Lily Evans: A History

Chapter 34 - Dog Days of Summer
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Lily Evans stared out the window of the Hogwarts Express, silently willing it to go backwards. She would gladly re-take her end of year exams if it meant not having to face Petunia that summer. But as King's Cross station was fast approaching, it looked as if Lily's wishes weren't coming true today. Sighing deeply, she nudged Kassie, who was sleeping on the seat across from her, with her foot. "Wake up," she muttered. "We're almost there."

Kassie grumbled in her sleep, moved her arms over her face and let out a rather loud snore. Lily raised an eyebrow and nudged her best friend again. "Sorry, didn't make that last part out. What did you say?"

No reply. Lily rolled her eyes and lazily reached over to rub Bast's head. The cat purred and stretched, rubbing her body up against Lily's leg. Yawning, Lily kicked at Kassie's arm. "Get up!"

"What?"

"Get up," Lily repeated, continuing to kick at Kassie until she sat up. Lily smiled slightly. Kassie's black hair was sticking up in all sorts of directions and her eyes were bloodshot. "We should have slept last night," Kassie muttered, pulling her hair into a messy pony tail at the back of her head. "Whose bright idea was it to stay up all bloody night?"

"Yours," Lily deadpanned, sitting up and causing Bast to glare at her, annoyed. "So did a little sleep bring your problem with Sirius into perspective?"

Kassie glared at her so-called best friend for nearly a full thirty seconds before proceeding to ignore her. Scooping up Bast, she rubbed the cat's head with one hand and flicked her wand at her belongings with the other. "Pack!" Her jumper, book, cards, hair brush and pillow flew back into her trunk and it snapped shut. Lily watched all of this with a slight smile on her face. Irritably Kassie jerked her trainers on, glaring at Lily. "And what is so amusing, may I ask?"

"You," Lily replied. Calmly, Lily placed all her belongings in her bag and made sure Morgana's cage was shut properly.

Kassie sat back, crossed her arms and looked out the window. She gave a loud sigh before turning back to her best friend. "I don't know. Really, I've never thought of Sirius like that and I don't know what to make of the situation now that I know how he feels. But," Kassie added as an afterthought. "It certainly helps a lot of things make sense."

"His proposals for marriage?" Lily asked.

"No," said Kassie. "Just some... stuff."

"And now you're not going to tell me?" Lily sat back in her own seat, crossing her arms indignantly. "Do you suddenly not kiss and tell?"

"I didn't kiss him!" Kassie's eyes grew as wide as saucers. But it was the deep shade of red her face turned that piqued Lily's interest. "Well, it wasn't because I didn't want to..."

"And you never thought of him that way!" Lily accused, sitting up towards Kassie and grabbing the other witch’s arms. "When? Where? Why haven't you told me?!"

"I was upset! I thought it was because I was so upset, and he was being so... so... sweet! Ugh," Kassie moaned dramatically. Leaning her head back against the seat again, Kassie told Lily about the encounter she had had with Sirius after her first incident with Bellatrix Black.

Lily listened, wide-eyed. "You are telling me," the red head began. "That Sirius--Sirius Black--said all that? That he was being that nice? On purpose? And you had no idea he was in love with you? Are you mad?"

"Yes! Yes, I am! Because I didn't see him doing anything out of the ordinary, I thought it was just me being stupid for wanting to kiss him!" Kassie flung her arms up in the air for emphasis and shook her head. "I had no idea the entire time he was holding me like that that he was being anything more than a friend!"

"Kassie, for all that you are so smart about some things, you’re very naive when it comes to others," Lily pointed out needlessly.

"I'll--" Whatever Kassie was about to say was cut short by the train coming to a stop at King's Cross Station. The announcer's voice came through the compartments, instructing all students to gather their belongings in an orderly manner and to leave the train. Lily looked out the window at the platform full of anxious families and wished with all her heart that she was going home with one of them.

Instead the red head grabbed her trunk handle in one hand, Morgana's cage in the other, and motioned Bast to jump up on her shoulders. The slim cat lay across the back of Lily's neck, laying her head on Lily's right shoulder and sinking her claws into her owner's robe to hang on.

The throng of students slowly, but surely, made their way off the train and meet up with their families. Lily said her goodbyes to Kassie (with a warning that their earlier conversation was far from over) when they spotted her Aunt Wanda, and then made her way through the barrier to the Muggle station to begin what she hoped would be an uneventful summer. But even as she thought it, she knew better.

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Lily cracked open the door to her home and peeked inside as if she expected something to jump out and attack her. Far from being attacked though, Lily found that the house was perfectly silent and apparently empty. Behind her, Christine was fumbling with her handbag. "Oh, it's open. Daniel must be up."

Lily wasn't sure what to expect as she dragged her trunk into her home. As soon as she passed the doorway, Bast jumped off her shoulders and sprinted up the stairs. "Somehow I thought it would be a war zone here, knowing my dear sister."

Christine sighed, but never lost her smile. It seemed almost painted on. "It's ok, dear, you are correct in assuming it's a war zone." Christine checked her wrist watch and then glanced back out the door. "I daresay Petunia will return shortly. Every day about this time she has tea at one of her bridesmaids’ homes. They spend a few hours talking about the wedding, and then she comes back in an uproar about something. It's completely exhausting. I'm very glad you didn't ask if one of your friends could come over. I just don't think I've the energy."

Lily watched as her mother dropped her handbag on a table and go towards the back garden, searching for Daniel. Lily readjusted the handle of her trunk and Morgana's cage, and once more started up the stairs to her room.

Her bedroom hadn't changed since the last time she had been in it, not that she had expected it to. Morgana was sleeping with her head beneath her wing, but jerked awake when Lily set her cage down and opened the door. She gave a feeble hoot of thanks, but didn't budge. Lily glanced around the room and noted that Bast had curled up on a pillow and had drifted off to sleep. "I have the laziest animals ever," Lily said to herself, pulling her trunk open.

After a few minutes of pulling spell books, robes and the like out of her trunk, Lily gave up unpacking and headed downstairs to greet her father before Petunia returned. Unfortunately for Lily, just as she stepped off the bottom step, the front door swung open and Petunia entered.

Petunia Evans had changed little from the last time Lily had seen her. She still wore her blonde hair straight down, wore too much make-up, and had on clothes that were better suited to someone who wasn't quite as tall. "Oh," her sister stated sourly, her long face becoming even longer as she frowned. "You're back."

"Aren't you a master of the obvious?" Lily quipped and headed off towards the kitchen. She heard Petunia huff behind her, but ignored her.

Petunia followed, slapping a thick book on the table in the kitchen, creating a loud banging noise, and thus winning her a glare from Daniel, who was reading the paper. Daniel's frown faded when he laid eyes on his youngest. "Why Lily, I was beginning to think you didn't want to see me," he teased, folding his paper and laying it down.

Petunia crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot. "Mum, I've decided to change the cake."

"Again, Petunia, dear? You only decided on the other one two nights ago." Christine gave Lily a sideways glance that clearly said "See what I mean?"

"Come here little one, I want a hug," Daniel told Lily, causing Petunia to glare at him. Lily bent down and hugged her father's neck tightly. "Hi Daddy."

"Mum," Petunia whined. "Aren't you going to look at it?"

"In a second, dear," Christine insisted. She placed four pieces of chicken in a pan and covered it. "Daniel, do you want bread or potatoes?"

"Potatoes will be fine," Daniel replied. Lily took the seat next to her father, making a point of not looking at the wedding cake book lying on the table.

"I'm eating with Vernon," Petunia suddenly announced, jerking the book off the table and stomping towards the doorway. "I'm sure he will care what cake we have."

"Petunia, your sister just returned from school, I think we can forgo long discussions about your wedding for one meal," said Christine, her voice exasperated as she turned. She wagged the spatula at Petunia. "Or maybe you'd want to share your plans with your sister?" she added hopefully.

"She'll see it on the day," Petunia replied and spun away. Daniel folded his paper up a bit more neatly and laid it aside. "So, Lily, tell us about your year."

Lily proceeded to give her parents a shortened version of her school year, being sure to leave out the bits about getting in fights and detentions. Dinner was enjoyable, especially since Petunia was true to her word and didn’t return. However, it wasn't long after dessert had been served that her mother started on all the problems with the wedding. Christine seemed eager to rant to someone who hadn't heard the same complaint ten times already. Unfortunately, Lily felt as though she had heard it more than ten times before, because of all the fretting she had done over it before coming home. Enviously she watched her father wheel himself into the greenhouse to work on his plants, wishing she could join him.

Hearing about Petunia's rants and actually witnessing them, though, was a completely different matter. In the weeks to follow, Lily decided that someone needed to either hit her around the head or Petunia, whichever would be easiest. This summer was turning out to be one of the worst yet, and as June turned to July and July slowly slipped away, it only threatened to become worse. The closer her wedding day came, the more highly strung Petunia was. If her older sister had been unbearable before, it was nothing like it was now. Lily found herself nearly longing for the way life was before Petunia had announced her engagement.

Since Lily had come home from school, Petunia had changed the colours of the wedding four times, the cake seven times, the location only twice (because it was drawing so near she couldn't book the third place) and ranted and raved about every detail in the meantime. Petunia's friends marched in and out of the Evans’ home at all times of the day and night, carrying flower samples, napkin samples, table settings, wedding books, fabric swatches and anything else that might have the slightest hint of belonging to a wedding.

And to make matters worse, Vernon was also hanging around, when all of Petunia's friends weren't. So far he hadn’t said or done anything out of line to Lily (outside of making sure to not touch her, be in the same room as her, or heaven forbid, speak to her) but this didn't bother Lily at all. In fact, she rather enjoyed the way he scampered out of the room whenever she came in. But with only two weeks until the wedding, it was time for family dinners and the soon to be in-laws were hosting the first one. This meant that Lily would meet Vernon's parents and his sister, Marge.

Lily tried to picture in her mind what a sibling of Vernon Dursley's would look like, but the picture she conjured was too funny, and couldn’t possibly be true. She even wrote to Kassie about it, and when her best friend wrote back, she could almost see the tears of mirth in her eyes when she joking said, "She probably has a moustache to rival his!"

Lily looked at her reflection in her dressing-table mirror and sighed heavily. She could think of a million other things she'd rather be doing tonight. But her parents were adamant, which meant no amount of whining, begging or pleading would get her out of the dinner she would have to attend in just under an hour.

Lily pinned her hair back as "normally" as possible, as per her sister's instructions. Lily had given up being herself while this wedding was being planned. Anything she said or did was abnormal or strange, and sent Petunia into hysterics. She lightly applied a natural hue lipstick, sprayed just one small spray of perfume and looked herself over in the mirror. As far as she could tell, she didn't look like a witch. Of course, unless she was in robes and had her wand, she didn't see much difference anyway. But Petunia insisted she had a "freakish" air about her that screamed what she really was.

Taking a deep breath, Lily grabbed her bag and checked that her wand was still securely in it. No matter what Petunia, or anyone else said, Voldemort was still on the loose out there and Lily refused to be unarmed. Reassured that it was there, Lily headed downstairs. When she arrived, Petunia was pacing back and forth at the front door, her dress slapping the back of her calves as she turned and began pacing again.

Lily stepped up behind her father's wheelchair and looked around. "Are we ready?"

Petunia stopped dead, her face turning slightly pale as she turned pleading eyes to her younger sister. "Please don't do anything stupid," she said, wringing her hands before her. Lily gave a puzzled glance, wondering exactly when she had done anything to publicly humiliate Petunia. Lately. "No owls, stick sparks, flying clothes...."

"Petunia, I think Lily knows how to act," Daniel said quietly, but with a definite warning tone ringing just under the surface. Petunia stopped pacing, but didn't drop the sour look on her face. "Everyone ready then?" Daniel asked as if everyone in present company was excited to be leaving together. "Then let's go, we don't want to be late," he added when no-one answered.

Lily rode silently in the backseat next to Petunia, looking out the window and taking great pains not to touch, look at, or in any way make contact with her older sibling. They arrived at the Dursley home nearly twenty minutes later.

Lily looked around as she stepped out of the car. It wasn't a huge house, per say, but it was larger than the home she currently lived in. Well, for three months of the year. The house seemed like a toy compared to Hogwarts, as did every house, for that matter.

The front gardens were very neat, not the first sign of a weed in any of the beds. But the choice of plants shocked Lily; there was only greenery. Nothing more colourful. She had never seen a more boring garden. It seemed very basic, neat, nothing extraordinary. Lily wondered if that was the type of life Petunia was in for.

They came to the front door and Christine rang the bell. Even the doorbell seemed dull, and well, normal. And suddenly Lily could understand Petunia's fascination with these people. They were normal to the point of boredom. And Petunia wanted to get away from Lily, and her supposed abnormality, so badly that she craved this type of life. In a way Lily felt sad for her older sister. She would never see that there was a whole world out there, a world beyond the routine existence of her daily life.

After a few seconds the door opened, revealing a rather large girl around Petunia's age, that resembled Vernon so much that Lily had no doubt this girl was his sister. The redhead found herself hard pressed not to snort with laughter; she'd definitely have to write to Kassie as soon as she got home.

Marjorie Dursley was sporting a double chin, a roll of fat under her shirt that resembled an inner tube and if Lily didn't know any better, she’d swear she saw a moustache as well. Petunia rushed forward, pecking this woman's cheek in greeting. "Marge, it’s so good to see you again. I would like you to meet my parents. This is Christine and Daniel Evans. Mum, Dad, this is Vernon's sister, Marjorie."

"Just call me Marge," the woman boomed. Her voice was terribly deep for a woman, but by this point nothing was shocking Lily. She just wondered what meeting Vernon's parents would be like.

"Is that Lily?" Marge suddenly asked near Petunia's ear, her voice nothing more than a raised whisper. Lily strained to hear what answer Petunia would give, but her sister didn't part her lips. Instead Petunia gave Marge a look that spoke volumes. Lily rolled her eyes and followed her parents into the home of Vernon Dursley, her soon to be brother-in-law. Whether she liked it, or not.

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Upon reflection, Lily felt that dinner with the Dursleys could have been worse. But, in retrospect, it could have been a great deal better. The food was good, but it wasn't too long after watching the Dursleys eat that Lily found her appetite to be completely gone. To say that this family had a healthy appetite was putting it mildly. Lily refused dessert, claiming she had to watch her figure, but no-one minded. They just ate their share (which was big enough for three people) and then Lily's share too. And the part that Christine didn't finish. Lily wondered if they hadn't finished off Petunia's as well.

Goodness, Lily found herself thinking as she watched Marge help herself to thirds, Petunia's children are going to look like baby whales.

As much as she wanted to laugh at the mental image she got of a whale sized baby with Petunia's long horse face, Lily kept a straight face. Not that anyone was paying her any attention. No-one had spoken to her during the entire course of the meal, not that this bothered Lily in the least.

The talk about the wedding soon began, and from that point on Lily found herself daydreaming. She pondered what kind of home her sister would keep. It was be very clean, Lily was sure. And judging by Vernon's appetite, Petunia would spend a great deal of time cooking. And their children would probably be very large, just like their father....

However, the baby Lily pictured in her sister's house this time wasn't large. In fact, he was small, and had black hair. Neither Vernon nor Petunia had black hair, so this in itself was odd. And the baby had green eyes... her eyes... not Petunia's....

"Lily."

Lily blinked, looking at her mother. Christine was standing and motioning for Lily to follow them. The Dursley's had already left the dining room, Lily could hear them discussing something about what drinks to be served at the reception. Lily stood, noting Petunia's glare from across the table. "Sorry, I've got a bit of a headache," Lily offered as an excuse.

Christine gave her a worried frown. "Perhaps we should go?" she suggested softly. "Do you need to lie down?"

Petunia walked from the room, ignoring anything else that was said. Seeing her opportunity, Lily nodded to her mother. "Could we go? I've some-" She glanced around to see if Petunia was in ear shot. "Potions at home that would help."

"Of course," Christine replied. She felt of Lily's forehead. "You do seem a bit warm. I hope you're not coming down with anything. This close to the wedding, Petunia’s likely to explode."

Lily followed her parents into the living room, staying close to Daniel's wheelchair in case Petunia lashed out at her. Surprisingly, though, Petunia seemed to take their early departure well. Ignoring Lily, Petunia kissed both her parents’ cheeks. "If you don't mind, Mum, I'd like to stay over at Marge's this evening. To discuss the wedding."

"That's fine," Christine replied, looking as shocked as Lily felt at Petunia's easy going attitude. "Call if you need anything. Charlene, Ted, it was a wonderful meal. I'm so sorry we can't stay longer."

"It's ok, Christine. I hope you feel better Lisa," Charlene said, giving Lily the fakest smile she had ever seen.

"It's Lily," Lily said politely. Kill them with kindness, she thought. "Thank you. Dinner was fabulous."

Lily couldn't help but notice the confused look that Vernon's mother shot her husband as Lily left. Whatever it was that Petunia told them about her, she hoped this countered it at least somewhat. But then again, she found she hardly cared what they thought about her.

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By the time Lily got home, she really did have a headache. Christine had talked a blue streak about Vernon's family and how shocking their table manners were, but Lily found herself unable to comment. When at last she got to her room, she as though her head would explode. She searched everywhere for her stash of healing potions, but it seemed she had run out. Or had left them at school. With a sigh Lily lay across her bed in hopes that it might help.

It was late in the night when Lily awoke. Her headache hadn't gone, but it wasn't throbbing as painfully as before. Lily got up to change into a nightdress, but stopped at the window. The full moon shone brightly in the clear sky and Lily found her thoughts going to Remus. At this very moment, somewhere, Remus was no longer himself. He was a werewolf. Lily felt a shiver run down her spine and tears cloud her vision. Shaking it off, she changed and went back to bed. But sleep was beyond her for quite a while still. Her head aching more and more the longer she was awake, Lily tossed and turned.

The sun's rays were sparkling over the tree tops when Lily finally fell asleep. But the blissful sleep wouldn't last nearly as long as Lily had hoped. In fact, Lily felt like she had just gone to sleep when something began pecking at her hand. Groggily she jerked her hand back and under the blankets, but whatever it was was persistent. Lily opened a blurry eye, but the sun shining in her window nearly blinded her. "Morgana, go away...." she muttered. From the other side of the room she heard her owl hoot, a little sarcastically, if owls could do so. Shaking her head mentally at that last thought, Lily burrowed deeper in her blankets. "Bast, stop."

The grey and white cat poked her head up from the foot of the bed where she was sleeping and stared at her mistress. Then, suddenly, a large white snowy owl flew back into the room and pecked Lily again, this time on the shoulder. "BAST!" Lily screeched.

Instantly several things happened. Bast hissed angrily and jumped off the bed, Horace hooted and pecked Lily again, and Morgana ruffled her feathers and joined in with Horace's angry hoots. Blinking dumbly, Lily shoved her blankets off her head and sat up. Horace, looking semi-proud of the grumpy state Lily was in, dropped a letter in her lap and then went over to join Morgana on her perch. The grey owl moved over two steps and put her head under her wing. Lily watched the two owls for a moment before rolling her eyes and looking at the letter in her lap. The envelope was addressed to her in untidy scrawl that looked like James' or Sirius', she couldn't tell.

Lily had only just pulled the parchment out of the envelope when there was a knock on her bedroom door. Christine pushed the door open a second later. "Lily, why are all your animals making so much noise? And..." her vision swayed a bit as she looked at Morgana's perch. "Oh, is that James' owl? What does he want this early in the morning?"

"Don't know," Lily replied, opening the parchment. "I haven't read his letter yet." Slowly Lily's eyes scanned the parchment, the colour draining from her face as she did. Christine came further into the room, her hand stretched towards Lily, but unsure what to do. "Lily?"

"Oh no," Lily muttered, re-reading the letter, her hand shaking slightly. "Mum, I've got to go to London today."

"Today? Lily, what's the matter?"

Lily looked at the parchment in her hand once more. Suddenly she slapped it down on her desk, jumped up and jerked her school trunk open. Grabbing a piece of parchment, quill and ink, she hurriedly wrote something and tied it to Horace's leg. "Take this to James." As the white owl soared out the window, Lily began grabbing clothes. Christine opened her mouth again, but Lily began speaking before she could ask; "It's Remus, he's in St. Mungo's."

"Oh dear," Christine muttered, following Lily down the hall and towards the bathroom. "Lily, do you want me to drive you? What's wrong with him? Did James say it's bad?"

"I can Floo. We've got powder, right?" Lily asked. She turned the water on in the bath and waited for it to get warm. "He must have got hurt last night...." Vaguely Lily could remember her headache, and the feeling of sadness and... was it dread? That came over her as she looked at the moon last night. A shiver ran down her spine. "James said it was bad."

Lily shut the door in Christine's face and took perhaps the fastest shower she had ever taken. Ten minutes later she was dressed, her hair still wet, hurrying down the stairs, Christine on her heels. "Last night? What could have happened last night?"

Lily opened her mouth to blurt that Remus was a werewolf when the situation hit her fully. Her mother had no idea that werewolves were real. Somehow she didn't think this would be information she need to spit out in a hurry, and then leave. "Well, he wrote so early, I assumed," Lily said, her fingers crossed. Lying to her mother about her world was something she swore she'd never do. It was adding to the list of a lot of things she never wanted to happen between her and her parents, but was. Sighing, Lily kissed her mother's cheek quickly and threw Floo powder into the flames. "I don't know what time I'll be home. If you need me, send Morgana."

Lily checked her cloak, made sure her wand was with her and stepped into the flames. "St. Mungo's!"

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James Potter slept late during the summer holiday, usually. He and Sirius both made it a habit to get out of bed just as lunch was being put on the table. But last night had been different. Last night had been a full moon, and both James and Sirius had flooed to Remus' to be with him up until the moon rise. It was a routine they had got in the habit of after Remus' mother had died. Early in the afternoon, James and Sirius would Floo to Remus' house, meet up there with Peter, and the three of them would try to keep Remus' sprits up while he awaited the night.

Just as the sun's rays were completely gone, and the moon was minutes from coming up, James and Sirius walked with Remus to the shed where they would lock him up. Peter stayed in the house just in case something went wrong. Sirius had called him a coward for this, but the shorter boy had been adamant that he couldn't run as fast as them if the need should arise. James and Sirius insisted it wouldn't.

Last night they were wrong.

James leaned his head against the wall in the hallway and sighed deeply. Every time he closed his eyes he could see Remus' body go rigid, see the moon's rays sparkling over the horizon, and Sirius' face as they both realized that they had waited too long.

It was the first time James had seen someone become a werewolf, but it wasn't something he would soon forget. Remus' body had become rigid, his eyes large and bright. Hair had started sprouting out of his skin, and the sound of his bones rearranging themselves into that of a wolf.... A shiver ran down James' spine. It was horrible to watch, but even more horrible to know that once it was complete, Remus no longer recognized either himself or Sirius. And had tried to attack them both.

The only thing that saved James' neck was Sirius. Unable to get past the first stages of being a dog all summer, James had no idea what Sirius was doing when he jumped towards him when Remus had transformed. To his astonishment a giant black dog had knocked him away from a set of sharp claws. After pouncing on James to knock him out of the way, Sirius had turned and jumped straight at Remus' head and the two had started to fight.

"James!"

James snapped out of his memories and blinked as a red headed girl with a black cloak over her jeans and t-shirt came running down the hall. When she approached James she slowed down, one hand on her heart. "James," she panted. "Remus? How is he?"

"I didn't expect you to come. Well, not so fast," James commented, smiling despite himself to see Lily standing in front of him, looking so worried. And pretty. But mostly worried, he added. "The Healer is in with him now."

Lily nodded, trying to catch her breath. Looking exhausted, she half sat and half fell onto a bench in the hall and leaned back. "Where are Sirius and Peter? I thought they'd be here?"

"Sirius is here somewhere," James muttered, closing his eyes again, but only for a second. He re-opened them, deciding he'd rather see Lily than his memories over and over again. "Peter went home. His Mum was about to have kittens, I expect."

"What happened?"

James ran a hand through his very untidy hair looking around at anything but the green eyes staring at him. He and Sirius had only briefly discussed the story they would tell. Explaining to anyone, especially his parents since they worked at the Ministry, that Sirius was an illegal animagus was out of the question. He looked at Lily. It wasn't that he didn't trust her.... but he didn't want to burden her with his secrets either. "Sirius, Pete and I went over to Remus' last night, to be with him and then lock him up.

"Apparently we didn't watch the time well enough, or the skies, whichever. Remus changed before we locked him up." Lily's sharp intake of breath caught James off guard. He blinked, looking down at the red head before continuing. "He ran off somewhere. We found him this morning, in the woods behind his house. He’s in pretty bad shape."

James couldn't look directly at Lily as he said this, so he looked at her chin instead. The truth of the matter was that Remus was pretty riled when Sirius wouldn't let him at James. So they had fought. And Sirius was also nursing some bad wounds this morning. James sighed deeply. How had things gotten out of hand so quickly? And what might have happened if Sirius hadn't been able to transform? The thought scared him more than he let on.

"Sirius!"

James turned around to see Sirius coming down the hall, gingerly touching a huge bruise on his arm. He grinned when he saw Lily, his cut lip making his smile a little more lopsided than normal. "Morning Lily."

"You look--" Lily began, standing up, her eyes widening. "Horrible."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "And I was going to say you look beautiful, but I just changed my mind."

"What happened?" Lily asked, looking between the friends eagerly and with just a hint of suspicion. "You said Remus transformed before you locked him up... he didn't--??"

"No, no!" Sirius waved his good hand in front of him. "I didn’t get bitten or anything. But, well, let's just say I've had a rough night," Sirius managed, and fell into the chair Lily had recently vacated. "I'll live."

Lily watched Sirius nervously, eyeing the cut above his left eye. She was just about to start prodding him for more information when the door to Remus' room opened and two Healers came out. Sirius shot up before Lily could even think of moving, and he and James proceeded to bombard the two Healers with one question after another.

"How is he?"

"Can we see him?"

"Just one minute, gentlemen," the first Healer said, giving the boys a stern look that reminded Lily faintly of Professor McGonagall. "Now, just who are you?"

"His best friends," James and Sirius replied in unison.

"And where are his parents?" the second Healer asked. She had been standing behind the first witch, but moved forward and shut the door behind her where she had seen Lily looking. Though Lily couldn't see Remus from her angle, she huffed and turned her attention back to James.

"Dead," James replied at once.

"Guardians?" the Healer prompted.

James and Sirius both hesitated for a minute. Technically, Remus had no guardian. Lily saw a look she didn't like one bit pass between the Healers. Resolutely, she stepped forward. "They are Muggles."

James and Sirius' heads whipped around to Lily so fast that she could have sworn she heard their necks pop. The first Healer crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Lily as if she had grown a second head. "Muggles? As guardians for a werewolf?" she asked in a voice that suggested she was talking to a small child.

"Yes," Lily replied. She strained to keep her voice strong.

Lily and the Healers stared at each other for a moment that seemed to last an eternity. Finally the second Healer broke contact and Lily felt a shuddering breath threaten to leave her body. "Well, before anyone can see him, I'm afraid we'll have to speak with these Muggles. Can you get them here?"

Lily felt as though her stomach had just dropped to somewhere around her knees. She felt James stare at her. "Yes."

"Good. You do that, and then we'll discuss letting him have visitors."

"But--!" Sirius inserted.

"I assure you," the second Healer said, "he will live. But no further information will be released until we have spoken with his guardian." The first one walked away, muttering to herself.

As she stalked away, James and Sirius turned, in unison, to Lily, their mouths hanging open. Lily rubbed her hands over her face. "Damn."

"You are in for it now," Sirius muttered.

"Me?" Lily replied, regaining the edge in her voice. She grabbed both Sirius (who yelped with pain) and James by the robe sleeves. "No, we are in trouble."

Lily dragged them to a Floo Fireplace where she grabbed a pinch of powder and threw it in the flames. "Gentlemen, my house. We have a lot of explaining to do to my parents in a very short amount of time."

James groaned loudly as he stepped into the flames. Shaking his head in disbelief (had it only been twenty-four hours since he had been playing Quidditch in his garden?) he took his glasses off, tucked them into his robe pocket and said, "Nine Hollis Drive!"

When he came to a halt, he was instantly met with a high pitched scream. Through his unfocused and blurry eyesight he saw what looked like a tall hag with blonde hair running out of the room, screaming worse than a banshee. Shaking some of the soot from his hair, he put his glasses back on his face and stepped out of the fireplace just as Sirius came spinning into it.

"MUM!" Petunia screeched somewhere in the house. "MUM! THERE IS SOMETHING IN THE FIRE! MUM!"

Sirius stepped out and chuckled as Petunia went running past the doorway, saw him and James, and promptly starting screaming even louder as she took the stairs two at a time. "Wow, what a reception, eh?" Sirius asked, grinning broadly and dusting soot from his robes.

His statement was followed by Lily spinning into the fireplace and stepping out just as Christine came running into the living room, followed by a hysterical Petunia. "See!?" she screeched, pointing a long, bony finger at Sirius and James. Her eyes then fell on Lily and if possible, they got larger. "YOU!"

"Yes, it's me," Lily retorted, trying to ignore her sister. But it wasn't happening. Petunia pushed past Christine and stomped towards her younger sister, looking as if she might strangle her. Lily defiantly met her gaze.

"I told you that I won't have these FREAKS here before my wedding! What if Eileen had been here? What if Vernon had been here?"

"Petunia," Lily said in her softest, sweetest voice. "As much as I would love to go on and on to you about how I don't give a DAMN what you think, I have more important things to do."

Every face in the room went slack as Lily's heated gaze met Petunia's squarely. After a stare that seemed to spark with hatred, Petunia turned and stomped out of the room, muttering darkly to herself. Christine snapped her mouth shut and was about to demand from Lily who she thought she was, when she saw the tears in her daughter's eyes. "Lily," she began, a little less stern than she had started.

"Mum, we've got to talk to you. It's important, and I’m afraid it will come as a huge shock."

Christine followed her daughter and her two friends over to the sofa, wondering what could be a bigger shock than hearing what just escaped her innocent youngest daughter's mouth. She mentally prepared herself for... well, anything, actually. But, well, obviously she wasn't prepared for what was said next.

"Mum, I told you that Remus was in St. Mungo's, right? Well," Lily surged on, not sure she would start again if she stopped. "Eh, I suppose I should start at the beginning. Remus is a werewolf."

Christine felt like the floor had just been ripped out from under her. Her jaw went slack and her hands began trembling. But before she could properly digest this information, Sirius started talking quickly. "I know that you probably have a different opinion of a werewolf than we do, since we know they exist and you just found out, well, two seconds ago. But he's only a werewolf one night out of the month, and the rest of the time he's just Remus. The same Remus you know."

"But the problem is, his parents are dead," James added, picking up where Sirius had trailed off. "And he doesn't have anyone, because no-one wants to be the guardian of a werewolf. And not that many people know, actually."

Lily threw James a look and picked up the story, again. "So, the point is, he's in St. Mungo's and without a guardian they won't release any information. And if the Ministry finds out he has no guardian, then he'll end up in some wild animal thing, somewhere." Lily trailed off, not knowing exactly what would happen to Remus if the authorities found out he had no guardian but knowing it couldn't be good.

Christine tried to digest this information as best she could, but the only thing she ended up with at the end of it all was a lot of confusion and three pleading looks from the kids sitting across from her. Finally she managed to speak; "What is it you want me to do? Why are you telling me this?"

Lily swallowed, looking to James and Sirius for help. Both of them said nothing. Sighing, Lily opted to look at her twisting hands instead of her mother. "I sort of told them that he had Muggle guardians..." she muttered, not looking at Christine.

"Lily Evans, how could you li---wait," Christine's eyes had grown large again, and Lily moved a bit closer to James. "You are wanting me to...?"

"Please Mum," Lily said, her voice dripping with sweetness and a bit of whining, as well. She nudged James, who nudged Sirius and both of them said, "Pleassssse Mum."

"I--" Christine swallowed hard, looking from one pleading face to the next. It was bad enough that her daughter had one of the most non-refusable pleading looks in the world, but Sirius had a hell of a one, as well. And come to think of it, James looked like he'd burst into tears if she refused.... Exhaling deeply, Christine twisted her hands. "What do I have to do?"

"Oh! Thank you Mum! You won't regre---" Lily stopped at the look on her mother's face. "Oh, well, whatever. Thank you!" And Lily promptly jumped from the sofa and hugged her mother.

----------------

Christine Evans had never been more nervous in her life, including the time she and Daniel had visited the school her youngest daughter attended. Luckily she had been to St. Mungo's the summer before, when Lily had a nasty cut to the head, so she wasn't terribly surprised at the strange people (and creatures) in the hospital waiting room. Trying hard not to fidget, she mentally went over everything Lily, James and Sirius had explained to her during the car journey to the hospital as she walked towards the lift that would take her to the first floor where Remus was currently residing.

Lily looked as nervous as Christine felt, but James and Sirius were walking along as if they did this sort of thing every day. Christine wondered idly where Olivia and Harold were, but before she had time to ask, the lift stopped and Christine found herself in a small, dingy ward with one small window. There were two witches standing behind a small desk. They both stopped their conversation when Christine approached, eyeing her strangely. Praying to whoever might be listening (and feeling gracious today) Christine walked as confidently as she could manage up to the counter. "Hello. I'm here to see Remus Lupin, please."

"You are?" the taller of the two Healer's asked, glancing quickly and Sirius, James and Lily.

"Christine Evans," Christine replied promptly. "I'm Remus' guardian."

"Oh," the Healer replied, flicking her wand and summoning a chart. She flipped through it a moment. "I'll just need you to verify a few things, first." Christine smiled politely, even though her heart had started pounding painfully as she mentally repeated everything James and Sirius had said. "The patient's full name?"

"Remus John Lupin," Christine replied quickly.

"His parents?"

"Alfred and Antoinette Lupin, both deceased."

The Healer looked as if she wanted to ask more, but the second Healer took the chart from her hands. "Very well, just sign these papers right here and then you may see him."

Lily felt a shuddering breath leave her body and she leaned against James, who was standing behind her. Unsure what to do, James placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. Christine signed the roll of parchment and then waited expectantly to be led to Remus' room.

Remus was awake when they entered his room, and only by the grace of God (and Sirius making all sorts of wild gestures behind the Healer's back) did he hide his confusion when Christine entered, rushed over to him, and said, "Dear, I'm so glad you're ok! I'm so sorry I wasn't here sooner!"

Lily and James snickered as the Healer shut the door and all four of them let out a breath of relief when it was snapped shut completely. There was a short pause, and then everyone began talking at once:

"I can't believe we got away with that!"

"How are you, Remus?"

"You look horrible! Are you ok? Does it hurt?"

"Mrs. Evans, not that I mind, but what...?" Remus looked between each face eagerly, not sure what was going on, but sure by the look on Sirius' face that it was against at least fifty rules, or laws, as the case maybe.

Lily explained quickly what happened, and finished not a moment too soon. The head Healer (Lily had noticed the last time they spoke that the other lady was in training) came in the room and proceeded to explain to them that Remus would be fine in a day's time, but should check back in a week if he doesn't feel one hundred percent.

When the Healer left again, Lily sat heavily in a chair next to Remus' bed and took his hand in hers. "Are you sure you’re ok? You don't look good at all."

"I've been worse," Remus replied, shrugging a bit.

"Don't worry about it, mate," Sirius said, crossing his arms. "She told me how horrible I looked the second she laid eyes on me." Lily reached over and punched Sirius on his arm, which happened to be the bruised one, and he cringed, glaring at her good naturedly.

Christine stood to the side, listening to the four friends talking back and forth, a slight smile on her face. Never could she have imagined Lily's friends to be two troublemaking wizards, a werewolf, and God knows who else. But it mattered little. As odd as the situation was, and as shocked as she was that she had lied so easily, to see Lily with friends made her heart warm considerably. After all, it wasn't that long ago that her youngest daughter had no one but a diary, a sister that didn't like her, and a self loathing for the strange things she did that made Christine cry at points. But that small, insecure, but admirably brave girl had vanished, and had been replaced with a young lady that made her parents more proud than they could say. Christine truly admired Lily for the person she had become. And judging by the look James Potter's face, she wasn't the only person who admired Lily.

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Lily pulled a steaming pot of hot water off the stove, set it aside, turned the stove off, and began to pour the hot water over three cups with tea bags in them. Distantly she could hear laughter and a smile came unbidden to her lips. With only four days before Petunia’s wedding, Lily was finding it hard to believe she was having so much fun. Even harder to believe, though, was that she had spent the majority of the last week not at home, but at Remus'. With James, Sirius, Peter and even Kassie.

"Hey, need any help?" a voice suddenly asked. Kassie came into the kitchen, brushing a few stray hairs from her face.

"Now that it's finished you want to help?" Lily asked, setting the cups on a tray and picking it up. "Fat load of help you are."

"Just doing my part," Kassie replied.

Kassie went ahead into the living room where James and Remus were playing exploding snap. Lily sat the tea tray down just as the cards in Remus' hands exploded. James let out a whooping laugh as Remus started grumbling.

"Up for a game, ladies?" James asked, pulling the cards back together and shuffling them. "All the money in my pocket to the winner."

"And what do you have, one knut?" Kassie quipped, eyeing James with distrust.

James dug into his jean pocket. "Two sickles, actually. Anyone else want to make some wagers?"

Lily shook her head. "I have to get home, I have to get ready to go to the church for the rehearsal."

James pulled a face and Kassie patted Lily's arm reassuringly. "We can go with you..." James suggested lightly, a wicked grin lighting up his features. "I can even firecall home and get Sirius to come."

Lily noted that Kassie's eyes were huge. She and Sirius had been avoiding each other like the plague. Lily wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or scream at the childish way Kassie and Sirius had been acting towards each other. "No, no, that's ok," Lily assured him, grinning at the thought none the less. "But I do need to go. Everyone ok here?"

"I've been telling the lot of you for a week that I'm fine," Remus answered, not looking up from where he was pouring milk into his tea. "Not that I mind the company, though."

Lily winked. "It's a good excuse to get out of my house and away from my sister who has gone completely mad, by the way. I'll be so very happy when this wedding is over with and we are rid of her." Lily took the tray back into the kitchen, followed closely by Kassie. In the living room Lily heard James convince Remus to play another round of Exploding Snap.

"Lily, can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Lily replied, turning and leaning against the sink.

Kassie fidgeted for a moment, twisting her hands in front of her. Finally she looked up at Lily, and the look made Lily's stomach jump. At once Lily knew she wasn't going to like this question. She wasn't disappointed. "What really happened to Remus?"

Lily swallowed. She knew that James had told Kassie that Remus and Sirius had gotten injured playing Quidditch, and Lily knew the moment they said it that Kassie didn't believe them. The redhead had hoped Kassie wouldn't ask. She knew she couldn't lie. Before she could answer, though, Kassie sighed heavily and turned her back to Lily. "I'm going to say something, but I don't want you to say this to Remus, ok?" Lily nodded, holding her breath. "I--" Kassie faltered, clinching and unclenching her fist. "Lil, I know you are going to think I'm mad, but I think Remus is a.... a werewolf."

Lily nearly coughed, but managed not to. "What makes you think that?" Lily all but whispered. She swallowed hard, her stomach doing flips.

Kassie turned, her eyes wide. "A bunch of things don't make sense. The way he's always sick; once a month. Around the full moon. He always misses Astronomy class. But mostly...." Kassie trailed off, flushing a bit and trying to hide it. "The last trip to Hogsmeade, I had a vision when Remus touched me. Of a full moon. Lily, am I mad or is he a werewolf?"

"I am."

Kassie gasped and spun around. Lily looked to the doorway to see Remus standing there, holding his empty cup, James just behind him. Neither of them had heard the boys get up, and so they didn't know how much they heard. It was obvious Remus had heard enough. He walked further in the room, watching Kassie with a mixture of fear and apprehension. Lily felt sick. He looked as if he expected Kassie to scream, to run, to fear. He looked like he was waiting for it. Lily could feel it in the air. The seconds ticked by while Remus and Kassie stared at one another. Lily desperately wanted to look anywhere but Remus, but found she couldn't. She, like him, was holding her breath, waiting for Kassie to say or do something.

Suddenly Kassie moved. With a small sob, she took three quick steps towards Remus and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh Remus, you could have told me."

Lily let out a breath, and it felt like everyone else in the room had, as well. Lily looked to James, who was smiling at her and grinned back. The clock on the mantelpiece in the living room chimed the hour and Lily started. "I know this is a particularly bad time, but I really have to go. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you," James replied as Lily walked past him and into the living room. Quickly she threw Floo Powder into the flames and stepped in. "Nine Hollis Drive!"

Seconds later she was in her own fireplace staring at a thankfully empty living room. Dusting the soot from her hair, Lily started upstairs to change before the rehearsal. As she passed Petunia's bedroom door she heard someone laughing. She continued on past, but back tracked when she heard her own name mentioned. Looking around to make sure no one was around, Lily crept up to the doorway and listened hard.

"I can't wait to see what it looks like," Eileen Adel was saying. Eileen was Petunia’s best friend, and one of the bridesmaids alongside herself and Vernon's sister, Marge. "I still can't believe you are going to humiliate her in front of everyone, though. It will be so funny!"

"I'm hoping she won't show up, actually," Petunia replied hastily. She sounded as if she would rather that be the case. "Especially in that dress. As amusing as it will be to see her embarrassed, she'll still be in the pictures."

"We can always hope," Eileen replied. "Speaking of dresses, did Marge tell you about Mrs. Windle's daughter's wedding last week? You won't believe what happened..."

Lily didn't hear the rest. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest she was sure that Petunia and Eileen would be able to hear it through the door. Quickly Lily went to her room and shut the door softly behind her. She turned, staring at everything in her room and taking it in slowly. Morgana was asleep on her perch by the window, her empty owl cage sitting on the desk next to it. Bast was lying in the middle of a pile of parchment and spell books where Lily had been doing some of her homework earlier. Her school trunk, her books, her robes... everything suggested she belonged somewhere else and was only visiting this muggle home. And the muggle relatives. Lily had always said that no matter what, she didn't want to feel isolated from her muggle heritage. But at that moment, she felt more like a stranger in her own home than she ever had.

Swallowing back the emotion in her chest, the aching feeling that made her want to gather her belongings and Floo back to Remus', Lily crossed the room and opened her trunk. She pulled out a floor length, emerald green dress and admired it. Lily had struggled with herself for a while about whether she was doing the right thing. But at that moment, she couldn't have cared less about Petunia's reaction. Her sister be damned; Lily wouldn't be embarrassed in front of everyone. That much she was sure of.

----------------------

The alarm Lily had set to wake her up the morning of Petunia's wedding didn't have a snowballs chance in hell. At six am, rollers in her hair and a green face mask covering her skin (and making her look slightly better, in Lily's opinion) Petunia stomped into Lily's room, flipped the light on and jerked the blankets off Lily's bed. "Get UP!"

"What in the world?" Lily grumbled, grabbing for the blanket that was now in the floor. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. "What do you want this early in the morning?"

"Get up! We've got a lot to do, and only eight hours to do it in!"

Morgana gave an indignant hoot from her perch beside Lily's bed where she had just flown in to settle down to sleep. Bast stuck her head up from under the edge of the sheet, and mistress and feline glared at Petunia for a full minute before Lily proclaimed: "Don't you still need some beauty sleep?"

"Lily," Petunia suddenly whined. Seeing the green masked face trying to appear cute and innocent suddenly made Lily feel like she could vomit. Pulling her head back so that she wasn't so close to Petunia's green face, she listened as her older sister proceeded to talk to her more than she had in the past five years. Perhaps longer. "I'm getting married today! I can't sleep! I didn't sleep very much. I'm so nervous I could be sick," Lily sat up quickly in case Petunia decided to do just that. "And--" Suddenly Petunia stopped, looking as if she only just realized who she was talking to. "Oh, you'll never understand. Your kind don't get married, do they?"

For all of twenty seconds Lily had had a fleeting image of her and her sister getting along. That perhaps the fact that after this evening Petunia would no longer be Petunia Evans, but Petunia Dursley, had made her older sister want a sisterly relationship, if only for a few hours.

This was probably the stupidest idea Lily had ever had, the redhead realized when Petunia's last statement was pronounced. Groaning, Lily sat up completely and yawned. It was a minute before she realized that Petunia hadn't been joking. She was waiting for an answer. Cautiously, Lily pulled the blanket up over her lap and looked at her older sister. "Yes, we do get married. We're not that much different. Only, we don't have electricity at school, but that's about the only major difference I can think of."

"How do you get on without electricity?" Petunia blurted, then slapped her hand over her mouth as if she had just said the unthinkable. Lily was pretty sure it was Petunia's curiosity of all things, not just magic, that kept her standing, rooted to Lily's bedroom floor, waiting for an answer.

"Magic," Lily replied. "Warming charms, cooling charms and the like. And fireplaces to keep the rooms warm in the winter. Candlelight to see by. Things like that."

Petunia looked as if she were about to say something else, and then changed her mind. She snapped up, her body going slightly rigid, and proclaimed in a voice loud enough to wake everyone in the neighbourhood; "You need to get up and start dressing, my other bridesmaids will be here soon."

Lily watched Petunia go out of the bedroom door and slam it shut behind her, making one of Lily's picture frames fall from the wall. "Merlin help me," Lily muttered, sinking back into her bed and covering her head up.

-----------------------

Several hours later found Lily sitting in an ante chamber in the church, nervously flattening out the dress she and Kassie had re-made in order to prevent the most embarrassing (to date) event in Lily's life. She fingered the green material nervously, glancing at herself in the mirror across the room. Even with her hair down and the least amount of make-up she could wear and actually say she had some on, Lily felt very attractive. Which was bad, she realized after putting the dress on. Very bad, indeed. Her stomach felt like a dozen butterflies were trapped inside. She looked down at her hands and willed them to stop shaking.

Her silent dreading was interrupted by a short knock on the door. Lily stood up so fast that everything went black. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and said, "Come in."

"Lily, it's time," Christine Evans said as she came in the room. She stopped at the doorway, a smile lighting up her features. "Oh, you look so lovely," Lily's mother proclaimed, crossing the room quickly and kissing Lily's cheek. "I told Petunia that green would make your eyes sparkle so prettily." Lily held her tongue at the irony of that statement and forced a smile. If Lily looked a bit green in the face as well, Christine didn't seem to notice. "Well, come on then, it's time."

Clutching a small bouquet of flowers to her chest tightly, Lily slowly followed her mother out the door and into a hall where the other bridesmaids were standing. Petunia was in the front of the line, staring at the double doors as if her life depended on them. Lily felt a huge relief to see that her sister wasn't paying her any attention. Lily tried her best to remember all the things she had heard Petunia say about the dress, about Lily, herself, but at the moment all she could hear was the music in the next room starting and suddenly her feet were carrying her down the aisle behind Petunia, Eileen and Marge.

The room was very full. Lily saw her mother on the left side of the church, in the front pew, and then on the right Vernon's parents. Lily tried not to look either way, but when she looked forward, she saw Marge Dursley, already standing at the altar in front of her, glaring with so much hatred that she wanted to run.

Instead Lily forced her legs to carry her to the front of the nave, standing at the end of the line that began with Eileen, Marge and then herself. She had barely made it past Petunia when she heard her sister's sharp intake of breath. Smiling as sweetly as she could manage, and not look sarcastic, Lily turned to see her sister's face alight with anger. Swishing the dress' train around, she took her place next to Marge and beamed a huge smile to everyone watching.

--End Chapter 34.