A/N: "You're gonna suffer, but you're gonna be happy about it." -Ron Weasley

Eleven o'clock at night was the last time Sirius expected a silver stag to leap into his room and start talking.
He'd been perched on the edge of his bed, not entirely awake and trying to figure out the best place on the wall for his new, massive poster of his motorbike. He had been moving it around with his wand for the past fifteen minutes, attempting to get it in the perfect position without much success. He could hear Remus downstairs, stowing away all of his things; he'd reluctantly accepted Sirius' offer to crash on his couch for the evening. Just when Sirius thought he might've found the best spot for the poster, however, a shining Patronus leaped through his window.

Sirius jumped back in surprise, nearly fell off the bed, smacked his head on the wall, and cursed colorfully. The poster drifted to the ground. Sirius rubbed the back of his head ruefully, glaring at the offending wall. Then the Patronus spoke, in the voice of a somewhat terrified James Potter.

"Padfoot—initiate Operation Fawn! Lils chose to do it here, we've got a midwife Apparating over, and I've got something really important to tell you. Tell Remus Lily won't let him in if he doesn't bring 'that pillow'."

It took all of three words to snap Sirius into full focus: initiate Operation Fawn!

"Merlin, Prongs," he muttered, "just use the bloody mirrors…"

On the inside, however, he could barely contain his excitement. Right now—at this very moment—the heir to their troublemaking glory was preparing to enter the world!

He flung open his bedroom door, grabbing one of many leather jackets that hung on the back of it, and raced down the stairs, leaping past the bottom three and landing with a thud.
"Moony!" he exclaimed. "Moony!"

Remus, who, though holding a book, appeared to be asleep, blinked and looked up with bleary blue eyes. "Wha—?"

"Initiate Operation Fawn!"

Remus' brow furrowed for a moment, then his eyes cleared. "Operation—oh. Now?"
"Yeah, Prongs just sent a Patronus message!" Sirius felt as if this excitement would much better fit his canine form, seeing as that way he had some outlet for it (namely, running around in circles and wagging his tail like mad).

"A Patronus message?" Remus threw the blanket off of his legs and set his book down on the couch. "Those were supposed to be for Order business, you have those mirrors—"

Despite the fact that just moments ago he'd been thinking the same thing, Sirius cried, "Oh, who cares, Moony? Do you want to meet Prongs 2.0 or not?"
"Right," said Remus with a slightly amused smile. He got up, flicked his wand to tidy the couch, then started gathering various belongings into the pockets of a worn traveling cloak.

Maybe the slight panic in James' voice was getting to him, but Sirius could not seem to remember where anything was, or what he needed to find, for that matter. He was so excited and slightly terrified that he couldn't think straight.
"Do I need my toothbrush? Or, wait, James' toothbrush? What about the baby's—oh, wait, it won't have teeth," he muttered to himself, digging through a chest by the stairs.
"Butterbeer? Nah. Firewhiskey? Probably. Potions? Oh, I probably need pants, and then, if you cover—"

He swept a hand nervously through his long hair and heard Remus laugh. He looked up; Remus was leaning against the doorframe with one eyebrow raised. "You look like James when you do that," he chuckled. "So, are you ready or…?"

"Right," Sirius muttered. "Right." He pulled on a pair of black fingerless gloves, picked up his wand, and gave it a haphazard flick; objects from all over the room flew into the pockets of his jacket, pants, and robes.
Remus, still smirking, flicked his own wand; his shabby traveling cloak leapt onto his shoulders. Sirius rushed over to join him, and the pair stepped out onto the front steps.
"Nobody's looking around?" Remus asked. Sirius shook his head, practically quivering with impatience. "You've got the pillow, right?"

A look of sudden panic flitted onto Remus' face, then off just as fast. He drew his wand and muttered, "Accio striped pillow!"

Said pillow flew into his hand. Sirius gave him the thumbs-up. They both turned on the spot and Apparated into the warm summer night.

Sirius couldn't get up the pathway to James and Lily's cottage fast enough. They'd had to Apparate some distance away, since the house had recently been given extra protection, what with the Potters being members of the Order. This, however, meant that he and Remus had to walk, and Sirius was thoroughly impatient. He wondered giddily what he would be to the new baby—"Uncle Padfoot", maybe? He glanced over his shoulder to see if Remus was as excited as he was. He looked rather amused, but there was a light of anticipation in his tired eyes that didn't go unnoticed. Sirius turned his eyes back to the path. They had to be close. They had to be there.

If we don't get inside that house soon, I might explode.
Luckily, Sirius didn't have to explode; after what had to be several hours, they reached the door. Remus had barely lifted a hand to knock before James threw the door open and all but yanked them inside. Sirius pulled his best friend into a tight hug before throwing himself onto an overstuffed armchair, and Remus sat on the couch beside him.
"Where's Peter?" Remus asked.
"Here," James muttered, nodding to a chair behind him. Peter waved. James was pacing back and forth, practically wearing a path into the floor, his eyes darting around the room and then back to the door behind which his son was arriving.

"You all right, mate?" Sirius asked, trying for a relaxed smile.
"He's been like this for almost an hour," Peter said.
"Merlin," James muttered hoarsely. "Oh, Merlin's beard…" He kept running his hand through his hair, which by this point had become almost a nervous habit. He abruptly collapsed into a chair opposite Sirius. "I can't do this," he said, a note of panic in his voice. "I'm not ready to be a—a dad! I'm going to make a bloody mess of it...Merlin…"
Remus leaned forward and smiled at James. "Come on, Prongs, we always knew you'd be the first. You'll be great at this. Even Lily knows you will."
Peter nodded.
James buried his face in his hands and ran them through his hair again. "But we're fighting and—what did I do? We must've been crazy...bringing a kid into the world during this war...what if something happens to us? We're fighting with the Order, how am I supposed to raise a kid knowing that I could leave him and—"

"Hey, Prongs, stop," Sirius said, feeling he ought to speak up. "Gryffindor #6 basically has four dads for a reason. If anything happens…"

For a moment he felt as if his throat had closed. He swallowed and pushed past the stinging behind his eyes.
"He's still got us, okay? But you're going to be an awesome dad. You'll get to raise your kid, and you'll be amazing at it."
James looked up and took a deep breath with a great shudder. "I know you lot wouldn't let anything happen to him. It's just...I dunno. I love him already. I don't even know him and I know I'd die for him. Maybe that's what scares me."
Remus slid over on the couch so that he could put a hand on James' shoulder. "You've got this, Prongs. We know you do, and so does Lily. We're making sure that your son has a better, safer world to grow up in—we all are."

Peter tugged absentmindedly on his left sleeve. "Moony's right," he said quickly.

"Right," James mumbled. He looked up sheepishly and pushed his glasses higher up on his nose, behind which Sirius spotted a suspicious shine in his hazel eyes. He walked over and perched on the arm of James' chair.
"You get to be excited about this now, mate. This should be on the 'best moments of your life' list—right up there with the double goal we scored against Slytherin in that last match."
James gave a soft chuckle. "I dunno, Pads, I think this ranks a few spots above Quidditch."
All four laughed, slowly easing the tension of the moment. The soothing murmurs of the mediwitch floated through the door.

James glanced up at Sirius. "Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

"Could I talk to you alone for a minute?"

Sirius glanced at Remus for a moment to see if he knew what this was about. Remus said nothing, but he was wearing a knowing smile.

"Er...yeah, sure," Sirius replied, feeling slightly confused. He followed James into the next room—a little office/sitting room of sorts. He flopped into a chair beside his best friend and glanced inquiringly at him.
"Well? What's up?"

"Well…" James took a deep breath. "Lily and I were thinking. About the war, and all that stuff I said earlier."
"Come on, Prongs, didn't we say—"

"But that's my point!" James broke in hurriedly. "I—we—wanted to know if you'd be the godfather?"

Sirius felt as if he'd lost the ability to speak for the second time in the past half-hour. When he opened his mouth, he meant to say 'yes', but what came out was, "Come on, mate, don't make me cry, it'll ruin my reputation."
James gave a slightly weak laugh. "So…?"
"Yeah, of course I'll do it!" Sirius exclaimed. "I just never thought—I mean, Moony's always been the responsible one—"
"But you're my best mate," James said. "I wouldn't want it to be anyone but you. And besides, Remus can't, really...what with his 'furry little problem' and all."

Sirius nodded, still feeling rather thunderstruck. Just then, the door flew open to reveal a beaming woman in lavender robes, her eyes twinkling with matronly excitement.
"Mr. Potter," she said, "are you ready to meet your son?"