The Next Day... Godric's Hollow...

Lily opened her eyes to the sound of annoying banging on the door. She had dozed off on the couch. "Come in," she said groggily.
Sirius irrupted in and jogged into the living room. "Hey, Lil! Is James here?" he asked, jumping up and down on the spot.
"No, he's still at work," Lily said, flashing a concerned gaze. "Are - are you okay?"
Sirius stopped bouncing, his cheery face vanishing slightly. "I'm fine."
Lily didn't buy it. "I talked to Dar last night... I was so worried about you."
"Why?"
"I was afraid you were going to... I don't know - off yourself or something."
Sirius shrugged. "Really, I'm okay."
"How can you be okay when she was that torn?"
Sirius sighed and sat down next to Lily. "What do you want me to say? I'm horribly... saddened? I've already shed my tears?"
Lily ignored him. "She was so upset! Crying so hard at the beginning of the call - it must have been close after you left."
"She... was crying?"
"Yeah. I hope you weren't too harsh on her," Lily said. "When did you go say goodbye?"
"Last night," Sirius shrugged.
"What do you mean, last night? You didn't see her today?"
"No."
"Then what are you doing here? Get off your ass and go see her!"
Sirius checked his watched. "I can't! She left forty minutes ago." He regretted it, though. Faster than he had said 'ago', Lily had punched him in the arm.
"You idiot! What the hell is the matter with you?"
"What!" Sirius said, rubbing his arm.
"Why didn't you say goodbye?"
"Lily... I couldn't do it. I tried, I honestly tried, but it was too hard. Seeing her again... it would have caused me that much more pain."
Lily wanted more than anything to hit Sirius again, but she understood - sort of.
"I understand, but I still think you should have... done something!" Lily said. "I'm sorry I hit you, I just... though you were being quite an idiot at the time."
"As usual," Sirius grinned. "I'm starved - do you want me to make something?"
"You cook?" Lily raised her eyebrows.
"Of course I do!"
"I don't know... I don't really trust you with food... ever since the 'tomato paste shit' incident."
"I'll make some... Chicken! And... some rice?" Sirius suggested.
Within twenty minutes, Sirius had cooked up two plates of chicken and rice. Lily, who said she didn't promise to eat it, sat down and looked at the meal. "It looks almost edible."
"That's because it's food, Lil," Sirius said, chewing a mouthful of rice. "Food defines edible. You're supposed to eat it, hence the name food!"
Lily shrugged and sampled the chicken.
"How is it?" Sirius asked.
Lily grimaced. "It's, uh, it's... okay."
"Is - what... you don't like it?" Sirius questioned, shaking his head.
"No, it's not that," Lily said quickly. "I just would have made it different, that's all."
"And how would you've made it?"
"I would have cooked it properly."
"What! How is this not cooked properly?"
"Well - one side is frozen and the other side is ashes!" Lily said, poking the chicken with her fork.
"What the hell! It's cooked evenly and properly! Done and done!"
"More like not-done and well-done!" Lily protested as James Apparated next to her.
"Oh! Hello, James! Back from work already, are you? Sirius said loudly and boldly. "Your wife is a selective bitch - would you like some chicken?"
"Well," James said, looking slightly surprised, "I figure the pregnancy makes her picky, but we've always know she's a totally bitch. And, sure! I'll go for some chicken! (Just as long as our little bitch didn't make it.)"
Lily elbowed James and he grinned at her playfully.
"I'm only yanking you chain, Lil! You're not that bad at cooking!" James joked. He reached forward to grab Lily's plate. Lily frowned and grabbed James by the wrist.
"Trust me on this - it's half-frozen and half-burnt," Lily warned. James used his left hand to pick up the chicken and then took a bite out of it.
"Mmm!" he sounded. "Brilliant, Sirius! You should replace - er... I mean - give Lil and hand some day."
James went upstairs to change out of his work robes, still munching on the chicken.
"It's just the pregnancy, Lil, like James said," Sirius explained. "It's just making you more... selective - like I said before."
"You said that?" Lily asked sarcastically. "Oh, yes, that's right! I must have forgotten because of the whole 'bitch' remark, clouding my mind."
"It was a joke!" Sirius put on his innocent face. "I wasn't being serious!" The harsh look on Lily's face overruled. "I'll just... go talk to James."
James came back downstairs and met Sirius in the study.
"So - how are you?" he asked Sirius, who frowned.
"Why do you people keep asking me that? I'm fine! Honestly!" Sirius said. "By the way - Lily is freakishly strong! How do you handle her?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" James said, blushing furiously.
Sirius grinned. "I think you know," he said slyly.
James changed the subject. "Why are you here anyways?"
"I've got nothing to do!" Sirius groaned and sat down and James's desk. "I don't go back to work for six days, and I have no one to do anything with. You have to work, Remus is with Krystle, Lily is... freaking the hell out of me, and... Darlene is gone."
"Is that what this is about?" James asked.
"No," Sirius said, but he was nodding at the same time.
"Why do I sense that you're... lonely?"
"I'm not lonely!" Sirius said. "I just... feel alone."
"Okay, before we continue this conversation, I must say that you have some serious issues you need to work out," James said, shaking his head at Sirius.
Sirius frowned again. "You think?"
"Alright... How about we do something tonight! Just the guys - a night for the Marauders, like it used to be!" James suggested, getting quite excited himself.
"What about Lil and Krystle?" Sirius asked, but he was simply thrilled about the idea.
"They can have a - er, a girls' night!"
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Sirius warned. "Two girls together could share some pretty embarrassing stories..."
"I know, but... with any luck, they'll just do a whole bunch of baby preparation stuff, so that won't be too bad. I'll owl Moony right now and let him know!"

***

The middle of nowhere...

"You really think that this will work?"
"Have some faith, Knight. The Death Eaters have never come empty handed to me before, and I feel that they are starting to fear what I've become," hissed an unforgettable and eerie voice. "Is it time?"
Knight stared up at the setting sun and nodded. She rolled up her sleeve and revealed an ugly, faint black tattoo. The hand of Knight's companion slipped out of his black robes like a spider, and pressed one long finger over the tattoo. The mark instantly turned deep, ink black.
"Now we shall see our results, Knight. We shall see..."
Within minutes, forty figures in black cloaks wearing masks had Apparated onto the field where Knight and the eerie man were. They came forth and circled without speaking to one another.
"Welcome, my Death Eaters! This is a glorious moment, for the thing we have wanted to achieve for so long - immortality - is now at out fingertips," the eerie man hissed. "First, our newest member to our Inner Circle. May I introduce to you the cowardly Mr. Pettigrew?"
The eyes behind the masks darted to a shorter figure, who was unmasked. It was Peter.
"Mr. Pettigrew is currently working into the Potter situation, which has not been turned into an immediate problem... yet... Now, Hendron! Bring me the potion."
A shaking man took one small step forward. "Sir, my Lord... There was a problem -"
Within seconds, Hendron was lifted off his feet and he floated to the center of the circle.
"Why don't you stand where everyone can see you while you explain to me why and how you screwed yourself?"
"There was a problem," Hendron repeated, his voice shaking more, "a problem with retrieving the potion. A - a group of Aurors were on our t- tail, and we couldn't s-shake them, and we c-couldn't stop to finish them... The potion was not retrieved, my Lord-"
Voldemort didn't give Hendron any more time to explain. He held his wand out further and screeched into the night, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
There was a flash of green light and the sound of a limp body falling to the ground.
"You have all been warned," sneered Voldemort, venom dripping with every word he spoke. "You all now know the power of Lord Voldemort!"

***

"Ah - this is my favourite part! Finding a lady for Black!" Remus said, rubbing his hands together.
"I don't need help, Rem! I can get girls better than you can, anyways!" Sirius said.
"Then how come you're still sulking?" James joked.
"Fuck off, James!" Sirius spat.
"Hmm... How do we decide? Should we just go for the regular Black- style? (I can't remember the last time he dated anyone who wasn't blonde..."
Remus had pushed a little to far. Sirius grabbed the collar of Remus's robes and yanked him forward.
"What did you say?" he sneered.
Remus grinned playfully. "Black's got a soft-spot for his choice in women... or is just Darlene?"
Sirius pulled his fist back and thrust it into Remus's stomach and Remus fell to the ground in agony. Sirius started forward and Remus lifted his feet and kicked Sirius right in the target. Sirius howled in pain, and went after Remus again.
"Hey, hey, hey!" James shouted and finally separated the two after enjoying a quick show. He hit Remus over the head.
"Hey, he started it!"
"I don't care who started it, I'm going to finish it!" James waved a threatening finger in Remus's face.
Sirius regained his strength and stood up straight, holding his hand over his injured area.
"I want both of you to apologize to each other!" James ordered strictly.
Remus glared at Sirius. "Fine. Sorry," he said quickly in an unconvincing tone.
"Sorry," Sirius repeated.
"That's better!" James said. They finally entered the pub and sat down at a table near the bar. "So, Sirius," James said, "what tickles your fancy?"
Sirius took a look around the pub and took in all the possibilities. "I don't know and I don't care."
"Excellent!" Remus said. He turned around and took notice of two women sitting at the bar. One of them had shoulder-length blond hair with light brown streaks, and she looked like she was about five foot five. The other had short, layered brown hair and a serious but attractive smile. She looked about five foot six. Remus nodded James in their direction. He grinned.
"Two?"
"We gotta get Black back on track!" Remus said.
Sirius finally took notice at who Remus and James were talking about. He made eyes with the blond for a moment then looked away.
"What do you think?" James said, nudging Sirius in the side.
Sirius took off his leather jacket. "Do I have a choice?"
"Not really, but it would be nice if you pretended to agree," Remus joked.
Sirius groaned. "What do I say?"
"Something that Sirius would say," Remus said.
"That's extremely helpful, Remus. How can I every thank you enough?" Sirius said. He stood up and made his way over to the bar.
James and Remus both turned their chairs so they were facing Sirius.
"He looks like he's doing okay," James said quietly to Remus.
"How can you tell?" Remus asked in the same volume. The girls were indeed talking to Sirius, but they couldn't tell the expressions they had.
"Yes!" Remus said under his breath. Sirius had pointed over to their table and was leading the girls over.
"James, Rem, this is Gwen LaBelle," Sirius said, pointing to the blond, "and Rose McCloud."
The two girls smiled, waved, and sat down.
"Gwen, Rose, this is James Potter and Remus Lupin."
James smiled at the girls and Remus winked.
"So," Sirius said, "er, would you ladies like something to drink?"
"I can't - I'm working first thing in the morning," Rose, the brunette, said.
"I'll go and get something," Gwen said. "Another round for the boys, then?"
James and Remus both grinned.
"Please and thank you!" they said in unison.
Gwen got up and went to the bar.
"So, Rose, where do you work?" Remus asked.
"At St. Mungo's," Rose said. "I've been moving from department to department for awhile and I'm working in the psychiatric wing at the moment."
Remus grinned playfully at Rose. He was only half-listening to her. She smiled back wickedly.
"What?"
"Oh... nothing," he said, looking a little south of her face.
"You know if you take a picture it'll last longer," said Rose.
"You think so? You're probably right," Remus said. "But if a picture is worth a thousand words... I don't like a lot of talk..."
It was lucky that Gwen had come back to the table after Remus finished speaking, because Rose was distracted and James and Sirius had both elbowed Remus in the sides.
"Ow..." Remus said under his breath.
"Stop acting like an idiot!" James hissed.
"I wasn't!" Remus retorted.
"Stop fighting!" Sirius joined.
"You three are hilarious," Gwen interrupted.
Sirius, James, and Remus stopped and turned to the girls, who they'd forgotten about.
"What'd we do?" James asked.
"We were just being us!" Remus complained.
Sirius didn't say anything, but he made eyes with Gwen again and grinned.
"Stupid fights, blaming each other - how old are we?" Rose said, shaking her head.
"Don't you go giving them the talk about maturity," Gwen giggled. "If they saw you last night you'd be the one under the lecture!"
Sirius, James, and Remus all perked up and stared intently at Rose.
"What'd she do?" Remus whined, who was becoming impatient as the five of them sat silently.
"She -" Gwen started to tell, but Rose had smacked her hand of Gwen's mouth.
"Don't you dare," she warned, giggling.
Gwen smiled wickedly. "What are you going to do about?"
Rose raised her eyebrows. "I think you know..."
"This is getting us no where!" Remus complained again. "How about both of you spill the dirty deeds and then start up a good-old-fashioned chick fight!"
Sirius was about to open his mouth in agreement but James held his hand up to hush the group. The bar had gone silent and a couple people were getting up from their table to look out the windows.
It was when James heard the screams of the women outside that he shot up walked quickly over to the crowd at the window. Though he could only see through the gaps of peoples' heads, it was clear that there was something in the sky. Something green... Something haunting.
"Sirius!" James hissed as he pulled out his wand. Sirius stared at James intently. "It's Voldemort."
Sirius and Remus both got up while Rose and Gwen backed up a bit. They got their wands out of their robes and followed James out the door of the pub.
"Holy shit..." Remus muttered under his breath. The inn across the wide brick road from the pub was illuminated and outlined in what looked like a glowing green web, and the Dark Mark was shining above.
"Come on, hurry up!" James said. He was already sprinting towards the entrance of the inn.
"How much do you want to bet that the moment we burst in there, we get stunned or killed by a dozen Death Eaters?" Sirius yelled at James as he and Remus ran to catch up.
"Why don't we just wait for the Ministry to arrive?" Remus suggested.
"Remus, I am the Ministry," James reminded him.
"I'm not, though! Let's wait outside," Remus complained, but he still followed James inside.
There wasn't much to dodge - there was nobody at the front desk or in the lounge.
"They've probably made their way upstairs - but where is everyone? Where are all the screaming wimps, like Remus, for example, who are running away scared?" Sirius grinned.
"Now is not the time to be making fun, Sirius," said James, and Remus agreed, mainly because his name was on the line.
"Shit - did you hear that?" Sirius whispered.
Footsteps - more than set of them - were making their way down the stairs. There was practically nowhere for the guys to run, so they just held their wands out higher, waiting.
Seven Death Eaters came around the corner of the winding stairway and spotted James, Sirius, and Remus.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" the Death Eaters shrieked in unison. James and Sirius both ducked in time, and all seven spells hit Remus. Remus was lifted of his feet, his wand flying out of his hand, and he crashed against the wall and toppled down a few of the stairs, blood streaming from his brow.
James and Sirius held their wands out still.
"You're out-numbered, Potter," one of the Death Eaters in the front hissed. "Both of you, drop your wands!"
Sirius and James both glanced at each other. James nodded for Sirius to do as they said. The Death Eater who'd spoken took a few more steps down the stairs and picked up their wands.
"Now," said another Death Eater, "hands up, come on."
Sirius and James both frowned and held their hands up.
"Should we take them back to the castle?"
"No - we'll take them straight to our master-"
"Bater," Sirius coughed, interrupting the Death Eaters. James snorted with laughter, trying to hold it in. Sirius tried to keep from smiling and look innocent at the same time.
Sirius now had all seven of the Death Eaters' attention.
"Do you find this a joke?" one of them sneered at Sirius, holding his wand to Sirius's throat. Sirius shook his head.
"Keep quiet!" the Death Eater spat.
Sirius nodded and glanced over at James, who had subsided from laughing but was still having trouble keeping a straight face.
"We don't need to go to him," another one of the Death Eaters said.
"He's meeting us here, remember?"
"Ha! That's what you think!" James said.
"Excuse me?" the Death Eater spat while the others held their wands up at James.
"You heard me," James said. "You're just the back up, the guinea- pigs, plan B! He's just waiting for you guys to make a mess and get stuck in it. You'll screw up -"
"And the Ministry will be here in any second to drag you off to Azkaban!" Sirius spoke up, catching on.
"Then he'll come here," James continued more confidently, "and then he'll take care of the real business!"
The front Death Eater took a step closer so he was inches away from James's face.
"You are the really business," he hissed, smiling wickedly.

James took a deep breath in, being careful not to blink or show any signs of fright. The wizard turned around to his fellow Death Eaters and nodded his head down the stairs.
One of the Death Eaters muttered something and ropes immediately shot out of the end of his wand with a loud bang, binding James and Sirius's hands together.
"What about the wolf?"
"Just leave him here," the leader Death Eater said.
James looked over at Sirius with wide eyes. Sirius looked back at him, just as concerned.
"Move. Now."
The Death Eaters guided James and Sirius down the stairs (James and Sirius were careful not to step on Remus too much but the Death Eaters kicked and trampled over him), and then they led them outside, where more Death Eaters were starting to gather in a circle.
"What the fuck," Sirius muttered. James noticed it too. There was an odd shadowy figure within the area the Death Eaters were circling; the circle was drawing tighter, and James and Sirius were pushed inside, their hands still bound.
The figure started to straighten out and it took the shape of a man wearing thick, dark black robes with a hood down over his face. The man lifted the hood to reveal his white, skull-like face.