Chapter 46 – Like It or Not
"Can you at least try to look happy? It's your wedding day for Merlin's sake!"
Grace and Remus were standing in a small room waiting for Tonks, while an old man shuffled through his papers. Remus was wearing a light blue shirt and matching tie (a present from Grace for his last birthday) and Grace was in a knee length pretty dress of the same colour with her hair pinned back.
"What if I'm making a mistake? I shouldn't be giving her false hope like this-"
"Remus, if I have to tie you to that alter, you are getting married today," Grace hissed.
The old man hobbled over with his walking stick. "Now young man" – Grace had to bite her lip to stop from laughing – "if you just check that all the information is correct and I will start the proceedings as soon as the bride is ready. Don't look so worried, there's really nothing to it."
"See Remus? Nothing to it," said Grace smugly as Remus glared at her.
"Ah, I think we have our bride," said the old man placidly.
Hastily, Grace smoothed out Remus' shirt before turning to the door. Tonks entered looking more radiant than Grace had ever seen her; it was like she was glowing with happiness. Glancing back at Remus and the dopey grin that was now plastered on his face, there was no doubt in Grace's mind that he was doing the right thing. And she couldn't have been happier for him. For both of them.
...
Days later, Grace was still staying at the Burrow. Despite Remus' protests, she had insisted that as newlyweds, they needed their alone time. She didn't mind; she liked staying at the Burrow and the fact that Fred and George were always popping around (usually for food) only made it better. She would have stayed at their flat but no one was allowing that to happen whether they were both over-age or not.
The Burrow was always alive with activity but with the impending wedding of Bill and Fleur as well as acting as headquarters for the Order, the house was busier than Grace had ever seen it. Occasionally, she would try to help but the safer option was usually to stay out the way. Between Fleur and Mrs Weasley, keeping out of the way proved difficult.
One afternoon, Grace was making centrepieces with Ginny in the kitchen. Grace had only come downstairs to find out what time the Order meeting was when she got roped into helping by Ginny who it turned out had been bribed into doing it by Mrs Weasley.
The young girl had spent most of the morning picking wild flowers from the garden and while she arranged them nicely, Grace was charming them so that they wouldn't wilt and made them glow with tiny lights for when it got dark. She was quite proud of herself and the charm was tricky so neither one of them was pleased when Fleur came in to complain that there were too many flowers in one of the vases and not enough lights in another. Resigning herself to pulling faces at Fleur whenever her back was turned, Grace waited until she had left the room before scowling with Ginny.
"She is a nightmare," huffed Grace, dropping her wand onto the table mutinously.
"I spent hours picking these bloody flowers," moaned Ginny.
"I wouldn't mind if she had given everyone more than a month's notice! She can't exactly complain!"
"I don't know what Bill was thinking of-" said Ginny just as the back door swung open.
"What I was thinking about what?" asked Bill sternly looking between them.
"Picking wild flowers for the centrepieces," covered Grace quickly.
"Yeah," Ginny backed up. "They are just not cooperating." The grumpy expressions on both of their faces as well as Ginny's still muddy shoes helped the white lie considerably and Bill softened.
"I know you're both doing your best with all this wedding stuff," he said kindly.
"Anything we can do and all that," said Grace half-heartedly. As much as she liked Bill, if Fleur came in and criticized one more thing, the wedding would be a bride down.
"Actually Grace, I did want to ask for one favour."
"If you're going to ask me to de-gnome the garden, you can think again. Your mum already tried but I'm not doing it – those things are vicious!"
Bill laughed. "No, no not that," he said. "I was going to ask you to sing at the wedding."
Grace's jaw practically hit the floor; she could see Ginny sniggering behind Bill's back. "Say again?"
"Well you're the best singer I know and on such short notice – it would really help us out."
"You don't want me," said Grace trying to wave the idea away, almost frantically. "I know a band and I'm positive if I wrote to them, they would-"
"Grace, I'm asking you," he said pointedly.
"Does Fleur know about this?"
"It was her idea," Bill replied, smiling because he could see that she was giving in. "Please, Grace? It can be your wedding present to us."
"Fine," she agreed moodily.
"Thanks Grace. It means a lot," he said before leaving to get changed for the meeting.
"Wait!" she called after him suddenly. "So these stupid flower things don't count as a wedding present?"
...
Impatiently, Grace waited for the meeting to start. It was her first one and she was eager for it to begin. When Moody finally arrived, dragging a reluctant Mundungus with him, an excited hush flooded through the room.
"Right everybody," Moody addressed the room gruffly. "As you all know, we are here to discuss how we are going to get Potter out of Surrey without He Who Must Not Be Named killing him. Surprisingly, Dung has a plan." Roughly he pushed Mundungus forward.
"Uh...yeah," he said nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "See I was thinking...if we can't apparate him out-"
"And the floo network is no longer an option," supplied Kingsley.
"Yeah...so if we can't do that, we'll have to fly him out," continued Mundungus.
"Wow – that's inspired," said Grace sarcastically.
"I weren't finished – if we fly him out...well there are some problems with that..."
"Like him having a giant target on his back, for example," Tonks interrupted.
"See, well...what if they don't know which one of us he is," said Mundungus.
Grace raised her eyebrows but she wasn't the only one confused by the plan.
"Dung – everybody in the wizarding world knows what Harry looks like," said Ron, rolling his eyes but Hermione gasped.
"You're talking about using Polyjuice Potion," she said.
Around the room, people started murmuring as Moody explained. "If we disguise some of you as fake Potters, the death eaters won't know which one is real. If all of the Potters fly in different directions to different safe houses, they won't know which way to turn."
"That's genius!" said Tonks, impressed.
"So, show of hands, who's up for volunteering?" said Moody.
...
Overall, it took four more gruelling hours to sort out the pairs, safe houses and means of transportation. Even though, Grace had gladly offered her home as one of the safe houses, she was, of course, the one causing the most problems.
She had been grouped with the protectors simply because the numbers were uneven and Moody point blank refused to let Mundungus be one. He wasn't giving in on the pairings so easily though.
"You are barely seventeen!" he growled. "If it weren't for the fact that we need as many people as we can get, I wouldn't let you go at all!"
Moody had conjured a chalkboard and all the names of the volunteers were paired on there: Harry and Hagrid, Ron and Tonks, Hermione and Kingsley, Fred and Arthur, George and Remus, Fleur and Bill, Mundungus and Moody. Grace's name kept swapping between the groups. She kept putting herself with Fred while Moody kept putting her with him.
"Look, we've agreed that the death eaters will be expecting Harry to go on a broom, right? And Hermione and Fleur hate flying so they are going on the thestrals," said Grace for the hundredth time. "Well I'm not a fan of flying either so if I go with Fred, he can fly and I can hex people."
"The group of three is the group that the death eaters will most likely go for – you are definitely not being a protector alone so you're coming with me," Moody replied.
"I'm going with Fred, like it or not," she countered stubbornly.
"Grace, that's a huge risk-" Remus tried to reason but Grace wasn't having it.
"Aren't we all taking a big risk? The whole plan is a huge risk! But I'm over-age now and, honestly, you can't stop me."
"Let her go with Fred," said Fleur. "I would simply hate not being with Bill."
Grace wanted to throw up at the sight of the soppy expression Fleur was giving Bill but she would not pass on an ally, even if it was an unexpected one. However, Moody was not backing down.
"Absolutely not!" Moody stormed. "Either you come with me or you are not going at all!"
"Oh yeah? And how exactly are you going to stop me?" asked Grace cockily.
"If I have to, I will personally tie you to the kitchen sink," he threatened.
Just as Grace was about to argue, Fred spoke up for the first time. He had been unusually quiet throughout the meeting and the arguments afterwards.
"Grace, you don't have to look after me," he said gently. "I'll be fine. We need to do what's best for everyone."
"But-"
"Go with Moody," he insisted. "Please?"
Grace sighed. "I don't know what it is with you Weasleys," she grumbled, sinking back into her chair and folding her arms crossly. "But for some reason, I can't seem to say no to you guys."
"Must be our dashing good looks," said Fred confidently.
"Or our charming personalities," added George.
"Maybe it's our razor-sharp wit."
"What about our-"
"Alright, alright, you win," said Grace, holding up her hands in defeat. "I'll go with Moody – but I'm sure as hell not flying on my own."
