A/N: So so so sorry for the delay. I was so stressed for my mocks that I gave myself bronchitis. Enjoy!
Chapter 27
James's POV
The wedding was beautiful, or so I was told. Sirius – as Best Man – stood next to me the whole time and explained what was going on. It broke my heart to think that I wasn't able to look at Lily as she walked down the aisle; I was sure that she looked like an angel brought to earth, but I still wish I'd been able to see it.
Our first dance as a married couple was a little awkward since Lily had to keep gently leading us away from whatever we were about to crash into, but it was wonderful to hold her in my arms and know that she was mine for life.
The Marauders – Severus included since he was now one of us – had arranged a honeymoon for us; something that made both Lily and I nervous to think about. Truthfully, I knew that whatever they'd planned, it would be perfect, but I wouldn't be a Marauder myself if I didn't pretend to be afraid of getting pranked.
As soon as the reception was over, Remus handed us packed suitcases that he assured us contained everything we would need and then Peter came over with a Portkey that would take us to our honeymoon. The last thing we heard before the familiar tugging sensation of the Portkey took us was Alice and Frank reminiscing about their honeymoon.
We landed with a splash, something which I should have been prepared for really. Thankfully, it seemed our clothes had changed before we hit the water; instead of my formal robes I was wearing a pair of swimming trunks.
"Where are we then?" I asked with a laugh, treading water as I carefully felt for where Lily was. I knew that we'd be somewhere close to land since there was no way any of the Marauders would purposely try to hurt either of us.
"We're in a swimming pool," Lily answered with a note of amazement in her voice. "I don't know what country we're in, but the waters warm and we're outside next to what looks like a holiday villa."
Considering that it was the middle of October, the fact we were in a swimming pool outside proved we were no longer in England. I grinned as I finally managed to grab a hold of one of Lily's hands, pulling her closer to me and realizing that her wedding dress had changed into more appropriate swim wear too.
"How about," I murmured, kissing her neck. "We get out of this pool and see if the villa has a bedroom. It is our wedding night."
Lily giggled and pushed me away slightly, keeping hold of my hand as she led me to the steps of the pool and towards the front door. I had no idea where our baggage had gone, but Lily handed me a towel that must have been waiting for us.
"There was a note with the towels," Lily informed me before reading it out loud. "To the happy couple, welcome to Cyprus! I hope you enjoy your stay; your Portkey is set to take you back to England in two weeks, so enjoy the time you have alone together. You're in a Muggle village so be careful about any magic you perform outside. Your baggage is in your room waiting for you; sorry about the dip in the pool, but we couldn't resist. All our love, Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, Sev, Alice & Frank."
"I'm guessing it was Alice's idea to change our clothes before our swim," I commented dryly; the Marauders would never have thought of something like that.
"Thank Merlin she did!" Lily exclaimed, unlocking the door and leading me inside the villa. "I'd have skinned them alive if they'd ruined my dress."
I laughed and slid the glass door shut behind me. "I'm sure it's safely hung up in your wardrobe at Godric's Hollow. I'm just glad I don't have to try and get you out of it; I felt how many fastenings that thing had!"
Lily slapped me gently on the arm before dragging me into a kiss. She smiled against my lips, laughing as she pushed me away and began to run through the house away from me. With a grin and a silent thank you to my training, I chased after her, catching her as she entered one of the upstairs rooms.
"Got you," I told her with a bit more seriousness than I'd intended, wrapping my arms around her.
"Forever," she promised, relaxing into my hold. "You won't ever get rid of me now."
"I do believe you were the one always trying to get rid of me," I corrected her.
"Well then," she pulled me closer so that I lost my balance, causing us both to fall onto what I could only guess was a bed. "I guess I finally realized that if you weren't going to leave me alone, I might as well marry you for your money."
"You can have all of the money," I declared, shifting until her head was on the pillows. "What's mine is yours. The only thing I need is the beautiful red head resting in my arms."
"Such a charmer," she muttered, leaning up to catch me in a kiss and sufficiently ending the conversation.
"I don't ever want this to end," Lily sighed the day before we had to leave to go back to England. She was floating on a lilo in the pool while I sipped a Muggle beer under the shade of an umbrella on a sunbed.
"Neither do I," I agreed. "Our friends truly out did themselves with this holiday. I'm not looking forward to going back to the real world."
There was a splash as Lily jumped off her lilo to swim over to where I was sitting. The wet drops hitting my chest informed me that she'd got out of the pool. I shifted over so that she could sit next to me, ignoring the cold water on my skin.
"We need to talk about the letter that Dumbledore sent us," she said sadly.
Somehow, we were still getting our mail, which meant that when Dumbledore sent a letter out to everyone he trusted, we got it too. We also got another one from him to apologize for interrupting our honeymoon. We'd agreed to put it out of our minds until we got back to England, but it had stayed in the back of my mind, and I knew Lily had been thinking of it too.
"The Order of the Phoenix," I sighed, referring to the group Dumbledore had invited us to join; it was on organization to fight against Voldemort made up off Dumbledore's trusted allies. "What do you want to do?"
"I want to fight," Lily admitted. "I've known since the war started that you wouldn't be able to stand to the side, I always knew you'd have to fight, and I won't be left behind. I will fight with you or die at your side."
I wished more than anything that I could see Lily's face at that moment. Instead, I sat up and pulled her into my lap, kissing her on the head and just holding her close. The thought of her in the war was terrifying, but I knew with all of my heart that there was no way she would stay behind; it was one of the things that made me fall in love with her.
"I don't know how much use I'll be," I confided. "But you're right. Even blind, I can't stand by and do nothing. I'm a reckless impulsive Gryffindor; and I have to fight for what I love."
The Marauders were there to greet us when the Portkey dropped us off inside our home at Godric's Hollow. They immediately rushed forward and pulled us into a group hug, mentioning that Alice and Frank would be there but they had to visit Frank's mum.
"It was perfect," Lily gushed when Severus asked if we liked the holiday. "We didn't want to leave."
"You really out did yourselves," I agreed, clapping Peter on the back while Sirius flung his arm around my shoulder. "Though we could probably have done without the dunking."
"That was all Moony's idea," Sirius declared quickly, proving just where the idea really came from. "Look on the bright side; at least it wasn't in your fancy clothes."
We invited them to stay for a few drinks, which meant that we all ending up sat around in the living room. Lily squeezed my hand before pulling out the letter we'd received; warning me that the conversation was about to get a lot more serious.
"So," she announced. "Am I right in guessing you all received one of these?"
"We haven't replied," Remus told us quietly. "We were waiting for you to come back."
"We were going to let you have a few days before mentioning it," Severus said dryly. "It seems we forgot to factor in how direct Lily is."
"What do you think?" Sirius questioned. "You know we'll follow you in this, Prongs."
"We're joining," I declared carefully. "But I want to make it clear now that none of you have to join just because we are. There's no shame in not wanting to fight. This is a war and people will get hurt and killed."
"As if we'd let you fight alone," Peter – of all people – snorted. It was heart-warming to see how far he'd come from that shy boy who flinched at the thought of any fight. "Us Marauders stick together."
"Wormtail's right," Sirius agreed solemnly. "We're family and this is our fight too."
"You couldn't stop us if you tried;" Remus put his word in. "We're stronger together."
"I suppose someone's got to make sure you don't get yourselves killed," Severus drawled.
"Voldie's not going to know what hit him," Sirius cackled.
A/N: Since it's been such a long time, I haven't bothered to wait until Saturday to post. I'm afraid you'll be getting updates as soon as I write them. Please review! :)
