"You got the champagne ready?" Bill asked.
Fleur nodded and held up the bottle she'd picked up that afternoon specifically for this occasion. It was an excellent brand; one her family favored for celebrating special events. She knew the quality of it would be lost on Bill's parents, but she'd still wanted to bring over the best bottle she could afford. She wanted things to feel extra special.
It had been only two days since Bill had proposed and she'd been asked to join the Order, but she felt as if she'd had new life breathed into her. She felt invincible; as if she could take on the world. She certainly felt more cheerful than she usually would at facing an impending family dinner at the Burrow; she was ready to take on whatever reservations Molly Weasley was bound to have about this new development.
Because she was here to stay now. Bill wanted to marry her and she wanted to marry him. Knowing that made her fearless.
They'd barely told anyone they were engaged yet, having only just finished their holiday at Shell Cottage that morning. Bill had admitted he'd told no one—not even Charlie—about his plans. While he had wanted to do it within the next few months, after the death of his friend in the Order, he'd really taken to heart how fragile life was. It had made him not want to wait any longer, so he'd spent the morning before they left for Shell Cottage ring shopping; he planned his proposal over the course of a few hours.
It had gone off without much of a hitch, and their weekend had been absolutely perfect from that moment on. They'd spent it entirely together—much of it naked, some of it a bit drunk on either excitement or alcohol; all of it had been blissfully happy and giggly. She wasn't sure how he'd distracted her from the demons that haunted her from the third task, but outside of a quiet moment where she'd gone and thrown some flowers into the sea as a tribute to Cedric, she'd managed to push many of those thoughts away. Even her tribute for Cedric had been more touching than sad.
Everything had been perfect. She'd even taken a real shine to this cottage and the seaside it sat upon, and honestly could have stayed forever in their little bubble. It reminded her of how much happier she was by the sea. It was where she wanted to be; it was where she wanted to live and raise a family with Bill one day. She never could picture herself living in the country as Bill had, even if she did enjoy the solitude of it. The city had an energy about it she enjoyed, but only in small doses; she didn't think she could do it permanently. But a place like this...this was what she wanted.
"I could live by sea," Bill said that very morning before the two of them were set to depart, both standing outside the cottage and taking in one last gorgeous morning. "I could do this everyday."
"Then we should," Fleur said, looking over at him. "We should find a place like this to live."
"A place like this would cost…" He pulled a face. "It's not cheap."
While he wasn't wrong, she wondered how much of that was his frugal nature talking. Bill didn't like to spend a lot of money—an effect of his childhood growing up poor. It drove her mad that he would rather repeatedly mend his old robes or trousers than simply purchase new ones, but it was something they were working on. She was trying to teach him to invest in his purchases—buy the expensive robes because they would last longer rather than the cheap ones that kept falling apart—but it was easier said than done. Even though he was doing well for himself now, somewhere inside of him was still that boy who was trying to save a few Sickles wherever he could.
But the fact was he had a great job and made good money these days. She made decent money and could make more if she kept up on the track she was on. They could afford something like this if they wanted and worked for it. It was something she frequently needed to remind him.
"We do not want a cheap home," she countered.
He nodded a bit as if he could concede to that. "We don't. But we could get a bigger place that's just as nice for half the price somewhere else."
"Or we could get exactly what we want, where we want it."
He murmured, "True," before he looked back at the cottage behind them. "You know, maybe I should ask my aunt if she'd ever sell this place. It would still probably cost a fortune, but maybe we could get a family discount? She and I have always got on well, and she's not an easy woman to get on with."
Nothing about that sentence was surprising to her. Someone who didn't get along with people was keen on Bill. Tale as old as time.
"You would also be keeping it in your family," she offered. "Your aunt may appreciate that. It certainly would not hurt to ask."
He nodded, his face extremely pensive as his eyes continued to scan the exterior of the cottage, almost as if he was genuinely thinking this over.
She'd walked over and wrapped her arms around him. "Perhaps it is not something we could do today or even tomorrow, but one day." She smiled at him. "We can do this together. You know I do not believe in settling for less than perfect."
He smiled down at her. "Should I take that as a compliment?"
"You absolutely should."
But all of this talk of houses and living by the sea were future concerns. Today they were back in the real world; back where it was time to tell their families that they were going to get married.
She'd attempted to Floo her parents first, but there had been no response at the house. While disappointed that she couldn't share the news then, she would try again later. She'd instead gone down to the Beauty Supply shop beneath her flat to tell Isabelle, which had garnered a very surprised reaction from her. She'd seemed startled to the point where she had let a bottle of Hair Straightening Potion she'd been transferring into smaller vials overflow onto the counter.
"Engaged?!" she'd asked with wide eyes.
Fleur nodded and smiled, showing off the ring. Isabelle examined it with a tentative curiosity and commented that it was very beautiful, but...
"Do you not think it is soon?" she asked. "I understand he is very handsome and charming, but darling, last week you were—"
Fleur waved her off. "Last week I was in a dark place. I said and did many things I regret."
"Are you sure you're finished making regrets?" she asked. "Because, Fleur, this is so very soon—"
"It is not 'very soon'," she said with a smile, refusing to let anyone dampen her mood. "Bill and I are meant to be. I have known this since the moment I first saw him. I have told you that."
"You have, but…" She trailed off, clearly not convinced.
Fleur had anticipated these sorts of reactions. People were going to think they were moving too quickly or that she was too young. She'd already braced herself for Molly Weasley to throw all of that at them, but ultimately they were not part of her relationship. They didn't understand her and Bill's connection. This was going to happen one day, so why not set things in motion as soon as possible?
"What do your parents say?" Isabelle asked her.
Fleur had been busy admiring her ring and the way the diamond caught the light at the moment, so much so Isabelle repeated the question. It made her simply shrug. "They were not in when I tried to Fire Call on the Floo. I have dinner with Bill's family tonight, so I will try again soon. I assume they will be surprised, but happy. They have always supported my choices."
Isabelle said nothing and simply stared at her. Fleur chose to go back to admiring her ring.
Back at her flat, she'd handed Bill the bottle of champagne just before he smiled at her and said, "Alright. Let's go see the family and do this."
He was excited, but nervous—she could tell. He'd actually been the one to arrange this family dinner to tell everyone; all on the pretense of getting everyone together now that his younger siblings were home from school. His mother had of course obliged—one because it was a lovely idea; two because it was Bill who had asked.
Fleur nodded, though she took a moment to turn her engagement ring around on her finger, hiding the diamond for the time being. She knew Bill wanted to make an announcement to everyone and not have people spot the ring straight away and ask questions. She'd turn it back around once everyone knew.
They Apparated just outside of the Burrow in the early evening hours. Fleur found her eyes immediately traveling over to a lone person zooming around on a broom in the distance. She watched the figure for a moment, which at first was too far away to positively identify, but given the person's smaller stature and what looked to be a cape of hair flying behind them, she quickly deduced that it must have been Bill's younger sister.
Ginny was the only sibling—outside of Bill's estranged brother—that she had no memory of meeting. The only girl and the baby sister that Bill talked so fondly of. It had been one of the reasons Fleur had felt a kinship with him early on because of the much younger sisters they both had and didn't see nearly as much as they would have liked.
Bill felt she and Ginny would get on well, though she had her doubts. She heard too much about how his sister was like his mother, which didn't bode well for her. Not to mention, one of the twins had mentioned at some point how Ginny wasn't your 'typical girly' type. Being the youngest of seven with six older brothers, that wasn't surprising to hear, but Fleur had never had the best of luck with girls like that. They always seemed oddly threatened by the 'typical girly' types like herself and would get strangely defensive around her.
But she couldn't be bothered to entertain any of that. She had better things to do.
"There's Gin," Bill said, pointing to the sky where Ginny was flying around in circles now.
Fleur nodded, taking a quick breath. She would truly love to get along with his sister, just as she had with all of his brothers thus far, but brothers were easier. She'd never had an issue with getting on with boys when she wanted to. She tended to get on fabulously with most girls as well, if all parties were willing to give things a chance.
Bill had started walking toward the side of the house where his sister was still up in the sky. He whistled loudly, clearly trying to get her attention, however she didn't seem to hear him. What he did get was someone else suddenly appearing nearby from inside an old looking broom shed.
An ever familiar shade of red hair popped out from atop the head of a vaguely familiar face. When the rest of him appeared out in the open, Fleur immediately took notice of how tall and lanky this one was. She'd been so used to Bill being the tallest one in his family that she found herself surprised to see another one.
"There's Ron," Bill said, stopping then to loudly call out, "Oi! Look who it is!"
Ron smiled and threw him a lazy wave as Bill immediately went trekking over to greet him. She hung back, but had to double take a bit. That was Ron? She didn't remember him being small before, but he seemed so much older now than what she remembered from that year at Hogwarts.
"Look at you," Bill said, looking him up and down. Now that he was closer, Ron was actually a bit taller than he was. "Someone put a stretching charm on you since Christmas?"
Ron shrugged, but grinned a little. "Mum reckons I'm the tallest one now."
"Yeah, Percy and I are the same height, so…" Bill gestured to him rather obviously before he turned and smiled at Fleur. "Would you believe this is my kid brother?" He laughed. "You remember Ron?"
She nodded and smiled, turning that smile onto Ron. The more she looked at him, the more her memory began to jog about the last time she'd seen him at Hogwarts; how he and Harry had helped her and Gabrielle after that awful day in the lake.
"And I'm sure you remember Fleur," Bill was saying to Ron, right as she'd moved forward to greet him with a sweeping kiss on his cheeks.
"It is wonderful to see you, Ron," she said. "Ever since I realized you were Bill's brother, I have been so excited to see you again!"
Ron...said nothing. He actually looked flustered and a bit red in the face, which...there had been a time she was very used to that reaction from boys—she'd been a master of causing it back in her Beauxbatons' days—but since she'd left school and teenage boys behind her, it didn't happen often anymore. Especially when she wasn't even trying.
"Ron," said Bill, staring at his brother's now vacant expression. When he didn't respond, he even snapped his fingers in front of his face. "Ron."
Ron suddenly blinked, which made Fleur smile. It was actually rather cute, in a funny sort of way. She watched as he opened his mouth to speak and managed to stammer out, "H-h-i-i. Hi." He composed himself a little. "Hi."
Bill was staring at his brother with what looked like a mixture of amusement and pity. He chuckled a little as he reached out and patted him on the back. "Oh, Ronnie..."
"What?" Ron asked, his face still red. He actually reached up to rub it rather self-consciously.
Several things happened then, all in quick succession. Ginny had landed a good twenty or so yards away, clearly taking in the group standing there but saying nothing as she wandered toward the broom shed. There was also pop from nearby, which indicated someone else had arrived. When Fleur turned to look, she saw both of the twins approaching. She still struggled to tell them apart, but one shouted, "Is the party outside?"
"Nah, just catching up with Ron," Bill offered once they'd meandered over and offered their hellos. After a quick catch up on how the shop was doing during its initial opening and congratulations all around for the lads and Fleur now being official Order members, Bill had inquired with Ron about how he was holding up after his Department of Mysteries accident. It had prompted Ron to roll up his sleeves and show off his arms.
His scars had a rope like pattern to them, as if whatever had grabbed a hold of him had clearly dug in deep. They were all up and down the length of his arms, which Bill was now examining closely. While they were evidently healed, they were still very red against his pale skin.
"They're not as bad as I thought," Bill said once he gave Ron his arm back. "Do they think they'll stay that red?"
Ron shook his head and rubbed his arm absently. "They should fade over time. Here's hoping since they're hard to look at." He sighed a little but mustered a grin. "But girls think scars are cool, right? That's got to be a perk."
"Sure," one of the twins said. "But that doesn't change the fact that they don't think you are."
"Yeah," said the other. "All the scars in the world won't help you."
Ron frowned and muttered, "Piss off," though Bill immediately chimed in with, "Last I checked, he and I are the only ones bringing any girls around here, so..."
One of the twins said, "Because we've got sense," while the other added, "Wait, are you talking about Hermione? Because he wouldn't know what to do there if it was dancing naked in front of—"
"Yes, I...Shut it!" Ron snapped before ultimately adding in a much lower voice, "That's not even..."
"Don't listen to these two," Bill said to Ron with a roll of his eyes. "They're idiots."
Fleur reached out and laid a reassuring hand on Ron's scarred arm. "Just so you know, your scars make you look very brave. And many girls will admire that."
Ron stared at her a little blankly, as if startled, before looking down at his arm. Luckily for him, she seemed to be the only one to notice since Bill was now telling Fred and George off a bit for being gits.
In all the commotion, no one but her had noticed that Ginny had wandered over. She was standing just beyond the group, giving everyone a once over as if she'd seen this scene play out countlessly before and wasn't surprised to see it again. She actually seemed rather bored by it.
If Fleur was honest, she was immediately struck by how pretty Ginny was. She'd seen pictures of his sister around the house, but they were mostly of a small, preteen girl smiling and laughing amongst a sea of brothers. She didn't know why she had got it in her head that she would look different now, but after hearing how similar she was to Molly, she'd been imagining a mini-version of her. A bit more average looking; maybe a bit rounder; a bit rougher around the edges since that's how her brothers' had described her.
But she wasn't any of those things. She had to admit she was surprised since Bill had always looked so different from his siblings. It wasn't as if any of them were unattractive, they just didn't compare to how handsome he was. Ginny seemed to be the exception however, because she wasn't average looking at all. She had lovely, long red hair and lovely, symmetrical features that all fit perfectly on her face. She was really quite beautiful.
Though, she probably would be prettier if her face wasn't set so tightly right now. It had fixed itself that way the moment she noticed Fleur staring at her.
Fleur smiled pleasantly and offered up a cheerful, "Bonsuir," which caused Bill to turn and notice his sister then. He immediately grinned at her before he stepped over and playfully gave her a little shake of the shoulders.
"Nice of you to join us," he said. When she did nothing more than smirk a little at him, he smiled a bit more cheekily at her, clearly expecting something more in her greeting than what he was getting. "Good to see you too, Gin. Long time. I'm well. Thanks for asking."
She smiled more sincerely then, as if she couldn't help herself. "Hi Bill."
He reached out and pulled her in to hug her, which she returned stiffly but still with a grin on her face. Once they pulled apart, he said, "There was a time I had to peel you off of me when I came around." He turned her and himself toward Fleur, now smiling at her. "She's too grown and cool now, it seems."
Fleur offered him a smile, though Ginny didn't react one way or the other.
"So this is Ginny," Bill said, gesturing to her.
"It is wonderful to finally meet you," Fleur said to her, still smiling. "Bill has told me much about you. I have been very excited to meet his only sister."
Ginny offered her a pinched sort of smile, but said nothing.
"And Gin, this is Fleur," Bill said, nudging her. "I'm sure you remember her."
"I do," she said, nodding a bit. "How could we forget?"
Fleur wasn't exactly sure what that was supposed to mean, but she chose to take it as a compliment. People rarely did forget her. This was true...
Ginny had glanced over at Ron. "We know you certainly haven't forgotten her."
Ron made a face. "What's that supposed to—?"
"Yule Ball?"
"What about it…?" Ron asked, his cheeks beginning to pinken. Fleur had no idea what Yule Ball was supposed to mean in reference to him, despite remembering the night clearly. She'd gone with one of the more acceptable looking boys at Hogwarts—Richard…? Or Robert...? Or Roger…? That last one sounded right—and she'd had a nice enough time. She couldn't claim to remember Ron at all.
It took one of the twins saying, "Oh shit, I remember!" He looked at Bill. "Did Ron ever tell you the story about how he tried to ask Fleur to the ball?"
"What?" Bill said, looking at Fleur for confirmation, though she had no idea what they were talking about. She could not remember anything like that, but perhaps he'd been one of the nameless faces who had tried to ask her. There had been several; she'd barely paid most of them any attention. She suddenly hoped she wasn't cruel about it since she could be with some of the more aggressive ones. That would make things tremendously awkward.
"I didn't really," Ron said immediately, looking at Bill and then Fleur. "It was for a laugh…I didn't mean it."
"For a laugh or was a laugh?" one of the twins asked.
"Either way," Ginny said before glancing back at Fleur. "You didn't even bother to respond. Just looked at him like he was a bug worth squishing."
"Well, can you blame her?" asked one of the twins. "I mean, no offense Ron, but honestly..."
"You don't even remember, do you?" Ginny asked her.
Fleur stared at her. If she were honest, she did not remember any of this. Not even a vague recollection. However the 'bug worth squishing' look...She couldn't deny how she used to behave. That was certainly something she was capable of.
"Gin, what…?" Bill asked, his brow furrowing the longer he stared at her.
Fleur looked over at Ron. "I am sorry if I did something to offend you—"
"You didn't offend me," Ron said, sounding embarrassed. "This isn't even worth…" He looked over at Ginny and threw her a scathing look before stepping around the group of them and heading toward the house. He managed to knock right into one of the twins as he went, but didn't bother to stop or apologize.
No one said anything for a moment; not until Bill broke the silence with a rather forced sounding, "Well. My takeaway is that Ron's got great taste."
He smiled at Fleur, evidently trying to lighten the mood; keep the peace. She expected nothing less.
Ginny rolled her eyes and moved to follow in the direction that Ron had gone off to. Fleur watched her go and found herself almost surprised at how quickly Ginny had expressed her displeasure at her...presence? She'd at least assumed there would be more forced pleasantries, but it seemed that was yet another way she was different from her mother. This one went straight to it.
Bill came over and put his hand on her back. "Sorry, I don't know what that was..."
"You don't know what that was?" one of the twins asked. "That was Ginny. That's what that was."
"Who knew she was still holding a grudge about Ron and that Yule ball thing," said the other twin. "I thought we were all in agreement, that was hilarious." He paused. "Well, all of us but Ron."
"You two need to seriously stop being such dicks to him," Bill scolded, gently pushing Fleur away and toward the house. "The kid's got an inferiority complex that I'm convinced is ninety percent your doing."
"Seventy-five," they both said together, though one added, "We're only ever taking the piss. It's not our fault he's so sensitive."
"Seriously, how do you grow up in this family and end up sensitive?" the other muttered.
Bill rolled his eyes and continued to lead Fleur toward the house. She immediately offered, "I feel awful if I was rude to your brother."
"I wouldn't think much of it," Bill said. "He didn't seem to care until that lot even brought it up. Which, I'm sorry my sister came on like that. It's so unlike her."
Was it...? Fleur had her doubts. She had hoped for niceties with Ginny at best, but had realistically braced herself for a cool reaction at worst. What she'd got was his sister already harboring some grudge against her from Hogwarts that she didn't even remember. She clearly wasn't happy she was here or with Bill. It had been written all over her face and mannerisms.
Not that any of it mattered, but she truly would have loved to have been surprised—just once—by the behavior of someone in his family. Especially now that she had plans to become a part of it.
"What's the champagne for?" his mother asked the moment Bill had walked in and placed it on the kitchen counter. She had been busily plating dinner, swatting Fred and George away as they attempted to pick off plates and out of cauldrons, though had stopped to examine the bottle.
"To celebrate, of course," he said, not wanting to quite make the engagement announcement yet seeing as half of his family was now upstairs.
"Celebrate what?" she asked with a curious smile.
"Well," Bill said, glancing over at Fleur. Given her expression, she didn't seem to know what he was doing. She looked to be asking,"Are we doing this now?"
"To celebrate Fleur and these two," he suddenly reached out and swatted George on the shoulder, "getting into the Order. And, you know Ron and Ginny are home, so that's worth celebrating."
"Hold on," Fred said from across the room. "You brought champagne, that mum won't even let Ron and Ginny drink, to celebrate them coming home from school?"
Bill looked at his mother. "You wouldn't let them have a glass?"
"To celebrate coming home from school?" she asked rather skeptically, her eyebrow raised. "I don't really see that as being champagne worthy…"
"How about surviving that ordeal at the Ministry?" Bill offered. "If they can do all that, they should be allowed to have a drink. Ron's practically of age."
His mother clearly didn't want anything about the Ministry debacle brought up, and that was evident by the way she suddenly shuffled away and immediately started speaking about how she needed the table set for ten. She handed George napkins, told Fred to get on the silverware, and then suddenly looked over at Fleur and asked if she would like to help.
It seemed small, but Bill considered that progress for his mum to incorporate Fleur into menial family tasks like setting the table. Yes, their relationship was rocky at times, but it was evident his mother was getting far more used to the idea of Fleur always being around. That was great, considering that in a few minutes time she'd have to accept that Fleur would be around permanently.
"Ten?" Fred asked as he started charming forks onto the table. "Why are we setting the table for ten? There's only eight of us here."
"I've invited Tonks and Remus," their mother said, filling up a large serving bowl with Brussels sprouts and handing them to Fleur. As an aside, she said to her, "Put those down near where you and Bill will be sitting." She turned back to Fred. "They've both obviously been through so much lately. Remus especially with the loss of Sirius, I thought it would be nice to get him around people."
"More the merrier," Bill offered, as he was handed a bowl of mashed potatoes to place on the table. As he did, there was a knock on the kitchen door; seeing as he was standing closest, he went to grab it and found Tonks there, for whom he hadn't seen since before that night at the Department of Mysteries. She looked tired, but good, especially considering she'd been in hospital for a few days. She smiled at him straight away.
"It's good to see you in one piece," Bill said. "I heard you got the wrong end of a nasty spell."
"It wasn't one of my better days," she said a little lazily, turning to wave at the others before addressing his mother specifically. "Remus will be a bit late, Molly. He said he had something he had to take care of first." She frowned a little. "He also said please don't wait for him."
His mother also frowned, but looked as if she wasn't about to dwell on it. "We can save him a plate. Fred, go call Ron and Ginny down for dinner. They went upstairs to clean up after flying. Arthur! Dinner!"
Everyone had crowded into the kitchen—saying their hellos, taking spots around the table, helping themselves to the bowls and serving plates in front of them. His mother had to announce that there was plenty of food to go around and that the twins and Ron didn't need to pile their plates so high with food. That only spurred a conversation about whether Fred and George were eating properly, which Bill wanted to remind her that they obviously were since they still swung by for meals regularly.
Tonks had sat down near Bill and Fleur, offering up stories about her hospital stay and how lovely the Healers at St. Mungo were. She mentioned how Dumbledore had decided Grimmauld Place was off limits for the time being, which Bill's parents seemed to be aware of, though he hadn't known seeing as he'd been off at the cottage for the last couple of days.
"He needs to be sure it didn't pass on to someone in the Black family now that Sirius has passed," Tonks was explaining to them. "Bellatrix would be the likely candidate, seeing as she's the oldest of my mum's sisters."
"But Bellatrix is the one who killed Sirius!" Ginny said, sounding appalled.
"Murderers shouldn't be able to inherit their victim's property!" Ron chimed in. "That's definitely not what Sirius would have wanted."
"The law unfortunately doesn't always work like that," their father said a little heavily. "Especially with these old pureblood estates and the binding magical contracts they've entered into. They'd rather the murderer get it and keep it in the bloodline. They'll pay off the right people to make it so."
"Dumbledore suspects that if Sirius had a will, he would have left it to Harry," Tonks said. "He's just unsure whether he did or not. They're looking into it."
"Wait," Ron said, his eyes growing wide. "Harry's got a house now?"
"He might," Tonks said. "We'll find out soon enough. If he does, Dumbledore said he'll need to ask him permission if the Order can still use it."
Ron waved that off as if he'd never heard something so daft. "He won't care. He never even liked that place."
Fleur looked over at Bill with a slight frown. "I only just got into ze Order and ze headquarters shut down."
"You're not missing much," George offered. "Unless you've got a thing for screaming portraits and ornery house elves."
Talks of who may be in possession of Grimmauld Place and what was to be done about Order meetings continued over pudding. Eventually once things started to taper off, Fleur nudged Bill, seeing the lull as the perfect opportunity to finally tell everyone their big news. Bill had to agree. Everyone was due to wrap up soon; his brothers were having second helpings of treacle. It was now or never.
"Fleur and I have an announcement," he said, wondering then if he should stand or keep sitting. He decided he should stand. Fleur smiled up at him as he did so and he saw her flip her ring back around under the table.
He returned her smile before looking down the table at his family. They were all watching him, some having put their forks down; others, like his brothers, still eating without pause. Either way he had everyone's attention. He cleared his throat.
"I don't really know how to preface this, so I'm just going to say it. This weekend, I decided to propose to Fleur."
Fred and George had stopped eating then. Ron didn't, but he slowed down significantly.
"And she said yes," he added, smiling at Fleur, who he encouraged to stand up with him then. She did just that, beaming rather proudly. He felt like he could do anything after seeing that smile, so he turned back to his family and added, "We're engaged."
"We are to be married!" Fleur said excitedly.
They were mostly met by stunned silence. Bill avoided his mother's gaze at first and instead did a sweep around the table. Fred, George, and Ron all looked surprised, but were also all tentatively glancing in the direction of their parents. Ginny looked as if someone had stunned her. His father looked rather blank, though there were traces of being pleasantly surprised there.
When he did finally look at his mother, she may as well have looked as if someone had petrified her into a state of complete and utter shock.
Only Tonks had even bothered to make a sound—a giggly, squeaky sort of cheer, that she immediately followed with, "How wonderful! I'm so happy for you two!"
"Zank you," Fleur said, deciding then to rightfully focus all of her energy on Tonks, who was gleefully asking to see the ring and already inquiring how the question was popped and when they wanted to have the wedding.
"Your children are going to be gorgeous," Tonks added excitedly, still giving Fleur's ring a close inspection.
"Well, I didn't expect that," said George after a moment, though he was grinning a little at Bill. "But congratulations."
"Yes, congratulations," said their father, who seemed a bit torn between the celebratory nature of the occasion and the fact that his wife was currently sitting as still as a statue beside him. "I can't say I'm surprised. I figured this day would come." He smiled at his wife. "Didn't we?"
She was quiet for a long moment before finally saying, very clipped, "I don't know that we did. And if it were to happen, I didn't think it would come so soon."
"We should toast, yeah?" Fred asked, clearly looking to move things along as he went to fetch the bottle of champagne from the counter. "Now that we all know Bill and Fleur's true motives for bringing the good stuff."
He had handed it to Bill, who glanced over at Fleur and was happy to see that Tonks was still cheerfully listening to her stories and presumably asking questions. At least someone was reacting to this as excitedly as they felt. Down the length of the table, Bill could see his father having a rather hushed conversation with his wife.
George had started to conjure glasses, which prompted Ron to ask, "Can I have some?"
"Yeah, do Ron and Ginny get some?" George asked, counting off glasses.
"I don't want any," Ginny said, pushing her plate away. "I'm finished. May I be excused?"
"Yes, that's fine," said their mother, almost looking as if she was ready to follow suit.
Ginny stood then, which prompted Bill to say, "Gin, come on."
He threw her a look. He had no idea what had got into her tonight, but her attitude at the moment was practically palpable. He thought she, of all people, would have been happy for him; she'd always been in his corner and had been his little shadow. This affected her life in such a minor way; if anything, she was getting a new sort of sister figure out of it. After an entire life surrounded by lads and testosterone, shouldn't she be excited?
"It's rude to walk out on a toast," Fred said to her.
"Don't you start trying to lecture anyone about being rude," Ginny said, before glancing back over at Bill. She suddenly reached over and picked up her water glass from the table, thrust it into the air, smirked, and said, "Cheers," rather sarcastically before setting it forcibly back down. Without another word. she turned to leave; her hair swinging behind her.
Bill exhaled slowly and glanced over at Fleur, who had reached up to rub his arm affectionately as if to tell him to not let it bother him. They'd expected some rocky reactions. People would come around. They would have to.
"So…" George said, his wand still out. "Does Ron get some or…?"
They were toasted by his family, some enthusiastically; one a bit begrudgingly. That particular someone stepped directly out of the room afterwards without even commenting like she usually would about how things needed to be tidied up. It was his father who gestured around the table to Fred, George and Ron to get things clean. He then shot Bill a look and told him that he would like a word.
Fleur grabbed his hand. "Do you want me to come?"
"Let me talk to them first," he said, leaning down to give her a quick kiss. "I'll be back in a minute."
She threw him an encouraging look as she stood to help Tonks and the others with the clean up. He took a deep breath before strolling into the sitting room, where he of course found both of his parents sitting on the sofa.
"I already know what you're going to say," Bill said, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Humor us then," his father offered. "What are we going to say?"
"That we're moving too fast—"
"Do you actually believe you're not?" asked his mother. "Bill, you've always been my sensible one."
"I still am," he said. "And yeah, maybe a bit fast. But only because people expect you to wait longer. Life is short. We're in the middle of a war. I could die tomorrow."
His mother looked away. "Please don't say things like that."
"But it's true," he said. "Sirius' death reminded me just how short life is and it's pointless to wait for arbitrary, socially acceptable amounts of time to pass just so everyone else can give their blessing. They're not in my relationship. I want to marry her and I have for ages. What's the difference between now or later?"
"Far more growth, and time to realize what you want, and…"
"I want her," he said plainly. "And again, I don't see what waiting a few more months is going to do. My plan was for Christmas. All I did was bump it up a few months."
"But that's the point, Bill," his mother said. "So much can change by Christmas!"
He slowly let himself smile. "We're saying the same thing. So much can change, which is why we should live in the now."
She inhaled a bit slowly, but looked away. To be fair, he'd expected more shouting and uproar from her. In his opinion, she was actually taking this quite well.
"Do you know when you plan on doing...it?" she asked. "Getting married?"
He shook his head. They'd hadn't officially decided anything, but they'd started talking about it. He'd wanted it within the next month—a small ceremony with their closest family and friends, then they could plan a party for a later date—but Fleur hadn't been especially receptive to that idea. She hadn't objected, but he could tell she wasn't keen on the quick version he'd described. He knew she'd always dreamed of a proper wedding—ideally in France with everyone they knew and loved—but that would take planning and time; that defeated the purpose of them living in the now.
Even if they gave it a few months to work out, they were looking at Christmas time in order to have their entire families present, especially with his siblings and her cousins away at school. While a Christmas wedding could be beautiful, it wasn't what she wanted. It was clear she'd had a vision in her head of springtime and flowers or summertime and warmth…
They still needed to work that out.
"Did anyone else know you were proposing?" asked his father. "Charlie or…?"
"No, I did it all very suddenly."
"You even admit you did it suddenly," said his mother, her hand on her face. "Bill, this isn't the kind of decision you can make on a whim."
"I've told you I already planned to do it," he said. "The only whim was to do it sooner. And I don't even know why I wanted to wait. You can ask Charlie. Last time I saw him I was already telling him I was going to do it." He gestured to his father. "I'd told you I wanted to do it."
His mother whipped her head around on her husband. "Did he?"
"Molly, he's madly in love with her. We've known that since early on, obviously the next step was to…"
She didn't wait for him to finish and turned back to Bill. "But are you sure—absolutely positive, William—she's the one for you for the rest of your life?"
William...shit. That was only reserved for when she wanted his full attention. But it was an easy question to answer. He didn't have a doubt in his mind that Fleur and he were meant to be. They clicked in a way he'd never clicked with anyone. She understood him; she was patient with him when she didn't need to be. He wanted to grow old with her. He wanted to have those presumably beautiful children with her.
"Yes," he said.
She inhaled slowly, but said nothing more. She looked out the nearest window—not that there was much to look at seeing as darkness had set in and all it revealed was her reflection staring back at her
His father had stood up and walked over to him. He smiled and reached out to give him a very tight hug. While he did so, he whispered his ever constant mantra of, "Give her time to get used to it. She will come around," before he pulled back and said, "Congratulations, Bill." He looked toward the kitchen. "I'd like to properly congratulate Fleur as well."
"Thanks." He smiled. "She'd like that."
He'd been about to follow after his dad, but stopped to look back at his mother. She was still staring out the window, which again, was a much better reaction than he'd anticipated her having. He'd take calm surprise over loud shock any day.
Still, watching her just blankly stare out the window did stir some sort of mixed feelings in him. He sighed. "Mum, when have I ever made bad or reckless choices? My track record is nearly spotless. You have to trust me."
She didn't turn to look at him; her voice was very quiet when she said, "I do, dear. But love can make even the most sensible people do mad things."