New

James was bent over his plate, shovelling forkfuls of food into his mouth. Sirius watched him amusedly, leaning back in his chair opposite him and kicking his legs up onto the table.

"You don't have to inhale it, you know?" smirked Sirius. "The wedding's not for another five hours."

"Don't – want – to – be – hungry," said James in between mouthfuls.

"You'll have food there," pointed out Sirius. "No one's going to let you starve on your wedding day!"

James glanced up at Sirius, who was already wearing his dress robes (although the outer robe itself was hung carelessly over the chair beside him), the top few buttons of his shirt undone. He picked up an apple, tossed it into the air with a flick of his wrist, caught it again and bit into it.

"Thanks for coming around so early," said James. "What with Lily not here, I was going out of my mind. Didn't know what to do."

"Glad I could be of some help," said Sirius.

"If not for you, I probably would've starved," said James with a grin. "I can't cook to save my life."

"I made you toast!" snorted Sirius. "Nothing special, Prongs."

"And scrambled eggs," reminded James. "Very, very good scrambled eggs."

"Nothing you can't whip up with a wand,"said Sirius, shrugging nonchalantly. "You do know you're a wizard, don't you, James? You just need a couple of eggs, some milk, pepper and a wand. Or you can do it the Muggle way, if you really want."

"Ha, ha," said James drily. "So are you bringing a date to my wedding?"

"Nah," said Sirius.

James was astounded. "Really? No one wanted to go with you? But you're Sirius Black, the most excellent, handsome man there ever was."

"Oh, shut up," said Sirius with a grin. "I got a hell of a lot of hints, especially from Hestia."

"Jones?" spluttered James

"What other Hestia do we know?" said Sirius jokingly. "She kept dropping hints at Order meetings and she's nice, but just..."

"Not your type?" chuckled James. "Everyone's your type, Sirius. What about Marlene?"

"McKinnon?" asked Sirius, imitating James with a mock widening of his eyes.

"Shut up," said James.

"Oh, she's just delightful," grinned Sirius. "Thing is, see, I don't particularly want a date."

"So you can focus all your attention on your best friend?" suggested James.

"You wish," said Sirius. "It's so I can focus all my attention, charm and roguish good looks – that's what the girls tell me; I'm roguishly handsome – on all the Firewhisky-influenced single witches at your wedding."

Sirius, finishing his apple, threw it at the bin, where it hit the rim and fell to the floor. He groaned and took out his wand, making it fall, this time, neatly inside.

"And the almighty Sirius Black scores another goal for Gryffindor!" announced James. "Gryffindor win by a million points to none! Another shocking loss for Slytherin!"

"Grow up," laughed Sirius. "You're going to be a husband by the end of today. You looking forwa–"

He had been cut short by the sound of the lock turning in the door, the door banging open and being slammed shut, and of the sound of hurried footsteps. James looked up, confused, from his breakfast. The only person apart from he and Sirius who had a key was –

The kitchen door flew open and there stood Lily, her cheeks flushed, her green eyes sparkling with excitement, and her chest rising quickly up and down. She had clearly been running.

"Lily?" said James in surprise.

"Ah, the beautiful bride," said Sirius in greeting. "But isn't it bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding?"

"This is important," said Lily, smiling broadly. "And it doesn't count, since I'm not wearing my wedding dress."

"No," said Sirius slowly, eyeing her. "You're wearing pyjamas. You came all the way to Godric's Hollow from the Longbottoms' in pyjamas?"

"That doesn't matter," she said dismissively. "I needed to speak to James."

"For last-minute wedding things, this is extremely last-minute," said Sirius. "You know, as best man, I don't think I can allow-"

"Shut up!" burst out James and Lily and the same time.

"Fine, fine," said Sirius, grinning and holding up his hands in surrender. "Won't say another word."

James stood up and moved towards Lily, worried. She seemed like she could barely contain her happiness, her smile broader than he had ever seen it and her green eyes dancing.

"What is it, Lily?" he asked cautiously.

Her hand fluttered to rest on her belly and a small, elated bubble of laughter escaped her lips.

"I think," she whispered, "I've found my something new."