Sirius went out after breakfast saying he was going to pick up Remus which Lily thought strange as surely Remus could apparate but she didn't question it as she didn't want to pry. He gave Lily further condolences to Lily about her house and also told her to help herself to Marlene's saying "the less of her crap in my room the better" before making his exit.
Once alone James explained that today was his day off so he could stay and keep her company and asked what she wanted to do. She was grateful for the loan of Marlene's clothes but she also needed to pick up some things at some point but she didn't care at the moment, she just needed to take in what had happened in the last couple of weeks.
James had to pop out to meet with his mother to give her a report on the last day and he left Lily at home to chill and watch TV. She asked if he had a telephone and he said yes but he said to make sure he didn't tell anyone where she was.
She felt weird being in someone else's, never mind James's, house. She wasn't a nosey person but when she went upstairs to change she couldn't help but open a few drawers and have a look inside. He didn't seem to be a bit hoarder and most were full of neatly folded clothes but she did find a photo album in the bottom drawer of his dresser, under a pile of shirts (okay maybe she was nosey).
She pulled the leather bound album out and sat on his bed and open it to see what it contained. The pictures were the magical moving ones which she had always thought was an amazing piece of magic. A young first or second year James waved up at her from the first picture and Sirius was zooming around him on a broom while Remus and Peter clapped and laughed in the background. The four marauders had been inseparable at school and although at the time were the bane of her life, she had always admired their friendship.
She flicked through the pages and even remembered some of the pictures. One was of the four boys sat in the great hall at breakfast and behind them the entire table of Slytherins all had bright gryffindor red hair. The boys were grinning so wide in the picture they looked ready to burst. She couldn't help but smile at the picture - she would never have said this at the time but seeing Rudolphus Lestrange with bright red hair was a real Hogwarts highlight.
She got towards the middle of the book and a picture caught her eye as she had thought it was just of the Hogwarts landscape overlooking the lake but she saw in the shadows of a tree a flash of red hair and realised she was sat under the tree reading. She looked closely and could see how into the book she was as she hadn't noticed the picture being taken.
She thought it was weird he kept this photo all these years but perhaps James hadn't realised she was down there when he took the picture. It reminded her of her fond memories of school, they had been the best years of her life. She flicked through the rest of the album and saw a few of his home photos, his mother featured and a man who she assumed was his father. He never mentioned his father and she was curious but she knew better than to ask. Her own past with her father was painful, he had walked out on his family when they were just young children and never come back.
She was just about to close the album when a couple of sheets of paper fell out of the back. She knew she should leave it but she was in this deep snooping around so she opened one of the folded sheets and saw it was a letter. It looked like a love letter from the first sentence but she quickly realised its intent was not quite as romantic.
"Dear James Potter,
I am happy to confirm that you have been selected as head boy for the new year at Hogwarts. Congratulations on your achievement and we look forward to seeing you as a strong leader in the new school year.
Kind regards,
Albus Dumbledore
Headmaster"
Lily put the letter down in shock. James and Lily were in the same year at school and she had been head girl and Gideon Prewett had been head boy. Why has James not been head boy if he had been offered the place?
She sat for a moment then saw the other small piece of paper underneath and saw it was a Daily Prophet newspaper clipping from 11 years prior.
HEAD OF AUROR DEPARTMENT KILLED IN RANDOM ATTACK!
Henry Potter was found late last night in his home by his family. The scene was not suspicious but looked to be a random burglary which ended in fatality.
He is survived by his wife Freya and son James.
The article was so brief and gave no further detail and left Lily shocked and outraged. He was found by his family, did that mean James or his mother? Either way it explained why they had moved from the estate after such a trauma. She felt like she had intruded too far now and quickly slipped the paper back into the album and tucked the album into the drawer so it didn't look disturbed.
She then went downstairs into the living room and read a book she had found lying around on magical beasts and their properties. A class she had always enjoyed at school and had often discuss with the groundskeeper Rubeus.
Time ticked by and she wondered when James was getting back. She was just about to look for another book when she saw an owl tap on the window. She sighed in relief as she saw it was Morgan.
"Thank god!" She said getting up to open the window and let her in. She didn't appear harmed which was Lily's worry. Morgan had been out hunting mice the night before so Lily hadn't known if she was safe. She affectionately stroked her feathers and let her nibble at her fingers. A moment later the door opened and closed and Lily looked up to see Sirius walk in with a very frail looking Remus Lupin. She jumped out of her chair in surprise and made Morgan squawk.
"Remus!" She said walking to greet him. Just as she got closer she realised Remus was leaning pretty much all of his weight on Sirius and Sirius was hardly even straining as Remus looked so underweight.
"Hi Lily," Remus said, his voice hoarse. "So great to see you. I'm not feeling so great so I'm going to have to rest but perhaps we can catch up in a few days." Remus said as Sirius started to lead him up the stairs to his room. She waved and called that she hoped he felt better then sat back in the chair in the lounge.
She could hear Sirius talking to Remus and then the door close and Sirius trudge back downstairs in his heavy boots.
"So Evans what have you been up to? I hope you haven't been snooping in my knicker drawer." Sirius said which made Lily squirm as she had in fact been snooping in James'.
"Just reading. My owl just arrived." Lily said stroking Morgan. Sirius looked surprised.
"That's your owl?" He asked. Lily nodded and questioned why.
"Because that's James' Òir. since he was 15. She's a beauty." Sirius said smiling knowingly like he knew something Lily didn't.
"Oh… well he gave her to me. Or leant maybe. So I could keep in touch." She said and Sirius raised his eyebrows. He kicked off his boots and flung himself onto the sofa obviously settling in to hang out with her. She leant back in the chair and waited for his next statement.
"Are you coming to the meeting tonight?" He asked her.
"Yes, James asked me earlier and I'd like to come. I want to help." She replied.
"Good for you Lilykins, that's the spark I knew so well from school." He said giving her a thumbs up from his lying position. He looked over at her and grinned. "Remember when you gave me a month of weekend detentions for cursing Snivellus so that every time he sat down his bum set on fire?" Lily winced at the mention of Severus, she still found it uncomfortable to talk about her old friend. They had gone down very different paths and it made her sad to think about how far they were apart now.
"You were a nightmare." She said but her tone had humour in it. "My favourite one was when you charmed Bellatrix so that every time she insulted someone it became a compliment. I didn't know a witch could go so red." She let out a giggle at the mention and Sirius barked out a laugh too. His favourite pass time at school had been torturing his evil cousin.
"I certainly wish it was that easy now. If I could just curse her and shove her in the under stairs cupboard it would be a lot easier. Most of my family is wrapped up in this war." He said still in his usual tone but she could see a sadness behind his eyes at the mention of his family.
"You don't talk to your family anymore?" She asked. He shook his head.
"Orphan child of the city me." He said lightly.
"Me either. My sister hates me and there isn't anyone else." She said. Realising how depresseing that sounded she added, "Probably for the best as her husband looks and acts like an angry warthog."
"What's his name? I love muggle names." Sirius asked smiling over at her.
"Vernon Dursley." She said letting out a little snort of laughter.
"That's a corker - even his name sounds like he'll be a warthog." He said and Lily laughed and told him about the story when Vernon came over for dinner and he drank too much and spilled red wine all down himself before dessert had even been served.
As they were laughing James walked in the door and smiled at them from the doorway.
"What's so funny?" He asked smiling down at Lily, it was probably the first time since the beginning of this whole event that he'd seen her properly smile.
"Just hearing about Lily's funny muggle relatives James. I would swap mine for crazy muggles any day." He said sitting up and letting James sit next to him.
"How's Mum?" Sirius asked. Lily noted he called her Mum like his own, perhaps Sirius wasn't an orphan after all.
"She's good, she's got a full report from everyone to go through later so I'll save it all till then. She said Sunday though okay?" James asked without explaining. Sirius nodded and looked at Lily to explain.
"Freya demands we come over for Sunday lunch every week but I've missed a few so she's going to either smack my bum or ground me if I don't make the next one." He said cheekily.
"You've used the excuse of work too many time now she knows you're just shacking up with Marlene and if you're not careful she'll tell her parents and then you'll have Charles to deal with." James said back and at this Sirius did become and little more sober.
"No way I don't do parents and I definitely don't do Marlene's parents." He said and then said directly to Lily. "They really don't like me."
"You blew up their antique fireplace!" James added in.
"I threw in too much floo powder - anyone could have made that mistake!" Sirius said and Lily chuckled at the two's banter. They really were brothers for all intents and purposes.
As both men had the day off from work, Lily discovered that Sirius was also an Auror, they decided to head out for lunch at a nearby place they liked. James said it was a wizard venue but that it was very safe for them to go there.
They walked which surprised Lily, she didn't think wizards walked anywhere, but the place they were going really was very nearby. Lily took in their surroundings and it was clear they were in very central London, in a nice area. From the front James' house looked modest and homely, it overlooking a park which was a nice feature.
They walked a few blocked then turned into an alley between a fruit and veg shop and a newspaper shop. Lily knew the wizarding world had cunning ways of hiding their existence so she followed without question. The alley arced round and led to a few steps and then a bright red door.
James leant forward and whispered something then knocked on the door three times. After a few seconds a little hatch opened on the door and some beady eyes looked out at them. Recognition immediately showed in the eyes and the door swung open.
In the doorway stood a small grizzly old house elf with a jaunty hat sat lopsided on his head. He grinned a toothless smile up at them.
"Black, it's been what hours since you last came by." The elf croaked out sarcastically. Sirius grinned and patted the elf on the head, which was quickly swept away by the elf and strolled casually inside. James ushered Lily to follow and she walked into the building. The door led to a corridor and she followed Sirius down, James behind her.
"Thanks Griff." James called as they left the corridor and entered a larger room, it was dark inside but welcoming and Lily realised it was a bar of sorts. A number of different characters were inside having a drink or eating food, including what looks like a goblin, two very tall wizards whispering to each other in the corner and three Veelas with white blonde hair sat giggling and sipping what looked like sherry but Lily assumed it was probably more magical than that.
"Prewitts! An Ale for my merry band!" Sirius called across to the bar. Two men stood behind the bar, one polishing glasses and the other leaning against the counter writing on a piece of parchment. Lily did a double take as the two men as they had fiery red hair similar to hers and also were completely identical.
"Alright Black," One said, his face opened up into a grin and he shook Sirius' hand as he reached the bar and hopped onto a stool.
"And Potter too. This is a pleasant surprise we haven't seen you around in a while." The other twin said. James smiled and shook both twins hands, obviously on friendly terms with the two barkeeps. The second twin noticed Lily as well but waited on James or Sirius to introduce them. He raised his eyebrows to James and he coughed.
"Oh right, this is Lily." James said quickly. He seemed nervous and scratched the back of his neck.
"Lily you say," The first twin said now raising his eyebrows and putting down the glass he had been drying manually.
"This is Gideon," James said pointing at the twin leaning on the bar writing. "And this is Fabian. They own this little establishment and also are childhood friends of mine." He explained and the twins nodded.
"I vaguely remember you from the school days I think Lily. James might have mentioned your name once or twice." He said smiling a knowing smile and Lily saw James' eye bug a little.
"Can we please grab three butterbeers and whatever your special in today for lunch?" James asked quickly for a change of subject.
"Of course dear boy." Fabian said.
"Make that four Fabe." Sirius called out to him, he was already comfortably sat in a booth to the side of the bar. James thanked the guys and walked over to join Sirius and asked who the fourth was.
"Marlene. I thought I'd make this a double date." Sirius said in a teasing voice which made James squint his eyes accusingly at his friend as Lily sat down with them.
"Oh so you are dating her then?" James said smirking. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"We're just good friends Potter. You know this stallion can't be broken." He said sweeping his hair over the top dramatically and earning a sort of giggle snort from Lily. He wiggled his eyebrows at Lily and as their drinks arrived.
"Funny that as she's been round our house I would say 6 out of 7 days a week for the last month, she now apparently keeps stuff in your bedroom also a little birdy told me the craziest rumour that you were planning, dare I say it, a mini break."James said, his teasing tone in full swing and Lily could see Sirius was trying to remain calm but the last thing got to him.
"I do not go on bloody mini breaks!" Sirius said. "I would hardly call a trip to clear out my Uncle's place a mini break!"
"Hey babe, are you telling them about our romantic little weekender?" Marlene said appearing and sliding in next to Sirius. He groaned knowing he wasn't going to win and just sulked and sipped his beer as Marlene grinned and kissed his cheek.
"Good to see you again Lily. That red really suits you." Marlene said smiling at Lily. Lily felt embarrassed as she had borrowed her clothes without getting her direct permission.
"I'm sorry I didn't ask you… I hope you don't mind! Sirius said it was cool!" Lily blurted out quickly.
"And it totally is - keep it it looks great on you." Marlene said warmly as she took a sip of her butterbeer. Lily sat comfortably with the group and as their food arrived. The chatter turned to a story Marlene had about her brother sneaking out of their family home and how her parents were punishing him. The boys laughed saying it reminded them of their younger years. Lily felt a tension she hadn't known was there loosen suddenly and she felt age for once.
For so many years the responsibility of caring for her mother has aged her and made her feel like her youth was behind her. But as she sat listening to the jokes between James and Sirius and the affection between Sirius and Marlene she felt a warm feeling of belonging she hadn't felt in a long time.
