The Marauders Era

Married

   "How's that speech coming Pads?" Remus asked, stepping over a pile of scrunched up attempts and placing a chipped mug of tea on the table in front of Sirius. "Arghhh! Damn you James! You could have picked anyone! Anyone!" Sirius yelled scrunching another piece of parchment into a ball and tossing it over his shoulder to join the pile. "James chose you because he loves you more than anyone else. Except perhaps Lily." Remus said wisely, sitting opposite Sirius. "Damn, why have you got to go and be so Remus on me?" Sirius asked grumpily. His hair stood on end from the amount of times he had run his fingers through it in frustration. "Sirius, I've been listening at the door for ten minutes. And you spent eight of those minutes swearing." Remus said. "I can't get this fucking speech right!" Sirius shouted. "Listen mate, you are James' best man through and through. All you need to do is pull yourself together, stop trying, just forget about everything else and write like you're just telling a story about James." Remus said standing up. "Add a bit of your natural humour and you're laughing." Remus said, he kissed Sirius on the top of the head and left. "I'm Padfoot, telling a story about Prongsie." Sirius repeated, he bent his head down and started scribbling. Outside in the hallway Remus grinned.

It was one week before the wedding. The guest list had just been confirmed the day before, a small ceremony. Lily and James lay in bed, half asleep, half awake, the early morning light creeping through the curtains. "Done!" Sirius yelled, bursting into the room with a scroll of parchment clutched in his fist. "What the hell Sirius, it's quarter to five!" James shouted. "I know that mate, but I just finished the speech." Sirius replied, waving the parchment around. "James, get him out of our room." Lily told James. James laughed and threw back the covers. He put an arm around Sirius' shoulders and walked him out of his room and down the stairs.

There was Peter, his dress robes a bit tight, standing as straight as he could. There was Remus, glad that they had purposely picked a wedding date well away from the full moon, smiling at the happiness of two of his favourite people. There was Sirius, his long hair falling in front of his face as usual, however his face was even more handsome as usual, perhaps because he couldn't stop grinning. There was James, his face looked ten times more handsome, with his cheeky smile and loving eyes, his hair messier than usual because of how much he had tried to tidy it, his face looked young, every care had slipped out of his mind and all he could think of was how beautiful the woman walking towards him was. There was Lily, almost gliding towards James, the white dress she wore nowhere near as beautiful as her. Lily's long dark red hair danced around her face, her smile showing in her green, almond shaped eyes.

"I do." James said, sliding a ring onto Lily's finger. "I do." Lily said, slipping a ring onto James' finger. He smiled at her as he stepped closer, put an arm around her and kissed her. James heard Sirius cheering with Remus and Peter. Everyone clapped and golden sparks fell from above their heads. James smiled, his lips still upon Lily's and felt Sirius punch him on the shoulder and ruffle up his hair. He broke apart from Lily and Sirius pulled him in for a hug, clapping him on the back, quite as happy as James. Remus hugged James next and whispered "Congratulations mate, I love you." into his ear before hurrying over to Lily. Peter was sobbing. James laughed and hugged him too.

Everyone had glasses of champagne, Lily and James were sitting by the dance floor, Remus, Peter, Marlene and Alice sat beside them. James clapped Sirius on the back as he got up to give his speech. Sirius cleared his throat and pulled his scroll of parchment out of his pocket. He looked at it then threw it over his shoulder with a mutter of "Merlin's sake." the crowd laughed. "I've known James Potter since I was eleven years old. No one ever stood by me like he did. I love my brother. And he definitely loves Lily. He was eleven years old, he couldn't take his eyes off a girl waiting underneath the Sorting Hat. He was twelve years old, I don't think he realised how much he talked about one girl in particular, he didn't notice it was three in the morning and he was still telling us about how quickly she had perfected the new spell in Charms that morning. He was thirteen years old, watching, heartbroken as she talked at break to a slimy boy with greasy hair. He was fourteen years old, writing her initials on every scrap of parchment that came under his nose for more than a minute. He was fifteen years old, jinxing that greasy haired kid every time he said that word. He was sixteen years old, trying as hard as he could not to curse that greasy haired kid walking by, trying to not make it obvious that his eyes followed her. He was sixteen years old, friends with her, by then he didn't think anything would ever happen, and he'd accepted that. But we all watched him fall even more deeply in love with her. And she was falling in love with him. He was seventeen years old, standing in the snow, telling Lily Evans how much he loved her. James Potter is my brother. Lily, I hope you know just how much that man next to you loves you. I love you Lily. You are a Marauder, just as much as Padfoot, as Moony, as Wormtail and as Prongs." Sirius said. There was a pause after he'd finished then everyone clapped and cheered. Sirius grinned and turned to James and Lily. Tears were rolling down Lily's face, James simply looked lost in love, Remus was grinning up at Sirius, Peter was also crying. "James and Lily." Sirius said, raising his glass.

After the speeches the music started and James pulled Lily onto the dance floor. James was a surprisingly good dancer, twirling Lily around. A few songs later Remus sped onto the dance floor and turned to James. "May I have a dance with the lady?" he asked. James laughed and clapped Remus on the back as he walked off to get a drink. "So, how do you feel?" Sirius asked James, approaching him beside the drinks table, clutching a glass of mead himself. "Like all my dreams have finally come true." James replied, putting an arm around Sirius' shoulders and watching Remus grin as he danced with Lily. After the song Sirius drained his drink, slammed the glass down and approached Remus and Lily. He took Lily's hand, kissed Remus then told him to piss off so he could have some room to dance. Lily seemed quite frightened by the way Sirius danced, they spun around and were half hugging, half sprinting around the dance floor. James and Remus laughed as they watched Lily's face as Sirius dipped her so low she nearly fell. After the song Sirius moved on to dance with Marlene as Peter approached James and Remus and Lily hurried off the dance floor. "Did you have a few nice dances Pete?" James asked, jumping backwards and sitting on the table. "Yes, actually." Peter replied. James grinned then Lily arrived. James pulled her over to him and kissed her. "Urgh, save it for tonight, Merlin." Remus said as he chose another drink. James and Lily broke apart, rolling their eyes. "Can we dance Lily?" Peter asked. "Sure." Lily replied, smiling. James took Peter's shot of firewhisky out of his hand, pushed him onto the dance floor, then turned to Remus. "Cheers." James said. Remus chinked his own shot glass against Peter's then raised it and said "To you Prongsie." then winked and drained it. James grinned then gulped down the firewhisky.

"Going to go give Marlene a break from Sirius." Remus said, placing his glass down on the table, clapping James on the shoulder and disappearing into the group of dancers. James sat alone, smiling to himself for several minutes, then he jumped off the table and entered the group of people on the dance floor, looking for someone to dance with. Dumbledore and McGonagall were dancing, but stopped when James approached. James held out a hand for McGonagall and she took it. Dumbledore left them and found Sirius on his way out of the throng. Sirius flung an arm around Dumbledore and together they went to get drinks. As James danced with McGonagall he saw Dumbledore hand Sirius what looked like a Muggle sweet.

As the night continued James finished dancing with Marlene, kissed her on the cheek and found Lily. He entered her arms gladly and they slowly revolved on the spot, Lily's head on James' chest. James kissed the top of her head, and Lily smiled, her face hidden in a cloud of his favourite aftershave. Remus approached with a camera and as he raised it to take a picture Sirius stopped him. Sirius flung an arm around James, grinning happily and Remus took the picture that would end up in Harry Potter's photo album.