The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix Part Three

A Long Time Coming

Annalee McKinnon was the Maid of Honor.

The girls were all piled into Emma and Marlene's flat, doing a bit of self-care. They'd set up as though it was a salon, with rows of pretty nail polishes and fragrant potions for skin, hair and nails and little tubs of rouge and lip colors and balms and loads and loads of flowers and hair ribbons and clips. There was a tray of sparkling jewelry, and a tiara of flowers that sat upon the top of Meg's beautiful flaming curls. The whole thing was a taffeta-pink affair, with bubbling strawberry drinks - non-alcoholic, of course, just as Jasper's Stag On was dry, so was Meg's hen party - and little petit fours with raspberry jam and white chocolate icings. Meg was in the central throne-like chair, her feet soaking in a floral scented bath with large pink flowers floating on the surface of the water. Surrounding her on poufs were the myriad of friends and bridesmaids - Annalee herself, Marlene, Emmaline, McKenna, Carly, Alice, Lily, and Dorcas, who had her baby Hannah in a carrier at her side, rocking her gently even as the girls fawned over Meg. Lily was painting her fingernails while Alice worked on a complex, storybook heroine style up-do, weaving in flowers and ribbons as she went.

"When was the first time you KNEW it was Jasper?" Annalee asked, "Like, knew that you loved him, I mean."

"In a way, I suppose I always knew it. Or should have, anyway. Jasper was there for me every time I needed him," Meg said. Meg flushed and sipped her strawberry drink as all the girls giggled excitedly around her and leaned in to hear the story.

Annalee shook her head as Marlene offered her one of the petit-fours. "So you knew from fourth year on?"

"Oh before that. I met him when I came over for the tourney from Ilvermorny, remember. He tried out for the Hogwarts team... He was third in line for the Seeker position. James was second and ended up playing it, remember?"

"James wouldn't ever let anyone forget it," Lily laughed.

Marlene snorted, "Isn't that the truth?" she said, popping a petit-four into her mouth.

Meg laughed, "Well he was just so sweet. He was the nicest person I think I've ever met. And I remember one day having a fight with Jack Scout, the captain of the Ilvermorny team about no-maj and wizarding relations and he said just about some of the most horribly purist things I'd never heard said..." she shook her head, "And he just kept making excuses for it and he'd become friends with some of those terrible blokes from Slytherin. We had dinner with the Slytherins one night and Scout was very buddy-buddy with Mulciber of all people..."

"Ugh, I hate that guy," Alice said, shaking her head.

"So much," Carly agreed, "He's so gross."

"And I was so frustrated with the things they were saying, I ended up leaving the Great Hall but I didn't know my way around, really, and I wasn't sure how to get back to the rooms we were staying in, so I couldn't go far. I ended up sitting on the stairs in the entrance hall. Well Jasper Odair came out of the Great Hall - I don't know where he was headed off to, but he spotted me and he came over to tell me he was impressed with the skills I'd shown on the pitch during a practice earlier that day. I thanked him, you know, but I guess he could tell I was upset because instead of going wherever he was off to, he sat down next to me." Meg smiled, "We talked for hours..."

"He's so good at listening," Lily said.

"He is!" Meg exclaimed happily. "He really makes you feel heard in a way that so few people are capable of doing."

Lily nodded.

"Sean is like that," Annalee said, and she turned pink.

Marlene nodded, "He is, you're right. It must be the Hufflepuff in them."