Prove It

Prove it

Tolerating

*****

It was odd to walk on the Diagon Alley, at least to Sirius. It'd been so many years after the last time he'd been able to freely wander through the crowd, he'd almost forgotten what it felt like. The other wizards watched his fascination with amusement -- even though it had been about as long a time to James, he hadn't been aware of the time that had passed by. People kept giving them weird glances, but, thanks to Dumbledore and the Daily Prophet's news from the day before, announcing both the Potters' return and Sirius's innocence, nobody tried to drag the Grim Animagus to Azkaban.

James soon forgot his lover's antics, however, as his eyes met a familiar, darkskinned form in the middle of the people. "Kingsley!" he exclaimed. "Honestly, you haven't aged a day in twenty years!"

"And here I was thinking I was already sporting grey hair," the other wizard replied, smirking as he ran a hand over his bald head. "It's truly good to have you back, James."

"So," the bespectacled man said then, grinning at his old friend. "Is there anything new in your life I should know of? You aren't still single, are you?"

"Oh, no," laughed Kingsley. "I'm happily married, thank you very much, and have a wonderful little brat. She's the wildest little whirlwind I've ever seen, but adorable all the same."

"I'll confirm that," Harry said, smiling slightly. "It's not only a proud father talking here, Akasha is truly an adorable little girl." Sirius and Remus also murmured their agreements.

"So where is this little piece of perfection?" asked James curiously. "When do I get to see her? And who's the mother, anyway?"

"There's no mother," replied the black man, still smirking. "The newest researches on spells and potions have made biological children available to gay couples as well, so of course we had to take advantage of that possibility. And as for who's the other parent and when you'll see him and Akasha, well, it looks like you're just about to meet." At this, he pointed at someone behind James.

The bespectacled Marauder turned to look. His mouth fell open in shock. A little girl, no more than two years old, was skipping towards them, adorable black curlies framing a face that seemed to be made of purest milk chocolate. Next to her, his eyes wandering around the surroundings and stopping to look at the girl ever now and then, walked a man. A man with black robes, unhealthily pale skin, hooked nose, and sharp black eyes.

"Hi, Dad! Hi, Unca Emiz!" exclaimed the girl happily, waving her hand high in the air in greeting. "Hi, Hawwy! Hi, Pafoo!" The addressed wizards all waved their hands at her, smiling back.

"Hi, Akasha," replied Remus, smiling as he picked the girl up. "Have you and your fathers come shopping?"

"S-Snape?" stuttered James, staring at first Kingsley, then the girl, then the Potions Master, and then again the black wizard. "You've got to be kidding, Kingsley. You can't be married to Snape!"

"He isn't. He's married to Shacklebolt," replied the no-more-Snape for his spouse, raising an eyebrow. "Do close your mouth, Potter. You look even more idiotic with it open than you really are."

"Who awe you?" asked little Akasha curiously, watching James with wide brown eyes. "You know Dad and Daddy?"

"I'm James Potter," James replied to her, "and yes, I know your both parents. Although I'm not in the best terms with them both," he added, sending an icy glare at Snape.

"Now, now, do behave, Potter," said the Slytherin with a smirk. "You see, the fact that Lupin does a bit more than just singing lullabies to your son isn't the only change around here."

"What do you mean?" asked James, frowning. Turning towards his lover, friend, and son, he asked, "What is he talking about?"

"Well..." Remus shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. Could it maybe be the fact that I was his best man when they got married?" he suggested calmly. "Or that I'm also Akasha's Godfather?"

"Surely it can't be the fact that Severus has saved my life more times than I care to count," Harry said. "So it must be that he made the Ministry believe that werewolves are harmless with the Wolfsbane Potion, thus making Remus and all of his kind able to get a proper job."

"Or that our dearest Severus Shacklebolt here was the very man who found out a way to bring me back from the Veil?" Sirius added casually.

At that, James turned to look at his lover with a hopeless expression. "E tu mi Siri?" he asked with a desperate tone. "Don't say that you're also friends with Snivellius!"

"I'm not," Sirius said, then elaborated, "I'm not friends with Snivellius -- I'm tolerating Severus. Trust me, these four would have killed me a long time ago if I didn't." At this, he pointed at Remus, Harry, Kingsley, and little Akasha.

"Twue!" giggled Akasha. "Akaza bite and kill and eat!" She let out a threatening growl, baring her teeth and curling her fingers like claws. The adults all laughed at her. Well, Kingsley, Remus, Harry, and Sirius laughed, Severus smirked, and James just stared in silent horror.

"I can't believe this," he whispered. "You're friends with Snape and -- and playing with her daughter!"

"Akasha's my daughter, too, if I may remind," Kingsley noted dryly. Then he sighed and rolled his eyes. "Try to get it to your head, James," he said. "Your friends and family are now getting along with Severus. You should try to do that, too."

Just then Lily decided to appear to the place. "Oh, hi, you all!" she said cheerily.

"Hi!" replied Akasha happily. "Me iz Akaza!"

"Oh, such an adorable girl you have here," Lily said, smiling warmly as she crouched down to pet the little girl's hair. "Is she yours, Kingsley?"

"Yes, she is," the darkskinned man replied, smiling also. "Mine and Severus's." He pointed at his husband, who raised an elegant eyebrow at the redheaded witch.

"Severus?" echoed Lily, her eyes widening. However, her eyes weren't wide with shock, like James's had been; they were wide with surprise. "Oh, what a surprise!" she exclaimed. "I never could have guessed that you two would end up together!"

"Well, we did," Severus said, shrugging. "Thank Voldemort for it, actually. Without him and the War we'd probably never got together." Then, without even glancing at his daughter, he added, "And do put that down, Akasha. It's dirty."

The girl, who had just been playing with a muddy stone she'd picked from the ground, immediately dropped it, looking rather guilty. "Zowwy, Daddy," she said.

Sirius snickered. "Now that's maternal instincts for you," he said teasingly. "Not even Lily was that good."

The mentioned redheaded witch raised her eyebrow. "Well, I have to admit that was quite impressive," she said. "How did your daddy manage that, Akasha?"

The girl looked at her with serious eyes. "Daddy zeez ewwything," she announced. "Daddy knowz ewwything."

"Damn right," muttered Severus, although he did say it too quietly for his daughter to hear. "And do you remember that, young lady," he added then with a louder tone. "Your daddy knows everything, so don't you dare do anything bad."

"Akaza wemembew," the girl replied happily. "Akaza no do bad." With that, she ran to her daddy and hugged his legs. "Akaza good," she then said, looking up to the pale wizard for confirmation.

"Oh, yes. Akasha is a very good little girl." With this, he picked the girl up. "It's been pleasant talking to you," he said, nodding at the group of Marauders, "but we must go now. Remus, I'll have your Wolfsbane Potion ready tomorrow." After this, he walked away with his daughter, Kingsley following them after bidding his own goodbyes to his friends.

James was left staring after them. "Was that really Severus Snape?" he asked disbelievingly.

Sirius grinned. "Almost human, isn't he?" he asked. "Believe me, it took a lot from me to come to terms with his civil side. Then, however, came the day when Akasha was born. After that, I've never seen him quite in the same light."

"Oh?" The bespectacled Marauder raised his eyebrow. "What happened, then?"

"Well, there were some serious complications, and Poppy was worried that she might lose both him and the baby," the Grim Animagus told. "When Severus then heard of this, he told to Kingsley that if it became a choice between him and the baby and if Kingsley dared choose Severus and let the baby die, he'd kill his dear husband as soon as he could get his hands at him. I saw his eyes when he said that, Prongs, and he wasn't telling a lie. He was indeed wholly ready to die if his baby only lived. Fortunately, they both survived."

"Woah, wait a minute," James said, raising a hand to interrupt his lover. "Do you mean that Snape carried the child?"

"Why, of course," Remus said. "Do you think he'd ever trust anybody else to protect his unborn child?"

"He never became a whiny woman, however," Harry added with a smirk. "He was eight months along and Poppy had to tie him down to prevent him from going out to the battle field to find Kingsley. And his mood swings were something to remember. I can still recall the time he started to yell at a full-grown Hungarian Horntail. The dragon backed away first."

"Well, that is one thing I don't doubt," replied James. "And one thing that still sounds like his former self." With a glare to his friends' direction, he added, "But you lot have completely ruined the Marauders' reputation."

Now, something hard flashed in Harry's eyes. "Well, I'm so sorry I was not a school bully," he snapped.

"Hear, hear," muttered Lily. "There were reasons beyond our arranged betrothal why I didn't leave you in peace, James. You were a downright little shit back then."

"They're right, you know, Prongs," Remus said seriously. "I and Sirius have apologized to Severus -- it wasn't too easy to Sirius, however," he added with a small smirk. "Maybe you should do the same."

"So now you're ganging up against me?" asked James irritably. "Don't I get to defend myself?"

"No," Sirius said briefly. Then he added with a grin, "Come on, we need to do some shopping. I promise to help you avoid Severus so you won't have to apologize until you're ready." And after that, James wasn't given any chance to protest.

*

"Well, wasn't that a day," sighed James as he later sat in an armchair in what was now their living room. "I still can't believe you're friends with Snivellius, though."

"Severus," corrected Sirius automatically. "And he's really a tolerable guy, at least once you get to know him a bit more. If you're on his bad side, though, he's really nasty. That's another reason why we'd like you to make peace with him -- I don't want to listen to you two fight."

"Even if I did apologize to him, we'd never become friends, though," James said dryly. "I might manage civil, if he's truly done so much good for you all. However, I will never become his friend."

"Believe me, none of us would ever even expect you to befriend him," the nonbespectacled wizard said, grinning a bit. "If that happened, the world would surely come to its end. But I do think you could manage being civil with him. He did try being that to you, like you maybe noticed."

"Fine." Rolling his eyes towards the ceiling, James then smiled as Sirius dropped himself into his lap. "You know, you never used to be this affectionate when we were young."

Sirius shrugged. "Azkaban does funny things to people," he replied. "I, for once, crave human touch. Your touch especially."

Now, James frowned. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that hell," he said for the umpteenth time after he'd been resurrected. "I shouldn't have trusted Peter more than you or Remus."

"Shut up about it at last," Sirius sighed. "I know you didn't mean it. And it isn't like you had it easy, either -- you lost so many years of your son's life, I cannot even imagine what it was like."

"Still, you shouldn't have suffered so." James hugged him tightly. After a moment of silence, he asked, "By the way, do you have any idea what made Remus and Harry hurry away in the end?"

"Well, I don't know for sure, but I do have my own guesses," Sirius said with a slight smirk. "I think they went to meet Severus again. He was, after all, the developer of the male pregnancy potion."

Now James's eyes widened behind his glasses. "You don't mean --" he started, unable to finish his sentence.

"Oh, I do mean," Sirius said, laughing a bit. "You would believe it too, had you been the one to wake up to the sound of Remus throwing up every morning for the last two weeks or so. I'm surprised they haven't told anybody yet, it's just so bloody obvious."

"I mean -- wow." James shook his head in disbelief. "They're going to have a baby."

"So I've figured, yes." Sirius gave him a smirk. "Aren't you feeling old now, Prongs m'dear?" he asked playfully, standing up again. "Just a few days ago Harry was a lively toddler, and now you're going to become a grandfather!"

"Oh, shut up," huffed James, standing up also and starting to drag his lover towards the bedroom. "Come with me and I'll show you exactly how old I am by giving you a replay of the first night of our seventh school year."

"Oh, stuff it, James," Sirius laughed as they walked up the stairs. "You cannot possibly do the same as when we were seventeen."

"Oh yeah?" The darkhaired wizard raised his eyebrow. "I too can do it. Four times a night isn't impossible to me."

"Prove it."

So, he did.

.HP/RL.THE END.SB/JP.