Chapter 8 – He Did What?

Lily stood there in the street, staring dumfound at Snape as a strong, tanned hand wrapped around her arm, pulling her out of her state. She turned around to see the confusion on James' face as he peered down at her. Kayla, still laughing uncontrollably, was going to be no help. "He- he- proposed!" Lily exclaimed wildly.

James' hand loosened from Lily's arm considerably, and his face was blank, but his eyes showed his shock. "He did what?!" he roared.

Lily shrank back from the volume of James' out burst. "James?" she asked hesitantly. She could tell that he was furious. But with who, she had no idea.

James didn't answer Lily, instead, he took the necessary three steps to get into Snape's face. "You want to marry Lily, do you?" he growled. "It looks like you're a little late for that Snape, she wouldn't marry you if she had the chance, and I know that for a fact. But I'm getting tired of you trying to ruin my relationship with her. I know that you were the one who set all of those girls on me in 6th year, I know that you tried to keep me away longer when I was on my trip! So why don't you get this through your extremely oily, and empty head! She doesn't like you! She loathes you!" he very nearly roared.

Snape narrowed his black eyes at James and snarled, "She must not, because she hasn't ever said one thing about it to me."

James' temper, which he had frantically been trying to rein in, finally got the better of him, and he punched Snape in the face, blackening his eye. Snape staggered back in shock, then swung at James, aiming for his face, but missing and ended up hitting James in chest – hard. James sucked in a deep breath and plowed a fist into the soft muscles of Snape's stomach.

"James! Stop! Please stop, James!" Lily cried as she watched James hit Snape in the stomach again. Lily saw Snape do a girls maneuver and knee James, and she shrieked in outrage. 'How dare he?!' Lily thought as she inserted herself in between the gasping James and the smug – but hurting – Snape.

"You did all of that?" Lily yelled at the top of her lungs, causing Snape to flinch at the tone, and anybody who knew her temper to take two big steps back.

~*~*~*~

Kayla stopped laughing as soon as the outburst came past James' lips. 'This is not going to be good,' she thought as she wrapped her arm around Sirius' waist, who had shown up along with Aria, Remus, and James.

Sirius began to snicker as James pounded on Snape, causing Kayla to elbow him sharply in the ribs. Sirius looked down at her innocently and gave her a peck on the cheek before turning back to the spectacle which had drawn quite a crowd.

Kayla looked at Lily's face, and inwardly gulped. Lily was mad. And Lily this mad was not a good thing. Not a good thing at all. "Sirius, honey," she whispered. "I think that we should move away from Huntress."

Sirius frowned as he looked down at Kayla and then looked towards Lily, and he began to see why she had made the suggestion. Just as he began to pull Kayla back along with him, James was suddenly kneed, causing Sirius to stop and wince for James with sympathy, for he knew what the pain that his friend was going through personally.

And then, all you could hear was a furious woman yelling, "You did all of that?"

This time, Sirius did step away, two big steps away, as did James, Kayla, Remus and Aria.

~*~*~*~

Lily could see Snape gulp, and inwardly grinned triumphantly. "Do you honestly think that I have any kind of feelings – besides disgust – harbored for you?" she growled menacingly. Snape nodded his head sadly and his eyes began to dart around the circle that had formed around them. He hadn't known that they had created such an audience.

"Ah, Lily, dear, why don't we take-" Snape started, but was cut off by a fluid rush of Italian. He didn't need a translator to tell him that he was being told off.

Eyes flashing a vivid green-blue, Lily stepped closer to Snape, bringing them face-to-face. "Don't you dare Lily, dear, me! I'm not your dear, and I don't even want you to call me by Lily!" she bellowed. Snape took an instinctive step back.

Lily took a step forward, following Snape. "I want you to listen to me Snape, and I want you to listen to me really carefully. I do NOT like you. I do NOT have any feelings towards you whatsoever. I want you out of my life, and I want you to STAY out of my life! And if you ever- and I mean EVER try to touch me, or do harm to James or any other person I know, I will hurt you, got that?" she fumed. Snape nodded his head weakly.

Lily gave a brilliant smile, and started to turn around, making Snape exhale thankfully. "Oh, yes, I quite forgot," she muttered as she spun around and punched Snape squarely on his nose, breaking the overly large cartilage.

Lily turned back around happily, walked over to her fiancée, and hugged him. "You alright?" she whispered into his ear with a nip. James gave a barely audible groan and nodded his head. "Fine." Lily smiled and pulled away.

"So what are all of you doing here?" Lily asked, indicating James, Remus, Sirius, and Aria.

Aria smiled serenely and answered for the rest. "We were heading out for lunch when we came across the two of you and decided to stop." Lily nodded her head, and nudged James in the opposite direction than the one Snape was in. "Where we're you guys going?" she asked.

Kayla and Lily ended up joining the rest for lunch, but before leaving to go back to their different departments in the Ministry, Lily instructed that that Saturday fittings were going to be held for the tuxes and the bridesmaid dresses. The group nodded their acknowledgement before parting.

~*~*~*~

Three days after the Snape incident, as everyone now called it, James, Remus, Sirius, and James' cousins were sitting impatiently in a tux shop, waiting for Alexandra Evans and Tiffany Potter to find the type of tuxes that Lily made clear that she had wanted.

Tiffany and Alex had informed Lily in no uncertain terms that she was not to worry about the tuxes, and that they would take care of them. So, Lily was a few streets away from the guys, trying to find bridesmaid dresses, and a flower girl dress for her cousins' daughter.

James was called up first to be fitted for the 'monkey suit', and he went without reluctance. He was too used to these sort of things, having been to many formal affairs before this. Next was Sirius, who commented that he would like to draw white lines on suits too – much to the tailor's amusement. Incidentally, the tailor refused Sirius' offer to help- smart fellow that he was. Next was Remus, and then Kyle went up. By the time that they were all done, they were trying to escape the Mother's as fast as they could without getting into any trouble.

Two streets away, Lily was going through colors for her bridesmaid dresses. She had already found the style she wanted – a long, strapless dress, that tucks in at the waist, and flares out to brush the floor. But she couldn't decide between the colors sea green, blue moon, and maroon.

'Okay, maroon clashes with the blue in Aria's eyes, and sea green does not do good for Gabriella's complexion. The blue moon color is a shade or two lighter than Aria's and would look wonderful on her, as would it match with Gabby's complexion. And with the black hair and smoke gray eyes, the blue moon dress would be ideal for Kayla. Okay, so blue moon it is.' Lily decided. Looking up towards the sales assistant, Lily informed the lady of her choice. The lady then went and shooed the three bridesmaids into the fitting rooms to begin their fittings. Lily then turned towards Ashley – her cousins' daughter, who was to be her flower girl. "Now, how about we start finding a dress for you beautiful," Lily commented as she looked at the strawberry blonde little girl with the beautiful sky blue eyes and creamy white complexion. The little girl smiled brightly and nodded her head enthusiastically. Lily found herself smiling in kind as she stood up and held out a hand for the 8-year-old beauty to take.

Ashley scrambled up from the depths of the overstuffed rose armchair that she had been sitting in and took a hold of Lily's hand.

Lily smiled down at her, and started wondering what her and James' children would look like. Would the boys have his hair – heaven forbid – with her eyes? Would the girls have her auburn hair, with James' enchanting eyes?

Lily was forced out of her thoughts by a tugging on her hand. She looked down at Ashley. Ashley smiled, showing her straight teeth, all of which were still there and pointed. "Look at that dress, cousin Lily, isn't it pretty?" she asked in an innocent voice that only 8 year-old could manage. Lily looked at the dress and gaped. It was a flower girls dress, and it was beautiful. It was white with sheer sleeves that are cut from the elbow down, it tucks in at the waist and then genteelly falls down to the floor. Lily imagined Ashley in it, and she automatically grinned. She'd look beautiful in it! Lily turned to look for an assistant and instructed her to fit Ashley for the dress.

Lily grinned. Everything was going perfectly. All the dresses were found, the fittings were under way, and she was closer than ever to becoming Mrs. James Potter.

~*~*~*~