Not Two Anymore

Trial By Fire: Chapter 5



Harry was sleeping peacefully when he felt a great weight on his chest. He was trapped under a boulder. Pushing out with his arms, he tried to move it, but to no avail. Grunting with exertion, he tried again. He heard laughter, and Professor Trelawny swam into view, cackling about how he would die a slow and painful death. He swatted out at her and tried to scream for help, but his throat was dried up, probably from the boulder he was trapped under. The boulder moved, and Professor Trelawny threw a pink fuzzy slipper at his face. Trying one last time to push the huge rock off his chest, he felt the rock grow hair, until it was soft and furry. And, it barked. Professor Trelawny threw something else at his face, and his eyes snapped open.

"Ahh!" Harry screamed in surprise as the rock that was on his chest turned out to be an immense black dog. The dog leapt off the bed. When Harry looked again, there was no dog, only his godfather, Sirius Black. And there was no Professor Trelawny throwing pink fuzzy slippers, only Remus Lupin holding a pillow from Harry's bed.

"Sirius! Remus!"Harry exclaimed as he tried to scramble out of bed, but ended up getting caught on his sheets and falling on the floor.

"Harry!" Sirius said as he helped him up off the floor and embraced him like a friend.

"Hi, Harry." Said Remus, extending his hand, which Harry shook.

"Hope you don't mind we're here a bit early." Sirius apologized.

"Mind! You can keep me from throwing myself off a bridge!"

"That nervous, huh?" Remus asked.

Harry nodded emphatically.

"Your father was the same way." said Sirius fondly. "Scared out of his long johns."

Harry threw on some robes over his PJ's and they went down to Harry's dining room.

"Three eggs, one scrambled, one fried, and one boiled, four pieces of bacon, two pieces of toast with grape jelly, two pieces of sausage, and two pancakes with butter and syrup. Oh, and one waffle." Sirius told the wide-eyed house elf.

"I'll just have two scrambled eggs and a piece of toast, with strawberry jelly." Remus said.

"And for you, Mr. Potter, sir?" asked the elf in a high squeaky voice.

"Nothing, thank you."

"Harry, you can't just eat nothing." Sirius said, sounding like Hermione before Harry's first Quidditch game.

"I'm not hungry."

"You have to eat something. Fix him what I ordered."Sirius instructed the house elf.

"If he's not hungry, Padfoot, I don't think he wants to eat the breakfast supply for an entire village." Remus objected. "Fix him what I'm having."

"I just think Harry should get his nourishment. He needs to eat. Give him what I'm having."

"He may need nourishment, but he doesn't need to stuff himself so he can't fit into his wedding robes. Harry will have what I'm eating." Remus told the now very confused house elf.

"Moony, I will still be able to fit into my dress robes when-"

"Maybe you will, but Harry does not have a bottomless pit for a stomach."

"My stomach is not a bottomless pit. A very deep pit maybe, but-"

"I WILL HAVE ONE SCRAMBLED EGG AND A PIECE OF BACON! AND I WOULD LIKE IT SERVED IN MY ROOM!" Harry bellowed storming up to his room, and the poor house elf scurried off before anyone could change their mind again.

"Oh, dear, Padfoot. Do you think he's alright?"

"Of course he is, Moony. James was exactly like that, too. Hmmm, wonder what it is?"



After eating his egg and bacon alone in his room, Harry sheepishly made his way down to the kitchen, where Sirius was still trying to tackle his breakfast.

"Feel better?" Remus asked, taking his eyes off the two plates of food Sirius still had to finish.

Harry nodded. "Sorry for blowing up at you guys like that. I'm just really really nervous."

"Don't worry about it, Harry." Sirius said, after swallowing the last bite of his third egg. "Your father was just like that."

"He was?" Harry asked, eager to hear about his father.

Remus nodded. "Except he didn't yell, he just knocked over stuff."

"Like the altar in the church."

Harry laughed, feeling better he wasn't the only person ever nervous about getting married.

Indeed, he was not.

*~*

"Augh! My nail!" Ginny screamed, holding up her right pointer finger. Her nail polish, which was sky blue to match with the bridesmaids' dresses, was chipped.

Eve, Ginny's cousin, turned to her and examined the nail. "It's easy to fix. Where's the polish?

"That's the problem!" Ginny wailed. "I got a manicure yesterday. I didn't buy the polish!"

"Do you have any light blue nail polish?"

"No."

"Then we'll have to go buy the bottle. Where did you get your nails done?"

"It's Sunday, they'll be closed!"Ginny moaned.

"Do you have the name of the owner?" Eve asked, trying to keep a level head.

"Er, yeah. Here's the card!" Ginny said, flinging open her dresser drawer where she had shoved the card.

*~*

It was a half hour before the wedding. Eve had tracked down the owner of the nail salon, begged her to open the store for just five minutes, bought the bottle of nail polish, and fixed Ginny's nail. All the bridesmaids were in their dress robes, their hair perfectly styled, and their makeup flawless. Ginny's mom had braided a few strands of Ginny's hair into braids, with ribbon that matched the bridesmaids' dresses and Ginny's nail polish. Hermione had applied eyeshadow to Ginny's eyelids, making her brown eyes look larger.

Shortly after Sirius finished his breakfast feast, Ron had arrived. Sirius, Remus, and Ron had attacked Harry's hair with all sorts of spells and charms and even Muggle hair products like gel, mousse, and wax, trying to tame Harry's hair somewhat. After an hour, they had surrendered, deciding that Harry's hair was destined to stick up forever and it was a good thing Ginny found it cute. Harry had put on his black dress robe, and Ron put on his navy blue one, and then Harry paced around his entire house twice, before it was time to apparate to the church.

Harry stood at the front of the church, with Ron next to him, watching all the people coming in a sitting down in the pews. He gave a small wave to Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall as they came in and joined Professor Sprout, Hagrid, and Professor Flitwick. Even Professor Binn's ghost was there, sitting in the pew beside them.

Harry's heart felt like it would leap into his throat and out his mouth. His palms were sweaty, and his glasses kept sliding to the end of his nose. This day had to be perfect. The music had to be flawless, it had to be sunny, the flower girls and bridesmaids had to walk perfectly. Harry looked at his watch. Still another three minutes and twenty-three seconds to go before Virginia Weasley opened the doors to the chapel and started the road to becoming Mrs. Harry Potter.

To take his mind off waiting, Harry absentmindedly looked around the chapel. The altar was covered with white lilies. Inside every flower resided a fairy as delicate as the flower, giving the flowers a golden glow. The sides of the pews were covered with blooming lilies, also glowing. Pixies fluttered overhead, preparing to sing when the doors to the chapel were opened.

Harry was so distracted with the appearance of the chapel, he didn't notice the doors had opened until the pixies started to sing. He couldn't understand what they were saying, so quiet were their voices, but he could hear the melody. It filled his heart with joy and swelled his chest so that no longer was his heart going to leap into his throat, but right through his chest.

First came the flower girl, a small girl with brown curly hair, Lavender's oldest daughter. She scattered pink rose petals from her white wooden basket to the cream colored floor. Next came the procession of bridesmaids; Lavender, Parvati, Hermione, Ginny's cousin Eve, Mara, and then Leslie. Then....Ginny.

Harry couldn't describe the feeling, because he had never felt anything like it. It made him want to cry, and laugh, and scream, and leap for joy, and jump off a bridge all at once. Instead he stood there, goggling at Ginny and soaking the moment in.

Ginny was wearing a floor length white dress with a scoop neck and short, almost sleeveless, sleeves. A white veil covered her face and her train dragged the ground. In her hands she carried a bouquet of white lilies and pink roses.

When she reached the altar, Ginny gazed into Harry's emerald eyes through her veil and smiled, knowing she wanted more than anything to become Mrs. Harry Potter.

*~*

"I do."

"You may kiss the bride."

Harry gently raised the veil and leaned in to kiss Ginny. It was unlike any kiss either of them had ever had. There seemed to be electricity pumping through Ginny's veins and flowing through her fingertips.

"Whoooo!" Fred and George screamed, pumping their fists in the air.

Ginny and Harry broke apart and walked down the isle hand in hand to the music of the pixies, no longer two people, but one.

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A/N: I know that was really sappy, but it was their wedding! It had to be sappy! Next chapter: The Honeymoon. And I promise it will be a very...erm...interesting honeymoon, so please r/r. And if you want me to send you an e-mail when I post a new chapter to this story, just r/r with your e-mail.

Disclaimer: All the HP characters obviously belong to J.K. Rowling herself, and I have no intention of stealing them, I am only borrowing them for my own personal entertainment, and if I'm lucky, the entertainment of others.