Chapter 20

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"How was the wedding, I can't believe Neville invited all of you but not me," Ron said.

"Don't take it personally, Lavender wasn't there either but I don't think Neville had anything to do with who was invited, or anything else about the wedding," Harry said. "I don't know why Elsie's parents or Neville's gran only wanted Neville's married friends to attend Elsie didn't have any friends there, other than the six of us the rest of the guests were much older."

"It doesn't make a lot of sense to invite most of our year and not all, but I think Elsie has been quite isolated all her life, her parents are very overprotective and chose to home school her rather than sending her to Hogwarts, maybe she thought getting to know the other married couples at school before she started here would be better for her, I'm not even sure she's ever met an unmarried wizard close to our age other than Neville," Hermione said disapprovingly.

"I get the message, I won't take it out on Neville. It still sucks that I'm the only Gryffindor in our year that didn't get to go," Ron whined.

"Lavender wasn't invited either," Hermione reminded him.

"It sucks even more that Nev's the only one of us all to have a wedding and he still didn't get to have the wedding he wanted with all the friends he wanted there to see him get married," Harry said.

"Yeah," Ron agreed pulling a face.

"It sure wasn't the wedding I would've wanted if I got to have one," Dean agreed.

"Yeah, not a drop of alcohol for us, though I noticed the grandparents were drinking wine," Seamus complained.

"It was worse for Elsie, it was her wedding too but none of her friends were there and she didn't know any of us. I got the impression that even her parents' real friends weren't there, it was all relatives and her Grandfather's and Neville's Gran's friends from the ages of the guests," Hermione said. "At least Neville had some of us there but I can't imagine Elsie or Neville wanting that sort of party for their wedding."

"What's Elsie like?" Ron asked.

"She seems nice enough though she's really shy. It was a bit hard to tell much of anything about her other than that, like Neville said to us she's always been careful to only use her best manners and speak when spoken to the whole time they've been courting, even he doesn't really know her yet," Harry said.

"Her speech was quite formal, I don't think she's used to talking to people her own age much," Hermione added. "I don't know if she picked her dress herself but it wasn't anything like a dress I've seen someone our age wear, even the purebloods, more something my mum might wear if she were a witch."

"It might have been her mum's wedding dress?" Harry said uncertainly.

"No, I don't think so. It's impossible to tell how old the dress was, with good stasis charms it could be older than her grandmother but it wasn't the right sort of dress for a young bride of any era I know about even allowing for the differences in fashion, I wasn't meaning it was old fashioned though it was a bit, but that might have just been a witch thing, I think most of their fashion is years, sometimes decades, behind the muggle world. What I meant was that the dress was too old for her, more suited to someone in their thirties or forties than a teenager. It was clearly expensive but it was the sort of dress I'd expect to see on someone's mum, or even a youngish grandmother, it would even have looked less ridiculous on professor McGonagall though it's not her usual style," Hermione tried to explain to her two fashion challenged best friends.

"Hermione's right. The dress was all wrong for a wedding or for someone our age. Maybe it was one of her mother's cocktail dresses, though it is very inappropriate that she didn't even get a new dress for her wedding unless there is a traditional family wedding gown, and that certainly wasn't a wedding gown at all," Parvati agreed. "I don't know why anyone would want her to dress like that, or why she agreed to it. I wondered whether she is a little bit simple, since she isn't ready for OWLS yet, or if her magic isn't strong enough."

"Or she might be like Neville and hasn't been given the opportunity or the confidence to be her best. Neville was held back by his Gran insisting he use a poorly matched wand and she may have been held back because her mum is her only tutor and just hasn't had enough time to keep up with the Hogwarts curriculum," Hermione defended her new friend though she secretly wondered whether Parvati might be right.

"But she didn't even recognise Harry! You'd have to be deaf blind and stupid or live under a rock not to have known who Harry is," Parvati exclaimed.

"Or at least not get any wizarding newspaper or go anywhere near 'The Daily Prophet's' offices where they have large pictures of their most popular recent front pages up all over the windows," Leanne said.

"She should have sent her to Hogwarts or hired a tutor if she didn't have time to teach her properly," Harry said frowning and ignoring not being recognised, he wished less people recognised him on sight. "I wonder why they didn't. Elsie has enough magic, she told me she got a Hogwarts letter and was disappointed that her parents didn't send her."

"If they denied her attendance at the best school of magic in Britain and Europe then they had a responsibility to provide her an equivalent education," Hermione said angrily.

"She could've been lying about getting a letter, she's been kept almost completely isolated. None of us knew that she existed and she didn't even recognise Harry Potter," Parvati said making the others all laugh.

"That would be silly if she's going to Hogwarts next year, how did she think she would hide not having magic?" Ron said.

"She has to have some magic otherwise she wouldn't have been in danger of a ministry match and besides I can't see Madam Longbottom letting her grandson marry a squib, let alone arranging it," Hermione said.

"Even as Neville's wife, she wouldn't be accepted at Hogwarts next year if she hadn't been eligible for a place as a first year, would she?" Harry said.

They all had to agree with that and the subject was dropped. Hermione just hoped that whatever year Elsie ended up in she was able to keep up with the rest of the class and vowed to offer as much help as she could. With only one tutor it was likely that she was further behind in some subjects than she was in others.

Ron grumbled that all they wanted to talk about was the wedding and it was bad enough that he hadn't been able to go without hearing all about it over and over.

"Well your mum is sure to organise a party for your wedding, if your wife's family don't beat her to it, I'm sure she will let you invite all of us and anyone else you want to have there," Hermione tried to console him.

Ron scowled. "She's already started to nag me about the arrangements. She's going to have three of us to marry off this summer and she's trying to talk the other's into having a 'proper wedding' as well."

"Why are you making a face like that about your marriage, have you received a match?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Eloise Midgin," Ron said looking embarrassed.

"I don't think I've ever spoken to Eloise. Have you got to know her at all?" Harry asked. He recognised the name though he didn't really know the girl at all, because she wasn't a Gryffindor or in their year, didn't play on one of the house quidditch teams or join the DA last year. In fact, he couldn't really picture what she looked like now, though he remembered the acne, or rather other people talking about her acne, when he was in fourth year, and dark hair that hung over most of her face to hide it but he couldn't recall even noticing her this year. He didn't think that she'd ever tried to speak to him, but she certainly didn't stare at him like most people did, not in fourth year at any rate, and he didn't recall her calling him a cheat or trying to hex him in the corridors which was a point in her favour.

"Yeah! We're becoming friends, she loves chess and quidditch and she's a Chudley Cannons supporter. There's nothing wrong with her, I just don't want to be married, she's more of a friend than a girlfriend," Ron said, slightly embarrassed.

"That sounds like a good match for you as long as she can cook, you have a lot in common," Harry said. "I'd like to meet her. I'm sure Hermione already knows her but maybe we could meet on the next Hogsmeade weekend, or you could bring her to sit with us for a meal."

"I don't know how to cook!" Ron exclaimed.

"Well perhaps you ought to learn in case Eloise doesn't like cooking all the time," Hermione retorted.

"I didn't mean you like to cook but you do love to eat so I can't see you being happy living with a wife who can't cook," Harry replied.

"I'd like to get to know her better but don't bring her to a meal yet," Hermione said. "We want her to get to know Ron a bit better before she's subjected to seeing the way he eats. He doesn't want to frighten her away with his atrocious manners or his appetite."

The Gryffindors around them chuckled but Ron for the first time since she started criticising his lack of table manners in the first few weeks of first year, actually blushed and seemed to take her words seriously. "So the three Broomsticks? Or should we meet somewhere in Hogwarts?" he asked.

"Somewhere in Hogwarts, perhaps out on the lawn by the lake if it's a nice day, or in a classroom near the library," Hermione replied. "It would be better than Ron trying to meet up with us in the middle of a date."

"Yeah that didn't go down so well when I tried it with Cho," Harry added chuckling.

Ron didn't say anything else to her but Hermione took this conversation as a sign she might finally be getting somewhere with his table manners and stepped up her correcting him. Surprisingly he didn't lose his temper at her nagging and finally seemed to be making a real effort to improve, it was Harry that stopped her and suggested she focus on one or two things that annoyed people the most and that Ron had a chance of remembering, rather than trying to turn Ron into the perfect pureblood gentlewizard within the next few days and irritating him so much that he stopped trying again.

"Do you know Eloise, Hermione?" Harry asked wanting a less biased opinion of the girl who was going to be his best mate's wife.

"Yes, though not very well, I don't think anyone really does outside a small group of friends, she's so shy. She's a nice girl and reasonably clever but very quiet and she doesn't have much self confidence. She told me she's a halfblood her father is a muggle and her mother a muggleborn. She's only fifth year so she's not in any of our classes but her birthday must be in September or October to already have a match," Hermione replied.

"She didn't try to complete the ritual?" Lavender asked. "I don't know her well, she's a bit too serious for me. I think she works hard to try to avoid attention."

"No , she never signed up to attempt it though I thought she would, she helped us with the research at the start when we first found out about the law and were looking for a way out of the marriages the ministry was going to arrange, but she doesn't take Ancient Runes and didn't have the skill to help with drawing the circles and she never paired with anybody. I guess she thought as a halfblood, her ministry match wouldn't be too bad," Hermione replied.

"And she's right. Marrying a Weasley, isn't bad. Except she's not a redhead," Harry said teasingly.

Hermione remained silent though she couldn't help thinking that marrying Ron who would want his wife to be a stay at home mother and a large family, may not be what Eloise had wanted for her life. She studied too hard not to have ambitions for a career. Becoming a housewife was definitely not what Hermione had wanted and she hadn't realised that Ron would expect that if he'd married her. She was now very glad that the ritual hadn't worked for her with Ron. She suspected that the reason Eloise hadn't completed the ritual had less to do with the fact that she trusted the ministry to find her a good match than it did with the fact that she seemed to have no close friends, that nobody had asked her to complete the ritual with them and she was too shy to ask anybody else, especially once she'd heard about some of the original pairings not managing to form a marriage bond, or perhaps the person she had asked had declined or already bonded with another. Hermione couldn't help feeling sorry for the girl and resolved to be as friendly as possible, and to try to talk Ron into letting his wife continue her studies or to get a job if Eloise wanted to have a career.

"None of us have been paired with red heads," Ron replied smirking.

"So no more red headed Weasleys," Harry said shocked.

"Of course, my children will have red hair, it's the Weasley way," Ron retorted confidently.

"The reason you all have red hair is because both of your parents have red hair. Red hair is recessive so that means that it's possible none of the next generation of Weasleys will be a red head if none of you marry red heads, though their children might be if they marry someone with a redheaded parent as well," Hermione stated.

"That's rubbish, all the Weasleys have always had red hair," Ron scoffed.

Harry looked at Hermione and shrugged. "Maybe it's a magical trait that overrides normal genetics," he suggested doubtfully.

Hermione huffed in exasperation. "Have you looked at the family portraits on the walls at the Weasleys, Arthur's father, grandfather and uncles all also married redheads, they could have nothing but redheaded children. If magic is involved at all it's in encouraging Weasley wizards to find red hair attractive to maintain the family trait. This marriage law overrides natural inclination and will end the all Weasleys have red hair reputation."

Harry laughed. "I've never noticed Ron or the twins going after red heads, and Percy was completely infatuated with Penelope Clearwater who was as far from a redhead as you could get without being black or Asian. Fred was involved with Angelina, there's absolutely no chance she would have a red haired child if they hadn't broken up, and I don't think George and Alicia will either."

"True but if it wasn't for the marriage law then neither of them would have married for years yet. Who knows who they would end up dating in that time," Hermione said.

-o0o-

"Have you heard from Angelina?" Harry asked Katie after practice one night.

"Yeah, she got a reserve position on one of the teams where she is and says she's fitting in really well with the rest of the reserves. She didn't receive a ministry letter so I guess she got far enough away," Katie said.

"She was always a great chaser. Is she happy?" Harry asked.

"She didn't say she wasn't," Katie answered cryptically.

"That doesn't mean you couldn't tell from her letter," Harry commented.

Katie was quiet for a moment, Harry was a team mate but he was also on good terms with the Weasleys. Well perhaps less so now that he'd married Hermione instead of Ginny like everyone had thought he would. She sighed. "Angie was pretty messed up when Fred broke up with her. She really loved him. He offered to marry her when the law was announced even though they'd broken up, but I can understand why she wouldn't when she still had feelings for him. She's still bitter about him breaking up with her for one of his shop girls."

"Yeah, I get that," Harry agreed. "What about Alicia, have you heard from her?"

"She's doing well, she knew what she was getting into with George, and she gets along well enough with the girl the ministry matched Fred with," Katie replied.

"He didn't marry the girl he left Angelina for?" Harry asked.

"No, they'd only just got together and I think it was mostly lust and infatuation, apparently the relationship was already showing signs of strain, and then she left him when she heard he'd offered to marry Angelina instead of offering to marry her. He tried to ask her after Angie said no but she already knew about him asking Angie first," Katie replied.

Harry laughed. "That'd do it!" he agreed. "I thought Fred was smarter than that."

"I don't think he cared that much, Alicia said he was more disappointed that Angelina said no," Katie replied. "He always thought they'd take a break and get back together."

"You mean he was thinking like Ron when he asked out Lavender at the start of the year in spite of the fact he was crushing on Hermione, Fred wanted to marry Angelina but thought that he didn't have to worry about that until he was ready to get married and he wanted to have some fun with some other girls first and expected Angelina to wait for him to grow up and get his head out of his arse?" Harry said amused.

"That about sums it up," Katie said laughing.

"What about you and Eddie? I know you had only just started dating when the law changed but you both seem happy," Harry asked.

"I don't think we're in love yet, but we get along well, in and out of the bedroom. It's not what I dreamed of when I thought about being married but we're not just making the best of it. I can see myself having a family with him, being happy making a life together. Not everyone is as lucky as you and Hermione, to marry the love of their life," Katie said.

"Hermione and I still had our struggles," Harry corrected her.

"Yeah but most of them were external stuff, you love each other. It's obvious that you're the most important person in her life and she is in yours. In hindsight you both always were," Katie said wistfully.

"I'm sorry Katie, I didn't mean to upset you," Harry apologised.

"No Harry, don't apologise for being happy. It's good to see that some of us are," Katie replied hugging him quickly.

-o0o-

"Who are Eloise's friends?" Harry asked, after Hermione pointed her out sitting alone in the library studying. He realised he'd often seen her there before but never known or cared who she was. Lavender and Parvati were right, she blended into the background like a sleeping portrait.

"I'm not really sure. I know she's friendly with Hannah Abbott though they don't have classes together but most of the time I've seen her in the library on her own or sitting with her dorm mates in the great hall. But just like you'd often see me sitting with Lavender and Parvati, it doesn't mean they're close. I don't really know the other girls in her dorm," Hermione replied. "Ginny might know more about her, they're in the same year."

"I can't ask Ginny," Harry mumbled.

"Is she still not talking to you?" Hermione asked. "I thought she was dating one of the Ravenclaws in her year."

"I didn't know about her dating again. She says she isn't angry with me anymore and she talks to me casually sometimes but she still acts like I killed her pet kneazle half the time she sees me," Harry said sighing.

"She has no right to act like she's still heartbroken when she's the one that refused to even talk about trying to do the ritual with you. Especially since I heard she's been caught in a broom closet a couple of times with her new boyfriend, I can't believe she's being so hypocritical," Hermione huffed.

Harry laughed, "Do you really think I should tell her that next time she gives me a hard time?" he asked.

"Merlin no! Unless you want to deal with her bat bogey hex," Hermione exclaimed laughing. "Luna is in their year level too, she's sure to have some interesting insights."

Harry chuckled. Interesting was the right word for how Luna tended to describe people, but if you listened carefully and knew about the side effects she attributed to the imaginary creatures she mentioned she could be scarily accurate in her assessments of people's characters and emotional states. Still he didn't ask her because Luna could also be uncomfortably forthright at times and he didn't want her to tell Ron that he'd been asking around about Eloise or worse yet tell Eloise or Ginny some farfetched story about creatures making her interesting to Harry and set off Ron's misplaced jealousy.

Hermione agreed to ask Luna, after she finished laughing at Harry's paranoia but Luna didn't have any insights either.

-o0o-

The first meeting Harry and Hermione had with Ron and Eloise had been more awkward than good as far as Harry was concerned. She seemed to be a nice girl under the paralysing shyness which Harry's stupid fame probably made worse. He tried to talk to her about quidditch but she could barely look at him, bringing back uncomfortable memories of a little girl putting her elbow in the butter dish and rushing away in mortification. He hoped it was only shyness and not a crush on The-Boy-Who-Lived.

Hermione had more luck talking about classes, it seemed that Arithmancy was Eloise's favourite and she happily talked about what she was learning, forgetting that being a year ahead and the top student in her year none of it would be new or exciting to Hermione but the older girl indulged her interest and the two boys didn't understand anything they were talking about and soon tuned them out starting their own discussion.

Hermione said later that she was less shy when it was just the two girls together, and from what Ron had said she wasn't so shy she couldn't talk to him either. Harry hoped she wasn't another fan girl, Ron deserved better than that and it wouldn't take him long to notice and get upset if she didn't pull herself together and start treating Harry the way she treated Ron's other friends instead of being an awestruck fangirl. Hermione laughed at his embarrassment but understood his concern about Ron's reaction and promised to try to talk to her about it next time she saw her on her own.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed or favourited this story for your support.