Chapter 6
dollface, dearie and dah'ling

I stared at the arrow along time. My mind rushing. What did this mean? How was this possible? First the pieces come into my possession, then they heal themselves? It didn't make sense. It was a piece of a dream. Dreams weren't real. I couldn't understand it!

I went over to the bed, and while examining the beautiful arrow I fell asleep.

That night, Aphrodite visited my dreams again. The beautiful goddess sat on a thrown while my owl sat on her shoulder and a stag sat at her side. Without being able to control myself I walked forward and placed the arrow at the goddess's feet. The goddess drew the arrow toward her and then placed it at the feet of the stag. The stag picked up the arrow with his teeth and held it as a dog would hold a bone. I ran to the stag and tried to take the arrow back, but I failed. Then...

...I woke up, and the arrow was gone.

I had just had it and it vanished? How was it possible? Where had it gone?

Puzzled I looked out the window, the sun was just beginning to rise. I pulled off the covers and got ready for the morning.

I came down the stairs, and this time there was no aroma of fresh frying pancakes instead loud and obnoxious roar of laughter. As I came to the bottom of the stairs I saw James and man with long black hair pulled into a ponytail. He turned to face me. He was tan, his eyes sparkled blue and his face boar a grin the size of big ben.

"Good Morning Lily darling how are you on this fantastically beautiful morning!" he said overly cheerfully

I looked to James for a little help.

"Lily, Sirius just stopped by to say hello before he headed to Hogmeade for the day."

"BLACK?" I asked awestruck and disgusted at the same time. He looked nothing like his 16 year old self sure he was still drop dead gorgeous but there was a wisdom in his face.

"Black? Dearie we haven't been on a last name basis since Hogwarts. Are you feeling ok dah'ling." And with saying that he skipped over to me picked me up around the waist and spun me in a circle. Was this man insane?

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked dumbfounded as I headed over to James and stood behind him.

"Me?" he asked stupidly

"Yes you are you..." I began but James cut me off.

"Padfoot she's not quite feeling well." He told him

"Ya I can tell. Honestly Lils your acting like a teenager."

"Well that's because I'm..." I began to shout angrily but then James cut me off again.

"not feeling well." James finished for me as he glared at me

"ya." I agreed through gritted teeth

"Well dollface, I hope you feel better soon cause this wicked witch of the west attitude doesn't really work for you." Sirius told me.

"Wait back up... how in the world do you know what that wicked witch of the west is?" I asked dumbfounded. The wicked witch of the west was a character from an old muggle movie, how would Sirius know about that? He's as pureblooded as they get.

"Whoa doll, you really must not be feeling well. Are you forgetting Josie?"

My mind began racing trying to remember who Josie was. Then it clicked, James had warned me about her. She was our neighbor who quote 'knows me almost as well as James does', but she was MY friend why would one of my friends be stupid enough to associate with Sirius? Despite his 'drop dead gorgeousness' Sirius was the world's biggest prat.

Thinking quickly I replied "no, of course not how could I forget Josie?" I glanced at James sending him a look that plainly said 'HELP!' Much to my anger and annoyment he dismissed the look and went over to the table on the left side of the room. He picked up a pebble out of a bowl and threw it at Sirius. Before hitting him the pebble burst into a puff of smoke and covered the man in a pink powder.

"Now come on prongs that's not fair!" he said as he began dancing around as if not being able to hold still.

"Aren't they remarkable?" james said laughing. "To bad they didn't have these when we were at Hogwarts, we could have had a blast with them. Then we wouldn't have had to learn the craft illegally."

"Ya too bad... but seriously Prongs did you have to throw it at me?" he said as hair began slowly growing on him. "I mean I'm not exactly in the mood to go into work like 'this'."

"Like what?" I asked as I noticed Sirius starting to shrink.

Sirius ignored me, and went on talking to James. "Well I suppose whenever Sirius Jr. arrives... he'll have fun with these things when he gets to Hogwarts..." finally Sirius was no more than a yard tall and covered in hair. Then his face slowly started changing until he looked remarkably like a monkey. I started laughing uncontrollable and then a few minutes later the monkey's hair grew shorter as he grew taller.

"Must a been a dud." James told Sirius as they both burst out laughing.

"what do you mean?" I asked "It worked didn't it?"

"God dollface" Sirius began "you act like you've never used an IA before. They're bloody useful in the order doll, heck we use them all the time. It was suppose to last 20 minutes, not 2 dearie."

"oh yea... of course." I lied still having no clue what an IA or the order was.

"Dearie I think you better call in sick. You're acting crazy... heck maybe Sirius Jr. is finally on the way!"

"I don't think so." James said blushing slightly

"Well I'm off to Hogsmeade for the day. Dollface I highly suggest you call in sick I mean... in your condition it wouldn't be wise to go to work today. See ya later Prongs!" and with a crack this insane monkey man apperated and left.

"James what did he mean 'my condition' and who the hell is Sirius Jr." I asked annoyed

"Oh that." James replied "Well Sirius is basically convinced that we're going to name our first child after him, whether it's a boy or a girl."

"wait a second..." I asked disgusted "James... AM I PREGNANT?"

"No your not. Relax! Sirius is just being crazy."

"Are you sure?" I asked slightly frightened

"almost positive."

"Ok then, what's an IA and what the heck is this 'order'" I asked feeling somewhat stupid

"an IA stands for an instant animagus and 'the order' is an organization we belong to." He replied

"An organization for what?" I asked

"Nothing we need to get into right now. However I think Sirius is right maybe you should call in sick today."

"Ok, after the fabulous day I had yesterday none of them wouldn't believe I wasn't actually sick."

I sent Aphrodite to my boss telling her that I wouldn't be in today, James left for work and I had the whole house to myself. I decided now was a good opportunity for me to snoop around a bit. Take a look through my future. I headed up to my bedroom and began to dig under my bed. I pulled out a big box labeled "Hogwarts stuff" and first thing on the top of that box was a large enveloped addressed to Lily Evans with the NEWT seal on the back. Did I dare open it? I did. I received an O in charms and teorialogy and an A in transfiguration and Defense against the dark arts. I put the scores back in the envelope and began digging deeper. I found a few roses that I assumed James had sent me, a photograph of us kissing under the mistletoe and a glass lily. Photographs of me, Gwen and Clarissa, books and A HEAD GIRL BADGE!!! I grinned with delight. I packed the stuff back into the box and then began digging deeper under the bed. I found a second box labeled "marauders". I opened it and found a list of pranks. There was even a little system that they were categorized by. Pranks that had been done successfully had a little green star by them, pranks that had failed miserably had a red X and pranks that they never completed or got around to doing had a blue dot by them. I saw several I recognized. Including the giant poster James had hung of himself in the commons. As I dug deeper the poster was actually in the box, along with a poster of Sirius and a giant poster of a stag, a dog, a rat and a wolf. Buried in the bottom and wrapped in bubble wrap looked as if it was a talon from the whomping willow. A Book titled "Animagus for the daring soul." And a blank piece of parchment. Those must have been James memories. Even further under the bed was an unopened package addressed to myself. Even odder than it being unopened was that the package was from my sister Petunia. I was just about to untie the string when I heard a knock at the door.

I went down stairs and looked through the peep whole and when I saw who was standing on the other side I almost fainted. Not sure whether to open the door or not I just stood there awestruck. Then the women shouted through the door.

"Lily I know you're in there and I know you know its me. Open up!"

Without knowing what to do or say I shouted "Alright." I went over to the shelf where James and I kept the keys and picked the gold one up. I put it in the key hole, twisted it, turned the knob and opened the door.

Clarissa Lupin took a deep breath and stepped inside my house.

End of Chapter 6