Chapter 3

James decided that he would go out and ride his broom now, seeing as it was a perfectly clear day out, and he was absolutely bored out of his mind. He thought it might be nice to ride around. He knew of the troubles in the world, and he was always trying to get involved, but it wasn't possible. His father wouldn't let him follow his dreams, not as long as he lived anyway. While James did want to become an Auror, he would never let his father know that. It would lead to awful problems. Mainly, he would be working with his father, which to him was a fate worse than death.

No, it would not do for him to work WITH his father. Instead he would keep his crummy little job, which, now that he looked at the clock he was late for. Rushing to the ground, he hopped off his broom and headed for the shed. Leaving his broom there, he ran into the house, stopped at a mirror, ruffled his hair, and grabbed some Floo Powder. He never apparated to work, he preferred to walk out of the fire, scaring everyone half to death.

He arrived at work to find a stack of paper on his desk, and settling himself in, he began to read and figure out the best way to balance everyone's money. Another start to another day, in the boring life of James Potter.

"Jen, do you have the paperwork for our newest orders? I've just found that we are out of Filbus's First Guide To Flying, and I was hoping we could order some more copies of it. It seems to just fly off the shelves." Lily called from the back of the store. It would be opening for the day shortly, and she was desperately trying to organize everything, and take stock at the same time.

"It's in the stock room." Jen called back. She was at the register, making sure it had sufficient change. It was really a closet, but they called it a stock room, because it was filled with extra copies of books, and all other things you would find in a closet.

"Thanks" Lily ran to the stock room to find the order forms. "Phil, did you hang up that new sign yet?"

"I'm going, I'm going.... hey, Lily, can I mann the register today? I was hoping that I might not have to do so much manual labor, and yet still make it look like I am. I don't want to be so tired when I get home tonight...it's Liza's 5th birthday, and I wanted to spend the night with her. I rarely get to spend time with her anymore and next year she'll be starting school. You know how fast they all grow up." Phil started going all teary eyed at the thought of his kids....again.

"Yeah, Yeah, we've all heard it before. You can leave when you need to. But here. Give her this from me." Lily handed Phil a wrapped package.

"I will, don't worry." Phil took the package, and put it into his tote back, that he brought to work with him every day. "Oh, yeah, when is Jack coming back? I need help with all the heavy stuff."

"I already told you, he'd be working tomorrow. From 10:00am to 5:00pm...I believe. I'm hoping to hire another person, to join our happy family here...but I'm not quite sure who...oh well. It is true; we do need another person to help here. Especially this Christmas! We'll be so overworked! What, with me gone, Jen on holiday, and you at home with your kids. We need more people working here!

"What do you mean you'll be away?"

"Never mind. Maybe I should just close up shop? I mean it's not fair to me or to you..." Lily sighed and began to rub her temples. All this thinking was making her head hurt. A chorus of No's, and don't you dares and other such profanity were shouted at this suggestion. "I'm sorry, I'm just a bit overwhelmed."

"Lily, you do know that we are here for you? Right?" Jen asked, her usually bright smiling face now as serious as it could ever be.

"I know. Thanks guys."
James was late for work, again. His boss yelled at him, again. He had tons of work to do, again. It was always the same. There was never anything new. He always did the same work, for the same company, at the same place, at the same time. He wanted to be an Auror. He wanted to work at the Ministry. He wanted a lot of things, but he had learned that James Potter could not always have what he wanted. In fact, he rarely could have what he wanted. The latest thing to add onto the list; a proper Marriage. Sure, he really wanted that wedding to be to Lily Evans, but he knew that was far too much to ask for, so just a proper marriage would do.

James had always thought about Lily. Ever since he got back to school, in his Fifth year, and there she was. She had always been pretty, to him any way. He had his fair share of girls, but as he saw her then, he would have given up girls for a lifetime if he could just kiss her once. From that point on, she was his goal. Now, to think she was getting married, and she wasn't even happy about it, it made his heart break. He would have given anything to be the man she was betrothed to.

"James, I want these on my desk by tonight, 7:00pm." A sharp voice startled James from his thoughts.

"What?"

"I said, I need these filled out by 7:00pm tonight."

"Sure Brett."

"Well then. Get back to work."

And off he went. It took James a few more seconds to realize that he had just been given 5 days worth of work to do by tonight by the son of a bitch boss of his. Brett was not that tall, he was not that handsome, and he was not even that good at math, yet he was sooo good at getting the two things most young men want, riches and women. He was awful. He made James do all of his work for him, yet James got a mere fraction of the profits.

It was awful, but it paid, and it showed his father that James was not a lazy bum. He did try, and he was able to do something. Sighing, he got back to work.
"So, I was thinking What if we were to set a theme for the wedding. With both of them from Gryffindor, I thought we might have a golden and red wedding. Everything Gold and Red. From the Carpet to the eating utensils. All the way through. Red and Gold. A gold Wedding dress for Lily. Or a white dress, with Gold trim, or something like that." Liz Potter continued to babble. She of course, didn't worry about the cost, unlike the Evans, who were having difficult time, what with planning this wedding, and thinking about Petunia's future wedding.

Petunia and Vernon had gotten pretty serious lately. There was even talks about a baby on the way. They were planning on a spring wedding, which wasn't quite what the Evans had had in mind for their non-magical daughter.

"We really aren't sure that was what we were looking for. The red would clash with Lily's hair. We, my husband and I, thought that white would be the way to go. All white and crème, except for the grooms suit, of course. Maybe something more traditional like that? We had one other idea we really liked, but we weren't sure about it..." Evelyn Evans trailed off at that point. She wasn't quite sure how Mrs. Potter would take this news. They had realized from the beginning that this was her moment to shine, not theirs. They could shine when it came to Petty's wedding.

"Oh? I'm not sure white is the way to go, it's a bit over done, don't you think?" Liz scrunched her face at the thought of something that was over done. "What's this other idea you had?"

"Well, we weren't sure it you would like it, but what about a Midnight Wedding? We could have it in an exotic place at night, maybe on a beach or something. I don't know, maybe in the Caribbean when it's our winter. Then they can go to a different island for their Honeymoon, but it won't be that far, while some of the guests stay there for Christmas? It was just an idea..." Evelyn said. It seemed that while the women had been talking, Henry Evans had 'taken his leave' and left a note stating something along the lines of "You know how much I'd love to stay and chat, but I got an Urgent call from work...XOX" or something like that.

"I love it! It will be a perfect way to get everyone together! We'll start preparations right away! I'll make a few phone calls, and we can get them a private island for their honeymoon and maybe use one of the larger islands for the ceremony. What about the Dominican Republic, I hear it's just lovely there..."

And thus talk of the blessed event had begun!
"Bing!" The bell on the door rang as the first few customers of the day entered The Nook. People were comfortably sprawled out on couches and other various places around the store. It was going to be a wonderful day, for Lily at least. She would put all thoughts of the wedding behind her.

"Excuse me, miss, can you please tell me if you happen to carry any books on house hold pests? I seem to have a gurgling toads problem in my bathroom, and I need to brew a potion to rid myself of them."

"Check over there." Lily pointed in the direction of the store labeled 'House and Garden Help' "There are a few good ones. I recommend "Potions For Pests" . It's the one I use at home for my problems."

"Thank you."

"Bing!" Another person entered the store.

"Lily, I need help. Can you help me unload these books? There the ones you ordered a week ago, the ones about planning family events. Here, take these and put them on the shelves, would you?"

"Sure." Lily reached into the box and pulled out a few of the very heavy books. She began ordering them to be counted in the stock, and then loaded onto shelves when something caught her eye. It was one of the books. She grabbed it and read the description of it on the back 'The prefect guide for planning the perfect honeymoon...'

Lily dropped the book with a thud. The Honeymoon. She hadn't even thought about it! What was she going to do? She was marrying this total stranger, and knowing her mom, there would indeed be a honeymoon, complete with what to wear on it!

"Lily? You ok?" Jen asked. Concern written all over her face.

"Yeah, must have been something I ate. I'm going to take a break for a bit, I need to think. I'm sure you can handle the store for a few minutes. I'll be back.

Lily left without even waiting for a response. She just left. She needed to think about this. This was marriage, to a stranger, but still. She had always been taught that she would one day marry the man of her dreams, have lots of children, and live happily ever after. It had never occurred to her that her parents might pick the guy, time, place, everything. There was nothing she could do about it. And then, you add in the honeymoon. This was a nightmare come true!

Lily wasn't walking where she was going, and crash, she walked right into someone. Lily looked up, about to apologize, when she found herself staring up into the eyes of none other than James Potter!
Well, there you go. I know, it's been a long time coming, but I am swamped with work right now. I will hopefully get another chapter up soon. I hope you liked this one. I know, it's a bit weird, and nothing THAT interesting happens, but it will get better. I can't wait to write about the wedding! Also, I need a beta reader. If anyone is interested, e-mail me!

Lily Bell