Beyond Hogwarts -Chapter Nine

-=Beyond Hogwarts; Chapter Nine=-

The next morning, Lily was out of bed early, and she had breakfast on the table when James rolled out of bed. He walked into the living room, yawning and stretching.
   “Hallo,” she said rather bitterly. “Have fun at your office today.”
   “Lily…” he sighed, putting his arms around her. “I’m only trying to protect you!”
   “I’ve got a frying pan in my hand. Move,” she commanded.
   He blinked twice, then stepped aside, letting her sink the pan in a sink full of soapy water. Scrubbing it a few times, she ran some water over it and banged it down hard on the countertop.
   “Lily, I wish you’d understand why I’m doing this.”
   “I do so understand,” she grumbled. “I just don’t like it, that’s all.”
   James flopped down on the sofa, letting his head drop onto a mound of pillows. “Have you made any coffee yet?”
   “I’ve got nothing better to do; of course I have,” she snapped. “I’ll have nothing better to do all day long than to make you dinner and to do your laundry. Boy, will I have fun.”
   “Ach!” He threw his hands up into the air. “I’ll get something to eat at the Ministry. I don’t need to listen to this-I’m getting ready.” James stood up, running a hand through his hair, and disappeared into the bathroom, from which a sound of running water could shortly be heard.
   As soon as the door locked behind him, Lily disappeared into her closet, reappearing moments later with a pair of black robes and a pair of shoes. Changing into the robes quickly, she pulled the dressing gown on over them, tying the sash as the bathroom door was unlocked, and by the time she humphed a reply to a query of where a pair of matching socks could be, she was curled up on the sofa, the shoes kicked underneath the sofa, eating a piece of buttered toast.
   James bent over the sofa and kissed her forehead, but she swatted him out of the way. “Go to work. You want to go to work, now go.”
   A hurt look on his face, he pulled on a coat and scarf and Disapparated to the Ministry. After a few moments, when Lily was sure that he was gone, she rose to her feet, yanking off the dressing gown and pulling on the shoes. Pointing her wand at her hair, she wove it into a bun on the top of her head. Lily toyed with the idea of changing her hair colour, and finally she succu mbed, turning it a darker brown. Her eyebrows she didn’t have to change; they were dark as it was. A pair of horn-rimmed glasses completed an amusing transformation, and within seconds, she was walking towards a clerk at the front desk at the Ministry.
   “Where do I apply for a job, please?” she asked in a firm tone. He looked up, surprised-females didn’t usually ask him that; it was usually men in their twenties. He put several papers away.
   “Is there a particular position you might wish to fill?” he asked.
   “Yes,” Lily said definitely. “I’d like to be an Auror.”
   His eyebrows rose. He jerked his thumb over his right shoulder, saying, “Second door to the left; when you go in, ask for Ernestine Debenham.”
   Lily nodded at him. “Thank you.” She turned around, walking definitely towards the door he had pointed out, and, clutching a folder with her Hogwarts marks for all of her years in it, she turned the door-handle.
   The first sight that met her eyes was a desk with a young lady about her age, who was taking dictation from an older man, who was pacing around the room. They stopped when she entered, however, and she cleared her throat.
   “Miss Debenham, please-Ernestine Debenham.”
   The secretary removed the glasses from her nose. Lily appraised her quickly-she was pretty, as far as she went-she had long, full blonde hair and brownish-green eyes, one dimple in a cheek, blue robes, and she was wearing a silver watch.
   “I’m Miss Debenham. I suppose you’re here to see me about a position as a secretary?”
   “No,” Lily shook her head, “as an Auror.”
   The girl’s eyebrows rose much in the fashion of the clerk at the front desk, and she nodded to the man next to her.
   “This is Mr. Robert Merriwether. He is in charge of that department. This will not take very long-“ she started, but was cut off by Mr. Merriwether.
   “No need, Ernestine-I can interview her now. You can finish up the papers from there, can’t you?”
   She nodded. “Yes, sir. There’s an elderly man that’s filed a sighting of an apparition two nights ago-shall I give you his notes afterwards?”
   Mr. Merriwether nodded. “That’ll be just fine. If you’ll go in here, then, Miss-“ He stopped and looked at her questioningly, and she answered quickly.
   “Lily. Lily Potter.”
   “Potter? Are you related to James Potter, by any chance? We’ve just hired him, if you are.”
   “No,” she said, smiling. No, they weren’t related. Only married.
   She followed him into his office, appraised quickly the mahogany desk and the polstered chairs, and sank into one of the latter, handing Mr. Merriwether her folder.
   “This says that your name’s Evans,” he said upon opening it. “You told me it was Potter.”
   “It is,” she nodded. “Evans was my maiden name.”
   “I see,” he said, pulling out one parchment sheet after another. “As far as I can see, I do not have to question you on your magical ability.” He shut the folder quickly. “Have you any parents?”
   “No. My mother died in my fourth year-and my father only about a month ago.”
   “I see. Any close friends?”
   “A few,” she said apologetically, “but not many.”
   “Husband, yes-he is still living?”
   “Yes,” Lily smiled. “Sir,” she added after a moment of thinking.
   “Any other relatives-any children?”
   “No. Just my husband and I.”
   He nodded. “Very well. Your birth certificate I have.” Mr. Merriwether looked up at her. “I may say that the chances of receiving this sort of position are usually fairly slim, but I will refer your credentials to the Minister of Magic, who eventually decides which people are to receive this status. I will be able to inform you of our decision in…” He pulled out a calendar and flipped through it. “Two weeks at the earliest.”
   Lily shook her head. “No, sir.”
   “No?"
   “No,” she confirmed. “You know from my papers that I’m just the kind of employee you want. Today or nothing,” Lily said with a sweep of her hand. She knew only too well, from Sirius’ and Remus’ stories, that they usually put girls off until someone better came along, at which time the girls were told that the Ministry was sorry, but they didn’t have a position for them after all. She wasn’t standing for that.
   Mr. Merriwether frowned. “Er-if you’ll wait with Miss Debenham...I suppose I could get Mr. Sikora to give you a few minutes.”
   Lily stood up. “That will be fine, thank you.” Leaving her folder on his desk, she stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her, and sinking slowly into a chair in Miss Debenham’s office.
   Lily wasn’t worried; merely pleasantly apprehensive. She knew full well that they wouldn’t pass her up by any means if she had been a boy, and she was interested to see if they would hire her or not. Frankly, though, she knew that they would-they couldn’t afford not to, not now.
   She waited only for five minutes, and then Mr. Merriwether opened the door to his office and nodded to her. “Mrs. Potter, please.”
   Inside, Rowland Sikora was sitting in a chair behind the desk, his eyes running over her N.E.W.T. scores. He put it neatly aside and looked up, sizing her with a glance. Lily did the same to him.
   Brown, graying hair, swept back behind his ears. He reminded her somewhat of a turn-of-the-century father of a wealthy family; his robes were dark blue and neatly kept, his hair was tied back behind his head. His eyes were Serena’s, clear and blue, but his ears were different; they were smaller, and the lobe was attached to the side of his head.
   He cleared his throat. “Mrs-Potter, is it?”
   “Yes, sir,” she nodded. “You wished to see me?”
   ”Just so. We have been reviewing these scores-“ he waved a hand towards the papers Mr. Merriwether was hurriedly packing away neatly in the folder-“and our opinion is that you would be a most invaluable addition to the Ministry.”
   In spite of herself, Lily’s color rose, but she kept her chin up. “Sir?”
   “You have a position, Mrs. Potter, as an Auror.”
   Two hands were stretched towards her, and, somewhat dizzy with the jolt of her success, she shook them both, smiling faintly.
   “Sir-“
   “Yes?”
   “When do I start-and what am I paid?”
   Sikora grinned. “Practical-minded. That’s advantageous.” He checked his watch. “Your pay is, for the first three assignments, five Galleons an hour, and afterwards, according to your success, it will be raised, though not less than two Galleons and not more than five. We will expect you…” He turned to Mr. Merriwether. “Robert, is there by any chance a calendar in this room?”
   Mr. Merriwether hurriedly shoved a planner underneath the Minister’s nose, and Sikora nodded.
   “The first assignment you will be sent to is in two weeks-up till then you will be going to training sessions for our women from one in the afternoon till five.”
   Lily nodded. “Yes-thank you, sir.”
   Rowland Sikora left the room with a quick bow to her, and Mr. Merriwether held the door open as she passed through into the hallway.
   “When you arrive at the clerk’s desk downstairs, turn right, and at the end of the corridor, take two lefts, and you’ll come to a room with a plaque on it saying Handicapped Restroom. Ignore it and go right on in.”
   Lily raised an eyebrow at him, and he laughed. “It’s an odd system of camouflage just in case of anything. I quite agree with you that it’s rather silly, but it amuses us.” He smiled. “Good morning!”
   She nodded back at him and Disapparated, inwardly smirking unbearably. James wasn’t going to be the only one in their family that ever had anything interesting to do. “Just wait and see, Mr. Potter!” she whispered as she Apparated into the Ministry-provided apartment. “Just you wait!”
   It was only ten o’clock when she landed in their living room, too early to start lunch, for she knew James would be home at twelve. Remembering her wand, she swiveled into the bedroom, rifling through her closet for a black winter coat. It was still snowing, and she’d be walking outside in Diagon Alley. Wrapping a shawl around her head, she slipped into some warmer shoes and Disapparated.
   Lily opened her eyelashes to the familiar sights of the Leaky Cauldron. Smiling shortly at Tom, who was mixing a drink for an elderly wizard at the bar, she caught sight of Abigail-the girl that had befriended her in her third year; she was sitting near the fire, moodily sipping hot coffee, and fraying the sleeves of her robes.
   “Abigail?” Lily whispered hesitatingly. “Abigail?”
   The plump girl spun around. “Lily?”
   Lily smiled. “How are you? I haven’t seen you since we left Hogwarts.”
   “No-you were on your honeymoon. How was it?” Abigail was bursting for news, and Lily pulled a chair up next to her, her shrewd eyes divining the loneliness of the girl. For forty-five minutes, they spoke gleefully about ancient Egypt, the American shores, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Abigail couldn’t quite get over the statement that Lily had seen Cleopatra.
   “You saw her? Really?”
   “I did-it wasn’t too hard, really. It cost a fortune, but-“ she grinned evilly-“James won’t miss it.” Her smile dropped. “We found out about his parents the day we came back, though, and we don’t have a house yet. The Ministry’s given us an apartment, and-well, I don’t like it much-it’s small, but I suppose it’s better than nothing.”
   “Yes. I read about his parents-and about your father. There was a huge article in the Daily Prophet about ‘the lives of the most promising witch and wizard in several centuries ruined by three deaths’,” Abigail confided. “I’m sorry.”
   Uncomfortably, Lily fidgeted. “I didn’t really like my father much-and he didn’t me-but I did like Mr. and Mrs. Potter. They-oh, it doesn’t matter, really.”
   “Lily,” Abigail said, wide-eyed, “I’ve got a cousin in charge of several unsold manors. Do you think that might help with your looking for a house?”
   Lily laughed, smiling. “It might, yes! Thank you!”
   “Good,” Abigail beamed. “I can tell you don’t like apartments.”
   “I don’t,” Lily admitted. “Not at all.” Then her face brightened. “Abigail, you do have your wand with you, don’t you?”
   “Yes,” Abigail wondered. “Why?”
   “Mine-mine broke-when I was fighting with my father. It’s in Ollivanders, and I need to pick it up-could you by any chance help me into Diagon Alley!”
   “Of course I would! Let’s go!”
   Both of them stood up from the table. Hurriedly throwing a few Sickles onto the table, Abigail joined Lily as they left the pub for the alley behind it.
   Lily’s eyes widened at the sight of the white expanse that reached to her ankles. “Wow. I didn’t know it snowed this much!”
   “It did,” Abigail confirmed. “I just took my Apparition test today, since I failed it the first time, and I had to walk to the licensing office in this mess.”
   “That must have been grimy.” Lily wrinkled her nose. “You have your wand?”
   “Yes,” Abigail confirmed, after pulling it out of several layers of robes. “Which bricks?”
   “Above the trash can,” Lily said absently, “third up, second across.”
   The bricks drew aside, forming a doorway just large enough for them to fit through, and Lily sighed happily at the sight of the familiar alley. She hadn’t seen it in months-the Ministry had taken her wand to Mr. Ollivander, and she’d hardly been out of the apartment herself-after all, it kept stocked all they needed, and Sirius and Remus had taken over their food shopping.
   “Oh, I’ve missed this place,” Lily smiled. “It looks like a postcard.”
   “It does?” Abigail asked dubiously. “I suppose.”
   It did, Lily felt-the roofs of the comfortable-looking stores were covered in snow three inches thick-away from the smoke and heat of the streets, the snow didn’t melt as quickly. Paths had been swept that morning, and heaps of snow were piled underneath show windows, but a light layer of snow had fallen since then, and when Lily moved, her shoes crunched small icy particles. The shop windows were lit with a golden firelit glow, and sparks zoomed around, showing off brooms in Quality Quidditch Supplies and books in Flourish and Blotts.
   Lily quickly found Ollivanders, and the girls banged the door shut behind them, shivering as the cold followed them inside. It was relatively warm inside the shop, though, so the first move Lily made was to unbutton her coat.
   “Mr. Ollivander?” she asked loudly. “Mr. Ollivander?”
   The thousands of narrow boxes lining the walls seemed to rustle with contained magic when their maker appeared from behind a bookcase, his pale, large eyes shining with a pearl-like glow.
   “Miss Potter, I presume? May I congratulate you on your marriage-and express my sorrow for your loss?”
   “Thank you,” she said awkwardly. “Er-I’m here to pick up my wand…”
   “Ye-es,” Mr. Ollivander faintly smiled, “one of the unluckiest wands I have sold, and I remember the very day you bought it. Anxious, you were, and unnerved by the green sparks…” He had flitted into his storeroom and brought out a long, flat, thin box, handing it over to her. “Ten and a quarter inches, swishy, made of willow, good for charmwork-yes?”
   Lily nodded, taking the wand in her hand and bringing it down over her head. The familiar warmth filled her fingers, and the same forest-green sparks whizzed all around the room from her wand as her arm swished sharply. Mr. Ollivander nodded.
   “I doubt you will be having any more problems with that anymore-it will come in handy, I expect?” he said slyly. “With your new job?”
   Lily caught her breath. How could he know? “Sir?”
   Mr. Ollivander nodded towards her chest, and, looking down, she noticed with a start that a golden badge had materialized there-Lily Potter, Auror-in-Training. Quickly, she pulled her coat tightly around her.
   “Er-thank you. How-how much-for the reparations?”
   She paid seven Sickles over to him and left the shop, breathing in quick sips of the cold air. Abigail tugged on her sleeve.
   “What new job? Lily, why didn’t you tell me?” She was a bit hurt.
   Lily almost sighed. “Abby…Abby, I can’t tell you right now. It-it’s got nothing to do with you-I just don’t want James to find out. He can’t know.”
   “Why not?” Abigail was puzzled.
   “He doesn’t want me to work-not with Voldemort rising again. He promised me I could, but he’s getting more and more apprehensive…well, I don’t want him to find out-see?”
   “Oh.” Abigail’s face cleared. “Oh, of course-Say, there’s Bonnie’s-it’s a wonderful coffee shop-they’ve got a new kind of coffee with whipped cream and white and dark chocolate draped all over it-it’s simply heavenly!” she pointed, excited. “It’s on me. Let’s go!”
   Laughing, Lily allowed herself to be dragged into the establishment, and as she sipped the hot drink Abigail ordered for her, she knew she’d have to take James here sometime soon, forgetting entirely that she was supposed to be angry at him.
   At eleven-thirty, Lily took her leave of Abigail and Apparated into her apartment, bringing with her another cup of the coffee and chocolate. Charming it so that it wouldn’t cool down, she set it on a shelf while she pulled a bowl of bread dough out of the cool oven-it had been sitting there all night. She divided it into several large rolls three times the size of her fists and dropped them onto a baking sheet, magically kindling the oven and shoving the rolls inside.
   Pointing her wand at the cabinets, a large pot flew out of them, settling on the stove. Lily smiled-she had definitely missed the power of magic. She held the pot underneath running water till it was halfway filled, and then pulled some potatoes out of a sack, slicing them on the counter. Four potatoes, diced, were thrown into the water, and then Lily removed the platter of chicken they’d had the night before last.
   Cutting it up as well, she scraped the meat into the pot, and, opening the spice cabinet, flicked her wand at several jars, which immediately unscrewed themselves and started to pour dashes of seasoning to the potatoes, chicken, and water.
   With a swift movement, Lily looked at her watch. A quarter till. She had just time to finish this up-
   Casting a swift charm over the pot and a few other ingredients, she stepped over to the fireplace, which she incensed with a small word. Lily didn’t know exactly where the location of Sirius’ and Remus’ apartment was, so she judged it better to use Floo powder. Lifting the top off of a small box, she threw a pinch of the green powder in the fire, saying calmly, “Adiumentum Circle 81.”
   With a rushing of soot, she was knocked headlong into the mess that was their friends’ home. She smiled at Peter’s startled expression-he and Remus were sitting on one of the sofas, going through newspapers.
   “Lily!” Remus grinned. “How absolutely ravishing. What’s the occasion?” He caught her glance at the Daily Prophets, and shrugged apologetically. “Just looking for a job that’d be suited for a werewolf. There aren’t many, it seems. No one advertises things like Premium Vampire-Slaying Post Offered. Werewolves Welcomed.”
   Lily sighed. “Oh, Remus, I’m sorry…well, you could ask Dumbledore, you know.”
   “I have-he’ll get back to me in about a week. However, changing the subject, what did you come here for?”
   ”I came to invite you over to lunch-I purposely made too much.”
   A lounging figure in ivory robes appeared at the doorway to one of the bedrooms. “Did I just hear the words ‘invite you over to lunch?’”
   Lily laughed. “Yes-you’re all welcome. I hope you like soup in a bread bowl.”
   “It beats soup out of cans,” Sirius grinned. “Remus can make tea, I can’t boil water, and Peter hasn’t ventured into the kitchen. We’ll trust your cooking.”
   “You have too much faith in me. Let’s go, then,” she smirked, waving her wand towards the fireplace. “I prefer Floo powder.”
   “So do I,” Peter added hurriedly, and Sirius snorted.
   “He just didn’t pass his test. Twice.”
   “Don’t rub it in!” Peter scowled. “They told me to Apparate to Scotland, for Pete’s sake!”
   “Peter, darling,” Lily said dryly, “my test was to Apparate to Beijing.” Seeing his crestfallen face, she took a pinch of the green powder in a small copper pot above the fireplace. “Lunch will burn if we don’t get there. I don’t think I charmed the bread.”
   The boys wasted no time in following her to her apartment, and once there, Lily was already pulling the large rolls out of the oven. Dramatically, Remus flopped onto an armchair, dislodging several pillows.
   “Aah!-the scent, the scent!-of bread, of warm, fresh bread!” His eyes rolled up into his head, and he slid off of the chair, to the great amusement of the other three in the room.
   A few moments after Lily had cut the insides out of five of the rolls and had placed them on plates on the living-room table, James Apparated into their midst.
   “Ooh, smells good!” he grinned. “Smells very good!”
   “It does indeed,” Sirius confirmed. “Mate, I envy you.”
   Lily interrupted them both by flicking a glass in front of each of them. “Drinks?”
   “Absolutely,” James and Sirius said simultaneously. “Most absolutely.”
   “I mean,” Lily sighed, “what will you be having?”
   “Vodka!” Peter piped up.
   Lily couldn’t contain a snort. “Peter, dear, in the nicest way possible, that had better have been a joke.”
   “It was!”
   “Good,” she said with a hint of a grin on her face. “Coffee, hot chocolate, tea-“
   Sirius cut her off, holding his throat and wrenching his face into a button, screaming in a whisper, “No tea! No-more-tea! Tea…”
   Remus looked highly affronted, and Lily chose this moment to pull a tin of tea leaves from a cupboard. “Tea for Sirius, then.”
   “NO!” Sirius yelped, almost leaping up from the floor where he had rather melodramatically fallen. “NO-TEA!!”
   They got through the meal without any accidental or purposeful mishaps-no one spilt hot chocolate into the bread rolls, and Sirius and James refrained from putting a full bottle of cough drops into Peter’s milk upon encountering Lily’s glare.
   Before the boys left again, Sirius stepped quickly over to where Lily was directing the pot to wash itself, putting a hand on her shoulder.
   “Lily, you bearing up okay?”
   “Sure,” she nodded. “Only James isn’t letting me get a job.”
   “He isn’t?” Sirius looked confused. “Why not?”
   “I suppose he thinks it’s too dangerous, since I’d immediately go for an Auror,” Lily said bitterly. “Overprotective.”
   “And you haven’t thrown a tantrum about it and gone ahead and gotten a job anyway?”
   James interrupted, scratching Lily slightly on the back. “I’ll be home around five, then. See you!” and Disapparated.
   “Well, have you?” Sirius persisted.
   “I gave in, that’s all,” Lily shrugged, directing the pot to rinse itself off. “It’s not that big a deal…”
   Sirius sighed. “Lily, you could at least be honest! You’ve gone behind his back, haven’t you?”
   She wrinkled her nose. “Padfoot, sometimes I utterly despise you.”
   “Humph.” He hugged her. “I’ve just been around you too much. What job is it?”
   Lily blushed. “The Ministry hired me as an Auror.”
   “As a what?” Sirius was astounded-he hadn’t really expected that! He, truth to tell, knew of very few girls who were accepted in training. “Honestly?”
   “Yes, honestly! I start training tomorrow.”
   Sirius sighed. “And you think you’ll be able to pull this off?”
   “I certainly do,” Lily nodded. “I most certainly do. Besides,” she added, with a mischievous grin on her face, “I think it should be fun.”
   Her friend groaned. “Lily-for Pete’s sake, don’t get yourself killed!”
   Putting her wand down, she propelled him out of the kitchen. “Sirius Black, mind your own business. Don’t you have something to do?”
   “Come to think of it, I do,” Sirius grinned. “Motorcycle.”
   Lily frowned. She hoped he didn’t mean what she knew he meant. “Sirius Black, you didn’t.”
   “Oh, I most definitely did!” he grinned. “It flies now! Want to come see it?”
   “You bought a motorcycle,” Lily grimaced, “and charmed it to make it fly?”
   “Most definitely did,” Sirius confirmed with a beam. “Want to ride it?”
   “I do not, Mr. Black. Why are you telling me this now?”
   He shrugged. “I figured that it wouldn’t be prudent to tell you that I had bought a potentially very dangerous vehicle just after you’d had three deaths in your family. You’d probably wreck it.”
   “I probably would have, at that,” Lily frowned. “All right. On condition that you let me see some of the houses you’ve been talking to James and me about, I’ll let you give me a ride.”
   “Absolutely!” Sirius grinned, sweeping her up into his arms. “Motorcycle and houses it is!”
   They Disapparated from the apartment, materializing moments later in Sirius’ room, where a large, black, shiny motorcycle took up half of one wall. Sirius plunked her down on the bed.
   “Look, isn’t it nice?”
   “Very,” Lily said sardonically. “Houses. Now.”
   “Oh, fun-spoiler! Come on, get on the back seat.”
   “Sirius, I haven’t got any coats or anything. You didn’t give me time to get anything.”
   “Easy enough.” In one fluid motion, Sirius had bundled her up in a blanket that had been half on the bed, half on the floor. “Voila!”
   Lily grinned at him. “You waste no time, do you?”
   “I do not,” Sirius agreed. “Lessgo!”
   He mounted the seat, and, kicking the engine into life, they were soaring out of the apartment-the walls of which parted to let them through. Lily giggled as she realized they were probably used to Sirius’ antics and weren’t in the mood for more bruises, and then bit her lip as a blast of cold air undid the blankets from around her shoulders and shocked her skin. Shivering, she pulled it back around her, trying to hold on to Sirius at the same time.
   When she regained her balance, she was able to look around her. The motorcycle had by now lifted itself up above the clouds, and it was faintly warmer here, out of reach of the snow. Huge cloudbanks rose to either side of them like icy cotton sculptures, some in the shape of pillows, others resembling scepters and mountains. The sun shone brightly onto the white mass of hazy wetness, and when Sirius, with another kick to the engine and a mischievous grin, shot straight into one of them, the force of the impact hit Lily like the spray of a watergun; wet, dewy, and laughing, they sped out of the cloud.
   Strands of red hair were plastered to her face; when she reached up to pull her hair back, it entwined itself around her fingers and wouldn’t let go. Lily laughed again as they flew straight into another cloud, sending water droplets scattering around them.
   Sirius turned around, and she envied him the shorter hair—his only flew out behind him. “House-hunting?” he asked, “or another round of this?”
   She laughed. “If we keep going, I’ll never let you stop. House-hunting.”
   “House-hunting it is, then,” Sirius grinned. “Hold tight, now. Weeeeeeere down!”
   With that, he turned the nose of the motorcycle towards the earth, pressed a button on the dashboard, and, as they were speeding downwards, parting clouds as they went, Lily couldn’t see the hair in front of her eyes anymore—couldn’t see Sirius, either, for that matter.
   “Sirius? Wha—what—“
   “Invisibility button. Very useful among Muggles. My own invention. Like it?”
   “Very much!” she smiled. “Now we won’t have the Ministry after us!”
   “Precisely. Very shrewd the lady is. Hold on tight—we’re stopping descent!”
   The motorcycle made a dip downwards that just missed the pavement by about two feet, and, leisurely, hovered there while its passengers got their breath back.
   “You all right?”
   “Absolutely perfect,” Lily grinned. “Is this the street?”
   “It most certainly is,” Sirius said with a sweep of his hand. “Left, right—castles abounding. Would the lady like a town house or a country house?”
   Lily laughed. “If I get to pick and choose, I’d like a town house with extensive grounds.”
   “Your wish is my command,” Sirius bowed. “An old house or a modern one?”
   “Old,” Lily said definitely. “I don’t want some modern contraption with cement floors that’ll fall to the ground if there’s a slight wind. Definitely an old house.”
   “Big, small…?”
   “Big enough for two people and everything we brought back from our honeymoon. Which means big, I suppose.”
   “Absolutely,” Sirius nodded. “I know just the place.”
   They hurtled down the street for a few minutes, then turned right, and then took a left. After driving for a few luxurious leisurely minutes, they started to see stretches of open country, with large dots here and there. Sirius waved his arm over the expanse.”
   “Which house see first? Lady choose.”
   Lily giggled impishly “Doesn’t matter. Try the one on the left, there—“ she pointed to the right—“first.”
   Still invisible, they drifted along fields, beds of flowers, and small makeshift forests, all obviously Muggle, but the houses were still far enough apart from each other so as to make any use of magic invisible to outsiders.
   Lily pulled on Sirius’ sleeve—she had thought of something. “Sirius?”
   “Hmm?”
   “I rather doubt if all these are for sale…what if the one I want is lived in?”
   “Doesn’t matter,” Sirius said gaily, “You’ve forgotten the power of your husband’s fortune. They’ll move if they’re paid to do so.”
   Lily shook her head. “Sometimes I wonder if you have any scruples.”
   “I don’t,” Sirius confirmed. “Just like you.”
   They soared by several houses, and Lily wrinkled her nose at most of them—they had been ‘modernized’, and Lily could tell where beautiful windows had been replaced with plain ones, rooms added where they shouldn’t have been, and all sorts of other things that made a house undesirable to her. Still, they were large, and that was one advantage.
   Lily sighed as they passed what must have been their tenth house. “Sirius, we’re getting nowhere. Let’s go; there’s nothing here.”
   “Hey, we haven’t seen the last one over there. The one I’ve been trying to guide you to for ages.”
   She eyed him warily, and he shrugged. “Well, so I’ve always let you have your way. But it might be worth it!”
   “It had better be,” Lily said dryly, “because I’ve got a cake to mix and put in the oven before tonight, and I’m plumb out of flour and eggs.”
   “Am I invited?” he asked roguishly, fluttering his eyelashes madly. Lily snorted.
   “I suppose. I couldn’t exactly say no—not if it’s based on the coffee I brought James home today and that you and Peter attacked so madly.”
   “It IS?” Sirius grinned. “What are we waiting for, then?”
   “We aren’t. Let’s go, or I’ll hit that accelerator myself and cause us to ram headfirst into the ground.”
   Sirius picked up the pace of the motorcycle quickly, and within a few seconds, the house he had pointed out was rapidly growing larger. Lily’s eyes widened as she saw it.
   “Sirius, is this an optical illusion?”
   “It is not,” he said. “Would you expect that of me?”
   “Yes, I would,” she whispered dryly. “I want to see it up close.
   He obeyed, and in another dozen moments, they were hovering in front of a grand, humongous mansion-like construction, made of sandstone bricks, and covered elegantly with ivy. A large window stretched from seven feet around the door either way to the ceiling, about thirty feet high, and not only stained glass—there was a stained-glass design of autumn vines twining around the edges—green at the base of the leaves, then widening from gold into a burnished copper.
   Every window they saw was built in the same design, and each mirror they could see hanging inside through the windows was fashioned the same way. Marvelously symmetrical, the main house sported three buildings on either side of it, fastened to the main building, and each decreasing in size, making the construction appear just like a triangle, with the old-fashioned outlook tower on the roof just above the tall front window.
   Lily caught her breath. “You’re absolutely positive this isn’t an illusion?”
   “What, don’t you want it?”
   “Don’t I? Sirius!”
   “Okay, okay. Do you want to see the inside?”
   “No.” She shook her head. “We can fix that up when we move in.” Remembering something, she checked her watch. “Sirius, I’d better get home, though. Could you drop by with a few pounds of flour, by any chance?”
   “I most certainly could. I’ll bring particulars of the house with me, too, so James can see it. Want me to bring anyone else?”
   “Oh, honestly!” Lily laughed. “You four aren’t ever happy without each other! All right, bring Remus and Peter.”
   “Lily,” Sirius warned mischievously, “you’d better make three cakes, then.”
   She snorted violently in his direction before she Apparated back to the Ministry-provided apartment, humming at the sight of it, knowing she’d be leaving it as soon as possible.
   At five-thirty, when James Apparated into the living room, he found four large coffee cakes on the table, all of them with trails of white and dark chocolate and whipped cream puffs all over them. His eyes grew to the size of gramophone records as he pointed towards them and the waft of coffee and chocolate hit his nostrils.
   “A—am I dreaming?”
   “Nope!” Sirius said cheerfully, shoving a plate into his hands. “Lily was in the mood to be nice, since you’ll be leaving here pretty soon.”
   “We are?” James asked, confused.
   “Yep!” Peter confirmed. “You’ve got a lovely house!”
   “We do?” James queried.
   “I think Lily’ll get your horses out of the Minstry’s care as soon as possible—I know she misses riding. You’ve got a wonderful piece of grazing land, you know,” Remus informed him.
   “We do?” James inquired, muddled.
   Lily took pity on him and handed him several moving pictured that Remus and Peter had taken that afternoon when they went to go see the house. “Here. Sirius took me for a ride on that suicide machine of his, and we saw this. Like it?” she grinned.
   “I most certainly do!” James laughed, catching her around the waist and swinging her around. “You’ve got wonderful taste!”
   “Speaking of taste,” Peter hinted, “there are four grandiose coffee cakes on the table that Lily wouldn’t let us touch till you had a bite…”
   The four boys approached the owners of that house just that evening, and, even after narrowly avoiding several magical mishaps, they gained the liking of the elderly couple that lived there. By ten o’clock that night, the house belonged to Lily and James—the former owners had been looking for a house in town for quite some time that they could afford, yet no one had enough money to buy their mansion, and they had no large income.