Love At The Sea

Chapter #20

Marlene woke up on the 15th of May with a smile on her face. She rubbed her eyes and sat up on her bed. She stood up and opened her curtains. Warm sunlight filled the room as she turned and checked the watch on the wall.

09: 24 a.m.

She took a shower and dressed in a pair of light blue jeans and a white halter neck top. She tied her hair in a low ponytail and applied a bit of make-up before going down for breakfast.

'Morning Sleepyhead!' Mason called from his spot at the fireside. Marlene rolled her eyes and entered the kitchen. Melissa was ready and sitting there. She stood up when she saw her daughter.

'Morning sweetie. Please eat quickly. We have to get to the shop before thirty minutes past ten.' Her Mother smiled. Marlene nodded and ate her breakfast quickly.

'Take care love and future-mom-in-law!' Sirius called after them. The mother-daughter duo laughed.

They walked to the shop called 'Buttons and Bows' owned by Melanie Maximoff.

'Hey Marls and Melissa!' Lily smiled at them when they had reached the shop. Beside her, Alice and Emmeline grinned.

They entered the shop. Melanie Maximoff was a woman in her late thirties. She had blonde hair and keen violet-blue eyes. She smiled when she saw them.

'Hello everyone. Welcome to Buttons and Bows. What can I show you?' She said warmly.

'Well Madam Maximoff,' Melissa pointed at Marlene, 'my daughter here is getting married. I wanted to see through wedding dresses for her. And some bridesmaids dresses too.'

Madam Maximoff nodded and led them to a section called 'Wedding Planning.'

'Here my ladies. All types of dresses. Do check them.' She said.

So they started. Going through rows and racks of beautiful dresses. Ivory colored, cream colored, off-white colored. Mermaid styles, off shoulders, long sleeved ones. Once or twice Marlene gaze rested on a pretty cream colored one before going to back to the other dresses.

'Hey Mum, I like this one.' She pointed at the dress. It was cream colored and long-sleeved. It was beautiful, no doubt. Melissa smiled.

'Try it on.' She said. Marlene nodded and disappeared in the dressing room while her mother and friends waited.

'Amazing...' Lily whispered, awed.

Marlene gave a nervous twirl and looked at them hopefully.

'Do I look good?' She asked.

'Good? You like drop dead gorgeous!' Emmeline squealed. Everyone agreed. Marlene beamed.

They bought the dress along with the bridesmaids ones before thanking Madam Maximoff and leaving.

___________________________________________

'KANIKA!'

Anushka sighed. When she heard Mrs. Rhea Patil yell at her twin at three in the morning, she knew something was wrong. She stood up from her bed, grabbed a shawl and entered Kanika's room.

Her twin looked bored. Mrs. Patil continued yelling while her father, Mr. Rishabh Patil, tried to calm her.

'Now, come on Rhea, everything's good. It was just a prank!' He said. Mrs. Patil ignored him.

'Seriously Kanika? That was my favourite dress!' She said.

'I told you Mom, I was aiming for Anu's dress!' Kanika tried.

Well, thank God it didn't work. Anushka thought.

'Now, come on Rhea, we can talk at breakfast. It's only three! Let's sleep!' Mr. Patil led his wife to their room.

'You want to know what happened?' Kanika asked her twin.

'No.' Anushka replied.

________________________________________________________

'Lady Lily!'

Lily stopped dead. James frowned. Slowly, he turned. Behind them a stood a forty-something guy who was ugly as fuck. He grinned, showing off his yellowing teeth.

'Excuse me?' James said sharply. The guy sneered.

'I remember talking to Lady Lily and not you. I was talking to my future wife.'

'What the fuck?' James said. He looked at Lily. The expression on her face...it was hatred.

'I'm no future wife of yours Selwyn. I'm engaged to The Prince of Diagon, James William Potter.' She snapped and sqeezed James' hand.

'You little slut! So you are playing with two men at once!' Selwyn shouted.

BAM!

Selywn stumbled backwards as he clutched at his bleeding nose. James towered above him. His 6'5 muscular and lean frame loomed above Selwyn's 5'7 frame.

'You dare try that word again and my sword will be having your blood on its blade.' James threatened menacingly. He grabbed Lily hand, gave Selwyn a last look of loathing and walked away from the scene.

'So he was the bastard.' He muttered.

'Yeah.' Lily mumbled.

'How can he marry you? You are decades younger than him!' Her fiancé said, outraged. Lily dragged him to her house where she made him calm down. It also meant that George got the news. And well, he took it worse than James had.

'The filthy piece of shit. How dare he?' Her brother hissed.

'Now George, relax. Everything's good, okay? If it goes out of our hands, we'll seek justice from the Council of Kings' Cross.' Petunia tried to explain. George snorted but didn't say anything.

'EXCUSE ME!? LILS! WHERE'S THE ASSHOLE?'

Everyone jumped as Marlene McKinnon stormed inside the house, followed by a very tense Sirius.

'How did you know?' Lily frowned. Marlene waved her hand casually.

'I saw the idiot running towards the castle. All broken and bloody nose. I knew what happened.' She said.

'Well he deserved it.' James growled.

'Do I look like I'm disagreeing?' Lily said.

After that, James and Sirius went to get Remus so they could take a short walk in the city. Lily and Marlene sat under the tree is Lily's garden. They were recalling old memories.

'Remember when I pushed Emmy in the mud and she stole all my socks?' Marlene asked Lily. Her friend laughed.

'Can I even forget it? Melissa was puzzled. And that one time when we all threw buckets of cold water, in December, on Timothy McDonnell for cheating on you?' She grinned.

'Hell yeah. He was a git but that cold water was too much.' Marlene smirked. They laughed again. Just like that, they sat there under the tree, recalling the fond memories.

Little did they know, the war was brewing and it had started at the borders of Hogwarts.

A/N: Would love to tell you that Blackinnon's wedding is in the nest chapter. #blackinnonforlife. Also, I do hope you hated Selwyn as he is clearly trying to come in the way of Jily. He's basically the Cokeworth Snape. That was all, take care and stay safe. Btw, I haven't introduced Snape, right? Hm..

Love,
Aurora:)