James was just coming back from the shower, a towel wrapped around him. He walked into his room and dropped the towel, looking into his closet for clothes. Just then he heard a loud CRACK from behind him, the sure sound of somebody apparating in.
"Lookin' good, Prongsie," Sirius said, then burst out laughing.
"You could have apparated on the other side of the door," James muttered, picking up his towel and quickly covering himself.
"And miss the lovely view? Never. You still have that little beauty mark on your bum, then? I thought for sure it had been hexed off during that snowball fight sixth year." Sirius casually began looking through James's trunk.
"Sirius, do you think you could.. I don't know.. Leave?" James was still standing there, clutching the towel in front of himself.
"No, I want details."
"Of?"
"You shagged Lily." Sirius said it so matter-of-factly that James actually dropped his towel again.
"Whaat? How do you..?"
"Prongs." Sirius fluttered his eyelashes. "I have been your best mate for years. I can just... tell. So, spill. Details. Now."
James disappeared inside his closet. His voice was muffled as he yelled out, "You'll get no details of anything from me, Black. When I come out, you'd better be gone, because I've got a date with Lily...I mean it, or else I'll hex you into next year."
Sirius rolled his eyes and continued to go through James's school things.
James came out in muggle clothes, looking exasperated but defeated at Sirius lounging on his bed.
"What chance do you think the Harpies have got at the cup this year?" Sirius asked, still distracted.
"Sirius, I need to ask you something." His face was totally serious, and a bit nervous.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "James, the fact that you were just naked and have a pressing question worries me a bit."
"Ha, ha." James threw some dirty clothes at Sirius as he too began unpacking his trunk. "Well, I'm marrying Lily, you know."
Sirius just gave him an impatient look, quite plainly thinking duh.
"Anyway," James continued, "I was wondering if you would be my best man."
Sirius grinned. "Prongs, I wouldn't let you have anyone else." And he stood up and gave James a quick hug. "Who's Lily having?"
James frowned. "You know, we haven't really talked about anything yet. But she'll probably be having Alli. I'll ask her tonight. We have plans, and I'm late."
"Right," Sirius said, standing. "I just came by to tell you... My uncle Alphard's died, and he's left me a great deal of gold."
"That's great," James said with a grin as he tied his shoes.
"Yeah, well.. I have enough money to get my own place now. I'm moving out."
"I'll miss you," James said, standing up. "Wait, no, I won't, I'll be moving out too, won't I? Lily and I can hardly live in this bedroom.."
Sirius laughed. "I guess we're growing up, huh?"
James frowned. "I didn't think marauders grew up."
"Well, Peter is still dwarfed by first years, so I don't think we have too much to worry about yet. Besides, we know my flat will be full of broomsticks and junk food, and I'll be picking you up everyday to go play Quidditch.. Nothing's really going to change, is it?"
"Nah," James said with a grin. "Grown up Marauders only means we don't have McGonagal breathing down our necks."
Sirius gave him a devious grin. "Cheers."
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Lily, too, was running late.
"I'm going out with James, be home later mum!" she yelled quickly before dashing out the door.
She opted to take her car instead of apparating. After a hasty park job she straightened her plain black dress and entered. James was sitting by himself at a table for two, looking intolerably cute in jeans and a black shirt. She couldn't help sneaking up behind him and putting her arms around him as she kissed the top of his head.
"Sorry I'm late, but I was researching something and lost track of time."
James grinned; she was wearing a plain knee-length black dress, with her hair swept casually back, curly from her shower, and she looked effortlessly beautiful. And she was marrying him.
"S'ok, I ordered us a couple of drinks. What were you researching?"
"Well, we start auror training soon, don't we? So I was looking through my old Defense Against the Dark Arts books, and I started thinking about how much you need to know to be an auror, and I started making lists.. It was a nightmare in the end, and I started to get nervous. So I jumped in the shower-"
"Stop," James said, grinning and holding up a hand. "Give me a moment to savor that image."
"James." Lily turned almost as red as her hair and stuck her face in her menu. "The owner of this restaurant is friends with my mother, please behave."
"Sorry," he said, but he was still grinning. "Anyway, I talked to Sirius earlier. After my own shower, actually. He, er, walked in on me."
Lily burst out laughing, giving an adorable snort.
"Anyway, I asked him to be my best man. That's ok, right?"
"Of course it is, he's your best friend. I asked Alli the other night to be my maid of honor. This all seems so surreal."
"That's for sure. Thanks," he said as their waitress handed him a glass of champagne.
"Champagne?" Lily asked, taking her own drink and thanking the waitress.
"I was in the mood to celebrate."
"And what are you celebrating?" Lily asked with an amused smile.
"Seeing you," he answered simply, picking his menu back up. "Is the chicken here good?" When she didn't answer he looked up and saw, to his horror, that she was wiping tears from her eyes. "Don't cry!"
"I'm fine," she said, smiling through her tears. "I'm happy."
"So you're crying?" The look on his face was too much; Lily laughed.
"Yes, but I'm done now. Let's talk about our wedding."
"Excellent," he said, putting his menu back down. "What do you think of next fall?"
"Fall is beautiful," Lily said with a nod. "October, especially. The leaves are all colorful."
James picked up his napkin and slipped it under the table, murmuring quietly. When he brought it back out, it showed a perfect calender of October, 1978.
"What day?"
Lily looked down at her hands. "Well.. My mother is a bit sentimental. She wanted to know if we could get married in a muggle church. I mean, she doesn't care about the reception or anything, but.."
"No problem," James said with a grin. "As long as you and I are both there, I don't care where it happens. My own mother has said that muggle churches are beautiful places for a wedding. So, what day?"
"Weddings are usually scheduled for the weekends. And a lot of strangers turn up to watch. So, um, maybe we should have it during the week. That way, your family won't be in trouble if they perform magic."
"Good idea," he said. "How about October ninth? It's a Tuesday."
"Excellent," Lily nodded. "Well, you can pick where the reception is, since I'm picking the church."
James thought for a moment. "My house.. Well, My parents' house, has a small ballroom in the back. They entertain a lot," he explained at the look of shock on her face. "The ballroom opens up into our backyard, which is quite big. It would be wonderful to have the wedding at my own house."
Lily grinned. "That sounds beautiful," she said.
"Do we need a wedding song?" James asked, scanning his memory for romantic songs.
"Eventually," Lily said vaguely. "But we can talk about that later. Let's eat."
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After dinner, Lily drove them to a park near her house. She got out without explaining what they were doing there to James and headed for the swings, stepping out of her shoes as she went and pulling her hair out of it's clip. James followed her, stepping over the handbag she had dropped in the grass.
"Lily, er, what are you doing?" he asked with a grin.
"Take off your shoes before you get on," she answered, pointing at the swing next to hers and gazing up at the night sky. She kicked her legs until she was swinging at a great height.
James did as she said rather than arguing, feeling much like an idiot as he bent down to untie his shoes. "Why are we doing this again?" he asked.
Lily waited until he was up in the air before answering.
"When I was a little girl I would sneak out of my house to come here and just swing into the night. See, I didn't know about broomsticks yet, and this is the closest to the sky I could get." She smiled. "I remember thinking that if I wanted it bad enough, I could fly right off and touch the sky."
James looked up at the sky like she was doing. It was rather like riding a broomstick, but a teasing one, for as high as the swing went it always came back down.
"It turns out that I did want it bad enough. One night I got caught sneaking out, and my mother made me promise not to do it anymore. I was devastated. The next week, however, I got my Hogwarts letter. Nobody knows about me coming here, not even Alli," she finished, grinning at him.
"Why are you telling me this?" James asked out of curiosity.
"Well," she said carefully. "You showed me your special spot last year, remember? By the lake. So I'm showing you mine. And I guess I just thought..." she blushed and looked back up at the sky. "I guess I thought that if I ever had a chance of touching the sky, it would be with you."
If James had not been in love with her before, he certainly would be now. Eventually they got off of their swings, after talking for about an hour. They started back for the car, but James put a hand on Lily's shoulder and she stopped, giving him an inquisitive look.
He smiled and leaned in to her, putting his hands in her hair and his lips on hers. And together, under the stars, they touched the sky.
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A/N: fluffy chapter, but it was time for one, no? Hm, what you guys think of this chapter? It was kind of random, but I liked it. So the wedding plans are under way! And soon they start auror training, and Order work.. What busy people Lily and James were, eh? Ok, review, tell me what you think. Of course we all know the whole point of this chapter was James Potter in a towel!
-wink-
PS, you can check, October 9th 1978 actually was a Tuesday. I picked that date because it's my birthday, and I knew I wouldn't forget it in the future, haha. And I snort when I laugh, so I gave poor Lily the same problem.
Ria