Okay, who hates me? *raises hand* I'm sorry guys, if anyone still reads this. I got caught up with reality and there was much hecticness. On top of all that, I've deiced to go back and edit A Delayed Reaction so that it no longer looks like it was written by a twelve year old with a minimal grip on grammar. So far I've gotten up to chapter 4 re-written so feel free to go review the changes if you want. It should stay relatively the same plot wise, but the jokes are now less corny and it's a little more DH friendly. ANYWAY, on with the show!

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"Remus, would you be terribly upset if I strangled your child." Sirius said softly.

"Yes, I would. Besides, your hair really is the perfect length for that." Remus couldn't help but laugh. His six month old was sitting happily on Sirius' shoulders, using the length of Sirius' hair as a tether as he leaned to look at his surrounds.

"Yes, well, he's a curious little bugger who is hurting my head." Sirius griped, but simply moved some sickles forward on the table. "Place a bet or fold, Potter."

"I'll take you on, Black, I'm feeling I'm going to be lucky tonight and you're distracted by hair pulling. Lupin?"

"I'll fold, and take the baby so you two can have a fair bluffing argument, and then you can get so preoccupied with each other that Peter wins."

"Hey! Don't give up my strategy!"

"Sorry, Pete." Remus plucked SJ off Sirius' shoulders and started bouncing him on his hip.

"Is that how Wormy has been winning all these years?" James and Sirius exchanged a glance.

"Dang it, Moony. Now they'll be focusing on me. I'll never win." Peter threw down his cards, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"That makes so much sense. I knew that Pete wasn't that good a bluffer."

"Excuse me, Sirius Black; I can bluff just fine as long as I don't have to annoying prats watching my every move."

"Whatever you say, Wormtail." Sirius gave James an over exaggerated wink and Peter dove over the poker table and grabbed at Sirius' neck. Sirius turned into a dog and ran to hide behind Remus' legs.

"Watch the child!" Remus shouted as Peter lunged at Sirius again. SJ laughed as he was thrust up above Remus' head and out of harm's way. James, the only one still sitting near the poker table, began to collect the galleons that had fallen to the floor.

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For the past ten minutes, no one had said anything. The Ladies Fair were just lavishing the fact that nothing in the vicinity had broken, they had cups of tea that weren't going to randomly change into a different beverage or have salt instead of sugar in them, and they were getting foot massages and pedicures. In short, they were pretending that they had nothing to do with the Marauders at all.

Beth was the first to break the silence. "So how much danger do you think my son is in?"

"Minimal. The only real danger is if one of them is caught cheating or stealing during poker night, and even then I think your husband is smart enough to get the hell out of dodge." Lily said and then took another long sip of tea.

"Unless of course you're husband is the one doing the cheating or stealing, then your son maybe in grave danger as Sirius, James, and Peter take him hostage until Remus returns the money." Sam amended, her eyes shut, lounging back in her chair.

"Somehow I doubt that Remus would be the one cheating or stealing…James on the other hand…" Beth grinned.

"You're probably right," Lily sighed and sunk back farther in her chair. "I really need to learn a good broken nose spell."

"Hey, you are the poor fool who married the boy." Sam said

"Speaking of marriage…" No one said anything else for a few minutes, so Sam opened her eyes to see both of her best friends staring t her intently.

"Oh no. No, no, no. Just because you two have gone loopy, that doesn't mean I have to jump on the crazy bandwagon."

"Come on, you haven't even considered marrying Sirius?"

"No I really haven't. Sirius and I don't feel the need to go out, get married, and start a family. No need to domesticate."

"So you're telling me that if Sirius whisked you away on a romantic evening then got down on one knee, you would tell him no?" Beth asked skeptically.

"First of all, let's examine the Marauder's proposal track record. Number one had his girlfriend propose and then bought the ring six months later. Number two had the girlfriend thinking they were splitting up before revealing the ring, and received a swing to the head. And those are the 'romantic' two marauders. Secondly, I don't think a ring and a ceremony will prove that Sirius and I love each other anymore."

"I guess you're right." Lily shut her eyes and reclined back into her seat. After a few minutes Beth followed suit.

"Besides," Sam added, almost an afterthought, "Since when have I ever wanted to be like the two of you."

-+-

"Alright, Potter, here's the deal. You cough up those galleons and no will have to get hurt." Remus, Sirius, and Peter had surrounded James, their own squabbles forgotten.

"A: I don't know what you're talking about; B: I've gone toe to toe with Voldie himself, so what makes you think I'm scared of you?" James crossed his arms, and smirked.

"Oh, hi, Lily, Sam, Beth, what happened during our poker night, you ask? Well, James insulted Beth and me for having children so young, Sam and Sirius for not getting married, then stole from all of us because he squandered his last paycheck on firewhiskey."

"I didn't!"

"Did too, I heard you." Remus readjusted SJ on his hip.

"I was deeply offended." Sirius hung his head.

"It troubled me deeply to hear you say such things about our friends." Peter nodded.

"You wouldn't."

"Wouldn't we?"

James gave each of his friends a once over, before sighing and turning his pockets inside out, handing back galleons.

-+-

"Well, that was ridiculously stupid." Lily laughed, folding down the covers.

"Well, with any luck they wouldn't have been paying attention and we could've been much richer." James pulled off his shirt, and turned back to his wife, "And you know that you only married me for my money."

"Clearly. Because it wasn't until I realized how rich you were and how good you looked with your shirt off that I even considered you." Lily crawled into bed. "But now I can only hope that you die early so I can inherit all your money and I can go off to marry my real one true love."

"Your one true love, eh?"

"Yes. Sirius and I clearly belong together don't you think?"

"Nah, you'd kill him."

"Remus then?"

"Daddy-whipped. Loves that little boy and his mother way too much."

"Peter?"

"Too twitchy for you. It would be more killing."

"Darn. I guess that means I'm stuck with you."

"I guess so. Lucky me." James crawled into bed next to Lily. She turned his back to him and he wrapped his arm around her waist. After a couple of minutes, James whispered, "Lily?"

"Yes, James?"

"You don't actually love Sirius more than me, right?"

Lily laughed, and turned to give her husband a kiss.