Shooting Star

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Hey, that's my jacket!" Sirius told Lily.
"It is." She agreed. "You left it here."
"You're wearing it."
"I'm keeping it." She shrugged.
"Do you not have your own jackets, Evans?"
"I do, but I'm keeping yours. It's comfortable."
"What's the point of marrying, then? You mean you didn't just marry James to steal his jackets?"
"That was a contributing factor. But you steal my husband, I think I can steal your jacket."
"You steal my wife." He countered.
"I stole one of James' jackets too." I said.
"That's where that went? It's my favorite." James said.
"It's mine now." I shrugged.
"So selfish." Sirius shook his head at James.
"Right?" James agreed.
"I have one of yours too." I told Remus.
"Me too." Lily said.
"What the hell." The boys chorused, laughing. We shrugged.
Baby Harry started crying from upstairs. Lily started to get up, but I gestured her back down and got up to go get him myself. "Are you sure?" She asked.
"Of course." I smiled.
"Hey, Harry." I smiled into the crib.
He reached up for me, his crying ceased.
I picked him up and put him on my hip. "Hey, baby." I smiled, brushing his hair off of his warm forehead. "Did you sleep well? Looks like you did." I rubbed my finger on his cheek.
He was the cutest little baby, he really was. He had Lily's beautiful eyes, and James' messy hair.
"Halloween's tomorrow huh? What're you gonna be? A ghost?" I pulled the blanket over his head, and he laughed an adorable baby laugh. I hugged him to me. "I love you." I told him, kissing his head. He giggled again, staying up against me even as I released him.
He fell back asleep shortly, so I put him back in bed and went back downstairs.
"Where is he?" James asked.
"Asleep." I smiled, sitting beside him and throwing my legs over him and Remus.
"Thank you." Remus said sarcastically in response to my tennis shoes being on his lap.
"Sure." I smiled.
"We're going to eat at a Muggle restaurant tomorrow night." Sirius told them from laying on the floor. "Do you guys want to come?"
"We're taking Harry trick-or-treating." James grinned, looking excited. Lily gave me an exasperated look, but she smiled.
"That'll be fun." I smiled.
"Moony?" Sirius asked.
"I'm good. You guys have fun." Remus smiled.
"You should come." I said.
"No, you guys go by yourselves."
"C'mon, Remus." Sirius said.
"No, I'm good. Really." Remus smiled, untying my shoes.
"Remus! Tie them back!" I said.

Of course, Sirius and I were back at Lily and James' the next morning. "Where's my favorite godson?" Sirius asked.
"Sleeping." Lily said. "Hush, Black."
"Taylor, Padfoot. Hey." James came up and put his arms around us.
Lily and I were still Evans and Taylor, apparently.
"NOT A PROBLEM!" Sirius shouted.
James and I both whacked him upside the head. "Black!" We both said.
Harry made noises, and the three of us shot Sirius a death glare.
"Looks like he's up." Sirius grinned. "May I see him now?" He bounced from the room.
"Sorry." I said.
James picked me up and threw him over his shoulder.
"Potter!" I yelled. "Put me down!"
"James." Lily laughed. "Why must you torture her?"
"Why not? Just reliving my glory days."
"You never threw me over your shoulders." I laughed.
"Why've you got my wife over your shoulder?" Sirius asked, coming in with Harry on his shoulders.
"Why've you got my kid on yours?"
"Valid point." Sirius grinned.
"Hey, Potter?" I said.
"Yes, Taylor?"
"Could you put me down, possibly?"
"I could." He said.
"Wanna trade?" Sirius asked.
"Sure."
James put me down. Sirius handed over Harry, and picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.
"Black." I said warningly.
"Sorry." He put me down and made a big show of straightening my clothes.
"Are you taking Harry or me?" Lily asked James, going up to him and ruffling Harry's hair, kissing his forehead.
"No kiss for me?" James pouted.
She laughed, ruffling his hair and kissing his forehead too.
"All right, babe. Lay it on me." Sirius made fish lips at me. I picked a pillow up off the couch and shoved it into his face. He jerked back and gave the pillow a weird look. "I feel the love." He told me.
"You should." I agreed.
"What's it gonna be, James?" Lily asked.
"I'll take him."
"Please return with everybody intact." She said.
"Of course."
Lily and I went to a muggle shopping center, one both she and I had been forced into with our sisters when we were younger. I must say, it was more enjoyable with Lily than Natalie.
"Come on, let's go in here." She pulled me.
Victoria's Secret? "Need some new bras?" I asked.
"Have you and Sirius shagged?"
"Yeah." I looked at her weird.
"Oh, you have? We can go ahead and meet Sev then." She walked back out.
"What's up with you?" I laughed, catching up to her.
"Nothing. Do you two not want kids? You love Harry."
"Of course we love Harry. It's not that we don't want kids, I just think that now's not exactly the best time to be raising a kid, you know?" I said as we sat down at a table in the food court.
"Yeah, I understand. That's what I told James, but, you know, things happen." She laughed. "I'm glad, though."
"Yeah, I'm sure. I'm just not sure if I could... You know."
"No." She looked at me blankly. "You've gotta give me something to go on, here." She laughed.
"I don't wanna fuck the kid up. You know?"
"Oh, please. You'd be an amazing mother."
"You're only saying that because you're obligated to as my best friend."
"No. If I thought you wouldn't be a good mother I'd tell you."
"Thank you." I smiled.
"Does Sirius want kids?"
"Yeah. But he's... Well, he's Sirius. And in case you haven't noticed, he's not exactly ready to settle down."
"Oh, please. He's great with Harry. He'd be an amazing father. You and I both know it."
"Yeah, he would. I don't know. I think he needs to take care of himself a bit before he can take care of a kid. I mean, he flinches whenever anybody starts towards him suddenly. Granted I'm not much better. I should do the same, I know. But."
"You would both be great. I have complete confidence in you."
"Thank you, Lily." I smiled and waved at Snape, who was standing uncomfortably in the doorway. He walked over awkwardly and sat down.
"Hello." He said.
"Hey." We smiled. "How are you?" I asked.
"I'm fine." He shrugged. "How are you?"
"Good." I said.
"Good." Lily said.
"How's Harry?" Sev asked.
"Good."
We met here every other week. Sometimes Harry came, and sometimes James and Sirius came too. The only times we didn't do it was when either his Death Eater responsibilities or any of our Order responsibilities got in the way.
"How's Peter?" I asked.
"I don't care." Sev said bluntly.
Severus was a better man than Peter. Peter was a coward. Sev was brave. Being a double agent took guts, and I admired him for it.
Lily and I went back to mine and Sirius' to wait on the boys. They returned a short while after we did, Remus in tow. Remus looked irritated, James looked buzzed, and Sirius looked wasted. Lucky me.
"Why do I go places with them?" Remus asked. "Why do I never learn from my mistakes?"
"At least you didn't marry them." I shrugged.
"True." He agreed, handing Harry over to Lily.
"Time to go, James." Lily said. She was fine as long as somebody was around to take proper care of Harry.
I was pissed at Sirius. Unbelievably pissed.
"Now?" James asked.
"Yeah." She hugged me. "Bye, guys."
I hugged her back and ruffled Harry's hair, waving at him. I hugged James.
Remus stuck around for a little bit. He made sure I was cool with being stuck with Sirius before he left.
Sirius started towards me, and I raised my arms over my head. He stopped in his tracks, face expressionless. "Do you really think I could hurt you?" His words were immediately enunciated properly. That was easy enough.
"No. Sorry." I dropped my arms. "Old habits die hard, I guess."
"I'm sorry. I forgot how much you hate it." He looked sorry.
"It's okay." I hugged him. "I love you, Sirius."
"I love you too. You know I could never hurt you."
"Of course." I kissed his cheek.