Disclaimer :: I still don't own any of Harry Potter, nor do I own the Swiss Alps, or even the hotel described in the Swiss Alps.
Ahhhhhh! All my ideas are being taken! The idea of relating Gone With The Wind to Lily and James was taken, and the pulling out of people's hair was also taken. Problem is, I didn't know this until after I wrote the chapters! All my ideas are my own, I promise promise promise! Just so you know.
Sorry about any confusion I might cause with all my characters. I know I've got a lot of OCs, and if you want any extra background info, REVIEW and I'll help. (Hint Hint)
Reviewers::
PeRkieGuRL and BURN THE R.U.M – I'm glad you guys stuck around for the second chapter! Thanks as always for reviewing!
GlitzyDancingShoes – Sorry about that confusion with the name Dan in there. See, my other fic, Only For The Future, was set in the future, about Harry's son, Dan. I reread the story tho, and it sounded too much like Lily and James, so I just changed the names and some info around to make a new fic. I might have missed some names in there, so if it doesn't make sense, that's why. Thanks for letting me know about the screw up, and I reposted Chapter 2 so that it's right.
Hey! I fixed the Romulus and Remus mistake. It was another product of my bad editing of my previous story. Thanks so much to BURN THE R.U.M for pointing it out.
I know that wizards would probably get to where they're going by portkey, but this is MY story, so in this chapter they're using some Muggle transportation.
Ok, why do I always go on and on before each chapter? We may never know. Anyways, here's Chapter 3!
******
The rest of the week passed without incident. Lily was avoiding James whenever she could, and succeeding surprisingly well. When James, Remus and Sirius would go up to the field behind Rae's house to play some Quidditch, Lily and Rae would stay in the house and read. When Remus was forcing James and Sirius to cram in some last minute homework before they had to leave for the wedding, Lily and Rae would go outside and Lily would give Rae Quidditch lessons. It was a kind of cycle.
A week before the wedding, Lily, James, Remus, Rae, Sirius, and Remus's twin brother Romulus (Thien had not been home all week), piled into a little car Mr. Lupin had rented from the Ministry, and drove to London-Gatwick airport. They then flew from there to the Zurich airport in Switzerland. The wedding would be held in the Swiss Alps, so they had to rent a car and have someone drive them the rest of the way there.
As they drew closer to their destination, the scenery became a more prominent feature of the drive to the hotel. They could not stop looking at the Swiss Alps. The beautiful mountain ranges rose high above the road; huge, majestic figures shrouded in mist enfolding the passengers of the car. The girls snapped pictures every few seconds, in awe of the enormous spectacle.
Their hotel looked out on the Alps, and each room had an amazing view from the balconies. The rooms were lodge-style, and quite comfortable.
"Wow, this is absolutely amazing!" Lily said, smiling, as she put her bags down and stepped out onto the balcony. Rae followed, with the same awestruck look on her face. This had to be the most amazing place either of them had ever been.
Everyone got settled in their rooms and then made their way back up to the lobby. The lobby was actually on the top floor, because the hotel sat on the side of a hill. As they emerged from the elevators, they saw the familiar figure of Ellie waiting for them. Everyone exchanged hellos, and then began on the subject of their surroundings.
"This place is crazy!" Sirius was saying as Rae led the way back to the rooms. "You know, you can climb out the windows, down the fire staircase, and run around to other people's rooms from the outside!"
* * *
The next morning, Lily, Ellie and Rae were still asleep at 7:00 AM, and they did not plan on getting up for a few more hours. However, certain other hotel guests had other ideas. James and Sirius tiptoed into the room at 7:00 with water pistols behind their backs, and turned on the clock radio. The girls both rolled over and opened their eyes.
"Come on, leave us alone," Lily said drowsily and pulled the blankets up further. Everything was silent for a moment, while the two boys took out and aimed the water guns. Then, they took aim, and fired. Two streams of water went right into Lily's half open mouth, right on target.
The next step in the sequence of events went extremely fast. She screamed, spit out the water, and leapt out of bed, taking a pillow with her. She glanced between the two boys, and mentally chose one as her target. James instinctively turned and ran, with Lily close behind him. Up and down the halls they ran. By the third rotation, James began to tire from laughing, and Lily caught up to him and began hitting him with the feather pillow she was carrying. He retaliated with his water pistol. Finally, he tripped and fell, pulling Lily down with him. They sat there for a moment, feathers flying all around them. It was like a snowstorm inside a building, like the enchanted ceiling at Hogwarts.
Sirius and Ellie poked their heads around the hotel room door to see who had won the fight. It was hard to tell, since they were both wet and covered in feathers.
"It's lucky the rest of this floor is empty!" Lily exclaimed when she noticed her now feather-covered appearance.
"That's definitely a sexy look on you," said Sirius, laughing.
Lily looked down at herself again, and then across at James. She couldn't help smiling.
* * *
A few days later, Peter arrived by portkey. He had not been able to stay at Remus's house because his aunt had died and he had been at her funeral. The wedding was only three days away, but no one was really mentioning it. They were too busy "discovering the wonders of Switzerland" as Sirius and James had so aptly named it (Remus had just rolled his eyes). Lily had gotten back at them for their little wakeup call by taking their broomsticks and replacing them with plain, un-magical look-alikes. The boys had been appalled that anyone would do such a thing, but the fight was now even.
* * *
The next day, the little group left the hotel in the Alps for their next destination, the wedding site. The wedding was to be outside, near a few cottages, but that was the only civilization for miles. Dense forest and mountains surrounded it. The guests had to arrive at the cottages by gondola. Thien and Lena (the bride) had arranged for everyone to stay three nights in the mountain cottages.
The gondola ride up the mountain was quite crowded, since the guests and their luggage were all on board. Lily was sitting by the windows, taking pictures nonstop. Rae had insisted upon standing in the middle. The height of the ride was not agreeing with her.
"Rae, come here so I can take a picture of you against the scenery!" Lily said and motioned her over.
"I'm not moving, said Rae stubbornly, and she sat down on top of her suitcase. Lily was about to pull her over to the window, when the gondola docked. The doors opened and everyone lugged their luggage off the car. Lena, Thien, and Romulus were already waiting for them in the station. They led the group to their cottages, which weren't far away. The cottages were like condominiums. Three or four guests were staying in each. In cottage number 8 were Lily, Rae, and Ellie. In cottage number 9 were Remus, James, Peter, and Sirius. Everyone unpacked, and then had the afternoon before the rehearsal dinner to explore their mountain surroundings. They all decided to go to an overlook, from which you could see for miles into the valleys below the mountains. The view was spectacular and the girls brought their cameras. The group spent the afternoon there, just hanging out. As usual, Lily was avoiding James, and Sirius was being, well, Sirius. This time he was trying to convince Remus to roll down the side of the hill into the mountain valleys with him. Remus, however, said he would prefer to stay alive, and that was the end of that.
The rehearsal went well, and the rehearsal dinner was at a nice restaurant in the main lodge. Everyone went back to their cottages at around 6:30 PM. The boys cabin played Monopoly with real wizard money (Sirius ended up with about five galleons in change) and the girls sat out on their porch and watched the sun sink low into the purple velvet sky.
* * *
The day of the wedding dawned clear and cool. However, no one was awake to witness it. The girls in cabin #8 did not wake up until 10:00 AM. They took turns taking showers and fixing each other's hair. Rae was the only bridesmaid out of the four girls in the cabin (since the Thien did not have any sisters, Lena had chosen Rae, who was the closest she could get). She was wearing a pale lavender, full-length dress of Lena's choosing, and had a wreath of flowers crowning her head. The other girls dressed in dresses they had brought with them, and put on their own flower wreaths which Lena had given all her guests to wear. By the time they reached the wedding site, the weather had changed dramatically. It was sort of windy and cloudy.
"Looks like a storm's coming," Rae remarked. Some early guests who were beginning to gather seemed to have noticed the change too. Rae led the way over to the boys, who were waiting by the chairs that had been set up.
"Well, aren't we looking fine and flowery today?" said Sirius.
"Sod off," said a grumpy Lily, who's wreath was particularly itchy. "It's not my fault that I have be a complete bee magnet all day."
"I'll keep the bees away," Sirius said, and hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "They won't be able to get you up here."
"You prick! Let me down this instant!" She began to kick her feet. Sirius responded by jumping up and down.
"I mean it!" she yelled. Sirius jumped higher. The rest of the group was cracking up by now. Sirius took this as initiative, and began to run around the chairs.
"Would you stop it?" she asked, but she couldn't help but laugh.
"I don't like that kind of unappreciative comment while I am trying to save you from being eaten by killer bees!"
"Well, I feel like I'm bull riding, and I don't appreciate that!"
Everyone laughed as Sirius ran around in circles, until he collided with none other than Severus Snape. The laughter stopped abruptly, and Sirius inadvertently dropped Lily. She fell into a heap on the ground, the flower tiara now lying next to her.
"Cheating on King James are you?" Snape sneered coldly at Lily. She didn't even bother to tell him that she would NEVER date James. She just stood up and said,
"Too bad you don't have anyone to cheat on, Snape. I'd be surprised if anyone came within 50 feet of you. You stink so bad, I have to wonder how your parents stand that reek," she said coldly.
"If it weren't for me, you'd-"
"Hello ladies," James interjected as he stepped between them.
"Need your precious Jamsey to play bodyguard for you? I had no idea you were so helpless that you needed someone else to fight your battles for you. Too bad you picked someone just as helpless." This was the wrong thing for Snape to say. He had dared insult Lily twice, and she didn't like that at all. This was the last straw for James too. Snape had insulted him as well and he now had a reason to get revenge. He strode forward, yelling,
"Snivellus, I'm gonna rip every last hair out of your stinking head!" By this time, he had wrestled him to the ground was and tearing at his greasy dark brown hair.
It took Remus, Rae, Lily and Ellie to pull James off (Sirius was egging him on). It looked as though the fight was over when Snape made no move to retaliate, but Sirius hadn't got his two cents in yet.
"Snape, if you ever bother us again, I'll make it so that you'll never be able to reproduce, and believe me, it'll hurt! "
Snape sneered at him, but walked off without further comment. When he was out of earshot, James opened up his fist and showed everyone the clump of dark hair in it.
"Yuck, put that down right now!" said Ellie. She looked completely grossed out.
"Who invited him anyway?" asked Sirius.
"Mum felt bad for him," said Remus.
"How does she even know him?"
"I was just talking about a prank we played on him once. She seemed to think it was horrible, so I told her we weren't the only ones who did stuff like that to him, and he was probably quite used to it by then. She made Thien invite him and didn't tell me until after the invitations were sent."
"Your mother is too soft."
"No kidding," said Remus as Sirius began reciting the "Sirius Black Idiotproof Method For Making Your Parents Agree With You". (If it was idiotproof for Sirius, it was idiotproof for anybody. Well, Peter might be an exception.)
Lily picked up her flower wreath and said, "I guess I'd better go fix this. I'll be right back." She ran inside the nearest cottage to the bathroom. She began to fix the tiara, when the shower curtain moved slightly. What was that? she thought and slowly went towards the curtain. She pulled it back quickly, and screamed. Lena and Romulus were standing inside, in full wedding outfits. The shower curtain must have caught under Romulus's foot, because he fell out of the shower onto Lily and put his arm around her neck to steady himself. Lena had managed to grab hold of Romulus's other arm, so he didn't totally fall onto Lily. At this moment, James came into the room.
"I just came in to wash the Snivellus filth off my hands when I heard you... what are you doing?" He trailed off when he noticed the oddity of the spectacle before him. Lena in the shower, in her wedding dress, Romulus half in half out, with a look of surprise on his face, and Lily holding Romulus up, wearing an expression of confusion. James took a moment to digest what he was seeing and, after failing to make an explanation for it, asked,
"What's going on?"
"I'd like to know the same thing," said Lily, still slightly dazed. Romulus took his other leg out of the shower and Lena sighed.
"I suppose we'd better tell them then." Romulus nodded, and Lena began.
"I wish I weren't marrying Thien. I'm not in love with him."
James's jaw dropped about six inches. When he did not shut it, Lily reached up and shut it for him. Then she looked quizzically from Lena to Romulus.
"No no, I'm not in love with him either. See, I was in the year younger than Thien when we were in school. I knew Romulus because we were Ravenclaw prefects together. I was already good friends with him when Thien asked me out. I figured, why not? He seemed like a nice enough guy, and I didn't worry about it lasting more than a few months. The trouble was, it did. Even after he left school, he wrote to me every day. I just didn't have the heart to dump him, because I knew he really liked me. I just wrote back less and less, and hoped he'd forget about me or meet some other girl. But then he dropped the bomb. We wrote to me asking me to marry him. I don't know what I was thinking, but I just scribbled down a 'Yes,' and sent it back. I was really in trouble then. Since Romulus and I are friends, and Romulus and Thien are brothers, Romulus agreed to try and help me out of this mess. We hid in here because we thought this would be the one place no one would look for us."
"Well that plan's ruined," Romulus said ruefully.
"What are we going to do now?" Lena asked.
"Lena? Where are you?" came a voice.
"Well, you'd better get out of here," said Lily. "Someone's looking for you."
"Here, you can go out the window," said James hurriedly and opened the small window. For only the second time in their lives, Lily and James cooperated to help Lena and Romulus out of the window, just as Thien came around the corner.
"Quick, pretend you're fixing your hair or something," Lily whispered. James gave her a look. His hair pretty much fixed itself. He had the famous "Potter hair," and there was nothing much he could do with it to make it look different. However, desperate times called for desperate measures. Thien walked into the bathroom as Lily re-hairpinned her tiara and James made a frantic effort to smooth down his hair.
"Have either of you seen Lena?"
"No!" they both answered, a bit too quickly.
"I mean, I haven't seen her since we first got here," Lily recovered.
"Well, we'd better find her, because it's time for us to get married!" Thien said, and got a dreamy sort of expression on his face. Lily and James tried their best to suppress their laughter, and followed him out of the room.
* * *
Just as Lena was beginning to walk down the aisle, the wind picked up even more. It was now gusting more frequently, and the sky was looking darker. Still, the ceremony went on. An air of apprehension hung over both Lily and James, as if they were expecting some bomb to go off at any moment. They held their breaths when it came time for the vows. The priest was saying,
"Do you, Thien Lupin, take Lena Longden to be your lawful wedded wife?"
"I do," said Thien happily.
"And do you, Lena Longden, take Thien Lupin to be your lawful wedded husband?"
What Lena was going to say, however, was never known, because at that moment, lightning struck, and she crumpled, limp, to the ground. Everyone screamed and ran towards the lodge or the nearest cottage. That is, everyone except James, Sirius and Lily.
"That was no ordinary lightning, it was magic, which means it had a purpose," James said hurriedly.
"Well, there's your purpose." Sirius pointed to a hooded figure rushing toward Lena.
"C'mon," Lily said, and began to run forwards, in the direction of Lena and the hooded figure. The boys followed, and when the figure saw them coming, it jumped up, trying to take Lena with it. As it did, its sleeve came up and they could see the Dark Mark on its arm, symbolizing that it was a follower of Voldemort.
"Put her down!" shouted James and ran at it. Leaving Lena on the ground, it immediately began running the other way. James continued to run after it as it headed into the forest beyond. Lily and Sirius followed. The branches of the trees ripped and tore at their clothes as they ran. They finally caught up with the hooded figure when it tripped over a tree root.
"Well," said James, out of breath, "seems you've failed your mission this time. Voldemort won't be too happy, now will he? What did you want with Lena Longden anyway?"
"That is not for you to know," came a man's voice from inside the hood. It was vaguely familiar to James, but he could not place where he knew it from. "Now, if I cannot have the girl, the least I can do is bring Lord Voldemort these three spies."
He drew his wand and raised it over his head...
****
Wow, cliffhanger! Look out for the next chapter soon, and please::
REVIEW REVIEW!