Lily popped in on the flat in East London the morning after telling James about the baby, while he was at work at the Ministry. Stepping out of the floo, she found Sirius laying on his back on the couch. Sirius's head hanging where his legs ought to be and legs up in the air over the back of the cushion, where his head ought to be. He had the record player spinning within reach of his arms so he could change the record without moving from his spot, a stack of records on the floor beside it. He wore pair of dark sunglasses on his face, and had a drink with a straw set strategically placed just where he could turn his head to take sips without moving.
Sirius raised (or lowered, depending on your view point) the sunglasses to look at Lily. "Well good morning Love, I see you're over your bout of prongslet-fetus nausea for the morning?"
"Yeah, for now," Lily replied.
"Brilliant, so I get the nausea worse than the actual pregnant lady, of course," he murmured, and returned the sunglasses to their rightful place.
Lily laughed in spite of herself.
Sirius raised an eyebrow, "You laugh at that? I'm not even the one that's pregnant, Lilith."
"I know," she said. She sat down beside him on the couch - right way up, though - and patted his belly.
Sirius giggled instinctively and grabbed for the hem of his t-shirt, which had risen up, tugging it down. "Don't, that tickles."
Lily smirked. "Uh oh, did I find the doggy's tickle spot?"
"Shut the fuck up, Lilith," he said in a snobbish tone, "I'm very angry with you for getting us pregnant without telling me the side effects."
"For real, though, are you alright? Can I get you anything?"
"My own body back?"
"Sorry, we'll have to wait nine months for that."
"This was not included in the Uncle Padfoot pamphlet, darling," he said, "When you and Prongs announced you were trying at having a Prongslet, I envisioned you being all fat and screaming curses at Prongs for causing all of it, and me enjoying teaching your child how to be a rebellious little shit... Giving him candy and sending him home ramped on sugar, that sort of rot. Not barfing my ever loving brains out half the morning only to then be teased by you in the afternoon."
"It's half nine Sirius."
"Even worse."
"You're so very cranky today."
"Oh yes, another detail left out of the Uncle Padfoot packet..." he reached into his pocket and handed her a pack of cigarettes. "Here."
"What's this?"
"My temptation."
"Your cigarettes?"
"I've quit, Lilith," he said in very dramatic tone, complete with the heaviest of sighs.
"You have?"
"Yes. Cold ostrich."
"You mean cold turkey?"
"Ostriches are fathoms more interesting than turkeys, darling, keep up."
"Oh. Yes, sorry." She paused, turning the pack of cigarettes over. "You really quit?"
Sirius sighed even more dramatically. "Would I be this much of a bastard if I had nicotine in me?"
"I mean... depending on the day..."
"You hurt me, Lilith."
"It's true."
Sirius shook his head. "Emotionally stabbed. Right in the heart."
Lily only smiled.
"What are you here for, besides mocking me?" he asked.
Lily said, "I was coming to ask Moony and Wormtail to dinner, so we could tell them the good news. But I assume they aren't at home?"
"Nope," Sirius said, popping the P. "Remus is gone to art school and Peter's... wherever Peter goes when he's not here."
"Well, when they get back can you tell them they're invited for dinner? And you, too, of course."
"Yeah, I'll tell them."
"Good boy." She looked at the pack of cigarettes in her hand, then over at Sirius. "This really does mean a lot to me, honey," she said. "I know it's not easy to quit something like this. It really shows how much you love our Harry already. You're going to be a good Uncle Padfoot."
Sirius folded himself up to look at her. "Does James know it's a Harry yet?"
Lily shook her head.
"Gods." Sirius flopped back down, shaking his head. He rolled off the couch and uprighted himself, then sat back down next to Lily, laying his head against the cushion. They sat like that for a few minutes before Sirius finally murmured, "I still feel like a kid and here you and James are having one of your own."
Lily smiled, "I know," she said, laying her head next to his on the cushion so they were touching.
Sirius smiled up at the ceiling.
Lily ran her hand absently over her stomach.
"I would give up cigarettes a thousand times over for Harry. You know that, yeah?" Sirius asked.
"I know," Lily answered.
"I'd give up my life a thousand times over for Harry, too," he added.
"I know," Lily said and she nestled the side of her head against the side of his.
Remus had arrived to his art class expecting things to be at least partially back to normal this week - or perhaps at least hoping they would be - but it was to his dismay that Spencer Stewart hadn't come to class at all this week and it was he, Remus, who was alone at the table that Spencer and Lula usually shared with him. Worse yet, the class had apparently not finished their figure drawing the week before and, as a result - and likely the reason Spencer had not come - Lula was again modeling for the class.
Remus stared at the desk top, busying himself sharpening pencils far longer than he needed to, straightening his paper and biting his lip until he had no choice but to look up and begin his drawing.
Lula sat at the front of the class on a chaise lounge that had been brought in. She was back-to the class, one leg stretched long. She was looking over her shoulder at an angle, and though she was turned so Remus couldn't see them, he could tell from the way she sat that she had her arms crisscrossed over her chest, covering herself - but only barely. Remus bit his lips as he stared at the curve of Lola's bum, at the way her hips tapered into the small of her back. Her spine was a texture that ran up the center of the milky skin, and her hair hung loose around her shoulders, falling down her back... A small mole peeked its way between the strands.
His palms were sweaty.
His mouth was dry.
And a hundred thousand feelings were rushing through him.
A hundred thousand thoughts intruding along with them.
She looked so soft and delicate compared to Sirius's more manly shape. He was more sinew and angled in the places where she was soft and rounded - a completely different texture and tone of skin... The curve of her shoulder as it sloped down into her neck was gracefully curved, and the slope of her throat as it rose up to her chin was so smooth... Without even meaning to, Remus found himself day dreaming as he drew... Day dreaming of kissing her neck and of touching her hair, of running his thumb across those dewy pink lips...
He stopped suddenly, feeling his cheeks burn as he worked on the shading in the bend of her knee, the curve of her foot. He swallowed the lump rising up in his throat... but there was little to be done with the lump rising up in his lap. He swept a nervous palm over his forehead and quickly looked away from her - down at his sketchbook - but she was there, too, and he looked away, eyes toward the wall, trying to get himself together.
Bloody hell, he thought. Sirius would actually kill him if he knew what had just gone through Remus's mind.
He felt his cheeks burn red.
"We're going to take a short break," called the instructor, "Give our model a rest. Be back in fifteen minutes."
Everyone in the room started shuffling about. Remus didn't dare look up. He knew all the canvases and drawing pads on the tables around him would all contain variations of Lula's body, posing, suggestive, before them... and students to Remus's right would have more detail on the crisscrossed arms and the curvature that lay below them.
"Remus!"
He froze, his heart thumping in his chest.
"There you are! You left last week!" Lula's voice was accusatory.
He slowly turned to look up at her. She'd pulled a robe around her shoulders and tied it off at the waist, but it was far looser and thinner than Remus was sure what to do with. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Stewie was... uncomfortable... and I went with him."
Lula laughed, "He shouldn't be uncomfortable - and honestly, it isn't any of his business. Especially not anymore."
"Anymore?" Remus asked.
But Lula barelled on, "This is great! I'm really excited. What do you think, Remus? Am I doing alright? Modeling?" Luckily before he could answer, she'd reached for his sketchpad, setting herself on the chair beside him, and looking at the drawing he'd done so far. He'd sketched her waist down, caught the bend in the knee, the shadowing of her contours, and some incredible detail on the texture of the chaise. Remus had drawn only the most basic of outlines for her back and shoulders, for her cheek and the silhouette of her face. He hadn't even done any shading and no detail whatsoever in those portions. He didn't dare to look at her face when he was drawing. "Good start, sweetie," she said, grinning. "Gracious, you're so talented."
"Thanks," he muttered.
Lula opened a bottle of water she'd been holding, and put his sketchbook back down on the table as she took a sip.
"Spencer didn't come at all today?" Remus murmured.
"He doesn't want me modeling," Lula said flatly. Clearly this was still a very touchy subject between them. "He has such a double standard. He was fine when that dirty old man was here posing, it's just art, he said - but just because I'm a woman he thinks there are people in the classroom that'll be turned on by it. He's being all sexist and stupid..."
Remus shifted so his lap was more securely tucked under the desk and out of sight.
"He's just worried about you, that's all," Remus murmured. "Some of the fellas aren't exactly focusing on the art, if you know what I mean. It isn't just a sexist thing... it's just... true." He flushed as he said it, knowing he was partially implicating himself.
Lula laughed, "Well so what? It isn't like I'm going home with any of them!" She smirked and elbowed Remus, "You're the only one who would have a shot at that and you certainly don't care about a couple boobies, do you?" She grabbed onto her chest as she laughed, and he felt his heart seize up.
He wondered if she had any clue what she was doing to him. He decided she must not. He gathered up his strength and courage, intending to explain in a patient way, but the most he managed to do was a murmured, "Lula..."
She stared at him, at how he was squirming before her, and then her eyes widened with sudden realization. Well, at least she really hadn't had any idea what she was doing, Remus thought.
Lula blurted out, "Oh my God. Remus. Are you -- are you bisexual?"
Could his skin grow hotter without actually catching on fire? Probably not.
"Oh my God. I - Why are all the men in my life bisexuals lately!" She looked horribly embarrassed, her face bright red. Apparently it was a much better idea, being a model, when it didn't affect someone she knew. Lula clutched her robe tighter around herself, as though embarrassed, as though she hadn't spent the last hour naked in front of him already.
"Sorry. Just - I mean. That's why Spencer's uncomfortable, though, isn't it?" Remus said.
"No, I'm sorry," Lula said. She looked around, "Remus, I didn't know I was -- shit." She looked at the door, the instructor coming through, returning from break. She looked back at Remus. "You should leave."
Remus looked at his unfinished drawing, "But --"
"Leave," she said sternly, and she got up and went back to the front of the room, still clutching her robe around herself.
Remus sighed, but he packed up his pencils and things into his briefcase anyway and he followed the command, heading out of the classroom and into the hallway, out to the quad. He threw himself down onto a bench in the far corner of the yard and opened his briefcase to neaten things a bit since he had basically just thrown them into the case in his rush to get out of the classroom before they started back up again. Remus's knees bobbed with anxiety.
A shadow cast over the briefcase as he was putting things away.
He looked up and found himself staring into Spencer Stewart's face.
"You came today," Spencer said.
Remus nodded.
Spencer sighed and sat down.
Remus hesitated, then turned to Spencer. "I left because I found myself... being attracted to her," Remus admitted. He paused, hesitating again, then added, "I'm sorry."
Spencer shook his head, "She's hot, you should be attracted to her. Even if you're gay. She's the kind of girl gay men go straight for, Rey." He looked over at Remus, then looked away.
Remus closed up the briefcase.
Spencer was playing with the handle on the top of the tackle box he kept his drawing tools in. "We broke up last night. Officially."
"Over the modeling?"
"That and things that came up while arguing about that," Spencer answered, shrugging.
Remus sighed. He could feel the weight of Spencer's frustration and pain. It was clear he needed to talk to someone about how he was feeling, and if Lula was his best friend and the person that was causing him the pain... he likely had nobody else to talk to at the moment. Remus felt rather obligated. "I know you have another class later but - d'you want to skive off and go get lunch?"
Spencer looked at Remus and there was a beat of hesitation, a pause that Remus didn't notice at the time but when he looked back at the moment months later, he realized if he'd been a bit more observant he might've counted that as his first clue to everything that would follow.