They could see the hooded figure walking up the path to the front door. James was shouting something to her but she was having a hard time understanding him. It wasn't until he pulled her against him and wrapped his arms tightly around her that she realized he was telling her to run.
"James," she whispered.
"No, Lily. Don't. Just get him out of here."
"I won't leave you."
"You have to." She started sobbing. Tears fell before she could stop them. He gently lifted her face to his and kissed her tenderly. "Good bye." The words echoed around in her head. Magnifying and growing louder until they were manifesting into a high piercing laugh. A brilliant flash of light filled the room.
Lily woke screaming. She was crying uncontrollably and screaming as loud as she could. James crashed into the room with his wand out and his eyes wild. The door was sent flying off its hinges in his haste to get to her. Once he realized she wasn't being attacked he threw his wand aside and pulled her from the bed into his arms. He pulled her into his lap and held her tightly, running a hand through her hair and making soothing sounds in her ear. Remus and Sirius, both standing in the remains of the door way looked at the two for a minute before turning to leave. Remus muttered a spell to repair the door and it swung shut behind them with a small snap.
"I won't leave you," she whispered to him when she had calmed down a little.
"I don't want you to," he said, slightly surprised.
"But, you said to go," she told him.
"Lily, darling, it was a dream. It was just a dream."
"Oh my god, James, I was so scared. It felt so real." She finally calmed down and stopped crying. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. "When is this war going to be over James? I'm tired of living on the edge of my nerves all the time."
"I don't know Lily, I don't know," James muttered softly. She fell asleep again in his arms. He lay back against the pillows and fell asleep, content to hold her in his arms, wishing everything would go away and he could stay like that forever.
Lily woke up the next morning to find the flat completely deserted. She walked into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast and found a huge bouquet of white lilies sitting on the counter. There was a note attached to them.
My darling,
Sirius, Remus, and I were called to do something urgent for Dumbledore early this morning. Today is your birthday and Sirius, Remus and I have decided something special must be done. We would like you to meet us at 7:30.
All my love,
James
Lily couldn't help but to smile as she finished reading the note. She placed the flowers on the window sill and made a cup of tea. Ten minutes later someone knocked on the door.
"Hello Alice," Lily said as she opened the door to Alice Longbottom.
"Hi Lily, happy birthday!"
"Thanks!"
"Here, I brought you something, and I thought you could use some company seeing as everyone is gone."
"Thank you," Lily said taking the small gift. "How do you know everyone is gone?"
"They showed up at my place at the crack of dawn, woke us up and dragged Frank out for something," Alice responded, grinning.
"Oh, do you know what? They said it was something Dumbledore asked them to do."
"Yeah, or they could just be up to something." Lily laughed and had to agree with that. She and Alice spent the rest of the day together, they went into London around noon and shopped. Lily bought herself a few new shirts and a new pair of shoes. She was enjoying the day whole heartedly yet she couldn't help but to remember the times when she, Dawnelle and Amber had celebrated birthdays together.
Alice left around 6:45 to go home and meet Frank for dinner. Lily wandered around London wondering how the hell she was supposed to meet James, London is a fairly large city after all. She found herself near the parliament building when 7:30 arrived. Everything was lit up and the street looked beautiful. There was something about the innocence the muggles still had in this war that made it a blessing to spend the day among them.
"Lily!" Someone was yelling to her from behind. She turned around and saw Remus.
"Remus! Hello." He hurried towards her.
"Hey there. Happy birthday!"
"Thanks!"
"Come on, James and Sirius are over there," he said pointing to the bridge. They walked over there together and she found James.
"Happy birthday Lily!" Sirius said loudly.
"Thank you. Where have you three been all day?"
"Around," James replied lazily. He was leaning against the wall wearing jeans and a collared shirt, not something he normally worked in.
"That's a good answer," she said sarcastically.
"Yeah I thought so," James said grinning. He had that mischievous gleam in his eyes that she recognized all to well.
"What are you up too?" she asked him suspiciously.
"About 6'1"" he replied. She rolled her eyes and turned to Remus.
"So how are you doing this evening?"
"I'm fine," he muttered distractedly. She looked at all three of them carefully.
"Something is going on here, and I'm going to find out what it is," she said.
"Sure you are Lily!" Sirius said brightly.
She turned back to look at James but he just smiled at her.
"Oh, I think we should probably be going," Remus said.
"You're right, we should," Sirius agreed.
"Going where?" Lily asked.
"We're going home. We've had a long day you know," Sirius said. He and Remus disapperated leaving her standing with James.
"We're not going with them?"
"No."
"So what are we doing then?"
"Do you trust me?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"The kind you should answer," he said standing up straight to look at her.
"Of course I trust you Potter, lord only knows why." He grinned at her.
"Ok good. Come with me then!"
"Where!?"
"It's a surprise!"
"Oh fine." She allowed him to lead her to the nearest underground entrance. "We're taking the tube?" she asked confused.
"Just to get out of the city," he replied grabbing her hand. They got off on the edge of London. It was darker here. He pulled her towards a small alley where his broom was sitting.
"Come on," he said. He climbed onto the broom and waited for her to join him.
"James, I hate flying on that stupid thing."
"Come on! You told me you trusted me!"
"It scares me though!"
"Listen I promise nothing bad will happen." He looked at her with eyes that made her free will melt. She grabbed his hand again and let him pull her onto the broomstick. He wrapped his arms around her and she clung to him tightly and tried not to look at the ground that was falling away from her feet. They flew for maybe twenty minutes before he started to descend again. She glanced up briefly and saw a small house with glowing windows.
"Where are we?" she asked as he landed on the path to the front door.
"This," he motioned to the house, "is Godric's Hollow."
"Ok, what is that?"
"It's home."
"It's what?" she asked, not sure if she understood.
"Well, it's home on one condition."
"James, what on earth?" He didn't answer her. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small box and knelt down in front of her. She gasped and looked down at the box he was holding.
"Lily Evans, I bought this house to start a new life in, but I can't do that without you, so I ask you, with all the sincerity a simple Marauder has, will you marry me?"
Her mind was whirling around and nothing was making sense, it was something that only James Potter had ever been able to do. And now, that same James Potter was, if she understood correctly, proposing to her. That thought seemed to carry enough weight to help her come up with a response.
"James, there is absolutely nothing about you that is simple. And there is absolutely no one in the world I want to start a new life with other than you, so yes, I will marry you," she said. He pulled the ring out and slid it gently onto her finger. She laughed and looked at it. He jumped up and threw his arms around her, picking her up and spinning her around. She laughed again and wrapped her arms around his neck.
There was a small explosion of noise behind her and, as James set her down again, she looked behind her at the house and saw Remus and Sirius along with, quite possibly everyone she had ever met standing in the doorway cheering and yelling. Sirius used magic to open champagne and send it shooting up in arcs. Remus set off hundreds of fireworks. James grabbed her hand and they ran to meet their friends. It was probably the best night of Lily's entire life.
Three months later, on October 15, Lily stood in her room with Alice and two ladies that worked at the hospital with her. They were wearing the sea green bride's maid dresses Lily had picked out and they were all fluttering about trying to help her finish getting ready. Alice gently attached the veil to her red hair and they disapperated, appearing at the small church where the wedding would be only seconds later. The girls she worked with, Anne and Margret, helped straighten out the train of her dress and make sure it fell just right. Sirius, Remus and Peter were standing near the closed doors to the sanctuary. She could here the music coming from behind them. They all looked very handsome in their traditional black and white tuxedos. Sirius whistled at her as he looked at her and winked when she glared at him. Remus just smiled at her and nodded. Alice was doing a final check to make sure everything looked perfect. She smiled at Lily and hugged her. She, Anne and Margret moved back and grabbed their small bouquets of flowers. Each one held some green, some baby's breath and, at James insistence, none of the bouquets, not even Lily's held roses. Each one of the bride's maids had a single lily in it and the bride's bouquet had three. As Alice stepped away Sirius and Remus walked over.
"I don't know Lily, I think you're to pretty for old Jamesy out there, I think you should consider me instead," Sirius said laughing.
"Sirius," Lily said quietly. He looked at her. "Shut up." He grinned wolfishly and winked again.
"Lily, he may be out of his mind but he does have a point," Remus said quietly. "You look extremely beautiful." He smiled at her and kissed her softly on the cheek.
"Thank you Remus." Sirius and Remus pulled the veil down in front of her face and then went to stand in front of her. Sirius, next to Alice as the Best Man and Remus in front of him standing next to Anne. They both looked back, past her to someone standing behind. She turned slightly to look. Dumbledore was standing there in his usual half moon glasses with his beard tucked into his belt. He walked up slowly to stand next to her. He had agreed to be the one to walk her down the aisle since her father had died of cancer almost six years ago.
"Ah, Lily," he said gently, "you look positively radiant."
"Thank you Albus, and thank you for being here."
"Oh I think it is high time for a wedding, there is no where I would rather be."
The doors opened and the procession music started. Margret and Peter began their walk down the aisle. The place looked beautiful. There were candles floating in the air along the aisles and across the Alter. Rose petals covered the carpet and there where lilies everywhere. James was standing by the Alter, she could just see him past Anne and Remus who were now walking down the aisle. She looked around at everyone sitting in the benches. She saw several of her Hogwarts teachers there, McGonagall was already starting to cry. There was only one thing missing from this picture, Lily knew as Sirius and Alice began their walk down the aisle. Dawnelle and Amber should have been there. They should have been the one's walking down the aisle with Sirius and Remus. Everyone else knew it too.
"They are here," Dumbledore whispered to her as if reading her thoughts. She turned and smiled to him.
"Yes, I suppose they are." She looked back and saw everyone stand up as the music changed. Dumbledore offered her his arms and she took it. They took their first step forward. She saw James standing there in his ivory and black tuxedo. She felt her knees go weak from the sight of him. She took another step towards the Alter.
James watched her coming down and felt his breath catch. She looked so beautiful. Her dress was ivory in color, it was an off the shoulder, satin and beaded ball gown. Her veil was a 3-teired cathedral veil with rhinestones across the top where it was attached to her red hair, which was done in big curls and pulled back. As she walked towards him he knew, with out doubt, that he was the luckiest man ever to have lived.
With perfect grace she turned to face Dumbledore as they reached the Alter. He released her arm and picked up her veil and let it fall down behind her again. He kissed her gently on the cheek and then turned to sit by McGonagall, whose eyes were bright.
The priest stepped forward to begin the ceremony. When he asked if there was any reason they shouldn't be married Sirius coughed loudly and Lily swore she heard "last chance" hidden in there. She grinned at James.
As he slid the wedding band onto her finger she knew she would be happy for the rest of her life, no matter what happened.
They finally reached the end of the ceremony and the priest said, "You may now kiss the bride." James winked at Sirius and then pulled Lily into a dip and kissed her deeply. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kicked up one of her feet. Sirius and Remus yelled out and everyone in the audience laughed.
James and Lily ran out of the church. James grabbed his broomstick, which had been covered in bells and streamers and the two of them got on, Lily holding tightly to James, and James kicked off. Someone had bewitched the lettering "Just Married" to follow them. Lily's family drove their cars to the wedding reception but everyone else just apparated at the Potter manor. The party lasted well into the night. It was a beautiful fall evening. Lily and James cut their cake together and shared the first piece. Lily 'accidentally' got the cake all over James' face. Sirius made the most obnoxious toast ever, making sure to include that any children would most likely belong to him but then went on to explain that it was a match made in heaven and he wanted them all to remember that if he hadn't locked them in the Quiddich locker rooms Lily probably still wouldn't have come to her senses.
Lily and James danced to 'Walking in Memphis' a favorite of Lily's. Sirius, for some odd reason, asked McGonagall to dance at one point during the night and there was a lot of laughter over the strangeness of it. Dumbledore danced with Lily as did Sirius, Remus and Peter, though James cut in during the last one since Peter looked extremely lost. There were several swing songs for James and Lily to dance to as well.
The final guests left around 3:30 in the morning. James watched Lily from across the room casting a spell on the food table to keep everything fresh till she put it away. She had a trash bag next to her and she was dumping plates in it. He snuck up behind her and wrapped his hands around her. She turned to face him and he leaned down to kiss her. She dropped the plates she was holding and wrapped her hands around his neck, kissing him back. He carried her up the stairs to the master bedroom, leaving the mess down stairs forgotten.
(A/N: Ok so they finally tied the knot. And now, there is only one chapter left to write. I'm not sure if I can do it yet, bear with me, I will get there.)