July 3rd 1997
It was a beautiful ceremony for all its simplicity. Jen and Remus both seemed to glow with happiness and, when the two were finally pronounced man and wife, there were few dry eyes in the room – Hermione swore she even saw Sirius brushing away a tear.
Then, as the new Mr and Mrs Lupin made their way back down the aisle, everyone rose to their feet, firing off red and gold sparks in a salute. With another wave of Amelia's wand, the chairs flew to surround the small tables along the sides of the ballroom, creating a dance floor.
Hermione directed her wand at a Muggle CD player in the corner, starting up the playlist of Muggle and magical music she and Ginny had put together – for obvious reasons, neither Jen nor Remus had felt comfortable hiring a band.
"They look happy," Harry murmured in her ear, as people swarmed the happy couple with well-wishes.
"Of course they look happy," Hermione said quietly. "They just got married."
Harry sighed, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I want to look that happy one day."
"You will," Hermione said confidently. "We will." She glanced over her shoulder to see Harry giving her a dazzling smile, before he kissed her.
"I love you, Mione."
"Love you too." Hermione grabbed his hand and pulled him into the dispersing crowd. "Come on."
When they reached Jen and Remus, they were talking to Fred and George.
"You could have brought the girls along," Jen was saying. "I'd have liked to meet them."
"At least someone would," Fred grumbled. "When we brought them home for dinner, Mum asked them flat-out if they knew we had no aspirations."
"Besides," George added, when Jen's frown deepened, "we'll bring them over after the honeymoon."
"Yeah, they've had some amazing ideas," Fred agreed, brightening up. "We didn't want to bring up the war today."
Hermione giggled. "You just did."
As the twins stuck their tongues out at her in unison, Jen swept her and Harry into a hug. "I'm so glad you two were here for this."
"Congratulations," Hermione said. "You too, Moony," she added over Jen's shoulder.
Remus hugged her as well, still beaming. "Thank you, Hermione."
Spotting Mandy and Arabella nearby, Hermione excused herself to jog over to speak to them, having missed them before the ceremony.
Sirius, Remus and Jen had resigned from the Order, saying that they wanted to stay available for Harry and the others, but Mandy and Arabella had stayed, mainly on Jen's request.
Jen was not going to pretend there was no possibility she could be wrong, so she had asked them to stay close, just in case.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, once hugs and greetings had been exchanged. "You look exhausted."
"Dumbledore doesn't buy the reason Jen gave them for their resignation," Arabella said in a low voice. "That's half the reason Minerva isn't here; she's sent her best wishes, but it would just cause too many problems."
Hermione frowned. "He doesn't think they've gone dark, does he?"
Mandy shook her head. "No, I think he's just worried they're out of his control. It's taking all of our Occlumency to keep him at bay."
"Hence looking exhausted," Arabella said. "With any luck, he'll drop it soon enough."
"Oh, he's got to," Mandy said wearily. "He might be a manipulative git, but he wants Voldemort gone too."
"That's enough," Arabella said firmly. "I'm not going to think about the war any more today. It's too depressing and this isn't a day to be depressed."
"No," Mandy agreed, hugging Harry as he came over. "Hey, pumpkin."
"Hey," Harry said, "where've you two been?"
"Oh, all over the place," Arabella sighed. "But that's pretty dull talk, honey, trust me. How's school been?"
While Harry and Hermione complained about their OWLs, Jen and Remus had been approached by Bill and Charlie.
"Boys, I promise you that Draco's on our side," Jen assured them. "Bill, you work for Gringotts; don't pretend you're not just being overprotective. Now," she smirked, "that's quite enough about your sister's love-life; what about yours? Bill, I thought you were seeing that Beauxbatons girl? Fleur, I think her name is?"
Bill's ears turned red, a trait he shared with his father and younger brother. "Yeah, she had to work today. Actually, I'm … I'm thinking of asking her to marry me."
Jen beamed, mentally reminding her husband of the bet they had going. "Good for you! What's holding you back?"
Bill didn't answer, but he couldn't stop himself glancing over his shoulder, to where his mother was talking to Augusta Longbottom.
"Bill," Jen said quietly, following his gaze, "Molly will never consider anyone good enough for her children, unless she's picked them herself. I'm not surprised she doesn't like Fleur – from what Harry's told me, they're total opposites – but you are a grown man. If you really love her, go for it. Make it a long engagement and Molly will come around."
"Listen to her," Remus advised. "She's a smart one." He stepped back quickly to avoid an elbow to the stomach. "What about you, Charlie? How's Romania?"
Charlie grinned and held up his left hand. With a wave of his wand, a wedding ring appeared on his third finger.
Three jaws dropped and Bill punched him on the arm. "You git! You got married and didn't tell me?!"
Charlie hastily hushed him, replacing the Concealment Charm. "Mum and Dad don't know yet. Any advice, Jen?"
Jen was still gaping at him, and Remus gave him a smile. "She's got nothing."
"When?" Jen asked finally. "Who?"
"Her name's Katherine," Charlie answered, a giddy smile on his face, "and she's another dragon handler. We've been dating for a while, but I didn't want Mum to get all broody on me, so I didn't tell anyone. Well, the twins knew, but they know when to keep a secret."
"I know Katherine," Bill said with a frown. "She's brilliant. When did you two …?" He glanced back at his mother again. "You know."
"May," Charlie said heavily, his smile fading. "I went back and I was going to propose to her, but … there'd been an attack while I was gone and she was cursed really badly and the Healers couldn't do anything and …"
Jen made a soft sympathetic noise, squeezing his arm.
"We thought that was it," Charlie said softly. "And she said she wanted to die as my wife so we married quickly and …"
"Please tell me this story has a happy ending," Jen interrupted.
It broke the tension and Charlie chuckled. "Thankfully, she made a full and miraculous recovery."
Jen gave him a stern look. "So why isn't she here?"
"I didn't want to steal your thunder by breaking the news to Mum today," Charlie admitted.
Jen smiled at him. "Well, thank you for not upstaging me. You will bring her to visit soon, won't you? I'd like to meet her."
"Yeah, of course," Charlie agreed readily. "She's really looking forward to visiting the UK."
"You've warned her we're not at our best right now, right?" Remus asked.
"Oh, she knows," Charlie said with a sigh.
"Speaking of not at our best," Bill said, "I'm sorry Percy's not here."
"Oh, don't be," Jen said with a smile. "It's not like he ignored the invitation. In fact, he sent me a perfectly lovely letter, thanking us for thinking of him and wishing us all the best." As Molly began walking towards them, she patted Remus on the arm. "It looks like Kingsley actually brought his date. We should say hello."
Neither of the Weasley boys got where they were by being stupid and they gave her almost identical grins. "We'll handle her."
The celebrations continued long into the night, until, one by one, everyone made their excuses, congratulated Jen and Remus once more, and departed until only the residents remained.
Even Ron and Ginny had gone back to The Burrow – although Ginny had warned that she wouldn't stay long if her mother blew up (and it was a miracle she hadn't already).
"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Sirius said. "I don't want to see either of you for at least a week."
"Yes," Addie agreed. "We'll take care of this lot and hold the fort for you."
Jen smirked at them. "That's what concerns me."
Amelia and Augusta would be remaining in Ravenscroft Manor, in the wings that Jen had set aside from them, along with Frank and Alice, and Jen and Remus were remaining for a week for an approximation of a honeymoon.
Everyone else was moving to Potter Manor for the summer, although Jen had made transport a lot easier.
Technically neither Potter Manor nor Ravenscroft Manor was on the floo grid, so setting up a connection was not easy, especially making it completely private. In the end, Jen had relied on a magical loophole – as they were all living in both places, she could magically count it as one residence.
Once the war was over, they would untangle themselves and figure out who lived where and on what paperwork, but for now, the arrangement was working out fine.
"Madam Longbottom," Harry said suddenly, as Sirius began ushering the others through the fireplace, "Madam Bones, could I speak with you please?"
The two women exchanged a glance and led him away from the group, quietly reminding him to use their first names while they were at it.
Once they were out of earshot, Harry took a deep breath. "I walked Alice back to her room earlier and she … well, she sort of recognised me."
"What do you mean, sort of?" Amelia asked.
"Well, she thought I was Dad," Harry said. "She called me James." He was starting to feel a little silly; now he was saying it, it didn't feel as incredible. "Sorry, it's probably nothing, but I thought I should tell you."
To his surprise, Amelia smiled at him, a little teary-eyed. "No, Harry, this is good. Alice recognising James in you means she's recognising things again, which is much more than we had before."
Harry returned her smile. "That's good."
"Harry," Jen called. "You're up, sweetheart."
Harry bid the two women goodbye and hurried over to hug his godmother. "Enjoy your honeymoon; don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Remus ruffled his hair. "That's a long list, cub, but we'll do our best."
With a sprinkle of floo powder, Harry stepped into the flames. "Potter Manor!"
Jen watched with a smile as he disappeared in a whirl of green.
Harry stumbled out of the fireplace at the other end and just avoided falling on his face due to Sirius snagging him under the arm.
"Good instincts," Susan remarked.
"Nah, he's a Potter," Sirius said with a grin. "It's in the genes."
"Oh, leave the poor boy alone," Addie chided, checking the clock. "Time for bed, I think."
No one was arguing, as it was now technically the morning after the wedding.
Amid yawns, Harry, Hermione, Draco, Daphne, Neville and Susan said goodnight and meandered upstairs to bed.
Addie slipped her shoes off, burying her toes in the soft carpet with a sigh. "What's that look for?"
Sirius was watching her with a fond smile. "Memories. You did that after the Yule Ball in seventh year."
"Well, I danced the night away that night as well," Addie said. She hesitated for a second, then added, "Of course, I seem to remember us retiring a little earlier that night."
"We did," Sirius agreed quietly.
The space between them changed, tinging it with anticipation.
He didn't move, waiting for her to make the next move.
Bringing up the Yule Ball could not have been a casual remark, not when the night had ended so intimately that it seemed to stretch across the years to touch them now.
Addie took a deep breath. Her reasons for taking things slow were sound and she had been right. However, she no longer felt the knot of panic at the thought of taking things further and she was confident that the love she had for him was not just the ghost of what they once had, but a promise of what could be as well. "Sirius … we need to talk. Not tonight, but … at some point. Properly talk, I mean. About – About us."
Sirius held out a hand to her and she took it, allowing him to tug her into his arms. She rested her chin on his shoulder, feeling him rock them gently in an approximation of the last dance of the night.
"Why don't you and I have dinner tomorrow night?" Sirius asked quietly. "Just the two of us?"
Addie smiled into his collar. "That sounds lovely."
In Ravenscroft Manor, Jen and Remus bid Amelia and Augusta goodnight and made their way upstairs.
Their bedroom door swung closed behind them and Jen stretched languidly, pulling the pin from her hair to let it tumble free over her shoulders.
"I don't know if I've told you," Remus murmured, wrapping his arms around her waist, "but you are so beautiful."
"Only several times a day, darling," Jen said with a smile, leaning back against her husband.
Remus chuckled, kissing her neck. "So we have the next week all to ourselves. What are we going to do?"
Jen laughed and spun in his arms to kiss him properly. "Oh, I can think of a few things …"
