One thing which Lily and Sirius discovered rather quickly about morning sickness was that some mornings Lily didn't feel it much at all - and it was on those mornings which Sirius felt it enough for them both. One such morning was 31 October 1979, when Sirius knelt beside the loo in the Potter Cottage, Lily stroking his back and whispering apologies to him as he suffered the side effects of her pregnancy for her.

That morning had started off rather rough to begin with - Sirius had been having terrible dreams ever since his fight with Regulus's Portrait and the whole incident with Peter having the Grindelwald book debacle. Remus had been up half the night with Sirius already, which was why when the morning sickness started at about half five, Sirius went to Lily instead of waking Remus up.

Remus had popped by the cottage to check on Sirius and also to have he and Lily look over the smart black suit and tie he'd donned - his costume for Halloween being James Bond had been Sirius's idea, after all, and as Remus was on his way to muggle art class he really needed to be sure his costume was properly accessorized and get an opinion on how it looked.

"Brilliant," Sirius had said through his gagging.

"You look very handsome," Lily had agreed.

Remus had flushed, thanked them both, and reminded them of the annual Halloween party that would be celebrated that night at the flat in East London. Sirius had given him a thumbs-up even as he threw up. "We'll be there," Lily promised.

When Sirius had finally balanced out long enough to brush his teeth, he and Lily lay on the carpet in her fancy little powder room, head to head. "How are you dressing tonight?" Lily asked.

Sirius grinned, "The construction worker from the Village People." He raised his arms and flapped them in the motions of the Y.M.C.A., eyes sparkling as he did so.

"Well that will be quite the sight," laughed Lily.

"Nearly as quite as Remus being the cowboy." Sirius wagged his eyebrows.

"How in the lands did you talk him into doing that?!"

Sirius snickered, "He doesn't know he's doing it yet."

"Ah, well, that explains it - he's not."

"He will!" Sirius argued. "I'll tell him all the benefits of being a cowboy." His mouth twisted into an evil little smirk. "And what, my flower, are you going as?"

Lily turned her head to whisper the answer directly into Sirius's ear.

Sirius laughed, "Oh Merlin's tap dancing testicles! Prongs'll be over the moon! Shall you even bother coming to the soiree? He's going to be ready to take you the moment he sees you."

"We'll be there, don't you worry your pretty-haired-head," Lily promised again.

Sirius snickered, "You will be. James's physical body will be. But James mentally will be somewhere else entirely."

Remus had arrived to the uni a bit earlier and was sitting in the quad by the art mural, eating a biscuit and having a cup of tea, which he had very discreetly magicked when no one was looking. All around him, students in interesting costumes bustled about, and he sat drawing them as he watched the happenings of the seating area.

Suddenly a cup of coffee was placed before him and the bench shifted slightly as Lula sat down beside him, holding her own coffee. "Hey," she said quietly.

"Hi," he murmured, keeping his eyes carefully trained on his sketchbook.

Lula was quiet, watching the pencil scratching across the page. She was dressed like a Grecian maiden with the laurel and a white dress that was loose but thin and Remus couldn't help but think that it had been selected especially for the ease with which she could remove it when it was time to model at the class in just a little under an hour. He swallowed back the nerves that rose up in him and concentrated all the harder on the sketches.

"Last time we talked ended a little awkwardly," she said.

"Yeah," Remus agreed.

Lula nudged him gently, "I don't like things being awkward between us, Remus. You're one of my best mates --"

"I just don't want to be in the middle of you and Stewie is all," Remus said, "I'm his friend, too, you know?"

"It's over between me and Stewie," Lula said sadly. "Officially."

Remus slowly lowered his pencil onto the sketch pad and looked at Lula. "I'm very sorry to hear that." He paused, then asked, "Are you alright?"

Lula nodded thoughtfully, picking at the edge of her coffee cup with long, french-manicured nails. "I suppose it was bound to happen, Stewie and I breaking up. You can't just stay with the first person you love all of your life, I don't suppose, can you?"

Remus shrugged. "Some people do."

"Was Sirius your first love?" Lula questioned.

"No," Remus answered.

"Well... see?"

"I mean only if you count when I was really young, like twelve," Remus countered himself quickly, looking over at Lula. "I actually had a crush on - on this girl, Lily. She ended up marrying my other friend, James. Just last year. We're all very close."

Lula looked surprised.

"What?"

"It still is just so shocking to hear you talking about --" she lowered her voice, "Being bisexual and everything," she explained. "I just never pictured it." She paused, then asked, "Did you ever kiss Lily?"

Remus shook his head. "We tried but our teeth knocked and I gave her a bloody lip and I reckon it's that experience which lead rather directly to my being gay," he joked. He bit his lips and focused back on the drawings, his cheeks flushing.

Lula laughed. Then, "So in all your life you've only ever kissed two people?"

"It's not that big a deal, it isn't as though I'm a hundred years old or anything that it's been that long of a time to have only kissed two," Remus murmured, "Besides, being married and all, I rather think I probably won't be kissing anyone else."

Lula nodded, and stayed quiet. She watched Remus drawing one of the boys across the quad who was dressed up as a ring master in a circus with red coat tails and all, dragging a toy wooden elephant on wheels. "You're so good at capturing people with your drawing," Lula said.

"I try," Remus answered quietly.

"How is the... class assignment coming?" she asked quietly.

"I've done about forty different renderings of... your... er, your legs," Remus muttered.

"May I see?" Lula asked.

Remus hesitated, then turned his sketchbook over, flipped through the pages to the one he was looking for, and folded it back, pushing it to her.

Lula took it up in her hands and studied it as Remus looked clear the opposite way.

"Very good," Lula said after a few moments, "Although I think you're being quite kind to the size of my ankles - I know they aren't quite that slender."

Remus shrugged, "I draw what I see."

"So my legs are the only bit you're looking at, truly?" she laughed, sipping her coffee.

Remus squinted away across the quad.

If he drew a door, would he be able to pull it open and escape the conversation? he wondered. Who knew what magic could do with a drawing?

"Eventually you're going to have to do my torso Remus," Lula said, handing him back his sketchbook. "I mean, in order to pass the class you have to finish the figure drawing segment. I don't want you to fail out of the course."

Remus muttered, "I don't want to fail out."

"So don't!" Lula sing-songed. "Remus, don't be uncomfortable for it. I'm not uncomfortable with it. I know it concerns you, but really. Truly. I promise."

Remus nodded vaguely.

Lula sipped her coffee again. "Anyway. I better go, Remus, hey? I'll see you in class." She winked as she got up.

She was two steps away when Remus said, "Lula, do you want to come to a Halloween party tonight? Sirius is putting it on, he's planning to take over the alley behind our flat and decorate it to the nines for the holiday." His eyes met hers and even as he said the words he wondered what the hell he was thinking?

Lula smiled, "Aw sweetie, I'd love to!" she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek in her excitement and something stirred in Remus - something he couldn't quite put a finger on. "What time?"

"Half eight. If you'd like to bring a refreshment, please do, we're doing it a bit of a potluck style. Though Sirius's mother has graciously given us several dozen of her famous butter --- butterscotch cookies -- and trust me, once you've had those no other sweets will do properly. Of course there will be chocolate... and Lily was going to make popcorn balls..."

"They sound delightful," Lula said, "But I'm on a diet. Got to keep my figure if I'm going to be a model." She smiled sadly. "You'll have to eat some for me so I can indulge vicariously." She paused. "Is... Stewie going to be there?"

Remus said, "I haven't asked him yet, but - would it be a problem? I mean..."

Fleetingly he told himself that perhaps he could get Sirius to play matchmaker, to get the pair of them back together like they proper ought to be, but even as he thought it some impish under current in him balked at the idea, though he didn't know what made his base instinct so against the thought of it.

"No, no problem," Lula said quickly. "Just curious." She paused, drinking the last of her coffee, then hurriedly said, "I've got to dash for real now. I have to be all settled before you artists come in."

Remus nodded and half-waved as she walked away.

That day, in class, Remus could feel his face burning as he finished her knees for the third time and reassessed her ankles. She was right, he'd been too busy looking at Lula the person he was friends with and less at Lula the model. It left room for error, looking at Lula and not the model - errors in drawing something he wasn't actually seeing.

To grow as an artist, he had to draw the things he was actually seeing.

And before he knew it, he was drawing her torso, his pencil gliding along the bends and curves of her abdomen, her hips, her shoulders, and her chest...

"Maaaacho machooo maaaaan! I'vegottobe aaaaa machooo maaaan!" Sirius was singing quite loudly as he used his wand to string purple and orange fairy lights along the bannister of the stairs. He shook his hips as he sang, sunglasses and hardhat on, clad in two shades of denim and a fake mustache spellbound to his upper lip. His record player sat on a table he'd magicked at the bottom, the music magically amplified to fill the alley way.

He'd already lined the steps with jack-o-lanterns and cast shadow charms to make it look as though bats were flying about. Candles and fairy lights crisscrossed overhead and gave a soft but eerie glow. There was an assortment of mix match tables with different cloths - each lended to him from a different guest - covered with some of the pot luck style foods they'd be dining upon that night. A big bowl of candy for trick or treats sat by the gate on a small stool. It was a grand party and Sirius was quite excited about it. He stood now at the foot of the stair, looking about it all, feeling proud of himself and excited for his friends to come and celebrate.

The flat door opened then and James stepped outside to the landing. He was wearing just plain trousers and a button up shirt, though, not a costume at all, and Sirius frowned as he strutted down the stairs. "Hullo," James said as he neared.

"Is this how you arrive to a Halloween party, Potter?" Sirius demanded, raising his brow.

"Sorry, just got off work," James apologized, pausing on the bottom step.

"That's no excuse for --" Sirius started before James interrupted him.

"...at the Daily News," James added, then spun around and when he did, the clothes magically changed in a blur of color so that when he stopped spinning, he was clad in a tightly fitted Superman uniform, a cape billowing out from his broad shoulders. Every line of his well defined chest was clear through the spandex, and he braced his fists against his hips in the classic pose, chin slightly jutted upward. Even his hair had been sleekeazied into the Superman twist at the forehead. The only thing was his glasses had stayed since, after all, James needed them to see with.

Sirius gave a sharp wolf whistle, "Well hello Clark Kent... It Lilith hasn't already, I'm calling bagsy on you now!"

"You already had me yesterday for Tuesday, you can't deny her twice in a row."

"Is Halloween a bank holiday?"

James laughed, "No."

"Damn."

James smirked, then spun again and he was back to plain old James-slash-Clark-Kent. "Nice shot, though," he said.

"A man's got to try," Sirius answered, grinning. "You've seen Lilith?"

James shook his head, I really have just come from the Ministry, rather. She told me to meet her here."

Sirius smirked, "Ah, yes. I see. Excellent."

"Why, what's on?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering where my favorite human incubator was."

"She'll be along. Where's Moony?"

"Upstairs, reluctantly putting on his costume." Sirius grinned.

James raised his eyebrow. "Why reluctantly?"

"Because I look ridiculous."

Both Sirius and James whirled to look at the top of the steps, where Remus had come out to the landing in jeans an an unbuttoned oxford shirt under a brown leather vest, loose and pulled wide opened to display his chest. A blue bandana was tied loose around his neck, the stands of which hung to the right, and a cowboy hat set upon the top of his head, tilted back so his curls frothed over his forehead. He wore cowboy boots and when he walked toward them, they clicked with spurs.

"Hubba hubba," Sirius murmured, grinning, eyes sparkling.

James glanced between Sirius the Construction Worker and Sirius the Cowboy and laughed, "Are you lot one third of the Village People?"

Sirius grinned and nodded.

"Who are the others?"

"You'll see, darling," Sirius pushed 'round James then, scaling the steps up to Remus, coming up beside him and grinning as he took his husband's hand. "I'll be the horse you can ride, anytime you wanna giddyap," Sirius said in a low voice. Remus's cheeks flushed and James made a retching sound from behind Sirius. Sirius laughed and winked at Remus, guiding him the rest of the way down the steps.

After that, loads of guests began to appear. Two more of the Village People - Marlene in Biker Leathers (including Sirius's own leather jacket, borrowed for the occasion) and Em in a Native American Princess costume that had Marlene's heart beating double time - were first.

Then Frank Longbottom as Fozzy Bear with Alice as Miss Piggy at his side came through the gate, Frank carrying a tomato and saying "wocka, wocka, wocka!", which set Em into a fit of giggles.

Sirius had recruited Peter as another of the Village People - the policey man. Peter nearly took a tumble on the steps when Oni Lamm came out the back door of the Curry shop in a Cleopatra costume, her eyes lined so beautifully that Sirius beelined over to ask what brand of liner she used.

Tonks, Andromeda and Ted arrived as Chewbacca (Ted), Han Solo (Andromeda), and a tiny Princess Leia.

When Jasper Odair arrived in a sailor suit as the sixth Village People member, James laughed. Meg was in a Snow White dress, while Kevin, Michael, Nate, and Eli were all different dwarves. Even Yertle had a little dwarf hat.

James was standing by one of the tables, talking to Remus's friend Spencer Stewart, who had arrived dressed as Vincent Van Gogh, when Sirius sidled over and elbowed James in the side. "What?" James asked, and Sirius pointed to the landing of the stairs.

James turned around.

Lily Potter had just arrived in a Wonder Woman costume,  a golden lasso at her hip, and her lips painted bright red. The corset style top had her chest pushed up and accentuated and the spangled leotard sparkled under the lights, as did the knee high boots.

"Mother of Godric," James murmured and he started, dazzled, toward the stairs as Lily's eyes scanned the party for him. When they landed on James, she smiled and started down the stairs, their eyes locked - until James spun about to transform into Superman, that is. Lily laughed loudly and grinned as she hurried faster, jumping the last two steps into his waiting arms.

Remus sidled up beside Sirius and Stewie, holding a cup, and looked over at the Potters - kissing one another rather ravenously. Sirius was grinning at them with bright eyes as he took the cup Remus held out for him, taking a sip.

"Looks like we'll finally be able to settle the debate about Wonder Woman and Superman having sex," Remus murmured, and Sirius spray-spat his pumpkin juice.