Author: SMH

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Lily and James have moved on from Hogwarts and are now engaged. Complications occur with work, love, children, and friends. Sequel from Being 17 Isn’t As Easy As It Sounds!

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters that you recognize

James, Sirius, Rachel, and Lily sat in a waiting room for about an hour.

“Why do we have to be here?” Lily asked Sirius.

“Because Dumbledore said we did,” Sirius said.

“Just because James might be crazy doesn’t mean that we have to be here to talk to a stranger!” Rachel said.

“Look, Prongs has been having trouble talking to the lady because he claims there are so many other points of view on things that he can’t explain to her,” Sirius said to them.

“You know if you guys want to know why you’re here, you should’ve just asked me,” James told them snippily.

“Well I wasn’t in the mood to talk to you,” Lily retorted.

“Oh shut up Evans,” James snapped. “This is all your fault anyway! If you hadn’t told Dumbledore that you thought I was wacko then none of us would be here! I’m not wacko!!!”

“You kissed me!” Lily cried.

“I did not!” James shouted.

“Oh, James, please, you came home that night, you looked at me, said that she wouldn’t kiss you back and then you went to bed!” Sirius told him.

“I don’t even recall talking to you that day Padfoot!” James said loudly.

“She will see you now,” one of the receptionists told them. Sirius and Rachel stood up and then stared that the two former lovers who were still sitting.

“Get in there now!” Sirius barked. Lily and James stood up and walked into the therapist’s office. The walls were paneled with oak. There were sofas and leather chairs surrounding a large desk where a woman was sitting.

“Hello Mr. Potter,” she said.

“Hi Mrs. Ledner,” James said, cordially as he sat in a leather chair. Lily sat on the opposite side of the room while Rachel and Sirius shared a sofa.

“Now, Mr. Potter, please tell me everything,” she said to him. “Everyone is here correct? I take it that you’re Lily Evans?”

She pointed to Lily.

“Yes,” Lily replied.

“You’re Sirius Black and you’re Rachel Caldwell. Who’s the oldest out of you

four?”

“I am,” Sirius spoke. “Then Rach, then James, then Lils.”

“Who’s the more mature one out of the four of you?” she asked.

“Lily,” Rachel said.

“Mr. Black, Mr. Potter?”

“Lily,” Sirius said quickly.

“Rachel,” James said with a smile.

“Okay let’s get into this then,” Mrs. Ledner said.

“Look lady, I don’t need this!” James yelled. “Dumbledore is the crazy one! Just ask him what he did to me when I was seventeen! He told a bartender to get me drunk!”

“Professor Albus Dumbledore’s sanity is not the case here Mr. Potter,” she said quietly. “Now, this is what I know about you; you’re 18, you’re in love with Lily Eva-”

“Was in love with Lily Evans,” James corrected her.

“We’ll see,” she murmured. James eyed her cautiously. “Now, you’re 18, you were in love with Lily Evans, your best friend is Sirius Black, and you are currently employed by the Ministry of Magic!”

“Yes,” James confirmed.

“James I need you to tell me about your relationship with Lily,” she said.

“Look Mrs. Ledner, I don’t want to talk about her. I never want to talk about her!” James said loudly, pointing his index finger at the therapist and then glaring at Lily from across the room. Professor Dumbledore had made James seek a therapist about a week ago. He didn’t know why either, he was just told by Albus Dumbledore that he needed to seek professional help. And now, here he was, in front of a complete stranger, a muggle in fact, telling her- or not telling her, his problems.

“Okay, from the information that I have gathered, you and Miss Evans kept a quiet relationship throughout your stay at Hogwarts,” she said, looking over a notepad. Her blue eyes peered over the rim of her glasses. Her blond wavy hair was swept up into a bun, with some stands falling to her face. He stopped looking at her beauty and started to pay attention to what Mrs. Ledner was actually saying to him.

“What happened after Hogwarts James?” she inquired, speaking slowly and intensely.

“What do you mean?” James asked.

“After, after you and Lily stepped off of the platform in Hogsmeade,” she said, staring into his hazel eyes.

“Go on Prongs,” Sirius muttered. “Just tell her. We’ll help you and give our point of view on everything.”

()()()()()()()()()()

The train ride home went relatively short. James and Lily no longer felt the need to keep doing their duties as Head Boy and Head Girl so they just sat in the compartment with their friends.

“I can’t believe you guys are getting married,” Peter exclaimed.

“I know, it’s kind of scary,” James said, rubbing Lily’s back with his left hand. Lily smiled at him and leaned back into his arms for some comfort. Rachel, Jackie, and Taylor hadn’t taken their eyes off Lily’s ring. The diamond glimmered in the sunlight and sparkled in the moonlight.

“Taylor, I’d quit staring at it. It makes Moony a bit nervous,” Padfoot advised her.

“Oh!” Taylor exclaimed suddenly. She glanced at Remus who looked a bit afraid.

“I wasn’t thinking about- us getting married,” she told him sheepishly.

“Thank god!“ Remus gasped. They all laughed and then Lily stared at the ring herself. It was hard to believe that seven years ago James and Lily hated one another.

“Well, well, well,” a voice sighed as the compartment door slid open. They all looked up. Lily and James, who were sitting on the floor, didn’t pay any attention to who was at the door, they were both just too involved in staring at one another.

“What do you want Snivellus?” Sirius growled.

“Rumor up and down the train is that uh…Evans and Potter are getting married,” Snape said, staring at the two. Then, Lily’s ring caught his eye.

“Big spender Potter. Although I don’t know why anyone would spend that much money on a Mudblood,” Snape commented. James, who was just about to kiss Lily, heard the last comment, glanced at Snivellus and stood up. Snape drew himself to full height and glared at James.

“Now that is the last comment, that you will ever make to my fiancé isn’t it Snivellus?” James snarled. “She is one hundred times better than you at every aspect in life! If you insult her again, I will come after you!”

“And if he doesn’t catch you, I will,” Peter said boldly.

“And then me,” Remus said.

“And finally, it’s just down to you and me Snivellus!” Sirius said cheerily, winking at Snape.

“Just checking to see if rumors were true Potter, no need to…well, be your Gryffindor selves,” Snape said cheekily. He closed the door and then James sat back down next to Lily.

“Thanks,” Lily muttered.

“Hopefully, that is the last time we ever see that sniveling jack ass,” James said.

“Yes, I hope so,” Lily murmured. James looked deep into Lily’s eyes and then attempted to move in to kiss her. She moved in as well and their lips touched. James deepened the kiss very quickly and Lily wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Do we really need to witness you two snogging?” Sirius asked them irritably.

“I don’t know do you?” James asked between kisses.

“Not particularly,” Sirius remarked.

“Well it’s better than them screaming at one another,” Peter reasoned.

“Damn right,” Lily muttered in agreement between her gasping kisses to James.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Remus said.

“Oh, Remus, let them be. They’re in love. They shouldn’t be afraid to show it,” Rachel said. Remus shrugged and then sat back and continued his conversation with Taylor, Jackie, and Peter. Rachel and Sirius remained quiet, waiting for Lily and James to end their snogging session. Yet, James and Lily had no intentions of ending their snogging session, until…

“Well, I guess Snape was telling the truth,” a voice said.

“I know that voice,” Lily whispered to James. James nodded and then looked up and saw Regulus.

“What do you want?” Rachel asked him snippily.

“To see Lily of course,” he said smoothly. They all glared at him. “Nice work Potter. Very nice work. Although, I admit that I knew a few months ago. And Lily, I must say, I never thought you’d go for a prat like James Potter. I mean, he’s a liar, a womanizing freak, a freak in general, and a murderer.”

“You take that back,” Lily said quietly, standing up to face him.

“Take what back?”

“He is not a murderer,” Lily snarled.

“I’d say killing Derrick Masters counts as something. Don’t you agree?”

“Regulus, I-” James started.

“You are nothing but a Voldemort worshiping Death Eater!” Lily yelled, cutting James off.

“And you are nothing but a Dumbledore and muggle loving bitch,” Regulus retorted icily. James stood up and lunged for Regulus. Lily held him back.

“He’s not worth it,” she whispered.

“Yes he-”

“No he’s not,” Sirius agreed, glaring at his younger brother. Regulus smirked and then winked at Lily.

“On second thought, maybe he is!” Lily reasoned with a toss of her hair. She kicked Regulus right in the shin and then thrust her wrist up and hit his nose from an angle. He began to bleed and Lily could tell that she had broken the nose. Rachel, Taylor, and Jackie sat there with shocked expressions.

“Are you done yet Mr. Black?” Lily asked him formally.

“Yes,” he croaked. Lily closed the door on him and then sat back down with a disgusted look on her face.

“Dear god!” Remus exclaimed.

“What?” Lily asked.

“Thank god you’re on our side!” he exclaimed. Lily laughed.

“Oh, Kiera taught me that one! She did it to Ethan one day and he completely died! I do feel a bit guilty if I actually caused Regulus pain, but he deserved it I guess,” Lily said lightly.

“Prat deserves what he gets in my opinion,” Sirius grumbled.

“I love you,” James told Lily. Lily giggled.

“I love you too,” she replied.

()()()()()()()()()

“Mr. Black, Regulus is your brother?” Mrs. Ledner asked.

“Unfortunately,” Sirius snorted. “We’ll get into my family issues another time Mrs. Ledner. It would take up too much of our time.”

“He’s right, it would,” Rachel agreed.

“Continue with the story,” Mrs. Ledner told James.

()()()()()()()()()()

“Well, this train ride was a lot better than the one going to Hogwarts,” Jackie said brightly. They all laughed and remembered how horrified Lily and James were when they found out that the other was a Head as well.

“We’re here,” Rachel said quietly, looking out the window. They all stood up and grinned at one another before stepping out of the train.

“It’s over,” Lily muttered to James, as they stepped out. James had his bags following him, as did Lily with hers.

“Thank Merlin,” James chortled.

“Shut up!” Lily scolded. James dropped his bags, pinned her up against a wall and kissed her thereafter. She laughed the entire time.

“People are watching,” Lily whispered.

“They were watching on the train too,” James retorted, kissing her harder this time.

“Yes, but- Those were our friends,” Lily reminded him.

“I guess,” James mumbled between kisses.

“You two disgust me,” Sirius said, putting on some sunglasses after he had taken them out of his bag.

“Sorry,” James replied between kisses. Lily pulled away and gasped for some air. Sirius was glancing off in the distance to his left. James joined him and looked where his best friend was looking. Rich blond hair captured James’s eyes and he realized that it was Rachel.

“I lost her for good Prongs,” Sirius muttered. “It’s all my fault too.”

“What did you do?” James inquired loudly.

“I slept with her Prongs,“ Padfoot said to him quietly.

“I know that. Last holiday,“ James shrugged.

“No, I mean, I slept with her a few…a few days ago. She kissed me Prongs,”

Padfoot told him blandly, not taking his gaze off the blond hair. “She kissed me hard and long and passionately and a lot like how Lily kisses you.”

“When did this happen?” James asked him.

“Right after graduation,” Sirius sighed.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

“Mr. Black, do you care to elaborate?” Mrs. Ledner asked him.

“You mean talk about my sex life to a complete stranger?” Sirius asked her,

taking a gulp.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Sure!” Sirius said quickly, stealing a glance at Rachel who was rolling her eyes.

“I’ll tell you exactly what happened that night.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

“Padfoot, I‘m going to go see Taylor and Peter‘s going to see Kathie,” Remus said to Sirius.

“Okay, bye guys,” Sirius said quietly as he sat at his desk thinking about what he had just said in front of the entire school.

“Sirius,” a small voice called softly. Sirius turned in his chair to see Rachel standing in the doorway.

“Hi,” Sirius said quietly. Rachel walked further into the room. She was still wearing her commencement robes. Sirius could tell that her eyes were full of lust and passion.

“Your speech was- You speech was fantastic,” she stammered. Sirius stood up and walked closer to her, wearing just his boxers and a t-shirt.

Rachel was fairly shorter than Sirius was, so it was a little difficult for her to kiss him without being lifted up or going as far as he tip toes would allow her. Rachel took his hand and stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him softly and quickly on the lips. Rachel ran her fingers through Sirius’s fine thick hair and Sirius kissed her as he leaned down to her level. Sirius kept hold of her lips while he backed up to the dormitory door. He locked the door and grabbed his wand out of his pocket to perform a silencing charm on the room with a simple wave of his wand.

“Sirius,” she gasped.

“Oh, Rachel,” he murmured. His hand found the way to the back of her robes. He untied them at the top and they fell to the ground. Under the robes, she had a black tank top and shorts on. The shorts were extremely short and Sirius knew that he would thoroughly enjoy if it Rachel were to bend over. Rachel stared into his eyes and then she pulled his t-shirt over his head. Thereafter, Rachel kissed him again while running her hands over his well sculpted chest.

“We could get caught,” Rachel murmured, after thinking about this a bit.

“The door is locked. Peter is out with his girlfriend. Remus is with Taylor and you know those two are off somewhere doing exactly what we’re doing and James- Well, I’m sure James is doing something with Lily,” Sirius gasped.

They kept kissing one another and Rachel’s lips were soon red and swollen with desire. Sirius laid her down on the bed and closed the curtains. He slowly unzipped the zipper of her shorts and slid them off to reveal her black lacy underwear. Rachel took down her hair from a tightly wrapped bun. Her blond hair spilled onto the pillows. Sirius lifted her top off quickly and found that she was wearing a black bra as well, which he removed without any trouble at all.

“I lo-”

“Shh,” Sirius shushed her soothingly as he massaged her rounded breasts. ”Are

you sure you want this?”

“Yes,” Rachel panted.

- - - - -

“Wow!” Sirius exclaimed the next morning.

“We were great weren’t we?” Rachel asked him, snuggling closer to him.

“No, not great. Amazing!” Sirius said, seductively, getting on top of her.

“We need to talk about a few things,” Rachel murmured.

“Like what?” Sirius asked, getting off her and caressing her hair.

“Do we really want to wait until we’re twenty five?” Rachel asked.

“Mar-”

“NO! Not that, I mean, us,” Rachel said quietly.

“Uh…Well, 25 was the deal,” Sirius stuttered.

“And I think we should break the deal and actually start something,” Rachel suggested.

“Rach, you know I uh…you know I care about you but…well, with Order work and my new job at Gringotts, I don’t know if it would be wise,” Sirius advised her.

“I see,” Rachel sniffed.

“But we can still, you know, be friends, like how we are now,” Sirius said.

“Friends who sleep together?” Rachel asked.

“Well, friends who sleep together or friends who are just…friends!” Sirius said carelessly.

“What if you have a girlfriend or I have a boyfriend though? And they find out, that my friend, and I have shagged with…more than once?” Rachel asked him disbelievingly. “It won’t work Sirius! We’re either together or not! And there’s nothing in between!”

“Rachel I don-”

“I’ll make this very easy on you Sirius, I’m going to leave. And if by tomorrow, you don’t tell me an answer, I’ll just figure that you don’t want any of this at all,” Rachel said.

“Rachel you don’t have to go!” Sirius said earnestly. “It’s Sunday! We don’t have class or anything! We can shag right now if you’d like!”

“I’m leaving,” Rachel said promptly. She found her clothes on the floor and put them on without glancing at Sirius once. She then walked out of the room. Sirius opened the curtains and walked out wearing his bathrobe.

“That silencing charm didn’t work Padfoot,” a voice said. Sirius turned round to see Peter.

“Sorry if we uh- Sorry if you didn’t get much sleep last night then,” Sirius stuttered.

“I was up anyway,” Peter sighed.

“Kathie was here I take it?” Sirius asked him mischievously.

“Yes!” Peter said with shining eyes. “She sure made my night worth while!”

“Rachel made mine, but uh…my morning kind of sucks,” Sirius said blandly. He walked into the bathroom and took a very, very cold shower.

()()()()()()()()

“You told this to James?” Mrs. Ledner asked.

“Yes,” Sirius admitted.

“What did you say James?” Rachel inquired icily.

()()()()()()()()

“You are the pure definition of a prat,” James explained to him.

“I know,” Sirius sighed. “You’d think that I’d actually go after her wouldn’t you? I mean, after that sex, that amazing, life changing sex- that I’d follow her.”

“Padfoot, you can still fix this,” James said encouragingly.

“I don’t know,” Sirius murmured.

“Ask Lily, maybe she can help you!” James said, gesturing to where Lily was standing talking with Remus and Taylor.

“She wouldn’t understand,” Sirius said quietly.

“Are you kidding? She’s the only one who would understand!” James said loudly.

“She knows you better than I do sometimes! I- Padfoot, she understands you and Rachel! You need someone who understands both of you. So ask her for help!”

Sirius sighed and then glanced over to Lily. He marched over to her and grabbed her by the arm.

“Excuse us,” he said gruffly to Taylor and Remus. They gave him perplexed looks and then looked at James, who just shrugged.

“What’s wrong?” Lily asked Sirius concernedly.

“I slept with Rachel,” he blurted out.

“Yeah, last holiday,” Lily remembered casually.

“No, just recently!” Sirius said quickly. “And I really screwed up! She wanted to start something and I said no! And now, I want something! I mean, Lily, I look at you and James and think why can’t I have that? Why is James the lucky one? Why the hell can’t I put things together?”

“Because you’re you,” Lily said quietly.

“I know, but I don’t want to be me any longer!” Sirius said exasperatedly. “I don’t want to be some idiot who can’t put things together in his life!”

“Why are you telling me this?” Lily asked him. “GO! GO AFTER HER!”

Sirius grinned.

“Do I just tell her what I just told you?” Sirius asked her nervously.

“YES!” both Lily and James screamed at him.

“Bye then!” Sirius said quickly.

“Wait Padfoot!” James said before Sirius was about to Apparate. He took a rock off the ground and transformed it into a bouquet of flowers.

“Thank you!” Sirius said. Then he went after her.

()()()()()()()()()()()

“What happened with Sirius and Rachel?” Mrs. Ledner asked James.

“Oh, we’ll tell you tomorrow,” James murmured quietly as he stood up.

“You know James- I can call you James can’t I?” she asked.

“Yes,” James said.

“Well, it’s just that I think you’re making progress. I mean, yesterday, you threw my vase across the room and didn’t say anything!” she cried.

“Thanks- I guess,” he murmured.