"Seems to me you left out alot of details there, lads."

Alastor Moody stood imposingly in the doorway. He easily filled the space, water was already pooling underfoot from his soaked trench coat. He stared down at the crew before him, face untelling to the thoughts he had within. It was easy to see why he was such a revered Auror.

"Moody!" A chorus of men's voices sounded.

"That's 'Sir' to you lot, now back to this muggle." Alastor Moody quickly made his way to the table, his wooden limb scraping slightly against the floor as he moved. The man was still getting used to it after all.

"Nothing to worry about, Sir." Sirius answered the man quickly, addressing him properly. This was one of the few men he actually respected afterall.

"She didn't see a thing. Even assumed she was just hearing something called a 'firecracker'." James added his response quickly, knowing his superior didn't take well to his time being 'wasted'. Something about 'evil to be caught' and 'not waiting around to do it'.

"Hmm…" Moody eyed his young men with open suspicion. "So you cleaned up properly?"

"More or Less…" James tried, knowing a full out lie would be caught instantly. "We were in a rush."

Moody glared down on the two young Aurors, his magic eye spinning wildly. He reached out and grabbed the un-touched cup of tea sitting in front of Peter, causing the boy to flinch. With a wave of his staff the contents vanished and it filled with some unknown liquid. Alastor sipped the contents, still having not taken his eyes away from James and Sirius.

"You'll go back after your suspension and make sure then. We don't need a muggle getting in the way, now do we?" He set the cup down on the table before continuing. "Two days each, and a full report on the matter after you go back!"

The two Aurors internally groaned, knowing that doing it outwardly was asking for something worse.

James frowned. Cynthia had helped them, no doubt. But she was just a muggle. A weird one perhaps, but he hadn't known many other muggles to compare her to. She was secretive, and was obviously hiding something, but so were they. The more he thought about it the more he knew she wouldn't say more than she already had. Going back wasn't going to do anything except waste the time that they could be working on something else. Something important, like stopping this war. It wasn't like a single muggle woman would help with that.

James' inner grumblings were halted as the conversation around him moved on.

"Order members being attacked is very concerning." It was Remus who spoke next, eyes staring off into space as he considered what this might mean for the future. He completely ignored the 'punishment' his friends had received, as he had learned to do back during their last year of Hogwarts. Instead he continued on, "We'll need to bring this up at the next meeting, or sooner if possible."

"Yes, should do." Alastor agreed with a nod, he always seemed to like Remus forward thinking.

"Perhaps a patronus would be wise?" Sirius looked towards the elder Order member questioningly.

"I'll speak to Dumbledoor 'bout it and see what he has to say." The head Auror set the cup down, crossed his arms and closed his one good eye. The sight of the free spinning magical item made Peter shrivel as if it could read his mind. Moody simply continued.

"Hmmmm, honestly they should all know better by now. This isn't some school quidditch match. Warned everyone often enough. This is why I'm always saying…"

"Constant Vigilance." Sirius and James spoke in unison. Peter jumped slightly at the sudden sound from his friends. Remus held his tongue as a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Hmph, Well then let's try putting that into practice shall we?" Alastor threw a solid glare at kids and with a flourish he started hobbling back the way he came.

"Oh, and Potter!" He hollered over his shoulder as he reached the doorway again.

"Yes, Sir." James froze like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Don't forget your wand again, or it won't be me you'll answer too." The man gestured to Lily, who had not moved since James had looked at her last. "Have a feeling she'll get it into your head better than I ever could.

With that, the elder man left.

The boys looked at Lily. Sirius looked at her as a sad puppy not knowing how to help. Peter only glanced at her worriedly, his head still hung from trying to disappear in front of the Head Auror who had just left. Remus wore a solid frown as he looked at the woman beside him. He knew there was nothing he or his friends could say right now. She needed James.

Remus stood up from the table, vanishing the tea cups to the sink. He didn't need his favorite set in jeopardy. Even if he repaired it with magic, the tea would never taste the same afterwards. He threw a look to Sirius and placed a hand on Peter's shoulder. The man jumped slightly at the action, and quickly looked up to his friend.

"We'll head out first."

According to Remus' words the three young men quietly made their way out of the kitchen leaving the couple to sit in silence.

James barely registered his friends' words, focused only on the woman before him. Even like this, she was breathtaking to him.

"Lily…" He spoke in a whisper that in any other room would have gone unnoticed. The red-haired woman lifted her tear brimmed eyes to meet his. He felt his heart ache. He caused this. His stupidity had hurt her.

"Lily… I'm sorry." He began, "I didn't mean to worry you. I didn't mean to forget my wand. I shouldn't have been so harsh when I came back." The man felt his words rushing out, but he had to speak them. He couldn't let her continue to hurt for his sake.

He waited, but Lily said nothing. She didn't explode on him. The young woman no longer had the energy to do so. The rageful fire inside her was gone. She felt dull, almost smothered by her own thoughts. He could have died. Lily knew people had been dying at the hands of that mad man for years. She was worried about her family, but this was different. James was different to her.

Lily took in every detail of the man sitting across from her, the tears clouding her vision slightly. She soaked the nuances in as if trying to ingrain his every feature into her mind. James sat across from her, his shoulders sagging in an almost defeated way. The regret deeply etched on his face felt out of place. She'd only seen him wear the look once before, years ago.

His brown hazel eyes were dimmed from their normal brilliance, a brilliance that normally shone even through his glasses. His hair had begun to friz slightly as it dried, but he didn't even consider reaching up to tame it. His only focus was her. His only purpose was her, here, in this moment.

"You…" Lily swallowed, "You could have died…"

"I know," His words were somber, still only coming out barely louder than a whisper. "it was the first thing that crossed my mind…"

His voice sent shivers down Lily's spine. He'd felt it. The brush with death.

"If Sirius wasn't there… If he hadn't come… or that girl, the muggle…" Lily's choked on her words. Her head fully dipped into her hands as the tears finally fell.

James left his seat, unable to stand it anymore. Throwing table manners to the side, he stepped on and over the table and knelt beside his precious Lily Flower. He wrapped his arms around her, she leaned into him as the sobs began.

"You… You absolute prat!" She cried, "How dare you… How dare…" She got her words out slowly.

"I know." James closed his eyes and breathed the sweet scent of her in. "I won't do that again. I promise."

She'd almost lost him. He'd have been taken from her without even a word. There would have been nothing she could have done. The feelings washed over her in another wave, and something clicked into place.

She loved him.

She loved James Potter.

She'd known that she liked him, she wouldn't have dated him otherwise. But this was different. Lily loved him. Truly loved him with all her heart and couldn't stand the thought of not having him here with her. The woman sunk deeper into his arms. She clung to James desperately, refusing to let him go. Not now that she finally understood.

"Was it alright to leave them?" Peter spoke quietly as the three Marauders moved up the stairs towards the Library, Remus leading them like he would have back in school.

"He'll be fine, Lily won't kill him." Sirius answered playfully, but it was easy to see the lingering worry from the night's adventures in his eyes.

Remus pushed the large carved wooden door to the Library open, leading his friends over to the one clean desk he had set aside for himself. He'd been working on getting more things sorted for quite a while, but the werewolf hadn't made much progress. Sometimes it almost felt like the Library was worse than when he started.

"Sirius is right, they have to work it out on their own anyways." Remus waved his wand as he spoke. A few chairs flew over from different parts of the room settling near his spot.

The three friends all sat around the old table. Sirius set his feet up on the table and leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed, daring gravity to try and bring him down. Remus sat, one leg crossed over his knee, already lifting one of the books he had set aside. Peter held his cheeks in his hands with both elbows on the table, somehow already fighting to keep his eyes open. Being around Alastor Moody always seemed to drain him.

The three sat quietly, each mulling over the situation at hand. It only felt like yesterday they would have been plotting ways to get the Hufflepuffs with a voice changing drink, or the Ravenclaws with an anti-reading jinx. But now they sat here, on the precipice of a real war.

"What are you going to do about that muggle girl?" Remus questioned, not looking up from his reading.

Peter perked up, remembering the mention of that mysterious person who had 'saved' his friends.

"Hmmmm?" Sirius opened his eyes and stared at the plain wooden ceiling above him. "Dunno…"

Remus sighed, his friend really didn't think too far ahead. Good with details, but not forthought.

"Maybe you should send her an owl or something?" Peter tilted his head to the side thinking. "I mean, it'd be rude just to stop in and start asking her a bunch of questions, right?"

"Not a bad thought Pete," Remus turned the page, "but I don't think an owl would be wise."

"Yeah, a muggle wouldn't know what to do with that." Sirius shrugged, "If she didn't know something was up before, then she sure would after getting an owl."

"Oh… then we just have to send her a letter another way!" Peter smiled brightly at his solution.

"Unfortunately, muggle mail is extremely slow. The letter wouldn't arrive anytime soon." Remus leant his book down slightly looking at his friends.

"Can't pop in and drop it off myself either." Sirius shot down another idea. "She might hear the sound apparation and assume something bad is happening."

"Oh…" Peter sighed in defeat and leaned his cheeks in his hands again. "Too bad something else can't deliver the letter."

The smallest Marauder's words shot through Sirius Black like lightning. He quickly sat forward, the feet of his chair slamming against the floor loudly.

"That's it!" The young man yelled, pointing a finger directly at his friend Peter Petigrew. Remus looked up at him, his eyes wide. Peter jumped in his seat at the sudden outburst. He stared at the finger pointing at him, a feeling of dread spread across him.

"No." The single word came out of Remus' mouth. He set his book down entirely.

"Oh, but come on…" Sirius threw the werewolf a playful grin.

"No, Sirius." His friend refuted with slight glare.

Peter's head twisted back and forth following each of his friends' words.

"Ug, Fine." Sirius threw his hands up and dramatically draped himself across his chair. "You're no fun Moony."

"I can live with that." Remus shrugged, picking his book up again. "Just borrow the cloak and drop the letter off yourself. Pop in a ways away and walk over. You don't need to make this complicated, Sirius."

Sirius waved his friends' words away. "Okay, fine."

Remus narrowed his eyes on him for a moment and shook his head before returning to his book.

Peter just watched hoping this was actually the end of this discussion. Sirius' pointing finger was never a good sign. It usually meant trouble, lots of trouble. Not that Peter could ever say no to Sirius.

The dusty blonde crossed his arms on the table. Closing his eyes he leant his head down on his makeshift pillow. It only took a few moments before he fell asleep.

Because of that he didn't notice the small smirk Sirius was sending his way.

Well... There ya go!

Chapter 5 Done and Dusted!

I hope you enjoyed it! There was quite a bit of talking this time around so I tried to break it up a bit and make it easy to understand who was speaking.

Please feel free to Comment and Review!

I'll see you lovely folks in the next chapter

((All rights to Harry Potter Belong to J.K. Rowling))

P.S.

Thank you for letting me know I accidentally posted chapter 5 again. Sorry bout that! I'll be more careful in the future.