Chapter 42

James burst through the door, singing at the top of his out of tune voice. "I passed the test. I'm now an Auror! Somebody congratulate me! I'm bloody brilliant!"

Sirius walked out of the kitchen, where he had been teaching himself how to cook (again), holding Ana's hand. She had taken to play dough like peanut butter took to jelly and, as such,was all sticky. Sirius himself was covered in flour and other cooking ingredients. By now he was very visibly pregnant, being in his sixth month. His new job really hadn't been doing much, and recently he had been going to work with a concealing spell, considering his employers were muggles and wouldn't take well to him being pregnant. "Well, it's Mr. Egotistical himself."

"Oh shut up, you know I did well," replied James walking over to Sirius and neatly picking him up and spinning him around. Putting him back down, Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"I didn't know you could pick me up. I thought I'd be too heavy now."

James smiled and picked up Ana as she walked over to him. She too had been growing. James had gone out and bought a book on good eating habits for toddlers and by the sound of it, they were doing everything right. Hopefully. "Nah, I'm very strong. You shouldn't doubt that."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about? I'm huge! I eat too much, and by too much I mean anything that is within my grasp. I don't exercise, I just sit around with Ana or at work. I feel so bloody useless."

At that word, Ana clapped her hands over her mouth and shook her head, her eyes as wide as saucers. They had taught Ana bad words early and tried to keep their language clean for her sake. Sirius, however, was too hormonal to really care at that point. He was tired of carrying around the extra weight and being forced to use a concealing charm whenever anyone was around, considering it was a muggle neighborhood. The baby was also starting to kick, which Sirius already hated from experience.

"You're not useless," reprimanded James, setting down the little girl and hugging Sirius. She hugged his leg as well, and Sirius looked down at her fondly. They had bonded very nicely while James had been at school. James and Ana were close as well, but she and Sirius had an unbreakable bond that James could never match. It turned out that Sirius was able to take his daughter to work with him. "As for eating, I would certainly hope that you're eating well, or else you'll have some problems with an underdeveloped baby. And you wouldn't want that, would you?"

Sirius shook his head reluctantly. "Doesn't mean I have to enjoy being thirty pounds overweight," he muttered, glancing down at Ana, who was still hugging his leg. He picked her up and kissed her on the cheek. "I think we should expand your vocabulary more, what do you say to that?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes," she said, smiling happily. Upon her second birthday she had completely mastered walking, potty training, and many different words. She was extremely intelligent and developed quickly. James insisted that the more they talked to the little girl, the more she'd learn. That was why Sirius was so determined to sing to her every night.

"Alright, um…what words should we try to instill into her mind?"

James shrugged and walked over to sit on the couch. Sirius followed suit, setting down Ana, letting her walk on her own. She was such a headstrong girl who knew what she wanted. And right then, she wanted to walk, not be carried.

"Um…say, antidisestablishmentarianism," James said, watching Sirius for a reaction.

"Yeah say...hey wait. What?" exclaimed Sirius, looking surprised, confused, and completely lost. "Antidisestablishment-whatchamecalit?"

James laughed. "Antidisestablishmentarianism. It's some political doctrine regarding the church."

Sirius still looked confused, but nodded anyways. "And you want to teach what an eighteen year old can't understand to a toddler?"

James shrugged. "One of us has to be smart," he explained, shrugging and stretching out his cramped arms. Sitting andtaking a test all day was not really his favorite thing to do.

Sirius simply rolled his eyes at that statement. "Well, we'll try making her smart when she'll actually understand it. For now, let's teach her something useful."

"That word is useful!"

"When is she going to use antidisestablishmentarianism at preschool?"

Not missing a beat, James answered, "When she's trying to suck up to a teacher for giving her a failing mark. Or just to show off."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "James, I'm not trying to raise a mini-clone of us. That would just be bad."

James laughed at that comment. "You've got a good point. I do not want to experience raising us. My mom said it was hell."

At that word, Ana looked up and clasped her hand over her mouth again. James laughed and stood up. "I'm gonna take a nap. I haven't gotten sleep for what seems like forever. Too much midnight cramming. Wake me up before dinner or something please."

Sirius nodded and kissed him quickly on the lips before he walked upstairs. "Shall we get back to cooking?" he asked his daughter once James had gone upstairs.

"Cook, cook!" she exclaimed and Sirius laughed, taking her by the hand and leading her to the kitchen. She immediately wrenched her hand away from his grasp and went to her little play dough station. Sirius, on the other hand, went back over to the cook book that he had been reading through. He briefly remembered the last time that he had attempted cooking. He had utterly failed and Mrs. Potter had taken over. Now, however, there was no one to do the work for him, and he was determined.

A knock on the door sounded and Sirius sighed in mock exasperation. "Well, look at that," he said to Ana, sounding relieved and mildly sarcastic, "someone's here. I have to stop my cooking and everything to let them in."

She giggled and Sirius smiled before walking to the door, but not before putting on a concealing charm. He wasn't sure who it would be. However, when he pulled the door open, he saw that the concealing charm was pointless. Lily stood at his doorstep, beaming. He stepped inside, an invitation for her to enter.

"Hello, Sirius," she said, smiling and stepping into the room.

"Hey, Lily. Wanna come and help me cook. Ana and I aren't doing so good at it."

Lily laughed and followed him into the kitchen. "Where's James?" she asked, glancing around for her other friend.

Sirius smiled and rolled his eyes. "He's sleeping. He's been studying for the Auror test thing and hasn't gotten much rest recently."

Lily nodded in understanding and sat down. She and Remus had gotten married a month ago. It had been a beautiful celebration, very similar to Sirius's and James's, only with more color coordination and arguing in the week up to the wedding. It had been strictly a family/friend wedding. Very small, very simple, but meaningful all the same.

"What brings you around here?" asked Sirius, sitting down across from her, taking a break from his complicated recipe (pork fajitas).

"Is it painful?" she asked randomly, staring out the window in a dazed sort of way.

"Is what painful?" he asked, confused.

"Pregnancy. Birth. Infancy."

Sirius raised his eyes. "Pregnancy, well, morning sickness hurts because of all the vomiting and then nothing really bad happens until around the fifth or sixth month when the baby starts kicking. Birth, I actually have no idea, as I had a c-section. Infancy, only painful if you like sleeping."

Lily smiled and nodded. "Oh well. Our greatest treasures are usually obtained through pain."

Sirius smiled, understanding flashing across his face. "Pregnant?"

Lily nodded and smiled in response. "Oh yeah."

Sirius nodded. "Welcome to the club."

A.N. Thanks. Review. Bye.