Author's Note: Phew! I don't have to think of anymore pranks… that was hard. I don't know exactly how weddings work. I'm just going with traditional stuff I found out and stuff you always see on TV. Oh, just so you know, this is not taking place right after they graduate. It's a few years after that (so Lily and James are still relatively young when they get married).

Title: Role Reversal

Rating: PG

Spoilers: There aren't too many spoilers in chapters 1-12. The whole story has some spoilers, but how else do you write a fanfic? The chapter with major spoilers is "Old Friends".

Summary: James and Lily make a bet. Lily has to pull a bunch of pranks and James can't do any.

Disclaimer: I, of course, do not own Harry Potter or its characters. If you're reading this, you should already know whom it belongs to anyway.

Setting: This story is set in MWPP years. If you don't know what that means, you probably shouldn't be reading this fanfic.

--- setting change

italics emphasis

italics thoughts

… time

The Wedding

3 years later

"Oh, my God, you're getting married today!" Sarah shrieked, running into the room.

"Yeah, I know!" Lily replied. "Sarah, do you realize that in one hour, I'm going to be Mrs. James Potter?"

"This is too exciting! I can't stop screaming! I have to breathe," Sarah answered, trying to catch her breath.

Veronica came into the room. "Okay, so far, everything's fine."

Sarah and Veronica were both Lily's maids of honor because she couldn't decide between her two best friends.

"Nothing's wrong?" Lily inquired.

"Well, Sirius is running around with a bunch of five-year-olds, but other than that, everything is perfect."

Lily stood up. "Well, how do I look?" she asked.

"You look great."

"That dress is beautiful."

Lily grinned. "Of course you'd think that, Sarah," she said, "You helped pick it out."

---

"I'm nervous."

"That's obvious," Sirius replied. "Stop looking so jumpy."

"I'm trying!"

Sirius was James's best man. Remus had declined when Sirius had offered to share the best man position. He didn't feel like he could do a very good job, as he was "ill" every month and had been feeling sick lately. Besides, James had known Sirius longer than he had known Remus.

"Okay, looking a little less jumpy now, yet still very nervous. Prongs, everything is fine. Now you need to relax," he said.

"What if I mess up, and Lily gets mad at me and sends flaming squirrels after me?" James asked worriedly.

"Again? I don't think that's likely. She doesn't usually do the same thing two days in a row."

---

The guests were seated, the music was playing, and the decorations were beautiful.

Lily and James's parents were not there. Lily's parents had died in a plane crash the previous year, and James's parents had been killed by Voldemort not so long ago. Petunia, Lily's sister, refused to come to the wedding, saying that the whole thing would probably be a freak show, and a horrible one at that.

The minister, James, and Sirius took their places at the front of the room. The wedding was about to begin.

The procession began. The ushers came down the aisle in pairs. The bridesmaids followed them. Sarah and Veronica came in next. The ring bearer, Sarah's six-year-old second cousin, was after them. He was The flower girl appeared and threw flower petals as she traveled down the aisle.

Now came the big moment. Lily and Remus appeared and proceeded down the aisle. The guests stood as the bride passed them. Remus was giving Lily away since her own father could not. The others had insisted, feeling that he needed to play some part in the wedding.

Remus and Lily joined James at the front of the room. The minister began the ceremony.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony."

"Therefore if any man can give any just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him speak now, or forever hold his peace."

"I have a reason!" Sirius exclaimed.

"What?"

"Naw, I'm just kidding. Go ahead."

Everyone turned his or her attention back to the minister. He asked James, "Do you, James Potter, take this woman to be your wedded wife? Will you love her, comfort her, honor, and keep her, in sickness and in health, so long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

"And do you, Lily Evans, take this man to be your wedded husband? Will you love him, comfort him, honor, and keep him, in sickness and in health, so long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

"Who gives this woman to be married to this man?"

"That would be me." Remus placed Lily's right hand in the minister's right hand, and then took his seat.

The minister placed Lily's right hand in James's.

"Repeat after me," he said to the groom. "I, James—" He recited what James was supposed to say.

"I, James, take thee Lily to be my wedded wife—to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live. I give you this ring as a sign of my promise."

The minister turned to Lily. "Repeat after me. I, Lily—"

"I, Lily, take thee James to be my wedded husband—to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as we both shall live. I give you this ring as a sign of my promise."

James took the wedding ring. He said, "With this ring I thee wed," and placed it on Lily's ring finger. She did the same for him.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."

A photograph of the happy couple was taken.

---

The reception had begun. Dinner was served, and everyone dug into the delicious feast. At the end of the meal, Sirius stood up and proposed a toast. "To Lily," he said, "And may her new life with James not be as hectic as we all know it will."

After that, the dancing began. Lily and James, as the new couple, opened the dancing. Then Lily danced with Sirius while James danced with Sarah. She danced with Remus when James began dancing with Veronica. Soon, everyone was dancing.

---

Sirius and Sarah had been dancing for a while. They were getting tired, so they stopped to rest. Sirius led Sarah out onto the balcony.

Sirius began speaking. "Sarah, we've known each other for a long time."

"Yes, we have," Sarah replied, smiling fondly.

"You know I love you, right?"

"Yeah…" Sarah said, unsure of where the conversation was going.

"I could spend the rest of my life with you."

"What are you trying to say, Sirius?"

"Look, what I'm trying to say is…" Sirius got down on one knee and produced a ring from his pocket. "Sarah Johnson, will you marry me?"

Sarah gasped. "You want me to marry you?"

"Yes."

"Oh… my… God…"

"Sarah, you have to give me an answer soon, because I'm kneeling on a rock, and I may be bleeding."

"Well, I guess the only answer I can give you is yes."

---

Sirius and Sarah had come back inside, both looking very happy. They had decided not to tell anyone about their engagement until later. This was Lily and James's night, not theirs.

---

"Well, how does it feel to be Lily Potter instead of Lily Evans?" James asked. He and his new wife were dancing.

"I don't know," Lily replied teasingly. "I'm not sure if I like it…"

"I'm hurt," he answered, mockingly putting a hand to his chest.

Lily grinned. "Great, I have a clown for a husband."

"Yeah, where'd I put that rubber nose?" James paused. "That is what you call them, right?"

"Someday, I am going to teach you all about Muggles," Lily said, shaking her head.

"What do you think is going on with Sarah and Sirius?" she asked, indicating them with a nod of her head. "They look excited about something."

"I don't know. We'll ask them later. Right now, we're dancing," James said, twirling her around.

---

A slow song was now playing, and everyone was paired off. Remus and Veronica were in the middle of the room.

"You look beautiful," Remus said softly. "But, of course, you always do."

"Thank you. You're not looking so bad yourself." Veronica rested her head on his shoulder.

Remus smiled, and then a serious expression came over his face. "Veronica?" he whispered.

"Hmm?" she said in the same hushed tone.

"We have to break up."

"What?"

"Look, there are just some things about me—"

Veronica interrupted him, "Remus, I know you're a…" she lowered her voice, "a werewolf."

"How?"

"I'm not stupid. You disappear once a month. That boggart we saw in our fourth year at Hogwarts turned into the moon when you faced it. And I had an assignment that required me to check my lunar chart. I realized that every time the moon was full, you were gone."

"Well, if you know that, then you know how dangerous I am to you."

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Veronica, I don't want to hurt you."

"So you're breaking up with me? Remus, I love you."

"I know. I know. That's what's making this so hard."

"Why are you doing this?" Veronica asked, trying not to cry.

"I'm afraid that if one day I lose control… What if I… bite you? I don't want to condemn you to the same fate as mine."

"I don't care. I don't want to lose you."

Remus took a deep breath. "It has to be this way. This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I love you, and that's why I have to stay away from you."

"No."

"Veronica."

"You can't do this to me!"

"I have to."

Veronica studied his face. "It's really over, isn't it?"

"Yes."

(AN: Okay, these next few lines are not supposed to be read humorously, as certain people I know thought it was. If you watch Friends and you've seen Monica and Richard's breakup in The One With Barry and Mindy's Wedding, it's like that.)

"So what do we do now?" whispered Veronica.

"I guess we just keep dancing," Remus said. He realized that he was holding the woman he loved for the last time.

(AN: This part is so sad, and I'm kicking myself for writing it. Aah! How could I have done that to poor Remus? I'm sorry, but it had to be this way…)

---

Sarah and Sirius were coming back from taking a walk when they saw Veronica huddled up in a chair outside, her long, dark hair shielding her face.

Sarah, sensing something was wrong, told Sirius she would meet him inside, then approached her friend. "Veronica? Are you all right?"

"Remus broke up with me." She looked up, and Sarah could see tear tracks on Veronica's cheeks. She wasn't crying at the moment, though.

"What? But he loves you."

"Yeah. It's because he's a you-know-what," she explained. "He said he didn't want to mess up and accidentally bite me."

"I'm sorry."

Veronica looked out at the night sky and smiled ruefully, her tears shining in the moonlight. "He says he doesn't want to hurt me, but what he's doing to me right now is hurting me more than a werewolf ever could."

"Do you want me to get Lily? She'd probably be better at this counseling thing."

Veronica shook her head. "No. It's her wedding day. She's supposed to be happy and enjoying this party. Don't get her upset just because of me."

"Well, all right then." Sarah felt a little guilty. Here I am, ecstatic over the fact that Sirius and I are engaged, while my friend is crying her eyes out because she's just been dumped by the guy she loves.

"How are things going with you and Sirius?"

"Uh…" How do I tell her without making her feel worse? Sarah thought. Maybe I should just come right out and say it. "He asked me to marry him, and I said yes."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"That's great."

"Does it make you feel worse, knowing about this?" Sarah asked, feeling guiltier by the second.

"A little. But hey, every woman is jealous when she finds out her best friend's getting married and she isn't."

"That's true, I guess. I know I was jealous of Lily when she and James got engaged."

"He proposed in front of all those people, too."

"I guess he wanted to make sure she said yes. How could she refuse him with everyone watching?"

They laughed.

"Hey, feel better, okay? I'm going to go inside now. And don't tell anyone about me and Sirius. I don't want to steal Lily's thunder."

"I won't," she replied, as Sarah rejoined the party.

With Sarah now gone, Veronica felt very much alone. How could he do this to me? Why did he have to be a werewolf in the first place? It's only been an hour, and I already miss him.

She stood up, and then screamed as she threw the chair next to the one she had been sitting in. It broke on impact. She slid down to the floor, sobbing harder than before. She didn't care that her hair and clothes were getting dirty. Why? she thought. "Why!"

---

"Hey, Moony."

Remus was sitting at a table, shredding his napkin. "Hello, Padfoot."

"Is there a shortage of confetti somewhere?"

He looked up at his friend, then realized what he was doing and stopped ripping the paper. "No."

Sirius sat down. "You don't look happy."

"How would you feel if you just broke up with the woman you love?"

"You broke up with Veronica?"

Remus nodded.

Well, that explains Veronica outside, Sirius thought. "Why'd you do that?" he asked aloud.

"Because of… what I am. I don't want to put her in danger."

"But you two were so in love."

"I know. I was just dancing with her and looking around at everything and everybody… I saw Lily and James, and I realized that someday I was going to ask Veronica to marry me. And if we got married, I'd be a danger to her. You, of all people, should know that I can be very dangerous when I'm… not myself. And if we had kids… They might be the same as me (AN: I don't know, do people pass off werewolf genes? An unsolved mystery…). I want Veronica to be with someone normal—to have a normal life."

"What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. I hate this. I really do. I wish things were different. But they're not. So it has to be this way."

"Seems a bit strange to me," Sirius said. He was glad that he wasn't in Remus's position. He would never want to give up Sarah.

"Sirius, you know I would never want to hurt Veronica. But in this case, I must be cruel to be kind."

"Yeah, well, if you need me, I'm here for you, mate."

"Thanks, "Remus said, glad for any consolation.

Sarah came over to the table. "Hey, Remus. Veronica just told me what happened."

"Is she mad at me?"

"I don't know. I think she's really sad."

Remus sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "She knows I had to do this, right?"

"She knows. She just doesn't want to accept it." Sarah patted his hand. "Give it time."

"God, I hate myself right now."

"It'll be okay, Remus."

"No, it won't. I love her, and she loves me, but we can't be together because of something that happened to me when I was a little boy."

Sirius said, "Moony, I know it looks bad right now. Okay, really bad. But Veronica's reasonable. She'll forgive you."

"What if she doesn't?"

Sarah answered, "Then you'll just have to live with it."

---

Lily and James had finally stopped dancing. They were exhausted and sank down into two chairs at the table where Remus, Sarah, and Sirius were sitting.

"Hey, what's up?" Lily asked, noticing the solemn looks on their faces.

"Yeah, you all look depressed," James said, frowning.

Sirius said, "It's nothing. We just had too much cake mixed with a lot of dancing, and, well…"

Lily interrupted, "We get the picture."

"Moony, are you okay? You look like you're about to throw up," remarked a concerned James.

"I'm fine, Prongs. I just have to rest."

"Well, all right then."

"So how have your first few hours as a married couple been?" Sarah asked.

"Great. Wonderful. Fantastic. Magnificent. Couldn't be better—"

"James? Be quiet."

"What? Lily, I'm just trying to answer a question here."

"Go find your clown nose."

"Maybe I will." There was a pause.

"Why are we having such a stupid conversation?" Lily wondered.

"Because they," James said, indicating their friends, "aren't saying anything."

"Ah."

"Er… Why aren't you guys saying anything?"

"Do we need to bring up the cake again?"

"Oh."

"Where's Veronica?" Lily asked. "I haven't seen her for a while."

Remus, Sarah, and Sirius looked at each other.

"Um…"

"Well…"

"You see…"

"What's going on?" Lily demanded.

Sarah said, "She wasn't feeling well… I think she's outside now… getting some fresh air or something."

"Okay. I'll go see how she's feeling."

"No!" all three shouted at once.

"What? Why can't I see my friend?" Lily asked.

"You just stay here," Sarah said. "Relax. Rest. I'll go see about Veronica." She started walking across the room to the doors leading outside.

"I'm going to go get some punch," Sirius said.

"I'll go with you. I'm kind of thirsty," Remus added.

"What was that about?" James whispered to Lily.

"I'm not sure."

"Do you get the feeling that our friends are keeping something from us?"

"I think so. Otherwise they're just being insane."

"That is actually very likely," James mused.

Lily chuckled. "Very."

---

"Veronica? Are you still out here?" Sarah asked, closing the doors behind her.

"Sarah?"

Sarah spotted her friend on the floor. "Veronica, you look like a mess."

"I feel like a mess."

The blonde woman looked at the remains of the chair Veronica had destroyed. "Yeah, well, that chair looks like a mess too."

"I went crazy for a moment," Veronica explained.

"Ah."

"This whole thing just sucks. My best friend is married, my other best friend's getting married, and I just got chucked by the man I love. I really am happy for you guys, but I wish I had some chance of getting married. Now I don't even have a boyfriend. I never thought Remus would do this to me. He loves me, and I love him, but we can't be together because of something that's not even his fault. Why did this have to happen? The best thing that ever happened to me is gone."

"Veronica, I know you're hurt, but that doesn't mean you still can't have some fun tonight. Come on, like you said, it's your best friend's wedding and you're happy for her. So come inside and celebrate it with her."

Veronica covered her face. "No, I can't face him. I can't. Not yet."

Sarah sighed. "If I can make sure that you won't see him, will you come inside?"

"Fine. But I need to clean up first. And I'm only going in if you are sure he's not there."

"All right." Sarah walked inside.

---

"Sirius, Veronica will come inside, but only if Remus is gone," Sarah told her fiancé.

"Oh."

"She looks really miserable and it's cold outside, so do you think you can get him away from here?"

"I'll try. Sheesh, the things we do for friends…" Sirius headed over to his friend. "Remus, Sarah wants Veronica to come in. But you see, the thing is, she'll only come if you're not here."

Remus got up. "All right. I'm going."

"Where?"

"I'll just go to the room you and James were in before the wedding."

"Okay. See you then."

Sirius walked over to his fiancée and told her that Remus was not in the room. Sarah went back outside to get Veronica.

---

"Veronica, he's gone now."

Veronica looked up. "Really?"

"Yeah. Come on, we need to get you cleaned up." She performed a simple spell, and Veronica's hair and dress were clean. There were no tear tracks on her face.

The two walked into the room.

---

"Hi," Veronica said as she joined Lily, James, and Sirius at the table.

"Hey," they replied.

"So when does this party end?"

"Not sure. When everyone drops dead from all the dancing, I suppose," James said, grinning.

Veronica managed a small smile.

There's something different about her. She doesn't look happy. I wonder if anything's wrong. Our friends have been acting strange. Like they're keeping something from us. What is it? Is something wrong? Maybe they don't want to bother us because we're celebrating right now, Lily thought.

"Congratulations, you two. We thought you would have killed each other before you even got to the wedding," Veronica said to the Potters.

Lily smiled. "Don't think that thought never crossed my mind."

James groaned as he remembered the flaming squirrels from yesterday. One of them had gone up his pant leg (AN: Ouch!). He was still a little sore. "You almost killed me with those rodents."

Lily laughed. "So?"

"Oh, shut up."

Everyone laughed. "Where did Remus go?" James asked.

"He, er… he went to the bathroom," Sirius said quickly.

"It's been a while."

"Yeah, well, he was feeling sicker than the rest of us. Must have had more cake than I did. And that's saying something."

"I'll say. You can eat almost as much as Wormtail can."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

---

"I think I'll go home now," Veronica said a while later.

"Why?" Lily asked. "Don't you want to stay?"

"I just don't feel well."

"Oh. Well, see you then."

"Bye."

She hugged Lily, James, Sirius, and Sarah, then left.

"I'll go see if Remus is… feeling better," Sirius said.

---

"Hey, Moony. She's gone now."

"She left?"

"Yeah."

"I'm an idiot. How could I have let her go?"

"Because you want her to be safe."

"Why'd you have to remind me?"

---

The celebration was over. Everyone was tired, so people started going home. Soon, it was just the five friends left.

"I'll be leaving now," Remus said.

"Wait! Are you going to tell us what's wrong?" Lily asked.

"What makes you think something's wrong?" he answered nervously.

"You three have been acting strange since about an hour or two into the reception."

"And I doubt you could eat that much cake. Unless you took everyone else's, I just don't see how it's even possible to have that much in your possession," James pointed out.

Sarah said, "Look, there's good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"

"The bad news."

"I broke up with Veronica," Remus said.

"What?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm a—" Remus decided that the word was safe to say. Everyone at the table already knew about his secret. "Because I'm a werewolf. What if I hurt her someday? I'd never forgive myself if that happened."

Realization dawned on Lily. "Oh… so that's what was bothering her…"

"Well, then what's the good news?" James asked.

"We," Sarah gestured to Sirius and herself, "are engaged."

"Really?"

"When did this happen?"

"You two didn't tell me about that," Remus said.

"I proposed to Sarah when we went outside the first time."

"Oh…"

"Congratulations."

"Thanks."

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author's Note: I made a new ending because my friend didn't like the old one and I didn't really like it either…