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Two Steps Back by Emmablk1
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Two Steps Back

Emmablk1

Chapter 10

Ah, the infamous tenth chapter. I cannot believe this story has gotten this far.

I'm sorry that I haven't updated this story in…way too long. I know a lot of you have been waiting for the next chapter. I completely let you down.

On an upbeat note, this chapter is really funny, if I do say so myself. Enjoy!

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Sirius and Rachel ducked into the first door they could find upstairs; the bathroom.

"Well, this is awfully romantic Sirius. Is this where you take all your first dates?" Rachel laughed and sat on the closed toilet seat.

Sirius had his ear to the door, listening to make sure Kat had left. "Huh? Oh, yeah." He said distractedly. Rachel smirked. She decided to have a little fun with him.

"It's kind of hot in here, don't you think?" Sirius didn't respond. "I'm thinking I should take this off." She tugged at her shirt as if she were boiling.

He was still distracted by the noise outside the door, absolutely sure that Kat was still out there somewhere, ready to pounce on him the moment she found him.

"Uh-huh, you do that."

Rachel rolled her eyes and kicked it up a notch. "I think you're right. Besides I have this amazing lace bra that I've been dying to show to someone."

Sirius didn't turn away from the door, but responded. "As long as it's black and see through, I will never have a problem with you taking off your clothes." He grinned and finally faced her, eying her top with a leer.

Rachel crossed her arms, spoiling the effect. "Never going to happen, Siri."

His face crumpled, sticking out his tongue. "Don't call me that."

"You've trapped me in a bathroom and now you're giving me orders? How dare you, Sirius Black!" She stood up, trying her best to tower over him.

Sirius did his best courtier impression and half-bowed. "I am dreadfully sorry, milady. How I could have ever done you this disservice?" He did his best to look solemn, but utterly failed midsentence.

"Well, do you at least have some activity planned after cornering me in here?"

Sirius laughed, moving closer. Rachel leaned back, suddenly feeling very small. "I believe I can think of a few things." He said, raising his eyebrows.

Rachel swallowed, but held her ground, however shaky it felt beneath her. "Never going to happen."

Sirius only smirked.

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Lily was finally asleep. It had only taken three blankets, a very fluffy pillow and at least twenty minutes of pleading from James.

And while James was incredibly relieved that he didn't have to watch over her every second anymore (unless she happened to sleepwalk, which he sincerely prayed she wouldn't), there was only one very serious problem.

The door was jammed shut.

He sighed quietly, sure that some mystical creature had it out for him tonight. Reaching in his pocket for his wand, James suddenly realized it was gone. It must have fallen out when he had been crumpled on the ground after Lily jumped on him.

Bloody hell.

He struggled with the doorknob for a few minutes, but after a few tugs it began to screech horribly. It wanted him to fail, he was sure. There was no way to alert Remus or Sirius without waking Lily. And there was nowhere to sit or lay down except the floor or the bed.

And he was definitely not going near that bed.

James looked over at Lily, her lithe form suddenly seeming incredibly seductive even though she was drooling lightly on the pillow. He had it bad.

He settled in on the most comfortable part of the carpet and managed to doze off for a total of three minutes. Then he was jolted out of his light sleep by a tumultuous crash downstairs.

Unfortunately Lily also woke up, shouting "Oh God no, don't touch the green puppies!" as she did.

"Lily?" James asked quietly as another thunderous sound came from below. He stood next to her as she sat on the bed, holding her head in her hands. "Are you ok?" He couldn't see her very well in the dark.

"James?" She looked up at him. "I don't feel very well…"

Well that's not surprising, considering you had quite the fall off that moose. Suddenly that brought back the memory of Lily's underwear and James slapped himself mentally. His conscience chastised him, yelling at him. What did I tell you about that?! You never listen to me…

"I'm sorry, I really would have left, but the door…and my wand is…" James trailed off when it became apparent that Lily probably wasn't or couldn't concentrate on what he was saying. He stood there awkwardly for a minute, thinking maybe he should say something else, when suddenly Lily pulled out her wand and pointed it at the door. It came open and the booming sounds that were muffled from before now were even louder.

James hesitated for a moment, torn between staying with her to make sure she was ok and leaving to attend his own party. Finally, he sat next to her on the bed. The movement, however, caused the queasiness that was already present in Lily's stomach to multiply by ten.

"Oh…I really don't feel good."

James knew he should have seen it coming, but he was unprepared for when Lily suddenly leaned over and threw up all her chugged butterbeers. He was glad that it was dark enough that he couldn't see the stuff coming out of her mouth. Unfortunately, he could still feel it.

He figured the least that he could do was to hold her hair back. Plus it smelled really good. Like strawberries. And it was really soft. He wanted to bury his head in it.

Merlin, he was sick.

"I'm so sorry." Lily moaned when she had finished. James let go of her hair, letting it slip between his fingers. She put her aching head on his shoulder. "Happy birthday," She said quietly.

James, his lap covered in puke, tired and missing his own party, suddenly couldn't help but smile.

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When Remus heard the first crash, he assumed that it was just the giant moose head coming off the wall finally. After Lily's grand adventure on it, there had been a line to get on, as if it were the new attraction at Disney World.

When the second crash occurred, Remus realized that the living room suddenly sounded like a quidditch match. He prayed that he wasn't right.

Putting down the book he had been reading after it became apparent that the birthday boy wasn't going back to the party, Remus dashed out of James' room and ran right into Sirius.

Rachel was right behind him, closing the door to the bathroom and looking slightly flushed. Remus raised his eyebrows. "And just what were you two doing in the bathroom?" He asked, a light smile on his face.

Sirius didn't miss a beat. "Let's just say the ground was shaking, shall we?"

Rachel rolled her eyes, but her flush deepened. "That would be coming from downstairs, Siri." She insisted.

There came another crash, this one sounding like a window breaking. "Sounds like a game of quidditch." Sirius noted.

He was wrong. Sort of. There were bludgers ricocheting off the walls, the ceiling, and anything that could be knocked over. Remus caught a glint of gold flying around the room and the quaffle was being tossed around on the ground. All were part of James' big birthday present his parents had sent. People were not on broomsticks, though. Yet.

"Can I play?" Sirius called out to several boys who were holding broomsticks.

Remus looked at him. "Since when do you play?"

Sirius' eyes glanced over at Rachel, who was busy watching the snitch zoom across the room and calculating the odds of her catching it. Remus followed his gaze and shook his head.

"Never going to happen, Padfoot." Sirius glared at him.

"Where's James?" Rachel asked, suddenly coming out of her stupor. "Isn't he supposed to be down here? This is his party, right?"

"I suspect where he is has something to do with where Lily is." Remus said distractedly. He was busy trying to figure out how to do some damage control.

"Ah. Red hair. Pretty green eyes. Quick tongue. Got it."

Sirius shook Remus out of his planning mode. "C'mon Moony; let's just play. It's the only way that we'll be able to get all the balls back into the box." Then he erupted in laughter at what he had just said.

Remus sighed and shrugged. "Fine. It's not as if more damage can be inflicted on this house. We're dead anyway."

"Think happy thoughts." Sirius grinned and ran off to steal James' broom.

"He needs a leash." Rachel said.

Remus nodded. "You have no idea."

Five windows were broken before the night was over. No matter how hard Remus tried to get them to play outside (considering that they were practically outside anyway, what with the windows being broken and all) Sirius maintained that playing inside made the game more of a sport. Logic began lacking at around four in the morning.

By six in the morning almost everyone had either fallen asleep on any available surface or had left via floo powder. It had obviously been quite the party; an infamous party at that.

The marauders, Lily, and Rachel had been scattered across the house.

Remus ended up passing out in the kitchen after fixing all the windows and most of the broken antiques (all the pieces he could find, anyway).

Sirius had been attacked by Kat while on the broom and ended up hiding in a hall closet, sleeping on a pile of coats.

Rachel found her old room and after locking the door, had a semi-restful night. She had a disturbing dream about Sirius and then dreamed about quidditch the rest of the night.

And James was still with Lily, never leaving even though it sounded like war downstairs. Lily did clean him off with a flick of her wand, but then promptly fell asleep on his lap. James was in complete bliss.

All in all, it had been the best seventeenth birthday party James could have hoped for.

I really, really hope you guys liked it. It wasn't the best chapter, perhaps, but definitely still an update!

Let me know how it was- just because I haven't updated in a while doesn't mean I don't want some encouragement!

And if you have any suggestions on what you want to see happen during the rest of the summer, I'm always open for some.

Thanks!!

Emmablk1

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