A/N: Sorry it took awhile! I should be updating both this story and The Malfoy Girl soon, so tell me what you thought! Thanks so much for all of the reviews, I love them. If you review, tell me which author's note you read; the top or bottom, I want to see which more people read, lol. Thanks for reading, make sure to review!
The morning of the wedding Harry rolled out of bed (actually, another sleeping bag as so many people were occupying the Burrow) at seven in the morning. Already he heard voices and commotion drifting up the stairs. Leaving Ron a scribbled note, Harry quickly dressed and bounded down the stairs.
"Good morning, Harry!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley happily, as she served a stressed-out Fleur tea as she jabbered away with a good friend and her mother in rapid French.
"Hi," said Harry, grabbing a quick piece of toast. He had not so much as taken a bite when he found himself bellowing 'Here Comes the Bride' very out of tune. Fred and George came running into the room, followed by Bill and Charlie; the former pair looking delighted and the latter staring at Harry like he was crazy. Harry tried desperately to get any kind of spell that would stop him out of his mouth, but it was rather difficult.
"Oh—Harry!" exclaimed George after a moment. "Sorry, mate. We wanted to get Ginny; she's been snapping at us for days for no apparent reason…."
"Yeah," said Fred loudly. "But, George, they don't seem to have the right affect… a bit out of tune, don't you think?"
"You took the words right out of my mouth," nodded George in agreement as Harry still continued to sing.
"Make 'eem stop!" demanded Fleur loudly, finally standing up with fury.
"Right you are, right you are," said Fred as if this had only just dawned on him. It was at this moment that Ginny walked into the kitchen angrily.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing, Harry?" she exclaimed. "Fred! George! Put him right! I was trying to get some sleep, but that's obviously not happening…."
At that moment, Harry, flushing profusely, finished the song and glared at the twins. "I didn't give you—you know—" he said, looking quickly at Mrs. Weasley, "so that I could be tested on!" Fred, in a remarkable impression of Dolores Umbridge, took out a clipboard.
"Musical Munchies—seem to leave victim—with severe side-affects—including righteous and inexplicable anger—" Harry chuckled, rolling his eyes.
"What did you give them?" asked Ginny suspiciously.
"Er—nothing, nothing," said Harry. "So, er, is that your newest invention?" But before either twin could give an answer, Fleur spoke up angrily.
"I will not have ze two of you ruining my wedding! No more of zeese—tricks, or joke items! All day! Eez zat understood?" Fred and George exchanged looks. Bill looked at Fleur fondly.
"Great," muttered Fred. "All the women in our entire family act like Mum! Let's just hope Ronnikins doesn't marry Hermione…." He shuddered theatrically. Harry and Ginny looked at each other with knowing smirks.
"Well, everyone," said Harry finally, "I've got to go to—" He looked at Fleur's friend and mother for a moment, "—er—London. I'll be back in about an hour…."
"Harry!" said Mrs. Weasley knowingly, "You weren't planning on—ah—apparating, were you?" Harry looked at her sadly.
"Well, I really need to go, and I can't exactly Floo or fly there; it'd take forever."
"You can Floo there if you know where it is!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley, exasperated. "Your—Sunffles--was forever Flooing you when he lived—in London," she said pointedly. "And you're of course allowed to Floo to the Burrow; the wards are set around some people."
"'Oo was zis—Snuffles?" asked Fleur curiously.
"He was a, um, really loyal dog," explained Bill lamely.
"Well, I'm off then," said Harry quickly.
"Wait, can I go with you?" asked Ginny hopefully. Seeing the look on her mother's face, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, Mum! There will be other people there, honestly! Please? Harry, can I go?" Harry looked at Mrs. Weasley questioningly.
"Oh, go ahead!" she said after several moments of hesitation. "Fine. Be back before nine!"
"No problem," smiled Ginny. "Come on, Harry." He followed her to the fireplace and grabbed some Floo powder. He stepped in first, and said quietly so those in the kitchen couldn't hear, "12, Grimmauld Place!" In a flash of spinning green flames he was standing in the parlor of Grimmauld Place. He shivered as he stepped out of the fireplace and looked around. Something in Harry's chest ached painfully. However, he hadn't time to give it much thought before Ginny appeared a second later.
"Okay," she said brightly. "What are we going to do here?" she asked curiously.
"A few things," said Harry. "I need to find a letter from Dumbledore… and talk to Malfoy…." At this Ginny gasped.
"Malfoy? He's here?"
"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you… sorry, Ginny." She looked at him expectantly.
"And?"
"Yeah. He—er—said his family's in trouble. He asked to help the Order in return for us keeping his family safe. And, well, I yelled," he said unnecessarily. Ginny bit back a smile. "And I just sent him here and am having Dobby, Winky, and Kreacher look after him until I—er—make my judgment, I suppose. Dumbledore, er, left me in charge of the Order, see…." Ginny gasped.
"What?" she demanded. "I mean—wow! That's a huge responsibility; did he even say why? No wonder you won't be in school this year! Merlin, Harry…."
"Well, I do know why, and it's part of what we'll be doing this summer. I'll tell you of course; Hermione and Ron are the only people who know besides me, but there's no time right now. Tonight, all right?" Ginny nodded slowly.
"Yeah, sure. So what'll we do first?" But the instant she finished the question, a harried Remus Lupin entered the room.
"Harry! Ginny!" he exclaimed, surprised, obviously not having expected them. "What are you doing here?" He looked tired and shabby, as always, yet there was a kind of glow on his face that Harry hadn't seen since Sirius was alive.
"We're doing Order business," said Ginny in a mock-nonchalant voice, smirking. Harry grinned at her, rolling his eyes. Ginny continued. "But I'm afraid we can't tell you about it… no, Professor, I know you're of age, but I don't think my Mum would approve—" Remus smiled appreciatively.
"Yeah. Well, sorry, they wouldn't let us tell you! Anyway, Harry, I heard about you taking over the Order." He frowned thoughtfully before resuming speech. "And I can't honestly say that people are too happy. Not all of them know you the way Dumbledore did. You're going to have to exercise a lot of caution, Harry." Harry nodded silently.
"I know, and I was just as surprised as the next person! But—I reckon I know why Dumbledore chose me, and I think I can do it. Only…I wish people would take me seriously, because I can't tell them why! It's too dangerous… Voldemort can't know what I'm doing, and if anything at all gets into the wrong hands, or people are tortured or bribed… everything will be ruined, I won't be able to defeat him."
"So you know how to do it?" asked Lupin with distinct pride. "I knew you'd be able to. Harry, I believe that you'll be the one to kill Voldemort. I really do." Harry tried to act as if this was the first time he'd heard someone say this.
"Er—you really think? That's—wow, but I—er—have to go and interrogate Malfoy, Professor, so…." He trailed off guiltily.
"Remus, Harry." Harry grinned.
"Right. So, what are you doing here, Remus?"
"Oh, just organizing papers and everything—getting some things in order." He looked as if he was debating whether to add something else, but at that moment several howls filled the house in a quick succession.
"MUDBLOODS! ENTERING THE NOBLE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS, BEGONE! HALF-BLOODS AND FILTH AND BLOOD TRAITORS AND WEREWOLVES INHABITING THE MOST ANCIENT BLACK—"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
"That's not going—to—help, Malfoy!" Harry, Ginny, and Lupin rushed into the entrance hall where a would-be amusing sight greeted their eyes. Mrs. Black, looking as insane as she always did, was screeching and wailing as if being murdered. Draco Malfoy stood on the stairs threatening the portrait of his great-aunt with a large hairbrush, and Hermione was vainly attempting to close the curtains over Mrs. Black's portrait. Lupin and Ginny rushed to her aid immediately, and the screams ceased within a moment. Then the five people in the entrance hall looked around at each other awkwardly for about five seconds, when Hermione began sputtering out what had happened.
"Sorry, Harry, I Apparated here when I realized you'd left; Ron's Mum wouldn't let him come, though…and I tried to be quiet in this room, but I heard something move upstairs and called out to you!"
"Well what was upstairs, then?" asked Ginny, alarmed.
"That would be me," said Malfoy, seemingly restraining himself from yelling or cursing everyone else in the room. The second he said that, three harassed house elves appeared with loud pops.
"Draco Malfoy, you is a bad boy!" exclaimed the elf dressed in about seven hats and a shrunken Weasley sweater. "If Harry Potter sir knew what a bad job Dobby—" The elf suddenly spotted Harry and fainted quite soundly.
"Dobby!" exclaimed Hermione, giving Harry a particularly nasty look, as if it was his fault that Dobby wanted to please him so badly. "Are you okay? Oh, no! What do we do? Harry or Ginny, go get some cold water and a washcloth! We also need something we can lay him out on so that he doesn't—" Harry rolled his eyes. Hermione had done this one time before, in their first year.
"Rennervate," he said confidently. Hermione stood frozen in shock for a moment before clapping a hand to her head and groaning. Dobby sat up wearily.
"Why do I always forget I'm a witch?" she demanded of Ginny, who raised her eyebrows.
"Er, Hermione," said Harry tentatively, "you might want to work on that panicking of yours for the summer…."
"Nonsense," said Hermione in an authoritative tone. "I just slipped. I'm normally really calm." Everyone stared at her. "What? I am! Remember when we found the stone, Harry, and I did that logic problem for the potion you needed?" Harry indeed remembered, and he supposed that his friend had a point.
"I is sorry, Harry Potter, Sir. I have failed you. I must go now and get my things..." He began to bawl loudly. "Oh, I is so sorry! I did not mean to let Draco Malfoy walk down the stairs! I do not deserve your kindness, and I will throw myself off of the topmost tower of Hogwarts, Sir!"
"No, Dobby… calm down," said Harry, exasperated. "Don't throw yourself off of anything! It's okay to let him walk around, I suppose, but don't let him look at any Order things. And he couldn't have, anyway," he added hastily as Dobby began to hurtle himself at a wall. "Dobby, no! Professor Lupin was here, so Malfoy couldn't have seen anything he wasn't supposed to anyway!" He glanced at Malfoy, trying not to look overly suspicious. "So—don't be sorry. In fact, you, Winky, and Kreacher should all go on a break! Not out of this house," he said quickly, glancing at Kreacher. "Dobby and Winky can if they want. Not Kreacher. But why don't you all go down to the basement? You can catch up on all that's going on…rest; help yourself to the food here…is there any food here?"
"No, Sir," said Winky somewhat less resentfully than last time he'd seen her. "Does Sir want Winky to go shopping for him?"
"That—that would be great," said Harry, shrugging. "Here." He pulled out a few galleons. "Just get some food and the like. Thanks, Winky." She nodded and with a loud crack vanished from the room. At that moment, Malfoy began retreating back upstairs.
"Er—Malfoy, wait. I have to talk to you. Ginny and Hermione, d'you two want to go help Remus with the organizing and stuff?" The girls nodded and followed Lupin out of the room.
"So," said Malfoy, stepping down the stairs moodily. "What did you need to talk about, Potter?"
"Why the change in attitude, Malfoy?" asked Harry curiously.
"Well—no reason. I just suppose I'd be better off if I respected the people who are protecting my family at the moment. Or at least one of us," he added in a pleasant tone of voice but with flashing eyes.
"Listen, Malfoy. As you know, I've just been made head of the Order. It isn't easy, and I don't even know if I can do it. And, well…not all the members are too keen about someone who's not even of age being their leader, and I don't think anyone can blame them. Asking them to go into Death Eater Headquarters, wherever it even is, and rescue the wife of another Death Eater isn't going to go over well. And if anyone dies, I—It would be my fault."
"No, it wouldn't! It would be the fault of the person who kills him!" exclaimed Draco desperately. "Listen. I'll tell you everything I know! I'll tell you where Headquarters are. I'll tell you what some of them are doing! Please promise me you'll try to get my mother out of there. They'll kill her, especially after they found out that I left them!"
"They don't know already?" asked Harry.
"Well, my mark hasn't burned yet. So obviously, the Dark Lord hasn't needed me by now. But it's only a matter of time…." But he trailed off when a commotion started outside. Harry peered out of one window and Malfoy the other. Harry felt his stomach churn as the sight of Bellatrix Lestrange met his eyes.
"Where are you?" she was demanding. "Open up! THIS—IS—MY—BLOODY—HOUSE! Narcissa, I don't think we'll be able to hide you here! What are we going to do? Andromeda's? No, she's a blood traitor…." Harry for a moment suspected that perhaps Bellatrix had gone insane. But then it hit him—Narcissa must be under an invisibility cloak! This meant that Bellatrix was trying to save her; in turn going against Voldemort's wishes. Draco stiffened intensely.
"Potter—they're right outside! Couldn't we just--?"
Harry shook his head, panicking. "No, we can't! It would give Headquarters away. If we could just get your aunt to take her to Andromeda's…that's Tonks' Mum, isn't it? Then we could get her here safely." He pressed his ear to the window again. The women were speaking in much lower tones now, and he couldn't quite hear what they were saying. But Harry knew that there had to be one somewhere… he took out his wand, muttering, "Accio Extendable Ear!" He watched as the pale string slithered underneath the door.
"Bella, please! We have to go to Andromeda; I haven't even seen Draco in days! To think, my only son has turned against me!"
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Cissy. I'm sure that he probably is hiding somewhere. But he's not nearly skilled enough in Occlumency! The Dark Lord always knows…. Cissy, you know I'm doing this because you're my only real sister left! And Regulus and Sirius are gone… what's happened to our family? And your other family! The once-revered names 'Black' and 'Malfoy' don't even gain respect among our circles any longer! And filthy half-bloods are infiltrating our ranks, including Snape," she spat with disgust.
"Bella, he saved Draco's life!"
"He didn't. The Dark Lord would've killed Draco by now if he wasn't hiding like some coward. And he almost killed you, Cissy! And can you imagine what he's planning for Lucius?"
"Let's just hope he stays in Azkaban…." It was hard to look at Malfoy. Harry had been the one to put a well-deserved Lucius Malfoy into prison last year.
"All right, then. To Andy's?"
"I suppose—Bella, what if she won't take me?"
"She will. Now let's go; this place has given me the creeps. You don't suppose Regulus did something to it before he was killed?" she asked with interest. A moment later, the (presumably) two women had vanished.
"Well," said Harry finally, looking at an upset Malfoy, "There's our answer. I'll tell Tonks today, all right?" Malfoy nodded. "I suppose you still want to stay here? I'm sure it's safer…." Again, Malfoy said yes.
"So what do you want to know about where the Death Eaters are?" asked Malfoy gloomily. Harry was about to answer when Hermione and Ginny skidded into the room.
"Harry!" gasped Hermione excitedly.
"What? What is it?"
"Well, I was just looking at the tapestry in the Parlor, and you'll never guess!" she gushed. Harry waited expectantly. Hermione paused before going on.
"Well… I saw a bunch of names on it, you know, and Sirius had a brother!" Harry frowned. Didn't Hermione already know? She had to!
"Er—'Mione—" But before he could continue, Hermione hit him with a nonverbal hex, making his feet fall asleep. "Oh—yeah," he said painfully, realizing that she was speaking in code. "Yeah, that's great…. Is he alive? What's his name?"
"Regulus Alphard Black!" she exclaimed. "But, no, he died years back. Just thought you ought to know…." Harry pondered for a moment, and Draco and Ginny both looked utterly confused. Regulus Black, Regulus Black…Regulus Alphard Black… He then gasped. R.A.B!
"Wow…fantastic," he muttered. "Well, let's go on. Ginny, your Mum will be expecting us. Is Lupin still here?" Ginny shook her head.
"He left about fifteen minutes ago—something about an appointment with Professor McGonagall. I wonder if he'll be teaching next year." Harry shrugged.
"All right—I'll see you sometime, Malfoy, for the rest of our talk. Er—if you need anything… I suppose you can—hmm. I'm not sure. I'll figure it out. Bye."
"Bye," muttered Draco, slinking upstairs. The moment he was out of sight, Harry dragged Ginny and Hermione back into the parlor.
"R.A.B!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"Shh!" scolded Hermione. "Honestly, keep it down!"
"What in Merlin's name are you all talking about?" demanded Ginny. Harry and Hermione exchanged looks.
"It's part of what I was going to tell you tonight, Ginny," Harry explained. Ginny's eyes lit up with interest.
"You mean Regulus Black had something to do with defeating Voldemort?" she asked quietly, repressing a shudder. Harry nodded.
"Yeah. And, well—Hermione, do you think it could be—well, here?" He lowered his voice to a whisper before continuing. "The Horcrux?" Hermione gasped loudly.
"Harry! Last summer, when we were cleaning! There was a locket that none of us could open, do you remember? The day we got rid of the doxies?" she asked with intense enthusiasm.
"I remember it," said Ginny. "But what was it? It was in the cabinet with that horrible music box—" And suddenly Harry remembered perfectly. It had been around the time he'd looked at the tapestry with Sirius!
"I remember," said Harry darkly. "I wonder what Sirius would've done if he'd known that his house was harboring a piece of Voldemort's soul…." Ginny gasped.
"What?" she asked quickly. "Part of—in the locket—? Oh, Harry, like the diary?"
"Exactly like the diary," he muttered. "Come on, let's go have a look in that cabinet…."
"But Harry," said Hermione anxiously as she and Ginny hurried to keep up with him, "What are we going to do with it if we do find it? We don't know how to destroy it!"
"Gryffindor's sword worked last time," said Harry, thinking. "I wonder if it's been destroyed already…I mean, judging by the looks of the note R.A.B—er, Regulus—wrote, he may have just moved it or he could've ruined it…."
"So—so could Tom Riddle have come out of that locket too?" asked Ginny, panting as Harry came to an abrupt stop and entered the room the cabinet was in. "And possessed the person who, I don't know, wore it?" Harry looked at Ginny strangely, and then at Hermione, who looked equally puzzled.
"I don't know," he said thoughtfully. "I mean, we still don't really know how they work, do we? We just have the diary to go by, and if only Dumbledore had told me about the ring—wait! Dumbledore left me a letter. Tonks said it was here…." Already at the cabinet, he debated which agenda to finish first.
"I'll just—open this cabinet, and take out the locket, and—"
"No, Harry," said Hermione immediately. "Did you ever stop to think? Maybe Regulus died by touching the locket, or moving it! There could still be deadly enchantments on it…."
"No, Hermione, because we all tried to open it last year," reminded Ginny. "And none of us died yet, did we? Well, Sirius and Ron nearly, but…."
"I suppose you're right," sighed Hermione. "Go on," she said to Harry. "Open the drawer." With an intense feeling of trepidation, Harry did as Hermione had instructed, gripping his wand all the while. He felt Ginny and Hermione tense behind him as he looked into the drawer. It was empty.
"What?" he demanded, opening everything else in the cabinet, only to find it ransacked completely.
"Harry," began Hermione logically after several silent moments, "maybe they moved that stuff to another room, or to Little Hangleton. Ask Professor Lupin and Tonks tonight, they'll tell you where it is. I'm sure of it." Harry, still shocked and angry at his almost-find, nodded slowly.
"Yeah—I suppose you're right. I'll just get my letter and we can go…. Kreacher!" Kreacher appeared a moment later.
"Master told Kreacher he could have a break, but Master is a lying half-blooded scum, and Kreacher must do what he asks…."
"Listen, you can have your break! Just go and get me the letter Dumbledore left, please. And don't read it!"
"Kreacher will not read," said the elf angrily, "because Kreacher does not know how. No Masters or Mistresses teach Kreacher; no, he must—" By this time Kreacher had reached the door and was inaudible. Harry suddenly felt a warm hand on his. He looked down to see Ginny smiling up at him.
Unfortunately, Hermione rather ruined the moment, ranting angrily. "House-elves aren't even educated? No wonder they act so servile to humans! They don't even know any better. Maybe I can create a new branch of S.P.E.W. and we can work to help school young house-elves and all the older ones who want to learn, and…." Ginny looked at Harry with exasperation.
Finally, Kreacher returned and thrust the letter at Harry's feet. Harry rolled his eyes and bent to pick it up. "Well, we're going now, Kreacher. See you later." He then followed his friends to the fireplace where the three Flooed back to the Burrow.
When Harry arrived, Mrs. Weasley hurried over. "There you are! What kept you three? We have a lot to do today. Now, Fred and George are de-gnoming the garden. The wedding is only in three hours! Oh, dear. Now, Ginny and Hermione, there's a woman from some ridiculous famous hair-styling and make-up place in Paris. Fleur and Gabriel and their mother and the like are all up there already. You two go on up and remember to get dressed into your robes before getting your hair done! Harry—Ron and Charlie are setting up the chairs and the archway and all of that. You can go on and help them—and tell them I want the broom shed to be spotless! And as none of them have the best cleaning spells, tell them to do it the Muggle way." Harry nodded, pocketing his letter, and started towards the back door but he was stopped.
"Oh, I wouldn't go that way, Harry! Rufus Scrimgeour is in there, with Kingsley and Percy. Goodness knows why they had to come so early, seeing as there's a two-hour cocktail hour and four-hour reception!" Harry nodded, frowning. Why was Scrimgeour here at all, and especially so early? "And that reminds me, I've got to get Arthur and his friend Perkins to bring in all the wine to chill, I mean we could do it by magic of course, but it's never as good… and I do hope Bill's friend Eric remembered to bring that Egyptian wine when he got in this morning; it's the only stuff the goblins will drink, and—what am I rambling for? Go on, Harry, I'll see you in a bit."
"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley. You're a life saver…" he joked, grinning.
"Go on outside, dear," she said affectionately.
Once out in the backyard, Harry made his way over to where Ron was angrily levitating chairs from stacks near the house into their rows. Charlie and Ron each were doing a side; Charlie's was remarkable neater and in order.
"Hey, Ron," said Harry cheerfully.
"Hi," he muttered. "I can't believe this! The Quarterfinals of the Quidditch World Cup are on! And no, we can't bring the WWN out here. This is the stupidest—" A chair rose about fifty feet into the air and crashed near the broom shed—"thing—" Another chair that had been sitting upright seemed to jump into the air and scurry a few feet away (Harry could only guess they were magical)—"I've ever—" A large gnome flew threw the air and hit Ron's head with a loud clunk—"HEARD!"
"Oi!" shouted an annoyed Fred, "Don't remind us! And stop shouting so much! You're scaring the chairs!"
"And that's another thing!" vented Ron, his ears turning red as he kicked the gnome that had landed so unceremoniously on his head. "Why are they moving?"
"Bill wanted them charmed to be comfortable," said George with disgust. "And Percy offered, of course, the stupid show-off, and now they keep moving and nobody can get them to stop! They've already hit the house," he said, pointing to a small dent near the kitchen window.
"Hermione can probably do it," offered Harry, taking out his own wand and starting to straighten out Ron's row of chairs a bit. "Guess what?" he asked in an undertone as he moved a bit closer to Ron.
"What?" he asked out of the side of his mouth, ignoring Fred and George who were spectacularly charming fireworks to chase gnomes around the yard. "They're in charge of the entertainment tonight," groaned Ron. "Part of it, anyway—Fleur got some stupid French violinists or something as well…."
"R.A.B.," said Harry excitedly. "It's Regulus Black!" Ron gaped at Harry, dropping yet another chair, which landed on Charlie's foot.
"Ron, you prat!"
"What?" demanded Ron in a harsh whisper. "So do you think the thing, the Horcrux, could be at Grimmauld? Did you find it? I knew Mum should've let me go with you!"
"Well that's just it," said Harry. "We saw it before fifth year, when we were cleaning. Nobody could open it, remember?" A look of comprehension dawned on Ron's face. "But," said Harry hurriedly, "we just looked there, and everything in that cabinet's gone. Either it got moved to the other Headquarters or to another place or something…."
"Someone couldn't have—well, stolen it, could they?" asked Ron speculatively. "Like, a Death Eater? Snape! What if he found it and realized what it was—or Malfoy, even, now that he's there!" This brought up horrifying possibilities.
"That's a good idea, Ron, but—I don't really think many of Voldemort's people would've known about the horcruxes. I mean, Lucius Malfoy wasn't even told about them, and he definitely used to be in the inner circle," reasoned Harry, trying to convince himself as much as Ron.
"Yeah, but Regulus knew about them, obviously. And doesn't he really trust Snape, You-Know-Who?" This Harry couldn't deny.
An hour later, the seats for the wedding were set up before a beautiful white archway on a dais, and the gnomes were gone, and the broom shed was clean (though Ron had mysteriously disappeared after the first spider-sighting). Harry went inside with Ron's brothers and up to take a shower. When he was ready and dressed appropriately, he descended down the stairs and (grudgingly) into the kitchen. Luckily, by this time, there was only half an hour left to the wedding and the house was quite full, so that Harry could avoid Scrimgeour if he had to.
Harry stopped to talk with Kingsley, Remus, and Tonks, but he didn't mention the locket yet, in front of so many people. Other familiar faces included Dedalus Diggle, Percy's old girlfriend Penelope, which came as a surprise, Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson, who were Fred and George's dates, the goblin Griphook and several others Harry didn't recognize, Hagrid and Madame Maxime, Viktor Krum (who Harry desperately hoped avoided Ron and Hermione, who were just getting over their constant bickering and jealously), and some other Order members; a witch Harry was sure was named Hestia Jones and Mundungus Fletcher. Harry grinned remembering a recent argument about why on earth Bill had invited him.
"Mum—" Bill had whined, "He is quite good for business deals, and you know Gringotts… we have to do business with people like that sometimes, and it's good to invite him to the wedding for—" Harry filed out of the house once it was time for the ceremony with Tonks, Remus, and Hermione—whose hair was all straight again like at the Yule Ball, and looked very nice—as all of the Weasleys(but Percy) had special roles in the wedding.
They took their seats and stood up like everyone else when the music began, watching the aisle, which had an enchanted carpet that looked softer than silk. Bill was already under the arch, and the Weasley parents were in the front row, so the first to file out were Charlie, Fred, George, and Ron, followed by Gabriel and then Ginny, who were wearing matching golden dress robes that shimmered in the sun. Ginny looked stunning, and Harry had never exactly noticed so much the way her long hair curled softly and her big eyes shone with happiness. He was only brought out of his stupor at Ginny when Hermione nudged him, annoyed, and the music changed into a different, louder, tune. The flower girl and ring bearer walked sloppily down the aisle and, behind them, was Fleur, her silver hair simply shining in the sunlight. She was wearing that tiara Mrs. Weasley had talked about, too. Harry grinned, thinking of Ron's reaction to her, but, to his surprise, Ron's face was quite composed. He shrugged and watched as Fleur's father escorted her down the aisle.
When she reached the arch, a short man stood and started talking about marriage and magic and Bill and Fleur's faith and relationship, especially in these hard times. Finally, the ring bearer, Ron's young cousin, took the wedding rings up to Bill and Fleur. He dropped them. Everyone laughed as the boy said loudly, "Oops!" and proceeded to pick them up. Once in the hands of the bride and groom, each said their vows to each other, and a glow emitted from the rings, growing bigger and bigger as the vows continued until the couple was surrounded by a bright light. They then exchanged the rings and small shooting stars began to sparkle and burst into the sky around the dais. After Bill and Fleur exchanged a kiss, the light vanished and everyone began to cheer. Next to Harry, Hermione and even Tonks were crying! Harry grinned at his friends and at all the people in the backyard. Was this the last time he'd see them all together? He suddenly felt a strong feeling rise in his chest—was it love?—and a wave of what could only have been raw magic emitted from him, sending chills up people's backs within a ten-foot radius. These were the people Harry loved, there was no doubt. He watched as the flower girl walked up the aisle, picking up all the petals she had dropped despite all of the adults telling her to go on. After several long minutes, Ron and Charlie escorted Gabriel back up the aisle, and Fred and George escorted Ginny.
He met her eyes as she walked by, grinning. He took a deep breath. "I love you," he mouthed to her before he knew what he was saying. Her eyes widened and she turned to look at him, surprised but smiling, as she continued up the aisle and to the Burrow.
A/N: Sorry it took awhile! I should be updating both this story and The Malfoy Girl soon, so tell me what you thought! Thanks so much for all of the reviews, I love them. If you review, tell me which author's note you read; the top or bottom, I want to see which more people read, lol. Thanks for reading, make sure to review!
-JB