CHAPTER 22

James stood with Sirius at the end of the table, helping himself to champagne. They ignored the glares from Remus.

'You know, you're supposed to drink the alcohol after the ceremony.' Remus hissed at them from across the grounds. Many of Alice and Frank's relatives ignored this fact and continued to entertain themselves. Along with them, some hogwarts students staying over the holidays had pulled up extra chairs and were watching excitedly.

'She's not coming Prongs.' Sirius frowns anxiously at James, who was more impatient that he'd ever seen him.

'Who? Marlene?' James didn't even look at Sirius.

'No, Lily.' Sirius rolled his eyes.

Mooney turned to glare at them. 'Shut up now, the ceremony's about to start.'

The ceremony passed without a hitch. Alice strolled down the aisle in a white lace dress complete with a glittery bodice. Apparently, it was made by one of her friends, Dorcas. The entire of the great hall was packed with relatives, students, and even a couple of teachers. Professor Flitwick and Sprout smiled merrily at the back, sipping champagne and discussing cabbage growth promoting spells. The only thing missing from their conversation was Hagrid, that was, right until he turned up halfway through the ceremony carrying magical toadstools wrapped in a gift box.

Afterwards, everyone strolled down towards the frozen pond outside. Bolero started playing in the background as the newly wedded couple strapped on ice skates and stepped out onto the ice. Everything was going perfect until James decided to go back inside to bring out another bucket of champagne. Ice crunched under the ground behind him and there was a distinctly female cough.

'James?'

Champagne, broken glass and bits of ice littered the ground. James had dropped everything in shock.

'Lily.' It wasn't a question. 'You're here, at the wedding. You're...back.'

'Yes and I've got stuff to tell you.' She wrung her hands hurridly, her lips slowly turning purple with the cold. 'Come on it's got to be quick and-'

'Do you want to go someplace warm?' He cut off her babbling. 'I make a wicked hot chocolate.'

She smiled gratefully at him. 'Go on then.'

'You know, when you said someplace warm, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind.' Lily murmured, looking around. They were on the Gryffindoor commonroom balcony, overlooking the skater on the black lake, huddled under James' duvet, toasting smores.

'What were you expecting?' James laughed. 'Ah bugger, I burnt the marshmallow!' He plucked it off his wand and threw it off the balcony.

'Potter!' Lily rolled her eyes, exasperated. 'You can't just throw unwanted marshmallows into bushes!'

'I've been doing it for years,' he waved a hand vaguely then caught sight of her face. 'Joking ha ha.'

'By the way, are we supposed to be using our wand to toast marshmallows? It's not exactly hygenic.'

'Yeah but...' James twisted the marshmallow. 'If you get it on the end at the right angle, the flame is literally right inside it.'

They fell silent, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Both of them, wrapped in James' red Gryffindor duvet, with the hole from second year in it. And the scorch marks from third year, and the ink stain from fifth year. Not to mention the werewoolf scratches from seveneth year.

'James.' Lily chewed a marshmallow slowly, letting the sweetness explode over her tongue. 'I met Marlene.'

A marshmallow fell out of his mouth. 'Wait, seriously?' He threw it over the edge and picked up another one. 'How was she?'

'Not good James.' She sighed and speared another smore. 'She was thin and looked like she hadn't slept in months and she was just oh I don't even know, just not good.'

'Well at least she's alive.' James sighed as Lily rested her head on his shoulder, neither of them knew what to say. 'I've known too many who didn't make it.'

'Oh and she told me to give this to Alice and Frank-wait what's this.' Lily pulled out the present, but one envelope fell out with it. "James" was written in shaky handwriting on the front. 'I had no idea that was in there.' She mumbled.

James picked up the envelope with shaky hands. Lily couldn't read his face. It was a mixture of so many different emotions. Hate, jealously, guilt, saddness, hope, confusion. She didn't know what to say or do. So she kissed him.

Time seemed to slow down. It was salty with her tears. So messed up so random yet so time and precise and right. James broke away.

'Lily?'

'I'm sorry.' She wiped her tears away, smiling sadly. 'I don't know what came over me I just-'

'Lily it's fine. You don't have to be sorry. It didn't mean anything.' Hurt flashed across her face. 'Well it's not that it didn't mean anything, it's just that it's not going to change the way I see you, Lily.'

She smiled at him.

'James?'

'Mhm?'

'I want-no need. I need you to know something. I love you, as a friend. I don't want to lose you like I lost Marlene. She was my best friend and in a way you've replaced her but I don't mind. Because it helps , to fill the hole you know? If you ever need to talk or just want a hug I'm here for you okay? I think what I just did was me trying to show you that because it's just such a difficult thing to say, to show.' She smiled at him sadly and then stood up, offering him her hand. 'Come on, let's go down to the wedding.'

He accepted, smiling back up at her.

Hey,

So I apologize for not posting in a while. I think it would be an understatement to say it's been a "tough" couple of months so I'll save you the sob story because you don't want to hear it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'd planned it out yet this wasn't the ending I was going for. I think I'm pleased with it, in an odd way. I hope you like it and how it turned out.

Feel free to leave any suggestions for the plot or character relationships, I don't mind. Either way, have a nice back to school tomorrow, if your calender is the same as mine,

Bye x