Toerags to Princes
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go through time with
Spring 1979
Lily tells James that they don't have to go all out for their wedding, that she's okay with it being a small, private event shared between their friends and family. James responds by telling her that if that's what she really wants, he'll respect her wishes but he's always associated weddings with something grand, something marvelous and epic. After all, that's how it's always been in the Potter family, for generations, so he's never known otherwise. While the Potters aren't a part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight when it came to hierarchy of the wizarding world, they were still pretty well-off considering everything, even before Fleamont's success that doubled the family's gold. So that came with certain traditions and expectations, James being the only son and sole heir of the family, expectations such as large weddings in front of their extended family and friends.
Still, James secretly asks Mary and Marlene if they know if that's what Lily truly wants, and Mary tells him truthfully that it's not. She knows Lily well enough to know that it's because she doesn't want to have to rely on the Potter family for everything wedding-related, financially or otherwise. She promises James that she and Marlene will talk to Lily and reassure her that it's okay to want things, especially when James is willing and ready to give it to her.
To want a grand and proper wedding with James Fleamont Potter.
After all, they remind her that she's only going to get married once. It's for the two of them as much as it's for Fleamont and Euphemia. Plus, it's a cause worth celebrating, especially these days. It's because of that that causes Lily to easily agree with them and just like that, the wheels are set in motion for a wedding on the twenty-first of April that year.
Saturday, 21st April 1979
Mary thinks that the weather couldn't be anymore perfect if it tried, the day that Lily and James get married. They're at the Potter manor, and as if it wasn't splendid enough before, the decorations have transformed the place into...well, it's been transformed into one of those places straight out of a muggle fairytale that her mom used to read her when she was younger.
Mary's own parents had gotten eloped when they were her age. Their own parents hadn't exactly approved of their relationship so they did what was right for them at that time and their parents eventually came around to accepting the two of them together. It was either risking losing their own child, or accepting that their other half was here to stay. In hindsight, they still had a lot to figure out, being in their early twenties when they'd gotten married. However, there had been no doubt in Mary's mind growing up that her parents loved one another, and that they poured an immense amount of love into their three children with more to spare becuase that had just been who they were. In short, she'd grown up in a loving family, and it was only when she got older that she understood how rare that was.
The group of them had been living over at the Potter manor the entirety of the week before the wedding, so that they could help pitch in with the wedding preparation. They kept trying to tell Euphemia that they have a handle on it, though the constant arguments between them about where everything goes tell another story. Lily only grows more frantic with each passing day, which Mary didn't think was possible at first but she was quickly proven wrong by the red-haired girl. Lily manages to come up with new things to worry about, or more accurately, point out new things that could easily go wrong. At some point, Mary's taken over the wedding preparations and Lily and Euphemia are glad to let her be in charge, their tiredness showing on their faces.
Mary doesn't like to think of herself as a hopeless romantic but there's just something about weddings that bring out that part of her. It's not like she's going to get wedding fever, mostly because she's figured out a long time ago that she's not the type to be able to handle long-term relationships, let alone settle down in a marriage. Despite her own reservations about marriage, if there's anyone that's more deserving of a loving relationship, it's Lily and James. If there's one thing that's constant, it's that those two are meant for one another. They're the whole reason she believes soulmates even exist.
So maybe if she's living vicariously through Lily Evans, soon-to-be Lily Evans-Potter, well, there's nothing wrong about that, is it? Her best friend's getting married to a boy that she knows is good for her, that'll treat her well till the end of time, and the thought of that is enough to pierce through the veil surrounding her usually jaded views on love and marriage. Okay, so maybe, just maybe, she is a hopeless romantic.
Two nights before the wedding, she, Marlene and Lily find themselves in one of the guest rooms at the manor. Lily's gotten them to drag two mattresses into the room, and it's all too reminiscent of how they were at Hogwarts, sharing a dorm room together. They would have conjured up two beds instead, but Lily sometimes forgets that they can do things the magical way and the thought only comes after they've managed to transport the mattresses from the other guest rooms. Plus, Lily still hasn't gotten used to the fact that she could ask one of the many house elves at the manor to help her with stuff like that. Maybe that'll change when she finally marries into the family, though Mary understands her hesitation, having grown up in the muggle world herself.
That night, there's a bottle of wine passed between the three of them that Mary brought along for the occasion, courtesy of her father. They're all sprawled out on one of the mattresses, catching each other up on how they've been lately. They haven't been able to talk much being so focused on wedding-planning and now that everything else is mostly in order, Lily seems to be finally be able to let herself catch a breath.
"Stop trying to get me hungover on my wedding day." Lily laughs as Mary passes the bottle to her yet again. Marlene holds her arms up feigning innocence, like she's not the one who told Mary to get Lily drinking to ease her wedding nerves. Lily rolls her eyes but she lifts it up the bottle anyway, taking another sip of the bottle that Mary's father gifted them.
"Are you forgetting about the miracle hangover potion someone invented during sixth year?" Mary points out. "There's also the fact that your wedding's the day after tomorrow."
"Hmm, I wonder who did that." Lily jokes, referring to the first of Mary's comments. Lily knows full well that she was the one who created the miracle hangover potion that seemed to work even better than any of the potions they had in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts when it came to hangovers. But then again, they weren't exactly supposed to be drinking as underage wizards at the boarding school, so most of the potions given had been for common colds or headaches. The invention had started off as a little experiment during a bit of down time they had at the beginning of their sixth year, with their OWLs done and their NEWTs an entire year away. Lily had managed to pull it off just like Mary knew she would, creating a substance that Mary was courageous enough to be the first one to try it (for the greater good, she'd said back then). Since then, it came in pretty handy during all the Gryffindor common room parties they threw on random evenings during the year despite lessons bright and early the next morning. Common room parties were a Gryffindor specialty - no other house even came close. Mary wonders if these traditions will continue on now that the marauders have graduated, the mastermind between most of those parties. As to Lily's hangover potion, the three of them turned it into a small business that year, Mary helping out with the brewing part and Marlene managing to bring in a steady flow of customers. They turned a bit of a profit before abandoning the business venture the next year due to their fast-approaching NEWTs.
"Are you nervous?" Marlene asks after a beat, breaking the comfortable silence between the three of them.
"I don't think so." Lily says truthfully. "I think I'm more excited than I am nervous, if it makes sense."
"Imagine telling eleven-year-old Lily that she'll end up here, engaged to be married to James Fleamont Potter." Mary jokes.
"She wouldn't believe me even if I time travelled and told her." Lily says with a laugh. "She'd probably curse me though. Both literally and with words."
Mary lies down on one of the mattresses, leaning on her side so she's still facing Lily and Marlene. Maybe it's the upcoming wedding, or maybe it's just the alcohol in her system, but her emotions seem to be rising to the surface. Even though so much has changed since Hogwarts, it seems like some things will always stay the same between the three of them. Or at least she hopes, as naive as that may be.
"Euphemia's going to walk me down the aisle." Lily's smile doesn't quite meet her eyes, laced instead with sadness and nostalgia. Marlene and Mary exchange a knowing look, trying to figure out what they should say next. Neither of them are particularly good at offering words of comfort, but if she had to pick, Marlene's probably a little better at it than her.
Lily lost her parents back during their sixth year, during a horrific car crash while she was away at Hogwarts. She doesn't talk about them much, though there were nights back at Hogwarts when she just needed a shoulder to cry on in her grief. What Mary does know is that she and Petunia had a falling out shortly after that. Last Lily's heard, Petunia went off and married her then-boyfriend Vernon, though as one last act of kindness, she did leave most of what their parents owned to Lily. She hasn't sold their old house yet, though it's currently being left vacant because she hasn't been able to deal with most of their possessions aside from stuffing them into a box. Mary and Marlene make sure Lily knows that they're there whenever she needs them, even though truthfully, it's one side of Lily that she keeps to herself for the most part.
So, Mary does what she does best and squeezes Lily's hand, trying to give her a bit of comfort. It's been three years, give or take, since, and well, she knows enough to know that time isn't indicative of how much someone's still hurting. Especially on days like these. Weddings, anniversaries, it hurts a little more even though if they let it in, the pain's not exclusive to those days. To miss someone, it's a never ending cycle and there's not much anyone can say or do to make it hurt less aside from being there.
"Life's fragile."
"Don't I know it." Marlene chuckles and there's no maliciousness behind it. "We just have to make the best of it." Mary doesn't know whether Marlene's convincing herself or convincing them, but the statement still stands true regardless.
***
On the day of the actual wedding, Mary watches as Euphemia walks Lily down the aisle where James stands, waiting to embrace the love of his life. He hasn't stopped smiling since Mary first saw him earlier today, when they were taking photographs outside with the wedding guests and the happiness just seemed to be radiating off of James. As Lily walks down the aisle, there are moments where their eyes meet and it seems like the two of them don't even realise that there's an audience, the way they're looking at one another like they're the only people in the world.
Mary's taken aback at how beautiful Lily looks walking down the aisle, even though she's already seen her in her wedding dress during the fittings. After all, it had been her mother's old dress, and they'd managed to fix it up with a little bit of magic, colouring and repairing it, as well as resizing the article of clothing so that the fabric's wrapped around Lily perfectly like it was tailored just for her. She knows it means a lot to Lily that she got to wear her mother's wedding dress at her own wedding today, like there's a part of her there despite the fact that she can't physically be there. Lily's stunning, and Mary can hear the gasps coming from crowd, from people in awe of how gorgeous the bride looks. There's also something about the way the sun's shining on her, like it knows today's her wedding day and created a natural spotlight on the bride.
The seats are filled with people that all know and love James and Lily. Sirius and Mary get up on the podium to give their speeches. Sirius tells the story of a boy who's long decided that he was in love with Lily Evans, to a point where he managed to annoy every single person at Hogwarts. Literally someone from every house has complained about his disruptive yet amusing gestures once or twice (or ten times). Sirius admits that he always thought that the crush was going to wear off after a while, since Lily didn't reciprocate his feelings, but James himself never wavered in his dedication towards the other girl. When the shift in their relationship happens, Sirius says he's honoured to have witnessed it, the love between the two morphing them into the people they are today. Sirius calls James "a soppy git" just for good measure, and it garners a laugh from the easygoing crowd. Mary secretly thinks that it's because he's getting all choked up talking about the two of them, though she supposes it's only because she knows Sirius well that she can tell by the cracks in his voice that he's hiding. After all, the two of them have the sort of relationship most of them can only ever dream about, and she finds herself hoping that Sirius is thinking about Remus when he's talking about true love. She can tell by the way that Remus' eyes are fixated on him that he probably is.
Mary tells them about how everyone knew Lily fancied James back long before Lily figured it out herself, with her own added commentary about how they eventually got together, bringing out laughs from the audience. She tells them how Lily was so scared to admit her feelings for James during their sixth year, thinking James had long gotten over his crush. For some reason, James decided that it was time to act a little more mature, and he stoped pining for Lily after that, publicly at least. But little did she know, James simply became better at hiding it, his feelings towards her, since Lily had been adamant on the fact that she didn't reciprocate his feelings. Despite the miscommunication, they finally realised that they both wanted something more than friendship at the same time and they were met with an "I told you so" from every single one of their friends.
When James and Lily finally exchange their vows, Mary can't help but cry happy tears when James tearfully says that he's the luckiest man in the world having met Lily. She can already see it in her head, the two of them growing old and sending off their children and even their grandchildren to Hogwarts. They'll probably end up like Fleamont and Euphemia, raising a son in the Potter manor and him growing up to be a younger version of James. When their vows are done, James almost kisses Lily before they're supposed to and when Lily says "I do", Mary's choking back tears as are the rest of them.
***
There's an afterparty, as expected.
Mary drags Eli and introduces him to all her friends, aside from Marlene and Lily who he's already met before. Eli congratulates James, who pulls him into a huge hug. When someone mentions quidditch, Eli gets a confused look on his face so James takes it as an opportunity to explain to him what the sport is. He drags Eli away into the house because he has a miniature quidditch set which he says will explain things so much better. Mary gives her brother a nod and a smile, telling him that it's okay to go with James, obviously, and he follows along, James' excitement rubbing off on him. Leave it to James Potter to bring the topic of quidditch into his wedding day, his second love only behind Lily.
They're outside in the garden, and the moon's beautiful, despite it not being a full. Lily has a glass of champagne in her hand, having changed into a gorgeous white mini dress that show off her legs. Mary's not entirely sure whether Lily's drunk from the alcohol or from the bliss of being newlywed, but she's smiling cheek to cheek and it's contagious, to say the least.
"To Mr and Mrs Potter." Mary raises her own glass to toast to Lily, for the fifth time in the last half hour. Maybe she's the one that's drunk. Marlene and Sirius stumble over to their group after a dance, and the four of them toast again and Mary takes another sip of champagne.
"Where's James?" Sirius asks, looking around. Remus joins their group, putting an arm around Sirius, his head leaning into his shoulder.
"My husband went inside with Eli. Wanted to introduce him to quidditch." Lily laughs.
Marlene laughs at the sight of Mary rolling her eyes. Still, she knows Eli will probably love hearing about the magical sport.
"I'll never get used to that, calling him my husband." Lily says, beaming. "My husband, James Potter."
"I'll never get used to hear you calling him your husband. What was it you used to call him?" Mary asks cheekily.
"Obnoxious?" Marlene offers with raised eyebrows. "Arrogant?"
"Tosser?" Sirius quips. "Prick?"
"Toerag?" Remus suggests.
"Ah, that's the one I was looking for!" Mary exclaims.
Lily rolls her eyes. "Well, he's my toerag." Lily jokes along.
"To Mr and Mrs. Toerag." Mary raises her glass and they toast another round as they all burst into laughter.