Chapter 55 – The Cottage
GN
"No, we couldn't impose." I said again as Molly said we could stay at the burrow. First of all, the house was already crowded, second it would be way too awkward with George there, since the twins are staying at the burrow too. We were sitting in the empty great hall eating a late dinner.
"The four of them can stay with us, right Bill?" Fleur suggested.
"I was just going to suggest it myself." He smiled and kissed the top of her head.
"Six of you in the flat?" Molly gasped and shook her head. "No, that's too small."
"We'll manage. We have three rooms, Charlie and Bash can share a room and Gwen and Cedric."
"They are too young!"
I bit my lip to hold back my laughter, Cedric looked at his lap with a grin. Bill and Charlie shared a look before bursting into laughter.
"Mum, they're married!" Charlie laughed.
"Well..." She didn't know what to say to that, but a smile appeared on her face.
"And we're moving to the cottage next week. So, if they decide to stay, they can crash at our place."
"That's really sweet." I said reaching for his hand. "But like I told your mum, we don't want to impose."
"We can stay at my parents' house, they'll be happy to see us."
"Stay with us until at least after the funeral." Bill said, and with the look he gave me, I didn't want to object.
"Alright. Till the funeral." I nodded.
"Great, now that everything is settled, we can go." Molly stood up. "Arthur had some things to finish up at the ministry and the kids will arrive tomorrow morning with the train."
"What about the twins?" Bill asked.
"They left an hour ago. They had some potions on stasis that needed to be finished. Oh, Fleur, maybe you can come over this week so we can talk about the wedding."
Fleur smiled and followed Molly out of the great hall. The five of us watched them walk out of the room before we stood up. "Your wedding is going to be huge." Cedric chuckled.
"Don't remind me." Bill groaned and rubbed his scarred face. I walked over to him and locked my arm with his.
The first question in my mind was 'how are you' but I pushed it back, he probably heard that enough the past few days. "Thanks for letting us crash."
"Don't mention it. Just put a muffliato charm around the room alright." He winked.
"Oh gods!" I slapped his arm, with a laugh. "My brother is sleeping in the room next to us." I hissed and looked over my shoulder where Bash was walking with Ced and Charlie. Bill just laughed loudly, his laughter echoed in the empty great hall.
"You're coming to the wedding, right?"
"Well, since I just found out and I don't know when the wedding will be..."
"It's not my fault you were travelling the world." He grinned.
"Oh, you're one to say, you just came back to England a year ago or something?" I chuckled, and he shrugged.
"Keep August 1st free then."
"I'll see if I can pencil you in." I nudged his side as we walked towards Sprout's office where we could use the floo.
"I still can't believe you're married." He said as we walked down the steps. "How, when, where?"
Cedric walked up next to us, and I reached my hand out. He intertwined our fingers together with a smile. "What's the gossip?"
"Bill just asked me the how, when and where of the wedding." I chuckled.
"Oooh, let me tell you this amazing story then. One we could tell our grandkids about one day." He smiled dreamily and started telling Bill the whirlwind of that day.
"You got engaged and married in a day?"
"In a couple of hours, actually." Bash laughed behind us.
"That's mad." Bill laughed.
"At least we didn't have any wedding stress. It was just us, and Ced's parents."
"You didn't even have a party?"
"No, I had all I need." I smiled up at Cedric, and already braced myself for the others snickering, but to my surprise it didn't happen. Cedric leaned down and kissed me softly.
"We could all use a bit of happiness in a time like this." Was the only thing that was said, and even to this day, I don't know who out of the three said it.
GN
It was two weeks after Dumbledore's funeral, and Cedric and I were still staying at Bill's. We had helped them move into the cottage a week ago, and they invited us to stay longer. And for some reason we didn't object. The beach, albeit colder and the sea greyer than in Australia, still reminded me of the beach we had our wedding. I was sitting on the beach waiting for Fleur. She asked me to go look for flowers for the wedding. Charlie had dragged Cedric out of the cottage and to one of the wizarding publishers he knew. They rarely let us go out alone, even if we were off age.
"Gwen?" Fleur called out. I stood up and pushed the sand from my dress.
"Coming." I climbed the small dunes and saw her waiting on the patio. Her blonde hair was in a high ponytail, that swayed in the wind. She clasped her hand around my arm and we apparated from the spot.
GN
Thank Merlin, Fleur was good conversation because picking out flowers was deadly boring. I was just letting my hand graze of the petals of the flowers as I walked in the aisle. Fleur walking on the other side, was telling me about Bill who tried to speak French to his parents.
"He said-" Fleur laughed. "He said to my parents, he would like to ride the pig." A very un-lady like snort came from Fleur that made me laugh even more. If you saw Fleur for the first time, you would think she's snobbish and pretentious, but nothing could be further from the truth. She is smart, funny, kind.
"Has he gotten better at it?" I asked, when the laughter finally died down.
"Non." She snickered. "But he tries." A goofy smile appeared on her face.
"You two are perfect for each other."
"Molly didn't think so." I quirked my eyebrow at her, not following. "She always tried to get Bill together with Tonks. Have you met her?"
"No, I've heard of her though."
"She's funny a thing, a metamorphmagus, like you."
"Really?" I said in surprise. "I heard some crazy stories about her, but everyone seemed to fail to mention that." I chuckled.
"You'll meet her at the wedding." She smiled. She glanced at her watch and sighed. "I'm not going to find anything today, let's head back."
"Alright. I think I've seen enough flowers for the rest of my life." I teased and walked over to her. She pursed her lips with a quirk in the corners before we walked out of the muggle store.
GN
We appeared in front of the cottage, just inside the wards they had put up. I made a move to walk up the steps, but Fleur halted me. I looked back to her confused.
"Cedric's going to be here any minute."
"Alright." I frowned and stepped back next to her. I was just going to ask her why we couldn't wait inside when Cedric and Charlie appeared in front of us. "Hey, handsome." I smiled and kissed my husband.
"Hello, gorgeous." He dipped me and kissed me again.
"Shouldn't the honeymoon phase be over already." Charlie snickered behind us. Cedric still had me in a dip, and I looked up to Charlie and stuck out my tongue.
"Don't get me started on you and Bash." I pointed out when Cedric pulled me back up.
"Come on, let's head in. Bill should be ready with dinner by now." We followed Fleur inside, but the house was empty. Fleur looked around the kitchen before she guided us to the garden door. She opened the door and let Cedric and I pass first. The moment our feet touched the patio, fireworks shot up in the air, spelling congratulations, while a group of people shouted the very same. My eyes roamed the beach garden, all of the Weasleys were there, alongside Lyra, Odin and Hermione. My old professor, Lupin was standing in the corner, looking tired with a young woman next to him with purple hair. Bill and Bash were grinning like madmen as they looked at our shocked faces.
"Uhm, you don't need that, little one." Bash smiled as he came closer and lowered my arm. I had drawn my wand from the sudden explosion.
"Good reflexes though." Bill nodded approvingly.
"What's this?" I asked, looking around.
"You didn't have much of a wedding. And none of us could be there, so I thought we would throw you a wedding party." Bill said, he kissed my cheek. "Congratulations, Guinevere Diggory." He turned to Cedric and held out his hand. "Good luck with this one."
"I'm still holding my wand." I treated with pursed lips, and the two men laughed. When Bash and Bill made room Lyra had flung her arms around me, while Odin clapped Cedric's back.
"You got married! Without us!" Lyra pulled back beaming. "Tell us everything." She guided us to the firepit and when everyone said their well wishes and congratulations, Cedric started telling the story. Oh, how much he loved telling it. Near the end of the story, I saw George get up and walk towards the beach. When Cedric was done, I whispered to him.
"I'm going to go talk to him." When he nodded, I kissed him, and the crowd howled and whistled. I winked at him before I followed the tall redhead towards the beach.
GN
He was kicking against a pebble near the water when I reached him. I stepped next to him and glanced at his face. He had cut his hair. A shame. I thought, he looked good with slightly longer hair. But the rest was still the same, not much of a surprise since it's barely a year ago since she saw him, but still. We walked right next to the sea in silence for a while, you could hear the sounds of the party from the cottage and the waves of the ocean, but nothing more.
"I'm sorry." We both said at the same time.
We stopped walking and turned towards each other surprised, then we both laughed. "You go first." I said and we started walking again.
"I'm sorry about last year. For what I said at the wedding." He rubbed his neck nervously. "It wasn't fair to you."
"You remember?" I whispered in astonishment.
"Yes and no." A faint smile appeared. "I knew I did something stupid, and then Fred wacked me on my head. Which isn't as pleasant as it sounds if you have a hangover. He told me what I said." He chuckled. "So, I'm sorry."
"It's okay." I answered softly.
"No, it wasn't. I fucked up everything with you. And I wasn't angry or anything when you said you started dating Cedric, but I still loved you. And when I drink too much, the truth almost always slips out, even when it shouldn't."
"I forgive you." I reached over and squeezed his hand. "And I'm sorry too."
"For what?" He asked.
"For how you found about Cedric and I being married." I said as I twirled my ring around my finger. "I wanted to tell you."
"Well, you probably could have if Bill shut his mouth for longer ten minutes." He laughed. "It's okay, I'm - I'm happy for you."
George looked at me, his face was honest, but still something flickered in his eyes. But it couldn't be, George can't love me after all this time, he can't have feelings for me still. I looked away quickly and stared at the ocean.
"How's the shop doing?"
"Great." He smiled broadly, before his face grew dark. "It seems everyone is in need of something cheerful in this time."
"Yeah." I breathed. "Things will never be the same again."
"No." He simply answered. After a moment of only the sound of the waves, he said. "How long are you staying?"
"Don't know yet. We'll come to the wedding, but after... Bash wants us to go to Asia, that's where we were going before Charlie's Patronus. But I can't just hide out until everything is over, I can't."
"Didn't think you would." George looked from me to the ocean. "I don't know if Charlie told you about the Order?"
"Not really." I frowned. "But I've heard of it."
George sighed and ran his hand through his short hair. "You didn't hear it from me... but we are all in it. Charlie and Bash too, but they mostly due their bid in Romania. You could ask them; you could ask to join and help out. Although, I want to agree with Bash and send you far away, but I know you." He didn't look at me when he said that, but I was looking at him. He looked like his old self, but his shoulders were tense as we spoke about the war, about what's to come.
"Yeah, you do." I said softly and turned my gaze to the sea. In the corner of my eye, I saw that he was looking at me now. But before either of us could say something, I was thrown over someone's shoulder as he ran into the sea. I saw George face with a strained grin and turned in the tight grip of the boy that was carrying me, when I saw the familiar red mop, I sighed.
"I should've known." I muttered to myself. "Hi, Fred."
"Hello, love." He said as we slowed down in the water. The water reached his knees and he stopped and tilted his head to the last rays of the sun before it disappeared behind the horizon. "Want to go swimming?"
"Are you mad? Do you know how hard it cools after the sun sets?!" I grabbed his shirt firmly just to be sure he wasn't going to throw in.
"You're no fun." He teased and I could picture the pout on his lips. "Let's get you back then. I believe you have a husband waiting for you. Merlin, that's weird to say." I felt his head shake. He turned and walked back to the beach where George was waiting. When we reached his twin, he didn't put me down.
"Uhm, you can put me down." I tapped his back.
"Forge, did you hear something?"
"Can't say that I have, Gred." The boys chuckled as they walked back to the cottage, me still over Fred's shoulder.
"I've been reduced to a carry-on." I sighed and leaned my head on my hand. The two redheads laughed loudly as we reached the patio.