Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Janessa Kloves stood before the full-length mirror that stood in the corner of the room on two spindly brass legs. Tentatively, she ran a hand down her waist over the white lace of her dress and stared at her reflection.
"Mum, I don't know if I can do this," she whispered as a plump brunette woman holding a pair of white pumps in her hands stopped next to her. Ophelia Kloves looked up from the shoes and smiled sweetly at her youngest daughter.
"Nessa, love, the hard part's over. You found the shoes. It's all easy from here on out," Linda put the shoes down on a small table and slipped her arm around Janessa's slender waist. "All you have to do is put on your shoes, take Daddy's arm and walk down the isle."
"Nessa Kloves, I swear by Merlin's beard that, if you don't marry that poor man, I'll Avada you myself," an identical copy of Janessa walked out of the bathroom, hoping on one foot as she tried to tug her second shoe on. "Mum, these shoes shrunk."
"Really, darling? The shoe shrunk of its own accord? All by itself? Honestly, Netta, you probably picked up the wrong size at the shop. If you'd spent half the amount of attention in Twilfitt and Tatting's that you spent in Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions, you wouldn't have brought home the wrong size. Give them here. I'll grow them."
"Thanks, Mum," Janetta handed over the shoes and, with a flick of her wand, Ophelia grew the heels a millimeter or so before handing them back. "Ohhh, much better, Mum! Brilliant. Where's Luna? I saw her and Ginny outside. Luna should be in here by now. She needs to get dressed."
"I can't do this," Janessa whispered again, smoothing the white lace over her hips.
"Yes, you can, Ness," Janetta rolled her eyes, now standing next to her sister in her properly fitting shoes. "And, if you don't, I'll kill you. And I doubt the lot out there waiting to watch you two finally get married are going to be a happy bunch if you stiff him."
"If you're so sure, you marry him."
"I don't want to marry 'im! You're the one who's been infatuated with him since our second year," Janetta scoffed and tucked some of her reddish-brown hair up into a loose chignon at the nape of her neck. "You were so star-struck you couldn't even speak to the bloke until we were all mashed into the Room of Requirement in year six. Remember? You, me and Nella used to sleep crammed into the corner even though you were in Hufflepuff and Nella was in Ravenclaw and I was in Gryffindor. And Nella was the one who finally made you speak to–"
"Stop it," Ophelia said loudly, her voice wavering. "Don't talk about Nella."
"Oh, Mum, I'm sorry," Janetta sighed. "Nella's been gone for five years. We can't avoid talking about Nell forever. No one could have saved her, Mum. Not you, not Daddy, not even Dumbledore could have saved Nella. Dolohov hit her from behind, Mum."
"You shouldn't have even been there!" Ophelia turned around. "You lot were sixteen!"
"Ginny stayed, Mummy. And so did Luna!"
"If Ginny and Luna jumped off the Tower Bridge, would you?"
"Well, if Ginny did, maybe. Luna, no," Janessa grinned at Janetta, "She'd probably have seen an Gaggalbort."
Janetta burst out laughing and their mother looked confused.
"A what?"
"Exactly," Janetta giggled.
"I can't get used to seeing only two of you where there are supposed to be three," Ophelia sighed.
"We know, Mummy. We miss her too."
"Janetta, Janella and Janessa," their mother picked up the photograph in which three identical little girls were playing a game they'd learned from the children of a Muggle family on vacation down the ways from the Kloves' cottage along the coast in Devon. Hopscotch, if she remembered correctly.
"Yeah, our names were cute when we were little," Janessa began.
"'Netta, Nella and Nessa,'" Janetta continued.
"By the time we got to Hogwarts," Janessa took over again.
"They were just plain irritating,'" the two laughed together.
"People took the mickey out of us. Blessing in disguise that we were in separate houses, eh?" Janetta grinned. "C'mon. We have to get your hair done or you really will stiff the poor bloke."
"I'm not going to stiff him, Nett. Shesh. You're making me sound like I've already bowed to the hippogriff and I'm about to climb on so I can fly away or something. I love him. I want to marry him. I'm just nervous," Janessa turned back to the mirror. She'd found the dress in a small muggle bridal shop Luna had convinced her to go into. Janessa hadn't intended to actually find a dress there, but she'd fallen in love with a lacey vintage number Luna found in the corner.
"Oh my god! Nessa! You look gorgeous!" Ginny gushed as she closed the door behind herself and Luna.
"I don't like a big muggle, do I?" She asked in a worried tone.
"You look perfect," Ginny shook her head. "He's not going to be able to take his eyes off you."
"He can never take his eyes off of Janessa," Luna commented whimsically.
"Maybe not, but today it's going to be even more so. He'll probably be so busy ogling you, he'll forget to say 'I do' and Harry'll have to kick him or something," Ginny laughed. Janessa looked up in alarm and Ginny shook her head. "I'm kidding, Ness, I'm kidding. He'll remember to say 'I do!' He's been practicing."
"Oh my God, please tell me he's not actually practicing. It's two words. 'I. Do.' How can you mess it up?" Janetta laughed. "Ginny, you better sit down or you'll never make it through the entire night."
"I'll be fine for a bit more," Ginny shook her head and rubbed a hand over her protruding stomach. "He's just nervous. Leave him alone. I wish Harry had practiced! He stuttered the words he was so nervous. 'I duh-do. I do.'"
"It wasn't that bad," Janessa smiled. "It was barely noticeable."
"George wouldn't let Harry forget it for over a year!"
"Yeah, well, George is George."
"Witty come back, Netta."
"Are you going to put daisies in your hair, Nessa?" Luna looked up from the bouquets of daisies waiting on the table. "Every bride should have daisies in her hair."
"Alright," Janessa nodded and Luna beamed, picking up the spare yellow flowers and gestured Janessa over into a chair. Luna positioned a several daisies before asking Ginny's opinion. Once everyone was satisfied with the flowers, Ophelia magicked them in place. "Luna, you have to put your dress on and put your hair up. It's almost time."
Luna disappeared into the bathroom, coming back out a few minutes later and allowing Ginny to mimic the chignon Janetta had twisted her hair into. With a last hug, Ginny disappeared out of the room to go take her seat.
"You ready, Nessa?" Ophelia smiled at her daughter.
"I thinks so," she nodded. "A little scared."
"You're at the beginning of a new phase of life," Ophelia conceded. "It's alright to be a little scared. I was scared when I married your father."
"You nearly left me up there waiting for you," a portly old man came into the room
"I did no such thing, Leonard Kloves. You just love spreading that tale around, don't you?"
"It's one of my favourites. Nessa, you look absolutely beautiful."
"Daddy," Janessa's eyes watered and she ran as quickly as she could across the small room to hug her father. Once they had gotten Luna to snap a few a photographs of the four of them, Ophelia left first to go take her seat, followed by Janetta and Luna with their small bouquets of yellow daisies. Janessa picked up her flowers and took her father's arm. They walked out of the triplet's childhood bedroom and out of the house, out onto the clover green lawn where Janessa saw the white marquee from Millamant's Magic Marquee erected in the middle of the lawn, the sandy beach just beyond with the sparkling ocean completing the picturesque scene. Janessa took a deep breath of salty sea air and turned to look at her father.
"Don't let me do it. Make me stay your little girl forever."
"Oh, I can't do that, my darling," Leonard kissed her forehead. "He's waiting for you. It wouldn't be too kind of you to leave him standing there wondering if you were coming or not."
"I'm not making a mistake?" she looked up for reassurance.
"The only mistake you could make today would be to not marry him."
"Okay," she nodded and took a deep breath. "Daddy?"
"Yes?"
"Don't let me trip."
"Never," Leonard smiled fondly.
Father and daughter walked into view of their guests and Janessa enjoyed the gasp her friends and family emitted when they saw her. She could only enjoy their reaction for scant seconds before her eyes went straight to the wizard wearing in a set of crisp dress robes standing at the front staring at her as if she were more beautiful than all the Veelas in the world combined.
Yes, she was doing the right thing. The soft, loving look in his brown eyes erased any and all doubt she'd felt. Her father was the only reason she remembered to put one foot before the other instead of standing there with her feet planted on the ground, staring at her soon-to-be husband.
Oh, Merlin's pants.
Husband!
Maybe she should have practiced.
Leonard kissed her cheek when they stopped after what felt like a thousand steps. Slowly, trying to keep the tears in his eyes from falling down his cheeks, he took the hand on his youngest daughter and placed it into the waiting hand of Neville Longbottom.
"Take care of her."
"I will," Neville nodded, unable to tear his gaze away from the girl he'd loved since his third year but hadn't spoken to until his seventh for more than a few brief seconds. "I will. I promise."
A/N:
Hey! Thanks so much for reading! I hope you like it enough to stick around for the rest.
This is set during 2003, five years after The Battle of Hogwarts. And the title "At the Beginning" is taken from the song in Anastasia by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis, which is, like, the perfect song for a short story like this. Definitely YouTube that song, because it's such a good song. I love it.
I really hope you like it and, please, tell me what you think - good or bad!
Love, Thalia