A/N: Background BillFleur and family gen ahead! Feedback is encouraged; please convince me that this isn't as bad as I think it is...
The hands on Bill's wristwatch ticked louder today than it usually did. He admitted to feeling a little nervous, as he was getting married to Fleur sooner than he thought. The wedding date inched closer and closer, reminding Bill that his life would change immediately. Before he knew it, he'd be a married man to a woman until death did them part. The reprecussions of his decision to get married, both positive and negative, would linger for a long time. He was in charge of his own life
The commitment of marriage wasn't what scared him. The security and stability of settling down made Bill feel wonderful, and as if he'd reached a new milestone in his life worth bragging about. Marriage with Fleur, a woman he cared about more than words could explain, was a new chapter in his life unraveling ahead of him with twists and turns galore. The unknown of this new life felt energizing, like he could accomplish anything if he put his mind to do what he wanted. He liked not knowing the specifics of his future, except that it would happen and that it would come barreling at him without remorse.
A surprising amount of options would open themselves up to him when he tied the knot. Plus the idea of being an eternal bachelor, wasting his life on menial things didn't interest him at all. After all, Bill had a career that he loved; this was a miracle and a blessing, of which he was grateful for. That made him a responsible adult, and responsible adults didn't party all night with strangers and alcohol; those days of late nights and later mornings, not caring about the consequences of one's actions made Bill shiver.
Ultimately, what appealed to him the most about marriage was the knowledge that Fleur would love him no matter what happened in their relationship. They dated until now with minimal problems, and that must have meant something. Sure, Fleur and Bill didn't always agree on every subject but that was fine by him as he liked the contrast in their personalities. Fleur, the opinionated woman she was, was stubborn and delightfully frank about what she thought; Bill was much more laid back than Fleur, and sometimes that bothered her. She would sometimes ask why he'd agree with her opinions without much commentary. Bill's response to Fleur's demands of why he wasn't more talkative didn't always satisfy her curiosity, but that was fine because he knew she wasn't truly angry at him.
No matter what Bill decided to do, Fleur would love him. Well, there were limits to what Fleur would approve of, but the fact that she trusted him to not cross those reasonable boundaries motivated Bill enough to do good things with his life and not make stupid decisions.
His good decisions, the same ones Bill would call responsible and mature, would be challenged, all because of a knock at his door.
"Let us in!" An all too familiar voice called. It was Fred's. This could mean only two things: Fred had bad news up his sleeve that required Bill to convince someone Fred was innocent or he wanted Bill to do something outlandish and strange.
Actually, when Bill thought about it, he was almost positive whatever Fred wanted from him would require some combination of both outlandish strangeness and convincing somebody of something. Bill loved Fred, and Fred made a great brother. That was true, and Bill wouldn't change that for the world. But sometimes, Fred's decisions made Bill curious and confused at the same time. It was a strange and contradictory combination of emotions that Bill didn't feel at the same time very often.
"Sure. But please, don't track mud on the carpet." Fred tumbled into Bill's house with a huge grin plastered on his face. George and Ginny, both full of enthusiasm and similarly large, goofy grins, followed Fred by tumbling into Bill's house. Bill almost closed the door when Percy shuffled in, looking as if he'd committed some horrible crime by walking in through the door. There was no sign of Charlie, which didn't surprise Bill on any other conditions. Charlie, when not overworking himself wherever his dragon related job took him, was a pretty private guy and didn't particularly enjoy social occasions. Bill didn't blame Charlie at times like this.
"I'm surprised to see all of you guys here," Bill started, trying to keep how startled he felt at the idea of most of his siblings arriving at his house unannounced under wraps. He was sure his voice wasn't even, but Fred, George and Ginny didn't seem to notice Bill's slight hesitation. Percy, however, gave Bill a small nod to indicate that he felt Bill's pain.
"Of course you are!" Ginny exclaimed. Bill couldn't tell if her enthusiasm was adorable or worthy of questioning. She shouldn't be such a prankster; she was Bill's baby sister, and she was supposed to be the innocent one in the family. Things changed when Bill didn't look and he wanted to like it but couldn't find sufficient reasons to like the changes he saw in Ginny.
"If we told you, what we'd want to do wouldn't be as fun!" She continued, and Bill raised an eyebrow. He let his guard down, and let his imagination run wild.
"What do you want from me?" Bill asked, wanting the answer to all of these strange questions as quickly as possible. He didn't want to explain this to Fleur. Most importantly, he was dying to know what Fred, George and Ginny wanted of Bill. Percy couldn't have been willingly part of this from the look of terrorized shame when he first walked into the room. Charlie wasn't even a part of this at all, and Bill couldn't really fully include him in this situation at all. Wanting to know what Charlie would think of all this was probably a waste of time without him physically present.
"Nothing," Fred started, the innocence in his voice only partially sounding like a lie.
"We want to throw you a stag party before getting married to Fleur," George explained before Bill could make any comments about his maturity, about being a good influence as the oldest Weasley son, and about the need to not do something rash in order to do something fun or interesting.
"That's…surprisingly sweet of you," Bill said, unsure of how else to take this situation.
Ginny and Percy both looked shocked. Bill decided it was probably for wildly different reasons.
"We weren't sure you'd agree to this," Ginny stated, putting her hands on her hip for a reason Bill couldn't really understand. She looked like she was thinking about something.
"So she's saying that they didn't think this stupidity all the way through," Percy explained, clearly upset. Bill wanted to comfort Percy because he seemed more tense than usual, but he wasn't sure what to say. He couldn't admit that he enjoyed the fact that his siblings thought of throwing him a stag night even though Bill didn't particularly care either way whether or not he got one.
"Did you really think I'd disagree to having a stag night in my honor?" Bill asked, incredulous at this whole situation. Fred, George and Ginny nodded in unison.
"Well, we did have some ideas but we shot all of them down," George explained.
"We definitely thought that you'd deny us the privilege of throwing you a stag night, so we put more energy into convincing you that you should have a stag night," Fred explained, piggybacking on what George started to explain. Bill smiled. His siblings did things he didn't always understand or agree with, but he did like that they tried their best to make him happy before his marriage.
"It's the thought that counts," Bill assured his siblings. Fred and George flashed each other goofy grins that looked like it would break their faces in half. Ginny looked proud of herself, as if she accomplished the most difficult task in the wizarding world. Even Percy, who looked like a tense deer caught in wand light the entire visit, looked visibly relaxed.
He loved his siblings at times like this.
