Disclaimer: You all know whose this is.

A/N: This is dedicated with love and adoration to Bianca Solderini, who may just have my head for what I have written. If she kills me, see you in the next life; sorry I couldn't update.

"Sunrise in my Darkness"

OR

"Merely a Madness"

A Lunacy in Two Parts

By Katharine Ayn Sintonia

James sat under a statue in Kensington Park, scribbling furiously on a piece of parchment, ignoring the odd looks he was getting from passer-by. Without heed for the muggles surrounding him, he sucked on the end of his quill, considering what he'd written. His pensive expression darkened into a glower, and he viciously scratched out a line. He ran a hand through his already messy raven hair and leaned back against the statue. He glared up at it and whispered, "I was named for you, you miserable blighter. I realise you're dead, but would you awfully mind helping me write this damn thing?"

He crossed out another line and bit his lower lip, thinking hard. "You love her, James, old boy. You can do this."

Later, after a full half hour of staring blankly at his parchment, he stood and shook his head bitterly at the statue. "You've failed me, Barrie. Thanks to you, Lily will laugh whilst I trip over my poorly written words tonight." Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something large and furry. He ignored it. "So if you wouldn't horribly mind it, could you be a bit of a muse? I mean, for Lily's--"

He was cut off when he was tackled by an enormous black dog. "Urgh! Gerroff, you manky Grim!" he managed to gasp out as the dog energetically licked his face. He shoved it off and got to his feet, rolling his eyes at Sirius. "Come on; let's go back to my flat. Stupid dog."

Sirius woofed, seized the parchment out of James' hand, and ran off.

"Bugger!" He ran after Sirius, swearing spectacularly under his breath.

When he got back to his flat, he was clutching the stitch in his side, and Sirius stood in the doorway in his human form, grinning at James as he held the parchment. "So," he said in a conversational tone. "Are you planning on making Lily vomit?"

"I hate you," James muttered.

"Sorry, didn't catch that. Did you say, 'Lily, you complete me'?"

Sirius ducked James' punch and walked into the flat, summoning a bottle of firewhiskey and two shot glasses. "No, mate, I'm proud of you for finally growing the balls to do it. Although your proposal is entirely nauseating," he added as an afterthought.

James groaned and said quietly, "You know I hate it when you pry into my business. I was hoping to surprise you and the lads with this."

Sirius looked wounded. "Bastard. How could you even imagine doing something this monumental without consulting your trusty band of loyal Marauders?"

"Merlin, what are you, a bloody woman?" James asked in disbelief. "I can and I will propose to Lily without getting your mad stamp of approval."

Sirius threw the bottle of whiskey at James, who caught it one-handed. "Sirius, mate, never risk wasting firewhiskey," he said sternly as he poured the shots.

"You know, Prongs, there is an alternative to your 'You bring meaning to my life' bullshit." Sirius downed his shot and fixed James with a measuring gaze.

"Bloody hell. Do I even want to know?' He sipped at his shot, meeting Sirius' stare warily.

"Listen well, Prongs: knock her up."

James spluttered into his Firewhiskey. "Are you completely mental? We haven't--We aren't going to--We're fighting a war and you're telling me to get her pregnant? No!" He downed the rest of his shot and glared. "If you keep up with this sort of advice, I'll be lucky to come home with my balls intact."

Sirius winced. "Fine. I'll get Remus. He's read books--he'll be able to think of something romantic." He pretended to swoon, fanning himself femininely as he tossed floo powder into the fireplace. " Branch Place, Hoxton!"

Remus Lupin had a glass of wine in one hand and an open book in the other. "This is utter madness," he muttered to himself as he turned the page. "Bloody pigs and their sodding windmill."

The sound of someone stepping out of his fireplace made him spin 'round, levelling his wand at the intruder. Upon seeing Sirius, he burst out laughing. "Come on, mate. You can't just sneak up on me like this. We're in the middle of a war. I was ready to hex you into next week."

Sirius stepped forward solemnly before throwing a scrap of parchment at Remus' feet. "Read that, Moony."

Remus raised an eyebrow but bent to pick it up. His eyes narrowed as he read it over. "Merlin," he muttered. "Is James an idiot?"

"Shockingly, that's exactly what I thought," Sirius commented as Remus ran to grab a quill and red ink.

Remus shook his head as he unscrewed the ink bottle. "If this is how James intends to propose to Lily, he's either drunk, or stupid, or both. " Remus looked at Sirius rather sternly and continued. "You just can't be this clichéd!" He violently crossed out the line "You are the sunrise in my darkness." He shook his head, truly appalled as he muttered corrections under his breath. "Comma splice, poor phrasing, not parallel, does not flow…" He looked up at Sirius. "I can't let him say any of this. Lily will projectile vomit at least. I'm going over there."

Sirius grinned at the weary young man. "Yeah, we've got to go save James' arse again."

When Remus and Sirius arrived back at James' flat in Kensington, he'd already downed several more shots of firewhiskey. "I'm a goner," he mumbled into the crook of his elbow.

"Yes, you are," Sirius agreed mercilessly, clapping James on the back. "But don't worry; Remus can make even your dribble sound romantic."

James glowered at the two of them. "I hate you both."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Then I'll just be off home. I'm sure Lily will absolutely adore that line about her being your 'sunshine'. Then she'll fall to her knees in a way befitting your appalling cliché and strike you violently about the face, head, and neck. But sure, you don't need us here at all." With that, he turned on his heel and walked back toward the fireplace.

"Wait." James stood and looked abashedly at Remus and Sirius. "I admit it, I'm screwed. Help?" He attempted a miserable look, an interesting sight in his half-inebriated state.

Remus grinned triumphantly, and Sirius let out a bark of a laugh. Remus conjured a glass of wine and sipped at it, considering James' predicament. "Hmmm. Lily's muggle-born, and as I was a prefect with her, I can say that Lily adores poetry and classic literature. May I suggest writing a poem?"

James raised an eyebrow. "You do remember Lily loves me? I've never said anything that even smacks of poetry to her."

"But you were willing to propose to her with that clichéd garbage?" He rolled his eyes. "Pads, come here. We're going to enact James' proposal."

Sirius fanned himself and batted his lashes girlishly. "Oh James, dinner was delicious. I love you sooooo much," he half-sang in a high falsetto.

Remus bit back a chortle. "Quit with the Monty Python." He cleared his throat and fell to his knees, clutching Sirius' hand to his chest, and read melodramatically from the scrap of parchment. "Oh my dearest, darling Lily: I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you on the Hogwarts Express all those years ago. There was an--I can't read this word--light in your…eyes…like you were ready to conquer the world. I'd provoke you into arguments just to see that light fill your eyes. I'll never--does that say 'forget?'--the day you told me you loved me in return. You bring meaning to my life. Without you, I'm nothing--you are the sunrise in my darkness, and I would be the happiest man in the world, if you, Lily Marie Evans, would be my wife."

Sirius, biting back laughter, fell to his knees and slapped Remus. James looked rather put out. "So what d'you wankers suggest?"

"Shakespeare," said Remus as Sirius said, "Sex."

James considered this. "What about both?"

"No!" Remus exclaimed exasperatedly. "I am forbidding you to try to get in Lily's knickers until after you propose!"

James looked horror-struck. "But--but--"

" Don't. Lily told me about what happened last time."

James' face was suddenly the colour of sour milk. He spluttered incomprehensibly as Remus smirked evilly. "Shall I refresh your memory?"

James' hand went unconsciously to protect his groin. Lily's response to what he'd said, while utterly unsurprising, had been painful.

Sirius looked as though Christmas had come early. "What'd you say, Prongs?"

Remus sipped at his wine and said coolly, "So, Lily, what colour knickers are you wearing, or will I be surprised?"

Ignoring Sirius' hysterical laughter, James downed another shot and changed the subject. "What Shakespeare do you suggest?" he asked dejectedly.

"Sonnet Twenty-two. Copy this down," he ordered James and cleared his throat.
"My glass shall not persuade me I am old,
So long as youth and thou are of one date;
But when in thee time's furrows I behold,
Then look I death my days should expiate.
For all that beauty that doth cover thee
Is but the seemly raiment of my heart,
Which in my breast doth live, as thine in me:
How can I, then, be elder than thou art?
O, therefore, love, be of thyself so wary
As I, not for myself, but for thee will;
Bearing thy heart, which I will keep so chary
As tender nurse her babe from faring ill.
Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain;
Thou gavest me thine, not to give back again."

James looked up from his practically illegible scrawl. "Okay, so during dinner--"

"No," Remus and Sirius said in unison. "After dinner."

"During is an appalling cliché," lectured Remus.

"Okay, fine. After dinner, I'll take her to… Kensington Gardens, get down on one knee, read the sonnet, say, 'Will you marry me?' then go home and shag?" James suggested wearily.

The other men nodded. "Don't say anything stupid, for the love of all that is green and good in this world," Remus muttered. "Or Pads will mock you for the rest of your life, however short it may be."

Sirius, still snickering, managed to gasp out, "What…colour … knickers?" before dissolving helplessly into laughter again.

James shook his head. "I simply loathe you all. I'm going to go get dressed."