Even though all of you have probably guessed the "big secret" that I failed to cover up (I really am a blabbermouth anyway) all is confirmed in this chapter. This story is nearly finished so just to say, anything you would like me to include in the next few chapters, maybe any questions about Roxy you want answering then tell me in the reviews and I will do my best :) I hope you like this, and the next chapter I upload will be pretty cheesey, yet sad, so be prepared! Enjoy :)
She can lead you to love.
The big day had finally arrived, the day when George was expected to hand his little girl over to the new most important man in her life. George knew he should have been happy, but he couldn't help but feel a little bit of regret. She was only nineteen for God's sake!
He stood nervously adjusting the cuffs on his suit, checking himself from all angles in the ornate mirror. Angelina entered the room wearing a gorgeous purple dress that hung in all the right places. She gave George a watery smile – Angelina was struggling to keep her emotions in check that day – and helped him with his bow tie. George gave her a gentle hug and kissed her hair, Angelina smiled up at him.
"She looks so pretty in her dress! She's happy, George," Angelina said softly to her husband, "I know you don't think she's ready but she's happy. More happy than she was ever going to be if she'd stayed at home with us. You know Roxy, she likes to have someone to chat to all the time, to mess about with. She likes someone there all the time."
"I know she's happy, and I know Lorcan is a good boy, but she's still a little girl," George answered, his voice straining.
"No, George, she really isn't. She's a beautiful young woman. She's had plenty of time to change her mind about this. She loves him, and he loves her, so what if it isn't perfect? Who cares if they aren't as old as we were?"
"I know, but I really don't want to see her hurt," George struggled to keep his eyes from watering.
"You won't. Lorcan is a good man and you can see he loves her. No son of Luna's would ever be the sort to be hurtful, you know that," Angelina paused before adding her next point, "I know you're scared of losing her, but trust me George, she isn't going anywhere. She loves you too much. She'll always be your baby girl, she'll just be more grown up. Now put your jacket on, she wants to speak to us."
George smiled and grabbed his jacket from the back of an ornate hotel chair. He followed Angelina to the room down the hall where Roxy was getting laced into her dress with the help of the Weasley girls. The whole lot of them were there, and their numbers had proved useful since Roxy had gained a fair amount of weight since her first fitting. George often noticed Angelina, Luna and his mother watching her suspiciously, but being a typical Weasley bloke he was waiting for the right moment to ask what was wrong seeing as he couldn't figure it out for himself.
They entered the room and George was instantly hit with the nauseating smell of perfume, new shoes and cardboard boxes. He felt Angelina's hand leave his as she disappeared into the crowd of Weasley's fussing over Roxy as she fought to get away. She smiled at George, and he waved back, settling himself into a white armchair until Roxy's reason for summoning him was made clear.
After about ten minutes, the women began to leave, some winking at George and patting him on the back as they went. The now visibly ageing Mrs Weasley gave George a comforting hug, which he appreciated, today was going to be difficult and any support was welcome. Once the last few Weasley's had trickled out the door knocked gently and Lorcan walked in, followed by his father.
George greeted Rolf and asked if he knew what they were all doing in this stuffy little room. Rolf just shook his head chuckling; they had both long since learned to stay out of the wedding planning, usually preferring to talk Quidditch with Freddie and Lysander than to try and interrupt Roxy's stern lead on the discussions with the others.
"Right, well mum, dad, Luna, Rolf, you might want to sit down a minute," Roxy told them. George retook his place on the white armchair, and Rolf perched on the arm. Angelina and Luna were both sitting carefully on the matching white sofa on the other side of the room.
"We've got something to tell you, and we don't know what you're going to make of it or anything," Lorcan began, "We think its good, we're really happy, but you need to know and we don't want you to be angry or-"
"Look, when we went away those few weeks, obviously we were sharing a room and everything," Roxanne interrupted him. At that moment Freddie and Lysander burst into the room, laughing.
"You wanted to see us?" Freddie said, in between laughs, he stopped when he saw the awkwardness of the scene.
"We'd best just sit down hadn't we?" Lysander said to his brother. Lorcan nodded, he and Freddie sat cross legged on the fluffy white rug. Roxanne rolled her eyes and continued.
"Well basically, during that time we… well, you know." She finished awkwardly.
Rolf and George exchanged raised eyebrows, both of them not quite sure where Roxy was going with her words. They knew what she was saying, much to George's embarrassment, apparently the romantic setting Roxy had mentioned at the memorial had been in some exotic country in a hotel room somewhere. Angelina and Luna smiled at each other, their suspicions confirmed, although George was still in the dark as to what they were. Roxy paused to allow this to register with the people in the room, and eventually there was a look of dawning comprehension showing on Fred's face and he stood up.
"No way!" He shouted, not angry but clearly overwhelmed with what he guessed he knew.
"Well what do you think she's trying to say Freddie?" asked Angelina gently, giving her daughter and Lorcan a supportive look.
"Are you trying to say you've gone and got yourself up the duff?" he asked, not a hint of a joke in his voice.
George looked incredulously at his daughter, who looked him square in the eyes and nodded. She wasn't looking sad, nor was Lorcan who placed his arm around her shoulder. Rolf sighed, George just stared. Fred and Lysander looked at each other with open mouths.
"Well are you ready, Rox?" Angelina asked gently, "Both of you, do you think you can do it?"
"Well yeah, if you give us a hand every now and then, then we should be able to do it," Roxy said, a smile creeping onto her face now. Angelina nodded and hugged her. Luna rushed forward to hug Lorcan and whisper congratulations to him. They all turned to the remaining men in the room, waiting for a response.
"Well um… I suppose…" Fred began, "You'd better make damn sure you look after her Lorcan," he said, but he shook his friend's hand anyway, they could all see he was smiling at his sister. Lysander gave Roxanne a hug, and then clapped Lorcan on the back.
Again the group turned to look at the two fathers. Rolf chuckled and moved forwards to ruffle his son's hair and to kiss his future daughter in law on the cheek. Angelina looked at George, eyebrows knitted together, telling him to just go with the rest, to not make Roxy feel guilty. George swallowed and nodded.
Roxy rushed forwards and hugged him, clinging on tight. "Thank you Daddy," she whispered to him. George stroked her back clumsily, and could see Angelina giving him an encouraging look.
"What time is it?" Lorcan asked Rolf, who checked his watch and announced the wedding was starting soon. Lorcan looked at Roxy, who nodded towards the door.
"Go! Or you'll miss me! I'm not waiting for you," she joked. Lorcan was led out of the room by his brother and the rest of the room followed suit. George stayed; he was supposed to go downstairs with Roxy if he remembered what his father had said right.
"Roxy added a coat of lipstick and checked herself in the floor length mirror. She frowned.
"Dad? Am I showing in this dress?" she asked nervously.
"Not so its noticable, why?"
"I just thought I was supposed to be showing by now." She rubbed her tummy. George could see she looked scared, but her eyes were alight the way they always were when she was designing a new product for the shop, or when she was coming up with an idea. He could she was going to make a good mother, he made a mental note to let her know that.
"How far gone are you, by the way?" George asked as he realised how no-one else had asked this.
"Nearly five months, I worked it out yesterday," she replied. Wow, George thought, she really was very small compared to how big Angelina had been.
"Well when your Gran was pregnant with your Auntie Ginny I remember always wondering where the baby was because she didn't show until the last three months. Maybe that's what's happened." Roxy smiled and nodded.
"Are you sure you don't mind, Dad?" she asked tentatively. George sighed and walked over to hug his daughter, who rested her curly head on his chest.
"I would have minded if I knew Lorcan didn't care about you, but he does, so I don't," he said gently. Roxy pulled away.
"That made no sense, say it again," she smiled though, getting the gist.
"You could see how happy you both were, and I do think you're a bit young, yes, but Victoire was only your age when she had Antonia, so as long as your happy then I'm fine with it. Just don't use me and your mum as free baby sitters," George added to lighten the atmosphere.
Roxy looked at the clock on the wall, five minutes to go. She reached inside a small shoebox and pulled out a small pair of wedding slippers. They had flower patterns embroidered all over them, in the same colour as the shoes so that you could only see them when the light caught them. George watched his little girl as she slipped her feet into them and then wiggled her toes to check they were comfy. George smiled, although the many Weasley women had insisted on a lot of the decorations and the pattern on the shoes, Roxanne had insisted on them being slippers. She hated high heels.
Roxy opened the jewellery box on the dressing table that Fleur had told her to choose what she liked from and she pulled out a necklace with a cluster of different white stones all jumbled together. This made George remember something.
"Hang on!" he said loudly. Roxy swished her head around to see what was the matter. George pulled out a small brown paper package from his wallet. He handed it to his daughter who saw that it had 'Roxanne' inscribed on it in tiny lettering all over the paper. She opened it curiously and into her lap fell a dainty bracelet with little white opals dangling from it, the chain encrusted with pearls. Roxy gasped.
"Oh my God!" she said in awe, there was so much detail, so much care in this tiny accessory. As she looked closer Roxy saw that the chain looked like vines all woven together, the opals dangling from it were in the shape of leaves. "Where did you get this?"
"As much as I'd love to say it was my handiwork I cant. This one's all your Gran's talent. She's made one for each of the girls, you've all got a different stone that's supposed to match your personality when you were born. The boys have got them in their coming of age watches I think." George explained. "She gave it me when you were about six months old and told me to give it you on your wedding day. Ron said he's got one for Rosie too."
Roxy nodded, her voice all choked. She knew her Gran was good at knitting but to have produced something in this much detail? This was amazing! George helped Roxy with the clasp and offered his hand to her. She took it and allowed herself to be led to the door of the hotel room towards the place where George would apparate his daughter to the Burrow, where in just a short while she would become Mrs Lorcan Scamander. George saw the excitement, nervousness, certainty and the pride flash across her face and squeezed her hand. She squeezed back, trying to make her hand holding more crushing than her Dad's, something they had always played when Roxy was younger. George remembered how it was all fun and games until Roxy became a Beater and gained muscles, landing him with his hand in a bandage for days. They reached the hidden place where they would disapparate from and Geroge, after asking Roxy if she was ready to which she replied with a determined nod, turned on the spot and apparated them towards Ottery St Catchpole, where they landed with a slight wobble.
George checked the time again and informed Roxy that they were supposed to start in just a few minutes. They headed up the drive together, where Fred was waiting for them. They walked into the lounge of the Burrow, which had been decorated with white leaves everywhere. Fred informed his father that Angelina had saved him a seat, and wished his sister good luck before heading into the enclosed dome that now housed the wedding guests. George looked down at his daughter and felt a lump rising in his throat. No, he reminded himself, there was time for that later, this was Roxy's day and he couldn't spoil it. He watched her, with the curls cascading down her back like a waterfall, and her golden skin perfectly complimenting the simple yet detailed dress which hugged her in all the right places. Really, you wouldn't guess she was just four months from having a baby if you didn't know. George felt Roxy's warm hand on his own cold one, and she held his arm ready to walk down the aisle. The doors to the dome opened and George and Roxanne were blinded by the white glow emitted from the room. Each heard the other take a deep breath and they began their slow, long walk to where Lorcan was standing, his eyes filled with excitement and adoration.
So, I hope you enjoyed that :) like I said, any loose ends you want tying up with this story, or anyone you want to see featured a little more just tell me in a review and I'll try and make it happen :) Thanks for all my reviews, especially to snitchstar who always gives good advice :D next chapter should be up by the weekend, but I'm not promising anything as I want to get it right and I've got exams (school comes first I'm afraid). Until next time, I'll be noting down your requests, so make sure you send some!
