CRACK!
James wasn't aware that he had fallen asleep until two sharp cracks of apparition ripped through the quiet hollow and had him jerking attention with wand in hand and hackles raised. Muffled curses and banging against the door had him cautiously edging over to the front window with his heart in his mouth and his cat at his elbow, in much the same state. Awkwardly bending around the kneazle, James cracked the curtain just enough for him to peer out into the dark with deer-like eyes. Upon spotting the two assailants trying to bang down their door, James felt all of the tension release from his body, physically falling away with an exasperated sigh when his gaze locked onto the two messy forms of his best mates.
Absently, he noted the hurried footsteps sounding on the floor above him as Lily was woken from sleep and hurriedly tumbled out of bed. Her muttered curses as she fell about trying to reclaim her wand in the dark, and fumbling with recognising where she was. It was enough to calm his rapidly racing heart and fond smile pulled at his lips as he heard come thumping down the stairs like a herd of elephants. "What? What is it? What's going on?!" Lily worried as she came charging down the stairs; hair askew and wand aloft.
"Just a couple of strays" James sassed as he pulled back from the front window.
"Huh?" Lily took his place at the front window only to find the two familiar Gryffindors beating against their door, and calling through the mailbox slot in their effort to see if they were okay. "Oh" She patted his shoulder as she passed, making her way to the kitchen with the air of an exhausted mother who wanted nothing more than to sleep. "Just—just make sure that they don't break the windows"
"Right" He nodded, before trudging over to the front door with a passing ruffle of fingers through the kneazle's fur.
James didn't even bother greeting his mates as he yanked the door open, still slightly apprehensive that they might not be who they said they were as his gaze met that of the two dishevelled canines. It was clear from their awkward state of dress that they hadn't really cared to take notice of what they were putting on before leaving; or how they were wearing it. Where Sirius was clad in a backwards t-shirt, rumple boxers and his trademark leather jacket; Remus wore only a long brown housecoat that made him look ninety, instead of twenty-one years old. With a pair of pinstriped pyjama pants poking out form beneath, and the both of them wore bed hair like couture hats, clearly showing just how much of a rush they had been in.
"—If you could not break my door down again, that would be swell" The tired sarcasm was heavy on James' tongue and it seemed to throw Remus & Sirius off-kilter as the wood was tugged out beneath them. Remus had barely even hooked his nails into the back of Sirius' jacket to stop him from falling face first onto the Potter's porch in time. It would've been sweet gesture if not for the fact that Remus quickly threw the smaller canine aside in order to launch himself at the bespectacled man and pulled him into a tight hug of his own. One that involved a lot of snuffling and scenting at his neck. James held still, only returning the tight hug as he tilted his head to the side and allowed Remus to settle Moony.
They'd been doing this sort of thing since they were thirteen years old and still naive kids running around in the moonlight. Pack was important to canines in general—wolves in particular—and Remus & Sirius had no qualms about stressing how important they were. Even with all of their odd little quirks, he and Peter had never really understood the whole canine-pack-thing (they had similar things for their own respective animals, but nothing to that degree). But at this point it was more of a habit than anything else. For deer, herds were split in to two parties: one led by an alpha doe (because let's be honest, you'd be dead if you crossed Lily), whilst the other group contained the bucks. At least until mating season hit, and then it was every buck for himself. James wasn't quite sure how it was for rats, mostly because he tuned out when Peter had started rambling about mating rituals with increasing excitement. It was gross, he that much.
As James tightened his grip on Remus and let out a shaky sigh that seemed to tattle through his entire skeleton, he watched Sirius jumped to his feet without much hassle (save for a put out pout sent in Remus' direction) before sliding passed the pair and dove into the house behind them. James didn't need to look to know that the wizard had already shifted into his animagus in order to better search the house for any other oddities that might've traipsed in after the mysterious muggleborn whilst they were occupied.
The sound of claws click, click, clicking against their hardwood floors was familiar and helped to ground James as he shakily pulled out of the hug. The corners of his lips twitched it up into a wobbly smile when he heard the unbidden voice of his wife about the state of their (now) ruined floors, about how long it would take to get the scratches/muck out and the returning ribbing about the salve slathered across her forehead. Padfoot's low woofs (soon joined by Moony) pulled James from his thoughts as he shut the door behind them, and trudged back down the hall to find the object of their desire.
If the situation were any other, James might've of laughed at the odd sight he found in his hallway. Padfoot, the six-foot wolfhound that he was, could be seen rooting around in the kitchen with blackened tail held aloft like a particularly fluffy mile marker. Elvendork could just be seen poking over the edges of the counter, from where she sat precariously perched upon broad hackles; just casually licking herself as if nothing were amiss. In turn, he couldn't see Remus, but he could hear him moving about upstairs where the muggleborn witch lay, completely oblivious to it all.
"What would I do without you?" James muttered to himself as he shut the door behind them and double-checked that it was, indeed, locked & charmed to the teeth once more.
"You'd be dead, ten times over" Remus replied nonchalantly as he jumped off of the last step, seemingly done with whatever he was doing upstairs.
"Circe!" James flinched at the sudden surprise, hand going up to his chest where his racing heart resided. Once again, he marvelled at the wolf's incredible hearing.
"You and Pads, both"
"Heeeeeeey!" James whined like a child in chorus with Padfoot's bark. "We're not that bad!"
"Tell that to the Willow" Remus sassed, hip cocked and brow raised.
"H—eh…" James wilted comically, like a flower dying in the sun. "We're not that bad…anymore?"
"Suuuuuuure…" Remus nodded sarcastically as he returned to James' side, his fingers running through Padfoot's and Elvendork's fur as he went.
"Like you're any better, Moony" Lily snorted from the background, as she fiddled with the strings of the beaded bag on the counter.
Remus pouted childishly as he turned to the redhead."What's that s'posed to mean?"
Lily bared a shit-eating grin at him. "As I recall, there was a certain incident with Kitty McGonagall—!"
"—Hey!" Remus barked, pointing an accusing finger at her. "We agreed to never speak of that again!"
"Did we? I don't recall making such promises"
"Traitor…!" He pouted garishly, arms crossed and head turned away.
"Sooooo" Sirius suddenly popped out from behind the kitchen counter (seemingly satisfied with whatever it was he found—or didn't find) as he dislodged Elvendork from his shoulders. He was human once more, but his metaphorical tail was still wagging furiously. "Where's this mysterious witch we've heard so much about?"
"Er, upstairs in the nursery, with Harry" James nodded towards the stairs, still a little put-off by her sudden arrival and the subsequent confusion that followed.
"Hey! We just got 'im down!" Lily hissed following after the pair, "Don't you dare wake Harry up!"
The words had barely left his lip before Sirius was racing up the aforementioned stairs, with Remus hot on his tail even though he had been up there only moments before. Both of the Potters followed too, though not for the same reasons as the canine pair. They'd only just put Harry down and if those two decided that barging about like elephants on ice skates was a good idea, then they had another thing coming!
Back inside the nursery, James found himself blinking dumbfoundedly at the strange scene once again. Then again, this whole night had been full of those, so it's not like he could really complain. Lily had moved to the rocking chair where she rocked with Harry and his toy cradled in her arms; in turn Harry lay with his back to her chest, one dog ear gripped tightly in his gob and both of his hands made grabbing motions towards his Uncle Padfoot who, in turn, had returned to his canine form.
Next to them stood Remus, who bore an exhausted kind of relieved and concerned as he talked with Lily about his concerns involving their recently absent secret keeper. Peter hadn't been coming around as often as the others had, and Sirius—who was the most involved with the Order out of the four of them—couldn't recall what kind of mission he had been given that would entail such a long period of absence like this. As far as he was aware, Peter had been homebound since graduation so that he could care for his ailing mother. What she was sick with, James didn't know, but the rat had made mention of some muggle disease that had Lily had compared to dragonpox in its severity. And so, after losing his own parents to dragonpox and the grief that had encapsulated him, following that, he tried not to poke that beehive too often.
From the doorway, James couldn't quite hear the whole conversation as Lily & Remus were talking in low murmurs, but he could catch pieces of it—"Has anyone heard from Pete? Is his mum sick again? Should someone go check on him?"—And it made his heart prick with worry. In all of this commotion, James hadn't had time to stop and think about how the witch had even known how to find them. Of all of the houses on the street to choose, she chose theirs—even with all of the wards and enchantments hiding them from outsiders—she still walked up to their front door and begged for help. It was mind boggling. Because wasn't that the point of a secret keeper? To keep secrets? So, if she had known where they were, did that mean something bad had happened to Wormtail? Considering her appearance upon arriving on their doorstep, he could only assume so. Still, James still hoped he was wrong.
Further into the room, James spotted Elvendork—who had resumed her position snuggled up next to the unconscious with—was stuck in a staring contest with Padfoot, who had stopped furiously sniffing at the girl's wild curls. The wolfhound had shoved his nose into any nook & cranny that was exposed, so that he could discern the girl's status. Having found what he was looking for, he was now standing to attention, tail aloft and black eyes unblinking. Despite this, James knew that the canine meant no harm; well, maybe not to the witch, but Elvendork was another matter altogether. Padfoot sure did love to chase the kneazle about the house, but that's cats and dogs for you.
Which left the young witch, who had rolled over onto her side with her back pressed against the wall, and curled up around their kneazle as if she were a heat pack. In turn, Elvendork had wedged herself into the crook of her stomach beneath the blankets, leaving only her glaring amber eyes to peer out from the darkness. Hidden beneath the heavy layers as she was, the cat looked more like a moray eel than a feline, and James knew from personal experience that if you got too close, you'd soon regret it.
Sliding down the wall with a tired sigh, James plonked himself down next to the doorway and let his head fall back to rest against the wall. After so many months hidden away from the excitement & stress of the war, the last few hours had felt like a sudden onslaught that had left them drained far more than any of his days training to be an auror had. The brushing of coarse fur beneath his fingertips brought the bespectacled wizard out of his thoughts, instead bringing his attention to Padfoot who now lay curled up next to him, head in his lap. James smiled tiredly down at the wolfhound who peered searchingly up at him and allowed his hand to raise & comb through his coarse fur.
No matter what happened next, at least they had each other.