A/N: Oooh, you guys are going to HATE me, chapter 10 ( obviously in two parts, which you most likely figured out by the title) posted by Christmas. that's all for now, read my final comments at the end of the chapter:
Chapter 10 (part 1): This Chapter's Unfinished
The next morning, Sirius was up with the sun, never having been one to sleep in- that was if anything, more in James' nature.
He tossed over in his bed, turning away from the window and tried falling back asleep but it just didn't work. 'Why keep sleeping,' Sirius thought to himself, ' When the sun's out and there's a whole new town to explore?'
Thuroughly convinced staying in bed would be a waste, Sirius threw back the covers, dressed quickly, and tiptoed down the hall until he stood in front of James' bedroom. Cracking the door open just enough to get a decent look inside, Sirius peeked in, to find James sprawled on his bed, mouth slightly parted and still obviously deep in sleep.
It would be a shame, Sirius thought, mischievously, for James to waste such a beautiful morning sleeping. After all, what kind of friend would he be if he let James do so?
Making up his mind, Sirius threw open the door and making sure to get a running start, pounced atop James' bed landing expertly at his feet and screamed, "Wake UP! Sleepy head!"
James shot up, instantaneously, falling to the floor with a loud thump and stifling a yelp, tangled in heaps of blankets and sheets.
"Padfoot?" James asked, slightly breathless.
"Yes," Sirius asked, perched comfortably atop the bed.
"Could you explain to me precisely why you decided to wake me up at--" James picked up the alarm clock which had fallen off his bedside table. "5:30 in the MORNING?! You woke me up at 5:30 in the MORNING?!"
Sirius blinked at James' hysteric explanation.
"James, it's 9:30, not 5:30, Merlin's beard, put your glasses on, you really are blind without them" Sirius handed James his glasses and James took them. Wiping them off on his sheet before pushing them up the bridge of his nose and looking at the alarm clock clearly this time.
Confirming it really was 9:30, James tossed the clock onto the bedside table once more before muttering as he rubbed his eyes behind his glasses.
"Beg pardon?" Sirius asked, cupping one hand to his ear as James grumbled something incoherently at him.
"Never mind." James said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Alright, get up and get dressed, you lazy bugger-- we're wasting away a perfectly good day in here!" Sirius said.
"Why'dya have to be so bloody energetic and, and, awake in the mornings, Padfoot?" James asked, standing up slowly from the floor and stretching as he waked over to get some clothes out from his dresser drawers.
"Because, if we all acted as though we were grumpy old men in the mornings like you do, Prongs, there'd be no happiness in the world." Sirius replied smartly.
James threw a rolled up sock at Sirius' head and missed, narrowly sideswiping the lamp on his desk.
Sirius let out a chuckle. "Seriously, Prongs, they made you chaser and Captain with that horrific aim? Wait till I tell everyone at school you missed a target barely ten feet away."
James picked up the next object closest to him-- a shoe.
"I didn't have to miss, you know-- be assured I definitely wont miss the second time around, Padfoot."
"Alright, alright, I'll stop teasing, Prongs, god." Sirius said, cracking, one hand on the doorknob. "See you downstairs, yeah?"
And with that, Sirius left the room, leaving James to get dressed in peace.
James smiled to himself as he let the shoe in his had drop to the floor with a thump. James would have ever thrown his shoe at Sirius' head with the actual intentions of hitting him-- at least not just for having woken him up a tad earlier than he would have liked-- and Sirius knew it, too. He was just threatening him-- teasing, if you will, just as Sirius had been teasing him earlier. That, James thought, as he got dressed, was part of the reason they had such a strong friendship. They always knew when the other was joking, just as they always knew when it was time to stop and take the other seriously.
Walking down to the kitchen, James breathed deeply, enjoying the scent that immediately filled his nostrils. Mmm, breakfast.
James walked into the small room, to find plates full of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and a large stack of fluffy pancakes on the oblong kitchen table where Sirius was already seated.
"Good morning, darling." Moira Potter said, bringing a small pitcher of maple syrup over to the table and proceeding to prepare a decently served plate for Sirius.
"Come over here and sit next to Sirius and have some breakfast."
"That's enough food, Moira, really." Sirius interjected.
"Oh, pish-posh! You're a growing boy who needs to be well nourished," Moira chided, stacking yet another pancake on his plate. "and if I don't take care of you, who will? Syrup?"
"Yes, please!" Sirius said, sounding much more like a child than the seventeen year old he was.
James knew Sirius loved being babied by his mum and truthfully, Moira loved babying him just as she did James, having always thought of Sirius as more of a second son than James' friend, especially so now that he'd run away from the Blacks. James could even remember a time when Moira had told Sirius he could call her 'mum' if he wanted to, but Sirius still hadn't taken her up on that offer, feeling as though calling Moira 'mum' would be stepping over some invisible boundaries.
Whatever Sirius decided in the end however, James didn't mind in the slightest-- he was not the jealous type when it came to his mother, knowing Moira had enough love and space in her heart to love them both.
"How come you never make breakfast for me?" James pouted jokingly.
"Oh James! I do so make breakfast for you." his mum said, whacking him lightly with the apron she had just removed and setting a readied plate in front of him.
As Moira walked away to clean up the kitchen, Sirius shook his head.
"Nope, I reckon it's cuz your mum likes me better than you."
"you know what? I'm beginning to think after all those years of you professing that little fact, you might actually be right, Sirius." James commented.
"Oh nonsense!" Moira said, having heard their conversation.
She kissed the tops of both their heads, kneeling down slightly so she was between the two. "You know I love you boys-- the both of you."
James and Sirius smiled at each other before tucking into a hearty and delicious breakfast.
---
"So what are we doing today? Something exciting? Dangerous? Adventurous?" Sirius raised his eyebrows expectantly.
"Haven't you had enough adventure gallivanting around Oxfordshire for the first part of the summer?"
"Ha! The most adventure I had was learning how to change Nymphadora's diapers-- without magic!-- but then again, I guess that was a dangerous adventure within itself." Sirius laughed. "besides, if you're Sirius Black, there's no such thing as too much adventure."
James begged to differ, but decided against it and instead just smiled lightly as he tugged on his shoes as Sirius watched him, his head cocked to one side, looking positively curious.
"We're going to visit Evans today aren't we?"
"If by Evans you mean 'Lily' than, yes, we are."
"Since when do you two not use surnames, anyway?" Sirius asked curiously.
"Oh, um, dunno." James thought. "I guess since that first day when her dad offered to have Lily show me around town and introduce me around."
"And you accepted? You sly, sly stag!" Sirius replied scandalously.
"No, actually, you can credit my dad for that one as he accepted the invitation without even consulting me first. But in dad's defense, hehad no idea what he was really agreeing to-- neither did Jeff for that matter, when he offered on Lily's behalf."
"Jeff?" Sirius asked.
"Lily's dad-- Jeff Evans."
"Ah, calling the in-laws by their first names, eh?"
"Would you stop speaking in that scandalous undertone of yours? And they're not my in-laws," 'yet', James thought in his head. "Besides, it's no big deal, I'm sure they'll let you call them by their first names, too."
"So, I know you want to hang out with Lily today and really, I don't mind spending time with her," Sirius started, changing the subject slightly. "But, planning a wedding? Really, how exciting can that really be? Can't we just, steal her away for a couple of hours and go do something in town?"
James shook his head almost instantaneously, in negation. "I already tried, but she can't-- she's maid of honor and for some reason that means she's got to tag along to all wedding related activities."
"Maid of honor? It all makes sense now-- man, Lily and her sister must be pretty close for her to be maid of honor."
"It's quite the opposite actually, and from what I understand, Petunia's quite a piece of work."
"Wait, Petunia? Lily's sister's name is Petunia? Talk about a fondness for flowers." Sirius grinned.
"Yeah, I noticed too." James said. "Come on, we're wasting time here, let's see what's going on next door."
"Pfft, and who's fault is that, Mr. Wake-me-up-before-the-sun-has-risen-half-way-into-the-sky-and-I'm-liable-to-bite-your-head-off-Potter, hmm?" Sirius asked, bounding down the stairs behind his best friend.
"Padfoot, that barely makes any sense," James said, pulling the front door open.
"Doesn't have to, you just need to get the gist of it, which, you obviously did-- MOI-RA! JAMES AND I ARE GOING NEXT DOOR TO VISIT YOUR FUTURE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, BE BACK-- Oof!"
James elbowed Sirius in the stomach, cutting him off.
"Have you gone bonkers?! What'd you do that for?" James asked, looking at Sirius as though he'd suddenly grown an extra head.
"Why the hell not? It's not as if she doesn't know you fancy the knickers off of her-- EVERYONE knows." Sirius pointed out, now having taken the lead.
"Yeah, but now you've gone and announced it to the whole street!" James said, bounding after him, his hands raised in a mix between frustration and embarrassment.
"Oh, they'd have found out eventually, I just possibly sped up the process."
James would have gladly harped on the subject a while longer but no sooner had Sirius rung the doorbell did it open to reveal Lily's father, Jeff.
"James! This is a nice surprise. Oh, and I see you've brought a friend, too." Jeff said, greeting them.
"Yes, this is my best friend, Sirius Black-- he's more of a surrogate brother than anything else though, he lives with us, you see."
"Lovely," Jeff Evans said, gripping the hand Sirius had offered him firmly.
"It's nice to meet you, Sir."
"Please, Sirius, call me Jeff. And do you, um. Go to," Jeff Evans trailed off, gesturing with his outstretched hand.
"Attend Hogwarts?" Jeff nodded at Sirius' response. "Yes, I'm in James and Lily's year too."
"Fascinating." Jeff replied genuinely. "So, I take it you two have gotten yourselves roped inot wedding planning today as well, eh?"
"More or less." Sirius said.
"Well, let me give you boys a bit of friendly advice, you know, just between us blokes-- run. run while you still can."
"Oh, Jeff, stop scaring the poor boys!" came a fourth, female voice from behind Jeff Evans. "Hi Sirius, I'm Laurie, Lily's mum." Laurie Evans said, shaking Sirius' hand briefly. "James, Lily's out back if you're looking for her-- she mentioned you might be stopping by-- just make yourselves at home, dears and let me know if you need anything, alright?" Laurie smiled, kindly. "And you!" She said, rounding on her husband. "Vernon's dad is looking for you-- says you ran off before he could finish discussing something about drill heads--"
"Aww, Laur, do I have to?" Jeff whined. "You have no idea how utterly boring that man is--"
"Yes you most certainly do! It's important for you to--"
"Build a good relationship with the Dursleys for the sake of our daugher Yes, I know, dear." Jeff said, finishing Laurie's speech for her.
"Alright, now be a good dad and go back and talk with Mr. Dursley."
Jeff groaned, rolling his eyes as he walked back toward the yard, but James distinctly saw Jeff wink at the both of them on his way back to the living room.
"Nice family," Sirius remarked as both Evans left the room, "So, which way to the apple of your eye, Prongs?"
James just rolled his eyes at a smiling Sirius as he lead the way to the backyard in search of one, Lily Evans.
…
A/N:
alright, in short, I suck. I had no idea what I'd gotten myself into when I promised an update by Christmas and I had absolutely no idea how busy the month of December would be what with finals and this whole holiday shindig. But, somewhere in between studying for finals, crying, scheduling classes, and oh yeah finding out the TITLE FOR BOOK 7! I found time to write at least half of chapter 10.
So here's the deal, I hate to go back on my word and since I promised, I figured half a chapter would be better than nothing at all, right? So, please, don't hate me and if you love me, you'll understand.
So, please review because reviews make the absolute BEST Christmas presents ((especially if you can't fed ex me a James Potter or the MuggleCast boys)) And I promise I'll finish up part B sometime soon after New Years.
Aaand, to make it up to you now, slightly, here's some Lily/James Christmas fanart that I drew as a Christmas present for my friend Sharon.
http://unknowableroom.org/fanart/luminous_star/418
There's a one shot that goes along with it-- I didn't write it, my friend Kali
(( thirty2flavors)) over at the Unknowable Room did, but she did a fantastic job so check that out here if you want:
http://unknowableroom.org/1455/1
So, that's it from me. Have a happy and safe holiday everyone, and I'll see you in the new year!
Now, I'm off to listen to *squee* MuggleCast 69.
Love,
Pamela