The Last Laugh
Chapter Nineteen: Dudley!?
By: Star*dust
Life was a blur as Lily and James skipped happily from the church amidst a flurry of lilies thrown at them by their delightful friends and family. Lily laughed as they flew off into the skies on a broomstick. Lily's parents weren't all too sure that was safe but gave up worrying about it.
When everyone reached the reception, which was set up in Lily and James's huge expanse of a backyard, music began to play and lights provided a warm glow. Food was piled high on long tables set up around the area and the general mood of the people was the merriest anyone had been in years, what with everyone worrying about…other unnamed things.
The backyard had never looked so good or been in better company. Everywhere you looked someone was smiling or laughing. They were all under huge tents that were charmed to stay warm and cozy while outside a soft flurry of snow was falling peacefully.
Lily and James couldn't ask for more. It seemed that the outside world was forgotten to all and time itself had stopped momentarily, and if there was anyone who could make that happen, James and Lily Potter could certainly do so. (A/N: I'm sorry to insert like this but suddenly I'm really hyper because I got to write Lily POTTER for the first time!)
Looking back Lily and James remembered very little of this night, but those who were there couldn't stop talking about it. Just mention of it brought back warm feelings. No one that was in attendance had a bad time, even those who possibly shouldn't have been there.
Peter Pettigrew was a having a jolly good time catching up with all his friends. He and Remus made it a point to talk to as many girls as they possibly could. Sirius had fun enough, even if he had to watch Angie and Josh all night. And Lily and James never stopped smiling.
One of the first things to happen after eating was the first dance. James had written his new wife a song for them to dance to. The marauders minus James plus Holly Mischel and Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer playing violin and cello made a lovely ensemble. The song had no words but together they blended in perfect harmony as Lily and James glided weightlessly off into their own world oblivious to all other things but what they were feeling inside of them.
Lily rested her head on James shoulder and melted into James's strong arms and tight, yet gentle embrace.
"This is beautiful," She whispered.
"You're beautiful," He said to her. She couldn't help but smile. "There were so many things that I wanted to say to you at the wedding. Things that should have been said but that couldn't or wouldn't come out. In the moment I was too caught up and shocked by it all to say anything. I thought I would never come out of the dream I was in when I watched you walk down that aisle. I wasn't sure if I would ever breathe again." James continued softly.
"I know that things haven't always been great, and I haven't been around as much as I should be, but if you ever wanted me to stay I would leave anything in a heartbeat. Lily, the truth is, I'm so in love with you that half the time I don't even know where I am. Just thinking about you sends me into a dream."
"Every time that I see you my knees go weak and my heart beats unnaturally fast. Lily I'm drowning in you. I love you more than quidditch, more than Hogwarts, more than mum and dad, more than moonlit walks, and more than pumpkin pie. I love you more than the world around us, I want you to know that forever. I'll always be right here with you, always," He finished as a few tears gently stained Lily's cheeks.
"Oh James," She said and kissed him passionately. It wasn't even that. She felt like if she didn't kiss him now, he would slip away from her forever. She kissed him desperately and deeply. It was unlike anything either of them had ever felt. The feeling of pure and true love.
~*~
Before they knew what happened the wedding party came out to dance as well. Remus, Peter, James, and Lily couldn't stop laughing as they watched in amusement as Angie and Sirius danced. Sirius was the best man and Angie was the maid of honor, so whether they enjoyed it or not, they had to dance together. Peter danced with Sierra Havairhafpvermin . Remus danced with Holly Mischel and Matt McKinnon danced with Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer. Each couple had a rather interesting an entertaining conversation.
"Hey! Do you remember the time in sixth year that James and Sirius went to sabotage the Slytherin table and Lily saw them and tripped them both. And then they fell on their faces in front of everyone?" Peter asked Sierra with a grin.
"That wasn't sixth year, that was fifth year," She said.
"No, it was sixth year I'm sure of it," …
"So, Remus, did you miss me?" Holly asked.
"Miss what? Your annoying high pitched voice or your optimistic attitude?" He asked sarcastically, nevertheless there was a grin on his face.
"Oh shut up, you're just jealous because I've been studying in America,"
"Hey, did you make any cute friends you want to introduce me too?" He asked.
"Remus Lupin, I should slap you for that,"
"Why not? Just hit me on the left, that way I have a mark to match the last one you gave me on the right side of my face." …
"So, Liz, it's good to see you. What have you been up to?" Matt asked Elizabeth.
"I've been staying Germany and working at my grandfather's agency. I've been getting a lot of training done all for free."
"Germany, eh?" Matt asked. "Speak some German for me,"
"OK," She said and then launched into the German dialect.
"Splendid! Now what did you say?" He asked after she had finished.
"Don't step on my feet, idiot!" She replied with a laugh…
"I can't believe, I'm almost six months pregnant and I'm out here dancing. WITH YOU!" Angie said.
"I think Lily and James thought they ought to milk this for all it's worth and make us dance like this. You see them over there snickering," Sirius said.
"Whatever, I just can't wait until this is over. So, what does that 'M' stand for?" Sirius was just about to reply when he suddenly stopped.
"Oh no," He said. "Nice try, but I'm not telling, not a chance,"…
"Fifth year!"
"SIXTH!"
"I'm telling you it was fifth!"
~*~
Soon it was time to cut the cake. James and Lily took their positions next to that gorgeous wedding cake. It was taller than they were, though it was on a table. Lily picked up the knife.
"You better watch it Potter," She said playfully holding it up. He gently placed his hand over hers and together they cut a slice of cake out of the bottom. They each took a bite in their hands and clean and neatly gave each other a bite and then kissed before starting to cut out more pieces for everyone.
"Come on!" The marauders cried. "What was that! Get messy!" Sirius and Angie were yelling the loudest. Lily and James smiled and shook their heads, they had both agreed to be clean about it.
"This is really good," James said, licking his finger.
"You like it?" Lily asked. "Have some more." She said picking up a piece and smashing it into his face amidst shouts and cheers a roar of laughter. James wiped it from his glasses.
"You know what?" He asked. Lily made ready to dodge expecting him to do the same as she did. "Come here!" He said, as he grabbed her and kissed her smearing frosting and cake all over her face. They pulled apart and both were laughing hysterically. They left to get cleaned up.
When they came back together Sirius was getting ready to make his toast. "Well, what can I say about Lily and James?" Sirius asked pausing dramatically, with a grin. "These two have been through a lot. But they've stayed together despite minor setbacks in school and after school. They always had to put up with me, but in turn I put up with them. 'Oh Lily, I'm home, dear, I love you,'" Sirius mocked. 'Oh Jamesie, I've missed you so much, oh I love you James!'" This brought on roars of laughter as he hopped around flailing his arms in such dramatics.
"You chose to stay at our house!" James called out. Sirius rolled his eyes and continued.
"Well, I don't really have things planned out, so I'm just going to kind of go here… First, I have to say that James has always been the best friend, no offense to Moony and Wormtail, but I've known James the longest out of any of them. Long enough to know what a great guy he is, even if he didn't want to have children. Look what happened now! He's married and a baby on the way!" This brought on a shockwave of noise and confusion. Lily and James hadn't told anyone except for Angie and Sirius about the baby, not even her parents. Lily cursed as she saw her parents look on at her in horror.
"You didn't tell your parents yet?" James hissed. Lily didn't say anything.
"So, as you can tell, the couple couldn't be happier!" Sirius continued, this was followed by a loud cheer from Remus and Peter. Lily was scarlet with embarrassment, but she was laughing all the same.
"So, with this close, I want to say that there couldn't be a more perfect match, than Lily and James! Congratulations!" He said lifting his glass to toast to Lily and James.
~*~
Most of Lily and James's friends were roaring with laughter, either that or congratulating them, but Lily's parents didn't seem to be amused. Especially her father who was looking at James with severe disliking.
"Come on, James," Lily said grabbing him by the arm. "We need to talk to my parents,"
"Oh no! You must think I'm crazy! I'm not going over there! You got yourself into this mess." James replied.
"I did not! It was Sirius's fault!"
"Yes, I must remember to pound him later, but really Lily, you should have told them,"
"You should have been home so WE could tell them,"
"They're YOUR parents,"
"It's OUR baby,"
"It's MY life!"
"Oh, stop being silly. You don't want to make a bad impression by not supporting me, now come on," She urged.
"I've already made a bad enough impression, and it can't get worse," James insisted.
~*~
Despite the whole best man toast the night was everything Lily ever dreamed of and more. If she could choose she would have stayed in that life forever, but all good things had to come to an end at sometime. As the night slowly passed from night to morning (12:00AM) the guests started to trickle out until eventually Lily and James left the wedding party to clean up the last things.
~*~
"What about Mary?" Josh asked Angie trying to find a name for the baby that was expected in close to a month on May 31st. Today was April 30th.
"No, it's too… bible school," She replied.
"What about Sarah? After your mother?" The sheer mention of the name made Angie's eyes wet.
"No, I don't think I could handle that," She said.
"All right. How about Wendy?"
"Wendy!? This is a joke, right? OK, how about I name a letter and you say the first name, starting with that letter, which you think of."
"OK,"
"'Q ',"
"'Q!?!'"
Angie started laughing. "I'm just kidding! 'C',"
"Catherine,"
"'G',"
"Grace,"
"'A',"
"Angela," Angie rolled her eyes. "OK, Anne,"
"'J',"
"Jillian,"
"'K',"
"Kirsten," Angie started to say something but stopped.
"Kirsten," She repeated. "I like that, very much," She said.
"So do I," Josh agreed.
"Kirsten Elizabeth Star," Angie said. "Yes, I like it,"
"I'm still not getting you off Star?" Josh asked her.
"No, we are not married. My child will take my name," Angie said stubbornly.
"If you insist," He said. He had long since given up arguing with her.
~*~
James and Lily walked out of the doctor's office hand in hand.
"My little girl," James said placing his hand on Lily's stomach.
"We're going to have a baby girl," Lily said excitedly; kissing her husband.
"I love you," James said.
"I love you too," Lily replied.
"You know," James said. "We better start thinking about names. How about Lily?"
"Lily!?"
"Why not? It's a beautiful name," He said smiling. Lily blushed. After all this time James could still make her blush.
"Or perhaps Rosie, to match those cheeks," He said gently touching her left cheek.
~*~
"You're sure about this color, Ang?" Josh asked looking at the pastel pink paint in the tray.
"Of course, we are having a little girl," She replied.
"OK," He sighed dipping the roller in the paint and putting it on the wall. "I suppose it grows on you," Josh said surveying the now pink patch of wall. "Don't you think?" When there was no reply he turned. "Ang?" He saw her staring blankly at the wall. An unreadable expression on her face. "What? Oh, yeah, sure," She said upon seeing him forcing a smile.
"Are you OK?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," She replied. "Maybe I'll just lie down for a minute," She said slowly leaving the room. Josh frowned but continued painting.
~*~
Angie lay down on the couch and wiped her forehead. She was sweating very much. She had a strange feeling of nervousness. When she sat for a long time she started to notice things like the smudge on the window and the cobweb in the corner.
Pretty soon she felt she would go crazy if she didn't get up and clean house. But, as soon as she started to sit up another muscle tightening contraction took over her body. She gripped the arm of the chair, more than her knuckles turned white.
When it had passed she wearily fell back breathing rapidly in two minutes another one came.
"Ang, you feeling any better-" Josh stopped when he saw her in pain. "What's wrong?' He asked jumping down to her.
"Just a contraction," She said through gritted teeth, trying to pass it off as no big thing.
"Maybe we should owl the doctor," Josh said, not knowing what else to do. Typical, just pass the job off to anyone.
"No, I'm OK-" Her tune quickly changed as another contraction came on strong.
"Oh my god!" Josh shouted grabbing their cloaks and they were off.
~*~
Just as Lily and James were about to leave the hospital Angie and Josh turned up.
"What's up?" James asked following them inside. Angie collapsed into a wheelchair and soon they were all in a small hospital room just waiting for Angie to dilate.
The nurse came into the room and checked a few things on the monitors. "Things are probably going to be several hours yet OK?" If you need anything just buzz. I'll be back." She said.
"Several more hours!?" Angie cried. With a huge sigh she fell back onto the bed. It was going to be a long night. "This can't be happening," She covered her face with her hands. "I'm not due for almost another month!"
~*~
Another contraction came on and she gripped Lily's hand. "It's going to be OK, it's almost over," Lily said supportively She turned to James and her smile quickly changed into twisted pain. She gave him a pleading look and James grabbed Angie's other hand until the contraction passed. Josh kept pacing around the room.
"I'm sorry, I hope I didn't hurt you," Angie said when it had ended.
"Oh no," Lily lied.
"Has anyone owled Sirius?" Angie asked. Josh tightened and James and Lily exchanged a look.
"I'll send the owl," Lily said quickly exiting the room.
~*~
Lily, James, and Josh took turns taking walks down the long hallway with Angie trying to get things happening. The hours passed away and before they knew it midnight had passed and nothing was happening. However, all they really need was Sirius. The moment she saw him her water broke and in about an hour the baby had been delivered.
When the time came for the nurse to ask for a name there was some uneasy tension. "First name?" She asked.
"Kirsten," Josh replied, proceeding to spell it out for her.
"Middle name?" Josh and Sirius both replied to this at once.
"Elizabeth," Josh replied.
"Morticia," Sirius said to Angie's utter disbelief.
"Elizabeth!" Josh insisted.
"Morticia Elizabeth," Sirius said, and unfortunately for Josh, and Kirsten as well, the nurse wrote down both names.
"Last name?" She asked.
"Star," Angie said.
"Angela! You're going to let him poison such a pretty name?" Josh shouted. Sirius gave him a look that clearly said: You might have gotten my girl, but I got to name your kid.
"She lost a bet," Sirius grinned.
"What?" Josh asked. Angie motioned for the nurse to leave, which she did so.
"Like I said, she lost a bet," Sirius repeated.
"But," Josh said looking from Angie and Kirsten to the nurse exiting the room, with a last look at them he followed the nurse protesting.
"She's so beautiful," Sirius whispered kneeling down net to the bed to look at her better. Angie stroked her forehead.
"I never thought I could love someone so much," Angie said.
~*~
"We're going to be OK," Lily said to James as they watched little baby Kirsten through a window.
"Yeah," James said gently placing a hand on his new wife's stomach. "I hope we have a baby girl as beautiful as Kirsten,"
"You're so sweet, either that or you're buttering me up,"
"You? I just complimented the baby," James said. "But I know our baby will be beautiful,"
"And why is that?"
"She'll have your natural beauty,"
"And your adventurous spark,"
"And your brains,"
"And- There you go again Mr. Potter. What is it you want?"
"Lily-"
"James! What do you want?"
"I've got to leave," He said.
"What?" She asked, totally not expecting that. She couldn't believe it!
"Now Lily, I've had more than enough of a break,"
"How long this time?" Lily sighed hugging James and resting her head on his chest.
"It's hard to say,"
"James, you're like two different people,"
"How so?"
"There's the James who makes me laugh and who stands in the hospital and hugs his wife, the same James who played pranks and held Angie's hand, but then there's this whole other part of you. There's this serious side of you, this determined, proud, terribly clever, mysterious, sexy, auror side of you," She said. "Sometimes I can't decide who I'm talking to," She laughed. Lily looked up at him. "I suppose that means you're an incredibly 'whole' person," She added sarcastically. She closed her eyes as he kissed her but rather unfortunately they were interrupted.
"Oh, HONESTLY, get a room! This is a public hallway," Lily and James broke apart smiling recognizing the voice to be of one Sirius Black.
"Oh Sirius, are you feeling left out?" James mocked. "Come here," James said chasing his friend with open arms.
"Whoa James, didn't realize you swung both ways," Sirius said ducking out of the way.
"And where are you going?" Lily asked Sirius.
"Out. The night is young," Was his response.
"It's almost four in the morning!" James exclaimed.
"So it is," Sirius said glancing at his watch with a shrug before skipping merrily down the hallway.
"What makes him tick?" Lily asked referring to Sirius.
"I don't think even he knows," James replied.
~*~
So Angela and Joshua became new parents early in the morning of May 1st. And there beautiful slightly red/light brown haired brown-eyed baby was born as Kirsten Morticia Elizabeth Star.
~*~
The next day in late afternoon James departed.
"No tears," He said gently brushing the tears from her face.
"Oh, I know I'm being silly, it's just that I have a bad feeling," Lily said trying to smile. "Be careful," She whispered and another tear spilled over the brim of her eye.
"Don't make this harder for me," James said to her. "Be strong and no tears," He kissed her forehead and left.
Lily sighed, tomorrow she too would go back to work.
~*~
Two months later…
"Frog Legs!" Lily yelled suddenly springing awake in the middle of one July night. James jumped next to her. She was sitting straight up and wide awake. "And chocolate," She added.
"Do we have any frog legs?" Lily turned to James.
"Frog legs?" James asked confused and sleepy. "What the hell for?"
"To eat, prat," Lily said getting out of bed. James made a face in the dark. Frog legs did not sound appetizing.
"Lily, since when have we kept frog legs about?" He too, got out of bed.
"Then go get me some," Lily replied.
"And where, exactly, do you suggest I purchase frog legs at 2:00AM?"
"Do I look like I care?" Lily asked rudely.
"Whatever you like dear," James said rubbing his eyes and quickly throwing some robes over his pajamas. He was quite used to this by now. When your wife is almost nine months pregnant, you can expect mood swings from hell and strange cravings in the middle of the night. One time James actually had to ask someone if they stocked pickled chicken, which Lily was now skilled at making.
"And hurry up!" Oh and did we mention mood swings?
Lily went to the kitchen to investigate while James found his broom and prepared himself to go outside.
"Frog legs," He muttered as he stepped outside.
Sirius sat up and looked around. The closing of the door had awakened him. He glanced at the clock. "Damn," He had just fallen asleep no more than ten minutes ago. He had come in tired from a date. He heard Lily in the kitchen and went to find her.
She was rummaging around the cooler. She pulled out a piece of pie and grabbed a fork. As soon as she turned around she screamed and dropped her pie, which proceeded to splatter on the floor. She had been startled and sank into a chair starting to sob.
"Aw Lil, I'm sorry," Sirius said trying to comfort her. Her emotions ran high in the third trimester. Sirius cleaned up the pie and magically put it back together.
Lily kept crying, so not knowing what else to do Sirius lit a candle, stuck it in the pie and started singing the only thing that came to mind.
"Zip-a-dee-doo-dah. Zip-a-dee-ay. My oh my, what a bright sunny day…" Until Lily's tears changed to laughter.
"There that's better. Now where did old prongs get to?" He asked her.
"He went out to get some frog legs." Sirius, who had begun to absently massage her shoulders, momentarily paused, but then he quickly reminded himself that she was pregnant, and hoped it was just a phase.
"Jams will do anything for you," Sirius mumbled with a grin. He could just see his buddy out at 2:30 trying to find some frog legs.
"He knows that I need my nutrition and food," Lily said.
"Yes, but I'm not exactly sure what food group frog legs would fall under. I don't really think it counts as a vegetable, Lily, but I guess James always was like that," Sirius was reminded of the many times James would sneak down into the kitchens and get all kinds of things for Lily, and any other he happened to be dating at the time…
Sirius let him mind wander. He leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. He started to drift asleep as he massaged Lily's shoulders absently.
His mind wandered back to school…
"JAMES!" James Potter whipped around in the hallway. His brown eyes fell upon the charming sixth year Ravenclaw who had called his name. She was blonde with blue eyes and a pretty face, about the only blonde in Ravenclaw, but don't think she didn't play the part well. She always made a special point to try and sit near him and work with him in charms. Her name was Misty, a real cutie, but at the moment he was tied to Lily, which was a perfectly good arrangement.
"Hi!" She said cheerily, flipping her hair and flashing those pearly whites.
"Morning Misty," James said almost bored.
"Have you done the charms homework yet? Some of it was kind of difficult but I could help you if you want…"
Lily Evans glared icily and James Potter and Misty Johnson. She was not at all pleased.
"That would be great," Just then Misty caught Lily's eye. Her smiled faded, briefly, and a look of unease came over her. Then, she quickly turned on the charm. She smiled and flipped her hair seductively.
"You know James, I don't have a date for the End of the Year Dance, yet." She batted her eye lashes. "Maybe we could go together. I'm sure Lily wouldn't mind, there's always Sirius…" James stared at her. And Lily's mouth dropped open. "I'll let you think about it," She said quickly, and then she kissed James on the cheek and disappeared. James stood rooted to the spot. Had that really just happened?
"Argh!" Lily exclaimed throwing her hand up and stomping off.
James swore, he hadn't realized Lily had been standing there.
~*~
The rest of the afternoon Lily and James didn't have a class together, being in different houses. Lily glared stonily at Misty all through Divination planning what she was going to do to her. Luckily, the teacher mistook this and thought Lily was concentrating intently upon her crystal ball.
Lily was one of the first ones down to dinner. James slipped into the chair next to her.
"Hey sweetie," He said leaning over to give her a kiss. She turned away coldly, brining new meaning to the term 'cold shoulder'
"Don't sweet talk me James Potter," She said coolly.
"Sugar, muffin… pumpkin pie?" He held up a plate to her with a perfect slice of pie on it. Lily's eyes as good as had sparks flying from them. She grabbed the pie and smashed it in his face. Half the great hall exploded with laughter.
Sirius conjured up some popcorn and the rest of the marauders sat happily watching and eating.
"OK, I guess I had that one coming," He said removing the pie from his glasses.
"Go sit at your own table!" Lily snapped. "And do try to pick up your mess before you leave. You're ruining the tablecloth. Remus, Sirius, Peter, Sierra, Angie, Holly, and Elizabeth were all laughing hysterically. James had pumpkin pie all over him and he was looking livid.
But he quickly changed his tune as a look of pleasure spread across his face. An evil little plot had entered into his mind. He leaned back in his chair and placed his feet on the table and crossed them comfortably. For a second Lily just stared in shock that he could actually be such a jerk.
Then she got up and started to leave as he began eating pumpkin pie off his face.
"So, girls, who wants to help me get this pumpkin pie off my face?" He asked leaning farther back in his chair. There was a great scraping of chairs and screaming of girls as every girl in earshot stood up, but when Lily whipped around they all sat, being quite familiar with Lily's red headed temper.
She took out her wand and sent a curse at James not caring what teacher witnessed it. "Shit!" He cursed as he tried to dodge it. He fell right out of his chair. Lily smiled satisfied as the Gryffindors roared with laughter and girls scrambled to help James up.
Lily walked over to the Gryffindor table and gave Angie a high five. James was wiping his face off on the table cloth.
"Damn him! I told him not to ruin the tablecloth!" Lily yelled.
James came over and sat down a few places away from Lily, next to Sirius who was laughing madly at him.
"Go Lily! That girl knows what she's doing! And you've got a piece of pumpkin pie in your hair… no… right… there!" He said as James felt it and quickly brushed it out with his fingers.
"Anyway, time to go bug Lily," James said looking at his watch as if it actually had a time for bugging Lily. But Lily already knew what she was going to do. She walked right past James who could just watch as she sat down next to Sirius who started laughing harder.
"I don't care what James says, you're officially a marauder now!" He exclaimed.
"Sirius, you're so nice, unlike some people," She glared at James. And then, she did it. The thing that the entire school would be talking about for months! Lily Evans leaned over and kissed Sirius Black. And it wasn't you're ordinary peck on the cheek. It wasn't even your ordinary smooch. She planted one passionate kiss on the lips!
James was momentarily stunned as she strutted past him towards the entrance hall. But he was only momentarily stunned.
"Yeah, that's right Remus," James shouted loudly enough for Lily to hear. "I'm taking Misty Johnson to the Dance. After all, blondes do have more fun!" Remus was looking a little pissed, clearly, he hadn't wanted to be brought into this. Lily, who had been right in the doorway, turned quickly and glared as a satisfied James strutted over to a thoroughly delighted Misty.
With a last "humph!" She quickly turned dramatically and stomped from the great hall…
~*~
When Sirius snapped out of his dream he found Lily asleep as well. *Perfect* He thought getting out his wand and putting her to bed. James and Sirius usually had this system worked out. James would go out to get something and Sirius would do whatever it took to make Lily fall back asleep. That way everything would be right as rain if the item couldn't be found or didn't exist.
James was so glad there was only a month left. Just one more month.
~*~
James groaned loudly the next morning when he awoke. He hadn't gotten as much sleep as he would have liked last night. Lily woke up next to him.
"What time is it?" She asked sleepily.
"9:37," James replied, yawning.
"WHAT!?!" Lily screeching leaping out of bed as quickly and with as much leap as an eight month pregnant woman can have. "I have a doctor's appointment at 9:45! That's in eight minutes!"
"Seven," James corrected her as it turned 9:38. The two of them got ready probably more quickly than they ever had in their entire life, which was saying something, again mentioning the fact that Lily was eight months pregnant.
Needless to say, they were still late, by about fifteen minutes.
"What is this for anyway?" James asked Lily.
"I'm going to have another ultrasound to make sure the baby is healthy. Because, I'm so close now, and the she's so big that if they need to they can take her out before she's actually ready. To avoid complications."
"Sounds complicated to me," James said. Lily rolled her eyes. James, who was rather uneducated in this field had always imagined an ultrasound as a rather painful experience but when he saw how easy it was he was shocked.
But he soon found other things to worry about. Looking at the baby on the screen was quite an unforgettable experience. That was his baby! Little baby Sally. (That was the name they had decided on)
"Wait a second," Lily suddenly exclaimed sitting up as much as possible. "What's that!?" She said pointing to the screen. "I thought you said it was a girl!?!?!"
"Oh my!" The doctor exclaimed. "Well, it seems his little equipment has grown much since our last look," She said.
"We're going to have to go shopping!" James exclaimed.
"And redecorate the nursery,"
"AND THE NAME!!!" They both cried in horrified unison! It had taken them forever to decide on a name.
~*~
The very next day Angie came over and they set to work on picking out names. Or more like Lily and Angie did. James was busy repainting in the nursery. After many hours they had narrowed it down to twenty-three names. Among those were Sirius, Remus, Peter, and James, but those were only being considered for middle names. After reeling off the list to James he said he didn't really mind any of them except Dudley. All they needed to do was pick too.
Lily was rather attached to the name Harry since it went along with Sally in this movie she had once seen at home. After much deliberation, mostly between Angie who was in favor of Nicholas they decided on Harry, because James liked it better. So, now they had a first name. But that was as far as they ever got…
~*~
James came to regret not being better planned for the baby to arrive. When they went in that morning on July 31st they were completely unprepared for a middle name. The alternative was not James's idea, but Angie forever thought it hilarious and often teased Harry, her godson about it.
One thing James was proud of that night, besides the fact that he managed to stay in the delivery room the entire time without throwing up, was the fact that they named Angie and Sirius god parents, in attempts to hook them back up. However, Angie was pretty tied to Josh now, seeing as they shared a person.
So, when the time came to name the child, James told Lily it was up to her as long his first name was Harry. However, he had not expected her to reel off all twenty-two other names, including Dudley.
"Are you ready for this?" She asked the nurse. "Harry, is his first name, middle names, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Mitchell, Xavier, Fox, Tommy, Isaac, Kurt, Anthony, Clayton, Bartholomew, Ezekiel, Oliver, Dudley, Gilbert, William, Lloyd, Nicholas, Quentin, Ulysses, last name Potter." Lily explained slowly spelling each one.
Later James asked her which name she picked for Harry's middle name.
"Well," She looked down and all around, anywhere but at him.
"You picked Dudley, didn't you?" James asked. "I can't believe this! Why do you like that name? Isn't your nephew named Dudley?"
"Well, yes, but that's not all I named him," Lily said.
"He has two middle names?" James asked looking at her.
"Um…"
"THREE?"
"Not exactly…"
"FOUR?" James's eyes were going to pop out of his head at any minute.
"Well, actually, he has all twenty-two." Lily replied.
"You're kidding. I know you're joking," James said.
"No, actually, you can look at his birth certificate," James stared at Lily as she reeled them off in order.
"DUDLEY?!" Sirius exclaimed when she had finished.
~*~
A/N: Well, how did you like that chapter? Interesting to say the least. I know, the whole name thing is a bit much, but I couldn't resist, Harmony and I did this like four months ago! Lol. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I was going for humor here.
I can't believe I've another chapter down! YES! Go me! Go me! Sorry, really hyper because it's midnight and I finished the chapter and I'm actually updating within two weeks! It's a miracle!!
Thanks to you:
HermioneG: Thanks for all your reviews that continue to be great! And I think you're having a little too much fun thinking about it… You need to hurry up and update Green Eyes. I really like that story now. Could you e- mail or tell me in a review when you update? That would be really great if you could, but don't worry about it if you don't want to. Keep up the good work!
Britz: I finally inserted into your profile! I had a lot of fun doing that. And in Diana's profile I started talking about Captain Obvious cereal. It's going up right beside the ice cream plant. Lol. Thanks for the reviews. I'll try to update sooner now that it's SUMMER!!! YES!! Luv Ya!
Hyper Princess: I want to thank you so much. You review every chapter and you have the awesomest name! I love it! And you don't have to ask me to e- mail you when I update. I'll do that no matter what. (
Krissy: I'm glad you like the story and thanks for your reviews. I added you to my mailing list for when I update this story, OK?
Libertygrl413: I'm so sorry I haven't come to read your story in forever. I'll try to catch up after school's out. (Which, by the time I post this, it already will be out…) And thanks for the reviews. I'm glad you liked the chapter because I was slightly nervous about that… Yes! You should go read HBFred's stuff. It has a really good plot and I have become the beta reader for it!
~*Crystal Lily*~: Unfortunately both of your questions I will politely refuse to answer. Your first question will be answered next chapter. Your second question will have to be answered by reading this story until it's over… and then some, come to think of it... Anyway, thanks for the reviews, as always…
Ax: Well, thanks for your reviews and I'm glad you loved the chapter.
Hyper-Piper: Love the name. And thanks for the reviews!
Lisa: Thanks for reading my story. Harmony sends her thanks too! (For reading her story, that is…)
Midnight Moon: Duh, I'm doing another chapter. Did you think I was just going to stop? I'm going to finish this story, so don't worry!
Katie Weasley: I'm trying to hurry, unfortunately it isn't working too well… Believe me, no one wants me to finish this story more than MYSELF! I cannot wait to write the killer ending and then the SEQUEL!! Just thinking about it is making me HYPER! LOL! Thanks for the review.
Those are all of you who reviewed for chapter 18, as of today… I still have to thank Harmony and Diana and Sierra too because they are my bestest friends on here! Luv ya, but hurry up and review!
"And home before dark!"
~Star*dust
PS JINGLE BELLS!! (Don't take it personally…)
Chapter Nineteen: Dudley!?
By: Star*dust
Life was a blur as Lily and James skipped happily from the church amidst a flurry of lilies thrown at them by their delightful friends and family. Lily laughed as they flew off into the skies on a broomstick. Lily's parents weren't all too sure that was safe but gave up worrying about it.
When everyone reached the reception, which was set up in Lily and James's huge expanse of a backyard, music began to play and lights provided a warm glow. Food was piled high on long tables set up around the area and the general mood of the people was the merriest anyone had been in years, what with everyone worrying about…other unnamed things.
The backyard had never looked so good or been in better company. Everywhere you looked someone was smiling or laughing. They were all under huge tents that were charmed to stay warm and cozy while outside a soft flurry of snow was falling peacefully.
Lily and James couldn't ask for more. It seemed that the outside world was forgotten to all and time itself had stopped momentarily, and if there was anyone who could make that happen, James and Lily Potter could certainly do so. (A/N: I'm sorry to insert like this but suddenly I'm really hyper because I got to write Lily POTTER for the first time!)
Looking back Lily and James remembered very little of this night, but those who were there couldn't stop talking about it. Just mention of it brought back warm feelings. No one that was in attendance had a bad time, even those who possibly shouldn't have been there.
Peter Pettigrew was a having a jolly good time catching up with all his friends. He and Remus made it a point to talk to as many girls as they possibly could. Sirius had fun enough, even if he had to watch Angie and Josh all night. And Lily and James never stopped smiling.
One of the first things to happen after eating was the first dance. James had written his new wife a song for them to dance to. The marauders minus James plus Holly Mischel and Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer playing violin and cello made a lovely ensemble. The song had no words but together they blended in perfect harmony as Lily and James glided weightlessly off into their own world oblivious to all other things but what they were feeling inside of them.
Lily rested her head on James shoulder and melted into James's strong arms and tight, yet gentle embrace.
"This is beautiful," She whispered.
"You're beautiful," He said to her. She couldn't help but smile. "There were so many things that I wanted to say to you at the wedding. Things that should have been said but that couldn't or wouldn't come out. In the moment I was too caught up and shocked by it all to say anything. I thought I would never come out of the dream I was in when I watched you walk down that aisle. I wasn't sure if I would ever breathe again." James continued softly.
"I know that things haven't always been great, and I haven't been around as much as I should be, but if you ever wanted me to stay I would leave anything in a heartbeat. Lily, the truth is, I'm so in love with you that half the time I don't even know where I am. Just thinking about you sends me into a dream."
"Every time that I see you my knees go weak and my heart beats unnaturally fast. Lily I'm drowning in you. I love you more than quidditch, more than Hogwarts, more than mum and dad, more than moonlit walks, and more than pumpkin pie. I love you more than the world around us, I want you to know that forever. I'll always be right here with you, always," He finished as a few tears gently stained Lily's cheeks.
"Oh James," She said and kissed him passionately. It wasn't even that. She felt like if she didn't kiss him now, he would slip away from her forever. She kissed him desperately and deeply. It was unlike anything either of them had ever felt. The feeling of pure and true love.
~*~
Before they knew what happened the wedding party came out to dance as well. Remus, Peter, James, and Lily couldn't stop laughing as they watched in amusement as Angie and Sirius danced. Sirius was the best man and Angie was the maid of honor, so whether they enjoyed it or not, they had to dance together. Peter danced with Sierra Havairhafpvermin . Remus danced with Holly Mischel and Matt McKinnon danced with Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer. Each couple had a rather interesting an entertaining conversation.
"Hey! Do you remember the time in sixth year that James and Sirius went to sabotage the Slytherin table and Lily saw them and tripped them both. And then they fell on their faces in front of everyone?" Peter asked Sierra with a grin.
"That wasn't sixth year, that was fifth year," She said.
"No, it was sixth year I'm sure of it," …
"So, Remus, did you miss me?" Holly asked.
"Miss what? Your annoying high pitched voice or your optimistic attitude?" He asked sarcastically, nevertheless there was a grin on his face.
"Oh shut up, you're just jealous because I've been studying in America,"
"Hey, did you make any cute friends you want to introduce me too?" He asked.
"Remus Lupin, I should slap you for that,"
"Why not? Just hit me on the left, that way I have a mark to match the last one you gave me on the right side of my face." …
"So, Liz, it's good to see you. What have you been up to?" Matt asked Elizabeth.
"I've been staying Germany and working at my grandfather's agency. I've been getting a lot of training done all for free."
"Germany, eh?" Matt asked. "Speak some German for me,"
"OK," She said and then launched into the German dialect.
"Splendid! Now what did you say?" He asked after she had finished.
"Don't step on my feet, idiot!" She replied with a laugh…
"I can't believe, I'm almost six months pregnant and I'm out here dancing. WITH YOU!" Angie said.
"I think Lily and James thought they ought to milk this for all it's worth and make us dance like this. You see them over there snickering," Sirius said.
"Whatever, I just can't wait until this is over. So, what does that 'M' stand for?" Sirius was just about to reply when he suddenly stopped.
"Oh no," He said. "Nice try, but I'm not telling, not a chance,"…
"Fifth year!"
"SIXTH!"
"I'm telling you it was fifth!"
~*~
Soon it was time to cut the cake. James and Lily took their positions next to that gorgeous wedding cake. It was taller than they were, though it was on a table. Lily picked up the knife.
"You better watch it Potter," She said playfully holding it up. He gently placed his hand over hers and together they cut a slice of cake out of the bottom. They each took a bite in their hands and clean and neatly gave each other a bite and then kissed before starting to cut out more pieces for everyone.
"Come on!" The marauders cried. "What was that! Get messy!" Sirius and Angie were yelling the loudest. Lily and James smiled and shook their heads, they had both agreed to be clean about it.
"This is really good," James said, licking his finger.
"You like it?" Lily asked. "Have some more." She said picking up a piece and smashing it into his face amidst shouts and cheers a roar of laughter. James wiped it from his glasses.
"You know what?" He asked. Lily made ready to dodge expecting him to do the same as she did. "Come here!" He said, as he grabbed her and kissed her smearing frosting and cake all over her face. They pulled apart and both were laughing hysterically. They left to get cleaned up.
When they came back together Sirius was getting ready to make his toast. "Well, what can I say about Lily and James?" Sirius asked pausing dramatically, with a grin. "These two have been through a lot. But they've stayed together despite minor setbacks in school and after school. They always had to put up with me, but in turn I put up with them. 'Oh Lily, I'm home, dear, I love you,'" Sirius mocked. 'Oh Jamesie, I've missed you so much, oh I love you James!'" This brought on roars of laughter as he hopped around flailing his arms in such dramatics.
"You chose to stay at our house!" James called out. Sirius rolled his eyes and continued.
"Well, I don't really have things planned out, so I'm just going to kind of go here… First, I have to say that James has always been the best friend, no offense to Moony and Wormtail, but I've known James the longest out of any of them. Long enough to know what a great guy he is, even if he didn't want to have children. Look what happened now! He's married and a baby on the way!" This brought on a shockwave of noise and confusion. Lily and James hadn't told anyone except for Angie and Sirius about the baby, not even her parents. Lily cursed as she saw her parents look on at her in horror.
"You didn't tell your parents yet?" James hissed. Lily didn't say anything.
"So, as you can tell, the couple couldn't be happier!" Sirius continued, this was followed by a loud cheer from Remus and Peter. Lily was scarlet with embarrassment, but she was laughing all the same.
"So, with this close, I want to say that there couldn't be a more perfect match, than Lily and James! Congratulations!" He said lifting his glass to toast to Lily and James.
~*~
Most of Lily and James's friends were roaring with laughter, either that or congratulating them, but Lily's parents didn't seem to be amused. Especially her father who was looking at James with severe disliking.
"Come on, James," Lily said grabbing him by the arm. "We need to talk to my parents,"
"Oh no! You must think I'm crazy! I'm not going over there! You got yourself into this mess." James replied.
"I did not! It was Sirius's fault!"
"Yes, I must remember to pound him later, but really Lily, you should have told them,"
"You should have been home so WE could tell them,"
"They're YOUR parents,"
"It's OUR baby,"
"It's MY life!"
"Oh, stop being silly. You don't want to make a bad impression by not supporting me, now come on," She urged.
"I've already made a bad enough impression, and it can't get worse," James insisted.
~*~
Despite the whole best man toast the night was everything Lily ever dreamed of and more. If she could choose she would have stayed in that life forever, but all good things had to come to an end at sometime. As the night slowly passed from night to morning (12:00AM) the guests started to trickle out until eventually Lily and James left the wedding party to clean up the last things.
~*~
"What about Mary?" Josh asked Angie trying to find a name for the baby that was expected in close to a month on May 31st. Today was April 30th.
"No, it's too… bible school," She replied.
"What about Sarah? After your mother?" The sheer mention of the name made Angie's eyes wet.
"No, I don't think I could handle that," She said.
"All right. How about Wendy?"
"Wendy!? This is a joke, right? OK, how about I name a letter and you say the first name, starting with that letter, which you think of."
"OK,"
"'Q ',"
"'Q!?!'"
Angie started laughing. "I'm just kidding! 'C',"
"Catherine,"
"'G',"
"Grace,"
"'A',"
"Angela," Angie rolled her eyes. "OK, Anne,"
"'J',"
"Jillian,"
"'K',"
"Kirsten," Angie started to say something but stopped.
"Kirsten," She repeated. "I like that, very much," She said.
"So do I," Josh agreed.
"Kirsten Elizabeth Star," Angie said. "Yes, I like it,"
"I'm still not getting you off Star?" Josh asked her.
"No, we are not married. My child will take my name," Angie said stubbornly.
"If you insist," He said. He had long since given up arguing with her.
~*~
James and Lily walked out of the doctor's office hand in hand.
"My little girl," James said placing his hand on Lily's stomach.
"We're going to have a baby girl," Lily said excitedly; kissing her husband.
"I love you," James said.
"I love you too," Lily replied.
"You know," James said. "We better start thinking about names. How about Lily?"
"Lily!?"
"Why not? It's a beautiful name," He said smiling. Lily blushed. After all this time James could still make her blush.
"Or perhaps Rosie, to match those cheeks," He said gently touching her left cheek.
~*~
"You're sure about this color, Ang?" Josh asked looking at the pastel pink paint in the tray.
"Of course, we are having a little girl," She replied.
"OK," He sighed dipping the roller in the paint and putting it on the wall. "I suppose it grows on you," Josh said surveying the now pink patch of wall. "Don't you think?" When there was no reply he turned. "Ang?" He saw her staring blankly at the wall. An unreadable expression on her face. "What? Oh, yeah, sure," She said upon seeing him forcing a smile.
"Are you OK?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," She replied. "Maybe I'll just lie down for a minute," She said slowly leaving the room. Josh frowned but continued painting.
~*~
Angie lay down on the couch and wiped her forehead. She was sweating very much. She had a strange feeling of nervousness. When she sat for a long time she started to notice things like the smudge on the window and the cobweb in the corner.
Pretty soon she felt she would go crazy if she didn't get up and clean house. But, as soon as she started to sit up another muscle tightening contraction took over her body. She gripped the arm of the chair, more than her knuckles turned white.
When it had passed she wearily fell back breathing rapidly in two minutes another one came.
"Ang, you feeling any better-" Josh stopped when he saw her in pain. "What's wrong?' He asked jumping down to her.
"Just a contraction," She said through gritted teeth, trying to pass it off as no big thing.
"Maybe we should owl the doctor," Josh said, not knowing what else to do. Typical, just pass the job off to anyone.
"No, I'm OK-" Her tune quickly changed as another contraction came on strong.
"Oh my god!" Josh shouted grabbing their cloaks and they were off.
~*~
Just as Lily and James were about to leave the hospital Angie and Josh turned up.
"What's up?" James asked following them inside. Angie collapsed into a wheelchair and soon they were all in a small hospital room just waiting for Angie to dilate.
The nurse came into the room and checked a few things on the monitors. "Things are probably going to be several hours yet OK?" If you need anything just buzz. I'll be back." She said.
"Several more hours!?" Angie cried. With a huge sigh she fell back onto the bed. It was going to be a long night. "This can't be happening," She covered her face with her hands. "I'm not due for almost another month!"
~*~
Another contraction came on and she gripped Lily's hand. "It's going to be OK, it's almost over," Lily said supportively She turned to James and her smile quickly changed into twisted pain. She gave him a pleading look and James grabbed Angie's other hand until the contraction passed. Josh kept pacing around the room.
"I'm sorry, I hope I didn't hurt you," Angie said when it had ended.
"Oh no," Lily lied.
"Has anyone owled Sirius?" Angie asked. Josh tightened and James and Lily exchanged a look.
"I'll send the owl," Lily said quickly exiting the room.
~*~
Lily, James, and Josh took turns taking walks down the long hallway with Angie trying to get things happening. The hours passed away and before they knew it midnight had passed and nothing was happening. However, all they really need was Sirius. The moment she saw him her water broke and in about an hour the baby had been delivered.
When the time came for the nurse to ask for a name there was some uneasy tension. "First name?" She asked.
"Kirsten," Josh replied, proceeding to spell it out for her.
"Middle name?" Josh and Sirius both replied to this at once.
"Elizabeth," Josh replied.
"Morticia," Sirius said to Angie's utter disbelief.
"Elizabeth!" Josh insisted.
"Morticia Elizabeth," Sirius said, and unfortunately for Josh, and Kirsten as well, the nurse wrote down both names.
"Last name?" She asked.
"Star," Angie said.
"Angela! You're going to let him poison such a pretty name?" Josh shouted. Sirius gave him a look that clearly said: You might have gotten my girl, but I got to name your kid.
"She lost a bet," Sirius grinned.
"What?" Josh asked. Angie motioned for the nurse to leave, which she did so.
"Like I said, she lost a bet," Sirius repeated.
"But," Josh said looking from Angie and Kirsten to the nurse exiting the room, with a last look at them he followed the nurse protesting.
"She's so beautiful," Sirius whispered kneeling down net to the bed to look at her better. Angie stroked her forehead.
"I never thought I could love someone so much," Angie said.
~*~
"We're going to be OK," Lily said to James as they watched little baby Kirsten through a window.
"Yeah," James said gently placing a hand on his new wife's stomach. "I hope we have a baby girl as beautiful as Kirsten,"
"You're so sweet, either that or you're buttering me up,"
"You? I just complimented the baby," James said. "But I know our baby will be beautiful,"
"And why is that?"
"She'll have your natural beauty,"
"And your adventurous spark,"
"And your brains,"
"And- There you go again Mr. Potter. What is it you want?"
"Lily-"
"James! What do you want?"
"I've got to leave," He said.
"What?" She asked, totally not expecting that. She couldn't believe it!
"Now Lily, I've had more than enough of a break,"
"How long this time?" Lily sighed hugging James and resting her head on his chest.
"It's hard to say,"
"James, you're like two different people,"
"How so?"
"There's the James who makes me laugh and who stands in the hospital and hugs his wife, the same James who played pranks and held Angie's hand, but then there's this whole other part of you. There's this serious side of you, this determined, proud, terribly clever, mysterious, sexy, auror side of you," She said. "Sometimes I can't decide who I'm talking to," She laughed. Lily looked up at him. "I suppose that means you're an incredibly 'whole' person," She added sarcastically. She closed her eyes as he kissed her but rather unfortunately they were interrupted.
"Oh, HONESTLY, get a room! This is a public hallway," Lily and James broke apart smiling recognizing the voice to be of one Sirius Black.
"Oh Sirius, are you feeling left out?" James mocked. "Come here," James said chasing his friend with open arms.
"Whoa James, didn't realize you swung both ways," Sirius said ducking out of the way.
"And where are you going?" Lily asked Sirius.
"Out. The night is young," Was his response.
"It's almost four in the morning!" James exclaimed.
"So it is," Sirius said glancing at his watch with a shrug before skipping merrily down the hallway.
"What makes him tick?" Lily asked referring to Sirius.
"I don't think even he knows," James replied.
~*~
So Angela and Joshua became new parents early in the morning of May 1st. And there beautiful slightly red/light brown haired brown-eyed baby was born as Kirsten Morticia Elizabeth Star.
~*~
The next day in late afternoon James departed.
"No tears," He said gently brushing the tears from her face.
"Oh, I know I'm being silly, it's just that I have a bad feeling," Lily said trying to smile. "Be careful," She whispered and another tear spilled over the brim of her eye.
"Don't make this harder for me," James said to her. "Be strong and no tears," He kissed her forehead and left.
Lily sighed, tomorrow she too would go back to work.
~*~
Two months later…
"Frog Legs!" Lily yelled suddenly springing awake in the middle of one July night. James jumped next to her. She was sitting straight up and wide awake. "And chocolate," She added.
"Do we have any frog legs?" Lily turned to James.
"Frog legs?" James asked confused and sleepy. "What the hell for?"
"To eat, prat," Lily said getting out of bed. James made a face in the dark. Frog legs did not sound appetizing.
"Lily, since when have we kept frog legs about?" He too, got out of bed.
"Then go get me some," Lily replied.
"And where, exactly, do you suggest I purchase frog legs at 2:00AM?"
"Do I look like I care?" Lily asked rudely.
"Whatever you like dear," James said rubbing his eyes and quickly throwing some robes over his pajamas. He was quite used to this by now. When your wife is almost nine months pregnant, you can expect mood swings from hell and strange cravings in the middle of the night. One time James actually had to ask someone if they stocked pickled chicken, which Lily was now skilled at making.
"And hurry up!" Oh and did we mention mood swings?
Lily went to the kitchen to investigate while James found his broom and prepared himself to go outside.
"Frog legs," He muttered as he stepped outside.
Sirius sat up and looked around. The closing of the door had awakened him. He glanced at the clock. "Damn," He had just fallen asleep no more than ten minutes ago. He had come in tired from a date. He heard Lily in the kitchen and went to find her.
She was rummaging around the cooler. She pulled out a piece of pie and grabbed a fork. As soon as she turned around she screamed and dropped her pie, which proceeded to splatter on the floor. She had been startled and sank into a chair starting to sob.
"Aw Lil, I'm sorry," Sirius said trying to comfort her. Her emotions ran high in the third trimester. Sirius cleaned up the pie and magically put it back together.
Lily kept crying, so not knowing what else to do Sirius lit a candle, stuck it in the pie and started singing the only thing that came to mind.
"Zip-a-dee-doo-dah. Zip-a-dee-ay. My oh my, what a bright sunny day…" Until Lily's tears changed to laughter.
"There that's better. Now where did old prongs get to?" He asked her.
"He went out to get some frog legs." Sirius, who had begun to absently massage her shoulders, momentarily paused, but then he quickly reminded himself that she was pregnant, and hoped it was just a phase.
"Jams will do anything for you," Sirius mumbled with a grin. He could just see his buddy out at 2:30 trying to find some frog legs.
"He knows that I need my nutrition and food," Lily said.
"Yes, but I'm not exactly sure what food group frog legs would fall under. I don't really think it counts as a vegetable, Lily, but I guess James always was like that," Sirius was reminded of the many times James would sneak down into the kitchens and get all kinds of things for Lily, and any other he happened to be dating at the time…
Sirius let him mind wander. He leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. He started to drift asleep as he massaged Lily's shoulders absently.
His mind wandered back to school…
"JAMES!" James Potter whipped around in the hallway. His brown eyes fell upon the charming sixth year Ravenclaw who had called his name. She was blonde with blue eyes and a pretty face, about the only blonde in Ravenclaw, but don't think she didn't play the part well. She always made a special point to try and sit near him and work with him in charms. Her name was Misty, a real cutie, but at the moment he was tied to Lily, which was a perfectly good arrangement.
"Hi!" She said cheerily, flipping her hair and flashing those pearly whites.
"Morning Misty," James said almost bored.
"Have you done the charms homework yet? Some of it was kind of difficult but I could help you if you want…"
Lily Evans glared icily and James Potter and Misty Johnson. She was not at all pleased.
"That would be great," Just then Misty caught Lily's eye. Her smiled faded, briefly, and a look of unease came over her. Then, she quickly turned on the charm. She smiled and flipped her hair seductively.
"You know James, I don't have a date for the End of the Year Dance, yet." She batted her eye lashes. "Maybe we could go together. I'm sure Lily wouldn't mind, there's always Sirius…" James stared at her. And Lily's mouth dropped open. "I'll let you think about it," She said quickly, and then she kissed James on the cheek and disappeared. James stood rooted to the spot. Had that really just happened?
"Argh!" Lily exclaimed throwing her hand up and stomping off.
James swore, he hadn't realized Lily had been standing there.
~*~
The rest of the afternoon Lily and James didn't have a class together, being in different houses. Lily glared stonily at Misty all through Divination planning what she was going to do to her. Luckily, the teacher mistook this and thought Lily was concentrating intently upon her crystal ball.
Lily was one of the first ones down to dinner. James slipped into the chair next to her.
"Hey sweetie," He said leaning over to give her a kiss. She turned away coldly, brining new meaning to the term 'cold shoulder'
"Don't sweet talk me James Potter," She said coolly.
"Sugar, muffin… pumpkin pie?" He held up a plate to her with a perfect slice of pie on it. Lily's eyes as good as had sparks flying from them. She grabbed the pie and smashed it in his face. Half the great hall exploded with laughter.
Sirius conjured up some popcorn and the rest of the marauders sat happily watching and eating.
"OK, I guess I had that one coming," He said removing the pie from his glasses.
"Go sit at your own table!" Lily snapped. "And do try to pick up your mess before you leave. You're ruining the tablecloth. Remus, Sirius, Peter, Sierra, Angie, Holly, and Elizabeth were all laughing hysterically. James had pumpkin pie all over him and he was looking livid.
But he quickly changed his tune as a look of pleasure spread across his face. An evil little plot had entered into his mind. He leaned back in his chair and placed his feet on the table and crossed them comfortably. For a second Lily just stared in shock that he could actually be such a jerk.
Then she got up and started to leave as he began eating pumpkin pie off his face.
"So, girls, who wants to help me get this pumpkin pie off my face?" He asked leaning farther back in his chair. There was a great scraping of chairs and screaming of girls as every girl in earshot stood up, but when Lily whipped around they all sat, being quite familiar with Lily's red headed temper.
She took out her wand and sent a curse at James not caring what teacher witnessed it. "Shit!" He cursed as he tried to dodge it. He fell right out of his chair. Lily smiled satisfied as the Gryffindors roared with laughter and girls scrambled to help James up.
Lily walked over to the Gryffindor table and gave Angie a high five. James was wiping his face off on the table cloth.
"Damn him! I told him not to ruin the tablecloth!" Lily yelled.
James came over and sat down a few places away from Lily, next to Sirius who was laughing madly at him.
"Go Lily! That girl knows what she's doing! And you've got a piece of pumpkin pie in your hair… no… right… there!" He said as James felt it and quickly brushed it out with his fingers.
"Anyway, time to go bug Lily," James said looking at his watch as if it actually had a time for bugging Lily. But Lily already knew what she was going to do. She walked right past James who could just watch as she sat down next to Sirius who started laughing harder.
"I don't care what James says, you're officially a marauder now!" He exclaimed.
"Sirius, you're so nice, unlike some people," She glared at James. And then, she did it. The thing that the entire school would be talking about for months! Lily Evans leaned over and kissed Sirius Black. And it wasn't you're ordinary peck on the cheek. It wasn't even your ordinary smooch. She planted one passionate kiss on the lips!
James was momentarily stunned as she strutted past him towards the entrance hall. But he was only momentarily stunned.
"Yeah, that's right Remus," James shouted loudly enough for Lily to hear. "I'm taking Misty Johnson to the Dance. After all, blondes do have more fun!" Remus was looking a little pissed, clearly, he hadn't wanted to be brought into this. Lily, who had been right in the doorway, turned quickly and glared as a satisfied James strutted over to a thoroughly delighted Misty.
With a last "humph!" She quickly turned dramatically and stomped from the great hall…
~*~
When Sirius snapped out of his dream he found Lily asleep as well. *Perfect* He thought getting out his wand and putting her to bed. James and Sirius usually had this system worked out. James would go out to get something and Sirius would do whatever it took to make Lily fall back asleep. That way everything would be right as rain if the item couldn't be found or didn't exist.
James was so glad there was only a month left. Just one more month.
~*~
James groaned loudly the next morning when he awoke. He hadn't gotten as much sleep as he would have liked last night. Lily woke up next to him.
"What time is it?" She asked sleepily.
"9:37," James replied, yawning.
"WHAT!?!" Lily screeching leaping out of bed as quickly and with as much leap as an eight month pregnant woman can have. "I have a doctor's appointment at 9:45! That's in eight minutes!"
"Seven," James corrected her as it turned 9:38. The two of them got ready probably more quickly than they ever had in their entire life, which was saying something, again mentioning the fact that Lily was eight months pregnant.
Needless to say, they were still late, by about fifteen minutes.
"What is this for anyway?" James asked Lily.
"I'm going to have another ultrasound to make sure the baby is healthy. Because, I'm so close now, and the she's so big that if they need to they can take her out before she's actually ready. To avoid complications."
"Sounds complicated to me," James said. Lily rolled her eyes. James, who was rather uneducated in this field had always imagined an ultrasound as a rather painful experience but when he saw how easy it was he was shocked.
But he soon found other things to worry about. Looking at the baby on the screen was quite an unforgettable experience. That was his baby! Little baby Sally. (That was the name they had decided on)
"Wait a second," Lily suddenly exclaimed sitting up as much as possible. "What's that!?" She said pointing to the screen. "I thought you said it was a girl!?!?!"
"Oh my!" The doctor exclaimed. "Well, it seems his little equipment has grown much since our last look," She said.
"We're going to have to go shopping!" James exclaimed.
"And redecorate the nursery,"
"AND THE NAME!!!" They both cried in horrified unison! It had taken them forever to decide on a name.
~*~
The very next day Angie came over and they set to work on picking out names. Or more like Lily and Angie did. James was busy repainting in the nursery. After many hours they had narrowed it down to twenty-three names. Among those were Sirius, Remus, Peter, and James, but those were only being considered for middle names. After reeling off the list to James he said he didn't really mind any of them except Dudley. All they needed to do was pick too.
Lily was rather attached to the name Harry since it went along with Sally in this movie she had once seen at home. After much deliberation, mostly between Angie who was in favor of Nicholas they decided on Harry, because James liked it better. So, now they had a first name. But that was as far as they ever got…
~*~
James came to regret not being better planned for the baby to arrive. When they went in that morning on July 31st they were completely unprepared for a middle name. The alternative was not James's idea, but Angie forever thought it hilarious and often teased Harry, her godson about it.
One thing James was proud of that night, besides the fact that he managed to stay in the delivery room the entire time without throwing up, was the fact that they named Angie and Sirius god parents, in attempts to hook them back up. However, Angie was pretty tied to Josh now, seeing as they shared a person.
So, when the time came to name the child, James told Lily it was up to her as long his first name was Harry. However, he had not expected her to reel off all twenty-two other names, including Dudley.
"Are you ready for this?" She asked the nurse. "Harry, is his first name, middle names, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Mitchell, Xavier, Fox, Tommy, Isaac, Kurt, Anthony, Clayton, Bartholomew, Ezekiel, Oliver, Dudley, Gilbert, William, Lloyd, Nicholas, Quentin, Ulysses, last name Potter." Lily explained slowly spelling each one.
Later James asked her which name she picked for Harry's middle name.
"Well," She looked down and all around, anywhere but at him.
"You picked Dudley, didn't you?" James asked. "I can't believe this! Why do you like that name? Isn't your nephew named Dudley?"
"Well, yes, but that's not all I named him," Lily said.
"He has two middle names?" James asked looking at her.
"Um…"
"THREE?"
"Not exactly…"
"FOUR?" James's eyes were going to pop out of his head at any minute.
"Well, actually, he has all twenty-two." Lily replied.
"You're kidding. I know you're joking," James said.
"No, actually, you can look at his birth certificate," James stared at Lily as she reeled them off in order.
"DUDLEY?!" Sirius exclaimed when she had finished.
~*~
A/N: Well, how did you like that chapter? Interesting to say the least. I know, the whole name thing is a bit much, but I couldn't resist, Harmony and I did this like four months ago! Lol. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I was going for humor here.
I can't believe I've another chapter down! YES! Go me! Go me! Sorry, really hyper because it's midnight and I finished the chapter and I'm actually updating within two weeks! It's a miracle!!
Thanks to you:
HermioneG: Thanks for all your reviews that continue to be great! And I think you're having a little too much fun thinking about it… You need to hurry up and update Green Eyes. I really like that story now. Could you e- mail or tell me in a review when you update? That would be really great if you could, but don't worry about it if you don't want to. Keep up the good work!
Britz: I finally inserted into your profile! I had a lot of fun doing that. And in Diana's profile I started talking about Captain Obvious cereal. It's going up right beside the ice cream plant. Lol. Thanks for the reviews. I'll try to update sooner now that it's SUMMER!!! YES!! Luv Ya!
Hyper Princess: I want to thank you so much. You review every chapter and you have the awesomest name! I love it! And you don't have to ask me to e- mail you when I update. I'll do that no matter what. (
Krissy: I'm glad you like the story and thanks for your reviews. I added you to my mailing list for when I update this story, OK?
Libertygrl413: I'm so sorry I haven't come to read your story in forever. I'll try to catch up after school's out. (Which, by the time I post this, it already will be out…) And thanks for the reviews. I'm glad you liked the chapter because I was slightly nervous about that… Yes! You should go read HBFred's stuff. It has a really good plot and I have become the beta reader for it!
~*Crystal Lily*~: Unfortunately both of your questions I will politely refuse to answer. Your first question will be answered next chapter. Your second question will have to be answered by reading this story until it's over… and then some, come to think of it... Anyway, thanks for the reviews, as always…
Ax: Well, thanks for your reviews and I'm glad you loved the chapter.
Hyper-Piper: Love the name. And thanks for the reviews!
Lisa: Thanks for reading my story. Harmony sends her thanks too! (For reading her story, that is…)
Midnight Moon: Duh, I'm doing another chapter. Did you think I was just going to stop? I'm going to finish this story, so don't worry!
Katie Weasley: I'm trying to hurry, unfortunately it isn't working too well… Believe me, no one wants me to finish this story more than MYSELF! I cannot wait to write the killer ending and then the SEQUEL!! Just thinking about it is making me HYPER! LOL! Thanks for the review.
Those are all of you who reviewed for chapter 18, as of today… I still have to thank Harmony and Diana and Sierra too because they are my bestest friends on here! Luv ya, but hurry up and review!
"And home before dark!"
~Star*dust
PS JINGLE BELLS!! (Don't take it personally…)