Finally Potter
Chapter twenty seven
The wedding was drawing closer with each passing day and Ginny couldn't believe that everything had been sorted. Her dress was fitted and finished, Hermione and April had had they're dress fittings and even Robin was ready.
Ginny had written all the invitations herself and had gone to Diagon Alley to the post office and sent them all out to their guests. Everything was set. She'd been back to Cardiff and ensured that the flowers were still alright. Then she had checked on the caterers and the location.
The castle up in Scotland had been reserved for them but they had not looked into a place for the reception at the time. They were lucky though because they managed to get the same place that Hermione and Ron had had their reception, and unbeknown to them at the time the caterers owned the establishment and had booked it for them.
Ginny was getting more excited as October began to come to an end, it was the twenty eighth and Ginny was sat on the tiers in the veil of death room of the department. Clive and Opal were measuring waves that were coming from the veil while Robbie, Ernst and Heather were using a machine to record the whispery sounds that were coming from it.
Ginny however was with Richard going over his last report that he had made about their investigation with the universe. It wasn't that bad but he had left out some very important points in it and she was showing him her own as well as Robbie's so he could see what he should have added.
"Do you see what I mean?"
He nodded smiling at her. She had been working with Richard for near on two months now and they were getting along very well. The year before they had worked with Drake Singer who they had not gotten along with but Richard was very much one of them.
He was always up for a laugh and had a sense of humour very similar to the twins. He was as flirty with Opal as Robbie but could be very serious when needed. It looked like he was going to be fitting into their little gang very well.
"Richard have you got any plans for the seventh?"
"Working."
"No you'll have the day off because we're all off."
"In that case I'll be at home listening to the wireless, why?"
"How'd you like to come to a wedding? I know this is last minute but we get along well and we're going to be working together for a long time, so I thought maybe you'd like to come to my wedding."
He smiled and she felt herself smiling too.
"I'd love to, thanks Ginny."
"Oh is Dick coming to the wedding too?"
"Stop calling me that, it's Rich."
"But you're not rich mate."
Ginny laughed as Ernst winked at her.
"So we still going out tonight then?"
"Yep."
Ernst slapped Ginny's back and smiled.
"Good cos it's knocking off time lets go to the Cauldron."
"There's another two hours left of our shift yet Ernst."
He shrugged pulling her to her feet.
"Come on guys, first drinks on me."
Robbie, Heather, Clive and Opal started to pack their things away and as one they all headed out of the room. They stopped by their shared office space and dropped the goods onto the desk just as Tony walked in.
"What are you all doing, there's another two hours left of the shift."
The group all shared a look and as one started singing.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Tony, happy birthday to you."
The man looked stunned but they all grinned as Opal grabbed one of his hands while Robbie took the other and they pulled him out of the room. The group found themselves in the Cauldron within five minutes and the first load of drinks were in front of them.
"So you still mad we clocked out two hours early."
"Was Merlin a muggle?"
They all laughed as they downed their drinks and started chatting. Robbie dropped his glass and looked at Tony.
"So come on how old are you today then mate?"
"Forty nine."
"One year from half a century."
"Thanks for the reminder Bottlenose."
"No problem."
Opal smiled happily at him as Clive started coughing on his drink. Ginny looked up at her supervisor though.
"Got any plans then?"
"Martha and I are going out for a quiet meal and then the kids are bringing the grandkids around on the weekend."
"How many grandchildren do you have?"
"Well my son Jack and his wife Sarah, have three boys David, Jonathon and Mike plus one daughter Nicola. Then my daughter Clara and her husband Sam have twins Sean and Amy, then there's Paul, Ricky and Susie. Then my youngest Jorge and his fiancée Lynn have one daughter Fiona."
Ginny could feel her eyes widen at this, there was a lot of love in their family it was clear to see. Robbie though seemed to like this conversation.
"So what do your family do then?"
"Well Martha works in Flourish and Blotts she loves it there. Then Jack works in the Reversal Squad and Sarah works for the appartion test centre. That's how they met one of the youngsters spliced herself and Jack was sent out to help and met Sarah."
"How long ago was that?"
"Twenty years. They got married fifteen years ago, and David is thirteen a Gryffindor in Hogwarts, Jonathon is eleven just started at the school and is in Ravenclaw. Then Mike is nine and Nicola is eight."
"That's sweet what about you're other kids?"
"Oh Clara works in Gringotts and Sam works in the transport section of the ministry, they were in school together started dating when they were sixteen and married by the time they were twenty."
"Oh how old are they're kids then?"
"Lets see the twins are fifteen Sean is a Hufflepuff and Amy's a Ravenclaw. Then there's Paul he's eleven and he's in Ravenclaw too same as Jonathon. Then Ricky is ten and Susie is eight."
Ginny sighed.
"It must be lovely having so much family around."
Before Tony could answer though Robbie had butted in.
"He hasn't told us about Jorge and Lynn yet and little Fiona."
Tony laughed at his team.
"Jorge works for the regulation of magical creatures and Lynn she's one of the Chasers for the Tornados and Fiona is three months old."
"Wait Lynn Walters is your son's fiancée wow he's done well for himself she's fit."
Heather hit Ernst and he grinned at her as Tony took another sip of his beer.
"So come on then, I've told you about me, let's learn more about you guys. Who wants to go first?"
"I will."
They all looked at Clive and he smiled.
"I'm Clive Woodworth and I'm twenty three years old. I'm single and I'm an Unspeakable so no I can't tell you what I do."
"Got any family?"
"My dad was Clint Woodworth, an Auror he was killed when I was ten in the line of duty. My mum's a dress maker, she designs dress robes."
"Wait your mum is Bethany Woodworth!"
He grinned and looked at Heather.
"You've heard of her then."
"She's fabulous she single handily changed the style of fashion for women's dress robes."
"Yep that's mum."
He took another swig of his beer as Ginny spoke up.
"What about siblings, you have a brother don't you? He got married in July if I remember."
He nodded and smiled.
"Yeah my oldest brother Bryan he was in school with your brother Bill. He's teaching Care of Magical Creatures up in Hogwarts since Hagrid moved to France. He married the Muggle Studies teacher Kit Collins."
They all nodded as he looked at the ceiling.
"I have a sister too Natasha she's a singer in the band Mystical."
"I love that band!"
They all looked at Opal but she was grinning and they all laughed. Robbie decided to take over next.
"Well I'm Robbie Martin and I have a twin brother called Ernst. We're twenty six but act more like three year olds most of the time."
They all laughed as Ernst took over.
"Let's see, we're only children which is probably good because I can't imagine our parents being able to cope with any others, we were always a handful."
"Yeah no wonder our father loved working as the liaison between our ministry and the Americans it meant he was always busy."
"Yeah and our mother never had a job, unless you count looking after the pair of us."
"Yeah Ernst and I were raised in Washington in America but when we turned eleven we were sent to Hogwarts."
The table then looked at Heather and she smiled.
"I'm Heather Macmillian, twenty three years old and I'm the unfortunate girlfriend of Ernst here, while even more unfortunate is the fact I haven't been able to set any of my friends up with Robbie yet, but I'm not quite ready to give up yet."
Tony looked between the two of them.
"I didn't know you were dating how long has that been going on for?"
"Nearly five months now isn't it Heather."
"Yep."
"Blimey and did you all know?"
They all nodded and he downed another drink.
Heather grinned and looked around.
"Well about my family, my mum died when I was one giving birth to my brother Ernie. My father was a great guy he worked in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, he died last year."
Everyone said they were sorry to hear about her father but she just waved it off as Ginny looked up at.
"I know Ernie; he was in my brother's year. What's he up to now."
"Works in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, he decided to follow in dad's footsteps. Oh and he's gotten his girlfriend pregnant."
"Who's his girlfriend?"
"Some girl called Hannah Abbot."
She picked up her Firewhisky drinking it down and looked at Opal.
"Well I'm Opal, I'm twenty three and I'm an only child. My father works for the Daily Prophet he's the editor and as for my mum she works in an apothecary in Diagon Alley."
They all nodded as Tom brought over another round of drinks and Richard came under their questioning looks.
"Well I'm Richard Adams I'm eighteen and just out of Hogwarts. I'm a muggleborn and the only one in my family to have ever had any magical powers. I've got a younger sister Sophie who's sixteen and just left school to be a hairdresser and a younger brother Lewis who wants to be footballer and play for Liverpool. My mum works for the RSPCA which is an animal rescue service and my dad is a vet."
They sat there and Ginny felt all eyes on her.
"Oh come on you don't need me to tell you about my life, it was in the prophet."
Opal grinned.
"Just because daddy printed your life doesn't mean he got it all right, or that we paid attention so come on spill."
She sighed.
"Okay well my name is Ginevra Weasley, but everyone has always called me Ginny. I'm the youngest of seven children, or at least I once was. I'm twenty one years old and I'm getting married in ten days, and you're all coming."
She took a sip of her drink and looked up.
"My father was Arthur Weasley, and he loved muggles and before the second war we were struggling but then he got promoted to a better job and we did okay. He was killed in the final battle at Hogwarts. Then my mother is Molly Weasley and she was a home maker, she raised the seven of us. She was destroyed in the final battle she's got no memory of our family, she thinks she's sixteen years old and has a crush on her own son."
Everyone at the table laughed lightly but it was clear that Ginny's life had been tough, but she shrugged it off.
"My oldest brother is Bill and he was a curse breaker in Gringotts he worked in Egypt for years and then when Voldemort returned he came back to London where he met his late wife Fleur. She was killed by Death Eaters. He now owns a restaurant and is seeing a witch named Chloe."
"Then there's Charlie the one mum fancies. He worked in Romania with dragons but again came back during the war. He now runs Weasley Wizard Whiz and with the help of our entire family comes up with new products although our older products are the best. He's involved with a witch called Paula."
"Then there's Percy he's muggle liaison within our ministry and he loves his job. He's married to Penelope and they have two children Robin and River. Then I had twin brothers Fred and George, they were the founders of Weasley Wizard Whiz but both died during the war."
"Then there's Ron he's an Auror and he's married to my best friend Hermione who's a healer, they've been married it'll be a year and two months in four days and they're so happy together. Then there's Harry my fiancé and he's an Auror and of course you all know the story of Harry Potter."
They were all silent and then Richard spoke up.
"Wow you're from a really famous family."
She shook her head looking around the table.
"No we're not really. We're just a family who didn't sit down and take what Voldemort threw at us. We knew that we had to help and since Ron was best friends with Harry and he was the one everyone fell to led us we didn't doubt what we were doing, it made us famous yeah that's true but not famous in the way most families are. We're famous for our loss. We're famous for doing what's right, but then so are so many others."
"You're close to Albus Dumbledore aren't you?"
She nodded at Richard.
"Yep and Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Remus, Lupin and his wife Tonks. Then there's Neville Longbottom, I dated him once, and I was close to Luna Lovegood. You see these are people who are famous for the war. But we didn't intend to be, we were all friends and when one person had to stand up we didn't let them do it alone."
Everyone went silent and Ginny pulled a face.
"And that brought down the mood. So how about some drinking games."
The group grinned as more drinks came around and they started their games. After another hour Tony left to go home to his wife and his birthday meal while the other's carried on late into the night.