3 – Froggy and Boulder

The knock on the door snapped Lily back to reality. "Hey, Froggy. You about ready?"

Froggy was what James sometimes called her. After going on a double-date with a couple that called themselves Boo and Schmoopie, they agreed to never, ever have nicknames, and yet an hour later, they were ferociously brainstorming pet names, agreeing to make them as ridiculous as possible. Lily-pad was going to be hers, except that was too obvious. "It has to be something that doesn't make logical sense," said James. "What about Frog because, you know, they jump on—?"

"Yes, I know they jump on lily pads. But Froggy is so—"

"Froggy! Yes! That's perfect. And when someone asks us how that came to be, we'll look at each and laugh really hard and say it takes too long to explain. Then we'll wink at each other and say it's private."

Lily wasn't a fan, but she went along anyway. "Whatever makes you happy, Boulder."

James paused. "Boulder…. Like a huge rock. A symbol of strength."

"Yes, a boulder is a huge, he-yooge rock, Captain Obvious."

"Boulder it is. I love it!"

Lily never called James Boulder again, but Froggy had endured despite its mild annoyance.

"Come on, Froggy, you about ready? Everyone's starting to arrive at the church."

Lily wasn't at all ready to start the wedding rehearsal. She had become quite comfortable wrapped in her wedding dress in the rocking chair staring at a picture of Snape.

The door knob started to turn. "James, no!"

"Why's it locked?" he asked.

"Because I'm in my wedding dress," she partially lied, wishing she hadn't left the picture of Snape out in the open.

"Oh… I was picturing you in less."

"Stop. I'll be there in a minute, okay?"

"Please hurry, Froggy. I think your mother is going to have a meltdown. She overheard the caterer telling someone this is his first real job."

Lily walked to the mirror and flipped it back to the other side. "Really? Chef Leroy comes highly recommended."

"Oh yeah, they had to replace Leroy with some other guy. Get this. His name is Boyardini. Kind of like Chef Boyardee."

Lily thought that was a little strange. The catering company hadn't mentioned anything to her.

"One more thing," said James. "Petunia still wants my body. She's trying to stop the wedding."

Lily tried not to laugh and ended up snorting. Her sister had never been a fan of anyone or anything associated with Hogwarts. The thought of Petunia marrying someone like James was as improbable as her desiring a man like Vernon Dursley. The thought of kissing that man was somewhere between awful and horrifying. James had once asked her, "If it's only you and Vernon left on the planet, and it was up to you to save the entire human race, could you… you know?" Lily quickly changed the topic.

"I thought that would make you smile," said James. "I'll see you in a few minutes downstairs."

Lily could hear his footsteps trail down the hotel hall, and her nerves calmed. James had a way of doing that to her—making her troubles melt away when things were confusing.

She quickly got of her wedding dress and slipped into a little, black dress with one shoulder covered in glittering rhinestones. She'd picked it out months ago in a Muggle boutique in London near Trafalgar Square. Back in front of the mirror, she applied mascara and was getting ready to put on red, cherry lip gloss when there was another knock on the door.

"Yes, James?"

"Pardon me, Miss Evans, it's not James. It's Chef Boyardini. We have a serious problem with the food for tonight."

Lily didn't hesitate and opened the door.

Severus Snape stood in front of her.