"Lift your arms, Harry. You want to look nice when they come to visit, don't you?" Harry's opinion on that seemed fairly ambivalent. But at least this time he was just blowing bubbles instead of throwing up over the shirt Lily put on him, as he had done twice today already. "We should wake up your dad, right?"
She smiled at her son's enthusiasm, then picked her wand up and, yes, levitated her little boy, who squealed excitedly. She just landed him right on James' chest, since her husband had so helpfully passed out on the couch.
"Uhhhhhh... it can't be morning already." He was too tired for morning. Sending morning away! He didn't want. He felt Harry gurgling and drooling on him so he cracked his eyes open, pulling his son down so he could lay on his chest. "Come on, sport. We're gonna lie all nice and still until daddy absolutely has to get up, yes we are!"
He was up all night with Harry because, despite his current happy mood, he was screaming bloody murder all night and James was dead from it. He looked at Lily and sighed. "Why do you look good and I look like shit? This isn't fair. Neither one of us sleeps!"
"It's not morning, you lazy bum." Harry liked the word 'bum' so that was an even happier baby. "You laid down after lunch and were dead to the world until now. I look good because Harry and I had a fancy spa day, right?"
Lily got up, only to sit down on the couch next to James and prompt him to lift his head, so he could rest it on her lap. She started playing with his messy hair, looking down at him with a smile. "We had a looong bath and face masks. Your son likes eating cucumbers, but he likes throwing them on the floor even more."
"That's my boy. Takes after his dad." James smiled as he looked up at Lily, playful and amused. He patted Harry's butt a few times playfully and pulled him closer so he could cuddle him to his chest. "Did my darling boy have a nice spa day? Gonna be so handsome for when uncle Pads and Moony come over."
Giving Lily a dorky smile, he closed his eyes again. "They're gonna be all cutesy and in love. That's just wrong, you know? That's our thing!" And they were stealing it - the bastards.
"Yes, very tragic. I'm sorry that Remus has stolen your and Sirius' thing. Meanwhile, in actual news, we need to figure out what we are going to feed them, since you slept so long." Lily refused to cook. She didn't go to school to become a witch to end up as a housewife. James could be in charge of that. Still, she was petting his hair lovingly, watching Harry blabber on about something that, she was sure, was very exciting. "Don't be so jealous. Sirius and you just weren't meant to be."
"Can we order? I don't feel like cooking." Usually he did, he got very excited to do it and he involved Harry in the process... sometimes he probably shouldn't have. Especially after that whole big flour incident of last week. He sneezed flour and cried for three hours. "Or we say we wanna go out and we make them pay for us. I mean, we just had a baby and all."
So they deserved free food, love and less stress. Also he was too bone-idle to get up and cook something. "Either we order or I magic some dubious food onto everyone's plates."
"You can't magic food. Why did I marry you dolt? We can order something, why not? I like Indian." She ruffled James' hair and then leaned down to kiss the top of Harry's hair. "You can't make them pay, they are awful with money."
Admittedly, yes, she knew that neither of their two friends had any support - monetary and in Sirius' case also not otherwise - from their parents, but mostly she suspected that they also had a bad habit of impulse buying. Mostly chocolate, if she was any judge. "So, what are they like? As a couple. You've spent more time around them together."
"Not as cute as me and Sirius were as a couple. We had a love so bright, it burned. Raging and passionate, like nothing else. They're okay. They seem plenty happy." So yeah, not bad overall. "Remus is gonna move in with Sirius soon because they're both so broke, they want to hurry up and share." Slowly, James sat upright cause he knew he had to, bouncing Harry up and down in his lap. "Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy! Don't you puke!"
His favourite song to sing. He sang it a few more times before grinning over at Lily. "They're still applying for jobs but I told them not to worry, I got them covered so I'll help out with whatever I can." He had a lot of money so he didn't mind using it for Remus and Sirius to have a nice life.
"See, now you have them cornered. Because Remus is too humble to accept help and Sirius too proud. Now you can just play them against each other." Lily smiled, happily and not at all devious, moving closer to James so she could rest against him and slide one arm around him. "I hate that it's so difficult for Remus to find a job. It's not fair."
"He's trying his best to get something. He told me and Pads he wants to take this janitor job. It's cleaning toilets and moping floors. He aced his exams, despite being sick all year, he deserves a good job but he can't get one, can he?" It wasn't fair that Remus was reduced to that. It would be different if he picked the job and wanted to do it, it was another when he was forced to do it.
"I'm gonna target Pads, you target Moony. We divide, conquer and give them a nice, tidy sum so they can survive better." Cause what little they had from Sirius, it kept being blown on admittedly hilarious but useless items. Or candy.
"I need to talk to Remus anyway. I want to know if he's happy. It's soooo hard to put up with one of you." She had suffered it for long enough. Even if she was just smiling now, and looking at her son, who had a very focused look on his face. "...James, your son is pooping."
"Why is he always my son when he poops? He's never yours." Rolling his eyes, James sighed and stayed still so his boy could finish his hard work, waiting for that telltale smell and sudden squirming. Great. With a sigh, he picked his boy up and cuddled him in his arms. "I'll change smelly then, you order food and then we should probably ... pretend to clean."
The place looked like a bomb went off. "And, for the record, me and Sirius are delightful to be around. Positively delightful."
"In small doses," Lily argued, before getting up and heading for the kitchen, to find her order options. There were some places around that delivered, she just had to find one that was wizarding friendly too. Just less hassle.
And while she ordered, Harry was changed and then they made an attempt at cleaning that ended up to be more of an attempt in cuddling, kissing and playing around. However, the doorbell rang and so Lily waved her wand to open the door. She pulled Harry into her arms, to keep him out of the way of a James and Sirius reunion, but then Sirius ended up rushing her instead, to sink to his knees and hug Harry immediately.
"Harry!"
Harry couldn't talk yet, but he could squeal and beam at Sirius. And clutch his hair, of course.
"Excuse you, I should have been your first greeting." He was wounded. Sirius had betrayed his love. He clutched his chest and pouted. "I am HURT!"
"No one cares, Prongs." Remus dismissed as he came over and also crouched down, gently untangling the toddler's fingers from Sirius' hair and smiling at the happy little baby. "Hey, Harry. Woooah, he's so big now." He tickled the baby's stomach so he didn't notice he was not able to grapple hair any more and then beamed up at Lily. "Hey, how you doing?"
"Oh, yeah, they get love. Is anyone going to ask how I am?" James was suffering.
"He's growing so fast. He eats all the time! Today he discovered cucumbers, right?" Lily laughed at her son, who had no idea what was happening, but people were happy and he liked that. She held him out for Remus to take, smiling at him. "How about you?"
"Moony's great. He's won the jackpot." Sirius touched his own chest. "Me."
He sure was great. And now looking up at his best friend, a sudden wave of guilt crashing over him. At least judging by the dramatic expression. "Forgive me, Prongs!"
He jumped to his feet and landed in James' arms. Or at least a close approximation of that. "I still love you. You can tug on my hair any time."
"And I will." James tugged his hair playfully before hugging him close and nuzzling against his shoulder. "I missed you so much, it hurt."
Remus rolled his eyes, bouncing Harry up and down in his arms and enjoying how the baby watched, babbled and got so very excited. "He's inquisitive, isn't he? What a bright young boy. I hope he takes more after you than them." Remus gave the two hugging idiots a look and then smiled at Lily. "I'm okay. Overall."
Still no job, still broke, still a werewolf but yeah, he had a hot new boyfriend.
"I know! My heart yearned for you and only you." Wait. He should probably add a qualifier to that, now he was actually dating someone. "Because I was with you, Moony, so I didn't have to yearn."
Lily rolled her eyes while Sirius was giving Remus a thumbs up and grinning widely. "I'm so sorry you are dating them now too." Still, she put a hand on Remus' shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze. "I'm happy you worked it out. I know how dense he can be."
"I can hear y-- Whoa, is that the broom magazine you told me about?" Sirius' attention span wasn't always the best.
At least it left Lily some room to talk to Remus. "You do know that we can help you out, right? Whenever you need it. I know it's not easy for either of you."
Between Remus' werewolf status and Sirius' status of actively alienating a lot of very, very powerful people, mixed with an unhealthy distaste for any authority short of, say, McGonagall, Lily knew it wasn't easy. "Or, you know. He could be a stripper."
"It's fine, I've known them since I was eleven. I'm used to them. Sirius will always love James, it's cute in an annoying way." With a playful smile, he gave a thumbs up back and then shook his head, rolling his eyes as he chose to focus on his darling little nephew. Yes, nephew. Harry belonged to them. Like family.
As James hurried off to show Sirius his magazine collection, stepping over several baby toys to get there, Remus looked at Lily with a small, unsure smile.
He hated getting into these talks. "I'm really fine, we both are. I know everyone is worried but I don't care what job I take. As long as I have some money for us two and my friends around, it can't go too badly, can it?" He had Sirius, his best mates and little Harry - he felt he was luckier than he should be, honestly.
"Besides, Sirius would be an incredible stripper but I think he'd get bored of it eventually." Short attention span and all. "He's thinking of forming a rock band."
"Because that is such a reliable job prospect." Lily laughed, but she also pulled Remus in for a hug, kissing his cheek. "I'm sorry, I know you can work things out for yourself. I just want you to... Honestly, I'm just so pissed at everyone not hiring you. You are the most capable wizard in our whole year!"
Well. Arguably some might be more powerful, such as James, Severus and Sirius. But out of them, she didn't think any really had any good idea of how to approach real life. At least not without a of of guidance.
"I don't know about that. I'll keep on trying. My plan is to start at the bottom, work my way up to something... mid-level. Ish. And then we can live comfortably at that." As long as he didn't have to support Sirius and his rock band. "Thanks for worrying though. You're sweet." Smiling, he lifted Harry up and into the air a few times, enjoying the giggles he got as a reward. "I got him to spoil now so we got to get some money in. Speaking of..."
He looked over at Sirius and tried to get his attention. "Oi! Pads! We got that-- thing we gotta give." The gift they got Harry and he covertly wanted to bring it up without saying it. God, he hoped Sirius remembered to bring it. Cause he did not.
"Right! Thing!" Sirius slapped his forehead and then rushed back over to Remus' side, wrapping an arm around him and getting distracted again, just looking at Draco. "Such a cute boy! The best boy. You are the best boy, Harry, did you know?"
Harry didn't know, but he did gurgle. And tried to go for the hair again.
"THING!" Sirius remembered once more, reaching into his pocket and retrieving a wrapped up little present. He enlarged it to its proper size and then handed it over to Harry, smiling at him. "You can open it."
He could not. But he could chew on the wrapping paper beautifully. Which delighted Sirius. "Look! His mouth is red." Brilliant stuff.
"Careful! He's a baby, he might choke." Remus warned as he pulled the present aside a little and tried to fumble to open it with one hand. Luckily James came over and took it, opening it in front of Harry. It was nothing special, it was just a chewy blankie with a dog on top. "Sorry it's not much but we're low and we didn't know what to get so--"
James grinned and showed Lily, cutting off Remus eagerly. "That's so cute. Look, little man, you got your own Pads now."
Making happy woofing noises, James made the dog kiss the top of Harry's head a few times and then passed it on to the baby, beaming at his friends and reaching out to half hug Sirius. "Thanks, guys. We really didn't expect anything so this is brill."
"I wanted to get him chocolate, but Moony said that you shouldn't feed babies chocolate and then I wanted to look up what wolves are allowed to eat and he told me that I'm not allowed an opinion." Sirius said it cheerfully, then woofed at Harry, who squealed with joy. He was a happy baby, when it wasn't middle of the night and time to keep his parents up.
"It's so cute!" Lily loved it. "James, we'll have to take so many pictures of him with it. They can go with the pictures of him with Pads." Well, Sirius was a photogenic dog, what could she say?
"Remember when I looked way better than Prongs in our engagement pictures, Lils? Oh, what could have been."
Lily sighed. "So true. I'm very jealous, Remus, stealing the love of my life."
"I want to be more pissed off but it's frustrating how good you looked that day. Your hair was extra bouncy." And it was so annoying because he really overshadowed James. He regretted that moment he said 'hey, let's get a picture of just you and Lily' so much. "Damn you and your luscious locks."
"I got lucky." Remus couldn't believe his luck as he eyed up his boyfriend. Hee! Boyfriend. It was so cool. He grinned excitedly and cuddled Harry close. "Dunno how I pulled it off."
James reached out, poking Harry's little chubby cheek. "I hope Harry takes more after Sirius then me. I know he's not the father but ... I support my boy having beautiful hair."
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She smiled at her son's enthusiasm, then picked her wand up and, yes, levitated her little boy, who squealed excitedly. She just landed him right on James' chest, since her husband had so helpfully passed out on the couch.
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He was up all night with Harry because, despite his current happy mood, he was screaming bloody murder all night and James was dead from it. He looked at Lily and sighed. "Why do you look good and I look like shit? This isn't fair. Neither one of us sleeps!"
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Lily got up, only to sit down on the couch next to James and prompt him to lift his head, so he could rest it on her lap. She started playing with his messy hair, looking down at him with a smile. "We had a looong bath and face masks. Your son likes eating cucumbers, but he likes throwing them on the floor even more."
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Giving Lily a dorky smile, he closed his eyes again. "They're gonna be all cutesy and in love. That's just wrong, you know? That's our thing!" And they were stealing it - the bastards.
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So they deserved free food, love and less stress. Also he was too bone-idle to get up and cook something. "Either we order or I magic some dubious food onto everyone's plates."
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Admittedly, yes, she knew that neither of their two friends had any support - monetary and in Sirius' case also not otherwise - from their parents, but mostly she suspected that they also had a bad habit of impulse buying. Mostly chocolate, if she was any judge. "So, what are they like? As a couple. You've spent more time around them together."
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His favourite song to sing. He sang it a few more times before grinning over at Lily. "They're still applying for jobs but I told them not to worry, I got them covered so I'll help out with whatever I can." He had a lot of money so he didn't mind using it for Remus and Sirius to have a nice life.
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And she had never stood for injustice.
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"I'm gonna target Pads, you target Moony. We divide, conquer and give them a nice, tidy sum so they can survive better." Cause what little they had from Sirius, it kept being blown on admittedly hilarious but useless items. Or candy.
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Definitely his son now.
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The place looked like a bomb went off. "And, for the record, me and Sirius are delightful to be around. Positively delightful."
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And while she ordered, Harry was changed and then they made an attempt at cleaning that ended up to be more of an attempt in cuddling, kissing and playing around. However, the doorbell rang and so Lily waved her wand to open the door. She pulled Harry into her arms, to keep him out of the way of a James and Sirius reunion, but then Sirius ended up rushing her instead, to sink to his knees and hug Harry immediately.
"Harry!"
Harry couldn't talk yet, but he could squeal and beam at Sirius. And clutch his hair, of course.
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"No one cares, Prongs." Remus dismissed as he came over and also crouched down, gently untangling the toddler's fingers from Sirius' hair and smiling at the happy little baby. "Hey, Harry. Woooah, he's so big now." He tickled the baby's stomach so he didn't notice he was not able to grapple hair any more and then beamed up at Lily. "Hey, how you doing?"
"Oh, yeah, they get love. Is anyone going to ask how I am?" James was suffering.
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"Moony's great. He's won the jackpot." Sirius touched his own chest. "Me."
He sure was great. And now looking up at his best friend, a sudden wave of guilt crashing over him. At least judging by the dramatic expression. "Forgive me, Prongs!"
He jumped to his feet and landed in James' arms. Or at least a close approximation of that. "I still love you. You can tug on my hair any time."
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Remus rolled his eyes, bouncing Harry up and down in his arms and enjoying how the baby watched, babbled and got so very excited. "He's inquisitive, isn't he? What a bright young boy. I hope he takes more after you than them." Remus gave the two hugging idiots a look and then smiled at Lily. "I'm okay. Overall."
Still no job, still broke, still a werewolf but yeah, he had a hot new boyfriend.
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Lily rolled her eyes while Sirius was giving Remus a thumbs up and grinning widely. "I'm so sorry you are dating them now too." Still, she put a hand on Remus' shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze. "I'm happy you worked it out. I know how dense he can be."
"I can hear y-- Whoa, is that the broom magazine you told me about?" Sirius' attention span wasn't always the best.
At least it left Lily some room to talk to Remus. "You do know that we can help you out, right? Whenever you need it. I know it's not easy for either of you."
Between Remus' werewolf status and Sirius' status of actively alienating a lot of very, very powerful people, mixed with an unhealthy distaste for any authority short of, say, McGonagall, Lily knew it wasn't easy. "Or, you know. He could be a stripper."
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As James hurried off to show Sirius his magazine collection, stepping over several baby toys to get there, Remus looked at Lily with a small, unsure smile.
He hated getting into these talks. "I'm really fine, we both are. I know everyone is worried but I don't care what job I take. As long as I have some money for us two and my friends around, it can't go too badly, can it?" He had Sirius, his best mates and little Harry - he felt he was luckier than he should be, honestly.
"Besides, Sirius would be an incredible stripper but I think he'd get bored of it eventually." Short attention span and all. "He's thinking of forming a rock band."
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Well. Arguably some might be more powerful, such as James, Severus and Sirius. But out of them, she didn't think any really had any good idea of how to approach real life. At least not without a of of guidance.
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He looked over at Sirius and tried to get his attention. "Oi! Pads! We got that-- thing we gotta give." The gift they got Harry and he covertly wanted to bring it up without saying it. God, he hoped Sirius remembered to bring it. Cause he did not.
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Harry didn't know, but he did gurgle. And tried to go for the hair again.
"THING!" Sirius remembered once more, reaching into his pocket and retrieving a wrapped up little present. He enlarged it to its proper size and then handed it over to Harry, smiling at him. "You can open it."
He could not. But he could chew on the wrapping paper beautifully. Which delighted Sirius. "Look! His mouth is red." Brilliant stuff.
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James grinned and showed Lily, cutting off Remus eagerly. "That's so cute. Look, little man, you got your own Pads now."
Making happy woofing noises, James made the dog kiss the top of Harry's head a few times and then passed it on to the baby, beaming at his friends and reaching out to half hug Sirius. "Thanks, guys. We really didn't expect anything so this is brill."
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"It's so cute!" Lily loved it. "James, we'll have to take so many pictures of him with it. They can go with the pictures of him with Pads." Well, Sirius was a photogenic dog, what could she say?
"Remember when I looked way better than Prongs in our engagement pictures, Lils? Oh, what could have been."
Lily sighed. "So true. I'm very jealous, Remus, stealing the love of my life."
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"I got lucky." Remus couldn't believe his luck as he eyed up his boyfriend. Hee! Boyfriend. It was so cool. He grinned excitedly and cuddled Harry close. "Dunno how I pulled it off."
James reached out, poking Harry's little chubby cheek. "I hope Harry takes more after Sirius then me. I know he's not the father but ... I support my boy having beautiful hair."