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. =)