Motorcycles and Wedding Crashing
Warren Yearly was returned safely to the Ministry of Magic and only days later announced his resignation as the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. After what he had gone through, many weren’t surprised by his resignation. He expressed his regret thoroughly, as he had never enjoyed anything more than his job, but in the present situation, he was too old to deal with this. Needless to say, not many were eager to jump in and take his place. If the department head of Beast Handlers wasn’t safe, who was?
James and Lily returned to the others safely as well, though undeniably terrified. They couldn’t quite grasp what had happened out in the forest. Voldemort had asked them to join him “ two of the people Death Eaters would never consider fighting alongside, rather fight against. They weren’t sure whether or not to tell Dumbledore about it, what would he do about it? What could he do about it? In the end, they did tell the Headmaster and he assured them that their safety would be a top priority. James and Lily weren’t sure what Dumbledore would be able to do, but they trusted the Headmaster and hoped he would keep his word.
The news about Severus Snape being a Death Eater was received without too much surprise. Those that knew him knew he was always going to be a Dark wizard. Those who didn’t know him obviously didn’t know how he would turn out, but believed the others when they said it wasn’t a shock. To them, he was merely one more obstacle on the way to defeating Voldemort. The only one who took this revelation to heart was Lily. She had been best friends with him, after all. She had seen the good in him. Of course she knew that he had his dark side, but she never dreamed of him becoming a Death Eater.
The full moon was a vicious one and Remus wasn’t sure if it was because he was alone for the first time in months, because he was worried about his friends, or because this job happened to be the case this month. Either way, when Harry Lupin opened up the shed the following morning, he saw that Charles would have his work cut out for him. Days later, Remus was still recovering from that night, though he was back at Sirius’s flat rather than his parents’ house. His boss was not pleased to see his employee bearing more injuries. The black eye Remus had after the Knockturn Alley fight had only infuriated Mr. Foster and the fact that his arm was in a sling did nothing to make his boss like him more.
The boys needed a break from their Order work and had decided to spend the weekend at the Potters’. Hannah was thrilled to have her son home and glad to see he and his friends were taking a well deserved break. In honour of their first night there, she was preparing an extravagant meal and absolutely refused to allow them to help when they offered. She went so far as to shoo them outside and magically lock the door in a way so that only she could open it. Sirius used this opportunity as a chance to show his friends something he had gone to get earlier.
“You’re mental,” Remus said, shaking his head in amazement. He was sitting on one of the lawn chairs in the Potters’ expansive yard. His arm was still bound up in a sling and his face bruised. Charles decided it was good that he was spending the weekend there so he could check on his son’s friend’s injuries in case they acted up again. According to Sirius, Remus had been moaning in pain while he slept the night before, but Remus had no recollection if it.
Sirius looked offended. “No, I’m bloody brilliant.”
“He’s mental, Prongs, right?”
“I have to agree, Moony.” James stood up and crossed to the shiny motorcycle Sirius was standing proudly beside.
“He’s mental,” Peter agreed, shaking his head in disbelief. “Why, in Merlin’s name, would you want this? Can’t you Apparate?”
“Of course I can, Wormtail! But Apparating is too fast, I like to take my time.”
“Since when?” Remus scoffed. In the eight years he had known Sirius, the boy had been a blur except when he was doing his homework. Then he was about as slow as a Flobberworm trying to cross the Hogwarts’ grounds.
“Watch it, Moony, or I’ll break your other arm.”
“And then I proceed to cause you bodily harm.” Remus got to his feet and crossed the lawn to get a better look at the Muggle contraption. He should have known Sirius was up to something when he caught him reading some sort of manual that he quickly hid when his roommate entered the room. “You want to battle Muggle traffic? It makes people bitter.”
“I know. I’ve heard your boss complain about it.” Sirius patted the seat of the motorcycle affectionately, as if it was his child. “And I don’t have to battle with traffic.”
Peter raised a sceptical eyebrow. He seriously doubted that. “How do you plan on doing that? Riding it in the middle of the night when no one’s out?”
Sirius raised his eyebrows and smirked dangerously. “Why don’t you come for a ride with me, Wormtail? I can show you.”
James shook his head furiously, moving to snatch the keys from Sirius’s hand. Sirius, however, quickly hid them. “You’re not riding across my parents’ lawn in that. I may be eighteen, but they’ll murder me. And then you.”
“You mean I’ll get the flat to myself?” Remus piped up hopefully.
“I mean it, Moony, that other arm of yours is easily breakable.”
“So? Mr. Potter’s right inside. It wouldn’t be broken long.”
Peter had gotten up from his place on one of the chairs and crossed to his friends. “How do they live with each other?” he asked James seriously, folding his arms across his chest.
James shrugged. He had been wondering that himself. “I don’t know. I feel bad for the landlady though. She must get so many complaints about the noise.”
Remus and Sirius exchanged exasperated glances. “We don’t argue that much,” Remus declared defensively.
James laughed loudly. “Really? Pete and I could write an anthology on all the arguements you’ve had.”
Sirius rolled his eyes. “You’re exaggerating.”
“Am I, Padfoot? Shall we, Wormtail?”
Peter began counting off on his fingers. “First year “ Sirius is mad because Remus won’t say why he came back to school looking like a Hippogriff trampled over him.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t about to tell him I was a werewolf, was I?”
“Second year “ Sirius breaks the window in the dormitory and Remus accuses him of being the reason he was going to go to therapy one day.”
“Like you weren’t thinking the same thing, Prongs.”
“Third year “ Sirius threw his pillow with his shoe in it and Remus’s head and then denied that he hadn’t mean for his shoe to be in there.”
“My shoe wasn’t supposed to be in there.”
“Fourth year “ Sirius and Remus argue because apparently Sirius was making Remus motion sick.”
“Remus is always sick, look at him now.”
“Fifth year “ don’t even get me started on that… we all know what happened before OWLs.”
“And, for the record James, Remus forgave me.”
“Sixth year “”
“Okay, guys!” Remus quickly cut in before they were there all day listening to James and Peter. “We understand, we argue a lot.”
“That’s an understatement.” James laughed.
“But did you notice how all of those arguements have one common factor?”
“They all end up with you chucking something at Sirius’s head?” Peter suggested with a cheeky grin.
“Sirius is the cause of them all.”
“Because it’s fun to see you fight back!” Sirius said cheerfully. Then, in a slightly pleading tone, he went on, “Come on, will one of you go for a ride with me on this thing.”
James and Peter exchanged wary glances. There was no way either of them was getting on a moving Muggle contraption with Sirius steering it. Then the same thought seemed to appear in their minds at the same time. “Remus would!” James hastily sat Remus down on the seat and Sirius, who just wanted to try the motorcycle out, hopped on in front of him.
There was no bloody chance that Remus was going to ride on this thing. “What? No! Get me off this thing!”
“You’d better hold on, Remus,” Sirius advised him as he revved the engine. When Remus made no move to do anything, Sirius glanced at him over his shoulder. “I mean that.”
Terrified of what James had just pushed him into, Remus tightly wrapped his good arm around Sirius’s middle, wondering what on earth was going to happen. “Hold on,” Sirius warned again and Remus hated to hear just the faint hint of fear in his voice. If Sirius was nervous about this… they were doomed. Sirius turned the key again and Remus felt his stomach drop out of his body when he saw the ground was suddenly a lot farther beneath his feet than it had originally been.
It was then that Remus shouted something they never thought they’d hear him shout.
“Language, Moony!”
“Why didn’t you tell me this thing flies?”
“It would spoil the surprise!” Sirius steered the motorcycle around, laughing to himself as Remus muttered several foul words, death wishes for Sirius, and pleas to survive under his breath. The cold air whipped about their faces, turning the tips of their ears red.
“Remind me to kill you when we get home,” Remus warned his roommate as he shakily dismounted the motorcycle once they were back on the ground. His face was paler than usual and his hands were shaking.
Sirius chuckled and dismounted gracefully from the motorcycle. “Oh come on, your life would be so boring without me.”
“I like boring. I love boring.” His voice had risen to a level of squeakiness they had never heard before and his hands were still trembling as he went to sit down on the lawn chair again.
“So,” Sirius began once he was sure his roommate wasn’t going to pass out on the spot. “Want to try it out, James?”
James, who wasn’t quite as terrified of flying motorcycles as Remus was, accepted the offer. Of course, it helped that he knew what to expect when Sirius turned the key the second time and the ground was suddenly much farther behind him. When Sirius offered to let Peter try it out, he flat out refused, claiming there was no way he was going to get on a Muggle contraption that didn’t stay firmly on the ground. Sirius only gave up on flying the motorcycle when the Potters called them inside for dinner.
After everything that had happened in the past few months, it was nice to have a day when they could act their age, be the eighteen year olds they were.
They were in trouble.
That much was clear.
What they were in trouble about, they didn’t know.
When they arrived in the flat James and Lily shared together and saw the redhead sitting at the kitchen table with an absolutely deadly look in her eyes, they knew they were in for it. Remus, Sirius and Peter instinctively got behind James and Sirius gave his best friend and forceful shove forward, putting him in the path of danger. He struggled to get back for a moment while Sirius braced his shoulder against James’s back, preventing him from doing so. If they were lucky, maybe the sight of her boyfriend would deflate some of the anger the woman had developed while they had been gone.
“Lily!” James burst out in his most cheerful voice, stepping forward and bending down to plant a kiss on her cheek. “How are you?”
“Livid,” she replied bluntly.
James instantly recoiled; praying she didn’t have her wand concealed anywhere where she could whip it out at a moment’s notice. He had been at the receiving end of Lily Evans’s hexes and the end result was him strongly resembling a girl. He was not eager for that to happen again. “W-what happened?”
“Petunia is getting married,” the woman spat, as if it was the most disgusting phrase she had ever had to utter.
James couldn’t stop his mouth from dropping open. So they weren’t in trouble. That was a relief. Though Lily was still unhappy about this and he knew he should probably be a good boyfriend and ask what was wrong with it. “Oh… shouldn’t you be happy for her?”
That was the wrong that to say.
“Happy for her?” Lily fumed. “James! She’s marrying an absolutely hideous man!”
James couldn’t understand why Lily was so furious. He knew the two sisters hadn’t been on speaking terms in years, but surely a wedding would help to reconcile it? Choosing his words carefully, he then asked, “What’s he like?”
“Disgusting, horrible. I’ve met him a few times and he’s so… so… ugh, he’s awful, James. Even my father couldn’t stand him.”
James rarely heard Lily speak about her parents ever since they were killed in a car accident before their seventh year. The fact that Lily would specifically point out that Mr. Evans hated the man must have meant that her sister’s fiancé was truly terrible. James often wondered what Mr. Evans would have thought of him.
“What’s the bloke’s name?” Sirius asked curiously, deciding that it was safe to speak now that he was sure Lily wasn’t about to hex them all.
“Vernon Dursley,” Lily spat out, as if his name was a disease.
James grimaced at the name. “He sounds like a real charmer.”
“Is he really that bad, Lily?” Remus asked tentatively, though taking a small step back when she rounded on him. Peter did the same. There was something utterly frightening about that woman when she was enraged “ and they had battled Death Eaters.
“He’s so pompous,” she snarled. “And, of course, because he’s in the family now he knows where I went to school and calls it my abnormality.”
“Want me to beat him up for you, Lily?” Sirius asked in a phony tough voice, though the grin that was on his face faltered for a moment when Lily brought her glare to him. He was relieved when she saw the corners of her mouth quirk up into the ghost of a smile.
“I don’t think Petunia would take well to you beating up her fiancé.”
“I thought you hated her?” Peter asked, befuddled. Lily never spoke affectionately of her older sister, so he always assumed that Lily hated her too much to care whether or not Sirius beat up her fiancé.
“I don’t hate her, Peter,” Lily explained calmly. “We just don’t get along. I do want her to be happy and, unfortunately, Vernon Dursley makes her happy.” She held out the letter that the boys had not noticed she’d been clutching the entire time. James took it and read the contents.
It was not an invitation to the wedding, by any means. Petunia would as soon as die than allow her freakish sister attend her wedding. James was personally glad. If Lily went, that meant he would have to go with her and he was not sure he could tolerate Lily’s sister or the woman’s soon-to-be husband. He might unwittingly hex them… It was more of a letter telling Lily that Petunia she was getting married just for the sake of her knowing. James couldn’t deny there was a certain gloating tone to the note.
“You may not hate your sister,” he said to Lily, handing her the note. “But I do.” When Lily looked pointedly at him, he cleared his throat and hastily added, “Erm, do you want to go to her wedding?”
“I would like to see my sister get married.” Lily dropped the letter onto the table and stood up, crossing to the kitchen counter, where there was a pot of coffee she must have brewed earlier. “But that’s not going to happen, is it?”
James bit his bottom lip. He knew Lily really wanted to see her sister get married. No matter how cruel Petunia had been to her, they had been something of best friends when they were children. And Petunia was her bloody sister. Even if she wasn’t wanted at the wedding, James would make sure she got there. He may want to kill himself, or Vernon, the whole time, but he would ensure that Lily got to see her sister walk down the aisle.
After all, it wasn’t as if their parents could be there.
Lily knew that the moment Petunia saw her at her wedding, her big day would be wrecked. This was precisely the reason Lily hovered in the background, concealed by a rather beefy man she could only assume was a relative of Vernon’s. She wanted Petunia’s actual ceremony to at least be happy. Lily knew this wouldn’t happen if the woman discovered her younger sister had shown up. Oh, Lily didn’t want to imagine the scene that would erupt if that happened. James hovered behind her, one hand resting lightly on her shoulder. He knew Lily was concerned, probably wondering why she had bothered to show up.
James had to admit that he admired her greatly for this. Even if it was likely that Petunia would throw a fit the moment she saw her little sister, Lily still wanted to see what was supposed to be the happiest moment of her sister’s life. James knew nothing about the bonds of siblings, being an only child, but he imagined that it was something like the bond he had with his friends “ Sirius in particular. He had been tempted to take his best friend up on the offer to room with him, yet James had his own plans and they involved the woman he was with right now. Being at a wedding put certain ideas in his head.
He may have been terrified when Sirius brought up the idea of marrying Lily at first, but that had been months ago. They had still been in school at the time. Now it didn’t seem like such a bad idea. It was actually one that he could grow to really love.
James’s eyes scoured the Muggle church and rested on the man standing at the altar. From a man’s point of view, Vernon looked soft, though that could be attributed to his enormous middle. But he looked like he could yell quite a lot, but never live up to his threats. The bushy moustache and lack of neck made the corners of James’s mouth turn up into a smirk. He tried putting himself in the shoes of a woman now, hoping that would help him understand the appeal of a man like that. Vernon didn’t look like the most handsome of men and not the friendliest of people.
Then again, from how Lily described her, Petunia wasn’t the friendliest of people either. They must have been the perfect match.
Glancing down at Lily, James saw the faint frown creased between her eyebrows and the worry in her eyes. He squeezed her shoulder encouragingly. “You’re doing nothing wrong,” he told her quietly.
“Tell that to Petunia when she sees me,” Lily muttered, staring determinedly at the altar where her sister would soon be.
“Petunia should know better than to disinvite her only sister to her wedding,” James snarled. Then, thoughtfully, he added, “Though, maybe one of them will get sick of the other and this won’t be her only wedding.”
“James!” Lily snapped reproachfully. However much Lily couldn’t stand Vernon, she ignored the part of her that agreed with James. Maybe one of them would get tired of the other and decide to call it quits. But Lily wanted her sister to be happy and if, for some wild reason she would never fully understand, Vernon Dursley made her happy… Lily was just going to have to accept that.
James shrugged; a cheeky smile plastered on his face and abruptly changed the subject. “Did I tell you how beautiful you look?” It was true, the dark green dress she was wearing was lovely and her hair in light curls, James could barely take his eyes off of her.
Red crept onto Lily’s face and she shook her head. “No you didn’t and thank you. You look very handsome yourself.”
“I try,” James joked nonchalantly. When the organs started playing the Wedding March, James and Lily directed their attention to the doors of the church where Petunia would make her entrance. It wasn’t long before Petunia stepped through the doorway and, as was customary, everyone stood to get a glimpse of the bride.
Petunia looked happy, that much was clear. If this Vernon who Lily despised so much made Petunia happy, that was the most anyone could hope for. The ceremony was fast, which, in James’s opinion, was the best part about it. He couldn’t stand listening to Vernon’s pompous, smug voice as he recited the wedding vows. Petunia’s voice was less grating than her new husband’s, but no less smug, as if every woman in the world would want to be where she was standing.
James could see how Lily couldn’t stand her.
When the ceremony concluded, the gathering moved into the catering hall across the street. It took some convincing on James’s part to get Lily to agree to go. He knew she wanted to, even just for a moment to offer her sister congratulations, but she couldn’t bring herself to go for fear of being chucked out. But James knew she would regret not going, maybe not right then, but soon she would. James knew he didn’t want to go, but he would for Lily. He would only do something like this for her.
There was a line of people waiting to congratulate the bride and groom, as well as their family. James and Lily stood at the end of it, James’s hand resting reassuringly around Lily’s waist. “Look, if it makes you feel better, what kind of scene can she cause with all these people around?”
Lily’s face was dark. “You don’t know her like I do, James.”
“Yes, but from how you described her, she seems like someone who wants to keep up appearances,” James reasoned, moving with the flow of the line. “And how would it look to the groom’s family if the bride suddenly caused a scene?”
Lily said nothing. James had an excellent point. Petunia would never lose her temper with Vernon’s family so close by. They would think she was mental. Maybe she could do this. James and Lily ended up being the last to approach the bride and groom and, when they did, they could instantly see the looks of horror cross the newlyweds’ faces. Had this been any other time, James may have found it funny, but he knew this would upset Lily.
“What are you doing here?” Petunia hissed, a fake, painful smile plastered on her fake.
“I came to see my sister get married,” Lily replied coolly. Maybe she and James had been wrong, maybe Petunia would cause a scene. Sweet Merlin… she had a feeling this was going to end badly.
Petunia still kept the fake smile on, though her voice was getting increasingly hysterical. “You weren’t invited.”
“I won’t stay for the party if you don’t want me to.”
“Good, because there’s no room for you. Either of you.” She gave James a pointed look, one that was clearly wondering who he was.
James obviously noticed this and stepped forward, extending a hand for one of them to shake. Both Vernon and Petunia stared at it like it was diseased and James quickly withdrew his hand. “How rude of me. I’m James Potter, Lily’s boyfriend. Congratulations to the both of you.”
Lily barely had time to marvel at the fact that James could go from biting to polite in a matter of seconds. Vernon quickly spat out, “You’re another one of those freaks, aren’t you?”
People had begun staring, Vernon’s family in particular. This was going to turn out exactly as Lily had imagined, and dreaded. She could already see the purple tinge appearing on Vernon’s face, a danger sign.
“Freak?” James repeated thoughtfully. “No… I’m actually studying to be a doctor. I don’t think that’s freakish at all.”
“A doctor?” Petunia said skeptically.
“Yes. It’s really a fascinating career. What is it you do, Vernon?”
“I manufacture and sell drills,” Vernon replied, drawing himself up proudly, as if everyone would want his job.
James studied the man’s large face with an unreadable expression. “I see.” Shrugging, he went on, “Well, the world does need drills and what not. That’s a good career, Vernon.”
To anyone who didn’t know James, the condescending tone in his voice would not have been recognised. But Lily knew James too well to miss the tone and recognised the fact that James thought Vernon’s chosen profession was ridiculous. “Well,” James then piped up, sticking both his hands out and wringing Vernon’s and then Petunia’s, “We must be going. The ceremony was lovely, have a nice life together!”
Thoroughly surprised by her boyfriend’s quick dismissal of the two, Lily was dragged away by James, though she did manage to catch the stunned looks on the Dursleys’ faces.