"Mags, Daisy Mae, I have to ask you something."

"And what is that, Sirius?"

"Would you be a surrogate for Rem and me? So we could, you know, have a baby?"

Of all things Margaret Lupin expected to leave Sirius Black's mouth, his sudden question was not it in the least. Sirius was drunk, she was sure of it, but she wasn't sure that she had seen him touch a drop of alcohol the entire night. Sirius Black did not stutter or slur his words with his surprising and very unexpected question.

Margaret stared at Sirius, jaw dropped and wide green eyes meeting silvery blue with confusion. The silence seemed to extend on for hours, the chirping crickets and noises of party guests somewhere far in the background. The waning moon shone bright overhead, and Margaret glanced back at everyone in the back garden still laughing brightly. The wireless was playing something, but Margaret wasn't sure what, and she watched her brother be pulled into a dance by Lily Evans. The party being held at her parent's home in Wales was as much for her as it was for Remus. It was a late graduation party for Remus, a send-off for her final year at Hogwarts, and (most importantly, Margaret felt), her 17th birthday.

"I'm sorry?" Margaret finally asked, turning back to look at Sirius, her brow furrowed. "You want me to do what exactly?"

"Well, Rem and I want a baby," Sirius said. "And as two men, I don't think that's exactly possible. We want it to have a bit of both of us, and since I don't have any sisters, nor would I ever ask if I did, I thought –"

"That you would ask me instead?" Margaret asked. Sirius nodded fervently, a hopeful glimmer in his eye. Margaret folded her arms across her chest as she searched Sirius's face, still stunned that Sirius would ever ask such a thing of her. "My God, Sirius Black, you are being serious, aren't you? How do you even know what a surrogate is?"

"Your brilliant brother, of course," Sirius said with a huff as if the answer should have been obvious. Margaret supposed that it should have been. "We were talking about the future and the whatnot. You know, normal pillow talk –" Margaret let out a noise of disgust "- and babies came up. Again. It's not the first time it's come up, especially after, well…I don't think you need the details."

"No, I'd much rather not know my brother's sex life, thank you very much."

"All right, well," Sirius huffed, running his hands through his wavey hair and looking back at the party. His eyes scanned the crowd to find Remus, a small smile crossing his face. When he looked back at Margaret, his gaze was sharp and his face far more solemn than Margaret had ever seen. "Mags, Maggie, Daisy Mae, you need to do this for us. Please."

"But why Sirius? I'm sure that there's plenty of children that can be adopted. We're in the middle of a war, after all."

"Maggie, Daisy, we want kids – our kids," Sirius implored. "We want to get married, have a house with dogs, and we want children: a boy and a girl. We have to have both — a little girl for Remus and a boy for me. But we don't care what they are, not really. But we need someone of your type to have one for us!"

"My type?"

"You know, a woman! With your…woman bits!"

Margaret's face twisted with the effort of keeping herself from smiling. She pressed her fist to her mouth, trying to scowl at Sirius, but a noise like a trumpeting elephant escaped her lips. Her attempts to remain serious were completely blown, and she gave up trying to hide her true feelings.

It was Sirius's turn to look surprised, his lips parting and eyes narrowing with his confusion. Margaret slapped his arm as she laughed, doubled over from her laughter. She had never seen him look more confused in his life, and she delighted in it. Margaret was sure that she had to have sounded absolutely mental, her laughter echoing through the night, but she didn't care. It had been quite some time since she had laughed as hard as she did.

"You absolute bloody prat, Sirius," Margaret laughed. She straightened up, rubbing the tears out of her eyes. "Of course, I'll do it. Just not until after I graduate school. Do you think you two could handle waiting?"

"You'll…you'll do it?"

"Yes, Sirius," Margaret said earnestly. "I know Remus and I don't get along all the time, but he deserves happiness too. Just because of what he is, well…it shouldn't matter. Besides, I'm of age now. Nothing my parents can do about it."

Sirius's gaze was searching, his lips lifting slowly into a smile. When he decided that Margaret was telling the truth, he swept her up into a hug, spinning her around with a jubilant shout.

"Oh, you brilliant, wonderful, fantastic woman!" Sirius said, setting Margaret back down on the ground. "You really will?"

"Yes, but we are going to have a long and hard discussion about this, Sirius Black," Margaret said, pointing a stern finger at him. "I'm not doing this for absolutely no reason at all."

"Of course," Sirius said quickly. "Wouldn't think any different of it. Besides – we want to wait anyway. It's too soon, much too soon. Just sometime in the future."

Margaret nodded in agreement, smiling as Sirius started to babble excitedly about all of the ideas that he had. It was a very simple thing that she could do for her brother and Sirius to make them a little happier and give them the life they wanted. Sirius and Remus had been together for a few years at that point, and Margaret knew that they would make wonderful parents. They all needed a bit of happiness, and the idea of new life seemed like an exciting prospect. Who could deny that having a little baby around would be enjoyable? It wasn't like she had to worry about having a baby for them anytime soon – she was seventeen after all and still in school.

In the meantime, Margaret planned to enjoy the rest of the night. She was going to have a fantastic final year at Hogwarts and put the thought aside. They could talk about things later on when it was safe, and everything was settled.

Everything would work out in time, and Margaret couldn't wait to see just where life would take them. Every little thing they all wanted would turn out beautifully; she was sure of it.

a/n: Oops.

You can't tell me that you all didn't expect me to do something like this. It was only a matter of time before the prequel was posted, and since I had the prologue written for weeks, it felt like it was time. I have absolutely no posting schedule for the prequel, so as updates happen, they'll happen. This will 100% be written concurrently with all of the other projects and while fifth year is being written.

Plus this keeps me from posting fifth year early. Deal with it.

xoxo,
Cat