Standard Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story; they all belong to JK Rowlings. This is a work of fan fiction, produced solely for enjoyment. No infringement of rights is intended.

– CHAPTER THIRTEEN –

The Wedding

In the days leading up to the wedding, Mrs. Weasley worked Harry and the others so hard that all thoughts regarding Dumbledore's letter were driven from Harry's mind. They were clearing the garden of gnomes, cutting the grass, getting rid of weeds, and cleaning the house intensively; Mrs. Weasley warned them that if she found a speck of dusk they'd be helping out in the kitchen throughout the wedding. Ron looked almost ecstatic at that prospect, until Mrs. Weasley said they wouldn't be eating the food, they'd be serving it.

Ron's grin dropped at these words, and they all hurried to clean the house so thoroughly that Harry later reckoned that he could see his reflection in every brass doorknob in the house. After they finished that, Mrs. Weasley had Ron, Hermione and Harry conjuring chairs in the garden, along with a marquee, dance floor and tables for refreshments and food, while Ginny helped her out in the kitchen, preparing the appetisers. The dance floor had been particularly tricky to conjure, and eventually they gave up, instead transfiguring some blocks of wood into it.

The effort Harry and the others put in left them exhausted every night and come evening, none of them had to the energy to stay up and talk. Instead they all retreated to their rooms to sleep each night, only to get up next morning and start over again.

Eventually, the day of the wedding arrived, and after the guests had all arrived and congratulated the Weasleys and Delacours, who had arrived the night before, everyone congregated in the garden for the ceremony. Gabrielle had been ecstatic when she saw Harry, much to Ginny's annoyance, and had proceeded to throw her arms around his neck, kissing him on both cheeks, and exclaiming, ''Arry, my saviour! 'Ow are you?'

Hermione and Ron had turned their faces to snigger at Harry's obvious discomfort, as he tried to wriggle out of Gabrielle's embrace, blushing furiously and stuttering, 'I – I'm fine thanks Gabrielle. H – How are you?' Even Ginny smirked; while Gabrielle went on to describe everything that had happened to her since Harry had saved her, two and a half years ago.

While the guests hurried to find seats for the ceremony, Harry, Hermione and Ron hurried to the front, and sat in the second row. They watched Bill with great amusement as he hopped from one foot to the other, his ears almost glowing; he was clearly very nervous, and Ron and Harry sniggered, while Hermione glared at them in disgust.

Suddenly, an enchanted harp began to play, and everyone stood hurriedly and turned to face the back, as Ginny and Gabrielle came in throwing multicoloured petals, which turned into enchanted butterflies as they were thrown. Mr. Weasley came in next, with Mrs. Delacour on his arm, quickly followed by Charlie leading Mrs. Weasley, who was trying not to cry.

Then in walked Mr. Delacour, with Fleur on his arm; she looked stunning, and was wearing Great Auntie Muriel's tiara. It was all Hermione and Harry could do to hold Ron back, who tried to get out onto the aisle and stop the bride. Similar scenes were occurring all around the marquee and Ginny smirked, highly amused at the wizards' antics.

Eventually, Fleur reached Bill's side, and order was restored while an ancient looking wizard started performing the ceremony. It was very similar to Muggle civil marriages, although at the end, instead of kissing, the newly weds slipped their hands into a band which glowed softy, and tightened itself around their wrists. Harry looked perplexed, and Hermione explained that they would have to stay attached to each other for a week, having to work together to achieve their goals. If at the end of the week they were unhappy living together, they could separate and the marriage would be annulled. However, once formally married, they would not be able to divorce as Muggles could.

After the completion of the ceremony, Bill and Fleur banished the chairs to the sides of the marquee next to the tables, and cleared the dance floor. People started walking around, congratulating members of the newly weds' family and greeting friends, until food suddenly appeared on the tables, and people settled down to lunch. Harry found a table with Hermione and Ron, and they were quickly joined by Ginny, Gabrielle and a young girl who Gabrielle introduced as her cousin. When Harry tried to shake her hand, she hid behind Gabrielle's dress, and Ginny giggled, asking if he had that effect on every girl he met. He smiled up at her and said yes, winking at her. Her face flushed, and she muttered angrily under her breath, sitting down next to Hermione.

Gabrielle sat next to Harry, and started telling him that she would be starting at Beauxbatons in September, and asked him what kind of spells she might learn. They continued talking, until the music started again, and partners started getting up to dance; Harry asked Ginny for the first dance, to which she eagerly accepted, and they were quickly followed by Hermione, who was dragging Ron behind her. They all danced for a bit, and watched in amusement, as Fred and George entertained Gabrielle and her cousin with some of their products. The girls giggled at their antics, and soon the twins were leading them onto the dance floor.

Everyone had a wonderful time, and danced, talked and ate into the early hours of the morning, by which time Gabrielle and her cousin had fallen asleep. After congratulating the newly weds and their families, the guests started walking out of the marquee and apparating away, while the twins cleared the mess, helped by Harry, Ron and Hermione. Bill and Fleur thanked their parents for organising such a beautiful wedding, and apparated away to start their honeymoon. Everyone else made their way back to their beds, too tired to stay up any longer.

Harry had been wondering all night how such a public event had not been targeted by Voldemort, and was immensely thankful that there had not been a problem. Nevertheless, he'd kept his wand in one of his new holsters all night, and it was only when he walked out the marquee, and saw a large group of Aurors, that he realised why there had been little risk of an attack that night. He and Ron climbed up to their rooms, mumbling good night to Hermione and Ginny at their room. Not bothering to change, they both collapsed onto their beds, still in their new dress robes, and promptly fell asleep.

The next morning, no one got up early, and when Harry eventually did wake up he couldn't hear any other noise in the house. Padding softly out of the room, he hurried to the bathroom and took a quick shower. After getting dressed, he went down to the kitchen to eat a light breakfast. The only one already up was Ginny, and after saying good morning, and getting some slices of bread and some butter and jam, he sat down next to her. They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes, until Ginny turned to Harry, a look of consternation on her face.

'Harry, I've been meaning to ask you something, but we've been too busy, and I've frankly been too tired to ask after all our chores.' Harry looked at her, perplexed. She took a deep breath, 'Harry, what did you read in those letters last week? Both of them obviously deeply upset you, and I was worried about you; do you want to talk about them?' Harry looked down at his half-eaten sandwich, and replied slowly.

'The first letter was from my mother,' Ginny looked aghast at this, and clapped a hand over her mouth in horror. Harry exhaled tiredly, 'she wrote me a letter the day before they went into hiding, in case they died and I survived. She explained to me why they were hiding, and said a few other things that don't really matter …' He trailed off uncomfortably. He looked up at Ginny, who had tears coursing down her face. Alarmed, he exclaimed,

'Ginny, oh don't cry. It's ok, it's ok.' He wrapped his arms around her and held her as she started sobbing into his T-shirt. They stayed there for a few minutes, until Ginny's shudders stopped, and wiping her tears away, she straightened up.

'Oh, Harry, I am so sorry. I can't begin to imagine how that must have felt like,' she put a hand on his shoulder, 'are you sure you're alright? You know that you can talk to me don't you?' Harry nodded uncertainly. He had begun to come to terms with the contents of the two letters, but was worried that if he started thinking about them again, he wouldn't be able to stop, and would turn into an emotional wreck.

'The other letter,' he continued haltingly, 'was from Dumbledore. He wrote it the afternoon that he – that he – died.' He looked up at her sadly, but she nodded for him to continue. 'He wanted me to go back to school this year and complete my education, no matter what; even if he died.' Ginny let out a hiss in surprise.

'So you're going back to Hogwarts?' She interrupted. Harry looked torn.

'I don't know Gin, I know he wanted me to, but I don't know if I could stand to stay there. There would be too many memories, it might overwhelm me.' Ginny looked at him with pity, and leaned forward to hug him.

'Harry, you don't need to make that decision now, talk to Ron and Hermione, but remember, you will be safer at Hogwarts than out there hunting Voldemort. Also think about Dumbledore's wishes, he wouldn't ask you unless his reasons were well founded, and it's true that you need to complete your education. You haven't taken your NEWTs yet, and you haven't learnt everything that you'll need to, to take on Voldemort; he's still more skilled than you with a wand. You need to train before you hunt him.' Harry still looked uncertain, but Ginny wasn't finished. Clutching his shoulders and looking him straight in the eyes, she pleaded with him, 'Please Harry, I beg of you, don't go chasing after him just for revenge. You're not ready yet; you'll only get yourself killed. Please, return to Hogwarts, for me.' She let out a quiet sob, and letting go of him, ran back upstairs.

Harry was torn, he knew he should return to Hogwarts, and that Dumbledore and Ginny were both right, but didn't think that he could stand the idea of staying there after everything that had happened last year. Eventually he decided to just ask Ron and Hermione for their opinion, since they had both promised to come with him wherever he went, so it was their choice as much as his. Getting to his feet, he was about to go and wake Ron up, when Hermione appeared at the bottom of the stairs, looking a bit disgruntled.

'Harry, what's going on? Ginny just ran upstairs and threw me out her room and locked it. Did you two have an argument?' Harry looked at his feet, ashamed that he had made Ginny cry.

'No, I just told her what the letters contained, and that I might not be returning to Hogwarts in September.' Hermione looked confused.

'Might not? I thought we were going to chase after Voldemort's Horcruxes. Harry, what was in that last letter?' Harry took a deep breath, before summarising the contents to her, and explaining his dilemma. Hermione looked sadly at him, before telling him that they should probably follow Dumbledore's advice, explaining that they'd have to do a lot of research to identify and find the missing Horcruxes before destroying them. That would take a lot of time, and they might as well do it at Hogwarts, as it was reasonably safe, and had a library which might be of some help. She had been thinking of asking him to reconsider staying at Hogwarts before, but knew that he was still mourning.

As for facing his memories, Hermione advised that the only way to deal with them would be to confront them, and that Dumbledore didn't want Harry to mourn him, so he shouldn't. Harry, silently agreed with her, even if he wasn't happy about it, but insisted that they ask Ron first before making a decision. So while Hermione ate her breakfast, Harry made his way up to the attic to ask Ron.

Ron was still asleep, so Harry picked up his wand and muttered, 'Aguamenti', pointing at Ron's sleeping form. A stream of water arched out of his wand, and hit Ron squarely in the face, who woke up instantly, and grabbing his wand, bellowed 'Incarcerous'. Harry, too surprised by Ron's reaction, didn't have time to block or dodge the hex, which hit him on the chest. Ropes appeared and wrapped themselves around Harry tightly, binding him firmly. Harry toppled over, but Ron, realising what he'd done, muttered 'Finite Incantadem', and the ropes vanished.

Rubbing the back of his head gingerly, Harry asked him if that was his usually reaction to being woken up. Ron blushed, and replied that it became second nature when you lived with the twins. Harry grinned and got up, but crossed his eyes in pain, and sat back down again. Ron apologised profusely, and asked Harry if he wanted him to go fetch Mrs. Weasley. Harry just grumbled that he was fine, and instead began to explain the contents of the two letters, Hermione's argument and his fears, asking Ron if he'd rather return to Hogwarts in September or start searching for the Horcruxes straight away.

Ron sat there for a long time thinking, and told Harry that he needed time to decide. Harry left him and returned downstairs, still clutching the back of his head, to find Ginny talking with Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley cooking everyone more breakfast. Greeting all of them, he walked out into the garden, and sat down in the grass, trying to make his own decision. Hermione came out to try and explain her argument to him again, but he brushed her off, preferring solitude so that he could let his mind run over everything and come to a conclusion on his own.

Eventually, he sat up and returned to the kitchen, and found Ron there and Mrs. Weasley gone. Turning to him, he asked, 'So Ron, have you decided what you'd rather do?' Ron looked at him uncertainly, then Hermione, before taking in a deep breath.

'Ye, if you don't mind Harry, I think I'd rather we went back to Hogwarts. We're going to need all the training in Defence against the Dark Arts we can get, and if Moody does take the job, we couldn't ask for a better teacher.' Harry nodded, and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. Looking at Hermione and Ron, who both looked anxious, waiting for his decision; he asked.

'Are those you're final decisions?' They both nodded, waiting for him to tell them his decision. Smiling, he exclaimed, 'In that case, we're returning to Hogwarts!'