Beyond Hogwarts -Chapter Two

-=Beyond Hogwarts; Chapter Two=-

They entered the dining hall only moments later, taking their seats at the head of the large table. Lora insisted on carving their slices of roast goose, and everyone had to laugh when she managed to let the knife turn several somersaults and land in the middle of a dish of something Danish that Lily couldn’t recognize.
   The dining room itself was a work of art. The walls were a light brown wood, and marble sculptures lined the corners between the ceiling and the walls. There were no doors; one wall was in the same style as the window in James’ and Lily’s room—a beautiful window, with the two intertwined rings as a central decoration. The chairs were carved of the same wood as the walls and the ship itself; its cushions were white silk, as was the tablecloth. The plates were golden, as were the utensils, while the tall, elegant glasses with a rim of gold around the tops were fine crystal.
   The food was marvelous; if Lily had thought the Hogwarts dishes were delicious, it was nothing to these. Indian pastries in small trays, pots of Japanese tea, Italian bread, German Bratwurst, seasoned Native American corn, French wine and foie gras, a Russian soup, and breadfruit pieces. Lily’s eyes sparkled as she saw the array of dishes and pictured the land where they came from.
   Eva poked her in the side. “You’re supposed to eat the food, not stare at it!”
   Lily grinned. “But it looks so nice!”
   “Exactly! See if it lives up to its looks!” Eva declared as she pointed to a bottle of wine in an ice bucket next to James. “That stuff isn't bad, and I don’t even like grape juice. Try.”
   Lily bit her lip. “Eva, I don’t like alcohol!”
   “Neither do I—well, neither did I.”
   Lily laughed, and just at that minute James had filled her glass with something burgundy. She looked at him questioningly.
   “Lily, it’s just wine. Mum’s had me drink it at parties since I was tiny.”
   “It was diluted!” Mrs. Potter interrupted. “I am not that kind of mother!”
   The redhead laughed, flicking her veil behind her back. She picked up her glass, and James clinked it against hers.
   “It won’t kill you, Lil. To my fantastic union with the loveliest, smartest, bravest, most talented girl in existence!”
   “Oh?” Lily raised her eyebrows. “Who’re you marrying now?”
   He frowned at her. “What?”
   “I do not fit that description.”
   “Oh, yes, you do!” he retorted. “Well, if you don’t want to toast to that, how about this?” James cleared his throat. “To your union with the most handsome, clever, amazing, wanted, brilliant, Quidditch player in the world!”
   He caught sight of her face, which was torn between amusement and disgust. “What?”
   ”I think we’re both marrying different people than we think we are.”
   Everyone burst out laughing, even James’ parents. Sirius’ hoot carried over the clamor.
   “She’s right on that one, James!”
   “Oh, thanks,” James muttered. “Does no one think highly of me?”
   ”No one does,” Eva confirmed. “You do. You being ‘no one’.”
   “Oh, thanks,” he repeated, grumbling. “I feel unloved!”
   Lily gave in, hugging him. “You’re not.”
   The moment was ruined by Peter’s fondness for clumsiness. Sighing deeply, he flung an arm over his eyes, lost his balance, and promptly landed on the floor, letting out a loud “OUCH!”
   The company of fifteen started to laugh at his disgruntled face appearing over the table rim. Serena applauded nastily.
   “Oh, well done!”
   Lily’s eyebrow arched. “We’re supposed to be laughing at him nicely, dear.”
   Serena shrugged. “What does that matter to me?”
   ”It’s common politeness,” Lily said slowly, as if it should be extremely obvious, even to squashed ice cubes.
   Lucius pulled Serena’s sleeve, and he shook his head slightly at her. A bit annoyed, Serena pushed back her chair and left the room; Lucius following her.
   “Well,” Eva commented, “no great loss there!”
   Lily figured Serena wouldn’t enjoy hearing more laughter, seeing that it was most certainly about her, so she had no qualms joining in on it. Lily held grudges, and she hadn’t forgotten the slap Serena had given James the night of their engagement. His and Lily’s, that is; she had no idea whether he’d asked Serena to marry him before. Still, she highly doubted it, as she looked at James’ amused countenance.
   Lily hadn’t really noticed before, but everyone on the ship had been given new and different clothing. The girls were in dark pink trimmed with gold, while the boys were wearing a nice shade of dusky blue. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were in dark scarlet robes, and the material of everyone’s clothing was an expensive silk.
   Lily almost shuddered to think of the cost of this trip, and how much could have been saved if they had simply Apparated to Madagascar. Thank goodness James’ family was one of the richest wizarding ones in England…
   Everyone moved onto the deck later, to talk—several people had pulled out about ten divans from the sitting rooms below deck. Drinks were also on a small table, though Lily hadn’t finished her first one—it was nice, yes, but she had to get used to it.
   She and James were sitting together, as was expected by everyone—Mr. and Mrs. Potter had retired; gone to bed, and Lily was amused to see that Frank was sitting next to Eva, shyer than he usually was.
   The conversation had started with their last days at Hogwarts; then it moved on to taunting Eva’s, Vanessa’s, and Amanda’s position as students. Amanda shot out the first remark she could think of, quickly, before Peter started telling them how young they were, then trying to perform a charm supposedly beyond their abilities and ended up hexing himself into having three arms. He’d done that before.
   “Lily—where’s your honeymoon going to be?”
   The group’s faces turned towards Lily, who smiled satisfactorily at James, who grinned at the group.
   “We’re not telling. I’m not having any of you show up in the middle of it, pranking us!”
   “Yeah, James,” Lora cracked, “you want some alone time, is that it?”
   “Hey, is that illegal?” James protested, not blushing at all. Everyone else started to laugh.
   “What?” he protested. “I’m getting married, am I not? And if I want my handsomeness to continue on down the line, I’ve got to have time alone with her, don’t I?”
   Lily groaned. “If I ever do work up the courage to go through the pain of having a child, I’m praying to every existing deity that he or she doesn’t have your lack of modesty.”
   James looked offended. “You mean you don’t want children?”
   Lora laughed. “Breaking news, James: it is a painful process for US. Besides, do we honestly want to have little bitty Potters dotted all over the globe?”
   Lily took James’ arm. “If they’ve got my discretion, I wouldn’t mind.”
   “I won’t comment on that!” Amanda shouted. “I definitely won’t comment!”
   “Good,” Sirius grumbled. “We don’t want to hear it.”
   Everyone stared at him, but refrained from asking what brought on his bad mood.
   Later that evening, Lily was gazing out of the large window in their room; she was fascinated by the moonless midnight sky flashed with stars, cleared of any clouds. She smiled with exhilaration as she knelt down on the burgundy silk covers, brushing her long, auburn hair almost dreamily.
   James sat down next to her. “What’re you thinking?”
   She sighed, letting the brush drop. “I’m just happy, that’s all…”
   He grinned. “Good.”
   Lily flopped back, her head landing in his lap. “You know, in only a few days, I’ll be abandoning my Evans name forever…”
   “You don’t have to, you know,” James interjected. “I won’t make you…or you could keep it as a middle name.”
   “Are you kidding?” Lily sat straight up. “I am not keeping my father’s name! He threatened to practically disown me if I married you-do you honestly think I want his name hanging onto mine forever?”
   “Whoa, whoa!” He held his hands up in protest. “I did not say that! And I’m sorry. I just wanted you to know I’m not going to be trying to control you later on or anything.”
   She smiled. “That’s nice to hear. I’ll remember that.”
   He ran his hand through her hair. “I’m engraving everything you say into my memory.”
   Lily let her head drop onto his shoulder, and she pulled the pale golden nightgown down over her feet. “That’s nice to hear…though I don’t plan on dying anytime soon.”
   “Good,” James replied, “’cause you’re only dying over my dead body.” He pulled her face towards his and kissed her gently.
   It was a beautiful trip, lasting four days; at the end of which, they rounded the point of Africa and landed on the southern tip of Madagascar. Lily was almost sad to leave the ship; she had spent hours sitting curled up in front of the figurehead, letting the wind blow her hair wildly and the salty waves soak her skin. They had had no storms; not even a gale; the weather had been clear, sunny, and beautiful for all of the four days.
   Lily was packing up two pairs of robes, a necklace, and a pair of earrings Mr. and Mrs. Potter had presented her with during the trip; she was now in the indigo robes again. James was searching everywhere for the match to one of his shoes; he finally held it up triumphantly; it had been shoved underneath the bed.
   “Ta-daah!”
   Lily sat back on her heels. “How did that get down there?” she laughed, pushing bits of hair behind her ear.
   “I don’t know,” James shrugged. “I kick my shoes off; that’s all--whatever happens to them afterwards is none of my concern till I have to look for them again.”
   “Ach!” Lily threw a sock at him. “How did this get in my jewelry box?”
   “I don’t know!” he grinned disarmingly. “How would I know?”
   “I wonder, Mr. Potter.”
   Remus banged the door open. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
   “Yes, you are,” Lily grinned. “The Mystery of the Sock in the Jewelry Box.”
   Remus rolled his eyes. “We’re docking in minutes-and no, you don’t have to bring your bags-that’ll be taken care of.”
   Lily looked at James, who had just slammed his small trunk shut. “Ready, then?”
   James stood up, shaking imaginary dust from his robes. “Sure.” He held his arm out to Lily. “My lady?”
   She smiled, taking his arm and sweeping out of the door, the long veil fluttering enchantingly behind her. Within moments, they reached the deck, and they joined Sirius, Eva, and Frank at the railing. Land was rapidly coming into view.
   It was a lovely sight, too. Obviously hidden from Muggle view, it had pure white sand and blue zircon ocean waves adorning its beaches; leafy trees breezily shadowed the coastline. The morning sun cast white-gold rays over the whole scene, making it look like something from a storybook. Lily sighed dreamily when she saw it.
   Sirius looked over at her. “Ready for the big day?”
   “Definitely,” Lily nodded. “It’s sudden…and it’s soon-but I’m glad it’s taking place so quickly. I keep thinking I’m in a dream, I’ve been so happy.”
   James hugged her. “If this is a dream, neither you or I better wake up!”
   They were the first ones to set foot on the white, powdery, glittering sand; everyone else followed them. Lily gazed around her-this was the most beautiful scene she had ever found herself in.
   James wrapped his arm around her waist. “I like your choice of location.”
   She leaned against his chest. “I do, too…it’s more fascinating than I thought it would be.”
   Mrs. Potter came up behind them. “Ready, Lily?”
   Lily turned to her future mother-in-law. “Ready for what?”
   Eva put her arm around Lily’s free shoulder. “What do you think? It’ll take us some time to get your hair ready-not to forget jewelry, and-“
   Lily blanched. “James!”
   He grinned at her. “What?”
   ”Help!”
   She was pulled back onto the ship by the girls, though Serena was nowhere to be seen. James’ parents were handing a list of something to several of the boys, and the rest were greeting a man Lily only caught a glimpse of. Lily could only think that it was royally idiotic to make her step off of the galleon in the first place, but she supposed it was some kind of newfound tradition—the couple being the first to step onto the island…
   The girls had shut themselves into the smaller sitting room, the one with a large, old mirror on the wall. Lily sighed deeply as she saw Eva pick up her brush.
   “Eva—can’t you spare me this torture?”
   ”Nope.” Eva shook her head determinedly. “You wouldn’t let us touch you for the thousandth year ball, so now we get our chance.”
   ”Eva,” Lily glared, “I am not having paint smeared onto my face!”
   “But—“
   “This is my wedding! If I had it my way, we wouldn’t be doing this at all!”
   “Fine.” Eva sighed. “But we get to have fun with your hair.”
   Lily slumped back into her chair, conscious that she was wrinkling the silk robes sadly, but at the same time not caring. Taking this for submission, Eva pulled parts of her hair to one side and started to brush it out.
   Lily and James had taken their Apparition tests before setting off on the voyage, so they could at least be allowed to Apparate while on their honeymoon, and Lily was seriously considering that option. However, she decided, much against her judgment, to surrender.
   Lora pulled a sliding panel open and dramatically revealed a something covered in brown paper. Lily raised both eyebrows.
   “Oh!” Lora was fed up. “Haven’t you ever gone shopping?” She tore the brown paper off, revealing something white, silky, and gauzy. The girls fell silent, and Lily slowly stretched out a hand towards it.
   “You like?”
   “It…it’s beautiful…”
   “See,” Eva tossed her head, “I told you Mrs. Potter had good taste.”
   “Mrs. Potter?” Lily was lost.
   Amanda sighed. “Mrs. Potter had her seamstress make this; when it was ready, she Apparated back to her house—no, scratch that, mansion—she picked it up, along with lots of—“
   “Amanda!”
   “—other stuff,” Amanda grinned, “and it’s been in here for about a day or two. Lora was snooping.”
   Lora looked insulted. “I was not!”
   “Fine.” Eva sighed. “You were architecturally interested in the structure of this ship, so you were sounding the walls with a tuning fork. When you came to a stretch of wall that sounded different, you concluded your investigations by investigating. That better?”
   Dubiously, Lora shrugged. “I think…”
   “Er-hum!” Lily interrupted. “I have the strangest feeling that I’m shortly not going to be me anymore, and the custom seems to be that I have to get dressed up for that.”
   “Oh, right,” Eva grinned. She slipped an arm underneath the dress and held it out to Lily. “Here. Hold it up to you—see what you think.”
   Lily took hold of the gauzy sleeves, sliding out of the chair and holding it up to her body.
   “It—wait!”
   One of her hands hand been running over the seams, and they had caught a couple of loose threads, which seemed to be reciprocated all down the side of that dress. Her hand fumbled at them, and she held up a torn seam.
   “Lily!” Amanda gasped. “What—”
   The dress was torn sadly in two places; at each side, from the waist to the floor. There was a long veil that was pinned to the back of the dress, and that, too, was also ripped down the middle. Almost aghast, the girls stared at each other.
   “But—how—“
   “It was perfectly fine before!”
   “Oh—poor Lily! What’ll you wear?”
   Lora, as usual, had her mind turned to less practical matters. “I’ll bet you anything I know who it was! I would bet you my right toes I know who it was!”
   “Lora,” Lily smiled wryly, “I don’t want your right toes.”
   “Then my left?” Lora offered, grinning.
   “Lora!” Eva scolded. “We’ve got bigger things to worry about—what’ll she wear to her wedding now?”
   “Eva,” Lily said calmly, “it’s a funny little spell called Reparo.”
   “Oh.”
   Lily pulled out her wand and pointed it at the dress, repeating the spell almost lazily. “Reparo.”
   They watched expectantly, but absolutely nothing happened. Lily frowned.
   “I am going to pull her hair out strand by strand.”
   “What’d she do?”
   “Put a Shield Charm on it—problem is, I have to find out which one it is, which involves trial and failure, and since there are at least twenty-six I know of, that’ll take a while—plus I’ve got to undo it once I’ve found the one she used…and I can’t sew it back together,” she proved by trying to pinch the ripped edges together. “I think I’m a bit at a loss…” Her voice trailed off.
   Amanda frowned. “I think you may be wearing a different dress.”
   Lily sighed, slumping again and letting the material drape over her knees. Just then, however, her eyes caught a glint of gold; a ring Eva was wearing. She snapped to attention.
   “Maybe not!”
   “Maybe not what?” The girls were facing her with open eyes.
   “I’m doing some fixing up,” Lily grinned mischievously. “Someone find needles and thread for me—I’ll work on this.”
   A good two hours later, Lily was finished. She had hemmed the torn edges so that there was a piece of material in the back of her dress reaching to the front of her hipbones; then her sewing had left another piece hanging down in the front; smaller than the back piece. The front part ended just at the soles of her feet, and Lily hadn’t altered the train any; it still draped in back of the gown. She had discarded the veil; it lay in a heap on the floor, and the sleeves had been changed to the same style as the indigo dress she was then wearing.
   Eva’s mouth dropped; she hated leaving the roads of tradition. “You are not!”
   “Not what?” Lily grinned innocently.
   Eva turned to Amanda. “Tell her she can’t!”
   “Can’t what?” Amanda asked, honestly confused.
   “Lora! Help!”
   “Help with what?”
   Slapping a hand to her forehead, Eva sank to her knees. “Lily, please don’t!”
   “Don’t what?”
   “Appear,” Eva almost gasped, “at her own wedding as—as—“
   “As WHAT?”
   “As some Egyptian queen,” Eva spat out.
   Lora and Amanda instantly swiveled towards Lily. “Really? You are?”
   “Actually, I had Egyptian princess in mind…but if Eva says so, then queen it is.”
   Eva groaned. “Lily, for once, be normal! Please-for me-this is a wedding, not Halloween!”
   Lily tossed her head. “Exactly. And it’s mine, not yours. Pray tell, what would you have done in my place?”
   ”Worn a different dress,” Eva said dryly.
   “Nah, that’s no fun,” Lora agreed. “Lily, there’s a whole case of jewelry in the closet thing I pulled your dress from. I’ll rifle through that later.”
   ”Excuse me?”
   “Okay, okay, you’ll rifle through that later.”
   “Much better. Say, do we have any almond oil on this ship?”
   Amanda frowned. “I think-I’ll check the large bathroom, but…”
   She left the room, swinging the door shut behind her. Eva stared at Lily questioningly.
   Lily grinned. “The ancient Egyptians soaked in water, scraped their skin with strigils, then rubbed oil into their skin afterwards. Almond oil and the balm of Gilead were prized for that-but I doubt whether we have anything other than almond oil.”
   Hours later, the girls let Lily out of the bathroom; they had washed and scrubbed her hair with just about every kind of cleaning and softening and brightening goop known to mankind, and by the time the bottle of almond oil was empty, Lily was kneeling in front of the white dress, wrapped in a long dressing gown.
   “Here goes,” she grinned. Slipping the dress over her head, she let the dressing gown fall to the ground, and when the white silk draped to her feet, Lily turned to the mirror.
   Even Eva had to smile, and Lora tugged another, smaller suitcase out of the sliding panel. “Nice. Only I rather doubt Cleopatra had red hair.”
   Lily tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Cleopatra had Macedonian ancestry; we don’t know if her skin color was dark and her hair was black or not.”
   Lora wrinkled her nose. “You read too much.”
   Amanda let out what could almost have been called a huff. “She’s missing jewelry.”
   A half-hour later, Lily gazed into the mirror again. A thick, gold necklace hung around her neck; an armband in the shape of a snake wound around her left upper arm, several gold threads hung from her ears, and one anklet hung around her foot.
   “You know, I think James won’t regret his decision,” Lora grinned. “I like what we’ve done to you!”
   Lily twirled lightly on the balls of her feet, sweeping her train behind her. “You know, I like what you’ve done to me, too.”
   Wickedly grinning, Eva held up a comb. “We’re not done yet! Sit down; you promised to let me do your hair.”
   Standing up an hour later, Lily had to admit Eva had done a very good job. Her curls were twisted and piled in the back of her head, with a gold band holding them in place; that same gold band ran around her forehead, where jade and gold sparkled sweetly. She slipped into the white shoes that had fallen out of the brown paper along with the dress, and fancifully curtsied at her reflection.
   “Goodbye, Lady Evans,” she smiled.
   There was a knock at the door that made each of the girls start; all except Lily. She merely turned around and started for the door. Eva held her back.
   “Oh, no, you don’t! Manda. Go get.”
   Amanda grinned as she slid the door open a notch. “Yes?”
   Mrs. Potter’s voice floated into the room. “We’re almost ready for her!”
   “Okay!” Lora called. “But come look at you future daughter!”
   Mrs. Potter smiled as she slipped into the room, then stopped in astonishment as she saw Lily.
   “Dear-what happened-“
   Lily frowned. “The dress was vandalized-I had to fix it as best I could. Are-are you angry?”
   “Oh, no,” Mrs. Potter smiled. “I just would like to know how it got damaged…” She shook her head. “Come on, dear-I’ll walk you outside. My son’s already out there.”
   Lily’s surroundings took on a dreamlike quality as she was swept out of the sitting room, which, with a flick of Mrs. Potter’s wand, was restored to its neat condition. They rose to the deck, the wind slowly ruffling the bride’s gown and eyelashes as she took in the now white sail-white as the midday clouds, white and gauzy as her attire.
   She stepped onto the sand, feeling the white, almost sugary masses part beneath her sandal. Moving inland, towards the emerald forests lining the shore, they walked uphill slowly, Eva carrying the train looped around her arm.
   James had been ushered to the top of Elven Point by the Marauders; a hill overlooking the ocean; its two sides lined with intertwining trees, its crest dropped down to meet the sea. A carpet of leaves and wildflowers had been gathered, lining the path from the bottom of the hill to where James was standing, looking out over the ocean.
   Sirius touched his shoulder. “You all right?”
   ”Yes…” James mumbled. “I’m a bit scared, though. Of her-I don’t know what I did to deserve her, and I’m scared she might think the same thing some day.”
   Sirius sighed, a sigh with something in it that James missed. “Prongs, she loves you.”
   “Yes-“ James said doubtfully, “but-“
   “But nothing,” Sirius said firmly. “But nothing. End of story. Close book, take other book out of shelf, entitled, Honeymoon and Forever After. Open it and read.”
   James grinned. “You know, for once, I’m starting to think that maybe you’re not so nuts after all.”
   “I am so!”
   “Sirius!” Remus hissed. “Turn him around!”
   Sirius didn’t have to do a thing; James spun around by himself.
   Lily bit her lip. She wouldn’t have admitted it for the world, but she was just the slightest fragment nervous. The hand that clasped the stems of five lilies was shaking, hardly noticeably, but still, it was shaking. Her eyes were roving everywhere, trying to find some hint of confidence, some part of her world she knew she could count on, even if everything else changed.
   Eva, in her pale, rose-gold gown, had already started down the aisle, and Lily knew she’d have to follow.
   She swallowed. This was ridiculous—this was what she had dreamed of for months—the happiness she had hoped for all her life was waiting at the end of the aisle. The music floated down past her ears, and she let her eyelashes fall onto her cheeks.
   Next to her, Severus slipped his arm underneath hers. Immediately, a large weight fell from her heart and shoulders; a small smile on her face, she stepped onto the flower-covered grass.
   James couldn’t repress a grin. He couldn’t help thinking that she was one of the most beautiful creations he had ever been privileged to see, imagine, or hear about, and she was marrying him! Think of it—the one thing he felt to be the most beyond his grasp was soon to be his…
   A horrid thought struck him, just as thoughts do when one is nervous. He leaned over to Sirius.
   “What if she gets cold feet?” he whispered.
   “There’s the nearest cliff,” Sirius grinned.
   James rolled his eyes, then fastened them on the figure all in white and gold, moving sedately towards him. He hadn’t even a glance for the man that was holding her arm, the one he hadn’t at all wanted to attend the wedding; he forgot about everything else except the girl, dressed magnificently as an ancient queen, but herself radiant and glowing as if she had been born the day before.
   Finally, after what seemed like the mile-long walk to her bridegroom, she took his arm, smiling up at him. It was almost unbelievable that she was marrying him; he, one of the most desirable men at Hogwarts, and he had seen something in her that she herself was blinded to.
   Mr. Potter was conducting the ceremony. He spoke; said something—many things, but Lily didn’t hear him, she was too caught up in the breeze that riffled the treetops and her dress and hair, then flew out onto the oceans; meanwhile the sense of the steady arm that she clasped.
   Then, her eyes turned to her almost-father, and she caught his closing words. She recognized a few of them; they were from an Apache marriage ceremony she had stumbled upon once.
   “Bless you with hope enough to keep the dawn in your love,
   and fear enough to keep you holding hands in the dark.

   Unity enough to keep your roots entwined,
   and separation enough to keep you reaching out for each other.

   Harmony enough to keep romance in your song,
   and discord enough to keep you tuning your love.

   Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other.

   Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth for the other.

   Now there is no more loneliness.

   Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you.

   May your days together be good and long upon the earth. Amen.”
   Lily felt James tighten his grip on her hand, and her smile grew, if possible, even more sincere than it had been before. He stopped facing his father; he turned towards Lily, putting his hand out towards one of his father’s outstretched ones and slipping another ring onto her finger. This one was also in white-gold, with a black pearl as a center and one smaller, grey one on either side; their initials were carved into the gold band. Her face softened as she picked up James’ ring from his father’s other hand; it was also white-gold, and their full names ran around the band instead of the pearls. Taking his hand in hers, she slid it onto his finger gently.
   “I now pronounce you man and wife,” Mr. Potter said solemnly. “You may now kiss the bride.”