A/N: You guys, I'm so sorry! School just started and it's been so hectic, I haven't been able to get my act together enough to write as much as I want! Add that my SAT's are two weeks away, and I'm just feeling stressed. After that, you'll see a LOT more updates from me, I promise! Plus, I have a new plan. I'm going to write at least half a page every single day. Hopefully, that'll get me to update sooner.

Anyways, back to this chapter. One other important element was supposed to go in here, but I decided to leave it until the next chapter, as I knew some of you were anxiously waiting for an update. This one is all about contrasting moods and friendship. Yes, James is meeting Lily's parents and Lily is meeting James's parents, but that's not the focal point of the chapter. It's all about friendship and, well, Sirius. ("YAY!" goes the Sirius lovers, with me included.)

So, to hem my rambling, there are people I must thank. Thanks to 3-Legged Dog, Kates Master, Cappygal116, brona, living-is-easy-with-eyes-closed, Young Prewett, miwako, Kendra-the hyper one, RitaSkeeterGossip(3 times!), Rxc, elise bentwin, Snuffles Is My Idol o.O, Jenwah, Carmen Elizabeth, glory boots, and Diana MC. You guys just make my day, thanks so much!


December, 1976


An Icy Winter

"Right on time," Lily beamed as James stepped out of the fireplace.

James brushed himself off with his hands and ran his hand through his hair. "Do I look okay?" he said anxiously.

Lily laughed. "Don't worry about it. I think you look fine."

"Only fine?" James said pretending to look offended.

"Oh, am I supposed to lie?" Lily said, laughing.

James laughed as well, and took a good look around the house. "So where are your parents?"

"Out," Lily replied. "They're doing some last minute present and food shopping, you know, for the big holiday dinner tonight."

"Present? For me?" James said, grinning cheekily.

Lily laughed again. "No, not really. Well, maybe. I never know."

"Oh," James said, pretending to look sad, but failing miserably. He was, after all in Lily Evans's house, with the girl of his dreams. It was hard to even act depressed. He grinned instantly. "So I guess I've come at the perfect time, yes?"

"Sure," Lily grinned. "Perfect."

"So what should we do while your parents are out?" James said, beginning to smile roguishly.

"Oh, stop it," Lily said, flushing a bit. "How about a tour of the house?"

"Sure," James nodded. "Let's go."

"Great," Lily said, taking his hand. "I guess we're starting here, then," she said, gesturing to the room they were in. "Obviously this is the living room. As you can see it's really very cozy. This is where I watch muggle television deep into the night on holidays."

"Television?" James asked.

"It's sort of like, you know, moving pictures but they're planned out," Lily said. "I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but I find it fun to watch."

James laughed. "I was under the impression that all you did during holidays was to do your holiday work."

"Nah," Lily shrugged. "Sitting on the couch watching reruns with a giant box of chocolate is my guilty pleasure."

"Any…er…show you recommend?" James asked.

"We're getting off topic, aren't we," Lily grinned. "I'm supposed to be showing you around the house! Alright, I promise to show you the television later."

"Deal," James said, grinning. He allowed himself to be led out of the kitchen, through the dining room and up the stairs.

"Alright," Lily said as they gained the top of the stairs. "Let's start with the guest room. You're staying over tonight, correct?"

"Yep," James nodded. "I have to bring you back to my house tomorrow to meet my parents."

"Right," Lily nodded, face struggling a bit.

"Why, what's wrong?" James frowned, noticing the look on her face.

"No, nothing," Lily said airily, which usually meant something. "There is a slight problem, however. You'll, er, have to share the room with Vernon."

James paled immediately. "What?" he asked incredulously.

"I'm sorry, James," Lily said, though clearly trying to stuff in her laughter. "You see, our house only has one guest room. Petunia and I refuse to share a room to make room for both you and Vernon, because, well, you know."

"Why can't I just share a room with you?" James said desperately.

Lily rolled her eyes. "James, are you that thick? Do you honestly think my parents would let us? They keep telling me that it's their house. Anyways, who know," Lily shrugged with a slight grin on her face. "You and Vernon might become bosom buddies."

James looked at her smiling eyes. "You're enjoying this, aren't you," he said, planting a quick kiss on her lips.

Lily laughed, and pushed him away. "Yeah, I am. Come on."

They walked further down the hallway. "As you can see, this is the bathroom. And that," she said, pointing to a large room with a king-sized bed. "That is my parents' room. We won't go in there."

"Why not?" James asked, smiling mischievously.

Lily punched him playfully. "My parents won't like me with my boyfriend, rolling around their room."

"Boyfriend?" James asked. "So we're official?"

Lily looked at him expectantly.

"Oh, right," James said, grinning. He cleared his throat. "Lily Evans," he said slowly. "Will you do me the honor of being my one, my only, girlfriend?"

Lily half-scowled, half-smiled. "I'd better be the only one. Took you long enough. Of course! See, that wasn't that bad, was it."

The two walked further down the hall and passed Petunia's room, where the door was closed. "And lastly, of course, is my room," Lily said as they arrived at the last room down the hall. "So, what do you think? It's probably not even near the size of your spacious mansion, from what I've heard of it."

"I think it's great," James said truthfully.

Lily blushed happily. "Thank you."

James glanced at her room door. "Is there any particular reason you keep your room closed?" he asked.

"I like it the way it is," Lily said softly. "Our world is changing around us. I…Well, especially when I leave for school I like coming back and knowing it's the same as before, so I keep it closed."

James nodded. "That's understandable."

Lily looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to ask if they could go in, but he didn't. She could tell that he was trying to respect her privacy, and she felt her heart soar. Lily smiled and leaned in to kiss him.

"Well," said a sneering voice from behind the couple. "Isn't this cozy."

Lily gasped and quickly whipped around to find Petunia and Vernon standing there, looking at them. Vernon's face was full of apprehension; Petunia's face was a mixture of fury and fear.

James took one look at Lily and sensed the tenseness of the situation. He cleared his throat. Petunia and Vernon redirected their attention to him. "Hello," James said, offering them the most charming smile he could muster. "I don't think we've formally met, have we?" Without waiting for an answer, he plowed on. "I'm James Potter. And you, madam, must be Petunia," he said, stepping up to shake her hand vigorously.

Petunia looked nothing less than shell-shocked, and once James let go of her hand, she withdrew it quickly as if she had just been mortally offended.

"And you, my dear man, must be Vernon," James said, now turning to Petunia's boyfriend. James was tempted to laugh upon seeing Vernon's face for the first time. Vernon Dursley was slightly taller than Petunia, and was an extremely corpulent man, to be generous. Though clearly only around twenty years old, he had almost no neck and his pallid face was extremely pasty-looking, except for one prominent, bulging vein on his forehead that was pulsing madly.

If this loser had gone to Hogwarts, James would have laughed in his face and hexed the hell out of him-not that James wasn't tempted to, no matter how much of a Head Boy he was now. James still could not believe that he could use magic without getting in trouble for it, as he was of age. But his plan of charming Lily's family might be a bit tarnished if Lily's parents find that James had turned Vernon into a pig.

Instead, James reached out his hand. Vernon reluctantly took it for a second, but just like with his girlfriend, withdrew it immediately as if James's hand might be poisonous. Lily looked at them shrewdly. No doubt Petunia had told Vernon that there was something peculiar about her sister and her friends.

"Great," James beamed, stretching his mouth into the widest smile he could manage. "Now that we're all introduced, would you like to join me and Lily down in the kitchen for a snack? We were headed that way."

"It's my house," Petunia said coldly, regaining her voice. "And you two were most definitely not headed for the kitchen."

"You're quite right," James said, without missing a beat. He reached out, grabbed Lily's hand, and made to snog her again. Lily's face was struggling against laughter, but neither Petunia nor Vernon noticed.

"Let's go," Petunia ordered to Vernon, looking disgusted. They set off quickly down the hall, Vernon looking extremely confused.

"James," Lily said, trying to sound serious but grinning all the same as Vernon and Petunia sped out of sight. "What on earth are you trying to do?"

"I'm trying to be friendly," James said seriously. "I think they like me."

Lily burst out laughing.


Remus stepped easily out of the fireplace, brushing soot from his shirt. "Sirius," he called out. "Where are you?"

"In the kitchen!" Sirius yelled predictably.

Remus shook his head and laughed. He entered the Potter kitchen to find Sirius munching down a plate of cookies that Heda had made. "Of course," Remus said, sitting himself down beside his friend. "Can I have one?"

"What's the magic word?" Sirius sang.

Remus laughed again. Sirius wasn't a day older than that giddy first year. "Tarantallegra," Remus replied.

Sirius quickly pushed the plate of cookies over to Remus. Remus was easily known for his quick and sharp Defense Against the Dark Arts spells, especially the tarantallegra spell, and Sirius didn't feel like spending the rest of the afternoon dancing uncontrollably.

"So what brings you here?" Sirius said, turning to fully face Remus.

"You invited me over, remember?" Remus said. "You said you needed company while James was at Lily's."

"Oh yeah," Sirius said, smacking his head. He dug into another cookie.

Remus studied Sirius carefully. There was something not quite right about the look in Sirius's eyes. A dark shadow, like the one Remus thought he caught a glimpse of days earlier, had passed over him at the mention of Lily and James.

"Padfoot," Remus said carefully. "Is there anything wrong?"

Sirius stared at Remus for a bit. "No," he finally said.

"You were never great at lying," Remus said sharply.

Sirius winced a bit. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Yes you do," Remus said. "It's me, Sirius. What's wrong?"

There was a moment of tense silence. Then, suddenly, Sirius burst out laughing. Remus was shocked to find that he wasn't surprised by it. After all, he had heard the same toneless, emotionless laughter way back in the marauders' third year, and occasionally after that. And every time, it unnerved him.

"Sirius, stop," Remus begged. But Sirius wouldn't stop; he couldn't. He didn't want to have that pain rush in. Back in third year, it was because he didn't want to think about spending Christmas time with his family. And now…he felt like he was losing his best friend.

Remus's face was contorted in pain for his friend. He waited patiently. After what seemed like hours, Sirius stopped laughing. The empty smile didn't die from his face.

"Are you ready to talk?" Remus said quietly.

"Goddamn it, Remus," Sirius whispered, slamming his fist down onto the kitchen counter. "I feel like I don't know him anymore."

"James?" Remus asked.

Sirius nodded. His eyes were stormy. "Ever since he and Lily started being all…" he stopped. He couldn't say it. "You know what I mean," he continued. "It seems like he doesn't have time for the marauders anymore. What happened to best friends? What happened to our pact?" He kicked the counter in frustration.

"You know those nightly patrols aren't his choice," Remus said. "I'm sure James would rather spend that time with us but you know he can't."

Sirius snorted.

"Think about it," Remus said quietly. "James has liked this girl since first year. That's seven years of waiting, Sirius. Seven years. And finally, they're building a relationship. Of course he's spending a lot more time with her than we might like."

"Fine, take his side," Sirius said bitterly. Remus was struck by how much Sirius sounded like a child. But they weren't children - not anymore.

"I'm not taking sides," Remus said patiently. "I'm just seeing it from his point of view."

"Can't you see it from mine, then?" Sirius snapped. "He's changed, Moony! He's changed into a rule-loving, first-year hugging..." Sirius drew in a deep breath. "I don't see him anymore," he said, averting his eyes from Remus. "That's not him."

"I could never see any sign of this from you," Remus said candidly.

"I held it in," Sirius snapped. "What was I supposed to do?"

Remus looked at the side of Sirius's face. It was contorted in anger, but mostly pain. In truth, James hadn't changed that much, but to Sirius, James seemed like a new person altogether. Sirius was bitter, Remus could tell. "Maybe he hasn't changed as much as you think," Remus said.

"Maybe he's changed more than you think," Sirius retaliated. "Maybe it's Lily. She's trying to change him, I know she is."

Remus frowned. "I don't think it's Lily."

"Maybe it is," Sirius snapped. "Little miss perfect."

"You're being unfair," Remus said quietly. "You set up their first date in the first place."

"True," Sirius shrugged. "I never envisioned it would be like this, though. She must have some sort of twisted power over him... maybe she's using a love potion," he said irrationally. "That would explain it..."

"Sirius," Remus said disapprovingly. "You know it was James's decision to go on more dates with her."

"You're right," Sirius said moodily. "It's all James's fault. His fault for not marauding around with us. His fault for not breaking the rules. His bloody fault for forgetting his friends."

The two sat together for a while in silence, munching on cookies occasionally. After a long time, Remus finally raised his head. "If it bothers you so much, why don't you just tell him?" Remus said reasonably.

Sirius stared at the counter for a time, and when he finally tuned to face Remus, Remus was startled to see a hint of tears in his eyes. "I can't," he said brokenly. He shook his head, as if every word was causing him pain. "I just can't."


"And then, he said, 'I saw you coming from a mile away!'"

Lily's parents and Lily burst out laughing. James beamed with pride. Jokes were his specialty, and he was not going to forsake that talent. Petunia simply sat there looking sulky. Vernon was looking nervously around as if trying to find an escape.

"That was great!" Mrs. Evans said, wiping her eyes. "I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard!"

James grinned.

The Christmas dinner was a jolly affair. Lily and Petunia, though refusing to sit next to each other, were at least not bickering. James was going out of his way to be nice to Vernon and Petunia, no matter how cold and icy they were to him. Lily laughed silently to herself whenever she saw James doing this. He was being extremely obnoxious, but it was funny.

"It's time for dessert," Mrs. Evans said, getting up to head for the kitchen.

James quickly sprang up from his seat, beating Vernon to it. "I'll get it," he said grandly.

"No, it's quite okay, dear," Mrs. Evans said warmly. "I will go and get it."

"You're had a long day, ma'am," James said smiling. "Don't worry. I will go get it. You just rest."

Mrs. Evans smiled gratefully. James passed by Lily on the way to the kitchen. "Don't use magic," she whispered to him out of the corner of her mouth.

"Fine," James said. Lily grinned.

Lily had made James agree that he wouldn't use magic in the Evans' household. James felt like showing off, but Lily knew that doing magic in front of Petunia and Vernon probably wasn't the brightest idea. Chances were that at this point, Petunia hadn't told Vernon exactly what was so odd about Lily and James. If James chose to show off, and Vernon and Petunia broke up, Lily would probably have to pin Vernon down and perform a memory charm on him, which was unlucky because Lily didn't want to be within 100 feet of that man if she had a choice.

James looked around the kitchen surreptitiously, unsure of what to do. He finally spied a large chocolate cake sitting in the corner. "Aha," he said out loud. He pranced toward the cake. Looking around, he made sure that no one was there, and took out his wand. With a wave, the cake sliced itself into six equal pieces.

"Mr. Potter," a voice said from behind him. James quickly pocketed his wand and turned to find Mr. Evans looking straight at him.

"Hello, sir," James said. "I'm, er, just bringing the cake back into the dining room."

"Never mind that," Mr. Evans said, somewhat impatiently. "I would like to talk to you."

"Absolutely," James beamed, though he was secretly a bit nervous.

"I would like to know what your intentions are with my daughter," Mr. Evans said flatly.

James looked at him, a bit taken aback. "What do you mean by that, sir?"

"You know what I mean," Mr. Evans said.

James furrowed his brow a bit. "Sir, I really like your daughter-"

"Why?" Mr. Evans said, cutting him off.

"Well," James said. "She's-"

"And this had better be good," Mr. Evans said, cutting him off once again. He was now staring James down. James shifted his foot uncomfortably, but did no look away from his gaze.

"May I tell you something, sir?" James said. Without waiting for an answer, he plowed on. "I used to be confused. I came to Hogwarts hoping to find an adventure, hoping to stir up some trouble and get the most out of life." He took a deep breath. "And I did that. I have three best friends I would die for. For the past six years we've been closer than brothers. I loved the rule-breaking, and I loved the thrill of freedom I got from it."

Mr. Evans didn't interrupt him. He simply kept looking at James.

"Even when I didn't know Lily at all, from the first time I saw her, confusion went away," James continued. "She made me want to be a Gryffindor. I've done some stupid things in the past. I know that. Most of it was to impress your daughter. But there's something about her that just makes me want to live every day like it's my last. She's intelligent, witty, and beautiful, and she brings out the best in me." He paused, and smiled. "No matter what happens, I will always be blessed knowing that I've known somebody like her."

Mr. Evans stood still for a moment, then he nodded ever so slowly. James felt a gigantic rush of relief course through his entire body.

"Would you like some help in bringing the dessert back into the dining room?" Mr. Evans said kindly, coming out of his stiff position and now looking at James with a level of warmth and understanding.

James nodded and smiled. "Thank you, sir."


The finished plate of cookies laid there, crumbs sprinkling the otherwise clean plate. The Potter manse was quiet and empty. Remus noted how lonely the big mansion was without James and without his parents. Heda was always in the background, but she kept to herself. Remus turned and looked at Sirius apprehensively, who was staring moodily at the empty plate.

"Do you want to go somewhere else?" Remus asked at length. He felt like they had been sitting in the kitchen forever.

"Sure," Sirius said indifferently. The two stood up. Not knowing quite where to go, Remus wavered. Stonily, Sirius led the way out of the room. Remus followed him to the back door. The two friends stepped out into the Potters' back yard.

Sirius felt rather guilty as he walked on. He didn't want to take out any frustration on Remus, but he couldn't help it. Every particle of disbelief had wanted to course out before the holidays, but he shut them in tight, only to unintentionally release them when Remus came over. Remus had suffered enough, especially in his hands. Sirius knew that Remus was hurting from Faye, even though he didn't let it show. Sirius didn't deliberately invite Remus over to talk about James. He had hoped Remus would distract him from James, but instead Remus was the one who let Sirius spill it all, made Sirius talk it out.

Sirius knew that a lesser friend would have made him feel better.

As the backyard came fully into view, Sirius looked around slowly at the giant field of land. Piles of beautiful roses and daffodils lined the side of the garden, big enough to make him suspect that Mrs. Potter had used a very controlled engorgement charm on them at some point. Now they were covered in layers of snow. Sirius breathed in the fresh air, and looked with sadness upon the open field which the snow-covered flowers framed, and remembered the past few times when James had patiently tried to teach him to ride a broomstick, no matter how incompetent Sirius was at it.

The damp night air shrouded the two friends, and the twinkling stars were veiled by thin strips of cloud that passed over them. A moon crescent was in sight. Remus shivered involuntarily, not because of the cold night temperatures. He was worried about Sirius.

Sirius, however, looked emotionless. When he couldn't see the stars, it meant something to him. He had never spent a night at the Potter manse without James to crack jokes with, without James to fool around with, without his other half, it seemed.

"Are you scared?" said the distant voice of Remus Lupin, pulling Sirius back to reality.

Even in the damp darkness, Remus could see Sirius's face tighten defensively. "Of what?" he asked.

Remus smiled soberly. Sirius never liked to admit he was scared of anything. "Are you scared of losing your best friend?"

Sirius thought about this for a moment. "Maybe," he finally said. He looked pained again. "Maybe." He took a deep breath and let it out, the mist enshrouding his mouth for one second in a thin layer of fog.

Remus looked at Sirius for a second, then focused his attention on a faraway rosebush, opening his mouth to say what had been built up for the past six years. "You and James-you're different from me and Peter."

There was a pause. "How so?" Sirius asked slowly.

Remus closed his eyes for a second. The stars seemed to shine a little brighter, but it could have been his imagination. "You two had the special bond that neither I nor Peter had with you two."

Sirius turned fully around to look at Remus. "What?" he frowned.

"I sometimes felt left out, all these years," Remus said quietly, candidly. "You and James were so close in spirit, hearts and soul. You were irreplaceable to each other. I sometimes talked to Peter." Remus let out a somewhat bitter laugh that scared Sirius immensely. "We didn't feel like part of the group. We, at times, felt like we didn't belong."

"I'm sorry," Sirius said truthfully. "I never realized…"

"Don't apologize," Remus said, cutting him off, staring blankly at the thin strip of moon with his face tightened. "You guys have done for me what others would and could never do. It's more than I could ever ask for." He turned to Sirius and smiled. "Trust me."

Sirius nodded slowly. "Is that why it's so hard for me to see James and Lily together?" he finally asked.

Remus nodded. "I think so. Padfoot, James is irreplaceable to you. I think it's time you talked to him. Maybe he's spending all this time with her subconsciously, and he doesn't fully realize it. Think about it."

There was a long moment of silence. "Okay," Sirius finally said.

The two friends both looked up at the stars. Remus could just make out the Sirius constellation, and he smiled lightly, wondering if James at this time was looking up at the sky as well, and seeing something that reminded him of his best friend.

"Remus?" came the quiet voice of Sirius.

"Yeah," Remus said.

"I'm sorry," Sirius said quietly.

Remus never took his eyes off of the distant stars. "Don't be."


Sharing a bed with Vernon was not James's idea of fun. When he entered the guest room and found only one bed, James first swore loudly, and covered his hands over his mouth, hoping that no one else had heard it. Thankfully, no one else did.

The next thing he did was lock the door. Fearing that muggle locks were unstable, he cast a charm on it. Certain that nobody was looking, James thought of the conjuring spell that he had learned for N.E.W.T. class and attempted to conjure up a bed.

On the third try James succeeded. Immensely happy and relieved, he pushed the bed so that it stood as far away from Vernon's as possible. He then unlocked the door, and went to go brush his teeth.

When James came back to the room, he found Vernon in the doorway, staring at the bed James had conjured. It was a shocking purple, with nine fluffy pillows and a giant mattress that looked like air. "Hello, Vernon," James said cheerfully from behind Petunia's boyfriend. Vernon jumped a mile, and grunted in response.

The two men set off to bed, James in his highly comfortable bed, and Vernon in his wooden, thin-mattress stained bed. James felt ten times better as he drifted off to sleep.

The night had been mostly uneventful. After a private talk with her parents, Lily came running back to James and announced that both her parents like him, and better yet, they liked him better than Vernon. They spent the rest of the night in front of the living room couch, where Lily showed James how to work a television. They finally parted near midnight, when James got to bestow one last kiss on Lily before they both headed off to bed. Not wanting to risk breaking the law, James had to conjure his bed while Vernon was in the bathroom.

The next morning James and Lily both rose early. James was down in the kitchen first, desperately trying to cook some pancakes, but failing miserably. Lily same down too, yawning.

"Wow," James said, grinning. "Aren't you a sight in the morning."

"Shut up," Lily said grumpily. Her hair was like an afro-it frizzed in almost all directions. She had bags under her eyes, and was in a pink, flannel pair of pajamas.

"Aw, you look great," James grinned.

"Don't lie to me, James," she snapped. "I hope you know that I couldn't sleep the entire night because I was worried about you and Vernon sleeping in the same room. Well, I was slightly worried about Vernon, actually. It's not like he could do anything to you, but you could have done plenty to him."

"Believe me, I thought about it," James said remorsefully. "Unfortunately, my angelic side got the better of me, and I therefore had to endure a night of his grunting and snoring. I hope you realize the tremendous sacrifice I've made for you."

Lily grinned. "Would you do it all over again?"

James laughed. "In a heartbeat."

"Good," Lily grinned. She pushed back her frizzy hair and leaned in to kiss him.

Even in the morning, James felt alive and well, and with Lily in his arms, he felt like nothing could stop him. "I think the breakfast is burning," he murmured, breaking the kiss.

Lily's green eyes smiled at him. "Let it burn," she said softly.

It was lucky that nobody else woke up during the time that Lily and James were snogging in the kitchen with the fire on the stove in full force. They were forced to abort their snogging session, however, when the fire alarm went off.

"Gah!" James exclaimed loudly. "What the hell was that?"

With a quick wave of her wand, Lily cleared away the smoke and the beeping stopped. She started laughing. "You're right," she grinned. "Probably shouldn't have let the breakfast burn."

They cleared up the mess with one wave of their wands, and soon the rest of the family joined them for a breakfast. Though the ordeal was mostly silent, James kept winking at Lily from across the table, who kept blushing and glaring at him to stop. Both Vernon and Petunia looked bedraggled and uncomfortable at the table. Lily was relieved when it was finally time for James and her to leave and go to the house of Potter.

"Bye mummy, daddy," she said, hugging both her parents as James offered her a handful of floo powder. Petunia and Vernon were upstairs, refusing to see them off.

"Is that floo powder?" Mrs. Evans asked, pointing at the powder in Lily's hands.

"Exactly," Lily beamed.

"Let's go, Lily," James said. "My parents are only going to be home for one day." He turned to Lily's parents. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Evans, sir, and you, Mrs. Evans. Thank you for having me."

"No, thank you, for making our little girl happy," Mr. Evans said, smiling. "Now, get going."

Lily smiled at her parents gratefully. They smiled back. She then threw the powder into the fireplace and disappeared. James thanked Mr. and Mrs. Evans one last time before disappearing as well into the fireplace.

He stepped out of the fireplace quickly and saw Remus heading towards it. "Moony," he said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I stayed overnight," Remus grinned. "Padfoot invited me over, I hope you don't mind."

"No, not at all," James said. "Are you leaving now?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I have to go. But Sirius is upstairs in case you need him. I think he's still sleeping."

James laughed. "Thanks. Bye."

"Bye Remus," Lily said, smiling.

Remus waved and disappeared among the green flames.

"Did Remus leave?" Mrs. Potter said, coming into the room.

"Yeah, mum," James said, pulling Lily beside him.

Mrs. Potter saw her, and smiled. "You must be Lily Evans!" she said happily. "It's so nice to meet you!" Mrs. Potter enclosed Lily in a tight hug.

James laughed, and Lily beamed. "James was right," Mrs. Potter said, still smiling. "You are beautiful!"

"Oh," Lily said, blushing heavily, somewhat embarrassed. "Oh, thank you." She punched James in the shoulder.

"Oww!" James laughed.

"Anyway, come on into the living room," Mrs. Evans said brightly. "James's father is waiting. He'll love you."

Lily's nervousness had washed away quickly. Her family was warm to James, she knew, but there was something about the Potters that simply exuded love and care. She looked at James and smiled. No wonder Sirius chose to spend his holidays here.

James could tell that his parents loved Lily by dinnertime. They made a huge feast for her, grander than the one that Lily's parents had made. Granted, magic wasn't on their side. Lily felt right at home in the Potter manse. She marveled at the size of the great house, and teased James about it.

Only one person wasn't speaking a lot during dinnertime, and that was Sirius. James occasionally glanced over at his best friend, wondering what was wrong, but thought it best not to bring up anything in case Sirius went into one of his stormy moods. It was still near Christmas eve, and none of them needed that.

Sirius sat stonily viewing the dinner scene, feeling both angry and betrayed. James barely made an effort to talk to him, and threw all his energy into making Lily happy, and doing whatever Lily wanted. It was enough to make him sick. Sirius thought about what Remus had said, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, especially not now, when it was Christmas and James looked delighted to have Lily over. Excusing himself from the table early, Sirius therefore retreated to the tallest part of the Potter manse, the attic.

Alone, he sat in the dark, dust blanketing around him. No one could see him. No one would hear him. And he began laughing, the cold, emotionless laugh, echoing through the attic, as far as his pain and misery could take it.