One Week 'Til Bells Ring

MONDAY: Guest Lists, Invites, and Flowers

Eight-thirty the next morning found Lily just waking up to the smell of fresh bacon and eggs and coffee. "Wow. That smells great. Who's in my house cooking?" she muttered. Too hungry to care, she got out of bed and wandered into the kitchen. Or at least, she gave the appearance of wandering; she grabbed her wand and had it pushed up her sleeve. Despite the sleepy look she plastered on her face, she was alert. She meandered into the kitchen.

"Good morning!" said a bright and cheery voice.

"Oh, it's just you, Al. How'd you get here anyway? You know I've got an alarm set to alert me whenever anyone Apparates in here, and I've got spells on the door to keep anybody from unlocking it with magic."

"For your information, I only Apparated to the building. I got in using my old key. I figured that since you had such a big day ahead of you, you needed a hearty breakfast."

Lily sat down warily in her chair. "Why is it such a big day?"

Alice put down a plate full of food in front of Lily and next to the plate she a big notebook and one of Lily's ballpoint pens. "The guest list."

"Oh, no."

"Oh yes."

"Does this have to be today?"

"Yes. Lily, your wedding is on Friday. You have to give the guests some notice."

"Well, it doesn't have to be Friday."

"It was always going to be Friday. You picked out the date a while ago. Everyone knows it's Friday."

"Then why do we have to send out invitations?"

"To remind them. Some of them may have forgotten they were invited. And it's tradition. You have to send out invitations. It's an unwritten law: 'Thou must sendeth out wedding invitations to thy guests'."

"Okay. You write. I'll eat."

Alice sat across from her and conjured a quill and bottle of ink. "I'll never get used to those pens of yours. Who are we inviting? I talked to James and he said he didn't have anyone particularly who you wouldn't already know to invite."

"You, Frank, Sirius, Peter, Remus--"

"Have you talked to him yet?"

"Not yet. I tried to get in touch with him last night but I couldn't reach him."

"Have you told James yet?"

"Not yet."

"You might want to. That way he doesn't tell his dad anything and then have to take it back."

"I know. But I've got to wait until I hear from--"

"--from Remus. I know. Who else?"

"Obviously James's parents."

"Uh-huh." She added them to the list.

"Albus. He's always been there for us."

"Can't have the party without him, can we?"

"Minerva McGonagall and Flitwick."

"Good, good. Who else from our class?"

"Victor Boot, I suppose. And his fiancé."

"Good, good."

"Gideon, Fabian, and Philip!"

"Oh, those boys are great." She kept adding to the list.

"Moody."

Alice giggled. "Yes, we have to invite Mad-Eye. Anybody you want from work?"

"No. I don't get along very well with them. I'll be so happy when I'm not working there anymore."

"I know Witch Weekly wasn't your first choice for a job. But you couldn't find one you did want."

"I know, I know. You and me, Alice, we need to start our own paper. We could do it. You know we could. I know you still love taking pictures."

"I do." She sighed. "But you know I need to be needed. Right now, we need Aurors. I know there's plenty, but we need Aurors for Dumbledore, the Ministry doesn't know what it's doing. Dumbledore does and he needs more of us that are behind him working actively like that for him." She saw the look on Lily's face. "I know you do your active work too and you go on missions. You're as great as any other member of the Order and better than some of them. Better than a lot of them. It would look too suspicious if there were too many of us being Aurors. That's why we've got to spread ourselves out. Me and Frank and James and Sirius are enough. We need somebody out their printing the truth in the papers. That's you, Lily. You were always better than the rest of us with words."

"I write the truth, Alice. They won't print it! You don't know how frustrating it is. That's why I need my own paper or magazine. For every dozen stories I write they only accept one or two, not because of quality, but because they don't want to believe what's happening. They only print articles I write on Quiditch or fashion tips." The last two words sounded like venom in her mouth.

"We'll get through this, Lily. We will get through it."

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm just coming apart at the seams this week. I'm so nervous. I'm getting married, Al. What if James and I aren't compatible to live together or something? Like what if he thinks I take too long washing my hands and I think he, I don't know, shouldn't wear his shoes inside the house. I don't know, just little things like that."

"Lily, you two love each other. That's all that matters. Anything else is little fish."

"I'm sorry, I'm so emotional this week."

"This week? Lily, you're always emotional. Maybe you're usually a little more together than this, but you've always been emotional. James even told me one time that part of why he fell in love with you was your fiery temper."

"Oh? Really?" She sighed and looked gratefully at her friend, "Thanks for being here for me. How did you get the week off from your training to help me this week anyway?"

"I talked it over with the teachers and agreed to do extra work and make up everything I missed."

"Thanks. I really do need you here."

"I know, Lily. Sometimes you're cool as the other side of the pillow, but sometimes, you just need rant and vent your feelings. I've known you for years now. You've always been this way." She reached over and patted her arm.

"Who else do we need?" asked Lily, wiping her wet eyes.

"I suppose we ought to invite Arabella Figg."

"Yes, but Fletcher is not coming."

"He's a dear though."

"No, James is a deer, Fletcher is a criminal." She laughed at her own pun.

"Should we invite Severus?"

"You know those boys. They never really grew up. Inviting him is just asking for trouble."

"I suppose you're right, wouldn't want any murders to ruin the wedding. We must invite Hagrid."

"Of course. It wouldn't be the same without him."

"Who else?"

"We're not inviting Gilderoy. He always makes a fool of himself."

"What about Stoge and Kingsley?"

"Yes, them too."

"We should tell Sirius to bring that adorable cousin of his. What's her name?"

"Nymph-something or other. Poor thing, she's only four. She can't even pronounce it."

"I know, what was her mother thinking when she named her? But he usually calls her something else. What is it?"

"Oh, I think it's Dora."

"Nymphadora!" they said together.

Lily sighed. "He will make a good father someday as long as he grows up just a little bit."

"And if he can learn to settle down. I wish we could find a nice girl for him. It's hard to figure out just who would be his type."

"Yeah."

"Anybody else for the list?"

"Petunia."

Alice hesitated. "Are you sure, Lily?"

She nodded. "Yes. Even if she won't come, I'm inviting her. And her husband."

"Okay." She scribbled down the names. "So far we've got twenty-three. Plus you and James, of course. And the official who marries you. It sounds kind of small."

"Well, I don't want to invite people just because I can. I only want to invite people that I want there."

"Okay. Are you sure there's no one else?"

"Well, there is Abner Lovegood and his fiancé."

"He's engaged? I didn't think that one would ever get engaged."

"Oh yes. They're going to be married in a year. She's some sort of inventor. I don't quite remember her name but I think it was something with a Q in it. But he's trying to start his own paper too. It looks like he might just do it, I think. I could join his staff."

"Yeah. You can talk to him after the wedding. I guess twenty-five is a good number."

"It's plenty. So glad we're done with the invites."

"We're not done. Don't you remember? Now we've got to pick out the invitations."

"Oh, right." She had gone through all of this with Alice's wedding just months ago. How had she forgotten already?

Alice pulled out sample invitations and Lily chose the one she liked best. On the inside of each, they wrote in gold ink (the invitations had a scarlet background). In addition to the names of those invited, were the following words:

You are invited to the wedding of

Lily Evans and James Potter

When: this Friday, 10 o'clock in the morning

Where: T.B.A. (will appear on this card, do not dispose of)

Will you come?

(Reply here and we'll get your answer)

"Good. Now that the charm is done, it'll be easy to notify everyone. All we have to do is change this master card we made."

"And the response will show up on our guest list here."

They sent out all the cards, magically banishing them to where they needed to be. Except one. Lily picked up the last invitation. "I'll deliver this one personally."

"You think that's wise?"

"Probably not."

"But you're going to do it anyway?"

"Yes."

"Come back in one piece."

"I'll try." Lily Disapparated and appeared in the kitchen of the home she grew up in. It was spotless and sparkling clean. She looked around and no one was in sight. Vernon was probably at work by now. But where was Tuna face? As far as Lily knew, she didn't work outside the home.

She took a look around. Wow this was a clean kitchen. She tiptoed over to the living room. Petunia was sitting on the sofa and leaning over the coffee table doing what appeared to be a 3000-piece puzzle of a fluffy white kitten. She looked bored and sad, but she kept at it.

Lily bit her lip. Should she go talk to her, or just leave the invitation on the table? Petunia hated, absolutely hated when Lily Apparated in, unannounced and uninvited. On the other hand, if Lily went to the door, Petunia might not let her in or take her invitation.

She softly padded back into the kitchen. She looked at the table. It was covered in a lace tablecloth and a vase of fresh flowers. Lily smelled the flowers and gently placed the card on the table. She Disapparated, figuring it would make less noise than opening the nearest door to the outside. She reappeared behind a tree outside and found a small child, a neighbor's daughter perhaps, staring at her. The girl couldn't have been more than four. She wasn't frightened. She just stuck her finger in her mouth and stared curiously at the red-haired woman who had so suddenly appeared. Lily grinned at her and gave a silent laugh and put her finger to her lips in a way that said quite clearly even to a four year old, "Don't tell anyone I was here. It'll be our secret, you and me."

The little girl giggled in reply and nodded.

Lily gestured with her free hand and suddenly there was a beautiful blue and purple and red and yellow butterfly. It flew to the young girl's hands and stayed there until she was bored with it.

Lily walked around to the front of the house and rang the doorbell. She thought it would be weird to ring the doorbell of the house she had lived in for so long, but it wasn't. This wasn't her house anymore. Truth was, it hadn't been for a while. By second year, even in the summer it wasn't really home anymore. This wasn't her house, the house of a witch living with her Muggle parents. This was the house of her sister and brother-in-law.

She rang the bell and waited while Petunia came to the door.

Her face twisted into a mask of horror, she whispered, "What are you doing here?"

"I want to talk. Can I come in?"

"Well, you can't bloody well stand on my porch dressed like that!" she whispered, ushering her in.

Lily stepped inside and looked down at what she was wearing. She'd forgotten that Alice had come over before she'd had a chance to shower or get dressed, so she was still wearing pink and purple pajamas. "Oh. Is that the problem?" She waved her wand and muttered a spell. She was immediately wearing a normal set of wizard robes.

Petunia said stiffly, "Sit."

Lily sat on the couch, and Petunia took the chair as far away as possible. "Why are you here?"

"You're my sister. Do I need a reason to visit?"

The only reply she got was an angry sniff.

"Petunia, we used to get along. When we were kids we got along great. What happened?"

"Nothing happened. I grew up and you didn't. Why are you here?"

"This Friday--" she started.

"Never mind. I don't want to know. Just leave."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Get out."

"Okay, Petunia. If that's what you want." Lily vanished with a small popping sound.

Petunia whispered fiercely to the empty living room, "You abandoned me. You went to that freak place and abandoned me. You went where I couldn't follow. That's what happened." She wiped a single furious tear from her face and went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea.

She saw something was out of place. A red envelope on the table caught her eye. She opened it and read the golden letters.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lily appeared back in her apartment and started crying.

"I take it things didn't go so well," Alice said, getting up and giving her a shoulder to cry on. "There, there. What happened?"

"She still doesn't want to have anything to do with me. I don't know where things went wrong. Before Hogwarts we got along great. Even in the first year, we still got along pretty well."

"You've had a rough morning. I think I'll spare you from having to pick out centerpieces and bouquets today."

"Thanks, Alice. You're like a sister to me. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Don't worry. You don't have to be without me. I'll always be your best friend."