Plans for Sirius' trial took up a lot less of his time than Narcissa's political ambitions did. He just sent a reply back acknowledging and agreeing to the trial start date when Crouch's owl came. Barely a week preparing a defense would have been outrageous, if the result of the trial were not a foregone conclusion. Meanwhile, Narcissa had him going over correspondence for several hours every night, with her, Richard, Audrey, Peter, Remus or rarely Lily or Aberforth Dumbledore rotating through to help him sort through the various appeals for help, threats, and bribes. Narcissa composed a couple form responses for the latter categories, depending on who was writing but essentially amounting to "Sirius cannot be intimidated or bought. If you want help, you'll have to use ethics to justify your case. Please come up with a sob story, a statement of contrition and proposal for reparation." Anyone who failed to then send in a humbler plea was added to the list of people Sirius would be helping to send to jail one way or another, whether with his own eyewitness evidence, by sponsoring the witness of lower-ranking Death Eater sympathizers willing to join the cause in exchange for protection, by exposing non-Death Eater-related offenses Narcissa or Richard happened to know about, or even by bringing his own charges of witness intimidation. Some of the Sacred Twenty-Eight were truly stupid in that regard, specifically Francis Rowle, who couldn't seem to get it through his thick skull that Sirius could and would break longstanding tradition to air the Sacred Families' dirty laundry if provoked.

Amusingly, Rowle was apparently the only one who complained to Orion about anything specific, and he got told off for his trouble for daring to threaten the Heir of House Black. Everyone else seemed inclined to negotiate with both father and son separately until they saw exactly where the power in the family lay, as soon as they caught on that Sirius was no longer directly under Orion's control. Narcissa was delighted the way the typical, Slytherin approach of playing both sides actually served to bolster Sirius' position and protect him from anything Orion might try until it was too late.

Of course, Orion Black sent plenty of his own threats telling him he'd better not jeopardize the interests of House Black, or else. These were mostly relayed via Richard, since Sirius tended to hang up the communication mirror whenever Orion or Walburga got upset with him, which usually happened within five minutes of Regulus handing the mirror over to one of them. Walburga especially was incensed he refused to come to Uncle Cygnus' much pared-down funeral, not helped when he pointed out he'd basically killed the man by proxy and thought it would be hypocritical to show up now everyone in the family knew that. Narcissa scolded him when she heard about that argument, but she also composed an easy-to-remember statement on his behalf assuring his father that he was absolutely committed to House Black's need for political influence and wouldn't do anything stupid in public. He dutifully paraphrased the sentiment several times on the night after the funeral and those leading up to the trial.

The actual pleas for help they decided Sirius should hear in person, but only after his own trial was over, witness statements for the guilty list signed and ensuing arrest warrants issued. This was both to demonstrate his power ahead of time and ensure if someone did manage to off him, he'd at least have delivered the bulk of his testimony for Moody and Crouch to use.

Sirius could have been forgiven for forgetting he was staying at the Potter's mansion considering how busy he was and how little he saw the Potters themselves. The fact was brought abruptly back to the forefront when Severus Snape unexpectedly sat down one morning at the library table where Sirius had taken to sorting through letters. He had glimpsed Snape a few times since he'd come here, of course, generally in Lily's company, but the sarcastic Slytherin made a point of avoiding the few rooms Sirius frequented, a silent demonstration of how little he regarded his hated school enemy despite Sirius' new status. Sirius didn't actually care that Snape continued showing him the cold shoulder outside of their one oddly frank conversation about Fleamont Potter, but it did make this morning's visit even more surprising.

"Can I help you?" he asked politely. He eyed the thick notebook Snape had slapped down on the table between them, wondering why it appeared to have bits of white lace and high-end purple fabric of various hues poking out of it.

"Yes. It may have escaped your notice, given the severe bloating of your ego in recent weeks, but your erstwhile best friend James Potter is scheduled to be married the day after tomorrow."

Sirius blinked, trying to remember if he had ever actually been told the wedding date. "Oh. Is it really so soon? I hadn't realized."

"Indeed. You were invited."

Something about his tone caused Sirius to raise his eyebrows. "...Am I still invited?"

Snape leaned back in his chair, looking vaguely smug. "Well, it's something of a debate. There are numerous considerations, you know. The lack of RSVP, and now short notice to rearrange the seating, although I suppose there is now an open seat at the high table, between Euphemia and Remus Lupin. Let's see, we'd have to hire more security if the Savior of the Wizarding World is known to be in attendance. There's the imminent approach of your criminal trial. Not to mention the fact that you murdered the father of the groom not so long ago..."

Sirius looked away. "I understand," he muttered. He wasn't sure how he felt about it all. He knew he should be eager to see James' wedding, but it was hard to summon much excitement about it, particularly since it had quite slipped his mind up 'til now, to be honest.

"The main problem," Snape continued conversationally, "is that, because of the unfortunate circumstances of your recently having murdered his father, the groom is no longer certain he wants to see you there. He worries it might be difficult to focus on his bride and future happiness with such a stark reminder of the recent loss staring at him all day. A funeral - you missed that too, sorry if you had planned to go - can only help a man to process the sudden loss of a parent so much, you know."

"I get it," Sirius said. Merlin, he knew Snape hated him and unlike everyone else didn't mind pointing it out, but did he have to rub the situation in his face quite so viciously?

"Potter considered pushing back the date of the wedding, in hopes of getting over his conflicted feelings for you, but everyone else thought that would be logistically challenging. It's hard enough planning the perfect wedding. Harder still when you reschedule the whole thing less than a week in advance."

"You've made your point: I'm not going. You can leave now."

"On the contrary, as Lily's Man of Honor, it's my job to ensure the whole event goes off without a hitch, particularly since Pettigrew has been slacking in his Best Man duties in order to watch over you in recent weeks."

Sirius sighed, praying for patience as he realized Snape wasn't just here to torment him. He waited. Snape barred his teeth, pulled a bottle out of his pocket, and placed it on the table between them. Sirius picked it up and inspected the contents as best he could through the dark glass. The sludgy consistency was enough for him to hazard a guess. "Polyjuice?"

Snape inclined his head. "Lily thought Potter would be regretful in the future if he barred you from the wedding entirely, but she also agreed with him that it's probably best he not have you distracting him the whole time or otherwise causing an unintentional disturbance. Luckily, I still had more of this on hand. You will attend in disguise as Remus Lupin's date, Astrid Grey. I have a face, and a dress, picked out for you." He smiled nastily, and Sirius rolled his eyes. He refused to be humiliated by something so mundane as showing up to the wedding disguised as a witch. "You have sufficient potion there for six hours. Potter will not know until later. As far as he is concerned, you will be spending the day keeping out of sight in the company of Richard Avery, preparing for your court date," Snape finished coolly. Sirius winced at the implication: James really had decided he didn't want Sirius to come. Not that Sirius blamed him, but still.

On the other hand, "Thank you. It's a good solution, if Lily is sure it's better for James that I go. I'm only sorry to be so much trouble in the first place."

An odd expression flickered across Snape's face before he spoke again. "As I believe I told you before, what you did that led to Fleamont Potter's death was cold, yes, and calculated, but more likely than not the correct thing to do in that moment. It wasn't good by any means, but any other choice probably would have been worse. The Potters know that as well. Perhaps you'll never recover the... special bond you had with them before, but they will come around in time. They both still care about you, if the endless tears are anything to go by. And James especially is stubborn. He still plans to work on helping you get better, once he gets over himself. He was in my lab again just the other day whinging about how guilty he feels for not wanting to be around you."

Sirius shook his head. "That's ridiculous. He has nothing to feel guilty about."

"Oh, that's what I said, too, but he's afflicted by a noble spirit that makes him think his own emotions shouldn't matter when someone else's life or health is on the line, at least someone he professes to actually care about. I'm sure you're familiar with that particular problem." With a final sneer, the Slytherin stood up again, staring down his hooked nose at Sirius. "You're not going to the rehearsal dinner tomorrow, by the way. And I'll have Lupin bring your dress to your room."

"Right. Thanks?"

Snape nodded, and stalked away.

The wedding proved to be everything it should be, right down to the cooperative weather. Sirius had an amusing time with Remus first thing in the morning. Remus cajoled Sirius into trying on the dress robes Snape had picked out before taking the polyjuice. The garment was, unsurprisingly, much too small for him and with a short cut to boot. The open outer robe fell to his mid-calves, but the hemline of the closed inner robe was high enough to expose half his boxers. The "face" Snape had picked out when he eventually got around to sampling the potion was that of a rather petite woman with sandy hair similar to Remus' and an abundance of freckles. With this body buttoned into the dark purple robes, the final effect was, in Remus' opinion, "cute." Sirius thought he was relieved Snape hadn't taken the opportunity to embarrass them both more than necessary. Sirius figured Snape would hardly have given him an unflattering dress that would have clashed with the rest of the bridal party, considering Sirius was to be seated at the high table with Remus, where he was sure to be included in some of the photos.

The ceremony was held in a tent pitched on the green banks of the Potters' Lake. James seemed to have gotten a good night's sleep at last, or else a high-quality glamour. He didn't look tired at all, and his smile for Lily was completely genuine. Lily was radiant in her white robes, antique tiara and necklace set with emeralds to match her eyes gracing her hair and throat. Sirius did indeed make it into a few of the wedding photos, and not just at the reception, as Remus and Peter championed a picture of the wedding party including plus-ones. Besides Sirius, that basically only brought in the enormous muggle man who was apparently engaged to Lily's plain-faced sister, since neither Peter nor Snape had brought dates of their own. Given the ratio of five men and only three women, Lily suggested they try for a "fun pose with the gents holding up the ladies." Peter as the shortest of the men was kicked into the center of the group, where he knelt and held out his arms impishly, totally owning his bachelorhood. And so Sirius found himself sitting on Remus' and James' shoulders, clutching onto Lily over James' head, one high-heeled foot resting against Peter's back for balance, and grinning across the semicircle at Petunia Evans, who was failing to contain her own smile from atop her fiancée's broad and Snape's bony shoulder.

Sirius danced with Remus and Peter a few times, careful to sip the polyjuice stashed in his little velvet handbag at least once per hour. He joined the circle dance, ending up holding hands with Petunia Evans on one side and Alice Longbottom on the other. As he was only vaguely familiar with the witches' steps to this particular dance, and struggling with his heels, he ended up commiserating with Petunia afterwards over their multiple stumbles. Petunia seemed happy about that though and took him over to meet her fiancée Vernon, who told Sirius about muggle drills and his opinions about the muggle government for awhile. Sirius was actually fascinated to hear about the man's very strong opinions about the muggle side of Sirius' various muggle-baiting operations over the past year. He did not of course enlighten Vernon about what had actually happened at the cricket match or "that unruly concert."

And then he was out of Polyjuice, and other people were leaving anyway. He bid goodbye and good luck to James and Lily. Remus escorted him out before he could morph back into himself and incidentally split his dress apart at the seams in the middle of the dance floor. It was a pleasant day; Sirius couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a good day in fact. He felt warm from the champagne and dancing, and he hugged Remus as they walked back across the grounds, initiating the contact without even thinking about it.

It was nice to spend a day on something that had absolutely nothing to do with war and politics, Sirius decided. He changed into loose pajama pants and a T-shirt that swamped his borrowed body, and sat on the floor of his bedroom playing Exploding Snap with Remus until he turned back himself.

Author's note: short chapter this time, mostly because the wedding interlude doesn't fit anywhere else, and I couldn't ignore it and didn't want to postpone it in-story. It will be an amusing prank when they eventually get around to telling James (when he's ready to hear it) that, actually, Sirius was there the whole time and even made it into the wedding album. And yes, I know canonically Petunia and Vernon didn't actually go to the wedding, but in this AU they did, because this Lily is a bit better at playing peacemaker between people with different points of view (see Snape and James). Although she may also have stubbornly stuck with the wedding party to spite Snape's attempts to bait her, too. Imagine whatever offscreen wedding-planning shenanigans you like.

Thanks for sticking with me, and thanks for the reviews! Weekend updates will continue sporadically.