How It All Happened

"Sirius!" James craned his head, trying to see Sirius who was disappearing into the crowd. He knew he shouldn't have agreed to go to this shopping trip with Lily... but it seemed to mean a lot to her, and he just couldn't say no to that puppy dog look of hers... and now Sirius was lost and he really had to talk to Sirius. He wondered if he should ask Remus or Peter rather than Sirius, after all Sirius wasn't the most responsible man in the world. Remus would be great. But he wasn't sure he trusted Peter to keep the rings safe. It would be like him to drop them down a toilet somewhere. He chuckled as he thought of poor Peter trying to explain to a furious Sirius that he had dropped the wedding rings down the toilet.

"You called Prongs?" Sirius showed up with some tart attached to his arm. What would Celestina say? Better not get involved in this, he thought and half frowned.

"Yes, I need to talk to you." He looked at the girl. "Alone" he then added, along with a meaningful glance at Sirius. Sirius who remained completely oblivious to the seriousness of the whole situation just grinned.

"What you can say to me, you can say to Candy here" Sirius was not getting this. James shook his head. And what sort of name was Candy? She looked pretty dumb even without a name like that...

"Actually, no I can't" He said, pushed Candy away rather rudely and started pulling a very grumpy looking Sirius to a café near by. After they had sat down at a table and gotten rid of a very gay looking waiter Sirius asked what in Merlin's name was so important. As an answer James sighed and went a tad pink. Now that he thought a bit, he was making a big deal of this. Sirius would never let him live this down. From now on he'd be: 'Prongs who made a big deal out of asking Padfoot to be his best man' Maybe he really should just ask Remus? Remus wouldn't make too much fun of him, would he? Oh, why was this so complicated? At least when he asked Lily to marry him he knew he was supposed to make a big deal out of it. And he had been pretty sure she'd say yes. ?I mean; she is always saying how much she loves me... and I do love her a lot!? he thought.

"Well what is it?" Sirius looked impatient and he kept glancing out the window where Candy was standing in the street looking like the dumb blond she probably was. James blinked and thought: ?well, it's now or never!?

"Sirius... I was wondering. Would you, er, would you mind being my best man at the wedding?" If James had been this anxious to hear Lily's answer, he probably would have forgotten right away. This certainly felt as though he had never been as nervous and anxious in his life.

"Are you kidding?" Sirius's face had lit up. Probably because now he had new material with which to make fun of James... "Of course I'll be your best man! I'd be honored." Sirius looked happier than ever. And that was saying something. He himself felt very relieved, a huge weight was off his chest. Whatever happened now, the wedding would still be perfect. Even if Peter did drop the rings down the toilet, it would still be perfect.

"Thanks, man. You're a true friend" James put his hand on Sirius's shoulder and shook him a bit, they both grinned and the gay waiter showed up with their coffee.

*

Lily was in her element. She had finally managed to get James to agree on a Muggle wedding. It had taken a while but the guilt method finally got him. She had told him that she had been fantasizing about her wedding since she was a little girl and she wanted the wedding dress and everything to be just like she had imagined. But he had been really put out that their ceremony wasn't going to be like his parents wedding, so they had agreed on a magical reception party. All their friends were magical anyway.

"Okay, so what about this one?" Celestina asked, brandishing yet another wedding gown. She wanted to get her wedding dress so badly. But it was easier said than done. None of the dresses seemed to be hers. And the same went for the dress Celestina was wearing. Lily had been trying out dresses for so long that she had just gotten too tired to do it anymore. So now Celestina was modelling the dresses for her. Of course they weren't the same size, but if Celestina found a dress Lily liked, Lily would just try her size of that dress on and see if it looked good on her. She wondered what James was doing. She had told him to look for a tux but considering with whom he was shopping (Sirius was the only one of the Marauders who knew what a tux was) she wasn't so sure. Celestina returned with another dress on.

"Okay, I'm beginning to understand how this is tiring. But what do you think?" Celestina twirled around.

"No, not really" Lily smiled sadly. "Maybe we should look for your maid of honor dress first?" She asked. But then she clamped both hands over her mouth. She hadn't meant to ask until later... oh well. Celestina didn't seem to mind, she was smiling from ear to ear.

"Oh, I'd love that! Thank you so much Lily!" Celestina squealed and hugged her best friend. "But we have to find the wedding gown first. All decorations, flowers, other bride's maids dresses everything has to match with the wedding gown, that's why you have to get the wedding gown first!" Celestina's energy seemed to have been renewed. And she started browsing for another wedding dress, with the help of an old lady who had been very sweet about their inability to find the perfect dress. Of course, they hadn't told her this was the third shop they'd been to...

"What about this one?" The sweet old lady asked, holding out a beautiful gown. Lily felt her heart give a leap and she knew that gown had to be hers.

"Yes! May I try it?" She asked eagerly.

"Of course, I hope you fit it, it's the only one we have. I suppose most brides want a little more decoration on their dress." The lady giggled looking cheerful. The dress was very simple, which wasn't exactly the fashion in those days.

When Lily was done putting the dress on, Celestina helped her put the veil on. She walked over to the large mirror and she almost cried. She had to have this dress.

"How much?" Lily asked excited, to have finally found this perfect dress.

"Three hundred pounds" The old lady said sweetly. It was a bit more then she had expected, but it was worth it. Even if she would just use it this once? Maybe she could rent it? But then she wouldn't be able to keep the memory... No. She'd buy it.

"I'll take it" The old lady nodded and started wrapping the dress.

Lily had gotten a wonderful job at the Ministry. She was sure she could afford it. She and James were already living together in a house they owned. They didn't have a car or electricity for that matter. They only had the Floo bill to pay, and James always paid half of it, James paid for his own Auror training. And wow. The more she thought about the more life seemed to be just perfect. If there wasn't that constant threat of the Death Eaters or V-Voldemort she would probably never believed this was her life and not a dream. Though she really did wish Sirius didn't have to live with them. He had offered to pay rent but James wouldn't hear of it. It wasn't that Sirius bothered her and James. He was hardly ever at the house. He just slept there.

But he kept returning on his flying motorbike at ungodly hours from where ever he went after his Auror training with James. She hadn't mentioned this to Celestina. Peter and Remus weren't becoming Aurors. The ministry didn't accept werewolves for work, and Peter didn't fill the requested physical requirements. Sirius and James had been outraged that Remus couldn't join. But he had told them that he didn't care.

He had found a nice job at a Muggle library. He was a sort of keeper. He wasn't really a librarian like Sirius had fondly named it. He took care of the books. He didn't help the people or anything... Peter, she didn't really know about Peter. He lived up in Kent with his parents... but Lily?s fiancée and his friends often went to visit him. And she was on first name basis with Loki, Peter's owl.

Lily paid for the dress -which had been wrapped very nicely- with her credit card (it was too complicated to carry Muggle money around) and she and Celestina walked out of the shop. They window-shopped for Celestina's maid of honour dress but no luck. They decided to go shopping again later.

*

"So Sirius. Where do you get a tuxedo?" James asked after a nice cup of coffee. He and Lily had decided to meet up at another café at five o'clock (they had went downtown at ten in the morning) and the two guys had already spent two hours of their time. First just walking and looking at the Muggles and all the Muggle shops, and then at the café talking and drinking a lot of coffee.

"I know a great shop which sells Armani... great price too. I mean, great as in big, of course" Sirius grinned.

"Wonderful" Let?s go. So he paid the bill and they started walking towards this place Sirius had mentioned. He still couldn't quite believe he'd let Lily talk him into a Muggle ceremony. What would his father have said? He shook his head. Lily was leaving her family behind for him. She hadn't even returned to her grandmother's place for her things. She had sent a letter explaining and asking for her things to be sent to Godric's Hollow. Sirius was leaving his family too. For privacy. But unlike himself Sirius didn't have a pile of money, so Sirius was staying with him. James was sort of glad. It did get kind of awkward with Lily. He sometimes had a hard time keeping to himself. He was really looking forward to his wedding night. But the wedding wasn't until he finished Auror training. There were about three months to go. It was so much time and so little time at the same time. They were getting married a month after his birthday. And Sirius had hinted that his bachelor party would be on his birthday. James was really nervous about the bachelor party. Wouldn't you be nervous if Sirius Black was throwing you a bachelor party? James just knew Sirius would make him do something embarrassing...

-Half an hour later-

Sirius and James walked out of a large building; James was holding a paper bag in which his wedding clothes lay. Sirius was holding a similar bag that held his best man tux. It had been easy to choose. And they had had a very helpful assistant. She had flirted with Sirius endlessly and James had been giggling the whole time. So he was glad to get outside. But outside didn't seem to be glad to get him because it started raining.

"Oh, no..." James sighed.

*

She was getting married to someone she loved in a month. She couldn't believe it. It was amazing. He and the other Marauders were out celebrating the fact that James and Sirius had finished their Auror training, but she knew better. They were out having a bachelor party. Just like the bachelor-ette party she was in. Well maybe not just like the one she was in, but something like it. Celestina had called some of their house mates from Hogwarts, Grace was there and Vivian and Violet. And the five of them were having a great time. Vivian and Violet were twins, but they still hadn't finished their Hogwarts training. They were all sitting in the living room watching Lily parade around in her beautiful wedding dress.

"It's beautiful!"

"I can't wait to get married!"

"It's very simple, but I love it anyway"

"I helped pick it!"

Those were the comments on the dress. Lily was so happy. This was life. She loved everything about this wedding. She had a great time planning it. But James wasn't really into all that. She didn't mind though. He was really sweet about everything, and often helped her choose which pattern, which sort of flower which that, and which blah... Sirius was getting more annoying. He was always making fun of her for being so excited about the wedding. Of course she was excited! This was her wedding... men didn't understand.

When she had put away her dress and was back in her everyday robes. The girls made popcorn and brought out the cake.

"Okay, we have ten candles. We're gonna put them all on and then you blow with your eyes closed. If you blow out two candles you'll have two kids, if three, three kids... get it?" Grace giggled and started lighting the candles.

Lily nodded and laughed. A silk scarf was tied around her head and she couldn't see a thing. She laughed some more as someone (probably Celestina) started twirling her around.

"Okay... stop. Now come over here, no Lily. Here, hee heh heh nooo here whahahaha ehe sit no ahahahaha there, okay, *giggle*" Celestina had been trying to lead Lily to her chair but she kept missing the seat, she was so dizzy. Then she finally made it and everyone was laughing. Herself included. This was so fun.

"All right, Lily! Blow" Someone yelled. She obeyed. And she blew, well it was more of a snort than a blow but it worked. The room irrupted in giggles again. One of the girls, Celestina removed the scarf from her eyes and she could see that she had blown out one candle.

"Make sure to spoil him!" Vivian yelled over the gales of uncontrollable laughter.

"How do you know it's a he?" Lily hiccoughed, she was laughing way too much.

"Only pink and blue candles... you blew out a blue one!" Violet answered before her sister had a chance.

"Oh..." The girls laughed some more and then they started to eat the food.

*

"I feel so stupid in this costume." James said grumpily. The other three were laughing hysterically. Yeah, sure, they laugh now. Wait till it's their turn... then I'll dress them up as Santa when it's only October.

"Bachelor party?" Some man said sympathetically. James smiled yes. As the other three just kept laughing.

"Hey, you're getting off easy, you should have seen me!" the man said and smiled.

"Oh yeah? What'd you have to do?" James asked with a grin. It was nice to talk to someone like this, even if he was taking a huge risk. But it was probably just a harmless Muggle anyway. And even if the man was a dark wizard there were two Aurors in the group who both had their wands up their sleeves.

"Please don't make me relive it" The man grimaced.

"What are friends for anyway?" James asked darkly, and a bit loudly. The Marauders stopped laughing and looked indignant. James rolled his eyes and they started laughing again. The man patted him on his shoulder and walked on.

Sirius came closer and wiped tears from his face.

"Good to see you're having a good time" James raised an eyebrow. This was really funny. And he would have laughed. But he - for some reason - had started feeling nervous in the last few days. What if Lily wasn't the one for him? What if he was making a mistake?? He knew he loved Lily and he also knew Lily loved him. And he knew he'd be happy to spend the rest of his life with her. But was there another girl out there who was even better? What if there was and he missed her. Maybe he had even walked past her while shopping for groceries... Could he prove it wrong?

"Hey, we're going to the nightclub now" Sirius had regained most of his composure and had a mysterious glint in his eyes. "You can get out of this clown suit now" he added and grinned. Remus and Peter started laughing again. When he was finally out of the Santa suit he couldn't help but wonder, what next?

When they guys entered the nightclub Sirius had spoken of, James's face fell of. Muggles were insane. The posters on the walls were of men with worse hair than his, and the men all seemed to wear make-up. The women were just as bad. He felt a bit out of place in his grey suit. Sirius seemed to know a lot of the people. Maybe this was where he went for coffee after work?

"Sirius!" Came a squeal.

James looked over his shoulder to see Candy the blond. She was wearing a jacket with puffy shoulders and tight black pants with a large black belt. She looked ridicules but she was fitting right in. Sirius went off dancing with Candy leaving him and Remus and Peter alone.

"Hey there handsome" Some girl purred in his ear. She had ginger hair that was in a very stupid hairdo, all big and frizzy. She had lots of bracelets and necklaces and large hoop earrings. In short, she was very scary. He didn't say anything. He just turned and walked off. He spotted the bar. Where Remus had headed and sat down beside his friend.

"Muggles are crazy" Remus voiced what James was thinking. They ordered something very strong and spent the evening drinking and just talking.

*

"I'm so nervous" Lily whispered. The priest was talking and any minute now, any minute, it would be her turn to walk down the isle. She'd have to walk arm in arm with Mr. Black, who had been kind enough to agree to give her away because her own father was deceased. Albus was there, her old headmaster who had given James and Sirius their new jobs, where their Auror skills were needed. It was some top-secret thing. And she had just tried to stay out of it. As long as they were working against Voldemort, she was happy. But now she was having serious second thoughts. She loved James. She really loved him with all her heart. But what if this wasn't the right thing to do? What if she was going to be the kind of wife who was just unhappy but couldn't leave her husband and?

"Don't worry. You'll be fine. Remember James loves you. Not me, not some other girl. He loves you and only you. And I know you love him. From the first time you admitted you had a crush on him I knew you were hopelessly in love with him. You're perfect together and my entire world would fall apart if you didn't get married! I remember when you fought in sixth year. No one ever told you but every single Gryffindor complained to one of your friends. You have to be together..." Celestina hurriedly whispered a speech Lily suspected had been practised. But she was very grateful. She now had the willpower she needed to walk forward. Right now. The music started playing, Mr. Black held out his hand, she took it. She breathed in deeply as Celestina walked forward before Vivian and Violet who were bride's maids stepped onto the floor. And then everyone rose out of his or her seats and the music changed. She walked the way she had practised and smiled as she saw James standing at the altar with Sirius, Remus and Peter. He smiled back. He looked so handsome in his tuxedo. They all did. But especially James, her James. And she just knew. She knew she wanted to do this, with all her heart. She knew that he would fill that space which had been left unoccupied in her soul. It was like she had waited her whole life for this moment and she wanted it to last forever. The ceremony passed in a daze all she knew was that she was looking into his eyes the whole time. She didn't even look away when the priest told her what to repeat. She knew what to say. And James said it too. And Sirius stepped forward, pulled out the box with the rings. Just two simple gold bands. James put her ring on her finger and she put his ring on his finger, it was a bit difficult, but she managed. The priest said some more stuff... And then they kissed. And it was the best kiss she'd ever experienced. She became vaguely aware of tears on her cheeks. The priest said something she would never forget.

"And it's now that I gladly introduce Mr. And Mrs. Potter"

She smiled as James wiped her tears away and she hugged him. It was so good, Such a wonderful feeling! Just to hug him. She felt safe. No one could hurt them. No one.

*

"Sirius"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to hurl"

"No you aren't"

"Yes, I am"

"Stay calm"

"I'm so nervous"

"Why?"

"What if she doesn't come?"

"Shhh, music's playing" He knew he had never felt this way in his life. This gave the word nervous a whole new meaning. There was Celestina; she looked very pretty in a pale blue dress, Vivian... no Violet. Vivian and his heart started beating furiously in his chest. Everyone stood up. Music played and there she was. She was smiling; he smiled back. Merlin, she was so beautiful. He didn't deserve her. But he wanted her. No one else would be able to make him feel like this. He felt all warm and tingly. Full. Full of what? Probably love. Nothing but love could possibly feel so good.

"James?" Sirius whispered.

"Mmm," he murmured back. They were sitting again and he was just staring into Lily's eyes, those beautiful emeralds. Even through the veil he saw them. Those large green orbs staring at him. So beautiful; so perfect. So his.

"Still nervous?" Sirius whispered.

He didn't answer; he just kept gazing into her eyes. Into her beautiful, wonderful, amazing eyes. Her eyes were a lot like her; so alive. Always smiling, Kind and giving? This was too good to be true. He had to be dreaming. When it was his turn to repeat after the priest, he almost botched up. He completely blocked out what the man said. What was he supposed to do? He almost panicked. But then the words just came. And Lily was silently crying. She looked so happy. He felt so happy. Everything seemed just so happy. When they had exchanged rings and it was time to kiss. He felt a chill go down his spine. He lifted her veil out of the way and kissed her. And it was the first time they broke eye contact, when she hugged him. He felt like crying with joy just like her. It was just perfect. Who cared it wasn't a Wizard ceremony? It was wonderful anyway.

*

Celestina was happy for her friend. She really was. But she was also jealous. How come Lily got to be so happy? It was a bit unfair. It had always been unfair. She knew Sirius would never love her, the way James loved Lily, and she also knew she'd never love Sirius like Lily loved James. They had been close. She and Sirius. But they hadn't been in love. They hadn't known what love was. When had she realised that? She had probably figured it out as she wrote the speech she'd used to help Lily walk down the isle. She hoped that someday she'd meet her James. But Sirius wasn't it. He was great, not only as a person, he was great in every way. Her eyes towards him and she remembered their graduation night. He was definitely great. For some other girl. She'd have to break it off. But not here. She didn't want to make a scene at Lily's reception. After Lily and James had been bonded she had... Oh, what's getting bonded? It was a wizard ceremony always practised in the reception after the wedding where the couple getting married would put the tips of their wands together and say a spell. It was a completely meaningless spell that hardly did anything. But there was a wizard superstition that if this spell was done and true love was involved the couple would share a stronger bond than anyone could imagine. Well anyway, after that. She had gone to get ready to entertain (sing) for the guests. She loved to sing. And she had a small job at the WWN. It didn't earn her a lot of money. But she got to be around the famous people of the magical world. She had composed this song she was about to sing herself and it was about the stars. Well it was about the stars if you weren't listening. If you really listened you'd be able to see it was about love. It was about how love could be wonderful if you loved to love and how it could be horrible if you weren't careful. It was after her little song that something happened. Some guy approached her.

"Hi, I'm Jim... I'm James's grandfather's uncle... I think. I work at the WWN, I've seen you around there... you really have talent, you know. We're always looking for a new voice. And you are perfect" He said all this under ten seconds. He looked a bit old, but his eyes were cheerful and his skin was tanned. He looked pretty happy. She thought it was odd how some wizards could just ignore Voldemort and be happy no matter what. But of course, if no one were happy anymore and if everyone would just give up on life, Voldemort would win. She decided she liked this guy.

"I'll think about it." She gave him her best dazzling smile. He grinned in return and handed her his card. Then they both watched as Lily and James cut open the hollow cake, and all the fairies inside flew out spreading glittery fairy dust everywhere.

*

Lily woke up as the sun somehow managed to get passed the curtains and fell on her closed (now open) eyes. She took a deep breath and looked around. James was lying beside her. He looked so cute. She realised she'd be waking up with him beside her for the rest of her life and she almost squealed with happiness. November is my favourite month! She thought. She relaxed against her pillow and relived the events of the day before. Walking down the isle. Kissing James. The reception. The fairy dust... all the laughing. All the happiness, and the night. James had been so sweet. She felt that if there was anyone who came close to being like James she didn't care, she had him. And she wanted him. Just him; to be her husband. Wow. She was married. She was only eighteen and she was married. She was Mrs. James Potter. How wonderful. James stirred beside her and opened his eyes. She knew he couldn't see a thing so she reached for his glasses and put them on his nose. Then she put a kiss on his nose. He laughed and ran his hand through her hair. They both smiled. Life was perfect.