Lily looked at Harry’s face, then at the note left by Sirius. “A birthday present.” She said flatly.

Harry bobbed his head up and down so much that Lily was afraid it might fall off. The first part of the letter was no different from any others, but the second! Lily gritted her teeth. “That shameless, despicable dog!” She shrieked.

Harry blinked. “Mommy?” He asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing, Harry. Mommy ran into a dog while I came home today, it tried to bite me.” She said. Never mind that she had come back using Floo powder. Hopefully Harry believed her.

“It did? I’ll go arrest it for assaulting an Auror.” Harry said, standing up.

“Wait, no, don’t!” Lily cried, grabbing his arm. She felt foolish, of course Harry wouldn’t believe such a thing. What did she think he was, a child?

“Why?” Harry asked.

“Um, it was pardoned by the Minister of Magic.” Lily said awkwardly.

Harry glared at her like a parent catching their child in a lie. She blushed. “Anyways, mommy will need to pick something up at Gringotts. Stay safe, okay, I’m getting your birthday present.” She said, burning the note with her wand.

She gritted her teeth as she walked through the house, taking a few breaths. Calm down, she told herself. It can’t be that bad. The note was gone, but it’s contents were in her head clear as day. But how much it infuriated her to remember!

Hello there, Lily. At least, I hope you’re Lily. If you have opened this letter, Harry or anyone else, I promise that I will hunt you down and jinx you, so put it back before you see something you’ll regret. Now, if you are Lily you should be aware of the breach by now. No need to worry. You won’t find anything missing, just a little something that wasn’t there before. I won’t pretend to know how to brew the thing, but I feel like it’s time Harry has got it. He is, after all, his father’s son. He will need it too, he doesn’t have any advantage against that murderer. Don’t worry about commiting crimes. Unlicensed possession of those are highly illegal, and I’m sure you won’t be turning me in. As for if you want to use them, well, I’ve already gone so far. Allow me to commit crimes with a clean conscience, will you?

Kind of Sincerely, Padfoot

Note : If you take the blame, I will have to brew it myself, believe me, I can, I have some extra lying around.

Lily shook her head. “Oh Sirius, how many times do I have to get you out of trouble?” She groaned. Of all the things that he had to give his godson for a birthday present, it had to be that? Couldn’t he have selected just about anything else? Wait, no, he was Sirius Black.

She knew why he did what he did, of course. He was right about Harry needing an advantage. But twisting her arm so that she had no choice but to follow his plan. This was reckless and stupid, both of which described him perfectly.

She still remembered brewing the animagnus potion for those foolish boys, making them swear to not bully Snape anymore. A fitting trade, if she was a good judge at all. She did get the recipe from him, so she didn’t ask for anything else. A rat, a stag, a wolf, and a dog. Scoundrels, all of them. But the stag stole her heart, so she couldn’t curse them too much. The rat was her only regret, Lily wished she had seen his treachery.

The recipe was really not as complicated as she had thought in the beginning. The hard part was gathering ingredients. Mandrake leaves were what took them the longest, with James and her spending almost an entire year slaving away for them. They gave them to Sirius. Apparently he had transferred them to Gringotts.

She sighed. If the death eaters were not running loose a wizard breaking into Gringotts and stealing nothing would be all over the Daily Prophet. But the mandrake leaves, how would she get them back? If any of the goblins saw her with it… She shivered, Azkaban was empty now, but the ministry would surely find another place for criminals. Numengard perhaps?

Lily couldn’t be sure how, but Sirius had broken into Gringotts to drop off mandrake leaves, and now, it was her job to get them out without being caught. Or be sent to prison. She held her head in her hands. Would it kill Sirius to stay out of trouble?