Chapter 3: Dinner

James' POV

Oh, yah, I was laughing but I was so not happy about Lily walking in on Sirius. She was my girlfriend…well girl I occasionally went on dates with, but I don't believe there is a technical term for that. It did not matter; I just did not want her seeing my best friend naked. I know that makes no sense what so ever but hey, that's me.

So anyway after Lily apparated to the attic I went into our bedroom and began rummaging in the two drawers of the dresser that belonged to me. Sirius now had on pants (thank goodness) and an informal red button-down. I grabbed a gray-turtle neck sweater and began unbuttoning my other shirt.

"Is it okay to come down now?" came Lily's voice above us.

"Yah, I'm fully dressed, but I'll leave anyway," Sirius snickered and walked out of the room, quietly closing it behind him. Lily was climbing down the ladder now. She looked different. Good different, but different nonetheless. At school she had always worn her school robes. Over the past summer and fall, I had been getting more used to seeing her in muggle clothes. She had even taken Remus, Sirius, and I shopping because she said we needed to learn how to wear pants. Wizard boys have pants, thank you very much. We just don't always need to have them on, robes work just fine. But now the three of us were always found in muggle clothes. They were so much more comfortable than blustery wizard robes. Anyway, back to Lily. She still had the turtleneck sweater on. Its pale green made her hair even brighter. She had forsaken her jeans for a long, gray, wool skirt. On a thin silver chain around her neck held a white pearl.

She sighed, walking closer to me, " Will I have to see every single man in this house half-naked today?"

I slipped my shirt all the way off and pulled the sweater over. "Well you haven't seen Remus but he's kinda spindly so…"

"It's okay, besides I'd rather see you without a shirt on than them any day," she said as she gave me a kiss on the cheek. Lily walked out, closing the door behind her. I sat on the bottom bunk (the one I slept on, Sirius had opted for the top and when Remus had see how old the beds were he thought it would be safest to be the closest to the ground he could get) and started lacing my shoes. This girl was going to be the death of me…

Lily's POV

Once we were all ready we apparated to the Jones'. I was instantly knocked over, though luckily I fell into James who caught me quickly.

"Michael! Philip! Go and apologize to Lily! Is that a way to greet our guests?" shouted Amy Jone. She looked tired, a third son was holding on to her leg. The two older boys, Michael and Philip, came over before me and muttered "I'm sorry" 's much to Amy's gratification. We were in the living room, a rather big room though sparsely furnished. Sitting at a couch across the room were Professor Dumbledore and Alastor "Mad-eye" Moody. They were holding two more children, twins, who were only months old by the look of it. Dumbledore was quite content, allowing his charge to play with his long beard, Moody on the other hand looked entirely uncomfortable, holding the child at an arms length, as though he were a bomb about to go off. I went over to him.

"Here, let me take him. I'm a little more comfortable with kids," I said picking up the baby and holding him against my shoulder. Moody only grunted but I knew he was thankful. I turned back to Amy, who was now talking with Remus. James and Sirius had taken the three other boys over to the fireplace and were showing them some spells. I hadn't seen Amy in a while; she and I knew each other from Hogwarts. She had taken me under her wing in my first year when I knew nothing about magic. It had been hard when she graduated at the end of that year and I had rarely seen her since. I went over to Amy and gave her a one armed hug (I had the baby in the other arm).

"When did you have twins? No one ever tells me anything," I said smiling.

"Eight months ago," She laughed, "I was only expecting one more. It was quite a surprise, let me tell you."

Remus moved away to play with the boys by the fire and I was left to talk to Amy. "So who do I have here?"

"Oh, that's Caleb, a little less rambunctious than Nelly," she said indicating the baby Dumbledore held, "Michael, Philip, and Christopher are over at the fire."

"Ha, I want to have five kids some day…just not sure with who yet," I said smiling, though I was staring at James the whole time. He was his handsomest when he was not trying to look good. Like now, playing with little boys, he looked better than he had in a long time.

"Oh, you'll meet him soon, dear. Anoph and I simply met at Hogwarts. It is one of the most special things in the world, knowing you want to be with them," she said.

Just then Anoph walked into the living room carrying an old bike wheel, "Look, Amy, found this today. Isn't it great?"

"Yes, knowing you love them, no matter how irksome they maybe," Amy muttered, causing me to laugh. She walked over taking the wheel from his arms, "It's lovely dear."

"What were you and Amy talking so deeply about," A voice in my ear said. I turned to see James there, smiling at me. "That's a perfect picture right there," said looking at me holding the little boy. I laughed again. Yes, that could be a perfect picture.

James' POV

Looking at Lily holding Caleb, I totally stopped short. She looked so perfect. And that was something because Lily always looked perfect, but now she looked like the ultimate perfection. She smiled as the baby tugged her hair a bit and nuzzled her shoulder with his cheek. I couldn't help it; I simply leaned in and kissed her on the mouth. She looked a little surprised but smiled as I drew away.

"Dinnertime," called Amy from the kitchen where she had disappeared to with Anoph and the bike wheel a few minutes before.

Sirius' POV

A quarter of an hour later we were all settled in, eating a delicious meal of pork roast and mashed potatoes. The five children were seated at a separate table in the corner of the kitchen. Amy said there was a charm on it so that it would banish any food that fell on it, saving her from more work. Although James had suggested that I go eat over there too I was seated at the big kid's, I mean adult's, table.

Remus and I were sitting across from Lily and James. We kept giving each other looks. James and Lily were holding hands under the table. Remus and I found the Lily/James situation quite funny. Yes, we were quite happy for them, glad that after all those years of trying James had finally gotten the girl. And we really did care about Lil; she had been instantly accepted by us. Well Peter could be standoffish some days, but Peter was odd anyway so… The funniest thing though was how much James had changed for Lily. And by him changing, I changed too. According to Lily, for the better. I think Lily made us realize that it was time to grow up. We couldn't be bratty little boys anymore. There were more important things in life than being popular. For James, one of those things was Lily. And though I would never, ever admit it, but I am really proud of James.

James leaned over on pretense of getting the butter but kissed Lily on the cheek instead. Those two…

Lily's POV

Once dinner was done Amy began to clear the table. Remus, being the gentleman that he was raised to be, stood to help, not so discreetly kicking Sirius under the table to get a little help.

"Don't worry Amy, we'll do this," Remus said.

Amy smiled, "Alright, I'll just put the children to bed then."

"Oh, don't even think about it," I said going over to the kid's table and putting a twin on each hip, "Come on James."

James rose reluctantly from the table muttering something that sounded like, "Yes, dear." He grabbed Christopher's hand and Michael and Philip filed before us up to their rooms.

They each had their own room on the second floor of the house. The only room in the attic was Amy and Anoph's. It only took us about ten minutes to get them all in bed. The three older boys brushed their teeth and put on their pajamas, crawling into bed and falling right asleep. We simply needed to change the twins' diapers and a put on their little footie-pajamas. Once that was done we closed the door and left. "Aren't they cute?" I asked James.

"Yah, they are," he agreed with me. He looked like he was thinking hard about something. I was getting curious, "Whatcha thinking about?" He was about to answer when Sirius called quietly up the stairs, "Get move on! Dumbledore needs to tell us something." We left then, going down the stairs quickly to hear what Dumbledore had to say.