Author notes: Oh my God, I'm sorry. Wow. Had no idea so much time had passed. Many thanks to Amanda for emailing and reminding me.

Review of the hour goes to Eden Nykara. Thank you, honey, for something neither I nor this story deserves. About the thirteen-paragraph flame below – it's anonymous, y'know, and there's a reason why I didn't delete it: it's just too great. It told me I had my no rhythm! No, you couldn't pay me to delete such a treasure. And I've seen others have gotten the same – it's impersonal, you see. A troll sent it, that's all.

But Christmas day came and went, Mary, Lily, and Rose spending it largely at the Potters. The next day the girls stayed at their house, hopefully waiting for a surprise appearance, but after 10:30 at night they went upstairs to their respective bedrooms.

It was a few hours later that Lily woke up. Her eyes opened and she lay still, adjusting to the dark shapes of her room, feeling sleepy and wondering what caused her to wake up.

Then there was a crack against her window, and her eyes snapped to it. A few seconds passed, and there was another crack against the glass, making it tremble, and this time she saw what it was – a small stone had bounced off the window.

Lily remained still only a moment longer. She slid out of bed, picking up her wand on the bedside table, and moved to the side of the large window, out of sight behind the curtains from anyone looking up. Peering through the gap between curtains and wall, she saw shadowy figures on the lawn below. Her heart missed a beat – Death Eaters was her first thought. Just a couple weeks ago, at the site of the last attack, the words We are Death Eaters, Servants of the Dark Lord had been scorched into the side of a building. The name for those apparently responsible for all the deaths had spread like fire.

As she stood frozen, one of the figures lifted an arm and threw something. Another pebble hit her window.

Now a little bit of reason was making itself heard through the paranoia. Why would Death Eaters throw rocks at windows to get the occupants' attention before murdering them? Forced entry seemed to be much more their style.

Lily leaned forward, getting a better look at them. There were only five, she saw. There was very little lighting, only what came form the sky, for the house was a distance from the town and its streetlights. She stared hard at the forms in the dark, then realization struck her and she dashed out of the room.

Hardly a minute later, she, Rose, and Mary pushed open the glass doors in the room next to Lily's and leaned over the rail of the balcony.

"You're too late!" Mary shouted. "Christmas's over!"

Laughs were heard below, and the five boys moved to stand beneath them.

"It's not yet midnight!" a voice they all recognized as David's called up. "Still our birthdays!"

"Go home, then!" Lily returned. "Your mother may let you in. Don't expect to be let in here, though. Perhaps in the morning."

"Bull-shit," Sirius's voice exploded. "It's cold. We can exchange witty banter inside." Indeed, snow had just begun drifting down.

"Excuse you?" Rose called mockingly. "You take a six-month holiday, leaving us in a highly dangerous environment, and expect us to welcome your unannounced return with champagne at any given hour?"

"Of course not," James answered. "We expect the champagne party the following day."

Rose straightened. "Goodnight, boys. I hope you find somewhere to sleep – most wizards aren't inclined to unbar their doors past ten o'clock these days."

"Damn it, Rose!" This was from David, naturally. "I thought we settled this!"

"Lumos." The group on the ground was suddenly illuminated by Remus's wand. They were revealed to be wearing thick European cloaks and their old school scarves. The sight of their upturned faces, changed in only the slight ways six months brings, made Lily feel a sudden wave of affection for them. She hadn't been aware of how much she missed them.

"David," Remus advised, "there's nothing for it. Look like there's only one way they'll let us in."

"Bugger." David sighed, then squinted back up at the dark balcony. "Can't you give us a little light too?"

Lily held up her wand, and the tip flared.

"That's better." David shook his head to get his hair out of his eyes – Lily noticed both he and James had apparently not cut it since they had left, perhaps in the latest attempt to make it behave to a degree. Then, quite suddenly, he shouted up, "Rose, will you marry me?"

Rose swayed. Lily grabbed Rose's elbow, both in excitement and in an attempt to steady her. Recovering, Rose leaned over the railing again.

"That's it?" she cried. "No flowers, not even a ring? Honestly, David, after all these years I expected something a little more dramatic!"

"I have a ring!" said David indignantly, and began patting around his cloak. "Somewhere…"

Smiling, Remus pulled out a small white box out of his own cloak and held it out.

"Oh – thanks, Moony. Catch!" David tossed it up to the balcony. Mary, with undoubtedly the quickest reflexes, lunged forward and caught it. She handed it to Rose, who quickly opened it with Lily's wand hovering above, and all three girls leaning close winced, blinking back tears from the unexpected brightness.

"What is it?" Rose called, as their eyes adjusted.

"Gold, white gold," David answered, "and a diamond. Picked it up in Austria."

The diamond, for all of its magical luster, was not extremely large. Nor could it have been said to be small – it was just barely out of the "average" category. After the first blinding impression, Lily found it glinting white and cold against the black interior of the ring box.

"Well?" shouted David, now sounding impatient.

Rose took it out and slid it on the ring finger of her left hand, holding it up to the light of Lily's wand. Lily had thought, looking at it in the box, that the pointed, marquis diamond was too refined, too elegant for Rose – it looked more like it belonged at the much talked-of Malfoy wedding that had taken place not too long ago, on the hand of the icy, untouchably beautiful Narcissa. But when Rose held her hand up, Lily was taken aback by the effect it had on her – the edges of the ring seemed to bring out the matching angles in Rose – from her slender fingers, down her long arm, her thin frame, to her high cheekbones. The snow had abated for the moment, and in its place a small wind began to stir, lifting Rose's thin, light red hair, swirling it around her face. Looking at Rose in that moment, at her green eyes half-hidden as she looked down at the ring, Lily felt astonished by her sister's beauty. How was it that she had never seen her full potential before?

Down on the lawn below, David said so softly the girls above could not hear, "What did I tell you?"

He stepped forward, attracting Lily, Rose, and Mary's attention again. His joking air was completely gone now, and Lily knew he saw what she saw. "Well?" he said again. "Will the most beautiful girl in the world marry me?"

Lily had never heard a boy say that with such complete sincerity visible in his voice and face before.

Rose was looking down at him, her eyes still partially hidden, but Lily knew the green she could see was not so bright only due to the light. "What do you think?" she called back down, her voice shaking slightly.

There was much to do.

They went to the Potters' early to break the news. Natalie Potter burst into tears and hugged Rose and cried for so long her sons were seriously alarmed. Then, abruptly, the great debate of details began. Everyone was talking at once. The first order of business was to set a date. Mary was furious about it – first shouting that it had to be in three days, or wait until the summer – then, changing her mind, insisting she would find out when a Hogsmeade weekend was – finally, she declared they could have the wedding whenever they liked, she would simply ride to a train station on her broom, and Dumbledore could expel her if he liked. Natalie assured her that he let students go home for their relatives' weddings on weekends.

An hour later, nothing had been resolved and Rose was thoroughly overwhelmed, while David sat back out of the discussions, only repeating that the only thing he cared about in the business was that Rose would still be the one he was going to be talking to at the altar. So Natalie let them go home with a catalogue of wedding robes and a promise to compile a list of other information, such as sites, churches, and honeymoon locations.

Back at Lily, Rose, and Mary's house, things were somehow much calmer. They all sat down at the dining table while Peter insisted on cooking brunch. Apparently, he had discovered he had a culinary gift while he was away.

"Right," sighed Rose, looking around the table. "Let's go through this again. Lily and Mary are my maids of honor. I don't need any other bridesmaids. David –" She looked at him. "Who do you want for best man, Remus or James?"

David pointed at Remus. "That goes along with being godfather of all our future children."

Rose gave a hysterical little giggle.

Remus, however, appeared slightly less amused. Quietly, he asked, "Are you sure about that, David?"

"God damn it, Moony," David sad exasperatedly, letting his head fall back to stare at the ceiling. "I swear you are the most insecure –"

"I think that means yes, he's sure," Mary interrupted, grinning.

Remus raised his hands, palms out, in defense. "I just want to ask – I'm not doubting you, I'm only thinking ahead – your children are going to be different people, they may not be happy with a werewolf as their godfather –"

"Yes, Remus, of course they won't," said David, with heavy sarcasm, "since Rose and I are going to hand our children over the moment they're born to be raised by the most bigoted idiots we can find."

Remus actually laughed. "All right then, I'll shut up now."

"Next," said Rose loudly, "what do you want the rest of the Marauders to do, David?"

"Well – James can be ring bearer, and then Sirius and Peter can be, what do you call them, men of honor or something. Good?"

The boys gave various signs of agreement.

"Right," said Rose happily, as Peter came in, set a platter of sandwiches in the center of the table, and sat down. "And your dad already said he would walk me down the aisle. Now – name a date, David."

David considered as he munched a sandwich. "Tomorrow?"

"A realistic date."

"What's realistic?"

"Something past two weeks from now," Lily said quickly, before Rose could reply.

David looked put out. "Aw, that long?"

"Yes."

He chewed meditatively and reached for another sandwich. "Say…January eighteenth?"

Mary jumped up to go look at the calendar on the wall. "That's – a Sunday! Perfect! I can come Friday night so I can be around the day before." She bounded back to the table, looking as excited now as Rose did. "God, this is going to be fun!"

Peter leaned forward on the table, smiling. "I hate to ruin your mood, but you're forgetting someone."

"Who?" Rose asked, puzzled.

"Your other sister. Petunia."

The consternation must have showed clearly on their faces, for Sirius laughed aloud. "Oh, the looks you got when he said that…"

"Well – we didn't really forget about her – we just…" Rose looked helplessly at Lily, then sighed. "We better go find her…I'll ask if she wants to be my bridesmaid."

Lily, Rose, and Mary went back to the Potters to find if Petunia had left an address when she moved out. Natalie said she had indeed, but when they apparated to it, they found only a flat with a landlord's padlock on the door. After a moment's consideration, they went to the landlord's office and asked if the last occupants of flat number ninety-two had left an address for any mail sent there. After Lily showed an ID proving she was Petunia's sister, he gave them the address left:

Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Dursley
Number 4 Privet Drive
Little Whining, Surrey

To any Muggle gazing down Privet Drive at the time, there was a sudden crick in his neck, causing his head to turn, and when he straightened it there were three young women, all dressed in shapeless black cloaks, walking down the sidewalk.

"This is exactly where I imagined Petunia living someday," said Mary, staring at the row of identical houses.

"This is number four, Mary," said Lily, pulling her arm gently to turn her up the driveway, which, like all the other driveways on the street, was perfectly cleared of snow.

The door opened soon after they rang the doorbell, and they were face-to-face with their oldest sister – Petunia Maryann.

Her expression was pure shock. She had grown up quite a bit since they had last seen her – Lily spotted the plain but quite sold-looking gold ring on her left hand, which rested on the door.

Mary crossed her arms. "Mrs. Vernon Dursley, I presume?" she drawled.

Petunia recovered, and tried to shut the door in their faces. She wasn't fast enough for Mary, however, who side-stepped Rose and stuck her booted foot in the door. "Oh, no you don't."

"Petunia –" Lily leaned forward, so she could see her face. "Please, Petunia – we just want a moment. That's all. Just a moment to talk."

Petunia hesitated, then allowed Mary to open the door, and she, Lily, and Rose came into the entranceway. Petunia folded her arms and pursed her lips.

"You have five minutes," she snapped.

Dismayed at Petunia's utterly cold attitude, Lily glanced toward Rose, who seemed taken aback as well. Rose faltered a little, twisting her engagement ring as she seemed to search for the words.

"I – do you remember David Potter, Petunia?" Rose asked finally.

Petunia gave a stiff nod.

"Well, he – proposed to me last night, and – we're getting married January eighteenth. And – I wanted to ask you if you'd like to be my bridesmaid at the wedding."

"No, thank you."

We might as well be door-to-door salesmen, Lily thought, now feeling a trace of anger.

Rose, however, did not seem to be having the same reaction. She kept twisting her ring, eyes cast down. "Well then – if you don't want to actually participate in the ceremony, maybe you could just – come and –"

"No."

Lily couldn't help but feel stung – though clearly not as much as Rose, who looked like she might cry. Lily looked back at the blonde who, she realized now, matched Rose's height almost perfectly – they had grown up together, played together, shared a bed….

"Petunia," Lily blurted out, "we're sisters!"

Petunia looked disgusted. "How? By what ties?"

"Try blood –" Lily began, but she was cut off.

"Rubbish," spat Petunia, and with the venom in her tone it might as well have been Sirius's less pretty version. There were definitely tears in Rose's half-closed eyes now.

Mary looked as though she was about to hex Petunia. Instead of going for her wand, however, she only said softly, with feeling, "Bitch."

High spots of color rose in Petunia's cheeks. "Get out."

Mary jerked the door open herself, and Lily and Rose followed her out. Before she stepped out, however, Lily turned and said quietly, "Goodbye, Petunia. I hope you're happier in this world – in this life."

They were barely out of the driveway when Rose started to cry. Lily and Mary both hugged and tried to comfort her, but decided David would be the best person to cheer her up at the time, so they apparated directly home and turned her over to him.

Lily had hardly stepped out of Rose's room when a voice said over her shoulder, "Do you have a spare moment?"

She turned sharply to see James, looking inquisitive. "Oh, sure – why?"

"Well, we haven't really had a chance to be alone since we got back –"

Seeing his point at once, Lily took him by the hand and led him into her own room.

Several minutes later, she pulled back for air and announced, "I missed you very much."

"I missed you terribly," he returned. "I was radioactive with despair."

Laughing, she buried her face in his neck. "Merlin, I did miss you."

After several comfortable minutes more, he shifted slightly and said, "It's difficult, isn't it?"

Lily looked up at him with some surprise. "What is?"

"Having Rose and David get married like this, so far ahead of us. Everyone's going to look at us and expect us to follow them fairly soon."

She stared at him, amazed at his insight. "Yes – that's exactly what I was thinking."

Mary, unfortunately, had to leave to go back to Hogwarts. She seemed reluctant, though not as reluctant as Lily thought she might be.

The days settled down into a strange, hectic routine. Every hour they were off work, Lily and Rose worked out the details. Natalie gave them several more wedding robe catalogues. They would often stay up nights in Lily's bedroom, perusing them and discussing possibilities. Natalie insisted that she was the bride's family, so Rose enjoyed not having to worry about a budget.

The boys – particularly David and James – were practically living at their house, lounging about while Lily and Rose were at work. The girls teased them about not having a job while they, Lily and Rose, did. Rather stung, James began making inquiries into some of the national Quidditch teams. Sirius and Peter were unperturbed – the latter felt his services as chef paid back his eating a share of the food. Remus never heard a word of the teasing. David began to have mysterious absences, and finally one night during dinner he revealed what he had been doing.

"I've been looking at houses."

Rose's fork clattered on her plate. Everyone looked at her. She was staring at David, looking incredulous.

"A – house? For who?"

David looked a little bit worried. "Er – us?"

Rose laughed and pushed herself away from the table. "Oh, no. I don't think so. If I have to move out of this house to marry you, then forget it. I won't marry you."

David started to choke.

"Oh, come on Rose, you don't mean that," said Sirius.

"Well, I'm certainly not leaving this house," she said stubbornly. David banged his fist on the table now, his face turning red.

Remus pounded him on the back. "Have some mercy, Rose, you're going to kill him."

But at that moment David managed to clear his throat; he drew a deep, shuddering breath, turned to Rose, and said, "Please don't ever do that to me again."

An unwilling smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. David took a drink and continued, "Right. We'll live here, then. Not a problem."

With everything going on, Mary's eighteenth birthday was almost forgotten. Just in time, her sisters recalled it and sent her a small moneybag of Galleons, enchanted against theft.

Twelve days before the wedding, Lily got home early from work. She finished addressing the invitations they had begun last night. There weren't many – only to old school friends and coworkers. Feeling a little stressed, she decided to go outside for a little walk. It had turned surprisingly warm, so Lily bundled up only a little, with boots to walk through the mushy snow. She had hardly stepped out off the porch, however, when Sirius bounded out of the side door and down the steps.

"Mind if I join you?"

She gave him an odd look, but nodded coolly. They set off around the garden, past the big oak.

"So has Rose settled on a set of wedding robes yet?"

"We've narrowed it down."

"What about yours and Mary's?"

"Yes, Natalie's ordered them."

"What color are they?"

"Lavender." It had been difficult to find a color that suited both her and Mary's coloring.

Sirius was too clever to play with the chit-chat any longer. "Lil, I've actually been wanting to talk to you since we got back."

Back to Lil, are we? She couldn't recall him saying any variant of her name at all since the terrible argument they had had back in April at Hogwarts.

"Yeah. You see, while I was on the mainland – seeing all the churches and structures that've been around for, oh, about forever, and you realize how trivial your own grudges and feuds are."

Lily gave him a disbelieving look.

"Yeah, you're right, that's all rubbish. But seriously now – Rose and David are finally getting married. What a shock, I'm sure none of us saw that coming. And, to be blunt, sooner or later you and James are going to do the same. And you'll make lots of little Jameses and Davids and Roses and Lilys that'll turn all of us into old wizards and witches. Enter life ever after." Sirius stopped and turned to face her. "The point is, Lily, that carrying a grudge through all of this is going to get tiresome. So – for James, Rose, and all of the others' sakes – let's leave what happened at Hogwarts at Hogwarts, all right?"

Lily studied him. He looked serious enough. "I understand what you're saying," she said slowly, and thought about it some more. "All right. I can agree to put everything that happened at school behind us, for the future. To sort of pick up where we left off in fourth year, or whenever it was. But…I can't entirely forgive you. Not for the prank. And not just because of –" It had been so long since she had said his name. She enunciated each syllable slowly, "Severus, but mostly because of Remus. He would have killed himself if it had worked – you know that, don't you?"

He looked away, scuffed at the snow on the ground, and made other seemingly distressed, impatient movements. Lily understood she was looking at a Sirius who felt guilty.

"It didn't happen," he said finally. "So we don't know."

Lily sighed, recognizing that Sirius could not admit it and she could no longer argue about it. "No, it didn't."

Sirius looked back in her face. "So that's it, then? We have a truce?"

She nodded. "A little more than a truce, yes."

He grinned and slapped her on the back as they turned to go back inside. "Good. I'll let you get back to coordinating shoes with flowers."

In the next couple of days, Lily and Rose managed to settle the biggest issues that had still been unsolved, which was good since the only reason the invitations had still not been sent was because a site for the wedding had not yet been defined. But now, after a final talk with their soon-to-be mother-in-law, they agreed the ceremony would take place in the back lawn of the sisters' own house, under the small garden trellis in the morning. As soon as the boys were notified of this, they began work on it, clearing the dirt and wild plants that had grown around it.

Lily also put it to Rose one night and forced her to choose one of the three candidate wedding dresses. They also chose what the boys would wear, and turned it all in to Natalie. Rose's florists would be doing the flowers, of course, for a discounted price. Lily owled Albus Dumbledore with an invitation and a polite request for Mary to be able to leave for the weekend of the wedding.

Nine days to go, and Rose began to panic. Before, things had been too busy and rushed to think and worry, but now she had opportunity to, and did not miss it. She had been spending a fair amount of nights in her own room with David, but now with exactly one week left before the wedding, she moved to Lily's room. They slept together in the same bed as they had done when they were small.

The first night Rose sat up sharply in bed, waking Lily, who cracked her eyes open to see her looking distraught and begin, "Oh, I had this awful dream that the day I was supposed to get married – "

"No." Lily pulled her hand out from under the blankets and clapped it over Rose's mouth. "Don't say it. Don't. Now lay down, and I'll tell you how it's going to go."

So Rose laid back, Lily sighed, closed her eyes, and told Rose in detail how the wedding would go, including how Mary would at the earliest opportunity surreptiously slip off the shoes Lily had made sure would come on and off easily, how Sirius would crack jokes at the most inappropriate moments, and how she, being Rose, and David would both cry.

"Now, do you feel better?"

Rose smiled. "Yes. Thank you."

"You're very welcome. Natalie told me that would work."

But another night, what woke her up was a little more serious.

"Lily."

"Oh, Merlin. Rose, if you do not get some sleep you will end up looking ghastly at the wedding and – oh no, Rose, please don't cry. I didn't mean it, it's impossible for you to look ghastly. I'll be the one looking ghastly but that won't matter because all the focus will be on you, and well, what is it?"

"Lily –" Rose had to stop and swallow, because she was indeed about to cry. "Lily, I know it's sily, but I just can't help it –"

"Hush, it's all right." Lily pulled her arms out and wrapped one around her back and brushed Rose's hair off her face with the other. "What is it?"

Rose swallowed again and blinked rapidly to keep the tears back. "I don't know if I'm ready. I don't feel ready. I'm just eighteen, that's how old nearly everyone was in our last year at Hogwarts. And I'm getting married…I just feel scared."

Lily sighed and continued to run her fingertips down the side of Rose's face, though it was now clear of any loose strands of hair. "Really, Rose," she said at last, "if you, who have the most unbelievably perfect relationship that has ever existed in this world – if you are having so much trouble about getting married, I can hardly imagine what hope there is for the rest of us." As Rose started to protest, Lily interrupted her again. "No, just listen to me for a minute.

"Darling, I think you're taking this out of proportion. Yes, really. It's not going to be as scary as you think. Not that much is going to change. Sunday morning we're going to get all dressed up so you and David can tell each other how much you love each other in front of a bunch of friends – then there will be a pretty lunch inside, and then you and David will go off someplace or another for a couple of weeks – has he told you where yet?" Rose shook her head. The honeymoon had been the one aspect that David had wanted to arrange himself, and so far he had kept it an infuriating secret. "Well, whenever you get back from wherever, you'll come right back here and live in the same room you have now – except I think David will object to you staying in my room so much." Rose giggled. "And then whenever you sign your name, it'll be Rose Potter, which is not a bad-sounding name at all, you know. And when some wizard starts flirting with you, you can flash your ring and say, 'Sorry, I'm married.' But wait, that's essentially what you've been saying for the past four years anyway, isn't it?"

Rose laughed aloud. "Oh, what would I do without you, Lily?"

Lily smiled lightly but did not answer.

The last week before the wedding passed alarmingly fast. Natalie suddenly realized how close she was to losing one of her sons, and while she could hardly pull David away from Rose or Rose's house now, she did insist that James and the others at least return to the Potter house to sleep every night. Rose and Lily continued to go to work every day, seeing no point in staying home just to sit and worry over what was already settled.

An owl had come announcing that Mary would floo over from a specially-arranged Hogwarts fire Friday night. So all five boys, Lily, and Rose sat up talking after dinner at the dinner table, waiting for her arrival. At eight-thirty, the flames in the fireplace in the living room began to crackle and glow green. Quickly they all got up to stand before the fireplace as a spinning form began to take shape, and then Mary stumbled out, shaking her head.

Lily and Rose hugged her first. She greeted the boys in turn, and then took a step back to take in the room's new appearance. White decorations, such as bags of ever-falling confetti and strands of fake vines with small white blossoms to drape over the banister railings up the stairs, and more to display in the balconies, were collected in corners and stray tables all across the room.

"We're in charge of the furnishings," James told her.

"Of course," said Mary. "Waiting for the very last day to put it all up."

"What good does it do up any earlier?" Sirius demanded.

"Point," Mary allowed.

Lily took her by the arm. "That's enough, she has to come upstairs and see our dresses now."

"Oh, the ones you won't show us?" David shouted after them.

Natalie had only delivered them a few days ago. Fortunately, all the measurements were correct, so nothing needed to be altered. Rose held up the wedding robes to herself to show Mary, who grinned in true appreciation.

"That's – that's perfect for you. Perfect color, perfect shape…"

Rose giggled. She had been giggling a lot lately. "I know, I love it." She twirled in front of Lily's mirror.

Lily took her own and Mary's maid-of-honor dress robes out of the closet. "And these are ours."

Mary's mouth fell open slightly in an expression that was not of pleasure as she took hers. "Lavender?"

"Name another color that suits both you and me," Lily said tersely.

"Lavender doesn't suit me!"

"It suits you better than pale green or yellow – I can't wear pink or light blue –"

"Lavender!" howled Mary.

"You would be upset no matter what color it is, as long as it's a dress," Rose observed, still feeling rather smug about her wedding dress.

"Lavender isn't my favorite color either, Mary," Lily snapped, hanging both the dresses back up. "But that doesn't matter, because Rose is the one who's supposed to be stunning. Our whole purpose Sunday is so that people look from Rose, to us, back to Rose, and think, 'Wow, she really is beautiful.'"

Rose giggled again. Mary seemed to consider and accept the point, and so continued to sulk marginally less, sitting down on the end of Lily's bed. "Who's all going to be there now, anyway?"

Sitting down next to Mary, Lily shrugged. "Not that many, really. Our old dorm mates at Hogwarts, Alice and Nicole – a few people I know from my job in the Ministry, and some from Rose's florists. Then James and David's uncles, Nathan and Nigel – do you remember them, we met them a few Christmases ago – and Dumbledore said he would come too. Then David insisted on inviting Professor McGonagall, so she'll be there too."

Mary looked taken aback. "David wanted to invite McGonagall?"

"Yeah," said Rose, grinning. "Some bit of weird logic about how she's given him so many detentions, she ought to see him married."

Mary shook her head and there was silence while Rose fingered the edge of her dress before the mirror and reluctantly hung it back up. Then Mary asked in a would-be careless tone that Lily knew she had learned from Sirius, "I don't suppose you considered for a second inviting Severus, did you?"

Lily and Rose glanced at each other before the latter answered. "For a second, yes. Then we agreed no, and didn't need to think about it again."

Mary propped her foot up on a footstool, laced her fingers over her knee, rested her chin on top, and inquired, "For which reason, exactly?"

"The one about it being David's wedding, too," Rose said.

Mary nodded and turned to Lily. "Hypothetically speaking, of course – were you and James to marry, would it be the same case?"

Apart from the question, Lily felt a touch of annoyance at the suggestion of her and James's hypothetical wedding, and paused a moment before replying. "Well, naturally."

Perhaps Mary noticed the pause, for her next question was more abrupt. "And how are you two doing now?"

"Well, it doesn't really matter how we're doing, does it, since we're going to be married one day," said Lily, more acidly than she intended.

Mary blinked. "Sorry."

"It's all right, it's not just you, every one else does it too." Lily looked at her hands in her lap.

"So is everything not all right?" asked Rose, who looked like she felt guilty for being so concerned with her own affairs she hadn't noticed her sister's.

Lily shrugged. "It's fine, just not as good as everyone assumes it is. And they all do, all the boys besides James himself, and even you two. It's rather stressful when everyone around you is waiting for you to announce the wedding date when you're nowhere near the point – especially when the last time you thought you had found who you were going to marry ended so terribly."

Natalie came over early the next day to supervise the final preparations. The boys really got to work, and the girls – sat back and watched.

Everyone had lunch at the top floor of the house, which was where they also would be having dinner, as the entire downstairs floor was being prepared for the wedding guests and celebrations tomorrow.

"This is excellent, Peter – now, let's go through all of tomorrow again, step by step. Seven-thirty a.m., the bride and her maids of honor are to get up, which means that yes, both Rose and David will take Sleeping Draughts early tonight. I'll arrive shortly after, and will come back to make sure all five of you are up by eight. Then I will assist the girls with their hair and nail charms and the small glamour charms, though of course none of you need them. By nine, all of us except the bride should be downstairs, ready to welcome the guests, who should arrive around nine-thirty. Lily or Mary may stay with Rose to ensure she doesn't faint or attempt to escape through the window, or to apply the necessary anti-Apparation jinxes. Not that she doesn't want to get married," Natalie added to David, "it's just what brides do naturally, wanting to get away right before the ceremony and savor the last hour of freedom."

"Anyway, my husband should be there by then. At ten, we'll invite all the guests outside and to take a seat. David, Remus, Sirius, Peter, and James will take their places – Lily and Mary will escort Rose down the stairs, Joseph will meet her and lead her out to David. The priest will step up, there will be talking and kissing, David will carry Rose back into her own house – Rose will pause to throw the bouquet – and everyone will follow them in to have lunch and cake and presents. As soon as that is all over, at an undetermined time, Rose and David will leave to get their bags and grab their portkey, and then the wedding party will gradually disperse. Any questions?"

David raised his hands. "Bags? You mentioned something about bags?"

His mother looked at him. "Bags for the honeymoon. The bags you've been packing for the past few days…or perhaps not. Oh, dear."

"Actually," said Rose, with a nervous laugh, "those bags slipped my mind too."

Natalie sighed. "Well, go on and do it now. David, you're going to have to give her some hint of your destination so she'll know what type of clothes to bring."

The group got to their feet, David, Rose, and Lily to the bedrooms to pack, and the rest to carry the plates back downstairs and to recommence cleaning, until the doorbell rang and Natalie discovered the flowers had arrived.

Dusk had begun to settle when the late packing was finished and all of the decorative flowers had been charmed into place. Natalie insisted every single boy disapparate to her house before she herself left, and Lily knew she would make sure they weren't able to apparate back until morning.

With the house alone to the three sisters as it had not been since far back into the summer, they went to Rose's room for the night, settling into her bed dressed in comfortable Muggle shorts and undershirts, with many pillows, though not planning to go to sleep for a while.

"One minute –" Mary rummaged in the small bag she had brought with her from school. "I told my friends that my sister was getting married this weekend, and of course they all remember you – they pitched in and gave me this." She produced a bottle of champagne, earning laughter and applause from Lily and Rose.

"Where did they get this?" Lily asked, taking it and inspecting the label.

"There's a store in Hogsmeade, out of the way."

Lily scrambled off the bed with the bottle. "I'll be right back in a minute." She disappeared out the door, and returned shortly carrying three wine glasses and the bottle with the cork removed, and even through the tinted glass they could see a third of the champagne was gone.

"What, did you drink all of that just now?" said Mary indignantly as Lily climbed back onto the bed carefully, unable to use her hands.

"No, I just poured some out into another container," Lily said, passing a glass to Rose. "Rose hasn't had much experience drinking –"

"Neither have you!" exclaimed Rose.

"–And I don't think it's a good idea for her to get drunk and then feel ill all tomorrow."

"That bottle's for all three of us," Mary pointed out.

"Still," Lily insisted, "Rose is so thin –"

"We're all thin," said Rose.

"But Lily has to play the protective older sister," said Mary without rancor, holding out her glass to be filled.

"Of course I do. Haven't I always?" Lily filled Mary's glass, then Rose's.

Rose took a careful sip. "Always."

"There you go, keep drinking it slowly," Lily said, eyeing her.

"I repeat what Rose said," said Mary, "when did you get experience drinking?"

Lily gave her a look. "While you were away the past few weeks attending to your studies, James and the others brought out for dinner some nights a few bottles of wine they picked up in Europe."

"Well, I was there too every night," said Rose.

"But you hardly ever drank."

The level of champagne in the bottle lowered steadily and the girls became…happy. Mary took charge of the bottle, as she proved to retain the most control. However, the next morning, when they woke up, none could recall the exact hour they had fallen asleep – the empty bottle was the only piece of evidence.

It was Rose who woke up first, before Natalie arrived, which was both understandable and not understandable. Her eyes snapped open, and she felt like someone had jolted her. But the room was empty, and Lily and Mary were sound asleep on either side of her.

Rose sat up slowly, her head feeling very thick. Something was happening today. Something good. Something happy. She didn't try to probe her brain to think of it, enjoying the feeling of a happy mystery, much like she had loved Christmas presents under the tree much more than after they were unwrapped. Then, through the ajar closet door, she caught sight of something white.

Oh.

A small, compressed smile stole onto Rose's face; she glanced at the clock, which read five minutes past seven. Natalie would be here soon, and it would be better if her sisters were already up.

The task was difficult, but Lily and Mary were soon pushed into the bathroom for reviving showers. Mary finished first, and was sitting in a chair, wrapped in a towel, when there was a knock on the door. Mary called out, and Natalie came in. She seemed surprised to see Mary up and to hear the shower running.

"I didn't think you'd already be up."

"Rose made us," Mary told her, a little grumpily.

Natalie went to the closet and took out Mary's lavender dress. "Well, come and put this on, and I'll get started on your hair…"

Natalie's schedule went surprisingly just as she planned. They had over an hour to leisurely get dressed and for Natalie to fix them up, then they heard male voices downstairs, which they immediately concluded to be the boys and Joseph Potter's. Natalie went out alone to see them and make sure they weren't disrupting the decorations, and a little while later came back to announce the guests were arriving. Mary and Lily decided to take turns going downstairs to see everyone, Mary leaving first.

Shortly after Mary quit the room, Lily gasped out loud. "I almost forgot!"

Rose, who was quite understandably on tenterhooks at this point, jumped and stared anxiously at her. "What? What is it?"

Lily hurried to the closet, bending down to something on the floor, and reappeared with a large shoebox. "I even brought it in here a couple of days – I meant to show you last night."

"What?"

Rose moved to lean over as Lily set the box on the end of the bed and took the lid off. Pushing aside some loose tissue paper, she lifted out a mahogany jewelry box. She opened this so Rose couldn't see its contents, but drew out a necklace with both hands, fingers spread so all sixteen diamonds were visible, and smile. "Remember this?"

Staring at it, Rose sat down. "That's – wasn't that Anetka's?"

Lily nodded. "She sent it to me for my sixteenth birthday, don't you remember? And we told the boys how it was Nicki's wedding present to her, and they asked how they could give it to just one of their four daughters – but I said that I'd loan it to you on your wedding day."

"I remember now! I had forgotten." Rose laughed in amazement, looking at the necklace which sparkled just as much as it had when first bought. "I'm sure Natalie won't mind," she said as she reached for the clasp of the strand of pearls that Natalie had given her as a wedding gift to match the special circlet of larger pearls that wove into her hair and dropped a small, golden piece onto the center of her forehead.

"Oh, no." Lily went around to carefully push aside the part of Rose's hair that curled down to fasten the rather complicated clasp. Lily and Mary's hair had been gathered entirely onto their heads in curls. It made them both look more adult and prettier, though this effect rather unnerved Mary. Rose turned the jewelry box around to face her and replaced her earrings with the ones that matched the necklace, and Lily helped her fit the bracelet around her wrist.

Lily put the jewelry box and shoebox away, and Rose grew silent again as they waited. Lily stood by the window, watching those arriving and milling around the garden, while Rose fidgeted, staying away from the windows, pacing a little, always returning to the vanity mirror to make sure everything was in place.

Lily finally turned to her. "Are you doing all right, Rose?"

Rose stopped moving and shrugged slightly. "Yes – I'm just a tad nervous again. I thought I was over that."

Just then, the door opened and Mary came in. "Your turn, Lily. All your friends from your Ministry job are here and looking for you."

Lily stood, gave Rose a reassuring smile and went downstairs.

In Rose's room, Mary shook her shoes off with a sigh and went to stand at the window, unknowingly where Lily had just been.

"Mary."

Mary turned to see Rose standing at the vanity, bent slightly and gripping the glass edge of the counter. "What's wrong?"

Rose shook her head, staring down. When she spoke, her voice was unsteady. "I – I don't think I can do this."

Mary walked rapidly to her side and laid a hand on Rose's back. "Well, let's hear the reason for the pre-wedding crisis…."

Rose sounded as though she was having difficulty breathing. "He doesn't deserve this, Mary – how can I do this to him?"

"Because," said Mary, in a low but fierce voice, "you knew what you were promising back in Dumbledore's office. You knew you could do it."

Rose shook her head again. "No, I can't. In just a few minutes I'm going to have to stand there, look into his eyes and see him smile –"

Mary took her by the shoulders as she looked her in the face. "You can and you will," she said, her voice steel, "because you have nothing to be ashamed of. All you did was sacrifice the ultimate for your sister –" your peace of mind for hers "- and Lily shouldn't have let you do that, but she did." A slightly sardonic smile crossed her face. "She's too used to accepting everything she needs on a silver platter."

Rose expelled her breath, blinking and shaking her head as though to push back her fear. "But – how can I pretend when I'm pregnant, and when –"

Mary put her finger over Rose's lips. "One day at a time, Rose. And today, you're only marrying the man you love."

Lily, Mary, and Natalie collapsed onto the living room couch and sighed almost in unison. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were already down – stretched out in chairs or lying on the rug.

"It was a very nice wedding," said Natalie contentedly.

Lily nodded, too tired to respond more. Her eyes traveled over all the white decorations and she wondered when they would absolutely have to take them down. Perhaps she could make the boys do it. Though that didn't seem likely, since all four of them seemed to be, without exception, perfectly unconscious.

"I was glad to see Dumbledore there," Natalie continued. "It's been a while since I saw him."

Lily couldn't gather the energy to answer, but the comment did push her thoughts in another direction. After all the ceremonies – David had just carried Rose into her house – Dumbledore had quietly taken Rose back outside. They had been gone for some time, though fortunately few seemed to notice. Lily had caught glimpses of them standing under the shade of the tree, talking. When Rose came back in, she had seemed perturbed – certainly there was a damper to her previously giddy state – but when Lily asked Rose only shook her head and said there were things to talk about later on – not today.

Lily had a pretty good idea what it was about.

But Rose and David had disapparated with their trunks, the guests had cleared out, Lily and Mary had changed out of their dresses, taken their hair down, and come back downstairs to find the boys drifting off and Natalie pushing the remains of the cake into the fridge.

Many of the flowers that had been wound around the banister had come loose and fallen to the floor, Lily noted. Perhaps some of them were from those outside as well. The effect was not at all objectionable, and Lily was loathe to clean them up later on. But they made her think of Rose's wedding bouquet (which had been made up of white lilies; Rose had insisted). She had stood on the porch to throw it over her shoulder to the cluster of girls on the grass below. Lily had found herself pushed along with hem, though she had seen Mary standing smugly by the back side of the house, shoeless. Lily had reached her hand up with all the others, but had not tried any harder than that – and the bouquet had sailed quite clear of her to the left, to be snatched by Alice LaVonne.

Natalie sighed again and got to her feet. "I'm as tired as you are – I think I'll go home. Feel free to call if you need help with anything."

"We will." Lily yawned as Mary, without opening her eyes, stretched out into the space Natalie left. "Thanks again for everything."

"Thank you for letting me." Natalie stepped over Remus, bent near the chair James was in, and kissed him very gently on the temple before turning back to the couch. "It was good to see you, Mary. Be sure to owl me from Hogwarts again before you finish."

Mary raised her hand in a small wave before letting it flop down again. Natalie disapparated.

Lily slid down next to Mary and, in the beautiful quiet, fell asleep herself.