"You are lucky you didn't splinch yourself," Remus remarked later that evening. "Apparating without a license. It would have taken you only a minute to knock on the door."
Sirius yawned, stretching out on Remus' bed. He could have passed the Apparating test at any time and they both knew it. "Where's your sister?"
Remus threw him an odd look. "Out for some groceries. She should be back soon."
Noting the sharp tone, Sirius pushed his head up. "You didn't mind me popping by, did you, Moony? I thought your mother might like to see what fine upstanding friends you have before you disappear off to London with us."
His mother already had a favourable opinion of Sirius, Remus recalled. It took only two minutes for her to get over her initial shock and Summoned refreshments for him. And all Sirius had done was to fall into easy conversation with her.
"Of course not?" he softened to a friendlier tone. He crossed his legs on the window seat, trying to see out in the growing darkness. "What did you arrive in? Something fell in the garden."
Sirius sat up, his eyes gleaming. "I bought a motorcycle! Made it fly. Its at least ten times faster than a broom."
Sirius was a dare-devil on a broomstick. Remus could not even began to imagine what he would be like on a flying motorbike. "Is it licensed?" he began nervously.
Waving a hand dismissively, Sirius said slyly, knowing his friend's weakness for speed, "You'll love it, Moony. Brooms can only go nought to sixty or seventy at best, but the bike can climb up to hundred in half the time," his excitement infected Remus, chasing away the misgivings. "I streamlined it too, modified the engine with …"
They were deep in a technical discussion when the front door slammed shut. Revera burst into her brother's room without knocking.
"Someone's motorbike crushed the phylides bushes!" she began indignantly. "What kind of irresponsible…"
"Me, I'm afraid," Sirius interrupted, grinning apologetically. Revera almost squawked when she saw who it was. "I'll fix it tomorrow. Promise."
Not knowing that she had just been weeping over him in the morning, Sirius was surprised to see a flush stain her cheeks warring with chagrin over wasted tears. "Excuse me," she said, hurriedly backing out of the door.
"What's with Sunny?" Sirius asked, looking back at Remus who was inexplicably frowning at him. Unable to read the undercurrents in the Lupin household, he was nonetheless astute enough to sense that the flow was not quite right.
"Blimey, I'll fix those bushes, alright," he reiterated.
Remus appeared to be trying to decide something. "So," he finally said. " D'you have a house yet?"
The two days Sirius spent at the Lupins were one of the most confusing times in his life. Revera alternated between being very friendly and avoiding him completely, Mrs Lupin veered between beaming at him and straing tearfully at Remus while Remus himself seemed normal but for the long considering looks he kept giving him. All in all, he was glad to be off with Remus the following Sunday.
"Where exactly are we going?" Remus shouted at him as the motorcycle roared upwards.
"You'll see!" Sirius shouted back.
They dropped by the Potters for James and had dinner with his family. Mrs Potter insisted that they bring with them a basket full of home made food. "It can last a month if you put the proper spells on the pantry." None of them demurred. Mrs Pettigrew added to the load when they picked up Peter.
"No one thinks we can cook," observed Remus wryly as Sirius piled all the food in the magically enlarged compartment.
"And they are probably right," said James.
It was close to sunset before they finally reached Sirius' new house. Upon landing, Remus was somewhat disconcerted to find himself in front of a nondescript row of houses in what seemed like an ordinary Muggle neighbourhood. He had expected Sirius to choose a neighbourhood which was more ..spectacular.
"Isn't this great?" Sirius said happily. "My family wouldn't step within 10 feet of a place like this. And its 10 mins from Diagon Alley."
They spent the week papering and furnishing the house, discreetly using spells only when they were sure there were no neighbours peering out of the windows. In a neighbourhood full of young families, the quartet rather stood out. Sirius assured Remus that he had taken every possible precaution to prevent anyone from suspecting that he was different.
"The walls are sound proof and any Muggle who looks in the window will just see me reading a book," he grinned at the irony. "I've never lived so near Muggles before. This should be fun."
What he did not find novel was daily household chores. Having grown up with house elves at their beck and call, James and Sirius were completely hopeless at household spells. Peter found himself in the unusual position of having to coach them instead of the other way round.
"You flick your wand like this," he said happily demonstrating for the 11th time.
Sirius wiggled his wand without much success. "I'm beginning to think I'd rather live in a dirty house."
Once the house was made comfortable, they spent many days outside it, trawling through Diagon Alley and making forays into Knockturn Alley, in between filling out forms and resumes to prospective employers. Sirius and James took the whole exercise as a giant lark, applying to every possible post because they had no idea what they wanted to do.
"If we apply to everything, we can see who wants us, and then decide," James explained to Remus, urging him to do the same. Remus knew that he was trying to not to say that he stood a better chance of getting something if he applied for everything. He appreciated that.
An owl hooted, dropping a letter neatly on the letter rack Sirius had haphazardly nailed.
"Lily," James lit up, recognizing the writing. He grimaced slightly as he read the contents. " Dinner with her parents fixed for next week." At Remus' questioning look, he added, "Parents always hate me."
The eddy of emotions swirling around the Evans house was not much smoother than the Lupins although the negative ebb came from only one direction. Being used to magically performing menial tasks, Lily found it difficult to minimize exhibitions of magic around a wary Petunia. One "Accio, cup!" was enough to send her screaming in the opposite direction.
"She'll get over it," their mother said soothingly. "When I was 17, my sister got so mad every time I slid down the banister."
"Sliding down a banister is not quite the same as being a witch," protested Lily.
"Nonsense," said Mrs Evans. "It's the same principle – you need time to work out differences."
"7 years should have been quite enough time," Lily replied rather bitterly. She had harboured hopes, given Petunia's letter, that things would be different this time.
Petunia did thaw somewhat when Lily behaved impeccably in front of Vernon Dursley who had to be the most unimaginative man Lily had ever met. He spent most dinners with the Evans expounding on drills and how to make them. Lily had to search very hard to find something nice to say about him.
"He seems …very solid," she improvised. "Dependable."
Petunia looked delighted. "Isn't he? So different from so many laybouts around today."
"Certainly, no one can call him a layabout," Lily grasped at that straw.
Once, Petunia even inquired about James. Lily was so delighted, she didn't filter her answer.
"No one can be bored around James. He's so full of life, has a great sense of hunour…" Petunia looked alarmed at this description which sounded suspiciously like the no-good mavericks she disapproved of.
"What is he going to work as?" asked Petunia, trying to give James the benefit of the doubt.
"Law Enforcement," replied Lily promptly, guessing that it would mollify Petunia.
"That's very ..normal," her sister commented approvingly.
Mrs Evans, catching the tail end of this conversation, gladly told her husband that time had done the trick.
James was to visit in early August. The day he was due to arrive, Lily woke early, wondering how much she should warn James about her sister. Being a pure-blooded wizard, James couldn't fathom going through life without magic. He had a propensity towards viewing Muggles as fascinating peoiple whose ways he had not quite grasped. Lily was not sure whether he could pass the Petunia yardstick for normality even if he put effort into it.
"You are up early," commented Petyunia, as she walked into the kitchen to find her sister staring out of the window. "Too excited to sleep?"
Lily turned around. " Actually, I was…have been thinking that ..I should warn you, James is probably very different from anyone you have ever met." Freakier than me.
"Of course he is, he's part of your lot," Petunia grimaced. "But he's yours and I'll give him a chance. Truly."
Lily was touched.,"Thanks," she said, reaching out to hug her sister. Over her shoulder, a familiar figure strode up the garden path. "Is that Vernon Dursley?"
Petunia's thin frame stiffened. "I told him we would be in Brighton this weekend. What time is James coming?"
"Noon" Lily answered. "We still have time. Get rid of him, go, I'll stay by the fireplace in case James decided to Floo."
Unfortunately, Vernon was not easy to dislodge. Having ascertained that the Evans were not leaving yet, he proceeded to make himself comfortable in order to spend as much time as possible with Petunia before they separated for the weekend. When a desperate Petunia finally told him that she had mixed up the dates and was actually planning on going the following weekend, a visibly pleased Vernon invited himself to dinner.
Agitated but annoyed at the obtuse Vernon, Lily watched the fireplace and listened out for any sudden 'pops', hoping to intercept James before he made any sudden magical appearances.
10 minutes before noon, a hum of engines became audible. Vernon, sitting on the porch swing with Petunia, looked around for cars but the street was empty. The hum increased steadily.
"What is that sound?" he asked, getting up to peer over the front gate. A black motorcycle appeared, right under his nose. Petunia screamed.
"Smooth landing," James remarked appreciatively, running his fingers through his truly windswept hair.
"You should have seen the one I made in Moony's garden," Sirius grinned. " The pylides Revera planted ended up looking as if they they had been sat on by trolls."
Vernon's eyes popped. Every word was comprehensible but made no sense to him.
Sirius noticed him first. "Hey there, mate. This is where Lily Evans lives, right?"
Vernon merely continued goggling. James misinterpreted the expression on his face as pain.
"Are you alright?" he asked, peering closer. Petunia screamed again and batted an arm in his face.
"They came out of nowhere" Vernon finally bellowed, finding his voice with a vengeance. "One minute the street was empty, and the next…THEY appeared. "
James recalled some of Lily's comments. "Nah, we came right up that road, didn't we, Padfoot?"
"Absolutely," Sirius was quick to catch on.
"No, you didn't!" Vernon yelled. "I saw you..!At least, I didn't see.." His spit sprayed the two wizards as he paused to articulate his thoughts.
"Obliviate," the two decided simultaneously. Lily ran out of the front door just as the spells accurately hit Vernon who toppled over mid-shout. Petunia gave her most horrified shriek yet.
"Quick, get him inside before the neighbours see," Lily hissed. James and Sirius struggled to heave the hefty Vernon to his feet while Petunia began shrilly accusing Lily of murder.
"He'll be alright, really, it's just a Memory Charm," Lily tried to explain to no avail. "Sirius, you'd better go before I wake him."
Exchanging looks with James, Sirius complied. Lily knew that he would thoughtfully wait until he was out of sight before he switched on the Invisibility booster and zoomed towards the sky.
As soon as he was gone, Lily pointed her wand at Vernon. "Enervate."
He woke up with a start "What …What…happened?"
Mr and Mrs Evans came down the stairs, at that precise moment, having missed the commotion entirely. Lily grabbed James' hand and tugged him forward.
"Mother, Father," she said. "This is James Potter."