The Evans house was quiet and dark and Mrs. Evans' car was not in the driveway. Likely, she was working late, and the girls would have a bit of time to themselves. Lily was rather glad for it - she needed to talk to Petunia, and she had the distinct suspicion that if Mrs. Evans was at home, Petunia would not be as truthful as Lily desperately needed her to be at the moment.

Lily tugged Petunia up the walk and into the house, closing the door behind them.

"Delicious champagne they had at that shop, wasn't it?" Lily asked, jumping right into her agenda as Petunia led the way into the living room, putting her bag down on a chair as she passed it and heading into the kitchen. Lily followed her along. "You did have some didn't you?"

Petunia was quiet and opened the refrigerator and took out a plate of carrot sticks and celery with a thick dip in the center, flecked with green.

Lily stood before the table, watching as her sister arranged the platter to a pretty little display. "Or did you pass it up, then?"

"I told you, I'm watching my weight," Petunia sniffed.

Lily stared at her sister's head quite hard.

"Champagne has a dreadful amount of calories, Lily, you have no idea," Petunia said. She turned and pulled a tall pitcher of water out of the fridge and got a pair of glasses from the kitchen.

Lily put her hands on her hips.

"You know I much prefer wine to champagne anyway, it's simply unnatural having all that horrible carbonation in it. Tickles the nose. Very uncomfortable."

"You're pregnant."

Petunia's hands stilled, hovering over a carrot that needed straightening in her lovely little plate of veggies. Her lips pursed and her very long neck flushed.

"Oh my stars, you really are, aren't you?"

Petunia looked up. "Don't tell. Don't tell anyone. I haven't told anyone. Not even Vernon or mummy and I don't want you --"

Lily had launched herself 'round the table, though and enveloped Petunia up in a big hug, practically crushing her sister to her chest. "Oh my gods, how amazing, how simply, truly, unbelievably incredible. I'm so bloody happy for you!"

Petunia was stiff and uncomfortable at first, but then started to melt ever so slightly. "Yes, well..." she sniffed. "I mean, it's... it's not conventional... out of wedlock and the like..."

"Oh who cares? That's such an old fashioned thing anyway. It isn't as though you and Vernon are breaking up or anything --" But Petunia had begun to cry and Lily stopped speaking. "You're... you're not, are you?"

"I'm so afraid," Petunia whimpered, "That Vernon will - will leave me if he finds out."

"Why on Earth would he leave you?" Lily asked. She wondered for a moment as she spoke the words if she would have that same worry if it were her, if she would be worried about telling James if she was the one who were pregnant. No, she decided instantly. She wouldn't. Not for that reason. James, Lily knew, would never leave her. Not for anything. It felt good to know that.

Petunia shrugged, "I don't know, it just seems like the sort of thing a man might leave a woman for..."

"Did he say that to you?" Lily demanded, ready to take her wand and go find the fat walrus and give him a good hexing. Pugnus, she decided. That would be the first spell she'd cast on that fat arse of his. Right in his nose.

"No," Petunia said, "Vernon didn't say that. I just worry is all."

"I'd hate him forever if he did," Lily said.

"I know you would," Petunia replied. She stared mistily at Lily.

"But he truly didn't, though, right?"

"He truly didn't." Petunia looked down at her lap. "I know you don't understand it, but Vernon... he truly does care for me... in his own way. He isn't as awful as you think."

Lily suspected Petunia wanted her to say that Vernon wasn't awful, but she wasn't quite ready to admit that. After all, she'd seen very little evidence to the contrary, and Petunia worrying about this was certainly not a very good sign. "If Vernon loves you - and he must if he plans on marrying you - then he won't leave you. Not for this... That's silly. He should be excited! Excited that you've made a baby together!" Lily smiled and held Petunia out at arm's length.

Petunia nodded, sniffing, but clearly feeling a bit better about it.

"Oh I'm so happy for you Tuney." Lily's eyes sparkled. "I'm going to be an Aunt! Auntie Lily!"

Petunia said, "It just was so - just out of the blue."

"How long have you known?" Lily asked.

"Not terribly long... I - I found out officially just this week... though I did suspect it for a bit before that; I was sort of... in denial I suppose." Petunia turned suddenly stiff-edged again. She picked up her plate of veggies and walked into the living room with them and a glass of water.

Lily followed her. "You must stay in touch, alright? Let me know how you are, how the baby is... how Vernon reacts when you tell him..." Lily sat beside Petunia as she settled onto the couch. "Please? And let James and I help any way we can." 

Petunia was sitting primly upon the edge of the couch and chewed a carrot stick, her fancy watch from Vernon hanging upon her bony wrist and reflecting the lamp's light on its face.

"I'll reckon that Vernon will be right excited! A little baby. It's like a living, breathing representation of the love you two share, isn't it?"

Petunia nodded. "I suppose it is."

The sisters fell into a bit of silence, aside from the sound of Petunia's crunching that is, and Lily stared at the blank TV screen, her mind a hundred miles away, thinking about all the things like this that she and Petunia could've shared over the years. First dates, first kisses, gossip and girl talk. Dying one another's hair and exploring fashion together. If they'd been normal sisters, would the closeness they'd had as children have continued on into their adulthood? Would it have taken this long for them to finally find a way to connect, for Petunia to open up to Lily? She wondered whether, if she could be guaranteed all of that, if she would have given up her magic for it way back then, when she was eleven?

There was no sense in wondering too much about it, she told herself, shaking out of the trance she'd fallen into. After all, the only way to make it so was if she were to have a time turner and, given all the rubbish James had told her about his own experience with the time turner, she knew she would never, ever take that chance of losing what she had with James now. Not for the promise of anything.

"You know you can tell me things like this?" Lily asked, "Without me guessing or prodding you. We could both tell each other things. Like when we were small." She stared at Petunia as she chewed, staring straight ahead with a small frown etched across her mouth. Petunia ran an absent hand against the strand of pearls at her neck. "I've missed you, Tuney."

Petunia's eyes focused on Lily, then, and she said, "it truly has been quite a lot of time we have wasted, hasn't it?"

Lily nodded. "Such a lot."

Petunia took up a celery stick and started munching. She smoothed her skirt with the hand not holding the green stalk.

"Tuney," Lily said gently, "Maybe we could order take out? Something to eat besides celery and carrots?"

Petunia paused her crunching and looked at the celery in her hand. She quickly put it down on the plate and turned to Lily, "I would do anything for a plate of hot chips about now."

Lily laughed. "Come on, then. We'll go to the chippy."

"And you've done this all the muggle way?" Remus was astonished. He looked about the house, his eyes bright with astonishment and pride at James's work. "It's very good."

"Thanks," James answered. "Do you reckon she'll like it?"

"Like it? She'll love it."

"Yeah?"

Remus nodded, stepping to the kitchen. The far wall was bricked and a hearth was set in, red painted cupboards and tiled floors. The back wall over the stove was tiled to match the floor, with little flowers painted on a smattering of the tiles. The window had a white curtain pulled to one side and held in place by a small rooster shaped hook.

"What's that for?" Remus pointed to a basket on top of the fridge.

"Rodger," James answered.

Remus smiled. "I think he'll rather like that."

"He can be comfortable and glower down at the world at the same time. It only seemed right he have an office for all of that judgementalism. It must be a good deal of hard work, after all."

Remus laughed. "He's a hard life, for sure..."

"Anyway, I wanted to put some protection charms into it, and I've done what I know, but I'd really like it if you'd set some as well."

Remus turned to look at James. "Really? Why me? Why not Sirius?"

"Well, assuming Sirius didn't set ridiculous boobytrap style rubbish involving marmalade -"

"Which he absolutely would," Remus laughed.

"-- I rather thought that it ought to be the bloke I know who is the absolute best at defensive magic."

Remus flushed.

"No one could set them better, Rey."

"Well I suppose the first thing you might consider is putting it under a charm to conceal it from anyone who is non-magical. Not that you've a lot of worry about such a thing when you're living in a wizarding town like Godric's Hollow, but it'll keep away at least a bit of the threats you might face - including muggle werewolves, inferi, and giants."

"Brilliant," James said, nodding, "See, this is why I knew I needed you here. You're positively genius."

"Of course your biggest threat is the members of the magical community, such as You Know Who and the like, his followers... Greyback, he's magic, for example. All the Death Eaters. Some Giants, I suppose, though I reckon there's not many of them that are mixed anyway."

"Right," James said.

Remus said, "You'll want it to be unplottable, and to do a fidelus, I imagine..."

"Yeah, but fidelus can be broken, we know that already from my old house." James frowned, remembering that horrible day that his house had been destroyed by Death Eaters. To this day, he still felt a twinge whenever he made omelets.

"Well, you'd want to add some additional levels, I suppose, such as the secret keeper must speak the address aloud for it to be valid, which will cover scrap bits of paper and such..."

James nodded.

"You could also do a perimeter protection spell, which would detect enemies and give warning to those inside to give advance warning time to escape. There's the caterwauling charm for that, but we might look into a spell that alerts at an intent to attempt entry."

"An intent? That's possible?"

"Dunno, I'll have to research it." Remus mused. He paused in the living room. A second fireplace stood against the center wall. Above the mantel, James had put in a large picture frame and in the frame was a photograph of the four Marauders and Lily Evans. He stared up at it and smiled. Along the mantel, too, James had put empty frames of varying shapes and sizes. "What are these for?" Remus asked.

James replied, "Dunno. Wedding photos. Baby photos. Photos of what we'll build here." He smiled.

Remus stared at the empty frames, imagining the pictures that would one day fill them. Chubby faced babies and excited eleven year olds on the platform for 9 3/4s. Something stirred in him, deep down, and he found himself spinning his wedding band on his left hand rather absently. "You've thought of it all," he murmured.

James said, "I certainly hope I have," James said. He grinned evilly. "I've even put a dog house outback, with a good strong chain, for days when Sirius is especially rambunctious."

Remus laughed, "You wouldn't want to let the fleas inside."

"Fleas?" James laughed, "Should I be concerned about him coming into the flat, too then?"

Remus shrugged. "I'm just saying he's been scratching an awful lot lately."

James snorted, "Bloody hell. Suppose he'll wear one of those collars like ordinary muggle dogs get put on them?"

Remus thought for a moment. "I reckon if we set a charm on it to look like it's rainbow coloured that Sirius would wear bleeding anything."