The day of Mariya and James's wedding dawned soggy. Euphemia had almost thrown a fit when she found out and it took both Mariya and Lily to calm her down. The woman was rather indignant that the couple's day might be ruined by the weather but Lily was quick to point out that the ceremony was to be held within a tent anyway and it didn't really matter whether it was raining or not until the evening, at which point they could cast some sort of magical dome to keep it out if necessary. Though still rather miffed, Euphemia was distracted by Mariya asking her to check her skirts were all layered properly as they had become tangled when she was originally trying the dress on. The dress itself was not overly extravagant, with heavy silk folds enveloping her legs and pooling slightly around her feet at the back. The front of the dress was slightly shorter, showing off her gold heels, whilst the back swished dramatically behind her as she walked. She had a slightly more practical outfit to wear for the evening, which was lying over the back of a chair in the room at the Potter Manor. James had suggested that they have the actual ceremony at his house, seeing as the grounds were larger and so they would have more space to set up a tent. Mariya had agreed to this, pointing out that they could move to the Seratov Manor in the evening as their planned activity would be much easier to carry out there.
"I think that might be you done." Lily announced as she stepped away from Mariya and allowed the woman to look in the mirror. Lily had spent over an hour painstakingly tucking pieces of Mariya's hair up into a bun that would allow her to wear the veil comfortably, whilst still being off her neck. By the time she was finished, Mariya was sure that the style must be as much hairspray and hair grips as actual hair, but she did not point this out to the Maid of Honour, especially considering how incredibly neat her hair was. Lily moved to the front of Mariya and carefully tucked a gold tiara between the layers of hair, before tugging a strand that was already beginning to fall out and dragging it down to hang at Mariya's cheek. Mariya knew that this strand would be ridiculously annoying but she also couldn't deny that it did look good, as Lily began to attach the veil.
Finally safe to move her head, Mariya put on her gold dangling earrings and reached for the box on the dressing table. Inside was an elaborate diamond that had been removed from the Potter vault purely for the purpose of her wearing it. Euphemia stood forward and took the necklace from her, gently placing it against Mariya's neck and clipping it under her hair.
"The last time this was used was for my wedding to Fleamont." She whispered as she did so, tears collecting in her eyes at the memory. "It doesn't feel long enough ago for someone else to wearing it."
Mariya turned to face the woman and smiled, "Don't cry, Euphemia. My father will be doing enough of that for both of you."
Euphemia gave a laugh, clearly not realising that Mariya was dead serious, before glancing at the watch on her wrist. "It is almost time my dear, we should probably start to head down now."
Mariya nodded at her, taking both her arm and Lily's as they began to make their way through the labyrinthine halls. After a few minutes, Euphemia hurried ahead of the two younger women to ensure that James was nowhere to be seen, after all they couldn't let the groom see the bride just before the event.
"Are you ready for this?" Lily asked as they the small side door they were meant to be leaving by. A hedge had been grown in order to give them a direct route towards the tent, and the two women were glad of the shelter over their heads to protect them from the constant drizzle of rain.
"Of course I am." Mariya smiled at her, "Just like you will be to marry Jasper when he asks."
Lily turned a bright shade of red at this and Mariya grinned widely at her. She already knew that Jasper was ready to propose, indeed she had seen the ring, but she also knew that the man was waiting for the right time to ask. Dropping the conversation, Mariya smiled as they reached the final corner of the hedge and saw two people standing there waiting for them. Petro Seratov was holding three bouquets of flowers and waiting to walk his daughter down the aisle, though one could have easily mistaken him for the Spanish parent as he conversed fluently with Mariya's cousin Electra. Electra herself - the wife of Mariya's cousin Felix - was to be the only bridesmaid that day and so was prepared to walk in front of Mariya and Lily.
Removing her arm from Lily's, Mariya moved over to join her father, watching carefully to ensure both other women actually ended up with the correct flowers before receiving her own. Her bouquet was largely comprised of the same white roses Euphemia grew in her garden - which would also match the flower in James's buttonhole - though the larger flowers were interspersed with Baby's Breath and tied around with a bright gold ribbon. Linking arms with her father, Mariya watched as first Lily and then Electra disappeared around the corner, before they began to move forward.
The tent was not overly large but it was absolutely packed with people. A combination of family members and friends filled rows upon rows of seats, with a few important people sitting closer to the front. Mariya could see Regulus and Saros sitting next to Sirius - both smiling as though the tragedies of the last two months had never happened - on Sirius's other side sat Remus and then Peter - who had originally claimed he was unable to come but had then mysteriously cleared his schedule in order to attend. Mariya was not overly fond of the man who so resembled his Animagus form, as far as she was concerned he worshipped the ground his friends walked on a little too much to be healthy and she did not like his simpering manner. However, she had not been about to argue with James when the man claimed he wanted the entire group there, and so he sat amongst their other friends like he still hung out with them enough to be considered part of their group.
On the other side of the same row, Mariya could see Minerva McGonagall looking rather teary as she observed the two students she had nurtured so much during their time at school - there had never been any question as to whether she was coming or not and indeed, she had been one of the first invitations sent and responded to when they were sorting out the guest list. It was thanks to her that they were together at all, after all, and she had played such a large role in the lives of both students either way that they were thrilled to see her there. Next to Minerva sat Felix, who was not even looking at Mariya as he watched his own wife walk up the aisle, Mariya was very attached to the couple and hoped that they would one day move to Britain so she could enjoy their company more often. Having surveyed the people in the crowd, Mariya faced the front of the tent once more and locked eyes with her soon-to-be-husband. James was standing next to Jasper and was wearing the smartest black dress robes he owned, though his hair was still relatively untamed. He pushed his glasses nervously up his nose as he saw Mariya, though he smiled brightly at her as she approached him.
Once they were standing together at the front of the room, the officiator - who was actually Felix's father Nathaniel - stood up behind them and began to speak. He was conducting the ceremony in three different languages for the benefit of all attending, and so there was a lot of confusion for the members of the audience who spoke neither Spanish nor Ukrainian, but it passed quickly enough as he reached English. Admittedly, neither James nor Mariya was paying a great deal of attention to his actual words, only enough to respond at their given cues and to wait for his final words.
"Then I declare you bonded for life." Nathaniel announced, and Mariya could hear the tears he was trying to hold back as he spoke.
James leaned forward and they shared their first kiss as a married couple, not even noticing the golden sparks which flew around them to signal their union. Pulling back after a moment, Mariya smiled up at her husband, appreciating how good it felt to call him that; her husband. If you had told Mariya Seratova two years prior to that occasion, that she would one day use that title to indicate James Potter, she would have most likely hexed you before giving you detention for good measure, and yet now it made her feel warm inside to consider how close they had become.
The afternoon from that point onwards consisted largely of the two thanking people for their congratulations, and sharing chaste kisses in between talking to people. They did escape people for a while as they danced around the room, but they were soon separated as Regulus claimed Mariya and Professor McGonagall danced with James.
"I do not believe it will be long before we are attending another wedding like this." Regulus told her, gazing across the room to where Jasper and Lily were dancing slowly in circles more romantically than the actual happy couple had. "In fact, I think it is a wonder he has not asked yet."
"They've not even been together for a year yet." Mariya reminded him and the man snorted at this claim.
"Says you." Regulus raised an eyebrow at her. "You and James got engaged after only a couple of months."
"Well, I suppose you make a good point, Mr Black." Mariya conceded. "But we spent six years tormenting each other in the lead up to that point, they only met a year and a half ago."
"Nonetheless, they are clearly in love with each other." Mariya gave a hum of agreement and they fell back into silence for a few moments before Regulus offered a new train of conversation.
"Did you know that Jasper and Saros actually already knew each other?" Mariya could not deny that she was surprised by this as she looked at the man.
"Where from?" She asked, trying to think where on Earth they could have met.
"They went to school together, in fact they are a bit like us in that they had to keep their friendship secret to protect Saros's image, but apparently they were actually really close." Mariya shook her head in disbelief for a moment.
"It's a small world." She murmured, before she felt a tap on her shoulder as someone else cut in, and she was whirled away by another member of extended family.
It was still light outside when they made their way in for dinner, Mariya and James took their places at the head of the table and were quickly surrounded by guests. Though it was not common at Wizarding weddings to make speeches, Sirius had insisted that he be allowed the opportunity despite not being Best Man, and so they did not have much choice in the matter. Sirius looked rather self-satisfied when he stood up and James wrapped an arm around Mariya in the knowledge he was about to be utterly humiliated by his best friend. Petro also rose in order to translate to both Ukrainian and Spanish, so everyone would understand whether they spoke the language or not.
"When we first met Mariya, neither James nor I liked her very much," Mariya gave a grin at this beginning, feeling that it boded well for the rest of the speech. "We thought she was full of herself and we didn't like how she didn't care about hurting peoples' feelings by telling the truth. The only one of our group who could stand being around her for long periods of time was Moony, and he ingratiated himself well by learning both of her other languages."
At this, various members of Mariya's family peered to see the unfortunate werewolf, who had gone bright red at the sharing of information regarding himself. Mariya at this point realised that Remus was actually sitting next to one of her Ukrainian cousins; a black haired beauty called (Zlata), who did not speak a great deal of English but who Mariya was sure would now converse with her friend in her own language.
"So when Minnie made them Head Boy and Head Girl, we all thought she was going a bit mad, the two didn't even manage to get to their first meeting before trying to duel each other, rather scaring a few younger students in the process." There was a round of laughter at this comment, and Mariya grinned at James, remembering how angry she had been at him at the time, and how stupid and immature it felt to her now.
Smiling softly at the two, Sirius continued. "Thankfully, it turned out to actually be one of the best decisions she ever made - even when I consider every time she didn't put me in detention for pulling a stupid prank on some unsuspecting first years." This brought on another bout of laughter before Sirius continued on. "Only a couple of months, some incredible inside jokes, and a messy morning trying to cook pancakes later, we end up with this one," He pointed at Mariya in accusatory manner. "Virtually stealing my best friend from me."
Mariya shrugged through her laughter, "Guilty as charged." She admitted, raising her hands into the air only for James to catch them and pull her into another kiss. This brought on various reactions from around the table, but Sirius's was by far the funniest.
"Disgusting, aren't they?" He said blandly, scrunching his face up at the two as James stuck his tongue out like a five year old in retaliation. "I had to deal with this for months, people, months!"
At this point, Regulus locked a hand around Sirius's elbow, pulling the other man down and offering him a fresh glass of firewhiskey as he stood up. "I think that's enough from you." He muttered, earning a scowl from Sirius before he turned to look at the couple.
"I cannot say that I have ever been particularly close with James, but Mariya was my first friend when I went to Hogwarts, and she stayed my only true comrade throughout the years. Honestly, I think everyone at Hogwarts was just glad they didn't get together sooner, because with James's love of pranks and Mariya's sharp tongue, they would have torn the school apart before long." He grinned at Mariya for a moment before continuing, and she was surprised when he did so in Ukrainian.
"Отже, я просто хочу сказати -Дякую- тому що ти моя сестра і я люблю тебе. (So, I just want to say "Thank you" because you are my sister and I love you.)" Mariya teared up slightly at his words, letting go of James to cross around the table and throw her arms around the man. This action earned an indignant humph from Sirius.
"Why didn't I get a hug?" He pouted, looking both at the bride before turning his sulky gaze on James.
"Maybe if you had been as sweet as your brother during your speech," Mariya raised both eyebrows at him and watching him for a few moments before taking pity on him and pulling him into an embrace. "Thank you, Padfoot."
"You're welcome, Mariya."
"Now," Mariya stood once more, clapping her hands together as she observed everyone in front of her. "I think it is time for us to move."
James joined her as she began to move out of the room and into the adjoining hall. Stopping by the unreasonably big fireplace, she retrieved a bag of fine silvery-green powder from the mantle piece. As the rest of their family members crowded into the room, Mariya threw the first handful into the grate and called out as her parents stepped in.
"Seratov Manor." A green whoosh of flames later, the couple was gone and everyone seemed to get the idea.
People started to line up in pairs and disappeared two by two as Mariya repeatedly called out the same words. Eventually, they were the only ones left in the hall and Mariya gestured for James to step in first before taking a handful of powder for the final time and following after him.
"Seratov Manor!" She cried once more, making them disappear in a flash of green.
Mariya hurried up the stairs and changed quickly out of her heavy dress and into a more practical red dress with comfortable boots, before meeting up with James once more and making their way out into the grounds behind the house. The night air was cool and the rain had eased off to leave a clear night sky. The light of the stars and the Moon shone down on them as they made their way towards the lake where everyone else was already waiting. Weaving through the crowd, Mariya encouraged everyone she passed to spread out along the shoreline, until they were standing single file at the edge of the water.
Mariya pulled her wand from its holster at her waist and touched it to the edge of the water. As she did so, the water around her began to freeze over, ice creeping across the surface until the entire lake was an icy blue. That done, she nodded to James, who proceeded to extract his own wand and raise it into the cool night air. Small golden sparks flurried from the wood and spread out to hover over the icy water as Petro and Jacinta showed people how to change their shoes to ice-skates.
Seeing as they had not had a proper first dance at the ceremony earlier that day, Mariya and James were the first to move onto the ice, beginning to replicate the tango they had danced at the ball.
Mariya's dress flared around them as James pulled her up from the final dip to the clapping and cheering of the observers. Pressing a kiss to his lips, Mariya smiled at her husband before dipping him the same way he had her. He laughed loudly as she pulled him up and they began to move once more, twisting and jumping as they looped around other couples and every so often helping those who were less than confident. Hours passed in laughter and fun reminiscent of all their greatest moments together, and by the end of the night, neither one of them could remember a better day in their lives.