Lily sat quietly enjoying her first cup of tea of the morning. Harry was still asleep as was his daddy. She enjoyed this time just after the sun rose and she got to be alone with her thoughts. Or at least she was until…

The soft knock on the door startled her. She jumped up drawing her wand at the same time. Turning to the door, she cautiously peeked out to see who was there this early. Shaking her head, she pulled the door open to a weary looking Sirius Black.

“Sirius, what are you doing here at this time of the morning?” she asked quietly as she led him over to the table by the arm. He looked ready to drop.

“Late night mission,” he replied. He tried to focus his eyes on Lily, but he was having a hard time seeing straight. He had hoped James would be the one answering the door, but in all honesty, he couldn’t complain about it being Lily.

Lily set a cup of tea in front of him and urged him to drink. “Want to talk about it?” she asked.

“No…yeah…I don’t know,” Sirius said shaking his head. Did he really want to tell her how close he came to being killed only a few hours ago? Part of him did as he knew she would make him feel better, but part of him longed to talk to James, to hear his capability as a wizard being brought into question.

“Sirius, tell me what happened,” Lily urged. She knew he needed to talk and though she was sure he would prefer James and his teasing ways, she felt this was too serious and he needed the voice of reason and understanding.

“I was checking out a lead on Voldemort’s whereabouts, when I stumbled into a bunch of Death Eaters,” Sirius said. At Lily’s scared look, he reached across the table to take her hand.

“They didn’t realise who I was…at first. It didn’t take long for them to realise I was Bellatrix’s cousin. Godric, there were ten of them and I was alone,” he said as he ran a hand across his face.

Lily got up and going to the cabinet grabbed the bottle of Firewhisky. Pouring a generous amount into his cup of tea, she smiled.

“Mum always told me tea was good for whatever ails you. Whether you are cold or hot, thirsty or tired, it cures everything. But in this case, I think a bit of addedmedicine is called for.”

Sirius took a deep drink of the tea. Sighing, he gently set the cup back down. He looked at his best friend’s wife and smiled.

“Lily, have I ever told you how much I love you?” he asked.

“Don’t let James hear you, especially not in the condition you are in. You wouldn’t stand a chance,” she said laughter in her voice.

“So, do you want to hear how the almighty Sirius Black escaped ten Death Eaters single-handed or not?” Sirius smiled and began his story.

“Of course I do,” said Lily as she sat next to him and patted his hand. “You know how much I love your stories.” She smiled at his look of incredulity.

“I started firing every spell, hex and jinx I could think of at them. I managed to get down an alley and hid behind a dust bin long enough to do a Disillusionment Charm and send word to the Order. That is when it got really fun,” he said and chuckled.

“Why didn’t you just Apparate away?” asked Lily, horror stricken at his recklessness.

“And leave them to reek havoc on some Muggle village?” he asked shocked. “No, I couldn’t do that. I continued to throw hexes and jinxes at them but I kept moving quickly around them so they couldn’t locate me.” He stopped and took another drink of Lily’s medicinal tea.

“At first, I think they thought others had joined me, but then they got the idea to each face a different direction and fire back. I managed to get back to the alley just as Gideon and Fabien arrived.” This time he laughed as he paused.

“I started telling them how many were out there, forgetting they couldn’t see me,” Sirius said. “I think they thought there was a ghost in the alley. I undid the charm and we waited for some others to arrive. Once Moody got there, we went back out. When I left, Moody had three of them in custody.”

Lily sighed. She knew working for the Order was dangerous, but times like this, it hit home, hard. She reached out and picked up Sirius’ cup of tea and took a drink. She set it carefully back in front of him before speaking.

“You could have been killed,” she said shakily. “You never should have gone alone. Why didn’t you take James, or Remus or even Peter with you?”

Sirius held up four fingers and began dropping each finger as he stated, “James, home with wife and son, Remus, full moon tomorrow, out of commission, Peter, Mum is sick and he went to see her. So, that leaves... me.” He smiled smugly.

“I am sure there are others in the Order who you could have taken with you. You have to stop running around like your are invincible and realise you are not immortal. You can be killed as easily as the next person. Don’t I have enough to worry about right now without you adding to it?” Lily’s voice began to rise in anger.

Sirius stood and went over to Lily. He dropped to his knees in front of her and wrapped his arms around her.

“Lily, you are my best girl, you know that? I’m sorry, you’re right. You have enough to worry about without me adding to it. Will you forgive me?” He leaned back a little bit and looked into her eyes.

“Just promise me you will be more careful, okay?” she asked.

“I promise, I will be more careful,” Sirius answered and once again pulled her into his embrace.

“There better be a damn good reason why my best friend has my wife in his arms,” came a lazy sounding voice from the doorway.

Sirius tipped his head back and looked at James. Smiling he pulled Lily tighter into his arms and whispered loudly, “Well, love, looks like we have been caught. Best let me try to explain our way out of it.”

Laughing, Lily pushed Sirius away from her and stood up. She walked over to James and took Harry from his arms. Whispering just as loudly as Sirius had, she said, “James, Sirius just made a pass at me. He claims I am his best girl. Since the ten Death Eaters he took on alone tonight didn’t kill the stupid git, you will just have to do it yourself.” She gave James a small kiss on the cheek and walked out of the kitchen.

She yelled back into the kitchen, “Make sure you clean any blood up before I come back down. You can bury the body in the backyard. It will make great fertilizer.”

James looked from where his wife went back to Sirius and said, “Ten Death Eaters, huh? Sounds like a great story, mate.”

Chuckling, Sirius sat back down and began to tell a very different story than he told Lily. He told James the truth, not the glossed over version he had given to Lily.