untitled

Author's Note: Last night at midnight there were only two paragraphs of Chapter Six, and I had been whining to everyone "I'll never write again, I'm sick of fluff." Apologies to those who were subjected to that and as always,thanks for your wisdom and patience. And to Ebony for her wonderful TIP Eleven. What a spirit lifter!!

It's a bit frustrating to write about a younger group, after reading the wonderful works of others who have the luxury of dealing with adult or near adult versions of the trio and their friends. However, I'll still attempt to show how they became those people. The worlds created by Lori, Cassie, Ebony, Penny and Carole continue to be my inspiration, even though I am not true to future events as they have written them. My continuing to post on FF.N should in no way be contrued as a lack of support for their actions.

HHEE Six - Ivy and Hermione's Surprise


Harry woke to the sound of high pitched voices, and scraping sounds. He looked across at Ron, and saw that he was also awake and looked just as startled and apprehensive.

"Well, the "big day" is here, and sounds like it's going to be worse than any of us expected," Ron said with a groan, sitting up and stretching.

" Yeah," replied Harry. "Makes you kinda never want to get married, doesn't it? But guess we might as well go on down and help. I have to admit, I kind of don't want to miss anything, even if we do have to follow Percy's "orders". Your mom and dad have been so.... cool about the whole wedding. I mean your mom's yelled a lot, but she isn't treating Percy like Mr. Perfect anymore, is she?"

"True, " said Ron with a wide smirk. "The whole mess has almost been worth it, seeing my family tell Percy how it's going to be. But as for getting married, it'll be different for us Harry. We won't be marrying some stuck up witch with nothing but work and her career on her mind. Even Hermione's changed. I'm not saying she'll marry either of us, but think about it... compared to Penny, Hermione is the Number One Party Girl of the magical world."

"And you don't know half of it," Harry said, before he thought, then felt his face redden. "Err, I mean, she's .... been interested in something besides books recently."

"Never mind, I've got an imagination," answered On, as he headed for the door. "You might want to watch that talking in your sleep when we get back to school though. You might shock Neville, and have Seamus and Dean setting up a recorder." Harry chuckled as Ron hurried out the door, ducking to avoid the pillow Harry had thrown hard after him.

Once they reached the kitchen, dining room and living room, it was either better, or worse than they had expected. Percy was bellowing about the flowers not looking the way he'd expected, and there were so many things cooking in the kitchen, Pots and pans were pushing each other around the stove, as if they were elbowing each other for space. A huge cake sat in the corner, decorated with candy fairies and bright yellow sunflowers.

" We couldn't get sunflowers, Percy," Mr. Weasley was saying, wearily, and sounding as if he was repeating himself. " The daisies will have to do, you know we told you not to expect perfection."

At this moment, the door burst open and Hermione, Penny and Molly flowed out. Ginny followed by a few paces, rubbing her eyes and looking sleepy and confused.

"Oh, Percy, I've had an owl from Mom and you and Penny can have your sunflowers- and a lot more, if you don't mind a few other changes. How would you like to be married in Italy, surrounded by sunflowers?"

Now Harry felt like rubbing his eyes! What was Hermione talking about? She noticed his bewildered look and came to stand beside him before she continued."Look, I'm really sorry I didn't mention this before, but I had no idea it would work out so it seemed silly to bring it up.But you know my parents always go abroad for holidays? Well, we had visited a place in Italy called Le Mandorelle.It is between Tuscany and Umbria, not far from Rome and Florence and nearby there are miles of sunflower fields. There's a beautiful spot that's open with a view of sunflowers, vineyards and right beside the pool. It could be a beautiful wedding spot."

" It sounds wonderful, Hermione," Mrs. Weasley said. "But it would be more than we could manage "

Harry felt, for the first time ,a bit angry with Hermione and Ivy. They knew the Weasleys couldn't afford that type wedding! And now Percy would be angry with anything his family tried to do.

"Oh, no, that's the best part. You see, Mom really contacted the place to try and have some sunflowers sent here, as a gift. When she called Le Mandorelle, she found that it had changed owners, a couple from the United States bought the place. But they wanted to take a trip back home, they are from a place called Hilton Head. So they were going to shut down the inn, but they were worried about leaving the place, and all the food their garden produces. So... you know how persuasive Mom can be. It wasn't long before the owners thought it was their idea that she bring over a group, just to sort of look after the place. We can all go over for the wedding, then Penny and Percy can have the place alone for their wedding trip. You can easily do lots of sightseeing from there."

Everyone began talking excitedly then, and in the confusion of the moment, Harry pulled Hermione back into the house and kissed her very thoroughly. How could he have doubted her. When they stopped at last, both were smiling hugely.

"You were getting angry, Harry, I could see that. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. It all happened so fast, and, well, you haven't had that many good surprises."

"I should have trusted you. You ought to be angry with me. When , since we were eleven, have you done anything I couldn't trust." He was almost afraid to look at her as he said this. Maybe she would realize he was right and get angry. But Hermione only laughed.

"I'll save it for later," she said. "And think of a way you can make it up to me. Now, I think we'd better listen to Mr. Weasley. He's finished reading Mom's letter."

They stepped out the door, and Mrs. Weasley was roaring for them all to be quiet. When they finally were, comparatively at least, Mr. Weasley began to speak.

"All right, we need to get organized here. Ivy and Dumbledore have arranged portkeys to get everyone to Italy, and are setting up wards to hide the place from muggles while we're there. Penny and Percy, if you're happy with this , you need to owl Penny's family, and any of your friends so that the portkeys can be set up for them. And can someone tell me what golf is? Chris says there's a superior course in Perugla. He wants to take me and anyone else who'd like to try it."

Harry and Hermione laughed. It was hard to imagine Mr. Weasley playing golf, but they knew, as Chris did, how fascinated he was with anything having to do with muggles. Hermione gave a brief description, at which Fred and George declared they had some ideas for livening up that game. Mrs. Weasley had one more announcement before they went their separate ways though.

"We'll be going right to Diagon Alley, from Italy, so everyone pack your letters.

They all scattered then to the various tasks, and Harry saw Fred and George talking to Lee and Damien. He walked over and found that the visitors were preparing to leave. He couldn't help feeling glad, at least to see Damien leave. It would be different if Lee had come by himself. He saw that Ron and Ginny had surrounded Hermione and he had a pretty good idea that they were asking if Ivy could get Danielle and Adrian to Italy too. He sighed happily. Once again life was spinning in greased grooves in the world he was happy to be part of. Even if this year did bring darker times, this had been a summer to make up for the miserable ones of the past.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or their personalities,other than Daemon, who belongs to himself. El Mandrill belongs to Rob and Janina Cushman, and they really are from SC. If you'd like to view/tour Penny and Percy's wedding spot, you can visit the Cushman's web site at http//www.lemandorelle.com- you can tour the place, see the garden spot and the kitchen that Molly will soon be using. You can even choose rooms for yourself or the characters.

I borrowed the phrase "Once again, life was spinning in greased grooves" from the movie Cannery Row, which was based on John Steinbeck's Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday. For anyone who knows me personally, when I say this, life has truly entered the regions of the sublime.

I'm not sure where Chapter Seven will take us. I may write a small wedding chapter, or we may go straight to Hogwarts. Or to Diagon Alley. Anyone with opinions, please feel free to share them.


.