Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. I do not own any of the rights to the Harry Potter franchise. I am not earning money by writing this story.

Sirius stood frozen in shock as he stared down at where Peter had been. Those poisoned words the blond boy had thrown at him before he disappeared seemed to echo around the room as Sirius shook his head, trying to forget them.

I forgave, when it was you.

"Fuck you," he growled, curling his hands into fists at his side, as he looked around the room, wanting something else to hit, something to destroy, something to absorb all these horrible emotions inside of him. He wanted the anger, the anger was justified, and he was allowed the anger but the hurt? The betrayal? He didn't want those emotions, the ones that made him want to scream and cry and hit and hide at the same time. Sirius wasn't a boy who was used to emotion, he'd spent most of his life shoving it down and hiding it away.

I forgave, when it was you.

He tried to summon his anger from a few seconds ago, to lose himself in blind rage, to condemn the boy who was once his best friend for a bitter lie, but the words he'd spoken had poured ice water over his flames of fury, and he couldn't find it. His hands grabbed at his hair, his fingernails raking his scalp, as he shook with residual fury. His body felt cold as the anger drained out of him, as if he were made of it, as if without the burden of hating Peter he was nothing any more. As if he were now a shell.

Sirius shuddered violently as he heard his description of himself, a shell. Exactly what Harry had described him as in those books. What he would have been if they hadn't intercepted the future.

Was there no other way for him?

Was becoming a shell of a man all that he had waiting for him?

He let out a loud groan as he sunk down onto the bed behind him (Remus', he though absently), and dropped his face into his hands as his legs trembled. He wasn't ready to forgive Peter. He didn't know if he ever could. He'd never been the kind who had let go of a grudge; even he knew that to be one of his worst faults. Those had been grudges coated in pettiness, in schoolboy arguments. His grudge against Peter was real, as real as a grudge against another human could be; one of life and death…

…wasn't it?

"Thank you for coming with me," Lily hummed, wrapping her arms around James' neck and hugging her body closer to his.

"Any time," James chuckled, rubbing his hands up and down her back, "You ready to go?"

"I was ready to go when we got here," she giggled, and James smirked down at her, dropping a quick kiss on top of her head before unwrapping her arms from around his neck.

"Come on then, let's go. I think my arse is sweating in these stupid trousers," he said, and Lily laughed, reaching up to drop a quick kiss on his chin before taking a step back, her eyes twinkling as she grinned up at him.

"I wasn't aware your arse perspired so much."

"Neither was I," he grumbled irritably, "I'm too scared to sit down. The cushions will be soaked."

"Interesting," Lily mused, and James cocked and eyebrow at her, "My arse never sweats."

"You've got some ventilation," he sneered, reaching out to finger her dress, which ended just below her knees, "Mine has been swaddled in cloth all day."

"Sounds like it's been very well cared for," Lily giggled, reaching her arm around to pat him on the arse. James squeaked and looked around, panicked, "Don't worry, my hand isn't soaked," she added, reaching up to pat him on the cheek with the same hand.

James shot her a sardonic look, and slapped her hand away from his face, "First off, sweaty arse hand doesn't touch the face," he said, placing her hand firmly by her side. Lily smirked, "And secondly, I'm more worried about someone here seeing you molest my arse in public," he said, and Lily laughed.

"I can't help it, it's so cute," she said sweetly, cocking her head to the side.

"Lily."

"Why? Afraid they'll want to try?"

"I'll have you know, I enjoy a good arse pat," he scoffed, rolling his eyes, "I have no aversion to arse patting."

"So it's the voyeurism that bothers you?" she teased, taking a step forwards, and James set her a scolding look, before taking a pointed step away from her to regain a respectable distance between them, "This is funny, it's usually you inappropriately touching me," she said, taking another step towards him. James crossed his arms and glared at her. She smirked as she noticed him shuffle back slightly, probably under the impression that she hadn't noticed.

"We are at your parents house," he said sternly, and Lily grinned cheekily up at him, "Your father could show up from within this throng of overweight Muggles at any time," he said, and Lily gasped.

"James," she hissed, and he winked at her.

"Am I wrong?"

"Always," she said, taking another step towards him. He sent her an exasperated look.

"Did you not hear what I just said?"

"I did," she hummed, holding back a laugh as James reached out to put a hand on her shoulder and push her away gently, "But I think you're discounting the fact that I have a perfectly private bedroom upstairs," she added with a wink, and James rolled his eyes.

"So you're asking me to come upstairs with you and engage in all sorts of scandalous and unmentionable activities in the middle of your sisters engagement party, right under your family's and the Dursley's noses?"

"How could you suggest such a thing?" Lily gasped, placing her hand on her chest, green eyes wide with faux innocence as she looked up at James. James groaned.

"Oh come on Lily, that's not fair."

"What's not fair?" she asked, her eyes twinkling up at him. James opened his mouth to retort, trying to find his sensibility as she took another step closer to him because he knew that it was a bad idea but Merlin it was tempting as fuck, when Andrew appeared to his right.

"There you kids are," he said, and James shot Lily an 'I-told-you-so' look while she held back a laugh, "I've been looking for you for ages, I thought you'd disappeared up to your room to escape," he said, and Lily winked at James, who smirked back at her.

"We were just about to," Lily said, smiling like the perfect angel up at her father.

"No, we weren't," James added. Lily smirked at him.

Andrew shot James a confused look, before turning back to Lily, "Anyway, Petal, I'm glad I found you before you left, your mum wanted the six of us in a group photo," he said.

"Six of us?" Lily frowned, and Andrew rolled his eyes.

"Yes, and I don't want any drama about it," he said. Lily opened her mouth to retort, but James cut in before she could say anything.

"Sounds lovely Andrew, lead the way," he said. Andrew gave him a brief smile before turning and heading towards where James assumed the other three were waiting.

"It does not sound lovely," Lily grumbled. James chuckled, and grabbed her hand as he directed them through the crowd, to where he could now see Andrew standing with Jane, "I won't even smile."

"We can be that couple who doesn't smile in photos," he said, and Lily rolled her eyes as she let him drag her. She hummed as she directed her eyes towards James' trousers.

"I really am getting the best view back here," she said, and James squeezed her hand playfully as he reached his other one up to ruffle his hair, "You should probably lead arse first, or even in the photo just bend over, I promise I'll smile if I know I'll get to look at your arse every day."

"And people think I have a one track mind," James chuckled, throwing his arm around her shoulders as they finally escaped the throng of bodies and reached the back window of the Evans' house, where everyone was posing for photographs, "Also isn't the point of marriage that you're together every day?"

"I'll stick around if I get a daily show," Lily quipped, and James rolled his eyes as she grinned up at him.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were just with me for my arse."

"It's not just your arse," Lily said, nodding politely at Vernon's sister as she her eyes tracked her, "It's also the rest of your body."

"Glad we have that clarified," James said, eyes flickering to Vernon's sister, "What is she staring at?"

"Not your arse, don't worry."

James looked down at her with a sarcastic expression plastered on his face. Lily winked, "Enough about my arse for one day, yeah?"

"There can never be enough of you arse for one-"

"All right, that's enough," James chuckled, ruffling his hair as they finally approached the rest of the Evans family. Petunia seemed to be arguing with her mother about something. They were doing it in whispers; so only when they got closer did James hear the words 'photograph' and 'them'. He grimaced as he looked down at Lily, who had clearly heard the same, to see her expression had turned stony, "Are we doing this?" James asked Andrew as they stopped next to them. Jane turned at the sound of his voice and beamed at the two of them.

"Oh wonderful, there you are!" she said, excitedly stepping back to arrange her family into position. James held back a chuckle as Petunia nearly stumbled as Jane dragged her into position, "I thought we could have Petunia and Vernon here, and, Andrew…Andrew where are you? Oh, good, there you are," she said, grabbing her husbands' arm and placing him a little ways from Petunia, "You and I will be in the centre, I'll stand next to Petunia, and Lily, come here," she said, as she tugged Lily's hand so she was stood next to her father, "I'll slot in right here in this gap, and James dear, could we please have you on the other side of Lily?"

"We get dragged and he gets 'could we please'," Andrew grumbled, and both Lily and Petunia giggled. Upon realizing the other had laughed as well, both girls stopped short. Andrew sighed.

James got into position beside Lily and let her place her arm around his waist as the photographer excitedly chattered and attempted to tweak the positions of their heads and their arms or whatever else, "If this was a moving photograph he wouldn't have to try so hard," James murmured to Lily. The corner of her mouth pulled up into a half smile for a split second before disappearing, "Want me to moon the camera?" Lily rolled her eyes and squeezed his waist tighter. He smirked.

"Okay, Evans family, big smiles now, one, two…"

As the photographer counted up, James wrapped his arm around Lily, careful to place his right hand on her arse. She started, and let out a surprised laugh, and James beamed at the camera.

"Three!"

Sirius was icing his hand in his lap when Lily and James apparated into the flat, approximately two hours after Peter had disappeared. They were holding in their arms brown paper bags from the Muggle grocery store near Lily's parents' house.

"You went shopping like that?" Sirius scoffed, eying Lily's pale yellow dress and James' tuxedo.

"The Muggles at the store thought James looked like a magician," Lily giggled, winking at Sirius as James rolled his eyes and went to deposit his bag in the kitchen. Sirius snorted, hiding a wince as he twitched one of his fingers.

"What would that make you?" he asked, attempting to infuse some enthusiasm into his voice instead of allowing the bitterness and anger to alert the couple that something was wrong.

"The beautiful assistant of course," she said, flicking her red locks over her shoulder as she dumped her bag on the dining table. Sirius released a humorless snort, "I take offence to that. Not all of us can look like Hestia, I'll have you know," she sniffed, unloading the contents of her bag; salt, pepper, apples, grapes and soap.

"You're ten times prettier than her," James said, having reappeared from the kitchen, as he dropped a kiss on top of her head. Lily shook her head amusedly, "No offence mate," he added, and Sirius shrugged.

"Only ten?" Lily sniffed, and James chuckled, grabbing the empty bag from her and chucking it at the bin, "James, we can recycle that!"

"Let's not bring up that Merlin-damned bin again," James said, nodding at the blue bin near the dining table that had played the villain in their last drunken lads night.

"Just because it won, doesn't mean you need to destroy the environment," Lily tutted, levitating the balled up paper bag James had chucked to the recycling bin, and dropping it inside, "Have you lot been neglecting the recycling bin in my absence?"

"Yes, and it didn't win, I won," James said, sneering at the bin. Lily giggled, reaching her hand up to pull her hair out of the bun it had been in, so her hair cascaded down around her shoulders and down her back. She let out a happy sigh, "Better?" James snorted, and Lily nodded happily, getting up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. As she rocked back onto her heels, her eyes flickered to Sirius, and widened in alarm.

"Oh Merlin! Sirius, what happened?" she gasped, side-stepping James so she could crouch down in front of Sirius, her eyes focused on the bag of ice resting on his reddened knuckles. She pulled out her wand as she chucked the ice pack to the floor, and lifted her free hand to gently inspect his hand.

"Watch it Evans, you're ruining my carpet," he said, nodding at the wet mark the ice was leaving on the floor.

"Do you now sniff out injuries?" James snickered, reaching down to pick up the bag to deposit the melting ice in the sink. Lily ignored them both as she frowned down at his hand.

"Odd, I swear I didn't see this this morning. What have you been doing since we left? Punching walls?" she snorted, tapping her wand on the knuckles and sending in a wordless Healing spell. Sirius released a sigh of relief as he flexed his fingers.

Both of them were blind to the way James had frozen in the doorway, ice bag still in hand.

"Yeah mate, it's my new hobby, haven't you heard?" Sirius drawled, rolling his eyes as Lily chuckled, standing up and kicking off her heels, "Squatting in those? Hestia would be impressed," he said, and Lily scoffed and shucked him aside his head.

"She would not, she could probably run a marathon in them," she said. Sirius chuckled, nodding in agreement, "I think I'll just go-"

"Where's Peter?" James interrupted, his voice a little too loud, his tone calm. Lily froze as she heard the underlying fury in her fiancé's voice, and turned questioningly to face him.

"James?"

"Where. Is. Peter?" he repeated, turning to face Sirius. Sirius scoffed.

"How the sodding hell should I know? I'm not his bloody minder-"

Lily's eyes flickered from Peter's empty bed to Sirius' hand, and she gasped, "Sirius, you didn't! Please tell me you didn't," she said, shaking her head as she looked down at him. Sirius scoffed and rose to his feet, pushing past Lily to head towards his bedroom, but wasn't able to make it more than a couple steps before James grabbed his arm.

"Get off me," Sirius near growled, turning to glare at James, who glared back at him.

"What happened to your hand?"

Sirius' eyes flashed, "That's none of you-"

"What happened to your hand?" James repeated through gritted teeth. His fingers were squeezing Sirius' arm so tight it was becoming uncomfortable.

"Nothing!"

"Sirius," Lily said, standing next to James, her arms wrapped around herself. Sirius looked away from them, "Sirius," she repeated, and his eyes flickered to her before turning away again, "Did you…did you punch Peter?" she asked hesitantly. Sirius' eyes flashed to her, and she sighed as James' jaw clenched.

"Are you fucking stupid? What the fuck have you done?" James growled. Sirius shook James' hand off his arm and sneered at him.

"Get off your high fucking horse Prongs. Don't give me that patronizing shit-"

"Why did you do it?" Lily interrupted, cutting off Sirius' venomous rant as the muscle in James' jaw ticked, a sure sign he was about to start shouting.

"What do you mean, why did I do it?" Sirius retorted, punctuating it with an empty cackle, "Why? Maybe because he never should have been here in the first place? Maybe because he's a fucking weasel and we can't trust him? Maybe because he's useless as fuck and the lot of you have been pretending otherwise and just bloody forgetting that-"

"That is enough!" Lily cut in sharply, and Sirius glared at her as her green eyes bored into him.

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed that everything around here has been so shit," he spat, "He's made this place a living hell for the last couple days, or maybe you didn't notice," he sneered, "Since you were so busy being an emotional bloody wreck-"

"Watch it," James snapped, his eyes flashing as Lily blinked up at Sirius, taken aback. She couldn't remember a time he'd ever spoken to her like this; he'd always been the one snapping at James when James would say something particularly harsh to her.

"It's fine James," Lily said after a moment, taking a step forward and looking up at Sirius with a determined expression on her face. Sirius frowned, taking a step back, "He's not wrong, I haven't had a particularly pleasant disposition these past couple of days," she shrugged, "But I'm also not the one who punched one of our friends, so I don't really know where you get off giving me a hard time," she added, pointing at Sirius, who bristled.

"One of our friends? Are you bloody mental?"

"Are you?" Lily countered, placing her hand on James' forearm as he shot Sirius a warning look, "Because there are only two ways your brain could be going right now, and neither one of them would have me convinced that it made sense to punch Peter," she said, and Sirius snorted.

"Don't be ridiculous-"

"Either you believe so strongly that he's going to betray us and turn us all in to You-Know-Who," she said, raising her voice to be heard over him, "and that no matter happens to him or what we say he's going to become that same person who we read about in the books. Or else," she said, walking over to Peter's bed and picking up one of the pieces of parchment littered on and around his cot, covered in his untidy scrawl, "you recognize that what we read hasn't happened yet, and that reading those may have altered Peter's proverbial path in life, and that there's a possibility that he's trying as hard as we are to ensure he doesn't become that person," she said, as she walked back over to Sirius and pushed the piece of parchment against his chest. She pulled her hand away, and Sirius instinctually caught it before it could fall to the floor, "Because that brainwave would also recognize that nobody is working harder on this Horcrux project than he is, because not only do the rest of us have other things to do, we also don't have as much to prove. Or need I remind you that it was Peter who went to Diagon Alley and found those books? Or that those," she said, nodding to the pieces of parchment littered all around Peter's bed, "compiled would probably be a taller stack of parchment than either of ours," she gestured to the bookcase, where their stacks of parchment sat in organized piles. Sirius blinked at her, "So basically Sirius, either one of these opinions on Peter would afford it stupid to punch him. Because either you're pushing him to You-Know-Who a few years early, or you're making it that much more difficult for him to feel like he'll succeed at not becoming who we're all scared of. Which one is it?"

Lily crossed her arms and cocked her head to look up at Sirius. Sirius looked down at the parchment in his hands, littered with different spells used to detect hidden magic, some of them crossed off with Peter's script detailing 'too hard' or 'doesn't work' next to them, before looking back up at Lily.

"You don't have any fear that he's with You-Know-Who now?" he asked, his voice quiet anger, "You're telling me you're completely converted and trust him so entirely that you would never doubt-"

"I worry, yes," Lily cut in, "Of course I'm not an idiot, Sirius. There's a part of my brain that is convinced he's with You-Know-Who as we speak. But you can't discount the facts, and the facts are the amount of work he's done on the Horcrux project, that fact that he's tried to apologize hundreds of times, and, frankly," Lily chuckled humorlessly, shaking her head, "if he'd gone to You-Know-Who already, we'd be dead by now. There's no way he'd have let us live knowing what we know," she said, gesturing around the room.

Sirius shot her another glare before storming off. Lily winced as his bedroom door slammed.

"You should've become a Ministry Lobbyer," James mused after a moment, his mouth pulled up in an exasperated smile as he looked down at her, "Rational arguments in no amount of time? The legal system would love you," he added. Lily rolled her eyes and made to follow after Sirius, but James grabbed her shoulder, "Leave him be," he said, smiling slightly as she looked up at him with disbelief all over her pretty features, "He needs a cooling off period before he's ready to be rational."

"James, we can't just leave him by himself-"

"Yes, we can," James said, pulling her so her back was against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and dropped his chin to her shoulder, turning his face to press a soft kiss to the side of her neck, "Let's go make dinner, he'll come out when he wants to talk."

"I'm too agitated to make dinner," Lily huffed, turning around to look up at James. He held back a chuckle at the look of petulance on her face, "What if Sirius is right? What if Peter's gone to You-Know-Who?"

"Then we'd know by now," he said gently, "You said it yourself. He wouldn't let us live another minute if he knew what we were up to."

Lily sighed, turning to look over her shoulder, "Can I at least go check on him and make sure he's-"

"No," James said, shaking his head.

"Then what can I do?"

James grinned down at her, "Well, there's a private room over there…"

"Are you suggesting we go into our bedroom and engage in all sorts of scandalous and unmentionable activities right under Sirius' nose?" Lily gasped. James laughed.

"Well, I mean, there's no Andrew Evans here to materialize from between overweight Muggles-"

"Wishful thinking then," Lily hummed, and James sniggered. As he leaned down to press his lips against Lily's, Sirius' bedroom door opened with a bang, and she squeaked, jerking away to look over her shoulder just as Sirius stomped into the room, his striking face settled in a miserable pout.

"Let's go find the bastard," he grumbled, and Lily rolled her eyes as he nodded at James, who sighed and straightened away from Lily.

"I'll go get changed," James muttered, and Lily smirked as he strode towards their bedroom, grumbling about how Sirius could have taken even an hour longer and James wouldn't have minded, and would anyone ever give the two of them some quality arse-patting time and how unlikely that was in this cruel and seemingly sexless world.

"I'll stay here, you know, in case he comes back," Lily said, gesturing around the flat, and Sirius nodded. He looked down at the floor and scuffed at a piece of lint with his right to.

"Sorry," he muttered, and Lily's eyebrows shot up, "Shouldn't have said some things to you."

"Don't worry love," Lily said, smiling gently at him as she reached out to punch his arm, "Just don't do it again."

"Yes mum," he chuckled, raising his eyes slightly so he met hers, the strands of his dark hair falling handsomely into his face as he peered at her through them, "You're not angry?"

"Maybe a little, but I knew you'd see sense eventually," she shrugged. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"You have a lot of faith in me."

"I like a lost cause," she quipped. Sirius guffawed, revealing to Lily the first genuine smile she'd seen from him today.

"Guess that's why you're shagging Prongs."

"Marrying," she corrected, flushing a deep red as Sirius smirked at her all wolfishly and Circe be damned if he wasn't already back to his usual self. James hurried back into the living room, now dressed in his Muggle jeans and jumper. He cocked a brow as he noticed Lily's flush and Sirius' smirk.

"Do I want to know?" he asked Lily, who shook her head, before sticking her tongue out at a snickering Sirius.

"Get lost," she sniffed at him, and he barked a laugh, leaning forwards and surprising both James and Lily by pulling her into a true brotherly hug.

"S'later," he said, releasing her and turning to James, who after a moment rolled his eyes and shoved Sirius towards the front door.

"Bye love," James said, leaning down to kiss Lily chastely, "Owl us if he comes back."

"I'll be thinking of your arse while you're gone," she said, and James snorted as Sirius frowned at them.

"Do I want to know?"

"You? Probably, pervert," Lily sniffed, and Sirius saluted her as James rolled his eyes and shoved Sirius out of the front door.

It was with a deep breath (and a lot of liquid courage in his system) that Peter apparated into Sirius' flat. His first impression of it was that everyone was asleep- the fact wouldn't have surprised him; he had very little doubt that they'd continued on with their lives as normal. They were probably even relieved he'd left. The living room was deserted, cast in the early morning glow of a sunrise hidden behind gray London clouds. There was a bite in the air, a sure sign they were approaching November, and Peter had been only too glad to have been wearing a jumper. He'd had to transfigure some gloves; Merlin knew his hands were always the first to freeze, and he wasn't interested in losing any fingers.

Peter snorted, swaying slightly as he thought about the irony of wearing gloves so he wouldn't lose fingers, when he'd apparently been all too happy to cut one of his own off. He made the decision to go to his bed and take a nap, knowing he'd had so much to drink that Sirius' outraged yells at his return when he finally woke up would not penetrate his sleeping psyche. Toeing off his trainers and stripping out of his jeans, he threw himself down on the bed, shuddering at the cold mattress, and tucked his knees into his chest to generate some warmth underneath the covers.

Peter jumped as a high pitched scream echoed through the living room, only to be greeted by an alarmed Lily, dressed in flannel pajama bottoms and one of James' Quidditch jerseys, standing in the middle of the living room with her hand on her heart.

"Oh!" she gasped, taking deep breaths and closing her eyes, "Peter, you gave me such a fright. I didn't realize anyone else was here!"

Peter continued to stare at her as she calmed herself down, watching as her flush diminished and she started to breathe at a normal pace. He didn't say anything- frankly he didn't know if there was anything to say. 'Sorry' didn't seem to cut it. It had hardly been his fault that he'd been asleep in his own bed.

"Sorry," Lily said after a few moments, shaking her head and releasing a small laugh, "I think I scared you more than you scared me just now. I didn't realize you'd come back already."

"S'fine," Peter shrugged, biting back the sting at how nonchalant she'd sounded about his departure. Clearly, he'd been right. The sight of him must have triggered her fright, especially if she was hoping he'd never come back.

Lily bit her lip as she looked at him, sitting upright under the covers, his blonde hair disheveled, his trademark watery blue eyes bloodshot, "Do you, er, want some tea?" she said after a moment, her voice shaking slightly. Peter cocked a brow at her.

"You want to have tea with me?" he asked after a moment. She nodded her head jerkily. Peter thought she looked like she wanted to do the opposite, "You don't have to Lily, it's fine," he said. Her eyes widened and she shook her head quickly.

"No, I really do. I'm used to company when I get ready for work as it is," she said, gesturing around the flat, "It's unsettling how quiet it is in here. It's usually always bustling with some noise at least, I mean, especially with James actually living in the same room as me, I don't think I've had a silent moment since we left school honestly."

Peter looked unimpressed by her tirade. She could hardly blame him.

"And I, er, I mean, we haven't had a chance to talk in a while," she added awkwardly, as he continued to look at her blankly.

"Have we ever chatted one-on-one?" he asked, and Lily frowned. He could tell her mind was working to figure out whether he was right. He didn't know- he couldn't be expected to remember with this much Firewhiskey in his system.

"I don't…know," she said after a moment, before offering him a tentative smile, "Offer's on the table if you're up for it?" she said. He thought she looked nervous, but he couldn't be sure; after all, he'd never had much of a chance to get to know her as well as the others. She and James had started going out during the Christmas of Sixth Year, and they'd read about Harry's third year at the beginning of Seventh Year. He'd always considered her a friend, but never in as close regard as Remus and Sirius seemed to hold her. To him, she was always 'James' girlfriend' over 'his friend Lily'.

"All right," he said warily. She seemed pleased. She moved into the kitchen to make the tea and Peter, as soon as she was out of view, hurriedly pulled his jeans back on. He heard the water start to boil. It seemed she was feeling as awkward about this situation as he was. Figuring it was the polite thing to do, he started to make his way over to the dining table.

He'd forgotten, however, to factor in that he'd spent the last several hours lost in a bottle.

Lily hurried to the doorway of the kitchen as she heard the loud 'thud', to see Peter sprawled across the living room floor, right near his bed. He looked up at her from where he was lying on the floor.

It was his expression of shock that did her in, and laughter bubbled up and out of her windpipe. Peter rolled his eyes as she brought her hand up to cover her mouth, but his irritation only goaded her further, and she succumbed to her laughter. Peter felt the corners of his mouth turning up into a wry smile as she continued to laugh

"You can help me up," he said after a few moments, and she chuckled.

"I probably should," she said, wiping away her tears of laughter as she stumbled over to him. He grabbed her hand and pulled himself upright. She smiled slightly before turning around to fetch the tea. Deciding nothing so embarrassing could happen again, he took large steps to the dining table and fell into a chair. Thankfully, Lily didn't come back out with the mugs until he was already seated, "Here you go, milk and no sugar," she said, placing it in front of him. Peter blinked.

"How do you know how I like my tea?"

Was this a trap? Peter thought, panicked. Were James and Sirius actually hiding in the flat here somewhere, had they told her how Peter liked his tea? Were they hiding from him? Or hiding to attack him? Was Lily just supposed to keep him distracted?

Lily frowned, her hand holding the mug hovering in front of her face, "Why wouldn't I?" Peter continued to look blankly back at her. Lily placed her mug down, "I mean, we've only been friends for over a year, in which we've had breakfast together hundreds of times. I've made you tea here before as well, haven't I?" she added. Peter sent her a sad smile. She couldn't understand why he looked so agitated.

"Don't think so. You must be thinking of Sirius, he takes his tea the same," he shrugged. He lifted the mug to his lips and took a sip. For a second, he wondered if it was poisoned. Sirius, for sure, hated him enough to do it. Did they think he wouldn't change? Was this their solution? He looked once more at Lily's kind face, and dismissed the thought entirely. He took another sip.

Lily cleared her throat as she took him in. Her green eyes scanned him from head to toe; his hair was disheveled, his jeans were on inside out, his trademark watery blue eyes were bloodshot, but other than that he looked like his normal self. Except…there was a droop in his shoulders; she couldn't remember if they'd always been that way or if that was something new. The bags under his eyes were more defined than they'd been a year ago, that was for sure…and he seemed older. Not in a wiser sense or in a way that everyone eventually would be, but as if stress and a general lack of being well kept had aged him.

Peter was convinced it was coming soon. The accusation. Soon, Lily would say she thought he'd been with You-Know-Who. That after his fight with Sirius he'd decided to switch sides, and let fate happen the way it wanted to.

The two sat in silence for a few moments- Peter trying to figure out what was going on, Lily watching him – before Peter cleared his throat. Lily blinked, snapped out of her trance, and took a sip of her tea.

"How was your party?" he asked into the silence.

"It went a little better than I'd expected, actually," she said, smiling slightly, "Petunia was, naturally, as horrid as you'd expect, but I actually managed to have a decent time. I don't really know why," she chuckled, taking another sip of her tea. Peter shrugged.

"Probably because Prongs was with you," he said, and Lily nodded, "He can usually make dull events fun," he added. Lily laughed.

"It is a talent of his," she said, shaking her head fondly, "It seemed to take a toll on him though," she added. Peter cocked an eyebrow, "I think the Muggle fashion was too much for his delicate psyche, the women's hats were all he could think about," she said. Peter stared at her blankly before his lips pulled up into a grin and he let out a snigger.

"I hope someone wears them to your wedding," he said. Lily laughed.

"I think we're on the same team there," she joked good-naturedly, taking another sip of her tea, "Though I don't fancy being left at the altar."

"It'd never happen," Peter said, shaking his head.

"Then we'll campaign for more hats," she said.

The two fell into another silence, this one not as awkward as the last but certainly not companionable. There hung over them a dark cloud, like a balloon full of something that when popped would drench them in darkness.

"So what are your thoughts on Hestia's article?" Lily asked after a moment. Peter looked up at her, stunned, "What?" she asked, confused, as she brushed a lock of her hair back.

"Why are you asking me this?" he asked. This was it. Hestia's article on You-Know-Who. Peter, who was supposedly in league with You-Know-Who. The one connection. He almost hated himself for being right. He'd gotten comfortable.

Lily shrugged, "I mean, I just figured-"

"What? That I had an inside perspective on how You-Know-Who would take it?"

Lily gaped as Peter glared at her. His eyes seemed more watery than usual. His face was slowly turning red.

"Peter, I-"

"That's where you think I've been, isn't it? You think that's where I went after Sirius punched me?"

"No," Lily said, shaking her head quickly as Peter's left hand curled into a fist on top of the table and he closed his eyes.

"Then why would you ask me-"

"Because I thought you'd have a different opinion!" she rushed the words, blinking rapidly as Peter turned back to look at her, "I mean, since you're joining the Prophet, I mean, I don't know, maybe you'd take her stance on journalistic integrity over mine," she said. Peter deflated as he noted how wide her green eyes had gotten and how quiet her voice had become. He drooped down in his chair, resting his face in his hands.

They sat in silence once again, this time however, Lily felt the tension could have been cut with a knife. She wanted to speak to him, to offer words of comfort, but she didn't know how to break through, "Peter, I-"

"Don't," he said, his voice coming out muffled through his hands as he cut her off, "Let's just, forget about it," he said. He rubbed his hands down his face and brought them back down around his mug. The pressure of his hands had left streaks on his face. His eyes remained downcast, "You'd have all probably been happier if I didn't come back."

"James and Sirius are out looking for you," Lily said after a few moments. Peter snorted, "No, they are. They've been looking since we got back."

Peter shrugged again, taking a sip of his tea. Lily sighed, wrapping her hands around her mug to warm them, and pulling her legs up underneath her.

"It's cold," she said. Peter shrugged. She sighed again before shaking her head, "Look, we've never really talked like this," she said, clearing her throat as she looked down at her tea, "So I don't know if I'm going to say the wrong thing."

"Don't think you've ever made a mistake in your life," Peter said after a few moments. Lily released a breathy chuckle.

"You've never seen me when I'm around my sister," she said, taking it as encouragement that Peter's mouth pulled up into a half smile, "Peter I just, I just," Lily sighed again. She didn't know what she was trying to say, but she knew she had to try and push it out, or else Peter would never recover, "I just want you to know that I can see you're trying," she said.

Peter slowly raised his head to look at her. She was biting her lip and honestly looked a little terrified. It comforted him that she was as scared of him in this moment as he was of her, "You hate me," he said after a moment. Lily's eyes widened.

"No! No! I don't!" she squeaked, looking genuinely panicked that he had that impression of her. It made him smirk a little, "I don't hate you, I don't even dislike you if I'm being honest."

"You don't trust me," he said. Lily sent him an apologetic look.

"Not entirely, no," she said, shaking her head slowly. Peter nodded.

"I know," he sighed, rubbing his hand down his face, "I don't know how to change that."

"Me neither," she admitted with an apologetic smile, "Time, I guess, is the only way out of this mess."

Peter snorted, "Yeah. Time. Time and something heroic, by me," he scoffed, "Never been the heroic kind, unfortunately."

Lily rolled her eyes, "All of you boys are exactly the same. Idiots, the lot of you," she said, shaking her head fondly. Peter laughed, "Trust doesn't need a grand gesture. Just honesty and patience."

"You should write a book," he said. Lily rolled her eyes. Peter looked back down at the table for a moment, before meeting her eye, "Honesty, you say?"

"I think you should be honest with the boys," she said, nodding her head. Peter scoffed, "No, I really do. They don't hate you either, you know."

"Sirius'll give you a run for your money," he said.

Lily shook her head slightly, "Surely you can see why he's struggling," she said after a moment. Peter shrugged, before nodding his head. Lily smiled slightly. Her eyes drifted down to the watch around Peter's wrist, and she gasped, pushing herself up to her feet. Peter's eyes followed her, "I'd better get ready, I've got the longest shift in the world today," she said. Peter chuckled.

"How long?"

"I leave around half past seven," Peter looked down at his watch to see it was ten to seven, "the shift starts at eight, and I'm not back here until after Remus is discharged tomorrow," she shuddered. Peter raised his brows.

"Why so long?"

Lily sighed as she gathered their now empty mugs. Peter smiled his thanks, "With the increase in the number of attacks they've decided to work us harder rather than hire more people," she said. Peter snorted.

"Sounds dumb."

"Well, you can see their logic, I suppose," she replied from the kitchen, placing the mugs in the sink and waving her wand so they'd wash themselves, "They're reluctant to bring in new hires because you don't know who you can trust and who's just at the hospital to, I don't know, attack the staff or the patients or something," she said. Peter felt hot with shame.

"An inside man," he said. Lily grimaced.

"That's what they're afraid of."

"Aren't we all," he said under his breath. Lily stopped in her tracks, and sent him an apologetic look.

"I didn't mean-"

"Leave it Lily," he sighed, rubbing his forehead. She bit her lip.

"I still think you should talk to them."

"I already told Remus," he said after a moment. Lily nodded.

"Try James next," she said. Peter lifted his head to look at her, and she smiled encouragingly, "He worries, but he also worries about you. He was upset when he heard of what happened, with Sirius yesterday I mean," she said. Peter frowned.

"He told you that?"

"He didn't have to."

Lily sent him a quick smile before turning away and heading back towards the bedrooms. Peter watched her leave and felt his heart rate speed up.

"I wasn't so awful to him when we thought he'd done it," he called after her. Lily stopped and turned around to face him, "I didn't punch him when I thought he'd killed me," he added, shaking his head. Even from a distance, Lily could see that his eyes had started to tear, "I forgave him and believed he wouldn't do it. Why can't he do the same?"

Lily's heart ached as Peters entire frame seemed to tremble as he fought back his tears. She'd never considered it from that perspective. Peter hadn't even blinked when James had brought Sirius back to the dormitory after they'd read the scene in the Three Broomsticks, and Sirius had been his potential killer then.

"Because he's Sirius," she said after a moment, sighing as she crossed her arms over her chest, "He's only ever trusted a handful of people. I suppose it's just harder for him," she said. Peter wiped at his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, settling against them as his elbow rested on the table. Lily took a deep breath. She didn't know what she was supposed to say next, but she couldn't just walk out while he was in pain. Biting her lip, she took a few steps towards him and sat back down at the table.

"Don't you need to get dressed?" he asked, his voice choked. He brought his hand down to wipe at his cheeks at the few tears that had escaped his eyes.

"I have time," she said gently. Hesitantly, she reached her hand forwards to cover his with hers. Peter jumped at the contact, but didn't twitch his hand away. Lily noticed his ears were pink, and bit back a grin. Peter, always shy around women.

Peter cleared his throat when he'd finally managed to pull himself back together, and Lily pulled her hand away as he opened his eyes and looked at her. His eyes were now more bloodshot than they'd been before, "You'd better go get dressed or you'll be late," he said, and Lily smiled, pushing herself to her feet. Peter followed suit, but swayed so dangerously that Lily instinctually reached out to steady him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, fighting off a smile as he attempted to steady himself with the table, "Peter, are you drunk?"

"I was," he grumbled, pushing her off him and attempting to make his way back to his bed. Lily smirked and grabbed his elbow to help him along as he lost his balance again.

"I've never known you to be so coherent on alcohol," she chuckled, smiling as he dropped down into his bed with a distinct lack of grace.

"I stopped drinking three hours ago," he muttered, looking down at his legs. Lily bit back a laugh at the look of confusion on his face, "Been walking around since…have my jeans been inside out this whole time?" he asked.

Lily laughed, "I'll see you later," she said, grinning as Peter flushed and slapped his hands over his face with a loud groan.

"Oh, come on mate," Sirius sighed, trudging after James. The bespectacled boy seemed to pay him no mind, as he had been doing for the last few hours, "You'll have to talk to me sometime."

James simply shook his head and sped up his steps, turning around the corner ahead to see if Peter was in the alley behind Florean Fortescues. They'd been searching for him all night; they'd gone to his mums house and peered in through Peter's bedroom window, they'd gone to Mungos (under the cloak) to see if maybe he'd gone to visit Remus, they'd even apparated to Hogsmeade and searched the Shack, Hogs Head and Three Broomsticks to see if he'd decided to go there instead. Diagon Alley had been last on their list- it was the closest to the flat. He officially wasn't booked into the Leaky, nor was he wandering around the streets of Diagon Alley. James had started to get desperate by now, and Sirius muttering under his breath about how You-Know-Who was going to show up at any moment with Peter by his side weren't helping.

James bit the inside of his cheek as Sirius muttered about why they were even bothering with finding Peter and surely there were all better off without him.

"Did you hear nothing Lily said?" he snapped, turning around to face Sirius, who barely reacted as James glared at him.

"I heard everything she said," Sirius said nonchalantly, shrugging one of his shoulders as he glanced to the left- his attempt at looking for Peter, "she spoke for bloody ages. I thought she'd never stop."

"So you pretended to agree with her?" James said through gritted teeth. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"No, I mean, I acknowledged she had a point, and so she does. I just don't agree with her."

James rolled his eyes and turned to storm away. Sirius groaned, "Oh come on Prongs, how much longer are you going to act like a pissy third year-"

"You punched Wormtail!" James exclaimed, turning around and jabbing Sirius in the chest with his pointer finger, "You punched him Sirius! What did he even say to you?" Sirius simply met James' eye, and the boy scoffed, "Nothing, just as I thought. He was just there, Sirius."

"He was definitely talking to me," Sirius bit out, and James snorted.

"Anything less than him saying you belonged on Azkaban and he did the right thing wouldn't deserve a punch," he said, and Sirius' gaze darkened.

"You saying I belong in Azkaban?"

"Of course I'm bloody not," James scoffed, shooting an irritated look over his shoulder at Sirius as he turned away from a closed Flourish & Blotts, "You know I'd never say that, don't be daft."

"But you think Peter would say that."

"No," James groaned, rubbing at his temples as Sirius started to follow him back to the Leaky. He'd given up by now. It was almost seven, Lily would be leaving soon, and he had to leave for work in a little over an hour. He hadn't slept, he needed a shower, and he just wanted Lily to give him a Pepper Up Potion before she left, so he could survive the day.

"What time do you want to leave for the Ministry?" Sirius asked, and James shrugged, ruffling at his hair, "Moody said today was going to be a rough day," he added, and James groaned, dropping his chin to his chest.

"I forgot we were dueling again today," he grumbled, and Sirius smirked, "I'm too tired to duel."

"You'd better perk up mate, or else you'll be one of the dummies," Sirius warned, clapping James on the shoulder, "And while you're my best mate and all I'll definitely choose to practice on you over the others."

"Thanks," James deadpanned. Sirius smirked, "Seems you're well up for harming your mates," James added spitefully. Sirius' smirk dropped.

"He's not my mate," he said slowly. James let out an inaudible sigh.

"Has it occurred to you that you may hate him so much for what he did in those books because he's still your mate?" James asked. Sirius ignored him, crossing his arms and keeping his gaze focused forwards. It was clear he had no intention of responding to James, but the boy could see in the calculating gray of Sirius' eyes that he'd planted a seed of doubt.

"Well, if you're going to practice on me at least make it a good curse," James said after a moments' awkward silence. Sirius sniggered.

"Cruciatus good for you?"

"Splendid, thanks," James snorted, shoving at Sirius, as the boy continued to smirk.

"Actually I reckon I'd prefer the Imperius," Sirius mused, stroking his chin thoughtfully. James rolled his eyes as they turned into the building Sirius inhabited, "I could make you do anything I like."

"Sounds dirty," James snickered. Sirius rolled his eyes, "Try it on Hestia, think you'll have more fun with that." Sirius snorted and shoved James in the shoulder, the latter snickering like a child as they ascended the stairs to the third floor.

"Don't let Lil hear you say that," Sirius warned, causing James to snicker again as they approached the final staircase.

"Where is Hestia anyway?" James mused, and Sirius rolled his eyes, "I haven't seen her around in a bit."

"I didn't invite her over with the awkward war you and Lily have been in the last few days," Sirius snorted, and James smirked.

"Fair," he shrugged, "When did you last see her?"

"Yesterday," Sirius sighed, shaking his head fondly, "She made me rearrange her furniture."

"I reckon she's just using you for your body mate," James sniggered. Sirius winked, and James laughed, as he reached out to twist the doorknob and let them into the flat.

They were greeted by Lily, who was standing in the kitchen doorway eating a bowl of cereal as she chatted with Peter, who was sat up in bed. Lily stopped talking as soon as the door opened, and Peter's face turned a sickly gray as his eyes met Sirius' before he averted his gaze into his lap.

"Oh," James said, before smiling slightly, "There you are," he said. Peter raised his head to shoot James a bewildered look, "We've been looking for you all night. All right?" he asked.

Only Lily could see the wariness in his expression as he smiled at Peter.

"You two must be knackered," she said after Peter shrugged, clearly unable to speak with Sirius standing there looking crestfallen by the boy's appearance in his house, "Don't you have to leave for work soon?"

"Yes," James grumbled, turning to watch Sirius as the boy, without so much as a word, turned and walked over towards his bedroom, "Can you give me a Pepper Up? I won't survive a day of dueling otherwise," he said, and Lily smiled.

"No problem, I'll go get it," she said, placing her bowl of cereal down on the table. She leaned up to peck him on the cheek, and whispered into his ear, before she pulled away, "talk to him."

James gave a subtle nod as she made her way to the bedroom, before taking a deep breath and fixing a smile on his face, "So where've you been all night?" he asked.

"A bar," Peter said, still looking down in his lap, "Spent most of the night at the Leaky, then walked around Muggle London for a bit."

"Oh, we literally just checked the Leaky," James said. Peter nodded.

The two fell into an awkward silence, when Peter finally sighed, dropping his head down into his hands.

"I can't do this Prongs," he said. James grimaced, "It's too awkward. I don't know how to talk to you lot. Lily kept telling me to," he added bitterly. James chuckled.

"She does that," he said, shaking his head fondly. Peter snorted.

"It's annoying."

"Tell me about it," James sighed. Peter lifted his head to pin James with his watery blue gaze.

"I think you lot hate me," he blurted out. James' eyebrows shot up.

"I don't hate you," he said. Peter looked skeptical, so James continued, "I mean, I'm not thrilled about what we read but you're still my mate right now."

"Right now," Peter repeated, and James grimaced.

"I don't know what's going to happen," James admitted, an apologetic expression on his face, and Peter sighed, nodding his head.

"I'm scared of it going the bad way," Peter said. James nodded.

"I know, and I mean, Lily has a point. You've done the most Horcrux research, you're clearly trying not to go that way," James said awkwardly. Peter nodded, before chuckling. James frowned, "What?"

"She's so small and sweet, I never thought she'd end up being so bossy," Peter said. James guffawed.

"She uses logic and reason. It's almost impossible to win against her," James sighed. Peter snickered.

"You hold up all right," he said, and James smirked.

"You hold up all right doing what?" Lily asked as she walked back into the room, shaking a vial of potion between her fingers.

"Dealing with you," James said, and Lily shot Peter a withering look. He snickered. James beamed as Lily handed him the vial, "I love you!"

"I'm sure," she said sardonically. James chuckled, uncorking the vial and downing the potion in one. He let out a satisfied groan as he felt the exhaustion drain out of his muscles almost instantaneously, "I'll give you another one, it'll wear off by the time lunch hits," she said, and James nodded, smiling dreamily down at her.

"Lily?" he crooned, and she cocked a brow at him.

"What?"

"How much do you love me?" he asked. Lily rolled her eyes.

"What do you want?"

"A neck rub?" Lily opened her mouth to protest but James cut her off, "Please? Please, please, please, please Lily? I have to do so much dueling today, and I was up all night, and I went to that stupid party with you didn't I?"

Lily bit back a laugh as he continued to beg and plead with her, "All right, you big baby," she said, and James beamed down at her.

"Does it include a complimentary arse pat?" he asked, and Lily burst out laughing, grabbing his hand and leading him towards the bedroom, "See you later Pete," he said over his shoulder, and Peter chuckled, settling himself in and turning onto his side to fall asleep, "Lily, you're the best person ever," he said as she pushed him towards the bed. He lay down on his stomach and let out a loud moan as she perched on his tailbone.

"I haven't even touched you yet," she laughed, leaning forwards as she prodded at his neck and upper shoulder area, seeking out the various knots of tension, "Stop being so dramatic."

"Oh that's rich coming from you," James snorted, and she grinned as she began to knead her thumbs into his neck, "Fuck that's heaven. This is why I'm marrying you," he said, groaning again as she ran her thumbs up to sides of his neck. Their bedroom door burst open, causing James to yelp, and Lily snorted as Sirius stood in the doorway, a sardonic expression on his face.

"Last I checked, he's supposed to be on his back," he said, nodding at James, who lifted his left hand up to stick his middle finger up at Sirius. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Thank you for your input Sirius," she said, and he smiled at her as she renewed her kneading. James groaned loudly again, and Sirius sniggered.

"Clearly my input wasn't necessary," he said, and Lily shot him a chastising look as James whined into the mattress for her to 'kick him the fuck out', "Want to sit on me next, Lil?"

"Not on your life," James said, and Sirius sniggered, throwing himself none-too-gently down onto the mattress, causing James to bounce, "Stop it, I'm trying to relax," he whined, and Sirius chuckled, placing his heels on James' shoulder blades. Lily tutted and pushed his feet off as James whined again, "Lily!"

"Clearly those weren't my heels," Lily scolded, as she renewed her massaging. James grumbled incoherently into the mattress, causing Sirius to snicker once more, "Shouldn't you be getting ready anyway?" she asked Sirius, who shrugged.

"Takes about a minute. He's not getting ready either," he added, and Lily shook her head fondly as James reached out to shove Sirius, who grinned and kicked him.

"I swear, it's like having children," she sighed, rubbing at her temples.

"What's that about having children, love?" James asked, and Lily rolled her eyes to the heavens as Sirius sniggered and began to prod at James, telling him to 'get ready', "I'll blow off work if you're interested."

"I have no doubt," she said dryly, pushing herself off James, who protested loudly about abuse and his poor neck and come on Lily why won't you help me, "I have to go to work," she laughed, as James sat up and grabbed at her, attempting to pull her back onto the bed, "No! Stop it James, I'm going to be late!"

"I'm not going to see you for ages," he pouted, and Lily grinned, leaning forwards to kiss him. Sirius gagged and kicked at James again, "Who's going to heal me after dueling?" he added, sneering at Sirius, who stuck his tongue back out at him.

"Aren't you two technically able to heal yourselves?" she asked, her tone exasperated as Sirius began to pout at her and joined in with James' whinging. Their expressions comically darkened.

"It's too bloody hard," Sirius grumbled, glaring as Lily laughed.

"Here's what," James said, clapping his hands together. Lily exchanged an amused look with Sirius, "we'll come see you in Mungos, you can heal us then!"

"You can do it during visiting hours, we'll pop in to see Moony after work," Sirius added, and Lily rolled her eyes as James and Sirius grinned at each other.

"Lazy buggers," she tutted, and they grinned, "Fine, I'll pop in on Remus during evening visiting hours for a check. If you're in there I may heal you, if I'm feeling nice," she added, and James winked at her. She shook her head fondly as she picked up her bag, "Behave while I'm gone," she said, looking pointedly at Sirius, who stuck his tongue out at her, "Leave Peter alone, let him sleep," she added, and Sirius scoffed.

"I didn't sleep all night either," he drawled.

"Yes but you were the cause of your sleepless night," she countered, and Sirius scoffed, "Get dressed, go to work, apparate out of your bedroom if you must," she added airily, and Sirius saluted her, "Good boy."

"You know, we really should talk about security wards around the flat at some point," James mused, and Sirius turned to him with an irritated expression as Lily hummed in agreement.

"What?"

"I mean, anyone could just apparate in or out," James mused, and Sirius cocked his head to the side thoughtfully, "They could take something, I mean, Merlin forbid they take the Horcrux."

"They can't, Peter's been making sure to take it with him whenever he leaves," Lily said, and the two turned to her, their faces questioning. Lily rolled her eyes, "He just told me, he takes it because he reckons it'd be safer in his pocket than it would be in an unsecured empty flat," she said.

"That's smart," James said. Lily noted that Sirius, however reluctant, seemed to be in agreement.

"We'll set up the wards tonight," Sirius said, and Lily smiled.

"All right, I'll be sure to apparate outside the front door from now on," she said. Sirius waved as she walked out of the bedroom door. James sprung onto his feet to walk her out.

"Will you be all right? It's a monster of a shift," James said, and Lily smiled at him over her shoulder as they quietly made their way through the living room, where Peter was snoring.

"I'll be fine. Alma's on for the day today and she'll be back in the morning to relieve me," she said, and James smiled and nodded, leaning down to kiss her goodbye, "See you later love."

"You're making me nauseas," Sirius grumbled, and the two jumped apart to see him standing right beside James.

"I thought you were in there," James hissed, nodding towards the bedroom. Sirius smirked, and winked at Lily, who rolled her eyes.

"Bye Sirius," she said, and he grinned at her as she, with one last smile to James, turned on the spot and vanished.

"She made it all the way to the dining room, she could have at least walked out the door," Sirius mused. James rolled his eyes and shoved at his snickering best mate as he turned back towards the bedrooms to get changed.

"This is becoming unacceptable," James moaned, as he walked into another invisible wall. Sirius snickered, helping James pull away from it before Moody could notice. The man had already detained three people for 'dummy duty' after he'd watched them walk into a wall more than once. James was now on his fourth, and Sirius had walked into two, but the other had pulled them away from it before Moody could have noticed, "What is this even teaching us?"

"How not to get caught," Sirius murmured, waving at Moody, who simply turned to look elsewhere.

"We learned that at Hogwarts," James muttered back, and Sirius smirked as the two of them carefully ambled forwards, "He could at least let us hold an arm out in front of us so we wouldn't keep whacking our foreheads into the walls," James added, and Sirius guffawed.

"Because that really paints a picture of confidence," he said, mimicking someone walking around fearfully with an arm stretched out in front of them. James rolled his eyes as Sirius chuckled, "It's all about awareness Prongs."

"What he should have taught us," James said, after shooting Sirius a mocking look, "is how to detect them. I mean, he's just put up magical walls, we should know how to use our wands to detect magic and avoid them," he said, sneering after Moody's retreating back, as the man walked over to terrorize some other Auror Trainee who'd walked into a wall and was now crumpled on the floor with a nosebleed.

"That looks painful," Sirius grimaced, watching for a moment as the boy attempted to heal his own nose, but failed, resulting in the blood gushing out faster. Moody simply walked away, trusting that he'd figure out how to right it himself, "He's just going to leave him?"

"Evidently," James said, shaking his head as he turned to face the way forwards. They were in third place; one pair had already finished the maze and was standing triumphantly on the other side of the room. Another pair was a few feet ahead of them, standing a few yards to the left. Sirius turned away from the bleeding boy when his partner showed up and pulled out her wand to fix his nose.

"Right," Sirius said, squinting forwards, "I say we continue really slowly. They give off a faint warmth if you concentrate rally hard," he said. James turned to him, baffled.

"They do not!"

"They do!"

"No they don't, I wouldn't have walked into as many as I have and not noticed that," James said, and Sirius smirked mockingly at him. James flipped him off.

"Maybe it's the Padfoot in me," Sirius mused after a few moments, before starting forwards. James hurried to keep up with him.

"We're going to look like idiots if we just stride right into one," James grumbled, and Sirius smirked. He stopped short and frowned at the space in front of him.

"We've had a few feet without any walls, reckon we're going to hit one soon?" he asked, turning to look behind him. James snorted.

"Are you trying to predict Moody?"

"Touché," Sirius said after a moment, and James chuckled, "I mean, the only way to know if one is there is to walk into it, if you ask me," he said, and James sighed.

"That's what I'm saying. There's got to be a spell or something."

"I'm sure there is," Sirius said, a sneer in his voice, "Moody's going to teach it to us after, to prove a point about how useful it is," he said, and James snorted in agreement.

"Potter! Black!" Moody's voice called like a sharp whip, and the two turned, scared, towards the sound of his voice, "This isn't a tea party!"

"Is he sure?" Sirius murmured to James under his breath. James bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smirking.

"Get a move on! If the enemy was trying to catch up to you you'd be dead by now!"

"Then why bother trying," James snorted. Sirius sniggered as the two of them renewed walking towards their goal slowly.

"Stop!" Sirius said, throwing his arm out, so James walked right into it. James turned to him with a nasty look, "I reckon it's there," he said, nodding slightly to James' left. James turned to squint at the spot, "What are you doing?" Sirius snorted, and James shrugged.

"I think the last time I walked into one I saw that it was a mite blurry," he said, and Sirius smirked.

"Maybe that was you, from all the head banging."

"Maybe you should shut up," James advised, taking a step closer and squinting. Sirius sniggered.

"You look ridiculous."

"I was right!" James said excitedly, gesturing for Sirius to come over. He did, his expression laced with skepticism. He leaned forwards slightly, mimicking James, and chuckled.

"Merlins pants, it is faintly blurry!" he said excitedly, and James nodded. Sirius turned away from the wall and squinted at the rest of the room. James noticed Moody look over at them as if they were insane, but continued to squint nonetheless, "I reckon we go this way," he said, gesturing to the right. Sirius nodded, his eyes still squinting, and the two hesitantly made their way in that direction.

"Watch it!" Sirius hissed, grabbing James' sleeve and pulling him back as he noticed the loose shoelace of James' shoe bend upwards seemingly of its own accord, "It's literally right next to you," he said, and James sent him a grateful smile.

"Cheers mate."

"You're rubbish at this," Sirius snorted, not letting go of James' sleeve as they continued to march onwards, "Thank Merlin, I think we're done," he said, letting go of James and stretching his arms forwards. They were now almost level with the team who'd finished.

"Definitely done," James said, picking up his wand and shooting sparks forwards. When they met no barrier, Sirius grinned, throwing his arm around James as the two strutted forwards and sat themselves down on two seats outside the maze, "Thank fuck, I think I was about to go crazy in there," James said, shooting a dirty look at the invisible maze.

"Yeah, but now we can laugh at them," Sirius snickered, nodding at the maze, where a few other pairings were still attempting to make their way through. As he watched, one pair strode right into seemingly nothing, the two of them collapsing in a heap on the floor. Moody laughed, "Now I get why he does this," Sirius sniggered, watching as another crouched slowly, their faces pre-set in winces in anticipation of a blow.

James shook his head fondly and crossed his ankle over his knee, biting at the inside of his cheek as he continued to watch the others. Sirius turned to look at him, and frowned, "What's the matter with you?"

"Hm?" James said, turning his head to look at Sirius, "Oh, nothing," he said, turning back to the maze. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"You're still pissed."

"A little," James admitted after a moment, shrugging one of his shoulders. Sirius turned to look at him and cocked a brow.

"Well? Out with it," he said, and James sighed.

"I don't see the point mate, you don't want to hear it."

"True," Sirius said, flicking his dark locks out of his eyes, "But you can still say it. Get it of your chest or whatever."

"You'll kick off."

"Probably," Sirius shrugged, and James rolled his eyes, fighting of a smile as Sirius shot him a smirk.

"He talked to me this morning," James said after a moment, and Sirius shrugged.

"That's not a huge betrayal mate, but I see why you'd think I-"

"Oh shut up," James scoffed, rolling his eyes as Sirius snickered at his own wit, "He's scared of becoming that person too, you know," James said after a moment. Sirius cocked a skeptical brow.

"This is supposed to comfort me, how?"

"It's not," James sighed, rubbing at his forehead, "I don't know, it doesn't really do much I guess. But he thinks we all hate him," he said. Sirius didn't twitch, and James sighed, "Look, I know you're not going to hear it, but I know you don't hate him. You're not impressed with him nor do you particularly like him much anymore, but I know you'd still try and keep him out of harms way if faced with the chance," James said, and Sirius scoffed.

"That's human decency."

"That's what you think," James shrugged. Sirius chewed at the inside of his cheek for a moment, before rolling his eyes.

"Fine, whatever, he's scared. We're all scared. That's not my problem," he shrugged. James sighed, "I won't punch him again," Sirius added after a moment, and James smiled slightly.

"That's all I ask."

"There you are!"

Lily turned, her face breaking out into a grin, as she saw Alma approach her, her ponytail swinging from side to side as she walked, "I haven't seen you in ages," Lily said, and Alma shook her head vigorously as she slammed her tray down across from Lily's.

"You've gotten fat, I don't even recognize you anymore," Alma said airily, and Lily grinned, shaking her head fondly as Alma yawned loudly, stretching her arms up into the air, "Merlin's beard I'd kill for a good nap," she said, closing her eyes and sending a dreamy smile Lily's way. Lily snorted.

"It's noon," she said bluntly. Alma looked at her blankly.

"You can say that, you got a good nights sleep, I presume. Only the well rested mock us energy deficient," she sniffed. Lily rolled her eyes.

"I forgot how irritating you were," she grumbled. Alma beamed.

"I missed you too Lily," she sung, stabbing at her pasta as Lily sighed fondly, taking another bite of her sandwich, "How was your sisters shindig?"

"What are you on?" Lily laughed, eyes twinkling with humour, as she looked at Alma, who giggled as she continued to twirl her pasta, "Shindig? Should I be testing you for the Imperius Curse?"

"I mean, why would you ask?" Alma snorted, "If I was Imperiused I'd be Imperiused not to tell you. Really Lily, you've got to start paying more attention to these curses, we can't leave the men to figure things out, you know they'll just botch it all up, the useless sods."

"Oh good, the patriarchy. You're definitely not Imperiused then," Lily giggled, as Alma stuck her tongue out at her, "Is this delirium?"

"That's sexist Lily, a woman could be Imperius-ing me, I'm sure Death Eaters face a patriarchal reality as well," she tutted. Lily laughed, "Us vaginas have to stick together you know."

"You'd stick with the woman Imperius-ing you because of her vagina?" Lily asked, her green eyes crinkled with amusement. Alma sent her a scathing look as Lily smirked.

"You've bloody changed," she said, pointing her fork at Lily, who simply laughed it off, "And it's not delirium thank you very much, unless you're referring to delirium as a result of intense joy," she added.

"I sense you want me to ask you about this intense joy."

"Oh all right, if you're going to keep asking I'll fill you in," Alma said, winking as Lily rolled her eyes, "Well, I mean, speaking of filling in-"

"Oh Merlin no, stop," Lily groaned, placing her sandwich down on her plate as Alma sniggered like the filthy creep she was, "I'm trying to eat."

"Owen ate yesterday," she said airily. Lily glared at her. Alma smirked, "You asked," she shrugged, taking another bite of her pasta.

"I did not," Lily scoffed, and Alma winked.

"I reckon you need to feed James, you're too tetchy," she tutted. Lily flushed, averting her gaze as the brunette sniggered again, "I think I'm in love," she added. Lily raised her brows.

"In love? With Owen?"

"Parts of him," Alma said, winking. Lily shook her head, trying and failing miserably at fighting off a smirk, "Enough of my sex life, you filthy pervert," she continued, turning back to her pasta, "and back to my original question. Shindig. Go," she met Lily's gaze with an expectant one of her own, eyebrows perched high on her forehead.

"There's nothing to report," Lily shrugged, taking a bite of her sandwich, "We went, we stood around, took a picture, and left."

"We being you and James," Alma said.

"Naturally," Lily said, and Alma nodded.

"So you did get some quality time with him," she said, and Lily rolled her eyes as Alma smirked.

"Not in the way you're implying," she sneered, and Alma gasped.

"He's so fit! What's the matter with you?"

"I'm not an animal, Alma," she snorted, her face turning pink at the continued sex talk. Alma rolled her eyes.

"Clearly. No wonder you're tetchy."

"Leave me and my tetchiness alone," Lily laughed, and Alma shrugged.

"If you insist. Though if you ask me-"

"I didn't," Lily cut in. Alma ignored her.

"-your losing your tetchiness will only benefit humanity, so get on it," she said. Her eyes twinkled, "I mean, him."

"You have a problem," Lily snorted, wiping her hands with her napkin as Alma sniggered, "Does Owen know?"

"You bet," she replied with a wink, and Lily shook her head fondly as the girl giggled, "Mum's been bothering me to meet him," she said, and Lily grinned.

"How's that going?"

"Over her dead body," Alma said simply, and Lily laughed.

"I thought you'd decided to turn over a new leaf and tell your Mum about your life."

"Yes," Alma said, nodding once, "Tell her about it. Not involve her in it."

"I don't know if that's your line to draw," Lily teased as Alma sent her a sour look, "Mums tend to involve themselves."

"Let's not talk about this anymore, it's depressing me," Alma said, waving her fork. Lily laughed, "Let's talk about something else."

"Like the fact that you're in love?" Lily asked. Alma rolled her eyes.

"I am not in love," she snorted. Lily smirked.

"Aren't you?"

Alma glared at Lily for a few moments, before huffing irritably and getting to her feet.

"If I wanted this kind of abuse I'd have visited my Mum," she sniffed, and Lily laughed as the girl turned on her heel and walked away. Looking up at the clock, Lily saw she had another ten minutes of her lunch hour left. Deciding to make the best of it and spend some time with Remus, she stood up and, after depositing her tray, climbed down the stairs to Remus' floor.

The ward was serene compared to the Emergency Ward, where she'd been assigned for the day. Healer Cromwell was out sick today, so as such she was placed in a Ward where she could help in any way she could. The Emergency ward had been calmer today than most days because there hadn't been a Death Eater attack that day. Lily had spent the morning dealing with the usual Emergency Ward cases that she'd heard of to exist in the Muggle world as well; an appendix emergency, a child falling down the stairs, a Quidditch injury, an accidental cut from a knife. There was a certain degree of tranquility, she found, in the mundane injuries, in being able to pretend, for a short while, that the world was not falling apart around her.

Remus' ward, specializing in animal bites, was usually a stress-free environment; there was only really something to do when someone came in with a dangerous bite, or during the Full Moon. Today was the last day before all the werewolves would be discharged, and she could sense the frustration radiating off the men and women who'd been stuck in these beds for two days. As she walked past one of the wards, she saw a witch frantically scribbling on a piece of parchment with her quill, a large pile of files stacked neatly on the bed next to her. Lily had heard about her from Remus- she was a Ministry Lobbyer, frantically working to pass legislation condemning the Death Eaters' activities on the basis of the Magical community's enshrined principles of equality. Mungo's had afforded her a private ward at a discounted price so she'd be able to complete her task without disruption.

On approaching Remus' ward, Lily heard arguing, and hurried along, only to be greeted by the sight of Remus and Bernard engaged in a heated debate.

"What's the matter?" she asked, and Remus groaned, rolling his eyes as he dropped his head back against the wall. Bernard smirked, and winked at Lily.

"All I was saying was there was some merit to the Prophet's most recent article," he said, holding the paper up so Lily could see the front page. Lily laughed.

"Remus, I think he has a point. I, for one, am mighty curious about the lead singer of Wandz reminiscing on his Hogwarts days at Hogsmeade," she said. Remus rolled his head to sneer at her, "It's humbling, don't you think? Knowing he sat where we sat?"

"Why are you here?" he scoffed, and Lily beamed, pushing herself off the doorframe so she could perch next to him on the bed. Remus shuffled over to make room for her.

"Thought I'd come see how my favourite patient was," she said, grinning at Remus, who rolled his eyes again.

"Bored out of my fucking skull, is how I am," he said, and Lily laughed, "My body is fine, see, look at my foot," he said, lifting his leg so the blanket flipped off his foot to reveal, as he said, a perfectly healed foot, albeit with some scarring, "I can't see Bernard through it any more, so that's clearly an improvement," he said. Bernard snickered, "They won't give me any fucking chocolate in here, which, by the way, I told Amelia, the Ministry Lobbyer, about when I wheeled in there earlier, and she told me to sue the hospital for distress," he added, and Lily rolled her eyes, her lips twitching with laughter as Bernard continued to snicker, "So you should warn your employers of the lawsuit I'm about to bring down on their heads-"

"Ask him why he wheeled over to Amelia," Bernard interrupted. Remus scowled at him.

"Why'd you wheel over to Amelia?" Lily giggled. Remus shoved her off the bed.

"Go back to work, you're causing me more distress," he said, and Lily laughed.

"How's your day going?" Bernard asked, and Lily smiled at him. Remus rolled his eyes.

"All right, I suppose. Just a few household accidents," she said, and Remus snorted.

"I'd give them my bed- oh! Wait, no, can't," he said, glaring at Lily, who rolled her eyes at Bernard. He snickered again.

"I actually had a reason to come in and bother you," she said, and Remus cocked his head expectantly, "it only struck me this morning, but it's November tomorrow."

"Congratulations," Remus said after a few seconds of her not speaking. Lily rolled her eyes, "Thank you for telling me."

"Don't be a prat," she scolded, clearing her throat, "I was thinking about Sirius-"

"Does James know?"

"Remus!" she hissed, and he smirked as she crossed her arms irritably, "I wanted to know what you think we should do about his birthday," she said. Remus gaped.

"His birthday isn't for ages!"

"It's on the 3rd," she countered, ignoring Remus' muttered 'I knew that', "Literally in three days. Since you're in here bored out of your skull," she said, and Remus groaned, dropping his head back against the wall again as Bernard's snickers renewed, "I thought it'd be helpful if you could come up with a few ideas?"

"What does he even want to do?" he grumbled, crossing his arms and bending his knees so his feet were resting against the mattress, "How the fuck am I supposed to know what the do for his bloody birthday?"

"Ask Amelia," Lily quipped, and Remus shot her a scathing look as Bernard burst out laughing, "I need to get back to work," she said, looking down at her wristwatch. Remus waved her off, and she smiled at him, reaching over to ruffle his hair. Remus attempted to smack her hand away, "I think he needs a pick me up, it's been a rotten couple days for him," she said, pinning him with a pointed look. Remus' expression twisted with curiosity, but he was clever enough to know not to bring it up in front of Bernard.

Remus let out a loud groan and huffed a couple times, "Fine, I'll plan the gits birthday party," he grumbled.

It wasn't until late afternoon that some excitement came Lily's way, in the form Hestia Jones.

"What happened?" Lily gasped, hurrying over to where one of the other Healers was levitating her towards a cot. Hestia turned to throw her a blinding smile over her shoulder.

"You have no idea how lovely it is to see a friendly face," she said, landing with an exaggerated 'oomph' as the Healer gently rested her on the bed. Lily scuttled forwards, her eyes scanning her friends' body for injuries. She relaxed almost instantly, noting that there wasn't a speck of blood on her immaculately dressed friend. She was, however, covered in scrapes, and if her eyes weren't deceiving her, there were bits of sticks and leaves scattered throughout Hestia's hair.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked, as the Healer whipped out his wand to begin examining Hestia. Hestia held up her finger, as if to ask Lily to wait a moment, before turning to the Healer.

"Would it be all right with you if my friend took care of me?" she asked flirtatiously, with a blinding smile. The healer blinked. Lily bit back a smile. She felt bad for the poor bloke, what, with Hestia's beachy waves of dark hair, low cut ensemble, long legs, perfectly symmetrical toothy smile, and flirtatious demeanor combined, the poor sod really didn't stand a chance.

"Er, yeah," he said after a moment, eyes flickering to Lily for a moment, before back to Hestia, "I'll er, be around if you need anything," he added. Hestia shot him another winning smile, and wiggled her fingers as he scuttled off, a dazed expression on his face, as if he'd been struck with a Confoundus charm.

"Works like a charm every time," Hestia said with a wink, and Lily chuckled, shaking her head fondly as she pulled her wand out of her pocket, "There's no better way to get things done."

"I'm sure Sirius would be thrilled," Lily drawled. Hestia rolled her big brown eyes, "It's not like he's the jealous type," she added. Hestia scoffed.

"That would make him the worlds biggest hypocrite," she shot back, and Lily laughed as she ran her wand over Hestia's leg, where the damage seemed to be focused, "He's always winking and pouting for attention."

Lily grinned and shook her head fondly, "Sounds familiar."

"Rude," Hestia scoffed. She met Lily's eyes, and her lips twitched, "But fair. He'll come back for my address so he can owl me, I'm sure," she added, looking over at where he was standing, actively attempting not to look in her direction and making himself incredibly obvious as a result. Hestia giggled, "Maybe I'll save it for Alma," she mused, looking down at Lily's hands with a twinkle in her eyes, "You're clearly taken. Tilt your hand will you, that diamond is blinding me," she giggled again, shielding her face dramatically. Lily rolled her eyes and twisted the ring so all Hestia would be able to see was the band. Hestia laughed, "Where is that Bancroft anyway? Didn't you say she had a boyfriend? I haven't seen her in eons."

"I'm sure," Lily teased, and Hestia stuck her tongue out at her, "Think you've picked that up from Sirius," she said. Hestia smirked.

"Picked up a lot from that boy, I have," she said, and Lily scowled as the brunette laughed, "Such a talent. The things that boy can do with his fingers, I tell you-"

"Please stop talking," Lily groaned, as Hestia's expression turned wistful and dreamy.

"I think I'll stop by tonight," she said, tapping at her chin, "Surprise him with my nudity. What do you think?"

"Sounds great," Lily replied sardonically. Hestia laughed again.

"Oh and it will be," she said, before clapping her hands, "How is my leg?"

"It's still attached," Lily quipped. Hestia tutted.

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, you know."

"I've heard," Lily retorted. Hestia grinned, "Can you tell me what happened now? As far as I can tell you've managed to sprain this ankle and you seem to have fractured a rib. Not to mention all the scrapes, what were you doing?"

Hestia's expression turned sheepish, "That explains why I can't breathe properly. Can you believe it hurts to laugh? What kind of injustice is this?"

"Why didn't you start with that?" Lily said gently, as she lifted her wand to cast a healing spell at Hestia's ribcage. Almost instantly she noticed the girl sit up straighter, "Be careful, it'll be a little weak for a few hours, so don't be an idiot," she said. Hestia pouted at her.

"You can't abuse me like this, I'm injured."

"Which bodes the question, what did you do to yourself?" Lily asked again, as she cast a Healing spell on Hestia's ankle. Hestia let out a satisfied sigh and rotated her right ankle.

"That feels so much better," she said, sending a dreamy smile Lily's way, "You're magic."

"Yes, I know," Lily replied, twirling her wand for good measure. Hestia snorted in amusement.

"I take back my jab at your wit," she said. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Are you done stalling now?" she asked. Hestia gasped, placing her hand on her heart. Lily bit back a laugh.

"Stalling? Moi? How dare you accuse me of such a thing," she sniffed, crossing her arms. She winced as the action caused a cut in her left harm to open. Lily rolled her eyes and walked around the bed so she could heal the cut from a better angle. Hestia held her arm out like a child and pouted up at Lily, "Okay I'm stalling."

"Are you going to make me ask why?" Lily sighed, smiling slightly as Hestia watched her skin reseal itself with fascination.

"Because Sirius won't be happy about what I have to say," she said after a moment. Lily lifted her eyes to meet Hestia's brown ones, "And I don't really care about his childishness because this was all," she said, gesturing to her scrapes, "for the greater good."

Lily frowned for a moment before her eyes widened slightly, "you were writing your article."

"Well, I wasn't writing it," Hestia scoffed, "it's hardly that dangerous a task. I wasn't dueling a quill."

"It would explain all the leaves in your hair," Lily quipped. Hestia shot her an annoyed look and began sifting through the locks on her chest for the twigs, "If you weren't dueling a quill then how'd you get in this state?" Lily asked.

One look at the determined glint in Hestia's eyes and she found herself afraid to hear the answer.

"Don't kick off," she said. Lily held back a groan, "I was conducting some field research," she said. Lily rolled her eyes as she healed another scrape, "Which isn't a problem, since my boss is so thrilled I took up the article he's let me do whatever I please to get it done. Did Sirius tell you he gave me a raise as well?" she said excitedly, "I even used him to redecorate my flat."

"Your boss?"

"Sirius, you imbecile," Hestia scoffed. Lily giggled childishly as Hestia rolled her eyes, "Honestly, my boss. Anyway, as I was saying," she cleared her throat, "I was doing field research."

"Which entails what exactly?" Lily asked, after it was clear Hestia wouldn't explain herself any further. Hestia sent her a wary look.

"Now don't get mad," she said. Lily cocked a brow at her, "I was…trailing someone."

"Someone being who exactly?" Lily asked quietly. Hestia's cheeks pinked.

"Well, okay, it was the only way for me to even attempt to find out where You-Know-Who is staking out," she said. Lily gaped, "I didn't find it, shut your gob please I can see your tonsils," she said. Lily closed her mouth, cast her eyes down to Hestia's left leg, which was similarly covered in scrapes and scratches, and began to heal the skin, "So I thought 'who do I know that is a Death Eater?' Well, lo and behold, an article falls on my desk this morning for me to edit on a large contribution made by the Lestrange family to the Ministry of Magic," she said. Lily closed her eyes; Hestia was right, Sirius wouldn't take this well, "Which, by the way, if you ask me, clearly means that the stupid Ministry has been infiltrated and the Death Eaters can buy their silence. Anyway, I decided it would be just too easy for me to follow one of the Lestranges, since they're so obviously involved with You-Know-Who. So, you know," she cleared her throat. For the first time, Lily thought she looked a little guilty, "I waited for the son, you know, Rodolphus? He's apparently working in the Ministry somewhere. I waited outside the Ministry for him to appear, and started to follow him. I'd been tracking him for over an hour, when he took a turn down this really abandoned hilly road," she said, holding up her leg, "See my shoes? It was a proper dirt road," she added. Lily noted that her shoes were, indeed, coated with dirt, "And I wasn't wearing the right shoes for such terrain. I took a stumble, and luckily I was far enough away from him that he didn't turn and notice, but I ended up rolling down the hill," she said, shrugging, "At the bottom I turned on the spot and went back to the office, you know, in case he came to see what all the commotion was, since all these people had run over to see if I was alive. At work my boss took one look at the state of me and sent me here," she finished.

"So your injuries are as a result of rolling down the hill," Lily said slowly. She didn't want to discuss the rest of the story, with Hestia's incredible risk, and decided the best thing to do was focus on the Healing. Hestia nodded once, her lips thin.

"Yes. There were trees and brambles and everything. Reckon the rib happened because at some point I remember bumping into something hard. Maybe a rock or something," she said with a shrug. Her eyes were watching Lily's face shrewdly, and Lily focused on keeping her expression blank.

"Well you're pretty much healed up," Lily said, nodding down at Hestia's legs. The girl looked down, her eyes widening slightly as she noted her now flawless skin.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Hestia asked. Lily sighed, and shook her head.

"Not my place," she said. Hestia's expression fell.

"Don't you think I'm doing the right thing, Lily?" she asked. Lily met her gaze, which was so full of hope, pleading with Lily to agree with her, and looked away.

"I think it's the right thing to do. I just don't know how I feel about you being the one doing it," she said diplomatically. Hestia bought Lily's lie, and beamed up at her.

"Don't worry about me Lily, I'll be fine," she said, hopping off the bed and somehow landing perfectly on her tall heels.

"Pick a better ensemble for stalking if there is a next time," Lily said. Hestia snorted.

"Then they'll think I am stalking. Nobody would suspect anything of a woman dressed like this," she said, gesturing to her tight orange dress and her high white heels. Lily chuckled; she had to give her that, "and I assure you my dear, now that I know where that dirt road is, I'll probably see you again for some more cuts," she said. Lily sighed under her breath as Hestia turned to wave happily at the Junior Healer. He turned pink and turned away. Lily felt a giggle bubble out of her, "See, mangled or not, it's too easy," she sighed. She turned to look down at Lily, her expression calculating, "Will you tell Sirius?"

"If he asks," Lily said after a moment. Hestia's lips pursed.

"And James?"

"I tell James everything," Lily said, meeting Hestia's eyes surely. Hestia grimaced, but nodded nonetheless.

"Will he tell Sirius?"

"That's not up to me," Lily said. Hestia sighed.

"In that case, I'll be sure to show up as a nude surprise. The boy has an entirely one-track mind, he'll forget his whining when he sees these," she said, gesturing to her chest. Lily attempted to bite back a smile. Hestia grinned, "I'll see you around Lily."

"Hopefully fully clothed," Lily quipped. Hestia blew her a kiss and then turned away, strutting down the middle of the ward towards reception.

James groaned as he walked back into the Auror office after their lunch break to see the room had been cleared. Sirius followed in behind him and uttered a muted swear.

"Wands out, it looks like," Sirius sighed, pulling his own out of his pocket. James grimaced and followed suit, as he made his way towards the middle of the room. As each Auror Trainee entered the room, they groaned loudly. The dummies, who had been sitting in the room the entire lunch break, as was the usual punishment, seemed to be readying themselves for what would clearly be a gruesome afternoon for them.

The door slammed shut, and the collective group of trainees looked over at the door to see a viciously grinning Moody. He pulled out his wand.

"Line up!" he barked. The trainees scattered to comply, and James and Sirius found themselves tenth and eleventh in the line of twenty. Moody twirled his wand and as James watched, his stance became steadier. James swallowed.

"We're dueling Moody, one by one," he whispered, turning his head slightly to the side.

Sirius swore again.

"How are you holding up?" Alma asked, smiling as she sat herself down next to Lily on an empty cot in the Emergency Ward. Lucky for Lily, it had been a relatively quiet day.

"Managing," Lily sighed, offering Alma a crisp. Alma reached in and popped a crisp in her mouth, "I don't think I'm interested in qualifying into the Emergency Ward," she said, nodding at the empty room. Alma snorted.

"Because it's the worst," she said, crossing her legs, as she wiggled to get more comfortable, "I swear when these attacks are over they'll have nothing to do," she said. Lily grimaced, "Qualify into something worthwhile."

Lily rolled her head against the wall to look at Alma, who was sneakily attempting to steal another crisp. With a smirk, Lily held up the bag, and Alma winked, reaching in and grabbing one, "You sound like you have it all figured out," Lily teased. Alma grinned.

"I've been doing some charts and things for the Magical Bugs ward," she said. Lily noticed her eyes twinkle, "It seems tough, but I like the idea of helping people struggling from disease. I mean, obviously, we're not allowed to enter the ward unless we've had all the vaccines, so I won't get any experience before qualifying, but reading the charts I think it's something I'll like. It's not as painful as watching people who've been harmed by other people," she added, and Lily sighed.

"I have no idea what I want to qualify into," she said, and Alma shrugged.

"You'll get there."

"Thanks," Lily chuckled. The two sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, Alma munching on crisps and Lily resting her head against het wall, "What does Owen want to qualify into?" she asked after a few moments. Alma shrugged.

"He's not sure yet," she replied, "I don't think he's liking Artifact Accidents all that much, although if you ask me," she said, rolling her eyes, "He's always excitable after dealing with one of those cases."

"Sounds like it's going well," Lily said, and Alma nodded.

"Yes, I think he's really enjoying the Traineeship," she said. Lily rolled her eyes.

"I meant your relationship," she said, and Alma flushed.

"Yeah, it's going all right," she said, clearing her throat as her flush deepened. Lily giggled. Alma turned to glare at her, "Shut up Evans."

"Oh Alma," Lily giggled, dropping her head on her friends shoulder. Alma glared up at the ceiling, shaking her head irritably, "I knew one of them would get you."

Alma snorted, fighting off a smile as she looked down into her lap, "He really did. I didn't even see it coming," she sighed, shaking her head as she laughed once.

"Is the sabotage as painful as you thought it'd be?" Lily asked, as he lifted her head off Alma's shoulder to look at her expression. Alma turned to her, a gleeful grin on her face.

"It's every bit as painful," she said, a small dimple appearing in her chin as she grinned wider than Lily had ever seen, "I'm completely incapacitated."

"Incapacitated by what?"

Alma looked up quickly, her heart hammering, to see Owen enter the ward, that gorgeous grin of his plastered across his face as his beautiful eyes bored into her. Lily smiled at him in greeting, enjoying the wide-eyed euphoria she could see on Alma's face. The girl was clearly head over heels.

"I think you'll find eavesdropping is a very dangerous task," Alma said, in small voice Lily had never heard her use before. Lily grinned down into her lap as Owen winked at Alma, before hopping up onto the gurney on the other side of her. Lily fought back the urge to cheer as Owen entwined his fingers with Alma's, and Alma beamed happily into her lap.

"I should probably go, I think evening visiting hours have started and James was going to pop in," Lily said, pushing herself off the cot, knowing by the looks on their faces that she wouldn't be missed for a second, "You can have these," she added, chucking the half empty bag of crisps at Alma.

"See you tomorrow Lily," Owen said, nodding his goodbye. Lily noted Alma squeezing his fingers.

"Don't let the night shift break you," Alma added. She beamed happily. Lily grinned back at her and threw her a parting wink, before she turned to leave the ward. As she left, she heard the harmony of Alma's girlish giggling and Owen's baritone chuckle, and found herself beaming happily as she made her way towards the stairs.

When she entered Remus' ward, it was to find Sirius and James collapsed on the small settee next to Remus' bed. Bernard was eyeing them shrewdly, and for once didn't look up to wink or make a cheeky comment at her. Remus' eyes were travelling over the boys' beat up bodies warily, and his head turned sharply when Lily entered the ward. She let out a gasp at the state of her fiancé and Sirius.

"What happened?" she squeaked, whipping out her wand and rushing over to James, who managed to lift his head and grimace at her.

"Dueling practice," he said, wincing slightly as he attempted to sit up. He was dripping with sweat, and covered in cuts and bruises, as was Sirius, who looked like he was on the verge of unconsciousness, "We were up against Moody."

Remus hissed sympathetically as Sirius groaned, poking at one of the bruises on his exposed forearm, "Not to mention neither of us has bloody slept all night, so we're fucking shattered," he added. Lily shook her head slightly as she healed James' wounds, and placed her hand on his cheek.

"Go home and have a nap, the both of you," she instructed. James nodded up at her, pouting, and Lily smiled gently, leaning down to kiss him chastely before moving on to heal Sirius, who was predictably muttering about favoritism, as he was in the habit of doing every time she healed James before him, "Don't be such an arse," she said, tapping Sirius playfully on the head, before moving onto his wounds. Sirius smirked up at her lazily.

"You say that like it's possible Evans."

"I swear, you two need more healing than most of the patients I've seen today," she tutted, letting out a puff of relief as she took a step back from the now perfectly healed, but still dead on their feet, boys lying on the settee. James seemed to be actively fighting to keep his eyelids open, while Sirius had succumbed and simply lay with his eyes closed, "How could dueling practice have caused this?"

"A question we ask every time we run to you for help," Sirius grumbled, yawning hugely before he continued, "I think Moody's trying to kill us."

"He's doing a decent job then," Remus chortled, smirking as both boys peeled their eyes open to glare at him, "Really coming close to his goal, he is."

"Ha bloody ha," James grumbled, focusing his bloodshot eyes on Lily, "Does your second shift start now?"

"About an hour after visiting hours end," she confirmed, leaning against the wall by the head of Remus' bed. Remus offered her a piece of chocolate, which she took with a grateful smile, "Then I'm not off until about nine in the morning tomorrow, so I'll come back with Remus," she said. Remus beamed happily.

"Fucking finally," he said, shaking his head irritably, "I'm so sick of these walls."

"The walls at home are hardly more exciting," James said, snickering to himself as Sirius rolled his eyes and shoved him, "They may even be the same colour."

"The more tired you get the more shite your humour is," he sneered, shooting a scathing look at James, who was still chuckling at his own wit. Lily bit back a smile as she watched him continue to go to pieces over his non-joke, "Come back mate, we're sick of each other," he added, turning to Remus, who seemed to be warring between amusement and disgust at James' joke.

"Clearly," Remus said sardonically, rolling his eyes as James descended into another fit of manly giggles, "Get him out of here. Put him to bed, or this will never end," he added, gesturing to where James was practically slapping his knee in his burst of hilarity.

"So you'll be home by about ten tomorrow?" Sirius asked, and Remus turned to look at Lily, who shrugged.

"At the latest, I assume. You two'll already be at work though so you'll see him in the evening," she added. Sirius grimaced, before pushing himself up to his feet and kicking at James' shoes.

"Get up, let's go," he said, rolling his eyes as James made a show of trying to catch his breath, "See you tomorrow then," he said, saluting Remus, who smirked at his irritation, "It'll be nice to have you back."

"When did he get so formal?" Remus asked Lily, who bit back a laugh as Sirius shot Remus a scathing look.

"Thanks Lil," he said, and Lily smiled before jerking her chin in James' direction.

"Try not to abuse him, yeah? I kind of like him," she said. Sirius rolled his eyes and grabbed James' sleeve, tugging at it until the messy-haired boy glared and pushed himself up onto his feet.

"Stop doing that," he near snapped, tugging his arm away. Sirius smirked, ruffling his best mates hair.

"So testy when he's sleepy," Sirius cooed, and James shoved him before waving at Remus, who smirked and waved back, watching on amused as the two dragged their feet out of the ward. When they were out of earshot, Remus turned to Lily.

"I've been thinking," he said, pulling a piece of parchment out from underneath his pillow, "We should do some sort of mad night out for Sirius," he said, handing Lily the parchment. She took it and scanned it with interest, "He needs something idiotic to do to lift his spirits," he said, rolling his eyes as Lily giggled.

"Who's invited?" she asked, handing the parchment back to Remus.

"The five of us, Hestia," he shrugged, and Lily grinned.

"Sounds great Remus," she said, eyes flickering back over to where Sirius and James' prone bodies had lain, "He really needs this."

"I was also thinking," he added, turning the parchment over to where he'd jotted down various bullet pointed suggestions, "Of having the night be a challenge," he said, eyes twinkling mischievously. Lily shook her head fondly.

"That sounds right up his alley," she said, and Remus smirked.

"I know. So I figured if we had dares and challenges and points, then the night will go off without a hitch. I've made a provisional list of dares here," he said, gesturing to the list. Lily scanned the suggestions and laughed, "which include the usual nonsense- pranking, humiliating, drinking challenges, thievery- so I imagine he'll have a good time, " he said, and Lily laughed.

"Do we get to team up?"

Remus sniggered, "I think we may need to, or else everyone'll wander off themselves and it'll be a bloody nightmare when morning comes."

"Should we assign teams?" Lily asked, and Remus smirked.

"I imagine you'll pair up with Prongs."

Lily rolled her eyes, "No thank you," she scoffed, and Remus guffawed, "He's a nightmare when it comes to challenges. I'll pair up with Hest," she said, and Remus snickered.

"Probably best, Sirius'll murder us all if she chucks him because of this," he added, lifting the parchment slightly. Lily giggled.

"He can pair up with James. They'll probably win, and it'll be incredibly entertaining for the rest of us," she shrugged. Remus chuckled in agreement and scribbled down the pairings at the bottom of the parchment- he was to be with Peter, "I'd pair up with you, of course, but I don't know how Hestia and Peter will go down," she added, with a slight wince. Remus cocked a brow at her.

"That bad?" he asked. Lily smiled, grateful the boy was so intuitive that he knew exactly what she meant without her needing to hit him over the head with her insinuations.

"Yes," she sighed, and Remus grimaced, returning to his writing, "I'll explain it in the morning," she said, and Remus smiled up at her.

"I'll get cracking on finalizing this," he said, nodding down at the parchment, "Perhaps we could grab some tea before heading back, so you can fill me in on everything," he said.

"Sounds good," she said with a grin. She looked down at her watch and sighed, pushing herself off the wall, "I'd better get all my paperwork from the day shift in order before the next one starts," she said, and Remus smiled, "Good night," she said, before turning to smile at Bernard, who was still in a state of unnatural silence, "Good night Bernard."

He waved at her, his piercing eyes tracking her exit from the ward as, with one last smile, she walked out. Remus snorted.

"In your dreams mate."

"I assure you they are," he said. Remus rolled his eyes and chucked his quill at Bernard, who snickered and threw it back at him, "Let's catch up at some point, when all your friends are at work, or when all this unemployment crap becomes too much," he said. Remus smiled.

"Definitely."

Remus gaped as Lily took another sip of her tea.

As promised, after Remus had been discharged half an hour previously, they'd gone up to the Fifth Floor tea room so Lily could fill Remus in on everything he'd missed.

"I can't believe I missed so much," Remus said after a few moments, shaking his head incredulously before taking another sip of his coffee, "I was only out three days. What's going on now?" he asked, and Lily shrugged.

"I don't know, I've been here," she said, gesturing around the ward. Remus let out a loud exhale once more, "I'm just glad you're coming back."

"Me too," Remus snorted, and Lily grinned, "I'm so fucking sick of this stupid place, I can't even tell you. I don't know how you bloody come here every day."

Lily rolled her eyes fondly, "Because I'm not holed up in a bed, that's how," she teased, and Remus guffawed, "Did you say goodbye to your girlfriend?" she asked, and Remus pinned her with a sardonic look as she hid a smirk.

"Did anyone make any progress on our project since I've been gone?" he asked, and Lily grimaced.

"I think everyone's been too caught up in their emotions, to be honest," she said, and Remus sighed, "Honestly though, I think it's about time we figure out a way to destroy the things," she added, "I've been meaning to look in the library here, for properties that could kill humans-"

"But that's probably not going to do us much good with metal," Remus finished her sentence, and Lily sighed, "I'm sure there must be a fairly obvious solution that we're missing, I think we're all far too focused on the whole basilisk and sword of Gryffindor nonsense, we need to accept that we're not Harry and therefore will have different ways to-"

"There you are!"

Remus' jaw snapped shut as Alma stormed in, her expression a mask of irritation, her left forearm heavily bandaged. Lily cocked a brow as Alma moodily threw herself onto the bench next to Remus, glaring down at her arm.

"What happened?" Lily asked, and Alma huffed.

"Don't even, I'm so bloody fucking pissed," she sniffed. Remus fought back a chuckle, eventually succumbing and hiding it behind a well-timed cough. Alma shot him an irritated look before turning back to Lily, who looked like she was trying to hold back a smile of her own.

"But what happened to your arm?" Lily asked, gesturing towards the bandage. Alma's expression darkened comically.

"This arse walked into the Emergency Ward, screaming like a bloody banshee, if you please, I barely escaped with my life," she said, and Remus chuckled.

"Because of the screaming?"

"Banshee screaming can prove fatal, thank you very much," Alma sniffed disdainfully, and Remus smirked as she rolled her eyes at him and turned back to Lily, "So I, being such a benevolent soul-"

"Naturally," Lily smirked.

"-put aside all of my reservations about death and approached the blighter," she said, glaring dramatically down at her arm, "The stupid fool was bloody carrying the plant that had attacked him, why he brought it into a hospital with other people it could harm is beyond me, by the way," she added, and Remus nodded in concurrence, clearly mocking Alma. Lily shot him an amused look, and he winked back at her, "And then the stupid bloody thing attacked me before I could help him!" she spat, and Lily smiled sympathetically.

"Sorry," she said, and Alma scoffed.

"This career choice isn't rewarding at all," she stated. Lily laughed, "Oh, sure, it's all very funny, laugh at poor Alma who no longer has any bloody skin on her arm," she said, waving the cast around. Lily winced as Remus took another sip of his coffee, clearly unbothered by the mention of gore.

"But what did the plant do?" Lily asked, and Alma scoffed dramatically.

"It spits bloody acid," she sneered. Remus' eyebrows rose, and he sat up attentively. Lily's eyes twinkled, "Why in the name of Morgana's saggy left breast would anyone even purchase-"

"Acid!" Lily squeaked, turning to Remus, who nodded vigorously.

"Yes, that's what I said," Alma said irritably, looking between the two of them, who now looked very excited, "What's happening? Is this some sort of prank? Because, if so, I'm very unimpressed," she said.

The other two weren't listening.

"Acid! Brilliant!" Remus breathed, turning to beam at Alma, "Thanks!"

Alma turned to shoot Lily a bewildered look, "Was this a prank?"

"No," Lily quipped back at her, without even turning away from Remus, "I never even considered it…acid…I mean, surely it has the properties…we need to go! We have to look up-"

"I don't even know if it'll work or if there are any that are dangerous enough-"

"We need books," Lily said, pushing herself up to her feet frantically. Alma rose uncertainly as Remus and Lily continued to prattle back and forth about acids and brilliance and why didn't they think of this and what was this plant even called and there surely had to be one more dangerous.

"If I've given you an idea for a practical joke, I have to strongly discourage-"

Lily cut Alma off by throwing her arms around her neck happily, and pulling back with a grin, "You're the best," she said, before hurrying away towards the entrance of the tea room, Remus on her heels, "See you tomorrow!" she called, turning to wave before hurrying down the stairs with Remus.

Alma stood, dumbfounded, by the table.

Remus' return to the flat had brought with it an unprecedented calm; most importantly, during the entire week Sirius had been in a better mood, casually ignoring Peter's existence rather than displaying outright his bitterness. Peter had been thrilled to have his living-room-mate back, and hadn't hesitated to recount all the events of the past week, including his emotional roller coaster with Sirius' attack, his drunken escape, his chat with Lily, and his chat with James.

Upon seeing Remus once more on his bed, a book in his lap, James had launched himself on him, tackling him to the ground in his excitement as Sirius and Peter watched on and laughed. Remus had naturally honked and hollered about it, cursing James' existence and whining to Lily about not training him properly, but Lily had seen his secret grin when the others weren't looking. It was clear he was glad to be back.

Ever since his return, Remus had been aggressively planning Sirius' birthday, with the help of Peter, Lily and Hestia. James had been kept in the dark, being the only person in the flat who was incapable of keeping a secret from Sirius; he was no idiot however, he knew something was in the works, most likely for Sirius' birthday, and was clever enough not to ask in case Sirius overheard.

"I think we're ready," Hestia squeaked excitedly, clapping her hands together as she sauntered into the living room, her eyes scanning the birthday decorations she'd bullied the others into hanging up all over Sirius' flat. Lily hid a grin as Hestia beamed at the sparkling 'Happy birthday' sign levitating in the middle of the living room, which was charmed to explode and cover Sirius in birthday decorations. It was offensively pink, but then she'd expected no less from Hestia.

Remus rolled his eyes as Hestia handed him another banner. He was stood up on one of the living room chairs, hanging bunting all along the walls of the living room and dining room. Peter snickered and pointed his wand at the small radio Hestia had brought along with her, so it played Sirius' favourite wizarding band.

"Lily, why aren't you dressed?" the girl tutted, as she took in Lily's leggings and Quidditch jersey.

"I've been decorating," Lily laughed, as she tied her final balloon, tossing it onto the floor with the others Hestia had chucked at her to blow up. Hestia's eyes followed the balloons descent.

"Are you just going to leave those on the floor?" Hestia asked, eying the pile of multi-coloured balloons with disgust. Lily shot her a sardonic look as Peter and Remus covered up chuckles.

"Apparently not," Lily said, and Hestia winked at her.

"Why don't you get dressed, I'll put them up. If we're going to be on the same team we've got to look like it," she said, bending down to grab one and scanning the walls for the appropriate destinations, "A dress, if you please. I took a look so I know you have a lovely blue one," she added, turning to shoot Lily a warning look. Lily rolled her eyes, thinking there was really no point in even attempting to resemble Hestia who was, naturally, already dressed, with twenty minutes to spare. In a tight, revealing dress of turquoise blue, high silver stiletto heels, and her chocolate hair hanging in perfectly arranged ringlets, she looked like she'd walked out of the pages of Witch Weekly. Lily shook her head fondly as she noticed Remus and Peters attempt to subtly follow Hestia around the room with their eyes. Peter stumbled as he almost fell off his chair in the process, "What did you say the challenges were, Remus?" she asked. Remus cleared his throat and snapped his head back to face the wall, pretending to concentrate on securing the bunting, as she turned to look at him.

"The list is over there," he said, nodding to the envelope hanging by a ribbon from the levitating pink sign, "There are 19 challenges-"

"I wonder why," Hestia said, letting out a tinkering laugh as she grabbed another balloon, "Well, I've got the cameras ready," she added, nodding to the three she'd stolen from the Prophet photographers for the occasion, "One per team, for proof of completing the challenges," she said. Remus blinked.

"That's clever," he said. Hestia turned to shoot him an amused look over the top of her balloon.

"It's been known to happen," she said, and Remus grinned. Her smile turned forced as she turned to glance at Peter, "Are you two going like that?" she asked, gesturing to their clothing; both were dressed in jeans and button down shirts, at the request of Hestia.

"Didn't you say to wear this?" Peter asked. Hestia rolled her eyes.

"Well, you could have colour-coded, like Lily and I," she added, waving in the direction of Lily's room, "Then you'll look like a team."

"We don't own matching outfits," Remus drawled. Hestia grinned.

"Lucky you have a wand then, eh?" she winked. Peter grimaced, "Come on! I'll do it," she said, pulling her wand out of her hemline.

"No!" Remus squawked, jumping off the chair and grabbing at his wand where it was lying across the sleek leather sofa that was once his bed- Hestia had decided the beds didn't give off the proper 'birthday vibe', "We can do it," he said. Hestia narrowed her eyes

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That they don't want to wear bright orange," Lily teased, reentering the room in a periwinkle blue dress. She held back an eye roll as Hestia grinned approvingly at her outfit.

"I don't know what it is with the people in this flat and bright orange," Hestia scoffed, using her wand to attach another balloon.

"Only on trousers," Remus quipped. Hestia turned to glare at him as Peter snickered.

"Change your colours or I will," she said, raising her brows threateningly. Peter swallowed and pointed his wand at Remus' top, turning it red, before doing the same to his, "Thank you Peter, at least someone cooperates in this house," she sniffed, turning back to the wall. Remus turned to shoot a bewildered look at Lily, who grinned and shrugged, as if to say 'what did you expect?'.

"Only Sirius could find someone as irritating as him," Remus grumbled under his breath so only Lily could hear. Lily pursed her lips to hold back her giggles, "this room is an assault on my senses," he added bitterly, his face set in a decided sulking pout. The only thing Lily had found more entertaining than watching Hestia organize Sirius' birthday decorations, which she was certain he wouldn't like, was watching Remus get steadily more agitated at her demands.

"I'm flattered that you don't find me as irritating as James," she preened. Remus rolled his eyes and nudged her with his shoulder.

"Remus!" Hestia sung, dancing over to him. He exchanged a dark look with Lily, before turning to face her. She was dangling another piece of bunting in front of her, "You missed one!"

"Oh no," Remus deadpanned, snatching the bunting and walking over to the window to artfully drape it across the curtain rods. Hestia smirked at his retreating back.

"He's so tetchy, isn't he?" she cooed fondly, and Lily giggled as Hestia watched him with a self-satisfied smile. Lily choked back a laugh as, with a wink, Hestia conjured another string of bunting and tottered over to Remus crying, "Remus! You missed this one as well!"

Sirius muttered angrily to himself as he trudged up the stairs of his building. It was officially the worst fucking birthday he'd ever had. He and James had lost a duel, and had therefore been forced to participate in extra dueling lessons with Moody. His body was exhausted; they'd been so battered he and James had actually had to resort to healing themselves. It was his final birthday in his teens, and Moody had decided, as a birthday treat, that it would only be wise to make him fight for his life in a surprise attack scenario, because apparently 'no gift was better than knowing you'd live another day'.

Suffice to say, nobody would ever let Moody come to know it was their birthday again.

James had left the Ministry before him, having finished up his extra lessons with Moody twenty minutes before Sirius had. As far as he knew, James was already back at the flat. On his birthday. It really boiled his piss that James hadn't thought to wait for him, in the spirit of his birthday. It was even worse, because, though perhaps a surprise to some, Sirius' birthday was his favourite day of the year; Christmases had always been crap with his family, Easter was always at Hogwarts, but his birthday had always been a day he could remember being happy.

And he fucking knew James knew that.

More than that, what had really fucked with Sirius' day was the fact that Hestia hadn't once wished him a happy birthday. Hadn't even shown up at midnight to surprise him, preferably in the nude dressed in nothing but a bow, like he'd joked- suggested, repeated, short of bloody asked her-she should do. Bird couldn't take a bloody hint.

What vexed him even more was how much her absence from it had ruined his day. He'd been looking up at every bloody fucking owl like a child- and he knew James had been snickering about it, the bastard.

Sirius trudged up the stairs, irritably wishing he'd never even encountered Hestia because how any bloke could stand to give this kind of power to a bird, he couldn't understand. Hadn't he once mocked James for his constant state of misery? The poor pronged bastard, he should have been nicer at Hogwarts. Deciding that if Hestia couldn't wish him happy birthday then she wasn't worth it, he stomped furiously to the entrance of his flat. The lads didn't have anything planned, as far as he was aware, and he was fine with that, really. As long as they were all together.

Or at least, that's what he kept telling himself.

He'd figured Lily, at least, would have the decency to make his birthday special, but she'd been so busy at Mungo's this week that he wasn't sure she'd had the time. Ever since she and Remus had come back tittering about acid, it didn't seem like anyone had time to care about much else.

All his angst vanished the second he pushed open the door.

"SURPRISE!"

His first impression of the living room made him want to shut the door and walk away. It was too colourful- bunting in all colours outlined the room and dangled from the doorways, balloons of contrasting colours littered the walls and the floor, and levitating in the middle was the ugliest 'happy birthday' sign he'd ever seen.

But he knew all the colours could mean only one thing.

And there she stood.

A grin threatened to split his face in half as his eyes found her in the middle of the room, surrounded by his friends- his family- by the ugly pink levitating banner, a twinkle in her eye as she smirked at him. Lily was standing next to her, beaming, her arm around James' waist. Remus and Peter stood on the other side of Hestia. They were all suspiciously in similar colours, except for James, who was wearing-

"Happy birthday!" Hestia squealed, hurrying forwards and grabbing him around his shoulders. His arms immediately encircled her waist, grinning as he buried his face in her neck. He was blind to the way everyone else was happily regarding him and Hestia. Lily was practically bouncing with glee.

Sirius froze, however, as Hestia pulled back, lifted her wand and pointed it at him. When he looked down, he scowled. He was in the same shirt as James.

"Orange?"

"Yes, it's your team colour," Hestia stated simply, kissing him on the cheek as he continued to scowl at her, leaving no room for argument.

"What the bloody fuck does that mean?"

Hestia rolled her eyes and leaned forwards to press a soft kiss against his pouting mouth, before pulling back and beaming at him. Lily squeezed James' waist happily, causing him to chuckle and put his arm around her shoulders, as she saw Sirius' lips automatically pull up into his signature smirk in response.

"The letter says it all," Hestia said, nodding back towards the pink banner. Sirius managed to remove his eyes from Hestia's face for a few moments, only to scowl once more.

"That's the ugliest fucking banner I've ever seen," he said. Hestia scoffed.

"Don't be ridiculous, it's beautiful," she said airily, threading her arm through his elbow and leaning her head on his shoulder as she admired it. Sirius snorted.

"It hurts my eyes."

"Nineteen now and you still haven't outgrown the snark," she sighed, shaking her head sadly. Lily laughed.

"It's going to make me sick," he sneered.

"So would lots of things but be grateful I settled for this," she quipped, beaming up at him as he continued to glare at the glittering banner. His stormy eyes scoured the room and his pout became more pronounced.

"What have you done?"

"Decorated," she said, tugging him forwards towards the banner, where the other Marauders and Lily were snickering, "This is what you want, remember? Acknowledgment of the day you were brought into the world? Is it so bad that I wanted to commemorate your existence?"

"It's too fucking colourful."

"So is your language, but you don't see me complaining," she hummed, relinquishing her hold on Sirius as he turned his glare on a grinning James, who pulled him into a brotherly hug.

"I thought you lot forgot to do something," Sirius grumbled, and James chuckled, clapping Sirius on the back.

"Your birthday? Give us some credit," he scoffed, letting go so Remus could step forwards and hug him. Peter tentatively raised his hand for a hi-five, his trademark watery blue eyes warily searching Sirius' face for some sign of aggression. James held his breath as Sirius stared at Peter's hand for a moment, breathing out a sigh of relief as Sirius raised his hand and slapped it against Peters, twitching one corner of his mouth up into a half-smile but not making eye contact.

"Where'd she go?" Sirius grumbled, looking around for Lily, whom he could have sworn was there not a minute ago and who he was certain had probably reminded everyone to plan something, but she was nowhere to be found. He turned to frown at James, who smirked, crossing his arms, and nodded his head towards the kitchen. As Sirius turned, his lips pulled up into a wide smile as Lily walked out of the kitchen carrying a large, clearly homemade, cake, with the number '19' painted on it in icing. Hestia was tottering at her side in her skyscraper heels as she held out her hands to prevent the candles from going out.

Sirius reckoned he could watch his girls bring him that cake for the rest of his life.

Lily smiled shyly as she stopped in front of him, her smile widening as she noticed the way his eyes were crinkling in the corners from how aggressively he was beaming at them.

"It's chocolate," she said lamely. Sirius smirked.

"Lily made it herself, she's so domesticated," Hestia giggled, grinning fondly at Lily, who turned to shoot an exasperated look at James. He winked, "Sirius, blow out the candles," she said. Sirius shot her an amused look, wrapping his arm around her waist and hugging her to his side.

"Will you not be so bossy?"

"Will you blow out the candles?" she giggled. Sirius smirked down at her and turned back to the cake. He took a deep breath before frowning and turning his narrowed eyes on the boys.

"Aren't you lot supposed to be singing?" Sirius scoffed. Remus rolled his eyes as James snickered.

"We slave away all day and he nags us for not bloody singing," Remus grumbled, and Peter laughed, "It's been a bloody nightmare to keep a secret. We've been hanging fucking banners for hours," he added. Hestia giggled.

"And none too happily, I'd like to point out," she said, before pouting up at Sirius. He smirked, "Remus was incredibly difficult to work with. He took issue with all my colours."

Sirius shot Remus a playfully dark look, "As if he didn't whine about the same thing when he walked in," Remus grumbled to James, who snickered and punched him in the shoulder, "Bloody tyrants, the both of them."

"Suppose they're made for each other then," James murmured back, grinning as Sirius pulled Lily in for a one armed hug, careful not to squash the cake between them, or set his clothes on fire.

"Start singing!" Hestia commanded. Remus turned to James with an exasperated look that clearly read 'what-did-I-tell-you?'. As they proceeded to follow Hestia's instructions and sing happy birthday, Sirius beamed happily around at them, before bending down and blowing out all the candles to a round of applause.

"Did you make a wish?" James teased. Sirius rolled his eyes as Lily laughed.

"Probably for a monochrome birthday next year," she said, winking at Hestia, who laughed good-naturedly.

"Not on his life," she said, pinching Sirius' cheek adoringly. As he reached out for the cake, she slapped his hand, leading him to regard her irritably, "Not now, you've got to read the letter first," she said, ushering Lily towards the dining table, where James helped her carefully place the cake on the table, and directing Sirius, who was now smirking, towards the banner. She rolled her eyes and flicked the side of his head as he pretended to shield his eyes, "Man up, honestly, it's just pink glitter," she scoffed. As they approached the banner, Remus and Peter retreated towards the walls. Sirius frowned at them, but was distracted as Hestia pointed at the envelope dangling from the banner, "Open it."

"Again with the bossiness Jones," he chuckled. He reached forwards and tugged the envelope.

With a 'bang' that startled Sirius to his very core, the banner exploded above him. As he peeled open his eyes, the envelope securely in his grasp, he heard the roaring laughter of the girls and Marauders, and looked down. He scowled irritably, but secretly fought back the urge to laugh, as he turned his furious gaze o his girlfriend, who was doubled over and clutching at her stomach as she laughed.

"What the fuck?" he yelled, shaking his arm to rid himself off the layer of glitter and confetti he was covered in. He reached up and pulled a large hat off his head that read 'birthday boy'. Sirius' eyes focused on Remus and Peter, who were leaning against the wall in their burst of hilarity, before turning on James and Lily, who were practically sobbing with laughter, the former practically supporting Lily's entire body weight as her small frame shook with uncontrollable mirth. Hestia giggled and hurried forwards, placing her hands on his cheeks and smashing her mouth against his before he could start throwing a tantrum. Sirius reluctantly (not) gave in and kissed her back, actually succumbing to his chuckles as she pressed kiss after delighted kiss against him.

"I think this look suits you," she giggled against his mouth, before pulling back and grinning at him, "And I remembered the bow, it's in your bedroom for later."

Sirius was grinning wolfishly as she took a step back, and with a wink, began to pluck pieces of confetti off his arms and shoulders. He stuck his tongue out at Lily as she stepped forwards and began to help Hestia, her cheeks wet with tears of laughter.

"You look dashing mate," James sniggered, ruffling Sirius' hair, a few pieces of glitter and confetti falling to the floor as he did so, "Though I can't have my teammate dressed like that bloody banner."

"What is this teammate shite you lot keep going on about?" Sirius chuckled, pushing James off him. Remus snorted.

"Open the Merlin-damned envelope and you'll see," he said with an eye roll. Sirius made a face at him before doing just that.

"It's a list of challenges and dares," Hestia said excitedly, before Sirius could actually read the bloody parchment. He met her dancing eyes, his own gray ones displaying mingled exasperation and amusement, "Lily and Remus made it, and we have to go off in teams and try and be the first to complete it," she said happily. Sirius turned and beamed at Remus, who rolled his eyes and flipped him off, "We're all dressed in our team colours, you see. Lily and I are blue," she said, reaching out to wrap her arm around Lily's shoulders, "Mostly because neither of us wanted to be stuck with either of you," she said, pointing between James and Sirius, both of whom guffawed, "during your inevitable bout of idiocy this evening," she said. Sirius beamed and ruffled James' hair fondly, "Peter and Remus are red, and you two are orange," she said, eyes twinkling as Sirius shot her a sardonic look.

"Did it have to be fucking orange, Hest?"

"Of course," she said, turning to wink at Lily, "Don't you think Lil?"

"No other colour would be appropriate," she said gravely, nodding. She grinned as Sirius rolled his eyes, "Also, Hestia brought cameras so we could all gather proof," she added, nodding at the three lined up on the dining table.

"Right, now that this is all settled, I think it's time for us to get a move on," Remus said, snatching the list out of Sirius' hands and ignoring his cry of 'Oi, Moony!', "There are three copies," he said, distributing them to Lily, Sirius and Peter, smirking as James and Sirius immediately ducked their heads together to begin strategizing, "Meet back here in two hours, whichever team has completed the most challenges wins."

"What does the winner get?" James asked. Lily laughed, and he winked at her.

"Respect," Remus sneered, and James, typically, rolled his eyes. Peter snickered at James' overt competitiveness, "Win or lose, the only person who gets any bloody presents tonight is Sirius," he said, and Sirius beamed happily as James pouted.

"We won't lose," Sirius said, and James smirked arrogantly.

"I don't know, I reckon Lily and I could blag our way through some of these challenges with simple charm and good looks," Hestia shrugged, tossing a lock of shining hair over her shoulder with a wink. Sirius pinned her with a smarmy look and she grinned, "And tits, of course."

"Of course," Remus chuckled, shaking his head fondly as Sirius' eyes naturally zeroed in on Hestia's respective, under-clothed, body part. James winked at Lily, who grinned back at him, "Shall we?"

Sirius beamed, looking around at his family.

"Let's do it."

Hope you liked it! I've already started writing the next one, so fingers crossed it doesn't take too long!