Chapter 9: Here Come the Brides
*****
The three brides-to-be and their mothers met up in Ginny's old bedroom to begin planning their wedding attire. Katie took a seat at the desk while Ginny was perched on the dresser. Molly and Katie's mother, Darlene, took the bed and Alinora and Angelique shared an old, overstuffed chair in the corner with Ali sitting on the arm to leave room for her mom.
"So, any ideas on what you'd like your dresses to look like? Do you want to go traditional or more… creative?" Darlene asked, after they were all settled.
Katie, Ali and Ginny exchanged glances as they considered the question. Alinora laughed softly, shaking her head slightly, and looked down at her mother. Angelique just rolled her eyes and smiled back at her. They knew each other all too well and had no doubt as to what Ali's response to that would be.
"You know," began Katie consideringly, "I wanted a traditional wedding at one point. Growing up, I was always such a tomboy, just one of the guys, that I always thought that I wanted this to be the ultimate girly event. Long, white dress, elaborate flowers and decorations… I wanted to show the world that I was a girl, but I think that's been pretty well established by this point; I think I'd rather just enjoy the day." She looked apologetically at her mother, who looked briefly disappointed before shrugging and smiling resignedly.
"I had a feeling that would be your decision. As long as you're happy with it, then I'm happy with it. It's not as if your father or brother will notice what you're wearing anyway…" she laughed.
"Well, I think Ginny and I would have to agree with you." Ali added, glancing over to see Ginny nod. "I think creative and original is definitely the way to go for us. So," she said, pointing at some paper lying on the desk near Katie, "I think you should get to work on sketching out ideas for us, as you are the costume designer!"
"We trust you. Besides, if you left it to Ali or me, we'd all be late for the wedding since neither of us can ever make up our minds about stuff like that."
Katie shot them both a quick salute before pulling the paper over and quickly started to sketch. Ali and Ginny strained to see over her shoulder at what she was doing, but neither could get a good look and they finally gave up. Instead, they started asking the mothers questions about the wedding, but there too they were frustrated as none would give them any information about plans for the afternoon. They were all rather relieved when there was a knock on the door, which quickly opened to admit Anna and a large stroller.
"Anna!" Ali jumped off the chair and quickly crossed the room to give her a hug. "How are you? And the little ones?" Ali bent over to brush her fingers over the cheeks of the sleeping twins.
"We're all fine." Anna replied from over Ginny's back as she received a hug from her as well. "Congratulations to you all. A triple wedding- who would've guessed?" Her eyes were twinkling as she smirked at the three.
Ginny snorted. "Obviously not us!" she said, rolling her eyes.
"Well, we can't all be all knowing, now can we? I came to see how you were doing on coming up with your dresses." Anna left the stroller with Molly, as she walked over to peer over Katie's shoulder. "That's a good start. Fits with some ideas I had as well." The group and Colin had met Anna when they'd hired her to help with costumes for one of their tours. She'd helped out, off and on, since then for major events.
Anna pulled the quill out of Katie's hand and gently pulled her from her seat. "I'll take it from here. Now, you three need to pop off back to the flat and get cleaned up. If there's anything you feel you have to have for this afternoon, bring it, but otherwise just get back here so we can get you ready. Hair wet, no make-up. Got it?" They nodded, attempting to look solemn. "Good. You have twenty minutes. I suggest you leave… now!"
With a startled look at each other, the three Apparated home.
"Now then, here's what I had in mind…" Anna said, beginning to pull items out of her bag while the mothers gathered around her.
*****
They met up later in their living room, still within the allotted twenty minutes, wrapped in identical robes with their wet hair hanging down their backs. None of them had anything in their hands, though each appeared to have something within the pocket of their robe.
Cocking an eyebrow at the other two as she joined them, Ali glanced pointedly at the identical bulges. Putting her hand into her own pocket, she pulled out a small, midnight blue box. First Ginny, then Katie, did the same until all three were holding a small box in their hand.
Alinora laughed before shoving hers back into her pocket. "At least we all were able to get these ready before they sprung this on us." They'd decided a while back to go ahead and get wedding bands made for the guys, in preparation for what they each knew would eventually happen.
The idea for the rings had been adapted from a couple sources. The originating idea had been the necklaces Ali had given her friends, while they were all in school, which contained protection charms. From there, they'd gone on to develop a different style of necklace that actually allowed them to know if the people attuned to the stones within it were in trouble or danger. As these necklaces were rather glaringly obvious, the twins had helped them develop a way to make them completely invisible when worn, which they always were.
Another source had been, of all things, Alinora's wand. Her father had had it made for her when she turned eleven and it contained the entwined hairs of a mermaid, a selkie and a witch; Alinora's grandmother, mother and self. Once she remembered that the hair of a 'magical creature' could be helpful when casting spells, they'd decided to incorporate their own hair within the rings. Thus, the metal strands that made up the woven band actually encased a hair from the woman who had had it made. They figured it couldn't hurt.
Because of the nature of the rings, each had been made especially for the man who would wear it. They had been tuned to work only for them and protection charms had been woven into the very metal they were made of to keep them safe. Not that the Ladies were expecting any problems, but it was always nice to be prepared. Ali was pretty sure that each of them had added something other than just the protection charms, but none of them had divulged any additional details.
"Oh, this came just a moment ago too." Ginny said, disturbing Alinora's thoughts, as she handed a piece of parchment to her.
Alinora read it quickly before starting to laugh. "I'm quite curious to see just what you two came up for me to wear today!" she exclaimed, grinning at Katie.
"Don't look at me! Anna came up with the final design. And did you see what my instructions are?!? I don't think that's possible to do with out the use of magic!" Katie groaned.
"Good thing you're a witch then, isn't it?" Ginny smirked before they split up to gather the requested items before returning to the Burrow.
*****
While they were gone, the mothers and Anna had been joined by Hermione, Angelina Johnson Weasley and Alicia Spinnet Jordan. As soon as they appeared in the hallway outside of Ginny's former bedroom, Molly bustled forward to meet them.
"There won't be enough room for all of you in there," she said, gesturing to Ginny's room behind her, "So, Ali, you'll be in the twins' old room. Your mother and Anna will be helping you. Katie, Darlene and Angelina are in Ron's room. Ginny, Hermione and I will be in here. Alicia has agreed to run any other errands we may need done. If these arrangements work for you, I'd suggest we disperse and continue the preparations…" Molly looked questioningly at the three women, none of whom said anything to contradict her arrangements, and then turned towards the open door behind her.
Alinora gestured for Ginny and Katie to hand her their ring boxes. Pulling out her wand, Ali quickly used it to inscribe a gold colored G on her blue box, an H on Ginny's green box and a B on Katie's black one. She then called Alicia over to join them.
"As you've been designated as official errand runner for the afternoon, we have the first one for you now. Please take these boxes to Dumbledore. There's no one else they could possibly have officiating; the man is into everything! On the bizarre chance that I'm wrong, give them to whomever they need to go to. Do not let the guys see these! Okay?"
At Alicia's nod, Ali handed her the three small boxes, which she quickly placed in her pocket before heading off down the stairs.
"Okay, that's done. I don't know about you, but I'm going to go see what creative liberties Anna's taken with my wedding attire. I'm quite curious considering the shoes I was told to bring…" She looked down at the three inch spike heeled black boots she was holding and then shrugged. "We did say that we didn't want 'traditional' and it appears that we will be getting what we asked for."
"I generally like getting what I ask for, so hopefully this will also be a good thing." Ginny replied. "Oops. Looks like Mum is getting restless. Time to be off to be costumed for our next performance!"
The three laughed, but each reached out to grip the hand of the other two for a brief moment before they split up to go to their designated room to continue their wedding preparations.
*****
Despite the elaborate preparations, they were ready in plenty of time, which gave their helpers time to freshen up themselves and join the rest of the guests outside. Anna had been taking pictures of the process through out the afternoon and assured Alinora that Colin would be taking the 'official' wedding pictures during the ceremony. Then, with one last hug, she collected her children and headed out of the house.
The three met back up in the living room. The house was empty now, except for them, and they appreciated the chance to relax, by themselves, before the ceremony began.
Ginny was the first down the stairs. She was dressed in a black blouse that was slightly ruffled around the neckline and draped off her shoulders, exposing her pale, lightly freckled skin. Her skirt was cut high on the left, hitting her about mid thigh, while the right dipped down a few inches below her knee. It was also black, embroidered with swirling designs in black thread that were hard to see when she was standing still. When she moved, though, the skirt shimmered with shades of red, green, blue and purple that showed off the designs. She was wearing heeled, black sandals that tied around her ankles and her hair had been loosely curled and hung loose down her back. She wore no jewelry except for the emerald engagement ring she'd received from Harry and a black pearl necklace, wrapped choker-like around her neck, which had been a gift from Ali's mother.
Katie soon joined her in the living room, carefully holding up the side of the ankle-length peach sundress she was wearing so as to not trip over it. This exposed the high slit that went up the right side of the dress and the sandals that laced up to mid-calf.
At first glance, Ginny thought the dress looked rather simple. It was a beautiful dress with spaghetti straps and simple lines, that hugged her figure with out appearing tight, but, other than the slit, there didn't appear to be anything too out of the ordinary about it.
Then Katie reached the bottom of the stairs and, grinning slightly at Ginny, slowly turned in a circle so she could get the full effect. That was where the dress showed its uniqueness. While the front had been almost conservative, there was no back to the dress until it reached Katie's waist. The only thing that broke the long expanse of bare skin was a long string of pearls. From the front it appeared that Katie, too, was wearing a choker of pink tinged pearls, but from the back it could be seen as an opera length strand that draped to follow the curve of the dress. Another gift from Ali's mother. The only other jewelry was her diamond engagement ring from Brad.
"Nice," Ginny said with a grin, before twirling to show off her own outfit. Her skirt flared up as she spun and her eyes were sparkling with excitement. They both turned to wait for Alinora, whose steps could be heard on the stairs.
Ali, of course, had to make a bit of a production of her entrance. As she slowly rounded the landing and began descending the final stretch of steps into the living room, she took her time. Granted, considering the three inch heels she was wearing, walking slowly down the stairs only made good sense. She had just hurt her ankle earlier that day, though it felt like ages ago considering what had been going on since.
As Alinora came into view, Katie's jaw dropped slightly and, after a slight, stunned silence, Ginny gave a wolf whistle. She was dressed in a deep green corset top that ended slightly above her navel. Her skirt was ankle length with slits on either side that extended up to mid thigh. When she moved, the skirt would swirl around her legs, exposing the boots she'd been instructed to bring as well as a long expanse of leg, and occasionally glimpses of her abdomen would show where the top and skirt met. Her hair was as curly as usual, pulled up on the sides and allowed to cascade down her back.
As Ali reached the bottom of the stairs and joined them, she too pirouetted to show off the entire look. As she turned, they could see that tiny pearls had been woven in among her curls. Now that they could better see her outfit, they noticed that the reason the green appeared so dark was on account of the mass of intricate black embroidery that covered it entirely.
Alinora took in what Katie and Ginny were wearing, striding around each to get a better look.
"Well now, don't we completely break the mold for what is considered 'traditional' for weddings? Wizard or muggle, it makes no difference. Though, I'll admit, I'm impressed with just how comfortable this actually is. Who would've thought?" Ali glanced down at her clothing, running a hand gently over the material, with a pleased smile on her face.
"So, was this along the lines of what you'd sketched earlier?" Ginny asked, turning to look at Katie.
"Not completely, but along the same lines. I certainly had a bit more cloth involved in my own design," she replied, gesturing towards her back, "But I like what Anna did with it."
"I just hope that they've accounted for our outfits and have found a way to warm things up outside. It's October and rather chilly. None of us are dressed for that in the least." Ali said wryly, gesturing to the short, or non-existent, sleeves they all were wearing.
"I get the impression that the guys have left nothing to chance. It'll be warm enough. And if it's not, I think we all know some sort of spell we can use." Katie replied calmly.
They stared at each other in silence, a nearby clock ticking the countdown to four o'clock when the wedding was to begin. After all that they'd been through together over the years, the conversations they'd had, the experiences they'd shared, no words were needed now.
This was something they'd each been looking forward to for a long while now, and sharing it together only made it that much more special. Their friendship had been tested, as had their relationships, and each had proven solid.
Katie's relationship with Oliver Wood hadn't worked, but they knew that Brad was just right for her.
Ginny and Harry had been tested almost from the moment they had met, and long before they had even known that they would be a couple. If they could survive that, they could survive anything.
Alinora and George were so well suited, challenging and supporting each other equally, that, even ignoring the vision she'd had when they met, they all knew they were meant to be together. It had only been a matter of time. The outcome had been inevitable.
The clock began to strike the four o'clock hour.
Ginny cocked her head to the side and smiled at the other two, "I think that's our cue. Let's do this."
Nodding in agreement, they linked arms and exited the Burrow. It was time.
