Summary: She took one final breath, glanced in the mirror one last time, and then turned and headed out, unsure of how it had all happened. Jily.
Disclaimer: JKR is a goddess; I am not her.
I Thee Wed
Can an Ethiopian change his skin, or a leopard his spots
~Jeremiah 13:23
It was by far the most elegant dress Lily had ever laid eyes upon, let alone actually worn. It hugged her body from her shoulders to her hips in a sexy, yet elegant way. When it reached her hips, slender yet shapely, the dress flowed out into a large tulle skirt. She looked exactly like Cinderella. The little girl inside Lily was absolutely ecstatic. She loved Cinderella, had watched the film several times in the local theatre, and now having the opportunity to wear a princess dress almost exactly like the Cinderella dress was her dream come true.
However, the eighteen-year-old Lily who stood before a mirror wearing the dress wasn't so sure. In the years since she'd dragged her sister Tunie and her parents to countless showings of Cinderella, that little girl had grown up. She'd faced danger and darkness countless times; she'd had her heart broken, her soul crushed, and her hopes dashed. She wasn't the same innocent little girl she'd once been. And the sight of herself in a dress her younger self would have died to wear just reminded her of all the changes she'd experienced.
"You look amazing!" Lily's best friend breathlessly spoke. Marlene circled Lily slowly, taking in the entire sight of the red haired beauty.
"Do you think it's me?" Lily asked apprehensively, voicing one of the many concerns rolling around in her head. Instantly, the other women in the room jumped in to reassure Lily that the dress was perfect and so was she. Lily managed a small smile at the group, and then turned back towards the mirror.
However, instead of the grown women in the elegant dress that she was, she saw herself as the eleven-year-old girl who would have died to be wearing this dress…
Lily sat in one of the numerous large plush chairs scattered throughout the Gryffindor common room. The chair was so large that, if she sat all the way back, she couldn't touch the ground. Because of that, she loved to sit in them with a book and gently kick her feet. It was her happy place.
It was also the place where her extremely annoying classmate and his rowdy group of friends knew they could always find her. Several times, Lily had considered avoiding the chair of an extended period of time so that she wasn't as easy to locate. Yet, for all the times she thought about moving, she never did. Her routine was established and it wouldn't easily be broken.
"Evans!"
No matter how much she wanted it.
"Evans! How did you answer the essay question for Herbology? Remus won't tell us!" the annoying git that was James Potter yelled from across the common room. Lily rolled her eyes at him, but otherwise ignored the dark haired male. She'd only known him five months, yet he seemed to have a mission to embarrass and/ or annoy her. Every opportunity he could, James drew the attention of the surrounding students to her, something Lily would really rather have not happen.
After not hearing her name called in James' voice for several seconds, Lily gave in to hope. Maybe, for once, James had taken the hint that she didn't want to talk to him and let her be. Maybe James had finally had some sense knocked into him. She quickly chanced a look in his direction, hoping that she wouldn't catch his eye and, unwittingly, entreat him into conversation.
She jumped back, startled, and dropped her book to the floor. James stood only a few feet from her. He hadn't been yelling her name from across the room, not because he'd gained some sense, but because he'd been sneaking up on her to annoy her at a closer distance. At her surprised reaction, a smile flitted across James' face.
"Are you ignoring me, Evans? I did ask you a question. So, how did you answer the essay? Sirius and I cannot figure it out for the life of us. Any tips or pointers? It would be a real help. Come on, Evans. Please!" As James spoke, he got closer and closer to her and dropped to his knees. Lily was acutely aware of the eyes of nearly everyone in the common room affixed on the pair.
Lily's face flushed red, a shade almost the same as her hair. She tried to hide it by bending down to pick up her book. She was quickly beginning to absolutely detest James and his penchant of drawing all eyes towards her. As she retrieved her book, she began developing a plan to get away from James and his greatly unwanted attentions.
"You need to think of your own answers. It's the only way you'll learn. Besides, if you'd been paying attention, Professor Greensleigh explained it all." Then, with all the haughtiness Lily could muster (limited because of her intense embarrassment), Lily stood from the chair, grabbed her things, and headed off to the girls' dormitories. She could still feel the eyes of her fellow Gryffindors on her, and the embarrassment from that coupled with her desire to be rid of James, made Lily rush. She wasn't paying attention and, halfway across the common room, tripped on an errant book and fell, spread eagle, onto the floor.
Instantly, the common room erupted into laughter, enjoying the humiliation of the ickle first-year. Lily, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, ran the rest of the way to her dormitory. All the way, she cursed James Potter for ever putting her in the situation.
Oh, how she loathed Potter...
"Man coming in!" the voice of her father sounded along with a knock on the door. Lily chuckled at her father who, after announcing himself, entered with his hands over his eyes. "Everyone decent?"
"Of course, Daddy," Lily called, mirth filling her voice, "It's five minutes 'til. If we weren't, there'd be bigger problems. Is everything out there going well?" Lily hadn't wanted to ask her father the question, fearing that the answer would mean the ruin of her perfect day. Her dad walked towards her and embraced her.
"Everything is perfect out there. And it seems so in here. You, certainly, look absolutely perfect. Everything will be amazing. Are you ready?" Lily's eyes began to water at her father's words, and she desperately fought against it, fearing tears would destroy her expertly crafted make up. She then nodded at her dad and the pair followed the gaggle of girls that were Lily's best friends, down the weaving hallways.
"I'm really happy for you, Lil. I never thought this would happen, what with the countless hours you spent ragging on him. But I'm glad it has happened." Lily smiled slightly.
"People do change, Daddy..."
"What are you doing here?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Haven't you heard the good news, Evans? I've been named Head Boy! Isn't it great!" Lily stared at James Potter incredulously.
"No. No. No. Not possible," Lily sputtered, then turned to Remus who was hiding behind a large book. "It isn't true, is it?" Remus raised the book more, but Lily persisted.
"Remus. Tell me that James is not Head Boy and this is some sort of very terrible joke. He cannot be Head Boy! Dumbledore would never allow it. It's just simply not possible!" Lily, in her abject horror, began rambling on at a speed that made most of her words run together. As she spoke, Remus lowered his book. Obviously, he had wanted to stay out of the whole thing, but Lily's distress had drawn in the goodhearted Marauder.
"I'm sorry, Lily," Remus began apprehensively, trying to make both his tone and face as sympathetic as possible. "James is Head Boy. Dumbledore sent him a letter in explanation as to how he could be named Head Boy without being a Prefect, and why the decision had been made. I could explain what the letter said, if it would help, but it won't change the fact that he was, in fact, named Head Boy.
Lily collapsed onto the seat behind her, exhausted by all the emotions that had bombarded her since entering the Prefect's train compartment. James Potter, the great annoying git, would be her partner for the rest of the year. It was almost too much.
It was a slow process. It took months of forced close contact, weeks of meaningful late night conversations, and the gradual realisation on her part that, since disembarking the Hogwarts Express at the end of sixth year, James Potter had changed, perhaps even matured. It wasn't until after Christmas holidays, in which Lily spent the full two weeks actually missing James' company, that she realised she'd begun to fancy the great git. It then took another month, in which she wrestled with that realisation and its implications, for her to finally decide to act on it.
The Hogsmeade Trip that occurred on or around Valentine's Day was always a big deal. It combined the ability of Hogwarts students to get out of the grounds for a while with the romanticism of the holiday, and created an insanity unlike anything else. As a rule, Lily avoided the Valentine's Day trip and locked herself up in the library, finding the craziness of it all quite annoying. However, this year, Lily decided to break her rule (and several other's she created throughout the years).
As soon as the parchment announcing the upcoming trip was posted in the Gryffindor common room, Lily marched over the Marauder's corner and asked to speak to James. Thankfully, Lily asking to speak to James was not such a strange occurrence anymore. Neither the Marauders nor the rest of the common room even batted an eyelash as James followed her out of the portrait hole.
"What's up, Lily?" James asked, tousling his hair and then shoving his hands in his pockets. A signal of the change in James' behaviour was that he'd stopped referring to her as Evans. Lily missed it a little.
"They posted about the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend just now. I was wondering if you'd had any plans or anything." As she asked, she suddenly found it impossible to look him in the eye. For his part, James didn't seem to notice and instead, took a few minutes to think before speaking.
"Probably just hang out with the guys, unless Sirius convinces the uptight Ravenclaw sixth-year he's been pursuing these past few months to go out with him. Why? Do we have Head duties or something?" James looked slightly joyful at the idea of having to spend time with her and Lily felt her heart rate increase.
"No, no Head duty. I was wondering, since you're not really busy, if you'd- if you'd liketogotoHogsmeadewithme?" Lily, who often prided herself on her eloquence and oratory abilities, suddenly found herself tongue-tied and unable to get out the words she needed. James just stared at her, not sure what she'd just asked him.
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
Lily took a deep breath. She wasn't sure why she was so nervous. James had been practically throwing himself at her for years. Of course, he wouldn't turn her down, not when he had finally achieved his goal of going out on a date with her. She had nothing to worry about.
"Would you… like to… go to Hogsmeade… with me?" Lily drew out the sentence and measured each word to keep them from running together. However, as soon as she finished her question, she dropped her eyes and stared at her feet.
A silence developed and dragged on between the two. Eventually, Lily couldn't stand it anymore and looked up to ensure James was still standing in front of her. What she found was an extremely smug looking James Potter.
"Are you asking me out? To Hogsmeade? On Valentine's Day?" As he stood there, Lily saw a glimpse of the old James Potter, the one who used to annoy her and pester her. However, she didn't regret asking him out, even as she saw the old, once despised, James once more. The other sides of James that Lily had seen over the past few months had drawn her in and even his flaws wouldn't turn her away.
"Yes, James," Lily responded, exasperatedly, "I'm asking you out. Do you want to go?" James smiled at her.
"Maybe," he responded before sauntering off down the hallway. Lily groaned in frustration but, internally, chuckled at his antics...
Someone squeezed her hand and brought her back to the present. She turned to see her dad smiling down at her. They stood in front of the doors to the small chapel in Cokeworth, the very one Lily had dreamed of getting married in since she was a little girl. And here she stood, mere minutes from that becoming a reality.
"Ready, darling?" her father whispered in her ear. A wide smile broke across her face. This had been years in the making. From the first time he had annoyingly yelled her name across the common room, to their months spent in each other's company during seventh year, to his infuriating 'maybe' and finally, to today, this moment.
"Yes," she responded breathlessly. She was absolutely ready to walk down the aisle and become Mrs. James Potter.
The End