"I don't think you should stay awake for so long."
Harry turned around to find Rhea standing with two cups of coffee in her hands.
"Give me a break," Harry groaned. "It's not easy to fall asleep especially after I've seen how my parents were killed."
It had been almost a day since Harry, Hermione and Rhea went to Godric's Hollow. They'd barely managed to escape Voldemort.
Unbeknownst to them, there was a taboo on Voldemort's name, but since Ron had made it compulsory to call him 'You-Know-Who' over the first few months of the run, it had become a habit.
Ron was another person whose name they didn't speak of, mainly because it hurt too much to even talk about him.
Harry nodded, not looking at her. "After Nagini called her wretched master, I saw... a vision. You-Know-Who came to my house. He saw my dad playing with me, making colourful smokes erupt from his wand..." Harry smiled nostalgically. "And then my mother came to take me... to sleep maybe, I don't know."
Rhea shuddered. "I'm so sorry, Harry..."
There was silence for a while.
"You know," Harry said suddenly. "I always used to feel pretty bitter about the fact that Remus and Sirius thought the other was the traitor. I mean, I can never imagine myself ever mistrusting you, Hermione... or him." he was referring to Ron.
Rhea said nothing. After all, what could she tell him?
"But now," Harry took a deep breath. "I realize... war can turn even the best of friends against each other. It is gradual, twisted... just like a hocrux. A war, just like a hocrux, can manipulate people, create mistrust. And mistrust is like gravity—all it needs is a little force to push it."
Rhea eyed the hocrux hanging off her chest, and glared at it, willing it to break into shards.
Harry sighed. "I know he didn't mean all those things he said—at least, not entirely. But I'm sick and tired of him always feeling like I'm going to steal 'Mione. Can't he have a little trust?"
Rhea shook her head sadly. "The answer is in the little speech you gave earlier: war can turn the best of friends against each other."
╔═══*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.**.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.**.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═══╗
Rhea woke up much, much later than usual. From the harsh sunlight beaming through the window in her room, it was clear it was already afternoon.
Getting up with a jerk, she flung herself to the bathroom and took a hasty shower. After that she picked out some casual clothes from her closet and put them on. Brushing her hair with much winces and flinches as she untangled the knots, she tied it into a ponytail and went downstairs to eat something.
"Good afternoon, Aunt Mia," Rhea yawned widely, taking her seat lazily and pulling some Yorkshire pudding towards her.
"Good afternoon, Re," Aunt Mia replied and dropped a hasty kiss on Rhea's forehead. "Did you have a good sleep?"
"Surprisingly yes," Rhea answered her as she shoveled some food into her mouth.
Aunt Mia hummed and went about cleaning the vessels with her hands. Rhea felt that the house was much too quiet, so she asked Aunt Mia, "Aunt Mia? Where are the boys?"
"Oh," Aunt Mia looked surprised. "Rem, Jay, Siri and Pete asked Monty to apparate them to the 'Evans' house."
Rhea froze. "What did you say?"
"I said—"
"I know what you said!" Rhea was now panicking. "When did they leave? Where's Uncle Monty? Where the hell is Luna? And why have they gone to Lily's house?"
"One by one, Re," Aunt Mia raised her hand to stop her rambling. "They left about twenty minutes ago, and Monty is in the basement, doing Merlin only knows what. Luna is in the garden, playing with the gnomes. And please, do bring her back inside," Aunt Mia added, "If she's going to let those gnomes bite her all the time, I'm afraid she's going to get sick. And lastly, language, young lady." Aunt Mia peered sternly down at her.
"Oh my Merlin," Rhea sank down in horror. "Lily is going to throw a fit."
"Lily?" Aunt Mia asked, as though suddenly realizing something. "Is she the same girl Jay has been obsessing about for years?"
"Yeah, that's her." Rhea replied, distracted. "Aunt Mia, you wouldn't mind if I went too, would you?"
"Of course not," Aunt Mia waved her hand at her. "And take Luna with you."
"Obviously," Rhea rolled her eyes. "We always do things together."
Aunt Mia smiled at her, and turned around to finish the last of the cleaning. Then, Rhea asked, "Aunt Mia, was this a last minute decision? Why did they suddenly want to go there?"
"Oh," Aunt Mia answered, not turning away from her work. "The four of them argued for about three hours, after which they decided it would be best to 'mend friendships as soon as possible.'"
***
Lily didn't know how exactly she had gotten into this mess.
Black, Potter, Remus and Pettigrew had sent her a letter which gave her approximately thirty seconds as head start, and now they were sitting in her living room. If that wasn't enough, even Petunia had chosen to stay in the room too, apparently trying to pretend there was nothing wrong.
"So..." Mrs Evans said tentatively. "You're Lily's friends from Hogwarts."
Her mum had almost fainted of shock when she saw four boys outside the door. Her first emotion was suspicion, and Lily was more than offended that her mother thought she was romantically involved with them. THEM.
"Yes, Mrs Evans," Black gave her mother a charming smile, and Lily scowled at him.
"How did you find out where I live?" Lily asked sharply, glaring at the boys.
"Oh," Potter replied, looking sheepishly at her. "We overheard you and Rhea talking."
Lily snorted and folded her arms over her chest. "Why am I not surprised?"
Her mother gave her a look, as though warning her to stay polite. Petunia, on the other, was busy looking at Remus with interest.
Lily couldn't blame her. If Lily didn't have a sibling relationship with Remus, she'd be smitten with him too.
"So, boys," Mrs Evans smiled at them. "What brings you here?"
All the four boys cleared their throats in a business-like manner, and they even did it in sync. Then they shot each other irritable looks, as though reprimanding the other for copying their actions.
"We came here to apologize," Potter began, and Lily was surprised to see he was serious and solemn.
"For being bullies," Sirius continued.
"For tormenting you for years," Remus added guiltily.
"For ruining your friendship with Sni—Snape," Peter finished.
"Excuse me," Mrs Evans began, and now her eyes had hardened. If they really did whatever they had apologized for, they were about to get an earful. "Lily, what are they talking about?"
But Lily wasn't going to answer her at the moment. "And what made you four apologize?" She asked instead, looking wearily at them. "How come suddenly you're all regretting your actions?"
The boys looked at each other in discomfort. "My mum made me realize," Potter said finally, not looking at Lily. "That whatever I did to you and Snape," he was struggling to get the words out. "was wrong, very wrong. And I really am truly sorry for everything."
Lily stood frozen with her mouth agape, staring at Potter. Never, once in a million years, had she expected him to apologize, especially so sincerely.
"Yeah, Evans," Black said insistently. "We really are sorry.
Remus and Peter gave their apologies too, and Lily was seriously beginning to question if they were imposters.
"Lily," her mother called out softly, looking at her youngest daughter.
Of course, her mother would obviously be touched by their apologies. Why wouldn't she? All her life her husband had never apologized to her—he had ego that could pollute the world. So when she saw the young boys swallowing their pride and apologizing, she immediately took a liking to them.
Lily sighed. Why wasn't she able to forgive them? Hadn't she forgiven Petunia a million times for her hostility? Hadn't she forgiven her parents? Hadn't she forgiven Marlene and Mary for judging her? Then why wasn't she able to forgive them?
The answer was clear as crystal: she had trust issues.
It wasn't surprising, really. Petunia had broken her trust, Severus had broken her trust, and not to mention, Potter and Black, who had been the ones to initiate the truce, broke her trust on multiple occasions.
Lily took a deep breath and looked up to meet the boy's eyes. "What you did was wrong."
"We know," Black said earnestly. "That's why we've come with a peace offering."
Black and Potter got up from the sofa and gave her a messily wrapped box, inside which, there was a cupcake with tiny, messy handwriting.
Sorry.
Lily tried her best not to laugh, but she failed miserably, and gave in to the chuckles bubbling inside her.
"Nice cupcake, boys," Lily grinned slightly, looking at them. "Which of you baked it?"
"I did!" Peter said excitedly, looking very pleased with himself.
Before Lily could appreciate him, there was another shrill buzzing of the doorbell.
Lily and her mother shared a puzzled look before her mother went and opened the door.
"Jamie, next time you decide—Oh, you must be Mrs Evans." The voice sounded so familiar that Lily's heart raced in excitement. "Hi, I'm Rhea Cadieux—"
"—Luna Cadieux."
"We go to the same school as Lily does," Rhea continued, and Lily ran to the front door in excitement.
"Rhea?" Lily asked incredulously, but a huge smile was growing on her face. "Luna?"
"HI!" Luna said brightly, brushing her windswept hair away from her face. "Uncle Monty dropped us here—"
"Who's Uncle 'Monty'—"
"Re?" Potter had come out of the living room too, and he looked extremely shocked at seeing Rhea and Luna there. "Luna? What are you doing here?"
"Ready to stop you boys from screwing things up," Rhea replied firmly, and her eyes narrowed into slits as she gazed at all the four boys who were now assembled in front of the door.
"I'll leave you all to catch up," Mrs Evans said hesitantly, giving Lily a brief smile before leaving.
Lily immediately launched herself on Rhea, tackling the taller witch into a tight hug.
"Woah," Rhea laughed. "Missed me?"
"Very much!" Lily replied with a large grin, hugging Rhea for a few more seconds before letting go. "Hi, Luna!" Lily exclaimed as she gave the younger girl a hug too.
"But what are you doing here?" Sirius wanted to know.
"I told you—"
"But we didn't screw up," James replied quickly, looking at Remus for support.
"No we didn't," Remus agreed, grinning at Rhea. Rhea narrowed her eyes at him.
"I trust you Rem," Rhea said with mocking serenity. "Even though you are quite the sly wizard at times."
"Flattered," Remus gave her a lopsided smile, and Rhea rolled her eyes.
"So!" Lily remarked, once all greetings were exchanged. "What do we do now?"
"Eat." Sirius suggested.
"Sleep." Peter supplied.
"Sing." Luna said dreamily.
"Die," offered Rhea, and everyone snickered.
"I'm far too young to die." James protested, gesturing exuberantly to himself.
"Okay, okay," Rhea interjected. "Why don't we go out?"
Everyone agreed, and Lily went to her mother to ask for her permission, which the latter gave immediately. It was clear she was relieved her house wouldn't be swarmed by noisy boys anymore.
"Come back no later than 6:30," she'd said quite sternly.
So that's how the seven teenagers found themselves in the nearby supermarket.
The supermarket was huge, no doubt. In fact, in Rhea's opinion, it was like the malls that would come up by the 1980's. There were several floors, each selling specified things. Lily had reprimanded Sirius for trying to buy a particularly costly shampoo, because Lily didn't have enough cash for it.
"For the love of Dirigible plums!" Luna exclaimed excitedly. "What is that?"
She pointed towards a man who was making something out of a revolving vessel.
"Cotton candy," Lily smiled fondly at her. "Do you want some?"
Lily bought four cotton candies, and the six of them shared it happily. Sirius didn't want one, claiming that the sticky candy would ruin his face, but this made the other six happy, since they could have more share of cotton candy.
Remus and Rhea shared the pink coloured candy, looking absolutely delighted over the amount of sweetness in it, seeing as they were devotees of sweets.
Sirius, who was getting quite annoyed by the lack of attention on him, dragged all of them to the clothes store, where he wanted to buy a leather jacket.
"Oi, Sirius," Rhea protested, "What makes you think I've got cash for a leather jacket?"
"Yeah, Black," Lily huffed, narrowing her emerald eyes at him. "Aren't you a concerned environmentalist? Why do you want to buy jackets made from animal skin?"
But Sirius was ready with a witty answer.
"These are faux leather jackets—please?" Sirius pouted, looking at her innocently.
"No," Rhea shook her head firmly. "I'll gift you one for Christmas."
"I want it," Sirius whined, and began yanking Rhea towards the jackets. "Please!"
"Let go!" Rhea snapped, but there was an amused grin on her face. "Remus, help me!"
Remus rolled his eyes at the pair of them, and pulled Rhea out of Sirius' grip, much to the latter's displeasure. Luna and James were busy trying out ridiculous outfits. Peter, who wasn't fond of shopping, was sitting on a stool and was dozing off.
Lily, however, was acting like a worried mother, afraid they would break the Statue of Secrecy rules.
"Black, stop annoying Rhea and Remus," Lily ordered, waving a threatening finger at him. "Potter, Luna, please take out those ridiculous winter clothes—it's summer, for Godric's sake! Peter, don't sleep!"
"Are these sunglasses?" Luna asked in mild interest, looking dreamily at the glasses on display. "They're quite nice, I think. But my Spectrespecs are better, of course."
"Rhea, Remus, what are you doing?" Lily asked in worry, knowing full well she was acting like a distracted mother.
The two of them were jogging around the store to gain enough speed, after which they would skid to a halt. The competition was to see who would skid a greater distance and who would stop ahead of the other.
"Has anyone told you that you're a not as innocent as you look?" Rhea complained, looking irritably at Remus when she saw him trying to get a headstart by walking a few extra steps. "Whoever thinks otherwise is being terribly deceived."
Remus shrugged and hid a sly grin. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Rhea pouted, but before she could say anything else, Sirius intervened.
"What is this?" he asked with pure excitement, pushing a trolley towards them.
"That's a trolley," Lily sighed, looking at Sirius with exhaustion. "Used for shopping when you have loads of things to buy."
"Oh," Sirius remarked, looking at the empty trolley. "We just have to fill it then."
Rhea looked at him incredulously. "Who is going to pay for the things you buy?"
He shrugged. "You?"
Remus had to stop Rhea from throttling Sirius, much to Luna's and James' amusement. Lily was hovering in the background, making sure no one was getting killed.
Finally, after many tantrums, Sirius decided to shop with the trolley, which was quite weird, because the only thing the trolley was carrying was sunglasses.
They went to the counter to pay for their bill. Rhea and Lily grumbled as they shared the cost of the posh sunglasses, while Sirius was flirting with a customer next to him. James was dragging a sleepy Peter behind him, and Remus was looking quite entertained as Luna engaged him in a conversation.
As they climbed down the stairs and began walking towards the Evans' household, there was an ice cream shop on the way, something that made all of them very happy, because the afternoon was too hot.
Rhea and Lily were completely broke by the time they paid for seven ice creams, but they weren't in a mood to complain—it was too hot for them to get worked up about it.
Luna and James were having a 'who-can-finish-the-ice-cream-first' competition, which included Luna biting the ice-cream as though she was biting a slice of bread, and James was half-licking and half-biting his ice cream, which resulted in a brain freeze and much wincing from his side.
They decided to take a walk in the nearby park, since Rhea wanted some more time to finish her ice cream. They walked for a while in silence, after which, Rhea, who was yet to finish her ice cream, looked towards her right and stopped in her tracks. This place was just eerily familiar.
"So, Lily," she started conversationally. "This park has been here for how long, exactly?"
Lily looked surprised. "I don't know. But I've come here ever since I was five."
Rhea nodded absently at her and looked around the park, feeling the familiarity rise. It took her about five minutes to realize they were in the same park where Lily had first met Severus.
Remus and Rhea, being the fast walkers they were, were walking quite ahead of everyone else, while the others decided to play on the swings.
"I used play here when I was little," Lily reminisced fondly. "And the swing—I'd swing really high, and I'd let go of the swing when it reached its highest arc."
"You're mad," Sirius decided, sitting wearily on the swing, as though expecting it to break into pieces.
"I can still do it," Lily suddenly said, and immediately James, Sirius and Peter went away from her with apprehension.
Lily sat on the swing elegantly and allowed herself to adjust to its speed. Then, when the swing reached its highest arc, Lily let go with a whoop of laughter, ignoring the cries of warnings from the three boys. She stayed up in the air for far too long, and when she landed on the ground, she landed far too lightly, much to everyone's shock.
"See?" Lily said brightly, dusting her hands on her jeans.
"You could have hurt yourself," James scolded, looking nervous at the very thought.
"Please," Lily rolled her eyes. "You boys play Quidditch, and this seems scary to you?"
Before they could protest, Luna interrupted them. "I want to do that too," Luna remarked airily, looking at the swing.
"Absolutely not," James said firmly.
Suddenly, Peter he asked hesitantly. "What are Remus and Rhea looking at?"
Lily looked at Rhea and Remus, who were standing away from them, looking at the ground. Lily and Luna shared a confused look, but then shrugged. Together, the five of them jogged towards Rhea and Remus, eager to find out what had caught their interest.
When they reached the duo, Lily stifled a cry of shock.
"Bloody hell," James muttered. "Moony, Re, get away from it!"
There was a baby snake on the ground, and someone had played a mean trick on it by placing a small stone on it.
"Merlin," Remus breathed. "How do we take this out?"
If they were of age, it wouldn't be much of an issue since they could have used magic to lift the stone. But they weren't of age yet, and none of them was eager to go closer to the snake.
The little snake let out a series of hisses, causing all of them except Rhea and Luna to jump.
"Guys," Peter said in a would-be calm voice. "Trust me, we wouldn't want to be here. What if the mother snake comes?"
"Its mother isn't here," Rhea said softly, staring at the snake, transfixed.
"How do you know?" Remus asked sharply, looking at her.
Rhea cleared her throat. "I just guessed."
"A guess that may ultimately kill us," Sirius muttered, looking apprehensively at the snake.
Luna was staring at Rhea with an unreadable expression, which was quite unusual for her. Before anyone could suggest any solution, Rhea bent down on her knees and carefully extracted the stone from its body. For a while everyone was still, but then Remus yanked Rhea away from the snake by her arms, afraid the snake would bite her.
The baby snake spared them one glance and let out a low hiss, after which it slithered away from them, leaving everyone to breathe a sigh of relief.
"I wonder what gender it is?" Sirius looked thoughtful as all of them looked at the slithering snake.
"It was a female," Rhea answered immediately, but abruptly closed her mouth.
"Really?" James asked, interested. "How do you know?"
Rhea shrugged. "Male snakes have thicker tails, and females have thinner ones."
With that, Rhea, James, Sirius, Peter and Luna walked out of the park, but Lily and Remus shared a look.
There was something fishy with the way Rhea spoke. Lily could have sworn she heard an underlying hiss in her words, but she quickly brushed off that feeling.
Remus, however, who had been with Rhea when they'd found the snake, was quite sure she'd hissed at the snake as though she had been talking with it.