Rain was beating down hard and without mercy outside,

by the time Lily had searched the second floor.She began to

ascend the hanging ladder to the attic, the only place left

where Petunia could be hiding.There was a wooden trapdoor

left open on the ceiling, which the ladder was attatched to.

Lily stuck her head through and saw her sister lying on the

dusty floor with a flashlight and open book.

"Hello,Petunia,"Lily greeted her,"Could you do me a

favor and come downstairs for a minute?"

Petunia sat up and said,"Only if I have to."

Lily grinned.

"Yeah, you have to.I have some of my friends over and

they want to meet you.Please?"

Petunia sighed in an overly dramatic way and shut off

the flashlight. Suddenly, it was too dark to see anything but

shadows, as rain was obscuring the only window. Lily descended

as the narrow frame of her sister began to appear at the trapdoor.

Her thin fingers gripped the rope tightly; she wanted to show

how much of a burden this would be. 30 seconds of watching them

out a window had really been enough.

When they reached the kitchen, Lily shrieked in absolute

horror. Sirius did the same when he saw her rage.

One of his hands was frozen in midair, about to hurl

fruit salad at James. Peter kneeled in dusting of flour, covered

in the white powder, and James sat slumped against a wall with an

open bottle of syrup aimed at Sirius. The sink was running. A

glass jar of wheat germ lay smashed near the stove. Some kind of

red juice ran down the wall in streams.

"Excuse us, Petunia," she said tensely. As Petunia hurried

into the living room, she heard a voice plead,"No, Lily! I swear I

was only trying to stop Sirius! The syrup is for self-defense!"

She listened at the door.

A new voice cut in,"Ooh, James is in trouble with his

girlfriend!" There was a bit of laughter.

"Sirius Black!" screeched Lily,"I'd stop laughing if I were

you!"

"Yeah,"James added,"After all, YOU started it with the frosting

on the oven door!"

Lily yelled,"WHAT?!"

There came the sound of an oven door opening , a gasp of shock,

and a loud smack.

"Ow!" This time it was Sirius. James and the third boy, Petunia

guessed, were laughing. That was enough. She turned around and jumped in

shock to see somebody else on their sofa. He had been reading a book,

but closed it quickly when she noticed him. They stared at each other

for a good minute.

This one hadn't been with the group; she would have noticed. He had

thin, pointy features and looked tired, or frail. Light brown hair fell

limply over his pale forehead as he stood up.

"Well, what's happening in the kitchen?"

"My sister is angry," she admitted, suddenly ashamed that she had

been caught eavesdropping. "By the way, I'm Petunia."

"I'm one of Lily's friends from Hog- well, you know. My name is

Remus Lupin." He fell back down on the sofa, appearing to be drained of

energy from the effort of standing. Petunia looked to where he had shoved

the book behind a pillow, and managed to see the words "Coping with Ly-"

He shoved it farther out of sight.

"Are you not feeling well?" Petunia asked , more out of prying

curiosity than concern.

"Food poisoning," he lied,"I got it from eating raw oysters." The

truth was that there had been a full moon only two nights before.

Petunia sat down as well, keeping a respectable distance from him.

The door opened quicklyenough to slam against a wall and in waltzed Sirius,

dusting flour from his clothes. He leaped onto the sofa in between Remus

and Petunia, draping an arm over each. Petunia stiffened but didn't move.

""Well Pet, Moony," he said, earning a kick to the ankle from Remus,

"it's really coming down out there. In fact, it's going to flood. Lily

wants us all to stay overnight. In guest rooms, of course. It just would

be stupid to fly in this weather."

"Fly?" Petunia choked out.

"How else would you expect us to travel?" sirius asked, as if it were

common knowledge, then adding,"Oh, I forgot, you're a muggle!"

She frowned at the word.

"It's called 'tact' " Remus whispered.

Sirius mumbled a quick apology and jumped back up, standing on a chair.

"Watch this!" he announced while pulling out a thin stick and holding

it up."I can make the ceiling look like the night sky!"

"NO!" Remus ordered leaning forward.His warning came too late, and Petunia

was nearly blinded by a brilliant white light. It faded and she screamed.

A flock of wild birds flew in circles near the ceiling, swoopind down at them.

One knocked a picture frame off a chest and it smashed.

"I can fix,ugh, OW!"

Sirius had collapsed on the floorwith the chair flipped over, pinning him

down. His wand rolled away. Remus stood up and said a few words with his own

wand out. The birds disappeared.

"I have a headache," he told Petunia,"Could you please show me to your

medicine cabinet?"

She nodded, still shaken, andwalked around the fallen chair.

"Remus!" Sirius half-yelled,"You aren't going to get this chair off me?!

Come on! Please! It's going to crush my lungs!"

Remus ignored him and shut the door on his pleads for help, following

Petunia upstairs.