A/N: Sorry again about the wait, I honestly seem to be struggling to keep up with three WIPs at the moment. Life is kicking my arse. But you are all beautiful, beautiful people for putting up with me.
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'Having trouble?'
James was leaning against the door frame of her bedroom and smiling, and Lily returned his grin in the mirror after she'd recovered from the initial start his sudden appearance had given her. He was wearing a grey muggle suit, and though it gave her a bit of a jolt to see him in something so unfamiliar, she couldn't deny that it looked good on him.
She, on the other hand, couldn't make up her mind. Her preferred dress, picked out on a shopping trip with her mother, was an eye-catching electric blue, but she was certain that Petunia would prefer her to wear the pale green tea dress, despite the fact, or maybe because of the fact that she looked like a limp lettuce leaf in it.
So the question here was: wear what she wanted to and risk the wrath of Petunia, or wear something that her sister would approve of, but that made her feel frumpy and uncomfortable? She turned to face James and held her arms out to the side.
'What do you think of this one?'
James took a few steps into the room and took in the green dress; the draped sleeves, the sash tied at the waist, and his lips pursed.
'It's, er, nice. Very…modest.'
'Meaning I look like my great-aunt Clara.' Lily sighed. 'To be fair, it was a present from her. But thank you for the attempt at diplomacy.'
James shrugged and tried to suppress a smile. 'If you don't like it, why are you considering wearing it?'
'Because I know Tuney will approve of it, and it is her wedding.' Lily brushed a hand over the dress again, then sighed and reached into the wardrobe for her blue dress.
'I've got an alternative. Turn around.'
James snorted. 'I've seen you change before. And if you're worried about your parents, I'm pretty sure they know I've seen you naked as well.'
Lily scowled at him. 'Thanks for that, I enjoy the knowledge that my parents have probably speculated – I imagine rather accurately – about my sex life. But it's besides the point. I just don't want you to see the dress until I've actually got it on properly; I want an honest reaction.'
James rolled his eyes – he'd been spending too much time around her if he'd picked up that habit – and turned his back to her. She wriggled out of the green dress and stepped into her new, mother-approved wedding outfit. She zipped it up and flexed her shoulders until it sat comfortably.
'Okay. Turn around.'
James turned obediently on the spot. 'That one.' He said without hesitation. 'Definitely that one.'
Lily adjusted the nipped in waistband and tugged on the narrow sleeves for a comfier fit. 'You approve then?'
James began to nod, then his eyes narrowed and he stopped. 'How many single men are likely to be at this wedding?'
Lily giggled and crossed the room to him, stretching her arms up around his neck. 'It doesn't matter, because I only have eyes for you darling.'
'It's their eyes I'm worried about.' Grumbled James, his arms wrapping around her back. 'You look rather tempting.'
'Only rather?' Lily mocked, standing on tiptoe and tilting her head back to make eye contact.
'Extremely. Totally. Irresistibly.' James' lips came towards hers, stopping and hovering just above her mouth.
'Better.' Lily approved, her lips brushing across his.
'Ahem.' William Evans stood in the doorway, suit on and hair neatly brushed and parted. His expression attempted to be stern, but anyone who was closely acquainted with him would have been able to see the hint of amusement that played in the corners of his eyes and lips.
Lily dropped back down onto the flat of her feet, but kept her arms around his neck. To her amusement, James didn't let go of her either; apparently he was confident that her father wasn't going to murder him for having his hands on her.
'I just thought I would let you know that we're leaving for the church shortly; you should head off soon if you want to get there before us. And I can safely say that the bride will not be happy if you arrive at the church after her.' William raised his eyebrows at them knowingly and headed off towards the stairs.
'This is where magic comes in handy.' Lily stepped out of James' arms and over to the mirror, checking her dress and pulling on her shoes. She cast a glamour charm on her face and shook her hair out, letting it fall loosely over her shoulders. A quick flick of her wand added soft waves. 'And I'm good to go. I just want to wish Tuney luck before; meet you downstairs.'
James nodded and leaned forward to press a soft kiss to her cheek. 'You look beautiful.' He left the room and headed downstairs, leaving Lily to gather her purse and shove a few essentials into it. She left her room with one last, slightly worried glance over her shoulder at her reflection in the mirror.
She knocked gently on her sister's door and waited for a moment before she pushed it open.
'Mum, I need…oh.' Petunia's eyes locked with Lily's in the mirror. Oddly enough she was alone for the moment, no bridesmaids fluttering around her. Lily briefly wondered where they'd got to, then forced herself to focus on the issue at hand.
'I just wanted to say…to wish you luck.' She managed. 'I hope it goes perfectly for you.'
Petunia turned from her mirror and swept her eyes over Lily's dress; she didn't say anything, and Lily felt her nerves jangle a little but she smiled uncertainly. 'You look lovely Tuney.'
It was true really. Her dress was a simple a-line of white silk, much less grand and showy than Lily would have expected, and her simple silver jewellery, finished in pearls, matched perfectly. Her hair was lightly curled around her face, and the gentle blonde coils softened the somewhat harsh angles of her face.
Lily stepped forward and gestured towards the necklace she was wearing, a simple but classic string of pearls. 'Gran's necklace?'
Petunia nodded slowly, and Lily smiled again. 'It suits you.'
Petunia noticeably stiffened and her face hardened a little. 'I'm glad you think so.'
'You don't?' asked Lily hesitantly, unsure about her sister's reaction. 'It looks lovely with your dress.'
'I think Gran's ring would have suited me better.' Petunia answered coldly, and Lily felt a faint stab of shock.
'I…I didn't know you wanted Gran's ring. I'm sure if Mum had known she would have offered it to Vernon…'
Petunia interrupted with a snort, the gesture seeming oddly harsher than usual now that she looked so softly feminine. 'She just never thought about it, never considered me. It wouldn't have mattered if she had known anyway. You were Gran's favourite, you get Gran's ring. I'm just an afterthought who gets the leftovers.'
'Tuney, that's not true. Gran didn't have a favourite. She would have been so happy that you are wearing her necklace, and I'm sure she would have been thrilled for either of us to have her ring…'
'Shut up Lily!' The aggression in her tone made Lily stop in surprise, and her eyes widened as her sister moved towards her, eyes narrowed and cheeks flushed with anger.
'It wouldn't have mattered and you know it. You always get everything; you're the interesting one, the special one. The pretty one, the clever one, the one people fawn over. You're everybody's bloody favourite Lily, the one everyone pays attention to, and you have no idea what it's like to be outshone by your younger sister your entire life.'
'Tuney…' Lily trailed off, unable to think of anything to say when her heart felt like it was being squeezed in an unforgiving fist.
'And you waltz in here on my wedding day, when I don't even want you here, wearing that dress and our Gran's ring – it's like you don't even have to try to ruin things for me, you just have to exist.'
The door opened and Rose came in, a happy smile on her face. 'I found this one Petunia…' She trailed off at the sight of her two daughters together. 'What are you doing in here Lily?'
'I, er, just wanted to wish Petunia luck.' Lily spoke in a quiet, subdued voice, but she managed to keep any hint of hurt from showing in it. 'I'll be off to the church now.'
She made it to the door before she spoke again. 'And you do look beautiful.'
She opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind her and sagging against the wall, clutching her heart.
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'Mr and Mrs Vernon Dursley!'
Petunia and Vernon came through the door to a chorus of cheers, and Lily clapped just as loudly as everyone else, trying to ignore the feeling of James' suspicious eyes on her; he knew something had happened between her and Petunia, but with surprising tact hadn't pushed her about it. She knew he'd wrangle it out of her eventually, but she really didn't want to give it any consideration until after she'd gotten through the wedding.
And Merlin, was getting through the wedding tougher than she'd imagined; she'd somehow managed to blank out how awful most of Vernon's relatives had seemed in her past experiences, and being confronted with so many of them in one place had been difficult. They'd sneered at her and James with such regularity that she was certain that Vernon had given them an edited version of the events of their ill-fated dinner.
What was even worse was that Lily and James had been seated with quite a few of them; her parents were obviously on the top table, along with Vernon's parents, his sister as Maid of Honour and his cousin as Best Man, but since Lily wasn't a part of the bridal party she was placed with extended family, and since the Dursley's vastly outnumbered the Evans family, she felt surrounded by them.
She wasn't in the mood to fend off their questions with convincing lies, but thankfully James was a consummate liar, and even if Vernon's vile family didn't believe the things he said, they couldn't call him a liar in the middle of a wedding reception. She'd spent most of the meal staring around; she had to admit, the wedding was exactly what she'd expected from Petunia. It was perfect, and it was dreary.
Pink flowers on the tables, pink and white napkins, white tablecloths, pink bows on the backs of the chairs. Pink bridesmaid dresses, pink buttonholes, pink roses in the bridal bouquet. It was a small girl's dream wedding, all the colours perfectly matched and utterly tasteful. Unobtrusive waiters served Caesar salad, roast beef and crème brulee.
It was…pedestrian. There was no element of personality in any of it; it was as if Petunia had opened a magazine called "The Perfect Inoffensive Wedding" and just ordered everything off the page. The service had been traditional, and nice in its way, but it had seemed hollow almost, done by rote. If she'd learned nothing else from today, it was that this was exactly what she didn't want.
A room full of distant relatives and business acquaintances she barely knew, a woman she didn't even like – she knew Petunia wasn't overly fond of Marge – as her Maid of Honour. Flowers, food, hymns and readings that were chosen because they were expected, they were appropriate.
She listened to the speeches, pretended to laugh at the jokes that weren't funny, clapped at the end of each though she felt like she'd barely heard them, actually smiled a little as her father's eyes welled up during his speech.
Then the formality was over, Petunia and Vernon stepped out for their first dance - Lily rolled her eyes as she heard the opening strains of "We've Only Just Begun", how shockingly predictable - and she felt as if she could relax a little. Once other people had begun to join them on the dance floor and the formality eased a little, she leaned back and felt James' ever-dependable arms move to support her as she leaned into his chest.
'What happened?' James deep voice whispered in her ear and she closed her eyes and recounted the conversation – if one could call it that – with Petunia. James listened to it all with a scowl, his hand rubbing her back lightly as she spoke.
'I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you don't want me to do anything about this?' He enquired, his tone making it clear that he was anything but happy about it.
'Let it go James.' Lily sighed. 'Merlin knows I wish I could. I don't know why I can't just accept that she wants nothing to do with me and cut her off, instead of lining myself up for one emotional beating after another.'
James brushed his lips gently across the back of her neck. 'Family ties are rarely that simple; just ask Sirius.'
Lily snorted a little. 'Yeah, Sirius understands this mess of mine better than anyone else, I think.'
James rose to his feet and held out a hand for hers. 'Well, I may not be able to properly empathise, but I can try and take your mind off it. Dance?'
She managed a smile for him. 'Sure, why not?'
He led her through the room, having to stop twice to allow various relatives to see Lily's ring, and finally out onto the dance floor where Lily did her best to avoid her sister's eye as James twirled her round gracefully to the strains of "At Last", another wonderfully lacklustre choice from Petunia.
'Are you being an obnoxiously good dancer deliberately?' asked Lily after a few moments, torn between smiling and swinging for him as he circled them around the dance floor like they were at a society ball; his skill was not going unnoticed, especially by some of her female relatives.
'Yep.' He answered as he swung her around. 'You might feel guilty about being Petunia's superior in every possible way, but I have no such qualms about being superior to Vernon; I'm going to outshine him in every possible way I can for the rest of his life, and watch his little piggy eyes narrow impotently as he's forced to see it.'
Lily couldn't help the giggle, but she did try and cover it with a cough before she attempted a stern tone of voice. 'That's rather cruel James.'
'Well, they are both cruel to you, and I'm pretty sure you won't let me have any vengeance on Petunia, so I'm forced to settle for taking it out on her lump of a husband.' James muttered, dipping her then swinging her out, his own eyes narrowing as he caught sight of Vernon glowering in their direction.
Resolutely deciding to ignore him and Petunia both, he turned his head back to face Lily, offering her a particularly charming smile. 'Have I mentioned how absolutely beautiful you look in that dress love?'
She gave him a look of extreme suspicion. 'What are you angling for Potter?'
'Can't a bloke admire his fiancée?' He asked innocently before casting a quick glance over his shoulder. 'Especially when he's viewing her in comparison to much less favourable specimens.'
This time she did slap him lightly. 'James Potter, you stop that right now.'
'Stop what?' He raised his eyebrows in apparent confusion, but Lily was much too familiar with him to be fooled into thinking he didn't know what she was talking about.
'Stop making mean insinuations about my sister.'
'How could you think such a thing of me?!' James answered in a tone of apparent shock. 'You assumed I was talking about your sister, I might have been talking about anyone.'
'Oh yeah? Who were you talking about then?' Lily challenged, one eyebrow rising mockingly.
James smiled his most charming smile. 'I was talking about your sister actually, but only because she's the only person here who actually looks like a bulldog sucking a wasp at the moment. Look.'
He dipped her back, taking her completely by surprise, and she caught an upside-down glimpse of Petunia's sour expression before she was safely returned to his arms, the right way up.
'Would you please stop winding her up, because she's already ticked off at me for existing, and the last thing I need is for her to decide that I'm upstaging her at her own wedding.'
James grinned at her as he circled them closer to her parents who were dancing off to one side, watching both their girls. 'Sweetheart, you did that the second you walked into the church.'
He stopped them directly alongside her parents and aimed his most charming smile at them. 'Rose, William.'
'You're a lovely dancer James.' Rose answered admiringly, and James expanded his smile still further.
'Well, thank you very much Rose. Perhaps your husband would let me cut in and take you for a turn about the floor?'
'Be my guest.' Answered William gruffly, releasing his wife. 'Worst thing about weddings is the bloody dancing; even worse than this damn stupid pink tie.'
'William.' Rose scolded, but James cut in. 'Not to worry Rose, you and I can enjoy the opportunity anyway.' And before her parents could actually have a row, James was twirling Rose expertly across the dance floor, a cocky smile on his face as he led her directly past Petunia and Vernon.
'Well, that was smooth. Boy could give Fred Astaire lessons.' William muttered under his breath, and Lily threw a grin over her shoulder.
'Disgusting isn't it? He couldn't get any more slippery if you oiled him up.' She took her father's arm and squeezed affectionately. 'Want to check out the bar?'
William looked fondly at his younger daughter. 'There is definitely a reason that you are my favourite girl, you know that?'
The two of them walked over to the bar, arms linked affectionately, leaving James to his happy efforts to overshadow the bride and groom at their own wedding.
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It's so sad to see you boxing all this up.'
Lily jumped at the sound of her mother's voice coming from the doorway; she'd been engrossed in sorting through her childhood books, trying to decide which to take with her, whether to store the rest in the attic or throw them away. It was sad; she was officially putting her childhood to rest.
She gave a sad smile. 'I know mum. I feel the same.'
Rose entered the room and joined Lily on her bed, looking round at the stacks of books. She ran a hand over Lily's cherished copy of A Child's Garden of Verses and smiled.
'I remember your Gran giving you this. Third birthday I think.'
'Fourth.' Lily corrected. 'There's a dedication on the inside cover.'
Rose flipped the page open and smiled at the sight of her mother's handwriting, running her hand gently over the page. 'It's so strange; Tuney's gone and you will be soon. This house is going to be so quiet.'
Lily smiled. 'It's not like you aren't going to see us again. And look who I'm moving in with; chances are I'll be bothering you pretty regularly when that lot get too much.'
Rose managed a weak smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. 'I know. But both my baby girls are so grown up. It seems like only yesterday I watched you open this, and now you're moving out.'
Lily looked at her mother's face and saw real, genuine loss. She'd always thought Rose was being a little melodramatic about the whole thing, but she realised now that her mother was genuinely upset at what she saw as the loss of her daughters. It had only been a week since Petunia's wedding, but her mother's moping had definitely been getting progressively worse.
'Would you like to give me a hand getting organised at our new place? It'll give you a chance to have a good look at it, and I could use the help. James just got this panic-stricken look when I started talking to him about furniture and stuff.'
Rose laughed just a little. 'Yes well, in my experience, men generally aren't all that interested in such things. Somewhere I'm sure there are some lucky women who have husbands that enjoy interior decorating, but I'm not one of them and apparently you won't be either.'
Lily grinned back at her mother. 'Well, he may have gone pale and looked like I'd clocked him one, but on the other hand he did just tell me to buy whatever I wanted and he'd pay for it.'
Rose snorted. 'Coward's way out. Still, at least he can't complain about what you buy.'
'Come shopping with me on Monday.' Lily asked on impulse. 'Dorea gave me the addresses of some good furniture shops she knows of – though I'm assuming that "good" translates to "expensive" – and you can help me pick out what you think we'll need.'
Rose seemed momentarily startled, but then her face opened up into a real smile for the first time that day. 'I'd love to sweetie.'
She leaned over to kiss Lily's cheek, and then stood up quickly. 'I'm going to go and make some lunch, did you want some?'
'Uh, no thanks, not hungry.' Lily looked around the room at the mess she'd made. 'I'd better get moving on tidying this up as well.'
Rose stood and dusted down her blouse before a sudden thought seemed to strike her.
'I almost forgot the whole reason I came up here! You had an owl but it flew away as soon as it dropped off its letter.' Rose handed her a letter and gave her one last smile over her shoulder as she left the room.
Lily looked down at the dark brown envelope and popped it open. No letter fell out; instead a newspaper clipping slipped out onto her lap. She unfolded it carefully.
It was a clipping of the wedding announcement; the photo of her and James was nothing but a mass of creases, as if the page had been crumpled up in anger then smoothed out again. Her name and James' screamed at her from the page, underlined in red marker, and in red scrawl across the bottom of the page was a message; in block capitals, but she was sure she'd recognise that writing anywhere despite that.
You idiot. Can't you at least try and keep your head down? Call it off.
With shaking hands, Lily located her wand, stuffed the clipping into her pocket and ran down the stairs, leaving her room scattered with the accumulated debris that a morning spent packing had created.
'I need to go out mum, see you later!' She swung the door shut behind her, pretending she couldn't hear her mother's concerned voice calling after her, and ran down the street towards the apparition point.
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'Have you always been this much of a pain in the arse Padfoot, or have I only started noticing it recently?' James demanded as he tried to pull his old Quidditch jersey out from underneath Sirius' prone body where he rested on James' bed. 'You are not helping!'
'Not trying to.' Said Sirius calmly, ignoring his best mate's struggles and continuing to unconcernedly read a muggle motorbike magazine. 'You know, I really am going to get one of these. A few minor magical adjustments could make it pretty awesome.'
With one final tug, James released the offending item of clothing from underneath Sirius and placed it in one of the assorted trunks scattered round the room. 'Does the phrase "Misuse of Muggle Artefacts" mean anything to you?'
'Not really, does the phrase "Register of Animagi" mean anything to you?' Sirius retorted, and James fought to stop the corners of his mouth turning upwards.
'Fine, just don't get caught.' He had a point after all; none of the Marauders was exactly a stranger to trouble. Frustrated with the whole thing, James turned around on the spot, taking in the catastrophe that was his bedroom and the sight of his best mate lounging across his pillows.
'We're moving in a few days. Don't you have packing to do?' He demanded as he noticed that Sirius was also helping himself to the stash of strawberry liquorice that he'd found in one of his bedside drawers when he was turning them out.
'Not really. It's not like I have a lot of stuff.' Sirius didn't sound bothered, but James felt a little bit of hurt on his behalf nonetheless. He hadn't been able to bring much with him when he'd run out of Grimmauld Place in the middle of the night, still bleeding from his mother's curses and heading straight for the only place he knew he would always be welcome, and Merlin knew his mother hadn't been inclined to allow him to come back to collect anything. Nor had his brother been willing to help him retrieve any of his belongings.
The Potter's had supplied him with clothes, food and a roof over his head, and that seemed to be all Sirius needed these days; the motorbike was the first thing James had heard him mention buying for himself for ages, other than the usual treats from Honeyduke's or Zonko's.
Still, Sirius would hate it if he thought for one second that James was feeling sorry for him - though James had always insisted that there was a difference between pitying someone and feeling bad for their situation – so he chose not to comment and instead carried on the conversation in his usual carefree tones.
'Why don't you go and help Marls then? She's a girl, she must have shed loads of stuff to pack. They always do.'
'That's an extremely sexist remark Potter.' Marlene's voice floated in through the open doorway, her tone amused rather than annoyed, and James turned to face her, her mouth curving up into a smile at the sight of his favourite, albeit extremely distant, cousin.
'Hello sugar. Could you take this away please? I believe it belongs to you.'
Marlene sauntered into the room, eyes sparkling. 'He was yours first. You deal with him.' She joined Sirius on the bed and plucked a piece of liquorice from the bag he was holding. He gave her a goofy smile and leaned over to kiss her, his hands reaching up to lace through her hair as he brushed his lips over hers and nibbled at her bottom lip.
'Oh no, don't you two start in here! There must be a dozen empty bedrooms in this place, go and find one!' James glowered at them both and pointed his finger directly at the door without looking away from them; he jumped when a fourth voice joined their conversation from the very doorway he was pointing at.
'So this is what you three do when you're home unsupervised. I'm rethinking this whole house-sharing thing.'
James' scowl lifted instantly, replaced by a cheerful smile. 'Lily!'
He crossed the room in a few steps and picked her up to spin her around. 'I missed you.' He mumbled the words into her hair and she laughed lightly.
'You saw me two days ago.' She reminded him as he dropped her feet back onto the floor.
'I know.' His response was muffled by the fact that he still had his face buried in her hair, but she smiled anyway.
'I have something important to show you.' She caught Sirius' eye as she stepped away from James and moved further into the room. 'You might be interested too Sirius.'
'Oh I'm very interested. Come and join us on the bed, my lovely redhead.' Sirius wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and got a smack in the arm from Marlene.
'Stop making everything into an innuendo.'
'I can't help it if your mind is in the gutter can I?' Sirius retorted. 'You are the one making everything I say out to be sexual.'
'Well it usually is with you!' Marlene protested, the slightest hint of pink staining her cheeks. Sirius was about the only person that could still raise a blush on Marlene McKinnon; both Lily and James had long ago decided not to speculate on why.
'Merlin, do you think we could leave the foreplay until later please?' Lily rolled her eyes as she took Sirius up on his offer and sat cross-legged on James' bed. She felt the mattress dip just behind her and then warmth of James' presence as he sat alongside her, his legs half-stretched out and his elbows resting on his knees.
'So what brings you to the ancestral house of the Potter's on this fine summer day, soon-to-be Mrs Prongs?' Sirius inclined his head flamboyantly, and Lily stared at him.
'Someone's in a good mood. What's boiled your potion?'
'He's buying a motorbike.' James said in tired tones. 'Apparently it'll be awesome once he's modified it appropriately.'
Sirius grinned proudly as Lily stared back and forth between the two of them for a moment, before finally shaking her head.
'I gave up on knocking any sense into any of you ages ago, so go ahead Sirius, but you needn't think I'm patching you up whenever you crash.'
He clapped a hand over his heart. 'I'm hurt.'
'Yeah, yeah, shut up and look at this.' Lily pulled the newspaper clipping of the engagement announcement out of her pocket and held it out in front of her, but James snagged it before Sirius could.
He frowned at the scrawl on the page before he passed it over to his best mate; Marlene scooted round to peer over his shoulder.
'I wouldn't worry about anonymous messages love.' James wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.
'Normally I wouldn't.' Lily answered, a little morosely. 'But I'm pretty sure I know who sent it.'
'Who?' Asked Sirius, still studying the paper.
'Snape.'
All four of them were quiet for the moment, then James spoke in a low, dangerous voice.
'Why do you think it's from Snape Lily?'
She hesitated, then began to speak quickly, aware that James might not be pleased with everything she had to say. 'Well, I'm fairly sure that's his writing; it's a little hard to tell from just capitals, but I saw him write enough over the years to spot his handwriting. And…it just sounds like him. I can imagine him saying exactly that. And…and it sounds almost…concerned? It doesn't feel like a threat, it feels like a warning in a friendly sense. "Keep your head down" doesn't feel like it's meant to be intimidating.'
'So you have got the insane idea that Severus Snape, the same Severus Snape who kidnapped you, hit you, took your wand, duelled you and has now more than likely joined a terrorist organisation hell-bent on exterminating you , has chosen to send you a friendly warning via owl post?'
Lily winced at James' tone; she knew he wouldn't take this well.
'Well I wouldn't have phrased it exactly like that.' She reached tentatively out to touch the back of his hand. 'But yeah, I think he still believes that he could 'help me' if he could just get me away from you. He seems to honestly believe that, even with everything that's going on, you're the thing that's going to get me killed; he's said it more than once. It's likely that he'd think that marrying you puts me in danger, as if I'm not in danger just for existing.'
'Hmph.' James folded his arms grumpily, but seemed slightly mollified by her explanation; she knew he wasn't really annoyed with her, he was just worried that she would be setting herself up for emotional fallout of epic proportions if she let herself build up hope that Snape might be regretting his choices. She turned back to Sirius.
'The thing is, I was thinking that if it was Snape who sent this, then he's obviously okay…and maybe that means Regulus is okay too? It's quite likely they're together right?'
'Maybe.' Murmured Marlene with a concerned look towards Sirius who was examining the newspaper clipping closely, more to avoid looking at any of them than out of genuine interest Lily thought.
'Doesn't matter.' Sirius spoke suddenly, dropping the clipping onto the bed sheets. 'I'm not going to waste time thinking about it, or hoping that my brother is going to come to his senses; you shouldn't waste any more time or tears on Snape either Lils. If either of them do decide they want out of whatever mess they've gotten into, well great, but I'm not going to torment myself about whether it's going to happen or not.'
'I have to agree.' James spoke gently, and Lily knew any anger he'd felt at her had evaporated. 'If at some point in the future things change, we'll deal with it then, but for now there's no point in dwelling on any of this.' He gave her a sad smile. 'Unless you want to call the wedding off of course.'
She twisted around to face him, her hand flying up to touch his face. 'No! Of course not, that never crossed my mind.'
She sank both hands into the fabric of his shirt, using the fistfuls of material to pull him closer. 'I'm marrying you, no matter what anybody else has to say about it.'
His lips brushed lightly over hers, and she smiled into the kiss as she felt his hand land in her hair and tangle with the red locks as he held her face to his, his teeth nipping insistently at her bottom lip.
Then a pillow hit her in the side of the face.
They broke the kiss and looked up to see Sirius grin at them. 'Yep, still here.'
'Unfortunately.' James muttered. 'Why don't you two go and look for that empty bedroom?'
Marlene laughed lightly. 'You're such a grump. I think you need to get out of the house. Let's go somewhere.'
'Like where?' James asked, his arms wrapping around Lily' waist, and she smiled as she thought of the movie poster she'd seen on the side of a bus shelter as she'd raced towards the apparition point just half an hour ago.
'How do you feel about a muggle outing?'
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'Explain this to me again.' James whispered as the four of them crossed the street and approached the building Lily had called a cinema. Throngs of other people crowded the streets around them, many heading in the same direction they were, which had surprised James; the wizard community was small, and that made even the largest gatherings quite small by comparison to this number of people. Lily had calmly explained that it was Saturday night, and in the muggle world lots of people went out on Saturday nights to the cinema or a restaurant or pub, many of which happened to be located in the same part of town.
When he continued to look blank, she'd simply told him that this part of Cokeworth was like a muggle version of Diagon Alley, only for entertainment instead of shops. Unfortunately this had led to some rather over-excited plans from James and Sirius to establish something similar in the wizarding world, plans which were only halted by Marlene's pointed insults about their organisational ability.
She sent him an exasperated look. 'Did you pay any attention in Muggle Studies?'
'No.' Answered James, completely unconcerned. 'And I still got an E, which should tell you everything you need to know about that stupid class.'
'Okay. Muggles go to the cinema to watch movies, which are like a story being acted out. Like the TV at my house, but on a much bigger screen. You pay to go in, and then you sit in a big room with everyone else who wants to see the same film as you, and you watch it together.'
She paused and waited for James' response, knowing that there would be further questions. 'Right. But if you have TVs at home, why do you all go to a special building to watch them? And with a load of people you don't know?'
Lily sighed, her mind reeling at the idea of attempting to explain movie production and distribution. 'Only the cinemas are allowed to show these movies. They're different to the stuff on TV, okay?'
'Got it.' He sounded a little uncertain still, but at least he'd stopped asking questions.
They entered the building and the three pure-bloods looked around with interest, observing the crowds of people moving around in the lobby which was full of light and laughter. Lily gave the matter a moment's consideration, then decided the safest thing to do was get the tickets herself.
'Wait here, I'll pay for us and be right back.' She wandered off to join a line of people, leaving James, Sirius and Marlene to watch curiously as people were ushered in various directions by uniformed staff, ostensibly depending on what was printed on their ticket.
When she returned, she was triumphantly waving four of the little slips of paper the cinema used as tickets, and she handed one to each of them.
'Animal House?' James read the words printed in bold on his slip and looked at Lily questioningly.
'It's the name of the film. Animal House. Trust me, it should be perfect for you two.' She indicated James and Sirius with a wave of her hand.
She took James by the hand and led him towards an usher, waving her ticket at him and gesturing for her friends to do the same; the young girl checked their tickets then led them down the corridor into the correct screen, where she directed them to their seats.
The room was about half-full, and the four of them sat down and waited for the film to begin. Lily watched with amusement as the other three began to prod at their surroundings, looking round and obviously trying to understand what was happening. She suppressed a smirk, finding herself amused by the situation; it was like being at Hogwarts in reverse, and for once, it was nice to be the person who understood what was going on, to be the one in the know while they struggled to catch up.
The lights went down, and the three of them went quiet; all three jumped when the screen lit up and the music started. She knew they'd all seen TV's before, but the cinema was a different thing entirely – it might even be interesting enough to keep James and Sirius sitting still for an hour and a half, a feat at the best of times.
Two hours later the four of them left the cinema, still giggling, and made their way back towards the alley they'd apparated into earlier.
'That was awesome!' Sirius' eyes were wide. 'Who knew you could cause that much trouble without using magic? Prongs, we should have seen that years ago, now we'll never get the chance to try some of that stuff.'
'It's a new film Sirius.' Lily rolled her eyes. 'And I for one am glad you didn't have it as a source of ideas while I was a prefect. I suspect Remus would agree with me.'
'Probably.' Replied Sirius thoughtfully. 'Hey, we could come and see it again tomorrow, bring Moony and Pete along!'
Marlene groaned. 'You four can go on your own then; I'm not spending two hours with you lot when you're in Marauder mode.'
'Same here.' Said Lily firmly.
'But you're the only one who knows how the whole ticket thing works. And you understand muggle money.' Sirius pouted. 'Maybe Remus will know.'
'You really want to watch the whole thing again tomorrow Padfoot?' James asked. 'You don't want to at least give it a week?'
The four of them bickered and bantered their way along the street, eventually disappearing into the alleyway they'd arrived in; they were so caught up in their joking conversation, and each other, that none of them noticed a pair of black eyes watching them from a darkened shop doorway.
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A/N: So a bit lighter than the last couple, I was sick of the doom and gloom. Let me know what you think, and as always there's a link to my Tumblr on my profile, so come say hi if you feel like it!
