Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, which I do not, I would probably go mad with power, which I probably have anyway.

Chapter Four

{1982}

Unbelievable. Even as his paws carried him swiftly away from the café, Padfoot could feel the soothing hands of his former lover stroking his fur, an echo of countless soft touches throughout the years. He had gone to see Remus, certain that the sight of the man would be a relief, and it had been. But being so close, so close that he could touch Remus and that Remus touched him back, it had been so –

" – mindblowing, man." James might have been talking for a while, but Sirius had been too caught up in his excitement to listen. "I mean, do you think he knows? He can't know. But that's a hell of a coincidence if…you don't think he's in danger?"

Padfoot stopped short and looked up at the ghost, alarmed. James rolled his eyes when he realized that the animagus hadn't the slightest clue what he was talking about.

"Dolohov," he said.

Right. Dolohov.

Shit.

He'd been so carried away with the sensation of having Remus near him again that he had forgotten the glaringly obvious fact that Remus was working alongside a Death Eater.

Merlin only knew how long Remus had been wiping floors and taking orders directly under Antonin Dolohov's nose, but Sirius could tell Remus wasn't aware of the man's Death Eater status. Hell, Sirius and James had only just become aware of the fact on the night when, well — when their lives went to shit. (Or in James' case, when his life ended altogether.) No doubt the rest of the Order knew by now, but Lily and Remus had been in hiding for a year, and probably hadn't been updated on the list of who not to be left alone and unarmed with.

Padfoot whipped around to go back, but James leapt in his way. Of course, being that he was a ghost, he couldn't have stopped him, but Padfoot stopped nonetheless — running through his dead best friend wasn't a feeling he relished.

"Don't be a prat, Sirius, you can't go back now. Dog catchers are probably going to be swarming the place inside of an hour. What we need to do now is lie low, if only for a few hours. Remus is clever, he can handle himself that long."

Sirius was loathe to admit it, but James was right. They'd been wandering the area for so long, searching for Remus and Lily, that Dolohov couldn't have been the only person to phone animal control upon seeing the massive black dog. Hiding was a good idea. And it would only be until Remus left the café.

As if reading his mind, James added, "We can follow him when he goes home, alright? That way we can scope out where he lives." He ran a ghostly hand through his hair and added, "And where Lily and Harry are, too, I hope. I mean, it only makes sense they'd live together, right?"

Padfoot gave him a look, which James seemed to understand, because he said, "Right, stupid Jim. Why would they leave the café separately last night if they lived together. Right." He sighed and then added, in his own defense, "If you're allowed to marginally flip out over seeing your boyfriend again, I think I'm entitled to flip out over my wife and son, okay?"

Padfoot snorted, an incredibly human sound, and trotted down the street in search of a good hiding spot which would still present a decent view of the café. James hadn't always been so quick to call Remus his "boyfriend". As a matter of fact, not too long ago he'd been quite the skeptic on the matter.

Then again, thought Padfoot as he slunk under the raised porch of a townhouse across and down the street from the café, and James crawled unnecessarily after him on his hands and knees - perhaps James had been the first to see potential where Sirius had once only been afraid to.

{1977}

Hogwarts, Seventh Year

"I don't know what to tell you, mate."

James looked, frankly, like he could cut a bitch. "What to tell me? I'll tell you what to tell me! Tell me if I should give her fucking baby's breath or fucking bluebells, you fucking wanker!"

"Language," said Remus softly from the mirror, where he was adjusting the collar of his old but clean white button-down shirt. It was not so formal a dance as some they had been to over the years, and didn't necessitate dress robes, which was something every male student in Hogwarts had breathed a sigh of relief over. Still, it was to be a nice dance, and they were expected to come dressed accordingly.

"Shut it, Lupin! I'm trying to have a civil conversation with Sirius, here." So James was evidently still upset with Remus. "Now make a fucking decision, Sirius, before I eat both these bloody corsages and choose the one I shit first as a default!"

Sirius, who was lounging on his bed, already dressed but looking charmingly ruffled, suppressed a laugh. Laughing at James when he was in cut-a-bitch mode was not a good idea.

"James. Look at me," he said. "You need to calm down."

James glared, took a deep breath, and pushed both hands through his hair. The baby's breath was around his left wrist and the bluebells around his right. "Okay. Alright. I know. But honestly, how can you expect me to be calm when the very future of my relationship with Lily may hinge on what type of corsage I give her tonight?"

"I doubt it, mate." Sirius rolled onto his stomach. "First of all," he said, holding out one hand flat, "she's not going to the dance with you, so giving her a corsage would be a pretty obnoxious thing to do. Secondly - " He paused, other hand outstretched, and after a moment, said, "Well, secondly, I don't know why you're so worked up about whether Evans likes you or not in the first place, to be honest."

He saw Remus' reflection wince in the mirror.

James stammered inarticulately for a few moments before finally exclaiming, "You'll get yourself bloody worked up, too, when you fall madly in love with a beautiful woman who doesn't spare you the time of day, Sirius, and when that happens don't look to me for advice, because I'm sick of hearing, 'Oh, James is being a git again', 'Oh, time to get the hose, James has spotted Evans', and 'Oh, James, don't carve Lily's likeness into bars of soap and leave them at the bottom of the girls' dormitory stairs, she doesn't like it'! No, when it happens to you, I'll simply stand there and laugh my arse off, Sirius Black!"

This was quite the mouthful, and Sirius and Remus stared at their slightly deranged roommate in awe.

Tentatively, Sirius said, "I still don't get the big deal."

James could have exploded. He really could have. But instead he sagged limply onto the mattress alongside Sirius and stared at him miserably out of half-shut eyes. "You've really never gone nuts over a bird before, mate?"

"Happily, no."

"Really?"

"Really, Jimmy-boy. Look." Sirius carefully plucked one corsage from James' wrist and held it up demonstratively. "Girls are like flowers."

James raised an eyebrow.

"No, honestly. They're like flowers. They're pretty. They look great on your arm." He snapped the corsage onto his wrist and batted his eyelashes in a fair imitation of a girl on her way to prom. Remus stifled a laugh over by the mirror. "Hell, they even smell good. But I do not want to have sex with one."

"What?" James sat up, scandalized, and snatched the corsage from his friend's grasp. "Of course I don't want to have sex with a flower, you perverted arse. That's ridiculous. Women aren't flowers."

"To me, they might as well be," said Sirius wryly.

Remus interrupted James before he could further protest. "It's not a perfect comparison, but it is an astute observation," he said, crossing to the bed and sitting down on the opposite side of Sirius from James. "Considering flowers are essentially inter-pollinating uteri."

Sirius and James stared at him with undisguised horror.

"What? It's, it's biology. I thought we were talking about...biology." Seeing that he was losing them, Remus added, "Anyway, I can understand Sirius' sentiment."

"Not you, too, mate," moaned James. His depression lasted all of five seconds before he realized the implication. "Wait, so you...you don't like birds?"

Remus' blush belied the casual shrug of his shoulders. "Not sexually, no. I'm not attracted to women."

"...So you don't want to jump Lily's bones."

Remus coughed at the bluntness of the question, while Sirius flopped onto his side laughing. "Merlin, no, James! She's my friend!"

James sighed in relief, and the dark atmosphere of the room lightened.

Still, he was somewhat serious when he said, "So you two...you're both...?"

Remus rubbed the back of his neck while Sirius shrugged lazily. "Yeah," they said together.

"...Have you ever...you know...together...?"

Both boys froze up so suddenly that James laughed. "I'll take that as a yes."

"No! That's a no!" Sirius barked violently, and Remus flinched a little. "I mean," said Sirius, turning now to see the mildly hurt expression on Remus' face. "I mean, that's not to say - "

"No, that's alright, Sirius." Remus turned to James gravely. There was just a hint of frost to his voice. "He had it right, James; a most emphatic no."

"Moony," Sirius protested.

"Now if you'll excuse me." Remus stood up and pulled on his dark blazer, primly adjusting the cuffs of his sleeves as he made his way to the door. "Unlike the two of you, I have a date."

Sirius winced at the sound of the dormitory door slamming shut. When he turned to James, hoping for a sympathetic smile, all he got was a shit-eating grin.

"Tell you what, mate, whichever corsage I decide to go with, you can give the other to Moony."

But both corsages were tragically crushed in the ensuing battle.

{1982}

In the time it took to walk from the café to Lily's apartment, Remus had turned the day's events over in his head more thoroughly than before, and decided that what had happened in the alley had been really, really creepy.

When he rang the doorbell, Lily called out immediately that she would "be right there", yet it was almost five minutes before she answered the door. He thought he heard a yelp and a few loud clangs in the background.

"Lily," he said coolly, when she appeared. "The bloody Hound of the Baskervilles accosted me in an alley. Would you care to tell me what exciting thing happened to you today?" He walked past her, into the apartment, and then stood in the mudroom with his arms folded expectantly. "Perhaps the thing that necessitated skipping work?"

"Two things, actually." She smiled apologetically, and gestured over her shoulder into the other room. "What was that you said about a hound?"

"Never mind. I'll tell you later." There was an audible clanking coming from the living room, some low-pitched cursing, and the sound of Harry giggling. "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry I left you to fend off Dolofucker alone today, Remus, but I had unexpected visitors…" She lowered her voice as they entered the room, "…and I don't trust them on their own."

Two redheaded men – though their hair was more of a fiery, orangish hue than Lily's, which was a veritable dark red red – looked up upon their entrance. They were sitting on the floor, apparently fiddling with the radiator, while Harry sat between them, with a delighted expression on his face. They were identical in every way, except for their clothes and the fact that one of them, now that Remus looked closer at exactly what they were doing, appeared to have his hand stuck in the grill of the radiator.

"No need to be suspicious, Potter," one of the men said.

"Evans," corrected the one with the radiator problem.

"'Thatcher'," corrected Remus, ever conscious of who they were supposed to be.

"Lily," said Lily reasonably. "And yes, I think there is quite a reason to be suspicious, Fabian – "

"Gideon."

" – Gideon, considering I left you alone for five minutes while going to answer the door and you managed to get part of your body caught in a household appliance."

"Wait, I am Fabian," said the one with his hand caught. "I thought you were talking to him."

"Why the hell would she be talking to me, when you're the one who's gotten himself incapacitated?" snapped the other, presumably Gideon.

"Well, I didn't know she was talking to me, now did I?"

"From now on, assume that I'm talking to both of you." Lily rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly, then gestured towards Remus. "This is Remus Lupin, aka 'Remus Flynn', should a Muggle come through my door any time soon. Remus, this is Fabian and Gideon Prewett, of the Order, as you well know."

"Yes. We've met." Remus moved closer, peering with increasing concern at the dilemma. "Are you…alright? I mean, doesn't that hurt?"

"If the brouhaha he was making earlier is anything to go by, then yes," said Gideon.

Lily shook her head and sighed. "He's probably been burned. But we've turned off the heat and used some…palliative charms on his hand."

"I can't feel my whole right arm," said Fabian cheerfully.

Gideon patted his brother on the shoulder. "We couldn't find his hand, naturally, so we just targeted the whole 'problem area'."

He flashed a thumbs-up at Harry, who happily returned the gesture. Remus felt a flare of pride for the young boy, who was showing excellent motor skills for a two-year-old; but then, this was the same boy who supposedly levitated his father's glasses to the top of their bedroom wardrobe when he was less than six months old, causing James to search high and low for them for hours until finally conceding to Lily's logic that there is no point searching for something when you can hardly see past your nose. Then again, James might have just been an idiot and misplaced his glasses, but Remus wouldn't have put it past the talented little Harry Potter to accomplish something so impressive at such a young age. (Then again, he also wouldn't have put it past James to leave his glasses somewhere so ridiculous as at the top of his bedroom wardrobe.)

Remus shook himself hard and tried to focus on the matter at hand. Not thinking about the wonderful people you've lost is an excellent way to avoid thinking about the other wonderful people you've lost. He'd made an art out of not thinking about Sirius Black.

"Well, now that there's a competent male in the vicinity over the age of two," said Lily, "maybe we can accomplish something."

"I suggested just taking the metal monster apart," said Gideon haughtily.

"Yes, that would make my landlord so, so happy. Harry, come to mummy. Remus, maybe between the two of us we can manage a disentanglement charm."

They did, eventually, but by that time the palliative charms had faded somewhat and Fabian was looking quite pale as his brother carefully pulled his hand free. It was red where it had been lightly burned, but there was a small rend between two of his knuckles, skin split away and raised on either side of it and blood rolling along the contours of his fingers. Remus found himself simultaneously annoyed and sympathetic. Mostly annoyed. There had been a time when he'd been expected to fuss and lecture every time his fellow Marauders damaged themselves on a bit of Muggle technology (Remus and Lily, having at least partial Muggle parentage, had always been more well-versed in Muggle technology than the others); one instance jumped to mind of Sirius nearly getting his finger removed by a typewriter's carriage-return-mechanism and Remus scolding and then "kissing it better" when Sirius's grey eyes pleaded for comfort.

Remus quickly forced the memory away and watched as Lily finished up fixing the damaged hand.

"Righto," said Fabian once the traumatic experience was over (though he held the freshly healed appendage closer to his body, now). "I guess you lot are wondering exactly what two such strapping gents as us are doing here?"

"Order business?" asked Remus, checking the clock over the kitchen doorway.

The twins' smiles faltered slightly in unison. "...Yes," they chorused disappointedly.

Lily shifted Harry in her arms. Her hair looked unbrushed and a fine sheen of sweat was forming on her brow; Remus wondered if she had been running around all morning trying to keep the Prewetts out of trouble, though it had obviously culminated in Fabian's getting hurt. "Well, get on with it," she snapped. "I happen to be four hours late for work and I'm sure Remus would appreciate it if I was there for the latter half of the day."

"Ah, but that's exactly it, Lily." The twins grinned identically and straightened up, arms around each other's shoulders in a comic tableau. "Presenting the Prewett & Prewett Gallant Escort Company! Two stunningly gorgeous young men ready to guard you wherever you want to go, twenty-four hours a day!"

"Bloody fuck." It did not seem to bother her that an impressionable child sat listening in her arms. "Dumbledore's sent us babysitters, then?"

"You don't have to put it so unpleasantly, but yes."

Remus folded his arms and eyed the pair critically. "Haven't you two got something more important to do for the Order?"

"Well, now that you mention it — "

" — issued an assignment last Tuesday — "

" — carried out with utmost efficiency, of course — "

" — well, semi-efficiency — "

" — completely botched it, if you want to know the truth — "

" — Dumbledore thinks we're better suited to more domestic faculties, anyway." Fabian rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, and Gideon glanced around as if surveying new property. "You know, keep ourselves and others out of harm's way."

"Apparently we do not meet the requirements of proper freedom fighters. Haven't got the 'attention span', according to Molly." They made simultaneous noises of disdain.

"But we make excellent house pets!"

"Great," said Lily, rolling her eyes. "My landlord will be thrilled if he finds out I'm housing two destructive full-grown men in this tiny apartment."

"You could let us out one at a time," suggested Gideon, and Fabian nodded enthusiastically. "Then he'll think you're only housing one destructive full-grown man."

"Maybe one of them can stay at my place, and the other here," said Remus practically.

The twins stared at him in undisguised horror.

Remus amended himself with, "Or not." There were, after all, few things so sacred as the bond between identical twins; it only made sense that they'd want to know each other's whereabouts at almost all times. "You'd be able to fire that awful nanny," he added to Lily in an undertone. "You'd have two live-ins, and you'd only have to pay them in food and board."

"And possibly medical assistance." Fabian held up his freshly-healed hand to exemplify the statement. "If we get into any more fights with your bloody Muggle death traps, that is."

Lily sighed, then turned towards her two-year-old for consultation. "What do you think, Harry? Shall we keep the two imbeciles?"

They must have made a comic sight, four adult wizards standing around a placid little boy, watching him attentively - and in the twins' case, entreatingly - for guidance. It was as if the Godfather had shrunk and acquired a British accent and a childish slur. He watched them all with large green eyes, as if weighing the outcomes of his decision.

"Yus," he said at last, sagely, whereupon the Prewett twins cheered and clasped their hands together in triumph.

"Aha!"

"Can't deny young Mr. Potter — "

" — Evans — "

" — Thatcher! — "

" — his wish!"

" — We must do his bidding!"

" — All hail Harry Thatcher!"

" — Now where do you keep the booze?"

They rushed out of the room in search of intoxicants to celebrate their newfound usefulness. Remus threw Lily an exasperated glance before hurrying after them, trying not to think of times gone by, Prefectorial times, spent herding and scolding after troublemaking friends.

"Oh, Merlin," whispered Lily. She looked down accusingly at the little boy in her arms, who gave her a lopsided smile; a stunning impression of James, whenever he'd gotten his way.

TBC...

A/N: Well, this'll be the last update for a while, as I'm leaving tomorrow for the Far East. *GONG* I hope you guys won't forget about me in the meantime.

And yes, I know this hasn't exactly answered any of the questions you guys seem to have about what exactly is going on in this story, but the chapter was quite a bit longer this time, wasn't it? So I hope it'll hold you over. Again, thanks so much, the reviews were loverly, and finding a few more when I return would be excellent incentive to continue... *HINT, HINT*

So, until then, 再見! (Goodbye!)