Chapter 5: Into Hogsmeade We Go

Disclaimer: don't own a thing

~It's my mom's birthday today! =) Whoooo!~

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"Go on...it's alright."

"No!"

"You won't get in trouble, I promise."

"No..." Lily whispered. She glanced at the sleeping figure in the bed by the window.

"If you don't talk to him, we're not taking you out today," Remus said firmly. Little Lily stared wide-eyed at him, her jaw slightly unhinged. She clutched his shirt tighter and tugged in disbelief.

"B-but Remuuus..." she whined softly, "you said – you said you'd take me outside and –" Remus gave her a meaningful look and she abruptly stopped speaking. Gloomily, she crawled out of bed and shuffled over to the one nearest the window. She stopped and hesitantly looked back at Remus. Remus gave a faint smile and silently urged her on.

"Mm...wotcha doing, Lil?" Sirius's sleepy voice mumbled. He had poked his head out of the gap in his curtains and was hanging on the backboard at the foot of the bed. He rubbed his eyes and motioned her to him. Lily quickly ran over and jumped into his bed, making him topple over. "Whoa! G'morning to you too! What were you doing?"

"She was about to make up with Prongs. Oh, but as always, you have excellent timing," Remus said dryly. He plopped backwards into bed with a huge sigh, covering his eyes with his arm. Sirius blinked. "Oh."

Lily had a big frown across her face. She thought she'd escaped it, but from the look on Sirius's face, he thought the entire idea was brilliant. He set her standing and took her little hands, grinning.

"So! What're you waiting for? Let's go wake up Prongs! Kyah!" Sirius jumped off the bed with Lily in tow. He bounded into James's bed and began jumping up and down. James, being a light sleeper, woke up instantly and sat up with a scowl on his face. "P-Prongs! Lily - *huff* - says she wants to –" Bounce. "Say she's – " Boing. "Sorriiiieeeee!!" Sirius slipped off the bed and crashed to the ground.

James was bewildered and glanced wildly back and forth over the edge of his bed. Then, as if he registered Sirius's words for the first time, he looked at Lily. She was standing wobbly with her hands behind her back. She stepped over the blankets and tentatively crawled into his lap. He was slightly stunned and when he broke out of his stupor, he hugged her.

"So...admitting you were wrong?" James smirked. Lily smiled angelically up at him. There was a twinkle in her eyes as she shook her head, no. He tweaked her nose. "Liar."  She stuck her tongue out at him and then burrowed her head deeper into his chest.

"Yeah! We're all happy mates now. Let's go to Hogsmeade!" Sirius shot up from his spot on the floor and swooped down to lift Lily into the air. He swung her around haphazardly. Suddenly, James gave a sharp warning, but it was already too late. Lily's ankle caught on something and knocked it over with a resounding crash. Sirius carefully backed away from the scene.

Remus ambled over to see what had caused the noise. Peter fell out of bed and after fighting his way through his tangle sheets, he also went to investigate. There was broken glass all over the side of James's bed. Two crooked picture frames lied on the top of the clutter. Lily leaned in and silently gasped at what she saw. It wasn't the picture of James's family that shocked her, it was that fact that a beautiful redhead that looked almost exactly like her mother was moving along in the crumpled picture.

"Is that...what...mommy?" No one heard her. Sirius picked Lily up so she wouldn't step on anything sharp and told her to hush.

James pulled the two pictures out of the mess. His grandparents and parents were waving up at him. His mother blew him a kiss before he put the other photo in front. Peter had taken this picture the summer before they entered their seventh year. It was Remus, not he, who had somehow managed to convince Lily to join them for a week at the Potter's Manor.

The picture showed the four eating popsicles in the garden. Sirius had overturned his Popsicle and positioned his head just so, so that he could catch the juice dribbling off it in his mouth. Remus was dozing off with the stick waving in his mouth. James didn't appear to have had an iced treat of his own. Picture James grinned before catching Picture Lily off guard and kissing her. He stole her Popsicle and ran out of sight with Lily giving chase.

"Prongs..." Sirius walked towards him, but stopped when James whipped out his wand. He eyed it uneasily and then at James's stoic face. The face stuck his tongue out.

"Don't worry about it. You lot always cause trouble," James sighed. Sirius looked incredulously at him. James muttered a spell and the pictures were fixed. However, upon closer inspection, the old picture of James's family had stopped moving. The glass was still cracked and the frame was tilting to one side. James pushed the picture faced down. He gave a grin and hopped out of bed. "To Hogsmeade, mates."

*

Lily sat crammed in between Peter and Remus in the Great Hall. No one seemed to notice her which was all for the better because they didn't know what to do if they were found out.

"I'm really sorry," Lily whispered again. She clutched onto the new outfit Remus had transfigured for her. It was a pretty powder pink tunic over a short-sleeved white shirt and a red scarf to match. The cloth belt she wore had a strawberry shaped buckle Remus thought was appropriate. She had asked him about it and he confusedly asked back whether he had gotten it wrong that it wasn't her favourite fruit after all. She merely shook her head and told him to forget it.

"It's okay, Lily. It's just a picture," Remus whispered back. He put more bacon and eggs into her plate. "Finish your milk and have some of this. Then we're off." Lily obeyed and ate with her head down.

*

"Ouch!" Lily fell back into the snow after colliding with someone's leg. Remus bent over and helped her up. He brushed away the flecks of snow on her cloak and looked up to see who had caused her to fall.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the infamous Marauders up to no good?" Snape drawled.

"Stuff it, Snivellus," Sirius growled. But Snape wasn't listening anymore. His eyes were fixed intently on Lily. He frowned and his lips curled.

"What is this...?" Before any of them could retort, Snape brushed past them into Hogsmeade. No one saw the arrogant smirk he had on his face as he went. 

"Anyway!" Lily chirped, bouncing up and down. "Let's go, please, let's go!"

Hogsmeade was busy that day. Loads of students were milling about and forming crowds around shops. It was rather difficult for them to move as a group, so when they reached a table at a dessert shop, they sat down and rested.

"We should split up," huffed Sirius, his breath forming in the cold air. "We'll never get what we need if we keep trying to stick together."

"Yea, okay," James said. "So, Sirius and I'll go check out that dragon tears thing and Remus – did you say you needed a new cloak or something? You go do that. Now...who'll take care of Lily?"

"I will!" said Peter happily. Sirius stared at his with one eye brow raised.

"Mate, I can't even trust you with a hard-boiled egg." Peter's face fell. Remus patted him on the back.

"Padfoot, don't be so mean."

"I'm not!! He ate it."

"Well, what's he supposed to do with an egg, anyway?"

"Ah-but...! Fine, Remus, Peter can take Lily."

"Alright! C'mon, Lily. I'll get us some ice-creams and we'll go over to the toy shop. See you guys later!" Sirius didn't even get a chance to say 'Ice-cream in December?!' before Peter dragged Lily by the hand into the ice cream shop where he pointed at all one hundred flavours with enthusiasm.

The others went their separate ways to buy their items. James and Sirius had to hard time getting around without being spotted and pulled aside by flirtatious girls. Remus tried to budget himself and thus ended up trying on several robes in the shop. Maybe it was because they were both small in size, but only Peter and Lily seemed to be gliding along quickly.

James, Sirius, and Remus met Peter outside of Zonko's two hours later. The first two boys looked rather disheveled, but held up a small flask, grinning. Remus held up a crisp shopping bag obviously containing his new clothes. Peter held up his milkshake and smiled widely. Sirius whipped his head back and forth.

"AHA! You lost her, didn't you?!" Peter rolled his eyes.

"No, Sirius. She's inside. I had a milkshake so I couldn't go in with her."

The four peered through Zonko's large glass window and saw Lily crouching over some toy in the kid's section with two other red haired boys. They were laughing and chasing whatever it was and running away when the toy decided to chase them instead. Lily caught sight of the Marauders and, speaking very quickly to the two boys, grabbed their hands and ran outside.

"Prongs! Padfoot! Remus! Peter! Look!!! This is Bill! And this is Charlie!" She held up their joined hands and waved them in the air. "They have red hair like me!"

Charlie, the younger one smiled shyly and tried to hide behind Lily and his brother. Bill gave a big smile and they saw that his front teeth were missing. Lily was extremely happy and dragged the two boys in a circle around the Marauders singing an unknown melody.

"Bill! Charlie, darling!" a voice called out. The seven looked and saw a woman making her way to them. She had a kind, round face and red hair. "Goodness, well, hello there. It seems like my boys have made some new friends! What's your name, sweetheart?"

"I'm Lily!" Lily beamed. Mrs.Weasley looked at the four older boys. Before she could ask, Lily said energetically, "They're my daddies!"

Remus turned bright red and coughed silently. Sirius cleared this throat and laughed uneasily. Peter was oblivious to the whole situation and was eyeing a candy stand not far away, freezing in the snow. James smiled pleasantly and picked Lily off the ground to look at Mrs.Weasley and her shocked expression.

"No Ma'am, we're not her fathers."

"Oh, of course not, how silly of me," Mrs.Weasley chortled. "It's lovely to see you taking time with her, though. I'm sorry, but Bill and Charlie need to get home now. Maybe we'll meet again some time. Take care now, dears!"

Bill and Charlie each took one of their mother's hands and began to walk away. They turned back to wave at Lily who shouted as best she could a great goodbye. She waved back furiously and nearly fell out of James's arms.

*

The stars were shining bright and true that night as Lily lied in bed beside Remus. She snuggled close to him and thanked him again for her new clothes he had gotten her during his trip into Hogsmeade. It wasn't much, but Lily liked it. He had gotten her a long sky blue nightshirt so she didn't have to wear Sirius's boxers or James's shirts all the time.

"Remus?" Lily whispered.

"Hm? What is it?"

"What was that scary bubbling in that big pot you took out after dinner?"

Remus stroked her hair and looked thoughtful. She was referring to the cauldron that was brewing her counter-potion. He had added in the last ingredient in front of her and it gave off a slight explosion and started bubbling acidly. They only had to wait three days more for the potion to simmer before it was ready.

"Well," Remus said, inhaling deeply, "it's a secret, Lil. But I'll tell you soon." He hadn't really answered her question, but he didn't want to scare her.

"Oh. Okay. Um, Remus? I have another question," Lily said. She shifted so she could see his face. "You know that picture beside Prongs's bed? Who was that? I thought I saw mommy."

"Oh, that wasn't your mother, Lily. That was –"

"Do you think Prongs is still mad at me?" Lily cut in.

"No, he's not."

"Really?"

"Yea, really, Lil," Remus said sleepily and yawned.

"Promise?"

"I promise," Remus answered softly. "Did you have fun today?"

"Yep! I made new friends and got free candy," Lily mumbled.

"Candy?" Remus waited for a reply, but when he looked in his arms, Lily had already fallen fast asleep.

-

Thanks to:

BeeBee: Aww, thank you! I'd like to think that Sirius is good with kids. It's cute to think of him that way. Well, heck, he's cute any other way too! I made him a little more playful in this chapter because some of my friend were saying he was going out of character – he's not, is he?

InsertRandomInsanityHere: (Whoo...long name!) Ahhh! I hurried as fast as I could, but I misplaced my diskette a while back. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reviewing!!

it's a riot: Thank you! I really appreciate your review. A lot of people have said they like the Sirius/Lily moments too! There're not so much of their scenes together in here. I concentrated a bit more on Remus this time. Glad you could stop by, hope you liked this chapter!

Jessie Flower: Was the James/Lily scene okay? I'm sorry it took me to long to update! Thank you for your awesome comments!

lesleyCLOUTIER: hey carsonator! Hahahaa, thanks for the review!! Ah...joke, joke, joke.

missprongs: Oh my, please don't cry! Thanks for reading; I hope you liked Sirius in this chapter too!

Oorjit: (I love your name, it's so original!) I'm trying to make Lily as cute as possible. I'm happy you like my story! Thank you!!

Stableperson: Ahh! Here's another chapter! I'm sorry for the long wait! Thanks for the review!

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Whoo! I'm so so so so so so so so sorry for making you all wait so long. I'm really really really really sorry! I really love you guys for reviewing. You're ultra, super cool people. Honest. =)

I'd like to recommend a fic. If you liked this, I'm sure you'll like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by gohansfan. It's a one-shot and I thought it was pretty cute. (Lots of James, Sirius, and Lily stuff. Lily turns into a kid here too!) If you have the time, check it out!

I'll try to update faster, but knowing me, I'll probably lose my drafts again...oi...