"You came!" Nikolai exclaimed the moment he saw me. My brother rushed over to me and pulled me into a big hug. The wedding had ended and now it was time for the reception. People looked over curiously as the groom wondered over to the edge of the party with me. "I'm so glad to see you"
"Me too" I told him and held him tight. I had missed him so very much
"You've grown so much…" There was a hint of sadness in his voice and I knew he'd missed me too
"You look old." He laughed openly and hugged me tighter earning a few more curious looks
"Do they know you came?" he asked looking around for our parents. I'm sure the last thing he wanted was for them to show up and try to stop him. Although it would have been too late. The ceremony had passed and my brother was now officially married
"No" I answered before he could get too worried. "Mum and Papa don't know about this"
"I can't believe you're here" he repeated hugging me again, though this time it was more relaxed. "I was thinking you weren't going to come…"
"I had to think about it…" I admitted but he didn't look mad. Instead he nodded and gave me a small smile
"What made up your mind?"
"Draco" I told him and watched as his face turned to one of bewilderment.
"The Malfoy boy?" he asked astounded
"Yeah. He said knowing me I would never forget it if I didn't come and I knew he was right."
"This from the kid who called me a blood-traitor" Nikolai chuckled to himself but I frowned. The word affected me more than it did him. "Not the one I would've expected to tell you that. But I'm glad you're still friends with that stuck up brat if it brought you here."
"You have other guest" I reminded him as he started to hug me again. Several more people stared at us now. I doubted any of them knew much about our family making the scene more confusing
"Don't care" he answered with the carefree smile I loved and dearly missed.
"You look happy" I noted.
"I am" he said sweetly. He really was, happier than I had seen him at home at least. Maybe his Muggle girl really was good for him. Still…
"Well good. You better be for all we've gone through." His smile turned into a small and sad one remembering the night he left like I was. He changed the subject
"So where do they think you are?" Nikolai asked
"Mum and Papa think I'm over at a friend's house right now"
"The Malfoys'?" he asked curious
"No, other friends"
"Who?" he asked sounding blatantly shocked by my answer
"Don't look so surprised! I have friends" I said annoyed but smiled at his laugh
"That's not what I meant, Princess" Nikolai chuckled, ruffling hair. "Where do they think you are then?"
"With my friends, Fred and George Weasley"
"Really? Weasleys?" He recognized the name. I realized then I hadn't mentioned them to him, not by name at least. Usually it was so rare to get a letter from him that I didn't say much other than different versions of "I miss you"
"Yeah I met them my first year at Hogwarts and they're really nice. Not at all fake, I can tell. I like them" I said honestly. I really did care for those boys. They were sweet
"And why did you tell them you were staying with them?"
"Well I figured I could ask Draco to lie for me but then they would just ask his parents and realize I'm not there and get suspicious. Fred and George are good friends of mine and they're not much against breaking the rules so I asked them instead. Since I doubt Mum and Papa would be at all interested in visiting their family I doubted I would get caught"
"How'd you get here?" he asked suddenly
"Broom. Invisibility Booster." I added when he gave me a curious look
"Still insufferably brilliant" he smiled. Nikolai looked above my head for a second and his smile turned more tender. I saw him nod and turned to where he was looking. His Muggle girl was standing there looking over at me
"She knows about me?" I asked turning back to my brother
"Of course, you're my sister. Besides there was no way I could sneak you into the guest list without alerting the bride." I smiled a little at his joke and looked back to her
The bride was wearing a dress that looked too simple to be for a wedding. It was plain white with no sort of beading or draping attempts on it. It was strapless hugging her at the waist but then flowing away towards the bottom. She wore no veil although to tell the truth I didn't see much point in them. It looked like it couldn't have cost more than ten Galleons. My dress was more elaborate than hers. But, as much as I hated her for taking my brother I had to admit, she looked beautiful
"Want to meet her?" he asked me. I could hear the hope he was trying to hide from his voice. He truly loved her. I smiled a little and nodded. His giant smile told me everything I needed to know. He walked to her as I made sure to take even breaths. She made him happy. That's all I wanted
"Daisy," he said when they reached me, "this is my sister"
"Hi" the Muggle girl said in a small voice. Her voice was squeaky like that of a house-elf. And yet it was irritatingly endearing. She put her hands over mouth before placing them as fists under chin. Again strange yet somehow it was a charming gesture. "It's so nice to finally meet you"
"You too" I said and gave her a smile though I didn't mean it. She seemed to buy it but my brother's face fell a little. He knew me better
"Your brother talks about you all the time. I'm so glad you could come." I knew how to read people well enough to see she meant it. I gave a mental sigh and smiled more genuinely
"Thank you for inviting me." I was still trying to get past my anger. She looked sweet but she had stolen my brother. This was all her fault
"You're so beautiful" she told me touching my hair affectionately. I concentrated on keeping my face from showing any annoyance and not swatting her hand away. Thankfully I had years of practice
"Thanks"
"Sorry…" Some of my irritation must've let slipped out because she pulled back right away. I pretended not to notice the hurt look on her face. She was trying to be nice. She knew my brother cared for me and was trying to get along with me. I guess I should do the same… "Um, you look very pretty. I can see why my brother fell for you"
"Thank you" she said but it was shaky like I had just told her she didn't have a terminal illness after all. She wrapped her arms around me before I could stop her. Her eyes looked watery like she was going to cry. I gave my brother a pleading look but he just smiled
"You're welcome?" I said patting her back. She straightened back up and gave me a sheepish smile
"I'm sorry; weddings make me emotional." She started leaning against my brother hugging his arm affectionately. I felt a slight tug seeing how easily that came to them. They were married. And now he was even more lost to me
"Even your own?" She nodded and smiled. Before the conversation could go on someone called for them and they turned behind them to see who it was. A chubby looking woman walked over to us. Nikolai frowned at her
"The bride and groom should be out mingling, not hiding in the shadows" the woman said sarcastically and I imagined this was why Nikolai had frowned. She turned her beady eyes at me narrowing them. "Who's this?"
"This is Katerina, she's my sister" Nikolai said giving her a warning look
"So we finally meet someone from the family" she said in a very rude manner. I didn't like her tone
"Mother" the Muggle girl mumbled looking at woman with almost sad eyes. "Not now"
"Then when?!" she suddenly screamed. Apparently this is an argument they'd had before. "You've supported him for this long and then this one shows up dressed extravagantly – only to see that his family has money!"
"Please, Mother"
"You had to pay for most of this wedding when he plainly could have himself! I'm supposed to just be okay with it?!"
"Obviously" I muttered and all three turned to look at me
"Excuse me" the woman asked not believing she'd heard right
"Nope, can't excuse behavior like that"
"Listen little girl, you should not speak to your elders with such disrespect" she growled looking flustered.
"I'll admit you're old but respect is earned and so far you haven't earned it." She huffed and I could see Nikolai fighting a smile behind her. I vaguely wondered if my father could get me excused from the Ministry if I chose to use magic on her. I decided against it since that would mean he found out about Nikolai's wedding…
"How dare you –"
"I'm not done" I warned her and continued. "You obviously have a problem with my brother meaning you have a problem with me. Now if you must know yes we do have money. And my brother gave all that up to be with your daughter. If you have a problem with that, well it's a little too late now isn't it." I added gesturing around to the reception.
She started staring at me with a hateful look but it didn't scare me. Instead I turned to look at brother. He had lost the fight with his smile but was still trying to keep it small. The Muggle girl hugged him, knowing what he had done for her. That was oddly comforting. When I turned back to the bitter woman she was still not happy
"Are we not good enough for your family?" she asked suddenly probably still upset about the money part of the argument
"You're clearly not. The point is they're married so if you want to turn into a bitter hag over it, well go ahead, but I doubt that'll change anything"
"You are a witch!" she screamed and if Hermione hadn't told me about Muggle fairy tales I wouldn't have realized that was meant to be an insult
"I am" I admitted, smiling at the irony. She narrowed her eyes.
"I knew this wedding was a mistake" she nearly screamed. My face turned serious and I stared at her; this surprised her. While I wasn't too thrilled with the wedding myself she had no right to call it a mistake. Especially since she meant my brother was the problem
"Look lady" I stepped closer. She was a short woman; our eyes were almost at level. "My brother and your daughter are happy. Whether you are or not is irrelevant. Now, if I ever hear you do anything to intervene with that happiness you will regret it. And I am dead serious when I saw you will regret it."
"If I was your mother you would certainly not behave this way" she snapped and I laughed
"If you were my mother you would be in an insane asylum by now." Nikolai laughed at that openly. She turned to him outraged
"You bring this to the wedding" she barked and quickly walked away.
"I'm glad we had this talk" I called after her, causing her to send a very rude gesture my way
"You're a little scary" the Muggle girl admitted and I had to smile
"Told you, she's wicked" Nikolai smiled pulling her closer to him
"I'm sorry about her she's just –"
"A bitch?" I interrupt. Nikolai tried to hide his smile by looking away. The Muggle girl gave me a small one
"That's one way to put it…"
"You got married even though your mother was obviously against it?" I asked. Even though I could see the question made her uncomfortable I waited for the answer
"Yeah" she said and looked at my face cautiously like I was going to act the same way towards her as I had with her mother
"Okay" was all I said. I heard a sigh come from her lips.
"I should go back before more people get suspicious." My brother nodded and kissed her. She turned to me, body tense. Normally someone would see this as plain nerves but I was better than that
"You can hug me" I assured her. She smiled shyly and pulled me into a hug. This time I hugged her back
"Thank you for coming" she whispered before wondering back to the party
"Oh how I wish I got a picture of that hag's face!" My brother laughed as soon as she was out of earshot
"How do you put up with that?" I asked him. If it were me having to put up with her she would have either lost the ability to talk or have gotten the sudden urge to sail off to Antarctica to live with the penguins by now. Unlike me my brother was allowed to use magic. Plus he had the advantage of everyone thinking he was dead. Or almost everyone at least
"The things I do for love" he sighed looking at the Muggle girl talking to some of their guests
"If you want I could give you some money" I said changing the subject. I didn't want to talk about her anymore. "I could get Fred and George to exchange some Galleons for Muggle money. I doubt it'd be as suspicious if they did it"
"No you don't have to do that" he said giving me a sad smile. It must've been hard to leave. We were given everything we could want and more; and for that to be gone to him… Well it couldn't be easy
"Think of it as a wedding present" I insisted but he shook his head
"Having you here is the best present you could've given me. It's okay, really" he smiled this time more sincerely
"I don't know how you managed to just give all that up" I admit to him. I still couldn't wrap my mind around how much he cared for the Muggle girl
"Daisy's worth it" he reassured me before giving me another hug. This one wasn't as long as the others but it was tighter. It was almost time for me to go and who knew how long it would be before we saw each other again
"Better be" I joked reluctantly pulling away, though part of me meant it. She better be worth all this trouble
"So how long are you staying with the Weasleys?" he asked
"A few days, maybe. Actually I'm going to the Quidditch World Cup with them. It's tomorrow. I'm meeting them there but told Mum and Papa I'm staying the night tonight too"
"Convenient timing" he nodded to himself pleased with how things had turned out
"You could probably come with" I added though I already expected his response. He shook his head at me and ruffled my hair a little. He's probably the only person who I would allow to do that and even welcome it.
"I miss Quidditch and I certainly miss you, but I can't" he sighed. Nikolai really did do a lot for his love. She better know how lucky she has it
"I know, just thought I'd ask" I shrugged and tried my best to hide my disappointment. But, being who he is, my brother saw right through it, and gave me a small smile before pulling me into what felt like the hundredth hug of the night. But I didn't complain. Who knew when I'd see him again…
"Thank you for being nice. I know that's a stretch for you." I giggled and let him keep hugging me.
"I'm going to miss you" I whispered into his chest, grabbing onto his Muggle dress robes. He sighed and kissed the top of my head
"Me too, Princess."