Chapter 31 - The Johnstons
Daniella looked at the notes she'd been taking and rubbed her eyes. The planning was going quite well, considering she'd never planned a wedding in her life; or really anything else, for that matter.
There were only a couple of things left to sort out, that she had been trying to delay. One of those things, she was sure about, she just wasn't sure it would be possible. The other…
She looked up at her best friend, sitting across the table. "Jo?" She called tentatively. "Would you like to be my…" She hesitated, frowning. Was it even possible? "My bridesman?"
Josiah was leafing through a few glossy magazine pages absentmindedly. He loved wedding planning, of course; he'd been looking forward to this moment for years, and was determined to realize it again at June's wedding and, eventually, at Pearl's. However, one man could only tolerate so much organza and rhinestones before he devolved into a panicked frenzy.
Jo had to admit to himself that, even with all this talk of weddings, he hadn't expected the word 'bridesman' to come into play. Merlin's pants, was that even a real word? He pondered this for only a moment before beaming widely at his best friend, flopping the magazine closed so that he could look at her with his full attention.
"I've no earthly idea what a bridesman is, love, but I'd love to be yours," he affectionately. A thought hit him a moment later. "Have you talked with Ezra about it? You know," he said, solemnly. "I mean, he doesn't exactly have…"
The sentence trailed off uneasily. He hadn't thought that far ahead.
Daniella's bright grin at Jo's reply faded quickly. "No, I haven't…" she admitted. He was right… Ezra didn't have many options. She'd thought he might ask Noah, since they were getting closer lately, but what if he wanted to ask Jo instead? Daniella wasn't willing to take that option away from him.
She met Jo's eyes. "If he asks you, you should accept, if you want. I can ask June…" She added, shrugging a little and smiling briefly at him.
She liked June very much, but if she was honest with herself, it wasn't the same. Jo was very important to her and, in the most important day of her short life, she wanted him to be up there, by her side. Feeling awkward, she quickly added apologetically, "I like June a lot, really, but… It's just that you're… you."
"I'll talk to Noah about it," Jo offered quickly, not wanting to spoil the moment with unnecessary details. They still had plenty of time to figure everything out. "Anyway, I don't think anyone in their right mind would stand between me and your hair on your wedding day."
He winked.
=/=/=
"Perhaps one of Master Ezra's cousins would be suitable for the role?" Pokey suggested tentatively as she brushed the back of Ezra's black dinner jacket with extreme care. Ezra, who was staring into the mirror but not seeing anything in particular, gave a distracted grunt.
"Merlin, no," he sighed. "Not after everything that's happened, certainly." Pokey nodded in silent understanding; for a few moments, the only sound was the scraping of the firm bristles against finest quality velvet.
"I did think of asking Ledger," he said offhandedly, after the small elf had finished brushing. He buttoned the coat absentmindedly. "But I'd hate for him to feel as though… well, as though I'm only asking him because there's no one else. Of course, there isn't anyone else, not really."
Pokey wobbled on her feet, mouthing wordlessly for a moment as though she wasn't certain she should say anything at all.
"Pokey thinks… Pokey thinks that whomever Master Ezra asks should be honored, yes, because it is a great honor," he said finally.
He smiled.
"Thank you, Pokey. Are the others already in the dining room?"
"Yes, Master Ezra, sir," said Pokey mid-bow. "Except for Mistress Sparks, who has retired to the second floor west wing for the evening, sir, as per your orders, sir."
"Yes, I suppose she is," he murmured. "How are things downstairs?"
In Ezra's vernacular, 'downstairs' had always referred to the elf-quarters; Pokey had always been very good about keeping him up-to-date on the latest gossip among the elves. They told her things they wouldn't dare tell him, sometimes to their detriment.
They were his charges, now. He had to make sure they were taken care of…
"Everything is very good, Master Ezra, sir, very good indeed! Pokey is still sad sometimes, yes, but Pokey is also delighted that Master Ezra has come home. Pinky did have a fit earlier, though, sir, because Pinky says, 'Master Johnston will not let me fit him for a proper dinner jacket!', and Pinky was very upset, sir," the elf finished dutifully.
Ezra snorted out a laugh.
"I see," he mused, smiling. "Thank you, Pokey. I'll go downstairs now. You should go and wash up."
Noah made his way to Ezra's room, not completely sure about the whole situation. Jo had told him about his talk with Daniella. Personally, Noah wasn't sure Ezra wanted him to be his best man, but he'd surprised him more than enough times in the past. If they were going to work together, then Ezra must like him, at least a little bit.
He supposed – mostly because he'd feel the same way – that if Ezra really wanted to ask him, he'd feel more comfortable if there was no one else around, so he'd left the others in the dining room and came upstairs looking for the Slytherin.
He raised his closed hand to knock on his bedroom door when it opened. Seeing no one on the other side, he looked down and found Pokey. He lowered his hand. "Oh, hello, Pokey. Is Ezra in here?"
"Oh!" Pokey reeled dramatically, looking up at Noah with wide, watery eyes. "One million apologies, Master Ledger! Pokey did not see Master Ledger there!"
At the tall boy's question, she looked momentarily thoughtful.
"Master Ezra has only just left for the downstairs parlor," Pokey informed him obediently. "Would Master Ledger like Pokey to relay a message to Master Ezra? Or perhaps Pokey can show Master Ledger the way to the parlor? Although Pokey does not mean to imply that Master Ledger is lost," the elf said kindly.
Noah smiled. "It's alright, Pokey, no need to apologize." He looked down, a bit disappointed. It was a really big house to be walking up and down for no reason. "It's ok, it wasn't important. I can find my way to the parlor, but thanks for the offer." He winked at her. "I'll see you later, then."
He made his way back down to the parlor in his quick stride, thinking Ezra was turning out to be a lot of work. He called out when he spotted them at the parlor. "There you are, Greengrass."
He caught up with the Slytherin and slipped his hands into his pockets. "I was starting to think you'd skip dinner tonight." He grinned teasingly. "Feeling nervous yet?"
Ezra had been looking into a meticulously polished silver dinner tray when Noah's arrival startled him; his hand met the tray with a small clatter, and he gripped it firmly to muffle the noise. He turned, cleared his throat, and offered the other boy a sarcastic half-smile.
"Here I am," he said dryly, but not unkindly. "Technically everyone attending dinner is supposed to meet in the parlor beforehand to socialize, but I'd forgotten that I was the only one who knew that."
He stared at his shoes pensively.
"I'm oddly numb at the moment," he murmured honestly, rubbing his nose informally with one hand and turning his gaze to Noah finally. "More tired than nervous, really. But there's plenty of time for all of that yet."
He slipped his hands into the pockets of his steam-pressed trousers and leaned against the wall.
"Speaking of 'all of that'…" he murmured, looking over to the side at nothing in particular. "There was one other thing I hoped we might talk about before then."
Noah blinked confusedly. "Socialize? Isn't that what we do the rest of the day, already?"
He met Ezra's eyes, although he couldn't figure out what he saw there. "Considering how frantic Jo and Dan have been, I'm surprised neither of them has gotten on your nerves yet."
He narrowed his eyes, then leaned against the opposite wall. "Well, it's socializing time, so shoot," he said, amused.
"This is the formal sort of socializing," Ezra replied. "The kind where you talk about matters of business, public niceties, and elitist gossip. Then, after dinner, there's more socializing. But that's the kind with a cigar and an after-dinner glass of brandy."
He smirked grimly.
"I wouldn't say they've been getting on my nerves. It's fascinating, really, that kind of energy." He sighed. "I'm determined to stay out of it until the absolute last moment, you understand. As far as I'm concerned, all that matters is that Daniella and I are committed to each other. The rest is pomp and circumstance."
He picked at the leaf of a magically-grown flower in an expensive-looking vase on the table beside him.
"That being said," he murmured quietly, after Noah had given his consent to conversation. "Pomp and circumstance dictates that I need a best man. I was wondering if you'd… not that there's any pressure, of course. But, if you'd like. I'd… certainly appreciate it."
He had expected the words to be hard, but they came out a little easier than he'd anticipated. He looked up at Noah momentarily, then quickly back at his shoes.
Noah wrinkled his nose. "Sounds… fun," he said sarcastically. "Are we supposed to do that every day now that we live here?"
He snorted at his friend's words. "I certainly hope you haven't said that to Dan. I said something similar the other day, when they were discussing heatedly about colors. If looks could kill, she'd be a very efficient assassin," he said seriously. Not to mention Jo, he thought to himself.
He looked pensive for a few moments, as if giving the question a long thought. "I'm already being forced to wear a tie, so why not?" He said lightly, grinning at Ezra. A moment later, he added seriously, "I'd be honored. But you do realize asking me means you'll have anything but 'pomp and circumstance', right?" He asked with mock seriousness.
Ezra puffed out his cheeks in a heavy sigh that morphed into a dry chuckle.
"No, I suppose there's no point to it now," he murmured, looking around at the well-kept room. It was perfect in every way, of course, just as his parents had preferred it. He found it stuffy and unwelcoming. He looked down at his dinner jacket, then, realizing that, without even giving it a second thought, he had dressed for a full, formal dinner on a Friday night for a group of three people whom he'd been living with - and dining with, sometimes in his pajamas - for months.
"I'll see about doing something else with the room, I expect," he murmured, silently vowing to also loosen the dress code. It might give the older house elves a shock, but they would all adjust in time.
He looked up at Noah, bemused, when he mentioned colors.
"Is it possible to be so vehement about colors?" he asked under his breath, frowning. He already knew the answer, though, and shook the unpleasant thought out of his mind. "You'll do it, then?" he asked after a moment, searching the other boy's eyes. It wasn't too long ago that they had been at each other's throats, not really; he realized in that moment that he'd become quite fond of Noah's friendship in a very short period of time.
He smiled a warm, genuine smile.
"Thank you," he murmured. "Merlin knows we can use a bit less pomp and circumstance around here, anyway."
One of the service elves appeared, then, bowing so that his ears dangled barely above the carpet.
"Dinner is served, Master," said the elf in a surprisingly deep voice.
"Yes, thank you, Ringo," Ezra replied with a small smile. "Shall we, then?" He gave Noah a look that was half sarcasm and half amusement.
Noah followed Ezra's look around the room. "I suppose it'll still be useful for business dinners and such… We are going to work in a big broomstick company, after all," he smirked, realizing for the first time that, as different as the new living arrangements were for him and Jo, it was second nature to Ezra.
He looked at the other boy's formal clothes more closely. Maybe they could all make an effort to compromise, but there was no way they were going to make him dress up for dinner every day.
"Obviously! There's a world of difference between forest-green and mossy-green, from what I gathered before I ran away." He gave Ezra a wide smile. "Yeah, I'll do it. Not sure what I'm supposed to do, exactly, but I'm sure I'll be lectured in that soon enough."
Noah followed Ezra and took his seat next to Jo, leaning in and murmuring lightly, "Problem solved."
After they had settled, Daniella searched Ezra's eyes. "Have you tried on your clothes yet? If they need any adjustments, you'll need to see to that as soon as possible."
Jo smiled at Noah with a glint of humor in his eye; he wasn't sure his boyfriend was entirely aware of what a best man did, but it warmed his heart to know that he did care enough about Ezra to follow through with the offer.
There was no doubt in his mind that Noah had the biggest heart of anyone he knew.
"Ah," said Ezra, slightly caught off-guard by Daniella's question. He thought of the sharply pressed brown tuxedo that had seen hanging in his closet when he'd gone to change that morning; he had wondered where it had come from. "Erm, no, not yet." He looked up at Daniella sheepishly and offered a small, hopeful smile. "I'll be sure to let you know. When are the Johnstons coming?" he asked, hoping that this was a safer change of topic.
"They're due to fly in at nine," Jo replied, mouth full. Ezra's eyebrows furrowed.
"Fly in?" he repeated, politely uncertain.
"On an airplane," Jo elaborated kindly. "Er… like a large lorry with wings-"
"I've heard of aircraft before," Ezra mumbled, looking a bit petulant. "It was just that your choice of words was unclear. Are we to pick them up, then?" he asked expectantly, rubbing his hands on his dinner napkin.
Josiah, who had pursed his lips at Ezra's jab, sighed lightly.
"I had meant to go on my own, to save you lot the trouble," he said with an apologetic smile. "I'd hate to cause a big fuss."
"Nonsense," Ezra said abruptly. "We'll all go."
He had only just finished this declaration when there was an irritable shout from the east staircase.
"I'm not a bloody invalid!" Alisa yelled at a cowering but determined elf. "I'll have dinner at a table if I should so like!"
"But, Mistress-"
"Don't call me that," Alisa snapped.
Ezra, who was quick on the reuptake of his mental faculties, stood from the table, which effectively drew the attention to him.
"Is there a problem?" he asked Alisa levelly, putting utmost care into not sounding condescending. She barked out a short laugh at his question; he steeled himself for an acid reply.
"Yes, apparently there's a problem with me using my two good legs to come downstairs so that I can have some bloody dinner," she said sarcastically, pointing at Ringo the house elf. "And that's not the half of it, but I can't have a proper vent until I've had food. Call them off me."
Ezra cleared his throat.
"Ringo," he murmured, almost apologetically. The house elf cracked into thin air, and Alisa rolled her eyes. She didn't look any happier.
"You are… welcome to join us," he added carefully, slowly lowering himself back into his chair.
"Don't get all high and mighty with me, Greengrass," she warned, sitting a full chair away from Noah. In the full light of the dining room, her bruised eyes and pale skin were much more obvious.
Daniella looked from Jo to Ezra. She nodded vigorously at Ezra's decision to go with Jo. She was quite curious about the airplanes Jo. She didn't enjoy flying, but if they were closed compartments, she thought they must be a lot better than broomsticks. If Muggles really could keep them in the air, that was…
They all stopped eating to watch as the drama unfolded between Alisa and the elf. Daniella raised an eyebrow at the girl as she sat, trying to remember if the Ravenclaw hadn't helped, they would most likely not be there right now, planning their wedding.
Noah gave Alisa a sideways grin. "Clearly your lungs are in perfect health too, huh?" He asked lightly.
Alisa was stuffing food into her face gracelessly. At Noah's words, she snorted derisively; a few crumbs of dinner fell onto the table.
"We need to talk before I go home," she said to Ezra after she'd finished chewing. Ezra, looking mildly alarmed, cleared his throat.
"Yes, alright," he said passively, picking at the asparagus on his plate.
"About what?" Jo asked curiously, turning to look at the frail blonde girl.
"Never you mind," Alisa said dismissively. "It's nothing you'd be interested in in any case."
"And Ezra will be?" Jo said doubtfully, apparently the only one with no qualms about raising concerns about Alisa's plan. Ezra thought that it must be some sort of Ravenclaw habit to debate openly like this; he only hoped that he could stay out of it while they talked about him like he wasn't there. His eyes flicked up to meet Daniella's, but only briefly.
"Whatever you have to say to me, you can say it," Ezra said finally, too quietly to be forceful, but even so, his voice carried weight.
Alisa rolled her eyes mid-chew.
"Well, I need to talk to both of you, really," she murmured, referring to Daniella with a nod of her head and dabbing at her mouth unceremoniously with the napkin. "But I suppose it can't be helped."
Josiah made a rude noise in the back of his throat. "Don't be a pill," he snipped.
Daniella snapped to attention and turned her head to look at Alisa. The question burning on her tongue came from Jo instead. Her eyes shifted to Ezra, then back to Alisa.
When Alisa included her on the mysterious discussion she wanted to have, she didn't feel easier about it, like she thought she would have. What could she possibly want from them? Alisa, of all people, who had previously seemed so convinced Daniella and Ezra were dark wizards?
That reminded Daniella of the couple of situations she and Alisa had actually talked to each other. Neither of them had ended peacefully.
Noah, who was sitting in front of Jo and next to Alisa, was torn between feeling curious and cautious with Jo's reaction. Curiosity won. He looked intently at Alisa. "Yes, I remember now. You said you were going to save them because you needed their help! What's up?" He asked with shameless curiosity.
"I beg your pardon?" Ezra said upon hearing Noah's revelation. He gave Alisa a cold, distrustful look. Alisa snorted.
"You're pardoned, Greengrass. No need to beg." She crossed her fork and knife on her dinner plate and folded her hands together so she could rest her chin on them. She looked from Jo, to Noah, to Dan, and finally to Ezra.
She didn't seem fazed by the way the conversation was turning against her.
"Have you heard of the Order of the Phoenix?" she asked finally to relative silence. Ezra furrowed his eyebrows.
"No," he said, his tone still guarded.
"Well, they've heard about you," she said slyly. She took a sip of red wine from the nearest crystal glass, of which there were several dotting the table. "It was quite impressive, that little stunt you pulled with the Fiendfyre."
"It wasn't a stunt. We nearly died," Ezra spat shortly, pulling his hands away from his plate and looking away. "I don't like where this conversation is going, Sparks. I'm immeasurably grateful for what you've done for Daniella and I, but even so-"
"But this isn't your war?" she cut him off sarcastically. "Nevermind your parents, Greengrass, or all those innocent people in Stonehaven who ended up being collateral damage in your little spat-"
"Shut up," Ezra snapped, meeting her gaze. "I never meant… I never meant for anyone to die," he finished in a half-whisper. "You have no idea what it was like."
"No, but you do," Alisa murmured. "And that's why we need you. Both of you," she added, turning her gaze to Daniella for a brief moment. "Time is running out for you to declare a side. You might know Dark Magic, Greengrass, but that doesn't make you a bad wizard, does it? I don't think so. But if you do nothing…"
Ezra clenched his jaw, but said nothing.
"We'll continue this conversation another time," he said lowly, standing up to full height. "We have business to attend to this evening." He looked at Josiah, who nodded. Then, he turned to Daniella.
"In that case, we should get ready," he murmured to her, indicating that he wanted to talk to her privately.
Daniella tensed as Alisa's discussion with Ezra went on. She exhaled slowly through her nose, her teeth clenched.
Here it was. The moment she'd so foolishly hoped she could avoid, in spite of all that had happened. She had no idea what that 'Order of the Phoenix' was, but it wasn't hard to figure out it was some sort of group of rebels to fight that war. And now they wanted her to choose a side; to stand openly against Logan.
One thing was wanting to get away from him, wanting him to leave her alone, but chasing him… Alisa's final words echoed in her mind. She knew what he was now; she couldn't deny what he'd become or what he was doing, and how wrong it was. But…
She looked down at her plate, then up at Ezra, immensely grateful for the chance to get out of there. "Yes," she said in a low voice, putting down her napkin and quickly getting up to follow Ezra out of the room.
"We'll meet you at the Hall, alright?" She asked Jo, not quite looking him in the eyes.
Noah had the good sense to stay quiet until they left the dining room. He waited a few moments, then broke the silence. "So, what exactly does this Order do?" He asked with great interest.
Josiah stared at his plate blankly. The heat of his temper had faded into a hollow, uncertain feeling. He wasn't sure he preferred it over anger.
"We've seen enough fighting," he cut across Noah with a reproachful look. Then, he looked at Alisa pleadingly. "They're about to get married," he said, stressing the idea.
"A lot of people are about to die," she replied simply, eyeing her friend critically. "But I'll concede your point. I'm leaving tonight - this bloody palace is driving me bonkers. Have your wedding, and then we'll talk. But you'd better be prepared to listen then," she said, standing.
Josiah looked at her for a long moment, then looked away.
"Because you know I'm right," she pressed.
He sighed. She slowly made her way back up the steps; once she had disappeared from view, Jo looked at Noah and took a deep, slow breath.
"Well," he said, after a few moments of silence. "After all that excitement, I'm not sure I can handle my parents."
=/=/=
Ezra was feeling so incredibly dazed that Daniella was having to lead him around the twists and turns of the airport by the hand. He looked over at her every now and then, practically buzzing with repressed excitement.
"I've never seen so many Muggles," he whispered, awe-struck. Josiah looked back at him, giving him an amused look.
"You live in London," the shorter boy said, while wielding a terminal map in one hand.
"Wizarding London," Ezra corrected, somewhat reproachfully.
"Shhh," Jo murmured distractedly, hushing him effectively. "Aye, I think this is it up here," he told them definitively, looking at his watch. They were two minutes early, which was practically negligible in airport time, as far as he knew.
Josiah looked up at Noah, smiling nervously.
"Ooh, look, a Pizza Hut," he said after a moment, trying to distract himself. "I'd heard they'd been putting them in the airports. I don't think I could stomach it, myself. Flying makes me dreadfully nervous - oh, there they are," he said quickly, reaching up his arm to wave wildly. His mother waved wildly back, beaming.
Ezra looked on with rapt interest.
Daniella held Ezra's hand more tightly than usual, while she looked around with interest.
She'd stood still for a full minute, looking up at the televisions hanging from the ceiling; the screens were filled with numbers and town names and times and other words that kept changing.
When she thought she was starting to make sense of it, she realized Jo was way ahead of them, and she lost him in the crowd for a moment. Panicking, she'd hurried to catch up and was now walking as close to him as she could without stepping on him.
She'd tried to ignore the knot on her stomach, but when Jo waved at someone, she glanced at her fiancé anxiously. She was really nervous and she didn't know why. Or maybe she did.
She loved Ezra with all in her and nothing would change that. But still, on some level she wanted this meeting to go well; she wanted Mrs. Johnston and the others to like Ezra, just like she wanted Ezra to like them. Was this how a girl with a normal family was supposed to feel when she introduced her future husband to her parents? She had never felt that way about any other boy she'd gotten involved with and she had definitely never felt that need of approval from her parents.
It was an unsettling thought; she tried to push it aside as she spotted Jo's mother waving back at them.
"I see them!" She grinned widely and waved at Mrs. Johnston, standing on her toes, trying to see the others as well.
She found Mr. Johnston, who pulled someone by the hand – little Pearl, she realized with amusement – while pushing a trolley with their luggage. And, right behind them, with that unmistakable shiny, long blonde hair, came June. Daniella noticed that a few heads turned to look as the older girl passed by.
Standing next to Jo, on the other side, was Noah, feeling as nervous as Daniella, or even more so. More than ever, he wanted to take Jo's hand, wanted to take comfort from his boyfriend's touch; but he wasn't sure what he should do, or how any of his gestures would be received by Jo's family, so he stood there, hands in his pockets, smiling awkwardly despite the butterflies playing Quidditch in his stomach, glancing at his boyfriend every now and then.
Jo bent down to pick up some of the bags that his father was struggling to carry. When he righted himself, he offered them a large, somewhat tired grin.
"How was the flight, then?" he asked breathlessly, adjusting Pearl's pink overnight bag over his shoulder without so much as a second thought. "Have you seen the Pizza Hut? Feels like an episode of Doctor Who, innit? Time travel and the like…"
"Oh my stars," his mother said, putting a hand over her chest. "Well, it is London, isn't it? Hello, Noah dear," she said offhandedly, looking first to the Pizza Hut and then fondly at the taller blond boy. She patted his muscular shoulder gently and beamed. "It is good to see you again. Isn't it, Cole?"
Fern nudged her husband slightly with her elbow; the older, red-faced man was still gazing longingly at the Pizza Hut.
"Hm? Oh, aye, aye, jolly good, that's a fact. Don't suppose you rode your motorbike here?" he asked with a rugged wink. "Always did want one of them…"
"I can't bear the thought," said Fern darkly, turning immediately to Dan and brightening like sunshine. "Daniella," she said simply, wrapping the girl into a tight hug. "Have you been getting my letters? Oh, I was so happy when I heard. I cried, I did. And this must be…" she trailed off, looking at Ezra with an expectant smile.
A beat of silence passed before Ezra stuttered to life.
"Ezra," he supplied hastily, smiling a small, nervous smile. "Greengrass. Ezra Greengrass." He hovered anxiously, realizing that he wasn't sure how to greet the older woman. After a moment's hesitation, she pulled him into a brisk hug.
He blinked, but not unkindly.
"You are a dear," she said fondly, patting him on the shoulder, too. "And so posh, too!" she added with a wink at Dan.
"Can we go?" June said suddenly, moving her large suitcase from one hand to the other. "My arm's getting tired."
"Do we get to travel with mag-" Pearl started, but Jo cut her off with a hand over her mouth.
"No," he said, although he was smirking. "I've called a cab for us. Now come on."
"It's really nice to see you too, Mrs. Johnston. How have you been?" Noah's hesitant smile grew into a wide grin and he felt more at ease. "Unfortunately not," he told Mr. Johnston, gloomily. "We've had to move out a bit suddenly and I didn't have the chance to retrieve it yet."
"I'll take that," he told June, stepping forward and taking her suitcase from her hands gently to carry it himself. He looked around, seeing what else needed carrying, then winked at Pearl. "Don't worry, Pea, you'll see plenty of that where we're going."
Daniella hugged Mrs. Johnston in return, a relieved and excited smile on her face. "Yes, I did! I'm so happy you could come!" She took Ezra's hand once more when he introduced himself, smiling at him. "This is Mrs. Johnston and her husband; this," she ruffled Pearl's hair teasingly, "is Pearl and-" she motioned at June when the older girl spoke. "And that's June, Jo's older sister," she finished more quickly.
People walked past them in all directions, some talking loudly, laughing, others carrying big trolleys with lots of bags, bumping into them every now and then. That airport was incredibly busy and showed no signs of quieting down.
She followed Jo, a little disappointed she hadn't gotten to see an airplane closely. She gave Ezra a questioning look. "Maybe I should warn you about Pea," she murmured after a while. "She asks a lot of questions."
"Oh, we've been…" Fern started, although her smile faltered a bit. "Well, you know, with the harbor… but it's been a steady recovery," she said bravely, beaming again. "Nothing our Cole can't handle, at any rate. Pearl, don't stare," she added sternly. The young girl, who had been staring intently at Ezra with starry eyes, looked down at her shoes instead.
"Sorry, mum," she mumbled quietly. She brightened, however, as Noah addressed her and told her there would be magic in abundance. "Really?" she whispered, slightly hushed, as though she knew it was a secret but couldn't quite help herself.
"It's really lovely to meet all of you," Ezra reiterated, although the bustling crowd of the airport and the incredible newness of this situation was all incredibly jarring. "I do hope you'll find the house to your liking. If there's anything at all you should need-"
"Oh, nonsense, dear," said Fern amiably. "You've been so kind already, letting us stay. And June was so excited to visit London," she said, looking back at her older daughter, who in turn was looking at an attractive foreign boy who had just come in at the nearest terminal.
"Hmm?" the blonde murmured distractedly. "Oh, yeah, it's tops!" she said, beaming at Dan. "Congratulations, by the way! I'm ever so excited! You'll have to tell me everything. And you'd better treat her proper," she said with mock seriousness, pointing at Ezra with one manicured fingernail.
Ezra smiled uneasily. Jo began herding his family toward the gate and out to the cab, and Ezra looked at Dan curiously.
"What sort of questions?" he asked lowly. "Surely there isn't any harm."
He paused for a moment, then lowered his voice even more, so that it was barely audible.
"Do you think they like me?" he whispered.
Daniella's smile wavered at the mention of Stonehaven. It saddened her to think of what had happened to the town. "I do hope you can rebuild everything," she said quietly. "It's such a lovely place…"
She nodded at June, as some of the frenzy she'd felt in the last few days she'd been planning the wedding returned. "I sure will! We can go out tomorrow, I'll show you a bit of London and we can talk about the party!"
Noah, who still had one free hand, offered it to Pearl, who promptly took it, since he was the only one who'd given her a taste of what was to come. Plus, he usually answered her questions, so she started blabbering happily with him as they made their way out of the airport.
"Can I play Quidditch with you this time?" Daniella heard Pea ask excitedly at some point, as Noah tried – very clumsily – to hush her, looking around quickly.
She laughed, looking back at Ezra. "Questions like that, see?" She smiled at her fiancé. "They love you!"
=/=/=
Ezra rubbed one eye blearily; he'd had a bit of trouble sleeping, although everyone else seemed to be getting along well enough. Johnston had assured him that his family would think the estate was paradise - whether that was true or not, he couldn't say. It so happened that Johnston's parents retired promptly at a respectable hour, and so he hadn't seen much of them since they'd arrived.
Daniella had assured him that they were perfectly nice people, and that there was nothing to worry about, but there was still the matter of the harbor that was plaguing his thoughts. Hadn't they seen his face on the wanted posters? He wondered what they had thought of him in that moment, even if they no longer thought it now… More importantly, he wondered what their life must have been like, returning to a destroyed village. He'd tried to push the thoughts of that week out of his mind, but those Muggles had had to go home to the chaos.
It was for this reason that he'd been extra-vigilant in instructing the elves to tend to their every need, waking, sleeping, and otherwise. Even then, though, it didn't quite feel like enough.
He and Johnston were something of friends, now, and his family were his honored guests, but still the chasm between Pureblood and Muggle had never seemed so wide to him.
He pulled his thin ebony wand from the pocket of his pajamas and flicked it at the drapes covering the impossibly tall windows in the living room. They drew back elegantly, letting the early morning light flow in. At the very least, he thought, the elec-trish-un was supposed to come today.
Pearl sighed, her arms crossed as she gave another annoyed glare at the black screen of the large telly from the couch. The sound of footsteps caught her attention and she turned her head to it, thinking it was that cute little elf again.
She'd said her name was Pinky and that she had been told to satisfy her every need, but the only thing Pearl wanted right now was to get the telly working so she could watch her morning cartoons, and that Pinky apparently could not do.
But it wasn't Pinky. It was Dan's boyfriend. Pearl turned around, kneeling on the couch and peeking over its back at the wizard boy, wide eyed. He didn't notice her. Pearl held her breath and bit her lip when he pulled out his wand and opened the drapes. She let out an involuntary squeal.
She crossed her arms on the back of the couch and studied him curiously. "Are you as good as Jo and Dan at doing magic?" She asked promptly. "Your parents are wizards too, like Dan's, aren't they?"
The squeal startled Ezra, and he turned to the couch, expecting to see some sort of large mouse and only finding a pair of wide, curious blue eyes, a mess of long blonde hair, and a lot of questions.
"Er," he said in reply to her question, which had caught him rather off guard so early in the morning. "Well, yes. I should hope I am," he said thickly, stashing his wand back into his pocket. He wondered if Josiah did magic often at home; the girl seemed positively thrilled by it, which Ezra found both endearing and alarming all at once.
Then, his parents came up. It was a natural question, of course; harmless curiosity, and nothing more. The pang, he supposed, would fade in time. He wasn't even sure why it remained now - it wasn't as though they'd gotten along swimmingly.
"They were," he murmured, clearing his throat absentmindedly. "Everyone in my family, for that matter," he offered, trying to gloss the fact over carefully. "Although it's probably not quite as interesting as you'd think."
Hesitantly, he took a seat in the armchair beside the couch and stared, too, longingly at the powerless television.
"Do you watch a lot of television?" he asked after a moment, feeling that the girl owed him some information in return.
Pearl nodded at Ezra. She was trying really hard to keep a solemn face, but the questions just piled up in her head. She'd seen so many strange things in the little time she'd been in that house, but whenever she got too excited, someone always ended up dismissing her.
"My brother is really good at it! He even turned his pajamas into a chicken once!" She said proudly, sure Ezra would find that as amazing has she did.
"Everyone?!" She whispered, her mouth forming a small 'O'. Before she could ask anything else, though, Ezra reminded her of the telly. She gave it a disappointed look. "I always watch the cartoons in the morning, when I'm not in school. Why do you have one if it doesn't work?" She asked, frowning.
"A chicken?" Ezra repeated, both amused and puzzled by the idea. He'd never seen Johnston Transfigure anything more complicated than a piece of paper since they'd known one another. "Why on earth did he do that?"
He smiled grimly at the girl's fascination, nodding.
"My parents, my grandparents, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins…" he trailed off, picking at his lip distractedly. As she mentioned school, he blinked once when he realized that Muggle school must be incredibly different from Hogwarts. "What do you study in school?" he shot back at her, feeling as though this was a meaningful cultural exchange.
They both looked at the television, then, and he pursed his lips.
"Well," he said lowly. "We don't have… e-lec-tricity yet. There's someone coming to install it today," he informed her. "And I expect it shall work after that."
A beat of silence passed, and he looked over at the girl curiously. She really didn't look anything like Johnston at all.
Pearl shrugged. "I don't know, but Dan gave it to me." She grinned brightly. "I called her Missy!"
She listened intently, the television long forgotten. "I just started secondary school this autumn. We learn a lot of things, but nothing as fun as magic… I don't like mathematics, but I do like science, it's the closest to magic I can do." She looked away, not mentioning how sad she'd gotten when she hadn't received a letter from Hogwarts last summer, like Jo had when he was 11.
She quickly got over it again as she turned her attention back to the older boy. He looked very proper and grown-up. She shifted on the couch, in an attempt to sit straight. "Were you a Slytherin, like Dan? How long have you been dating?"
Ezra nodded slowly, figuring Missy was as good of a name as any for a magical chicken.
"Science," he repeated absentmindedly, wondering what science consisted of. McGonagall had always said that Transfiguration was quite similar to science, but he'd never studied any science with which to compare it. "What's your favorite bit of science?" he prodded, curious.
Perhaps, had he been a Muggle (perish the thought! he could feel his parents rolling in their graves), he would have been good at science, too.
The younger girl sat up straighter, and he felt himself smile inwardly.
"I was in Slytherin, yes," he murmured kindly. "My parents were, too. And Merlin," he added, looking sideways at her. "I expect you've heard of him. Everyone seems to think Merlin was a Gryffindor, but he was a Slytherin."
At the mention of Daniella, his chest fluttered for a moment. He looked back at Pearl, who looked positively shameless about the whole thing.
"A little over a year," he said cautiously, inspecting his black slippers. "I suppose that doesn't seem like long, does it?" he chuckled dryly. "I expect we've known each other since we were around your age, though. We never really got on back then."
Pearl looked thoughtful for a moment. "I suppose chemistry. We just started learning it, but my teacher said we can make things explode and change shape and color, and create new things, so it sounded pretty fun! But I like animals a lot too. Dan used to tell me about magical creatures, she even gave me a book once, with pictures!"
She took a moment to breathe, pondering Ezra's words about Dan."A year? So, are you going to have babies now that you're getting married?"
Ezra's eyes widened as Pearl explained chemistry. Muggles made things explode too? He hadn't had any idea…
He had only just opened his mouth when the girl started again, this time taking a very awkward and forceful path to a place that he wasn't sure he ought to be going so early in the morning with someone half his age.
"Do you like books?" he asked hurriedly, trying to go back to their earlier conversation. "That is to say… would you like to see the library? I've got one, you know. Three, actually. And a Quidditch pitch. Have you ever seen a broomstick?" he asked, bending down slightly.
Pearl covered her mouth with her small hands, muffling another squeal, every other thought forgotten. She pulled them away slowly, whispering as if she didn't dare believe it, "You play Quidditch too?! You have a broomstick?!"
Her eyes widened, sparkling brightly with poorly contained excitement and hope, her attempt at looking like a grown-up forgotten. "Can you teach me how to fly? Please please please!"
Ezra was so relieved that the distraction had worked that it took him a few moments to understand just how involved Pearl was with her obsession with all things magical. He wondered, briefly, if he could handle what he'd just gotten himself into; Ledger was probably a better Quidditch teacher by far.
Well, maybe not by far, he thought with a twinge of deeply-buried pride. He was a Greengrass, after all.
"Yes," he said confidently, standing up and crossing his arms over his chest. He was still in his pajamas - a black shirt, green plaid pajama pants, a long black bed robe, and black slippers - but as far as he was aware there wasn't any law against playing Quidditch in your pajamas.
Or teaching a Muggle to play Quidditch in theirs, for that matter.
"Come on, then. We'll take the lift."
Pearl jumped out of the couch immediately, worried he might change his mind. She started following him, remembered she was barefoot, fetched her bunny slippers and hurried back to Ezra's side. "You have a lift? Where are we going? I thought people couldn't see magic…"
She looked up at him, grinning. "I know all the positions in Quidditch. After Noah went to our home, I looked up in Jo's books and learned about it, but they didn't say much. Jo said Noah is a really good player! Did you play in school as well?"
Ezra looked at her, surprised.
"Of course Muggles can see magic," he said. "Didn't your brother ever tell you? A very long time ago, wizards and Muggles used to work together all the time."
He took her up the stairs and stopped in front of a small, innocuous looking door with a golden handle. He twisted the handle, and the door opened to reveal a lift.
"Do you?" Ezra asked, impressed by her dedication to knowledge. Had she not been a Muggle, he thought, she, too, might have made a fantastic Ravenclaw like her brother. "Yes, Ledger is quite good at Quidditch. He was the Captain of the Gryffindor team, after all."
He cleared his throat as the lift slowly churned to a halt. The doors to the garden slid open.
"I tried out," he mumbled, hoping she would be too distracted to pay him any mind. "But I didn't make the team, as it were."
"They did?" Pearl asked, although she was partially distracted examining the lift. She'd never been on one. There wasn't a building in Stonehaven tall enough to have lifts. "Why is it all a secret now, then? It's very annoying that I can't tell my friends about all of these things, but Jo made me promise…"
She nodded at Ezra's reply absent-mindedly. She stepped out quickly as soon as the doors opened, but stopped suddenly at the sight in front of her. Her mouth fell open again and she squinted at the sunlight.
"You…." She looked at the lift behind them, then back at the garden. "How…? Wow…"
There were walls all around the huge garden, but there was a beautiful clear blue sky above their heads. "Is this all magic?" She murmured, awed.
She rubbed her eyes and looked at Ezra, as if looking for confirmation that she wasn't dreaming. Smiling with delight, she ran across the garden, vaguely noticing the decorations and the long table that had been set there, close to the trees.
She came to a stop near the fountain to look at the fish more closely. "Are they real? They're so cute!" She reached out carefully, trying to touch them.
"Well," Ezra murmured, attempting to explain thoroughly. "In the 15th century, there was a law called the International Statute of Secrecy, which was implemented because wizards and Muggles started to fight with each other quite a lot," he said, hoping his language was simple. "Muggles would try to burn us at the stake, and similar - we can't actually burn, of course, unless we want to, but it was rather a hassle to pretend to be burning in public. And after that, we separated our affairs, and they've been that way ever since."
He stepped out of the lift, watching her with veiled amusement as she studied the enchanted sky.
"It's all magic," he confirmed gently, resting a hand on her shoulder. "This garden has been here for almost a hundred and twenty years. Come on, I'll show you where the broomsticks are."
He led her carefully down the cobble path, up the stairs, and onto the pitch; the elves who maintained the garden had clearly already come and gone, judging by the freshly-mown grass on the field.
He opened the door to the broom shed and allowed her inside.
Pearl looked at Ezra with interest as he talked about wizards pretending to be burning. How did that work exactly, she wondered? She frowned thoughtfully after he finished his explanation. "That's silly. Why would people do that to wizards? Magic is so fun…"
She trailed off when the Quidditch pitch appeared in front of her. It looked just like the pictures she'd seen, except bigger. And better. And so amazing! "Oh my god!" She whispered, looking up at the ring posts. "They're so high…" She breathed, turning her head to look at the pitch over her shoulder as Ezra guided her to a shed.
When she looked at the wall in front of her, she squealed in her highest pitch yet. "So many broomsticks! Are they all yours?" She approached, but stopped before she touched anything. She looked at Ezra expectantly. "Do you think I could fly?" She looked down at her feet. "I know I'm not a witch, I didn't get a letter from Hogwarts, but…"
"You'd be surprised," Ezra said reservedly. "Some wizards are prats."
Even he was guilty of being a prat, he thought somberly to himself, especially in his younger years. He wouldn't have blamed any Muggles for wanting to burn him.
"Technically," he said with a small, warm smile. "Although I only use this one." He pointed to the long-handled, well-polished Cleansweep that he'd used to play with Noah only a while ago. At the inevitable question, he stooped a little again, looking at her with utmost seriousness.
"There's no reason you shouldn't be able to," he told her plainly. "Just like there's no reason I can't watch a television. You only have to promise me that you'll be very, very careful," he murmured, turning to the wall of broomsticks and picking up the broom he'd used to fly on before he'd gone to Hogwarts himself. It could only rise to a maximum of six feet off the ground, but even still, six feet off the ground was some distance if you'd never ridden a broomstick.
He handed it to her with reverence, then grabbed his Cleansweep off the wall.
"And don't tell your brother," he warned over his shoulder. "He'll have my head on a pike."
Pearl looked at the tall boy, puzzled, but only for a few moments. She gave him a cautious look, then. "So, what dad told me is true, then? He said there are some bad wizards out there, and that they tried to destroy our village, and that's why I can't walk to school alone with my friends anymore…" she hesitated, unlike herself. "And why Jo couldn't come home as much anymore, because he wanted to protect us. But protect us from what? He's not a bad wizard!"
She didn't want to feel sad on a day like today, though, not when she had the unique chance to actually fly on a broomstick, like she'd seen on the moving pictures in Jo's books.
She listened to Ezra's short explanation and nodded fiercely. "I promise!" She gave him a bright smile when she took the broomstick, shaking with excitement.
"Alright," she agreed. She didn't think Jo would do that, but she would agree to anything Ezra asked, to be able to do this. She held the broomstick very carefully with both hands, looking at it closely from tip to tip. "This is great!"
It was smaller than the one Ezra had picked for himself and lighter than she'd thought. Even though she was buzzing with anticipation, she looked at Ezra, waiting for instructions.
Ezra was silent for a moment.
"Yes," he said finally. "There are wizards out there who are very bad, and would like to hurt Muggles like you, and wizards who come from Muggle families, like your brother." It was difficult for him to explain the concept to her, especially since he had once been surrounded by those very same wizards; if Daniella hadn't intervened, would he even be one of them? Would he be like Logan, striking terror in the hearts of innocent people for a misguided cause?
"But we're going to stop them," he added, after another pause. "So don't worry. Here, let me show you how to hold it. Put your leg over, like this."
He put his own leg over the Cleansweep and turned to her, adjusting her hands on the small broom.
"Now, listen very carefully. You have to push off with both legs at the same time. Not too hard, but not too gently, either. Watch me."
He pushed off, hovering a few inches above the ground.
"Now you try," he instructed, watching her closely.
Pearl looked very serious for a while, but then she broke into a confident smile. "Dan and Noah and… you too, right? You'll help my brother fight them, won't you?"
She licked her lips, her soft features wrinkled with intense concentration. She watched Ezra, then mimicked his movements. It was more comfortable than she thought it would be. She grabbed the handle tightly, more nervous than she wanted to admit when she saw Ezra's feet get off of the ground.
Her eyes widened even more. "You're really flying," she breathed. She looked down at her hands and bit her lower lip. She glanced at the older boy for encouragement, then pushed off.
She let out a surprised yelp and tightened her hands around the wood handle. "oh my god oh my god oh my god!" Her feet were dangling on the air, and one of her bunny slippers slipped off of her foot onto the ground, a few inches under her foot. "I'm flying," she breathed in a choked voice.
Her small body was tense with a mix of anxiety and excitement. She chanced a cautious look up from her hands, and swayed a little. When that happened, the broomstick immediately lowered until her now bare toes brushed on the grass.
"Am I doing well?" She asked in a small voice, looking up again, more slowly this time. "Can I go a little higher?"
Ezra watched with bated breath as Pearl kicked off, hovered, and then lost her balance and fell again. He was reminded of the first time he'd ever ridden a broomstick; it had done exactly the same thing.
"You're doing wonderfully," he said, encouraging her. "It doesn't go very high, so you can go a little higher. Don't worry - I'm not going to let you fall."
The last sentence caught him slightly by surprise; he wasn't sure he'd ever said that with such confidence to anyone before. Where had that instinct come from?
He shook the thought from his mind and pulled his own broom about two feet into the air, just enough to let his feet hang over the field. He never took his eyes from her, watching her intently as she struggled to adjust to the new sensation.
Pearl's smile grew more confident with the encouragement. She took a deep breath and tried to rise again. Her fingers were starting to hurt from holding so tightly, but she wasn't about to complain. That feeling was amazing!
It took her a while to learn how to balance, but when she did, she realized it wasn't so different from balancing on rollerblades or on a bike.
Then Ezra taught her how to move around the field and Pearl's giggles filled the space. Her blonde hair waved behind her and she swung her feet lightly when she finished her first full lap around the field.
She looked up at Ezra, happier than ever, when she saw a figure on the ground, arms folded, looking up at them with a mix of concern and resignation on her face.
"DAN!" She screamed, forgetting for a moment that all that was holding her in mid-air was a small broomstick, and starting to raise her hand to wave at Daniella. The broomstick immediately started lowering to the ground when she swayed, and she quickly grabbed the handle again. "HI DAN! Did you see me? I'm flying! Did you see that?!"
The scream startled Ezra, but Pearl's sudden dip in altitude startled him more, and he raced over to her, preparing to catch her. He didn't need to, however, as she recovered her balance; at that moment, he locked eyes with Daniella, and managed to look acceptably guilty.
He touched down, pulling the broom over his shoulder and ruffling his hair absentmindedly.
"Good morning," he called to her, clearing his throat. "You're up early."
Pearl stumbled on the landing, in her hurry to get to Daniella. She mumbled something to herself, managed to untangle herself from the broomstick and half-ran, half-hopped towards Daniella.
"Did you see me? Ezra said I did wonderfully!"
Daniella opened her arms and smiled at the excited girl that hugged her. "Oh, I saw. You're a better flier than I am!" She said lightly, looking from Pea to Ezra and narrowing her eyes slightly.
"Good morning," she greeted him back. "You were up earlier," there was a teasing, but also warning tone in her voice. "Who else saw you fly, Pea?" She asked, suspecting no one else knew they were down here.
"No one," Pea said quickly. "And we can't tell Jo," she said quickly. "Ezra is lots of fun, I don't want Jo to be upset with him."
Daniella raised an eyebrow, looking from Pea to Ezra, and a small chuckle escaped her lips. "Oh, is he?" Something flickered in her chest that she couldn't quite identify. "Why don't you go get your slippers and put that broom away, so we can have some breakfast?" She told the young girl, brushing her hair back and giving up when her fingers got tangled.
Pea hurried away to recover her slippers. Daniella looked over at Ezra. "So, you're 'lots of fun'," she teased. "Do you think her parents will think the same when she tells them about this little adventure?" She asked, trying to sound stern, but she couldn't wipe the smile off her face.
"I couldn't sleep," Ezra replied with muted sheepishness. He watched the exchange carefully, hoping that Pearl's glowing review would earn him some slack in the near future. He looked up at Daniella, then, and offered the tiniest hint of a smirk.
"Apparently," he said airily as he watched Pearl fetch her slippers from the field and trot out of view. "It was easier than answering questions, in any case."
Once Daniella mentioned Fern and Cole, Ezra looked at her with slightly widened eyes, then let out a small, strangled sigh. He hadn't thought of that. But, really, what was the harm? It wasn't truly any more dangerous than a Muggle bicycle, for example… just some light exercise…
"I do hope so," he said finally, smirking again. "Now, about that breakfast you mentioned. I am intrigued."
He leaned forward to steal a quick, chaste kiss.
Daniella eyed him curiously, wondering what kind of questions Pearl had asked that had made Ezra bring her all the way down there. Knowing Pea, though, she decided it was better not to ask.
"Hmm," she said noncommittally, slipping an arm around the small of his back when he kissed her. "Well, from what I've gathered, she'd asked Noah to teach her before, so it won't come as a shock to them, I suppose."
She studied him closely. Was he still upset about the news Alisa had dropped on them before leaving, or was it something about Jo's family? Or something else entirely?
Before she could ask, though, Pea returned and announced she was hungry.
"Alright, let's find ourselves some food. When I passed by the kitchen, the house elves were very busy making pancakes."
=/=/=
Josiah pulled a long strand of Daniella's hair and wrapped it around his wand like a curling iron; there was a white spark, and the hair fell into a loose, beachy wave. He picked up another strand of hair, humming under his breath.
"I'm glad we started early," he said absentmindedly, continuing the pattern with dedicated concentration. "I'd no idea how long it was going to take. Bless me, I reckon they didn't spent that long sewing your dress," he said, chuckling. After he was done curling, he fluffed her hair gently with his fingertips and sighed.
"Which side do you want me to start the braid on, love? Right or left?" he bent down and grinned into the mirror at his best friend.
Daniella sat on the low back chair, staring at the mirror vaguely as Jo worked on her hair. Her thoughts were all over the place, and she was in such a frenzy she'd barely gotten any sleep last night.
Mrs. Johnston had told her it was normal, and that as soon as the ceremony started, she would feel much better, but that didn't make it any easier for her now. She touched the skin under her eyes, where she thought she could see dark bags indicating lack of sleep.
"Hmm?" She looked at Jo's reflection. It made her feel a little easier that he was here with her. She would've probably panicked by now, if she was doing this alone. She gave a small smile that was more like a lip twitch. "Uh," she looked at her hair, turning her head to one side, then the other. "Left, I think." She turned her head again. "Yes, left."
"Do you think they're ready yet?" She asked for the third time.
Satisfied, Jo began to braid from the left.
"Probably not, love," he said airily, smiling to himself. "Dressed, maybe, but not ready. For the record, he has much less hair than you do," he told her smirking as he continued to weave her hair over itself intricately. He could use magic, he supposed, but the effect was so much nicer this way, and it was likely the only thing keeping both of them calm for now.
"Mum should be in with the flowers soon," he murmured, waving his wand to pin the braid one side of her hair before he began weaving the other way. "I've no idea where Pearl's got to. She said that June met a boy at the Pizza Hut last night. I can't imagine any good will come of that," he said with mock darkness.
"Here, turn," he said lowly, gently turning Dan's head to the left so that he could braid more easily.
Daniella sighed and looked at Jo sheepishly. "Sorry, I have no idea why I'm such a mess. I just want everything to go well. I still have to put on make up and finish getting dressed and…" she stopped herself and turned her head as Jo requested.
Looking at something other than her anxious reflection helped. "Well, I told June she could bring someone if she wanted, she just had to let me or Ezra know, so we could provide one extra seat. It wouldn't be any good to be carrying chairs around in the middle of the ceremony."
She took the small hand mirror to check out her hair. "You're doing an amazing job, Jo!" She studied her reflection critically. "Let's just hope I can get the make up to fix the rest of my face…"
=/=/=
Ezra sat in a large, cushioned armchair, staring into space. His leg was shaking rhythmically, so much so that his entire body was gently churning. He had the corner of his thumb in his mouth. He was biting it.
"Would Master care for a glass of water while he waits?" Binky croaked from the side. Ezra blinked, stopped rocking for a brief moment, then shook his head vigorously and resumed the motion.
"No, thank you, Binky," he murmured, rubbing at his eye and then curling his hand under his chin. "There are much classier ways to have a bath, as I recall."
He looked up at Noah.
"Do you think they're ready?" he asked, anxiously.
Noah pulled his collar again uncomfortably, but when he looked over at Ezra, he decided the other boy was far more uncomfortable than he was right now.
"I seriously doubt it," he said patiently. Jo had told him what he was supposed to do as a best man, but he hadn't expected Ezra to be in such a state. "She has a lot more to do than you, after all. Can't be easy getting into a fancy wedding dress," he said teasingly, trying to lighten up his friend's mood.
He slipped his hands into the pockets of his perfectly tailored suit and felt the small case with the wedding rings that were his responsibility until it was time for Daniella and Ezra to exchange them.
A small smile blossomed and he bit his lip to hide it. It might be a terrible idea, but he was supposed to keep the groom distracted, after all. He adjusted the small case so it wouldn't be noticeable. "Oh my god!" He shouted suddenly, looking up at Ezra with wide eyes. "Where are the rings?" He felt his pockets frantically.
Ezra sighed; he should have expected that answer. Really, he supposed he had only asked so that Ledger would offer his clumsy comfort. His tension eased a bit.
Not for long.
"What?" he asked sharply, standing. "What on earth do you mean, 'where are the rings?'" Ezra started scanning the floor like a madman, spinning around twice and swaying a bit on his feet. He grit his teeth, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. They were wizards, he remembered. They could use the Summoning Charm.
"Accio Rings," he said. The rings zoomed from - naturally - Noah's pocket, and into Ezra's hand. He stared at them with a firm jaw, then looked back up at Noah with dark, sarcastic eyes.
"I should hex you for that," he murmured, tossing the small box back to his friend. "But I won't, because my hands are shaking and I'd miss, you great bloody buffoon."
Noah tried to grab his pocket, but Ezra was quicker. He started laughing and almost dropped the box when Ezra tossed it back at him.
He slipped it back into his pocket carefully and tried to swallow the laughter at Ezra's threat. "Sorry, mate, I was just trying to help you relax a little." He rested a large hand on Ezra's shoulder. "It's going to be fine, everything is prepared and almost everyone else is ready by now. Are you ready?"
Ezra watched Noah fumble with the box. He couldn't help it; he chuckled, too.
"Merlin's beard," he murmured under his breath, rubbing at his eye again, more vigorously this time. His heart had only just slowed to a nice, healthy trot. He sighed as Noah's hand came to rest on his shoulder. Even more valuable, however, was the genuine encouragement.
He nodded reservedly, sobering up quickly.
"Yes," he said through a half-sigh. "Ready and absolutely, positively terrified."
A beat of silence passed before he broke into nervous, but warm, laughter.
Noah could only watch, surprised. Where was the confident, slightly arrogant Greengrass? It wasn't like he and Daniella hadn't been together for quite some time now. So, getting married should be just a formality, for the most part.
But he knew, obviously, it was much more than that. He smiled at the other boy as comfortingly as he could manage, realizing he'd probably be just as nervous if he was in his place.
"Good, that's the right state of mind to be in," he said lightly. "We should head downstairs. You don't want the bride to be waiting for you, do you?" He patted Ezra's shoulder and removed his hand, reaching for his collar again as he tried to remember what Jo had told him. "Alright, checklist: rings are ready. You," he looked over Ezra's figure, "didn't forget your pants… your vows, do you know them?"
=/=/=
Josiah, who had finally finished up Daniella's hair and makeup and was now fiddling with his own tie, looked up as the door clicked open and shut.
"Hi, Mum," he said with a smile. "How are things downstairs?"
"Lively," Fern said with a grin. "All those little elves do look dashing, don't they? Bless them... Daniella, sweetheart, I've brought your bouquet," she said, handing Dan a large bundle of flowers. She bent down so that she could see her face in the mirror beside Daniella's. She had curled her hair herself; it was light brown flecked with grey. She was wearing a mint green skirt-suit and bright red lipstick. She smiled.
"How are we feeling?" she asked cheerfully.
Daniella's stomach gave a small jump when the door opened and closed. She blew out a relieved breath when she saw Mrs. Johnston and looked back at the mirror.
It was odd, she barely recognized herself at first glance. She rarely dressed up or put much makeup on, but Jo had done an amazing job; there was a mix of anxiety and excitement on her face; her hands were shaking slightly, but she held the bouquet more tightly to keep them steady. She bit her lip, then quickly stopped, before she ruined the makeup. She tried to smile at Mrs. Johnston and took the bouquet with sweaty palms.
"I'm…" she exhaled loudly again. "Why am I so nervous?" She murmured to herself. She took another paper tissue from the box close by and cleaned her hands again. "I think I'm ready. Is everyone else ready? And the garden and all that?" She asked again. She looked at the mirror, turning her head to check her hair for the tenth time. "I'm ready… Right?" She looked at Jo, looking for assurance.
"I was a wreck on my wedding day," Fern said kindly, patting Dan gingerly on the shoulder. "You wouldn't tell it from the photos, though. If only I could fit into that dress again! Pish."
She gave Dan's thin shoulders a gentle, comforting massage.
"You're ready, love," Jo said over his shoulder, apparently finally satisfied with his tie placement. He grinned at her. "If you two were any readier I don't think I could take it, to be frank. Now, up you get."
Daniella chuckled at that. "So, feeling sick to my stomach is normal? Good, I thought there was something wrong with me!" Giving Mrs. Johnston a grateful look, she cleared her throat, grabbed the side of her dress and stood up, nodding. "Ok, let's go."
Is Ezra downstairs yet? She wanted to ask, but she bit the inside of her lip and nodded again. It was time. "Ok." She said once more.
She straightened her dress, took another deep breath and walked out of the room, amazed her legs could still support her, considering they felt like jelly. Mr. Johnston was outside, further down the hallway, waiting. She smiled at him. "Thank you for doing this," she murmured when she got to his side.
=/=/=
Ezra stood to one side of the lectern where Noah had placed him; the old, feeble-looking priest was wearing the most nicely-brushed black robes Ezra had ever seen. The elderly wizard smiled at him kindly. Ezra managed to look half-happy and a little constipated.
"Isn't there supposed to be music?" he hissed back at Noah through the corner of his mouth. No sooner had the words left him than magically-amplified music filled the space, so loudly and with such a lovely timbre that Ezra jumped back into place and crossed his hands meekly in front of him.
Heat filled his cheeks.
He didn't dare look, not yet.
Noah made a huge effort to swallow the laughter when the music started. He was supposed to look serious, after all, wasn't he? He resisted the urge to touch his collar – he was slowly getting used to it – and gave Ezra a discreet pat on the shoulder instead.
"It'll be over before you know it, mate. It won't even hurt, just like a vaccine," he remembered Ezra probably didn't know what that was, but before he could add anything else, there was a collective gasp from the crowd.
A door had opened somewhere. It closed a few moments later and Jo's mom showed up and took her seat. He looked at the end of the cobble path, looking for Jo, who should be coming to take his place as well.
A few more moments passed, then the music grew a little louder, silencing the crowd. He smiled and leaned over to Ezra. "Here she comes," he murmured, straightening up to wait for the bride.
Ezra didn't have time to work out what a vaccine was before there were a few sharp inhales from those seated (mostly elves); his eyes scanned the garden, taking in all the sights which he hadn't been able to totally comprehend when he'd entered. The place was so familiar to him, and yet it was easy to forget that he was in his own house.
He caught sight of the train first, because it was quite long, and his eyes followed it naturally up from the bottom of her beautifully-cut dress and up to her face, which was covered by a veil but the look on it still made his heart hammer against his ribs incredibly. He took a deep breath and found himself a little choked with emotion.
He smiled.
Josiah's father led her to the end of the aisle, and he took over from there, standing on the opposite side from Noah and giving his boyfriend a small, excited smile. He tucked his hands behind his jacket to keep from fidgeting.
"You two look great," he whispered to Ezra and Noah, winking. Ezra blinked at the other boy several times before taking a deep, shaky breath and offering a small half-smile. He quickly turned his attention back to Daniella.
"Hi," he breathed. "Wow."
The music stopped.
For about a minute, the only thought on Daniella's mind was: please, don't trip, please, don't trip.
When all eyes turned to her – most of them big and sparkly with tears, since most of the elves seemed about to start crying – she was incredibly thankful for having someone at her side, guiding her, or she might've just stood there, frozen.
But then she looked at the end of the path, barely noticing Noah and the priest before her eyes lay on Ezra. The smile was on her face before she realized it. Her heart was racing more quickly than before, if that was possible, and she had butterflies in her stomach, but the anxiety faded as she walked towards her soon-to-be-husband.
"Hi," she murmured back, blushing, but she didn't look away from those fiery dark eyes; she couldn't if she wanted. He was everything she wanted. She took his hand. "Wow to you too."
It was difficult, but she looked away from Ezra to look at the priest.