Immature 5
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James Potter is running full speed to the blue house sitting across from his own. He does not look both ways before hurtling down the street. He knows that his mother is watching him from behind. He is sure that when he gets back home, she is going to scold him for foolishly endangering himself. Never cross the street without checking, she always says. But James finds that he does not care about that too much. Run, he tells himself. Run.
Just as he arrives at the garden and nearly steps on a rose, the door of the blue house opens and Lily Evans is standing on the doorway. Her cheeks are streaked with tears, but she is smiling. James halts right in front of her and, without warning, launches at her with a hug. For a moment, it seems as though he is attacking her, but he isn't really. He is only expressing happiness at its highest level.
"Lily," he breathes into her ear, "you're not pregnant!"
A bark of laughter reaches James' ears. Without letting go of Lily, he looks up and sees Mr. and Mrs. Evans standing just across the doorway. He turns red, embarrassed. He pulls back from the embrace and faces Lily, who is wiping her tears with the back of her hands. "Did you tell them that… you know… that we're married?" he whispers, so that no one else would hear.
Lily sniffs. "No," she whispers back. "Should I?"
"No. Not yet. We'll wait until we're twelve."
"Okay," Lily nods. James smiles at her and steps back a bit, so as to give her breathing space.
Mr. and Mrs. Potter have now crossed the street and are smiling at Lily's parents. They go inside for some tea (James has always thought that if he ever drinks tea as much as grown-ups do, he will either a: gain super-adult-powers, b: become boring and do nothing but read newspapers and fix dinner and go to work and scold his friends for being rowdy, or c: blow up like a balloon and eventually explode, not leaking blood, but tea.) and bustle around the kitchen while Lily and James sit in the living room, staring at each other.
"So that's that, then,' Lily says.
"Yeah."
"I was really scared."
"Yeah, me too."
They stare at each other some more. James fidgets in his chair while Lily plays subconsciously with her braids. James is not often speechless. In fact, it might take a blow to the head or a high fall from a broom to get him to shut up. This time, however, he has absolutely no idea what he is supposed to say. He is only sure of one thing, and it's that he is currently feeling very uncomfortable. He thinks that this is not a good sign for their marriage. Husbands and wives, he reckons, should always be comfortable with each other.
"Stupid Sirius," James says all of a sudden. "He started all this. He said he was sure you were pregnant… said he researched all night."
"Remus said he didn't believe I was pregnant."
"Yeah… yeah. I should've known Remus would be right. I don't even know why I believed Sirius. That was pretty stupid of me, but I just… didn't know." He smiles sheepishly at Lily. "Sorry for making so much trouble."
Lily smiles kindly back at him. "It's okay. My parents said it was the funniest and silliest thing they've ever heard."
James grins and moves to the couch to sit beside Lily. "So… erm… it's okay to kiss now, right? Since we know you're not going to get pregnant or anything."
"Yeah, I suppose. But… don't you think we should put that off until we're twelve? I mean… well… I'm still a bit nervous about kissing and all."
"Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I am, too. Yeah… we'll wait until we're twelve." James offers a forced smile to Lily, who giggles and gives him a hug. James hugs her back, all the while thinking that Sirius is going to have to pay for what he's done.
---
"She's not pregnant!"
"What? What d'you mean?"
"I mean she's not pregnant!"
"Oh."
"You said you did research."
"I did do research, but I didn't say that it was a good research. I also didn't say if I actually found what I was looking for."
James scowls and, with lightning-quick reflexes, uncrosses his arms and pinches Sirius.
"OW!" says Sirius, rubbing furiously at his arm. "You believed me! You shouldn't have believed me."
"How was I supposed to know?"
"Don't be stupid, James. You ask Remus. That's what we do, yeah? We ask Remus to know stuff. Remus, know, Remus, know. It's simple, really."
"Shut up!" James yells and looks over his shoulder at the fireplace, which, coincidentally, blazes green and delivers a coughing Remus Lupin onto James's living room.
"Bugger," says Remus. "I got ash on your mum's carpet." He leans down and tries to blow the ash back into the fireplace. It is no use. Remus knows this, of course, but still spends about two minutes blowing.
Remus stands up straight. "I'll apologize later." With that, he walks over to the couch to sit beside James. "Where's Peter?"
"Should be here soon. I fired him a few minutes ago," James replies.
Remus thinks for a second. James fired Peter. He resists the urge to giggle. It is only a little bit funny, and he doesn't think that it really deserves a giggle. He composes himself and nods. "Right. So… why are we here then?"
"Lily's not pregnant after all."
"I knew it! I told you. You see! I told you!"
Sirius glares at Remus. "All you said was that you didn't think she was. Fat lot of help that did. How do you expect us to believe you if you've no explanation?"
"Why, Sirius?" asks Remus. "Did you give an explanation?"
"He didn't," James says. "It was stupid to believe him."
"No matter!" Sirius howls. "Just forget about it! Lily's not pregnant, that's the end of that."
"But they're still married." Peter suddenly says, stepping out of the fireplace. He has managed to get more ash on the carpet. "Good job on not getting her pregnant, James."
"Yeah. Thanks."
Sirius snorts. "Yeah… sure, Pete… like it took big skills not to get Lily pregnant. He doesn't even have any clue about the whole thing!"
"Okay…" Remus butts in before James can reply. His mother always tells him that he was born a pacifier. Even as a baby, he was a pacifier. He bawled every time his parents were having a fight, effectively ending it. They'd stash whatever they were fighting about somewhere in the back of their heads and leave it until it comes up again. Of course, when his mother told him that, it contradicted her "getting things settled early on before things get worse" ethic. But no matter… Remus was born a pacifier and that is that. Although, he cannot, for the life of him, imagine why he would be called a pacifier. Remus is sure he is a normal boy. Babies don't just go up to him and suck on his thumb or his elbow or something. And he's never felt an odd connection with his old pacifiers from when he was a baby. He is also very rarely covered in saliva. Remus thinks nothing of it. "That doesn't really matter anymore," he continues. "We're past all that. Lily is not pregnant. Thank you, God, for that. Now let's move on. What else have we got?"
"Well, that's it," James answers.
"Aside from the fact that you've married somebody waaay before you've turned twelve. That could be against the law, James."
"Nobody wants to hear what you have to say, Sirius."
"Whatever."
"Guys…" Peter starts. "If Lily's not pregnant from the kiss, then how does a girl pregnant?"
They all stare at each other for a while. How do you get a girl pregnant?
"Maybe if you kiss her on the lips," Remus suggests.
"I've seen my mum and dad kiss with their lips, but my mum's never been pregnant after I was born."
"Hmm. Yeah… that's true," Remus agrees.
"You have to be in bed," Sirius says. "You have to be in bed and you have to kiss for a very long time. I think it also helps if you haven't got any clothes on."
They all laugh, including Sirius.
"Ew."
"Gross, Sirius."
"Why would anyone want to be naked with somebody else?"
Peter lets out a series of snorts and quiets down. "Maybe we'll find out when we're twelve."
---
Three days after the whole pregnancy thing, James and Lily are sitting in Mrs. Evans's garden, staring up at the stars. It is late and James is about to go home.
"Sirius told me that there's a star named after him."
Lily turns her head to look at James. "Doesn't he mean that he's named after the star?"
"No," James shakes his head. "The star is named after him."
"Oh. Okay. Wow. I wish a star was named after me."
"Well, we can pick one and name it Lily."
"We could, but how are we going to remember which one it is? There are so many stars."
"We don't have to know which one it is. Just pick the best one. Even if we don't find it again, we'll know it's there."
Lily grins and points at a bright star sitting just beside another one. "Lily," she says. "And look, it's right beside James."
James laughs. "Lily and James. It sounds good."
"Yes. Whenever anyone is looking for Lily, all they'd have to do is find James, and whenever anyone is looking for James, all they have to do is find Lily, because they're always together."
James smiles happily at Lily. "You're a good wife, Lily. You're better than all the ice cream in the world."
"And you're the best husband, James." Lily inches closer to James and kisses him on the cheek for a long time.
James hugs her tightly afterwards. "That was the best, Lily. We should do it again sometime."
Lily nods enthusiastically. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Yeah. Tomorrow and everyday for the rest of our lives."
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The End
(a.k.a. The Beginning)
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A/N: A very disappointing 3-week delay after the daily update trend that I had going. However, I got it out before a month, which is still very impressive.
Immature has been very fun to write. It was initially going to be a one-shot, but I enjoyed it too much and overindulged. I'm glad I did.
I hope the ending was up to par and lived up to the rest of the story. Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews. You guys are the best… so well-trained at making me feel special. :o) Leave another one, 'kay?