The Arrangement

Chapter 2

Lily felt a hoarse blockage in her throat. Her hands were shaking so hard she thought try might fall off.

The young man who stood in front of her was very tall, he had round horn rimmed glasses that covered his hazel eyes. His jaw was definite and his nose straight. His black hair came floppily down from the top of his head, uncontrollably messy. He gave a small smile as Lily looked up at him. As he did this, Lily suddenly recognised him. The small wrinkles around his eyes. But Lily didn't have time to think about where she could recognise him from. His large shaking hands took hers and the ceremony began. Hymns were sung and long winded passages spoken by the priest, during which Lily thought she heard the young man suppress a sigh, until it came to the vows.

"Do you, James, take Lily to be your wife?" This boy, turned to give Lily a confirming look with his sparkling hazel eyes, before saying ; "I do."

Then it was Lily's turn she felt a thousand pairs of eyes on her as she gasped the words "I do," after a pause. Her stomach clenched. Her chest gave a worrying shudder and she turned to see James looking at her strangely. She was further disconcerted by the slight smirk on the right side of his face.

"I now pronounce you Husband and Wife! You may kiss the bride!" Cried the priest as though he was proclaiming that Christmas had come early. James leaned in and Lily clenched her eyes shut, although she tried to make it less obvious she was avoiding his lips, she was fully aware of the thousands of eyes upon her. His lips touched hers and a strange feeling came over her. She wanted to sink into the kiss, wanted to welcome this tingling in her fingers and warmth of his lips, but then also wanted to throw him to the floor and wash her mouth out with bleach. Lily almost smiled as she imagined that thought. The bespectacled young man pulled away, smirking slightly, the right corner of his mouth stretched at a jaunty angle. Lily felt no emotion sweep her face. This only made Jame grin at the floor before taking her arm and leading her down the aisle.

Lily couldn't process what had just happened. She processed the fact that she had just been married, she had had the whole ceremony to think about that and over think every thought that came into her head. But no. What she couldn't process was what she had just experienced when he had kissed her. That was how she saw it. He had leant down, initiated the kiss, stole the kiss even. But, it felt different from when Sev had kissed her. She had a different feeling of stolen completely associated with Severus's kiss. But how many feelings of stolen can you feel? As Lily thought all of this, James led her from the church, the bells ringing their loudest, down the snow covered steps and down towards their carriage, which was pulled by four greys. There were white roses and white lilies decorating the doors and front seat of the carriage all highlighted beautifully with gold and cream ribbon. Lily grimaced as she felt the cold snow dampening her silk shoes.

"I reckon you must be tired of damp feet after last night..." James murmured spotting her grimace. Lily gasped and looked at him with utter shock and humiliation. He merely smiled and winked at her.

The journey from the church had been interesting, it had begun snowing again as the happy couple waved silently out the windows of their carriage to the people crowding the streets of the town. They feigned smiles and clasped hands loosely in a faux representation of how devoted they were to each other. Although she knew that James wouldn't have told anyone about her and her friends escapade last night, it still made her uneasy. She had hardly been decent last night and she must have looked a mess. Besides, now he had a card to play. She had a feeling he might use it against her.

When they arrived at the palace, James helped her out of the carriage. Lily gave him a stony look and he continued his pretence of utmost happiness. Lily looked around at the people crowding the gate, the citizens of the town. She gave them a small wave as she tightened her fur caplet around her shoulders. Her eyes ran over the ordinary people. How lovely it would be to be one of them, to not have any responsibilities. Her eyes fell onto a small girl with pigtails gazing through the gates. Lily gave a small sigh and began to turn when something caught her eye. It almost made her faint with fear. She thought she had caught sight of a black cloak and Death Eater mask. Lily blinked and felt the colour drain from her face. She searched the crowds again, but saw no sign of the mask. Lily felt a from grip of her upper arm.

"Are you alright?" Whispered her husbands voice.

Lily pulled her arm out of his grip and continued up the steps.

"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?" Lily snapped under her breath.

"I don't know, you didn't really look well."

"Oh thanks..." Muttered Lily throwing him a dirty look from under her eyelashes. What she had seen had really scared her. The idea of a Death Eater in Gryffindor was more terrifying than getting married to someone you'd never met.

"Ok, I just-" James lowered his voice as guards came to escort them through the corridors, flooded with red carpets. "I just saw you go all pale and your eyes kind of went all glazed. And I was kind of-"

"Stop talking. You don't need to talk." Whispered Lily, taken aback by her own rudeness.

"Wow ok, just trying to help... But you know you are gonna have to talk to me at some point, I mean I am your husband now..." Maybe it was what he had said, or all the pressure on her at the moment, or the irritating smirk of his face, that she otherwise wouldn't have found that bad to look at, or maybe all of those things, made her snap. Lily picked up her pace and told one of the guards to escort her to the bathroom before the portrait sitting. She marched away massaging her head where her hair was pulled too tight.

James sat on a plush armchair in a chamber off one of the long corridors. He gazed into space as he waited for Lily to return. His friends had always said some girls wouldn't appreciate his teasing sense of humour. His parents just had to pick a girl who wouldn't. A girl who apparently had no sense of humour at all.

James sighed and out his head in his hands. He knew this was necessary, for the good of all of the kingdoms opposing Lord Voldemort and his army. But seriously? Humour was the one thing that kept him sane when he was living in his castle back in Ravenclaw, and his parents had to pick a girl who couldn't even take some half hearted teasing. He ran his hands through his hair. At least she was pretty, James thought subconsciously. She was actually very pretty, that wasn't a bad thing, but maybe that was all for nothing if he couldn't even have a normal conversation with her. Maybe he should have tried adult conversation. Talking about the weather, politics, the estate. She seemed like the kind of girl to enjoy those sort of conversations. James wondered whether he would be virtually alone for the rest of his life, he would not only be starved of conversation, but female company. He had no doubt that he would be sleeping on the sofa tonight and was preparing himself for back pain the next morning and for all the wrong reasons. Ah well, he thought, she would warm to him, he had made every other girl so far warm to him even if they weren't particularly his type. After a good half an hour, the arrival of his wife was announced and the newly weds were escorted to the artist's chamber. They were positioned with Lily seated on a gilded stool and James standing over her, his hand clasped on her shoulder. He could feel the girl squirming inside to be free of his grip, so he curled his fingers tighter. Lily's hands, which were delicately laid in her lap, twitched and her eyelashes flickered uncomfortably. Oh what fun this was thought James.

"Look up, girl! Into his eyes! You love him, you are devoted soul body and mind!" Cried the artist who had been telling her the same thing for a good deal of time. "Like hell I am..." Lily muttered between her teeth as she jutted her chin upward so her face was aligned with her husbands. Husband. That felt strange to say, her loving husband with whom she would have an entire life with. A fake life, Lily told herself. James on the other hand was quite enjoying himself as Lily stared into his eyes with a stormy resentment towards him. This was how they all started, but then in the end, they all wanted to marry him, well she was the lucky one it seemed. She really was very pretty. He wondered what she would look like when she wasn't done up like this, he supposed he would find out tonight. He guessed she would have freckles. Cute. The green eyes staring up at him had softened as he had zoned out but then hardened again like molten lava returning to its cold solid state. He would give her a real taste of his humour late but he felt the artist might slap him if he moved. Instead, trying to hold back a smirk, James made small circles on the revealed skin of her back. At first she didn't really register the contact to her bare flesh but then let out a little squeak and screeched her chair away on the wooden floor.

"Madame! Please!" Shrieked the artist in frustration.

"Come on, dear, the faster this is finished, the faster we can see our reception," James smiles innocently, speaking as though she was a little bird. Lily's stomach did a leap and a scowl clouded her face. She returned to her spot and sat a little straighter than usual and her arms a little more set and carved as if from stone. The artist gasped and muttered in frustration as James returned his thumb to the groove of her shoulder blade and upper back. Her jaw gritted together and her eyes continued to rage like a rainforest in a monsoon. As the artist had completed the skeleton for the painting, the newly weds were free to spend some quality time together for precisely twenty minutes before they were to enter their late lunch and reception at 3 o'clock. Lily's stomach was growling with hunger as they entered a chamber just off of the great hall where they would wait their twenty minutes, Lily hoped in silence. Her anxiousness had reached a peak during their portrait seating. His thumb, although not invading any personal space had felt like a violation. Not only was she completely unnerved, but she was also outraged. If he thought he could come in here and think that they could immediately be husband and wife, he was very very wrong. James had slumped into a arm chair and has his hand over his eyes and has sagged into the plushly furnished chair. Lily stiff stiffly, eyeing him suspiciously. James pretended he hadn't noticed she was doing this but was secretly beaming with success under her attention. She would definitely warm to him, even if she didn't want to. James hadn't really considered what married life would be like, he didn't normally think very far ahead and taking the step of marrying someone wasn't an exception. He wondered what would be expected of them. Would the kingdoms expect them to be in love? He supposed so, the kingdoms opposing Lord Voldemort needed moral strengthening. Another thought struck his subconscious. Would they be expected to have an heir? Probably. That thought was a mystifying one. On the one hand Lily was a beautiful girl... On the other, he wasn't sure he was ready for a child. Plus Lily would never sleep with him, for now at least. He wouldn't make her, that wasn't the way he did things. Normally, the girl would come to him. James had slept with three girls in total. Only once each. He wasn't sure why, or what he was thinking, but twice he had been drunk, and the first he had been desperate to prove himself. Sirius, his best friend had been boasting about how many ladies he had been with, and was poking fun at the fact that James had no experience. Enraged and empowered, James had taken advantage of the fact that a very beautiful blonde had been in their company that night, by the name of Daisy Bones. It definitely hadn't been his proudest moment, but he hoped that his grand total of three wouldn't be three until he died. He had heard of Lords who had ladies of the night as they called them, but James wasn't sure. It seemed a bit like cheating. Not only cheating on Lily, but cheating at the game of encouraging his wife.

He wouldn't give in to his drive. Not until Lily gave into hers.

Knowing that Lily was the pleased with the silence, James spoke some of his thoughts.

"I wonder what our families expect of us..." James spoke into the silent space between the couple. Lily simply shrugged her shoulders and scowled. Fine. He would ask a more personal thing.

"Do you think our parents will expect us to carry on the family line?" There was the reaction he'd hoped for. Lily shivered and crossed her arms, taking a gulp. Unlike James, Lily had been thinking about this since she had heard of this marriage. That was the point of marriage wasn't it? Having children, raising a family. Lily didn't voice this, she simply said "I 'spose," in a emotionless voice.

"You know," said James getting a little irritated at how unresponsive she was. "We are going to pretend we're in love. We are going to have to act like we would die for each other. Not for our parents, but for the three kingdoms facing the enemy. That means you're kinda gonna have to talk to me." James finished his small proclamation and kicked his feet up into a coffee table. Lily's mouth was hanging open, waiting for her voice box to work and come back with a witty response that would have normally come flooding out her mouth, but she didn't know what to say. He was right, she couldn't deny that she was and that she had to. Just- now wasn't the right time.

"I know." Lily murmured after a while. "It's just you're going to have to earn my company instead of assume that now we're married I have to be all chummy with you..."

"Well you seemed to enjoy my company at the altar," James retorted.

"That was before you actually spoke to me properly," replied Lily in a scathing voice.

"Oh ouch. Doesn't change the fact that I'm your husband. You're my wife. I belong to you. You belong to me, deal with it." Lily opened her mouth in disbelief, ready for a witty comeback to come tumbling out her mouth, but no words came. Before the silence expanded too long however, there was a knock at the door. A couple of guards entered and announced that it was time for the banquet. Lily marched past James glowering, her brow furrowed crossly.