A/N at end

State of Grace

The first thing everybody should know is that being on the back of a motorbike at full speed is not glamorous at all. In the movies, the actress always looks beautiful and composed as the wind gently combs her hair back from her smiling face, riding gracefully with her companion through the countryside. Actually, my face feels like it's being steadily peeled off, and the drag of my hair in the wind is so strong my neck muscles are straining against whiplash. I'm pretty sure I look like one of those jowly dogs when they stick their heads out of car windows on the highway, and I can barely open my eyes against the onslaught. The worst thing though is the bike itself – I thought that, as the passenger, I didn't really have to do anything…until we hit our first bend and almost crash. According to Sirius, who immediately turns round to shout at me over the roar of the engine, I "LEANED THE WRONG WAY".

"WELL HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW!" I screech back in his ear.

"LEAN WITH ME WHEN WE TURN – OR YOU REALLY WILL FALL OFF!" I still can't tell if he's joking, but at the next bend I follow his lead and we emerge unscathed. I also figure out that if I huddle a bit closer to him, his body blocks most the wind and my face can return to more or less its normal shape. I allow my arms, which had been locked painfully in terror around his waist, to relax a bit and try to enjoy watching the scenery blur by.

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,

Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches…

The old railway rhyme springs in to my head, and I feel a grin spreading across my face as I realize how appropriate it is in this situation – in every possible sense. I let my eyes close, enjoying how the sunlight turns everything behind my eyelids a warm gold colour. Feeling a strand of hair tickling my cheek I sneak a glance at Sirius. The longer strands of his hair are brushing my face and he's let his head hang back slightly, apparently savouring the rushing wind. For a moment I stare thoughtlessly at him, transfixed by the complete abandon of it, the sight of someone so clearly relishing freedom. The spell is broken, however, when I realize that his eyes are closed.

As we hurtle down the road at God-knows-what miles per hour.

I panic and smack him over the head with one hand while screaming in outrage, and his eyes fly open and he's looking back at me with such a genuine grin that I think, through my anger, I've never seen him this happy. I am not distracted.

"YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US!" I shout, still not quite believing that someone could be so idiotic as to close his eyes while riding a motorbike.

"RELAX, I KNOW THIS ROAD LIKE THE BACK OF MY HAND!"

There's no time to reply as he hits the brakes and we slow abruptly to a more normal pace as the turning for Dalton House approaches. The bike rumbles and bangs its way up the drive, and I'm calming down enough to realize that the wind has blown apart the natural waves and curls of my hair, and now the whole thing just looks like a lion's mane. Fantastic. Sirius, of course, is absolutely unfazed by the hurricane-force we've just been through, and is still grinning insolently as we arrive in front of the house.

"Honestly," he says, wedging the kickstand down as I stagger off the bike. "I've never seen a more un-natural rider. I thought you'd at least have some basic instinct of which way to lean in turning – that's just common sense."

"Common sense?!" I retort, still trying to smooth my hair as my face heats up with embarrassment. "You're the one going down the road at a thousand miles per hour WITH YOUR EYES SHUT!"

He quirks an eyebrow. "Ye of little faith." I scowl, and he continues, "Ah come on – it was way better than the car."

I don't dignify that with an answer, looking around for the first time and realizing that Lily and company aren't back yet. Well we did make record time. Sirius snickers at my silence and flings himself down on a small grassy patch under a tree lining the front drive to wait. I pause for a moment before settling myself down beside him, resting my chin on my knees. The sun shines through the leaves above, dappling us with patches of light, and I think of the freedom and rush that flooded us on the ride here. Ok apart from the life-threatening driving and the terror – it was probably better than the car. Not that I'd ever admit it.

We're silent for a bit and I think he might be dozing, but after a few minutes he cracks an eyelid and says, "I think Remus and Peter will be staying for a few days or so…at least, Remus will."

I nod my head because I'm not sure what to respond to that, but he suddenly moves, propping himself up on a hand and giving me a level stare.

"You're not going to try to leave the house again at night, are you?" he says gravely. I scowl at him, all the good feelings from earlier sifting slowly away as the familiar sensation of grating nerves returns. The failed escape attempt is still kind of a sore point for me – largely because of the sheer embarrassment of it all. Why does he have to bring it up? And does he always have to sound so patronizing? My pride has been kind of piqued, so I narrow my eyes and allow sarcasm to creep into my tone.

"Can't make any promises, but I'll be sure to warn you next time I consider making a break for it."

He moves so quickly it's a blur, grabbing my wrist in a tight grip and leaning in slightly. He's looking pretty intense again and I wonder how we went from relaxing in the sun to arguing in the space of 5 minutes.

"I'm not joking," he starts to say but I interrupt.

"Yeah I know - you're Sirius," I say, half hoping to get a rise out of him. I mean come on, with a name like that…

I'm still glowering at him as he rolls his eyes skywards, no doubt praying for divine intervention. His grip on my wrist doesn't loosen though, and he's got that hard look in his eyes again.

"Really Analeigh. Don't leave the house at night again."

I frown, searching his face for any more clues as to his meaning. That sounded like more than just a warning against escape attempts. It occurs to me then that I might not be the only one who heard the strange growling during our chase through the woods.

"Wait," I begin. "Is there something – "

But I don't get to finish because there's a car coming up the drive, and Sirius releases my wrist and leaps to his feet – and the conversation is over.

If schools taught wizarding chess instead of normal chess, it would be a far more popular extra-curricular activity. Not long after arriving, James suggested "having a knock-about with the Quidditch gear" and traipsed off with Sirius, Lily and Peter. Having no idea what they were talking about, I returned to the spot where I had sunbathed this morning. Remus joined me and we were soon engaged in what now looks like all-out war. Unfortunately, it's a bit more complicated than I'd initially thought.

"It's part of the game - you have to get your soldiers to trust you," Remus says, laughing quietly as the knight I instruct to attack continues to dawdle, reluctant to leave its current position.

"But if I don't win a game, how will they trust me? And if they don't trust me, I won't win a game. Seems like a paradox to me…" I retort, somewhat put out. I'd tried to hurry along the process by physically moving a bishop to where I wanted him to go, but Remus had warned me that someone actually lost a finger doing that, so I had to be patient.

"You'll get respect for good tactical decisions, whether you win or lose," replies Remus, still grinning.

Neither of us are particularly impulsive people though, and our game is a very slow one as we each take well over 10 minutes to make a single move. This gives plenty of time for talking, and Remus is surprisingly easy company.

"So what's Quidditch then?" I ask, as faint crashing noises are heard coming from inside the house. The others have been gone for a while now, obviously having difficulty locating whatever kit James was talking about.

"It's basically like the football of the wizarding world," he says. "Each team has 7 players – you score points like in football, except there's also the – "

"Golden snitch?" I finish his sentence. He raises his eyebrows in surprise.

"I think I remember reading something about this in the History of Magic book Sirius gave me," I explain, realizing something. "Actually, would you be able to explain a few things? I think the book assumes a basic level of knowledge that I really don't have…"

"Sure," he says, smiling, and I run back inside to get Bathilda Bagshot's tome.

By the time I return to the garden and take a seat next to Remus again, the others have emerged with some broomsticks and a large chest that is trembling slightly where it sits on the ground. James and Lily are crouched down on either side of it, while Sirius appears to be brandishing a stunted baseball bat. Oh great.

"Ready Padfoot?" shouts James, as Lily backs quickly away from the chest.

Sirius nods, dropping into a batting stance, and a soot-black ball explodes instantly from the chest as James flips open the lid. It whizzes high into the air before quickly turning and heading straight for Sirius. With a sharp crack, he sends it flying away from our group, and the rest of them mount their brooms.

"That was a Bludger, by the way," explains Remus. "We don't have a full Quidditch kit here so I think they're just going to be playing with a quaffle and bludger."

Sure enough, all four of them are soon up in the air, tossing a large red ball back and forth and trying to score through a line of trees at one end of the wild garden. I'd read about broomsticks so I wasn't hugely surprised when they took to the air – but it was still breathtaking. For centuries, humans have dreamed of being able to fly – normal people have to get into a giant aluminum can to do so – but here in front of me are people who enjoy it as a regular part of their day-to-day lives. Lily whooshes past me, a blur of red as she dodges Peter and makes for the tree line, and for a second I am almost envious. I shake my head abruptly, trying to banish the thought from my mind. Don't start thinking like that. I have a life to go back to when all this is over, I remind myself. The sooner I get out of this craziness, the better. Even so, I can't seem to tear my eyes away from the flying figures as they blur past us, and can't help imagining what it would feel like to be flying up there with them.

"Do you not want to play?" I ask Remus, turning abruptly to face him. I hope he's not held himself out of the game to keep me company…

"Nah," he replies, shaking his head. "Not really my thing if I'm honest. I'm a bit tired at the moment as well…" he trails off. Looking at him, I can see what he means. The guy looks like he could do with a few good night's sleeps, but seems to be in good spirits as we continue to chat about wizarding customs. Turns out his mother is a Muggle, which explains how he knew about coffee and emails back in Kendal, but also makes him the perfect person to answer my questions.

The sun is setting by the time we decide to go in. The semi-Quidditch match ends (not wholly surprisingly) in a brawl – James yelling at Peter for dropping the quaffle, before being smacked in the back himself by a bludger from Sirius, and it degenerates from there. Lily finds some leftovers somewhere in the cupboards (I still haven't figured out what doubles as a fridge here). The cool, damp kitchen seems transformed by the friendly atmosphere, and feels more welcoming than I've ever seen it as the group laughs and chatters - James and Sirius talking like a double act, with Peter piping up every now and then. I glance at Remus and find him staring somewhat gloomily at his plate, and I realize that underneath all the superficial chatter there is a tension in the air – a kind of anticipation. I don't know what it means, but some of the looks I catch flying between the boys and Lily make me suspect that things aren't as they seem.

"You alright?" Lily asks quietly as the boys clear away the plates. "You've been very quiet all evening…"

"Yeah it's nothing, just listening," I laugh nervously. The boys are yawning and stretching as they move around, and it's not long before James announces that they're all going to bed. I look at the clock – it reads 9pm. The sun hasn't even fully set yet, I think, but I don't say anything. James seems to flash Lily a significant look as they traipse out of the kitchen, and Sirius pauses at the door before closing it behind him. Remus disappeared after dinner, and the whole routine seems kind of…rehearsed. And I may have imagined it, but I could have sworn Sirius gave me some kind of warning look before he left. Is he still angry about our conversation earlier? I don't like to ignore my instincts – a lot of the time, they tend to be right – but as I'm mulling over this I am interrupted by Lily.

"So I was thinking," she says, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. "Since the boys are being really boring and going to sleep, we should do something fun ourselves."

She practically skips over to a cupboard by the sink and returns with her arms full.

"I've got chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott's every flavor beans, acid pops – though you'll want to stay away from those –" she continues her list, slamming each item on to the table in turn.

"…sherbert lemons, and…well…just normal biscuits" she finishes, finally emptying her arms.

I stare wide-eyed at the strange sweets laid out on the table, not quite sure what to say. I look back and forth a couple of times between her and the stack, before she announces with her most brilliant smile – "I thought we could have a sleepover!"

Needless to say I'm pretty shocked. I don't know how to react – Lily's nice and everything, and she's been really supportive…but I'm not sure I know her that well. It all seems a bit out-of-the-blue and I'm trying to come up with an excuse – but then I remember her bringing me lemonade this morning, and our trip to Kendal. I look at her face and at how much food she's bought and feel my resolve crumble.

"Yeah, sure!" I reply, trying to muster up some enthusiasm. I think she can tell that I'm not wholly convinced, but she breathes a strange sigh of relief before quickly gathering up all the food in her arms again and suggesting we head up to my room. The house is deadly silent as we make our way up to my landing. The guys must already be fast asleep then, I think. That doesn't really seem like them…

I get changed in the bathroom before returning to my bedroom, and find Lily sitting on a mattress on the floor, surrounded by a sea of blankets and carefully inspecting something that looks a lot like a jelly bean. The scene is so achingly familiar, so superficially 'normal', that I forget any misgivings I had about her motivations and feel myself relax.

"Right – I'm mostly certain that this is grape." She seems to decide, looking up from the purple bean she's still holding.

"Doesn't the pack have the flavours on it?" I ask, settling down on the floor opposite her, and she laughs.

"No – that's the fun of it. Each colour could be a nice flavour or a really disgusting one."

"What?" I exclaim. "Why would you want to eat that?"

Lily shrugs. "I dunno. I'm sort of used to it by now." She takes a deep breath and pops the bean in to her mouth, chewing thoughtfully before pulling a face.

"Nope. Eggplant"

I wrinkle my nose in disgust but laugh along with her, and it's not long before I'm also trying my luck with the Jelly Bean roulette. The chocolate frogs turn out to be just as fun, though Lily collapses in hysterics at the expression of horror on my face when she appears to bite the head off one of them. After convincing me it's just a spell and that no frogs were actually harmed in the making of it, we end up spending at least half an hour chasing them around the room because I'm still too scared to get a proper grip before they leap out of the packets.

One of the chocolate frog cards we get is Dumbledore, and from there our talk turns to their school days.

"James was an arse for most of school," Lily says, popping another sherbert lemon in to her mouth and wincing slightly at the sourness. "He only became decent in our last year."

"Is that when he asked you out?" I ask.

"Well he'd sort of asked me out a lot of times before that…but that was the first time I said yes." She laughs, and I smile with her. I have this image in my head of James trailing after her like a puppy. That's kind of cute. Lily seems a bit lost in thought.

"What about the rest of the gang?" I prompt.

"Oh, well Remus had a girl who really liked him in school, and I thought he liked her too but he never…uh…decided to make anything of it…" I'm not really sure what that means, but I let her continue.

"I don't really know about Peter…Sirius had a string of girls interested in him all through school – God knows why though. He was like James – pretty much a toerag until the last year or so. I think he's seeing Marlene at the moment – you'll probably meet her at some point, she's part of the Order too – she's just the latest though. I think he's still too busy with other things to really become involved in anything serious." She laughs again and looks at me out of the corner of her eye. I'm storing away all this knowledge in the back of my mind as my mother's words about 'the value of information' ring through my head again. The Sirius part doesn't really surprise me that much – I'd already kind of pegged him as that sort – but the way Lily is still looking at me makes me turn a bit red. 'You're a bad liar', he'd said.

I shake the thought from my head and try to distract her.

"Why did it take so long for them to stop being pricks?"

Lily rolls her eyes. "All of them were really popular in school, especially James and Sirius. I think it took a while for their heads to return to normal size…"

I can imagine that, I think, nodding.

"So what about you, anyone on the scene?" It's Lily's turn to pry.

I laugh, a little embarrassed. "Nope, not for a while now…I had a boyfriend a year ago but we broke up after 6 months or so."

"Oh no, I'm sorry…" exclaims Lily, but I shake my head.

"Don't worry," I say, grinning. "I was the one who broke it off. I don't know…I need my space, and don't generally have a lot of patience…so I think I just didn't really like him enough to try to make it work"

Lily laughs and shrugs. "Yeah you have to at least like them in the first place!"

It's only later when we're both tucked up in bed and I hear her steady sleep breathing that I realize that I am grateful to Lily for tonight – even if I was kind of prickly about the whole sleepover thing at first. It was really nice to talk to somebody about things that I could understand and relate to. Turns out people are much the same everywhere really, magic or not.

I am having a very strange dream involving a deep conversation between myself, James and Professor Dumbledore, who only seems to be able to howl like a wolf, when I feel myself being dragged back to consciousness by a steady pressure on my side. My eyes flutter open but meet only darkness as I try to figure out what woke me up. I roll over and almost jump out of my skin when I see two small reflective orbs hovering above me on the bed. Then my eyes adjust and I realize that the pressure on me is the weight of Noodle, and the floating orbs are his eyes reflecting the pale stream of moonlight that filters through the curtains.

I brush him off and he paces along the bed next to me while I rub my eyes and hiss "How did you get in here?" I'm almost positive we closed the door behind us when we came in from the garden, but the thought of the house being unlocked sets me on edge. Memories of the Camden alleyway come floating back to my sleep-dusted mind, fears that grow larger in the gloomy darkness. I decide to check and, throwing back the covers, creep towards the landing – careful not to wake Lily, who is still snoring softly on the floor mattress. Noodle circles my legs and then darts out in front to lead the way. Does he want me to follow him? I am suspicious, having not yet completely given up on the theory of Noodle being a bit more than just a cat – but I pad my way down to the main hallway anyway. Sure enough, I can tell even in the dim light that the front door is bolted shut, just the way we left it. But there is another door. And I'm not as sure about that one.

I turn to walk down the narrow corridor just behind the main staircase and see that Noodle is already waiting for me at its entrance. I narrow my eyes at him, but am still glad of his company as the dark cobwebbed corridor gives me the chills. The house seems unnaturally cold at this time – it must be at least 2 or so in the morning – and my skin starts to crawl with imaginary spiders. I pick up my pace, and am relieved to see the dusty light of the back door ahead of me. It is ajar.

"Well, that solves one mystery," I whisper to Noodle, approaching the door. The cat is one step ahead of me though and nudges through the crack to saunter outside, the hinges of the door squeaking slightly as they are pushed wider. I look out to see him rolling around on the grass like he did earlier today, and shake my head. Barmy cat. I'm about to shut the door when a bright light outside catches my eye. The full moon hangs heavy in the velvety sky, every crater and pock visible on its silvery surface; and as I gaze at it, it seems to look back. The skies are so clear here - nothing like London…I take a small, hesitant step out of the house, and then another couple more boldly. Police state be damned – I can look at the sky if I want, I think petulantly.

The moon is so bright that the stars immediately around it are obscured, but looking towards the opposite side of the horizon I can just about make out the North star, seeming to blaze like a distant torch against the dim glow of its kin. The damp grass is soaking my feet in dew, but the air is not cold so I don't mind, and I stand there for a while, mesmerized by the moonlit sky.

I am snapped sharply back to reality, however, when I hear a faint rustle in the abundant undergrowth that seems to grow like wildfire around the garden. I look back down at the grass for the first time since leaving the house and notice that I have strayed further from the back door than I thought. Noodle, my only company, is gone - and I find this very disconcerting. The magic spell that held me captive is broken and I look around anxiously, feeling fear begin to crawl up my spine as the night swallows me up again, the surrounding vegetation seeming to take on nightmarish shapes in the darkness.

I am trying to breathe deeply, to get a grip on myself, when it comes.

The long howl pierces the night like shattering glass. And it's very close.

So who thought that another update would never come? Thank you so much to reviewers for your support (RomainieSweetheart, EmmaLou18, Fina, 'guest' and as always, the wonderful rosegold1996) - it seriously helped me sit down and write this. I can't apologise enough for the eons it took to update, and I don't really have an excuse other than life happened haha but I promise that this fic hasn't been abandoned! I have literally the whole story planned out - it's just a matter of finding time to sit and write it.

This chapter isn't as long as the last, but there's quite a lot of character stuff and lead-up (hehe) so hopefully it goes part of the way in making up for my absence :P I'd love to know what you think of it, especially since it features the Marauders pretty heavily and writing them all together is tough! Also - I hope Analeigh doesn't come across as a b*tch when she's talking to Lily about past relationships - she has flaws and is definitely far from perfect, but I think her heart is always ultimately in the right place. So yeah, reviews - as always - are welcome ;)

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everything except Analeigh and Analeigh-related things.

BFxx