In loving memory of my dearest Mum; my greatest supporter and the sweetest mother I could've ever asked for. I hope you are resting peacefully now; June 18th 1955 – December 11th 2020.
This last chapter is for you.
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Working together, it took them no time at all to clean the rest of the house up and James summoned two of his parents' House-elves to take everything Lily wanted to keep to Potter Manor to be kept there until they would move into their own place.
A little bit of magic from Sirius ensured the house was stripped bare of wallpaper and carpets so Remus volunteered to do one last sweep of the place while the others made their way to the minivan already, coming back downstairs just in time to overhear Petunia sneer at Lily.
"If you had been here, then I wouldn't have had to arrange everything alone."
"You really dare to put this on me?" Lily choked out. "You didn't even tell me you put the house up for sale. I should have heard it from you, not learn about it through Sirius."
"And how did he know? Has he been spying on me?" Petunia looked around suspiciously, as if expecting to see bugs on the walls.
"Don't be absurd, he was notified by the real estate office when the house came up for sale."
"Why would one of your lot be contacting a real estate agency? And why would he be notified if our house came up for sale?"
"Who do you think paid off the mortgage? His name was pulled up during the financial check when you put the house up for sale so they contacted him to request information," Lily snapped right back. "The point is, I shouldn't have had to learn through him that you are selling our childhood home."
"What did you expect me to do? Wait until you finally come back from that freak school of yours to get anything done? I have a life in Surrey and can't handle upholding two houses."
"You haven't lifted a linger as you know fully well that Sirius arranged for a cleaner to uphold the house until we were ready to deal with it, I told you that. And you could have written me or used the phone number I've given you for cases of emergency."
"I won't have any of that freakiness around me any longer," hissing hatefully, Petunia crossed her arms. "And I especially have no desire to come into contact with any of your freaky acquaintances."
"You know it's Sirius' phone; one Dad gave him specifically to be able to be in contact with the Muggle world and allow them to be in contact with us. I told you that when I gave you the number."
"I'm not calling one of your friends; they're all freaks like you. What were you thinking, bringing that lot here...to our childhood home!"
"Oh please, Mum and Dad loved having James and Sirius over and either way, you should be grateful they offered to help, especially since your so called friends told you they were too busy."
"By using that freakiness! Don't think I haven't noticed that delinquent using it. I've seen him draw that thing of his and he has been absolutely terrible to me and Vernon since Mum and Dad's passing."
"He has been trying to treat you as neutral as possible, so if he became cross then you have deserved it."
"How dare you, I am your sister; your blood! He's…."
"Family."
"He is in no way related to us!" Petunia sniffed in disdain, as if she couldn't believe the nerve Lily had to even suggest otherwise.
"You may be blood; but you are a poor excuse for family," bristling, Lily looked the picture of lividness as her eyes shot fire. "Mum and Dad thought of Sirius as family, even Gran through of him as a grandson and when I marry James, he will officially become my brother-in-law and I won't tolerate you badmouthing him."
"Why...I have never..." huffing scandalised at Lily's declaration, Petunia seemed unable to form words as Lily continued.
"When nobody could reach you after the accident, they called Sirius and he immediately took me to the hospital and spend half the night trying to reach you so you'd be informed as soon as possible. He was there for me every step of the way and helped arrange everything for the funeral when you shoved everything off on me because you were too busy with work," she bit out. "He paid all of the expenses their insurance didn't cover and took care of any outstanding bills that came up at the Notary office so we wouldn't have to worry about money or going into debt."
Remus hadn't known about any of that and although he wondered why it had been Sirius, not James who had taken care of everything as Lily's partner, it really wasn't his business and realising he was essentially eavesdropping, he hurriedly stepped forward to make his presence known.
"He ensured the house has been stripped bare, called in a favour so he could fix the leaking roof and other ailments so the price wouldn't go down with the original taxing and took another sweep to ensure all is ready for the inspection before the sale is finalised," although Petunia flinched as she noticed him, Lily didn't even spare him a glance as she glared.
"Sirius has been more of a sibling to me than you have been for a very long time and I love him as one so I won't tolerate you insulting him. The house is as good as ready, the rest is yours to clean. I will see the papers of the Notary arrive so that I can sign off as well as have my half of the money transferred into my account."
"And how do you expect the notary or real estate agent to be able to reach you?" Her sister's eyes widened nearly comically. "You're not sending them by those..."
"I notified them that they could reach me through Sirius' contact information as I've registered myself to his address so my papers will be sent there."
"You can't live with a boy without marrying them, that's unethical; what would the neighbours say?!"
"I couldn't care less," clearly done with the conversation, Lily ignored Petunia's undignified angry shriek and turned on her heels to brush past Remus. "We're done here."
Not wanting to be left alone with the pissed off sister, Remus hurried after her; Sirius and James looked up from where they'd just been closing the van doors.
"What..."
"Don't," Lily bit out as James made to move towards her. "Let's go."
Without argument, James slid in the passenger's side while Peter and Remus took the back seats so that the angry red-head could take the seat between Sirius and James.
He winced as she unfolded the map rather more harshly than necessary while Sirius mutely started the car and Peter squeaked as he pulled out of the parking lot.
James' hand found it's way to Lily's knee, resting there softly and the mere touch seemed to do the trick to relax her somewhat; her shoulders relaxing as she studied the map.
"Would you just relax," James asked irritated as Peter squeaked once more and grabbed Remus at the first turn at her direction. "You act like he's going to crash at any moment."
"I'm so sorry for being nervous to be in a car with a Pure-Blood wizard," Peter snapped, eyes wide and grip tightening as Sirius picked up speed to move in with the rest of the traffic as they reached the main road.
"You do know I actually have my driver's licence, right?" Their dark-haired driver didn't look up from the icy road, slowing down a little as the car before them did.
"Provisional driver's licence," Lily reminded him as Remus pushed Peter's hand off his biceps. "It'll be a few more months before you can exchange it for a real one."
"I fail to see the difference. I got my licence legally, without any magic involved and a licence is a licence."
"Technically that is not entirely true. Just because someone has managed to get their driver's licence doesn't mean they should actually ever be on a road," trying to peel Peter's hands away from his biceps as he once more grabbed on, Remus winced as three identical glares were shot his way. "Sorry."
"And it's not like you have a lot of experience driving regardless of having gotten your licence," Peter latched onto his words.
"He's a better driver than a lot of other people I know," brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, Lily glanced at the map. "Take a right here."
"Your dad was a good teacher," the compliment at her parents address caused a little smile to appear on her lips; lightening her mood enormously and she rolled her eyes as Peter squeaked when Sirius switched gears as the cars before him slowed down even more.
"Would you just relax?" Grumbling, Sirius glanced at him from the rear view mirror. "And put your seatbelt on, I didn't conjure those for show."
Blinking, Remus noticed that all three of the others were wearing their seatbelt and automatically he reached behind him for his own while Peter just stared at Sirius.
"Mum never uses the seatbelts," he said. "Said they are restricting and hinder her movements."
"If your Mum wants to risk splashing your brains open on the front window then that's her choice, but I'd rather not be scraping pieces of your brain tissue from the busted window to put you back to one piece again should I have to hit the brakes suddenly, so put it on."
Squeaking again at the morbid thought, Peter scrambled to grab his seatbelt and put it on and Remus carefully pulled back as far as he could so he would not be grabbed in fright again.
"Morbid….seriously Sirius, did you need to be that detailed?" Grimacing, James looked at Lily's map, pointing to a line. "Shouldn't we make a right turn there?"
"No, stay away from my map, Potter," she slapped his hands away playfully. "We need to make the second turn right and then go left."
"You know, I could also just keep following the signs," Sirius dryly indicated to a very obvious sign alerting them of a nearby Red Cross collective point.
"Or you could indeed do that," folding up the map, Lily tossed it onto the dashboard. "You could have said something earlier, you know?"
"But you looked so adorable frowning over that map," the teasing was enough to receive a half-hearted glare from Lily, earning a full grin in return. The car pulled to a stop before a fence minutes later, Sirius rolling down his window as a man hurried over in the snow.
"Hello, I called earlier about the stuff for charity from the Evans house?" Lily spoke up.
"Through the gate and on the right, you can unload in box two," following the directions, Sirius parked beside a big garage and between the five of them, it took them no time to empty out the van without anyone being any the wiser that there was more in it than there should be.
James undid the Feather-light charms and they all bundled up again inside the van.
"Do we drive all the way back or just until we are out of sight?" A non-verbal Hot-Air charm quickly chased away the chill clinging to their clothes.
"If you drive, we could stop by that Chinese take-out place we saw on the way here before Apparating home," James suggested as he tugged his gloves off and pocketed them.
"It is a little early, but dinner doesn't actually sound so bad," checking his watch, Remus yawned. "My parents aren't expecting me back before tomorrow anyway."
"Are you sure you want to join us?"
"Yeah, it's fine. Mum made plans for some kind of lady's night and Dad's dealing with a lot of backlog at work so I'd be alone anyway."
"If you guys are willing to help, we could try to degnome the garden after dinner."
"Really Siri, haven't we done enough work today?" Sighing at the simple shrug, Remus leaned back in his chair.
"I'm sure you won't get bitten again and think of how fun it'll be to watch Lily have her first go at it."
Lily raised an eyebrow. "Should I be worried?"
"Not really, just make sure you aren't very gentle or they'll bite," laughing at Remus' glare, James leaned in close to stage whisper to her. "Sirius got bitten on his first attempt as well."
"You didn't know how to degnome a garden either?"
"Nope, I was horrified to see James grab one, swinging it around by its leg before throwing it as far as he could over the fence. But they are nasty little buggers and deserve the treatment and anyway, it's kinder than releasing a Jarvey on them."
"Jarvey?"
"Think of an overgrown ferret and Muggle rabbit hunting," Remus advised her.
"That's barbaric!"
"Exactly, so we try to do it by hand whenever we get the chance," running a hand through his hair, James grabbed the map to put it into his jacket. "We could make it a competition again."
"We might. Send a message to Mum that we'll pick up enough food for all of us and are on our way home," Sirius instructed as he parked and Remus was surprised to see they were in front of the Chinese restaurant, having driven there without a single direction.
"Actually, we've got to go to the cinema after dinner," Peter grinned. "It's the twenty-seventh today."
"Okay….what is on the twenty-seventh?"
Gaping at their confusion, Peter's face fell. "You don't remember what film starts playing today?"
"Film?" While none of the other three seemed to know what he was talking about, Remus' mind was abruptly jogged.
"Erm...I don't think they know. You called me after your cousin managed to get you the reservations, but I'm not sure you actually ever mentioned it to them," the look of horror crossing over Peter's face would've been hilarious, if Remus didn't feel so acutely guilty for having completely forgotten.
"Mentioned what?" James asked.
"My cousin managed to get me reservations for this upcoming film that's been a huge hype in America already. It's got space ships, laser swords and it was really, really hard to get tickets for us all," as his wild gestures, both James and Remus stepped back to avoid being hit.
"I don't know Pete…."
"Please James? We've done a lot of work today so deserve a bit of relaxation."
"It's not my call, Pete," hesitating, James turned to Lily.
"What time does it play?"
"At eight," he patted his eyes at her and sighing, she gave in.
"Oh, why not. It sounds like it could be fun and it would be a waste if it's truly that difficult to get tickets," she pierced Peter with a sharp look. "But you are paying for your own snacks and we are degnoming that garden first thing tomorrow morning, mister."
"Yes!" Even as Peter cheered, they left the car and while James used his mirror to inform his parents of their plans, Lily and Remus provided a look out to ensure it was safe for Sirius to shrink the van back into the toy it had been.
Unanimously it was decided James and Sirius were on order duty, Peter scurrying after them while Lily and Remus took a seat in the waiting area to be out of the cold.
"Thank you for your help today and I'm sorry you had to hear that conversation with my sister," Lily softly said as she watched their friends look over the menu with Peter hovering besides James.
"We were happy to help," smiling faintly, Remus shuffled uncomfortably. "Is your sister always like that?"
"She was actually quite calm today, normally she bristles much more," sighing, she pushed her hair back. "I'm sorry she treated you so terribly."
"It's not your fault that you have a lousy sister," huffing out a laugh, they watched Sirius speak to an employer before handing over a bag of krupuk to Peter, who happily tore into it while making his way to them again. "You know we are going to eat in a little bit, right?"
Peter's response was incomprehensible as he had his mouth stuffed full and both of them grimaced.
"Pete," sighing deeply, Remus tried to take the bag from him, but Peter quickly danced out of reach. "Leave something for us, will you?"
"Nuh, Sirius said this one's for me and if you keep being so mean, I won't share," sticking out his tongue, Peter turned away from him as Sirius and James approached. "Do you want some?"
"Sure," picking out two pieces; Sirius passed one to James before eating the other one himself as they took seats and Remus rolled his eyes as Peter stuck out his tongue at him.
Humming in approval at the taste; James stretched out in his chair. "What's this film we're going to see called?"
"Star Wars, it begins playing today!"
"After Christmas? Don't big films usually start playing before the holidays to ensure more people will go see it?" Remus asked.
"Well, technically it came out in May already in America and it won't come out everywhere here until January, but it's already playing in two theatres in London now!"
Immediately Remus' stomach dropped as Sirius and James both tensed; though it was James who turned to Peter incredulous.
"London? You want us to travel to London for a film?"
"Yes? It's not like we can't Apparate the distance."
"What theatre?"
"Leicester Square Theatre."
"Merlin, Pete, it's like you've specifically chosen the worst location possible," James ran a hand through his hair.
"What's wrong with Leicester Square Theatre?" Confused, Lily looked at her boyfriend, who shot her a confused look in return.
"You don't…."
"It'll be fine, James," Sirius' soft voice made his brother shake his head.
"It's not fine, you really got to stop being so self-sacrificing."
"I'm not," reaching out to rest a hand on James' arm, Sirius squeezed lightly. "It will be fine. How much are the tickets?"
"I...I didn't think about that when my cousin told me he could reserve tickets for us. I can cancel if you want me to?" Peter bit his lip, looking guilty.
"No, ticket prices?"
"2,20 pounds," immediately Peter held his hands up defensively as both Lily and Remus' heads snapped to him at that price. "I know it's not the cheapest, but it'll be well worth it."
Sighing, Sirius nodded. "I'll pay for the tickets for us all, but as Lily said; you're responsible for your own snacks."
"I...are you sure?"
"We're going straight home after the film is over, no lingering," James clenched his teeth, looking up when their number was called out and he and Sirius made their way to the counter to pick up their order.
"Okay, what's wrong with Leicester?" Keeping her voice down, Lily looked between the two of them.
"The Black's ancestral home is located close by and several of Sirius' closest blood relatives live nearby there as well. It's testing fate to go anywhere near there if we don't absolutely have to."
"Because they might cause trouble should they recognise him," nodding in understanding, Lily glanced at the re-approaching dark-haired boys. "Will it truly be all right to go there?"
"It's unlikely any of those lunatics will go anywhere near a Muggle location like that and even so, there are five of us," James still didn't look happy, but had obviously spoken about it more with Sirius while collecting their bags and Remus and Lily hurriedly took a few of them as they were absolutely laden. "But you're not leaving my side while we're out."
Accepting the answer, they made their way outside so they could find a deserted alley to Apparate home from, so they could have dinner at the Potter household before making their way to the cinema.
It was more crowded than Remus had suspected it might be, Peter's insistence of the hype around the film clearly was not exaggerated and it was lucky he was so tall or he'd have lost sight of his friends multiple times in the crowd.
Lily, James and Sirius were checking out the film posters on display and Remus wasn't entirely sure if the three of them holding hands was a compromise to James' need to keep both of them in sight or because it prevented them from being separated while they waited for Peter to return with the pre-ordered tickets his cousin had apparently with him already so they'd not have to get into any line.
His ears picked up Peter's voice moments before his friends did, his mousy-haired friend saying goodbye to his cousin.
"I got them! Did you know the reserved section is booked out until March already?!" His mouth ran a mile a minute as he hurried back to them, handing over the tickets to James.
"How can something new be that popular already?" Lily asked as she accepted the tickets to safely tuck them into her shoulder bag.
"It made one and a half million pounds on it's opening weekend in America," Peter was almost bursting with excitement.
"Mum told me there's been a lot of promotion material spread; magazines dedicating pages to the film," the bounciness of his friend was somewhat contagious and Remus smiled. "Shall we go order something to eat before we go in?"
His suggestion was met with affirmative nods and they made their way through the crowd so pick up snacks and drinks so that they would be ready to enjoy the film Peter was so excited about and who knew, maybe it really was as good as Peter proclaimed it would be.