Lily woke to the sound of weeping. Instinctively, she reached for her wand, her hand closing on cotton sheets instead. Warm fingers laced between her own, rough with calluses that she recognised.

"It's just me," James said, as if she wouldn't know him.

"Hello 'just me'," she said. "I'm Lily."

James gasped a laugh and Lily forced her eyes open to see the smile spreading across his face. She was in the Hogwarts infirmary and not a bone in her body hurt.

"You're alive," she murmured. "That's good."

"Yes," James agreed. He laughed again. "Yes. I'm alive, and so are you, and so is Harry, and Sirius, and Remus, and…"

"And Peter," Lily finished for him. She pushed herself up, marvelling that she could wiggle her toes without pain. In a cot, right next to the bed, Harry was curled around a teddy, soundly sleeping. "It was Peter, wasn't it?"

"Lily!"

Before James could answer, Marlene was clutching her other hand, eyes rimmed with red, and tear streaks smudging her face.

"Hey, don't cry." Lily drew her closer. "Why are you crying?"

"I thought… I thought you were dead!" Marlene burst into tears once more. "You were lying there, Lily, so peacefully… don't you ever die, do you hear me? You can't die!"

Lily swallowed, aware she'd come closer to death than ever before. The shadows under James's eyes confirmed that.

"I can't promise that, Marls. But I promise to haunt you for the rest of my days, if I do die."

She squeezed her hands, both of them. James, too, was threatening to cry, eyes glistening.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," he promised. "I wish you'd fled, Lily."

Lily narrowed her eyes. They'd talk about that later, but now was not the time.

"I'm here. I'm alive," she said. She filled each word with the confidence of one who had stared down the darkness and lived. "We're all alive."

Remus didn't like the look of jealousy upon himself. Anger was a constant companion, fuelled by the wolf that bayed at the moon, and self-loathing was something he'd grown into. But jealousy was a new experience and it tasted like the sour tang of regret.

"The moment I saw James's patronus, I knew something was wrong," Sirius declared, buoyed by several glasses of Firewhisky, bought for him by their peers. Amelia was smiling at him indulgently. "There we were, in this very pub, and I grabbed Bonesy and said—"

"'Are you ready for the fight of your life?'" Amelia recited. "So dramatic, Sirius, honestly, you'd think you'd attended RADA, not Hogwarts."

Sirius snorted. It was eminently unattractive upon him, of course, apart from all the ways it wasn't at all.

"And we Apparated. I hadn't given a thought to the Fidelius Charm—"

"I was fighting blind—"

"But it didn't matter. There was the Dark Lord, standing over my godson's mother, and I couldn't see anything but red."

"Their house was on fire," Amelia said dryly.

"And they duelled, captured him together, and are the heroes of the wizarding world," Remus finished for them, having heard this story many times before.

"Moony," Sirius whined. "Why do you have to make it sound so boring?"

That was him. Boring old Moony.

"I need some fresh air," he said, standing. He nodded at the Longbottoms, who had only just escaped the clutches of the healers at St Mungos, and all the other yearmates who'd gathered to hear Sirius and Amelia's tale. "Apologies."

Remus stumbled out from the Leaky on the Muggle side and leaned up against the brick wall. He ought to have held his tongue, as he very well knew. Yet with every retelling, he had to hear how the two of them had worked so perfectly together, casting spells in sync; Amelia's power combined with Sirius's cunning and the way they'd moved together to lash You-Know-Who in chains forged from magic.

It was enough to drive a man crazy.

He wasn't stupid enough to wish he'd been there, knew he didn't have the ability either of them did, knew he'd have been useless, or worse, in the way.

Yet, a part of him burned to have been the one standing at Sirius's side, the one he'd taken out for drinks, the one who'd helped save James and Lily. He wished he'd been the one who Sirius had moved in sync with. Now, all he had was this: a story, retold many times before and many times to come, and a jealous heart that was eating him up from the inside out.

"Moony, Moony, I'm sorry." Sirius sprawled against the wall next to him and Remus loathed him, except he didn't, not at all. "I forgot you don't like hearing it. But they're okay, Moony. They survived, Harry without a scratch. Tough little fella."

"Did you follow me out?" Remus asked.

"Yeah? Amelia can finish the story, she did the hard work," Sirius said.

Remus shook his head. "You should go back. Join her. It was the both of you, after all."

Sirius leaned in, smelling of whisky, smoke, and motor oil. He'd been working on that motorbike of his, then. Remus would have to stay, at least to ensure he didn't try to fly it home. Not that Sirius would, in this state, but it was an excuse, at least, to linger in his presence.

"Moony…"

"Sirius..." Remus took a step back when he realised how close Sirius had gotten. "How much have you drunk?"

Sirius huffed, moving back with a frown. "Not enough, it seems." He stalked back inside, leaving Remus to his sulk in the cold November air.

Amelia was enjoying her new fame and prestige. The Bones were a respectable wizarding family, but compared to the Fawleys or the Longbottoms or the Blacks, who were old money and purebloods, they were hardly well known. But it had been weeks since she'd helped capture Riddle and she was a rising star in the Ministry, rumoured to be in line for Head Auror once Moody retired, if she played her cards right.

And yet… she still had to deal with this nonsense.

"He can't even look at me!" Sirius moaned, arm flung across his eyes as he sprawled over her sofa. She'd let him crash here after a night out, once, several months ago, and now he thought he owned the bloody place.

"I presume, once again, we're discussing Remus?"

"He hates me!"

"I doubt that."

"No, he really does. Amy, what am I going to do?"

Amelia sighed. "First of all, you're never going to call me that again. Second of all, you could try telling him how you feel?"

Sirius sat up, betrayal written across his face. "Bonesy! That's the worst idea in the history of all ideas."

"Remus doesn't hate you. Even I don't hate you, even if I wish you'd stop breaking into my house. We might have brought down Riddle together, but really, Sirius, you must find somewhere else to belabour your woes."

Sirius flopped back down upon her sofa. He cast a pretty picture, dark curls and pale skin against the emerald green velvet. If only he were a woman, she might fancy him. Luckily for her, he wasn't.

"Feels so weird, to think of him as Riddle, after so long fearing his name."

"I try not to think of him," Amelia said. "Sirius, I'm off for work. Are you leaving with me, or will you let yourself out?"

Sirius waved a lazy hand at her, which she took to mean that he would not be leaving with her. Turning her back on him, she rolled her eyes, then cast a spell to slick back her hair. Her robes were as pressed as she could compel them to be and her cheeks were rosy, her one concession to the make-up that Alice insisted she wore.

Turning toward the fireplace, she was surprised to find herself face to face with Sirius. He tapped her head with his wand and her hair dropped into curls that framed her face, a spell she had never managed to master.

"They'd be crazy not to appoint you as Moody's second," he said. "You'll blow them all away, Lia. And Apparate, don't take the floo. You never remember to charm the ash off the bottom of your robes."

She stuck her tongue out, a petulant rebellion, but headed toward the front door instead.

"Tell him!" she called, determined to get the last word, and smiled as she heard Sirius's groan and over dramatic collapse back onto her sofa just as the door clicked shut behind her.

A baby squalled and Marlene cooed at her, tickling her pink ears.

"She's healthy as can be, Mrs Malfoy," she said, bringing the child over to her mother. Mrs Malfoy was dozing as much as one could in a St Mungo's hospital bed, yet her eyes snapped open as Marlene approached. "What a clever young lady you are, yes you are."

She handed the baby over, heart swelling as Mrs Malfoy looked down at the child and her eyes filled with tears.

"Hello Celeste," Mrs Malfoy said. "Welcome to the world, my darling."

Mr Malfoy, who had been hovering over them, collapsed into the chair next to the bed with a huff.

"Celeste? Really? We've already named one after the stars."

Mrs Malfoy smiled at him, baring her teeth. "Did you push our child out of your body over the period of fourteen excruciating hours?"

Mr Malfoy blanched. "Celeste Malfoy is a good name. Strong name," he said. "Draco, up you come. Meet your little sister."

Marlene left the Malfoys to their introductions and passed on their notes to Patricia Selwyn, who would take over the ward. A break was long due, after Mrs Malfoy's labour.

Lily was waiting, for once not accompanied by Harry.

"You look vile," she remarked, and cast a charm that felt like spearmint, no doubt to freshen Marlene up.

"Hag," Marlene said. "You're lucky I've the time to meet you at all."

Together, they strode down the corridors of St Mungo's, to the Apparition point, and Marlene allowed Lily to Side-Along her. They materialised in a Muggle alleyway, near Soho, judging by the shops.

"You never sleep right after a shift," Lily said, when Marlene raised an eyebrow. "Let's get lunch and then I'll take you home so you can collapse."

The cafe Lily had chosen was a quaint, if expensive, garlands of faux flowers adorning the walls and sunlight spilling in through large, floor to ceiling windows. Lily ordered them both poached eggs and avocado and Marlene fell on hers like it was her last dinner.

"I just don't know what to do about James," Lily said. "He hardly wanted me to leave today, to see you. He's not being possessive, I'd smack that down in a heartbeat, but he worries so much. It breaks my heart."

"You didn't see you," Marlene said, sipping on a cup of ginger and lemon tea. She sighed, letting the food settle. "You looked dead. I thought you were dead. Lily, it's not even been a month. Sure, most of his followers are now in Azkaban, but can you really blame James for worrying, especially after what happened to the Longbottoms?"

"It's stifling me," Lily said. "And Bellatrix is locked away. I can defend myself, anyway. Haven't I proved that?"

Marlene leaned back and frowned at her friend. Lily flushed, hands fiddling with the end of her plait, meeting her eyes with a steadiness she'd always envied.

"That was never in doubt." To her embarrassment, her voice cracked. "Lily, we were all betrayed. And I—"

"Oh Marlene. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

Determined to power through, Marlene shook off Lily's reassuring hand.

"Peter betrayed us. He betrayed you, James, Sirius, Harry… he betrayed me. I thought… well, you know what I thought. I'm glad to have learned how rotten he was before either of us made any commitments. But think of how James feels, Lily. His best friend of seven years, a traitor. It's no wonder he's flinching at shadows. Give him time?"

This time, Lily gripped her hand and refused to let go. "I shall hate him. I shall always hate him for what he's done, both to my family and to you. I will never, ever forgive him, you know that, don't you Marls?"

"I know," Marlene said. Once, she'd thought Peter might have been her future. But she'd been wrong, impossibly so. "I'm dealing with it. I am. I love my job and he can't take that away from me… helping mothers, seeing their joy… it's what I was fighting for. I thought he understood that."

"He was scared," Lily said. "He must have been. I know he loved you…"

"Don't say that," Marlene hissed. "I don't—"

"And he's a rotten little rat who will die alone," Lily finished. "And you'll always have us, okay? What would Harry do without his Aunty Marlene? Think of all the good you've brought into this world."

"You should have another baby," Marlene said, then gasped. "Oh, Lily, I'm sorry, that was so rude of me."

Lily stared at her for a moment, then burst into peals of laughter, drawing looks of disdain from the other patrons of the cafe.

"Maybe in a few years," Lily said. "One little monster is enough, for now."