A/N - I just want to thank people for reading, and I hope you are all enjoying this story. I know at the minute that the notifications are not working on the site yet again, which is one of the reasons I like to publish on set days as hopefully it means no-one will miss an update. I am considering posting a one shot in the next few weeks, and if notifications are still not working, I will drop a note on here when I am ready to publish in the hopes that people will know about it. Last time I posted a one shot, I didn't know the notifications weren't working until I had posted it, so hopefully this time I can use this story to tell people about it. But for now, I hope you all enjoy carrying on with this story and are ready for more crazy Weasley mania in upcoming chapters.
The Saturday of the wedding weekend dawned with perfect weather, seemingly rendering Lucius's charms superfluous. However, his charms still provided perfect back-up in case the real weather changed suddenly. This way the weekend was guaranteed to be perfect weather, which was rather good as a lot of the festivities were planned to take place outdoors.
Saturday was a perfect example of the outdoor activities planned as lunch was to be a buffet provided in the gardens, while dinner later that evening would be barbecue style beside the pool. Other than that, there was nothing specific planned for the day as Victoire and Daniel were hoping it would be a relaxed day where people mingled happily and could do as they wished.
Shortly after breakfast the other wedding guests began to arrive and almost everyone spent the morning greeting guests and making sure everyone knew where their rooms were. The morning was also an opportunity for Daniel to meet the Delacour side of Victoire's family as he'd never met Fleur's relatives before. Luckily they were all completely charmed by him, and he was given a warm welcome into the family.
By midday everyone had arrived and once people were settled in their rooms, they started to drift into the gardens where a lavish picnic had been set out by the elves that looked after the Malfoy chateau. Not that people had to stay in the gardens, as Lucius and Narcissa had made it clear that the chateau and its grounds was available for everyone to explore. Before long both the tennis court and the quidditch pitch were in full use by some of the younger guests, while most of the other guests were sitting around beside the picnic, chatting merrily.
Victoire and Daniel spent their time hopping from group to group, making sure they had spoken to everyone they had invited to the wedding. Although there were questions raised by Fleur's family as to why Victoire's other grandparents weren't present at the wedding, which Victoire handed perfectly as she briefly explained the situation and made it clear that it wasn't a topic she and Daniel wished to discuss that weekend. Luckily, the Delacours had good enough manners not to push the matter further, and instead opted to find out more about their granddaughter's life as a trainee healer.
Leaving his fiancée to spend time with her family, Daniel grabbed himself a drink before heading over to where his father was sitting with Neville and Blaise. Daniel had been the one to show Neville, Luna and their children to their rooms when they had arrived earlier that morning, but he had yet to speak to Blaise, so he thought it was polite to greet his father's best friend. Besides, Blaise was always a laugh and it was never dull hanging around with him.
"Danny Boy, are you looking forward to tomorrow?" Blaise asked with a grin as Daniel sat down in the empty chair beside his father.
"I can't wait," Daniel replied, returning Blaise's infectious grin.
"And you're not nervous about the wedding night?" Blaise checked. "It's a big deal, consummating your union with Victoire."
"Come on Blaise, we all know that union was consummated a long time ago," Draco said, reminding his best friend that Daniel and Victoire actually lived together.
"Ah yes, but marriage is different," Blaise retorted. "Take it from someone who knows, the wedding night needs to go with a bang if the marriage is to be a success."
"How do you know that?" Neville questioned with a bemused frown. "You're not married."
"Nor ever likely to be," Draco added, well aware that his best friend was a confirmed bachelor and he doubted anything would get him to commit himself to one witch and settle down by getting married.
"I've had plenty of wives in my bed, they just happen not to be my wife," Blaise said with an unconcerned shrug. "And you want to know why they come to me? It's because the spark is gone with their husbands. Believe me Daniel, you need to start as you mean to go on. You need to blow her socks off tomorrow night. You will never get another wedding night, unless you're a complete flake like my mother and you're not, so make it a one to remember."
"I suppose he does have a point," Neville conceded. "The wedding night is a special night. I can still remember mine and Luna's. The things we got up to would make your hair curl, Blaise."
Daniel and Draco both chuckled as Blaise almost fell out of his chair at Neville's words. Despite both being close to the family, they didn't really know each other so Blaise was no doubt taken aback by Neville's frankness. However, both Daniel and Draco knew that there was a naughty side to Neville that not many people suspected existed, let alone got to see it in action.
"I'm sure you can remember your wedding night as well, Draco," Neville said, chuckling slightly at the fact he'd thrown Blaise off kilter for a moment.
"I can," Draco confirmed. "I got very little sleep."
"I don't think I need to know anymore," Daniel said with a grimace. He was old enough and wise enough to know his parents had a passionate marriage, but he didn't want to hear the sordid details.
"I wish it had been your mother keeping me up," Draco chuckled. "Instead, our wedding night was spent dealing with a toddler who'd had too much cake and excitement, and was bouncing off the walls all night."
"Oh, sorry," Daniel muttered, laughing along with Blaise and Neville at the image of him ruining his parents wedding night when he was just a small child.
"We made up for it on our honeymoon," Draco said with a shrug.
"I thought you took Daniel with you on honeymoon," Blaise remarked. He clearly remembered at the time telling Draco it was a bad idea to make his honeymoon a family holiday, but his best friend had been adamant at the time that Daniel would be joining him and Hermione.
"He came for the second week," Draco explained. "For the first week, my parents and Alicia looked after him, and Hermione and I spent seven blissful days together. Daniel then joined us and it became a family holiday. But best of all, we were so busy during the day that he was always dead tired come bedtime and he went off like a light and never disturbed us once."
"Ah, so your wedding night might have been a non-starter, but at least your honeymoon went with a bang," Blaise declared triumphantly, sounding as if he'd just made a major point. "See Daniel, you need to start as you mean to go on. Now, I can give you some tips on pleasing a witch. I've been known to make witches scream so loud they've shattered glass."
"Don't listen to him, it's all exaggeration," Draco advised his son.
"It's okay Blaise, I do not need any tips in that department," Daniel assured the older wizard with a smirk. "I know what I'm doing, but more importantly, I know what Vic likes and how to please her."
"One day, someone will listen to my expert advice," Blaise said with a dramatic sigh. "Maybe I can share my wisdom with my godson."
"I doubt Scorp needs your advice either," Daniel laughed. "According to Lyra, all the girls at Hogwarts have been all over him for these last few years. And now he's entering the world of professional quidditch, so I doubt he'll be lacking for female attention."
"It could still be an idea to share my knowledge with him," Blaise insisted, looking around for his godson. "Where is Scorpius anyway?"
"He's down at the quidditch pitch, showing off for Victoire's cousin," Daniel said.
"Roxie?" Neville questioned, thinking that George and Angelina's daughter would be a bit young for Scorpius as she was still only fourteen.
"No, Amelie," Daniel corrected. "She's Gabrielle's daughter, and I think Vic said she was just about to start her final year at Beauxbatons."
"I don't suppose this Aunt of Victoire's is married, is she?" Blaise asked hopefully. "I saw her earlier, and damn is she hot. Both her and Fleur are stunning. As of course is Victoire," he added, winking at his best friend's son.
"Sorry Blaise, but Gabrielle is happily married," Daniel chuckled. "You're in the single club with Charlie and Severus."
"I'm not getting lucky this weekend then, am I?" Blaise retorted with a dramatic sigh.
"Not unless Charlie or Severus are feeling adventurous," Draco laughed.
"Funny enough, neither of them are my type," Blaise said.
"Neither of whom are you type?" a voice asked from behind where the wizards were sitting and they all turned their heads to find Hermione standing behind her husband.
"Charlie or Severus," Draco answered. "Apparently neither of them are good enough to grace Blaise's bed this weekend."
"I'm sure that is a relief to them both," Hermione replied with a roll of her eyes. "I'm sure you can go a few days without company in your bed, Blaise."
"It'll be tough, but I can endure. For Daniel's sake," Blaise replied dramatically.
"I am very touched," Daniel said with a laugh as he got to his feet. "I better get mingling, I don't want other guests to think I'm neglecting them."
"I think a few people were heading down to the quidditch pitch," Hermione informed her son. "There was some talk of organising a bride versus groom match, only because Victoire doesn't play, she's nominated Angelina as captain in her place."
"A former pro player? Is that fair?" Blaise gasped in horror, jumping to her feet. "Johnson was a good player in her day. I can remember watching her first game for England, and she tore the opposition apart. And she's bloody gorgeous."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Hermione asked.
"Just stating facts," Blaise replied with a shrug. "Come on Danny Boy, let's get going and sort you out a good team. You can't let your bride hog all the best players. Are you coming Draco, you weren't bad in your day, so I'm sure someone could make use of you."
"How flattering," Draco snorted.
"Sorry, you're going to have to do without Draco," Hermione said. "You know quidditch isn't my thing, so I thought we could take a walk down into the village."
"That sounds good to me," Draco said as he rose to his feet and took hold of his wife's hand. "Sorry boys, but a romantic walk with my wife wins out over quidditch."
"You go and enjoy yourselves," Daniel said to his parents. "Just don't do anything naughty," he added, spotting a wicked glint in Draco's eye as he looked at Hermione. "Or at least don't get caught," he amended when Hermione looked back at Draco in the same way.
"Don't worry, I'm a master of not getting caught," Draco retorted, smirking at his wife as they meandered down the gardens to spend the afternoon taking a romantic stroll, and maybe indulging in a bit of naughtiness along the way.
Following the dramatics at the hotel viewing, Molly was left rueing the way she and Ron had handled things with Daniel and Victoire. To be honest, she had not expected the reaction they had received, and matters were not helped when Bill made it his business to bring Arthur up to speed with what was going on. Needless to say, Arthur had not been at all impressed with the incident and he'd given Molly a sharp talking to and had warned her that she needed to be careful as she was creeping closer than ever to pushing certain parts of the family away for good.
Initially, Molly had heeded her husband's words and she fretted that the mistakes had already been made, and it was too late to fix things. But then she'd spoken to Ron, and he'd been so sure that they were on the right path. His only regret seemed to be that they'd made his presence known at the viewing, whereas if they'd stayed quiet he could have attended the wedding unnoticed and everything would have been perfect. But he'd wanted to be upfront with Daniel, to show him how reasonable he was being, and sadly it had all backfired as he was clearly more anti-Weasley than either Ron or Molly realised.
At Ron's urging, Molly had formulated a plan of using someone else to help them convince Daniel to allow Ron to attend the wedding, even if it was from the distance required by the restraining order. Since it was clear that Bill was not going to go against what Daniel and Victoire were currently saying, Molly had been forced to look for help elsewhere, and after much deliberation she'd settled for George. After all, he was Daniel's godfather and aside from Victoire he was probably the member of the family who was closest to Daniel. The only problem Molly could foresee was that George had never once taken Ron's side in the entire debacle with Hermione, but she was hoping that she could talk some sense into her son and get him to see things from his little brother's point of view.
With the decision to talk to George made, Molly headed to his shop one Saturday afternoon while she was out running some errands in Daigon Alley. Upon entering the joke shop, which was pretty busy as it was still the summer holidays, Molly saw no sign of her mischievous son. Nor did she spot any sign of her daughter-in-law, Angelina. Making her way up towards the counter, she grabbed the attention of one of the young witches serving, and asked to speak to her son.
"I'm sorry Mrs Weasley, George isn't here," the young girl replied.
"When will he be back?" Molly asked, assuming he'd popped out for some reason, or was up at the Hogsmeade branch getting ready for the start of the new school year.
"Monday," the girl answered.
"Monday?" Molly questioned, not at all sure why George had left the shop all weekend. "Where is he?"
"He's in France for the weekend," the girl informed Molly. "He went with his brother."
"Of course, thank you," Molly said, understanding suddenly dawning on her. Bill and Fleur often visited Fleur's family in France, and it wasn't unheard of for George and Angelina to go with them for a break.
"Should I let him know you were looking for him?" the girl asked as Molly turned to leave.
"No, don't worry about it, I'll see him next week," Molly answered, thanking the young witch for her help.
Heading back out of George's shop, she actually found herself relieved that her son hadn't been available to speak to. This way she had a few additional days to work out how best to approach the subject. She had time to work out her arguments, arguments that would bring George around to her and Ron's way of thinking. She really didn't want to mess this up as quite frankly she thought George was her only chance. He was Ron's only chance of witnessing Harry's son getting married. And Molly knew that it was what Harry would have wanted. He would have wanted his best friend to be there on his son's big day, now all Molly had to do was help make it happen. She would help make things right, and make them the way Harry would want them to be.