Mark of Affection

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Mark of Affection

by duva

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'You're insane!' a loud female voice shrieked before the door flew open, and a flustered-looking man came bursting in. Sirius Black looked up from the newspaper he was reading and took a sip of his coffee.

'Marital problems, Prongs?' he asked calmly, as his best friend looked frantically around the kitchen. 'This early in the morning?'

The door flew open again, this time revealing a young woman, whose face was currently as red as her hair.

'Morning, Lily,' Sirius said happily, sipping his coffee again. Behind him, James had thrown himself onto the floor and was hiding behind the chair Sirius was sitting on.

'First of all, I'd hardly call this morning,' Lily said, pointing at her wristwatch, which indicated that it was some time in the early afternoon. 'Second, do you know what the idiot went and did?'

'The idiot is right here, thank you very much!' the back of Sirius's chair retorted. 'Anyway, I don't see why you're so upset; most people would be happy for something like this!'

Sirius arched a brow. Interesting. 'May I ask what this is all about?'

Glaring at his wife, who was standing on the other side of the table, arms crossed over her middle and daggers shooting from her eyes, James stood up and began unbuttoning his robes.

'Whoa, whoa!' Sirius said, standing up as well. 'I can see why you're upset, Lily - not a pretty sight, eh?'

'Hey!' Lily replied. 'He might be an idiot, but he's my idiot, so watch your tongue!'

Sniggering, Sirius turned around to take another look at James. His eyes widened. 'Merlin's beard, is that a - '

'Tattoo, yes,' Lily finished for him. 'A tattoo of my name, right above his heart!' She spat the last word as though it was poison. Sirius went in for a closer look. Sure enough, right over the spot where his heart was, James now sported a lily outlined in black ink, with the name "Lily" written in curly letters underneath it.

'Why the hell did you get that?' Sirius asked in awe, as James pulled on his robes again.

'That's what I'd like to know,' said Lily, still with crossed-armed and looking quite deadly. 'Why would you do such a stupid thing?'

'Just what is so stupid about it?' James shot back.

'It's a tattoo, James!' Lily said loudly, throwing her arms out in frustration. 'Of my name! It's not coming off; you're stuck with that thing forever!'

'So?' James said, crossing his own arms.

'So?' Lily repeated, sounding like she couldn't believe her ears. 'So what if things don't work out? What if one day you won't want my name on your skin?'

At first, James just stared at her. Then he slowly lifted his left hand into the air.

'I don't know what this means to you,' he said slowly, indicating the gold band on his ring finger, 'but to me it means that I will always, no matter what, carry you within my heart. And I'm proud of that, and I want the world to know it. But they can never see what's in here - ' he pointed at his heart - 'but at least now they will all be able to see who my heart belongs to.'

For a few moments, they just stared at each other, and then, Lily had thrown herself in James's arms. 'That,' she murmured between kisses, 'is... the... sweetest... thing... ever.' They came to rest by the table, with Lily half-sitting on top of it and James standing in front of her. Sirius cleared his throat loudly and began tugging on the newspaper Lily was currently sitting on.

'Look, as happy as I am that everything is love and sweetness again, I was trying to read that,' he said.

No reaction.

'Fine,' he muttered, throwing on a cloak over his pyjamas and walking over to the door. 'I'm going over to your place for some breakfast,' he announced.

Still no reaction.

Shaking his head, Sirius exited his kitchen and walked into the garden. 'How will a bloke ever get any peace and quiet around here with neighbours like those?' he muttered to himself as he jumped over the low hedge that separated the Potters' yard from his own. 'Honestly... a tattoo... and on a Sunday morning...'

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