Mugglephobia

Mugglephobia

Summary: In order to cure their friend of his ridiculous fear of Muggles, the Marauders ship Sirius off to spend Christmas with a Muggle family. The lucky host family? None other than Lily Evans and her family, of course!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters…blah blah blah…I own the plot…blah…the rest belongs to JKR. Any questions?

Chapter 1: Determining the Problem

James bounded up the stairs to his dormitory as fast as he could, taking them three at a time. He clutched a letter in one hand while he used the other one to grasp the banister and pull himself up the stairs at an alarmingly fast rate.

It was lucky no one came between him and his destination because that person would have found themselves as flat as a pancake before they could even recognise the boy who was charging at them.

Fortunately, nothing of that sort happened, and James soon found himself at the door of the dormitory he shared with his three best friends. Flinging it open, he was pleased to see all three of them were inside, apparently not doing anything of importance.

-x-

The door flew open with a bang, causing Peter to squeal in fright, Remus to jump slightly, and Sirius to fall head first off of his bed where he had been attempting to read a magazine upside down. They all looked towards the door, not knowing what to expect, but found that it was only James Potter.

Today, however, James looked very excited about something. He cast a quick glance around the room and upon gathering that everyone of importance was accounted for, he closed the door behind him and dashed to his bed where he waved a letter in Sirius's face.

“Bet you don't know what this is,” he said smugly.

“Another love letter from that `secret admirer' we all know is that girl with the acne?” Sirius guessed, rubbing his head.

“No,” James replied haughtily, his grin faltering slightly. “It's from my mother.”

“Is she sending you love letters too now, Prongs?” Remus teased.

“I don't know why I put up with the three of you,” James muttered.

“I want to know what your Mum said,” Peter said quickly. “Tell us!”

James sighed and decided he was unable to keep it a secret after all.

“Fine,” he said. “She says we're going to Germany this summer and that I can invite all of you to come along.”

“Really?” Peter squeaked. “Great!”

“Yeah,” James continued. “It'll be fun. We won't stay in a Wizarding community though. We'll stay in Muggle hotels and live among Muggles for two weeks. No magic or anything! Doesn't that sound exciting?”

“It sounds like fun!” Remus put in. “I can't wait.”

“What about you?” James asked his best friend. “Are you in?”

Sirius had not spoken a word in quite some time. It was very unusual for him to be this quiet. James frowned when he turned from Remus and Peter to Sirius only to find him staring unblinkingly ahead with his mouth slightly open.

“Sirius?”

James was just beginning to think that maybe Sirius had fallen asleep with his eyes open again when he finally spoke.

“Huh?”

James frowned again. “I asked if you wanted to come.”

“Erm,” Sirius hesitated. “I don't think I can. I'm busy. You know, family stuff.”

“Oh,” said James, slightly put out that they would be one Marauder short on this adventure. “That's alright. Good luck with that though. I know how much you hate spending time with your family. Though, frankly, I don't blame you. What is it you have to do anyway?”

“Er,” Sirius said, hesitating again. “My mum told me I had to… I have to… clean my room.”

James just stared.

“Clean your room?” Remus repeated. “You can't go to Germany because you have to clean your room?”

“Yes,” Sirius replied confidently. “It's very dirty.”

“It can't be that dirty,” James said, narrowing his eyes as though trying to see what Sirius was thinking. “You don't even live there anymore. You moved in with me last summer. I thought you weren't ever going back.”

Sirius sighed, unable to think of anything to say.

“I'm not,” he muttered. “I've left home for good. And I guess I'm going to Germany as well.”

“Of course you are,” James replied, still not smiling. “You didn't think I'd take no for an answer, did you? I never do. You should know by now that I'm a very persistent person.”

“Just ask Lily Evans,” Remus added.

“So why didn't you want to come with us?” James asked. He completely ignored Remus's interruption.

Sirius looked down at the floor.

“I don't know. It was stupid. Never mind though. I'll come.”

“Look at this,” Peter said suddenly.

He held up the Daily Prophet and pointed at an article on the front page. It was titled “Muggle Sighted in Hogsmeade”.

Snatching the paper from Peter, Remus quickly scanned the article.

“It says here that yesterday afternoon, a Muggle was seen wandering through Hogsmeade,” he read. “Apparently, he and some others had been on a hiking trip through the area, and he had wandered off to do some exploring of his own. One of the shopkeepers saw him and immediately contacted the Ministry. They were able to lure him out of the village and modify his memory.”

“That's odd,” James commented. “It was so close to Hogwarts, too. It was lucky he didn't wander this far.”

“Y-you don't think there will be more of them, do you?” Sirius stuttered.

James looked up at his friend and was quite shocked to see him hugging his knees to his chest, his face white and his whole body shaking.

Then, everything clicked.

James smacked himself on the forehead.

“Of course!” he cried, startling Peter. “That's why you didn't want to go to Germany this summer, wasn't it? It's because you're afraid of Muggles.”

Sirius nodded slowly.

“Oh yeah!” Remus exclaimed. “I forgot about that. It all makes sense now. Sorry about that, Padfoot. It must have slipped our minds since we hardly ever go near any Muggles.”

“Yeah,” Sirius muttered. “Lucky you.”

“Look,” James said sternly. “We aren't going anywhere without you, and we're definitely not missing this trip because of you. So, it would appear the only other option there is would be for you to get over your fear.”

“I can't do that!” Sirius said loudly. “That would involve getting near Muggles.”

“Exactly,” replied Remus. “Sometimes I honestly don't know what your parents did to you when you were a kid. Most people would come out of your house hating Muggles, not fearing them. You obviously weren't paying attention to you mother's rants, were you?”

Sirius made a face and turned to James.

“Please don't make me do it,” he whined. “I can't get near one. I can't talk to one. I can't touch one. Please don't make me! I'll kill myself!”

James rolled his eyes.

“Shut up, Padfoot. What we need is someone who you are comfortable with and is willing to stay with you and a group of Muggles.” Slowly, a grin spread across his face. “Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Moony?”

Remus smiled too and nodded.

Sirius looked completely lost and confused.

“I don't get it,” Peter complained.

“We'll just need to do a bit of persuading,” James said. “Leave it to me. I think I'm the best candidate for the job.”

- - - -

“No.”

“Please?”

James was within an inch of dropping to his knees and begging. He would do it, too. It was for the good of his friend.

“He just needs a Muggle home to stay in during the Christmas holidays,” he repeated for what seemed like the fiftieth time. “You won't even notice he's there. Please, Evans? He needs to get over this ridiculous fear.”

“No,” Lily said firmly. “I don't care if he goes on being afraid of Muggles for the rest of his life. I am not spending my holiday with Sirius Black. My sister is enough to deal with. I don't need two of them.”

“You don't understand how bad his fear is, though. He needs your help.”

“Honestly!” Lily cried, exasperated and tired of arguing. “He's seventeen-years-old. If he still has such a childish fear at his age, he deserves to have it for the rest of his life. I don't think I would be of much help.”

“But you would! Please, Evans? I'll do anything.” James paused to think of something to offer. “I'll give you sweets, jewelry, books, anything! I'll… I'll take you to Hogsmeade with me next weekend.”

Lily snorted.

“As tempting as that offer is, the answer is still no.”

James wracked his brains trying to think of something she would like. He could only think of one thing, but he had been unwilling to propose the idea knowing she would probably jump at it. But now, unable to think of anything else, he decided he had no other options.

“I'll stop asking you out.”

As he had figured it would, this caught Lily's attention.

“Would you really?” she asked with narrowed eyes.

“Yes.”

“You'll never ask again?”

He paused.

“Never.”

“I can see this is hard for you. It must be important to you that I help Sirius.”

She thought it over for a moment before agreeing.

“Really?” James exclaimed. “Thank you, Lily! Thanks a lot!”

Without thinking, he wrapped a laughing Lily in a hug.

“You have no idea how great this is,” he continued loudly, attracting the attention of several nearby students. “I can't wait to tell Remus and Peter… and Sirius! I'll see you later, Lily. Thanks again!”

And with that, he sped away to find his friends, leaving Lily behind, laughing and shaking her head at him.

- - - -

“Padfoot!” James exclaimed.

He tore through the library and received a scolding from the librarian. He didn't listen to her. He was too preoccupied.

He found Remus and Sirius at a table. Predictably, Remus was working on an essay while Sirius was sleeping with his head resting on an unopened Transfiguration textbook and a sugar quill in his hand.

Remus looked up when he saw James coming and tapped Sirius to wake him.

“She said yes!” James cried.

“Who?” Sirius asked drowsily.

“Evans agreed to let you stay at her house during the holiday.”

Now Sirius was wide-awake.

“No,” he said firmly. “Evans lives with Muggles. You think it will help me if I live among them, but it won't. It will only hurt me. I can't do it! I'm not strong enough!”

“Give it a rest, Padfoot,” Remus scolded, rolling his eyes. “You'll be fine. Lily will be there the whole time to make sure you're okay.”

“Yeah,” added James. “She won't let her parents do anything to you while she's around.”

“What would they do if she wasn't around?” Sirius asked.

“They would probably suck your brains out with straws.”

Sirius let out a whimper and stared at James in terror. James couldn't help but laugh at the reaction he got.

“Prongs!” exclaimed Remus. “I can't believe you just said that! I thought you wanted to help him. So far you aren't being very helpful.”

“Sorry,” James said between laughs. “I couldn't help it. The look on his face was priceless.”

“Well, I didn't find it funny at all!” Sirius cried.

James wiped the tears from his eyes and cleared his throat.

“Sorry, Padfoot,” he said. “It was all a lie. Where's Wormtail?”

He had only just noticed that they were lacking a Marauder. Peter did not usually stray from the rest of the group. It was unusual.

“Detention,” Remus said simply. “He didn't do his homework for McGonagall.”

“Again?”

Remus nodded.

“We should do something about that. What's wrong with you now?”

Sirius had once again gone white and was staring off into space.

“S-so, they don't… you know?” He made a slurping sound.

“No, Sirius,” Remus replied, shooting James a look. “Muggles don't eat brains. James is a pathological liar. You should know that by now.”

“But it makes sense,” Sirius said shakily. “I've always wondered what those `straws' are used for. I'll bet they're the perfect tools to suck brains out. I'll bet the bendable ones are even better.”

He shuddered at the thought.

Remus groaned and dropped his head to the table.

“Erm… maybe we should just leave Evans to deal with this,” said James. “I almost pity her right now.”

- - - -

A/N: This story will be six chapters long. I have it all written and saved on my computer. The only thing that might slow down my updates would be my beta, but have no fear; I shall try my best to update about once a week.

It will end up being a Lily/James story, but that's really not the focus of this story. This is Sirius's story, and Lily and James just happen to be major characters. Be patient, it will happen eventually.

If you want updates or previews of upcoming chapters, visit my live journal under the user name _finding_emo_00. The link is in my profile. You can also leave a comment, question, suggestion, or review (or anything else you can come up with). You're chances of getting a response from me there is better than here.

This is also being posted on Fanfiction.net because I couldn't decide where to post it first. So, I decided to be logical and post it on both sites at the same time (smart, isn't it?).

I think that's enough rambling for the moment. Please read and review.

Cat

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Mugglephobia

Summary: In order to cure their friend of his ridiculous fear of Muggles, the Marauders ship Sirius off to spend Christmas with a Muggle family. The lucky host family? None other than Lily Evans and her family, of course!

Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters…blah blah blah…I own the plot…blah…the rest belongs to JKR. Any questions?

Chapter Two: Meeting the Muggles

“You’ll be fine.”

James felt like he had said that over a hundred times already, but Sirius still wouldn’t believe him.

“I don’t want to go!” Sirius shouted, causing several second years to cast him odd looks.

“Get on the train!” Lily snapped finally.

Sirius knew better than to disobey. Lily was a stereotypical redhead known for her bad temper. He did not want to see how angry he could make her.

“Do I have to go?” Sirius asked one more time as the Marauders found a compartment.

“You know, Padfoot,” said Remus. “Prongs is right. You will be fine. Lily’s family can’t be as horrible as you seem to think. Lily turned out fine, didn’t she?”

Sirius thought about it for a moment.

“Well,” he said. “I guess so.”

“And she wouldn’t let anybody hurt you.”

“No, I guess not.”

“So why are you so scared?”

Sirius inhaled deeply.

“Straws,” he whispered.

Remus dropped his head in defeat.

“Forget about the straws, Sirius!” James exclaimed. “I made that up, but Merlin knows I now wish I hadn’t.”

“You’re a liar,” Sirius said simply.

He didn’t speak for the rest of the train ride.

When they arrived in London, Sirius reluctantly gathered his belongings and got off the train.

He looked over the heads of the many people on the platform and searched for the familiar red. He didn’t see it.

“I’m behind you,” came a voice.

He spun around to face Lily Evans. She looked like she was slightly amused at something, but didn’t say anything more before leading him through the barrier separating platforms nine and ten.

There, Sirius found himself surrounded by hundreds of people with no magical abilities to speak of. There, he was surrounded by Muggles. His breathing involuntarily stopped and he did not hear a word of what Lily was saying to him.

Suddenly, he found himself back on platform 9 ¾ and breathing once again.

“Are you alright?” James was saying.

“I’m fine,” Sirius replied, gasping for breath.

“What happened?” Lily asked, following them back through the barrier.

“I told you he’s afraid of Muggles,” answered James. “The initial shock of being in the middle of all of them out there made him stop breathing.”

Lily looked worried. “I never thought his fear was that serious. I thought it was just another prank or that you were exaggerating. He doesn’t go near Muggles very often, does he?”

“No,” Sirius replied. “Not often at all. I always apparate with my parents to and from the platform, we only shop in Wizarding shopping areas, and the Muggles who live in our area usually don’t come out of their houses to bother us. I have a nice Muggle-free life. My parents like it too, but for different reasons.”

“So, you’ve never been around big crowds of them?”

“Not like the crowd out there.”

Lily looked very surprised to find that the task ahead of her would be a lot more difficult than she had originally expected.

“Well, good luck with that, Evans,” James said, patting her on the back. “Have a good holiday!” And he turned and left them.

“Okay,” Lily sighed, trying to think of what to do next. “My parents are out there waiting for us. We have to get out there somehow, but we also want you to keep breathing. Close your eyes.”

Sirius did as he was told.

“Now, concentrate on something else.”

He thought about how he would much rather be anywhere else. He would rather be at the Potters’ house where he usually spent Christmas. He actually wouldn’t mind being at school either. At least he knew there weren’t any Muggles there. And for once, he wouldn’t hate being at home. He could tolerate his mother’s screaming and complaining about him. It couldn’t be half as bad as almost passing out every time he got near a group of Muggles. But no, he wasn’t at any of those places. He was standing only a short distance from the largest group of Muggles he had ever seen before in his life.

“Open your eyes,” Lily called to him.

He did, and was surprised to find that he was no longer standing on the platform or in the station at all, for that matter. He was in a car with Lily and two people he had never seen before in his life.

“Where am I?”

“These are my parents,” she said cheerfully. “They know all about your problem and have agreed to help.”

“They’re Muggles,” Sirius whispered loudly, finding it difficult to raise his voice any louder.

“I know,” Lily whispered back. “And so do they, but they won’t hurt you. I promise.”

Sirius sat back in his seat, but was not comforted very much by her words.

“How did I get here?” he asked.

“I distracted you,” she replied, fiddling with her wand.

“Oh.”

“Oh, you’re awake!” the woman in the front seat said suddenly, turning around to get a better look at him. “I’m Mrs. Evans. How are you?”

“I’m Sirius.”

Mrs. Evans laughed. “I know that, dear. I asked how you were, not who you were.”

“I’m fine.”

“We’re here!” the man Sirius assumed to be Mr. Evans exclaimed.

Sirius got out of the car behind Lily. He glanced up at the house in front of them. It was a small two-story house with a small garden in front surrounded by a white picket fence.

“It’s…quaint,” he commented, unable to think of any other way to describe it.

“It’s home,” replied Lily as she pulled her trunk out of the car and began hauling it to the front door.

Sirius followed.

The inside of the house was warm and welcoming, but it was cramped and a lot smaller than the houses he was used to staying in. Lily’s family obviously didn’t have a lot of the luxuries that he and James had. That would take some getting used to.

“Petunia!” Mrs. Evans called up the stairs. “We’re back! Come say hello to your sister!”

“I didn’t know you had a sister,” Sirius muttered to Lily.

“She’s not exactly the topic of discussion in the Gryffindor common room, no,” Lily replied. “I don’t talk about her much for obvious reasons. You’ll see,” she added, noticing the look of confusion on his face.

“Mum, I was on the phone,” a whining voice called down the stairs. “Couldn’t you have waited two more minutes before bothering me with requests to socialise with that- Oh hello, Lily.”

A tall, thin girl with blonde hair appeared at the top of the stairs. The moment she had realised that her sister could hear every word she was saying, she had begun acting nice, but Sirius had heard enough to know exactly what Lily had been talking about before.

“I am so glad you’re home, dear sister,” the girl continued in a pseudo-cheerful voice. “Oh, and I see you’ve brought a friend.”

Lily rolled her eyes and introduced them. “Petunia, this is Sirius. Sirius, this is my sister Petunia.”

Sirius made a mental note that she did not acknowledge him as her friend, but did not comment on it.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Sirius said politely.

“Indeed,” Petunia replied. “How do you know my sister?”

“From school.”

Petunia immediately stopped smiling and once again became the girl Sirius had heard when he first entered the house.

“Oh.” She now observed him like he was something dirty and disgusting. “You’re like her. You’re one of them. Mum!”

Mrs. Evans hurried back into the room.

“Yes, dear?”

“Why didn’t you tell me Lily was bringing a friend over?” Petunia asked.

“I didn’t think it would make a difference if you knew or not,” replied Mrs. Evans.

“Of course it makes a difference!” Petunia cried. “I don’t want him here!”

And with that she stormed back up the stairs.

“Well,” Mrs. Evans said with a smile. “Lily, why don’t you show Sirius where he’ll be sleeping?”

“Good idea.”

Lily led the way up the staircase to a small guest bedroom.

“You can stay here,” she said, almost as if there was another room he could stay in if he wanted to, but this one should be good enough.

“This is nice,” Sirius commented. He wasn’t sure if he meant it or not, but he felt like he needed to be nicer to Lily, especially after meeting her family. “You know, I understand what it’s like to not get along with your family.”

Lily looked up from the floor.

“You do?”

“Yeah,” he continued, not really understanding why he was being so open with her. “My parents and I don’t really get along. We were fine until I started Hogwarts. I guess because I didn’t know any better. And then I started doing everything wrong, at least in my parents’ eyes.”

“You do tend to cause a lot of trouble.”

“No, they didn’t care about that. That’s not what I did wrong. The first thing I did was to become friends with James. The Potters aren’t exactly the kind of people my parents like. And then, to make things even worse, I was sorted into Gryffindor. You see, my entire family has been in Slytherin since before anyone can remember. Does that explain enough?”

Lily nodded but remained silent.

“You’ve met my brother I’m sure,” he pursued. “Regulus Black. Our relationship is a lot like yours with your sister. There’s a lot of screaming, name calling, and choice words involved. It’s not very pleasant.”

“Regulus Black?” Lily said, frowning. “Is he the little Slytherin who goes around insulting Muggles and bragging about his parentage?”

“Yeah, that’s him. You’ll notice how he doesn’t even mention he has a brother. I’m a disgrace to the entire family, but I’d rather be a disgrace than a Slytherin.”

“You’re parents aren’t Death Eaters, are they?”

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh.

“Of course not! That would be doing something productive with their lives. They sit home all day and complain about how Muggles are overpopulating the earth and how they should be destroyed, but they would never actually do anything about it. That could be dangerous.”

He paused, and shook his head.

“No, they aren’t Death Eaters,” he continued. “But they definitely support Voldemort. They think what he’s doing is great. I think it’s terrible. I’m scared to death of Muggles, but I don’t think anyone deserves to die.”

Lily nodded and was about to speak when they were interrupted by the slamming of a door somewhere down the hall. It was soon followed by stomping on the stairs.

Lily and Sirius walked cautiously out of the room and down the stairs. Petunia was standing by the front door with a suitcase in her hand preparing to make a scene.

Mrs. Evans had already arrived to calm her eldest daughter down, but was failing miserably.

“I’m old enough to make my own decisions, Mother,” Petunia said loudly. “I’m leaving, and I’ll bet you’re wondering why. It’s all because of her.” She pointed to Lily. “She’s a freak! I don’t know why you don’t see it. I simply can’t stand living in the same house as her anymore. I’m going to stay with Vernon.”

Mrs. Evans looked panicked.

“Lily, go get your father,” she muttered. Then, she turned back to Petunia. “Petty, please! Don’t be so dramatic. Just stay here for Christmas and then we’ll discuss it further.”

“No! I will not be treated like a child anymore! I’m leaving!”

Lily and Mr. Evans came rushing into the room just and Petunia was leaving.

“Go after her!” Mrs. Evans told Mr. Evans. “She says she’s going to stay with Vernon.”

Mr. Evans hurried out the door after Petunia. Sirius silently hoped he wouldn’t be able to convince her to come back.

Mrs. Evans covered her face and hurried away to the kitchen.

Sirius remained silent, unable to think of anything appropriate to say.

“So,” Lily said after a while, breaking the awkward silence. “You’ve met my family.”

- - - -

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to post this chapter. I have an excuse though (and it can be found at my live journal as it is rather long and I doubt many people care). I don’t know when chapter three will be up. My beta seems to have disappeared, taking chapter three along with her. I’ll post it as soon as possible though.

Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews! They were lovely. Feel free to leave more. I’ll work on replying to them this time, too. I usually do, but I’ve been very busy (again, see my live journal for excuses).

Until next time,

Cat

Mugglephobia

Summary: In order to cure their friend of his ridiculous fear of Muggles, the Marauders ship Sirius off to spend Christmas with a Muggle family. The lucky host family? None other than Lily Evans and her family, of course!

Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters…blah blah blah…I own the plot…blah…the rest belongs to JKR. Any questions?

Chapter Three: Adventures at the Market

Mr. Evans had been unsuccessful in persuading his eldest daughter to remain home for Christmas. He had returned to the house several minutes later explaining how he and Petunia had argued for a while before a taxi arrived and took her away.

Lily was not unhappy that she would be sister-less for the remainder of the holiday, but she was a bit depressed by her parents’ gloomy moods.

And so, the next morning, she jumped at the first chance she could find to escape from the house.

“Good morning, Sirius,” Mrs. Evans sang as he walked into the kitchen.

Even though she sounded cheerful, there was something in her voice that made Sirius realise she was only acting to make him feel welcome. He also noted that her smile did not reach her eyes, leaving them cold and sad.

“Morning, Mrs. Evans,” he replied. “Lily. Where is Mr. Evans this morning?”

Mrs. Evans placed a plate of breakfast in front of him. “I’m afraid he had to work today. Would you like something to drink?”

“I’ll have a glass of pumpkin juice.”

“Pumpkin juice?” Mrs. Evans repeated, laughing.

Lily jumped in to explain. “Muggles don’t usually drink pumpkin juice.”

“Oh,” Sirius replied. “Then if you have a pumpkin, I can juice it myself.”

“Why on earth would we have a pumpkin lying around our kitchen?” Lily questioned.

He shrugged. “We usually do.”

Lily sighed out of frustration and instructed her mother to give their guest a glass of orange juice.

“Oh, heavens,” Mrs. Evans muttered from inside the cupboard. “We’re out of flour. I need that for dinner tonight.”

“I’ll run down to the market and get some for you,” Lily offered. “Sirius, do you want to come?”

“Sure.”

He followed her to the front of the house where they put on their coats and scarves. Then, he made his way over to the fireplace where he stood waiting for Lily.

“Sirius?” she called. “Where did you go?”

“I’m over here,” he replied, sticking his head out of the doorway.

Lily laughed. “You’re not going to get very far in there. The door’s over here.”

“But-”

She rolled her eyes. “We’re walking, not flooing.”

“Oh.”

They set off down the street at a steady pace. Lily seemed ready to get out of the cold, but not so ready to get anywhere in a hurry.

“I don’t like these Muggle forms of transportation,” Sirius stated.

“Everyone walks,” said Lily. “Not just Muggles.”

“But I don’t like it. Can’t we apparate?”

“No.”

“Please?”

She exhaled loudly and began to walk faster.

They came to a stop outside the place Sirius assumed to be the market.

“Alright,” Lily began. “There are Muggles in there. Just don’t think about it, and pretend like you’re in Diagon Alley or something and everyone around you can do magic.”

Sirius stared at the building they were about to enter.

“No,” he said faintly. “I can’t. Why didn’t you say something before I agreed to come along?”

“Because I knew you’d back out, and you’ll never get over your fear if you don’t face it at some point.”

“Fine.” He took a deep breath and followed Lily through the doors.

“See? It’s not so bad,” Lily said, looking around. “All we need is flour and we can leave. Sirius?”

He was standing perfectly still with wide eyes and clenched fists. He looked like he was about to pass out.

“Don’t forget to breathe!” she cried, hitting him on the back of the head.

He responded by taking a shaky breath.

“Thanks,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, I have a feeling Potter wouldn’t be very happy if you died while in my care. Come on, let’s find what we need and get out of here.”

They wandered down several aisles of random food products and major Muggle necessities before they came to what was apparently what they were looking for. Sirius glanced around in a frantically paranoid sort of way while Lily searched the packets on the shelf in front of her for the flour.

“Excuse me,” a voice came from behind him, causing him to start terribly. “Can you tell me where the pencils are?”

Sirius turned slowly to find himself facing an elderly woman. She was old and wrinkled to no end, and she was much shorter than he was. She barely reached his shoulder, but he was scared out of his mind.

He began to back up and panicked when he backed into a shelf and couldn’t find any way out.

“E-Evans,” he whimpered. “Lily!”

Lily turned around to see Sirius pressed against the shelves and an elderly woman giving him quizzical looks.

“Oh dear,” she muttered. “It’s okay, Black. Just keep breathing. I’ll handle it.”

After making sure he was still taking in oxygen, she turned to the woman.

“I’m terribly sorry,” she said. “He doesn’t like being around…people. They scare him. Can I help you?”

“I was looking for pencils,” the woman replied.

Lily smiled and directed her in the right direction. Then, she turned back to Sirius.

“You could have been a little nicer,” she said.

“I couldn’t help it!” he said defensively. “She was a Muggle and she took me by surprise.”

“Well, calm down long enough for me to find the flour, and then we can leave.”

He was still a little shaken, but managed to keep quiet while Lily finished her shopping.

“There,” she said finally, taking a packet off the shelf. “I’ve found it. Let’s go.”

“Sirius!”

This new voice startled the already shaken Sirius so badly that it caused him to knock the bag of flour out of Lily’s hand. It hit a shelf on its way down to the floor and burst open covering her in white flour.

“That’s a nice look, Evans,” the new voice said, laughing. “You should do your makeup like that more often.”

By this point, Lily knew who their visitor was, and she wasn’t surprised in the least when she wiped her eyes off and opened them to see James Potter laughing at her.

“What are you doing here, Potter?” she snapped.

“I came to make sure you and Sirius were both still alive,” was the reply.

“We’re fine,” she said. “How did you find us anyway?”

“We have ways of locating each other,” he said mysteriously.

“Like what?”

“I asked your Mum.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “I don’t think I want to know how you know where I live, so I won’t ask.”

“Good idea,” Sirius whispered loudly enough for everyone to hear.

“I have to bring flour home to my mother before she starts to prepare dinner,” she said. “You can come home with us, Potter, simply because you probably travelled a long way to get here and my mum would be angry at me for being so inhospitable, but the two of you have to stay out of my way, understood?”

“Understood,” they chorused.

“Good.”

She pulled another bag of flour off the shelf and marched to the cash register.

“Why are you really here?” Sirius asked once Lily was out of earshot.

“I got bored at home without you there to keep me company,” James replied with a shrug.

“Did you really come here to seek my company or Evans’s?”

“Yours,” he said without hesitation. “I don’t care about her anymore.”

“Liar.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore because I promised I wouldn’t ask her out ever again.”

Sirius stared.

“What possessed you to do something like that?” he asked. “You’ve always been obsessed with her. Well, it seems like you always have for as long as you’ve carried on like you do.”

“Just forget it.”

Sirius was about to say something else when he was interrupted by a man standing by the door.

“Have a nice day,” the man said.

Sirius froze and James had to pull him out the door.

Lily led the way home and they followed her into the house.

“We’re back!” she called, removing her scarf as she did so.

“Oh,” Mrs. Evans said, coming out of the kitchen. “Lily, a delightful young man came by while you were gone. He was looking for Sirius. I told him where you had gone and- oh! I see he’s found you!”

“Mum, this is James Potter,” Lily said, confusion etched on her face upon hearing James Potter described as “a delightful young man”.

“You’re welcome to stay for dinner, James,” Mrs. Evans said.

James smiled. “Thank you.”

Mrs. Evans bustled back into the kitchen.

Lily rounded on James. “What did you do to my Mum?”

“I didn’t do anything to your mother, Evans,” he replied. “I can just be very polite when I feel like it. I’ve always thought I could have a career in acting.” He paused. “Or politics.”

“Well, I said you could come home with us,” Lily continued, not believing his answer. “But you promised you would stay away from me. So go, and make sure you leave immediately after dinner, Potter.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, laughing.

James and Sirius left through the front door before Lily could say any more.

“You know,” Sirius said thoughtfully. “I think we should be a little nicer to her.”

James looked at him. “I’ve always been nice to her, or at least since fifth year.”

“But you didn’t see how her sister treated her last night.”

James frowned and bent down to scoop up a handful of snow.

“You of all people should be used to annoying siblings,” he said, flinging the snow at the fence.

“But my brother doesn’t verbally abuse me. He just has this air of superiority about him that’s annoying at times, but nothing more. Lily’s sister wouldn’t stop calling her names, and finally, she packed up a suitcase and stormed out of the house claiming it was all because of Lily.”

“I didn’t know she had a sister,” James muttered.

“Neither did I,” Sirius replied. “And now I know why.”

“Hello!”

The two boys looked up to see a woman standing on the other side of the fence.

“Are you two boys new to the area?” she asked with a pleasant smile.

“No,” James responded. “We’re just visiting a friend.”

The woman frowned. “Is there something wrong with your friend? He’s turning a peculiar blue colour. Maybe you should get him inside.”

James turned to Sirius who stumbled backwards and fell into the snow.

“Uh oh,” James muttered. “It was nice talking with you! I think we should go now.”

He pulled Sirius up by his arm and they both stumbled into the house.

“Ev- Lily!” he called. “Help!”

Lily rushed into the room and went immediately to Sirius who was lying on the floor. She took one look at him and promptly slapped him across the face. He spluttered and began to breathe again.

Coughing, he sat up, and Lily gave him a dirty look.

“You need to stop doing that,” she scolded. “It’s not healthy.”

Sirius looked shocked. “Believe me, if I could stop, I would. It’s not exactly my idea of fun to stop breathing every twenty minutes.”

“Evans is right, Padfoot,” James said. “You really need to get over your fear before something bad happens to you.”

“I’ll try.”

Lily slapped him again.

“What was that for?” Sirius cried.

“For scaring me to death!” she screamed back.

He and James exchanged grins.

“Evans?” Sirius said. “What are pencils?”

- - - -

O_o

Chapter Four: Adventures at the Barber Shop

Of course, James stayed for supper. He never imagined that he would ever get the chance to eat at Lily Evans’s house. So, naturally, when the opportunity arose, he jumped at it.

Lily was slightly less enthusiastic about the situation.

Mr. Evans came home only shortly before they ate. He did not talk about what he had been doing all day, but both Lily and Sirius had a suspicion that he had gone to talk to Petunia again. Obviously, he hadn’t accomplished anything because Petunia did not come home with him and he was still depressed.

Supper passed much more quickly than Lily could have imagined (although several times she was tempted to throw potatoes at James from across the table), and James soon left.

Before anyone knew it, it was the day before Christmas Eve. Mrs. Evans looked up from her cooking one day and said that Sirius’s hair was far too long in her opinion.

His hair wasn’t very long, but it did cover his ears and how he was able to see was a mystery to all. Sirius agreed that it had been bothering him lately and that he would probably end up cutting it himself out of frustration before summer when his mother could cut it for him. He had learned the spell to cut his hair once, but after trying it the first time and losing almost all of his hair, he decided not to try it again.

So, Mrs. Evans suggested that Lily take Sirius down to the barbershop where he could get a good Muggle haircut.

Of course, Sirius was very much frightened by this suggestion, and he insisted that magic haircuts were better.

“I’m sure they are, dear,” Mrs. Evans replied. “But since neither you nor Lily can do it by magic without guaranteeing you won’t lose an ear or two, you’ll have to settle on the next best thing, and that is getting it done by the local barber.”

“But it’s a Muggle!” Sirius cried. “With scissors!” he added as an afterthought.

“He has plenty of practice,” Lily said with a roll of her eyes. “He gets plenty of customers every day.”

“Not customers like me.”

Lily paused, thinking.

“Is that what you’ve been afraid of all this time?” she asked. “You think that Muggles will treat you different because you’re a Wizard?”

“No, not exactly.”

“They won’t. They don’t even know there is such a thing as magic. There is no way they could know unless you told them you were a wizard.”

“Yeah but-”

“Let’s go get your hair cut,” Lily ordered.

Before he had a chance to say anything else, she pulled him from the kitchen and out of the house.

They arrived at the barbershop after a brisk walk of about fifteen minutes.

“Please don’t make me go in there,” he whimpered.

Lily sighed. “If you go in there, get your hair cut, and breathe the entire time, I’ll do whatever you want.”

Sirius thought about this for a moment.

“I want you to go out with James,” he said finally.

“That’s a very big favour,” Lily said through clenched teeth.

“Well it will be very hard for me to succeed in doing what you asked.”

Lily considered this.

“Fine,” she said. “If you manage to get your hair cut without coming anywhere near passing out, I’ll go out with James.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but just one date.”

“Deal.”

And they shook on it.

Sirius walked into the barbershop with his head held high. He was determined not to mess this up. This was for James.

“May I help you?” the barber asked when the two had stepped inside.

Sirius yelped in a very feminine way, but managed to keep breathing.

“He needs a haircut,” Lily said, keeping one eye on Sirius. She half wanted him to pass out right there, so they could forget about their silly little bet. She could just about kick herself for making that deal with him.

The barber instructed Sirius to sit down in the chair. When he pulled out his scissors, Sirius let out another yelp. Though his breathing was very ragged, he made sure that it never once stopped even for the shortest bit. He would win this.

“Don’t cut too much off!” Sirius instructed, not sure how long he could handle this.

“There,” the barber said later. “You’re all finished, and don’t you look nice.”

Lily forced a smile, and Sirius could tell she was very unhappy.

“See?” she said. “That wasn’t so bad. His mother usually cuts his hair,” she told the barber. “He was a bit apprehensive about somebody else doing it.”

“Well,” the barber said. “In that case, here’s a lollipop as a treat. Come again!”

Sirius eyed the lollipop warily, but then took it and hurried out of the barbershop after Lily.

“I can’t believe you actually did it,” she huffed. “Now, thanks to you, I have to go out with stupid Potter.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Unless you can think of something else you’d rather me do for you,” she said hopefully. “I could do your homework for the rest of the year, or you could use me to experiment your pranks on.”

He ignored her. “Do you think this lollipop is poisoned?”

Lily stomped her foot.

“Please?” she begged. “I can’t stand Potter. Please don’t make me go out with him! I never would have agreed if I had thought you could actually face your fear like that.”

“I know,” he said. “But it’s too late now. We shook on it, and it’s final.”

Lily folded her arms over her chest and stomped moodily home behind Sirius who looked like Christmas had come two days early.

Mrs. Evans commented on Sirius’s new haircut the moment he returned to the house.

“It’s much better than before,” she said. “Where’s Lily?”

“Oh,” Sirius said airily. “I believe dear Lillian was behind me.”

Sure enough, several minutes later, Lily stormed into the house.

“So, how did it go at the barbershop?” Mrs. Evans asked.

“It went fine,” Lily snapped.

Mrs. Evans frowned at her daughter.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Lily replied.

“I have to go upstairs and write to James,” Sirius sang. “I’ll see you two lovely ladies later. Here Evans, have a lollipop.”

He threw the lollipop at her as he ran from the room and up the stairs.

“What was that all about?” Mrs. Evans asked.

“Nothing,” Lily repeated, and she followed Sirius upstairs.

When she reached the guestroom, she knocked on the door.

“Sorry, Lily,” Sirius called from inside. “You can’t come in.”

“It’s my house!” she cried. “Let me in!”

“I can’t do that.”

Grumbling, Lily went to her room and retrieved a hairpin. She hadn’t lived with Petunia for sixteen years and learned nothing about locked doors.

She knelt down so she was eye-level with the doorknob and began to pick the lock with the pin. Finally, she heard a faint click, and with a turn of the knob, the door opened.

Sirius did not look surprised to see her standing there. In fact, he smiled as if wondering why she hadn’t succeeded in getting the door open sooner.

“Let me read it,” Lily said, nodding to letter Sirius had in his hand.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’ll do something to it.”

She frowned. “I won’t. I just want to make sure you’re not telling him I promised to marry him or something.”

Sirius bent over the piece of parchment and scratched something out. Then, he held the letter out to her.

She read over it carefully.

Prongs,

All is good at Evans’s. I’m eating plenty and her parents don’t seem to mind my hanging around. In response to your last letter, yes the swelling on my foot has gone down remarkably.

Lily glanced at Sirius who shrugged in a way that said, “You’re better off not knowing”.

I believe I am finally making progress. I no longer think this plan of yours was just an excuse for you to see Evans during holiday. Today, I went to get a haircut…the Muggle way! It wasn’t a load of fun, but I did it without forgetting to breathe once. I believe I embarrassed myself several times by screaming like a girl, but I’ll never see any of those people again (besides Evans, but she understands).

So, I suppose you’re wondering how I succeeded in getting my hair cut by that satanic Muggle with a very sharp instrument (as well as why I’m writing to you). The answer to that may cause you much more joy than you had ever imagined. I made a deal with Evans before I entered that barbershop. If I could sit through the entire haircut without stopping my flow of oxygen, she would do anything I wanted. As I have already said, I succeeded, and the task I assigned for her is for her to go on a date with you.

Yes, only one date. I figured that was about all I could risk without her blowing my head off. So, you name the time and place, and she will have to meet you there. I sacrificed a lot to get this opportunity for you, so don’t blow it!

Your friend,

Padfoot

Lily handed the letter back to Sirius and sighed.

“Well?” he said.

“I suppose it’s fine,” she replied. “He’ll be extremely happy.”

“You know, Evans,” Sirius said with a seriousness Lily had never heard from him before. “James isn’t half as bad as you make him out to be.”

Lily sighed.

“I know,” she said. “But it’s so much easier for me to go on thinking that he’s the same egotistical prat I couldn’t stand back in fifth year.”

Sirius smiled and said, “Why are you so afraid to admit that he’s changed?”

“Because I’m afraid of what he’s become. He’s become someone I could learn to like.”

“Then why don’t you get to know him?”

“Because I’d just rather not admit that he ever stopped being who I thought he was.”

“But he changed for you.”

Lily’s head snapped up to look at Sirius, but by now he was busy tying the letter to his owl.

“What did you say?” she asked in a whisper.

Sirius nodded.

“You didn’t like him the way he was,” he said. “So he changed. He really likes you.”

“I know,” she said to the floor. “But I can’t like him back. I couldn’t like James Potter. It’s just not right.”

“Old habits are hard to break,” Sirius said with a smile. “But I promise that if you’ll just give him a chance, you’ll learn to love him.”

But that’s just what Lily was afraid of.

- - - -

A/N: I am so sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. It won’t happen again. I promise! Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter Five: Christmas Eve

James had not replied to Sirius’s owl by the next morning. This worried Lily a bit, but she refused to believe it did. She had imagined that James would have sent an owl back immediately after he received Sirius’s letter, but he had not. Sirius’s owl had returned but without a response.

It was Christmas Eve and the Evans house was alive with festiveness. Yet, everybody could sense a sort of sadness in the air even though everyone donned smiles and cheerful attitudes. Sirius attributed this to Petunia’s absence during the Christmas Eve festivities.

Mr. Evans decorated the tree in a slow monotonous manner and every now and then he would begin to hum softly. As soon as the tune had started, it would die off, and he would be silent once more. The whole time, his smile never vanished completely, though it would flicker slightly every so often.

Mrs. Evans spent all day in the kitchen. She baked continuously. The result of which was an array of pies and other deserts more plentiful and various than the deserts at the Halloween feast at Hogwarts. She too, would be caught sniffling into the dough when her back was turned, but when she was facing the room she managed to keep up her cheerful façade.

Lily was the only member of the household who seemed genuinely happy about the holiday. She skipped from here to there carrying various decorations and gifts to place under the tree, humming a cheerful tune all the while. The only time her happiness never seemed to slip away ever so slightly was when she happened to catch the eye of either of her parents. They would give her a smile she could obviously see through as well as Sirius could, and her humming and skipping would stop. She would then stand in the middle of the room and frown until someone drew her attention to something else and she quite forgot what she had been thinking about.

Sirius took all this in while helping the family decorate the house. He had never been a huge fan of Christmas. It wasn’t something celebrated very much in his house. His parents would instruct Kreacher to go out and find a Christmas tree. The incapable house elf would then go out and find something that slightly resembled a tree after it had been plucked of all the green on it and the shoved through one of those things Muggles use to grind up their extra food. But of course, this was a good enough Christmas tree for his mother. She would then instruct Sirius to decorate it. Decorating a tree that looked like it wasn’t even fit to be a tree at all didn’t exactly help to lighten the mood and make Christmas any more enjoyable. He would often hang a few ornaments, wonder why he was wasting his time there, then hand the bag of decorations to either Regulus or Kreacher and order them to finish while he went to read his Quidditch magazines.

Christmas in the Black house was like Christmas on a deserted island in the middle of July. It was boring, dull, and virtually non-existent. And now that he was around people who seemed to actually enjoy the holiday, Sirius still couldn’t get used to it. He went through all the motions of doing what he was told and pretending to be having a good time, but it was only because he didn’t want to be a bad guest. It was the least he could do in exchange for the Evans’ hospitality.

Then, much to Lily’s dismay, who should show up on the front doorstep just before supper but James Potter. He smiled warmly and greeted everyone, most of whom seemed extremely happy to see him.

“Did you get my letter?” Sirius asked excitedly once Mr. and Mrs. Evans had moved on, inviting James to make himself at home.

“Yes,” James replied, watching Lily out of the corner of his eye.

“Oh, good!” Sirius exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “Because Lily and I were quite afraid you hadn’t.”

Lily rolled her eyes and turned away from the two boys to continue her decorating, a small gesture that did not go unnoticed by James.

“Erm, Lily,” he said softly. “May I speak with you in private?”

Lily ignored him and held out several sprigs of mistletoe.

“Here,” she said sharply. “Make yourself useful and help with the decorations. No, never mind. You’d better find some other decorations to put up. I don’t quite trust you with these.”

He smirked, but persisted in asking to speak with her. Finally, she gave in.

“Oh, all right,” she said, sighing dramatically. “But this had better be a short conversation. Come on, we can talk in my room.”

She led him upstairs to her room at the end of the hall.

He looked around at the light green walls, the emerald green bedspread, and the plush green rug at the foot of her bed.

“I like green,” she mumbled.

“It suits you,” he mumbled back.

Growing frustrated, Lily grabbed his attention once again.

“Look, Potter,” she said. “If this is about that stupid letter Black sent you yesterday, I-”

“Was it true?” he asked quietly.

“What?”

“Did Sirius tell the truth in that letter?”

Lily turned her head, looking anywhere but his penetrating eyes.

“Yes,” she said finally. “I made sure of that.”

“Lily,” he said softly, as though he actually cared about her. “Please look at me.” She did. “You don’t really want to go on that date with me, do you?”

“No,” she replied. “But it’s okay. A deal’s a deal. Black didn’t pass out in that barber shop, so I have to go out with you.”

James shook his head. “No, it wasn’t right for Sirius to decide that for you. Either you say you won’t go on that date or I will because I don’t want to force you into anything.”

Lily smiled. “Thank you.”

He smiled back and walked out of the room. He had just blown the one chance he would probably ever have with the girl of his dreams, but at least she had smiled at him.

James went downstairs with Lily not far behind him to meet quite a scene at the bottom of the stairs. Mrs. Evans was sobbing uncontrollably in a chair by the fire while Mr. Evans was trying to comfort her. Sirius was standing nearby looking confused and uncomfortable.

“Oh dear,” Lily muttered, brushing past James to get to her mother.

“I just wish the whole family could be together and happy for Christmas,” Mrs. Evans sobbed. She looked up when Lily approached and her tears momentarily subsided. “Lily, do you think you could talk to Petunia. You two used to get along so well. I don’t know what happened. Everybody else has failed, but maybe you can talk her into coming home.”

Lily hesitated, but after seeing how upset her mother obviously was, she gave in.

“Take James along with you for protection,” Mrs. Evans added as Lily was putting her coat on.

“I have my wand,” Lily replied.

“Take James along anyway.”

“Come along, Potter,” she hissed.

When they were outside, Lily glanced around to make sure there weren’t any Muggles nearby.

“Erm, I’m not quite sure where we’re going,” she told James. “So just hold on to my arm or something so we won’t get separated.”

Without hesitating, James laced his fingers through hers.

“Incorrigible prat,” Lily mumbled. “Let’s go.”

Within seconds, they were standing in front of a Muggle apartment complex. In just one glance, both Lily and James could tell that the residents were probably all people who had more money than they knew what to do with.

Lily checked with the guard at the front gate, and after telling him who they were and what their business there was, he confirmed that Vernon Dursley did live there, in which apartment he resided, and that he had a guest staying with him.

They then walked through the incredible maze of gardens until they reached the correct door. Lily knocked on it. While waiting for a reply, she turned to James and noted the smug grin on his face. Flushing a bit, she quickly released the hand she had forgotten she had been holding, causing his grin to spread even wider.

Finally, someone opened the door. Lily was immensely glad that it was not Vernon because she could not stand talking to him.

“Petunia!” she greeted cheerfully, as if they had bumped into one another at the store upon some coincidence. “I hope you’re having a lovely holiday.”

“What are you doing here?” her sister asked in reply. “Did Mum and Dad send you to try to get me to come home for Christmas? It’s not going to work. They’ve both already tried, but I like it here. It’s nice and normal.” She emphasised the word “normal”. “I’m not leaving.”

Lily sighed.

“I know,” she said softly. “And I don’t really care. You could stay here for the rest of your life for all I care, but Mum and Dad are worried sick. Mum’s a mess. I left here just a moment ago, crying all over the place, and though he doesn’t show it, Dad’s just as upset. Christmas isn’t as happy a time as it usually is.”

Petunia didn’t seem to have heard a word of what Lily had said. She was unmoved, as she had been before.

“Thanks for that,” she said harshly. “But next time I want an update on what’s going on at home, I’ll drop in for a visit.”

And with that, she slammed the door in Lily’s face.

Lily spluttered for a few seconds before she seemed to realise what had happened. Then, she stomped her foot in frustration and sat down on the nearby stairs. James followed her, unsure of what to do.

“I can’t believe her,” Lily mumbled, tugging at her own hair. “She didn’t even stop to think of anyone other than herself. Mum and Dad are wrecks right now because of her and she doesn’t even care!”

She dropped her head onto her knees and continued to mumble incoherently.

James watched her.

“We can’t all be good people,” he said. “And your sister is obviously not. I understand that you want your parents to be happy for Christmas, but you have to understand that you may not be able to do anything about it. But you can’t get worked up over this, too. Your parents will never feel better if all three of you are acting like this. No, either get up and try again or go home, but with a better attitude.”

Lily lifted her head and James was surprised to see that she had been crying. He reached out and touched her arm.

“You’re right,” she muttered. “If I can’t convince Petunia, I had better give up.”

James laughed. “That’s not what I said. I said to try again. Pay attention when I speak, Lily Evans.”

She smiled and reluctantly decided to try once more to talk Petunia into going home.

Lily knocked loudly on the door. James was right behind her.

Petunia answered it looking extremely irritable.

“Petunia,” Lily said firmly before her sister could say anything. “It’s Christmas and our parents are not having a good time. It’s all your fault, too. You may have ruined their Christmas. I’d suggest you come home and see if you can make them feel better, and if you don’t, I hope you can’t stand to live with yourself and what you did for the rest of your life.”

Lily finished her speech and looked at her sister for the first time. Petunia looked afraid. Lily was extremely pleased with herself.

“I’ll come,” Petunia said quietly. “Just give me a little while to pack, then I’ll take a taxi home. I’ll be there in about two hours.”

“Good,” Lily said. “And if you don’t come, I’ll come back for you, and I won’t be happy.”

It was then that she noticed something strange. Petunia still looked rather frightened, but she wasn’t looking at Lily but rather something past Lily’s shoulder. Lily turned to see what it was, but all she saw was James putting his wand in his pocket. Certainly that wasn’t what had scared Petunia into coming home. Or was it?

Lily and James left the apartment building and headed for a safe place to apparate.

“You didn’t do anything to her, did you?” Lily asked suspiciously.

“No, of course not. But it’s amazing how much you can do without even casting a spell.”

Lily shook her head at him.

“Thanks,” she muttered.

“Anytime,” he replied. “Your sister seemed like she deserved it anyway. I’m glad you didn’t turn out like her.”

She smiled, saying, “So, I made a bet with Sirius, and I lost. As it turns out, I have to go on a date with you.”

“Lily, we’ve already decided that-”

But she quickly silenced him.

“How does the day after Christmas in Diagon Alley sound?”

He grinned.

“It sounds perfect.”

- - - -

A/N: Ooh…look at that. It’s Lily and James finally getting along.

Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews! They make me feel special. I am so sorry it’s taking me so long to get this story up, but school keeps getting in my way.

From now on I’m going to try to make an effort to reply to every review, and we’ll see how long that lasts. No, I’m really going to try, but don’t get offended if I don’t reply to your review because I’m a busy person. I’ll try to get back to you eventually.

Thanks for reading. There’s only one chapter left after this one. What could possibly happen next? I guess you’ll just have to wait and find out. The final chapter will be up as soon as possible…but I can’t say when. It’s a mystery.

Mugglephobia

Summary: In order to cure their friend of his ridiculous fear of Muggles, the Marauders ship Sirius off to spend Christmas with a Muggle family. The lucky host family? None other than Lily Evans and her family, of course!

Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters…blah blah blah…I own the plot…blah…the rest belongs to JKR. Any questions?

Chapter Six: Facing Fears

Christmas came and went with nothing particularly exciting happening.

When Lily and James returned with the news that Petunia would be returning in a few hours, Mr. and Mrs. Evans were overjoyed. When she arrived, she was welcomed warmly despite what she deserved. Petunia seemed disgusted by the attention, but she spent the rest of the evening with the family, though she seemed particularly determined to avoid James at all cost.

James left just before supper that evening. He did, after all, have a family of his own at home.

By this time, the Evans family was back in the spirit of Christmas. Lily, though she did not seem pleased by the constant dirty looks and snide remarks from her sister, did not say anything about it. She merely seemed glad to see her parents back to normal at last.

Sirius had definitely decided that he did not like Petunia. He had looked up from his meal twice to see her glaring at him from across the table. He hadn’t even done anything to make her hate him…but he could.

Soon, even Sirius could not help but enjoy Christmas. Christmas with the Muggles was even more fun than Christmas with the Potters and definitely a lot better than Christmas with the Blacks.

He couldn’t quite put his finger on what was so different about it. It could have been the simplicity of it all. There was no magic involved. They just enjoyed Christmas for what it was. It could have been Lily. She was so happy that she seemed to glow. She danced and sang and was altogether a different person than the one Sirius knew from school. Or, perhaps, it could have been the knowledge that he had put twenty-seven chocolate frogs in Petunia’s bed. Around midnight, when Petunia went to bed, he decided that it was the latter. He was rewarded with a loud scream and many angry looks in the morning.

On Christmas morning, he woke up bright and early. Then, he woke Lily up by bouncing on her bed until she finally got up.

They opened presents as a family by the Christmas tree. Sirius received presents from his friends and the Evanses but was not the least bit surprised when he did not find one from his family. His mother had probably disowned him by now.

He laughed silently as he thought of what his family would say if they knew he had spent Christmas living with Muggles. They would more than likely be disgusted beyond belief, and if they had not disowned him already, they would now.

Sirius watched Lily open her last few presents, having finished his before her. He noticed that she blushed furiously when she opened her last present. She denied knowing anything when her mother asked what the gift was and whom it was from, but Sirius knew. He had recognised the handwriting on the card as James Potter’s.

The rest of Christmas was spent celebrating, eating, singing, and eating even more. All in all, Sirius enjoyed it thoroughly.

The next day, Lily made an extra attempt to look nice. She curled her hair, put on makeup, and wore a skirt and nice sweater.

Sirius noticed this and had a sneaking feeling he knew what was going on.

“Why, you look lovely today, Lily,” he said as she was putting on her scarf.

“Erm, thanks,” she replied. “Your approval is very much important to me.”

“I’m glad,” he said, nodding. “But where might you be going dressed that way?”

“Diagon Alley.”

“Diagon Alley does not require you look like that. Is there a particular reason you’re going there?”

Lily mumbled something about needing new potions ingredients.

“Oh good!” Sirius exclaimed. “Then you won’t mind me coming along. I need a new Transfiguration textbook. Peter took a bite out of mine.”

“No!” Lily cried before she could stop herself. “Erm…” She hesitated. “I don’t want you to come.”

“Does this have anything to do with a certain bet you and I made a few days ago?”

She sighed. “Yes.”

“Well then I simply must come along!” he said cheerfully. “I promise I won’t get in the way. You and James can do what you want. I don’t care, but I really do need a new textbook. I wasn’t joking about that.”

Lily found she could not refuse to let him come, so they both apparated to the Leaky Cauldron. When they arrived, they found James sitting at a table by himself.

He smiled at Lily, but frowned when he saw Sirius.

“Why did you bring him along?” he asked.

“I couldn’t help it,” she replied, taking the arm he offered her. “He followed me like a lost puppy.”

“Oh, isn’t that ironic.”

Sirius soon began to complain that he was being ignored, but James was quick to point out that this was not his date and that he had no reason being there. So, he walked off to find his textbook, muttering about being unloved.

Lily and James had a nice time together. They wandered the streets for a while, looking at the window displays and talking about nothing in particular. When they were tired of walking, they sat down at Fortescue’s and had ice cream.

They were in the middle of a conversation when Sirius came back, swinging a bag with his purchase in it. He was approaching them as if he was still sore about earlier when they had ignored him. As he got near, he swung his bag back behind him and hit a woman walking into a shop.

He quickly apologised, but the woman seemed very angry.

“I’ll tell your mother what a monstrous child you are,” the woman threatened.

Sirius snorted. “Even if you knew my mother, it wouldn’t make a difference. My mother doesn’t care about you.”

The woman fumed and stalked off.

“And you’d better check your bloodline before confronting her!” he called to her back.

He then turned back to Lily and James, forgetting that he was angry with them.

“That was an awful thing to say,” Lily scolded.

James tried to hide his laughter, but failed miserably, resulting in a punch on the arm from his date.

“You two are terrible,” she murmured.

“But he was right,” James replied. “His mother won’t care, and she’ll care even less if that woman is anything less than pureblood.”

“So am I interrupting anything?” Sirius asked.

“Actually, yes,” James said. “Now, leave and let us continue our date alone. We can meet up again in an hour.”

“Where?”

“Outside of Gringotts.”

“No,” Sirius said firmly.

James rolled his eyes.

“Padfoot,” he said slowly. “The goblins won’t hurt you. They won’t even come near you.”

“Is he afraid of goblins?” Lily asked.

“Not really,” James replied. “He just doesn’t like them. He thinks they’re mean.”

“And I have a good reason!” Sirius said loudly.

“No you don’t,” James snapped. “You fell out of the cart on the way to your vault when you were twelve and a goblin laughed at you. That does not give you a reason to avoid them for the rest of your life.”

Lily couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“I hate you,” Sirius muttered. “And I’m not going near that bank.”

“Fine,” James sighed. “We’ll just go now. We can spend some time in London.”

Sirius froze.

“B-but we’re in L-London,” he spluttered.

“I mean Muggle London,” James replied. “I want to see what kind of progress you’re making.”

“Erm, maybe tomorrow.”

“No, Sirius. Now.”

“Fine.”

The three of them made their way back through the Leaky Cauldron and into Muggle London. Sirius grabbed Lily’s arm and forced her to walk in front of him.

“You can do this,” she told him. “Just do what you did at the barbershop.”

Sirius began to mutter incoherently. His eyes never left the pavement.

They walked for a while. Lily and James walked ahead of Sirius.

“You brought him out here because you knew it would keep him from talking, didn’t you,” Lily said accusingly.

“Maybe,” James replied. “It worked, didn’t it?”

Lily smiled at him and glanced back to make sure Sirius hadn’t passed out yet. He was still alive and breathing.

“How long do you think he’ll survive?” James asked.

“I don’t know, but if he dies, you won’t be as happy as you are now.”

“Fine. Let’s take him back to the Leaky Cauldron before anything happens.”

Just as James had turned around to tell Sirius to go back, there was a scream and a man came running down the sidewalk towards them, carrying a small child in his arms.

Sirius’s head snapped up from where he had been staring at the sidewalk to see what was going on. The man with the little boy was running directly at him. Everyone else had moved out of his way- everyone except Sirius.

He tried to move, but he couldn’t. Everything was going in slow motion: the Muggle running straight towards him, the child crying, the people watching and wondering what was going on. Finally, somewhere in the back on his mind, he heard a woman screaming, “He took my baby! Somebody save my baby!”

Then, suddenly, the man was right in front of him. At the last second, when he realised Sirius was not going to move out of his way, he went around, but Sirius stuck his foot out causing the man to trip. There was a collective gasp from the crowd as the man fell to the ground.

Luckily, Sirius was fast. He managed to snatch the child out of the man’s arms just before he hit the sidewalk. The crowd began to clap and cheer loudly. They worked together to keep the kidnapper in one place until the police arrived.

The little boy’s mother ran to where Sirius was standing with the child. She was out of breath from screaming and running, and there were tears running down her cheeks. She took the boy from Sirius and held him tight. Then, she thanked Sirius profusely.

“My poor baby!” she exclaimed, stroking the child’s face. “I almost lost him, but you saved him. I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

The crowd eventually parted and went about their business. As they passed Sirius, most of them congratulated him, shook his hand, or patted him on the back. He could not stop smiling.

When there was a gap in the crowd, Lily and James ran forward. Lily threw her arms around Sirius and hugged him.

“You were so brave!” she cried. “I can’t believe you did that!”

“Lily,” James said softly. “He needs to breathe.”

He pried her gently off of Sirius before turning to his best friend.

“I didn’t think you had actually made any progress,” he said. “But I guess you proved me wrong. You’ve been out here for nearly an hour, and you’ve been shaking hands with loads of Muggles. You even saved some little kid, but not once did you show any signs of being afraid. Good job!”

He clapped Sirius on the back, and they started back for the Leaky Cauldron.

“So now that he’s cured, you can take him back to your house for the rest of the holiday, right?” Lily asked James.

He shook his head.

“I don’t think I can do that. While he’s at your house, it gives me a good excuse to visit you.”

James took her hand in his.

“I guess I can tolerate him for a few more days, then,” Lily replied, smiling.

“I’m glad,” James said softly.

Sirius frowned and walked ahead of the couple, muttering about being unwanted.

Lily and James laughed, but Sirius was so caught up in trying to act hurt that he forgot where he was and disapparated in the middle of Muggle London. Several Muggles passing by threw some coins on the ground, but none of them gave it a second thought.

Lily and James stared at the place where Sirius had stood only seconds ago.

“You’re going to have to have a talk with him,” James muttered.

“Why me?” Lily asked. “He’s your friend.”

“But he’s staying at your house. Apparently now he’s too comfortable around Muggles.”

- - - -

A/N: And that’s the end! Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story. I hope you enjoyed it.

For those of you who are interested in what I will be doing next, I am trying to write a Christmassy one-shot to have up before Christmas, but I haven’t really started on it, so I have less than three days to write, edit, and post it. Wish me luck. It may not end up happening at all, but after that I will have to track down my beta who seems to have disappeared (again) with my one-shot about Ginny and her family. I can’t post that one on Portkey because it doesn’t really involve a ship at all, so if you’re interested, you’ll have to read it on Fanfiction. Sorry about that. I don’t have anything for after that except for half of a chapter of a new story that I’m not too sure about. I’ll have to see where it takes me. You can visit my live journal for more information or to make suggestions and requests for new stories (which would be greatly appreciated).

Thanks for reading!

Happy Holidays!

Cat