A/N: This is a bunny that I've had for a long time. I hope you enjoy! The characters you recognize are JKR's, the ones you don't are mine. An enormus thanks goes out to my betas james_fanatic and MissPurplePen.

Lily Evans sat cross-legged on Marie’s bed, stroking her best friend’s hair as she cried. “Shhh, Marie. You’ll pull through. You’re strong.”

She did not want to pull the ‘everything is going to be alright’ trick on her. The truth was that nothing was alright. When your family is ripped apart in less than an hour, the last things you want to hear are those six words. Or at least, that’s how Lily had felt six months ago after her own parents had been killed.

“Lily, they can’t be gone. They j-just c-can’t be. What about R-Rosie?”

“Most likely, Rose will go to an aunt or an uncle and she’ll be perfectly fine,” she comforted.

Marie sat up and wiped her cheeks. She seemed to have stopped crying. “How did you get through this-this pain?”

“I have not a clue. It will never go away, but you shouldn’t dwell on it longer than you have to. The best way to handle it all is to move on,” Lily responded, hugging her best friend.

She sat there as Marie fell asleep, then clambered into her own bed where her own thoughts kept her awake for another hour. It was like reliving that moment when she had received a letter from her sister, telling her that her parents had been killed in a raid. And she remembered that Marie had been there for her during her moments of deepest pain. Back then, crawling into a hole was the option she favored most, trying to get away from it all, to avoid it, the bane of all humans: pain. But Marie had coaxed her out of her hole, and she was going to do the same in return.

Lily Evans rolled over on her back and went to sleep.

- ~ - ~ - ~ -

“Lily, could you do me a favor?”

“Of course, Marie. What do you need?” Lily replied.

“Can you watch Rose until this meeting between Dumbledore and my aunt is over?”

Lily nodded and took Marie’s three-year-old sister up in her arms. “Hi, Rosie! Do you remember me?”

The little girl screwed up her face trying to recall the name of the person whose arms she currently resided in.

Lily nodded over Rosie’s shoulder and Marie turned around and followed her aunt into Dumbledore’s office. Lily walked in the opposite direction. She stared happily at Rose, who was still trying to think of her name.

“Lily!” the little girl yelled at last.

“That’s right! My name’s Lily!”

“I’m Rose.” The little girl puffed out her chest importantly.

“Well, Rose,” Lily started, putting emphasis on Rose to show that she had learned the little girl’s name correctly, “what would you like to do?”

“Fweeze tag!” she yelled almost instantly.

Lily immediately thought of the Quidditch pitch, which was an open field that no one would mind their presence in. Ten minutes later, Rose and Lily were standing in the middle of the Quidditch pitch. “Who’s going to be It, Rose?”

The little girl thought for about a minute, and then pointed at something-or someone- behind Lily. “Him!”

Lily turned around to find James Potter grinning down at her. Her smile faded and she rolled her eyes. She looked back at Rose again and said in a near-pleading voice, “Him? Are you sure?”

Rosie grinned and started running.

“I guess I’ll take that as a yes. What are we playing?” Potter asked.

“Fweeze tag!” Rosie’s voice was carried from the other side of the Quidditch pitch.

Lily hung her head. “Potter, if you try anything, I swear to God…”

James playfully hit her arm. “You’re frozen!”

Before Lily could open her mouth to protest, James had taken off to catch Rosie. He came back two minutes later carrying her in his arms. Rosie squealed in delight. “He’s going to eat me!”

Lily couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll save you, Rosie!”

Lily ran up to them and started working on releasing James’ hands from Rosie’s legs, which was surprisingly easy. But as James transferred Rose into Lily’s arms, he didn’t let go of Lily’s hand. Lily looked up at him, still smiling, but blushed red as she quickly jerked her hand from his. She had to admit, he was very charming when he wasn’t being a git. He’s going to make a great father someday, Lily thought.

“Spin me!” Rose yelled.

Lily started twirling round and round as Rose laughed until her face turned red. “Rose, I’m going to give you to James before I drop you.” Lily collapsed on the ground from dizziness.

James looked at her, concerned. “You okay?”

Lily nodded and directed her attention to Rosie, who was worming her way out of James’ arms to stand up, walk over and grab her hand. “We’re going to melt!”

Lily threw her head back and laughed. “Why?”

“Because James is a bad guy and we’re on the dark side of the field!”

Lily turned to James and laughed at him. “Rosie, where will we be safe?”

Rose pulled Lily by the hand and led her over behind the hoops on one end of the pitch. “He’ll melt if he comes over here, right?” She panted. Rose was fast for a three-year-old.

Rose nodded her head vigorously and pointed in the direction they had run from. James was lightly jogging toward them.

“Why are you going to melt?” he asked once he reached them.

“Because we were on the boy side of the field and this is the girl side. You have your boyfriends and we have our girlfriends,” Rosie explained.

James screwed up his face in a puzzled look and nodded.

“James, go play with your boyfriends,” Lily said, taking advantage of the situation.

He looked at Lily incredulously. Lily suppressed a grin. He pointedly turned to Rosie. “How come I can’t be a girl?”

“Because you’re going to eat me.”

“Oh,” he said, lifting his head to look at Lily.

She couldn’t let this moment pass her by. “You should go eat your boyfriends instead, James. Right, Rose?”

“Uh-huh!”

Lily started laughing at the look on James’ face when Rose agreed. She put on an angelic smile and sat down next to Rose. James pretended to sulk as he lay down on the ground, fake crying. Lily beamed down at Rosie and whispered in her ear, “I think James is sad. Do you want to go help him?”

Rosie jumped off the ground and ran over to him. Lily followed close behind her. As soon as she was close enough, James grabbed Lily’s ankle and pulled her to the ground. She laughed as she fell. James clambered on top of her and she turned a brilliant shade of red, Rosie giggling in the background. He leaned in to kiss her, beaming.

And she let him.

A/N: Alright, here's chapter two! I'd love to give an enourmous thanks to my betas Jamie (james_fanatic), Keri (kask), and Mariah (MissPurplePen). This fic wouldn't have been much good without them!



Chapter Two
Weddings and All That Fun Stuff



I’m getting married today.

Lily Evans, soon to be Potter, had been awake for about ten minutes now, repeating to herself what she had been thinking throughout her sleep. I’m getting married today.

She propped herself up on her elbows, and looked at the engagement ring on her left hand. It was a thin band of white gold. James had insisted on waiting to give her the real ring until the wedding. My wedding. She smiled to herself and threw back the covers on her bed. As soon as she stood up, a massive headache hit her with the force of a steam engine. She had been out with her girlfriends the night before, and things had gotten a little out of hand.

Momentarily forgetting that she was a witch, she popped two Muggle painkillers in her mouth. She walked into the kitchen and poured some cereal into a bowl. Just as she was sitting down to eat, a knock came from her door.

As she was walking down the hall of her parents’ old house, she caught sight of the time on the back of the stove. It was already noon! I was supposed to be up and dressed by now! I was supposed to meet Marie an hour ago!

Lily ran the rest of the way down the hall. She opened the door, and ran back down the hallway without saying hello to her best friend. Marie just stood there and hung her head. “Lily, why are you always so late?”

About a minute later, Lily came running down the hall with jeans and a shirt. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I slept in! I have to sign for the flowers coming in today! I should’ve been at the salon an hour ago. Oh, dear God!”

Marie grasped Lily’s shoulders and sat her down. “Lily, it’s okay.”

“No, it isn’t!”

Marie took a deep breath. “I signed for the flowers when you didn’t show for breakfast this morning. I called the salon and had them bump your hair appointment back a couple hours. Don’t worry!”

Lily let out a sigh of relief and smiled. “I knew there was always a reason you were my best friend.”

Marie stood up and beamed down at her friend. “I know! Now, come on, we have to go to the cleaners to pick up your dress, then we’ll have to head to the salon. If we miss that appointment, they’ll have a cow.”

- ~ - ~ - ~-

Lily stood at the end of the procession line, frozen. This was it. She clutched her bouquet, her knuckles turning white. Her stomach was full of butterflies that she felt she would puke up any second.

Her Maid of Honor, Marie, stood in front of her, beaming. She turned around after the bridesmaid in front of her, Alice, had started down the aisle. “Lily, you need to breathe sometime.”

“When was the last time you got married?” Lily snapped.

“It’ll be fine! Calm down and do what the minister tells you.”

Lily nodded as Marie gave her a reassuring hug. Her best friend turned around and walked down the aisle. Lily shut her eyes and waited for Marie to stand at the end of the aisle. For a second, she just stood there, before Marie mouthed ‘Come on!’

She started down the aisle, putting on a smile. As she looked around at all her friends, she thought to herself, God, I wish my parents were here. And Petunia.

She shook those thoughts from her mind and continued to look at the end of the white carpet laid down in front of her. She followed it to the feet of James. She looked up into his face and immediately felt ten times better. He looked so clean in his suit, even with his hair that looked like he had just awoken from a long night’s sleep.

She reached the end of the aisle and stood a foot from James. What the minister said next, she had no idea; she was busy looking into James’ eyes. Those beautiful hazel eyes.

“James, repeat after me. I, James Potter…”

Lily’s eyes widened as she realized that this was it. This was the moment she had been planning for over the last five months. She heard James say his wedding vows. The minister turned to her. “Lily, repeat after me. I, Lily Evans,”

She beamed and looked up at James. “I, Lily Evans,”

“Take you, James Potter, to be my lawfully wedded husband,”

Lily repeated what he said throughout the entire sentence until the last line. “Until death do us part," the minister prompted.

Lily felt a tear slide down her cheek. She started to cry. “Until death to us part,” she said in a cracked voice.

She looked up at James, who was smiling so broadly that his face lit up. He softly touched her left hand and slid the wedding ring on her slight finger. She did the same with a gold band. She looked down at her finger, at the ring. It was simple, yet beautiful. A white gold band no thicker than the tip of a blunt pencil encircled her finger. A small, flawless diamond was set in the middle. She wiped her cheeks, which were now flooded with tears, and smiled up at James. He returned her gaze longingly.

“You may kiss the bride.”

Lily threw her arms around James’ neck and kissed him with all her being. She could hear the applause of everyone around her. When they finally broke apart, she turned around and smiled, her hand finding James’.

“I present to you,” the minister started, “Mr. and Mrs. James Potter.”

There was applause as Lily and James walked back down the aisle. Once out of the wooded clearing where they had been married, Lily kissed James yet again. He laughed, wiped off her tears and lifted her up by the waist. “Lily, we did it!”

“I know!” she replied, kissing him yet again.

“Lily?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.”

Lily nodded and smiled at him. She loved him with all her heart. “I love you too.”

When he finally set her down, she dragged him back to the entrance of the clearing.

There, they greeted everyone who had attended. When Marie came out, Lily pulled her into a tight, long-lasting hug. “Thank you so much!” Lily gushed.

“For what?”

“Everything.”

Marie pulled away from Lily and playfully pushed her into James. “C’mon,” James started. “We have a wedding reception to get to.”


A/N: Did you like it? Again, a big thanks goes out to my awesomeful betas!

--Han Solo

Chapter 3



Spend all your time waiting
For that second chance
For a break that would make it okay
There’s always one reason
To feel not good enough
And it’s hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
Oh beautiful release
Memory seeps from my veins
Let me be empty
And weightless and maybe
I’ll find some peace tonight

So tired of the straight line
And everywhere you turn
There’s vultures and thieves at your back
And the storm keeps on twisting
You keep on building the lie
That you make up for all that you lack
It don’t make no difference
Escaping one last time
It’s easier to believe in this sweet madness oh
This glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

In the arms of an angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You’re in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort there
You’re in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here.


Harry rummaged through one of the boxes, trying to be as quiet as possible, so no one would wake anyone up. He groped to the bottom of the box, trying to find that locket. He knew it was at Grimmauld Place, he just had no idea of its exact location. On a separate section of the attic, Ron and Hermione were looking for the same exact thing he was.

He sat down, exasperated. He had looked through all the boxes in the room, and yet, no locket. He took in a deep breath and pushed himself off the ground. He made his way across the attic to reach the room where Ron and Hermione were searching. The door was closed, strangely. Harry stood in the doorway for a few seconds before knocking.

From behind the door he heard a gasp, a crash, and finally, a nervous, “Come in!”

Harry slowly opened the door. Ron and Hermione were standing about a meter away from each other, both of them noticeably flushed. Hermione’s shirt was ruffled and Ron’s ears were growing redder by the second. Both pairs of lips were rather swollen.

Harry smirked, taking in the sight before him. The couple watched him, waiting for his reaction. “Well,” he started as Hermione drew in her breath. “It’s about bloody well time!”

Hermione let out her breath, and Ron beamed. Both looked immensely relieved. Harry shook his head and laughed. “Okay, I understand that you two were having a nice snogging session here, but we really need to find this locket. I looked through all the boxes in the other room. Nothing turned up.”

Hermione, considerably happier, sat on the wooden attic floor and opened up another cardboard box. Harry and Ron followed suit. A few minutes later, Hermione gasped. “Harry!”

Harry jerked his head up. “Did you find it?”

“No, but look at this!”

She showed Harry a tape.

“So?” he asked.

“Can’t you read? Look here!” She pointed to the side of the tape. It read, Lily and James’ Wedding.

Harry curiously took it from her. “D’you mind if-if before we go, I-I could watch this?”

“Sure, mate,” Ron replied understandingly while Hermione nodded. “But, er, what is it, exactly?”

Harry looked at Ron. “It’s a Muggle tool used to record important moments and stuff like that. There’s a television in the other room to watch it on.”

Hermione looked at Harry, puzzled. “Why would Sirius have one?”

“Beats me,” Harry shrugged.

“Listen, Harry, Hermione and I will keep looking. You go watch this tape on the fellytision.”

Harry nodded his thanks as Hermione corrected Ron (“Television!”), and walked over to the room beside theirs and put the tape in the television.

After a few moments of ant-races, a younger Sirius appeared on the screen. “This is Sirius, recording the wedding of my best mate at the insistence of my dear almost-sister-in-law, Lily. Now, I have no idea how to work this Muggle thingy, so I apologize for any mishaps.”

Harry smiled at this as Sirius continued. “The ceremony is on a different tape, Lily. This is just the reception.”

Harry shook his head and continued to watch as the view was switched from Sirius’ face onto the rest of the room. It was a rather large reception where everyone seemed to know one another. The camera zoomed in on James and Lily, who were seated at their own table, beaming. “Say hi to the camera, Potters!” Sirius said.

Lily rolled her eyes and waved, while James looked at her and said, “Does my hair look okay?” She scoffed and hit him playfully on the chest. He leaned over and kissed her.

“Blech,” Sirius said, pretending to be disgusted. “Enough with the mushy-gushy stuff!”

Harry heard the laughter come from his parents as the camera was swiveled around. Sirius zoomed in on Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. “Hello, Moony, Wormtail. Anything new?”

Peter raised his glass. “Firewhisky with a double shot.”

Harry felt his blood boil at the mere sight of Wormtail, but he kept watching.

“Ooh, give me a sip!” Sirius said. “Here, Remus, hold this.”

Harry laughed out loud at this, and watched Sirius as he downed half the glass. He rubbed his forehead.

“Sirius, you’re going to have the world’s worst hangover tomorrow if you keep this up,” Harry heard Remus say.

“Hey, you have not endured the many weddings of the Blacks, Moony. This is my chance to catch up on all the fun stuff!”

Harry could almost hear Remus’ eyes roll as he handed the camera back to his friend.

After about ten minutes of watching Sirius bug all his parents’ friends, he heard music start playing. Sirius had turned the camera around and had zoomed in on Lily, who was dancing with a little girl no older than four or five. The little girl seemed to be having a ball. After a few minutes of watching Lily go crazy dancing with the little girl, Sirius decided that it was his turn. “Oi! Lily, let me dance with Rosie!”

Lily picked up Rosie and balanced the little girl on her hip. “Rose, do you want to dance with Sirius?”

Rose beamed and vigorously nodded her head.

Harry watched intently as Sirius and his mother traded the camera for Rose. When his mother was handling the camera, Harry noticed, the frame was much…calmer, for lack of better word. He watched as Sirius danced with the little girl and his mother laughed in the background.

Then, a stunningly pretty woman that looked to be about Lily’s age walked onto the screen. “Sirius, my sister needs food. Can I have her back now?”

Sirius nodded and literally threw Rose to her sister. Rose was overcome by a fit of giggles as she buried herself in her older sister’s chest. Her sister did not look happy.

“Aww, c’mon Marie. It was just a bit of fun!” Sirius put on a puppy dog face.

The woman called Marie smiled and turned around, her sister in her arms.

“Lily?”

The camera turned around and Harry was face-to-face with his father. “Yes, James?”

“Wanna dance?”

Harry heard his mother laugh as she said, “Sure, why not? After all, you are my husband.”

She thrust the camera in Sirius’ arms. It took a second for Sirius to focus the camera on the newlyweds. Lily had wrapped her arms around James’ neck and was gazing longingly into his face. Harry couldn’t help but smile. His parents swayed to the music, occasionally planting kisses on each other.

Harry watched his parents, and others, dance to many different kinds of music before everyone at the reception finally sat down to eat. Halfway through the meal, Sirius had transferred the camera into Remus’ care so that he could toast his two best friends.

He clapped to get everyone’s attention, then cleared his throat. “Now, my best mate James, here, has been chasing Lily Evans for the majority of his life.”

A couple chuckles came from everyone in the room. “And believe me,” Sirius continued, “It was hard on all of us, and by us, I mean me, Remus, and Peter. We had been standing by for seven long years, watching our Prongsie being rejected day after day. Well, mostly because all he talked about was Lily. It annoyed the heck out of us.” Sirius beamed. “Now, I don’t know what happened between them, but something happened. And here we are, at their wedding reception. I’m very glad for both of you, because you both seem extremely happy together. You have my blessing.”

Lily looked genuinely happy, stood up, and kissed Sirius on the cheek. “Hey, James, looks like you have some competition here!” Sirius laughed loudly as Lily hit him playfully on the head. Sirius continued, “And, as best man, I toast both of you.”

Everyone in the room raised their glasses and Harry nodded his head. After the clinks of glasses hitting the table had finally ended, the woman named Marie stood.

“I, like you, Sirius, had been painfully watching the Lily-James rejection cycle for seven years. I knew all along that Lily liked him, and I watched every rejection, every insult, and, let me tell you, it was the most tiring thing ever. I couldn’t figure out why my best friend wouldn’t say yes to James.”

Harry could feel his eyes burning with tears.

“After my parents passed away, I left Lily in charge of Rosie while I met with my aunt. Now, from what I understand, James came uninvited to help Lily with the tough chore of babysitting my sister. Now, only Merlin knows what happened between them on that day, but whatever it was, I’m grateful for it.” She paused here and smiled. “To Lily and James.”

Harry’s tears were falling freely as he watched his mother and father smile up at Marie.

Over the next ten minutes or so, Harry watched Sirius become hopelessly drunk and kiss Marie, who wasn’t exactly sober herself. Harry chuckled at the sight of his parents and their friends.

When the time came for the reception to end, Remus (who was the only one sober enough to hold the camera still) was talking to Sirius and James.

Out of the blue, Sirius put his arm around James and slurred, “Now, you guys are going to be doing something tonight that I’m not going to mention for the kids at home-”

Hastily, Remus turned the camera onto Lily. “Sirius has had a little too much to drink,” he explained.

From behind, Harry could hear the noise of someone being slapped over the head. “Ow!”

Remus and Lily sighed together. Harry almost had a fit with this.

Harry watched as his parents kiss one last time before the video ended. He smiled to himself, thinking of all of them.

But thinking of how his parents had been killed made Harry’s fury come alive again. He stood up and hit the eject button on the television. The tape came out and Harry sat down again, taking deep breaths. He was going to make Voldemort pay for what he had done to his family.

Then he remembered his parents, so hopelessly in love, and smiled to himself. And for whatever reason, he found comfort in his memories.





A/N: I want to thank readers for reading my 3-shot! I want to give a huge thanks to my betas, Keri, Jamie, and Mariah. They made the fic all that much better! All the characters you know are JKR’s, and how jealous I am of her. =)