Disclaimer: HP belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling :D



A/N: All righty, my awesome reviewers...you're all the absolute best, and I'd send ya all roses if I could afford it...they'd probably be dead by the time they got there, anyways. So instead, you can have this chapter! Yippee! R/R afterwards and make my day brighter :) C'mon, ya know you wanna....



Chapter Four: Finally Starting To Look Up

"You guys said you were going to help me, not GIVE HER DAD NIGHTMARES," James hissed at Peter, Sirius, and Remus as they climbed the stairs up to the guest room. Lily had already gone to bed a few minutes before.

"Sorry," Sirius said meekly-he still looked a bit shaken from the death glare Lily had given him. "We couldn't resist."

"Well, next time resist anyway," James commanded as he swung open the door to his temporary bedroom.

Sirius stepped in after him, then immediately began to screech in pain when his eyes fell upon the white room. "It's not my time! It's not my time! Don't go towards the li-i-i-ight!"

"Shut UP, you IDIOT," James exclaimed. "Do you want to wake up the whole house?"

"Too...bright...not my time..." Sirius muttered dramatically, then fell to the floor and rolled his eyes up into his head.

After staring at him skeptically for a few moments, James and Remus stepped over him and both took a seat on the bed. Peter attempted to follow them, but snagged his foot on Sirius's 'unconscious' body and fell right on top of him. As he tried to break his fall, his hand flailed out and hit the bedside lamp, which crashed to the floor. The loud sound caused James's owl, Ivory, who had been sleeping peacefully until that moment, to began screeching in alarm and shaking the cage, which toppled over on its side.

"What was THAT??" Mr. Evans boomed.

"Oh, smooth, Peter!" James hissed, panicked.

"Whoops," replied Peter weakly.

James groaned inwardly as he heard Mr. Evans's footsteps growing nearer to the bedroom.

"You guys, you're not even supposed to be here!" he moaned under his breath.

"Well, where are we supposed to go now, Jamesie?" Sirius whispered back, sounding a bit annoyed.

"I don't kno-"

"Would you PLEASE try to keep it down?" Mr. Evans asked angrily as he swung open the door, then gasped as he saw the broken lamp. "That was my GRANDMOTHER's!"

"Er...sorry?" James said meekly, raising his voice as though asking a question.

"You'd better be!" Mr. Evans exclaimed, staring sadly at the lamp.

"Never fear, Sirius is here!" Sirius exclaimed, taking his wand out of his pocket. "Just watch while I say the magic words, and then it will be REPAIRED!"

He muttered the incantation under his breath, then pointed his wand at the lamp, which immediately shattered into a thousand teeny pieces.

"That can happen sometimes!" he exclaimed, undaunted. "But just watch me as I attempt again-"

"NO!" Mr. Evans exclaimed. "STOP!"

Sirius put his wand down, looking at Mr. Evans as though he were an escapee from St. Mungo's.

"All right, all right," he said. "Sorr-y."

"I'll fix it," James volunteered, pulling his own wand out of his pocket. Mr. Evans stared at the lamp nervously, but didn't protest. James muttered "Reparo" under his breath and pointed his wand at the lamp, which immediately became whole again.

"Thank you," Mr. Evans muttered, unplugging the lamp, then picking it up from the ground and holding it protectively as if it were a baby. "Try to keep the volume down."

And with that, he turned and left.

James couldn't help but lose it at Sirius.

"Are you TRYING deliberately to ruin this for me?" James hissed. "Did it EVER cross your mind that this might be the teeniest bit IMPORTANT?"

"Whoa," Sirius looked a bit alarmed. "Jamesie, calm down-"

"No, I won't calm down!" James had to work to keep his voice low. "Did you ever stop to think that I might LOVE LILY?"

"No," Sirius said immediately. "You've never said that."

"Well, I DO," James exclaimed. "I love her A LOT. And it's not just school boy crush puppy love, either. It's together until the end of time love. And you're trying to RUIN it! So just...stop, okay?"

Sirius looked stunned.

"Lemme get this straight," Sirius said. "You're in LOVE?"

"Of COURSE he's in love, idiot," Remus cut in. "He's only been dating Lily since fourth year."

"Well, ex-CUSE me," muttered Sirius. He turned to James. "Listen, Jamesie, buddy, I'm sorry about this...I didn't know you...loved her." He put on a disgusted expression, and Remus elbowed him in the stomach. "All righty, my point is...I'll stop being annoying."

"Thanks, Padfoot," James said softly, then paused for a second. A smug smile suddenly broke out on his face. "Oh my God, I can't believe it. Sirius is being serious."

"Well, of course I am," Sirius said with a grin. "Who else am I supposed to be?"

"No, SERIOUS."

"Yeeeeah," Sirius said slowly. "That's me."

"No, SERIOUS."

"That is I!"

"No, SERIOUS."

"That's my name, don't wear it out!"

"NO, I mean SERIOUS..."



~*~



"Jamesie, get up."

"Whaa?" James muttered, rolling over in bed and groaning.

"It's time to get up, Jamesiekins!"

"Go away, Sirius," James mumbled.

"James, get UP!" Sirius ordered. "You know I'm not going to leave you alone."

"I know," James groaned, opening his eyes and blinking a few times until the blob standing over him morphed into a blurry Sirius. He grabbed his glasses from the bedside table and put them on.

"Now get dressed and come downstairs," Sirius ordered, then disappeared from the room.

Confused, James quickly dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, then rushed downstairs.

"Where are you guys?" he asked softly so as not to wake anyone.

"In the kitchen," Remus called back.

James quickly made his way to the Evans kitchen to find his three best friends hard at work. Sirius was pouring orange juice into a glass, Remus was setting food on the table, and Peter was placing a vase of flowers in the center of the table.

"What are you doing?" James asked.

"This was all you, buddy," Sirius replied with a grin. "The parents will have to appreciate it."

James eyed the table...a stack of fluffy, light brown pancakes sat in between scrambled eggs and bacon.

"And there's nothing wrong with this?" James asked suspiciously. The last thing he needed was for Petunia to eat a stick of bacon and be transfigured into a monkey.

"Nope," Sirius said earnestly. "You can even taste it all yourself."

"I'll just take your word for it," James said uneasily, studying all the food. It looked edible...

"Evans alert!" Sirius announced. "All right, we're out of here...we'll see you later, Jamesie." He gave him a wink. "Don't forget to take all the credit."

"All right..." James said softly as Sirius pulled a package of floo powder out of his pocket and gestured for the other Marauders to follow him.

"See ya, Jamesie," Sirius said merrily.

"Buh bye, Prongs," Remus added.

"Good luck," Peter finished.

His fellow Marauders disappeared into the living room, and James leaned against the counter, trying to look casual.

"Yup, I did this," he muttered to himself. "It was all me. James. Who burns water."

The kitchen door swung open, and Mrs. Evans walked inside. She studied the table and blinked a few times.

"Oh, James, dear, did you do this?" she asked.

"Yup," James replied, hoping he sounded convincing.

"Oh, how lovely!" Mrs. Evans exclaimed, beaming. "That was so sweet of you, dear!"

"Thanks," James said, returning her smile as Lily walked into the kitchen.

"James," she said in surprise. "Did you do this?"

"Y...yeah," James replied nervously, knowing that Lily wouldn't buy it for a second. Number one, she knew how limited his cooking 'skills' were. Number two, you didn't lie to Lily.

You just didn't.

"Oh really?" she asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at him as she tied her red flannel bathrobe.

"Mmm-hmm," James nodded earnestly.

"I see," Lily said, coming over to him and giving him a peck on the cheek as her mother sat down at the table. After kissing him, Lily leaned over to his ear and whispered, "Where the hell did this come from? You know I'm not going to buy that you made it in a second."

"What do you mean?" James whispered back with an anxious laugh. "You don't believe me?"

"You could put it that way, yes," Lily replied quietly as she pulled away from him.

Mr. Evans and Petunia came downstairs a few minutes later and both recoiled in surprise.

"You...did this?" Mr. Evans asked suspiciously.

James nodded, not trusting himself enough to open his mouth.

"Well...this is...nice," Mr. Evans said gingerly as he sat down. After a thorough, five minute long inspection of all the food (he even sniffed the scrambled eggs...) he finally took a pancake and began to cover it with butter.

Honestly, James thought to himself. I wouldn't POISON the father of my marriage-material girlfriend. Do I LOOK that stupid?

After a quick self-inspection in the mirror on the opposite wall, James decided that he definitely did. (If people thought his hair looked messy during the day, they probably couldn't find a word in their vocabulary to describe it in the morning.)

But STILL!

The Evans family seemed to enjoy the breakfast, though Petunia refused to eat anything and settled for a mere glass of orange juice ('DADDY, what if he CURSED the food???'). Mr. Evans actually gave James a semi-sincere smile and thanked him for the meal.

As Lily was clearing the table, she walked past James and gave him a wink, then whispered, "See? Things are getting better!"

James grinned in response...she was right.

Things were finally starting to look up.