Chapter 2
When Harry's feet settled on the ground next to Ginny's, they were standing in the white canvas tent where he and Ron had waited for the wedding to begin. It was very disconcerting to see himself, standing there as he was at nineteen, waiting in his green dress robes. He felt Ginny take his hand as they watched George come in and tell them it was nearly time.
Harry and Ginny followed Ron and Harry, five years younger, as they walked down the isle and took their place in front of Kingsley.
"Won't they see us?" Ginny whispered fearfully.
"Not at all. You could scream and shout and wave your arms around and they'd not see or hear a thing." Harry answered.
Ginny's eyes were wide as she watched the ceremony begin. Together they looked out over the crowd.
"I love that one of your memories to share is our wedding." Ginny said quietly.
"Not just our wedding," Harry replied as he looked sidelong at Ginny.
"You don't mean..?" Ginny asked.
"Our Honeymoon will be here too." Harry smiled at her.
Ginny blushed and then a movement caught her eye.
"Oh, it's my Dad, bless him, look." Ginny commented.
Harry looked as he was asked. He saw Mr. Weasley try to wipe at his eyes. Harry couldn't help but smile. Mr. Weasley had always been such a nice man. He rarely raised his voice. He had always been very kind, kinder even than Harry thought he'd had to be considering that Harry's relationship with the family had all started with his friendship to one of Mr. Weasley's sons.
He looked out over the crowd some more. He looked at all of the faces gathered there, some he'd not seen since that day. Dean Thomas for example. There with Luna and there were others too, some like Professor McGonagall, who had kept her word and retired after Hogwarts was closed. Last Harry had heard she was living in a little village in Majorca enjoying her retirement.
There were a few that had been to Harry's wedding that he didn't remember seeing at the time, like Aberforth Dumbledore, Cho Chang, Ernie MacMillan, Hannah Abbott, Oliver Wood, and even old Mr. Olivander.
Harry felt his heart warm as Ginny's grip on his had tightened as she and Hermione came walking down the isle.
"Did I really look like that?" She asked.
Harry, who was already looking and watching Ginny as she approached in her wedding gown, white and flowing fluidly along the ground as she walked towards his younger self. His heart warmed even more at the sight of her, there again, in all her beauty. He felt his heart pound again as it did that day. His breath caught and he turned to Ginny and said,
"You were stunning, still are I might add."
Ginny smiled up at Harry. They watched in silence as Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic and the Officiator of the Wedding began his beautiful speech in his rich, deep, baritone voice. Ginny rested her head on Harry's shoulder as they watched, as silent as the crowd they stood in.
Mr. Weasley placed Ginny's hand in Harry's as Mr. Granger placed Hermione's hand in Ron's. The two couples stared into each other's eyes, lost in one another. Again Harry felt his stomach tighten as it before and work its way up to his throat. He had to swallow hard a few times as he stood there, this time as an observer, watching his own wedding. It really was very beautiful.
As the vows were exchanged, Harry felt his heart give a giant leap when he heard Ginny whisper next to him; "I do," a second time. He kissed the top of her head and she leaned in and wrapped her arms around his waist. They held each other like that and kept their eyes on the scene unfolding around them.
The older version of Harry and Ginny followed their younger selves through the reception line, and commented to each other about those who came to see them. Neville Longbottom had given both Harry and Ginny, and Hermione and a very stunned Ron a great hug. Luna Lovegood was her usual eccentric self. She had come dressed in bright yellow robes with light sky blue trimmings. She had summer flowers woven into her hair, but wasn't nearly as stunning as Hermione and Ginny were. She and Dean Thomas came through the line together, holding hands.
"Their wedding was nice, wasn't it?" Ginny said wistfully.
"It was, and not too long after our first anniversary if I remember correctly."
Harry felt Ginny tense a little as Cho Chang came through the line. Ginny had smiled and been gracious at the wedding, but Harry hadn't realized at the time that there really was no love lost between the two of them.
"Here comes George," Ginny observed.
George came goose stepping through the line, followed by Angelina who was watching and smiling after him good naturedly.
"Smashing good job, lads. Smashing good job." George said taking on a mock aristocratic accent. He took Harry's hand and shook it up and down vigorously, then repeated the process with Ginny, then Ron, then Hermione, then Harry and finally Ron again. They all shared a good laugh.
Harry watched as Hagrid came through the line. Hagrid had on his hairy moleskin overcoat, his bushy beard hiding his wide smile. Hagrid's beetle black eyes were wet and his spotted handkerchief was in his hand. However managed to keep his eyes dry as he enveloped each of them in a great massive bear hug. Harry heard his back pop in several places, and noticed that Ron's did as well.
"It was eh great wedding. Jus' Great. I know yull all be happy. Yeh deserve it, yeh really do."
"Thanks, Hagrid," Harry had said,
"I know yer parents would be proud of yeh Harry, real proud."
Harry remembered being thankful at the time that Hagrid had wrapped him up in another great hug. That way when he was put down, people would attribute any tears they saw to that.
Charlie and Percy Weasley came through the line together. Percy apologized that his wife, Penelope, wasn't able to make it to the wedding. She was home feeling ill. The two brothers stood to talk with their sister and her new husband. They shared a few laughs and looked awkward as Ginny cried a few tears.
Professor McGonagall, now retired from teaching, came through the line next.
She too carried a handkerchief and she had also shed a few tears at the wedding. She was quick and efficient with her pleasantries before moving on.
"It was a beautiful ceremony," Professor McGonagall said, "Simply wonderful."
"Thank you, Professor." Harry and Ginny had said together.
Harry noticed now that Ron was watching Professor McGonagall as fearfully as Hermione was anxiously. He pointed this out to Ginny who agreed with a grin.
"She always has scared him a bit, hasn't she?"
There were a great many people in the line, and the two couples stood there and greeted them all. Harry and Ginny watched most of it, but also walked around and looked through the crowd.
"I didn't realize Viktor Krum came," Harry said, "He must have come to support Hermione."
"He did, I believe. Though I heard it wasn't too long after our wedding that he too found someone and got married himself."
"Did Hermione tell you that?" Harry wondered.
"No, Fleur did. She and Bill went to the wedding."
Harry and Ginny walked over to where Andromeda Tonks sat with little Teddy, now a rambunctious toddler, being entertained on her lap. He held the wand that Harry had given him the year before, and was waving it in the air to make different colored sparks shoot out the end and listen to little musical tunes it would play.
They spent longer there watching Teddy than Harry would have thought Ginny wanted, but she seemed content to observe him for a minute. It was nice to see Teddy that young. He was six now, and every bit the spunky, precocious young child he had hinted at, at that time. Since Teddy was three he had started coming over to the Potters from time to time. At first just for the occasional over-niter, but now he would spend entire weekends. It was only just last year that Harry and Ginny had taken Teddy for a long weekend to go camping in the Forest of Dean.
They moved on to the dance floor. Harry and Ginny, and Hermione and Ron took to the floor for the traditional first dance. Then Harry had a turn with Mrs. Weasley, Fleur, Angelina, Luna, Hermione had two dances with him, he had a dance with George, much to the laughs of everyone there, Andromeda danced with him briefly as did Professors McGonagall and Sprout. Even Mrs. Granger took a turn around the floor with him.
But through all of the Dancing, Harry's eyes were only for Ginny. Every time he was dancing with someone else, he kept searching her out on the dance floor. He watched her as she danced with her father, brothers, Viktor Krum, Dean Thomas, Neville, even Hagrid.
While the younger versions of them danced, Harry took Ginny by the hand and led her for a quick turn around the dance floor as well. She looked a little unsure about the idea at first, but was then laughing and smiling like she had at their wedding.
Harry was gratified to see that Ginny really did seem to be enjoying herself. So far there had been very little hint of her melancholy and he was loath to bring it up.
Finally came the cutting of the cake, and feeding each other the first bite. There were laughs as Ron's accidentally got stuck up his nose. The wedding feast was nice and very joyful. It was huge and had required the help of many people and more than a few house elves.
Mrs. Weasley kept giving everyone hugs and tearful kisses. Mr. Weasley stood quietly by her side. Harry watched Ginny as she observed all of this. He couldn't understand the expression on her face.
"What are you thinking?" Harry asked tenderly.
"I'm just thinking about my Mom and Dad."
"Oh?" Harry wondered.
"Watching them here, like this, while it's easy to remember how we felt and what we did, it's like seeing it from the outside too. I think in many ways that this day was hard for them. Harder than they let on, anyway." Ginny explained with a sigh.
"What do you mean?"
"Ron and I are the youngest. We got married and moved out of the house. Home would never be the same for them, would it?"
"I see what you mean," Harry said.
He frowned a little. This was supposed to be a happy experience for Ginny, but she seemed saddened by it. Or at least this part of it anyway. She looked up at Harry and smiled.
"Don't worry about me, Harry," Ginny reassured him, "I'm not upset or anything. I just didn't realize how much our wedding day affected them."
"They seemed happy enough," Harry observed.
"Oh they were happy. They were happy for all of us, they were especially happy for you and me, I think. You know, after everything that happened with Voldemort and Lestrange and all that."
"I see your point."
"More than anything else I think they were realizing that things were going to become very different for them."
Harry thought about what Ginny said for just a minute.
"They seem to be doing alright." Harry remarked.
"Sure they are. But it took them some time to get used to the change in things, didn't it?"
"I guess so." Harry answered as they moved on.
After the wedding feast they had to get ready to leave for their honeymoon. Things were packed for a two week trip to see America. They were traveling by Muggle Airline to New York City, and from there to spend some time in Salem's Cape, one of two completely wizarding towns in all of America.
After a week at Salem's Cape, they would move on for a week on the west coast, in Oregon to see the other American wizarding town, Fort Kokopelli.
The memories of their wedding night in Salem's Cape made them both blush. Then they spent the next day traveling around to see the sites. There were a few of the regular tourist destinations that they made it to see; like the Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor, and the Empire State Building, but mostly they kept to the area around where they were staying. They walked around the lush, well kept gardens, ate picnic lunches next to tranquil ponds full of fish, hiked around the rolling hills covered in hardwood forests, and once or twice stayed up all night to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean as they cuddled together under warm, cozy blankets.
The first week ended and they used the American Version of the Floo Network to travel to the western United States. Here still the setting was equally as tranquil, but still vastly different than that of the village at Salem's Cape.
Fort Kokopelli was set deep in the rainforests of northwestern Oregon. There everything was green. The trees were massive and tall. With wide overhanging branches that seemed to reach out forever. Moss covered everything that wasn't a fern or some kind of plant, even the trees. Like Britain the rain seemed to be very constant, but the similarities ended there; it felt very much like they were visiting a last frontier.
The air was clean and moist. Tree frogs could be heard singing in the night. Eagles and Osprey flew overhead regularly, and the wizard who ran the Kokopelli Inn, a gentle man and a wizard of a nearby Native American tribe by the name of Talking-Bear made mention of a Thunderbird that was a sometime resident of the area.
"What's a Thunderbird?" Ginny had asked.
"It is a great bird who lives in the peaks of the tallest mountains. They are rare creatures whose wing beats sound like thunder, and it is said that they can bring storms and make lightening with their eyes." Talking-Bear had said.
"Do they come around here much?" Harry wanted to know.
"Sometimes, when the salmon are running they come out of the mountains to catch them, like the eagles do."
The newly wed couple had done what they could to make the best of their time in the great forest. Here too they explored the forests and streams. Picnicked next to high mountain lakes where the sun shone on the mountains like molten gold. They met a Sasquatch, who like the Thunderbird, was a longtime resident of the area. He was huge, taller than Hagrid and almost as wide. Only this beast was covered head to toe in long brownish hair. He had coal black eyes and a wide, toothy grin. The creature was very shy, and very quiet. He obviously preferred to keep to himself, but was kind enough to share some local Huckleberries he'd found with them.
"He was nice, wasn't he?" Ginny asked softly.
"Sure he was," Harry agreed, "He kind of reminded me of Hagrid."
"He does resemble him a little, doesn't he?"
"Those Huckleberries were wonderful," Harry smiled.
Harry thought they looked like Blueberries, but were a little more tart. He loved them. Ginny didn't seem to like them as much, but laughed at Harry's blue teeth, stained from the juices when he ate them.
Towards the end of their honeymoon, they built a bonfire on a quiet beach, watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean, and slept out together under the stars.
"I don't remember ever having seen so many stars," Ginny commented as they too sat together on the sand and looked up at the clear night sky. The stars here twinkled like diamonds cast on the blackest velvet.
While in America, the newlyweds tried many American foods that they'd heard about; Salmon cooked on a cedar plank, Macaroni and Cheese, American Biscuits and Gravy, Harry and Ginny both found the local Bison much to their liking.
"The food there was good, wasn't it?" Harry asked.
Ginny giggled a little, "You remind me of Ron!"
"Why is that?"
"Even now, after all this time, you're remembering the food." Ginny was exasperated.
"Well, it was very good. I liked it."
Smiling sweetly at Harry, Ginny said, "You're right, it really was very good."
The couple mostly kept to themselves, talking only occasionally with the local residents or Innkeeper or maybe trading pleasantries with the other guests. Harry heard Ginny sigh as they re-walked through these memories.
"What is it?" He asked.
Ginny smiled at him, "I'm seeing so much now that I didn't remember before."
"I'm surprised I remembered it all this clearly."
"It must have really affected you." Ginny said.
"It was a wonderful trip. Didn't you enjoy it?" Harry asked.
"Sure I did. I was with you, and we were together."
"Would you ever go again?" Harry asked as they strolled through another Muggle airport on their way home.
"Yes, especially if I was going with you." Ginny said as she leaned up and kissed Harry gently on the cheek.
Harry smiled, and Ginny added; "I really am glad that this, our wedding and honeymoon is one of your favorite memories. I love that you thought of this."
Smiling widely upon hearing this, the two left this memory. Harry found himself anticipating even more now Ginny's reaction to the other four he had selected. He couldn't wait to see her response.