Rainie and Lily started preparing dinner. Rainie didn't know how to cook, she only helped around the kitchen when James or Sirius cooked. Lily didn't cook either because her mother did. They took out an old cookbook of Mrs. Potter's. They tried making a dish she used to make. It was for James. He had gone through a hard time and Lily wanted to do something once for him.
James and Sirius reported Pettigrew to the Order of the Phoenix and bought a new wand for James and didn't return home until sun down with Remus with them.
"Hello!" Remus shouted, coming inside, "Rainie? Lily?"
"In here." Rainie shouted back. "The dining room."
They all walked into the room,
"Oh….who made dinner?" James asked, smiling.
The angry face, the vicious man Rainie saw a few hours ago was gone. She wouldn't ever admit it, but she felt a little scared of James then.
"We did." Lily smiled.
"Ah…..She did." Rainie raised her hands in the air as if to step away from all the claims. She knew how much James loved his food and how he couldn't tolerate bad food.
"What?" Lily was a little confused.
"It was all Lily's doing." She grinned.
"Well, I am sure it'll be great." James kissed her cheek and took a seat next to Lily.
"Yeah, thanks. Lils." Remus and Sirius sat down too.
James picked up a fork and took a bite.
"Oh god…" He stopped.
"What?" Lily looked at him.
"Nothing." He said, taking a huge gulp of his fire whisky. "It's good."
His eyes watered.
"Oh, God! Lily….What is this?" Sirius Black had never been able to keep his mouth shut.
"Is it that bad?" Lily looked bewildered. "Remus?"
Remus Lupin shook his head, "I am sure it's good."
He, too, took a bite and choked.
"Rainie?"
"I am afraid to eat."
Sirius laughed.
"It's fine." James took another bite and swallowed it with his fire whisky.
"James….How are you eating this?" Sirius asked, surprised. "He must really love you, Evans."
Sirius stood up and picked up his coat.
"I am getting some chicken from the Chinese place downtown." He said, "Anyone else want anything?"
"I'll have one." Remus put his fork down, so did Rainie and Lily.
"You don't have to eat it, James." Lily said.
"Oh, thank God." James drained his fire whisky in one go, "Get the red chicken with the szechuan sauce, sides not touching the chicken. And, check if they have some sticky rice. Sweet but not so sweet. And sour cream with the chicken. Sour but not so much that I need to drink something in between bites."
Lily listened to everything he said in amazement. Rainie wasn't kidding when she said that James was very particular about most things, especially his food.
"You will have to cook all the time when you two get married." Rainie told James.
"Married?" Lily turned.
"Nothing." Rainie said quickly as James shot an angry look.
After dinner, James and Lily went out for a walk. They were silent for a while. Lily's mind was on the terrible dinner she made that was thrown out even though James was going to suffer through it. James's mind was on his great-grandmother's ring in his left pocket. He wasn't sure how to ask her. He would have made a big surprise but he was scared to set up anything where he had to be alone or had to leave her alone somewhere. He wasn't sure where to start.
"By the way, your parents are coming over for dinner next week." He said. "As a thank you for taking care of me."
"Oh, you didn't have to do that." She shook her head.
"Yeah, but I wanted to." She said, "You should invite your sister if you want."
"I don't know, James." She didn't want to see Petunia anymore. "I don't think it'll be a good idea."
"If that's what you think." James shrugged.
It wasn't like he liked Petunia. He was just trying to be a nice person.
"And, now that you have invited your parents over." James teased her, "I think we might have something to celebrate."
"Yeah, like what?" She didn't mind the teasing.
"I was wondering…." He said, "If you would.."
He came in front of her.
"Marry me?" He took out the box from his pocket and opened it.
It was an antique ring, the small red stone gleaming in the dark night.
Lily didn't say anything for a few minutes.
"Come on, Lil." He said, "Say something!"
"Yes." She said, "Of course! Yes!"
Lily joined the Marauders and Rainie at the Potter Manor soon. But, she had decided not to become a member of the Order until after their wedding. James already told her it meant no contact with family, especially the muggle families who had no idea what was going on in their world.
They decided on a small wedding ceremony in the Potter Manor with just close friends and friends after a few weeks after their engagement. James Potter asked for a special permission of absence for Rainie so she could attend the wedding. She was coming in by a muggle train where McGonagall herself took her to the station and Sirius was going to pick her up. But, she never got there. James waited by the door for Sirius and James to come but they didn't. He waited till he got a message from Padfoot that Rainie never arrived at the station.
"I gotta go." He told Remus.
"James, the guests are coming…." He started, "And, what about Lily?"
"Lily will understand." He took his coat. "Rainie is missing, Remus….I can't exactly sit here and drink champagne."
He nodded as he watched James Potter disappear through the door. He stayed to take care of James's guests would be arriving any moment now,
"Did you look at this?" A guest showed a Daily Prophet to Remus. "A girl was found by the river, just a couple of hours ago. Black hair, blue eyes, but rather unrecognizable."
A chill ran down his spine, James and Sirius had left to look for Sirius's cousin, Addriana who was supposed to attend James's wedding with a special permission from Professor McGonagall.
She hadn't arrived and both the boys were freaking out. No one loved Adrianne like her little family of her cousin Sirius and his best friend James, whose home had a place for both the Blacks.
"A name?" Remus asked, his voice shaking.