As the ceremony drew nearer and nearer, the attitude prevalent in the Burrow was utter chaos.
"GABBY!" Fleur shrieked at the top of her lungs,
nearly blowing Hermione and Ginny backwards (they'd
had the bad luck of stumbling into her warpath).
Fleur's little sister looked into the room, her blue eyes wide.
"What ees it, Fleur?" She marched in, hurrying to her distraught older sister.
"Where have you put my shoes?" Fleur shook her little sister, looking dangerously close to coming unhinged.
"I have done nothing with them! Why would I touch your shoes?"
"I can't find them!" Fleur looked on the verge of tears.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Oh, honestly," she took her wand off the dresser,
"Accio Fleur's shoes!" She waved her wand absently,
the silver strappy sandals flying out from under the
bed to Hermione's feet.
Fleur and Gabrielle looked over at her gratefully.
"Thank you...darling." Fleur had obviously forgotten Hermione's name.
"It's Hermione Granger, for the eighteenth time"
Hermione said under her breath.
Ginny grinned at her.
"Now, now, Hermione, it's her wedding day." Ginny did an uncanny impression of Hermione.
"Oh, shut up"
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley put the finishing touches on the backyard, and stood back proudly to admire their handiwork.
Fleur had initially not been pleased when she'd learned that the Burrow really was the safest and most practical place for the wedding. In fact, several large sulking fits came immediately to mind.
But eventually, she had come around and the backyard
proved a surprisingly beautiful place for a ceremony.
After A LOT of hard work on Mrs. Weasley's part, it
was decorated to the nines. Completely de-gnomed as
well, of course.
Fleur had picked rose pink and gold as the two theme colors, and every rose, place setting, and sparkling drapes reflected the theme. Gold fabric decorated the aisle she had set up between the two sections of chairs, and an arch of roses had been erected over where they would take their vows.
Bill had asked his father to precede over the ceremony, and Mr. Weasley nervously agreed.
"You know how I get with public-speaking." Molly remembered him saying after nervously agreeing to Bill's request.
But he had agreed, and was now dressed in the nicest dress robes he owned for the occasion.
As Arthur and Molly surveyed the backyard, she took his hand.
"It seems like yesterday we were bringing Bill home in his little blue baby blanket." Molly said, smiling with tears in her eyes.
"The first one of our boys...getting married." Arthur shook his head.
"I just hope he's ready."
"Molly, he's much older than we were."
"I know...besides, I suppose whether I want to admit it or not, this is the beginning of a war. I can see why they don't want to wait."
"Yes, dear--but tonight's not the night for worrying about that. Let's just enjoy ourselves before everyone has to go their separate ways."
"Not you and me." Molly leaned her head against his shoulder.
"No, Mollywobbles. Never you and me." He put his arm around her as they looked up at the sun setting in the distance.
"I look like a blimp." Ginny moaned, as Hermione zipped her into her gold bridesmaid dress.
She most certainly didn't, but teeny little Gabrielle prancing around the room in her matching dress wasn't helping her self-esteem much.
"You do NOT. Honestly, Gin, I wish I was skinny as you." Hermione sighed.
"Whatever. At least you can fill out a dress." Ginny looked enviously at Hermione's low cut neckline.
Hermione blushed self-consciously.
Fleur swept by them.
"Yes, my dear, you 'ave a very nice chest." Fleur said to Hermione, pushing her out of the way to give her make-up one last check as her mother fussed with her hair.
Hermione turned an even deeper red, tugging her dress up slightly.
"Muzzer, please!" Fleur snapped, as her equally blond,
gorgeous mother put up her hands in mock surrender.
"Okay, girls- be honest. How do I look?" Fleur spun around, her platinum blond hair sweeping through the air in perfect waves.
"Just 'orrible." Gabrielle grinned wickedly.
Fleur's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"She's only joking with you, darling You look perfect!" Mrs. Delacour clapped her hands together happily.
"You look really nice." Hermione agreed.
Everyone looked at Ginny.
"Two thumbs way up." She said, and only Hermione could hear the slight sarcasm in her voice.
Fleur grinned at her reflection, obviously pleased.
She stood, straightening out her silk white dress. The
three Delacour girls shared excited smiles. Her mother
placed on her veil, and hugged her tightly, wrapping
her other arm around Gabrielle.Fleur threw her arms
around her sister and mother as well.
"I'm turning blue!" Gabrielle choked out.
"Sorry, Gabby." Fleur smiled affectionately at her little sister, smoothing her long blond hair.
Hermione and Ginny looked at each other.
"Should we hug?" Ginny grinned.
Hermione laughed, putting her arm through Ginny's.
"Let's go find Ron and Harry." She suggested, and they left the Delacour women to bond.
"Well, Ron, I must say--those dress robes are a vast improvement." Harry said, as all of the boys straightened their ties and reluctantly fixed their hair into something presentable.
Harry didn't bother- he was well aware that any attempt to smooth down his hair was just signing on for a losing battle.
Ron turned around, in his nice new dress robes, blue
instead of maroon this time.
And no lace on the cuffs either.
"Ronnie, those really were frightening." Fred said,
lounging on the couch in the living room and
thoroughly wrinkling his robes.
"Yes, now we're no longer afraid our little brother actually enjoys dressing like a very frilly girl."
Ron shook his head at Harry.
"It's just jealousy talking." He grinned.
Bill stared at his mangled features critically.
"I really do look a fright, don't I?" He sighed, his long frame resplendent in black dress robes with an expensive sheen.
"No, mate. It's...rugged." Charlie thumped him on the back, grinning.
"I think zat ze scars are so sexy."
They all spun around, expecting to see Fleur, but only finding Ginny and Hermione.
"Ugh, Gin- you are getting weirdly good at that.
You're going to give me a complex." Bill joked,
messing up his sister's hair.
"Hey, it's a gift." Ginny said, slapping his hand away and smoothing her hair back down.
"Ron, hand me that tie." Charlie motioned vaguely over at the dresser, obviously uncomfortable in formal wear as he rolled up his sleeves.
Ron didn't answer. He was looking at Hermione with a slightly slack-jawed expression. She was still tugging at her dress, and didn't notice. Charlie grinned.
"Ronnie, put your eyes back in and hand me that tie."
Ron blinked.
"What? Sorry?"
"I said, stop staring at Hermione and give me that tie." Charlie said, smiling wider.
Everyone laughed as Hermione turned scarlet again.
Ron, with very red ears, handed Charlie the tie,
mumbling something about "not staring"
Tonks looked in the mirror, trying to decide what she
should do with her hair. She wrinkled her nose,
turning it long and raven black. It fell shining over
one shoulder, and she decided it looked nice with her
dark purple dress.
"Guess what?" A familiar voice said from the her guest room's doorway.
She turned to see Lupin dressed in very nice dress robes. Her heart sped up slightly. She realized she had never seen him like this.
"What?" She finally managed to say.
"No tweed. Like it?" He asked, crossing to her and kissing her forehead.
"I'm all aflutter." She said, putting her hand to her heart dramatically.
"Seriously?" He said, absently playing with her now long hair.
"Seriously, you're making me not want to even go to the wedding." She assured him, straightening his tie.
"Likewise." He said, unashamedly looking her up and down.
She giggled.
"Hey, now."
"Sorry." He said, grinning.
"We should probably go." Tonks said reluctantly.
"Yeah. We should." He kissed her softly.
"On second thought, who's really going to notice if we're not there?" She shrugged.
"No one. We're superfluous really." He smiled.
She laughed.
"Smart is so sexy."
She threw her arms around his neck...and, well, they were the last ones to file into their seats at the wedding.
A/N- Next chapter- I'll get around to the actual ceremony. I keep having way too much fun with the before stuff. Hee. Review please!