For bonniebonbon - I know we don't know each other, but I think you're awesome and you're review really made me want to write this.
A/N - Sequel to Happily Ever After, but can be read as a stand-alone.
"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment." – Sarah Dessen
She sat at the bar nursing a Butterbeer perched on the edge of her stool. Her family were all crowed around her in the pub but she had never felt more alone, the press of warm bodies around her only helping to emphasize that fact.
She kept her eyes down, hoping that ignoring the large group of people would make them all disappear. She didn't particularly want to be here – she was happy for her cousin, of course she was, but it only helped to remind her of how very far she was from this milestone in her own life. When she was younger she was sure it would have happened by now; she would have met her Prince Charming and they would have lived Happily Ever After together. She'd grown up since then – she'd had to.
Still, looking at the way Lucy was practically glowing under the eyes of the extended Weasley/Potter family – and now the Lysander family too, she supposed – smiling at her new husband like he was the only person in her world. That was something Lily wanted. She wanted that childish fantasy of a perfect man to come in and sweep her off her feet, to have a beautiful wedding and lots of children.
She grimaced at herself – disgusted that she could still be so naive – and downed the rest of her drink, slamming the glass back down on the bar before ordering another. She sat staring at the little drops of condensation for a while, watching as the water pooled around the bottle leaving a ring on the scarred wood.
After a while, the oppressing heat of so many people crowded into such a small room finally becomes too much for her and she makes a hasty retreat through the back door. She finds a deserted corner of the pub garden and sits on an upturned bucket to drink the rest of her Butterbeer in relative peace.
She watches, partially hidden behind the low hanging branches of a nearby tree, as the people around her all talk and laugh; spirits are always high at a wedding, and a Weasley wedding it seems as if this is doubly so, the heat of the midday sun only heightening the mood.
She can just about make out Teddy and Victoire with their five year old daughter talking to her parents; Rose and Scorpius laughing together by the gate; her brothers involved in some sort of drinking game with several of the other Weasley boys. It should make her happy, but it only serves to make her feel oddly nostalgic for a part of her life that she won't ever get back.
Pushing her thumbnail under the label, she lets her eyes drift closed and the noise of her family fade into the background. Tipping her head back changes the colours behind her eyelids to yellows and oranges and reds, and she does so gladly hoping to burn away the strange melancholy with the fire she sees in her mind.
She is startled from her blank state when someone sits down on the pile of bricks next to her. She doesn't open her eyes immediately, but she hopes that whoever it is knows that they are ruining the small sanctuary she has managed to set up in this small corner of the chaos.
When she finally does look over, she is surprised to see a complete stranger sitting next to her; she had though perhaps it might have been one of her cousins hoping to get her involved in the merriment, or a well meaning Aunt or Uncle. Instead, there is a man with short spiky blonde hair in a black suit completely ignoring her.
It takes her clearing her throat for the third time for him to finally look up and smile apologetically at her. Still he doesn't say anything but she feels like they have some sort of connection, both trying to escape from the madness that is her family. She can appreciate that.
They finish their drinks in comfortable silence; neither looking at each other, but not really looking at anything else either. It felt like they were somehow disconnected from everything else; protected from the mayhem in their own private little bubble in their disused corner with all the weeds and abandoned gardening supplies.
There was something strangely intimate about this moment, something that made her want to smile and laugh and hide all at the same time. She didn't know this man, and he didn't know her, but she felt as if this was the start of something that could be amazing; and when the silence felt like it was becoming too much, finally – finally – he spoke.
"Do you want to get out of here?"