true loves poison • james potter

74

Tapping her wand against the bodice of her dress, Lorelei used a nonverbal spell to alter the dress to fit her better.

"You look beautiful, Lori, don't worry about it." Liz chastised, staring at her hair in the vanity mirror.

Lorelei met her eyes in the reflection as she reached across her to grab a ribbon on the opposite side of the counter, "I know." Lorelei smiled, straightening, "I'm just," she hesitated, "unsettled."

"Why?" Liz asked as she put on mascara.

Lorelei sighed, "I just didn't expect for people to start getting married. We only left Hogwarts a year ago, and Alice and Frank are getting married - Pandora and Xenophilius have their wedding coming up this fall."

"Have you ever considered you're unnecessarily judgemental of marriage?" Liz questioned.

Glaring at her friends reflection, Lorelei adjusted the bow in her hair jerkily, "I'm not judgemental, I'm just wary. Why do they need to get married so soon?"

"Have you ever considered maybe they love one another and want to start a family together." Liz suggested, "Or maybe they want to live with one another and would rather be married and have some sort of security in their relationship? Anyway, it doesn't matter why they're getting married. It's their choice, and it's not up to you to decide whether or not it's the right choice."

"And I do, I respect their ability to choose to get married, I just can not understand it."

Patting Lorelei on the shoulder, Liz shoved her makeup in a drawer, "You don't have to understand it. It's not out of the realm of possibility they might just be craving comfort. Godric knows I'd be following in their shoes if I'd found someone when I went to school."

Chuckling, Lorelei used her wand to straighten the ribbon in her hair, "You're far too sensible for that, Liz."

"You know Lori, I thought you of all people would be joining in on the marriage bandwagon. You and James have been together for well over a year now-"

Cutting off Liz before she could finish her sentence, Lorelei gave her a dry look through the mirror, "I've told you, I'm not getting married before I'm twenty five at least. James knows that, I know that, we're all much happier this way."

Humming noncommittally, Liz finished applying her makeup. "If you're not married within two years I'll eat my words."

Shaking her head with a smile, Lorelei led them out of the bathroom, "I can't wait to tell you 'I told you so'."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Lori." Liz teased, meeting Melissa in the living room. "Are you ready to go?"

Standing up from the couch, Melissa joined them, "Of course."

One by one the girls grabbed a handful of floor powder before reading off the address printed on their invitations.

As last through, Lorelei closed her eyes before being sucked through the floor and spit out on the other end.

Alice and Frank went all out. Not only were the wedding decorations extravagant, but there was a heavy weight of magic in the air. Using a quick analysis spell, Lorelei could see at least eight layers of wards surrounding the venue by a quarter mile on each side, and Order members were stationed outside with their wands in hand. "Wow." Lorelei whispered, impressed by the measures she could see, and intrigued to find out what else they set up for protection.

"Lorelei!" A whispery voice called to her. Turning around, losing Liz and Melissa to the crowd, Lorelei greeted Pandora.

Hugging the blonde, Lorelei grabbed her hands and looked her over, "I haven't seen you in ages, how have you been?"

Pandora gave her a breathy giggle and gently pulled her left hand from her grip to show off her engagement ring. "Busy. Xenophilius and I moved in together last month, and I've actually begun experimenting with spells. Regulus actually gave me a book he asked me to look into and I've been meaning to talk to you about it since you were studying that book on decoding ancient texts. I was wondering if you would be willing to help me decode some of the more obscure material I can't decode by myself."

Lorelei couldn't decide if it was weird or impressive Pandora remembered a book Lorelei had read three years ago. She decided to be impressed, "Uh, sure. What's the book?"

"I'm not particularly sure considering the title is in symbols, but it's focus is more on dark objects. Specifically, how to destroy them." Pandora wrung her hands together.

Her interest piqued, Lorelei nodded slowly, "Of course, I'd love to go over the book with you."

A genuine grin broke out on Pandora's face, "Thank you."

Lorelei studied the blonde as a hand slid around her waist. A brief glance confirmed it to be James. "How are you, Pandora?" He asked after settling in next to Lorelei.

Giving Lorelei a significant glance, Pandora answered brightly, "Fantastic."

"Well, I hate to pull you away darling, but the ceremony is about to begin."

Pulling away from James, Lorelei gave him a withering stare before wrapping her arms around Pandora, "Before we leave you have to give me the address for your floo so I can help you with your book, okay?"

"I can't tell you how much this means to me, Lorelei. Thank you." Pandora said genuinely as she pulled away.

Allowing James to pull her away, Lorelei got pulled inside the venue for the first time, revealing the opulence of the building. A hand painted ceiling mural was the initial draw of the large room, but a large crystal chandelier hung in the center of the room. It was impossibly reflective, and reminded Lorelei more of a disco ball then a chandelier. The walls were painted a honey beige color, and the extravagant wall molding only added to the magic clearly coloring the room.

In the center back of the room stood a raised platform with a large floral arrangement nearly as tall as Lorelei. There was a white rug stretching from the doorway to the platform, cluing her in that the platform was where the ceremony would be held.

Led by James, Lorelei found her group of friends huddled on the left side of the room in the middle seats. Melissa explained the reason they all decided on left middle was, "It gives us the best view without the most frontal attention."

Slowly, more and more people trickled into the venue until only a half and hour after her conversation with Pandora, Lorelei heard the band strike up their instruments. Frank was in position on the platform, looking happier then Lorelei had ever seen him.

The wedding march played gently as the doors at the back of the room swung open.

Alice, lovely as a flower, stepped into the room.

Her dress was somehow simple and extravagant all at once. A wide boatneck neckline showed off her collar bones and the top of her shoulders, and it puffed out at the waist in a typical ballgown style, and the entire dress was made from unblemished white silk.

All eyes followed Alice down the isle as she made her way toward Frank.

A brief flicker of genuine happiness for Alice and Frank sparked in Lorelei as she watched the two stare lovingly at each other. Despite her many protests otherwise, Lorelei actually enjoyed marriage. There was something about watching two people, clearly in love, pledging their love to one another.

And though it wasn't something she fully understood, Lorelei found herself smiling and clapping along with the other guests as the couple kissed.