Ever since Sirius had confronted Lily at St Mungo's, he had taken to sleeping outside Lily and James' house in his dog form. Lily would have been touched by his concern, had it not been for the fact that she knew Sirius only did this because he felt some sort of obligation towards James, and because she was - if she was being perfectly honest - a bit insulted he believed she needed a guard dog.

Lily knew Sirius had kept up the lie with James that he was still staying at their house. Naturally she felt some guilt that James believed Sirius was tucked up in a bed in what was James' own house, but if Sirius had decided to keep up the deception, she would only extend as far as to not break the truth to James. It wasn't like she wanted to deceive her husband.

The morning following her visit to Gideon, Lily had seen the great black dog watch her as she apparated to St Mungo's and she knew from a previous arrangement with the Marauders she had about two hours until Sirius would come and visit James.

Lily found James primarily in good spirits, but she could tell there was something playing on his mind.

'Spit it out. What's up?' Lily finally asked.

James looked at her: 'it's that obvious, huh?'

'Yes, it is that obvious. So what's wrong?'

'Nothing is wrong. It's just... it's the full moon in three days.'

Lily never ceased to be amazed at her husband's capacity for remembering things, despite the fact that James had shown off his near photographic memory within the first weeks of school.

'You're worried about Moony?'

James sighed: 'Not worried precisely. It's just... he's not out on some mis -' James corrected himself: 'he's not working at the moment, so I could have been there, for him. I hate how he has to suffer...'

Lily squeezed James' hand: 'I know, love.'

'Every month,' James continued.

'I know,' Lily repeated. 'I know you hate it.' (They all did). 'But the others will be there. Right now, there's nothing your friends want more than for you to get better.'

'But see,' James said, glumly, 'I am not sure I love the idea of you being on your own that night either.'

'It's one night, James, and it's not like I have a great big target on my back. I've been perfectly safe so far.'

'All the same...' James muttered.

'You don't think... Maybe Wormtail could stay with you, rather than staying with Moony?' James suggested, after a pause.

'Really, James. I am a far better dueller than Wormy.'

'I know that! Heavens, you're a better dueller than Moony come to that. But there's strength in numbers.'

Strength in numbers - or rather - strength in friends, that was James' beliefs summarised in three words.

Lily sighed: 'Love, I know you don't like not being in control. You want to be there for Moony, and you want to be there for me. But it might be time to accept that we can manage without you for a few weeks.'

'Miss Evans, you have deeply wounded my ego.'

'And yet, Mr Potter, it always seem to recover remarkably quickly.'

'Quicker than I can recover,' James said, bitterly.

'Oh love.'

'Sorry,' James said, looking guilty. 'I shouldn't go there.'

'It's okay. You're allowed to find this challenging,' Lily said, consolingly.

James nodded, but said nothing more.

'So, you think I am a better dueller than Moony, do you?' Lily asked.

'You know you are.'

'But... you don't think I am as good as you or Sirius?'

James looked at her, amused: 'We can always settle this, when you have...'

'When I have popped a baby out of my vagina.'

'That,' James agreed.

'To be fair, you were certainly better in school,' Lily said, 'but back then you had accumulated a lot of practice in hexing people that we others had not.'

Despite herself, she couldn't hold back all her disapproval at the memories of a young Sirius Black and James Potter.

'Don't give me that look, like you're still upset about it. You remember what I told you in our sixth year?'

'Something about guilt and change. I remember I liked it,' Lily said.

'Feeling guilty has only one useful purpose, and that is to be a catalyst for change. I changed, so there was no reason to feel guilty anymore.'

'Very profound,' Lily said, leaning over and giving him a gentle kiss. 'Now I remember why I thought you might be worthy of my attention after all.'

'Well, then we really have Dumbledore to thank for us being together. It was he who told me that originally.'

'I'll be sure to thank him,' Lily teased and kissed James once more.

'Ugh, now I am thinking of Dumbledore,' Lily complained as she pulled away.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

'Gideon!' James exclaimed, surprised, as Fabian held open the door to let not only himself through, but also his brother.

Fabian beamed as he helped his brother into a chair: 'Surprise! I thought it'd be good for you two to see each other before Gideon here makes his escape.'

'When's the big day?' James asked.

'Tomorrow,' Gideon said. 'In a few weeks time I should be back in action.'

'I bet your sister is thrilled to hear that,' Lily remarked.

'What she doesn't know doesn't hurt her,' Fabian said, as if that could possibly be true.

'I thought she knew that you two were in the -' Lily changed course quickly, 'what you do.'

'She does,' Fabian admitted.

'It's just that she doesn't,' Gideon continued.

'Well, that clarifies things,' James said with a small smile.

'We've not told her anything,' Fabian explained.

'But she knows,' Gideon said.

'So...' Lily said, 'we can assume she will learn that you guys are fighting again at some point.'

'I suppose so,' Fabian sighed.

'Eventually,' Gideon agreed.

'Well, you know she won't hear anything from us,' Lily said.

'I don't know... she seems to have taken a liking to you, Lily,' Gideon said, smiling softly.

'It's the red hair,' Fabian said, winking at Lily. 'Come to think of it, should things get really bad, we should pass you off as a cousin of ours or Molly's husband's - Arthur. Merlin knows there are too many Prewetts and Weasleys to keep track off.'

'Your sister is married to Arthur Weasley?' James asked, curiously. Lily was reminded of how small the wizarding world was, yet how difficult it was to get your head around it as an outsider.

Fabian and Gideon nodded.

'Good for her,' James beamed.

'You know him?' Fabian asked.

'Only by reputation,' James admitted, 'but I've not heard anything bad about him. Or rather,' James cleared his throat, 'any objections I have heard speak in his favour.'

'He's a good man,' Fabian agreed.

'Before I forget,' Gideon said, looking at Lily, 'Molly made Fabian bring some cakes for you. She thinks you're too skinny.'

'I seem to remember that you called me a skeleton,' Lily said quickly, noticing James' frown. She could sense his desire to leap to her defence, so Lily thought it was important to explain why Molly had thought it was okay to say something like that.

'That he did,' Fabian agreed, 'I'll bring them over when I leave.'

'Actually, Sirius is stopping by soon, so I might just leave with you guys when you head back. James can survive a few minutes without a visitor, can't you?'

'It's like she doesn't know me,' James said. 'I mean, does James Potter really exist if there's no one there to witness his existance?'

'That existential crisis aside, how are you feeling?' Gideon asked.

'Alright,' James said, awkwardly. 'I mean, I've felt better, but all things considered, things could have been worse. What about you? No offence, but you still look rather shit.'

'Finally, some honesty,' Gideon chuckled, 'those two have the nerve to tell me I look really well.'

Fabian and Lily exchanged a half-amused, half-guilty look.

''Suppose I look a damned sight better than you,' Gideon conceded.

'We all know that's not saying much,' James said, trying, but failing, to sound light-hearted.

'That's what I said,' Gideon agreed.

'I heard what happened,' James said, tentatively.

'I'm fine,' Gideon said looking grim. 'I am not going to lie, it's an awful curse. There's nothing like it, in the moment.'

James nodded sympathetically. Lily had the sneaking suspicion she sometimes got that James had been hit by the torture curse before, but he'd never talked about it, and now was not the time to ask.

'But seeming as I am sitting here and you're well... still bedridden, I don't think I've got much to complain about. Although...' Gideon looked around the small room, 'how did you swing a private room?'

'Money, of course,' James lied, and to Lily's annoyance, it looked like Gideon bought it. Fabian, however, having seen James a few times already, seemed unconvinced.

'He's being moved in a few days,' Lily said, ignoring her husband's attempt to cover how bad everything had been.

'It's not been... he's not been well enough to have lots of noise and activity around him, so they've kept him here. But things are getting better, as you can see.'

Gideon looked somewhat embarrassed. Served him right for thinking that her James would ever have paid to get special treatment, Lily thought.

Somehow, Fabian managed to steer the conversation towards quidditch and whether the Wimbourne Wasps would win the championship this year. Lily's own interest in quidditch had fallen after she left school, possibly because there was a war going on (!?), but she knew that James had never stopped following the championship with interest, and sometimes, Lily knew he wondered what it would have been like to pursue a quidditch career.

Lily too wondered what their lives would have been like, if Lord Voldemort and his followers had not existed. Would she have been walking these corridors as a Trainee, rather than a visitor?

Maybe regret was a bit like guilt: it should only really serve the purpose of change, and if this was the case, Lily reflected, then there was no point feeling regret over a life they could not have. Without the benefit of hindsight, there wasn't a single thing Lily wished she'd done differently, except, perhaps, she might have wanted to start dating James Potter a little earlier.

A/N

Would Molly have had time to bake cakes with 5 very young children? Not sure, but if anyone could and would, it would be Molly.