Heather Shacklebolt.

Aldwin Fawcett.

Nick Boot.

Those were the names written on the little gold plaque in the grave yard at Hogsmeade. Lily couldn't say she knew any of them well — Heather the best because you don't go through seven years of schooling with someone without finding out a little bit about them. Aldwin Fawcett and Nick Boot, well she'd never even met them. All she knew about them was that they were in the Order and they died fighting for what was right. Fawcett's twin sisters, Abigail and Valerie, were also in the Order and they were saddled with grief — it had been their idea for the plaque once Emmeline and Dorcas had started the idea of a memorial. Separate funerals had been held, each of the three being buried in their hometowns, but the sisters had thought it would be nice to commemorate them together since they had died together, fighting the same cause.

Cecilia Paris, Heather's best friend for the last eight years, stood with Lisa Pinnock with tears streaming down their faces. Lisa who didn't join the Order because she'd been afraid of exactly this. Lily didn't know everything there was to know about Heather. She knew Heather hooked up with a Seventh Year when they were in Fourth and for two years in a row Heather broke up with her boyfriends just after Valentine's Day. She knew Heather liked to gossip and she was an average student who went all out for class presentations. She knew Heather was a lightweight drinker and loved Quidditch. That was the list of things Lily knew about Heather Shacklebolt. Only six.

She knew even less about Fawcett and Boot but they were people who died at the hands of evil terrorism. People who hadn't deserved to die and that was enough for a tear to escape.

"You okay?" James murmured in her ear, sliding his hand into hers.

She brushed aside the tear, "I'm being stupid. I didn't even know them."

James brushed aside her hair with his free hand and pressed a kiss to her temple, his hand resting under her cheek. "Let's go home," he whispered and she nodded because she didn't think she could take anymore of this sadness that didn't belong to her.

"Tea, Alice? Frank?" Ella asked as Sirius settled at the table. Alice and Frank were sitting opposite him at the little four seater that sat in their kitchen.

"That would be lovely, thanks."

"Yeah, I could go for one," Alice agreed.

"Could I grab a tea too, babe?" It had been a long day and a longer week for everyone, Sirius was sure but he was also sure that his week had been longer.

Ella pointedly slammed three mugs onto the table, proving Sirius' point and he sighed, muttering, "I guess not."

This was night six of sleeping on the couch and the silent treatment. The silent treatment followed after a big blow out the night of the Burlington Arcade Attack, a blow out Sirius didn't have energy for at the time. Most girlfriends would have just been glad he was alive. Not Ella. She kissed him and then slapped him so hard he thought he heard his jaw crack. Was it really so terrible that he didn't want his pregnant girlfriend at a fatal battle? He didn't understand why he was the one receiving the silent treatment when she was the one being unreasonable.

Ella sat stiffly next to Sirius and he rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to sit and play nice when she couldn't even make him a cup of freaking tea. He stood up.

"I think I'm going to go."

Ella said nothing or did nothing. Alice and Frank said polite goodbyes and Sirius grabbed his bike from the hallway and was out the door within thirty seconds. Ella would have something to say about it later undoubtedly. She would say that he'd been rude and make some sly comment about him leaving.

As he wheeled his bike onto the street, he jumped on and didn't think twice about where to head. Using the time in the air to think away all his frustrations, when Sirius landed the bike in front of Seaside Estate he was in a better mood. He strolled right in and noted the empty house. Euphemia and Fleamont seemed to be nowhere and neither did James and Lily. Sirius headed upstairs and — oh no.

"… weren't thinking! This is betrayal, absolute betrayal! How could you!" Lily's voice floated through the corridor.

"Okay, I think you are being slightly melodramatic!"

"You're the one who is in love with her!"

Sirius frowned, surely James didn't … he wouldn't. He's not that smart or dumb … right? And he would've told Sirius, wouldn't he? He paused in the corridor. He couldn't interrupt that so instead he headed back downstairs and sat in the kitchen where Sprinkle served him some ice cream with cake.

"Is Mister Sirius feelings well?" Sprinkle asked. "Mistress Mia is taking Master Monty to Diagon Alley. She is saying that Master Monty cannot be hiding his scars forever."

"Good for Monty," Sirius said and just as he was about to ask Sprinkle for love advice, he heard Lily and James.

"For god's sake James, owl her back and say we've changed our minds."

"I — but—"

"Her or me?" Lily asked and then.

"Sirius?" James exclaimed.

"What does — oh, Sirius, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Moping. Why are you two fighting?"

"None of you business," Lily quipped, summoning a spoon and sticking it into Sirius' ice cream, taking a bite.

"Oi!"

"Well, if you stopped moping around here and went home, I wouldn't steal your ice cream."

"It's a bit icy at home at the moment, I might catch frostbite from Ella's wrath."

"You could just apologise," James suggested.

"I'm not apologising for protecting her and, I feel everyone forgets this part, The Baby."

James sighed, "Mate, we get where you were coming from but…"

"But you stole her wand and left her abandoned in a baby store."

"And she survived."

"You made her feel left out."

Sirius snorted. "Left out? It was a battle not a night out at the pub. She didn't miss out on the latest hot topic."

"Yes but she's the pregnant one. I'm pretty sure if the roles were reversed, you wouldn't have been happy about being left behind either."

"She didn't agree to stay behind, Sirius, you forced her hand," Lily said softly. "That's why you need to apologise."

"If the collateral damage of me keeping her and the baby safe was hurting her feelings then that's fine by me because, you know what? At the end of the day, she isn't dead and neither is my baby."

James and Lily glanced at each other and Sirius snapped his fingers to get their attention. "Oi, don't do that. Don't have your own private conversation. I'm standing right here and it's rude."

"Like interrupting a perfectly nice day with moping isn't," Lily muttered.

"Oh, I'm sorry I'm going through a crisis."

"A crisis you're only going through because you refuse to apologise," James pointed out.

"I kept her out of danger! How am I the bad guy?"

"You're not a bad guy. Obviously, Ella was wrong to try to come to Burlington but she admitted that and yet you still wouldn't apologise for what you did."

"Okay, here's an apology, ahem, 'I'm sorry that I didn't have three hours to convince you to see it my way so instead I took your wand and apparated out and when the battle was over you agreed with me that you shouldn't have gone to the battle and yet you still expect an apology. Sorry.' There, an apology."

"Great, now say it to her," James suggested.

"Add a bit more feeling," Lily added.

Sirius' mouth dropped open. "You seriously think that's a good apology?"

"A good apology? No, it was snarky as hell. How you feel? Yes," Lily said. "Just soften it up a bit and explain. Apologies don't have to mean you're in the wrong. It means you did something you shouldn't have. Now, stop eating ice cream and buck the fuck up."

It had been an awkward thing to ask of someone you mostly knew on only a professional level but she was in charge of recruiting, so she was recruiting. She decided to start with Maria rather than Steven because she'd always been more suspicious, more ready to fight. She had a fire that Marlene recognised in a lot of people at the Order so she asked if Maria would come to a memorial.

The memorial had been organised by the Order — Emmeline and Dorcas had suggested it — and almost everyone was in attendance at a random pub in muggle London. It was an awful event. The Fawcett sisters were tearfully sharing stories about their little brother to whoever was sitting next to them. Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had also fought at Burlington and lost his little sister Heather, was getting piss drunk with the Prewett twins, who looked sick at the thought that it could have been their own little sister — hell, Marlene thought, it could have and would have been Gideon who died if she hadn't been there.

"How do you know those people that died? And why are so many different people here?" Maria asked looking around the muggle pub at all the different people who'd attended the memorial of three seemingly unconnected people.

Marlene breathed in deep before starting. "I know the people that died because I was with them when they died. A lot of people in this room were. We work with an … organisation that fights against You-Know-Who. We were sent to Burlington to help the muggles because we heard about an attack. It was a nasty fight and we were lucky only three of us died, the muggles were worse off but we saved a lot of them."

"You were at the … that's why you never came back for lunch that day! But sent? By who?"

"Professor Dumbledore." Marlene shifted closer to Maria. "This is Dumbledore's organisation and it's called the Order of The Phoenix. We want you to join."

"You want me to — oh." Maria sat in stunned silence for a minute before smiling. "Will you tell me about talking patronuses now that I'm the newest member of your super secret rebellion?"

Marlene almost laughed. "You'll learn all about it, I promise but Maria, think this through, okay? It's — this will affect your life. You could get injured or worse killed and you put everyone you love at risk."

Maria put a comforting hand on Marlene's. "I'm already a muggle-born, how much more at risk could I be? I want to fight. I want my kids to not have to deal with the prejudices that we did growing up. I want it to be okay to take just as much pride in my muggle heritage as people take in their magical ones. I want to wear muggle clothes without being stared at and to talk about muggle books and songs and just things without being looked down on. I want to solve a problem in a non-magic way and not be accused of 'my muggle showing'. I want to fight, Marlene."

Maria's words almost had Marlene in tears because her words hit home so accurately that it hurt. She blinked her tears away and nodded, sliding over a piece of paper. "All you need to know for the next meeting is on that. Read it quickly."

Maria unfolded the paper and read the words as soon as she looked up the paper burst into flames and Maria flinched. "What the hell?" she exclaimed.

"We can never be too careful. Make sure you remember the details."

Maria opened her mouth but nothing came out, her mouth formed an 'o'.

"You won't be able to speak about specific information about the Order. Dumbledore's the secret keeper."

Maria stared at her in awe. "I've never seen the Fidelius Charm in use."

"You better get used to it. Now, I have something I need you to do," Marlene said pulling something out of her pocket.

"A coke bottle?" Maria raised her brow. "But that's not coke."

"It's a potion, a vaccine to a deadly potion that You-Know-Who may try to use against people. We need to spread this to as many people as possible."

"Jesus, Marlene, this isn't even a litre!"

"You only need a drop for each person. Slip it to your family. Slip it to your friends and patients! I've already started at the hospital but it's so large and I'm only on the fifth floor lately."

"Why don't we just drop it in the water system then?"

"Because it may affect surgeries and medicines. We have to be careful when giving this to patients, some medicines will react badly to the ingredients. The ingredients are on the back, we modified the label."

Maria turned the bottle over and said, "neat."

"Are you okay to do this? It's an important job and the hospital, well it's a good place to start. Patients, their families and friends come to visit."

"Yeah, it's a good plan … but can I just ask, why a coke bottle?"

Marlene laughed. "Our potioneer was improvising. We wanted to give a bit of it to everyone in the Order so they can slip it to others but a potions vial or flask is hardly enough for each Order member to cover as many people as they know. We've got people slipping this into the Ministry, into Hogwarts, into Diagon Alley, into Hogsmeade. And into St Mungo's."

Maria nodded, slipping the bottle into her bag. "You can count on me."

"Hey, Lupin!" A click in front of his face brought his attention back in focus.

"Sorry, what?"

"Are you okay?" Haley asked with a concerned frown. "You've been off ever since that weird attack thing last week."

"I've just got a bit on my mind. Did you need something?"

She shifted closer to him. "You know you can trust me, right?"

He let his eyes flicker to hers and nodded, licking his lips. "I do trust you."

She nodded once but he held up a finger before she could say anything else. "I do trust you but I can't tell you what's been bothering me and I need you to trust that it's for a good reason."

It was a bizarre feeling how he could feel like he could tell Haley everything and anything and yet there was the one thing he wasn't allowed to tell anybody, not even her. It seemed stupid seeing as she knew his darkest secret. He never thought he'd know something worth keeping secret more than his lycanthropy.

She reached her hand out, moving a stray of his blonde hair out of his eyes and cupping his face causing all sorts of feelings to erupt in his stomach but just as quickly as she had touched him, her hand dropped away from his face. "I trust that you'll tell me when you're ready. Until then, some of the guys are doing a bit of a cook out because the Richmond brothers stole some lady's groceries. You in?"

Remus smiled. "Dessert is on me."

Haley smiled a wicked grin and said, "Honeyduke's Finest?"

"You know it. Just us two though yeah?"

"Absolutely," she winked and walked off to let the others know that the both of them would be joining and he sighed, running a hand down his face.

The next meet-up was with Sirius but that still wasn't for another day. Another painful day of not knowing what happened that day in Burlington Arcade. He didn't know if any of his friends had died or gotten hurt or anything and it made him regret ever coming on this mission. Except … except Haley and that was just the unfairness of it all.

Somehow she'd crawled under his skin and he didn't know how to make her stop, didn't know if she wanted her to stop. All he knew was that he didn't deserve her.

Lily and James lay in their clothes on his bed, Lily's head resting on his chest right where she could hear his heart beat. They'd both gotten off work early for the memorial and were home alone — a rare thing for them — because Euphemia had decided that Fleamont should get out of the house. Lily stared at her bare ring finger wishing she could tell people.

"So I know we hadn't decided yet," James said slowly, tracing circles on her back, "but I really think it's right for us."

"What's right for us?"

"The terrace in Kensington. Bertha." Only her idiot boyfriend would insist on giving houses names because how else were they supposed to differentiate between the houses the agent showed them?

Lily stiffened and sat up straight. "What did you do?"

"I may, or may not have told the agent that we want to put a holding deposit. On Bertha."

"James!" Lily shouted. "We hadn't decided and I know you like Bertha but it's just the two of us. Do we really need all that space?"

"She's not that big!"

"I would have to walk through ten rooms to find you every day when I come home from work and I know you're used to space but I want something, I don't know, cosier."

"Cosier," James repeated doubtfully.

"Yes, cosier. I can't believe you owled her!" Lily jumped off the bed, wrapping her robe around her. Her boyfriend clearly doesn't think with his head and it was going to give her grey hairs one day.

"I just thought-"

"Well, clearly you weren't thinking! This is betrayal, absolute betrayal! How could you!"

"Okay, I think you are being slightly melodramatic!"

"You're the one who is in love with her!"

"Leave Bertha out of this! She's beautiful!"

"So you'd choose her over me?" Lily narrowed her eyes at him. 'She' was the apartment and her boyfriend was an idiot.

"I mean, come on, Lily, the views alone! She's a no brainer!"

Lily threw her hands up in the air and turned, wrenching the door open. "So the first pretty house you see and you're ready to spend every last galleon on her! We don't need a huge place with a view."

James followed her out of the room. "Look, you're not wrong but it's a perk! A very nice perk."

"It's unnecessary and I could never even afford that place."

He turned her around at the bottom of the stairs forcing her to face him. "That's a non-issue and you know it is."

"Why? Because you have money?" Lily sighed, shaking her head and continuing on towards the kitchen. "James, I don't want to just live off your parents' money. If we're going to do that we may as well stay here. She's not right for us."

"But-"

"No buts!" Lily said firmly. "For god's sake James, owl her back and say we've changed our minds."

"I — but—"

"Her or me?"

"Sirius?" James exclaimed.

"What does — oh, Sirius, what the hell are you doing here?"

Sirius was sitting at the stool, looking mopey and seemingly eating his heart out in ice cream — ice cream Lily rightfully filched whilst he poured out his woes. As soon as he left — twenty minutes later and filled with good advice — Lily rounded on James, "you're still owling her."

"Li-ly!"

"James. I don't like that house for us. It's not the right time for a house like that. You're acting like we're going to have three kids in the next year."

"Don't you want kids?"

"Of course, one day but that's not any time soon, James. We're in the middle of a war."

"Okay but even if it is in five or ten years, it's going to happen so shouldn't we just get a house that we can always stay in? You know, something we can grow in instead of something we grow out of?"

Lily sighed and bit her lip. "James," she groaned because when he put it like that, it made her heart all mushy and she wanted to agree.

"See? Even you know I'm right." He wrapped his arms around her waist and she rested her head on his chest.

"Would we really raise our kids in the city though?"

"Where else would we go?"

"I don't know, a big bit of land in the country somewhere, a big house but not a mansion. As much as I adore this place, I want something cosier. Somewhere where we can run around with the kids in the yard and have a garden and animals and just space to be as wild as we want."

It was James' turn to groan and Lily laughed. Both their visions of their future, one in the city and another in the country, seemed to suit them perfectly but there was one that was more right.

"So what do we do? It's not like we can move out of the city."

Lily raised a brow. "We don't live in the city now."

"Yeah but this is different and I would like to live closer to our friends for the foreseeable future."

"I know," Lily said quietly. She wanted to live in the city too. Closer to their friends, to work, to the Order. "So maybe, maybe we say no to Bertha now and we buy an apartment — three bedrooms max — and one day when we're ready, we look for that dream house in the country that we can grow in instead of grow out of."

"I'll owl our agent," James conceded softly.

Lily reached up and kissed his lips. "Thank you. I can't believe I decided I want to marry you."

She still remembered the moment he asked with perfect clarity despite the rest of that day being a blur of moments where some were more defined than others but that moment she remembered perfectly.

Lily didn't think she heard right. "James, you're not — it's the fight," she decided. "You can't propose just because we almost died!"

She leaned back, away from him and he just stared at her with the softest smile. "It's not about that — I mean it is because this isn't very romantic and life is too short — but it's not just because!" he insisted.

"James." Her voice held a warning in it but he returned it with a loving, "Lily."

"You're not proposing."

"I am, actually. I'd bend on one knee but-"

Lily paled, "Don't you dare! You'll cause a scene!"

"Ouch. I thought you'd be more worried about my leg."

Lily nudged him. "I think you got tossed through that window a little too hard."

"I was tossed through a window, Lils, I don't think there's such thing as too hard." He grunted as he jostled his arm and Lily sat up straighter thinking that maybe he was going to do something idiotic like try to stand or worse, kneel. Instead he held his palm out and on it sat a white gold ring that looked so familiar that it made Lily pause for a moment.

She knew everything about this ring. She knew that it was bought in London in 1934 using up two years worth of her grandad's savings. She knew it featured a round diamond set into an intricate band with three little stones on each side and intricate designs above and beneath the main diamond with five little diamonds set into it — Lily remembered studying her nana's hand and turning it and twisting it to count all the diamonds and she would pronounce with proudness, "Seventeen!" every time.

"It isn't just because of today," James repeated, softly and more seriously. "I love you, Lily. Marry me."

"Is that — Merlin, is that my grandmother's ring?"

James nodded. "Your dad gave it to me."

Lily looked up at him with surprise. "My dad? But we had barely been dating!" Surely, it had been her mum. James had only met her dad once, right before he died and there's no way James would've asked for a ring or even brought up the topic of marriage. They had only been dating for a month at the time!

"I know but he said, when you know, you know. I know you think that I'm just asking because we almost died or whatever but I'm not, Lily. I've been, I've been trying to figure out how to do this for months. It was really getting quite pathetic but I wanted to wait until after Alice and Frank's wedding and then your mum … and then I didn't know how because I don't even know how to begin to say how much I am in love with you, Lily. You are the love of my life, Lils. There's no one else I'd rather spend my whole life with and I don't care where or how as long as it's as soon as possible." Her heart swelled, pushing a traitorous tear out of her eye and James kissed it away as quickly as it had come. "Lily, please don't make me ask you again."

"Just one more time," she said softly because she loved him so much that it hurt and she wanted to do this right.

"Marry me, Evans?"

"Yes." She kissed him hard, injuries ignored, as she pulled him closer, crushing him in a hug. "A thousand times yes," she said between kisses. "God, you're an idiot," she laughed through her happy tears. "Proposing in a battle."

He leaned back, a goofy grin on his face. "Technically, it's finished." He held up the ring, "You said yes."

"Of course I did, you idiot," she laughed, holding her hand out. He slid the ring onto her ring finger easily and she didn't even pause to look at it before she was kissing him again.

"I can't wait to start telling people," James murmured, his fingers playing with where her ring should be.

"Soon," Lily promised, "We'll throw a party."

"Sounds like a pla-"

"James! Lily!" Euphemia shouted from the front of the house and they both looked at each other, James rolling his eyes.

"This wouldn't happen if we moved out already," he muttered to Lily before shouting, "In the kitchen, mum!"

"We should … tell your parents tonight, at dinner," Lily said.

"Really?" James asked, his face lighting up and she nodded just as they walked into the kitchen.

"I absolutely regret dragging your father out of bed this morning!" Euphemia declared, dumping several shopping bags on the counter.

"Why's that?" James inquired.

"We barely spent an hour in Diagon Alley before he dragged me to the Ministry of all places! He hates that place!" She turned on her husband, "You hate that place! And he dragged me there whilst he stirred and talked and watched some old colleague of his make some boring potion, meanwhile I got hijacked by Lolita Malfoy who wouldn't shut up about Crouch's latest stance on the whole You-Know-Who business! Gah, I'd have rather stayed home and played chess with Sprinkle."

"That, uh, sounds … lame," James said lamely.

"It was very lame! You hear that, Monty, our son thinks it was lame!"

"You visited Mr Bodine?" Lily asked Fleamont who tapped his nose.

"I did, he had something rather interesting to show me."

"I'll bet," Lily murmured wondering if Fleamont got to study the potion more closely than she had and wondering what he thought about it all. With all that had been going on she'd forgotten about cranky, old Marcus Belby and his new, possibly world changing, potion but Fleamont clearly hadn't despite his newly scarred face and impaired eyesight.

Euphemia went on with more dramatics of the day, continuing in a spiral rant of Lolita Malfoy's skewed views in politics and how "no wonder she doesn't want Crouch's new laws to pass, her whole family are Death Eaters! It's a wonder they let a Malfoy step foot into the Ministry!"

They all inserted their input at the relevant places but mostly Euphemia talked making them all laugh and keeping them thoroughly entertained as they organised a quick dinner and sitting around the kitchen bench James looked at Lily who nodded and with a nervous smile, James announced the news.

"Well, it is about time!" Euphemia exclaimed, jumping up. "Oh, I could cry!"

"This is fantastic," Fleamont agreed, smiling proudly at them both. "We truly adore you, Lily, and we couldn't be happier that you're now an official part of the family."

"What my husband is trying to say is thank you for picking our idiot son to spend the rest of your life with."

James snorted. "Geez, mum, thanks. Don't sell me short or anything." Lily patted his hand, which Euphemia zeroed in on.

"Where's the ring then? And how did you propose?"

Lily explained that she hadn't started wearing it yet as they were waiting to announce the news until everything with the Burlington Arcade Attack settled down.

"That's nonsense!" she insisted. "This is just what everyone needs to get their spirits up again. We'll host a party, here at the house. Next weekend. A big, blow out engagement. We'll have to go grocery shopping and I'll need you two to help clean the ballroom and decorate. I'll get Abby Abbott to make a flawless cake and we'll have to go shopping for outfits and-"

Lily and James looked at each other with goofy grins because they both knew it was impossible to stop Euphemia from throwing this party but more than that, they wanted the party. A party to celebrate love, their love, seemed perfect.

Fleamont joined Lily in the basement later that night as she was checking on the antidote potion. She'd made so much of it by now that she knew the recipe by heart.

"The party will be a good opportunity to spread that out," Fleamont said and Lily hummed in agreement.

"We've already spread it out as much as we can, I just hope it'll be enough." Lily looked up at Fleamont. "How was seeing Mr Bodine?"

"Belby," Fleamont shook his head, "He really got himself a remarkable discovery. The potion, it's flawless. Passed tests with flying colours. It'll change lives. Save some, too, I bet." He pulled something out of his pocket. "This, I'm not supposed to have this." He laid it flat on the bench in front of Lily and she gaped.

"That's — that's a recipe! The recipe!"

"It's yours. I trust that you're more than capable to make it, Merlin knows in my old age, my hands have become to shaky for potion making. Some of the ingredients we grow in the green house — Mia likes to sell to local apothecaries and donate to the hospital — and the rest I'll make sure we have in the cupboard." He nodded towards the panty that was stocked floor to ceiling with different jars, vials and flasks of ingredients.

Lily rested a hand on the recipe and looked at Fleamont, with the sincerest smile she thanked him already thinking about how to tell Remus.

Remus sagged in his chair, thoughts weighing him down, or rather the implication of pending information soon to be found out. For all his want to be told and to know what had happened on March 23, 1979, nothing had really changed for him. His friends were all still well, unharmed and alive but this afternoon, a full week after the fact, all that could change.

A knee nudged his and he looked up to see green eyes and a smiling face. "You're seeing your family today, be happy!" Haley insisted.

Remus leaned in close to her, the promise that he could trust her still on his mind, and he said, "I'm seeing a friend today."

"One of the elusive Marauders, no doubt," she grinned and then cocked her head. "Why all this brooding then?"

"He might bring bad news. Some friends may have been hurt or …"

She looked at him softly and said, "If he might bring bad news, it's as equally likely that he may not."

"I know, I'm just … scared."

She leaned in and kissed his lips for three full seconds. "There," she said.

"There," he repeated in a daze wondering what the hell had just happened.

"There," she confirmed. "Now, even if your friend does bring bad news, you know you'll always have me to listen."

"I needed a kiss from you to show me that you'll listen to all my problems?" Remus asked with a raise brow.

"No, but I fancy you something awful and I just wanted to clear that up before you possible received any news that could set you into brooding mode 100."

"Oh, well, in that case," and Remus did something he hadn't thought about doing since before the end of Fifth Year. He kissed her, good and proper. His hands found themselves in her hair and his lips explored hers as though they carried the entire universe. When he was done, he said, "I fancy you something awful, too."

Haley smiled, and caressed his cheek, "I hope that someday you'll tell me why you're really down here."

Remus hoped that day would come sooner rather than later and quickly fell into his own thoughts about whether he should tell Sirius about Haley. It seemed … silly to and maybe Sirius wasn't the right person to tell. He'd tease and mock him instead of actually giving helpful advice.

Remus walked through the streets of muggle London, glad to be out in fresh air again and when a familiar black dog slid into step with him, Remus smiled and said, "Hello, old friend." The dog barked softly and licked Remus' hand.

The odd pair found themselves in a secluded ally where the dog turned into Sirius Black who embraced Remus in a hearty hug.

"It's good to see you, mate," Sirius said.

Remus clapped his back. "You too, you have no idea."

The stepped out of the hug and made themselves comfortable on some crates. Sirius pulled out some food, courtesy of Lily Evans, and said, "I guess you're dying to hear about Burlington."

"So it was the Order then?"

"Oh yeah. Me, James, Lily, Marlene, the Longbottoms, Adaline, Emmeline, Benjy Fenwick — to name a few — were all there."

"Peter?"

"Didn't get the summons early enough, neither did a lot of the Order. Moody put an anti-apparition charm over the place to stop the Ministry from interfering."

"Is everyone okay?"

Sirius shook his head. "Three died. Nick Boot, Aldwin Fawcett and Heather Shacklebolt."

"Shacklebolt, from our…?" Sirius nodded grimly. "The Order held a memorial for them at Hogsmeade the other day but no one else knows the real reason they died. But none of us were seriously injured. Lily and James were banged up but nothing Marlene and a good night's rest couldn't fix."

"Why'd they attack?"

Sirius paused and then, "It was a set-up, to find out who was in the Order."

"Fuck, how?"

"It's not important. How're things down your end?"

Remus shrugged. "Honestly, nothing's really happening. Some are for Voldemort, some are against but as far as I can tell, none of Voldemort's supporters have infiltrated or spoken to the werewolves."

"Fuck, Moony."

"Hoping to get me back so soon? It hasn't even been a month yet."

Sirius shook his head, "You never should have agreed to this. Dumbledore was a right prick for asking you to."

"I owe Dumbledore, you know that and if this helps somehow, it'll be worth it a hundred times over. Besides, it's not so bad in there."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "They may share your curse, Remus, but you don't belong with them. You belong with us."

"I hope so. Have I missed much, besides a battle?"

"I, er, that is Lily's come across something. A potion for werewolves that'll help you keep your mind when you transform. It's not available for sale yet but Lily, well she's managed to snag a copy of the recipe."

Remus laughed. "Of course, we come across something like this when I can't use it."

"She says that she's going to practice making it so that she'll have it perfected for when you come back. She really thinks this can help you."

Remus wasn't so sure but he hoped that she was right. Sirius led Remus' thoughts away from his monthly transformations and onto the dramas of Sirius' life. Remus listened passively as Sirius fought with his inner instinct to apologise to Ella for abandoning her in a baby shop.

"Mmhmm, sounds good," Remus said absently.

"Sounds good that James is cheating on Lily and she's letting him get away with it. The werewolves have stolen your morals."

"Wait, what?"

"Or your hearing," Sirius muttered. "As I was saying, I went to Seaside to speak to James and Lily about me getting the cold shoulder in my own home. Honestly, it's like I'm the U.S.A and she's Russia except the U.S.A was trying to stop Russia from blowing itself up and Russia got mad because it didn't succeed in blowing itself — and it's baby country — up."

"Sirius. James and Lily?"

"Oh right, that." Sirius paused. "What did I get up to?"

"You were at Seaside to talk to them," Remus prompted.

"Yeah and I went upstairs and heard them arguing, Remus. Lily was screaming about betrayal and said James was in love with 'her' whoever 'her' is and James called her dramatic. Cheating bastard."

Remus looked at his mate sceptically. "Is there any chance that you're being dramatic about whatever you heard?" It's not that Remus doubted what Sirius heard, it's just that his friend had a certain proclivity for jumping to conclusions and dramatic ones at that.

"Moony, I wouldn't be dramatic about this!"

Remus raised a brow and Sirius gasped.

"Moony!"

"Well, you're a dramatic person, it's not your fault."

"I'm wounded."

"Oh, please. I'm right and you know it. You attempted to charm one of your hairs 'blacker' because it was too light compared to the others."

"It was throwing off my look!"

"We were in Second Year and you transfigured your whole head white!"

"That was due to a lack of skill, not dramatic-ness besides, I know what I heard."

"Well, then, ask one of them about it."

"It's not my business and I don't want to humiliate poor Lily by putting her on the spot."

"Then ask James."

Sirius scoffed. "That's a hideous idea. I'm going to do a bit of sleuthing."

"Snooping," Remus corrected.

"Tamayto, tamahto."

Remus shook his head. This wasn't going to end well. "Can you just ask James about it before you do anything ridiculous?"

"Oh, would you look at the time," Sirius mocked. "Gotta go. Long to-do list. Apologising to Russia, charming my hair and sleuthing. Got to go."

"Wait, who's next? And when? And where?"

"Lily. Brickers Lane. April 12th, 10 p.m."

Sirius walked home from the meet-up with Remus and thought considerably about Ella. James and Lily and now Remus all told him he should apologise. Maybe they were right, maybe Ella was right. Maybe he had been rash and inconsiderate leaving Ella in the baby shop that day but what kind of person would he have been if he let her go to the disaster that was Burlington Arcade that day?

He tried to figure out what he should say and how he should say it because he was sick of Ella ignoring him and he was sick of sleeping on the couch.

"So I was told that I should apologise."

"Told?" Ella raised a brow, unimpressed. "Sirius, you aren't a fucking child, you shouldn't have to be told to apologise!"

"Would you just let me finish before jumping down my god damn throat? You sound like a fucking mandrake." Before she could open her mouth again, Sirius plowed on. "I'm sorry that I left you in a baby shop without your wand but I did it to protect you and the baby."

"So why do I have to stay behind and you get to go? I'm not the only one about to become a parent!"

"Oh, I don't know maybe because I don't have a little human inside of me? You know, just a thought."

"Okay so after it's born you would be okay if I just passed it over to you and said 'okay just going to abandon you in the middle of London so I can go fight Death Eaters'?"

"Don't be ridiculous, we'd get a nanny."

Ella shook her head in disbelief. "What if I don't want my child to be raised by a nanny?"

"Well, one of us has to stay with it if there's a mission or a fight and it won't be me."

"And why not?"

"Because you're — !" He shook his head and turned. "This is stupid! Why can't you just accept my apology? Why do we have to talk about the future?"

"Because, Sirius, we need to have a plan! We need to be on the same page about these things! So tell me what you think! Because I'm what?"

"Because you'll be better at being a parent than I will! If one of us has to risk their lives, it should be me because I'm just a fuck-up! I couldn't do the — the single-dad thing, I just, you know how scared I am of becoming a dad. I couldn't do it without you."

She stared at him for a moment and he wouldn't have been surprised if she kicked him out but instead she said, "Merlin, your parents fucked you up so badly." She walked up to him and hugged him tightly before leaning back and cupping his face. "I know that this is scary, Sirius but our kid deserves to have both of us, yeah? And," she breathed in deeply and screwed up her face, "as much as I didn't like being left behind, what you did that day — well, it was right. You were … a good dad that day so, so maybe you're selling yourself a bit short, yeah?"

Oh. "Do you really think we can do this?" Sirius asked quietly.

"We can only do our best and hope it's all up-hill from then."

Hope you enjoy xxx

I think an update within 11 days is like a record for this story ... I probably wouldn't get used to it my life is about as organised as a tornado

don't forget to review, even if it is to only complain that I don't update often. Reviews make me want to make my life less of a tornado

-Natalie