Lily was just about at her wit's end.

She was tired of this goddamn war. She was tired of the funerals. She was tired of being in hiding. She was tired of worrying about which of her friends would be the next to go out on a mission and never return. She was tired of mourning her parents and missing her sister and trying to figure out motherhood on her own. She was tired of Order meetings shadowed in suspicion and accusations.

She was tired of James quite literally tearing his hair out (though it always grew right back, magically, overnight) trying to keep his Marauders together and his family safe. She was tired of Peter coming over for tea and worrying over which of his friends he thought was the spy (if anything, that Dedalus Diggle bloke was on the wrong side of bizarre, even for Dumbledore's standards, but no one bothered to ask Lily, of course).

She was tired of Remus and Sirius casting aspersions at each other and allowing them to be cast by others and, worst of all, maybe starting to believe them. She had spent way too many long nights listening to Remus moon over Sirius in the library and too many eye-itching mornings listening to James comforting a lovelorn and hungover Sirius in their living room. She had invested too much time and energy and advice into the two of them to just stand by and watch the distrust rend their relationship apart.

And alright, fine, she was living a little too vicariously through others these days, thriving a little too much on drama, cooped up as she was with an infant to take care of and a genocidal maniac breathing down her neck, but she had to draw the line somewhere. It was only a matter of time before she and James would have to go really seriously underground, possibly for the duration of the war (which could be years), and she very well wasn't going to leave those two dysfunctional idiots to work their problems out for themselves for the foreseeable future.

So Lily did what Lily did best: she brainstormed possible solutions, acknowledged her personal strengths, and got to work. The Order had very quickly run through their entire supply of Veritaserum, especially with the Death Eaters intercepting shipments to bolster their own supplies. There was no way she would be able to track down some of the rare ingredients needed to brew it herself, either. But Lily hadn't beat out even Severus to be top of their class in Potions sixth year for nothing. She was clever, she was resourceful, she was naturally gifted, and, yes, she had too much time on her hands. And damn did it feel good to finally be doing something useful, to be working towards a goal that would help the people she cared about.

It took her three months of research, two incognito trips to Knockturn apothecaries, several continued reports of distrust between Sirius and Remus, a steady drip of unhelpful Potions advice from James, minimal cauldron explosions, and what must have been a thousand dirty diapers, but she finally did it.

It was a clear but blustery morning in early September when Lily marched out of the small potions lab in the cellar with a small vial of light purple liquid in one hand and a bezoar in the other. She confirmed Harry was down for his nap, shoved the bezoar at James, and downed the potion in one. "Right then," she announced, "ask me anything."

"What's this, then?" asked James, ever the creative.

"Poison. Goodbye, cruel world," Lily smirked, then immediately doubled over in pain, clutching her stomach. James rushed forward with the bezoar and Lily had to bodily swat his hands away from her face in order to gasp out, "I lied! It's my alternative to Veritaserum."

James froze but didn't move away nor lower his hands.

"What the hell! You can't thrust a bezoar at a bloke and then just lie about taking poison!"

"Sorry, sorry, should have thought that one through," panted Lily, still hunched over. "The bezoar was just in case of emergencies. It worked, though!"

James' eyebrows shot up so high they were completely covered by his fringe for a moment, but let it never be said that James Potter was easily taken by surprise, nor that he was prone to underestimating his wife. "That's what it's supposed to do then? Hurt if you try to lie?"

"Yep." Lily clutched onto his arm for support and slowly stood back upright. "Wow. That's powerful," she remarked.

"Bloody hell, Lily! You could have warned me this is some kind of masochistic torture interrogation device!"

"Yes, well, when you can't afford Veritaserum, sometimes you have to settle for some questionable side effects."

"But you could have warned me before you went about with a personal demonstration!"

"Fine, fine, consider yourself warned. Ask me something else; I want to test whether it will do anything if I refuse to answer a question."

"Like hell I'll ask you something else! Absolutely not!"

"James Fleamont Potter, I haven't spent the last three months developing what is quite frankly a groundbreaking and possibly war-winning truth serum just to not test it because you're queasy about a little pain!"

"That's not gonna work on me. If you really need to know, I'll test it. Is there- NO! I didn't ask anything! I'll just look for myself." He stormed past her into the lab, returning a minute later with an empty vial in his hand and triumphant expression on his face. "Right. This is better anyway because now you'll have tested it on two people. Greater sample size for results and all that. Ask me something and I'll try not to answer."

Lily sighed, but he had a point. "What is your full name?"

James opened his mouth with an expression that Lily knew only too well meant he wanted to argue about something stupid, but he caught himself just in time. Instead, he grinned and gave her a thumbs up.

They waited in expectant silence, staring at each other, until suddenly James placed his hand on his stomach. A couple beats later, he was grimacing, and then he was doubling over and moaning quietly before Lily finally yelled, somewhat frantically, "Okay, we know it works, James! Just answer the damn question!"

"James Fleamont Potter!" he gasped. Some of the tension immediately left the hunch of his shoulders, and then he was heaving in great gulps of air and pulling himself back upright using the back of a nearby chair. "Galloping gorgons, Lily, that stuff is potent. Remind me never to get on your bad side." Lily snorted. "And by the way, what kind of boring-arse question is 'What is your full name?' You know this isn't some stuffy Ministry inquiry?"

Lily rolled her eyes but found she couldn't reply with her usual snark until she gave some semblance of a truthful answer. "A standard question, James, that's what it is! Simple question, straightforward answer. Honestly, are you twelve?"

"Maybe I am," James retorted, in a tone quite resembling a twelve-year-old, before he clutched his stomach and let loose a string of expletives that would put even the most rebellious twelve-year-old to shame. "No! Fine, no, I am not twelve. Merlin, this potion of yours really doesn't hold back either, does it?"

Lily's laughter faltered when James asked, 'does it?'

"No, it seems like it doesn't."

James and Lily met each other's eyes for a moment before James asked the dreaded question. "How long d'you reckon this lasts for?"

"I have no idea," whispered Lily.

They stared at each other for a heavy minute more before James shrugged. "Well, only one way to find out, I guess. We keep lying until we can manage it without pain again."

The next two hours found the Potters playing a modified but exuberant Exploding Snap drinking game in which whoever got exploded on would have to come up with a lie instead of taking a shot.

Somewhere in the melee of explosions, questions, answers, and shouts of pain, James seemed to get over his aversion to letting Lily lie rather quickly. They both took turns testing the limits of the new potion: half-truths, truths that were technically true but not the real answer to a question, attempted lies outside the question-and-answer format. It took them less than an hour to determine that Lily's potion was foolproof and rock-solid at detecting deception of all kinds.

By the end of the second hour, when the potion still had not worn off, even James had grown tired of thinking up creative questions to ask his wife and they decided it was easier to make up absurdly fake names in answer to the same old question.

"What is your full name?"

"Wumdingle Pantsfried Schmoozy McDuckface the third. Ah! James Fleamont Potter."

"Good one."

Silence as they played a few more rounds of Snap, and then the cards blew up in Lily's face, which meant James got to ask her next.

"What is your full name?"

"Nickleberry Artemius Hopscotch Rothhausen. Argh! Lily Jane Evans Potter."

"Eh. You've done better."

"You can't goad me that easily."

"Can too."

"I think we've already established that you'd know if I was bluffing."

"Damn, you're right- argh!" James sprung backwards as a particularly flamboyant explosion reached for his face.

"AHA! Watch your eyebrows, Jamie; I swear I won't even look at you for a full week if you get them blown off again. Okay, time to put your money where your mouth is, Potter. What is your full name?"

James smirked. "Minerva 'Minnie' Winifred McGonagall-Black. Ohohokay- James Fleamont Potter!"

"McGonagall-Black?"

"You know Padfoot's always had a thing for her. It's inevitable. Better get used to it now! Ah, okay, it's not inevitable! Merlin, this potion of yours really can't take a joke."

"But Padfoot has always had a thing for her?"

"Honestly, yes. Not sure what kind of thing, exactly, and I've always been too afraid to ask."

Lily snorted. A few minutes later, the snap deck sparked beneath her fingers and she sucked on a scorched knuckle as James smirked.

"What is your full name?"

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Don't even need to modify it; his name's weird enough already. Who needs that many names?!" Lily was already re-shuffling the deck when James leapt out of his seat.

"You did it! It didn't hurt?"

Lily gasped. "It didn't! It's finally worn off!"

"Thank Merlin. Go on then, test me."

"What is your full name?"

"Jimminy Sancritter Wobblestone Junior. . . WOOHOO! We did it! Only took- what, three hours? Merlin, Lily, this stuff is potent."

"Yes, well, once it's served its purpose here I'm sure it'll be no end of help to the Order."

"Speaking of its purpose, we'll have to bring Moony and Pads around sharpish. Food should probably be temptation enough, don't you think?"

"Remus actually told me he's back this weekend!"

"Dinner party tomorrow night then?"

"Perfect."

James took an exaggerated bow. "I'll send out the invitations, my lady. Just Moony and Padfoot?"

"Might as well invite Petey, too; he's about to have a nervous breakdown over the spy rumor mill. Might help him to see our little clearing of the air in person."

"It shall be done," Said James with another sweeping bow.

"Oh, stop talking like a ponce and go check on Harry. I'll put together a grocery list for dinner."

...

Lily was checking on the vegetables when James swooped into the kitchen, bouncing a freshly-bathed but already-spittle-crusted Harry in his arms. Lily batted his hand away from the stovetop and turned to give him a once-over.

"You're not wearing that for dinner, are you?" Lily asked, casting a stasis spell over the stove to cross her arms and glare at her husband.

"Er, I was going to? It's just the boys; it's not like Dumbledore's coming, too."

"If we're going to drug and interrogate your friends and single-handedly save their relationship, you're not going to do it in a concert t-shirt covered in baby food and bubble bath soap stains."

James snorted. "That's a rather dramatic way of putting it, no?"

"Jaaames, we've been cooped up here for ages and I'm so bored. Of course I am going to make tonight dramatic. Also, the only person I've ever met who is more dramatic than you is Sirius Black, who, in case you've forgotten, is also coming tonight." Lily gesticulated with her sauce-covered spoon to emphasize her point, and James dodged a flying glob of tomato with the agility of an only-recently-retired chaser.

"Well, I guess I can't argue with you there…"

"That's what I thought. Go get changed. And alert our guests!"

Fifteen minutes later James re-emerged in soft crimson robes, toting a baby Harry looking smashing yet somehow still crusty in grey baby robes. Both of them rosy-cheeked from the exertion of wrestling an infant into formalwear; both of their hair messy in the same places and sticking up at the same angles. Lily gave them both exaggerated kisses on their cheeks before retreating upstairs and returned twenty minutes later in striking purple robes that clashed delightfully with her hair.

Lily was charming Harry's stuffed animals to dance- tap, can-can, disco- while James set the table when they heard the first knock at the door. Lily hoisted her wriggly son onto her hip to greet Remus, presentable enough in handsome if somewhat shabby robes of evergreen that brought out the bronze in his hair, and Sirius, done up proudly in a full tuxedo.

Lily burst into guffaws so loud that James abandoned the wineglasses he was setting out to take Harry from her before she shook so hard she dropped him.

"Moony! Padfoot!" He greeted, pulling each into a hug and waving them inside, where they stalled in the entryway to stare bemusedly at Lily. "What did you say to her?"

"Neither of us said anything!" Sirius insisted, indignant; Remus smirked a knowing half-smile but said nothing as they waited for Lily to catch her breath.

Finally, she got ahold of herself enough to blurt out, "A tux!" before she descended once more into bouts of laughter so hard she had to brace her hands on her knees.

Sirius looked affronted at her reaction. "I think I look quite dashing, thank you very much. We were supposed to dress up, yes? James called an hour ago… Prongs! You set us up!"

"No, no," Lily gasped. "I did insist on formalwear… although I definitely didn't say black tie optional."

At this, Remus let out a chortle, then a snigger, all the while astutely avoiding eye contact with Lily, who was now hiccuping in between giggles and exclamations of "a tux!"

Sirius glared at both of them. "I'll have you know it took me a whole week to find this tudexo-"

"Tuxedo," corrected Remus. Sirius ignored him.

"-for your wedding, and I'll be damned if I pass up the opportunity to wear it again. I know I look good!"

"You do, you do," said Lily, as Remus looked him up and down with heated eyes, "It's obviously working on Remus, so, congrats. It's very formal, is all I'm saying, and I was surprised." Lily found herself sobering somewhat with relief that they seemed to show up together, rocky though their relationship had been; it was always possible they just apparated over at the exact same time, of course, but Lily took note of the desire on both their faces and let it reassure her.

"Damn right it's working on Remus," murmured Sirius, staring back at his boyfriend and licking his lips. James slapped the side of his head.

"Honestly, it's perfect," Lily continued, before the boys could descend into a fistfight. "I was hoping for maximum drama this evening and you sure brought it, so, thank you."

"Maximum drama?" asked Sirius, finally tearing his eyes away from Remus'. "That's my middle name."

"And much more fitting than Orion, anyway," commented James.

Just then, a crack echoed from the open doorway and four heads swiveled around to see Peter walking up the path.

"Wormy!" yelled three men simultaneously.

Peter cracked a grin and waved the hand holding a bottle of white elf-made wine. "Hullo! I brought- oh, hell, don't tell me Prongs was actually serious about formalwear tonight?" He halted his steps close enough to the door to take in everyone else's appearances, then looked guiltily down at his own Ministry robes and- were those dragonhide boots? How on earth he could afford those with his meager Department of Magical Transportation salary and medical expenses for his mum, Lily would love to know. "I'm sorry, Lily, I thought it was a joke," Peter said. "I just got off of work, and I didn't think-"

"Don't worry about it, Petey," Lily interrupted. "I'm just bored and wanted an excuse to play dress-up. You're fine. In fact, you balance Sirius out quite nicely." She cast a sideways glance at Sirius, who sniffed disdainfully.

"Er, are we doing security questions?" Peter asked. "Only, we've all been standing around long enough that if any of us were a Death Eater we all could have been killed by now, but if Moody hears we're getting lax…"

"Yeah, yeah, you're not wrong, Wormy," said James. "Okay, one question each, marauder to marauder. Padfoot, when was the first time I declared my undying love for Lily Evans?"

Everyone in the vicinity groaned, including Lily herself. James grinned widely.

"You mean the moment she left our compartment on the train first year and you said, 'Her hair looks so soft… I'm gonna marry her someday?'" Sirius answered.

"And then you said, 'She could stand to teach that greasy friend of hers a thing or two,'" muttered Remus. Sirius grinned back at him just as widely as James. Lily glowered at all of them but said nothing.

"Wormy!" Sirius called. "What was the first prank we got detention for in fourth year?"

James and Remus chortled at the memory, and Peter, too, smiled as he answered. "Bewitching all the chairs in Minnie's classroom to turn into giant pineapples, but only when someone tried to sit down on them." Peter turned to Remus. "Moony, what did Minnie say when she gave us all detention for turning said chairs into pineapples?"

Remus beamed. "That it was some of the most impressive transfiguration work she'd seen in decades but that was by no means going to get us out of punishment. Then she said she'd see what she could do to schedule our detentions with Hagrid and he had us chasing around Blast-Ended Skrewts for three nights straight."

Sirius mimed wiping a tear out of his eyes fondly. "D'you remember how that one skrewt blasted Prongs in the-"

"Okay!" yelled James. "If we're all done reminiscing under the guise of security questions, my lovely wife has spent all evening filling our house with the smell of her delightful cooking and if I don't get to taste some of that real soon you are all going to be sorry." He started grabbing shoulders with his one free hand and shuffling everybody inside the cottage.

In the kitchen-slash-dining-room, Lily brought the roast, potatoes, and vegetables out to the table; Sirius threw himself into a chair next to Remus, trying to finish telling the Blast-Ended Skrewt story; and James deposited Harry in his highchair at the head of the table, opposite Peter, and tried to drown out Sirius with his own yells. Lily retrieved the bottle of white wine from Peter, saying it would pair well with dessert, and fetched an already-opened bottle of red from the counter.

James snagged the bottle from Lily and filled up everyone's glasses. "Drink up, lads!" he crooned. "Tonight is a big night!"

"Yes, are you finally going to tell us what all of the fuss is about?" Remus inquired mildly, serving himself some fragrant potatoes.

"Not quite yet," James whispered.

"Yeah, if you didn't look so happy about it I would have assumed this was your last hurrah before you went into hiding in earnest," commented Peter.

"In earnest!" echoed Lily. "I've barely left the house in six months! And you're saying we're not already in hiding?"

"I just meant some level of hiding in which you're not hosting dinner parties with all your friends!" Peter squeaked.

Lily hmmphed but said no more of it. James begged his guests for news and gossip of the outside world, which was a distraction made all the more delightful by the scandalous stories that Peter relayed, complete with the occasional eager-to-please stutter and dramatic grimace, from his new co-worker, Bertha. The third time Peter twitched uncharacteristically in the middle of a story, Lily realized it must be the work of her potion; she stole a look at James, who grinned at her in confirmation. But Peter's stories were quite entertaining, exaggerated to the point of white lies though they may have been, so Lily listened quietly and allowed herself to be amused.

Half an hour later, as the last morsels of dinner were being lazily scooped into sated bellies and Harry began to cry for bed, Remus found his way back to his original question. "Wait, so what is the big occasion tonight?"

"You can't ask that right at Harry's bedtime!" groaned Lily. Then the stomach pains started. She turned her back to the others in the act of removing Harry from his high chair in order to hide a grimace. "Take it back!" She admonished lightly.

"Okay, okay, I don't want to know yet," Remus allowed.

Lily, Harry cradled in her arms, turned back to her husband. "James Fleamont Potter, if you do this without me while I'm putting Harry to bed, so help me god-"

"I won't, I won't!" protested James, as Remus apologized for the fuss. "Go on then, I'll clear up the dishes and we won't start on the pudding until you get back."

Lily gave him one last glare for good measure, but couldn't ignore the grumpy wails of the infant in her arms. She swooped out of the kitchen and returned a frazzled half-hour later to find the kitchen spotless, the pudding tantalizingly presented but as-yet untouched in the middle of the table, and the Marauders engaged in a raucous game of Guess Tonight's Big News.

"No, no, Lily's obviously pregnant," Remus was arguing, "bagsy godfather this time, by the way- she's practically glowing and she and James have been shooting each other these sneaky smiles all night, don't think I haven't noticed, Prongs-"

"Right then," Lily interrupted before anyone could make comments about her weight that they'd come to regret, "I'm back. And I'm not pregnant," she said petulantly, glaring half-heartedly at Remus. "Serve yourselves," she waved at the pudding; "I'll just grab Peter's wine from the fridge- did we finish the red?" she called over her shoulder.

"Yep!" called James. "Wanna tell them what was in it?"

"If you insist," Lily said, cracking a mischievous grin.

"Oi!" heckled Sirius. "If you called us all over here to poison us, you know that means we can't keep you company while you're in hiding?"

"Yes," Lily whispered, out of a compulsion to answer, though nobody seemed to notice.

"Although," Sirius continued, "if you did call us all here to poison us, I do appreciate the warning to dress up, because I have always pictured myself dying dressed in the height of fashion. Honestly, bury me just like this; it'll annoy my mother to no end if I wear a muggle tudexo to the grave."

"Tuxedo," murmured Remus.

"Even better!" Lily declared. "I have spent the last three months developing a semi-safe alternative to Veritaserum and you, my friends, are about to witness a live demonstration."

"Semi-safe?" echoed Remus.

"Veritaserum?" squeaked Peter.

"Wicked," breathed Sirius. "Although, as the only active Auror at this table, I feel like I should just put it out there that you've committed at least three felonies and a couple of misdemeanors."

Lily glared at Sirius. "Rich coming from you, Padfoot," she sniffed, sending James chortling at her side.

"Well I have to say, that's truly impressive, Lily," said Peter, standing up from his chair, "But I'm afraid I have to be going; my mum is going to be needing her medicine soon- ahhh, I mean, I just have to go-"

"Oh, calm down, Wormy," said James, one hand on Peter's shoulder enough to push him back down into his chair, "You're also an illegal unregistered Animagus; you can't go getting scared off now by a little bit of unlicensed potioneering and spiking of drinks among friends!"

"That's not-" stammered Peter. "I didn't mean- I just have to go!"

"Don't worry, Peter," said Lily. "I'm not going to ask you anything embarrassing; I just want you here to see that neither Remus nor Sirius is the spy."

Peter gulped and wrung his hands, but remained seated.

Remus and Sirius had whipped their heads around in tandem to stare at each other at Lily's explanation, and after a second, they also spoke in tandem: "You're not the spy?" James snorted into his white wine, and had to bury his face in his hands when they answered in tandem too: "Of course I'm not!" and then, a beat later, still in tandem and with mirrored expressions of relief, "You're not?!"

Thus commenced a passionate and somewhat messy snog that had James howling with mirth into his palms. Lily looked over to share a grin with Peter, only to notice he had gone uncommonly pale.

"Petey, what's wrong?"

Peter startled slightly at the question. "Nothing! Nothing- argh! I mean, I think I just have a stomachache, too much delicious food, heh h-aaaaaah! I mean, I, okay, I feel bad that I ever suspected Moony or Pad- aghhhhh!" With this last exclamation, Peter writhed so forcefully that he fell out of his chair. The resulting crash finally broke Remus' and Sirius' lips apart.

"Erm, Lils," Remus started hesitantly, "is, by any chance, an unfortunate side effect of your potion random bouts of severe pain?"

"Only if you're lying," whispered Lily, eyes unmoving from Peter, who was trying to leverage himself back up to standing, still gasping in pain. Leaning heavily on one hand on the corner of the table (the other clutching his side), Peter looked up at his friends, who were staring back at him with mixed looks of concern (James), confusion (Sirius), suspicion (Remus), and horror (Lily).

Peter jerked the hand on his stomach down towards his wand, but Remus had his own wand out and Peter's wand sailing through the air towards him before Peter's fingers even brushed it.

Sirius, fresh out of Auror training, was quick to follow; he jumped up, his hand hovering shakily over the pocket where he kept his wand. "What the hell, Wormy?" he croaked.

Peter didn't even try to answer. His eyes darted between all of them one last time, lingered on James' face, which was still stubbornly stuck at confusion, and then at his wand in Remus' hand. "Fuck," he whispered, and then he transformed.

Sirius roared and pushed Harry's vacated high chair out of the way to follow the rat out of the kitchen and down the hallway, Remus quick on his heels. For seconds that felt like ages, Lily heard nothing but the quick stomp of feet and Sirius' furious cries of 'stupefy!' before Remus' voice rang out, "Immobulus!" and the sounds of pursuit died out, replaced by intermingled swearing, pants, and, oh, lovely, the sound of a fist punching through drywall.

"Damn," Sirius muttered. "Quick thinking there, Moony."

"Immobulus has a much larger object radius than stupefy," Remus murmured. "Much better for small and moving targets, though I've only ever used it on cornish pixies and doxies before." His voice was getting louder and Lily turned her concerned gaze from James, still staring down at the tabletop in shock, to the hallway, where Remus was walking back to the kitchen with a frozen rat levitated before him and Sirius right behind him.

Remus lowered Wormtail onto a chair and muttered the spell to transform him back, but didn't remove the immobulus. The four of them stared at the eerily still form of Peter and let the events of the last minute sink in. Surprisingly, it was James who finally broke the heavy silence.

"What the hell?"

"Right," said Remus, ever the pragmatist. "Lils, all I really saw was Peter in a lot of pain and then reaching for his wand, and then, well, running away. Care to fill us in on what I missed while I was, erm," he flushed and looked guiltily at Sirius, "making amends?"

Lily tried to muster up a snort but her heart wasn't in it. "Well, the potion causes acute stomach pains when you try to lie or evade answering a question. It doesn't actually force you to tell the truth, like Veritaserum, but I knew you both weren't lying earlier because you could say you weren't the spy with no side effects. And then I looked over at Petey and… I just noticed he looked unwell, like he'd gone really pale. So I asked what's wrong, and, I mean, I could have guessed they were excuses anyway but every answer he tried to give just caused him more pain, and he shouldn't have been so ashamed of his answer as to keep lying after the first couple attempts unless-" She couldn't bring herself to finish the thought aloud.

"Unless he had something big to hide." Sirius grimaced as he said it, but didn't flinch as he conjured ropes to bind Peter to the chair. "How long will the effects of the potion last?" He asked.

"Hours," murmured James, horror finally seeping into his features.

"Right then," said Sirius. "Moony, I reckon the immobulus is unnecessary now?"

"Just… Just give me a second, Pads." Remus sunk wearily into a chair. Lily pretended not to notice his hands were trembling. Beside her, James sniffed, and his friends pretended not to notice that either. Lily gripped his arm as much for her own support as his. Sirius remained standing, wand pointed at Peter. "Okay," said Remus. "Finite."

To his credit, Peter didn't even try to wriggle out of his confines, though tears immediately cut trails down both cheeks.

"So." Sirius' tone was cold but his eyes burned. "What the hell was that, Wormtail?"

Before Peter could begin to answer, Remus sighed. "Pads, it would probably help to ask more specific questions than that. Are you an Auror or not?"

"Right. Okay. Why did you try to pull your wand on us and then run away?"

"I wasn't going to attack you!" Peter moaned- and then kept moaning. Sirius exchanged a dark look with Remus and then turned back to Peter and asked the question creeping its way into Lily's mind.

"Are you spying on the Order for You-Know-Who?"

"No-oooo!" Peter's answer transitioned smoothly into a wail of pain.

Remus started muttering to himself. "I am a werewolf. My name is Sirius Black. Ah! My name is Remus Lupin. I only have seven toes. Argh! I am the spy in the Order. Auuuuughh! I have ten toes and I'm not the spy!" His last correction came out gasping and from the corner of her eye, Lily saw him surreptitiously wiping his cheeks.

"Checks out then?" Sirius asked, eyes still fixed on Peter.

"Yeah," muttered Remus. "Lying hurts like a bitch. Want to try for yourself?"

"Not while I'm the one holding a wand on him. I'll take your word for it." Sirius faltered and finally turned to look at Remus. "I'll never doubt you again, Moony, I swear." Remus smiled wetly back at him.

Lily could hear James at her side drawing quick raspy breaths and recognized that he was about to sob.

"Jamie, honey, why don't you go check on Harry?" Lily murmured, eyes still fixed on the writhing traitor to her right. "He'll probably need some stronger silencing wards on the nursery if... things get loud down here." James' response came out as an unintelligible choked gargle, but she heard his chair scrape and his steps receding from her, shortly followed by his familiar tread walking up the stairs.

Sirius turned back to look at Peter. Lily and Remus set their faces into matching moues of determination, but let Sirius take the lead.

"How long have you been spying on the Order?"

The kitchen was silent for what felt like an eternity before Peter started moaning in pain. Sirius shot a confused look at Lily.

"It also hurts if you refuse to answer," she said.

Sirius nodded his thanks and flicked his eyes back to Peter. "Wormy, mate, I'm not sure it's possible for me to hate you more than I already do, so maybe you should just save yourself the pain and answer me, yeah?"

"I can't, I can't," Peter wailed. "The Dark Lord will kill me, he'll kill me, I can't!" His howls of pain disintegrated into fearful sobs, and Remus put a hand on Sirius' forearm.

"Maybe we should bring Dumbledore in," he murmured.

"Maybe we should just kill him ourselves," Sirius spat back.

Lily finally jumped in. "Peter, were you forced to spy? Did You-Know-Who threaten you or your family? Are you being blackmailed?"

"Yes, yes!" Peter bleated, finally drawing breaths.

"That means nothing," sneered Sirius. "Of course You-Know-Who threatened him, he threatens fucking everyone, including his own Death Eaters. Why did you become a spy, Peter?"

Lily's eyes flicked nervously between Sirius and Peter in the following silence.

"WHY?!" Sirius roared. Peter screwed his eyes up in pain but didn't answer. "IF HE WERE FORCED INTO IT HE WOULD TELL US, WOULDN'T HE?" Sirius was gesticulating wildly with one arm, but his wand hand never wavered. "HOW COULD YOU, PETER!"

By now, Peter had avoided Sirius' questions for too long to contain the pain, and his wail fought to drown out Sirius' curses.

"I'll send for Dumbledore," Remus sighed wearily, pushing off the table top with both hands to lift himself up.

"Mad-Eye too," Sirius bit out, snarl directed at Peter. Remus nodded and walked towards the fireplace.

"Oh, do let's stop calling him that," Lily moaned. "He's already grumpy enough as it is without having to answer to Mad-Eye. Especially for an injury that fresh."

"He likes it," Sirius retorted. "Thinks it makes him more intimidating."

Lily huffed, but couldn't exactly argue with that logic.

A minute later Remus re-appeared, rubbing at his eyes and sinking back into his seat. "Couldn't find either of them by floo but I sent them patronuses. I imagine they'll be here soon."

For several tense moments, the four of them looked at each other uncertainly. Finally, Lily gave voice to a niggling thought. "Do you know what happened to Caradoc?"

Remus inhaled sharply; out of all the Marauders, he had been closest with Caradoc, and his disappearance four months ago had weighed most heavily on him. All eyes swiveled to Peter.

"No," he answered her, not daring to look at Remus; but at least he did look genuinely sorry. Lily nodded.

"Do you know what happened to Regulus?" Sirius rasped.

Lily sucked in a tense breath as all eyes again turned to Peter. He pursed his lips and studiously avoided Sirius' gaze. After a minute he began to moan, but still said nothing.

Sirius lunged towards him, wand still outstretched. "WHAT HAPPENED TO REGULUS?" He roared. "Tell me, just tell me! What-" Remus rose to place a restraining arm on Sirius' shoulder, which he tried to shrug off. "Regulus, just tell me, tell me, where is he?"

Peter remained silent but for choked sobs of pain, not quite loud enough to cover the unsteady gasps coming from Sirius.

Remus started rubbing soothing circles on Sirius' back and murmuring empty reassurances.

"He knows," Sirius lamented, "He knows and he won't tell me."

"Let's wait and see what Dumbledore can do, okay?" Remus said, just as a crack sounded from outside.

"I'll go," Lily said, shrugging back on her imaginary hostess mantle. She stood up and walked towards the front door, wishing suddenly for the comforting weight of Harry in her arms. She muttered the spell to conjure her half of their magical baby monitor. "Jamie?" She called softly into it. "Moody and Dumbledore are coming, just so you know." James didn't respond, but she didn't need him to. Lily opened the door to the gleaming silver beard and lush green robes of Albus Dumbledore, just as another crack heralded Moody's appearance.

She was grateful for Moody's presence, the mere sight of which screamed CONSTANT VIGILANCE inside her head; she racked her brains for a security question befitting the headmaster.

"What did I ask you to do on the first day of my seventh year?" Lily heard James descending the stairs and hoped Dumbledore's answer would lighten his mood somewhat.

"You insisted I rescind Mr. Potter's Head Boyship at once and appoint anyone else in his stead."

Lily nodded Dumbledore through the doorway, where she heard him greet 'Messers Potter.' She itched to reach for Harry but stood her ground and pointed her wand at Moody. They stood staring at each other for a moment as Lily fished around again for any security question at all; she hadn't had as much interaction with the Auror as James and Sirius had.

"Erm, which food item did you complain about at the last Order meeting?"

Moody's magical electric blue eye rolled snarkily but thankfully he kept his normal one fixed straight ahead. "Hagrid's rock cakes," he muttered. "I can't afford to be losing any more bloody body parts, even teeth!"

Lily stepped aside and waved Moody into her house, wincing as her eyes passed the new fist-shaped hole in the wall halfway down the hallway. "Remus and Sirius are holding Peter in the kitchen, just down the hall," she informed her new guests. They nodded- Dumbledore with markedly more grace than Moody- and followed her directions. Lily hung back with James and enveloped him in a hug, sandwiching a slumbering Harry between their chests. "It's going to be okay," she whispered to her husband.

"I just- he's my friend. Was my friend." James' voice caught and Lily just hugged him harder. "I trusted him! I- what if he had hurt Harry, Lils?" He moaned. "It's my job to care for him, to protect him- I swore when Dumbledore told us about- ohh, Lily. Oh, no. We told him about the prophecy! What if he told You-Know-Who, what if it's our own fault if he comes for him-"

"Shhh, shhhh," Lily murmured. "You are doing the best you can. Harry is still alive. He's safe, you've kept him safe. We are never going to let Peter near him again, okay? He's going to be fine." James sniffed and buried his face in her hair. "I expect Moody and Dumbledore are going to interrogate him now. Do you want to be there?" James didn't respond right away. "You don't have to be. I don't want to risk Harry waking up, so you can stay with him in the nursery if you want. Nobody will think poorly of you."

Lily felt James shaking his head. "No, I should be there. Give me a mo', I'll just take Harry back up-"

"Let me?" Lily whispered. "I just need to hold him for a second."

James pressed a long, sweet kiss to her temple and then pulled away, leaving the baby in her arms. "I love you Lils," he murmured. She kissed him chastely on the lips and then buried her nose in Harry's hair.

"I'll be down in a sec," she whispered. Lily started up the stairs and was pleased to see James still standing in the foyer, waiting for her. She gave the toddler one last gentle squeeze and placed a soft kiss on his unruly mop of hair, then laid him back in his crib. She cast a muffling charm on the door and crept back down the hall and then downstairs, twining her fingers with James' before they walked back towards the kitchen.

The scene that met them was only slightly different than the one Lily had left, but the atmosphere in the air was much more intense. Peter was crying again, Dumbledore was standing regally before him, hands on his hips, and Moody was sniffing suspiciously at the empty bottle of red wine on the counter. Moody's presence only intensified Lily's usual shock at seeing Dumbledore, the wizardest of old wizards, standing calmly in her little semi-muggle cottage kitchen (a dissonance Lily had tried to commiserate with James about, only to realize that it was either a muggleborn thing or James was just too oblivious to care). Remus seemed to have coaxed Sirius to sit down with him, or more accurately half-on-top of him, with their arms around each others' backs and both pairs of eyes conspicuously red.

Moody turned to face Lily and James, though his magical eye swiveled to keep watch on Peter. "You invented a truth serum?" he asked. Lily nodded. "With home lab-grade potions ingredients?"

Lily shot a guilty look at Dumbledore as she shrugged. "I took a few disguised trips to Knockturn, but all of the ingredients are fairly easy to acquire and decently in supply."

Dumbledore frowned slightly at the first half of her answer, but Moody looked… approving?

"That's big, lass," he muttered. "We haven't had access to Veritaserum in ages… Definitely illegal!" He barked, though it sounded almost like a laugh, "But dead useful. Right then. How does it work?"

Lily surreptitiously wiped suddenly-sweaty palms on her robes as she answered. "It won't force you to answer like Veritaserum, but if you lie or try to evade or refuse to answer a question, it causes acute stomach pain. When James and I tested it, it lasted about three hours."

"And when was this dose administered?"

"It can't have been more than half an hour ago that he last drank the wine," Lily said, looking at her husband for confirmation. James nodded.

Moody shot a glare at Sirius. "You drank the wine too?" Sirius gulped and nodded guiltily. "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody roared. Remus jumped but Sirius seemed to be expecting it. "We'll talk about safety measures and NOT GETTING POISONED back at the office on Monday. Don't think you're getting away lightly with letting yourself be potioned!"

"Sorry!" Sirius whined. "Ah! What the hell? I am sorry!" He winced again. "I swear Moody, I really am sorry for being dumb enough to drink potioned wine, I ju- aah! I just apparently don't regret it at all, actually," he said, looking at Remus, "because I found out my extremely sexy boyfriend is definitely not the spy and he found out his breathtakingly handsome boyfriend also isn't the spy and when we get home I'm gonna jump hi-"

"Right then," Moody barked, turning back toward Lily. "Since I'm not here in an official Auror capacity, I don't see the need to tell you exactly which criminal codes and potioneering regulations you've broken, so I say, let's just get cracking."

Dumbledore nodded his assent and conjured two squashy purple armchairs next to the magically elongated kitchen table. He folded himself gracefully into one of them but Moody, to nobody's surprise, remained standing.

"What is your full name?" Moody barked. Lily shot a wry glance at James, who made a face back at her.

Peter looked terrified to have Moody's full attention, not to mention his wand, trained on him, and swallowed noisily. "P-p-peter William P-pettigrew."

"Have you been turning over information about the Order of the Phoenix to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"Y-y-yes."

"For how long have you been serving as an informant?"

Peter shook his head and remained silent. Moody's magical eye swiveled to Lily, who held up a finger in a gesture of patience. Soon Peter was squirming, then gasping in pain. Still, he remained silent. Moody frowned, which pulled the scars on his face taut and gruesome.

"Why don't you want to answer my questions?" Moody asked. Sirius snorted, and Moody glared at him with one eye. Sirius looked away sullenly.

"The D-dark lord will kill me. I can't, I won't say anything!"

"I'm going to kill you anyway, boy," Moody growled.

"But you'll make it quick, won't you? You don't enjoy torture," Peter replied, almost begging.

"You sure seem to be in a lot of pain right now, laddie," Moody commented pointedly.

"Have you ever felt the Dark Lord's Cruciatus?" Peter asked. Moody didn't reply, just stared at him thoughtfully. "You have to really mean it, and nobody means it more than him."

"Right then. Here's how I see it, Pettigrew. Usually, when I find traitors in my midst, I kill them. But if you answer my questions tonight, I might be willing to cut you a deal. I'll obliviate this entire night from your memory and send you back to the Death Eaters. You live, You-Know-Who never finds out you talked. How's that sound?"

"I can't, I can't," Peter moaned. "He'll know, he is a master legilimens, he can detect obliviation and he'll torture it out of you, I've seen him do it, I can't."

"Albus?" Moody turned towards him, "What do you think? Can you cast an obliviate that even You-Know-Who can't detect?"

"I believe I can," Dumbledore concurred. "But keeping tonight's events undetected will be decidedly more difficult than that." He glanced at Peter. "I would suggest we continue this conversation in another room, but under the circumstances- yes, Alastor, there's no need to growl- under the circumstances I believe a deafening charm on Mr. Pettigrew will do. Surdus." He flicked his wand at Peter, whose hands twitched upwards as if to touch his ears before he remembered he was bound to the chair.

"We will not be overheard," Dumbledore explained. "Now, I believe we are faced with a situation which, if handled correctly, could be converted into quite an asset for the Order. On the one hand, the neatest, though concerningly cold-blooded thing to do would be to kill or irretrievably incapacitate Mr. Pettigrew, though, I assume that even severely incapacitating him would also ultimately get him killed by the Death Eaters themselves. They have not been known to accommodate weakness."

"Kill him then," Sirius snarled. Remus placed a placating hand on his arm.

"However, I believe that hasty punishments would be a missed opportunity for us. You see, if Mr. Pettigrew, and therefore He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's forces, do not know we have uncovered the identity of the spy, then we are in a position to plant false information."

James' entire body twitched. "That seems dangerous, doesn't it, Professor?"

"Oh, it will be a tremendous undertaking for us, and, yes, a great risk for Mr. Pettigrew, but, ultimately, worth the Order's efforts and Mr. Pettigrew's best chances at surviving this war."

Lily thought about the McKinnons and the Boneses and realized she frankly didn't much care about Mr. Pettigrew's chances at surviving this war. "But, professor, won't he realize that we're onto him pretty quickly? I mean, I don't think I'll ever be able to look him in the eye again."

"Yes, well," Dumbledore mused gravely, "that, I believe, will be the most difficult aspect of the mission ahead of us. Mr. Pettigrew must not know that we even suspect him of being the spy. Alastor and I can restructure Order meetings and missions, change how we disseminate information to members, and openly reinforce tighter restrictions on discussing mission details with other Order members, which should hopefully give you all cover for sharing significantly less information about your own missions with Mr. Pettigrew, while Alastor and I share carefully altered information only with him. But I cannot plausibly keep him away from his dearest friends forever. You will have to be prepared to treat him just as you always have."

Sirius and James visibly recoiled and simultaneously started shouting at Dumbledore.

"-if you think I'll ever again let that filthy traitor back into my home-"

"-be lucky if I don't fucking tear his eyeballs out with my bare hands-"

"-will do a lot of things for the Order but I can't just let him near my son-"

"-blood of half our year on his conscience and you want us to-"

"That's enough." Dumbledore didn't yell but he didn't need to. James and Sirius responded immediately to the command in his voice. "I understand that I am asking a lot of you. But this is the most important task anyone in the Order has been assigned in a very long time. The information we get tonight, and the unwitting access to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that Mr. Pettigrew provides us, is an unprecedented advantage for the Order. It is imperative that we do this correctly."

James opened his mouth again to argue, "But-"

"I understand this will be extremely difficult for you. Alas, the pain of being betrayed by a friend will stay with you for quite some time. Unfortunately, the best I can give you is a week. I will send Mr. Pettigrew off on a wild goose chase of a mission to give you all time to prepare yourselves. I believe that an intensive study of Occlumency will be helpful in compartmentalizing and disguising your emotions. There is a mind-healer I trust who can advise you all in strategies to channel your old friendship with him, temporarily, to bring happy memories to the surface and help you all weather future reunions with him. If anyone-"

"Professor," It was Remus this time who interrupted, "I'm sorry, but I'm pants at keeping secrets from my friends, you know this. Three eleven year olds had the biggest secret of my life figured out in a year and change-"

"Can confirm," said James.

Sirius nodded enthusiastically. "He gave us the most rubbish excuses, honestly."

"And of course it's worse now because we've all been friends for so long that we all know each others' tells-"

"Can confirm," said James.

"Moony scratches this scar on his jaw when he lies," said Sirius, tracing Remus' cheek with his finger.

Remus glared at Sirius, but continued. "And if I see him too close to a full moon I can't promise the wolf won't force my hand either; it's harder to keep my emotions in check-"

"Can confirm," said James.

"He gets all hot and bothered," said Sirius, now trailing his finger down Remus' neck. "Gets me all hot and bothered, too-"

Dumbledore held up a hand and silenced all three protesters, for which Remus, now blushing furiously and trying to wriggle away from Sirius, looked grateful.

"You are no longer an eleven year old trying to keep a secret all by himself, Remus," he said. "And I daresay that if Mr. Pettigrew has managed to lie to you all undetected, then you all can work with each other to accomplish the same."

The marauders, looking properly chastised for being fooled by one of their own, hung their heads and said nothing.

"I highly doubt this to be an impossible task; I believe knowing one's own 'tells,' as you say, is half the battle. Of course, I cannot force you to spend time with him, but I implore you all to think seriously on the opportunity here and your commitment to the Order and to winning this war. And, of course, if anyone slips up, you can always call on me immediately for damage control. Now, I believe we have a traitor to interrogate."

Without further ado, Dumbledore turned back to Peter and waved away the silencing spell. "Mr. Pettigrew," he said, and Peter snapped his eyes to the headmaster. "If you cooperate with our questions tonight, I will not only spare your life but ensure that the Dark Lord will never find out that any secrets at all were revealed tonight. Keep in mind that you are no use to me dead; I will not send you recklessly into danger for the sake of passing on false information. I do suggest that you agree."

He leaned calmly but somehow also aggressively on a staff, which Lily could have sworn he didn't have a minute ago, and stared unflinchingly at Peter, who eventually nodded.

"Okay."

"For how long have you been giving He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named information about the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Two years."

"Two years!" James jumped up in a rage. "Two years! You were- you stood up at our wedding- and even then you were-"

"Mr. Potter, please, I know this is difficult for you but I have a lot of questions to go through. I assure you there will be time to berate him afterwards if you so wish."

What followed was an hour and a half of merciless interrogation, though possibly more painful for the witnesses than for Peter himself. Lily, James, Remus, and Sirius gathered together in a sad huddle at the side of the kitchen, watching Dumbledore and then Moody and then Dumbledore again at work, crying openly and mourning a decade of friendship.

Peter talked about the information he passed on, the Death Eater plans he was privy to, the identities of the Death Eaters he knew, the locations of Death Eater meeting places and safehouses, the Ministry staff who were most at risk of being targeted, and more. It was easier, generally, to hear him talk about Death Eater plans than to hear what Order information he had shared.

The greatest shock, though, Dumbledore seemed to have saved for the end of the interrogation. He paused and turned towards the four of them.

"If I may suggest that you all step out of the room for this next part?"

James and Sirius just blinked at him from twin stupors of despair. "Why?" Remus asked.

"I believe it may be prudent to spare you some of the more sensitive details of Mr. Pettigrew's actions, if you are to attempt to feign friendship with him going forward."

Sirius was the first to catch on. "What could he possibly say now that's worse than what he's already said?"

"Two years," James moaned in agreement.

"He killed Dorcas," whispered Lily.

Dumbledore's eyes flickered between the last two speakers. "It's about Harry."

There was a sharp inhale of breath next to Lily that was probably James, but she couldn't be sure because suddenly her entire vision, her entire consciousness, was being consumed by gaping frames of black; the tiny shapes of Dumbledore and, beside him, Peter shrinking farther and farther away.

Harry. The prophecy.

"No," whispered James. "He would never- not even-" his words were swallowed by a dry choke.

"It is an intimately personal subject, which is why I suspect it may be easier for you if you're not here while I question Mr. Pettigrew about it."

James' voice sounded raw and uncertain. "I- yeah. I- okay. But one of us…" Lily's vision was pulled back into focus by the feeling of James' hand slipping into hers. "I think one of us needs to be here, Lils," he whispered. "But I can't- if he-"

"I understand," Lily whispered back. "Go. Take them," she gestured to Sirius and Remus, "Will you go to the nursery? Just so that I know you're with Harry?"

James nodded and pulled his half-catatonic friends out the door behind him, Remus pausing only to give Lily's shoulder a firm squeeze before he followed. Lily heard Sirius mutter something that sounded like "bloody emotional support baby" before the door swung softly shut behind them.

Lily found herself alone amid a pile of empty chairs, shivering slightly, wishing desperately for the warmth of her husband. Her arms ached to hold Harry, but she couldn't, she would never let him be in the same room as Peter again, especially not if-

"Has He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named spoken at all of a prophecy?" asked Dumbledore.

For the first time in over an hour, Peter was silent for so long that he started to twitch in pain.

"Remember your word, Mr. Pettigrew," Dumbledore added.

"Yes," Peter admitted. "Snape told him about a prophecy."

Lily gasped. It had been years since she'd even seen Severus but the betrayal still stung as much as if Peter himself had done it.

"What has He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named done or said in response to it?"

"He's-" For the first time since the interrogation began, Peter glanced at Lily. "He thinks it's about Harry. He's been preparing some kind of ritual. He asked me what kind of defenses are set up around the cottage."

Even after all the other shocking revelations Peter had shared, this last answer had Lily momentarily stunned silent. Finally she rasped, "What did you tell him?"

Peter stared determinedly at the floor. "I told him where you live. I've been monitoring and testing the wards and reporting the protections in place. I told him- I told him I would take him here when the ritual was complete. He said it would be ready next month."

All of the air disappeared from Lily's lungs. The whole kitchen must have turned into some kind of vacuum, because there was no air to breathe. All she could hear was Peter's voice rattling around in her head, next month next month next month.

Lily found her breath and her voice just enough to choke out, "How could you?" but she couldn't even hear the answer over the sound of her own sobs. There were more indistinct sounds coming from Dumbledore, and then from Peter again, but Lily's head was still ringing with next month next month and her own voice echoing how could you how could you how could you.

She was startled out of a full-blown panic attack by a rough hand patting her awkwardly on the shoulder and Moody's gruff voice saying, "there there, come now, we won't let that happen, the lad's safe."

Lily only sobbed harder.

An indiscriminate amount of time later, the usual give-and-take of Peter's and Dumbledore's voices were replaced by an indistinct shout that sounded like Moody in the hallway, and then a chorus of feet on the stairs, and then finally Lily felt the welcome warmth of James' arm around her shoulders. She turned her face into his chest and sobbed some more.

"Oh Lils," he murmured. "Oh Lils, I'm so sorry, I should have known."

Lily couldn't bring herself to respond but to cry some more. Vaguely she registered more voices somewhere outside the cocoon of James' body around hers.

"Lils, hey Lils, I brought Harry downstairs," James said. "I couldn't bear to leave him but I think maybe I woke him up with all the movement." Sure enough, Lily could feel the baby wriggling in James' other arm, rubbing against her shoulder. "Why don't you walk a little with him? He'll calm right down."

Lily was only just cognizant enough to recognize that she was being handled, but found she was grateful for it. Dazed, she took Harry from James and buried her face in his messy hair. He smelled like milk and laundry detergent and love. She breathed deeply and willed his perfect baby scent to calm her, and took him outside to pace up and down the porch.

"I love you Harry," she whispered. "I love you so much and I promise I won't let anything happen to you, okay? I'll protect you. I love you." She repeated this in a mantra- I'll protect you, I love you- until her heartbeat matched Harry's and her eyes unblurred.

Finally, she took a deep breath, returned Harry to his crib, and rejoined the group in her kitchen. It seemed like she had missed the end of the interrogation, as nobody was talking to or even looking at Peter anymore. Moody and Dumbledore were whispering in the far corner of the kitchen- Lily overheard Moody, sounding more worried than she'd ever heard him, mutter, "-kind of ritual to go further along the road to immortality?" and Dumbledore's grave response, "I have some ideas, Alastor, each more gruesome than the last."

Lily shuddered and decided she didn't have the will to hear any more of that conversation, drifting instead toward her husband and his friends, who were huddled, upon closer inspection, with James and Remus on either side of Sirius, both of them rubbing soothing patterns over his back and arms. James looked up as she approached and jerked his head to the side. She followed him a few paces away and raised her eyebrows wearily.

"What did I miss?" she asked.

"Padfoot asked about Regulus again. Wo- Peter said he heard rumors he was trying to defect, and You-Know-Who seems pretty confident he's dead, but no one's seen a body."

"Oh, poor Sirius," Lily murmured.

"He's beating himself up about it, but he'll be okay," James answered. "I think he got most of his mourning out of the way when Reg went missing last year. But it got Dumbledore asking if there are rumors of anyone else trying to defect, and- well, did you know Snivellus has been sticking his neck out somehow?"

Lily wished she had anything left in her to be worried about Severus, but found she'd used up all her concern on the people currently inside her house.

"Of course I didn't," she sighed. "I guess if he gets himself killed, I'd go to the funeral. As long as I also don't get myself killed. Oh, James-"

Fortunately, Lily was interrupted before she could work herself up to a proper lament when Dumbledore touched her lightly on the shoulder.

"Lily," he said. "I believe the rest of us have gotten all the answers we could get out of Mr. Pettigrew. Is there anything you wish to ask before I escort him home and alter his memories?"

Lily grasped James' hand and turned again to Peter. Dumbledore waved his wand and Peter looked up with a start.

"If you're done talking about me right in front of my face-" he started, but Lily had to say something before she lost her courage.

"Do you hate me, Peter?" Her words were barely more than a whisper but everyone in the room stopped to watch their exchange.

Peter shook his head weakly. "No, I swear."

"Do you think I deserve to die because my parents are muggles?"

"No, I don't, I never believed that. You're a muggleborn and the brightest witch of our age-"

"Why, then? How can you help them? Don't you care they're evil?!"

"There is no good or evil," Peter said simply. "There is only power."

Sirius scoffed loudly. Lily only grimaced and turned away.

"Shall we be off?" Dumbledore asked after a minute of heavy silence. Everyone nodded their assent, and Dumbledore took Peter outside. There was a crack of apparition followed by audible sighs from the remaining marauders.

Moody sidled towards the hallway, but stopped just before the doorway. "Take Monday off, lad," he said to Sirius. "You've got a couple bereavement days left. You," he looked at Remus now. "Take a few more days off from the Packs too. Our first priority now is deceiving that piece of scum. Albus'll send someone by here to work on your acting skills on Monday and I imagine it'll go more smoothly with the four of you working together. I'll dig up some Occlumency guides for you all to share, too. And you," he inclined his head towards Lily, "need to make me some more of that potion, lass! I assume you have a list of ingredients?"

Lily nodded and summoned her notes from her potions lab, duplicating one of the parchments and handing it to Moody.

"Right. I can order most of this in bulk and send it over right away. BLACK!" His magical eye swiveled towards Sirius even as his normal eye remained fixed on the note in his hands. "I expect to see you back in the office on Tuesday. We'll be starting with a lecture about NOT GETTING POTIONED," he growled. "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" With a mad hoot of laughter, Moody sauntered out of the cottage and disapparated.

In the careful quiet that followed, Lily suddenly realized her bones ached with fatigue and her eyes itched.

"Let's go sit down," she murmured, to general assent. James, Remus, and Sirius followed her to the living room, where all four of them smushed together on one couch. Sirius wriggled himself horizontal, stretching his legs over Lily's lap and his bum over James' and wrapping his arms tightly around Remus' middle. James enlarged their fluffiest blanket and charmed it over their entangled bodies, Sirius' head only barely uncovered where it rested on Remus' chest.

For what felt like hours, but couldn't have been more than thirty minutes if the clock above the mantel was to be believed, the four of them sat in silence, stewing in their thoughts and soaking up solace from each others' presence. Moody's bark of constant vigilance! echoed in Lily's mind until a harrowing thought occurred to her. "Oh, bugger," she whispered. "Did he- do the Death Eaters know you two are animagi? Did anyone ask while I was outside?"

Sirius snorted. "Yeah, Prongs asked the most awkwardly-worded questions of all time right in front of my boss, the Head Auror."

James shot him a glare that held absolutely no heat, and flipped him a bird for good measure. "You try wording it better on the spot!"

Sirius twisted around to stare directly at James as he mimicked, "Do the Death Eaters know, er, that you're a- that there's a, a rat in their midst?"

Remus giggled and Sirius joined in. James blushed and ran an awkward hand through his hair, which only made his friends laugh harder.

Sirius continued in a falsetto that sounded nothing like James in pitch but got his inflection down perfectly, which was slightly disconcerting. "And do they know, about, uh, er, us?" Sirius' voice rose even higher with the last word, and even James cracked an unwilling grin.

"But it worked didn't it?" James protested. "Wor- he got it, didn't he?" He turned his head towards Lily but continued glaring at Sirius from the corner of his eye. "Said You-Know-Who knows but none of the Death Eaters." Lily felt something like relief for the first time since Remus and Sirius told each other they weren't the spy. James continued, "He thinks it would've been too easy to narrow down who the spy was if it became common knowledge among the Death Eaters. That fucker."

Sirius hummed in agreement. "I'm shocked he didn't just out us all to Moody and Dumbledore, though," he mused. "I would've done it for pure spite, honestly."

"That's still not exactly in his best interests, though, is it?" Said Remus. "Azkaban would be a convenient place for the Order to send a spy they've no more use for, if they wanted to keep him away from other people. It'd be much easier to prove he's an unregistered animagus than an unmarked Death Eater, especially with Veritaserum shortages."

"No way Petey thought of all that," Sirius huffed.

"I think we've been underestimating him for a long time," Remus answered.

A gloomy silence threatened to descend again before James slapped his hands on his knees and chirped, "Tea?" Not waiting for an answer, he pushed Sirius bodily off his lap and stood up, placing a kiss on Lily's brow before he strode off towards the kitchen.

Sirius slid into the opening James left and turned to look at Remus. "I promise I won't let anyone turn me against you again," he declared.

Remus clasped his hand and touched their foreheads together. "I promise I will never doubt you again," he whispered back. "I love you."

"I love you too," Sirius said, and kissed him. Within moments they were clutching at each other, Sirius' hand snaking down Remus' chest, Remus' legs wrapping around Sirius' back.

"Okay!" Lily clapped her hands loudly. Remus and Sirius stilled but didn't even turn to look at her. "I know this has been a rough night, but you are absolutely not allowed to have sex on my couch while I'm right here!"

"That reminds me," said Sirius, pulling away from Remus only enough to look him straight in the eyes, "D'you reckon I can take a little bit of that potion home, Lils, to get Remus to finally spill about his deepest darkest fantasies? He's definitely been holding out on me."

Remus stared brazenly back at Sirius and said, his voice several octaves lower than it had been moments ago, "That potion can't force me to talk as long as I can handle the pain… or," he leaned forwards to whisper in Sirius' ear but Lily was, unfortunately, close enough to hear every word, "if I even like the pain."

Sirius crowed with victory and snogged Remus thoroughly. "I knew you were a kinky bastard," he proclaimed when they came up for air. "Maybe if I tie you up and-"

"Absolutely not!" yelled Lily. "I did not spend three months inventing a revolutionary, war-winning truth potion just for the two of you to turn it into some sex thing!"

James, who had just ambled back into the living room with a full tea service, snorted. "I mean, you did invent it with the express purpose of making sure these two didn't break up."

"Yes, but that's not-" Lily was cut off by Sirius grabbing her face and planting a wet, dramatic kiss right on her lips. James and Remus both sputtered incoherently as Lily's face turned pink enough to drown her freckles.

"Thank you," Sirius said. "For making sure we didn't break up. I was being an idiot."

"Yes, I suppose we are eternally grateful for that," said Remus, recovering his speech.

"And also for giving me an excuse to put on my tudexo," added Sirius.

"If you mispronounce tuxedo one more time, I will personally tear yours to shreds," Remus groaned.

"How about you tear it off me right now?" asked Sirius, wiggling his eyebrows seductively.

Remus leapt up, grabbed Sirius' hand, planted his own sloppy kiss on Lily's lips, and dragged Sirius over to the fireplace before James could splutter out another red-faced protest. "Talk to you later!" He hollered before they disappeared in a gust of green flames.

"OI, we haven't even had pudding!" James shouted uselessly at the empty fireplace.

"Oh I'm sure they'll be back tomorrow for leftovers," Lily reassured him, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "And, knowing Sirius, to plot wild Death Eater ambushes or something."

James snorted. Lily turned to him, noting that his face had just about returned to its normal shade. "We're going to be okay, aren't we?" She asked softly, snaking her arms around his waist.

James sighed and kissed her forehead sweetly. "If those two are still acting like horny teenagers, then all isn't wrong with the world." He sighed again. "We're going to do a massive overhaul of the wards tomorrow, and Dumbledore's coming by soon to perform a fidelius," he said. "But yes, I think we're going to be okay."