My Big, Fat, Magical Wedding

The day had finally arrived and what a gorgeous day it was. It had been a true stroke of brilliance of Moony to hold the ceremony in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia. The ceremony was to be held on a treed grove that was on a cliff overlooking the newly-constructed Sydney Opera House and the bridge behind that. The warm spring air was full of life and color. There was a light breeze that gently blew some flower leaves from the blossom in the trees.

James and Lily were to be married; it was a long awaited ceremony. They had pushed it back so many times that Sirius and Peter had made a bet on whether they would ever tie the knot. Remus had noted that his calendar was now absolutely full of canceled wedding dates, so much that the he had considered trying to sell calendars with everyday marked with a crossed out message of "James and Lily's marriage today." Most of the times, it had not been their fault that their wedding had been delayed. James' mother had fallen ill and then the monsignor had cancelled for the second half of the month of October, apparently he had an exorcism to perform on a haunted boat in Edinburgh. Peter had suspected that it had been a trick by Sirius to try to tip the scale in his favor in their wager. And that was hardly a fourth of all the reasons that had arisen for delaying the wedding. But, finally, April twenty-third, Sydney, Australia, the day had come, with healthy mothers and Sirius with 10 fewer galleons.

They had fenced in an area of the gardens and took special precautions to keep the Muggles out of the loop, and guests started to filter in and took seats in wooden, white chairs. James' parents showed up, embraced him tightly, and showed their deepest and most sincere pride with their ear to ear smiles. James's father, Ken, was tall, thin and shared James's untidy hair and glasses. His father was getting on in years; he had a few wrinkles but nothing too noticeable. Despite these signs of aging, Ken's hair was just as full and jet black as it had been in his youth. James' mother, Jenny, was a lovely woman who always wore a smile. She had thin, graying brown hair and was a bit rounder and a fair amount shorter than her husband. She gave James an extra hug and a large kiss on the cheek, though James had to bend down to let her do it.

"How are you, son? You feeling okay? Not too many butterflies in your stomach are there?" asked his father jovially.

"No, I managed to stop Sirius from putting in too many."

"You know," bursted in his mother in a sly voice, "I was in Diagon Alley the other day and I saw the cutest BABY clothes. There were FATHERS and MOTHERS walking in and out of the store. Some of them had their BABIES with them. Some of them were wearing BABY blue bonnets."

"You think, Da," said James, "that she's going anywhere with this?"

"Oh, heavens no, boy. She's only been hinting since you were sixteen," said Ken, sarcastically.

James' little frustration with his mother seemed nothing like the trouble that Lily was helplessly trying to deal with with her family. Lily was still unsure as to whether Petunia and her husband, Vernon were coming or not. She was going over and over in her mind the conversation she had had when she tried to convince her to come.

"Oh please Petunia, please come, we never see each other anymore" Lily said in a pleading voice.

"Yes, and that's not intentional," Petunia had answered back sarcastically.

"But you're my sister Petunia, and sisters do this for each other."

"Sisters also call ahead before they show up on one another's doorstep."

"But everyone wants to meet you and Vernon, they want to know how mug--I mean non magical folk live."

"Why? Do they think they're better than us? I'll have you know that I am living quite comfortably and Vernon is moving up in Grunnings. They say he'll own the place some days if he keeps working the way he does. AND ANOTHER THING....!"

"PETUNIA PLEASE!! No one thinks that they are better than you, and I sure that Mum and Da would really like you to come," Lily said in a earnest voice "I know I will!"

Petunia gave and angry look, and thought to herself: "She thinks she's SO great, holy, perfect, can do no wrong Lily."

"I don't know why you don't want to come Petunia. I came to your wedding."

"Yes, and I still haven't forgiven you."

"I acted completely as you said I should and so did James."

"That mop-top wouldn't know normal if it crawled into that disgusting hair of his and died!!" She had crossed a line.

"FINE PETUNIA!!! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO COME THEN DON'T!!" Lily stood up from the chair she had been sitting on, threw the invitation that had been clutched in her hand down on the coffee table. She then pulled out her wand and with a "poof" she was gone, leaving Petunia alone once more.

Petunia had been dragged there by Lily's parents, who were nothing but ecstatic for this whole wedding. They stepped out of the taxi they had taken from the airport to the gardens. Lily shook with excitement and wanted to rush out to them even though she was still dealing with her hair.

"Who's that who just got out of the car?" asked Sirius to Remus, leaning against a tree, only casually glancing at them.

"Lily's parents and sister," said Remus, recognizing them.

"Oh, Lily's sister," said Sirius, straitening up his black bow tie, "must be off."

A smirk grew on Remus's face as he saw Sirius stroll off towards the family who had walked into the tent where Lily was getting ready. Remus had met her sister once, his grin widened as he pictured the look on Sirius's face when he saw her.