A Little Note:

                Why do my computers hate me?  WHY?  ANSWER ME THIS YOU SANE PEOPLE!  Okay, I'm sure that there are supposed to be some reviews that I am supposed to respond to because it says that there are ten reviews but its only showing me like four.  WHATS THE DEAL?  Oh well.  Yes, here it is Chapter Two... why am I not scared by anything anymore?  I guess I'm just going to have to write stories that scare me cause movies sure aren't doing it anymore.  I just watched The Sixth Sense and it used to scare the crap out of me and now, I'm like, hey wow, he's got the back of his head blown off… where's the thrill?  What's wrong with me?

Disclaimer: You know the deal, c'mon, its not that hard.

Rating: PG-13 lata, not now.

Chapter Two- Early

                Dinner was ready, and Lily brought it out to the table, all of them seated, though rather cramped, on the long booth that was attached to the wall.  They were having a marvelous supper of roast turkey and everything pumpkin.  Pumpkin pie, pumpkin juice, pumpkin seeds on the top of their salad, and a huge pumpkin centerpiece adorned the table.  Sirius looked at the table greedily, his twenty-one year old eyes dancing with excitement. 

            "Sirius," Remus began.  "You aren't eleven anymore, can you control your excitement at the fact that there's food with in your grasp?" he rolled his eyes as Sirius began to fork everything in sight.  Lily flicked out her wand and preformed one of her famous charms on Harry's spoon and it flew around Harry's head once before flying into his mouth, making Harry shout with glee. 

            "Lily, your charms always make me go weak in the knees," James said, smirking.

            Lily glared her eyes at him with a look that said riiiight, "James Potter, anything I did made you go weak in the knees."

            Remus snorted, "That's the truth.  The number of times we had to hear him whisper your name over his oatmeal, or avert our path to Divination in hopes that we'd run into you on your way to Arithmency, making us about ten minutes late every class."  Sirius laughed with them, reminiscing wonderfully.  He hadn't minded being late every day for Divination.  "I had to give myself detention!" Remus added.

            Sirius patted Remus on the shoulder, "Well, Moony, we thought it was good for you once in a while.  Besides, we gained valuable time in detention, when would we have finished the map anyway?"

            "How about in front of the fire in the common room instead of the dungeons?" Peter supposed looking around at his old friends.

            "Or during History of Magic," Lily said matter-of-factly.  They all looked at her, "What? It's not like anyone else got any actual History work done!" 

            James smiled, looking off into the distance, "If you had said that to me four years ago, I would have planted myself at your feet and not moved."

            Lily laughed, "You pretty much did that anyway."

            "Yeah, your right, I did.  But looks like I won that bet didn't I?" James said, planting a kiss on his wife's forehead. 

            Lily smirked as he pulled away, "I would have admitted a lot sooner that I was madly in love with you if you weren't such a fat headed monster!"

            James mocked a pained expression, "Lily!  How could you say such a thing!"

            She waved her hand impatiently, "Oh, go on James.  You're fine."  She fingered a piece of Harry's hair who had long since climbed into her lap and fallen asleep, "So, what did you do with that map anyway?  You never said."

            Sirius smiled, "Well, we couldn't take the map."

            James popped in, "We have no need for it outside the school."

            Remus, "And these two thought that we should lead more big headed idiots into more detentions than physically possible."

            Peter was characteristically quiet. 

            "So, we let Filch catch a small glance at it as we shoved dear Mrs. Norris into a cabinet on the fifth floor.  He pulled James, Remus, Peter, and I into his office by the ears and sat us down across from him at that filthy thing he called a desk," Sirius said, retelling the story for Lily, a multi-person job. 

            James smirked haughtily, "The best day ever at Hogwarts, the day we shoved Mrs. Norris into a cabinet on the fifth floor.  I still remember her screams, ahh the joy."

            Remus reached out to take Harry from Lily who was shifting uncomfortably, "Conveniently," he threw a glance at James and Sirius "I was the one found with the map.  I had purposely not wiped it, knowing what was about to commence."

            Peter smiled at something that only he knew, but slowly he was becoming more and more fidgety through the night.

            James continued on, "He was furious, stroking that damned cat as he yelled at us, threatening with the usual, death by whipping, hanging from our thumbs and toes from the ceiling, but in the end, since we were seventeen and preparing to graduate the next day, it wasn't like he could give us detention, so the four of us sat there, smirking at him all the while all he could do was order us to wipe the map and throw it in the Confiscated and Highly Dangerous file."

            Lily laughed, her green eyes dancing with humor, "How many of Confiscated and Highly Dangerous files are yours?"

            Sirius looked thoughtfully at Lily, "I'm not sure, I think when we got there it was about half full, ever since the flame-bubble bubble gum was confiscated and I got a good look at it.  And then when we left, it was overflowing."

            Remus nodded, and sighed, completely full and well fed, "That was delicious Lily!"

            She smiled, "Thank you!" 

            A rare pleasant silence filled the kitchen then, everyone was remembering a time when they didn't have to worry about what was lurking around every corner.  Sirius smirked, looking at the ends of the booth.  At one end was Lily and at the other was Peter.  He sat in the middle of them all, and wanted nothing more than his prank-ing self to arise out of him.  Step one: He took Harry from Remus, laying him across his lap, his head lolling peacefully.  Step Two:  He yawned, stretching his arms first high above his head, then bringing them down to his sides, ready to spring them out.  He hit James and Remus on the shoulders.  With the sheer force of Sirius's shove, they fell over, running into Lily and Peter, who both fell off the edge of the overcrowded booth and onto their rear ends.

            "SIRIUS!" Lily yelled, rubbing her behind as she stood up.

            Sirius put a finger up to his lip, "Shh!  Don't wake up the baby!"  His voice was a pretend harsh whisper and patted baby Harry on the back.  Peter didn't let out any cries of protest, and only stood up from where he fell.  Sirius looked at him oddly, but didn't say anything.  James and Remus suddenly went off into the living room chatting, and took one last look at Sirius.

            Sirius gasped, putting a hand up to his mouth, "They're plotting."  Lily laughed and waved her wand and the dishes were sent soaring into the sink as Sirius stood up as to make their way into the living room to join James, Remus, and Peter. 

            Sirius put the arm that wasn't carrying his godson around Lily, "It was wonderful, Lils.  Thanks."  She smiled and put her head on his shoulder, he was one of her best friends, no matter how much he had tormented her during their stay at Hogwarts.  And so were Remus and Peter, her life had turned out to be everything she had dreamed, even if it was almost a prison.  She had known what was coming when she married James, she had understood and she had embraced it willingly. 

            Lily, mechanically took her son, the passing of him from person to person was customary any time they were all in a room together, they were all raising him together, it was like he had five parents.  She went to sit down as Sirius remembered that he had forgotten his drink in the kitchen.  He turned around and walked back under the doorway that separated the den from the hall, then back into the kitchen.  He smiled, it was worth everything he was doing to protect this family that was his own, it was worth every minute of it. 

            He grabbed the bottle and went back into the den, expecting something, but none-the-less caught off guard by what James and Remus had planned.  It had been a quick charm on Lily's part, she had been filled in at the last minute, James and Remus quickly realizing that when Sirius had gone to get his drink it had been their chance.  She raised her wand and Sirius barely had time to register the familiar I'm-trying-to-hold-in-this-smile smile that Lily had so often back at school before she shouted, "Vocalica Canarias!"  And when Sirius opened his mouth to shout "Protego" all that came out was a loud "WOOF!"

            Sirius tried to shout something along the lines of 'I knew you were planning' but all that came out was "Woof, bark, woof woof!"  Sirius growled, which could have been any number of curses, and James, Lily, and Remus were hysterical, and even Peter let out a chuckle, though his eyes were unfocused and he seemed to be staring off into space.

            He put his wand to his throat and tried to say, 'Vocalica Reparo' but again all that came out was a series of woofs, barks, and yelps. 

            "Alright, alright, I'll fix it!" Lily said, muttering the counter charm.

            Sirius glared at them all, a smile playing on his lips though he did his best to keep it in a frown, "Why don't you do your own charms, Jamesy?"

            "Because, Lily's ten times better at it!  Of course!" Remus said matter-of-factly. 

            James glared at Remus, "You know, mate, I think he was-"

            But Peter had stood up, "Right, well, I think I had better go.  Good night all."  His voice was far away, as if it wasn't him speaking it.  He bent down and kissed Lily on the cheek, patted Remus and James on the back, and then, bent down to ruffle Harry's hair, putting another small piece of levitating sherbet into his tiny pocket without Lily noticing.  He made it to the door, leaving the others dumbstruck as to why he was leaving so early.  As Peter opened the door Sirius jumped up to catch his old friend.

            "I'll be over later to check on you.  Don't leave your house, understand?" Sirius warned, his arm firmly grasping Peter's shoulder, not willing to let him go.

            Peter shoved Sirius's hand off of his shoulder, "I'll be there, now, I really have to go."  Peter was shaking slightly, but his voice was firm.  Sirius was slightly taken aback, and Peter took the moment and left. 

            "I don't know what's gotten into him," Sirius muttered under his breath as he watched Peter leave the driveway, holding out his wand arm for the Knight Bus.  Sirius felt the same unsettling feeling deep down in his stomach that he had had years ago on another occasion and he made his way to the door, but then realizing that his friends were still here, he turned around and waited, biding his time. 

Sirius: Excuse us while she curses peter some more….