Sunday 23rd September 1979

Potter Manor, 16:00

James rubbed his hands on his robes for the Merlin knows what time now. He couldn't help it, they just felt so sweaty and eurgh. And ne needed something to do because his parents had very firmly scolded him for pacing up and down the front of the alter. It was incredibly inappropriate and rude, apparently.

He couldn't help it! He was nervous. Really nervous. More nervous than he had ever been and he could do nothing to fix it.

It was his wedding day and he was ready but the ceremony wasn't going to start for another half an hour! He should probably still be in the room. Assigned to him, waiting so he didn't drive his guests up the wall like he was doing now but be couldn't. It was too confined and it just made him think and overthink things and get him even more worked up. Which he couldn't do on today of all days.

"You're making me dizzy, Prongs," Sirius said, looking as chill as usual.

Did anything faze Sirius? James had yet to see it.

"Then don't look at me."

He could feel Sirius' eye roll behind him. But he was one to talk. It wasn't like it was his wedding. Sirius wouldn't understand.

His dad, on the other hand, would. James walked over to Fleamont who was chatting to Mr Evans with a smile on his face. James took a moment to look at his dad properly. He still wasn't looking one hundred percent after his brush with Dragon Pox last winter but he was looking better. Less tired. Though he still looked incredibly pale.

"Hey, Jamie," Fleamont greeted him as soon as he saw him. "Done with your pacing?"

"Dad!"

"What? I was starting to get worried that you were going to tread a trench in the floor."

James blushed. He hadn't been that bad, had he?

"Nervous?" Fleamont asked knowingly.

"A little." He admitted readily.

No point in hiding it. It was pretty obvious for all to see that he was nervous.

"That's natural. I'd be worried if you weren't."

"It's just all these thoughts racing around my head," James confided. "Like, things going wrong. Lily changing her mind..."

"She's not going to change her mind, James," Remus tried to reassure him, appearing suddenly from behind him.

Which didn't really assure him at all because those were just words and words didn't mean anything. Okay. That was a bit dramatic even for him. He had to turn it down a notch.

"I don't like all this waiting," he complained, sitting down at the raised platform at the front of the Ballroom.

Yes, it was right in front of the guests but we really didn't care right at this moment and he didn't think his guests would either. The Longbottoms were giving him sympathetic looks, Uncle Al (he could call him that now, since he wasn't working today but it was a bit weird) was glaring at everyone and everything suspiciously, nothing new there and Aunt Batty just looked incredibly happy as she chatted away to McGonagall. Then there was his cousins, Jackie and Catherine. He hadn't seen them in ever so long. Jackie brought her husband with her; she must have left the baby with the McKinnons. Oh, and there was Dorcas - he'd almost forgotten that Lily invited her. Which meant - yep, Mary was right beside her, whispering furiously. Some things never changed.

"It shouldn't be long now," Fleamont said, patting his shoulder.

His hand felt a lot more frail than it used to. No. James refused to think of any such thoughts on his wedding. His wedding. He was getting married! To Lily Evans! The light of his life!

He went to rub his hands on his robes again but he was stopped by Sirius seizing his wrists, physically preventing him from doing so.

"No. Stop it."

"I don't even realise I'm doing it!"

His hands just needed to move. Needed to do something. And it was really satisfying to rub up and down his robes. They were all soft and smooth and he just liked that feeling, okay? It was soothing. Kept him grounded.

"Well, realise it and don't mess up your robes."

I'm going to be sick," Lily announced, clutching at her stomach and holding a hand over her mouth.

"It's just the nerves," Rosemary dismissed.

"If you're going to throw up, I'd aim away from your dress if I, were you," Marlene said.

Everyone turned to give her varying levels of disapproving looks and flares.

"What? That's a solid piece of advice."

"I think Lily would rather not vomit," Rosemary said.

"Well, obviously but if she does, she should have a plan for what to do."

"I'm not going to throw up."

"You just said that you were!"

"Well, now I'm not."

She wasn't. Deep breathes. This was a happy day. The best of days. And she really was looking forward to it. She loved James. He loved her. This was the next step. They were both ready for it, they were.

Then why didn't she feel ready? Was this normal? Was she overreacting? And now she was hyperventilating again. Great.

She jumped as she was suddenly grabbed by the shoulders and led over to a chair. It was Alice. Lily was too shocked by the sudden movement to put up any resistance.

"Deep breaths," Alice instructed. "In. Out."

Mrs Potter, or Euphemia as she kept trying to get Lily to call her (and she really should call her that seeing as they were about to be family), returned to the room, looking extremely cheerful.

"Nervous?" She asked and Lily nodded. "Completely natural."

She hoped so because this movement in her stomach definitely didn't feel natural.

"At least you aren't rushing to the toilet," Rosemary tried to encourage her.

Which didn't really help but Lily appreciated the sentiment.

"It could be coming out both ends," her grandmother said solemnly in her croaky voice from the chair she had been safely ensconced in for the entire morning.

She was Gareth's mother, driven in from Wales last night. Lily rarely got to see her because the woman usually refused to leave Wales but apparently weddings were the exception. Even if she complained about being up and down the country like a "damned yoyo" this month because of her and Petunia. The woman did love a good wedding though and Lily was happy to have her.

Marlene and Tonks seemed to like her, particularly after that statement if their roars of laughter were anything to go by.

Alice tutted and shook her head at everyone's antics.

"Ignore them," she told Lily. "They're all being silly. You're going to be fine. More nervous than you'll ever be right up until you kiss him but you're going to be fine."

Did she really think so? Because Lily's churning stomach said otherwise.

"You're the only one who's talking any sense," Lily chuckled weakly.

It didn't completely calm her nerves but it did ease them some.

"Hey, I'm talking sense!" Marlene said in an outraged voice.

Alice sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Marlene, you suggested that she should basically get drunk before she goes down the aisle."

"Tipsy. Not drunk," Marlene corrected. "And not even tipsy. Just a drink or two to lighten up a bit. It helps the nerves!"

"No."

"It was a valid suggestion!"

"No."

"You really aren't helping Irish stereotypes," Lily told her.

Marlene gave her a wide grin. "Stereotypes had to come from somewhere, didn't they?"

Lily smiled and shook her head. Marlene was... well, she was something else, wasn't she?

Alice and Marlene looked at each other and smiled. Who would have thought that those two, if all people, would work together and help her? On her wedding day? She definitely hadn't thought so but here they were. Real life really was stranger than anything you could come up with yourself.

"Feeling better now?" Alice asked.

"Loads," Lily answered honestly.

And she did, surprisingly. She really did. Kind of at peace with everything? She was getting married to the person she cared most about in the world. Nothing else was important except for that.

"I just wish you didn't have stained hands," Rosemary sighed. "They are going to be so obvious in the pictures."

Lily looked down at her hands. Okay, yes, they were stained. But only on the tips of her fingers! Though it was a rather rich purple colour even though they had definitely faded. She had finally been allowed to brew potions in the Department of Ministries last week as a part of her apprenticeship and she had jumped right in, happy to finally brew the potion she had done so much research about.

Unfortunately, the juices of some of the ingredients were rather... potent. And did not react well with your skin. Eh, it would fade eventually. She hoped.

"Told you, you should have worn gloves," Lily's grandmother told her. "Like a proper young lady."

"I'm not a lady and I'm not going to wear gloves," Lily said with a sigh.

For one, Lily hated the way they felt. And two, they just didn't look good in her opinion. No. She wasn't going to wear gloves.

"You'll just have to hide your hands then," said her mother.

"Or, we can use a little magic," Tonks whispered, holding up her wand.

She was the most adept at concealing spells and the like. Which was hilarious because she really didn't have any use for them. But Lily wasn't going to argue and she held out her hands, Rosemary looking on in interest after making sure Daisy, her aunt and her grandmother weren't looking.

"I'm just going to give my hands another scrub," Lily said loud enough for everyone go hear once the spell was done. "That ought to get rid of the stains."

She carefully kept her now flawlessly clean hands out of sight as she did just that. With lots of exaggerated scrubbing movements thrown in.

"See?" She said, holding them out. "All better. And I didn't even dye the sink."

"I don't understand how you even got your hands that colour in the first place," said Daisy.

"An incident with some purple paint," Lily brushed off.

More like an issue with her potion but her cousin did not need to know that. However, it had been the colour and consistency of paint. Which it shouldn't have been, causing a lot of uncontrollable frothing - hence the purple hands. But she couldn't exactly say that to her cousin now, could she?

"Is it okay for me to come in?" Gareth's voice came from behind the door.

Was it time already? She looked frantically at the clock and then again because she didn't actually read it the first time. It was time! Where had it all flown? They had had tons of time the last time she had checked.

Lily took a deep breath as her mother let him in. This was it. It was time. In a few short minutes she was no longer going to be Lily Evans but Lily Potter. She was ready. She was ready.

She hooked her arm with her dad's. It was time.

It was a small wedding. Smaller than any one Sirius had ever been to. Probably smaller than ones the Potters were used to attending as well but that couldn't be helped. You couldn't exactly have large gatherings anymore. Went against Ministry guidelines. As ineffective as some of those were, this one actually made sense. Smaller gathering meant less attention drawn to you. And less attention meant that you weren't a target. Being a target usually ended up with you injured or dead. Both of which were happening at an alarming rate.

But he wasn't to think of such things today. It was happy day. A good day. Two of his favourite people in the world were getting married today. Which made it the best of days in his opinion.

Lily looked absolutely amazing, coming down the aisle in her white dress. It was a very nice white dress - she or someone knew exactly what flattered her and put those components into her dress. It was amazing. She looked amazing. And if Sirius was thinking that then who knew what James was thinking.

Sirius glanced at his best friend and had to hide a smile. From the gaping look on his face, it didn't look like James was thinking of an awful lot except "Lily". Not that he should be thinking of anything else today. No, that's what he, Remus, Peter and Severus were for. Marlene, beside him on her position as Maid of Honour, elbowed him and nodded at Lily who had stopped briefly because she had been staring at James.

Had he mentioned how downright goofy these two were? Because they were.

The rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch. They had to do some sneaky charm work so as to hide the magical components from Lily's family members that weren't in on the whole magic secret. Which was only five of them and usually they would be brought into the secret but not in these times. No. They couldn't risk it.

And it was all easy enough to hide, Mr Evans said that "fancy lighting" could be used as a cover for all sorts of effects. So, the glow of the rings and the joining of the two of them could easily explained. The minister had to be quick for his wand work for that to work but he managed it.

Then there was the nod to Mabon, due to the fact that that was today. Apparently, and Sirius hadn't known it- Remus had had to explain it to them - that if you had your wedding on any of the Sabbats then something extra would happen. Or you had to do something extra. Sirius hadn't quite caught that part.

Once the joining had happened, James and Lily clasped hands together and said the Mabon blessing loudly and clearly. Their first Sabbat as a married couple was when they were barely married, how about that?

And something extra did happen, once they finished the brief blessing (which looked weird with the absence of the candle). Their hands glowed briefly and the both gasped. Did they feel something?

The heat that came from their hands after they said the Mabon blessing was the weirdest feeling in the world. Am even weirder feeling than saying the blessing out loud in front of people. It was meant to be one of the more private Sabbats, after all. But that was soon forgotten after the glowing hands and heat between them. James hadn't known what to expect after doing that but that wasn't it. Lily was also shocked.

James looked down at his hand expecting it to be burnt or singed or something but it was fine. Felt a bit weird, like it had been vibrated, but it was fine.

The minister then coughed, getting both of their attention.

"Can I kiss her now?" James asked.

The joining had happened, they had done the blessing and their friends had talked about them an awful lot. Surely it was time to kiss her now?

"James," Lily scolded, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"I need to finish my speech to make it legally binding," the man said in a disgruntled tone.

Right. Yes. Or else they wouldn't be married in the eyes of the law. So, James took a step back from Lily so he wasn't tempted at let the man talk. James couldn't tell you want he said because he wasn't paying any attention, he just stated at Lily. She was beautiful.

There was a pause and James actually looked away from Lily to look at the man with a frown.

"Now can I kiss her?" He asked, much to the amusement and despair of their guests.

In his defence, he had wanted to kiss Lily ever since she appeared. How could he not want to kiss her?

"I was just about to say that."

"You could have said it quicker!"

"Oh, kiss your bride."

James needed no further prompting and leaned forwards to get his first kiss as a married man. Except Lily also leaned forwards a little too eagerly and bumped into his face.

"Ow!"

"Sorry!"

This, of course, made their guests roar with laughter as the two of them blushed violently.

James forgot all of his embarrassment when they tried it again, more carefully this time. And they were successful. Their lips met without any further injuries.

And it was amazing. James didn't know why because it was just a normal kiss. He had had deeper ones with Lily. Ones that involved a lot more fumbling around. This was a pretty basic kiss, albeit with wolf-whistles and catcalls in the background thanks to Marlene and Sirius. He could hear Dorcas trying to shush them and Tonks laughing her head off.

"I'm sorry this couldn't be better," James said quietly to her as they danced closely together.

"Better?" Lily repeated in confusion.

"You know," James nodded vaguely, indicating the wedding, she assumed. "Less rushed. Bigger. More people."

Sure, she had kind of always wanted a big wedding. Big as in the amount of people to celebrate such an event with, not big as in the flashiness or anything like that. Just the idea of being completely surrounded by those you loved on a day that you were getting married to the person you loved had always appealed to her. And she loved a lot of people.

Lily looked around her and she couldn't help but smile. They were dancing in the Ballroom at Potter Manor and she was surrounded by her family and her friends. People she loved and cared about. They were all here. Safe. And she was married to James. And they were just holding each other.

"This is perfect," she replied, looking up at him.

"But-"

Lily shook her head, cutting him off. "No, it's perfect."

"Really?"

"Don't you think so?"

Now it was James' turn to look around, his eyes also lingering on their family - the Marauders, Marlene and Severus included.

"Yeah. I suppose it is."