Jily

Chapter 30

1 year later

Remus's POV

In the back room of the church, James was grinning like a madman, Sirius fixing his tie. I took a seat on the small couch in the back of the room, opposite the mirror that James and Sirius poised themselves before. Peter was off somewhere dealing with some catering disaster or something.

James took a deep breath, "Can you guys believe I'm getting married today? And to Lily?" Every word sounded reverent and I smiled at one of my bestest friends. James deserves happiness and so does Lily. They deserve this, even with the smoky reminder of the evil lurking in the world outside. This church could be their sanctuary.

"Never thought the day would come," Sirius quipped, finally straightening James's tie.

James slapped at Sirius's shoulder, more for appearances than the bite of it: he'd never thought the day would come either. Before Lily, he had always complained to not be the marrying type. Lily had, too. Apparently not.

"And Moony, remember how you thought it was a bad idea that I ask her out?" James snorted, looking at me through the mirror.

I looked at my hands, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I could have ruined your life, whatever." My eyes moved up to meet his, an eyebrow raising, "But you still did some pretty dumb stuff. Need I remind you of the quidditch plan? Or the fact that she hated you at first?"

James snorted, god he was so happy, "Well it all worked out, didn't it?"

"Yeah," Remus conceded, gladly, "It certainly did."

Marlene stuck her head into the small back room that they had taken over, a hand over her eyes, "Everybody decent?" Before anybody answered, she stepped in anyway. The lovelorn smile on Sirius's lips was not lost me. That idiot. Just as bad as James and he doesn't even know it. At least James had the sense to know he was head over heels for Lily. I'd have to work on that, try to wheedle them together like I had with James and Lily in the beginning.

Marlene wrapped an amicable arm around Sirius's shoulders, turning to take a long look at the man of the night, "You look good, Jamesy," She said, smiling, "Are you ready?"

Never in all my time knowing him, have I seen a grin that huge on James's lips, nothing so genuine nor eager. I thought I had seen happiness after successful pranks, after passing tests, after winning games, but no James Potter smile ever met an ounce of happiness that this one had.

"Yeah," James said, "I'm ready to get married."

I knew he was. I just hoped he was ready for everything that  followed. I had that feeling again, I had had it before and it always meant... disaster.

2 years later

3rd Person POV

"We have an announcement," James said, smiling, a cheerful arm around his wife, "Do you wanna do the honors?"

Lily beamed at all her closest friends. Remus leaned against their favorite bookshelf in the corner. He and Lily had refurbished it together as a piece for the new Potter household, an arm of their friendship, of the help and cherishing as they all grew. Sirius and Marlene sat side by side in the love seat, Sirius's arm slung protectively over Marlene's shoulders. Marlene fidgeted idly with the new diamond ring on her left hand as she stared up at her best friend in the world. Peter hadn't been able to make it. He had been so busy later. With what, none of them knew, but it had to be important for him to miss his best friends' announcement, right? They would tell him another day. Lily passively wondered how they had been so lucky to have such great friends, to have each.

Lily's hand tightened around James's, "We're pregnant!"

Marlene squealed, jumping up to wrap her arms around her best friend in the whole world. Sirius and Remus approached James slower, with less squealing and screaming and excitement, but just as much pride and happiness.

"Good for you, bruv," Sirius said, patting James on the back and pulling him in for a hug.

"I'm happy for you two," Remus said. His voice was oceans quieter than Sirius or Marlene, but the happiness underlying it all swelled just as much.

"You're gonna name it Sirius if it's a boy, right?" Sirius quipped, cheeky as ever, a contented arm slung around his best friend.

James rolled his eyes, "Oh, shut up, padfoot."

"Oh, please, Sirius," Marlene lightly hit Sirius on the back of the head, "Be serious here. They're not going to name their firstborn child after you. I mean really. But second born... if it's a girl it better be a girl!"

They all laughed.

Baby names echoed against the lilac walls and settled into the overweight couch cushions, too big for the tiny Evans-Potter living room to comfortably fit. Mental images of a happy future were shared- of a Mini James making messes in the kitchen, of a shrunk-down Lily dancing to Remus's piano playing in the den, of two small children of opposite genders racing out into the small backyard screaming and laughing, of a home.

"A toast," James said, finally, a glass tipped from him fingertips, a smile on his lips, "To the future. To friendships. And to my beautiful wife."

"Here, here!" The group echoed, with laughs and happiness.

Somewhere in the distance, a large boom caused the house to shudder, like an electrocution mixed with an earthquake, power shaking the sturdy, magic-drawn structure to its core. It left them in silence. A celebratory glass teetering on the table, an every resolve fluttering into the twilight.

"Marlene?" Lily piped up, trying to keep her voice from shaking at all. It wavered, but nobody said anything, "Why don't you help me bring dinner in here, hmm?"

"At your service, Lils. Don't want that baby to come out upside down because it's mom didn't slow down."

"Oh, shush," Lily berated, but the comment had fortuitously managed to skew the tension, "C'mon Marlene."

The unearthly shudder of power, of magic, of doubt, that has shaken its way across the earth was forgotten as the Potters say down for a homemade dinner with their friends, their family. Briefly, they forgot about the war and just snorted in ridiculous laughter as Sirius stuck green beans between his lips like walrus tusks.

One year and eleven months later, almost to the day

3rd person POV

"Harry," Lily whispered her face buried in the small tufts of her only son's dark hair, "I'm so sorry."

She could hear James downstairs. A crash. Power. Magic. Doom.

A tear fell onto her son's cheek as she tucked him into his crib, "Mommy loves you."

A boom reverberates through the house. Lily thinks she recognizes that voice, it isn't Harry or James or- she cries out, "Not my son!"

Harry cries for his mom, locked behind a magic-sealed door, a childish squeal: innocence personified. Lily aches. Light flashes.

She doesn't hear anything else. Silence. Nothing.

THE END