I own no charachters, obviously! ;-)

This is the sequel to The Illness but I don't think you would have to read it.

Lily looked around the new nursery. She had agreed to let James and his three friends do the decorating. They had gone overboard. She sighed as she looked around. The room was great, for a boy of about 6 or 7. There was a small bed covered with a Quidditch quilt. The rooms were alternately red and gold and the fan had little snitches attatched to it.

"So?" James asked, his face shining in delight. Lily smiled and patted the side of his head.

"It's great, James, but I think you forgot something." Lily said, smiling to herself. James looked bewildered.

"What?"

"When Harry is born, for one, he is going to be a baby, not a toddler. He needs a crib, not a bed, and the colors might startle him." Lily said, sighing. "How about I change it up a bit and when Harry is a little older, you can change it back?"

James nodded. "Sorry, Lil..."

She kissed him. "It's nothing, James. This is completely knew to the both of us. We'll get used to this." There was a loud bang from downstairs. "Why don't you go and keep Sirius occupied?"

She chuckled as she heard James go down the stairs shouting, "Padfoot!" and a hasty reply of "Sorry!" Then she turned to the room in front of her and thought. She transfigured the bed into a crib. She turned the walls into a light shade of blue with puffy white clouds. To make James happy she had a snitch flying in and out of the clouds. She got rid of the snitch covered ceiling fan and replaced it with a soft light fixture. She went to the closet and made the hangers smaller. Then she went to the toybox. She kept this just the way it was. It was a little wooden box with the Hogwarts crest on both sides of it. In the middle, in block letter, was the name of their future child.

HARRY POTTER

She smiled and turned to leave. As she turned off the light, she realized the room would be too dark for the baby. She flicked her wand and the ceiling was suddenly full of small stars that twinkled merrily. She then became aware that both men downstairs were being much too quiet. "James?" she called. "Sirius?" No answer. 'Either I'm about to be pranked or something's wrong.'

As she walked down the stairs, she gasped as at least a hundred balloons suddenly appeared around her all having a different saying. She caught "Sorry!" "I Love You!" "It's A Boy!" and "Mother-to-Be!" She burst out laughing and fought her way down the stairs. "James! Sirius! Where are the pair of you?" She heard laughter and smiled. "You two are not getting near Harry at the same time - I forbid it! I don't want a prankster of a son!"

She heard the laughter stop and screamed as an unknown person hugged her from behind. She slapped the hand. "Sirius! Don't you dare scare me like that again!" He just laughed and released her, only for James to embrace her. "Alright, alright, you know I didn't mean that. Having a prank-pulling son is what I get for marrying you, I suppose. I'll just have to live with it."

James and Sirius nodded, laughing. James looked at Lily, "Want to keep any of these?" Lily looked at the hallway.

"Just your favorites. Not all of them," she added, seeing them smile, "just a few. I'm going to make dinner. Remus and Peter coming over?"

Sirius's smile faltered. "Peter is ill and Remus is - well, the full moon is tomorrow and I don't think he's up to it." He hitched a smile back onto his face. "So it'll just be the three and a half of us!"

Lily looked at him. "Three and a half? It's more like four! The thing inside me makes me so hungry I feel like I could eat a Hippogriff!"

Sirius and James laughed as she made her way into the kitchen. She heard them laugh every now and then and knew they were talking about little Harry.Everyone was so excited about a baby entering the family. Lily considered Sirius, Remus, and Peter brothers and knew that they would be like uncles to little Harry. Even though she once hated the quartet, she now knew that she had never really hated them. She had just been ignoring her true feelings and only seeing what she had wanted to. She regretted nothing. Her life, since she had begun to date James, had been nothing but great. She could remember him proposing as though it had just happened...

(Flashback)

Lily smiled as James removed her cloak and then pushed in her chair. They were eating at their favorite restaraunt, The Willow, a very cozy place that served just about anything you could dream of. He had invited her about two months after leaving Hogwarts. They hadn't been able to see much of each other in about a week, James had always been busy with something.

"The usual," she smiled at their waitress, a nice looking girl named JoAnna. The girl nodded and looked at James, who also wanted his normal. They both always got the steak and lobster with a baked potato and a salad. JoAnna left and Lily looked at her boyfriend. She noticed he looked rather pale. "Anything wrong, James. You don't look very well. Should we cancel the order and you go rest?"

He shook his head. "No, no, Lil, I'm fine. I've been waiting for this night all week." They had made the date that Monday, so she just assumed that he had been looking forward to seeing her.

"Awww, that's sweet, James. I've been looking forward to it, too. But if you're ill, we can always postpone it..."

"No, I'm fine. Really, I swear," James replied, waving it off. JoAnna brought their salads and drinks, they smiled at her, and she left. They started a new conversation. "Find a new house yet?" Lily shook her head in the negative. "Good." She looked at him, startled. "I think I've found you one, want to go see it after dinner?"

"Yes, that's wonderful, James! You think I will like it?" He nodded. "How far is it?"

"A couple of blocks, we could walk or Apparate, your choice." Lily chose to walk, and they chatted happily until they had made their way through their entire meal. She accepted dessert to go and they paid the tab, tipped JoAnna, and then began to walk, holding hands.

They turned onto a little street, Godric's Hollow. She smiled. "Godric Gryffindor!"

"Yes, it was named after him. I believe that he had once lived in one of these houses."

He stopped in front of a small two-story house and she gasped. "James, I could never afford this!"

"I could help out, I am your boyfriend, after all." She smiled.

"I couldn't ask you to help out with a house!"

James didn't reply. "Well, let's go inside and see if you change your mind." She sighed and followed him in, before shrieking in surprise. There was a huge banner in the front entrance.

LILY, WILL YOU MARRY ME?

Then, James got down on his knees, holding out a small velvet box, containing a beautiful diamond ring. She had never actually said "Yes," but had thrown her arms around him and kissed him. He had placed the ring on her finger and they had begun to plan the wedding. James had already bought the house, as a present to Lily, and they started buying furnishings when the wedding plans overpowered them.

(End Flashback)

"Dinner's done!" Lily called.

They had a wonderful dinner and Lily chatted happily about how excited she was at being a future mother. James started bragging about how good his son was going to look, and Sirius joined in with his oppinions on what the child would be like.

"Great looks, smart, funny, and, of course, talented."

"Sounds like Harry James Potter to me, " Lily said, and they toasted to the future child.