So basically this has been uncompleted on my laptop for ages, and I finally got bored of it being so unfinished, and buckled down to finish it. This is, although it was written as a one-shot, linked to another James and Lily story I have going revolving around these characters. So if you don't understand who some of these people are, very sorry, but they come up in most other James and Lily fanfictions anyway.
So, without further addition, I give you the wedding of the century!
Sirius POV
Standing watching my best mate do up his tie in front of the mirror, I couldn't quite understand what all the fuss surrounding weddings was about.
"I'm still against this idea, you know?" I said, alerting James to my presence.
"I am aware." Was his casual response, forever ready for my quips and taunts. Wistfully, I sighed and moved into the room.
"You're making a right mess of that tie mate." I informed the groom helpfully. James turned round.
"Fuck off you Wanker." Despite being taught all the formal pureblood ways since he could walk, tying a tie was something he'd never quite gotten the hang of.
I grinned and moved forward taking the pieces of material into my own deft hands.
"Pads…"
"Mmmhh."
"You know you'll always be my brother right? Whatever happens? Even with me getting married to Lily and moving in with her-"
"Is that what you think?" I interrupted, with a bewildered look on my face. "Is that why you think I'm against this?" James had tried to avoid talking about the wedding with me since the day he and Lily announced they were engaged, firstly because he knew I was against the wedding, and secondly because James actually had no clue what my vendetta was.
"It's the only reason I can come up with as to why you're against the wedding." James admitted with a frown.
"Prongs, I'm not against you getting married. You and Red are made for each other." I explained, tucking the last piece of material into place.
"Then what? Why do you keep trying to convince us not to get married?" James almost shouted at me in exasperation.
I turned my head away, hearing the light footsteps of someone coming down the hallway.
"Someone else is here to see you. I'm gonna go make sure all the safety charms are in place." I got halfway out for the door before turning round, and saying "Don't get cold feet."
James scoffed. "As if. I've been waiting for this day for the past four years." He mumbled.
I grinned at my delusionally in love brother, before turning round to leave the room. Peter was leaning against the wall in the hallway, waiting for me to vacate the room.
"Wormtail" I greeted him with a mock salute. He grinned back.
"How's he doing?" He asked.
"How do you think?" I responded with a raised eyebrow.
"I was sort for hoping he'd be a bit scared. Then at least we'd have some proof he's human. No such luck though it seems." Peter sighed.
"I CAN HEAR YOU TWO Y'KNOW." James shouted from the room.
Pete pushed me gently out of the doorway and went in.
"That was the plan Potter."
I smiled at my fortune for finding the craziest but most loyal friends, and walked off.
As it turned out, Minnie had done a splendid job of the charms, so I had nothing to distract me for the next half an hour. Therefore, I went to see the next most distracting person I knew. Lily Evans, soon to be Potter.
When I got to her room, Remus was leaning against the wall outside, next to the closed door, looking bored but expectant.
"So you too have been left without anything to do?" I asked, leaning against the wall opposite him.
"Dorcas kicked me out." He mumbled reluctantly, a slight blush rising into his cheeks. Even now, after two years of dating, he still blushed at the mention of his girlfriend.
"And why did she do that?" I asked, intrigued.
"I was distracting her." He said in a monotone voice, the blush in his cheeks darkening.
"And how exactly were you distracting her?" I asked, tired of his short answers.
"Apparently I look, and I quote, 'way too handsome and sexy in a suit, so I'm going to have to leave the room because she needs to concentrate on Lily's hair." He admitted with an unwilling sigh.
I on the other hand burst out laughing. I really did try to keep it in, but it was just too funny a situation.
"Well well Remus, you are going up in the world." I managed to say once I had calmed myself down.
"Sod off you Loser." He mumbled in embarrassment.
"How are you and the Pixie?" I asked, the words flying out of my mouth, when I knew that I didn't want to hear the answer. The lovesick smile that lit up Remus' gaunt face made me feel sick to my stomach. That never-ending, disgusting happiness that I hated, mostly because I knew it all too well, and it was something I'd vowed I wouldn't let anyone inflict on me. I'd failed on that front.
"I'm happy Sirius. For the first time in…..well, since Greyback bit me I suppose, I'm actually happy. Pure, fulfilled happiness. It's not something I ever considered a possibility." Remus admitted blithely. My gut wrenched in protest, and I swallowed back the bitter bile in my throat.
It wasn't the idea of Remus being happy that made me disgusted. No, I was thrilled by that prospect. Having watched Remus grow up myself, living a jaded lifestyle that was only made bearable by us, his friends. I knew firsthand the pains he went through. No, it was the thing that made Remus happy that I was against.
Love.
The vile poison kept everyone prisoners to a patriarchal lifestyle. It had kept me trapped for too long, and in a way, I was still trapped. Running just out of reach of it, but never far enough so that I could no longer see it.
"Will there be wedding bells anytime soon? I need to know, these tuxes are expensive to rent." I continued nonchalantly, as if nothing was wrong. Remus' content face disappeared in a flash.
"You know that can never happen Sirius." He said in a low tone, as if I'd asked him to commit a murder. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"I'm gonna need some further explanation on that one mate. Why can't you and Dorcas get married." I said, even with my aversion to marriage, I had no idea what he was going on about. Remus looked physically pained, but went on anyway.
"If she marries me, she commits herself to a lifestyle she doesn't want. She'll be trapped. I could never do that to her." Remus whispered, like he was uttering the words to a deadly spell. I rolled my eyes at my ever pessimistic friend.
"I can't even comprehend that sentence, seeing as every single thing you said was wrong." I announced with a sigh. Remus rolled his eyes back at me. "Firstly Moony, if Dorcas heard you saying that she would probably hex you into oblivion, so shut up. Secondly, any woman would be lucky to marry you. You're braver than any man I've ever met, including me. And that's saying a lot." Remus snorted in protest to my vain words, but the amusement in his face was what I'd been aiming to do. "And thirdly, don't you think Dorcas is already committed to you? I've seen the way she looks at you Remus, that girl is gone." Remus looked down at his shoes.
"You act like marriage would change everything about your relationship, but honestly, she knows everything there is to know about you, marrying her won't change how she already sees you."
"I know what you want to ask." Remus said to me in a monotone, stuffing his hands in his pocket. "You wonder why I date her seriously if I don't want her to spend the rest of her life with me." I stayed silent, but we both knew that that was exactly what I'd been pondering.
"Why do you stay with her then? If you think you're such a burden on her life, then why don't you let her go?" I eventually asked, realising that he wanted me to ask the question.
"Because I can't stay away from her." He said, his voice hollow and shaking.
We stood opposite each other in silence, pondering the world's curious workings, and why on Earth love even existed in the first place. For something so desirable, it caused humanity's greatest problems.
I leaned my head back against the wall and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to get rid of the headache that I'd had since three o'clock this morning.
"You have to speak to her Pads." Remus said, finally breaking the oppressive silence. Inwardly I groaned, silently hating him for broaching the topic. I opened one eye and stared at him. His back was straight, and his hands were by his side. He looked like a teacher.
"Who?" I asked, playing the idiot. He cocked his head at me exasperatedly.
"Don't do that Sirius. Pretending that you're oblivious to everything that goes on around you. You observe things better than most people do. You know exactly what I mean." Remus said, his voice growing louder with frustration. I remained silent, accepting the criticism, but not adhering to it.
"Come on Pads." Remus said now, in a softer lower voice. "You never spoke to each other after what happened. I can literally see the pain tearing both of you apart. Dorcas says Marlene barely eats anymore, doesn't enjoy the things she used to, hasn't smiled in a week. She's falling apart Sirius. And you are too. I can see it in everything you do. Your smile is fake and doesn't reach your eyes, your laughter is brittle, your movements are sluggish, and you get drunk every night. You're falling apart too." I remained silent, a solemn statue against the wall.
"Pads…" Remus tried, taking a step towards me. "You need her."
"I can't speak to her - let alone see her." I whispered, my own words surprising me.
"Why?" Remus breathed.
"You know why." I said, looking him dead in the eye. He knew he was losing us. Mar and I were fading, like leftover snow in the beginnings of Spring.
"I want to hear you say it." He said brutally. I clenched my eyes shut in reproach. "I need to know that you know what's happening."
"Because I love her."
Suddenly the corridor felt restrictively claustrophobic, and I hung my head in an attempt to still the walls that were closing in on me. I could feel Remus' sympathetic eyes on me, as if his caring gaze would heal me in an instant. I used to think that Remus would be the one person who could understand my decision, my pain. But it turned out that although he felt the constant guilt of letting someone else love him, he also couldn't stop himself, and didn't want to. And as a person who used to think he didn't deserve love (and part of him always will), he now knows exactly what I'm going through. Which makes it worse because he knows that my pain is solvable.
It was torture, to be pitied by someone who was so desperately in love, and relished in it, for being in love when I loathed it.
Then the worst thing that could've happened, actually happened.
The door to Lily's little hotel room opened, and who came out of it? None other than Marlene McKinnon. Naturally, she had fantastic timing. Marlene opened her mouth to say something, but words failed her when she saw me. We stared at each other in a desperate, uncomfortable silence; our eyes locked onto each other, and there was no possibility of looking away. You could have sliced the tension in the air with a knife.
She was even more beautiful than I remembered. Her blonde hair glowing in the dim lights of the hallway, like an angelic halo, when I knew she could be quite the opposite in character. It starkly juxtaposed her dress, making her face stand out with brilliance. The blue flowers in her hair matched the knee length royal blue bridesmaids dress she wore, a substantially distracting dress may I add. With only one shoulder strap, it revealed the creamy pale skin of her collarbone, bringing back memories of the many nights we'd spent under the sheets together, where I'd abused and left my mark on that collarbone to no end.
Remus coughed to break the hostility in the corridor, and I was brought out of my nightmarish daydream.
"Is Lily nearly ready?" Remus asked Mar, stubbornly refusing to hide his smug smile. Mar's grey eyes finally broke the suspended contract with mine, and I allowed myself to let out the breath I'd been holding in silently.
"Ummm, yeah. Yes. Can you get James into the hall now? We're gonna start in ten." She said. Godric her voice. It was both soft and coarse, like the sound of delicate bells hitting the side of a thick piece of wood. But it was hollow and emotionless, devoid of warmth or sentiment, obviously due to my presence. Or maybe that's what I'd done to her. It was the voice that ran through my head through every adrenaline-filled quidditch match, calling out to me the plays and procedures. It was the voice that I'd listened to read out potions notes, the day before finals again and again and again until she was certain she could recite it. It was the voice that had whispered both tender and immoral/obscene words in my ear. It was the voice that made my heart pound and my pulse race. It took my breath away and rendered me useless.
But not useless enough for me not to see a way out of this awkward situation.
"I'll go." I mumbled, putting my head down and quickly slouching away. I could feel two pairs of eyes boring into my back. One: my best friend forever both amused and concerned. The other: the girl I loved trying to figure me out.
Remus POV
"Will you try and speak to him tonight?" I suggested to Mar as soon as Sirius was out of hearing range. She gave me a look that could make water freeze.
"I have nothing to say to him." She said dryly, spitting her words out like poison. I sighed and shook my head at their childish stubbornness.
"Don't give me that look Remus Lupin. You know very well this is exactly what you were like when you managed to work out that you were in love with Dorcas. You ran from it." She said harshly, pointing her finger at me accusingly. I flinched, her words bringing back memories of the days I'd wasted pushing Dorcas away from me.
"But look where I am now. Dorcas and I ended up back together, in a thriving and loving relationship." I quipped back, taking a step towards her. "You see the resemblance in the two relationships?" She pursed her lips at me in frustration, recognising that I'd won. Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she stalked back into the room, and I followed after her.
A girl with fiery red hair, a blunt contrast to the bare white of the wedding dress she wore, stood in front of me. Her pale skin only a few shades different to her outfit, so much so that you could barely see the delicate lace that travelled up her collarbone and shoulders. The clean white dress hugged her figure as it travelled down her body, expanding outwards slightly when it reached her waist. It was a simple dress, but both elegant and unconventional. There never was a wedding dress more suited to our Lily Evans.
"Well Lily, if James isn't in love with you now, he certainly will be when he sees you walking down that aisle." I remarked, breaking into a huge grin that reflected the general feelings of everyone on that day (except for Marlene and Sirius). She rolled her eyes at me, but a joyful smile lit up her already radiant face.
"Careful what you say Remus. Your girlfriend's standing next to you." She warned playfully. I looked down to my left to see my girlfriend, who had previously kicked me out of the room was standing at my arm. She grinned up at me, her small height meaning that she was forever looking up at people, and like always, my breath caught in my lungs. She wasn't conventionally beautiful, I was aware of that. But her small button nose and cheeks that went red easily were more beautiful to me than high cheek bones and perfectly proportionate lips could ever be. Like always, her brown baby hairs were escaping the delicately plaited braid that fell down her back, and I gently tucked a lock of hair that wasn't long enough to reach the braid, behind her ear. She leaned her body against me and I wrapped my arm around her. We were comfortable like this, she fit into my side perfectly, her head able to rest against my chest easily. I leaned down and whispered into her ear softly,
"You look beautiful." She rolled her eyes similarly to Lily, but the grin on her face told a different story.
"So, are we going to get this party started or not?" Mar said brightly, clapping her hands together in preparation. I grinned in typical marauder fashion, and released Doe from my embrace to offer Lily my arm instead.
"Ma'am. I believe that a certain someone is waiting at the top of the aisle for you." I recited formally, putting on a fake posh accent.
"Well then, we better not keep him waiting, should we?" Lily answered, taking my arm and giving me a grin that told stories of only happiness.
Ten minutes later I was walking Lily Evans, soon to be Potter up the aisle of a small but crowded rented hall hidden in the middle of the countryside. It was a private ceremony, with only friends and family invited. The family side severely lacking on both sides. But the amount of strong and determined friends that had turned up dearly made up for it. It was also why I was currently walking Lily up the aisle.
Dorcas had been the one to mention it to me first. We were curled up on the sofa in her apartment together, watching a terrible muggle film about dragons (all of their information was severely wrong, but it wasn't for lack of trying). We were ignoring the film completely and instead talking (and kissing). Eventually the topic of "The posh drink-up" (what we'd come to call James and Lily's wedding) came up, and Doe mentioned how Lily had been surprisingly quiet about it. When she and Mar had confronted her on it, Lily admitted that she was simply annoyed that her parents weren't going to be there. Specifically that her Dad wouldn't be there to walk her down the aisle. They'd comforted her the best they could, but there was nothing they could do to fix the fact that her parents weren't going to be at the wedding.
We'd both gone quiet at the realisation that neither the groom's or the bride's parents were going to be able to see their children get married. At least, we were quiet until Dorcas came up with what she'd go onto call the 'idea that saved the drink-up'.
"You should walk her down the aisle!" Dorcas suddenly exclaimed, causing me to jut forward in fright, pushing her off the sofa. She glared at me quickly before carrying on in excitement.
"You should be the one to give Lily away!" She said gleefully. I could see the cogs turning in her head as I helped her back up.
"You were Lily's first best friend right?" She asked, without giving me time to answer. "You sat with her on the train, Mar and I didn't meet her until we found out we were dorm buddies. You were the first people each other knew at Hogwarts, and you've been there for each other ever
since. For Godric's sake, she's as much your friend as Sirius is!"
I blinked, trying to process the barrage of information Dorcas had just put in front of me.
"You…...you think I should give Lily away?" I asked slowly in doubt. Dorcas simply nodded, finally realising that she'd overwhelmed me.
"It makes the most sense. You're practically brother and sister, and she has no parents to give her away." She said quietly. I processed the idea, imagining walking Lily down a decorated aisle, ready to pass her onto a man that would walk through hell a thousand times to live a single day with her.
"What about her sister?" I suggested. Dorcas' faced dropped from excited anticipation to a twisted anger the moment the words left my mouth.
"Petunia sent back her RSVP today. It was burnt within an inch of its life." She snarled heatedly. I sighed. I'd met Petunia on all of three occasions, and the only impression I'd gotten of her was one of intensely bitter jealousy. Petunia would not be coming to the wedding.
"At least suggest it to her." Doe whispered, seeing the indecision on my face. "You never know, she may not know she wants it."
I looked at the petite, but dynamic woman in front of me. Whom I loved and would take an avada kedavra for. I looked at the woman who was willing to let the man she loved walk another woman down the aisle, and trusted her. And she was right, as she always was, because when I suggested it to Lily, quietly the next day when we went round to visit, she began to cry and launched herself into my arms. At first I thought she was crying out of sadness, still bitter that her parents wouldn't see her get married. But then she was laughing and saying that she loved that idea, and so I hugged her back and told her that I loved her.
Then James came running in, thinking that I'd upset his Fiancee somehow, and it was all i could do to stop him from punching me.
So that's how I ended up giving away Lily Evans - soon to be Potter.
What did you think of the first part? Remember to comment what you thought.
Keep reading for the rest of it!
