Dudley followed Dedalus to the backyard and marveled at the large golden tent that suddenly came into view. Through his shoe, he felt his right foot move from soft grass onto something rounded and smooth. Looking down, he realized that a stepping-stone path had materialized in front of him. Each stone was a luminescent gold and engraved with statements wishing the soon-to-be husband and wife well. Dudley spied the words "Cheers, Harry and Ginny! Yours, Lee Jordan," written largely on a stone beneath his left foot. In front of him, one displayed the message "Sending all of my love from the South of France, where I have discovered a new breed of flobberworm. May your happiness last as long as their mucus sticks to my personal belongings, which is to say, forever. ~Rolf Scamander."

Next to Dudley, an identical path had appeared in front of Dedalus, guiding him to the tent as well. His eyes brimming with tears, Dedalus beamed at his Muggle companion. "Simply beautiful, isn't it?" He asked. "What a marvelous display! Would you like to make a contribution?"

"M-me?" Dudley stammered. He was still trying to decide on what to say Harry in person when they would see each other after the wedding! What on earth kind of message could he leave for the couple to see as they walked towards the rest of their lives?

"Don't worry, Mr. Dursley," said Dedalus kindly, falsely believing that Dudley's hesitancy stemmed from shame of not knowing how to participate in the rite. "I will help you through it. First I will say a few words, and then I will point my wand at your mouth. When I do that, please say your message."

Before Dudley had a chance to refuse, Dedalus had pulled out his wand. He seemed to make a lasso-like motion in midair as he proclaimed "inscripto egoceterum!" As promised, he pointed the tip of his wand toward Dudley's mouth. Dudley looked down at the twisted piece of wood in fear. He cleared his throat.

"Congrats, Harry and Ginny. Happy to share this with you. From, Cousin Dudley."

He affirmed the end of his statement with a nod to Dedalus, who now pointed the wand towards himself.

"May your love never be tempered and may your friendship grow stronger every day. A mountain of congratulations from your always faithful friend, Dedalus Diggle."

"Er…right, then," said Dudley awkwardly. "What now?"

After a final flourish of his wand, Dedalus gestured back to golden path. Right before Dudley's eyes, the words etched themselves onto a previously blank stone. On Dedalus' path, the same process was occurring.

"Now, Mr. Dursley, shall we continue down this path towards the true contentment that only manifests itself in seeing those we love become very, very, happy?"

Quite at a loss for a response, Dudley followed Dedalus towards the tent. More people had begun to arrive. They seemed to materialize out of thin air, creating no disturbance to the other guests besides a quiet popping noise. About 20 feet to his left, a family of six spun onto the ground from some unseen place in the sky, all clutching an old steering wheel. Dudley felt like shrieking out of fright. All around him, people were greeting each other, embracing, sharing congratulations. Every single person's face was outfitted with a glowing smile. Their expressions seemed to communicate that they had been anticipating this event for a very long time, and that finally, all of their hopes were coming to fruition.

Amazed by this scene, Dudley clumsily walked into Dedalus, who had suddenly halted in front of him. In front of the entrance to the tent stood a scarlet-draped table which held numerous picture frames of various sizes and shapes. In the air above the table, the words "In Memoriam" were being written in silver script. As soon as the last letter was written, the phrase erased itself and the writing began again. The first frame which Dudley saw contained a picture of a couple dancing. There was something special about it-he could almost see the couple waltzing across the grassy hill on which they were standing. Or…maybe he actually could see that.

He took another long hard look at the photograph, but now the placard on the top of the frame caught his eye. This was his aunt and uncle, James and Lily Potter? Dudley couldn't believe it. Only now he realized that he had never seen a picture, had barely even heard the names, of his mother's sister and her husband. He took a final glance at the picture. Even though he knew them to be dead, their happiness and love shined through the magical photo like a beacon for hope. Suddenly, Dudley wished very much that he had been able to know James and Lily.

Dudley moved on to the other picture frames. There was a very old man with a long white beard, who seemed to be winking at him, his eyes twinkling; a woman with a heart-shaped face and short hair that changed from blue to pink as she squeezed her eyes shut; and most curiously, an angry looking man with greasy black hair who, although frame was placed directly next to that of James and Lily, seemed to be looking sideways into it with an air of contempt and disgust. He began to examine a photo of a redheaded young man whom he was positive had been the owner of the fateful toffee so many years ago.

"Excuse me, Dudley."

Dudley turned around and gasped. Standing behind him was the exact man whose picture he had just seen.

"Arghhh!" He cried. Could ghosts truly be real? The man laughed darkly.

"Couldn't resist, old champ, sorry. Saw you looking at Fred's picture and thought that the best possible tribute that I could give my twin would be to completely throw you into a tizzy at the sight of him returning from the dead."

Dudley could feel his face, no, his entire body turning red. Now that he wasn't scared out of his wits, he noticed that the man standing in front of him looked slightly older and more worn than the one in the picture. His hair was also longer in front, almost as if he was self-conscious about his ears.

"I-I'm so sorry," Dudley began. For his mistake? For the man's loss? He didn't know what to say.

"Not a problem at all," the man said, winking. "You've provided me with a story that will surely entertain every guest at this wedding. Except for my mother, of course…I'd better not tell her…."

A dark look crossed his face, but he soon forced it away.

"Anyways, enjoy yourself, Dudley, okay?" He started to walk away before he turned back, a memory bringing a smile to his face. "Oi, Dursley! Glad to see that your tongue is back to normal!" With a final chuckle, he was gone.

Dedalus, who had witnessed the exchange, shook his head in exasperation. He turned back to the table for one final glance.

"So young," he said before pausing dramatically. "To have suffered so much loss, at the hands of such unspeakable evil."

Dudley quite agreed. It seemed that the couple had more dead friends than he had live ones. He was still very in the dark about what evil had stripped so many people from them, but somehow, this didn't seem like the proper time to be asking such sad questions.

"If you're ready, Mr. Dursley…?" Dedalus inquired. "Well then, after you!"

He gestured towards the tent's flap with his purple top hat. Taking a deep breath, Dudley stepped inside. For the second time in only a few minutes, he gasped, this time with amazement and delight. The first shocking thing he noticed was that the tent seemed much, much bigger inside than he had guessed while in the yard. Lining the aisle and the sides of the tent were the most beautiful, bountiful rose bushes that Dudley had ever seen. The roses themselves were different shades of red, and seemed to sway in the breeze despite the absence of wind. Yellow canaries chirped in tune up in the tent's rafters, which now that he looked properly seemed to be about 20 feet above his head. From the outside, the tent had seemed normal sized, even petite. Dudley, an average-sized man, had needed to duck his head to come inside. Now, he had no doubt that the tallest man on earth could stretch comfortably within the tent's walls.

He followed Dedalus to a pair of empty chairs in the seventh row and sank down into the plush of the seat. The tent's walls were covered in frames as well, but these displayed pictures of the couple at different points in their lives and, eventually, their relationship. Dudley noticed with embarrassment that there were many pictures of Ginevra as a young girl, but almost none of Harry. His soon-to-be wife had pictures showing her as a newborn, taking her first steps, posing in front of a train with a troupe of uniformed red-haired boys, and engaging in many other youthful pursuits. The only picture of Harry's childhood, however, was him as a toddler, zooming around on a miniature broomstick as his father chased him and his mother laughed in the corner.

After Harry hit adolescence, though, there were suddenly almost as many pictures of him as there were of Ginny. Most, Dudley noted, seemed to include the Ron fellow whom he had met in the yard and the brunette girl who had stuck her head out of the window. The three of them stood at King's Cross station wearing school uniforms; they laughed at Christmastime while a gnome-like angel tree-topper seemed to glare at them; they flew around on broomsticks, Ginny now accompanying them; the two couples danced happily at what must have been a prior family wedding. Most of the pictures, Dudley now realized, seemed to have been taken in the very yard that he had just been standing in.

He was about to ask Dedalus about this when a murmur went through the crowd and the canaries stopped their songs. An ornate organ near the front of the tent had begun to play a beautiful waltz all of its own accord. Dedalus leaned in towards Dudley.

"My dear sir, you are in for a marvelous treat. The wedding begins!"