James was curled around Lily, their legs twined together, when he suddenly received a sharp kick in the shin as she flailed wildly, projecting herself out of the bed and making a mad dash out of the room, hands clapped over her mouth. "Oh Merlin's sweaty left --" James cursed quietly, clutching his leg to his chest and rubbing his shin with a groan. He moaned and rolled onto his back.

The sunlight was only barely coming in the window, the morning young yet. He could hear Lily retching from across the hallway and the sound of it turned his own stomach so that he squeezed his eyes shut tight and groaned, "Oh gods Evans," and rubbed his palm over his face as he forced himself into a sitting position, yawning and rolling off the bed to his feet. He padded across the hallway to the bathroom and when he'd reached her side, he gathered her hair up in his fist, sat on the edge of the bathtub, holding the ginger locks up from 'round her face so she didn't get any throw-up in them. He closed his eyes and rubbed her back along her spine, trying to ignore the sound and smell rising up to him from where her face was buried in the bowl.

When she'd emptied her stomach out, she grappled blindly for the flusher, gasping. James was waiting with a damp cloth and he gently wiped the spittle and remnants off her chin and from around her mouth, he stared into other eyes as he lowered the cloth when he was done washing her up. "I'm sorry you're sick."

"At least I'll have a baby to show for it," she murmured. "Unlike Sirius."

James chuckled as he leaned forward and kissed her cheek bone as he pushed the hair back behind her ears.

They got up and had breakfast with Dora, who chirped merrily about all the patterns she'd found for baby things. Once James got her settled in working on a knitting project, he and Lily set off through the front door.

Outside, it was a beautiful day. Which was good as the car lot they disapparated to was quite large and it felt like they were walking through a forest of muggle cars. James held Lily's hand and pointed out a car now and then, but for the most part, he watched Lily as she ran her fingers over car hoods and mused to herself about the different models to look at.

"What do you think?" she asked after they'd done a lap through the different vehicles.

"I dunno, Evans," James said, "I don't know a thing about muggle cars."

Lily ran her hand across her stomach, "You've got to have an opinion, love."

James shrugged.

Lily raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"Well, how about that one there," he pointed to a random one.

"Oh James, that one's way too big."

"See?" he said, smirking at her.

Lily said, "Well it's a behemoth!"

James slid his arm around her, "Which one do you like?"

She hesitated, palms still splayed on her belly. "Well. I don't know..." She sighed. "Is it silly that I miss my mum's Morris Mini?"

"Do you want to get a Morris Mini then?" James asked.

"No... no, it would never live up to hers," Lily said, "I'd be comparing it all the time... poor car would never have a chance to be loved for its own merit. It would just always be the Morris Mini That Isn't Mum's."

"I see," James said, even though he didn't really see.

"Besides, imagine getting a car seat in and out of the back?"

"It would be a nightmare," James agreed. "It was hard enough getting Sirius in and out of the back and Godric knows he's smaller than a bloody car seat.... height-wise anyways."

"Precisely," Lily said. She held onto James's hand and stared over the options available, frowning, pondering.

James looked at her, glanced over the cars, then joked, "Perhaps we ought to have asked Peter to use his divination skills and let us know what car we pick out so we wouldn't have to agonize over it." His eyes glinted playfully behind his glasses and Lily laughed and rolled her eyes. "Would've made it easier," he said.

"I sort of like the Astra. They're supposed to be quite safe."

"Safe is good. I mean, obviously we'll be charming it to make it safer."

"Obviously," Lily agreed.

"Which one is it?" James asked.

"That one over there." Lily pointed.

"The yellow one?" James raised an eyebrow. "What are we? Hufflepuffs?"

Lily laughed, "James - we're two years out of school, not everything has to be Gryffindor red anymore."

"No?"

"No," Lily laughed.

"I suppose if you squint it could be considered Gryffindor gold."

"It's called mustard, actually," Lily said, tilting her head at it.

"The color has a name?" James looked at her.

"Most colors do," she replied.

James stared at the mustard yellow Astra and tilted his head the same way as she was doing.

She looked at him and saw him imitating her expression and smiled, feeling rather glad that he was her husband. She slipped her hand into his and she looked at her again, his upper lip catching on his tooth. She must've been looking at him funny or something without meaning to because his eyes twinkled then and he said, "What?"

Lily shook her head and he tightened his fingers 'round hers, pulling her over toward the mustard yellow Astra. They stood beside it and James bent down to peer in the window at the seats as Lily imagined their lives in the Astra. She pictured herself behind the wheel and James in the passenger seat. She imagined a little boy in the back seat, imagined going for rides to the sea like she'd done with her folks as a small girl... And she could see it. She could see the miniature James back there, wild hair blowing in the wind, and James with his arm out the window, a big smile on his face. She could picture shouting for the kids to wipe the beach sand off their feet before climbing in - for yes, there was a boy and two girls she was imagining now, and there was a shaggy black dog barking and jumping over the seats and Remus Lupin with enough leg room, even in the back seat...

"How can I help you folks today?" a low voice asked.

Lily and James both whirled about to see a salesman had come up behind them while they looked at the Astra.

James looked at Lily.

She was flushed as she announced, "We're looking at this one."

Peter was home alone at the flat in East London when there came a knock on the door. He looked up from the book he was reading - Saving the World For the Greater Good by Gellert Grindelwald - as a second knock echoed through the flat. Carefully, he slid his book marker in and plucked his wand from the table and hurried to the door, peering through the little curtain before yanking it open.

Nymphadora Tonks stood on the step.

She looked surprised to see Peter, then said, "Wotcher Peter."

"Sirius isn't home, Tonks," Peter said warily.

She sighed dramatically, stepping around Peter into the flat, and sank onto the couch, slinging her bag to the side. "Of course not. He's always gone off doing something somewhere! What it must be like to be so free!"

Peter stared at her, then closed the door slowly. He knew from the others' experiences with Tonks that simply telling her she couldn't stay wouldn't have any effect whatsoever on whether she did, in fact, stay or not, so he didn't bother. He did, however, wonder if she was old enough to be left alone at the flat without supervision.

Tonks sighed loudly, flumped down in the chair, looking a great deal like Sirius might when he was younger in the chairs in the common room at Gryffindor Tower.

She was too like Sirius Black to be left without supervision, Peter decided on the spot.

"What if I brought you to Cardiff to see Sirius?" Peter suggested. She could hang about in the record shop where Sirius worked and pester him so that Peter could have his day to himself as he'd planned. He had loads to research after all if he and Oni Lamm were ever to get this whole plot to assassinate the Dark Lord off the ground. Better to take the kid and drop her off with someone better equipped to handle her - which was anyone that wasn't himself, honestly - and be rid of the problem altogether.

"Yeah?" Tonks sat up. "Is he gone on an adventure? Fighting Death Easters?"

"Death Eaters," Peter corrected, and when Tonks sat up, eyes lit up with excitement, he shook his head, "No he's just at work."

"Oh," she said glumly, deflating again.

"But he works at a record store," Peter said quickly, afraid she wouldn't want to go if he didn't make it at least sound exciting.

"Oh?" Tonks asked, lighting up again.

"Yeah. All the way in Cardiff. We can disapparate there."

Tonks's eyes widened with even more excitement. "I've only ever done sidealong with my mum."

"Well - well, excellent," Peter stammered. He honestly hadn't thought it all the way through and suddenly felt his palms go sweaty, worried about taking Tonks side-along. He'd never done side-along himself and was honestly nervous disapparating even himself. But she was small - he eyed her size with scrutiny - surely it wouldn't be that hard, right?

"Let's go, let's go!" Tonks sang, getting up from the chair and grabbing her bag, flinging the strap about her shoulders. The red train case bounced against her hip and she opened it up, took out a lipstick tube, and smeared bright red lipstick over her mouth. It was garish and messy and she had some that had missed her lips altogether.

Peter collected his book. "I'll be right back," he said, and he hurried down the hallway to his bedroom, grabbing his old book bag and shoving the volume in quickly. He kicked on his shoes and plucked his jacket from the chair where he'd flung it down the night before when he'd gotten home. Hurrying back to the living room, he found Tonks at the door, keeping Oni Lamm at bay.

"I don't recognize you - you're a stranger. You'll have to come back another time," Tonks was saying adamantly.

"I'm here to see Peter!" Oni's voice carried past the little girl blocking the way into the flat.

Peter hurried over and pulled Tonks back, out of the way. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he cried.

"There you are," Oni said.

Tonks stared at Oni with suspicion, chewing a wad of gum she must've gotten from her train case while Peter was out of the room, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"She's really quite the guard dog," Oni said, chuckling nervously, glancing between Tonk's glare and Peter.

"She's... tenacious," Peter nodded. "She's Sirius's little cousin."

"Oh." Oni looked at Tonks and the expression on her face made Peter remember that Sirius and Oni were also cousins so therefore Oni and Tonks would be cousins as well. There were too many convoluted family branches with the Blacks and their extendeds for Peter to keep up with. "I'm Oni," she said to Tonks. "What's your name?"

"Are you Peter's girlfriend?" Tonks asked instead.

Peter coughed in surprise and flushed very red - although he rather was interested in what Oni would say to that, too.

Oni laughed.

Peter felt his heart sink.

"No," Oni said, "Just a friend. We're doing a project together."

"What sort?" Tonks asked, "An arts and crafts project?"

"No," Oni said, "A different sort of project."

"A science project?"

"No."

"A top secret government agency project, like James Bond?"

"Sort of," Oni answered, laughing.

"Alright, that's enough Tonks," Peter said, trying to sound as bossy and take-chargey as Remus or Sirius might've done in the situation. He looked at Oni, "I'm sorry. I've got to just bring her out to Cardiff really quickly and drop her off with Sirius and then I'll be 'round so we can get to work."

"Actually, I was coming to get you just now - our - erm -" she glanced at Tonks, then back to Peter, "Our friend is back at Speaker's Corner today." She shoved the flyer into Peter's hand.

"But it starts in five minutes!" Peter said, eyes wide, seeing the time on the flyer.

Oni nodded, "We've got to go."

Peter glanced at Tonks. "What're we going to do with her?"

Oni thought for a moment, then a small smile twisted her mouth and she knelt down to look Tonks in the eyes. "Can you keep a secret? I'll bet you're really good at secret-keeping."

"I am!" Tonks nodded excitedly.

"Excellent." Oni said, then, "How would you like to help us with our project? But you have to remember not to tell ANYBODY."

Tonks nodded. "I can do it. I'll be really, really good at it. I can even go undercover if you need me to. Look." And she crunched up her nose and her hair melted from hot pink into black, her eyes changed from purple to brown, and her nose elongated. If Peter hadn't been watching, he wouldn't have known she was the same child. It was impressive to say the least.

Oni blinked in shock. "You're a metamorphmagus!"

Tonks nodded excitedly.

"Excellent. We needed an undercover person, isn't that right, Peter?" Oni said.

"We do?" Peter asked, nervously. He didn't know if he wanted to get Tonks involved in any of it. But Oni gave him a look and raised her eyebrow emphatically so Peter said, "Oh right - yeah, yeah we do!"

"What do I need to do?" Tonks asked, throwing herself into the role of secret agent with gusto.

Oni's voice lowered, only a half an octave over a whisper, and she leaned conspirationally closer to Tonks. "I need you to stay here at the flat while Peter and I go on a very quick mission across town for just a few minutes. There's a good chance that we're being followed, so we need you to guard the place, just like you did when I came in. There's a magical object in Peter's room that can't fall into the hands of the enemy - and the enemy could be anyone."

Tonks nodded.

"So if anybody comes, you have to pretend you don't know anything about where Peter and I have gone or that we were even here at all. In fact, it would be best if you pretended you never even saw either of us. Just act natural - be a distraction. Keep them from going to Peter's room."

"How do I warn you they're here?" Tonks asked.

"With this." Oni reached up and took a necklace off from about her neck. She had a great myriad of them. "When somebody comes, you press this stone with your thumb and I'll get the message in a super secret way."

Tonks nodded. "Okay." She put the necklace on.

"Okay so stay here and be good and wait, don't get into anything and we'll be back in thirty minutes," Oni instructed.

Tonks nodded very officially and scrambled for the chair to assume her waiting position.

"Come on," Oni said to Peter. "Let's go."

Outside, Peter asked, "Does the necklace really do anything?"

"No," Oni said, "But it'll keep her busy. Hurry, we don't want to miss what they have to say. Maybe we'll even get a chance to talk to Barty Crouch this time... he could be our in. I have a good feeling about this, Peter... We really are going to change the outcome of the war. I can feel it. I can just feel it."