Chapter 46 All the Sense in the World
James stifled a yawn and did his best not to move any more than necessary as he crouched next to Lily behind a clump of bushes. They'd been on an Order assignment since seven, it was now nearing midnight, and James had just put in a full day of Auror training. All things considered, he was more than ready to go home to bed.
He glanced over at Lily and couldn't help but smile in spite of his discomfort. Despite the fact that she looked nearly as tired and ridiculous as James felt, it was also clear that Lily was in her element. Though he would never in a million years have admitted it, James did realize that the Department of Mysteries suited her.
And so did the Order of the Phoenix. In the two months since Dumbledore had established it, Lily had spent nearly every waking moment not spent working or planning their wedding on assignment for the Order, and of course, James was right there with her, enjoying it just as much as, if not more than, Lily did.
Or usually he enjoyed it, anyway, but not tonight. Again, James stifled a yawn and shifted as surreptitiously as possible. Crouching in the bushes was uncomfortable, no matter how good the cause.
He and Lily were huddled behind shrubbery shivering in the October night a mere week before their wedding spying on Lucius Malfoy. Because of Remus and Kathleen's experiences at the Marchbanks' New Years' ball, the Order of the Phoenix knew that Lucius Malfoy and his wife Narcissa were Death Eaters, or at least were sympathetic to Voldemort's cause. But Dumbledore, for reasons unknown to the rest of the Order, believed Malfoy to be one of the most significant Death Eaters, and that he would be holding a highly important meeting sometime that evening.
In anticipation of this, Caradoc Dearborn had slipped a Locating Liquid into Malfoy's drink at the Patrons of St Mungo's luncheon earlier that day, and Order members throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening carefully monitored Malfoy's comings and goings. Lily and James' shift had begun at seven PM, and they had spent the first four hours watching their own cup of Locating Liquid, waiting for it to turn red to indicate that Malfoy had left his house.
Finally, round eleven thirty, it had. More than halfway asleep by this time, James had been startled awake by Lily's exclamation and opened his eyes just in time to help her carefully pour a drop of the potion onto a map and watch with her as the crimson liquid had been drawn, as if by a magnet, to Hampstead Heath. Lily and James had exchanged glances; a public park at this time of the night would be perfect for a discreet meeting. After sending an owl to Dumbledore, they'd immediately Apparated to a location about a block away and sneaked up on Malfoy as quietly as possible, praying that he and the people he was meeting wouldn't spot them.
That had been more than half an hour ago; evidently whoever Malfoy had arranged to rendezvous with was late.
Malfoy looked just as impatient as James felt; he paced back and forth in the small secluded area, careful never to walk too close to the main path. He wore a black hooded cloak and his Death Eater's mask; clearly this wasn't intended to be a meeting of equals in public. James wondered for the hundredth time who exactly Malfoy was allegedly meeting and in regards to what. Was he planning on intimidating someone into Voldemort's service, or was this simply a weekly meeting to discuss routine Death Eater business?
Before James' overactive imagination could generate more scenarios, he was interrupted by a resounding pop. James exchanged one more glance with Lily before they both focused every conceivable sense on the approaching figure.
But as the hooded shape drew closer, it took on an ominous familiarity. Lily felt a chill of apprehension run down her spine. Please don't let it be who I think it is, she begged silently. Let it be someone else, anyone else.
But it was indeed the unmistakable form of Lord Voldemort approaching Lucius Malfoy. Carefully, James' hand reached for Lily's hand and held it tightly.
"My lord," Malfoy verged upon the figure and bowed low. "I am, as always, your most humble servant."
"Lucius," the high, cold voice that haunted Lily and James' dreams, as well as the dreams of so many others, insinuated its way into the night air. "You have carried out my instructions?"
"To the letter, my lord," Lucius replied promptly. "Dolohov and Lestrange have made their approaches; I expect responses within the week."
"Excellent," Voldemort replied. "And these approaches were promising?"
"Extremely so, my lord," Malfoy responded, his voice smooth and slick and just a shade too eager. "I have the highest expectations. Shall I tell Bellatrix and Rosier to begin their proposals?"
"Not just yet," Voldemort cut in. "We shall wait to see first how these efforts pan out. Do not become overeager, Lucius."
"No, my lord," Lucius couldn't seem to answer fast enough. "Forgive me."
Voldemort nodded regally, which apparently indicated forgiveness, or at least dismissal. "And how does your young protégé?"
"He appears to be doing well," Malfoy's tone was even more deferential; James wanted desperately to chuck something at him. "He's adjusting."
"I trust it is not necessary to warn you to keep a careful eye on him, Lucius," Voldemort's tone was quietly menacing. "He's too valuable and too precarious for neglect."
"I check on him daily, my lord," Lucius said nervously, "and I have spoken to others who were with him in Cornwall in August. None of them had any concerns, or even any suspicions."
Lily and James exchanged glances; there had been a particularly vicious attack on a Muggle village in Cornwall in August. Several giants had joined the Death Eaters, which was the first time anyone had heard of an alliance between them, and together they had savagely tortured and killed a number of Muggles, as well as two Aurors that had tried to intervene. Who was this person Malfoy and Voldemort were talking about, and why was he of such interest to Voldemort, who considered other people's lives to be worth less than nothing?
"I have spoken to them also." The menacing edge in Voldemort's voice intensified. "Nevertheless, I am trusting you to take care with this task, Lucius. And if I am given any cause for dissatisfaction, you will regret it very deeply."
A shudder passed visibly through Malfoy's body. "You CAN trust me, my lord," he assured his master eagerly. "You can trust me in this matter as you have been able to in all of the other matters I'm involved with."
"The hour grows late," was Voldemort's only response. "You must return before you are missed, or followed. Contact me again as soon as you hear anything."
Malfoy agreed, and, after an obsequious farewell that included much bowing and scraping, Disapparated.
Voldemort glanced round him and raised his wand in what appeared to be preparation for his own Disapparation, but all of a sudden he turned swiftly, cloak swirling, and blasted a fiery hole through the shrubbery.
Lily and James sprang back, managing to avoid the worst of the fire, and got to their feet as quickly as possible, training their wands on the dark figure in front of them.
"I thought I could smell fear," Voldemort cast back his hood and smiled mirthlessly at Lily and James, "and it would appear I was correct." He advanced on them slowly, a panther stalking its prey, his smile growing in anticipation of the kill. The snakelike eyes widened as they rested on Lily's red hair. "The little Mudblood!" he exclaimed softly. "I shall enjoy taking you alive."
"Abicio!" Lily spat, thrusting her arms out in front of her.
Caught off guard, Voldemort staggered back several paces before regaining his balance. "Did Dumbledore never teach you that it isn't nice to push?" he taunted, his high, cold cackle raising every hair on Lily's head. He raised his wand deliberately.
"Necterus!" James said quickly, ropes shooting out of the end of his wand and winding their way around Voldemort. The Dark Lord staggered, but once again managed to keep his footing, and, with a casual flip of his wand, vanished the ropes into thin air. With another wand flick, Voldemort shot a stream of fire into James' chest. James made a strange sound between a gasp and a moan and sank to his knees.
"James!" Lily called his name urgently, not daring to take her eyes or wand off of their enemy but needing to know that he was all right. She wasn't at all encouraged when James couldn't manage to answer her.
"Filo!" Lily shouted without thinking further, bringing her wand sharply into a circular motion. At best, the Spiraling Spell would work and blast Voldemort into the nearest solid surface. At worst, it would blast Lily into one, which on second thought might not be so bad, as it would at least get her further away from Voldemort.
To Lily's utter shock, Voldemort spiraled perfectly backward towards a stone wall with considerable force. "It worked!" she exclaimed, delighted.
Then the bottom of the world dropped out from under her. The worst pain Lily had ever felt, had ever known anyone could feel, swallowed her whole, and she wasn't aware of anything anymore.
James watched, horrified, as Lily writhed on the ground under the direction of Voldemort's wand, her screams piercing the air. Voldemort watched her twist with a detached expression of pleasure on his face, as if he were doing something that he enjoyed but did so frequently that it had ceased to be anything but mildly pleasant.
"Finite!" James shouted, waving his wand wildly at Lily. "Finite!" But nothing happened, and Voldemort looked in his direction, mildly irritated and amused by James' attempt.
"How very like your parents you are, boy," Voldemort observed lightly, glancing down at him with a decided absence of interest. He turned once more to Lily, and the ghost of a smile twisted his mouth.
Frantically, James glanced around him, trying to decide what to do, and as his eyes rested on a large branch a little distance away, James was struck by inspiration. Ignoring the burning pain in his chest, James quickly set the branch on fire, then sent it hurtling toward Voldemort's head with the most forceful spell he could muster.
His aim wasn't completely accurate, but the burning missile did hit Voldemort's torso with some force, knocking him onto the ground and shattering his control over the Cruciatus Curse.
It took Voldemort only seconds to remove the branch and regain his footing, but it was enough time for James to make his way painfully to his feet. Furious now, Voldemort covered the distance separating them in two strides, banishing James with killing force into the wrought iron fence several feet away.
James struck the fence back first, curling into a ball to protect himself, and was on his feet again, reflexes born of years of Quidditch and enhanced by his Auror training telling him to duck yet another curse in the nick of time. His adrenaline pumping, James felt his various injuries a lot less now, and managed to return fire with a few curses of his own, a grim expression of satisfaction passing over his face whenever one of them hit home.
However, James was no match for a wizard who had dedicated his life to learning how to better hurt others. He was deflecting some of the curses, but many of them got past his defenses, and James was tiring quickly.
A body bind caught James unawares, and he lay sprawled upon his back, stiff and helpless, as the Dark Lord advanced, smiling mercilessly.
This is it, then, James thought, staring up at Voldemort hovering over him like the Grim Reaper himself. He drew in a deep breath and tried to think of Lily, wanting her to be his last thought.
Then suddenly Voldemort wasn't above him any longer and James found he could move his limbs. He got to his knees as quickly as possible, wand at the ready, and spied Lily carrying on his duel with Voldemort, crouched behind a tree and hurling all of the curses and hexes in her vast repertoire at the Dark Lord's head.
James ran in a crouch over to Lily's tree, threw himself down beside her, and added his own jinxes into the mix, ducking every so often and pulling Lily down with him when a spell came too close for comfort.
Even with James' excellent reflexes and Lily's knowledge of dueling spells, they were getting hit with some regularity and tiring rapidly. The only comfort was that Voldemort was beginning to weaken as well; he was flinging his spells with less force and frequency than he had been before, not to mention less accuracy.
"We've got to do something," Lily muttered to James. "I can't keep this up for much longer." She landed hard on her back as one of Voldemort's spells penetrated her defenses, as if in illustration of her point.
"Well, I'm open to suggestions," James snapped, dodging a bolt of purple light that zoomed past him and burned a hole in a tree some distance behind them. "Very open, as a matter of fact."
Without warning, the tree they had been ducking behind went up in flames, forcing Lily and James to dive out of the way. James rolled and made it to his feet almost instantly, then glanced wildly round for Lily.
She'd rolled in the opposite direction from James and knelt on the ground, looking dazed. Voldemort approached Lily ever so slowly, wand trained, an unholy smile gracing his face. But before James could act, Lily had cast a Shielding Charm on herself and blasted Voldemort with a bolt of red light.
Both Lily and James held their breath, waiting for the smoke to clear, and when it did, Voldemort was no longer there. James stared in disbelief, but Lily turned slowly round, and James, casting a puzzled glance in her direction, followed her example.
And there was Voldemort, very much alive and barely singed, laughing at their expense. "Your ignorance astounds me. Did you really imagine that your pathetic efforts would be so successful as to kill me?" he mocked. "The greatest wizard who ever lived?"
"That's entirely a matter of opinion," Lily shot back, fists clenched. Voldemort merely chuckled, amused by both Lily's ignorance and her defiance.
"You would make an admirable Death Eater, Mudblood, were you worthy of living," he replied, still entertained. James, deciding that he'd heard and seen quite enough, raised his wand to take advantage of the distraction.
"Stu –" he began, but before he could finish the incantation, the most paralyzing, mind-exploding pain he'd ever known flooded his body and James fell to the ground, body writhing and twisting in the telltale signs of the Cruciatus Curse.
"James!" Lily screamed. "Stop it!" she shrieked at the Dark Lord. "Stop it! Let him go! Filo! Abicio! Finite Incantatem!" Lily stopped, shaking; none of her spells seemed to be hitting their mark.
"I will kill him soon," Voldemort informed her casually. "He will not suffer as you will; take comfort in that."
Overcome with rage, Lily picked up a rock and threw it with all her might at Voldemort's wand. To her utter surprise, the rock did what her spells hadn't been able to and knocked the wand from Voldemort's hand. The Dark Lord uttered a cry of surprise as his wand went spinning off into the brush. "Filo!" Lily exclaimed, using her advantage to send Voldemort spiraling off into space. He landed with a thud against the stone wall again, several of the stones toppling down on top of him
Quickly as she could, Lily reached down to give James a hand up. "It's all right," he said weakly, refusing. "I can do it."
Lily grinned at him relieved, and helped him to his feet regardless. But before either of them could Disapparate, an unseen force pushed them both hard into the ground, face first.
Coughing and sputtering, Lily and James picked themselves up to face Lord Voldemort once again.
"I am through playing games with children," the Dark Lord hissed, livid. He stretched out one hand and his wand flew into it.
Wordlessly, Lily and James moved so that they stood shoulder to shoulder, their wands poised, and stared back at the cloaked figure, not blinking.
Then, all of a sudden, a popping noise filled the air, and Mad Eye Moody, closely followed by Sirius, Remus, Peter, Dorcas, and Dumbledore, Apparated in behind them.
Dumbledore took a step forward, his face grim and set. Voldemort smiled mockingly at his former professor, then disappeared wordlessly in a swirl of black cloak, the resulting impact throwing Lily and James to the ground again.
"James!" James opened his eyes to see Sirius, Remus, and Peter hovering over him, wearing identical expressions of concern.
"I'm all right," he croaked, a shadow of his trademark grin passing over his face. "Lily?"
"Er, I think she's all right," Remus reported, peering somewhere to James' left. "Dorcas and Moody and Dumbledore are with her."
Resolutely, James made his way to his knees, bracing himself against the waves of pain that threatened to topple him over.
"Whoa, Prongs, what are you doing?" Sirius looked alarmed "You'd better lay back down."
Ignoring his best friend, James crawled toward the pool of red hair just visible next to Dorcas' foot. "Lily?" he rasped, voice hoarse from shouting incantations, "Can you hear me?"
"James?" Lily sat up and peered at him from between Dorcas' knees. Moody and Dorcas were forced to move hastily out of the way as Lily scrambled on hands and knees in James' direction and threw herself into James' outstretched arms, ignoring the crowd gathered round them.
Finally, Lily pulled back a bit. "Are you all right?" she asked anxiously, her eyes scanning James for any sign of injuries.
"'All right' is a relative term." James winced as his temporarily forgotten injuries did their best to remind him of their presence. "But yes, I probably am. You?"
"I'll live." Lily grimaced in discomfort and shifted a bit, trying in vain to find a position that didn't hurt.
"Well, that's a relief since the pair of you are getting married in a week and your mums would finish you off if you delayed the wedding." Sirius put in, reminding Lily and James that they had an audience.
"What happened, Potter?" Moody growled, crouching down in front of them. Lily and James exchanged a glance and began to tell their tale, from waiting for Malfoy to leave his house to the cryptic conversation they'd witnessed to their duel with Voldemort.
"'Approaches?"" Dorcas mused, her brow furrowed in confusion. "I wonder what he meant by that."
"And the person that was involved in Cornwall, Malfoy's protégé," Remus put in. "That's the bit I'm curious about."
"What do you think, Albus?" Moody prodded, his magical eye swiveling toward the professor.
"I am very much afraid," Dumbledore spoke softly, his tone thoughtful, "that Lord Voldemort and Mr. Malfoy were discussing their efforts to recruit spies."
"Spies?" Peter squeaked, his voice shrill in his incredulity. "But who would You Know Who get to spy for him?"
"Oh, he'll have his ideas," Moody prophesied darkly, getting to his feet again. "But for now I think we ought to get Potter and Evans here to St Mungo's."
"An excellent idea," Dumbledore replied, gallantly extending a hand to Lily. "We can discuss this matter further when Lily and James are in less acute discomfort."
And they did indeed discuss the matter later; they discussed it so much, in fact, that Lily and James grew heartily sick of retelling their story. Both were released from St Mungo's the following morning and spent the rest of the day in the Prewetts' attic with most of the other Order of the Phoenix members, going over and over the events of the previous night. This was frustrating on many levels, but mostly because there wasn't anything to be done about Voldemort's latest efforts without more information. Order members were assigned to tail Malfoy, Dolohov, the Lestrange brothers, and Bellatrix Black, but this was easier said than done as they all tended to be rather difficult, not to mention dangerous, to find.
Lily returned home late that night, every part of her aching and weary beyond words, wanting nothing more than to tiptoe up to bed and sleep for the rest of her life. But Lily stopped dead in her tracks in the foyer when she caught sight of her parents sitting side by side in the lounge, plainly waiting up for her.
Lily approached cautiously. "Mum? Dad?" She asked. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not at all, dear," Worry lines crisscrossed Mrs. Evans' face, but she tried to put on a brave face. "What could be wrong?"
"We just wanted to make sure you came home safely," Mr. Evans added, and Lily felt her heart wrench. Even though they were doing their best to deny it, it was plain that Lily's parents were desperately concerned for her. And the tragedy of it was, there was very little she could tell them, between her Department of Mysteries job and the secret Order of the Phoenix. Still, she just couldn't bring herself to trip merrily off to bed and leave them like this.
Slowly, Lily made her way to the sofa facing her parents and sat down. "I can't tell you very much, but I'll give you what information I can," she began. "Go on, then, and fire away."
Lily spent a very uncomfortable day at work the next day. Everyone in the entire Ministry seemed to have heard about Lily and James' brush with Voldemort and everyone Lily knew, along with a good number that she didn't, made a point of congratulating her and pumping her for information about it. Lily answered as best she could, though of course only the Order members knew exactly what had happened and why she'd been in Hampstead Heath at midnight. Even when she made it to the relative seclusion of the Department of Mysteries, Lily wasn't safe; when he heard that Lily had successfully used the Spiraling Spell on Voldemort, Bilius Weasley spent the rest of his workday pestering her about it. By the time five o' clock rolled round, Lily was exceedingly glad that today was her last day of work before her wedding.
It turned out that being home to prepare for her wedding wasn't any more restful than work had been. Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Potter, James, and all of Lily and James' closest friends were constantly underfoot. Still, Lily was glad to have them and to have so many things to do. It took her mind off of other things that were better not to dwell on.
Petunia would not be attending Lily and James' wedding, a fact Lily couldn't help but be grateful for. When Mrs. Evans had told Petunia that the wedding would be in October, Lily's sister had informed her mother that she and Vernon would unfortunately be on holiday in Monte Carlo at that time and wouldn't be able to attend.
Mrs. Evans had been deeply regretful that her elder daughter would miss Lily's wedding, and apologized for it many times to Lily, who just couldn't bring herself to even pretend that she wasn't relieved. Mrs. Potter had at first been inclined to share Mrs. Evans' regret; she'd always felt badly for Petunia ever since she'd heard the story of Petunia's own mad wedding and her unfortunate beard. When she'd caught Lily and James literally jumping up and down with glee after hearing that Petunia definitely wouldn't be coming, she'd been a bit shocked and very reproachful. But Mrs. Potter didn't feel that way for long after she met Petunia and Vernon for herself.
Petunia had come to the house one Sunday to visit her parents and Mrs. Potter, who'd been visiting to discuss wedding details at the time, had answered the door. Seeing a be-robed, obviously freakish figure standing in the foyer of her childhood home had been too much for Petunia, who'd emitted an ear-shattering shriek at the sight and Vernon had begun demanding at the top of his lungs to know what Mrs. Potter had done with Mr. and Mrs. Evans. Unimpressed as she was by this show of hysterics, the real clincher had come for Mrs. Potter when she'd seen the way Petunia and Vernon treated Lily, Vernon suggesting that Lily ought to be locked up and Petunia coldly ignoring her until their parents were out of earshot, when she took the opportunity to hiss "freak!" at her sister. Indignant on her soon-to-be-daughter-in-law's behalf and in the face of such obvious intolerance for the wizarding lifestyle, Mrs. Potter no longer had quite so much sympathy for Petunia and her husband.
The next three days passed by in a blur of dress robes, flowers, and people, and before Lily knew it, it was the night before her wedding. She, Alice, Morwenna, Kathleen, Dorcas, and Marlene were crowded into her bedroom, drinking butterbeer and talking late into the night.
They talked about all sorts of things, but mostly the others took great delight in reminding Lily of all of the various occasions throughout their years at Hogwarts when she had told James off.
"What about when James locked Lily in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express with him?" Morwenna reminisced.
"That's right!" Dorcas exclaimed, grinning. "I'd almost forgotten about that. I think that was the first time I ever saw Lily hex another person on purpose."
"You were livid!" Alice said gleefully to Lily, who scowled. "But that wasn't the first time Lily hexed James, Dorcas; remember in fourth year when James tried to spike Lily's pumpkin juice with a love potion?"
Lily's five friends burst into laughter over that memory while Lily sat glowering at them, hoping that they'd all wet themselves.
"James' ears were shriveled for a week," Kathleen recalled finally, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.
"Longer than that," Morwenna corrected. "We went home for Easter holidays that Saturday, and James' ears were shriveled almost the whole time. He told his mum and dad that he'd accidentally eaten a shrivelfig."
"He was just lucky that that's the only place I shriveled," Lily put in. "That love potion bit definitely makes my top ten angriest moments list."
"Angry?" Marlene snorted. "You were demented! You threw the pumpkin juice in James' face, walloped him with the goblet, and then shriveled his ears! I felt a bit sorry for him at the time but didn't dare tell you in case you turned on me!" Everyone relapsed into giggles at this, even Lily, who had to admit that it was just a bit funny in retrospect.
"To his credit, James never turned you in," Morwenna pointed out as soon as she'd caught her breath a bit. "He always said things weren't your fault and took the blame for them. I never even heard him complain about his ears."
"It's a bit odd in a way, to think of Lily and James getting married," Dorcas mused aloud, taking a thoughtful sip of butterbeer. "In some ways I'm still expecting James to come swaggering up to Lily and do some completely berk-ish thing to show off."
"And for Lily to shoot James the Prefect Glare of Death and tell him that hell will have frozen over by the time she agrees to go out with him," Kathleen put in.
"It does appear that hell has finally frozen over," Lily admitted a bit sheepishly.
"Hah!" Alice snorted. "The pair of you still do those things."
"We do not!" Lily exclaimed indignantly.
"What about last week when James was bragging to you about winning his duel with Dawlish during Auror training and you told him that if he didn't shut up about it you would force feed him his wand?" Alice demanded.
"Okay, so we do argue a bit sometimes," Lily conceded grudgingly. "But we don't do it very often," she added defensively
"Looks like some things never change," Dorcas observed with a grin.
Across town in Sirius' flat, the Marauders were doing very much the same thing, except with Ogden's Old Firewhiskey and a lot more impersonations, courtesy of Sirius and Peter.
"My personal favourite was when Sturgis asked Lily to go to Hogsmeade with him when we were in 5th year," Remus recalled, grinning, once Sirius and Peter had wrapped up their encore rendition of James' proposal.
"And James dumped that potion over Sturgis' head!" Sirius exclaimed. "I remember that now! That stuff smelled bloody awful."
"Sturgis STILL doesn't know you did it," Peter put in, chuckling at the memory.
"Bloody good thing too, or he would've killed you," Remus added practically. "It really did smell terrible."
"Yes it did," James agreed innocently. "So terrible, in fact, that Sturgis had to cancel his date with Lily, which was very unfortunate."
The four Marauders subsided into hysterical laughter again, everything made ten times funnier after two bottles of Firewhiskey.
"It still amazes me sometimes that Lily wants to marry you after all the things you put that poor girl through," Remus commented after they had calmed down somewhat.
"What did I ever do to Lily?" James demanded indignantly.
"Let's see....... Humiliating her in public every time you asked her out, accidentally setting her hair on fire that one time in first year, trying to feed her a love potion...." Peter listed, ticking each item off on his fingers.
"Not to mention the train compartment incident," Remus pointed out.
"Or giving her sister a beard," Sirius put in helpfully.
"And what about all of the things Lily did to me?" James inquired. "Calling me names, throwing my flowers out the window, telling me off for hexing people...." James, seeing the expressions on his mates' faces, trailed off. "Well, at least she finally realized that she loved me all along," James said a bit defiantly.
"Sure she did, Prongs," Sirius snorted. All those times when she said 'I hope you die,' what she meant was: 'I love you.'"
Lily and James' wedding day started off a bit misty in the morning, but fortunately said mist burned off by noon, which was a great relief to James. Stupid as it sounded, he didn't much like the idea of getting married on a drizzly grey day.
The wedding ceremony would take place in a church not far from the house Lily had grown up in in London. Lily loved the ancient, picturesque little chapel, and had always secretly wanted to get married there. Mr. and Mrs. Evans had been enthusiastic about the idea as well; though they'd never said anything to Lily, she knew that they were pleased that at least one aspect of this wedding would be somewhat familiar to them.
The reception was to be held at the Potters' London house after the ceremony. It was, by most standards, going to be a very small wedding, but Lily didn't care. All of the people that really mattered would be there, and neither she nor James cared overmuch about a huge wedding.
Lily dressed for her wedding at her parents' house with the help of her mother, Alice, Morwenna, Kathleen, Dorcas, and Marlene. At first inclined to be emotional, they quickly got over it, taking the opportunity to tease Lily further about marrying James, and (when Mrs. Evans wasn't in hearing) about the spectacularly hideous bridesmaid's dress she was wearing in the pictures of Petunia's wedding, which Mrs. Evans had trotted out for the occasion.
Before she knew it, Lily was riding in a chauffeured car with her parents, on the way to the church to be married. Mrs. Evans dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief, and Mr. Evans appeared as though he had a large lump in his throat, but Lily, aside from a few butterflies in the pit of her stomach, was remarkably calm. A good deal more composed than she'd expected to be, Lily admitted to herself. She felt ready to take this step, and Lily couldn't really say she was nervous.
James, on the other hand, was a bit of a wreck; he spent the time waiting for his wedding to begin pulling at his collar and obsessively checking the clock every few seconds, wondering if Lily was going to realize that she'd agreed to marry him and run away in horror to find the giant squid.
Somehow James made it to the altar and tried to calm himself down by glancing round at all of the people in the church. There were his parents, beaming at him from the front row and Mrs. Evans across the aisle from them. Remus, Kathleen, Peter, and Frank were directly behind James' mum and dad, all smiling encouragingly at him, as were Morwenna and Dorcas from across the aisle, where they were sitting with the McKinnons. Several of Lily and James' fellow Order members were scattered throughout, most notably Professor Dumbledore, who was squeezed into a pew with Hagrid and Professors McGonagall and Flitwick. Catching James' eye, Flitwick waved merrily, Dumbldore's eyes twinkled, and Hagrid and McGonagall, both teary eyed, offered him watery smiles and waved their handkerchiefs in his general direction.
Seeing all of the guests made James even more nervous; this wasn't some sort of dream, it was really happening. He, James Potter, was getting married to Lily Evans. James hoped he didn't look as stunned as he felt.
Next to him, Sirius caught James' eye and smiled, and James smiled back, feeling a bit better. At least he knew Sirius would drag him out of sight if he fainted.
Then the doors opened and Alice walked down the aisle, beaming round at all of the guests and especially at Frank. James nodded to her as she reached the altar, and Alice winked at him as she took her place on the opposite side.
And suddenly there was Lily, and James could feel his heart skip a beat, several beats in fact, as a shock rippled through him, freezing him in place. James held his breath, and felt the whole room holding its breath along with him as Lily made her way down the aisle.
Lily was dimly aware of her feet moving underneath her and of her dad's arm in hers, but all she could see was James, standing there waiting for her, looking stunned and dazzled and not the least bit arrogant, for once in his life. Lily felt a radiant smile stretching her face and saw the answering grin on James' as she continued to move toward him.
Before James was aware that any time had passed, there was Lily standing in front of him. Sirius, rolling his eyes, nudged James none too gently and very pointedly in the shoulder and James hastily held his hand out to Lily, wondering how long he'd been standing there staring. As Lily took his hand, James felt another shock run through him and knew without asking that Lily felt it too.
Lily smiled at Alice as she finished her toast and stepped aside amidst much applause from the other guests. The gleam of her new ring caught Lily's eye as she set her glass down and she stared at it, reminding herself that it was real and that she and James were really married. It still felt like a dream: the ceremony, exchanging rings and vows, then turning round arm in arm to face the crowd as Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Alice cheering and Sirius laughing as Morwenna snapped a picture. Then the reception in the Potters' ballroom, the dancing and food and congratulations from their small but important crowd of wedding guests...........
Lily snapped out of her reverie as Sirius got to his feet to make his best man toast. Bracing herself for humiliation and ribald jokes, Lily took a firmer grip on the stem of her champagne glass and waited.
"I met James on the train on our way to begin our first year at Hogwarts," Sirius began, "and we've been best friends ever since. We've had many, er – adventures – together," Sirius turned to give James a knowing look, which James returned. "We got into and out of loads of trouble over the years, and I've always been there with James: playing pranks, sneaking into places we had no business being, and helping him pick up the pieces every time Lily rejected him." The crowd laughed, and Lily felt her face go red.
"As most of you know," Sirius continued, grinning, "James has been in love with Lily since the first time he saw her and Lily has hated James with a passion since the first time he opened his mouth in her presence. She hated him so much, in fact, that she would call him names and threaten to castrate him every time he asked her out, which was quite often."
Sirius was forced to stop until the guests' almost-hysterical laughter had died down sufficiently. Lily, now a brilliant shade of scarlet, cast a scathing glare in Sirius' direction and buried her face in her hands, her humiliation complete. James didn't seem to be much better off; he too glared at Sirius and made a valiant effort to disappear under the table.
"But no matter what she said to him," Sirius finally went on, "James kept going back and back again, and I never understood why, especially when there were so many other – er – prospects about."
"You ought to know, Sirius," Alice snorted, causing the room tolaugh again.
"For a long time," Sirius persisted loudly, shooting Alice a nasty glare, "I just thought that James was a glutton for punishment. In fact, I thought that until James somehow convinced Lily to go out with him in our seventh year and I had a chance to see them together. I finally realized then that if you look underneath all of James' strutting and swaggering whenever Lily's around and all of the filthy looks and fury that Lily directs at James, they're actually sort of perfect for each other, and make all the sense in the world.
"So congratulations, James," Sirius said, raising his glass, "on finally getting what you wanted and to you, Lily, on finally having the sense to realize what you wanted. Cheers!"
"Cheers!" the assembled guests echoed, raising their glasses.
"See?" James whispered smugly, leaning over to Lily. "I wasn't being thick all those years, I just realized that we were perfect for each other before you did."
Lily rolled her eyes, and James braced himself for the biting retort he knew was coming, his grin widening in anticipation.
But instead of saying anything, Lily reached out a hand and and ran her fingers through James' perpetually disheveled hair, making it stand on end and causing James to look very much as though he'd just jumped off of a broomstick.
James' jaw dropped. For once in his life, he was utterly speechless. Lily simply turned her attention to Professor Dumbledore as he prepared to make a toast, a very close approximation of James' trademark hellion grin gracing her face.
Author's Note: There you have it, Lily and James' wedding and their second encounter with Voldemort. Yay for free time and not having writer's block! And as always, thank you to everyone who reviewed )
I don't think I really have anything else to say, which is unusual for me. I'm not exactly sure when the next chapter will be up, but I'm trying to make more time for writing this story. I suppose we'll see how well that actually works out......Anyway, enjoy and review!