Disclaimer: Nope, I'm not J.K. Rowling, so I don't own any of these characters (sadly), but I'm planning a mission to kidnap Remus Lupin. Feel free to contribute ideas on how it would be possible to achieve this...I will need all the help I can get :)
A/N:Took me a while to figure out how to get this working, but I've finally published my first ever one-shot...Yay me! Hope you enjoy reading this, and please do leave a review letting me know what you thought of it and how I can improve :)
Lily and James
Dearest Lily,
I know you probably still think that I'm a jerk or an 'arrogant, bullying toerag' as you so...ahem...fondly call me. I've tried to tell you many times about how I feel and every time you've rejected me, usually verbally, but sometimes your rejections have resulted in an overnight stay at the hospital wing. Coming to the main point, I've loved you since forever, well, second year, Christmas holidays, 22nd December, 7.00 ish, well 7.03pm to be exact. I had put the finishing touches to the mistletoe above the Entrance Hall in order to trap that pathetic prat Lucius Malfoy and what's-her-name Parkinson underneath it. Ha! The look on Narcissa Black's face when she caught Malfoy and whatever-her-name-was Parkinson (what was her name? Do you remember?) Anyway, it was epic! Me and Sirius – wait scratch that, I think it's supposed to be Sirius and I (the effect of hanging around Remus Lupin for nearly seven years!) plastered photos all over Hogwarts. We managed to escape detention though, that was cool. Good ol' Dumbles, er...Professor Dumbledore explained to Minnie, I mean Professor McGonagall that we were just celebrating the Christmas traditions, y'know the mistletoe and such. She did take off points though, not too bad since you made up for that in the first lesson after the holidays. Well anyway, after a lecture from one of my favourite professors, you made your dazzling entrance and I rea
James stopped writing. What crap was this? Lily would never believe that he had actually changed or matured if he carried on like this. He sounded like a prat similar to that Lucius Malfoy. Whoa! Did he, the great James Potter just compare himself to Malfoy? See, further proof that Lily Evans had messed with his head...and heart...
He scrunched up the parchment and chucked it into the fire. The Head's Room was nice and warm – 'toasty' as Lily described it. The girl in question was currently with her friends in the Gryffindor Common Room, and had asked James to finish writing up the Patrolling Schedule. Most of it had been done, just a few more changes needed and then, it would be finished. So, James Potter, being the ever efficient Head Boy that he was, decided to use that time wisely and work out how to express his feelings for the Head Girl.
'Just go for it mate! Write out whatever you feel and don't forget to mention how great you are!' said a voice in James' head which sounded a lot like Sirius Black.
'Maybe you should take a more subtle approach. Don't brag or boast,' advised another voice in his head, this time sounding like Remus Lupin.
James pulled a clean sheet of parchment in front of him, his quill poised over the ink-well, ready for when he would have a brainwave. Okay, how about this, James thought.
Lily, I love you.
Erm, didn't the suspiciously-Remus-like-sounding voice say to be more subtle? Yeah, but before that the Sirius-voice said-
'Wait,' the Remus-voice interrupted, 'we all know Padfoot is crazy. We've all experienced/witnessed the brilliant schemes of Sirius Black, have we not?'
Yeah, we have, James thought with a sigh. Sirius' last 'the-most-amazing-idea-ever-in-the-whole-world-by-the-most-amazing-Sirius-Black' as dubbed by Sirius, or 'TMAIEITWWBTMASB' for short, (also known as 'MIPE', most-idiotic-plan-ever, courtesy of Remus 'clever-cloggs' Lupin, this in turn was due to Sirius naturally), had resulted in a tomatoes, strawberries and red jelly covered James Potter and a very angry red-head. Apparently the red-head didn't think it was at all flattering to be told that she was 'as ripe as the tomatoes', 'as juicy as the strawberries' and 'as tasty as the red jelly'.
According to Sirius, the plan was 'unfailable' - Remus said that's not a word, the consequence of this was an unnecessary arm wrestle between Sirius and Remus. Of course Remus won (being a werewolf may help with that) even though Sirius boasts to be the best beater the Gryffindor Quidditch team has had. After almost seven years, James had learned that Remus John Lupin is usually, if not always, right about everything. Sirius, unfortunately, hasn't grasped that fact yet. So anyway, the plan was 100% fool proof, no chance of failing Sirius had said. Apparently, girls loved being compared with things that matched their hair colour. When James 'silly-little-deer' Potter (you've guessed it, Sirius Black) had the nerve to ask what would happen if the 'unfailable' 100% fool proof plan failed, Sirius replied that it wouldn't matter, they could always use things that matched her eye colour. Cucumbers, watermelons, grass and green coloured socks would do the trick just fine. Needless to say, Remus and perhaps surprisingly James both disagreed.
Whoops, James was digressing from the task, he could reminisce (or rather, painfully remember some very embarrassing memories) later, but now he had to complete the very important task that he had started. Oh and he had to finish that patrol thingamabob too, otherwise there would be one very annoyed Head Girl. Aha! James had an idea. He would show Lily the patrolling thingy first, then maybe she would soften up a little and after that he would give her his letter. Yeah, good one Potter, James thought to himself.
'Hmm...you can't really afford to upset Lily. She's only just forgiven you for letting us break curfew last week,' said the voice of Remus.
'Yeah, Lily-Flower might just use that horrible spell I used on her when she hit you with that Bat-Bogey Hex in third year,'
'Don't you mean tried to use Padfoot? I don't think you managed it that well. And of which occasion are you talking about? The one when during our first Divination lesson when Prongs predicted (very accurately of course – note the sarcasm) that he would marry Lily and they would have at least ten black-haired, green-eyed children,'
'That was funny, wasn't it Moony?' snickered the Sirius-sounding voice.
'Yes indeed it was. Or perchance Paddy you were on about the time when James accidently set Lily's cloak on fire in his eagerness to ensure that Lily didn't feel cold when we were at Hogsmeade?'
Ugh. The voices in his head were so irritating. James just wanted them to shut up, but he was sure that if these voices did in fact shut up (which would be brilliant), then the real Sirius and Remus would turn up (which would not be brilliant).
Anyway, James hadn't said 'black-haired, green-eyed children', but 'black, messy, looking-like-they-have-just-got-off-broomsticks haired and gorgeous green eyed children. So the voices in his head were wrong. Ha! Moony was wrong for once James thought gleefully. He couldn't wait to tease Remus about it. Hang on, he was hearing voices in his head right? This means that the voices in his head weren't real were they? Oh bugger, no chance of teasing Remus now, otherwise rather than sending Sirius to the lunatics' asylum, he would send James instead. That really wouldn't be good considering James' current plans concerning a certain Head Girl named Lily Evans.
"Ah, Lily Evans," sighed James as he gently rested his head on the table and thought about the red-head.
He heard the portrait hole covering the entrance to the Head's Common Room open and his head snapped up as he almost screamed...er...gasped as Lily Evans walked in. He attempted to clear his desk of parchment, quills (so all the evidence of any letter writing) by chucking them onto the floor when he remembered that he was a wizard. With a wave of his wand, all the guilty evidence disappeared, as well as the schedule for the night-time wandering stuff...umm patrolling that the Prefects and the Head students had to do, which wasn't good since Lily would want to see it. Patrolling was unfortunate or fortunate depending on how you looked at it. There were more chances of James behaving like an utter fool in front of Lily, but on the other hand, there were more chances of spending time with Lily too. Anyway, James figured he should listen to Lily now instead of just staring at her with an expression on his face which somewhat resembled a gaping tree frog.
"What are you doing James?" Lily asked.
James' insides were dancing as he heard Lily say 'James'. It sounded so perfect. He was glad that Lily had decided that friendship between them could be given a chance. At least he could hear her call him 'James' and not 'Potter!'. It hardly makes sense for the Head students to not actually get along with each other.
"Uh, hello, earth to James, earth to James - Potter!"
James came to his senses at last, only to lose them again as he saw Lily standing a few inches away, with a worried expression on her face.
"Are you alright James?"
"Er...umm," apparently James wasn't alright; he wasn't even able to think let alone form a coherent sentence.
"I think you need to sit down," Lily grabbed James' hand and pulled him gently towards the sofa by the fire. "Just relax, and er, maybe you should try breathing,"
James quickly released the breath he had been holding; he hadn't even realised when he had stopped breathing. Ah, Lily Evans, he thought with a sigh. Lily Evans, THE Lily Evans who used to hate James Potter with a passion, who once said that she would rather go out with the Giant Squid than with him, was sitting next to him without looking like she wanted to kill him. In your face Giant Squid, forget about taking Lily to the Christmas Ball, thought James happily. Of course he didn't bother to think at all how it was pretty much impossible for the Giant Squid to take Lily to the ball, but who needed to bother with details like that anyway? Not James Potter at least.
-x-x-x-
It was late by the time James left the Head's Room with a goofy grin plastered on his face, but he wasn't too bothered...to be honest James felt as if nothing would ever bother him again. After checking the trusty Marauder's Map, James pulled his Invisibility Cloak over him – if there were two things that were 'unfailable', they were the map and his cloak. He stealthily crept up towards the seventh floor corridor, checking the map every few seconds – meeting Peeves at 3am wasn't the best thing to do in the night...
James shuddered as he remembered the event that had occurred yesterday. Peeves had decided he would spend the day bothering just one person continuously, this time it was James Potter who was the victim. Although the Marauders and Peeves had a kind of pact where they wouldn't annoy but help each other whenever possible, it didn't mean that Peeves actually kept to it. Well, to be honest, the Marauders didn't either, Remus for instance, revelled in chances to get Peeves – possibly to do with the fact that Peeves always burst into a rendition of 'Loony, loopy Lupin' every time he saw Remus. Anyway, yesterday, in complete Peeves fashion, the poltergeist followed James round the whole day, pelting rotten fruits at him as well as attempting to pull James' robes over his head. It was horrible, usually it would be funny, just a laugh, but the fact that he had had every lesson with Lily Evans that day meant that she was present to see the horror that Peeves had unleashed on poor James.
Pushing the awfulness of yesterday to the back of his mind and pulling the remarkable events of tonight to the front, James continued to creep towards the seventh floor corridor. Once he reached his destination he walked past the wall three times and watched in wonder as a door was revealed to him - he'd been here so many times, yet the magic of the castle still astounded him.
"Finally!" Sirius was getting very, very, very bored. He had even contemplated turning his hair green (and he hated green...eurgh...slimy snakes colour – one of the differences between James and him as James loved green, why? Ahem...well, because of Lily Evans of course!). Anyway, Sirius had even thought of going as far as shaving his hair and he loved his hair – yes, he was siriusly getting bored.
"Thank Merlin you're here at last James. I think Sirius was about to dress up as a ballerina and start pirouetting if you didn't turn up," Remus laughed as a mental image of Sirius dressed up as ballerina cropped up in their heads.
"Haha," Sirius said sarcastically, "that was so funny that I can't even formulate-"
"Formulate? Whoa, Sirius has learnt a new word," Remus looked at James expecting a comment from him too. "Err James, isn't this where you would wipe a fake tear from your cheek with pride at Sirius' new word? Umm, James? James?"
"Prongs!" shouted Sirius, while Remus winced as he rubbed his ears. He may only turn once a month, but the extra baggage of being a werewolf never disappeared.
"Huh?" James wasn't quite sure, but he thought he heard Sirius call him. "Did someone call me?" He asked with a lost expression on his face.
Sirius and Remus looked at each other in utter bewilderment. What was wrong with Prongs? "Moony! What's happened to him?" Sirius was slightly worried...and he never got worried. "Did Evans eat his brain or something?"
Remus pondered about for an answer for a few seconds with various suggestions roaming through his head, "I don't know, but I think that perhaps James is not with us completely," he suggested calmly as if this was something that happened as regularly as sunrise. In all honesty, it kind of did since James had spent a hefty amount of their previous six years of school daydreaming.
"What! No, come back to this world James!" Sirius ran towards James, grabbed hold of his shoulders and started to shake him; James didn't seem to realise that he was being shaken violently by one of his best mates. "Don't leave me with just this bookworm wolf-boy for company!"
"Stop Sirius! I meant that he was daydreaming, well night dreaming I guess seeing as it's well into the night by now," Remus explained to the dog-animagus. Err...oh yeah, that makes sense, Sirius thought as he let go of James' shoulders. Why was it that Remus Lupin always managed to make him look like a fool? Okay, fine, there wasn't anyone here apart from the three of them, two really, seeing as it had been established that James wasn't present in this world at the moment, so no one could witness this embarrassment. But still, Remus had a way of making you feel stupid...and Sirius Black was far from stupid contrary to popular belief.
"Uh, so...what happened?" Sirius asked in a tone which he hoped sounded nonchalant.
"Ah, leave the poor Head Boy alone Pads. I'm sure he's still trying to understand what's just happened himself," Remus said with a knowing grin upon his face. James' eyes darted to Remus, how did he know? Damn...know-it-all-werewolf.
"What happened then? Moony!" Sirius knew he wouldn't get answers out of James, he seemed like his lips would be sealed until forever. To be honest, that would only last a few minutes since James Potter couldn't stay shut up for too long. So really, Sirius only had to wait a while longer and Prongs would open his mouth, but Sirius Black had never learned the virtue of patience. Actually, Remus may have attempted to teach him once, maybe twice, okay at least 394 times, but hey, patience just wasn't part of Sirius' style.
"Tell me tell me tell me tell me!" Sirius was clearly getting excited...it was nice having Prongs' tomato red face to laugh at.
"Maybe you should try a 'please' Sirius," Remus suggested.
"Ugh, fine you mutt. Please tell me oh enlightened-one," Sirius said with as much sarcasm as he could.
"Hey! I'm not the pooch round here. Anyway, I don't feel like telling you. Figure it out yourself – you've got a brain right? Well, it's an organ that people use to think. I'm sure you have been given one, no matter how small,"
"Are you implying that I have no brain?" demanded Sirius.
"Actually, I don't think that badly of you Padfoot. I was implying that you have a small brain," Remus replied once again using his 'calm' voice.
"Excuse me! Nothing about Sirius Black is sma-"
"Alright, okay, cut it out guys," James had had enough. Here he was minding his own business, attempting to secure the lovely past few hours in his memory so that he'd never forget them, and his supposed best friends were ruining it for him. Well, two of them...he wasn't quite sure where the third was. "Er, Padfoot, Moony...where's Wormtail?"
"Oh he's in detention...again," Remus replied.
"Shouldn't the detention have finished by now though?" James asked. Remus shrugged, knowing Peter he probably fell asleep in some corner of the castle on the way to the Room of Requirement.
"You know Pete, probably forgot that he's supposed to meet us here," Sirius said, "just like you Prongs,"
"Hey! I didn't forget...I'm just a little late,"
Sirius snorted, "Yeah, you're a little late, of course, that's you call it when someone is 10 hours late! You were supposed to get here at 9pm –"
"Er Padfoot," Remus interrupted, "that means Prongs is 5 hours late, not 10, you're exaggerating,"
"Eh, details...who cares," Sirius replied with a shrug before turning back to James and giving him a glare. He glared at Remus too...stupid supposed friends, not telling him anything. Pssht, just because he annoyed them sometimes...okay, maybe Sirius annoyed them more than sometimes...still, James and Remus should at least tell him whatever the hell had happened.
-x-x-x-
Lily was almost hyperventilating while constantly reminding herself that it was going to be absolutely alright. They can do this. She can do this. Lily turned her head slightly to the right and gave a small smile, letting him know that she was ready. He held out his hand – with her hand wrapped in his, they stepped forward into the Great Hall.
Remus unfolded the Daily Prophet as Sirius came bounding down to the Gryffindor table. Without even a greeting, Sirius sat down next to him and began eating...well, more like attacking the food placed in front of them.
"Ugh, Sirius, can't you eat more slowly. I swear it must be unhealthy to eat like that," Remus did not understand how Sirius could just inhale the food on his plate. He shook his head in amusement and returned back to his newspaper. Before he could even finish reading the headline, Remus realised that he could no longer hear the 'inhaling' beside him. In fact, the Great Hall itself had turned silent. Remus turned to Sirius who as staring (with his mouth wide open) at the entrance to the Hall. Nearly everyone was in a similar state. What was happening? This had to be a trick...it couldn't be real...
James grinned as he walked towards the Gryffindor table with Lily's hand in his. He had done it. James Potter had finally got Lily to say yes. She said YES! Every head followed the progress of the two Head Students down the Hall. Even the teachers were staring. Professor McGonagall hardly dared to breathe. Was this finally the end of her duties as being the one who had to break up the infamous Potter-Evans shouting matches?
Alice Smith was completely oblivious to what was happening around her. She had made plans with Lily to go to Hogsmeade so that they could go Christmas shopping. After that, she would hopefully be meeting up with Frank. It was going to be chaotic as the third years would be seeing the village of Hogsmeade in all its Christmas glory for the first time. This would mean a lot of loud squealing from the girls and trying-not-to-look-awed expressions from the boys. Ah well, they would be sure to have fun at Ho- Wait! Alice shook her head vigorously. She even pinched herself. This had to be a dream, no, a nightmare or...both?
"I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall," James said as they stopped by the empty seat next to Alice.
"Okay I'll see you later," Lily said before giving James a quick peck on the cheek. Surprisingly, James blushed. After a wave, he turned and walked to sit by the rest of the Marauders. Well, two of the Marauders since Peter hadn't turned up for breakfast.
"What's with the staring?" James asked as he sat down opposite Sirius. "Am I some sort of circus show or something? Oh c'mon, quit staring at me Paddy – I know I'm charmingly handsome, but sorry I don't chase for the other team."
"What? Course you don't, you chase for Gryffindor, you're the captain!"
"No Sirius, I meant that I'm not g- you know what, let's just forget it, I want my breakfast. Anything special in there Moony?" James nodded towards the newspaper in Remus' hands as he poured himself a goblet of pumpkin juice.
"Nope, but there should be," Remus' reply caused James some confusion – something that Sirius would usually laugh at. However, after the shock of seeing James holding hands with Evans had worn off, Sirius had then gone back to 'inhaling' his food.
"Well, you'd think that there would be an article, a front page article, about the sudden change of heart of Lily Evans," Remus grinned.
"Shut up and eat your food," James told him, "that is if Sirius has left you any."
-x-x-x-
Meanwhile, Alice was in full interrogation mode.
"Ali, that's enough. You've asked hundred questions already!"
"Actually Lily, it's only been thirty-seven, I've been counting,"
"Only?"
"What was he saying about the Entrance Hall?"
"Ah yes, about that," Lily looked a little uncomfortable. "Umm, Ali, I won't be able to go to Hogsmeade with you today, since er-"
"Since you're going with Potter right?" Lily nodded in response to Alice's question.
"Hmm...I guess I can let you off on this occasion," Alice said.
"Thank you Alice!" You're a star! But what's with the generosity today? Usually you'd freak out if we change plans last minute."
This time Alice looked uncomfortable.
"Umm...Frank sent me an owl yesterday to ask if we could meet in Hogsmeade. I said I'll try later one after we finish but if you're going with Po-"
"Ali, don't worry. It's fine,"
"Great! So now we can both enjoy our time with our boyfriends without feeling guilty,"
Lily choked on the piece of toast she had grabbed after sitting down.
"James isn't my boyfriend. Na-uh. We're just going on a date," Lily managed to splutter.
"You walked in holding hands, you kissed him-"
"On the cheek!" interrupted Lily, but Alice continued as if she hadn't heard her.
"-and Lily dear, your face was matching your hair,"
"We were just – no seriously Alice – stop laughing! He hasn't officially asked me out yet, so do you mind shutting up?"
That sobered Alice up at once. She was confused. "He hasn't asked you out?" Lily shook her head as she began explaining.
"We sort of decided to go to Hogsmeade together and see how it goes," Lily was a little confused herself. After the –ahem- er, well after last night, she had expected James to ask her out on the spot. But he didn't. Definite turn around to what he would have done last year. Lily was almost hundred percent sure that she'd have said 'yes', if he had asked her out. 'Almost' because although he wasn't the same bullying toerag he had been, he was still quite arrogant and big-headed sometimes. There was a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and often James Potter spent too much time on the not-so-appreciated side of the line.
However, at the same time, Lily couldn't deny that there was something endearing about James Potter. Was it those deep chocolate eyes? Or the messy, raven hair? No, it wasn't any of those reasons, although, they perhaps contributed to it somewhat. It was the fact that no matter what his bad qualities – his arrogance, the devil-may-care attitude, underneath it all, was a self-less young man who was a Gryffindor to the core. Well, if it was possible to be self-less as the same time as being arrogant that is.
Lily had noticed that James (not she had stalked him or anything), was always prepared to give for his friends. Once, he re-scheduled an entire Quidditch Practice to help Peter with his homework. This was saying something – James loved Quidditch! He even spent a whole week - night and day – in the hospital wing, sitting next to Remus' bed, after a particularly bad full moon. James refused to budge until Remus was completely out of danger. When Lily found out about Remus' condition, she was shocked and admittedly a little scared. But, she didn't think that made Remus a monster or a freak – she wasn't prejudice like that. Lily knew what it felt like to believe yourself to be an outsider. She was Muggleborn – at least a quarter of the school thought that she didn't belong at Hogwarts.
James though, pureblood, brought up with stories about how werewolves were not human but they were beasts as demonstrated by the horrible Fenrir Greyback, easily accepted the fact that one of his best friends was a werewolf. Remus had told Lily that James had been the first to accept him regardless of his condition. James had said that you don't ditch friends over something that they can't control. In fact, you shouldn't ditch friends at all. Of course, Remus wisely forgot to mention that it was also James' idea to become Animagi, since Lily wasn't supposed to know about the rest of the Marauders' alter-egos.
Sirius was probably the friend James did the most for – unknown to both of them. James was the brother that Sirius had never had but always wanted Regulus to be. Sirius Black may hide himself behind his Casanova image, but Lily knew the pain he must feel in having a sibling who was practically a stranger. She could relate to that too.
It seemed like James glued the Marauders together – he was fiercely protective of his friends and cared deeply for them. Lily secretly hoped that she would be one of the few that James was cared so much for. Little did she know, apart from his brothers in all but blood, Lily was the most important person in James Potter's life.
-x-x-x-
"Aww, he's tiny, be careful," Lily whispered as she placed her little baby in James' arms.
"Don't worry my lovely Mrs Potter, junior is completely safe with me," James smiled as he held his son in his arms. "I haven't dropped him yet have I?"
"Just because the first few times you were fine, doesn't mean you might not do something stupid or –"
"Lily, relax. I'm not gonna let anything happen to him...ever. Anyway, we need a name for him. Otherwise 'Junior' will become his permanent name. Sirius is pretty keen on 'Bambi' though, apparently it's some Muggle movie?" James wasn't sure about 'Bambi' at all, it just didn't sound like a name for a little boy. Seriously, Bambi James Potter?
"Why did we decide Sirius was going to be the godfather?" Lily sighed as James sat down beside her.
"Well, back in third year, we made a pact. The Marauder's Pact. Sirius would be my best man, and godfather to my kids, I would be best man for Remus and godfather for his kids, and Remus would be Sirius' best man and godfather to his kids. Dunno why we missed out Pete though,"
"You honestly made this pact?"
"Erm...no. I jest."
"James!"
"Hey! We did make a Marauder's Pact in third year, but not quite like this. It was more along the lines of 'we're gonna prank and get caught as many times as we can so we can break the record number of detentions'. It took a lot of time to convince Remus though, but you know, he was the mastermind behind some of our more elaborate plans. How else do you think he would've been a Marauder?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Anyway, name for the little one?"
"I still think Angus is a great name. Why don't you like it?"
"We've had this conversation before! Angus Potter? Really James?"
"What have you got against the name Lils? It's a perfectly respectable name-"
"Which sounds horrible with 'Potter'."
"Lily, this is discrimination against Anguses," claimed James.
"Oh shut up you overgrown baby. I have nothing against any Angus. It just isn't the right name for my son. Anyway, enough with all the names ending in 's'. We have too many of those already,"
"What about Legolas?" James suggested after thinking for a very long time. Lily just stared at him, without blinking.
"It was in the Muggle book Remus gave to me," James defended himself.
"You actually read the book?" Lily asked astonished.
"Yeah! Course I did...well a few pages, skimmed them really. But that's not the point -"
"Well you missed my point completely! Didn't I say no names ending with 's'? Let me get my list out, we finalised three potential names remember? Obviously we've already decided the middle name is James," Lily searched her bedside table for the piece of parchment with the potential names on it.
"I know Angus was one of the three names," said James, even though he knew that it wasn't on the list. He just loved winding Lily up.
"No it wasn't," snapped Lily, "enough with the Angus. We're going to name him something nice and normal,"
"He's not exactly going to be 'normal' though is he? I mean, what with all the magic,"
"'Normal' for wizards then,"
"Er, Lily, a normal wizard name would be something like Xenophilius,"
"Why did I marry you again?"
"Because you love me," replied James cheekily.
-x-x-x-
"Behold Harry James Potter!" James announced proudly as Lily brought little baby Harry into the living room. "Lily was all for naming him Angus."
"Shush you. You were the one who suggested that name! I wanted nice, normal names -"
"What, like 'Edward'?" James interrupted.
"What's wrong with 'Edward'?" Lily asked defensively.
"Apart from sounding like it's the name of some weird vampire, nothing at all,"
"You know, Edward James isn't so bad," Remus said as he motioned for Lily to pass Harry to him. "It's much better than Sirius' suggestion of 'Bambi' at least."
"Oi! There's nothing wrong with 'Bambi'. You shot down my first idea of 'Simba' so I had to think of something else," Sirius pouted as Remus rolled his eyes.
"Seriously – and don't you dare with that pun – Simba Potter doesn't fit at all!"
"Just because you jealous of the cool name,"
Lily and James laughed at the bickering of their friends. As cool as Sirius may think 'Simba' was, he'd have to name his kid that, since Lily and James knew that this little one is definitely a 'Harry'.
In fact they knew that Harry James Potter was going to make them proud some day.
A/N2: Just to say I have nothing against any of the suggested names for Potter Junior, in fact I know a real person called Edward James, who is pretty cool.