Obviously I do not own any of these characters (although I would so love to own a few of them) and the only thing here that is mine is this story. Very short intro, just testing the waters so reviews will decide if I finish it or not. Lyrics on this page by Maroon 5. First fanfic here, so R&R and don't hurt me too much! Enjoy.

2005-09-02

Come What May

And you may not know

That may be all I need

In darkness she is all I see

Come and rest your bones with me

Darkness surrounded him. Had been a lifetime since he fell and he was still falling. Now a pain, wrenching through his body and something solid, colliding with it he felt nothing for a time. And then...voices...

"He looks like shit"

"Shut up Malfoy."

"Make me you little prat."

"All of you, be quiet. Potter...is he...?"

Voices unfamiliar, with names he knew. And then, a shadow fell over him as he opened his eyes. A dementor! He opened his mouth to cry out, but the light fell across the shadow, revealing instead the face of a young women. An oddly familiar woman. She offered a hand, the voices around her ceasing as if they held their breath. He felt himself move, felt his hand take hers, felt his feet suddenly upon the floor. But where was he? The girl still held his hand, and now she spoke. "Welcome back Sirius."

24 Hours Earlier

Lily Potter sat on the floor of her house, sobbing bitterly. Scattered across the floor were pictures of her mum and dad, waving up at her with smiles upon their faces. An empty bottle of fire whisky lay tipped against the hearth and from the looks of things, she had been like this for awhile. Soon a knock came at the door, but she ignored it. From the upstairs, a loathesome noise occured, followed by the shuffling footsteps of a rather ancient and crabby house elf. "That bloodtraitor makes Kreacher want to throw himself in the fireplace. Always making sobbing, and who answers the door? Kreacher, loving Kreacher." The elf muttered, same as always, talking as if no one heard him. "Kreacher teach them all, Kreacher hid the best things in the attic. Away from miserable bloodtraitor, that will teach her. Kreacher knows mudblood and Potter boy would not like this no they wouldn't." He answered the door, looking up at the aged face of Remus Lupin. "Hello Kreacher, up to no good are you?" Kreacher grunted and left the man standing in the doorway. Remus just shook his head, still trying to figure out why Hermione had brought that godawful elf back into this house so many years ago. She always did have a soft spot for him. Even when he tried to poison her.

When he stepped into the living room though, his thoughts turned to the sight of Lily on the floor. Since her parents had died, she had not seemed able to mourn and now suddenly, she could not stop. He wished there was more he could do for her. She did little to recognize his presence, so he moved to sit beside her on the floor. "Hey I remember this picture. That was at Draco and Ginny's wedding. God that boy was a little prat in school. I never thought he would rise above the Malfoy name. " Tossing the picture aside, it revealed a more recent one. In it stood Lily Potter and Remus, and a young boy that could very well have been Draco Malfoy's twin if not for the shock of red hair on his head. Beside him was a short slightly stocky boy that was the spitting image of his father Neville Longbottom. Behind him was a tall girl with golden braids. Monique Weasley, Bill's daughter. She looked more like her mother though, same disarming smile and lustrous locks of hair. But not an ounce of pretense in her eyes as she grinned and waved to the others. Everyone in the picture was laughing and goofing around, it was a graduation picture. The Hogwarts castle loomed in the background. Off to the right of the picture was Hagrid, wreatling with some odd scaly sort of creature. He would occasionally glance up and wave, only to be smacked on the head by a massive black tail. All at once, the whole group minus Remus threw their graduation scrolls up into the air and hugged.

Remus reached to put his hand on Lily's cheek, bringing her gaze to meet his. "I know you miss them sweets, but crying and acting a fool and refusing to see your friends will never bring them back. Now I know Deacon and Clyde came by earlier, and Monique said you slammed the door in her face. I am afraid you have to come out with us, I simply won't allow you to stew here by yourself. And Deacon said if you refuse he will come here and petrify you. And we both know that would be a bad thing." Wiping a tear from her eye, he gave her a gentle hug as she wiped at her eyes.

"I..I..I'm sorry. I have been such a little prat. I...I didn't hurt Mon did I? I just...I woke up two days ago and couldn't stop thinking about them. And Ron...poor Ron. Oh Remus!" She began to sob again, throwing herself into his arms. He just held the girl and stroked her hair gently. There was nothing else to be done. Soon her body stopped shuddering and she pulled back from him. "Of course I will come. I need to clean up, get a shower. Kreacher!" She shouted at him as she stood, offering Remus a hand. He stood as well, dusting his pants as the cranky old elf came into the room. " Kreacher heard missus bellow, what does missus want now? Perhaps for Kreacher to stick his head into the fire and make her laugh?" Lily just poohpooh'd him and rolled her eyes at Remus. "He gets meaner and more stubborn every year. I swear I cannot understand why mun brought him back from Hogwarts." Attention back to the elf now glaring at her, she spoke in a rather condescending tone. " Please make some tea for Mr. Lupin. And you may not put anything in it but tea ingredients. And cleaning liquid is NOT an ingredient of tea. Only tea, water and honey. Or milk if he prefers. And not any of that nasty spoiled milk. Do you hear me Kreacher? Don't walk away when I am talking to you." She charged after the elf still shouting at him and Remus laughed. Guessing that old thing was better company for Lily than she realized.

Within an hour Lily re-emerged from the upstairs looking much better than when she went up. Her hair was wet still, long unruly black tresses. Got those from both parents. She had put on her favourite muggle jeans and a pair of old faded tee that Remus would have sworn belonged to Malfoy. He could be wrong though, but perhaps one of her friends had managed to visit after all. Hmm.

He stood, patting a grumbling Kreacher on the head, just to piss him off a bit. Sirius would have been proud. She smiled sheepishly at him, tugging that mop of hair into a ponytail as she hopped down the last two steps. "Alright Kreacher, no fires and no stealing my things...and you may NOT leave the house. Period." She smiled, linking her arm with Lupin's as they left #12 Grimmauld Place.