Chapter 39: bloke night
Over the next few months, Harry and Ginny fell into a pattern of work and wedding plans. Before either of them knew it, it was a week before the wedding, and thanks to Molly, everything was in place for the big day. Ginny was beginning to worry that there would still be snow on the ground when they put up the marquee, but thankfully, the sun decided to show up early in the month, melting all traces of winter away. The weather had been unseasonably warm and it appeared as if spring was going to come early this year. It was on one of these warm days that Harry was walking up the path to the Burrow to meet with Ginny and Molly to finalize the seating charts. He decided to apparate further away then he would normally do so he had the opportunity to clear his head and take in the beautiful weather. As the wedding approached, Harry expected that he would become nervous, but was surprised when all he felt was overwhelming excitement. If it were up to him, he would marry Ginny right now.
When he turned the last corner and the Burrow came into view, Harry was struck with a sudden feeling of unease. This feeling only intensified as he approached the back garden and found all of the Weasley men, except for Arthur, gathered around the side of the house, deep in conversation. He almost made it into the house without notice, but Ron turned around right when his hand fell on the door knob.
"Finally!" he huffed. "We've been waiting forever for you to show up. Are you ready?"
Harry furrowed his brow in confusion. "Ready for what? I got an owl from Molly asking me to stop by after work to go over the seating charts," said Harry. And then it struck him. They had finished the seating charts last week and Molly had her own owl so there would have been no need to use Pigwidgeon. "Come on guys," he groaned. "Do we really have to do this?"
"Of course we do, Harry," said George, a mischievous grin on his face. Before Harry could protest any further, Ron and George grabbed his arms and apparated him away.
When Harry's feet once again found solid ground, he was standing inside of a loud, dimly lit pub that he didn't recognize. "Where are we?" he asked to no one in particular.
"New pub in Hogsmeade," said Bill. "Just opened. Weird Sisters are playing later."
"Huh," was all Harry managed to say as he took in his surroundings. He had been dreading this day since he and Ginny told her family they were getting married. He knew that her brothers were going to try to take him out and get him completely smashed under the pretense of it being his last outing as a single man. When he expressed these concerns to Ginny, however, she just laughed and shrugged him off saying that he should expect nothing less from her brothers.
Percy, Bill and Charlie ushered a reluctant Harry to the far end of the pub and into a chair at the only available table. Ron and George showed up moments later balancing six large glasses of firewhiskey which they passed around the table.
"To Harry's last night of freedom," said Charlie, holding up his glass. Harry tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace before downing his entire glass. Surprisingly, the amber liquid felt good as it slid down his throat, burning the stress of the wedding preparations away. Before he sat the empty glass on the table, George was already handing him a full one. Before he could convince himself not to, he repeated the action with the second glass, and then a third. As the alcohol worked its way through his system, he felt himself start to relax. He knew he would feel it in the morning, but when Ron handed him a forth drink, he put caution to the wind and tossed it back.
Sometime during his fifth glass, the Weird Sisters took the stage and Harry jumped to his feet, slopping half his drink on the floor in the process. Ron, Charlie, and Bill followed Harry to the stage, but Percy hung back at the table. He had just run into his old girlfriend from school, Penelope Clearwater, and the two were deep in conversation. But Harry wouldn't have noticed if no one followed him. He let go of his inhibitions and started to dance the instant he reached the stage.
To the amusement of Ron, Charlie, George and Bill, the lead singer of the band recognized Harry and pulled him on stage. Normally, Harry had the tendency to shy away from anything that would draw attention to himself, so Ron expected him to run from stage the moment the opportunity presented itself. However, to his surprise, when the band started playing again, Harry grabbed a mic and started singing along. The crowd cheered as Ron doubled over in laughter. In all his years of knowing Harry, he had never seen him like this. Then again, he'd never seen him this smashed before either.
"He's not going to be very happy in the morning," said Charlie.
"Why do you say that?" asked Bill.
"See that guy over there?" asked Charlie, indicating a balding, middle aged man sitting alone at the bar. "He's a reporter with the Dailey Prophet. Just saw him snapping a few candid's," he added with a laugh.
"Nope. He won't be happy about that," laughed Ron before he moved closer to the stage and cheered Harry on.
When the four of them were finally able to pry Harry off stage, they helped him stumble back over to their table, where Percy and Penelope were standing to leave.
"Sorry guys," slurred Percy, a sloppy grin on his face. "I gotta cut this night short." He wrapped his arm around Penelope's waist and pulled her close to his side.
"Wow, Perce. I didn't know you had it in you," said George. Percy's only response was to roll his eyes as he escorted Penelope through the crowded pub in the direction of the exit.
In the excitement of this new development, everyone forgot to keep an eye on Harry, who had just attempted to sit down and completely missed the chair. He fell to the ground with a thud and proceeded to laugh hysterically. Ron and George rushed forward to pull him to his feet, but a feminine voice from somewhere behind them caused George to let go of Harry's arm, causing his full weight to fall on Ron, who stumbled to the ground. George spun around and came face to face with none other then Katie Bell.
Charlie, noticing the dumbstruck look on George's face, elbowed Bill and the ribs and said, "Must be the night for old girlfriends."
"Apparently," said Bill as he and Charlie attempted to help both Harry and Ron off the floor.
"K-Katie," stammered George. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, but by the look of things, I'd say you brought poor Harry out tonight to embarrass himself," said Katie, a sly grin on her face.
George could feel his face flush and brought his hand up to rub the back of his neck nervously. All through school, George kind of had a thing for Katie but was always to scared to do anything about it. And then he and Fred opened the shop and the war started and he never got the chance to tell her how he felt.
"Would you like to get a drink?" he asked, carefully avoiding looking her in the eye.
"I'd love too," said Katie. George looked up, surprised that she accepted his offer and a huge smile stretched across his face. He took her arm and led her to the bar and then to a secluded table toward the back of the pub.
Meanwhile, Harry sat slumped at the table nursing yet another glass of firewhiskey. He felt as if the entire room was spinning and it was like his head was stuck in a haze. He had difficulty concentrating on one thing for too long and was beginning to forget why he was even at the pub in the first place. And then an image on Ginny, sitting at home all alone, floated through his mind and he jumped upright.
"Ginny!" he exclaimed, startling Ron, who was slumped in the chair next to him.
"What about her?" asked Ron.
"I forgot . . . I forgot about her," said Harry, aghast. "How could I forget about her?"
"Relax, mate," said Ron in an attempt to stem Harry's rising panic. "Hermione's taking care of her. Her and Luna took her out tonight."
Harry slumped back down on the table and let out a sigh of relief. He was sure that no matter what she said about her brother's taking him out, she would be quite upset with him if he left without a word to her about where he was going. Harry had never been on the receiving end of one of her famous bat-bogey hexes and he sincerely hoped he never would be. But if he ever did something like that, he knew he would deserve it.
"Hey, where'd everyone go?" asked Harry, realizing that it was just he and Ron at the table. He attempted to scan the crowds for redheads, but his eyes were having a hard time focusing. He was just about to give up when Bill and Charlie emerged from the crowd carrying another round of drinks.
"We're down to four," said Charlie as he took his seat next to Ron and passed the drinks around the table. "Percy took off with Penelope and George disappeared somewhere with Katie Bell while you two were rolling around on the floor."
"Katie Bell?" asked Harry. He'd known Katie for the entire duration of his school days at Hogwarts but never once picked up on anything between her or George.
"Yeah. George had somewhat of a crush on her back in school from what I remember Fred saying," said Bill with a shrug. "I guess we'll see."
Harry tossed back his drink and slumped down further in his chair. In his last conscious moment, he caught site of George and Katie in the back of the pub, wrapped in each others arms.
Harry slid sideways and Ron was just able to catch him before he fell off his chair.
"I guess we better get him home," said Charlie. He tossed back the remainder of his drink and stood to help Ron and Bill support Harry's weight. He caught George's eye across the room to indicate they were leaving and turned on the spot, apparating directly into Harry and Ginny's sitting room.
Ginny had gone out that night for a few drinks and some dancing at a muggle club a few blocks down the street with Hermione and Luna. When she arrived home about an hour ago and Harry wasn't there, she decided that she would stay up and wait for him. She knew from experience that she couldn't sleep without him there anyway. She was sitting on the sofa, idly flipping through the channels on tv when four men suddenly appeared in front of her. Instinctively, she jumped to her feet and pulled out her wand, pointing it at the intruders. Realizing it was only her brothers, she relaxed her stance until she noticed Harry's limp form being supported by Charlie and Bill. She raised her wand and pointed it at the three of them.
"What did you do to him?"
"Don't hex us!" said Ron, raising his arms in the air. "He's just passed out, is all."
"Passed out? How much did he drink?" asked Ginny, keeping her wand trained on the three of them.
"I'm not really sure," said Bill. "Enough."
"Ginny, where can we put him? He's kind of getting heavy," said Charlie.
Ginny lowered her wand and stomped back to the bedroom, indicating that they should follow. "Just put him on the bed. I'll take care of him," she said.
Bill and Charlie picked him up under his arms and Ron grabbed his feet. Together they carried him down the hall and tossed him unceremoniously onto the bed. Ginny shooed them from the bedroom and back out into the sitting room, glaring at them the whole time.
"Now go home," she said, holding out a pot of floo powder. Knowing better then to protest when Ginny had that look in her eye, they each scooped a handful of powder from the pot and disappeared one by one in a whirl of green flames. Once they were gone, Ginny went back to the bedroom to check on Harry. He was snoring slightly but hadn't moved from where he landed. She pulled off his trainers and removed his glasses before climbing into bed beside him. He'll feel it in the morning, she thought to herself before finally drifting off to sleep.
When Harry woke up the next morning, he was surprised to find himself in his own bed. He tried to open his eyes, but the weak light filtering in from the bedroom window made his head feel like it was going to split open. He groaned and rolled over, expecting to bump into Ginny, but the bed was empty. He blindly patted the night table until he located his glasses, and sat up slowly, sliding them on his face. When the room finally swam into focus, he found Ginny leaning in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest and something clutched in her hand.
"What happened?" he groaned, running his hands through his hair.
"I could ask you the same thing," said Ginny, attempting to disguise the humor in her voice. "But then again, all I would really have to do is read the paper."
She tossed something on the bed and spun on her heal. "Hangover potion is on the dresser and I just made a fresh pot of tea," she called over her shoulder.
Harry reached down and picked up what he realized was the morning's edition of the Daily Prophet and looked down at the paper, confused as to what Ginny had meant. There on the front page was a picture of himself on stage with the Weird Sisters, mic in hand, with the headline 'Potter's Wild Night'. Harry groaned and flopped back on the bed, pulling a pillow over his face.
"I take it you had an interesting evening?" asked Ginny from the doorway. Harry could tell that she was fighting the urge to burst out laughing.
"You could say that again."
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A/N: I know I said that I was doing the wedding next, but I couldn't let Harry get married without the Weasley's taking him out. And I know J.K. Rowling intended for George to end up with Angelina Johnson, but I always like Katie Bell better!
As always, let me know what you think. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! :)