Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the world of. They belong to JK Rowling.

Unforeseen

By Neurotica

Two

James sat down beside Lily on their sofa, their son asleep in her lap, and waited for Sirius to explain what had really happened two nights ago with Gideon and Fabian Prewitt. After they were sure the Death Eaters had gone, some members of the Order of the Phoenix went back to the area of the attack and found the brothers dead, side-by-side.

Sirius was in hisfavorite armchair, fidgeting under the stairs of James, Lily, Remus, and Peter, obviously trying to figure out how he was going to word what he was about to say. The only other time James had seen his best friend this uncomfortable was when he had been trying to apologize to Remus for the Snape-episode in sixth year.

Harry whimpered slightly as he got more comfortable in his mother's arms. James leaned over and flattened his unruly hair a bit. "Tell us what you need to tell us, Sirius," Remus said quietly.

Sirius nodded slowly and looked around the room again. "Okay," he sighed. "A few months back, just after Marlene McKinnon and her lot were killed, Gideon, Fabian, and I had a talk. We agreed that if we were in battle with the Order, and we were too outnumbered to get the majority of our side out alive, then one of us would distract the Death Eaters so everyone could get to a safe place," he said in one long breath.

Silence met Sirius' admission. The adults in the room stared open-mouthed at him for long moments before anyone could say anything. "So you agreed that one of you would commit suicide, is that what you're saying to us, Sirius?" James asked, fighting the urge to slap his best friend very hard.

Sirius took a deep breath. "Pretty much, yeah," he said. "But if they hadn't done what they did the other night, then we'd all be dead," he added hastily.

Lily shook her head slowly, trying to understand Sirius' line of thinking - not the easiest thing to do. "That could have just as easily been you," she said quietly.

"If I'd had the opportunity, yeah, it could have been," Sirius said stubbornly.

"You're an idiot," Remus muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "You know damn well we could have gotten out of there safely, but instead you let Gideon and Fabian get themselves killed."

Sirius' eyes widened. "Is that what you think I did?" he nearly shouted, startling Harry from his sleep, causing him to wail keenly.

"That is what you did," Remus said, not at all intimidated by Sirius Black.

"How the fuck could you think I would do something like that?" This time Sirius did shout as he stood.

"First of all!" Lily yelled, trying to stop Harry's crying. "Watch your language around my son, Black. Secondly, if you can't discuss this like adults, then you can get out of my house!"

Sirius collapsed back into his seat, still glaring daggers at Remus.

"Shh, it's okay, Harry," James said to his son, taking him from Lily's arms. "I'm going to put him to bed. It's probably best if he isn't here for this. I'll be back," he said, standing. He stood and left the room without another glance at any of his friends. He could hear Lily's footsteps behind him, but wanted to get to Harry's room before he turned around and cursed his best friend for his stupidity.

When he entered the nursery he and Lily had set up almost a year and a half ago, he reached over to turn on a light, thankful that Harry had calmed somewhat. The room was painted in a light blue with white clouds that magically moved across the walls. Lily had been against charming the room - there was no enjoyment in doing everything with a wand, she'd said. Of course, that was before she'd seen what James could do with the room, especially when the lights went out - the walls would fill with stars and the moon in whatever phase the real moon was in.

James placed his now tearless son into his crib and leaned over the bars. Harry looked up and grinned with the only three teeth he had. James smiled back. "Your godfather is an idiot, Harry. I love him like a brother, but half of the things he comes up with are so…" he shook his head unable to find a word to describe Sirius' actions.

A pair of arms wrapped tightly around his middle. "I'm sure he had his reasons, James," Lily said quietly, leaning her head on his back.

"I know," he sighed. "He always does, and that's what scares me."

Lily kissed his shoulder. "Why don't you go down and make sure Sirius and Remus haven't killed one another?"

"That's probably a good idea," James said darkly. He stood straight and turned around to face his wife. "I'll be back up later." He kissed his wife and son briefly before going back to his best friends.

When he re-entered his living room, the atmosphere was so tense he nearly turned and went back upstairs to his family. Sirius and Remus were no longer glaring at one another; in fact, they were staring in opposite corners completely. Peter was predictably glancing anxiously at each of them and was visibly relieved when he spotted James entering.

"Alright," James said calmly and quietly, attracting the attention to himself. "What's happened, happened. Remus, just stop for a minute, okay?" he added when Remus opened his mouth. "This was probably the stupidest, most idiotic thing Sirius has come up with, but I'm going to assume you did it for noble reasons, or whatever. Look, I don't care. This is a war, and there's going to be losses. While the Prewetts were two of my favorite people, they made their decision, and there's nothing we can do to change it…"

"You're all insane," Remus said quietly after a moment as he stood. "We're trying to stay alive in this war and Sirius is making deals on who dies. You know what? That's perfectly fine, though, isn't it, James? No big deal if someone dies! It's not you! How would you feel if next time it was Lily? Or Harry?" he added softly.

"Why would you say something like that?" James said, torn between being horrified at the thought of his family being killed and wanting to hit Remus for saying it.

Remus walked to his friend and looked him directly in his eyes. "This is a war, and there's going to be losses," he said, pushing past James and leaving the house.

The next weekend was Harry's first birthday. Many Order members arrived in Godric's Hollow for the event, including Albus Dumbledore. Lily had written Remus, begging him to join them, but he hadn't replied. As always, Lily blamed her husband and Sirius; they hadn't seen Remus since the night Sirius had admitted to his deal with the Prewetts. James hadn't said what he and his best friends had talked about, and Lily wasn't sure she wanted to know, but they hadn't talked for very long.

"Hey, are you coming out here?" James asked, poking his head through the back door of the kitchen.

Lily was just finishing with Harry's birthday cake - triple chocolate chip with fudge frosting. "You guys are going to get sick off this. I hope you know that," she muttered.

James chuckled and came into the house. He'd always been impressed with Lily's ability to cook without a wand. His mother used to cook with Muggle recipes, and they usually turned out wonderfully, much to the shock of James and his father.

James went to his wife and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, burying his head in her neck. She smelt of chocolate and coconut today. He supposed part of her heavenly smell came from the cake, but he didn't seem to care too much.

There'd never been another woman who James felt so deeply for. Sure, he'd dated others at Hogwarts, but they were nothing compared to the treasure of Lily Evans. Most of the other girls were friends of whatever girl had struck Sirius' fancy that week. They were usually bubbly, and none too intelligent. Not to mention some of them weren't too fond of Remus or Peter, which automatically crossed them off James' list of potential girlfriends. Lily had been everything he ever wanted. She was smart, funny, beautiful… And she didn't take shit from anyone, especially not him. She was the one girl who didn't follow him around like a puppy dog, dying for him to ask her out.

For five years, he'd tried to make Lily Evans love him. By the sixth, he'd realized he couldn't force Lily Evans to do anything. And by the seventh, he realized he'd grown up, matured, and convinced Lily Evans he wasn't the prat he'd been for the majority of his life. The day she finally agreed to date him, nearly halfway through their last year at Hogwarts, James thought he was having what the Muggles called a heart attack. Sirius said it was heartburn, and Remus said it was love. James had been inclined to agree with Remus.

"You all right back there?" Lily asked, leaning her head against his.

James smiled against her neck, making her shiver a bit, and making him smile wider. "I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Okay, but don't hurt yourself," she said sternly. James pinched her sides, causing her to squeal. "Potter!" she yelled, turning to face him.

"Yes, Potter?" he grinned.

She glared, trying to keep her lips from twitching, and turned back to her cake. James made to go back to the party outside. She called him back, and he obeyed, expecting a kiss. Instead, he realized too late that his wife had a finger of frosting, which she smeared on his face before trying to push him out the door.

He retaliated by pulling her close and giving her the most sugary, sticky kiss either of them had ever experienced.

Sirius was sitting on the grass before Harry and Neville Longbottom, the son of Aurors Frank and Alice, teaching the two one-year-olds to throw grass at one another when James and Lily finally made it outside, their faces chocolate-free.

"Come on, Padfoot," James said, picking up his son from the grass while Lily picked up Neville. "Time to play with kids your own age."

"But I don't wanna! I wanna play with Harry!" Sirius whined, wiping grass of his shirt and out of his long, black hair.

Lily smirked. "I think Harry's a bit beyond your intellect, Sirius."

"Probably," Sirius said, standing and wiping grass from his robes. Lily and James walked away laughing before he realized what had Lily said. "Hey!" he said, chasing after them.

"So where's Lupin?" Frank Longbottom asked, watching Harry and Neville shove cake in their mouths.

James lowered his Butterbeer from his lips slowly. "He, er, couldn't make it today." Frank raised an eyebrow. James shrugged. "He's been trying to find a job, but hasn't had much luck."

"Ah," Frank said in understanding. He'd known about Remus' condition since the Marauders had joined the Order of the Phoenix just after their Hogwarts graduation. "Well, I'm sure he'll have some luck soon. Not everyone in the wizarding world can turn him down, right?"

James snorted humorlessly. "Try telling him that," he muttered before taking a sip of his drink.

A few hours later, Harry and Neville showed signs of exhaustion; both were falling asleep in wrapping paper from Harry's birthday presents. Alice took her son gently from the pile of wrappings and thanked the Potters for having them over for the day. Lily led the Longbottoms, the last of the remaining party guests, to the front door while James, Sirius, and Peter started to clean up the backyard.

"So," Peter began, moving garbage into a charmed trash bag with a wave of his wand, "have you guys talked to Moony?"

Sirius stiffened as he reached down to pick up Harry. James answered, "No, not since the other night."

"Well, I have," Peter said matter-of-factly. "And he's being just as stubborn as you two prats."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius asked with narrowed eyes, adjusting Harry in his arms.

Peter stopped what he was doing and turned to face his friends. "It means that all three of you are being stupid." James and Sirius raised their eyebrows at one another. Peter never spoke to them like that. "For two people who value friendship over anything the way you do, you're being quite juvenile."

James walked over to Peter and the smaller wizard resisted the urge to take a step back. "Who are you, and what've you done with Wormtail?" Sirius snorted in laughter.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Think what you want," he muttered. "I've got to go. Mother needs some things done tonight. See you guys."

"What's his problem?" Sirius asked, watching Peter Disapparate from the backyard.

"Looks like our little Wormtail isn't as out of the loop as we thought, eh?" James muttered, taking his son from Sirius.

James sat in a rocking chair in the corner of Harry's bedroom, reading his son a bedtime story. Harry had fallen asleep just after page four, but James continued to read. He enjoyed the book (Alice in Wonderland) as much as Harry did.

James sniffed, feeling a cold coming on, and closed the book, setting it on a table beside him. "Time for bed, Harry," he muttered, standing and crossing the room to Harry's crib. "You're getting heavy, mate."

He placed his baby boy in the white, wooden crib, and pulled a blanket over to cover the boy. He touched two fingers to his lips and touched Harry's forehead, smoothing back his inherited untidy hair.

"I love you, son," he said before waving his wand, making silhouettes of wolves, stags, rats, and dogs appear on the walls. It'd been a creation of Remus' when Lily and James brought their son home from the hospital a year ago.

One year ago… James smiled as he walked out of the nursery to his and Lily's bedroom down the hall.

His red-headed wife was just climbing into their large four-poster bed when he entered. He saw her smile in the mirror as he changed into his pajamas, and he dove into the bed beside her. He grinned in response to her giggles and pulled her against him.

"Is Harry asleep?" she muttered into his chest.

"Yep," he said, massaging her scalp. "Three sleeping draughts later…"

She slapped him on his bare chest and reached over him to turn off the lamp. "Mmm… love you," she muttered sleepily, laying her head on his chest again.

"Love you, too," he said quietly, smiling into the dark room.

AN: Yes, there is a plot to this story, I promise... Thank you for the reviews. Please keep 'em coming:-D