It had been two months since James and Lily had survived their encounter with Lord Voldemort. In that time Lily had been given a job at St. Mungo's as a medi-witch but was being trained to eventually become a Healer. James, along with Sirius and Remus, was still working as an Auror and was, somehow, loving it. Probably because the three of them shared an office and always worked together. No one in the Auror department wanted to split the three of them up because of the results they were getting and many of them were scared of Lily. For months, James and Lily had been organising their wedding and now the night before had come. James' bachelor party and Lily's hen's night were over and done without any major incidents except for the killer hangovers the day after. As with the Muggle tradition, James and Lily didn't see each other for the whole day before. James stayed in their apartment and had Sirius, Remus and Peter there for company. Lily spent the night at Alice's apartment along with Julie and Mary.

The four Marauders met up at James' apartment once they had all finished work and Sirius immediately pulled out some Firewhiskey, but in the end he was the only one who had any. James was more nervous than he thought he would be and was having trouble staying still. He was continuously shifting positions or getting up and walking around. Finally, Sirius used a charm on him that made him freeze in mid-step. They left him standing in the same position for almost two hours before Remus took pity on him and removed the spell. As soon as the spell was off him, James launched himself at Sirius and tackled him to the ground. Remus and Peter moved out of the way and made sure that they didn't break anything. Sirius and James fought for several minutes before they ran out of breath and simply lay on the fall, side-by-side, breathing heavily but laughing.

"You're an idiot, Paddy." James panted.

"Am not. You're the idiot, Prongsie." Sirius replied.

"You're both idiots." Remus said, smiling. "You guys are just lucky you didn't break anything."

"Party pooper."

…

Lily, meanwhile, was freaking out.

"Alice!" Alice, Julie and Mary came running to the door of Alice's bedroom.

"What? What's wrong?"

"It doesn't fit! My dress doesn't fit!"

"Lily, come out and show us." Julie said calmly. There was a sigh from behind the door before she came out. Lily was wearing her dress but was holding it up against her chest.

"I can't get it done up at the back. The zipper won't close." Lily was almost in tears by this stage. Mary motioned for her to turn around and the three girls inspected the back of the dress.

"Its fine, Lily, we can fix this." Julie undid the dress and checked the dress. She then slowly pulled the zipper back up and found that it really wouldn't close properly. "Breathe in, my dear." Lily took a deep breath and all three girls managed to pull the zipper up all the way. When it was done, Lily turned around and winced as she did.

"I can't breathe." Lily wheezed. It was obvious that she couldn't. The dress was so tight that she was nearly popping out the top.

"Bloody hell, Lily, what did you do?"

"I don't know. I've been on a diet to make sure this didn't happen and it did. What the hell?"

"Lily, are you pregnant?" Alice asked with an eyebrow raised.

"No, of course not… I don't think so." Lily fell quiet as she thought about it. "No. I haven't been sick for years and we're careful. There's no way."

"Okay, okay. Maybe its water weight?"

"Maybe. Un-do me." Lily turned around and they un-did the zipper. Lily went back to Alice's room and took the dress off and put it away carefully. She then pulled on her pyjamas and went back out. "What am I going to do? I don't want to expand the dress."

"Then how you gonna get into it?"

"I don't know. I'm screwed."

…

"I wonder how Lily's doing." James and the boys had been sitting quietly, but there was too much going through James' mind and he wasn't game to start moving again.

"I'm sure she's fine, James." Remus spoke soothingly and before Sirius had the chance to pipe up and freak James out.

"Yeah, I suppose." The boys fell silent again until James had a sudden idea and smiled at Remus.

"Yes, James?" Remus hadn't even looked around.

"Moony, you know how you're my best mate?"

"What! I'm your best mate, not him." Sirius' comment went completely ignored.

"Anyway, can you check on her? Please, Moony?"

Remus sighed. "I'm sure she's fine, James."

"Please, Remy?"

"Don't call me that." Lily, after all, was the only one who called him that, though that wasn't mentioned. "I'm sure she's fine."

"Please?"

Remus Aparated away before anything else could be said or suggested.

…

A loud knock on the door interrupted the girl talk that had been going on in Alice's living room. When the door opened, it was Remus who said there looking very sheepish.

"Hey, I'm really sorry to interrupt." Alice smiled kindly, guessing why he was there and welcomed him in. "Thanks, Al. Hello."

"Remy?" Lily stood and hugged Remus. "What are you doing here?"

"James wanted him to check on you. Make sure you hadn't changed your mind." Remus shrugged.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Lily smiled.

"That's okay. How is he?"

"Worried that you're going to get cold feet and run out on him. You know nothing over the top, or anything." Remus smiled while Lily rolled her eyes albeit with a huge grin on her face. "And how are things here?"

"Horrible." Lily had stopped smiling now. "My dress doesn't fit me. They managed to zip it up but I couldn't breathe. What am I going to do?" Lily collapsed onto a chair and hid her face in her hands.

"We've already ruled out pregnancy." Alice said quietly to Remus, who smirked.

"Lily, I'm sure everything will be fine in the morning."

"But what if it isn't? Then what, Remy?"

"Then we'll work something out. But until then, you aren't meant to worry about anything. Everything will be better in the morning. I promise you."

"Don't. Everything won't be better in the morning."

"And why not?"

"Petunia still won't come. She returned my letter un-opened. My big sister won't be at my wedding. And I only plan on doing this once." Lily was in tears by this stage and before anyone could comfort her she had run off and shut herself in the room she was staying in for the night. The girls all looked at Remus pointedly.

"I'm going." He sighed. Remus knocked on the door gently. When he heard no reply he tried the door and found that Lily hadn't locked it. Remus walked into the room cautiously and saw Lily standing next to the window.

"I thought she'd come. I really thought that she would come to see me get married. You know what she said when I told her? She said 'At least you're marrying another freak'. I'm used to her calling me that but when she called James that I… reacted badly. I slapped her, Remy. I slapped 'Tuney. Because she called him a freak. I slapped her and told her that at least I would be happy in my marriage. I know that she only married Vernon to get away from us. She isn't happy and I rubbed it in her face. What kind of sister does that? A bad sister. I'm a terrible sister, Remy. She's called me names before but she's never physically hurt me. She wouldn't, couldn't, do that. But I did." Lily turned to face Remus with tears in her eyes. "And so she isn't coming." Remus stepped forward and pulled Lily into his arms.

"I can't blame you for slapping her. I hate to say it, but she deserved it and you know that, Lils. You aren't a terrible sister. She is. If your positions were reversed you'd be going to her wedding, no matter what." Lily smiled against Remus' chest. "And I promise that you won't even notice that she isn't there. I promise, Lil. We'll make sure of that."

"Thanks, Remy." Lily sniffed and let go of him. "Thank you. Please don't tell James."

"I suppose." Remus kissed Lily's forehead. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks again, Remy."

"No problem. See you bright and early. And if there's still a problem with your dress in the morning I think I know a spell that can help, but we'll wait till then."

"Okay."

…

"How is she?"

Remus had just gotten back from Alice's and walked through the door. The question had come from James immediately.

"She's…okay." Remus smiled slightly.

"Moony?" Sirius didn't even believe him.

"She's a mess. But not for the reasons you think. And she asked me not to tell so I'm not saying a word." Remus watched amused as the expression on James' face rapidly changed from worried to disbelieving to annoyance.

"Remus!"

"Yes, James?"

"Please, tell me?" James was attempting to calm himself down and be tactful but it wasn't working.

"No."

"You… Why not?"

"Because Lily asked me not to." Remus smiled at James' confusion. "James, she's okay."

"Then why don't I believe you?"

"Cause you've known him to too long." Peter chimed in.

"Nice, Pete. Remus, spill it." Sirius had stood up in what was meant to be a threatening way but which just looked ridiculous.

Remus decided to take the bait. "Make me."

"Gladly." James and Sirius launched themselves at him but Remus was too fast. Before they got anywhere near him, Remus Aparated away from them. As a result, Sirius and James landed heavily on the floor. Both of them quickly jumped to their feet and spun around in a circle looking for Remus.

"Careful or you'll end up dizzy." Remus teased. James and Sirius turned to face him with identical mischievous looks on their faces. "Oh no." James and Sirius Disaparated. "Bugger. Where'd they go?"

"Behind you." Before Remus could move, James and Sirius had grabbed hold of his arms so that he couldn't go anywhere. The three of them struggled for a minute before Remus gave up.

"Alright, alright. I'll tell you, just lemme go." Sirius and James let go of their friend but kept their eye on him just in case. Peter had remained in his chair the entire time the mock fight had been going on. Lately, he hadn't seemed interested in their games.

"Lily's freaking out slightly because her dress doesn't fit and Petunia still isn't coming tomorrow because Lily slapped her for calling you," Here Remus motioned towards James, "a freak. That's all."

"Oh." James appeared to be considering everything Remus had said. "Why doesn't her dress fit?"

"I don't know. But apparently they ruled out pregnancy." James blanched slightly and his three so-called friends laughed at his discomfort.

"What's the matter, Prongs? Don't you want baby stags running all over the place?" Sirius said.

"Fawn, you idiot. Baby stags are called fawns. And no, not just now." James muttered his last statement and the boys only just managed to hear it.

"You'll be a good dad one day, James." Remus assured him.

"Yeah, and I'll be an awesome god father."

"Sirius, who says you're going to be god father?"

"I say." Sirius stuck out his tongue.

"Whatever. Wait, Petunia called me a freak?"

"Apparently. When Lily first told her that you guys were engaged Petunia told Lil that at least she was marrying another freak."

"God thing she isn't coming then."

"From your perspective, James, yes, it is a good thing. But Lily really wants Petunia there and she won't go."

"Maybe we can force her to go." Sirius mused.

"I don't think that will work. It would probably just make things worse." Peter said wisely.

"Pete's right. I wouldn't work." James frowned. "I wish I could do something to make it easier for Lil tomorrow."

"Just turn up." Remus said.

"Obviously."

"You need sleep, James. We all do." Remus said.