There was never any doubt in her mind that these boys were her family. Loud, obnoxious, a little smelly sometimes, but they loved her and she loved them. It wasn't always like this, because she remembers the beginning when things were much different, when the boys weren't her friends and she was just the girl Potter was pining over. God, boys could be thick.
They were sitting around the lake, a bottle of firewhiskey sitting in front of them, the sun setting and casting purple and pink hues across her white dress.
"You're going to get stains." A voice said and she looked up and saw Remus looking at the grass stains she had already gotten and she grinned.
"You're going to get grey hair if you keep worrying so much." She swatted at him and pulled him down next to her. James and Sirius were talking, loudly and gesturing together so much that Lily was sure her eyes were in danger of being gouged out with their flying motions.
"Will your parents be upset that we left?" Remus asked quietly, always so considerate he was.
"Probably, but they can sod off. It's my wedding day." She smiled as she took another burning drink of the fire whiskey, straight from the bottle.
"Lily." Remus said in the voice that only he could master, it was scolding and even if Lily was the oldest, Remus was always the more serious one.
"Sorry." she muttered, "I just don't think it matters. We said the vows, exchanged rings, my sister didn't show up and now I'm here with the people that matter most to me. To us. So I'm going to drink before I go grey like you." He chuckled and watched as she took another swig of the drink and winced.
"Not going to have much a honeymoon if you keep that up."
"If I can manage to tear my dear husband away from his best man." She grumbled and they turned to see the boys with their heads together and laughing about something. Maybe it was the fire whiskey, maybe it was because she remembered she was married finally, or maybe she really did just love these boys, that her heart gave a leap when she realized this was it for her, and she couldn't be happier.
"You okay?" Remus asked with care, he was always so careful with her, so conscientious of the fact that this was a long time coming, their friendship hadn't been easy for anyone, but then again love was funny like that.
"The best." She said and leaned in to give him a kiss on his cheek. He stiffened and looked at her with those green eyes she loved, full of wonder and hope but still holding onto the hurt he's been through. They were the green-eyed freaks of the group, they had to stick together.
"Why are you snogging my wife?" A voice said and they turned to see James was standing over them his hands on his hips and his expression amused but stern at the same time.
"Because she deserves a good snogging after marry a prat like you." Lily said with a smile and stood up to face her new husband.
"Oh, a prat am I? Well you're…" And he trailed off, she raised her eyebrow waiting for him to say it, anything, her hand twitched, itching to hold a wand so she could hex his bits off.
"I'm what, Potter?" She said and she could feel her temper rising. That fool husband of hers!
"Lovely when you're upset. You light up." And James smiled at her and she wished he wouldn't do that, getting her all riled up like that.
"Arse." She huffed as she sat back down next to Remus. Like always, he was sitting there quietly, not making a fuss when there seemed to be a confrontation going on around him. Bless his quiet soul. James laughed and Sirius joined him, they never did anything without the other, Lily thought amused, but she couldn't show it.
"Come on Potter," James called to her, walking down the hill they were sitting on, "Let's go on one last adventure, bring those other prats with you!"
Sirius and Remus laughed, slowly getting up and shaking off any grass and dirt they might have gotten on the suits that she and James had spent hours bickering over. It was all as well, since she had spent days looking for the dress she was wearing, enduring hours of her mother chattering away, of her sister's abandonment, and all she had to show for it was some grass stains and twigs she got from sitting on the grass with her boys.
They were her boys, she thought fondly, as Sirius and Remus both offered a hand to pull her up. Hers, she thought as Remus ran after James, the wind pushing his hair back from his face, the only time he looked his age was when he was with James. Sirius walked down with her, keeping pace with her shorter legs and catching her when she tripped on all the fabric by her feet.
"Sorry," she said softly. She liked Sirius, she liked his cool gray eyes and the way he smiled. She loved him because James did, they were brothers, but she always felt a stiffness coming off of him, a wall between them, ever since James proposed.
"No, I'm sorry." He said abruptly and stopped walking, she saw James and Remus jump into the lake with just their socks, so she gladly stopped walking and turned towards Sirius.
"For what?" She asked, tilting her head to the side and studying him.
"For being a complete arse." He said harshly and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. She could never understand why Sirius didn't have anyone, he was rough around the edges sure, but he was so much more than that. She knew that, even if he wouldn't let her in.
"You haven't been." She said softly and took a step closer, she put her hand on his shoulder and watched how his muscles automatically tensed and how he visibly had to relax himself, "He's your brother. You love him."
"And he loves you, since the moment he saw you."
"I know." She said, not unkindly. She knew it in the way he had treated Severus, in the way he called to her when she was walking past. She knew it in the way that all girls do when boys were being stupid.
"There's been talk…"
"No." She said loudly, stopping all talk. She knew what he was going to say, she knew what was going on, she wasn't a fool. She was preparing for a wedding during a time when people feared for their lives, He was growing stronger, He was gathering forces, she knew this and she knew the danger she would be in, being Muggle-born, but she was not afraid of men who hid behind masks. She would not be afraid of the things she could fight. "We can talk about that another day. This is my wedding day, I want to spend it with my family, not dwelling on Him." She refused to call him by a label, to give him a name, the man who caused so many to live in fear.
"Family?" Sirius asked, perplexed, and she softened again.
"Yes, you're my family now. Remus too. What James loves, I love." She said and gave his shoulder a squeeze before letting go. She saw his features relax, some of that light that James put in his eyes came back, it was amazing the love they had for each other.
"Will you be taking your tea with four sugars now, too?"
"Oh no. James can keep that. I don't understand how that man can drink his tea like that. Utterly barbaric." Lilly sniffed in disdain and they laughed. She knew he was sad, Sirius was always kind of sad, just like Remus. Remus worried far too much and Sirius fought far too much. James was neither, he was cautious and calm. He had changed so much since that first night on the train, since those first years at school, and she hoped she had changed a bit too. Walking down to the lake, watching how James and Remus swam lengths across it, looking away as Sirius stripped from his suit and jumped in, she sighed.
These fools, these wet, clamoring, silly fools, were hers. Petunia could call her names, could refuse to call her what she was: her sister, but Lily didn't mind. She found a family in James, in his brothers, in their love for each other. She can make another family, she could have a son or a daughter who had James' god-awful hair, or her chin. They could and would be happy, no matter what this Lord guy says, she had just as much of a right to the magic in her veins as anyone else did.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.
"James." She called out and he stopped splashing Remus and turned towards her, "Have you seen Peter?"
A/N: I've never read any fanfiction for this era so if I got anything blatantly wrong, I am sorry. I tried to do some research while I was writing it, but I mostly just wrote it how I imagined they would be. It wasn't meant to be anything more then a One-Shot attempt. I've never written any kind of fanfiction if i'm being completely honest, I write original fiction (short stories, poetry, flash fiction, etc) so this whole thing was a whim. I hope you enjoyed it! I'm pretty proud of it. Let me know what you think of it, please! Reviews are appreciated.