Chapter 4- Five Letters:

"Asked if I was done with my paper, said he missed doing the crossword."

"How about... er - Robert?" James asked, frowning down at the piece of parchment, he shook his head. "Robert Potter, nah- I don't like it." He added, before Lily even had a chance to reply.

Lily sighed. "We could just name him after you..."

"We can't, I'll never know whether you're telling him or me off."

"Just assume it's you. Anyway, you're right, I think I prefer to leave James as a middle-name, that's your family tradition anyway, isn't it?"

"So let me get this straight." said Sirius finally, putting down his copy of the Daily Prophet and looking from one to the other. "We've been here nearly four hours, and all you two could come up with is 'James,' as a middle-name, if it's a boy and 'Lily' if it's a girl. What a creative couple you are! Prongs, don't you remember our marauding days? Who came up with the name 'Padfoot'?"

James raised an eyebrow. "You did!" He turned his attention back to his parchment, where he and Lily had written, and then promptly crossed out every option so far.

"What about your family tradition?" He asked Lily.

She shrugged. "Unless you want to name our son after a flower..."

"-And if it's a girl?"

"Rose, Daisy, Margaret...I don't know, James!"

Sirius sniggered, shaking his head and turning his gaze back to the crossword puzzle. "Hey Lil," he muttered, "this one's for you, 'muggle communication device, nine letters."

Lily and James both rolled their eyes. "Telephone." They said together.

Sirius leaned over to write it down. "It doesn't fit!"

"There is no 'F'."

"-and a PH'."

Sirius looked up at them, disgusted. "Ugh! You guys need some time away from each other!"

"Or away from you!" Lily said, grinning

"Nah- Prongs wouldn't live."

James shot Sirius a 'you wish' stare, and then looked at Lily. "I guess it's down to the cliché muggle names..."

Sirius snorted. "Cliché! This coming from a guy called 'James.'"

Once again, James ignored him. "Let's do girls first." He said to Lily.

"Hmmm. Sarah, Emma, Katie, Alice, Lisa, Jane?" Lily screwed up her face in thought. James wrinkled his nose.

"You are just naming girls I've dated." Sirius said from behind his paper, he looked up at Lily. "And mind you be extra careful not to name your little girl after one of James' fan club members... Sarah Potter, you do not want to go giving her any ideas!"

James' cheeks went red; he gave Sirius a repressing look. Lily giggled. "Guess we can cross out Sarah, then!" She said happily. She got up and headed toward the kitchen.

"Padfoot!" James said desperately. "Would you mind being a little less outspoken?"

"Aw, come one Prongs, lighten up! Let's think of boy's names, er- five letters?"

James rolled his eyes. Lately, Sirius had gotten into the habit of doing the crossword every morning after reading his copy of the Daily Profit. There was just the minor drawback that Sirius had absolutely no patience to work on the answers by himself, so he always ended up coming to Lily and James' house for breakfast.

"Will you give up on that already? You're getting obsessed!" James said irritably.

"Keep your antlers on deer boy, I'm almost done!"

Lily returned from the kitchen holding a glass of orange juice, which she was sipping from contentedly. Her spare hand was wrapped around her belly.

"Christopher? Luke? Mark?" She suggested.

"Nope." Sirius shook his head, still looking down at his crossword.

"Arthur? Jake? Harry?" Lily suggested distractedly.

"Hang on..." said Sirius, checking the parchment.

"Yeah..." James said suddenly.

"Nope! Keep going Lil!"

"Yeah…Harry. Harry Potter." James ignored Sirius, his eyes were twinkling.

Lily considered it for a moment. "Harry James Potter." She grinned. "I love it."

Sirius looked up at her. "Do you mind? I'm not finished with five letter names!"

Lily stared down at his piece of parchment. "Five letters...boys name..." She muttered. Then, her eyes sparkling in amusement, she took the pencil from Sirius' hand, wrote down the answer, stood up, and walked away, snickering.

The two men stared after her.

"What was the answer?" James asked.

Sirius looked at his parchment and then back at his friend. "Er- 'James'."