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Ginny wasn't sure what to make of the situation.

First she agreed to come to a holiday with the Marauders. James practically dragged her and Remus out to meet Lily. They got stuck due to heavy rain at Lily's house. Somehow, Lily started to act civil towards James over one day. James's glasses broke and Lily fixed them by tape, exactly the way Harry's glasses used to be when she first saw him. She threw a comment of Harry being James son. James obviously didn't get the actual meaning... but Ginny didn't like the way Remus looked at her. His eyes clearly said- 'You have to answer when I get you.' Ginny was avoiding talking to him alone after that.

After all these, Lily had surprisingly agreed to come with them to James's house for a small visit. If this wasn't enough, then they were standing in the knight bus in front of an escaped Sirius Black. That too when they were laughing about Petunia admiring Remus.

"What did I miss?" Sirius asked cheerfully, his voice dripping in sarcasm. James's face gave away that he had momentarily forgotten about Sirius coming over due to excessive happiness about Lily. He looked little guilty. Lily looked annoyed. It was obvious that she wasn't ready to put up with Sirius immedietely after she had put up with James.

"What are you doing here, Black?" Lily asked.

"I am going to James's house." Sirius replied. Lily turned towards James.

"You didn't tell me he was coming!" Lily turned towards Ginny- "and neither did you!"

"Uh...I..." James stuttered, saving Ginny a reply. Sirius on the other hand, laughed without humor.

"Brilliant! My best friend forgot that I was coming, because obviously the girl of his dreams acted friendly to him!" he said cynically. What's up with him, Ginny thought- he wasn't usually this snappy. Perhaps he was feeling detached to his home...after all he had been there for sixteen years. Or was it something else?

Apparently James and Remus had also noticed his odd behaviour. Remus cleared his throat.

"Sirius, it not..." Sirius silenced him by holding up his hand. It was not everyday Remus was silenced by Sirius.

"So should I go back to Grimmauld Place?" Sirius asked, eyeing James.

"Of course not!" James exclaimed. "If you're angry on me, I am giving you full permission to punch me after we get home! But you're not allowed to go back."

"Besides, it is not like I am going to live in that house, isn't it Black? I'll be out after sometime." Lily spoke up. Ginny mentally applauded Lily's instincts. She had perfectly picked up the tension in the air and acted accordingly. Sirius's scowl faded as he grinned towards Lily. Remus relaxed.

"So, you're finally civil with Prongs, are you?"

"For now" Lily replied.

"And Moony, are you staying with us at Prongs'?"

"Nope" Remus said. "I'll just go to my house instead of Prongs' on Knight bus. He already has too many guests."

"No Moony, I don't have any other guests except Evans." James pretended to look around, puzzled. "You and Padfoot are my brothers, afterall!"

Remus rolled his eyes, "Really Prongs, that's so 'chocolate frogging' sweet of you, but I really have to go."

"You're not allowed to go."

"I..." Ginny cut off Remus at the middle of his sentence.

"I hate to ruin the moment guys, but I'm still here you know. And James, why didn't you mention me on the list?" She mock glared at him.

"Brothers always ignore their little sisters. Don't you know?" James raised his eyebrows at her.

"I am not little!"

"You are!"

"Godric's 'Ollow is 'ere!" The conductor yelled in the middle of their banter. They headed towards Potter Manor, Sirius with his backpack, James showing Lily the surroundings, with an exasperated Remus and amused Ginny behind them. As they reached the steps, Dorea opened the door.

"Sirius!" Dorea hugged him, obviously overjoyed. "Finally, you're here!"

"Hi mum," Sirius grinned, "Nice to see you too!"

"Come in! Oh Remus, you're here too! Such a surprise!"

"Hello, mum!" Apparently all the Marauders called Dorea mum.

"Come inside, all of you! And you must be Lily!" Dorea took her hand. Lily looked flustered.

"How did you recognize me, Mrs Potter?" She asked.

"Oh, James gave a wonderful vivid description of you!" Dorea winked at Ginny. James turned into the colour of Lily's hair. Lily blushed, and accepted Dorea's hand to enter. Sirius had already gone instide and Charlus had charmed his backpack into a trunk, which it probably was.

"Lily, sit down. James will humour you." Dorea winked at her. "Come Sirius, I'll show you your room." She levitated his trunk up the stairs. Sirius followed with a toothy grin, obviously overjoyed to be with his 'family'.

"So, you are the love of our son's life?" Charlus smirked at Lily. "Wait I'll bring juice for you guys."

Charlus beat to Ginny's offer for helping him and went to make the juice.

"Why is Sirius staying with you? Is he on holiday with you like Ginny?" Lily asked curiously. James, Remus and Ginny exchanged looks.

"Uh... Lily, Sirius is going to stay with us from now on." Ginny said.

"Why?"

"Because his parents are assholes!" James burst out suddenly. Ginny could say that he was feeling guilty for forgetting Sirius momentarily. That guilt probably coincided with his anger towards Sirius's parents. Lily on the otherhand, had never seen James get angry. She shifted uncomfortably. James took a deep breath.

"His parents doesn't love him. That's why he is going to live with us now. He ran away." James said, measuring his tone. Lily nodded, not saying anything. Meanwhile, Sirius came down the stairs, partly skipping. He had caught the last part of the conversation.

"You would've ran away too if you had parents like mine." He said, successfully putting an end to the conversation.

"Where's Charlus?" Dorea asked while coming down the stairs.

"Dad went to make juice. And he won't offer Ginny's help." Remus replied. Dorea cursed.

"Why don't you go upto James's room? I'll bring the juice there." She said, heading towards the kitchen.

Five of them went up to James's room. They had few fun hours chatting, talking, playing exploding snap and wizard chess. James offered to give Lily a ride on his Cleansweep, which she of course refused. Unlike Hermione, Lily took epic interest in Quidditch, even though she didn't play. They carefully avoided sensitive topics like Sirius running away or the Marauders hexing Severus. Lily left before sunset, accompanied by Remus, who really had to go home.

"You ought to come more often, Lily." Dorea told her when she was about to leave. "You know, our son is not that bad to have as a boyfriend." James turned red again, which he was doing quite a lot already.

"Certainly, Mrs Potter." Lily said, blushing as well. "If not for him, I'd definitely come you meet you!"

"That'd be great!" Dorea laughed. "And Remus, next time you come, I won't let you go without staying a week."

"Certainly, mum!" Remus answered. With this, he and Lily left.

James went upto Sirius's room with him to set things up. Sirius would be living here from now on, so his trunk needed to be unpacked. Ginny offered to help too, but Sirius declined.

"Are you mad? You can't help me to unpack. Unless you want to iron and fold my underwears..."

"No thank you, I'd rather not."

"Are you sure you don't want to help? I'm sure I must've packed some protection, since I'd probably meet some more girls after the holidays." Sirius called after her as she opened the door of her own room.

"Ew, thanks for offering, but I'd rather not." She closed the door, jumping on the bed. She had an hour or so to kill before supper. She rummaged her trunk for something to read.

"Oops" she found the book- 'Hidden and Double Patronuses' by Rumbereena Bumblebee. She had totally forgotten about the book, and even forgotten to give it back to the library. No wonder Madam Pince would be going berserk by now.

Why had she taken it in the first place? Oh right. Her animagus form was a panther, while it was supposed to be a Stallion. According to theory, animagus forms are supposed to be same as the patronus. Opening the book, she started to read from the point she'd probably left off.

Double Patronuses refer to duel patronuses, each likely as the other to appear at any point of using the incantation. The caster has no control over which patronus is to appear. Usually, the patronus that appears among the two probable options is dependent on the caster's subconscious, that is the deeper thoughts going on in the caster's head. Since a person does not have control over his or her subconscious, choosing one of the patronuses is not possible. Here, the caster shows usage of both patronuses from the beginning.

Hidden patronus refers to a second patronus form that does not appear unless the caster undergoes something severe. This includes mental, physical or emotional upheaval. However, once a hidden patronus is revealed, the caster can control the patronus by the memory he or she concentrates on. For example, if the caster concentrates on a memory closer to his or her heart, he or she is likely to reveal the primary patronus. If the memory is more surreal, but happy nonetheless, then the hidden patronus might reveal. But cases of hidden patronus are incredibly rare, because the circumstances behind revealing a hidden patronus is very occasional.

Ginny closed her eyes and leaned back. Looks like she had to try finding more once she returns to Hogwarts. She had to try this patronus thing out, otherwise she won't understand it fully. Now she had to wait.

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"Why did you put up all those underwear act?" James asked Sirius as he helped him unpack. Sirius looked at him questioningly.

"What act?"

"Don't act innocent Padfoot. I know you deliberately avoided her. What is that you can tell me and not her?" James cocked his eyebrows. Sirius sighed.

"OK Prongs, you caught me. But believe me, its for her own good." Sirius said as he rummaged through his trunk. "You remember this Harry guy who slips into Ginny's conversations now and then?"

"Yup. What about him?" James asked, grimacing at few muggle girl posters in the trunk.

"Well, what do you think about him?"

"The way she talks about him, it seems like she knows him very well." James said, trying to open the window, which was stuck, "It seems like you know, he was more than a friend to her."

"Much more, obviously" Sirius said, "And she talks like they were together at some point. Not like you talked about Evans." James openesd the window and returned to unpacking. "Do you think he ditched her?"

"Yes" James answered, "I think so. I am already starting to hate that name."

"I think that too." Sirius said, "I desperately want to break that guy's neck. It is just not done. How can he just ditch someone?!"

"You do it all the time, Padfoot." James said, amused, but at the same time feeling the anger Sirius was feeling.

"Well, there is a difference" Sirius said solemnly, "I only have one night stands or casual flings. I never commit for a relationship. None of the girls I ditch are the ones for a serious relationship. They're OK with flings as well. I am pretty sure they never slip my name in the conversation. Besides," he concluded, "Ginny isn't just any girl. She is a badass girl Marauder. You can't just ditch a girl like that. And as far as I've known her, she would've hexed anyone trying to have 'fling' with her."

James tried to digest the small speech.

"So you're saying that this Harry guy was a serious game player."

"Also, Ginny still loves him" Sirius classified. "We have to find more about him." James stared at him.

"I never knew you had patience to think of all these, let alone analyze them."

"Anything for my friends." Sirius grinned. "And don't rummage the bag like that... I wasn't just bluffing when I told Ginny that I had packed protection." James drew out his hand hastily. Sirius peered into the trunk, looking for something.

"So how do we suggest we find more about Harry? Should we just ask Ginny?" Sirius brought out something from his trunk.

"We should. But after giving her this." Sirius held up a small corked vial.

"Elixir of Trust" James stared, amazed. "How did you get that?"

"Peter gave half of his vial to me. I told him I'd need it." Sirius winked.

"You told Moony?"

"No. He might not support it. Besides, he'll understand why we did it." James still stared at the small vial in Sirius's hand.

"I suppose. We'll try it tomorrow." Sirius nodded.

"Let's see if the Elixir actually works or not."

No point in apologizing and promising fast updates. But I am sorry again for being incredibly late. Hope the chapter was good enough. :)

P.s.- Thank you so much! This fanfiction has crossed 5K votes! I owe you guys a lot.

Keep reading please, though I am a shitty updater. :'(