The summer holidays were mostly uneventful for all concerned. After the funeral James and Lily didn't see or speak to each other but they couldn't stop thinking about each other. James couldn't forget the feel of Lily's soft lips on his skin and Lily couldn't forget the feeling she got from holding onto his hand. Both were confused but neither hated the confusion. It gave them something good to think about instead of focusing all their thoughts on Voldemort and what he was planning. James' only highlight in the holidays was having Sirius and Remus at his house the entire time. Sirius' name had been blasted off his family tree and Remus simply hated staying at his house for any longer than hour due to the fact that his father was extremely anti-werewolf-. Lily's only highlight was threatening to use magic at her sister's impending wedding. Lily decided to make the horrible wedding day more fun for herself, but she had to ask her mother and sister before she forged ahead with her plan...
Lily sat at the kitchen table, listening as her mother, her sister, her soon-to-be brother in law and his family plan the up-coming nuptials. Lily's father, Jack, had managed to get out of the session by claiming a previous engagement. Lily knew that he was actually at the pub with some friends. Lily hadn't been allowed to skip it because she was the Maid of Honour. Currently they were going through the guest list and deciding where to seat people. Three people had just dropped out of the wedding, claiming illness. Petunia desperately wanted to fill the spaces but couldn't think of anyone. Lily took a deep breath. Her mother looked at her and cocked an eyebrow.
"Lily? You have something to say?" All eyes turned towards her.
"Yes. I was wondering if I might invite some friends along. Only three, though. It's just that no one I particularly get along with is coming and it might keep occupied." Lily shot a meaningful look at her sister, who blanched.
"Friends from your school, you mean?" Petunia asked.
"Yes, they're in my House. You've already met one of them. Remus Lupin, remember? The other two are James Potter and Sirius Black. They're nice and they won't ruin the day."
"I think that's an excellent idea." Rose, Lily's mother, came to the rescue with a winning smile. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley smiled and nodded, Marge ignored them completely, and Vernon and Petunia looked slightly murderous. Lily ignored them and smiled.
"Fine but they must wear appropriate clothing." Petunia said venomously. Lily understood that "appropriate clothing" meant "Muggle clothing".
"I'll make sure of it. May I send them a proper invitation?" Lily's mother gave her three spare invites before Petunia could protest and Lily rushed upstairs with them. When she reached her room she made a note on all the invites which said 'Please wear a Muggle suit'. Lily sent off the invitations and reluctantly rejoined the group session.
...
The three Marauders were, at the moment that Lily sent the invites, sitting around the table in the Potter's garden. None of them were talking as they were each wrapped up in their own thoughts. Remus was thinking about the full moon that had passed two days earlier as he was still feeling the pain of the transformation. Sirius was worrying about Regulus and his entire family. James was thinking about Lily. All three were staring up at the sky but it was Sirius' keen eyes that first spotted Lily's tawny owl flying towards them carrying what appeared to be a very heavy load. As it got closer Sirius could make out three different pieces of whatever attached to the animal's small legs. Sirius laughed at the slightly ridiculous sight, which alerted the others to the owl's arrival. The owl landed heavily on the table and stuck its leg out to Remus, who it knew best.
"Hello, Absolem. What have you got there?" Remus untied the three invites and handed them out.
"Invites? Who the hell would we want to go to a wedding?" Sirius questioned. "And why is the owl called 'Absolem'? It's not a very good name for an owl."
"Absolem is the name of the blue caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland. And we want to go to the wedding because Lily invited us. Oh, and Sirius? Do you have a Muggle suit?" James asked.
"Course not, you idiot. Why would I? Actually how the hell could I have gotten one?"
"Fair enough. You'll have to get one then." James ran into the house and made sure that nothing was planned for that day and to grab a pen. Once all three RSVP slips were filled in they sent them off with Absolem.
"By the way, Prongs, how'd you know where the name Absolem was from?"
"I read the book when I was younger." James didn't tell them that he'd read it with his Aunt Imogene.
...
The day of the wedding arrived and Lily was nervous as anything. It had nothing to do with the fact that her sister was getting married but mostly to do with the fact that her dress was a hideous colour pink and clashed terribly with her red hair. Lily stared at herself in the mirror and actually began to weep. Her mother came into the room and rushed to her daughter's side.
"Lily, what's wrong?"
"The colour. Look at the colour. It's hideous." Lily sobbed onto her mother's shoulder. Rose had known this would come up.
"I'll make you a deal. You can change the colour of the dress and you act civilly to everyone, including Vernon's family. Deal?"
Lily sniffed and smiled. "Deal. But what about Petunia?"
"Let me deal with her. What colour were you thinking? Green to match your eyes? Or maybe blue? Or perhaps red? Or what about silver?"
"I was thinking a goldy colour." Lily picked up her wand and muttered the spell. The dress turned from the pink to a lovely light gold colour that complimented her hair and eye colour perfectly. It also suited the dress style better. Rose smiled at her youngest daughter's ingenuity and then left to deal with her eldest. Lily re-did the make-up she had smudged and went downstairs to help out. Lily soon found her father out in the back yard drawing in huge breaths of fresh air. Jack always did this when his three special girls were annoying him.
"Bad time?" Lily laughed as her father spun round and almost toppled over.
"Lily! Don't scare me like that. You almost gave me a bloody heart attack. Actually I take that back. Your sister is giving me one." It was a well known fact that Mr. Evans found his eldest daughter to be a spoilt drama queen and that Lily was by far his favourite. And he didn't care if Petunia knew it.
Lily swatted at his arm. "You shouldn't say that."
"All right, all right. But on the day you get married I'll be saying the same thing. It's just that the heart attack will be caused by someone taking you away from me and not because you're running around shouting at everyone." Jack smiled sadly at Lily.
"I'm not leaving you, Daddy." Lily hugged her father tightly. Lily was a Daddy's girl through and through and didn't mind if people knew about it.
"Come on. I suppose we better do something before Petunia actually loses her head." Father and daughter walked back into the house arm in arm. "By the way, you look beautiful."
...
James, Sirius and Remus arrived outside the house that the Evans family called home and stared at it in wonder. It was, by Muggle standards, a veritable mansion. Flying in gently in the breeze from a flag pole was the Union Jack and beneath that flag was the Irish national flag.
"Why is there an Irish flag?" Sirius stared at the flag.
"Because Lily's mother is from Belfast, that's why. Come on." Remus led the way to the front door and knocked loudly. After a minute of scrambling sounds behind the door it was pulled open by a woman who could only be Petunia Evans, soon-to-be Dursley. Petunia stared at the three of them for a second, and when she recognised Remus she frowned.
"Excellent more freaks for the show. LILY! Your freaks are here." Petunia gave the hideous look and walked away to be replaced by a lovely woman.
"Good morrow, Remus. And you must James and Sirius." The woman shook each of their hands and guessed correctly which was James and whish was Sirius.
"Hello Rose. Guys, this is Lily's mother." Sirius seemed shocked that such a nice and calm woman could be mother to the girl with the fiery temper that they knew so well. James didn't seem at all shocked. Now he could see where Lily got her looks, though Rose had black hair and chocolate brown eyes.
"Hello, Mrs. Evans." James smiled his best and was glad to see that Rose smiled back widely at him. James had planned on making a good impression and so far everything was going well. Then a stern looking man appeared behind Rose and came towards them. The look on his face told them that this was defiantly Lily's father.
"Good morning, Jack." Remus spoke up first. When Jack saw Remus he smiled brightly.
"Remus, my boy." Jack shook Remus' hand and then embraced him. "How are you?" The worried look on Jack's face told James and Sirius that Jack knew about Remus' lycanthropy.
"Fine, thank you, sir. This is James Potter and Sirius Black." Remus introduced the other two and James was glad to see that Mr. Evans appeared to like the look of him.
"Come in, boys. I'm sure my Lily's around here somewhere. LILY! YOU'RE FRIENDS ARE HERE!" Jack had to yell as Petunia suddenly began screaming at the top of her lungs. Next thing they knew red hair and gold dress was racing down the stairs being chased by brown hair and white slip. Lily flew straight into James' arms and he quickly pushed her behind him. Jack smiled warmly at this sight and moved into Petunia's path.
"Something wrong, my dear?"
"She changed the colour! The freak!" Petunia shouted this last bit over her father's shoulder and in Lily's general direction. James felt Lily press her forehead against the back of his neck and her grip tighten on his arms.
Rose stepped in to calm the situation. "Calm down, Petunia. I told her should could on the condition that she had to act civilly to everyone here today, including Vernon and his family. She will also make sure that her friends don't use any magic in front of anyone, and neither will she. Fair enough?"
Petunia was livid. "Fine. Leave the colour. But if I see one piece of... abnormality you will all regret it. You're all freaks!" Petunia stomped back up stairs. Rose threw an apologetic look at the boys and left. Jack sighed, squeezed Lily's shoulder and made his escape. Lily pressed her head against James' shoulder again, took a deep breath and then moved into sight of the other two.
"Hello. Sorry you had to see that. Thanks for coming." Lily smiled, and although it was warm the pain there was unbearable for James but he didn't risk doing anything other than smile at her.
"Lovely woman your sister." Sirius stated rather unnecessarily. "Your parents on the other hand are lovely. Rose and Jack? Kind of a doom bringer isn't it?"
"You've seen Titanic?" Lily asked incredulous.
"My mother made the three of us watch it last summer holidays. He cried like a baby." James laughed.
"So did he." Sirius muttered. "This house is incredible, Lils. You never said you were rich."
"You never asked. Come on, I'll show you where the horror show is going down."
…
Almost two hours later, the ceremony was over and the congregation had moved to the local hall, which Jack Evans actually owned. Petunia hadn't been happy about having the reception there but they got it for free and when it was all done up it was near impossible to tell that it was a hall-for-hire. When Lily walked in as part of the bridal party she saw that Petunia had made sure that James, Sirius and Remus were stuck at the worst table with Lily's most obnoxious cousins, Jane and Jill. She smiled at the three of them and rolled her eyes at them. The three of them attempted to stifle their laughs but only just managed to make it sound as though they were coughing. Lily took her place and waited for Petunia and Vernon to arrive at the hall. Lily couldn't wait to see Petunia's face as she walked in to the room. As expected Petunia looked disgusted but tried to hide it behind a smile. Lily was forced to turn her head away so that no one would see her laughing.
As the dinner and speeches dragged on Lily felt as though her head was going to explode. She needed fresh air but her mother was making sure that she couldn't leave by throwing relative after relative at her to keep her occupied. Lily put on a brave face and forced herself to stay in her seat and breathe deeply. It didn't work very well. But soon it was time for the bridal waltz which meant that Lily had to dance with Vernon's best man who was even bigger than Vernon and smelt worse. Half way through the dance Lily managed to escape from Bill and made her way over to the boys while dodging several relatives on the way. When she reached them she found that Jane and Jill were desperately trying to chat up the three boys. However, when Lily approached her cousins stopped talking all together and turned venomous smiles on her.
"Lily, how nice to see you." Jane drawled. "I didn't recognise you for a second there. You don't often wear dresses and you almost never look pretty."
"Thanks for the compliment." Jane looked incredibly confused before realising exactly what she had said. She sighed and motioned to Jill to leave. Lily took Jill's vacant seat. "Sorry about them. In case you couldn't tell we don't get along very well."
"Do you get along with anyone in your family?" Sirius asked incredulously.
"Do you?" Lily replied simply. Sirius frowned. "I didn't think so. I hope you guys aren't too bored."
"Not at all. I've never been to a Muggle wedding before." James looked around and decided that he rather liked the Muggle version.
"And I've never been to a magical wedding before." Lily laughed.
"If you'll excuse me." Remus suddenly got up and left for the exit.
"Is he okay?" Lily asked. Sirius and James had followed Remus' exit with their eyes but they now turned their attention back to Lily.
"No. He got a letter from his father this morning telling him that he was trying to get a law passed which would mean that werewolves would be hunted down and killed one by one." James said. His eyes were burning with hatred and Sirius was no better.
"I knew that Remus' father was anti-werewolf but I never realised how badly."
"You have no idea. Should we leave him?" Sirius had turned his attention back to where Remus had left.
"Yeah, he'll come back when he's ready." James was also looking at the door. After a minute Sirius was distracted by someone else. Lily followed his line of sight and sighed when she saw who was looking at.
"That's Amelia Adams. She's a friend of Petunia's and not worth the trouble."
"I'll be the judge of that." Sirius got up and made his way over to Amelia leaving James and Lily alone for the first time all day.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" James was amused to see Lily roll her eyes and pretend to gag.
"Of course I am. I've never had so much fun!" Lily rolled her eyes again. "I want to leave but as the Maid of Honour I can't. Instead I'm stuck dancing with Bill the whale over there. He stinks something bad. Worse than the Owlry at school." Lily pretended to gag again but descended into laughter when James laughed at her.
James went to speak but they were interrupted by Bill the Whale. James had to breathe through his mouth to stop himself from gagging on the stench. Lily raised her eyebrows at him as if to say Told you so.
"Here you are, Lily flower. I was wondering where you'd escaped to." James had to hide a laugh as a cough. Bill's voice was incredibly high and didn't match his appearance. Plus he'd called Lily 'Lily flower'. "And you would be?"
"James Potter. I'm a friend of Lily's from school." James did the polite thing and stood, hand outstretched. The whale looked at his hand, scoffed and proffered his arm to Lily.
"Shall we dance, my dear?"
"Thanks but no."
"And why not?" Bill dropped his arm and genuinely looked hurt. No doubt he was thinking it had something to do with the smell. But Lily was too kind to let him know the truth but she couldn't think of something to say.
"Because she only just agreed to dance with me." James jumped to rescue and took Lily by the hand, leading her away to the dance floor just as Percy Sledge's When A Man Loves A Woman came on. James saw Lily close her eyes and knew that she must feel slightly awkward. "You can run if you like."
Lily looked up at him and instead of answering placed her hand on James' shoulder.
…
When a man loves a woman
Can't keep his mind on nothing else
He'll trade the world
For the good thing he's found
If she's bad he can't see it
She can do no wrong
Turn his back on his best friend
If he put her down.
When a man loves a woman
Spend his every last dime
Tryin' to hold on to what he needs
He'd give up all his comfort
Sleep out in the rain
If she'd said that's the way it ought to be
Well, this man loves a woman
I gave you everything I had
Tryin' to hold on to your precious love
Baby, please don't treat me bad
When a man loves a woman
Down deep in his soul
She can bring him such misery
If she plays him for a fool
He's the last one to know
Loving' eyes can't ever see
When a man loves a woman
He can do no wrong
He can never own some other girl
Yes, when a man loves a woman
I know exactly how he feels
'Cause baby, baby, baby, you're my world.
…
After several songs, James and Lily made their escape out into the cool night air. James quickly steered Lily away from where he could see Sirius and Amelia leaning against a wall. Instead they sat on a low stone bench over-looking the city. For a long time the two of them sat in silence looking out over the twinkling lights of the city below them.
"I hope Remus is okay." Lily muttered suddenly. It was then that James noticed that Lily was staring up at the moon. There was a slight twinkle in her eye and James couldn't help but feel as though Lily was thinking about more than just Remus. But he didn't think that he should ask, because chances were it had something to do with the turmoil in the magical community.
"Remus is tougher than he looks. He'll be okay, he just needs time." Lily smiled at him but quickly looked away when she could feel a blush coming on.
"I certainly hope so. He doesn't deserve to go through all… the crap. The superstitious crap that people have about Muggles is ridiculous. I just don't understand how people can be so shallow and idiotic to think that Muggles are incapable of doing things without magic. What are you staring at me like that for?" Lily asked James.
"You're not talking about werewolves. Lil, you said the superstitious crap that people have about Muggles. You said nothing about werewolves."
"Oh, I didn't even realise. I didn't mean too. It just slipped out, that's all."
"Twice, Lil. Once I get, but twice?" James twisted his body so that he was facing Lily, who sighed and covered her face with her hands. James placed his hand on her shoulder gently. "What's wrong, Lil?"
"Nothing. Really." Lily looked at James and could tell by the cocked eyebrow that he didn't believe her for a second. "I don't know. Sometimes I can't help but wish that I wasn't who or what I am. At home I'm a freak and at school I'm mud. Sometimes I just don't see the point in trying to be someone I'm not, but at the same time I don't know who I am."
"Lily, you are whoever you want to be. You aren't a freak and you aren't mud. You're beautiful and smart and incredible and you deserve so much more than what you have. I have never known you to care about what other people think of you and I find it hard to believe that you do. The Lily Evans I know is proud to be a witch and a Muggle born. The Lily Evans I know is not a meek girl who doesn't know who she is or where she belongs. You are exactly who you want to be." James took hold of Lily's hand. "To me, you are Lily Evans, the best witch I have ever met and the best Muggle I've met. You're the best of both worlds and you belong in both."
"Thank you, James." Lily moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "I don't care what people think of me but if you hear the same thing over and over again it gets to you. That's all. Petunia keeps calling me a freak and so I think I am one. Slytherins keep calling me mud blood and so I think I am. It's hard not to listen to them. I try, though, I really do. But with everything that's happening with Voldemort I'm finding it harder to not listen to them. I'm finding it harder to believe that we can fight him, that we can beat him. Do you think we can?"
James squeezed Lily's hand and looked up at the moon. "No, I don't think we can. But we can at least stand with our heads held high and say that we tried. One day we will be able to say that we stood up for what was right. That we didn't cave under the pressure. That we fought for as long and as hard as we could. That's all we can hope for. I do believe that one day a very powerful witch or wizard will come along and defeat him for good. I just don't know if we'll be there to see it." James lapsed into silence, not wanting to say more. Lily didn't move but her grip on his hand tightened.
They sat like that for a long time before they finally stood and re-entered the hall and the festivities that were going on. Lily and James were virtually inseparable for the rest of the night. Each of them were going over what had been said, and what they hadn't said. When the night ended they each went their separate ways, thoughts swirling around their heads. They wouldn't see or hear from each other until the end of the summer holidays and their new and last year at Hogwarts.
