"This is ours," Lily whispered standing in the kitchen of their new house.
"Every inch," James replied wrapping his arms around her.
"Where are you going?" she asked when he let her go.
"To bring some boxes in,"
"Don't worry. I called for reinforcements," Lily told him looking quite smug. Right on cue Sirius staggered through the door carrying a box marked Box of Crap.
"Why did I agree to do this?" he wondered rubbing the groove in his arm where he'd been balancing the box.
"Because you love us so much," Lily smiled and taking the box from him kissed his cheek. An action that made James freeze.
"Did I just see what I thought I saw?"
"What?"
"Since when are you two that friendly?"
"Don't know what you mean," she replied completely innocently.
"I've had to spend the last year keeping you two at arms length and now you're all sweetness and light. I don't get it," he told them.
"What? We grew up." Lily said simply.
"What's going on?" Ellis asked walking through carrying a pile of little boxes.
"Lily kissed Sirius," James told her.
"You two aren't breaking up are you!" she asked Lily and James in distress. "I carried all these in here, I'm not moving them back again! Oh and Lily- welcome to the club." She smiled.
"What club?" Mia asked following Ellis into the kitchen.
"How many people did you call?" James asked in amazement, wondering how many more people were going to come in.
"A few," Lily answered knowingly.
"A few being……….."
"Us. Them. Remus and Pete who're outside at the car and Isabelle who's coming later."
"Belles coming?" Sirius's head snapped up.
"Yeah. How's it going with you two?"
"I wouldn't know seeing as I've spent half the summer hanging out with you and your boyfriend,"
"Stop complaining, you love us really," Lily teased.
"God knows why," Sirius grunted in reply.
"Its because we're so lovable,"
"I'm sorry but am I the only one even slightly freaked out by this?" James asked.
"No I'm disturbed as well," Ellis said looking at the pair with an expression that closely resembled disgust. "Are you ever going to go back to hating each other?"
"I still hate you," Sirius told her "Does that count?" he asked as Ellis, smirking, blew a kiss at him.
"I guess something's don't change,"
"Where do you want this?" Remus asked carrying yet more boxes.
"No idea mate. Ask the boss," James pointed at Lily.
"Dump it anywhere," she told him, ignoring the glare that Mia was sending her as Peter followed Remus. He seemed to be trying to prove that despite being much smaller that the rest of the Marauders, he was just as strong as he was tottering under an armful of boxes.
"How much stuff do you two need?" Mia asked looking at the growing pile of cardboard on the floor.
"Do you want to know the scary thing?" Lily asked. "This is just little stuff. We've got to buy most of the furniture."
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"Right so…… screw no.1- you got that? Good, hold on to it- that goes in to hole no.4," Lily said peering at the instructions she was trying read.
"Are you sure you're reading that right?" Ellis appeared at the other end of the wood they were trying to fix.
"Elle I don't even know if I'm holding the instructions the right way up!"
"Shouldn't screw no.1 go into the first hole?" Isabelle asked.
"I don't know! The instructions are all in Spanish so I'm trying to look at the picture!" Lily said.
"Give them to Belle to read." Ellis suggested.
"Since when have I been Spanish!"
"You're not?"
"No." Isabelle said firmly.
"Why are all instructions always in the wrong language?"
"No idea,"
"Oh look! Suddenly all this small talk has fixed it and now I have a bed!" Lily snapped, not knowing what to do was really getting to her.
"This is too hard for us, can't we get someone else to do it?"
"Who?" she asked. "All the blokes have gone out and Mia left with what's-his-name."
"Well let me look," Ellis told her. "It can't be that hard."
It was two hours later when Lily was struggling with screw No.17, that James came back.
"That looks hard. We got any ice-cream?" he commented looking in to see what they were doing.
"James we don't even have a freezer!"
"Why didn't you use magic?" he asked looking their red faces and the number of splinters now covering their bedroom floor.
"Because I don't know a spell to put a flat-pack bed together." Lily told him.
"Oh. Well good luck!" he said cheerfully and wandered back down in search of ice cream.
"What is it with him and ice cream?" Ellis asked.
"Please- don't even go there!" Lily begged.
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"There!" Lily said triumphantly having just fixed the last screw. "We did it."
"Bastard." Ellis said glaring at the bed it had taken them just over four hours to fix. "But we beat him."
"I think I'm going to have a lie-down now though," Lily said looking longingly at it.
"Mind if I join you?"
"Nah, there's plenty of room."
James wandered back up a few minutes later to the sight of three girls asleep on his bed.
"JAMES!" Sirius shouted up the stairs, "JAMES!"
"Sssssshhh!"
"What?" Sirius asked.
James nodded to the girls.
"Bless them." Sirius said and crept off.
"Where are you going?" They asked each other, their question answered when James returned with his little camera and Sirius came back with an evil grin….. and a marker.
"You can't draw on them!"
"Why not!"
"Because….. you can't. Isabelle'll hate you,"
"I wasn't going to draw on her,"
"Lily will quite happily kill you,"
"I wasn't going to draw on her either,"
James's eyes fell on Ellis, sleeping peacefully next to Lily.
"Sirius No!"
"Why not?" he whined.
"How can you hate her asleep, she looks all innocent and peaceful?"
"She was never innocent," Sirius snorted.
"She was before she met you," James said fairly, which –judging by the glare his friend was giving him, was clearly the wrong thing to say. James had a nasty feeling that he would wake up the next morning with a face that had been 'improved'.
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"What you reading?" Sirius asked helping himself to James's breakfast.
"The paper," Lily replied not looking up. She was sitting behind huge sheets of printed paper, what did he think she was reading?
"Since when do you read the paper?"
"Since I started caring about what is happening in the world," she replied, still not looking up.
"Last Wednesday," James interrupted nicking his breakfast back.
"You never used to,"
"Didn't need to. We were all cosy at Hogwarts, things change a bit when you're out on your own,"
"Tell me about it. You used to get decent breakfasts there," Sirius sighed. "So what's going on in the world since you care so much?" he asked through a mouthful of James's toast.
"The usual. Chaos, war, murder,"
"Who got it this time?" he asked, ignoring James who was alternating indignant glares between his empty plate and Sirius.
"Ministry in Chaos Over Muggle Murders," Lily read out. "The minister is said to be in conference with the muggle prime minister over the murder of four muggles yesterday. Two muggles and their children were found dead in a village near the last known location of You-Know-Who. Aurors were called onto the scene and confirmed that You-Know-Who and his followers will be held responsible. As all our readers know, He is attempting to purify the Wizarding Race by removing all muggle-borns, half-bloods and, as last night testifies, even muggles themselves," Lily stopped reading. "James stop complaining! You can …….. just eat mine, I'm not hungry anymore," she mumbled pushing her plate towards him.
"Are you alright Lil?" James asked watching her carefully.
"He killed a couple of kids," she repeated looking slightly sick.
"Can I have a look?" Sirius asked and read it- running his hands through his hair.
"Lily what's the matter?" James asked. "He's always been there what new?"
"I know. But he always seemed a million miles away; he'd never get to Hogwarts- not past Dumbledore,"
"So? He's not going to come after us. What've we ever done to him?" James asked.
"What did those kids do?" Sirius asked.
"He has a point." Lily said.
"I know. But I don't get what you think we're about to do. Charge out and fight him single handed?"
"Just don't do anything to piss him off. Please?"
"I don't-"
"James, please?"
"If it means that much to you," James shrugged.
Lily looked relieved and kissed him as she stood up. "Thanks,"
Sirius raised an eyebrow at his friend. He noticed how carefully he worded his answer and knew that James wasn't about to make a promise he had no intention of keeping.
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