Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the stuff J.K. Rowling created.

Chapter Twenty-four

My First Shopping Spree (Oh, joy...)

The Potters were furious with the Blacks, but were happy that Sirius was safe. They were curious, however, as to how we got there. So the next day we showed them, and they were thrilled and intrigued as to how I was able to find it. They had tried to get the room to work on their own...but apparently it didn't work for any of them, only me.

The days past surprisingly really quick. I found that James' parents were just as much of pranksters as he was. I learned more about James and his parents, which, in turn, made me like them even more (which I hadn't thought was possible to tell the truth). Remus had showed up a couple days ago and it was like a hole was filled in their house. Everyone seemed so comfortable, like this was how they lived. There was family teasing and caring and all of that, yet the boys were more respectful and, in a way, more loving (hard to believe, I know) than I had ever seen them before. And I was happy to find that they all treated me like I belonged. And, strange enough, my cold heart seemed to have thawed some.

Currently we were outside having a non-magical snowball fight; the three Marauders vs. me and Mr. and Mrs. Potter. So far, we had the upper hand. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were great and had really good reflexes, especially from them (and they had told me openly) being sixty-two years old (yes, it had been a surprise for me too because they looked to be in their early thirties or late twenties). They were also Aurors, and they were some I liked. Like Weasley and Adda, they weren't stuck-up and didn't think they were better than everyone else.

We launched snowball after snowball at the Marauders, who were retreating into the trees. Then we lost sight of them. Mr. and Mrs. Potter froze, listening.

"They're plotting," Mr. Potter said.

I chuckled softly. "Aren't they always?"

"Good point," he said with a grin.

"They're going to plan an attack. They think that we're confident with our current position," Mrs. Potter whispered, her eyes alight with excitement. "So, it's simple. We attack first." They both looked at me to see what I thought, as they had done a lot when we worked together against the Marauders. I had my suspicions that they were seeing what skills I had. They, too, might have thought my future profession should be an Auror, I thought. It wasn't bothering me as much as it would have, say, four months ago.

"Sounds good," I said. "You two spilt up and sneak in from the sides. I'll come from the front. They'll think one of two things; I'm switching sides for excitement or that I've come to finish them off on my own."

They nodded and stealthily took off into the woods. I followed the path of the Marauders and listened intently. I heard whispering, so I quietly followed the voices. I peeked around a tree and I saw the three with their backs to me, knelt on the ground and drawing something in the snow. I crouched, and then jumped onto Remus' back, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist.

"Argh!" he yelled, falling on his face. "Holy crap! Sirius! I'm on your side, you prick!" He rolled over onto his back, pinning me in the snow. But I wouldn't let go. By now he knew it wasn't Sirius who had ambushed him, and my plan wasn't working how I had planned it to, but I'd make it work.

Remus was lifted out of the snow, me still clinging to him.

When James saw this, he started cracking up.

"Why is it when she does something I always get blamed for it first?" Sirius asked, pouting. He bent over, made a tightly packed snowball, and threw it at me. But I used Remus as a shield and it hit him right in the face.

"Aw! Come on Moony! Don't take that from him," I whispered softly in his ear. Remus laughed, took me off his back, and tossed me lightly into the snow.

"I won't switch that easily," he smirked. Together, the three marauders pelted me with snow. Soon there was a huge pile of snow with me in the center of it, not fighting back at all. We were all laughing.

James came forward and knocked on the snow-like home. "Anyone there?"

And that's when his parents attacked. I burst out of my blanket of snow, and as a team, we took the Marauders down.

"I should think we have won," Mr. Potter said as the boys brushed the snow off them, gasping and sputtering for air.

"Take that suckers!" I laughed.

"You tricked us!" James accused.

"No, I distracted you," I corrected. "As was planned. All along."

"Come on kids, let's go warm up," Mrs. Potter said, knowing this could turn into an all day argument full of pranks, tricks, etc. All of the norm.

"I thought you were brilliant," Remus commented as we were drinking our hot chocolate.

"We should have known you went down too easy," Sirius said.

"Key words are 'should have'." I smirked.

"Nike dear," Mrs. Potter said, poking her head out of the kitchen.

"Yes Mrs. Potter?" She sighed at me. I guess she thought 'Mrs. Potter' was too formal. Same with Mr. Potter, except, you know, using the term mister.

"I was thinking of taking you shopping. You have hardly anything at all, and not to mention it's Christmas in a couple of days."

I choked on my hot chocolate and the boys snickered, earning a glare from me.

"Sh–shopping?" I managed to get out.

"Yes, just the two of us. We can have some girl time away from all of them." Even by now Mr. Potter was smiling at my discomfort. Mrs. Potter, however, seemed oblivious to it.

"I–I—" I knew I would have to go because the look in her eyes was so hopeful I didn't have the heart to decline. I took a deep breath, wondering why I had to like these people so much. "When are we going?"

She smiled widely. "Right after lunch." And with that she went back into the kitchen to start lunch, with a very happy smile on her face.

"Softy," Sirius muttered. I kicked him. Hard. "Ow!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was that your leg?" I asked sweetly. The others laughed.

"You know," James said. "If you don't want to go you can just tell her. No one is saying you absolutely have to."

"Joyce is just happy to have another girl in the house," Mr. Potter agreed.

"No, it's okay. I guess I've got to act like a girl sometimes."

Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but I silenced him with another kick.

"You never know," Remus said seriously. "It might be fun."

"Do you have shopping experiences?" I teased.

"Yes, actually. My mum makes me go with her every now and then. I wouldn't call it fun, but I pretend to enjoy it for her sake."

"Thanks for the confidence booster there Remus," I muttered.

"Any time for you Nike."

"It's nice to have a change in company," Mrs. Potter said as we walked through the snow covered streets of Diagon Alley. Today there were tons of people about, making my last visit here seem so different.

"Does James go with you?" I asked.

She laughed. "Uh, no. Peter does occasionally though."

"That's, umm, nice of him?" I said, choosing my words carefully.

"Yes, it is. He's a sweet boy," she said. "Anyways, what kind of clothes do you like to wear?"

"Umm…"

"That's what I thought," she said, sighing. "Well, we'll start with colors and go from there." She dragged me into this store that was filled with clothing and shoes. I tried not to gag.

"White would really bring out your skin," she commented, more to herself, I think.

A short pretty redheaded witch that had light blue eyes glanced over and gasped. "You have the most beautiful tan skin I've ever seen!"

"Uh…thanks?"

"Do you need help finding anything?" she asked. "My name is Molly Prewitt, I'm the assistant manager here." She took a closer look at me. "Nike, right? Lily Evan's best friend? It has to be you."

"Yeah, that would be me. This is—"

"Mrs. Potter. Yeah, I know. She's in here frequently." Molly laughed. "I don't think you've seen me because I'm in my fifth year, but I'm a Gryffindor." I nodded in understanding. "Well then, is the tomboy ready for some clothes then?" she asked with a huge smile, earning a confused look from me. "Lily and I are fairly close and she's told me a lot a about you. But that's beside the point. Joyce, we finally have our work cut out for us!"

"I was thinking…for sure she needs shoes. Poor Tonks will probably want her tennis shoes back."

"Definitely," Molly said, nodding in thought.

"She'll also needs an assortment of shirts, sweaters, pants, dresses—"

"Whoa! Wait!" I cut in. "Dresses? Please tell me you're kidding."

"No. Trust me; you'll be wanting at least one when you get around my age. Probably even by next year," Molly said.

They drug me around the store having me try on countless amounts of things in all color schemes. There were those that brought out my ever changing sapphire blue and acid green eyes. There were others that went great with my extremely tan skin. Some went "perfect" with my completely straight and long golden brown hair that had a darker brown streaks mixed in. I had cut my hair personally with a knife in the woods all that time ago, so it was different lengths and jagged at the ends, giving my hair an odd and unique look. And then when we got to the dresses, they picked out ones that showed off all of that and, as a needed thing, Molly had said, my curves.

"I really don't like dresses, if anyone cares to know," I muttered for the thousandth time.

"But you'll look great," Molly protested. She held up a mid-thigh length dark pink dress that had an even darker shade blended in with it. "Oh Merlin. This was made for you Nike," she breathed, holding it out for me to look at. I had to admit, it was pretty. Except for…

"It's pink," I said.

"Yeah."

"No. You don't get it. This is pink."

"But this contrasted with the color of your skin…" Molly held the fabric near me while I went stiff, horrified that the ghastly color was almost touching me.

"Brilliant," Mrs. Potter said. "Just one pink piece. Please Nike? Just one?"

I looked between her and Molly and then back again, and then I slumped my shoulders in defeat. Wonderful.

"Fine," I said for the millionth time. Like what I said mattered though. Because if they thought it looked good on me, they were getting it (most likely). "Are we done?" I asked hopefully.

Mrs. Potter looked at her watch and sighed. "I suppose so…you've still got to do Christmas shopping…" It then donned on me.

"Oh crap. Umm…I don't have any money." I was truly embarrassed. Even if it was just clothes. All of that…torment…to have this happen… Not to mention Mrs. Potter would be heartbroken; she'd been having a lot of fun, I could tell. And I did have to admit it was sorta nice spending time with someone who...I guess, could be a mom to me. That was hard to admit to myself, but it was true.

Mrs. Potter just laughed. "Don't worry about it. Even if you did have money you wouldn't have bought any of it. You're my only daughter, so think nothing of it," she said before I could protest. I just sighed. It was absolutely no use arguing with her. She was stubborn, like James.

"Good-bye Joyce! Good-bye Nike!" Molly said after Mrs. Potter had finished paying for everything. "I'll see you at school. Promise."

"It was nice to meet you Molly," I said. "Happy Christmas!"

"You too!" she called as we walked out into the snow.

"So…" I said. "How's Christmas shopping done?"

Mrs. Potter smiled. "Let's not keep your curiosity burning then." And with that we were off. Again.

"I see you're still as sane as you were when you left," Sirius said as we walked through the door.

"Haha. You're very funny," I said.

"I'll take these to your room," Mrs. Potter said, taking the bags that I carried from me. She smiled warmly at me and then disappeared into thin air.

"Mum didn't bother you too much did she?" James asked.

"No. After she and Molly finished clothes shopping your mum took me Christmas shopping for you guys. And that was actually kind of fun."

"Ooo…what'd you get me?" Sirius asked, jumping onto the arm of my chair that I plopped into.

"You? Absolutely nothing," I teased.

"Well I'm returning your gift then," he pouted, leaning back.

Remus smirked. "Did Mrs. Potter—I mean, mum number two—tell you that you weren't supposed to tell?"

"Yep!"

Sirius groaned. "She's just trying to ruin all of our fun."

"Don't worry Padfoot," I said. "There's only two more days until Christmas."

"I don't think I can wait that long." Sirius sighed.

A/N: We got two chapters up this time because of my deal, remember? :)

Well…I sorta described what Nike looked like in this chapter, but I would LOVE to hear how you guys picture her! You see, I'm extremely excited for this whole story-cover-thing, and I'm trying to get a friend to make a cover for me, but I gotta figure out how Nike looks, and I wanna hear YOUR ideas! So let me know through a review or PM me!

SNOWBALL FIGHTS! My FAVORITE thing to do in the winter!

Nike shopping is much like me shopping. I could care less, and I just wish it would be over with. Unless it's for books, of course! ;)

Yes, there will be more of Arthur and Molly, showing a friendship between the (future) Weasleys and our little group (adding to the bit we'll get from Weasley and Adda).

Alright! So please answer my questions, guys! Oh! And drop a review! Please?

Nike