Into Emerald Flames

Chapter Twenty Eight: Werewolf Mission

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Beta read by my amazing betas americanathogwarts and SiriusBlackIsAwesome. (Love you guys! I mean gals...you get the point)

Okay so, I know I'm late. Very late. I was doing State Testing all last week and had no time to write. I had to study and then I had a lot of poetry this week assigned by my teacher. Let me tell you, poetry is no strength of mine and I spend about an hour just trying to fit in all the words, and then another thirty trying to get all the metaphores and all that stuff into it.

So, you probably wanna read the chapter now so I'll just...leave.


-l-Third-l-

" What about this one Lily?" Alice asked, holding up a midnight blue, flowy dress with glitter all over it. It sparkled like the night sky, reminding Lily of that night on the Astronomy tower.

Lily herself held a pile of dresses in a shopping cart in a muggle store. She shrugged, " Anything, I'm going to try everything on." She busily pulled out a sparkling green dress, twirling it around to see how it would move if she spun around.

" Hmm...Alice? What are we actually looking for?" Lily asked, examining a dark sapphire colored dress with fake diamonds clinging to the top part.

" Anything suitable," Alice replied, pulling out a fluffy pink dress and quickly shoving it back on the racks.

" For what exactly?" Lily asked, pushing her cart to the next aisle.

" We're crashing their bachelor party of course," Alice replied easily. " They didn't invite us, so we'll invite ourselves."

" But it's a bachelor party," Lily stated rather clearly.

Alice smirked, grabbing a few more dresses to add to their high pile of dresses already thrown in the cart. " Exactly," she replied. " Now, try these on," she said, shoving Lily into a dressing room without hesitation, and ignoring the glare from a store manager and the sign that read, ' No more than 8 items in the dressing room at one time.'

Lily rolled her eyes and pulled on the first, a sky blue with glitter that flew everywhere if she so much as moved an inch.

She walked out, scowling at Alice who laughed, and was dressed in pink. " I don't think it's your color Lily. Too much glitter," she commented. " I would like this one, if it wasn't as bright pink," she said, twirling in the hot pink dress for show.

" I'll stick with green," Lily said, picking out the other colors. Pink didn't match with her red hair, and orange clashed horridly with anything red.

Alice shot a glance at the store manager who was glaring daggers at the two girls. Lily backed into her changing stall again, this time choosing a short, emerald colored dress. [Use your imagination people!]

Alice was already outside, tapping her foot impatiently. " This is the one," she said happily, twirling around in a circle. The dress was an almost dull colored blue, but still very pretty and one of Frank's favorite colors as Lily knew from Alice's never ending stream about her husband.

" That one is very pretty," Alice commented, looking at the green dress. It was bright green at the top, and as it went down it turned into a dusty green until it was black at the hem which fell a bit below the knees.

Alice herself wore a light, baby pink colored dress, with layers, and the hems of the layers were silky black, and fell a little lower than Lily's.

Then Lily twirled, examining the dress in the mirror and looking behind her. There, standing behind her, and right outside the dress shop was Potter.

James Potter.

It was unmistakable, his wide hazel eyes, sparkling behind his moon glasses, and his messy black hair and his eyes locked on hers.

Lily froze, and Alice whipped her head around to look at what in Merlin's name Lily was looking...oh. She stared with wide brown eyes at Lily's fiancee.

For a second, they stared. Then, James opened the door, and walked right up to her despite the woman shouting that this was not a place 'suitable' for men.

He stopped right in front of the girls, and did a spinning motion with his finger.

Twirl.

Lily hesitated, and then she did. She spun, and let the dress swirl at her knees. She spun around, again and again. She wasn't aware of what direction she was facing, only that she was spinning around and around.

When she stopped and slowly turns to face James, he looked slightly dazed, like he did on their first real date.

" Do you like it?" Lily asked, blushing nearly as red as her hair.

James tilted his head to one side, and then looked at Alice as though thinking hard.

" Er," was the only sound he seemed to be able to say that was even comprehendible. " Erm."

Lily bit her lip nervously, waiting for his answer.

He finally moved, taking her hand in his. " Dance with me?"

Lily stared. " Now?" she asked, glancing around the nearly empty store. Not that she didn't want to dance with him...but in a store? There were people walking by in the store, and...people outside the store who could see in!

But to heck with it. She didn't care. She would go to the ends of the earth for this man she loved. She loved him, and would follow him anywhere.

" Why not?" she said finally, stepping forward.

But he let go of her hand and stepped back. " Not now, I mean later."

Lily rolled her eyes. " Alright, if you promise you won't shag any other girls at your bachelor party," she bargained.

" No promises," James teased, darting out of range when Lily made a move to smack him.


" Padfoot, tell me I'm not seeing what I think I see," James complained, staring at the automobile he was so fearful belonged to Sirius.

Sirius grinned, nearly jumping for joy. " Well Prongs, what do you think you see?"

" A motorbike," James replied, poking it tentatively as though Sirius might have charmed it to gnaw his arm off, chew it up and spit it out again.

" Want to fly on it?" Sirius asked, starting it up, and the engine gave a fierce roar.

" It can fly?" James gasped, staring at the motorcycle with a new awe. " Seriously?"

" Yeah, wanna take it for a spin?" Sirius offered, nudging the kickstand, ready to fly.

James stood there, seeming to think about the pros and cons. " Oh heck to it," he muttered, jumping on without another second of hesitation, and Sirius took off.


Remus picked up a letter from the phoenix, and stroked Fawkes for a few seconds while he opened the letter.

Remus, it read

There is need for you at Headquarters. I request that you arrive shortly and be ready.

We will meet at 7:00 at Number Five.

I wish you luck until then,

Albus Dumbledore

He folded it carefully, and burned it with the tip of his wand, watching the flaked, curled black ashes fall to the floor.

For a long moment, he stared at the glowing embers that died as they touched the cold air, and then he closed his eyes.

This war wasn't easy, it was brutal and was a raging storm. It was only the calm before the storm, or at least right now. He could feel the tension, even with Lily and James planning their wedding. The storm would begin when the real war did.

The Marauders, well they weren't the same. Yes, they were four friends-best friends. But Peter was often gone on missions, Sirius was trying to find a way to fight harder than he had a week ago. Remus himself didn't have a lot of options. While Sirius and James were working as Aurors, both good duelists and very quick, Remus was left alone.

Peter hardly ever showed, and when he did, he looked constantly sickly. Only last week, he had seemed even more distracted, jumping when anyone spoke to him. He was very twitchy and his eyes blinked rapidly as they talked of the new deaths, one, Annabelle. He seemed to flinch when they talked about Death Eaters killing her.

Remus had insisted that if Dumbledore was giving Peter hard work, that Peter should take a break or at least insist he was tired. But Peter shook his head vigorously, claiming that he was find and just needed a bit of air.

Lily and Alice were being girls, fighting in the war just as hard as the men, if not harder. They were also letting loose, laughing and talking like friends did. Alice said she was pregnant, and at first she was afraid for her child, bringing him or her into the middle of this horrible war. But the good thing, was it gave them hope. They had something to fight for, and Frank was fighting for his child's life on the battlefield. Lily and Alice fought to keep their lovers alive, and in Alice's case her child.

With Lily and James' wedding approaching fast, the Marauders were working harder than ever. Alice and Frank managing the few guests that would be attending, and the decorations. The Marauders would be the entertainment and life of the party. It would be a small wedding, though Sirius was determined to party through the night before, with a huge bachelor party that he was determined to throw for James.