Chapter 51: Plans
After the burial was over, Neville's Gran found us sitting by the lake. "Neville!" we turned and when she saw me, shock filled her face. "Aethna? What? How?" I stood and we walked over, joining her on the pathway. "I woke up, then came here. Neville told me what happened…" her face was worried as she looked at Neville and down at our joined hands, my ring back on my finger where it belonged. "I see…well let's go." "Go where Gran?" she smiled at us, shaking her head. "I guess we have a wedding to plan. Come along now." I grinned at Neville, she was coming around finally. We went to follow, but Harry, Ron and Hermione met us at the doors.
"Can we have a minute?" Harry asked, his eyes still red from crying, I nodded and Augusta left us to it. "It's good to see you again, Aethna. It's been a while." I nodded and gave a wave, making sure to keep my ring hand behind my back. No one need know just yet. I mean barely anyone knew about Neville and I dating. "I know this isn't the time or place, but I'm not sure when we will see you again." Hermione was saying and I knew it was going to be about the last time we saw each other. "Go ahead, ask away." I said, Neville giving my shoulder a squeeze, making Ron's eyebrows raise.
"Are you a vampire?" Hermione blurted and I shook my head, "Kind of. I'm half-vampire. Half witch. That's why I can be in the sun and eat normal food." I explained and her eyes shown she was curious about me even being alive. "Who did you kill at Neville's party?" Ron asked and I faced him, "My father. He wanted me to forget about being human and only be vampire. Wanted me to be with him and rule the world. I disagreed and have been in hiding since I was a girl. Dumbledore allowed me to come to school to promote my magical side. I ran away because my father found me and threatened everyone in the school. I finally faced him and I ended up winning the fight, so now I'm free to be myself without worrying about him dragging me back into the darkness."
I turned to Harry who was oddly quiet, "Anything you want to ask?" he was thinking but then looked between Neville and myself. I nodded, silently answering his question about if I was dating Neville. "No, all I know is that you helped us last year, and Neville speaks highly of you. That's enough for me." I smiled, at least he accepted it, but then again, he grew up away from magic. "How are you alive? Or are you undead? Do you age?" Hermione began to fire off questions and I blinked, I hadn't thought of some of them myself. "I do age, as you can tell. As far as I can tell, I'm living. But I can die just like a human I'm sure. I'm not immortal like other vampires."
She went to ask more, but Ron covered her mouth, with Harry waving us away. I waved and they noticed the ring on my finger, surprise filling all their faces. "Is that a-" Ron asked and Hermione moved his fingers, taking my hand in hers. "It is! Aethna, you're engaged? To who?" I blinked, was she dense? I took a step back and laced my fingers with Neville. They all got that and they all looked as if they just shit a brick out. "Oh yeah, we weren't planning on tell anyone until after we graduated…but seeing all this happening, we decided to not wait. So that's it…" Neville's face was red and I leaned against him, loving his sweet innocent side.
"But you aren't old enough?! You haven't even finished school!" Hermione said and I shrugged, "I mean, is there going to be a school when we come back? Who's going to be headmaster?" "Probably McGonagall, she was his second." "Well, still, we both plan on finishing school, it'll just be us having the same last name instead of different ones." Ginny and Luna came over, and Neville and I took the moment to excuse ourselves and hurry back to find his Gran. The trip home was quiet and it was a bit awkward.
When we got home, we followed her to the sunroom and all sat down, Neville and I sitting together on the couch and she took a chair facing us. "Are you both sure about this?" was her first question and we both nodded without a moment to think. "Okay…I disapprove with you both being so young. However in light of the things happening, I can see why you wouldn't want to wait. I'm assuming none of your family will be coming Aethna?" I blinked, I hadn't thought of that. My father's dead, along with my mother. None of my mother's family knew I was born, so none of them. "Perhaps Nikolaus…but that would be it. I have no other family."
She nodded and began to make a list of people from their family and how many would show. "Are you inviting your friends from school?" she asked Neville, who shrugged, "Harry and the others may come, but probably not a lot of people. I did hear something about Ron's brother getting married this summer so I'm not sure." "You're talking about doing this in a few months?!" her voice got shrill and Neville winced, I took his hand. "Whenever Neville wants to marry, we will marry. We don't even need a big wedding. Something small would be fine with me."
Neville's eyes met mine and he shook his head, "You deserve a beautiful wedding filled with family." "I don't have a-" "You do now." he cut me off, cupping my face with his hand. "Calm down boy, we have a lot to speak about." her questions seemed to never stop and finally Neville yawned and she sent him to bed. "Aethna, I want to ask you about the gown." I blinked, I hadn't thought about what I would wear. "I have his mother's dress packed away. We can alter it to fit you, if you would like. Make some changes to it to fit your style better." I was shocked, she didn't seem to accept me as a member of her family, yet was offering the dress her daughter in law wore…
"I'd love to wear it. I'm sure it's beautiful." she closed her notepad and stood, "Then I'll get started on this event. If I need anything else, I will let you two know. For now, get some rest. Dark times are upon us." I said goodnight and went upstairs, pausing at Neville's door, would he be asleep already? I turned and went into my own room and saw him cuddled in my bed, his face buried in my pillow. I giggled and climbed in after him, sliding into his arms and kissed his nose before dosing off myself. Then summer seemed to fly by, Augusta was like a whirlwind of planning and had myself and Neville doing so much we barely saw each other except for at night.
I was standing in a dressing room, holding the dress bag up to unzip it. "Need assistance in there?" the attendant called and I said no, taking the dress out carefully. My first time seeing it and I was surprised, it wasn't plain as I thought. I had seen photos of his mother and father and they did seem to be plain looking people. I pulled my clothes off and stepped into the gown, pulling it up. It was tight around my curves, I felt like I was going to rip the seams. It was long sleeves, very modest and had beautiful lacy designs along the edging. It fell to just above my calves, I guessed because I was taller than his mother. The layers weren't heavy, flowing as I moved, but I did feel stuffy in it.
"Come on out girl." I heard Augusta call and I walked out, letting her and the attendant see it. "Oh dear…" she said and walked over, looking me up and down. "I'm not sure if this is a good fit…" the attendant said as she was measuring my bust and height. "Can't we add some fabric?" they buzzed around me as I tried to breath, but it was so tight, I just wanted out of this. Finally the attendant asked me to take it off and give it to her. I did so gladly and joined Augusta at a place for lunch. "It did look nice on you, for being small." she said as she poured tea for us.
"Thank you. I'm sorry if I ruined it." she waved my apology away and looked around. "I didn't think I would ever be planning his wedding to be honest. Such a pudgy shy boy. None of us thought he was a wizard to begin with. But his uncle refused to give up and finally he shown his power. Now he is nearly a grown man and defending the innocent." she seemed to trail off, caught in her memories and I placed my hand on hers, she didn't pull away but looked back at me. "He is who he is because of you. You raised him to be the man he is. You should be so proud of him." "Just like his parents." she breathed and I nodded, knowing it was hard for her to talk about her son and daughter in law.
We ate in quiet, only her soft words about the wedding and what else we had planned for it. I told her that I never even thought about a wedding because of what I was, I never thought I would find someone to love me like Neville does. We were sitting back in the car on the drive home when she asked another question. "Are you planning children in the future? In many years hopefully." I was stunned, I mean I knew she knew we had been together, but that was something way different than starting a family. I realized I didn't know the answer.
I mean Neville and I had never been safe…I didn't think about getting pregnant. "Um…well I'm not sure if its possible…to be honest." her eyes pierced into mine, worried the Longbottom line with end with Neville. "Nonsense. You are half human, surely it is possible. But that doesn't mean to rush, finish school, get jobs, get fully prepared before thinking about children. I was merely curious." she wouldn't hear anything else as we returned and Neville was outside waiting for us. There was a stack of boxes behind him. "Gran, what is all this stuff?" he asked as we moved in inside. "Decorations for the wedding." "Why is it here?" "I just assumed it would be here, where had you planned on marrying?"
Neville seemed to pause, as if he had thought about it before. "Well…I had thought about the beach somewhere. Isn't that where mom and dad got married?" Augusta stopped and stared, "Yes…they did. But it was very small…and sandy. Most of the guest complained about the setting. It was beautiful, but not practical." I stood next to Neville, "If Neville wants to get married at the beach where his parents did, I support and would like that also. Is it too late to change it?" She let out a huff, but she shook her head. "I suppose not. But we must not delay. Get these boxes into the car, I need to make some letters to send."
We did as she asked with ease, I could tell how happy this was making Neville. I was hoping he would be surprised when I showed up wearing his mother's dress. She returned and shooed us away, telling us she would be returning by dinner and to make sure to practice our spell work while she was gone. Instead we left and went to the greenhouse, tending to the plants and enjoying our company. I figured it was as good a time as any. "Hey Neville, I wanted to ask you something."
"Sure, what is it?" he was laying across my lap, twirling my long hair in his fingers. "Were you ever worried about getting pregnant while we were sleeping together?" his fingers froze, as if he had never thought about it. "Aethna, are you saying you are pregnant?" fear flooded his face as he began to get up but I held him in place. "No, I'm not. It just didn't occur to me that we had been having a lot of unprotected sex…I was curious if you had not thought about it either." he settled back, his eyes still worried. "Well I wasn't before. Now I am." I chuckled and shook my head.
"Well don't be. I'm not even sure if I can get pregnant…being what I am." "Of course you can. Why would you say that?" "Well, I mean, my father was undead…so I'm part undead as well. Maybe I won't be able to have children. Does this upset you?" he shrugged slightly and pressed his face into my stomach. "I've got nothing to worry about. It's years before we are ready for kids…and then I'm sure it's going to happen. You worry about everything. Just be here with me for now." I sighed, knowing his brain was worried about what I said, he just didn't want me to see his worry myself.
Augusta took over all planning, not bothering to ask us much over the next 2 months. Ron had written Neville, telling us about the wedding of his brother and so we pushed ours up a bit, that way they would be able to come, and we weren't taking away from Fleur's and Bill's wedding. I was getting back to the dress shop with Augusta, who was informed that the alterations were finished. I stepped into the room and dressed, thinking I would be snug in the tight fabric, but it wasn't this time. I looked in the mirror, the witch had added some deep green silk and lace fabric at the bottom to make it longer, and sewn in the same into the sleeves so they flowed down beautifully.
The dress was let out to fit my curved body better, only adding some green silk to make it look like it was how the dress was originally made. Thankfully she trimmed the top with the same as the bottom, covering almost all my breast. My long mane of hair floated down and around like it was apart of the dress, I stepped out to show them and Augusta's breath caught. I turned and she seemed to like it as she dug a tissue out of her bag and dabbed her eyes. "I can adjust if needed." the attendant said, giving gentle tugs and pulls at the fabric. "And the veil?" Augusta asked after clearing her throat and the woman brought out a long veil that matched the dress, delicate green laces weaved into it. She placed it on my head, pinning my hair from my face. I stared at myself in the mirror, soon I was going to be walking down the beach to marry Neville…and I couldn't wait.