TWO WEEKS LATER
The wedding of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks was a quiet and hurried affair. The people attending the wedding were the Weasleys, Hermione Granger (now a member of the Order of the Phoenix and the Weasley household), Ted and Andromeda Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Christine Delphy (Nymphadora Tonks' best friend and maid of honour), Hestia Jones, Didalus Diggle, Mad- eye Moody and for some weird reason Mundungus Fletcher. Remus Lupin was pacing in his room, wearing simple black dress robes, as his best man Bill Weasley, watched him from his chair. In a moment's time, he was going to walk out of his room into the old abandoned muggle church where Andromeda Black and Ted Tonks were married. He hadn't taken part in any preparations apart from choosing the invitation cards. Andromeda and Nymphadora insisted that the decorations and everything else be a surprise.
"Will you calm down? It's going to be okay." Bill said exasperatedly to the man in front of him. Bill had liked Remus since his first day in the order, but after his meeting with Greyback and his own wolfish tendencies and Remus' support and kindness, Bill had started looking at the man as his family, maybe even as the elder brother he never had. Remus cared for Bill as his younger sibling, but he couldn't admit to himself that he saw Bill as a brother. When he was younger, he had three brothers namely James, Sirius and Peter; he lost all of them in one night. Four years ago he discovered that he truly had just two brothers James and Sirius and Peter murdered James and Lily. He barely had Sirius back before he was snatched from him too. He would never admit that he looked upon someone else a brother; it looked like someone had jinxed him to lose his brothers.
Remus stopped pacing and whirled around, "What if this was a mistake Bill? What if she realizes that she made a mistake? What if she left me after we were married or at the altar? What if she starts hating me for what I am?" He hid his face in his hands, wishing it James or Sirius or both of them instead of Bill. They knew what to do; they would always calm him down with a quick comment and easy smile. Bill Weasley sighed "I have known Tonks, since she was a pesky first year in school. It was hard not to notice her, when she insisted on walking around in pink hair. Tonks is many things, Remus. I won't claim to know her intimately but I do know that she spent a year loving you without complaint when you were being difficult. Give her some credit, she won't leave you. She loves you and you love her and it will be fine."
Before he could say anything, there was a knock on the door. Ginny Weasley, Tonks' bridesmaid along with Hermione, Fleur and Christine; entered the room in a sea green dress holding two white roses in her hand. Remus looked at her surprised. Sea green was the colour that Lily had insisted on wearing when she had imagined his and Sirius' weddings because it complimented her hair. Remus was surprised to note that the dress indeed complimented Ginny's hair. For a moment, Remus almost believed that his sister from another mother, Lily, had walked in. His throat went dry as Ginny tucked a white rose in the buttonhole of her brother's robes, before turning to him.
She approached him with ease; Remus had a hard time believing that this beautiful young girl in front of him was the shy, unsure second year he taught at Hogwarts. She grinned at him as she tucked the rose in the buttonhole of his robes and stepped back to examine him before smiling and saying "You look good Profe- err.. Remus"
He blushed, "You look good too Ginny, it's a pretty colour that you are wearing; reminds me of someone very special. My sister in all but blood, this was Lily's favourite colour. She told Sirius and me once that she would wear this colour on our weddings."
Ginny beamed at him, "You will have to thank Tonks; she picked out the dress and the colour for us. From what Andromeda tells me, Tonks just walked in one morning and told her exactly what she wanted for decoration, the food, even the cake. Andromeda agreed to all of it, apart from the music, apparently Weird sisters' music is not proper enough to be used for the wedding march or first dance." Ginny rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up to the heavens. Bill smiled amusedly and Remus chuckled.
Molly Weasley ushered Remus out of the room as soon as Ginny left. Remus gasped audibly as he entered the church, the decoration was white and pink roses, just like Lily had envisioned them. Planning Remus and Sirius' weddings was a way for Lily to cope with being cooped up in their cottage. She would tell them all about her plans and ideas when they visited. Lily always claimed that since they were each other's family now and she loved the two of them as her brothers, she would play the roles of the groom's mother and sister; given the turbulent times, in case they needed to put together a quick wedding, she would have everything under control because she had a plan.
Remus and Sirius would humour a pregnant Lily as she would prattle on about the decorations on their wedding with simultaneous exclamations of how Harry's kicks indicated that he approved of an idea. James would smile indulgently at his wife and Remus would always be touched by the sincerity in her voice. She genuinely believed that Remus would get married one day and that she would help plan the wedding. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes, as he looked around the church. It was a bittersweet feeling, as if Lily was there with James and Sirius, but he couldn't see any of them. Remus walked up to where Arthur was standing, Bill stood one step below him. Arthur smiled encouragingly at Remus as everyone else started filing in. Molly was sitting in the front with Andromeda who was busy dabbing her eyes in her handkerchief.
Before long, Arthur flicked his wand and slow music filled the silent, forgotten church. The doors opened and Remus' eyes bugged out as he noticed that the all the bridesmaids were wearing sea green dresses. He could almost see Lily smiling smugly at him. Dora and her father followed Catherine, as soon as Remus saw Dora, his Dora. All thoughts fled him. She looked beautiful.
Dora winked at him and smiled cheekily as she stood in front of him; before Remus could react Arthur proceeded with the ceremony. When he was asked to kiss his bride, he kissed her with all his love. He wanted to tell her with just one kiss that she was his everything. His anchor to this world where he had lost everything he cared for. He would do anything for her; be anything for her.
When they broke apart, she smiled at him. Petting his cheek as if to assure him that she knew how he felt about her, kissing his lips lightly she pulled him out of the church to the abandoned courtyard, which was decorated for the reception party. Remus for the life of him couldn't comprehend it. Everything, from the decoration, to the food, to the gooey chocolate cake was how Lily had planned his wedding. Apart from the music, Remus could swear that it was all Lily's doing. But that was just not possible. He remembered that Ginny told him that Dora had planned the entire wedding, but how could she know anything? She had met Lily once that too at the age of four and Lily definitely did not discuss wedding plans with the four year old.
Remus looked around for his wife, who was dancing merrily with her father as Andromeda watched on. Deciding quickly, Remus asked Andromeda for a dance.
"I hope you liked the arrangement Remus. I was going crazy with planning the wedding at such a short notice, when Nymphadora walked in and told me she had the perfect idea and went to plan the entire wedding in just one morning."
"I really do like it Andromeda, Thank you very much. The arrangements remind me of Lily. Did you know, she used to plan our weddings, Sirius' and mine when she was hiding. This looks a lot like her plans. In fact, if I didn't know better, I would say that Lily planned this wedding. I don't know where Dora got this idea from. Did she tell you?"
Andromeda smiled "No she didn't. You know how she is; she just barged in, dictated the wedding plans and then pranced out to do something for the order. But I do know this Remus, the ones that love us; they never really leave us. Lily might have found a way to be a part of your wedding."
Remus blinked his tears away, as Andromeda kissed his cheek and thanked him for the dance. He nodded, the lump in his throat making it impossible for him to say anything. The day ended soon. After all the goodbyes, Remus apparated his young wife away to the humble Lupin residence. Later that night, after he had expressed his love for Dora in more ways than he could count, they laid back, out of breath. Dora snugly fitting on his side, as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer as she rested her head on his chest. This was his moment of peace and happiness and he had never felt either to this extent.
"Dora?" he asked softly. "Hmm" she kissed his chest quickly before looking at him. He smiled. "Andromeda told me you decided on everything decoration, food, pretty much everything apart from the music. How did you plan it all so soon?" Dora blushed before pulling herself up and resting her weight on her elbow as she faced him. His grip tightened around her waist as he watched her bite her lip. "I had a dream." He arched an eyebrow but said nothing.
"Two days after you said yes, I had this dream. I was dressed in a bridal dress, standing in front of a floor length antique mirror when this red headed girl with bright green eyes, came and told me that they were ready and I should come along." Remus' breath hitched as Dora continued.
"Well, I followed her out to a courtyard with this huge tree in the centre; the tree was laden with these white flowers. As we walked past the tree, the courtyard opened to three different paths of stone. She led me straight ahead on the central path which was more like a stone pier opening to a vast blue lake. The sides of the path were full of pink and white rose bushes in full bloom running along the length of the pier ending at raised circular platforms on both ends where two stone dragons stood on their hind legs as if standing sentinel. It was beautiful Remus. It was perfect. I don't know where this place is, but it's perfect. I turned back to look at this huge castle like thing, I guess we emerged from there. And I saw you standing at the end of the pier, next to one of those sentinel dragons and I knew this was our wedding. The red haired woman was probably my bridesmaid. I didn't see the ceremony, because as soon as the woman turned the scene changed."
Remus held his breath. He knew the pier, the lake, even the rose bushes and he was sure he knew the redhead. Lily had always said that Sirius and Remus would be married at Potter Manor. Nothing said 'out of this world' romantic as marrying on the pier, with the great blue lake and the forest serving as the background. James and Lily were married at the same place, a month before Charlus Potter was murdered.
Remus was barely listening as Dora described the new scene but his ears perked up when she said that they were in a huge white room, with a really high ceiling and mirrors for walls. This was again decorated in white and pink roses, which complimented the interior decoration of white and gold. "And we danced and it looked so beautiful. Ethereal. Then the red hair girl, asked us to cut the cake and it was gooey chocolate cake. And it all ended, the dream I mean. Then I saw myself walking with the same redhead, she told me this is how she always planned our wedding would be. She asked me if she liked the idea and thanked me for agreeing to sea green dresses for the bridesmaids. Then she hugged me and asked me to look after you and love you and I woke up and I just knew that I want that for my wedding." She looked at him earnestly as he stared at her, the lump in his throat threatening to break free.
"I know it wasn't as perfect, but I liked the idea of the roses and everything else and so I did just that. It was silly of me to want to emulate a dream but it looked so perfect." She looked at him pleadingly, as if asking him to tell her that it was okay. He couldn't say anything so he did what was best; he kissed her with so much love and passion, that it drove all thought away from him. When they parted, he was hovering above her, he ducked down and kissed her neck; she laughed "I guess I should thank that redhead for the idea. I just don't know who she was, do you know her Remus?"
His grip on her waist tightened. He took his time, kissing her neck slowly, relishing her moans before looking into her eyes, "I know her; she was my sister. It was her favourite past time to plan my wedding, what you saw was her home after she married the man she loved. She always told me that she would have her way with my wedding. I guess she found a way to do so from her grave. It was perfect Dora. She found a way to be a part of our wedding, thank you so much for letting her be a part of this day." Without waiting for her response he kissed her. He needed her, right now. He was feeling too many things, happiness, love, pain and he needed her to soothe it all down. He pushed her down roughly before entering her. She moaned, her hands raking his back. He welcomed it all. He kept moving inside her, as he continued to bite her lips, caress her tongue. She didn't back down either, she pulled his hair, scratched his back, held him to her.
He couldn't hold it in, her moans were driving him crazy, he screamed her name as he came inside her, collapsing on top of her, before giving in and shaking her frame with his sobs till he passed out with exhaustion.