A Bumpy Road to the Altar

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. The rest belongs to the genius, J.K. Rowling.

Note: First of all, thank you so much to all the eleven people who reviewed the last chapter! Okay, I know I said I'd review fast, but the evil bug of procrastination has bit me, and just a few days ago, the bug of another story bit me as well. But I'll try my best to update faster. But for now, here is the shocking tenth chapter. Please read, review, and enjoy!

Chapter Ten

Mishaps- Strike Three

Katharine was busy putting on new curtains in her house when the doorbell rang. Wiping her palms on her jeans, she answered the door and smiled once she saw Lily in front of her.

"Lily! Great to see you again, come on in," she invited and stepped backwards so her cousin could enter.

Lily looked around and grinned. "Nice place you've got here, Kat, better than that hotel room," she said. "But what happened? Why'd you decide to buy a house?"

The other woman's grin turned excited. "Well, I wanted to wait to tell you, but I guess now's the perfect time. My boss is making me transfer here permanently! He's giving me a promotion too, and a pay raise, so first thing I did was pack up my stuff from the hotel and buy a house."

Lily hugged her cousin. "Wow, that's great! Congratulations!"

Her cousin rolled her eyes as she walked to the kitchen, Lily following. She took a pitcher of iced tee from the fridge and poured some into two glasses and handed one to Lily. "Congratulations? Isn't it me who's supposed to be saying that? The wedding is on, isn't it?"

Lily nodded. "Yeah, it is. My god, Katharine, if you only knew the drama that happened…it's enough to make your head spin, trust me." She kept her voice light, although there was a somber note in her tone.

The two women sat on the couch. "So," Katharine said. "Do you want to tell me about it or what?"

"It's a long story," Lily warned.

"I've got time. Besides, I'd rather talk than hang curtains, so go ahead."

Lily sighed as the events of the past weeks relieved itself in her mind and forced herself to speak. She relayed all past events, and Katharine listened with an attentive ear. Finally, Katharine said, "But everything's okay now, right?"

Lily sighed. "Yeah. Hopefully."

..------..

"Lily, you look beautiful! That gown is so great," Katharine said admiringly that weekend as she surveyed her cousin in a wedding gown. Katharine, Kelsey, and Melissa, along with Lily, of course, were all at Selene's, a high-end witches' bridal store, to shop for Lily's wedding gown.

Lily turned left and right as she looked at herself wearing the ivory strapless gown, frowning slightly. "Hmm, I don't know," she said. "The back shows too much skin."

"Lily, honestly," Melissa said, rolling her eyes. "Brides these days like high fashion in designs like the one you're wearing right now. That one's good enough."

"But I don't want 'good enough'. I want perfect, and I don't think this is it." She shook her head a final time, and, taking it as a cue, the saleslady waved her wand once, and Lily was left standing in her normal clothes once more. She stepped off the elevated platform and took hold of the book bearing gown styles for the….15th time that day.

Needless to say, her companions were steadily becoming irritated.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say that she's torturing us on purpose," Melissa whispered to Katharine. The other woman merely gave a laughing smile and walked over to Lily, who was still looking through the book.

"What about that one? It's nice," Katharine said, pointing to a one-strapped white princess gown.

"Too fluffy." Lily dismissed it without a second thought.

Her cousin stared at her incredulously. "Since when are wedding dresses fluffy?"
"Since now."

After several failed attempts to help Lily Katharine went back to the seat beside Melissa and Kelsey. "You guys try to help her, I give up," she said, with an almost weary expression on her face. Kelsey laughed and stood up to go over to Lily.

She came back less than thirty minutes later. "This is hopeless," she declared, throwing her hands up in defeat as she watched Lily wear another dress, then shake her head no.

Melissa stood up. "Alright, Lily, that is it! You're driving us crazy with all these choices, just pick one already!"
"We're paying you to be patient, Melissa," Lily remarked cuttingly.

Melissa glared at her. "Okay, I've had enough. I'll choose a gown, and if you don't like it, we are out of here. This is too much for today."

Melissa quickly scanned the book and, closing her eyes, waved her wand. When she opened her eyes, she observed Lily.

The gown Lily was wearing was an immaculate empire-cut white dress with a full but not overbearing skirt. There were sequin accents on the dress, and even a few gold details. The veil trailed from a small tiara, going all the way to the floor. It screamed simple elegance. Lily looked absolutely stunning in it.

"Well? What do you think?" Melissa asked. Katharine and Kelsey grinned as they looked at Lily.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but," Lily grinned. "I think this is the one. It's perfect."

"Thank goodness," Kelsey muttered under her breath.

"I must admit, this is the first gown that makes you look like a proper human being," Melissa remarked, but it was obvious that she was happy that the task was finally over, and her tone was teasing.

Lily rolled her eyes but said, "Thanks, Melissa. It's perfect."

"I know."

By the end of the day, the dress, and all the other plans for the wedding and reception were all in Melissa's bridal shop. There was only three more weeks till the wedding, and for the first time, Lily was happy to note that everything seemed to be going along very smoothly indeed.

Little did she know that someone was hell bent on changing that.

..------..

There was a calm atmosphere around the vicinity as Lily and James relaxed onto the latter's couch two days later, talking quietly about their wedding. Both carefully avoided talking about Jason or anyone related to him, although the weight of it was still hanging over their heads.

Her smile was clear as she told James about the events of that Saturday. "So, I've picked out my dress," she said. "Everything's finally falling into place."

"Hmm," James said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He looked at her. "I'm glad you're happy."

"You make me happy," she said and she leaned in to kiss him full on the lips. James was surprised, but delighted all the same, and returned the kiss. Lily giggled slightly as James deepened the kiss.

They finally broke apart for breath. "Well," Lily said, grinning, "We certainly haven't

kissed like that in awhile."
"Yeah," was all he said before he kissed her again. Emotions were packed in that kiss—love, passion, trust. They sat there, engrossed in kissing, laughing in between.

Unfortunately, they didn't seem to notice an owl bearing a letter flying towards the building. It stopped in front of a window and tapped its leg impatiently, waiting for someone to open. When it became clear to it that no one was going to answer, it turned until it found another window—this time, an open one. It swooped inside.

James was sincerely enjoying kissing Lily. He was smiling—he liked this a whole lot. What he did not like, however, was the sudden collision of a rather sharp beak with his cheek.

"Bloody hell!" he exclaimed, glaring at the owl as they broke apart, the owl looking oddly smug. Stilling reeling from the kiss, Lily giggled as she watched his dark expression.

"Be nice to the owl, James, it was our fault that we ignored it, anyway," Lily said as she took the letter from the owl's leg and watched it fly away.

"Be nice, it wasn't being nice when it nearly punctured my cheek," James muttered darkly. He turned and saw Lily opening the letter that was addressed to her. "What does it say?"
Lily was silent as she read the contents. Slowly her face turned to one from quiet content to something resembling panic and worry. "Uh-oh," she whispered.

"What's wrong?" James frowned at her worried expression.

"We've got to go. Melissa wants us to head to the shop now. She says it's urgent." James merely nodded, and in a loud POP, the two were gone.

..------..

Lily's knees nearly buckled the moment she saw the damage before her. Melissa was in front of them, a grim look on her face, shaking her head.

"Melissa, what happened?" James demanded.

"I came here this morning and found the wedding dress and the giveaways like this. I'm sorry." She looked genuinely apologetic.

Lily fingered the torn, dirtied fabric of her wedding dress and picked up one of the smashed giveaways, her eyes looking distant. Then she spoke. "What else, Melissa?"

The other woman sighed before saying, "Follow me." She led them to a room in the shop, where they kept the cake (It was pre-made so there wouldn't be any rush. It had a spell put on it so it wouldn't spoil at all). Lily and James averted their eyes in disgust.

Ants were all over the cake.

James put a comforting arm around Lily's shoulder as he led her out of the room and into the main room.

"I guess after that reaction you wouldn't want to see the flowers, huh?" Melissa said. She sat down. "I'm so sorry, you two. I can't believe how this could happen. Only Katharine and I were here this weekend—oh, and Anna too, I just gave her job back. None of us could've done that, I'm sure of it. But I will fix this, don't worry."

"Lily?" James said tentatively, now looking worried at her oddly calm expression.

"Alright," she said, her tone poised and quiet. "You know what? I can't do this anymore. Excuse me."
She was about to walk out of the shop, but James caught her arm. "Lily, what are you talking about?"

"James, the wedding is in three weeks! Three weeks, damn it! How do you think we'll be able to remedy this damage in such a short time? Even with magic, we can't do that!"
"So what are you saying? That you're not going to marry me just because your dream wedding isn't going the way you want it to?" James didn't like the way this was going. Melissa had the grace to exit the room and leave the couple to argue in private.

"I'm not saying that, James, it's just…….you were the one who wanted a big wedding in the first place!" Lily exclaimed.

"Oh, so this is my fault, now, is it?"
"Stop putting words in my mouth!" Lily said. "I'm not blaming this on anyone except the crazy bitch who's been sabotaging my wedding. But James, you have to realize, why would anyone sabotage my wedding? It can't be Voldemort, he would just kill us right away instead, he's not stupid enough to ruin a silly wedding. It has to be someone from your past who's doing this!"
"Oh, there it is again. You're blaming me, no matter how much you dress up your words, you're still blaming me!" James exclaimed, frustrated. "And really, Lily, why are you letting this get to you? So someone's ruining our wedding, big deal! You're stronger than this—by panicking, you're just giving in to what this crazy person wants!"
"You don't understand, do you?" Lily yelled. "I'm only going to be married once, James, I want it to be something to be remembered! You don't know how it feels to wake up every morning, excited that you're getting married, only to be faced with a problem like this later in the afternoon, and on top of that, your fiancée says that it's not a big deal! Damn it, James, since when did you become an insensitive jerk?"

"Since when did you turn into an obsessive-compulsive bitch?" He countered, the words leaving his mouth before his mind processed them.

Lily looked as if she'd been slapped. In a deadly quiet voice, she said, "Okay. I see it now, I understand everything perfectly. You don't care about this wedding. That's why you're being all calm and acting like it doesn't matter that much. You don't care about getting married, and the way you're acting right now, you obviously don't care about me. So congratulations, James, because, unless this is fixed, and I seriously doubt it, there's not going to be any wedding."
And with that, she Apparated out of the shop, leaving James to kick the nearest chair in anger. Why did everything get so screwed up?
"Lovely chat?" Melissa asked wryly as she finally came to the main room and observed his furious expression.

"We're eloping this evening," James said, the sarcasm dripping from every word he spoke.

..------..

James's heart was pounding as he rang the doorbell to the residence, looking left and right, as if he didn't want to be seen. He knew he shouldn't be here, but he needed to set the record straight. He had taken the address from Lily's address book, and while his plan seemed good at the time, now he was wondering if this was such a good idea.

"Yes may I help---James," the woman on the other side of the door visibly looked shocked and surprised at the same time. "What are you doing here? Come in." He entered the house.

"Look, I came here to clear some things. After this, I never want anything to do with you again," James looked her straight in the eye. "Why are you doing this? Why are you ruining my wedding, why are you ruining my relationship? How could you do this?" The disgust was evident in his voice.

The woman's face looked devoid of all emotion. "I don't know what you're talking about, James. All I'm doing is raising my son, your son, in case you've forgotten. I'm not doing anything wrong here."

"You're lying," James said, glaring at her. "You never liked Lily, I see that now. But how could you do this to her? You've known her for most of her life!"

"You know what James, if you only came here to accuse me of doing something I

don't even have the faintest idea about, then I suggest you leave." The woman's

voice was like steel. "Jason doesn't need someone like you in his life. He doesn't need someone who won't even accept that he's my son's father."
"Don't turn this around, it won't work," James said, the anger rising in his eyes. "Jason isn't my son, I know it."

"He is too! Stop denying it James, it doesn't make you look any better."

James's voice was hard. "I only came here to give you a warning: Stay away from Lily, and stay away from me."

"Daddy!" Jason suddenly appeared, a broad grin settling across his face as he went to hug James. The woman looked visibly tired and vexed at the same time. "What are you doing here, daddy? Are you going to live here now?"

The hopeful look on the boy's face was almost too much to bear. Very carefully, James disengaged himself from Jason's embrace and said very gently, "No, I'm just here to talk to your mommy. And I have to go now, there are a lot of things I have to do. I'll see you again later, okay?" He kissed the top of Jason's head, nodded to the woman and walked out the door.

Jason looked at his mother. "Mommy, why was daddy mad at you?"

"It's nothing, sweetheart, it's—honey, why don't you go out and catch up with your daddy and say a proper goodbye to him?" The woman said.

Jason frowned. "But mommy, you said I should never go out at this time, because I have to cross the street and there are a lot of cars right now."

The woman shook her head. "I'm sure there aren't any cars. Now go on." She smiled as her son practically ran outside, although her smile was sinister as a new plan formed in her head.

She was willing to sacrifice everything for James. Even her own son.

"Daddy! Daddy, wait!" Jason yelled frantically as his little legs tried to catch up to James, running on the street, oblivious to the traffic.

From the other side of the road, at the sound of the boy's voice, James turned just in time to see a blue car suddenly collide with little Jason's body.