the_debt_of_time

Lily finally snapped that morning when, after being sick for over a week and waking
up to find her husband missing from her bed once more, she took the Floo to Longbottom
Keep to find Alice under the weather as well. It had not taken a N.E.W.T. in Charms—
though Lily and Alice each had one—to find the particular diagnostic spell to discover
what was wrong.
Alice had been thrilled, and Lily stood by with tears in her eyes as her friend related
the news of their impending parenthood to Frank, who promptly fainted.
When Frank wrapped his arms around Alice, shouting gratitude to Merlin, Lily
officially had enough. She stormed in a rage toward Alice and Frank's fireplace, her friends
on her heels as she tossed powder into the grate and screamed, "Ninety-three, Diagon
Alley!"
On the other end of the Floo, she found the small London flat in absolute disarray.
She shook her head at the sight of the place that she knew would have sent Mia into a
violent fit. Not a single Cleaning Charm had been cast in weeks, and the place absolutely
reeked of liquor. Empty bottles littered the counters, and there were cigarette burns on the
sofa and carpet.
Storming down the hallway, Lily stopped in front of Remus's bedroom knowing it
was pointless to even check the back bedroom; Sirius had not slept there in weeks. Her
temperamental magic blew the door off the hinges, and her angry gaze settled on the pile
of wizards in the centre of the large four-poster bed.
Remus and James were leaning against one another near the headboard, Sirius
draped across their laps. There was a witch-shaped gap between the three of them that
made Lily clench her eyes tightly, forcing the sadness back down somewhere behind the
nausea that was threatening to resurface.
Not a one of them had moved even when the door fell, telling her exactly how
much they had been drinking the night before.
She stepped into the room and viciously kicked the leg that was peeking out from
beneath the bed. "Get up!"
Peter crawled out from under the bed frame, wincing from the pain in his shin.
"You were supposed to be helping them, not making things worse!" she snapped and
felt mildly victorious when Peter looked properly shamed.