"Really?" ~ A Jily Fanfiction

Chapter 4: McKinnon Manor - and a Conversation

There he was. James Potter, with his wry glasses, windswept, messy hair, and crooked grin.

She turned to her friend. "Marlene!" she hissed. "What is with you today?"

"Me?" asked Marlene, trying her best to look innocent. "What have I done?"

James strolled past the doorway to where Lily stood with Marlene and Sirius. Thrusting his arm around her shoulders, he grinned, saying, "Hey, Evans! Missed me?"

Lily scoffed, pulling away. "Miss you? Hardly. I was looking forward to the idea that you wouldn't be here."

Sirius, in the customary Black fashion, butted in. "Evans, Evans, Evans. You need to get new friends. Do you mean to tell me that all these years, you didn't know these two-" he pointed at Marlene and James with his sunglasses- "are cousins?"

Lily blinked, caught off guard. "Cousins? You're joking."

James laughed, shaking his head. "Not joking, Evans. Didn't you know that every pureblood family is related, somehow?"

Lily groaned, pressing her palm to her forehead. "It's too early for this, guys."

The three others started clamoring at once, "What do you mean, early?!?!?!" and, "I've been awake since 3:00 A.M.!" and, "YOU were the one who woke up late, not me!" and, "You didn't even arrive here on time!" and, "How do you even survive at Hogwarts like this?"

Lily rolled her eyes, rubbing her temples as the three of them continued bickering, their voices overlapping in a chaotic blur. "Merlin's beard, are you all going to show me inside? Or are you going to continue this insufferable racket?"

Marlene mimicked Lily's eye roll, saying, "As if you haven't been here a million times already. Fine, let's go in."

The three walked in through the grand doorway, the manor's high ceilings and expansive rooms stretching out before them, filled with the warmth of magical torches and the faint smell of freshly polished wood. It was a place Lily had seen before but never quite grown accustomed to.

"Right," said Marlene. "Boys, take Lily's trunk to my room, and then come back dow-"

"Your room?" asked Sirius indignantly. "Then why can't James and I share a room? It's not like we don't at Hogwarts."

Marlene grinned cheekily. "Well, at Hogwarts you inflict you 'insufferable-ness' on the teachers. Mum and Dad don't mind that, they just don't want to deal with you shenanigans."

James feigned offense, crossing his arms with a mock pout. "I'll have you know, McKinnon, that our 'shenanigans' bring a certain charm to any establishment."

"Sure, a charm that usually ends in something catching fire," Marlene replied, giving him a pointed look. "Last time you two were here, my mum found scorch marks in the study."

"Hey, those were purely decorative scorch marks!" Sirius said, hands up in defense. "Adds character to a room."

Lily couldn't help but snicker. "Somehow, I'm not surprised."

James flashed a grin. "See, even Evans gets it. We're visionaries, not troublemakers."

"Oh, right," Lily said dryly. "True visionaries, just wreaking havoc for the sake of art."

Marlene rolled her eyes, leading them down a corridor. "All I know is, if I see even one spark, you two are sleeping outside with the garden gnomes."

Sirius raised an eyebrow, glancing at James. "You think that's a challenge, mate?"