Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Written for the The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Round 4

Team:Caerphilly Catapults

Position: Chaser 3

Theme (for round 4) fic that starts and ends with the same word.: (for Chaser 3) an abstract noun

Optional Prompts used : (word) ground, (word) confused, (word) frog

Happiness. Harry James Potter had been filled with happiness today morning. He had never been this happy since his own wedding. But not surprisingly, Ron and Hermione's wedding, seems to fill him with more contentment than his own did. These were the two, who had stuck with him through all odds, until the very end…

So, their happiness meant everything to Harry.

Hermione was resolute to have a traditional wizarding wedding; with wizarding vows. Even though Mrs. Granger was insistent about doing it once more in the Muggle way, and Mrs. Weasley was more than happy to have another wedding for the Muggle relatives to attend, Hermione stood her ground, and point blank refused. They were going to tell the extended Granger family, that the young couple eloped!

"Why go to such extend to include them if they don't approve it in the first place?" Hermione would say. If they can't approve Ron, they are not invited to their wedding!

So a wizarding wedding it was.

And it was this magical bonding, which spoiled Mr. Potter's good mood. Don't misunderstand him; he was truly happy for them. But it troubled him to know that their bonding ceremony finished faster than his and Ginny's!

Confused? I guess I should explain the bonding ceremony first. It includes the bride and groom of course, who perform the marriage bond, and promise to support each other throughout their life. And two close relatives or friends of the couple, who seal the bond, and act as patrons to the ceremony. So it was the same foursome involved today, as in Harry and Ginny's wedding a year ago. It had taken three minutes to seal Harry and Ginny's bond, which Mrs. Weasley said was very fast, as her wedding took eleven! Harry was quite proud of it, since a bond stronger than Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, had to really be something. He had asked how long it had taken his parents, but unfortunately, none of the invitees were quite alive to answer him. It was just his mum, and the Marauders.

Even though three minutes were quite admirable, it was no comparison to Ron and Hermione's thirty-eight seconds; and Harry was jealous. He loved Ginny more than dear-life, he intended to keep her as happy as humanly possible. How could Ron and Hermione's bond get stronger than his and Ginny's?

His frown turned into a wide smile as he saw his wife approaching him, "How are you today, Mr. Potter?" she asked him, after she had demandingly pulled his arm around her waist, and snuggled as close as possible. "Quite fine, thank you, Mrs. Potter," He answered.

"Liar," Mrs. Potter stated. "You looked quite disturbed just now; I was worried."

Mr. Potter sighed. Of course Ginny would have noticed. "It's nothing…" he said softly.

"It has to be something, Harry." Ginny insisted. "There's no way you are anything but happy on your best friends' wedding."

"I am happy."

"I know you are, but a moment ago, you weren't."

Harry didn't answer, and Ginny didn't press on. They both took to observing the newly wedded couple bickering away at the other end of the room.

"They could have spared at least today." But Harry knew they wouldn't have. There was hardly a day, when Ron and Hermione don't have a disagreement.

Ginny smiled at then fondly, "their arguments never stop them from loving each other."

"More than us, that too."Harry said, trying to keep the bitterness off his voice, and make it sound like it didn't matter; but who was he fooling?

Ginny chuckled softly, "so that's what's troubling you, right? That their marriage bonds took lesser time than ours."

He didn't answer. It was an odd thing to be jealous about.

"Oh, Harry…" Ginny continued, "Do you know how the bonds work?"

"Of course I do; Hermione explained everything about them at our wedding," Harry said.

"Well, then how do they work?"

Harry sighed, he wasn't pleased to be tested on how well he was listening right now, but he played along. "The bride and groom have to be really in love, and be sure that they really want to marry each other…"

"And, what about the patrons?"Ginny asked, cutting him off.

"They have to be fully supportive to the union, and think that it's a good idea… what are you getting at?"

"This Harry!" Ginny exclaimed, "And you are forgetting the love factor. The patrons should not only love both the bride and groom, but, if they love each other, the bond is stronger. A marriage bond is strengthen with 'love', 'intensity of their relationship', and 'determination' and let's not forget, that all four of the participants should know what they are doing. Why do you think it took almost an hour for Bill and Fleur?"

Harry gave his wife a bewildered look, she almost sounded like Hermione, "Ginny, I didn't understand half of that! I get it about Bill and Fleur; Charlie and Gabrielle hardly knew each other, plus, Gabrielle was a minor then, not magically strong enough maybe. But what about us? Love, determination, what did we not have? And intensity of relationship; Really!?"

"We loved each other, Harry, just as much as Ron and Hermione do. But our patrons were dating; Ron and Hermione's patrons are married to each other, and are going to have a baby."

Harry smile; It kind of made sense, moreover, the last part can brighten him up anytime.

Ginny continued, "And about determination, do you think Ron was totally sure about our marriage? He is not actually the right person to patron his baby sister's marriage, is he? Plus, we were all doing it the first time then, this was our second time…"

It was Harry's turn to chuckle. All his jealously lost, until...

"…and obviously, their relationship is more intense than ours."

"But Ginny!" Harry whined, "I fought a basilisk for you."

Ginny laughed softly. "That was more for Ron's little sister, I think."

"Same thing." Harry muttered, but Ginny knew that he got the point.

"They have been friends longer that we have, and have got through a lot together, compared to us. Think again, their relationship over all these years has been fully loaded, the way it evolved over time. You could write a romance novel."

Harry smiled, and said, "Their relationship evolved with a frog, a troll and a war."

"Huh?"

"Ron met our bossy Miss Know-it-all when she intruded in our compartment looking for Neville's frog," Harry explained, "They became friends after Ron fought off the troll, with a leviosa no less! And they kissed for the first time in the middle of the war!"

Ginny laughed. Ron and Hermione really did have an interesting history!

"And Harry, did you notice? You were always there! I guess that's another reason why their bond got stronger than ours. Not only do they have an extraordinary love story, but one of their patrons has been a part of all the turning points in their life" Ginny said, burrowing deeper into Harry's embrace, which he earlier believed wasn't possible. Oh well! You can never say when Ginny is concerned!

"Ginny! I assure you I wasn't involved in the last part… in any way!" Harry said, making Ginny laugh again.

"I hope you weren't." She said.

"I swear," he whispered.

The couple stood in silence, enjoying the happy environment of the Burrow. Uncle Charlie was busy amusing young Teddy Lupin with dragon tales; Mr. Weasley was admiring the newlywed couple proudly, much like Harry and Ginny; Fleur, Mrs. Granger and Mrs. Weasley were buzzing around the room, trying to cater to everyone's needs; Headmistress McGonagall, and the newly appointed Herbology Professor, were sitting in a corner and talking softly; Bill was playing with Vic and Dom; George was being kind and providing Hannah with tips for a happy married life, while she pointedly ignored his presence; Luna and Percy were having an sophisticated argument about the existence of some rare herb, which Luna insisted was just a different type of tea leaves, while Audrey choked over her pumpkin juice, trying not to laugh; Hagrid was with Mr. Granger, it can be predicted that the topic of conversation was probably one of Hagrid's pets, from his proud, and Mr. Granger's bewildered expression. Then there were a few other members of DA, laughing loudly over something Dean said.

They were moving on. The wizarding world was at peace. Dreams were being fulfilled. The children were contented. Harry had a wonderful wife. He was soon going to be a father. His best friends had just married each other, and were about to begin a new stage of life. Everyone was happy.

And hence, Mr. Potter's heart couldn't help but overflow with happiness…