oOo oOo oOo

Dear James,

I apologise for not talking to you at the memorial. It would have been inappropriate and we were all feeling under the weather that day.

I hope all is well with you and the baby. I haven't seen you in ages. We should get together some time.

How are you finding life now? The war didn't exactly do wonders for our job prospects did it? (Unless you're Remus Lupin, of course. Apparently he walked straight into that ministry job just because he's chums with the Minister. Disgraceful. One war and the social structure just goes to pot.) I haven't found a job yet. I'm contemplating applying to become an auror. I think you'd be brilliant at it, too. You should go for it. We've both had plenty of practice apprehending crooks this year, haven't we? Ha-ha.

I just thought I'd drop a line to see how you're doing. The end of a war can make one feel so lonely, don't you think?

Thinking of you,

Emmeline.

Lily stared at the letter. James sat opposite her, saying nothing, while Lily's already-low regard of Emmeline Vance started to sink even lower.

"'Under the weather'? Is she serious?"

James shrugged. "So she decided to play it down."

"That's putting it fucking mildly! She's talking as though we've all just recovered from flu! 'Apprehending crooks'? Does she mean fighting Death Eaters?"

"Sounds like it."

"Ugh!" She tossed the letter across the table towards James, who picked it up and scanned it again. "How can she say all that stuff about Remus? He was nice to her!"

James sighed. "To be honest, I don't blame her."

"Sorry?"

"Well, OK, yeah I do," said James quickly, holding his hands up in defense. "But the last time we bought the Daily Prophet, it reported all that stuff about job losses and business collapses, remember? Loads of people are out of work. It sounds like Emmeline's one of them and she's all bitter about it. You know what she's like. She'd put litter in the bin and then wonder why she hadn't been made Head Girl."

"Rubbish! She's always been catty. I thought she'd changed when she joined the Order but clearly I mistook my judgment! She's still a manipulative little... seductress."

James eyes her suspiciously. "Manipulative seductress?"

Lily crossed her arms defiantly. "Look at her letter. She wants you. Again."

James' mouth fell open. "Lily..."

Lily stood up, chair scraping the stone floor. "She just doesn't stop, does she?" She walked over to the kitchen sink and looked out of the window, away from him.

"Lils, come on, of course she doesn't fancy me anymore!"

"Yes she does. It's not even addressed to both of us. She doesn't even mention me. Oh, but she suggested getting together soon."

James shrugged. "Maybe she just mindlessly hates you."

"Obviously!" Lily exclaimed as she spun round to face him. "I'm married to you! She's - she's jealous!"

It was a bizarre concept for Lily, to have someone be jealous of her. When James had briefly dated Emmeline in sixth year, Lily had been the one who was sick with jealousy. The first time anyone had been jealous of Lily was when she started going out with James at Hogwarts. She suddenly started receiving dirty looks from girls who'd smiled at her before. Jealousy was an ugly thing.

"Exactly, Lily!" said James. "You're married to me. Married." He moved around the table towards her. Lily surrendered into his hold, forcing back tears of frustration.

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly."That means I'm lumbered with you. So shut it."

Lily smiled. "Romantic."

"True."

They stood there for several seconds, swaying slightly in their embrace. "Her hair is really boring," said James after a while. "And she's got horrific taste in lipstick."

Lily grinned in amusement, picturing Emmeline Vance leaning in for a kiss and James craning away from her dark purple coloured lips.

Still, Emmeline Vance had found it within herself to write a rather bold letter after having seen the end of a war. Regardless of what her letter said, Emmeline had lost friends and family. If, through all her grief and strife to move on, she was able to write a letter of decent length to an old friend, Petunia could easily take a minute out of her busy busy schedule to write to Lily.

"Lily?"

Lily had pulled away from James and was now rifling through the drawers of the bureau behind the kitchen table. "Lily, what are you doing?"

In the third drawer that Lily opened were a dozen rolls of yellowing parchment and several scratchy old quills. She grabbed one of each along with a heavily stained ink pot from the shelf above.

"It's not difficult to pen a few words," Lily justified, throwing herself back down into a dining chair and unrolling the scroll. She began to write.

Dear Petunia,

I know you're thinking that if you just ignore all of my letters, I'll eventually give up. You're wrong. I've told you a thousand times and I'll tell you again: I miss you. I want to see my sister.

If the fact that I nearly died in a war that James and I ended doesn't worry you at all, that is fine by me. I know Vernon doesn't care but you do. I know you do. I wonder if you've told Vernon that you wrote to me twice during the war, asking how I was.

I just thought I'd let you know that there are still 'my' sort still in hiding that want me dead. They might even come after you, but seeing as you're experts in pretending I don't exist, I suppose you're not too worried.

We're moving house soon. My owl will still be able to deliver any letters you wish to send us.

Give Vernon my worst,

Lily. Your sister.

"You take the 'passive' out of 'passive aggressive', Love," said James.

"I don't care," Lily stood up from the kitchen table as slid angrily folded the note in half. "If this is how they want to play it, that's fine by me."

James and Lily were cautious when it came to letting Cadwal, the giant owl, out of his cage. The first time he'd been let out to flap around Bathilda's house, he'd picked up Tuppy in his enormous talons and almost flown out of the window with him. If James hadn't leaped up to grab on to Tuppy and weighed Cadwal down, Tuppy would have been prey. This now meant that Tuppy spent most of his days cowering inside a wardrobe.

"Take this to Petunia," Lily told Cadwal, who was perched on the window sill of the kitchen. "Stay there as long as you like. I want a reply."

Cadwal took the top of the envelope in his sharp beak and took flight, billowing Lily's hair as he flapped his wings.

"I think I should let Bagnold know that we're moving soon," decided James aloud.

"Definitely," Lily agreed. "We owe her that much," Lily tore her eyes away from Cadwal, who was now high up in the sky with the letter, and sat back down at the table. "Shit, where the hell are we going to go?"

James sighed. "Anywhere's better than here," as James pictured several scenarios, including mansions, attic rooms and tents, his eyes drifted to the window again, where Cadwal was now invisible.

"Petunia's scared of pigeons, Lily," James recalled. "How do you think she's going to react to Cadwal?" he gestured out of the window to Cadwal, who was soaring high above the village. He looked to be about the size of a heron.

Lily laughed. "It's alright. I wasn't really expecting a reply anyway."

"Afternoon, dear!" sang Bathilda, waddling in to the kitchen. She was carrying a cabbage and a knife. "Did you manage to send that letter off to your mother yet?"

Lily swallowed. "It was to my sister. Yes, I did, just now."

Bathilda acted as if she didn't hear Lily's reply. She made her way over to the sink and placed the cabbage inside it.

James shot a concerned glance to Lily before speaking. "Bathilda, what are you doing with that cabbage?"

Bathilda jumped in shock before he'd even finished the sentence. "James!" she gasped. "I had no idea you were there!"

James fought the grimace that he always wore when Bathilda's age showed. He'd been in the kitchen all afternoon...

"Sorry..." he mumbled.

"Oh, James, I wish you wouldn't apparate in the house. I've got an old woman's slow mind, I can't keep up with your whereabouts!"

"What do you mean?" asked James. "I didn't apparate anywhere..."

Bathilda chuckled. "It's alright, dear, I'll let you off just this once. But you could've used the stairs, you know, it's good exercise."

Suddenly, Lily leapt to her feet in a way that scared James. "Bathilda..." began Lily weakly. "Did you see someone upstairs just now?"

"Ah, James, I think you're in trouble now!" Bathilda grinned. "He wasn't doing anything unsavory, dear, he was just watching Harry sleeping! Bless him..."

James' blood turned to ice.

"HARRY!" shrieked Lily, sprinting out of the room. James followed on wobbly legs, dread churning his stomach and burning his skin. They ran up the stairs as fast as they could, groping their pockets for their wands with shaking hands.

Bellatrix, Rodolphus... they were clever. They were loyal. James and Lily had been fools. Open windows, unlocked doors, trips out in the open, sending letters... fools.

They burst into the bedroom. For one nauseating moment, James could not see Harry in the cot. He threw himself towards the cot and lent over the bar.

Harry was there, lying perfectly still, with closed eyes.

"HARRY!" James bellowed, grabbing the baby. "HARRY!"

For several seconds, the world had stopped. Then, very quietly, Harry whimpered. His eyes blinked open tiredly. He stared at his father with confusion. "Dada.."

Beside him, Lily whimpered and threw her arms around her husband and child. James stood dumbfounded. He had not known such fear in weeks. Fool.

Perhaps Bathilda's shrivelling brain made her hallucinate. Perhaps a strange shadow had been cast in the bedroom, or the house was haunted. James doubted there had been someone in that house, but it shook him to his core, and made him pine for home.

oOo oOo oOo

It was the small things that James was noticing more and more nowadays. Since the war, since Voldemort's death, since losing any trace of the normal family life that Lily had wanted so badly for so many years, Lily had been acting differently.

She'd been happy during the war. She and Marlene had been the bright sparks of the Order, dashing around as much as was allowed with cups of tea and cheering sentiments, forcing positive vibes down everyone's throats and doing everything in their power to keep morale up. Even when Marlene sank into pessimism mid-war, Lily was still insisting on Christmas trees for the Order Headquarters, a birthday tea party for Frank and Alice's son and charming pink paper hearts to flutter like moths around her own house at St Valentine's Day. She'd even managed to stop Alice's continuous crying and drag Marlene back into their joint happiness campaign. Now, it was as though the anxiety and sadness that had crippled the others like a disease was now starting to infect Lily.

She no longer took sugar with her tea. She no longer baked cakes at the weekends. James missed the Saturday mornings where he'd walk out into the garden and find her sitting on a chair on the patio just listening to the birds. Now that Christmas was fast-approaching, James was feeling less festive than ever. Lily hadn't touched a single Christmas card or string of tinsel all month. Lily was usually Christmas-obsessed. "Pull the cracker or we're getting a divorce", she'd said on their first Christmas together. Now, it was as though she didn't even know it was December.

However, hope sparked in James when he, Lily, Harry and Sirius were sat in a muggle pub just a week before Christmas. They were due to meet the only decent living members of Sirius' family, though James and Lily were not entirely sure why Sirius had dragged them all the way to Somerset for a few drinks until they'd arrived. The pub was called The Stag's Head Inn. James had swatted Sirius round the head when they found him at a table in the beer garden.

"They've got a lot of free time these days," Sirius told them of The Tonks Family. "Ted does something to do with Muggle artifacts. His whole department have been suspended until January since no-one gives a toss about Muggle artifacts these days."

"Ouch..." commented James.

"Ah, no, see, here's the thing; Bagnold's insisted that everyone on leave gets full pay while they're gone! It's a bit of a bum deal for her because now, the Magical Law Enforcement department is losing hundreds of galleons each month and some people reckon it's all a ruse to get people to vote her in for another term of office."

"Well she'd have my vote..." mused Lily vaguely. She was not engaged in their conversation. Instead, she was gazing at the miniature faux-Christmas tree in the middle of their table. Every table had one, decorated with white pipe cleaners to act as tinsel, placed atop leaflets advertising pub Christmas dinners. Harry's eyes were fixed on it too. He was sat on James' lap, slapping the table trying to grab its branches.

"It's such a shame we couldn't go to Hogsmeade," Lily sighed. "The Hog's Head used to be lovely at Christmas."

Sirius furrowed his eyebrows. "I remember it being a bit of a hovel, actually."

Lily shrugged. "It was nostalgic."

The three of them looked round when they heard the back door open. Nobody else would dare sit outside in the cold weather, which worked to their advantage. They were able to cast warming charms and talk about magic with no-one around to see or hear. Three people approached them wearing clothes so obviously out of place that James knew that they were wizards. A gangly fair-haired man in jeans and a huge leather jacket walked in front, waving briefly. Behind him was a woman whose high cheekbones and dark eyes chilled James to the bone, but he knew from Sirius that Andromeda was polar opposite to her Death Eater sister. She wore a white vest top, eliciting perplexed stares from people at the windows of the pub. It was beginning to snow. James guessed she was swamped in several warming charms. The young girl with them wore a navy duffle coat and red boots, looking almost convincingly muggle had it not been for her bright pink hair.

"Merry Yule Tide, folks," smirked Andromeda as the young girl noisily dragged three chairs from neighbouring tables round to their own. "It's nice to finally meet you. Thanks to the Prophet, I feel like I know you already..."

"You're not alone," said James wryly.

Andromeda smiled. "I guess not."

As Andromeda and the young girl sat down, Ted cracked his knuckled and remained standing. "I'll get the drinks in. What does everyone want?"

"A pint of lager," answered James, eliciting a smile from Lily. He knew it gladdened her whenever he showed fondness for muggle culture. In truth, he thought muggle alcoholic drinks were disgusting. This had lead him to believe that only wizards could have invented booze, as James could never stop sipping if he had a pint of lager in his hand.

"What James said," said Sirius.

"Half a Bulmer's" replied Lily.

"I'll have a Firewhisky!" beamed the girl.

"No you bloody won't," Andromeda scolded. "You'll have a pumpkin juice."

The girl shrugged and stuck her tongue out at Harry who merely stared at her. Ted disappeared back into the pub building while Andromeda took her seat at the table, smiling at Harry. "How old is your son?" she asked.

"He'll be seventeen months old in the new year," replied Lily.

Andromeda smiled nostalgically. "Such a gorgeous age. I remember when Nymphadora was just old enough to talk nonsense to herself in her cot... the best age is two. They're old enough to understand but too young to talk back. Perfect," she ruffled Nymphadora's hair.

James looked at the pink-haired girl. "How old are you now, Nymphadora?"

"Ten. You can call me Dora."

Andromeda rolled her eyes.

James studied Dora and tried to picture a ten-year-old Harry sitting where she was. It was difficult to imagine it when Harry was bouncing on his knee. He could only picture a giant version of this chubby baby, staring gormlessly at his surroundings and saying the occasional word that made sense. He decided he was in no rush to see Harry grown up.

"Hogwarts next year," grinned Andromeda after a while. "It'll creep up on you when it's his turn, you mark my words."

"Are you excited?" Lily asked Dora.

Dora nodded excitedly. "I've already bought my owl! And Mum says I can have whichever broomstick I want! First year's going to be dead boring though, once everyone already knows which House they're in. I can't wait to try out for Quidditch and learn how to apparate and cast spells without having to say anything and duel people and brew really yucky potions and-"

"All in good time, Nymphadora," said Andromeda. "Just get through your first year, then you can start killing off your classmates."

As conversation bubbled, James' mind raced with scary and exciting thoughts about Harry and Hogwarts. He pictured coming home from a well-paying job to find Lily, tearful, running to hug him as a pale and disbelieving Harry stood clutching a Hogwarts letter in a trembling hand. Next, he saw himself standing with Harry in Quality Quidditch Supplies, taking the newest and shiniest broomstick down from its hook. James had to force the next image from his mind. He did not want to think about the Hogwarts Express, standing with Lily as the train took Harry away from them. They would be powerless. When James thought of the future, he could only picture Harry as he was now, as a baby. A baby taking off on a broomstick. A baby sleeping in a cold tower with boys he'd never met before. A baby being sent into the Forbidden Forest for detention. A baby being dragged away from them on the Hogwarts Express...

"Here we are!"

Ted was stood behind him holding a round tray of assorted drinks. He carefully placed them down on the table. James picked up his pint of fizzing amber liquid.

"They didn't have pumpkin juice," said Ted, placing a glass of clear golden drink in front of Dora.

"What's this, then?" asked Dora, eyeing her drink suspiciously.

"Apple juice. It was that or orange juice and you don't like oranges, so..."

"Is it nice?"

"Just drink it."

Nymphadora doubtfully studied her curious muggle drink as Ted sat down. "Dad..." she began. "It looks like a glass of-"

"Charming place, this!" beamed Ted at the pub. "Can't beat an afternoon at the pub with friends, can you?"

"True," smiled Lily, fiddling with the pipe cleaners on the miniature Christmas tree and bending it out of shape.

Ted's smile faded. Both he and Andromeda looked uncomfortable. "Oh, erm... I'm sorry, I didn't mean... erm... sorry."

"What for?" asked Lily.

Ted and Andromeda shared a glance, then seemed to calm when they saw that James and Sirius were not reacting. "Nothing... forget it."

James knew what Ted was referring to. It did not surprise him that Lily was confused. Lily was an expert in detecting other people's pain, but she often failed to recognise her own. He would have to talk about it later.

"It must be brilliant to be able to get out of the house," guessed Andromeda. "After... you know... after the war."

"After being in hiding?" asked Lily. "It's still a rarity."

James stiffened.

"Oh," frowned Andromeda.

Everyone took a sip of their drink and slowly put it down again.

"Sorry," mumbled Lily. "I didn't mean to sound snarky. It's just that the person we're living with at the moment is a bit old and lonely and... well, as much as I'd like to get out a bit, I can't help but feel guilty. On top of all that, there are still..." Lily paused, looked at Andromeda in alarm, then looked down at her drink. Andromeda grinned.

"My monstrous sister and her vile husband are still lurking around somewhere. Yes, I imagine that's enough to send anyone underground."

James stared at her. The horrible implications of meeting with Bellatrix Lestrange's sister were now obvious. How had they not thought of them before?

Andromeda chuckled. "Don't look so scared, James. I have nothing to do with Bellatrix Lestrange anymore."

Nobody said anything.

"Dora, why don't you go and take Harry to the play area?" From inside her jeans pocket, Andromeda pulled out a long, solid dark-coloured wand. "You don't mind, do you?" she asked. Before either James or Lily answered, she waved the wand around Harry. When he giggled and patted the side of his head, James recognised the spell to be a cushioning charm.

"Okay!" Dora climbed out of her seat.

"But be careful," Andromeda warned. "The play area is just there, so I will be able to hear everything."

Dora scooped Harry up from James' lap and placed him down on the ground, taking his hand. "Are you coming, Sirius?" the girl asked. Sirius looked surprised to have been asked, but pleased nonetheless.

"In a minute," he smiled. "I sense a boring grown-up conversation brewing."

Dora shrugged and lead Harry by the hand towards the swings.

Andromeda took a big gulp of her pint and grinned, wiping the foam from her lip. "It's been quite a year," she said.

"It certainly has," said Lily.

"It's been a confusing one... and a scary one," the first signs of grave thoughts flickered in Andromeda's eyes, yet her smile did not falter. In this way, she reminded James of her sister. "I can't imagine what it's been like for the two of you."

James shrugged. "It's been enlightening."

Lily snorted. "Yes, it's been quite a challenge."

"A learning curve," grinned James.

"Truly illuminating,"

"It's been hell," interjected Sirius. James and Lily stared at him, as did Andromeda and Ted. He now looked peculiarly serious. It didn't suit him. "It's been complete hell."

"Yeah, we know that," said James. "But we're trying our best."

James knew that Sirius' bitterness was not directed towards him or Lily. In fact, it could hardly be called bitterness at all. He was simply throwing a line to his cousin, with whom he shared a sort of hollowness that James once understood. Since marrying Lily, it had been difficult to empathise with Sirius. Andromeda was now the last chance Sirius had of taking back a loving blood family that had been taken from him as a teenager.

"We wanted to go to the memorial," said Ted solemnly. "We went to school with lots of those dead aurors and muggle-borns," Ted took a giant swig of his drink. "But it would have been inappropriate. Nobody would have wanted us there."

"Nobody would have wanted me there," Andromeda corrected him. She then smiled wryly. "It seems that the older I get, the more I look like Bellatrix. Poor me."

James smiled half-heartedly. It was true.

"Sirius tells us that the Minister's urging you to find somewhere else to live," said Ted. He glanced at his wife, then back to James and Lily. "We'd like to offer you a place."

Lily's eyes widened. "Sorry?"

"We'd understand if you wanted to stay with..." Ted thought for a moment. "Well, if you wanted to stay put, but we have an out-house that my mother stayed in when that lot started killing muggles. There's enough protective enchantments around it to hide the Earth. You're more than welcome to it."

Lily and James exchanged astonished expressions.

"We want to do something useful," Andromeda shrugged. "And as Christmas is coming up, we figured you'd need some space..."

"That would be... that would be..." Lily stuttered weakly.

"YES! Ah, Merlin, we're out of there! THANK YOU!" exclaimed James, running his hands through his hair, almost jumping out of his seat with joy.

Andromeda and Ted exchanged a smile.

They did not talk about the war after that. They talked about everything and anything that they could to avoid that topic. They talked about Harry and Nymphadora, they talked about the Ministry, they talked about Ted's job and Sirius' plans, which Sirius claimed were top secret yet weren't too far off Ted's line of work, though what Sirius could possibly be doing with misused muggle artifacts was a complete mystery to James.

After another round of drinks was finished, they all decided to leave. Walking out through the car park, Ted was stumbling around and giggling. Andromeda and Lily were walking a long way ahead of the others, talking animatedly to one another. The scene pleased James.

"What do you think?" asked Sirius, coming up to James. He had been walking with Nymphadora, who was still clutching Harry's hand as she lead him towards the adults.

"Hmm?"

"The Tonks'. What d'you think of them?"

James smirked. "She's a lovely girl, Sirius, and I'm sure she'll make you very happy."

Sirius' nose wrinkled. "What are you on about?"

"Nothing," James grinned. "They're great, mate. Really. I can't believe they've offered us that out-house."

"Yeah, that was really generous of them, wasn't it?"

James stifled another grin. "Yes it was."

"And Andromeda and Lily seem to be getting along really well, don't they?"

"Yes."

"And Nymphadora really likes Harry."

"Uh-huh."

James looked back at the pink-haired girl and his son. Given the chance, she'd probably adopt him.

"So you like them?"

James gave in. "You should invite her parents round for supper, Sirius, then we can officially give you our blessing."

"What the hell are you on about?!"

"You're talking as though you've just introduced us to your first girlfriend!"

"No I'm not!"

"You are though."

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are."

Sirius looked around uncomfortably. "Yeah, well... they're my family. Their blood is my blood and-"

"Aww, been writing poetry again, Padfoot?"

"I despise you."

"No you don't."

The two friends lapsed into silence for a while, as they came to the main village of Dunster. Very few people were around, but the eerie silence of the town did not detract from its charm. Multi-coloured Christmas lights were hung from the tops of shops across the main square. Wreaths were nailed to the doors of little terraced cottages. Up on the hill, Dunster Castle was lit up by yellow and blue flood lights. No-where in the wizarding world quite matched it... with one exception.

"Seriously," said James eventually. "I'm really glad we've met them."

Sirius smiled hopefully. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," said James, watching Andromeda and Lily looking at various festive displays in shop windows. "I think Lily needed it."

Sirius frowned slightly. "I know Lily's all cooped up in Bathilda's house but she's not in prison... she can get out sometimes..."

"It's not that," James said quickly. "It's just... Lily lost all her friends. Now she's making new ones."

"She didn't lose all her friends..."

"Well, she wasn't exactly best friends with us until seventh year, was she? I'm talking about Marlene and Alice and Dorcas. It's like..." James hadn't had the courage to envision in before. "It's like if you and Remus and Peter died. I know we sort of lost Peter anyway, but... I'd still have Lily and Harry, and that would be..." James did not finish that thought. "...it wouldn't be the same, would it. I'd feel like shit." The mere thought alone was enough to make James' stomach feel like he'd swallowed a rock. His life would have been much colder and darker if he'd lost his best friends. Lily and Harry would be his only comforts. He now understood Lily's loneliness better than ever.

"I hate Snape," said James at last.

Sirius looked confused again. "Snape? Why? I mean, I know why, but why?"

James took a deep breath. "I saw him. A few weeks ago, he came to Godric's Hollow. I spoke to him..." Sirius' mouth fell open. He inhaled to rattle off a thousand questions. "He wanted to see Lily and I wouldn't let him. We had an argument and... I started goading him."

"What happened?!" hissed Sirius. "Where is he now?! What did you say to him?!"

"He still wants to muscle in between me and my wife, so he's still a worthless bastard, but... I sort of threw my marriage in his face."

"So? It's your marriage he wants to break up. He needs to see that."

"Yeah, but don't you see? He always said I was an arrogant boastful tosser. He was right all along."

"Prongs-"

"I'm actually sorry for what I did to him."

"Prongs!" gasped Sirius dramatically, clutching his heart. "What's happened to you?"

"I know... it's sickening."

Sirius seemed to calm down. "Right, so, you hate Snape. Again. But what's that got to do with Lily?"

James sighed. "If Snape and I weren't complete wankers, Lily might still have a best friend. It's the same reason I hate her bloody sister. If Petunia wasn't such a miserable cow and I could swallow my pride once in a while, Lily would probably get to see her more."

"So... what, you're going to try and become some sort of saint?"

"Nah, there's already a St James. I'm not sure what I can do. Petunia's disappeared off the face of the earth and Lily would hex Snape's bollocks off if she ever saw him again."

"So what are you saying?"

James sighed in frustration. "I don't know, Sirius, I'm just unloading onto you, alright?"

Sirius barked a laugh. "You're bitching."

"Shut up."

Lily spun round, looking to see how far away the others were. For the first time in a while, a genuine look of glee was on Lily's face. James was only able to give her a brief smile before she and Andromeda went sprinting down a narrow cobbled street lined with more second hand bookshops and tea rooms.

"I like your family, Sirius," said James earnestly, knowing it would secretly make Sirius' heart soar to hear the words he had never heard before. "And Lily likes your girlfriend, therefore so do I."

"With that logic, why didn't you ever like Snape?"

"Unfortunately, there's no getting past the fact that he's a snivelling wretch."

By the time they caught up with the girls, Sirius was grinning from ear to ear.

oOo oOo oOo

A/N: Thank you for reading. I know it's been a while, but I moved cities and stuff.

Please Review,

N x