::cowers down in corner::  I know, I KNOW, it's been ages since I've got my lazy butt back at the computer!  Part of the reason for that, though, is that my mom's managed to add passwords to the computer, so I can only get on when she's home, which is about nine at night.  And weekends I've gotta 'help the family' by painting the house, since we're moving shortly.  Grr.  Plus, I just got cast for a play, so most weekdays and Saturdays and Sundays are pretty much plubbrth when it comes to writing any more.  But I'm hoping to convince her to take the password off soon, so I can get on in the middle of the night again!  (Though I strongly suspect that's why she installed it in the first place…)

Okay; 'nuff jabber.  Here's the continuation:

(And I hereby also thank each and every one of my reviewers so heartily they're gonna have trouble breathing after my hugs.  You guys are awesome!)

--Sohara

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Severus turned towards Lily.  She was facing the horizon again, but a tear was running down her cheek.

"Hey, Lily…it's not the end of the world."

"Yes, it is," she said clearly through her tears.  "He is my world."

As much as he might have laughed at James for saying the same thing about Lily, Severus was only touched by her words.  He awkwardly moved next to her, leaning on the railing.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."  She ran her hand over her eyes quickly, then dropped the water from her tears into the ocean.  "He was being an idiot.  Don't bother.  Ignore him.  Don't pay any attention to him.  He's not worth it.  He's not—[i]Oh, yes, he is![/i]" she burst out, fresh tears running down and dropping onto her gown.  "Yes, he is!"

She tried to press her fist in front of her mouth to stop the shaking, but it continued, deriving her of any self-confidence she might have had earlier.  Severus turned her around, concerned, taking a strand of her hair and placing it behind her ears. 

"Lily, calm down.  What's wrong?"

"I don't know," she managed.  "I'm just scared.  Scared that everything'll go wrong, that something will happen before or after the wedding, and I'll be left alone.  It's unreasonable, it's pointless, but I'm scared!"  She let her head fall onto her arms.  "I've disliked him for the longest time, I know, and I would have given anything in the world to have him struck down by lightning only a year ago, but I can't help it!"

Severus frowned.  She was undergoing something closely bordering on hysteria, and he thought he knew why…

"Lily, Voldemort's not planning an attack on your wedding."

Lily quickly snapped to attention.  "What?  Why—how—"

He shrugged.  "I'm part of his company, right?  He's not planning to kill James at your wedding."
Immensely relieved, she smiled at him through a veil of water.  "I don't know how I'd get along without you."

Severus grinned back.  "I suppose my mission now is to let you be happy, whatever life you choose to lead."  His face grew more serious.  "Are you [i]sure[/i] you want me to walk you down the aisle?"

"Of course!"  Lily bit her lip.  "You're the closest to a relative I have now.  I don't know James' family—and my father's almost threatened to disown me if I marry James.  Of course, you!"

He took her face in his hands and wiped her tears away.  "You know, go in to Po—James…I don't think he likes the idea of me being anywhere alone with you."

Lily's eyes lit up her face with a soft, exotic glimmer.  "Severus, thank you.  You've been more to me than I'd ever deserve—thank you."

Severus nodded towards the lower decks, from which the soft sounds of clinking metal, china, and laughter came.  "Go on."

She didn't turn back; she flitted across the deck, vanishing in the shadow of the indigo sail.  For a short instant her silhouette was visible in the golden light of the doorway, but then she closed it, and the light drained from the deck.

Instinctively, though she hadn't been below deck in this galleon before, she knew where to find James.  Without hesitating, she turned several corridors, finally stopping before a partly opened teakwood door, inlaid with gold. 

He was slouching in a divan; half of the cushions were spilled all over the floor, the others were disarranged, though he hadn't taken any notice of that.  His gaze was fixed on the immense window that took up the entire wall across from the door.  Finely made glass was ornamented with slim iron designs, etched with gold leaf; the central point of the window was placed at the top, over the bed in the room—it was two rings, intertwined.  He was sadly glaring at them, as though it was something he was hoping for.

Neither of them knew why the small argument had started.  James had lost his temper for no reason at all, and Lily's hysteria had simply come upon her—but the reasons behind everything were the first things pushed out of their minds as he saw her standing in the doorway, then held her tightly as she dropped onto the floor in front of him, crying softly.

A few minutes later, he lifted her head up.  "Lily—I'm sorry."

"About what?" she sniffed

"I guess losing my temper at Snape—I can't exactly forget that he'd absolutely die to be engaged to you.  I—I didn't mean to upset you."

Lily dried her eyes.  "It wasn't you—well, not really.  It's just that everything was too good to be true, and I was scared of what might happen—with Tom, and—"

He kissed the crown of her head, moving the veil out of the way.  "What say we go down to dinner?"

She smiled up at him.  "What say we do."

They entered the dining hall only moments later, taking their seats at the head of the large table.  Lora insisted on carving their slices of roast goose, and everyone had to laugh when she managed to let the knife turn several somersaults and land in the middle of a dish of something Danish that Lily couldn't recognize. 

The dining room itself was a work of art.  The walls were a light brown wood, and marble sculptures lined the corners between the ceiling and the walls.  There were no doors; one wall was in the same style as the window in James' and Lily's room—a beautiful window, with the two intertwined rings as a central decoration.  The chairs were carved of the same wood as the walls and the ship itself; its cushions were white silk, as was the tablecloth.  The plates were golden, as were the utensils, while the tall, elegant glasses with a rim of gold around the tops were fine crystal. 

The food was marvelous; if Lily had thought the Hogwarts dishes were delicious, it was nothing to these.  Indian pastries in small trays, pots of Japanese tea, Italian bread, German Bratwurst, seasoned Native American corn, French wine and foie gras, a Russian soup, and breadfruit pieces.  Lily's eyes sparkled as she saw the array of dishes and pictured the lands that they came from.

Eva poked her in the side.  "You're supposed to eat the food, not stare at it!"

Lily grinned.  "But it looks so nice!"

"Exactly!  See if it lives up to its looks!" Eva declared as she pointed to a bottle of wine in an ice bucket next to James.  "That stuff isn't bad, and I don't even like grape juice.  Try."

Lily bit her lip.  "Eva, I don't like alcohol!"

"Neither do I—well, neither [i]did[/i] I."

Lily laughed, and just at that minute James had filled her glass with something burgundy.  She looked at him questioningly.

"Lily, it's just wine.  Mum's had me drink it at parties since I was tiny."

"It was diluted!" Mrs. Potter interrupted.  "I am [i]not[/i] that kind of mother!"

The redhead laughed, flicking her veil behind her back.  She picked up her glass, and James clinked it against hers.

"It won't kill you, Lil.  To my fantastic union with the loveliest, smartest, bravest, most talented girl in existence!"

"Oh?"  Lily raised her eyebrows.  "Who're you marrying now?"

He frowned at her.  "What?"

"I do [i]not[/i] fit that description."

"Oh, yes, you do!" he retorted.  "Well, if you don't want to toast to that, how about this?"  James cleared his throat.  "To your union with the most handsome, clever, amazing, wanted, brilliant, Quidditch player in the world!" 

He caught sight of her face, which was torn between amusement and disgust.  "What?"

"I think we're both marrying different people than we think we are."

Everyone burst out laughing, even James' parents.  Sirius' hoot carried over the clamor.

"She's right on that one, James!"

"Oh, thanks," James muttered.  "Does no one think highly of me?"

"No one does," Eva confirmed.  "You do.  You being 'no one'."

"Oh, thanks," he repeated, grumbling.  "I feel unloved!"

Lily gave in, hugging him.  "You're not."

The moment was ruined by Peter's fondness for clumsiness.  Sighing deeply, he flung an arm over his eyes, lost his balance, and promptly landed on the floor, letting out a loud "OUCH!"

The company of fifteen started to laugh at his disgruntled face appearing over the table rim.  Serena applauded nastily.

"Oh, well done!"

Lily's eyebrow arched.  "We're supposed to be laughing at him [i]nicely[/i], dear."

Serena shrugged.  "What does that matter to me?"

"It's common politeness," Lily said slowly, as if it should be extremely obvious, even to squashed ice cubes.

Lucius pulled Serena's sleeve, and he shook his head slightly at her.  A bit annoyed, Serena pushed back her chair and left the room; Lucius following her.

"Well," Eva commented, "no great loss there!"

Lily figured Serena wouldn't enjoy hearing more laughter, seeing that it was most certainly about her, so she had no qualms joining in on it.  Lily held grudges, and she hadn't forgotten the slap Serena had given James the night of their engagement.  His and Lily's, that is; she had no idea whether he'd asked Serena to marry him before.  Still, she highly doubted it, as she looked at James' amused countenance.

Lily hadn't really noticed before, but everyone on the ship had been given new and different clothing.  The girls were in dark pink trimmed with gold, while the boys were wearing a nice shade of dusky blue.  Mr. and Mrs. Potter were in dark scarlet robes, and the material of everyone's clothing was an expensive silk.  Lily almost shuddered to think of the cost of this trip, and how much could have been saved if they had simply Apparated to Madagascar.  Thank goodness James' family was one of the richest wizarding ones in England…

Everyone moved onto the deck later, to talk—several people had pulled out about ten divans from the sitting rooms below deck.  Drinks were also on a small table, though Lily hadn't finished her first one—it was nice, yes, but she had to get used to it.

She and James were sitting together, as was expected by everyone—Mr. and Mrs. Potter had retired; gone to bed, and Lily was amused to see that Frank was sitting next to Eva, shyer than he usually was.

The conversation had started with their last days at Hogwarts; then it moved on to taunting Eva's, Vanessa's, and Amanda's position as students.  Amanda shot out the first remark she could think of, quickly, before Peter started telling them how young they were, then trying to perform a charm supposedly beyond their abilities and ended up hexing himself into having three arms.  He'd done that before.

"Lily—where's your honeymoon going to be?"

The group's faces turned towards Lily, who smiled satisfactorily at James, who grinned at the group.

"We're not telling.  I'm not having any of you show up in the middle of it, pranking us!"

"Yeah, James," Lora cracked, "you want some alone time, is that it?"

"Hey, is that illegal?" James protested, not blushing at all.  Everyone else started to laugh.

"What?" he protested.  "I'm getting married, am I not?  And if I want my handsomeness to continue on down the line, I've got to have time alone with her, don't I?"

Lily groaned.  "If I ever do work up the courage to go through the pain of having a child, I'm praying to every existing deity that he or she doesn't have your lack of modesty."

James looked offended.  "You mean you don't want children?"

Lora laughed.  "Breaking news, James:  it is a painful process for US.  Besides, do we [i]honestly[/i] want to have little bitty Potters dotted all over the globe?"

Lily took James' arm.  "If they've got my discretion, I wouldn't mind."

"I won't comment on that!"  Amanda shouted.  "I definitely won't comment!"

"Good," Sirius grumbled.  "We don't want to hear it."

Everyone stared at him, but refrained from asking what brought on his bad mood.

Later that evening, Lily was gazing out of the large window in their room; she was fascinated by the moonless midnight sky flashed with stars, cleared of any clouds.  She smiled with exhilaration as she knelt down on the burgundy silk covers, brushing her long, auburn hair almost dreamily.

James sat down next to her.  "What're you thinking?"

She sighed, letting the brush drop.  "I'm just happy, that's all…"

He grinned.  "Good."

Lily flopped back, her head landing in his lap.  "You know, in only a few days, I'll be abandoning my Evans name forever…"

"You don't have to, you know," James interjected.  "I won't make you…or you could keep it as a middle name."

"Are you kidding?"  Lily sat straight up.  "I am [i]not[/i] keeping my father's name!  He threatened to practically disown me if I married you—do you honestly think I want his name hanging onto mine forever?"

"Whoa, whoa!"  He held his hands up in protest.  "I did not say that!  And I'm sorry.  I just wanted you to know I'm not going to be trying to control you later on or anything."
She smiled.  "That's nice to hear.  I'll remember that."

He ran his hand through her hair.  "I'm engraving everything you say into my memory."

Lily let her head drop onto his shoulder, and she pulled the pale golden nightgown down over her feet.  "That's nice to hear…though I don't plan on dying anytime soon."

"Good," James replied, "'cause you're only dying over my dead body."  He pulled her face towards his and kissed her gently.

It was a beautiful trip, lasting four days; at the end of which, they rounded the point of Africa and landed on the southern tip of Madagascar.  Lily was almost sad to leave the ship; she had spent hours sitting curled up in front of the figurehead, letting the wind blow her hair wildly and the salty waves soak her skin.  They had had no storms; not even a gale; the weather had been clear, sunny, and beautiful for all of the four days.

Lily was packing up two pairs of robes, a necklace, and a pair of earrings Mr. and Mrs. Potter had presented her with during the trip; she was now in the indigo robes again.  James was searching everywhere for the match to one of his shoes; he finally held it up triumphantly; it had been shoved underneath the bed.

"Ta-daah!"

Lily sat back on her heels.  "How did that get down there?" she laughed, pushing bits of hair behind her ear.

"I don't know," James shrugged.  "I kick my shoes off; that's all--whatever happens to them afterwards is none of my concern till I have to look for them again."

"Ach!"  Lily threw a sock at him.  "How did this get in my jewelry box?"

"I don't know!" he grinned disarmingly.  "How would I know?"

"I [i]wonder[/i], Mr. Potter."

Remus banged the door open.  "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Yes, you are," Lily grinned.  "The Mystery of the Sock in the Jewelry Box."

Remus rolled his eyes.  "We're docking in minutes—and no, you don't have to bring your bags—that'll be taken care of."
Lily looked at James, who had just slammed his small trunk shut.  "Ready, then?"

James stood up, shaking imaginary dust from his robes.  "Sure."  He held his arm out to Lily.  "My lady?"

She smiled, taking his arm and sweeping out of the door, the long veil fluttering enchantingly behind her.  Within moments, they reached the deck, and they joined Sirius, Eva, and Frank at the railing.  Land was rapidly coming into view.

It was a lovely sight, too.  Obviously hidden from Muggle view, it had pure white sand and blue zircon ocean waves adorning its beaches; leafy trees breezily shadowed the coastline.  The morning sun cast white-gold rays over the whole scene, making it look like something from a storybook. Lily sighed dreamily when she saw it.

Sirius looked over at her.  "Ready for the big day?"

"Definitely,"  Lily nodded.  "It's sudden…and it's soon—but I'm glad it's taking place so quickly.  I keep thinking I'm in a dream, I've been so happy."

James hugged her.  "If this is a dream, neither you or I better wake up!"

They were the first ones to set foot on the white, powdery, glittering sand; everyone else followed them.  Lily gazed around her—this was the most beautiful scene she had ever found herself in. 

James wrapped his arm around her waist.  "I like your choice of location."

She leaned against his chest.  "I do, too…it's more fascinating than I thought it would be."

Mrs. Potter came up behind them.  "Ready, Lily?"

Lily turned to her future mother-in-law.  "Ready for what?"

Eva put her arm around Lily's free shoulder.  "What do you think?  It'll take us some time to get your hair ready—not to forget jewelry, and—"

Lily blanched.  "James!"

He grinned at her.  "What?"

"Help!"