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Chapter 11

Sparkly Sirius

When Lisa got home one evening, there was a note waiting for her on the battered table, written in Remus' neat handwriting.

The Marauders stopped by. We're going out for beers because they're worried I'm becoming a humorless brick again. I'll be back before dark.

Below it was one of James' messy scribbles: Don't count on it ;)

Then in Sirius' hand: We're kidnapping him.

And then Peter's: We'll send a patronus if we stay out past morning.

Lisa laughed and shook her head, and just then, there was a knock on the door. She prepared her wand just in case and looked through the peephole.

"Marlene?" she said in surprise, swinging it open.

The other girl smirked. "The one and only!" Then she craned her neck to see into the flat. "So this is where you live?"

Lisa felt the warm sensation of embarrassment creep in her stomach but extinguished it angrily. She chose this, and she would not be ashamed of it!

"Would you like to come in?" she said, opening the door wide.

"Er... no, that's okay," Marlene said, barely hiding the distaste in her voice. "I came to drag you out, actually!"

"What?"

"Well, if the boys can have a night's out, then it's Girl's Night for us!" Marlene squealed, catching her hand. "Come on, Lily and Alice will wait for us at Rosa Lee's Teashop."

"Isn't it sort of late for tea?" Lisa pulled back slightly.

Marlene rolled her eyes and laughed. "We're not going for the tea; we're going for the gossip!"

Lisa couldn't help but chuckle at that. Was there anything Marlene did in her free time that didn't involve gossip? "Alight, just hold on a second, I need to leave Remus a note."

She wrenched away from her friend and went over to the table, scribbling on his own note that she was being kidnapped as well. Then she grabbed her purse and walked out with Marlene, locking the door behind them.

oOo

The teashop was surprisingly full, considering it was about 7 pm. The two young women made their way to their friends, who were already sitting on a table in the corner, sipping their tea.

"Hey," Lily greeted them with a wide smile. "You made it! About time, they're going to bring us the glazed scones we ordered any minute now."

"You have to try them, Lisa, they're amazing," Alice chirped happily.

Lisa gave her a smile and sat down, but it did occur to her that she couldn't afford any of these fancy scones.

"Thanks, but I'm not hungry," she lied.

"Oh, nonsense!" Marlene waved dismissively. "You haven't had dinner yet!"

"I have, actually," Lisa said evenly. Well, she had. If a bag of crisps and a bottle of Appletiser counted as a meal.

If she had to be honest, all that Occlumency business with Dorcas made her hungry like a wolf, and just the smell in this place was enough to make her mouth water. But if Remus was out for drinks, he'd spend money. He had no way of knowing she'd be out too, so it fell on her to keep that in mind and not be too wasteful.

She still remembered their first month together on their own. Being used to not paying any mind to money at all, she had spent the entirety of their savings in just two days. Remus didn't say anything, of course, and for weeks he insisted she ate the bigger portion of their measly meals, leaving him starving more than once. He had tried to hide it, but the rumbling of his stomach, especially at night, was like a knife in her heart. It was then she decided she would never let anything like that happen again. She would starve if she had to, but she wouldn't put him through that a second time.

"But Alice is right, Lisa, they are out of this world!" Lily insisted. "They're using some sort of special chocolate cream imported from France!"

Just then, a pretty blonde witch came to their table, a quill and parchment in her hand. "What would you like, ladies?"

"Oh, a Jasmine Twinings tea for me please, and some of those French scones," Marlene said to her.

"Nothing for me, thank you," Lisa said. The witch gave her a weird look for only a second, before quickly replacing it by a wide smile. She said she would be right back with the orders and scurried away, leaving the girls at the table to stare at Lisa instead. "What? I came here for the gossip, not the tea," she said cheekily, and Marlene snorted. The tension dissipated, and the four of them began talking about more pleasant things.

"How's Frank? I barely get to see him outside Order meetings lately," Lisa asked when the serving witch came back and placed a tray in front of Alice.

"Oh, he's been awfully busy lately. The Office keeps us both quite occupied," Alice said, sipping her tea. Then she added gently, "We did get a visit from his mother last week. She asked after you."

Lisa stared down at her lap. "What did you tell her?"

"Frank said, rather crossly, that you were doing fine. That you were... happy. And that if Augusta really wanted to know how you were, she could always owl you."

Lisa couldn't help the smile that spilled on her face and looked up to meet Alice's gaze. "He really said that?"

"It's obvious you are happy," Lily added from the side, also smiling softly. Lisa felt her face grow hotter.

"Who wouldn't be, if all their rows ended up in kissing," Marlene said, and the girls giggled. "Sirius is still convinced Remus has you under some sort of spell. He could tell you to jump in lava and you'd do it!"

"Because I'd know he has some sort of plan to pull me back just before I get hurt," Lisa said with a grin. "Maybe Sirius should give Adrian Fleet a call. They can swap theories about how Remus brainwashed me."

"That Chaser you dated for like, a minute?" Marlene asked.

Lisa nodded. "He was convinced Remus 'abused' me. He saw me crying more than once in the common room after a row and it built a picture in his mind, I guess. The first few months weren't exactly smooth sailing."

Lily laughed. "That bloke must've been mental. Remus couldn't abuse a billywig. And as for your earlier arguments, everyone knew it was because he felt like he was 'beneath' you. He was trying to break up with you for your own good."

"I didn't know that!" Marlene interjected. "He tried to break up with you?"

Lisa snickered. "About twice a week at first. He mellowed down eventually."

"And why didn't I know?" Marlene insisted.

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Because I don't announce the details of my personal life? What happens between me and Remus is private."

"So how come Lily knows?" Marlene pouted.

Lisa sniggered. "Because Lily is dating James, and he can't keep his mouth shut. I doubt Remus outright offered that information, the Marauders just always have a way of knowing things that are none of their business."

"But what I'd like to know," the redhead cut in, "is how Marlene knew the boys would be out tonight."

All eyes turned to the blonde in question, which only smirked. "Well, because my boyfriend is one of them."

The girls exchanged glances.

"You have someone new?" Alice asked uncertainly. "That's the first we're hearing of it."

Marlene twirled a lock of her short, curly hair between her fingers. "Well, we're not official or anything. But we've been out a couple of times and..."

"You and Peter got back together!?" Lisa exclaimed hopefully.

"Guess again." Marlene smiled knowingly.

"... Is James cheating?" Lisa quipped, getting a light slap to the arm from the indignant Lily.

"Sirius?" Alice gasped. Marlene nodded. Lisa and Lily exchanged glances.

"He... hasn't said anything," Lily said.

"Like I said, it's not official," Marlene repeated, but the smirk wasn't leaving her lips. "Things got a bit heated after the last mission. We were partnered up for the Avery tail, if you remember. Rosier sensed us and there was a duel. We got away, barely. This," she pulled down the collar of her shirt to reveal a deep cut on her shoulder, "was a gift from Meadowes. Almost took my arm off."

Lisa froze. Sirius encountered Dorcas? Why hadn't either of them said anything? "When was that?"

Marlene shrugged indifferently. "About a week ago. He took me to his place afterwards and things sort of... went from there." She beamed at the others and Alice congratulated her, asking her questions about the relationship.

Lily and Lisa, however, shared a look. It wouldn't be unlike Sirius to do something rash right after he saw Dorcas again. He wouldn't talk about it, but it was obvious there was still something there. They didn't think he would outright use Marlene to make himself feel better, but doubted he took it as seriously as she was.

oOo

The girls stayed out rather late, just gossiping and indulging in other estrogen-filled activities, like talking about hot celebrities, discussing recent marriages and how Alice's cousin Molly was fairing with six kids.

Walking under the dim light of the street lamps, Lisa thought to herself that it had been a nice change of pace. She wasn't exactly girly, but it had been a while since she could talk about men and just enjoy the company of her old dorm mates. It was almost like they were students again, going on a Hogsmeade trip together. She had sort of missed that feeling of sisterhood.

Lisa stopped right under the lamp across the street from her flat. It was under a lamp just like this one that she had seen the hooded man for the first time. She wondered to herself why he hadn't shown himself recently. Perhaps he couldn't find her again after the move, or he thought the last time he interfered was going too far? The blonde witch sighed. Why was she even thinking about it? Wasn't it a good thing someone that had been stalking her hadn't been seen in a while?

Lisa shook her head to get rid of such thoughts and entered the apartment building, climbing the stairs to the tiny fifth-floor flat. She unlocked the door and turned up the light switch, but there was no sign of Remus yet. She checked the cracked wall clock – 2:30. With one more sigh, Lisa undressed and slipped between the sheets.

An hour later, while she was still only half-asleep, Lisa heard the door open and Remus groan quietly as he sank in the bed next to her. His lips immediately found their way to her shoulder, and his warm arm coiled around her waist. She loved seeing her friends today, but she had to admit that this right here was her favorite moment of the day.

oOo

When Lisa woke up in the morning, Remus was still in the bed with her (for once). She remained still for a few minutes to savor the moment. She loved the way his skin felt on hers and how his breath ticked her back every time he exhaled. But eventually nature called, and she had to reluctantly slip away from his warmth and go to the bathroom. After she was done with her morning routine, she closed the door behind her and froze. There was a passed out deer in the living room, lying unconscious on the floor. A big black dog was curled up next to it on the carpet, and the red armchair was the resting place of two rats.

Those idiots must've gotten really pissed last night, Lisa thought. She bent over the table to scribble down a note for Lily to let her know James was there and put it aside for when her owl, Gwen, returned from her hunt.

The young witch approached the animals on the floor and knelt down, reaching out to touch James' antlers carefully. She had only ever seen the Marauders in their animal forms once, and she didn't even know it was them back then. James had carried her off on his back while Sirius distracted the transformed Remus. Her gaze moved to the black dog, and she stroked his head. It felt so soft. She had wondered at times what Sirius' hair would feel like.

Then she heard Remus' quiet footsteps as he came into the room and crouched down next to her.

"Can we get one?" she asked in muted voice, continuing to pet the sleeping dog whose drool was dripping onto the carpet.

"I think one Sirius is plenty for everyone," her boyfriend replied, making her chuckle.

"Not Sirius, Merlin no! A dog."

"I don't think it would be fair to it. We move around too much."

And they couldn't afford to feed it.

"Which one is Peter?" Lisa inclined her head to the red armchair, where the two rats were sleeping.

Remus frowned slightly. "The one on the left. Where did the other one come from?"

"No idea; I found them like this. It must be one of ours. Should I get rid of it?"

"Let's wait until he wakes up."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Remus smirked. "To make sure we have the right rat."

"But you didn't even hesitate in identifying him before."

"I could be wrong."

"... You just think it'll be funny when he wakes up."

Remus only threw her a look, but that smirk was still firmly on his face. "I would never do a thing like that."

Lisa chuckled, then turned her head and kissed his cheek. "Go brush your teeth, your breath could kill. I'll get breakfast started."

He shook with silent laughter but stood up and headed to the bathroom. She walked over to the kitchen - which was really a fridge and an oven in the corner, with a sink between them - and took out the one measly orange they had, getting to work on squeezing its juice into a glass. It filled about half of it. Then she took her wand murmured a refilling charm. After that she separated the juice into six glasses, only about an inch in each, doing the same to them. Satisfied with the results, she placed the glasses on the battered table just as Remus returned from the bathroom.

He opened the fridge and just stood there for a moment. Lisa went to peek over his shoulder. All they had was a piece of cheese that was starting to get moldy, three eggs, an onion, and a half-eaten piece of salami.

"Scrambled eggs?" she suggested.

"Scrambled eggs."

Remus took the eggs and turned on the heat on the hotplate, while Lisa waved her wand and watched the salami chop itself. She then wrapped her arms around his waist from behind and just inhaled his warm scent while the eggs sizzled pleasantly in the pan and the muscles of his back moved when he stirred them.

Someone groaned from the floor. Lisa chuckled and let go of her boyfriend, who piled the eggs in a plate, added the salami and served it on the table, multiplying it with a wave of his wand.

"How was the floor?" Lisa asked merrily, watching James sit up, his glasses askew and his hair messier than normal.

"Best night sleep I've ever had," he said flatly. "You should try it some time."

Sirius rose up as well, his black shirt unbuttoned and his whole body covered with glitter. Lisa opened her mouth to ask when a startled shriek attracted her attention as Peter fell off the chair. Remus tried to contain his snicker, and James and Sirius turned their messy heads in that direction, too sleepy to laugh. The second rat skittered across the floor, but Sirius turned it into a pincushion with a lazy wave of his wand.

"Come on, Rat Boy," James said, helping Peter up on his feet, and the Marauders all sat down on the table.

Then their attention was drawn to the window, where Gwen pecked at the glass. Lisa went to let her in, tying the letter to Lily on her leg with an apologetic look. The owl pecked her hand a little harder than usual, but turned around and flew out.

"What did you do last night?" Lisa asked, joining them on the table.

"Drank some. Caused mischief. The usual," James said. Sirius gave out an incoherent groan. Remus stood up and went to his coat, retrieving a few small vials from the inner pocket.

"Here, Padfoot, this should help," he said, placing the light-purple potions in front of his friends.

"What is it?" James asked skeptically, lifting it up to the light and squinting at it.

"Hangover potion. They sold them at the bar," the werewolf replied, sitting in front of his eggs again. He took a bite and looked at his friends. James was sniffing the potion suspiciously, Peter was eyeing it with distrust, and Sirius was already snoring again, his head propped on his hand and a bit of drool dripping onto the table. "It's not poisoned, I checked. I know enough about potions to recognize what this is."

James threw him a look, shrugged, and drank it in one gulp. Peter waited to see if he'd keel over dead, but when he didn't, drank his as well. Lisa reached over and wiped Sirius' drool from the table (and his chin) with a napkin, then propped his head up and emptied the vial in his mouth. He choked and stood up straighter, while she patted his back.

"Better?" Lisa asked.

He tried to wave her away, still coughing, and she simply laughed and returned to her seat next to Remus. When she sat down, he caressed her thigh affectionately and she gave him a smile.

"Why is Sirius covered in glitter?" she asked. To her surprise, Remus went a little red in the face. James and Peter exchanged a look and sniggered. Lisa's eyes moved between them, an amused smile blooming on her face.

"I don't know. Wormy, why is Padfoot all glittery?" James said innocently.

"I think it was because he saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand," Peter said, then laughed hysterically and slumped over the table.

Lisa looked to Remus questioningly, but he only rolled his eyes and continued eating his breakfast.

"Did you order Chinese last night?" she asked, confused.

"Just ignore—"

"He was going to get a big dish of Beef Chow Mein," Sirius said, suddenly coherent again. James lost it and laughed so loudly some of the upstairs neighbors knocked on the ceiling and a bit of white dust fell on their heads.

"Do you want me to make this glitter permanent?" Remus threatened casually.

"Oooh, Moony's getting serious," Sirius teased. "Better stay away from him. He'll rip your lungs out, Jim!"

Lisa looked to James. "Jim?"

"I'd like to meet his tailor," James wheezed and all three of them exploded in laughter again.

Now she was completely lost. Looking to Remus for answers, she saw him sigh and take a sip from his orange juice.

"A person on the street was giving out leaflets for a Chinese place," he began.

"Called Lee Ho Fook's," James managed to say in between guffaws. Remus ignored him.

"And I took one. When we got to the bar, I read through it while we were waiting for our second round of drinks and this song came on the radio—"

Suddenly, the other three Marauders howled like wolves. "Awoooooo! Werewolves of London! Awoooooo!"

Then they erupted in laughter again. The neighbors made more plaster fall from the ceiling. Lisa giggled a little.

"Looks like you lot had fun," she said, standing up and going over to Sirius, gesturing for him to get up. "You're scattering the stuff all over the flat." When he obeyed, she muttered the suctioning charm and began to sweep the sparkling bits away.

"Not as much fun as your boyfriend," Sirius said, lifting his arms so Lisa could reach everywhere. "Why're you getting all defensive, Moony? You were howling louder than all of us last night."

Lisa's head snapped back to look at Remus, for a second thinking Sirius meant 'howling in pain'. But to her surprise, Remus was looking at his eggs, a slight blush coloring his cheeks. And then it dawned on her.

"Wait... you sang?"

The other three Marauders began snickering again.

Lisa's eyes wandered to each of their faces. "I thought Remus couldn't handle alcohol?"

James shrugged. "Depend on what you give him."

"What did you give him?"

"Muggle beer."

"You went to a muggle bar?" Lisa asked, a bit of jealousy sneaking into her voice. She'd always been fascinated by purely muggle things, because as a pureblood she never had contact with many of them.

Sirius snorted. "It was kind of a dump. Didn't know you were interested in bars, Fawley. I'll take you to a better one."

Now it was James' turn to snort. "Padfoot, are you trying to seduce your best mate's girl?"

Lisa and Sirius exchanged a glance and snickered.

"Oh yes, what girl can resist such a sparkly specimen of man?" she said and giggled.

"Still, I think that's enough touching of his abs," Remus said jokingly and his arm wrapped around Lisa's waist, drawing her into his lap.

Everyone laughed and she coiled her arms around his neck.

"Sorry, Padfoot, you'll have sparkle in the sun for a while," Lisa said.

Sirius laughed, buttoning up his shirt. "Well, technically if I—"

But Lisa never found out what he could technically do, because at that moment a hurricane of red hair burst into the flat.

"JAMES FLEAMONT POTTER!" Lily bellowed, her green eyes sparkling dangerously. "HOW DARE YOU TELL ME YOU'LL BE OUT FOR A FEW HOURS WITH THE BOYS, THEN MAKE ME WAIT FOR YOU ALL NIGHT?! DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS?" She walked right over and pulled James up by the ear. "If Lisa hadn't sent me a letter, I would have thought you were lying dead in some ditch!" Lily continued, dragging him towards the door. "Meanwhile, you're here, laughing like an idiot and not even sparing a thought about how I must be feeling, wondering what happened to you—"

"I'm sorry, it slipped my mind!" James tried to say, but it only seemed to fuel her anger.

"Slipped your mind?" Lily's nostrils flared, and she looked alarmingly like an angry dragon. "SLIPPED YOUR MIND?! I'll show you what else slipped your mind! The dishes, for starters! And the den, and the garden, the kitchen, I want you to make the whole house shine without using even a smidgen of magic, and the next time you decide to pull something like this, I'll make you clean Sirius' flat."

James threw a pleading look to his friends, but they were all too stupefied to move. And none of them were stupid enough to get in the way of Lily's wrath.