A Sirius Proposal

The young man felt the box in the pocket of his coat. Yes, today was the day. After all these years... How many had it been? Five? He had lost count now, but five seemed the right number. She would know. She always knew. But this was one thing... His eyes flickered to the young woman who walked just in front of him. She'd never see it coming, would she? Ohh, how clever he was! James would be proud. Ahh, there he was now.

Sirius watched as Lauren waved over a couple pushing a pram. "Here," she called. "We're sitting at this table here. I think there's enough room. If not, we can just pull over another table."

"I had hoped that was you walking down the street," the other young woman said, taking the baby from the pram as everyone took a seat. "James is convinced that we'd never find you but we did, didn't we, Harry?" She rubbed her nose gently across that of the baby's. Harry gave a little coo and grabbed out at his mother's flaming hair, fascinated, as always, with its rich color.

James, who sat beside her, laughed. "I was not. I was the one who told you--" He broke off as Sirius, who was sitting just across from him, made a motion. James leaned across towards him as the three women began fawning over Harry. "What?"

"Today's the day."

James gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

Sirius glanced once at Lauren, who was paying no attention, then to Remus, who had noticed that they were talking and had given him an odd look, and then back to James. "That day. The day we talked about. The one that we talked about with Remus last week, only it'll look too suspicious if we include him now, so I'm just reminding you."

"Ohh! That day." James smirked a little. "So... when are you going to--"

"Right now." Sirius slipped his hand into his pocket and drew out the small black box, just big enough to sit in his palm. Hiding it from view a bit, he pretended to drop something under the table and slipped onto his knees just beside her. "Ohh, Lauren... I think I dropped something. Here, can you help me find it?"

The strawberry blond woman turned his way and looked beneath the table. "What did you drop? Where is it?"

"I'm not sure... Just a minute, this might be it." He pulled the box out of his coat pocket. A smile broke the man's features as he took Lauren's hand. "Ohh, I think I found it." With that, he held it where she could see, and opened it.

"Lauren Arianna Scutio..." The ring, topped with a brilliant diamond, glinted in the light. "Will you marry me?"

As soon as those four words were spoken, everyone looked his way. Lily and Rosemary both gasped and "awwwed" and whispered a bit like schoolgirls to each other before James shushed them both. Visible tears shone in the woman's eyes as she looked from the ring to Sirius' hopeful face, her other hand flying to her mouth. "Yes!" She threw her arms around his neck, nearly knocking him off balance.

Sirius laughed. "Hey! Don't make me drop it. Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Ohh!" Lauren sat back in her seat, looking as almost though she wouldn't be able to contain herself much longer. Sirius slowly slipped the ring on her hand and then put the box back in its place.

The woman stared a little at the ring, taking in the fact that it had a lovely little spot on her left hand now as Sirius took his seat again. Lauren momentarily ignored the excited questions from Lily and Rosemary to look at her new fiancee. She wiped her eyes and slid her arms around his neck, meeting him with a kiss not unlike the one they would be sharing not long from now in front of family and friends.