Chapter 24

"Have you gotten your dress yet?" she was too frantic to announce her arrival into the flat, a groan tumbling from her lips when the living room was empty, and she realised that she wasn't talking to her best friend, but rather Jude who thought the lack of people was just hilarious.

She sat the boy down on the sofa of the flat, taking off her winter coat and hanging it on the clothes rack near the door with a sigh and a grumble of curse words falling to the floor, "Addy, no!" Jude gasped, learning just last night that the words Adria spoke were "naughty" when he had tried to mimic her multiple times.

"Sorry, baby," she sighed, sitting her bag down beside him, "you stay here, I'm going to go find Lily and James."

At the sound of their names, the boy perked up and nodded with a grin, falling to the side of the sofa with a giggle.

"Lily?!" she shouted, a sigh tumbling from her lips.

"Lily are you in - oh Merlin!" Adria screeched, hand clasping over her eyes. She didn't know what possessed her to walk into their bedroom without...knocking, but that didn't stop her from slamming the door closed when the two screamed from the bed.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Adria shouted through the door, her head buried in her hands and screaming at James to stop laughing at her for her interruption on the twos...intimate times.

The door soon opened to reveal an amused looking Lily who had quickly dressed in her boyfriend's jumper and pulled Adria into the room, "I think we are the ones that should be sorry!"

"I should've knocked!" she squeaked out, face red and buried in her hands, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

James snorted, looking entirely dishevelled in a pair of sweatpants he had quickly shoved on, "just payback for the number of times I've walked in on you and Sirius."

"Yeah well, Sirius and I aren't fully fucking naked, James, good Godric!" Adria screeched, grabbing one of the decorative cushions and launching it at his head.

Lily clasped her hand over her mouth to stop her giggles, whacking James' arm who looked nothing but amused by the whole ordeal, and soon did he speak, "Oh Merlin, you should've seen the look on your face."

"Fuck you, James."

"Well, Lily was ju-"

"Stop!" Adria groaned, staying clear away from the bed and sitting on the chair in the corner as she watched Lily move to sit beside her boyfriend, "you know, you two being all cute and coupley is disgusting. Just...go back to fourth year or something, will you?"

"Oh, shut up," Lily giggled, running her hand through James' hair, "we're really sorry, Addy. We knew you were coming."

"Yes, and apparently you were too," she grumbled, earning a bark of laughter from James.

"Why do I always walk in on my friends?" she groaned, "if it's not you two then it's Peter and Thea, I can't cope with all the naked!"

"It won't happen again, Addy," Lily giggled.

"Why aren't you at all phased by this?!" she squeaked out, pulling her legs onto the chair and sitting cross-legged.

"Because it was rather funny seeing your reaction," Lily giggled, "not to mention I've known you since I was thirteen, it was only a matter of time before it happened to at least one of us."

"Oh Merlin," she shook her head, "you're both just fucking lucky I left Jude in the living room."

"Look," James chuckled, "if we let it get to us then we'd be embarrassed like you are, but I think right now - the least of our problems is our naked bodies...which reminds me, do I look good naked? Lily says I do, but I just think she's a bit biased, y'know?"

"You look fine," Adria huffed, shaking her head, "you're both far too young for that sort of activity."

"Addy, we're both older than you and you're pregnant," Lily snorted, shaking her head.

"...still," she mumbled, shaking her head, "I'll wait in the living room whilst you two...clean up."

"Or finish off," James trailed off, earning a choked giggle from Lily who whacked his chest.

"If you're not out in five minutes, I'll send in Jude," she huffed, flipping the two of them off and hurrying back to the living room.

"Where is Pong?" Jude's head tilted at the lack of her best friend and she let out a quiet laugh, her heart rate drastically slowing as she fell onto the sofa beside him. The boy had a very hard time pronouncing some letters, which resulted in him making up new words that only slightly resembled her friend's nicknames.

"He and Lily were just playing a game," Adria spoke, sitting Jude on her lap and kissing his temple.

"A very fun game," James smirked as he entered the living room, scooping Jude quickly into his arms whilst Adria scowled, "I'm sure you'll play it when you're older!"

The boy couldn't help his silent laughter at Jude's enthusiasm, "can I play it when I'm older, Addy?!"

"You're so fucking immature, James, fuck you," she huffed, flipping him off whilst his head fell back, and Lily finally arrived looking a little more presentable than before.

"Are you still mad at us?" Lily giggled, falling onto the sofa.

"I wasn't, actually, until your shit of a boyfriend decided to open his mouth." She flipped James off when he started ranting about how she would've found it funny if she wasn't so stressed, mostly because she knew he was right...she just didn't want to admit it.

"Are you here for the dresses?" asked Lily, pulling on Adria's arm so that she lay her head on Lily's shoulder, "there's a few that I liked but I wanted to make sure you were okay with it."

"I just want you to be happy and comfortable," Adria mumbled quietly. Lily had moved to run her hands through her best friend's hair soothingly, she and James had a plan - of course, that didn't exactly start off well - to get the girl to at least nap before she had to leave, and one thing that could make Adria sleepy was anyone playing with her hair.

"I love all of the dresses," Lily smiled. Everyone knew that when Adria and Sirius announced their engagement - Lily would most definitely be her maid of honour, but that didn't stop the girl from crying when Adria asked her.

"I'll go and get them," James announced, talking to Jude as they left the living room.

"Adria, you know, for as much as you talk about Remus dropping dead from stress...the same is going to happen to you too," Lily sighed, "I know you don't want to hear it - but...you have time off of work, the wedding will be absolutely perfect, and all you needed to do was rest."

"Hmm," Adria's voice was hardly a whisper and Lily chuckled, squeezing the girls hand.

James soon came back with the three dresses, lifting his wand and allowing them to float in the air in front of Adria so she could pick which one she liked the most. It was Lily's dress for the wedding, but Lily wanted Adria to choose because it was her day, Adria, on the other hand, just wanted to make sure Lily was happy with the choice.

"Which is your favourite?" asked Adria, turning to Lily who smiled.

"It's your choice, which is your favourite?"

"Lils, it may be my wedding, but this is your dress and if you're not comfortable, then I don't want you wearing it," she frowned.

"I love the three of them," she laughed, "I like the pale blue because it goes with the winter theme, but red suits me."

"The three of them look great on her," James smirked, earning an eye roll from Lily who muttered about him being completely biased.

She stared at the pale blue one in the middle, it wasn't too pale - it was very evidently blue which she was worried about when Lily told her the colours. Lily had voiced what Adria was thinking when they met just a few days ago to talk it over and assured her that the pale blue didn't even remotely resemble white, which Adria wanted to wear for her day.

She knew it was sudden and she knew that she had very little time, but as much as she didn't care how her and Sirius got married - it was still a day she wanted to remember, and regardless of the time they were living in, she wanted to feel like a princess as she walked down the aisle.

"I like the pale blue," she finally whispered, "it's really lovely. I think it'll look amazing on you."

"Oh, thank Merlin," Lily whispered, "that was my favourite."

"Lily!"

-

"I have been dreading this," Adria admitted as she stood with Alina, her hand tightly clutched in the younger girls and her eyes burning the tears she was forcing herself not to let spill. Benji, Alfie, Lia and Sirius were just behind them, all of them stalling with every step they took towards the home.

"It'll be over soon, Addy," Alina squeezed her hand, forcing a smile and Adria could only nod - opening the gate to their old home and slowly pulling Alina along with her. She wasn't sure she would be able to cope when she entered the home, of everything she left behind.

Her bedroom would still be the same, the house would be the exact same because they weren't allowed inside before then. Well, actually, they couldn't bring themselves to enter before then but now they had to - it was just a house about to go up for sale and they had to take everything that was treasured to them before the work crew would enter in the second week of January.

The smell engulfed her as soon as she opened the door, it was the smell of home and she could feel the tears already on her cheeks as she leaned against the wall. She pictured her days in summers and Christmas. The first day home from Hogwarts and her father's voice, and her mother's too - the both of them there again and she was fifteen.

When she was far too young to get a tattoo but got one anyway, something reckless and unlike her but something she'd never forget or regret. When she finally admitted to being in love with Sirius...to having her first time in her bedroom upstairs with the boy she was utterly in love with.

"Oh...good Godric," Adria whispered quietly, her hand falling to her side when Alina let it go to venture around the house. She couldn't bear to look around the living room, and so she moved to the stairs, hurrying up to the last floor as quickly as she could.

She tried to ignore the door to her father's room, and she even wondered if taking the many toys that she had caught a glimpse of in Jude's room would be a good idea. She would rather donate them instead, because the full house smelled like her father and even at three, Jude would know that.

He would think he was coming home.

The strangled sob left her lips when she entered her old room, to see her bed and even clothes on the floor that she had once left in a frantic state on her last trip to Hogwarts. It was a mess but it was her mess, a mess of a teenage girl who thought she was mature and responsible and everything she needed to be.

But now, she was still a teenage girl - with a real sense of maturity that she didn't want, that she would give back for just more time with her dad that she wished she didn't have to grieve.

She fell into Sirius when he wrapped his arms around her, trying his very best to keep strong for her and allowed the tears to fall on her face, kissing them away with his lips and pulling her further into him.

"What is your best memory in this room?" he asked her quietly, and she frowned.

"Huh?"

"Your best memory?" he asked, "what is it?"

"I don't..." she shook her head, "why?"

"Because you're crying and thinking of the fact that we won't be here anymore, but instead you should think of the times you were happy. You should think of the times you had with a smile, with me and with our family." He kissed her neck and tightened his grip and she only nodded, a sigh tumbling from her lips.

"Will we make memories of our own?" she asked, "In our house?"

He smiled as he turned her around, finally kissing her fully on her lips and nodding, "baby, we already have."

She finally returned the same smile, it was small but she didn't force it and she pushed past him, "I want to look in dads room first...y'know? To get it over with - to see what we can take with us."

"Alright." Sirius nodded, intertwining their hands, "let's go."

She took a deep breath as they descended the stairs, and Adria noticed that her father's door had already been opened.

"He loved this jumper." The sight of Alina sitting on their dad's bed with a jumper clutched tightly in her hands and tears streaming down her face was enough to break Adria's heart, and Sirius whispered about helping Benji downstairs in order to give the girls some space.

"It was his favourite," Adria whispered, leaning against the wardrobe, "he would've worn it every day."

"I'm surprised he wasn't wearing it when..." Alina trailed off what she was even thinking about saying, sitting the jumper down on the bed and standing up.

"What are you looking for?" asked Adria as she moved out of the way. Alina was much taller than she was, even though she was younger - the girl grew way past Adria's height which really wasn't surprising to anyone, the girl took after her father's height.

It was silent for a long time and Adria was trying not to get impatient. It seemed like her mood had drastically changed in the course of a month, she was getting way more irritated with the simplest things and she knew part of it was just from her stress.

Alina stumbled backwards with a box in her hand, and Adria eyed it curiously, "It's for you."

"What?"

"Look inside, Addy," Alina smiled softly, and Adria slowly took the box from Alina's grip, sitting it on the bed.

She gasped at what was inside, and she realised then what Alina wished for her to do - what she could do, and she wondered if she could possibly live up to the very task.

"Allie," Adria's voice was hoarse, choked as she turned to her sister who stared at her and the box with a gentle smile, "I...I can't."

"You can, Addy," Alina nodded, squeezing her hand, "you have to."