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Dear Mudblood

Lily was still laying half covered in blankets, and more than most of the way asleep when her owl landed on her pillow, dropping the morning's Daily Prophet onto her face. The sleeping redhead pulled her eyes open just enough to shoot her owl a glare. "Way to go, Carina." The owl ruffled its feathers in response to her owner's sarcasm, and flew off of the pillow to land on the dresser as the witch slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, impatiently brushing loose strands of hair out of her face. Situating herself so that her back was leaned against the headboard and her legs crossed in front of her, Lily opened up her copy of the Prophet and scanned the headlines, before nearly falling back down at what she saw plastered across the front page.

Plans made for 1,500 guests at the upcoming Potter-Evans marriage.

The wedding will be the biggest social event in years in wizarding England. James Potter - son of Charlus Potter and Dorea Black - is set to marry Miss Lily Evans - a talented muggleborn witch - on 31 October 1979 in an elaborate ceremony lasting from ten in the morning and finishing around seven in the evening. Mr. and Mrs. Potter are nothing less than thrilled with the fact that they are gaining a new daughter-in-law, saying that they knew the union was meant to be the first time they had met the lovely Miss Evans.

The article about her "betrothal" to James, went on in much the same fashion all the way down the front page, and was even continued on pages three, five, and seven, and ended with a collage of pictures taken in the two years that Lily had been with her boyfriend (now her fiancé). Staring down at the paper clutched in her hands, Lily blinked several times as if that would make the article disappear, and was only mildly disappointed when it didn't. She couldn't bring herself to be angry by it (but that didn't make her any less embarrassed). She knew the announcement was the work of her soon-to-be-mother-in-law, and was pleased with what Dorea was trying to do. In the current environment with all the fear spreading about Voldemort, not many pureblood witches or wizards (like the Potters) would have been boasting about their only son marrying a muggleborn. The Potters never minded, though, and they practically doted on Lily from the moment James had brought her to meet them. This article, as she had concluded, was Dorea's way of driving it home that they were proud to be welcoming her into family, current environment be damned. Embarrassed as she was by the attention, Lily couldn't stop the smile spreading across her lips, or the feeling of affection that gushed up in her towards her fiancé's parents.

Swinging her legs off of the side of her bed, Lily made her way over to the desk in the corner, pulling out a bit of parchment and her ink, fully intending to pen a letter to Dorea expressing her gratitude. Before, she could begin her composition, however, an unfamiliar owl soared in through her open window and dropped a letter on her desk before leaving just as quickly as it had come. Eyeing the envelope suspiciously, she picked it up and tore into it, the color steadily draining from her face the further she got into it. Obviously, some people were not as pleased by the acceptance of her future family as she was.

Dear Mudblood,

Be advised from concerned witches and wizards unnamed, that you may not be permitted to perform any kind of legal union with anyone of magical breeding - especially one with blood as pure as that of your betrothed. Even pureblood of a traitorous variety is worth too much for us to allow it to be tainted by any kind of association with a common muggle such as yourself. Ms. Evans, please be advised that you are in breach of the rules and regulations of our current regime. In addition, the mudblood community as filthy as it is and as unwanted as it is doesn't need to bring additional unwarranted attention which assists in bringing down the already downward spiraling quality of wizarding blood. We are to have our community a pure and proud one, without having another gang of mudblood scum such as yourself who have attempted to assimilate into this once clean wizard-dominated culture, which includes those blood whores like yourself who have aligned themselves with PUREBLOOD husbands, to assist in the ensuring that their half-breed children inherit magical capabilities in order to be accepted into wizarding society. This is not a request. Either you put an end to this abomination of a union, or we will. Signed, Concerned Members of the Magical Community.

She sat there in shock for several moments - or was it hours? - reading and re-reading the letter clenched in her hands, each time seeming worse than the last, until finally she had made up her mind. Roughly shoving herself away from the desk, she forced the crumpled letter into the pockets of her pajama trousers and snatched her wand off of the dresser, turning on the spot and apparating to her fiancé's house. Not caring that her hair was a complete disaster, and her pajamas a rumpled mess, not to mention the fact she was so pale she looked to be on the brink of passing out, she wrenched the front door open and strode into the entrance hall, shouting as she went "James! Get down here!"

James Potter had been up for hours before the love of his life came waltzing in his front door, and so compared to his fiancee, he looked absolutely immaculate. He heard her call for him as she walked through the house, and a grin slowly spread across his face as he set aside the book he had been reading and walked towards the sounds of her voice. "What's the matter, Darling, you couldn't wait until tonight to see me?" As he caught sight of Lily standing disheveled and pale in front of him, all trace of joking vanished and his voice dropped into the most serious tone James thought he had ever heard himself use. "Lily, love, are you alright?" He rushed forward, his hands brushing the hair out of her face, before coming to rest on her shoulders. "Tell me what's happened!"

Lily eyed him carefully, steeling herself for what she was about to do, as she reached for his hand, pulled it off of her shoulder and held it in her own before speaking. "You know I love you, right?"

She saw the confusion pass across his face before it was replaced with a confident smile as he replied, "Well, I'd surely hope so seeing as you agreed to marry me and all."

She bit down on the inside of her lip as he spoke, reminding herself that she had to do this. It was the only way that she could keep him safe. "About that..." she paused, taking a deep, steadying breath before forcing herself to continue, "I don't think we should get married."

There was a ringing silence that pressed on Lily's ears harder than any furious rant could have, she watched as he studied her face and then stepped away from her "WHAT?!"

His shout hit Lily like a slap in the face, and she flinched in response to it before speaking very quickly, "I love you, I do! It's just...we're only nineteen! We've only been together for two years! I...I..I..." She drew a blank, her excuses sounded pathetic even to her own ears. "I think it would be safest if we didn't get married." This time the confusion stayed on his face for much longer than it had the last time.

"What do you mean "safest", Lily? Safest for who? Surely not for me, because you're breaking my heart." He meant it, too. She could see that by the look on his face and it killed her to hurt him. When she had come over here, she had been determined not to show him the letter she had received today, but the way he was looking at her now killed any of her resolve she had left. Silently, she reached into her pocked and withdrew the parchment she had shoved there before handing it out to him.

It took him less than a minute to read to the bottom of the letter, and that's when he lost it. He paced around the entrance hall, ranting, raving, and waving his hands around like a madman. Lily lost half of what he was saying because his words were coming so fast and angry. "How DARE they!" As James turned again to walk across the entrance hall, a door to the side opened up and three more people stepped in as he continued shouting. Apparently all of his words were not lost on them. Charlus, Dorea, and Sirius were all standing there with identical looks of shock on their faces at the actions James, who was all but purple in the face.

"What's going on, Mate?" It was Sirius who spoke first, and James came lurching to a stop as if he had only just realized his parents and best friend had walked into the room. James seemed to have run out of words to use by this point, because all he could do was walk over to the threesome huddled by the door to the study and hold out the letter wordlessly. The newcomers poured over the letter, and soon enough Sirius' face had slid into a mask of fury to match that of James. "I know this -"

"Sirius.." Dorea cut across him before he could finish. "Let's not have things get out of hand, shall we?"

Sirius shot her a look of incredulous fury. "Get out of hand? Get out of hand? Things are already out of hand Rea!" James looked back and forth between his mother and Sirius, confusion touching his features again. Before he could ask what was going on, however, Sirius turned to his friend and answered the unspoken question. "This letter was written by our," Sirius gestured between himself and Dorea before continuing, "cousin Bellatrix Black. Well, Lestrange, now."

The Elaborate Ruse

It had taken several hours for Lily to get everyone (namely, James and Sirius) calmed back down to a point where they were thinking rationally. She had sat with them in Charlus' study, working on a plan. James had agreed not to go after Bellatrix and instigate any fights, as long as Lily promised that she would still marry him.

"If you didn't love me, it would be one thing, but you do and you can't just let them win by not doing what you want. You're better than that. We're better than that, and we're going to get married just liked we planned."

"No." Lily held up her hand to silence her fiancé as anger flashed across his face and he opened his mouth to speak again. "We're going to get married. I love you, and it was stupid of me to try and cancel that. I meant, no, we can't do it just like we planned."

"What do you mean? How are we supposed to get married, then?"

"That announcement in the Prophet laid out every detail of our wedding. Date, time, location..." Lily ticked the bits of information off on her fingers as she spoke. "We would be sitting ducks if we went through with that ceremony." She pointed over to the letter now sitting on Charlus' desk. "We already know at least one person wouldn't be opposed to gate crashing and causing a scene. It's not safe."

"What are you suggesting, then?"

"We need to pretend that we're still getting married exactly like the announcement said. That's the only way we can throw off suspicion. Once everyone believes that we're still going through with the wedding then we'll have to elope. Sort of. We can still have a wedding, and plan something, but it has to be small, James. None of this 1,500 people. We can each invite five people each - not counting your parents. Then we'll go somewhere they won't think to look - a muggle church - and we'll get married. Nobody will ever suspect. That way, we get what we want and everyone stays safe."

"Evans," James admired the woman sitting across from him with nothing short of adoration, "you are down right diabolical."

The next several weeks passed in breakneck speed for Lily. She was hardly ever home anymore - which she expected Frank and Alice appreciated, seeing as they had just found out Alice was expecting a baby (not that they would ever admit to that) - but she still felt bad for neglecting her duties around the house and time spent with her best friend. Lily had been living with Alice since she was sixteen years old and they were practically inseparable, but now Lily spent most of her time over at the Potter's house planning out an elaborate wedding with Dorea. An elaborate wedding that none of them would be attending.

"Rea," Lily eyed her soon-to-be-mother-in-law from across the Potter's dining room table as they made plans, "you don't have to go spending all this money on a wedding nobody is going to be at. We just need to make it look like we're having a wedding, not actually have one."

"Nonsense," came the short reply from Dorea Potter, who barely looked up from the sea of parchment holding wedding details as she continued, "of course there is going to be a wedding. You might not be attending, Lily dear, but if we are going to fool them, we must make it realistic."

Lily's lips pursed as Dorea spoke, giving what she thought was a perfectly logical explanation, but the undertone of her words made the younger witch suspicious. Dorea Potter was hiding something, and Lily didn't like it. Before she could confront the woman in front of her, however, the dining room swung open, and two young wizards came marching in.

"Well if it isn't my two favorite girls!"

Lily grinned up at her fiancé as he made his way over to her chair and dropped a kiss onto her forehead before ruffling her hair, and laughing at the disgruntled look she shot him.

"Busy wedding planning, I see." James glanced over the parchment in front of his mother before continuing, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to steal your help though, Mother, but fear not! I brought in a replacement." James gestured to Sirius, who dropped into Lily's vacated seat as she was pulled from it by her hand.

"Oh, boy!" Sirius bounced in the seat, clapping his hands, his eyes alight with mock excitement, "Rea, we're going to have so much fun!" He reached across the table and grabbed some of the parchment from his cousin and pulled them towards his end of the table.

Satisfied that his best friend and mother had the faux wedding preparations under control, James began leading Lily out of the dining room. As they rounded the corner, Lily heard Dorea and Sirius both drop their voices to an inaudible level, and her last thought before James pushed her up against the wall and crashed his lips against hers, was that she was definitely being kept out of some kind of plan. These thoughts were quickly pushed out of her mind, however, as James' fingertips flitted up under the hem of her shirt and ran across her stomach and sides.

"Evans," he breathed, his lips still hovering centimeters from her own, "You've been working so hard with all of this planning, you've been neglecting certain perks that come along with my being your fiancé." His hips pushed into hers, as if she needed any further proof of what he had been referring to, and as her breath caught in her throat, James tossed her over his shoulder and quickly carried her up the stairs and to his bedroom, closing and sealing the door behind them.

James lay in his bed, the sheet just barely covering him, as he folded his hands behind his head and watched as Lily went around the bedroom collecting her discarded articles of clothing and slipping back into them. So far she'd only been able to dress the top half of her body.

"Quit smirking at me, James Potter, and help me find my knickers!"

James let out a laugh as he sat up, earning him a shoe thrown at his head. Well, near his head, really, as Lily Evans didn't have the best aim in the world.

"Calm down, you bloody lunatic." He laughed again as he stood out of the bed, and pulled his own trousers up around his waist and fastened them. "If you would take a moment to look around the room and not at my smoking hot body, you'd realize they were over on Godric's cage."

James pointed across the room as he spoke, and sure enough, when Lily's eyes followed the direction of his finger she saw her missing knickers hanging off the top of her fiancé's owl's cage where they must have caught when they were flung unceremoniously from her body.

"You know," Lily began as she strode across the room to retrieve them, "just because I'm letting you shag me, doesn't mean you can give Godric an exclusive inside look at my knickers."

"Yeah, yeah," came James' muffled reply as he pulled his shirt back over his head. "You loved it. Now put those back on, and quickly. I've got a surprise for you."

Lily arched one of her eyebrows as she eyed her fiancé with the utmost suspicion. Eight years of knowing James Potter had taught her that 'surprised' from him - or any of the marauders - were not always something to look forward to. Nonetheless, she pulled the rest of her clothes on and ran her fingers through her hair, pulling at the tangles that had formed there and trying to get it to at least look a little tame. "All right then," she made her way back over to James, "show me the surprise."

He let out a laugh as she held out her hand, obviously expecting him to actually give her something. "My apologies, love, but I don't think it's going to fit in your hand. Besides, I've got to get you there, first." He reached out, and instead of placing something in Lily's hand took it in his own and pulled her in close. "All ready, then?" James didn't wait for an answer before turning on the spot, pulling both him and his fiancee into the tight darkness that both had become familiar with.

They emerged into blinding sunlight with a faint pop and Lily blinked her eyes a few times, adjusting to the change in lighting and taking in her surroundings. They appeared to be in the middle of some kind of bog. They were surrounded by wet grasses and moss, and Lily had the distinct impression that the ground she was standing on was rather squishy.

"James Potter, where the bloody hell are we?"

"Well, you said you wanted secluded," James began somewhat sheepishly. "I just thought that because you and Mum had been so busy coming up with the elaborate ruse of a wedding, that I might be able to help with the real one." He studied the woman in front of him, genuinely nervous that she wouldn't like what he had contributed, before continuing slowly. "In answer to your question, we're in Wales. And that," he inclined his head towards a point behind Lily, waiting for her to turn around. "is St. Mary Church."

Lily's jaw dropped as she studied the old building that she had nearly missed hidden behind all of the greenery. Once she got a good look at it, she couldn't deny that it was rather beautiful. It was secluded, small, and just perfect. It was almost as if James had plucked the church she had been imagining in her head and planted it here in the middle of this bog. She was at a loss for words, and all she could do was stand staring at the old building, the grin spreading wider and wider across her face.

Seeing the positive reaction on Lily's face, James began to speak very quickly, in a proud voice, determined to show her that he had done his homework when it came to finding the perfect spot for them to legally tie their lives together. "It was built in the fourteenth century. And the windows, do you see the windows?" He pointed, as if Lily wouldn't be able to locate the windows on her own. "Those are from the eighteenth century. This place has practically been here forever, which is why it's perfect for us to get married in, seeing as that's how long I plan on spending as your husband. Forever."

Lily finally tore her gaze away from the church in front of her, and turned towards her fiancé in response to his abnormally sensitive statement, making her way over to him slowly.

"I even found one of those preacher people! He's pretty ancient, gotta be around seventy, but his name is George Harvey, and he is as muggle as they come. We've actually got a meeting set up with him in," James checked the watch around his wrist, "about twenty minutes."

"We're going to be late." James had just looked up from checking his watch as Lily spoke, catching the look in her eyes right before she pounced, knocking them both backwards onto the damp grass, and beginning a repeat performance of earlier this afternoon.

Everything was perfect. At least, that was Lily's thinking. She laid sprawled across her bed that evening replaying the day's events in her head, and almost laughing out loud. They had met with George Harvey like they were supposed to, but as Lily had predicted, they had been quite a bit late. They had shown up half an hour later than their appointment time, soaking wet, and covered in loose grass picked up by their clothes from the bog. Mr. Harvey didn't seem to care, in fact he hadn't seemed to notice at all. Lily guessed that with his age, his eyesight wasn't exactly as perfect as it used to be. That didn't stop Lily from thinking he was absolutely perfect to proceed over her wedding, though, and they had promptly set up a time and a date to do it.

"December first," she had said, and James had agreed. They were scheduled to get married at 5:30 PM on 1 December 1979.

Tomorrow was Halloween, and the date of her original wedding. Lily wasn't sure how she felt about that - knowing that if things had been different then tomorrow she would have become Mrs. Lily Potter - but things were different, and besides, she much preferred the small ceremony that she had planned with James as opposed to the elaborate and showy affair that Dorea had planned for her only son.

Lily gnawed on the side of her lip as her thoughts circled around to her fiancé's mother. She had finally been filled in on the "plan" she had thought Dorea and Sirius had been hiding from her. Dumbledore had announced it this evening at the latest meeting. Apparently tomorrow members of the order, a few select aurors, and James' parents would be attending the "wedding". They had determined that this would be the best way to catch Death Eaters who thought it would be smart to storm the wedding. Lily still wasn't very fond of this plan - she didn't like putting anyone at risk for her sake - but she still understood. If they weren't banding together to fight at her wedding, they would find another venue to stand their ground. The Death Eaters and Voldemort weren't going to give up their cause and the Order - Lily included - refused to let them get away with it. Someone had to fight this madness, and if nobody else came forward, they certainly would.

Lily had never felt more enlightened as to the dangers she was facing. Sure, she had known what was happening and who was being targeted. She knew it was her kind, but never before the letter sent by Bellatrix Lestrange had Lily been singled out and targeted herself. The realization, while it would have scared most people, only made Lily more determined. She belonged to this world just as much as any pureblood, and she was going to fight to make it known she had no intention of leaving it. Lily knew that she was a fighter and she could do this, but at the same time she couldn't stop the what if from running through her mind. What if she didn't make it? Well, Lily already had an answer ready for herself. She had James, and soon she would be his wife. She had amazing friends that she would do anything for. And she knew that if she didn't make it through this, then she would have laid down her life for the most worthy cause she could think of. There was only one loose end that had yet to be tied, and she knew that she needed to at least try and take care of it - just in case the worst should happen.

Pushing herself up from her bed, she strode over to her desk, pulling out a bottle of ink, a quill, and a bit of parchment, and began writing before she could talk herself out of it.

Dear Petunia, (she daren't use 'Tuney' after the way her sister had reacted to the nickname last time she'd used it)

I know we haven't spoken in quite some time, (three years, actually - not since their parents had died) but there are some things I would like to say to you now before it is too late. We have certainly had our differences the past eight years, but honestly, what kind of siblings don't fight? However, I feel as if it has gone on for far long enough. I hate this feeling. You are the only family I have left, and I don't feel as if I have you at all. I suppose if I'm honest with myself, I lost you a long time ago. Even before Mum and Dad, but you know what? I don't much feel like being honest with myself. These past few weeks for me have been nothing but brutal slaps of honesty right to the face for me, and I'm not going to force anymore on myself. That being said, I'm not going to accept that I've lost you. We can never really lose the people that we love, or the people that love us - and I know you love me, Petunia. You may not like me most of the time, but I'm still your sister - those people will always be in our hearts and us in theirs. There is no being lost when you live in someone's heart. I know you must think I'm rambling, but I must confess there is quite a bit on my mind, Petunia, and rambling is to be expected. You see, things aren't going at all well in my world. You see, there is a war going on and the targets are the people like me. Witches and wizards born into non magic families. I actually got a threatening letter the other week - that is mostly why I am writing - not because of the letter, but because of the reason it was written. I am getting married, Petunia. I know you don't much like me, or my kind, but we're having a completely non-magic ceremony with only about ten or fifteen people coming, and it just wouldn't be the same without you there. I know we don't agree on much of anything anymore, and these last eight years have been rough, but I love you, Petunia and I'd like to make things better. I need to put things right with you before it's too late. Please come to my wedding - I need my big sister. We'll be at St. Mary Church in Wales on 1 December at 5:30 PM. I hope to see you then.

All my love, your sister, Lily

Lily folded the letter neatly, and slid it into an envelop, addressing it to her sister and calling Carina over from where she was perched on the wardrobe. "All right, Rina, you need to listen carefully. This letter is for Petunia. You remember my sister? I need you to take it to her - but you have to be very careful about how you deliver it." She studied her owl carefully, looking for any kind of understanding. "You have to give it to her when she's alone. I know her husband hates me, and he'll talk her out of doing what I've asked." She held the envelope addressed to Petunia Dursley out to the bird sitting on her desk, letting go once Carina had it clamped in her beak. "One last thing, Rina. Don't leave until she gives you a response for me, okay? I just...I need to know." The owl gave a muffled hoot from around the letter in its mouth, but Lily took it to be reassuring, so she reached up and gave her pet an affectionate scratch on the head. "All right then. Off you go, love."

"Lily, love?" Alice simultaneously knocked and pushed open the door to Lily's room as Carina took fight and soared out the window. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything..."

"Of course not!" Lily brightened, turning her head and smiling as her friend entered the bedroom.

"I just feel like we haven't really had much time as girls lately, you know? What with all the chaos around here. Nope -" Alice held up her hand to silence Lily as the latter opened her mouth. "I know exactly what you're about to say and don't you dare apologize. None of this is your fault. I just miss you is all." The older witch grinned at the redhead as she crossed the room and climbed onto Lily's bed, wiggling across it until she was leaning back against the headboard and patting the spot next to her, gesturing for Lily to sit down next to her.

Obliging her friend's silent request, Lily got up out of her wooden desk chair and made her way over to the bed, climbing up to take the empty spot. "I've missed you, too, you know." Sliding over, Lily looped her arm through Alice's and rested her head against the older girl's shoulder. "I've lived here for three years and we've been practically inseparable and then the past few weeks everything has gone to hell and I feel like I've hardly seen you at all." Lily's eyes drifted down to glance at Alice's (still flat) stomach. "Not to mention what a lousy friend it makes me that we haven't even properly celebrated your good news yet."

A faint blush crept up Alice's cheeks as she followed Lily's gaze down to her abdomen, and she placed a hand on her stomach. "You're not a lousy mate. I know things have been really rough for you lately. We have plenty of time to celebrate." Nudging Lily's shoulder, she shot her friend a grin. "We are having a slumber party tonight, and a girls day tomorrow."

As good as a girls day with her best mate sounded, Lily couldn't help but hesitate. Tomorrow was the "wedding", and everyone would be heading down there, ready to head off an attack. "The wedding..."

"Goodness, Lily" Alice scoffed, "you don't actually think you're going do you?"

Lily couldn't help but look a little affronted by this. "Well of course I'm going, Alice. I'm the whole reason there might even be a fight. I can't let everyone else fight my battles for me."

"And that is exactly why you aren't allowed to go. You are the target of this attack that - may I remind you may not even happen - and so it's too dangerous to send you in to fight this particular battle."

"So this is because I'm a -"

"This has nothing to do with the fact that you are muggleborn," Alice cut her off, "we all know you could could best the majority of us purebloods in a fight if it came down to it. It's nothing to do with blood status, it's to do with keeping you and everyone else safe. Besides, even James isn't allowed to go, and he certainly isn't muggleborn." Alice eyed her friend reproachfully, "Honestly, Lily, did you think Dumbledore would exclude you because of your family tree? If he had any doubt about your abilities then he wouldn't have asked you to join the order." Squeezing her friend's hand gently, Alice spoke on, "Besides, chances are that letter was nothing but a bunch of talk and nobody will show up anyway. It's just a precautionary measure. You know Dumbledore. He isn't going to take even the vaguest threat lightly."

Lily let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding as Alice said that James wasn't allowed to go, either. She realized, then, that was what she had been worried about. That James would be there without her, and if he got hurt she wouldn't be able to do anything to help. After she had relaxed, the rest of what Alice had been saying made sense. Of course her being there would put everyone else at risk. She was the one the Death Eaters were after, and that's if they even showed up. Alice was right about Dumbledore, too. He was probably just being overly cautious and nothing would happen at all.

"All right," Lily conceded, "we'll have our girls day tomorrow and our slumber party tonight. I'll just need to owl James and let him know."

"No need," Alice replied smugly, a mischievous smile curling her lips, "I told him three days ago that I'd be kidnapping his woman tonight and tomorrow."

"Alice Longbottom!" Lily swatted playfully at her friend's arm, laughing. "I'm your best mate, you should have told me first, not gone plotting behind my back!"

Alice shrugged, "What's done is done. Besides, it's more fun to surprise you." She stuck her tongue out at Lily as if she was all of three years old instead of twenty-three. "Don't worry, though. I don't reckon Mr. Wonderful will be pining for you too much. I think Lupin has planned to go 'round and kidnap him for a "guys day". You know, I've been married to a man for almost six years, and I have still yet to figure out what goes on during guy time. D'you reckon they lay around and gossip like we do?"

"Oh definitely." Lily nodded seriously, doing her best to keep a straight face. "I'm told they even engage in pillow fights and braid each other's hair."

Alice laughed, shaking her head, "As if we would ever engage in such activities! I don't do hair braiding or pillow fights!"

She was half right, anyway.

After the pillow fight between the two girls had come to an end and they were both sufficiently covered in feathers, they both fell back onto the bed laughing and trying to catch their breath.

"Well, you reckon we should get around to the gossiping now?" Lily asked, still almost panting to catch her breath.

"You - you already know I'm preg-preg-pregnant, what else is there to gossip about?" Alice replied, still finding it difficult to compose sentences as she was much more winded than the redhead laying next to her.

"Well, you could tell me how it happened?" It was meant to be a statement, but the inflection in Lily's tone made it seem more like a question when said aloud.

"Jesus, Evans, do still not know where babies come from?"

"That's not what I meant!" Lily was overcome with another wave of laughter as her friend elbowed her in the side. "I meant you could tell me all of the details that don't involve you shagging Frank in the room across the hall!"

"Oh, Lily love, I didn't get pregnant in the bedroom! That is so cliche! I needed an interesting conception story!"

Lily faked a groan, as if she was thoroughly disgusted by this revelation. "That is exactly what I wanted to do tonight, Ali - lose my dinner." Smirking at her friend, Lily waved her hand in a gesture that silently said 'continue'. "Well, go ahead, let me hear this marvelous conception story - minus the shagging details."

Alice shot a face at Lily as she was told to leave out the shagging details, and responded in a teasing tone, "You're just jealous because you've never been shagged in the Ministry of Magic!" Alice waited for some kind of reaction to this news and once Lily's eyes went wide she started up her story again. "You see, we had just gotten in from an auror mission - nothing serious, just some kids thinking muggle fireworks were the Dark Mark - anyway, we were sitting there filing our reports when we both realized that it could have been something serious. I'm not sure if it was me that brought it up, or if it was Frank, but we ended up on the topic of babies. I mean, we'd spoken about it before obviously as we've been married since we were eighteen, but we'd never really talked about it, y'know?" Lily nodded her head to show that she understood, and Alice plowed on with her story, "Anyway, we finally decided that we should just go for it. We've been together long enough to know that we aren't ever going to leave each other, we're financially stable, and we've got plenty of room in the house for a nursery. We know I'll have to take some time off of work once I get heavy pregnant, but like I said, we've got enough savings and Frank makes enough that it won't make any difference. So there we were filling out these reports and I guess we just got so into talking about babies that it just kind of happened. Before I knew it we were shagging on a desk in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Then two weeks later... we found out we've got a little one on the way." Alice patted her stomach affectionately as she finished her story.

Lily had sat there silently as her friend recounted her epic 'conception story' as she had put it, and smiled as she watched Alice run a hand across her abdomen. "That is so..." she paused, looking for the right way to phrase what her thoughts were saying. "That is so you and Frank. Just up and shagging in the bloody ministry because you decided to have a baby." Lily began to laugh again - she suspected this was the most she had laughed in one day since she had received the infamous letter from Bellatrix - and before she knew it Alice had joined in. Lily wasn't quite sure how long they sat there laughing, but as they were falling asleep that night she smiled to herself. Alice had been right. She needed this girl time, and she was glad she had gotten it.

"WAKE UP, LOVELY LILY!" was the first thing to greet Lily's ears in the early morning of Halloween 1979. After the initial shock to her eardrums the shout had caused, Lily realized that Alice was up - and jumping frantically on her bed, grinning like an idiot.

"Shove off, Longbottom, I'm trying to sleep!" Lily flipped over, turning resolutely away from the far too awake woman and burying her face in her pillow.

"Well, well, someone isn't quite so lovely this morning. I suppose we'll just have to fix that won't we?" Climbing down off of the bed, Alice walked around to the foot of it, pausing before she acted to lull her friend into a false sense of security. "Wake up, I said!" As she shouted, Alice had flipped the covers off of Lily and grabbed her ankle, pulling the sleeping girl to the floor with a resounding crash. Snorting out a laugh of satisfaction, Alice nodded once at her handy work and then stepped away from the girl sprawled on the floor.

Lily flailed up into a sitting position with her eyes wide in shock. "What the bloody hell was that for?" She tried to sound demanding, but she, too was laughing at what she must look like, sprawled out on the floor and half asleep.

"To be fair," Alice began, "I did tell you to wake up."

"Git." Lily rolled her eyes as she pulled herself into a standing position. "All right, you got what you wanted and I'm awake." She narrowed her eyes at her still laughing friend, in an attempt to show how much it displeased her to be awoken before eight in the morning. "But your arse better start making me breakfast and have a fantastic girls day planned for me."

Alice assured her that she, indeed, had a fantastic day planned and that Lily should start getting ready.

"You're lucky I love you, woman!" Lily called after Alice as she left the bedroom and closed the door. She was certain she heard a faint "I know" come from behind the closed door, and she rolled her eyes rather than respond to it. It was too bloody early for this. Lily hardly even paid attention as she was picking out her clothes for the day - just enough to make sure that what she was wearing at least matched a little - and then tied her hair up into a messy bun on the top of her head rather than actually do anything productive for it.

With the exception of the rude awakening first thing that morning, the rest of her "girls day" passed just about as normally as any other day might have. They went to the beach (after discreetly casting warming charms on the water) and spent most of the day there, then they had gone into muggle London to the cinema (Alice loved to watch the "muggle pictures" as she called them) and then they finally came back home for dinner (which Lily cooked seeing as Alice had made the breakfast). They had just started in on dessert when it happened - a streak of silver came blurring through the kitchen and then solidified in front of Lily. When the stag spoke, it used James' voice and they could immediately tell that something was horribly wrong.

"Death Eater attack at the wedding. I'm fine...everyone else not so much. Come to St. Mungo's immediately."

Lily wasn't sure what terrified her more, the short, clipped speech, or the tone in which James spoke. Either way, she knew she had to go to him. Shooting a glance at Alice, she shook her head before her friend could even offer to accompany her and she turned on the spot - the thought of James and St. Mungo's burning into her brain as she was sucked into complete darkness.

The Ghosts Of Weddings Past

If you were to have asked her in the months following, Lily would not have been able to tell you how she had managed to get to St. Mungo's, or what had happened immediately after her arrival. The first thing she was able to remember after the stag had landed in the kitchen was "Charlus Potter is dead." She wasn't quite sure whether someone had told her this, or if she had read it somewhere. That could have been possible. New stories were flying around every quarter of an hour about the attack on the Potter-Evans "wedding". She didn't know how she found out, but she was almost positive it wasn't from James (because surely, he wouldn't refer to his father as "Charlus Potter"). All she knew, was that - whatever the source of the information - it wasn't true.

"You've gotten it wrong." Those were the first words that Lily could remember speaking aloud, and they must have come hours after she had arrived. It was getting dark now, and she wasn't positive on how long she had been here. She was positive about this though. "You've gotten it wrong," she repeated softly.

Her words - both the first and second time she spoke them - were met by confusion and she blinked, almost surprised to find James sitting next to her (holding her hand), and Remus sitting across from them both in what appeared to be a large waiting room.

"What's that, Darling?" It was James who spoke, and his voice - much like it had sounded as it came from the mouth of the stag - sounded far away and broken, as if he was only half present. "Who has what wrong?"

"James!" As surprised as she was, she was relieved to find her fiance sitting next to her. Surely, surely, he could clear this up and tell everyone the truth. "James, they're saying that Charlie is dead, but that's not right, is it? Charlie can't be dead, we're having dinner with him and Rea next week!" She could hear it in her voice, the need for that to be true, but even as she tried to convince herself the look on James' face was cracking through the confidence in her voice.

"Lily?" It was Remus who spoke this time, and as he did Lily's head turned towards the sound of his voice, hoping it would bring her the answer that she wanted. He leaned forward, taking the hand that was not currently clasped in James', and when he spoke he did so gently - as if he was afraid his voice would break her. "Lily, don't you remember?"

She wanted more than anything to be able to say that she did, but she just couldn't. Any time she tried to think past apparating away from Alice, there was nothing but hazy darkness. "I don't...I just needed to get to James." Her words came out as almost a plea, begging him not to think she was mad. "That's all I remember. I needed to get here to James. He needed me." She gently squeezed both of their hands, silently asking them to understand why she wasn't able to recall the horror that - she now realized - they must have been suffering with for hours now.

The boys exchanged looks before turning back to the witch in front of them, and telling her - again - what had happened when the Death Eaters had stormed the "wedding". Neither of them had actually been there, and so they were having to go off of what they had been told by those who had actually witnessed the event. From what they were saying, everything stayed calm for a while, and everyone there assumed that nobody was going to show up. It wasn't until later into the day - about the time Lily and James would be saying 'I do' - that the Death Eaters swarmed the place. According to them there were more of them than anyone could have predicted and they were severely outnumbered. They were being picked off one by one and didn't stand a chance at winning a fight with numbers that unmatched, so they did the next best thing and got everyone they could out of there.

"Who all is..." Lily's voice came out as a whisper, and she was too afraid to finish her sentence. They understood, though, and gave her the information that she had asked for.

"We lost a lot of people, somewhere around twenty, I think, but most of them we don't know. The ones we do however are," Remus quickly shot a glance at his friend before continuing, "Charlie, Benjy Fenwick, Caradoc Dearborn, John McKinnon, and the Bones brothers."

"There were more injuries than deaths, though" James finally spoke up again, "and most of them are expected to make a full recovery."

Lily knew better than to be relieved. They had lost too many people to allow that, but she was at least grateful that the number of the dead hadn't been higher than it was. She had calmed down now, and put all of her effort into comforting James who had just lost his father, and whose mother was laying unconscious in one of the wards upstairs.

Well, she stayed calm until she got the next bit of news.

"I am going to murder him!" Lily was on her feet now, the expression on her face livid. "He did it because of me, didn't he?" She demanded, her eyes narrowing to slits, daring them to lie to her. They didn't, however, and just resorted to nodding. "He promised us that he wouldn't go after her, and now he's up there unconscious because of God knows what kind of magic! He should have gotten out with the rest of them!"

Remus gave her a sad sort of smile, and spoke in a voice that was much calmer than her own. "Sirius isn't exactly known for doing what he should. He does what he thinks is right and Bellatrix had threatened one of his friends. He wasn't going to let that slide."

Lily pursed her lips, but didn't say anymore on the subject, instead opting to sit back down beside James and take his hand again. All they could do now was wait.

A/N: So I seem to have strayed quite a bit from my initial Chapter One outline, resulting in 9,000 words before I was even halfway through and so for that reason, I'm going to have to break this chapter in half, and I apologize for the cliffhanger-ish ending. Hopefully I'll be able to upload the rest of it soon, but until I do let me know what you guys think! Really, reviews will make my day!