Emmeline rolls her eyes. Sirius was her assignment partner. She wasn’t about to show how relieved she was, despite how easily this feeling filled her up. Compared to last class’s setup, it was clear this current companionship would make their homework a breeze.

“Steady on, Black,” Em replies. “Don’t want you to fall out of your chair with excitement.”

“I haven’t spoken with Dorcas in awhile Sirius.” Lily had been growing distant from her friends recently, had been struggling to reconnect since Hogwarts. She wasn’t proud to admit to it. Lily sighs and taps her fingers on her arm, trying to think of the best solution. “I would write a letter first – it always helps me. At least get your thoughts down on paper. Send it or not, maybe show up at her flat and read it to her. You just don’t want to go flying in without some sort of guide. You’ll end up making an idiot of yourself for sure.” 

“You – You don’t want to keep this under the radar? Doesn’t that seem unwise? A bit like painting a target onto our backs?” Merlin – Amelia was going to be so disappointed in her for this. Sirius had good points though, and his conviction was enough to sway Lily over to his side. “You know I’m a terrible liar, Sirius. I don’t know why you’re coming to me for this – James would’ve been much better.” She pushes past him and goes to stir her sauce before cutting the heat. She pulls out two bowls and some tongs for the pasta, along with two forks. “Go sit down. I’m not going to talk about this over an empty stomach.” 

Once dinner is served and they’re seat, Lily rejoins the conversation. “Look,” she stabs into her pasta. “I’m not convinced Death Eaters are at fault. To get that high up in the Ministry he must have some dirt. What if he chose to go missing – we can’t rule anything out.” She takes a bite then adds, as an afterthought, “Although it does seem weird that the Ministry released such little evidence.” 

“Oh.” Sirius responded. He didn’t realize that she had been losing her connections to old friends. “I don’t think a letter would work for me. I’d read it, then just rewrite everything over and over again. I’d never give it to her because I’d end up thinking it wouldn’t explain everything enough.”

Lily softens as she listens to his plight. It sounds like a complicated situation, one that she doesn’t have an easy fix for. She searches for the right words to say to him, something that would soothe his wounds while also possibly being helpful. But – what do you say when someone basically fled the country? Oh, how she wishes she had a better grasp on the situation. Maybe then she could be useful now. “That’s a complicate situation,” Lily finally says totally unhelpful. “Have you tried talking it out? Have you been honest with her about how you feel? I know it’s not the best suggestion, but it’s the only one I have for you.” 

As the poster is shoved rudely into her face, Lily huffs and bats it aside, peering up at Sirius. He’s bringing up plenty of valid points, but she doesn’t like any of them. This scheme is sure to get them both in trouble with multiple people – the least of which is Remus. She’d be insane to agree, and yet, here she is, feeling like she should agree. “Alright – fine. But what are your theories on this whole disappearance? We could at least go to Dumbledore with something, see if we can get an Order mission out of it.” Lily glances towards her sauce, just to make sure it wasn’t bubbling over. “Or do you plan to keep this a secret from everyone until we’ve solved the mystery or at least thing we have?” 

“I’ve talked to her, she yelled at me. I yelled back, and when we were done, I decided to give her space. It seemed like she wanted it, so I gave it to her. Then I wake up one mornin’ to her bangin’ on my door and she just yells at me because I’ve been “avoiding” her.” Sirius shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t know what to do. You’re her friend, so i figured you might of talked about it or you might be able to help give a suggestion on things.”

Remus found himself drinking alone in the bar. His body was still recovering from his transformation a few nights ago. Leaning back into the seat cushions, he stretched and looked out the window. Someone caught his attention as he was looking, giving them a sort of friendly smile before noticing watching them approach him. Remus silently went back to his drink, pretending to ignore them

As soon as Sirius saw Remus, he made a bee line towards his friend. Placing a few sickles onto the bar, he asked for a firewhiskey, then added with a motion towards Remus, “I’m buying for him too.” Sirius studied his friend. He knew the “pretend to ignore them” game, so in turn, he played the “I’m staring until you say something.” game. On top of it all, it gave him some time to take in all the scars and bruises that covered Moony. He let those tell the story of Remmy’s last transformation and if it was worse than normal or not.

Lily should’ve guessed that the bad news had something to do with Dorcas. Watching Sirius puzzle this out for a while has been one of her greatest sources of entertainment. It’s amusing to see him dealing with feelings and girls with somewhat limited success. Still – she wants to see him succeed, so she’ll do what she can to help him along. “Have you caused her any problems lately? I haven’t spoken to her about this – so I’ve got no idea what’s going on. If you were hoping I could shed a bit of insight or light on the situation I’m afraid your shit outta luck.” She leans up against the counter, arms folded over her chest as she watches him. 

Her expression turns appropriately somber as Sirius details the missing Mr. Ibis. Lily had known about it, of course, had spoken with Amelia about it. She encouraged Lily to stay far out of it and to specifically not let Sirius, James, Remus, or Peter talk her into trouble. Lily’s frown deepens as Sirius keeps talking. This is certainly trouble – trouble she’s not sure she wants to get into. This could turn into a mess incredibly quickly, and it’s exactly the type of Marauders scheme she promised herself she’d never be a part of. “Sirius…” 

“Sirius this is a bad idea for so many reasons.” She sighs and reaches up, tucking some hair behind her ear. “You know Remus is too smart to fall for something like this. Besides – I think you just want to investigate this mystery. You just want to stick your nose into dangerous business.” She narrows her eyes. “I can’t imagine the Order would be thrilled if we started getting into trouble or going on missions not assigned to us.” Still, her curiosity is piqued. Lily has been bothered by this disappearance. It hasn’t sat well with her at all; she wants to know what happened. 

She can feel her resolve weakening without Sirius even saying more. 

Lily snorted and rolled her eyes. “At the rate you lot show up, I’m sure they think you live here.” She shoots him a smile over her shoulder before she returns to her boiling noodles and simmering sauce. She gives both a good stir, frowning a little bit at his words. “Bad news, bad bad news, and good news contingent on Remus’s involvement.” 

Lily sighs, ruffling a bit of her hair. “Let’s see. Start with the worst and move to best.” The noodles look done, so she turns off the heat and pulls out her strainer, resting it in the sink. Once they’re nice and settled back in the pot, now without water, she leans against her kitchen counter and folds her arms. “Come on, out with it. You interrupted my peaceful day off so this better be good.” They both know she doesn’t mind in the least. She cares about the Marauders too much to ever turn them down. 

“Yes. It’s bad bad news. Absolutely terrible news.” He nodded enthusiastically. With a soft thud of the chair landing back on it’s front feet, Sirius continued, “Dorcas. She’s the terrible news. She leaves for Romania, then comes back and acts like I’m the one that’s causing all her problems. I try to talk to her, I get yelled at... if I give her space, she ends up hunting me down just to yell at me some more.” Rubbing his eyes, he added “I don’t know what to do when it comes to her.”

Lily was barefoot, hair up in something approximating a bun while she wore of James’s sweaters (his fault – he left it here). Sirius’s company had been last minute, and she’d been in the middle of preparing some homemade pasta on her one day off when she got his owl. Of course, the subjects he wanted to talk about were far more pressing than anything she had on her plate, so she’d urged him to come around for dinner. 

“I’m coming, you oaf!” She calls out, giving the pasta a final stir before heading to her door. Lily unlocks and throws open the door, giving Sirius a glare. “You’re going to make all my neighbors hate me, Black.” She steps aside and lets him in before shutting and locking the door. “I’m working on pasta. Do you want a drink?” She heads back to the kitchen, trusting that he’ll follow. 

Ignoring her insult, Sirius followed behind Lily, and mumbled a quick “Sorry.” as he scratched the back of his neck. “You know, you’re neighbors should count their blessings. At least I’m only visiting.” he added with a chuckle.