Marauders Mistakes (blackinnon)

part thirty four

Hours later Marlene, Lily, Emmeline, and Dorcas were getting ready in one of the many bedrooms in the manor. Dorcas had been put in charge of hair, Emmeline was supplying a steady flow of alcohol, Marlene was managing the makeup and Lily was, well, frantic. They had only started getting ready an hour ago, leaving a very short amount of time to be ready, and Lily was already stressed, without the time pressure.

"Girls is this a mistake?" All the girls froze and turned to look at Lily. "I just mean being so young.."

The room was filled with silence, and Marlene and Emmeline were shocked at the words that Lily had just spoken. Lily, the sure, mature one. Lily, who they all saw as ready to be married, was questioning it herself. It was Dorcas who filled the silence, to everyone's surprise.

"Lily, do you love James?" Dorcas asked.

"Of course-"

"Do you want to live with him?"

"Yes-"

"Do you want his children to be your children?"

"Dorcas!" Lily stammered, shocked at her friends questioning that was so out of character.

"Well do you?"

"Yes." Lily admitted.

"That solves that problem then." She said simply and turned back to tacking the mess that was Marlene McKinnon's hair.

"But.." Lily muttered.

Doe turned again. "But nothing, you are so incredibly lucky that you both want this, you are lucky you found each other so young, and you're lucky you have fantastic friends like us that can pull a wedding like this off in 24 hours." Dorcas replied, rather sharply.

The girls fell silent reflecting on what Doe had said, and realised that she now knew Remus would never propose, she would never have children with him, and he would never let it get to that. They realised their little Doe was suddenly older than they had thought, over the summer of 78' Dorcas Meadows had realised some 'tough shit' as Sirius elegantly put it. She knew about the full extent of the war now, she knew about Remus and his doubts about relationships, not her, relationships. She knew about the complexities, but continued to simplify things, and in that moment Lily was so grateful for her.

"You're right." Lily replied nodding, she visibly relaxed and downed her glass of champagne.

There was a light knock at the door, "Its me." A male voice echoed through the door.

"You're gonna need to be slightly more specific.." Emmeline replied curtly running out of patience with people knocking on their door. It was mostly James, trying to sneak in and she had threatened to kill him before the wedding if he returned again.

"Merlin Em, it's just Sirius.. I just want to speak to McKinnon."

Marlene's eyes widened knowing what he was about to continue, she shook her head violently, and gestured to cutting her head off.

"She's.. Not available at the moment.." Emmeline replied, trying to mouth a conversation with Marlene at the same time.

Sirius practically growled on the other side of the door. "What do you mean, she isn't 'available'?"

There was a pause while the girls silently argued.

"She's naked." Dorcas replied, too quickly.

"You're lying Doe, and its nothing I haven't seen before." Sirius added.

There was another pause.

"If you don't come out of the door the normal way, I will either break it down, or climb through the window.. Now it's up to you McKinnon." There was a pause and Emmeline was silently asking Marlene if Sirius could apparate and why he hadn't already when he was in the room.

It was Lily who screamed at Sirius then. "YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO SEE THE BRIDE BEFORE THE WEDDING. OUT. NOW."

He stood boldly in front of Lily. "No."

"Sirius I'm not kidding, I will hex you."

"I need to speak to McKinnon. Right. Now."

Lily glanced down at her friend, who looked like she would rather die than speak to Sirius. But she stood up and grabbed his hand, dragging him out of the bedroom and locking the door behind her, she then led them down the corridor and into another bedroom. She turned and looked at him.

"Well, what?" Marlene asked, her bold attitude shining through.

"Don't you dare McKinnon, you know what."

"No I don't." She stubbornly said.

"Yes you do, you lied to me earlier."

"And I'm going to lie to you now."

"No you're not. I thought we had this worked out McKinnon!" Sirius exploded.

"I thought we did too, but you've not been honest with me either!" 

He froze. "What did you say to me? I haven't been near any another girls-"

"Not what I meant."

"Then what the hell did you mean McKinnon?"

"You lied to me when you told me that you hadn't been on any Order missions."

Sirius' face drained. He sank onto the bed beside her. "We're no good at this are we?"

She joined him. "Not really, no."

"Why are you about to lie to me? Can you be honest about why you're going to lie?"

"Shit that's complex. Yeah, its Lily's day, I promise you, when she's pissed and dancing, we can talk. Don't make me lie to you."

"Will you be pissed McKinnon?"

It was Marlene's turn to be shocked. "What are you talking about?"

"You haven't been drinking today with the other girls. And you cried again."

Marlene stood up and walked to the door. "I'm not having this conversation right now Sirius."

"Why?"

"You know why."

"Because you're in denial?"

"Probably." The pair paused, and heard footsteps down the corridor. There was a little knock at the door. They both frowned. "Come on?" Sirius spoke.

The door creaked open and Dora was stood behind it, in her flower girl dress, beaming.

"Oh you look beautiful!" Marlene said whisking the little girl up into her arms. "Lets go do your hair shall we? Shall we find Dorcas for you?"

Sirius was left sat in the room wondering if Marlene would ever be honest with him.