Chapter 13: Spinning Around
Disclaimer: I own Aliana, Ashton, Aidan, Ariel, Aaron, Clarissa, Wendy, Joel, Pierre, Marie, Skyler, Daniel, Lena, and Lacey. JK Rowling owns Hermione, Fred, Harry, Ginny, Rita Skeeter, "LL", Lavender, Seamus, Oliver, Pansy, Marcus, and Dean.
Spinning around, I've got this funny feeling
Turning my whole world upside down
I'll keep my heart, my eyes on you
Cause you keep me spinning around
Spinning around
What we're doing doesn't have a sequel
Don't want to lose your balance
You know you've got to keep your equilibrium
Going back to go forward
All these definite maybes
It's like running around in circles
Make it last, take it slow
Just forget what you know
Cause that's the way it goes
Spinning around, I've got this funny feeling
Turning my whole world upside down
I'll keep my heart, my eyes on you
Cause you keep me spinning around
Spinning around
Turning my whole world upside
It's not the take, it's the give
That's the way it is
The way it is
Spinning Around by Jump 5
DAILY PROPHET PAGE SEVEN: Announcements and Advice: A Column by Ms. Rita Skeeter
Anniversary Party Announcement: Aliana & Ashton Green
Join Mr. & Mrs. Ashton Green as they celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary at the Starry Night Hotel Ballroom on October 17th. The party is thrown by the couple's three children, Aidan Green, 23, a Healer in Training at the Zurich branch of St. Mungo's, Ariel Green, 18, a Ministry of Magic Assistant, and Aaron Green, 15, a fifth year at Durmstrang. Mr. & Mrs. Green are the owners of Green's Florist, a shop in Zurich that specializes in rare magical plants.
Divorce Announcement: Pansy Parkinson-Flint & Marcus Flint
Last Monday, Mrs. Pansy Parkinson-Flint, 24, filed for divorce from her husband of four years, Marcus Flint, 29. The couple met at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where both Parkinson-Flint and Flint were Slytherins. She cited "irreconcible differences" as the reason behind the divorce but a source close to the couple who wished to remain anonymous said, "There were irreconcible differences between the two before they were married. They were both just too stupid to see it."
Wedding Announcement: Seamus Finnigan & Lavender Brown
Irish Quidditch Chaser Seamus Finnigan and Morning Show Co-Host Lavender Brown plan to tie the knot this October 13th. The couple met their first year at Britain's own Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, both were Gryffindors. They have been friends since then, they even attended the Yule Ball their fourth year at the famous Triwizard Tournament as a couple. They began dating their seventh year and have been a couple ever since. The bridal party includes Lavender's morning show co-host Hermione Granger, Auror Ginny Potter, Irish Seeker and Seamus's cousin Skyler Tierney, Ireland Chaser Joel Pritchard, Ireland Chaser Daniel Tierney, and Hogwarts friend Dean Thomas. Other wedding guests include the Boy-Who-Saved-The-Wizarding-World Harry Potter, the rest of the Irish Quidditch team, supermodel Marie Alexandria, Puddlemere United Keeper Oliver Wood, Chudley Cannons Keeper Ron Weasley, Weasley Wizarding Wheezes Owners Fred and George Weasley and Puddlemere United Chaser Alicia Spinnet.
Rita's Responses: Rita Skeeter Answers Your Owled In Questions!
Note: Some questions printed without approval by Miss Skeeter due to the nature of the topic and the responses.
Dear Rita: Are you mad that you left the Quibbler and it is now one of the high grossing Wizard publishings? Do you see a connection between the two events? -L.L.
Dear L.L.,
Of course not! The Quibbler recieved great publicity years ago for my interview with the Boy-Who-Saved-The-Wizarding-World! It was me who put the Quibbler on the map!
Dear Rita: Did you know that only six percent of the people that read that article knew you wrote it? Did you? -L.L.
Dear L.L.,
You made that number up! Everyone knew I wrote that article! It was the kind of article that changes people's lives!
Dear Rita: Are you sure it wasn't the kind of article that people use to change owl's cages? -L.L.
Dear L.L.,
Who are you to say such despicable things? That was one of the highest selling volumes of the Quibbler!
Dear Rita: I think they bought that issue for the article on the Crumple Horned Snorkack. Oh, and the list of the Death Eater's names. Not the blah blah blah you wrote in between Harry's quotes. -L.L.
Dear L.L.
No one in their right mind cares about the Crumple Horned Snorkack!
I looked at the paper. Lavender would be thrilled, not realizing that Rita Skeeter spent more time talking about the guest list than the couple. Seamus would notice, but Seamus wouldn't mind. I think that Seamus would have been perfectly happy with buying those invitations that they sell at party stores where you fill in the blanks with the date, time, etc. and just getting married in a backyard. Lavender, however, would never be okay with that.
"It's here!" Lavender squealed, waving the paper in Seamus's face.
"I see that." he smiled but then continued eating his cereal. I laughed to myself with the knowledge that Seamus had no idea how Lavender expected him to act.
"Seamus? Why are you not happy?" Lavender asked, sitting on his knee and staring into his eyes.
"I'm quite happy." He replied. "But now I can't eat my cereal." He pointed out.
"Fine." She said, getting up and pouring a glass of orange juice. "Today, the whole wizarding world will know that I am marrying you!"
"And that makes me very happy," he said, finally realizing that his devotion to cereal upset her.
"Thank you." Lavender said, throwing her arms around his neck.
"Um, I can't eat my cereal..."
"Fred, I need some advice." Oliver said, sliding onto a kitchen chair. He grabbed a pear out of the basket of various food items in the center of the table.
"You are looking to me for advice?" I asked. Believe me, anyone who knows what's good for them would turn to anyone else in the world, except for maybe George, and ask them for advice.
"It's about Marie" He said through a mouthful of pear.
"You want my help about a girl?" I repeated. "Shouldn't you ask like Lavender or Hermione or Alicia or Katie or someone besides me?"
"You're my best friend."
"Really because the way you made us practice in school, I thought you hated us."
"Ha, ha, very funny."
"So what's the problem?"
"It's Marie." Oliver said, still munching on the pear.
"You said that."
"Oh. Well all she does is talk about clothes and fashion."
"Aren't clothes and fashion the same thing?"
"Who died and made you the editor of Witch Weekly?"
"What? I've spent a lot of time around Ginny and Katie."
"Katie is hardly what you call a girly girl. I'm surprised she actually wore make-up to her wedding." Oliver replied with a statement that if Katie was here, surely would have caused her to punch him.
"Okay, anyway, she only talks about fashion slash clothes and make-up and girly movies." He said.
"The same way you only talk about quidditch?"
"I talk about other stuff."
"Like what?"
"I talk about...well, racing brooms and statistics-"
"Quidditch statistics!"
"Not true!"
"Well what kind of statistics then?"
"Um...shut up!"
"I thought so."
"I hate when you are right."
"It's a weird feeling. It rarely happens."
"Yeah, I know."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Where is Skyler? She promised to be here at noon and it's-"
"Eleven forty-nine?" I pointed out.
"Okay, I'm just excited."
"I know you are."
"I just can't wait to see the green dresses."
"Green? I thought they were purple."
"No, Mione. They are green. Seamus and I decided that we want an Irish wedding. You know, he's Irish and he's on the Ireland Quidditch Team."
"You know, I did know that."
"Oh, okay." Sarcasm normally does go right over Lavender's head.
"Skyler!" Lavender squealed running over to Seamus's cousin.
Skyler Tierney was beautiful. I mean, Lavender was pretty, but Skyler was drop dead beautiful. She was tall, about five eleven or so, with reddish blonde hair that fell halfway down her back. She had the same pale skin as Seamus with the same dark smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. She was very fit, from being a professional quidditch seeker and all. Today she looked stunning as usual, dressed in an emerald green polo and white tennis skirt with bright white sneakers. Very what Lavender would call "athletic chic"
"Hello girls," Skyler said with a smile.
"Let's go in," Ginny said, holding the door to Wendy's Wedding Wonders, a cutesy little shop on the outskirts of Diagon Alley.
"Ahh, good morning my fair ladies," Wendy said when we came in.
Wendy was an elderly lady about five foot even with wiry grey hair. She spoke like she was fortune teller, she always kind of reminded me of Trelawney, claiming she could predict the future, although it was quite obvious that she gave every bride the same prediction. She smoked like a chimney yet always smelled like a mixture of cinnamon and baby powder.
"Now, Lilac, what can I do for you?" Wendy said, hobbling over from behind the counter.
"It's Lavender, Wendy," Lavender said, louder than usual. Wendy had a bit of a hearing problem.
"That's the color of the dress of the now?" Wendy asked, adjusting her glasses.
"No, they're still green."
"Well, that's good, green's a pretty color." Wendy warbled. "It will go well with their hair, especially the red heads." She beamed at Ginny and Skyler.
"No." I said when Lavender turned around to look at me. I knew what she was going to ask before she even said it. "I will not dye my hair for this wedding."
"Oliver, is everything okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, I mean, I guess." Oliver shrugged. "I mean the kissing and... other stuff is great. Just the talking part."
"What do you mean?"
"I think I moved too fast with Marie."
"Lavender, these dresses are awesome." Skyler said, fingering the emerald green material.
I had to admit that these dresses were quite beautiful. I honestly thought (and I'm pretty sure that Skyler and Ginny thought the same thing) that we were going to be wearing hideously tacky dresses that would cause us to be ridiculed for weeks on end and everytime Lavender showed anyone her wedding photos, which knowing Lavender, would be at every available opportunity.
"No, no, no, tall girl, this is your dress." Wendy said, ushering an identical dress into Skyler's hands. "This one is for the redhaired beauty and this one-" she handed me a different one "is for the Maid of Honor."
"Ooh! Go try them on!" Lavender squealed, clapping her hands together. "Try them on!"
Ten minutes later after we got the dresses sorted out. (Wendy gave mine to Ginny, gave Ginny's to Skyler and Skyler's to me and then mixed them up again.)
"I love them!" Lavender said, sitting in her wedding dress, which was a long sleeved gothic style dress. It was just gorgeous. Classically white with an old fashioned flair. Simply beautiful.
"I knew you would!" Wendy said, clapping her hands together much the way Lavender had earlier.
"I'll have an apple cider." Skyler said, glancing at the menu.
"Me too." Ginny replied. It was weird. She was acting as if nothing had happened the other night. I wasn't sure yet how to take that.
"I'll have a tea." Lavender said.
"Um, a pumpkin juice." I answered. The waitress shuffled off to get the drinks.
"You know this is a lot of fun." Lavender said. "We should have girls day out more often."
"I agree." Skyler nodded. "I rarely get time to spend with girls. I'm stuck with the quidditch guys all the time. Not that I mind. It's just good to have other people to talk to that understand the importance of freshening up after a game and making sure that your socks match."
"I don't know how you put up with it." Lavender said.
"Well now you'll be official team family, so there's another girl. None of the other guys are married. Joel's in a pretty serious relationship, but the rest of them seem to have a new girlfriend every week and those types are particularly catty. No fun." Skyler said, sipping her apple cider.
"You girls decided?" The waitress asked, quill and parchment in hand, ready to jot down our order.
"I'll have the tuna salad." Lavender said, handing her the menu. The rest of us followed suit.
"You know, we should have a couples night." Skyler said to Lavender. "Like a dinner party. You and Seamus, me and Daniel, Joel and Clarissa, Ginny and Harry, Hermione and -"
"Fred" I filled in.
"Yeah. And some others. You know, something grown up, not the frat parties the team usually throws."
"Oh, that would be so much fun! We should invite Marie and Oliver too!" Lavender squealed. "I love dinner parties! Tonight!"
"What?" Ginny said, setting her drink down.
"Tonight! What's everyone doing tonight?" Lavender asked.
"Danny and I are free." Skyler answered.
"I know you are," Lavender said, waving at me. "And Fred is so head over heels, he'd cancel on tea with the Queen for you."
Ginny snorted. "Why on earth would the Queen invite Fred to tea?"
"She wanted a nosebleed nougat for free or something?" Lavender suggested, apparently not grasping the concept of a rhetorical question. "I imagine those state dinners and such could get a bit boring and bothersome."
"Yes, that's exactly it!" Ginny replied.
"Oh!" Lavender said, quite pleased with herself. Sarcasm is wasted on Lavender.
"Hello!" I greeted Hermione when I opened the door.
"Oh good, you're here, Oliver." Hermione said, pushing past me and walking into the kitchen.
"Exactly what your boyfriend wants to hear you say." I grumbled jokingly.
"What's going on?" Oliver asked her. They both ignored me.
"Well, okay it wasn't my idea..." Hermione started to say,
"Well, at least that means it will be fun" I replied. Both Hermione and Oliver glared at me. "Oh, so now you want to pay attention to Fred."
"Fine, Fred," Hermione said, leaning over and kissing me, but clearly thinking about whatever she was talking with Oliver about. "Happy?"
But she didn't wait for my response. "Anyway-"
"That was a pity kiss," I quietly whined.
"Fred!" Hermione snapped. "Can I talk? You are a part of this conversation too, okay?"
"Fine." I replied, kind of happy that I managed to ruffle her feathers. I don't know why, it's just fun.
"Lavender just sort of planned this thing without asking me. I had no way of getting out of it." Hermione said to Oliver, once again, ignoring me. "She wants to throw a dinner party for couples, suddenly she is too mature to do the whole club party scene or something, but there was no arguing with her and she asked me to invite you and Marie and it's tonight and I am just trying to give you fair warning to conjure up a sudden quidditch practice or something."
"No, I'll be there." Oliver answered and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's a couple thing." Hermione repeated.
"I'll talk to Marie, I'm sure she'll want to come." Oliver answered, quickly glancing at me. I'm not quite, sure, but I think Hermione caught the look. Girls always seem to; they know when something is up.
"Okay, do I have enough place settings?" Lavender asked me. "Run through the list."
"Skyler and Daniel. Joel and Clarissa. Marie and Oliver. Ginny and Harry. You and Seamus. Me and Fred. We have enough settings." I promised her the fifth time that night.
"The place looks great, guys." Seamus said, placing silverware at each setting. You could totally tell that he would have been much happier lounging around and watching old quidditch games and eating pizza than setting up dinner places for a dinner party where we would be serving quiche, but he loved Lavender and so he would keep his mouth shut.
"Thank you, sweetie," Lavender said, reaching up and giving him a peck on the cheek.
"I'M HERE!" Fred called into the apartment as he entered. "I brought flowers too!"
I could see Lavender cringing and she was standing behind me. Surely, flowers that Fred picked would not go with the pale pink rose and baby breath decor she had arranged.
"They're not plastic this time," Fred smiled, handing me the bouquet.
"That's great, thank you," I replied, feeling like a kindergarten teacher who thanks the five year old that just handed them a muddy rock as a token of friendship.
The flowers did not match. They were pretty, but it looked as if Fred had put the bouquet together himself. There was a bright blue carnation, a white daisy, a purple rose, a blood red something or other, and a few other flowers in various hues such as auburn, pink, purple, and red. It was definitely not Lavender's idea of dinner appropriate flowers. I don't think that she would have even deemed these picnic appropriate flowers.
"I got a couple of different colors," Fred whispered to me, "so I would be bound to match something."
"Good thinking," I answered, once again struck with the nerve racking thought that I was talking to my boyfriend like he was seven years old. Granted, he had the maturity of a seven year old at times, but that's not the point.
"Hello, Hermione." Oliver said from behind from Fred. I hadn't noticed him. Wait, where was Marie?
"Where's Mar-" I tried to say, but Oliver interrupted.
"She'll be here." He answered, not looking at me, and quickly excusing himself to find Fred who had wandered away to find a place to put the flowers.
"Okay, how did he propose?" Clarissa asked Skyler. I quickly learned that Clarissa was possibly the most sappy, girly girl I had ever met. She is even more so than Lavender. I know, I didn't think that was even possible.
Skyler smiled at Daniel. "We had just went to the Quidditch World Cup four years ago when we were both still vying to get on the team. Ireland had just won, so we were all in really good spirits. We had made plans that night to meet up with his brother Patrick and his sister in law Erin, they were throwing this party to celebrate the victory, but Danny insisted that walk there instead of apparating because it would take awhile for them to set up, saying that we should enjoy the night. So Patrick and Erin went ahead to set up and we sat in our seats talking for awhile, so the stadium had emptied a great deal by the time we started to leave. Then Danny grabbed my hand and started running towards the middle of the pitch. I was so confused and then in the center of the pitch he got down on one knee and gave me my emerald engagement ring. It was perfect. Then we went to Patrick and Erin's, they already knew what Daniel was planning and the party was actually for us when we got there."
I turned to Lavender, who was sitting next to me. "You what kind of person you are marrying? These people live, eat, and breathe Irish quidditch. Even Skyler has been sucked into the cult. This is your last chance." I teased.
Lavender laughed. "They are a bit obsessive."
"A bit?" Clarissa said, once she realized that Skyler could not hear our conversation, she was arguing with Seamus about some quidditch history fact. "You realize that my entire wardrobe since I have been eleven has been emerald green? You go from Slytherin straight to girlfriend of a Slytherin Irish Quidditch player, and you give up all other colors. Don't get me wrong, I love green, I just would have liked to have been able to wear red once in awhile without being deemed a traitor."
"Lena Fitzgerald was reserve keeper for two years before she became the full time keeper." Skyler hissed to her cousin.
"She was not! She was the one that went straight from beater for Puddlemere to keeper for England." Seamus snapped back.
"That was Lacey Franklin, not Lena Fitzgerald."
"I know my quidditch, it was Lena Fitzgerald."
I had heard Skyler and Seamus argue quidditch before, this could last awhile. Normally until one of them was smacked on the head by their significant other, with the other one laughing until their significant other smacked them. It was pretty routine, and if Lavender and Daniel didn't step in, they might never stop.
Well, the argument ended about ten minutes later (Lavender smacked Seamus, Daniel covered Skyler's mouth with his hand) and with that the group realized how late it was and parted ways.
"We'll see you tomorrow night," Harry said to Fred, as he and Ginny left.
"What?" I asked Fred. Harry gave me an inquisitive look like why would I ask this, before Ginny answered.
"The end of summer party that Mum has been planning for months?" Ginny refreshed their memory. "The one in which she invited Fred and his girlfriend?"
Oh, Merlin, I had forgotten about that.
Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to update! Thanks for reading. And since I can no longer answer or thank reviews here, I will reply to them via the button or e-mail, or if you would like to leave a comment, ask a question or know a little more about me, you can e-mail me or leave comments on my livejournal (links for both are on the bio page) or send an instant message, I love to talk.
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Preppy in Pink
