In Which Petunia Gets Married
"Tuney, you look beautiful," Lily gushed, surveying her older sister, who was twirling in front of the mirror in a classic, white, particularly poufy Muggle wedding gown. "That's the one!"
"Are you sure?" Petunia asked anxiously. "I mean, if we buy it, it's not like we can return it…"
"Tuney, Vernon won't be able to take his eyes off of you; trust me on that one," Lily assured her. "It looks like it was made for you!"
"Thanks, Lily," Petunia smiled; she seemed to be doing that more and more these days. "You know, I think I will buy it."
"Good; but if you hadn't, I would've!" Lily laughed. Petunia joined in and changed back into her regular Muggle clothes. Then the two sisters bought the dress, and nobody would have ever guessed that they had ever fought for once in their life.
Much less six years.
"I'm scared, Lily," Petunia confided in her younger sister on the morning of her wedding day. "There are so many people out there…"
"Oh, Tuney, do you still have stage fright?" Lily gasped, and Petunia nodded sadly. Lily threw her arms around her sister and told her, "Don't worry, I'll be right behind you the whole way. You have nothing to be afraid of."
"I know I don't have anything to be scared of," Petunia chuckled humorously, "but that doesn't stop me from being scared, all the same."
"Think about it this way, Tuney: do you love Vernon?"
"Yes."
"Do you want to spend the rest of your life with him?"
"Yes."
"Do you want to have his babies?"
Petunia blushed and giggled before murmuring, "Yes."
Lily grinned, "Well, the only way that's going to happen is if you go out there and marry him!"
"You have a point, Lily," Petunia conceded.
"That was my goal," Lily laughed. "Now, come on; we have to beautify you!" Petunia chuckled, and led her younger sister lead her to where the other girls were getting their hair and make-up done.
"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Dursley," the preacher announced after Petunia and Vernon had exchanged their vows. "You may kiss the bride." Vernon leaned down and tenderly gave Petunia their first kiss as husband and wife. Lily was surprised that such a large, beefy man could be so… gentle. Caring. Loving. She was happy for her sister.
Not too long after the wedding ended, the reception began. The Evans family was having it in their backyard; all of their flowers were in bloom, and the garden looked just lovely. The setting was picture-perfect for a wedding party.
Lily was seated next to Petunia, whose other side was occupied by Lily's new brother-in-law. He didn't seem to care much for Lily; he never had. This day, especially, he only had eyes for his new wife, who, in turn, only had eyes for him. Lily was immensely relieved. However, she was a bit lonely; she didn't know her relatives all that well besides her parents, who were too busy reminiscing about Petunia's childhood to pay attention to her.
So, sitting alone at the table, Lily found herself reminiscing herself; only she was remembering Hogwarts, not her sister's childhood. She may have been Muggleborn, but Lily had always been a talented witch; perhaps that was why all of her Professors were so keen on her, despite the fact that Lily had a far-from-perfect record for turning in assignments on time. It was really Mary who was the studious one; Lily just had the natural brains. Mary was the one who liked school the most out of her group of friends, no matter what anyone else might say.
Lily remembered when she had first met Mary. Well, actually, she had first met Mary when the two were Sorted into Gryffindor; but she became friends with the shy girl in a very different setting…
Lily had been walking through Hogwarts just to see what she could find; having grown up with Muggles, she found the talking portraits, the disappearing steps, just the environment in general absolutely fascinating. Suddenly, she heard James Potter- she had only known him for a day and she already hated the arrogant git!- taunting someone, "Aw, c'mon, talk! What are you, mute?" She felt fury fill her; how could he treat someone like that? He was such a bully! Deciding to see what was going on, Lily followed the sound of the voices, and saw James Potter- along with Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin- surrounding a short, frightened girl with curly hair that Lily recognized as Mary Macdonald, her extraordinarily quiet roommate who had to be practically interrogated before the oher Gryffindor girls could figure out her name.
"What are you doing, Potter?" Lily snapped at the irksome boy, putting her hands on her hips.
"Trying to get Mute Macdonald to talk, of course," James answered as if it was the most logical thing in the world, a huge grin on his face.
"She's not mute, she's just shy," Lily glared at him. Mary was trembling, and the sight infused Lily with even more anger. "There's nothing wrong with that. Why don't you go away and leave Mary alone?"
"I'll leave her alone," James agreed, his eyes glinting evilly. "After all, you're much more fun to pick on than Mute here." He pointed to the curly-haired girl, who was glancing around nervously.
"Don't you bloody dare, Potter," Lily warned, stepping backwards as James, Sirius and Peter (Remus lagged behind, looking rather reluctant to be there) circled around her. "I swear, I'll hex your arse off!"
"Three to one, Evans? You wouldn't dare," James laughed. Turning to his friends, he inquired, "What do you think? Bat Bogeys? Or maybe we should give her some boils, just to make her face even uglier than it already is- if that's at all possible." Sirius and Peter laughed loudly, and Lily, despite herself, felt herself growing scared. She knew that these four were raised with magical families, and most likely knew at least a handful of magical spells; while she, Muggleborn Lily Evans, knew none.
Suddenly, a quiet voice said from behind the group, "Furnunculus!" As soon as those words were spoken, James' face broke out into hideous boils. Lily burst out laughing. The same voice spoke, "Babblius!" and when Sirius then tried to say something, it came out as babbling that was utterly impossible to understand; it also rendered him incapable of using any spells. Peter turned around to see who had cast the spells on his friends and saw, to his surprise, Mary Macdonald, shakily pointing her wand at him. "Would you like to get hexed, Pettigrew?" she asked sweetly, and Lily had to bite her lip to hold in her laughter at Mary's sudden transformation and Peter's frightened expression in response to that. He shook his head quickly and rushed in the other direction. Remus, James and Sirius followed him, the latter two going to the Hospital Wing.
"Thanks for that," Lily smiled at her roommate gratefully. "Aren't you a Muggleborn, too? Where did you learn those spells?"
"I read the textbooks at home, and practiced some," Mary admitted softly. "I'm surprised they worked, honestly; I hadn't tried them on actual people before, just the neighborhood sewer rats."
"They were brilliant," Lily grinned, and Mary blushed at the compliment. "I'm Lily, by the way. Lily Evans."
"Mary Macdonald," the curly-haired girl formally introduced herself. "Excuse me for asking this- it's terribly impolite, but I have the worst memory- you're my roommate, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I am," Lily told her. "Want to go back to the common room?"
"Sure," Mary smiled.
As both First Years walked, they knew they had each made a friend.
The memory made Lily smile broadly. She was still being ignored by the rest of the wedding party, and found herself remembering how she made friends with Sasha, Alice and Delilah, too…
Lily and Severus climbed into the boat nervously. Lily knew that her best friend had the slightest fear of water; or, more accurately, drowning, seeing as Severus couldn't swim to save his life. She smiled reassuringly at him, silently telling him, 'Don't worry, it'll be okay.' Severus smiled back at her shakily. He seemed unlikely to say anything for the rest of the boat ride, so Lily turned to the other two people in her boat. One was a short, slightly plump boy with black hair and brown eyes; the other was a round-faced, perky girl with short blond hair and blue eyes.
"Hi!" The blond girl greeted Lily jovially. "I'm Alice Prewett. Who are you?"
"I'm Lily," the redhead smiled. "Lily Evans. Pleased to meet you." Lily stuck out her hand politely like her parents had taught her to.
"Why are you being so formal?" Alice questioned, looking confused. "We're friends, after all!"
"Oh, okay," was all Lily could say. She supposed being friends with this Alice girl wouldn't be too bad; she seemed very kind, if a bit talkative. "I'm glad to have made another friend besides Sev here," she said after a moment, gesturing to her greasy-haired friend, who looked a bit green in the face.
"Hello there!" Alice greeted Severus. "I'm Alice Prewett. Is Sev your full name? Or a nickname?"
"Nickname," Severus answered shortly. "My full name is Severus Snape."
"That's quite an interesting name," Alice mused. "Actually, it has a fairly nice ring to it, if you think about it. Much better than Alice Prewett, if you ask me. It's so… ordinary. All of your names are so much better than mine; Severus Snape, Lily Evans, and… what's your name?" She asked the last eleven-year-old in the boat.
"Frank Longbottom," he replied softly, looking reluctant at the attention.
"See! That's a better name than Alice Prewett, too!" she exclaimed. Suddenly, she seemed to realize something, and turned to Frank again. "Longbottom, did you say? Is your mum Augusta?"
"Yes," Frank responded.
"Oh! She's my mum's best friend!" Alice grinned. "What a small world! You know, I think there's an American song about a small world… I have cousins in Florida, in America, who owled me about it…" She rambled on and on, and Lily found herself enjoying the happy girl's company more and more. Yes, she talked far more than any eleven-year-old she had ever met before did; but it was rather humorous, once you got used to it.
Alice had gotten considerably less talkative as the years progressed, and now could go a full class period without chattering; something Lily and her other friends were, truthfully, still surprised at. But, deep down, they had all known that it would happen one day, no matter how unlikely it seemed sometimes. Delilah had been the most skeptical, though. In fact, Lily could remember Delilah saying back in Third Year, "Alice, they day you shut your hole for more than three minutes is the day I don't make the Quidditch team." She had, thankfully, been wrong; the day Alice was finally able to not talk for more than three minutes, Delilah was still an excellent Chaser.
Lily remembered how she became friends with Delilah, too…
"I'm Delilah McPhee," a tall girl with short brown hair introduced herself to Lily confidently as she walked next to her on the way to Gryffindor Tower, led by their House Prefects. "You look down. What's wrong?"
"My best friend got Sorted into another House," Lily replied sullenly.
"Tough luck," Delilah said sympathetically. "Happened to my brother; they stayed friends, though. I'm sure you and your pal will, too. What's your name?"
"Lily Evans."
"My brother had a girlfriend named Lily once," Delilah spoke. "She looked very different from you, though. She had black hair and brown skin- she had green eyes too, though, because she was part Jamaican."
"Is this the same brother that had a friend Sorted in another House?" Lily asked.
"No, that was Kurt. His friend who was Sorted into another House was Arthur, his twin. My brother with the ex-girlfriend named Lily is David."
"You have three brothers?"
"No, six."
"SIX?" Lily exclaimed. "How can you live with six brothers?"
"You get used to it," Delilah shrugged casually. "Besides, there are some perks."
"Such as?"
"Such as, I'm probably the strongest girl in our Year, and I can play Quidditch as well as any boy can," Delilah boasted proudly.
"Cool," Lily said, impressed.
"Thanks!" Delilah grinned. "So, what about you? Do you have any siblings?"
"Only a sister," Lily sighed. "We used to be great friends, but she hates me now, because I'm a witch and she's not."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Lily!" Delilah exclaimed. "Just ignore her; I'm sure she'll come around someday. Family is the most important thing, after all."
"Thanks," Lily smiled at the taller brunette who had just made her feel better. She moved to give her a hug in thanks, but Delilah put up her hands, blocking her from doing so.
"No offense, but I am not a huggy person," Delilah told the redhead. "Another part of having six brothers."
Lily laughed, sealing the two girls' friendship.
Delilah, it seemed, had been right when she had said that Petunia would come around someday. True, it had taken six long, hateful years; but it had happened. Sometimes, Lily thought that she didn't give Delilah enough credit when it came to giving advice. Surprisingly, the friend that Lily thought gave the best advice was Sasha; behind her loud, cheerful, independent exterior, she was truly wise beyond her years. Not that you could easily notice this about her; Lily certainly hadn't when she had first encountered her…
"I hate those gits," Lily muttered under her breath as she wandered through the corridors on the Hogwarts Express, Severus trailing behind her. The two friends had just left their former compartment, after James Potter and Sirius Black had so rudely insulted Severus and the Slytherin House.
"Agreed," Severus murmured stonily. "Oi, Lily, this compartment only has two people in it; d'you think they'd let us sit with them?" He questioned, noticing a mostly empty compartment with only a boy who looked about their age comforting a girl who also looked about their age, and, in addition to that, looked like she was crying.
"It couldn't hurt to ask," Lily reasoned optimistically, and knocked on the compartment door. The boy stood up and opened it. "Can Sev and I sit with you?" Lily requested. "We had a compartment before, but we had to share it with these two horrid boys. They kept teasing Sev!"
"Was one of their names Sirius Black?" The girl asked suddenly, her voice low and murderous. Lily couldn't help but think how she wouldn't want to be in Sirius' situation as she nodded. The girl literally growled and then told the boy, "Let them come in, Brother. It's not their fault Sirius Black is an absolute arse."
"Okay, Sister," the boy said, gesturing for Lily and Severus to come inside. They did so; Lily smiled at him gratefully before sitting down. "I'm Remus Lupin," the boy introduced himself. Lily noticed that, while fairly good looking, his bright blue eyes were tired, and his brown hair was lank with a few scattered grey hairs, even at only eleven years old. His face and arms were covered with scratches, and he looked sickly.
"I'm Lily Evans, and this is Severus Snape," Lily smiled at Remus; he seemed nice enough, if a bit reserved and cautious. "Are you two brother and sister?" She asked, jerking her head over to the girl.
"Oh, no," the girl shook her head, wiping tears from her eyes. "We've just been best friends since we were six, so we're close enough to be. I'm Sasha Berg." Sasha, too, looked unusual for an eleven-year-old; but in her case, it was because of her… aura, for lack of a better term. The air around her almost seemed to radiate power, making Lily feel even sorrier for Sirius Black, who seemed to have already made an enemy of her.
"If you don't mind me asking," Lily said slowly, "why are you crying?"
"Oh, it's no big deal, really. I'm just being my usual drama queen self. I'm going to miss my daddy, that's all," Sasha smiled back shakily, hurriedly wiping tears from her eyes again. "I'm really close to him, and I've never left him before. I already miss him." A few tears fell from her eyes again, and Remus jumped to her side, patting her shoulder comfortingly, with alarming speed.
"She's also upset because of some things Sirius Black said to her," Remus whispered to Lily.
"What did he say?" Lily asked quietly, her eyes wide with curiosity.
"Well, Sasha and I were looking for a compartment, and we passed him and some other boy; I think his name was James Potter, if I remember correctly." Lily nodded the confirmation of this grimly. "Anyways, Sasha was crying, and Sirius noticed. He asked her why she was crying, and she told him the same thing she told you just now. That she missed her father. Then he teased her about it; he told her she was a spoiled, overgrown crybaby who had to get a life."
Lily gasped. "That jerk! That- that- that arse!" She lowered her voice to a small whisper. "What did Sasha do?"
"She told him off," Remus replied. "I'm telling you, if words could kill, then Sirius would be dead. I led her away from there before she could hex the daylights out of him."
"I still plan to, Remus, and you know it!" Sasha exclaimed suddenly, shaking her fist viciously. "The bastard deserves it!"
"I can't help but agree," Lily nodded sympathetically.
"You said that they teased Snape. What'd they say?" Sasha questioned curiously, having stopped crying now that she had been sufficiently distracted.
"Well, Sev said that he wanted to get into Slytherin, and then Potter- the conceited little toerag- said that Slytherin was a bad House. I know, mean, right? So then, Sev told him that that was where people who'd rather be brainy than brawny go, and Potter replied- very rudely- that Sev was neither! And then as we left, Black called Sev 'Snivellus'!" Lily explained, growing heated in anger from recounting the event. From the corner of her eye, she saw Severus reacting similarly, and she smiled at him comfortingly. He gave a small grin in return.
"That's awful!" Sasha declared. "Though it sounds to me like you hate Potter more than Black."
"I have to admit, I do," Lily said. "I still hate Black, though, don't get me wrong. Especially after hearing what he did to you! Honestly, I doubt anyone could be worst people than those two."
"Well," Sasha grinned, "I hate Black, and Potter too, so I guess we have something in common."
"I guess we do," Lily laughed back. The two girls talked for the rest of the train ride, with Remus joining in often. Severus stayed silent; some people may have thought that he was stuck-up and rude because of how rarely he talked of his own free will, but Lily knew he was just shy. He got uncomfortable around strangers. Poor boy; she hoped he would branch out later.
Lily sighed, remembering the boy who had once been her best friend. She couldn't deny that she missed him; but she had gotten over it, having realized that if he was going to get into shit like the Dark Arts, he didn't deserve her friendship. She wasn't going to be friends with a Death Eater. Besides, she had other friends who she knew would never betray her as horribly as Severus had; friends that she was sure that she could trust.
"Lily!" Henry Evans barked to his younger daughter, breaking her out of her daydream. "It's time for you to toast the bride and groom!"
"Sure, Dad," Lily smiled at her father, and stood up to give the toast. Petunia beamed up at her, shining with love for her sister that had been gone for so long.
Yes, despite the loneliness, this was most definitely one of the best days of Lily's life.
I wanted to put in how all the girls met each other, and I had to write Petunia's wedding, so I decided to put them together! I hope you liked it! Please, please, PLEASE review!
Oh, by the way, yes, Delilah DOES have seven brothers. When she first met Lily, though, her youngest brother wasn't born yet. I thought I'd clear that up, just in case anyone was confused. :)
Thanks for reading, and- yet again- PLEASE review! I love them so much, they make me feel good! :D
-Joelle8
P.S. By the way, I'd like to thank you all for something. Not only do I have almost 250 reviews, but I have OVER 13,000 HITS! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Thank you sooooooooooooo much, everyone! It means so much to me that people like my story!
