Pride and Prejudice

Epilogue - Rub It In

The clinking of metal on glass turned everyone's attention to the head table where the mischievous and handsome Sirius Black was standing, trying to look important as he tapped his glass without breaking it.

"I think I'm not the only one who can say 'I told you so'," he said cheekily, glancing to where James and Lily sat next to him, both of them turning red at the statement but pleased none the less. "But as best man, and James' best friend, I have the right to embarrass him much more than that. Nikkie, if you please."

Sirius' new fiancé who was sitting next to him handing him a small bit of parchment and Sirius cleared his throat excessively, giving James enough time to glare at him dangerously, but Sirius, being Sirius, chose to ignore it.

"I have here a list of every single pick up line that James ever used on Lily."

An explosion of laugher went through the hall as Lily turned bright red and James tried to snatch the paper out of his friend's hand.

"You kept a record!?" James asked in disbelief.

"Just for posterity," Sirius said with a wink. He turned back to the crowd and began to read them. They started with the normal corny ones that James and Lily both remembered from their 4^th and 5^th year when James began his "Lily-Obsession".

"So there you are! I've been looking all over for YOU, the girl of my dreams!..."

James and Lily progressively got more embarrassed as James began getting more creative with his lines."

"Am I dead, Angel? Cause this must be heaven!..."

At this point lily threw a fork at Sirius who dodged it and, with glee, kept reading.

"Hello. Are you taking any applications for a boyfriend?..."

They got progressively worse till Lily managed to put a silencing spell on him that she forbid Nikkie to remove and Sirius was forced to sit down.

Luckily, Remus was next so James and Lily could relax.

"I have to say that even though there have been enough jokes on the subject, James and Lily," he turned to them, "What took so bloody long!?"

They both smiled and Lily leaned onto James' shoulder as the chuckling died down and Remus turned back to the audience.

"I'm one of the few people on the planet that manage to be friends with both James and lily throughout their ::ahem:: relationships and It's been a rollercoaster for everyone. I'm grateful this day has finally come so that we can stop plotting over their lives."

With a smile he turned back to James and Lily. "I've never seen two people who deserve each other more, and I think it's even more special that you have already gone through enough spats that you're sure you can survive with each other. Goodness knows that no one could survive with either of you."

"I can honestly say my school days would have gone much different without having James as a friend, but I can't imagine them to have been better. He was there for me just like a brother I never had. And Lily, always there to lend a kind word or give me an extra two inches of parchment, was always smiling."

He had a few tears sparkling in his eyes as he spoke, "I give you every blessing I could possibly give, my very dear friends."

James felt a lump in his throat as he got up to give Remus a hug, Lily following him and doing the same.

"Thanks, Moony," he told him quietly.

"That was beautiful, Remus," Lily added.

Everyone clapped as they all went to sit and the deserts appeared on everyone's plates. James felt Lily reach under the table to grasp his hand and he willingly complied.

"Ah, guys?" They turned to see Sirius glaring at them, the silencing charm still on him and Nikkie giving them a pitiful look.

"Please? I want to talk to my fiancé..."

Lily glared back at Sirius. "Give me the parchment."

Sirius shook his head in the negative and Lily brought her wand up warningly. Sirius' eyes went wide and he flinched as she brought it closer to him. Nikkie rolled her eyes and grabbed the parchment away from him, tossing it to Lily despite Sirius' flailing hands to get it back. Lily snatched it quickly up and immediately removed the charm from Sirius.

"You guys are no fun," he pouted, filling his plate with deserts.

"Har, Har..." Lily said as she started reading down the list. James peaked over her shoulder and began reading through them as well.

"You really used all of these? James there are pathetic! No wonder I never said yes!"

James huffed indignantly and grabbed it out of her hands, scanning it quickly.

"Okay, you're right," he said, taping it with his wand causing it to disappear.

"Where'd it go?" Sirius demanded. "I've been keeping that list for years!"

"Somewhere where you will never, ever find it again. You have enough blackmail on me as it is," James reminded him as they all started to eat.

Sirius opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by a loud bang, causing everyone to jump, which was followed by confetti raining down from above. The friends looked up to see the glowing words "LONG LIVE THE MARAUDERS" shining high up on the ceiling of the large reception hall. James and Sirius both smirked at each other, Peter and Remus giving each other knowing looks.

"James, I thought you said no pranks," Lily argued, picking the confetti out of her ice cream, though her lips twitched into a small smile.

"I didn't do it," James insisted.

"Me either," Sirius added.

Bother Remus and Peter defended their innocence as well but Lily and Nikkie just rolled their eyes and continued to eat.

James leaned over to Sirius after the girls stopped looking suspiciously at them, the words still glowing brightly above them.

"Did you do it? Seriously, Padfoot."

"It wasn't me! I swear! You said no pranks, I do no pranks."

"I also said no embarrassing speeches."

"Ah, Prongs, I had that planned since the first time you asked Evans out."

"Potter."

"Right, Potter."

"So who did it?"

"Remus wouldn't, I told him no, and Peter doesn't have enough guts."

They bother turned to the crowd, looking for any suspicious activity but were unable to pinpoint it on anyone.

"Guess we'll never know," James said with a sigh, going back to his food.

Sirius seemed slightly peeved but let it go. Neither one of them noticed Lily and Nikkie both lean back slightly and give each other a wink.

--*--

"Ready, Mrs. Potter?"

"Are you trying to rub it in?"

James made a pouting face at Lily who was adjusting her skirt in the mirror. He walked up, putting his arms around her waist, delaying her primping. "What? You don't like it?"

Lily turned in his arms, their faces inches apart, offering him a radiant smile. "No, I love it."

He leaned in, kissing her hard and long, hardly daring to realize that they were finally married. The kiss could have lasted much longer, but Lily pulled away from a disappointed James.

"They're waiting."

"Right, let's go."

Lily extracted herself from James and grabbed her flowers.

Grasping hands they both stepped into the hallway, an uproar of cheering sounding as they walked out, hand in hand. Both were dressed in casual muggle clothes, finally out of the fancy wedding robes and both couldn't help but grin like idiots.

Lily raised the flowers above her head, throwing them into the fray. Not even waiting to see who caught them, James quickly grabbed her hand, pulling her down the stairs and quickly out the door, before too many people could stop them. Lily screamed slightly as the sparks flew around them from everyone's wands lighting their way to the carriage that sat out there for them.

James held tight to her, helping her into the carriage and getting in quickly. As they turned to wave, James saw Sirius with his arm around Nikkie who was waving Lily's flowers in one hand and blowing them a kiss with the other.

Sirius gave James a pointed wink before the enchanted carriage slowly lifted into the air, leaving the party far behind.