Chapter Two – Union magique

They strode out the door and down the street with nary a backwards glance. Once they were safely obscured in an alley, Hermione held out a portkey. Harry and Ron took hold and before long, Harry felt the familiar jerk behind his navel.

He found himself deposited in front of some dingy looking houses. The sign on the street read Grimmauld Place. They walked calmly towards numbers 11 and 13. Between them, number 12 materialized. It almost brought a tear to Harry's eye to realize that noone who had not already been told about this building would ever be able to find it. It was under the Fidelius charm, and Dumbledore had been the Secret Keeper.

Harry grimly opened the door and walked in. The house was quiet. The Order had moved headquarters in case they needed more recruits, so the house was just a house belonging to Harry Potter. He was using it only until he found his parents' house. Whether that was before or after he dealt with Voldemort, he didn't know. But neither, did he care.

He walked up the stairs, to the room that Sirius had slept in, and put his cloak in the cupboard. Ron and Hermione had stopped off at the same rooms they had been using since the holiday before their fifth year at Hogwarts. He walked back down to join them, and the three friends proceeded into the living room.

"Well," Harry began, stretching as he sat down on the sofa, "I'm glad that's over and done with.

"Yeah, that was always going to be the low point of the rest of our lives," Ron said casually as he threw himself into an armchair.

"Enough joking Ron," Hermione said, as she stood up from lighting the fire, "Harry, Mrs Weasley is insisting you go to the Burrow tomorrow for a birthday party. She seemed pretty insistent that I take you in her letter..."

"Sorry mate," Ron said with a grimace, "mum takes this whole 'Harry is like a son to me' thing just a little too far sometimes..."

Harry smiled, "It's okay, I'll come quietly!" raising his hands in mock-defeat, "I can duel with Voldemort, but the dark arts hath no fury like a Weasley woman scorned...Which means we'll have to start watching your temper Mrs Ronald."

Hermione stiffened and pursed her lips disapprovingly, before sitting down in Ron's lap and hugging him to her tightly. Harry rolled his eyes and started reading a book about wizarding settlements in the world.

They had quite a busy social calendar before they were due to set off, all things considered. Harry's birthday party, Fleur and Bill's wedding and a send-off party. Harry had the distinct impression the send-off party would be the first time most people realized Harry was going with company, in the shape of Ron and Hermione. They hadn't said it, but he knew they hadn't told anyone yet.

They stayed up until 11, but then Hermione decided to usher Harry and Ron into bed. Groaning loudly, the pair allowed themselves to be steered towards their rooms, muttering darkly about interfering women, which earned Ron a punch in the arm, and Harry a sharp poke in the ribs.

Smirking, Harry walked into his bedroom and got changed. He was excited about the next day. His last birthday party, which had been his first, the year before, had been tainted by news of murders. He was hoping this one would be light-hearted, but was ready to defend himself and his friends if necessary. A task that would be made much easier by the fact that as of then, he would be able to use magic any time he liked.

When he awoke, Harry leaped out of his bed. He summoned his clothes to him with a grin and put them on quickly. Holding out his wand, he walked to the door and grinned as it swung open easily. Smiling broadly, he walked down the stairs into the kitchen, where he found Ron and Hermione, cooking breakfast. He could only assume they were doing his, as they usually got up after him.

Spotting him, they rushed over and hugged him, Hermione even game him a swift kiss on the cheek, which, surprisingly, did not make Ron jealous.

"Happy birthday mate," Ron said, grinning, "we've almost made your breakfast, take a seat."

Hermione followed him to the table, "We're flooing into the Burrow," she said, still smiling, "and we're not due for 2 hours, giving you plenty of time to eat your birthday breakfast. Oh, and of course, happy birthday."

Harry's friends went back to their cooking. They served up quickly and Harry saw a breakfast feast worthy of the Hogwarts house elves.

"Thank you guys," he said, grinning at both of them, "this is great!"

"This is nothing compared to what mum'll be feeding you," Ron said, smirking. Harry grimaced and began eating.

After breakfast was finished, they flooed to the Burrow. They were an hour early, but figured that the party guests and hosts would be only too delighted to have Harry arrive early. Judging by the squeals of delight when he emerged from the fireplace after Ron and Hermione, they had been right.

Mrs Weasley, as usual, deplored how thin he looked. Which Harry thought was pretty odd, because he was stuffed with breakfast and he'd been eating well over the previous 2 weeks, thanks to not having to rely on the Dursleys for food. Perhaps she had just been thinking it so long, it was now her default opinion on the way Harry looked.

Within half an hour, all the guests had arrived and the party had started. Mrs Weasley had decided on a buffet arrangement, so Harry just grabbed food whenever he felt the need and spent most of his time mingling with his many guests. Remus and the whole order were there (Remus and Tonks were holding hands most of the party, danced together and sneaked off occasionally to kiss. Or at least, that was the generally assumed reason for their absences). Several of Harry's classmates had also turned up, including Luna, Neville, the Patils, all the Quidditch team mates Harry had ever had and the Creevey brothers, who were providing entertainment having formed a band with a friend.

Once it came to presents time, Harry got what must have been his best haul ever. As he'd hoped, everyone's presents were fun and entertaining. Fred and George had supplied what seemed to be every joke product they had ever put on sale, and a few they hadn't. The Creeveys had furnished him with a Wizarding Wireless which had a built-in Magical Record Player and a copy of their album. He grinned, he'd always wanted one of these.

At the end of the party, another present was brought in. It was small, but looked important and expensive. Harry realized it had to be from Remus and Tonks, from whom he had not noticed not receiving gifts until that moment. He unwrapped the present and gasped at what he saw.

There were two wand boxes, identical, which had his name engraved on them. Made of silver and encrusted with jewels, he knew the wands within were probably very special indeed.

Remus and Tonks looked on nervously, clearly hoping dearly that he liked the wands. They each took in a breath sharply as he opened the boxes in unison. The wands were made of holly and had silver handles. Notes told Harry both had dragon heart string cores and were 14 inches long. One had "Tonks" engraved on the hilt, the other "Moony". He looked at the back of the notes. These were made to order Auror wands. They were top of the range, and he had 2 of them. He couldn't believe it.

"Wow..." he said, picking them up and feeling them accept him instantly, "the wizard can choose the wand after all...These are wonderful! I love them!"

Tonks and Remus beamed as Harry hugged them. He decided to give his new wands a shot, so he summoned his goblet to him with Moony. It appeared in his hand instantly.

"Most powerful wands known to wizardkind," Remus said, smiling, "Proven to increase potency of most spells and especially physical manipulation spells."

Harry was delighted with them. He took the included holsters, thoughtfully one was for left, the other right, and put the wands in them before mounting them on his belt. He put his old wand, which he decided to call Nymphadora (To Tonks's chagrin) in the box Tonks (The wand) came in and put it and Moony's box in the bag of presents to take home.

Once all the guests had left, Ron and Hermione went through the Weasley fireplace to go back to Harry's house, and Harry intended to follow them, but was stopped by a girl calling his name.

"Ginny?" he said, turning to look at his sort-of-ex-girlfriend (They were planning to get back together eventually), "What's up?"

Ginny smiled shyly and replied, "Were you going to leave without kissing me?"

Harry smiled, "Of course not."

And so, after a hug and kiss goodbye, Harry stepped through the fireplace into his house. Hermione and Ron were sitting at the kitchen table waiting for him.

"What kept you?" Ron asked, smirking knowingly.

"I was saying goodbye to Ginny," Harry replied unflinchingly as he took a seat next to his friends and opened the butterbeer they had set there for him.

"Yes, I'm sure you were just saying goodbye to Ginny," Ron said, smirking ever more widely.

"Shut it you," Harry said, smiling, "Anyway, when's the wedding again?"

It was Hermione who answered, as Ron had screwed his face up, trying to remember, "A week on Monday."

"Well until then I guess we should work on some research of Voldemort's movements," Ron shivered at Voldemort's name, but both nodded at the plan.

As the big day dawned, Harry summoned his finest dress robes. Once he had them on and had sorted out his hair, he went downstairs. Hermione was there already, but Ron wasn't.

"Morning," she said, looking up from The Daily Prophet, "how did you sleep?"

"Quite well, yourself?" Harry replied, sitting down and grabbing a slice of toast from a pile Hermione had apparently made.

"I, uh, I slept quite well, yeah..." Hermione said, blushing.

"Am I to take it that you and Ron were enjoying yourselves last night?" Harry asked in reply with a slight grin.

"Er..."

Once Ron had emerged from his room, the three of them flooed to the Burrow, where Fred and George, serving as ushers, led them out into the field behind the Burrow and sat them on the groom's side. They were the last guest to arrive, so they sat at the back.

Bill stood at the front, looking extremely nervous, right up until the time Fleur started to walk down the aisle. She looked beautiful. She was wearing a traditional white wedding dress that fitted her just right. The veil was fluttering in the breeze as her father led her towards Bill.

The ceremony was twice as long as usual, because Bill and Fleur had asked for the words to be repeated in French so that her family could understand. Charlie was serving as Best Man and Gabrielle as maid of honour. Both she and Ginny kept stealing glances at Harry, though Gabrielle was a little more subtle.

As the couple kissed, their parents began to cry. Ron smiled proudly beside Harry and Hermione, grinning broadly, squeezed his hand. As Mr and Mrs Bill Weasley walked back up the aisle, the rows they passed stood to follow.

The reception took place in the Burrow's ground floor and garden. Harry enjoyed the happiness that was everywhere he looked, and to Mrs Weasley's (Ron's mum's) delight, he ate quite a lot, without noticing.

He walked over to Gabrielle near the time Bill and Fleur were due to leave. She had been looking progressively more miserable ever since the reception had started, and him being in a good mood, Harry wanted to cheer her up.

"Bonjour Gabrielle," he said, smiling, "It's been a while."

Gabrielle smiled weakly, "'Ello 'Arry. I 'ave missed you zese past few years."

Harry's smile softened, "Well I'm here now. And you don't look very happy, is there anything I can do?"

"Well," Gabrielle said quietly, "Iz zere somewhere we can go to talk in private?"

"Er, sure," Harry said, leading her into the shed he and Dumbledore had conversed in more than a year previously. Once he'd shut the door behind them, he turned to Gabrielle and began "So, what did you want to ta-", before being cut off.

"'Arry, what you did zat day when you rescued me touched me," she said, a solemn tear running silently down her cheek, "I want to show you 'ow grateful I am...I want to show you 'ow I feel..."

"Er, feel free," Harry replied nervously.

Gabrielle brightened slightly, before lunging at Harry and kissing him passionately. Taken aback, Harry reciprocated the kiss, which Gabrielle broke before too long.

"I'm sorry..." she said, still smiling, "I know about you and Ginny, but I want you to know, I love you too 'Arry...Please do not forget me."

"I promise I won't," Harry said, amazed at how good the kiss had been, "Now what do you say we get back to the reception?"

A/N: Long chapter, I know. But I wanted the birthday and the wedding in one chapter, so, you know. Thanks to Zara my Beta for accepting this one in stages. I haven't yet got any reviews, so if you're reading this, please review. I'd like to know what you think.

If you're worried about how little action there is so far, that's because there is so much later. Chapter after next you'll see the beginnings of it, then a few chapters later the action will really kick in.