"Is this a bad idea? I think it is. My god, I'm going crazy. I can't believe this is happening. Merlin knows-" Lily gasped as she rapidly fanned herself.
"Lily! Everything is going to be okay!" Ast assured as she tied up Lily's hair.
It was finally the day Lily and James tied the knot. Marlene, Dorcas, Alice and Ast were helping Lily get ready. She had yet to put her dress on. Ast went with Lily, her mother and James's mother to find a dress. And the one they found was absolutely beautiful.
"Oh my god, oh my god!"
"Lily, hey! I'll get you some water okay?"
She quickly nodded. Ast headed out of the room and walked down an empty corridor. The venue the couple booked was absolutely stunning. They were getting married outside, so they were going be surrounded by the gardens. Ast couldn't use magic in the room because the muggle wedding planner was in there. So she had to get the water the muggle way.
As she finished filling up a plastic cup at the water fountain, a tall figure approached her. They were wearing a maroon suit.
"Alright there, Nott?" Remus asked, looking very dapper in his suit.
He seemed to be in a good mood. After all, the full moon was ages away.
"Not bad, Lupin," Ast greeted.
"Why aren't you ready yet?" He asked, indicating to her muggle clothes.
"Have to get her majesty ready first."
"Of course you do."
"How is he?"
"Well he's flying around the room like a Cornish pixie whilst hyperventilating, quite impressive."
"I don't care what Sirius is doing I'm asking about James!" She joked.
He smirked. "Come see for yourself."
He led her down the corridor and into a room. James was struggling to tie his tie, Sirius was smoothing down his hair and Peter was doing up the buttons on his shirt.
Ast headed over to James and help fix his tie. Once she was done, she fixed his collar and brushed off any lint that had collected on his suit jacket.
"Well this is it, one of my boys is getting married." Ast said.
"We're not your boys," James protested.
"Yeah we are," Sirius said.
"Yeah we are," James nodded.
"Listen, James, I know that you're my best friend and all. But if you do anything to Lily, I will have to kill you." Remus warned.
"Yeah, if you hurt her..." Ast drew a line over her neck.
James gulped and looked between the two of them. "I solemnly swear that I will treat Lily with my utmost respect. Now get out of here, Ast, it's a boys only zone."
Around an hour and a half later, it was time for Lily to walk down the isle. Her dress looked beautiful on her. They all shed tears when they saw her emerge from the dressing room. The bridesmaids' dresses were maroon, to match the groomsmen.
They left the room and headed to where the guests were gathered. Lily's dad met them on the way. They did last minute checks. Ast took a look at the guests. There was a beautiful archway at the end where the Marauders and the vicar were standing. She noticed an empty seat right at the front.
"Hey, um Lils, there's an empty seat there. Should we wait a few more minutes?" Ast asked.
Lily took a quick glance at the seat and smiled at her. "Oh no, someone's sitting there."
"Who?"
"Oscar."
Ast's heart swelled with love and she felt tears threatening to spill. "Thank you."
"Anything for you, Ast."
She pulled Ast into a hug and she wiped the tears out of Ast's eyes.
Finally, it was time to go.
Iris walked down the aisle first, throwing flowers down as she went. Next, Lily and her dad walked down with Ast holding Lily's dress behind them. Finally, Dorcas, Marlene and Alice walked behind Ast. Once they were at the top, Lily's dad gave her a kiss on the head, whispered something in her ear and headed to his seat. The bridesmaids walked to the side, opposite the groomsmen while Lily took James's hand. Ast spotted Dumbledore, McGonagall and Hagrid in the crowd.
While the procession went on, Remus and Ast kept on locking eyes, causing heat to rise into their cheeks every time.
Lily and James exchanged rings and vows and finally, the vicar said, "You may kiss the bride!"
Lily and James shared a kiss and everyone cheered. Everyone then headed inside to the reception. Lily quickly went into her dressing room for a breather and Ast followed.
"I got married!" She exclaimed.
"You got married!" Ast said. "James is one lucky man."
She helped Lily fix her makeup then they both set off towards the reception. It was one big table at the top of the room with smaller circular tables at the bottom. They headed to the top table and Ast squeezed in between Remus and Sirius. Waiters brought out food and they immediately dug in.
Once everyone's bellies were full and a low din of chatter could be heard, Sirius grabbed a microphone and stood up. The noise in the room immediately died down.
"Oh god," James muttered, his face already in his hands.
"Hello everyone!" Sirius excitedly greeted. "Now, I've known James for a long, long time, ever since we first met on the Hogwarts express in our first year, we've been inseparable. Always up to mischief, always in detention. Of course, we didn't do this alone. We had Remus, Peter and eventually Asteria to help us. We were always out on adventures, most of them were during the night. You could've called us Marauders."
He took a second to exchange glances with the Marauders.
"Anyway, one of my favourite memories of James is when we were in our sixth year. James payed me to try and get Lily to go out with him, to which she responded and I quote, "I will not go out with Potter, even if I had to pick between him and a Grindylow." And do you know what happened a week later? Slughorn asked me to grab some potion ingredients from the supply cabinet and guess what I see. Lily and James making out!"
Everyone laughed.
"I would love to tell you all about our adventures, but I'm afraid that I will get my friends and I into terrible trouble. So instead, I'm going to embarrass these two." He continued.
He went on about James and Lily for a few more minutes, cracking jokes and telling embarrassing stories of James and Lily when they were younger. Once he was done, everyone headed outside to the gardens. There was a large marquee that had a table of drinks and snacks. In the middle, there was a dance floor. Everyone gathered to watch the couple dance their first dance.
They picked two songs, one for Lily and one for James. Lily's song was first, she picked a slow one. They watched as they waltzed around the dance floor. Spinning and swaying to the music. Ast remembered James freaking out a few weeks ago over not knowing how to dance.
James's song was next, his was more upbeat, typical. Lily seemed to enjoy it though, since they were both jumping around, dancing terribly. The song ended and a new one came on, one that Ast once heard James play in the common room. They both looked and beckoned for the Marauders to join them. Remus shook his head but Ast grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the dance floor. Sirius did the same with Peter.
Soon the five of them plus Lily were dancing to the song. James with Lily, Ast with Remus and Sirius with Peter. Sirius pulled Peter into some sort of tango and they danced around the crowd of people gathered to watch.
"They're like a human hurricane," Remus said as he spun Ast around.
Ast laughed. "Better stay out of their way then."
The song ended and everyone clapped for Sirius and Peter's failed attempt at the tango.
The rest of the night went by quickly. Ast had a few drinks, danced with James and Sirius, mingled with the guests and stuffed her face with even more food. Remus disappeared after they cut the cake and hadn't come back since.
"Marlene, I'm going to the bathroom, I'll be right back." Ast said.
Marlene gave Asteria a thumbs up and went to dance with her girlfriend. On her way back, Ast spotted a mop of brown hair on a bench by a rose bush, away from the others. She walked over to the person.
"Whatcha doing?" Ast asked.
"Just thinking," Remus replied as Ast sat down next to him.
She looked at him curiously. "About what?"
"Everything. With all these disappearances, not knowing who's going to be next. A wedding seems pointless."
"Well that's probably the best reason to have one, you never know who's next so it's best to make the most out of it."
He looked at her and gave her a sad smile. "I can't risk losing you. Any of you, you're all my home. I don't know where I'd be without you. I-"
He went silent.
Ast softly patted his arm. "Well, you've still got us, and that's what matters the most."
"You have this thing where you always seem to see the bright side of things."
"Not always, but I don't see the point in worrying about everything. It's better to enjoy life as it is. Besides, every problem has a solution."
He nodded. They sat in silence for a bit until Ast pulled out a packet of Sweethearts she nicked from a bowl of sweets. She offered him one, but he refused so she worked her way through the sweets by herself. Only when she got to the last one, she saw the message:
Be mine.
She smiled and took it out of the packet and laid it face up in her palm. She then handed it to Remus.
"I told you I don't want- Oh," he smiled. "You look very intimidating with that sweet."
He chuckled.
"I am," Ast said. "Be mine or else."
"Or else what?"
"Or else I'll kiss you."
"That's just a win-win," He smirked, popping the sweet into his mouth.
"Remus."
"Yeah?"
"I want us to work. I want to try again. I think we could actually be something." She confessed.
The words left her mouth before she could stop them. But they were true. She had given it a lot of thought, months of thinking to be exact. The words he had said to her a few months ago were stuck in her head too. And she finally made up her mind; Ast wanted to be with him.
He looked at Ast and contemplated.
"I want us to work too," he said. "But I don't think we can."
"Why not? You said yourself a few months ago-"
"You don't want to be with me, Ast. With my kind. I'm dangerous, I could hurt you. The transformations keep on getting worse."
"So what does it matter?"
"You're drunk, you don't know what you're saying," he said.
"I'm sober enough. I didn't wait months for you to tell me this now."
"I want this to happen, but I'm going to do something to hurt you, I know I will."
"So what you said before was pointless? When I came back, I thought we were gonna get back together. But you didn't even look my way, so I went off with someone else. And then a few weeks later you tell me that you still loved me!" She exclaimed.
"Wait what?"
"What?"
"Who were you seeing?"
She fell silent. Remus didn't know about Sirius. She was so upset with Remus ignoring her that she just let it happen. Plus, her feelings for Sirius were conflicting with her feelings for Remus at the time.
"Who were you seeing Ast?" He asked again.
"I thought you moved on, I thought it wouldn't matter." She rambled.
"How? How could I ever move on? When you were the one I thought about every day... Listen, I've never felt this way about anyone before and I know that no one else could compare to you. I love you for Merlin's sake! I'll never stop loving you. But I guess what we had didn't mean anything to you."
He stood up and began to walk off.
"Remus, wait!" She called.
"No, Asteria, I understand." He said, waving her off.
"Remus!" She stood up too. "I... I still love you."
He stopped mid-step but didn't turn around. She walked up to him. His jaw was clenched.
"You're just saying that."
"Remus John Lupin, I love you, more than you could ever know. For you I'd bleed myself dry. I'd stop the world just to be with you."
"I-"
"I want this to work... Please, let's just try."
His eyes met her's. They then fell down to her lips. She felt her breath catch in her throat. She subconsciously stepped forward. They were practically nose-to-nose. He leaned forward and their lips brushed for a split-second. He then let out a sigh and his head fell to her shoulder.
"We can't do this," He whispered.
"Why not?" She asked.
"Because there are men out there who want you. Men who are stronger, smarter, more handsome. Men who don't have my condition. Why don't you want them?"
"I've tried with other men- and women, but I don't want them. Want to know why? Because I fucking love you. I love you. I love you. I-love-you."
He remained silent for a while. He must've been contemplating. She stood there, her heart beating out of her chest. Finally, he straightened up and she stared into his amber eyes.
He nodded, "fine, I guess we could try again."
Joy bubbled inside of her and she squealed in delight. He broke into a smile as she pulled him into a tight hug. Finally, after all these months of mixed emotions, she finally had him back. He was finally here, he was finally her's again.
"Perhaps we should go back?" He offered, eyeing the time on his watch.
"Yeah, they'll probably be looking for us."
They headed back to the marquee to find Lily and James doing shots while Sirius was dancing with one of the waiters.
"Finally!" Lily said when she spotted them. "I've been waiting to do the bouquet toss."
"Sorry," Ast apologised, glancing at Remus, "got caught up,"
Lily gathered all the of girls to the middle of the dance floor. Marlene and Ast headed to the front but a gaggle of girls gives them a death glare so they headed towards the back to where Alice and Dorcas were. Everyone started counting down from five.
"So where were you?" Marlene asked.
"Four!" The crowd yelled.
"Out in the gardens, it's beautiful there," Ast explained.
"Three!"
"With Remus?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Two!"
"Might have been."
"One!"
Lily threw the bouquet into the air. It flew backwards as the girls attempted to catch it. It whizzed past them, all the way over to where the four were stood. Due to Ast's fast reflexes, she managed to catch the bouquet in her hands. Everyone clapped as she stared down in horror at the assortment of white lilies, red roses and pink tulips.
Her eyes darted around the room until they landed on Remus. He was in a fit of laughter with Sirius when Ast reached.
"Merlin Ast, we only just got back together. Don't get too ahead of yourself." He said.
"Oh haha," she laughed sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
The rest of the night went by quickly. Guests were beginning to leave. Ast's parents, who attended the wedding had also left because Iris needed to get some rest. Soon, there was a small group of people left over. Alice and Frank headed home, but Marlene and Dorcas had stayed behind. They were all in limbo between dancing and drinking.
At around 1 A.M, they announced that the last dance would be taking place. Lily, James and a few other people headed to the dance floor. A slow song began playing and people started gently swaying to the music. Ast grabbed a protesting Remus's hand and dragged him to the dance floor too.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer. His hands found her waist and they swayed to the music too. Ast reached up on her tiptoes to give him a peck on the lips. Remus smiled and leaned down, returning the favour.
"Want to come back to mine?" Remus asked.
"But what about Sirius?" Ast asked.
Remus's eyes wandered over to Sirius, who was still talking to the waiter from earlier.
"I think Sirius might be bringing him back to yours."
Ast grimaced, "yeah, you're probably right."