Disclaimer: Own nada.
Hello everyone,
I would advise you to brace for a long note containing explanations after explanations after complaints. Oh yes, also my life in the next three to four weeks in great detail. As I have noted in my previous note, my school ends in mid- to late May. In most schools that I know of, that means teachers giving out assignments one after another cramming as much knowledge as possible into students' poor exhausted brains.
My list of work: 1) Dance final – lovely choreographing project; 2) Spanish Oral final – need to write own story and memorize as well as make props; 3) Comparative Politics essay due on Wednesday, a test on Friday, oh yeah, and the rest of the curriculum to drill in my head; 4) English literary analysis essays – I have a slight idea of what they are, now as for me writing a good one? Ha! 5) Model UN papers that need revising; 6) Research for Model UN . . . grr.
Of course, I also have to study, study, STUDY! Two Advanced Placement tests coming up in two weeks followed by finals. Don't you just love end of term season?
Well, the point is: I have no time from now to May 21st, which leads to no updates. So to be nice and being lethal to my sanity (too much stress is bad), I have a eight word pages chapter. I shall try to have the next chapter as soon as possible. To tell the truth, I am getting tired at the absence of the wedding. Honestly, I wonder why I chose to write weird romance-ish stories considering I have no experience whatsoever in anything like that. But thanks you for putting up with me, and your support.
Sincerely,
Omni
~author who is looking for a booster package for a brain, and 30 hours in a day~
~*~*~
"Uh, which one is which?" a dark haired young man near Ginny's age asked looking between Harry and Draco. Ginny's nerves tightened and prayed for the superiors to have mercy on her and Aurora. Things were not going to be easy. Now first of all, explain who is the actual groom – who is the man marrying Aurora.
Chapter Thirteen: Oh the Humanity!Ginny and Aurora shared a look of reassurance; one of those private inside-joke type of action that everyone noticed, but could not understand. Both ladies prepared each other for upcoming questions that would make even the most suave defense falter. Though for Ginny, the look Aurora had sent her was enough to make her falter. The secret upturn on the corner of her best friend's lips meant she had something up her sleeves. The twinkle in the dark colored eyes didn't really comfort Ginny either. The coloring of Aurora's eyes had seemed darker in the semi-lighten room making the twinkle somewhat threatening. During the entire explanation to Aurora's cousin – the person who had asked the ultimate question – Aurora had been giving Ginny subtle hints at a short meeting as soon as possible, perhaps when distributing drinks as the first question was asked before anyone was even seated.
"So you had a crush on Harry while you were in Hogwarts, and now you are engaged to your ex-crush's nemesis?" asked Aurora's cousin, Mike, after the long chronicle of life at Hogwarts.
"Gah! No," Aurora answered. Her frustration was quite evident since she spoke with her hands. The cutting movement and the fact that her hands were hovering too close to her cousin's neck, head, or hair were as clear as a beacon in showing what the female auror felt. The rest of the guests, Sirius, Remus, Carrie -- Aurora's other cousin, and of course, Harry and Malfoy got a clear message if they were not careful, a misaimed hex might be headed their way.
"Okay, here goes again," Aurora began again. "I am getting engaged to Draco Malfoy, the boy you teamed up with at my graduation to change my hairstyle to La Creation de Medusa. I would never have liked Harry Potter, the Golden Boy of the wizarding world: because he was in Gryffindor. Slytherins have this humongous rivalry against Gryffindors. I liked to be different, but I wasn't about to date a Gryffindor. And of course, the fact that his glittering ego and being the target of my best friend's affections helped me along."
Aurora's response had shocked nearly everyone in the room. Most people were surprised at the blatant announcement of Ginny liking Harry. It was quite obvious to the world that the Weasley girl and Harry had something special, but somehow those two were completely oblivious, that or they were in major denial. The obvious hiatus of the friendly status between Aurora and Ginny was shocking as well. The two girls were close enough to be sisters, and they had kept all of each other's secrets. This breach of trust although not very harmful – the only harm was perhaps Harry bursting a few capillaries on his cheeks and Ginny's complexion looking too ghostly – had changed the friendship between the two temporarily. The little announcement probably decreased the little amount of Ginny's patience for her friend on the subject of this crazy arrangement.
Sirius and Remus were a bit shocked at the big announcement in that their little Harry might not be so little anymore. After all, it isn't everyday their godson can turn so red and receive the news that a very pretty girls liked him. Before anyone could go on, Aurora had continued.
"Got it?" Mike nodded as he absorbed all the information. "Hey wait a minute! Why didn't my parents come? I was under the impression that I only needed their consent, and they have already met Draco and became acquainted with him a long time ago." Carrie finally spoke up.
"Aunt and Uncle sent us to inspect your fiancé. Besides, shouldn't your cousins get to know your man better as well? After all, he will be apart of our family as much you being a part of his."
"But you have already met him as well," Aurora whined uncharacteristically. "Why am I going through this interrogation process from my own family?" Ginny had to step in to make sure her buddy wouldn't loose control since she had the funny sensation that she would later need support as well. Probably when the Weasleys decide to attack her and Sirius and Remus decide to be embarrassing. Just thinking about the letter made Ginny's cheeks burn. Oh well, at least my skin color might be restored to its natural pinkness.
"Well," Ginny began, "shouldn't we get them something to drink?" The diversion tactic didn't work as planned. The cousins had ignored her completely and were stilling bantering each other about something wholly different from the subject they began with . . . something along the lines of one person being unhappy about a really bad blind date.
The conversation between cousins went on. Ginny had observed a second time the craziness of Aurora's extended family. They Classens were nutty, but they were nowhere near the eccentricity of the Weasleys. With George and Fred making mischief, the world must life in caution.
"Oh Ginny, Fred and George said they will be joining us after the take care of their business. In fact, they will be here in probably a half an hour," Remus had added when the Classen guests had announced there might be more family members coming.
"Right, Ron and Hermione wanted to hear first hand as well, though I don't know why . . ." Harry trailed off. Ginny had the sneaking suspicion that Ron and Hermione were part of the scheme of a secret meeting and the whole tabloid frenzy.
"Ookay," Malfoy interrupted. He had been part of the amused audience. The frustration and various other emotions that were running high in the room somehow appealed to the odd Malfoy humor. "We probably should get drinks such so everyone will be comfortable." Ginny, Harry, and Aurora had nodded. "I have a feeling this will be a long meeting. If anyone is worried, the house has 5 bedrooms. That should be enough room for people to camp here for the night."
With that, the four Hogwarts graduates went into the kitchen to fix drinks and pastries.
"What was THAT?!" Ginny shouted in a whisper at Aurora. "What do you mean by the whole 'Ginny likes Harry' announcement?" Out of the corner of Ginny's vision, she noticed the hurt look on Harry's face, and turned to face the hero of the wizarding world. "Not that I have anything against you Harry."
The smirk on Draco Malfoy's face was annoying Ginny as well. The youngest of the six Weasley children could feel her Weasely Temper (patented by Draco Malfoy in Ginny's 5th year of Hogwarts) trying to burst out of the mental confinement. Aurora had obviously noticed how stressed out Ginny was and gestured to have a tiny talk with her future husband about a little something. The couple returned from their secret conversation a few minutes later to help Ginny and Harry with getting the juice, tea, and pastries ready.
Somehow that task of setting the pastries landed on the shoulder of Aurora and Ginny while the men had to fix all the refreshments.
"Sorry Gin," Aurora said quietly. "I was a little bit frustrated. I should have known Mum and Dad were going to send Mike and Carrie to annoy me. You know Mike; he finds joy in teasing me endlessly and being difficult. Besides, it isn't as if he didn't know you liked Harry. Remember how he had eavesdropped on our girl talk a year back with Gred and Feorge?" Ginny nodded and allowed for her best friend to continue. The short stroll down memory lane had calmed her frayed nerves a bit. "I know I shouldn't have done that, but Harry has a brain – thank goodness. He will analyze the situation and know what I said he wouldn't take seriously. He has worked with me enough to know me well. Even though I had said something that was true, Harry probably would deemed it as me being at a loss for something to shout back at Mike."
"Okay. I suppose. But I guess in a way, I should be happy you said it. A sort of weight is lifted off my shoulders. If Harry was smart life-wise, he probably would get a hint and maybe I won't have to make a fool of myself in front of him," Ginny continued more to comfort herself than Aurora. Certainly there were benefits to Aurora's outburst. Harry Potter might get a hint about romance just this one time.
"So what are Draco and Harry talking about anyway?" Ginny asked looking at the two men trying to seem inconspicuous but failing miserably. "If they act like that on your auror missions, I wonder how you guys have such a high success rate."
"Oh our success rate is high because though two can charm any dimwit female that is close to whomever we are looking for. I suppose there is an advantage of having two strikingly handsome men to work with," Aurora joked. "But anyway, would you mind to just be cozy with Harry tonight? One, I think we may have a seating problem so you might end up sitting in his lap. And two, you two act like that all the time. If you and Harry were across the room from each other, people will get suspicious. They might think you two are planning on eloping or something. Knowing Remus and Sirius, I think they'd make life miserable for you two."
The line of reasoning made sense to Ginny. It was true she and Harry were close. It wasn't unusual to find them together at parties and other large gatherings. Hey, even in their little meeting to plan a wedding ended up with Harry dancing quite close to Ginny.
"I don't know, Harry must agree with this as well. If one of us is uncomfortable, we will end up on opposite sides of the room anyway." Aurora didn't response right away. She was busy looking at the two men trying to get the drinks together.
"Well, it looks like an O.K. from Harry," Aurora observed. Ginny turned to see both Malfoy and Harry grinning with their thumbs raised. The next sound that came was tea and coffee being splattered all over the place. That was followed by quite a rant from Aurora.
~*~*~
Getting out of the kitchen was relatively accident-less. Aurora had kept on glaring at Harry and Draco, well mainly Draco, since they had spilled tea and coffee all over the floor and broke some – what Ginny believed – expensive porcelain cups. Aurora had grumbled the entire walk back to the guests about klutziness and spoiled aristocratic brats who are hazards to the world.
"Gee, Ari," Mike teased with an evil twinkle in his eyes, "you might be marrying an 'aristocratic brat' in a few months."
Ginny winced mentally when Mike bated Aurora.
"What do you mean 'might'?" Aurora declared as she clenched her teeth. Ginny chose to steer the hyperventilating woman to a seat.
"Okay, calm down Aurora," Ginny advised accenting each word by shaking her finger. "Okay, now what do you need me for?" Ginny asked turning to Sirius and Remus. As if on cue, Harry stepped behind Ginny and wrapped his arms around her once again for the night. Sirius was about to comment before the doorbell rang again. Aurora got up to open the door, but Ginny had got to the door quicker.
"Hello Ron and Hermione . . . and Fred and George," Ginny greeted when she opened the door. Harry was right behind her and opened the door further. Behind the twins, was Ron, followed by Hermione. Bill, and Charlie were a little ways back. Ginny greeted each of the newcomers with a hug while Harry shook their hands (besides Ron and Hermione, which he gave hugs to).
"Why doesn't everyone sit down?" Aurora said while she conjured a few more chairs. "This is getting to have a very big audience."
"You'll get practice for the press conference," Ron chirped in. Seeing the surprised looked on Aurora and Malfoy's faces he added, "Mum and Dad told us."
"If you already talked to Mum and Dad, why are you here in the first place?" Ginny asked becoming the whiny one. The earlier guests all laughed at the encore of lamentation.
"We just wanted to be sure," The Weasley brothers replied at the same time and took turns patting Ginny on her head. It was then did the redheaded men notice how close Harry and Ginny were. The couple in question's responses were not delayed either. Both cheeks flushed red; Ginny lost her pale coloring while Harry looked at though he might be turning purple soon.
"Are we getting another wedding soon?" Hermione teased with a smile. Both Harry and Ginny looked as though they wanted to shake their head vigorously, but the little hairs on the back of their neck told them Aurora and Malfoy wanted them either play along, or not do anything at all. They chose the former.
"See? Why can't you be like Ginny's relatives?" Aurora complained smacking her cousin on his head with the serving plate. Before the poor man could reply, Aurora aimed another hit at his head to shut him up. "Never mind. I don't want to know." Like any good cousin for an only child, Mike chose to be the overprotective and skeptical "brother".
"I just wanted to make sure you weren't making a mistake, you know. Remember when you said you will do anything to rid the world of evil?" The comment was another tactic of annoying Aurora, but everyone in the room tensed at the reminder of the past times. Although the Dark Lord was long gone, everyone was still sensitive to the events. Each person in the room had lost something in the long war. All had lost friends, family, and a piece of their personality.
The murderous look Aurora sent at her younger cousin could have killed him if Draco Malfoy didn't interrupt the period of tension.
"You mean you are marrying me to make sure I won't be the next 'bad guy'?" he teased. "Should I take that as flattery? I mean, every single time we go on a mission, you complain about my defense against dark arts skills. Well, if I was formidable enough for you to consider me the heir of all evil things, my talents shouldn't be looked down upon." The statement changed the atmosphere completely. Everyone was either laughing or smiling until their jaws hurt.
After the war, Draco Malfoy had become a more down-to-earth type of person. Although he still walked around as if he owned everything, his personality was less snobby, and if he did act snobby, 90% of the time he would have been joking.
"Don't flatter yourself, Malfoy," Harry cut in, "She had actually complimented me on my skills. That is quite a bit better than your treatment." As uncharacteristic as it may seem, Draco Malfoy stuck his tongue out and gave his fiancée a big kiss in front of everyone. Aurora's colour also turned bright red, looking like how Ginny had looked a few moments before.
"Oh shush you two," Ginny defended her momentary air-headed best friend. "You all know how Aurora is about public displays of affection. You especially," Ginny added pointing at Malfoy. The room booed in disagreement about "public". Ginny rolled her head and mouthed boys. Only Aurora's female cousin nodded in return, the men were busy throwing comments to Draco Malfoy and Aurora.
"Okay, I suppose your fan club is right about how your kisses render a girl senseless," Ginny said joining the teasing game. This had snapped Aurora out of her reverie.
"You know, maybe you two should kiss," Aurora dared. "We'll see if all the Potter fans were right about how his kisses are like." The roomful of people was enjoying this teasing game. The interested twinkle in everyone's eyes, even Harry and Ginny, was enough peer and elderly pressure on the Boy Who Lived to do the dare.
"If you say so," with that, Harry Potter placed a gentle kiss on Ginny's lips.
~ Ginny's Thoughts and Descriptions ~Everything was better than what people had guessed. There was the customary tingling sensation, but it seemed more magnified. But that's probably since this is my first kiss. Yeah, I know. Having a crush on Harry for that long has affected my life. Ginny's mind didn't do numb, but the wheels in her head was turning overtime. The questions "what exactly am I doing?" repeated over and over again in her head.
"Ginny, are you okay?" Harry whispered worry marking his tone since Ginny seemed stiff mentally. Oh right, I am not doing anything. The little reminder gave enough daring strength to bring her arms to circle Harry's neck. Just as she had done that, Ron's voice broke through.
"Alright. Okay. Now break it up!" the over protective brother shouted ending the little sweet moment. "Harry, I want to know that you are my best friend, but that doesn't guarantee you safety. No man may kiss my little sister unless I give him permission, got it?" the response from Harry was the tightening of his grip on Ginny.
"Don't worry Harry," Bill affirmed, "I am Ginny's brother too, and the oldest mind you. I give you permission to kiss my little sister as much as you want." Charlie nodded in agreement as well.
"But if you dare to hurt our little Ginny in any way, I can't say we won't tear you apart from limb to limb," Charlie added with the rest of the Weasleys in agreement.
"Sorry Harry," Sirius joined in with Remus backing him, "Remus and I will join with the Weasley brothers if you chose to act in any way un-chivalrous." Harry saluted his godfather and other fatherly figure.
"Oh that reminds me," Mike cut in. "If you dare to hurt my little . . . I mean, older cousin in any way possible, you won't just find your limbs apart. Aurora isn't the only person who can curse!" Draco Malfoy had enough sense to be the good little cornered ferret. Everyone else did an encore of the Weasley Agreement. So it was official. The family members of the women involved in this madness made the men involved promise officially to protect their female charge at all costs.
"So why what did you need to ask us?" Harry asked his "family members". Sirius and Remus only shrugged.
"It was to make sure you didn't marry some former Slytherin, though no offense intended. You are a true Gryffindor . . ." Harry nodded cutting off the lecture of upholding the family honor and blah.
"So what are you doing here?" Ginny asked her brothers and sister-in-law.
"I don't really know. Ron wanted to come and he dragged Hermione along. Hermione owled us to join too," Bill explained. "I wasn't about to participate in this, but Fleur persuaded me, something about being a responsible older brother. Sheesh, I think you are smart enough to choose a man, and Mum and Dad explained the situation quite well."
"I just wanted to make double sure. All the press coverage was quite convincing. I think a picture from Hogwarts was dragged out in one paper of you and Malfoy together," Ron defended his actions sulking. "Besides, I don't want the world to know that my little sister can just be dragged into a scandal and we won't do anything about it."
Ginny looked at her brothers and wondered how their logic could possibly go through. Hermione seemed to have noticed the thoughtful look, since she spoke up.
"Don't ask me. I just came because it is the job of the wife to support her husband's decision no matter how dumb." Draco Malfoy seemed to be happy about that and turned to his future wife causing Hermione to amend herself. "Her husband's generally non-harmful decision."
"Why do you people have absolutely no faith in me?" Malfoy dramatized. "I am auror, a darn good one too!"
"Yeah, and that's why your father had to bail himself out by offering money for reforming Hogwarts," Aurora retorted rolling her eyes.
"Okay, no fighting. We want to go to a wedding!" Harry called out stopping what was the beginning of a fight.
~*~ finis for now ~*~
Well, that's the end of the poorly plotted chapter. I just thought we needed to get something out. Anyhow, for a quick preview, I think I shall plot some G/H matchmaking from our beloved characters that actually have some luck in the area of the heart. Oooh, just lovely . . .
Now Thank-yous:
Ella-Wood: Thank you. At least I have sympathy. ^^
Lilia: Thank you! I'll need the luck. Considering I haven't shown up for track practice for two days due to academics overload, I hope my time won't go down. But as for why the explanation en masse, the usual sense of overprotective-ness, and of course, a chance to tease siblings, friends, cousins. Who would pass up that opportunity? (Don't ask me.)
Erica Evans: Hi! I'll get you the rest as soon as possible I promise. Just give me a month. At this point, I am five feet under with all my end-of-term stuff. You know what? I have not seen any one of those movies you suggested. Is that bad? Maybe that is why I am no romantic.
SailorChibi: Err, so am I, but our district is funny. I think it has to do with the extremely hot temperature in June and we don't have air conditioning at our school. This H/G is quite short too, but we'll see. They'll get their share in the next chapter. WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL MATCHMAKING!
Sara Lee: Hmm, succinct, to the point, was this chapter good enough?
Female Fred: This better?
Catalina Lpez: Uh, is this enough to keep your interest?
KeeperOfTheMoon: Longer, and I personally don't understand that movie.
Pudadingding: It is necessary. My school has a fine arts section. That is band, orchestra, choir, dance, art, etc. But all I have is three more weeks before I have my time to myself!
Aindel: Uh-kay! Thank you, but if I were to be an author, remind me to never write a strictly romance. I'll stick with the theme of life instead. ^^ So how did you sister's competition go?
Wytil: You never know . . . plots change quite often, hence plot twists!
Ashika: Thank you! I wouldn't call it excellent though . . .
jlo's-lil-baby: Thanks.
Saima: Oh he will. I think those two are going to need a LOT of pushing.
Well, that's all. Thank you for dealing with my odd piece of work. Believe it or not, I am somewhat embarrassed about this chapter – its content mainly. Oh well, please tell me what you think!
~Omni