Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the show so please don't sue.
A/N: Theo Darkstar: Don't worry, I've still a few more chapters to go yet!
Summerlovin9191: Glad you're enjoying it so much, I hope this lives up to your expectations!
The last of the bowls were scraped clean causing most of the occupant of the house to sigh as they felt full. Leaning back gently, James watched the rest of his family and Lily wash the utensils up, having being forbidden from moving from his seat, an action he was very unused to. If there was anything to be done, no matter how menial or dirty it was, he was willing to do it, mostly to keep his hands busy but also as it gave him time to think, a trait his mum told him was from his father.
'Lily dear, would you like to spend the night here again, you're very welcome to, we can even find you a bed, ' Carla offered, 'it has to be much more comfortable than trying to sleep on that wretched sofa!' The lady gave a wry smile before adding, 'it may look nice but it sure is hell on the back. I've lost count how many times James and I have fallen asleep on that thing.' Her smile turned softer as she remembered when James was a lot younger and often fell asleep on her lap as the two of them sat on that seat in the evenings as she read to him. A mischievous smile crossed Sirius' lips that instantly sent Lily onto high alert; she'd been on the end of far too many pranks to relax when he looked like that.
'I don't suppose you've got any nice stories about James when he was younger, any involving much embarrassment for him preferably.' Sirius asked as innocently as possible causing Lily to relax and Carla to chuckle while James spluttered from his seat, his good arm wrapped securely around his chest.
'I assure you Padfoot; I did absolutely nothing embarrassing when I was a child!' James protested which only resulted in a few raised eyebrows sent in his direction.
'So I suppose you aren't at all embarrassed about the time you streaked through a ministry ball where all the high officials were, including the head of the Auror department, Healers and Minister of Magic were?' Carla replied nonchalantly; Sirius and Lily laughed at this while James blushed furiously.
'I was 3!' You're never going to let me live that one down are you?' He asked with a weary sigh. His mother shook her head.
'They still ask after you whenever I'm there,' she added with an innocent voice that Lily recognised from the other Potter, 'I got asked this time in fact, the Minister of Magic was asking me if you'd finally decided clothing was necessary yet, so I told him we were still working on it.' The grey haired lady recounted the experience, enjoying every shade of the blush.
'They really do need lives if that's all they can remember! Must be the only excitement they ever got at one of those things!' the scruffy haired boy grumbled much to everyone's amusement.
'Don't worry dear,' Carla reassured him as she ruffled up his hair, a gesture Lily realised James must copy at school to remind him of what his mother normally did. 'I'm sure if you ever want to be an Auror they won't mention it too often, I mean it wasn't as though the entire department was there, just 99!' James growled at this, but it didn't deter his mother from continuing, 'and you know it's only Alastor Moody who interviews people and it wasn't as though he was the one who picked you up and returned you to me!' She finally finished with a wicked grin.
'Thanks Mum, you really know how to make me feel better.' James told her dryly, doing his best to glare at the other two teens who still hadn't stopped their chuckling.
'No fear Prongs, I'll still respect you, after all, how many people can say they've streaked in the Ministry of Magic in front of all those important people!' Sirius finished with more guffaws of laughter. James glowered at him and for once was cross that his friend wasn't close enough to hit him, or at least him being well enough to teach him a lesson, and so settled for a rude gesture instead.
'I wouldn't be so hasty in your mockery my dear son,' Carla gently scolded her other son as she put an arm around him, 'I seem to remember another story that is passed around quite about.' The lady hinted piquing the interest of the other two, who watched in amusement as Black turned the same colour James had only minutes before.
'C'mon Mum, it's only fair you tell us!' James encouraged her as Sirius shook his head violently.
'Well, I believe when Sirius was about 15 months old, he was given to the Minister of Magic to be held, and in those few minutes was so nervous he had a slight-' she paused for a second as she tried to find the right word; Sirius on the other hand buried his head in her shoulder, turn about was fair play, but he knew if he tried to interrupt he'd be silenced. 'Bladder weakness, I don't believe the Minister held another child after that.' She finished, joining in on the laughter that bellowed in the room. This was certainly shocking to Lily; while she knew they were only children at the time, it was still funny to see that the two most popular guys had done such embarrassing things when they were younger, it made them seem...more human to her, rather than the faces they showed off to the rest of the world. Maybe they aren't so bad, Lily thought to herself, slightly shocked she'd even think that, but it was true, these were the real people, not the arrogant boys they normally allowed people to see.
'Okay, now that I've sufficiently humiliated my boys,' Carla began after the laughter had finally stopped, her arm still around Sirius' waist as he hid his very red face, 'what do you say about the room dear?' She asked Lily.
'Umm, well, since you're home I was going to go home as well. I'm not really needed around here anymore…' she trailed off, feeling slightly awkward being there, it was obviously a very tight knit family and it left her feeling as though she was an outsider who was barging in on them.
'Oh please, don't leave on my account! James will be inside all of this summer' at this she gave a very pointed look at her son, who sighed and looked down, 'so I was planning to get as many people here as possible to entertain him!'
This was going to be a very long summer at this rate James realised if he wasn't allowed to go out at all; at least it would most likely only be the Marauders his Mum would invite since most of the other purebloods his Mum knew from work he wasn't really that keen on, no matter how friendly he acted around them.
'C'mon Lily, it'll be great to have you here.' James added; Sirius remained silent though, although the two of them hadn't argued yet, it was only a matter of time. He didn't like the red head, he only saw her as stuck up who enjoyed making the Marauders lives as miserable as possible. He never could figure out why Remus was friends with her, or why his best friend fancied her so much.
Reluctantly, Lily nodded not missing out on the fact Sirius hadn't said a word although the look on his face said more than enough. That was going to be a problem Lily realised, if she did become friends with James, she needed to be friends with all of the Marauders, there was no way she could pick and choose, especially seeing how close they are. This was just going to have to be one of those things she worked on. 'Okay, but I've got to fire call my Mum to make sure it's alright.' Carla nodded in understanding and took her over to the livingroom fireplace where she found some more floo powder for her leaving the two boys alone n the kitchen.
'C'mon Jimmy, let's get you back to bed.' Sirius offered his friend a hand up as he watched James yawn for the fourth time in the past five minutes. James rolled his eyes in protest, but accepted the hand as well as the walking stick.
'I'm not an invalid, and I've been sleeping way too much today, it feels as though every few minutes I'm being sent to sleep!' James snapped before giving an apologetic smile, but even the tone his friend used barely fazed Black, he'd seen all the medication Prongs was on, and it was enough to make anyone tired and irritable.
'Of course you aren't sleeping too much, now lets get you into bed.' He repeated himself, steering his annoyed friend from the kitchen in the same direction the two women had disappeared to earlier.
'I hope you realise you have to take me on at least one date before you get me into bed!' James mentioned blandly, enjoying the spluttering it caused the other boy to make.
'I'm very happy for you two, but no sex while I'm in the house, either of you is injured or in any room but your bedroom.' Carla told them seriously as she overheard her sons comment. James and Sirius blushed slightly, but nowhere near to the extent they had done earlier.
'I'm so sorry Mum; I'll just take Jimmy upstairs then to bed him, how 'bout it love?' Sirius flirted outrageously to which James simply smiled as though used to these over the top comments.
'As much as I'm enjoying this bantering, can I please sit down, I'm not too sure how long I'm going to remain upright at this point.' Potter finally turned serious, studying him more closely, she could see how pale and shaky he'd become. Going over to Sirius, Lily helped him get the teen back into his bed while Carla got some more of his medication to help ease his suffering. Seeing how close Sirius and James were, Lily left the room to give them some privacy; while they may not be dating, they were certainly the closest friends she'd ever seen, far closer than she was with her friends.
'Get some sleep Prongs, I'll still be here when you wake.' Sirius told his friend, not really noticing they were the only ones in the room at that point, as he saw the panic starting in James' eyes and felt how tightly he was gripping his tee shirt.
This is ridiculous! James berated himself for showing yet another weakness, while he knew Sirius wouldn't mind, he still felt embarrassed. Sirius isn't going to change his mind over the next few hours, he told himself sternly, and finally released his grip on Padfoot's tee shirt, accepting his brother's reassurances.
'Here you go dear,' Carla's voice interrupted the comfortable silence that had descended. Giving the water to Sirius she handed her son he tablets one at a time before Sirius gave the water to help ease them down. Another yawn escaped from the injured boy as he lay down, before slipping into another deep sleep. Sirius removed the boys glasses before using the same spell Lily had used to remove his clothes, placing them on the sofa nearby.
Leaving the room, Carla hugged her adopted her adopted son allowing him to rest his head against her, the days events finally catching up with the both of them. Finally pulling away, Sirius could easily see Mrs Potter looking much older then normal; lines that weren't normally there were gradually getting deeper.
'He'll be fine, you'll see.' Sirius comforted her; Carla gave a small smile before giving him a small smile.
'I think I'll go and have a small nap as well, the time difference is finally catching up with me.' Kissing him on the forehead, she went back to the kitchen to tell Lily where she was going. Sirius stood by the doorway to the livingroom, watching until Carla had disappeared upstairs before going into the room, setting up some silencing charms around Prong's bed, and starting work on his bike. At least doing it this way he could keep an eye out for his friend.
He'd barely started when Lily joined him. Walking silently into the room, she sat down beside him, taking her wand and going to work on a different area to where he was working. He looked over to her, shocked.
'What are you doing Evans?' He asked, finally getting some words out.
'Helping,' she answered simply, before looking slightly unsure, 'unless you don't want me to?' Sizing her up, he couldn't see any hidden motives but he was suspicious none the least.
'Why? Was the first question that popped out before adding onto it, 'do you know anything about motorbikes?' His face was sceptical.
'My-' she paused for a second, after not telling anyone about her Dad for so long, apart from her closest friends, it seemed to be coming up a lot in the last few days. Taking a deep breath she started again. 'My Dad was a mechanic and I used to help him.' Sirius decided not to press the matter, simply offering a simple nod that he had understood. She gave a weak grin before carrying on. 'And as for why, well…James and I actually became friends over the last few days, I mean we still have a way to go before we're close or anything like that, but we aren't arguing. But this means we can't be enemies.'
Sirius raised an eyebrow at this. 'Oh; and why would that be Evans?'
'Because you and James are practically brothers; I don't think I've ever seen closer friends, but if we didn't get along, we'd only be putting James in the middle, which is unfair to him.' She stopped and watched the different emotions and thoughts flicker over the other boys face.
'Okay,' Sirius reluctantly agreed. He knew how much James loved the girl, and if he was the one who messed it up after his friend's hard work in trying to get Lily to like him, he probably wouldn't forgive himself, nor would James forgive him. Besides, where would the harm be in getting to know the girl a little more, by September she'd probably be back to yelling at them anyway, he thought.
'So, Sirius,' she tried out his name for the first time, 'do you mind me giving you a hand?'
'Of course not Lily, it may give us a chance to get to know one another,' Black suggested, figuring this would be the best time to start their 'friendship'. Lily nodded in approval before going back to what she was doing when she came in the room.
'Are you staying the night?' Sirius asked; realising if she was the only female clothing in the house belonged to Mrs Potter. Lily shook her head.
'My sister is getting married soon so I have to get up early tomorrow morning to go looking for bridesmaids dresses,' she grimaced at the thought of it.
'That good!' Sirius exclaimed with a slight chuckle. 'Will you be here in the afternoon to help us take James to the Hopstal?' He looked slightly embarrassed at what he was about to say next, 'I mean, all of us are Purebloods, not that there's anything wrong with Muggleborns of course,' he quickly defended himself, 'but none of us know much about Muggles and their weird medicine stuff.' Lily giggled at the fact they didn't know such simple things as what a hospital was called nor what to do there.
'I'll tell my Mum I have to help you, she'll understand. I think I only have to be there for the morning anyway,' Lily managed to get out, doing her best to keep her face straight while Sirius huffed at being laughed at.
Moving the conversation onto Lily's sister, as well as her upcoming marriage, the two of them worked peacefully until the late evening when Lily had to go.
After she left, Sirius brought his own bed downstairs and set it up next to James', making sure he kept his promise (and also making sure he took down the silencing charm!). Stripping down to his boxers, he placed the rest of his clothing next to James' and climbed into his bed.
In his sleep, James felt as though a peaceful presence was nearby, he smiled before falling back into the deep sleep he'd been drifting out of. Everything was fine now.
'Night Prongs.' Sirius whispered; making sure he didn't wake him, before blowing out the candles that lit the room and gradually fell asleep.