Hello!

So I know I've been gone a while (I've had a lot of University work to do) but I am back with, as promised, a newly updated chapter full of pre-wedding fluff, zippers and 'I dos'. As always don't forget to favourite and review (I absolutely love hearing from my readers)

Hope you enjoy!

Sword Gold

Disclaimer: JK is the goddess of writing; only MC is mine.

Zippers, Speeches and 'I dos'

"God damn it," I swore, straining my arm to try and reach the zipper but it was no use.

"Language," I heard Charlie's voice tease from behind me. I didn't need to turn to know that his eyes were glued to my virtually naked back. "What seems to be the problem?" he spoke incredibly casually despite the fact that he was still staring at me. I spun around so that he was forced to look at my face rather than the rest of my body.

"I can't reach the bloody zipper …" I replied somewhere between bashful and annoyed.

He chuckled, "Turn around then."

I could feel him approach, his fingers brushing against my skin as he went from the bottom and very carefully zipped up the back of my dress, lingering for a moment on my shoulder blade before he stepped backwards.

"All done," Charlie announced, "Now turn around so I can get a better look at you."

I rolled my eyes, before doing a full 360 rotation for him to fully appreciate my off the shoulder blue dress, and I had to admit that it was satisfying watching his jaw drop a bit.

"So? Formal enough?"

"Ah …"

"What, don't you like it?" I teased in a singsong voice because of course I knew that he liked it.

His eyes widened, "What? No, I love it."

I took this as a chance to look over his appearance too. He'd managed to regrow some of the fringe that his mother had shorn off and wore a suit that fit him well if not snugly.

"Well you don't look half-bad yourself," I drawled. He laughed, gripping me by the waist and leashing me forward so that we were pressed together.

"Must you always make fun of me?" Charlie growled-half-whined, his brown eyes twinkling as he pressed a kiss against my neck.

"Only because you make it so damn easy," I replied, trying in vain to hold back a slight moan as I felt him bite down gently over my pulse but it still escaped my lips.

He grinned against my bare skin, "Hmm, we'll see about that," he murmured.

"I'm Bill's best-man," Charlie announced when we eventually came downstairs.

"I know," I replied, cocking my head to the side as he began to pace the kitchen, "It's the reason we came in the first place."

"No, you don't understand, I'm his best-man!" He repeated. I could practically hear the anxiety buzzing through his mind like bees and raised an eyebrow before it dawned on me. The speech.

"You've been preparing for this moment for months..." I said as he continued to pace back and forth. "And besides, I'm pretty sure that wearing through the floor won't help," I added.

No response.

"Oh for Aprigga's sake, will you stop pacing?"

He blinked, momentarily resembling a deer caught in headlights until I reached out to touch his elbow and he sighed. "It's stupid," he mumbled finally.
"Pacing around like an angsty dragon? Definitely," I agreed, feeling his muscles unwind beneath my palm.

Charlie raised an eyebrow, chuckling despite himself, "A dragon?"
"An angsty dragon," I kissed him lightly, "Better?"
"I don't know," he replied, smiling now, "I think this angsty dragon is in need of a few more kisses..."

"Angsty dragon? Did you hear that Fred? Who knew that our Angsty dragon was such a flirt!" snorted George.
"Jee, I wonder how many more kisses the angsty dragon needs?" chimed Fred.

"Oh, get lost you arseholes," barked Charlie.

The twins had barely darted out of the living room snickering, before the voice of a rather harassed Mrs Weasley came echoing down the stairwell.

"What do you mean that he re-grew his hair? Charles Weasley!"
Charlie paled.
"Oh-oh."

A couple of hours later …

The large white marquee stood at the centre of the orchard, shimmering in the full glare of the summer's day. The entrance to the marquee revealed rows and rows of fragile golden chairs set either side of a long purple carpet. The supporting poles were entwined with white and gold flowers. Fred and George had fastened an enormous bunch of golden balloons (which they guaranteed wasn't filled with Dung bombs) over the exact spot where Bill and Fleur would shortly become husband and wife.

I stood, patrolling from the boundary of the yard. It had been agreed amongst the Order that we would all take turns on watch-duty along with the additional precautions of disguising Harry Potter with Polyjuice Potion so that he was now the double of a redheaded Muggle boy from the local village. The plan, according to Mr and Mrs Weasley was to introduce Harry as 'Cousin Barny', trusting that the large number of Weasley relatives would be able to camouflage him.

A host of white-robed waiters had arrived an hour earlier, along with a golden-jacketed band and were now currently sitting a short distance away under the cool of a nearby tree. I could see the blue haze of pipe smoke spiralling into the sky from the spot. Outside, butterflies and bees were hovering lazily over the grass and hedgerow.

It was well into the afternoon by the time the first wedding guests started to arrive. They appeared, one by one in their brightly coloured dress robes at the yard's boundary, forming a procession that began to snake its way through the garden toward the marquee.

"Wotcher!" Tonks grinned, stepping out with Remus in tow, "They told me you volunteered for the first watch. Where's Weasley?"
"Probably still hiding from his mother," I supplied as we embraced.
Remus opened his mouth, as he was about to ask why but seemed to decide that he would rather not know.
"Seen anything?" he asked instead.
"Nothing out of the ordinary so far," I replied, "but I'm going to double the protective barriers just in case …"
"Merlin," Tonks shook out her hair (which she had turned blonde for the occasion), "You're beginning to sound like Mad-Eye …"
She paused, her smile waning ever so slightly as I gulped. The death of the auror still hung heavy in the air.
"We better get going," Lupin murmured eventually.
"Yeah, we'll save you a seat," Tonks nodded before she and her husband joined the congregation that was slowly yet surely building up at the marquee's entrance.

A sense of jittery anticipation had filled the warm tent, the general murmuring broken by occasional spurts of excited laughter.
"You made it just in time," Tonks whispered as I made my way towards the seat that she had saved beside her.

Mr and Mrs Weasley strolled up the aisle, waving at relatives as they passed; Mrs Weasley was wearing a brand new set of amethyst-coloured robes with a matching hat and both of them were positively beaming. A moment later Bill and Charlie made their way up towards the front of the marquee, both wearing smart dress robes with large white roses in their buttonholes. It seemed that, despite Mrs Weasley's insistence, Charlie had escaped the wrath of another 'haircut', though I could tell by the way she kept eying him that she wasn't too pleased by the fact. Charlie winked as he passed and Fred wolf-whistled, followed by an outbreak of giggling from Fleur's Veela cousins. It was only when the music began to swell did the giggling cease.

A great collective sigh issued from the assembled witches and wizards as Monsieur Delacour and Fleur came walking up the aisle, Fleur gliding, Monsieur Delacour bouncing and beaming. Fleur was wearing a very simple white dress that seemed to emit a strong, silvery glow. While her radiance usually dimmed everyone else around her by comparison, today it beautified everybody it fell upon. Ginny and Gabrielle, both wearing golden dresses soon followed and once Fleur had reached him, Bill did not look as though he had ever met Fenrir Greyback.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said a small tufty-haired wizard in a slightly singsong voice. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls …"

"Yes, my tiara sets off the whole thing nicely," an elderly witch spoke in a rather carrying whisper. "But I must say, Ginevra's dress is far too low-cut."
Somewhere at the front of the procession, Ginny glanced around, winking in Harry's direction before quickly facing the front again.

"Do you, William Arthur, Take Fleur Isabelle?"
In the front row, Mrs Weasley and Madame Delacour were both sniffling quietly into scraps of lace, and the trumpet-like sounds from the back of the marquee told everyone that Hagrid had taken out one of his own tablecloth-sized handkerchiefs.
I caught Charlie's gaze from afar and smiled, his eyes, too, were full of tears.
"… Then I declare you bonded for life."
The tufty-haired wizard raised his wand high over the heads of Bill and Fleur and a shower of silver stars fell upon them, spiralling around their now entwined figures. As Fred and George lead a round of booming applause, the golden balloons overhead burst: springing out small birds of paradise and tiny golden bells, adding their songs and chimes to the din.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" called the wizard, "If you would please stand up!"

We did so, a few people grumbling audible as he waved his wand. The seats on which we had been sitting rose gracefully into the air as the canvas walls of the marquee vanished so that we stood beneath a canopy supported by golden poles, with a glorious view of the sunlit orchard and surrounding countryside. Next, a pool of molten gold spread from the centre of the tent to form a gleaming dance floor; the hovering chairs grouped themselves around small, white-clothed tables, which all floated gracefully back to earth around it.

"Congratulations!" I squealed as the golden-jacketed band trooped towards the podium.
"You 're too kind," Fleur smiled absolutely radiant as we embraced.
"Besides, It'll be your turn next," teased Bill, earning a sharp glare from an approaching Charlie before the new couple took to the dance floor as the band began to play.

I smiled, leaning into the Weasley's chest as we watched the two glide across the dance floor to great applause; after a while, Mr Weasley led Madame Delacour onto the floor, followed by Mrs Weasley and Fleur's father, all illuminated by the overhanging lanterns that floated above.

"Care to dance?" asked Charlie, holding out his arm for me to take.
I smiled, "Sure, why not?"

Soooooooo ... care to dance?

- S.G.