And so time passed. Remus continued his work as a spy, Lily was promoted, and Sirius and James earned fame with their work. James and Lily set the actual date for their wedding, Remus jumped in to help Lily plan it, and they planned it quickly.
"Hey, Remus, are you busy today?"
"I can cancel anything for you, Lily," Remus said from his desk. "What do you need me for?"
"James is busy with work, but I need to find flowers today and have them ordered by tomorrow if they're going to be here for the wedding," she said quickly, and as Remus looked at her with confusion he could see the tension painted across her features.
"Lily, why don't you just use magic?"
She looked out of the fireplace at him, dumbstruck. "But Remus," she argued, finding her voice, "I won't be composed enough for that on my wedding day!"
"Then I'll magic them up for you," Remus said calmly. "Find me exactly what you want and I'll do it for you."
"Really?"
Remus nodded, and watched as relief spread across her face.
"You're a lifesaver, Remus," she sighed.
"I try," he replied happily. "Do you need help with anything else?"
"Chicken or beef?"
"Chicken."
"Should we sign it during or after?"
"After, definitely."
"Why?"
Remus grinned. "James is going to want you alone before the reception."
Lily laughed. "Right. An excuse. Good idea."
"I'm full of them."
By the beginning of August, Lily had her dress picked out and fitted, the flowers ordered, the menu finalized and a guest list made up. Remus thought it was finished. He went back to researching the Underground Werewolf Organization. There was nothing to worry about until closer to the day. Lily's best friend and co-worker, Carly, was to be Lily's maid of honour and had stepped in for Remus where planning and midnight panic attacks were concerned. Sirius would be James' best friend, Remus would make sure the day ran smoothly and then run the guest book. Peter volunteered to do the centrepieces.
But the first of September brought an attack very close to home for them all. Hogwarts was penetrated by a Death Eater during the first feast of the year. Three children died in the fight and rush of people. One of them was Carly's daughter, and she vowed revenge. She never got it, though. One of the Death Eaters posed as a parent to one of the deceased children and called on Carly one night.
When Lily flooed her later that night after she got off work and was worried about her, she found her on the floor where the Death Eater left her. Lily broke down. James had to track her down three hours later. Carly's death hit her hard, but –
"They went too far," James said at the next Auror meeting. "They're turning vicious now. They're personal attacks, and filled with hatred. It's not just about Voldemort's power, it's about their individual powers as well."
"It's going to get worse," Moody pointed out. "And we knew that it would be getting worse as it went on. It's also going to take a hall of a lot more effort to stall them in their attempts."
"Aren't we trying to stop them?" someone asked.
Moody bowed his head. "Stopping them now is impossible. We have to slow them. Take them down. It's not a light switch effect anymore."
"They're going to get closer to home, aren't they?" Sirius asked quietly, and Moody nodded.
"It's going to get a lot closer, and we are going to lose some of us."
"Please tell me there's a 'but' at the end of that statement," a trainee pleaded.
"There's not," Moody sighed. "And this is no excuse to give up. It's an excuse to fight harder. Now you all know your assignments. Get on them."
---
The funeral was held the day of the Auror meeting. The day after, Lily flooed Remus in a panic.
"You aren't going out anywhere today, are you?" she asked hurriedly, her forehead creased with worry.
"I don't have to," Remus said, setting his cup of tea down. "Why? Are you okay?"
"We never got the invitations out," Lily said, tears flooding her eyes. "We never even made them. All we – I – have are the names. Remus, what am I going to do?"
"I'll help you, Lily," Remus smiled. "I'll come over right now and we'll do them and it will be fine."
"Really?"
Remus laughed. "I will if you let me use my fireplace."
And Lily smiled smally, disappearing in the flames.
---
There were more attacks. James worked overtime. Lily had to bring a tailor to his work so his tuxedo could be fitted. She did the same for Sirius. The tailors measured them both, deafened by a spell Lily had cast, as Remus and Sirius both read out reports for their quills about the deaths, the movements of the death eaters, the supposed next targets.
Remus told Dumbledore he would have to put the werewolf research on hold until after the wedding. Dumbledore was fine with it, and told him he would be attending the wedding and was excited.
When Remus told the others Dumbledore was excited for something they rolled around laughing for what seemed like hours. But it had only been five minutes. The four of them only had time for five minutes together every couple of days. Remus grew tired of staying awake for Sirius to come home. Sometimes Sirius would not come home. James only dropped in at home to kiss Lily good night and tell her not to worry, that there was just a lot of paper work to be done.
Both Lily and Remus could not wait for the wedding, if only to see their significant others again.
October blossomed quickly. Much too quickly for Lily. She broke down one night on Remus' shoulder, saying maybe James was with another woman, that he was not really working, and that he just did not love her anymore.
And then James came home and saw her crying and he cried too. He told her he really was at work, that he wished he could get away, that he sneaks away every night to see her for only a few moments on the pretence of going to the loo. She cried even more then, because he said he had to get back.
Remus took action. He booked a hotel close to the church where the wedding would be, booked her a full spa treatment for the morning of the wedding, and asked Lily's coworkers to take her out on the town. And then he rounded up the marauders and some of their other close male friends and they went out for James' stag party, which was ironic, as Sirius pointed out after the tenth round of shots. Remus kissed him to keep him quiet. That kiss led them both back home. James spent the night at home without Lily, who was taken to the hotel – the girls decided the two lovebirds would honour the old twenty-four hour tradition muggles had. Lily thought it was hilarious. She passed out immediately after hitting the pillow.
Remus took it upon himself, the next morning, to give Lily a hangover potion. When he arrived back, James was pacing the living room, nursing his own potion. Remus took the last one as he prepared to wake Sirius.
"Sirius," he said loudly, and Sirius pulled the pillow around his head. "Sirius," he repeated, louder, "you have to get up. It's the wedding today."
Sirius ignored him, and Remus sighed.
"You have to get up. James needs you."
"You can help him," Sirius moaned from the bed. Remus stood at the door, glaring at him.
"You are his best man. Today is the day you're supposed to shine."
"No shining. Just sleeping. You shine."
"I'm helping Lily."
"Help James instead."
"You help James," Remus said loudly, abandoning his good-cop façade. "I don't care if you have a hangover. I don't care that I drank the last potion that could have helped you. I don't care that you don't care today. You are getting up and going out to the living room where James is pacing, and being an idiot, and you are going to try to calm him down and get him dressed and down to the church."
"I can hear you!" James called from the kitchen.
"Why do you have to go and help Lily?"
"Because she'll go crazy if someone sane isn't there," Remus answered calmly, opening the window and pulling the covers off his boyfriend. "I have to do the flowers, candles, reception, check on the food, and then I might even have to – no. It doesn't matter. I have my hands full and I don't have time to be babysitting you and James. I've put on a strong pot of coffee. That should get you going until the adrenaline kicks in."
"James can wash his own hair."
"If you don't get up," Remus threatened, "there won't be any shagging for a week."
"I don't need to hear that!" James shouted from the bathroom.
"You're not serious," Sirius said, opening one eye and looking at Remus.
"I'm not?" he asked seriously, and the other man paled slightly.
"I'm up," he said quickly, and sat up, reaching for a shirt.
"Good. I'm off." He left the bedroom, pausing to slap James on the back with a smile of good luck. "See you at the wedding!" he called as he stepped into the fireplace.