A/N: Readers beware this is a big ole chapter, trying to fit everything in was murderous but I hope you like it! Links to the dresses can be found on my bio page.
When they woke the next morning it was almost noon and every single one of them had a thumping headache. Fred and George were by far the worst, they lay slumped on one of the couches moaning loudly and proclaiming that they were never drinking again. Only Charlie seemed to be less affected than the others but that didn’t stop him casting a charm on the tower windows to stop the sun shining in so brightly. The wedding ceremony wasn’t taking place until four o’clock so they had plenty of time to lounge about and recover, Harry was just thinking about suggesting they go and get something to eat when Madam Pomfrey came shuffling into the common room with a tray of potions in her hands.
“Right which one of you is worst?” she asked sharply.
“How did you know we weren’t well?” Arthur asked in surprise.
“Molly came up here to speak to you last night and saw the state you were all in, she asked me if I’d pop up with some Sobering Solution. You’re lucky I had some in, I don’t have much call for it here in the school,” she clucked disapprovingly. She handed each of them a small goblet with some steaming green liquid in it and made sure they drank it all. It tasted disgusting, Harry had a strong urge to be sick and he could see he wasn’t the only one. Ron leapt out of his seat and rushed in the direction of the bathroom with his hand over his mouth. “I was also asked to pass on a message to you, Arthur.”
“Oh yes?”
“Yes, Molly wants you to make sure that all the boys have their speeches ready for the reception. I shall see you all later,” she said curtly. She turned on her heel and left the tower swiftly.
“You’ve all got your speeches sorted, haven’t you?” Mr. Weasley asked with a faint hint of alarm.
“I’ve had mine ready for weeks,” Charlie answered.
“I’m fine,” said Bill.
“I think I know what I’m going to say,” replied a returning Ron.
“Fred? George? Have you decided what you’re going to say?” Arthur asked the increasingly lively twins.
“Don’t worry, Dad, we know exactly what we’re going to say,” they responded wearily.
“And you, Harry, have you worked out what you’ll say?” he now looked at Harry encouragingly.
“I’ve got to say something?” he looked at Remus uncertainly. His answer sent Arthur into a complete panic.
“Its tradition!” he squealed.
“Calm down, Arthur, I’m sure Harry can find something to say. I’ll work on it with him, it’ll be fine,” Remus said in a calm and soothing voice. This appeared to settle the father of the groom down.
“Shall we go to breakfast?” he said.
“But won’t the girls be down there? I thought it was bad luck to see the groom to see the bride on her wedding day?” Harry had a vague memory of one of Aunt Petunia’s friends getting married.
“It is very bad luck. But it’s now twenty past twelve; the girls will have been up and breakfasted hours ago. Mum said something about them having to be up at eight,” Bill answered.
“Eight?” Ron puzzled.
“Yeah, they’ve got more to do than us. They’ve got to get up, have a giggle, go to breakfast, do some squealing, go for a shower and do some more giggling. Then the really serious work starts. They’ve got get their hair done and do some crying. They need their make up done so they can spend hours trying not to cry and ruin it all. Then they have to get their manicures done which means they can’t touch anything for at least an hour. After that they actually get into their dresses and spend the rest of the afternoon skirting around things so that they don’t get dirty, then they have to get their flowers and their tiara-thingys sorted. After all that work, they’re finally ready to go to the church until, low and behold, they end up doing some more squealing and crying and have to get their make up done all over again. I personally think women should be banned from getting married,” George said matter-of-factly.
“I wonder what Alicia thinks of that…” Bill said playfully, it was the right thing though because George’s ears suddenly burned red.
“She knows exactly how I feel about marriage,” he tried to say defiantly.
“Is that so? Well we might have to ask her about that, she is coming today?” Bill continued.
“She is, but you better stay away from her, I don’t want you stirring up trouble!” George was very clearly riled. Bill’s only response was to hold his hands up in surrender, but he grinned cheekily at everyone else. They decided to go for breakfast, well lunch really, and Bill’s theory had proved to be right, there wasn’t a girl in sight.
“Where are the girls anyway?” Harry asked Remus.
“They’re round in Ellie’s quarters; Dumbledore had it enlarged so that they could all fit in there comfortably. Speak of the devil,” Remus had looked up to the doors of the Great Hall where Dumbledore had appeared with Minister Bones. Both were wearing opulent robes of gold, but Professor Dumbledore’s were lined with some purple.
“Good afternoon gentlemen, I hope you are all well?” Dumbledore asked and they all nodded in response.
“Even you, Charles?” Minister Bones enquired.
“I’m fine and dandy,” Charlie answered her looking a little confused.
“I must say that you’re the calmest groom that I’ve ever seen,” she smiled.
“Well, when you’ve got fifteen years notice you forget to be nervous,” Bill said cheerfully.
“You make an excellent point,” Dumbledore affirmed. He and the Minister joined them at the table and began eating.
“You must be very excited, Mr. Potter, this is your first Wizarding wedding I presume?” the Minister asked Harry.
“It is and I’m very excited. Are you coming to the wedding too?” Everyone chuckled at Harry’s question except Dumbledore and Remus.
“It is tradition for the Minister of Magic to conduct wedding ceremonies, although these days with so many weddings and other ministerial duties to perform the responsibility is usually passed on to someone else from the Minister’s office…” Dumbledore began to explain.
“But with this being such a prominent wedding, I though that I should take the responsibility myself,” the Minister finished.
“It’s a prominent wedding?” Harry wondered if he was being stupid again.
“Well your cousin is a member of two celebrated wizard families, the Dumbledores and the Potters, and is about to marry into another. I know it’s not a particularly nice realisation but a lot of things in our world revolve around money. When your cousin comes in to her full inheritance, and I pray that it doesn’t happen anytime soon,” here she emphatically looked at Dumbledore. “She will be among the richest young women in Wizarding Britain and Europe.”
“You mean when Professor Dumbledore dies, don’t you?”
“Yes, Harry. When Aberforth and I pass on, assuming of course that Aberforth does not reproduce in the mean time, which I think is highly unlikely, Elizabeth inherits the entire Dumbledore family fortune. That in itself would make her richer than most other women in Britain but when combined with what she has inherited from the Black and Potter estates makes her a very wealthy woman indeed,” Dumbledore informed him.
“So, you’re marrying my cousin for her money?” Harry accused Charlie.
“What?” Charlie nearly choked on his moth full of bacon sandwich. “Harry “ I would never “ I love Ellie “ I don’t care about her money “ I don’t want any of it!” he immediately began to protest.
“I know, I was just checking,” Harry chuckled. Charlie expelled a big gust of air and took a second or two to calm himself down.
“Do that again, Harry, and I swear I’ll kill you!” the groom exclaimed.
“I’ve been thinking, Professor Dumbledore, didn’t you say that when a wizard wants to marry a witch he has to ask her nearest male relative?” Harry asked his headmaster.
“I did indeed, Harry.” There was a mysterious twinkle in the old man’s eyes that knew exactly what Harry was about to do.
“Well, normally that would be her father, wouldn’t it?”
“It would, yes.”
“But obviously Ellie’s father isn’t here, but responsibility for her was passed on to our grandparents and then my parents, so doesn’t that mean that now I’m of age I’m responsible for her?” he asked the wizened wizard.
“Technically I suppose,” Dumbledore said slowly.
“You know that there’s no ‘technically’ about it, Albus, now he’s of age Harry is head of the Potter household,” Remus chipped in daringly.
“So really Charlie should be asking me if he can marry Ellie,” Harry turned triumphantly on Charlie who was now looking a little green around the gills.
“Fine, okay. Harry, can I have your permission to marry Ellie?” he asked a little unsteadily.
“No.”
“No?” Charlie nearly jumped out of his seat.
“You haven’t told me why I should let you marry her?” Harry was determined to rib the man as much as possible.
“Well, you know…”
“No. I don’t, tell me.”
“I love her for a start, I’d never hurt her and I’d never let anyone else hurt her either…”
“That’s all very well and good but how are you going to provide for her? Where are you going to live?” he teased mercilessly.
“We’ll probably stay on at headquarters until we can find a place of our own and I’m starting a job with the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures as soon as you lot go back to school. It’s a good bit of pay as well, a 200 galleons a year…” he trailed off and looked at Harry pleadingly. “Harry, I want to marry Ellie more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life, please give me permission to marry her?” Charlie was well aware that if Harry didn’t give him the okay he was up the creek without the proverbial paddle.
“I’m just not sure, Charlie…” Harry continued the torture.
“What could I do to prove myself to you?” he asked eagerly.
“You could…dance around the hall naked,” he said in the most serious voice he could muster.
“I BEG YOUR PARDON? You’re having me on aren’t you?” he glared at Harry critically.
“Yep,” Harry replied and returned to his tuna sandwich.
“So do I have your permission?” Charlie asked, referring back to his unsure tone.
“I wouldn’t dream of not giving it to you. Besides can you imagine what Ellie would do to me if I did?” Harry got a chill down his spine.
“Harry, we salute you!” Fred and George exclaimed.
“If he wasn’t nervous before, he is now,” Bill pointed at his younger brother mockingly.
“Now really, boys, this isn’t funny,” Mr. Weasley grinned at his tomato soup.
“Terribly unfair,” Remus sniggered in to his goblet of pumpkin juice.
“Shut up the lot of you!” Charlie protested with an embarrassed smile.
After eating the male grooming took place, there were showers all round and a desperate fight with Harry’s hair. “Is there nothing we can do with it?” Arthur asked giving Harry’s hair a look that was so reminiscent of his wife that it was scary.
“Try some of this stuff on it,” Bill handed his father a bottle, which when squeezed emitted a large amount of white goo. He started smearing this on Harry’s hair enthusiastically but ten minutes later his hair looked exactly the same.
“It’ll never work you know,” Remus said on his return from his shower. “Andrew and James tried everything and I do mean everything but nothing worked, they gave up in the end,” he smiled warmly at the memory.
“I suppose it’s the style when you’re seventeen.” Arthur looked from Harry’s short black hair to Ron’s lengthening red, which was looking particularly straggly. “You look like you could use some of this.” He then began fussing over his youngest son’s mass of hair. After nearly an hour they were all ready, they were wearing matching claret robes, the only exception was Charlie who had the Weasley family coat of arms embroidered on to the back of his. Mrs. Weasley sent Winky to inform them that she was coming to inspect them in ten minutes, so they lined up in front of the fire like soldiers on parade and waited expectantly. It wasn’t long until Mrs. Weasley appeared looking rather lovely in long blue robes with bell end sleeves. She looked like she had borrowed some of Hermione’s supply of Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion as her usually fuzzy red hair was pulled back in to a knot at the base of her head. With her hair tamed and her elegant robes on she really was quite a vision.
“Right you lot, I hope you’re all feeling better after your escapades last night. I expected better of you, Arthur, and you as well, Remus,” she reprimanded and both the older men flushed pink.
“Charlie, you look wonderful. Very handsome,” she said proudly and patted him on the arm.
“Bill, I wish you’d let me cut that hair off,” she pulled at her eldest sons ponytail.
“I’ve already told you no, Mum,” Bill said patiently.
“Fred, George, you both look fine. Do you have any tricks up your sleeves?”
“None whatsoever,” George replied.
“Why don’t I believe that?” she asked them suspiciously.
“Most probably because you know that the tricks are in our pockets not up our sleeves,” Fred supplied sarcastically.
“Very funny, you’d both better be on your best behaviour, I’m watching you.”
“Who said I was joking?” Fred said under his breath but Mrs. Weasley didn’t hear him, she’d already moved on to Ron.
“Very nice, Ron, but your hair is getting just like Bill’s maybe I should cut it a little bit?” she reached down for her wand.
“My hair is fine the way it is, Mum!” Ron complained.
“Fine,” she answered sharply and moved on to scrutinize Harry. “I suppose you tried everything you could with his hair?” she too eyed it suspiciously.
“It wouldn’t lie flat for all the gold in Gringotts,” Remus smirked.
“It’ll have to do, you look very nice other wise, Harry. Right, you all know the order that you’ve to go in to the church in?” They all nodded. “Good, the girls are already up there putting the finishing touches to everything so you’ve got ten minutes to finish faffing around and get yourselves out there. Fred and George, what are you doing?” she asked them.
“We’re helping people out of their carriages at the foot of the church steps,” Fred saluted his mother.
“Good. Bill and Ron, what are you doing?”
“We’re showing people to their seats,” Bill replied stiffly.
“Excellent. Harry and Remus, Professor Dumbledore has asked that you go straight to the bridal chamber at the church, so you come along as soon as possible please.” Molly gave her husband a quick kiss and set off for the portrait hole.
“We’ll come just now, Molly,” Remus called after her, she was moving very quickly and they had to jog to catch up with her as she darted through the castle.
When they were back inside the church, Mrs. Weasley lead them to a door that Harry hadn’t even realised was there on his first visit. It clearly said ‘Bride’ in copperplate writing. It opened on to a short corridor and another door with a long Latin phrase inscribed in the frame ‘Si vos es vir ut exsisto matrimonium tunc averto hic vel specto vita per dolor’.
“What does that mean?” he asked Remus.
“If you are the man to be married then turn back here or expect a life with misery. The door is charmed so that the groom can’t open it. Our ancestors certainly didn’t take any chances,” he smiled. Mrs. Weasley ushered them in to the room, it was at that point that the feeling of speechlessness swept over Harry.
Ellie was sat on a tall stool in the middle of the room while Tonks was fussing about with a headdress; she was trying to get it sitting right on the bride’s head. Ginny was softly manipulating the roses in a bouquet, she then handed this to Ellie who took it with a wide smile. Tonks, Ginny, Hermione and Fleur were wearing dresses of forest green; their dresses had square necks and long open sleeves. It complemented Ginny’s hair beautifully. Harry wasn’t sure that he’d ever seen his girlfriend look quite so stunning, the sunlight that was filtering in through the windows was bringing out the deepest shades of red in her hair and making the lighter ones glow gold. When she looked up and smiled at him he felt like his legs had turned to extremely wobbly jelly, it almost felt like he was drunk on her beauty. All he could think about was how Ginny would look wearing the white dress and it only served to make him more giddy, his stomach was doing back flips and somersaults. He forced himself to look at the other girls for fear that any second his legs were going to give way on him and he’d make a superb prat of himself in the face of all this splendour and grace.
Tonks had forgone her usually short, bubblegum pink hair in favour of a more demure long, black style that made her look more like Sirius than ever, with her hair this colour she was quite obviously a member of the Black family. Fleur approached Ellie with a necklace strung between her hands; she elegantly reached over the bride to fasten it around her neck, and with it held up to the light Harry recognised it as the necklace she had worn to the Christmas Ball. The large precious stone looked beautiful when set against Ellie’s pale skin and the dazzling white of her dress, which was very simple and elegant. For the first time Harry spotted Professor Dumbledore standing off to one side.
“Hello again, Harry, Remus.” The headmaster bowed his head slightly to the both of them. “I thought that perhaps you would like to offer some words of encouragement to Elizabeth before the ceremony, that is of course if we can get anywhere near her,” he chuckled. “I distinctly remember that I had to wait nearly an hour to speak to Jane on her wedding day, this all part of the female ritual.” He indicated the girls who were creating the kafuffle around his granddaughter.
“Right girls, lets leave Elizabeth alone and make sure we’re all ready,” she told the other women. Harry grinned widely as Ginny slipped past him and when she placed a quick kiss on his cheek he nearly stumbled backwards. “There we go, Albus,” she said as the last of them shuffled out the door.
“Thank you, Molly. Perhaps the two of you should go first, Molly wouldn’t be very happy with me if you were late for the procession,” he said to Harry and Remus who agreed heartily, they did not want to upset Mrs. Weasley today.
“Remus! Harry!” Ellie yelled excitedly when she noticed their presence. She rose to greet them and the full effect of her stunning dress became obvious. The white was broken by gold embroidery in a Celtic design; she wore a traditional veil that was kept on her head by a bronze headdress with emeralds and diamonds set in to it. The green complimented the golden shade of her red hair, which fell lightly down her back.
“You look mesmerising, Elizabeth,” Remus gave his goddaughter a tender kiss on the cheek.
“Really amazing,” Harry confirmed as he followed suit.
“Thank you. How’s Charlie?” she asked with a flicker of nervousness.
“He was fine until Harry terrorized him,” Remus chuckled.
“Harry? Our Harry? This Harry?” she asked grabbing her cousin by the shoulders.
“That Harry, he was ribbing Charlie mercilessly. Made the poor boy ask for his permission to marry you,” Remus laughed.
“I hope you left him in one piece?” Ellie scolded.
“Just about,” Harry joked. “Are you nervous?”
“A little bit,” she replied, it was obvious from the jitter in her shoulders that she was more than a little bit nervous; Harry would have placed a sizeable bet on a lot.
“What have you got to be nervous about?” Remus asked.
“You know the usual. Will I trip over my dress? Will I garble my way through the vows? Will the Death Eaters in the congregation get up to no good? And what happens if Lord Voldemort bursts through the front doors? Just normal bride stuff.”
“There are Death Eaters in the congregation?” Harry suddenly felt very uneasy.
“A couple, they’re important people at the Ministry and it would have looked very suspicious if they weren’t invited. They already know that someone’s double-crossing them and Severus is top of their list, we can’t make things any worse.”
“Everything will be just fine. I feel like I should say something momentous,” Remus smiled. “But I’m not sure there’s much that I could say that I haven’t said before. I’m very proud of you, Elizabeth, you are a wonderful young woman and I am honoured to be a part of your life.”
“Don’t, Moony, you’ll set me off,” she wiped her eyes warily.
“He’s right you know, it is a privilege to know you, you’re a…a really special person. I’d never really had a family of my own but you and Remus have been the best that I could have hoped for. Thanks for everything.” He grasped her hand.
“Well now you’ve gone and done it!” She reached around for a box of hankies that were sitting on a nearby table and began to dab her eyes gingerly.
“We just hope that Charlie realises how lucky he is,” Remus wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.
“Maybe I should be realising how lucky I am, men like Charlie are rare,” she said weeping ever so slightly.
“While I would like to say that you’re absolutely right I’m afraid that you’re father would kill me if I did so I’m insisting that he’s not good enough for you,” Remus said sadly.
“I could settle for the best of a bad bunch,” she offered.
“I think we could get away with that.” He took a quick glance skyward. “Sorry, Andrew.”
“That’ll do me,” she smiled.
“Good luck, Ellie,” Remus gave her another kiss on the cheek.
“Best of luck, everything is going be fine you know,” Harry said comfortingly.
“Thank you, you two had better get outside before Molly has your guts for garters.” She hugged them both and watched them with teary eyes as they left.
Molly was operating with meticulousness not even seen in the armed forces; the wedding arrangements were being executed with regimental precision. Guests were still pouring in and being greeted, amongst them were several Hogwarts professors including Professor Snape who was looking especially odd out of his ordinary black robes. They ones he donned now were bottle green and Harry was disgusted to realise that they were uncannily identical to his own dress robes. Hagrid was wearing his hairy brown suit once again and gave Harry a big wave and a hearty smile as he entered with Madame Maxime, who was looking splendid in sky blue robes that were a very similar colour to those her students wore. There were numerous Order members amongst the crowd as well as Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Dodge and Sturgis Podmore, all of whom were accompanied by women that Harry assumed were their wives. Hestia Jones arrived with wizard that Harry recognised as a Gryffindor student who had been in his seventh year when Harry first joined the school and it made him wonder if Hestia had been at school with him at some point. A tall stooping figure loped his way through the doors, it took Harry a second to realise that this was the barman from the Hogs Head. Why on earth was he here? That question was answered when Remus greeted him. “Hello, Aberforth,” Remus said politely.
“Lupin.” Aberforth inclined his head just a millimetre. “Am I in the front pew?” He asked with a gruff voice that was quite unlike his brothers soothing tone.
“Naturally, Ron can show you the way.” Remus was just about to ask Ron to escort Mr. Dumbledore to his seat when Aberforth cut across him.
“I can find the way on my own,” he said firmly and stepped past them.
“Is that Professor Dumbledore’s brother?” Ron asked Remus.
“It is, yes,” the older man answered.
“He runs the Hogs Head, I always thought he was a bit weird, the place always smells of goats,” Ron wrinkled his face in disgust.
“Well, it’s no surprise, Aberforth has always had a fondness for them,” Remus smiled to himself, fondness was certainly one way of putting it.
Neville came hurrying through the church’s vast doors excitedly with his grandmother striding purposefully behind him. “Hi, Harry,” he beamed. “Nice day isn’t it?”
“Yeah, good wedding weather,” Harry replied. Mrs. Figg came over to shake his hand eagerly when she arrived and she rambled on at length about how Mr. Tibbles hadn’t been all that well lately. Following Mrs. Figg, was a woman with hair that was as black as the night; she was tall for a woman and had the look of an aristocrat. There was no doubt in his mind that this was Andromeda Tonks. This was confirmed when the man a step behind her, who was even taller than she was, reached across in front of her and said cheerfully, “You’ll be a Potter of course. Wotcher, Harry!”
“Mr. Tonks?” Harry posed.
“Smart lad, eh? Remus, how are you? Hope you’re treating that daughter of mine well?”
“I’m fine thank you, Ted, and you really should ask Nymphadora how I’m treating her,” Remus smiled.
“I hope I didn’t just hear you call me by my first name,” Tonks said in a severe voice, she had snuck up behind them.
“Have you met my Mum, Harry?” Tonks gave the tall, dark haired woman a hug.
“Hello, Harry,” Andromeda said in a soft and kindly voice that seemed to clash with her sharp and refined appearance.
“Mrs. Tonks,” he tilted his head to her.
“Please, call me Andromeda. Sirius talked about you a lot, all of it very good. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” she smiled at him; it was Sirius’s wide toothy grin.
“Same here, Sirius always said that you were his favourite cousin, the only decent on in the lot,” Harry allowed himself to smile at the memory of the day Sirius had showed him where Andromeda, Ted and Tonks should have been on the Black family tree. “You’ll be pleased to know that Ellie reinstated you on the Black Family Tapestry.”
“Kept it did she? I have to say I think I would have thrown it out,” she replied.
“I think the only reason she kept it was because it reminded her of him.” He didn’t think that at all, he knew it.
“Yes, well I see your point. I hear the both of you took it very hard?”
“We did, he meant a lot to us.”
“And you to him, but be comforted by the knowledge that he’s in a better place and wherever he is he wouldn’t want us to be moping over him on such a happy day,” she said optimistically.
“Quite right,” Remus whispered, as Andromeda greeted him. After the Tonks’ a short but imposing man swept through the doors. He had shoulder length brown hair and deep, olive coloured skin. He was wearing spectacular robes of raspberry red that had flashing gold and silver stars on all over. He glided towards Harry and addressed him in a rich, educated and foreign tone.
“I am Alfeo Nicostrato, the headmaster of Ameretto Carondoni Schuloa Di Magico,” he announced. “You are?”
“Harry Potter. It is very nice to meet you, sir.”
“You are undoubtedly the cousin of which Elizabeth spoke so much.”
“He certainly is, Signore Nicostrato. Remus Lupin.” Remus reached out a hand to shake the man’s. “I believe we met once before, during Elizabeth’s last year…”
“Yes, I remember. Where am I to sit?”
“Bill could you show the professor to his seat please?”
“Course I can, right this way, sir.” Bill indicated that Professor Nicostrato should follow him and they swept off down the aisle. When everybody had arrived and was settled in the right places Fred and George joined Remus, Bill, Harry and Ron at the entrance end of the aisle. Mrs. Weasley then began arranging everyone into the appropriate pairs and in the right order. Ellie had very graciously asked Professor McGonagall to take the role of mother of the bride and she had accepted. This meant that the Transfiguration professor was first in the procession and she was escorted by Mad-Eye in the absence of Dumbledore who had father of the bride duties to fulfil. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would be right behind them while Remus and Tonks followed on, Remus kept grinning at his escort like he couldn’t believe his luck. Next came Bill and Fleur, she was muttering excitedly in his ear with her distinctly French accent.
“I am ‘oping zat ze next time we ‘ave to walk down ze aisle, eet should per’aps be our marriage zat we are celebrating,” she said romantically. Bill just smiled; Harry got the impression that he wasn’t overly keen on being tied down just yet. Fred and George walked side by side because their girlfriends weren’t bridesmaids. Ron followed accompanied by Hermione with Harry and Ginny being last. When they were all lined up properly Mrs. Weasley took her place beside her husband, she waved her wand at an organ at the back of the altar and the procession music began.
At the bottom of the aisle McGonagall and Mad-Eye sat to left while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat to the right, where Charlie was starting to look quite nervous. Remus, Tonks, Fleur, Harry and Hermione all went to the left and Bill, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny went to the right. As soon as they had sat down Minister Bones appeared from a curtained off area to one side of the altar, she stepped to the podium and hushed the whispering crowd. She waved her wand at the organ and the music changed to the wedding march. Dumbledore and Ellie were now standing at the far end of the aisle, looking glorious in the beautiful early evening sun. When they reached the altar Dumbledore gave his granddaughters hand to Charlie and took a small step back. Minister Bones pointed her wand at her throat and said ‘Sonorous!’ before she began.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you here today, to witness the marriage of Charles Thaddeus Weasley and Elizabeth Alexandra Jane Potter. But first I must ask, who brings this woman to marry this man?”
“I do,” Dumbledore replied dutifully.
“Very well.” She gave him a moment to lift Ellie’s veil and give her a quick kiss before she pointed him towards the empty seat beside McGonagall. “This is the time you have chosen to become husband and wife. We are here, not only to witness your commitment to each other, but also to wish you both every happiness in your future life together. Within its framework of commitment and loyalty marriage enables the establishment of a home, where through trust, patience and respect, the love and affection which you have for each other may develop into a deep and lasting relationship. We, who are witnessing your marriage, hope that despite the stresses inevitable in any life, your love, respect for each other, and your trust and understanding of each other will increase your contentment and heighten your joy in living. Marriage is founded on sincerity and understanding which leads to tolerance, confidence and trust. We believe that those qualities, which have attracted you both to each other, can be best developed during a life spent together. A happy marriage will enable you to establish a home with love and stability where your family and friends will always be welcome.
“At this time I would like to read you a passage by Walter Pinder.
Everyday you live, learn how to receive love with as much understanding as you give it. Find things within yourself, then you can share them with each other. Do not fear this love. Have an open heart and a sincere mind. Be sincerely interested in each other's happiness. Be constant and consistent in your love. From this comes security and strength. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us on this day of your marriage. Try to commit yourselves fully and freely to each other.
“Before you, Charles and Elizabeth are joined in marriage in my presence and that of your family, friends and witnesses, I would like to remind you of the serious and binding nature of the relationship you are now about to enter,” she paused for moment to allow them contemplation. “I shall now ask you to make your marriage vows. Charles you will go first.”
“I, Charles Thaddeus Weasley affirm my love to you Elizabeth Alexandra Jane Potter as I invite you to share my life. I promise always to respect your needs. I will endeavour through kindness, unselfishness and trust to achieve the warm rich life we now look forward to. To this end I call upon these persons here present to witness that I take you Elizabeth to be my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health for as long as we both shall live,” Charlie could not help his grin.
“It is your turn now, Elizabeth,” Minister Bones said softly.
“I, Elizabeth Alexandra Jane Potter affirm my love to you Charles Thaddeus Weasley as I invite you to share my life. I promise always to respect your needs. I will endeavour through kindness, unselfishness and trust to achieve the warm rich life we now look forward to. To this end I call upon these persons here present to witness that I take you Charles to be my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health as long as we both shall live,” as she spoke she began to shed tears of pure, unadulterated joy.
“Could we please have the rings?” the Minister asked. Bill stepped forward with the two rings on a small velvet cushion, he held this forward for her. She picked up the smaller ring and handed it to Charlie, who took his cue from her.
“Elizabeth; with this ring I thee wed. Take it and wear it as a symbol of all we shall share.” He slipped the gold band on to her finger gently and beamed at her. The Minister then picked up the larger ring and handed it Ellie, with his job done Bill stepped back.
“Charles; with this ring I thee wed. Take it and wear it as a symbol of all we shall share.” She pushed the ring along his thick finger.
“You have declared before all of us that you will live together in marriage. You have made special promises to each other, which have been symbolized by the joining of hands, taking of vows and the giving and receiving of two rings. By the authority vested in me as the Minister of Magic in Great Britain, I now pronounce you to be husband and wife. Charles, you may kiss your bride,” she smiled at Charlie, who wrapped arm around Ellie’s waist and kissed her passionately. “I am delighted to present to you all Mr. and Mrs. Charles Thaddeus Weasley,” Minister Bones finally said. For the first time Charles and Ellie turned to face their guests as husband and wife.
A/N: Phew! They’re finally hitched! The next chapter is…Making a Speech.