Disclaimer :: I still don't own any of Harry Potter, nor do I own the Swiss Alps, or even the hotel described in the Swiss Alps.
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The rest of the week passed without incident. Kate was avoiding Dan whenever she could, and succeeding surprisingly well. When Dan and Rush would go up to the field behind their house to play some Quidditch, Kate and Lian would stay in the house and read. When Dan and Rush were cramming in some last minute homework before they had to leave for the wedding, Kate would take Lian outside and teach her about Quidditch. It was a kind of cycle.
A week before the wedding, Kate, Dan, Rush, Lian, and Rush's other older brother Shawn (Arran had not been home all week), piled into Lian's little silver Camry and drove to London-Gatwick airport. They then flew from there to the Zurich airport in Switzerland. The wedding would be held in the Swiss Alps, so they had to rent a car and drive the rest of the way there.
As they drew closer to their destination, it was hard for them to keep their eyes on the road. They could not stop looking at the Swiss Alps. The beautiful mountain ranges rose high above the road; huge, majestic figures shrouded in mist enfolding the passengers of the car. They snapped pictures every few seconds, in awe of the enormous spectacle.
Their hotel looked out on the Alps, and each room had an amazing view from the balconies. The rooms were lodge-style, and amazingly comfortable.
"Wow, this is absolutely amazing!" Kate said, smiling, as she put her bags down and stepped out onto the balcony. Lian followed, with the same awestruck look on her face. This had to be the most amazing place either of them had ever been.
Everyone got settled in their rooms and then made their way back up to the lobby. The lobby was actually on the top floor, because the hotel sat on the side of a hill. As they emerged from the elevators, they saw the familiar figure of Sirius waiting for them. Everyone exchanged hellos, and then began on the subject of their surroundings.
"This place is crazy!" Dan was saying as they he led the way to the room he and Sirius would be sharing (Rush was sharing with Shawn). "You know, you can climb out the windows, down the fire staircase, and run around to other people's rooms from the outside!"
* * *
The next morning, Kate and Lian were still asleep at 7:00 AM, and they did not plan on getting up for a few more hours. However, certain other hotel guests had other ideas. Dan and Sirius tiptoed into the room at 7:00 with water pistols behind their backs, and turned on the clock radio. The girls both rolled over and opened their eyes.
"Come on, leave us alone," Kate said drowsily and pulled the blankets up further. Everything was silent for a moment, while the two boys took out and aimed the water guns. Then, they took aim, and fired. Two streams of water went right into Kate's half open mouth, right on target.
The next step in the sequence of events went extremely fast. She screamed, spit out the water, and leapt out of bed, taking a pillow with her. She glanced between the two boys, and mentally chose one as her target. Dan instinctively turned and ran, with Kate close behind him. Up and down the halls they ran. By the third rotation, Dan began to tire, and Kate caught up to him and began hitting him with the feather pillow she was carrying. He retaliated with his water pistol. Finally, he tripped and fell, pulling Kate down with him. They sat there for a moment, feathers flying all around them. It was like a snowstorm inside a building, like the enchanted ceiling at Hogwarts.
Sirius and Lian poked their heads around the hotel room door to see who had won the fight. It was hard to tell, since they were both wet and covered in feathers.
"It's lucky the rest of this floor is empty!" Kate exclaimed when she noticed her now feather-covered appearance.
"That's definitely a sexy look on you," said Sirius, laughing.
Kate looked down at herself again, and then across at Dan. She couldn't help smiling.
* * *
A few days later, Rae, Ellie and Thien arrived by portkey in a clearing about a mile away from the hotel. Kate and Lian had used Muggle transport because Lian would not have been able to use a portkey, but since Ellie, Rae, and Thien were witches and wizard, and they lived relatively close to each other, they were able to. Everyone went to meet them. The wedding was only three days away, but no one was really mentioning it. They were too busy "discovering the wonders of Switzerland" as Sirius and Dan had so aptly named it. Kate had gotten back at them for their little wakeup call by taking their broomsticks and replacing them with plain, un-magical look-alikes. The boys had been appalled that anyone would do such a thing, but the fight was now even.
* * *
The next day, the little group left the hotel in the Alps for their next destination, the wedding site. The wedding was to be outside, near a few cottages, but that was the only civilization for miles. Dense forest and mountains surrounded it. The guests had to arrive at the cottages by gondola. Arran and Lena (the bride) had arranged for everyone to stay three nights in the mountain cottages.
The gondola ride up the mountain was quite crowded, since the guests and their luggage were all on board. Kate was sitting by the windows, taking pictures nonstop. Lian had insisted upon standing in the middle. The height of the ride was not agreeing with her.
"Lian, come here so I can take a picture of you against the scenery!" Kate said and motioned her over.
"I'm not moving, said Lian stubbornly, and she sat down on top of her suitcase. Kate was about to pull her over to the window, when the gondola docked. The doors opened and everyone lugged their luggage off the car. Lena, Arran, and Shawn were already waiting for them in the station. They led the group to their cottages, which weren't far away. The cottages were like condominiums. Four guests were staying in each. In cottage number 8 were Kate, Lian, Rae, and Ellie. In cottage number 9 were Rush, Dan, Thien, and Sirius. Everyone unpacked, and then had the afternoon before the rehearsal dinner to explore their mountain surroundings. They all decided to go to an overlook, from which you could see for miles into the valleys below the mountains. The view was spectacular and everyone brought their cameras. The group spent the afternoon there, just hanging out.
The rehearsal went well, and the rehearsal dinner was at a nice restaurant in the main lodge. Everyone went back to their cottages at around 6:30 PM. The boys cabin played Monopoly with real wizard money (Sirius ended up with about five galleons in change) and the girls sat out on their porch and watched the sun sink low into the purple velvet sky.
* * *
The day of the wedding dawned clear and cool. However, no one was awake to witness it. The girls in cabin #8 did not wake up until 10:00 AM. They took turns taking showers and fixing each other's hair. Kate was the only bridesmaid out of the four girls in the cabin (since the Arran did not have any sisters, Lena had chosen Kate, who was the closest she could get), but Rae was going to be reading a few words at the wedding. They were both wearing pale lavender, full length dresses of Lena's choosing, and had wreathes of flowers crowning their heads. The other girls dressed in dresses they had brought with them, and put their hair up. By the time they reached the wedding site, the weather had changed dramatically. It was sort of windy and cloudy.
"Looks like a storm's coming," Rae remarked. Some early guests were beginning to gather seemed to have noticed the change too. Rae led the way over to the boys, who were waiting by the chairs that had been set up.
"Well, aren't we looking fine and flowery today?" said Sirius.
"Sod off," Kate said grumpily. "It's not my fault that I have be a complete bee magnet all day."
"I'll keep the bees away," Sirius said, and hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "They won't be able to get you up here."
"You sod! Let me down this instant!" She began to kick her feet. Sirius responded by jumping up and down.
"I mean it!" she yelled. Sirius jumped higher. The rest of the group was broken into laughter at her plight by now. Sirius took this as initiative, and began to run around the chairs.
"Would you stop it?" she asked, but she couldn't help but laugh.
"I don't like that kind of unappreciative comment while I am trying to save you from being eaten by killer bees!"
"Well, I feel like I'm doing bull riding, and I don't appreciate that!"
Everyone laughed as Sirius ran around in circles, until he collided with none other than Vance VonSeverin. The laughter stopped abruptly, and Sirius inadvertently dropped Kate. She fell into a heap on the ground, the flower tiara now lying next to her.
"Cheating on King Danny are you?" Vance sneered coldly at Kate. She didn't even bother to tell him that she would NEVER date Dan. She just stood up and said,
"Too bad you don't have anyone to cheat on, VonSmell. I'd be surprised if anyone came within 50 feet of you. You have to wonder how your parents stand that reek," she said coldly.
"If it weren't for me, you'd-"
"Hello ladies," Dan interjected as he stepped between them.
"Need your precious Danny to play bodyguard for you? I had no idea you were so helpless that you needed someone else to fight your battles for you. Too bad you picked someone just as helpless." This was the wrong thing for Vance to say. He had dared insult Kate twice, and she didn't like that at all. This was the last straw for Dan too. Vance had insulted him as well and he now had a reason to get revenge. He strode forward, yelling,
"VonSmell, I'm gonna rip every last hair out of your stinking head!" By this time, he had wrestled him to the ground was and tearing at his dark brown hair.
It took Rush, Sirius, Kate and Ellie to pull Dan off. It looked as though the fight was over when Vance made no move to retaliate, but Kate hadn't got her two cents in yet.
"I'm a prefect, VonSmell, and therefore I don't approve of fighting, but if you ever try to insult me again, I'll make it so that you'll never be able to reproduce!"
Vance sneered at her again, but walked off without further comment. When he was out of earshot, Dan opened up his fist and showed everyone the clump of dark hair in it.
"Yuck, put that down right now!" said Ellie. She looked completely grossed out.
Kate picked up her flower wreath and said, "Gotta go fix this. I'll be right back." She ran inside the girl's cottage to the bathroom. She began to fix the tiara, when the shower curtain moved slightly. What was that? she thought and slowly went towards the curtain. She pulled it back quickly, and screamed. Lena and Shawn were standing inside, in full wedding garb. The shower curtain must have caught under Shawn's foot, because he fell out of the shower onto Kate and put his arm around her neck to steady himself. Lena had managed to grab hold of Shawn's other arm, so he didn't totally fall onto Kate. At this moment, Dan came into the room.
"I just came in to wash the VonSmell filth off my hands when I heard you... what are you doing?" He trailed off when he noticed the oddity of the spectacle before him. Lena in the shower, in her wedding dress, Shawn half in half out, with a look of surprise on his face, and Kate holding Shawn up, wearing an expression of confusion. Dan took a moment to digest what he was seeing and, after failing to make an explanation for it, asked,
"What's going on?"
"I'd like to know the same thing," said Kate, still slightly dazed. Shawn took his other leg out of the shower and Lena sighed.
"I suppose we'd better tell them then," she said. Shawn nodded.
"I wish I weren't marrying Arran. I'm not in love with him."
Dan's jaw dropped about six inches. When he did not shut it, Kate reached up and shut it for him. Then she looked quizzically at Shawn.
"No no, I'm not in love with him either. See, I was in the year younger than Arran when we were in school. I was already good friends with Shawn when Arran asked me out. I figured, why not? He seemed like a nice enough guy, and I didn't worry about it lasting more than a few months. The trouble was, it did. Even after he left school, he wrote to me every day. I just didn't have the heart to dump him, because I knew he really liked me. I just wrote back less and less, and hoped he'd forget about me or meet some other girl. But then he dropped the bomb. We wrote to me asking me to marry him. I don't know what I was thinking, but I just scribbled down a 'Yes,' and sent it back. I was really in trouble then. Since Shawn and I are friends, and Shawn and Arran are brothers, Shawn agreed to try and help me out of this mess. We hid in here because we thought this would be the one place no one would look for us."
"Well that plan's ruined," Shawn said ruefully.
"What are we going to do now?" Lena asked.
"Lena? Where are you?" came a voice.
"Well, you'd better get out of here," said Kate. "Someone's looking for you."
"Here, you can go out the window," said Dan hurriedly and opened the small window. For only the second time in their lives, Kate and Dan cooperated to held Lena and Shawn out of the window, just as Arran came around the corner.
"Quick, pretend you're fixing your hair or something," Kate whispered. Dan gave her a look. His hair pretty much fixed itself. He had the famous "Potter hair," and there was nothing much he could do with it to make it look different. However, desperate times called for desperate measures. Arran walked into the bathroom as Kate re-hairpinned her tiara and Dan made a frantic effort to smooth down his hair.
"Have either of you seen Lena?"
"No!" they both answered, a bit too quickly.
"I mean, I haven't seen her since we first got here," Kate recovered.
"Well, we'd better find her, because it's time for us to get married!" Arran said, and got a dreamy sort of expression on his face. Kate and Dan tried their best to suppress their laughter, and followed him out of the room.
* * *
Just as Lena was beginning to walk down the aisle, the wind picked up even more. It was now gusting more frequently, and the sky was looking darker. Still, the ceremony went on. An air of apprehension hung over both Kate and Dan, as if they were expecting some bomb to go off at any moment. They held their breaths when it came time for the vows. The priest was saying,
"Do you, Arran Weasley, take Lena Elan to be your lawful wedded wife?"
"I do," said Arran happily.
"And do you, Lena Elan, take Arran Weasley to be your lawful wedded husband?"
What Lena was going to say, however, was never known, because at that moment, lightning struck, and she crumpled, limp, to the ground. Everyone screamed and ran towards the lodge or the nearest cottage. That is, everyone except Dan, Sirius and Kate.
"That was no ordinary lightning, it was magic, which means it had a purpose," Dan said hurriedly.
"Well, there's your purpose." Sirius pointed to a hooded figure rushing toward Lena.
"C'mon," Kate said, and began to run forwards, in the direction of Lena and the hooded figure. The boys followed, and when the figure saw them coming, it jumped up, trying to take Lena with it.
"Put her down!" shouted Dan and ran at it. It immediately began running the other way. Dan continued to run after it as it headed into the forest beyond. Kate and Sirius followed. The branches of the trees ripped and tore at their clothes as they ran. They finally caught up with the hooded figure when it tripped over a tree root.
"Well," said Dan, out of breath, "seems you've failed your mission this time. Voldemort won't be too happy, now will he? What did you want with Lena Elan anyway?"
"That is not for you to know," came a voice from inside the hood. It was vaguely familiar to Dan, but he could not place where he knew it from. "Now, if I cannot have the girl, the least I can do is bring Lord Voldemort these three spies."
He drew his wand and raised it over his head...
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Wow, cliffhanger! Look out for the next chapter soon, and please review!