OK. I hope this chapter isn't too terrible! Crossing my fingers! I fixed my email thingy! Woohoo! So, I can recieve PMs and review alerts now! Finally!
Love you all,
Hannah Longbottom xxxxxxxxxxxx
Ginny and Harry sat up in bed the next morning, thinking about the events ahead. Harry still couldn't believe that Neville was getting married. It seemed so strange. Ginny was pondering on whether to mention what Harry had said to her last night. He didn't seem to remember. She decided that she couldn't keep it bottled up.
"Harry?"
"Mmm?"
"Do you remember what you said to me last night?"
"I don't remember much of last night. All I remember is you and Hermione giving me and Ron something to drink, and then me and Ron started talking about Quidditch. And then, you and I went up to bed. That's all I remember."
"OK, Harry. Last night, you told me that you had an engagement ring in your sock drawer." Harry suddenly went stiff. Then, he gave an extremely false laugh.
"Wow! I babble about the stupidest things when I'm drunk!"
"Oh, OK! So if I look through your sock drawer right now, then I won't find a ring in there? OK, then. I suppose I'd better check, just to make sure!"
"OK! OK! There is a ring in there!"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I wanted it to be a surprise for when I did ask you."
"Well, it still will be a surprise. I don't know when you're going to ask me."
"What do you mean?"cause everyone else is. Or pregnant in Lavender's case."
"Yeah, I still can't believe that! Speaking of Lavender, she and Luna are coming over to get ready for the wedding with me and Hermione."
"Why do girls always need other people to get ready?"
"Because you get more opinions to help you."
"Fine. So, when are they coming?"
"In about an hour. So, I need to have a shower now." Ginny got out of bed and into the bathroom. Harry went over to his sock drawer and opened his navy balled-up socks. When did Ginny have a look at this?
She can be very sneaky at times, Harry thought as he heard the sound of the shower.
An hour later, Ginny and Hermione were in one of the biggest spare rooms with all their make-up laid out on the bed.
"Are you sure we have enough?" Hermione asked.
"Hermione," Ginny answered. "You can't see the pattern of the duvet cover! And we're going to have even more when Lavender comes."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Lavender came in.
"Hi guys!" she exclaimed.
"Hi Lavender," Ginny replied.
"Did you guys know that you can't Apparate straight into the house?" Lavender asked.
"Yeah," Ginny said. "You have to Apparate on the front step. Where's Luna?"
"She's downstairs talking to Ron. She'll be up in a minute."
"What's that your holding?" Hermione asked. Lavender was holding a pink bag and a long, plastic, protective cover with a hanger coming out of it, like the sort of thing you take from the dry cleaners.
"Well, this is my make up and stuff. And this is my dress. It's a maternity dress." Ginny peered at her.
"But you're not showing yet," she pointed out.
"I know, but I bought a maternity dress for Luna and Dean's wedding and I will be showing by then. So, when I was buying this dress, I forgot that I wouldn't be showing for Neville and Hannah's wedding. But it's OK! It doesn't look like a maternity dress when I wear it anyway. The only way you'll be able to tell is if I was showing. Or if you looked at the label."
The door opened again and Luna walked in. She was already wearing her outfit for the wedding. She was wearing a slinky yellow dress with thin straps and matching open-toed high heels. She had a black woolen coat over her dress and she was wearing a necklace with banana yellow shells threaded on it.
"Wow," Hermione breathed. "You look gorgeous."
"How did you get yellow shells?" Ginny asked.
"Oh, I Apparated to a beach in the Bahamas this morning and picked a dozen shells. Then, when I got back home I dyed them yellow with my wand."
"Ah!" Ginny said, raising her eyebrows.
"Anyway," Luna went on. "I got dressed, but I didn't do my make up. I thought maybe someone here could help me do it?"
"Yeah," Ginny agreed. "I'll help you do it after I get dressed. Lavender, do you think that black is too depressing for a wedding?"
"No," Lavender replied, seating herself in front of a large mirror. "I think it's fine, really elegant." Lavender went into the plastic cover and pulled out a deep-blue, flopwing dress with a matching handbag attached to it.
"OK, I'm ready to start getting ready!" Lavender said, setting her pink, make-up bag on the dressing table. "Oh, by the way, Seamus is still asleep."
"Yeah, so is Dean," Luna added.
"OK," Ginny said, rubbing her hands together. "We only have half an hour! Let's get ready!"
About an hour later, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dean, Luna, Lavender and Seamus assembled outside the huge building that Neville and Hannah had rented for the wedding.
Just then, Neville came out in an immaculate, black suit with a red rose on his right lapel.
"Neville!" Hermione exclaimed. "You look so nice!"
"Thank you," Neville said, quietly. He looked very pale and his hands were shaking.
"Are you OK, Neville?" Ron asked.
"What?" His voice sounded very high-pitched. "Oh, yeah! Yeah, I'm fine! Just...a little bit nervous, that's all."
"Don't worry, Neville," Seamus said, slapping a hand on his shoulder. "You'll be fine." Neville led the way into the huge building. They all made their way into a vast hall, with large tables everywhere.
"This is the room we're using for the reception," Neville said, his voice calming down a bit.
"So where's the wedding?" Ginny asked.
"It's in the gardens outside," Neville replied. The men's shoes squeaked on the polished floor, and the women's clacked. Finally, Neville opened a large set of double doors. They saw a beautiful garden before they're very eyes. The whole garden was covered in snow. There were incredibly bright fairy lights floating up in the air. There were also trays with glasses of Firewhiskey balanced on them floating everywhere. There was a huge, white marquee up on the opposite end of the garden. Behind that were at least two hundred gilt, golden chairs assembled into neat little rows. There were already a lot of guests chatting merrily and sipping glasses of Firewhiskey.
"Wow!" Ginny whispered, looking around in awe. "It's so beautiful!"
"Hannah organized everything," Neville said, fidgeting.
"It's really nice," Lavender breathed. Suddenly, smooth violin music started, spreading all around the garden.
"Oh!" Neville said, suddenly. "That means it's about to start! Could you guys please sit down? Oh my god! I'm late! Bye guys, I have to go!"
"Bye Neville!" Ginny called after him. "Good luck!" The last thing they all heard out of him was "Oh my god! Oh my god! I'm going to get married! I'm going to get married! Oh my god!"
"I can scarcely believe it myself!" Ron said, pulling Hermione towards a row of chairs.
"Yeah, I know," Harry agreed, walking to the same row along with Ginny. The eight of them soon seated themselves in the same row, and as soon as they had done so, the double doors they came through opened again. Hannah walked out in a long, snowy white dress. She walked down the long aisle with three girls wearing lilac dresses, who were obviously the bridesmaids.
"I would never put my bridesmaids in lilac dresses," Ginny whispered to Harry. "But Hannah looks really pretty. It feels really weird to be at a wedding where I've never spoken to the bride in my life!"
"I've never spoken to her either," Harry whispered back. "But we're here for Neville."
Harry and Ginny whispered throughout almost the whole wedding, and only stopped when they realised that Hannah and Neville were saying they're vows. But by the time they looked up, Hannah had finished their vows and Neville was just starting his. But he was speaking so quietly, that they couldn't even hear anything he was saying.
"Can you hear anything?" Ron asked Harry.
"Not a word," he whispered back. Hermione was focusing intently on Neville.
"What are you doing?" Ron asked her.
"Trying to read his lips," Hermione answered. Then, Neville stopped talking and they got the rings from his best man. He and Hannah placed each ring on her their fingers and then kissed as everyone clapped.
"Wow!" Ginny said, as the violin music started again. "I can't believe Neville just got married!"
"I can't believe Neville was the first of us to get married!" Ron exclaimed, standing up with the rest of the wedding party.
"He looks really happy," Hermione noticed.
"The rose has fallen of his lapel," Luna pointed out.
The congregation all clapped as Neville and Hannah walked swiftly down the aisle, smiling at them all. Even though she was happy for them, Ginny couldn't help looking at them longingly, wanting they now had for herself.
Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry Apparated back on the front step of Grimmauld place two hours later, having had said goodbye to Dean, Luna, Lavender and Seamus at the reception.
"That was a fun party," Hermione giggled.
"There was really nice food," Ginny added, as she led the way into the kitchen.
"OK," Hermione sighed. "I'm going to go change."
"Me too," Ron replied, and they went upstairs leaving Harry and Ginny alone in the kitchen. Ginny got herself a glass from th e cupboard and filled it up with orange juice, just to give herself something to do. She heard Harry sit down at the table behind her.
"So," Harry started. "How did you find the wedding?"
"It was really nice," Ginny replied, seating herself opposite Harry. "But I couldn't stop thinking about what our wedding would be like. Which is really stupid becaue...you know...we're not even getting married!"
"Yet," Harry added, catching her eye. Ginny gave a small smile and drainded her orange juice. Then, slowly, she cleaned the glass with her wand, put it back in the cupboard and walked over to head out of the kitchen. But, on her way, she stopped at Harry's chair and crouched down slightly beside him so that she was level with his face.
"Harry," she whispered softly. "It's like I said before. Whenever you decide to propose, I promise I'll say yes." Then, she kissed him on the cheek and left the kitchen.