Chapter 3

"Hey," a voice greeted the boys as they stormed into James's house about ten minutes later. Looking up, they came face-to-face with Remus Lupin, another one of their good friends.

"Hey, Moony," James and Sirius greeted him in unison without even asking why the shaggy-haired brunette was there.

James took the pizzas to the kitchen. "Sweets, you home already?" Mrs. Potter's voice came as James entered the kitchen.

"Apparently," he responded sarcastically, placing the pizzas on the counter and opening one up.

Mrs. Potter remained silent for a moment before asking, "You had a fight with Remus?"

"No," James answered coldly, taking a piece of pizza and biting into it.

"With Sirius?"

"Yeah," James said quietly, walking out the kitchen and into the dining room before his mother could respond, where Remus's and Sirius's voices could be heard from the next room over, in the living room.

"I guess he can be like that sometimes," came Remus's voice in a thoughtful manner, making James stop in his tracks. Were they talking about him?

"I know, but this was too much. I've never seen James be such a little kid just because I said his parents had been quiet all day."

"His parents have been quiet all day?"

"Yeah. But it's not like they talk much anyway."

"I hear his mom talking all the time."

"They never talk to each other. They understand each other too much to bother talking or something."

"It's possible their marriage isn't working out, you know," Remus countered.

"Ha, yeah, right. Prongs's family is perfect. I just don't get why he can act like such a little kid about it sometimes."

&

An hour before James and Sirius had even left for the pizza parlor, Lily had been watching Petunia jog out the house, the first exercise her sister had gotten in weeks. Sure enough, a few neighbors were glancing out their windows out of curiosity, and one of their obese neighbors across the street, Vernon, was staring at Petunia and licking his lips, taking in the fact she wasn't wearing a sports-bra. Sick pervert, Lily thought, drawing her curtains closed.

"So do you want to go out for ice cream?" Lily asked politely to the fourteen-year-old boy sitting across the room from her. She'd volunteered to help out with some severely depressed kids at her local hospital, and had been asked to simply bring Jacob, the boy, around town so he could exist outside the hospital without the danger of committing suicide.

"I don't care," he responded quietly, keeping his eyes on the floor.

"Great! Then let's go!" Lily said with quite a bit of forced enthusiasm. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy being with Jacob, but she felt that she had to make him have no doubts she looked forward to his visits.

&

Lily and Jacob sat at the ice cream parlor, licking their cones in silence. "So is that your favorite flavor?" Lily finally asked politely, looking at Jacob's vanilla ice cream.

"What does it matter?" he muttered bluntly in response.

"Okay. Well my favorite flavor is vanilla."

Suddenly, Lily heard familiar voices in the pizza parlor next door. "Padfoot, do you even know what divorce is?" The voice was distant, but Lily could still tell it was James Potter's. Before her loathing for James could even flood through her body, another familiar voice came.

"What does that have to do with anything?" came Sirius Black's voice, obviously annoyed.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Sirius and James walked out of the pizza parlor, Sirius glancing over at Lily's and Jacob's table. He stopped walking for a moment as he locked eyes with Lily, trying to figure out what she was doing, happily sitting at the same table as a boy, but quickly caught back up to James. He glanced back over his shoulder at Lily and Jacob as he followed James into the nearby parking lot, his eyes holding a new flicker of false understanding.

helen