Quote from Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. Man, I love that scene...

Saturday march 31, 1979.

"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

The morning sun shone through the window in Sirius´ room. As James predicted it was a complete mess: the floor was covered with clothes and the table was hardly visible trough all the books and the giant cage with a big sleeping owl in it. Sirius was also hardly visible, his head covered by his blanket. He was having a lay-in, as always in weekends. James knew that and he always kept it in mind. Why was he making such a terrible noise then?! Sirius heard the sound of running water, breaking dishes and a cursing James. He lifted his head in disbelieve. James was not doing the dishes in the Muggle way, was he?

James Potter was raised in a wizard family and knew absolutely nothing about the ´normal´ way of life. Sirius, on the other hand, had a Muggle father and knew quite a lot about how to live like a Muggle. That's why James always let Sirius do the dishes.

Sirius decided he could just as well check what James was up to now he was awake. He stepped out of his bed on a book about Quidditch he borrowed 5 months ago from his friend Remus and was missing for about 4½ months. He promised himself he would clear up his room next weekend. The same promise he made last weekend and the weekend before that and the weekend before that…

When he walked into the kitchen he thought, for a moment, he was in the wrong house. Everything was clean and proper. The books were on their shelves again and all the left-over food was thrown away. James was now outside carrying a bag with, Sirius assumed, the plates and cups he had broken. He managed to find a new and clean plate and made breakfast. He took his plate into the living room, planning to eat his sandwiches in front of the television (a, in his opinion, really fantastic Muggle invention). He was just going to sit down as he heard a dangerous voice say: "you're not going to sit on that chair!" It was James, dressed like a Muggle who needed some advise on how to dress and with his hair wilder than ever.

"Er… this is my house too, you know" Sirius tried to explain. "Oh, and by the way, why are you cleaning up? Are you expecting someone I don't know about? Your mom isn't visiting us, is she?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I want to tell you. And give me that plate!"

"I barely even touched it! Now what is it you wanted to tell me? Is your mom visiting or not?"

"Well, mister want-to-know-it-all, in fact Lily er… is. And I want to ask you something, if you don't mind."

"I love your red colour and you know you can always ask me anything. Go ahead. What's on your mind?" Sirius looked at his best friend. It had to be something really important.

"Well, this is the, er, first time she coming to my house and, er, we would like to have some, er, privacy so it might be a good idea if you go and visit Peter or something like that." James said this very quickly and with a very red head.

"You're kicking me out of my own house?!"

"No, I'm not! We just want to be together for a few hours. That's all!"

"Then go to a restaurant or the Leaky Cauldron like you did before! You can be together there!"

"Sirius, please, I'm not asking much, I just want you to…" The doorbell rang. "There she is! Will you just leave, please?!" James was almost begging.

"Hm, maybe I´ll think about it. No, wait, I've got a better idea. I promise I won't be a problem", Sirius said with a rather demonic smile.

"Whatever. As long as you behave like a gentleman." James ran to the door as the doorbell rang again.

~*~

When James entered the living room again in the company of Lily Evans, the girl he liked even more than Quidditch, he was relieved to see Sirius was gone. Until he saw the big black dog which was laying on the floor. James was very sorry the hunting season for illegal-Animagi-who-can-turn-into-big-black-dogs was over, because he felt a terrible need to choke Sirius. Especially when Lily fell on her knees and started stroking the dog…

"He is so cute!" she said. "Why didn't you tell me you had a dog? I love dogs!"

"Oh, yeah, well this one doesn't really like strangers. I think you better stop patting him." The dog turned on his back and looked like he was really enjoying all the attention. Sirius wasn't going to live any longer than this day, James decided.

"Well, he seems to like me. What is his name?" Lily said.

Finally, revenge! "His name? Oh, his name is, er… Puppy!" Lily and the dog both looked at him. The both said (the dog with his eyes of course): "Puppy?!"

"Yes, Puppy. Sirius invented that name. The dog was very small when we got him and Sirius thought it sounded cute. I didn't agree with that of course but you know Sirius…" James said casually.

"O, er, right, well, sure. It does sound cute. Where is Sirius anyway?" Lily wanted to know.

"Sirius? Well, he's visiting Peter. Hey, shall we go for a walk? The weather is beautiful." As long as he was away from Sirius, everything was alright…

"Of course, that's a great idea. What'll we do with Puppy? Can we just leave him?"

"Sure. Sirius will be here any minute so he won't be alone very long."

"Okay, let's go. Bye, Puppy! It was very nice I've met you!" And Lily patted Sirius´ head again.

~*~

Two hours later they were standing for James´ house again, waiting for Lily's bus to come and take her home. They had been to St. Paul's cathedral because James had never been there before. Lily had been explaining everything and they ended their afternoon comparing the old building to Hogwarts. Now they were standing here and feeling very happy. Suddenly, James turned towards Lily.

"Lily, this must sound really stupid but I…" He fell silent.

"Yes?"

"Have you ever… No, how do you… I er…." She looked at him with her almost unbelievable green eyes. James took a deep breath.

"Will you marry me?" he almost whispered.

"James, I…." She blushed. "I would be very happy to." She kissed him and James Potter was the most happy man in the whole world.

~*~

The first thing James saw when he entered the room was Sirius Black who said with a very dangerous voice: "Puppy?!"