She was pulled back onto the ship by the girls, though Serena was nowhere to be seen.  James' parents were handing a list of something to several of the boys, and the rest were greeting a man Lily only caught a glimpse of.  Lily could only think that it was royally idiotic to make her step off of the galleon in the first place, but she supposed it was some kind of newfound tradition—the couple being the first to step onto the island… 

The girls had shut themselves into the smaller sitting room, the one with a large, old mirror on the wall.  Lily sighed deeply as she saw Eva pick up her brush.

"Eva—can't you spare me this torture?"

"Nope."  Eva shook her head determinedly.  "You wouldn't let us touch you for the thousandth year ball, so now we get our chance."

"Eva," Lily glared, "I am not having paint smeared onto my face!"

"But—"

"This is my wedding!  If I had it my way, we wouldn't be doing this at all!"

"Fine."  Eva sighed.  "But we get to have fun with your hair."

Lily slumped back into her chair, conscious that she was wrinkling the silk robes sadly, but at the same time not caring.  Taking this for submission, Eva pulled parts of her hair to one side and started to brush it out.

Lily and James had taken their Apparition tests before setting off on the voyage, so they could at least be allowed to Apparate while on their honeymoon, and Lily was seriously considering that option.  However, she decided, much against her judgment, to surrender.

Lora pulled a sliding panel open and dramatically revealed a something covered in brown paper.  Lily raised both eyebrows.

"Oh!"  Lora was fed up.  "Haven't you ever gone shopping?"  She tore the brown paper off, revealing something white, silky, and gauzy.  The girls fell silent, and Lily slowly stretched out a hand towards it.

"You like?" 

"It…it's beautiful…"

"See," Eva tossed her head, "I told you Mrs. Potter had good taste."

"Mrs. Potter?" Lily was lost. 

Amanda sighed.  "Mrs. Potter had her seamstress make this; when it was ready, she Apparated back to her house—no, scratch that, mansion—she picked it up, along with lots of—"

"Amanda!"

"—other stuff," Amanda grinned, "and it's been in here for about a day or two.  Lora was snooping."
Lora looked insulted.  "I was not!"

"Fine."  Eva sighed.  "You were architecturally interested in the structure of this ship, so you were sounding the walls with a tuning fork.  When you came to a stretch of wall that sounded different, you concluded your investigations by investigating.  That better?"

Dubiously, Lora shrugged.  "I think…"

"Er-hum!"  Lily interrupted.  "I have the strangest feeling that I'm shortly not going to be me anymore, and the custom seems to be that I have to get dressed up for that."

"Oh, right," Eva grinned.  She slipped an arm underneath the dress and held it out to Lily.  "Here.  Hold it up to you—see what you think."

Lily took hold of the gauzy sleeves, sliding out of the chair and holding it up to her body.

"It—wait!"

One of her hands hand been running over the seams, and they had caught a couple of loose threads, which seemed to be reciprocated all down the side of that dress.  Her hand fumbled at them, and she held up a torn seam.

"Lily!"  Amanda gasped.  "What—"

The dress was torn sadly in two places; at each side, from the waist to the floor.  There was a long veil that was pinned to the back of the dress, and that, too, was also ripped down the middle.  Almost aghast, the girls stared at each other.

"But—how—"

"It was perfectly fine before!"

"Oh—poor Lily!  What'll you wear?"

Lora, as usual, had her mind turned to less practical matters.  "I'll bet you anything I know who it was!  I would bet you my right toes I know who it was!"

"Lora," Lily smiled wryly, "I don't want your right toes."

"Then my left?" Lora offered, grinning.

"Lora!" Eva scolded.  "We've got bigger things to worry about—what'll she wear to her wedding now?"

"Eva," Lily said calmly, "it's a funny little spell called Reparo."

"Oh."

Lily pulled out her wand and pointed it at the dress, repeating the spell almost lazily.  "Reparo."

They watched expectantly, but absolutely nothing happened.  Lily frowned.

"I am going to pull her hair out strand by strand."

"What'd she do?"

"Put a Shield Charm on it—problem is, I have to find out which one it is, which involves trial and failure, and since there are at least twenty-six I know of, that'll take a while—plus I've got to undo it once I've found the one she used…and I can't sew it back together," she proved by trying to pinch the ripped edges together.  "I think I'm a bit at a loss…"  Her voice trailed off. 

Amanda frowned.  "I think you may be wearing a different dress."

Lily sighed, slumping again and letting the material drape over her knees.  Just then, however, her eyes caught a glint of gold; a ring Eva was wearing.  She snapped to attention.

"Maybe not!"

"Maybe not what?"  The girls were facing her with open eyes.

"I'm doing some fixing up," Lily grinned mischievously.  "Someone find needles and thread for me—I'll work on this."

A good two hours later, Lily was finished.  She had hemmed the torn edges so that there was a piece of material in the back of her dress reaching to the front of her hipbones; then her sewing had left another piece hanging down in the front; smaller than the back piece.  The front part ended just at the soles of her feet, and Lily hadn't altered the train any; it still draped in back of the gown.  She had discarded the veil; it lay in a heap on the floor, and the sleeves had been changed to the same style as the indigo dress she was then wearing. 

Eva's mouth dropped; she hated leaving the worn roads of tradition.  "You are not!"

"Not what?"  Lily grinned innocently.

Eva turned to Amanda.  "Tell her she can't!"

"Can't what?" Amanda asked, honestly confused.

"Lora!  Help!"

"Help with what?"

Slapping a hand to her forehead, Eva sank to her knees.  "Lily, please don't!"

"Don't what?"

"Appear," Eva almost gasped, "at her own wedding as—as—"

"As WHAT?"

"As some Egyptian queen," Eva spat out.

Lora and Amanda instantly swiveled towards Lily.  "Really?  You are?"

"Actually, I had Egyptian princess in mind…but if Eva says so, then queen it is."

Eva groaned.  "Lily, for once, be normal!  Please—for me—this is a wedding, not Halloween!"

Lily tossed her head.  "Exactly.  And it's mine, not yours.  Pray tell, what would you have done in my place?"

"Worn a different dress," Eva said dryly.

"Nah, that's no fun," Lora agreed.  "Lily, there's a whole case of jewelry in the closet thing I pulled your dress from.  I'll rifle through that later."

"Excuse me?"

"Okay, okay, you'll rifle through that later."

"Much better.  Say, do we have any almond oil on this ship?"

Amanda frowned.  "I think—I'll check the large bathroom, but…"

She left the room, swinging the door shut behind her.  Eva stared at Lily questioningly.

Lily grinned.  "The ancient Egyptians soaked in water, scraped their skin with strigils, then rubbed oil into their skin afterwards.  Almond oil and the balm of Gilead were prized for that—but I doubt whether we have anything other than almond oil."

Hours later, the girls let Lily out of the bathroom; they had washed and scrubbed her hair with just about every kind of cleaning and softening and brightening goop known to mankind, and by the time the bottle of almond oil was empty, Lily was kneeling in front of the white dress, wrapped in a long dressing gown.

"Here goes," she grinned.  Slipping the dress over her head, she let the dressing gown fall to the ground, and when the white silk draped to her feet, Lily turned to the mirror.

Even Eva had to smile, and Lora tugged another, smaller suitcase out of the sliding panel.  "Nice.  Only I rather doubt Cleopatra had red hair."

Lily tossed her hair over her shoulder.  "Cleopatra had Macedonian ancestry; we don't know if her skin color was dark and her hair was black or not."

Lora wrinkled her nose.  "You read too much."

Amanda let out what could almost have been called a huff.  "She's missing jewelry."

A half-hour later, Lily gazed into the mirror again.  A thick, gold necklace hung around her neck; an armband in the shape of a snake wound around her left upper arm, several gold threads hung from her ears, and one anklet hung around her foot.

"You know, I think James won't regret his decision," Lora grinned.  "I like what we've done to you!"

Lily twirled lightly on the balls of her feet, sweeping her train behind her.  "You know, I like what you've done to me, too."

Wickedly grinning, Eva held up a comb.  "We're not done yet!  Sit down; you promised to let me do your hair."

Standing up an hour later, Lily had to admit Eva had done a very good job.  Her curls were twisted and piled in the back of her head, with a gold band holding them in place; that same gold band ran around her forehead, where jade and gold sparkled sweetly.  She slipped into the white shoes that had fallen out of the brown paper along with the dress, and fancifully curtsied at her reflection.

"Goodbye, Lady Evans," she smiled.

There was a knock at the door that made each of the girls start; all except Lily.  She merely turned around and started for the door.  Eva held her back.

"Oh, no, you don't!  Manda.  Go get."

Amanda grinned as she slid the door open a notch.  "Yes?"
Mrs. Potter's voice floated into the room.  "We're almost ready for her!"

"Okay!" Lora called.  "But come look at you future daughter!"

Mrs. Potter smiled as she slipped into the room, then stopped in astonishment as she saw Lily.

"Dear—what happened—"

Lily frowned.  "The dress was vandalized—I had to fix it as best I could.  Are—are you angry?"

"Oh, no," Mrs. Potter smiled.  "I just would like to know how it got damaged…"  She shook her head.  "Come on, dear—I'll walk you outside.  My son's already out there."

Lily's surroundings took on a dreamlike quality as she was swept out of the sitting room, which, with a flick of Mrs. Potter's wand, was restored to its neat condition.  They rose to the deck, the wind slowly ruffling the bride's gown and eyelashes as she took in the now white sail—white as the midday clouds, white and gauzy as her attire.

She stepped onto the sand, feeling the white, almost sugary masses part beneath her sandal.  Moving inland, towards the emerald forests lining the shore, they walked uphill slowly, Eva carrying the train looped around her arm.

James had been ushered to the top of Elven Point by the Marauders; a hill overlooking the ocean; its two sides lined with intertwining trees, its crest dropped down to meet the sea.  A carpet of leaves and wildflowers had been gathered, lining the path from the bottom of the hill to where James was standing, looking out over the ocean.

Sirius touched his shoulder.  "You all right?"

"Yes…"  James mumbled.  "I'm a bit scared, though.  Of her—I don't know what I did to deserve her, and I'm scared she might think the same thing some day."

Sirius sighed, a sigh with something in it that James missed.  "Prongs, she loves you."

"Yes—" James said doubtfully, "but—"

"But nothing," Sirius said firmly.  "But nothing.  End of story.  Close book, take other book out of shelf entitled, Honeymoon and Forever After.  Open it and read."

James grinned.  "You know, for once, I'm starting to think that maybe you're not so nuts after all."

"I am so!"

"Sirius!" Remus hissed.  "Turn him around!"

Sirius didn't have to do a thing; James spun around by himself. 

Through soft music playing in their ears, he saw a figure from a novelette step onto the carpet of flowers. 

Lily bit her lip.  She wouldn't have admitted it for the world, but she was just the slightest fragment nervous.  The hand that clasped the stems of five lilies was shaking, hardly noticeably, but still, it was shaking.  Her eyes were roving everywhere, trying to find some hint of confidence, some part of her world she knew she could count on, even if everything else changed.

Eva, in her pale, rose-gold gown, had already started down the aisle, and Lily knew she'd have to follow.

She swallowed.  This was ridiculous—this was what she had dreamed of for months—the happiness she had hoped for all her life was waiting at the end of the aisle.  The music floated down past her ears, and she let her eyelashes fall onto her cheeks.

Next to her, Severus slipped his arm underneath hers.  Immediately, a large weight fell from her heart and shoulders; a small smile on her face, she stepped onto the flower-covered grass.

James couldn't repress a grin.  He couldn't help thinking that she was one of the most beautiful creations he had ever been privileged to see, imagine, or hear about, and she was marrying him!  Think of it—the one thing he felt to be the most beyond his grasp was soon to be his…

A horrid thought struck him, just as thoughts do when one is nervous.  He leaned over to Sirius.

"What if she gets cold feet?" he whispered.

"There's the nearest cliff," Sirius grinned.

James rolled his eyes, then fastened them on the figure all in white and gold, moving sedately towards him.  He hadn't even a glance for the man that was holding her arm, the one he hadn't at all wanted to attend the wedding; he forgot about everything else except the girl, dressed magnificently as an ancient queen, but herself radiant and glowing as if she had been born the day before.