Our Seventh Year

Lily and James arrived three days before the wedding with permission from Dumbledore and their teachers, thankfully since they were of age they just apparated to Lily’s house with their bags. Once home Lily was swept up by her parents with questions about school, and to see her with her ring on and they loved what James had gotten her for her birthday.

James already knew what room he would be staying in, so he went up to his room to unpack. He had something very serious he needed to talk about with Lily’s parents. It had been weighing on his mind for a while now, and he had already talked to his parents about it during a visit he had snuck while Lily was in class, being of age made everything so much easier. For the past couple of nights he had not been sleeping very well from the stress of it on his mind.

“Why are you so tired?” Lily asked coming into the room when he let out a big yawn.

“I just have not been sleeping very well is all,” James said truthfully

“Make sure you rest up for the wedding,” Lily said leaning on the door frame. “Petunia is going be the biggest pain in the arse for the next few days, just preparing you.”

“Thanks,” James said with a smile and Lily disappeared when her mother called her down for help with cleaning.

“When am I going to find time to talk to them?” James wondered as he finished putting his last shirt away, and shoving the trunk into the closet.

Finally the opportunity arose when Lily was out getting fitted into her dress, and Petunia was making sure her cake was exactly how she wanted it, and all the floral arrangements were the right color and style.

He was walking down the stairs, and he could feel butterflies in his stomach, and he almost backed out but it was now or never.

“Hi James,” Lily’s mother said as her and her husband lounged on the couch taking their first break since Lily and James arrived.

“Have a seat,” her father offered pointing to the empty love seat next to the couch they were sitting on. “You look drained,” he commented with a smile. “Petunia can do that.”

“Ah well,” James said with a smile looking at them. “It isn’t Petunia that is causing my lack of sleep, it is Lily,” he said sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh?” Rose asked raising an eyebrow as she held her husband’s hand with a smile. She had a feeling she knew what was coming. It was so obvious how in love Lily was with James and he with her, even if they had only been together for a short amount of time.

Taking a deep breath, James pulled a small box from his pocket opening it to reveal a decent sized diamond ring with a teardrop cut, with two smaller diamonds on either side on a platinum band. His parents had offered to help him pay for the ring since he could not afford it himself, but he was going to pay them back, since the ring was supposed to be from the fiancée, not his parents.

“I wanted to ask your permission to marry Lily.” He said, and then held his breath waiting for an answer that seemed to take forever to come.

Rose looked at her husband who just squeezed her hand, “we would love to have you as a son-in-law,” he responded.

James smiled widely thanking them both, and told them what he had planned, well so far.


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“Ouch mum!” Lily said pulling her head away from her mother’s hand. “It is already done! You don’t need add more pins!”

It was May fifth, and Lily was sitting in her parent’s room, which was the official bridal party room. She was avoiding putting on the dress that hung on the back of the door. She could have sworn that it was mocking her. Glaring at it, she turned back around to look at the garden. People were already taking their seats, and she could see James making friends with some of her family members, though none of them knew what Lily and James were

Lily was glad her and James were of age, they could set up everything with ease, and not have Petunia breathing down their neck when they tried to do it manually. Petunia protested the whole way saying that ‘their silly shenanigans are going to ruin my wedding’, but she was instantly quiet when Lily managed to charm the flowers not to wilt in the sun.

Once her mother let go of her, Lily slipped into the bathroom to do her makeup herself, not wanting some strange woman doing it for her, because frankly Petunias choice of makeup, and how it was applied made all the bridesmaids look like clowns. Satisfied with her makeup, she then loosened her hair a bit not wanting her hair to give her an impromptu facelift, and the small strands that fell out she curled.

“Mum! MUM! Fix her hair!” Petunia shrieked when Lily appeared from the bathroom. Lily swore if Petunia was not in a wedding gown they would have had an all out brawl right there. Petunia had such a look of hatred in her eyes. “And fix her makeup!”

“I will do it,” Lily said going back into the bathroom, tucking the hair back in but once they were ready to go she would loosen them once again, and lighten her makeup.

When she returned she could not avoid the dress any longer. Sighing she took it down and removed her robe, turning to change in the corner since another girl had dashed into the bathroom. “I am going to kill myself,” Lily said to herself as she pulled the dress on.

Once it was up all the way her mother came up behind her zip it up. “At the reception you can change,” she mumbled and Lily smirked. Her mother did not even like the dresses. Putting on the white flats with the pink bow Lily followed the rest of the group out carrying her small white bouquet.

They met the other boys in the hall, Vernon was all ready outside standing at the altar, and everyone had taken their seats. For the first time Lily met the boy she was supposed to be walking with, he was unable to make it to the rehearsal dinner because his flight was delayed.

Joy, Lily thought to herself as she looked at the boy. He was a bit taller than her with curly brown hair, and blue eyes. That part was not bad, it was the rest of him, his nose was a bit up turned reminding her of a pig, his face was covered in acne, and he was particularly pudgy. But it got better, even inside in the air condition, since it was a warm May day, he was beginning to sweat, and either he forgot deodorant, or did not put enough on, because she could smell him.

“Hello,” he said in a high pitched nasally voice, that did not fit his body at all. “I am Charles, I work with Vernon. And who are you? A friend of the lovely bride?”

Lily almost choked on her spit when he called her sister lovely, “my name is Lily, and I am Petunia’s sister.” She said shaking his outstretched hand.

He raised his eyebrow perplexed and let go of her hand, “funny I have never heard her or Vernon mention you, and you look nothing alike.”

“I get that a lot,” Lily mumbled answering both of his statements.

Suddenly she felt a swift kick to her bum, and Lily turned around to see her sister scowling at her. “Get going!” She hissed pointing towards the door. Apparently Lily missed the cue, and her and Charles were running late. Grabbing his extended elbow, Lily stopped breathing through her nose, and emerged out into the sun to see many faces staring at her. Smiling, she walked cursing the stupid dress, and boy she was forced to walk with the whole way.

She found James clapping in the first aisle near her mother, she was thankful he was not forced to sit by himself. She and Charles finally parted and Lily stood on the furthest step particularly close to James and her mom. All of them were smiling widely, and when the bridal march began they stood up.

Lily had to admit her sister looked pretty in her wedding dress, though Vernon looked like a sausage stuffed into a tuxedo. Her father handed her off to Vernon, and the ceremony began.

If she could rip that infernal lace and poof off the collar of her dress she would, it was tickling the back of her neck, and it was sticking to her as she sweat in the summer sun. She kept glancing at James who smiled and made faces at her, keeping her entertained for the long ceremony. Finally the kiss came, and Lily was sure Vernon was going to eat Petunia’s face right off.

It was time to change, and Lily practically ran to her room, taking off the dress, and put on a nice summer dress that was a pale green color, and changed into white heels, leaving her hair in the French twist, nice and lose.

“That was the scariest sight I have ever seen,” James said when she returned taking her hand. “I thought we were going to have to pry Vernon off of her.”

“Yeah, you try living with that sight for two years,” Lily said as they moved on to the dance floor to dance.

“Hopefully we will get some cake, we are going to have to race Vernon’s family there,” James said smirking, and Lily giggled. Vernon’s family were all about the same size as Vernon, if not bigger, especially his sister Marge.

“Oh God,” Lily groaned as Charles made a beeline for her. James looked up and smiled, deciding to tease her. “Looks like someone wants to dance.”

“Can I butt in?” Charles asked James who politely let him, despite Lily’s look.

“Who is that boy?” Charles asked her as they dance, watching James being snatched up by her five year old cousin who had been clinging onto him the whole day, obvious puppy love.

“That’s James, my boyfriend,” Lily said and saw the look on the boys face. Even I was single you would have no shot buddy, she thought to herself watching James do the twist with Maggie who was laughing, and following along.

When the song ended, Charles abruptly let go walking off into another direction. Lily walked over to James and Maggie, who was holding James finger to twirl under. When Maggie scowled at her, she just laughed and pulled over a chair. “Don’t worry you can still dance with him,” she said and Maggie smiled and kept going.

“She is very energetic,” James said collapsing into a chair next to Lily as he caught his breath.

“Yes she is,” Lily said watching her mother drag her off to go get something to eat, and she heard her aunt say something about how James was Lily’s boyfriend.

The first toast was Vernon’s best man, then Petunias maid of honor, then Vernon’s’ parents. Finally Lily’s father rose from his chair, smiling at Petunia but he kept glancing over at James and Lily as well smiling widely.

“Why does he keep looking at us,” Lily asked, but kept her eyes on her father smiling.

“Not sure,” James said smirking, but he knew of course. He had made all his plans, and wrote to Dumbledore asking permission to go through with it. Now he just had to wait for a response, but he was sure Dumbledore would not have a problem with it.

The speeches ended, cake was served, and everyone danced the night away. Lily swore that if Maggie was older she would have been jealous of all the attention James was giving her, but it was cute. At the end of the night she had somehow ended up with James tie, and had it wrapped around her head like a ninja.

“She must have nicked it off the back of my chair,” James said laughing as she ran around the crowd. Lily’s aunt chased her around for a while but gave up eventually, winded and tired. About thirty minutes later Maggie was found curled up under a table sleeping, the tie still on her head.

“Thanks,” James said taking his tie back draping it around his neck. Soon people started to leave for their hotels, or for home, and all that was left was Lily and James, her parents, and the caterers and DJ. Vernon and Petunia had left for the airport for their honeymoon, and when they got back they were moving into their new house that was their wedding gift from Vernon’s parents.

Once the other muggles were gone, Lily and James cleaned up all the tables, tents, and chairs piling them for when the people would come in the morning to pick them up, just making it easier.

“I am so tired,” Lily said flopping into a chair on the deck. It was dark outside already, the only light was coming from the moon which was dim since it was behind the clouds. You could smell the rain in the air as the breeze began to blow.

“Same here,” James said standing behind her chair, his hands resting on the back. Lily’s parents had retreated to bed already after he and Lily convinced them that they could take care of cleaning up, since it was easier for them.

Lily glanced up at him, brushing away strands of hair that were tickling her face. Even if Petunia’s wedding was not what Lily would have picked, she could not help but be jealous. She could not wait to get married. “When I get married, I will not make my friends wear those atrocities that Petunia calls dresses,” she said lightly.

“I would not let you,” James said smirking. June twenty fifth seemed so far away, if he could have he would have proposed to her right now, but he had to wait. He wanted all their friends there, as well as both of their parents.

She had caught that small remark, and smiled to herself. Sitting in silence just relaxing, she felt a faint rain drop, then another. “Let’s get inside,” Lily said standing up and grabbing his hand lightly.

James followed behind her, shutting the door quietly behind them. They had made it just inside because the sky opened up and it poured. “Thank goodness this did not happen earlier,” James remarked as he looked out the window in the kitchen door.

“Then you would have seen a very angry Petunia,” Lily said as they headed up the stairs. The rain was slapping the windows hard, and thunder clapped causing her to jump slightly.

“Looks like I have a friend,” James said when they entered his room. On his bed was one of Lily’s cats who was curled up into a tight ball on his bed. When they entered it opened its eyes to glance at them before going back to sleep.

Lily took a seat on the bed next to the cat, rubbing it’s back lightly, “she will probably be in here all night, she hates storms.” James nodded and took a seat next to her before falling onto his back with a sigh.

“We should get to bed, we have an early day tomorrow,” Lily said turning around to face him, leaning down to give him a kiss.

He nodded, before covering his mouth yawning. Suddenly he noticed that a small box was sitting in the middle of the floor, and James froze. Quickly he jumped off the bed, kicking it under the dresser before pretending to rummage around in his drawers for pajamas.

Lily jumped looking at him with a raised eyebrow, “you alright?” She asked him as he pulled out a pajama shirt.

“Yeah fine,” James said his hands shaking slightly. Her cat must of found it somewhere, thank God he found it first. “The thunder just made me jump,” James lied before turning around to face her with a smile.

“Alright then,” she said getting up off the bed and kissing him one more time. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With that Lily slipped into her room and stared at her ceiling for about an hour or so, just thinking about the day, and if it was her wedding what she would do differently. Then she began to think about her and James. She felt that he was the one for her, and that they would eventually get married, but when? Was it too rushed to want to get married now? Sighing she rolled over curling around her pillow and fell asleep.

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At seven James and Lily’s alarm went off simultaneously. Since Lily was more of a morning person then James was, she was ready first. They were ready by eight thirty, and said their goodbyes to Lily’s parents.

“Next time you see us mum we will be graduating!” Lily said smiling at her. They had little over a month left of school, which was a scary thought. After that they would begin their life as adults, and Lily still could not decide what she wanted to do. She had always been skilled at potions and charms which would be perfect for a healer, but her marks were high enough to be an Auror, which was very hard to achieve.

They arrived at school and at nine they had had a makeup potions lab, as well as a charms test to take. For the rest of the day, they sat and relaxed in their dorm, still tired from the past four days.