Disclaimer: Harry Potter, all other characters, and locations, from the Harry Potter books, spells, etc., belong to JK Rowling and the people she licenses to portray them. I don't own them, I merely like them and enjoy playing with them from time to time.
A/N 'Too Much Firewisky…' and '…and a Lack of Potion' beta'd by Jaded Angel8
...and a Lack of Potion
Lily Potter tapped her quill across the boxes of her calendar again, counting the days. She was as regular as a werewolf. She had always been. It was funny, back in school, once she found that Remus Lupin was a werewolf. No wonder he had mood swings just like she did!
She counted the boxes again, then went back to the month before and started counting anew. Seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth...
...twenty-ninth, thirtieth, thirty-first...
Hallowe'en. She bit her lip and continued counting. November first, second, third...
Hallowe'en. When the Order had moved from the cottage in Hogsmeade to the Black home in London, a more central location. James and Sirius had gotten out of that one handily enough, she thought with a scowl. Leave it to the pretty boys to get out of the work...
Hallowe'en. When Lily and new Order member Severus Snape had gone back to the cottage to check for anything which might have been overlooked before flooing to their respective homes; when they had found that bottle of firewhisky hidden in a wall panel near Moody's old corner. 'Just one drink' had turned into 'Another one, for the road' and the two of them had become hopelessly drunk.
Not quite hopelessly. Lily's green eyes shifted toward the parlour where James and Sirius were wrestling about. She and Severus had wrestled...
The quill continued tapping on the calendar. Twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth…
Fourteenth...
There. It should have happened there. Lily took a breath. Sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-second. Today.
"Lily?" James wheedled.
She knew that voice. "What do you want?" she snapped.
"PMS monster," Sirius whooped, making Lily blush.
"Shh! She doesn't like that," whispered James.
"You're damned right I don't! You might sleep with brazen sluts, Padfoot, don't you dare treat me like I'm one of them!"
Silence.
Then, "Think she means Remus?"
"No! I do not mean Remus!"
"I think you'd better fix our lunch," Sirius hissed.
"Yeah."
Lily ignored James as he scooted past her in the hall, pressing closer than he needed to, his hands slipping around her waist. He brushed a kiss along her neck, then he was gone, the kitchen door swinging behind him.
Seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth...
All the way to the fourteenth again. Twenty-nine days, Remus called her Sadie Hawkins, she reflected. Count to the fourteenth, make sure that it's twenty-nine days, count back fourteen.
Hallowe'en.
They had talked about it, of course they had. James even thought he was ready. Just because it wasn't his, that didn't mean she couldn't say it was. He wouldn't know the difference, any more than he would know that it couldn't possibly be his. James was blessedly oblivious to little things like timing.
She turned to the shelf above the sink and picked up the bright pink bottle of Ceridwen's Potion (for the Witch-Not-Ready) and poured it down the sink. Swinging the bottle by its decorative handle, she marched into the kitchen with a smirk on her face.
"James Potter! I believe we have a serious lack of potion!"