"YOU are getting married? YOU? I suppose it's to that horrible boy isn't it?"

"James isn't horrible, he's --"

"He's trash from Spinners End, of course he's horrible! All greasy haired and with that big ugly nose --"

"You're TALKING about Severus Snape," Lily said sternly, teeth clenched, quite fed up with Petunia's shouting already. "I'm not marrying Severus, I'm marry James Potter."

"He's rubbish as well - the scrawny little layabout that came with us to the sea a couple years ago!"

"That's Sirius Black," Lily snapped.

Petunia sniffed.

"He's the lovely one, dear," Mrs. Evans tried, her voice gentle. "The one with the athletic build."

"The who who elongated your neck when you were being a priss that time we went to the cinema!" Lily shouted.

Petunia brought her hands up and covered her throat with her palms, looking alarmed in the direction of the fireplace, as though she expected James Potter to leap out of the ashes there and make her neck even more giraffe-like. "As I said," she sniffed, "Horrible."

Lily replied hotly, "Well he wouldn't have done it if you hadn't been acting like a twit!"

Petunia let out a shriek and threw her napkin muleishly onto the table, then got up and stormed out of the room.

"Really!" Mrs. Evans sighed. She shook her head, "I wish that you girls would just get along. I hate that you fight so much. What will happen one day when I'm gone?"

Lily looked at her mother, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not going to live forever Lily, and it hurts my heart to think of you girls, fighting the way you do..."

Lily froze, staring at her mother. "Mum, please let's not talk of it. You've got a very, very long life ahead of you yet."

Her mother nodded, "I do... and it looks longer everyday." She smiled sadly. "Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy for both my girls... You've got such a lovely young man in James that will take wonderful care of you, who loves you so, so much... and Petunia's got -" she paused ever so slightly. "Petunia's got Vernon," she finished, "Who... is very good at selling drills."

Lily bit her lip.

"But my wish is for you to both is that you would have each other as well." Mrs. Evans reached out for Lily's hands, holding them in hers, and her eyes were emploring. "Promise me, no matter how awful things get with Petunia, that you'll try to stay close to her? She is so proud, she would never ask for your help, even if she needed it. Please, please try with her."

Lily nodded and squeezed her mum's hands. "I will, but you have a very, very long time before you ever have to think about that. Alright, mum?"

Mrs. Evans nodded. Upstairs, there was some loud thumping about and the sound of Petunia's radio filled the house. Mrs. Evans looked up at the ceiling, then back to Lily. "I know it won't be easy, but please try."

"I promise, mum," Lily said.

After getting home from the Full Moon night, Remus wanted nothing more than to rest and take a long nap, and so the boys set him up in the bedroom and left to keep the apartment quiet. Sirius's interview was that afternoon, and James had agreed to tag along, with plans to pick up some of the supplies that he and Remus needed for their secret plan while Sirius was distracted by the owner of Gomer Grimes Gnome Removal Service. They took Sirius's motor bike over Tower Bridge and into downtown London, where Diagon Alley was hidden. It was early and the street was quiet as many patrons were either still in bed or else at work themselves for the day. James dropped Sirius off at the door of the Gomer Grimes's office and went on down the road on his own errands as Sirius went inside.

Sirius's interview was with none other than Gomer Grimes himself, and he sat opposite the potato-shaped man, in a very impressive-looking office of mahogany and hunter green. The big leather chair he sat in made him feel very small, and Mr. Grimes's large desk was imposing and seemed very large, and Sirius was sure that this effect was no accident as Mr. Grimes looked over Sirius's CV carefully. He lowered the sheet of paper and looked at Sirius for a long moment, biting on the end of a pipe and rubbing his stubbled chin.

"And why do you wish to be a degnoming specialist?" Mr. Grimes questioned.

Sirius thought for a moment. "Because degnoming is my passion," he exaggerated.

Mr. Grimes looked unimpressed by this declaration. "And have you done a professional degnoming before?"

"No sir, but I've chucked a good few over the garden wall at my mate's house," Sirius replied, shrugging.

Mr. Grimes mused and looked back at the CV. "Done alright in Care of Magical Creatures, I see... No trips to the hospital wing, then?"

"Not for me, no sir," Sirius answered.

"And alright on your Herbology, too, it says."

"Yes, sir."

"Did you repot any mandrakes in your classes at Hogwarts?" Mr. Grimes looked over the rim of his glasses, which sat on the end of his bulbous nose, the frames nearly lost in the pouchy skin of his face.

"Yes," Sirius said.

Mr. Grimes mused and made a note on the sheet, then grunted as he pulled his wand from his drawer and waved it. "Accio contracts," he said lazily. A sheath of papers flew over from a table top across the room and he shuffled them, looking at them and taking a couple sheets out altogether. "Here we are," he said. "Employment contracts... We will employ you on a basis of a temporary new hire, benefits will kick in end of August... How does one galleon, three sickles, and... four knuts an hour sound?"

It sounded rather poor, Sirius thought, but he wasn't about to argue with the first person that had deemed him worthy of work. He nodded eagerly.

"Excellent," murmured Mr. Grimes and he marked up a couple pages of the paper work with a yellow high lighter, then pushed it across to Sirius. "This is some mandatory forms, just detailing the risks and possible injuries that are common in the business and relinquishing us here at Gomer Grimes from any liability..." He withdrew a book from his desk drawer. "This here's the emoloyee handbook, and describes to you all the regulations and processes that we carry out here..." He pushed it across the table to Sirius. "Take these all home, read through them, and bring the signed contract back to me by the end of the week and we'll fit you in where you're needed then."

"Yes sir." Sirius got up, trying to mask his excitement.

Mr. Grimes nodded, "Good day."

"You too," Sirius said, and he nearly tripped on his way out the door in his excitement.

Outside in Diagon Alley, James was no where to be seen just yet, and so Sirius decided to have a look about the shops to pass some time until James turned up. He was walking along when he spotted Madam Malkins and he paused out front, looking at the window display of beautiful gowns and perfectly hemmed Hogwarts school robes. He considered the display a moment, then decided to go inside and have a look about.

There were racks upon racks of lovely clothing, neatly folded or displayed on mannequins. Sirius ran his fingers over smooth button up shirts and new Hogwarts Robes, remembering when he himself had come in and picked out a set of robes with his father before his very first day at Hogwarts. It had been raining that day, he remembered, and he could still feel the imposing presence of his father looming over his shoulder as he slid his fingers over the fabrics.

"Anything I can help you with, my dear?" Madam Malkin asked, appearing out of seemingly thin air. She was a middle-aged woman with plump cheeks and a friendly smile, who had a measuring table draped over her neck and a pincushion clipped into her hair with various pins and needles sticking out of it, some trailing bits of thread and strings. Her glasses hung on a chain about her neck, and her apron pockets were bursting with bits of fabric cut from hemmlines being made shorter.

Sirius shook his head, "I'm just looking, thank you."

Madam Malkin smiled, looking at the shirt Sirius was touching. "High thread count," she said, "Extra soft."

"It certainly is," Sirius agreed. He hesitated. "Have you any ties?"

"Oh yes, of course, right this way," she waved for Sirius to follow her to the corner of the shop and waved to a large wardrobe, which opened with a couple sparks from her wand, revealing a display of silken neck- and bow-ties in positively every imaginable color and pattern. Sirius smiled and walked over, looking at them. He saw all the Hogwarts House Colours, of course, and some that he reckoned must be for some of the other Magical Schools, given the sizes they came in. He pulled out a drawer and found lovely, rich reds and neon-bright oranges laying out before him, some with very slight textures in the threaded fabric, others as smooth as could be. He lifted up a deep, ruby red that he reckoned would match the ring he'd gotten for Remus and he ran his fingers over it. The slightest fleur de leif pattern crisscrossed the red silk and the knot at the neck was fashioned to easily slide tight and loosen without ever undoing the tie so that it was easy to put on and take off.
Sirius stroked the silk. "I'd like to purchase this one," he said, imagining it on Remus's neck.

Madam Malkin smiled and nodded, taking the tie and carrying it across the room to the register.

Then Sirius saw it - a pistachio green bowtie. He stared at it for a long moment, his heart clenched. He would've wanted that if they were still having the big wedding... It was killing him they were only going to go to  the ministry and have some office wizard sign paperwork and be done with their fairytale just like that. But Remus wanted simple, and by Merlin, Sirius would give Remus what he wanted, no matter what that meant. Remus deserved the sun, and if Sirius had a way to rein it in, he would've. Even if it meant no pistachio green suits or unicorns.

James appeared suddenly at Sirius's side, even as his finger tips were caressing the smooth fabric of the pistachio tie. "Hullo," he said, looking over Sirius's arm. "What's this?"

"Nothing. I was picking out a present for Remus," Sirius replied, quickly drawing back his hand from the display and turning 'round to face Madam Malkin at the counter. "I've already selected it... c'mon, I've just got to pay." James followed Sirius, though he did glance back over his shoulder at the display as they walked away. 
At the counter, Madam Malkin was just finishing drawing up the receipt. "One galleon and eleven knuts," she said.

Sirius reached into his pocket. His purse was gone. He dug deeper into the extendable pocket of his leather jacket, his fist fishing about, but it was no where to be found. "Bloody hell," he muttered, remembering suddenly that he and Remus had been messing about playing a bit of flip-sickle at the camp that morning while James had been off forraging in his stag form, a stupid game they played to pass time, and he knew beyond a doubt that he'd taken out his coin purse and hung it by its strings on a branch that protruded up from the log Remus had been sitting on. He could see it in his mind so clearly, there was no mistaking it for a positive memory.

"Blast," he groaned. He sighed. "I'll have to come back. Could you hold it for me?"

Madam Malkin nodded and turned to put the wrapped tie to one side. "Until the end of the day tomorrow."

"Thanks, I'll be back."

"You forget your purse?" James asked, he reached into his pocket, "I can cover you if --"

"No, I need to buy it," Sirius said, shaking his head firmly, "It's a wedding present, it must come from me."

James put his purse away.

"I left my money at the camp. We'll have to take a spinner over to Godric's Hollow to fetch it."