Hi everyone! My sincere apologies for the big delay! The good news is: I have finished this and there are 6 chapters after this one! I'm going to publish them every couple of days in case people spot inconsistencies and to allow me to beta/respond to reviews :) Thank you all for waiting so long!

The update why, in case anyone is interested: I split up with my boyfriend and this is so romance-focused that it was quite hard to write. Other than that, this year I've lost my grandfather, but gained a degree and a job, and I've moved countries twice! What have you all been up to in this time? Let me know in a comment :)

A big thank you to TheLadyRogue who has been a really good beta for the final chapters.

Many thanks also to incalescent-reylo, El, tsukimori-bear13, saoyuuki12, Vee153, RavenclawPrincessDemigod, Niki Esm, carnationskie, Aishnkdoxxidbsb, Chrysos-hime, Nikoo, ChubbyQween, Senyuu, Arkeena, Connie, deadpanned, austindillisgod, RegulusSiriusBlack2004 Serena, Immortal ninjaaa, PotterjAcksonFaNGIR1, madgeundersee05, Arwengeld, 19irene9, .2019, SecretFruits, Cae-Leigh Anne , Mattia18, auri-australis, Wikked and lizyeh2000 for your kind reviews!

James checked his watch once again, watching the seconds tick backwards. It did that when he had something important coming up, counting the time left until the event instead of going forwards. His parents had told him it was so he would slow down, not let time rush by. He never did understand what that meant. Time seemed to rush by more than ever today.

He checked his robes, sweeping his eyes across his clothes for any imperfections on what should be the most perfect day. They were a vivid blue, allowing the small white lily to stand out in his front pocket.

Lily had convinced him that all Muggle men wore flowers in their pockets on their wedding day - at least in Britain. She had been disappointed that she couldn't find petunias small enough, a way for her sister to still be a part of the ceremony despite her absence, but James was secretly relieved. He didn't want any memory of Petunia tarnishing his perfect day. It was bad enough that the flowers were displayed along the buffet table, but even he could admit they were quite pretty.

Sirius had mocked him for that.

Glancing towards his best man, James felt a flash of envy at his perfectly curled hair. Taking one last look in the mirror, he sighed. He couldn't wait to marry Lily, he truly couldn't. But one look at Petunia's sneer this morning reminded him of everything that Lily had found fault in too.

'What if she gets cold feet?' he whispered at his reflection, staring at the crooked glasses, the messy hair, and seeing the arrogant foolish boy he had once been. His looks hadn't changed, but he had, so much.

Warmth spread through his shoulder and he jumped. He hadn't noticed Sirius come up behind him.

'Lily does nothing without a homework diary's worth of planning behind it, mate,' Sirius grinned. 'If she hasn't found a reason to back out now, you know she never will.'

'Fuck it,' he said, messing up his hair to look windswept and striding determinedly out of the if Lily did get cold feet, he got the girl once. And I can do it again.

Emma felt tears prick her eyes as Lucinda showed her her completed dress.

'There you are!' Lucinda chirped, for once looking as enthusiastic as her old self. 'My very first creation - well, if we discount the ones I modified for myself. Anyway, it's my first creation from scratch!'

'It's beautiful,' Emma murmured, touching the wide skirt made up of thousands of tiny feathers, overlapping one another to create wave-like patterns. 'And so soft!' she exclaimed, looking up at her friend.

'I thought you would like it,' Lucinda replied, grinning more widely than Emma thought possible. 'I took the feathers from my mother's snowy owl - just a few here and there - and multiplied each batch over and over. It took a while, but it's very cost-effective, and you can't tell the difference between the real and transfigured! It won't last long though, I'm not sure how to make the transfiguration permanent.'

Emma shook her head, marvelling at Lucinda's ingeniosity. Standing up, she quickly crossed the room to hug her best friend, who jolted in surprise and laughed.

'Thank you.'

'Any time,' Lucinda said warmly, returning the hug. 'But don't thank me yet. We need to actually get you into this thing by the end of the day. You know, I didn't think you had the romance in you; getting married at sunset.'

'It was Regulus's idea,' Emma replied, blushing.

'Of course it was. By the way, when I said "anytime?". Yeah, you're not marrying anyone else.'

James ran up the steps to the church in Godric's Hollow. It was perfect, really. It was Muggle enough that Lily's family wouldn't feel out of place, and yet it was a wizarding community, so their friends would be able to relax their grips on their wands.

Dumbledore had appeared cheerfully on his doorstep in the morning with none other than Amelia Bones - now working for the DMLE - asking where James would like the wards set. When James had sputtered his astonishment at being granted such high security at such a young age, Dumbledore had simply patted him on the cheek and said, "The protection of love is the most important thing in this world," and got to work.

Now, if James looked closely, he could spot a shimmer in the sky where the magic from the wards interacted with the atmosphere. Hidden in the petunias artfully arranged in baskets outside the church were Sneakoscopes, magnified to warn the guests of unwanted visitors.

He just hoped Emma would be able to get through.

'Uh… Wait, wait!' Remus cried, rushing out of the church. 'Don't come in yet! I've only just got everyone chatting to each other instead of demanding when the wedding is going to start… the perks of having friends too busy to catch up regularly - they all want to know what's going on in each other's lives! If you come in, you'll ruin everything!'

James laughed and took his hand from the door handle.

'How long are we going to hang around out here, then? It's so hot outside that I might just ward away Lily with my stench rather than entice her with my beauty.'

'Classy, James,' Remus replied with an eyeroll, tapping the top of James's head with his wand. Immediately, it felt as though ice cubes were sliding down his back.

'Argh!' he cried, squirming away and touching the back of his neck. Nothing was there. He glared at Remus, who was choking on a laugh.

'Last Marauder prank before you leave us for good,' Remus chuckled.

'Come on, Moony! I'll never leave the Marauders. Lily will just have to become an honorary member, that's all.'

Remus punched his arm, but James saw the relief in his eyes. Had he really thought James would forget about his friends just because he was getting married? Looking around and seeing no one, James tackled him to the ground, tickling Moony until he screamed for him to stop.

'So you're not nervous then?' Remus asked, when they both got their breath back and Sirius worriedly recast cleaning charms on their suits. Trust Padfoot to know that spell, James thought, as Remus continued. 'Not worried that everything will change?'

In his mind's eye, James saw it. He and Lily would be surrounded by little kids, all with masses of floofy hair of course. Sirius would be Padfoot, prancing around with a boy on his back, while Remus tried to teach a girl chess. She would beat him, of course, being Lily's daughter. And Peter would be the best hide-and-seek champion a parent could find.

'Of course everything will change. But why should I be nervous? I'm getting married to the love of my life, surrounded by all of my friends. It's going to be the best day of my life.'

It felt odd to be in Grimmauld Place for the ceremony. Emma had always expected weddings to be, well… like Narcissa's. Grand and ostentatious, with bright light streaming over polished white floors. Instead, it felt welcoming, like coming home after a long time away. A grin tugged at her lips, and she looked away before Lucinda could tease her more.

White roses adorned the piano and the fireplaces in the ballroom, where the ceremony would take place. Floating candles tinted the room with a golden hue, reminding Emma of the Great Hall on its best days. The Black family tapestry was displayed in all its glory, though she noticed that some of the candles were strategically placed so as to hide the burned areas. She wondered whether that was thanks to Regulus or Walburga.

'Hey Ems.'

She turned around to see Rabastan lounging on the windowsill, the setting sun backlighting his dark green dress robes into a deep red. He beamed at her as he straightened up, his mischievous green eyes letting her know that he had noticed her sentimental moment.

'Looking good,' she said, nudging him playfully. Nothing could ruin her mood today.

To her surprise, he pulled her into a tight hug, pressing the side of his head against her own. Taken aback and yet touched by the show of affection, she hesitantly returned it.

'You too,' he replied, his voice muffled. When he drew back, she noticed that there were tears in his eyes.

'Didn't you mock Lucinda for crying at the last wedding?' she asked with a smile, though she felt her own heart swell with emotion.

'Shut up.' Rabastan sniffed, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. 'Regulus has gone to get James. He didn't think your brother would fancy Walburga turning up and telling him the name of the place.'

'I can't believe we're actually pulling this off,' Emma said wondrously.

It would only be the four of them - Rabastan, Lucinda, Walburga and James. Two witnesses and a representative from each family. Not what Emma had expected for her wedding, but all that was needed. Her best and closest friends, with all pretence lifted. She felt as light as a feather.

In a week's time, they would celebrate with the rest of the Death Eaters at the Lestrange mansion, with no one any the wiser. For all the wizarding world would know, Regulus and Emma had exchanged vows alone, as was becoming more and more common.

And this way, Emma would have James back, just for one day.

She laughed giddily and twirled. She hadn't felt this carefree since their first years at Hogwarts. Rabastan burst into laughter, so she grabbed his hands and twirled him too, both of them leaning outwards as they spun faster and faster. Eventually, one of them - she didn't know who - let go, and they stumbled to catch their balance.

'Don't forget your vows,' Rabastan teased, regaining some of his former demeanor. 'Wouldn't do to have our Emma speechless today; how else will Regulus have something to aspire to?'

'Please,' she replied with a smirk. 'They wrote themselves. And besides, Regulus has nothing to aspire to.'

She flounced off with a salacious wink, leaving Rabastan standing in her wake.

When Remus finally let James in, he bounded through the church with perhaps a little more enthusiasm than was necessary, crashing into Sirius on the way up to the altar. The rings went flying, and by the time they had found them - with a surreptitious Accio from Peter - the crowd had hushed.

James brushed the dust from his jacket as he took his appointed place. The music had swelled, the violin quartet that Lily admitted she had always wanted playing their best. By the time he looked up, Lily was halfway down the aisle.

Lily was elegance incarnate. Forget the clothes, the flowers, none of that was what mattered, and James wouldn't remember a single thing about them later. His eyes were glued to the smile gracing on her face as she practically glided down the aisle. Her eyes were fixed on his, telling him that her feelings and his were one and would always be. James gulped and his stomach did at least three backflips, no matter if Lily always told him it was scientifically impossible. It did, and she was the one who was scientifically impossible.

'Ahem.' With a slight cough, the Muggle man presiding over the whole thing took centre stage. 'Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness and celebrate…'

As Lily took her place next to him, James couldn't hear a word the vicar was saying over the blood rushing through his ears. His vision seemed to narrow down to Lily. Just Lily, nothing else. She graced him with another smile, as warm as he wanted it to be every day of their lives.

Lily, of course, was listening to the speech as eagerly as she had anything in her life. James knew that she was committing the words to memory, to heart and he grinned at the focus she gave the vicar. It meant that she thought their marriage was one of the most important things in the world. It was, of course.

Then she glanced his way, as if reading his thoughts, and gave him a small smile, and he thought that his heart might explode, it was swelling so much in his chest. He tried to smile back, but felt tears in his eyes instead. He wanted to hold her and tell her how much she meant to him, but was swept up in the ceremony

Finally, finally, he grasped Lily's hands at the right moment, marvelling at her smooth palms and the clear cut lines of the heart and head running through them. She had read his own palms once, and got mad that his lines combined into one. Now, his hands were sweaty where hers were cool, but she didn't seem to mind as she slid the ring onto his finger. James had always imagined that this part of the ceremony would feel odd, as it was so different from the wizarding vows, but instead he relished the touch of her hand, firmly telling him that he was hers as much as she was his.

'I do.'

A smile spread across Emma's face before she even knew it was there.

'You have a beautiful house, Mrs Black,' James said, his burgundy robes sweeping the floor as he bowed down to kiss the back of her hand.

Walburga looked equally flattered and disapproving, the warring emotions worsening as James gave her a saucy wink. He always did have a way with people. He'd charm the pants off Professor McGonagall, if she let him, and only Poppy Pomfrey seemed to resist his roguish charisma. And he had turned the full brunt of its force on his soon-to-be aunt in law.

Emma felt a rush of affection, even as Rabastan and Lucinda chuckled at his antics. It was because of her insistence James come that they had been forced to keep the ceremony small, and this seemed to be his way of making it up to the Black family. No small feat, considering how much he must have disliked Walburga after Sirius's tales.

'Nice to see you so carefree, for once,' Regulus murmured in her ear, his own lips quirking in amusement. 'I don't think I've seen you smile like that since Mulciber flirted with Rabastan, thinking he was a girl.'

'Thank you for bringing him,' she replied, and it took all of her willpower to not kiss him there and then, negating the blood magic needed for the wedding to bind itself to them. 'What are you doing on this side of the hall?'

'Wishing you luck,' he replied. 'Wouldn't want you tripping on your gown across the thirty feet of the room.'

How did Regulus seem so calm? Here she was, feeling as though she might explode from emotion, and he walked over to politely greet Lucinda. She stared at him all the way, willing him to look back.

He did, and his grey eyes captured hers with a fiery passion that had her fighting not to blush again. Perhaps he wasn't as calm as she imagined.

'Don't worry,' James said, touching Emma's arm as he took his place by her. 'I'm here for that.'

'For what? Tripping me up or helping me off the floor?'

'Both.'

'Well, isn't that mighty good of you,' Emma replied sarcastically. The effect was probably ruined by her beaming face, though.

'Right,' James said, after a moment, shifting his feet nervously. 'Well, err, shall we?'

Emma loved that he didn't give her an out, give her a chance to call it off before it properly began. James was happy, Walburga was happy, Rabastan was crying, Lucinda was conjuring so many falling rose petals that she could barely see Regulus at the end of the room and she and Regulus… She and Regulus were just putting what they had both known for a long time into magic.

Soft violins played from the Black's gramophone as Emma and James walked down the length of the ballroom on a green and silver carpet. She walked carefully, relishing in the moment. It was a time capsule away from the war, a glimpse into what life could hold. When she glanced up, Regulus's eyes were still smoldering and she hastily looked back down before peeking up again, this time focusing on his dress robes, away from the intensity of his gaze. Still, she felt it on her face and basked in its glow.

The rose petals stopped and only reflex had Emma catch Lucinda's magically created bouquet when she realised Emma's flowers lay forgotten in the hallway. Just as quickly, James stole one and placed a sticking charm on his breast where a Muggle would have a pocket, ever the rebellious one.

Finally, they were at the table and Emma's momentary awkwardness dissipated. She held out her left hand to Regulus, and when her Dark Mark turned to the fore, James made not a sound. Regulus's small nod of approval had her heart singing for the end of the war right there and then.

Then his hand was in hers and the world was theirs. Regulus smiled widely then, and Emma grinned back at him, impatiently glancing over to the spelled parchment.

Rabastan and Lucinda signed it with a Black Quill, and James said nothing as Walburga pricked his finger with a knife and let a drop spill onto the fresh page. As soon as it was absorbed, she repeated the motion on her own hand and drew her wand.

That was their cue. Emma's eyes flicked nervously back to Regulus, whose wand was already out above their joined hands. She drew hers, the hawthorn a darker hue to his cypress. Gold sparks flew when they touched, and only then did Walburga tap them both with her own. She nodded for Regulus to begin the ceremony.

Emma's heart suddenly started beating faster. They hadn't discussed their vows, preferring to keep them secret. But they would be binding, even in death, unless one of them foresook them.

'I, Regulus Black, swear to remain by your side, in life and in death, to depart from this life as one.'

As Regulus spoke the traditional words, Emma was struck with sudden foreboding. What if one of them were to die before the other, stuck forever waiting in the veil to the afterlife? As she hesitated, he lifted his grey eyes to hers, and she realised that she would wait a thousand years before moving on without him.

'I, Emma Potter, swear to remain by your side, to protect and support you until we depart from this life as one.'

She had slightly modified her vow, not wanting to simply repeat Rabastan's words. Regulus's eyes widened for a moment, as he realised what she had pledged, but she saw no better way to prove her trust in him than through their vows.

Silver light blossomed between their wands to touch their skin. It was both cool and hot at once, sizzling with energy and yet a balm to her flesh. Regulus gently ran his thumb over hers, showing that he had felt it too.

'I, Emma Potter, swear that I will remain faithful to the only man I've ever loved,' she paused, glancing over as Rabastan laughed. She noted with satisfaction that he was grasping Lucinda's hand as tightly as could be. 'And my best and truest friend.'

Regulus took a moment to lick his lips, and Emma realised that his hesitation was emotional. She squeezed his hand and was rewarded with a short laugh, exhaled shakily as he continued the magic.

'I, Regulus Black, swear that I will never have eyes for another woman, as I never have since meeting you on the Hogwarts Express.'

Emma could have sworn she heard Lucinda squeak as the next tendrils bound their hands tighter. Then her focus shifted and she took a step closer as Regulus nearly whispered his next vow.

'I, Regulus Black, swear to keep you safe, no matter the consequences.'

She was silent for a moment, as his eyes burned into hers, tears of determination glinting in their depths. A lump rose to her throat. She didn't doubt his words, but she feared them.

'I, Emma Potter, swear that I will walk with you through the night, until the darkness is past.'

Bands of gold and silver coalesced from the mist onto their joined hands, and with a sigh of joy or apprehension, or maybe both, Emma took one last step to be swept into Regulus's arms and kissed as though they had never kissed before. He enveloped her with his warmth and she clung tightly to him in turn. It was at once gentle and passionate and desperate, filled with the knowledge that their vows would be called on before the month was out.

James looked around the room at all the congratulatory faces, looking for his twin coming out from under the Invisibility Cloak. He wanted to share the moment with her as she had with him only hours before. He wanted her lips to twist into a smirk that said, really, a Muggle ceremony? and her eyes to soften and tell him how proud she was. But try as he might, he never caught the black hair in the smiling sea of gingers, the almond blue eyes among the faces of his friends.

It was only when Sirius came up to them with a saucy wink and a promise to smuggle them away from the festivities with the Invisibility Cloak that he realised he had never given his sister a way to be there at all. He had lent it to Dumbledore, and forgot that Emma didn't have it in her possession.

And as he turned to his closest friends and well wishers, there was a bittersweet ache in his heart.

Emma flung her arms around James, thanking him for coming as she breathed in his brotherly scent. She couldn't quite help the tears in her eyes, although she knew she'd be seeing him the very next day as they had planned under their dad's old Invisibility Cloak.

'Don't worry,' James murmured into her hair. 'This won't go on for long. Soon our family will be together again.'

Still, Emma held him close, as if she'd never see him again.