21

The Big Surprise:

They were eating lunch in the large ministry cafeteria. Moody had finally stopped talking about Death Eaters long enough for them to enjoy a proper lunch.

They had bought very sad-looking sandwiches and sat down at one of the tables in the corner to eat them. Sirius and Doe hadn't been there for five minutes when Remus and Peter arrived, joining the table.

" Hello, love" Remus said kissing the side of her head and taking the seat next to her.

" Hi," Doe said becoming more chipper at his arrival.

Peter sat down too. He looked exhausted, he had huge dark circles under his eyes.

" Tired, Peter?" she asked.

Peter nodded glumly, " I've had a lot of late nights"

" Long hours in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office, Is there?" Sirius asked.

" Oh, uh….yeah" Peter said quietly pulling at the sleeve of his sweater.

They were interrupted by Lily and James walking through the door and looking extremely excited. Lily was clutching his hand tightly and dragged him over. She was practically bouncing when she sat down.

" Lily, what's wrong?" Doe asked her.

" James proposed!" She said happily extending her left hand.

Nestled on her ring finger was a diamond ring.

It took Doe a minute to register. James and Lily were getting married.

" Oh my god!" Doe cried happily, pulling Lily into a tight hug, " I am so happy for you"

Lily smiled, " He asked last night, I was so shocked"

" I'm just glad she said yes, " James said with a smile, " I was having Hogwarts flashbacks"

Peter giggled.

" Well congratulations" Remus said happily.

" I knew you had it in you, Prongsie" Sirius said with a smile. He didn't look the least bit shocked.

" Did you know?" Doe asked him.

Sirius nodded, " Of course I did, so did Remus"

" And you didn't tell me?" Doe asked turning to Remus.

Remus smiled sheepishly, " I figured I would let Lily tell you when it happened"

" Damn you, and your considerate nature" she said with a slight pout.

Remus only smiled.

Doe looked back at Lily, " I can't believe you're getting married" she said happily.

Lily smiled, " Well I'm glad you feel that way about it, because you're my maid of honor"

Doe grinned widely, " Really, Lily? Aw, I love you"

" You're my best friend Doe, who else would I choose? Petunia? No way" Lily assured her.

" This is going to be fantastic" Doe said.

She couldn't have been more thrilled. She knew how much Lily and James loved each other, and in the current situation, a wedding would bring the levity they so desperately needed.

" None of you are focusing" Lily said slightly irritated and closed the book she had open in front of her.

" Sorry Lily" Doe said quickly, " I think were all just a little tired"

It was the first Saturday night in what felt like forever that they had not had to work late or had an Order meeting. So the six of them were sitting in the living room of the Marauders' flat trying to enjoy it, while Lily wanted desperately to discuss wedding details.

In fact, Lily had assumed her role of 'bride' quite well, it had caused her to become obsessed with planning the wedding.

Right now, she had a catalog from 'Gladwags WizardWear' open to the bridal section and was desperately trying to get them all to agree on things like Maid of Honor Dresses and Groomsmen Robes.

Lily and James were sitting on the couch closest to the door. Remus and Doe were sitting on the one opposite them. Sirius was sitting in one of the armchairs, his legs thrown casually over the side, and Peter was sitting crosslegged on the floor.

" Lily, choose whatever you want, I'm sure it will be beautiful" James said playing with her hair.

Lily turned to him, " I can't choose everything, it's our wedding. I need your input too!" she implored.

James sighed. And Lily continued pointing to the Groom's Dress robes, until James finally picked a standard Dress Robe.

" See was that so hard?" Lily asked and James gave her a weak smile, that suggested it actually had been.

" Alright Doe, Sirius, your next" Lily said opening to a new section.

" For what?" Doe asked Lily.

Lily gave me a look of slight annoyance, " You're the maid of Honor, and Sirius is the Best Man, I need your dress to match his dress robes"

Sirius and Doe gave each other a look before looking at the book Lily had passed them.

" Well what about this?" Doe asked pointing to a simple Blue Dress that had a corresponding Black Dress robe with a tie the same color.

" Doe, Have you been listening?" Lily asked, " The theme is Gold and Purple"

Doe sighed, truthfully, she hadn't been listening. As thrilled as she was that James and Lily were getting married, and that she wanted me to be their Maid of Honor, the details bored her tremendously.

After what seemed like an hour of squabbling, and refusal on Sirius part. Lily had finally decided that Sirius and all the Groomsmen would be wearing black dress robes with Gold vests and purple ties. And purple dresses for Marlene and Alice to wear as bridesmaid dresses. As for Doe, Lily had picked out a long gold dress that tied around my neck.

" Okay so now that that is settled can we postpone the wedding talk for a little while?" James asked noticing all of their exhausted expressions.

" I suppose" Lily said looking slightly put out.

" You know you're going to look quite handsome in Dress Robes" Doe whispered to Remus.

A smile spread across his face and he leaned in to whisper in her ear, " Not as beautiful as your going to look in that dress"

" Oi!" James said tossing a pillow at them, " No wedding talk and no whispering"

" Sorry Prongs," Remus said, but he wrapped an arm around her anyway.

" You know what I was thinking about the other day" Sirius said, changing the topic, " the time we flooded the Slytherin common room"

" A classic!" James roared in agreement. Peter laughed loudly.

" All thanks to Moony's brilliance" Sirius said looking at Remus.

Remus sighed, " You used my knowledge for less than favorable reasons"

" Oh come on, Moony. It was brilliant, even McGonagall was impressed" James said.

" I miss McGonagall" Lily said softly.

Sirius eyed her strangely, " You see her twice a week for Order Meetings!"

Lily shrugged, " That's different though, at the meetings she's almost an equal. I miss having her as a teacher"

Sirius raised his eyebrow at her but looked away, " Prongs you're marrying a weird one"

" I miss the whole castle," Doe said, " I mean I love the ministry but it doesn't feel quite right not being at Hogwarts anymore"

" We were certainly less busy at Hogwarts" Remus said.

" And there wasn't a war" Lily pointed out.

A silence settled over all of them.

When they were at Hogwarts, Voldemort had been gaining strength and power, but it was nothing like it was now. Hogwarts had shielded us from the harsh realities.

" You know Regulus didn't go back this year" Sirius said, " My mother kept him home. I suspect he's pledged himself to the Death Eaters"

" You don't know that" James said quickly.

Sirius shrugged, " It seems like the kind of thing he would do"

" The Death Eaters probably aren't always the people you would expect" Peter said quietly.

" But they usually are" Sirius said running his hands through his short hair.

Remus frowned, " You know, It's surprising that none of them have made themselves public yet"

" Eventually they will have too" Doe told him, " the most radical form of allegiance is unwavering public allegiance"

" You know part of me hopes that this will all just go away" Lily said, " as ludicrous as it seems"

Dpe looked at Lily. Her face mirrored an expression of true terror. And as James held her closer to him, she realized why. Lily was a muggle-born. It was so easy to forget. She was exactly the kind of witch that Death Eater's were trying to get rid of.

The rest of them would be targets too. Being in the Order and being Aurors, but their blood wasn't setting them apart. James and Sirius were purebloods, so yes they were blood traitors, but still were pure. Peter, Remus and Doe were half-blood, therefore not relevant in the fight. Doe had already paid the price for her father's blood treachery. His death was sufficient payment for the 'unspeakable' acts he committed in the eye's of the Death Eaters. Lily was the only one of them whose blood status made her a glaring ginger target.

" Don't worry, Lily. Nothing bad is going to happen" James told her.

Doe watched him lie to her effortlessly, calming her. She knew James would rather die than let any harm come to Lily, but there were things even James couldn't control.

Doe highly doubted they would make it through this war without losing some part of themselves. As sinister as it sounded, it was true.

It was out of their hands.