A/N: Yeah, I know it's been forever, I'm sorry. I've just been a bit wrapped up in other things, and I have to admit I'm a little intimidated about writing this fic too. There's so much to get through, so many characters to get to grips with; TT was very Jily based, so even though we saw some of the other characters we didn't get them in depth, and now I have to get into their heads. It's hard to adjust to not being at Hogwarts as well. I wonder if this is how JK felt when she had to set DH outside of Hogwarts. It's slow going at times.
Anyway, new chapter.
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'How about over there?'
James looked sideways at Lily, something perilously close to exasperation in his eyes. 'You mean about four inches to the left of where I put it in the first place?'
She smiled sweetly at him. 'Yes please.'
Muttering some of his choicer swearwords under his breath, he pulled his wand back out from the back pocket of his jeans, then gave it a quick flick and added the incantation.
The wardrobe slid into place opposite the bed, and Lily gave a satisfied nod. 'Perfect.'
'Oh, I'm so glad.' James muttered, just loud enough to be heard, making her grin at him.
'Oh, come here my poor, misused darling.' She beckoned him with a crooked finger, and he closed the gap between them, sliding his arms easily around her waist and she buried her face in the crook of his neck, kissing the pulse point gently. Sometimes it amazed her how easily they fit together, how simple it had been in the end to fall in love with James Potter. They'd managed to make it pretty complicated along the way, but it had actually been as basic as breathing. But still, feeling his heart beat against hers would always be a minor miracle.
'Last of the boxes Lils.' Her mother bustled into the room, followed closely by Dorea, who shook her head at the sight of them in each other's arms.
'Merlin above, it amazes me that you two got anything done when you were Head Prefects.'
'Mum.' James protested weakly as Rose giggled. He released his arms from around Lily and stepped away. 'I'm going to go and find Sirius, I cannot handle a room full of women blathering at me.'
Lily shook her head but didn't protest his exit; it wasn't like he was going to be any help with unpacking anyway. She'd seen his dorm at school, and she had no desire to have her room in any way resemble that disaster.
'So, do you know where you want everything Lily?' Dorea was looking at her expectantly, one hand resting on a stack of boxes, and Lily smiled fondly at her.
'You don't have to stay and help, really. I'm sure you have much more important things to do.'
'Not at all.' Dorea smiled back. 'I'm here to help.'
Rose was also looking at Lily, apparently waiting for instructions, and she suddenly felt completely out of her depth as she scanned the roomful of stacked boxes and bare furniture.
'Lily.' Her mother spoke gently. 'Is the furniture where you want it?'
'Yes.' She swallowed, then spoke again in a slightly stronger tone. 'Yes, I'm sure this is the best way.'
'Okay then.' Her mother smiled at her. 'Why don't we start unpacking your clothes, since we know exactly where they're going, and that should clear some space and we can move on from there.'
'Excellent idea.' Dorea supported, waving her wand and levitating trunks of clothes into a neat stack; Lily felt a surge of gratitude towards both women for their calming influence.
It had hit her very suddenly when she'd been asked how she wanted the room organised that she was now independent; her decisions were her own, she had no school rules, no house rules, no limitations to work under, and while that was a nice idea in many respects, it was also absolutely terrifying.
So it was wonderful to have two people with her who would support her, offer her guidance but never attempt to push her, who would keep her calm when her nerves got the better of her. Even James wouldn't have managed that in this situation, because he would have been frustrated with the whole process of unpacking from the start; he'd never been able to see the point in organising everything neatly into a room, arguing that you were only going to move stuff around as you went anyway.
Feeling better about things than she had for a few days now - ever since the realisation that she was really moving out had hit her really - she joined her mother and future mother-in-law as they opened trunks, shook out clothes, tutted at James' obvious lack of ability to fold items neatly, joining in their conversation and laughing along.
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'Well, this is strange.' Marlene's voice was loud in the quiet.
Lily looked up at her best friend and grinned, relieved to have someone break the tension. 'You're telling me. I thought I would feel completely different to how I actually feel.'
James' hand closed over hers, and she turned her head to the left to smile at him. Remus sat to the other side of him, and Sirius, Peter and Marlene sat on the opposite side of the table, all six of them picking at the dinner that Lily had thrown together. 'It is strange.' James said quietly. 'It's downright weird. I mean, this is our house. We can do whatever we like, and there's no teachers, or parents of house elves…just us. It's the first time we've really ever been by ourselves. Of course it's weird.'
'I thought it would be…I dunno, more exciting.' Sirius sounded oddly downbeat, and James' eyebrows furrowed in concern, but Lily instinctively understood that Sirius was disappointed that the house didn't feel like home; it was the whole reason he'd wanted the place after all, to have somewhere that he was totally welcome and at home.
'It probably will be, at some point over the next few days.' Remus broke in. 'We've all had a long couple of days moving stuff in, we're tired, we still haven't finished getting organised; we haven't had time to appreciate it yet.'
'We should invite a few people over.' Said Pete suddenly. 'Have a bit of a house-warming party.'
'That's a good idea.' Marlene nodded her approval. 'We should invite some friends over this weekend. Frank, Alice, Mary…Julia.' Her eyes flicked sideways to Remus, as did almost everyone else's, to his obvious irritation.
He dropped his cutlery with a thump and glowered at them. 'You lot can all stop it. I know what you're up to, and you can just forget it alright?'
'Up to?' Sirius asked innocently, a smile spreading across his face. 'No idea what you mean Moony. We were just saying we ought to invite some of our friends over; some of our dearest friends, some of the people we really like, you know, people we are especially close to…'
Sirius' body jerked and his mouth closed with a snap; Lily's eyes glanced at James, who was innocently looking away, but she'd known them long enough to recognise that James had hexed him under the table to shut him up.
'I'd like to see Julia.' She spoke up, a little timidly since she wasn't sure Remus would take her comments as she meant them. 'I haven't seen her for a while.'
'She's taken a summer internship in France.' Said Remus, his eyes fixed on his plate. 'She's been making arrangements and getting organised, so she hasn't seen many people actually. I'm sure she'd appreciate being invited.' He dropped his cutlery again and pushed his chair out from the table. 'I'm going up to bed, I'm tired. Night.'
There was a chorus of goodnights, and everyone was quiet until Remus had shut the door to the dining room behind him; then James and Lily both kicked Sirius at the same time.
'Ow! Bloody hell, what's wrong with you two? Lily you've got a kick like a fucking thestral, I swear to Merlin!'
'Could you do us all a favour and not bait Moony?' James demanded. 'You know what he's like about the Julia thing, and you know how he gets.'
'But isn't it time he got over it?' Marlene spoke up, her voice challenging. 'He's a fucking werewolf, so what? He's living with three purebloods, a half-blood and a muggleborn, all of whom have joined a secret organisation that's fighting for the end of the blood purity movement. If anyone should know that not every wizard shares those stupid bloody prejudices, it's him.'
James stared at her, seemingly unable to respond, and Peter chimed in instead. 'Yeah, but Moony's never been able to see it like that. You haven't seen him when he comes round after a full moon, freaking about whether he hurt one of us, or anyone else. You can see it on his face sometimes, just this flat out panic that this time it's been too much and we're going to abandon him. I'm not sure we'll ever convince him that not everyone is going to run away screaming at some point.'
'Personally, I think Julia is a nice enough person to listen and give Remus a fair hearing, and I think she's smart enough to understand that Remus is living proof that all that stuff about werewolves being a feral danger to society is rot. I've been telling him that for the last seven months.' Lily's voice was quiet. 'But I also think that Remus is the only one of us who will really have to live with the consequences of telling her, so it's his decision and it's not fair for us to push him on it.'
'Yeah, but you would see it like that wouldn't you? Because you were just as stubborn and in denial about Prongs as he is about Julia, so you would sympathise with him.' Sirius waved his fork for emphasis - he was the only one who hadn't stopped eating for the conversation – but he dropped it suddenly when Marlene slapped him across the back of the head. 'Ow! What is with you lot tonight, you're all so bloody violent! Pete, do you want to get a lick in? Might as well, everyone else has had a free shot at me.'
'It's because you have zero ability to keep your mouth shut Padfoot.' James rolled his eyes. 'And an incredible ability for saying the exact wrong thing sometimes.'
'No, he's right.' Lily said firmly, to the surprise of pretty much everyone. 'It wasn't that I pretended I didn't have those kinds of feelings for you' she smiled at James as she took his hand, 'it was that for a while I wouldn't even let myself think it, because it was scary. I had to come to it on my own terms. And so does Remus. We can support him, we can offer his advice, but we can't push him on this.'
'Hmmph.' Sirius crossed his arms grumpily, but then a sly smile slid across his face. 'So what made you get over your denial?'
'Huh?' Lily looked up at him, one eyebrow quirked up.
'What made you realise that you liked James?' He clarified. 'At what point did your brain suddenly go "oh shit, I fancy that daft prick"?'
'I don't think I ever had that exact thought Sirius.' She rolled her eyes at him. 'And I don't want to talk about it.'
'Oh, now I'm intrigued.' He leaned forward across the table towards her. 'Come on, tell Padfoot your secrets.'
'It's not a secret.' Lily protested. 'It's just…not something you talk about is it?'
Unfortunately, everyone – including James – seemed interested now, so it was unlikely she was going to get out of this without answering. She sighed and picked up her glass for a long swallow of water.
'Day of the Quidditch tryouts.' She answered finally, turning to James. It was easier to tell him than to divulge it to a room of friends, no matter how much she loved them. 'Right after breakfast when we were walking down to the pitch together, I just sort of looked at you - I think I was threatening you actually - and you were smiling at me, and I just had this thought that sort of went "oh fuck, you are good-looking aren't you?". Then later that night when you kissed me in our common room, I was just bloody sunk wasn't I?'
James' hand came up and slid into her hair behind her ear, and he pulled her face closer to his, until his lips were a breath away from hers.
'Good looking huh?'
'Don't let it go to your head.' She murmured back, then she heard his laugh as she closed her eyes and let her lips find his.
She vaguely heard Sirius' muttered complaint, and Peter's amused sounding voice responding, but mostly she ignored everything but his lips, all the other problems they had slipping away like they always did; she couldn't help but hope that it would always be that way.
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'Good morning you lot.' Peter wandered into the kitchen and was greeted with a variety of responses from his housemates, some more enthusiastic than others. He made his way to the teapot and poured himself a cup, waving off Lily's warning that it wasn't fresh. 'Do you know what the best thing about being the earliest riser is?'
His question was met with a lot of shrugging, and a smile from James, probably the only other person in the room who actually quite liked mornings.
'Well, the thing is, when you're the first person up you get first turn in the bathroom, you get to read the paper first…' He sipped from his cup before he continued musing out loud, being largely ignored by his friends '… you can open your mail in peace…intercept everyone's invitations to their first Order meeting…have first go at breakfast…'
'What?' Sirius, suddenly wide-eyed, rose from his seat. 'What did you say?'
Peter smiled innocently. 'I said it's nice to get down here early enough to have whatever you want for breakfast without having to argue about it.'
'Before that you numbskull!'
'Oh.' Peter grinned. 'I said that if you were up early enough you could also intercept everyone's invitations to their first Order meeting. You know, like these.'
He pulled a fistful of red parchment from his pocket and dropped it into the middle of the kitchen table, grinning when Sirius dived for it.
'At fucking last, something to do!'
'You could get a job.' Said Remus mildly, fishing through the sheets that Sirius had discarded for his own name.
Yeah, and I could also crucio myself; doesn't make it a good idea.' Sirius didn't even lift his head as he continued to separate out the parchment, shouting triumphantly when he got the one with his name on.
Remus calmly passed out the remaining letters, and all six of them were quiet as everyone but Peter scanned the words on the page.
August 4th 7:00pm
Gritwell Lodge, Tutshill.
Burn this note.
'How did they arrive?' James asked, turning the sheet over in his hands.
Peter shrugged. 'They were on the dining table, one on every place setting. Creepily enough, they were set out exactly how we were sitting for dinner the night before last.'
James looked at Remus. 'Magical signature tracing?'
Remus shrugged. 'Something along those lines I imagine. Who knows what Dumbledore's capable of? He's gone further in the study of magic than anyone else has for hundreds of years.'
They sat together for a while, debating about the reason for the meeting, speculating about other possible members of the Order, discussing the most recent news reports involving Death Eaters. Remus was still updating his maps, but they were no closer to establishing a pattern; Sirius felt they should take them to the meeting and get some more input, thinking that the Order might be able to confirm which incidents were definitely the responsibility of Death Eaters and which were false alarms. Even with James using his family's contacts in the Ministry as discreetly as possible, they were still only guessing with incomplete information.
Eventually they had exhausted most theories, and while Remus made enough scrambled eggs and toast for everybody, Marlene and Sirius scoured the day's Prophet for headlines that could have prompted a meeting being called, reading the occasional one out loud to the others.
James listened as he sorted the mail that had arrived by more traditional means into piles, groaning when he saw two identical envelopes addressed to him and Marlene. They were made from a stiff cream card, the handwritten names were in beautiful copperplate script, and they had a family crest on the seal. In his experience, nothing good ever came out of envelopes like this.
He opened it up and scanned the over the card inside.
Mstr James Potter and fiancée are most cordially invited to attend the Meadowes' Summer Ball, to be held at their summer estate, Stowecroft House, on the 24th July.
Guests are invited to present themselves for dinner at 7:00pm for 7:30, and the ball will commence immediately after dinner.
Formal dress is required and invitations must be presented.
RSVP by 19th July.
He sighed, and weighed up the possibility of getting out of it. His parents would almost certainly go, and his mother would probably give him that disappointed look that always worked so well on him if he said he didn't intend on going. And he knew it would look bad if he didn't; much as he loathed the concept of blood-purity the Potter's were still a highly regarded family, and that meant that society had expectations of him. Even though he personally loathed them, he'd been raised to do what was proper whenever possible. Marlene had too, but no-one would bat an eyelid if she chose not to attend, given the bereavement of last summer, and he doubted very much that she would want to go; Sirius certainly wouldn't wish to attend a gathering that might include members of his family, and he didn't think Marlene would be willing to go unescorted. Frank was in the same boat as him - the Longbottoms were one of the most prominent pureblood families - and would probably be emotionally blackmailed into attending by his mother, so at least he'd be there, presumably with Alice.
Thinking about it, it wouldn't be that bad; the Meadowes family had never publicly supported the idea of blood-purity – and though they had never publicly renounced it either, many would consider that a prudent approach in the current climate – and he was sure that at least some of the people attending would be decent. He remembered Dorcas Meadowes from school; he didn't know her well - at all really, if he was being fair - but he seemed to recall that Lily had liked her, and that spoke volumes for the girl as far as he was concerned.
He couldn't help but wonder why the Meadowes' had decided to resurrect their annual summer ball; he was fairly sure it hadn't been held since he'd started at Hogwarts, and it seemed an odd time to begin throwing parties, right as the wizarding world was hovering on the brink of what could only be described as civil war.
Lily's elbow hit him in the stomach and shook him out of his abstraction. He passed the card over for her inspection, and she skimmed it quickly before raising an eyebrow questioningly. James gave a very quick shake of his head as he passed the mail out, mouthing "later" at her, and Lily turned her attention over to Remus' conversation with Peter which had returned to the upcoming Order meeting.
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'You ran off from breakfast quickly this morning.' Sirius stopped in the doorway of Marlene's room, leaning a shoulder against the frame.
Marlene looked up from the magazine she was pretending to read – and he knew her well enough to know she was pretending – and looked at him with expressionless eyes. 'Did I?'
He didn't like that vacant look on her face; something that had happened at breakfast had put it there, and he wanted to know what it was. If he was honest with himself, he felt a little at a loss here. He'd never been good with words like Remus, had never had James' instinctive understanding of the feelings of others, never seemed to have the right joke like Peter. He didn't know what to say, didn't know how to ask what was wrong, even of a girl he'd known since he was eleven. He placed the blame squarely on his upbringing; discussing one's feelings, or enquiring after the feelings of others was not something that was encouraged in the Black family.
'May I?' He pointed to the space on the bed next to her, waiting for her nod of acquiescence before he entered her room and sat on the edge of her bed, leaving a careful gap between himself her cross-legged position on the bed. There was an awkward pause in which he felt like his brain was melting, and then he decided that since he quite obviously wasn't James, Remus or Peter, he'd simply take the Sirius Black approach to these things; bluntness.
'You look like hell. Want to tell me your troubles?'
Marlene curled her lip at him, and he was glad to see it; a little of her old spark would make her seem so much less damaged, and he was far more used to verbally sparring with her or snogging her than having a discussion about their feelings, so anything that put them on more familiar ground was alright with him.
'Thanks so much, you know how to make a girl feel better.'
'Can't make you feel better if I don't know what's wrong.' Sirius rested his forearms on his knees and leaned forward to bring his head down a little closer to her level. 'At the risk of sounding like James, you can tell me what it is. You don't need to be strong for me.'
Wordlessly, Marlene drew a stiff piece of cream card from underneath the Witch Weekly she was flicking through and handed it to him. Sirius read through the invitation to the Meadowes' ball, his brow furrowing as he tried to understand what could have upset her.
'It's just an invitation Marls. Don't go if you don't want to, it doesn't matter. It's all…society crap anyway. Who gives a damn?'
'I know.' Her voice was small. 'It just…it reminded me of mum and dad, if you must know. Happy now?'
As her voice wobbled on the last word, he looked up and caught her wiping away a tear; he reached out and caught her hand before she could return to fiddling with her magazine.
'Why's that love?' He asked, rubbing slow circles on the back of her hand with his thumb while his mind span; he wondered if Lily was still in. Maybe he ought to abandon this conversation now before he made things worse, and get Lily. Or James. Anyone with a better understanding of normal family ties than him.
'They met at the Meadowes ball.' She sniffled a little before continuing. 'That's what it is you know. No-one says it, but it's essentially a debutante ball. It's surprising how many marriages started at one.'
She managed a tearful smile for him now. 'My parents met at the ball in 1957, and my father proposed to my mother a year later at the 1958 ball.' Her face crumpled. 'I don't want to go and dance, and try to smile, in the ballroom my parents met in Sirius.'
He opened his arms for her and she abandoned her magazine and crawled into his lap, her arms wrapping around his waist while he stroked her hair and tried to think of what to say. He couldn't make it better. There was a hole in her heart that would never go away, and he was ashamed to say he almost envied her for it; she missed her parents, she'd loved them and been loved, and while it was painful for her, it was a pain he'd never have, and one he wished he could understand. He knew he'd feel it keenly when Mr and Mrs Potter eventually passed, but he also knew it wouldn't be the same for him as it would be for James.
'You don't have to go.' He mumbled into her hair. 'No-one can make you.'
He felt her chest heave against him, felt the tears begin to seep through his shirt as he held onto her. They sat for a few moments while she cried herself out; he might have been a beginner at the finer points of human emotion, but he did know that there were some tears that demanded to be cried, some pains that had to be felt. When her breathing evened out, and he felt her shift in his arms, he let out a long breath and said the first thing that came to mind.
'We'll go out somewhere instead.'
She leaned back in his lap, reddened eyes lifting to meet his. 'What?'
'On that night; we'll go out somewhere, somewhere completely different to the ball. We'll…I don't know, go to a muggle pub or something. Somewhere rowdy. We'll make new memories, me and you.'
She didn't move, didn't respond, and Sirius wondered whether he ought to shut up now before he made things worse, but the next words fell out of his mouth before he had time to overthink them. 'And we'll go to your parents' grave first. During the day.'
Her posture stiffened, and her face began to tense back into that mask of indifference, but he kept going anyway; in for a penny after all.
'You haven't been since the funeral, I know. I know you've been trying not to think about it, about them too much, but they're on your mind, so maybe…maybe you should go and see them. We'll go and take your parents some flowers, and you can remember them and what they did when they were young; debutante balls and all that. Just let yourself think about them for a bit. Then we'll go somewhere, and we'll dance and drink and…just be us, and only think about us for a while. Nothing else; no families, no Death Eaters, no Order. We'll be a pair of stupid teenagers for a change.'
Marlene's eyes filled again, and Sirius braced himself for a fresh influx of tears, caused by his loose tongue and lack of understanding of human emotions. Instead he got Marlene's arms around his neck and a gentle kiss on the cheek.
He was never going to understand her, not in one year, not in twenty.
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'Didn't you want a new dress?' James smiled at his reflection as he fought with his dress robes; he could just catch glimpses of Lily moving around behind him as she finished off her outfit for the ball.
He was still in two minds about this whole damn thing, but Lily had been happy enough with the idea of attending the ball - much to his shock after the palpitations she'd had over his father's retirement party - presumably because she actually knew one of the hosts, it seemed a little less daunting than it might have done otherwise. She'd actually seemed pleased with the possibility of seeing Dorcas again. And his mother had been so thrilled at the idea of flaunting the two of them in mixed company; eventually he'd caved and agreed. He might have stood a chance at holding out against one of them, but both of them? He recognised an overwhelming force when he saw one.
'No.' Lily answered absently from behind him. 'If I bought a new dress for every one of these things, I'd end up with a wardrobe full of dresses that I'd only worn once. Besides, I have a fondness for this one.'
'Me too.' James muttered, turning from the mirror and sweeping his eyes over her figure, trailing down the length of the emerald green dress and back up again. 'I have some good memories tied up in that dress.'
She smiled at him then, an almost shy smile, and he was assaulted by reminiscences of that daft masquerade ball back in October, of dancing with her then sneaking off to the Quidditch pitch where she'd kissed him until his head span while they were still sitting on his broomstick.
She stepped over to him and straightened his collar, dusting down his shoulders and running her fingers through his hair in a vague attempt to tame it, and the tinkling of charms drew his attention to the bracelet on her wrist, the charm bracelet he'd given her for Christmas. He was hit with another memory then, of New Year's Eve and her wearing nothing but the bracelet. Was everything she was wearing designed to remind him of some milestone in their relationship? Of their own accord, his eyes dropped to her hand, settling on the engagement ring that sat there. Apparently so.
'Ready?' She asked him, and he nodded and took her hand as they wandered through the empty house and out into the garden; Sirius and Marlene had been out all day, and Peter and Remus had gone to Hogsmeade to catch up with Hagrid at the Three Broomsticks.
They locked the house up behind them, making their way out of the garden and beyond the bounds of the anti-apparition wards that Charlus had put up for them with the help of Moody. When they reached the lane they stopped, and Lily stepped into James' embrace so he could apparate them both.
'Whoa.' Once the world have stopped spinning, and the uncomfortable feeling of being compressed through a tube had gone, Lily opened her eyes to observe their surroundings; they were at the end of a long driveway, and she could see the lights of the large manor house even from this distance.
A well-dressed man in black stepped forward and politely requested their invitations, which James produced silently. The card was briefly inspected, and then they were led to the first of several waiting carriages, their horses standing patiently. Once they were inside, the carriage made its way carefully up the driveway, and Lily was free to express her incredulity about the amount of money and effort that must have gone into the event.
James shrugged as he loafed on the seat, straightening back up at Lily's disapproving look. 'It was a big deal back in the day. Guess they want to re-establish it.'
She cocked her head to one side. 'How do you mean?'
James frowned. 'Well it's a bit difficult to explain, because it's kind of ridiculous. But the Meadowes' ball used to be the party to bring your children to if you planned on marrying them off. It wasn't officially a debutante ball or anything, it just became really well known for having a rather exclusive guest list. That attracted the husband hunters I guess. And wife hunters.' He added, almost as an afterthought. 'They stopped holding it…Merlin, more than fifteen years ago I think. It became rather irrelevant, since people weren't really doing things the old way anymore. I've no idea why they've started it up again now.'
Lily pursed her lips. 'Maybe they just want to be seen to be holding to old traditions; it's an uncertain political climate after all. Might be…prudent to be seen as traditional purebloods.'
James tensed. 'You will tell me if you want to leave? If someone's rude to you or anything…'
'Don't worry about it.' Lily smiled at him. 'I'll be fine.'
The carriage had stopped and the door was opened by yet another black-garbed employee, who directed them straight into the house. Lily took James' arm and they entered the house; they couldn't have taken more than a few steps into the foyer when they heard a female voice exclaim behind them.
'Thank Agrippa for that; people my age who are actually interesting!'
Lily smiled and turned to face Dorcas Meadowes, who engulfed her in a hug, much to the redhead's shock.
'Save me.' Dorcas stage whispered theatrically in her ear, and Lily burst out laughing.
'From what?'
'Every man here between the ages of eighteen and fifty. No, eighteen and ninety. My parents might think a sixty year old is perfectly acceptable if he has enough money.' Dorcas glanced around the room as she spoke, presumably checking for her parents, before extending her hand in James' direction.
'What are you talking about?' Lily asked quietly, as James followed ingrained pureblood protocol and kissed Dorcas' hand.
'Oh, they're trying to marry me off. To just about anybody. They seem to think that I'll get into some kind of mischief if they don't immediately shackle me to someone.' Dorcas waved a hand in the air. 'But after all, what's wrong with a bit of mischief? What's life without some trouble to make it interesting?'
James was staring at her, rather dumbfounded by the outgoing brunette. 'Why weren't we friends?'
She gave him a sly smile. 'Because I was a Slytherin and you were a Gryffindor my darling. But we're not at Hogwarts now, so I'm Dorcas, you're James, this is Lily, and everything's peachy, and dear Merlin there's my mother. Bye.'
Dorcas was gone before James could fully comprehend her last sentence, and Lily laughed at his expression. 'She's something isn't she? I would have liked to know her better.'
James raised an eyebrow at her. 'She's mental.'
'Then she'd make a good addition to my circle of friends. All my friends are mental.'
'Fair point.' He reached for her hand, and led them over to greet their hostess for the evening.
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Lily smiled up at James as he led her gracefully across the dance floor, one hand gentle on her lower back and the other wrapped firmly around hers. It hadn't exactly been her idea of a party, but it had been a pleasant enough evening. She'd enjoyed seeing Dorcas, had spent some time with Alice and Frank - who had indeed been dragged along against their wishes - had met an entire raft of James' extended family and random acquaintances, none of whom she expected to remember tomorrow, and more importantly their presence had made Dorea very happy.
If turning up to a posh party, making small talk with snobs, and dancing with her fiancée was the worst thing she had to do in the next few months, she'd happily chalk herself up as one of the lucky ones.
A tap on James' shoulder interrupted their graceful twirling, and Lily came face to face with a stern looking middle-aged man, who seemed familiar somehow. He nodded his acknowledgment of her, in an icy sort of way, but addressed James.
'Mr Potter.'
James inclined his head slightly, his expression cold. 'Mr Corbin.'
Lily started at the name, unpleasant memories of Augustus Corbin beginning to surface. No wonder the man in front of her had seemed a little familiar; he had the same air of arrogance, the same overbearing posture and haughty demeanour as well as a purely physical resemblance.
'I wonder if I might have a word Mr Potter? Some…friends and I have been discussing important matters, and your name has been mentioned. Your opinion would be invaluable I feel.' Corbin kept his eyes on James, never so much as glancing Lily's way.
'I think you've found the wrong Potter Mr Corbin. If you want opinions, I'd seek out my mother. She's famous for them.' James began to step back towards Lily, but Corbin smiled icily at him.
'Actually what we were discussing relates directly to Hogwarts, so as a recent student we feel your opinion is extremely relevant.'
James' eyes flicked to Lily, who gave the slightest nod of her head; Corbin was obviously not going to be put off, so it was probably far easier for James to go and speak with him than continue this wrangling in the centre of the dance floor. They were beginning to attract attention.
James sighed but spoke politely. 'Very well Mr Corbin. I believe I can spare you a few moments.' He touched Lily's arm gently. 'Excuse me. I'll be back momentarily.'
She was a little taken aback by the stiffness of his address, but quickly realised that he was being formal for Corbin's benefit; those pureblood traditions again. She watched James follow Corbin across the room towards a group of older men, all wearing the traditional black dress robes and standing rigidly, in sharp contrast to the people around them enjoying the party.
She turned towards the bathroom, glancing around for anyone she knew but she didn't spot anyone familiar as she made her way across the crowded ballroom to the large powder room that Dorcas had pointed out for her and Alice earlier.
She was just checking her hair in the mirror when a stern looking woman entered the bathroom and stopped directly behind her, resting her hands on her elaborate cane. She looked to be in her seventies, but was still standing ramrod straight, her posture perfect and her face proud.
'You look very pretty.'
Lily met her eyes in the mirror, her confusion at the unexpected compliment showing on her face. 'Thank you.'
'But it doesn't matter how many pretty dresses you wear, or how much paint you put on your face, you will never be an acceptable match for him.'
Lily felt the shock show on her face, but she recovered and carefully schooled her expression into one of nonchalance as she turned to face the older woman directly. 'Excuse me?'
'I said that although you are a pretty girl, that does not make up for the dilution of magical blood that you will cause in the Potter - and by extension, the Black - family trees by marrying James.' The lady took a step closer and looked Lily up and down in an incredibly insulting manner. 'I can certainly see how you've enticed him, but I'm afraid it will be for nothing. He owes it to his family to marry well. He's the last Potter.'
Lily lifted her chin. 'Well then, perhaps you ought to take your concerns to him. I fail to see why you would think that you would achieve anything by speaking with me, since I've enticed him with my wiles.'
'You have a smart mouth young lady.' She sniffed. 'If the circumstances of your birth were less regrettable, if you were properly magical, you might have been acceptable.'
Lily felt her cheeks flush with anger. 'There is nothing regrettable about my birth. My parents are wonderful people, and I wouldn't change them. And as for being properly magical, I assume you're referring to my blood status, and quite frankly if being pureblood was a measure of ability then I wouldn't have been able to spend the last seven years beating almost every pureblood in almost every subject.'
The door had swung open somewhere in the middle of her speech, but Lily had continued, refusing to tear her eyes away from the woman in front of her and determined to finish what she had to say, regardless of whether or not she was causing a scene.
To her surprise, the person who had entered came and stood alongside her. She glanced to her right and saw Dorea, who was glowering at the stranger.
'Melania. Still alive out of sheer spite I assume.'
Lily had never heard such venom in Dorea's voice before, and she couldn't help the surprise showing on her face.
'Dorea. One would have thought you would have put a stop to your son's foolishness by now. Even you must be able to see the absurdity of his actions.'
Dorea snorted in an unladylike manner, and despite the situation Lily held back a giggle at the sight of James' ever-elegant mother snorting. 'My son has never failed to make me proud, and I see no reason to intervene in his life when he is quite clearly doing wonderfully on his own.'
Melania smacked her cane down onto the floor in irritation. 'He is disgracing the blood. This girl will taint us.'
'You taint us.' The colour was high in Dorea's cheeks now, and she took a step closer to the other woman. 'You think yourself above others, and yet you happily insult other invited guests in someone else's home? Your lack of manners disgraces our family. I've rarely been so pleased to no longer be a Black.'
Melania sneered, but had apparently lost her appetite for a row since she turned to the door. 'You always were a miserable little wretch, even when we were children. It was obvious all through our schooling that you were determined to ruin your own life. Let your son destroy his as well, and take the family name with him; that should be the final blow.'
Dorea looked up at the ceiling in mock thoughtfulness. 'And yet I have a wonderful husband and family, a career I've excelled in, a beautiful home…and I hear that you and Arcturus have had to downsize to a little cottage after he ran up some rather enormous gambling debts. Yes you're clearly right, one of us has got things very wrong here…'
Melania stiffened, but did not turn back; she merely opened the door and left, allowing it to slam shut behind her. Dorea turned to Lily.
'Are you alright Lily? I hope she didn't upset you too much.'
'No.' Lily shook her head in an attempt to order her thoughts. 'No, she made me angry, but she didn't upset me.' She glanced at Dorea. 'She's…a relative?'
Dorea smiled at her as she turned to the mirror to inspect her face. 'That was Sirius' grandmother…and my cousin by marriage.'
'Oh.' Lily fell silent for a moment. 'Well she was…er…'
'A cantankerous, bigoted old bag.' Dorea waved a hand. 'Loathed her since we were at Hogwarts together. She was Melania Macmillan back then. She was always a horrendous human being, but she became so much worse when she married into the Black family. Massive delusions of grandeur and self-importance.'
She touched Lily's arm gently. 'Don't pay anything she said a moment's attention.' She finished her examination of her make-up and smiled. 'If you want my advice, I should go and find James and rub your happiness in everyone's faces. Charlus and I always liked to do that when people said we wouldn't last.'
She opened the door and held it for Lily, who walked through and headed determinedly towards the dance floor, craning her neck to see if she could spot James in the crowd. She'd made one complete circuit of the room before a hand caught the crook of her elbow, and she jumped in shock before she realised it was only James.
She smiled at him automatically, but her brow furrowed when she realised his face was set in a mask of irritation.
'James?'
'Let's get out of here.' He tugged her towards the doors, his legs eating up the ground in long strides, forcing her to trot in a very inelegant fashion to keep up with him.
'James?' She tried again, but he still didn't answer until they were outside; he asked one of the black-garbed servants to call them a carriage, then he turned back to Lily.
'Sorry. I had to get out before I started hexing people.'
She frowned at him. 'What did Corbin want?'
He looked away, his face still locked in that angry mask. She touched his arm gently. 'James?'
He turned back to her. 'He took me over to that group of bigoted pure-blood wankers he was with, and they asked me a load of bloody stupid questions about people at Hogwarts; how many muggleborns were in my year, how much extra time the teachers had to spend with them to make up for their "natural deficiencies", and a load of crap like that.'
Lily looked up at his face, still flushed with annoyance. 'Well, yes, that is a load of bigoted crap, but why in Merlin's name did they want to ask you about it?'
James snorted. 'I don't really think they did, it was just a convenient excuse to get me over there and talking to that group. What they really wanted was something else entirely.' He looked over at her, his expression sick. 'They wanted to give me a message…from Voldemort.'
Lily felt the shock slide onto her face. 'What?'
'Apparently he wants to offer me another chance to "respect my birthright". To join his Death Eaters.'
'They approached you at a ball, in public, to ask you to join the Death Eaters?' To say she was stunned would be an understatement. 'Well they've got nerve, I'll give them that.'
She ran a soothing hand down James' arm. 'What did he say?'
James shrugged. 'I won't repeat most of it; and I was too angry to take a lot of it in anyway. But the basic gist of it…was join or die.'
He looked down at her and pulled her into his side as their carriage approached. 'And I'd rather die.'
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A/N: Okay, so I know we don't actually know if the Dorea Black and Charlus Potter on the Black family tree were James' parents, but the dates are roughly right, and I like to use canon based names for characters where I can so let's all just hold hands and agree that for the purposes of this fic they are.
For the guest reviewer who asked about Jily conflicts; yes, there will be difficulties in their relationship. They're both stubborn, hot-tempered people and they aren't always going to agree. Not to mention that they are living in very difficult times, and things are going to be hard on both of them. So there will be rows. There will not be break-ups. I don't see them as the on-again/off-again type, and I absolutely detest love triangles, so there will be none of that kind of thing. Sorry to anyone who's looking for something along those lines.
Anyway…tell me what you think?
