After All These Years

Chapter Six – Reality's a pain in everyone's ass

After what had happened that night in the chapel that very night, reality smacked some sense into everyone, bit by bit. Remus and Arabella both knew it was too early to get married - what were they thinking? They hardly knew each other. The sheer realness of the situation had sunk in and they were the first to realize it and be victimized.

Lily and James, however, were a different story. After being married, they drunk and drunk 'til the wee hours of the night in their new honeymoon suite. Of course, when they woke up, it wasn't quite as much fun as they had last night.

"Mm," Lily moaned sleepily, tossing and turning, waking up surrealy from unconsciousness.

"Rrgh," James replied, also deep in unconsciousness.

They both woke up and everything started to come to them, piece by piece... everything all came running and screaming loudly back to them. The events of last night folded chronologically in their heads as they winced in realizing they had done the ultimate mistake -- getting married.

"Fuck," Lily cursed, as soon as she remembered. "My head hurts like hell."

"I hope that's not the only reason you're swearing," James replied, groaning, reaching for his wand and muttering a few words. "Remember what happened last night?"

"Of course I remember what happened last night," Lily snapped, rubbing her temples in vain, hoping the hangover and this nightmare would go away and she'd wake up any second, free of any troubles. "It all just came fuckin' screaming back to me."

"Well, honey, it wasn't too good for me either," James replied sarcastically. "Come here, I have a hangover spell that works like a charm."

"Nice choice of words since spells are almost exactly like charms," Lily answered icily.

"Fine, I guess you don't need it," James said, turning away, and putting back his wand.

"Okay, okay, sorry," Lily said quickly. "I didn't mean it. It's just... we got married?!"

"Yeah, I know," James sighed, reaching for his wand and muttering the spell, "this'll be something the grandkids will be hearing."

"We're not... going to stay married, are we?" Lily asked cautiously, tucking a loose tendril behind her ear. "I was thinking of getting an anullment. I mean... we were pretty intoxicated while saying our 'I do's."

"No, of course we weren't going to stay married," James said, "And, yeah, I think an anullment will be our best bet."

"I really thought my first time getting married was going to be special, too," Lily sighed forlornly. "So much for that dream."

"Hey," James said. "That can still happen. We'll get the anullment; this isn't real. Your first time will be with someone you love and that someone will love you back. Trust me, Lily. Plus, I thought it was pretty fun, even though it doesn't really 'count'."

Lily smiled. "Yeah, it was fun... but I can't help it was partly your fault." She raised an eyebrow.

"Me? Seriously?" James asked, indignant.

"Oh, let's not forget someone's Hogwarts record of most mayhem-making and racking up most detentions ever... has that silly little boy actually matured into a serious, emotional man now?" Lily teased.

James rolled his eyes. "I am so beyond pranking now. It's not that fun anymore since I don't live with that many people in such close quarters. I miss Hogwarts."

The conversation turned quiet.

"So do I."

"Ignorance really is bliss, isn't it?" James asked.

"I'm afraid so, m'dear.. I'm afraid so."

- - -

"So, what now?" Remus asked, breaking the silence. It was the next morning of the night before. Arabella and him had relentlessly gone to bed, failing to find Lily and James after searching for them for the majority of the night. They went to bed, side by side, feeling awkward and unsure of how to handle the situation. Both of them hardly got any sleep last night, each trying to think up a solution to their seemingly un-fixable problem.

They both tossed and turned repeatedly, also wondering if the other was asleep or not. Deep down, they knew inside that both of them were awake and feeling more alive than ever, but said nothing out loud and didn't want to awake the awkward silence that was already beginning to start to loom around both of them.

The tension in the air was thick but both tried to ignore it.

When morningtime came, Remus watched Arabella sleep peacefully. He smiled at her sadly, knowing both of them would have to end sooner or later. He left the room, not wanting to be there when she awoke. He went outside and enjoyed the sights -- mainly the Eiffel Tower. He'd come to France looking for romance with Arabella... was this what he bargained for?

When he finally returned from his morning stroll, Arabella was sitting on the bed, folding her clothes.

"I thought I should pack," she said, explaining. "After all, we should be leaving soon."

"Um, yeah," Remus replied awkwardly. "Good idea."

He really didn't know what to say. He was purely perplexed at human emotion -- last night he felt like he wanted to marry, spoil, and spent the rest of his life with this woman. Now, in the morning, in the clear, bright daylight, all he wanted was to escape, having nothing to say to her. Last night he felt they were in love, but now he felt lucky if they were even still friends. How twistedly ironic human emotion could be sometimes.

"So, now what?" Remus asked, glad he had finally asked the inevitable question that both were dreading to ask. "Where are we going... what does this mean?"

"I... I don't know," Arabella said, trying to turn the broken emotion into words. "After last night... it's like a realization or something... I mean, we don't really know each other that well and we rushed in the whole marriage thing, right?"

"Yeah, we did," Remus agreed, nodding. "I guess... I'm really not ready yet, and..."

"And?" Arabella asked.

Remus breathed. "I think we should take a break."

Arabella exhaled slowly.

"To rethink some things over," Remus said quickly, trying his best to make the situation sound better... but he knew he couldn't no matter how hard he tried to sugarcoat things. "We rushed into this too quick and I think we need some time to cool down."

Arabella's eyes brightened slightly. "You know what?"

"What?"

"I think I'm up for it, just promise me one thing."

"What?"

Arabella smiled sadly. "Don't let it be too long."

Remus covered her small hand with his and hugged her meaningfully. "I won't," he whispered soothingly into her ear as she bit her lip and closed her eyes in sadness.

- - -

Sirius was perplexed why everyone suddenly wanted to go home. He thought they were all having a smashingly good time in Paris, why stop all the fun? He declared that there were party poops was what they were. Plus, to him, everyone seemed really aggravated and annoyed with each other. What happened last night, he wondered to himself. He totally couldn't remember anything except being stark naked in front of that sexy French blonde... then... well, yeah.

"God, I can't believe you guys are ruining my vacation," Sirius replied aggravatedly as he boarded the plane. "Total annihalation of my free time."

"Your free time from what?" James scoffed. "Building your motorcycle?"

"That does take work and lots of mental brain power, Prongs," Sirius pointed out scathingly. "Something you're obviously missing."

"Gee, thanks, Sirius love," James commented dryly. "Glad I have your support if I want to win a Nobel prize."

Sirius smiled lovingly at James. "You have all my support in the world, love."

"Although I would love to see you two start flirting in a hopefully joking manner, you're holding up the line," Lily pointed out curtly. "So could you please scoot because others are here to check in the gate?"

Because of their sudden decision to leave and ditch the tour group, they had to take the Muggle way back to London -- by plane.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "It's not like people ruined your vacation."

Lily raised one right back at him. "People did ruin my vacation."

"Feisty."

"Raunching."

"Ahh... smart ass."

"Move."

"Fine."

"I win," Lily declared proudly.

"Won what? Was there a game or something?" James asked irratably.

Lily glared.

Everyone was annoyed at each other.

And what a loooooooong flight it was going to be!

- - -

A/N: After such comedic chapters, I thought it was time for some seriousness involved in the story. This isn't really going the way I expected it to be, so I'm on a writer's block which explains WHY I am so late with this chapter. I am so, so late. And I really blame myself. I'm going to finish all my stories (except for Veni Vici Dormivi and Revelations of Destiny) and see if I'm up for anything else. I feel like re-writing this whole story, I'm just unsatisfied with it. I don't know why. Thanks for reading, you all are amazing and great. 6 months without updating... I suck big time... and it was short too. Expect a re-write soon. Homework is weighing me down and I'm off to write more of "How to lose..."

Lots of love,

Angeline