Wizarding Betrothal

Chapter 3: A Moonlit Chat with Roses

The flower looked incredibly small in his brown hand. Lily looked at it, but did not move to take it from him.

"Would you like it?" he asked after a moment, starting to look awkward.

"I don't know." She really didn't.

Lowering his arm, he looked at the blossom in confusion. "You don't know."

"I don't know."

"Is it the flower, or is it me?" He asked this question slowly, as though with great difficulty.

Realising the insult she had given him, Lily's compassion stirred. "How could it be you? I don't even know you."

"It's the flower, then?"

"Yeah."

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's dead. Isn't it?"

She watched as his brow furrowed in thought. "But I only just picked it."

"It's as good as dead," she answered. "Look closely."

He was examining the flower in the palm of his hand, as if trying to work out the mysterious flaw.

Standing up, she whispered, "Some girls are like flowers." When he looked at her, Lily turned and picked her way across the lawn, towards a little swing.

A step sounded behind her. "Like Lilies?"

She was being difficult and she knew it, so Lily forced herself to try to lighten up a bit.

"Aaahhh! Lilies! Of couuurrse!" She smiled as she imitated the accent of her elderly Divination professor, and seated herself in the swing. By his lopsided grin, she guessed that he recognised the impersonation, and she continued with it. "Lilies are the traditional flower of fuuuunerals. A symbol of certain death!"

He leaned up against the large oak's trunk, trying to piece together the puzzle of a girl before him. "Isn't the Lily also a traditional flower at weddings?"

"Aren't weddings and funerals sometimes the same thing?"

Both of his eyebrows disappeared into his hair in surprise at this comment, and then lowered again as his eyes began to shine with understanding. "You really aren't too happy about our engagement, are you?"

"You're really observant, aren't you?" That came out much more snappish than Lily had intended. So much for lightening up.

"I try," he said.

"I'm sorry," Lily sighed. She really was.

"It's not your fault."

"I mean I'm sorry for being so rude tonight." She said. "I've been sort of crazy for the last twenty-four hours or so."

"Only the last twenty-four hours?" He was smiling mischievously, and Lily couldn't help but grin as well.

"That depends on your definition of crazy," she offered, and was surprised when he laughed aloud. Maybe Mike was right; anybody who could laugh at her idiotic jokes couldn't be all that bad.

Working her feet in the grass, Lily tried to get the swing moving a bit, but the bruise on her thigh throbbed in protest as it pressed against the seat. She needed to stand up, but was loath to have a repeat of her stumbling performance in the dining room. She decided to stay put.

With a bit more courage, Lily determined to come right out and ask the embarrassing question that had been nagging at the back of her mind. "Sorry, what was your name again?"

He turned to her with an odd look on his face, like he couldn't decide if he ought to be amused or insulted.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I was a bit distracted earlier in the parlour, and nobody has said your name since," Lily explained, feeling like she was taking patheticness to a new level entirely.

"In the parlour was the first time you had heard my name?" He now had a totally unreadable expression on his face.

"Umm...I guess my parents probably said it last night when they told me, but I was...well...I guess you could say I was overwhelmed and sort of stopped absorbing new information." Bless the darkness for hiding burning cheeks!

"Hang on! Are telling me that you didn't know you were betrothed until just last night!"

Lily nodded and looked at the incredulous expression on his face. "Why? When did you find out?"

"It's just always been a given at our house. I knew since I was a little kid."

Throat tightening, she just looked away. She was the only one that had been in the dark. Nice.

He gave a low sigh and stepped over to the swing, taking one of the chains in his hand.

"Hey." Bending a bit to get her attention, his eyes sparkled sympathetically. "No wonder you're feeling a little crazy today."

Lily giggled, releasing a breath she'd been holding, and then looked up at him shyly. Standing close behind her now, he was holding both chains and began to rock the swing forwards and back. By keeping her legs still, her bruise wasn't bothered by the seat, and she found it a little comforting.

The rhythmic motion was calming somehow, soothing her overexerted nerves, and Lily found herself allowing him to lead her in some idle chit-chat. Lightweight jokes, meaningless little observations, cute stories; it wasn't much but it was a start. The tension between them gradually began to ease away - not entirely of course, but it was no longer as stifling and Lily started to feel a touch more like herself. He was really all right.

"You never told me your name."

"You're right. I didn't." He had a smirk on his face as he said this, and Lily wondered if he were up to something. He stripped the grin off of his face, but his eyes were still twinkling when her finally said, "My name is Sirius."

"Like the constellation?"

"Yep."

Why she hadn't picked up on an unusual name like that, and why he suddenly seemed awfully pleased with himself, Lily couldn't figure. She had other things to think about. Her leg was starting to hurt again, and she knew she needed to stand up. Digging her toes into the grass she stopped the swing, letting him know she was done. Lily knew that he watched her as she gingerly stood and loosened her muscles.

"I'm a little sore. I had a rough workout today," she offered in explanation. No need for him to wonder if maybe she always moved like an old woman.

"I work out when I'm stressed too," he nodded in commiseration.

"Quidditch?"

"Of course."

"How did I know?" Every wizard was addicted to Quidditch.

"How about you?" he inquired.

"I love Quidditch, but I don't play. I do like to skateboard, though."

"You what?"

"It's an unusual sort of Muggle thing." Feeling a bit better after her stretch, she walked away from him down the path leading into Mrs. Evans' formal rose garden. Walking always cleared her head.

"What!? Is Skateboard too Muggle for me to understand or something?" he asked, following.

"That's not what I meant, Sirius. I'm just thinking of the best way to explain it." Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw he was grinning broadly. "A skateboard is a piece of wood with small wheels attached to the bottom. With a skateboard, you can move a lot faster, and do tricks and stuff."

"How do you win?"

Lily laughed at this. It was just like a guy to immediately make everything a competition.

"Well, I don't compete, but some people can. Judges give the skaters scores based on things like how good their moves are, and who wins different races and whatnot. There aren't enough skaters around here for competitions, though." Turning left between the blooming roses, she followed an arching trail away from the flickering lanterns strung near the house.

"Can I see it sometime?" He was still just behind her.

"Sure," Lily shrugged with surprise. Most of her Hogwarts friends were uninterested in the Muggle world; it was then that Lily registered the fact that the Potters had arrived in a Muggle car. "You can even try it yourself if you want."

"Cool! Is it very hard to learn?"

"The basics aren't hard if you have good balance and a little bit of muscle. I can teach you."

"Awesome! When can we start?"

"Whenever you want."

"Right now?"

Lily stopped and pivoted to face him, questioning. He looked immensely more excited than she had expected.

"Umm...no." His face fell and she explained, laughing. "It's too dark for a first lesson!" She watched as his lip jutted out into a little pout. "Besides, you don't even have a skateboard yet!"

The pouting lip grew and he whined, "But Lily, you said 'Whenever I wanted'!"

Both laughing now, Lily turned to walk again. "Stop acting like a kid, Sirius."

"But I am a kid. An overly large kid...but still a kid."

"How old are you, anyway?"

"Twenty-one. How old are you?"

Good grief. While Lily had already surmised that he was older than she was, it surprised her to find out that he was, in fact, six whole years older. She couldn't help but wonder if he knew how young she was.

"How old do you think I am?"

"What will I win?"

"Win?" What was he talking about now?

"You know, if I'm right about your age, what will you give me?"

Pausing as she stroked a pretty yellow blossom, Lily peered at him over her shoulder. "I'll give you free skating lessons," she said.

"Nope." He was positively beaming. "You've already offered that earlier, and I accepted, so you'll have to pick something else."

When he winked at her, Lily felt the heat rising in her face. He was awfully close, her brain was starting to lock up; that couldn't be good.

"I...I can't think of something else." Panic whistles were sounding in her head.

"I'm sure there's something I'd like." He was whispering now in a low voice, leaning down, very close to her ear.

"Like what?" Inhale. Exhale. Swallow. Inhale. Exhale. Swall-...

"How about a little kiss?"

Step away! Step away!

"Oh! Umm...why-...why would you want that?" Trying to stop trembling, Lily extracted herself from the rosebush that she had bumped into during her little escape. She emerged unscathed.

Eyes twinkling with kind amusement, he followed her up a few shallow stair steps, deeper into the garden until they entered a small sitting area. With a bit more space to breathe, Lily started to calm down. That was certainly unexpected.

"Why wouldn't I want a kiss?" he wondered, amused.

"Because...I don't know. Because you've only just met me." It sounded more like a question than a statement.

"True, but pretty girls can work a strange magic with moonlight and roses."

"Magic isn't allowed in the summer." Lily almost laughed out loud over how dumb her knee-jerk response was. Maybe it was weird enough, though, to steer him to safer conversation topics.

He was smiling when she glanced over at him.

Not to be deterred, he said, "I like you an awful lot more than I expected to, Lily."

"I'm fifteen," she blurted out, desperate to change the subject.

"Huh?" That threw him off.

Distinctly uncomfortable, she started fidgeting with her hands and pacing. "I turned fifteen in April."

"Oh? I thought you were going to let me guess."

"Would you have guessed right?"

"I was going to say seventeen."

Lily smirked. "You would have lost any way."

He leaned a hip against the birdbath and watched her. "You didn't give me a chance to try." For some reason, he actually looked disappointed.

"Sorry." She wasn't, really, but hoped he wouldn't notice. "It's a big age difference, don't you think?"

"It won't really be a big deal by the time we're married."

Lily froze mid-fidget; that was something she needed to clear up. "I never said I was going to marry you."

He blinked and straightened up. "Pardon me?"

"You heard me." She needed to move. Lily strode out of the clearing and down a pathway; she was descending the short steps when he caught up with her.

"Er...Lily..." He was following her again; couldn't he take a hint? "I'm not sure you're quite grasping this whole Betrothal concept."

"I think I understand it perfectly," she shot over her shoulder as she continued forward.

"Then you realise that we will be getting married in a few years - to each other."

"No we won't. Nobody can force me to take the vows."

"It's a binding magical agreement; a done deal." Lily could hear his voice getting stressed.

"I'm not going to marry someone that I don't love." End of story.

"Love can be learned."

"It can also be elusive." Turning right, she brushed her arm against a thorny branch and flinched.

"Do you know what would happen if you break the contract?"

"I really don't care."

"Now you're being childish."

They exited the rose garden onto the lawn and Lily turned to face him again. "I'm being honest."

"You're being stubborn!" Rubbing his hair with his hand, he took a few steps away from her in irritation, dragging the hand down his face. A few deep breaths later, he walked towards her with his hand out, his voice softer, more pleading. "Please don't make this more difficult than it has to be. There's no way around it. Why won't you just accept it?"

He looked kind of pathetic standing there, hair already falling back into his face, looking down at her with a sad sort of passion. That's when it hit her: the solution she was waiting for.

"Tell you what," she said, crossing her arms. "I'll make you a deal." Lily paused dramatically and he nodded for her to continue. "For my part, I'm willing to keep an open mind."

He had hooked his hands on his pockets and moved a bit closer to her. "And for my part?"

"For your part," she announced, "you can try to persuade me to go through with the marriage." Brilliant.

"What do you think I'm doing right now?"

"Well, if this is persuasion," she said, looking him up and down, "then you aren't doing a very good job of it, are you?"

"All right then, Lily," he sighed in defeat. "What's it going to take?"

"I imagine that your best bet would be to convince me to fall in love with you." Still standing with her arms crossed, she watched for his response.

He cocked an eyebrow and the corner of his mouth started twitching with a smile. "That may be an interesting challenge."

"Interesting or not, I think you'll definitely find it a challenge."

Silence enveloped them for a moment, each considering the course before them.

"Deal?"

"Deal."

"James, darling!" A sweet voice called from the back door. "James, it's about time to say goodnight."

"Coming, mum," he answered back.

"James?" Lily dropped her arms and looked at him in confusion. "James? Why did you tell me your name was Sirius?" Of all the weird names...

He shrugged, ruffling his hair, and grinned. "I thought it was funny."

Lily couldn't help but laugh - it just sort of bubbled up like a fountain and kept coming, whether she liked it or not. It was just so ridiculous. She hadn't laughed so hard all day.

James grinned like an idiot as he listened to her laughter, obviously pleased that she was taking his joke so well. When she regained her composure, Lily watched him reach into his vest pocket and withdraw a small gardenia blossom - the very same one that he had offered her earlier. It still looked quite fresh - probably a Preservation Charm.

Holding up the flower, he tucked it into the hair next to her ear murmuring, "Think weddings, not funerals." He stepped back and smiled. "Goodnight, Lily."

"Goodnight, Sirius."