A/N: Sorry about the delay. Tis the silly season, after all! But consider this a present. Merry Christmas all!

Chapter Three: The Baby

When James arrived, it was to find Sirius' place in utter disrepair. His best friend was the typical bachelor; too lazy to lift his wand to even push all his dirty clothes up against the wall so you could get from one side of the room to the other.

"Padfoot!" James called, kicking remotes, empty bottles, pizza boxes and women's lingerie out of his way as he headed towards the bedroom. Lifting the last of these objects up with interest, James thought better of his plan and stopped. "Padfoot! It's nearly lunchtime! Whoever she is, put her out of her misery and tell her she's allowed to wake up and go home!"

With that declaration, James cleared everything from the couch with his wand and sat down. He noted that Sirius had at least made some effort – the dirty dishes only seemed to consist of the leftovers of last night's meal for two. Something ridiculously complicated, James didn't doubt – Sirius' love for food had developed into an unbelievable knack for knowing exactly how to put all the right ingredients together in a way that would win any woman (or man, for that matter) over.

"Did you have to yell so loud, Prongs?" Sirius had emerged, in striped blue and white boxer shorts and a loosely draped black dressing gown that had likely never seen a washing machine "She apparated faster than I could blink. Bet I don't have the slightest chance of seeing her again now." Sirius seated himself next to his best friend with a sigh.

"Come on now Padfoot," James look unconvinced "Would you have seen her again anyway?"

"Well… no, probably not. But that's beyond the point. Had I wanted to, I could have. Now, thanks to you, I bloody well can't. So you'd better have a good reason for interrupting."

James grinned that manic grin of his as he looked at his bleary-eyed best friend, "Well actually dear Padfoot, I rather believe I do…"

It had been a busy day, thought Lily as she left the ward at three pm, with the thought of a nice relaxing bath keeping her feet moving as she headed to the door. She had dealt with the babbling old woman, who turned out to be from a country nobody had heard of before, although she drew a very convincing map so they let her go. Then she had gone on to remove a pair of wings stuck to a toddler, so that her parents could stop her from flying out through the window again. All the while the child's aunt kept repeating, "All I said was that she was such an angel… I didn't mean…"

As she stepped out onto the busy muggle street, Lily just hoped dinner would be ready on the table. And when she did arrive in Godric's Hollow, there was something on the table… but it wasn't quite dinner.

"James." Lily said very slowly, her feet glued to the doorway in the kitchen, "James, is that… is that a baby?"

"Ta-da!" James grinned, his arms thrown in triumph down at the bundle of blankets gently babbling on the table.

Lily rushed over to the baby and peered down at it in disbelief, taking in its thick dark locks of hair that matched its dark brown eyes, stubby little arms and hands protruding from its powder blue onesie, and chubby legs kicking excitedly at the sight of this flame-haired woman. Then slowly she reached out her arms to cradle the child.

"James," her voice took on a very sudden severity "Where did he come from? You can't just go taking babies."

Her husband patted her back reassuringly "I didn't just take him. His mother doesn't want him any more."

"She what??" Lily looked up in horror "She gave him to you, just like that? But he's simply gorgeous."

With that declaration there was a flash of light, a thud so loud Lily didn't quite hear James' cry of "Not now Sirius!" and then Lily found herself cradling not a charming little baby boy, but a less-than-charming fully-grown Sirius Black.

"Did you hear that Prongs? Your wifey loves me! She said I'm simply gorgeous." With those last two words Sirius' voice took on a falsely high pitch and he fluttered his eyelashes dramatically.

Lily dropped Sirius instinctively, looking for a few seconds between her husband, doubled over with laughter on the floor, and Sirius himself, looking utterly ridiculous in his light blue onesie and nothing else, tiny blankets littering the ground near his feet. Then she understood.

"JAMES!"

James stopped laughing and wiped the tears from his eyes so he could look across at his best friend. He was in trouble now, he knew, and it wasn't going to be pretty. But at least this way, Padfoot was going down with him.

Lily didn't speak to James for a week after the Baby Sirius incident. James' pleading for forgiveness had been endless, but no matter how he justified it she would not relent.

"I didn't lie, Lilykins. I only said that his mother didn't want him anymore. Sirius' Mum kicked him out years ago."

"C'mon… you should have seen the look on your face, it was hilarious!"

"You said you wanted a baby on the table or you'd run away with Sirius! What was I supposed to do? I couldn't bear to lose my Lily-Flower!"

All of these received variations on basic eye-rolling, finger-pulling or swearing techniques. At least, thought James, she's saying something to me. He only wished it was a little more civil.

Lily's shift ran late the following Friday – until 8pm, as opposed to James who would finish at the Ministry at five. He thought it was time to get serious and step up the apologising, so he got Sirius around to help him cook something that wouldn't wind up tasting of salted cardboard, promptly told him to bugger off again, and waited, with candlelit table at the ready, for Lily to arrive home. When the faint 'pop' outside told James she had arrived, he shook his shirt collar looser, ruffled his hair and took his position by the door with a deep red rose in his hand.

"May I take your coat, Madam?"

The voice stunned Lily, who could only stare in confusion at their small dinner table with its beautiful decoration as James removed her heavy winter coat from her shoulders.

"Please, take a seat." James guided Lily gently to the table, pulled out a chair and waited for her to sit in it.

"James-" said Lily, suddenly snapping to her senses,

"Hush, Lily-Flower, wait a minute. We have more pressing matters." He winked at his wife, and then James waved his wand in a complex manner at the air around him. Finishing with a sharp jab at the ceiling, the edges of the room filled with fog, slowly spreading inwards until it reached the table. Before Lily had the sense to ask what was going on, the fog gave one final golden glitter, centimetres from where she was sitting, and dissolved.

Lily took a sharp intake of breath and looked around in amazement. "Where are we?" she breathed

"Godric's Hollow, Lils. Honestly, I would have expected you to know where we live by now."

"But… this enchantment. It's beautiful." She finished simply.

And beautiful it was, for rather than the living room and kitchen of their house, the couple were now surrounded by mountain air. It was a good thing neither had a fear of heights, because they were perched upon a grassy knoll several thousand feet high, overlooking a lake. A forest stretched eagerly upwards from the far side of the lakebed, the tips of the trees lit only by the crescent moon and scattered stars.

James was watching Lily's face intently, storing away every detail, each curve of that astonished mouth, the reflected stars in her emerald eyes. He may have loved her for years, far longer than she herself had even been willing to talk to him, but he never got sick of admiring her. All of a sudden, in that moment, he understood. How could he not have agreed straight away? The thought of this beautiful woman cradling an equally beautiful child in her arms, the thought of having a family this wonderful…

"Okay Lily. Let's have a baby."

A/N: Nothing makes me work faster than reviews, no matter what they say. Please review so I can make this story even better to read!