Chapter 13: The Wedding
Ginny slipped into the dress again, this time enjoying the fact that it was hers. She was in her bedroom, getting dressed for the wedding. Ginny was glad this whole business would be over soon. She was tired of it, tired of the pointed looks her mother gave her whenever it came up. Naturally enough, Ginny was the only one her mother had to worry about at the time. Bill was married, Charlie was married, George was with Angelina, and Ron was with Hermione. The again, though Ginny as she walked to the bathroom to quickly put on some makeup, Percy is single. Mum is probably giving him just as bad a time about it. She applied a bit of eyeliner, mascara and a dash of lipstick. She put some of the magic curler into her hair, and then pulled her hair into a half up half down 'do with a clip. She pulled on her black heels and grabbed her purse, tossing her lipstick, wand and house-key inside.
"Hey," Charlie said, running into her on the stairs. "Where are you going so fancy?"
"I've got a wedding to go to." Ginny told her.
"The Fletcher-Brown wedding?" Asked Charlie, shocked.
"Yeah, why?" Said Ginny, still walking down the stairs.
"I'm doing the music for the party." Said Charlie, following her. "They wanted one of the DJs from WWN, but I'm much cheaper." Ginny looked Charlie up and down, noting the other girl's blue Wizard Wireless Network uniform robes. "I'm only actually going to be there for the party." Charlie added.
"Nice." Ginny replied. " Listen, the service is at ten, I've gotta get going. I'll see you at the party."
"Okay," Charlie gave Ginny a little wave as they went their separate ways. "If you or any of your friends have a request, don't forget me!"
Ginny apparated to the Fletcher home, a nice victorian house. It was a large house, very old, and quite grand. Ginny was used to both the large, but slightly shabby grandure of Hogwarts, and the very shabby, second-hand comfort of her own home. This place was large, but not in an uncomfortable way. From the outside, with its well-tended roses and groomed lawn, the house looked rather like an inn, cosy but neat. Ginny had apparated to a point a block away, as the home was in a muggle residential area, and the Fletcher family had not wanted to draw a lot of undue attention to the massive crowd of wizards that would soon descend on the area. Ginny walked up the front path, and was about to ring the doorbell when she saw a little path leading to to the back garden, with streamers lining the fence separating the Fletcher's yard from their neighbor's. Walking carefully down the path, she heard some quiet chatter and fixed a pleasant smile on her face. If she was going to be unfashionably early, she could at least look nice.
"Hi, welcome!" A young woman with auburn hair and a big smile turned to welcome Ginny. She was wearing a lavender colored silky dress with fluttery sleeves and a brown sash at the waist. The girl had full lips and wavy auburn hair that just fell to her dress' low neckline.
"You look familiar." The girl said, turning her head in confusion, but still smiling. "I'm so sorry, it's just been a long morning-"
"You're Maria Fletcher." Ginny realized, remembering the sweet and smooth voice of the quidditch commentator. "You must be related to the groom."
"I'm his sister." Maria told Ginny, nodding. "How did you know?"
"I'm Ginny Weasley, I'm on the Hollyhead Harpies quidditch team." She explained, as recognition dawned on Maria's face.
"That explains it!" The other girl nodded again. "What a game. Too bad, really. That it was your first one, I mean."
"Right." Ginny said, thinking back to the other team, the Ballycastle Bats, who had taken a bribe to lose the game. "Well, congratulations."
"Thank you!" Maria's smile grew wider. "Lavender is just lovely. We're delighted to welcome her to the family. I assume you're a friend of hers?"
"Oh, yes." Ginny nodded. "Lavender has a lot of friends." At least, she invited a lot of people. Ginny thought. She glanced around the enormous back-yard, which was set up for an outdoor ceremony. Over by a rose bower, a witch with a pointy purple hat was going through a thick leather-bound book and muttering to herself. Ginny noted an older, auburn-haired lady in a yellow dress, who, unfortunately, resembled her son rather more than her daughter. Ginny remembered John Fletcher from their brief meeting in Diagon Alley. She saw him talking with another young man closer to the house. John was tall, six foot four at least, with short blond hair and a face that looked incredibly serious, but kind enough. He was wearing a suit that looked like it was uncomfortable, but that could just have been nerves.
"It looks nice, doesn't it?" Maria gestured around the large backyard. The grassy area was almost totally empty of people, but there were rows and rows of chairs, as well as lovely flower decorations everywhere.
"It's beautiful." Ginny said truthfully. She looked a little more closely at Maria's dress. "Are you a bride's maid?" She asked.
"Yes." Maria replied. "Me, Lavender's friend Parvati, and Lavender's cousin, Lee."
"That's nice." Ginny replied, being without anything else to say. She was saved by the arrival of the next guest, the first in a flood of people. Maria was quickly too busy greeting people to continue to chit-chat with Ginny, who tried to quietly fade into the shadows, which was not an easy task on such an uncommonly lovely, sunny day.
"-Luna Lovegood, pleasure." A breezy, dreamy voice said, catching Ginny's attention.
"Luna?" Ginny waved to her friend. Luna waved back, and walked over the the place where Ginny was standing.
"Ginny!" The girls hugged. Luna wore a yellow sleeveless dress that fell to her knees, and her white-blond hair fell down her back. Luna wore very little makeup, only a trace of gold eyeshadow and a bit of bright red lipstick.
"You look amazing!" Ginny told Luna.
"You look great, too." Luna replied. Ginny knew that she meant it, because Luna didn't believe in the little white lies that kept civilization afloat. If Luna said something, she meant it.
"When did you get in from America?" Ginny asked.
"Yesterday! I would have come to see you, but I was so tired, I slept practically all day!" Luna laughed.
"The time difference." Ginny said sympathetically.
"Yes. Say, do you smell that?" Luna asked, sniffing the air slightly. Ginny frowned, inhaling sharply. She did detect a faint scent of cherry pie, mixed with the smell of rain, broom polish and an aftershave she thought she recognized . . .
Ginny shook herself out of a brief stupor to realize that the smell was coming from behind a screen door near the place where she and Luna were standing. They were the only guests standing so close to the house, no one else had noticed the odd, but enticing aroma. Ginny
glanced at the glass door and caught a flash of blonde hair and a short, bright red dress.
And that's when Ginny realized where she knew the smell from. An old dungeon full of cauldrons with a jolly older man teaching herself and her classmates about the most dangerous potion she had ever learned about . . .
Amortentia.