Turning Tables

Chapter 3 - Secrets

Disclaimer: JKR owns Harry Potter, and I don't. Wouldn't mind borrowing James for a bit though.

(J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L)

James led Lily up the front steps and into the wide hallway, pausing to take her trunk from her unresisting hand, returning it to its normal size with his wand and then dropping it unceremoniously on a luggage rack by the front door. Catching her worried look, he gave her the smallest of smiles.

'Don't worry, it won't get lost or anything. One of the house elves will take it to the right room for you.'

'Oh.' Temporarily flustered, Lily stopped for a moment, and he came to an abrupt halt just ahead of her. 'I could do that myself you know, I'm not really use to having someone do that kind of thing for me – and besides, I'm sure your house elves have enough extra work to do with so many guests around at the moment...'

She realised she was babbling, but couldn't seem to stop herself. She'd been thrown completely off guard this morning, first by the news about Marlene's family, then by the fact that she felt she'd found out more about James Potter today than she had the previous six years. Now she was standing in a huge, expensively furnished house talking about house elves carrying her luggage for her. She was completely overwhelmed, she knew it showed, and she was more afraid than she would ever admit that he would tease her forever about this. She hated feeling out of her depth.

'Have you ever actually met a house elf?' he interrupted, his face betraying nothing worse than a brief flicker of amusement at her ramble and subsequent blush. He folded his arms across his chest and observed her closely before continuing. 'No? Well I can tell you, they love visitors and extra work. The only reason they aren't here right now, wrestling your luggage from you and trying to offer you tea and biscuits is because mum has taken them all with her to the ministry to keep up the supply of refreshments to the aurors. So don't worry.'

He looked and sounded so sincere that Lily felt the corners of her lips twitch into an almost-smile, but she still really wasn't that comfortable about having someone wait on her – especially a house elf. Still, this wasn't her house, and she didn't really have a right to complain about other people doing things differently; and even after six years she was still unsure of many things about the magical world, so maybe it was best to just be guided by him on this. Right. Suck it up Evans. Realising he was still waiting for a response, she gave him a tentative smile.

The sound of heavy footsteps stomping down the staircase shook her out of her thoughts, and a loud male voice echoed through the hallway.

'Prongs, you're back! Aaah, and you brought flowers. A flower anyway.'

Lily turned to see Sirius Black heading towards her, his trademark cocky smirk on his face as he walked up to them. She briefly wondered if he practised it in the mirror, before he shocked her completely by wrapping his arms around her in a very friendly hug.

'And how have you been Blossom?'

'Blossom? Black, if you ever call me that again I'll hex your nose clean off your face. Blossom is a cow's name.'

Lily shoved Sirius back, leaving one finger pointed threateningly at him, and tried her absolute hardest to pretend she couldn't hear James sniggering behind her, reminding herself again to keep her temper firmly in check. Sirius paused and considered her sentence carefully before replying. 'You know, that opening was so obvious there isn't even going to be any satisfaction in insulting you, so I'm not going to. You take all the fun out of everything Evans.'