Chapter 41: Marriage

Summer quickly drew to an end, and soon I headed back to Hogwarts to begin my teaching career. I was briefly trained, although with the demanding work of Order of the Phoenix, there was rarely someone around who could fulfill the duty of trainer, and rarely time enough to be spent learning my new career. I learned most everything by reading countless books. By the time the students arrived, I was ready.

The first, second and third years were fairly simple. I was teaching material that I was comfortable with, and they tended not to question my authority. The older students, however, were more difficult. The seventh years seemed to think the whole class was a joke, since I'd been friends with most of them just last spring. Somehow I managed to plow through the material. Dumbledore assured me that I was doing just fine.

James and Sirius enjoyed randomly stopping by to demonstrate a prank or strange spell to the class, who enjoyed their visits more than anything else. Usually I had to throw the two of them out, before things got completely out of hand. They seemed to forget that I had responsibilities as a teacher. When they couldn't be at Hogwarts to cause mischief, they still managed to disrupt class. Mail was delivered to teachers by owl during first period everyday. Not a single day passed by that I didn't receive a howler, or some dungbombs from my old pals Padfoot and Prongs. Occasionally the stench was so horrible that I had to move the whole class to an abandoned classroom in a different corridor to continue teaching.

Of course, I didn't forget my life outside of Hogwarts. I spent every weekend at home with my friends and new fiance. After months of problems, it finally seemed as though everything would be okay between Addi and I.

"I can't wait to be married to you," she whispered, grinning, one evening when we were in the girls' flat alone.

"Me either," I replied, kissing her. "Nothing has ever felt more right to me." I kissed her again.

"I think we should move to the country," said Addi. "Maybe back to Wales where you lived. I think it'd be nice to raise a family there."

"Whatever makes you happy," I replied with a smile. She settled herself in my lap, her head leaning against my shoulder and pulled out a tiny book.

"Lily let me borrow this," she said. It was a book of baby names. I laughed nervously.

"Planning ahead quite a bit, aren't we?"

"I just can't wait," she replied. "So, which is better for a boy, Jonathan or Jack? Or should we call him Remus Jr.?"

"No, we're not putting another innocent child through the torture of being named Remus!" I laughed.

"I like your name!" objected Addi.

"How about Jeremy then?" I suggested my middle name.

"Okay, I like it!" said Addi. "So if we have a boy, we'll call him Jeremy. Or if it's a girl, we should call her Brienna. Or do you like Shayla better?" I laughed and shook my head.

"You act like you're going to have the kid tomorrow."

"This is very important," scolded Addi good-naturedly. "Now, what do you think?"

"I like Brienna," I replied.

"Great, Jeremy and Brienna. Perfect."

"Just like you," I grinned, slipping my arms around her.

"That was really cheesy, Remus," Addi laughed.

"Yeah, I know." I kissed her. "We'll be great parents someday."

"Mmhm," Addi replied.

Conversations like that weren't uncommon between us, and they were what I remembered when I was away at Hogwarts. I wished I could be with Addi all the time, because I missed her a lot, but I needed some way of making a living. We saw less and less of each other as all of us went our seperate ways. James and Lily's wedding arrived in mid-September.

"It'll be all right, Jamesie," said Sirius, giving a nervous James a punch on the arm and a reassuring smile. James drew in a deep breath and observed himself in the mirror, straightening his bowtie and making one last attempt to flatten his messy hair.

"We always knew you and Lily would be getting married someday," I said grinning.

"Yeah, didn't we tell him that in first year?" said Sirius.

"Yes, I think so. And then he turned our hair bright green," I said, recalling the incident. James laughed nervously. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," called Sirius. Mari stuck her head through the door.

"It's almost time. Are you all ready?"

"We're fine," I replied.

"Well, I've got to go. Lily's feeling a bit nervous," said Mari, leaving the room. We looked at James, whose face had gone chalk white.

"Nervous, Prongs?" I asked. He swallowed.

"Sort of. I mean, this is the rest of my life. I'm not sure if I'm ready for this kind of commitment. I thought I was, but..."

"James, this is Lily you're talking about. You two have been acting like you're married since about fourth year. Besides, you two love each other. It's obvious," said Sirius. I nodded.

"You and Lily were meant to be together. Just wait until you see her walking down the aisle. You'll be so certain you're doing the right thing that you'll wonder how you ever could have questioned it."

"It's time for you all to get out there!" called Mari, knocking on the door. I glanced towards James, who forced a smile and followed behind us. Without a word, he took his place at the altar.

Sirius and I met up with Addi and Mari. Addi slipped her arm around mine. We lined up behind Sirius and Mari, who were the best man and maid of honor. In front of them were two of Mari's younger cousins, the only two small children we could find to be the flower girl and ring barer. Lily still hadn't appeared from her dressing room.

We peered out into the small gathering of people. All of the Hogwarts Proffessors were there, occupying the majority of James' side of the church, since he had no relatives. Peter had also come. Lily's family occupied the other side of the church. Even Petunia and her husband had come. Some of our old Hogwarts friends had also come, as well as several members of the Order of the Phoenix.

The airy organ music filled the room, and the procession began. We proceeded down the aisle and took our places. At last, Lily glided down the aisle, escorted by her father. She looked like an angel in her long lacy gown. Her fiery red curls were neatly arranged on top of her head, and a vail covered her glowing face. James grinned at the sight of her.

The room was silent as the two quietly recited their vows, voices trembling. No one could help but notice how perfect they looked together; the way their eyes glowed, the way they smiled and everyone could tell the only thing each one saw was the other. By this point in the ceremony, most of the guests had tears filling their eyes. McGonagall had fallen to pieces and was sobbing loudly. Hagrid was openly bawling, and currently on his third huge handkerchief. Even Dumbledore's eyes glistened with tears. Addi and Mari were both openly sobbing, and even Sirius looked a bit teary-eyed. I felt my own eyes cloud over.

"James, do you take Lily to be your lawfully wedded wife; to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?" There was a pause.

"I do."

"And Lily, do you take James to be your lawfully wedded husband; to have and to hold in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?" Lily's emerald eyes glistened as she stared towards James. She seemed to be reassuring herself of her decision.

"I do."

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." James lifted Lily's vail, and pulled her into a long kiss. The room erupted into cheers, the loudest being from Sirius, and everyone continued weeping. I felt tears rolling down my own cheeks.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. James Potter." The two of them were beaming, James' usual marauder grin was stretched to three times its usual size.

Everyone congratulated the newly married couple. After that, we headed off for the reception, which was an adventure in itself. Lily had way too much fun smearing wedding cake in James' face, until Sirius decided to get involved and cover both of their faces with icing. The photographer tried to have Sirius thrown out because he wouldn't stay out of any of the pictures. After a lot of food, dancing, and a bit too much to drink for some, we all headed home.

James and Lily had moved out of the flats and were moving into a tiny cottage in Godric's Hollow.

The school year seemed to drag on endlessly. Until that point, it had never occurred to me that sometimes teachers are as anxious as students for the year to be over.

Full moons passed by. Usually Dumbledore took over class for a few days while I rested in the infirmary afterward. He wasn't fond of me still going to the Shrieking Shack. Hogsmeade had had quite its share of Death Eater attacks. Twice Voldemort himself had shown his face there. I was offered an abandoned corridor in the school to transform in instead, but recalling how James, Sirius, Peter and I had spent the majority of the nights during our Hogwarts years roaming through forbiddon parts of the school, I decided it was better that I remain in the shack.

If James and Sirius weren't busy, Padfoot and Prongs would sometimes join me, however usually I was alone. I often wondered if any of my students were clever enough to figure out where I disappeared to every full moon, however I never did find out.

It wasn't unusual that classes would be cancelled, and students forced to remain in their common rooms, while the Order of the Phoenix took control over an attack. Those days were the worst anyone alive had ever experienced. Not a day passed without an attack or rally of Death Eaters in the Dark Arts dominated world we lived in. We were so busy, they had to make a rotation of Order of the Phoenix members so that a crew was on standby constantly in case anything happened, and it usually did.

The ministry had even starting recruiting people for jobs that know one else was allowed to know about.

"You're looking at the latest Unspeakable for the Ministry of Magic," Sirius announced upon arriving home one day.

"The latest what?" Mari asked, looking confused and slightly worried.

"An Unspeakable," explained James, his eyes glowing with interest. "They do top secret ministry work. It's so confidential that they can't tell anyone. So what do you do, Sirius?"

"I can't tell you. I'm sworn to secrecy," said Sirius. Mari and Addi both raised an eyebrow.

"Please Padfoot?" pleaded James. "It's just us. We're not going to tell anyone."

"That's not the point. I don't want to lose my job before I even get to start," argued Sirius.

"Can't you even give us some sort of clue as to what you do?" I asked hopefully.

"Here's a clue. Leave me alone," said Sirius sarcastically.

"You can't tell us anything?" asked Mari.

"I'm sorry, I wish I could, but I just can't."

"Come on, everyone. Let's leave Sirius alone. He's not allowed to say what he does and we certainly don't want to get him into trouble," Lily tried to shut us up.

We never did figure out what exactly Sirius did, although after he got the job, he was gone more than ever. And his disappearances weren't patterned either. We'd wake up one morning and find him gone, or have plans for an evening and he wouldn't show up. This especially seemed to annoy Mari. James was so caught up in his curiosity that every time we did see Sirius, he'd continually beg him for details.

Meanwhile, work for the rest of us at the Order of the Phoenix got tougher. We experienced more and more attacks, closer and closer to the safety of Hogwarts.The ministry had tried to persuade Dumbledore again and again to shut down the school and allow the students to return home. He wouldn't allow it. No where else was safe, only Hogwarts remained unattacked. To that day, the only occurance near the grounds was the murder of Erin White, nearly a year earlier. For safety precautions, all students were required to remain inside the castle at all times. There was no quidditch, no Care of Magical Creatures, no Hogsmeade trips and no outdoor detentions.