The Houses Competition (or THC)
House; Hufflepuff
Class; Herbology
Prompt(s) chosen.; Going on a hayride
Word Count; 546
Disclaimers/triggers (which would make it a high T - abuse, non-canon death); None
Harry could not take his eyes off of Ginny as the bride made her way down the aisle. She wore the finest white silk dress money could buy, blue petunias threaded into the hand-me-down veil, with hay clinging to the flowing material right up to Dudley's side.
His fiance noticed of course, and leaned over to scold. "Eyes up now, or your cousin might change his mind about inviting you," while fussing with the shoestrings that Teddy was still trying to subtly untie during the ceremony.
Harry chuckled but forced himself to do as asked, turning his eyes back to the woman who was as blonde as the betrothed. Vernon and Petunia were directly in front of him, no doubt thinking vile thoughts about their smiling and whispering nephew. Yet, neither were being loud enough over the course of the vows and blessings being bestowed, nor turned to acknowledge him any more now than they had the rest of the day; despite the fact Harry still suspected his Uncle thought he'd put Dudley up to this just to spite him somehow even after all this time. Harry had been just as surprised and pleased with the venue, let alone the invitation.
Meadow Dursley had insisted in her own right, and Dudley seemed to have fully agreed with the idea by going along with a plan of having their wedding back in the West Midlands, with all family attended on both sides. The smell of coal lingered in the air; Aunt Marge and Ripper were being even louder than Harry and Ginny. Luckily, the smell had been masked greatly by the strong earthy scent of hay from Meadow's family's barn as well as the feast the rest of the guests were now crowding towards once the line for gifts and congratulations also began queuing up.
Harry and Ginny didn't risk either at this exact moment, as Teddy had already started forgetting his promise to behave at the Muggle event in his restless mood. He'd begun flashing his natural light brown hair even lighter shades to match the straw and still tried to take his shoes off. Harry wrapped his arm around Ginny's waist and offered an alternative activity to get them away from the others.
Meadow's grandfather was surprised but delighted to see them coming for the hayride but was more than pleased to finish attaching the cart to their old horse and offering them a ride.
"Not a single bit of yelling has occurred yet!" Ginny tried to mock yell as if to make up for this lack, but fell into a chuckle as they trundled off, Teddy alternately attempting to bury himself in the pile of hay to play a game of peek-a-boo and too busy looking over the edge of the cart to hide properly to see the view, leaving them to sit on the lip and feel every jolt as they held hands and smiled. "I'm starting to wonder if you exaggerated how awful this was going to be."
"I'm just as surprised as you," Harry promised as he took in the rolling hills and low caves in the distance. "Was a nice gesture though. I'm thinking about returning the favor."
Ginny smiled and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "I'm not surprised."