Two months later

Lily sat in quarters, grading papers with Rake. Well, she graded the papers; Rake mostly rubbed his head against her foot. She wanted to get the students back their most recent essays before the Easter holiday.

It was crazy to think time had gone so fast. Harry seemed to really be enjoying his time with James. And she had to admit that James had turned out to be a better father than she ever would have expected.

He came and stayed in Hogsmeade every weekend. He attended all of Logan and Harry's quidditch matches. And he went out of his way to try to learn about their interests.

The part that was killing her was Logan. He'd been trying so hard to win her over. She hadn't said she wanted a relationship with him, but she seemed to have decided to be neutral, at least.

Which made it worse, in some ways, because James only tried harder. Harry had recently told Lily that James had been picking his brain about ballet. Muggle hobbies were not up James' alley in the first place, but the ballet was the last place she would expect to find him.

Then again, if he knew his daughter loved it, he might make an exception. The problem, of course, was that she wasn't his daughter, so all his effort was really wasted.

Lily sighed, reaching down to scratch behind Rake's ear. She was torn between hoping Logan would decide to like him, giving James at least some validation for all his trouble, and hoping she continue to keep him at arm's length. Lily was absolutely terrified that if Logan let James in, he would eventually find out he wasn't her father. And if Logan had really trusted him, she would be crushed when he lost interest.

Well, Lily thought, no one could control all the variables in the world. She would just have to let things fall out as they may and hope for the best.

She looked up at a knock on the door.

"Yes?" she called out. People didn't usually come knocking on her door this late on a Wednesday evening.

James opened the door. "Do you mind if I come in?" he asked.

The honest answer was yes. She hadn't been prepared for him. At least she knew to expect him at the school on weekends and full moons, but this was a Wednesday.

"No," she said, pleased at how calm her voice sounded. "Of course not. Make yourself at home."

He strode in confidently. "Thanks," he said glancing around for a place to sit.

Lily stood up and walked over to the small kitchen table, offering him a chair. "Do you want some tea?" she asked.

"Um, sure," he responded, taking a seat. "How, uh, how are classes going?" he asked.

She glanced over at him. He didn't usually come here, and they didn't spend a lot of time making small talk. It was one of the only things that made the whole situation bearable. He mostly asked permission to do things with the kids and then left. She wondered what he was hoping to do this time.

"Fine," she said. "I'm just trying to finish up some grading before the holiday."

He nodded as she brought him over a tray with cups, tea, sugar, and milk. She placed it in the center of the table and watched as he picked up a mug and poured her a cup before dealing with his own.

"Right," he said. "I don't want to keep you too long, but I did want to ask you something."

She immediately regretted offering him tea. She knew it was polite, but if this was going to be a quick conversation, there was no reason to have extended it unnecessarily by adding tea. When she was around him too long, she started thinking about how long it had been since she'd had sex. And then she started remembering what it was like with him . . . and really the whole thing didn't bear thinking about. She just needed him to leave as quickly as possible.

"Oh," she said. "What was it you wanted to do?"

He messed up his hair. "Well," he began, "I wanted to – and to start with, you can feel free to say no, I'm not really expecting anything else (though I'd obviously like it if you said yes), but my point is there's no pressure."

"James," she said. "Why don't you just ask me whatever it was you wanted to ask."

He nodded. "Right," he said. "Yeah. Well, it's not really me so much as Marlene."

"Marlene," she repeated in an empty voice.

"And Sirius," he hurried on. "They're married now. I don't know if you know that, but they've been married several years. Have two daughters," he waved his hands around a bit frantically. "And are, you know, very happy together."

"I'm sure that's lovely for them," Lily replied, baffled. "But I'm not quite sure what it has to do with me."

"Umm . . . Well, Marlene – and Sirius, and Cor and Dara (well, not so much Dara, since she can't talk – though I'm sure she'd love it too) –"

"James, just ask the question," she said, frustrated.

"They want me to invite you over for Easter. You, and Harry, and Logan," he clarified.

Lily blinked at him. "You want me to have Easter with Marlene McKinnon and Sirius Black?"

"Well," he said, "it's entirely up to you. We could all go, or I could just take the kids, or – and I realize this is the likeliest option – I could just go by myself." He shrugged. "But they really want to meet Harry and Logan, so I promised I would ask."

"Black's already met them," she said, grasping.

He nodded quickly. "I know, but that was before he knew they were mine, you know? And Mar hasn't met them. Plus she wants to see you, because I've talked a lot about . . . " he trailed off.

"Talked a lot about what, James?" she asked.

"You," he replied sheepishly.

"You talked about me? To Marlene?" she clarified.

"Well," he shoved a hand through his hair. "Yeah. I mean, she asked what happened with her and me, and that sort of led to a whole explanation of," he gestured helplessly, "what happened, and so, yeah . . . I guess I've talked about you."

"Right," she said. It was all she could come up with. She wasn't sure how she felt about him chatting to his ex-girlfriend about her. She could stop herself wondering what he had said.

"So . . . um . . . there's no need to decide right away," he said. "It's not until Sunday, so, you can just owl me by Saturday?" he made it sound like a question.

"Ok," she agreed. "I'll talk to the kids and see how they feel about it." She paused. "Unless you've already –"

He shook his head rapidly. "No. I wanted to make sure you didn't feel like any of you had to go. It's completely up to you," he said.

"Well, thank you for that, James. It was very considerate of you," she said.

"Uhh . . . yeah, no problem," he nodded, starting to rise. "Thanks for the tea, yeah? And hearing me out."

"Of course," she responded, walking him to the door. She was unreasonably pleased she had made it through the entire exchange without slapping him or dragging him to the floor. Now she was left with a decision about how to proceed on his actual request.

So, many thanks to everyone who has reviewed lately. I'm glad it sounds like people are starting to like Logan. She's actually pretty key to the story, and I wasn't sure how she would work out as an original character.

Mmbug, I'm sorry to say I don't know anything about settings on . I've only had an account for a month or so. From e-mail alerts, I get the impression people can add me as an author so they get alerts when I add any new chapters, or I think you can add the story. I really have no idea how that works, though, as I haven't read any fanfics since I got an account. And obviously I didn't do alerts before I had one.

Anyway, to answer your question about the speed with which I post, I've usually written several chapters ahead of what my last post was. I like to let them set for a while, so I can edit them and hopefully not post stuff full of typos. I'm sure there are still loads, but hopefully not so many as to be totally distracting.

It's also possible that sometimes I wait for a review or two, to make sure people are taking things the way I want them too. I like to know if there's anything I need to clarify or tweak.

In other words, the faster and more people review, the faster I'm likely to update. :-)

-Naj