Whew! It's been a long, long, long, long, long time since I've posted! For that I apoloigze—a lot—but university is keeping me extremely busy, and when I do have the spare time, I spend it sleeping or with my friends. So very sorry for the long wait, thank you for being patient (most of you, that is…)
Thanks a bunch to my reviewers of chapter 7: ears91, Lover Of This Story, aurora, Snidget-And-Co, couch-potato01, Bachy A, Jen, Ramy, loola, clyde2, Hermione512, mjk306, TheLanguna, crazynrfan, weirder, Hawkeye10, dragonbrat, dan fan, cyberfrogX, Zaraky, bluhmer_x and Ignited Gonja Cat!! Reviews are much appreciated! Hope I didn't leave anyone out!
Good news: The latest I will be posting the next chapter will be Monday! Yay!!
Disclaimers: I am not J.K. Rowling, so I don't own Harry Potter. I am also not Led Zeppelin, so I don't the the song which is, in fact, the title of this chapter.
That's it, here's the chapter, please read, enjoy and hopefully review! But mostly enjoy!
~*~
It was Friday evening, and the wedding was the next day. Ron had already left, and he and the rest of the wedding party were staying at a nice inn near the school. As a result, Harry and Hermione were left alone at the flat.
This didn't bother them, naturally, but there was something that hung in the air between them: Lavender. Harry still hadn't broken things off with her yet. She had had to leave Hogsmeade and go to London on an emergency business trip, and she had left before Harry could get a hold of her.
Perhaps it was just as well, because Lavender was very excited about the wedding. Ron said he suspected was because she could show off Harry—or rather, the fact that she had bagged him—to all the guests there. Hermione agreed with this theory, but it didn't bother her. After all, she was Harry's real girlfriend, not Lavender.
"By the end of the weekend, we'll be official," Harry said to Hermione on Friday. They were cozied up on the couch, watching their favourite movies.
"Official, eh?" Hermione teased. "How are we going to make it official?"
Harry gave her a canary-eating grin. "Oh, I'm sure we'll think of something," he said.
"I'm sure," she laughed. "I'll just be so glad to have her out of our lives. I mean, I know she was your girlfriend and everything, but I never liked her."
"I'm sorry that I didn't break it off with her sooner," Harry said guiltily. "I tried, but she.."
"I know, Harry. It's okay. Really. I can wait a few more days."
"I can't." He pulled her close to him and a few minutes later, the movies were left forgotten.
~*~
Harry and Hermione both woke up to the sound of someone pounding on the door early the next morning. Harry lifted his head an inch off the pillow to look at the blurry digital clock. They didn't come into focus, but he suddenly remembered that they probably had to leave to go to the school very soon.
"'Mione, wake up," he mumbled. "We have to leave soon."
"Mmm, I don't want to," she replied. She snuggled in closer. "I want to stay here all day."
"Me too. But we have to go to the wedding. Ron's counting on us, and Laven—oh, no." Harry sat up bolt right, and reached for his glasses.
"What is it?" Hermione asked.
"Lavender's at the door. I can hear her knocking," Harry replied. He threw back the sheets and searched around for his boxers. He found them, pulled them on and ran for the door.
"Harry! I've been waiting forever! What kept you?" Lavender demanded as soon as he opened it.
"Overslept," he replied simply. It wasn't a lie, at least.
"I can see that," she answered, pushing past him. "Hurry up, okay? We have to leave in less than an hour."
"Right, right," Harry said, running his hands through his hair. "I'm nearly ready. I just have to shower, dress, then pack, then eat."
Lavender grinned. "I can help you in the shower," she said, leaning in to kiss him.
"No! I mean, uh, not now."
"Okay. I'll pack for you, then."
"No!" he exclaimed. He had no idea if Hermione was still in his room or not, but figured she probably was. "Uh, why don't you make something to eat? That is, if you don't mind."
Lavender's eyes narrowed slightly. "All right," she said.
Relief flooded through Harry as he hurried back to his room. It would be so much easier—in the long run, at least—to tell Lavender the truth right now. But he knew how upset Lavender would get, and they were running too late to have the time to deal with her.
Hermione was in his room still, though now she was dressed. "Lavender's here?" she asked in a quiet voice.
Harry nodded. "Yeah."
There was a pause of uncomfortable silence as they heard Lavender crashing around the kitchen.
Harry inched towards the door. "I'm going to take a shower, but Lav's cooking us breakfast, so don't worry about that. I'll be quick in the shower, I promise."
"Good, because we have to leave in half an hour."
~*~
Harry, Hermione and Lavender arrived in Hogsmeade with less than an hour until the wedding. Harry and Hermione hurriedly checked into their hotel rooms—Harry giving Lavender the excuse that it was cheaper if a certain number of hotel rooms were booked for the wedding party, and that he wanted to help out the Weasleys as much as possible, not to mention being closer to all the action to avoid to staying at her flat—while Lavender peppered him with questions.
"How come you got a joint room with her?" Lavender asked, as Harry dumped out his toiletries bag to find his toothbrush.
"Because she's my best friend. It's not like we're sharing a room, Lav, there's just a door connecting us."
Lavender didn't really seem satisfied with this answer, but let it go. "Are you sure you don't want to stay with me tonight?" she asked.
"Room's already been paid for," Harry pointed out.
"Well, I can just stay here, then," she suggested hopefully. "It'll be like we're on vacation together somewhere."
"Uh, yeah." Harry squirted toothpaste on the toothbrush and began brushing. He was grateful for this, because it was preventing him from saying something else.
Even though he loved Hermione, it was surprising how much it hurt him to do this to Lavender. He was beginning to wonder if he had the heart to break up with her under these circumstances. He knew how misleading this was.
So that's why, right before the pair was about to leave for the school, did Harry turn to Lavender and say, sincerely, "You look beautiful."
And it was also why he let her kiss him so fervently.
~*~
Though it had been several years since they had all been on the Quidditch pitch, it was just as familiar as ever—with a few slight changes.
A few yards away from where the Gryffindor team used to enter the pitch stood a luminous, beautiful, white gazebo. Facing it were two rows of several folding chairs divided by a long, white carpet.
Each of the many seats was filled, and most of the faces were familiar. Among the crowd was Lee Jordan, Fred and George's best friend at Hogwarts; Oliver Wood and Alicia Spinnet, with whom Fred and Angelina (not to mention Harry and George) had played Quidditch at school with; the entire Weasley family, all of whom sported flaming red hair; Hogwarts teachers Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, and the former Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. There were also a few members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Remus Lupin, who had become like a father to Harry during his last two years of school.
The ceremony began. Beautiful orchestra music floated around the spectators' ears, but there was no band to be seen. A young girl that was unfamiliar to Harry came down the aisle first, looking adorable in a frilly, soft pink dress. She beamed as she threw pink and white flower petals down the aisle—clearly, she did not have stage fright.
Another child Harry didn't recognize came down the aisle next, though this time it was a boy. He hurried to the gazebo without looking around much, and had a forced smile on his lips.
Next came the Weasley boys. The girls they were escorting must have been part of Angelina's family, because while Harry couldn't put a name to a single one's face, they all looked very similar to Angelina. One exception was Ron—he was escorting his younger sister, Ginny.
Fred's twin George was the last come down the aisle before the bride. On his arm was Katie Bell, Angelina's best friend and a former Gryffindor chaser.
Suddenly Angelina appeared in a flowing, snow-white dress. She walked down the aisle gracefully, a huge smile lit on her pretty face. Her eyes were already sparkling with tears as she approached Fred at the front of the altar.
The ceremony was simple and fairly fast. The minister—a tall, thin wizard—breezed through it fairly fast. Fred and Angelina exchanged their vows without any problems.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," the minister announced grandly.
Applause echoed the large pitch as Fred and Angelina shared their first kiss as a married couple.
Harry was grinning as Fred and Angelina walked down the aisle together, both of them laughing. They were so happy, so easily in love, and it looked so easy for them. It made Harry thankful that he had Hermione, and that what was to come wouldn't be as hard as he thought after all.
~*~
Aw, isn't that nice? Fred and Angelina got married! Hooray! But don't worry, the next chapter will be much more interesting (can you say drama?) and it will be up very very soon and I mean it this time! (Like next week) Hope you all enjoyed it, hope it was worth the wait (probably wasn't, but have no fear, something good will happen soon!), and pretty please review!! Much love to all.
