Sorry guys, had some typos I needed to fix. I swear I spell and grammar check before I post these and yet things still manage to slip through the cracks, must be the formatting change.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

August 1st, 1997
Post-Hogwarts
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Marcus arrived at the Burrow early, very aware of being watched, fully expecting to be thrown out on his ass the second someone saw him. Fred and George clapped him on the shoulders and pushed him towards their mother—who frankly scared him more than almost anyone else—and he thought for sure she was going to kill him and bury his body in the rose bed but instead she brushed invisible lint from his robes, patted his cheek and directed him into service. His mind reeled as arriving guests smiled politely. Finally, he set on the only possible conclusion: Jo hadn't told anyone.

His heart stopped dead for a beat or two as he saw her in a high collared, long skirted dress that showed off the length of her legs. He loved her legs. Scowling at himself, he pushed the unbidden thought away. Just when his heart started beating again, her eyes met his and the smile she wore slipped off her face and his heart stopped again. He stared as her body stiffened, shoulders pulling back defensively before she forced a smile back to her face and turned back to the conversation in front of her. He could just make out the words, "I'll be right back," and then she was walking towards him. She grabbed the front of his robes and pulled him into a hidden corner.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed.

He smiled, a little too innocently, "You invited me."

"BEFORE!" she cried in a whisper. "Before you went all Darth Vader on me!"

"Darth who?" he blurted.

"Oh forget it. You just—just stay away from me or I swear I will hex you."

Jo left Marcus in the corner and made her way back to where Fred and George were supposed to be seating the new arrivals, but were instead swapping stories about their Great Uncle Billius to Leili's hilarity. Fred was holding Leili's hand and it looked like that tether was the only thing keeping her on her heels. Jo stared a little, they were sweet together and made a cute couple but how come Leilani got to have everything? Why was she the lucky one and Jo... Jo squashed the spike of jealousy that laced through her. She had no intention of falling into the trap at the end of that primrose path.

Walking back, Jo was just close enough to hear Fred say, "When I get married, I won't be bothering with any of this nonsense. You can all wear what you like, and I'll put a full-body bind curse on Mum until it's all over."

Leili looked at him, surprised into sobriety, "When you get married?" They never talked about the future; they just followed their relationship day to day. Though she had of course fantasized, she'd had no idea that he was doing the same.

Fred grinned at her, his long fingers tying hers into knots, "You do want to get married, don't you?"

"Yes!" Leili said, the word bursting out of her. The smile he gave her was blinding.

"You would body bind your own mother to keep her from meddling?" Jo asked archly as she returned.

"Wouldn't you?" George grinned as they all turned to stare at Molly who was fussing over some tiny detail that she seemed to think required her immediate and unconditional attention.

"You're right, I would," Jo said. "Here's the real question: d'you think it would work?" They all turned as Molly came to fuss at them for not having taken their seats yet. Fred and George stood outside, dickering with their mother, just for fun, for a little while.

Leili took Jo's arm and led her away to their seats where Marcus was waiting.

"Do you want to switch seats? You can sit on the other side of Fred, keep a buffer." Leili asked as Jo sat, stiff and uncomfortable beside Marcus who—small blessings—looked just as uncomfortable as she did.

Jo shook her head, resigned to see this through.

Leili took pity and changed the subject, "Sooo, am I crazy or did I just get proposed to?"

Strain edged Jo's wicked grin, "It was done in Weasley fashion; remember, he asked you to come to this wedding that way and he asked Angelina Johnson to the Yule ball the same way," Jo told her, "but you may just have weddings on the brain, dear."

Marcus was being left out of the hushed conversation, but then, he was used to that. It was nothing against him after all. At least, it wasn't normally anything against him. Jo didn't trust him anymore. He'd been invited to the wedding before his outing as a Death Eater. He wasn't sure why he hadn't promptly been dis-invited. He hadn't intended to come after his ousting, knew she wouldn't want him here, but he was here under orders. His orders were to get her to take him back—something he wasn't doing very well. He was going to have to put some effort into it though or else his watchers would know.

Laughing, Leili elbowed her in the ribs as Fred came to sit beside her. George and Angelina came to sit beside them when she arrived.

In part due to Fred and George's neglect there was little order to the seating; the two families didn't sit on opposite sides of the tent but rather, co-mingled, as was obvious by the quiet sobbing Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Delacour did when Fleur walked up the aisle escorted by her father. The ceremony was short but sweet and soon they were all standing in the presence of ecstatic newlyweds as the wedding venue shifted into the reception venue.

Fleur's dress flounced cheerfully as she and Bill polkaed into the center of the tent starting the reception with their first dance as a married couple.

Everything and everyone was beautiful, even Luna and her father in their blindingly bright yellow clothes managed somehow to fit in—excepting of course Viktor's argument with Mr. Lovegood—the only stain on an otherwise perfect, golden afternoon.

No one questioned Marcus' attendance and he was happy to blend in. When the music changed tempo, he offered Jo his hand.

"You expect me to dance? You. Really?" She didn't generally dance and she certainly didn't dance with no-good, sneaking, lying Death Eaters. Every morning she woke up ready to tell the world what he really was and everyday she… just didn't. She wasn't sure why she wasn't shouting his betrayal from the rooftops but something told her to not. She wasn't sure why she was listening to it.

"Yep, C'mon."

"No!" she said, incredulous.

"Just… dance with me. Pretend the world doesn't exist," he pleaded. "For three minutes. One dance, that's all I'm asking. Jocelyn. Please. …Unless you want people to ask why we've been so distant today."

Jo took his hand with a scowl, "Low blow, Captain. Low blow."

Her Chinese-style dress had slits up to mid thigh on both sides, allowing her to tango with Marcus without tearing the black fabric with its metallic red designs. She'd never tangoed before, but apparently he had and he talked her through the steps.

"Heels together, toes out. When you bring your feet back together, don't shift your weight until you finish stepping. Now, left foot forward, feet together—don't shift your weight—sidestep right, feet together, left foot back, right foot back, left cross over right, balance on your left foot." He paused briefly, then, "Right foot uncrosses back, left side step, right foot forward, feet together." He tapped his fingers against her hand or shoulder blade depending on which foot she needed next. He gathered her closer so their chests and cheeks were pressed together, "Close your eyes and feel my weight shift. Pick up your heels, not your feet—drag your toes."

Jo blinked hard, dancing with him felt so much like normal, it physically hurt... She was glad he couldn't see her face and even more glad to close her eyes so she might stop herself from crying. This was a cruel and unusual punishment for her crime of falling in love with the wrong boy.

'Get her to take you back', well, orders were orders; he may as well make it look like he was making an effort. The tango made it easy for him to reach her ear—he didn't even have to reach. In a soft, gravely voice sang, "How you turn my world, you precious thing… you starve and near exhaust me."

"DO NOT sing that song," she growled, her irritation unbalancing her on the cross step.

"You said you liked it," he said as he helped her steady herself.

"I don't." That was a lie. Sort-of. She did like the song, in a 'David Bowie just ripped out my heart and stomped on it and now I'm about to cry' kind of way.

"You said it was romantic."

"Romantic is the other one." I'll paint you mornings of gold; I'll spin you valentine evenings, though we're strangers till now, … I'll leave my lo-ove between the stars. But she didn't want him to sing that one either. She'd start crying and never stop if he did, so she said instead, "Romantic is the one that goes 'You remind me of the babe'."

He gave her a skeptical glance, then said, "It'd be nice to do this again, someday."

"The dancing or the wedding?" Jo asked warily.

"Both," Marcus said turning to plant a light kiss on her lips; she leaned back at the last second so all he kissed was air.

"What's it gonna take for you to trust me again?" he sighed, falling back into proper Argentine Tango frame.

"You already know," she growled back. A miracle. It would take a miracle. Possibly some time-travel.

He guided her into a spin.

"I'm choosing you, Jo. I'm choosing you," he whispered as she came back into his arms.

She stared at him. She wanted so badly to believe, but she didn't dare. He'd broken her heart once; she wasn't going to let him do it again.

Meanwhile, Leili was behaving rather like her cat towards Muriel, hissing and spitting. If she'd had hackles, they'd be raised.

Muriel was suggesting not only that Ariana was a squib, but also had been kept prisoner in the cellar by her mother, her own mother!

"A coffin side brawl!" Muriel was saying, her glee growing in leaps and bounds the longer this conversation went on.

Leili had been dragged into it on account of hating to see someone disparaged when they couldn't defend themselves, especially kids and especially dead kids.

"Albus did not even defend himself! And that's odd enough in itself considering he could have destroyed Aberforth in a duel with both arms tied behind his back!"

Leili couldn't take it anymore, couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer, couldn't listen to this awful woman gossip about a dead little girl and the family that had been so good to her and her friends. The nerve of this woman! The sheer gall!

"Did it ever occur to you that that's why he didn't defend himself?" she said angrily, jumping in. "Because he had just lost his sister and couldn't bear to hurt his brother? The only family he had left?! You-you-you-you you repeat things that you hear, things you don't even think there might be another side to! Did you ever speak to Albus or Aberforth? No! Of course you didn't!"

Leili shook with fury as Muriel gulped down more champagne. "And look at you! Sitting here swilling champagne. You don't care if it's true or not! You and Rita Skeeter just want to spread vile rumors and watch people swallow it whole! Well I'm. Not. Buying. So what if Albus was friends with Grindlewald when they were kids? He stepped up in the end, he did what was right and defeated Grindlewald and put him where he will never hurt anyone again. I wish they'd do the same to you."

Muriel turned glittering eyes on Leili and if she had been thinking instead of fuming, she might have regretted getting involved.

Maybe.

Probably not.

"Lei, come on, let's dance," Fred said, appearing suddenly beside her and taking her hand. Leili bristled at Muriel again before storming onto the dance floor, half dragging Fred with her.

"People like that just make me so mad!"

"Why do you think George and I set a Dung Bomb off under her chair?" He grinned, pointing their joined hands back towards Muriel and the guests that were fleeing from her in droves as smoke drifted out from under her chair.

Leilani laughed and Fred danced her until she was half exhausted and breathless and lost most of her edge.

"You have your way of dealing with people like her, George and I have ours."

Leili squeezed his hand gratefully. Fred had a way of making her feel better just by being near; Jo could do it too.

She muttered, "We are not inviting her to the wedding." She was joking.

Sort-of.

Not really.

Or at all.

He huffed a laugh and while she was distracted with a spin, the skirt of her blue dress—the same one she'd worn to the Yule Ball—wrapping around her legs, he extracted something from his pocket and looped it onto his pinky for temporary safe-keeping.

Suddenly, a silver orb of light crashed through the canopy and a Lynx Patronus landed amidst the revelers. All stopped and turned to look, those nearest the cat froze awkwardly mid-dance.

"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming," Kingsley Shacklebolt's voice echoed and everything erupted. People panicked as the protective enchantments shattered, the crowd surged and someone screamed.

Death Eaters Apparated and the members of the Order were throwing protection charms up as fast as they could. Fred half dragged Leili over to Marcus and Jo as Harry and Hermione caught Ron and Disapparated.

Jo was staring at Marcus in horror. Her worst suspicions, that he had come here not to be with her, but to hurt Harry, had just been confirmed. His back went straight and his stance shifted as his death eater robes settled like smoke over his dress robes.

He didn't reach for her; he just stared at her. His eyes were big and brown and cold. She wanted to kill him. Leili dragged her away instead.

"You two need to get out of here," Fred said as they moved. "Get somewhere safe."

"We need to get these people out of here," Jo objected.

Fred agreed, "Get as many people out as you can, but do it fast, there's no time."

"I love you," Leili said, pushing up on her toes to kiss Fred before dashing off to help round up those she could before meeting back up with Jo and Apparating together to the Leaky Cauldron.

To the customers of the inn, the dozen or so people in dress clothes that suddenly Apparated into their dinnertime looked like a very fancy, rainbow colored human chain.

"Shit!" Jo swore vehemently. She waited until they were in their room before falling into heartbroken sobs.