AN / Hey guys, here's a another chapter. Its is longer than the other one so I hope that you all enjoy it. :)
Wedding Plans and shopping
"What's the theme going to be?" Marigold asked stretching out on the sofa in the Marauders flat.
"Um we were sort of thinking about love." James muttered slightly uncomfortable. He glanced at Lily and she smiled and squeezed his hand. It was two days after she had moved in and after a frosty first morning with Peter, Lily had settled in quite well. The boy had decided to ask Lily what was for breakfast on the first morning, obviously thinking that because Lily was a girl she would be cooking. Both Remus and James had made themselves scarce while Lily shouted at Peter about how sexist he was. The boys only returned to the flat after three hours when they were sure that Lily's rant would be over. Everything had been smoothed over though as Peter had apologised the same day.
"Love?" Sirius asked sceptically.
"Yes Black love. You know red hearts and stuff like that," Lily rolled her eyes.
"What's wrong with having that as a theme?" Megan asked, from where she was lying on the floor, her feet propped up on the sofa. She had been invited round as she was one of Lily's bridesmaids. However because of this, Lily had been forced to tell her the truth. Amazingly Megan had accepted it and seemed perfectly comfortable to be in the same room as Lily and the rest of her friends.
"Well nothing its just..." Sirius trailed off.
Lily grinned, "Your just like James, Sirius. Always unhappy about talking about this kind of stuff."
"Well its not our fault. We're boys."
"No really?" Alice asked sarcastically. "We hadn't realised that in the seven years we've known you."
"Ha ha funny."
"Shut up!" Lily glared at Sirius, then turned back to Marigold. "The theme is love and the colour scheme is red to go with it."
"So tables, flowers and bridesmaids dresses are all going to be red?" Marigold asked.
"Yep."
"But red doesn't suit me." Marigold complained.
"Same here," Megan twiddled a strand of her hair. "Can't we have pink?"
"I second that," Marigold shot a smile at Megan. This was the first thing the girls would have been able to agree on since they had met. "I do not want to wear red."
"Tough," James looked up from the wedding book he was looking at. "We want that colour so we'll get it. Its us who's getting married after all."
"But-"
"When the two of you get married you can put Lily into what ever colour you like, if she's your bridesmaid. How about that?" James asked. "I won't care how bad she looks in what ever colour you choose."
"That doesn't make it any better. Lily, I'm not wearing red." Marigold crossed her arms. She looked at Megan for support, but she remained quite.
Lily sighed, "Mari please can you just wear what ever colour we eventually decide on?"
"Can't Megan and I wear pink? And why are you only picking on me?"
"The colour is red," Lily glared. "and I am only picking on you because I know that she will accept whatever I want her to wear."
Marigold stared at her, "How the hell could you say that?"
"Because its true. When have you ever accepted one of my decisions without arguing?"
Marigold looked daggers at Lily, but before the argument could escalate any more James stepped in.
"Lily sweetheart, why don't you help me get some more biscuits?" James asked jumping up and pulling Lily to her feet. He dragged her out of the room and into the kitchen.
"We have enough biscuits James. Let me go back in there and talk to Marigold. She is being totally out of order."
"I know, but Lils listen. In a way your also being out of order." James dared to say, knowing that there would be a possibility that Lily would retaliate.
"In what way?"
James sighed, "You know that Megan and Goldie have never seen exactly eye to eye and by saying that Megan will do anything for you when Goldie apparently wont is not going to help them become better friends."
Lily sighed, "Your right. Sorry Jami. Do you think that she will forgive me?"
"Who knows its Goldie," James smiled, "But you can always try."
Lily nodded. Taking a deep breath she entered the living room again. While she and James had been gone it seemed as if the rest of their friends had been trying to talk to Megan and Marigold as when they entered Marigold glared at Sirius and spoke loudly.
"But I don't want to wear-"
"Oh for goodness sake Mari, shut up!" Alice groaned. "Its Lily's wedding and if she says that the dresses are going to be red you cannot argue with that."
"Fine," Marigold muttered, crossing her arms. "When are we buying these things then?"
"Not yet." Lily spoke up. Marigold's glare deepened and she turned away from Lily. The girl sighed, "Mari I am sorry about what I said, okay? I haven't been sleeping very well for the past few days, and that has made me a bit snappy."
Marigold sniffed, "Fine you haven't been sleeping well but I don't think that gives you the excuse to talk to me the way you did."
"Look Mari, I said I was sorry. What more do you want me to do?"
"Well I think that to rectify what you said needs more than just a simple 'sorry'. You basically accused me of not wanting to anything for you."
"I never said that!"
"But you were implying it!" Marigold yelled, jumping up. "Am I really such a bad friend? Do you know what I would do for you?"
"I never said that you weren't a bad friend!" Lily shouted back. "I just said that Megan would wear something even if she didn't like it!"
"That is exactly my point!" Marigold screeched.
"Oh dear," Alice sighed. She looked at James and Sirius, "Are you going to stop them?"
James shook his head, "No way. Shorty, we would be killed if we intervened and you know it."
"If you don't do something, they might kill each other." Mary pointed out. James sighed and looked at Sirius, "What do you think mate? Should we stop them?"
"Um," Sirius looked over to where the girls seemed closer slapping each other than making up. "It might be better. Goldie!" Sirius pushed himself off the sofa and grabbed hold of Marigold around the waist. "I think we should take a walk and cool off."
"No, Black, I think that would be a bad idea." Marigold pushed him out the way so that she was able to see Lily. Following Sirius' example, James also went to Lily, "Lily," James placed a hand on her arm, "what happened to apologising to Goldie, instead of having a go at her?"
However unlike Marigold, she didn't push James aside. She sighed and pushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I know," she turned to look at Marigold. "Marigold, I am sorry that I upset you, but I really have not slept this week and you refusing to wear the colour dress that I had chosen was just the thing that I could not deal with. So I am very very sorry." Lily stopped unsure what else to say. Marigold glared at Lily for a bit longer then nodded slowly, "Okay then. I try the red. When are we going to buy them?"
Lily smiled, "Its a bit too early. The wedding isn't until next year."
Keen to get everything back to normal, Sirius frowned,"Why can't you have it sooner?"
"Because Muggles are adults when they turn eighteen, and its better if at least one of us is eighteen than neither of us when we get married."
"But that doesn't mean we can't get the dresses. It might take ages to find the perfect ones." Marigold smiled suddenly, "Come on Lily. You have got to find the perfect dress."
Lily sighed, knowing that if she said one thing wrong their brief truce would end, "Fine I'll call my mum and see when she's free." she left the room, phone in hand. James breath a sigh of relief, it seemed as if Marigold and Lily's fight was now over. Megan was sitting quietly in the corner, obviously uncomfortable about being the reason for the fight. She was playing on her pale green gameboy with Frank and Peter watching her over her shoulder.
"Oh Pads, Moony, Frank and Wormy we have to go shopping at some point for our suits."
"Okay," Lily entered the room again. "My mum's free tomorrow afternoon so as long as Jane is free and we can get Amy out of school, we can go tomorrow."
"Yes!" Marigold grinned, suddenly happy. "I love shopping."
"Well good for you," Sirius muttered, "Lily-Petal, James says that we have to go out for our suits. Why can't we wear dress robes?"
"Because I have Muggles coming, so that also means no magic Sirius."
"Oh," Sirius groaned, "But that's not any fun."
"Hey Lily, why don't you go choose the suits with Goldie and then we don't have to go shopping?" James asked.
"You will be getting the suits James together with your dad and mine."
"So red is definitely the colour scheme?" Alice flicked a page over in her magazine sounding bored.
James threw a cushion at her, "Hey Shorty your one of Lily's bridesmaids, your supposed to be interested in this wedding."
"Who's says I'm not interested?" Alice grinned throwing the cushion back. "Anyway your the groom. Your the one getting married and your complaining about getting a suit."
"I'm a boy I'm not supposed to show interest in this stuff."
"Its your bloody wedding." Alice muttered turning another page.
"True, lets hope your interested in yours, when ever you get married."
Alice laughed, "Yeah sure. I will not be getting married for at least another five years."
"Does Frank know that?" James questioned, glancing over to where Frank and Peter were still staring at the gameboy. Curious about what they were staring at, Sirius slipped over to join them.
"No, not yet," Alice smiled. "But that will change."
"Sure it will." James grinned then leapt to his feet as Alice got to hers. James ran from the room, Alice hot on his heels.
"Well I won't complain if I marry before I'm twenty." Marigold shot a meaningful look at Sirius, but the black haired boy was too busy trying to persuade Megan to let him have a go on the gameboy, "Unbelievable." Marigold shook her head.
Lily laughed, "Its Sirius, Mari. I mean what else did you expect?"
"Humm." Marigold nodded and the three remaining girls turned their gaze on Megan, Sirius and the rest of the boys. The black haired boy had finally managed to get hold of the machine and was pressing buttons frantically. Lily laughed, "Meg come over here and leave Sirius to play that game. We'll go and get a drink and leave the boys."
"What about Alice?" Megan asked jumping up, relieved that she was able to get away from the three boys crowding around her.
"She'll survive," Lily smiled. "James will get bored of chasing her soon and come and find me. But in the meantime, lets go into the kitchen. I think James put some fire whiskey in the fridge last night."
"Fire Whiskey?" Megan asked.
"Wizard's alcoholic drink." Mary informed her as they stepped into the kitchen. Lily was already pulling bottle's out of the fridge and handing them to Marigold. Megan watched them carefully, "Marigold forgave Lily pretty quickly."
"Humm," Mary nodded, "Yeah, but then again Marigold never could stand being angry at Lily for very long. She knows how much Lily needs her and how much she needs Lily."
"They really are best friends?"
"Very best friends," Mary glanced at Megan, "But you know that once your someone's friend your always their friend." Mary crossed her fingers as she said this, remembering Severus Snape.
"Suppose."
Mary sighed, "You were Lily's best friend before she came to Hogwarts weren't you?"
"Thought I was," Megan sniffed, "But I got over the fact that she never wrote to me or called me."
"You know why don't you?"
"Oh yeah. Electric stuff doesn't work around areas that have loads of magic."
"Technically yes, unless you are very, very clever." Mary smiled and took the two bottles Marigold held out to her. She handed one to Megan, "Which Lily is. She managed to work out how to use a phone at work, which is amazing considering how much magic is in the air around the Ministry."
"Humm." Megan took a sip and coughed.
Mary laughed, "It takes a while to get used to."
"Sure." Megan coughed again and this time Lily spoke up.
"Do you want something else, Meg? We do have other stuff."
"No, no its fine," Megan coughed again then smiled. "See?"
Lily nodded slowly, "Are you free tomorrow, Meg?"
"Err, should be able to slip out of the house."
"What about uni?"
"I have two days off, I'll need to be back there tomorrow night."
"Good," Lily smiled. "Because tomorrow we'll go shopping for dresses. In fact I'll pop round to see Jane now and ask whether we can take Amy out of school," Lily put her bottle down. "Tell James where I've gone, if he asks."
"Will do." Marigold smiled, swiping Lily's bottle and pouring the left over liquid into her own drink. Lily smiled and with a quick wave at her friends left the flat.
The next day Lily arrived outside the gates of Hogwarts. Jane had given her permission to take Amy out and was going to meet them outside the dress shop. Marigold, Alice and Mary were picking up Sara and Megan, before joining Jane. Quickly Lily made her way through the gates flanked by winged boar and up into the castle. Dumbledore's office was the same as it had been when she'd last visited. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk and he smiled at Lily as she entered. "Lily! What can I do for you?"
"Is it possible to take Amy out of school for a bit? I'm buying the bridesmaid dresses today and I need Amy for it."
Dumbledore nodded, "Has Jane said that its okay?"
"Yes, I wouldn't have come here otherwise."
"I see," Dumbledore waved his wand and his patronas appeared. Lily stared in wonder at the phoenix that resembled Forks in so many ways. "Tell Professor Slughorn that I need to see Amy Potter in my office immediately," when Dumbledore finished the phoenix flew from the room. Then Dumbledore turned back to Lily, "Lily, would you be free tonight to do a little scouting?"
"Um, I think so, Sir."
"Ah its Albus, Lily. You are no longer a student and I am no longer your headmaster."
"Right," Lily nodded and tried again, "I think so, Albus."
"Good!" Dumbledore smiled. "I think it would be a good idea if James accompanied you on this one. Is he also free tonight?"
Lily nodded, "If I am, he should be. I'll contact him as soon as I can, then get back to you."
"Splendid!" Dumbledore smiled. There was a knock on the door. "That was fast," Dumbledore commented, before raising his voice, "Come in!"
The door opened and Amy appeared. She stared in amazement at Lily and completely forgetting her manners, ran up to Lily and gave her a hug.
"Lily!"
"Hey Amy," Lily smiled at James' sister. She turned back to Dumbledore, "Your sure its okay to take her out for a bit?"
Dumbledore nodded, "Yes she may. I cannot stop her if Jane has agreed to her leaving, however I would like her to be back before it gets dark."
"She'll be back by then Professor." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and Lily smiled, "Albus. We only need her for one or two hours."
Dumbeldore smiled, "Well I hope the shopping goes well."
Lily nodded, "May we please use your fireplace?"
"Of course," Dumbledore moved out of the way and let them through to the fireplace. Lily and Amy stepped into it and Lily took a handful of Floo Powder. Just before she dropped the power Dumbledore spoke, "Be careful Lily."
Lily nodded and dropped the powder, "The Leaky Cauldron!"
She and Amy disappeared in a billow of green smoke. They arrived in The Leaky Cauldron and Lily hurried Amy out the door into the Muggle street.
"Where are we going?" She asked as they walked down the street.
"To a shop. Here we are." Lily stopped outside the shop she'd chosen to look for dresses in. Amy stared at the shop windows then turned to Lily, "Why are we going here?"
"To get dresses." Lily pushed the door open and entered the shop. Amy followed and a smiled came over her face as she saw Jane.
"Mum!"
Jane turned, "Amy! Hello Sweetheart." she hugged her daughter.
"Why are we here?" Amy asked again this time looking at her mother for help.
"Didn't Lily tell you? Your getting your bridesmaid dresses."
Amy's face lit up, "Really? That is great, I get to miss a horrible potions test to go clothes shopping."
Lily smiled as she pulled a dress out from one of the racks, "Mari can you try this one on?"
Marigold looked at the ruby red dress and sighed, "Yeah sure."
As she disappeared into the changing room Alice looked at Lily, "She really hates that colour you know."
Lily sighed, "I know. But I can't change the colour scheme just for her."
"Don't forget I don't like red either." Megan piped up from where she and Mary were flicking through a rack of dresses.
"What if none of us look good in red?" Mary asked.
"Um could you just deal with it?" Lily suggested. Mary and Megan stared at her and Lily shoved a dress back onto the rail, "Look can you guys just deal with the dresses that I pick out for you? This is my wedding and afterwards you don't need to wear them ever again," Lily turned in frustration pulling out four more dresses, "Here," she held them out to her other four bridesmaids, "Put them on."
In silence they took the dresses from Lily and went to put them on. None of them had seen Lily in a mood like this since Hogwarts and none of them wanted to get her more angry. Sara put an arm round her daughter, "Come on Lily. Don't be to hard on them."
Lily sighed, "Sorry I'm just tired."
"Are you doing overtime at work?" Jane asked worriedly. "No wait you can't be, your still training."
"Like that matters. We're all doing overtime Jane." Lily turned back to look at the dress rack. She fingered the materials, as Marigold appeared wearing the dress.
"What do you think?" She asked.
Lily turned and looked at her. Her eyes ran up and down the dress a few times then she looked away, "Looks awful. Here try this one on," She pulled out a pink dress and then grabbed her phone. "Mum, can you give the others the same dress and Marigold please? I have to make a call."
Sara nodded and Lily stepped outside, putting the phone to her ear.
Remus answered the phone, "Hello?"
"Remus? Remus its me, Lily."
"Hey Lily, do you want James?"
"Yeah."
"One second, I'll just find him."
Lily heard Remus walking and then James' voice sounded, "Lily! What's wrong? Has something happened?"
A smiled crept onto Lily's face, "Nothings happened. Everyone's okay."
James sighed, "Thank Merlin. So if nothings happened why are you phoning?"
"We have a slight problem with the colour scheme."
"Why? Er I mean how?"
"The colour doesn't suit Marigold and I highly doubt that it will look better on the rest of the girls."
"Why don't you choose a different colour?"
"I have done. What do you think about pink?"
"Pink?"
"Yeah. Pink still fits in with our scheme. We can have pink and red flowers."
"Pink it is then. Oh and Lils?"
"Yes?"
"I don't care what the colour scheme is or anything like that. As long as your happy on the day I'm happy okay?"
Lily grinned, "Okay. By the way, Dumbledore wants us to go scouting tonight, are we free?"
"Err, yes. What time?"
"No idea. I need to tell Dumbledore that we can do it first, then he'll give us more information."
"Good then tell him we'd love to do it."
Lily smiled, "I love you."
"Love you too Lily-Petal. See you later?"
"Yeah, bye." Putting the phone down Lily, checked the streets, before flicking her wand and sending a message to Dumbledore, telling him that she and James were free. Then Lily re-entered the shop to find all the girls standing in the pink dresses waiting for her. They all stood in silence as Lily looked at them. The dresses were knee length and strapless and had tiny pink beads sewn onto the bodice and a silk flower at the hip.
"Well?" Jane asked. "What do you think Lily?"
"They look good. Do you guys like them?"
"I love it!" Amy grinned at Lily. "They look really nice and it fits me."
Lily smiled, "Okay then we'll take them."
"Really?" Marigold stared at Lily. "Doesn't it mess up your colour scheme?"
"Nope. I just called James and he doesn't mind about the colour. So you get your pink dresses."
"Yay!" Marigold grinned. "Are we going to get your dress now?"
Lily nodded, "Yep, let me pay for these first. I know the perfect shop."
After Lily had paid for the dresses the small group left the shop. Despite the fact that the wedding was in February, Lily had decided to get her dress together with the bridesmaids. The group followed Lily down the street to a wedding dress shop. Lily came to a stop outside it, "This is it. What do you think of the dresses outside?"
Alice wrinkled her nose, "I can't say that I would choose any of them. But that's me. I mean you probably have your own ideas about them."
Lily smiled at Alice's obvious attempt to make her feel better, "I don't think I would wear any of them either. Right lets get inside, we need to finish this off as soon as possible."
"Why?" Amy asked. "We're shopping for your wedding dress can't you take your time?"
"Not really. I have work tonight."
Marigold looked up, "We don't have work today."
Lily sighed, "Yes I do Mari, but this is a bit of extra work."
"Oh," Marigold caught Lily's meaning and grabbed her hand pulling her off to one side, "I didn't know you were going out."
"Dumbledore asked me today. Its just a bit of scouting and James is coming with me."
"Thank Merlin for that. I do not want to be around if you ever go on a job without James."
"Yep. He doesn't know and he won't know." Lily pulled out a dress. "What do you think?"
Marigold sighed and looked the dress up and down, then looked up at Lily, "No."
She and Lily spoke at the same time and then laughed. With everyone combing through the racks they soon had a selection of dresses for Lily to try on. Lily disappeared inside a cubical with the shop assistant again and again trying on the different dresses. Finally she found one she liked. She stepped out shyly from the dressing room and Sara gasped.
"Oh Lily its beautiful."
"Amazing." Jane breathed. "James won't be able to take his eyes off you, if you wear that."
"You think?" Lily looked at herself again in the mirror and then grinned. "I'll like it."
The dress was pearl white, with beads sewn all over the bodice, the skirt went down to the floor and there was a medium size train. The dress set off Lily's hair and all over it small flowers had been stitched with silver thread.
"Are you going to wear a veil?" Megan asked, holding one up.
"Yes. I'm definitely wearing a veil." Lily took the one Megan was holding and Sara secured it onto her head with a small silver tiara.
"It looks amazing Lily," Marigold breathed. "You should so get it."
Lily grinned at herself in the mirror, "I am getting it, no matter how much it costs." She slipped back into the cubical and when she was back into her daily clothes, took her dress to the counter and paid.
"Are you going to tell us how much it cost?" Alice asked as they left the shop and Lily shook her head.
"That is going to remain a secret. Not even James is going to know," Lily smiled, and turned to her mother, "Can you take this home Mum? I don't want James to see it."
"Okay, are you coming back now? Or do you have something else to do?"
"Um I do have to do something, but I'll drop you and Meg off at home," Lily stopped, "Oh I also need to take Amy back to school."
"I'll do that," Jane smiled. "I need to speak to Albus anyway."
"Okay," Lily hugged Amy. "I'll see you in the holidays."
Amy nodded, "Can you and James pick me up?"
"Err," Lily looked at Jane who nodded, "Sure we'll be there."
Amy beamed, "Great."
They all said goodbye to Jane and Amy and watched as they headed for The Leaky Cauldron. Once they had gone the rest moved off into a small alley way, Lily took hold of her mother's arm, whilst Megan held onto Mary and then they Disapparered. They landed in the Evans' back garden and followed Sara into the house. Michael wasn't back yet so Lily and her friends hung up their dresses in Lily's room and, after saying goodbye to Sara and Megan, left.
"So you want to get married in a church?" James asked.
"Yes, but not any old church. I want to get married in the church near my house."
"Okay, if I let you have the church can I choose where the reception is?"
"Fine, but it is not going to be a Quidditch pitch or anything like that."
"I thought you liked Quidditch."
"I do but I don't want my wedding reception at a pitch. How would we explain that to some of my guests? They're all Muggle and have no idea that I'm a witch. Oh that reminds me, you have to tell your family to wear normal Muggle clothes, and not wizard robes."
"I'll do that Lils don't worry."
"Good," Lily smiled, standing up, "I'm going round to the girls for a bit. Can you pick me up there later?"
"Err."
"What?"
"My mum wants to introduce us to some relatives that we have never met who she invited to our wedding."
Lily groaned, "Haven't we met them at our party?"
James grinned, "No. They're not actual relatives. They're more people who my mum knows but is so close with its a crime to call them friends."
"Oh right," Lily sighed. "I guess there is no way I can get out of this?"
James shook his head, "Nope, but don't worry we only need to stay there for an hour. I'll tell my mum that we're going out tonight or something."
"We are going out." Lily smiled.
"I know maybe I'll tell her that we're having an early night."
"Wish we were having an early night," Lily muttered as she grabbed her coat and slipped into her shoes. "Come on Jami, lets go, before we're late."
James grinned and taking Lily's hand left the flat, ready for what ever torture Jane had prepared for them.