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I'm tired and am typing this after I wrote the chapter so I'll be quick. Big thanks to my reviewers, ForbiddenFruit420, Binka Fudge, P.T LadyBug, lmurph2592, irimma, knl2012, LilyHeartsMarauders and Kaladelia Undomiel. Also a shout out to those who favourited and all that, means a lot, seriously thank you all so much, Penny.
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Chapter Ten: Friends See Clearer
Sirius
"You owe me. A lot" Remus said holding up the gluggy glass.
"Do not even think of asking again!" Lily snapped glaring at me.
I was still trying to get them to go together but neither of them would. Luckily I had Remus on my side.
"A whole lot" he whispered to me. I glanced over at James who was sitting slumped on the couch wearing a very nice suit, the tie not done up and the top few buttons undone.
I was wearing the same thing though it was slightly longer on me as I was a little shorter then James.
I'd made sure he wore a suit because if they went to James' dad's election thing then they'd go to Lily's sister's thing it'd make more sense if they were dressed in something appropriate for both events. I hadn't told them the plan that Remus and I would go to one thing and they'd go to the other, and if they wanted, we'd switch in between, but not partners. But I knew they'd be pissed so it was good I'd be with Remus while they seethed at the other event.
Remus sighed and yanked out a few strands of Lily's hair chucking them into the glass. Lily watched in rapt fascination as the liquid inside changed from brown to a dusty red.
"Thank you Prongs" I said yanking out a bit of his hair. He glared at me but then resumed his brooding.
"Bottoms up" I said to Remus. He groaned
"You both owe me a lot" he said and we both downed the glasses and shuddered. Remus actually began to gag.
"Crap" he said and ran off to the bathroom still gagging. The taste was awful and made me very unbalanced. I fell over behind the table Lily gasped when I stood back up.
"Wow…" she said staring at me.
"Glasses" I said upset that now my perfect vision was less then so.
"These are my only spare pair…" James muttered handing them to me. I slipped them on
"Ah there you are" I said Lily smiled curling a stray strand of hair from her face.
Remus came back out looking like Lily. It was strange seeing Lily standing there in her nice silver heels and navy blue dress with a silver pendant in the middle. Then seeing Lily again standing in the doorway wearing Remus' sneakers, faded jeans and too big t-shirt.
"Ok when a girl fits comfortably in your pants you know you're too thin" Remus said holding up his shirt to see the belt on his jeans, it wasn't very loose.
"Ok… uh… I'll just get you a bra…" Lily said while James sniggered.
"I hate you guys" Remus said sitting down beside James.
"More ladylike please" I said
"Laugh it up" Remus said glaring at me but sat up in a more dignified manner. I smiled and ruffled my new short hair.
"Not you too…" Lily said walking back in. I laughed and James groaned and nodded rather unenthusiastically.
"Ok… so here's my dress and some shoes, don't trip. Want me to do your hair?" she asked Remus.
"No thank you… I'm sure I can manage I braided Sirius' long enough"
"Till one day you chopped it!" I said
"It was ridiculously long" Remus said taking the clothes off Lily and going to change in the bathroom.
"So… Lily…" I said she stared at me.
"What?"
"Nothing…" I said innocently. Remus came back a few minutes later his hair matching Lily's. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference except Remus had a very sour expression on his face.
"I hate you…" Remus said
"Aw you look pretty" I said he glared at me.
"So, make up?" I asked
"Check" he said waving his wand at his face his make-up now matching Lily's.
"Extra Polyjuice?" I asked
"Check" he said holding up his while I held up mine.
"And we're going to Lily's sisters wedding right?" I asked
"Check" Remus said as I pulled him closer.
"Wait 'we'? No you mean us" Lily said indicating to herself and then me.
"No" I said grabbing Remus he glared up at me. "See you later"
"WHAT!" James and Lily both screamed standing up but I just Apparated.
We appeared in a large park. Near where we'd appeared sat an arch way in front of that sat a set of seats, quite a lot considering…
"They're going to be pissed…" I muttered letting Remus go.
"They need this…" he said I nodded and we looked around.
"Lily…" an old lady said cheerfully.
"Hi. Good to see you" Remus said hugging her. She hobbled off and Remus sighed
"Who was that?" I asked
"I have no idea"
"Not the best plan…" I said
"No"
"Let's get wasted" I said
"Yeah ok…" he said we headed off in search of a bar or some form of alcohol.
We found one at a bar just down the road and came back to the wedding with six beers concealed in my jacket.
"Ellie"
Remus raised his eyebrows and then frowned.
"Dad?" Remus said sounding rather unsure.
"How are you dear?" Mr Evans asked.
"Fantastic" Remus said "So excited for Tuna… Tuni!"
I snorted and covered it with a cough.
"James, how're you?"
"Good… yeah. Yourself?" I asked
"Fantastic. Do you know where your sister put all the alcohol?" Mr Evans asked turning back to Remus.
"I assume it'd be at the reception hall. There's a bar down the road though" Remus said
"Don't tell your mother" Mr Evans said and quickly hurried off in the direction Remus pointed.
"He's not an alcoholic or anything is he?" I asked Remus shrugged.
"Lily"
"Hi" Remus said smiling brightly at the woman before us. I saw the clueless look on Remus' face.
"It's your Aunt Holly, we haven't spoken since you were this tall" the woman said holding her hand up near her hip. Remus sighed in relief
"It's so good to see you" he said
"I knew it was you, no mistaking that gorgeous hair…" Holly said smiling
"Come on have a talk with your sister…" Holly took Remus' hand and led him away. He shot pleading glances at me but I just sipped on my beer.
"Hi" I looked over and saw a gorgeous blonde standing nearby.
"Hi" I said she smiled
"Bride or groom?" she asked
"Groom" I lied
"Bride" she said. I figured…
"Second cousin" I said
"Cousin" she said and we shook hands.
"So what are you doing after?" she asked
"You" I said she giggled.
"Oi" I turned and found Remus standing behind me. He slapped me
"Ow dude!" I said he narrowed his eyes capturing Lily perfectly.
"I'm sorry" the girl said.
"Fern! This is my fiancé James" Remus said
"He was hitting on me…" Fern said defensively
"Just go" Remus said. Fern hurried off and Remus glared at me.
"Idiot we're supposed to be in love… or something you know. Don't go chatting up girls James won't forgive you" Remus said
"Gotcha" I said Remus rolled his eyes.
"Want to go behind that tree and make-out?" I asked walking nowhere in particular but it was annoying Remus…
"Seriously!" he snapped I shrugged and took a sip of my beer.
"Why are you walking like that?" I asked
"Oh… Petunia broke her heels so I had to give her mine"
"How strange was that sentence?" I asked
"Horrifying…" Remus muttered I held out my hand.
"Give me your shoes" I said
"What?"
"Lily she wouldn't have asked you to go see her to swap shoes. She could have stolen her bridesmaids or something. She asked you because you're a witch now hand them over"
"Well that's not all she wanted…" Remus said taking off the shoes and handing them to me. "She also wanted to tell me that she's pregnant"
"What?" I asked he nodded.
"How pregnant?" I asked.
"It's not yours don't worry, it's not the grooms either mind you" Remus muttered.
"That girl is like the town bicycle…" I said
"Real nice" Remus said I pulled out my hand and fixed the shoes handing them back to Remus.
"How come you didn't think of that?" I asked as he slipped them on.
"Uh because I was being insulted by the maid of honour. Kept telling me to get laid, saying it'd loosen me up" he sighed sounding rather miserably about that fact.
"It would" I said purposely checking him out so he'd notice.
"Stop that you're creeping me out"
"You're the one who said act like we're in love and we both know James wants to jump Lily" I said.
"We're not doing it. It's sick"
"Is that the only reason you're declining? Because tonight-"
"Seriously!" Remus said I smiled. If I was going to have to be at a wedding for a few hours I'd at least have some fun. And as torturing Remus was the only fun I was going to have…
"Come on, lets give Petunia her fixed shoes" Remus sighed and led the way over to the tent set up for Petunia to get ready.
"You decent?" Remus called
"Yeah" Petunia replied and we hurried inside.
"Fixed your shoes" Remus said
"How the hell did you manage that?" a brunette girl asked
"Magic" Remus said holding up the white strappy shoes.
"Oh I love you!" Petunia said taking off the silver shoes that were Lily's and trading them with Remus.
"Can you fix my flowers?" she asked
"What's wrong with them?"
"They're dead" Petunia said. Remus and I yelped and leapt back from the very, very dead flowers.
"Why have you even got those?" Remus asked
"Well see I wanted mine done in a specific way by this gorgeous French florist named Apolline Delacour" Petunia said I coughed and spluttered before quickly falling silent. "But she had to go back to France a few days ago and so she set these up but… they died"
"Yes I can see that… I'll see what I can do…" Remus muttered taking the dead bouquet from her.
We walked outside the tent and Remus stared at the flowers.
"Why'd you splutter?" he asked frowning.
"Apolline Delacour is a French witch that's why her flowers are so damn fantastic, she did my uncles funeral… great lady" I said
"Oh, and Petunia being apposed to all things magic-"
"Except on her wedding day" I said pulling out my wand again. The flowers perked up immediately.
"Why do you know a spell for flower perking?" Remus asked and then frowned trying to work out if his sentence made sense.
I just pushed him back into the tent
"Thank you so much Lily, you saved the day!" Petunia cried joyously.
"Not a problem… just give me a shout if you need anything else" Remus said and then came back out and grabbed my arm pulling me away.
"Not fun?" I asked
"I hate girls"
"Oh Remy" I said patting his head.
"Not like that… they're nice… lovely. But they are so vindictive, back stabbing mongrels"
"Not a fan of the bridesmaids?"
"It's just their looks and nasty whispers. No wonder Lily didn't like going home during the holidays, having to come home to her sister and her wretched friends" Remus muttered hugging me. I looked down at him.
"I'm cold" he said defensively. I took off my jacket and put it round his shoulders.
"Thank you" he muttered shivering slightly. "Stupid girls…"
"Appreciate all your muscular warmth now huh?" I asked him
"Well I'll still be skinny and pale but more covered. Who made it that women have to show skin?" he asked glancing down at his legs. He shivered again.
"I think it'll be starting soon" he muttered.
"We don't have to sit and act like we care right?" I asked
"Well from the kind words Petunia and her bridesmaids gave me earlier I think it'd be weirder if we did" Remus muttered.
So we stood nearby as the string quartet began to play and everyone stood up.
"How do you think James and Lily are doing?" I asked.
At this particular moment our favourite awkward couple were both together but not and completely miserable.
"Horribly" Remus muttered.
"How do you know?" I asked
"I can feel it" Remus said.
We watched as the bridesmaids sauntered down the aisle in their hot pink dresses all looking quite pleased with themselves, why I did not know. Petunia soon followed led along by Mr Evans who though not stumbling had obviously had something to drink.
Remus and I began to snigger when he stumbled slightly and had to cover our laughs with coughing when Petunia gave him the dirtiest look. He handed her over to the groom and the cleric began speaking.
"Hey" James said we both turned to see Lily and James standing behind us.
"That much of a bore huh?" I asked James shrugged.
"Voting doesn't end till like five so…"
"You couldn't have mirrored us?" Remus asked looking around before dragging us away from the wedding.
Of course, two Lily's and two James' would look a little weird…
"No…" James said. "Look uh… we'll switch back at five ok…"
"Six" Lily said
"Six… we'll switch back at six. From the bathroom ok, then everyone will think we just went in for a little hanky panky" James said.
"Hmm…" Lily muttered.
"Can I talk to you… in private?" Remus asked and dragged Lily away.
"Her sister is pregnant" I said
"Damn" James muttered.
"So how goes it?"
"Remus bitch slapped me" I muttered James snorted.
"What'd you do hit on Petunia or something?"
"Or something" I muttered. "Did you guys fight? You seem more distant than usual" I said changing the topic smoothly.
"I may have said some things" he muttered
"What kind of things?" I asked
"Everything you wanted me to say in sixth year"
"Oh Jimmy…" I sighed. Lily and Remus came back over to us. Lily glanced between James and me before grabbing my hand and dragging me away.
"Lily" Remus said I put my finger to my lips and he fell silent.
"Lily…" I said she stopped a little while away from James and Remus.
"This morning…" she muttered trailing off. I leant down and kissed her. She moaned in surprise but almost immediately kissed back. I pulled away pleased to see her looking rather dazed and very confused.
"Be honest…" I said
"James… I… I love…" she stopped staring up at me.
"I'm Sirius" I said she frowned then looked over to the real James standing with Remus.
"Then why did you kiss me?"
"To unhinge you. Well best be off, congratulations Aunt Lily" I said hurrying back over to Remus to swap places.
"Let's go love" I said hugging Remus.
"See you guys" Remus said.
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James
"I hate your friends…" Lily said. I looked at her. We were sitting in the back seat of a limo and she was glaring out the window.
"They're just being nice…" I muttered.
"Real nice" Lily said
"They are" I said she looked at me and then slumped in her seat a rather sour look on her face.
"Look it won't be that bad…"
"Except they know nothing about my family and just went to my sisters wedding were there is nothing but my family. My normal un-magical family! Surrounded by my sisters fiancé's normal un-magical family!" Lily snapped.
"Well you know you could've got Hannah to go as you" I said
"Or me to go as me like we planned!" she said.
"Then go! Go to your sisters wedding and send Remus over" I said. She looked at me
"No… its fine, it's just for the ceremony right? How much damage can they cause?" she muttered.
I didn't want to tell her how much damage they could cause. In fact at this moment as Lily and I sat in a very tense silence Sirius was trying to hit on one of Lily's cousins and Remus got to bitch slap him.
"We have to talk" Lily said.
"About?" I asked running my hand through my hair.
"Us?" she said
"There is no us Lily. It's me and you. We just happened to have gotten drunk on our graduation and got married then through some stupid legal loop hole we got forced through we have to stay together. But in nine months we'll go our separate ways and I am still thanking every deity I can think of I'll never have to talk to you again!" I snapped and stared out the window.
"You really think that?" she asked I turned so fast I heard a large crack in my neck. I ignored the stab of pain to glare at her.
"Yes Lily, I think that! You broke my heart!"
"Because I can't love you?"
"No! No! I don't care Lily. I could have waited till you were ready… if you were ready to say it at all" I said.
"Then why are you upset about this?" she asked. I scoffed and then laughed.
"You really can't think of why I'm upset? Honestly you can't think of one reason?" I asked her sarcastically. She gave me a look. "You heartless bitch you have ruined all the faith I had in love…"
"I'm a heartless bitch now am I?" she asked
"Yes. You couldn't even dump me or anything. I understand why of course, but you could have explained it and I'd have backed off. I would have. But no! No! You had to kiss me, and tell me you liked me and string me along. And that that is what makes you a heartless bitch" I said. She stared at me her eyes wide and shining brightly, she was on the verge of tears I knew it.
"How much more did you expect me to take? To just sit there and love you, no matter how cruel you were to me? Well I can't do it. Not anymore" I said she was crying now.
"I didn't mean to…" she said shaking her head. I stared at her, crying and looking well just down right miserable and I felt awful. Knowing I was the one who made her cry. But I couldn't do it, I'd always put my feelings for her above anything. And now it was tearing me apart, I had to think of me…
"Well you did…" I said. "Now can you act like we're happily engaged for today or will you head home and I'll tell everyone you're sick?"
"I'll stay" she said wiping her eyes and sniffing.
I felt really bad. Crap now this was eating at me too. Damn it!
"Lily…"
"No, it's ok… I needed a good wake up call" she muttered "uh can we pull over for a few minutes I need some water and uh… a good face wash"
"Sure…" I said and nodded to the driver. The limo pulled over and Lily hurried inside a small coffee shop nearby.
"Kinda harsh man"
"Hey not paying you to talk mate" I said
"Just saying"
"I love her and she doesn't love me back. This whole relationship just sucks…"
"I hear you but dude, making her cry not cool"
"Yeah ok you're not allowed to talk anymore" I said.
Lily climbed back into the limo looking a lot better without the tear marks on her face but her eyes were still shiny and now rather blood shot.
The driver pulled back onto the road and Lily and I sat quietly in the back.
"I'm sorry" I said.
"Did you mean it?" she asked quietly. I glanced at her "what you said…"
"Kind of…" I muttered.
"Then don't apologise for being honest" she said.
This was going to be the most awkward night of my life.
Twenty minutes later after an awkwardly silent car ride and awkward introductions to some of my father's co-workers we stood by the bar.
"So excited for your father?" the bartender asked as he poured us some drinks.
"Yeah, he's bringing in some new laws. The first is to get rid of nosy bartenders" I said with a smile. He gave me a look before moving on to serve some other people.
"That was nice" Lily said taking a sip from her drink.
"Oh I'm fantastic with people" I muttered.
"Hi James"
I groaned and turned to stare at little Miranda Hill.
"Any comments? Your dad may be the minister for Magic for all of Great Britain… thoughts?"
"Not at the moment" I said
"Shocker…" she muttered "hi Lily, still enjoying him? Gets annoying after a while huh?"
"No… he's still so amazing and patient with me. It's great" Lily said giving me a small smile. "I'm going to go talk to people… I'll be back soon" she said and gave me a quick kiss before walking away.
"Oh there goes Quinn Gregovich. HEY Quinn! How do you feel about your dads environmental debates?" Hill cried running after the leggy blonde.
"Wow" I turned to see Kim standing beside me. She was wearing a nice red dress and her long wavy black hair was tied into an elegant side pony tail.
"You look tense. How're things going between you two?" Kim asked indicating to Lily who was talking to one of dads interns.
"Getting pretty chummy with Tony over there…"
"You know that guy?"
"Yeah, be threatened" she said.
"Seriously?"
"He's smooth. I'll give him that…" she said
"Should I interfere?" I asked
"No, you're mad at her right?"
"How do you know me so well?" I asked
"I actually can sense people's emotions. It's a gift. And right now your hurting and I'm going to guess it's because of her" she replied. I glanced over at Lily our eyes locked for a second before she turned back to Tony.
"Yeah, I kind of went off on her though so if she's giving you seething anger that's why…" I muttered.
"Why'd you yell at her?"
"Because she's evil…" I said sipping my drink.
"But she looks-"
"Don't let her cute smile, gorgeous eyes and far to perfect amazingly smooth red tresses confuse you, in reality she has no soul" I said.
"Wow that girl hurt you bad…" Kim said
"Well you know, she just ripped out my heart and jumped on it a few times before throwing it in a wood chipper… nothing to permanent" I muttered finishing my drink and ordering another.
"Ouch"
"I'm just tired of it, tired of her games. I can't put myself through it" I said.
"No, no of course. Let me help you out"
"Kim we can't have sex" I said she laughed.
"No, good idea though but no…" she said taking my hand and leading me away from the bar.
"Dance with me" she said. So I did.
"This is nice" she said.
"Yeah… I haven't stuffed up yet"
"You're not a dancer?" she asked
"No, I'm great but I get nervous around Lily and end up standing on her toes" I said.
"Your cute" she said I stared down at her.
"I meant that you get nervous. Brave and confident James Potter gets all st-st-stuttery around a girl" she said.
"Yeah…" I muttered.
"Tell me about her…"
"She's great. Funny and so smart. Pretty… and seems to be one of the only women on the planet that can keep me in line"
"Sort of"
"Sort of" I agreed. She smiled.
"I loved the moment I saw her. She was eleven and I remember telling my friends I was going to marry her. Only one not down with that plan was her…" I said making Kim smile.
"It was in fifth year when I first told her I loved her. She laughed at me for a bit then slapped me when she realised I wasn't kidding"
"You guys sound really great together…"
"You can't tell anyone… but she's not my fiancée" I said quietly. Kim frowned staring up at me with deep brown eyes full of intrigue.
"She doesn't even like me, she's never liked me. We got drunk at our graduation party and woke up married. But because of some loophole we can't break up for a year. Plus it's bad press and all that…" I muttered.
"Seriously?" she asked I nodded
"I'm sensing honesty… wow. And you love this girl huh?"
"Yeah"
"But she doesn't love you?"
"Nope…"
"I thought it was a little funny…"
I sighed and she leant her head on my shoulder.
"James… it'll be ok…"
"How do you know?"
"Because Lily's sending vibes of jealousy… thank me later" she said smiling.
"Mind if I cut in?" Lily asked
"Oh no, go right ahead…" Kim said stepping aside and giving me a wink before walking off.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked as we started to dance.
"I'm dancing"
"No I meant with Kelly"
"Her name is Kim" I said.
"Whatever. You're supposed to be my date" she said I stared at her.
"After I was rude to you and you went to hangout with Tony?" I asked
"Well… it looks bad when you dance with a pretty girl"
"You're not honestly trying to play the jealousy card are you?" I asked
"I am" she said
"Why because your jealous?" I asked
"Yes" she said I stared at her. I'd actually just been making fun of her really. I mean last time Kim had told me how Lily was feeling it didn't end well for me.
"You are"
"No" she said I raised my eyebrows.
"I'm not, I'm not. I'm not trying to string you along or anything, it was a slip of the tongue, I got confused. That is it"
"Well I appreciate you considering my feelings for once…" I said she raised her eyebrows.
"We're not ok are we?" she asked
"No" I said coldly.
"Will we be…?" she asked as the song ended.
"I don't know…"
"You let me know when we are ok?" she said and walked away.
I sighed and headed back over to the bar. Today all the wizards and witches in Britain were voting, well those over twenty-one and you know… wanted to. At nine o'clock tonight the ballots will be counted and I'll find out if my father is the Minister for Magic. As it was only midday and voting didn't close till about five I still had a long time before my parents actually wanted to talk to me. So I headed off in search of Lily figuring she might want to go see her sister right about now.
"Hey" I said
"Are we ok?" she asked
"No… want to go to your sisters wedding?" I asked she looked at her watch then back at me, a sad little smile on her face as she nodded.
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Thought I'd shake it up a little for you… well tell me what you think and all that. I'm tired and I did read over it correcting a few things but my sleep deprived brain may have missed things. I'll get them, eventually… but you know bare with me… thanks, Penny.
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