11. Marriage

Ginny was standing in front of her mirror listening to it enumerate her good points with a kind of baffled acceptance. Normally, it would point out the kink in her hair or the smudge of dirt on her cheek, but today, her wedding day, it was uncharacteristically full of praise. Ginny was a little taken-aback by the mirror's new attitude. This new approval symbolised a little too clearly that this was the end of her childhood. It felt like the mirror was moving on and Ginny was irrationally saddened by it.

'Ginny? Are you ready, dear?' Molly, knocked softly on the door as she called to her daughter.

'Come in, Mum. I'm almost done.'

Molly's eyes looked suspiciously bright as she smiled at her daughter in the mirror. She came in and stood behind Ginny. 'You look so grown up, Ginny. What is it about wedding robes that makes a girl look so much older?'

Ginny turned and hugged her mother tight to her. This was her last night in this house, her last night with her mother, and she felt suddenly protective of her.

'I don't think it's the robes, Mum. I think it's that whole wedding thing.' She smiled mischievously at her mother. 'Getting married makes you seem so much older. And it's not just girls. Remember the waterworks you turned on when Bill married?'

Molly gave a watery smile as she pulled back from Ginny. 'Oh don't remind me. But that was during the war and everything was uncertain, and those other three were leaving and I knew it was coming ... and oh, Ginny, you're my last baby and what will we ever do without you?' With tears threatening again, Molly began fussing with Ginny's clothes to give her trembling hands something to do.

'Well, there's Ron still slouching around being a leech and you know he's going to be ages before he finally gets up the nerve to marry Hermione. Plus, you already have grandchildren to supply all your nurturing needs after we leave home. You'll be fine.' Ginny patted her mother's arm, and the mock-healer's tone she adopted made both women dissolve in stitches.

Ginny turned back to the mirror and her expression turned serious. 'It does feel weird, though Mum. This won't be my home anymore, in any sense of the word.'

'You moved out years ago Ginny.'

'I know. But ... it felt like home still because this was my family. I mean it still is, but I'll be starting a new one now and that somehow changes everything.'

'Do you want to know what it was like when I married your father?'

'Of course.' Ginny's face lit up as she sank onto her bed and looked at her mother expectantly. Molly sat down beside her and took her hand.

'I was terrified,' she began and Ginny snorted. 'Oh, I know it seems unlikely. But I was. We'd been sweethearts forever it seemed but taking that leap was so daunting. I sat in my room with my own mother and I was shaking.' She squeezed Ginny's hand. 'So you're already doing better than I am,' she smiled.

'I don't think there's anything to shake about exactly. It's just a little ... sad, is all.'

'I know. And I knew there was nothing to shake about either, but I couldn't help it. It wasn't until I got to the doorway to our garden and saw your father standing waiting for me that I relaxed and stopped the shakes. He looked so calm.' Molly smiled reminiscently.

Ginny giggled. 'I imagine dad was calm. Nothing seems to shake him up except for Muggle artefacts, so as long as you had none of those lying around I'm sure he was great.'

Molly chuckled. 'Yes, even then I already knew to keep him away from any gadgets.'

'Somehow I doubt that Harry is calm.' Ginny frowned a little as she thought about her fiancé waiting for her. 'I don't think being fashionably late would be a good idea today.'

'No, I don't think so. I never thought it was a good idea anyway. What makes girls think that making their future partner anxious is an auspicious start to a marriage?'

'I don't know. But I wouldn't do that to Harry, so I guess we should go find Dad soon.'

Molly checked the time, and shook her head. 'Not yet love. I doubt Harry is even ready yet, you're well ahead of yourself.'

'I guess I am a bit anxious Mum. I want to do this and it's all I've ever wanted, but it is kind of daunting even though it's more of a formality than anything else.'

Molly gathered her into another bone crushing hug. 'I know dear. It's a rite of passage and it's one of those moments that no matter how ready you are for it will always be daunting. Do you remember how anxious you were about going to school? You were so ready for it, and so desperate to get to Hogwarts and yet it scared you half to death.' Molly chuckled a little. 'Though I think a lot of that desperation was so you could see a certain green-eyed person.'

Ginny snorted again, and said, 'don't remind me. I was languishing for him for years. It mortifies me to think of it now. What a silly little thing I was.'

'No! You were cute, and I'm sure Harry thought so too.'

'I'm sure he didn't,' Ginny giggled. 'He had quite the fan club and we were all so little and annoying.'

'Well, maybe not the others, but I know I found your crush adorably cute. I'm sure looking back on it now so does he.'

Ginny's giggles subsided as she thought about those days. Far too many of the people she had been close to back then were now missing from her life. Even her fellow members of the Harry Potter fan club.

'It's so weird to think that Colin and Dobby ... that they won't be here for this. I almost feel disloyal to them.'

'Don't be silly, dear. You know Harry would never marry either of them.' Molly's smirk was infectious and Ginny dissolved into giggles.

'Can't you just see Dobby in a lovely set of robes heading down the aisle? The look on Harry's face would be priceless.'

Her mother wiped tears from her eyes and nodded with a little hiccough. Ginny looked more relaxed and the slightly melancholic tone had disappeared from her voice. The two women remained locked in an endless embrace, however, thinking back on all the conversations they'd shared til this point. For both of them, this seemed like a final moment in that journey. Ginny may still come to her mother in the future, but it wouldn't be as a child to her mother, but as two women to each other. Molly had a taste of it when Ginny announced her new job in quidditch and while she welcomed the new relationship she felt the loss of the old. The thoughts she conjured, however, were happy ones this time. The shared joke had awoken Molly's sense of humour and she remembered the funny times with far more clarity than the maudlin ones.

She finally stood up and held out her arms to Ginny. 'Come on then, let me look at you. We'd best be sure that you're all tidy and we haven't crushed you too much with this hugging and crying.'

Ginny stood up and once again Molly was struck with how grown up she looked. For a few moments while she told the tale of her own wedding, Ginny had looked and felt like her little girl again, but now her womanhood returned clearly. She did a twirl and it was obvious that no lasting damage had been done to her clothes or her hair, so Molly nodded and pronounced her ready to go. Arthur peeked around the door and slid into the room.

'I think it's time, Ginny. We'd best be going downstairs.'

Ginny smiled at him, gave her mother one last hug and took her father's arm. Molly preceded them out the door and they met Hermione on the landing. As they descended the stairs, Ginny thought her mother was right about one thing. Seeing Harry waiting for her somehow made all the nerves and the melancholy disappear. His face was radiant as he locked eyes with her. In that moment, her father, her mother all the other people around them, all became nothing. All her attention was on this man she was about to marry, and suddenly the sadness of leaving her childhood behind her was forgotten in the anticipation of the glorious future before her.