#sizzle

@wolfstarmicrofic August 8, word count 998

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Remus fell asleep on the journey back to Lily and James’s. He had no idea how he managed to get himself so comfortable in the small sports car, but it was enough for him to drift off. Sirius didn’t seem to mind as he left Remus to it and carried on driving, singing along quietly to the playlist he had on. He woke Remus gently when they’d arrived at the Potters. 

“Remus,” Sirius murmured, nudging him. Remus grumbled in protest, swatting his hand away. “Remus,” Sirius said again, chuckling under his breath. 

“Hmmm, no, sleepy,” he muttered, twisting in his seat. Something twinged, and he woke with a yelp. 

“I did try,” Sirius sighed and held out his hand to help Remus out of the car. 

The front door was unlocked, and Sirius led Remus inside without knocking. 

“Darling, I’m home!” Sirius called into the quiet house. Two seconds later, James’s feet thundered above them as he ran to greet them. 

“Oh, thank god! I was so worried!” James flung himself at Sirius. Sirius quickly let go of Remus’s hand. Which was a good idea as he went tumbling to the ground with James on top of him, and if Remus had been caught up in that, he would have been hurt. 

“What on earth was that?” Lily asked, coming into the hallway, only to roll her eyes and return to the living room. “Put the kettle on once you’ve finished shagging your boyfriend!” She called, and Remus heard the TV turn on. He side-stepped the pair on the floor and followed after Lily. 

Lily was spread out on the sofa in shorts and a tank top with a fan on her. “I am hot,” she said in way of explanation when she spotted Remus. “Pregnancy is not fun. I feel like I'm about to sizzle.” She did look a bit warm. Her cheeks were flushed, and her skin had a thin layer of sweat all over it. Remus sat down on the sofa and picked up one of her sweaty feet. “Oh, Remus, don’t,” Lily protested. “That has to be gross.” Remus ignored her and began digging his thumbs into her soles. She let out a little moan and flopped back onto the sofa. 

He worked one foot for a while and then picked up the other and gave it the same treatment. By the time Lily was a slightly cooler puddle on the sofa, James and Sirius came in with a tray of homemade lemonade and scones. 

“We thought you might like these instead?” James said hopefully. Lily looked at what was on the tray and pulled her foot out of Remus’s hand, grabbing a glass and barely waiting for James to fill it for her before she glugged down the cold, sweet drink. 

“Yes. I love you,” she gasped when she stopped drinking. James refilled her glass and handed her a scone topped with plenty of jam and cream. With Lily taken care of, he handed the same to Remus, Sirius and himself. Remus bit into the sweet treat and moaned with pleasure. They were Effie’s. 

“It really was worth reuniting with you lot just for Effie’s cooking.” He said, licking cream from his lips. He washed it down with a mouthful of the lemonade and was sent straight back to his school days of coming over to James’s and Effie having glasses of lemonade ready for them. 

“She’s still very secretive about her recipes, but she let us have this one,” James told him. “Though she’s definitely told Lily more than she’s told me,”

“What can I say?” Lily said around a mouthful of scone. “I’m her favourite,”

“You take that back!” Sirius demanded, the only one of them not making a mess. A fight ensued where Sirius and Lily fought over who was the favourite; James didn’t even try to argue that he was, considering he was their only child. Eventually, though, he did speak up, but it wasn’t what Remus expected him to say. 

“I think we can all agree that as soon as she sees Remus, we’ll all know who her favourite is.” That ended the argument and left Remus with fiery red cheeks. 

“Two more days and she’ll be home. I can’t wait,” Sirius beamed. His face fell moments later, and he turned to James and Lily. “We found some stuff out today.” James and Lily listened as Sirius relayed to them everything they had discovered over the last few days. When he put it all together, it sounded so bad. Remus couldn’t believe how much drama he’d brought with him. He thought for less than a second that it might have been better for everyone if he’d just stayed gone, but he quickly brushed that notion off. He was far too happy, even with all that hanging over his head. No, finding his friends again had been the best thing to happen in his life in a very long time. 

“Well, I’m glad you’re not living there any more,” Lily said firmly. “I would have dragged you out of there myself otherwise,” Remus didn’t doubt her for a second. She was stronger than she looked. 

“Yeah, whatever we can do to help, all you have to do is ask,” James added. 

“What if I need Evan and Barty to come here?” Sirius asked, trying to hide the quirk at the corner of his lips. 

“Anything but that,” James grimaced. “I don’t know what you see in the brat twins, Sirius. They are terrible.”

“They’re just good at spotting weakness, and you continue to react to them,” Sirius replied. James huffed in a sulk. 

“As terrible as that sounds. I do have a request of you,” Lily said carefully. “Mum and Dad are having a dinner party, and she said I can bring you two as well. Please come. I can’t face Petunia and Vernon on my own. I need backup.” 

“Okay,” the three of them chorused, unenthusiastically. Lily beamed.