(Get ready for some beautiful dresses)
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Chapter Seven: The Wedding
Three o’clock on the following afternoon found Harry, Ron, Fred, and George standing outside the great white marquee in the orchard, awaiting the arrival of the wedding guests. Harry had taken a large dose of Polyjuice Potion and was now the double of a redheaded Muggle boy from the local village, Ottery St. Catchpole, from whom Fred had stolen hairs using a Summoning Charm. The plan was to introduce Harry as “Cousin Barny” and trust to the great number of Weasley and Prewett relatives to camouflage him. If a Prewett asked who he was he was a Weasley, and if a Weasley asked he was a Prewett.
All four of them were clutching seating plans, so that they could help show people to the right seats. A host of white-robed waiters had arrived an hour earlier, along with a golden jacketed band, and all of these wizards were currently sitting a short distance away under a tree. Harry could see a blue haze of pipe smoke issuing from the spot.
Behind Harry, the entrance to the marquee revealed rows and rows of fragile golden chairs set on either side of a long purple carpet. The supporting poles are entwined with white and gold flowers. Fred and George had fastened an enormous bunch of golden balloons over the exact point where Bill and Fleur would shortly become husband and wife. Outside, butterflies and bees were hovering lazily over the grass and hedgerow. Harry was rather uncomfortable. The Muggle boy whose appearance he was affecting weighed slightly more than him, and his dress robes felt hot and tight in the full glare of a summer’s day.
‘When I get married,’ said Fred, tugging at the collar of his own robes, ‘I won’t be bothering with any of this nonsense. You can all wear what you like, and I’ll put a full Body Bind Curse on Mum until it’s all over.’
‘She wasn’t too bad this morning, considering,’ said George. ‘Cried a bit about Percy not being here, but who wants him? Oh blimey, brace yourselves—here they come, look.’
Brightly colored figures were appearing, one by one, out of nowhere at the distant boundary of the yard. Within minutes a procession had formed, which began to snake its way up through the garden toward the marquee. Exotic flowers and bewitched birds fluttered on the witches’ hats, while precious gems glittered from man of the wizards’ cravats; a hum of excited chatter grew louder and louder, drowning the sound of the bees as the crowd approached the tent.
‘Excellent, I think I see a few veela cousins,’ said George, craning his neck for a better look. ‘They’ll need help understanding our English customs, I’ll look after them…’
‘Not so fast, Your Holeyness,’ said Fred, and darting past the gaggle of middle-aged witches heading the procession, he said, ‘Here—pozvolete mi da vi pomogna,’ to a pair of pretty Bulgarian girls, who giggled and allowed him to escort them inside. George was left to deal with the middle-aged witches and Ron took charge of Mr Weasley’s old Ministry colleague Perkins, while a rather deaf old couple fell to Harry’s lot.
‘Wotcher,’ said a familiar voice as he came out of the marquee again and found Tonks and Tulip at the front of the queue. She had turned blonde for the occasion. ‘Arthur told us you were the one with the curly hair. Sorry about what you experienced last night, the Minister had no right to burn you with his wand,’ she added in a whisper as Harry led them up the aisle. ‘He’s under a lot of pressure but that is no excuse.’
‘It’s fine, I don’t care what he says,’ said Harry.
Remus, Theodore, and Canini were right behind Tonks and Tulip. Theodore was in his black and silver dress robes with his dark brown hair slicked back, upon a closer look complimentary silver eyeshadow coated his eyelids. Canini was wearing a golden yellow knee length dress with black detailing. She looked very pretty and mature. Remus gave Harry a smile and a nod.
‘I'm sorry you ended up in the Weasley greeting team, it just was the best way to keep up the disguise,' said Remus. 'Though to make up for it I volunteered Theodore for clean up duty at the end of the night. You'll be ok right now?'
'I'll be alright. Cani, you look great.'
'Thanks "Barny", we'll see you later. Don't die from the heat.'
Harry's attention was pulled to Hagrid, who was causing a certain amount of disruption. Having misunderstood Fred’s directions he had sat himself, not upon the magically enlarged and reinforced seat set aside for him in the back row, but on five seats that now resembled a large pile of golden matchsticks.
While Mr Weasley repaired the damage and Hagrid shouted apologies to anybody who would listen, Harry hurried back to the entrance to find Ron face-to-face with a most eccentric-looking wizard who Harry was fairly certain he had met before but couldn't place where. Slightly cross-eyed, with shoulder-length white hair the texture of candyfloss, he wore a cap whose tassel dangled in front of his nose and robes of an eye-watering shade of egg-yolk yellow. An odd symbol, rather like a triangular eye, glistened from a golden chain around his neck.
'Xenophilius Lovegood,' he said, extending a hand to Harry, who now remembered he had briefly met Mr Lovegood just after the Quidditch World Cup but the events f the previous night had made that memory fuzzy, 'my daughter and I live just over the hill, so kind of the good Weasleys to invite us. But I think you know my Luna?' he added to Ron.
'Yes, a little,' said Ron. 'Isn’t she with you?'
'She lingered in that charming little garden to say hello to the gnomes, such a glorious infestation! How few wizards realize just how much we can learn from the wise little gnomes—or, to give them their correct name, the Gernumbli gardensi.'
'Ours do know a lot of excellent swear words,' said Ron, 'but I think Fred and George taught them those.'
He led a party of warlocks into the marquee as Luna rushed up.
'Hello, Harry!' she said.
'Er—my name’s Barny,' said Harry, flummoxed.
'Oh, have you changed that too?' she asked brightly.
'How did you know—?'
'Oh, just your expression and body language,' she said.
Like her father, Luna was wearing bright yellow robes, which she had accessorized with a large sunflower in her hair. Once you got over the brightness of it all, the general effect was quite pleasant. At least there were no radishes dangling from her ears.
Xenophilius, who was deep in conversation with an acquaintance, had missed the exchange between Luna and Harry. Bidding the wizards farewell, he turned to his daughter, who held up her finger and said, 'Daddy, look—one of the gnomes actually bit me!'
'How wonderful! Gnome saliva is enormously beneficial!' said Mr Lovegood, seizing Luna’s outstretched finger and examining the bleeding puncture marks. 'Luna, my love, if you should feel any burgeoning talent today—perhaps an unexpected urge to sing opera or to declaim in Mermish—do not repress it! You may have been gifted by the Gernumblies!'
Ron, passing them in the opposite direction, let out a loud snort. Harry rolled his eyes, while Luna could be a bit strange and silly, she was well meaning and kind and Harry disliked people who were purposely rude to her.
'Ron can laugh,' said Luna serenely as Harry led her and Xenophilius toward their seats, 'but my father has done a lot of research on Gernumbli magic.'
'Really?' said Harry, who had long since decided not to challenge Luna or her father’s peculiar views. 'Are you sure you don’t want to put anything on that bite, though?'
'Oh, it’s fine,' said Luna, sucking her finger in a dreamy fashion and looking Harry up and down. 'You look smart. I told Daddy most people would probably wear dress robes, but he believes you ought to wear sun colors to a wedding, for luck, you know. I see your sister did the same.'
'Yeah but for her I think its Hufflepuff colours,' suggested Harry. 'You do look very nice in your sun dress though, Luna.'
'She looks even more beautiful,' said Luna pointing behind Harry and he turned to look in that direction.
Three of Harry's friends had just entered the marquee. Terence was in modest dress robes and hand he and Tracey were linking arms. Tracey had the left side of her head in tight cornrows while the rest of her hair was soft curls, her dress was a nice emerald knee length that matched her purse that hung on her shoulder. Neither of them were in compare to Allison who was behind them.
Allison seemed to have embraced her secret love for the colour pink, because along with her headband she was wearing a sleeveless light mulberry dress that appeared to be mermaid style with inspiration from flamenco. It had adorable ruffles and black embroidering that gave the dress a goth aesthetic. Allison's short black spikey hair looked extra silky, and along with her regular silver piercing in her ears she now had the round silver studs in her lobes and nose with small pink topazes. She was so radiant that if his cover wasn't important to his safety he would have run over to her and kiss her like there was nobody watching.
Harry was so distracted by Allison's beauty that he didn't register as Luna drifted off after her father, only coming back into focus as Ron reappeared with an elderly witch clutching her arm. Her beaky nose, red-trimmed eyes, and feathery pink hat gave her the look of a bad-tempered flamingo.
'...and you hair’s much too long, Ronald, for a moment I thought you were Ginevra. Merlin’s beard, what is Xenophilius Lovegood wearing? He looks like an omelet. And who are you?' she barked at Harry.
'Oh yeah, Auntie Muriel, this is our cousin Barny.'
'Another Weasley? You breed like gnomes. Isn’t Harry Potter here? I was hoping to meet him. I thought he was a friend of yours, Ronald, or have you merely been boasting?'
'No—he couldn’t come—'
'Hmm. Made an excuse, did he? Not as gormless as he looks in press photographs, then. I’ve just been instructing the bride on how best to wear my tiara,' she shouted at Harry. 'Goblin-made, you know, and been in my family for centuries. She’s a good-looking girl, but still—French. Well, well, find me a good seat, Ronald, I am a hundred and seven and I ought not to be on my feet too long.'
Ron gave Harry a meaningful look as he passed and did not reappear for some time. When next they met at the entrance, Harry had shown a dozen more people to their places. The marquee was nearly full now, and for the first time there was no queue outside.
'Nightmare, Muriel is,' said Ron, mopping his forehead on his sleeve. 'She used to come for Christmas every year, then, thank God, she took offense because Fred and George set off a Dungbomb under her chair at dinner. Dad always says she’ll have written them out of her will—like they care, they’re going to end up richer than anyone in the family, rate they’re going.'
'I can imagine, I loved my paw-paw Lyle but I'd be lying if I said he had never once said something uncomfortable at the Christmas or Easter dinner table,' said Harry. 'Well, if nearly everyone is seated I'll go and sit as close to my family as possible without being suspicious. Maybe next to Luna and her father.'
'Hermione said she might sit near Luna too so I might see you in a bit,' said Ron as Harry went off to find his seat.
Sitting next to Luna also was opportune as it put Harry right behind Allison.
'You look absolutely stunning,' whispered Harry, Allison smiled. 'You're at risk of outshining the bride.'
'Thank you Beau,' she said, turning her head just enough in his direction to hear. 'Although don't worry, with her veela ancestry Fleur could walk down the aisle in a paper bag and still be the prettiest witch here, because of that she said she was ok with everyone wearing as nice of clothes as they want. So, what held you up with the Weasley's?'
'Oh, was just helping Ron with his great-great aunt. She was actually pretty rude to him, insulted his hair and said he looked like a girl.'
'Talking about Muriel?' inquired George, as him and Fred seemed to appear out of no where but were just leading Hermione to her seat. 'Yeah, she’ just told me my ears are lopsided. Old bat. I wish old Uncle Bilius was still with us, though; he was a right laugh at weddings.'
'Wasn’t he the one who saw a Grim and died twenty-four hours later?' asked Hermione.
'Oh, that's terrible,' said Allison.
'Well, yeah, he went a bit odd toward the end,' conceded George.
'But before he went loopy he was the life and soul of the party.' said Fred. 'He used to down an entire bottle of firewhisky, then run onto the dance floor, hoist up his robes, and start pulling bunches of flowers out of his—'
'Yes, he sounds a real charmer,' said Hermione, while Harry roared with laughter.
'Never married, for some reason,' said Ron as he sat down on one side of Hermione.
'You amaze me,' said Hermione.
They were all laughing so much that none of them noticed the latecomer, a dark-haired young man with a large, curved nose and thick black eyebrows, until he stood next to Hermione and said, 'You look vunderful.'
If his voice and compliment to Hermione wasn't enough of a clue as to who this was to Harry, Theodore abruptly standing up straight as a board and his face turning pink was.
'Viktor!' Hermione shrieked, 'I didn’t know you were—goodness—it’s lovely to see—how are you again?'
Ron’s ears had turned bright red. Harry had never asked, but he often couldn't tell if his old friend was dating Hermione Granger or not and he never dared to ask. Ron took a deep breath and said much too loudly, 'How come you’re here?'
'Fleur invited me,' said Krum, eyebrows raised.
Harry, who had no grudge against Krum, shook his hand. Then Theodore turned to face the quidditch star, and nervously put out his hand.
'Hi Viktor, I know you probably don't remember me but I—' he said in a voice much higher than normal and his face so pink it made Allison's dress look bland.
'No, I remember you, you're thee flattering brother of Harry Potter,' said Krum as he took Theodore's hand. 'Good to see you. Is you're brother around?'
'Er-no,' Theodore managed to squeak.
Harry managed to hear Canini jokingly whisper to Tracey, 'Maybe it's best Colin isn't here, or else he'd have to honour duel Krum, and Krum would just squish him like a bug.'
Before Theodore could turn any more pink, Harry decided it was best to remove Krum from Ron and Theodore's vicinity, so he offered to show him to his seat.
'Your red haired friend is not pleased to see me,' said Krum as he entered the now packed marquee. 'Or is he a relative?' he added with a glance at Harry’s own red curly hair.
'Cousin,' Harry muttered, but Krum was not really listening. His appearance was causing a stir, particularly amongst the veela cousins: He was, after all, a famous Quidditch player. While people were still craning their necks to get a good look at him, Ron, Fred, and George came hurrying down the aisle.
'Time to sit down,' Fred told Harry, 'or we’re going to get run over by the bride.'
And so Harry quickly ran back to his seat in the second row behind Allison, Remus, Canini, Theodore, Tracey, Terence, and the twins. Next to him Hermione looked rather pink and Ron’s ears were still scarlet.
A sense of jittery anticipation had filled the warm tent, the general murmuring broken by occasional spurts of excited laughter. Mr and Mrs Weasley strolled up the aisle, smiling and waving at relatives: Mrs Weasley was wearing a brand-new set of amethyst-coloured robes with a matching hat.
A moment later Bill and Charlie stood up at the front of the marquee, both wearing dress robes, with large white roses in their buttonholes; Fred wolf-whistled and there was an outbreak of giggling from the veela cousins. Then the crowd fell silent as music swelled from what seemed to be the golden balloons.
'Ooooh!' said several members of the crowd, swiveling around in her seat to look at the entrance.
A great collective sigh issued from the assembled witches and wizards as Monsieur Delacour and Fleur came walking up the aisle, Fleur gliding, Monsieur Delacour bouncing and beaming. Fleur was wearing a very simple white dresses and seemed to be emitting a strong, silvery glow. While her radiance usually dimmed everyone else by comparison, today it beautified everyone it fell upon. Ginny and Gabrielle, both wearing golden dresses, looked even prettier than usual, and once Fleur had reached him, Bill did not look as though he had ever met Fenrir Greyback.
'Ladies and gentlemen,' said a slightly singsong voice, and with a slight shock, Harry saw the same small, tufty-haired wizard who had presided at Dumbledore’s funeral, now standing in front of bill and Fleur. 'We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls...'
'Yes, my tiara sets off the whole thing nicely,' said auntie Muriel in a rather carrying whisper. 'But I must say, Ginevra’s dress is far too low cut.'
Harry’s mind wandered a long way from the marquee, back to afternoons spent alone with Allison in lonely parts of the school grounds. They seemed so long ago; they had always seemed too good to be true, as though he had been stealing shining hours from a normal person’s life, a person without a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. Would it even be possible to one day stand in front of friends and family with her to say wedding vows...
'Do you, William Arthur, take Fleur Isabelle..?'
In the front row, Mrs Weasley and Madame Delacour were both sobbing quietly into scraps of lace. Trumpetlike sounds from the back of the marquee told everyone that Hagrid had taken out one of his own tablecloth-sized handkerchiefs. Canini turned and beamed at Harry; her eyes too were full of tears.
'...then I declare you bonded for life.'
The tufty-haired wizard waved his wand high over the heads of Bill and Fleur and a shower of silver stars fell upon them, spiraling around their now entwined figures. As Fred and George led a round of applause, the golden balloons overhead burst: Birds of paradise and tiny golden bells flew and floated out of them, adding their songs and chimes to the din.
'Ladies and gentlemen!' called the tuft-haired wizard. 'If you would please stand up!'
They all did so, Auntie Muriel grumbling audibly; he waved his wand again. The seats on which they had been sitting rose gracefully into the air as the canvas walls of the marquee vanished, so that they stood beneath a canopy supported by golden poles, with a glorious view of the sunlit orchard and surrounding countryside.
Next, a pool of molten gold spread from the center of the tent to form a gleaming dance floor; the hovering chairs groped themselves around small white-clothed tables, which all floated gracefully back to earth around it, and the golden-jacketed hand trooped toward a podium.
'How spectacular,' said Terence in awe at the magic as the waiters popped up on all sides, some bearing silver trays of pumpkin juice, butterbeer, and firewhisky, other tottering piles of tarts and sandwiches. Harry had forgotten Terence had said he had never been to a magical wedding, so this was likely the first enchanted party he had ever been to.
'We should all go to Bill and Fleur and congratulate the couple,' said Remus in a fatherly tone as he stood up to see the place where bill and Fleur had vanished amid a crowd of well-wishers.
'Well I'm going to go grab a table while most of the tent is distracted,' said Allison as she picked up some butterbeer mugs from a passing tray, 'Harry, you want to come?'
'Sure,' said Harry as he took one of the butterbeers and followed his girlfriend.
Allison led the way across the empty dance floor, glancing left and right as she went. By the time they had reached the other side of the Marquee, most of the tables were occupied: The emptiest was the one where Luna sat alone.
'May we join you, Luna?' asked Allison.
'Oh yes,' she said happily. 'Daddy’s just gone to give Bill and Fleur our present.'
'That's kind of him. You look very pretty today Luna, by the way,' said Allison, who seemed to be in a pleasant mood.
'Thank you.'
