Chapter Twenty-Six:
Charlie wakes a couple days before his wedding day to Hyla. He is in his childhood room that he and Bill shared growing up. He listens to hear if anyone is in the house. It is getting more quiet as the summer moves along. All the different weddings are splitting the large male dominated family into smaller cells revolving around the Burrow. That and the younger ones have gone back to school.
It sounds like no one is around. He gets up and realizes that he slept in for the first time since leaving home. He grabs the insulated coffee mug with a closeable cover that his future inlaws gave him and Bill for Christmas.
With his coffee and a doughnut from the bakery down in the village that Bill bought, Charlie heads out to his workshop. It is basically a lean-to that he fashioned together to work on the different elements of the ceremony tent.
Charlie sits back on his haunches three hours later. He smiles as he looks at his handiwork. He has just finished carving the white trees that will line the asile. He finished just in time too; his future wife is walking up to inspect what he was up to out here.
"Oh, these are marvelous, Charlie. You did such a great job on them." Hyla praises him, while running her finely boned hands all over the trees. It is enough to make the redhead start to get jealous of the pieces of foam; but she soon turns those piercing green eyes towards him. He smiles at her. "I'm glad you like them." He manages to get out around the frog in his throat.
"Of course I do, they are just what I wanted. You are so talented to make them yourself." Her velvet voice washes over him as her white blonde, silken hair floats around him. Embarrassed with the amount of praise that she is giving him, Charlie blushes and rubs a hand on the back of his scarred neck.
His whole body is one big scar.
He never told his family but, the very dragon that Harry squared off with during the Tournament, had burned him all over once they got back to Romania. He spent six months in the burn Hospital getting salved and wrapped untill he healed.
Hyla knew because he tells her everything. They talked constantly for hours when they first started seeing each other.
He asked her to marry him after five mealsly dates. Neither were in town when the Marriage Law was enacted, so they had some leeway on their choice. It was a fast courtship, but both knew it would stand against the coming years. They are both outdoor people and loved to be on the go or doing something.
Truthfully, he caught sight of her at the Christmas Party at Harry's parents' house. He could not help but to follow her around. She was just too beautiful.
Hyla had a deep green velvet babydoll style shirt on over black tuxedo pants, complete with the sateen stripe down the sides and black patent leather sandals. The clothes hinted at her goddess body and the top highlighted her green eyes. She mainly stayed by her twin sister, Reyna and only drifted away occasionally to visit with other siblings.
When he finally built up enough courage to speak to her, Charlie found out a lot. She was the Queen of the Amazons and was based out of Seattle, Washington in the States, but was about to move to England until the youngest of her siblings were out of school.
They sat next to each other through the rest of the day. Charlie had never clicked with someone so well before.
After a while with her, he noticed some people thought she was snooty and unreachable. It was mainly Lavender and her little group of sluts. As much as Charlie detests even the idea of that girl being in their family, he does agree with his brothers in that Ron deserves to be with her. The aloofness that people saw was Hyla's shyness.
She admired her great aunt, Hestia, the goddess of the hearth. They would sit to the side, when she was younger, and watch things happen. That is why she declined the girls' invitations from time to time. Reyna insisted on Hyla being her maid of honor and when she found out that Bill had asked him to be best man, she agreed. It took a lot of courage for her to deliver that speech, but she was great none the less.
After the reception, Hyla remarked. "Ha! Now she has to do it. She is worse at getting up to address a crowd than I am. It's a wonder that we are in command positions." Harry was standing near and heard her. "You are not the only ones, big sister." He told her as he praised her speech. The fact that he took the time out to do that in the middle of all of his drama that day, brought tears to her eyes.
When the giants came, she went into fight mode and attacked along with her other family. He and Bill stood back and watched. Hyla was a jewel that has been kept from the world. Charlie knows the feeling, being a diamond in the rough himself.
When they discussed a wedding theme, she came up with Winter Wonderland. Charlie was all for it, but tried to imagine how to get it done. That was when she whipped out some pictures.
"Been thinking a while on this, haven't you?" He quips.
With Bill, Fred, George and Harry's help, he will be able to get it together.
Bill and Rey will not be back for another day or so. So, he will have to deal with the preparations by himself until then. Hyla has offered repeatedly to help, but he said that she should not have to. Plus he wants to surprise her with the ceremony site.
Harry and the twins helped him raise the tent, two days ago and he has slowly started working on the decorations for the ceremony. It makes him wish he paid more attention in Charms.
He and Harry draped the inside with white gauze. Hermione raised the crystal chandleiers and arranged the winter white asile runner. Charlie arranged the chairs. Now he is arranging the trees around the asile.
"Are you sure that I cannot help out in here?" Hyla opens the flap to the wedding tent and gasps at the inside.
"I was hoping to surprise you, but if you truely want to help, you can drape these crystaly things on all the branches, while I test these glow lamps." Charlie hands Hyla the sparkly doo dads that Hermione whipped up after he explained what he was looking for and asked where he could find them. He then sets the glow lamps at the base of the tree stands.
Once they are done, they both stand back and admire the effect. When he looks over at her, Charlie sees that Hyla is crying. "This is perfect, Charlie. Thank you so much."
"Hey there, Love. This is the easy one. The reception room is the one that we will need the help on. Lord knows Ronald and Lavender are none." Charlie gathers her close to his chest. He is pretty proud of the room too, but mostly he is happy that she loves it.
Hyla had said that she had a plan for the reception. He has seen her inspiration photograph and hopes so, because that is a lot of detail in the room.
