Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
A/N: Hey there people! I am so sorry for taking so long to update this fic. I'll try to update more regulary but with school starting, I can't make any promises. Thank you so much for your lovely reviews! Here is Chapter Four as promised. Enjoy!
It was two days later and Lily and all four of the Marauders were gathered in James estate in Godric's Hollow discussing wedding plans and preparations.
"All right, this is going to be a mixed wedding so we can't have anything to outlandish. Everyone from my side of the family will know about magic of course, but still, better to be safe and sorry. Also, if we do this in a muggle fashion, there will be less of a chance of being targeted," Lily said logically.
James didn't like it, but he had to agree that it made sense. He would not risk the safety of his remaining family and Lily's just to add a little big of magic into the wedding. There would be some. After all, both he and Lily were firmly ingrained within the Wizarding society, but hopefully not enough to track by You-Know-Who.
"James, who is going to preside over the wedding?" Remus asked.
James and Lily exchanged glances and turned to their friends.
"Well, Dumbledore I suppose. He had always been there for me and James when we needed him," Lily said.
"Dumbledore makes the most sense anyhow. We both adore him and lets face it, no one from the muggle world could marry us. Albus would be there anyway, and well, he's the best person for the job and there's no one else I would trust to be truthful," James said.
Remus nodded in agreement but he had a wicked look in his eye. "James, Lily, have you even asked Albus yet?" he said, already knowing the answer.
James and Lily exchanged guilty looks. "Well, no actually, but we are pretty sure that he'll say yes," James said uncomfortably.
At this, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all broke out into laughter. "Oh Prongs, I am willing to bet that you haven't even told anyone that the two of you are engaged and are going to break it at the next order meeting which, by the way, is in a half hour," Sirius said while snickering.
"You three know me too well. That is indeed our plan. Just before the meeting adjourns we'll announce it. Merlin knows that they could all use some good news and I think Lils and mine engagement counts," James said.
"Don't worry Prongs. That counts, that most certainly counts," Remus said while laughing along with Peter.
"Oh go ahead and laugh you three, I'll have the last laugh at the end," Lily said smugly.
When the Marauders heard Lily's statement, four sets of curious eyes turned to her. When Lily said something like that, it never boded well for any of them. Never.
"Well, as you know, James and I are going to my parents house for dinner in two days in order to break the news," she said.
Sirius, Remus, and Peter sniggered as James sent them a pain filled look. He had already met Lily's parents and older sister. Her parents were very nice and had always welcomed James and his friends warmly whenever they visited. Lily's older sister, Petunia, on the other hand was mean, sarcastic, and downright rude to not only James and his friends, but Lily as well.
The last thing that James wanted to do was sit through a tense meal with Lily's parents and sister. James was sure that once Lily announced her intention to marry him that Petunia would cease even pretending to be civil with any of them.
Ignoring the sniggering in the background and her fianc's pained looks, Lily continued.
"Anyway, James and I won't be the only ones going. All of you will be joining us as well and I have already informed by parents of this so there's no getting off the hook," she said smiling smugly.
Remus, Peter, and Sirius all turned and looked at Lily in shock, their jaws hanging open.
"Lils, I love you, but you can not be serious about this!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Really Lily, don't you remember Petunia's reaction the last time that we were over?" Remus asked.
Lily rolled her eyes. As if she could forget that visit. It had been the summer before their seventh year and James, Remus, and Sirius had all turned seventeen, thus, allowing them to use magic as they pleased. The result had been a shrieking Petunia with orange hair highlighted with pink and green spots. She had never forgiven them for that incident and proceeded to make the rest of the Marauders visit a living hell.
"No I haven't, but she'll be forced to be civl because my mum and dad will be there, along with her new husband. Now, since she is expected to be civil to you, you must be civil to her, is that understood?" Lily asked eyeing all four men.
"Aye aye ma'am!" Sirius said with a mock salute with the rest of the Marauders following his example.
Lily rolled her eyes at the four men. "You four are truly incorrigible, you do know that right?" she asked.
Their grins was the only answer that she needed.
"All right, all right, dumb question. Let's go shall we? I don't want to be late for the meeting," she said before Apparating out without warning.
For a moment, the guys stared dumbly at where she had been mere seconds ago and then followed her example and apparated to the meeting.
&&
Albus
Dumbledore, esteemed Headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry and leader of the Order of the Phoenix, watched with
curiosity as Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter entered the meeting
room.
There was an air of excitement emanating from around them,
particularly, Lily and James. Something had changed between the two of
them, he would bet his socks on it.
Lily and James were glowing,
while Sirius, Remus, and Peter all had huge grins. He watched the group
of friends, blue eyes sparkling. Whatever had happened between Lily and
James, it appeared to be a very good thing.
Making a mental note
to question them later, Dumbledore stood up and waited silently for the
group of people to become quiet. While James and his fellow Marauders
were talking and laughing, Lily noticed that Dumbledore had stoop up
and was quietly waiting for everyone else to be quiet.
"Shhh, James! The meeting is about to start," she said jabbing an elbow in her fianc's side.
"Ow! Lily!" James whimpered.
Lily
rolled her eyes. "Honestly James, stop being such a baby. Really, how
you're becoming an Auror is beside me. Now shut up so Albus can start
the meeting," she said.
James rolled his eyes while the others chuckled to themselves before settling down.
"Now
that I hold your attention, I call this meeting of the Order of the
Phoenix to order," Dumbledore said, blue eyes roaming over the
Marauders.
The said Marauders noticed and blushed and quickly turned their eyes away in embarrassment.
"Now, Lily, Filius, how is your work on blocking the Unforgivables coming?" Dumbledore asked.
Lily immediately became serious and stood up alongside Professor Flitwick.
"It's
coming very slowly Albus, I'm afraid. The Unforgivables are very
powerful curses in of themselves, and they become all the more powerful
when you put a powerful witch or wizard behind them. We are making some
progress in blocking the Imperious curse, but not much," Lily said
sadly.
Dumbledore sighed and turned to his Charms teacher. "Filius?" he asked.
Professor
Flitwick shook his head as well. "I am sorry Albus. What Lily said is
all to true. We have made partial progress on the Imperious but then,
that is the weakest of the three Unforgivables. These things take time
Albus. People have been trying to block the Unforgivables for centuries
with no success," he said.
Dumbledore sighed sadly and looked at
his two Charms experts. "I know. I realize that I am asking a lot, and
for that, I am sorry. I have full confidence that you will be able to
find something to help us," he said.
"We will Albus. We won't let you down," Lily said.
"Of course you won't my dear girl," Dumbledore said smiling. "Severus, is there anything that you needed to report?" he asked.
With much reluctance, Severus stood up and faced the Order.
"Yes Albus, unfortunately I do. The Dark Lord had been made aware of the Order's existence. By whom, I don't know. And that
is what disturbs me. Everyone who knows of the Order, is in the Order.
I recommend we not say anything more until we have learned how the Dark
Lord came by his information," Severus said and then sat down.
"This
is most disturbing news indeed. I shall look into this at a later date.
For the meantime, unless there is anything of importance that must be
discussed, I say this should conclude our meeting as Severus
suggested," Dumbledore said.
Lily and James looked at one another and rose together.
"Ah
yes, James, Lily, is there anything that you wanted to share with the
Order?" Dumbledore said, hoping beyond hope that this was not more
grave news.
"Yes we do Pr... Albus," James said. He would never get used to calling Professor Dumbledore Albus!
"Don't worry Albus, this is good news for everyone," Lily said while smiling at everyone.
"That
my dear girl is a wonderful thing to hear. Come, tell us your good
news," Dumbledore said, sighing in relief that this was not more bad
news as he had feared it to be.
"Well, as you all know, I have
been dating Lily for a long time now and I proposed the other night and
we're getting married!" James said excitedly.
Cheers were heard
from all around the room at James announcement. This was precisely the
type of news the Order needed to hear. For many months now, many of the
members had wondered when and if James would pop the question. It
seemed that he finally had.
While the Order cheered at the
delightful news, Peter was growling to himself, while on the outside he
was smiling and nodding at the "wonderful" news. He didn't want this
marriage to take place. He wanted to be the one marrying Lily, not
James bloody Potter.
He had been the one to leak news of the
Order's existence. He had not yet joined Lord Voldemort, but he had
helped. He would join, but not yet, not until it became beneficial for
him. He would have to play his cards close to his vest. He would earn
his Master's trust and then, the tables would finally turn in his favor.
"This
is most delightful news indeed. Congratulations James and Lily. May I
offer you my most humble services and be the one to marry you?"
Dumbledore asked hopefully, not realizing that someone was changing
sides even as he spoke.
James and Lily exchanged relieved
glances. To think that they had been worried that he would say no, and
here he was offering to do it before they even asked!
"Thank you
so much Albus! James and I would love for you to marry us. In fact, we
were going to ask after the meeting had ended but you beat us to it,"
Lily said.
"It would be my pleasure to marry you. Now, I am sure that we will all be receiving invitations?" Albus asked teasingly.
"Of
course!" James said, sounding horrified. While he might not be friends,
nor even get along with everyone in the Order, he respected them
immensely, even Snape. Besides, Lily would kill him if they didn't
invite everyone.
"I am just teasing my boy. Now, on that light
note, I say we adjourn for the time being and shall meet again say, oh,
next Monday," Dumbledore said.
Everyone nodded and began to leave, all talking about the upcoming wedding.
"Severus, if you could stay a moment?" Dumbledore asked.
Severus
nodded. He had predicted that Dumbledore would ask him to stay after.
There was much he had to tell the Headmaster and he did not want to do
so in public.
Lily shot Severus and Albus a confused look but
continued on her way. Whatever those two had to talk about was their
own business. Besides, she would probably find out later anyway.
With
one last look at Albus and Severus, Lily caught up to James and the
others, and continued to talk about the wedding and the dinner with her
parents the next evening.
