Hi all! As some of you may or may not be aware of it's Breast Cancer Awareness month or was when I started writing this and I'm here to plead that all of you who read this to support research. If there are donations or they're selling pins at your school or any other place, just take a buck and buy one. Your dollar could save my life (my family has a history of breast cancer), your friend's life, your sister' life, your cousin's life, your brother's life (guys can get breast cancer), your mother's life or even your own. So just take a minute and a dollar or more and help. That's all it takes.
Thanks all.
Oh, a line I want to se later but I don't want to forget so you all have to remind me.
"A lily for a Lily," James said handing her the flower.
"Really original, you're just bursting with creativity," Lily retorted sarcastically.
In response to the person who said I don't know what Lily is like, of course I don't know. None of us know. All I'm saying is my Lily won't turn into the typical Lily cause I love everyone's stories to death but I'm tired of having Lily change when she gets married. You don't wake up and become a new person. Change takes time and patience and my Lily is REALLY stubborn and wouldn't change in the instant the wedding bells start ringing.
"I don't see why I have to go," James complained when Li showed up at James' flat to take him to the wedding.
"Because you lost our little game," Li reminded him.
"I sill don't get how it worked."
"I lost by three points the chaser portion and for a seeker that's not bad. Then I caught the snitch in three seconds which would be a record had it been a real game. Clearly I won," Li argued.
"I still don't see how."
"You even agreed that I won."
"Fine. I have to add that you look simply marvelous," James commented changing his voice on the last part. It was true, Li did look well, like a girl. What he didn't know was that she had been forced into a chair while people had attacked her. Her short hair had been tamed to some extent and lengthened by magic. Stubbornly it refused to grow more than an inch and the poor hairdresser admitted after half an hour of trying to coax more growing out of the hair that it would have to do. Li was secretly very proud of her hair for standing up for itself and refusing to grow. The hairdresser managed to find enough hair to make two brides with a silver ribbon and give a sort of ponytail and free hair effect (A/N that's what I call it so deal!) The two little brides were clasped together with a pin that was a snake made of emeralds. Flowers were stuck into the folds of the brides much to Li's displeasure. She had protested violently that she had once made a promise never to wear flowers in her hair but Narcissa's look had promptly shut her up. As a way of sulking at all this, Li rid her bridesmaid's dress of frills. Narcissa was not happy at this but she grudgingly admitted that the dress did look better without the frills. Because Narcissa hadn't been seriously mad and therefore not punished enough Li refused all nail polish and makeup that she had previously been coerced into agreeing to.
The dress was the proper silver. Little did James know but it was very traditional for the bridesmaids to wear silver dresses trimmed with green at Slytherin weddings. The groom's men would be wearing green dress robes trimmed with silver to contrast. In fact a little known thing is the competition that dressmakers experience to come up with new styles of dresses and dress robes of the silver and green colors.
"Ready to go?" Li asked exasperatedly.
"One minute," James told her. He disappeared into his flat. Li tapped her foot impatiently.
"Sometime before the marriage happens? I would like to get there before Narcissa has kids," Li snapped.
"I'm the one doing you a favor here," James reminded her. The two went over to James' fireplace.
"Stop whining so much, I'm the one forcibly wearing a dress. If you would like to wear makeup, tights and heels I can arrange that!" James looked rather scared. Li sighed and took a handful of floo powder. "It's called 'Flower Hall," Li informed him. James chuckled. "It's the name of the church you idiot!" Li went off in a huff of smoke and James thought it best to follow.
"So what am I to call you?" James inquired. "You surely aren't going as Li the Quidditch player."
"Practically everyone knows who I am. If anyone asks I'm Lily, Li's cousin. If you blow this I'll make sure you can't have kids, got that?" Li threatened. James gulped and did not doubt that she would carry out her threat in a heartbeat. "Good, let's go in." The two entered the church. Li left James in one of the seats next to Andromeda Tonks, the last Black sister who had been invited to the proceedings as a last minute thought as per request of Narcissa. Li figured each would keep the other from doing something very wrong and Tonks could tell James to keep his mouth shut about Slytherin proceedings. She went quickly over to where Narcissa was probably hyperventilating.
"Come on Narcissa, don't have second thoughts now!" could be hear from outside the door to the bride's dressing room. Li quickly realized that this voice was Bellatrix. Li shrugged and walked in. Narcissa was all dolled up. Her dress was one that had been passed down for generations. Her hair was done up as a crown on her head. A serpent clasp held her blond hair in place. Flowers were stuck in her hair to emphasize the look. Narcissa looked very beautiful, or she would have had she not had a paper bag in her mouth.
"Breath in, breath out," Isabella couched. The calming effect of Isabella's instructions was being countered by Bellatrix ranting which she thought was helping.
"You can't be backing out now! You'd bring ruin to the Black house! You would be snuffed out from the tapestry. I'd be the only daughter left on! It would just be me and Regulas! You can't bring that shame! It's your duty to your family! Don't be ungrateful!" Bellatrix lectured.
"I don't think that's helping," Li said critically. "Take five and I'll give it a try." Bellatrix shot the redhead a glare but stayed silent. Isabella kept on couching Narcissa breathing. "Listen Narcissa. This is one of my best friends out there. You dump him at the altar I hunt you down. " Narcissa's eyes went wide and her breathing more ragged.
"Nice going," Isabells told Li. She turned her attention to Narcissa. "Listen, forget Li. Forget you family for a minute. Why are you getting married Narcissa? I for one know this is not an arranged marriage like Bellatrix's was. You are the one who asked for this marriage Narcissa, why? Just remember that ok?" Apparently it had a good effect for Narcissa took away the paper bag and seemed able to breathe on her own.
"You're on in a minute!" Narcissa's mother called. Narcissa's looked panicked again and reached for the bag.
"You don't need that," Li told her. "You can get on without it. Alright?" Narcissa swallowed and nodded.
"How do you feel?" Isabella asked.
"Alright," Narcissa replied in a piercing squeak that made everyone in the room cover their ears save for Narcissa.
"Do we have time to fix that?" Bellatrix asked coldly.
"Come on! You have to get going!" Mrs. Black hissed at them from the other side of the door. The three bridesmaids helped the bride to her feet. Narcissa looked rather pale from her lack of oxygen a moment earlier making the red makeup on her face stand out. She was the true blushing bride even if it was unintentional.
First came Li stepped out onto the walkway. She saw the crowd exhale, they thought the bride had been coming and were very disappointed with the redhead. She walked down the aisle trying to see why anyone would want this. It seemed like a whole big waste of time and money. Marriage itself? Who wanted to be tied down to someone for life? Marriage meant no freedom to live how you wanted. Having other people got in the way.
This mental conversation lasted her to the end of the line where she went to go sit on the benches. She was sitting on Narcissa side because bride's maids were supposed to be friends of the bride only. Li wondered why she couldn't have been an usher.
Li saw Narcissa come out. She trained her eyes on Lucius and saw his face light up to see her. Li wondered for the second time in her life why. Li wondered how a person simply walking into a room could make anyone feel better. She had witnessed this once before when her parents had died. She had been standing in the room saying goodbye to her mother when the nurse wheeled in her father. There was no hope. The other car had hit them head on at three hundred kilos per hour (I'm guestimating. I'm really American, I don't use metric though if I did my math project which I'm supposed to be doing would be a lot easier.) They were lucky to alive now. Both were dying. Still Li's mum's face had lit up in happiness when her husband was brought in. Each reached out their hand for the other. Their hands linked and they smiled at each and whispered something Li couldn't figure out. Then the heart monitors had had into that that solid beep. The line had stopped its upward and downward course. Li shook the memory from her mind and concentrated on the goings on.
Narcissa finished her walked down the aisle. Li prayed she wouldn't squeak since it was traditionally for each person to say more than I do. Li took a second look at Narcissa and realized that her friend seemed much calmer then she had before. Her face was a more healthy color and when Narcissa's hands were shaking a bit violently, she could walk all right on her own.
The ceremony seemed quite long for both Li and James. Li because she didn't like weddings and such and because she had virtually no patience for things she considered of no importance. James on the other found the ceremony long for other reasons. One of them being he had little good feelings for either of the two getting married. Another being he knew little of how Slytherins got married. It seemed so up tight and formal compared to the ceremonies he had been to previously. The Slytherins treated this more as a coming together of two families rather than of two people. It seemed to be less about the two and more about everyone who had come before and how this marriage was good for everyone.
When it was finally over and the impatient guests were released from their fidgety silence. The whole group moved to a hall reserved for the party. They were first in the reception hall. Music was playing and several couples were dancing. Through the crowd Li located Severus.
"I can't believe you brought him," Severus whispered to Li indicating James who was standing next to the cheese dip looking quite startled at the dancing Slytherins.
"He's the only guy I know who's half decent and besides you already had a date," Li hissed back.
"Don't remind me, I have to spend all evening trying to make polite conversation with Miss Devoted Servant of Source of all Evil who will be wondering why I haven't taken an active involvement," Severus muttered back.
"Just do what I do. Tell them you don't like commitment and you're willing to help them if they pay you well but you're not making any promises."
"It might work for you but they would threaten death and such."
"Well, they wouldn't kill you because you know the location of thousands of powerful potions, half of them only you can make. They can't threaten to kill anyone you care about either. They would never kill me. I am the mastermind behind many very necessary and complicated charms. I did get the highest charms score in a thousand years," Li told him.
"So humble," Severus teased. "What about them threatening to kill Lucius?"
"They wouldn't dare kill him either. Most of the followers of Voldemort owe alliance to the Malfoy's first and now with Lucius marring Narcissa it's a family connection. If you're a pureblood you are either related to a Black or a Malfoy so therefore they can't kill either Narcissa or Lucius. Besides, Voldemort's mum was a Malfoy. She was the sister of Lucius' grandfather making Voldemort Lucius' cousin once removed. You know that you can't go against family. It's simply not done."
"You have this very well worked out."
"One needs to have it worked out if one wants to stay alive. If they threaten you, threaten them back."
"What about your sister?" Severus asked.
"They don't know I have a sister. They don't even know who my parents are or if I'm a pureblood or not. Unless you've forgotten they think I'm a boy. I can always claim my family is from America if need be. Anyway, my sister? I mean she I family and I wouldn't want to see her killed no matter how nasty she is but I already have that worked out. I set up millions of anti apparation charms around the house. I also put one that only muggles and myself can enter the house. The house itself won't fall down for anything less that natural disaster. Of course the downside to this is it makes her easy to find. If they were to find out her name they could track her easily through the spell. Fortunately she has no idea that the spells exist and so therefore is harder to track. Plus she knows me as Lily, makes tracking her even harder."
"For not caring about her you've done a lot," Severus commented.
"Lest I can do."
"Why are you playing Quidditch again?"
"I've told you a million times. Quidditch is more fun. Besides, what would I do? Secure people's houses? It took a whole lot of work to set up those around Petunia's house. It took even longer to get some spells on her without her knowing," Li explained. Severus nodded and took a sip from the drink he had been holding. "So how goes the job hunt?" Severus had just graduated from graduate school with a degree in advanced potions.
"Too many options. I could get a grant to do research at the Great Library," Severus told her. The Great Library of Alexandria was located in Egypt and the largest and oldest Wizarding library in the world. "I don't want to do that. I don't want to leave England. I could go into the ministry and help work there. I could join the Dark Lord. I could go back for a degree in Transfiguration so I could be an Auror, but that doesn't interest me. I got a call from someone in China. Apparently they have several rare herbs which could be useful to me. They want me to come up with a potion that would cure the common cold. Actually a whole lot of people are willing to help me come up with that one."
"I for one advocate you do some research into that," Li suggested. Severus snorted. Li never got sick except with a cold.
"Excuse me! Excuse me!" Lucius shouted. He tapped his fork on his glass to get everyone's attention.
"I think this is my cue," Severus grumbled. He stood up as well. He said a rather choppy speech before sitting down. People stood up in turn to speak. Everyone in the room was expected to speak about best wishes to the couple. Even children were included in this.
Everyone then proceeded to enter the main room. There was a D.J. playing all the popular songs. The groom brought his bride onto the floor for their first dance as a married couple. James located Li. She was sitting next to Snape. James saw Bellatrix walk over and pull Snape up to dance leaving Li all alone. James made his way over to her side.
"Hello," he greeted her.
"Hi," she replied. James sat down next to her. The two of them watched the newly weds dance. "You ever going to be like that?" she asked. James looked over at her. She had a kind of blissful look on her face.
"I'd like to, if I ever met the right person," he said. He turned his attention back to the couple dancing.
"Think you ever will?" Li asked. "Met her I mean."
"I would like to think so. How about you, ever plan on settling down?"
"No way. I've got way too much to do to get married or be committed to anyone. Besides, the whole idea of marring and dating and such is silly. There's no point."
"Won't being alone all the time make you lonely?"
"I've got Lucius and Severus, they're all I need family and friend wise. I've got my work, don't need anything else."
"I bet one day you'll be singing a different tune. I bet that you'll be married within the next nine months," James said. He spoke in his cocky I'm so smart voice.
"You want to put money on that?" Li asked.
"Why not? How about twenty gallons?" James asked. James knew this was rash, but why not? Twenty gallons was no big deal.
"Fine then, twenty gallons it is." Li rummaged through a bag and retrieved her list of bets. She wrote down all the information and had James sign it. "Nice doing business with you. I'll be sure to collect my twenty gallons." Li smiled her smug smirk and rolled up the list.
Sorry I took so long to get this out. It's been the tough day. I really want to sit down a cry. I wrote the last part while being really upset so if it's bad I blame it on that. I'm not going to go into gory details, but I'm sorry if it doesn't live up to expectations. I seem to be letting everyone down now don't I?