Thanks for all the feedback guys! The name of this chapter is an instrumental piece by the Cinematic Orchestra mainly because I couldn't exactly decide what I wanted to name it as.

Chapter 4

Arrival of The Birds

Marlene had sent a message to Dumbledore as soon as she got Lily home, to inform him that she was almost healed. Meanwhile, Lily wandered off to her bedroom and took a long shower under scalding water. She washed her hair twice, trying to get all the blood and dirt out of it before stepping out, pink-skinned and tightly wrapped in a white towel. Hastily pulling on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, she made her way back into the kitchen, where Marlene sat flipping through the morning's Prophet.

"How're you feeling?" she asked her, pushing a mug of tea towards her.

Lily shrugged. "Head's still hurting and there's a nasty bruise on my ribs. No idea how that got there." She accepted the hot tea gratefully.

"Well, that's good," the other woman replied, before rummaging through her purse and eventually pulling out a vial of blue liquid. At Lily's questioning glance, she said, "It helps with the headache."

She took the bottle from her and jimmied out the stopper. "Cheers," she said with displeasure before knocking back the potion. Her face screwed up at the bitter taste the potion left in her mouth. A large swallow of tea closely followed the potion. "God, I hate how potions taste."

Marlene grinned at her. "They're lovely, aren't they? My mother always used to tell me that the things that are best for you are always at their bitterest in the beginning." She laughed. "I guess she was describing potions in a way."

Lily managed to crack a smile. "I guess."

A weighty silence fell between them, in which Lily went back to slowly drinking her tea while Marlene flipped through the paper.

"Is James alright?" Lily asked, getting up and placing her cup in the sink.

"He messed up his shoulder. I would have been able to heal it by now if the wanker told me before, of course. He's going to be sore for the next few days," Marlene chattered animatedly. "That boy is so stubborn. I don't know how you haven't hexed him yet since you're spending so much time with him."

Lily flushed slightly. "I actually punched him. It was an accident, of course!" she quickly reassured Marlene.

It was apparent that Marlene did not need any reassuring after all, as she tipped her head back and let loose a rather unladylike snort.

"You punched him?" she said, still roaring with laughter. "Merlin, I would have loved to see that."

"It was an accident, Marlene," Lily muttered, still dreadfully embarrassed.

She tossed back her blonde hair and said, "Don't care; it still would've been funny either way."

"You're so mean."

"Thanks," she winked at her before standing up and stretching. "I messaged Dumbledore while you were in the shower. There's a meeting today at five. He said you don't have to come if you're not up to it."

"No, I'll be there," Lily said. "I'm not a complete invalid, I'll have you know."

"I know," she replied, placating. "He just doesn't want you to overstress yourself. I understand where he's coming from. It's only been what? Not even a full day since that happened." She motioned towards Lily's head.

The redhead pouted. "I'm fine okay. If anything, he should be worried about Potter. I'm not the one with the cursed injury."

Marlene shook her head and mumbled, "I correct my previous statement; you're both stubborn mules."

"Cheers, Marlene."

"You know it's true."

The chair scraped harshly against the linoleum flooring as Lily unfurled herself. She gave Marlene a brief hug. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

The older woman shrugged. "It's nothing." She walked over to the door and pulled it open. "I'll see you later, Evans."

"Bye, Marlene."

Lily spent the rest of the day lounging about the house. She did the washing and mopped the entire flat before retiring to her bed where she spent the rest of evening reading some Defence books until the time had passed.

When it was half past four, she gradually started getting ready, trading in her previous pair of jeans and t shirt for another set that she considered more appropriate for the Order meeting. Lily arrived in Hogsmeade with five minutes to spare and quickly trekked up to the castle, easily undoing the charms on the gate.

Lily had just stepped foot into Dumbledore's round office when the last of the five rings from the grandfather clock in the corner resonated throughout the room. She quietly walked over to where Marlene was sitting and managed to fit in the small space between the energetic blonde and the arm rest. They quickly exchanged smiles as Dumbledore stood, calling out greetings to the crowd gathered. Meanwhile Lily quickly scanned the room for the messy mop of hair she had grown accustomed to, and found him sitting next to Sirius and the other Marauders, heads bent in quiet discussion.

"I'm sure as all of you would know, last night we held a raid in Devon in a suspected Death Eater hideout. The results were successful, thanks to the brilliance of Ms Evans and Mr Potter," Dumbledore slightly inclined his head towards them as they received a smattering of applause. Lily looked towards James and smile slightly but he didn't seem to notice it. "We now have several items which will contribute towards significant headway in the fight against the Dark Lord.

"Unfortunately, there was a bit of a mishap in which several Death Eaters were alerted to our presence, but I am pleased to say that no one on our team was significantly injured and we caught five of those who blindly succumbed to Voldemort's side. So, to Ms Evans, Mr Potter and everyone else who took part on that raid yesterday, I, like so many others here, tip my hat to you," said Dumbledore while an even louder round of applause echoed throughout the room.

Lily blushed slightly at all the praise she was receiving, but she took it in stride, clapping along with everyone else for those who also took part on her first raid.

When everyone quieted down once more, Dumbledore made the boxes that she and James had packed appear on the desk and asked those who wanted to, to help sort through it while he talked to others individually.

Lily was about to make her way over to help with the sorting out when Dumbledore lightly touched her shoulder.

"Miss Evans," he said, "A word, please."

Swallowing the anxiousness that blossomed in her stomach, Lily smiled slightly and said, "Yes, of course, Professor."

He led them over to a secluded alcove in his office where they could talk without anyone overhearing.

"I must apologise for putting you in such great danger yesterday. I did not think that the Death Eaters would have foreseen our plans. I don't usually send my new recruits of to battle on their first missions," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling slightly.

She shrugged awkwardly and said, "It's quite alright, sir."

"I also apologise for your head; tell me, does it still hurt?" he politely inquired.

"A bit," she said, hesitating slightly. "But Marlene told me that I should be back to normal in a few days. She even left me some potions, just in case."

"That's wonderful," said Dumbledore. "I was most concerned when Alastor reported to me that Mr Potter had to escort you away from the battleground. Which brings me to my next point actually..."

"Sir..." Lily said unsurely as Dumbledore paused for a moment.

Without any further preamble he said, "I think it may be best if we were to take you off field work for the time being. At least until you have some modicum of training. It was a grave mistake on my part to send you in there without any sort of teachings. I must berate myself for my foolishness."

Lily's well known temper flickered to life and she tried her best to keep the reigns tight on it as she carefully spoke. Meanwhile a thought niggled in the back of her mind as to why Dumbledore said she had no training. James had been training her on Moody's orders. Surely he must have known this.

"Sir, with all due respect, it was my choice to go on the field. You told us from the beginning that if we didn't want to go, no one was forcing us to," Lily protested.

"While that may be all and true, for now I would like you to go back to working undercover at the Leaky Cauldron."

Her shoulders fell slightly. "Yes, Professor," Lily replied glumly.

Dumbledore gave her another one of those mysterious smiles before he walked off to talk with some other members of the Order.

Dejected, Lily slumped back to her seat and grabbed her things. Marlene glanced over at the younger woman, frowning as she took in her newfound dysphoria. Excusing herself from her conversation with Caradoc, she placed a light hand on her shoulder and asked, "Are you okay?"

Lily glanced up and managed to muster enough strength to give her a small smile. "Yeah; I'm just... I'm just tired. That's all."

Marlene looked as though she did not believe her one bit, but nonetheless dragged her hand away. "All right," she said dubiously. "We're heading over to the Three Broomsticks in a few minutes. Would you care to join us?"

She shook her head, a few pieces of her dark red hair coming loose of her ponytail. "No thank you," she declined politely. "I think I'll just head home and get some rest."

Just before she turned to leave, Marlene caught hold of her wrist and pulled her nearer, her voice dropping to sotto voce.

"If you're still in pain you can tell me, you know," she said lowly, resting her hand on Lily's shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with that. One time, Sirius got hit with a stinging jinx and for all the big talk he gives, he cried like a baby. You should have seen him, one big blubbering-"

"Don't worry about me, Marlene," Lily reassured her as she cut her off. "I'm in perfectly good health. Sort of."

"If you say so."

"I am," Lily confirmed. "I'll see you whenever." Grabbing her little purse, she threw one more little smile at Marlene and Caradoc before stealthily weaved through the crowd, managing to draw as little attention as possible. Despite the fact that the meeting was finished, those belonging to the Order usually chose to hang back for at least a half hour after, chatting and mingling with one another.

She walked briskly from the office through the dim corridors. It was just the beginning of September; the school term had already started, so she took all the short cuts that she remembered from her time back there to avoid running into too many students and arousing suspicion.

Once she cleared the doors of the castle, she wrapped her cloak around her tighter and drew up the hood.

"In a hurry there, Evans?" a voice called from the shadows nearby.

Lily jumped, her hand immediately reaching for her wand and she pulled it out, pointing it into the darkness with a curse on the tip of her tongue. There was chuckle before Sirius Black sauntered out into the dim watery light that the half moon gave.

"Careful where you point that thing, Ginge; you can ruin Prongs' face as much as you want but you don't touch mine," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Lily rolled her eyes. She had almost forgotten the flair for dramatics that came pre-packaged with Sirius Black. Almost. "Well, if you weren't brooding in the shadows then I wouldn't have almost hexed you," she told him. "And don't call me 'Ginge.' Do I look like a carrot top to you?"

Sirius scoffed. "Please, if anyone was brooding, it was you. Bee in your bonnet?"

"Well, that's none of your business, is it? I barely even know you."

"But you know James," he countered.

"Last time I checked Sirius Black and James Potter were two entirely different people."

"Semantics," he waved his hand as though he was brushing off a minor detail. "Point is, you trust James, why not trust me?"

"My mum told me not to trust strange men who have a tendency to strike up conversation with you when you're walking home in the dark."

"For Merlin's sake, Evans, I'm not a creep."

"Not too sure about that," Lily said lightly, pulling her cloak closer to her as the wind blew.

Sirius ignored her and pulled a pack of Muggle cigarettes from his pocket. He held out the pack to her, wordlessly offering, and shrugged, muttering, 'suit yourself,' under his breath when she declined. He lit it with the tip of his wand.

She wrinkled her nose and said, "How on earth did you find out about Muggle cigs?"

Sirius grinned at her, exposing the rows of perfectly white teeth holding the cigarette in place. "I have my ways," he replied innocuously before exhaling a puff of smoke. He threw an arm over her shoulders. "Now, back to you. You do realise that sooner or later you're going to end up telling me, right?"

Lily ducked under his arm. "You think yourself to be too important, Black."

Scoffing, he said, "Love, I am important," as though telling her something she was supposed to already know.

She sighed shortly and started walking away, ignoring Sirius' calls. Lily picked up her pace, hoping that the faster she got away from Black, the faster this conversation would end. Unfortunately she did not take in to account that one of Black's strides matched two of hers and soon enough, he was walking right back alongside her.

He sniffed disdainfully as he looked down at her. "You know, most would consider it rude to walk away from such an enthralling conversation."

A noise of frustration escaped from her throat and she said, "Why has the great Sirius Black taken such a sudden interest in me?"

He now held the cig between two slim, long fingers as he replied, "Well, a bloke tends to take notice of a bird who punches his best mate."

Lily groaned and she would have put her head in her hands if they hadn't been walking and doing so would have led to her tripping over something or the other. "Is that how I'm going to be known from now on? As 'the bird who punched James Potter'?"

The two of them eventually slowed to a stop. Sirius grinned. "So, you do admit that you punched him? What did the poor bloke ever do to you?"

"We were practicing," she said exasperatedly. "He was training me how to properly duel a Death Eater and he sort of had me back into a corner so I punched him. By accident, of course. I even offered to patch it back for him, but he wouldn't have it."

"That's because he's a stubborn git," Sirius said quickly, dismissing that matter. He narrowed his eyes at her. "Hang on a mo'; what do you mean by 'he was training you how to duel a Death Eater'?"

"Oh you know, we ran around the whole of bloody England rounding them up so I could fight and then let them go after." She smacked the back of his head with the one of the ties for her cloak. "What do you think it means, you daft bugger?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I know what it means, I just don't know what it means. Understand?"

Lily merely stared at him.

"Look," he said with a sigh and ran his hand through his hair. "Prongs is my best mate, ever since our first day at Hogwarts and we tell each other everything. And he certainly did not tell me that he was training you."

She stared at him defiantly and prepared herself to argue back. "That may be true, but what if Moody told him not to tell?"

"What the hell does Moody have to do with this?"

"He's the one who arranged the lessons!"

"Moody never arranges lessons for Order members; he trusts that Dumbledore knows what he's doing when he recruits you."

Lily faltered. "But then what..." The rest of her sentence trailed off and he simply shrugged.

"Hell if I kn-" His eyes lit up not two seconds before Sirius' confused, deep in thought expression immediately turned into a gleeful smile. "That sneaky little wanker," he hissed. "Oh, I knew it. I knew it from the start, that I did. And I was right. Potter, you better watch out; I'm going to skin your little arse for lying to me..." He continued muttering these disjointed phrases while Lily watched on, half trying to discern what exactly he was saying and half afraid to find out what he was saying.

"Er, Sirius," she interrupted his musings after a few more moments. "What exactly are you on about?"

He snapped out of his incoherent mumbling as if just realising that Lily was still standing there in front of him. "Oh, Evans," he said gleefully. "Evans, Evans, Evans."

"Yes?" she said hesitantly. "I'm right here? What's going on?"

"I can't tell you that yet, dear girl," he continued on feeding off of his newfound high, even going as far as to tap her nose. "It might scare you off."

"I'm plenty scared right now if that's what you mean," she grumbled under her breath, taking a precaution so that Sirius and his recently acquired crazy did not hear.

Sirius threw what remained of his cigarette on the ground and stamped it out. "Don't worry, Ginge; you'll find out in good time," he told her good-naturedly before turning around and almost skipping back up to the castle, leaving Lily once again in solitude.

"Right," she said unsurely. "And don't call me 'Ginge'!" she called out to his quickly diminishing figure.

Marlene had only just flooed into her living room from the Order meeting when she heard the telltale pop of someone apparating outside. Grasping her wand, she slowly walked towards the door and peeked out, only to be startled by the loud banging that could only come from someone pounding their fist against the wood.

"Open up, Marly, it's Sirius! I'm here to tell you that I'm about to skin your prat of a nephew alive!"

Breathing a soft sigh of relief, she quickly undid the protection spells and opened the deadbolt, allowing Sirius to push open the door with ease and strut inside. He caught a glimpse of her wand, which still hung limply in her hand, and huffed out sullenly, "Merlin, this is the second witch within an hour that's almost hexed me. Give a bloke some credit, yeah?"

She slipped her wand back into her pocket and lightly scolded him, saying, "In these times Sirius, I rather not take any chances." And then her brows furrowed. "What do you mean I'm the second witch? Sirius, what did you do now? I'm not helping you out with Goblins again. I'd rather not deal with those creatures anywhere else besides Gringotts, thank you very much."

"Lily," he said impatiently, answering her first question before becoming sidetracked. "And if you really weren't taking chances, you would've asked me a question before letting me in. How do you know I'm actually Sirius Black?"

"Not many people threaten to skin my prat of a nephew alive. And speaking of my pain in the arse nephew, what'd he do this time? And what does Lily have to do with any of this?"

"Right!" said Sirius, remembering the real reason he was there. "You're nephew is a lying wanker who's head over arse fancying that bird Evans."

Marlene hummed noncommittally and looked up at him before speaking in an almost bored tone. "Is that what you almost broke down my door to tell me?" Sirius nodded. "Please," she snorted. "Tell me something I don't already know."

Sirius stared at her, gobsmacked. "You- you knew?" he sputtered.

"Knew that James is a lying wanker or knew that he was in trouble from the moment he met Evans?" At his deadpanned glare, she sighed and said, "Well, yeah. I knew about that."

"And you didn't even tell me," Sirius pouted. "I thought you were better than that, Marlene. I thought the two of us had agreed from the start that we'd make James' life hell. We had something here, Marly, and now you've done gone and ruined it. Our alliance is no more."

"Oh, sweetie," she said, squeezing his arm. "I wanted to tell you, really I did, but James practically swore me to bloody secrecy about the whole thing."

"I knew he couldn't have been having tea with you that often and not invite me for a single time," Sirius muttered mutinously. He glanced back at Marlene. "Why'd he do it?"

"Do what? Schedule practice sessions with Evans?" she clarified. "Well, he told me that when she was given her mission, Moody asked him to keep an eye out on her because she's so young and undertrained. And, well, you know James, it doesn't take long to get him floundering around. But I swear to Merlin, the first time I saw the two of them together, she already had him wrapped around her finger. Guess he wanted to make sure she was fully protected when she went out there for the first time." A smirk slipped through her thoughtful facade. "He probably didn't want her to almost lose three fingers like someone I could mention."

"In my defence, when half of your family's on that side fighting against you, things are going to get personal," he replied, put out. "It's probably because I used to show them a certain finger more often than not, but really, cursing me like that was just plain rude."

Marlene laughed and dropped her hand. "You're the only person I know who could make jokes like that," she said fondly. "Come on, I'll put the kettle on and tell you about this compromising position I found them in yesterday."

"How compromising?"

"If I were two minutes later they probably might've been all out snogging on the floor."

Sirius' deep laugh reverberated throughout her small flat. He shook his head and said softly, "He really is fucked, isn't he?"

Marlene nodded fervently. "Oh you have no idea. Probably more so than usual." At his questioning gaze, she shrugged and said, "He blames himself for her accident."

Sirius snorted again and sighed, reminiscing, "Bloody git."

She sighed, saying, "Well, you know James. He feels as though it's possible for him to save everyone and one of these days," she faltered a little, "One of these days that bravery to the point of stupidity might get him killed. He can't save everyone."

"It's James. He'll stare down Voldemort without a wand if he thought it might save someone's life."

"The bad thing about that is that it's true," Marlene shuddered. She flicked her wand, sending a kettle full of water on the stove quickly coming to a boil. "How was he, by the way? I didn't get a chance to talk to him; you all slipped out rather early."

"His shoulder is obviously still hurting him, but he denies it. So normal James, then," Sirius summed up. "What was up with Evans? I ran into her when she was leaving. Looked a bit upset."

Marlene looked up from where she was stretching into the cupboard for the mugs. "I don't actually know," she confessed. "I asked her but she told me it was just because she was tired and, well we haven't known each other for too long, so I didn't want to pry."

"I saw her talking with Dumbledore before she magically disappeared from the room," commented Sirius. "Do you think he might have told her something that got her knickers knotted?"

"There's no need to be so vulgar," Marlene chided him as she steeped the tea. "But now that you mentioned it, he might have. She did up and leave right after they spoke. How do you take your tea, Sirius?"

"Two sugar, no cream," he told her, seating himself at her small cluttered wooden table. It was littered with all sorts of healing books and scattered parchments titled in her untidy hand, ranging from 'Twenty One ways to use Knotgrass for Your Common Cold,' to 'Cursed Cuts and Garish Grazes.' If Sirius squinted hard enough he would just be able to make out the actual lists themselves but it was then that she slid the mug across the table for him.

"Sorry about the mess," she said apologetically. "I was doing some research on that bloody shoulder of his."

Sirius waved off her apologises, simply stating, "It's just some paper; the desk in my room is worse off than this and I don't use it for anything productive."

Her lips curved upwards in a small smile and the two of them sat in silence, slowly sipping on their tea. Sirius contented himself by staring around the kitchen, taking his time to eat the piece of cake that she had given him, while Marlene idly flipped through the evidence of her diligent note taking.

Finally, when their tea had finished, Sirius got up and stretched, and Marlene gently put down her quill. "I'll walk you out," she told him after placing the mugs in the sink. When Sirius grabbed a handful of floo powder at the fireplace she told him, "If you see James tomorrow, tell him to come and see me, or else I'll come find him myself."

"Will do, Marly," he promised.

"I'm serious. If he doesn't come, I'll show up bearing embarrassing baby stories. With pictures."

He grinned at her. "Now, that's giving me incentive to 'accidentally' forget."

"Get out of here, you buffoon."

"Cheers, Marly."

The last thing she saw before Sirius disappeared into a flurry of green flames was that stupid smug smile of his. Of course, Marlene would be lying if she said that it did not make her smile as well.

We're about halfway through the fic now and I'm trying my best to finish it before July but with my impending exams I don't really know. Don't forget to drop me a line in the review box. :)