For Eternity

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Harry Potter

A.N. Thanks so much to those of you that reviewed. I would have thought that by now I would have lost all of my support. Sorry about the last chapter. I forgot Pavarti and Lavender left, as I hadn't updated for several months. Can we just pretend the part where they left never happened? Thank you. I'm so proud of myself. It's been less than two weeks since my last review! If I can keep this up, I may be able to finish this story be fall. Oh, and just to let you guys know, I won't be updating for the next to weeks or so because I'll be in Europe.


Chapter 7: The First Reception

Apparently all the racket the group had made had awoken Mrs. Weasley, as only a few minutes after Colin arrived she came shuffling down the stairs in a fluffy blue robe with matching hair net.

She opened her mouth to speak, probably to tell them off for the inconsideration, when she caught sight of Colin.

"What on earth are you doing here?" She asked, "It's four o'clock in the morning!"

Colin glared at Ginny, who smiled sheepishly.

"Well, I sent him a letter telling him about the wedding," She mumbled into her nightgown. "Well, I suppose it will be easier to show you than to tell you," she decided aloud, picking the disheveled-looking piece of paper off its resting place on the couch.

Mrs. Weasley irritably snatched it out of her hand, and quickly skimmed it. When she finished she sighed and thrust it back into her daughter's hands, giving the girl a very menacing glare. She turned to Colin and sent him a very understanding smile.

"I'm sorry for my daughter's," she coughed, "extremely immature behavior. Would you like to stay the night?" she asked.

Colin looked at her gratefully and nodded, "Thank you very much Mrs. Weasley."

She smiled again and patted him on the head.

"Now Ginny," She continued, turning towards her. Ginny grimaced, knowing whatever was coming would not be fun, "I expect you to clean out the guest room for him."

Ginny groaned. "Mom, why can't he just stay in my room? You know him. He won't try anything." This was quite true; Colin didn't seem to have hormones. There had been several times during their friendship when Ginny wondered whether he liked girls at all.

Mrs. Weasley sighed, "Well, I suppose it would be all right."

"Thank you mum!" Ginny said happily while Colin muttered a few more words of gratitude.

When they reached Ginny's room they came across a rather large predicament. What was Colin going to wear? There was no way he could sleep in his soaking wet clothes. He would probably catch pneumonia and die, and there was no way she could ask her brothers to borrow some, as they would rip her head off for being woken up so early.

"I'm sorry Colin," Ginny said, rooting around through her closet, "It looks like you're going to have to wear some of my clothes."

Colin groaned, "Great," he sighed, "Well, as long as I don't have to wear you underwear I'll be alright. I'd rather sleep in this wet pair."

This, of course, made the girls burst into peals of uncontrollable laughter.

"Are," Ginny began, trying in vain to catch her breath, "Are you sure you don't want to wear my underwear? They might look good on you."

This made them laugh harder.

Colin glared at her. Ginny was getting to the point where she could no longer breath.

When Ginny had finally calmed down a bit, she recommenced her job of looking for something for Colin to where. Half a minute later she was once again rolling on the floor in laughter.

"What is it this time?" Colin asked wearily.

Luna, Pavarti, and Lavender were looking at her curiously, looks of polite curiosity stretched across their faces.

"Well, as you're a little bigger than me, I think this is the only clean thing I have for you to wear," She grinned, pulling out a bright yellow night gown with 'Daddy's Girl' written across the front.

The look on Colin's face was one of pure terror, "There is no way I'm wearing that!" he exclaimed.

"It's you're only choice," Ginny said, smiling sadistically, unless you want to wear my hot pink bath robe."

He shuddered and glared at her. "Fine," he sighed in defeat, "Give it to me. I'll go change in the bathroom."

She handed him the nightgown, big grin still in place on her face.

Ginny had been hoping to sleep in a little that morning, as they hadn't gotten to bed until almost five o'clock, but she had no such luck. At just after nine the group was woken up by an official looking bird tapping on the window.

The letter was obviously from the Malfoys, as it had a large official looking M-shaped crest on the back.

Pavarti squealed when she saw it. Luna, Ginny, and Colin glared at her disgustedly. "Sorry," the girl murmured, looking away from the aggravated group.

Ginny slowly pulled open the flap and the scroll flopped open and magically laid itself flat on the desk. Pavarti squealed again and Ginny didn't even bother to correct her. It was amazing. Her family would have never had that kind of money to spend on paper.

On the parchment scrawled in neat, womanly handwriting were the words:

Ginny,

We have decided that the pre-wedding reception will be held on the eight of July from 4:00 pm to whenever time the guests decide to leave, at our country club, which your parents should know they address of. You may invite as many people (witches and wizards of course) as you like, but make sure they will be able to uphold our high standards of behavior. Thank you dear.

Narcissa Malfoy

Ginny read the letter silently and then passed it around to the rest of the group. She couldn't say she cared much for the letter. First, she was almost certain she had never before heard of a pre-wedding reception, and she was fairly sure she didn't need or want one, and she was also certain Narcissa had been insulting her and the people she chose to spend her time with. She didn't know how she would ever make it through living with this woman and her uppity attitude.

She wondered dully whether maybe she would just go crazy one day and kill the entire Malfoy family. She had to admit it didn't sound like such a bad idea. Even Azkaban would be better than the Malfoys.

She turned around to find the rest of the group looking at her pityingly. "Hey, don't look at me like that," she said, trying to pretend the letter had no effect on her. In truth it had brought the reality of her wedding into sharp focus once again. The eighth was only four days away.

By this point none of them would be going back to sleep, so they decided to head downstairs for breakfast.

"Morning," Ron called to the group as they walked in. All her brothers were seated at the table eating breakfast. He looked down at his plate, but then his head shot back up as fast as was humanly possible without getting whiplash.

He stared, open-mouthed, at Colin, who was still wearing Ginny's yellow nightgown.

"What are you looking at?" asked Fred, turning towards the group as well.

Pretty soon the whole kitchen, including Harry and Hermione, were gaping at Colin.

Bill, who had arrived early that morning, was the first to recover.

"What," he began. "Are you doing here? AND WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING?"

Colin blushed bright red. "Well, last night Ginny sent me a letter telling me about her marriage, so I ran here."

All the boys looked like this was perfectly logical.

"But that doesn't explain the dress," Fred said, motioning to Colin's attire.

"Um…well," Colin blushed. "It was raining last night, so I got soaked and had to borrow Ginny's clothes. Do you think I could borrow some from one of you guys for the day? There's no way I'm going home until after the wedding."

They seemed to accept this, as they all muttered their 'oks' and turned back to their breakfasts. Ron consented to give Colin some of his clothes as he was the one closest to his size.

For the next few days Luna and Colin stayed at the Weasley's. Lavender and Pavarti couldn't be away from home that long, but they would be there for the reception. The boys were skeptical at first about Colin sleeping in Ginny's room, but Ron managed to convince them, probably by telling them that Colin was Gay.

The next four days were over much too quickly, and before she knew it, it was time to leave for her first major event as the future Mrs. Draco Malfoy. She shuddered at the thought.

Mrs. Weasley was in a frenzy. Almost three hours before they were set to leave, she had burst into Ginny's room jabbering about how they already didn't have enough time, and how she wouldn't be prepared, and nonsense of the like.

Ginny tried to calm her mother down, but it was to no avail.

Mrs. Weasley spent the next two and a half hours doing everything she could possibly think of to make her daughter look pretty and rich. She had done a good job if she did say so herself.

Ginny, of course, was not happy, not that she had been in the first place. She had never been the type to sit around for a terribly long time with nothing to do, and she had never liked the feeling of getting her makeup done, or going to a salon, or anything of the like.

In fact, she was in a terrible mood. Not a good thing for a future bride on her reception day.

At 3:30 they decided it was time to leave, as they figured they probably wanted to be their a little early. Most of the group had decided to avoid Ginny, as she looked like she was going to bite off the head of the next person to speak to her, which was probably true.

About half an hour earlier Colin had tried to take some pictures of her, with the only other possession he had brought to Ginny's besides himself –his camera-, and she had told him if he tried she would castrate him, and, needless to say, none of the boys wanted to be castrated.

They flooed one at a time to what they assumed to be the floo room of the Malfoy's country club. The room was made of sleek white marble with gold trim. If this was there floo room, Ginny was afraid to see what the rest of the club looked like.

A witch was standing inside the door waiting for them. She was wearing a white suit covered in a multicolored vest that didn't match at all. Her nametag told them she was Nilha.

"The Weasley party I presume?" she asked.

Mr. Weasley nodded.

"Right this way," she said, opening up a solid gold and leading them down a lavish hallway decorated with artwork that looked horribly expensive. Ginny had the feeling that one of the paintings on the wall cost more than her whole house.

Nilha lead them to a pair of huge double doors. "Here's your room. If you need anything, please come to the front desk." She pulled the door open and ushered them inside.

'Room', was a little bit of an understatement. It was a huge ballroom, probably twice the size of the great hall at Hogwarts. At the front of the room was a stage covered with a pavilion and a canopy of flowers.

On the right side were two full-sized restaurants, and on the left was an extremely comfortable looking sitting area. The room was filled with marble tables completed by six chairs.

The walls were made of smooth white marble and the floors were wood and shined to a gloss. All of the trim was done in a very classy looking brass. It was beautiful.

Sitting at one of the tables on the pavilion and appearing deep in conversation was the Malfoy family. Apparently none of the other guests had arrived yet.

The Malfoys looked up at the sound of the door opening, and within a second
Narcissa was one her feet and sweeping gracefully toward them in a shimmering silver dress. Draco and Luscious had stood up as well, but had made no move to greet them.

"Hello," Narcissa said smoothly, shaking the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and then Ginny. She took a long hard look at Ginny before saying, "Well, you look the part." Mrs. Weasley beamed.

"How many people did you invite?" Narcissa asked, brushing her hair back behind her head.

"Just us and two more girls," Ginny answered.

Narcissa looked shocked, but composed herself quickly, "Okay, that will do."

She carefully inspected the people Ginny had brought with her, and her eyes lingered on Harry a little longer then the should have, but she seemed to decide they passed.

"Come," she commanded, motioning them towards the table.

The group walked slowly over to the table. Draco and Luscious were watching them carefully, namely her. She tried to look around and pretend she didn't notice.

"Sit," Narcissa said as they reached the table, summoning a few more chairs. All of the Weasleys tried to get chairs as far away from the Malfoys as possible. This, of course, left Ginny seated next to Draco.

When they were all seated it was right down to business again.

"Do you have your guest list?" she asked.

Ginny nodded, reaching into her jacket pocket and pulling out the folded piece of paper. There were many more names on it than she would have liked, but her mom had insisted that she invite all the Order members, and several close family friends –most of which Ginny had never heard of-.

Narcissa looked the list carefully, "This can be arranged." She paused for a moment. Who are your bridesmaids?"

After each of the four names Ginny listed Narcissa nodded. She only seemed a little perturbed by the name 'Hermione Granger', apparently Draco had talked about her before, but she seemed to decide it wasn't worth fighting over. She didn't seem to happy about that fact that Hermione was there either, but she must have also decided that was something she could deal with.

"Did you get all the dresses?" she asked, "I have to admit I like your choice with this one." She motioned towards Ginny's attire.

Ginny blushed a bit, "Thank you," she said, "and yes we did get all the dresses." This seemed to reminded her of something, "Oh!" she exclaimed, reaching once again into the pocket of her dress and pulling out a pouch full of money. "This is the leftov….."

She was cut off by Narcissa, who quickly pushed the money back across the table towards her. "You keep it dear. We don't need it. Get your hair done with it before the wedding or something."

This, of course, made Ginny quite indignant, but she had no time to argue, as at that moment the door swung open to reveal a young couple, possibly in their late twenties, dressed in expensive clothing and with aristocratic looks on their faces, obviously the Malfoy's friends.

Narcissa was once again on her feet sweeping towards the couple at the door. "Hello," she said cheerily.

Within fifteen minutes the room was full of upper class witches and wizards. Ginny could see Colin itching to take pictures. His fingers kept inching towards his camera, but he seemed to decide that he didn't want to risk the Malfoys killing him later. When Pavarti and Lavender entered the room, Ginny had to laugh at the looks of shock on their faces.

Narcissa greeted them graciously like she had all the other guests and pointed them to where Ginny and the rest of the Weasley party were seated.

When they arrived Lavender bent down and whispered in her ear, "This is what you're marrying into?"

Ginny grimaced.

When Narcissa was sufficiently convinced that all her guests had arrived she began to make her way back towards the pavilion. She had a very determined look on her face that Ginny didn't like at all.

When she reached the pavilion she moved quickly to the very front and pointed her wand to her throat "Sonorous," she murmured.

Suddenly the voice of Narcissa Malfoy filled the room at almost 100 times its normal volume. It didn't take much to get everyone's attention, as the pavilion was at the front of the room, so in less than thirty seconds the room was silent and every one was looking at Narcissa expectantly.

"As you all know," Narcissa said, a convincing fake joy filling her voice, "This is the first reception for the wedding of my one and only son, Draco Malfoy," She was cut off by thunderous applause as Draco moved to the front of the stage and stood next to his mother, "and his fiancé Ginevra Weasley." Here the crowd went dead silent. No one spoke, no one moved, Ginny had a suspicion no one was even breathing. They were all waiting for someone to shout 'April Fools' or something of the like.

"Ginny," Narcissa whispered loudly to the girl, "Come up here!"

Ginny would have been surprised if any one in the audience had missed Narcissa's command. Great, now they would think she was an idiot as well.

Sighing, she moved slowly to the front of the stage, not looking around at any of her family. As she stood next to Draco it struck her just how good the Malfoy's were at acting. Both mother and sun looked ecstatic about the marriage, the same as they would if it were a marriage out of love. Ginny tried to look happy as well but felt that she had failed miserably.

Narcissa continued with her speech as though nothing had happened, "I know this is a somewhat impromptu wedding, but they decided they can't wait until next summer, and who are we to stand in the way of true love?" Ginny had to stifle a laugh at the last part: True love? Pfff. "The wedding will be held here on the fourteenth, and of course you are all invited. Enjoy the party!" A few people managed to collect themselves enough to clap, but most just stared shockedly at the trio.

Draco and Narcissa slowly made their way back to the table, and after a few moments Ginny followed suit. They had a private chef bring a huge feast to the table, of which Ginny ate almost nothing. She hadn't had much of an appetite for several days now.

After their meal Narcissa insisted she bring the couple around and show them off to all her guests. She still looked much to cheery. Luna had tried to accompany her but was brushed off by Narcissa with a wave of her hand.

For a moment as Draco was holding out his hand for her to take, a look of disgust crossed his face before it was replaced by the same creepy smile as his mother's. She contented herself with the fact that he wasn't quite as good and actor as Narcissa was.

It seemed she was introduced to a thousand well-dressed high-class snobby people who looked her up and down with distaste and wonder. She could see them thinking that there was no way a Malfoy would ever fall for a girl like her.

By the end of the day her feet hurt, her head ached, and she was thoroughly distraught. Having hundreds of people thinking you weren't good enough for the man you were going to marry, even if you didn't love him, would make anyone feel this way.

The trip home and whatever happened after were all a blur to Ginny. Later, as she laid in bed, she though of all the implication marrying into the Malfoy family had. She would be expected to participate in functions such as the one tonight on a regular basis. She would be expected to live life as a wealthy aristocrat. She would be expected hate muggles and mudbloods. She would be expected to become everything she was not.

For the first time since she found out about her marriage, Ginny cried.


Well, that was sufficiently longer than any of the other chapters. I hope you enjoyed it!