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Thanks to my reviewers so far…
Someone aka Me, Allergic-To-Sunlight and SetTheTruthFree.
This chapter is dedicated to you three.
And a thanks to those who read but didn't review, A.J
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Chapter Four: Definitely Yes
It wasn't a big wedding. Michelle did want one but did not think she'd make it all the way through in weakened state. So instead we stood in the hospital chapel. She was wearing a nice plain white dress and our parents stood behind us.
"Wow I feel like I'm intruding" Lily said walking into the chapel.
"Don't worry about it" I said she was wearing her candy striper uniform and walked over nervously.
"Oh you look so cute in your little uniform" I said to her she smiled and hugged me.
"Nervous?" she asked
"Oh most definitely" I said
"Bad luck to see the bride before the wedding," she told me indicating to Michelle who was speaking quietly with her parents.
"Yeah she might die on the honeymoon" I said then frowned "I made myself feel bad"
"Yeah you shouldn't be making jokes about your dead wife" Michelle said. I looked over at her and scratched my head nervously as she glared at me.
"Sorry" I said
"Just don't talk so loud ok?" she said with a grin then turned back to her parents.
"Wow… only your parents and hers are here. I feel so intrusive" she said quietly
"Lily, Michelle wanted you here. And I think my parents are just glad someone would want to marry me, they probably haven't noticed you. So don't worry about it"
"You haven't even got a best man," she said sadly.
"It's fine… I'd rather the guys didn't know"
"Oh well then your not going to like this so much…" Lily said quietly.
"You told James," I said
"I'm sorry!" she cried, "It slipped out"
I glared at her
"Ok I told them… he didn't even ask I just blurted it out. I'm sorry," she said. I sighed
"It's fine. You go tell them you were kidding it'll be ok" I said she nodded and then looked over my shoulder and froze.
"They're here" I said she nodded and looked at me desperately.
"It's fine" I said she looked really upset with what she'd done but then again Lily Evans is a talented actress. I've seen her cry and lie her way out of many tough situations.
I turned around to see Sirius and James standing at the door of the chapel. They walked over and I saw my other friend Peter Pettigrew trailing behind them.
"Peter long time no see. Where did your parents drag you this year?" I asked
"Egypt" he said
"That would have been fantastic," I said
"Your doing it again" Michelle said walking over to me.
"What? Talking loud?" I asked
"No being a dork" she said and kissed my cheek.
"Going to introduce me?" she asked I sighed.
"Michelle. This is James, Sirius and Peter. Guys this is my fiancé Michelle" I said they all shook hands with her politely.
"So when were you going to tell us?" James asked.
"When she died," I said they frowned at me.
"I have cancer. It's ok" Michelle said.
"You're marrying a dying girl. Wow Remus you're really a giver" Sirius said looking quite impressed.
"Yeah. I mean I know you do things for others but marrying a dying girl… this goes beyond charitable even your standards" James said
"Soon everyone will be begging you to marrying their dying daughters" Peter said.
"GUYS!" I shouted then took a deep breath.
"She's my girlfriend," I said quietly. "She's probably not going to make it to Christmas. SO if the only reason you came here was to pick on me or try and talk me out of it I'd appreciate it if you leave" I said. None of them left but they all murmured quiet apologies.
"You've got a pretty crap life Moony" Sirius said Lily and James hit him.
"Ah double whammy" Sirius said rubbing both his arms.
"I know Sirius… but this might make it a little better. I mean… what's going to make me happier then making her last few months nice?"
"Are you going to come back to school… or stay with… I'm sorry I forgot your name" James said
"Michelle" she reminded him.
"Stay with Michelle?" James asked.
"I'll be going back to school…" I said
"But you might miss…" he trailed off awkwardly. Michelle just stared at him.
"Sorry… I don't mean to be so morbid on your wedding day" he said
"Don't worry about it…" she said
"Well I think you should marry him… he wouldn't agree to marry you just for the dying bit. He must love you as well…" James said Michelle hugged him.
"Well I was going to any way but thank you," she said letting him go.
"Ready?" she asked looking at me.
"Yeah" I said she smiled and kissed me.
"Thank you" she said taking my hand. We stepped up to the priest.
"Last chance to back out" she muttered.
"I'm not going anywhere" I said she nodded.
"I am" she said I looked at her.
"I can't let you do this for me" she said
"I don't mind" I said she shook her head
"I'm sorry I can't" she said and ran out the door.
"Michelle!" her mother cried and hurried after her.
"Remus" dad said grabbing my shoulders.
"Are you ok?" he asked
"Jarred. I'll stay you go help look for Michelle" mum said. Dad nodded then turned to Sirius, James and Peter who were all staring at me.
"Boys! I trust you all have your wands" he said they looked at him and nodded.
"Any one under age?" he asked they shook their heads.
"Excellent your with me. Come on" he said and they obediently followed. I sat down on one of the seats next to my mum. Lily sat down beside me.
"Oh Remus I'm so sorry" Lily said.
"It's fine. I should just accept the fact no one wants to marry a werewolf"
"Rem darling, what you are... is not who you are... and I know Michelle loves you... she's trying to protect you. That's all" mum said holding her hand out. I took it and stared into her sightless eyes.
"I have to find her"
"Remus. You can't make her marry you if she doesn't want to"
"Mum... I really want to make this mistake... getting married to early... and I want to make it with her. But I know I can't force her... I just want to find my friend..."
Mum let go of my hand and nodded. I got up and ran from the room. I know where she'd gone. It's where we both went when we were upset. Because hardly anyone ever went there and so we'd be alone unless of course the other one was there then we'd be upset together.
I ran up the steps of the old Miller Mansion. No one had stepped foot in here after their brutal murders back in the fifties. I unlocked the broken window and climbed through into the entrance hallway. I climbed over the broken chandelier and then hurried down the back to the house and walked into the sitting room. She was where she always was. While I ran upstairs to one of the bedrooms that still had the blood stained curtains hanging up Michelle always came to the sitting room. She sat in the unused fireplace hugging her knees to her. Her white dress now partly covered in twenty year old soot.
"Mish?" I said quietly. She sniffed and wiped her eyes.
"That was stupid of me to come to where you'd find me huh?" she asked. I walked over and climbed in next to her.
"Michelle... you don't have to do anything you don't want to" I said putting a hand on her knee. She looked up at me her brown hair covering part of her face her large eyes spilling tears down her face.
"I know, you idiot" she said "I want to marry you. It'd be awesome"
I stared at her as she sniffed and wiped her face before sitting up straight and staring right at me.
"I love you. And not just a brother sister love. Or best friend sort of way. I love you. I want to marry you and be there for you through everything. And I know you don't feel the same so I can't marry you. I'd get more out of it then you would and that's not fair. I couldn't it would-"
"Mish?" I said cutting her off "shut up"
I kissed her, when we broke apart she was blushing.
"Remus I-" she began but I shushed her and then kissed her again. I moved along her jaw planting tiny little kisses, allowing her to talk if she wanted.
"Remus... I know you don't love me like I you so... stop kissing... I can't... make sentences" she said giggling. I pulled away from her only slightly.
"I can't..." she said
"Do you want to?" I asked
"Yes. Definitely yes" she said nodding.
"So do I. And what do people usually do if both people want to do it?"
"They do it?"
"Great"
"So you still want to get married?"
"Sure. This time I'm not letting go of your hand" I said climbing out of the fire place and helping her out as well.
"Mums going to kill me" she said looking down at her dress. I smiled and pulled out my wand.
"I've never seen you do magic" she said smiling.
"Oh... it's just a simple cleaning charm" I said giving my wand a flick and her dress was spotless. She twirled around trying to inspect the entire dress.
"Wow" she said
"It's nothing really"
"You can do more?"
"Later" I said taking her hand and leading her out of the house. We walked back to the hospital hand in hand.
We walked into the chapel. James, Lily and the priest were the only ones in there. Lily was sleeping with her head on James's shoulder their hands intertwined while the priest sat flipping through a magazine.
I coughed and James looked over.
"Hey" he said quietly indicating to the sleeping Lily.
"Will you be our witness?" I asked just as quietly. He nodded. I then looked at Michelle who smiled and led me over to the priest.
"Father... could you...?" Michelle asked.
"Made up your mind now? Because a marriage contract is eternal" the priest said.
"Till death due us part" Michelle said looking at me.
"We're sure father" I said. He nodded. It only took twenty minutes. I watched as Michelle wrote her full name in her cute slanted writing. Michelle Anne Burns
"What?" she asked as she handed me the pen.
"You have a nice name..." I said she smiled and watched me write Remus John Lupin.
"How is your hand writing so tiny?" she asked I looked at her but she just stared at it fascinated.
"Prongs" I said waving the pen. James held Lily off him and gently lay her down where she continued to sleep. He came over and signed the dotted line I indicated. James-Michael Joseph Potter.
"You have two first names?"
"It's a hyphen!" he hissed "no one knows shh"
"That all seems to be in order... congratulations" the priest said. Michelle actually hugged him before beaming at me.
"Look" she said holding up her left hand so I could see the gold wedding band.
"I should get you an engagement ring" I muttered.
"Who cares? I get to sleep in my own bed tonight. Not some lame hospital one. And I'll try avoiding having to step into another hospital" she said giggling. It was rare that I saw her smile or laugh so when she did I did too.
"Ok. You go round up everyone looking for me. I'm going home and then... maybe if I'm not sleeping we can do something later tonight...?" Michelle said with a small smile.
"Sure" I said she kissed me quickly before practically skipping out of the room.
"And you married that" James muttered picking up a sleeping Lily who gave a contented sigh before snuggling close to James.
"I'm doing the right thing aren't I?" I asked as we walked out of the chapel.
"Course Moony. Everyone wants to get married once. And I know how afraid you are to get close to girls"
"You wouldn't even let me hug you till sixth year" Lily muttered sleepily. I looked at her and she stared up at me through tired eyes. We walked down the stairs and into the lobby.
"Michelle may be your only chance. And if I'm right... which I usually am... she might even be the key to helping you get over this insane fear you have of being close to a girl. Being close to any one for that matter" James said putting Lily down. She wrapped her arms around his waist and they walked together like this. I followed them across the parking lot.
"You don't think I open up enough?" I asked.
"Well no. But I also understand why you don't. But I think Michelle might change that"
"Really?" I asked
"Yeah" Lily said
"She's good for you" James added.
"Take care Remus" Lily said as she and James prepared to go right and I looked left.
"See you september first" James said and together with his girlfriend they headed off down the street. I stared after them even after the disappeared around a corner.
I hope they were right about Michelle. Because even though I'm positive I wanted this too... I was once again filled with self-doubt.
Would I ever be able to make a serious decision without doubting it?
You're Remus Lupin my conscience assured me of course you won't.
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Hey gang,
So tired. It's 1:30 am
But I had to finish it.
And I know the spelling is probably awful.
I'll check it when I'm less tired.
Please leave a review.
Till next time, A.J
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