It's started - I need to somehow remember who belongs to which family. So, to keep me sane, I'm loosely following the family tree of the Prewetts by anime-otaku20 that I found on Deviant Art.

Enjoy reading this one!

Chapter 7 – Potter Manor

As soon as the doors to Potter Manor swung open, all air escaped Lily's lungs, and all she could do was stare in awe at what was in front of her.

James gently pulled her into an entrance hall that had to be bigger than her family's living room. The hall was square and dark wood covered the floor. A big, polished staircase made out of even darker wood on the right-hand side led up to the next storey; its banister turned into a carved masterpiece. A long but narrow table made out of glass stood in front of each free wall with a humongous bouquet of flowers placed in the centre. Small picture frames were decoratively put all around the flowers, giving the very large and empty room a welcoming atmosphere. Eyes trailing upward, Lily saw an impressive-looking crystal chandelier hanging right in the centre of the ceiling decorated with stucco that had to be as old as the building itself.

To the left, a set of beautiful double swing doors led to what looked like a sitting room with a big fireplace made out of black marble. The furniture was of a deep, burgundy red and the wooden floor was covered by expensive-looking carpets.

There was so much to take in that Lily didn't see James' eyes widening as a woman in her late sixties came rushing towards them.

"James!" she called out excitedly before pulling him away from Lily and straight into her arms. "There you are, sweetheart! Your father told me not to worry, but picking up Lily shouldn't take you nearly an hour. Oh, and you must be Lily. How lovely! Welcome to Potter Manor, my dear!

Before Lily could do more than blink, the woman pulled her into an embrace, letting go of James. Unsure of what to do, Lily cautiously lifted her arms and wrapped them around the woman's back.

"Thank you for the invitation, Ma'am," she said softly, feeling heat crawl up her neck. "This is a really lovely home."

"You are more than welcome here, dear," said the woman, and Lily caught sight of a bright red James rolling his eyes behind her. She bit her lip to keep herself from laughing.

"Well, I don't think I need to introduce you to Lily, then, Mum." James smirked as his mother hit his arm jokingly.

"Oh, you!" Mrs Potter chuckled and lovingly ruffled her son's hair, who gave an indignant squawk.

Lily quickly covered her mouth with a hand to hide her grin. The mirth in her eyes, however, was impossible to miss.

"But honestly, what took you so long? I had to tell everyone that you accidentally ended up in the countryside in France because you missed the right Floo exit, but I don't think anyone believed me."

James blinked owlishly at his mother, who was patiently waiting for an answer. "You did what now?"

"Well, I had to come up with an answer, didn't I?" She huffed and threw her hands into the air, a gesture that James seemed to have picked up from her. "I couldn't very well tell them that you've gotten lost in Muggle London! Imagine the stories Sirius would have made out of that!"

"And I would've come up with the most wonderful stories."

"And you would've loved every second of it." James rolled his eyes at his best friend, who was just coming down the stairs, hand trailing over the banister.

"Very much so, yes. Evans." He nodded at her, a smirk lighting up his features. He was dressed in a similar fashion as to James – dark blue, almost black slacks, and a light blue button-down shirt, which made his grey eyes look even more like steel than they already did. His hair was pulled back neatly and tied into a bun on the back of his head.

"Sirius." She grinned and accepted the hug that he gave her. "How are you?"

"Oh, just splendid! I had to entertain James' Aunt Sable because he wasn't there to do so, so I'm claiming one dance with you, Lily flower, to make James suffer in return."

"Speaking of Aunt Sable, I better get going," Mrs Potter chimed in just as an almost hysterical laughter rang through the entrance hall and all of them turned around to the archway leading further into the manor. "Oh Merlin, she better not start with that blasted Goblin incident again, or so help me Godric!"

Sirius' eyebrows jumped up as Mrs Potter quickly whirled on the spot and hurried back to her guests.

"That woman is honestly bonkers."

James scoffed. "Who are you telling that to? I basically grew up with that woman."

"Wait," Lily raised a hand, looking from one boy to the other. "Who is? Your mum?"

"What? No!" James shook his head vigorously and the expression on Sirius' face got suspiciously innocent. "Aunt Sable. She's Mum's older sister. Only sister, actually. She's a bit over ten years older and she's…"

"Bonkers."

Lily gaped at Sirius, who just shrugged. "What? It's true. You don't know that woman yet."

"Yet." James paled slightly. "Don't conjure anything we don't want to deal with today, Padfoot."

"Well, you'll need to at least introduce them to each other because otherwise she will pester your mum, who will then complain to your dad, who will then come and tell me to make you speak with her, and we both know that would break my heart, so it's best to clear the table before the food's been served."

Sirius looked way too proud of himself for that metaphor for Lily to say anything against it.

"Do I want to meet her?"

"Yes." – "No."

She stared at James, then at Sirius, and let out a deep sigh.

Sirius wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Auntie Sable isn't the worst that's lurking in there," he said and waved his hand in the general direction of the archway leading to the party. "There are politicians in there waiting for James to mess up, there are old ladies that I believe are mostly married to those politicians, and then there are the Families."

James groaned and buried his face in his hands.

"Families?" Lily asked upon seeing James' reaction. "As in—"

"The Ancient and Most Noble Houses, yes." Sirius looked almost disgusted saying that. "I guess some of them are nice and all, but… Why does your dad insist on inviting the Greengrasses again? Please remind me because the barf that's rising up my throat keeps me from remembering."

James shook his head. "He thinks they're the lesser of the other evils."

"They can't be converted from their Dark Wizard-ish ways, though. They're way too deep in my father's arse to notice anything around them."

"Yeah, believe me, Dad knows. Everyone knows." He ignored the mumbled, "Except for them" coming from Sirius. "I guess because they have voted on a few things that would be considered neutral that there's still some potential of making them see reason. But honestly? Who knows. I think it's come to a point in which the most Light Families are doing whatever they can to make the Wizengamot meetings a little less of an emotionally-charged shouting match than anything else, really."

"Yeah, not going to happen with my dear, old man sitting in that seat."

Lily looked from one to the other, unsure of what to say. The bitterness in both and the hatred in Sirius' voice were worrying to witness.

"He will never be swayed."

Sirius scoffed. His grey eyes turned into silver steel as all humour leaked out of them. "He'd rather kill everyone including himself by a well-placed Fiendfire than have anything to do with Dumbledore and his pack of half-breed and blood traitors ever reach his brain." He almost hissed the last words, disgust dripping from every syllable. "Believe me, I speak from experience." He said the last bit slightly towards Lily, not meeting her eyes.

"You're nothing like him." Her words caught Sirius by surprise and his head jerked up, eyes wide. "And you never will be anything like him. You are a good person, and he knows that. We know that. So never let anyone make you doubt that for one moment!"

She didn't know what had happened between Sirius and his family, but she wasn't stupid. She saw how he reacted every time someone mentioned pure-bloods, every time someone spoke like they were better than him, and every time he even saw so much as a green tinge to someone's school robes. She's never asked him why, but she didn't need to. She knew him well enough by now to know that he had his reasons. And judging by the fact that, although James' best friend, the Potters invited a Black to a party that only welcomed Light guests – with the one exception of potentially neutral individuals – said a lot.

Growing up as a Muggle-born, she'd had to put the hours in to understand the workings of the Wizarding world, including the Families. True, not a lot is known about the Wizengamot and which Ancient and Most Noble Houses still existed due to intermixing of families, lines fizzling out because of missing male heirs, and just plain and embarrassingly bad documentation. She did, however, find information on the House of Black.

As part of the Wizengamot for centuries and with relationships to nearly all Wizarding communities outside of Great Britain, the Blacks have been and still were one of the most influential and powerful Wizarding Families to date. According to what Lily had found, they usually sided with power, or with those people who promised power, and they made sure that they hadn't chosen the wrong side. Ever since Gellert Grindelwald had started his reign, or even evil wizards and witches before him, the Blacks have been openly supporting the Dark. They have been Slytherins or Ravenclaws for centuries. With one notable exception.

Sirius.

So when she looked at those wide and scared eyes, she knew that he was different. He was Light, and no matter what name he bore, he would always be Light.

Sirius stared at her, motionless, and she all but glared right back, thus not seeing the tender expression that had lit up James' face upon her declaration. But before any of them could do anything more than try to wrap their head around what had just happened, hurried footsteps caused the loaded atmosphere in the entrance hall to shatter.

"Why are you still standing there, for Merlin's sake?! James, we have guests to entertain and your name was listed on the invitation as a host, so get your bum out there and greet some people, or do you want me to get every single one of them into this hall?"

"And we all know you'd do that, Mrs P," Sirius chimed in, the dark mood all but forgotten. He wiggled his eyebrows at James' mum, who pushed her fists into her side and glared at the boy.

"How often do I have to tell you to call me Mum? Honestly, Sirius! First, you call me Mum before moving in, and now, after having moved in, you're back to Mrs P!"

"Ah, you know I love you, Mrs P."

Mrs Potter harrumphed and narrowed her eyes, but the twitch of her lips and the amused twinkle in her dark eyes betrayed her. "Now off you go, boys! And take Lily with you and show her around a bit. Merlin knows how confused you must be, my dear. I apologise for these two hooligans, and now shoo!"

She marched through the entrance hall, poked Sirius into his side, causing him to yelp, smacking her son on his bum to get him to move, causing him to yelp and Lily and Sirius to laugh before ushering them all through the archway.

"James!"

A high-pitched scream greeted them before Lily had the chance of admiring the grand room that had to be the reception area of the manor, as an elderly lady came bustling through the throngs of people. Her lilac robes were billowing around her and her long, sparkly necklace reflected what sunshine was lighting up the room. She had silver-white hair that she had pulled up into a tight bun on top of her head, and more wrinkles on her face than Lily had ever seen.

"James, my darling, there you are! Where have you been, my dear boy? I have been looking everywhere for you, and Sirius, bless him, wouldn't tell me more than what your mother told me, which, honestly, James – France? I would understand Ireland or Wales, maybe, but France? That's a lot of water to miss, my sweet boy, and who do we have here? Now, now, if that isn't one beautiful young lady! James, why haven't you introduced us yet? Honestly, love, where are your manners?"

James looked as if he was experiencing a bad case of severe whiplash as he freed himself from the arms of the woman. "Sable," he said weakly and Lily immediately covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing, recognising the name instantly, "this is Lily Evans. Lily, this is my aunt, Sable Jigger."

"So, you are this Lily girl that everyone is talking about, hear, hear."

She heard Sirius snort behind her and promptly ignored him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ma'am," Lily said kindly and offered the woman her hand to shake, which, after eyeing it suspiciously for a second, Sable Jigger accepted, jolting it up and down with an unexpected amount of strength. "I'm delighted to have been invited to this party."

"And we are delighted to have you here, sweet girl!" Sable all but beamed at her while not so subtly looking her up and down. "James has talked a lot about you, you must know, and I have to say that his descriptions of you do not disappoint."

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily could see James turn a lovely shade of tomato-red, which made her stomach do somersaults. Sable was still shaking her hand, jostling her whole body with the surprising strength of the movement.

"And a Muggle-born at that! I have to say, I never quite understood old Arsenius' opinions on Muggle-borns, especially because his own apprentice was a Muggle-born and the one who came up with the idea of writing 'Magical Drafts and Potions', so he should be more thankful for the open minds and fresh air Muggle-borns bring into our society!"

She scoffed and brushed non-existent dust off Lily's shoulder. "My brother-in-law, you see."

"Your brother-in-law wrote our first-year Potions book?"

"Oh, yes, he did, indeed." Sable let out a high-pitched laugh, now fully ignoring the two boys flanking Lily. "He isn't the brightest wand in the shop, if you know what I mean, dear, but he knows when to listen to others. That's something he had to learn when those blasted Goblins took all his potion supplies and his shop and the majority of his robes because he had thought it a good idea to make a bet about one thing or another. Honestly, my memory isn't what it used to be, and considering my constant surprise about how Arsenius is still among us, very much alive, it could be anything, for all I know. He Apparated right into our parlour wearing only a pair of underpants and a rather stained undershirt. It was quite the sight."

"And now she won't leave you alone," Sirius hummed into her ear from behind her just before Sable wrapped her hand around her elbow and started to pull her away from the boys. A quick – and slightly overwhelmed – glance back showed James and Sirius looking at each other, a dangerous glint in their eyes.

"And you see, my dear, I have always been of the opinion that one can never underestimate Muggle-borns! I remember when I was at Hogwarts and that one Ravenclaw kept bothering me to try and convince my cousin to initiate a betrothal contract, that one Muggle-born helped me get away from her by cursing the living daylights out of her. Poor girl, had to live with boils leaking puss for over a trimester! But then again, my cousin really wasn't an agreeable person and the only reason he wasn't yet planned for any witch was because nobody wanted him! So the Muggle-born probably saved her from a life of horrible boredom."

Lily smiled politely and allowed the old woman to pull her towards the buffet, promptly filling a goblet with some form of red liquid and pushing it into Lily's hands. It was smoking.

"Trust me, you would have been quite appalled if you'd ever had the displeasure of meeting him. He was an odd fellow. Ah, Beatrix, my love, how are you? May I introduce Lily Evans to you? She is James' girlfriend, you see, but I believe they don't want me to tell anyone."

Lily choked on her drink.

"Oh, what a pleasure to meet you, Miss Evans," the woman Sable had introduced as Beatrix said and bent forward to gently kiss her cheeks. She had shoulder-length black hair with streaks of white that she had styled into delicate curls framing her aged face. Her light blue eyes were kind and framed by dark lashes. "I'm Beatrix Prewett."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs Prewett."

"Oh, please call me Beatrix. 'Mrs Prewett' is my mother-in-law." She laughed softly and patted Lily's cheek. "So, you're James' girlfriend, then?"

"N—No, not girlfriend," Lily hurriedly explained and turned to Sable who was tutting and shaking her head disapprovingly. "We're just friends."

"Friends!" Sable scoffed and waved her hand through the air as if she was trying to get rid of a foul smell. "I know that boy and I know how to read him."

"That might be right, dear Sable, but let the young ones decide when to advance in their relationship. They have so much time to explore and get to know each other, let them be."

Sable scoffed again, but Beatrix ignored her. "How have you two met if I may ask?"

"On the Hogwarts Express," Lily said softly, wisely foregoing the fact that she had spent the first five years of knowing him pretty much hating him.

"Ah, where else?" Beatrix laughed again. "How lovely. And you will be starting your seventh year with him next September, I'm assuming?"

Lily nodded, feeling the all too familiar warmth crawl up her neck again as she thought back to the badge still lying on her desk at home.

"Well, I wish you two all the best, of course! May your studies be worth it and bring you lots of joy and knowledge."

"T—Thank you, that's very kind of you to say." And also rather odd, but she didn't question someone's well-wishes.

A loud crack echoed through the reception area as a very old and very wrinkly elf appeared in front of them. His ears were so big that they hung down on either side of his face, nearly reaching his tiny, thin shoulders. He was dressed similarly to Tooky, with the addition of a deep red bow tie wrapped around his neck, made out of what looked like old dish towels.

"Zanby has been asked by Master Potter to escort Mrs Jigger to the parlour for a special blend of tea his Master has just received via an urgent owl delivery, Ma'am." The elf bowed down deeply, nose almost touching the wooden floor beneath it.

Sable blinked at the elf. "A special blend of tea? Now, if that isn't an organised diversion, I don't know what is."

The elf only bowed deeper and allowed Sable to make up her mind. "Very well, innocent until proven guilty, right? I'm so sorry, my dear Lily, but apparently, my brother-in-law wants me out of this room. It was lovely getting to know you, and I'm sure James is somewhere nearby to save you as soon as I'm out of earshot."

Promptly, she turned on the spot and bustled out of the room, leaving her, Beatrix, and Zanby at the buffet; the latter vanished with another loud crack.

"That was truly something," Beatrix said, eyebrows raised, as she watched the other woman turn to her right and walk out of sight.

"And definitely a little late," said a male voice behind her, and Lily whirled around to see a smirking James, who nodded at Beatrix. "Took Dad long enough to convince Zanby to do that. Hi Beatrix, how are you? How's Silvius?"

"I'm doing well, thank you, James. Silvius' arthritis is giving him trouble, but he wouldn't let me leave him at home. He literally threatened me by saying that if he's too ill to come today, he'll be too ill for the next Wizengamot meeting, which would mean that I'd have to represent him, so I charmed on his robes and more or less dragged him into the Floo." She laughed loudly at that, and the image alone was enough for Lily and James to join her. "He wouldn't miss it in the world."

"I'm always happy to see you and Silvius around," James said conversationally, "brightens up the mood around here."

"And blows the dust off those old politicians, you mean?" The wicked smirk on her face could rival anything Lily had ever seen James or Sirius sporting.

"You said that. Not me."

"But we both know it's true."

James grinned brightly. "We do."

"Well, I won't keep you any longer." Beatrix turned to the buffet and without having to do or say anything, her goblet filled with the same red liquid that Lily was still holding onto. "My best guess is that Sable prevented you from showing Miss Evans around."

"Please call me Lily."

Beatrix gave her the most charming smile as she kissed her cheek again. "Lily," she said softly before turning to James. "Allow me to officially thank you and your parents for once again inviting me and Silvius to your lovely party, James. And now enjoy yourselves, kids. Off you go!"

She gracefully took Lily's goblet out of her hands, having seen that she hadn't much enjoyed the beverage, and shooed them away from the buffet.

"So," James said slowly after a while as he led her through the throngs of people, "what do you think about Sable?"

Lily snorted, causing him to laugh.

"She's really nice," Lily said, amused, "but she's also a lot."

"Ah, yes. Welcome to my family."

I freaking love Mrs Potter! She's awesome! And Sable! Haha xD

Until next time - see ya! :D