Footnotes
Entry #20: June 27th
It had been 26 days since our Hogwarts life ended, and even though we weren't going back, we kept in contact with the Order. Emma, James, Lily and I were all living in the spacious Potter house, and we did our best to fill the house up with as much sunshine as possible. There was always laughter and we'd all stay up late and wake up even later the next morning. Most days were spent outside in the garden. Summer was perfect. One morning bright sunny morning I got up a little earlier than normal to talk to James about something every important.
"Hey can I ask you something?"
"What's up mate?"
"Well I…" I cleared my throat as he took a swig of OJ, his new favorite morning drink. He waited for me to continue.
"I want to ask Emma to marry me, but I want to ask you for her hand in marriage….," I trialed off. James almost choked and suddenly I felt like this was a very bad idea. I waited as he coughed out all the orange juice out of his lungs before answering.
"Wow…er…yeah….of course, you didn't have to come to me to ask, I would have let you go ahead and just ask her. But do you think it's a good idea so soon?"
"I don't know how much time left we all have with her and what time we do have I want her to be my wife, not just my girlfriend," I explained to James. We were told that Emma's cancer shouldn't give her anymore problems, but we should be attentive to it in case it flared or was secretly working in her body to kill her. James nodded his head, and walked around the kitchen island and gave me a hug. I hugged him back, relieved.
"Go get her tiger," He told me grinning. Just then Emma came down the stairs dressed in a little sundress and her hair pulled up just so. I spun on my stool and gave her a smile as she came up to me and gave me a quick kiss.
"Ready?"
"Of course!" She replied. I grabbed her hand and we walked out into the garden. James winked at me.
"So where are we going, or can you not tell me that?" Emma asked about the surprise morning date I had planned. We walked out on to the street as I shook my head. Then Emma's eyes lit up as she saw that a head of us was a horse drawn buggy. She let out a squeal of excitement. We got in and the driver took us to a little place where I had breakfast set up.
"Sirius, you didn't have to do all of this for me…"
"But I wanted to Emma, that's the whole point," I told her. The carriage came to a stop and I helped her out. She laughed as I spun her about and I couldn't keep the grin off of my face.
"I love you Sirius," she said a giggle still rising from her throat.
"And I love you too Emma, and I always will," I told her covering her eyes, so I could lead her to the secret spot I had set up.
"No peaking now…"
"I'm not!"
"You lair," I teased her. She laughed again and pulled my hand away from her eyes as we stopped. It was a small grassy spot next to a tiny flowing creek that was shaded from a giant willow tree. Wild flowers littered the banks. We sat down and I let out a sigh, better get it over with.
"Emma, I've been meaning to ask you something. It hasn't been that long since we've been together, but I know that we are meant to last. And I know you know that. We've got our whole lived a head of us, and we have no idea how it's all going to play out. Will we lose the war, or win the war? That day that the school was attacked, I was so afraid I was going to lose you so I promised myself that I wasn't ever going to let it happen. Emma Joanne Potter, will you marry me?" I asked getting down on one knee. Emma's eyes filled with tears as they grew wide in shock. Slowly she shook her head 'no'.
"Why not? And give me an honest reason this time!" I begged her. She let out a sigh.
"Sirius, if this war doesn't kill me, than my cancer will…"
"I don't care about that! If one of us dies, I want to be a married couple, not just dating and living together. I want to write on my headstone 'loving husband and father' wouldn't you like to do the same sort of thing?" I asked her, trying to stay as calm as I possibly could. I hid the fact that anger was slowly building up inside of me, or was that tears trying to break lose? It didn't matter. Emma nodded a little.
"I just hate that I did this to you…"
"You're my everything, there isn't anything on this good given earth that doesn't remind me of you. I hear the thunder roar and think of how you love rainstorms, or hear the birds sing and think of how you sing back to them. Em, you are my life and I only intend to say goodbye to you once; as my wife," I told her squeezing her hand. She was crying a little still, so I gently kiss the back of her hand.
"So what do you say? Will you marry me anyway?" She let out a weak laugh and threw her arms around my shoulders a wide grin on her face.
"I'd marry you a million times over if I have too."