The Announcement
"I still don't understand why we can't have it at our flat," Sirius muttered to himself, pouting in the kitchen of Marlene and Lily's flat a week after James proposed.
"Because you burned it down," Lily snapped halfheartedly. "Now shoo, or at least do something productive."
Sirius moved, but he didn't stop pouting. Lily and James had gotten engaged the previous Saturday, and they still hadn't told their parents and extended friends. James, of course, had wanted to go tell everyone, in person, that night, but Lily had talked him out of it. Now that they were telling everyone, after enjoying a week to themselves (and their roommates), James had insisted on a dinner party for their family. Knowing when to pick her battles, Lily had agreed, but insisted it be at her flat as opposed to the Marauders'. She would have preferred to do a dinner party after letting their families know, but the prankster she was marrying had always enjoyed a good surprise. "It's repaired now, c'mon, it's not too late."
With 30 minutes until she announced to her parents that their 18 year old daughter was marrying an unemployed 18 year old with 3 roommates that had just burned down their flat, Lily seriously disagreed with Sirius' statement that 'it's not too late'. She merely glared at him, and he seemed to catch the message as he backed away slightly.
"My parents will be here soon," She said, mostly to herself, as she looked around her kitchen. She finished putting up dirty dishes from lunch before putting her hands on her hips. The food would be served on their kitchen bar (though she couldn't do anything for it until the food was there), extra toilet paper was in her (now even more so) spotless bathroom, her bookshelves were neatly organized, the trunk in their common room that served as their coffee table was filled with freshly cleaned blankets and pillows, all copies of the prophet were safely tucked away in Marlene's room, the carpet surrounding the floo was perfect... She trailed off, but couldn't come up with a single thing to do besides wait for James to come back with Remus, Peter, and Marlene with the catered food.
"Lily, calm down," Sirius said, and at Lily's glare he maintained his resolve. "If you don't I'll turn into Padfoot and get fur and drool over everything I don't eat."
"Bad dog," Lily snapped, but she gave in and joined him in the common room. She sat in silence for a moment, tense in opposition to Sirius' calm lounge, before standing up and heading to the front door.
"Lily," Sirius groaned in exasperation. He liked Lily, loved her like a sister even, but he'd never understand her constant need to be in control. She had to have everything perfect, if she ever saw his room she might have a heart attack. Of course, that might be good for her, force her to slow down. A nice mandated stay at St Mungos...
"I completely forgot to clean the welcome mat!" Lily exclaimed, running to the front door and closing it behind her as she beat the welcome mat on the stair rail. Happy it was clean, she set it back down perfectly and walked back into the flat. "That would have been a disaster."
Sirius could barely contain his eye roll, "Why didn't you just use magic?"
"For starters, this is muggle London," Lily explained, for what she felt was the millionth time. "I can't pull out my wand on the street. Also, doing it the muggle way calms me."
Sirius remembered that Lily was in muggle London very rarely, as he usually came through the floo, but when he did he was reminded of the frustration of moving her to muggle London. She and Marlene had gotten a furnished flat, which saved them the trouble of moving all of the furniture the muggle way. Still, they'd had to bring the fireplace up to code before they could connect it to the floo network. Doing that required more than tripling the small thing in size, and though her landlord was hands off, they'd also been required to charm it so that muggles would see it as the original size. That had been only the beginning of troubles. James had brooded for weeks after Lily had argued with him against the more powerful warding spells because it affected the electricity (whatever that was) that the muggles needed. It was also why the catering company wouldn't deliver the food. (To this Lily had argued that she could cook the food, something that even a blind man could see she did not have the time for. Not to mention that Lily was not a very good cook.)
"Living like a muggle is more trouble than it's worth, Lily," Sirius groaned as she muttered something about James and the others being late.
"My parents are muggles, Sirius," Lily said. "I'm always going to live with muggles." Sirius snorted and Lily arched her eyebrow dangerously, "What?"
"Just the idea of James living with muggles," Sirius said. "He's never going to do that."
Lily didn't get a chance to question Sirius, 'What exactly is his plan then?', because then (only 4 minutes until the party was to start) James, Remus, Marlene, and Peter walked out of the floo with their arms filled with food.
"Thank Merlin," Lily said, rushing to help her friends with the food. "James, you need to get changed."
"I know I know," James said, dropping the food on the table. He managed to get Lily to calm down long enough for a chaste kiss. "It's gonna work out, okay?"
Lily nodded and turned to Marlene, who was already handing her the instructions that came with the food. "Set it out... Choose display option... Cast charm..." She used her wand then, pulling it out from her hair. Using the charm the caterers had given her she set the food up, just in time for Marlene to help her mum and dad in.
"Mum! Dad!" Lily exclaimed, smiling brightly at her parents. "Thanks for coming, you're the first ones here!"
Mr. Evans looked to the teenagers in his daughter's common room with amusement, "What about your friends?"
Lily hugged her parents, "They're here all of the time anyway, they don't count."
"You wound me," Sirius said, clutching his right hand to his chest as if he'd just been hit with a stinging hex.
Peter laughed, but quickly sobered himself as he joined in. "And after we helped you move in, we don't count."
"We're not second class citizens, you know," Remus said with a tell tale grin. It was Marlene who put an end to the Marauders antics for Lily.
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Evans," She said with a bright and welcoming smile. It was interesting for Sirius, who'd -not 24 hours ago- been seduced by the witch, to see Marlene transform into the perfect, well behaved witch she was now. "Ignore the heathens, we try to limit their caffeine but..." She trailed off, "How are you?"
The parents laughed, but it was Mrs. Evans that spoke. "Very well, I'm happy to see that Lily has so many friends to depend on. She's so busy lately, with her work at the Arurs."
"Aurors, mum," Lily corrected casually. "And I'm fine."
"I'm not saying you're not, honey," Mrs. Evans said. "Just that it is good to have friends."
"Very good," Mr. Evans said as James walked out of Lily's room with slacks and a tucked in button up shirt. "Would you mind introducing us?"
"Oh! Sorry! Of course," Lily said, smiling at James briefly as he welcomed Mr. and Mrs. Evans and grabbed her hand. "This is Peter, Remus, and Sirius." She said, "They're here all the time, I forget that not everyone knows them."
"It's not- oh my goodness!" Mrs. Evans said, watching the Potter's appear in the room by floo. "How- Lily dear, how did they fit through the tiny fireplace?"
"Oh," Lily said as James and Sirius turned to welcome their parents to the room. "It's bigger, but we charmed it so that muggles can't see how big it is. For my landlord."
"Ah," Mrs. Evans said, adopting the habit of assuming that everything Lily said about the magical world was normal. She wondered then, alongside her husband, how much they missed about their daughter's life because they were muggles.
"Mr. Evans, Mrs. Evans," James said, walking up with his parents. "These are my parents, Fleamont and Euphemia Potter."
Mr. Evans had never met anyone with such odd names, and had no idea who was which name, so he smiled warmly and shook their hands. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Harrison, and this is my wife Emma."
"Nice to meet you, Emma, Harrison," Mr. Potter said. "I assume you two also have absolutely no idea why we're here?" He asked with a wink, much to the annoyance of James. Mr. Evans laughed, understanding now where James got his humor.
"Oh, absolutely none," Mr. Evans confirmed, though with a look at his daughter's ring finger he smiled. "Or, maybe a few."
The parents and friends laughed, leaving Lily and James to look at each other in common annoyance. "If only to stop these terrible jokes," James said. "Lily, we should go ahead and tell them now."
Lily nodded, not needing to summon her Gryffindor courage while surrounded by happy friends and family. "We're engaged!"
Both mothers gasped despite knowing exactly what Lily was going to say, though it was Mrs. Evans who spoke first. "That is fantastic news! Can I see the ring?"
"Of course," Lily said, blushing as she put her hand out for her mother to see.
"It's gorgeous," Mrs. Evans said, looking at the ring with a smile. "And vintage."
"It's a family ring," Mrs. Potter said. "It suits you, Lily."
Lily beamed at the praise, "I love it, it's a gorgeous ring."
As Lily showed the women her ring, the men were gathered around the food. As they served themselves Mr. Potter spoke to his son. "So you finally asked her?" He laughed, "I'm surprised I didn't get an owl that you burned something down in the process."
James flushed, thinking of the damage Remus, Peter, and Sirius had done to their flat. Before he said anything, Mr. Evans spoke.
"Not that I'm not excited or anything, but, I'm not sure I'd classify it as 'finally'," Mr. Evans said awkwardly as he began to eat.
"That's because you haven't listened to James here for the last 8 years," Mr. Potter said with a warm smile. "On his first letter he completely forgot to tell us he was sorted in Gryffindor because he spent the whole thing talking about Lily and his new friends. It's been like that ever since."
Mr. Evans watched James with a newfound respect. He'd known that James had annoyed Lily when they were younger, but he'd had no idea how long he'd loved her.
Feeling awkward under the attention, James made his way to his fiance. He handed her a butterbeer and casually listened to the conversation before getting pulled in.
"...is a beautiful time of year and I know a tent rental place that provides climate control tents. Even with a blizzard no one will feel uncomfortable," Mrs. Potter said enthusiastically.
"That's a great idea," Lily said, nodding alongside Marlene when she did. With a bright look at her mum she realized that while they could use them, they'd have to be more subtle than dancing in a blizzard. "Of course, we couldn't be so obvious as to use them in a blizzard..."
"I doubt there will be a blizzard in April," Marlene said, noticing that Lily was already worrying.
Lily nodded, squeezing James' hand when she did so. Unlike the others, Mr. and Mrs. Potter were confused. "I- I don't- why..?"
"My family is all muggle," Lily offered as an explanation.
"And they don't know..?" Mr. Potter asked, continuing at Lily's head shake. "What did you tell them about Hogwarts?"
"Boarding school?" James said, exasperated. His parents were not blood purists by any means, but they were absolutely unaware of muggles. "Uh, statue of secrecy mum and dad."
"Oh, sorry dear," Mrs. Potter said, looking ashamed alongside her husband.
"It's, uh, it's no problem," Lily said. She knew Mr. and Mrs. Potter meant well, but she felt bad and hoped her parents did not feel uncomfortable.
Lily's parents never felt uncomfortable but that night, they wouldn't have defined themselves as comfortable either. Neither cared, though, because they would deal with that and much more for their daughter. Despite her magic, Lily had never been anything but the perfect daughter. She hadn't gotten detentions, she'd excelled in school, she'd behaved and acted polite and composed at all times. It was amazing to see their completely organized and in control daughter so carefree with James. He brought out the best in her, and when they left both Mr. and Mrs. Evans were very happy to welcome James into the family.
"Well that was thrilling," Sirius complained that night as Lily and James cleaned up.
"You're just upset that there wasn't firewhiskey," Remus critiqued. "Lily, don't listen to him, it was great."
"Thanks, Remus," Lily said, taking a seat next to him on the couch when she and James finished cleaning. "I was worried but everything worked out."
"I never realized, but James, your mum and dad are old," Marlene said, munching on a plate of food as she spoke. "Honestly, how old were they when they had you?"
James shrugged, "I don't know."
"You wouldn't call Mrs. Potter old if you'd seen her chase James and Sirius around," Remus said with a well natured smile. "She's older, but she's more than capable."
Peter nodded, "You should have seen her when she caught them in their ani-" His eyes jerked to Marlene, and Sirius smacked Peter.
"Shut it, Peter," Sirius said.
Remus sighed, "As fun as this is, and as much as I hate to agree with him, Sirius is right. We could use some firewhiskey."
"Let's go then!" Sirius said, already at the floo. "The Three Broomsticks is open for hours!"
Sirius' enthusiasm was magnetic, and soon everyone had their coats on. Everyone, that is, except for James and Lily.
"C'mon," Peter said. "If we hurry up we'll be there in time for half priced shots."
"I think we're going to stay behind," Lily said, leaning into James on the couch. He appeared to be whispering something in her ears, and she blushed when he did.
Marlene, who had walked in on Lily and James one or two times in the past, knew better than to stay. Lily was now whispering to James, and the both of them were a happy shade of pink. "Let's go everyone, give the love birds some privacy."
Later that night, sated and comfortable, Lily and James lay in her bed. They were both smiling brightly, as they tended to do. They had never managed to actually have sex that night, though they tried, because they couldn't stop laughing.
"Seriously though, imagine, Sirius making his speech, completely filled with stag jokes, and Peter, Remus, Marlene, and you mum and dad just having a fit while everyone else just thinks he's 'a little special'." Lily laughed, "OH MERLIN, I just realized, James, James, Jamie-" Lily seemed too amused and excited to get to her point.
James laughed, she was so cute when she was like this. "What, Lily?" He said, smiling and doing his best to take in her every feature.
"They're gonna put together your stag party!" Lily bust out laughing as she did, her eyes watering.
James, who had never been a huge fan of puns or word play like Sirius, couldn't help but admit that his stag party was probably going to be a riot. Still, he also couldn't help but tease his soon-to-be-wife. "You know, with your love of puns, maybe you should marry Sirius."
As James laughed Lily gave a very convincing mock-thoughtful face. "You know, you may have a point- I bet you he's in Marly's room-" She got up to leave the bed, but she didn't get far before James playfully pulled her under him.
"Oh no you don't, you took the ring, you're mine now," He said with a wide smile. "Until death do us part."
"And you know what," Lily said, completely serious now. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
Author's Note Hello all! It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that, I am notoriously bad about updating stories, but I try! With James' and Lily's parents meeting, it was bound to be a little more awkward and serious, but we'll keep a playful tune in the next chapter.
Next Chapter Wedding venues, budget, and Marauder madness.
