Metamorphose Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make any profits from posting this fanfiction.

Summary: Non-Epilogue compliant. After the war groups of disgruntled Wizards and Witches terrorise England's magical nation, sending them to the brink of civil war and a war against the Creatures. Harry is in Gringotts when one terrorist faction attacks causing Harry and other survivors to go into hiding. There is an interested repercussion of the potion they use to hide themselves and now Harry finds himself stuck in a foreign country, with people he doesn't know and living in a style he has never even dreamed to imagine.

Warnings: Gender change. Fem!Harry…after a potions accident. Name changes for characters. Hurricane Sandy (use of artistic licence over the damage it wrought)

Pairings: LM/HP. DM/AG. RW/HG.

(Chapter 25)

October 10th.

It had been two days since she had been proposed to and only a few hours since she got a ring. She couldn't stop looking at it. Couldn't stop looking at all. She also couldn't stop playing with it.

Lucas smirked at her as she touched the emeralds once more. She blushed and let her hands drop down. He uncrossed and re-crossed his legs and somehow used one hand to turn the page of his book.

They had shopped all the previous day for a ring visiting all the shops they could find. They had looked in the Hamptons and in New York, magic being a wonderful asset. They had found many rings that they had liked but not any that one or the other one of them felt fitted. Eventually a store clerk, who had made no attempt to hide the fact that she was impatient, asked them what they were looking for exactly. She had received many looks of contempt when she admitted she just wanted a ring that was a little more practical, nothing with sharp edges or anything that stuck up too high. Lucas had agreed with her and claimed he was thinking of a Platinum ring, not just because of the durability of the metal or its expense but because it symbolised longevity. He wanted diamonds on the ring but he also wanted a coloured gem too. The clerk had found some rings with sapphires on and some rubies but Lucas turned his nose up and shook his head.

The clerk then told him that they didn't have what he was looking for because he had exhausted all of their possibilities. It was then that Henri noticed a card saying 'Ring Maker'. She pointed it out to Lucas who took a business card, read over it and then pocketed it. He had then made a formal complaint about the clerk's attitude and escorted Henri out of the shop. As it turned out the Ring Maker was a Wizard which they discovered upon visiting his shop and spying a Deathly Hallows symbol hanging on a necklace around the man's neck. Because they were wizards too the man had their custom made ring ready in only a few minutes.

Henri's ring was a three stone ring with a flawless grade D clear diamond right at the centre and with a brilliant emerald on either side of the diamond. Lucas had chosen an emeralds for her ring because they reminded him of her eyes, they were also his birthstone. All of those precious jewels were set into a platinum band which wound up to hold the stones in place without letting them stick out too far and therefore become impractical.

Henri just couldn't stop touching it. It was a symbol of their love, a symbol of their desire to be together and a symbol of their future together.

"My dear, I fear if you continue to touch it I shall have to take it back to the Ring Maker and have him enchant it to be unbreakable."

"Sorry I just..." She said and trailed off looking from the ring and up to Lucas. He smiled softly and stroked her wrist, the only part of her that he could reach.

"Yes, I am aware."

Henri hummed and rolled onto her knees so she could move closer to kiss him. She shuffled along the sofa on her knees and he held an arm out to slide around her as she came closer. He pulled her in for a kiss and Henri savoured the feel of his lips against hers. He kept it brief, as they had done for most of the courtship. They had no chaperone but that didn't mean they couldn't observe the rules Lucas treasured so much.

"Why don't you start looking into things you want at the wedding?" Lucas offered. "We might be newly engaged but I do not for see this engagement continuing for a very long time. I'm afraid my desires will not allow us to have a prolonged engagement and I would very much like to have you as my own as soon as possible."

"So do I. Okay. So where do you start with planning a wedding?" She asked and climbed up from the sofa to collect a piece of paper and a pen. Once collected she went back to the sofa and slid onto it besides Lucas who put his book down.

"I have no idea I'm afraid."

"Oh." Henri frowned and looked at him in confusion. "But...what about your wedding to Cassandra? And Dante's wedding. Didn't you help plan that?"

"Certainly not. I am afraid on both of those occasions it was the women who planned the wedding. Cassandra and her mother took care of the planning for our wedding, the only input I had was to insist upon not having pink as the colour for the decorations and the bridesmaid dresses. My wishes were refused of course." He mused and Henri frowned feeling very sorry for him.

"Why didn't you get what you wanted?"

"Because, my dear, weddings are mostly about the bride's wishes. The groom gets to choose the bride but other than that everything else is about the bride."

Henri frowned and stubbornly shook her head. "Not our wedding. It's about us, just like the ring. We can both chose what we want, compromise if we have to or argue but I want the day to be about us."

"Whatever you wish, my dear." Lucas smiled and Henri thought he might be humouring her judging by the twinkle in his eye.

"I mean it Lucas. You have to choose things too."

"Then I shall." Henri didn't really believe him but nodded and put the pen to the paper.

"What do we need to think about with regards to the wedding then?"

"Well, I believe a venue is necessary, like your friends chose to get married in that hotel followed immediately by the wedding reception only to return home for the Wedding breakfast."

"A venue...we don't have anywhere that means something to us though do we? I mean Ron and Hermione chose that hotel because they stayed there when they first got to Australia and it was the first time they had a room in the same building as the other Weasleys where they didn't have to worry about being interrupted. Um..." Henri felt her face heat up as she realised what she had said. Lucas gave an uncomfortable cough then laughed. Henri chuckled a little in her embarrassment then stabbed the paper with her pen. "So places which mean something to us. Us as a couple I mean, that way it's fair."

"Then might I suggest we marry here and hold the reception here?" Lucas offered. Henri frowned.

"You can do that? Get married in your own home?"

"Yes."

"Sounds perfect then. Here is where we got together and then you proposed here too. I'd love to get married here." Henri said happily. That would be perfect, wouldn't it? To get married in the place where they fell in love?

"I agree."

"Well that was simple." She lamented and Lucas laughed.

"Only if we can find a priest to perform the hand fasting on the day we want it at our home." Henri nodded. She and Lucas had already had that conversation when Hermione had been going on about trying to get a hand fasting into a regular wedding ceremony. Hand fasting was the marriage that Wizards did and that was recognised in Wizarding practise. It was carried out with a piece of ribbon woven from unicorn hair, it was tied around the couple's hands while they spoke vows and the magic in the ribbon made the promises binding, like an unspeakable vow only different and not as deadly.

"I guess that would depend on when we want to get married and when the priest is available. When did you want to get married?"

"As soon as possible."

"Yes I know that." Henri rolled her eyes and readjusted herself on the seat. "Any particular month?"

"Not particularly, just this side of the New Year. I wish to enter the new year as a married couple. New year, new page in our lives."

"Okay. Its October now, that gives us 2 months. That's not a lot of time Lucas." He smirked at her and ran a hand down her back.

"You are right it is not a lot of time. However, if I estimate it rightly you have no desire for a gigantic wedding. You desire neither the prestige nor self-centeredness to want a parade and a whole host of frivolous fancies." Henri shook her head. That was definitely not what she wanted at all. She wanted a quiet affair, homely, family and friends. Lucas. "Then considering you shall only be working three days a week from here on in I believe between us we shall have ample time to make all the arrangements."

Henri nodded and they fell into silence for a while. Henri's mind was like a whirlwind of thoughts, trying to figure out what to do and how to do it while at the same time having no idea what she needed to consider for a wedding.

Before the New Year huh?

"December."

"Pardon me?" Lucas asked, frowning bemusedly.

"December. Let's get married here in December."

A slow smile crept across Lucas' face as Henri scribbled down the word December on her pad of paper. "December it is my dear." He affectionately brushed his knuckles across her cheek and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"I think before we do anything else it might be a good idea to see about getting a priest? And getting some help with regards to what we need to think about."

"Most certainly. Might I suggest speaking to Mrs Fawley about a priest? She will no doubt have some contacts and recommendations."

"Good idea." Henri stood up and walked out of the room intent on going to the fireplace in Lucas' study, the only fireplace with an active floo now they had their muggle servants staying at the house. She paused in the doorway and looked back at Lucas. "What are you going to do?"

"I am going to do some research into wedding planning." Lucas said and Henri saw him pull his iPad towards him.

October 11th.

Lucas' idea of researching wedding planning turned out to be booking an appointment with a wedding planner. So, not 4 days after getting engaged Henri found herself sitting next to Lucas in the Wedding Planner's office in the Hamptons. The Wedding Planner had made a few pleasantries then asked if they had any ideas already for what they wanted.

"We have a priest booked to carry out the ceremony at our house on the 27th of December." Lucas helpfully informed her and Henri could see the delight in his eyes when the Wedding Planner, a Miss Maria Sparks, looked stunned speechless.

"Ab...wha...wow that's so soon! And you're only just starting to plan it?" She asked with amazement.

"We are only these four days engaged." Lucas admitted and Maria's jaw dropped further looking between the pair of them before swallowing nervously.

"Right I see. Well, you don't believe in waiting to be sure do you?"

"We are perfectly sure Miss Sparks. I am afraid I follow some strict traditions and courtship rules. Now our courtship has concluded I wish to be married as soon as possible." Lucas explained and Maria nodded dumbly as if she knew exactly what Lucas was talking about. She took a small sip of water then seemed to slide into her formal business woman facade.

"Okay then." She grabbed a pen from her pen pot and pulled a folder towards her. "What we do with an initial interview is make some notes about a broad view of what it is you want in the wedding; like colour schemes, choices of bridesmaids, groomsmen, a rough estimate of guests, timescale for planning and preparation. Things like that. Just rough, basic ideas. Then, once you have had a thing about it and narrowed down you come and see me again and we talk through what is possible to incorporate into those schemes, how you could make the wedding individual to you and slowly with more meetings we get into the real nitty gritty parts of the wedding planning."

"Okay." Henri agreed and looked to Lucas hoping he thought this was okay too. Lucas nodded and raised his eyebrow at her. Henri shrugged and looked back at the woman.

"Are you sure?" She asked to check.

"Yes." Henri said. "I have no idea how to plan a wedding and ordinarily I would ask my friend because she knows everything but she is on her honeymoon at the moment and nobody knows that I'm even engaged yet because I didn't want to take the spot light off of Hermione."

Maria nodded sagely and then between them they started making notes.

"What colours did you have in mind?"

"I don't know." Henri said feeling incredibly silly.

"Okay, do you have a favourite colour at all? The wedding is in December so it's better to choose darker colours as opposed to pastels and bright summery colours but if that is what you want then it's always possible to incorporate it." Henri felt like she was floundering and looked to Lucas to see if he had any idea. He looked back at her with the same expression she was sure was on her face. Colours...she didn't know anything about what colours she liked. She liked to wear black a lot and jewel tones looked good against her black hair. A colour scheme for a wedding though.

"Let me ask you a different question then, we can come back to that later." Maria said and looked down the piece of paper in front of her obviously to choose what her next question should be. "Have you chosen a wedding dress yet?"

"No I haven't. I haven't even looked." Henri felt her face heat up slightly. She had no idea what she was doing. She looked down at her lap and twiddled with her ring. She had no knowledge of weddings, just that the bridesmaids rarely liked their dresses, grooms apparently didn't get much of a say and there was usually a lot of hanging around, waiting and boredom until you got to the party afterwards. Henri sighed and continued running her fingers over the emeralds and diamond. There was also a lot of tradition swamping marriage. Henri didn't know what half of those traditions were but she didn't want to just follow somebody else's ruled. She wanted her own style; she didn't have a personal style except to jump right in head first and pray for the best. The diamond caught the light and Henri smiled as if sparkled.

She sat up straight and lifted her head to look at the Wedding Planner who was going through different wedding dress shops that had links with the company she worked for.

"Emerald." Henri said and both Lucas and Maria turned to her. She blushed in embarrassment at having interrupted Maria speaking but she steeled herself up and carried on. "I want the colour emerald at the wedding."

"Oh for your eyes? That's a lovely choice."

"No not for my eyes." Henri rolled her eyes at herself. "Well yes partially because of my eyes. But also because it's the colour of Lucas' birthstone and it's the colour he chose for my engagement ring."

"Really? May I see?" Henri held up her hand with the ring sparkling on it. Maria leaned in and peered at it before cooing.

"Oh that's a beautiful ring! Emerald it is then." Maria said and gushed over the ring once more. Henri took a deep breath and looked to Lucas before continuing to speak, everything on her mind rushing out in one huge garbled speech.

"He chose platinum because it represents longevity. I want that theme to run through the wedding too. Long life, good health, bright, ever green...things like that. I would like the wedding to be fast paced with no chances for the guests to get bored. Weddings are always fun after the formal bits are out of the way. I want formality, Lucas' life has been steeped in tradition, but I want it fast paced or something bright incorporated into the wedding, even if it's just lots of little things for the guest to look at in case they get bored with the formalities."

"All of those are excellent ideas." Maria said as she scribbled things down. Henri looked to see if Lucas approved and he nodded, eyes shining brightly.

"I would like everybody to be able to see as well. In Ron and Hermione's wedding people sat in rows and the people at the back couldn't see. I don't want that, I would like them all to be able to see, that way they won't be bored."

"Okay, a brilliant idea there. Anything else?"

"Bridesmaids..." Henri blurted. "They always hate their dresses no matter what and they always look the same. Well none of my friends are the same or look the same. If I'm having a colour scheme for the wedding I would like the bridesmaids to be able to choose any dress they like as long as it keeps in with the colour scheme."

"We haven't got much of a colour scheme yet besides emerald." Maria pointed out.

"White." Lucas said and reached out for Henri's hand. "Emerald and white, or perhaps emerald and silver. Obviously the white should not clash with Henrietta's dress but that's another colour for you to consider."

Maria scribbled that down too and Henri squeezed Lucas' hand.

"Okay then, so we have something here. And you obviously have an engagement ring, have you thought about wedding bands?"

"I have one in mind for Henrietta, as for myself I have not considered it."

"I see. Well, how about I give you a small list of things to consider and you go away and think about it for a while. In the meantime I shall begin to compile a few things based on what you have told me. That way when we next have a meeting we shall have things to discuss?"

"I believe that sounds like the best step forwards at this point." Lucas agreed.

"Okay then. When are you available for an appointment?" She asked and started flicking through her diary. "Considering how close the wedding is I don't think we should make it a complete week, how about in five days' time? That will take us to Wednesday? Is that acceptable? I work quite late on Wednesdays so I can meet you around your work commitments."

"Henrietta's new job will not start for another few weeks and I am unrestricted with my time." Henri knew Lucas was bending the truth a bit, he wasn't unrestricted for time but he had told her just that morning that nothing was more important than the wedding so everything else could be arranged around it.

"Perfect. How about an early morning then or a meeting at about four o'clock?"

"Nine thirty on Wednesday is preferable." Lucas said then looked at Henri. "Would you agree my dear?"

"Yeah that's fine."

"Excellent, right you are all booked in. This is a list of things I would like you to consider. Considering the time frame I believe it would be a good idea to start hunting for a wedding dress." Maria nodded towards Henri. "I think it's also a good idea to write down some of the things you feel about each other and some important characteristics or personality traits that are very important about yourselves that we might be able to bring into the wedding somehow."

Maria rattled off a few other things, all of which she typed up and then printed out giving both Henri and Lucas a copy of them. When Henri left the office her head was buzzing with thoughts and things to think about...she couldn't even snatch one from the thin air the thoughts were whizzing so fast. It was like having a head full of snitches!

"I hadn't thought there would be so much to think about!" Henri muttered quietly to Lucas as he moved to stand next to her. He placed his hand on her lower back and pressed a small amount of reassuring pressure there.

"Yes, I hadn't quite anticipated so many either." He said and she offered him a weak smile.

"I don't think she thinks we are serious." Henri shared her concern and Lucas drew her close, tilting her chin up and hypnotising her with his warm blue-blue eyes.

"Her thoughts on the issue are unimportant. We know we are serious, and that is all you should concern yourself with my dear."

"Hm okay." Henri hummed and stretched up for a kiss which he happily obliged her with.

October 16th.

Henri was upset. Very upset. They had been back to the wedding planner earlier and despite having made headway on some of the plans they were still uncertain about what they wanted. Henri hadn't been able to find a dress although she hadn't looked very long because when she told each shop she looked in that she was getting married in December they had thought it was the year after...then they had almost told her off for leaving it so late. She was completely disheartened by the whole experience.

"Come my dear, it cannot be as bad as that."

"No it's not, but I'm not really in a mood to be rational right now." Henri muttered, not meeting Lucas' eyes. "I'm going to go to my room."

"Alright then, my dear. I shall see you for dinner."

Henri nodded and walked past him.

In her room she found some peace and calm, though not a lot. She couldn't escape her thoughts at all. She had no doubts about marrying Lucas but she had all the doubts in the world about what they were planning for the wedding. The wedding planner had almost been feeding her ideas and while they were all really nice ideas they weren't Henri...and they weren't Lucas either. Maybe it was because they were all muggle ideas? The wedding had to be sympathetic to muggles and have no obvious signs of magic but Henri really wanted magic to be there. It was a part of her and it was what she wanted.

Henri sighed. But now she was making it all about her, and not about them. She rubbed her forehead and crossed to her window. She curled up in the window seat and looked out over the grounds. They were holding the ceremony on their grounds. Not an idea the Wedding Planner had liked because it would be winter and the guests would freeze. Henri knew they could put up fires and magical enchantments to make sure the guests stayed warm. Henri didn't know much else though and it was winding her up.

She hadn't asked the girls she wanted as bridesmaids if they were available or even if they wanted to do it. The Wedding planner had suggested having about 5 or 7 bridesmaids because the venue was large and with more bridesmaids it would make the wedding party seem less insignificant against the back drop. Henri hadn't wanted that many; who would she ask? But then she had settled for Hermione, Bibi, Tori, Ginny, Fleur, Mia and Victoire. But then with all those people in the wedding party who was going to attend the wedding?! Nobody! They had sent an invitation to Dante, Aster and Lulu but all they had received back was a 'Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. We won't be attending'. Henri had seen how hurt it had made Lucas and had cursed Dante mentally...what she wouldn't do to get her hands on the wretch.

Henri wandered across her room and picked up the wedding folder. She flipped through the numerous pages and at all the ideas Maria had put forward for it. There were so many and Henri didn't like a single one of them more than a brief admiration for the creativity. She threw it down onto her sideboard.

She didn't want to think about it anymore!

Authors Note: Oh the stresses of planning your big day.

If you want to see Henri's ring just take out the spaces in the link below. Imagine instead of saphires there are emeralds. You can also have a sneak peak at the wedding ring which is the third picture in the group of three at the top right hand side of the page.

www. tiffany. co. uk/ Engagement /Item .aspx? GroupSKU= GRP10042#f+4 /1001/0/ 3001/0/3001