Author's Notes: This was one of my favorite chapters of this entire story to write, I hope you enjoy as much as I have.
Harry Potter doesn't belong to me, I'm just borrowing his world.
Chapter Three
The morning of the wedding, Heather snuck out of Ron's bedroom and down the stairs to the first-floor landing. Both Ginny and Hermione were already up and waiting for her in the room they shared. It had been decided that Heather would creep out of the house before anyone could wake up, after Hermione had transformed her into her disguise, and then "arrive" as Heather Weasley, a very distant cousin who had been abroad for the last few years. Hermione sat her down on Ginny's bed and began to modify her features, muttering under breath while waving her wand across Heather's face. The girls had blocked the mirror, so Heather had no idea what she looked like under Hermione was done. When she stood up, she had to touch her face to for brain to register that the girl staring back out of the mirror was actually her. Her hair, which now came down to her shoulder blades, had the same shade of fiery red as the rest of the Weasley's. In fact Heather thought she could pass quite easily as Ginny's older sister. Looking at herself, Heather was reminded strongly of the photo album she had stashed in her rucksack that Hagrid had given her after her first year, full of pictures of her parents.
"I…I look like my mum" she whispered; her voice full of emotion.
"You're beautiful." Said Ginny, resting a hand on her shoulder.
Tearing her eyes away from her reflection, Heather began to change into the clothes that had been set out for her, repeatedly turning to look back into the mirror as though this were a dream that would suddenly fade. It wasn't an entirely new experience to change clothes in the same room as her friends, there was just usually a wooden stall hiding her from view. Treating her as they would any other girl, Hermione and Ginny got dressed without embarrassment, though they did giggle good naturedly at Heather's embarrassed shyness.
As this was her first day getting to completely be a girl, Heather had decided to enjoy it despite her nerves. On top of her bra and knickers, she had selected a teal t-shirt with a V-neck that showed just a hint of her breasts, and a pair of jeans that gripped her legs and bum just right. With Hermione's help, they charmed a pair of earrings to clip to her lobes and she chose one of the many necklaces that Hermione had given her years before.
Once dressed, Heather pulled on her invisibility cloak and crept down the stairs quietly to the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was waiting for her and silently opened the front door, letting her out into the yard. Heather waited invisibly for half an hour, reveling in the feeling of her body. Her hands kept shaking with pent up nerves. This would be the first time that she would truly be a girl around people other than her friends, even though most of them wouldn't know who she was. When her watch chimed eight o'clock, she ducked behind Hagrid's tent, after checking to make sure she could hear his snoring, shouldered the bag that Hermione had given her filled with her own clothes, and pulled off the cloak. Walking nervously yet purposefully up to the door, she knocked.
It was a very strange sensation to be introduced to people she had known for years, including her three best friends. Enough of her mannerisms were the same that those who knew her well picked up on what was going on quickly while those who didn't were completely in the dark, but no one treated her strangely for it. Heather spent most of the morning with Ginny and Hermione, who had taken it on themselves to "make sure this distant cousin felt welcome." Fred and George, who had picked up on it instantly, seemed to find it extremely entertaining that 'Harry' was a girl, and often bowed to her when they met her around the house, calling her "Milady" as they tried to kiss her hand. By noon, the only people inside the Burrow who were still unaware of her identity were the Delacours, Gabrielle, and Charlie, mostly due to the fact that he was still sulking about the painfully short haircut that Mrs. Weasley had given him the night before, and wasn't seen before the wedding. After a small lunch, Heather disappeared upstairs with the other girls to get ready. When she came back down in her new dress, the twins wolf-whistled loudly, which Mrs. Weasley was quick to admonish them for while beaming at Heather.
At three o'clock Heather was standing outside the marquee admiring how the fabric of her dress felt on her legs and doing her best not to fall flat on her face. She hadn't worn high heels before, and though Hermione and Ginny had done their best to teach her, she had to try very hard to make as few movements as possible. She was keeping Ron, Fred, and George, who had been volunteered by Mr. Weasley to act as ushers before the ceremony, company. When the guests began to arrive, Heather's nerves flared but quickly subsided. Having become so used to being an object of interest to practically everyone in the wizarding world, it was refreshing to see the guests' eyes merely sweep over her face rather than looking intently for her scar, though several times she thought she saw a few boys checking her out.
"Wotcha, Harry." Said a quiet voice as she watched Fred leading a group of very pretty cousins of Fleur to their seats.
"How'd you know it was me?" asked Heather. Tonks and Lupin were the next two in line, waiting for the return of one of the boys. Lupin was gazing at her closely with an expression Heather didn't quite understand until she remembered just how much she resembled her mum right now.
"Molly said you'd be the pretty one in the green dress." Said Tonks, winking at her. "If you ask me this is one of the best disguises I've ever seen on someone. You look so natural."
Heather blushed, "Well, thanks."
As they were part of the casual security detail, Tonks and Lupin didn't sit but stood towards the back in a place where they could see everyone who entered the tent, hands in their pockets. Scattered around the marquee were other Order members, doing their best to make small talk and not look too conspicuous. Several times Heather caught Lupin watching her, that same look on his face. Every time it happened, she would turn red and look away quickly.
More guests arrived, forming a procession at the entrance to the marquee. Luna and someone that Heather could only assume was her father appeared a short time later, both dressed in painfully bright yellow outfits.
"Hello, Harry." Said Luna without hesitation to Heather, her father too distracted by conversation with the next person in line to hear what his daughter had said.
"Err, I'm Heather." She said quietly, looking around to see if anyone might overhear them.
"Well, that certainly suits you better than Harry! It's nice to see you're not hiding yourself anymore." Luna stated matter-of-factly, making Heather's jaw drop. Blissfully unaware of the impact of her statement, Luna continued on to say something about the Weasley's garden gnomes before passing into the tent with Ron and her father. By the time Heather had recovered, most of the guests had been shown to their seats. As the line dwindled, Hermione arrived wearing a very beautiful lilac dress with matching shoes. Ron complimented her, and she smiled.
"You look vunderful" said a voice behind Hermione.
One of the last people in line, Heather saw Viktor Krum resplendent in robes of a deep crimson staring down at Hermione. The years since they had seen each other had been kind to him, Heather noted. His face had matured and he had grown a black beard around his chin. Ron's ears went pink at the sight of him, and he took a good deal of time inspecting Krum's invitation as though he expected it to be a forgery. Heather took it on herself to guide Krum to his chair, so as to get him away from Ron.
The wedding was truly beautiful, thought Heather as she watched Fleur walk down the aisle a short time later. As she was masquerading as a distant cousin, she was seated about halfway back on the groom's side, very near to wear Tonks and Lupin were standing. The same wizard who had spoken at Dumbledore's funeral officiated the ceremony, which seemed much shorter than Heather thought muggle ceremonies were supposed to take.
As the bride and groom retreated up the aisle, followed by their guests, chairs began to float up into the air and rearrange themselves around tables before settling back to the ground, leaving a large open dance floor in the middle of the pavilion. The sides of the tent vanished creating an open sided canopy looking out onto the sunlit garden and orchard. Long tables of food appeared on one side, opposite the band which began to play. Not entirely sure of what to do, Heather migrated towards Ron and Hermione as waiters were began to circle with trays of drinks, which were very welcome on this warm afternoon.
They sat down at a table with Luna towards the back of the tent. She didn't stay long, preferring to go dance by herself in the middle of the golden dance floor. To Ron's disgust, Krum took her vacated chair. He wasn't the only one who was upset. It seemed that Krum had had a row with Xenophilus Lovegood about the symbol he was wearing around his neck. Krum claimed it was Grindlewald's mark, the dark wizard Dumbledore had defeated fifty years ago. Wanting to get his girlfriend away from someone he clearly saw as a threat, Ron scooped up Hermione and led her onto the dance floor. After Heather tried to explain the eccentricities of the Lovegood's, Krum relaxed. He began to tap his wand against his thigh in time with the music, with connected the dots in Heather's mind with a rush. Gregorovitch had made Krum's wand, Ollivander had said so during the weighing of the wands three years ago. Viktor in turn left after a few silent minutes and asked Ginny to dance.
The afternoon passed on quite enjoyably into dusk. Heather made small talk with several Weasley family members who accepted her as one of their own by default. After standing for several hours, her feet and ankles were ready to give out on her. Collapsing at a table without paying attention to who was already there, she recognized the older wizard sitting across from her as Elphias Doge, member of the Order of the Pheonix. According to an article that had appeared in the Prophet a week or so before, he had been a lifelong friend of Dumbledore and, she remembered suddenly, had been one of the guard who came to retrieve her from the Dursley's before her fifth year.
"Mr. Doge?" she asked quietly and the old wizard looked up at her with a small jump, "I'm Harry Potter."
"My boy," he said, fluttering his hand over his chest to recover, "I'm honored. I was told you were here but…" he paused and gave Heather a once over, "never expected that you were who you are."
"That was sort of the plan" grinned Heather. "Mr. Doge, I read the article you wrote about Dumbledore…"
For the next ten minutes they talked about the headmaster, Doge fondly reminiscing about their schoolyard friendship and insisting that Heather ignore anything that Rita Skeeter had to say. Elphias loudly denounced the woman and her attempts to get him to talk about his lifelong friend. At one point he loudly shouted her name, garnering the attention of Auntie Muriel who happened to be passing. Without invitation, she swung a chair around, quite a feat for a woman of so many years, and joined the conversation. What had been a pleasant chat quickly soured. Muriel loved Rita Skeeter and was quick to trample over any argument Doge made in Dumbledore's defense.
"Excuse me, but you look like you'd like to dance." Came a voice from above Heather. Looking away from Muriel and doing her best to hide her shock, she saw Charlie Weasley smiling down at her. Heart fluttering, she nodded and took his hand, letting him lead her onto the dance floor. He put his arm on her waist and started to lead her around the floor with only the slightest clumsiness. He wasn't as tall as some of his brothers, Heather's eyes roughly level with his nose while wearing heels. She thought he looked very strange with his new hairstyle.
"I figured you needed saving from that old bat" he said, grinning down at her.
"And what makes you think she didn't need to be rescued from me?" Heather retorted, surprised at how even her voice managed to remain.
"Fair point." Charlie chuckled, "I'd just rather dance with you than her if it's all the same to you."
"Well, at least you have good taste then." Heather answered, going slightly pink. As far as she knew Charlie still had no idea who she was, though that didn't seem to matter very much to her in this very moment.
"We met this morning, right? Heather, wasn't it?"
"That's right. We're distantly related I think." Heather lied smoothly. Actually, it was probably true. Most Pureblood families were related to each other in one way or another.
"The hair kind of gave that away," laughed Charlie.
"Don't have a problem dancing with a relative?" she asked.
"Nah, Mum keeps trying to set me up with daughters of her friends. I'm hoping that if she sees me dancing with you, she'll give up."
"Smart move" Heather remarked, wondering just what Mrs. Weasley would think at the sight of them.
The song ended, and Heather clapped along with the rest of the guests. The band struck up a waltz next and Heather let Charlie lead her off again. Having only danced once in her life before, she felt extremely nervous, added to which was her fear of falling on her face wearing these heels.
"So, come here often?" Charlie asked after silence had fallen between them for a few minutes.
If only you knew thought Heather grinning, "No, this is my first time. I don't live in England."
Before Charlie could answer, this song ended as well and a call went out for the best man to come drink with Hagrid. Grinning sheepishly, he bid farewell and left her in the middle of the dance floor. As the band started up again, Heather saw Ginny dancing with Lee Jordan, shooting her a look of pure mirth over his shoulder. Heather's cheeks went bright red and she tried to duck off the floor. Before she could reach the safety of a chair however, Fred Weasley swooped out of nowhere so quickly he might have apparated and grabbed her by the hand. "Shall we dance, Milady?" he asked, dragging her back onto the floor.
Where Charlie was steady and conservative with his dancing, Fred was characteristically the exact opposite. Heather wasn't sure if he tipped off the conductor before grabbing her, but the band had struck up a rather jazzy number which Fred danced too with exuberance. He spun, twirled, and dipped Heather in a flurry of movement. At first, she feared the acrobatics she was being put through would land her on her bottom, but after Fred caught her deftly during a surprise dip, she realized that he was far more in control than her looked and she began to relax. As the song ended, Fred set her back firmly on her feet, looking breathless. She should have seen it coming, but just as Fred bent down to kiss her hand, George appeared over his shoulder, intent on outdoing his twin's antics and pulling Heather along for the ride. If it were possible, the next song was even peppier.
Half an hour later Heather finally reached the safety of a chair, vowing to turn down anyone else who might attempt to get her to dance. High heels are a menace she thought to herself as she rubbed her feet and ankles. As cute as they looked, they were, in this very moment, Heather's least favorite aspect about becoming a girl. Hermione appeared a short time later expressing a similar sentiment. Heather had just started to tell her what Muriel had said about Dumbledore growing up in Godric's Hollow when a bright silver shape soared through the open pavilion and settled in the middle of the shocked guests. All noise ceased as the lynx opened its mouth and spoke with the slow voice of Kingsley.
"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour has been killed. They are coming."
After a very pregnant pause, pandemonium broke out. Guests began to dissaparate as the wards around the Burrow failed. Heather grabbed Hermione's arm and they both dived into the crowd searching for Ron. Heather cast curses at several Death Eater's who appeared at the edge of the canopy, taking down at least two. Suddenly, Ron was there and Hermione had spun on the spot, pulling them into oblivion.