a royal engagement of three
written for @jilypadweek 2025 - Day 7 prompt "Knights (or) Royalty AU"
[AO3]
The first time Lily meets her betrothed she is eight years old.
It's the first time she gets to travel and it sounds more exciting than it turns out to be. The carriage ride is only interesting for the first hour, after that it gets a little boring. Petunia uses the time to practice her needlework. Mother takes a nap.
Lily is not interested in doing either of those things. She looks out of the window, thumping the heels of her nice shoes against the carriage seat, much to Petunia's annoyance, and watches the endless trees pass by. The landscape barely changes at all.
The journey only gets better again when, after a short break to water the horses, her father agrees to let her ride with him. Sitting in front of him on the saddle makes for much better entertainment than anything she can find in the carriage.
She only has to go back there shortly before they arrive at their destination.
The castle that comes into view is nice. It has nice shapes Lily could see herself draw alongside unicorns and fairies.
Petunia gapes at it so it must be very nice.
They arrive in the courtyard and the king himself helps Lily out of the carriage. He's a tall man with a nice smile and wild hair. He introduces her to a boy her age with the same kind of hair, who steps forward like a hero in shining armour to take her hand and kiss it.
Lily pulls a face and wipes her hand on her skirts.
“This is my son, James,” the king says kindly and then points at a second boy. His hair is less wild but just as dark as James'. “And this is my ward, Sirius.”
They get sent off to play while the adults are signing contracts and do similarly uninteresting adult things. The boys think a girl can't play the same way as a boy. They are grossly wrong about that.
Petunia finds Lily an hour later, her skirts hiked up and stuffed into her underwear to keep them out of the way as she duels Sirius with a long stick, splashing in a muddy puddle, while James criticises her form from the sidelines. Her pockets are full of frogspawn.
Petunia's screeches can be heard throughout the whole garden.
When she meets James again, Lily is thirteen.
It's the king's sixtieth birthday so her family is invited to the big celebration. The journey is still boring but the party at the end of it makes up for all the boredom. There is delicious cake and dances and music.
Petunia finds Lily in the stables, her skirts around her knees again as she sits on a horse without a saddle, ready to race the boys.
She doesn't get to race them, which is a real shame. She would have been the fastest.
Lily is almost sixteen at their next meeting.
James has invited her to the autumn festival, a big celebration in their country. Once again there will be dances and music and this time around Lily is more interested in them than in sneaking off to see horses.
After a lot of begging she is allowed to go, all on her own. Only her maid and a few guards are with her this time, since Petunia just got married that summer and is busy with her new husband.
It's good that she isn't there. Lily can't imagine what she would have to say if she'd know that Lily gets a little tipsy on autumn wine and kisses both James and Sirius more than once.
Lily is eighteen when she travels the distance to the castle for the final time, this time ready to stay. Once she arrives she'll get married within the week.
Her parents are with her and Petunia will come in a few days, along with her husband and baby boy.
Sirius should arrive the day before the wedding, having the longest way to travel now that he has returned to his own kingdom. Lily still can't imagine she'll arrive to a castle without him in it. To a James that isn't part of a double deal.
The carriage stops in the courtyard and James is there to help her out. Once again he places a kiss to the back of her hand, but this time she doesn't feel inclined to wipe it off.
He greets her parents, then leads her away to the gardens so she can take a little walk after all the time inside the carriage.
They barely make it there. Lily uses the first bit of cover she finds, a little nook in the garden wall, to pull him aside and kiss him thoroughly.
James laughs against her lips. “I'm very happy to see you too,” he teases her before he pulls back completely, much to her disappointment. “But I have a surprise for you and we should really get to him before he gets too impatient to wait for us.”
“Did you get me a horse?” Lily wonders when James takes her hand and leads her farther into the garden.
“No,” James laughs. “But you can try to ride him, if you want.”
There is a wicked sparkle in his eyes and Lily punches his shoulder for good measure. It only makes him laugh more.
They round a corner and Lily stops short.
There at the fountain stands a man she didn't think she would see here today. “Surprise,” James says but that's all she hears before she lets go of his hand to fly straight into Sirius' arms.
“Hello to you too,” Sirius' laughs into her hair. “You're still very short, I see.”
“What are you doing here?” Lily asks as she pulls back a little to look up at him. “I thought you wouldn't arrive until closer to the wedding.”
“That was the original plan, but plans have changed.” Sirius exchanges a look with James over her head. “And more plans can change, if you want them to.”
“What he's trying to say like an awkward fool,” James teases and steps closer to them, ignoring Sirius' glare. “Is that he left his stupid family for good with no plans of returning to them after the wedding, so if you feel so inclined to share our wedding bed, he's here to stay.”
“I could have said that myself, you know?” Sirius grumbles, but there is a slight blush dusting his cheeks.
“No matter who's saying it,” Lily interrupts with a bright smile. “I'm saying yes to it.”
“Told you she would,” James grins and wraps an arm around her.
Sirius rolls his eyes at him but doesn't let go of Lily either. “Shut up, would you?”
James barely has enough time to finish those two words before Sirius is kissing him.
Lily's heart is light as she watches them and full of excitement for their future. It's the perfect version she didn't think she could get.
