Proud Can I Never Be of What I Hate

'Dear Lily,

How are you? Sorry I haven't written, I've been at my aunt's house all month and Mum reckons we shouldn't be using owls around her, what with her being a muggle and all. I hope your summer's going okay - mine's been hilarious. Found any uses for the remains of your birthday present yet?

Talking of your adorable elder sister, how is she these days? Revolting as usual, I suspect. I would think she'd been even worse if you've followed our expert instructions, but I don't think it's possible for her to get any worse. And Juliet - how is she? Romeo's been hooting away all month. I'm sure he misses her, though he won't admit it. Come to think of it, the reason he won't admit it could be because he's an owl...

Write back soon - I'm having serious social withdrawal issues after not speaking to anyone in so long.

Remus'

Lily Evans yawned and stretched, squinting at the letter she had woken up to find lying on her pillow. She gazed around her small, cluttered bedroom, looking for her owl, who only answered to 'Juju' from anyone except Remus Lupin, her best friend of almost five years. If she remembered rightly, he had been the one to come up with the ridiculous names for their owls.

They had met in Eeylop's Owl Emporium on Lily's first day in the wizarding world. She had wandered into the shop more out of curiosity than necessity, as she wasn't yet familiar with owls and their usefulness as mail carriers.

Remus had been the only other child in the shop, trying loudly to persuade his mother that he didn't need an owl, he needed a Niffler. Lily half listened to their conversation as she gazed at two young owl chicks, one tawny and one barn owl, who appeared to be sulking at opposite ends of a perch.

"Hey, you! Sorry, I mean-" Lily looked around, startled, at the boy. "Sorry, I meant to ask - Nifflers are way better pets than owls, don't you think?"

Lily saw Remus' mum roll her eyes behind his back. She, like him, had sandy brown hair, slightly wavy. Her eyes were dark brown, but his were bright blue. Lily noticed pronounced frown lines on her forehead, although there were smile lines too. Evidently, this boy was a bit of a handful.

"Well, I like owls-" Remus pulled a face, "-but I don't know what Nifflers are. Sorry."

His scowl changed almost instantly to a grin. "Oh, you're muggle born?"

Taking a guess at what he meant, Lily had answered, "I'm the only witch in my family. That makes my parents muggles then?" She grinned at the thought of Petunia's face when she found out that 'normal' people were referred to as 'muggles' in the magical world.

"Yeah. I guess you're on your own then? I dunno if muggles can get through the archway. Can they, mum?"

His mum looked exasperated. "Why don't you ask this young lady, dear? I'm sure she knows better than I do."

Remus looked expectantly at Lily, and she had said, "I don't know, actually. I sort of assumed they couldn't. A man called Hagrid showed me how to get here."

"You are on your own then?" Remus' mother had asked, looking concerned.

"Yes but I'm doing okay." She didn't want to be seen as vulnerable - this boy seemed okay, but the barman in the Leaky Cauldron had warned her not to broadcast her non-magical parentage as some wizards were prejudiced against it and would use it as an excuse to make life difficult for her.

"Want to come with us?" Remus had grinned again, a mischievous glint in his eye.

His mother had nodded. "Please do, dear; heaven knows I need someone to help me keep Remus here in line." She stretched out her hand, and Lily shook it. "Alexandra Lupin."

"Lily Evans." She smiled, glad that this boy had chosen to befriend her. She looked back at the owls, which were fluttering their feathers crossly, upset at the lack of attention from Lily.

The attendant had come rushing over at the noises from the owls. "Can I help you two?"

"Yes please," Lily had suddenly decided. "We'd each like one of these owls." The attendant smiled and hastily opened the cage, eager to make a sale.

Mrs Lupin tried to hide her chuckle, expecting Remus to object, but he didn't. He looked over at Lily instead, with an expression that clearly said, 'Oh, so it's like that, is it?' She just smiled sweetly at him, much to his mother's amusement. As they made their way out of the shop a few minutes later, cages under each of their arms, she whispered to Lily, "I'd watch out if I were you, dear - his friends are quite the pranksters."

By the end of the day, Remus and Lily had been well on the way to becoming good friends. Mrs Lupin's advice had been entirely correct, however. James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew aided Remus in 'getting Lily back' all through their first four years at Hogwarts, their excuse being that she always retaliated. This was true, as Lily's dorm mates in Gryffindor Tower had turned out to be just as up for a laugh as she was.

As she reminisced, Lily had found her quill and ink amongst the jumble of parchment and books on her desk, and she sat down to reply.

'Remus,

Glad to hear you've been having fun. How are the other Marauders? I've heard from James but that's all. I asked about Sirius but he didn't tell me anything. He's alright isn't he? I mean, he never writes over holidays, I get so worried.

Petunia's fine, although I'm afraid she might actually have some kind of mental problem. Her boyfriend seems to have got even bigger since I last saw him, but it's quite fun insulting him in front of her, as she's too terrified I'll turn her into a skunk to do anything about it.

I went to Diagon Alley with Chrissy a few days ago to get robes, but we haven't got any of our books or supplies yet - I suppose that's because the Hogwarts letters haven't come, so we don't know what we've got to get -'

"LILY!" She was interrupted by her mother calling frantically from downstairs. "POST!"

Lily crashed out of the door and thundered down the stairs. She had been waiting all summer for this letter; she was entering fifth year and had a chance of being a prefect! She hurtled into the kitchen where her father greeted her with a solemn expression.

"Is it from Hogwarts? Let me see!" She scanned the kitchen for the sign of an envelope decorated with the Hogwarts crest: lion, eagle, badger and snake.

"I'm sorry, Lily," her father said. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes which currently held a very sombre expression. "You're not a prefect." Lily slumped into a chair at the kitchen table, trying not to let her eyes well up. After all, being a prefect wasn't that big a deal, it was just that she had tried so hard with all her classes and had even cut out a lot of the pranking so that she could become a prefect and make her parents proud. It hurt a bit to think that it was all for nothing.

She looked at her mother, standing behind her dad. She had dark red hair like Lily, but hers was flecked with grey. Lily wore hers long and tousled, whereas her mother had a short, neat bob. Lily had never mastered the art of looking sleek every day as her mother seemed to manage. Her mother's brown eyes, so different from Lily's, were twinkling. Lily noticed that she was grinning.

"What's so funny?" Lily asked grumpily.

This time it was her dad who smiled. "You didn't really think I'd read your mail, did you? Your letter's here." He handed it to her.

Lily wasn't sure if she should be exasperated or relieved as she gazed at the envelope in her hand. She settled for something between the two.

"Go on, open it!" Lily's mum said, anticipation clear on her face. "And be sure to read it aloud!"

Lily obliged, removing the parchment from the envelope.

"Dear Miss Evans...yadda yadda...welcome to fifth year...blah blah...we regret to inform you -" She glanced at her parents, who were trying not to look too disappointed. She continued. "- that there will only be two prefects from each house in fifth year, instead of the usual three."

She stuck her tongue out at her parents, who soon realised she had been winding them up. "yadda yadda...CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW STATUS AS GRYFFINDOR PREFECT!!!!!"

Both her parents rushed round to hug her, giving congratulations and scoldings in almost equal measure, glad that her daughter had been judged so worthy by her teachers and also amused at Lily for winding them up. Besides, they deserved it after winding Lily up a few minutes earlier.

Lily dashed upstairs to finish her letter to Remus, crashing into Petunia as she walked out of the bathroom, muttering about, "bloody feathery rats," and, "suckups." Lily was about to apologise when Petunia's comments registered in her overheated brain, and she settled for a small, "Hmph."

"Aren't you going to apologise, freak?" Petunia screeched at Lily as she raced back upstairs to her attic bedroom.

"Only when you do, horseface." Lily looked back at Petunia, who obviously hadn't realised Lily had heard her comments. Lily was delighted to see that she had turned slightly pink. But then she thought that this was probably more from indignation and exertion than from embarrassment or regret.

Lily breathed deeply, panting slightly from running up two consecutive flights of stairs, and plonked herself firmly back in her desk chair. She looked up and saw, perched on the sill of one of her slanting windows in the roof, Romeo and Juliet. She laughed again at Remus' sense of humour, or lack of it. Romeo and Juliet - they hadn't even liked each other when she and Remus had bought them on that memorable day. But now, she noted wistfully, they seemed to be getting along just fine.

"Waiting for an answer are you, Ro?" Lily asked, smiling up at the owls. He hooted in reply, ruffling his feathers impatiently. "Alright alright, I'll get on with it. Won't be a minute." It was strange, she thought, how her initial feeling of furtive embarassment when anyone caught her talking to an owl had disappeared.

"Scratch that, they have come. I'm a prefect! Prefect, prefect, prefect! Me, Lily Natasha Evans. A prefect. Wahey! Watch out - I've got the power!

See you soon,

Love Lily"

She rolled up the parchment and tied it to Romeo's leg. "Get a reply for me would you?" She smiled as he hooted his ascent.

Juliet fluttered down into her cage which was balanced precariously atop a combination of potions homework and letters from her friends. "Hi girl," Lily said. Juliet flapped impatiently. "Want to fly off again, do you? I'll give you something to take, then you might get some treats for your flight back." Juliet seemed to like this idea, as she flew onto the surface of the desk and watched intently as Lily began another letter.

"Dear Sirius,

How are you? I wonder if there's any point in trying to contact you in the holidays, as I've never yet had an answer, but I think it's a bit stupid not to. I hope your summer's going okay. What do you normally do, anyway? It's funny how little you've told me about yourself actually, especially as we're going out now. I mean, I know it was only a couple of weeks before the end of term and we're not exactly joined at the hip, but I really think we ought to talk more.

My mum and dad managed to find out about you (probably Remus's fault), and they were wondering if you and he would like to come round for dinner sometime. After all, being muggles, they don't know many wizards and they're very enthusiastic about meeting all my friends.

Hope to hear from you soon (if at all), but if not I might see you at Diagon Alley on August 29^th. James said something about us all getting together then to get our school stuff,

Lily'

She tossed her hair out of her face, thinking absent-mindedly that she would have to get it cut, and attached the letter to Juliet's leg. She soared out of the window and Lily sighed. She was alone again, waiting for the first of September to come around. She couldn't talk to Petunia about 'freak school', and, much as they tried, her parents just couldn't understand the mind of a 15 year old girl, magical or not.

She could talk to Remus, but he was a guy and bothering him too much about Sirius and other teenage-girl-things would probably annoy him. Her best girl friend, Chrissy, had just gone on holiday in South Africa, and she didn't want to bother her. Anyway, Chrissy had been bothered about the Lily/Sirius relationship as she had liked Sirius for large periods of second and third year, and Lily suspected there was still a little bit of her that liked Sirius, though she was loath to admit it.

There was James, she supposed, but she really wasn't sure about him. He was a strange one: simultaneously quiet, thoughtful and sensitive; and brash, cocky and loud. She hardly knew him really, apart from being familiar with his pranks. He evidently had a good sense of humour anyway, even if she was often on the receiving end of his jokes.

James was Sirius's best friend and the best person to ask about anything related to him, but aside from asking after Sirius's welfare, she didn't know what else to say. She could hardly go into her worries about their relationship with James. Heck, she wouldn't mention it to any of her girlfriends, aside from Chrissy anyway, so why should she mention it to Potter?

Lily didn't want anyone to know of her worries that Sirius was embarrassed of her. Why he would be embarrassed of her she didn't know, but all she knew was that he never contacted her in the holidays, and wouldn't let her meet his family or some of his friends. Sirius wasn't bothered about her being muggle-born, but she couldn't think what else it could possibly be.

Lily looked up from her thoughtful stupor to see Romeo returning to her window. One advantage of being friends with Remus was that he only lived 10 miles or so away, and the swift-flying owls could make the journey in almost no time. Of course, for the purebloods it was easier: they could just Floo to their friends' houses whenever they felt the urge, but as Lily's parents were muggles, they were not connected to the Floo network.

The letter read:

'Lily,

Don't be so worried about Sirius. He'll reply when he's got something to say - you know what he's like. And no, there's nothing wrong with him. Well, aside from the obvious mental problems. Petunia's got them too? I'll ask Sirius to pay her a visit and suggest they start a club or something.

You're a prefect? Well done, Lils! And I'm positively quaking in my metaphorical boots at the thought of you on the prowl after anyone who dares to prank... There's one slight issue, though - hate to burst your bubble, but you're not the only one with the power. They picked me too!

Mum wants to know if you and James want to come and stay with us for the end of the holidays - 25^th August okay with you? Come round in the afternoon some time. Let me know if you can,

Remus'

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x

Lily was just sitting down to lunch with her parents (Petunia was out shopping with Vernon, thankfully) when she heard a screech from upstairs. "Be right back," she yelled, as she swung out of the door and sprinted up the stairs.

Mrs Evans sighed and looked at her husband. "Where does that girl get her energy?"

He shook his head in reply. "And where can I get some, that's what I'd like to know."

Lily wasn't listening, but racing through the door of her bedroom to find two owls sitting on her already cluttered desk. "Juju?" She raised her eyebrows. Juliet wasn't the type to bring home stray owls. But the other owl stuck its leg out and Lily recognised it as James's. As she went to retrieve the rolled-up parchment, Lily noticed something that disturbed her very much. Juliet's tail was in bloody tatters and her left wing seemed broken. Lily was amazed that her owl had been able to fly at all. But what did James Potter have to do with all this?

"Lily,

Your owl showed up at my house this morning in a right state. What on earth happened to her? I thought I'd send you a note to let you know. I'll try to keep her here as she doesn't seem able to fly too well, but she seems to want to fly off again.

My mum knows a bit about owls - she did Care of Magical Creatures for NEWT or something. She says she'll see what she can do. She's got a friend who works in Eeylop's who she says will give her some splints and bandages and stuff, so she'll come and pick your owl up this afternoon if that's okay.

James"

Lily looked back at Juliet and James's owl. Juliet was giving her a death glare and the other owl looked inquisitive. She grabbed the nearest bit of parchment to scribble on, realised it was her Potions homework and promptly grabbed a different one.

"Dear James,

Thanks a lot. Tell your mum she's a bit of a handful and only to call her Juju, or she'll try to bite her hand off. Any time this afternoon's fine, it's lovely of your mum to do this. Say thank you from me.

I don't know what happened to her, I just sent her to Sirius with a letter. That seems to have gone though, so he must have got it. Maybe she got attacked by another bird or something, I just don't know.

Lily

PS. What's your owl's name? He's lovely. Snowy owls are so beautiful. I've been meaning to ask his name for a while but I keep forgetting."

As soon as she attached the letter to the beautiful owl's leg, he soared off out the window to wherever James lived. Potter Manor could be anywhere - she had never asked. She added that to the list of questions she meant to ask him.

"Right, Juju. Let's get you in your cage ready for Mrs Potter to come get you."

Unusually, Juliet didn't bother complaining, just made her way slowly to the cage, not flapping over as she normally would.

Lily glanced down at the Potions homework she had nearly scribbled on, noticing a large bloodstain, presumably from Juliet, obscuring part of the title and a large chunk of text. Professor d'Arcy would not be happy. And she couldn't just magic it off either, it being the summer holidays - she would have to wait till she got to Remus's (her parents had given her permission to go and stay that morning) and ask his mum to remove it for her.

Sirius though...he had got her letter. He must have done, or it would still be attached to Juliet's leg. Had he replied? She looked at Juliet and saw no sign of anything having been tied to her leg. Whatever had attacked her couldn't have removed a letter. No human would have done that to an owl, especially one carrying such an unimportant message. And a bird of prey couldn't remove a message without a trace. It was clear to Lily that Sirius had never replied.

She sighed, wondering if she was wasting her time with him. He was a prankster and an aspiring ladies' man, but she could see that underneath all that he had a heart of gold. If only he would let it show more often. He was good looking and he knew it, with his sleek black hair that fell into his deep grey eyes (he swore fervently that it annoyed him, but he never cut it).

Like the other Marauders, and many teenage boys like them, he tended to let his arrogance and self-assuredness hide his true sensitivity. Whenever he was around his friends, Lily just didn't bother with him, but when they were alone together taking walks around the Hogwarts grounds or sitting in an unused classroom, he was so thoughtful and sensitive towards her that Lily didn't mind the way he sometimes behaved.

Remus, Peter and James didn't seem to be the best influence on Sirius, but the four of them were so close and knew each other so well that everyone knew there was no point in thinking about them as separate entities. James was the most outwardly thoughtful of the four, Sirius the loudest, but the two of them together were clearly the masterminds behind a lot of the foursome's pranks. Peter was hard to fathom. He was as amused by all the pranks and taunts as the other three, but was much more afraid of punishments and consequences. This, and his lack of the rugged good looks shared by the other three boys, made him the odd one out.

Remus had always been Lily's favourite of the four, and her best friend since first year. He tended to put a stop to the more potentially harmful pranks, seeing things from the victims' point of view rather than refusing to see past the humour as the others often did.

Lily had been the first to know of his monthly werewolf transformations. Remus hadn't told her himself, of course. He was too scared of people shunning him for who he was. At the time, Lily didn't understand this, but she knew now that Remus had been right to be concerned. She had been naïve enough at the age of eleven to think that maybe some of muggles' prejudiced ways wouldn't be present in the wizarding world, but this illusion was shattered as soon as she came to Hogwarts. Slytherins, naturally, were the main culprits of any abuse Lily faced for being muggle-born, and she had grown used to it. But racism and all sorts of prejudice were present in both the magical and non-magical worlds.

Remus's father had been the one to inform Lily of Remus's 'problem', as he had so delicately put it. On Platform 9¾ before Lily had boarded the train, he had told Lily to be careful, for Remus's sake and her own. Lily didn't know to this day if he had thought Remus would hurt her or if she would hurt him, or whether he was just concerned that Remus needed a friend to support him through the bad times.

That had been the only conversation Lily had ever had with Julian Lupin. He left Remus and Alexandra in Remus's second year, pulling his elder daughter Rachel out of Hogwarts to do so. According to Alexandra, they suspected that she had been enrolled in either Beauxbatons or Durmstrang to continue her magical education, but no one in the family had heard from either of them since then. Remus had coped with it remarkably well, confiding frequently in his friends and acquaintances. He had never been one to keep his problems bottled up, aside from one, anyway. The other Marauders knew of Remus's secret, but for how long they had known, how they had found out, or how they had reacted, Lily hadn't a clue.

"Lily?! Dinner! Come on, love!" Lily heard her father shout from the kitchen.

"Coming, Dad!" Stopping to quickly check on Juliet who appeared to be asleep in her cage, Lily walked slowly downstairs and sat herself down at the table.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" her mother asked, looking worriedly at Lily's vacant expression.

"Oh yes, I'm fine," she smiled. "Just thinking. Sorry." She looked down at her plate of rice salad and heard her stomach rumble. "Thanks, Mum. I'm starving!" Mrs Evans grinned and picked up her knife and fork.

"Tuck in then!"

After they had finished eating, Lily suddenly remembered why she had been late in the first place. "Oh, Mum. Juliet's hurt." Seeing the look on her mother's face, Lily quickly added, "But it's alright, James's mum says she can sort her out. She's coming to pick her up this afternoon. That's okay, isn't it?"

Mr Evans frowned. "James? Who's James? I thought you were going out with this Sirius bloke."

"James Potter," his wife said, trying to hide her smile at his reaction. "Another of Remus's friends. That's right isn't it, Lily?" Lily nodded. "And she is going out with Sirius, but she's allowed to have boy friends to, isn't she?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Oh yes, of course." Mr Evans looked slightly embarrassed. "I just meant -"

"It's okay, Dad," Lily grinned. "Anyway, I think Mrs Potter is coming on her own." She knew having strange boys in the house was not her father's idea of fun.

"So let me get this straight." Mr Evans had worked through a lot of the previous summers, so he hadn't met many of Lily's friends and tended to lose track. "You're going to stay at Remus's this summer. He's a boy, and he's friends with James and Sirius."

"And Peter," Lily added.

"And Peter. Chrissy is on holiday, she's a girl and she and Remus are your best friends. Am I right?"

"Yes, Dad."

Mrs Evans butted in at this point. "And James's mother, Mrs Potter, is coming here this afternoon to pick up your injured owl and look after her."

"Yep. Ten points to Gryffindor," Lily said, and her mother chuckled.

Her father sighed. "Very funny. Practising, are you?"

"Not really, Dad. Prefects can't give or take house points. They can give detentions, but only the teachers and the Head Boy and Girl can deal with house points."

Mr Evans shook his head. "I'll never understand that school of yours."

Lily grinned cheekily. "Neither will I, but that doesn't stop me confusing you."

Mrs Evans was enthusiastically cleaning the house all afternoon, with Lily's help, as she was always very keen to meet anyone magical. She was often heard muttering about whether Professor Dumbledore was in the habit of stopping at pupils' houses for dinner. Lily and Remus found this exceedingly amusing.

Petunia came home at 3.30, but waltzed out again once she heard the news that a witch would be visiting the house, mumbling about picking up her legwarmers from her friend Bethany's house. Both Lily and her mother rolled their eyes at this. Mr Evans was in the garden enjoying the sunshine. His garden was his pride and joy, and he loved to keep it beautiful. He also enjoyed photography and took many pictures of the plants and animals which lived in the garden. Lily had given him an encyclopaedia of magical plants the previous Christmas, and he was still amazed that the pictures moved. Of course, in a normal encyclopaedia, plants wouldn't move much, but magical plants tended to be a bit more lively than their non-magical counterparts.

At 4.15, a knock was heard on the Evans' front door.

"Ah," Mrs Evans said delightedly. "That must be Mrs Potter. Answer it will you, Lily? I'll just get your father and take this mucky apron off."

Lily opened the door to a smiling woman with shoulder-length wavy black hair and brown eyes. Like Mrs Lupin, she had pronounced smile and frown lines, revealing the nature of her son's personality. She was wearing dark green robes not dissimilar to Lily's Hogwarts robes (apart from the colour of course: Lily had to wear black).

"Hi, you must be Lily. It's lovely to meet you."

Lily grinned at the woman's friendly manner. "Hello, Mrs Potter. It's so nice of you to have come. Come in, my parents are just -" she looked around, "- there."

Mr and Mrs Evans stepped into the hallway as Mrs Potter came through the door. "Mrs Potter! Lovely to see you, I'm Heather Evans -" Lily's mother shook Mrs Potter's hand "- and this is my husband Robert."

Mrs Potter smiled again, looking remarkably like James as she did so, Lily thought, apart from her lack of glasses. "Do call me Louisa. I'm sorry for my appearance," she ran a hand through her hair, "I've come straight from work. Otherwise I would have brought James with me too."

Lily looked at her parents. They, like she, obviously thought there was nothing wrong with Louisa Potter's appearance. A little tousled, maybe, but this smiling woman suited it.

This time, Louisa addressed Lily directly. "I work at the Ministry, you see. A friend there gave me a few pointers on owl care. I must say, my NEWTs were years ago." Lily grinned. She couldn't help liking Mrs Potter.

"Heather, Petunia and Lily, hmm?" She addressed this remark to Robert Evans. "I take it you like gardening?"

He grinned. "I do, as a matter of fact. But it's family tradition really."

"Yes, my sister is called Violet and my late mother was Daisy. I've been trying to get Lily to call her first Poppy, but for some reason she thinks it's -"

"Tragic, Mum. Totally unoriginal." Lily smiled apologetically at Mrs Potter, who didn't seem the least bit perturbed.

"Where's this owl James told me about then?" Lily gestured up the stairs and Mrs Potter followed her up.

"Lily dear, we'll be in the garden if you want anything." Lily nodded at her father and continued upwards.

When they reached Lily's bedroom, Louisa immediately spotted Juliet.

"Oh, aren't you a pretty one?" She smiled at Lily. "Juliet, was it?" Lily was about to speak when she added, "Ah yes, James said to call her Juju." Mrs Potter moved forwards and picked Juliet up out of her cage carefully.

"Romeo and Juliet; what will Remus think of next?" Louisa grinned to herself, shaking her head exasperatedly.

"You know about that?" Lily asked, intrigued.

"Oh yes, James told me. I've been teasing Remus about it for years. He doesn't seem to mind though. Anyway, this owl. She's got a broken wing and a lot of feathers have either been ripped out or knocked out of place. That's going to make it very difficult for her to fly." Lily nodded. "So she's going to need to rest until her feathers grow back enough to fly again. I'll splint her wing now so she doesn't damage it any more but I'll wait to clean her up until I get home. James can do it, for that matter. Heaven knows the boy's been doing nothing useful lately."

Lily grinned, liking Mrs Potter more every time she spoke. "Okay then, do you need any help?"

She thought for a moment. "Not really thanks, it should be fairly simple. I could do with entertaining though. Do tell me about the boys - are they as obnoxious as Sirius tells me, or is he just winding me up? James would like me to think they're all model students, but I'm not completely stupid."

"Well..." Lily chose her words carefully, "they're not exactly model students, but I wouldn't believe Sirius either."

Louisa Potter grinned. "Like mother, like son, I suspect." Lily looked confused, so Louisa elaborated. "James and I. I was quite the prankster in my day, though I've never told him so. All he knows is that I was a Prefect and Head Girl, and in his eyes that means I was a suckup."

Lily grinned, finding none of this hard to believe. She had seen the mischievous glint in Mrs Potter's eyes, reminding her again of James

"So, I hear you're dating Sirius Black." Lily nodded. "Good luck to you."

"I'll need it," Lily said, entirely truthfully.

Mrs Potter must have heard the note of sadness in Lily's voice, because she said, "How's that going? James doesn't tell me about it for some reason." Lily was too busy thinking to notice the expression on Louisa Potter's face. She looked as if she were trying to tell Lily something.