Aw, Mum

BANG!

Thunder boomed through the Potter household, seeming the shake the enormous house, and James' eyes flew open. He had been having a nightmare and found he was in a cold sweat. He sat up and squeezed his eyes shut. Flashes of a cloaked man, of what he imagined to be Voldemort, still haunted him and he shook his head. He wasn't afraid of him - he couldn't be. He wanted to be an Auror after all. But Voldemort was getting stronger by the day, and he was no longer the miniscule wretch in the Wizarding World. He was a man that haunted everyone's nightmare's, and the reason everyone looked over their shoulder when out at night. His followers grew as well, causing panic among other wizards and witches. Since James' Mum and Dad were Aurors, he was one of the few who truely knew of the horrors of what Voldemort did. His father told him so James wouldn't be blind-sided and ignorant like so many other wizards and witches.

BANG!

Thunder boomed again, making James jump, and he shook his head. "Snap out of it." he muttered, sighing.

He finally calmed himself down, and he was just about to lay back down when there was another sound, but it wasn't the thunder this time.

Boom, boom, boom

It was the front door. James furrowed his brow. It was one in the morning - who could be here at this hour? He grabbed his wand and made for the staircase, his heart pounding. He quickly padded down the steps, walking slowly to the front door. He peered out the blurred glass windows and saw a figure standing there.

James' hand hovered above the doorknob, and, after a moment of contemplation, swung the grand door open. He immediately trained his wand at the stranger, only to find the figure wasn't a stranger at all. James lowered his wand, squinting to get a better look (he didn't have his glasses on, after all).

"Sirius?" he gasped.

It was, indeed. A soaking wet, panting Sirius who had a trunk in his hand. But, yeah, it was Sirius.

"I'm sorry, James. I just - I need to get out of there. I can't stand it anymore." Sirius rambled, shaking his head.

James stepped aside silently, allowing Sirius to come inside.

"James? Is everything alright?" James' mum came down the steps, tying her bathrobe around herself, James' dad following closely behind. "Sirius? What on earth - "

"Sirius is staying with us, Mum. It's his family." James explained shortly, pulling pleading look when Sirius wasn't looking.

After a moment, Dad nodded. "Of course. Sirius is like a son to us. You can set up your things in the guest room, Sirius."

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Ben, I just - "

"Don't worry about it, son," Dad said, smiling as he clamped Sirius on the back. "We'd be glad to have you."

Mum fretted over Sirius' soaking clothes. "Oh, Sirius, you'll catch a cold!" she exclaimed, and dried his clothes with a flick of her wand.

"Mum, he'll be fine. We should all just go to bed and sort things out in the morning." James said, starting to lead Sirius up the stairs.

"Of course. Get some rest, you two." Mum said, and the two disppeared around the corner and down the corridor of James room and the room Sirius was staying in.

"You alright, mate?" James asked, though he knew Sirius probably didn't want to talk about it.

"Just a nasty fight." Sirius murmured, "but it was the last straw."

James nodded and there was a moment of silence.

"You know," James began, with a new joking air about him, "looking at you without my glasses, you sort of look like a gorilla."

Sirius laughed. "Shut it, you prat. You look weird without your glasses anyway. Put them on, it's like you're not even James. You're like his evil twin brother."

James rolled his eyes and they walked into James' room so he could shove them on.

"So, I got this idea for a prank for next year. . . ."

XXX

James and Sirius walked down to the kitchen for breakfast the next morning, looking like zombies. They'd stayed up all night, neither being able to sleep, plotting new pranks, sketching out Quidditch plays, and other such things. James still only had his boxers on, much to Sirius' exasperation, but his parents were used to his usual eccentric tendencies, and they learned to accept them. When they walked into the kitchen, they already smelt the food James' mother was making, and she handed them both plates immediately. They smiled sleepily at her and she chuckled.

"Have a good sleep, you two?" she asked.

They mumbled incoherent replies, stuffing their faces mindlessly. It wasn't much different, having Sirius live with them. James felt no different, at least. Sirius was over at his house most of the summer anyway.

Mum sighed. "Well, I guess I should take this moment to let you know that we're attending a tiny party at the Ministry next week."

The two boys paused and looked up at her. James swallowed his mouthful of food.

"A party?"

"Well fine, it's a grand ball." she admitted.

"During these times?" James asked, shocked.

Mum sighed. "It's the Minster's idea. He wants to keep everyone from panicking, and this is his way of trying. We have to go."

James and Sirius exchanged grimaces. "Sounds like loads of fun."

Mum gave them a look, and then continued, "The Meadowes will be there, too. And they're coming over to stay for a couple days before the ball next week. We haven't seen them in a while."

James was excited to see Dorcas again, but when he looked at Sirius, it seemed like his best friend knew something more that he didn't.

"What?" James asked suspiciously.

Sirius shrugged. "Nothing. Just exicted to see Dorcas."

James smirked and lowered his voice to where his mum couldn't hear, "Oh, yes. We all know how you - "

"Shut it, Prongs," Sirius cut him off, flinging some scrambled egg at him. "You're the lover boy, remember? I'm the man whore."

James just kept his smirk.

XXX

"Please tell me you're joking."

"Nope."

"Dorcas!"

"I didn't know, I'm sorry!"

"You're lying."

Dorcas had just told Lily the news that they were staying with the Potter's for a couple days the next week, and Lily was not taking it as well as Dorcas had hoped. They were in Dorcas' bedroom, and Lily had hopped up from the bed in surprise upon hearing the news.

"Lily, come on, he's not that bad! It's not like it was my idea, my parents and James' parents are friends," Dorcas pleaded, "It's only going to be as dreadful as you make it. It's not as bad as being with Petunia and Vernon, is it?"

Lily sighed and sat back down. "No, of course not. I'm sorry, I'm being ungrateful. I'll go, and I won't complain once."

Dorcas chuckled. "Yeah, we'll see about that."

Lily snorted and chucked a pillow at her - which soon turned into a full-fledged pillow fight. It felt good, like they were eleven years old again, and Merlin knew Lily needed a break from being the responsible one.

The next morning, Lily and Dorcas walked down to find some breakfast groggily. Lily almost tripped over Dorcas going down the stairs, but Dorcas pushed her to the side in retaliation and Lily stumbled on the railing, both of them laughing hoarsely.

"Is everything alright, girls?" Dorcas' mum called form the kitchen.

"Yeah, mum!" Dorcas called, still laughing.

"Alright then." Mrs. Natalie muttered, not convinced.

The two girls finally made their way safely to the kitchen, more awake now, and started to get their own breakfast.

Lily gazed around the kitchen in inconspicuous wonder - no matter how many times she visited Dorcas' house, she never got over how big and exquisite it was. It was amazing. Lily bet her kitchen could fit four times in Dorcas' kitchen. Lily shook her head slightly as she poured her cereal and Dorcas made her bagel.

"Oh, girls, I forgot to tell you," Mrs. Natalie said, and the two looked back at her. "The Ministry is having a ball during the time we're staying at the Potter's next week - " Lily suppressed a groan. " - and we've been invited, being Auror's and all."

"In other words, we're being forced to go?" Dorcas said dryly.

Mrs. Natalie gave her daughter a look. "Yes, Dorcas. And it would be lovely if you could find a date to this paticular event."

Dorcas said her mum was always bugging her about finding a boyfriend. Lily would've killed her mum if she did that - it would drive her crazy, but Dorcas handled it rather well. She rolled her eyes.

"I know you so desperately want James and I to get together, mum, but it's not going to happen," she said, turning back to her bagel. Then she smirked. "Actually, Lily and James sort of have a thing."

Lily gaped at her best friend. "What?" she hissed.

"Oh, really?" Mrs. Natalie said, "Is that so?"

Lily whirled to face Dorcas' mum. "No, no, James and I - " She paused. What would describe her and James. . . . ? "No, we're just - we're just . . . not."

Mrs. Natalie chuckled. "Alright then. So I'll take you girls out shopping later for dresses, alright?"

"Aw, mum - " Dorcas started to whine.

"Don't 'aw, mum' me, Dorcas Meadowes. I swear, you are the only girl who does not like to go dress shopping!" she exclaimed.

Lily chuckled and Dorcas shrugged. "Maybe I'm like one of those people who's a boy stuck in a girl body." she joked nonchalantly.

"Dorcas, that is not funny!"

"I'm kidding, mum!"

But they were all laughing, and Mrs. Natalie rolled her eyes. "That would explain your obssession with Quidditch, though."

"I'm definately a girl, mum." Dorcas assured her.

"Okay, well - that's a relief."

They all laughed, and Lily spoke up about something that was bugging her. "Mrs. Natalie, you don't have to pay for me, I can call my mum and - "

"Oh, nonsense, it's a hassle to convert Muggle money into Wizarding money. I'll just pay for it, it's nothing."

Lily looked around the house again. She bet it wasn't.

"Really, I could just call - "

"No, no, I insist. Be ready by noon, girls."

XXX

"Aw, mum, can't you just get them for us?" James groaned, slapping his head in his hand.

"Don't 'aw, mum', me James Benjamin. It won't be that bad, you're being overdramatic," Mum said, rolling her eyes. "Besides, we haven't gotten you new dress robes since you were twelve! So if you want to give those a go, be my guest. But otherwise, you're getting new ones. You too, Sirius."

Sirius grimaced. He'd hoped to stay out of this one. James grinned a him.

"Can't we just wear our Hogwarts school robes?" Sirius tried, but Mrs. Susan seemed to have a heartattack at the thought.

"Of course not! Oh, you boys are so difficult! You're coming, whether you like it or not!"

The two best friends looked at each other. She used the Monster Mum Voice.

Yeah. They were going.

XXX

"Yes, yes, that's perfect! Finally, we've found one! Look in the mirror, dear."

Lily turned and looked in the mirror. It did look nice on her, and she blushed faintly. It was a green, floor-length dress that had sleeves that fell off her shoulders and little flower detailing. It swayed when she walked toward the mirror and she couldn't have felt more beautiful in it. It was a relief to finally find one - Lily had tried on about a dozen before they'd finally found this one. The Meadowes had a personal designer lady who did all this stuff, and said lady came up to Lily to take in measurements and see where it needed to be fitted more or where it needed to be loosened.

Lily looked at Dorcas in the mirror. Dorcas still had her dress on, too, much to her discontent. It was a light blue one that almost matched her eyes, and Dorcas didn't seem to be aware of how beautiful she looked in it. It had gold detailing in the skirt of the dress that also trailed up the bodice. It really was gorgeous.

Lily had never even been in something like this before. She cringed when she thought of how expensive it surely was.

"Just put it on my bill, Denise," Mrs. Natalie said excitedly. "Finally, I have an excuse to dress you two up! Especially you, Dorcas. Don't look so glum, you look stunning!"

"Yeah, whatever." she muttered.

"Oh, pish posh, you two look simply marvelous. You're both sure to find boys at the ball looking like that," she said distractedly, following Denise into the other room. "Now I heard the Carnagy boys are quite nice, as well as the Pendlebee's. . . ."

The two girls shared exasperated looks and Dorcas came up next to Lily in the mirror.

"I really don't think I've even touched something this expensive before." Lily joked.

Dorcas snorted. "Don't worry about it. You look great."

"Ugh, if I hear one more adjective describing how 'beautiful' I look, I'll puke." Lily laughed.

Dorcas laughed, too. "I know, mum can be so overbearing. Let's get these contraptions off. Mum! We're getting out of these torture devices!"

Lily raised her eyebrows. "I don't think Denise will appreciate that comment very much."

Dorcas shrugged. "Denise doesn't talk. And she doesn't show emotion. I wonder how she even came to be that way sometimes. . . ."

Lily chuckled. "She kind of scary."

"I know." Dorcas agreed, laughing quietly as she glanced back.

Then, they working on detaching themselves from the dresses.

XXX

"I really don't understand why we had to go if they were just going to be the traditional black dress robes. Couldn't have mum just took our measurements and we'd be done with it?" James snapped, flopping onto his bed after a much unwanted day of shopping.

"You know how women are, Prongsie, they take any chance to torture us boys." Sirius reasoned, leaning against the bedpost.

"How can girls do this all the time, I'm exhausted now!" James complained, slapping a pillow over his eyes.

"No, no, you can't go to sleep," Sirius said, snatching the pillow away from him. "We have to put the finishing touches on the Map. I wrote Moony, and he told me what we have to do."

"He's okay with us finishing it without him and Peter?" James asked, sitting up.

"Yeah, the sooner we get it done, the sooner we can make sure it's perfect," Sirius said, opening up James' sock drawr and digging inside it for the piece of parchment. "Besides, now we can show them the finished product when they come visit next week for the ball thingy."

He took it out and brought it over to James, where they hunched over it, getting to work.