Ginny's Wedding Day
"Ginny dear, turn around, let me see."
Ginny gazed at her reflection in the looking glass as her mother set the glittering goblin-made tiara in her hair. She giggled out loud at the sight of her grown-up image, dressed in the pale ivory satin and lace gown she and her mother had made together. The delicate Belgian lace was a wedding gift from her sister-in-law Fleur whom she had grown to know and accept over the past three years.
"My lovely, lovely Ginny! You are so beautiful today. I'm so, I'm so…..", Mrs. Weasley's eyes were shining, and the huge lump in her throat made it hard for her to fully express her joy and pride on her only daughter's wedding day.
"C'mon Mum, you're not going to blubber are you?", Ginny teased.
Mrs. Weasley laughed ruefully as she wiped her eyes. "I'll try to stop, but your father hasn't seen you yet, and you know how sentimental he is"
"It's not Dad I'm worried about, it's George and Fred", thought Ginny darkly.
"We'd better hurry, Ginny. Your guests have all arrived and it's almost time to begin the ceremony." Mrs. Weasley bustled from the bedroom.
Ginny looked out of her bedroom window. She felt happy, incredibly happy, and yet apprehensive at the same time. So many things were going to change today. She would be leaving the familiar, well-worn comfort of her room and her beloved, if sometimes exasperating, family to begin a new life with Harry Potter. Ginny had loved Harry since she first met him, alone and friendless, on Platform 9 3/4. She would treasure in her heart, until her last living minute, the moment when Harry had told her he loved her too.
That moment came during Bill and Fleur's wedding party, almost three years ago to the day. Harry and Ginny had walked hand-in-hand to a quiet spot near the fence to have a private word before Harry left to hunt down Lord Voldemort. "Harry…" "Ginny…". They laughed quietly for a moment.
Harry cleared his throat and began again.
"Ginny, let me speak first. There's so much I want to say to you and time is running out. I love you, Ginny. But I can't ask you to wait for me because I don't want you to be hurt if I don't come back. I want you to go on with your life and be happy. We must be patient and…."
Ginny didn't wait to hear the rest. Her heart began racing with the words "I love you" and every moment intensified the feeling until she believed every guest at the party could hear her heart singing out with joy.
She looked into Harry's eyes with an intensity he had never seen before.
"I will wait for you for as long as it takes, Harry Potter, and I will help you in any way I can. I'm not a child anymore. I love you and I want to be near you. There is nothing you could ever do to hurt me, except to leave me without hope. So, please, say no more about breaking up. If my parents could stay together during the first wizard war, so can we. And we will."
Ginny counted this as the moment when their separate paths became one.
Her reverie was broken at the sight of her pale strawberry-blonde niece Violette scrambling across the lawn, followed closely by Sirius, the dazed and transfixed two-year-old son of Remus and Tonks Lupin.
"Well it seems Veela blood courses on in the next generation, as well." Ginny thought wryly.
She left her window to answer a knock on the door. Mr. Weasley entered the room, took one look at his daughter and withdrew his handkerchief from his robe pocket, blowing his nose loudly.
"Dad….", Ginny warned.
"Yes, I know, your mother's already warned me. But my girl, I must tell you how lovely you are in your wedding dress, and how very proud I am of you. I hope you and your young man will be as happy as your mother and I have been all these years. Now give me your arm, Harry's waiting for you and I have to let you go."
Arthur Weasley tenderly kissed his daughter on the forehead and gently placed the veil over her face. Ginny threw her arms around her father and nestled her head against his chest one last time as an unmarried girl.
It was time to go.
As Ginny and Arthur descended the stairs arm-in- arm, she caught sight of her twin brothers staring up at her as though mesmerized.
"Gin, wow, I'm speechless" sputtered George.
"Wait 'til you see what we have planned as your wedding present." Fred said with a gleam in his eye.
Arthur Weasley shot his sons a meaningful look. "If either one of you does anything to ruin this day for your sister, you'll deal with me."
Fred looked hurt.
"Do you take us for a pair of insensitive gits? Speaking of which, Percy's just arrived."
Ginny snickered.
She spotted Ron and Hermione seated on the sofa, holding hands. They would be next to be married. Hermione looked serenely pretty in her pale blue fluttering bridesmaid dress, her hair wreathed in yellow rosebuds. Ron looked nervous, but in love.
"Let's go, Hermione. It's showtime. Pay close attention, Ron, you're next."
"Erm, well, erm, Ginny…" Ron began.
"I know, I know. I love you, too. Now hurry up and get out there"
Ginny grasped he father's arm tightly as they made their way out of the back door into the bright summer sunshine. Everyone seated in the rows of chairs stood up and turned towards them smiling, as music began to play softly. They made their way down the short flower-strewn aisle to a canopy of wildflowers where a grinning black haired man waited with a tall nervous red-haired man at his side, flanking a man in white robes.
"Who gives this woman?" asked the man in white robes.
"I do." Arthur lifted Ginny's veil, kissed her on the cheek and placed her hand in Harry's. Their eyes met and they grinned at each other.
They turned to face the vicar.
"Do you, Harry James Potter take Ginevra Molly Weasley…."
Harry remembered his loveless childhood, his boyhood at Hogwarts and the moment he first met Ginny. He lovingly recalled each person he had lost in the intervening years, keeping them close in his heart on this most important day of his life.
"I do."
"Do you Ginevra Molly Weasley take Harry James Potter…"
Ginny remembered her almost unbearable secret crush on Harry, the overwhelming feeling of safety she experienced when Harry found her in the Chamber of Secrets, and the satisfaction of fighting fiercely at his side.
"I do."
" I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." The vicar smiled at them.
Harry and Ginny embraced and exchanged a tender kiss.
"Please turn and face your guests. Witches and wizards, may I present for the first time, Mr. And Mrs. Harry Potter."
As Harry and Ginny held hands and listened to the enthusiastic applause, Harry gasped.
"Ginny, look up!"
Ginny took her eyes off Fred and George who were inexplicably grinning, pointing in the air and giving the thumbs up sign. She looked up and laughed with her new husband. There, in the clear deep blue summer sky, shining like a thousand twinkling stars was a special fireworks display:
Harry and Ginny.
From This Day Forward….