"No, Lils, you're supposed to . . ."

"That's it!" Lily Potter exploded, handing her 4 month old son to her husband. "Where's my wand? I am going to hex you to oblivion Sirius Black!" she exclaimed, looking around wildly for her wand.

"I was just trying to . . ."

"I'm his mother, I know what I'm doing," she snarled, finally locating her wand.

"Protego!" James Potter exclaimed, creating a barrier between the two. Baby Harry just stared at his father's wand and tried to make a grab for it. "Padfoot, mate, seriously . . . we know you're trying to help, and you're fulfilling your god-fatherly duties expertly but . . . give it a rest mate," James said tiredly. "Please. Lily does know how to take care of him."

"Shocking really, considering I was the one who gave birth to him," Lily snapped, throwing herself into the nearest chair.

"All right, sorry. I just . . . I love the kid. But I will back off," Sirius said, his expression resembling that of a scolded puppy. "I'm sorry." Lily rolled her eyes and sighed, her expression and demeanour softening.

"It's okay," Lily told him. "It's just . . . we're all a bit on edge lately."

"Any word from Moony?" James asked Sirius, who sat down opposite him. With a flick of his wand, James lowered the protective charm between them and sat down also.

"Nothing. Dumbledore says it's to be expected though . . . it was a particularly nasty mission," Sirius said. James kicked him as Lily's eyes widened.

"He's on a mission?" Lily asked quietly.

"Sh- . . . ugar," Sirius corrected himself, forgetting Lily had been out of the loop since the birth of her son.

"Remus is on a nasty, and I'm guessing dangerous, mission?" Lily asked again.

"Yeah. Lily, I wanted to tell you . . ."

"But you couldn't. It's okay. When did he leave?" Lily asked quietly, staring at the table as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

"About 2 weeks ago," Sirius explained. "But it's Moony . . . he's the smartest wizard I know . . . he can handle himself." They all sat in silence, James cradling Harry in one arm and creating swirls of golden smoke with his wand in his other hand. About 10 minutes later James finally broke the silence.

"You don't think I'm the smartest wizard you know?" Lily burst out laughing and Sirius managed to grin.

"Sorry Prongs but . . . Remus beats you on that one," Sirius told him.

"Hate to break it to you, but I think we all know that Dumbledore is the smartest wizard we know," Lily said, getting to her feet and taking a restless Harry from his father's arms.

"Yeah, but he's a bit cuckoo," Sirius said.

"Okay, so Dumbledore is the smartest cuckoo wizard you know, and Remus the sanest smartest wizard," Lily said in exasperation, rocking Harry.

"What about me!?" James protested.

"The best looking," Lily said with a smile, giving him a kiss.

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed. Lily grinned and continued to rock her son back and forth. A few minutes of silence ensured before Sirius spoke.

"Seriosuly, Lily, you're doing it all . . ."

"LANGLOCK!"