"Prongs, wake up!" Sirius said as he poured the bucket of water onto James bed, successfully succeeding in completely drenching his best mate. James rose from his slumber and stuttered as he untangled himself from his now soaked sheets. He glared at Sirius who was standing in front of him with the purest look of innocence he could muster.

"What the hell Black! What was that for?"

"Your mother told me to wake you up." He replied while rocking back and forth on his heels. James crossed his arms.

"And you couldn't just shake me or push me off my bed?" Sirius thought about it for a moment.

"No, that would have been too simple. I like complicated."

"Yet you can't seem to date anyone with a brain capacity higher than that of an eight-year-old." Sirius stared at James in silence before taking the bucket and hitting him in the back of the knees. James fell and stared up at Sirius in shock.

"Peter and Remus are here which is why your mom asked me to wake you. On the bright side now you don't have to take a shower." Sirius said evilly as he walked out of James' room, leaving him on the floor. After staying on the floor for a few more seconds, James got up and walked towards his adjoining bathroom, making a mental note to tell his mom to dry his sheets later.

Some twenty minutes later, he emerged from the bathroom fully dressed and headed down the stairs. He arrived in the kitchen to find the rest of the house's occupants already there. His mom was fiddling around with something in a cupboard, his dad was at the stove flipping pancakes, Sirius was sitting on the kitchen counter, and Remus and Peter were sitting in chairs at the breakfast bar. He stood in the doorway and watched as his mom walked over from the closet to his dad and handed him a box of something James couldn't quite make out.

His parents had met on their first day at the Ministry of Magic. Both were Unspeakable, so James wasn't exactly sure what they did or what it was that drove them together, but ever since that fateful day, the two had been inseparable and even after twenty years of marriage they still acted like two love struck teens. After watching in silence for a little while longer, James cleared his throat to make his presence known.

"Morning honey." Katharine Potter said as she walked over to her son. For the past few years, since James' massive growth spurt, his mother had had to look up at her son from her height of five foot three. Katharine had dirty blonde hair that always seemed to be in tons of curls that fell down her back. James had inherited her brown eyes, caring nature and sharp witted tongue. Katherine ruffled his hair. "Did you enjoy your wake call?" James glared down at his mother.

"No, and now you have to dry my bed." Tyler Potter chuckled from his spot at the stove as he flipped another pancake.

"I told you not to let Sirius wake him up." He said teasingly to his wife. James was the spitting image of his father, except for Tyler's blue eyes and more prominent cheekbones. James had gained his height, his hair, his smirk, his build and even his near-sightedness. From a distance, the two could pass for twins. And up close, Tyler looked more like James' brother than his father and he acted more like it too. Katherine threw a glare at her husband and stuck out her tongue.

"The job was to get James up, out of bed, dressed and down those stairs. As far as I can see, he did exactly what he was asked and I don't really care about the process of how it was done. Thank you Sirius." She said directing the last statement at the boy still on top of the counter. Sirius smiled and winked.

"My pleasure Katherine." James rolled his eyes before sitting down in the seat next to Remus.

"So what are we doing today, boys?" He asked. Remus who had been reading the paper cleared his throat.

"We're going with Lily and Dani to...er...see...Lily's house. Well, what's left of it." Remus said all this while keeping his eyes on the paper in his hands. When he looked up, James nodded.

"When should we head over?"

"Dani said come over when we were all ready." Peter piped. "So as soon as you eat, we can go." James turned to his parents.

"Is it cool if we leave now?" Katherine closed the refrigerator and walked over to stand beside her husband. She nodded.

"Of course honey. But eat something before you go." Tyler's watched beeped and he whistled when he peered down at it.

"Kat, we gotta go. We have that thing at work that we have to handle." Tyler said as he untied the apron from around his waist and headed towards the coat closet. Katherine nodded and walked across the bar.

"Now boys, Tyler and I have a very important mission we are working on today and we will not be able to be reached. We're not in danger!" She quickly clarified at seeing the looks of terror on the four faces in front of her.

"It's just very classified and top secret."

"Isn't everything you do classified and top secret?" Peter asked.

"That's beside the point. We won't be back till after midnight, at earliest. Now, that does not mean, you four have range to party like crazy. You are to be back in this house by 11:00 at the latest. If you are not here, you should be at Dani's house. Is that clear? Remus?"

"Yes Katherine."

"Peter?"

"Yes Katherine."

"Sirius?"

"Yes Katherine."

"James?"

"Yes Katherine." Katherine playfully pulled her son's ear.

"That is now and forever will be mum to you, understand?" James laughed as he tried to remove his mother's hand from his appendage.

"Yes, mum." Katherine let go and kissed his forehead.

"Good." Tyler took that moment to enter, holding out his wife's coat and wearing his.

"Kat, we've got to hurry or we'll be late." Katherine rolled her eyes before stepping forward to put on her jacket. Once it was on, she grabbed her husband's hand.

"Boys," She said looking at the teens in front of her, "Remember what I said. 11:00."

"Goodbye boys." Tyler said.

"We love you." Katherine added. Tyler nodded in agreement, and then the next moment, they apparated with a pop. James stood.

"Well, no time like the present to head over. " Remus looked up from his paper.

"Mate, aren't you hungry?" James looked at the untouched plate full of pancakes on the table. He picked it up and went to go place it in the refrigerator.

"I'll eat it when we get back. I don't think we should keep them waiting any more than necessary." His three friends nodded in agreement. Sirius jumped off the counter and the three headed out of the kitchen and into the living room, where the grand fireplace was located. James grabbed a small pouch from on the top of the fireplace, and took a handful of Floo Powder before stepping into the fireplace.

"Carlson Residence!" James yelled loud and clear before being enveloped in green flames.

"I love how even though you live right next door, you couldn't walk over here." James opened his eyes to see Dani standing in the doorway of the library/family study. James grinned and stepped out of the fireplace. He shrugged.

"Why exert extra energy where it's not needed?" Dani rolled her eyes and stood on her tip-toes, reaching up to brush soot from his hair.

"You lazy git." She said before leaning forward to kiss him. James kissed her back just as Sirius arrived behind him.

"Ew." He groaned. "James that is in direct violation of the PADFOOTPRONGS Treaty." James ignored him and only pulled Dani closer. A sound behind them revealed Peter. He looked from Sirius' scowling face to the tightly wound couple in the middle of the room and smirked.

"Good to see you too Dani. Though of course I can only see half of your face, because James is trying to eat the other half." Dani pulled away from James and giggled.

"Hi Peter. Hi Sirius. Where's-" Another burst of flames and Remus stepped from the fireplace, brushing his clothes. "Nevermind."

"Where's Lily?" Sirius asked. Dani's cheerful expression changed to a grim one.

"How's she doing?" Remus asked in a quiet voice. Dani crossed her arms and shrugged.

"She hasn't said a single word to me or my parents all morning. She won't eat either. She got dressed and has been sitting in the living room all day staring at the wall. I even brought Mike 'round her to try and get a rise; some kind of emotion out of her, but she didn't even flinch. I'm really worried." Remus shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged.

"She's grieving. You have to give her space and time. When she's ready, she'll come to you. You can't force her. Lily doesn't like being forced to do anything." Dani rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Well, we might as well go tell her you're here so we can get going." She grabbed James' hand and led the four boys out and into the hallway. They walked to the living room, where just as Dani had said, Lily was seated staring at the wall across from her. She was dressed in all black from her jacket to her trainers. Even the scrunches keeping her hair in the two separate pigtails were black. She wore no expression on her face and didn't even appear to notice as five people entered the room. Dani stepped forward and laid a hand on her best mate's shoulder.

"Lily?" She asked. "Lily?" Lily briefly glanced at Dani before returning her gaze to the wall. "Lily, the guys are here. We can go now if you like." Dani said while motioning towards the four teens still in the doorway. Lily looked at them and they waved.

"Good Morning Lily." James and Remus said politely.

"Morning Evans." Sirius said. Peter smiled. Lily just blinked at them.

"Lily?" Lily looked at Dani at the call of her name. "Are you ready to go?" Lily looked at the floor for a few seconds before nodding slowly and proceeding to rise to her feet and walk over to the boys, Dani in tow.

"So how are we getting there?" Sirius asked as he and the others stepped aside to let them by.

"Portkey." Dani said as she led the others into the kitchen identical to the one next door. Sitting on the countertop was an old brown witch hat, that was tattered and had holes all along the brim. Sirius whistled low.

"Looks like something McGonagall would wear." He said earning an elbow to the ribs from Remus.

"Now is not the time, Black." He whispered harshly. Sirius rubbed his ribcage.

"It was just a joke. Sorry for trying to lighten the mood. Besides, even old Minerva has more style than the previous owner of this thing." Sirius said earning a smile out of Lily. It was just the corners of her lips turning upward, but it was still a smile.

"Alright guys, it's set to go as soon as someone touches it, so we have to time it right." Dani said as the six of them took stances around it. "When I say three, reach for it. Not before three Sirius, and not after three Peter. On three. Alright?" The five faces staring at her nodded in understanding, two of which were glaring at the speaking girl. "Okay. One." Six hands shot out.

"Two." The hands moved till they were all just hovering above the hat.

"Three!"

"Okay. Who's not dead? Sound off." James said as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"Remus."

"Peter."

"Lily."

"My leg! My poor leg! It's broken! James, you fat twat you fell on it and broke it! Now someone has to carry me! Don't all volunteer at once." Remus rolled his eyes and put a hand out to Sirius.

"Come on, mate. Walk it off. You'll be fine." Sirius rolled his eyes and reluctantly took Remus' hand and was pulled up off the ground. As he brushed himself off, he looked around.

"Where's Dani?"

"Don't get your knickers in a twist." A voice from behind him said. "I was just hiding the portkey till we're ready to go." Dani walked over to stand beside Lily, who was staring at the ground. She wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "We should start walking. The house should be just down the street from here if I remember correctly. Right, Lily?" She asked hoping for some sort of response. She received none. She sighed and began to walk, slightly pulling Lily along the way.

The six walked in companionable silence for a while and Peter had been just about to ask how much further, when something on the ground caught their eyes. It was small and glittering and when Dani picked it up, they realized it was a small silver key that looked like it was made from diamonds. Lily gasped and tenderly took it from Dani's hand.

"This was my mother's." She said quietly as if speaking to loud would cause it to break. "My father gave it to her on their fifth wedding anniversary. She used to say that she would willingly give up all of her other jewellery as long as she got to keep this. It was her favorite necklace." She looked around on the ground, but couldn't spot the chain that it was on. Remus, being the skilled wizard he was, picked up a twig lying on the ground and quickly transfigured it into silver chain and handed it to Lily who placed the key on it and clasped it behind her neck. "Thank you." Remus nodded.

"No problem. Shall we continue?" The six started walking again, Lily's right hand making a fist around the charm. As they kept walking, more debris was seen. When they were four houses away, both Lily and Dani gasped. From where they were standing, they could easily see the house-well what was left of it. Debris scattered the surrounding yards and the house itself was nothing but destroyed wood. The frame structure had completely dissolved and the only clue that this mass of rubble had once been a house was the fact that the lone thing standing upright was the front door. All six teenagers gasped and Dani had to hold Lily upright to keep her from falling over. When they were standing in the middle of the rubble, the six teens looked around.

"So," Sirius started, breaking the dead silence. "I think we should start seeing if there's anything saveable." The others looked at each other and nodded before going in separate directions. The teens began to search aimlessly through the wood, for something, anything. Remus, James, Sirius, Peter, and Dani did the best they could to find items, while Lily stayed frozen in the middle, in too much shock to move. When they had been searching for an hour, Remus sighed and headed towards Lily.

"I'm sorry, Lily." Remus said. "We tried. But there's just nothing here. Everything…it's gone." Lily wrapped her arms around herself, nodded and smiled weakly.

"I know you tried and I'm extremely grateful. Thank you." She responded in a quiet voice as a small tear rolled down her check. Remus hugged her to his chest, and ran his hand up and down her back lightly. The others had begun to head towards the two, when Peter spoke up.

"Um, Lily? I think I might have found something." Lily pulled away from Remus, and wiped her face with the back of her hand.

"What?"

"Come look." He said. Lily looked at Remus before hurrying in Peter's direction, the others following close behind. Peter was kneeling on the ground, wood and debris surrounding him. In his hands were pages filled with pictures. Lily gasped and kneeled beside him.

"They're pages…from one of the family albums. There's my third birthday," She said pointed to a picture of a red head toddler whose face was covered in cake, "And that was when I broke my arm," The picture showed an eight-year-old Lily standing outside a hospital with a newly wrapped cast, waving at the camera, "And this one," She said pointing to another one "was taken before I got on the platform in 1st Year. Right before I ran into Dani."

Everyone leaned closer to look at it. A grinning Lily stood in the middle of the picture, her two proud parents standing behind her, grins just as wide. Lily was standing on her trunk, making her the same height as her parents. It was the picture of a perfect family. Tears began to well up in her eyes.

"It's my favorite picture." Lily turned to look at Peter and hugged him.

"Thank you for finding them. Thank you. You don't know what these pages mean to me." Peter nodded and handed them to her.

"Glad I could help." Just then a car pulled up alongside the road and parked a few feet away from the six teenagers. Out of the car appeared a very portly, short man, who waddled to the passenger side of the car opened it. Out got a young woman with dark hair and a face that mildly resembled a horse. Sirius whistled.

"Wow. Aren't centaurs supposed to have human faces and horse legs?" Dani elbowed him sharply in the ribs. "What?"

"That's not a horse, you ass." She whispered.

"It's not?"

"No, that's Petunia. Lily's older sister." Sirius looked back at Petunia before looking at Lily who was still staring at the pictures in her hands and had yet to look up. "Evans is related to that?"

"It's not hard to see where the good genes went." James added earning him a jab in the ribs from Remus.

"Stop it." He warned. "That's Lily's kin."

"Is kin supposed to want to kill you because she doesn't look all that happy to see her." Peter said. Everyone but Lily turned to look at Petunia, who indeed looked ready to slaughter her sister. She was walking towards the six on the grass, with the short portly man not far behind. James quickly walked towards them and stopped in front of them.

"Hi, I'm James Potter and I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting." Petunia stopped in her tracks and gave James the once over. James grinned.

"Like what you see?" He asked. Petunia blushed and giggled trying to look anywhere but at James. Just then the man who was behind her stepped forward.

"Ah hem." James looked down and arched an eyebrow.

"Can I help you?" He asked. The short man nodded.

"My name is Vernon Dursley, and you can help by moving out of mine and my fiancé's way. Who the hell are you?"

"Well, I'm James Potter, and I attend Hogwarts with Lily and our friends-" At the mention of her sister's name, Petunia snapped out of whatever hold James had on her and her expression turned from dazed to furious once more.

"Lily! You little slut! This is all your fault!" Petunia shouted as she and Vernon ran around James and towards the five still in the debris. Lily made no motion that she had heard her sister, but her hands were gripping the pages tighter than before. Dani sank to her knees and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"Don't listen to her. She doesn't know what she's talking about." Dani whispered in her ear. Lily nodded, her eyes still in the same place.

"Lily! Lily! I know you can hear me with those big ears of yours!" Sirius walked towards the oncoming Petunia.

"What's your problem?" Petunia glared at him.

"I just lost my parents in case you don't know!"

"Lily's your sister! She lost them too!" Petunia rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, this is all her fault! If she wasn't going to that damned school for freaks none of this would have happened!" Sirius' eyes widened.

"What?"

"That's right. Life was normal before she started attending that freak school. The lot of you are all probably freaks as well. Disgusting, despicable freaks!" She said while clutching her purse tighter to her person. Vernon beside her nodded vigorously. Peter, who had recently walked up, pointed his finger at her.

"You have no right to say those things!" Petunia scoffed and pushed his finger away.

"Don't you tell me what I can and can't do! She is a freak and that is what I will call her!" Peter was about to respond, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Peter, go back to Lily. You too Sirius." Dani ordered. Sirius frowned and furrowed his eyebrows at the command.

"But-"

"I would like a few words with Petunia and the short one." Vernon scoffed

"My name is Vernon Dursely and I will have you know-"

"Yeah, short one? I didn't ask so I don't care. Sirius, Peter, please go to Lily." The two boys shared a looking before doing as they were asked. When they were beside her, Dani took a deep breath and sighed.

"Now first and foremost, no one calls my best friend a slut. Especially you. You just lost your parents true, but you at least saw them recently before they died. Lily hasn't seen them in over a month. She's hurting just as much if not more than you and you're acting as if she's skipping around and throwing rock at their bodies! Do you not see that she's completely shut off? That's she on the verge of breaking down?"

"If she hadn't been accepted at the retched school-"

"She'd be preparing to marry a fat tart like you are?" Dani directed her gaze at Vernon, so there'd be no mistake who she was referring to.

"She'd be normal. She'd be here with the rest of her family. This", She said gesturing to the surround area. "Wouldn't have happened." Petunia looked around Dani. "I hate you. Do you know that? I absolutely hate you and I hope all of you and your little friends rot in hell for the rest of eter-" Petunia was cut off by Dani punching her in the face. The hit knocked her back two feet and she lied on the ground cradling her now bleeding nose. Vernon rushed to her side.

"We'll sue you for this! You can't just go around punching good people!" Dani stood with her fists clenched at her sides and she was shaking with fury. Her jeans, which were originally a bright blue, were a blood red as well as her shirt. The red in her hair had begun to rise and had reached all the way up to her first rib. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing deeply in and out of her nose. Sirius rushed to her side.

"Ignore them." He whispered. "They mean nothing." Dani nodded.

"I know. I'm fine, I swear. Just, give me a sec." She responded. Sirius placed a soothing hand on her back and rubbed in small circles while Dani's shoulders relaxed. When her outfit colors returned to normal, she opened her eyes and looked at Sirius. "See? Perfectly fine." Dani turned her gaze to Petunia and Vernon who were now looking at her in shock.

"You, you, you," Vernon stuttered. "You just changed colors. You were red just a second ago." Dani arched an eyebrow and looked at Petunia.

"Looks like you pegged yourself a smart one." Dani said sarcastically before walking closer and leaning down so she was eye level with Petunia.

"Now, you selfish, ungrateful, bitch. How dare you talk to your sister like that! I don't think you're aware how lucky you are. Lily loves you! She loves you for reasons unable to be understood! And yet you…you can't even show her a little respect! She has every right to hate you forever! You have no idea what you have! What I would kill to have again!" By now, Dani was blinking back tears and everyone was watching in complete silence, including Lily. She, Remus, Peter and James had all moved closer to hear the conversation. "You don't deserve Lily. And she sure as hell deserves better than you." With that being said, Dani stood, straightened her shirt and began to walk in the direction they had come, wiping her face with the back of her hands. James ran after her. Sirius looked at Peter and Remus.

"I think it's time we go." The other two Marauders nodded in agreement. Remus offered his hand to Lily and she accepted, using her other hand to clutch the photos to her chest. As Sirius walked by the two still lying on the ground, he waved.

"Very nice to meet the two of you. IF you're ever in the wizarding world, look me up." As he and Peter walked by, Peter furrowed his eyebrows.

"But they're muggles. They'll never be in the wizarding world." He whispered to Sirius who nodded in return.

"That's kind of the point, Wormtail." Remus pulled on Lily's hand to get her to hurry up, and when they passed by Petunia and Vernon, she stopped. She caught her sister's eyes and looked into her still bleeding face.

"Petunia." She said in a quiet voice. "I love you. Even if you say you don't love me, I want you to know that whatever happens, I will always love you." She began to walk again but when she was a few feet away from Petunia, she made Remus stop once more. She turned to look at Petunia, with tears falling down her face.

"Goodbye Petunia."

"Aah!" Lily screamed as she jolted from her sleep. She panted as she recalled the very vivid nightmare she had just had. She had dreamed that she was there when the death eaters attacked and that she had stood by and done nothing as her parents fell down, lifeless and dead. Petunia had been screaming about how it was her fault, and that she was a failure as a witch and would never amount to anything. Lily closed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair. Just then a door opened and in burst Dani.

"Lily! I heard you scream and I thought that maybe-" Dani didn't finish the sentence as she walked over to Lily's bed and sat down. "Well, it doesn't really matter what I thought because you're fine. Was it a nightmare?" Lily nodded as her heart rate continued to go down.

"Yeah." She answered quietly. "It was. But I'm fine, I'm-" Lily stopped midsentence as she glanced at the bedside table. Before she had gone to bed, she had placed the pages of the album on it and now they were no longer there. "Maybe they fell." Lily said as she jumped out of her bed and looked under it. Dani looked at her friend who was now on her hands and knees.

"What are you looking for?" She asked.

"My pages!" Lily exclaimed looking around frantically.

"What pages? The album pages?"

"Yes! They were on the table and now they're gone!" Dani rolled her eyes.

"Calm down and get back in bed. I know where they are." Lily's head shot up.

"You do?"

"Yes. They're in my room." Lily sat back in her bed and crossed her arms.

"Why?" Dani grinned.

"Wait right here." With that she ran back to her room leaving Lily still as confused as ever. She returned seconds later with a thick brown book. She placed it in Lily's lap. Lily read the cover.

"My Family." She said out loud.

"We did it. The boys and I. We thought that if the pictures were back in an album they'd be less likely to get ruined and less likely to get lost." Lily sat in silence as she ran her hand over the cover before opening it. "Do you like it?"

"Like it? I love it. But there are more pages here than the ones we found. Almost all the original pages are here. " Dani shrugged.

"We went back with James' dad after you feel asleep. He used magic and summoned the ones still there. And also some of your neighbors had been snooping around since the accident happened. And a few of them had previously found some of the pages and had them for safekeeping. When we said we knew you, they gladly gave them to us. After that, all we had to do was bind it. It actually wasn't that hard." Lily nodded as she flipped through her memories. Dani smiled. "Go to the last page. It's my favorite."

Lily looked at her friend before doing as she suggested and flipping to the back of the book. Dead center on the last page was a picture that had been taken in the common room before the Winter break party. Lily began to cry as she smiled down at the moving image. She and Dani were standing back to back in Charlie's Angels stances, complete with fake guns blazing, and winking at the camera. Behind them stood the four boys: Remus had crossed his eyes and was stretching out his face with his pointer fingers, James was striking a superman pose, and Sirius was giving Peter a wedgie. The six teens in the image would break their positions, all point and laugh at Peter, then wave to the camera before the motions would repeat. Under the picture was the caption, My New Family. Lily closed the book and looked at Dani.

"Thank you." She said her voice breaking. "Thank you so much." She leaned forward and hugged Dani tightly and Dani did the same. Dani grinned.

"You're welcome. And Lily?"

"Hum?"

"Welcome to the family."