"Glad that's over," James declared, following Lily across the parking lot. She was practically floating with excitement. He handed her over the keys that the man had given to him in the office and she took them, squealing with excitement as she all but danced to the mustard yellow Astra that sat parked out front of the little shop.

"I thought he was very nice, rather," Lily said over her shoulder.

James tucked the folded up paperwork he'd been given into his extended jacket pocket. "I dunno," he said, "I didn't like the way he wouldn't really talk to you, only to me - that was quite annoying."

"Welcome to what it's like being female," Lily said pointedly. "A lot of muggle men are like that. And when we assert ourselves to be listened to, we're generally considered bitchy or rude."

"Well it's very stupid because you know good deal more about the cars than I do anyways," James said, "He just wouldn't take a hint, even when I kept turning to you for answers." He shook his head. "Besides, I don't like the way he looked at me. Like I'm mental or something."

Lily was unlocking the driver door.

"Like I'm thick."

"You are thick, sweetheart," Lily answered, and she smirked at him playfully, then slid into the car and leaned across to unlock the door for James.

James pulled it open and climbed into the seat. "Yeah but he doesn't know that," he continued the conversation seamlessly.

Lily was running her hands over the steering wheel. "Well, honey, most muggles don't carry thousands of pounds in their pockets."

"Rich blokes do, I'll bet," he answered.

"Yes, but not as a bag of coins."

James hesitated.

"I think anyone would've looked at you like you're mental for counting out nearly five thousand pounds in coins like that," she explained. "Anything over ten pounds really should be in bills, love."

James shrugged, "Well I dunno. Paper money just seems really silly... I'm glad wizard money isn't paper. I like a good coin in my hand. You can feel the weight of it. It actually means something. It has substance. Paper is just... it's worthless..." He paused talking, looking at her as she admired the car, pressing buttons and playing with the window crank. She adjusted the seat and giggled when it slid backwards too far and she had to crank it back forward. James smiled, watching her.

She looked over after a moment of his silence. "What?"

"You're happy."

"I am. I'm very excited. I love this car, James." Her eyes were bright green and shiny.

"I love it, too. Just because it makes you so happy." He leaned across and kissed her and she kissed him back, running one hand into the hair at the back of his neck. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw their reflection in the little wing mirror. He smirked as they broke apart, meeting his own eyes in the mirror and winked at himself.

Lily didn't notice that, though, she had already turned back to the steering wheel and now reached up to adjust the rear view mirror. "Alright. Buckle up."

James turned and struggled with strapping the buckle across his chest for a moment while Lily pulled hers over her smoothly. Then she started the Astra up and the car purred to life and with a clink-clonk-clink-clonk of the directional, they were in the midst of traffic. James leaned back in the seat and watched her driving, occasionally glancing out the window to see the world go past.

They'd disapparated out of town to get the car and now had a bit of a drive to get home, and James thought that the car was so very peaceful feeling and nice.

"Maybe later we can do some driving lessons for you," Lily said.

James perked up - he'd nearly fallen asleep. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"Driving lessons for you," Lily said. "You'll want to learn so you're good at it by the time the baby comes. So you can drive me to the hospital."

James nodded, "Oh. Right. Yeah. Driving lessons."

"I'm not driving myself to the hospital," she said. "And I love Sirius but he drives like a mad man, so he's not driving me to the hospital, either. I'll need you to know how to drive."

James looked at all the levers and buttons and remembered the time he'd been going to try to drive and how Lily had climbed over him and pushed him out of the way and ended up driving herself. Once upon a time, James would've been battling to get into the driver's seat again - for the rush of it, for the thrill of having the power of operating such a vehicle. He wondered why he didn't really fancy giving it a go now? Why it sounded more like a daunting challenge he didn't particularly want to rise up to meet now? Why the thought of it made him dread her deciding it was time to start and all he wanted to do was put it off.

He decided to just change the subject.

"I was thinking we could take mum for a ride, rather," he said. "She'd fancy a ride in the car, I'll bet. I wonder if she's ever been in one before?"

Lily blinked in surprise at the oddity of this statement. "Really?"

"I mean, why would she?"

"I --" Lily paused, then, "I dunno because it's normal to have been?"

"For muggles," James shrugged. "She's pureblood, don't forget, Evans. Grew up in the Black family, no less. They definitely wouldn't have had a muggle car..."

"Your Dad would've loved a muggle car," Lily mused.

"Yeah, he would've fancied this a lot," James nodded. "Would've thought the color should've been red, though, like Gryffindor, not Hufflepuff yellow."

"It's mustard, James. Closer to gold than yellow."

"Potato potato," he said, pronouncing it po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe.

Lily said, "Maybe we should invite Remus and Sirius as well. Dogs like going for rides."

James laughed.

When they arrived back to Godric's Hollow, Lily drove through the town and there were people looking at the yellow car as they passed. In a wizarding town, you don't see a lot of muggle cars and the ones that you do see generally attract attention - even when they aren't bright mustard yellow, but doubly so when they are. James waved to a couple of the people he recognized as neighbors and saw a little wizard boy clapping his hands and pointing at the car with a joyful expression on his face as he turned and lobbed a punch into his brother's arm.

Lily pulled up just past the house where a short dirt car park wrapped 'round the side. She turned off the engine and they sat, listening to it cooling down, making small ticking sounds. She smiled and stroked the wheel as though she were patting and animal. She turned and looked at James, eyes sparkling. "Thank you so much," she said solemnly.

James smiled, his lip hanging up on his tooth, "For what?"

"For buying this car for me," she said, emotional, "For our family. You're so good to me."

"We bought the car, Evans," he laughed.

"With your money," Lily answered.

"The money in the vault is yours as much as it is mine, love," he said.

"Still, though. You went and you got the money out of Gringott's and you did the exchange and everything. You listened when I said I wanted a car and you made it happen for me and I love that about you. I love how you listen to me - how you passionately listen to me - and you care for me so well, James."

He grinned, enjoying the praise, and flushed a little with pride. "Yeah well... I am pretty great, aren't I?"

Once, she would have taken that for ego.

Now she knew he was asking for affirmation.

Funny how knowing a person a bit better could change the whole experience of them.

"You're a very good husband and you're going to be a wonderful father," she affirmed him.

James lit up like the sun.

He climbed out of the car and he hurried around and opened up her door for her before she could do it, helping her out with a little bow, still glowing from her comments, and he kissed her as she closed the door behind her back. She stumbled back so she was leaning against the car as he kissed her, his hands on her hips and she wrapped her arms up around his shoulders and into his hair, loving the feeling of his body pressing against hers. His mouth migrated from her lips, and he kissed the the soft spot just below her jaw bone and she laughed happily and twisted her fingers in his hair, looking up at the sky.

"Alright, Evans?" he asked her, lips moving against her skin.

"I love you," she said.

He pulled back and looked into her eyes. "I love you, Lily."

She smiled at him for a long moment, lingering in the love, knowing that they'd grown their little family that day with that car. It might've been a machine, not a real person, but it felt a bit like it was and Lily patted it on the wing mirror as she slipped out from between it and James and started toward the house. James grinned after her. "Well that was fun - kissing against the car like that," he said teasingly.

Lily laughed, "James, wait 'til I tell you about parking."

"Parking?" he asked. "Isn't that what you've just done?"

Lily spun 'round so she was walking backwards, a smirk on her face that spread slowly, suggestively, peaking his interest as he followed her, eyebrows raised. "There's another sort of parking I'll show you some time," she answered, and she spun back forward as she reached the kitchen door. 

"Oh?" James asked, "I like the sound of that sort of parking."

"I think you'll enjoy it," she agreed, then lowered her voice to a seductive purr. "I know I will," she added, and she went inside.

"Oh gods, Evans," James whispered, hurrying in after her.

"So - let me get this straight," Remus said, hands on his hips, looking down at Tonks, who sat on the edge of the bed on Sirius's side, staring up at him with dampened eyes and sparkling wet lashes, "Peter and Oni left you here alone, all by yourself to go out somewhere --"

"They were going on a secret mission," Tonks whimpered, "And I was to help by guarding the flat. I was supposed to be very helpful and keep it a secret."

"And not tell anyone that you'd seen them," Remus supplied from the details she'd already shared.

"Yes that's right," Tonks nodded, and then lifted her fist up to wipe her eyes. "I really wanted to be a very good secret agent," she sniffed, "I - I was supposed to go undercover and everything. I - I wanted to be good at it."

Remus sighed. "They shouldn't have left you here alone, Tonks. I'm not mad at you. And honestly, you did the right thing telling me. Being a good secret agent doesn't mean you never tell the secrets, it means you know who the right people are to tell the truth to and who you need to keep it from. You never need to keep the truth from me, alright?"

Tonks nodded, "Alright."

"You'd make a rather good secret agent," the Portrait of Regulus spoke up, "Being a metamorphmagus, it's like you're made for the job, really."

Remus looked at the Portrait in surprise - it was probably the kindest thing he'd ever heard Regulus Black say. Living or in portrait form.

"Yeah?" Tonks looked at the Portrait, too, then asked, "Was Maryrose Jenkins good at secret agenting?"

Remus nearly toppled over in surprise at hearing Tonks ask about Maryrose. He hadn't expected it. He didn't know that Tonks knew anything about Maryrose Jenkins - and how would she, really? - but he realized quickly that the Portrait must have mentioned her to Tonks before he came home.

Regulus's Portrait nodded, "She was. There was this one time - we went on a secret mission to a whole other country and she had to pretend to be one of the bad guys that we were facing in order to sneak us all in past enemy lines and she turned into his likeness in a snap! It was brilliant - she looked precisely like him, you never could've told them apart aside from the voice. She was so brave, she led us right in among the enemies and we were able to save the day because of her."

Remus smiled sadly, remembering how convincing Maryrose had looked like Igor Karkaroff. It really had been brilliant, he thought.

Tonks looked enthralled, "That's amazing."

"Yes," Regulus's Portrait nodded, "She was a really amazing person."

"I want to be just like her," Tonks declared. "Did she work for the Ministry?"

"She could've done, she was brilliant enough," the Portrait answered. "But it took a lot of practice to get really good at imitating peoples faces like that. It's harder than just changing hair colors and all. Sometimes, she used to turn her features into animals, too, and it was very funny."

"I can do that!" Tonks said, "I made myself like a giraffe once for my best mate, Bradley!"

Remus laughed at the memory.

The Portrait said, "That's brilliant. Spots and all?"

"No, just the long neck."

"Well next time try at the spots, too. I'll bet you can do it."

"Alright!" Tonks said. "I'll practice." Her tears were gone. "Maybe one day I'll be able to change as good as Maryrose Jenkins could."

"I'm sure you will," Portrait Regulus said.

There was a banging sound then, followed by a shout, "HONEYYYYY I'M HOME!!!!"

Remus looked at Tonks as her eyes widened with excitement. "SIRIUS!" she cried and she slid off the bed in a rush and went running out the door.

The Portrait looked at Remus. "She certainly loves my brother, doesn't she?"

Remus nodded, "Most people who know him do." He paused, then, voice going cold despite the heart warming moment he'd just witnessed, he added, "You were the exception." 

Without waiting for a reply, Remus went out the door, following after Tonks.