Authors Note: Wow, can't believe how far this story is going. First it was only one chapter… now I'm writing the fourteenth. Woohooo!

I hope everyone's summers went all right!

Disclaimer: HP is J.K.R's stuff. Not mine.

And I'm really sorry for taking like, 500 years to get this chapter out –cringes-

Read and review, please!

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­The gang sat in the Gryffindor Common Room that Tuesday afternoon, talking amongst themselves and doing their homework.

Or in other terms, listening as Cai regaled everyone with more stories of her injury in between making up Divination homework with Sirius.

"Hmm… hey Sirius, you get eaten by ostriches on the fifth and the seventeenth," She told him.

"Better change that," He said. "Instead of ostriches, I'll get eaten by llamas on the seventeenth… oops; I'd better change the fourteenth then. I shouldn't be eaten by llamas three days after I make peace with their warring nation."

Cai nodded in agreement while the rest of the group looked on in a bit of fear.

"Oh, hey Cai, you better change the twenty-third."

Cai looked at her piece of parchment and then looked at Sirius curiously.

"Why?" She asked. "It just says that I'm going to be chased by flaming flying penguins. I already checked, I haven't repeated it."

Sirius just shook his head. "Oh dear sweet, naïve, innocent little Cai. Penguins can't fly. Everyone knows that!" With another shake of his head, he rose and beckoned for everyone to come closer.

In retrospect, this action seemed to make everyone scoot farther away, but Sirius just started talking.

"Now, as you all know, my birthday is in two weeks and four days-" He broke off as he glared at the entire group for rolling their eyes. Clearing his throat, he continued. "I have a few requests that I would like to make of you all. Firstly, I would like you all to present me with gifts. Secondly, I would like to play at least three games of quidditch during the day, seeing as it will be a Saturday. Thirdly-" His list continued on, with item 37 being a request of everyone to wear glamour charms to look like him, and with item 56 being a request to have the Purple People Eaters make another quest appearance, this time at his birthday party.

"And finally, item sixty-three, part b is-"

"Sirius, enough!" Ash broke in. "Just shut up already!"

Sirius rolled his eyes and sighed morosely. "Ah, the trials and tribulations of an unappreciated soul."

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Precisely two weeks and four days later, the gang was found in the common room (yet again), this time "celebrating" the miraculous birth of one Sirius Orion Black.

However, it was more like listening to another speech which provided a chronology of Sirius's other birthdays.

"And so, on my fourteenth birthday, I found myself looking into the spoon used to eat my cake and ice cream. And then I wondered, is there more to life other than being really, really, ridiculously good-looking?"

The entire group groaned, and James asked Remus,

"Maybe if we clap, he'll stop?" Both of them shrugged, but Remus watched on with extreme delight as James rose and clapped, causing Sirius to bow and take a seat.

"Thank Merlin," They heard Ash mutter, and everyone started laughing.

"Second order of business," Sirius said, ignoring Ash's comment. "Where is everyone going for the Easter week?"

"James' house for the first part, and then I'm going to Abuela's house for Thursday through Sunday night, and back to James' house so they can take me to Kings Cross," Cai said with a grin.

"All right Cai, sounds like a plan," James muttered. "Maybe you should've talked to me first?"

Cai rolled her eyes and ruffled James' hair. "Oh, but Jimmy, then it wouldn't be as much fun! Besides, I already talked to your darling mummy and she said it was fine." The entire group laughed, and Peter took the opportunity to speak.

"I'm going home for the entire week… Dad wants me to meet some business associates of his. But I might be able to join you guys for the last day, I'll have to ask."

"Hopefully there will be a few girls there for you, Petey!" Sirius said with a laugh, eliciting a few chuckles from the males and glares from the girls. "Ah, ha, just kidding girls. Just kidding… no reason to attack me! You can't, 'cause I'm very important! I have many leather-bound books and my home smells of rich mahogany!"

The entire group stared at him.

"Well, Jim-bob's house smells of rich mahogany…"

"I'm going to the States to visit my cousins," Stephanie said, while Remus at the same time muttered,

"Looks like I'm stuck with those lunatics at James' house."

"Seems like I've got the whole gang at my house this vacation," James remarked casually, for Ash lived across town from him and frequently visited.

"What about Lily?" Peter asked. "She hasn't told us anything."

Lily murmured something under her breath, but nobody could hear what she said.

"Oh Lily," Sirius drawled, "Perhaps you could speak a little louder. I couldn't hear what your remark was under that oh-so-casual mumble you uttered."

"I'm going to James' house," Lily repeated, this time a little bit louder. Cai let out a 'whoop' of excitement as Stephanie and Ash exchanged knowing smiles.

"Oh really?" Sirius asked with a grin, elbowing James in the side.

"Yeah really," He replied with a smile.

- -- - -- ------

A crumpled up piece of parchment made its way from Stephanie's hand to Cai's forehead, ricocheting off to land in Ash's hair to join the other pieces of parchment already in residence there.

"Would you guys just pay attention?" Lily moaned from her seat at the table. They were currently located in the library, situated at a table that around which studying was supposed to occur.

Swish, thwomp, fwap… Parchment balls: thirteen; Ash's hair: zero.

"' C'mon guys," Lily pleaded. "Now… what did Biznit the Third do?"

"He led the hobgoblins through the mage-goblin war of 1347. They won the war, but Biznit the Third was killed by a mage assassin in 1378. His son, Biznit the Fourth, was not well situated for rule, and let the goblin country demise until it was easily taken over by the mages once more in 1423. This war is one reason as to present-day goblin situations," Cai recited, as if from memory. Lily seemed shocked that Cai remembered these facts, but that shock only lasted until she noticed the window behind her.

"Cai!" She yelled.

"Miss Evans!" Madame Pince admonished, and Lily ducked her head.

"Sorry Madame Pince," She said. "Cai," Lily continued in an angry whisper, "You can't just charm windows to read over my shoulder any time you feel like it. How are you going to pass the N.E.W.T. that way?"

Cai shrugged. "I don't even know how I made it into the class."

Ash nodded in agreement. "It's true, she asked Professor Binns the first day of classes and we couldn't get a straight answer out of him! He just muttered something about a Miss Blue and an O on her O.W.L., but we all know that Cai barely scraped an A, so we didn't know what he meant."

A winded James Potter burst into the library and, seeing the girls, walked quickly to them, dodging the stare of Madame Pince along the way. He then crouched by Lily's chair.

"Have you guys seen Peter?" He asked hurriedly, looking around the library.

"Nah, not since yesterday," Cai said off-handedly, absentmindedly flipping through the pages of her textbook.

Stephanie nodded her agreement. "Yeah, the last time I saw him was at supper last night. Do you think he's okay?"

"I'm sure he's fine," James told them. "Lily, could I speak with you?"

"But James, we really have to study-"

"Brilliant then," He interjected, grabbing her elbow and lifting her up. She rolled her eyes, but followed him to around a bookshelf, grabbing her bag on the way.

"We need your help, Lils," James pleaded. "We can't find Peter, and we need him to press the knot."

Lily just stared at him. "Excuse me?"

"The knot, Lily." When she seemed to still not know what he was talking about, he lowered his voice. "On the whomping willow!" He said in a whisper.

"Oh!" She exclaimed. "D'you need me to go find Peter then?"

James smacked his forehead with his hand. "No, we need a small animal that has human-like thought processes and is very smart."

"Professor McGonagall, then?"

James smacked himself again. Lily really didn't comprehend this, although who was to blame her. A study session with Stephanie, Ash, and Cai would try anyone's patience and cause them to be mentally exhausted.

Which is why only Lily was still crazy enough to attempt it.

"We need you!" He whispered heatedly, enjoying the reaction he got.

"Oh," She murmured. She grinned ruefully. "I suppose that was a bit of a stupid response there."

James started laughing, but through his laughter he was able to speak into the cord around his wrist. "All right, Padfoot, Foxy McFox is a go. I repeat, Foxy McFox is a go!" Lily stared at him.

"My code name is Foxy McFox?" She whispered mournfully. James nodded, grinning hugely, and dodged the fist that came his way.

"The fox is getting agitated," James muttered into the cord. "Evasive procedures! Evasive procedures!" Sirius quickly ran into the library, ignoring the indignant shrieks of Madam Pince, and made his way over to the girls' table.

"We've got to borrow Lily for the rest of the night, peachy?"

They all nodded, giggling amongst themselves, as Sirius ran over to James and helped him carry the struggling redhead out of the library.

- - - - -------------

"All right," Sirius told Lily. "All we need you to do is transform, run under the branches of doom and destruction that will rip you apart, press that innocent looking knot on the deadly trunk, and then you can go back up to the castle and enjoy a relaxing night's rest."

"All right," Lily said, staring with apprehension at the wildly swinging tree. They were just out of range of its branches, perched on a low stone wall marking a few meters outside of its reach.

"Spiffing," James said. "Let's go to it. We don't have that much time left."

Lily looked at them hesitantly, and transformed before scampering under the branches. James and Sirius both held their breath for the minute it took her to locate the knot, and sighed with relief when the branches froze. Quickly making their way through the frozen appendages of the willow, they all slid into the passageway.

Lily quickly transformed back, coughing a bit because the passage was very dusty.

"This is where we leave you, my fairest Lily," Sirius said with a bow. "If anything goes wrong, let's say, I dunno, you get mad at Cai for not studying and accidentally chuck her out on the grounds, please come and let us know. Transform, find us, and I dunno… bite James or something." Lily bit her lip anxiously, and quickly gave both of them hugs before nodding, transforming, and making her way back to above ground, leaving James with a goofy smile on his face.

"Snap out of it, loverboy," Sirius said with a bark-like laugh, elbowing his friend in the stomach. "We'd best be off."

Lily sighed as she made her way in animal form back up to the castle. No matter how she had broken out of that "goody-two-shoes" phase that lasted from first year to fifth, she still did not like breaking the rules. And being an illegal animagus was definitely breaking the rules.

A hushed sob met her ears, and she cringed. She had almost decided to slip around the person when she remembered Sirius' words.

Oh damn, she thought. They wouldn't. But a howling that met her ears testified to the fact that yes, they would indeed take Remus out onto the grounds for a casual jaunt in the moonlight. Terrific. Making her way through the bushes that seemed to surround the lake, she came upon a Hufflepuff fourth year who she vaguely recognized, sobbing into her hands and wrapping her cloak around her.

Why couldn't my animal form be big and scary? Lily mused as she wondered how she was going to get the girl back up to the castle. Deciding to go ahead with plan a, the only plan running through her head at the moment, she let out a little yip and growled at the girl.

Be afraid! Lily begged silently. Be very afraid! Run away for your own safety! I'm a rabid little fox! I'll bite you, I will!

"Aww, what an adorable little fox! D'you want to play?" The girl asked, forgetting her tears.

…Damn…

- - - - -------------

Would you look at this, Jim-bob… it's a pile of leaves! And look, another pile of leaves! And dirt! Lots of dirt!

James snorted in irritation. Having been friends for so long, as well as animagi for a better part of that friendship, they were somehow able to 'speak' to each other while in their animal forms.

It was times like these, when Sirius let the animal instincts take over, when James regretted having ever met the boy.

A tree! Crowed the enthusiastic black dog, and James nudged him with his antlers, gesturing towards Remus.

D'you wanna go into the woods, or by the lake? He asked Padfoot. He was awaiting Sirius' response, but he was not expecting what came next.

Lily? Sirius asked hesitantly, and the fox sitting at his feet looked at him impatiently.

Is something wrong? James asked silently.

When Yes… bushes… year…cry... was all that came across, James realized that they could only understand Lily's broken thoughts, and that she might only be able to understand portions of what they were saying.

That didn't stop Sirius, however.

Hit the ground twice with your left paw for 'Yes, something's wrong', and hit it three times for 'No, I just felt like visiting you lovely lads'.

The thought seemed to get to her, for the glare that Lily the Fox gave Sirius could have cowed the sun, and provided enough energy for the muggle world for generations. It seemed to say, 'No matter how much you would like to think so, I am not a counting horse.'

The message seemed to get across to Sirius, who immediately busied himself by pointing out the obvious bits of agriculture strewn about the Hogwarts grounds. Again.

What's wrong, Lils? James wondered, but he didn't have to wait long.

With an exasperated sigh that looked extremely out of place on the fox, the contrite Lily sunk her teeth into James' lower leg.

After a moment of wondering why exactly they were friends with this insane being, he remembered what the bite was to mean.

Oh damn. Padfoot, go get Remus and bring him back to the shack. I'm gonna go follow Lily and handle this. The dog nodded emphatically, and James motioned for Lily to direct him towards wherever the person was.

- - - - - ------------

"Guys, I'm bored," Cai exclaimed as she hit her head on the back of the armchair.

"Cai, we're all bored," Stephanie informed the blonde. "You just seem to be the only one who needs to vocalize it."

"Guys, now I'm really, really, bored," She reiterated. Both Ash and Stephanie sighed.

"Wanna go for a walk?" Ash asked them after a few minutes, and had to take a calming breath as Cai rushed out of the common room.

"I suppose that was a yes…" Stephanie murmured, shaking her head.

The girls found themselves walking around the main entrance of Hogwarts twenty minutes later.

"Guys-"

"Cai, we already know you're bored."

"But-"

"And no, seeing how many times we can escape from Filch is not our idea of fun."

"Hey-"

"No! Not another peep!"

"Peep?" Cai asked Stephanie hesitantly. "Peep? Who uses the word peep!" The brunette just walked away from them, muttering about how the use of the English language had declined. The other two laughed as they followed her to the small side door located in the next hallway over, and then they all proceeded out into the brisk air blowing across the moonlit grounds.

- - - ----------

While the three girls were making their way out of that exit, James and Lily were trying to coerce the girl into coming inside.

"C'mon, Bernice, Lily and I just came from inside. Everyone's worried about where you are. Margot and Anita and going crazy because they're blaming themselves. Please, come back inside."

Wow, this boy is good, Lily thought. I didn't even know the girl's name, and I barely remembered what year she was in. Yet he manages to remember everything about her.

A howl broke through her thoughts, and James redoubled his efforts.

"Listen, Bernice, if you don't come-"

"Whatever made that howling noise is going to come and eat you." Lily broke in. "Aaawoooo! Very scary, it is."

James sent her a look that clearly implied that she was not helping. However, when another howl came he took decisive action.

"You just stupefied a student, James!" Lily whispered heatedly. "Stupefied! What is wrong with you?"

"I had to get her to go somewhere else," James whispered back. "So just bring her up to the castle, and I'll go handle Moony."

"Oh really, and how is that going to happen? I may be strong, James, but Bernice is a good six inches taller than me and I doubt that I'll be able to carry her two meters, much less all the way up to the castle."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, besides the fact that you are a witch and can use a levitating spell, the girls are nearly right behind us and can help you bring her to the castle. Now go!" He hissed the last sentence, and with seemingly little effort his animagus form was seen trotting off in the direction of the howls. Lily turned around, and met the worried faces of her three best friends.

"No explanations now. I need your help. Are you in or out?"

- - --------------

Muffled curses would have met the ears of any passers-by as Lily, Ash, Stephanie, and Cai carried the girl up to the castle.

"Put a little back into it, men!" Cai warbled cheerfully, and started singing a camping song that she had picked up from muggle camp one year.

"Shut it!" Ash whispered, smacking Cai in the back of the head.

"Ow!" The girl replied, and stopped moving only to be crashed into by Stephanie.

"Geez, Cai, a little warning might be nice. You really-"

"Would you guys be quiet?" Lily groaned. "You all forgot that we need to get Bernice up to the castle, and quick." The girls looked ready to question her, but yet another howling met their ears.

"Is that what we're running from?" Cai asked hesitantly. Lily refrained from rolling her eyes, and nodded solemnly.

"All right," Ash answered for all of them. "Me 'n Lily will grab her shoulders, Cai and Steph will grab her legs, and we'll go as fast as we can. We don't have that much further until we reach the front door, and that door that we can use is only a few meters past that. Savvy?"

"You've been hanging around Sirius for too long," Was the response, but they all shuffled to their assigned positions and lifted.

"Heave, ho!" Cai muttered, but at a glare she just kept jogging. They were almost to the castle when another howl came, and Ash glanced over her shoulder.

"Wait, have we just been running from a little black doggy?" As the dog got closer, she revised her statement. "Er, a big black doggy. Uh, a grim… maybe we should just keep going?" Lily hustled them all inside, and was about to close the door when a snarl reached her ears, and she looked up into a terrible sight.

Remus, claws outstretched, sticking his paw in the space between door and doorjamb (for it was not fully closed yet) to reach them.

- --- - --

Remus looked at them again as he apologized the next day in the Head's Common Room.

"I am so, so sorry," He repeated. "I can understand if you never want to see me again. I wouldn't blame you. I mean, I can completely understand if you don't want to communicate or see your almost murderer, your-"

"Remus, that's rubbish." Cai told him, and everyone nodded their agreement.

"But I lied to you! I almost killed all of you! I can't even think of how that poor girl Bernice would feel if she knew the truth! I mean-"

"Rubbish!" She exclaimed again, this time jumping to her feet. "Honestly Remy, there's something you should know."

Remus nearly shrunk back in his chair. "Its all right, I can take it. I-"

"I've known about your… furry little problem, as Sirius calls it, since third year. Remus, there's only so many times that you can tell someone that your mother is deathly ill, when they have, in turn, seen the extraordinarily healthy woman numerous times." Seeing everyone looking at her strangely, she sighed. "Honestly, I'm blonde, but not that blonde!"

"But-"

"I don't care anymore, Remus, just be quiet. We're not going to hate you forever, we don't care that you're a werewolf, so just be quiet!" Cai exclaimed. Remus shut his mouth, and Cai sighed, "Thank you. Now let's pack up so we can leave."

- - - - - - - - - -

As they assembled in the Great Hall to take the portkeys that would bring them to their destination, Lily started to feel nervous.

"Don't worry," Cai reassured her, "The Potter's are really nice. I mean, honestly, I sometimes like them better than my own parents. If I could, I would just move in with them."

"Really," James broke in, "One squatter is enough. I don't need two people moving into my house."

Sirius ignored this rather obvious jab at his person, and loftily took the old boot in his hand. And as Lily touched the portkey before Professor McGonagall started a rather obvious countdown from five, James whispered reassuringly to her,

"Don't worry; my parents are going to love you."

Not surprisingly, this didn't really help.

- - - - - -

"Well, what do we have here?" A stern voice asked as it approached the group, sounding like a muggle policeman investigating a scene.

Lily cursed the fact that she was terrible at portkey landings.

She also cursed the fact that she had been standing next to Sirius, who was also terrible at landings.

It was really the third in a series of unfortunate events that produced the end result of Lily, Sirius, and a rather fetching leopard print bag being tangled up at the bottom of a pack of students.

Amidst the shouts of "Where did my stuff go?", "Sirius, please stop rummaging around through my things!", and a final, "Sirius, please get your hand off of my face…" James proudly said to his father,

"Hey Dad, this is Lily Evans, the girl I was talking about."

Removing Sirius' hand from her person, Lily looked up fearfully into a face that was peering into her own. Somewhat pleasant looking, Mr. Potter smiled at her as he disentangled Sirius' legs from hers and helped her up.

"Glad to finally meet you, dear," He exclaimed, his voice sounding more humane now that she knew he wasn't a law officer. He had black, messy hair that was identical to James', with bright blue eyes nearly hidden underneath square-framed glasses. Lily sighed, and shook his hand.

"Glad to meet you as well, Mr. Potter," She said in response.

"Oh no, just call me Michael. James has told us so much about you, I feel as if we've known you forever!"

Lily flushed, and looked over to James where she saw the same thing.

"All right, Michael, thank you for-"

"Merlin's beard, Lily, he must like you a lot. I've still got to call him Mr. Potter!" Sirius whispered dramatically. Michael rolled his eyes, before slinging an arm around Sirius' shoulders and dragging him to go carry bags.

All right, Lily thought. I'll do fine. I've already met Mr. P- Michael, and he seems very nice. It can't get any worse than being stuck in a humiliating situation in front of him. I'm sure that Mrs. Potter-

"Sirius Black!" A voice screeched. "If you take even one more step, I will not hesitate to punish you until it makes the Dementors look like angels! Don't you dare put any charms on those bags. And if you already have…"

"Hullo Mum!" James exclaimed cheerfully, and Lily smacked her forehead with her hand.

It just got worse.

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A/N: I'm going to stop it here, because I realized that I haven't updated in forever. I am SOOOOO sorry!

Please review!