Epilogue

"Kind of ugly, isn't he?" Sirius commented thoughtlessly, leaning inward to peer at the tiny infant. A mildly repulsed expression creased his handsome features. "All red and wrinkly. What's wrong with his head?"

Lily clutched her mewling son tighter and glared at Sirius.

"Padfoot!" Remus admonished. "He's a newborn. He supposed to look like that! They all do."

"It doesn't change the fact that I'm right." Sirius persisted stubbornly.

Lily cast a glance at James, who looked faintly amused by his best mate's antics.

"James," She said sweetly.

"Yes, love?" his eyes were on her, favoring her with that special look--adoring and worshipful.

"If you prefer that Black continues to go on breathing, then I strongly suggest that you shut him up!"

Remus and Peter burst into laughter as Black wisely stepped back from the bed, stumbling onto his arse in his haste to get away.

"Hormones." James explained to them, an apologetic look on his face. "They said she'd be like this."

Sirius jumped up. "Hormones my arse! If it's hormones, how do you explain her behavior for the last, oh, ten years or so?"

Remus and Peter laughed harder, Peter so much so that he doubled over.

Lily raised a brow at her husband. "And this is what you want to be Harry's godfather? Remind me again why we didn't pick Remus?"

James grinned at her. "Oh, I don't know, maybe the werewolf thing?"

"Shh!" Remus insisted, his mirth suddenly ending.

"And how is that worse than Sirius?" Lily asked dryly, ignoring his admonishment.

"Hey!" Black protested loudly. "I'll be a fantastic godfather to the little bloke. Just do me a favor, ok love? Don't go checking out until he's fit to look at."

Her hands would have been on her hips, if they weren't filled with her newborn. "My baby is not ugly! He's beautiful. Perfect." She looked down at her son with the adoring eyes of a new mum. "He looks just like his Dad."

A mischevious look danced its way across Black's face, his eyes glinting. "If you think that, then no wonder it took you so long to give Prongs a chance."

Now James was annoyed. "That's enough, mate." His tone was warning. He didn't like references to the time before, when Lily wouldn't give him the time of day, when she wasn't his.

"Just joking! Ruddy hell, did knocking her up turn you in to McGonagall?" Black looked more than a bit put out.

"Language!" Lily hissed, wishing that her wand wasn't tucked into her valiase.

"Sorry." Black replied quickly, sounding anything but.

"He really will be a good godfather to Harry." James hastened to reassure her. "I know he comes across rather bad at times, but then again, so do I."

Lily rolled her eyes, but she was smiling a bit. "I know. Believe me, I know."

James looked mildly concerned. "But you're happy, right? You wouldn't change anything?"

She gave him a look she reserved those times he said something incredibly thick. "What do you think?"

"You didn't answer the question."

Such a stubborn arse. "James, aside from wanting to make good on a long-standing promise to hex your best mate into next week, I couldn't be happier!"

Her attention drifted back to her son, her face taking on a dreamy, loving expression that would have made James insanely jealous if she'd cast it at anyone but their son. And even then...

"I don't know how it's possible to love someone so much." She murmured, completely oblivious to three uncomfortable Marauders who looked very much as if they'd rather be elsewhere.

"I do." James said simply, taking a seat next to her and encircling them protectively with his arms.

"We'll...uh...just..." Remus didn't finish, fleeing the room hastily with Black and Pettigrew on his heels.

"What's with them?" Lily wondered, watching them go.

"Too much sentiment for them to handle, I suppose." He replied distractedly. They fell silent, staring at the baby, the Marauders completely forgotten.

"Thank you." he said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"For giving me a chance. For loving me. For him." He touched the baby lightly. "Sometimes I still can't believe you said yes."

She looked up at him. "You know I'm mad about you, don't you?"

"Yeah." he replied with a grin. "But I never get tired of hearing you say it."

A/N: I hope that you have enjoyed reading this story even a fraction as much as I have enjoyed writing it. The guy in my life thinks that fanfiction is a waste of my time (hence the title) and that my attentions would be better spent on my own original work, for which I (occasionally) get paid. I'll let you be the final judge. Did I "waste my time" or did you get some pleasure out of reading this? My thanks, as always, must go to J.K. Rowling, the owner and originator of these wonderful characters, whom I have borrowed for my own amusement, and hopefully yours. Additional thanks must go to Jane Austen, who's immortal work Pride and Prejudice was the inspiration behind the plot of this story. If you have not already read it, I highly recommend that you do. Austen is brilliant.

What's next, you might ask? Not to indulge in shameless self-advertising or anything, but I have two works currently in progess, one of which "Let me Fall" is another Jane Austen-inspired tale, while the other "Object of my Obsession" is bit rougher around the edges. I should probably point out that these stories are very different in style and tone than "Waste my Time." If they weren't what would be the point. You can also look for a fiction staring Sirius Black in the very near future, which won't entirely be set in the Marauder era. Of course their will be Lily/James in that fic as well.