Arrival Unexpected

Arrival Unexpected

Chapter One

"Would I be the one you seek?
"Mild and meek like the girl next door?
"Don't you realise
"I may be an angel in disguise?
"It's lonely to be free
"But I'm not a man's toy
"I'll never be"

-- "That's Me", ABBA

The blond haired boy looked up at his companion and gave a slight whine. "C'mon... we've been at this all day... I don't want to be late."

The other boy smiled down at him, momentarily taking his eyes off his quarry. This boy was tall for his age and already resembled the man he would become. In fact when people looked at him they seldom saw a boy of sixteen at all, but a nice young man whom one would never suspect of following a teenage girl through the back streets of Diagon Alley for the last two hours. Such was the misspent youth of Sirius Black, though one was more apt to find the girls following him than the other way around. His black hair fell to the nape of his neck, and was for the most part, pulled back into a small and neat ponytail; his face was very well defined, handsome but not in a pretty-boy sort of way, and more often than not, he wore dastardly smirk on it that could make any girl go weak at the knees.

The girl turned into another shop, and Sirius reached down and dragged his friend along with him into the main of the sidewalk again. Peter went along with another well-timed whinge but said nothing. Sirius knew that Peter wouldn't leave his side... the smallish boy was uncomfortable whenever he was on his own. Being small and soft-spoken, Peter made an excellent target for bullies, but so long as he was with Sirius or one of the others, no one bothered him. The girl stepped out of the shop after a few minutes, her back still facing them. Sirius drew in a sharp breath, and started forward towards the girl. Peter began to snicker, which stopped Sirius long enough for the girl to start her brisk walk again.

Sirius cocked his head in her direction. "Will you look at that...?" he said, seemingly to Peter but really to no one in particular. The girl was wearing a pair of Muggle bell-bottom jeans, the truly delicious kind of jeans that hung so low and so tight that you could imagine about every contour that the material was hiding. Her red hair was so long that it just about masked the short top that she was wearing. In fact, if one had any imagination, which Sirius Black was proud to remind himself that he did, it was easy to picture the luscious creature not wearing a top at all. Of course, that lovely image was punctured every few feet when the girl's arms would swing a certain way and he could see quite clearly the puffed out cotton of her sleeves.

While Peter had crossed to the other side of the street, gazing longingly into the windows of a small candy shop, Sirius looked between the two people for a moment and then went over to stand with Peter. He could see her just as well from this side of the street, he thought to himself and it looked less obvious when he followed parallel to her rather than from behind.

He could see her a bit better now... though her long hair was still hiding most of her face. He bent down, pretending to tie his shoe and stared up at her. Just the tip of a slightly upturned nose was visible at this angle, but he could see a silhouette of pouty lips through her hair when she stepped into the sunshine. This is painful, he thought, as his eyes wandered down the rest of her profile, his heart jumping a beat when he saw that the small Muggle top she was sporting indeed that small. The material was all cropped together and stopped right underneath her breasts, which bounced ever so slightly as she walked. Perfect he thought, just perfect while his eyes followed the pendulous motion of her hips as she walked on ahead of them.

Peter came out of the sweet shop (Sirius hadn't seen Peter go in, but who could blame his inattention?), and gave his friend a short kick in the arse. "We have to goOooOooOOo..." Peter whinged again. "We have to meet them in 10 minutes. I don't want to miss seeing the rolling coasters!"

Sirius let his eyes return to the swinging hips of the girl on the other side of the street. "No worries," he said sounding casual. "We're heading in the right direction anyway." He pushed Peter on to walk ahead of him, knowing that Peter would spot James and Remus long before he ever bothered to take his eyes off the red-haired beauty.

Sure enough, just as the girl had stopped to browse the latest wizarding magazines out in front of Flourish & Blotts, Peter's chubby little hand jutted up into the air, waving frantically. Two tall, gangly boys stood outside the walled exit of the Leaky Cauldron, a block and a half away. The brown haired one, Remus, returned Peter's wave. The other boy wore glasses and had black hair that never sat straight. James was waving too, Sirius noticed, but it wasn't at them. Sirius turned his eyes back to the direction of his friend's wave and let out a surprised gasp when he saw the red-haired girl waving back. She had picked up her large green bag, throwing it over her shoulder, and set off in the direction of his friends.

Sirius looked again, not quite understanding, but was off and running towards the girl before anyone could say "hinky-punk". James may very well be his best friend and was certainly the closest thing that Sirius had ever had to a brother, but damn it- he'd seen the girl first! He wasn't going to stand by and watch another unsuspecting maiden get sucked in by the boyish charms of James Potter.

Their friendly rivalry had been going on almost from the moment they had set foot on the Hogwarts' Express six years ago. The two black haired boys complimented each other very well... and usually when it came to girls, there was no competition... the girl obviously preferred one of them over the other. Where Sirius was dashing and a bit of a heart breaker, James was kind and attentive. If James broke a heart, he had certainly never meant it. Sirius on the other hand, was very casual with everyone's feelings... leaving not a few girls crying on the wayside of life when he had gotten bored with them.

She was just twenty feet from Remus and James now; indeed the two boys had started to step apart as if to let her pass. Sirius let his mind race as fast as his feet. Perhaps he hadn't seen her wave; perhaps she was just getting ready to leave through the Leaky Cauldron. He speeded up again, determined to make his claim on the girl before she reached his friends. Remus was now smiling widely at the girl, who definitely looked as if she was about to stop in front of the boys now.

James had looked back up and was giving him an odd stare. The girl was much shorter than either James or Remus, the top of her red-hair not even casting a shadow on either of their chins.

Sirius was running all the way up to them now, like a fizzing whizbee. The girl's green bag flashed at him, like the red cape of a matador urging him on. He stopped so fast that he had almost fallen over. He reached out and threw a hand around the girl's waist, steering her beyond his friends and towards the wall of the Leaky Cauldron. It was delicious to finally touch her bare skin, having watched it sparkle in the sun all morning. From somewhere far away, he heard himself speaking. "Now, now, lovey... you don't want to waste your time with those boys, let's just go for a walk and find a nice dark corner in the pub to get to know each other." He reached into his back pocket, drawing out his wand to open the wall into the Leaky Cauldron when he felt the girl go stiff next to him.

An ice-cold voice growled out of those pink pouty lips. "Mr. Black, remove your hand from my hips before I remove it from your arm." Sirius heard a snort of laughter from over his shoulder. James was grinning madly at him. He started to remove his hand, but it apparently wasn't fast enough because the girl had swatted sharply at his knuckles with her wand. Sirius looked at his red knuckles in confusion, glancing from the sniggering James to the smirking Remus before finally letting his gaze fall down to the red-haired girl.

There she was in all her glory. Long red-hair that fell halfway down her back, tiny little nose that turned up ever so slightly at the end, full and pouty pink lips that were slowly turning into a snarl and those unforgettable- and until now unseen- green eyes that were glaring at him with something akin to disgust freckled into them.

All at once, recognition made his mouth, his heart, and a few other body parts that were connected not in some small way to his ego, drop with a nearly audible thud onto the ground. "Evans?" he said, taken aghast. He had stepped back from her in shock just as Peter walked into the foursome, grinning as madly as James. As soon as the word was out of his mouth, there was no doubt about it. This girl, this goddess in the bell-bottoms that he'd been following all morning, was Lily Evans: Prefect of Gryffindor and all around bookish prat. His eyes made one last slide up from her painted toes to her breasts, stopping there long enough for him to mumble "Does your mum know that you're out dressed like this?" before she thwapped him again across the knuckles with her wand.

She spun around on one of her high-heeled sandals now and faced Remus. She gave him a quick hug about the neck and smiled. "Happy Birthday, Remus! Glad you could make it out today... I heard you were sick again. Terrible thing to be sick during summer break." She turned from him and faced Peter, extending a hand to him and greeting him just as politely, but not as warmly as she had Remus. Finally she turned back and faced him and James, who was still giggling. Tears where in fact welling in James' eyes, so hard was he trying to restrain his humour to mere giggles. Lily sighed and put one hand on her hip, looking at both of them sternly. "Mr. Potter... Mr. Black... I was told that you would both be on your best behavior today. In fact that's the only reason this invitation was extended to you." She shot a glance back towards Remus, who was shrugging apologetically. "For the sake of our mutual friend, do not make me regret this."

James stopped giggling and Sirius finally picked his jaw up off the ground. They couldn't have been snapped into sobriety faster if she had just taken fifty points from Gryffindor. James looked down at his watch, saying "Well, we better get going, the train to Drayton Manor leaves in half an hour." James stepped forward and tapped the appropriate bricks, the wall of the Leaky Cauldron falling away magically to allow them entrance. James made a grand gesture towards the opening and let his mouth slip into a small smirk as he said "Ladies first..." Lily rolled her eyes at him and stepped into the dark pub, Remus and Peter following behind her. Sirius met James' eyes for the first time during this whole scene, and both broke out into wide grins again. James swung his arm around Sirius' shoulders and whispered "For what it's worth mate, I didn't know that mothers let their daughters dress that way either."

* * *

Sirius was staring out of the window rather sulkily, James observed. Remus was sitting between Sirius and Peter, talking animatedly with Lily, who was, he supposed, sitting next to him. If one could call sitting as far away on the other edge of the seat with her green bag placed securely in the middle, sitting next to him. Well, James thought, and not without a tad of sympathy for Sirius, she may not look like Lily Evans, but there is no mistaking that attitude.

The truth was, he'd never even seen her outside of Hogwarts, or the Hogwarts' Express. Maybe she did look like this all the time. James stole a glance in her direction. It wasn't that he disliked her in anyway, he mused, it was just that she was so often in the wrong place in the wrong time that she got into his (and Sirius') way whenever they wanted to have a spot of fun- fun that would lead to ten or fifteen points being taken away from their House if they ran into the perfect Prefect. The perfect Prefect indeed... Lily's hair was usually drawn back into a bun so severe that it could make Minerva McGonagall envious. She wore a pair of square glasses that were so hideous, that you just couldn't look at her without feeling bad. He'd heard her say to another girl a few years ago that they were reading glasses... which in his mind, explained why he'd never seen her without them at school, since she always had her nose in a book.

She was laughing at something that Peter had just said, and had placed a hand on Peter's knee in an affectionate gesture. Peter flushed several shades of pink and James exchanged a mischievous look with Remus. She had always gotten on well with Peter, feeling simpatico with someone who was so often himself the target of other people's jests; but until last year, when Remus had been made a prefect along with her for Gryffindor House, she'd never really had any friends. Lily Evans was the only Muggle-born student in their year. That and her intelligence had kept many people from befriending her. She had never seemed to mind, he thought, but it was obvious after the last year that she was indeed, desperate for companionship. Guilt twinged in the back of his mind as he realized this. He and Sirius had spent no small amount of time in the last five years using Lily Evans as target practice for many of their schoolboy pranks.

Remus and Lily made good friends though-- and while Remus had always kept his distance from most people, because of what he was, James found it rather refreshing to have seen his friend hanging out with someone other than him, Sirius or Peter. There was even some talk amongst his friends that Lily knew what Remus was. His absences to Prefect meetings had always been covered up with a few well-chosen words by Lily, and according to Remus, she had never asked why. James pondered this for a moment. The fact that Remus Lupin was a werewolf attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a closely guarded secret. If the students (or their parents) had found out, Remus would be forced to leave. And that Lily Evans, the perfect Prefect, was covering up for his friend's illness was no small surprise. She had over the years reported every little rule that he and Sirius had been caught breaking. It would only make sense that she would report something as dangerous as a werewolf lurking amongst the student body.

But she hadn't.

She was reaching into her green shoulder bag now, and pulled out a small gaily-wrapped package with a card and handed them to Remus. The sun was hitting her face in such a way that it made her eyes look like sparkling emeralds. Her lips broke out of their tiny pout and into a small smile. Remus took the package and blushed slightly himself. Sirius and James had spent most of last spring quizzing him as to whether or not he fancied her, and he swore that he didn't. Indeed, whenever the rest of them talked about girls, Remus would just get this faraway look in his face, as if it were a luxury that he couldn't afford. Perhaps it wasn't. The transformations that Remus went through every full moon were painful to his body and soul. Until last winter, when after three years of working on the spells, Sirius, Peter and James had managed to become Animagi - transforming themselves into animals that were safe from the threat which Remus posed. Now, come the full moon, in the forms of a black dog, a rat and a stag, the three of them accompanied Remus into the wee hours of the morning. Remus had greatly changed from this gift; he seemed to be walking around lighter than before, not so alone. James had suspected that that new freedom was part of what had led Remus to accept Lily's invitation last month to enter the Muggle world on his birthday and go to an amusement park. James had been visiting when the note had arrived by owl, inviting Remus and Peter to come and stay with her family for a weekend to go to Drayton Manor. Remus had accepted almost immediately, adding a request that James and Sirius be allowed to come along too. James wondered if she was regretting her choice to invite them yet.

Sirius finally turned away from the window, and nudged Remus in the ribs. "Go on then, let's see what your girlfriend got you for your birthday, Mooney." Three male heads snapped at Sirius for a brief moment, just long enough to let him know that he'd slipped up. 'Mooney' was their nickname for Remus, a play on the cause of his monthly condition. They'd called each other by their nicknames before in public, but not in such close quarters with someone who might know or suspect what Remus was. While Lily Evans had been loyal to Remus in the past, until they knew what she knew, or didn't know, there was no reason to push their luck.

"Sirius Black," Lily glared at him again. "You know perfectly well that I'm not dating him... Prefects aren't allowed to date each other."

"Yeah, well..." Sirius crossed his arms and glared back at her. "He's not a prefect anymore, is he? Got the letter last week!"

"What?" she gasped, and looked at Remus for confirmation. Remus nodded. "But how? Who?" she stammered, sounding as if someone had just died.

"Snape." Remus muttered, almost growling the word. There was really no other explanation needed; the prefect of Slytherin House had been gunning to get Remus out since his first absence. Lily threw her hands up in disgust and cursed under her breath. All four boys looked at her, shocked once again by her sans-Hogwarts behavior. Remus snorted loudly. "Don't worry though, Lil... He's going to wish that he'd never opened his mouth once he sees who Dumbledore's chosen to replace me."

Lily leaned forward putting her hands on her knees, contemplating the situation. Remus' eyes glinted mischievously, and flicked toward James just long enough for her to notice it. She snapped back up, sitting as straight as she did in any class and goggled at James Potter. "You?" she gasped. James nodded, mildly amused. "But you..." she stammered, "You love breaking rules! Can we really expect you to take points away from someone like him?" She stared accusingly at Sirius, who was gaping at James as much as Lily was. "Someone like him when they get caught snogging up at the Astronomy Tower?!?"

"Absolutely, " James said, putting on his most sincere face. "Particularly if he doesn't have any pictures of said snogging for me." Sirius kicked him hard on the shin. "Hey now... I know I haven't told you... but really, Sirius... wouldn't that have taken all the fun out of losing your first five points for Gryffindor?" James grinned and they all broke out snickering. "Open the gift already, Remus" James said.

Remus opened the card, reading it briefly before ripping into the wrapping paper. A long thing box was soon unveiled, and as Remus lifted the top off of it, three sets of eyes on the opposite side of the booth went wide. Peter's lip began to twitch, a nervous habit the boy had had all his life, as he stared down at Lily's gift. Sirius just shook his head ever so slightly. Remus looked well and truly panicked now. James darted his eyes over to Lily, who was studying each of their reactions very carefully. A silent alarm went off in the back of James' mind. She's up to something, he thought as he saw Remus holding the box out towards the two of them. Inside of that long, innocent looking box was a man's bracelet... a silver bracelet.

"Really... Lily..." It was Remus' turn to stammer now. "You shouldn't have... I mean... it must have cost..." He continued mumbling for a few moments, his face growing whiter and whiter, knowing that she would expect him to put it on and realizing that there was no way that as a werewolf he could wear it. Silver would burn his skin, as surely as would any flame.

Lily clucked at him and snatched it out of the box. "No bother at all! I told you I have an uncle that works in a jewelers shop." She readied the latch and reached out to put it on his wrist. All at once, three sets of arms reached out to block her even as Remus sought to pull his arm away. Lily Evans was small and quick though, and snapped the bracelet onto Remus' wrist, sitting back with a satisfied smile.

Remus didn't move for a second, his face contorted as if in unimaginable pain. Then, his face went blank. He turned his wrist backwards and forwards, letting the bracelet flop around it. He stared at it amazed. It didn't hurt, not one bit.

"Well of course it doesn't hurt!" Lily said her voice full of pride looking at him in full understanding for the first time. "Its white gold. You don't really think that I'd be so dull as to give a werewolf a silver bracelet?" They all gaped at her. This was it, thought James, she's tricked us all into giving away what she only suspected. Clever witch, very clever witch.

She put her arms back behind her head, staring up at the ceiling. "Looks just like it though, doesn't it? I'd gotten it to try and put a subtle cork in that git Snape, but since you're no longer a Prefect maybe he won't be snooping after your little secret so much anymore." She grabbed Remus' hand and adjusted the bracelet so that the clasp hung under his wrist. "You do like it though? You didn't seem the ring or earring type, and no one that looks at it will ever think it's anything but silver."

Remus looked at her, true affection shining through his eyes. "Its perfect, Lil... but how did you know?" His voice was near breaking, partly from emotion and partly from fear that if she had noticed, that someone else might have too.

She shook her head, red hair flying about her like gentle flames. "Well," she replied, placing her hands on her hips rather dramatically. "You don't think that you're the only one that suffers from the monthly curse of the Moon, do you?" Her green eyes swept across all of their shocked faces, grinning wildly at them.

It took two beats for the joke to sink in, but when it did Sirius was the first to burst out laughing, James and Peter taking up the slack right behind him while Remus, poor Remus, turned five shades of red covered his face with his bangled wrist. Lily stood up and planted a kiss on his forehead, leaving behind the pink gleam of her lip-gloss. She smiled radiantly at the group of them, and announced loudly that she hoped he'd have a very happy birthday.

James looked at her again, smiling this time in earnest. Remus just might, he thought to himself, he just finally might.

* * *

Click, click, click. As the roller coaster inched its way towards the first peak of the ride, Remus Lupin felt his heart thumping hard beneath his chest. It was a very jerky machine, and being that the hills and valleys of the ride were built on wood, all of these bumps and creaks didn't make him feel any better. It wasn't as if the Muggles that had built this thing had safety charms on it, and it certainly looked as if it could collapse at anytime. Nevertheless, when he finally reached the front of the line, he'd climbed into the cab without a word of apprehension. Peter had climbed in next to him, the two of them staring at the backs of the heads of James, Lily and Sirius in the car ahead of them.

The two black haired boys had not so subtly drawn him away from Lily and Peter once they had arrived at Drayton Manor, a Muggle theme park outside of London. Each had, in an unplanned and exuberant way, asked if he was ready to have a go at the indomitable Lily Evans, who not an hour before had revealed that she not only knew that he, Remus Lupin, was a werewolf and a danger to her very life (well, at least for a few days every month), but didn't care in the slightest. In fact, she was striving to help him keep that secret.

Have a go at her? What was she, the latest model of broomstick? He couldn't say this out loud of course, being that James and Sirius were well, James and Sirius. So he'd just said that he'd never looked at her that way, and really wasn't interested in starting. Sirius looked so happy that Remus thought he might explode like a Filibuster Firework. James just raised an eyebrow at his brown haired friend.

"You sure, Mooney? I mean, that bracelet... she does seem to fancy you..." James had said, ignoring the look of disappointment that crossed Sirius' face.

Remus shook his head and smiled sadly. "She doesn't look at me any differently than you do, James."

"Well," snapped Sirius. "Since we all know that James is just corking to have a snog with you, that settles it then, doesn't it?" He punched James playfully on the arm and trotted (Where the hell did Sirius Black learn how to trot, thought Remus.) back to where Peter and Lily were standing in line for some confection called 'Cotton Candy'.

James grinned at Remus. "We better catch them up then, I don't particularly think that our Ms. Evans is safe with the hormones of Padfoot running rampant today."

Remus gave a small smile. He looked off into the distance, spying Lily giving Sirius a sharp taste of her elbow when he stood too close behind her in line. "She really doesn't like him, you know... should be fun to watch." He glanced mischievously at James. "Not that she likes you much either, Mr. Potter" He imitated Lily's inflection of the last two words perfectly. Whenever Lily was upset, she used someone's surname. It was a sure sign of her dislike that she'd never called James or Sirius by their given names in five years. Not that his friends had given her any reason to like them. He looked off into the Cotton Candy line again, thinking to himself that Mr. Black was certainly trying to make up for any lost love.

"Yeah, well..." James mumbled. "Since we're both prefects now, I suppose I should learn to at least get on with her civil-like." He shuffled off towards their friends, and Remus couldn't help noting that the backs of James' ears were turning slightly pink. James turned around, as if he felt his friend staring at him. "You sure... you know... I mean, just look at her." And they both did, neither boy failing to appreciate the way that her bell-bottomed pants hung just above her hips. James let out a low whistle.

"Don't tell me now," Remus had said. "That you plan on chasing her around the whole day too?"

"Oh please..." James said it like a swear word. "You know I'd much rather have a snog with you, Mooney! In fact," he continued, grabbing Remus by the arm and pulling him towards the men's bathroom. "Come give us a kiss now, birthday boy!"

Shrill laughter caught his ear just as he was trying to pull Remus into the smelly outdoor lavatory. "Quite a let down from the Astronomy Tower, but then Remus never seemed the romantic type." Lily was looking at them desperately trying to keep a straight face. "Remember those photos yourself, Mr. Potter, or it will be 10 points from Gryffindor once we're back at school." She let out a catcall, encouraging the two boys to do a few things that James hadn't even done with a girl yet. Remus pulled out of his grasp and started laughing at him. All four of them were in fact laughing at him, and it was only then, in the depth of his embarrassment that James Potter realized that he had fallen to the ground of the men's bathroom, landing squarely in a puddle of ... something.

Lily reached down and offered James a hand up. He took it, and turned a shade of crimson that even Godric Gryffindor would have been proud to wear. Sirius looked completely torqued off. Exponentially more so when James had, upon seeing Sirius' reaction, offered Lily his arm to walk through the park on. She'd taken it without any trace of interest or embarrassment, turning to the rest of them with a flip, "Well, are you coming or not?"

Whatever gauntlet Remus had thrown down from his lack of interest in Lily, it had most assuredly been picked up by Sirius and James. Sirius was definitely interested in the petite fireball, Remus mused as the roller coaster continued to click its way up to the crest, but what was James doing? James wasn't fawning over Lily in anyway. He was really just treating her like a normal person. Perhaps that was the real shock, that suddenly, Lily Evans was a normal person to them. Of course, normal people didn't get offered James Potter's arm, or get to hear all of his Quidditch war-stories.

Both James and Sirius were talking bravely about dives they'd taken on their broomsticks during Quidditch when Lily took a moment to turn around just as the top of the roller coaster's first hill was in reach. "I don't think they have any bloody idea what's about to happen, do you?" She winked at him conspiratorially. Remus grinned, unsure if he had any idea of what was about to happen. Without warning, the roller coaster began to plummet towards the earth. In the car in front of him, two very panicked and very masculine screams burst into the air, accompanied by the shrill laughter of a little redheaded vixen who was throwing her hands up into the air, thoroughly enjoying the thrill of the ride.

* * *

It took four more roller coaster rides, two trips down the log flume and a rather nasty bit of business on the tilt-a-whirl where Sirius had turned very green afterwards, but by the end of the day, there was a marked improvement in the relations between Lily and the two black-haired youths, Remus noted. He'd observed it before, that girls could be easily swayed through pity (in fact, he'd often thought that that was the only reason any girls ever spoke to him, because he was so sick so often.) but even he was surprised to see Lily wondering if Sirius was going to be okay, making those motherly clucking noises that girls seem to be born knowing how to make. She'd told Peter to go and fetch a drink of water for Sirius and had sat down on the park bench next to him, stroking his hair gently, assuring him that it would be all right.

He and James stood a bit away from the scene, both feeling rather noxious themselves after seeing Sirius get sick. James had a funny look on his face as he watched this little scene unfold. He didn't look at Remus, but whispered to his friend almost inaudibly, "Has she always been so nice?"

Remus gave a slight nod and whispered back. "Yeah… Its just hard to notice it when she's yelling at you for slipping Liver-flavored Botts Beans into her dessert." James gave him a guilty look, and Remus sighed. "Look James, I know how ridiculous this is going to sound, but I have to know. What are your intentions toward Lily Evans? Are you just acting up today for Sirius' benefit?" The question had been bothering Remus for a few hours now, but it still sounded invasive when he asked it. It wasn't as if he wanted Sirius or James to go back to the way it had been, sticking wads of Ever Blowing Bubblegum into Lily's hair and other more nefarious tricks. Lily was his friend, as much and any of the other boys present had ever been, and now since he didn't have to hide his secret from her any longer, she felt like more than a friend… more like family.

He waited a beat for James to answer, and then noticed that it would not be forthcoming. Peter, followed by Lily and Sirius, who was leaning rather melodramatically on Lily's shoulder for support, was coming over to them. Sirius threw a wink at James, as his arm slid down from Lily's shoulder, attempting to reassert its earlier position about her waist.

Once again, a resounding thwap reddened Sirius' knuckles. His hand quickly removed itself and shoved its way into a pocket at his own hip. Lily pushed her way between Remus and James, taking the lead of their little group again, muttering something about 'boys' underneath her breath. Just as he turned to catch up to her, Remus saw James return the wink to Sirius.

"Potter, do you have the time?" Lily called out ahead of them. James was the only one of the five wearing a Muggle watch. It was a Mickey Mouse watch that his father had given him several years back. James' dad had had a real fancy for Muggle cartoons, something that he passed on to his son.

"Nearly seven P.M. now." He replied, noting that she had at least dropped the 'Mister' from his name. He wondered if Sirius was now just 'Black' as well, or if his recent imitation of an octopus had lost him that honor.

Lily nodded, saying to no one in particular, "We best head back to the lockers then and get our bags. Dad will be picking us up in a half hour." She stopped, pointing to the general direction they must turn down.

Peter was standing next to her now. They began walking towards the entrance area and the other three boys followed them. "Lily…" it wasn't quite a whine the way he said it, but it was very nearly so. "Will we have dinner, then… when we get to your house?"

Lily gave him an odd look, wondering for a second if Peter thought that Muggle families didn't feed their guests. She smiled gently. "Yes, we're picking up pizzas on the ride home. And I made a cake last night for dessert." Her eyes moved back to Remus, grinning. With all that was going on, it seemed as if his birthday, the reason for this motley ensemble was forgotten. She waited for him to catch up and took him by the arm, walking the rest of the way to the lockers with him. Remus was one of Lily's favorite people in the whole world, but if you had asked her why, she wouldn't have had an answer. She was glad to have him with her today; all in all, it hadn't been too painful to let Potter or Black come along for the ride-- even if they were behaving like characters from a badly written beach movie.

They unlocked the two lockers they had rented, five bags appearing from within and then going over five sets of shoulders. She'd been surprised that they'd done so well when dressing like Muggles. Even Peter, who she knew got abysmal grades in Muggle Studies at school despite her efforts to help him study, had not looked so out of place in his Hawaiian shirt. When she'd gone to the bathroom earlier, a girl that had followed her in had asked about it, but Lily had just told her that he was an American on holiday and that seemed to satisfy her curiosity. The shorter boy (who was still taller than her) could have passed for a Yank after all, she mused. His normally dusky blond hair had grown very light in the summer sun, and his skin was turning a nice shade of brown. Must be nice, she thought, being able to get a tan. As a redhead, she'd never had that luxury. Lily considered herself quite lucky in that she wasn't the freckling type, but having the skin the same shade as an eggshell wasn't really all it was cracked up to be.

As they stood at the front gate, waiting for her father to pick them up, she noted that neither Potter nor Remus had acquired summer tans either. Remus probably didn't get out in the sun much, being sick so often, she mused. Potter was so tall though that one would have thought that he'd be very tan indeed, the sun hitting him first and whatnot. She stole a glance at the last of their quintet, Sirius Black, who thankfully was not glancing back at her. She had no idea what he was on about, fussing over her all day. Of all of them, he was perhaps the darkest… his skin seeming to absorb the sun even as they'd walked about the park today.

Potter and Black… inwardly, Lily shook her head. Certainly, there were girls at school who would go into fits when they realized that she'd had them both to herself all weekend. It had been a fun time so far, she couldn't deny that, but she had no expectations as to the future of their seeming friendship. They just liked causing trouble too much to be trusted, and to someone like Lily Evans, whose grip on the wizarding world only felt secure when the rules were strictly observed, it just didn't mesh.

The sky was just starting to turn a pretty shade of rose, as they stood by waiting for their ride. Black made a noise, and they all looked at him. "So…" he said, looking at her quizzically. "You're dad is alright with all of us staying over?" She could see from the looks on the rest of their faces that this was a question they'd all thought of at some point or another during the day.

Lily smiled brightly, meeting his eyes. "Absolutely. Its amazing what one is allowed to do when they have the complete trust of their parents." She gave him a smirk, as if to say that rule breaking wasn't all the greatest things since Chocolate Frog cards. Her dad's van was pulling up now, the bright blue letters spelling out "Evans' Greenhouses" seeming to continue in motion even as the van itself pulled to a stop. "Besides," she continued, "If any of you muck this up too badly, we'll just feed you to Petunia." She pulled open the side door and ushered the boys in. Lily climbed into the front seat, giving her dad a peck on the cheek as the introductions were made.

"Who's Petunia? Her dog?" she heard Peter whisper to Remus as the van started off down the road to Cicely's Garden, the village that she called home. She remembered Remus saying that Peter had a fear of strange dogs.

"Worse," replied Remus, a touch of amusement in his voice. "It's her sister."

* * *

The dinner had gone really well, Lily's dad knowing enough about Quidditch to keep Potter and Black talking (and behaving) throughout. Her dad had offered, after the cake was finished and the ice cream was put away, to start up a fire out in the pit in their back yard. Remus had been helping her gather up their dishes when she ushered him outside, saying that since it was his birthday he had no business helping out. She set several plates into the sink and started the water running, leaving her hand under the spray to wait for the temperature to rise. She stood there, lost in thought, staring out the window as the other houses on her block lost lights one by one, some sort of internal neighborhood clock signaling them all to bed.

Lily turned, intending to pick up the last of the dishes but instead smacked right into James Potter, her nose hitting him squarely in the chest. Her hand reached up and covered said injured feature.

He stepped back and smiled at her. "I put the rest on the counter," he said, gesturing to the pile of dishes on her left. Why hadn't she noticed that he'd come up behind her? She must be more tired than she thought. "You wash, I'll dry?" he offered. She nodded, giving him a small smile, and they worked in a very comfortable silence for the next quarter hour. Lily was rinsing the last of the glasses when she saw a set of headlights pull into the driveway.

"Oh no…" she said, muttering a few choice curses under her breath. Not thinking, she leaned her head against his shoulder, feeling very defeated by this turn of events.

"What is it?" he asked, gazing down at the mass of red hair that was propped up next to him.

"Petunia." She said it just like a swear word. She had taken a step back now, grabbing a towel and drying her hands. "She promised that she wouldn't be home until tomorrow morning." Lily threw the towel down onto the counter, repeating the phrase "she promised" in a very accusatory manner. James was having a hard time not breaking into a grin. Lily looked positively childlike, stomping around the kitchen, red hair bouncing up around her. Behind him, the kitchen doorknob turned. Lily gave him a quick shove out the back door, towards the fire pit and his friends. He caught just a glimpse of the infamous Petunia before the door shut behind him.

Peter, Remus and Sirius looked at him quizzically. Mr. Evans however, seemed to have surmised the situation as soon as his two daughters had started shouting. He bolted into the kitchen, giving the boys a terse wave goodnight.

The boys would have liked to think that they weren't eavesdropping, listening to the two sisters fight vehemently in this kitchen. But soon enough, it was apparent that they were the cause of the fight. Indirectly of course, but nonetheless, Petunia Evans was mortally offended at their presence in her house. When her father reminded her that she had moved out last month after graduation, Petunia had broken into tears, and that seemed the end of it. Lily's father had taken Petunia up to her old bedroom and was trying to calm his eldest daughter down.

The boys exchanged glances; even Remus, who knew Lily the best of all of them, had had no idea that her sister had hated anything to do with magic. Indeed, it sounded as if Petunia felt that her life were in immediate peril at the thought of four underage wizards in the family home. The boys looked up as one a few minutes later when Lily appeared at the back door, carrying five bottles of soda and a bag of marshmallows. She had a very tired look on her face. When Sirius stood up and took the bottles of soda from her, placing a comforting hand on her back, she didn't put up a fight and let him lead her down to a spot between him and Remus at the fire pit.

Remus took the bag of marshmallows from her and Peter offered to go and get some sticks to roast them on. Lily told him where some skewers were in the garage and he went to fetch them. Remus opened the bag and tossed a marshmallow to Sirius, who was explaining to Lily that wizard marshmallows started shouting when they got burned black by a fire. She gave a small laugh, but any of them could see that her heart wasn't really in it. She just stared off into the fire as they passed around the bottles of soda and then the skewers and marshmallows.

A half hour passed in this sad quiet. James stood up and threw another log into the fire pit, sending flickering ash into the air. Lily was looking up at a lighted window on the second floor of her house. After a few minutes, it went out. Lily looked back down at the ground, poking the fire with her skewer.

"She's so difficult…" Lily said finally. "I thought, that once she'd gotten her own place, that home would be a bit more peaceful. That summers wouldn't be so bad." She looked at Remus, as if she was talking to only him. "But I'm still just her freakish little sister, and now that she's engaged to that git Dursley, she treats me as if I have two heads. Do you know that she asked Mum last week if I had to go to the wedding?" Remus put his arm around her, not knowing what to say. "I mean… really…" some of the sadness was leaving her voice now, slowly being replaced by the kind of fiery indignation that only a redhead could muster. "As if I would ever purposefully try and hurt her, I mean we're sisters after all. If it wasn't for the fact that I was a witch, Petunia may not even be here today. She was about to get hit by a car when my powers showed themselves for the first time; I levitated her up and out of the way. But she's been terrified of me ever since. She's such… such… such a fucking Muggle!"

Whatever seriousness the group had fallen into evaporated at these words, the pure ridiculousness of them sending the four boys into fits of laughter. Lily pulled away from Remus, grinning slightly to herself. James stood up, fetching another log and throwing it onto the fire. "She looks like Snape's mum," he offered. They all laughed again, the full insult of the words hitting its target. "Is she adopted?"

"I wish." Lily said. Peter pointed out that she had her dad's red hair and Lily nodded, explaining that Petunia took after their mum.

"Where is your mum anyway?" Sirius asked.

"She's in London, visiting my aunt Daisy. That's how I got to Diagon Alley this morning." Lily explained. "She'll be back around noon tomorrow, she's meeting with Petunia to discuss some wedding arrangements." Lily glanced up towards the darkened second story window again, with not a small touch of anger in her bright green eyes.

Across the fire pit, Peter's mouth was twitching at the edges. "Lily, Petunia and Daisy… What's your mum's name? Rose?" The boys broke out snickering again.

Lily grinned, poking at the fire. "Marigold." She replied.

Sirius let out a small guffaw. "And she married a man who owns a greenhouse?" The boys laughed again.

"Oh please," said Lily, pointing to the boys on either side of her. "I'm sitting between the Dog Star and one of the founders of Rome, and you're making fun of my family's names?" She laughed with them this time.

More marshmallows were roasted, and a few more bottles of soda were drunk, but eventually the fire and the five of them burned down. Lily was the first to stand up, announcing that she needed some sleep if she was to deal with them in the morning. There was no hint of annoyance or dislike in her voice though. She gave Remus a tight hug and a short peck on the cheek good night, waving to the rest of them as she stood at the door.

"Don't we get kisses goodnight too?" asked Sirius, a look of pure mischief on his face.

Lily just sighed and shook her head. "Not tonight, Sirius, I have a headache." Remus and Peter started laughing again, Sirius shooting James a triumphant look after being address by his given name. He was just about to point out that fact to his black haired friend when Lily appeared at the door again. "Oh and James, thank you for helping with the dishes. I forgot my manners what with all the goings on earlier." She gave a little shrug and waved to them one last time.

Remus couldn't read the look that Sirius and James were exchanging, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. It had been a very nice day, and there was the promise of tomorrow being equally pleasant. Peter seemed to be thinking along the same lines, for not long after he asked, "So what are we doing tomorrow then?"

"Swimming," Remus replied. Lily had written him about a small lake nearby that had some hot springs in it.

The boys sat in silence for a moment before James asked a question that had popped into each of their minds. "Think she'll wear one of those Muggle suits, what's it called - a bikini?"

Sirius stood up, walking over to James and said in a very serious tone, "We can only hope, mate, we can only hope."

* * *

The question of the bikini was never to be unveiled that summer however, as the boys awoke to an onslaught of rain. After a very tense breakfast, in which Petunia had attempted to stare each of them into submission, the boys had decided to just head back to London early, opting to catch a few hours of browsing Diagon Alley before their families picked them up. Lily had at once looked both sad and relieved. The drive from the Evans home to the train station was a quiet one, and the goodbyes were short. They would, after all, be seeing each other in just over a week on the Hogwarts Express, at the start of their sixth year of school.

Even so, it was with a measure of sadness that the faces of the four boys looked out their windows down to the red haired girl that was standing on the platform, waving goodbye. Once she was out of site, they settled back into their seats, Remus and James sitting on one side, Sirius and Peter on the other. Peter looked at Remus helplessly, trying to figure out how to stop the stare down that had started between Sirius and James. Both boys wore slight smirks on their faces, arms crossed over their chests, eyes locked with each other. Several minutes passed like this, until finally Remus threw his hands up into the air shouting, "Merlin's beard! Will you two look at yourselves? Two days ago you didn't even want to come with me because Lily Evans was going be there, and now you look ready to have a wizard's duel over her! I mean, really…" Remus ran his hand threw his thick brown hair, part of it standing on end when the movement ceased. On his wrist, Lily's bracelet gave a small jangle, breaking Sirius and James out of their respective trances. "She's my friend." Remus declared. "In fact, she's the only person that has ever sought me out as a friend not because of who I was friends with, but in spite of it. And she's a very good person, she doesn't deserve to be the prize in the latest competition between Sirius Black and James Potter."

James looked at him, his face unreadable. "Remus, I swear, there is no competition. I know that she's not a prize, because I know that I can't 'win' her. I have no intentions of chasing after Lily Evans this year. If Padfoot wants to, that's up to him, but I swear to you that I won't be chasing her at all." Remus looked at him, giving a slow nod of approval to his friend. He had the feeling that James was saying exactly what he meant, but meaning a lot more than he could say. He saw no hints of a lie on James' face. But there was definitely something more there; he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Besides," Sirius added, speaking up at last. "Prefects can't date each other!" He said the last part in perfect imitation of Lily's declaration on the train from yesterday. James and Sirius exchanged one more tart glance before they allowed Peter to change the subject.

Remus felt his throat tighten slightly as he looked at James, remember something else that Lily had said to James not long after her Prefect comment. 'But you… You love breaking rules!' Remus looked long and hard at James, who was now shuffling the cards for a game of non-exploding Snap (they were still pretending to be Muggles after all). He certainly does at that, Remus thought answering Lily's echoed voice in his head, he most certainly does.

* * *

James and Sirius sat alone in the Leaky Cauldron, waiting for Sirius' mum to pick them up and take them back to the Black home. They hadn't said much since Peter and Remus had left, resigning themselves to browsing through their new schoolbooks they had picked up that day.

After ages of silence, Sirius spoke up. "So, were you telling the truth back on the train… you're not interested in this new and improved Lily Evans?" Sirius kept his eyes locked on his book, trying to make the comment sound as casual as possible.

"Well, that's not what I said now at all, is it?" James replied, looking at Sirius with a smirk. He ran a hand through his unkempt hair, taking off his glasses to clean them off on his robe. He had Sirius had changed out of their 'Mugglewear' as soon as they'd returned to the Alley.

"You said…" Sirius repeated, his tone slow and deliberate. "That you wouldn't be chasing after her. You promised Remus that there was no competition."

"I won't be," James said. "And there isn't. Competition implies that there is a prize to be given at the end. And right now, either of us would be lucky if Lily Evans even gave us the time of day. Whatever I want, and I'm admitting to nothing, from Lily… it has to be earned from her. Not won by out-doing you."

Sirius nodded. He understood James perfectly. He didn't agree with his friend's assessment of the situation, but he understood it. "Well, I am going to chase. And I intend on having her on my arm for the Yule Ball this year." They had learned just a few weeks before that there would be one this winter; unlike other schools, Hogwarts only held formal dances during special occasions. This year was the silver anniversary of Albus Dumbledore's ascension to the position of Headmaster.

"I wish you the best of luck, you'd make a smashing couple." James said, no hint of malice in his voice. "Albus would be more than happy to see another two of Gryffindor's brightest get together. Since you're so sure of yourself, why not just make out the wedding invitations now?" There was just a hint of amusement to his voice, brought out in the face of Sirius' chronic over-confidence. James could never resist poking a few holes into the hot-air balloon that was his friend's ego.

Sirius brushed this commentary aside. Changing the subject, he looked at James and said, "Have you heard from him lately?" Sirius was referring to Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts and legal guardian of James Potter since the death of James' parents last summer.

James shook his head. Dumbledore was at the forefront of the battle against the supporters of Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard that had begun the climb to power a few years back, leaving in his wake a field of broken families, like James' own who had chosen to fight and die rather than be subjugated to the whims of a mad-man. The Potters had always been a very powerful wizarding family, tracing their lines back several hundred years in the small community of British wizards and witches. Unlike many of the old families though, the Potters felt that while interesting, their heritage didn't give them any more privileges than Muggle-born or half-blood wizards and witches. Indeed, James' father, Henry Potter had been campaigning to get the Ministry of Magic to relax some of its restrictions on the types of work that a Muggle-born could apply for after finishing school. James had always assumed that it was his father's political ambitions that had made him a target. Why Lord Voldemort had chosen to kill his mother at the same time was beyond his understanding.

Dumbledore had been waiting for him outside of the family Manor house that summer night when James returned from a regional Quidditch play-off with Sirius. Dumbledore refused to let James inside, taking it upon himself to move all of the boy's things to his new home. James had always known that his parents were friendly with the man he only knew as his Headmaster, but that night he learned that Albus Dumbledore had agreed many years ago to be James' legal guardian should anything happen to his parents. They'd never mentioned it to him, because they assumed it would never be necessary for Albus to take up the job.

James had always thought it ironic that although those born with magical blood lived longer than any other humans, they had a much greater chance of dying young. His parents were in their late fifties when they had died, the great green glowing skull of the Death-eaters hanging over his house as their final calling card.

Albus Dumbledore was a different kind of person though. There were no curfews or chores (He had a rather blustery House-Elf named Mindy that cried if anyone tried to do them.) James didn't see much of Dumbledore at all when he was 'home' on breaks or during summer holiday. And while James always found his freedom in the household refreshing, he was more surprised by Dumbledore's impeccable sense of timing. James had found that whenever he needed to talk to the old man, even if he had no idea where he was or when he'd be back, that Dumbledore had a way of finding him. Dumbledore always made time for James, and while James missed his parents terribly, knowing that their friend was here for him made the pain much easier to bear.

James continued to stare off into space. Sirius didn't bother to break his friends reverie until he saw his mother come through the door. It was time to go home.

Compliments to my two Beta readers, Kristin (Queen of the Fizzing Whizbees) and Jen (my darling sister-in-law, with whom I've spent way too much time on the phone with lately.) If you think that what you've read is any good at all, the credit for making it readable goes to them.