It's been about a week since we left Hogwarts making it the last weekend in June, and not only that but it was the day of a small gathering of friends and family to witness the knot get tied between two very important people. Today was Remus and Sirius's wedding day! I was standing in the living room pacing back and forth constantly checking the new wristwatch that Dad had given me. I was wearing a nice dark blue dress with a black belt and just anxious to no end. Ron wasn't helping as he was acting the exact same.
"Where are they?" he asked anxiously. "Are you sure you told them, eleven o'clock, Lori?"
"Yes, Ronald. All four letters read eleven o'clock." I said checking my watch again. "Oh, but where are they!" Suddenly the fireplace lit up with green flame and someone stepped out of the fireplace. I got all exciting thinking they were finally coming through, but sadly it was someone we knew was coming but didn't expect until later.
"Wotcher, Lori! Ron." Tonks said with a smile. Her hair was a beautiful shade of brown with little flowers woven into the design. Ron and I just muttered hellos and went back to being anxious. Not that we weren't happy to see her, but both of us were waiting for other people to walk through the fireplace. Once again the fireplace lit up and out walked one of Ron's people.
"Hermione! Finally!" Ron jumped up and almost hugged her before stopping and holding out his hand. "Lori here was starting to worry."
"Me? Oh no, you're not passing that anxiety onto me, got it?" I said glaring at my twin. "I'm anxious enough for my two people to get here. I don't need your anxiety added on top of that!"
"Who else is coming?" Hermione questioned as she placed her suitcase on the chair beside the fireplace.
"Well, Harry is supposed to be arriving soon. We had to fight his Aunt and Uncle again to allow for their fireplace to be used in the Floo network again so that's taking some time. Since we were only allowed to invite one person each, Ginny chose to invite Dean, Ron chose to invite you because Harry was already invited himself, of course, I chose to invite Neville, and well since Mum didn't know whom to invite she let me invite one more person so I chose Seamus as well." I said glancing at my watch that now read two minutes past eleven.
The fireplace lit up and out walked Seamus halfway in the process of putting on a nice coat. I quickly walked over and yanked him into the room and scolded him.
"I plainly said, in red ink might I add, to be here at ELEVEN!" I spoke loudly.
"Chill out, Weaslette. I'm only two minutes late." Seamus refuted.
"What if we were heading to the location at eleven, huh? What if you came here and we weren't here? Then what would you do, huh?" I said starting to pace back and forth some more, checking my watch again. "Now honestly where is that boy!"
"Which one? Neville or Harry?" Ron asked.
"Either of them!" I shouted before stopping and taking a breath. Freaking out wasn't going to make them arrive any faster, then yet again ... it was worth a shot. "I swear if those boys aren't here in five minutes I will personally Floo to their homes and drag their arse's here by their ears!" While I was talking apparently the fireplace flared up as someone arrived.
"You would do that to me?" Neville's voice came. I turned back abruptly and practically jumped into his arms.
"Never!" I said before kissing him.
"Oi! What did I say about snogging in front of me?!" Ron said quickly covering his eyes, "Also, you just said that you -"
"Shut up, Ronald," I said kicking back and nailing him in the knee. He fell down into a chair and glared at me. I pulled Neville down beside me on the sofa and we sat and laughed while we waited for Harry. Miraculously all of my anxiety practically vanished when Neville appeared. Eventually, around Noon, Harry finally managed to appear, and off we went to the wedding.
"What took you so long anyway?" Ron asked as we approached the small cottage that they had purchased in the countryside.
"Vernon and Petunia weren't letting me leave," Harry said fixing his tie. "The only reason they let me come was by the threat of having a Werewolf, Auror, and half of the Order appearing on the doorstep to attack them." We all laughed at this just as the door opened and Lupin ran out to greet us.
"Welcome, Welcome all!" he excitedly shook all of our hands and clapped his hands. "Everyone is gathering around the back, we're just waiting on - oh you're here!" Remus ran around us and hugged a fellow Order member, Emmeline Vance. I smiled as she excitedly chattered with him and practically gushed with him.
"You know, I heard from Gran that they apparently used to have a thing," Neville said, "Emmeline and Lupin."
"Really?" I looked back over and well, I could instantly see a younger Lupin and her sitting in the library studying or going out to Hogsmeade. "I can see it."
"I could too," Neville said as we followed behind everyone else and gather on their back lawn for the ceremony. We quickly found some seats and waited for it all to begin. The decor was absolutely darling, a beautiful white archway was placed at the front decorated with vines and black flowers, at the top of the arch was a pawprint merged with a crescent moon.
"Why would they have that there?" Seamus questioned.
"Their nicknames are Moony and Padfoot, Seamus. It's their couple logo practically." I said. Seamus smiled and looked over at Dean who was sitting with Ginny. He was putting on a smile but underneath I could tell he was hurting seeing Dean with another person. I sighed as I took his hand. "Eventually he'll see how much he loves you and not Ginny."
"What if I lost him all because I had just a small crush on that girl ..."
"You haven't lost him, Seamus. Just let him realize his feelings on his own, 'kay?" Seamus just nodded his head as the wedding music began. Of course, it wasn't the regular wedding music you would hear at a typical wedding. The entrance song of the grooms was "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" By Queen. Sirius came dancing in and practically screaming along with the lyrics of the song. Remus walked in gracefully and wasn't even really dancing until Sirius ran over to him and started forcing him to dance.
They must've done a few seconds of tango, followed by a quick waltz, a cha-cha, some weird sisters dance move, the hustle, the charleston, the twist, and I swear they did like a macarena as well! By the time they reached Kingsley, who was officiating the ceremony, they had all of us either laughing or dancing along with them. Kingsley cleared his throat and waved his hands for us to sit down.
"Good afternoon, everyone." Kingsley started. "I'm so glad to be here today to help join Remus John Lupin and Sirius Orion Black III in the bond of marriage. However, it has felt like these two have been married for years based on how they act in Order meetings." Both Remus and Sirius went to slap him but he ducked out of the way and continued on.
"Now, I assume you both have made your vows?" Both nodded their heads and Kingsley smiled. "Good, now Remus let's have you start." Remus pulled out a piece of parchment and cleared his throat.
"Sirius, when I first met you, I thought you were the most annoyingly overconfident person I would ever meet. Then I met James, and he took your place." Everyone seemed to laugh at this, and Sirius looked either offended for himself or James (I couldn't tell). "However, you both became my closest friends and helped me see that I may be a werewolf ... but I'm not a monster. I deserve happiness, friendship, but most importantly love."
"Awwww," Neville whined looking up at them. I took his hand and laid my head on his shoulder.
"I'm not going to lie and say I fell in love with you and started to love you right away. I did date Emmeline and had that small thing with Gwen Marvers but ultimately in my sixth year ... I realized they didn't make me happy, but you did. I realized I was happier when I was either hugging you or sitting with you in the common room than sitting with my girlfriend."
Sirius, quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small handkerchief, and dabbed his eyes before tucking it into his coat pocket.
"So obviously we started going on small dates, and not giving a fuck about what others thought. We just both cared about how we felt about each other and loved each other to our full capacity. I was so happy the first time you proposed to me at James's stag party," they both really snickered at that and so did Harry. "I just couldn't wait to marry you once You-Know-Who was defeated and I just couldn't wait to have a family with you. However, that dream didn't happen as you were sent away and I was left heartbroken and alone."
Remus was now starting to cry. Sirius handed him the handkerchief and let him wipe away his tears. Remus muttered a thank you before continuing on.
"Well, twelve years later I learn you were innocent and we both spent that summer together in various places, catching up and doing some not-so-good things." he wiggled his eyebrows causing Sirius to nearly fall over laughing. "Of course, everything stopped once again as You-Know-Who came back and we were thrown into a whole new war and this time without our best friends. So, when you brought up the idea we should get married again ... I knew I just had to take the chance and get married in the middle of the war." He paused.
"Cause, you never know if tomorrow is guaranteed, and well, I let you go by me once I wasn't going to let that happen again. So, Padfoot ... I vow to make each day of our marriage to be filled with passionate love, I vow to love you like I might lose you the next day, I vow to be there with you no matter our wealth and I vow to always have a supply of chocolate in our room for any late-night cry sessions. I love you to the stars and back, Sirius. Nothing and no one will ever change that." Remus folded up the parchment and tucked it into his pocket.
"Maybe I should have gone first," Sirius muttered as he pulled out a significantly smaller piece of paper. "Remus, I didn't realize how much I loved you until the end of our sixth year when you kissed me on the Platform before going to your Mother who was waiting for you. Granted it made my family livid that I was dating a guy, and that was one of the main reasons I was never allowed back home. But nothing could change my mind as I was head over paws for you and I wasn't going to let you go."
"Now I'm going to cry," I said digging in my purse for a tissue. Suddenly Neville handed me one from his pocket.
"I came prepared." I kissed his cheek before turning back to the vows.
"When I was wrongfully imprisoned ... I cried for days and days, not only for losing James and Lily but for losing the one person who loved me and made me feel truly loved. I must've spent a thousand nights dreaming of our lives together and promising the moon each night that I would find you again and love you forever. So, here we are. Almost seventeen years after I first proposed to you we are finally tying the knot and getting married. So, Remus, I plan to make the rest of our lives filled with nothing but love and excitement. I vow to make each day worth living and to every day show you that you're never going to be a monster. I love you to the moon and back, Remus."
"Do you Remus John Lupin take Sirius Orion Black III to be your husband. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?" Kingsley asked. Remus took Sirius's hand and said quietly through a half cry.
"I do."
"Do you Sirius Orion Black III take Remus John Lupin as your -"
"You bloody know I do," Sirius said cutting off Kingsley. Kingsley just rolled his eyes and clapped his hands.
"I now pronounce you husband, and husband. You may now kiss the groom." So Sirius and Remus both crashed together in a passionate kiss, and we all stood up and cheered for them. Dad flicked his wand at the record player that played their entrance song and it started blaring their exit song.
"Walking on Sunshine" By Katrina and the Waves, just made everyone start dancing. People were leaving in couples down the aisle. Mum and Dad followed after Sirius and Remus, next Ginny and Dean, Ron decided to dance with Hermione don't the aisle, Harry decided to dance with Seamus down the aisle, Tonks tried to dance with Moody but that didn't work so it was just Tonks dancing while Moody limped. Finally, Neville yanked me out into the aisle and we began to dance down the aisle singing at the top of our lungs. In the end, he gave me a little twirl and dipped me, making all my brothers give him the look of death, but he could not care as he was too focused on me.
"I want a wedding like this one day," I said as we walked inside their house for the refreshments. "One where it is just our close family and friends, not like a big wedding like my Mum wants to throw."
"Well, we'll see about that Princess," Neville said tickling behind my ear. I giggled and slapped him away.
"Quit it or someone will get the wrong idea, love." I playfully slapped his hand away, as we heard the fireplace flare-up, and out came a rushing McGonagall.
"Sorry I couldn't make the ceremony!" She said brandishing a small tray. "But I did bring biscuits!"
"MINNIE'S BISCUITS!!!" Sirius and Remus shouted making a beeline for the tray and taking it out of her hands.
"Well good to see you too, boys."
Everyone laughed, danced, sang, and even shagged the night away. By the end of it, we all flooed back to the Burrow and sent Hermione, Harry, Dean, and Seamus home. Neville and I were currently out by the little pond outside looking up at the night sky before Mum shouted out the door.
"Lorrinda! It's time to send Neville home!"
"Coming Mum!" I shouted back as I took Neville's hand and laid my head on his shoulder. "I wish you could spend the summer with us, Nevy."
"I do too Princess. However, my Gran would flip if I spent the night here. She's so worried about me shagging you and getting you knocked up."
"We both know that would never happen!" I said, "I mean, not now, not in the middle of a war." I said back peddling as Neville gave me an offended look.
"I know, love." he leaned down and kissed me. "I just was playing with you that's all." I chased Neville around the lawn for a few seconds before he turned and tried to hug me but I tripped and fell right on top of him. We both just laughed and laughed for another few moments before Dad's voice called from the door.
"Lori! C'mon, we promised to have Neville back by midnight!" So, Neville and I got up and slowly walked towards the house. Our hands locked tightly together and our eyes as well. By the time we reached the house, I had a few tears in my eyes.
"I'll see if I can come by sometime soon, Lori. I promise." Neville said placing a kiss on my forehead.
"I love you, Nevy."
"Love you too, Princess." Neville said as she slowly released my hand and walked towards the fireplace. He grabbed some floo powder and smiled. "Longbottom residence!" he dropped the powder and disappeared into the green flames leaving me standing and staring at the fireplace.
"Come on, Juilet." Ron said from the stairs. "I managed to sneak one of the muggle board games up to my room, and Ginny, Fred, and George are all up there waiting for us." I just smiled and rushed over and took my twins hand.
"Let's go have some sibling time."