"Oh, Darling!" Molly Weasley gushed when she saw her only daughter appear at the end of their front walkway.

Ginny responded with a tired smile, wondering how she was going to pull through the day without killing her mother. When she reached the front door, Molly caught her in a tight embrace. "The prodigal daughter returns!"

"Mum, please. I was just here a week ago."

"Try three weeks ago," her mother corrected. Had it really been that long? Now that she thought about it, it actually did sound right. "So where is this mysterious boyfriend?"

The Wicked Sisters lie sat on her tongue, but she couldn't bring herself to say it, even though it would have made her life a hell of a lot easier. Ginny escaped from her mother's grasp and moved into the house. "Oh yeah," she commented, trying to sound as aloof as possible, "he isn't coming."

"Ginevra," the scolding began almost immediately as Molly closed the door behind them.

"Yes Mum, I know it's a disappointment. I'm a disappointment. I've heard it before. Now where is that bugger?" she asked as she moved through the house looking for the brother of the hour.

"Ginevra," her mother called after her, clearly not happy.

"Hermione!" she called out far too loudly as she entered the kitchen and found Hermione talking to Fleur.

Hermione glanced up from her conversation. Her smile quickly turned to a puzzled frown when she saw Ginny enter the room with her mother as the only person on her trail.

"Ginevra, you told us he was coming. We have a place set for him and a seat saved for the ceremony."

Ginny's temper flared for what she figured would not be the last time of the day. "Yes, well, Mum, he isn't here."

Hermione gave her an understanding, sympathetic look which only made her feel worse.

"For heaven's sake, it's your brother's wedding! If things with this gentleman are as serious as you claim, then I don't understand why he couldn't come."

"Mum, please." She rubbed her temples and tried to keep from screaming. It was still so early in the day, and she didn't want to cause a large commotion before the wedding even began. Fleur stood as Ginny approached and the two girls embraced in a hug. Fleur's extra squeeze before she released Ginny didn't make matters better either, though she understood where Fleur was coming from. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of Molly Weasley's rampaging path when she got worked up. Ginny's hot temperament wasn't inherited from her father, after all.

"Will he be joining us later?" Molly pressed on.

"He. Is. Not. Coming." She ground her teeth together as she tried to find someone else to hug.

Luckily, a loud "Oi!" interrupted the ensuing argument and Ginny gravitated immediately towards it.

"Ron!" she exclaimed at the sight of him. She practically ran to him, grabbing him into a bear hug. "Do not let me out of your sight tonight or I swear Mum and I will come to blows," she muttered against his ear before she pulled away. "Blimey, you are looking good. Charlie is keeping you in shape out there doing whatever it is that you're doing these days."

"Well, I just finished telling Mum and Dad, but I'm actually hanging up my dragon hat."

"What?" Ginny asked, not sure if she had heard him right. She never thought it would have suited him well, but for the past four years he had seemed to enjoy it, and it had certainly kept his mind off of his loss of Hermione.

"On a whim, I tried out for Quidditch again, and I got a position with the Cannons, so I start training in a week."

"Well, fuck." Leave it to the other social outcast in the family to come home with amazing news. She wondered if it was too late to leave, before George caught sight of her. She could always wish him a lifetime of happiness when he returned from his honeymoon and she saw him at the shop. Ron gave her a queer look, and Ginny plastered a smile on her face. "By which I of course mean that is the best news I've heard all month. You'll have to come over to dinner when you're in town. I feel like we have so much catching up to do. And you'll have to drop by the shop when you next get the chance. You won't believe how much it's changed."

"Speaking of catching up and changes, where is this mystery bloke?"

Ginny pulled away and crossed her arms across her chest. She wondered who – Harry, George, or her mother – had blabbed about the boyfriend first.

"Yeah," she dragged out the syllable, "he couldn't make it after all."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes. So, as I said, do not leave me alone with Mum or wands will be brought out."

"I figured if there was anyone who could drag some poor bastard to one of these family shindigs, it would be you."

"Well, I can't hardly imagine who else in the family would even try. I mean, I will admit I had my doubts about Percy there for a while, but if Audrey is any proof… And where is your lucky escort for tonight?"

"Please, as if I would be daft enough to bring someone to this trial by fire."

Ginny looped her arm through her brother's. "Then solidarity of the Ya Ya whateverhood!" she exclaimed. "Now lead me to the liquor, my friend. We are about to become acquainted in the biblical way."

"I do hope you mean you and the liquor."