Chapter 32

It was the end of the year again. The NEWTS were over and everyone was relaxing. Except for the Marauders. They were deeply worried that they would not be as close of friends as they were at school. It was their last year, and they were just realizing how much they were going to miss it. Sirius had spent the past few days wandering around with Anastasia in his arms, hugging everything and everyone he saw, including Snape. That had scared Remus a little bit, but…there you go. Remus and Lily had been accompanying him so that he wouldn't go insane. They too were starting to realize how important Hogwarts was to them, although they hadn't started hugging random people or inanimate objects.

At the time being, though, James had other things on his mind. It was Sirius's birthday and this year was going to be the best one yet. At least he hoped so. This year he had a surprise for his boyfriend and couldn't wait to tell him. However, he was anxious about how it would be accepted. He was determined for things to turn out right for Sirius, Anastasia, and him.

So, on June 11, Sirius's birthday, James got up and left the room in order to prepare for his surprise. As such, Sirius woke up alone and confused. The last time he'd woken up alone had been….wow, a long time ago. So he was surprised that, not only was James missing, but he was missing on his birthday. He got up and walked over to Anastasia who was sitting quietly in her crib.

"Alright, either he forgot my birthday or he's planning something outrageous that will probably make me love him forever," Sirius told her, leaning on the side of her crib. She just looked at him and giggled, waving her arms around, signifying that she wanted to be picked up. "Oh alright, you spoiled little munchkin." He picked her up and the door opened.

Sirius looked up, expecting James, but it was only Remus and Lily. "Happy birthday Sirius," Lily squealed in delight, lunging forward and throwing her arms around Sirius and Ana.

Remus rolled his eyes at her and said, "Happy birthday, Padfoot."

"Thanks you guys," Sirius responded, smiling at them as Lily pulled back and stepped back over to be by Remus's side. "Do you know where James is?"

Remus shrugged, but a small smile came to his face. "Sorry, Pads, I haven't seen him."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "You are the crappiest liar I have ever met," he teased. "So, where is he?"

"We don't know, actually. The last time we saw him he was just strolling around the castle near Professor McGonagall 's class looking lost," answered Lily. Remus glanced at her suspiciously, but Sirius didn't notice.

"Really?" asked Sirius and he headed for the door. "Do you mind watching Ana for a while? I'd like to go find James."

Lily nodded and took the baby from his arms. He rushed out the door, leaving Lily and Remus with Anastasia.

"Why did you tell him where James was?" he asked his girlfriend, looking at her strangely.

"Because he was there. As in he's not there now. Key word being was," she replied and kissed Anastasia on the forehead. "Not to mention, I'm a much better liar than you are sweetie."

teehee-

Sirius walked around the halls, completely lost, despite the fact that he'd wandered through those halls hundreds of times before. Where could James possibly be? He knew then that James was planning something, but for what purpose? What could possibly need so much planning for? Sirius sighed. He had a vague feeling that he knew what it was about.

He walked down to where Lily had last seen him and then walked around the other random hallways and staircases. Eventually he got tired of just walking so he started singing one of the Switchfoot songs, not minding how loud he got.

"Mr. Black, will you please keep it down," asked Professor McGonagall as she came out from a passage to his right.

Sirius looked sheepish for a moment and then nodded his head. "Sorry Professor," he replied. "Have you seen James anywhere?"

Professor McGonagall turned and looked at him and then shrugged. "I haven't been looking for him so I'm not sure. But I don't think I have so, no. Why?"

Sirius shrugged. "I just woke up and he wasn't with me. And it's my birthday so I know he's planning something because Lily and Remus made it blatantly obvious that he didn't forget and…I want to find him."

Professor McGonagall smiled at her student. Despite all the grief that he and James had caused her, she was going to miss them. Although they caused trouble they brought amusement during the rise of dark times. It was a shame to see them go. She would always cherish watching them as they grew up from children to teenagers and then to young men. "It's the next step in their lives," she thought to herself and then said aloud,"I'm sorry, Mr. Black. I haven't seen him. If I do, I'll tell him that it would mean a lot to you if he found you."

"Thanks, Professor." Sirius turned around to walk away.

"Oh and Mr. Black," she called unexpectedly. Sirius stopped and turned around to face her. She paused and then said ,"Happy birthday and good luck."

A smile crept across his handsome face. "Thanks, Professor." They parted ways, each knowing that they would most likely never speak to each other one on one again.

haha-

"So where is he?" asked James when he found Lily and Remus in the Gryffindor common room. "You were just supposed to tell him that I was going to meet him in the common room to get him out of the room."

"Well," Lily began calmly, "he seemed determined to find you so we sent him on a wild goose chase." Unnoticed by James and Lily, the door opened and in stumbled a weary looking teenager.

James rolled his eyes and suppressed a scream of frustration. "Well, dinner's going to get cold if I don't find him soon."

"Well, you won't have to look too long or hard," a smiling Remus stated.

"And why's that?" he demanded.

"He just came in." James spun around and smiled when he saw his boyfriend walking over to him.

"Finally, I found you. I swear I've been all around this school three times. Funny, it didn't strike me that you'd be in the common room," Sirius said as he fell into James's embrace.

When they broke apart, Lily asked hesitantly, "Do you want me to continue watching over Ana?"

James looked at Sirius for permission and then nodded. "Thanks you guys. We'll be back later to pick her up."

"You can leave her for the night if you want," Lily said, raising her eyebrows as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet.

"That's fine," Sirius answered and let James lead him impatiently out of the room. As they walked, Sirius began singing under his breath. It was one of the songs on the cd that James had given him. Of course, James recognized it immediately.

James smiled. "That's on the Switchfoot cd."

Sirius nodded and leaned against James. He was exhausted from running around the school. "I think it's a cool song."

"Hey, wait," James said, looking confused. "It wasn't on the cd I gave you."

Smiling dimly, Sirius responded, "Remus gave it to me for Christmas. I found some way to listen to it here. Awesome band."

James laughed and opened the door to their room. Sirius followed James into the room and gasped when his eyes fell upon the candles lit around the room, the nicely made table, and the freshly cooked dinner. "You did all of this for me?" he asked in stunned disbelief.

James rolled his eyes. "Siri, this is absolutely nothing. I would do anything for you, yet you're shocked that I would do something so small as cook dinner for you. You're worth far more than that."

Sirius shook his head and turned to look at James in the eyes. "I've said it once, I'll say it again, you are far too good for me."

"Nah, we agreed that I'm far too good to you," he corrected as hegently steered Sirius to the table.

They began eating in a comfortable silence. Sirius was finding the food delicious, but he was still wondering about the big secrecy. This couldn't be the only thing that James had wanted to do, could it? It didn't seem likely, but then again, he would have said that it was unlikely that James Potter could cook a grilled cheese sandwich, let alone a gourmet meal.

"Sirius," James began, looking a bit uncertain as to what to say.

"Hmm?" Sirius responded, his mouth full of the delicious dinner that James had so carefully put together.

"I…uh, how's the food," he finished lamely. He was so nervous. "What if he says no?" he worried to himself.

Sirius looked at him suspiciously, but answered, "It's great. Seriously, I don't think I've ever eaten something this good before."

James smiled at that. "Listen Siri, you know I love you, right?" Definitely suspicious now, Sirius nodded slowly. "Well," continued James, "when people love each other, they usually…you know, get married." Sirius's eyes widened slightly at that comment. James sighed and got out of his chair to kneel before Sirius. "I can't think of any other way to put this, and I'm not really a deeply romantic person, but to put it simply, will you marry me Sirius Black?"

Sirius smiled and nodded joyfully. "Of course, you idiot. Do you really think I would say no after all that you've done for me?"

James smiled sheepishly. "Well, I don't know. You know, stranger things have happened."

"Like?"

"I don't know. I started quoting Veggitales," he responded, laughing at the idiocy of it all.

Sirius smiled and jumped down on the floor to sit next to James. "Thank you for all that you've done. I owe you so much. I don't know if I would have been able to survive all that's happened if I hadn't had you with me."

James smiled slightly and gently touched Sirius's face. "Think nothing of it. I just expect you to have my back if something goes wrong." He moved forward and pressed a kiss to Sirius's mouth.

When they broke apart, Sirius laughed, "So the invincible Potter really isn't all that invincible?"

"You wish," he retorted and then began unbuttoning Sirius's shirt…

A.N.- teehee. How cute. I love them both. How adorable. Anyway, something exciting happened to me…well actually, nothing really big occurred in my life. Oh well. The normal message, and if you don't get it yet, go back and read previous author notes. Lol. See ya...or, actually, i won't. oh well.