Chapter 34

They stayed at the Potters' house for about a month. Anastasia grew and Mrs. Potter was teaching her how to walk properly. James was out trying to decide what to do with his life and Sirius was teaching himself how to cook. It was a lot harder than it looked.

"Need some help?" asked Mrs. Potter as she walked into the kitchen, stooped over, as she was holding Ana's hands to make sure she didn't fall. Sirius saw her and grinned.

"Come here, come to daddy," he said as he knelt down. Carefully, she started to walk over to him. As she started to fall, Sirius lurched forward and scooped her up.

"Now Sirius," Mrs. Potter reprimanded, "you have to let her fall sometimes, or else she'll never learn."

Sirius rolled his eyes in response. "Yeah, does that work with cooking too? I have to let the thing blow up before I'll learn how?"

At that Mrs. Potter burst into laughter. "I guess you can try that approach, if you feel like cleaning the kitchen."

He sighed and looked back into the cook book. "I don't understand what this recipe is trying to tell me," he confessed.

Mrs. Potter looked at him and then nudged him over to look at the book. "Ah, here let me show you." She began measuring out spices and mixing it. "There," she said when she was finished. "That was what you were supposed to do."

"Gee thanks, Mrs. Potter," Sirius said sarcastically, "thanks for letting me do it myself and learning how."

She laughed and left the kitchen, taking Anastasia with her. Sirius was left grumbling and put the stuff in the dinner. "She could have just let me let it blow up…at least that would be interesting. But nooo, she decided to go and do it for me. No amusement whatsoever," he muttered as he began cleaning up. "Didn't even think to help me clean up. No consideration whatsoever."

"What's wrong now?" asked James as he walked into the kitchen.

"Nothing, I'm just in one of my complaining moods," answered Sirius as he put the spices away.

"Hmm. I think we should go find our own house."

Sirius looked up at James and drew his eyebrows together. "Our own house? And how are we buying this new house?"

James shrugged. "I'm sure we can find a way. It shouldn't be too hard."

Sirius sighed and then nodded. "I think it's a good idea. When should we start looking?"

James looked at where the food was cooking. "How long will that take?"

Sirius looked at his watch and then shrugged. "About an hour and a half."

"Let's go now and look at a few houses. I've already driven by them."

"You've been planning this, haven't you?"

"For about a month."

"Oh."

James grabbed Sirius and dragged him out of the kitchen, yelling to his mom their plan. She answered back with a warning to be back in time for dinner and then they left.

"You see," James said as they drove he pointed out a few little houses. "We don't need a big house, a little one will be just fine."

"I like littler houses anyways," responded Sirius. James smiled at that comment and pulled into the driveway of a little blue house with a nice yard.

"This one has a nice interior and is very cozy. It has two bedrooms, but one room could be transformed into a third one if we end up needing one. The kitchen's kinda small, but judging by your cooking that won't be a problem. The living room is small, but big enough for us. It seems like the perfect house so far. Not to mention it's in our price range," explained James as they got out of the car.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "We have a price range?" he asked under his breath. James either didn't hear or chose to ignore the statement. "How are we going to get in?" he asked.

James nodded his head to a car that was parked on the road. "The realtor is here. She can't wait to sell the place to us. She would have given me the key if I hadn't told her that I needed to bring it up with my fiancé."

Sirius smiled at that comment. "Poor lady. No idea who your fiancé is."

James laughed. "Not a clue."

James pushed the door open and Sirius gasped. He loved it. It was exactly how James had described it, small, cozy, and perfect! "James, I love it. Let's get it, please!"

James laughed and wrapped his arm around Sirius's waist. "Come on, let's wander around before we buy it."

"Oh, look at the cute stairs," squealed Sirius, pointing to the stairs leading up to the bedrooms.

A woman came out from a door on the right and came up to the two teenagers. "Um…so, have you made up your mind about the house?" she asked sweetly, trying to ignore the fact that James had his arm around Sirius's waist. She apparently wasn't accustomed to gay buyers.

"Actually," James looked at Sirius, who was begging James with his eyes. He laughed at him and nodded. "Yes, I think this is the perfect house for us. How much is it?"

The lady laughed lightly and led James away to the kitchen to talk business, leaving Sirius to continue wandering around. It was perfect. It was everything his home had not been while growing up. It was friendly, welcoming, warm, loving, and a home. It wasn't a house, used to boast great wealth or position, but a home that people who loved each other lived in. This would be Sirius's first home.

James came out of the kitchen, a scowl on his face. "Would you consider us pansies?" he asked Sirius, a look of frustration on his face.

Sirius laughed and nodded his head. "Yes, moron, what else could we possibly be?"

James shrugged and turned to look at the woman who was standing at the door, watching them. "Everything's set up," she said, her eyebrows raised. "All you two need to do now is move in. Have a good day." She left, leaving Sirius and James staring around their new house.

"So, that's it?" asked Sirius. He thought that it would take a long time.

"Well, I still have to go sign a few papers and make the payments obviously, but yeah, it's our house." He held up the keys and kissed Sirius on the lips. "There's just one problem."

"What's that?" asked Sirius, dreading any possible incident.

"This is a muggle street."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh well, we'll just have to be careful."

"No kidding."

James ushered Sirius out of the house, locking it behind them and they got in the car to go back to the Potter's house.

"Just in time," Mrs. Potter said as they entered the house and walked into the kitchen where she was getting out the dinner. James smiled and Sirius rolled his eyes. "So, any success?"

"We," James said, holding up the keys, "are the proud owners of a new little blue house, in a muggle residence."

Mrs. Potter smiled and nodded. "And you have sorted out how to pay for it while getting new furniture?"

"Mum, we're wizards, we don't need to buy furniture. Worst comes to worse we can just transfigure a rock into a bed," whined James.

Mrs. Potter shook her head. "It's a muggle community. Don't you think it'll look odd if you move into a completely empty house and the next day it's as if you've lived there forever?"

Sirius and James exchanged looks and shook their heads. The flaw that both of them knew would show up did. The perfect flaw for the perfect plan. "Oh well, I'll just steal the stuff from my room and then we'll transfigure everything else."

"We could say we moved in the dark," Sirius suggested. Mrs. Potter laughed at that and left to call her husband down for dinner. Anastasia was sitting in her high chair with her food in front of her. She was making a huge mess.

After dinner was done, and Ana was cleaned up, Sirius, James, and Mrs. Potter sat down to plan the wedding. "Do you want a practice dinner and a reception and…I don't know."

"A practice dinner? What's the point of that?" asked Sirius.

"To get together before the actual wedding," answered James. "I think that would be nice, but I'd really prefer a small event. Wouldn't you Siri?"

Sirius nodded and picked up Ana as she crawled over to him. "I don't want a big thing. None of my family will come, except for Andromeda and her husband. Remus, Peter, and Lily will of course be invited…"

"Anyone from our side of the family, of course," James added. "And that's about it."

Mrs. Potter nodded. "I'm assuming Remus and Peter are going to be your best men?"

James and Sirius exchanged a glance. "I don't really…Peter's great and all but…just no," explained Sirius. "I would really prefer for Lily and Remus to do it. I haven't even had a conversation with Peter since he got a girlfriend and then lost her."

Mrs. Potter nodded and got a piece of paper and pencil to write that down. "What type of food?"

"I hate anything pork," Sirius immediately said.

"And I'm okay with almost anything. I think chicken and pasta salad would be very tasty though," added James.

"And cake. And cookies. And soup. And zucchini," continued Sirius.

"Zucchini?" asked James, looking at Sirius as if he'd lost his mind.

"I happen to like zucchini, so there."

Mrs. Potter shook her head in amusement and wrote down what they were saying. "When do you want the wedding and where?"

"October," Sirius instantly said. "That's my favorite month."

James smiled slightly. "October 31," he said and Sirius nodded.

"Where?" asked James's mother.

"By the lake," Sirius said.

"What lake?" asked James.

"I don't care, a lake."

"There aren't any lakes as far as I know."

"Well then we'll just have to find one."

"How about in a normal place like a church?"

Sirius thought for a moment about that option and then shrugged. "A church is good too."

Mrs. Potter smiled and wrote everything down. "What kinda theme do you want?"

This stumped both teenagers. Theme? They had thought of everything else, down to the color of the napkins, but hadn't thought of a theme.

"Do we have to have a theme?" asked James after a few minutes of contemplation. Sirius nodded eagerly.

"No, I don't s'pose you do," answered Mrs. Potter. "It'll just make it easier to pick colors."

"Oh, we've already done that," responded Sirius. "We like cream white napkins and tablecloths."

"Red flowers in the middle of the tables and around the alter," added James.

"But not roses," said Sirius.

"I was hoping that we could use your silverware and plates and such," James begged in his own way.

Mrs. Potter absorbed everything. The two boys were more prepared than she had thought. It made her proud. "What do you want Remus and Lily to wear?" she asked.

Sirius wrinkled his nose in disgust. "They can wear whatever they bloody want to wear."

Mrs. Potter shook her head slightly at his language but nodded. "Is there anything you haven't thought of that might need to be done?"

James and Sirius exchanged glances and then Sirius nodded. "We haven't decided on what song we want to use. We have a list of about ten, but we can't narrow them down."

"Because you're so stubborn and refuse to take them off," mumbled James. Sirius shot him a look of pure venom but didn't argue.

"Let me see the list, maybe I can help," offered Mrs. Potter. Sirius nodded and pulled the list out of his pocket and handed it to his future mother-in-law.

Immediately she crossed out six of the ten songs. "There," she said in satisfaction. "Now you only have to get rid of three of the songs."

James and Sirius looked at the remaining songs on the list: Love is the Movement, Only Hope, Let That be Enough, and You. They were all songs that were from Switchfoot, but seemed to fit the lovers. James and Sirius looked at the list and then each other. "I like all of those songs," Sirius whined.

"I know, but we have to chose which one would be best. I don't think Love is the Movement fits."

Sirius nodded and flinched as James crossed out the name. "I don't like You as much as I like the other two, so that one can be x-ed," admitted Sirius and James crossed that one out. Sirius turned his head so he wouldn't have to watch.

"Only Hope or Let That be Enough?" asked James, looking at Sirius closely.

"Let That be Enough," Sirius finally answered after having a mental debate with himself.

James smiled and crossed out Only Hope. "I was hoping you'd say that one," he smiled. Sirius kissed him on the cheek and nodded slightly.

Mrs. Potter grinned at the two boys and wrote down the song on the piece of paper. "Any other major conflicts?"

"Just one, Mrs. P.," teased Sirius.

"And what's that?" she asked, dreading everything about this new conflict.

"Should we have a vanilla or chocolate cake?"

A.N. that was a really long chapter. Oh well. I liked it. They have their own house, the wedding is planned. Life is good. Please review and thank you!