Before it Began
By. SkyQuill
Summary
James knew he was in love at first sight, but what would it take for Lily to love him back? Read their story leading up to their deaths and discover the dangers they faced and the loves and friendships they shared.
Disclaimer
I do not own most of the characters and places or anything else that may seem familiar. J.K. Rowling has the exclusive claim to this as well as the general plot that formed this fanfic.
Chapter 22: May Blossoming
Lily lay sprawled on her back across the living room carpet. She sucked lightly on the end of her quill as she re-read a long list of parchment. Her and the girls had all gotten together tonight to plan the wedding. It would be taking place in just a month and they were nearly finished.
With all the recent commotion it was no surprise that Lily had left it so long. Usually punctual, she had been under quite a bit of stress in the following months after the Dementor attack. Order meetings had become ever so frequent lately and auror training was dishing out piles of homework. In fact, it wasn't until James had asked whether she needed help with the preparations that Lily remembered that there wedding was approaching.
"So you don't want any house elves to help out?" Cadence asked, eyebrows raised as she leaned over from her postion on the sofa to check the list.
"No, " Lily replied absent-mindedly, "Besides your mom said she'd take care of all the cooking."
"Well it's your funeral." Cadence said simply, leaning back and brushing a strand of golden brown hair from her face. Lily glanced up to see Alice rolling her eyes.
"Honestly Cadence. You'd think you've relied on house elves your entire life. It doesn't kill people to do their own work once in awhile."
"Well technically it can..." Cadence countered and rambled off into a long explanation of the time an old witch had gotten up to do her own cooking for once and ended up dead. Ignoring the argument, in which Callidora had now joined in, Lily turned back to her list.
Marrying in small wizarding church in Godric's Hollow
Reception will be in our backyard, Turquoise and Green decorations- Fairy Lanterns, magical glitter, star streamers ect.
Bridesmaid dressing in turquoise
James dressing in his black dress robes
Best man, (Sirius?) in dark green dress robes
Shopping for bridal gown
Food shall be served by Mrs. Summers- Chicken, steak, treacle tarts ect.
Pick up wedding ring for James
Lily smiled as she went over her decisions. She wanted it to be a small ceremony, but a special one. She and the girls planned to go shopping next week sometime for the supplies and gowns. Lily was quite looking forward to it. As it had been constantly within the last months, death eater attacks were still on the rise and personally, Lily needed a break from all the physical and emotional lows.
"How's it going ladies?" Sirius Black asked as he emerged from the kitchen, followed by Remus, Peter and James.
"Good." Calli' replied, "I think we're almost done."
"Yes we are. But I still need to go over them with me James." Lily added. James smiled warmly at her and joined her on the floor.
"Of course."
"Can we hear them?" Peter asked quietly. Lily felt surprised but she obliged and picked up the list again. She read the short list to the group who listened intently.
"That's it?" Sirius asked once she had finished.
"Yes." Lily replied defensively.
"It's all they really needed." Alice explained, "I mean if it's here we don't have to book anything. And Frank's already reserved them the church. He's good friends with the staff there." Sirius shrugged.
"Sounds good Lily." Remus said smiling warmly. "What's the date again?"
"May Seventeenth." James replied.
"I can't wait!" Cadence suddenly squealed. She stood up and twirled into Sirius arms, "Weddings are so much fun! We get to watch our best friends promise to be together for life, party and dance the night away! Oh and we get to eat awesome food. Which isn't, incidentally being supplied by houselves!" Sirius smiled lightly as he caught her.
"Not to mention it's the perfect oppurtunity for romance."
"Well duh." Cadence replied in a mocking tone, "It's a wedding." They all laughed.
"So who are we going to invite?" James asked once their giggles had died down. Lily inserted the tip of her quill back inside her mouth and considered the matter.
"Well this lot obviously." she finally said. Sirius gave a fake cheer of surprised pleasure.
"And Frank." Alice piped up. Lily and James nodded.
"Do you two have any family to invite?" Peter asked curiously. Lily shook her head, then stopped.
"Well there's always Petunia..."
"You want to invite her?" Callidora asked incredulously. "After the years of misery she's put you through?"
"Well no, "Lily admitted, feeling slightly guilty, "I was just saying, I do have some family left."
"I suppose." Alice mused, "If you can count her as family."
"Anyways back to the subject." James interrupted. "We've got the Longbottoms, the marauders, Cadence and Callidora..."
"You could invite a few people from the Order." Remus suggested mildly. Then catching Lily's sharp look he added, "Of course not too many. Wouldn't want it to look suspicious."
"That might work Lily." Alice said slowly, "You could invite Dorcas, Mad-Eye, Elphias and a few others." Lily felt a pang inside her chest. She knew Alice was purposefully suggesting various names, steering the conversation away from Marlene. Although they hadn't been good friends it wasn't exactly comforting to know that someone you had known for seven good years was now dead. Dully, Lily reflected back to that chilly night when Moody had lost his eye and Marlene had been murdered...
"Lily?" James asked, "Are you there?"
"Wha- Oh yeah sorry. Just thinking..." Lily said, startled from her reverie. Alice smiled at her reassuringly. "Anyways that allsounds good. I think that's basically it. Us girls can go shopping next Thursday since Alice and I get the day off from work. You two can work that into your schedules right?" Cadence and Calli' both nodded simutaneously.
"Well then it's settled!" James exclaimed, beaming at them all.
000
"This one's too lacy." Lily announced flatly. She stood scowling infront of the shop mirror, eyeing with displeasure the fiftieth wedding dress she had tried on. Cadence rolled her eyes at the same moment that Alice sighed. Callidora gave a loud groan,
"Lily, at this rate you'll end up going naked!"
"That would make James pretty happy." Cadence joked mildly. Lily shot her a dirty look.
"I'm sorry but I just can't find the right one. It's not like i'm trying to be overly fussy but these are all too muggle-ish." Lily complained, waving her wand and switching her clothes with the spell.
"Well we're running out of sources." Alice said bluntly, "There's probably only two wizarding robe shops left in Britain and chances are they'll have the same sortof stock."
"That's it!" Cadence replied, her face lighting up. "Lily, want to go shopping in Paris?"
"Not really." Lily answered feeling very flustered. Cadence's face fell.
"It was just an idea." she muttered.
"Yeah well that'd be too much of a hassle. Nobody here can speak French." Calli' pointed out. "But Lily, I think Cadence is on to something. Why don't we check out some foreign catelogues?"
"Oh I suppose." Lily sighed reluctantly and allowed herself to be dragged out of the shop and to a nearby bookshop. She soon arrived back at her house, friends in tow, holding stacks of wizarding magazines. James was out with the boys so they had the place to themselves.
"Here." Cadence said forcing a pamphlet into her hand. "Start looking." Lily obidiently began flipping through, Flirty Robes for Fancy Occasions. She had soon searched it's entire contents and came up with nothing.
Cadence and Calli' were both feverishly scouring a few of the magaznes and Alice was ruffling through one, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Anything good in there?" Lily asked skeptically. Alice glanced up at her quickly, seemed to sum up her appearance and then stared back down at the page, beaming.
"Yep." she said happily.
"Well let's see!" Lily said excitedly, making a grab for the book. She took it and surveyed the page Alice had been on. Across it's glossy pages was the twirling photograph of a beautiful wedding robe.
In long white layers the gown seemed to float down around the ankle area. The sequined patterened bodice rose up into two thin straps. The beads that covered the front in a gorgeous design were colored white and green. A floating tiara above also had vivid green stones embedded into the elegant arches and matched perfectly with the outfit. Glancing downwards, Lily noticed that it also came with a pair of silver strappy sandals with green embroidary.
"It's perfect!" she breathed. Cadence and Calli' jumped up and strode hurriedly around the table to take a look.
"James will melt when he sees you in that!" Cadence exclaimed excitedly. Calli' nodded in fervent agreement.
"Thanks Alice!" Lily cried, throwing her arms around her friend. Alice looked rather pleased with herself.
000
"Lily, i'm home!" James' warm voice floated upstairs. Lily jumped up from the bed where she had lain, admiring the wedding robes the girls had helped her order earlier.
"Hey James!" Lily said, grinning as she hurried down to greet him. He swung her up in the air briefly as he met her kiss.
"So, got everything we need? Moony helped me pick out your ring and we picked up our robes and food." he told her.
"Yes. I think we'e ready." Lily replied, unable to stop beaming. Nervous as she was, she was greatly looking forward to the wedding ceremony. Only a few weeks left... James kissed her again.
"Want to go and grab something to eat?" he asked.
"Sure, where did you have in mind?" Lily countered.
"Nothing fancy. I thought we might like to head up to the Leaky Cauldron and grab an ice cream afterwards." James suggested. "Unless you've had enough heading out today of course."
"No, no, that's fine."Lily said. "Just let me nip upstairs and grab my cloak." James waited patiently as Lily's head of beautiful red hair bobbed back up the staircase.
"Why didn't you just summon it?" James asked amusedly as she returned. Lily shrugged,
"I dunno habit? Besides, it doesn't dwell to get too lazy you know."
"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked, grinning as he led her outside and locked up.
"Exactly what you think it does." Lily teased, then apparated. James felt a joyful swoop in his feeling as he followed suit. As the flowers blossomed in the May sunshine, his wedding to the girl of his dreams drew closer.
A/N: I'm sorry everyone for the delay. Anyways I know this chapter was a bit boring but it needs to be done. Fortunately, you all know what's coming up! I can't wait to write that chapter. I hope to convey a lot of emotion into it. Well, please drop a line or two on your thoughts and any advice or praise you might give my story. Thanks and i'll update soon!