AN: If you've read this on tumblr, I've edited it. As usual. Happy reading!
They get married in October.
There's this nice clearing near the Potters', bright-hued foliage littering the forest floor and morning sun sifting through the shedding branches. The wedding's time may have inconvenienced most, but the couple's first kiss was as the sun rose a couple autumns ago, the bride is nostalgic, and there aren't that many guests for complaints anyway.
Even Sirius Black, best man, suddenly turns into a morning person for the special occasion.
He duly knocks on the groom's door at dawn to wake him up, in fact, only to find him already awake, sitting on the edge of his bed and staring at his reflection on a dresser mirror on the far end of the room. He looks dazed, the groom.
Sirius asks him what's wrong at once, and James Potter's hand can only rake through his hair, his eyes on—but not seeing—his best mate.
"I should have cut it," he whispers, "like Marlene said."
Sirius blinks down at him, and then he bursts out laughing, because James is absolutely off his rockers. In the last two weeks when he and his redhead rascal were engaged, he insisted on keeping the hair as disheveled and stubborn as ever for the big day. Lily would love it, he kept telling them, she would love it just like this, I'm sure.
Sirius doesn't stop laughing (he was nervous, still is, and his nerves finally found a way out of his system), and eventually James joins in, shaking his head and clutching his perpetually untamed hair, wishing Marlene wouldn't laugh at it too much and hoping Lily wouldn't mind.
Mary Macdonald, unofficial wedding organizer and keeper of order among what could just be history's most chaotic circle of friends, makes the boys wear bow ties, because they kept loosening their neckties back in Hogwarts and she bloody well won't have any of it. She seemed bizarrely passionate about this, so the bride agreed. (Although Lily secretly loves it when James did it back then, even now; secretly loves it when his necktie's askew and his shirt's top buttons are undone, when his sleeves are rolled up, arms on either side of her, lips inches from her own.)
Autumn leaves crunch under the bride's shoes as she walks down the well-trodden grassy path that passes off for her aisle, Remus Lupin's arm wound around her own. She's crying. Remus squeezes her arm briefly, and she flashes him a tearful smile. Remus notes, by the way the groom keeps chewing on his lip up front, blinking and rocking on his heels and fiddling with his hair and glasses and cuffs, that James must be feeling overwhelmed, too.
Sirius stands beside James, looking sharp, hands in his pockets. He nods at Remus's dress robes and smirks. Remus only rolls his eyes at him. He turns to the bride. "Okay, Lily?"
She takes a deep breath. "Yes."
"Are you ready?"
"I... don't think so."
He chuckles. She does, too. Nervously.
"Thanks for being here," she says, fleetingly resting her head on Remus' shoulder.
"You know I wouldn't dream of being anywhere else."
He catches a sniff.
"I love him so much, you know?"
And it's ridiculous, but Remus's heart swells, and just then he can feel the tears sting the corners of his eyes. "Bloody prat's been in love with you since forever."
"Ready?" Sirius asks James.
"Nope."
"Oh, come off it. You've been waiting for this your whole life."
"Yes, I have."
"Are you breathing?"
"Dunno."
Marlene McKinnon can't look at the groom without wanting to laugh out loud. She figures she wouldn't win anyone's approval with that, so she stays put in her seat and tries not to keep glancing at James and his twitching face and shaking fingers and his ridiculous hair.
She leans sideways and nudges Mary, who's looking at Lily with clasped hands and dreamy eyes.
"Later, McKinnon," Mary says.
"The crown of flowers was your idea, wasn't it?"
"Yes. Be quiet."
"Bit too much, don't you think?"
Mary glares at her. "No. It looks lovely on her!"
Marlene shrugs. "If you say so."
Mary starts looking disheartened, however, and Marlene mentally kicks herself. She elbows Mary lightly again, and lets out an airy chuckle. "Only joking, Mary," she says, and she's surprised to find she sort of meant it. "I think I'm nervous. I say things when I'm nervous."
Mary studies her, and then smiles. "I am, too," she confesses. "But it's a good kind of nervous for once yeah?"
Marlene's gaze travels back to James and Sirius again. "Yeah." She meant that, too. "Yeah, it is."
"Prongs, mate..."
"What?"
"Let go of my hand."
"Oh. Sorry. Oh, Merlin..."
"Is James holding Sirius's hand?" says Marlene, snorting.
"Oh, for god's sake, Marlene," Mary hushes her, but her lips twitch, and Marlene lets out a giggle as inaudible as she can manage through her knuckles.
That sets Mary off, and soon they're both grinning uncontrollably.
"I bloody hate you," mutters Mary.
"Almost there, Lily..."
"Here we go."
"You'll be fine."
"I know."
"Almost here."
"She's so..."
"Oh, don't start."
James takes a deep breath and discretely shakes out his arms.
"Alright, Potter?" asks Sirius, clapping him on the shoulder.
"Yeah," James exhales. "Yes."
"You better be."
Peter Pettigrew arrives late.
He tries to sneak into his reserved seat, but it's hard not to notice when he, being a close friend, was assigned to one of the front rows.
Dorcas Meadowes, who isn't quite sure what she's doing here, can't help but overhear the ensuing conversation in front of her.
"Where have you been?" hisses Mary, and even Marlene leans over to frown at Peter.
"Sorry," says Peter, "I had to run some errands."
"I thought all Order missions were canceled for the guests today," says Marlene.
"Oh... oh. No. No, I know. It was for my mum."
Mary grimaces. "Right. I suppose your mum wouldn't know..."
But Marlene, although not pressing the issue, cocks a suspicious eyebrow at him. She meets Dorcas's eye, whom she then notices is idly listening in. Dorcas stares right back.
They don't say anything.
Dorcas shortly after turns her attention back to James and Lily, who both look so goddarn happy she feels like she's intruding somehow. They're all intruding somehow. It doesn't seem real to her.
She makes a mental note to have a word with her least favourite Marauder later.
Sirius has to think of Quidditch and Professor McGonagall and detentions and successful pranks and disastrous pranks and pranks never carried out to keep the fucking traitorous tears at bay as he watches his best friends exchange vows.
He notices Remus biting the inside of his cheek trying not to laugh at him, and he elbows him in the ribs, muttering, "Sod off, Lupin."
But it just makes it harder for Remus not to lose it.
The best man mentions how atrocious the couple's vows were during his speech.
But he also speaks of other things—their compatibility despite their differences, their resilience at a time when it's hard and dangerous to make ties, how they are definitely, without a doubt, made for each other... He addresses a lot of other things, good things, at least in his own way, which includes his trademark swear words and a handful of inappropriate comments.
They get the gist though.
Of course they do.
And later, when Sirius dances with Lily, she kisses him on the cheek and tells him how much of a prat he is, but that she loves him still.
"Course you do, Evans. I'm fucking brilliant."
"It's Potter now."
He rolls his eyes. "Take care of him, yeah?"
"You know I will. I always do."
She hears him scoff, but he smiles at her fondly as he spins her round once more.
"Your hair," Marlene slurs as she sidles up to James, "is the worst in the universe."
James laughs. "I know," he says, running up a hand through the worst hair in the universe. "Should've taken your advice."
"Yes, you should."
"You wanna dance? Sirius won't let my wife go."
Marlene snickers. "Your wife," she repeats. Both of them look on as Sirius dances with Lily. "Hey, James."
"Hm?"
"You're doing that stupid grin thing."
"I can't help it."
"Stop it. You look like an idiot."
"But she's my wife."
Marlene groans and stands on her tiptoes to ruffle his hair. "You don't screw this up, Potter, alright?"
"Why would I?" asks James, incredulous, his hands rising to desperately fix his hair.
"I don't know! Just... live well. With Lily. Married. Babies. And all that. I don't know. Don't screw it up."
"You're smashed."
"It's... perfect," she says, suddenly surprisingly quiet. "And not much is. I mean, right now."
"It is," he says after a while, in a voice as solemn. Lily's hair is coming out in frizzy big curls from its elaborate knot. Her cheeks are flushed, eyes crinkled, head constantly thrown back in unadulterated mirth. "It is," he says again, louder. "And I promise."
He rumples Marlene's hair back before walking over to Sirius to steal his wife back.
"Remus?" asks Mary, and Remus promptly takes his eyes away from the edge of the forest, where a departing Dorcas and Peter are just crossing the clearing border. He sees them both get swallowed by the tree-striped shadows in periphery. "Sorry, what was it?"
"You okay?"
He smiles at her apologetically. "Yeah. Sorry about that."
"Dorcas and Peter?" asks Mary, following his earlier gaze. "I'm sure they're okay."
The trees look like suspicious knowing sentinels to Remus, the wind-ruffled branches rustling to the music, feigning innocence. "Alright."
They sway idly on the dance floor. They watch as James successfully takes Lily back from Sirius.
"You think they'll be alright? With everything?" Remus turns back to his partner and finds her glazed smiling eyes tinged with concern.
"I think we all will be," he assures her.
"Really?" She takes a hand off his shoulder to hastily wipe her cheeks.
Remus catches sight of Sirius pulling Marlene to the dance floor, the latter stumbling and chortling as she practically slumps against him. Lily throws her head back and laughs at them—Remus doesn't think he's seen her laugh this much in a while, or light up like this in forever—and James tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and kisses her forehead.
Remus smiles, watches the intertwined hands and the bow ties and the flower crowns and the light in their eyes.
"We are right now," he tells Mary, and he knows she truly believes him when she nods, because he believes it, too.