from here to the Atlantic heard you and you're likely to deafen the one you're calling." Lily tells him drily.

"My sincerest apologies if I hurt your sweet eardrums, Evans. Mia, quit taking forever, c'mon!" He drags me down the rest of the way.

"What's wrong?"

"Remus said I kind of launched myself at you quite hard, I didn't hurt you when I sat on you, did I?" He asks me, anxiously and pouting. I can't help but smile.

Bless my brother.

"No, I'm fine." I assure him.

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Good. I told you my sister's not some delicate sissy!" James tells Remus, proudly.

Remus just looks at him and smiles at me.

"We were thinking-"

We missed you, spend time with us." James interrupts, linking his arm with mine, grabbing Lily with the other and dragging us over to the sofas in front of the fire. "Let's us all hang out."

The next few hours are spent with the boys telling me about pranks they've pulled, teachers who they like and dislike, the best lessons, people who I should and shouldn't talk to with reasons why.

I get the impression that James has a very black and white view of the world, while he knows that not all Slytherins are evil, he mistrusts them all and thinks highly of all Gryffindors.

How am I supposed to show him that even someone sorted into the house of the loyal can be the biggest coward while someone sorted into the house of the sly and cunning can be the reason your son survives when the darkest wizard of all time is after him?

"Why does Charlus laugh every time someone mentions the name Schwachkopf?" I ask.

James and Sirius begin laughing hysterically, Lily frowns slightly and Remus bites back a smile looking amused.

"Really boys, you can't still find it funny?" The red head sniffs.

"Oh lighten up, flower." Sirius winks at her and James reacts by whacking him upside the head.

"Watch the twitch, dog boy." He warns, watching Lily shake her head before continuing. "Schwachkopf is German for jerk-off or wanker." James snickers.

"Bloody fitting name too considering self-love's the only way that bastard will ever get any." Sirius adds, smirking.

"OI!" James throws a pillow at him and covers my ears. "My sister doesn't need to be hearing language like that!"

"I've heard worse." I inform him, removing his hands. "I grew up around guys and none of my guy friends ever felt the need to modify their language around any of us girls."

"You said earlier you had two brothers and now you said you grew up around guys, but in the papers and according to the story that Mum and Dad have put out, you were an only child who lived a fairly secluded life with two female best friends and that's it." Sirius points out, pinning me with his grey eyes.

My stomach falls.

So they don't know.

I hadn't been sure if James had told them and I wanted them to know but just didn't know how to approach the topic so I'd hinted around it and hoped someone would pick up on it.

"I didn't tell them." James says firmly. "I forgot they didn't know though, I'm so sorry." He tells me, looking upset.

"Sirius, leave her be." Remus says, glaring at Sirius slightly.

"Is there really any need for the third degree?" Lily chastises.

"I'm just pointing it out. If she's going to lie and have a back-up story then she needs to know she's done a shit job of sticking to it so far."

How much do I tell them?

Just leave out the bit about who you really are and how you're from the future and they're all supposed to die.

"Mia! Are you alright?"

I start and realise everyone's looking at me and James is talking.

Peter can't find out.

I'm not ready to tell them.

They deserve to know.

Tell them the basics – what James already know.

"Is the silencing charm still on?" I ask James, desperately hoping it is seeing as there are two other people in the Common Room. His nods lets me know my stupidity in not remembering silencing charms aren't always trustworthy hasn't landed me in too much bother.

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to." He lets me know, kindly.

My affection for him has doubled since actually meeting him.

Lily leaves telling me that if I want her I can tell her in my own time, when I'm comfortable and shoots Sirius a dirty look before she heads upstairs.

"I'm not Mia. No- well, I am Mia now. Legally. But…I wasn't. Before." I babble.

"Mia, James is right. If you're not comfortable telling us, it's okay." Remus tells me kindly, shooting a look at Sirius.

"You already know that the story I'm from Wiltshire is bullshit, I can't tell you the truth, not yet but I can be honest with you about some stuff." I say "But only on the condition that you can't tell anyone else who isn't here."

That includes the traitor.

"It has to stay between you lot here and that's it." I tell them quietly, looking at the floor.

"But Pete's not here." Sirius adds.

"I don't care. He's not here. Later if I choose to let him in on it at a later point I will do so but it's my choice." My voice doesn't change and no one replies for a minute.

"You can trust him Mia." James inputs.

No I can't and you can't either.

I don't reply.

"You can't expect us to keep a secret from our best fr-"

"Sirius stop. Mia, at the point you realise you can trust him, will you tell him?" James asks me, quietly.

"What if I don't feel comfortable with it?"

"Do you feel comfortable telling us?"

"I feel comfortable telling you." I whisper. "Dumbledore mentioned all of your names as ones I could trust but he never mentioned Peter's."

True enough.

"Petey's great, he's one of us and at some point you'll realise you can trust him and until then we'll keep our mouths shut. Right, Sirius?"

He doesn't reply and I don't look up from the floor but I can feel his eyes on me.

Have I pissed him off already?

"Right."

"You won't tell him?" I whisper.

I need to make sure he doesn't know.

He can't know.

"No, it's up to you to tell him when you're ready."

"Agreed."

"Whatever."

"If you're not ready you don't have to tell us either." James says, supportively.

"Eventually I'm going to have to tell you lot the whole truth and trust me, it's easier done in instalments." I say tonelessly.

"Mia Benning died in the attack in Wiltshire, only traces of her DNA were found but she definitely died. I can't tell you where I'm really from, or my real name yet but it was Dumbledore's idea for me to take on her identity to avoid any questions."

I can see Sirius about to interrupt again but knowing what he's about to say, I carry on quickly.

I just want this explanation over and done with.

"I can't tell you why there'll be questions yet, but that combined with the fact of how publicised my arrival was and the fact I'm a muggle born adopted by pure bloods means there's more attention than is safe so this was the best way forward."

"Her middle name was Yasmine, yours is Adara." This comes from Sirius again.

"I didn't like it and I wanted some say in at least something."

"Why can't you tell us the full truth now?"

"Easy, Sirius." James warns.

It's fine.

I feel oddly blank telling this – almost as though it's not me I'm talking about.

It's all still very surreal at times.

Thankfully this is one of them.

"No, it's fine. I need to come to terms with it myself before I can expect you lot to. There's aspects of it that've got to do with you, all of you and I will be honest with you about how and why but not right now. It's a burden, one that I need to figure out how to carry and not make it so bad on everyone else and how I want to go about it before I tell you. Legally, I am Mia Adara Potter and as far as my family's concerned I don't know if they're dead or alive, I'm still trying to remember what happened the night I was attacked so I can find out." I say evenly.

Numbly.

"What do you mean, can't Dumbledore just go to where you're really from, on the sly and find out?" James asks, confused.

I snort bitterly. "Unfortunately it's not as simple as that."

"Well why he just use legilimency on you instead of making you remember the attack?" James sounds outraged.

I take a deep breath.

"There were some sort of dark spells used on me, one so that the memories would retract themselves from my conscious memory and the other so that if anyone tries to access them my mind would…self-destruct, so to speak."

Silence follows my words.

"Tollerius Meminissetrium and Dracium Bombardum." Sirius mutters. "Whatever it is they don't want you to remember must be pretty damn important to them, I'm surprised they didn't just kill you."

"Sirius!"

"Padfoot, shut the hell up." James growls.

"No, it's fine. I'm sure they tried they would have eventually and that's part of why it's so important to remember."

"Do you remember who your family were and where you came from?" James asks, quietly.

"I remember everything up to just before the attack."

"What's the first thing you remember after the attack?" Sirius asks.

Waiting to die before I heard your voices and being convinced you were about to torture me some more.

"Lying by some bushes until you and Remus came and found me."

"You remember that?" Remus asks, surprised.

"Bits."

I remember how powerless I felt being at other people's mercy.

I remember the exact feeling that flooded through me when I realised I'd never fall in love, get married and have children, it's the same feeling I get every time I lie in bed and the thought creeps back into my mind.

"Vaguely. I thought you were going to attack me."

"We know."

"Sirius, do-"

"You were thinking out loud."

"Oh."

"Anything else?" He asks.

"Plenty but for now I think that's it."

Did I make a mistake in telling them so soon?

But I can't lie to them about everything, they need to know at least something.

"There are certain things I can't tell you but if I can help it I won't lie to you." I say to the three boys. "If I can't tell you something, I'll say so but I need you know that what I'm keeping from you is dangerous and in the wrong hands can fuck up everything." They look at me, Sirius with no expression, Remus calmly and James intently. "I might slip up around you lot sometimes and at some point I'm going to tell Lily."

"You can trust Lily." James tells me.

"I know. Charlus and Dorea and Fabian and Gideon know a portion of the truth and Dumbledore and Alastor Moody know the full truth…eventually they and you will all know everything and there's something you may hate me for not telling you and maybe even for telling you, I want to tell you and if I had my way I'd have told you straight away but I'm trusting Dumbledore knows best."

I don't even know if anything I'm saying is making sense, I can't say my emotions are messing up my thought process because right now, I'm numb but everything in my mind seems jumbled up.

"How do we know we can trust you?" James goes to interrupt but Sirius overrides him. "No, hold on. She's saying she's got a secret that's got something to do with us and is supposedly dangerous but she can't tell us. She accidently blurted out something she wasn't meant to that's supposed to be a key part of the story of keeping her and the secret she's keeping safe."

He turns from James to me.

"We've never met you before you turned up somehow on the Potter Manor's garden which is warded against anyone getting in, even Death Eater's can't and you somehow manage it half dead. Fine, I'll accept all of that and won't question you any further if you can give me one reason as to why you think we should trust you."

I'm silent for a moment.

"Dumbledore trusts me, he's the greatest and one of the most powerful wizards there's ever been and he trusts me, Alastor's head auror and he trusts me and has even become my real godfather in case anyone looks a bit too closely. Charlus and Dorea were infamous aurors in their day and Charlus was head auror, they've been through even accessible memory to do with the attack and many random ones –and so's Dumbledore for that matter- and they trust me, Fabian and Gideon have been around me for weeks they know what you know and that there's more to it and they still trust me."

I'll give you the bit about me blurting something out but I'm well aware of the fact you can be trusted, which I can't say the same for with anyone else – well except Lily. Whatever I 'blurt out' around you is for a reason and this one was because I wasn't sure how much you knew and didn't know how to bring it up so I mentioned something and waited. I don't expect you to automatically trust me, or even like me." I tell him as he simply stares at me. "All I need from you is to know that I'm doing my damn best to do the right thing."

And to keep you all alive.

And me.

"Do you swear not to tell anyone?" This time I meet his stare head on and don't waver.

It's hard.

After a while, he nods slowly.

"Fine, but don't lie to us and don't expect us to be happy with keeping a secret from a best friend we've known a hell of a lot longer than you." He tells me, tonelessly.

He definitely doesn't like me, but at the moment I'm too relieved to care.

"That's enough. No more questions, this is her first day here." He tells Sirius. "Mia, we'll keep your secret, there's no question about it."

I don't doubt it that they'll keep my secret from everyone…Peter's the only one I'm concerned about.

"I know, I trust you."

Am I stupid for that?

Their character's may have been bigged up because by media because Harry Potter's their son.

I feel terrible for even thinking it.

"Good! Well onto the more fun stuff…look what I've got!" He smirks, waving his wand and having a case of firewhisky fly down the stairs and onto the coffee table in front of the fire.

None of us end up going to bed that night, while I discover I don't like the feel of being out of control of myself, I don't drink much, preferring the feeling of control that comes with sobriety.

The boys however not so much, James ends up singing a love song he seems to have made up for Lily, Sirius is dancing along with several hip thrusts that make me blush –don't judge me, he's hot – and Remus strips off down to his boxers and is meowing at whichever of us walks past the one seater he's curled up on. Me, all I can do is laugh in all the right places while sprawled out on the sofa opposite the fire, thankful for not having to go to sleep.

This is how Lily walks down to find us at half 9 the next morning.