"Bloody hell."

James lifted his head to look at his wife's shocked face, his tired eyes lighting up as a smile crossed his face. "Lily. I missed you."

He moved forward to envelop his 6 months pregnant wife in his arms, feeling happier than he had for the last 2 weeks. His happiness was soon replaced with confusion and slight hurt when Lily pushed him away and crossed her arms.

"What, Lils?" James ran his fingers through his messier-than-usual hair.

He felt slightly nervous when her lips pressed in a tight line, "I suppose you deemed it essential to inform the dog when you are coming home than your own wife?"

James blinked, "Excuse me?"But his questions were answered, all but one, when an over-excited mass of black fur jumped on him.

"Hullo, Padfoot! How come you are here at this hour?" James asked, pleasantly surprised as he ran his hand over the smooth fur of the animagus' head.

"That is exactly what I'd like to know, as well if you don't mind."

Before he could process the reason for her icy tones, he heard the familiar carefree drawl from inside his house and his friend came in his view, in his human form this time, "Your silly interrogations can wait, flower. Let the poor bloke in his house before he catches a cold." Sirius returned his friend's grateful smile with his own doggish grin and, ignoring the red-head's glare; he picked up James' bags and carried them inside the house. Lily stepped to a side, arms still crossed and frowning, to let her husband in. James stepped around her, nervously making his way in his own living room. Sirius patted the seat next to him on the couch happily and James motioned for Lily to take the seat. Sirius rolled his eyes and stood up himself, pushing James down on the couch next to Lily and pulled a chair from the dining table to sit down across from the couple.

"Now you may continue your silly interrogations."

"What in the name of Merlin is he doing here?" James jumped when Lily burst with barely controlled rage.

"I was actually hoping for an answer to that myself..."

Flashback

Lily was jolted awake by the sound of the doorbell. Rubbing her eyes with one hand and scrambling for her wand with other, she stepped out of her bed.

"Lumos." She whispered, one hand on her belly as she crept towards the door. "Who's there?"

"Dear old Voldemort." She shivered even as she recognized the voice, arm protectively wrapping around her expanding mid-section.

"Who's there?" She asked again, sharper this time.

"It's me, petal, Padfoot. Sirius Orion Black, sat a deranged chicken, covered in gravy after you in 3rd year, confessed for James to you in 7th year and you thought I was confessing to you and you said you liked James and James kissed ME before snogging you. Pushed you both in the Black Lake, I did."

"Do that again and I'll end the Black line with you." Lily warned, holding the door open for the man to come in. Neither questioned the incident for which the threat was aimed for- pushing in the lake or trying to imitate the dark lord.

"Thank Merlin I didn't apparate in your bedroom." Sirius said as he accio'ed his beer can from the fridge.

Lily rolled her eyes, "Why are you here at 3 in morning?"

"James is coming home."

Flashback end

"That's...odd." James raised his eyebrow at the dog animagus, "Did you sniff me out or something?"

"From air? Please, even I am not as bored as to try that."

"Wait!" Both the men looked expectantly at the confused Lily, "Didn't you owl him or something?"

"Lily," James began affectionately, gathering his wife in his arms, "I'll always inform you first. Plus, this time, even I didn't know I'll be home! Those Death Eaters are stupider than they look!"

"Now that looks like a difficult thing to do." Sirius commented idly, earning a giggle out of Lily. Both men smiled lovingly at the sound of her laughter.

After a few minutes of chatting, laughing and a quick summary of James' mission, a companiable silence fell over the trio, the only sound heard was their breathing and the merry crackle of the fire.

Until Lily broke it with the lingering question, "So, how did Sirius know that James was coming home?"

A few moments of silence passed as the three stared blankly at each other.

Finally, James muttered, getting up from the couch and heading for his own room, "You can sleep in your room, here for the night, Padfoot."

Uhm...yeah, that's it. Done. No point, none of those in this plot. I got the idea from my mom who always complained how my dad's friend always seems to know when dad will be back home. No one, till this date, knows how he do that, but even now dad's friend know when dad'll be back home.

Wrote this on my mobile so I have no idea how the layout or spacing will turn out. Sorry for any typos...review, won't you?