The twenty second time I shared a bed with Sirius Black was the night the Prewetts had died. Lily had been with their sister, Molly, since the news had arrived and she was going to stay there for a few days to help out around the house and look after Molly's two young children. She said it would be good practise for when they had one of their own. I'd smiled at this and rubbed her belly, thinking of the tiny life in there that I'd only just found out about.
The house had seemed empty without Lily there. Too empty. I rattled around for a while before trying to fall asleep. It was one in the morning when I gave up and flooed to Sirius'. He was lying in bed, but not asleep. I knew him to well to be fooled. He was feeling just like me. Gideon and Fabian had been our friends, older than us and better wizards. If they could be taken down by Death-eaters then what hope did the rest of us have? What hope did the tiny life inside Lily have?
I joined Sirius before he even opened his eyes. He knew it was me, and he knew I needed him, the same way I knew he was awake and would be there for me.
'Padfoot...' I began after a while.
'Yeah?' he sounded much more awake than he looked. But then, he could probably read by my tone that this was something serious.
'I've got to tell you something.'
'Spit it out then,' He was tired. He always got grouchy when he was tired, but then he'd worked a twelve hour patrol shift today and didn't look like he'd got much sleep if any before I arrived. I could forgive him his grouchiness.
'Lily's pregnant.' I said in a rush, 'And we're getting married.'
Silence reigned. I heard him exhale next to me and held back the clamouring ideas waiting to spill forth, I wouldn't demand a reaction. It was big news. At length he turned away from me.
'Congratulations.' It sounded wrong, bitter. I shifted closer to him. He was probably just as worried about the baby as I was. Our friends had just died and we were bringing another innocent child into the world, a child that would have no defence whatsoever in this war. It just seemed irresponsible, somehow. But we'd decided, Lily and me. We might not be here tomorrow, lets live for today, lets not let him ruin the life we have.
'Padfoot,' I sighed, 'You will be my best man, won't you?' I was half afraid that he'd say no, that he'd think me irresponsible and selfish to bring a child into a world like this. Instead, he rolled back over to face me and grinned.
'Course I will Prongs, course I will.'