A Cup Affair

Chapter Four

Happy Sunday, my dear readers! Here I bring the fourth chapter of our adventure, hoping you get to enjoy it too.

Don't forget, you can find me easily on tumblr (maraudersinparadise) and bluesky (psc-07). I'd love to chat with you!

Lily hadn't slept very well on Sunday. She had insomnia whenever a complex case presented itself; she kept imagining all the possible scenarios until she succumbed to an exhausted sleep that lasted four hours.

Therefore, she wasn't even a tiny bit surprised to see the bags under her eyes when she got ready to meet Marlene, so they could go to James's house together, from where they would all go to France.

Marlene, however, found the situation unacceptable.

"For Merlin, Lily! You're on the VIP list of England's biggest star. You'll meet the best and hottest Quidditch players in the world. At least try a bit!"

Lily bit her tongue in order to not let it slip that 'England's biggest star' was about to be locked up on Azkaban. Instead, she sighed deeply and headed to the bathroom to try and hide the dark circles with make up.

"I didn't get much sleep tonight..." Lily justified as she left the room, no more dark bags showing.

"Of course you didn't, you've got a case," Marlene said, rolling her eyes, "but nobody needs to know that."

Lily sighed again and eyed the luggage Marlene had helped her pack – filled with too fancy clothes (or simply 'adequate', according to the brunette). Not that Lily wasn't fond of dressing well or some embellishment; she just didn't like this amount of pressure over an event that wouldn't be so pleasurable to her.

"Whatever, Marlene. May we head over Potter's now? The sooner we get in France, the better."

Marlene laughed and held Lily's hand for a Side-Along Apparition. Lily knew the address through Moody, but she preferred to withhold the information – the less Marlene was aware of Potter's involvement in the case, the better.

Lily tried not to be impressed by Potter's house, but it was not easy considering the enormous manor that stood before her. They rang the doorbell, and a grinning Sirius Black opened the door.

"Well, well. I knew those four years had been kind to Evans, but they were even kinder to you, McKinnon..." the Marauder said, raising an eyebrow.

"Like we hadn't seen each other since we graduated. But where did you see Lily?" she asked. Sirius raised his eyebrows in bewilderment.

"I visited Remus yesterday morning," Lily said calmly. Even if Sirius had not known that it was partially true, he would have believed. Marlene nodded.

"Something happened?" the brunette asked.

"No, no," Lily replied, "it's just I went to visit Benjy the day before and when I woke up yesterday I thought Remus might need some help. He didn't, because the boys were already there." She turned to Sirius. "May we come in or...?

Sirius grinned and allowed the girls inside.

The interior left Lily slightly uncomfortable, as if she had entered the wrong place. The decoration was simply stunning: an amazing mixture of classic and modern that screamed sophistication.

"James didn't cheap it out..." Marlene said.

"Well, his mother decorated. And picked the house, actually. If it were up to him, it'd be a whole lot smaller, with enough space just for the four of us," Sirius explained. "The others are in James's room."

This time, Lily felt like she was in the right place. It was an ample room, with a huge bed in which James sat playing chess with Peter. There was a door to the right, and a chair where Remus spread out with a thick book.