"The real act of marriage takes place in the heart, not in the ballroom or church or synagogue. It's a choice you make - not just on your wedding day, but over and over again - and that choice is reflected in the way you treat your husband or wife."
Barbara De Angelis

"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."
From When Harry Met Sally


Wedding Day

James felt nauseous. No pre-Quidditch match nerves had ever come close o what he was feeling now. Sirius, who could read him like a book, kept giving him the kind of mocking glances that would have earned him a retort on any other day in the year.

But today James knew that it was nothing more than an attempt to distract him. It was moments like these when James didn't remember that he was technically an only child. Because when Sirius acted like this, James knew that he had a brother.

James turned his eyes from his best man and fixated on the church doors once again. His heart was in turmoil, filled with terror and anticipation in equal parts. He felt like he'd been waiting forever for this day to come. Recalling Remus' advice during their preparation, he let his mind wander, flitting inevitably to the preparations for the wedding.

He'd never seen Lily so stressed before. She'd wanted everything to be absolutely perfect. He couldn't remember the number of times he'd taken her aside to just hold her in his arms and whisper how much he loved her; kissing her hair to calm her down when some other tiny detail he thought was irrelevant, was going wrong.

But looking around the chapel filled with only their closest friends and family, (Petunia had even turned up) James saw that Lily had achieved her perfect wedding, and he could admit those tiny details made a big difference.

He and Petunia had never gotten along – it wasn't because she despised magic but because of the way Petunia treated his beloved Lily. But although Lily wasn't torn apart any longer by Petunia's minimal involvement in her life since she had been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she had been adamant that Petunia come to the wedding. And on this day (and probably every other from today onwards), what Lily wanted, Lily got.

Stirred from his reflections by the start of the music, James looked up and his eyes met with Lily's. His nerves, the room and everyone in it and time itself disappeared because she was all that mattered. Before he knew it, his eyes were falling shut, lips meeting hers and his life was perfect because she was now his and he was hers. The rest of their lives had finally begun.