Ch. 3 - The Waltz

The ceremony was exceedingly beautiful, with ardent vows from both bride and groom and kind words spoken by the priest. Remus tried desperately to be present and enjoy the service, but could not stop thinking about the ring he had failed to notice before. "How could I have missed that? And who could she possibly be married to?"

He snapped back to reality when it came time for "You may kiss the bride." The organ started up in a fanfare and the congregation applauded as James and Lily kissed for the first time as husband and wife. They paraded back down the aisle, greeting attendees as they passed. When the bridal party began to file out behind them, Emmeline watched wistfully as Remus made a swift escape through the side door behind the altar.

She processed out behind the bridal party alone.

Remus hoped that, in the bliss of the moment, James hadn't noticed him slip out back after the ceremony. He was back in front of the cathedral in time for pictures, after having speed-smoked the emergency cigarette he had stowed in his lapel pocket.

...

The wedding party and the guests eventually trickled into the reception venue, which was held at a nearby hall that looked like something out of the Tudor era. While the bride and groom stole away to have a few quiet moments to themselves, guests began mingling and greeting each other. A string quartet had been hired and was seated the the front of the hall. A few magical guests puzzled at the instrumentalists, seeing no reason for the man-power when they could have just used enchanted instruments. However, since Lily's family was made up entirely of muggles, magic was forbidden at the event. The strange dressing gowns of some of the people James had invited were enough to befuddle the muggle guests.

After grabbing a necessary cocktail, Remus tried to take his mind off of things by greeting the many familiar faces there. The whole Order was present of course. Two tables down, he saw Alastor Moody having some sort of heated conversation with a frightened looking muggle couple. Frank Longbottom had come as his wife's date. Rubeus Hagrid had a place setting at Remus' table (or, rather, he took up three place settings), and hardly even noticed the perturbed glances from people on Lily's side of the guest list. Even Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore were present. Other Hogwarts professors were there too: Minerva Mcgonagall, Pomona Sprout, and Silvanus Kettleburn (who seemed to be missing a new appendage every time Remus saw him.) With all the frivolity, Remus hardly even remembered that Emmeline was there.

This may have been because Emmeline had been hiding in the lavatory for a little over an hour now.

She had been terrified to see Remus for weeks since Lily asked her to come to the wedding. So terrified, in fact, that it had been hard to keep food down in the days leading up to the rehearsal, let alone get any sleep. She came out of her stall momentarily to glance at herself in the ornate mirror over the sink. The thick layer of makeup hiding the dark circles under her eyes had begun to melt. She peeked out the door quickly to make sure that nobody else was coming in, then quickly withdrew her wand. "Reparo," she muttered, and the makeup re-coagulated. She stashed the wand back in the small tube-shaped pocket that Lily had hand-sewn into the interior lining on the back of each of the bridesmaids dresses. Before she could retreat back to her stall, Marlene came into the bathroom and caught her.

"There you are! Have you been hiding in here this whole time?"

Emmeline looked up contritely. "I feel like I'm going to be sick."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "You both need to stop acting like children."

"Marlene, he walked away at the end of the ceremony. He left out the other door. I thought it was going to be fine, but then he couldn't even stand to walk out next to me. Not that I blame him, I just-"

"Can you two not just coexist in the same room and ignore each other?"

"No- I mean, yes, but-..." she sighed. "I don't want to ignore him. I just have no idea how to initiate a conversation with him after this long."

"Just...say hello. Start with small talk," Marlene said optimistically. This time, Emmeline rolled her eyes.

"Yes, brilliant. Hello Remus, nice weather today. By the way, how have things been since I just up and left you?"

"...Okay, perhaps not like that."

Emmeline let out a grunt and ran her hands through her hair, causing her styled bun to frizz up a bit.

They were startled by Lily, who had just opened the bathroom door. "Oh dear, is everything alright?"

"Fine," Emmeline lied, smiling. "What are you doing in here? Aren't you supposed to be out there doing bride things?"

"Actually, I was rather hoping to hide from bride things for a few minutes," she chuckled, leaning against the wall. "Did either of you, erm, see Severus by any chance?"

Marlene and Emmeline shook their heads quietly. It was for the best that he hadn't come. In fact, it was a huge risk to invite him and let him on to the location of all the members of the Order. But they knew he would never do anything to hurt Lily, not even on the day she married James Potter.

Lily looked downcast. "...I figured he wouldn't come. I was just hoping…" She trailed off.

"...Em is trying to figure out how to talk to Remus," said Marlene, pulling Lily out of her melancholy reverie.

"Marlene!" Emmeline chided, shooting her a warning glance. She didn't want to burden Lily on her wedding day.

"Oh, right. Wait, how long have you been in the bathroom?"

"Shall I go get Alice? We can make this a right proper meeting."

"You know what," Emmeline said, not particularly interested in having this snowball. "I'm just going to do it." With that, she walked purposefully out of the bathroom and back into the hall. Lily and Marlene looked at each other, then dashed out behind her to spectate.

Remus was having a rather lackluster conversation with Mundungus Fletcher when he spotted Emmeline approaching.

"So then I said to him, I said-"

"Do you want to dance?" Emmeline said breathlessly, interrupting Mundungus.

There was a long, awkward pause. Mundungus crept away slowly.

More silence. Marlene and Lily watched from several meters away.

Emmeline was about to give up and retreat when-

"Yes."

Like clockwork, Remus gently took her hand and led her to the dance floor. The quartet was playing some sort of slow waltz, not that it made any difference since neither of them were proficient dancers. Alice and Frank, who had been twirling gracefully close by, watched them apprehensively.

Cautiously, they paired up and began to sway together. One by one, people who knew the both of them noticed their awkward promenade.

They were silent at first, looking over each other's shoulders to avoid the other's eyes. Remus could feel the smooth metal of her wedding band against the side of his palm. He couldn't wonder to himself any longer. He had to know.

"You got married," was all he eloquently managed to say.

"Just engaged, actually."

Remus felt a massive tension leave his body. He hadn't even noticed it before.

They were silent for a couple more minutes. They had drawn more eyes, but neither was in tune to anything around them.

"...Who are you engaged to?" He actually managed to form a question this time.

"Erm…" Emmeline was afraid to say. They had certainly skipped small talk. "Do you remember Tiberius McLaggen?"

Remus stopped swaying and pulled away. Oh no.

"McLaggen?!" He said, a bit louder than she had wanted. Other couples stopped dancing and shot them dirty looks.

"Remus!" She hissed. But it was too late. He was already walking away.

Embarrassed, Emmeline stood frozen in the middle of the dance floor. It wasn't until then that she noticed a dozen people watching her, and a dozen more watching Remus walk briskly out the back door. Her face felt hot all of the sudden.

Sirius started after Remus, but Marlene held him back. They were debating whether or not to send James to get him when Emmeline dashed past them.