Trials and Tribulations

Summary: Harry Potter knew he was going to get shocked when he visited his parents graves. He knew that'd he'd see family he never met; like grandparents, uncles, and aunts. But one thing he didn't know was that he was going to meet his sister.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am not making any profit off of this fanfic.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Illegal...What?

"I don't really want to go to Zonkos."

The Marauders gasped and Sirius turned around to look at Remus, wide-eyed. "You don't want to go? Are you feeling okay?" Sirius reached out to feel Remus's head, but Remus ducked away, growling slightly.

"It's just the full moon," Remus muttered.

"You just growled at me."

Sirius began pestering Remus about his decision, but then James put his hand on Sirius's shoulders and pulled him away from Remus. "Padfoot, tomorrow's the full moon. Why don't we give him some time to just sit? He does a lot of moving around at school you know."

"You're really used to talking to Lily, aren't you?" Sirius asked, cocking an eyebrow at James. "But I guess you're right." He turned away from James and looked at Remus. "You can spend some quality time with Lily."

James sent Sirius a wary glance.

"It's not like they're dating," Sirius joked. "Merlin! Why is everyone suddenly taking me seriously?"

"They're taking you seriously? The apocalypse must've happened." The Marauders turned to see Elizabeth and Lily, both wrapped from head to toe in hats, gloves, scarves, and layers of clothing underneath their cloaks.

"Warm enough?" Sirius asked.

"It's cold out," Lily said simply.

"And we're being prepared."

"We can tell."

"Girl's are barmy," James said, winking at Lily. Lily rolled her eyes.

"You're having one James, so you better not jinx us or she'll turn out just as barmy as all of us put together."

"I don't want that to happen."

"Well, are you two done? Some of use would like to go to Zonkos this century."

"Shut up Padfoot. Come on let's go."

xoXoXoXox

Lily wasn't sure how exactly she and Remus wound up in the small teashop across from all the other teashops in Hogsmeade. But this one seemed worse than all the others because it's intoxicating smell of--well, Lily wasn't even sure of the name of the intoxicating smells, but she was sure that Remus felt just as awkward in this shop as she did. There were couples surrounding them, and they were being incredibly close because of the holiday. February 14th…and Lily was spending it with her fiancé's best friend.

Lily snorted at the thought of James being her fiancé. Remus arched an eyebrow at her, and Lily sobered. "Is James my fiancé?"

Remus thought for a moment, and a couple at a nearby table sent Lily a disgusted look, but she didn't notice it. Remus did, but didn't say anything about it. Maybe this conversation could be misinterpreted if they weren't apart of it. He nodded his head. "I think you are. He bought you a ring didn't he?"

Lily held up her hand for Remus to inspect. He daintily grabbed it and looked at the ring. "He could do much better, the nervous git. You have no idea what it was like being in the room when you weren't."

"I like it," Lily said. "But I'm glad I didn't experience his nervous stage. He gets a bit moody-"

"Tell me about it."

Lily grinned brightly. "I know Remus, I know." Remus let go of her hand and peered at Lily closely.

"So you're having a girl?" Lily nodded her head. "Have you picked out any names? Merlin, I sound so much like a girl." Remus put his head down and Lily laughed at him. She patted his arm daintily.

"Don't worry about it Remus. I'll keep that information to myself. What the Marauders don't know won't hurt them, right?" She grinned and Remus smiled back. "Now back to your questioning. I haven't really thought of any names, but of course I have some in mind, but I don't think about them often. James hasn't even heard them yet."

"He will eventually. He's been talking about a few names, but I've been sworn into secrecy about them, so don't ask." He watched as Lily's eyes grew wide at the thought of not knowing.

"That's not fair! I thought we don't keep secrets."

"I never said that," Remus said.

"I assumed you were a nice guy Remus." Lily stuck her tongue out at him and he did the same back. Then they erupted into stifling giggles. They didn't stop laughing until a lady came up to their table and asked what they wanted. There specialty was tea, but they also had other things on the menu. Lily asked for tea and Remus asked for a hot chocolate and butter beer.

"How come you're not drinking tea?" Lily asked, surprised. She had always thought of Remus as being a tea kind of guy.

"Too much caffeine won't do me any good on the 17th."

"What's on the 17th?" Lily asked, taking a sip from her tea.

"The full moon."

Lily nodded her head, and then she thought about the answer Remus gave her. She began choking on her tea. Remus looked at Lily, his eyes open wide, and pulled out his wand. He quickly pointed it at her throat and dislodged the tea that was there. Lily rested on her elbows and took several deep breaths. Now she had the attention of everyone in the shop.

"Are you okay?" Remus asked.

Lily shook her head. She looked at Remus. "The full moon? You're a werewolf?" she whispered. Remus nodded his head cautiously.

"Didn't you know?" he asked, inching away from the table slightly, unsure if Lily was going to throw her tea in his face. Lily shook her head almost violently.

"I had no idea."

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes. Lily was quickly trying to sort out her information and Remus wanted to run away and hide under a rock. 'She didn't know! She's probably upset that she's been sharing a room with someone like me! Why didn't Prongs tell her? I'm going to kill him.' Remus pushed himself away from the table, about to leave when Lily stopped him.

"What do the other Marauders do when you're a werewolf, because you're always together." She didn't even give Remus time to answer. "Are they animagi?" Remus nodded his head slowly. "Well that would make sense…but is it legal?" Her jaw dropped when she realized James was breaking a major wizarding law. "Remus, they could go to jail-"

"Lily," Remus said, sitting back down. "It wasn't my idea for them to do this, but you can't tell on them. Yes I know what we're doing is illegal, but please, don't tell anyone Lily. I need them just as much as anyone on the full moon and-"

"How can you think such a thing?" Lily whispered harshly. Remus flinched at the sound of her voice. "I wouldn't tell on them even if my life depended on it. I'm not stupid, I know what happens during a full moon and even though what you're doing is dangerous, I can see the benefit of having them there." She swallowed and grabbed Remus's hands. "I know we haven't been close in the past seven years, but you've been my favorite Marauder, I don't understand why you wouldn't tell me."

"I didn't want you to change towards me. I liked our friendship." Remus whispered, staring at their joined hands. "It just seemed like a secret, well, at the time, that a girl shouldn't know." Lily nodded her head.

"I understand." She pulled her hands away from Remus's and put them in her lap. "How many rumors do you think will be started by the time we get back to Hogwarts?" She looked around, realizing that nearly everyone was looking at her and Remus.

Remus looked around. "I don't know…half a dozen. Do you want to bet?"

Lily shook her head, "I'm no good at those things." She smiled until Remus smiled back. Then Lily leaned forward. "I know Sirius is a dog…does that mean James is a deer?"

"A stag. It's more manly," Remus said.

"And Wormtail? It sounds kind of…"

"Ratish? He's a rat."

Lily bit her lip. "That fits him quite nicely, to be honest. I'm not making fun of him or anything," she added quickly, before bursting into quiet laughter. When she sobered up she asked, "Where has he been recently? I haven't seen him in ages."

"He's been doing a lot of studying I guess…Trying to get ready for the N.E.W.T.'s. He's also been getting private lessons of some sort. I see him all the time."

"We're together all the time, how come I don't see him?" Lily asked. Remus shrugged his shoulders.

"Anyway," Lily said, leaning back. "I guess it's okay if James is breaking the law…it's for a good cause." Lily laughed and stood. "It's 'bout time we get out of here."

"I agree. The hot chocolate is disgusting."

xoXoXoXox

"I've never pictured myself picking out baby clothes, and enjoying it." James looked at a little green jumper. "They're so small." He held it up for Lily to see. "Look, it's small."

"James, I'm not giving birth to a giant," Lily reminded, smiling to herself. James had lifted up almost every outfit to show her exactly how small they were.

"I just can't remember ever being this small." He set the jumper back on the rack. Then he thought about it and picked it up again, putting it in Lily's basket. "I really like that one."

Lily nodded her head. There was a pink shirt that had magic written on it in white letters. She put that in her basket. "I think that's all we can afford at the moment James. There's two jumpers, three shirts, pajamas, and a blanket. I think we might have to stop or we'll go overboard."

"Okay," James said, slowly moving away from the baby clothes. Lily followed him as he traveled through the store, looking at things. There was a crib that he had in mind, but he wasn't sure if Lily would want to get it. Just as he was about to suggest it, Lily asked him a question. He thought he misheard her and looked at her. "What?"

"I said why didn't you tell me Remus was a werewolf?"

James stood motionless for a moment, unsure if he was supposed to answer that question. It seemed like he didn't have to because Lily walked to him and wrapped her arms around him. "I know what you're doing is for a good cause, but if once a month your putting your life in danger, I ought to know about it."

She squeezed James tightly and then pulled away to look at him. He smiled down at her and kissed her lightly. He was glad that she wasn't pressuring him to give more details, but he thought she already knew what she wanted to know. When they pulled away Lily was grinning broadly. "Let's go pay for our things, yeah?"

"Right."

They went to the checkout counter and Lily paid for their things. James watched the exchange of money, and then he was surprised when Lily opened his hand and put a galleon in it. She closed his hand and then picked up their bags, walking away.

James stood still a moment, staring at the money, and then he grinned and chased after Lily, grabbing her and squeezing her tightly.

Lily sighed as they finally walked out of the store, hand in hand. There were some people who were at the teashop and when they saw Lily and James, some glared at Lily and some gave James sympathetic looks. Lily just laughed and pulled James down the street and back towards Hogwarts.

xoXoXoXox

BB/N: I'm back!

The past couple of months have been pretty difficult. In November my dad had two strokes, so I've been very preoccupied with helping him recover, along with the rest of my family. Then our computer broke, and I couldn't update for ages, and finally, I have all our systems back together and...hopefully it stays that way. By now I should have had this story finished, and I'm sorry that things keep coming up and everything is always getting screwed up.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Happy New Year! Merry Christmas! Happy other holidays!

Love,
Bob Bennit