Chapter 8: July, 2014

Melony decided to send Lily out to deal with the press. She didn't know how she was going to get rid of them, but she trusted that she would come up with something. By the time she returned, the bridesmaids had all changed into their dresses and were helping Melony into hers. Lily ran off to change and returned while Teddy and the regular photographer were taking pictures of the bridal party and Melony was able to pull Lily off to the side.

"How'd it go?" Melony asked.

"Alright," Lily said. "We sent Fred out to 'tip them off' that the real guests would be arriving at a different entrance on the side. He and Hugo are now outside guiding some of the more well-known wizard guests to that entrance."

Melony nodded taking a deep breath, "As long as they don't come in that should be fine."

"I don't think they will."

"Melony!" Mrs. Potter shouted from across the room. "They want a couple pictures of you with your mum!"

Melony spent the next half an hour taking pictures and by the time they were done, it was time to get started. The wedding party headed out and lined up. Melony tried to sneak a peak, tip toeing to peer over the heads in front of her. She couldn't see much, but she could tell that there wasn't any type of commotion, and that's all she cared about for now.

She could also tell that the church was packed. She caught sight of a few wizards on Al's side who were wearing robes, but they were so packed in they didn't stand out. The rest of Al's guests were wearing a variation of the same outfit spanning the last sixty decades: the men had on a jacket, button-up shirt and slacks while all the women were wearing floor length dresses. Al and his family had sent a sample picture with each of their invitations and it worked beautifully. Most of it was outdated, but at least it was appropriate.

Melony closed her eyes and sighed. Everything was going to be okay.

When she opened her eyes again the doors to the church had been closed, waiting for her big reveal. Her father was grabbing her arm and hooking it into the crook of his arm. Melony smiled up at him as he looked stoically on. She knew that he was avoiding her gaze on purpose, and it meant more to her than if he were looking down at her.

The wedding march started, the doors opened, and Melony gasped. She had been so concerned with looking at the guests and making sure that everything was calm that she hadn't noticed the flowers. There were so many flowers Melony couldn't even see Al at the altar. It looked as if all the flowers had been moved into the church, which led Melony to believe that there were no flowers at the reception. Anxiety began to sweep over her. What were they using at the reception? Were they planning to magically transfer all of the flowers after the ceremony? There wouldn't be enough time or people to set it up! What were they thinking? How could Amy let this happen…

But that is when her thoughts drifted away because at that precise moment she was finally able to see Al, who was watching her approach, his eyes shining with love and excitement. At that precise moment, everything melted away. It didn't matter that the press were right outside, or that the reception hall was bare; all that mattered was this, right here, right now, and Al.

Melony subconsciously started picking up her pace. She was already half-way down the aisle, but it felt like a million miles to go. She wanted to sprint up to Al, but she resisted the urge and succumbed to her father's steadying arm which was keeping them on rhythm.

Melony felt so happy and giddy and light. Everything had worked out, and she was about to get married. She couldn't believe that she was actually here.

Just as this thought settled in her mind, making her feel warm all over, a loud THUD! came from directly behind her followed by tiny little clicks.

"Ger off er meh!" a booming voice echoed throughout the church.

Melony saw Al's horrified face before spinning around and seeing an extremely large man with a huge, bushy, scraggly gray beard and wild, gray hair trying to push his way past hundreds of photographers who had flooded in around him.

The clicking from the cameras was almost deafening. Melony stood shell-shocked not knowing what to do as Mr. Potter marched right past her followed closely by Al and James.

"Don' 'orry 'arry," the large man said. "I go' 'em."

He started shoving and tossing photographers toward the door, but for every one that he managed to throw out, ten more managed to squeeze in past him. They started filing into the church filling in wherever they could fit all the while snapping away.

"I'm 'orry 'arry," said the large man while holding back three photographers at once. "I jus go' the invite today. Had ter fight my way out 'er the forest, but I had ter be 'ere."

"It's okay, Hagrid, thanks for coming," Mr. Potter said before moving past him and assessing the situation. He turned to his son and shook his head. "There are too many."

Al nodded sharply and then spun around and walked briskly back up the aisle toward Melony who was still standing frozen, attached to her father's strong arm.

"What are we going to do?" she breathed as soon as Al reached them.

"Plan B," Al said looking from Melony to her father who nodded knowingly.

"What's plan B?" Melony asked.

"Grab your mother and your sister and go to the sacristy. I'll meet you there."

Melony nodded, not wanting to take up any more time. The photographers were already inching closer, becoming bolder the longer they stood there. Al grabbed her hand, squeezed, and then lifted his fingers to his mouth and gave a loud, piercing whistle. As soon as he had done this, dozens of witches and wizards came streaming out of the pews where they were standing and started shouting and moving around, blocking the photographers. Melony watched this phenomenon wide-eyed as her dad pulled her away toward the front pew where her mother was standing looking both compleatly angry and annoyed all at the same time. He grabbed her without saying a word and guided both of the clueless women toward the little room off to the right of the altar that served as the sacristy. Mrs. Potter, Lily, Amy, and the priest were already standing inside, calmly discussing the order of events.

"What is going on?" Melony's mother demanded as soon as her father had let her go and closed the door, barricading it with his solid frame.

"I am so very sorry," Mrs. Potter said. "You see, Mr. Potter is a bit of a celebrity back in England, big time politician and all that, and it seems the press have caught wind of the wedding."

A rhythmic knock could barely be heard over the commotion coming from outside. Melony's father opened the door slightly and James slid into the room.

"Blimey it's bad out there," he said, brushing himself off. "Folks are doing a real nice job keeping them distracted though. Still, I managed to get a couple nice shots in myself."

James winked at Melony's father who stared down at him in stoic contempt. Luckily for James, Al and Mr. Potter slid into the room and distracted Mr. Clark's gaze long enough for him to slither away.

"So what are we going to do?" Melony's mother asked.

Al looked apologetically at Melony. "We thought we could do the ceremony in here," he said.

Melony looked around and noticed for the first time that the little room they were in had also been decorated. Vases of flowers lined the floor, making a makeshift aisle which led to a small wooden archway lined with ivy and tiny white flowers.

"You did say you wanted a small wedding," said Al, attempting a smile.

Melony grinned. "It's perfect," she said, grabbing his hand. "Let's get married."

Everyone took their places and began again. Melony was able to walk down a much shorter aisle, her father was still able to give her away, and they were able to get through the entire ceremony without any interruption. Whatever the crowds were doing outside was working. At first it was really loud and there were even a couple of loud bangs, but after only about twenty minutes there was no more noise coming from behind the door.

Once the ceremony was done, the Potters and the Clarks peered around the door to the sacristy to see a completely empty church that was in shambles. They started walking around to assess the damage, but quickly realized that the flowers had been the only casualties. Petals and stems lay everywhere, smeared against the walls, smashed into the floor, and strewn all over the pews. Melony sighed and began helping pick up what she could, resigning to the fact that there would be no decorations at her reception.

Melony helped clean until Mrs. Weasley and Rose arrived to help Mrs. Potter and Lily while Melony and Al went to take pictures with their wedding party whom they had called earlier telling them to meet in Central Park.

After two hours of wedded bliss spent cleaning and taking photos, the exhausted couple was finally climbing into Al's cop car and heading to their reception.

"Al," Melony said after they had driven a few blocks and her mind had finally calmed enough to think about the events of the day, "you didn't plan that did you? Inviting the press so we could have a small ceremony."

"No, but it worked out, didn't it?" he said kissing her wedding ring.

"Yes, but you could have given me a heads up."

"I didn't want to overwhelm you."

"What are we going to do about the reception?"

"I called in a favor," Al said. "My old precinct is already over there cordoning off the hotel."

Melony looked out the window, thinking. "Was that Hagrid at the wedding?" she finally asked.

"Yes," Al said, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"I thought he wasn't coming."

"My parents sent an owl anyway on the off chance that it would find him. I guess it did. I can't believe he came all this way. No one has seen him for years."

"Well, I guess it was sweet of him, even if he did ruin the wedding. Are we going to have a place for him at the reception?"

"I'm sure my mom will figure it out."

Melony nodded, not really trusting Mrs. Potter at the moment.

The police car was able to make it to the hotel where the reception was being held rather quickly. Melony could see hundreds of photographers crowding the entrance before she ducked down while Al put his cap on. The photographers were so distracted by the arrival of the guests that they didn't even look twice at the seemingly ordinary cop car Al drove right past them and around to the back of the hotel.

Once she and Al were inside, Melony started heading toward the back door where their entrance would take place, but Al pulled her toward another entrance.

"What are you doing?"

"I think you deserve the first peak," he said.

He and Melony snuck around to the front entrance and slid inside.

"Al, this is sweet, but really, it's okay that there isn't...," Melony began to say before her jaw dropped.

They were standing in the middle of a forest. Life-sized trees were placed sporadically around the room creating a canopy of leaves overhead where hundreds of live butterflies were fluttering, making the orbs of light hanging from the branches dance. Rustic wooden tables topped with a single lantern containing floating fireflies were placed around the room and the ground shimmered as if it were covered in wet leaves.

"This is my parents' wedding gift to us," Al said softly. "Do you like it?"

All Melony managed to do was nod, tears welling up in her eyes. "Al," she said, "I have to get out of here before I ruin my makeup."

Al chuckled and embraced her, kissing her on the forehead. The two of them stood looking at the room, Melony vowing to never distrust Mrs. Potter again.

The next hour was a whirlwind of pictures, announcements, entrances, and then, finally, food. Melony was starving, but she knew that she had to go around with Al to their guests and explain what had happened at the church. A few of Melony's stauncher relatives were upset they had missed the actual ceremony, but other than that everyone was extremely understanding.

Melony and Al had decided to split up the tables into wizarding and non-wizarding guests, so after they had spent forty-five minutes going around to all of the non-wizarding tables with their regular photographer, they then went back through to all of the wizarding tables with Teddy. Melony thanked each one for helping distract the photographers in the church and they all had the same response: we would do anything for the Potters. Hagrid almost broke down in tears he was so upset, but after many reassurances from Al and Melony, he gave them both a bone-crushing hug that told them he was fine.

It was actually pretty exciting meeting some of the more renowned witches and wizards. Melony even met a Dr. Vincent who claimed to be the bases of a superhero, Dr. Strange, but the most exciting table was the D.A. table where Alicia Spinnet, Dean Thomas, Katie Bell, Lee Jordan, Seamus Finnigan, and Hannah Abbott were all seated. Al spent a few minutes going around, introducing Melony to each one, who in turn gave her a little blurb about what they were up to now that Melony knew she would never remember.

The last person they spoke to was Al's grandfather who was there alone since Al's grandmother had been too sick to make it. Melony had met Al's grandpa Weasley once before and found the stooped, balding man charming. He had become extremely eccentric in his old age and would spend hours chatting Melony's ear off about the contraptions he has made, or the muggle artifacts he has collected. Thankfully tonight he was interrupted by Mrs. Potter who came over to lead her father over to their table, claiming that he needed to meet someone. Melony and Al watched as she helped him over to the family's table where Lily was standing with a serious-looking young man with dark, thick eyebrows shaking hands with Mr. Potter.

"Oh, good, Krasimir made it," Al said. "He's the son Viktor Krum. Great guy."

"Really? Well, you should remember that for later," Melony said, steering him toward their own sweetheart table.

"Why?"

"No reason," Melony said looking back at Lily who was now laying her head on Krasimir's shoulder and smiling.

When she and Al finally made it to their table, Melony was so exhausted she practically fell into her chair. She and Al only had a few minutes before the first dance and were about to dive into their cold plate of chicken when there was a loud BANG and out of nowhere an older, stately man in long, elegant flowing robes appeared right in front of them.

Melony dropped her fork in surprise as Al began to rise out of his chair cautiously. Some of the guests had looked around at the loud noise, but most were still chatting away, oblivious to the intruder.

Melony opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by two more loud bangs bringing in two more men. Now, about half the room was on it's feet trying to figure out what all the commotion was.

The first man scanned the room with his icy eyes and landed on the table where Ron and Hermione were seated. Ron was already standing with his fists clenched, breathing hard. The two men took a moment to stare each other down, hatred pouring out of them.

"Al," Melony said, taking advantage of the headed silence, "what is going on?"

"I don't know," he said, "but it can't be good, because that is Draco Malfoy."