Author's Note: Sorry this is a day late, my week was absurd and I never had time to write. The week ahead will be better. The wedding is next, and I promise it will be a longer chapter. This is just a taste of what these friends share. Thanks for going on this journey with me, MNF
Chapter 38:
Prelude
"You're too calm," Marley said as the three friends lounged at Claymont. They were spending the night together at the Potter Estate, and it would be the staging area for the women of the bridal party. Dorothy had chosen to go home, as she was overseeing the bouquets and boutonnieres in the morning, and she wanted a good night's rest. The gents, including Peter, would all be staying at Grimmauld Place. Harry and Ginny had agreed to have the four guys – his brothers and cousins – stay at their place tonight, while Rosie had the house to herself. Harry promised Ginny she could escape and spend the night with Rosie if the boys were genuinely awful.
"What should I be worried about?" Junie replied as they sat comfortably sprawled across the sofas and chaise in the lounge. "The rehearsal went well, all the bits I can control are going to plan, and what I can't control, there isn't a point in worrying about."
"But you're getting married tomorrow," Lily stated emphatically.
"I'm well aware of my impending nuptials. However, I am choosing to focus on the only important part. Sirius and I will promise to care for each other, to refuse to use our magic against the other, and be faithful for the rest of our lives. The rest is the dog and pony show for the looky-loos." The other two looked at their friend like she'd sprouted a second head. Neither was calm the night before their weddings.
Marley thought back to Lily vomiting several times about whether her sister would show or not. Thankfully, she did not, although her absence required some shuffling at the altar since Petunia, maid-of-honour, was to be with Sirius, first-best-man. Junie was bumped up from being with Peter to stand with Sirius, as Marley standing with Sirius would have churned up too many bad memories for him. Peter then walked with James' thirteen-year-old cousin from France who couldn't speak a word of English.
"You do boil it down to the gravy, don't you?" Marly commented once she brought herself back to reality.
"We also don't have any small children to worry about, so that's one thing off my mind," Junie said with a smirk and a distinctly Sirius-like waggle of one eyebrow.
"You wouldn't happen to be talking about our ring bearer, who screamed out, wanting to be fed in the middle of the ceremony?"
"He was a baby," Lily defended her son. She'd told them it was a bad idea to have an eight-month-old be their ring bearer.
"Remus and I thought it was wonderful," Marley said, and Lily gave her an incredulous look. "Honestly, we do. It was a small wedding, unlike the extravaganza you had or the media circus Junie is in for tomorrow. No one wanted to come to a wedding where the groom and the father-of-the-bride are werewolves. However, Harry's urgent need for food made the day memorable, and we thank him for that."
"It wasn't funny for me," Lily said softly. "It wasn't your breasts that leaked all over your dress because her son was screaming to eat." Junie rubbed her friend's shoulder. It was an autonomic response, and Lily couldn't have helped it if she wanted to. The other women had forgotten that part of the story. Clearly, Lily hadn't.
"Well, I hope no one screams about eating, but some of the old biddies in the Black family might lose their breakfast when they realize just who it is he's marrying. Boring, half-blood, Muggle Studies teacher me."
"Juniper Meadows, nothing is boring about you, never has been," Lily said. "You're just quiet and keep all the wonderfulness close to the chest." Junie smiled embarrassedly. "Now, we've only drunk half of this champagne, so who needs a top up?"
Meanwhile, in London, the gents played poker and drank the finest Firewhisky that James could procure.
"Why is it that I'm not sharing a bed with my fiancé tonight?" Sirius asked. "I've become quite used to having her keep me warm." He'd only had a few sips of the fine beverage his friend had brought since he was still on some serious potions for his arm. James had brought a second bottle and left it in Sirius' study for when he was through with his potions.
"Some Muggle tradition Marley found in a book," Remus answered.
"Couldn't we have chosen another tradition; I want Junie with me."
"Padfoot, could you not whinge," Peter said. "You're the last of us getting married; let's enjoy tonight." He drank down his generous glassful. "Dammit, I lost another round." He folded the cards he had before him.
"We aren't playing for money, so it doesn't really matter," James reminded his friend. "So, are you ready to take the plunge?"
"Absolutely," Sirius answered. "I've waited my life to find the woman who could put up with me. Turns out I've known her for most of it, and she's perfect."
"Not what you were saying at Harry's wedding last year when she called you juvenile," Peter reminded the groom.
"Well, it was rather immature of me to pretend to fart just before Harry was going to the front of the marquee. He had to stifle his laugh, as did Ron and Neville."
"Charlie didn't," James said. "Lily and I were mortified. I guess that's what you get when you have a thirteen-year-old in the wedding party."
"Well, I trust that everyone will behave tomorrow, even Charlie and George," Sirius said with a mock-seriousness.
"Trust me," Remus said with terseness, "with us standing only a few feet away, they won't have the chance to do anything but behave."
"They're boys, and if they act like it, I won't be upset."
"I'm surprised Junie is okay with your having so many more male attendants than she has women," Remus noted. "Marlene wanted everything to match."
"Junie would have welcomed Dorothy to be in her party. However, we understand why she chose not to be," Sirius said with a nod to Peter. "After the women she's chosen, there isn't anyone else she's close to, aside from Minerva, and well…no, that wouldn't have worked. She knows I have two godsons, and I wanted them both in the wedding, and just because Dorothy isn't in the wedding, it didn't mean Pete had to not be included. She's very Zen about the whole affair. We like that Charlie and John are going to carry the flame and water from The Source into the wedding space."
"That's Junie. She's the person you want in a crisis," James said thoughtfully. The men went back to their poker game and played for a while longer before Sirius put his cards down and looked at his friends with a mischievous grin.
"How would you like to help me make a little mischief tonight?"
"Do you think Fred is at your house tonight?" Marley asked Lily. The new couple had been spending nearly all their available time together since Rosie had arrived home from Hogwarts.
"I'm certain he's there for at least part of the night," Lily answered. "Fred should feel more at ease without James there to growl at him at every available moment."
"He's still not sure about their Heart-Bond?" Junie asked. "Honestly, I find him to be delightful and so respectful of Rosie." She wasn't about to admit to her friend just how often her goddaughter had used her office to have snogging sessions with her new boyfriend; that was between her and Rosie.
"I don't think it's Fred; I think it's any boy who Rosie would have been Heart-Bond to. She's only seventeen –"
"As were you, and me, and Remus and James and almost all witches and wizards," Marley interrupted. "I get it; it isn't us; it's our kids, but honestly, Fred is a good man. You know what sort of family he's coming from well enough." Marley had one of those 'told-you-so smiles on her face.
"We do, but…."
"Look, as the oddball in the trio here, seventeen did feel young, and I wasn't ready when I was younger, especially if I'd been matched with seventeen-year-old Sirius. However, we both look at you and wish we'd had those twenty-three years back. Yes, it was painful when he wasn't matched with Marley, but we all worked through that mess.
"Sirius and I both wasted time dating other people and being stubborn about something that happened when we were younger. Don't begrudge Rosie and Fred the happiness that they're undoubtedly enjoying. I think they're falling in love, not just lust."
"We will see how you feel when it's your daughter when she's seventeen," Lily said.
"You're having a girl?" Marley cheered. "Yes, another little girl to spoil!" Junie was wildly shaking her head and her hands.
"We don't know anything other than my being pregnant. As for boy or girl, Sirius and I just want healthy. That said, I can't imagine him as the father of a girl. He will assume every boy is just like him at that age. But, of course, now that I'm teaching at Hogwarts, I realize more of them are than aren't." Both women opened their mouths to speak, but Junie shut them down before they said something. "Neither of your sons is a lothario, but I will tell you that Charlie blushes and runs away when a girl expresses any interest, and John smiles and then says something silly. They're typical fourteen-year-olds." The trio laughed at the two boys.
Junie tipped her head and crinkled the skin between her eyes. "Did you leave a radio on somewhere, Lil?"
"No, and if Rosie came over, she was to come and see me, just so I wouldn't be surprised. I doubt it's her, though, since she was hoping Ginny would come over and they could paint their nails together." Lily tipped her head, listening intently. "I hear it too."
"Does Rosie listen to the Beatles?" Marley asked.
"No, she calls it 'old-fogey music," Lily replied.
"Well, that is the opening of "Oh-La-De, Oh-La-Da" over and over. Lils, that's coming from the conservatory," Junie said. "It's my favourite song."
The trio left he lounge and padded through the first floor to the conservatory off the ballroom. There they found the guys, James playing the piano in a long-forgotten skill of his friends and Remus tapping out the rhythm on a traditional Celtic hand drum. Quickly he moved on from the repetitive opening chords into the meat of the song.
"Desmond has a barrow in the marketplace, Molly is the singer with the band…." Sirius began to croon in a relatively good imitation of the lead singer. He'd changed his clothes, somewhere finding a pair of bell-bottoms jeans, a mutton-chop sleeve, grey dress shirt, a black waistcoat, and a red, silk, fringe-end scarf which he'd wrapped loosely several times around his neck. The outfit caused a bit of a giggle from the girls, but Junie felt totally besotted. She couldn't help the wide smile that filled her face at the sight of her man singing before her. By the time they reached the chorus, she was standing next to him, her arm wrapped around his midsection, with his good arm over her shoulders, and singing together. Junie added the counter melody on the second chorus, and the other women joined their men and were singing too.
"Oh-lah-de, oh-la-da, life goes on, brah, life goes on," the septuplet sang along, completing the song, including the laughter at the end.
"I completely forgot you can play the piano, James," Marley said when their laughter had ended.
"I had hoped everyone had," he confessed. "However, I forgot Sirius sat through a recital my mother made me give one summer. At least it made you smile, Junie."
"That was delightful," she said with eyes only for Sirius. "My favourite song."
"I remember you once telling me, at one of the wedding receptions, that you loved that song and wanted a life like it. So I hope being slightly more high-profile than being married to a market stall-worker is alright with you?" Sirius said, using his good hand to brush some wayward strands of hair away from her face.
"I've said it was you I was marrying, not your position. You could be unemployed, and it's you that I'd love." Sirius leaned down and kissed Junie.
"This outfit is something else, however," she said with a cringe and a tap of the fringe on his nose. "Where did you dig this up?"
"My school trunk," he said, and she cringed again. "Don't you recognize the scarf; it was yours. I stole it in seventh year."
"I thought it looked familiar," she said, unwrapping it from his neck and then wrapping it around hers. "I'm taking it back. But, oh, no, I'm not; it smells rank."
"Well, it was in my trunk for thirty years." She shook her head at him and then stood on her tiptoes to kiss him again.
James started to plunk out another song until he remembered how to play it, and the friends decided to sing late into the night. No one was terribly surprised to find that the bride and groom had disappeared. At that point, Peter decided it was time to head home, and the other two couples went to their respective rooms within Claymont. Morning would come early, and James was determined to get out of the building before the army of hairdressers, make-up witches, and other sundry support people would descend upon his house by eight.