Back in England, James, Lily, Remus, and Hermione were busy decorating the new house. Even though they still had almost two weeks before the newlyweds would return home they felt they had to get the furniture in by the end of the first week.
By the end of the second day, they were so worn out that James walked into the kitchen, conjured a balloon, and filled it up with water. Walking back outside he threw the balloon at a spot near the rest causing the water to splash onto them. This started a water balloon fight that lasted for the next few hours. When the four separated, they each silently vowed to get the rest back for the fight.
Back in America, Heather and Sirius arrived back at the hotel to pack their stuff, so that they could move to a different spot. Once they were ready, they took down the ward, and apparated to the nearest bus stop, where they took a bus to the nearest airplane, and flew to the Southern US. They spent a couple of days in Miami, Florida, before they soon ran into the same problem they did with the previous place. The next day they packed and left for St. Louis, Missouri, where they again spent a few days.
By this time, the Marauders were plainly worn out and had spent the last few days putting the finishing touches on the kitchen. The reason it had taken so long: not a single one of them knew anything about plumbing, and they wanted to put newer sinks and tubs in the place. They hired a wizard who set up the plumbing right so that the sinks would work. They asked him to also set up the pipes for the tub, as they were going to be replacing that as well. It took him a few days to set it up and make it so that water would flow through it while magic was being used nearby without breaking the pipes.
"So, ready to return home, and see how much Lily has kept the rest of them from destroying the house?" Heather asked her husband the night before they were due to return to England. He shook his head no, and she walked over to him, and sat down on the bed next to him. She began to massage his shoulders, which helped him calm down a lot from the anger he was displaying. The day they had arrived back in New York, one of the Aurors that had attended to the mishap in the hotel came bearing a letter from the British Ministry, for him saying that he needed to report back to England, to begin Auror training. Sure, he had signed up for it, but he hadn't really thought he'd get it.
"But I guess it makes sense, they need all the Aurors they can get these days." He said before turning to his wife, "I wouldn't be surprised if they come asking you to switch over to being an Auror."
"They can't order you around, and neither can they order me either. They'll have to make due with what they have. You don't have to do this."
"I want to though, the more I've thought about it, the more I want to protect you and any kids we have in the future." Sirius told her, his voice nervous, "I just don't want to lose you, and me being an Auror, well, it puts you in an ever bigger situation than before."
"I've been on V . . . Voldemort's hit list since the day I escaped from him." Heather said, "I think he might have attacked the house to try to lure us back to England so he could kill me."
"What did he want with you in the first place?"
"Dumbledore said he might have wanted to question us about our parents, but I don't think that's true." He looked at her with growing interest. "The night of the Welcoming feast in our fifth year, the Sorting Hat, it told me that it shouldn't be seeing me for 16 years, but that doesn't make sense."
"We'll have to look into it, it might explain why they said there were no survivors and then you and the Granger twins showed up."
"Let's get to bed you silly mutt." She said.
"If I'm a mutt you are too!" he said chasing after her, catching her just before the bed. Both knew right then, they were in for a long night.
Heather awoke the next morning sore and stiff, and bright and early. She sat up and pulled the covers around her as she noticed the mess they had made of the room with their clothes the night before. Looking to her left, she saw her husband sound asleep. She reached under the bed and pulled out the suitcase. Opening it she pulled out a fresh set of clothes, and put them on. As soon as she was done, she set to cleaning up the mess. Preferring to clean it up the muggle way so that the Ministry, plus the muggles, wouldn't press charges against them.
Around an hour later, she had everything ready to go, and snuck up next to her husband, who was still asleep. She silently turned into her dog form, and leaped with all the power she could, up onto the bed, landing right on top of him. She quickly climbed off, and turned back, just to see him shoot up, and off the bed.
"Well, it's about time you got up." She said after a few minutes of laughter. He pulled himself up, grabbed some clothes, and headed into the bathroom to get ready. A half an hour later, he came out and tackled her back onto the bed.
"Now for some payback." He whispered in her ear. Just like the night before, he started by kissing her. However, this time, she interrupted.
"We're going to miss our Floo Time if we don't finish packing and get out of here." She said. Sirius seemed to pout and then realized what time it was. "We'll finish this once we get home." She said once he did. He jumped up and started shoving his stuff into his suitcase, and within about ten minutes they left the hotel and headed to the Airport.
"My lord, the Blacks are due back today," the squeaky voice of Peter Pettigrew said. "Do you wish for us to attack them?"
"No." The high voice of Voldemort said. "We will leave them alone, now get back to your post and keep giving me reports. Crucio!" Pettigrew started screaming, he hadn't been put under the Cruciatus too much, and he had chosen the wrong day to try to persuade his master to attack. He scampered out and left the rest of the Death Eaters to talk.
"My most faithful, tomorrow we will attack in two places. One, Hogsmeade, that is where half of you will be stationed, and the other is Diagon Alley. Strike down those who oppose me."
At approximately 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the fireplace at Potter Mansion roared to life. The young couple stepped out of it, and dusted themselves off; Floo was definitely not their favorite way of travel. They looked around, and saw no one was there. They walked into the kitchen, and while Sirius' first thought was food, Heather saw a note lying on the table.
To Heather and Sirius:
Sorry we couldn't be there to welcome you home, we're busy helping Lily set up her apartment. We've charmed this note to be a Portkey (rather Dumbledore did it, he has authorization) to go to the apartment, if you want to go there. Just say the phrase that will be in the postscript to activate it, and we'll see you there.
James Potter
Prongs
"Okay, so maybe we were wrong, I guess Lily did get an apartment." She said after reading it. She looked down at the postscript but did not say it out loud. When Sirius heard her he came over, and looked at the letter.
"Do you want to go say hi to them?" he asked.
"Why not, we can continue our funfest later tonight." Sirius' eye gleamed at that.
"Okay hold on. Safe haven." With a tug at their navels, they suddenly landed on hardwood flooring. Helping each other up, they walked down the hallway, realizing that the place was way too big to be an apartment. As they reached the kitchen, they heard excited whispers.
". . . they could be here any minute." James' whisper came. They heard the scraping of chairs being pushed in. As they heard that, they pushed open the door, and looked at the startled faces of their friends, minus Peter.
"Hello." James said, after a few minutes of silence.
"Anyone want to clue me in to why this place looks like the inside of the Potter summer house?" asked Sirius. There was some more silence. "Don't tell me you guys actually bought a house for us."
"Well you see, the night that you guys were married, we, uh, came up with an idea."
"Yeah, and we, uh, decided to all pitch in and buy this house for you two." There was a shocked look on Heather's face, as she put it together.
"You did this for us?"
"Yep."
"No strings attached."
"None."
"No pranks."
"Nope, now that you mention it though . . ." James started but was hit over the head by Remus. Heather ran over to Lily and gave her a hug. Then she looked at her brother who was currently in dream land.
"We thought it was odd that just after we got married, we caught you looking at house ads." She said.
"Well, I just found this place shortly after the Manor was attacked. Yes, we were attacked by Voldemort, but the wards alerted Professor Dumbledore, who came as soon as he could. Voldemort fled like a chicken with its head cut off." Heather had to laugh at that. She could just imagine the sight of Voldemort doing that. She thought it was funny.
"So, why did you buy us this place?"
"Well, we figured you needed to get out of that manor, and you two needed a house of your own, so we bought this, paid for in full, and decided we'd refurnish it and get a few things up to scratch."
"I see, so where are we living at now?"
"Number 2 Godric's Hollow. Right next door to the summer retreat, if you wanted to use some of its resources." Remus said, "The house is the only one that really felt the best to see you in."
Later that night, after everyone but the Blacks had left, they headed up to their bedroom.
"So ready to keep with that promise we made earlier today?" Sirius asked. Heather pulled off her light jacket before nodding. She walked over to him and kissed him on the lips as she worked his shirt up and off of him. He did the same with her blouse. Next, came the pants, as they both fell over onto the bed. Undergarments soon followed. This time Heather was a bit more prepared for the pain that she would go through, and soon they were both enjoying it a little too much. With each thrust, and moan, and caress, thoughts were going through their heads about starting a family of their own.
Two months later, Heather awoke, and ran to the toilet. Vomiting into the toilet, she began to wonder if she had come down with the stomach flu. Silently, she began to make plans to get an appointment at St. Mungos, to have a check-up. She returned to bed, only to sleep for just a few more hours before she had to get up.
She got out of bed at about 9 o'clock, and walked down to the kitchen, where she found her husband actually successfully cooking breakfast. She sat down at the table, and he brought the food over. As soon as he set the food down, it set something off, and she ran to the bathroom to throw up once again. Returning to the table she saw the concerned look on her husband's face.
"I'll go to St. Mungos and see what it is; I think it's just the stomach flu though." She said. She silently ate breakfast, and kissing Sirius good-bye as he left for Auror training, she started to think of a plan. Thinking of nothing, she grabbed a bit of Floo Powder, and flooed over to Potter Manor, where she knew Lily had been staying for the past few days. Sure enough, she found her getting breakfast ready for her and James. James had proposed to her around a month before, and they were finalizing plans for their marriage.
"Hey Heather, how are you?" Lily asked, when she noticed her.
"Feeling a little under the weather, but it should pass in a few days." She said.
"Ah, what's going on?"
"I think it's the stomach flu, but I'm not sure." Heather answered. It was the truth.
"Knowing you and Sirius, I don't think so, just a second." Lily walked out of the room, after removing the food from the top of the stove. She came back a few moments later holding a small box.
"Is that what I think it is?"
"Go home and use it, I have a distinct feeling that I don't usually ignore." Heather took the box and went back through the Floo Network to her house. Heading into the bathroom, she took the box and opened it. She took the pregnancy test, and held it in one hand.
Positive. That was what the test result was. Heather gulped; how would she tell Sirius that she was pregnant. It had been an hour since she had taken the test, and now she was sitting at the table starting at the test. She was staring at it so intently, that she almost didn't hear her husband enter the room. She quickly hid the test behind her back, and walked up to him.
"What's up Heather?" Sirius asked, he'd noticed her putting something behind her back.
"Well, I . . . I don't know how to put this other than straightforward . . ."
"What's the matter?"
"Sirius, I'm pregnant." The effect that the simple sentence had on him was enormous. He immediately picked her up and spun her around, before kissing her.
"I didn't know how you would take the news. I mean we haven't even been married a year and already I'm pregnant."
"Are you kidding, I've always wanted to be a father." Sirius said, kissing her again, "Should we go to dinner at the manor and tell everyone then?"
"Yeah, I think that's okay, Lily already knows, as she was the one who gave me the test to take." Heather said. Sirius picked her up again but let her down as she showed signs of wanting to hurl. Tearing from his arms she ran into the bathroom, and hurled her lunch up.
'Oh joy,' thought Sirius, 'how much longer is this going to go on?'
They arrived at Potter Manor later that night. Lily who had been expecting them, waited to greet them at the door. As she hugged Heather, and warmly greeted Sirius, Heather noticed the ring on her finger. Lily, however, didn't seem to notice that Heather saw. She led them into the dining room, where James, Remus, and Hermione were all gathered. Peter had stayed home to take care of his mother, who was sick. They took the two seats nearest the end, and waited for Lily to sit down. As soon as she did, though, James stood up.
"Well we're just waiting for two more people, but I'm going to have to go get them, so I'll be back in a minute." He disapparated, and exactly a minute later, Sirius timed him, he popped back in, with Lily's parents.
"Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, could you please sit here?" he motioned to the two chaits that had appeared on the other side of Lily. They took a seat, and he stood up.
"Well, a lot has happened in the last few months, but, tonight, I bring good news." He said.
"Get on with it." Sirius muttered under his breath, Heather hit him for it.
"Well, tonight, I, well, proposed to Lily, and . . ."
"I said yes." Lily said. Mr. and Mrs. Evans gasped, and stood up to hug Lily, and welcome James into the family. Caught up in the excitement, Heather and Sirius almost forgot their big news. It wasn't until Lily looked at her puzzled, that she remembered.
"Oh, right." Sirius said, "Well, I came home to a bit of good news too." Sirius said, "Heather's pregnant."
"WHAT!!" James said.
"Heather's pregnant." Sirius said. James sat there shocked for a few moments, before he fell over, out cold. Lily picked up the pitcher of water that was on the table and dumped it on him. He jumped up in a hurry.
"I'm going to be an uncle." Was all he said. Then he repeated it louder. Sirius turned to Remus.
"Heather and I discussed it, and well, we don't care about the stupid Ministry at the moment, and we decided that if the baby gets here alright, we'd like you to be Godfather."
"But . . ."
"As he said, we don't care what the Ministry says, you have proven that you could take care of kids, they passed those laws because of werewolves like Fenrir Greyback who don't care who they hurt."
"That and the Ministry doesn't want there to be anymore werewolves, as if they could control that." Hermione said.
"Oh, Hermione, we want you to be Godmother as well." Hermione beamed at that, and they looked over at Lily and James.
"Sorry about that James, but we think a couple of more years and maybe you could take care of a kid, Lily needs to get you to stop acting like a kid before that happens though." James started to pout about that, Lily raised her wand as if to hex him. Sirius laughed at him, before the food appeared. Heather began to wonder what would happen in the next few years.