Retrieval Failure

Summary:

James Potter and Lily Evans are young, in love and soon to be married. Life is, for want of a better word, peachy. But the profession of Aurors is a dangerous treacherous business as James finds out to his disadvantage when he witnesses a Dark Matter he really shouldn't have. Instead of killing him, Voldemort deals his enemy an even crueller blow … by erasing his memory. James has no recollection of his life long friends, his beautiful fiancé or, most importantly, what it was he witnessed. It really is a complete retrieval failure …

A/N: Hi, I'm back! Another Lily and James fiction (my favorite.) This is based on the plot line of a recent film I saw, but it differs in many ways, (for a start, the characters.) But it's romantic, a little angsty and very dramatic, chock full of regular Marauder humor and those cliff hangers you love to hate... Please read and review!

Thanks, Rosie.

            "But … but … you've barely been living together for –"

            "– A year? I'd say that constitutes as a fairly solid foundation, don't you, Padfoot?" Remus Lupin said with a smirk cutting off his best friend Sirius Black amidst his tirade of a foreboding argument.

            "No, I don't, and that's beside the point, Moony, completely beside the point. A year only highlights how foolish a proposal at this time would be! It would be like clockwork." He put on a high pitched voice, "Oh! A year's up! I'd better do it quick!" He then cleared his throat, off their amused looks. "Your clogs will pop, Prongs, and smack you right back in the face," Sirius finished, with an air of maddening superiority.

            James Potter frowned fondly at his best friend and shook his head. "Padfoot, your track record concerning the female species is hardly enlightening, so you'll understand if I don't take your dire warnings at face value."

            Sirius was not in the least abashed at James's slur on his relationship tactics and continued with determination.

            "Look, Prongs, I know women in general, all right? And if you're going to insist on doing things your way –"

            "– The proper way!" James interjected.

            "Then the tempo of 'slow' must be addressed," Sirius finished.

            James shut his book with a snap and lit the dim room with a wave of his wand. "I'll return to your point about 'women in general'. Although a good point, does not apply to Lily. She's different."

Sirius began stirring his coffee with his wand and watched the brown milky contents swirling in the candle light. Peter Pettigrew, also known as Wormtail, stopped chewing his quill for a second to join in the conversation.

"When you say 'different', do you mean, like, retarded different?"

"Shut up, Wormtail," they said in unison, a phrase that was heard so often that Peter barely wasted time sulking following it.

James sighed. "I don't know, I just want to be with her, forever, you know? I want our souls to be together, my heart with hers."

Lupin smiled. "That's nice, James."

Sirius frowned. "Or taken literally, incredibly gross."

"I was just thinking that too," James said as an afterthought.

They were sitting in James's living room in a house that he and Lily had decided to buy together, combining their salaries. The house was small and cottage-like, situated in Godric's Hollow not far from the Ministry of Magic, where they both worked. Lily was on a night-shift in her office in the Charm's Regulation Domain, which often required unpleasant hours. On these nights, the other three Marauders often came around to steal food from the fridge and talk about things the way they used to in school.

"If I didn't know better, Padfoot, I'd say you were jealous," said Lupin with a wry expression on his face."

"Jealous? Me? I don't think so! I mean, I know Lily's gorgeous and everything but –"

"I didn't mean of James, I meant of Lily."

There was a moment whilst this sunk in, and Sirius smirked again.

"Ah, yes, 'tis true, James, I have kept it a secret for as long as I could, but I am madly in lust for you –"

James threw a cushion at his best friend. It bounced off his laughing head and fell with a soft plop in Wormtail's lap.

"Seriously, Sirius," Lupin continued. "James has been your best friend since sliced bread. You're bound to feel a tad jealous of him getting married."

"Not in a gay way," Sirius said heatedly.

"No, not in a gay way," Lupin reassured.

Sirius blinked. "Well, I suppose so, yeah, if you look at it like that."

"Nothing will change," said James. "Just instead of living together, we'll be married. It won't be that different. I'll still be your best friend."

"Promise?" Sirius said in a childish tone.

"Yes, idiot, I promise."

Sirius sat back in the arm chair by the fire, looking happier. He threw his wand up in the air and caught it again. "So, when are you thinking of doing this?"

"Tomorrow. That's the plan anyway," James said. "In a café in Hogsmead. It's the place we had our first date together."

There was another period of silence whilst they all munched their chocolate, James eating his purely for comfort, and then Wormtail spoke after an apparent period of pondering.

"Ah, but you will have vows though," said Peter. "Vows you will have to uphold, James. Can you do that?"

"Yes, of course I can!" said James defensively. "And anyway, you're all ahead of yourselves. This is all providing she says yes."

Sirius smiled, reassuringly. "She will, mate. She will."

            Lily Evans was sitting at a table by the window in Jenny's Café. The table was covered by a soft pink table cloth and, in front of her, Lily had a cup of tea and was stirring it feverishly. The café looked no different to when Lily and James had first started going out; the waitress-witch was the same as was the décor. Lily tucked her red hair behind her ears distractedly and clasped her hands together, staring at the door. She was tired and irritable from being on a night-shift at the Ministry and furthermore, James had sounded odd earlier that morning when he had asked to meet.

Lily was so exhausted, so paranoid, that she half believed James was going to tell her that he wanted to end it. Lily knew that this was a foolish notion, and she was just plain tired, but there was a slight urgency in the way she was stirring her tea that would convince someone otherwise.

The bell above the door tingled as James entered the shop. He looked worried and was fidgeting with his bag. Lily's fears intensified. He went over to her and smiled nervously, kissing her on the cheek.

"Sorry I'm late," he said. "Fudge kept us all back to debrief about that recon last week."

"That's okay," said Lily, still stirring her tea. "So what's this about?"

"Well … there's something that I … Lily, I … I can't do this –"

"– James, look …" Lily cut him off. Her nervousness manifested as he began to form the words she had been dreading. "I hope you're not going to say what I think you're going to say, because, well … please don't."

James blinked. How could she know? Had Sirius broken and told her? "Don't? But, Lils, why not? I mean, I think it's the right time, and, for me, well. Living together just isn't …"

"James, I love you!"

            "… isn't enough." James frowned. That was an odd statement amidst her polite decline. "But … thanks anyway, I love you too."

            "Then why are you breaking up with me?" she said in an anguished tone.

            James frowned and suddenly comprehension dawned on his face. "Oh … no! No, no, you daffy red head. I was going to ask you to marry me!"

            Lily froze. If there was one question on earth she had wanted him to ask yet one that was equally unexpected, it was that one. Relief flooded through her and at the same time, an amazing clarity. This was who she was going to spend the rest of her life with.

            "But now I've gone and messed it all up and I knew that it was a stupid idea in the first place –"

            "Yes."

            "– and Sirius warned me it was a stupid idea and I never listened to him, and that was partly because Moony said it was a good idea and he's really sensible and partly because I'm so in love with you that I can't think straight so of course I was going to go all mental about it and mess it up –"

            "James …"

            "– so now I've gone and wrecked everything we have because I was so hasty, like a stupid hasty berk, because that's exactly what I am, I'm a prat and everyone knows – did you just say yes?"

            "Yes, you berk."

            Lily and James had wanted to spend a little time alone afterwards before they told anybody, mostly because although a happy moment, was also a private moment. It was also so James could constantly ask Lily if she was having him on and worked for Voldemort who had specifically told her in order to kill him she must break his heart. Their friend's reactions upon being told were vastly predictable.

            "Well I told you! Didn't I tell you Prongs? How it was a good idea?" said Sirius, proudly, smacking James on the back.

            "No, you told him his clogs would pop and hit him right in the face I think, Padfoot," said Lupin, grinning. "Well done, James. That's great news."

            They celebrated well into the night with a bottle of Fire Whiskey and a lovely meal at Godric's Hollow, cooked by Lily. James remarked loudly that he excepted dinners like this every day of the week when they were married. He would have gone on to say what else he expected until Lily smacked him on the back of the head with a dishcloth.

            If somebody had told the laughing group that in 48 hours, James Potter would not recall having proposed, not recall his friends nor his fiancé, they would have not believed them, for the idea itself was too preposterous to even contemplate.

A/N: And that ends that! On a less than happy note, I'm afraid, as what I hint at here does in fact happen. (Although if you read the summary you'd know that. Duh.) Please read and review! Or I absolutely refuse to carry on. Actually, that's a lie.