Lily sat dutifully beside her friend until there was a knock on the door. SamLin’s eyes fluttered open as Sirius Black entered the room.
“Thank you for taking care of my friend as best as you could,” Lily said. Sirius smiled wryly.
“Well, it was definitely fun,” he said cheerfully with a smile. Lily’s eyebrows arched.
Sirius backtracked. “No “ no, I mean it wasn’t fun having her sick. Definitely not. It was just fun of having her here, being sick,” Sirius said in a suave but flushed manner. Lily smiled; if anyone could control the Hogwarts Casanova, it would and should definitely be her friend.
Sirius exited the room. Lily noticed a forlorn expression on SamLin’s face as he did.
Lily and SamLin chatted for a few minutes. There wasn’t that much talk though as it was obvious SamLin was definitely not feeling well. Lily just sat there and comforted her as she coughed.
“Hang on,” SamLin suddenly said after a terrible coughing fit. “What’s that noise downstairs?”
Lily listened.
“Why would you spend time with that girl, Sirius? That girl is a “” Lily recognized it as Mrs. Black’s voice.
“DON’T you say ANYTHING bad about her!” Lily heard Sirius growl.
There was a brief silence.
“I knew you were a bad seed once you were sorted into that Gryffindor! At first I thought it was just a mistake, but then you make friends with blood traitors, Mudbloods, Half-bloods, and others who are unworthy to learn magic! And then you invite them over to tarnish our pure household!” Mrs. Black yelled back.
More silence.
“You,” Sirius said quietly, but his voice seemed to command the attention of the entire household. “You lying, deceitful mother. I used to be proud of this family. I actually held respect for you all. And you managed to deceive me, also. I just thought I was different. I thought I had a little bit of different views on how the Wizarding world was managed. Different; not bad different, just different. But then you showed me you never cared for me ever since I was just eleven years old! And then you make fun of my...g “ my friend and her best friend! And you call my best friend a blood traitor! But worst of all, you threatened and scared her when I wasn’t there to realize it. Merlin, I could care less about you now.”
“Fine,” Mrs. Black sniffed. “But don’t expect me to take you in after this fight. I’ll disown you and curse you off our perfect family tree! GET OUT NOW! YOU AND YOUR AND LITTLE FRIENDS, TOO!”
“YOU DON’T HAVE TO DISOWN ME!” Sirius bellowed. “I’M OUT OF HERE! AND I’LL TAKE ALL THE” “ SamLin coughed and Lily gasped at the word Sirius used “ “TIME I NEED!”
Lily was quaking inside after listening to the two Blacks fight. She wanted to get out of here. Now.
Suddenly, Sirius came bursting into the room. “Come on,” he said to the two girls. “We’re out of here. Evans, I’ll carry SamLin and you just get out of here before my mother feels the need to curse you out of here.”
Lily nodded and quickly scurried down the stairs and was out the door in a flash. The three Potters were already waiting by the car. A couple seconds later, Sirius and SamLin appeared.
“Listen,” Jane Potter said gently. “We can take you three home to our place. And Sirius, if you need somewhere to stay permanently, I can only think of one suitable home with a best friend and two willing parents.”
Sirius broke out into a smile and nodded his head. He and James gave each other a manly pat on the back (being too embarrassed to hug), then hopped into the car.
The two older Potters looked at her and SamLin.
“I guess my parents would think it’s alright,” SamLin said, coughing.
“I’m not really in a position to return home,” Lily said.
“Remember,” Mrs. Potter said, “you two will always be welcome at our home.”
But as James’ parents smiled at her and she was in the backseat again (now much larger than before to hold room for the extra company), she wondered if staying with the Potters for the entire summer was something that she would regret.
*
It was around the beginning of August. Lily had already been at Netherfield with the three Potters, one Black, and one Anderson for about a week. And it had been both fun and nerve-wracking.
Lily had spent the week with SamLin, talking and laughing. It had been refreshing to talk to someone who would realize and be supportive of Lily.
Right now, SamLin was recovering nicely. Mrs. Potter had sent up a House Elf with tonic and some chicken noodle soup. Lily suspected SamLin had definitely finished the soup by now, but the tonic was probably spilled on the floor or hidden under a pillow. Lily just had to chuckle.
Today, SamLin had urged Lily to spend time with people who were not confined to their beds. Lily had taken her advice, but still sat around, basically doing nothing.
Mr. and Mrs. Potter were out running errands, which left Sirius and James and Lily alone in the sitting room. James was hunched over the coffee table, in which he seemed to be addressing a letter on. Sirius was pacing around the room. Lily was still caught up in the exciting plot of her Les Misérables.
Sirius was leaning over James’ back, trying to obviously figure out who he was writing to. The Black kid smiled. “Buy a Quick Notes Quill, James?”
“No, Padfoot.” James didn’t look up at his friend. Lily could detect a half-hidden smile as he remained bent over the piece of parchment. “I just write fast.”
“Writing? Since when do we Marauders write?” Sirius inquired.
“Since mum told me to write to my sister or else,” James replied smartly.
Sirius’ mouth formed an ‘o’ of understanding. “Ah, yes. The famous Trinity Potter. By the way, how is she at the Beauxbatons summer program?”
Lily had to admit she was interested in the business about Trinity Potter. James had a sister?
“Quite fine, thank you very much. Jeez, everyone in the entire Wizarding world seems to care more about Trin than me.”
“I care ‘bout you, Prongs,” Sirius said in a fake, high-pitched voice. James nearly threw the quill at him.
Lily snapped her book shut, stuck her ragged ribbon on the page she left off at, and got up. She’s finish her book later.
“Up, Evans?” Sirius asked. James looked up, but continued writing. Lily rolled her eyes at his tacky behavior, but smiled and started pacing the room like Sirius.
“Want to join us, James?” Lily asked, not awkwardly but in a polite matter. She didn’t even know why she asked.
“No, Evans.” He kept writing. She felt a twinge of disappointment.
The make her feel better, she commented loudly, “Well, I could’ve used the time to get to know you better.”
James put on an ‘are-you-kidding-or-what?’ look. It made Lily feel slightly stupid. “Evans, you have never really attempted to get to know me better. Why should now be different?”
“What if I’m just trying to find yet another fault in you?” she shot back.
“Well, I’ll give you the answer later.” He continued to write.
“Oh, but I can’t tease you now,” Lily said sarcastically, but in a way, her tone almost had soft edges. “Too bad, since I really enjoy laughing at you, James Potter.”
James looked up and met her green eyes. How could he have so much composure when he did that? His blank look soon had a smile on it. He said simply, “And you called me ‘James.’” No surprise, no arrogance, no ‘I’ll-use-this-for-blackmail-later’ tone. Just a simple statement.
Lily tried to remain calm like him. She walked back to her seat, opened her book, but didn’t look past the page she was on. She was too busy contemplating.
Is it Pride or Prejudice? by Stormbringer
Chapter Notes: Lily's recovering from a shocking surprise, SamLin's sick with worry and the flu, Sirius is really mad at his mother, and the Potters have invited them all to stay at their rented house.