Ginny and Lavender were sitting on a cream, leather sofa in the middle of the famous bakery, Piece Of Cake. Ginny with a glass of champagne in her hand, Lavender with a mug of tea in hers.
"What's the woman's name again?" Lavender asked.
"Andrea," Ginny replied, eying a very tasty looking chocolate mousse.
"What do you think about Andrea Finnegan?"
"No, Lavender," Ginny said, tearing her eyes away from the mousse. "Please not Andrea."
"OK. What about Olivia?"
"No. Not Olivia Finnegan. It sounds like a leprechaun's daughter."
"Alright then. What about...Cho Finnegan?" Ginny turned around slowly and glared at Ginny. She looked so terrifying; she was definitely living up to the colour of her hair. Lavender laughed.
"I'm just joking!" she giggled. "You should have seen the look on your face!" Ginny joined in the laughter briefly, then stopped to look at her watch.
"Where is Andrea? We've been waiting here for fifteen minutes!" Right on cue, a woman in a navy suit came out of the storeroom. Her face lit up when she saw Ginny.
"Hello, my love!" she said, pecking her on the cheek. She turned to face Lavender. She looked puzzled. "Hello Hermione! I must say, you've changed a lot! You finally straightened your hair! Very clever of you! And I had no idea you were pregnant! Congratulations!"
"Errm, actually, I'm not Hermione," Lavender replied. "My name is Lavender Finnegan. I'm helping Ginny plan her wedding."
"Oh!" Andrea exclaimed, surprised. "So sorry dear! It's nice to meet you! And, again, congratulations!" She placed both hands on Lavender's stomach. "So, how far along are we?"
"Nearly eight months," Lavender replied, wincing as Andrea felt her stomach.
"Ooh!" she exclaimed. "It's getting close now! Anyway, back to cakes! So sorry to keep you waiting, girls. I had an emergency: wilting flowers on a cake. Disaster! So let's talk marzipan, shall we? Let me just get my notepad." As she bustled away, Lavender turned around and looked at Ginny.
"I know," Ginny said. "She's not the brightest bulb on the tree."
"It really creeps me out when people touch my stomach," Lavender replied, shuddering. "Especially her. Her hands were freezing!" Ginny giggled.
"And she's a bit young and glamorous to be working in a bakery," Lavender added, readjusting her belt.
"Well, she's just an adviser really," Ginny replied. "The manager isn't really involved in the wedding cakes. It's mainly just the chefs and Andrea." Andrea came bustling back over, colourful notepad and pen in hand.
"Right," she said, warmly, taking a seat in the armchair opposite Lavender and Ginny. "So, Ginny, when you and Hermione were here you said that you were seriously considering getting a traditional three-tiered wedding cake."
"Yes," Ginny answered. "I've made a decision. I'm going to have a three-tiered wedding cake."
"Fabulous!" Andrea exclaimed. She took a champagne glass from the tray on the table and took the champagne bottle out of the ice bucket and poured herself a glass. "Great choice, Ginny! Some more champagne, girls?"
"Yes please," Ginny replied. "Just a little bit more."
"I'm pregnant," Lavender said, raising her tea a little higher.
"Oh, yes of course!" Andrea said, placing the champagne back in the ice bucket after refilling Ginny's glass. "How silly of me! Anyway, Ginny, what kind of cakes would you want?"
"Well," Ginny started. "I was thinking about maybe a chocolate one in the middle, but not too chocolate-y. And absolutely no fruitcake. Everybody hates fruitcake, it'll just get abandoned."
"Oh, I adore fruitcake!" Andrea said, in a shrill voice.
"Oh," Ginny said in a small voice. Well, just you then. Anyway, I want to make all three cakes rich, but light."
"Rich..but..light," Andrea muttered, making a note of this in her notepad.
"And also," Ginny went on. "I want to make the top tier quite decorative."
"Oh! We have just the thing! Hold on, let me just talk to Chef Manuelo." She went into the kitchens and was back in two minutes with a large tray with tiny saucers on it.
"I brought some flowers for you to sample. Edible, of course! The sugar tulip in particular is exquisite."
"Wow! Thank you!"
"I'll leave you to it then."
Ginny and Lavender spent the next five minutes sampling lovely, sugar-coated flowers. From yellow roses made from marzipan to bluebells made from crystallized sugar (coloured blue).
"Wow," Ginny breathed, putting down the vanilla flavoured daisy. "I don't know which one to pick. They're all delicious. What do you think, Lavender?"
"Well," Lavender said, chewing slowly. "She was right about the sugar tulips. They are delicious."
"How are we doing?" Andrea came back, a hopeful smile plastered on her face.
"I think we're going to go with the sugar tulips," Ginny replied.
"Oh, excellent choice! OK, what's next on the agenda?"
"Well, do you think you could bring out all of the samples of chocolate cake you have at the moment?" Lavender asked.
"No problem," Andrea said. She went back into the kitchen.
"Lavender," Ginny started, disbelievingly. "All the chocolate cakes? Really?"
"Shut up! I'm pregnant! And don't you judge me! I saw you eying that chocolate mousse earlier!"
"But I didn't ask for all their chocolate cakes!"
"I haven't eaten since breakfast! I'm hungry!" Just then, Andrea wheeled in a whole cart of chocolate cakes in slices.
"Right," she said. "Get those jaws chomping!" It took Ginny and Lavender about ten minutes to sample all these cakes. Most of them were delicious, but there were a few that tasted a little bit weird. For example, Ginny found one that had the entire top of it studded with Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. She did try this one, but she stopped when she was pretty sure that she tasted a bogey flavoured bean. George had not been lying about that evidently.
"What do you think, Lavender?" Ginny asked, looking at them all.
"I don't know. I've narrowed mine down to three.
"Really? I've got three as well. What are yours?"
"Well, I've got #18, which is the "white, milk and dark chocolate cigarillos, with handmade chocolate roses", #23, which is the cake, covered in Belgian chocolate white paste, with garlands of assorted flavoured truffles, tia maria, cointreau, and champagne, and #6, the dark chocolate cake with Grand Prix red roses
and trailing ivy. But I only had a tiny forkful of #23 because of the champagne in it. That won't affect the baby, will it?"
"No, Lavender. I think you'll be fine. Don't worry. OK, here are my three choices: #27, the white chocolate cake with a cascade of dark, milk and white chocolate roses, #5, the white chocolate cake with fresh white gerberas and pale blue sugar butterflies, and I have #23 as well."
"Do you? Wasn't it delicious?"
"It really was."
"I'm really annoyed that I couldn't have more. Oh well. I won't be pregnant for your wedding, so I can have as much as I want. Oh no! But then I won't have an excuse to eat loads of food!"
"Lavender, they're too many ingredients in the cake intercepting with the champagne so it wouldn't harm the baby even if you ate the whole cake. And also, no one is going to notice or care how much cake you eat at our wedding. Trust me. So shall we go with #23?"
"Yeah, I think so." Andrea came back and Ginny told her their decision.
"So," Ginny said. "I want a sweet, innocent decorative cake for the top tier, chocolate for the middle and I want something...something different for the bottom."
After several minutes and sampling, Lavender and Ginny decided on white heart crystal arrangements, white and pink piped garland with different coloured sugar tulips scattered all over for the top tier and the bottom tier was a vanilla sponge with smooth, strawberry jam and fresh cream in the shape of a magnificent castle with a huge marzipan dragon sprawled on the roofs. Also, Ginny asked for a bride and groom to be made and put on the top, and specifically asked for the groom to have a lightening bolt-scar across his forehead. Andrea laaughed at that.
"So you're marrying Harry Potter then?" she asked.
"Yes," Ginny said, fingering her engagement ring.
"He's a good man," Andrea answered. "Our world would not be the same without him."
"Yes," Ginny agreed. "Anyway, thank you for your help. It's a wonderful shop."
"Thank you," Andrea replied, sweetly. "You made very good choices. It's been a pleasure to work with you! And congratulations, to both of you." Ginny and Lavender walked out of Piece Of Cake, feeling satisfied.
"So," Lavender said, shaking a little at the sudden cold. "Where to now? We've taken care of the flowers and the wedding cake."
"Oh my God," Ginny said, slowly. "Lavender, look at that dress!" As Lavender turned around, she saw what Ginny was talking about. It was a short, black strapless dress made entirely of fine silk. It had tiny, embroidery stitched right on the hem.
"Ginny," Lavender breathed. "That's gorgeous! It would be perfect for your engagement party!"
"I know! I have to have it!" They walked into the shop, Ginny never taking her eyes off the dress. She walked in and asked the nearest shop assistant to take the dress of the display mannequin.
"How much is it?" Lavender asked, as the shop assistant handed Ginny the dress.
"Two galleons and five sickles." Lavender considered this.
"It's quite good for the quality of the dress. I mean, look at it. It's fine silk! You have to get it Ginny."
"OK. Let me just try it on." Five minutes later, Ginny was looking at herself in a long mirror, wearing the dress. It was absolutely indescribable. It made her look the way she felt ever since Harry had proposed to her. No, ever since they had kissed in the Owlery nearly two years ago, just after Harry had defeated Voldemort. She felt happy and together.
"I'm buying it," Ginny said.
"Good idea," Lavender replied.