For the next two days, the matriarchs of both the Weasley and Montgomery families kept their families busy with wedding preparations. There was a lot of work of work to be completed after all this was to be the magical social event of the year on both sides of the Atlantic. It was not every day that the brother of the British Minister of Magic married the niece of the American Secretary of Magic. Harry smirked as he thought to himself of the wizards who would not have given the Weasleys the time of day ten years ago were now hoping for an invite to Fred's wedding. Unfortunately, for those people Molly was one who could hold a grudge for a very long time.
On the morning of the wedding Harry woke up early and peeked out the window. He was relieved to see the sun was shining, it had rained for the last two days and everyone had been worried about the weather. But he thought with a laugh Molly Weasley and Katherine Montgomery would not stand for it to rain on the day of their children's wedding and apparently whomever was in charge of weather knew this.
The house was quiet as he made his way across the hall to the bathroom. Ginny and Ron had both already left because they were both attendants in the wedding and had to get ready early and have pictures taken. When Harry sat down with a cup of coffee a few minutes later he was relieved that today he was just a guest. Hermione joined him a few moments later and he handed her part of the morning paper, The Oracle. They quietly sipped their morning drinks and read the paper for a short time. Their quiet ended when Jason, Dannie, and Carrie came running down the stairs and woke up Mathew.
Hermione started to get up to go get Mathew up but Harry stopped her and said he would do it. It had been a while since Jason had been a baby but Harry was pretty sure he would remember what to do. After all he had been a single parent from the time Jason was fourteen months old. He walked into the guestroom where Ron and Hermione along with Matthew had been sleeping. Matthew quieted when he saw Harry, the baby looked at him wearily for several seconds before reaching his arms up.
Harry reached down and picked the little guy up. He cooed to him as he got Matthew ready for the day. They were making their way back to the kitchen where Hermione was feeding the rest of the kids breakfast as Harry realized how much he missed having a small child. He decided he would talk to Ginny about having another. He had missed so much of Jamie's younger years and with Jason he had been struggling to be both parents that he did not enjoy it as much as he should of. Matthew pulled him from his serious thoughts by reaching over with his pudgy hands and trying to steal Harry's glasses.
"Hey," Harry evaded the baby's attempts with a laugh. "I need those, mister."
Harry sat down with Matthew in his lap. Hermione offered to take him and feed him but Harry replied that he did not mind doing it. After breakfast, Harry went out to the back yard with Jason, Dannie, Carrie, and Georgia. Jason was teaching the other kids how to play football. Jamie and Josie were not as athletic as the other children and stayed on the patio with Hermione and Matthew.
After a few hours, Hermione called to them that it was time to get ready to leave for the wedding and they trooped in to the house. Harry finally gave up on taming his hair and went to check on Jason. He grinned when he saw his son for the first time in wizarding clothes. Ginny had bought him a set of dress robes before they had left. Father and son were dressed in identical deep emerald robes.
"Hey bud," he spoke from the doorway of Jason's bedroom. "You ready?"
Jason looked over from where he was standing, "Yep."
Harry walked over to him and tried to flatten his son's hair. He quickly realized that his son had inherited the Potter hair and gave up. The walked downstairs together and Harry was surprised to see everyone else waiting for them. Hermione quickly instructed everyone to gather around the portkey that would take them to the site of the wedding.
When they arrived everyone gasped at the beauty of the site. Real fairy lights lit the trees that lined the walkway leading to the ceremony site. Gentle music surrounded them. The scent of flowers in the gentle breeze surrounded them.
Harry sat between Hermione and Jason with Jamie on the other side of Jason. The ceremony was short but beautiful. At one point Harry handed Hermione a handkerchief when he heard her soft sniffle. She thanked him with a soft smile. After the ceremony their group joined the rest of the guests in the tents set up on the sloping lawn.
Ginny and Ron joined them shortly after they had sat down at a large round table. Lori and Fred's arrival was applauded and once they were seated at the head table, plates filled with delicious food appeared in front of everyone. Once all in attendance were thoroughly satisfied George stood up and waited to get everyone's attention. He surprised everyone by giving a very touching speech that ended with Fred pulling him into a backslapping hug.
Harry was surprised at how well behaved George was being. However, when Fred and Lori went to cut the cake he noticed that both Ron and George seemed a bit too excited about it. Once the bride and groom started to cut the first slice he discovered why that was. As soon as the knife touched the cake, bits of cake and icing were shot six feet into the air as the cake exploded. For several seconds everyone stared speechlessly at the butter cream-covered couple, finally Lori began to laugh and was joined by everyone. Even Molly had a good chuckle after scolding both George and Ron and performing a quick spell to clean the icing off of Fred and Lori.
Once the laughter died down and the icing was cleared away, the newly married pair shared their first dance as a married couple. Soon other couples trickled on to the dance floor and joined them. Harry stood up and offered his arm to Jamie. She giggled and took her father's arm as he led her to the dance floor. Harry smiled as he noticed Jason mimic him and ask Ginny to dance with him. When the song ended, Harry made his way to Ginny and took her in his arms. Jason ran off to join some of the other kids and Jamie asked her Grandpa to dance with her. Harry managed to snatch Lori for a quick dance before she and Fred left for their honeymoon. After that he found himself dancing with Molly and most of his sisters in law.
Only family remained when finally he managed to escape the dance floor and sat back down at his table. He was sitting there for only a few seconds when he suddenly had a feeling that something was not right. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. His Auror instincts kicked in. He quickly stood up and scanned the room for trouble. Not seeing anything immediately, he performed a quick head count to ensure that everyone was still safely in the room.
During his scan of the room, he noticed a few other people also surveying the room. He caught his former Auror partner, Tonk's, eye and she excused herself from Remus and made her way to him. On her way she picked up Alan and Erik Montgomery, Lori's brothers who were American Aurors. They joined Harry and quietly exited the tent so as not to worry anyone else.
Once outside they walked a short ways down the lawn. When they stopped Harry looked at the group gathered around him, "Do you guys feel like something's not right?"
"Yeah," Alan answered him. "But I did not see anything out of the ordinary."
"Me either," Erik replied.
"I think we need to check outside," Tonks suggested.
Before anyone could answer her, raised voices were heard from the tent. They raced back to the entrance. Just before they entered the tent a loud crash was heard which quickened their pace. When they stepped through the doorway the sight that greeted them caused Tonks to gasp and grab Harry's arm. Behind him, Alan and Erik cursed loudly. Harry looked around the room with terror and confusion in his emerald eyes.
Chaos reigned in the room as the Aurors reentered. Tonks rushed to her husband's side. Remus was bleeding profusely from a head wound and was cradling the still body of their son.Alan and Erik both ran to where their father was trying to comfort a hysterical Liz. They were both kneeling by Bob's lifeless body.
Harry frantically searched the room for his family. His eyes locked with Ron's. There were tears streaming down Ron's face as he embraced the limp body of Hermione. Fleur had an arm around each of Ron's twin daughters and was trying to comfort them. Her daughter, Zoe, was holding a crying Matthew. Most of the other children were sitting in the middle of the dance floor with Lori's mother and aunt trying to keep them calm. Their sobs filled the room.
Katie was desperately trying to pry Ron away. "Ron, I need to help her," the Healer gently but firmly told her brother in law.
Harry dashed towards them. On his way, he passed a distraught Georgia sitting on the floor. He knelt beside her and wrapped his arms around her. The young girl clung to him as she started to weep. Arthur was near them and was trying in vain to staunch the blood seeping through Molly's robes.
As he scanned the room in an attempt to determine what had occurred, he paused and watched the action in the middle of the room. Bill, Julius, and George were frantically trying to treat someone's wounds. It was a moment before Harry realized with shock who the man was. His usually immaculate hair was stringy and unkempt, his robes were tattered and torn. The wounded man was none other than Draco Malfoy.
George glanced up and saw Harry watching them. He slowly rose to his feet and trudged to where Harry was seated and joined him on the floor.
"What happened?" he inquired desperately over Georgia's head. He continued to scan the room and fearfully noticed more wounded. Those who were not injured were attempting to aid those who were and to comfort each other. "What did he do?" Harry glared at Draco as he asked this.
George raked a hand through his hair, "It wasn't Draco, it was his father."
"What happened?" he repeated.
"It was horrible." George sighed and his shoulders sagged. "Lucius appeared along with several Death Eaters. It was absolute pandemonium; they were recklessly throwing spells until Draco showed up and tried to stop him. Lucius tried to kill him with an unforgivable curse but the spell hit the chandelier and split. Hermione tried to shove Draco out of the way and they were each hit with half of the curse. Julius stepped in and tried to restrain Lucius but he and the Death Eaters left in a cloud of smoke." He looked around the room and rubbed his hands over his eyes.
Harry frantically looked around the room for Ginny and his kids. When he saw no sight of them he addressed George, "Where is Ginny? Is she okay? And Jamie and Jason where are they?"
George too scanned the room for any sign of his sister or either of Harry's kids. "I don't know."
George took Georgia from Harry and held her close. Harry stood up and searched the room for his family. His terror level rose, as he saw no sign of any of them. He was starting to panic when the sound of several 'cracks' near the doorway captured his attention. With relief he noted the arrival of Dumbledore. Joining them were several other wizards and witches, some of whom Harry recognized and was comforted by seeing. The others he assumed were Americans and would be just as helpful.
Several Healers were in the newly arrived group. They quickly treated those they could and transported those too critically wounded to be treated on site to Apollo Medical Center, which was the regional magical hospital. Harry was disheartened to see that Hermione and Molly along with Draco were among those transported to the hospital.
Harry glanced at Bill Weasley, Daniel Montgomery, and Professors Dumbledore attempting to figure out what happened and what to do now. Instead of joining them, he walked to his oldest friend and put an arm around his shoulder. Ron looked at Harry with eyes brimming with tears.
"Harry, what will I do if Hermione doesn't survive," his voice cracked with emotion as he voiced his worst fear. "And mum, what will happen to our family if she's gone?"
Harry looked at his friend miserably. He did not have an answer for him. Ron searched the room with his sapphire eyes.
"Where's Ginny?" he asked terrified. The look in his eyes changed from grief to anger as he realized that three of the most important people in his life, his mum, wife, and sister, were all either missing or gravely injured.
Before Harry could reply, Bill came over to let them know that they were going to the hospital to make a plan of action. That way they could be close if anything changed in the status of the victims' condition. Zoe quietly joined her dad and handed Matthew to Ron. Quickly Ron's other children joined them as someone handed Harry a portkey that would take them all to the hospital.
When they arrived, Ron hurried off to check on the condition of his wife. Charlie was waiting for Harry and stood up when he saw him arrive.
"Harry," he called to him. "Draco is awake and he's asking for you. He's really weak and won't say anything except ask for you."
Charlie put a hand on Harry's arm and led the confused younger man down the hall to a private room. He left him at the doorway and Harry walked into the room. He noticed Dumbledore sitting at Draco's bedside. The elderly man looked up as Harry entered.
Dumbledore stood up and spoke gently to Draco, "Harry's here," he stated simply to the pale man.
"Potter," Draco croaked in a hoarse whisper.
Harry moved closer in order to hear his former enemy. Draco's silver eyes were filled with terror.
"Malfoy," Harry spoke quietly as walked to the bedside. "What happened?"
"No time to explain," he answered with difficulty. "Save Jason." He paused as a coughing fit hit him. Harry was alarmed to notice a bit of blood trickle out with the cough. "He took your family, help them." He appeared to be struggling to breathe but reached a hand out to grab Harry's sleeve. "Promise me."
"I promise," Harry swore. "Do you know where he took them?"
His question was not answered due to the fact that the previous conversation had exhausted the weakened Draco and he had slipped back into unconsciousness.
Harry looked at Dumbledore with confusion and dismay, "What are we going to do?" His eyes shone with trepidation, "I can't lose them. I can't." he spoke quietly but forcefully.
"You're not going to," the wise wizard paused to look down at the complex man lying in the bed. "Draco muttered a few things in his sleep that may help us find his father." He put a hand on Harry's shoulder, "Come, let's join the others and get your family back."