Chapel of Love (Part Two)

Their little moment of blissful peace didn't last very long. Sirius had hardly finished his last sentence when the entrance door of the chapel burst open and countless excited people started to come out. Mary's mother was one of the first to emerge and she walked straight towards them, closely followed by the two photographers. "There you are!"

Mrs. Woods pulled Mary (still carrying Erin) and Sirius (holding Oliver) into a big hug and kissed them both on the cheek, beaming with twinkling eyes. "Well done, you two, well done. Oh, I'm so happy! Anyway, you should go and wait for the guests to arrive at the restaurant. Better hurry now, before people will get there sooner than you and we wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?"

Sirius and Mary exchanged a glance before gently lowering their children back to the ground. Their brief act of non-verbal communication didn't go by unnoticed. "What's wrong?" Mrs. Woods asked.

"Nothing mum," Mary replied a little too quickly and her mother lifted her eyebrows at her. "Well," Mary elaborated after another moment. "It's just that we haven't been on our own at all today. Just the four of us, you know, and…"

Her mother smiled. "I do understand what you're talking about, honey, but this is your wedding day! You have the rest of your life to spend all your time together and drive each other mad. Or at least those kids will at one point," she added thoughtfully. "Now. Erin, Oliver: mummy and daddy are going to await the guests, so how about if you help me finding your grandfather?"

Erin nodded excitedly and stepped up to her grandmother, waiting patiently to see what would happen next. Oliver on the other hand clung to his father's leg, gripping his trousers rather tightly. "Hey," Sirius said gently as he crouched down so he could look his son in the eye. "What's wrong?"

Oliver shrugged shyly and looked up at his mother, who smiled. "Don't you wanna go to grandpa?" Mary asked. "I think Harry, Haley and Lucy are there as well."

Oliver shrugged again, apparently still indecisive about whether he should be fine if he left from either Sirius or Mary's side. Luckily his big sister had already made up her mind for both of them. "Why not, Oliver?" Erin asked. "Maybe grandpa will swing you around in the air by your ankles again, just like last Summer. You liked that, right?"

Mrs. Woods smiled and patted Erin on her head. "I don't think that would be the best idea, love. Not today, anyway."

"Hmmm," Sirius said thoughtfully. "But I bet he can find you the biggest ice cream in the restaurant if you ask him nicely, though."

Oliver looked up, a big smile creeping up his face and Sirius laughed as he ruffled his son's dark curly hair. "There you go. He's feeling better already. Off you go then."

They watched their offspring walk towards the restaurant with Mrs. Woods, Erin frolicking a little ahead of them and Oliver tightly holding onto his grandmother's hand. Sirius looked at Mary and reached for her hand. "Come on, Mrs. Black."

She nodded, grinning over finally sharing her last name with Sirius and their children, and joined him and the two photographers in walking to the restaurant. They agreed to do a wedding photo shoot right after they had welcomed their guests to the reception. Mary noticed that the Muggle photographer repeatedly shot curious looks at the (to him at least) odd-looking photo camera from the wizard, but apparently he was acting too professional to question his colleague about that. When the photographers had walked off to have some tea and food of their own and Mary and Sirius had almost reached the entrance of the restaurant, he turned towards her and said: "I really think we have the sweetest son."

Mary smiled back. "I know. I do hope he will grow out of that shyness he's got going eventually." She laughed. "He's so different from Erin."

"Tell me about it. Did you see his face when I mentioned the ice cream? I swear he just as well could have been Peter's son!"

Mary stiffened. Why did Sirius have to go and mention Peter on this day and even in a way that suggested she would have cheated on him with his treacherous friend and got pregnant in the process? The thought alone was enough to make her feel sick, and not only because Peter had betrayed her and her friends. Sirius noticed that her face fell and turned her towards him. "Hey, I was only joking."

"I don't think that is even remotely funny," Mary spluttered, glaring at him. "To think that I would… And with him is just… It's making me sick to my stomach, that's what it does."

He put a cool hand to her burning cheek. "I know that. I also know how you feel about Peter and I respect that, but never be able to talk or joke about him again, turning him into some sort of Unspeakable person… That wouldn't be right."

Mary sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. "I know. And you're right, of course. I just wish Brice could have been here with us, that's all."

She felt her eyes were getting wet, frustrated once again that one of her oldest friends could not be with them on this important day, and when Sirius saw there was a tear rolling down her cheek he pulled her close to him. "Hey shhh, it's okay."

Mary rested her head against her neck for a moment, breathing in the scent of his after shave and she could feel the stress and sadness slowly fade away. She knew that as long as she was with Sirius, it would be alright. He'd always be there and know exactly how to calm her down. Right now was another perfect example of that. "I love you," she said quietly.

"I love you too," he replied softly and, noticing she had calmed down slightly, gently lifted her chin so that she was looking straight at him. "Better now?"

She smiled back and nodded but before she could reply, they got interrupted by a young man. "Oi! Could you two lovebirds cut it out for just a moment?"

They turned around and found themselves staring at James and Lily, holding hands. It always amazed Mary that they were still so obviously in love, even after so many years of marriage. Lily was shooting James an amused look before she said: "Look guys, we're sorry to interrupt, but there are a lot of people waiting at the door and they're getting kind of hungry, so…"

"Oh, sorry!"

The four of them hurried down the last part of the lane that was surrounded by large oak trees and many fields with bright green grass and flowers and sprinted up the steps of the restaurant, an old Victorian building with a large rose garden that reached as far as the bank of a small lake. Sirius, following James and Lily, pulled Mary along by the hand and walked straight to the front door, where Mary's mother, tapping her fot impatiently, and the owner of the restaurant were waiting for them.

They spent the next hour welcoming guests and receiving wedding presents. There were so many hands to shake that Mary stopped counting at one point, but she did appreciate that so many people were showing up. Besides their best friends and Mary's entire family, Sirius's cousin Andromeda and her husband Ted and daughter Nymphadora stopped by and there were also a lot of people from St. Mungo's (Pierce, Edgar Bones and Ching-Lu among them) and the Ministry (including Sirius's boss Matthews and Dirk Creswell, Head of the Goblin Liaison Office), old allies from the Order such as Mad-Eye Moody, Frank and Alice Longbottom and Elphias Doge. Even some of their old Professors were there: Slughorn, McGonagall, Flitwick and of course Dumbledore, who shook both their hands warmly and said he couldn't be happier for them.

It was very enjoyable to be congratulated by all of them but also exhausting, and Mary felt relieved when she noticed that the cue of people was getting shorter and finally, with shaking the hand of her notorious moody aunt Muriel and uncle Carl, she could finally give her aching arm a rest. But only for a minute, because they were supposed to shoot some official wedding pictures next. They had agreed to make one series with their kids and one without them. Mary was sure of one thing: these pictures of their family in front of the fountain and Victorian building (both moving and unmoving) would look no less than awesome. Erin was having loads of fun and adored posing for the camera's, but even Oliver seemed to lose some of his shyness at one point; he even boldly climbed onto the edge of the fountain in the end and almost lost his balance if it weren't for Sirius who caught him just on time.

Afterwards Mary's parents took the kids back inside and she followed Sirius and the photographers to a nearby field with several horses and even a few falls. "Right," the Muggle man said in his heavy Cockney accent. "Why don't you two get over there, so that me and Douglas can shoot some nice pictures from the newlyweds." He chewed his gum thoughtfully for a moment. "You wouldn't mind if your dress got a little dirty, now would you?"

"Not at all," Mary replied serenely, thinking a simple Scourgify would take care of most of the damage.

She followed Sirius into the meadow and heaved up her dress a little bit to avoid some excrements from the horses. Once they had found a safe spot somewhere in the middle, the photographers started shooting away. When Sirius lifted Mary off her feet and held her up in the air for a moment, the Muggle man called Ben called: "Hold that pose!"

Douglas shot him an empathetic look and Sirius had trouble keeping a straight face and when he slowly lowered Mary back to the ground he held her close to him so he could whisper: "I'm bored out of my wits, but I have a plan to shake things up a little. Are you up for it?"

Mary shot him a surprised look, but nodded eventually. "Sure."

He grinned mischievously and winked at her before turning to the photographers. "The owner of the restaurant told me there's a nice pond behind those trees. I should check it out and see if it's another great location."

The photographers agreed and while Sirius ran away, they focused on shooting more photos of Mary who was now stroking a beautiful white mare and her brown foal. She continued to do so calmly while she waited for Sirius's return, since she already had a sneaky suspicion about what her husband was going to do. And indeed, only a few seconds later a large scruffy dog came running towards them. She almost rolled her eyes but could appreciate the prank at the same time, especially since both of the photographers looked rather shocked. "Where'd he come from?" Ben frowned.

"I don't know," Douglas said, shooting a doubtful look at Mary. "Aren't you scared? He looks rather dangerous."

"Oh, I sincerely doubt that," Mary replied as she crouched down and tickled Sirius the dog behind his ears, who barked happily and started to jump around her, yet he didn't put his paws against her white dress a single time. He merely trotted behind and next to her, at one point even carefully licking her hand. The photographers continued to click away frantically, although they still didn't really seem to trust that rather large dog.

"Are you sure you don't know this animal?" Ben wondered aloud. "He seems to like you, know you even."

Mary shrugged and gave the dog a kiss on his head before he ran back to the group of trees at the end of the meadow, chasing some of the horses in the process. "No, I assume he's just one of the watch-dogs or something. Look, there's Sirius again."

"Did you see that dog?" Ben asked him when he had reached them, panting a little.

"Dog?" Sirius replied, looking deadpan. "I did actually. Large bear-like animal, right? Rather frightful thing if you ask me." He blew his hair out of his face. "Why?"

Ben snorted. "Because he seemed to have a thing for your Misses."

"What?" Sirius said, walked over to Mary and looked at her with mock-concerned expression on his face. "Honey, are you alright? Did he bite you?"

Mary could see the mischievous twinkle in his eyes and shook her head, laughing. "No, I'm fine."

"Well," Douglas said, who had been watching them with a curious expression on his face as if he was detecting that he was being fooled. "I'd suggest to take some final pictures of you making out in the sun and then head back to the restaurant and have some dinner. What say you?"

"Agreed!" Mary and Sirius called at the same time.

Thirty minutes later the four of them entered the restaurant and could finally sit down at a large table near the front. A table they would be sharing with their kids, James, Lily (and Harry, Haley and Lucy), Remus, Cecilia, Mary's parents and Jenna and her boyfriend William. They had dinner together while Sirius told them all about the photo shoot and that "mysterious appearance of a bear-like dog". At this, James choked on his lamb chops and only got some breath when Remus finally decided to help him by letting him drink some water to clear his sore throat.

When everyone had finished their dessert, a traditional wedding cake, and leaned back on their comfortable chairs to rest a little bit, it was time for the speeches. Mary, who had a snoozing Haley (a young girl with shoulder-length auburn hair and hazel eyes) sitting on her lap, handed her goddaughter back to her mother Lily, so she could sit up straight and pay more attention to what the speakers had to say. At first her father told an amusing story about Mary's life and how she grew up, including showing several photographs (some were beautiful, others a little embarrassing). He ended with a few words on Sirius and how he had welcomed this man into his family at the age of seventeen, and that by now, he was seeing him as the son he never had. Sirius smiled modestly and casually nodded at Mr. Woods, but Mary could see he was feeling more touched than he was showing and she squeezed his hand gently.

When Mr. Woods had stepped down from the stage, it was James's turn. He appeared to have needed three pieces of parchment to scribble down his notes. "Hi everyone," he said and waved around the hall. "I'm James Potter, one of Sirius and Mary's best friends from our school, Hogwarts. And as their best man, it is my duty to tell you a story on how they hooked up and why they are destined to grow old together. And with Sirius and Mary… Well, that's not as easy as it seems. You see," he said, running a hand through his untidy hair. "They didn't like each other all that much at first. If I recall it correctly, he used to think she was a snob who only had eyes for books and she thought that he – and I quote – "swapped girls sooner than his underwear". Of course she forgot to add that truthfully she would have liked to be one of those girls herself…"

The Hall roared with laughter and Mary grinned while vehemently shaking her head. "Not true, James! And you know that."

He chuckled and winked at her before he continued: "It's also common for a best man to come up with rather embarrassing notes about both groom and bride and I have been looking forward to this moment since Sirius was my best man. However, unfortunately I, nor my wife and our best friends, could think of anything embarrassing that has happened to Sirius. Which means he is either God or simply knows how to hide humiliating encounters really well."

Sirius smirked and leaned back in his chair, suddenly completely at ease. "So I had to come up with something different and equally entertaining instead. I have decided to give you a clear recap on happenings that formed and eventually changed the course of their relationship. I'll be brief, because I can see why most of you cannot wait to go outside, get drunk and dance the night away. Rest assured I will… Alright then. Year one: Mary and Sirius end up on the same boat to Hogwarts and manage to hate each other after only one conversation, simply because they don't seem to have the same sense of humor. Year two: When Mary's old pony Mistral dies and she's bawling her eyes out in the Common Room, Sirius casually – but close enough so she can hear him – notes: "Do you reckon we'll get horse steak for dinner again anytime soon? Last time the meat tasted like leather; I bet they gave me a really old horse or something."

Once again the Hall burst out laughing, with the exception of Sirius who was leaning over to Mary with a shocked expression on his face. "Did I actually say that?" he asked, putting his hand on her back.

Mary looked at him and nodded slowly. "Yeah, you did… Rather vicious, that one."

"I cannot believe I did that! I don't even remember. Love, I'm so so sorry."

She smiled and put her hand over his. "It happened a long time ago."

"Year three," James announced when the Hall had finally calmed down a little. "This is the year Sirius starts to get really busy with the ladies, much to Mary's chagrin, especially since he's still belongs to the best students of the class while spending as little time in the library as possible. Year four: the turning-point; Sirius finally starts to realize that Mary is a true Hogwarts hottie. Unfortunately that feeling is not mutual and when she decides to have a little fun with other guys, Sirius sees it as his ultimate goal to beat and annoy her in that department even more. Year five: the year when things get really bad in the beginning, become slightly better when they have a detention together and end disastrously during the OWL's after a big prank – a rather funny one if you ask me - on one of our classmates from Slytherin House."

Sirius shot a look at Mary and whispered from the corner of his mouth: "It wasn't that bad, right?"

She arched an eyebrow at him. "I yelled at you for about ten minutes while Lily was outside the portrait hole talking to Snape and ended up casting the Bat-Bogey Hex."

He groaned, cringing at the memory, before focusing on James again. "Year six: while Sirius remains focused on becoming a legendary heartbreaker, Mary is starting to see why the guy is so irresistible to girls. However, admitting this defeat to Lily, Brice, Sirius and most of all, herself, would take another year, which brings me to… Year seven: the year Sirius transforms into the nice and monogamous young man he is today and finally succeeds in conquering the fair lady's heart. And well… I could try to persuade you on why they are perfect for each other, but just look at them…"

He fell silent for a moment to get his point across, and Sirius brought Mary's hand to his mouth to kiss it, but she kept looking at James, curious to hear what he was going to say next. "They have been through a lot, have been engaged for ages… And well, I certainly don't think that this marriage has changed them much. Of course it's now official and Mary finally has the same last name as her spouse and children and that's all wonderful, but to me… They've been married for quite some time."

He coughed and flipped to the last piece of parchment. "While I was writing down this – and I apologize – rather long speech, I searched for something that would really symbolize the love between those two people, my best mate and my oldest girlfriend. I could only conclude that right now, I'm staring down at the embodiment of yin and yang. Strong and powerful on their own, but incomplete at the same time. However, when put together, they are simply invincible and perfectly balanced. That's how I see it and I could not be happier for both of them: be good to one another." He raised his glass of champagne and stated solemnly: "To Mary and Sirius."

"To Mary and Sirius!" the entire hall echoed.

The happy couple also raised their glasses, but neither of them could speak for a moment. Mary was trying to swallow away a lump in her throat. She was already feeling rather emotional today and James's speech had been so compelling that she could cry a river without even really trying. So when James stepped down and walked back to their table, refolding his speech and putting it back in his pocket, she hugged him with all her might and whispered: "That was wonderful. Thank you."

He gently rubbed her back and kissed her hair. "Glad you liked it."

Meanwhile, Sirius had announced that the guests should go into the garden to have another drink and perhaps dance a little bit. And when Mary walked over to Lily and hugged her best friend close, she noticed how her husband was putting a hand on the shoulder of her best friend's husband. The men were talking in quiet voices, but she could still overhear them.

"Prongs, that part about embarrassing moments…"

"Yesssss?" James required, his eyebrows raised.

"Did I ever tell you about my first time?"

James ruffled the back of his hair. "Er, that was with that Ravenclaw… what's her name, Lynn…"

"Lynn Foggerty," Sirius nodded earnestly. "Well, did I?"

"Not I can recall, no."

"Ah. Well, that explains a lot."

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"Now is not the time nor the place to talk about that. But ask me another time, preferably when I've had too much to drink. It's a shame I'm already married. I dare say it would have been particularly suitable for a best man's speech."

He turned around to walk back to the girls when James called in a frustrated voice: "That's it? That's all you're gonna give me?"

Sirius turned back, grinning. "Oh alright, just that it has probably given Filch nightmares for weeks."

He took Mary by the hand, who had been watching them with interest and guided her straight to the dance floor where they danced for a while, occasionally switching partners but always ending up in each other's arms. When it was time for them to leave for their honeymoon (to India, Sri Lanka and the Maledives), Mary stepped onto a stage and got ready to throw the wedding bouquet. She noticed Cecilia was also among the crowd and shot Remus a mischievous look: should she charm the bouquet like Lily had done at her wedding? He seemed to know what she was thinking and anxiously shook his head; Mary understood that this had nothing to do with Cecilia, but that he just wasn't ready for such a commitment. Instead she let fate decide: she cast the bouquet over her shoulder and, with a graceful arch, it landed right into the arms of… Jenna.

Mary turned back and looked from her father, who looked like he was about to faint, to William, who was staring at her sister with a startled expression on his face, and finally to her mother, who was just smiling broadly, clapping her hands excitedly. Mary carefully descended the stairs and hugged her younger sister, who was beaming. "I don't know if Will is going to ask me soon, Mare," she rattled excitedly. "But I do hope he will eventually. I have a feeling he's also my yin. Or yang, or whatever."

Mary laughed and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Just don't push it, Jenna. Guys generally don't like that and I think Will is no exception."

Sirius appeared next to them and hugged Jenna. "Congratulations. I dare say you gave Will quite a scare. Your dad too, I might add."

Jenna shrugged. "Maybe they'll just have to get used to the idea. I better go and talk to them. Have fun in Asia!"

She walked off and Sirius and Mary went looking for Erin and Oliver, who would be spending their honeymoon at their grandparents house, to say goodbye. Their daughter was excited to go the manor and "see the horses" and even Oliver seemed to be looking forward to it, although he probably didn't realize he would be spending the next three weeks without his parents.

After they had also said goodbye to James, Lily, and Remus, Sirius and Mary thanked the guests for coming and wished them a safe journey home. They walked to a distant room of the restaurant, changed into more comfortable clothes, collected their luggage and disapparated to the Maledives, where they would spend the first week. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and Mary could not wait to dive into the calm ocean. Sirius suggested she could go for a walk on the beach while he would take the luggage to their cabin. Mary agreed, but only because he insisted, and walked across the long beach for a while with her shoes in her hand, occasionally letting the calm water wash over her bare feet. It was about four o'clock in the morning on this side of the planet. Soon the sun would start to rise. For a brief moment Mary really missed Erin and Oliver and wished they could have been here with them, but then she realized that she was on one of the most beautiful locations in the world with Sirius, so she should enjoy the peace while it lasted.

Mary sighed and decided it was time to check on Sirius. She took her time and sauntered to their cabin that was located on the edge of the beach. When she was getting so close she could see the front door, she noticed there was a long trail of red roses on the ground. Mary smiled. This was so Sirius and she could not help but falling for his charm all over again. She reached down to pick up the first rose and noticed there was a sweet little note attached to it. In fact, looking a little closer, there was a note or picture attached to every flower ahead of her.

Mary continued to pick up and look at the cards, the amount of roses in her arms growing steadily as she neared the door. The cards on the last nine roses each contained a single word: A. Thousand. Times. More. Beautiful. Than. One. Thousand. Roses. By the time Mary read the final card and knocked on the door, she was simply glowing inside. Her smile became even bigger when Sirius opened the door. "This was just…" she stammered, lost for words. "Amazing, I…"

He shrugged modestly. "Well, I had to do something and figured you just can't go wrong with red roses. Well, not unless your name is James Potter."

He smiled at her with that enchanting and mesmerizing smile, and Mary dropped the roses to the floor so that she could wrap her arms around his neck instead and kiss him passionately. Sirius responded eagerly and lifted her off her feet so she could envelope her legs around his waist. Somewhere along the way they got rid of practically all their clothes. Sirius was now slowly carrying her over to a large four-poster bed where he dropped her, right on top of more rose petals, pink ones this time. "Finally," he mumbled with his lips against her hot skin while running a hand through her wavy long hair.

Mary never felt more beautiful and pulled Sirius on top of her, feeling a desperate urge to get as close to him as possible. He planted several kisses on her face and neck before starting to work his way down. Of course Mary was enjoying all of this immensely, but she just had a sudden thought and stopped. "Hey…"

"What?" Sirius mumbled, his face somewhere down her lower stomach.

"What James was saying about us earlier…"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think he was right?"

Sirius kissed a small birthmark on her stomach. "Guess so."

"About being yin and yang, I mean," Mary persisted. "Cause I really think that's true. When I think back of how you calmed me down earlier when I was crying over Brice…"

Sirius grumbled something unintelligible before crawling back up and burying his face in her neck.

"Sirius?" Mary asked after another long pause, stroking his back affectionately. "Come on, what do you think?"

He groaned, his warm breath tickling the skin of her neck. "Do we really have to talk about that now?"

She smiled. "No, I suppose not. But I just wanted to know how you feel."

He finally lifted up his head so he could look at her. "Same as you do. I love you. Yin and yang till the very end. Satisfied?"

Mary smiled and nodded before she pulled his head down and kissed him. "Hey, you know what might perfectly optimize our balance?" he grinned when they broke apart.

"What?"

"When yin and yang are fully connecting. Really get together, I mean."

He waggled his eyebrows in a mischievous manner and Mary laughed, understanding all too well what he was referring to. And she could not agree more. She did not protest nor interrupt him again and as they continued to start off their honeymoon in the best possible way while the sun was already starting to rise, she could only think of one thing: they were now officially married and really would be together to the very end, and that was making her the happiest girl on the planet.

-The End

A/N: Thoughts anyone? Let me know. Readers who leave reviews are wonderful! –Mara.