Here's a short one-shot set after the events in the books, but before the prologue (obviously). I was bored. Everything belongs to the illustrious JK Rowling. I make no money out of any of these pointless musings

The Wedding Day

"Oh I do like to be beside the seaside… oh I do like to be beside the sea… oh I do like to stroll down the…"

"Oi, Harry- stop strangling that cat and come give us a hand" Ron yelled across the Burrow's expansive back garden, "The tent won't pitch itself".

Harry didn't know why he had to help with the tent. He'd arranged almost everything for the wedding already. Well, he'd done as he was told, like most bridegrooms.

He lazily pulled his wand out of his robes.

"Erecto" he called with a deft sliding hand movement. The canopy of the tent pulled itself up into the correct position very quickly. How was Harry to know that Mr. Weasley had been perched on it at the far end, trying to detach some snails without hurting them. Unfortunately for him, the spring-like action of Harry quickly erecting the grand marquee meant that Arthur shot directly upwards in the air.

"Crikey!" Ron shouted at the airborne silhouette of his father.

"Heeeellllp meeeee! Help!" Arthur screeched.

Through hysterical laughter, the assembled helpers managed to get Arthur back onto solid ground.

Stumbling over to Harry, Arthur grimaced with his bright red face and shook the snails stuck to his shoulders and head, he started babbling, "Jeez Harry, give a guy some warning". Slightly shaken by the experience, Arthur waddled back to the kitchen of the Burrow for a stiff drink. The remainder of the preparations seemed easy, mostly because everyone was in such high spirits.

Hermione was keeping the boys away from the alcohol table, and guarding the gift table at the same time. Ron set about placing the tables and chairs, while Harry followed him around finishing off the table arrangements and place settings. He had already placed the chairs into an aisle shape at the other end of the marquee.

A short while later, Dudley Dursley and his fiancée Verity, a ghostly pale, brunette wisp of a girl, arrived in a sickly green Ford Mondeo. They were the first real guests to arrive. Everyone else already there was part of the wedding party.

"Hey big D. Thanks for coming" Harry greeted his cousin himself, "we're just finishing the set up."

Verity was silent. She hadn't long known about the existence of wizards, and was extremely nervous.

The remainder of the preparations went smoothly. The wizards made an effort to abstain from magic around the muggle guests so that they didn't freak them out, but the innately magical nature of the Burrow was enough to do that anyway.

"Does that bush have eyes?" Verity asked Dudley, clinging to his arm staring at a flutterby bush. A garden gnome bit her on the ankle when she screamed at it, and the treatment of a purple, steaming salve caused her to pass out five minutes before the wedding ceremony started. Dudley was much more composed, although he hardly moved at all throughout the evening, going from a chair at the ceremony, to another chair for the wedding breakfast, to which he stuck throughout the whole wedding party.

The wedding went off hardly without a hitch. Ginny's eyes streamed with happy-tears at the altar causing Ron to tell her to "Stop grizzling" and Mr. Weasley tripped over Neville Longbottom's feet, who was sitting in an aisle seat on the exiting procession, but neither said a word and it was forgotten almost as soon as it happened.

Harry and Ginny had a wonderful day. The reception was enjoyed by all, even more enjoyed by the wizarding folk when Dudley and Verity called it a night at 9pm, and left to go home. The wizards could all relax after that.

Ron marked the absence of the muggles by setting off some Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes fireworks. They lit up the night sky, and at the end of the display a giant message wrote itself across the dark sky- Congratulations Harry and Ginny, all in the Gryffindor colours of red and gold, to match the colour scheme.

Harry and Ginny left immediately afterwards to go to their new home. It was called Honeysuckle Cottage, and funnily enough, it was covered in honeysuckle. It was on the coast at Mousehole, near Penzance, Cornwall. It was of a fair size with five bedrooms, although two of them were very small. Nevertheless, it was homely and comfortable.

Harry and Ginny lived a happy life, and every day for the first three years of their married life at Honeysuckle cottage, Harry was allowed to loudly sing everyday-

"Oh I do love to be beside the seaside…"