fatal love

chapter 146

Although they had only moved in on Sunday, it was Tuesday that the rest of the Marauders decided they urgently needed to visit. James and Lily arrived together, Pete in tow, and James happily ignored all of Sirius' grumbling when he opened the front door.

"Didn't you miss us?" he grinned, throwing his arm over Sirius' shoulder.

"Oh yes," Sirius said sarcastically, "me and Moony were just so bored on our own, making use of our long-awaited privacy, thank Merlin you're here."

"That's the spirit! And don't worry, we come bearing gifts."

Pete waved a bottle of firewhiskey in front of Sirius' face tantalisingly.

"... Alright," Sirius relented, snatching the bottle up, "you may enter."

He led the group through to the living room, where Remus was curled up on the sofa with a book. Sirius was ninety percent sure it was one of the dirty ones.

"Remus!" Lily exclaimed happily, rushing over. "How are you?"

Remus stood up to hug her. "I'm good," he said, "what about you?"

"Bloody awful," she declared promptly. "I need a drink."

"On it!" Sirius called from the kitchen, getting them five glasses. "What's tempting you, Evans? We've got firewhiskey, vodka, beer, or, um... orange juice."

"Surprise me."

Sirius shrugged, pouring five firewhiskeys and returning to the living room. "So, what's troubling you, my dear?" he asked sweetly.

Lily rolled her eyes at him, snatching her glass and downing it in one, before sitting down dramatically. "I forgot how shit home is," she said. "I've only been back a couple of days, and I've just been fighting with Petunia non-stop! She doesn't want me at her wedding, but that's ridiculous, right? I'm her sister, I should be at her wedding! But she was just, like, refusing, until my mum got involved last night, and said she wasn't going to go if I wasn't there."

Remus grimaced. "That doesn't sound good."

"It wasn't! They got into this whole screaming match, until eventually Petunia backed down, but it's like, should I even go?! She clearly doesn't want me there. In fact, she only gave up when my dad said they wouldn't pay if she was going to act like this... Just seems like I should skip the whole thing, if I have any pride."

"Course you shouldn't," Sirius snorted. "Sounds like it would ruin her day if you went, that's all the reason you need."

"I don't want to ruin her day, though! I just want to be a part of it! But then... urgh, I don't know."

"Look, you love her, right?" James asked bluntly. "Even if she's awful, she's your sister, and you love her. Yeah?"

"Well... yeah," Lily said.

"Then you go. Go there, support her, sit there quietly and clap and be the bigger person. If you guys reconnect a few years down the line, you won't want to live with the knowledge that you weren't there for one of the most important days of her life."

Lily groaned, face in her hands. "I know," she sighed. "I know I should go, it's just going to be a shit time." She looked back at James. "Will you go with me? I don't think I'll be able to get through it without you."

"What, really?" James asked in surprise. "Course I will, Evans. If you want me there, then that's where I'll be."

"Okay," Evans said, relaxing slightly. "We should start looking for places to live, too. I don't know how much longer I can stay at home."

"Are you thinking of living somewhere muggle or wizard?" Pete asked.

"Wizard, I reckon," Lily snorted. "Not sure this one would do that well in muggle areas."