Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; J.K. Rowling does
"So, Ginny, ready for a weekend full of wine and wedding preparations?" Sarah turned around to face Ginny, who was sitting in the back of the Jeep she had rented.
Ginny forced a smile. She was not having a good time at all. But Sarah was too wrapped up in herself to notice that Ginny kept glaring at Harry.
Sarah kept talking, without noticing Ginny's discomfort. "Mummy and Daddy will be there as well, for two reasons really; they can't keep their noses out of the wedding plans, and my Mum loves wine." Sarah giggled.
Ginny picked up the Daily Prophet, to try and distract herself from her misery.
Just as Ginny began to read, Sarah called her name again. "Ginny, I thought we had everything covered but then I realized that Harry and I don't have a wedding song. I was thinking I Will Always Love You, by Whitney Houston. It's a great Muggle song I love. What do you think, Harry?"
"Sounds great, Sarah," agreed Harry.
"Merlin," Ginny mumbled, as she rolled her eyes.
"What?" asked Sarah nervously.
"Nothing," Ginny lied.
"Is it a bad song?"
"No, I think its perfect for you two." It's about a couple who breaks up, thought Ginny.
"Oh, good." Sarah said, obviously relieved. "So now then, Ginny what happened to that guy? The one you danced with in the park?"
Before Ginny could answer, the car suddenly swerved into the next lane, scaring all three passengers inside.
"Harry!" cried Sarah.
"Sorry, not the best driver. What are we driving anyway?" Harry was praying that this would distract Sarah and Ginny from the potentially dangerous conversation they were engaging in.
"Sweetie, I told you," explained Sarah. "The vineyard isn't connected to the Floo Network. I'm a terrible flier. And you know that I'm not the best person to be trying international Apparating. I barely passed my Apparation test."
"I accidentally did that during my test," Ginny chimed in.
"Really?" Harry asked, clearly impressed.
Ginny smiled, "Yeah, I Apparated over to Ireland."
"Wow, Fred and George must have been impressed."
"Yeah," Ginny said, almost forgetting that she was furious with him.
"Wait," Sarah interrupted. "Who are Fred and George?"
"Er…" Harry was too flustered to think of an excuse.
"They're…the Apparation testers. Right Harry?" Ginny voice was sickeningly sweet. She had just saved Harry's arse and she was letting him know it.
"Er…right," Harry answered guiltily.
"Okay," Sarah said slowly. "So, anyway, Ginny, what happened with your guy?"
Ginny sighed, "It just didn't work out."
"How is that possible," Sarah asked, perplexed. "I saw you three days later and you still were on cloud nine."
Ginny looked through the rear view mirror at Harry and saw that he was smirking. You think this is funny do you? thought Ginny.
"Well, he turned out to be the groom of one of the weddings I was planning." Now Ginny was the one smirking.
"No!" exclaimed Sarah, clearly disgusted.
"Yeah."
"That is the most appalling thing that I have ever heard. I would hate to still be single with all those horrid people out there." Sarah shook her head in disgust.
"Yeah, Sarah you're really lucky." Ginny answered, her voice dripping in sarcasm.
x x x
Once they reached the vineyard, Ginny took Harry and Sarah on a tour, with the owner, Martin Harbor. They passed a large clearing, where white chairs and a grand alter was set up.
"Over here would be where the ceremony would take place," Ginny pointed.
As Ginny looked over, she paled. Louis was running across the field, leaping over chairs, knocking some over in the process.
"Ginevra! Mon amour!" Louis rushed over to Ginny.
"What are you doing here!" Ginny asked angrily.
"Well, I 'ave come to surprise you." Louis took Ginny's hand and gave it a kiss. Ginny made a face and pulled away.
"Who is this?" Sarah asked, interested.
Before Ginny could answer, Louis cut in, "I am 'er fiancé."
"What!" exclaimed Sarah, happily.
"Her fiancé?" Harry asked, astounded.
Ginny was too shocked and embarrassed to say anything.
"Bonjour. I am Louis." He reached out to shake Harry's hand.
"Harry," he answered hesitantly.
"And I'm Sarah," she cut in, "Ginny, I can't believe you didn't tell us you were engaged!"
Ginny was about to have a breakdown, "Oh I am n-"
"Oh, this is wonderful!" Mr. Harbor clapped his hands. "After all the weddings you planned; you finally get to walk down the aisle. I'll set up something special for you."
"No! That's not necessary." Ginny shook her head.
"Oh, but it is wonderful." Harry said, smiling with glee. "You finally found someone special to remain faithful to forever, Ginny."
Ginny glared at Harry, as he took pleasure in her discomfort. I can't believe that I helped him earlier in the car. She thought
"We're ready for the rest of the tour now," Ginny stated, rather abruptly.
Mr. Harbor nodded, "Alright, follow me."
Everyone began to follow Mr. Harbor, but Louis stopped Harry.
"Wait, 'arry. Zee men should not 'elp with zee planning. Stay avec moi. We shall play zee football. I love zat Muggle game."
"Zee football?" repeated Harry.
"Oui!"
"Alright," Harry called to the others, "You ladies, I mean brides-to-be go and have fun!"
x x x
When the ladies left, Louis led Harry to a storage room. He took out a football and began to juggle it.
"So, Louis, how long have you known Ginny?" asked Harry, while watching him juggle the ball.
Louis bounced the ball against his head and caught it swiftly. "We met in Egypt, when we were zee petite children. She woz a very loud girl with zee long red 'air."
Harry smiled, "I remember."
Louis looked at Harry puzzled, "S'excuse?"
"Nothing." Harry said quickly.
Louis seemed curious, but dropped it. "Look! A football net, follow me!"
Louis rushed off and left Harry standing there. He decided that he was not going to let anyone show him up, even if he hadn't played football since he was younger, so he ran over to join Louis.
Louis passed the ball to Harry and he kicked it into the net. The ball magically bounced out toward Louis. He used his head to aim the ball and got it directly into the goal.
"You are very good 'arry, but I am better."
"We'll see about that," retorted Harry.
x x x
On the other side of the vineyard, Sarah and Ginny were looking at the kitchen.
"This would be perfect for the wedding." Sarah smiled. She turned around to admire the rest of the room. In the doorway stood her parents, who clearly were a bit tipsy already.
Ginny snorted. They definitely had more than one drink already.
"Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell!" Ginny waved.
"Hello all!" shouted Margaret. "This is a wonderful place. There is wine everywhere!"
Sarah went red in the face, "Mother!" she growled.
Ginny stifled a giggle. "Why don't I tell you a little bit about the vineyard?"
"Lead on!" shouted Jack.
"Well, one good thing is that their chef is the third most talented in the country."
"I love it," Sarah gushed. "And you know Dad, that last Minister of Magic's niece got married here."
"Scrimgeour's niece?" cried Jack. "Well forget it! I'm not following anything that man does! I hated him!"
"Yes," agreed Margaret. "Let's find someplace bigger."
Ginny turned towards Sarah to see her walk ahead of the group. She was clearly upset at her parent's behavior. Ginny walked over to Sarah to calm her down, but when she got to where Sarah was standing, she caught sight of Harry and Louis wrestling on the lawn. Harry was on top of Louis, holding him in a headlock.
"Harry, what are you doing!" cried Sarah.
"Just a moment!" he gasped.
Louis wriggled free from Harry's grip and jumped on top of him, knocking him to the ground.
"Nice move, Louis!" cheered Ginny. At least someone could beat him up for me.
Sarah looked at Ginny incredulously. Ginny just smiled and shrugged.
x x x
After Louis and Harry ended their fight, Sarah led everyone to the stables where she had set up a horseback riding trip. When Ginny heard this, she was not happy. Growing up in an all wizarding family, she had never been on a horse. She preferred wizarding modes of transportation as opposed to riding animals. She thought that this was one of the craziest ideas that Muggles had ever come up with.
Sarah and Ginny led the group through the woods, followed by Sarah's parents, Margaret continuing to drink wine while riding, then Harry and Louis, bringing up the rear.
"I'm moving the Wizarding Wireless Network headquarters to Italy and right after the honeymoon Harry and I are moving there. Isn't that fantastic?" Sarah grinned, looking pleased.
Ginny looked at Sarah, stunned. "Harry wants to quit being an Auror?" She couldn't imagine Harry giving that up. It was what he wanted to do since his fifth year.
Sarah shrugged. "He does, he just doesn't know it yet. I know he has a 'saving people' thing, but he'll love living in Rome. It's so beautiful there. And he'll be with me."
Ginny shook her head in disbelief. She could not believe that Harry would agree to this. Even though she was angry with him, she still didn't want him to be completely miserable – only slightly.
"Oh no!" cried Margaret, from behind Ginny and Sarah. "We're out of wine!"
Jack pulled out his wand. "Not to worry dear. I'll simply conjure up some more." He waved his wand around, trying to create more wine. But since he was a bit drunk, he mumbled the wrong words, which caused red sparks to fly forward. On of the sparks burned the back of Ginny's horse. This agitated the horse. It became very frightened and began stomping.
"Whoa! Er…. Heel!" Ginny tried to calm the horse, but it was too late. Her horse took off at an incredible speed. Ginny screamed in fright as she lost control of the horse and it ran out of control.
Harry took off after Ginny, as quickly as he could. "Hang on Ginny! I'm coming!"
Ginny shouted and yelled as she was led through the woods and the brush. "Help me!"
Harry raced as fast as he could to save Ginny. He finally caught up with her horse, pulled her of it and onto his, just before she hit a low-lying branch.
"Whoa," breathed Harry, relieved.
Sarah and the others galloped over to them, while Ginny and Harry caught their breath. "Merlin! Ginny are you alright?"
"It's important to know how to ride a horse. Apparating isn't always possible," added Jack.
"I'd choose Apparating over a horse any day," mumbled Ginny.
"Harry, you're riding back with Ginny," instructed Sarah.
"Ginny shook her head. "No! No, I'm alright," she pleaded.
"Harry, walk back with her," ordered Jack, as he rode away.
"And don't worry!" shouted Margaret. "I conjured up more wine!"
x x x
After everyone rode away, Harry and Ginny were left to walk back to the stables. They walked in silence for most of the way. Neither of them wanted to be left alone with the other.
After a while, Ginny finally broke the quiet. "Thank you, for what you did."
Harry smirked. "No problem. It's not like it's the first time I saved your life."
Ginny huffed. "Well you don't have to be so self-righteous!"
"Oh really," snapped Harry. "Let's go over what happened to Ginny; you yell at me for being engaged and dancing with you and coincidentally enough, you are engaged as well. And then you have the nerve to call me self-righteous. What is your problem?"
Ginny was livid. "What's my problem? I don't think so." She stopped walking and looked Harry straight in the eye. "I have been doing this for a long time and I can tell exactly how long a marriage is going to last. Clue number one that this marriage is doomed to fail: Sarah chose marigold for the bridesmaid's dresses. Marigold; the flower that smells like a skunk. My last bride that chose marigold didn't even make it to the alter. Clue number two: I Will Always Love You as your wedding song? Does she even realize that the song is about a break-up? I don't understand why so many people insist on Muggle songs they don't even understand!"
Harry had kept his cool during Ginny's entire speech, but now it was his turn to say his piece. "You know what Ginny? You were right. When we were dancing in the park, I was attracted to you. Maybe I was a bit scared about the wedding or maybe I'm a bloke and you are an attractive woman. However; nothing happened, and nothing ever will happen. I am certain that I am going to marry Sarah now. She is perfect and I love her. And your ideas about love sound like a very cynical woman."
Let me know what you think!
