Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter or Harry Potter related copyrights.
Chapter Three: An Unexpected Invitation
"Why the glum look Sirius?" asked Lily as they sped through the English countryside towards London on Hogwarts Express. "Besides the obvious reasons of course," she quickly added as he gave her a patronizing look.
"Nothing," he mumbled as he again turned his gaze to the trees speeding by.
"It's not nothing, talk to me," Lily commanded.
Sirius had soon found that Lily didn't take 'nothing' for an answer, nor did she allow anyone to be alone while they were angry or upset or troubled. She would just stay there no matter how many times you told her in no uncertain terms to 'sod off.' She didn't take offense and she didn't listen, so eventually you poured out your soul to her; that was just the kind of person Lillian Evans was.
Sirius sighed and turned to Lily, he really didn't want to unload his troubles on her; she seemed to have enough of her own. Sirius didn't know the particulars, but he did know that she and James had had a confrontation and it didn't go quite well. "It's just that, well it's, you know, it's kind of," said Sirius bumbling over his words. He didn't want to make Lily think he was asking for any favors and he certainly didn't want her to take pity on him.
Lily just sat there patiently waiting for him to finish. Marly and Alice had left just a few minutes ago in search of the trolley lady, so she had no one else to entertain; Sirius had her undivided attention.
"Well," he said finally with another deep sigh. "I guess that it's just the fact that I don't know where I'm going to stay for the summer."
Lily nodded thoughtfully, so Sirius continued, "I obviously can't go home, or I would be killed. I can't exactly go to the Potters' either because James just might kill me for you know what, and if I stay on the street some hobo will probably kill me. So, it looks like this summer's agenda is getting killed. I just don't know which way I prefer, getting killed by my family, my best friend, or some stranger on the streets."
Lily laughed a bit at Sirius' dramatic antics.
"Lily how could you laugh at a time like this?" asked Sirius scandalized. "Here I am trying to decide who should get the privilege of murdering me, and you are laughing! Why I never!"
Lily laughed harder and then apologized, "Sorry Sirius. How about I give you a fourth option?"
Sirius looked at her curiously, "Does it involve my death?"
"No, but it does jeopardize your sanity," she responded.
"Don't worry love, there isn't much left to jeopardize," joked Sirius.
"Well, you could stay for the summer at my house if you aren't worried about losing your mind," Lily offered.
"Oh Lily I couldn't ask you to do that," said Sirius at once sobering up.
"You didn't, I offered."
"But," began Sirius.
"No but's," Lily cut in. "You can stay at my house for the summer."
"Won't your parents mind?"
"Mother won't care, and dad will be thrilled. He loves everything magical," she laughed. "Sometimes I find him poking around in my school books even though he has no clue what's going on."
"So you're sure about this?"
"Of course, it will be fun! Just I think I should warn you, both of my sisters are still at home and they are on vacation as well. The three of us can be a lot to handle, especially if you don't have any sisters of your own. Think you're up to the task?"
"Ah you know me Lily, I'm such a lady's man!"
"I didn't say anything about there being any 'ladies' in my house. We're all quite witchy most of the time."
"I'll make do."
"Good luck Mr. Black."
"I don't think I'll need it Miss Evans."
Lily smiled broadly, "We'll see, we'll see."
Sirius' spirits were uplifted and by the time Marlene and Alice returned he was back to his usual joking self.
The rest of the journey flew by for Sirius and his compartment-mates, Marly, Alice and Lily. Before they knew it, Sirius and Lily had bid good-bye to Alice and Marlene and Lily was searching the crowd on the platform to find her sister; Daisy had promised that she would be there to greet Lily on her arrival. Within a few minutes Lily spotted Daisy's curly blonde hair among the throng of people bustling about.
"Daisy!" yelled Lily as she waved energetically while Sirius winced at having been in close proximity to Lily's shouting. "Sorry Sirius," said Lily off-handedly as her sister, having heard her name, spotted Lily and Sirius.
Daisy, a cute girl of thirteen came bounding over to her older sister immediately and was soon enveloped in a huge hug.
"Lily! I'm so glad that you're home! The house has been so lonely without you! Petty has been driving me nuts! She keeps trying to play with my hair and do my make-up!" said Daisy breathlessly as Lily released her.
Lily laughed and said, "I'm glad to be home too. Let's get this stuff to the car; I assume Martin is driving?"
"Yup," said Daisy with a huge smile.
"Come on Sirius," said Lily as she grabbed her luggage.
"He's coming with us?" asked Daisy.
"Yeah, oh sorry Dase," said Lily. "This is Sirius Black; he's going to stay with us this summer. Sirius, this is my little sister Daisy."
"Hi," said Sirius, speaking for the first time.
Daisy bit down on her bottom lip and frowned, "I know who you are!" she exclaimed.
"You do?" asked Sirius confused.
"Yeah, you're one of those Marauders that Lily always talks about!"
Sirius looked at Lily with a curious look; Lily avoided his glance by glaring at her sister.
"Come on, let's go; we have a long drive home," said Lily.
Daisy giggled at Lily's abrupt change of conversation, but didn't say anything.
Lily started wheeling her trolley towards the barrier; Sirius and Daisy followed behind closely.
"So are you dating my sister or something?" Daisy asked Sirius inquisitively.
"No," said Sirius with a booming laugh which caused Lily to turn around and wait for them to catch up.
"Come on you slowpokes," said Lily loudly.
"We're coming!" answered Daisy.
Without any further conversation, the small group of three made it through the barrier and into the muggle parking lot where Martin, the driver of the Evans family, was waiting to drive them home.
Sirius and Lily sat on one side of the small limousine and Daisy sat across from them.
"How was your term?" asked Daisy.
Lily sighed, "It was really long and we had a lot of work."
"It was really great! I pulled off a ton of pranks and we won the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup!" said Sirius excitedly.
"What's Quidditch?" When she saw Sirius' shocked face she added, "Maybe you can tell me Sirius, Lily has tried to explain it to me, but she's really bad at it."
Lily stuck her tongue out at her sister immaturely.
Sirius immediately delved into the finer points of Quidditch as well as a broad overview of the sport.
"So tell me about some of your pranks Sirius, all Lily ever talks about it how annoying James Potter is," said Daisy while smiling at her sister who had fallen asleep around the point where Sirius was explaining the most common fouls of Quidditch.
"First, tell me, what does Lily say about James?" he asked with a mysterious grin on his face as he too looked over at Lily.
Daisy, who was very fond of mischief herself, lost no time in answering, "She says that he's really attractive, but much too immature for her liking. Though lately in her letters, she says that she kind of likes him and would date him, but…"
"But what?" asked Sirius a little too loudly.
Lily twitched in her sleep, but didn't wake up.
After making sure that Lily was really asleep still, Sirius asked again, "Why won't Lily go out with James?"
Daisy bit her lip and decided she couldn't tell him. "You'll have to ask Lily exactly why; she's really secretive about that part of her life. She doesn't talk much about her social life; she seems to hate it really."
"But she talks about James?" Sirius asked. Even if his friend was really enraged at him right now, Sirius knew that one day they would be friends again and perhaps information on how to win Lily's heart would help with their reconciliation.
"Yeah, she complains about him mostly."
"But at least she notices him; he was starting to think that his actions were unnoticed."
"Why are you here?" asked Daisy abruptly changing the subject without any warning at all.
"Umm… your sister invited me?"
"Yeah I know that, but why aren't you with James or Remus or Peter?"
"Wow, you know all about my friends don't you?" said Sirius trying to change the subject.
"Yes, Lily keeps me well-informed about your antics, which I would love to here about in great detail later. But now, again, why aren't you with them? As far as I knew, Lily wasn't even on friendly terms with you."
"Well my friends and I had a huge fight and now they are basically lusting after my blood. Lily kind of found out and is the only one who is really talking to me now. It was either come here or risk being killed by some random hobo," joked Sirius.
Daisy laughed, "I would have taken my chances with the hobo."
"Lily said something similar. I'm starting to think that I was better off with a cardboard box in a dark alley."
Daisy laughed again, "At least you've been warned. The last couple of guys Petunia has brought home have gone nuts. That may have been due to a few pranks from Lily and me though," she added thoughtfully.
"Lily Evans pulling pranks?!" snorted Sirius. "That's inconceivable! If I had a knut for every time she yelled at James and I for being stupid and immature for pulling pranks I would be able to afford a solid gold cardboard box!"
"How can a box be solid gold and cardboard?" asked Lily tiredly with her eyes still closed.
Sirius was a little surprised, he had been sure that Lily was asleep.
Lily interpreted Sirius' silence well, "If you wanted to talk about me without my hearing it, I would recommend doing it when I am not within two feet of you," she said coolly while stretching.
"Have a nice nap?" asked Daisy.
"Yeah, about how much longer do we have to go?"
Daisy looked out of one of the windows and read a sign on the highway. "About another two hours I should think."
"Driving takes forever!" Sirius complained.
Lily murmured her agreement.
"Can you apparate now Lily?" asked Daisy.
"Officially not until I take my test next week at the Ministry, but I have done it in practice."
"What about you Sirius?"
"Nope. I can't take my test until the end of the summer; my birthday is in August," said Sirius as he stretched out and put his hands behind his head.
"Is it fun?" asked Daisy inquisitively.
Lily smiled indulgently. "I'll take you with me some time if you want, after I get my license of course."
Daisy squealed. "Really! That would be so great! I've never traveled in a magic way before!"
"What about by broom?" inquired Sirius.
"Nope, Lily doesn't have a broom," said Daisy.
"And I can't ride one to save my life," added Lily.
"I will have to take you on a ride on mine then," Sirius offered.
Daisy's eyes got really wide. "Oh my gosh! That would be so amazing! Thank you!"
Sirius chuckled. "No problem kid. It would be my pleasure to fill in where dear Lily so lacks."
"Oh shut it," said Lily as she swiped him jokingly.
"So how did you do on your finals?" asked Daisy.
"I did well enough," said Lily modestly.
"Which really means that she got all O's," said Sirius in a teasing tone.
Lily firmly stated, "I did not! I got an E in transfiguration and in Ancient Runes."
"But you got over a one hundred on your Charms practical and you got the highest score on record in Potions," said Sirius knowingly.
Lily gaped at him, "How did you know that?"
"I have my sources," said Sirius cryptically.
Lily gave him a look that clearly said she wanted the names of his informant.
Sirius decided to divulge the source of his information, "I overheard Flitwick and McGonagall talking after the results were given out and Slughorn told me at one of those odious parties of his right a few days ago. I swear Lily you had better watch out; he probably has a shrine to you erected in his office," said Sirius with a serious face.
Daisy and Lily burst out laughing and Sirius soon joined in. "The funniest part is that I'm not joking," said Sirius in the middle of his laughing.
Daisy then wistfully said, "I wish I went to Hogwarts; it sounds like such fun."
"It's a lot of work though too," said Lily.
"Only if you're Lily Evans," Sirius commented. "The rest of us all just slide by. Personally I do my assignments during class or five minutes before they're due."
"Or make up a far-fetched excuse for not having done it," Lily retorted.
"Like what?" asked Daisy eager for some ideas.
"Well…" Sirius started.
"No! I will not have you corrupting my little sister!" said Lily sternly.
"Come on Lily," Daisy whined. "It's not like I would ever use them or anything."
Sirius said, "She couldn't use most of them anyways as they usually include something about the giant squid or evil Cornish pixies."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Fine, just don't let me hear about you slacking off at school."
"Yes mum," said Daisy with an eye-roll of her own.
"Where do you go to school Daisy?" asked Sirius.
"A boarding school in Southern England," she replied.
"Don't be modest Daisy," Lily said. She turned to Sirius and elaborated, "Daisy goes to a school for prodigies in the arts, really good musicians, artists and actors go there. Daisy was the youngest to be accepted in several years."
"And what do you do Daisy?" asked Sirius warmly.
"I'm an artist," said Daisy meekly. She did not enjoy talking about her abilities.
"Can I see some of the work you've done?"
"Yeah, I guess so," she said as she excitedly grabbed a sketch pad that was lying on the seat next to her. "I just did these on the way down; they aren't really good."
Sirius just smiled as he accepted the book from her. Lily scooted over to him and they both took a look at the pencil sketches of the young teenager. Sirius and Lily both praised Daisy's work extensively and offered some good constructive criticism.
Daisy took back her pad with a huge smile adorning her petite features. "Sirius," she said cautiously. "Would you mind if I did a couple of sketches of you? You have really great bone structure and nice eyes."
Sirius chuckled softly at the compliment from the younger girl. "I would love to be in your sketch book Miss Artist. It's my honor."
Lily looked on fondly as Daisy told Sirius how to position himself and laughed to herself as she saw him obeying the thirteen-year-old's every command.
As Daisy happily sketched away, Lily and Sirius chatted about their past school years and the teachers they had had.
Eventually they arrived at the Evans Estate. Sirius gulped nervously as the car drove up the winding driveway. He had passed the inspection of the youngest Evans, but he was sure that Daisy was the least of his worries. Lily saw his expression of anxiety and smiled at him reassuringly as if to say 'it'll be okay.' Sirius did his best to smile back at her.
All too soon, the car had stopped and the door was opened. Daisy hustled out first, her sketch pad clutched to her chest. Lily then exited hurriedly and Sirius was left to follow.
"Don't worry about the luggage," said Lily as Sirius appeared at her side. "Martin will take care of it."
"Thanks Martin," Lily called as she started to walk up her front steps.
"Anytime Miss Lily," answered the elderly driver with a kind smile. He couldn't help but think that despite the influence of the mistress of the house, Lily had turned out all right.
"Come on you slowpokes," yelled Daisy mockingly as she waited a few steps ahead of them at the front door.
"Daisy Henrietta Evans," said a commanding voice from inside the house as the door opened. "There is no need to be so boisterous and loud; it is unladylike. Apologize at once."
Daisy stiffened as soon as she heard the disappointed tone of Mrs. Evans. "I apologize for my rude behavior," said Daisy meekly as she hung her head.
"Apology accepted," said Mrs. Evans curtly as she moved forward to embrace her daughter. "Hello Lillian dear," said Mrs. Evans as she hugged Lily stiffly. "It is so good to have you home again."
From Sirius' point of view, Lily looked pained as she gave a generic response to her mother's greeting.
"And who is this young man?" asked Mrs. Evans before Lily had a chance to introduce Sirius.
Lily stepped in for Sirius, "This is my friend Sirius Black. Due to last minute circumstances he is unable to stay with his family this summer, would it be alright if he stayed with us mother?" asked Lily in a tone that implied she had practiced her request several times.
Mrs. Evans looked Sirius up and down slowly and then said, "Of course darling, that would be fine. Penelope, please prepare a room for Mr. Black in the East Wing."
One of the maids standing behind Mrs. Evans, presumably Penelope, muttered a "Yes m'am," and hurried off.
"I assume that your friend would like a tour of the house Lillian," said Mrs. Evans. "You missed dinner so ending the tour in the kitchens would be an intelligent decision. Then you may escort Mr. Black to his room where you will promptly bid him good-night and retire to your own room. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
Sirius was strongly reminded of Professor McGonagall by the middle-aged woman in front of him.
"Yes mother," replied Lily quietly.
"Daisy you would do best to retrieve a light snack from the kitchens now and retire to your room immediately afterwards," commanded Mrs. Evans.
"Yes mother," said Daisy in the same quite tone Lily used.
"And Lillian your father has already retired for the night, but he sends his greetings."
"Of course," said Lily.
"You are dismissed," said Mrs. Evans as she walked away.
Daisy tried to stay behind to talk to Sirius and Lily, but her mother quickly summoned her. She left with a roll of her eyes that caused Lily and Sirius to smile.
"Come on," said Lily with a sigh. "I'll show you the house I guess."
Sirius nodded, "Okay, let's go."
Lily quickly led Sirius through the many rooms of the first floor with a short description of each room. Then she showed him the upstairs quickly where the bedrooms were located. As advised, they ended their journey in the large kitchens.
As it was late, the servants had already gone to bed, but they had left out a large snack for their young mistresses, which Lily gladly shared with her companion.
Lily then led Sirius to the guest room where he would be staying. At the door she said to him, "This is my cue to leave. Think you can find your way into the family dining room tomorrow morning, or do I need to come and pick you up?" she asked in a patronizing tone.
"I think I can manage," said Sirius.
"Alright then, breakfast is served from seven to eight on weekdays and eight to ten on weekends. You can meet my dad at breakfast before he leaves for work. See you in the morning."
"You never showed me where your room is Lily, what happens if I need to find you?" he asked slyly.
"Maybe I'll show you tomorrow," said Lily teasingly. "Good night Sirius," she said as she walked away.
"Good night Lily," he called after her. Two down and two to go, thought Sirius, mentally evaluating the members of the Evans family that he had already met, as he settled in for the night.
The next morning Sirius was awakened by a loud knocking on his bedroom door. After he determined that the knocker was not going to go away and he had no hope of falling back asleep, Sirius got out of bed and opened the door.
He was more than a little bit surprised to see Lily on the other side of his door dressed in very short shorts and an old tee shirt.
"I knew you wouldn't be up yet," said Lily smugly.
Sirius, who was only in his boxers, a fact that Lily refused to let bother her, only groaned. "What time is it?"
Lily glanced at her watch and replied cheerily, "Six thirty five."
"What the hell? I'm going back to bed; you're nuts Evans," mumbled Sirius as he walked sleepily back to his bed and collapsed onto it without even shutting the door.
"Just be sure that you're up for breakfast in a half-hour," Lily called before departing.
Sirius mumbled into his pillow in reply.
Forty-five minutes later, another stream of incessant knocking startled Sirius from his beauty sleep. He grumbled all the way to the door and wrenched it open to find Daisy smiling happily at him.
"Morning sunshine," she said sarcastically. "Lily said that you needed to be woken up again, and now I see that she was right."
"Are all of you morning people?" asked Sirius as he leaned on the doorframe and yawned loudly.
"Yeah, we're used to it," said Daisy off-handedly. "Now you should get dressed and come down to breakfast before it's over. FYI, Lily will be there in about ten minutes, just in case you thought you might like back-up. I'm going down now. See you soon."
Sirius looked at her from underneath his half closed eyelids and said, "Can't I just skip breakfast and sleep for a few more hours?"
Daisy laughed. "What would you want to do that for?"
"I like sleeping," said Sirius defensively.
"Then go to bed earlier. Now go get some clothes on and come down for breakfast," ordered the teenager who was clearly amused by the half-dressed young man before her.
"Yeah okay," sighed Sirius remorsefully. He fully intended to get away as soon as possible to take a nap, but he wasn't about to tell Daisy that.
"Make sure you don't go back to sleep!" shouted Daisy as Sirius shut the door.
She smiled to herself and happily skipped down to join her parents for breakfast.
Just as Daisy had predicted, Lily showed up at the breakfast table in ten minutes, but she was no longer in her shorts and tee-shirt. Now she was wearing a white skirt and top set and her wet hair was piled neatly into a bun on top of her head, the same way her hair was styled every morning at Hogwarts.
"Good morning mother, good morning daddy," said Lily as she kissed her each of her parents' cheeks in turn and took her seat at the table.
"Good morning Lillian," said Mrs. Evans as she barely looked up from the proposed menu for dinner that night that had been given to her to get her stamp of approval.
"Hello there princess," said Mr. Evans as he put down his morning paper and smiled at his daughter lovingly. "I'm sorry I wasn't awake when you arrived home last night, I had a full day at the office and was falling asleep at my desk. I hope your mother gave you my regrets?"
"Of course I did Albert," interrupted Mrs. Evans.
"I never doubted you Clarice," said Albert Evans. Once Mrs. Evans had turned back to her menu for the day, Albert continued talking to his daughter, "So Clarice tells me that you brought a boy home for the summer?" Albert's eyebrows went way up at this inquiry. He knew his daughter dated, but that didn't mean he liked it, and he certainly didn't appreciate having a hormonal teenage boyfriend in the house with his precious daughter. He remembered all too well what it was like to be a seventeen-year-old boy.
Lily laughed, "It's not what you think Daddy. He's just a friend. I mean it," she finished firmly when she saw the doubting look on her dad's face. "There are some conflicts that arouse suddenly and he was without a place to stay for the summer. I couldn't just let him go out into the street."
Mr. Evans smiled with pride at his compassionate daughter. Lily had always taken it upon herself to help others, from the small turtle she had found upside on the beach when she was five, to homeless teenage boys. "So you assure me that nothing is going on between you and this boy?" asked Mr. Evans.
"His name is Sirius and absolutely not."
At this point Sirius walked into the dining room and he added, "She's right, my best friend would kill me on the spot. Sirius Black sir," he said as he extended a hand to the master of the house.
Mr. Evans shook his hand and was impressed by the boy's strong grip. "Have a seat Sirius."
"Thank you sir, and thank you for allowing me to stay in your home. I know that it's very last minute," said Sirius as he took an empty seat next to Daisy.
"It's no trouble son, we love helping friends of Lily's. And I would love to ask you a few questions about your world, it's not often I get to meet wizards," said Albert.
"I'd be happy to answer as best as I can," said Sirius as he helped himself to some food when he got an inaudible command from Lily.
"Good, good," Mr. Evans mumbled as he buttered a slice of toast. "So what's on the agenda for today Lily dear?"
Lily quickly swallowed the food in her mouth, but she wasn't allowed to respond because Clarice once again jumped in for her, "At nine Lillian has a piano lesson; at ten thirty her French tutor will arrive, and then she's going out for lunch with Derrick Hendriks at half past twelve. After lunch she has her dancing lessons, followed by etiquette training until four. Then Jane will get her ready for dinner with the Daniels tonight. Promptly at nine she will excuse herself and retire to her room."
Lily took in her schedule with an impartial look, nodding as each activity was read off.
"Sounds like a very busy day," said Albert with forced cheerfulness. "Well, I'm off to work. Have a wonderful day ladies, and you too Sirius. Give my regards to Petunia."
As Albert left the table Daisy asked, "Mother, where is Petunia?"
Mrs. Evans replied, "She is eating brunch with the Sanderson's, so she will not join us for breakfast this morning."
Daisy nodded, Lily sighed in relief.
The rest of the breakfast passed in silence and Sirius was only too glad to follow Lily's example and excuse himself as quickly as possible.
After they had left the dining room Sirius exclaimed, "It sounds like you have to go to school! No wait, it's worse than school! French lessons? Dancing lessons?"
"More boring that History of Magic I assure you," said Lily with only a hint of a smile.
"But you actually stayed awake in that class."
"That doesn't mean I liked it, I dropped it after taking the O.W.L.s."
"Smart move."
"Yeah."
Sirius then asked, "Is you whole summer like this?"
Lily smiled weakly, "Yup. Everyday is as planned as the last; some are worse than others though. Today's especially bad because it's a weekday and my first day home. Tomorrow won't be so bad since it's a Saturday. Mother usually goes out calling on Saturdays so she eats early. You can get up around nine if you want and come down to eat in your pajamas."
Sirius smiled warily, "Lucky me."
"Hey! You have no right to complain. You don't have to do anything all day."
"Speaking of, what am I going to do all day?"
"If you value your life, I would make myself scarce. Stay out of Clarice's way and she won't bother you."
"And where am I going to do that?"
"I'm showing you right now. We're going to the game room. I'll show you how to work some of the muggle games and I hope you can keep yourself occupied. I'll ask one of the maids to bring you lunch in here," said Lily as she opened a door. "The bathroom is just down there."
Lily walked into the room after pointing to where the nearest bathroom was and then she proceeded to show Sirius how to work some of the electronics in the room like the television.
Then she left him and prepared to get ready for her French lesson.
Several hours later Lily returned to Sirius who was still as astonished by the television as he had been when she left him that morning.
"Hello Sirius, had a nice day?" she asked with a smile.
"Yeah, yeah, hi Lily," he said absently.
"Come on, we have to get ready for dinner; you're expected to come and I have to transfigure your clothes into something muggle," she said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him away as if he were a young child.
"But Lily," he whined. "My show is on next!"
"You can come back and spend all day tomorrow rotting your brain if you like. But now we have to go."
Sirius reluctantly let himself be led out of the room. After a while he said, "You can let go of my hand now."
To cover her mistake Lily said, "You promise that you won't go running back to the game room if I let go?"
"I promise," he said as if he were a five-year-old. "So how was your day?"
"Productive," said Lily simply.
"What's Derrick like?" he asked slyly.
"Incredibly pompous and, and, and, self-centered, I suppose would be an accurate adjective."
"Then why did you have lunch with him?"
Lily raised her eyebrows at him. "You think I plan out with whom I eat my meals?"
"You mean you don't?"
"No. Clarice just dictates."
"Tough life," said Sirius.
Lily shrugged. "I get through it."
"Kind of ruins the summer though doesn't it? I mean you have to do stuff that you hate, not much of a vacation."
"It could be worse; I mean I could be forced to work all day every day to support my family, or I could have to sleep in a cardboard box in some alley with a bunch of hobos and guys like you," she teased.
Sirius laughed. "It's true. There are a lot of things that are worse."
By this time, they had arrived at Sirius' room. Lily opened the door and went in.
"Okay, give me some of your school robes and I'll transfigure them into muggle dress clothes. Then I'll copy them and vary it a little bit," she said, taking charge.
Sirius challenged her, "But we can't do magic outside of school. I don't want you arrested on my account."
"Guess who's seventeen?" she said while pointing at herself. "A.K.A. a full witch who can do magic whenever she feels like it."
Sirius groaned. "I hate having a summer birthday!"
"I bet you do, now hand me some of your robes."
Sirius rummaged in his trunk for some of his school robes. Eventually he was able to pull out a ball of bunched up clothes, which he promptly threw in Lily's direction. As she was distracted, she did not catch said clothes and instead got a face-full of robes.
"Heads up," said Sirius.
"Thanks for the warning," grumbled Lily.
Lily pulled out her wand and a few incantations later and Sirius had a brand new muggle wardrobe.
"Thanks Lily."
"No problem, just hurry up and get dressed, I needed to be in my room five minutes ago! Let's just hope Jane doesn't go looking for me! See you in the parlor at five! Make sure that you're on time!" called Lily as she ran from the room.
Sirius moaned. He didn't need an hour to get dressed, but he did want to be on time so that Lily's mother didn't throw him out. She didn't seem to like him, so he had decided to be on his best behavior, which was really hard for him. It was easier without James, Remus or Peter there, however. Now his only influences were Lily and her younger sister, and they acted like perfect little ladies, well around their mother anyways. Sirius still hadn't met Petunia, but he was not overly concerned about it; the rest of the Evans' seemed to tolerate him enough.
Meanwhile, Lily was being primped by her mother's maid Jane. She sighed deeply as Jane applied foundation to her face.
"Something wrong miss?" asked Jane as she continued on with her work.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," said Lily with a defeated air.
Lily knew it was hopeless to complain about her mother's policies. No matter what she said, Lily was still going to be forced to go out with idiotic men of her mother's choosing, entertain and host people she didn't like, wear clothes that she hated, and have her hair and make-up done without her input.
Soon Lily found herself sitting next to her mother on a sofa in the parlor waiting to welcome their guests for the evening. Sirius was sitting next to Daisy in a loveseat not to far away and, though Lily couldn't hear what was being said, she saw that they were having a very entertaining and funny conversation. Lily only wished that she could be over there and not with her mother and sister, who was seated on the other side of Mrs. Evans.
Petunia's meeting of Sirius had gone well enough; she was just as stiff and critical as her mother, but Lily considered that a blessing that she hadn't screamed and carried on about there being another freak in the house.
Within a few more minutes the Daniels, a typical family of four, a dad, mom, son and daughter, had arrived. After some greetings, small talk and a few drinks, dinner was served.
Dinner was largely uneventful, except for the time when Mrs. Daniels tried to initiate a conversation with Sirius, who had been sitting quietly and not contributing until then, much unlike him. It was clear to Lily that Mrs. Daniels was evaluating Sirius as a potential son-in-law, but Lily was powerless to stop her.
"So, Sirius, are you still in school?" asked Mrs. Daniels.
Sirius looked almost startled at being addressed. "Yes," he answered promptly.
"Oh, what year are you in?"
"I'll be going into my seventh year in September."
"And where do you go to school?"
Sirius gulped. How was he supposed to answer that question? Luckily Lily intervened.
"Sirius goes to school with me, Mrs. Daniels. We both go to a boarding school up north," said Lily as politely as she could. She knew that she was going to get a scolding from her mother for being rude, but it was worth it to save the wizarding world from detection.
"Oh and where is that deary? I seem to have forgotten," said Mrs. Daniels.
"St. Thomas Aquinas' Academy for Young Gentlemen and Ladies," Lily rattled off without any thought.
"I can't say that I've ever heard of it."
Sirius jumped in now, knowing fully well that a good lie doesn't work if only one person talks; lies were much more convincing if they matched up. "It isn't very well-known, quite a small school actually."
"About how many students attend?"
Sirius looked to Lily as if consulting her, "I would say approximately 300 for all seven years."
Lily jumped in, "I wouldn't even think that there were that many; 250 at the most."
"My, that is a small school. What subjects are you studying Sirius?"
Now he was royally screwed and he knew it; Lily knew it too, there was no way she could help him out of this one.
"Well," said Sirius, desperately trying to recall what his Muggle Studies teacher had told his class about muggle schools. "I am taking history," he started. "Umm, astronomy, and…" he struggled to find more subjects. He couldn't exactly say Charms or Transfiguration now could he? Suddenly he caught sight of Lily's moving hands. They were pantomiming something. "And writing of course," he said as he recognized the gesture.
"Something wrong with your hands Lillian?" asked Mrs. Evans, who obviously hadn't been oblivious to Lily's activities.
"Yes," said Lily as she flexed her fingers some more. "They are a little sore from playing the piano so much this morning. Julia," she said, addressing the Daniels' daughter. "Do you play any instruments?"
And so the conversation moved on. Never again did either Lily, Petunia or Mrs. Evans allow talk to be turned back to Sirius for fear of what he might say. For different reasons, none of the Evans girls wanted the Daniels to find out about the special talents of Lily and Sirius; Lily was afraid for her other world and her mother and sister didn't want to be labeled as 'freaks'.
Soon enough it was nine o'clock. Mrs. Evans sent a glare Lily's way and she quickly excused herself for the evening. Daisy had long since left, so Sirius had no one else to talk to, so he also bid good-night to the remaining party.
Lily was waiting for him right outside the door.
"How did you know I would be right behind you?" asked Sirius quietly as he closed the door behind him.
"You're pretty predictable you know," she said patiently. "I wouldn't have stayed in there any longer than I had to either."
"Thanks for saving my ass back there at dinner," said Sirius after a brief silence.
"It was my ass too you know," said Lily sincerely. "In fact I think I should get a trophy for saving so many asses in one night."
"No! Not another trophy! How about a medal? Those are easier to polish," said Sirius in a begging manner.
"What are you on about?" giggled Lily.
"Well I figure that every eighth detention Minnie gives me is polishing the trophies in the trophy room and I have a whole year-full. From past experience I know that medals and plaques are easier to clean than trophies, less weird edges and so forth, so, since I will probably be polishing said trophy many times over, I was wondering if you would be so kind as to accept a medal instead. Come on, be a pal! Take one for the team!"
"The Sirius Black team?" asked Lily jokingly.
"The one and only," said Sirius with a grin.
Lily sighed dramatically. "If it were anyone else I think I would demand a statue, but for you Sirius, why not? A medal it is! But it had better be a darn good medal, you hear?"
"I'll make Peter carve it himself!"
Lily laughed openly. "I never knew Peter to be a craftsman!"
"He's not, but he has all summer to learn! I'll just send him an owl and get him right on… it," Sirius finished his sentence slowly, realizing that he couldn't just send Peter an owl.
Lily understood Sirius' change of tone almost immediately; she stopped walking and pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry Sirius," she whispered.
"It's okay Lily," Sirius whispered back, feeling grateful to have someone on his side.
All of a sudden Lily quickly pulled away. Sirius turned quickly to see what was bothering her and only saw the Daniels' son skulking behind them.
"Hello Justin," said Lily coolly. "What are you doing so far from the party?"
"Scoping out the competition," he said bluntly.
"There is nothing to investigate here, so I suggest that you run back to the party like the good little boy your mother thinks you are," said Lily chillingly.
Justin turned his attention to Sirius now, "So your Evans' new boy toy, huh? Your taste in men has certainly diminished as of late Lillian," he said mockingly. "Even Kinty was better than this one and he was retarded."
"You leave Kevin out of this! He has a learning disability; he is not mentally disabled and I take offense to your crude terminology," snapped Lily.
"Well, excuse me," said Justin sarcastically.
"No, your behavior is inexcusable," said Lily coldly. "There was no need for such comments; if you have a problem with me, don't be a coward and take it out on my friend."
"I think we both know that you don't just have friends Lillian, just the occasional snogging partners," said Justin mockingly.
Sirius reacted on impulse and immediately withdrew his wand from his pocket. Even though he was on summer holiday in a muggle house, Sirius, like Lily, carried his wand around with him everywhere; his wand was a part of him; he couldn't be without it. "Take it back," he said in a low voice. "Take back and apologize, or you'll be sorry."
"Lower your wand," hissed Lily as Justin said foolishly, "What are you going to do, through the piece of wood at me?"
Sirius looked a little defeated; he knew that it was foolish to curse the muggle in front of him because that would surely land him in a trial at the Ministry for breaking several different laws and he was not sure that Dumbledore would stand up for him and protect him as he had with the Snape incident. "It was the first thing that came to my mind, but there are several more painful procedures that you can go through until you take back what you said."
"Back off Sirius," said Lily quietly. "There's no need for threats."
"But Lily! What he said…" exclaimed Sirius.
"I can handle this Sirius. I don't need you getting involved; things are messed up enough already without you making it worse!" growled Lily.
"Well if you two are done," drawled Justin.
"Yeah, we're done," said Sirius as he stalked off on his own.
"Sirius! I didn't mean it like that!" Lily desperately called after him.
Sirius just kept walking.
"Justin! Why do you have to ruin everything!" asked Lily rounding on the smirking teenager before her.
"It's incredibly fun," he laughed.
"No, seriously, what is wrong with you?" asked Lily incredulously. "It's because I went to the Haberforms' ball with Patrick last year instead of you, isn't it?"
"We were dating Lillian! You had no right to go with anyone but me!" shouted Justin, suddenly enraged.
Lily shook her head and replied, "We weren't dating Justin; I just went out for dinner with you once. You never asked to see me again or asked me if I wanted to go steady with you, and you never asked me to the ball. Patrick did ask me, and since no one else had at that point and I didn't have a steady boyfriend at the time, I went with him."
"But Lillian, I really like you!"
"You've gone about it all wrong then," said Lily with what little patience she had left. "You've been an insensitive prat and you've insulted me. I think we should continue on our separate paths. Good-bye Justin."
Justin just stood there dumb-founded; he had never met anyone quite like Lillian Evans; he doubted he ever would again.
As soon as she left Justin, Lily continued traveling to Sirius' room, her original destination. When she reached his door, she tentatively knocked on it, wanting very much to make things better with Sirius immediately.
She heard a muffled "Come in," so she slowly turned the knob and opened the door.
Sirius was lying on his back on his bed just staring at the ceiling; he hadn't even changed out of his formal attire yet, just loosed his tie and unbuttoned his shirt.
"Sirius?"
"Ummm?"
"I'm sorry for yelling at you before, I was frustrated and I didn't mean what I said."
"It's okay I guess," said Sirius quietly.
Lily took a seat at the end of the bed and said, "Justin's a jerk."
"Yeah, reminds me of Snivellus," said Sirius without thinking about how Lily felt about his mortal enemy.
Lily sighed, but didn't comment and Sirius didn't press the matter.
"I have to be going," she said at last.
"Are you really going to bed at nine o'clock during the summer?"
"No!" said Lily disbelievingly. "Mother said I have to go to my room at nine; she never said I had to go to sleep at nine."
"What are you going to do?" asked Sirius.
"Probably start some school work," shrugged Lily. "Not much going on tonight as far as I know."
"Oh."
"Bored already?" asked Lily with a grin.
"Yes," said Sirius drawing the normally one syllable word out until it had reached a record eight syllables.
"What would you be doing if you were at James' house right now?"
"Knowing James, probably a night game of Quidditch, or something like that."
"Yeah," laughed Lily quietly. "Well, there's nothing going on tonight, but next Friday night there's a party," she said slowly.
"What kind of party and where is it?" asked Sirius excitedly as he quickly sat up.
"It's a birthday party here," said Lily, trying to be cheerful.
"Whose birthday is it? Daisy's? Petunia's?"
"Mine actually."
"Happy Birthday!" said Sirius with a large grin.
"It's just the party," said Lily dismissively. "My birthday was weeks ago, but mother insists that I have a party when I return home for the summer."
Sirius suddenly looked as if he had something particularly and surprisingly nasty in his mouth. "Do we have to dress up?"
Lily smiled, "Yeah. I have this awful dress and everything! It weighs like six pounds and goes down to the floor and has a train and everything."
"And that means absolutely nothing to me…" said Sirius as he just nodded along.
"Yeah I know it doesn't."
"Well as long as you know."
"You can stop nodding now."
"Oh yeah," said Sirius sheepishly.
"Alright, I'm going to go now; I'll see you tomorrow."
"You're going to leave me here all by myself?"
"Yeah, but you know how to get down to the game room if you want to; introduce yourself to late night television while you're there. I think you'll like it," said Lily as she got up off of Sirius' bed.
"You mean there's stuff on the box thingy all the time?" he asked with his eyes wide and disbelieving.
"Don't you take muggle studies?"
"Yeah."
"Shouldn't you know what the 'box thingy' is called then?"
"Probably, but I don't really pay much attention in that class; I only took it because it seemed like an easy class to pass and could be rather helpful when picking up muggle chicks."
"Most likely it will come in handy; as far as I know no muggle girl would date you if you didn't know what a television is," said Lily. "Good-night Sirius."
"Night Lily."
Lily went off to her bedroom happily. Little did she know that she was being followed by one Sirius Black who was immensely curious to see what her bedroom looked like. As soon as he saw the location of Lily's room, Sirius sneaked off to the game room, fully intending to check out Lily's room as soon as he could be assured that she would be out of it.
Thanks for the reviews guys! Keep it up! (As you may have noticed, I updated in a week. Coincidence? I think not! More reviews faster updates! It's elementary my dear Watson!) Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope to hear from all of you!