Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. The wonderful JK Rowling does! I wish I did, then I'd be rich! Just kidding! Please don't sue me for writing a fan fic that I really hope you enjoy!
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James walked into the common room later that night and heard yelling coming from the dormitories. He saw Marissa with her hands over her ears, laying face down on the floor and Lily trying to read a book, but glaring up at the staircase instead.
James sat down and tried to kiss Lily, but she squirmed away. "What's the matter?" James asked.
Lily glared at him. "This is all your fault. Remus and Sirius are fighting over who should be your best man. And since they are yelling, I can properly concentrate on homework."
James chuckled. "So everyone in Gryffindor is mad at me, right?"
"And in Hufflepuff, we've had a ton of them complain about how loud it was over here," Mara's muffled voice came from under a pillow that she had grabbed from the couch where Lily was sitting.
James sighed and rubbed his eyes. "If I go pick one now, will you guys love me again?"
Lily nodded eagerly and started pushing him up the stairs. Mara got up and helped get him up there. James opened to the door to their dorm room and saw Remus and Sirius standing a foot away from each other, both red in the face and screaming nonsense words at each other.
"Silencio!" James called, casting the spell on each of them. They didn't even realize their voices had been taken away. James rolled his eyes and thought of a good jinx to put on them. "Petrificus Totalus!" Sirius and Remus froze and fell backwards.
"Quit fighting over who's going to be my best man. You both mean a lot to me and that's why I had you guys choose instead of me because I can't decide. Now, everyone is mad at me because you guys were yelling. So shut up and decide nicely," James finished. He removed the curses and stalked out of the room.
Sirius and Remus sat up and looked at each other. "So, who should be his best man?" Sirius said nonchalantly.
James walked into the common room and was instantly bombarded by Lily. "Thank you! Now who's going to be your best man?"
"Well, they are still going to decide between themselves," James said quietly. He waited for the explosion from Lily.
Just as Lily was about to open her mouth, Marissa cut in and said, "What if you do like a competition thing. You could make up scenarios that a best man needs to fix. Lily and I could be the judges!"
"That's an awesome idea! But I don't think you should be a judge because you might pick Sirius just because you're going out with him," Lily said.
Marissa glared at Lily. "I won't be biased. We need to make up scenarios Lily! James you can tell Remus and Sirius the plan and that we'll do the competition tomorrow."
James rolled his eyes. "Why am I in the middle of everything?" he muttered to himself exasperatedly and walked back up the staircase. It was a good thing too, because he heard another issue of yelling begin.
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After dinner the Marauders, Lily, and Marissa met in the boy's dormitories. Mara had set up a table in the middle of the room and six stools, two behind the table, two in front of the table, and two off to the side. On the table were two champagne glasses, the scenarios list, blank scoring parchment, and two quills.
Remus and Sirius sat on the two stools in front of the table, Marissa and Lily sat behind the table, and Peter and James sat to the side.
Lily smiled when they all sat down and began her speech. "Alright Remus and Sirius. Since you both want to be best man, Mara and I made up this competition to decide who gets to be it. There are various scenarios that a best man may have to face at the wedding. You will get points by how well you handle each situation, based on a scale from one to ten, ten being the highest. Whoever gets the most points at the end will be James' best man."
Mara took up her lead. "Let's begin. It's a week before the wedding and Lily and James get into a huge fight over the honeymoon location. They get so mad that they are going to call off the wedding and break up. What do you do Sirius?"
James stands up and walks over to Sirius. "Alright, uh, James, you can't break up with Lily because of a stupid fight over your honeymoon! My advice to you is to make an agreement, neither of the places you chose, but instead a compromise between the two. So go apologize and snog her senseless!" James laughed and the girls giggled a little bit. Remus rolled his eyes and sat there biting his lip, deep in thought.
"Alright Remus, same situation. Go ahead," Lily said.
Remus got up and went over to James. "Listen, I don't think it's logical that you and Lily break up over your very own honeymoon. You've been in love with Lily since forever, and to have seven years of love and friendship broken by a honeymoon choice is not a good reason. Please go apologize to her and pick a place you would both agree on."
Mara and Lily jotted down the scores. With a satisfactory smile Remus sat back down on his stool and smirked at Sirius, who was avoiding his gaze with his arms crossed and a puppy dog pout.
"Alright, next situation. It's right before the wedding is about to start and James is getting cold feet and thinking of backing out. Sirius, how would you help him realize that he is doing the right thing?" Lily said.
James sat on the floor and curled up in a ball and started rocking back and forth. Sirius sat down next to him and uncurled from his ball and made him stand up. "Jamsie, you think you are going to regret getting married now, but once you see Lily walking towards you, you'll know it was all worth the wait. Trust me."
Lily and Marissa grinned and put down more scores. Sirius beamed and sat back down on his stool. "That's not fair, he took everything I was going to say," Remus said.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you. Just try your best," Marissa said, blowing a kiss at Sirius.
Remus stood up and walked over to the balled up James. "James you wanna uncurl and listen to me for a second?"
James shook his head. Remus kicked him in the side. "Ouch! That hurt!" James said, rubbing the spot where he was kicked.
"Well, now that I have your attention, I think you should marry Lily. It's your choice but I know that you really can't wait to meet her at the alter and dedicate your life to her. Right now you are just feeling scared, but as soon as you see her standing there, looking beautiful, I know you will want to spend the rest of your lives together," Remus finished sitting back down on his seat.
Lily and Marissa awed' for a bit and then wrote down scores. "Next scenario, you're at the wedding reception and its time for a toast. Sirius, what would you say honoring these two people in love? Grab a champagne glass and start whenever you like," Marissa said.
Sirius got a glass and stood up tall, clearing his throat. "I've known James since we were babies and I probably know him better than his own mother. We're like brothers, and I can't believe he is getting married. My question is why would any one want to marry him?" James glared at Sirius and Remus laughed. "I've known Lily since we started going to school together, and there couldn't be a more sweet, beautiful, caring person out there in the whole wide world. Lily and James are two people so in love that it makes me want to gag sometimes. So I raise my glass to them, and I toast that their love will last forever." Sirius smiled and clapped James on the shoulder. "I will think of something much better for when I am making the toast at your wedding," Sirius said, glaring at Remus.
Lily and Mara frowned at the last bit, and started scratching out scores. Sirius satisfactory smile quickly turned into a frown when he saw this.
"Alright, Remus grab a champagne glass and start," Lily said.
Remus got his glass and stood facing Lily and Marissa. "I've known James and Lily since the first day of school at Hogwarts. I've known them separately and I've known them together. And I can't imagine two people who fit more perfectly together than they do. I wish them the best of luck on this long journey they are about to embark on together. I raise my glass to their everlasting love."
Remus put his glass down and sat back down on his stool, grinning at Sirius. Sirius just rolled his eyes and turned the other way.
Lily and Marissa talked in low voices for a moment. Finally, after much hushed arguing, Lily said, "The scores are final. This was a really, really, close and I want both of you to know that you guys would each make a perfect best man. So I would like to announce that Remus won by a hair. Sirius lost because of the snide comment at the end of his toast." Lily said, sending a disapproving look to Sirius, looking very much like McGonnagal.
Remus jumped up and whooped, hugging Lily and Marissa. Sirius stood up angrily. "That's not fair! I demand a recount!" he said.
"Remus won by four points. I'm sorry Sirius," Marissa said.
Sirius stormed downstairs to the common room and out the portrait hole while Remus was doing his victory dance around the room.
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Remus was wandering the halls, looking for Sirius. He felt bad for being so rude and wanted to talk to talk to him and apologize.
Remus found him on top of one of the towers. He was sitting on the edge, staring up at the starry clear sky.
Remus sat down beside him, and stared up at the sky with him. "I'm sorry for being so rude earlier. It's just I've always felt left out between you and James. In fact I was positive he was going to pick you to be his best man."
Sirius sighed heavily. "Don't feel bad, you won fair and square. It's just…I've known James since forever and I just always thought that I would be his best man and vice versa. He's always been there for me and I don't know, I just feel like…" Sirius paused and then finished lamely with a shrug.
Remus saw the hurt in Sirius' eyes and realized he couldn't be the best man. "You're James' best man," Remus said.
"What?"
"You can be his best man. You obviously care about it much more than me. I'm going to feel worse if I realized I took that away from you."
"But you won," Sirius said confused.
Remus gave a small smile. "I don't care. I forfeit. You can be the best man."
Sirius gave him a rough one-arm hug. "Thanks mate."
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James walked into the common room with the rest of his teammates from Quidditch. All of them were muddy and windblown because of the storm outside but James had insisted they all practice, there was an upcoming match with Slytherin.
As he scanned the common room, he immediately found what he was looking for. Lily was curled up in a loveseat, reading a book. Smiling, James went over to her and kissed the top of her head, alerting her of his presence.
Lily turned and smiled when she saw him, but that smile quickly turned to a frown. "What on earth happened to you?" she asked.
Instinctively, James ran a hand through his wet hair. "Quidditch practice, it's storming outside."
"Oh, really? I didn't even notice," Lily said, looking out the window in a dreamlike state and closing her book. James grinned inwardly, he loved it when she got so concentrated into a book, and nothing else mattered. She shook her head and surveyed James. "Don't touch me when your that muddy," she said sweetly.
James leaned down and whispered into her ear, "What if I change and I can touch you as much as I want?"
Lily smiled secretly, but shook her head. "I would love too, but I have to tutoring in the library for the next hour. Then I'm flopping into bed."
It took all James had to suppress a groan, she had been tutoring kids non-stop. He hadn't been able to spend much time with her at all. "If you have too, I guess I can wait until tomorrow," he muttered unenthusiastically.
Narrowing her eyes, Lily coldly said, "If I have to? What's that supposed to mean?"
James shrugged. "You know, it's just that you've been spending all your time tutoring lately."
"No I don't know, why don't you explain?" Lily said loudly.
"I never get to spend time with you anymore because you're always tutoring someone," James said, forcing calm into his voice.
Lily stood abruptly, tossing her book on the chair. "It's not all my fault we don't spend time anymore!"
Why is she getting so upset? "What are you talking about?"
"Quidditch! You and your damn Quidditch!" Lily yelled. The whole common room, which consisted of a couple of first years and the Quidditch team, were now focusing on them. "You practice six days a week! The only day your not busy is Sunday, and then you are playing pranks with the Marauders or doing all your homework!"
James tried to take her hand but she jerked it away. "Lil, calm down-"
"No! I've been holding it in as long as I could and I can't take it much longer!" Lily yelled, heading to the girls staircase.
"Do you know how long I've sat back and taken all your school crap? Since last year when we started going out!" James returned, completely loosing his cool, "It was always, 'I have to finish my homework,' or 'Tutoring tonight!' or 'I have to talk to the other prefects about patrolling the halls.' You never had any time for me!"
Lily whipped around and advanced to him. "Do you have any idea how selfish you sound?"
"Do you have any idea how selfish you sound?" James asked impatiently, "Maybe you are just cheating on me and using school as an excuse!" he said, not knowing he said or even thought about it. Lily stared at him in shock for a long time, before she reached up and slapped him.
Lily yanked off her engagement ring and threw it to the ground. "Don't talk to me, don't even look at me, until you've grown up," Lily spat, and ran up the girls staircase. James touched a shaky hand to his face, not feeling the slap but the sting of her words. With his head hung low, he slowly made his way up the boy's staircase.
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"So they just aren't talking now?" Marissa asked in a hushed whisper.
Remus nodded, pushing his plate away. It was the next morning in the Great Hall and Marissa, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were talking about what happened the night before. "I don't even get how the outburst started."
"Lily and James are a lot alike, they bottle things up and once they get aggravated it just bursts out of them," Sirius said.
"I'll bet anything they have been holding that in for a long time," Peter said.
Marissa picked at her food. "It's just strange. They get engaged and then they have a huge fight over something they've been holding in. They always look like they have no worries, then all of a sudden it's just like…bam!"
"One thing is for sure," Sirius whispered, "We have to get them talking again."
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"James it's the perfect plan to make her fall back in love with you again!" Remus pleaded, trying to convince him of a plot that he, Sirius, and Peter had been working on all day.
Stubbornly, James said, "She didn't fall out of love with me, it's just been put on hold while she goes and tutors the greasy haired git, Snape."
Under his breath, Sirius muttered, "Like Snivillus needs tutoring. Only semi-smart Slytherin bloke there is." James pointed to Sirius dramatically, as if he was re-enforcing his point.
"Look mate," Peter piped up for the first time through the argument, "You and Lily had a row, but every relationship does. It's like an obstacle you have to get over. So if you try this plan out, you will be back on track."
James looked at Peter skeptically. "How do you know she will even agree to it?"
Sirius twirled his wand lazily through his fingers, causing it to emit blue and gold sparks. "We have an undercover agent in, AKA, Marissa. Everything will work out fine and if it doesn't, we're the Marauders. We can think of a new plan."
Giving up, James rolled his eyes and said hopelessly, "Whatever."
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"I have a surprise for you!" Marissa sang as she bounced into the dorm room. Lily was lying face down on her bed, but slowly looked up when she heard Marissa. She was buried under piles of used Kleenex. Quietly, Lily muttered a 'go away'. Marissa continued on as if she hadn't heard her. "You get to go to the Room of Requirements tonight at six o'clock and there will be a surprise waiting for you."
Squinting as Marissa merrily lit the previously dark room with a wave of her wand, Lily said, "I've got tutoring and homework that is due on the 27th."
Marissa rudely plopped on her bed that made Lily bounce and turn face up. "It's only the 2nd, Lily. You have plenty of time. And I already cancelled all of your tutoring appointments. About half of them only get it to stare at you for half and hour."
Lily was too tired and depressed to snap at Marissa. "I don't feel up to it."
But Marissa was not one to take no for an answer. "Come on, I'll help you get ready!" she said and pulled Lily out of bed and pushed her to the bathroom, Lily grumbling all the way.
An hour later, Lily was dressed in muggle clothing with her school robe adorned over it. Marissa walked her down to the Room of Requirements. "What do I think of?" she asked.
Marissa smiled slyly and said, "James. Goodnight!" She rushed away; leaving a confused and slightly angry Lily behind.
With a small sigh, she walked back and forth past the room three times and then turned to see a door. Lily looked up and down the hallway first, then slipped inside. What she saw took her breath away.
The room was lit with the soft glow of hundreds of candles, some floating and others sitting on the floor. There was a small fire crackling in the fireplace and there were four big fluffy sky blue pillows in front of it. Rose petals were strewn romantically everywhere.
Suddenly Lily felt warmth behind her and leaned into it automatically, knowing subconsciously it was James. He pulled her into his arms and put his mouth next to her ear, saying softly, "I'm really sorry."
Lily shook her head, still not turning around. "I shouldn't have gotten so worked up about it. Besides, love means never having to say you're sorry," she said, reaching her arms behind his neck. James kissed her on the head. "This is gorgeous. Did you do it?" she asked.
James turned around and pulled her closer into his embrace. "For you." He looked into her deep emerald eyes for a moment, then kissed her so softly on the lips. The kiss meant so much, and Lily had forgotten why she was angry with him. "I love you," he whispered when they broke apart. James reached into his pocket and slipped her engagement ring on her finger. Lily smiled and looked up, entranced by his eyes and leaned in for another kiss.
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Later that week, Remus walked into the library and saw Kiah Malawi studying at one of the small square tables. Remus had liked her since their prank with the bras. All he knew about her was that she was from Ravenclaw, was in seventh year, and that she was very shy.
Remus took a deep calming breath and walks over to where she is sitting. When he sat down he saw blush creeping into her cheeks.
Remus held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Remus Lupin."
Kiah smiled shyly and took his hand. "Kiah Malawi, and I know who you are. You're a Marauder."
Remus grinned. "Yeah but I'm not as bad as I seem. Sorry if we played any pranks that embarrassed you."
Kiah shook her head. "No you haven't. Except that one with the bras was a little embarrassing."
Remus smiled. "Sorry about that. I was wondering if I could ask you a question."
Kiah blushed some more. "Sure, what is it?"
"Well, I was wondering if you would like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend," Remus said, putting on the famous Marauder grin that no one could say no to, except perhaps Professor McGonnagal.
"I'd love to go with you," Kiah said, smiling widely.
Remus grinned. "Great! How about I meet you in the Great Hall at nine in the morning?"
"Sounds good, see you then!" Kiah said, waving her wand over her books, making them jump in her book bag.
As she walked away, Remus leaned back in the chair and put his feet on the table. "I'm good," he said. Right after that he fell backwards, receiving a loud "Shhhhh!" from Madame Pince.
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Author Notes: Ten points to the appropriate house if anyone can tell me where the best man competition was from lol. Old readers, please go R/R the later chapters! I need feedback on what to do differently because I don't like that chapter.
xx-Heartbroken: lol! Thanks! Yeah I hate those cliché proposals, I wanted something unique. Originally I was going to have James transfigure a pebble into the engagement ring in Transfiguration but my friend Claudia (who wrote most of the proposal) said that was stupid and gave me that idea. The dream thing didn't make sense? I'll change it ASAP when I start re-writing stuff. Yes, these chapters are from the original. There are just a few things I added, like Marissa's relationship with Hayden and the L/J fight you just read. Well James is good at everything in JKR's series; he could probably play seeker, chaser, beater, and keeper. But it isn't very cool to swing a beater bat around outside Quidditch if you know what I mean. But I remember all the complaints I got from people saying he's a chaser in the books and a seeker in the movies and how I wasn't following something right. What I'm going to do when I re-write it is I'll read the chapter like two times in a row then open up a new document and just re-write it without looking back. That way I'll know what happens in the chapter but write it a lot better. Thanks for you're advice about other ff sites, I tried to post on Schnoogle but I don't like the posting process.
CASOCCERCHIC02: lol thanks!
Demi: Thanks for the feedback on the I love you thing. I'll put that scene later on or something. Yeah IT ended on my birthday, perfect timing because I went swimming lol. OMG! I CRIED MY EYES OUT WHEN CHRIS WENT HOME! Everyone in the country is so pissed about it, a lot of people are boycotting and not watching the rest of the season. I know I'm not, I hope Taylor wins now.
R/R!