October 31

The next evening in the Potter household was not a good one. Harry had been unusually fussy that day, and as soon as James had returned home from work, Lily had given the crying baby to him.

"James, I really think something's wrong with him." Lily said as they sat in the living room that night.

"Maybe it's a phase."

"It's not a phase. Kids don't just start crying randomly for full days."

"Just take him to the healer and get it checked out tomorrow."

Suddenly their fireplace started glowing and Sirius's head appeared in the fire.

"Hey, Padfoot. What's up?" James asked.

"I'm going through a crisis here. Do you think you could come over for a while?"

"What's going on? Oh, hey, Sirius." Lily said as she walked into the living room with Harry in her arms. His cries had quieted for now, but she didn't know how long it would last.

"Lily, do you mind if I borrow James for a while?" Sirius's head asked.

"Right now?"

"Lily, I won't be too long. Besides, he's quiet now."

"Are you two having baby troubles?"

"Yes."

"No more than 30 minutes, I promise." James pleaded.

"Fine, but if you're longer, you're the one who gets to stay up with a crying baby."

"Thanks, Lily. James, I'll see you in a few." Sirius said before his head disappeared from the flames.

"Thank you so much. I promise I'll try to make it under 30 minutes." James said as he kissed his wife then pulled out his want to disapperate. James instantly appeared in Sirius's kitchen where his friend gave him a warm glass of butterbeer.

"So what's so important that we both had to beg my wife to let me come? It had better not be Rebekha."

Sirius didn't say anything, but looked down at his drink.

"It is Rebekha. Sirius!"

"She wants to get married." he said bluntly.

"But you don't, right?"

"I don't know."

James could tell by the look on his friend's face that he really needed some help.

"Why don't you start by telling me what happened."

"Well, the night started out fine. We had dinner, walked around Hogsmeade, then came back here. We were in the living room having fun with ourselves, when she pulls back and says, 'When are you going to aske me to marry you?' I just sat there and I looked at her. I finally jumbled out an 'I don't know' and the she asks, 'Well, are going to get married?' Again, the only thing I can think of is 'I don't know.' Then she gives me this look and says, 'Do you even want to get married? Not just to me. Period.' And all I can do to save my life is just give her this stupid look and say yet again, 'I don't know.' Then she says, 'Well, when you figure it out, let me know.' Then she got up and walked out. I just sat there dumbfounded about the whole conversation."

"I would have, too. Marriage is a big step. It's not something you need to let her pressure you into."

"I know. But I'm afraid if I tell her I don't want to get married, at least right now, I'll lose her. I don't want to lose her. This is all your fault."

"My fault? How is it my fault?"

"I've know Bekha's wanted to get married for a while now. She would never say it directly, but I knew what she was talking about. I remember the first hint she gave me. It was at Remus's birthday party in May. I don't remember what we were doing, but out of nowhere she was all, 'Look at Lily and James. I want what they have.'"

"What do we have?"

"You have a marriage. A good marriage."

"It's not as easy as it sounds. We have good times, we have bad times, just like everyone else. And sometimes, the bad gets really bad and you have to really work at getting it back up to good. For instance, if I stay here any longer, things could get pretty ugly and fixing it would probably require some Honeydukes chocolate, flowers, and intense groveling on my part."

"It's been 30 minutes already?"

"Almost. But my answer to your problem is just to let her know how you feel. Maybe she's scared, too. Well, I'm off."