From the playlist:

Annie's Song (continued)

I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do - ABBA

this is me trying - Taylor Swift

The Way You Look Tonight - Tony Bennett

Ch. 3 - The Waltz

The autumn sunset passing through the altar's prismic window bore witness to the Potters' tender declarations of "till death do us part." Their friends and relations in the pews were moved by the ardent vows exchanged by the bride and groom, and even Sirius "getting married is for sods" Black became misty-eyed. Remus tried desperately to be present and enjoy the service as much as the others, but could not stop thinking about the ring he had failed to notice before.

"I give you this ring as a sign of our marriage; With my body, I honor you-"

"How could I have missed that?"

"-all that I am, I give to you; and all that I have, I share with you-"

"And who could she possibly have married so quickly?"

He was plagued by his thoughts for the duration of the prayers and blessings, but snapped back to reality when it came time for "You may kiss the bride."

Though he still couldn't quite wrap his mind around it, James gingerly took his wife in his arms and kissed her like she was everything; like there was her, only her, and nothing else.

Sirius loosed a congratulatory howl. "ATTABOY, PRONGS AND MRS. PRONGS!"

Lily took her husband's face in her hands. "No going back now. You're stuck with me forever, Potter," she whispered.

"And you're stuck with my name, Potter."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again.

James groaned. "Let's just cancel the party."

Lily just laughed.

The little organ started up in a pitiful fanfare, accompanied by the continued applause of the sparse congregation as James and Lily paraded back down the aisle, happily greeting their few attendees as they passed. When the wedding party began to file out behind them, Emmeline watched wistfully as Remus made a swift escape through the side door.

She processed out behind the rest of the wedding party alone.

Remus hoped that, in the bliss of the moment, James and Lily hadn't noticed him slip out to the graveyard. He was back in front of the church in time for a picture, after having speed-smoked the emergency cigarette he'd stowed in his lapel pocket.

Sod the tux, and sod her.

...

The wedding attendees eventually trickled into the reception, which was held at the Potters' "new" cottage in town. Really, the house was a subsidiary property of the Potter family estate where James grew up, and had probably housed servants or extended family at one point. James and Lily didn't really see themselves living at the estate long term, so they'd spent their summer fixing up the cottage into their very own home. Lily had insisted that they take the time to do things without magic, if they could help it. James was perfectly capable of buying them a new house in pristine condition, but that wouldn't have given him the opportunity to spend days and nights with his beloved crafting something that was entirely their own.

Though Fleamont and Euphemia had offered to host at "the big house," the small guest list made it almost laughably unnecessary. Given the risks of throwing a large, raucous wedding reception (which they otherwise might have done), invitations were limited only to immediate family, close friends, and close colleagues.

In attendance were the Longbottoms, Frank and Alice, who were recent newlyweds themselves; Alastor Moody, de facto second in command of the Order of the Phoenix, who had parked himself in an armchair to people watch and was nursing a dram of firewhisky; Dorcas Meadowes and Benjy Fenwick had come; James's parents were there, of course; Minerva McGonagall and Horace Slughorn had attended the ceremony, but could not stay for the party. Albus Dumbledore received an invitation, but was unable to attend. Lily's sister Petunia had, unsurprisingly, declined her invitation. So had Mary MacDonald, but they hadn't seen much of her since they left school. Other than Marlene, Emmeline, and the boys, that was everyone accounted for.

After retrieving a necessary cocktail from the enchanted bar set up in the kitchen, Remus tried to take his mind off Emmeline by studying the house far more intently than it needed to be studied. "That's some lovely crown molding they've installed," he thought, as if he was actually interested in crown molding.

She'd been wearing gloves yesterday when they greeted each other, and that's why he hadn't spotted the damned ring, he remembered. He wished he could just cover her up in one giant glove so that he wouldn't have to see her either.

It must have looked concerning that he was concentrating so hard on the curtains in the dining room, because James and Peter sensed his stratagem and pulled him out of his solitude.

"Moony!" James announced himself as Remus realized too late that he was about to be subjected to giving him a piggy-back ride. "I'm a married man! Can you believe it?" As he was pounced upon, Remus dropped his cocktail, but an anticipatory levitation charm from James prevented the glass from shattering on the floor.

"We know, we were there, and you've only said it about fifteen times," Peter reminded him, snatching the glass out of the air and setting it down safely on a nearby china cabinet.

"How much has he had to drink?" Remus asked Peter, adjusting his stance to support James's weight.

"The scary thing is, he hasn't had a drop since before the ceremony. He's just like this."

And by "this," Peter was referring to the fact that James wore a smile wider than any he had ever donned before, for he had just married Lily Evans, and what could be better than that? "Someday, when you're having the best night of your life, you'll understand," James promised them. "Every time I see my wife, I remember that she's my wife, and that we're married, and- why are you both looking at me like I'm barking mad?"

"Where is your wife?" Remus asked over his shoulder, noticing how strange the word felt in his own mouth.

"I think Padfoot stole her for a picture."

"Incoming!" shouted Sirius, who seemed to appear out of nowhere as he took a running leap onto James's back, even as he was still on Remus. Poor unsuspecting Remus's knees buckled under the sudden addition of weight, knocking Peter over as they came crashing down in a pile of tuxedos on the floor, all of them laughing hysterically.

And for a fleeting moment, Remus forgot all about Emmeline.

This may also have been because Emmeline had spent the last half hour in the spare room upstairs. Out of sight, out of mind.

After thirty-something minutes, she emerged from her hideaway to creep into the adjacent bathroom, locking the door behind her. Emmeline examined herself in the mirror, disappointed by her own reflection and the state of her makeup: the thick layer of concealer Marlene had used to hide the dark circles under her eyes was beginning to melt from all her nervous sweating. It had been difficult to get any sleep in the days leading up to the rehearsal.

She withdrew her wand, muttered "Reparo," and the makeup re-coagulated. Useful thing, magic. Stashing the wand, she surreptitiously exited the bathroom, only to be discovered by Marlene.

"There you are! Have you been up here this whole time?" Her light and lilting Scottish accent somehow made the question sound even more accusatory.

Emmeline looked at her contritely. Marlene was a petite witch with flaxen hair that always did what it was supposed to, and large blue eyes which rivaled those of Botticelli's Venus. Emmeline just felt like a melting candle. "I think I'm going to be sick," she whinged.

Marlene rolled her eyes, and brought her hands to her hips. "There are not enough people here for you to disappear without it going unnoticed, you know."

"I was trying to give him space."

"No you weren't. You were hiding."

Feeling resentful that she'd been caught, Emmeline shifted her weight. "I thought I could do this, but I can't."

Marlene pointed a finger at her. "You knew what you were getting yourself into when you wanted to come today, so don't you start that. You promised Lily. It's too late now to change your mind and run off."

Emmeline scowled at her.

Marlene squeezed her eyes shut, regretting her choice of words. "That came out wrong."

Emmeline waved her hand, brushing off the slip. "Remus left out the other door at the end of the ceremony. I thought it was going to be okay, but he couldn't even stomach the idea of processing out next to me. Not that I blame him, I just-"

"Can you not just coexist in the same room and ignore each other?"

"No- well… yes, maybe, but..." She sighed, gathering her jumbled thoughts. "I don't want to ignore him, I just have no idea how to initiate a conversation after this long."

"Start small. There's no shame in small talk," Marlene suggested optimistically, looking for any way to get her back downstairs.

This time, Emmeline rolled her eyes. "Yes, brilliant. 'Hello Remus. Nice weather today. By the way, how have things been since I up and left you?'"

"...Perhaps not like that."

"There's no getting around it."

"Well frankly Emmie, it serves you right."

"I know," Emmeline grunted, running her hands through her neatly styled hair; but Marlene smacked them away so she wouldn't disturb her creation.

"Oi! Knock it off! That took me ages!"

"Alright! Sorry! Godric…"

"Look, to be perfectly honest, I really don't care if you speak to Remus tonight or not. The point is, you have got to suck it up and go back downstairs for James and Lily."

As if she'd heard them, they were startled by none other than the bride herself as she exited her bedroom. Lily had released her hair from its pins, and it was now cascading effortlessly down her shoulders in waves like a burnished bronze tapestry. She looked between the two of them. "Everything alright?"

"Fine," Emmeline lied, faking a smile as she came to the conclusion that she was the only melting candle present. "Just admiring what you've done with the wallpaper. What are you doing up here?"

"Truthfully? I came up to sit alone and smile to myself like a fool for a few minutes." She leaned her head back against the wall like a smitten Austen heroine. "What have I interrupted?" she asked, seeing through the ruse.

"Em is hiding from Remus," Marlene tattled matter-of-factly.

"Marley." Emmeline shot her a warning glance. The last thing she wanted was for Lily to feel a second-hand burden on her wedding day. "I'm fine, just forget it."

"Tell her she's got to go back down to the party."

"Well, hang on; are you okay, Emmie?"

"Merlin Lily, why do you have to be such a softy?"

"See what you've done?" Emmeline chastised Marlene.

"I thought you and Remus seemed to be getting on fine at the rehearsal..." Lily continued, straightening back up.

"Fine is a strong word. I don't think he's pleased that I didn't warn him I was going to be here." She shook her head. "It's really not worth the fuss."

"Not to add insult to injury, Em, but I think there may be several things he's not quite chuffed about," added Marlene, holding up her left hand and unenthusiastically wiggling the ring finger.

Emmeline shoved her left hand into the right, covering her fingers. "Thanks," she barked over her shoulder, retreating a few steps back towards the spare room. When the door shut in her face, she turned incredulously to find Marlene putting her wand away.

"That's not going to solve anything, and we would like to spend some much overdue time with you."

"Wait, how long have you been up here?" asked Lily.

"Let's all go down and find Alice and Doe so we can make this a right proper girls meeting," Marlene proposed.

Emmeline was not particularly interested in having this snowball, nor did she want to keep Lily from the festivities, and decided in an impulsive moment of reckless resolve that it would just be better to get it over with.

"Merlin Morgana and Mungo, I'm just going to do it." With that, she strode between them, heading for the stairs.

Lily and Marlene looked sideways at each other, then dashed down behind her to spectate.

As Emmeline descended to the ground floor, she saw the Longbottoms and James's parents dancing in the front room, and formed an idea.

She found him back towards the entrance to the yard. Remus was in the middle of a conversation with Benjy when he spotted Emmeline approaching down the hall and felt his heart rate pick up.

"So then I said to him, I said-"

"Will you dance with me?" Emmeline asked breathlessly, interrupting Benjy.

There was a long, uncomfortable pause in which Remus stared blankly at her while Benjy slowly crept away. She was about to give up and retreat when-

"Sure."

The fact that he'd agreed was a miracle in and of itself; but Emmeline was further astounded when Remus gently took her hand to lead her to the front room.

His stomach churned at the feeling of her ring against the side of his palm.

Frank had enchanted the upright piano Lily inherited from her late parents, and it was twinkling jazz standards in the corner; even Alastor was tapping his prosthetic foot. At the time, Emmeline thought that a dance seemed like a good way to get Remus close enough to talk without having to pull him out of the party. It wasn't that she was afraid to be alone with him - she was, however, legitimately frightened that Remus might get upset and leave, and Emmeline didn't think she could bear the degradation of having to tell James and Lily that she'd chased him out of their celebration. She was already so painfully aware of the ruins she'd left in her wake - she would rather not add a wedding to the list. This way, the others in the room acted as a sort of buffer.

The piano was playing some sort of slow waltz - not that it made any difference, since neither Emmeline nor Remus were proficient dancers. Alice and Frank, who were twirling gracefully close by, watched them with mild intrigue as they cautiously paired up and began to sway together. One by one, people who knew the both of them noticed their awkward promenade. Emmeline began to realize that perhaps this was less inconspicuous than she had hoped. She wanted a few eyes around them, not everyone's.

They were silent at first, each looking over the other's shoulders to avoid their face.

But Remus couldn't wonder to himself any longer.

"You got married…" was the most tame thing he could muster at the moment.

"...Engaged, actually…" Emmeline replied, setting the record straight. "C'mon, ask him what he's been up to. Change the damn subject," she thought, but her mouth suddenly felt so numb. There was simply no getting around it.

They were quiet for a few more seconds, and had drawn more eyes.

The clarification begged another question. "...Who are you engaged to?" he asked, actually managing to form a proper inquiry this time.

Emmeline was afraid to say, but didn't see a way out. They had certainly skipped small talk. "Erm...you remember Tiberius McLaggen, don't you?"

Remus stopped swaying and pulled away. "...McLaggen!?"

The Longbottoms paused their dancing. Even the piano was shocked by the outburst and ceased its tune.

"Remus," she hissed. But it was too late. He was already stalking out the front door.

Emmeline stood frozen in the middle of the room, too mortified to move. She soon came to the sickening realization that a half dozen people were watching her, while half a dozen others had just watched Remus walk briskly away. Her face felt hot all of the sudden.

Sirius started after Remus, but Marlene and Lily held him back. They were debating whether or not to send James after him when Emmeline dashed out the door.

She was done hiding.