Chapter Twelve

DC: I don't own Harry Potter

Remus was tired for a few days, leaving everyone to either play outside, or quietly do something inside while Remus healed up. Lily told James and Sirius about what she saw looking out Dumbledore's window, and Sirius and James exchanged worried glances.

"Well…Lily." James said. "I don't think there are werewolves who dare come out of the forest."

"Yeah, and if they did, someone could kill them or something. They're a little smarter then that." Sirius added.

"Oh…" Lily said. "I saw a deer though! It was a pretty deer too! Oh and the dog looked cool!"

Sirius elbowed James, and James just smiled. At least she thought he was pretty, and he really shouldn't be thinking that at all. She was only four.

And so a few days past, and they were into a week and a half of July. The weather was getting hotter, and it was getting a little unbearable inside Hogwarts. So they decided it was okay to visit Hogsmeade. This was with Dumbledore's permission of course.

"Oh so you have to ask your own Daddy?" Lily asked the three Marauders.

"I…ah…yeah we do have to ask our…dad." Remus replied.

"Are you feeling better, Uncle Remie?" Lily asked.

Remus nodded. "I'm feeling much better. Thanks for asking."

So they got on their shoes, and walked down to Hogsmeade. They first window shopped, and had some ice cream at a nearby parlor. They made a visit to Honeydukes, and got some candy there. Lily made a comment that she really liked this store. It was so sweet, or so she says.

And so, because they ruined their appetite on junky things, they skipped lunch, and headed for The Three Broomsticks.

"Is Lily allowed in here?" Remus asked.

"It's not like we're going to actually get something…like bad…" James said.

"I want a fire whiskey!" Sirius exclaimed.

"No!" Remus and James said.

"What's fire whiskey?" Lily asked.

"A drink." James answered.

"Ooh! I'm thirsty, can I have one?"

"NO!" James and Remus said, again. They turned to Sirius, and Sirius just smiled.

"She takes after me!" Sirius said, teasingly. "I've always wanted a fire whiskey since I was about her age."

"Don't listen to Uncle Sirius right now." James said. "He's a little delusional from the candy."

"Otay!"

"Hey!"

The four of them went inside anyway, and Lily got to meet the young Madam Rosmerta. She had just started the bar a few years back, and was already very popular. At least more popular then Hogs Head was. Or ever was, in truth.

"Oh! I've heard there was a little girl, staying with you, from the witch at One Size!" Rosmerta said. "She's very lovely. Your niece, right Remus?"

"R…right." Remus replied.

Rosmerta left, and Lily noticed the sudden pink that rose to Remus's face. "Hey! You're all glowing!"

"N-no I'm not Lily!" Remus stuttered, hiding his face with his butterbeer mug. "I'm not 'glowing'."

Lily giggled, and took a sip of her juice. She was just a bit to young to have butterbeer, and with the potion that they, 'accidentally', gave her, anything could be left in her system and the butterbeer could have a side effect. I mean it was an unknown drink to her.

"Ahh…but isn't she a cute one?" Sirius asked, to no one in particular.

"Hmm…you can say so…" James said.

"Cute?" Lily said setting her cup down. "I don't think she is."

"Why do you think that?" Remus asked.

"I just don't think she is!" Lily cried.

"Are you jealous?" James asked.

"No." Lily responded. Sirius took a sip of his butterbeer, as Lily added, "I think her chest sticks out too much. That's why!"

Sirius choked, and spit up all in his butterbeer, splashing a lot of it all over the table. James started to laugh uncontrollably, and Remus just sighed and shook his head. Where did she learn things like that?

"Honestly, where did she learn about that?" Sirius asked. He was smiling now, as he cleaned up his mess. "I suppose from her sister, Petunia. She never really was much help."

"I don't know, but we can't ever have her repeat it." Remus answered.

"Yeah, Lily, don't ever say that in front of Madame Rosmerta." James said.

"In front of any girl…" Sirius added.

"Otay." Lily said, finishing the last of her juice.

James paid for their butterbeer, and juice, and they headed back up to Hogwarts. James and Remus started to have a heated discussion about something. Lily wasn't listening much, but she did hear a word that was very…unique. Well she didn't quite hear it right. Remus said something, and then James said something about a fork. Of course Lily misheard it and thought James had said, 'stork'.

This word stuck to Lily, and when they reached Hogwarts they took a little break. This was like a potty break, except only Remus and Sirius needed to go.

James sat with Lily on the Entrance Hall steps. Lily was getting too wondrous about that word, and had to ask about it. But she didn't want to get in trouble for listening in on other people's conversations, so she changed the story a little.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"I heard people talking today, and they said something I didn't understand…so… What's a stork?" Lily asked.

"A stork?" James asked.

Now, as you know, James is a wizard. The stork is a muggle little tale about a bird that delivers babies to families that have always wanted one. But James never really heard the story, but did know the most part of it. But, to make things a little worse, James thought they were called something else.

"The stork?" He asked again. "I don't think it's called that…"

"Then what is it?" Lily asked.

There was a few seconds of silence, before James could actually answer. "I think it's called the Dork."

"Oh…" Lily said. "What is the 'Dork'?"

James gave another few moments of thought, before answering. "The Dork is a…I think a…thief who steals unwanted babies and gives them to unsuspecting mothers… You know. Unsuspecting mothers, who never knew they were going to have any children."

"Oh!" Lily said. "Really? That's a nice thief. Stealing kids so that they'll feel loved."

"He is nice isn't he?" James said with a smile. "I suppose that's the right story…"

"We're back!"

James and Lily looked behind them to see Sirius and Remus. "Why'd you both come out together?"

"Sirius waited for me…" Remus said. "Don't ask, because I don't know."

"Yeah…whatever."

"I'm hungry!"

The three of them looked at Lily. "Are you sure your hungry?" James asked.

"Yep!" Lily said. She lifted her shirt up so they could see her stomach. "It's talking to me."

"It's only three o'clock." Remus said. "Dinners not for another couple of hours."

"Why is dinner so late?" Sirius asked.

"House elves don't really have a schedule during the summer, so they don't have to make dinner so early."

The four of them turned around to see McGonagall. "Hello Grandma!"

"Hello Lily." McGonagall said.

"Hello mother!" Sirius said, wrapping McGonagall into a hug.

"Black, you're touching me."

"But we can't make Lily think you're not our mum." Sirius said, with a smile. He let her go, and McGonagall straightened herself out. "Besides I've always wanted to hug you to see what you would say."

"Have you had too much beer, Uncle Siri?" Lily asked.

Of course Lily forgot the 'butter' with the beer, and McGonagall took it differently.

"You were drinking in front of Lily?" McGonagall asked Sirius.

"Oh!" James said. "No, no. We didn't!"

"Honestly!" Sirius said.

"No really, Pro-- Mum we would never drink in Lily's presence." Remus reassured her. McGonagall felt like she could trust Remus, so she left it at that.

"That was a close one!" James said, when McGonagall was out of earshot.

"Well…it wasn't really. We didn't drink an alcoholic drink in front of Lily." Remus said.

"How do you do that?" Sirius asked. "Everyone can trust Remus, but not us!"

"It's because I'm more of the serious type." Remus said. "I'm a little more responsible."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked.

"You two, from what I remember, got drunk on fire whiskey at Sirius's house." Remus reminded them. "For your seventeenth birthday."

"Yeah, yeah." Sirius said. "Come on we have to do something to keep Lily busy until dinner!"

And so they did. They played hide and seek outside, but not so far apart, played with snitch and a quaffle they nicked from the storage room, and when it got a little too dark, they went inside and played some little games.

Finally dinnertime came, and they were soon all heading to the Great Hall. Lily asked to sit next to her Grandma, and the three Marauders allowed her. Lily wanted to tell McGonagall all she knew about the 'Dork', because she was the only female around at the moment.

"Hello, Lily." McGonagall said, as she took a seat.

"Hello, Grandma!" Lily said. She helped herself, with the help of McGonagall, to her dinner. "I have loads to tell you!"

"Really now?"

Lily made sure none of the guys were listening. Dumbledore was having a heated discussion about something of the sort, and the Marauders were talking as they ate their dinner. Lily took a few bites, and a sip of her drink, before turning back to McGonagall.

"I want to tell you about the Dork." Lily said.

Now McGonagall knew that a dork was a nerdy type person. She also knew that Lily was four, and she often got things mixed up. So she decided to listen on.

"Did you know that a thief, called the Dork, comes to mothers, steals their babies from their mothers, and feed them to their mothers?" Lily asked. She didn't let McGonagall answer, and continued on. "The Dorks' mother is so unsuspected, that she has to eat them, because she doesn't know what to do."

Now as we know, this is not what James had told Lily a few hours before. He, in fact, screwed that story up, and now Lily was telling the story to McGonagall on false information. She also added things in between.

"And who told you this story?" McGonagall asked. "I suppose it was Sirius?"

"Oh no!" Lily said, twirling her fork around. "It was Daddy Jamie."

McGonagall gave James a glance, then smiled. "I'll have a talk with him."

"Why?"

"Because that is nothing like the story." McGonagall said. "And Mr. Potter? Could you listen too?"

This grabbed James, Remus, and Sirius's attention. "The Stork is not the Dork. The Stork gives wanting mothers children. He doesn't steal babies, nor does he eat them, he comes and gives the mothers babies. It's an old Muggle tale."

"Oh…" James said.

"The Dork?" Remus asked. He was partly muggle, so he knew the story. "What were you thinking?"

"And you told that to Lily?" Sirius said with a laugh. "I usually tell Lily things!"

"Yeah well… I'm just going to finish my dinner…quietly." James said.

And so he did. Lily now knew the story of the Stork, and wouldn't mistake it again.

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Hello, Lala Rue here! Sorry I lied! This chapter comes before the week of holidays! I still haven't gotten to that, and with school and such now...it might take a while.

I will have to say, after this fanfic, my creativity will be worn off... I haven't ever had so many stories, which most are still on this computer, and I don't know what to do! Looks like I'll be deleting the ones I know I won't finish... But I did have a sudden burst of energy to write a one-shot called Soul Fryerer. It's Invader Zim, if you'd like to read!

Oh, and sorry for this too, I am finally going to answer that question! I am in fact only Fifteen! I do not have any children, nor do I want any at the moment. I didn't really notice the way I did Lily...hmmm...I guess it would make you think! Maybe it's my own inner child...

Yeah well...I'll update soon, whenever I can get the boost of energy to start writing again...stupid school...

Love, Lala Rue!