Moonlight

Chapter Twenty-One

Nuptial Preparations



Despite James' theory, however, Sirius from that day on acted as if such a person as Aurelia Vega did not even exist. For instance, James brought it up with him at breakfast the following morning, "You know, I think that Aurelia's got a bit of a crush on you," and Sirius replied flatly, "Aurelia? Aurelia Who?"

When they saw her again at the very next Order meeting, Sirius visibly made an effort to ignore her. Unfortunately, throughout the meeting, Remus noticed out of the corner of his eye that Sirius was simply trying to fight a seemingly losing battle against a hidden desire, for he kept sneaking glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking, and if she was, then he quickly changed his object of optical focus.

After the meeting, Aurelia asked to have a quick private word with him.

Sirius very reluctantly agreed.

Later, when the five friends were gathered in the drawing room playing a five-person card game, Remus ventured to ask Sirius what Aurelia had wanted to talk with him about.

"Oh...er...she just wanted to apologize," said Sirius with a shrug. "For...you know...the other day...and then I...er...apologized as well, and er...now we're square."

"Good," said Lily pleasantly. "That's great. I mean I'd hate it if my best mate and you as James' best mate couldn't get along with each other."

Sirius chuckled, and then hastily changed the topic of conversation to something remotely different from Aurelia Vega.

For every Order meeting that followed, Remus observed that Sirius and Aurelia treated each other with courteous respect, and nothing more, nothing less.

~

On the February full moon, Remus slipped out of Doge's mansion (the friends had all just been staying at Elphias' for a while--Remus, Sirius, and Peter had their own rooms, while James and Lily shared one) and walked naked out into the woods as the sun set. He walked slowly and sadly through the snow-laden trees, his breath coming out in billows of steam around his head.

He looked down at his hands, with their long, slender fingers, and thought they looked so pale they were next to white. Despite his excellent Ministry salary, he hadn't been eating much lately, and now, he was so thin he wasn't sure if he'd transform before he managed to die of hypothermia.

He came to an open field, where a hill rose up towards the sky. Remus crested the hill, and stopped to see that the sun had disappeared completely....

Tonight would be Ramirus' very first transformation...wherever he was...if Greyback had even decided to keep him alive....

But even if he had, would Ramirus be able to survive something like this? The transformation was so violent...and Ramirus was still so small...barely a toddler...his body would surely be too fragile for something so brutal as transforming into a werewolf....

Or a werecub, rather....

Of all times, why on earth was he making puns like that? This was no laughing matter!

The great silver orb that was the full moon was rising above the trees. It showered Remus in its argentine light.

The pain stabbed him like a blade in his stomach. He doubled over, gasping and crying out in pain.

To think he'd done this since he was seven years old, and he still had not grown used to it....

The agony spread rapidly through his body, shattering and tearing his insides. He twisted and writhed, screamed a scream that turned into a growl...he lay in the snow as he fought instinctively against the pain, and the snow burned against his skin, which was rapidly sprouting coarse black fur....

Throughout all of this, as his human mind was thrown into darkness, he heard the echoes of what sounded like a two-year old boy shrieking as the full moon took hold of him, forced him to become a little monster...assuming he even survived....

Ramirus....

Remus' mind splintered, his head lengthened into a snarling, salivating snout, his teeth grew into tiny daggers, a bristly long tail shot out from his rear, and his spine cracked to form the hunched back of his werewolf form, and then all was darkness....



The world came back into focus. He lay in the snow, on his hunched back, with his clawed paws in the air.

A shaggy black dog stood whimpering beside him, and there was a large black forest stag with him too, on the stag's head, leaning its front paws on the antlers, was a brown rat.

He growled at them, so they'd go away and leave him alone.



He knew that voice. That voice belonged to....

Sirius....



Peter....



James....

Who is Remus?

I am Remus!

Remus leapt to his feet and howled at the moon for joy. Then he looked over at his friends, who seemed to smile too.

said Sirius, squaring his canine shoulders.

said James, scraping a cloven hoof a couple of times through the snow.

Peter put in uncertainly, clinging fearfully to James' right antler.

howled Remus, and the three friends were off like a shot through the woods, whooping and laughing, with Peter hanging on to James' antlers and shrilling for dear life.

~

The tenth of March that year was Remus' nineteenth birthday. He still hadn't figured out what the present from James for his seventeenth birthday--the Snitch-sized alexandrite that spun around in the air when activated and threw beautiful rainbow colors on the walls--was supposed to do besides that, and he confided to James in this at his birthday tea, which his four friends held for him in Elphias' drawing room.

"When's the last time you took it out?" James asked.

Remus shrugged. "My seventeenth birthday, I suppose. Not that I don't like it, or anything, I was just...you know...preoccupied...."

James understood. After he'd opened his presents from his friends on his seventeenth birthday, Remus had received the news that his parents had been murdered. "Take it out again tonight," he told Remus with a wink.

So Remus did. Once he'd shut himself in his room for the night, he sat cross-legged on the bed as he took the large alexandrite out from its box. He tapped it with his wand, and it began spinning around in midair and throwing beautiful rainbow patterns on the walls and, he imagined, on his own pallid face.

Nothing happened that was different from when Remus had last used it two years ago.

Except that maybe he felt his gloomy mood lift a little, and thought he heard the laughter of happy young boys....

~

In the middle of the night, Remus awoke from another nightmare about his brother, Ramirus, screaming as he endured the throes of a transformation. Drenched in cold sweat, Remus realized that he needed to urinate. Dressed in his pajamas, he crawled shakily out of bed, and stumbled slightly as he made his way down the hall to one of the many bathrooms found in Elphias' mansion. On his way there, he passed Sirius' room across from his, Peter's room next to his, and James and Lily's room across from Peter's. He didn't give much thought to the sounds of James and Lily's low voices in their room, accompanied by the soft sound of them kissing and touching each other...they made out late into the night, every night, in their room, after everyone else had presumably gone to sleep.

After he came out of the bathroom, as he passed James and Lily's room again, his ears pricked up from what he heard from within, by way of his excellent, heightened sense of hearing.

There was the rhythmic creaking of bedsprings...and James and Lily both sounded like they were moaning and gasping...and then Lily gave a glorious cry of utter pleasure that vibrated in Remus' ears, even long after she'd made the sound and it was James giving a hoarse cry of pleasure instead....

The door to Sirius' bedroom opened, and Sirius leaned against the doorframe with his arms folded. Remus heard Peter's door open behind him and turned to see him peering confusedly out into the hallway.

"What's going on?" he whispered.

"It's called sex, Peter," Sirius replied in a hushed voice.

Peter's jaw dropped. "You mean--James and Lily--they were in there...?"

"Yeah, that's right, Peter, they were," said Sirius. "They were in there going like this--" He made a circle with his thumb and forefinger and then poked the index finger of his other hand through the circle over and over smuttily.

"Sirius, grow up," Remus admonished quietly.

Sirius rolled his eyes with a sigh, but he ceased making the gesture and refolded his arms. "He better let us in on how good it is."

"How do you know this is their first time?" Remus said with a smirk.

"Wouldn't you know though?" said Sirius rather seriously (which surprised Remus a little).

"What do you mean?"

"Well...you've got heightened senses, right?"

Now Remus thought he knew where this was going. "So you assume I can smell sex on people when they've had it?"

"Well...not sex exactly. Just you know...their...scents...." Sirius raised his eyebrows.

Remus blushed. He hated to admit it, but Sirius was actually right. And it was only embarrassing because the only two people he'd ever sensed it on before were his parents, and the times they'd tried more than once to get pregnant again. He shared this so quietly with Sirius and Peter that they had to step away from their rooms and stand next to him in order to hear him.

"Oh," said Sirius when Remus had finished. "I see.... Well, that would make the ability a bit embarrassing to admit to, I'll give you that."

"I'll say," said Peter.

"Well, it's not so bad," Remus said as an afterthought. "I didn't realize what it meant until about a year after my parents died."

"Still a bit weird," said Peter.

"I concur," said Sirius. "But at least your parents...well...it's romantic to think about them. Thinking about my parents...." He shuddered.

"Well of course, Sirius," Remus reasoned. "They're your parents. Nobody wants to think about their own parents...."

"I feel pretty fortunate at the moment," said Peter. "Since my mum's a widow, and I scare off most of her boyfriends, I don't hear or smell or see a thing."

Remus and Sirius chuckled.

"Wow, you still scare off your mum's boyfriends eh, Pete?" Sirius nudged Peter playfully on the shoulder, though he had to bend down slightly because Peter was shorter. When he straightened he added to Remus, "So, have you smelled sex on them before?"

Remus shook his head. "No, I have not, Sirius. But I imagine I will smell it on them for the very first time at breakfast tomorrow morning."

Sirius nodded. "Well, anyway...Lily climaxed first, from the sound of it. That means they'll have a girl."

"That's just an old wives tale," said Remus. "Besides, they're using protection."

"How do you know that?" Sirius asked.

Remus blushed again. "Er...well...I think they're responsible enough to use the Contraceptive Charm...and...er...I...erm...noticed Lily had a bottle of birth-control potion."

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "And how would you happen to know that, eh?"

"I was helping them carry in some of their things from when they were moving their stuff in, alright?"

"Oh." Sirius rubbed the back of his neck in a sort of apologetic gesture.

Remus smiled to show that he forgave him.

Sirius smiled to show his appreciation, and then went on, "Well, personally, if it were me, I wouldn't bother with all of that."

"You wouldn't worry about getting an STI?" Peter asked, raising his eyebrows up at Sirius.

"Er...well...I'd be careful about that...erm...." Sirius looked about nervously. "I...er...I'm going to kip now. I er...got to get some shut eye before work tomorrow." He turned into his room and closed the door behind him.

Peter turned in as well, with a yawning, "G'night," and a pat on Remus' arm. Then Remus was left standing alone in the hallway. He wondered fleetingly if Sirius was now lying awake, thinking of Aurelia, despite his constantly denying that he had a thing for her every time the topic was brought up. With that in mind, Remus turned into his own bedroom, slipped underneath the blankets, and for a very long time before drifting off to sleep, he lay awake, staring at the ceiling, thinking of Lily....

~

As it happened, James did something of which Remus silently admitted to himself he respected highly.

The next morning, the five of them were having breakfast in the kitchen after other Order members in the house had already eaten some, and Lily, being the first one to finish, cleared her dishes from the table, dropped them off at the sink saying she'd get to them later, and then stopped beside James to give him a nice big, full, deep kiss on the lips. Even now, when the two of them were giving off raw issuances of their strong hormones to one another, Remus could pick up the scent of their lovemaking from last night still hanging on them both. With that in mind, he began moodily stabbing at the scrambled eggs on his plate with his fork.

When Sirius finally said, "Alright, get a room you two," Lily tore herself away from James, having only eyes for him as she left the kitchen to go upstairs and take a shower. Remus was unable to help himself in marveling her goddess-sculpted legs shown off by her pair of sleeping shorts, just as he'd been unable to help himself sneaking quick glances as her goddess-sculpted arms revealed by her sleeveless sleeping top while they'd been tucking in to breakfast together.

As soon as Lily was well upstairs and out of earshot, Sirius said: "So, Prongs, I thought I heard a bit of bedspring-creaking next door. Was it just my imagination, or were you and the doe having your first little mating ritual?"

And then James, the first of the Marauders to have lost his virginity, gave Sirius, as well as Remus and Peter, a strange, oddly secret smile, that wasn't smug exactly...more just wise. "Ah, Padfoot...Moony...Wormtail...we did, but it was so much more than that."

"Oooooh," said Sirius, looking excited. "What was it then?"

But James just chuckled and shook his head. "It's only something you can understand when you're doing it with the woman you love."

"Yeah, but it was...good and rotten, wasn't it?"

"Sorry, Sirius. This is something so special, you won't understand how special until--like I said--you've done it yourself with the woman you truly and honestly love. I will say this though: It's so special, it's sacred. This isn't just some score through the goal posts on the Quidditch pitch. It's not even catching the Snitch and winning the game. It's not something you brag about to your mates afterward."

And despite Sirius' prodding, James said nothing more on the subject.

Remus on the other hand, while envious that James had shared something so special with Lily--the woman whom Remus loved more than anyone could possibly ever know--smiled in spite of this, and felt a small taste of relief and happiness inside of him, for Lily. Seeing James behave this way, so incredibly maturely, and with such deep honor and respect for his bride-to-be out of his obvious deep affection and love for her, Remus could at least be assured, that while he wasn't doing the loving, Lily would be loved and cherished the way she deserved to be by James. And for now, if not in Remus' heart, certainly at least in his conscience, that was enough.

~

Remus had no luck finding any of the werewolves. He worked so hard on it through the next few months, from winter into spring, into summer, while still making it to work at the Ministry every weekday, and still he had no luck. Mickey had disappeared off of the face of the planet, it seemed. Either that, or the werewolves had killed him. And they really didn't need a reason to, did they? They were werewolves, after all.

Regardless, despite his efforts, despite the fact that he had all of their names, he couldn't track any of them down, even when he used his heightened senses to their fullest. It was as if they knew he were tracking them, and were eluding him. And he couldn't blame them really. Most werewolves preferred solitude. Perhaps that was partly why Remus had turned out to be such a quiet little bookworm. But then he also liked to believe that the wolf had nothing to do with the person that he, Remus, was, the person that he'd become.

Caradoc Dearborn had still not been found either. By now the Order presumed him dead, and were just looking for his body. Either way, he wasn't turning up anywhere.

At the end of the next Order meeting that following Sunday, presided by Elphias, James and Lily made the announcement that their wedding would be taking place on the sixth of June, two Sundays from this one, outside behind Elphias' mansion. All of the Order members were invited to attend, of course.

"Brilliant!" said Emmeline Vance brightly. "Tying the knot at last!"

"I agree," Frank Longbottom added happily.

"Me too!" laughed his wife, Alice, with a cheery smile, adding all the more rosiness to her already naturally rosy complexion. "I love weddings!"

"You two were lucky nothing happened," Mad-Eye growled darkly.

"Mad-Eye's right about that one," Aurelia Vega pointed out.

"Nevertheless, I think a toast, is in order," wheezed Elphias, who happened to be wearing the same funny hat he'd worn in their group photo taken last summer. He headed into his drawing room and brought back a bottle of firewhiskey from his liquor cabinet, along with a crystal goblet for everyone gathered at the table in his dining room for the meeting. When everyone had a glass filled to the brim with alcohol, Elphias raised his and said, "To James and Lily."

"To James and Lily," chorused everyone else in the room (aside from James and Lily themselves, obviously), and drank deeply from their goblets.

Remus saw how everyone beamed at the beaming pair that was James and Lily, and he beamed along with them, but he felt guilty on the inside, because his smile, unlike theirs, wasn't totally and completely sincere, for there was always that tiny part of him that was a jealous, green-eyed little wolf, chewing painfully at his heart.

After that night, Remus was gone completely for a whole week working at the Ministry (where Lily and he did not see each other once, because now they were being trained individually) and also working on his private assignment, tracking werewolves through forests and back alleys, and still with no luck, no matter whom he questioned, no matter how many times he caught scents--which he always lost anyway on the breeze. In between he searched for Ramirus, but this time he was using his keen tactics of cleverness and subtlety, unlike before, when he'd been so emotionally vulnerable right after his full moon transformation that he'd just blown a gasket and stormed out of his house, blundering foolishly into the genius trap that Greyback and Dolohov had formulated.

Then he received orders from Dumbledore that he was to have a rest for a week, so that he could relax--and have a good time at the wedding as well, most certainly. Remus was pleased he'd be getting a week off, despite his fruitless efforts, determined though they were, and despite that he still had to show up for work at the Ministry. He wasn't certain he'd have all that good of a time at the wedding, however. He'd probably end up drinking goblet after goblet of alcohol while watching Lily from a lonely white-clothed table as she twirled on the dance floor with James, wearing some stunningly beautiful wedding dress, one that exposed her perfect, creamy white shoulders, and gave just a mere peek of her cleavage--like the one she wore in that dream he'd had--and then he'd fall into a drunken stupor and start acting like an idiot. He'd never done that before--gotten himself so drunk he'd started to act stupid. That was more of Sirius' thing, and Sirius only did that when he was ultimately depressed. But as Remus figured he'd be more miserable than ever at the wedding, watching the one woman he'd ever loved--probably would ever love more than anything--get married to his best friend, he quite liked the idea of completely forgetting about all of his cares under the influence of a few too many drinks.

He was still musing about this when he entered Elphias' mansion upon his return there, and that's where he found the place hustling and bustling with nuptial preparations.

Remus passed through the drawing room and saw that Aurelia Vega was in the middle of being fitted for a pale green dress, and the fitter was a witch who bore a resemblance to Madame Malkin, the top-notch seamstress of Diagon Alley. Except that she was far younger-looking than Madame Malkin, and she was quite pretty too, with her long, thick, brunette corkscrew tresses half-pinned up in the back while the rest hung down in a very lovely way about her youthful face.

"Hello, Remus!" Aurelia greeted brightly.

"Please try not to move, Miss Vega," the fitter admonished.

"Sorry, Miss Malkin," said Aurelia, rolling her eyes. "Oh, Remus, this is Edwina Malkin. She's a second-cousin to Matilda Malkin also known as Madame Malkin of Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions."

"Of course," said Remus. "I thought she bore a resemblance to her."

Edwina Malkin sniffed, as though affronted by this observation.

"Miss Malkin, this is Remus Lupin, he's a good friend of mine," said Aurelia. "And of the bride and groom. Actually, he's better friends with them than he is with me but that's beside the point."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Malkin," said Remus with a courteous little bow.

"Likewise," said Edwina Malkin, without looking up from her pinning. "None of that twitching now, Miss Vega."

"Sorry," Aurelia muttered. "Do you like it?" she added to Remus.

"It's certainly got lots of ribbon," said Remus, after lightly tapping his mustache with the tip of his index finger for a moment--a gesture he often made when he was pondering or forming an opinion about something. "I think it's lovely," he added with a smile. "It's for the wedding, I presume?"

Aurelia's grin became a rather superior one. "Lily asked me to be her chief bridesmaid. She told me that she'd have asked her sister Petunia to be chief bridesmaid, except she said Petunia--and Petunia's husband--were about as likely to come to the wedding as You-Know-Who is to decide to stop killing and torturing people of his own accord."

"Good point," said Remus, who'd heard quite a lot about Petunia Evans--now Dursley since she'd gotten married to that college friend of hers, Vernon, about whom he recalled Lily telling him a few times before.

"And then she told me I've been a far better big sister to her than Petunia was," Aurelia went on. "Not since Lily first started going to Hogwarts, anyway. But I've got to tell you, there's a lot involved with this chief bridesmaid thing. I had so much fun with Lily picking out the design for her dress, but was it ever a job to get the bridesmaids' dresses taken care of--luckily Lily loved the design I picked out--and then I've still got to finalize plans with the bridesmaids for hen's night--that's the bachelorette party, if you didn't know--then I've got to go over the seating arrangements with Lily, and then there's the rehearsal ceremony the day before--"

"I thought James and Lily were keeping this a small and quiet celebration," Remus chuckled.

"They are!" Aurelia laughed. "But they still want to have a majority of the fixings of a fairly traditional white wedding, you know. I have to admit I like the idea. I was discussing it with Lily, and she agrees with me as well: a wedding like this is sure to lift everyone's spirits in this time of war and fear. Celebrations of love have a tendency to do that, believe it or not."

"Yes," said Remus. Now all this talk of Lily made Remus want to seek her out. "Have you seen Lily around, Aurelia?" he inquired.

"I think she's in the dining room with James discussing something about having another private dinner with their parents--Aldous and Leandres Potter, and Harry and Violet Evans," said Aurelia. "You know: got to go through the paces of the whole 'meet the parents' thing."

Remus' heart sank.

Then he smiled and thanked Aurelia for her assistance in any case, before retreating upstairs to his room.

Feeling thoroughly weary, he decided to take a short nap.

He woke a little after one o'clock in the afternoon and, hungry, decided to make himself a sandwich downstairs in Elphias' kitchen. He passed through the drawing room, and this time it was Lily being fitted.

Remus could not prevent the rush of color that heated his face. He hadn't expected to see her, and being fitted for her wedding dress no less. Fortunately her back was turned, and Edwina Malkin was wrapped up in her work, so neither of them were aware of his presence in the room.

And the dress: it was just like the one from his dream...the straps hung down so that her porcelain-like shoulders were exposed, and then the bodice dipped down in a low V to expose the smooth, creamy small of her back. He licked his lips. Before he could stop himself, he allowed his eyes to wander down the nape of her neck, longing as he'd never longed before...imagining himself caressing that naked back with his knuckles before taking her mouth in his....

But then Edwina Malkin asked Lily to turn, and Lily turned so that Remus was within her range of vision.

Her green eyes went wide. "Remus!" she exclaimed, and despite Miss Malkin's protestations and admonishments, she leapt off the stool upon which she'd been standing and ran to Remus, threw her arms around his neck, pulling him a tight embrace.

Remus could hardly contain himself. It was so much like his dream....

Without thought he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close....

It was a good thing his self-control kicked in right in the nick of time, so that he put on his brakes and skidded to a halt just before he started planting kisses on her beautiful, silky smooth neck. He pushed her away slightly in order to keep himself from doing it anyhow, just in case.

Then Lily pulled back and cupped his face in her hands.

He gazed back into her green eyes, trying to hide the torture she was causing him just because she was touching him like this.

"How long have you been back?" she asked.

"I just got back this morning," Remus replied hoarsely. "Sorry I didn't check in first. I was tired and so I kipped up in my room for a bit. I was just about to have lunch, actually."

"Oh, well, I mean, we just hadn't heard from you for a week, and...I was worried." She took her hands away from his face and swept her eyes down as she began fumbling nervously with her engagement ring on her finger.

"I was busy with my assignment, that's all," said Remus, giving her a reassuring smile. "Now Dumbledore's given me a week off from Order work, so I can relax and be there for the wedding." He raised his hand as if to lift her chin up with it, but then decided against it and let his arm drop at his side.

Then Lily looked up at him herself, and smiled, blinking a little more than what was perhaps considered normal. "Well, I'm just glad to see you're back and safe," she said and stood on her toes. Before he could stop her, she planted a kiss on his cheek, and then whirled around and hurried back over to the stool, where Edwina Malkin stood waiting for her with her hands on her hips.

The place where she'd kissed him was still warm, and dazedly, Remus reached up to touch it as he walked out of the room and escaped to the kitchen, where he found Sirius making his own sandwich for lunch. "Oh," he said mechanically.

Sirius turned at the sound of his voice.

"Remus! When'd you get back?" Sirius hurried over and pulled him into a rough, fraternal hug. "Find any wolvies?"

"Er...yeah--erm, I mean no." Remus pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Ach. No such luck, unfortunately."

"Ah, well. Dig up anything on your little bro?"

Remus took his hand away from his face and looked mournfully at Sirius.

Sirius' expression became sympathetic. "Oh. Sorry about that, mate." He went back over to his sandwich and went about continuing to make it.

Remus proceeded to fix himself his own.

"James and Peter and I've been doing a bit of digging ourselves on that," said Sirius. "No such luck though. That Greyback's a toughie."

"They're all toughies. It's like they know I'm looking for them. They probably do, actually. That's probably why they killed Mickey, to get my only lead to them out of the picture. Not that they've banded together or anything--fat chance that'll happen--but I'm sure a couple of them thought it'd be a good way to get me off of their scents--doing it for their own good, not too concerned with the others, you know."

"How do you know that Mickey bloke's dead?"

"It's just a theory I had."

"Ah. Well, it's a good one."

They both sat down at the small wooden table to eat their sandwiches, and Remus asked Sirius of James and Peter's whereabouts.

"They're off on patrol duty," said Sirius, "But actually, while you were gone, Peter found himself a girlfriend. Stout like him. Name of Maggie Dobbins. Took her into his room the other night." He swallowed his bite of sandwich and snickered devilishly. "Blimey, did I hear some bedspring-creaking that night."

"You're incorrigible," Remus smiled and took another bite of food.

"Ah, well," said Sirius with a theatrical sigh as he wiped off his mouth with his napkin. "You know what this means, don't you?"

Remus tilted his head, slowing down his chewing and crinkling his brow in confusion. "No, I do not," he said.

Sirius leaned closer and lowered his voice. "You and I are the only two Marauders left that have yet to lose their virginities."

Remus turned away, fighting back a burst of laughter that would have caused him to spew his bite of sandwich all over the table. He swallowed it--laughter, sandwich, and all--and instead of commenting, took another large bite.

"Not to worry though," said Sirius, stretching and leaning casually back in his chair, posing gracefully and handsomely as always. He picked at what remained of his sandwich with his fingers. "I plan to find myself the right bird at the wedding. Best place to do it, you know."

"What about Aurelia?"

"What about her?"

"She's the chief bridesmaid, you know. Didn't Lily and James tell you? Lily chose her for the position."

"And that affects me how?"

Remus couldn't help but give a sly smile. "As the best man, you have to initiate the dancing at the reception by sharing a dance with the chief bridesmaid. That is, with Aurelia, in this case."

Sirius' grey eyes widened in comprehension, and he grew slightly ashen-faced. "Ah...er...ahem...well, that--that still doesn't mean anything, because I don't give a damn about Aurelia. After I dance with her, that's it. I'm free to womanize with all the other single birds to my heart's content. Find someone who doesn't annoy me quite so much. By the way, I highly recommend you partake in the 'festivities' as well." He rapidly moved his eyebrows up and down a couple of times in a suggestive manner.

"Sirius, don't be absurd," said Remus, swallowing.

"'Sirius, don't be absurd'," Sirius mimicked, crossing his eyes and adopting a nasally voice for his impression of Remus' usually rather "old-fashioned" manner of talking. Then he uncrossed his eyes and went on in his normal voice, "Moony, I am far from being 'absurd' right now: I'm being completely serious."

Remus arched his eyebrows at him, finding it hard not to laugh after seeing Sirius' ridiculous impression of him. "Are you now?"

"Totally," said Sirius. "Just er...don't go womanizing around my cousin Andromeda. She's going to be there as well."

"Is she really?" Remus found himself curiously interested to hear this.

"Yeah, and she's bringing her husband Ted Tonks, and their daughter--" Sirius sniggered, but then managed to compose himself after a moment's struggle "--Nymphadora with them, and she's only seven years old now, so that's why I'm advising you not to go flirting in front of them. See, I suggested to James and Lily that my little second cousin would be perfect to be the flower girl--especially since she's still just barely young enough to be one--so obviously James and Lily agreed. Only according to 'Dromeda's last letter she sent me, she says that Nymphadora isn't too thrilled about prancing down an aisle of people in a frilly dress tossing flower petals into the air.... You remember me showing you a picture of Nymphadora, don't you?"

"Yes," said Remus, smiling at the memory of all of those ridiculously scary faces that little girl had been making in her Halloween costume using her Metamorphmagus powers.

"Actually, now that I mention it," said Sirius, creasing his brow, "do you even know how to flirt?"

Remus blinked, pulling himself out of his reminiscence. "Er...erm...well...erm...."

"Didn't think so." Sirius got up from his chair and offered Remus his hand. "Come on then."

"W-What?"

"Time for your first Flirting Lesson. Remember those lessons James gave me? Well, now I'm passing them onto you. We really should've done this sooner, but at the time, well...we didn't think you were much interested in girls."

Remus quirked an eyebrow. "You thought I was gay?"

"No," Sirius denied at once, holding up his hands. "I mean we thought you had some sort of hormonal thing caused by your lycanthropy. You know...made you less...horny."

Remus snorted into his sandwich and set it down on his plate. "You are something else, Padfoot."

Sirius offered his hand again and Remus took it, and allowed Sirius to pull him to his feet. "Well, Moony, I certainly hope that whatever I am, some bird out there will appreciate it and love it as much as I love her. Right, so, to flirt: it's more than just walking up to a woman and striking up a conversation. Flirting by definition is the indirect advertising of sexual interest. So, when talking with a woman, always remember to use 'the cheeky smile', but only where appropriate of course."

"'The cheeky smile'?"

"Like this," said Sirius. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then, when he opened them, he gave Remus a smile that was relaxed, confident, and slightly mischievous.

"I don't know if I can do that...."

"Sure you can!"

"But women tend to me make forget how to be relaxed and confident." At least...one woman in particular....

"You recall I had the same problem, don't you?"

"Well, yes, but--"

"No 'buts'." Sirius wagged a finger at Remus. "Now, let me see that cheeky smile of yours."

Remus sighed and gave Sirius one of his smirks. It was the best he could do.

"Not bad," said Sirius. "Do it in front of a mirror every night until the wedding and you should have it down. You see, the purpose of the cheeky smile is to spark the woman's curiosity. She'll wonder if it means whether or not you like her, and then, if she knows how, she will start to flirt back with you to see if you do like her. Now: to approach the woman in the first place, you've got to give off that same air of confidence. There are a few women who think the meek and nervous and quiet bloke is cute, and all, but only a few, and you're not going for cute: you're going for, 'I am the bloke for you, baby!' Now, to avoid the stupid tactic of just strolling up to a bird and saying, 'I think you're attractive: do you find me that way? Because I most certainly find you that way,' you walk up casually and comment on something other than her, namely, something she's forming an opinion about. For example: find a girl who's examining her options at the buffet table, and then you act like you're just doing the same thing, and you make an acceptable--perhaps even witty--comment on the shrimp."

"The shrimp?"

"The shrimp. Or the ladyfingers. Whatever's there. So, let's just pretend for a moment that I'm a gorgeous young witch trying to decide whether to trough some summer pudding or...erm...nibble on some celery."

"By confident, do you mean I should swagger when I walk?"

"No, no. Swaggering's for Don Juans--blokes who make a sport of seducing young vulnerable women. Just walk like you normally do. Stick your hands in your pockets, that's good. Now walk up." Sirius took a feminine stance, leaning his weight on one leg and sticking his hands on his hips. Then he tossed his head as if he were tossing a head of long hair, which he did not have. His hair was quite undeniably short, which made his impression of a woman all the more amusing to Remus.

Trying not to laugh he walked up next to Sirius standing at the table pretending to contemplate an imaginary selection of summer puddings.

"Er...can't decide what you want?" Remus said uncertainly. This was even more difficult when it was Sirius, and not just a random beautiful woman.

Sirius looked up at him and pretended to be surprised that he was there. Then he giggled in a way that Remus suspected might have been just a bit of an insult to the female persuasion, and batted his eyelashes rapidly. "Oh-ho! Why yes," he said in a ridiculously high-pitched voice that cracked because of his developed male baritone. "You've got it in one! I'm really dying for one of these scrumptious puddings, but I just know they'll go straight to my thighs!"

Remus highly doubted that women normally conversed this way, but he gave Sirius the benefit of the doubt, and, remembering to flash the cheekiest smile he could manage, reached over to an invisible celery stick on an invisible platter of invisible crackers, cheese, and a couple other fruits and vegetables, and held it out for Sirius. "Might I suggest a substitute for your hunger pangs, my dear?" he said in the most suave voice he could manage.

Sirius looked erotically up into his eyes. "Oh...why thank you...kind stranger...." He was very close...closer to Remus' face than Remus could ever remember him being before.... They could have brushed their lips they were so close...if they were inclined to do so, that is....

"Ahem!"

Remus and Sirius looked to the kitchen door and then leapt away from each other at the sight of James standing there with a wide-eyed Peter. James, meanwhile, had a smug grin on his face and was leaning casually against the doorframe with his arms folded.

"Sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds..." James jested.

"I was giving Remus here a flirting lesson, thank you very much!" Sirius snapped brusquely, speaking in his normal baritone again. He sounded quite affronted. Then, turning to Remus, he added with an encouraging smile, "By the way, that was excellent for your first try, and not to mention doing it with me rather than an actual woman. I felt just as awkward, believe me, when I was doing with James." He threw James a look.

James laughed and said, "I knew it wasn't real, mate!"

Sirius smiled, and then gave Remus one last piece of advice: "Just don't 'er' so much, especially when you first start talking."

Remus blushed. "I couldn't help it. It was you, and I felt uncomfortable."

Sirius inclined his head. "Understandable."

"Did you get back this morning, Remus?" James asked, moving into the kitchen with Peter still glancing confusedly between Remus and Sirius.

"Peter we were just pretending," Remus assured him. "And yes, I did just get back this morning. I was tired so I took a bit of nap, and then I came down here and Sirius and I had lunch. As friends."

James laughed and clapped Remus on the shoulder. "Well, Peter and I just got back from patrol, and we come in to find out Edwina wants us to get fitted now."

"Fitted for what?" asked Sirius.

"For our morning suits," said Peter. "Oh, and Sirius, did you tell Remus about Maggie?"

"I did. You bringing her as a date to the wedding?"

Peter nodding, beaming.

"I hear you had a bit of fun with her the other night," Remus said slyly.

Peter went on beaming, but his whole face turned bright scarlet. "Er...yeah...we did. She was a sugary little thing though."

Remus crinkled his brow, a bit bothered that Peter wasn't showing the same maturity and wisdom and modesty and respect that James had after his first time. Perhaps Peter didn't "truly and honestly" love Maggie, as James "truly and honestly" loved Lily then....

Peter, meanwhile, cleared his throat and said, "So, how about getting fitted for those morning suits, eh?"

"Ergh," said Sirius exasperatedly. "Do I have to wear a morning suit? Couldn't I come in decked out in my dragon skin togs?"

"I'd be willing to go as far as a dragon skin morning suit," said James. "But either way it's got to be a morning suit. Lily's very adamant about this."

"I don't think dragon skin would work as a morning suit," Remus pointed out.

"Alright then," said Sirius resignedly. "Woolen morning suit it is. Well, on to the fitting!"

The morning suits (or "tuxedos") themselves were going to be ivory white with black bow ties, and either black cummerbunds or black low-cut three-button waistcoats. During the fitting of each, Edwina would ask the other three friends opinions on the design so far.

"Now, for Mister Pettigrew, here, I think that the cummerbund would be best considering his stout frame," said Edwina when she was fitting Peter for his morning suit. "What do you think?" she asked Remus, James, and Sirius, sitting together on the drawing room sofa and watching.

Remus, James, and Sirius looked at each other.

"Er...sure...yeah...alright," they said, nodding fervently.

When it was Remus' turn, he felt as though he'd been thrust onto a stage, with his three friends watching as Edwina Malkin pinned ivory white trousers onto him, and a stark white dress shirt with black buttons that was pleated in the front.

"Hmmm...I think that with Mister Lupin's lanky build, he'd be far better suited to a black waistcoat, as opposed to a cummerbund. Yes, I think we'll give him the waistcoat."

Remus was glad when his fitting was over and done with.

As it turned out, Sirius fidgeted even more than Aurelia had when Edwina Malkin had been pinning up her bridesmaid's dress.

"Mister Black, do stand still for at least a second!" Edwina snapped. "You're acting completely like a child!"

"So sorry, Miss Malkin," said Sirius innocently. Then he winked impishly at Remus, and Remus realized that he was fidgeting on purpose: he was flirting. Strange though that when Edwina had compared him to a child, he'd remained quite calm and suave, but when Aurelia had made a similar comment towards him....

Remus also found it hard to believe that annoying a woman could be considered flirting with her--that is unless you were about twelve or thirteen years old. Remus recalled that when James had been that old, he'd often teased Lily, though not in a mean way, just in a way that made him a nuisance to her, made her roll her eyes at him and take the best possible escape route from being in the same room with him.... Actually, now that he thought about it, Remus had a feeling that the teasing form of flirting probably wasn't the best tactic when you were much older than thirteen. Maybe even thirteen was still a bit too old. Regardless, Remus deduced that while Sirius was eighteen (he'd be turning nineteen in August), Edwina Malkin was probably a few years older than him. Then again, as they'd discovered with his crush on Marlene McKinnon, Sirius had an odd taste for women who were older than him....

"You know what: I think I'll put you in a cummerbund just because I know it'll look bad on you!" Edwina Malkin threatened when Sirius fidgeted again. "Get off the stool, you're done here!"

"A pleasure, Miss Malkin," Sirius said with a courteous bow as he stepped off the stool and gave Edwina all the clothes she had pinned onto him.

When James was being fitted, Edwina said, "Now, for the groom, Mister Potter here, I rather like the idea of a waistcoat, but it'd be nice if he'd match the best man, and in that case, I'd need to put him in a cummerbund."

"Or you could put the best man in a waistcoat," said Sirius, who was, of course, the best man, officially speaking. He flashed one of his cheeky smiles at the tailor.

Edwina Malkin scowled at him. This was obviously ruining her plans to irk Sirius by putting him in a suit that made him look bad, although either way, it really wouldn't matter, because Sirius was just so incredibly sexy by conventional standards. "But I've already fitted you for a cummerbund, Mister Black, and as the groom, Mister Potter here simply can't look stupid next to his beautifully dressed bride. I suppose I can live with the two of you not matching."

"But then won't everyone think I'm the best man since I'm the only one up there that'll be wearing a waistcoat as well?" Remus asked, giving her a slight one of his smirks.

"No, because they'll know Mister Black is the best man because he'll be standing right next to Mister Potter here, and just as when you and Mister Pettigrew are standing right beside Mister Black, everyone will identify you two as the groomsmen." But then Remus noticed that the color rose in her cheeks somewhat as she returned to fitting James for his waistcoat.

Had he just flirted without realizing he was doing it? Well, if I did, it's not quite as difficult as I thought it would be then, is it...?

"Miss Malkin, please just put Sirius in a waistcoat," said James. "I promise he'll behave while you refit him," though he looked at Sirius when he added this.

"Oh, very well," she said when she'd finished fitting him. "Off you go, then. Come here, Mister Black, let's fit you for a waistcoat instead...."

~

Two nights before the wedding, while Aurelia and the bridesmaids held Lily's bachelorette party--or "hen's night"--within the well protected wards of Elphias' mansion's east-wing apartment (where'd they'd all be staying until the arrival of the wedding day except for Lily, who wouldn't be sleeping there until the night of, and then on the actual day of the wedding it would be rapidly cleaned up and prepared to serve as the place for James and Lily's honeymoon, since travel these days was just too risky) Remus, Sirius, and Peter held a little bachelor party--or "stag night"--for James in the mansion's drawing room. Tradition dictated that the best man (Sirius) plan for it, and Remus and Peter (the groomsmen) help him out with it.

Sirius immediately warmed to the fact that it was called stag night because it just so happened that James' Animagus form was a stag. With that in mind, when Sirius led him into the drawing room blindfolded that night, then whipped off and turned up the lights, and he, Remus, and Peter yelled, "Surprise!" they had an enormous cake on a platter shaped like a stag's head with antler-shaped candles, and Sirius presented him with a pair of costume antlers to wear on his head.

"Sirius, I know you like a good laugh," said James as Sirius put the antlers on him, "and--ha, ha, I get it, it's a stag night and I just happen to turn into a stag at will--but honestly...."

"I think they're quite becoming on you, James," said Peter.

"I agree," said Remus. "You should definitely wear them for the wedding ceremony."

James punched his arm, but he was smiling. He took them off eventually though, and no one was really all that disappointed.

While they were having rounds of cake and firewhiskey, they listened, on the music orb, to their favorite band from back when they were in fourth year at Hogwarts: The Witching Hour. As teenage boys, the Marauders had often insisted on turning up the volume whenever a song by The Witching Hour came up on the Wizarding Wireless in the common room of Gryffindor Tower. And their requests were always followed obligingly, because The Witching Hour was a very popular post-punk wizarding band.

"Turn it up, quick!" Sirius once shouted over his homework. "It's their new single, 'Black Cats'!"

And then the whole room sang along with Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter:

"Black cats, black cats

Screamin' in the street

Screamin' like iddy biddy

Banshees in heat!

My wand is hot

Gonna fire her charm

Kitty-cat's got claws but can't

Do me no harm!"

Then they played a few drinking games before they all gradually passed out on the various pieces of drawing room furniture.

The four of them slept it off the next morning. The first to awaken was Remus. He woke to an utterly silent mansion. It looked as though all of its other occupants--Elphias Doge himself included--were out doing pre-set-up for the wedding ceremony tomorrow morning. He hated to think that any one of them had seen the four of them like this--him sprawled out on his stomach on the chaise long, Sirius lying on his side on the sofa with his mouth hanging wide open, James slumped in the armchair with his glasses askew, and Peter splay-legged in the wing-backed chair.

With a groan Remus dragged himself up and climbed the stairs to his room. He went straight to his journal and sat down at the little writing desk next to the window. He dipped his pheasant-feather quill in the ink and prepared to write, but as he did so, he had trouble recalling much of what had happened last night. After he penned down as much he could remember, he wondered in his journal if maybe he should have put that Auto-Thought-Recording Spell on it, but then he realized a moment later that his thoughts still would have been broken and jumbled just as much as his memories of his thoughts were. Drunk was drunk, no matter what.

He set his quill aside with a sigh and leaned back in the chair. He folded his hands, leaned his elbows on the armrests, and pressed his interlocked fingers to his mouth as he gazed out the window onto the sunlit gardens of Elphias' estate. The open window allowed a soothing, warm summer breeze to blow in and wash over Remus' face, and he quietly delighted in the sounds of birdsong.

He put these tranquil and contenting thoughts down into his journal.

And then, as he set aside his pen once more, he heard crying...it sounded like a woman. Not just crying, but sobbing.

His ears pricked up upon hearing it, and he followed it to its source.

Lily.

He rose to his feet, a strong, painful urgency to go to her taking hold of him. He crossed the hallway to the room diagonally across from his--James and Lily's room. The door was ajar, revealing Lily crouched on their bed with her back against the headboard, the sheets all mussed up from sleeping in it, wearing her pajama shorts and t-shirt, her face buried in her hands, her shoulders heaving from gentle sob after gentle sob.

He gave a soft knock anyway, out of politeness. "Lily?"

Lily looked up from her hands, giving a tiny gasp. Remus had never seen Lily's pretty green eyes so red and puffy before, had never seen her so broken up over anything. This was the same woman who had once pulled a wand on James when they were fifteen for having played another mean joke on Severus Snape, the same woman who dueled with Death Eaters and laughed in the face of danger. He could see that woman in there, in those red and puffy eyes.

Lily, seeming to recognize him, said in a very thick voice, "Oh, Rebus...I'b sorry...did I wage you?"

"No, no, not at all," Remus replied kindly. "May I come in?"

Lily nodded. She reached over to the nightstand and plucked a tissue from the box on it. She blew her nose with gusto as Remus came and sat beside her on the bed.

"Everything all right?" Remus asked her gently when she'd finished.

Lily sniffled and crumpled up the tissue in her hands. "Do, I'b dot," she whimpered, now fiddling with the tissue with her perfect fingers, her voice still making her sound like she had a head cold. "There are so bany beoble I really wanded to cobe to this...."

Remus inferred that "this" was in reference to her and James' wedding the very next day.

"Dot just by sister," Lily went on, "but everyone we've lost too...lige Fabian and Gideon...Barlene BcGinnon and her fabily...and Caradoc...and Benjy and Iseabail--and they were going to barried too--And then...I so wanded your parents to be here too...I bean bine will, and James' will, and Peter's will and--well dot Sirius' but that's a good thing but--but your mother and father were such caring, wonderful beoble, and then you had them and your boor liddle brother tagen away frob you!" Another series of sobs tumbled out of her, her face disappearing in her hands once more, enshrouded by her long, dark red hair.

Very quietly, Remus said, "Lily."

She looked up at him.

"Come here," he said softly, in a voice that did not betray the wild emotions inside him.

Would she let him hold her?

Oh how he longed to hold her....

But would she let him...?

He got his answer. The words had barely passed his lips before she moved, crawling towards him and whimpering without questioning his intentions. He hesitated for a moment out of shock as she settled on his lap, but the next moment it sank in and he easily closed her up in the circle of his arms and held her close, her head tucked beneath his chin. His mind reeled with the reality of what was going on. She was in his arms. She was sobbing into his shoulder. She had come into his embrace of her own volition. His heart raced with an ecstasy he felt, an ecstasy brought about by a combination of the euphoria that came with holding her like this, and the intense grief that the two of them were sharing as they both thought of all of their fallen comrades in the Order, all the massacred Muggles and Muggle-borns and half-bloods and Squibs, and all the slaughtered creatures who weren't humans but were swept with the tide of this wizard war against their wills...his own beloved mother and father murdered leaving his brother to be abducted by Greyback...all who had died before this day, all who could not be with them.

He dared to stroke her hair a little, caress her smooth, creamy shoulder he'd always dreamed of touching exposed by her sleeveless sleeping top as he whispered consoling words to her. As he did so, her sobs became fewer and farther between, until ultimately they were no more, and meanwhile he savored the feel of her lachrymose and nasal mucus soaking through the thin cotton of his shoulder. Then she blinked up at him, her green eyes more beautiful to him than ever despite their redness and puffiness, and, managing a shaky little smile, she said to him: "Oh Rebus...where'd you learn how to comfort beoble lige that? You're quide good at it, you dow."

Remus suddenly felt a lump the size of his fist rise in his throat, and tears formed in his own eyes at the memory of when she had once held him while he cried for the deaths of his parents. In trepidation he cupped her face in his trembling hands, and with a tenderly sad smile he told her, "I learned that from you, my love."

Those two words, my love, he filled with every last bit of his love for her, and he thought he might then shatter on the inside and rain both teardrops and kisses all over her glorious, radiant visage. It was the first time he had ever really spoken aloud to her of what had always truly been in his aching, lonely heart.

Before she could respond, he planted a chaste kiss with his lips upon her brow crinkled in mild confusion, took his hands away from her face, stood, and turned away from her, left her alone, never to touch her again.