'James? Dad?'

'In the kitchen, love,' Mr Evans called. Lily bounced in. 'How'd you go?'

'Fine,' Lily said, hugging James. She wasn't quite sure how her father would react to her kissing him. 'Oh, hi, Sirius. When did you get here?'

Sirius shrugged. 'An hour ago, maybe.'

'Have they been behaving?' Lily asked her father.

He smiled in a way that made her dread the answer. 'They've discovered the refrigerator-'

'It's brilliant!' James said. 'Did you know the light turns off when you close the door?'

'I had noticed, yes,' she said, smiling.

'I used the doorbell!' Sirius said proudly. Lily bit back a laugh; they were just like she had been upon discovering Diagon Alley, except she'd been eleven, and James and Sirius were seventeen.

'James answered the phone,' Mr Evans continued, 'and accidentally hung up on Vernon.'

'You didn't?' Lily said. James nodded guiltily. Lily burst out laughing. 'Oh, I wish I could have heard his reaction! You hung up on him! He would have hated that!'

'You'll find out,' her father said. 'He'll be here soon.'

'Vernon's coming over? Tonight?'

'Petunia invited him.'

'And I'm hearing about this now?' Lily asked. Her gaze flicked to James and Sirius. Vernon was... difficult to get along with, even for her and she considered herself fairly patient. She could swallow comments about his weight or his dress sense – the man wore suits everywhere – and she could ignore comments about her being a freak or about her hair, but she doubted James and Sirius would be able to do the same.

'I only found out an hour ago,' her father said.

Lily chewed her lip, thinking. 'Lily!' her mother called. 'Can you help me bring the shopping in, please, love?'

'Sure,' Lily called back, resigned.

'Here, we'll help,' James said, getting up. Sirius nodded copied him. Lily smiled at the pair and lead them outside.

'Oh, you've recruited helpers!' her mother said. 'Hello, I'm Heather, you must be Sirius.'

'Yes, ma'am,' Sirius said.

'Here, Lily, put these in the fridge. Petunia, get out of the car, please.' Lily took the bag from her mother in time to see Sirius' eyes brighten at her sister's name.

'Sirius-' Lily began, but he'd already bounced over the car window and rapped his knuckles on it. Lily hid a smile as her sister's eyes widened; Petunia's definition of a wizard Snape or Dumbledore. To Petunia, wizards were either young and greasy-looking, or old with long, white beards. To Petunia, wizards did not look like Sirius Black.

Sirius tapped his knuckles on the window again. Petunia rolled it down looking extremely uncomfortable. Sirius – and Lily suspected he knew it – had managed to place Petunia in a corner in a public place; her sister would either have to ask Sirius to move, which went against everything Petunia lived for, or, she would have to make a big fuss and climb out the driver's side of the car and risk the neighbours seeing.

'Hello,' Petunia said stiffly.

'I'm Sirius Black. It's a pleasure to meet you,' Sirius said huskily, kissing her hand. Petunia flinched and pulled her hand away. 'Oh, don't be like that,' Sirius said. 'I won't bite...' He winked. Lily almost swallowed her tongue to keep from laughing. James had disappeared back into the house but she thought she could hear him.

'Move,' Petunia said. 'I'd like to get out.'

'But the car really brings out your eyes,' Sirius said. Lily shook her head. Sometimes, Sirius made no sense at all.

'Lily!'

'What?' Lily asked innocently.

'Get him away from me.''

'He's very friendly, really,' James said, reappearing at Lily's side. 'Scratch him behind the ears and he'll be your friend forever.'

'I don't want a friend!' Petunia whined. 'I want him away from me. Mum!'

'Sirius,' Lily sighed. She was enjoying the show, but Petunia was going to be horrible to her after this and she wasn't sure it was worth it.

'Don't "Sirius" me,' Sirius said, clearly enjoying himself.

'Padfoot,' James said warningly, obviously sensing Lily's discomfort.

Sirius ignored them, turning back to Petunia. 'If you want to get out, you'll have to say the magic word,' Sirius sang, resting his arms on the open car window.

Petunia's eyes widened. She looked truly scared. 'Lily!' she shrieked. 'Make him stop!'

'Sirius, please,' Lily said.

'Lily wins!' Sirius said happily. '"Please" was the magic word!' He stepped aside and Petunia flung the car door open and ran inside, pausing only to give Lily a withering glare from the doorstep. 'She seems lovely,' Sirius said, trying to wind the window back up.

'Please, please behave,' Lily begged, hoisting up another shopping bag. 'I know she's... difficult, but she's still my sister.'

'Difficult? She's awful to you!' Sirius exclaimed. 'I've heard your stories!'

'Sirius,' James said. 'It's like you and Reg. You don't get along-'

'We do!' Sirius said.

'All right, you don't agree with his choices, then,' James said, 'but he's still family.'

'Oh,' Sirius said. He was quiet and then, 'I'm sorry, Lils.'

'It was funny,' Lily conceded with a grin. 'But just please don't do it again.' Petunia screamed from inside the house. 'Sirius...'

'I didn't do anything!'

The three of them looked at each other and sprinted inside. Lily collided with her sister in the hallway and both of them went tumbling to the ground. 'Oof!' she said as Petunia landed on her. Sirius helped Petunia up – much to her horror – while James lifted Lily up and set her back on her feet. 'Why did you scream?'

'The- the picture,' Petunia whimpered, pointing. Lily glanced up at the photograph of Petunia's first day of school. In the picture, Petunia's five-year-old self was standing by the tree in the garden of their old house. It took Lily a moment to realise what was wrong with it; the leaves of the tree were fluttering, as were the ends of Petunia's blonde hair and she was waving at whoever was wielding the camera.

'I fixed it,' Sirius said, sounding hurt. 'You were all still before.'

'So you did do it,' James muttered. Lily only heard it because he was right next to her, and Sirius probably only heard it because of his canine hearing. Lily saw Sirius' lips move slightly but couldn't understand the words. 'He said "Shut it",' James murmured. Lily smiled.

'It's supposed to be still,' Petunia snapped. 'This is unnatural.'

'I'll put it back,' James said, reaching for his wand.

'Don't use that thing!' Petunia shrieked.

'All right, sorry!' James said hastily bringing his hands up to show they were empty.

'You want us to leave it?' Lily asked. 'Vernon might see it.'

'We'll burn it,' Petunia said decisively.

'Just let me fix it,' James said.

'Don't,' Petunia said shrilly.

'Is everything all right in there?' Mr Evans called.

'Fine, Dad!' Lily answered before Petunia could say a word. The doorbell rang. Petunia glanced at the photograph, eyes wide. 'How about I fix it?' she asked. Petunia stared at her and then nodded once. Lily tapped the photograph with her wand and it stilled immediately. Without another word, Petunia spun on her heel and went to answer the door. James, Lily and Sirius all looked at each other trying not to laugh. 'Hello, Vernon,' Lily said pleasantly when her sister returned, clutching the arm of her enormous fiancé.

'Lily,' Vernon grunted.

'I love your moustache,' Sirius said. 'It looks like Peter.' James coughed loudly from next to Lily, who was also trying to choke down a laugh.

'Thank you,' Vernon said, curling his lip. 'You must be Potter.'

'Black, actually,' Sirius said brightly, seizing Vernon's hand and shaking it rigorously. 'But I like you, so you can call me Sirius. This is my friend James.'

'You're Potter,' Vernon asked. James nodded and extended his hand. Vernon stared at it until Jame let it fall. 'You're the one who hung up on me.'

'Sorry about that,' James said. 'I'd never used a phone before.'

'Freaks,' Vernon muttered. Petunia nodded for emphasis at his side.

'If you say so,' James said shrugging. 'I suppose all wizards seem odd to muggles.'

'What did you call me?' Vernon growled, puffing his huge chest out.

'A muggle,' Sirius said slowly, as if making sure Vernon was listening. Lily was trying desperately not to laugh. 'It means you aren't magical.'

'Freak,' Vernon said again. James stuck his tongue out but Vernon was too busy glaring at Sirius to notice. Petunia however, did notice and gave both Lily and James a nasty look.

'Let's go say hello to Mum and Dad,' Petunia suggested, pulling Vernon into the kitchen.

'You couldn't help yourself, could you?' Lily asked, turning to the boys.

'Well...' Sirius began.

'No,' James finished with a sheepish smile.

* * *

'This is wonderful, Mrs Evans,' Sirius said, helping himself to another scoop of mashed potato.

'Thank you, dear, it's dead easy. I just cut the potatoes up, stick it in the microwave for a bit-'

'What in Merlin's name is a microwave?' James asked. Sirius shrugged; he hadn't learnt about them in Muggle Studies. He'd learnt more in an afternoon at Lily's house than he had in four years of lessons. He was already planning to have a little chat with Professor Smythe about his neglected education.

'A microwave?' Mrs Evans laughed. 'Surely you know what a microwave is?'

'Mum, they're wizards. I'll show you later,' Lily told James who nodded excitedly.

'So how have you been, Vernon?' Mr Evans asked. 'Petunia tells us you've been busy working.'

'Yes, very busy,' Vernon said importantly. 'I've been given a promotion-'

'Congratulations,' James said, smiling.

Vernon looked at him suspiciously. 'Thank you.' Sirius snorted. 'I've been given a new car, too, by the company.'

'It's very nice,' Petunia said.

'Do wizards have cars?' Vernon asked snidely.

'Of course we do,' James said. 'Dad had one for work – he was an Auror and needed to blend in with muggles when he was on duty-'

'So what do you drive?

'Oh, I don't have a car. I have a racing broom.'

'Nimbus 1000's,' Sirius said happily. 'They're the fastest broom ever made – the Chudley Cannons ordered one for every player.'

'Yeah, and they'll still lose,' James said.

'Shut it, Prongs,' Sirius muttered.

'Right,' Vernon said. 'So, are you planning to be one of these Auror people, like your father?' His tone made it very clear he thought James was delusional. Sirius didn't like his tone and he also didn't like how near this conversation was getting to the subject of parents.

'Of course,' Sirius said, for James. 'We both are, among... other... things.' He, James and Lily shared a look. 'Want to do some good, you see.'

'Are you two quite close?' Mrs Evans asked. 'You seem to finish each other's sentences a lot.'

'We're brothers,' Sirius and James said simultaneously.

'Not related though?'

Sirius turned to James. 'We worked this out, remember? Er... it's something like my grandmother is James' mother's sister... Hang on.' Sirius thought for a moment, trying to remember that stupid tapestry in Grimmauld Place. 'That makes James my mother's cousin, so he's my first cousin once removed or something.'

'I didn't know that!' Lily exclaimed.

'I suppose all wizards are related, then?' Mrs Evans asked.

'All the pure-bloods. It's disgusting,' Sirius said. He flung an arm around Lily's shoulders. 'It's nice to have some new blood in the mix.' Lily laughed, ducking out of the hug to get a bread roll.

'How... nice,' Petunia sniffed.

'I think so,' James said. Vernon and Petunia glared at him.

'So,' Mr Evans said, trying to diffuse the tension, 'what sort of grades do you need to become... what did you call it? An Auror?'

'High,' James said with a grimace.

'Do you think you'll get there?'

'Hopefully,' James said. 'It's been a...erm... difficult year.' Sirius caught Lily's eye and then looked back to James, whose expression was tight.

'How so?' Vernon asked. Sirius could have hit him.

'I'd rather not-' James said, clenching his jaw.

'Now, really, we're all family here,' Vernon said.

'Prongs, if you don't want-' Sirius began at the same time Lily said, 'James, you don't have to-'

'I'm curious,' Petunia said. Mrs Evans nodded eagerly.

'He's clearly uncomfortable,' Mr Evans said. 'James, you needn't say-'

'...weak,' Sirius heard Vernon mutter to Petunia.

James' head snapped up, hazel eyes blazing. 'Weak? You want to know about my year?' he demanded. 'Fine. To start with-'

'James-'

'No, Sirius,' James said in a brittle tone, 'they want to know.' Sirius didn't say anything after that but he saw Lily reach under the table to grab James' hand. 'To start with, my parents were murdered over the summer. Sirius and I had been at a friend's place and came home in time to watch them die. School started and a week later I was almost killed in an accident at school. I spent a safe, studious month at school in the company of my beautiful girlfriend and brothers and then I was kidnapped by the same people who killed my parents. My time in captivity was unpleasant...' James paused, not for effect, but to steel himself. Sirius could see the anger fading from his face. 'I escaped another month later with few memories of my life and was then told I had to prove who I was.'

'You seem to remember everything fairly well now,' Vernon said, obviously hoping to hide how pale he was behind his insensitive comment. Sirius really, really wanted to hit him. 'I think you're making a big deal out of nothing.'

'Vernon,' Petunia said, looking human for the first time since Sirius had met her, 'don't.'

'Dad, can we go upstairs until pudding's ready?' Lily asked. Obviously she'd noticed James' jaw trembling too.

'Of course,' Mr Evans said before anyone else could say anything. 'I'll call you when it's time to come down.'

'Thank you,' James said, rising. Sirius and Lily looked at each other and followed him out of the room.