Inevitable

Chapter Twenty-Two

Mrs. Vernon Dursley

Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage - William Shakespeare

Lily was in a panic. She had completely forgotten about Petunia's wedding present, a very unsisterly thing to do. So now, three days before the ceremony, she was wandering through Muggle London desperate to find an appropriate gift. So far all that she could come up with was a nice platter, but she thought that perhaps she should get more than that; this was her only sister's wedding, after all.

She also needed a date. Badly. She had promised not to bring 'that boy.' Not like they had spoken in the past two and a half weeks...

There!

In the window of the store she had just passed was a set of wine glasses that would be perfect.

One down, she thought as she stepped into the store to purchase the set of glasses.

It was late before she arrived back at the flat. Nearly time for her to go the Headquarters and begin her night-long vigil in the makeshift hospital. There she would certainly be subconsciously hoping that someone would come in injured, just for something to do and something to keep her awake, as well as to give her another reason to put off planning the stealing of those files and the chopping of that Mandrake.

"Do you want me to wrap them?" Lene asked, as Lily pulled out a few vials of potion she had 'borrowed' from St. Mungo's for her own use at Headquarters - she really was going to put off chopping that Mandrake as long as possible.

"No, thanks," Lily replied. "I can do it in the morning."

"Sirius'll be there," Lene continued, "finishing up the new wards. He said he'll stop by and keep you company. Well..." She paused and laughed a little. "What he actually said was that he'd try and get himself painfully but not fatally injured fighting for the cause, so that you have something worth doing."

Lily laughed. "What? Fixing the big hole in the wall he'll create by getting injured?"

"Come now, there'll be no holes in walls. Maybe in the floor... or maybe a few trees on the ground. And since this is Sirius, we can't rule out all around utter pandemonium and chaos, but holes in the walls? Never."

Four hours later Lily dealt her cards and prepared for a rowdy game of solitaire. Merlin, but she was bored. It was her responsibility to stay awake all night in Headquarters, as there was always someone doing some sort of work that could potentially require immediate attention. Currently, however, Lily just wished that Sirius would crash his head through a wall, just so that she would have someone to talk to.

As though he had read her thoughts, a knock came at the door, and it swung open.

Lily leapt up, startled, and Sirius stepped through.

"Scared you, did I?" he said with a smile.

Lily just rolled her eyes and settled for reprimanding him. "Don't you have a job to do?"

He held up a hand. "Splinter. I need immediate medical attention."

"Oh." She smiled, and gestured for him to sit down. "Sounds serious. I think you should stay here for another hour or so, just for supervision."

"It hurts a lot," he whimpered, then grinned at her. "I hear you're on your way to some nuptials in the next few days?"

"Day after tomorrow," she replied, looking through a drawer for a pair of tweezers.

"Got a date yet? Because I know this great guy who just got out of a really serious relationship, and he's really feeling down about himself right now, and a date with a great girl like you would be really good for him."

Pestle, hazel leaves, seeds, empty vial, spoon, quill, key, Galleon - ohh. Lily pocketed that. But where were the tweezers?

"Sirius, would you come with me?"

Aha! There you are. Thought you could hide, did you? Lily picked up the tweezers triumphantly.

"Ah, Lily? That defeats my point. I'm busy getting you and my best friend back together."

"I know." She took his hand and looked over his palm for the splinter. Then she held back a laugh. The teeniest, tiniest splinter was at the base of his thumb. Some big, tough fighter Sirius was.

"You're undermining my work." He looked warily at the tweezers.

She looked down at him and smiled, in what she hoped was a sweet, persuasive way. "I promised my sister that I wouldn't bring 'that boy,' meaning Potter. You, on the other hand, I can bring. Plus we can pretend to be together to torture her, and I won't feel bad later."

"Take Remus."

"Full moon's the day before the wedding. He'll be feeling sick."

"And I'll be exhausted from being up all night with him. Take Peter."

"Peter's not as good an actor as you are, besides, he'll be just as tired as you."

"Take James, it'll torture her even more."

"I promised, and as much fun as it would be to break the promise, it is her wedding day. Come on Sirius, be my boyfriend for a day." She batted her eyelashes.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. But I don't have to wear a tukkemo, do I?"

"I'd appreciate it if you wore a suit."

"Fine. OW!"

Lily smiled, and held up the tweezers. Between the prongs was clutched a tiny splinter.

*

Sirius Black was going to die.

Lily was going to kill him herself if he didn't show up in the next eleven seconds. Ten. Nine. Eight.

There was fifteen minutes before Petunia's wedding was to begin, and as her sister, who had patiently sat through the longest rehearsal ever, just the night before, Lily was expected to be early.

Five. Four. Three.

She blew an escaped ringlet out of her face and turned to check the clock again.

"He'll be here." Lene was perched sideways in a chair, reading the Daily Prophet, not caring in the least that Lily was going to be late for her sister's wedding.

"I'll kill him."

"No you won't, he'll - Look, there he is now."

There was a knock at the door, and Lily flung it open to reveal Sirius Black standing in the hall, looking very uncomfortable.

"Sorry," he said. "I had to find... well..." He gestured to his tie. "That."

As amusing as it would normally be, Lily was in no mood for it. "We're going to be late," she said. "Let's go." Grabbing his hand, she stepped into the hall, to where her floor's Apparation point was, and Disapparated.

Appearing instantly in a washroom, Lily opened the door and peered out. Seeing no one, she opened it fully and stepped out, Sirius in tow.

He glanced around, seemingly very interested in the large wooden cross above the door that led outside. "So," he said, "I'm a Muggle. What do I do again?"

"You're a student. You're studying...um... Ancient Greek literature," she replied, picking a subject that she knew none of Petunia's friends would know anything about.

"And I've been dating you for a month and I love you to pieces, even though you and my best friend would-"

"Don't even bother. Come on." Taking his hand, Lily walked to the front, nodded her greeting to a few faces that she recognised, and sat down in the front pew. She was going to make this as painless as possible, by avoiding conversation with others. Not that many of Petunia's friends could carry on a conversation that wasn't about the latest care for rhododendrons, or the perfect deodoriser for carpets.

"I've decided," Sirius said in an undertone, as he took in the surroundings, "that you are by far the best looking girl here. Quite fitting that you're my date, isn't it?"

Lily rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the side. "Thank you," she whispered. "Now remember, this is an in-and-out operation. We stay for dinner, maybe an hour of dancing, and then we're out. You have a term paper due tomorrow, and I could only get one day off."

He nodded absently, but was still looking around. "You know who really thinks you're the most beautiful girl in the world? Pro-"

"Shut up."

"Sorry... But he does. And when he's really depressed, he won't shut up about it. If I have to agree that you have green eyes one more time... Who's your sister marrying again?"

"Vernon Dursley."

"That prat from Christmas?"

"Shh."

"Well he was," Sirius repeated, but in a quieter voice.

"I know that, and you know that, but the whole place doesn't need to know that," Lily chided while waving half-heartedly at one of her old neighbours, a few rows back.

"You know who really hated Dursley? Prongs."

"Sirius," she said, far too sweetly, "I have about six different poisons at home, and I would be more than willing to-"

"Point taken, lover o' mine." He winked. "Why is the entire place covered in pink?"

"Because it's Petunia's favourite colour."

"Hmm." A slow grin formed on his face.

Lily bit the inside of her cheek and waited for the comment. Something was coming, she just wasn't sure what. But she would bet that it involved the word 'Prongs.'

"You know, when you and Prongs get married, he's not going to let you cover the whole place in green."

Sirius was rewarded with an elbow jab in his side. He retaliated by not taking that ridiculous, all-knowing smile off his face for the next ten minutes.

By the time the wedding was about to begin, and Vernon and his groomsmen had taken their places at the front, Lily was planning all the ways that she could murder Sirius. She had never before understood why James had said that planning his demise was a common practice among those who knew him well. Sirius himself was composing a song about a flower and a dainty little deer. Bludger to the temple. Fall off the Tower of London. Strangulation.

"Lily, darling, what rhymes with 'prance'? Dance doesn't fit in the context..."

Stampede of hippogriffs. Choke on a pine nut. "Lance, manse, chance," she suggested with a sigh.

"Chance! That's the one."

A nice swift Avada Kedavra would certainly do the trick, though.

The wedding march was a long, drawn out song. Lily didn't recognise the music, but she knew that it was only chosen to accent the particularly long line of bridesmaids. Bridesmaids, Lily was happy to note, who were wearing horrible bubble-gum pink dresses, with horrendously puffed sleeves. The epitome of horrid bridesmaid dresses. Finally, the line ended, and everyone stood. Petunia was about to enter, and about to be married.

*

"I'm so sorry, but I could only get one day off, and Sirius has a paper due tomorrow, and we have a long drive ahead of us."

"Oh," replied Lily's neighbour, Mrs Townsend, "it's a pity you couldn't stay longer. We haven't even done the Birdie Song yet!"

Lily held back her laughter. "I know. I really must go say goodbye to my parents now, though. Good seeing you again!"

She quickly took Sirius' hand, before he could say anything, and dragged him in the direction of her parents.

"Come on Lil," he whined, about a quarter of the way across the hall. "You said dinner and an hour of dancing. It's only been forty-eight minutes since dinner ended, and I've finally got this Muggle dancing down!" He did a quick demonstration, and Lily was quite disgusted to notice several female eyes flying in their direction. "Five more minutes?" he pleaded. "We can't miss the Birdie Song..."

She tried to look pitiful. "Please? I hate my sister's friends, I hate this music, and I have to work tomorrow." She smiled. "Besides, you have a paper due."

She wasn't feeling all that great, to tell the truth. Lily had had a lot of wine, and, having never been much of a drinker, she was feeling it.

He pouted, and Lily couldn't help but notice that it was a very nice pout. If she wasn't in love with his best friend, her knees probably would have melted. He seemed to realise this, and began to laugh at her.

"All women are the same," he said, not sparing her feelings in the least, as he led her back out to the dancing. "Come on. Prongs hasn't stopped glaring at me since I told him I was coming, and if there's pictures of us dancing then he'll be even more annoyed."

"And that's something you want?"

Sirius just looked down at her. "Have you ever seen him just plain annoyed? It doesn't happen very often anymore, but it's the funniest thing ever, especially when he can't do anything about it."

Lily pouted. No. She had seen angry and depressed and excited and noble and ecstatic and content and scared and ironic and possessive and jealous and loving and happy and confused, but she couldn't say that she had ever seen just plain annoyed.

But then Sirius spun her around, and she had to start focusing on what her feet were doing, or else risk falling over. He twirled her several times before she caught on to how to step without falling, and when she did, she changed her mind.

So maybe they'd stay a bit longer.

Just a bit.

An hour and a half later, Lily's feet hurt and Sirius was getting bored. They sat at the side of the dance floor; Lily was rubbing her foot and working on another glass of wine while Sirius was making eye contact and nodding at various passing girls.

"I don't know anyone but you," he complained. "And I can't get to know anyone else because 'I'm a wizard' doesn't really go over well."

"Better than 'I'm a witch,'" Lily pointed out.

He shrugged, not really wanting to admit that she might be right.

"You know," he said. "I've never been to a wedding that I enjoyed."

Lily prepared her eyes for the roll that they would soon be performing.

"I guess the first one I will enjoy will be yours and Prongs'. But then, I'll have to write a speech and help make sure things don't fall apart -" Lily snorted "- and I don't know if I want that much responsibility over you two. It's very hard work, being your get-back-together-er, you know."

Her eyes rolled. "Sirius," she warned.

"Lily," he taunted right back. "Come on, I couldn't convince you to bring him here, but you still like him, he still likes you, what's the problem? I think I'll recruit Lene to help me tomorrow. Moony has some stupid idea about things falling into place on their own, and Peter's refusing to help me at all! Something stupid about letting Prongs live his own life..." He rolled his eyes, as if the mere suggestion that James make his own decisions was lunacy.

She shrugged. "Can we not talk about this?" She wasn't liking the idea of having a third party, even if it was just Sirius, between herself and James.

"Lily... If I want to start a matchmaker business, I need credentials!"

"No."

He pouted again

Damn that pout. "I said let's take a break for a month. I was mad."

"And now you're not?"

She shrugged. No not really, but Sirius didn't need to know that.

"So what's the problem?"

She tilted her head to the side and shrugged. "I can't admit defeat?" she tried. There, that could be taken several ways.

"Problem solved - I'll admit defeat for you. Then you both can live happily ever after and I can write my speech."

Something clicked in Lily's mind. "Sirius," she asked sweetly, testing her theory, "you seem awfully concerned about James' happiness. It's really nice of you. I never really saw you as the sensitive, caring sort before."

"Uh, thanks, Lil. I never saw myself as the sensitive, caring sort either."

"I mean, James would never put himself through this much torture for you," she went on, sliding closer to him, and batting her eyes. "And you're just concerned, but it's not that big a deal anymore. It's over between James and I."

By this time she was very close to him, and he was looking decidedly uncomfortable. Which was a good thing; he was about to crack.

"How much wine have you had?"

"I never saw this side of you before," she said in a soft voice, raising her hand to the back of his neck. "Maybe later we -"

"Alright!" He sprang away. "Fine. He asked me to interrogate you. Is that what you wanted? Are you happy now?"

She kissed him on the cheek and slid a comfortable distance away from him. "Yes."

He slouched and pouted some more. "And now I'll have to put up with him being all depressed because I won't be able to tell him anything and it's all your fault."

Lily rolled her eyes, but understood. James depressed was, well, depressing. "What would you like to know?" she asked half-heartedly.

"Can I tell him I used some sort of absurdly complicated and confusing technique to trick you into revealing all?"

She nodded. "Except that I will not reveal all."

He shrugged. "Are you still mad at him?"

She shrugged. "Not really."

"Would you go out with him now, if he asked?"

"No," she said with a small smile. Pride was really a burden sometimes. "We agreed on a month, and I'm sure he can last another week."

"What if he got down on his knees and pleaded? And I just happened to be hiding behind a curtain with a camera?"

"As appealing as that sounds," she said, giving him a look, "the answer's still no."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Positive?"

"Sirius."

"Wait for it - I still have a trump card to play." He paused for effect.

"Sirius..."

"Lil, he's in love with you. Still. Even though you've been a royal bitch - don't look at me like that, you have. Will you please go talk to him? You can all be happy again? It's depressing Lil, it really is. It would be better if he'd just say that he's depressed, but he keeps acting like nothing's wrong and-"

She sighed. This was pathetic. Sirius Black, of all people, was trying to convince her to be with James again. She needed more wine.

"I love him Sirius, but I just..." she trailed off and shrugged, breaking eye contact and staring out over the dance floor.

Hm. There were a lot of people there. And Vernon's sister Marge, to whom Lily had taken an immediate dislike, was trying to salsa with one of the groomsmen. He looked pained.

"Lily?"

She shook her head, and her mind returned to her own dilemma. She only had to hold out another week, and then she'd have proven that her logic works. It was her logic. All she had to do was wait another week. It wasn't like anything could happen in a week to change his mind about wanting her back, and it wasn't as thought she was going to change her mind. She just wanted another week. It took people longer than three weeks to sort out feelings, after all. And she had never seen proof that James was particularly good at sorting out complicated emotions; he just went for what he wanted, and left it at that.

Just another week.

No matter how much it hurt.

"Come on," she said, putting her shoes back on and standing. "Let's go home."

But before they could leave, she really did have to speak with Petunia. She had avoided conversation with her sister all night. She couldn't leave, however, without at least congratulating her.

It seemed that that might be difficult though. She was really not feeling very good, and the floor swayed slightly beneath her. She gripped Sirius' arm, and he helped her over to where her sister was standing.

"Petunia?" she asked, coming up behind her sister and tapping her on the shoulder.

Petunia spun around and stepped away, almost tripping on her long train. She had one of the most elaborate dresses Lily could have imagined, beaded and ruffled with rosettes at the shoulders. It was truly hideous, in Lily's humble (and slightly intoxicated) opinion.

"Lily." She glanced at Sirius, and her eyebrows furrowed. "I told you not to bring any freaks," she said in a low voice.

"No," Lily replied slowly, as her brain seemed to be working in slow motion. "You told me not to bring James."

"Congratulations," Sirius said quickly. "Unfortunately, Lil and I have a long drive, and we have to go now."

"Hmph. I'm sure. As if your kind can drive."

"I have a motorbike. And it can fly." Sirius smiled, an impish look on his face as he glanced at Vernon. "I'll bet your husband doesn't have a bike that can fly."

Lily had sore feet. She was listening to some of the worst music she had ever heard. She was wearing stockings and heels. She had just confessed her love for James Potter to Sirius Black. Her head hurt and her feet hurt and she suspected that she was slightly drunk. It was a very bad time to annoy her.

"You're right Petunia," Lily said angrily, but still quietly. "We're not driving. We're Apparating. Probably to James' house, where we'll join a huge rave and have a drunken orgy and then go and burn down a village with magic. So sorry that we have to leave your wedding early." She kissed her sister's cheek quickly, and taking Sirius by the wrist she stormed out of the hall.

Cleverly, Sirius did not speak for a few blocks of angry marching.

"Do we have to burn down a village?" he asked finally, after Lily collapsed on a park bench.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Right then, let's destroy the world. I'm thinking a huge plague, where everyone gets itchy boils and slowly withers away, and then we can eat all the ice cream in the stores without paying."

Lily just looked at him.

"What?" he asked.

She tilted her head to the side.

"What?" he repeated. "It's what Lene and Prongs and I always did when we were mad, back in first and second year. We destroyed the world. She doesn't destroy the world with you?"

Lily raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to take that as a no. Too bad, there's a really good one about melting Antarctica..." Sirius grinned suddenly. "Let's go to a Muggle club! We're dressed in Muggle clothes, we're only a few minutes from London if we fly, it'll be great."

"Sirius, I'm really tired."

"You want to go home?" He looked rather disappointed.

She stared down at her feet. They hurt. So she took off those horrible, hurting shoes and threw them away from her.

Sirius watched this performance with an unreadable look on his face. "D'you want to go home?" he repeated.

No, she didn't. She wanted to go to James' house, skip the rave and orgy and burning, and just curl up with him and sleep.

Preferably for a really, really long time.

"Can I stay at your place tonight?" she asked.

He nodded, clearly disappointed. "Yeah. Come on, you can drive the bike for a bit."

Sirius really had a very nice flat, Lily decided later that night. And he really was very nice. She had never given him this much credit. He had even let her drive his bike - until she almost crashed them into a tree. When they got back, he had given her the bedroom, and he slept in the living room on the couch. It was unusually thoughtful of him.

Unless of course, he didn't want Lily anywhere near his expensive gadgets, which she was always intrigued with and could never work.

The second one was slightly more likely.

Maybe Sirius wasn't such a nice guy after all.

*

It had become yet another tradition for Lene to read the paper while Lily showered, then relate the most important things as they ate breakfast. They usually had a good laugh over something stupid that some member of the Ministry had done, but Lily never actually had to read the Daily Prophet anymore. It was a relief for her - the latest deaths always occupied the front page, and Marlene never said anything about them.

On July 28, Lily knew something was wrong as she entered the kitchen. Lene had her head in her hands, and her coffee cup was still full. The paper was on the floor, only one page of it lay on the table before her.

Silently, nervously, Lily sat across from Marlene and waited to hear what it was.

"Here," Lene said quietly, barely audible, sliding the page across the table. Her face was streaked with tears. "Why didn't he owl?" she asked, although Lily doubted that the question was directed at her. "Why'd he make me find out like this?"

Before looking at the headline, Lily saw the picture and nearly fainted. On the front page of the Daily Prophet was a picture of the Potters' house with the Dark Mark hovering over it.

No. James can't be dead - Merlin no.

She seemed to lose all her senses as she scanned the article.

Thomas and Annabelle Potter dead... son James, 18, arrived to find Dark Mark... Aurors examined scene... fought bravely...funeral arrangements...

His parents were dead. James was alive. He was in that big house all alone. Lily looked stared down at the print, now swimming before her eyes, breathing heavily and trying to think of what she should be doing.