Lily Evans sat patiently in her mother's sitting room. One of her aunts was gawking at the ring on her finger. It was a beautiful ring. The emeralds matched her eyes and the inside was engraved with a J and a L. She twisted it absentmindedly. The rest of her aunts and cousins sat around. Marlene, Alice and Mary were squeezed between them. Em, Pandora and Dorcas had been unavailable, but with all of her female relatives circling her, she suddenly wished for more of her friends in her corner. She was essentially surrounded by relatives that she had not seen since her father's funeral. Petunia was also there, and glaring at her. Lily fought an eye roll. Why was Petunia even here? She had tried to bar Lily from her own wedding planning meeting, and her entire wedding for that matter.
"It really is a gorgeous ring" her aunt Cynthia said
"Thank you," Lily muttered. Her mother was chatting with her other sister, Susan
"The emeralds match your eyes perfectly. Your fiancé must have a great eye" her cousin Briar said
"And fabulously wealthy, look at how many gems there are," Aunt Cynthia said. Marlene stifled a laugh. Lily glared at her.
"I doubt it." Petunia muttered.
"What was that Tuney?" Lily chimed. Petunia glared at her. Her other cousins, Holly and Daisy looked over.
"I met your fiancé after all" Petunia smiled
"And spent the entire night insulting him" Lily glared
"Girls," Her mother said. Marlene leaned over and whispered something to Alice. Alice nodded grimly. Lily shot them a glance. Alice responded with her 'I'll tell you later look'. Aunt Susan suddenly became aware of them sitting there.
"Lily, we haven't been introduced" Aunt Susan said
"These are a couple of my friends from school, Alice, Marlene and Mary"
"Will they be in the wedding party?" Aunt Cynthia asked
"They can speak," Marlene said. Lily gave her a warning glance. Petunia smirked. Her family ignored Malene.
"They will be my bridesmaids."
"Who will your others be?"
"My fiancé and I agreed about having three each. I don't have any more room" Lily glanced at Petunia, who had told their mother almost the exact same thing.
"Lovely dear" Aunt Susan said. Briar and Holly looked a little disappointed
"What about the rest of the wedding party? Will the flower girl and the ring bearer come from our side of the family or his?" Aunt Cynthia asked. Lily grinned
"James' family is very small. He does not have any cousin who would be the right age. I was thinking that Daisy could be the flower girl and Jacob could be the ring barer" Aunt Cynthia clapped her hands together
"Absolutely lovely dear, Daisy will love the role"
"Thank you" Her mother checked the clock
"We need to begin" her mother said
"But Mrs. Potter is not here yet" Lily's mum waved her hand dismissively
"She's late"
"Big surprise" Petunia muttered
"What was that Tuney?" Lily asked. The sisters locked eyes. While the sisters were having their stare down, the door slammed open. A dark and elegant woman walked in. There was a canvas bag in each hand. Her mother glared. Lily turned her head
"Sorry I'm late, there was some trouble down at Gringotts. One of the Lestranges was causing some ruckus, and took forever to get out of there. Oh, Alice, Frank says hello. You know they have him arresting suspects. He said you're in the same unit. Very impressive for a trainee."
"Thank" Alice blushed
"And Lily, Frank mentioned they were having you focus on counter intelligence correct?"
"Yeah," Lily did not want to mention it. She had not been allowed in the field yet, while Kingsley, Alice and Frank all had. Moody had claimed that she was a bigger target as a muggleborn. Lily had bit her lip and held her tongue, but now, she was stuck sorting through uncover report after undercover report, deciding what to pass on to the ministry and what to pass to Dumbledore
"Very impressive, that is the hardest job in the department" her family looked at Mrs. Potter couriusly
"Lily did not tell you?" Mrs. Potter asked, mostly directed at Lily. Lily shook her head. Mrs. Potter smiled "Well, I suppose you never were one to brag. Lily was accepted for a job at MI6" Lily let go of a breath. Thank goodness Mrs. Potter remembered the muggle name for her job. "I always wanted my son to marry a smart girl with a good career." She said with pride. Mrs. Evans rolled her eyes. Lily blushed slightly
"That sounds interesting" Aunt Susan said
"Is it dangerous?" Briar asked
"Not really" her friends, mother and sister raised an eyebrow "Er, for me at least. I'm mostly in the office sorting through documents" Petunia glared. Lily was telling the truth. Her job was relatively safe. It was her other job that was not
"We are really running late" Mrs. Evans said. She glared at Mrs. Potter
"Right, sorry to interrupt" Mrs. Potter grinned
"We need to start talking about a venue" Mrs. Evans said "We could use the hall we used for Petunia"
"No need," Mrs. Potter said "We can host the wedding at our house in Scotland."
"We may need more space than that" Mrs. Evans said
"The ballroom can host up to 200 and the garden even more. It should be alright" Lily watched her family. They suddenly seemed much more interested in Mrs. Potter.
"Lily might not want such as a formal event"
"The ballroom can be dressed up or down as Lily and James want it to be. Plus, we own the ballroom, so it will not cost a kn-cent" Lily could see the fight coming. Her mother however, just sighed
"We can use your house" Mrs. Evans said. Mrs. Potter clapped her hands together
"Oh, it will be perfect. Fleamont and I were married in the same room. I can organize the decorations for the ballroom once we finalize a color scheme" Lily bit her lip
"Is it possible to have the reception in the garden? I always wanted an outdoor wedding." Lily said. Mrs. Potter grinned
"Of course dear, it's your wedding after all. It will make setting up easier as well. We won't have to worry about transferring the hall for the reception. Right, what is up next on the iterary?"
"We need to schedule an appointment at a bridal shop" Mrs. Potter waved her hand dismissively
"No need, I already have someone who can make a dress. My seamstress made my own dress. She sent some fabrics for you to look at Lily" Mrs. Potter took out several different fabrics from her bag. "She wants to know your decision so that James' sherwani will work well with your lehenga." The fabrics were that of colorful, elegant silk. The first one was a deep purple-pink and gold. The next was blue and green with a peacock motif. The last was red and gold with floral embroidery. Mrs. Potter glanced at the purple pink one "that one is the fabric she used for my wedding. I asked her to save it for my future daughter. I sent her a photo of you. She picked the blue one because it would work best with your hair and eyes. She also pulled the red and gold for your house" Lily picked up the pink-purple one.
"Thank you" she was still holding the rich fabric. Mrs. Potter seemed to understand the meaning behind Lily's gratitude for the purple-pink fabric
"Well, it would be something blue," Aunt Susan said. Daisy was holding the red and gold fabric, enamored by it. Briar and Holly were examining the blue fabric. Mary was examining each one. Marlene on the other hand, had no interest in dresses
"Wouldn't you rather wear white for your wedding Lily?" Her mother asked sharply. Lily bit her lip again, sensing a fight coming.
"She shouldn't wear white. It means mourning" Mrs. Potter said
"Maybe where you come from, but here, it means purity," Mrs. Evans said,
"Assuming Lily cares about purity," Petunia said, sticking her nose in the air.
"You are Lily's sister?" Mrs. Potter asked
"Yes,"
"You are just as my son described you" Mrs. Potter said with a wicked grin. Marlene was suddenly interested again. And Lily was suddenly worried
"What if I did some sort of combination? I could wear a mix of one of the fabrics and white? I'll have the purity of white but with color so I don't look like I am in mourning. Mary, do you think that would be possible?" Mary glanced up from her examination of the fabric.
"If you got a wedding dress, you could make an over-skirt in one of the fabrics and maybe add some embroidery to pull the white and whichever fabric together." Lily gave her a large smile. She had learned long ago to trust Mary when it came to fashion. Mrs. Potter grinned
"That sounds lovely, and everyone will be happy" Mrs. Potter looked over at Mrs. Evans purposefully.
"I suppose" she said, sounding slightly defeated
"And which fabric will you be choosing?" Mrs. Potter asked. Lily pursed her lips. That was a hard choice. She noticed that Daisy was still clinging to the red and gold fabric.
"Is this one your favorite?" Lily asked her baby cousin. The little girl nodded. "I think we have to go with this one" Mrs. Potter smiled. Mrs. Evans still looked unconvinced.
"Gryffindor colors?" Marlene grinned
"Looks like it is gryffindor colors" Lily grinned
"Lovely. Absolutely lovely. When you get a wedding dress, bring it to me and I'll send it to my seamstress" Mrs. Potter said. Lily nodded.
"Anything else we need to get done today Mum?" Lily asked
"We need to discuss your bridal party"
"I already decided my bridal party" Lily glared at Petunia
"Your sister is not among them" Mrs. Evans said. Petunia looked aghast at the proposition.
"James and I agreed to have three each. I can't just tell Mary or Alice that they are no longer my bridesmaids."
"Then ask James to add another."
"James has one brother and two best friends. We don't have any other male relatives around that age to add" Mrs. Potter said
"He has a brother in law," Lily snorted. Marlene was laughing hysterically. Alice and Mary were both shaking from holding in their own laughter. They all remembered James's impression of Vernon.
"Vernon won't want to be a groomsman for him" Petunia said
"And James won't want Vernon as a groomsman" Lily said
"Girls," Mrs. Evan chided
"Fine mother, I didn't ask Petunia to be in my bridal party because she did not ask me to be in hers. Why should I assume she wants to be in mine"
"I don't want to be in yours and I didn't want you in mine" Petunia snapped
"Well I don't want you in mine" Lily yelled back
"Girls" Mrs. Evans said
"You are just jealous that I had enough friends that I didn't need you in my bridal party." Penutian snapped
"Trust me, If I needed another bridesmaid, I have loads of people I would choose before you"
"At least I had choices who weren't freaks" Lily's face was slowly turning red " and, I didn't have to marry a freak for a husband" Lily curled her hands into a fist
"Don't insult James" Lily snapped. Petunia just shook her head and fled up the stairs. Lily heard the door slam. Her aunts and cousins looked between each other, unsure of how to respond. Her friends glanced at her. Mrs. Potter was stewing. Her mother was crying. "Mum?" Lily asked weakly
"I just wanted something good after your father- I just wanted a nice family wedding." Her mother whispered. Lily felt her heart break a little bit.
"I'll talk to Petunia," she said. Marlene raised an eyebrow. Lily just shook her head. She walked up the staircase. Petunia's room was at the end of the hall. The door was closed. Lily checked. It was locked. Lily rolled her eyes and took out her wand. She cast a quick Alohomora charm and stepped inside. Her sister was sitting on the window seat, not turning to acknowledge her sister's presence. Lily closed the door behind her and leaned against the wall. Her sister stayed firm.
"Are we going to talk as grown ups?" Lily asked, pushing a red lock out of her line of vision
"Is that what we are?" Petunia asked
"Well, one of us is getting married and the other is already married, so I would hope so," Petunia did not laugh. Lily sighed "look, if you want to be in the wedding party, we'll make room"
"Didn't you hear me? I don't want to be in your wedding party"
"Mum wants you to be. Can you do this for her" Petunia scoffed "Please Tuney, we buried dad less than 4 months ago, she needs this" Lily pleaded. Petunia clutched the curtain. She turned to face her sister
"Do you know what I asked myself when I was walking down the aisle?" Lily did not answer "Why did my dad have to die less than 6 weeks before my wedding and then i saw you sitting there with mum and that boy. It hit me"
"What hit you exactly?" Lily asked
"You were the reason my father didn't get to walk me down the aisle" Lily bit her cheek. Her face was turning as red as her hair
"So you're saying it's my fault that a group of extremists killed our dad?"
"Come on Lily, who were they there for? Who pissed them off by going to a freak school? Who befriended the freak boy from down the street?"
"You don't think I blame myself? Look, I did invite danger in but I didn't invent it. It was always going to be there, at least there is someone standing up to it"
"If you just kept your head down, I would still have my dad"
"And then what? Wait for them to realize that I'm a muggleborn that is dating a pureblood and then let them come after me?" Lily looked out the window "you don't have to agree with what I'm doing, but do not blame me for what happened."
"That doesn't change who's fault it is. My children will never know their grandfather because of you" Petunia snapped. Lily crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes
"You know what, don't come to my wedding. Just stay away from me." Lily slammed the door open. Her sister glanced at her and looked away as tears began to form. Lily stormed back down the stairs. Her mother looked up at her expectantly. She forced a grin "where were we?"
