Chapter 4—You tell them; no you
Jessie slowly opened her eyes the next morning. She stared up at the ceiling, a smile forming on her lips, as she remembered the events of the night before. She looked down at her left hand to make sure it hadn't all just been a dream. Sure enough, the diamond ring still rested on her finger. She smiled even wider, if that was possible. She jumped out of bed and went about getting ready for the day. In her mind, she ran down the list of things she needed to do before the day was over: visit James and Lily, Sirius and Jenny to give them all the big news, clean her living quarters up, grocery shopping, and try to get some papers graded.
After stepping out of the shower, Jessie pulled on an old pair of jeans, a pink t-shirt, and a white jacket. She dried her hair and then pulled it back into a loose ponytail.
Half way down the grand staircase, Jessie ran into Remus. "Hey, there, gorgeous. You look awfully beautiful this morning," Remus said grinning. "How's my fiancée doing this fine, fine day?"
Jessie giggled. "I love hearing you say that; it's like a dream come true."
"Hungry? If you are how 'bout we get something to eat and then go pay our dearest friends a visit?" Remus said, taking Jessie's hand into his own.
"I'm starved, but do you think we could eat in Hogsmede? I just don't want the whole world to know at once," Jessie answered.
"No problem, sweetie," Remus said in reply. "Whatever makes you comfortable is fine with me."
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After finishing the last bite of her meal, Jessie took a napkin and wiped it across her mouth. "Now that is some good eatin'," She said smiling.
"What? Don't they feed you some good meals in that castle?" Remus asked.
"Well, yes of course they do," Jessie answered. "But it's nice to get something different every once in a while."
"I guess I see what you mean," Remus said. "Ready to go break the news?"
Jessie nodded and they left the small café after paying the tab.
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Sirius entered the kitchen of the flat he shared with Jenny. He smiled at the sight that reached his eyes. He saw Jenny washing dishes the muggle way. Shaking his head in amusement, he said, "You never will get use to doing dishes the magical way, will you?"
Jenny looked over her should and saw Sirius leaning against the door frame. "No," She shook her head. "You know what they say: old habits die hard, love."
When Jenny looked back at Sirius, he noticed how cute she looked with curls falling in to her face. He also noticed how soap bubbles clung to her cheek. "I think I know how that can be," He said walking across the kitchen with a big smile spread across his face.
"Mr. Black, what exactly are you smiling at?"
"This, Mrs. Black," Sirius wiped the bubbles from Jenny's cheek and showed them to her. "And you look ever so adorable with your curls falling into your face."
"It comes with the territory," Jenny replied.
"The curls or the bubbles?" Sirius asked cheekily.
Jenny glared up at Sirius and then transferred some bubbles from her hands onto his cheek.
"Hey! What was that for?" Sirius asked, wiping the bubbles from his face.
"For your cheeky attitude," Jenny answered. "And because you always make fun of me when I'm doing the dishes."
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
"Oh, that's mature," Jenny said turning around to face Sirius as she dried her hands on a dish towel.
"Of course I'm mature," Sirius said confidently, a touch of arrogance could be heard in his voice. "You wouldn't have married me otherwise."
"Well….actually I didn't marry you for your maturity," Jenny confessed.
"Then why exactly did you marry me?"
"It's obvious, isn't it? I married you because you are such a stunningly gorgeous bloke."
"Jenny!"
Jenny laughed at the look on Sirius' face. "Kidding, I'm only kidding, sweet heart. Although, you do have great looks that is not the only reason that I married you. Some of the reasons I married you are you have a wonderful sense if humor, your kind, and many, many more things that I won't go into. But I married you because I love you. Understand?"
Sirius nodded slowly. "I love you too," He said softly.
"Wanna help me finish?" Jenny asked after a moment of silence.
"Sure," Sirius said as they put there hands in to the warm, soapy water. "I can't believe I'm doing dishes the muggle way."
"Yes!" Jenny cheered. "My evil plan has been successful. I have corrupted you."
Sirius chuckled. "Yes, I suppose you have," He said with amusement.
"Sirius, would you hand me that—"Jenny never got a chance to finish her question because Sirius kissed her. "Baby, what are you doing?" She whispered as she felt him take her hands under the water.
"I'm kissing my wife. Now, hush, so that I can do it again."
Jenny giggled as Sirius kissed her again. "Did you hear that?" She asked pulling out of the kiss.
"Hear what?" Sirius murmured kissing Jenny's neck gently.
"Hun, someone's at the door," Jenny insisted.
"Ignore it and maybe they'll go away."
Jenny stepped away from Sirius. "I'll be right back," she said walking out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel.
"Well, now. This is a surprise," Jenny said after opening the front door.
Sirius walked up behind his wife and put his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, Remus, Jessie," He nodded to them. "Have you been keeping this friend of mine in line?"
"Oh, yes," Jessie nodded. "I wouldn't dream of letting him get away with something inappropriate."
"Come in and have a seat," Jenny said, opening the door further. "Sirius, would you go put some tea on?" She asked turning towards him.
"Sure, love," Sirius said. He leaned down and kissed Jenny's cheek. "Be right back."
Jenny giggled as Sirius walked away. "Come, now. Let's take a seat in the sitting room. Sirius will only be a minute."
"You two are so funny," Remus said as they settled themselves onto the sofas.
"What do you mean?" Jenny asked.
"If you could see what the whole world sees around you two, you would know what I'm talking about. You and Sirius are so…..childlike. You guys act like you're teenagers on a first date," Remus answered.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"Well—"
"Don't listen to what he says," Jessie interrupted. "I think it's wonderful. What you have is the most unique thing in the world."
"Why, thank you, Jessie," Jenny said smiling. "I do believe that is the kindest thing any one has ever said to me."
"The tea is ready," Sirius said setting a tray down on the coffee table between the two sofas.
"Oh, goodie, just what I need," Jessie said, reaching her left hand down to grab one of the mugs.
"My, my. Where on earth did that diamond ring come from, my dear?" Jenny asked. "It is simply marvelous."
"Thank you," Jessie said, glancing down to admire the ring. "Tell them."
"No, you tell them," Remus insisted.
Jessie sighed. "Fine, then, I'll tell them. Sirius, Jenny, we're getting married. I'm engaged. We're engaged."
As she spoke, Remus reached out and took her hand smiling. "It's the best thing I've ever done," he said softly.
"Oh, Jessie, that's wonderful news," Jenny enthused. "You deserve to be happy after all these years. You two are just so cute together."
"'Bout time," Sirius said grinning. "Congratulations mate."
"Thanks," Jessie and Remus said at the same time. And then the four of them laughed.
After talking for a bit and finishing their tea, Jessie and Remus started for the door. "We'll walk you out," Jenny said.
At the front door, Jenny stepped over to Remus. "Now, remember," she whispered. "If you do anything to hurt my best friend I will break you in two. Understand?"
Remus nodded nervously. "Um, we need to go. We have to go….go see James and Lily," he stammered before they walked out the door.
Sirius chuckled at Jenny when their friends had gone. "You really are a naughty little girl, Jennifer."
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"What's wrong?" Jessie asked, stopping their forward movement. "Don't even try lying to me because I can tell when you aren't telling the truth."
"It was nothing," Remus insisted, slipping his arm around her waist.
"It can't have been nothing," Jessie said. "You turned white as a sheet. That's really pale; even for you. Please just tell me what she said."
"Well, your best friend said that if I do anything to hurt her best friend—said friend being you, of course—she will break me in two."
"Wow," Jessie said, chuckling a little. "Well, you have nothing to worry about, darling. Because I know you would never ever hurt me and even if Jenny tried to break you I wouldn't let her. Besides, she's completely harmless."
"Thanks, sweetheart," Remus said smiling. "Now you can be my protector for life."
"Yes," Jessie said, giggling. "That is exactly right. And what are you going to do for the rest of my life?"
"I'm going to love you always and forever," Remus answered before leaning down to kiss her.
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"Lily! Can you get the door please?"
"I'm going, I'm going," Lily called back. "I just can't move as fast as some of us anymore," She muttered to herself. After she pulled open the front door, a surprised look came across her face. "Well, this certainly is a pleasant shock. Come in, come in."
Jessie stepped into the house and gave Lily a quick hug. "How are you?"
"Five months pregnant, what can I say?" Lily answered.
"It can't be all bad," Remus spoke up, closing the door behind him.
"You're right its not. But sometimes I'm just so tired I want to scream, and then take a nap, of course," Lily said, resting a hand on her stomach. "What brings you two to our neck of the woods?"
"Not much," Jessie answered. "Does the baby kick yet?"
"Sometimes," Lily answered. "At the most inconvenient times too."
Jessie laughed. "You poor dear," She said smiling. "Actually, there was a reason we stopped by. Remus wanted to tell you and James something. Speaking of James, where is he? Not off somewhere playing about is he?"
"Thank heavens no," Lily answered. "Whenever he goes off and plays that game I get so worried."
"Come on, Lily. Quidditch isn't all that bad," Remus said.
"It is when your worried constantly that your husband will never come home," Lily answered. "Thankfully the season is over and James has retired from it. He's started working as an auror you know."
"Is he over at the ministry then?" Jessie asked.
"No, not today at least," Lily answered walking down the hallway. "He's in the nursery; putting the crib together for this little one," she patted her stomach. "And he's not using magic, either."
"Now this I gotta see," Remus said walking ahead of Lily and Jessie. "And to set the record straight, Jessie wants to tell you guys something."
Jessie started to argue, but Lily cut her off. "You two are just too cute together. The nursery is at the end of the hall on the left," she called to Remus.
Lily looked into the nursery just as James set the crib upright. "Lily, would you look at this?"
Lily smiled, entering the room. "See? I knew you could do it. It looks just wonderful, James. No baby has ever had a finer place to sleep."
James smiled proudly. "Thanks, Lils. Thanks for believing in me. You are the reason that I kept trying. Just seeing the light on your face at the finished project was reward enough for me."
Lily smiled fondly up at James as she took his hand. "We have some visitors. They've brought some sort of exciting news from what I've gathered."
"Well, we need to find out this exciting news, don't we?" James asked. "Let's go to the kitchen so I can get some water. Doing things the muggle way can make one very thirsty."
After seating themselves around the kitchen table, James looked over at Remus. "So what's this exciting news I keep hearing about?"
"When's the baby due?" Jessie asked instead of answering.
"August," James answered. "Stop stalling, would you? Just answer the question."
"James," Lily said softly. "You're not at work; stop interrogating our friends."
"Sorry," James apologized. "Is there a reason you asked about the due date?"
"Yes there is. You see since I'm getting married I wanted to make sure you guys would be there," Jessie said nonchalantly. "I needed to know so that I-we can plan it before the baby comes."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lily said holding up a hand. "Rewind, stop. You're getting married?"
Jessie nodded excitedly, holding up her left hand. "And its to the most wonderful man in the world."
"Sorry, honey, but I already married the most wonderful man in the world," Lily said playfully. "Jessie that's great."
"Took you enough time to ask her, Moony," James said smiling.
Remus glared over at James. "That is exactly what Padfoot said."
"Well, you know what they say," James replied. "Great minds think alike."
"And you know what I say? I say you need to do more things the muggle way. That might teach you some respect," Remus retorted. "Did you really put that crib together without magic?"
James nodded. "I really did."
"So, is the nursery all ready for the baby now?" Jessie asked.
Lily nodded. "Except for having a baby to put in it everything is finished."
"Did you guys do everything yourselves?" Jessie asked.
"James did most of the work, but I helped where I could. I picked out the blue paint for the walls and James just had to have his snitches on the walls as well. You know him; no son of his will go without knowing about Quidditch from day one."
"Awe, how cute," Jessie said. "I think the room is adorable."
"See?" James said. "I told you I wasn't crazy for putting those up."
"Well, I have to admit they are rather cute once you look at the whole room," Lily conceded.
"Yes, yes, yes," James cheered. "I've succeeded in corrupting you. I knew that one day you'd catch on."
Lily laughed shaking her head. "Oh, ho! There he goes again," She said, holding a hand to her stomach. "If that potion was wrong and this child turns out to be a girl I'm going have to have a talk with her about her unlady-like behavior."
"Let me feel," Jessie said putting her hand on to Lily's stomach. "Oh….that is amazing. He's definitely a boy. No girl would do that."
Lily groaned. "You sound exactly like James."
"Sweetheart, I can still hear you. I'm sitting right here."
"I know you are, darling. I'm just stating a fact," Lily said patting James cheek.
"Not very tactfully, might I add," James said with a bit of indignation.
"Awe, aren't they cute together?" Remus whispered to Jessie.
Jessie nodded. "Maybe someday we'll be like that."
"Mushy, mushy in front of company?"
"Yes and maybe someday it will be us getting a nursery ready. Would you like that?" Jessie whispered.
Remus nodded. "I would love that, honey. Are you ready to get going?"
Jessie nodded. "James, Lily. We have to get going. We've got some things to take care of."
"Alright, thanks for stopping by. It's always fun to visit," Lily said.
"Catch you kids later," James said, waving.
After the door clicked shut, Lily stood up. "Oh, I'm feeling a little tired. I think I'll go take a nap."
"I have a better idea," James said lifting Lily into his arms. "How about we take a nap together? How does that sound to you, my sweet, wonderful, beautiful wife?"
Lily laughed as James walked down the hallway. "It sounds absolutely heavenly," She whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder.
Author's Note:
Thanks to my wonderful beta reader, .spitXfire., and thank you so much to my reveiwers, moony4ever and MoveBitch. You guys are awesome and I hope you like these new editions.
Wilty