Profligacy: reckless extravagance.

January 8, 1979

"What do you think?" James asked, spinning in a circle in the middle of the large stone hall.

The others looked around dubiously at the cracked stones and boarded windows, at the birds nesting in the rafters two stories above their heads and the pains missing from the round, stained glass windows. The doors were all missing and a brisk wind whipped miniature snowdrifts across the floor.

"It's nice," Sirius said, folding his hands behind his back and nodding appraisingly at the cracking walls. "For a bat, maybe. You can't be serious."

"No, you are," came the swift response, and Sirius scowled.

"Only I'm allowed to make that joke."

"You want to get married here?" Peter asked, kicking at a loose stone and jumping half a foot when the noise sent a mouse skittering across the floor.

"Yeah, look," James said, bouncing a little and rubbing his hands together with enthusiasm. "New doors, fix the windows, levitate about a billion candles, a few exterminating spells for the rodent problem – or just set Padfoot loose on them, or Pete can try to persuade them to leave politely – and we've practically got Buckingham Palace. What d'you think, Moony? You've got me on this, right?"

He looked pleadingly toward Remus.

"I dunno, James…" Remus said uncertainly, feeling the cavernousness of the space around them. "I mean, for one thing, how are you planning on protecting a place like this? Large crowds aren't exactly advised these days."

"We'll make it Unplottable," James supplied. "Use the Fidelious Charm if we have to. I'll be the Secretkeeper and I can handwrite the invitations."

"That's a hell of a lot of work to do for just one night," Sirius frowned. "Not to mention, who are we going to get to do the charm? Dumbledore? None of us can manage that."

"And how much does a place like this cost?" Remus asked. "A castle in the Scottish hills? For what? Twenty people, maybe?"

"If I wanted to be practical, I'd elope," James snapped, suddenly and uncharacteristically frustrated. Remus gave him a reproachful look and James returned it with an apologetic one. "It doesn't matter how much it costs," he went on more calmly. "I don't want to give Lily a few hasty signatures at the ministry or rush through vows in my mum's sitting room. I want to give her something amazing."

"I think she'd just be happy married to you safely," Remus pointed out quietly.

"Maybe, but…" he wrung his hands and started pacing, a sure sign of agitation, they all knew. "It's so mad, all of it," he burst out, running his hands through his hair and making it stand on end more than usual. "People are dashing through getting married and having babies all in secret, not leaving their houses to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries or anything, and it's like everything just keeps getting more and more terrible and the good stuff should get better to balance it out, but instead it just sort of gets erased, and I don't want that!

"I want to get married to the woman I'm so madly in love with it scares me shitless and I want everyone we care about to see it. I want to party with my friends good and hard while we're all still here to do it. And I don't want her to just be happy, I want her to be radiant. I want it to be something she can carry with her for the rest of her life because who the hell knows how many more chances we're gonna get to be happy?"

James stood in the middle of the room, breathing rather hard. They were all staring at him, mouths slightly open. None of them had ever come so close to admitting their own mortality out loud like that.

"Well… yeah, when you say it like that," Sirius muttered into the silence. Even the birds seemed to have been rendered speechless.

"If it's what you want, and you think it's best," Remus said hesitantly. "I s'pose it's up to you to decide. And Lily. Don't go doing this without talking to her, first."

The grin James flashed was only a ghost of his usual one, but it was still at least forty watts. "I don't have a death wish, Remus, believe me. So you'll help?"

"Of course we will," Peter piped up now that the shouting was over.

"Yeah, yeah, you just wait 'til I get married, Potter. You can pay this debt off then," Sirius told him.

"Good, because there's a shit-ton to do in the next two weeks."

"Two weeks? James, Two weeks!"

"I'm gonna kill you, Potter!"

A/N: There you have it, folks. And James Potter makes four. I dunno, whenever I've got James around, the scene seems to light up twice as bright. Not that there weren't some nice, weighty moments here, just, I dunno. James Potter, everyone. His fair share of pessimism went to his son, I think.

Anyway, love you all!