*This story is for my Mum, who is excitedly awaiting the Royal Wedding today (or actually tonight, Australian time) *
A/N 1 Lily Luna is approx 10 years old in this story.
Lily Luna woke early and raced to her brother's bedrooms. "Wake up, wake up," she cried, knocking first on James' door, then on Albus'.
James rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock. "Aw, Lil, it's only eight o'clock. Wake me when Dad says breakfast is ready." He then turned over and fell promptly back to sleep.
"Okay." Lily then returned to Albus' bedroom. "Wake up, Al," she called.
Albus groaned. "Lily, I wanted to sleep in today. Go away." He threw one of his pillows in her direction then put the other one over his face.
"Aren't you excited for today? It is the reason you and James were allowed to come home from Hogwarts, you know," reminded Lily.
"It's just a wedding of two people I don't even know," said Albus, removing the pillow. "I just wanted to get away from Hogwarts for a bit." All Hogwarts students had the opportunity to return home for the weekend to watch and celebrate the Royal wedding. Most chose to do so, but some had remained at the school.
Lily ventured into Albus' room, perching on the end of his bed. "Do you still not like Hogwarts, Al?" she asked curiously. She would be starting there next year and couldn't wait, having heard so much about it from her whole family.
Albus looked at Lily's contemplative face and knew he couldn't tell her what being at Hogwarts was like for him. So he simply shrugged. "It's okay...and at least I have Scorpius there with me."
Lily sighed in relief. "That's right, you met your best friend on the train to Hogwarts too, just like Dad did, hundreds of years ago."
Albus smiled at her joke, but frowned after she left. The last thing he wanted was any more comparisons to his famous dad.
Down in the kitchen, Harry smiled at his daughter as she joined him in the kitchen. "Morning, sweetheart."
"Morning, Dad. Need a hand with breakfast?" asked Lily.
"Well, you can go and wake your brothers for me," he suggested.
Lily shook her head. "Already done. James wants me to let him know when breakfast is ready, but Al just wants to sleep in. Dad, they're not even excited about today, and they should be," she complained.
"Why are you so excited, Lily?" asked her father.
Lily shrugged. "It's a Royal Wedding, Dad. There will be carriages and princesses and I can't wait to see her dress. Do you think she's awake right now, Dad?"
"Who?" asked Harry.
"Meghen Markle, the bride!" exclaimed Lily.
"Oh, er, sure, I guess. Brides have a lot to do on their wedding days...apparantly. Us blokes just get dressed and go to the church...although I suppose it will be a bit different for the Prince."
"Harry," nodded Lily. "Prince Harry," she clarified to her dad when he looked at her. "Have you met him, Dad?" She knew her dad and aunt met with the Muggle Prime Minister occasionally.
Her dad shook his head, as he turned the bacon and set the eggs to cook and the toast to brown. "No, I haven't."
"Aunt Hermione said there will be millions of people watching the wedding all over the world," said Lily. "This is really a big deal, isn't it?"
"That's right," nodded Harry, "a Royal wedding is something special. All eyes will be on merry old England today."
Lily felt excited. "I can't wait for Teddy and Victoire to get married," she told her dad, as she took plates and cutlery out, setting them on the table. She added marmelade and strawberry jam, then turned back to help her dad by making a pot of tea.
Her mother came into the kitchen, sniffing eagerly. "Breakfast smells so good. Morning, Lily," greeted Ginny, then kissed her husband as she tried to steal a piece of bacon. He lightly tapped her fingers with the tongs and she yelped, stuck her tongue out at him, then came to get cups out for the tea. "Excited for today, Lily?" she asked.
"Yes, so excited," nodded Lily, hugging her mum. "What time is everyone coming over to watch the wedding, Mum?" Somehow the Potter home had been unanimously voted on as the venue to watch the big event.
"Around lunchtime, sweetheart," said Ginny, accepting the paper from the owl who had scratched at the window. "Look at that, the Prophet has even put the wedding on the front page!" she exclaimed.
"Let me see," cried Lily, racing over to her mum. "Mumm do you think Vic will let me be a bridesmaid when she and Teddy get married?"
Ginny looked over her daughter's head to her husband, who shrugged. "Lil, do you know something about Teddy and Vic that we don't?" she asked her daughter. "I didn't know they were engaged."
"No, they're not...but they will one day, right?" asked Lily, looking between her parents.
"That's Teddy and Vic's business, not ours," reminded Harry, placing a platter on the table. "Can you please go tell your brothers that breakfast is ready?"
"Fine," hufffed Lily, and walked out of the kitchen, past the lounge to the beginnings of the hall that lead to their bedrooms. " BREAKFAST IS READY, YOU PRATS!" she hollered. Then she returned to the kitchen.
"Thanks, Lil," said Ginny, dryly, "with that loud announcement, Ron should be here any moment."
"You're welcome," said Lily, her mother's sarcasm going over her head. She began to fill her plate with food.
"You know we're doing a posh lunch with all the girls here, Lil, save some room," suggested Ginny.
From behind the paper, Harry coughed suspiciously. "What?" asked Ginny.
He lowered his paper to deliberately ook at her fully loaded plate. "It's the Weasley appetite," defended Ginny.
"And I'm half Weasley, Dad," pointed out Lily.
Harry chuckled. "Far be it for me to get between a Weasley – even a half Weasley," he said, looking at Lily, " and food," he said.
Just then her brothers came into the kitchen and sat down, and to Lily's immense joy, it was like a regular Potter family breakfast. She missed her brothers so much when they were away and it had seemed so long ago that they had been home for Easter. James loadd his plate with bacon and eggs, while Albus took three pieces of toast, smothering them with the jams.
"I like this," she said, looking at them all. "Everyone's home and happy."
James and Albus rolled their eyes but her parents agreed with her, her dad winking at her as he sipped his tea, pinky finger in the air. Lily giggled and copied him. It was going to be a nice day for a wedding.
/*/*/*/*
Her aunts and girl cousins arrived around twelve. Auntie's Fleur and Angelina disappeared into the kitchen with her mum, carrying trays of food. Auntie Audrey had even brought some champagne, which Aunt Fleur declared suitable, but sniffed that French champagne was better.
"Mum said even we can have a small sip," whispered Lucy to Lily gleefully, the closest in age to Lily.
"My mum will be over later, she had to go into work," said Rose, joining them on the sofa. "Look, I brought over my parent's wedding album to look at."
"We did too," said both Dominique and Roxeanne, gesturing to two boxes on the Potter's dining table.
"Where's Victoire?" asked Lily.
"Probably out somewhere snogging Teddy," giggled Dominique, " she said she is coming, though."
" Let's put the telly fishing on," suggested Roxeanne, "there's bound to be something on the news already."
"Television...tee vee," emphasised Rose, picking up the remote and turning the television on. The girls crowded around it.
"Look at all the crowds," gasped Molly. "My dad said people are coming to England from all over the world, even magical people." Her dad, Percy, was head of the Department of Magical Transportation office.
"And millions more are watching," agreed Lily. "I think I really love weddings. They seem so grand."
"Some people just get married in the gardens or even at the Ministry," shrugged Rose, " not every one has a posh wedding like this."
James and Albus came into the lounge just then. "Ugh, wedding talk," groaned James. "Dad, when are we leaving?" he called, raising his voice.
Harry came into the lounge from the kitchen, eating a small slice of treacle tart. "We're going to Uncle Ron's in about ten minutes," he told them, " and then from there we'll go to Exmoor stadium for the Quidditch match."
"Albus is going to a Quidditch match?" asked Rose, slyly, looking at her cousin. They were once so close, once the best of friends, but now... "I thought you hated Quidditch."
"Shut it, Rose," scowled Albus. He followed James to the kitchen to see what food their aunts had brought.
As he entered the kitchen, Victoire passed him, coming into the lounge. Lily ran to her eldest cousin, hugging her. "I'm happy that you're here," she said.
"Finally," added Dominique. "I suppose Teddy's lips are all chapped and swollen now," she teased.
Victoire frowned at her sister, but Lily dragged her to the sofa. "Look, they keep showing all the crowds, and all the press waiting for the first look at the bride," she pointed.
"Stupid reporters," frowned Roxeanne, and they all murmured their agreement. The Potter-Weasley families had often been the topic of incorrect reporting over the years.
"Imagine a magical Royal wedding," sighed Lily, dreamily.
Victoire snorted delicately. "I don't need to imagine one, I was in one," she said.
"What...who?" demanded Lily.
"Your parents," said Victoire. "It was just like this," she gestured to the television where the reporters were speculating who was the lucky designer chosen for the wedding dress. "I was only little at the time, but I remember how bad the reporters could get. I went with Auntie Ginny and Maman to try on my flower girl dress, and we had about ten reporters following us. They even snuck in after we left and bribed the owner of the dress shop to show them the dress I was wearing. As soon as it hit the papers, Ginny cancelled the order and we asked Aunt Gabrielle to design one for me," she finished.
'She should have gone to Aunt Gabby straight away," shrugged Dominique.
"Ginny was trying to help a small business here in Diagon Alley," explained Victoire. "Similar things happened with the flowers, and the wedding cake."
Lily hopped off the sofa and ran to get her parent's wedding photo album. She opened it up. "Dad looks so handsome," she said, showing it to her cousins.
"I had such a crush on Uncle Harry," confessed Victoire.
"Until Teddy grew up," teased Doninique, and she, Roxeanne and Molly snickered at Victoire's scowl.
Lily grabbed Vic's hand. "Can I please be a bridesmaid when you and Teddy get married?" she asked.
"No way, I'm her sister, I'll be her bridesmaid," corrected Dominique, indignantly.
"You will be my maid of honour, Nikki," insisted Victoire, shooting her sister a look.
"Oh, okay then," said Dominique, appeased.
"No way, I'm older, I've loved you longer than Lily," protested Roxeanne.
"Me too," added Molly.
"But if Vic marries Teddy, then she'll kind of be like a god sister to me," said Lily, although she considered Teddy as real a brother as James and Albus, "so it should be me."
"Actually, I will probably have all my cousins as bridesmaids," admitted Victoire.
Dominique, Roxeanne, Molly and Lily let out a squeal of delight. "Been giving this some thought, hey, Vic," winked Dominique.
Rose turned and hushed everyone. "Ssh, you lot. Look, she's in the carriage, on the way to Windsor Castle."
All eyes turned to the television. "Did you see her dress?" asked Lily. Lucy shook her head.
Lily ran to the kitchen, opening the door to find her mum and aunts sipping at the champagne. "Mum, come on, it's starting," she cried, grabbing her mum's arm and pulling her to her feet.
"Wait, we have to bring the food," said Ginny, and she and the aunts began to bring the food from the kitchen to the dining table.
The aunts spied their wedding albums and looked through them, sharing stories with their daughters and nieces of their own weddings.
"Cucumber sandwiches, scones, strawberries and cream," cried Molly, taking the full table in with glee.
"Ooh, Albus cake," said Lily, spying the sweet.
"Albert cake," corrected Rose, pompously.
"Actually, in our family, we call it Albus cake...it's his favourite," informed Ginny, her hands on Lily's shoulders. "Don't worry, he had some before they left," she told Lily.
The women and girls all filled their plates and settled down around the lounge, commenting on all the latest wedding news they had heard. The televison commentators were still speculating on every aspect of the wedding that they could. Meanwhile, a nervous young woman, a princess-to-be was on her way to the castle to marry her prince.
Suddenly, the Floo lit up and Harry, Ron, Hugo, Bill and Teddy stepped out. "Did we miss it?" asked Ron, settling on the arm of Hermione's chair. Hugo sat at her feet, next to Lucy.
Teddy went to Victoire and Bill to Fleur, all settling down to watch. "What happened to Quidditch?" asked Ginny, moving to share her armchair with Harry.
"Lily was right, this is an important day for England. We should be watching," said Harry, settling Ginny on his lap. He picked up their wedding album and opened it, chuckling as he saw a photo of his younger self. "No grey hairs then," he said, showing it to Ginny. Photo Harry blew Ginny a kiss, making Ginny giggle. Harry quickly shut it, and told Ginny that James was at WWW with George and Freddie, and Albus had gone to Malfoy Manor for the afternoon.
"She's getting out of the carriage," cried Lily, and all the girls oohed and aahed over as the world got it's first glimpse of her wedding gown.
"She looks so beautiful," sighed Lucy.
"Oh, look at Prince George and Princess Charlotte," said Rose. Prince William's small children would walk down the aisle ahead of the bride.
The cameras crossed to the inside of the church. "He looks so handsome," said Roxeanne, as they showed Prince Harry talking with his brother, Prince William.
"It must be a Harry thing," grinned Ginny. Harry poked her side, making her jump.
Lily turned to her parents. "Mum, Dad, were the reporters really bad when you got married?" she asked.
"Yes, but we've always made a point of not letting them ruin the private moments for us. Unfortunately, they'll always be interested in us, and the public still want to know about your father, but we can't let them stop us from living our lives," said Ginny.
Lily nodded, remembering the reporters following them when James, then Albus, went to Diagon Alley to get their school supplies. She suppose she'd have to deal with that when it was her turn.
"And our family and friends know us, so they know not to believe the rubbish they print," reminded Harry.
"Look, Prince Charles is going to start to walk Meghan down the aisle," cried Roxeanne.
The Potters and Weasley families all joined the world in watching as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made their vows to each other, and with the ceremony over, turn to walk back down the aisle together to stand on the steps of Windsor Castle, waving to the large crowd who were waiting outside.
The champagne corks popped and they all raised a glass to toast the newly married couple, even Lily, Lucy and Hugo were permitted a small glass.
"To Prince Harry and his bride," toasted Ron.
"To the newlyweds," agreed Bill.
"To love," toasted Victoire, looking coyly at Teddy. Bill frowned but Fleur nudged him.
"To love," they all chorused and clinked their glasses together.
A/N 2 At the time of writing this story, it was approx 8.30 am in England, so the wedding had not happened yet.