Disclaimer: Really! I don't own nothing! All belongs to JKR! I've told the world this a million times! I'm not plagiarising!
Thanks to the following reviewers: Lady Mearle, Kates Masters Sister, Emma's Padawon, Princess Eclipse, Hannahham, MoonylovesFlo, yourheartsdesire, Trainer Krystal, Gilmoregirl7878, lexi4ron, Kates Master, sugur huny bun, sunkissed italian, madsdagirl and Amy!
A/N: Hello everyone! And happy birthday to me tomorrow (11th). I'm eighteen. Whoopee. That was accompanied by a thick layer of sarcasm. I really don't want to be eighteen! Everyone expects me to act mature. Ugh! Who wants to be mature? Being mature, sucks. You have to act normal!
Also, happy liberation day to anyone in Guernsey! I went to the fair and went on almost all the rides, most of which had my friends shaking their heads and going 'you're mad!' I had to remind them that I've always known that!
Anywho, enjoy the chapter! And watch out for mysterious people in black! They're after me!
Chapter 3
"See you in five then," Lily said hanging up and grabbing her jacket from the coat hook by the door. "Come on James or we will be late!"
"No we won't," James pointed out. "Jenny and Remus always show up five minutes late to any function."
"Remind me why we have to go to an Order meeting on our engagement night," Lily said.
"Because Dumbledore said it was an emergency hence why we only found out half an hour ago," James reminded her. "Besides we asked everyone to meet here at seven, it's almost six so we should be out way before the party."
"Where's Sirius? Does he know about this?" Lily asked.
"He's probably at Tash's," James pointed out. "Anyway even if he isn't Dumbledore always makes sure that the message gets around."
"I hope the food's okay while we're out," Lily said glancing in the direction of the kitchen.
"It'll be fine Lily," James said, kissing her cheek. "Now lets go else Moony and Jen may just beat us there."
Lily sighed and disappearated with a pop. She felt the pressure of travel decrease and she arrived on the steps of the Potter manor. James appeared by her side. After the death of James's parents, Dumbledore had requested whether they might use the manor for the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. James had agreed, after all, he and Lily were happy in their London flat and the house would have some use even if they didn't live there.
James rang the bell and the door opened a fraction before it opened all the way to reveal Albus Dumbledore, looking rather grim. Lily felt her heart sink at the sight of his face.
"Evening James, Lily." He nodded at them and let them in. The corridor was dimly lit and the house was slightly chilly. Lily and James made their way down to the basement, where the meetings were being held. The room was already full of people, most whom they recognised. Frank and Alice were seated at the table in the centre of the room talking in hushed whispers. Gideon and Fabian Prewett were having a discussion in the corner with Mad Eyed Moody. Professor McGonagall was sitting quietly in the corner not saying a word to anyone. Sirius, Peter and Tash smiled and waved them both over to the end of the table they were seated at.
"Poor you lot," Sirius said. "Having to spend your engagement night here."
Lily inclined her head but not feeling the situation was appropriate for a strong agreement.
"Any sign of Jen and Moony?" James asked.
"Neither hide nor hair," Tash said.
"They're always late though," Peter pointed out. "It's like tradition for them."
"Hey it's not Jenny's fault she can never find her glasses," Tash said. Lily nodded in agreement.
"They're bright green," Sirius pointed out. "So they can't be that hard to lose."
"Point taken," Lily nodded.
"So is everyone still up for tonight?" James asked.
"Of course," Sirius nodded. Tash grinned.
"Aww look at you two with your arms around each other," she cooed at Lily and James.
"Tash don't make me throw chocolate at you in front of half of the Order," Lily said, but she couldn't help grin.
"I think we're a little past the chocolate throwing stage," Sirius pointed out. "We have matured you know Lily."
Everyone snorted at the face that Sirius pulled with the word 'mature'. At this moment Professor Dumbledore entered the room and the rest of the Order began seating themselves around the table.
"Well if everyone is here…" Dumbledore began, but a crack and the sound of the bell ringing upstairs cut him off.
"I'll get it," Moody said, getting to his feet and limping up the stairs.
"Jen and Remus late again," Tash muttered.
"How do you know its them?" Alice asked. Tash raised an eyebrow.
"Alice are you really sure you want to bet that it isn't?"
Sure enough, Moody returned muttering under his breath about punctuality. He was followed by an extremely embarrassed looking Remus and Jenny.
"Sorry we're late," Jenny muttered, taking her seat. "We got held up."
"What this week?" Moody asked irritably. "You lose your shoes?"
"Actually yes I did," Jenny nodded. "Alaska ran off with them."
Moody snorted in disbelief. Lily and Tash grinned and shook their heads.
"Well now that everyone is here," Dumbledore started up again. "I'm sorry to call everyone in so late but…"
Lily felt her stomach sink to somewhere down by her feet.
"I'm sorry to have to tell everyone that Benjy Fenwick was found dead this morning at his home in Chichester."
The mood around the table became as cold as ice. Lily stared miserably at the table. That was the second person that the order had lost in the last three months. They were getting too little in number against the Death Eaters. Just in the last month there had been an attack at a university outside Bedford. Many muggle students had been killed, and Aurors had not been made aware until it was too late to save many of them.
Lily was pulled back to the meeting by Dumbledore asking for someone to take over watching the Death Eater that Benjy had been monitoring. The mood in the room remained unbearably chilly, accompanied by an air of silent grief that everyone was feeling.
OOO
"Okay. Here's to Lily and James," Tash raised her glass. Everyone else in the living room did the same. Currently occupying the two sofas were Lily, James, Tash and Sirius. Jen and Remus for reasons best known to themselves, had decided to squish themselves onto one armchair. The final chair was occupied by Peter, who was keeping rather quiet and out of the way.
"So have you guys set a day?" Jenny asked.
"We don't really want to wait," James said. "So we were thinking maybe sometime in June."
"That's not a lot of time to prepare," Jenny pointed out.
"But it's at the beginning of the summer!" Tash smiled. "That's so cute!"
Lily looked at James with an immovable grin on her face.
"Aww! You guys are so sweet!" Jenny said.
"Hey Lily," Sirius said. "Can you imagine if in our sixth year someone had told you that you would be marrying Prongs? You wouldn't have believed them!"
"Are you kidding me love?" Tash asked. "She would have hit them!"
Jenny and Remus both snorted in their coffees. Lily shook her head and James looked at his fiancée.
"Did you really hate me that much?" he asked. Lily sighed.
"I never hated you…"
Three loud snorts from Sirius, Tash and Jenny interrupted and even Remus raised his eyebrows. Lily glared at them.
"I just had a problem with the way you acted and the things you said."
"And then it all changed in the seventh year," Sirius reminisced. "Prongs deflated his enormous ego…"
"Hey what did I do to you?" James asked hurt.
"…Jenny and Remus finally got glasses and realised what we had known for ages. That they should be going out," Sirius continued. "And Tash realised what she was missing out on." He squeezed Tash's waist. Lily raised her eyebrows at her friend.
"So do you still want him to move in with you?"
"What?" James asked, confused.
"Oh yeah," Sirius grinned. "Tash and I have been talking and she's agreed that I should move in with her."
"What?" James repeated. "So you're moving out?" Sirius and Tash both nodded their heads.
"Don't move out," James pouted. "You've only just figured out how to use the oven."
"James you've got Lily remember," Jenny said.
"Yeah but Sirius is the only one I can discuss Quidditch with!" James complained.
"He's moving to Tash's he's not emigrating to Japan!" Lily said. "And anyway it's not like Sirius lives full time with us anyway."
"How do you figure that?" Sirius asked. "All my stuff is here."
"Yeah but you sleep at Tash's house practically every night," Lily reminded him.
"Not every night," Sirius rolled his eyes. "I was here that night about three weeks ago!"
"That's because I was staying with my parents!" Tash said.
"I don't know what to say," James said sadly. "Its like I'm losing my brother!"
"Yeah but when you get older you want a mature relationship," Sirius said. Everyone raised an eyebrow at this statement.
"Plus Tash sometimes wanders around the flat in her underwear and I really want to see that," Sirius added. Tash poked him in the side.
"It feels like the end of an era," James muttered, more to himself than the rest of the room. Lily looked up at him.
"You've got me now," she reminded him. "We're going to get married remember."
"Its not like you'll never see him again." Tash said.
"Yeah I'm sure Tash'll let me out of the bedroom occasionally," Sirius joked. He got another poke in the ribs.
"You're the insatiable beast not me," she said shaking her head.
"Anyway," Jenny attempted to steer the conversation back on track. "Remus and I live together and we still come and see you! We all come round here…well," she looked thoughtfully at the other chair. "Except for Peter."
"I come round here," Peter defended.
"Only when you're out of food," Sirius pointed out.
"Have you found somewhere else to live yet?" Tash asked. Peter shook his head.
"There's nothing wrong with where I am now."
"There's tonnes wrong with it Peter!" Lily said. "Last time James and I went down there some guy offered to sell us crack."
"You know the flat next to this one is going on the market," James said. "Maybe you should try and get it."
"I don't know," Peter shifted. "I'm not sure I can afford it."
"You could, its going really cheap," Lily shook her head. "The guy who lived there before was a known alcoholic."
"I thought he looked dodgy!" Jenny snarled.
"Jen you suspect too easily," Tash said. Jenny snorted.
"Says the girl who thought the guy in the video store last week was a Death Eater in disguise! You just didn't like him because he kept staring at your chest."
James, Lily, Remus and Peter burst out laughing. Sirius looked murderous.
"He was WHAT!"
"Calm down," Tash said soothingly. "I hexed him as we left. Made him quote videos non-stop for a week."
"We did that to Snape once in the fifth year," James grinned. "None of the Slytherins had a clue what he was on about! Then Ramton found out and hit the roof."
"What ever happened to Ramton?" Lily asked. "Is he still teaching?"
"No," Jenny shook her head. "I asked Dumbledore when I next saw him. Ramton just up and left at the end of our year."
"Really?" Lily asked. "With no warning?"
"Nope," Jenny shook her head.
"We never had a teacher last longer than a year did we?" Tash pointed out.
"Didn't you hear that that job is jinxed?" Sirius asked.
"Well at least we girls were never the cause of a teacher leaving," Tash said tartly. "You guys were so bad you made Professor Birch leave in our fourth year."
"Ah our days of glory," Sirius remarked.
"How the hell did we get away with half that stuff?" Remus asked.
"I don't think Dumbledore minded that much as long as it was meant in good humour," James said. Lily coughed.
"What did you mean 'get away with it?'" she asked accusingly. "I used to be the one to tell you guys off later!"
"Err Lily you told James off," Tash said. "I seem to recall Remus and Sirius getting away Scott free."
"I once transcribed a whole argument between you two," Jenny said looking between Lily and James. Both of them looked round in surprise.
"You did?" Lily asked.
"I did," Jenny nodded.
"She did," Tash and Remus both said at the same time.
"Do you still have it?" James asked.
"All twelve pages of it," Jenny said proudly. James gagged on his coffee and Lily's jaw dropped.
"Twelve pages!" she repeated. Jenny nodded.
"And you're writing's tiny Jenny!" Lily said.
"Well actually about five pages of it is Tash singing," Jenny amended. "See I bewitched the quill to copy it all. You were going too fast for me to write."
"Five pages is me singing!" Tash asked. "What the hell was I singing!"
"Bohemian Rhapsody," Jenny said. "And then you started singing Build me up Buttercup a few times."
"Ah yes, wasn't that in our fifth year just after Christmas?" Tash asked. "I was in one of my Queen phases and…oh yeah I remember! I'd just given Sirius all that sugar and he was really hyper!"
"I knew that was you!" Remus said as Sirius brightened up at the memory.
"I couldn't sit still could I?" he asked. Next to him, Tash cracked up.
"That was so much fun!"
"Not for me it wasn't!" Remus said. "While James was being told off by Lily I was entrusted the task of calming Sirius down!"
"What were we arguing about anyway?" James asked.
"I don't remember," Lily said.
"I think Lily was calling James an immature selfish prick," Jenny said. Lily felt her cheeks heat up.
"I'm sorry James."
"Lils I forgave you a long time ago," James assured her. "Anyway you've apologised for all that already. Remember that evening in our seventh year when we caught Roberts and that Slytherin in the broom cupboard…"
"…and then you apologised for being such a cow to him over the years," Tash summarised before looking slightly scared. "You're not offended I called you a cow are you Lily?"
"I was a cow," Lily said. "I was terrible. I'm really sorry James."
"Don't be," James stroked her hair. "Lily I wouldn't be marrying you if I still held all that against you." He kissed the top of her forehead.
"Aww!" Jenny cooed. "'ent they so cute!"
"Yeah okay that's enough!" Tash said, as James took it upon himself to kiss Lily on the lips. "Save it for the big day!"
'The big day,' Lily thought. 'My big day. The happiest of my life.'
A/N: Aww! Who loves em? I know I do!
Next Chapter: Death Eater attack! Ooops! Spoilt too much!
May Stardust fall in your dreams!
