Not Just Best Friends

Not Just Best Friends

Not Just Best Friends

Chapter Five: The Proposal

Author: Prongs

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns all things 'Harry Potter.'

A/N: This is the last chapter!  Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story.  I really appreciate it.  


~*~


Mrs. Potter glanced in the living room and smiled.  Sirius was sound asleep with his head resting on James' shoulder.  Meanwhile, James was running his fingers through Sirius' long hair while watching the television.

"Sweetheart, Jade is here," Mrs. Potter whispered to her son.

James grinned and slowly got out from under his boyfriend.  He carefully rested Sirius' head against a soft pillow and then gently kissed Sirius' lips.

"Thank you," James said to his mother as the two walked into the kitchen.

"You're welcome," Mrs. Potter replied warmly.  

"James," Jade said, smiling.  "It's great to see you again!  Your mother tells me you're getting married."

"I hope so," James replied.  "I mean, I hope he says yes."

"I'm sure he will," Jade said.  "He'll be lucky to have you.  What type of ring do you want?"

James' eyes widened when he saw the many rings spread out on the kitchen table.  "It has to be perfect," he mumbled.  Then he looked up at his mother worriedly.  "Mum, what if Sirius wakes up while we're in here and-"

"I'll keep an eye on him," Mrs. Potter assured her son.  "I'll go check on him right now if you'd like."

James nodded his head and watched his mother exit the room.  Then he returned his attention to the rings spread outund und him.  "They're all so beautiful."

"I agree," Jade replied.  "Does he prefer gold or silver?"

"Silver," J rep replied.  "But what about white gold?  Doesn't that look silver?"

"Yes indeed," Jade answered.  

"How long does it take to do an inscription on it?" James asked eagerly.

"Have you already picked out a ring?" Mrs. Potter asked as she returned to the room.

James shook his head.  "No.  I'm just asking, though.  I want something to be engraved, I think."

Jade smiled, "I think that's an excellent idea.  I could have it done for you quickly."

"Really?" James looked surprised.

"Anything for a good friend's son," Jade said, grinning.  "Do you want any stones on it or a design or…do you have anything in mind?"

James bit his lip and sat down at the kitchen table.  He started looking at all of the white gold rings carefully.  Eventually, he handed one to Jade and smiled.  

"It is beautiful," Mrs. Potter remarked.  

"What do you want on it?" Jade asked.

"I'll write it down for you," James replied.  He stood up and grabbed a quill and some parchment.  While he was scribbling down the inscription, Mrs. Potter started talking to her friend.

"Don't you need to know Sirius' ring size?"

Jade shook her head.  "The ring will automatically fit itself to his finger."

"What about the price?" Mrs. Potter questioned.  "I know that James has money he was saving for a broom, but I'm not so sure that's going to be enough for a ring!"

Jade waved her hand in the air impatiently.  "He'll be fine.  He doesn't have to pay for all of it right now.  We'll work something out.  Money isn't important right now!"

"All right," James tossed down the quill and handed the piece of parchment to Jade.  "Can you do that?"

Jade quickly read what James had written and smiled.  "Of course, James.  I'll have it for you tonight."

James jumped up and embraced his mother's friend.  "Thank you one million times, Jade!"

"You're quite welcome," Jade replied, laughing.

~*~

"All right, Sirius and James, let me look at your bruises again," Mrs. Potter said after dinner that night.

"Has it been enough time?" James asked.

"Close enough, I think," Mrs. Potter replied.  "I need to at least see the bruises on Sirius' back and chest."

Sighing, Sirius nodded his head and took off his shirt.  James' parents immediately felt ill when they saw just how many large bruises were covering Sirius' back.

Mrs. Potter gently moved Sirius' ponytail and touched her wand to his back.  While she was healing his many bruises, James sat down in front of his boyfriend and took Sirius' hands in his own.  He carefully studied Sirius' fingers and smiled when he thought about the ring that would hopefully reside on Sirius' ring finger soon…

"What are you smirking at?" Sirius finally asked.

James just grinned and tenderly kissed Sirius' forehead.  "That's for me to know and you to find out later, love!"

"Whatever you say," Sirius replied.  He squeezed James' hands rel relished in the feeling of his lover's touch.

"All right, sweetheart, let me work on your chest now," Mrs. Potter murmured sadly.  "The bruises are most of the way gone on your back, but it's still going to be sore for a while, I'm afraid.  I'll want to check on it daily."

Sirius nodded and turned around so that he was now facinges' es' mother.  "Thank you, Mrs. Potter, I-"

"For Merlin's sake, Sirius, how many times do I have to tell you not to thank me?" Mrs. Potter asked, grinning.  "And don't call me Mrs. Potter.  You may as well call me mum, you know."

Sirius' eyes widened, and he just stared at James' mother.  James smiled and wrapped his arms around Sirius' body and pressed his head against Sirius' back.

Mr. Potter was about to speak, but was prevented from doing so when a Hogwarts owl swooped into the room.  He acknowledged the owl and began reading a letter from the Headmaster.

"James, darling, how am I supposed to heal Sirius' chest if you have your hands on it?"

Sirius snickered and James moved his hands to Sirius' hair.  

"You take all of the fun out of everything, mum!" James exclaimed, laughing.

Mrs. Potter merely rolled her eyes and began healing Sirius' bruised chest.  

"So, what do you feel like doing tonight?" James asked his boyfriend.

"Sleeping," Sirius replied.  

Mrs. Potter chuckled, but said nothing.

"Anything else?" James asked.

"Talking to you, snogging you, and shagging you," Sirius added.

"That sounds much better," James replied, winking at his mother who bit back a smi
"
"Excellent news," Mr. Potter said from across the table.  

"Your chest is hea" Ja" James' mother said.  "It will still be sore, just like your back.  You can put your shirt back on, and then I'll work on your face, all right?"

Sirius nodded and started to say something then promptly shut his mouth.

"What is the news, dear?"  Mrs. Potter asked her husband.

"Dumbledore has your wand, Sirius," Mr. Potter replied.

"How is that possible?" Sirius asked.

"How did he get it?" James questioned.

"Well, I owled him last night," Mr. Potter replied.  "I explained everything to him, and as usual, he knew exactly what to do.  I honestly don't know how he did it, but I'm quite sure he'll be able to explain it to you soon.  He also has several other things of yours he thought you might want."

Sirius blinked back tears and smiled at James' father.  "Thank you," he whispered.  "Thank you both for doing all of this for me.  And don't tell me not to thank you because I want to say it.  You have no idea what all of this means to me.  Before I met your son, I honestly didn't think anyone would ever care about me at all.  He has completely made my life worth living, and now, so have both of you.  Thank you for caring about me.  You have no idea how much it means to me that you both would go to all of this trouble just for me.  I'm not even your own son!"

Mrs. Potter leaned forward and embraced Sirius tightly.  "You're part of our family, Sirius!  I feel as if you are my son, just like James is."

Mr. Potter nodded his head in agreement.  "It's no trouble at all, Sirius.  We boove ove you, and like my wife said, you are part of this family.  We want to do everything we can to make you feel better."

"And we promise that your parents will never be able to hurt you again!" Mrs. Potter promised.  

Throughout all of this, James was simply watching his parents and Sirius interact.  He was so happy that they truly loved Sirius.  

"Is everything all right?" Jade asked, poking her head into the kitchen.  "I can come back at another time."

James let go of Sirius and jumped up.  "Be right back, love," he murmured to his boyfriend.  James hurried out of the room with Jade.

"What was that all about?" Sirius asked while James' mother started to heal the bruises on his face.

"You'll find out!" she exclaimed, smiling.

"I'd like to know, as well," Mr. Potter mumbled, looking at his wife curiously.

"I'll tell you later," she replied.  "All right, Sirius.  I know it still hurts some, but it should feel a bit better."

"It does," Sirius said, honestly.  "It'azinazing how you can do all of that!"

Mrs. Potter laughed and then accosted her son when he returned to the room.  "I need to work on your hands now."

James rolled his eyes and started to sit down on the chair next to his mum.  Sirius grabbed Jamed pud pulled him onto his lap.  "Sit here instead," Sirius murmured.

James just grinned and held out his hands to his mother.

~*~

"Who was that woman?" Sirius asked as he sat down next to his boyfriend.

"A friend of my mum's," James replied.  "She was helping me with something."

Sirius raised an eyebrow.

James leaned back against the headboard and wrapped his arms around Sirius' body.  He pressed his lips against his lover's.

"Well, good," Sirius said after they finished kissing.

"Just good?"

"No, the kiss was fantastic, babe.  I mean, it's good that we snogged because that was on my list of things to do tonight, remember?"

James laughed and pulled his lover to his lips for another passionate kiss.  

"I believe there was something else on that list, too," James murmured as he ran his fingers through Sirius' soft hair.

"Sleeping, you mean?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

James playfully swatted at his boyfriend's back.  "I was thinking of something else, love."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sirius remarked.  "I guess we should go to bed then, huh?"

"No," James replied.  He sat up and reached into his pocket for something.  Sirius also sat up and watched his lover curiously.

"Sirius, you know I love you more than anyone or anything in the entire world, right?" James asked softly.

Not knowing what to say or do, Sirius simply nodded his head.

"Will you marry me?" James whispered as he pulled out the most beautiful ring Sirius had ever seen in his entire life.

Sirius just stared at the ring in shock for several moments before looking up into his lover's gorgeous hazel eyes.  "Yes," he finally managed and watched as James gently put the ring on his finger.

"It's beautiful," Sirius said quietly as he studied the ring.  It was white gold with several extremely small diamonds and emeralds on it.  "Gods, James, it's amazing."

"There's an inscription, too," James murmured.  

Sirius took the ring off of his finger and read the engraving on the inside of it.  

~Padfoot & Prongs Forever~~~Sirius, I love you more than life itself.~~~Love, James~

Sirius carefully put the ring back on his finger and wrapped his arms around his lover's body.  "Thank you, James," he whispered.  "You mean the world to me.  You know that, right?"

"" Ja" James whispered as he clutched Sirius.

"It's so beautiful," Sirius said softly.  "How did you ever afford it?  When did you do it?  How did you get all of those words to fit on it?  Gods, it's beautiful!  I love you so much, James."

James allowed the tears to fall freely down his face as he kissed Sirius' lips again.  "Money doesn't matter, Sirius.  What matters is that I know we'll be together forever.  I did it earlier today.  Jade owns a jewelry store, and she brought some rings over while you were sleeping on the couch.  Jade did the words, and I don't really know how she got it all to fit.  Magic, I guess."

Sirius chuckled and reached up to run his fingers through James' unruly hair.  "You're amazing, James Potter.  Did you know that?"

James started to snort, but was stopped when he felt warm lips on his neck.  He shuddered when he felt Sirius whisper into his ear, "Make love to me right now."

James groaned and tenderly pushed his lover onto the bed.  He slowly began kissing Sirius' neck and ears.  Sirius moaned and grabbed a handful of James' raven hair.

"Gods, you're so beautiful," James murmured as he unbuttoned Sirius' shirt.  He slowly took it off of Sirius' body and began to tenderly run his tongue up and down Sirius' chest.  

Sirius closed his eyes and continued to moan ever so softly.
A moment later, James stopped licking and lifted his head.  "Sirius?"

Sirius opened his eyes and stared at the worried expression on his lover's face.  "Why did you stop?" Sirius moaned.

"I'm not hurting you, am I?" James asked worriedly.  "Mum said that your chest would still be sore for a while.  And your back and your-"

"For Merlin's sake, James, don't stop!" Sirius demanded.  "I love the fact that you're so concerned, but please…just keep going…I can safely promise you, I am feeling no pain at the moment."

James just smiled and returned to running his tongue up and down Sirius' chest.

Sirius closed his eyes again and smiled peacefully.  He was completely surprised that James had proposed to him…he felt positively wonderful at the moment…knowing that he would spend the rest of his life with the man he loved…

~*~

Several hours later, Sirius and James were still awake.  Both were curled up together in James' bed, talking softly.

"James?" Sirius mumbled tiredly.

"Hmmm?" James asked.

"You didn't spend too much money on the ring, did you?  I mean…I love it so much, but you shouldn't spend all of that money on me."

James stared at Sirius for a moment before replying.  "We've already been through this, Siri.  Money doesn't matter, Sirius.  You matter.  I wanted the perfect ring for the perfect person…"

Sirius cuddled up against James and smiled.  "Thank you," he whispered.  "I don't think I'm at all perfect, but it still feels good to hear you say it."

"Well, I meant it," James replied "I "I wonder what everyone at Hogwarts will think when they find out we're engaged," Sirius said, grinning.

"They already know we're much more than just best friends," James replied, winking.

"Indeed," Sirius said, smirking.  "That display of kissing last year in the Great Hall kind of informed the entire school of our relationship!"

James grinned and kissed his lover.  

"You do realize that you're mine forever, right?" James murmured.

"Of course," Sirius replied.  "And you're mine forever."

"Of course," James replied as he turned off the light next to his bed.  "Good night, love."

"Night," Sirius mumbled happily.  He moved even further into James' warm embrace and closed his eyes…

~*~

THE END