A/N:
Hi all! Hope December is treating you better than the rest of 2020.
Here's another quick chapter. I hope you continue to enjoy!
In her seventeen years, Rose had been called many things - most of which were uncomplimentary. However, on no occasion could Rose ever recall being accused of being even the slightest bit interested in weddings. To her, such things were unimportant (even Lily seemed uninterested, despite the several romantic relationships she had had over their years at Hogwarts - much to James's displeasure). Therefore, having to willingly participate in wedding planning, on a normal occasion, would be something akin to uncomfortable for her, but being forced into participating in Petunia's wedding? That was torture - and Rose knew what she was talking about, quite literally, thanks to Bellatrix. Although Sirius hated her casually mentioning it - he got that tight look about his mouth and usually ended up brooding for an hour or two.
Almost the very minute that Rose appeared back in Cokeworth, Petunia had swooped upon her with a shriek. Claw-like nails dug into her arm, dragging her back out of the house. Remus stared helplessly after her, Sirius and James already vanished into the garage in search of Jim. Lily waited for Rose in the battered old Volvo Petunia had gotten on her eighteenth birthday, expression in her face like she was being driven to execution. "What's going on?" Rose muttered, rubbing some feeling back into her arm.
"Mum forced Petunia into making us bridesmaids."
"Did she hit her head?" Rose whisper-shrieked, turning wide eyes on Lily. "Did she fall and hit her head really, really hard?"
"No" Lily shook her head, trying to hide a smile. "Mum wants us all to get along suddenly. Started talking about how we're all sisters and we should learn to be there for each other, and share in each other's happiness."
"Doesn't Mum know that Tuney is only happy when we're miserable? And if she needs daughters who'll look out for each other, well she has got to know that we'll look out for each other. Merlin, I'll even get the Marauders to look out for you too."
"That's sweet, Rosie, but it won't be enough for Mum."
"Yeah, I know" Rose muttered, resigned. "I figured it had to be worth a try."
"O for effort, T for execution" Lily smiled, emerald eyes lighting up. "But on the bright side, at least we're all in this inventive new torture scenario together."
"That's about as bright as our immediate future" Rose opined dryly, desperately wishing that she hadn't been called away from London, even considering the almost fortuitous whim of their father. That reminded her of something. "Is Dad alright?"
"I don't know, Rosie" Lily murmured softly. "He seems okay, but one minute he's quiet and the next he looks all wistful and some days he spends all in the garage, the next you can't go five seconds without seeing him."
"I'll get James and Sirius to keep an eye out" Rose shrugged, glancing out of the windows to hide her concern. "It's Dad. He's probably just realising how grown-up we're all getting."
"Or our grandfather's funeral put things into perspective for him" Lily mused, toying absently with the hem of her jumper.
"So, to sum up, both Mum and Dad are acting squirrelly, and we've been duped into being made miserable for Petunia's happiness" Rose sighed, really not liking the sound of it.
"Well, look at it like this Rosie" Lily began with what could only be described as forced cheer. "How bad could it really be?"
It was bad. It was really, really bad. Unbelievably bad. The kind of bad that, Rose if given the chance, would gladly have caused such a massive mess that she would have been let out of this and all future bridesmaid duties to escape. Unfortunately, Rose had to be on her best behaviour. They were out in public, and the Ministry would definitely frown upon it if she accidentally did even any of the innocent pranks which the Marauders would have performed in their first years at Hogwarts. What was so horrific about this, one might naively ask? In the space of two hours, she and Lily had been dragged into four different bridal boutiques, none of which had whatever hideous meringue dress that Petunia was going to insist on them wearing. Rose was just grateful that Lily had laid some groundrules - within the agreeable and persuasive presences of both their parents and Marlene (the latter of whom Rose was sure could actually sell sand to a wandering tribe of Bedouin). Absolutely nothing even vaguely similar to the colours orange or peach (which would have looked ridiculous with their hair), and - possibly the most important concession - absolutely no bows. Rose was not now, nor ever planned to, go around looking like a ridiculous, oversized Christmas present. Lily informed her that there were some shreds of dignity that even she wasn't going to lose for the sake of mere family unity - frankly, Rose didn't blame her one bit.
It was when they entered the Belle Bridal Boutique of Cokeworth that Rose's day went from merely irritating to 'I'd rather be spending the day duelling Death Eaters'. If the bridal shop had been called Petunia's Revenge, it couldn't have been any more fitting for the event. Rose and Lily were forced (marched like people facing a firing squad) into two bland beige cubicles off a private viewing area and told to wait. Petunia then drifted off for her second to last dress fitting and left them at the mercy of the saleswoman. She reminded Rose of no one so much as Narcissa Black - scowling at Rose as if someone had shoved dragon dung under her nose (dragon dung naturally being more pungent than any other recorded kind of dung, which the entirety of Hogwarts knew thanks to Peeves). Well, excuse her if she wasn't dressed for the royal occasion this clearly was. Rose didn't get any warning before being dragged out on this mission (that she definitely didn't choose to accept), and thus was dressed for a day in, which was clearly unacceptable for Miss Snooty. Lily poked her head over the top of the cubicle divide, confused bemusement on her face.
"What is her problem with us?" Lily demanded, frowning towards the shop front.
"Tuney's class at school" Rose shrugged, familiar with the signs. "We're the Evans twins, remember? The unnatural freaks who have to be sent all the way to Scotland just so we don't infect everyone else with our freakishness."
"Oh that" Lily nodded, smiling as if the reminder didn't bother her in the slightest. Rose cast about for something that could change the tone of the conversation, her eyes alighting on the selection of dresses Petunia had clearly picked out for them.
"Clearly Tuney has a fascination with fruit colours."
"Is that lime green?" Lily asked, eyes comically wide. "I'm not trying that on."
Rose hid a triumphant smirk, Godric Lily was easy to distract, and moved over to flick through the selection. "Would you prefer apricot? Lemon? Off-banana? Or- Good Godric!" Rose gagged at the sight on the hanger.
"What is it?" Lily craned her head in an effort to see.
Rose shuddered and held it aloft. "Something I assume was once a not-so distant relation of the Muppets." She put it back on the rack and gestured to the selection grandly. "Lily Evans, pick your poison."
Lily disappeared from view, her voice drifting over the gap towards her. "Oh don't worry, I've got the same selection over here." Rose stood on a chair and looked over the wall. Lily was staring at her own dress rack in abject disgust.
"Shall we start with the lime monstrosity and work our way over to the dead Muppet?"
"Don't suppose you've got any Firewhiskey over there" Lily wondered, lifting the first dress from the rack. Rose shook her head apologetically.
"Don't much care for the stuff. Burns too much going down. Too many glasses of that stuff and the next thing you know, you're sobering up skinny-dipping in the Black Lake." She waited a beat then grinned. "Or at least you are if you're James Potter."
"He didn't" Lily laughed, eyes twinkling merrily.
"He did" Rose cheerfully confirmed. "That was back in the days when Sirius could still manipulate him into believing you were holding court up in the dorms with banshees, vampires and hags. I could never work out which one each of the Girls was supposed to be."
"Knowing Black, we're all of them at the same time" Lily opined dryly, Rose laughing as she turned to her own task.
"You can do this" she muttered to herself. "You've been in an actual battle, well skirmish really but still. You can handle trying on hideous bridesmaids dresses." With a final nod to her reflection in the mirror, Rose got down to work.
Petunia finished her fitting in time to come and critique the dresses, her horsey face and cold eyes peering analytically at each dress and the way it hung on them. The lime dress was discarded for being too puffy, Petunia wanted to be the fluffiest thing at her wedding - which was saying something considering Vernon and his moustache would be in attendance. The off-banana dress was vetoed for being too slinky, and the lemon dress for being too yellow. The apricot dress was the most flattering on them (or on Lily at least) being neither too fluffy nor too slinky, but was rejected for making Rose looked washed out. Like had been offended on her behalf, but Rose had merely smiled and told herself that Petunia looked like a Shire horse and tended to look washed out in any light at all, so really her opinion was worthless. The dead Muppet dress, on the other hand, had received nothing more than a wicked smirk from Petunia before she muttered something to the stuck-up saleswoman and told them to go and change back into their clothes. Rose was relieved to get out of the dress and hardly noticed the ominous lack of a selection on their behalf.
"I wouldn't worry" Lily said when Rose mentioned her concerns to her. "Tuney probably already had something planned in case Mum wanted us involved." A slight smirk slipped across Lily's face, making her look rather Marauderish. "Come to think of it, I've seen Ravenclaws prepare for OWL exams with less dedication and planning than Petunia has done for this wedding."
"I think she missed her calling" Rose agreed, shaking her hair out from the hurried bun she'd pulled it into for the fittings. "But then again, heinous bloodsucking shrew is such a hard job to find these days."
"Rosie!" Lily laughed, shooting her a glare that said to behave as Petunia pulled the car up outside the boutique.
"Where are we going now?" Rose asked, preparing for another incredibly tedious bridesmaid assignment.
Petunia glared at her in the rear view mirror. "Home. We've got plenty of things to do there."
Rose slumped back into the upholstery. "Goody."
Remus was in the kitchen, pouring out mugs of tea, when Rose and Lily shuffled tiredly in. In a move reminiscent of James's preferred quidditch pincer movement, they moved to flank Remus. Then, moving as one, they appropriated a mug of tea and kissed Remus on the cheek. Lily then grinned and hurried upstairs, where undoubtedly Marlene and possibly even Alice by this time would be waiting for her. Rose, however, took her usual seat at the table and grinned at Remus' discombobulated expression. She took an appreciative sip of tea and smiled. "Thanks, Remmy. You're an angel."
"A soon-to-be deceased angel, if Padfoot ever finds out you did that" Remus grumbled, pushing a packet of jammy dodgers in her general direction. "How was dress shopping?"
"I preferred Sirius' birthday last year" Rose deadpanned, exaggerating a shudder. "Lily will tell you all about it. Unfortunately, Petunia is staying Mum about whatever monstrosity she's chosen for us. Lily will look beautiful despite it, though."
"Don't worry, Rosie" Remus smirked. "Padfoot will tell you that Lily will look like a troll next to you."
"And Lily will call James a troll for asking her out while she's wearing it" Rose grinned, once again feeling that all was right with their world.
"But at least he's progressing up the ranks of trolldom" Remus observed with a wicked smirk. "Just last year he was a thick troll, but after Christmas he became merely a stupid troll. Soon he may be just a troll."
"A bigheaded troll" Rose conceded, wondering at the astonishing quiet. "Speaking of the dim troll, where is James?"
"Your dad took him and Sirius out for the day" Remus replied easily. "Apparently he had some errands to run about hiring stuff for the wedding. They volunteered to go along." Rose nodded, that definitely explained the silence. "When exactly is the wedding anyway?"
"Today's the fourteenth, so - uh - Saturday."
"That's, um, soon" Remus coughed, suddenly bearing a remarkable resemblance to a deer in headlights.
Rose shrugged carelessly. "Petunia insisted on a spring wedding, Mum insisted on having us home for the wedding, and Dad insisted on at least having a week with us without the wedding craziness. So" she shrugged again. "Saturday."
"Saturday" Remus echoed, watching Petunia dart through the house with her bridal book, screaming instructions to anyone within earshot (which was half the street). He shuddered and looked longingly at the book he'd apparently abandoned when Rose and Lily came back. "Godric help us."
"Yep" Rose agreed, popping the p. "Because Merlin was a Slytherin and those snakes don't help anybody." They shared a grin and clinked their mugs together, enjoying what was bound to be just the calm before the storm.
Thank you for reading!
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