"Eggs are good, eggs are grand - eggs are tasty when they're fried with ham... Eggs with peppers in, eggs with cheese on, eggs are good but I prefer bacon..."

"What in Godric's name are you singing?" Lily laughed, coming into the kitchen behind James, who had tied her pink flowery apron on about his torso and was singing as he waved his wand to chop onions, ham, cheese, and all the other delicious things that goes into an omelet. He was dancing about, swinging his hips and threw back his head to toss his hair up from his forehead, fingers covered with the smell of green peppers, the element he was doing manually. Lily wrapped her arms around him, buckling her fingers together at his waist as she pressed her cheek against his bicep, looking over the culinary masterpiece he was mid-way in creating.

"The James Potter Omelet Song," he laughed, grinning at her crookedly, his lip caught up on that tooth the way she fancied. "Going to be a top ten hit, yeah?"

"Most assuredly," Lily answered, nodding, then sang in her high, fluttery voice, "Eggs are good, eggs are grand - eggs are tasty when they're fried with ham..."

James hummed along and she swayed behind him as he continued on dancing, his bum grinding against her as she held onto him.

"God you're an idiot," she said lovingly.

"I'm your idiot," James beamed, throwing the peppers into a large bowl as the onions, ham, and cheese joined them and mixed together by magic. He shot a spell over his shoulders and eggs came floating over, cracking themselves against the edge of the bowl, the shells flying out the window to the compost heap in the garden. James turned about to face Lily and wrapped his arms around her. "Remember the time I made you omelets and we watched Doctor Who?"

They both decided not to think about what had happened after watching Doctor Who.

"I do," she replied. "You're a very good omelet maker."

"Top notch," he nodded. "Practically a professional."

"You must be paid in order to be a professional at something, James."

James grinned, "I didn't mention the bill?"

"Oh? There's a bill?"

"Indeed. You owe me about... ehhhh... a hundred and... thirty-nine kisses for these omelets."

"Oh my, what expensive omelets."

"You're not just paying for the omelets, you're paying for the experience... and the view." He winked at her and grinned arrogantly, and she rolled her eyes and he laughed.

"Well," she said, "I best start paying off my debt." She puckered her lips and he leaned down to meet her and his hands slid down her back and grabbed hold of her --

"Oh you two are positively vomit-inducing," Sirius announced.

Flanked by Remus and Peter, Sirius was carrying a large plate full of Remus's french toast, which he put down on the table as he bounded into the kitchen and inserted himself between Lily and James so that he was between their outstretched arms, "Do I get one, too, Prongs?"

James kissed Sirius's forehead.

"Hold up. Mine wasn't as good as hers," Sirius complained.

Lily said, "It isn't Tuesday, nor a bank holiday."

"And your husband is watching," intoned Remus from the table, where he was putting down a large pitcher of what looked like bubbly orange juice. "Mimosas," he said. "No brunch is complete without them, I hear."

"I said that," Sirius took credit gleefully.

Remus said, "Never mind the loads of people who have said it before him that led my husband to the conclusion in the first place, mind."

"Who d'you reckon invented mimosas?" Sirius asked, still hugging onto James between him and Lily. 

"Are things like mimosas invented?" Peter asked.

"Someone had to be the first one to drink one," James said.

"That. How do I get that title in the history books? Sirius Black, the drinker of the first mimosa."

"Well at this point, I reckon you'd need a time turner to the beginning of time," James said.

"Imagine cavemen drinking mimosas?" Sirius grinned. For some reason, this was a terribly amusing thought to him and James both and they started giggling like children and Lily rolled her eyes at them both.

"What is so funny about cavemen drinking mimosas?" she asked.

"Just is," Sirius snickered.

"I'll have a mimosa with a side of brontesaurus bacon please," James said, lifting a finger to the air as though catching the attention of a waiter.

"It'll cost you two fire sticks and club for whacking things," Sirius said.

"Oh like you need a club for that," James snorted.

"I doubt very much whether cavemen drank mimosas," Remus said, cutting in as Sirius's laughter doubled and he wheezed dirty under the fit of hooting sounds he was choking on. Then, "However, there is a sort of interesting history to the mimosa - and several places that take credit as the actual inventor of the drink... The earliest being 1921 at the Buck's Club in London, but their variant was called the Buck's Fizz and had more champagne than a typical mimosa. It was at the Ritz in Paris that they first mixed it half orange and half champagne prompting the Ritz to claim that they invented the mimosa. Honestly though, who cares who mixed it first? It really matters what popularized it, and that came about in the 1940s in San Francisco, when they were drank by --"

"Remcyclopedia strikes again!" James interrupted.

Remus flushed as he finished, "--Alfred Hitchcock, of all people."

Sirius snickered at the name, grinning at Remus with eyes sparkling with mischief. "Haha, Remus said --"

"I know my son isn't about to say anything dirty just as I walk into the room," Dora Potter's voice broke through and Sirius spun about on the ball of his foot to face her.

"Me? Dirty? Mum! Never!" he grinned and launched himself to Dora, splitting Lily and wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek repeatedly with loud mwah mwah mwah sounds.

James snickered as he spun back about to finish the omelets and soon the house was filled with the delicious smell of the food cooking and the sound of the bacon sizzling loudly in the pan.

"You don't like peppers, right, Wormy?" James called over his shoulder, "I mixed a special batch for you with extra ham instead."

"Thank you," Peter said, but his voice was quiet and funny.

"What's the matter, Peter?" Lily asked, setting plates on the table with Remus.

"Nothing!" Peter squeaked.

Honestly, he'd stayed up all night, overthinking the things that Regulus's Portrait had said to him - but he didn't want to mention that, of course, seeing as mentioning it would require telling Sirius that he'd stolen the portrait from the bedroom and then he'd have to explain why and that would cause a whole load of things needing to be explained and Peter was exhausted just thinking about the mental gymnastics he would need to perform to explain it all away.

Telling them the truth was not an option.

Dora raised an eyebrow at the quickness of his answer though and he could feel the guilt of lying to a mother sinking in his belly and he flushed. "I just didn't sleep good." A half truth, at least.

"I've got a draught for a good night's sleep up in the cupboard," Lily said, "Would you like a vial?"

"If you've one to spare!" Peter said. He would rather enjoy a good night's sleep actually.

"Sure!" Lily went over to the cupboard and fished about until she found the small lavender bottle, the stopper waxed shut. She carried it over and handed it to Peter with a smile, "Whatever helps. Let me know if you need some more, Wormy," she added.

Peter nodded and pocketed the vial, "Thanks Lily," he added as she hugged him.

"Omelets coming through!" James sang out, splitting the pair as he headed for the table with a platter full of omelets. "Here's yours Pete," he added, sliding the plate in front of Peter's usual seat.

They settled in, then, for their Sunday brunch, the room filling with the clinking of glasses as they cheersed one another with the mimosas and the sound of James asking Sirius to pass the bacon. When they'd all filled their plates and gotten the initial beginnings of eating started, Sirius said, "So what's it like being back at Hoggy-warty Hogwarts, Mr. Fancy Pants?"

James jammed his glasses up his nose as they were slipping down, and he grinned, "Brilliant, actually. I got to see the D.W.O. and there were loads of new first years - a fairly large group of them, actually. Some familiar names, too."

"Oh like who?" Remus asked, looking up from where he was carefully cutting his french toast into little, very precise squares. 

"Well, there were Ollivanders - twins. Sutton and Logan - Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, respectably," James said.

"Must be the wandmaker's grandsons," Dora said, "I heard his boy had married." She smiled warmly, "How lovely."

"There was a Noah Bell," James continued.

"Derek's nephew? Cousin, maybe?" Remus suggested.

"Possibly. He was the spitting image," James said. "I swear." He paused, then looked at Sirius. "There was a - a Black."

Sirius didn't even look up. "There's about fourteen thousand of us spread all over Britain. Poor thing. Slytherin for sure, yeah?"

"Yeah Slytherin. Her name was Pyxis."

Sirius paused, "Huh. Interesting. Constellation name. I thought that was a thing that our particular branch was into."

"So you don't know her?"

Sirius laughed, "No; not all of the Blacks know each other, you know."

Dora had her head tilted back, thinking. "I wonder if she's one of Alphard's granddaughters."

"Alphard?" Sirius whipped about in his seat. "Uncle Alphard? I remember him. He took me and Regulus to a quidditch match once and he brought us ice creams while we were there. I don't remember a lot but I remember he wasn't an entire, absolute dickhead like the rest of my family."

"He certainly wasn't a thing like your father," Dora agreed. "He was my cousin... and my uncle after he married my aunt." 

"It's a small world after all," James sang quietly.

Remus choked on his mimosa, smirking down into the glass as Lily's face crunched, trying to figure out the relational mess that was the marrying pairs of the Black family tree.

"Lucky bloke dodged a bullet is what you're saying," Sirius grinned.

Dora smiled, "I actually rather liked Uncle Alphard. I wonder if he's still living."

"So are you still excited for your job at Hogwarts?" Remus spoke up, swinging the conversation back to James, who was looking a bit anxious since his story had been hijacked by the discussion of the Black family relationship web. 

"Yes, I am - very," James nodded and he launched into a long version tale, sharing with them how he'd arrived and been greeted by Peeves the Poltergeist at the castle doors and how he'd gotten to sit next to Minnie at the staff table and told them all about Professor Flitwick's drinking and the new DADA professor, Miss. Ketterley.

"Taking bets now," Sirius announced, "Good or evil? Good or evil?"

"She seemed pleasant," James chimed in, "Though I didn't get much of a time to talk with her." He paused, "You know Professor McGonagall said there hasn't been a repeat DADA teacher so long as Dumbledore's been headmaster at the school?"

"So ages, then?" Peter joked.

"They say the position is cursed," Remus chuckled as though he didn't believe in such things.

"I love that Minnie was dishing gossip to you all night," Sirius said, smirking.

"They're also doing another International Quidditch Tournament this year, Dumbledore said. He wants to meet in his office tomorrow afternoon to discuss it - it'll be similar to what they had in our second year against Ilvermorny, but this one would be again Uagadou... Except we're not doing it all star style with a mixed team. The house that wins the Quidditch House Cup will play the winning team from Uagadou, rather." James's eyes sparkled, "Hogwarts versus Uagadou! What a lark."

"Yes what a lark indeed!" Sirius said, making fun of James's choice of phrase.

James stuck out his tongue at Sirius.

"That sounds quite fun," Lily said, "What a great way to encourage the Uagadou quidditch players."

"It best be Gryffindor or I'll lose my mind," James declared.

"You have to be unbiased and completely fair, Mr. Referee," Lily reminded him, wagging her finger. "No playing favorites. That would be in breach of your sworn duty as the referee."

"Never stopped a professional referee," intoned Sirius, who was still a wee bit bitter because he'd lost a bet against Bilius on who would be getting into the World Cup this year. The playoffs had been delayed two weeks and the match was being held later than usual, in mid-September, because one of the original contenders had been disqualified due to folks finding out the seeker on the Scottish team had bewitched the snitch. Now the final match would be played between the Belfast and Vienna teams - all tickets to the originally scheduled match honored at the new stadium.

"I'll do my best," James grinned, "But I do have a professional interest in Oliver's team winning as well." He paused, then, "Nobody mention it to Jasper or Oliver yet but... I reached out to Jack Scout last month and asked him about getting a Quidditch scout out to Hogwarts to evaluate Oliver's play, to see about possibly getting him on an early list for team placement."

"That bloke!" Sirius guffawed, "He was a piece of work."

James nodded, "Yeah but he remembered me. Said I was one of the best Seekers he ever saw." James chest puffed at this.

"Yeah, yeah, you're good at Quidditch, save yourself a breath or two, Potter," Sirius said, waving his palm at James, "Deflate the ego, mate."

James laughed, "Anyways, he was surprised to find out I'd become a chaser in school and wasn't playing anymore at all... said he'd be pleased to come by and take a look at my trainee." He grinned.

"As he should be," Lily said loftily.

"I can hardly take credit for Oliver's talent," James said, "We only just begun working together."

"You believed in him when nobody else did," Lily argued, "You gave him the start and the confidence to begin."

James shrugged, "Anyone who saw the kid play would've given him the shot."

"But it was you," she pressed. "Honestly, James, you have the funniest ego. You puff up over silly things and the things you do that really matter, those are the things you don't take credit for."

"He's always been like that," Sirius intoned. He looked at James with sincerity in his eyes. "It's part of that humble spirit he's got deep down under all those layers of ego."

"Not that we don't admit there are a load of layers, mind," Remus said.

James laughed and looked down, "I dunno, it just doesn't seem like Oliver's talent is something that ought to be celebrated as my achievement. It's all Oliver's."