Chapter 37: The Future has Arrived

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Remus Lupin wasn't big on surprises. He hated the idea of not knowing what was going on around him. There was something in the gleam of Sirius' grey eyes that could make him forget this about himself altogether. The shaggy haired brunette happily climbed into Sirius' brand new car with an overnight bag even though he hadn't the slightest clue where they were headed.

"It'll be worth the wait, I promise," Sirius told him as they pulled out of Remus' driveway and turned the car towards Godric's Hollow. The boy flipped on the radio and grinned as Remus pulled out a book from his bag. "You're gonna read?" he asked, laughing under his breath. "Can't believe I fell in love with such a nerd," he teased.

Remus cut his eyes over towards Sirius and smirked. "If I wasn't a nerd, we wouldn't even be together," he pointed out. "I'm just glad you're so bad at Chemistry."

Sirius barked out a laugh and ruffled Remus' hair before putting his attention on the road. Close to an hour later, Sirius pulled the car into the drive of a gated apartment complex. He leaned out of his window and punched in a code to the box, then waited for the gate to open up so he could drive inside.

"Where are we?" Remus asked, closing his book and shoving it back into his bag. "Who lives here?" he continued when he received no answer. "Sirius?"

"Just quit asking questions, Moony, you'll see in a minute," Sirius answered. The smile on his face resembled that of a kid in a candy store. A few moments later, he pulled Remus out of the car and lead him up the stairs to a second floor apartment. He stopped outside of the door and turned around to the other boy. "Say that you love me," he asked quickly, his grin still wide.

"I love you," Remus answered as though it were more than obvious. "Now, will you tell me whose place this is?"

Sirius took a deep breath and ignored the question. He unlocked the door and pushed it open, then signaled for Remus to go in before him. Remus rolled his eyes at the secrecy and walked into the apartment. He dropped his bag onto the floor beside the doorway and narrowed his eyes in confusion. The apartment was large and open. The kitchen looked recently updated and the faint smell of carpet cleaner still hung in the air. The thing about the apartment that had Remus so confused was the fact that it was empty. Not a single piece of furniture lay in the vast space.

"I wanted to wait for you to get any furniture," Sirius said casually as he closed the front door and folded his arms over his chest. "Figured we could pick it out together."

Remus turned around and raised his eyebrows at Sirius. "I...I don't understand."

"I thought you were smart, Moony." Sirius gave the other boy a wink and waved his hands around frantically, trying to get him to understand. "The apartment," he offered, hoping that Remus would catch on. "It needs furniture." After a continued blank stare from Remus, Sirius was fairly certain he would explode with anxiousness. "The apartment needs furniture because I just bought it, Remus!" he finally cried out.

"You bought it?" Remus repeated in a tone of disbelief. "I don't understand. Why would you buy an apartment? You'll be going to school soon." He looked around the empty space and pulled his fingers back through his hair. "You bought this place?" he said again, still in slight shock.

"Yes, I bought it. I don't care if I'm going to school, this is important." Sirius grabbed onto Remus' hands and forced him to be face to face. "Listen to me a minute. This place isn't just somewhere to live. It's so much more because it's...well it's the future. It's a symbol of our future. You move in here with me and this is your home. No, this is our home." He swallowed hard and gave the other boy a tight smile. "When you're off at Yale and I'm at school, any time someone asks where we live, this will be the answer. It doesn't matter if we'll only be here for summer and a few holidays, what matters is that it exists. It's here and it's ours and it's important."

Remus pulled his hands free and slipped them around the sides of Sirius' neck. He lowered his lips onto the other boy's and kissed him with a deep abandon until they were both hurting for air. "This is amazing," he whispered breathlessly as he pulled his mouth away. His hands smoothed down the boy's chest and wrapped around his waist. "I don't even know what to say."

"You could say I'm gonna need some boxes," Sirius prompted.

Remus smiled down at his boyfriend and nodded. "I'm gonna need some boxes."

Sirius gave a victorious hoot and wrapped his arms around the boy's neck. He pulled himself as close as possible and buried his face into Remus' shoulder. "Do you like it? I looked at a dozen places, I swear and this one just felt right."

"I love it," Remus answered quietly. He brushed his hand up and down the boy's back and closed his eyes. "Why did we bring bags?" He pulled back and smiled down at Sirius. "Are we sleeping here tonight? Because we have the bags and there isn't furniture."

A sneaky smirk crossed the shorter boy's face as he pulled out of Remus' arms and walked to the nearest door. "I did buy one piece of furniture," he admitted as he pushed the door open to reveal another room which contained only a King sized bed, fully dressed. "We can go back if you'd rather. I mean, we don't have to stay here tonight."

"Oh, we're staying here," Remus said with a definite tone. He closed the distance between himself and Sirius and pulled the boy into a rough kiss. He stepped into him and forced Sirius to back up into the bedroom until his knees hit the bed.

Sirius fell back onto the bed and smiled up at the other boy. "I had a feeling you'd say that."

James let out a loud groan as he dropped a heavy box onto the floor. "Damn it, Lupin," he muttered. "How can anyone have this many books?" he asked, rounding on the boy in question. "Seriously, it isn't natural. And how in the hell did I get stuck carrying them all up here?" he added with a glare.

"Quit whining, James," Sirius spoke up as he dropped a box down next to the one James had brought up. "Moony likes to read, nothing wrong with that." He nodded at his boyfriend and hurried over to him, placing a quick kiss on the boy's cheek.

"That doesn't answer how I got stuck carrying the things up here," James continued to growl as he walked out of the apartment to fetch another box.

Sirius rolled his eyes at the boy's back and glanced up at Remus. "Why is he carrying your books?" he asked with a grin.

Remus gave a quiet laugh and licked his lips. "I bet Lily ten bucks that she couldn't get James to carry all the heavy boxes up here. So, I get my books carried, Lily gets ten bucks and James gets to prove his love. It's a win, win, win situation if you ask me."

"You are a sneaky boy, Remus Lupin," Sirius teased.

Remus nodded slowly and leaned down to kiss the other boy. The sound of a soft knock pulled him from his intentions and his eyes darted towards the door. A tall, skinny brunette girl, who looked a bit older than the boys, stood in the open doorway. Her fist was still curled into the knocking position on the door frame and she held a covered bowl in her other hand.

"Hello," the girl called out, stepping into the apartment. "I wanted to meet the new neighbors. Thought I'd bring over a little somethin', somethin'," she said, holding out the bowl as an offering. "It's not much, just some cookies." She flashed a bright smile and tilted her head.

Sirius was most eager to accept the cookies from the girl. "Sirius Black," he told her as he took the bowl and raised his hand in a wave. "Thanks for this," he added quickly.

"My name's Dory," the girl said, shoving her hands down into the back pockets of her jeans. "So...you two live here? 'Cause I saw another guy, glasses, looks like he just got out of bed. And a girl."

"Yeah, they're just friends," Remus answered. "We live here, just us." He pointed between Sirius and himself and smiled back at the girl. "I'm Remus, by the way. So you live near-by?"

Dory pointed towards the ceiling and laughed. "Right above you. Don't worry, though, I'm not noisy," she said with a laugh.

"Oh, she's very noisy," came a male voice from the doorway. A young man with straw blonde hair and a rather arrogant smile stepped into the apartment and stood next to the girl. "Why are you lying to these guys, Meadowes?" he asked, casting a smirk in her direction. "The last guy who lived here moved off because she was so loud."

"That isn't true!" Dory cried out, smacking her hand into the guy's arm and rolling her eyes. "That isn't true," she added again, staring straight over at Remus. "Don't listen to this jerk."

The young man laughed quietly and offered his hand to Sirius. "I'm just kidding," he admitted. "I'm Barty. I live down, a few apartments over. You two are always welcome to come by for a chat." He raised his eyebrows at Sirius slightly and held onto his hand a little longer than was necessary for a handshake. "Or anything really," he added.

Sirius was quick to pull his hand away and put his arm around Remus' waist. "Thanks," he said with the most polite tone he could muster. "We're good though. We won't be here long. School and...such. So we'll be gone most of the year."

"Alright, Lupin, this better be the last of them!" James growled as he heaved a box into the apartment. He faltered at the sight of Dory and Barty, letting the box slowly slide to the floor. "I'm outside for five minutes and you've already replaced me and Lily?" he asked with a grin.

"Who replaced us?" Lily asked, stepping up behind James and smiling as she noticed the new-comers. "Oh, hello! I'm Lily and this is James," she was quick to offer.

James gave a weak wave to the others and dropped his gaze from Dory when she gave him a very flirtatious smile. He slipped his arm around Lily's shoulders and looked back up. "We're together."

"Point taken," Dory laughed.

James lay wide awake later that night, his arms wrapped around a sleeping Lily Evans. He pulled one hand up and brushed a strand of the girl's copper hair away from her face and let his fingers trace over her bare shoulder. "Lily," he whispered.

Lily shifted in the boy's arms and grudgingly opened her eyes. "What?" she asked, sleep heavy in her voice.

"Marry me," James whispered.

"Sure," Lily muttered before closing her eyes again.

James pushed his fingers back through the girl's hair and chuckled. "I'm serious, Lily. I want you to marry me."

"Okay," the girl answered without opening her eyes. "We can get married."

"Now," James clarified.

Lily's eyes opened wide. "What do you mean by now?" she asked, pulling herself up to sit and holding the sheet around her chest.

"And finally she understands," James teased. He sat up and put his hands on Lily's cheeks softly. "I want you to get dressed and go with me to Vegas. Right now. We can be there and be married in less than twenty-four hours. You could be my wife in less than a day."

Lily let out a laugh that was a combination between shock and nervousness. "James, we can't just run off and get married. My parents would freak out."

"You're eighteen. You're going off to another country in a month. You can't let your parents keep dictating what you do. This isn't about them. It's your choice. All yours." He took Lily's hand into his own and put his lips to her palm. "I'll understand if you're not ready, but I am. I know that you're my life and I want to marry you."

Lily gave the boy sympathetic eyes and tilted her head. "We aren't gonna run off and get married just because of some whim you've had, James." She pushed her fingers through his messy hair and gave the boy a soft kiss. "Why don't you think about it for a while, then you can d-"

"Does this look like a whim?" James interrupted. He pulled on a pair of boxers and hurried across his room. The boy stood on his toes and retrieved a tiny ring box from the top of his closet. He headed back over to the bed and knelt down beside it. "It isn't much, because I saved up my allowance for it, but I swear one day I'll get you a huge one." He pulled open the box to reveal a gold band with a small, heart cut diamond. "Marry me?"

An hour later, the phone on Sirius' night stand rang. The sleeping boy groaned and swatted at the device a moment before finally getting it to his ear. "James? Do you know what time it is?" he asked with a whimper. After listening to the other boy for a while, he muttered an, "Alright," and hung up the phone. "Remus, get up." He pushed on the boy's shoulder and gave him a shake until his eyes were open.

"What? What's wrong?" Remus asked groggily as he sat up.

"Get up and get dressed." Sirius threw the covers off of himself and got to his feet. "James and Lily are getting married and they want us there." The boy barely even comprehended what he was saying and that was clear in his disconnected and tired tone.

"What!"

A Note From the Author: What! No? Yes? Are they gonna do it? You'll have to find out later. Tell me what you think about the apartment and James and Lily. :D I'm gonna tell you right now, so that you can't get mad when it happens, the next chapter is about Regulus! So yeah. You'll have to wait until the one after for the James/Lily answer. Want updates on stories? Follow me on Twitter Jenna822 or click the link on my Profile page. Thanks for reading. :D –Jenna