"We have big news," said James, with a huge smile plastered onto his face as he gazed into Lily's brilliant green eyes.
Remus, Sirius and Peter were all sitting down on the couch in front of them, looking worried.
Lily gazed into James' hazel eyes and said, "We're buying a house!"
There was a stunned silence as the information they had just received processed into Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin's brains.
"Together?" said Sirius.
"Yeah," said James, starting to frown at his best friend's reactions.
They all took deep, loud breaths and stood up all of a sudden, congratulating the couple.
"That's so wonderful!"
"You guys'll be so happy together!"
"I can live above your garage, right?"
And other things like that.
"Wow!" said Lily. "I'm happy you guys are taking this so well."
"It's not too far from here. It's in a Muggle village, but I really think you'll like it."
"When are you moving in?" asked Peter, rubbing his hands together in a nervous fashion.
"September first."
"Well, what's it like?" asked Sirius, smiling. "Can we come see it?"
"Yeah, of course. It's two stories high, and it's got one of those little white picket fences in front of it." Lily smiled, blushing.
"There's something else, too," said James.
Lily held up her left hand and Peter, Sirius and Remus all leaned in to examine it. Upon her left ring finger was an emerald ring, gleaming in a foreboding manner.
"Wow," said Remus, quietly. "He even bought you a ring."
Sirius stood up, looked James directly in the face, trying hard not to cry and wrapped his strong arms around James. "I'm so happy for you, mate," he said.
Remus stood up, leaving Peter sitting alone on the couch. "You guys are getting married?"
James held out his hand for Remus to shake it. He stared at it, and slowly, almost reluctantly, accepted it.
"Congratulations," he said.
James Potter had his arms wrapped around Lily as the shadowy figure before them evanesced into the bowl of the silvery substance. The old, gray man behind the desk had his hands clasped together and was staring at the frightened couple mournfully.
"There is a possibility, however, that it shall not be your child."
James looked up, but Lily continued crying into James' shirt from the information they had just received.
"I understand, Lily, that you got pregnant in late November, correct?"
James nodded for her.
"You are, then, five months pregnant?"
He nodded again.
"Do you know the sex of the child."
"Male," croaked James.
"This is unfortunate," said Albus Dumbledore, looking back down at his Pensieve. "Very unfortunate." He took a deep breath and looked back up at the couple. "Lily, look at me."
She looked up, her brilliant green eyes red and wet.
"I suggest you only tell your close friends about the child. No one else, do you understand? Should anyone else be informed, I shall do so myself."
At one in the morning, Sirius was woken up by a soft knock on the door. He sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes.
They knocked again, harder this time.
Slowly, Sirius got up and answered the door, only to find Freya standing in the doorway, wet and alone, crying.
"Sirius Black," she whispered.
"Freya?" he said, his eyes only half open.
"I'm so sorry, Sirius." She looked helplessly inside his apartment, as if waiting to be invited in.
He saw her doing so and stood back, opening the door wider, letting her step inside. "What happened?" he said, closing the door behind her and starting to fix her some tea, as she sat down.
"I… I got scared."
"Of what?" Sirius sat down with a mug of tea in the chair next to Freya. She looked down at the cup.
"I can't tell you."
"But… what's wrong with you, Freya? What the hell were you scared of?"
"I'm not sure." She looked up into his gray eyes. "The truth."
"Have we not been dating long enough for me to know the truth?" said Sirius playfully, smiling.
"Stop it," she said. His smile vanished in a blink. "These are horrible times, Sirius. Times when anyone would give anything just to be a Muggle, simply so you'd be oblivious to what has been going on in the world." Sirius watched her as she fingered the mug of tea in front of her, her face expressionless, the only part of her moving her lips. "Someone is coming into power, he's mad. His life was ruined when the love of his life disappeared and he dedicated himself to doing the same to all others in the world. Anyone who stands up to him, they don't live to see the next hour. They don't live if he decides to kill them.
"But there is someone who can stop him, Sirius." Freya looked up at him, tears starting to build up in her green eyes. She wasn't wearing her glasses. "He hasn't been born yet, but he can stop him, and the Dark Lord knows when he will be born. All he has to do is kill him, and no one will be able to stand in his way. All he needs to know is where the boy will be born. I was hired by him to find that out. That's what brought me to you."
Sirius stood up, knocking over his chair, and started retreating from the woman. "Y- you—"
"Sirius," she said, looking at the table. "He's going to kill me when he finds out that I told you. But you must understand."
"There's nothing to understand!" he shouted.
Freya stood up and cast the full body freezing charm on Sirius. "I'm sorry about this, but you need to hear me out. I'm working for the Order of the Phoenix. It's an organization that Albus Dumbledore has started. Its purpose is to stop the Dark Lord from rising to too much power. I've been assigned to be a double agent, along with a few other anonymous members of the Order. We were sent to infiltrate the Dark Lord's supporters, a group of wizards and witches that call themselves the Deatheaters. Sirius, if you help us, if you join the Order, you could save your best friends."