The next few days were bright and warm, just like the last weeks of a summer holiday should be; and most of the students who would be returning to Hogwarts on the first of September spent their time sunning themselves outdoors enjoying their last few days of freedom. Most, but not all.
The early afternoon sun beat down on the busy streets of Diagon Alley. The streets were packed with children running up and down, laughing and shouting to one another, ice creams dripping over sticky fingers and leaving scattered trails as they went. The wide-eyed children and parents of Muggles new to the Wizarding world stared in slack-jawed amazement as a small boy zoomed past on a tiny broom, hotly pursued by a screaming sister, red faced with the heat.
"Octavius, come back here this instant!"
Florian Fortesque's was full to bursting, every available seat and wall space outside his brightly coloured ice cream parlour was packed with customers clutching brightly coloured cones or glass bowls filled with delicious sundaes.
Lily had been here every day since her break up with James. There was something comforting about the familiarity of the place; the sweet sticky smell of melting ice cream and the faint smell of smoke that marked passers-by as having travelled by Floo; the scattered jangling of bells that told of the exit and entrance of customers through familiar doorways and the constant stream of chatter.
The wide-brimmed hat she wore over her brightly coloured hair, which was tucked neatly into a small bun at the nape of her neck, shaded both her head from the sun, and her face from passers-by. Instead of her usual Muggle clothes she wore long Wizarding robes in a light beige colour. They were nondescript enough for her purposes.
Although she did spend much of her day wandering the streets and browsing through the shops, Lily also spent much of her day sat in the various pubs and cafes that were around. She would sit unobtrusively in a corner and take out a large notebook and a tattered, leather-bound tome. Under the pretence of quiet study she would listen around her and to what the patrons of the various establishments were saying to one another. The note-book was for scribbling in and trying to make sense of the fragments of gossip that she heard.
Lily had long since given up on using The Prophet as a reliable method of gathering information about what was going on in the Wizarding world and she could learn practically nothing from her Muggle home in the suburbs. More and more she realised that if she were to be in touch with every thought of the world she was sworn to protect, she needed to be here, in the heart of things. How else would she hear the rumours of missing heirs and gossip about infighting in the Ministry? And whilst the content itself was important and necessary, or near equal importance was the ability it gave her to gauge the general feeling of the Wizarding public to everyday news and events. Her long years as a listener and observer of people had given her a set of skills that she had never realised before and ones she intended to make use of.
Mostly what this boiled down to was a need to move out of home. On some of her longer walks Lily had explored the meandering side streets that lead to residential areas. Upmarket houses cloistered away from view by bushy hedges that sprang up higher when she tried to see in to slanted flats which seemed cobbled together from whatever shapes of brick came to hand and long rows of terrace houses with blooming window boxes of pansies and marigolds. She wasn't yet sure of the type of residence she wanted. Something not too secluded so that she would be able to integrate herself into the local community, but something that gave her a level of privacy that would be needed for all her erratic comings and goings once she left Hogwarts.
Leaving Hogwarts, now there was a thought that seemed more a distant possibility rather than an impending certainty however much she had begun to plan for the future. Hogwarts was home in a way that nowhere else could ever be. It was the place where she had learned that she wasn't alone, that she had a world where she belonged and was no longer a freak. A place that had granted her friends and a purpose.
Lily sighed and looked at the street sign posted on the corner of the next road, 'The Beeches'. Turning, Lily's eyes were drawn to the small grassy island that lay towards the end of the wide, tree lined cul-de-sac. Three tall beech trees stretched out over the grass beneath, serene and peaceful. Facing the trees across the road were four walled compounds rather like little courts.
Pausing at the first she looked through one of the gated archways at the front. In the centre lay what looked like a small village green. On three sides, left, right and behind stood rows of houses. At the front where she stood a series of long red-brick arches paraded across the front boxing it off in a large rectangle.
Walking to the next block, 'Summer Court' she found the iron gate stood open and wandered through. In the middle of the green in Summer Court stood a tall wooden pergola. Bright purple clematis wound their way up the pale wood to the roof, tangling with the dusky shades of honeysuckle dripping from the guttering. Long benches with plump cushions held peaceful looking women, lounging as they talked to one another, handheld fans fluttering. Clusters of small children ran together around the lawn playing some kind of game while another older group sat beneath the shade of a leafy tree talking together in a slightly noisier parallel of their mothers' in the pergola.
To her right Lily also spotted an older couple, walking along the gravelled boarders of the green arm in arm. She smiled and looked up at the houses around, thinking she may very well have found the place she was looking for.
The red-brick buildings rose to three-stories on all sides, sandstone edging windows and framing doorways. Smoke rose from most of the chimneys and lattice windows stood ajar showing glimpses of the rooms within. Low hedging ran between the small strips of garden outside each house. She supposed that there was little need for front gardens with the leafy green on their doorstep. A few doors stood wedged open and as she trod the gravel walkways she glanced down the hallways to see through to gardens at the back, little patios and herb gardens, bubbling fountains and flowering arbours.
"Excuse me, Miss?"
She turned to see a middle-aged man wearing a dark green robe that looked rather like a uniform.
"May I help you?" His tone was polite and civil, but left her in no doubt that he knew she was trespassing.
Lily flushed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I'm looking for a new home, and-"
"What's going on, Lawrence?" One of the ladies had left the pergola and was making her way towards them across the grass. She was well into her middling years but her smooth face was still beautiful. Long brown tresses the colour of freshly tilled soil were pinned artfully to tumble from her head and her spring green robes were cut to display a trim figure. "Who is this young lady?" She had a speculative set to her eyes as looked at Lily that she didn't quite know how to take.
Putting her best foot forwards, Lily smiled what she hoped was her most winning smile and held out her hand, "My name's Lily- Lily Evans."
The hand that took hers was cool and soft, level brown eyes held the same measuring look, "Breeya Moran."
"There's no need for you to bother yourself with this, my lady." Lawrence said, an anxious frown creasing his brow as he bobbed his head deferentially, "I was just seeing to the young lady myself."
"It's alright, Lawrence," a raised hand halted his explanations. Breeya's gaze didn't flicker towards the man in the slightest. Her eyes were fixed unwaveringly upon Lily, who did her best not to shift uncomfortably. Dismissing the attendant she said, "Your name sounds familiar to me," she paused pursing her lips briefly, "what are you, seventeen?"
Lily nodded, "Yes, Lady Moran, eighteen this October."
Breeya gave the slightest shake of her head, a light smile touching her lips, "Mrs Moran will do. I've no claim to nobility."
Seeing that the situation was in hand, Lawrence decided not to hover any longer and headed back to his post, nodding to a familiar pair as they crossed under the archway to the courtyard.
"Mother, are you quite sure I'll need all this?" Remus titled his head in the direction of his armful of books and papers. The brown bags shifted uncomfortably as he tried to get a better hold. Mrs Lupin held the rather obstinate opinion that despite all proof to the contrary Remus would one day develop an unparalleled skill in potions and come up with a cure to his lycanthrope. In accordance with this, every year she would buy all the most recent publications on the matter and the most advanced texts on the theory and practice of potions. It didn't seem to matter to her that her son hadn't studied the subject since his OWLS.
Mrs Lupin smiled absently at her son and patted his head fondly before adjusting the large floppy brimmed hat that sat atop her head. An attentive but somewhat absent minded mother, Lavander Lupin possessed the kind of unflappable calm that only came with the kind of mind that simply didn't hear things that had the potential to rock her otherwise peaceful existence.
Remus sighed and squinted as the sun shone in his eyes. He crossed the courtyard half a step behind his mother, his mind running through the jumbled and somewhat confused letter he'd received from Sirius this morning. It seemed his friend was finding it rather trying living with the Potters since coming back from holiday. As far as he could tell (or rather as far as Sirius had told him) there had been some kind of huge fiasco their last night which had resulted in not only the break-up of James and Lily, but James had also fallen out with his sister. Neither of whom were talking to James, making for one grumpy and put-out teenager.
Sirius had written- well scrawled was more accurate- a plea of help to ask if he could come and stay with Remus. Apparently there was only so much of, "Sirius, can you ask Saffron to pass me the salt" he could stand. He had made little to no mention of how things were going with him and Saffron, which Remus had taken to mean that either he'd mustered the courage to speak to the girl and she'd turned him down leaving him too mortified to tell anyone, or that he'd got himself caught in the crossfire somehow and found himself rapidly going down in favour with Saffron. Either way, the news about that can't have been good or he'd have heard about it. Sirius had never been one to hold back on the sharing/gloating front.
Remus had found himself feeling ashamedly pleased about the whole thing. It wasn't that he enjoyed the thought of his friends feeling miserable- far from it. It was just that he missed the days when it was just the four of them. Just the Marauders roaming round the castle by night, stifling back laughter as they squashed into yet another closet to avoid yet another teacher. In recent months things had just been different with the girls around. He liked them both, he really did, but well, Remus just hadn't been able to quash the childish yearning for the way things used to be.
All of which left him feeling guilty. Guilty for being so obviously selfish, guilty for feeling pleased when James was clearly feeling miserable and guilty for harbouring the secret hope that James and Sirius wouldn't be able to resolve the situation anytime soon. Guilt wasn't really a new emotion to Remus, he'd admitted to himself on more than one occasion he had a tendency to heap undeserved guilt upon himself (something that happened with a wearing regularity when you seemed to be the only Marauder cursed with any modicum of conscience), but this time he really did feel that he might deserve to feel it.
So Remus couldn't help feeling that there was something that vaguely resembled karma at work in the universe when he recognised (with some surprise) Lily, talking uncomfortably with his mother's friend Mrs Moran. He wondered if he could somehow manage to redeem her relationship with James whether it might balance the guilt scales a little. He only hoped that it wasn't going to be as painfully awkward as he feared.
"You can't be serious, Breeya!"
Breeya Moran frowned at her friend over the rim of her china teacup. Down the bottom of the garden she could hear the delighted screams of her youngest, Keeley, playing hide and seek with Remus and his young friend Lily. When she had realised that the two were good friends she had extended the afternoon tea invite to the girl, it was simply the polite thing to do. And nothing to do with the turmoil of emotions she could feel churning in her stomach.
"Why ever not, Lavender?" she replied, keeping her voice level. "The house has been lying vacant for over three years. The girl would come with excellent references; she's about to be made head girl, her grades are among the highest in her year- what better influence could I ask for Keeley?"
Breeya Moran sat on the board of governors for the school and as such had been privy to information concerning decisions made about school appointments, even down to student positions.
Lavender shook her head, "Breeya don't be so deliberately obtuse. It isn't like you." At Breeya's quickly masked defiant look she sighed, "At the end of the day, the decisions you make about who you rent that place to are up to you. But before you make any rash decisions, consider. This 'girl' as you call her is the spitting image of Eithne at that age. What do you imagine your mother will say when-"
Breeya's saucer rattled loudly as she set her cup down with a jolt. "Enough." Her tones were clipped and measured, "Do not think me…blind… to the similarities between Lily and Eithne. Mother will understand more than you think. And you heard the girl, she needs a place to live."
"But why here? If you need to do something to appease your conscience why don't you just help her to-"
"Lavender!"
The woman, shocked into silence, stared at Breeya as she rose, icily calm. "I thank you for your concern, but this is a family matter and will be dealt with as such." By the shuttered look in her friend's eyes Lavender could see she'd gone too far.
"I'm sorry, Breeya- I only meant-"
"It was so nice of you to visit, do give my regards to Marcus." The very picture of poise and civility, at that moment Breeya Moran could have seemed to a causal observer to be just as much an impartial acquaintance as Lavender's friend of over 30 years.
Giving an inward sigh, Lavander got to her feet and bowed her head slightly in a gesture of remorse, "Thank you for having us round, Breeya. I hope to see you next Wednesday at mine." It was more a question than anything.
"I shall try." Was the polite response.
As she walked down the path to collect her son, Lavender reflected that although her advice could hardly have been seen to be well received, she had tried. Breeya had always been the most stubborn person she had ever met and if she decided something she would stick to it come hell or high water. She still didn't think that asking Lily Evans whether she would be interested in renting the corner house that stood empty awaiting Keeley's coming of age would be a wise decision, but it really was none of her business. She had said her piece and her duty to her friend was done.
"Remus?" She peered round the corner of the rose trellis to see him sat with Lily on a long plank swing, young Keeley Moran sat at their feet making a daisy chain. As she watched the six year old turned her face towards the older girl, open adoration on her face as she held up the slightly wilted offering, innocent eyes awaiting praise. "Remus dear, I'm afraid it's time to go home."
Sat upstairs in his room under the pretence of looking through his text books for next year, Remus reflected that he'd actually had a nice afternoon with Lily. Well after the initial awkwardness. He glanced outside to the muted dusk, idly watching a large moth batter itself futilely at the glass pane.
Remus's room was split into two parts. Presently he was in his thinking room, as he thought of it. Separated from his main bedroom by a password protected door, Remus's thinking room was a mirror of his own character. Dark wood shelves held alphabetised collections of fiction and non-fiction books, all neatly ordered. One wall, comprised entirely of shelves from top to bottom held all his 'interesting' things. Everything from a matchbox containing the first match he'd ever transfigured perfectly into a pin to the remains of Sirius's broom that he'd destroyed in the third year by crashing into the spire atop the astronomy tower (he hadn't been hurt, but how he had howled when James's broom escaped with only several snapped twigs!). Sat on the lowest shelf was Poseidon, the Grindylow they had spent the entire night trying to catch the night before their last OWL exam.
Peter had been against the idea from the start. He wasn't a very strong swimmer and had that anxious frown on his face whenever he glanced towards his Charms book, which Remus knew from experience to mean that he didn't feel prepared. Of course it was difficult to feel confident about anything with brains like James and Sirius around. Though, to his credit, Sirius had sat down for about twenty minutes while James ran around the room collecting the Grindylow catching equipment and tried to help Peter. Sirius's idea of helping had been to rattle off a list of Charms that would have made a seventh year gape with James calling out the odd addition from the bottom of his wardrobe. Peter's eyes had widened like saucers and had stared at Sirius until he laughed and clipped Peter round the shoulder.
"Don't worry, Wormtail-what do you need a bit of paper to tell people you're good at Charms for anyway?" He leaned back against the pillows behind him and grinned, "Besides, even if you do fail everything you can always come and live with me and Jamesie. You'll be the uncle who always gets saddled looking after the children- I expect James'll have about fifteen kids, each one with hair and eyesight problems!"
He ducked as James's pillow was launched in his direction.
"Of course, you couldn't be the favourite uncle- that'll be Moony. He'll be the eccentric one with a large pipe who shuffles round in slippers all the time."
Remus grimaced, "Anticipating me becoming a doddering old fool rather quickly aren't you?"
"Why don't I get to be the favourite uncle?"
Swinging off the bed with the boundless energy so particular to Sirius, he accepted an odd looking assortment of things from James. "Because Peter, this is how the world works. James is our fearless leader and I'm the charisma, humour and muscle-"
("Muscle!" James hooted with laugher)
"- Remus is the boring sensible and slightly pouffy one-"
("Hey!" interjected Remus)
"-and you Peter-"
"-Are the tag-a-long," he interrupted glumly.
"Yes, the tag-a-long," Sirius agreed brightly.
"Sirius!" James frowned, elbowing the boy sharply in the ribs, "You're not the tag-a-long, Peter! You're just as much part of the team as Sirius is- and a far less annoying one. How would we get past the Whomping Willow without you?"
Poseidon glared angrily at Remus across the room. Last weekend when Peter had stayed over he'd suggested they find a mate for Poseidon as he looked lonely. Privately Remus just thought the creature looked grumpy at living in a large fish tank for over a year. But despite what people always said about him seeing things others didn't, Peter was more perceptive than people gave him credit for. And was a much easier house guest than either of the dynamic duo.
He'd sent off the family owl when they got back from the Morans. It carried his reply to Sirius, saying that he could come and stay in a week. Remus had tried telling himself that the delay would be good for the three of them, give them a chance to patch things up. But really he knew that he just wanted a break from Sirius's exuberance. He loved Sirius like a brother, but there was such a thing as too much Sirius, and Remus appreciated time to himself.
The other marauders where the brothers he'd never had. His parents had planned to have more children, but after he'd been bitten they resolved not to have any more. It was too much of a danger. They didn't have to say it, but he knew all the same. Remus would have liked to have had an older brother; someone who would look out for him and do all the things that older siblings are supposed to go like share exam tips and tease him about girls.
His mother had made some less than subtle remarks about Lily on the way home that he had borne with his usual patience. Talking to Lily again had been like…like meeting a friend you hadn't seen for months. Since she and James had started dating Remus hadn't really spent that much time with Lily. It hadn't been deliberate, but things had always been slightly strained between the two of them and both had occasionally avoided the other.
Remus hadn't even realised it until Lily had hesitantly brought up the subject. They had been sitting together drinking tea with the two older women making awkward conversation about the news and the weather; anything to avoid discussion about what had happened in Greece.
"Remus," Lily tapped a finger nervously against the side of her teacup, "can I ask you something?"
He nodded cautiously.
She cast a quick glance at the adults to check they were still in deep conversation about a mutual friend. "After our… relationship… ended, did you feel…I mean, were things…awkward?"
"Awkward?"
"Yeah, you know, like that time at the Quidditch stands when James, Saffron and Sirius were practicing together and Peter had to leave to see a teacher…"
He did remember. There had been this awful silence that had seemed to stretch for ages, the two of them suddenly finding an interest in Quidditch and watching their friends diving and swerving round the pitch without really watching at all.
Remus winced slightly at the memory and nodded again.
Lily heaved a small sigh of relief, "I thought it had just been me! Why was it like that?"
"I don't know," he shrugged, "I suppose it was just…" he held up his hands unable to think of anything.
She gave a short laugh, "You see! That's exactly it, all this time I've been wondering if there was any reason why things should have been like that, and there never was! Meg always used to say it was because secretly you still liked me," she shot a quick look at him.
"No," he shook his head, "not like that, I mean, I do like you- just not in that way."
Lily smiled, a warm, genuine smile from a very pretty girl that made him wonder for a moment if he had meant what he'd just said.
"Would you like to go to lunch sometime? I know you're James's friend, but I'd like to think you were mine too."
It was as near to talking about the situation with her and James as they went. Remus wondered whether James would be angry about him meeting up with his ex for lunch tomorrow. Partly Remus thought he would, but then again James would have to learn that Lily was a free agent now and could do anything she liked. Besides, it wasn't like he was going to put a move on her.
Unable to sleep Saffron padded silently down the hall. A cool draft swept along the corridor and she shivered, rubbing her hands over her bare arms. It had been dark for several hours in the Potter household. James and Sirius had fallen asleep unusually early after a full day of swimming and Quidditch. But Saffron was restless.
Her day had been spent doing a last check of all her assignments and taking notes of the first few chapters of her new text books. It was something she did every year, familiarising herself with the material so that when they actually came to study it she'd be free to pursue other, more interesting angles to the subject. It had even taken her mind of her parents' absence.
It was almost a week since they'd all returned from Greece and she could count the number of times she'd seen her parents on one hand. Usually it was late at night, or early in the morning when one or the other would turn up looking harassed and stressed. Of course neither of them had said anything substantial about what was going on, but Saffron knew something was up.
James was still trying to pretend that everything was normal. She'd not spoken to him- or rather he'd not spoken to her, since their argument at the villa and he seemed determined to carry on the way he had been. He'd always had that stubborn streak. He and Sirius had spent almost every day outside, turning up occasionally to eat. Sirius had tried speaking to her on one or two occasions when James wasn't around but it had never lasted for long. The moment James turned up his eyes would slide to James and take on this guilty look as if by taking to her he'd crossed some kind of friendship code.
Saffron crept round the corner to where her parents room lay and sighed when she saw the door still wide open. A shaft of muted light shone through the window onto the neatly made bed. Turning she headed towards the stairwell, the light patter of her slippered feet and occasional squeak of the stairs accompanying her descent. Without any real hope of finding them she wandered through the downstairs rooms ending her fruitless search in the kitchen.
Sinking down onto the worn rug beside the dying remains of the fire she picked up the poker and thrust it into the embers, bright sparks of amber flashing in the darkness. She wished Lily had answered her letters. Saffron supposed that she must be really busy. If things with her parents were anything to go by then the Huntress probably had a lot to do at the moment. She knew it was selfish to miss her friend when she was off doing much more important things but she was lonely and, if she was honest to herself, afraid. Afraid of what it was that kept her parents out night after night.
School would be starting again in two weeks. Saffron wondered if things would continue as they had started. It hurt that James didn't want to be her friend anymore and Sirius, well, his first loyalty would always be to her brother. Peter and Remus would fall in with James too and Lily was going to be busy doing whatever it was the Huntress did, and she…
Saffron hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin onto her knees, gazing into the warm glow of the small fire. What was she? The Marauders had always been part of her life since the first year. She's spent as much time with them as her other friends. And Lily, well for almost a year Lily had been the person after James who she was closest too. Meg and Amy, her other two year mates were nice girls and she did like them. But before Lily her best friend had been Rhiannon Prince. She had left Hogwarts as Saffron began her sixth year. It had never really seemed that strange to her that her friend was over two years older than her. They'd been friends since they were tiny. Some of her earliest memories were of playing in the Prince's back garden. Rhiannon had a twin brother, Everard, and another brother, Dorian, who was in the year above her and James and all five of them used to play in the large tree-house that dominated their garden.
When James was eight he met Sirius at the twin's tenth birthday party. At first they regarded each other with a wary kind of interest. Neither were very alike and from what she could remember of Sirius at that age she didn't really know how the two of them became so close. Either way the two of them developed the kind of exclusivity that left little room for a younger sister. Rhiannon had taken the young Saffron under her wing and their friendship had blossomed.
She'd been in regular contact with Rhiannon via letters since she left, but it had been a long time since she'd seen her. Last she had heard the new newspaper Rhiannon had started was doing well. Saffron had even been able to buy the latest edition in Florish and Blotts. Rhiannon had even promised her a job there once Hogwarts was over if she wanted it.
Saffron had always had close friendships, always chosen to surround herself with a few people who she could share heart and soul with. That was the way she liked things. But now, as she sat alone by the fire, she idly wondered what it would be like if those friendships were lost to her. Because she'd never really been alone and the prospect terrified her.
"And you're sure about this, Devon?" The man once known as Tom Riddle didn't turn from where his tall figure was outlined against the moonlight streaming in through the window.
"Quite sure, Master." The young man called Devon smiled, a malicious almost gleeful expression.
"And you, Armand?"
"Oh, yes." Armand Lestrange glanced once more at the pile of photographs on the desk that he was lounging against. "Without a doubt." He picked one of them up from the pile and his mouth twisted into a smirk, "And count me in on this one, Devon."
Lord Voldemort waved a vague sign of dismissal, "That young witch is going to learn that no-one says no to me without consequences."
The two men bowed respectfully and left swiftly. They had orders to pass on.
To be continued….
A/N: (Just realised that document uploader removes all my asterisks marking scene or character changes- sorry about that to those who found it confusing last time, hope the ruler lines help!)
That's the end of 'The Moonlit Ones'. The sequel 'New Moon Rising' should be up and slowly running in less than a week. I already have the first chapter almost done just needs a few adjustments. Thanks so much for all your support and kind words, guys! It's thanks to you that I've received over 850 reviews and am on over 200 favourites lists- you guys rock!
I will be doing a summary at the beginning of 'New Moon Rising' so you have a chance to recap the basics of what's happened during 'The Moonlit Ones'. I'm quite excited about 'New Moon Rising' actually- there are some huge new storylines and characters headed your way as well which are much darker than they have been so far.
As you're all such nice people I'm going to post one more short chapter as a cookie of an extract from Chapter 1 of 'New Moon Rising'
Thanks again my dear reviewers, hope you join me in the sequel!
xxx