Harry Potter and Dumbledore's Army
Chapter Six: The Wedding… Or Not?
A/N: I don't think I've ever gotten this far in a single story lol. I hope I've gained a few readers but either way I'm enjoying this story Please review so I know you took the time to even look at my story.
P.S- Thanks to all who reminded me that Soleil is really Gabrielle but since I happen to like Soleil better and since Gabrielle is more annoying for me to type (It's the b I think) I'm going to go with a little Literary License and stay with Soleil.
The hardest part of marriage began with a rocky start. Fleur and Bill nervously walked towards the Burrow holding hands as if there was no tomorrow. Clearly, there might not be a "tomorrow" if their parents couldn't get along. With apparating making travel so easy, there weren't many places they could live without being in "just in the neighborhood" distance of their families. And in reality, neither wanted to have to run from their parents. It is a tricky thing to get married successfully and in the wizarding world it doesn't get any easier. Fleur had always known her mother was eccentric about wealth and status, but she never thought it would get in the way of love. Bill always felt his mother was a little tightly strung, but he never expected it to blow up in his face on the night before his wedding.
"'ow can we ever celebrate 'olidays together? Bill, I love you, but this might be too much. My family is all I 'ave besides you." Fleur's eyes filled with tears and her nose scrunched. Bill turned to her and held her in his arms while whispering sweet-nothings to calm her. He wish he had an answer but knew that there was little he could say. He would never want to separate Fleur from her family, just as she would never want to separate him from his.
"Let's just go to the dinner and see how things go. If things don't work out before next week's wedding then we'll make more decisions. For now all we can do is hope they work things out." With that last bit of hopeful wishing they entered the house to find smoke, noise and yells.
"If your stove worked properly-"
"If you would have just let me-"
"You don't 'ave dee skills to make such a delicate cake as Fleur enjoys."
"You are simply to delicate to know how to cook!"
"It's your rickety things! Not my skills! Maybe you should buy something new!"
"I'm sorry we aren't nearly as well off as you and your husband but I have cooked on the stove for longer than your Fleur has been alive and it's always worked perfectly!"
"That's because perfect to you is merely decent! And you don't know 'ow to cook roasted duck properly!"
The shouting continued and the air became denser with smoke. Eventually the two women were coughing louder than they were arguing and everyone had to evacuate from the home. Harry rushed outside looking alarmed but calmed quickly when he saw everyone crowded outdoors.
"What is going on here?" Harry shouted in the general direction of the Weasley's, knowing that he couldn't specifically ask Ron.
"Mum and Madame Delacour are going at it like raving werewolves. They are worse then Bill's attitude during the full moon!" Ginny replied, momentarily forgetting that Harry was the cause of her woes. Immediately she gave him a dirty look and turned away. Though she was the feistiest of the Weasleys, and quite understanding most of the time, she was still a teenaged girl and she still had feelings (most of which had been hurt).
Harry looked at her back slightly saddened but then turned his attention to the shouting match that had resumed. Seeing that know one was willing to step in Harry also stepped back in fear of becoming the target of their anger should he interfere. A moment later Hermione walked up to the woman, swished her wand and walked back into the house. With the flight of her wand a bubble formed around the two and silence filled the great out doors. The bubble contained the screaming so as to not disturb the women but to relieve the family of hearing the fight.
"Hermione, you can't just leave my mother with Fleur's mother in a bubble." Ron yelled as he jogged into the house. At that moment Madame Delacour and Mrs. Weasley turned to see everyone walking into the house again. Then they noticed the bubble. The yelling began again but this time in the direction of the family. They attempted to separate from each other but the bubble prevent the women from going farther than 5 yards. They made their way into the living room where Hermione sat on the couch reading Hogwarts a History and again began to yell. Hermione merely put her hands up as if in surrender and said,
"I don't have the spell to break the bubble. I suppose I should owl professor McGonagall to see if she knows. But until she replies you two will have to wait it out. Sorry, your shouting had clogged my thought and I simply said the first spell I knew to stop it. I guess I should have said the first one I knew with a counter spell." Hermione smiled apologetically and rather sarcastically and resumed reading. Harry covered his mouth to avoid laughing out loud as the women shrieked in aggravation. Luckily neither woman could reach out beyond the bubble either otherwise Hermione might not have survived to read another page.
Fleur and Bill looked at Hermione shocked but quickly realized the good, and the bad, that the situation would produce. They silently prayed only good would come. Hermione looked up again and said, "Oh, wait there is one thing I should do. I ought to place a danger detection spell on the bubble. If you two become in danger the bubble with solidify and a loud bell will go off. We don't want anyone to strangle anyone else in that bubble now do we?" Hermione smirked, waved her wand and went back to reading. Harry could have sworn Hermione was meant for Slytherin simply based on her smirk. He knew she was Gryffindor in some way though because a Slytherin would never have thought of the safety of the two women.
In reality Hermione placed the danger spell so that in the case of an attack, Mrs. Weasley and Madame Delacour would be able to defend themselves somewhat and also be able to alert others of trouble. Quite obviously Hermione was getting ready for the worse in the year to come.
A moment later Mr. Weasley announced dinner served and everyone made their way into the enlarged kitchen. Harry looked around and began to realize that severe modifications that the Weasley's were placing on their house to maximize space. Harry wondered if they came into a bit of money recently.
One of the odder things that occurred during dinner was the appearance of chairs, a miniature table and two plates of food within the bubble. Hermione's only response was, "Well I suppose lack of nutrition is dangerous. I must have made my danger detection spell a bit strong." Harry, though probably the only one, began to think that Hermione was simply lying about not knowing a counter spell. For whatever reason, probably because of the stress, the entire house seemed rather dull and dimwitted that night so fairly early the entire clan made their way to their separate rooms without even attempting to free their mothers. Hermione wished the women good night and made her way up to the girls room, but not before placing warm comfortable beds in the bubble with a reading lamp and some old Witch Weekly magazines. Again she simply said, "Boredom and lack of sleep are both very dangerous to your health."
The next day and the days after were filled with bits of fluff until it was suddenly wedding day. The women still were stuck in their bubble of love (or actually hatred still) and Hermione only said that she was waiting on a reply from Professor Donally from America, and old friend of McGonagall's.
Fleur anxiously paced in her bedroom as she stared at her mother (and consequently Mrs. Weasley). Her wedding items were strewn throughout the room and her gown and robe hung in the corner (still in their wrappings incase Fleur felt the need to return them unworn). Tears began to swell in her eyes as she realized her mother wouldn't be helping her get ready on the biggest day of her life thus far. More so, she cried because her mother despised that she was even having this day to begin with. At that moment Bill barged in and swept her into his arms.
"Fleur, I can't do this without my mothers blessings. You can't do this without your mothers well wishes. What are we to do?" Romantically the couple held each other, completely ignoring the two women also in the room. Hermione slowly made her way into the corner of the room, where she deposited a bouquet of flowers and a bag of muggle makeup. She turned and realized what was occurring so she slowly and quietly made her was back out of the room, only pausing long enough to mutter a charm.
"We can't let our babies do that! This is their big day." Cried Mrs. Weasley. Bother women looked at each other and stood up. "As much as I can't stand some things about you, we can't prevent our children from being together." With a sudden burst of emotion Madame Delacour hugged Mrs. Weasley and said, "I am so sorry for zee things I said. You are not a bad cook nor do you need a new stove. My 'ittle girl is lucky to become a Weeez-uh-lee." Mrs. Weasley squeezed Madame Delacour back and said with an equal amount of emotion, "I am sorry I said that you were too delicate for the Weasley family or that you dyed your hair or that you couldn't properly work a stove or-"
"That's enough mother, I think she understands." Bill said chuckling as he wrapped his arm around his mother, mother-in-law-to-be and fiancé. They embraced each other for a moment then quickly kicked Bill out of the room to fetch Hermione, Soleil, Ginny and Luna. The women began the usual fixings and took the rest of the day to prepare for the wedding that night.
Magical weddings are complicated and elaborate but beautiful and romantic at the same time. They take place at night under a full moon where all you need is a handful of candles and an occasional pixie. Harry sat through the intense bonding ceremony and thought about his own future. 'Am I ever going to wear a set of wedding robes? Not that I necessarily want to be weighed down by a hundred pounds of material. Will I ever touch wands with my wife and promise forever? Ugh, now I know why women cry at weddings, boredom and fear.' Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked around. Not a cloud was in the sky and the floating candles were barely necessary.
Bill finally touched his wand to Fleur's and they muttered the Forever Yours Enchantment. They drank from the goblets being held out to them from Professor McGonagall and then lightly kissed to seal the deal. They turned to face their family and friends (who were numerous and slightly crowded) and smiled. Everyone cheered and Mrs. Weasley and Madame Delacour cried and hugged. Fleur looked ravishing in her light blue satin dress with pearl white embroidery beginning at the bottom and becoming more and more sparse towards the top. Over her dress she wore a light pearl white robe with light blue embroidery as well.
Hermione rested her head on Ron's shoulder and sighed. Similar acts of romance and emotion occurred through out the crowd. This is quite normal, as the incense used at magical weddings is a slight aphrodisiac; the odd part was the couple involved. Now, I don't want to spoil any future surprises so I will leave it at that and simply let you know that Harry and Ginny were both sighing but neither was high enough off of incense to look or touch the other. Clearly rejection doesn't go well with the Weasley family, even if it's done with the best of intentions.
The crowd made their way under a large white and blue tent set up in the field behind the Weasley house. It sparkled with candles and shimmered with pixie dust and the guests slowly danced their way into the center. A band played wedding songs and Mrs. Weasley arranged a buffet of goodies prepared by herself and Madame Delacour (with a little magical help applied to the oh-so-difficult-stove). Couples danced and many ate while Harry sat in the corner moping oh-so-slightly.
"Hey, mate. Not having much fun?" Ron said sheepishly as he sat next to Harry. Hermione, the great fixer of all relationships but her own, had spoken many times with Ron over the last few days about making up with Harry. It was a ridiculous argument that clearly had other undercurrents.
"Hey Ron. No, everything is well and dandy. Loads of fun." Harry muttered and stirred his plate of food with his wand.
"I, um, am sorry about blowing up on you last week. I don't know what took a hold of me... I guess all of this stress is building and Ginny isn't fairing too well. In a way I wanted there to be an excuse for why you guys didn't work out so that Ginny could finally get over you. Ok, well not really but that's what Hermione told me. Hermione also said that you guys are still in love and that's why there's so much tension between you and her but you can't be together because of fear and Voldemort." Ron was thoroughly red by this point and Harry just smiled. He had been only slightly hurt by Ron's anger at him and didn't feel the need to put up a fight. The boys awkwardly hugged and then made their way towards the dessert buffet.
Harry and Ron then took turns dancing with the rather gorgeous Hermione (who was decked out in a shimmery green dress and robes since she was the maid of honor). After a few songs Hermione and Ron accidentally pushed Harry into the arms of a lonely Ginny Weasley.
"Erm, Ginny would you care to dance?" Harry said as he swept her into a waltz.
"Not much of choice eh?" Ginny glared as she stepped to the music.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what you might have thought when Soleil and I were talking but I can assure you that I never had anything with her." Harry held Ginny a little close to reinforce that he was lying and stared into her watering eyes.
"Oh, Harry. I'm sorry I've been such a tart this week. I knew that Hermione was right but it didn't stop me from being a little jealous. Plus with all of the drama of Mum and Madame Delacour- oh Harry." Ginny rested her head on Harry's shoulder and continued to dance in silence. Hermione and Ron smiled at each other as they passed the two on the dance floor.
"Look's like we've finally done something right together." Hermione mused.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron ask accusingly.
"Oh, Ron. Don't spoil the moment with your density. Just dance with me." Ron opened his mouth to retaliate but instead looked like a fish out of water. Hermione smirked again and he just smiled back and let it go.
"I'm going to go inside and get more butter beer and éclairs." Harry said when the song ended. Ginny knew he was really escaping from her again but like Ron, she rather enjoy the moment then argue the pain. Harry smiled and grabbed an empty tray from the table. He smiled at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley as they passed him on the dance floor and made his way into the house from the kitchen.
At that exact moment the kitchen filled with dust and soot similar to Harry's first day at the Weasley's. Luckily for the visitor, Madame Delacour had temporarily enlarged the stove. A big black cloud covered the kitchen and Harry coughed while furiously flapping his arms in front of him to clear the soot.
"Hm, Harry, flapping like a bird isn't flattering nor is it very elegant. I hope for the younger Weasley's sake that you can do better than that on the dance floor."
"Malfoy!"
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I promise, for your sake, to update soon. Love cliffhangers...