The next chapter in this story is up! An extra long one as well.
Disclaimer: There characters are not mine.
Enjoy!
Chapter Three – Storms
It was Friday afternoon when the massive storm struck, a torrential downpour accompanied by deafening thunder and blinding lightning. The four had been in the relative safety of the café for the past three hours when, as they were packing up the last of their things, the storm hit.
The radio that normally provided a background noise crackled with sudden urgent voices that advised people to stay inside as there was a severe storm rolling in.
James groaned loudly at the warning.
"Great; it's going to be hell driving home in this." He slumped back into his previously vacated chair. Sirius unconsciously mimicked the slumped stance and let out a groan of his own as Remus nodded in agreement, thinking of how he'd have to trudge home in this weather.
It was Lily who, biting her lip, offered a solution to the dismayed looks on the three boys faces.
"Well, my house isn't far from here… I mean, if you want, you could crash there for the night. Just while it's raining and stuff." She shifted uncomfortably and avoided all three pairs of shocked eyes. Surprisingly it was Remus who answered.
"That'd be great! Thanks, Lily?" He said her name tentatively, the first time he could ever remember saying it to her face. A wide grin blossomed on her lips and that was all the answer he needed to his unspoken question.
"I could do with something closer as well." James spoke up with a very blasé look on his face, though his brown eyes flickered with excitement. Lily looked over to Sirius questioningly.
"Sure," was the supposed criminals' response along with a slight half smile hidden at the corner of his lips.
"Right, well; let's get going then." Lily said, her voice sounding bored, but her green eyes were alight with excitement as well.
Putting away the last of their notes the four moved towards the door, the last barrier between them and the wind and rain outside. Securing her bag and pulling up the hood of her jumper, Lily flashed a nervous grin.
"Follow me," she said before opening the door and taking off at a run towards her house. Without hesitation the three boys followed, hurrying to keep up with her as they tried to avoid the drops.
They ran down a few streets before Lily veered off the walkway and up to one of the many houses lining the road. They stopped beside her as she shoved her keys into the lock before throwing open the front door and hurrying inside.
Once the door had been closed and the entrance halls lights turned on they surveyed the miniature swimming pool they were quickly creating as water fell from their clothing and hair stuck to their faces and scalp. They looked at each other in silence for a moment, awkwardness choking the air around them.
"I'll go grab some towels then," Lily broke the silence as she spun around and ran up the stairs, taking two at a time.
Twenty much dryer minutes later found the four teens in Lily's kitchen, hands cupping streaming mugs of tea and their hair and clothes decidedly dryer. The boys had been handed some baggy pants and shirts that must have belonged to Lily's father and said girl had changed her own clothes as well. James and Remus had each claimed a chair at the small kitchen table while Sirius leant against the counter across from Lily who was seated upon the bench.
"So…" James broke the silence they'd once again fallen into.
"Will your parents care?" He asked, looking over to Lily who frowned.
"Care about what?" She asked, genuine confusion filtering across her face.
"Will they care that you've let three guys you barely know into your kitchen? That they're currently wearing your dad's clothes and all three of them are hormonal teenagers?" James stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Lily surprised them by snorting with laughter.
"No, they won't care. Don't worry; I promise you, you'll not be chucked out into the rain tonight." She said with a bitterly amused smirk twitching at her lips.
"Well, that's comforting." Sirius offered a small smile to the girl before going back to his cup.
They were saved from yet more silence when the phone rang; causing James to look around in confusion as he'd never heard one before.
Lily moved to answer it, depositing her now empty cup on the bench she had been seated on in the process.
"Hello?"
"Lily?" Her mother's distinct voice could be heard through the phone. Frowning Lily pressed on.
"What do you want?"
"We'll not be home tonight. Your father and I have decided that it's just too wet to bother trying to get home. Your sister's spending the night with her boyfriend so you're on your own." Her mother went straight to the point.
"Sure, whatever." Lily sighed, not bothering to inform her mum about the extra three people in the house. She didn't even bat an eye at her mother not being there as she was used to that as well.
"Right, we'll be home tomorrow." Mrs Evans said before the line went dead.
Putting the phone down, Lily turned back to her curious entourage and smiled slightly.
"Well my parents and sister will be out for tonight so it's just us." She shrugged helplessly.
"I'll go get some blankets for you; you can sleep in front of the fire place." She said before turning and disappearing back up stairs again, leaving the guys in an awkward silence once more.
***
Sirius watched from the doorway as social outcast Lily Evans carelessly dumped a massive pile of blankets and pillows on the floor before a nicely lit fire crackled warmly in the hearth. She placed a large jug of orange coloured liquid on the table along with a tray of biscuits. Then she turned and sat herself on the floor as well, pulling a deep green blanket from the pile and draping it over her legs before she began silently staring into the flames. James walked past him and caught his eye, silently asking if they were going to get along tonight or if they were going to be assholes as usual. Offering a weary smile, Sirius backed down from any challenge visible in the brown orbs; something which made James smile at the silently offered truce.
Remus Lupin was the last to enter the room and he did so with a curious look between Sirius and James, a small smile quirking the corner of his lips as he somehow figured out their truce.
Shaking his head slightly so his black hair fell into his eyes in a manner that made him look both incredibly cool and sexy; Sirius followed and sat beside Remus, across from James who was once again beside Lily.
They had all just settled down when a deafening crash of thunder caused them to jump, Remus yelping as Lily screamed and the electric lights flickered and went dark. Heavy breathing and the consistent crackle of the fire were the only sounds to fill the room before Remus suddenly started laughing.
"Oh! My! God! That scared the crap out of me!" He laughed, causing the other three to laugh at their own fright as well.
Just like that the silent and uncomfortable atmosphere was broken and the four companions relaxed.
"Biscuit, anyone?" Lily offered the tray; sticking half of one in her own mouth as she did so. Taking one each the other three bit down and made appreciative noises.
"These are great," Remus complimented once he'd finished swallowing.
"Yeah, shop down the road does the best ones ever," Lily grinned.
"So, is anyone up for a game?" Sirius asked after a moment, pulling a small silver flask from out of nowhere.
There was a beat of silence as every eye locked onto the flask before Lily grinned.
"Sure," she said, grabbing the juice jug and offering it to the teen. After all, everyone in Hogwarts knew how to play truth.
"I'm up for it," James announced, leaning back against the front of the couch casually, brown eyes dancing with excitement again. Sirius glanced up just before he poured the flasks contents into the jug, eyes locking with Remus who had so far remained silent. The boy let out a breath before nodding in consent, a wicked smile springing onto Sirius' face.
Without further ado the innocent juice jug was spiked.
With a mock toast to his companions Sirius took a swing from the jug and grinned at the slight burn of alcohol down his throat. He then offered it to Remus who – with a moment's pause – took it and had a tentative sip. Not finding it too strong he took in a larger gulp before offering it to Lily who wasted no time in gulping some down. Finally James had a turn and without further invitation the night had begun.
***
"That's the thing about being this popular," James explained in a sagely voice an hour later when they were all intoxicated enough to have loosening tongues'. "It's a load of crap! I really hate it. None of those morons actually knows or likes me for me. It's all about my parents being so bloody brilliant. Well, mum's not too bad, but dad's just as bad as the lot of them. Money, power and popularity are all that matters."
"Yeah, my parents' were like that but now they are so consumed by the dark arts it isn't funny. The whole lot of them see me as some kind of blood traitor and have basically disowned me. The minute I was sorted into Gryffindor, poof!" Sirius made a swishy motion with his hands. "I had to move out last summer, couldn't bear to be surrounded by stupid dark wizards and witches any more. Got myself a nice flat in North London." He nodded to himself, the other three nodding along sympathetically.
"It's not too bad here. Just that my family basically ignores anything to do with magic; me included. I think my sister actually hates me; her Neanderthal of a boyfriend doesn't help either. Pair well matched those two. Mum at least acknowledges I exist, but dad's so out of it most of the time I dunno if he's even aware he has another child." Lily sighed heavily and leaned against the front of the couch with James, said boy casually wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"My family's the complete opposite. Mum's so protective of me I can hardly get out of her sight for more than two seconds. Dad doesn't care much for me; he's always at work so I hardly see him anyway. You wouldn't believe the lengths I had to go to so I could come to the café. She'll probably be having a heart attack that I'm not at home now but," Remus shrugged with a light frown. "I just don't care anymore."
There was a beat of contemplative silence before Sirius leaned over Remus and grabbed one of the four remaining biscuits off the plate.
"A biscuit," he declared grandly, the other four holding up their own like they would for a toast, smiles tugging at their lips.
"To screwed up home lives and the new friends who make them bearable." Sirius grinned at the return smiles as all four touched their biscuits together before shoving them into their mouths.
With laughter and jokes the four talked the night away; the storm outside forgotten as the fire before them kept their bodies warm and the company around them lifted their spirits.
***
It was to the smell of bacon and eggs that James was roused from slumber the next morning. Opening his brown eyes he registered the pile of blankets around him, a scattering of limbs poking out at odd places. Slowly pushing himself up to a sitting position on the ground, he casually pushed off the arm around his stomach and pulled his right foot out from under someone else's leg.
Sunlight filtered through open windows and the sound of fat sizzling in the fry pan could be heard from the kitchen. A quiet groan was heard from beside him and the arm he'd pushed off twitched before moving to push up another body from the depths of the blankets. It turned out it had been Lily beside him all night.
It took some grumbling and groggy groaning before Sirius and Remus were roused – James wasn't sure if he wanted to know how Sirius had ended up half sleeping on top of the slightly smaller boy. As Lily lead them shuffling and blinking owlishly into the kitchen, they were momentarily stumped to find an older woman who looked similar to Lily, at the stove.
"Good morning," she chirped merrily.
Shooting Lily odd looks they replied in kind.
James felt a flash of anger beginning to well up in his gut as betrayal left a bad taste in his mouth. Had Lily been lying last night when she'd said her parents didn't acknowledge her? If not, then who the hell was this woman here? Had she lied in some desperate bid for attention?
"Lily, don't just stand there; introduce me to these boys." The woman demanded.
An indescribable look crossed her face before she answered, in an emotionless voice, the woman who he assumed was her mother.
"This is James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. They're from my class at school."
Any doubts James had just had about Lily's story were immediately squashed as Mrs Evans' smile dropped off her face. She gave them all a cold look before turning back to Lily.
"Feed them. Then get rid of them. " She said tartly before swaggering out of the room. A silence lingered in the kitchen as she exited; before Lily moved over to the stove and began to tend to the bacon and eggs her mother had abandoned.
"So… who wants eggs?" She asked simply.
***
"Remus! Where have you been all night?" A shrill female voice called out as soon as said boy set foot into his house. The brown eyed boy sighed slightly as his rumpled looking mother stood in front of him, arms crossed across her chest and a furiously worried look on her face.
"Sorry Ma, it was raining so hard last night that it was just easier to stay at a friend's house." He said simply, hoping she wouldn't make a big deal out of it like she always did. Today, fate was not on his side and he found himself blocked from going any further into the house by the thin woman.
"If the weather was so bad you should have left early or something. When I agreed to you going out to these study sessions I only did it because you said it was for such an important assignment; I did not do this to allow you to go out and do stupid things at night with strangers!" Her voice was slowly but surely increasing in volume as she continued her rant.
"What if someone found out? Then what would we do?" She asked, anger tinting her voice as well as the hurt of an anguished parent, believing that her son didn't care what would happen to his very own mother if someone found out about his problem.
Mother and son stood staring at one another for a moment of silence before she let out a loud sigh and her hands fell away from her hips. The angry stance abandoned as a sad look crossed her face.
"Oh, Remus," she whispered, tears now shinning in her eyes as she pulled the boy into her arms and held onto him tightly as only a mothers hug can do.
"I know you just want to be normal, but you're not honey. The sooner you accept that you'll always be different and that as such you need to stay away from the rest of the world so that no one will ever find out, the better." She said it all with a comforting tone to her voice, as though she was speaking to a 5-year-old who had scraped his knees. Remus, however, felt his anger beginning to boil.
She always did this, every single time he did something that she didn't agree with; she would come out with the exact same speech. She would sound all supportive and just like a worried mother, but the words she used were aimed at hurting and crushing him. Everything she said contradicted everything she did!
Pulling back he looked into her eyes, his own angry, yet her own brown eyes were always his undoing. He could see the pain and humiliation she had for having a son such as he. The hurt that they would never be a normal family because of what he was. Anger that her life had turned out this way. But most of all, he could see fear. She feared him so very much; it was the only thing that stopped her from screaming and raging at him about how it was always his fault.
Yet she needn't have bothered worrying about saying it out loud, he could see it every time she looked at him.
It hurt…
"I'm sorry Ma, I promise to tell you what's going on next time." He said, the anger draining out of him quickly and replacing itself with guilt and sorrow.
"Well maybe you should just stop this study group thing. I'm sure you don't need anyone else's help with school!" She said, an expectant look on her face.
"What?" He asked, a sinking feeling rushing in his stomach.
"Just quit the study group and things can go back to how they always were sweetheart. Just you around the house with me during the holidays; it'll be perfect." She said with a large false smile in place on her face.
"No, ma I can't just quit." He said, pulling right away from her now as he watched the smile on her face become stale before slipping off completely.
"Remus, I really think you should stop it with this silly thing. You've been acting strange ever since you started it and I don't like it." She said, a note of sternness in her voice.
"Ma I'm sorry. I'd do mostly anything for you but I won't quit my study group just because you want me to. It's not hurting me in any way and I'm learning loads." He said, trying to be reasonable about it as anger and panic began a game of tug-of-war in his stomach; kicking out any guilt he had just experienced.
"Remus-"
"No, I'm sorry Ma, I really am. But I'm not going to stop going." He said firmly, a sense of determination taking hold in his heart.
Ignoring the shocked look on his mothers face as she gapped at the boy who had never before refused her in such a way; Remus brushed past her and headed towards his room. A mixed feeling of satisfaction and guilt working its way into his heart as he headed to get ready for the day ahead at the café.
***
Please Review