Rose Weasley slipped her foot into her silver sandal. Her pale green dress matched the headband in her wavy auburn hair. Looking down at her cousin, she grabbed the white veil and held it over her head.
"Fits you perfectly, no?" Rose prepares to set it down on her head, but is stopped by her aunt.
"No, Rose, pins, remember?" Rose nods and steps back to let Aunt Ginny pin the veil securely over Lily's hair. Lily's cheeks are flushed, and her eyes sparkle. She grins as they fix the tiara over her head. All the Weasley women have worn it for their weddings.
"I can't believe that unless than two hours I'm going to be Mrs. Scorpius Malfoy. Lily Malfoy. " She clasps her hands together, and Rose tries not to be sick. A year ago when the save-the-date went out, she had been sick. He had been her Scor. But she had broken up with him, and a year and a half later, he was dating her cousin. Now they were getting married. Rose Malfoy sounds a sight better than Lily Malfoy.
Rose doesn't throw up. Instead, she laughs along with Lily. She excuses herself to "touch up her make up" and heads to the bathroom, thanking whoever gave her somewhat convincing acting skills. Waving to Teddy and Victoire's oldest, little Dora all dressed up in her bridesmaid outfit, she plasters her most convincing smile on her face. Dora grins back. Her little green dress is identical to Rose's maid-of-honor dress. This realization is the only thing keeping the smile on Rose's face. The maid-of-honor should not be in love with the groom.
Never the less, it takes all of her will power to not cry. She takes deep breaths on the rim of the tub. She has to be happy today. She looks in the mirror, straightens the neckline of her dress, and frowns. The green goes so well with Lily's hair, Scor's eyes, really, everyone. It would go with her hair and freckles too.
She leaves the bathroom, and heads back to Lily. Lily is standing up. Her veil floats like mist over her hair, her dress floats like mist too. Her diamond engagement ring shines on her finger. She grabs her bouquet of white lilies, and then Uncle Harry is there. The two talk, but Rose doesn't listen. This moment belongs to Lily and her father.
And then they're walking down the stairs of the Burrow, and it's all happening way too fast, and Rose doesn't know what to do. They are walking to music, now. Past her numerous cousins and their children- she thinks the last count was above forty. Four of the little ones are bridesmaids and pageboys today. Past her mum, and Aunt Ginny, who are crying. Up at the altar, Albus and Scor stand together. They all were best friends in school, the next Golden Trio. Even though Scor told no one about his choice of best man, they all knew it was Al.
Then she stands off to the side, listening to the tufty wizard start talking. She has no idea what to do. Her mind wanders away from the ceremony, to when she was little and still best friends with Lily. She remembers a time when she was small, dancing to a Muggle song on Granddad Arthur's radio. Taylor something, was it? Sweep? Swift? Her mum and Aunt Ginny had liked one song, something about a girl standing up at someone's wedding? And that's when it hits her. It was so obvious; she wondered why she didn't think of it before.
So when the preacher says, "Speak now or forever hold your peace," she takes a step forward She does still have her Gryffindor courage after all.
"I object," her voice carries over the stillness of the tent. Lily looks at her in horror, steely hatred beginning to make it's way into her eyes. Scorpius glares at her, and Albus makes a move towards his wand. In the audience, Hugo is shaking his head, Ginny looks furious, her parents look ashamed and they glance at each other grimacing. Gran stands there an expression of shame and anger evident on her normally cheerful face; Granddad is trying to calm her. Scor's dad looks at her like she is complete filth.
"Just thought you'd like to know," she drops her lily on the ground, steps over it, and makes her way to the edge of the tent. It was the last time she spoke to most of her family. She knows this, but right now, she doesn't care.
She apparates away to her Diagon Alley flat. She starts a cup of tea boiling with her wand, and sits down and begins to cry. She can't believe what she just did. Walked out on them, just like awful Uncle Percy did twice. She will hate herself, and them forever.
She supposes the wedding still goes on, and it does. There is an announcement in the Daily Prophet the next day. She reads it after she wakes up, still at the table, and cries again. At the Ministry, she heads to her office, praying one of her numerous family won't see her. She is lucky; she is summoned to courtroom three, on a case completely different from her mother's today.
Later, though, Maureen Brown-Finnegan stops her in the corridor. She feels a stab of guilt pierce her. Maureen is Riley's brother. Oh. She completely forgot about her boyfriend.
Maureen shakes her head. "Riley is pretty torn up. So is the rest of your family, by the way. Lily made it through the rest of the ceremony, but they had to nearly curse Al so he wouldn't go after her. We're only lucky that I could easily turn my sash to silver. The ceremony went on rather well after that."
"They- they replaced me?" Rose is nothing but indignant.
"How could they not? Did you not expect them to?"
"I expected to replace her."
"If you really had a problem with the two getting married, then you should have said something earlier. That was her day, and you ruined it. You also should have broken it off with my brother. I thought you were smart, Rose. You were top of your year. That was the stupidest thing you ever could have done. It was probably the stupidest thing I've ever seen anyone do. You'll want to Floo or owl Riley, later. He wants a word with you." Maureen turns around and leaves. Rose nearly starts crying, but the sight of Roxanne coming towards her stops her. Roxanne ignores her, and Rose leaves.
In her office, though, is a note from Riley. It is simple and to the point. Rose, we need to talk. Floo me later. –Riley. She is in no way looking forward to this. She supposes she has to anyway, and writes him a short reply. She will, she writes, just as soon as she gets home.
The rest of the day passes faster than she would like, the threat of Riley looming like a storm cloud. She decides to do her errands today, she wants to put as much time as possible between now and when she gets home. When she goes to Gringott's she is lucky enough to be standing behind Louis. He holds grudges better than any other Weasley, and doesn't notice her until her turns around to go. He glares a glare so full of hatred that she nearly cries out. If this is Louis's reaction, imagine Al's. Oh no. What on earth was she going to say? What on earth was she going to do? She decides to drop by his flat. It's at the other end of Diagon Alley from hers. When she gets there, though, and knocks on the door, she isn't prepared for what she sees. The man who opens it has obviously been crying. The man behind him glares at Rose with very familiar green eyes.