“GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY! If you don’t get your tail moving, I’m going to come up there and-,” yelled Mrs. Weasley. She was downstairs, in the kitchen, and Ginny could still hear every word she said as clear as a bell.
“I’m moving, Mum. I’m moving!” She wasn’t in such a good mood. After all, today was supposed to be a special day, yet it felt anything but special to her.
She wanted Harry here with her, but she knew that couldn’t happen. It certainly wouldn’t happen, if her mother had anything to do with it. She, at least, wanted to know that he was somewhere within close proximity to her. However, from what Hermione told her, he hadn’t arrived yet, and it, honestly, made her a little nervous. Where is he? she thought.
Ginny was becoming extremely frazzled. Nothing seemed to be going right from the moment she woke up. She had a slight headache from Hermione, Luna and some of the other girls getting her a little tipsy last night. Why did I let them convince me to have a few drinks?
Now, her mother was screaming at her, a million people wanted to constantly come in and talk to her, the strap on her shoe broke and her hair was being even more unmanageable than usual, if that was possible.
Wasn’t this supposed to be the best day of her life? Instead, it was turning out to be a nightmare. All she wanted was Harry. She looked over at her reading table, where the picture of the two of them sat. It was one that Neville had taken, not so long ago, as they sat out on the front steps of the Burrow. She finally managed to smile and was somehow able to even relax a little.
As Ginny sat back down on her bed to try and comb out some of her tangles, Hermione knocked, and then opened the door. Closing it behind her quickly, she turned back towards Ginny. “Why aren’t you dressed yet? If your mum knew that you were still in your pajamas, she’d kill you.”
“Oh come off it, Hermione. This day is turning out worse than I could have ever imagined. Every one is stressing out and that’s stressing me out, and Harry’s still not here yet. Where is he, Hermione? Did you owl Ron?”
Sitting down on the bed next to her, Hermione said, “Yes, I just owled him a few minutes ago. I should probably hear back from him shortly. So, stop worrying. I’m sure that Harry is just running behind, much like you are my dear.
“Now turn around and let me take care of that hair of yours,” Hermione turned Ginny so that she was facing the opposite direction. “Honestly, what would you do without me here to use these detangling charms? You’ve lived with this hair longer than I have, yet I seem to be the only one who can get these tangles out without fussing so much.”
She said a few charms and then began to brush Ginny’s beautiful red hair.
They both sat in silence for a few minutes and then Ginny broke in. “You don’t think that he’s run off do you? You know, gotten cold feet?” She couldn’t help but worry about it. She knew that Harry loved her and her alone, but that little whisper of doubt always found a way to creep in.
Hermione stopped combing her hair and sat up straight. “For heaven’s sake, Ginny! I can’t believe that you just asked me that question.”
“Well? What do you expect me to say when my soon-to-be husband hasn’t even arrived yet and the ceremony will be starting in little over an hour?”
Hermione still sat there with a shocked expression on her face.
Ginny turned to look at her. She hadn’t said anything else and finally, Ginny gave a sigh. “I know; it’s very silly of me. But, sometimes I can’t help thinking that way. After all, I’m the one that has been in love with him since the first day I saw him. He didn’t even start fancying me until his sixth year. Who’s to say that he still feels this same about me?”
Rolling her eyes, Hermione finally spoke up. “My dear sweet Ginny. WAKE UP! He would not have asked you to marry him had he not been completely head over heels in love with you. That man can do nothing but talk about you and how wonderful you are.”
“Really?”
“REALLY?!” Hermione said looking at Ginny wildly, “Er…yeah, really! Where have you been? Have you even been dating the same Harry that I know?”
“Cut it out, Hermione.”
“No…seriously. What has gotten into you with all of this ‘are you sure he loves me’ mess?” She was getting fed up with all of this nonsense.
Ginny stood up and began pacing the floor. “I don’t know…I guess this is my ‘cold feet’ syndrome. I’m just nervous. That’s all.
“Hermione, humor me please. Would you check with Ron again and see-,” she had continued when Charlie knocked on the door and then popped his head in.
“Hermione,” Charlie said immediately, “I need to speak with you quickly,” then he finally noticed Ginny and tried to cover up his reason for needing Hermione, “…about the…er…erm…music.”
“Hey Charlie. Couldn’t even say hello to your favorite sister?” Ginny chimed in, seeing that he hadn’t acknowledged her.
“You’re my only sister Gin. But, I guess you’re my favorite too,” he said with a cheeky smile.
“Ha ha. You’re hysterical,” she said sticking her tongue out at him.
“I love you too, sis. Hey...why aren’t you dressed yet?” Charlie said, fixing her with a puzzled look.
Ginny looked back at him like she was really going to let him have it for yet another person making a comment about her not being ready. Merlin, she was too worried about Harry to be concerned with getting dressed.
Seeing that look on Ginny’s face, Hermione stepped in, “yeah, sure Charlie…the music. I’ll be right there.”
After Charlie closed the door, she turned to her best friend with a tone of warning. “Ginny, you’d best get ready, else your mum will stop the ceremony from even happening.”
“I will if you promise to find out where Harry is. And, I don’t mean take your precious time about it either.”
“You keep that up and you’ll be a maid of honor short,” Hermione said promptly as the door shut loudly behind her.
Ginny huffed at Hermione’s last comment and fell back onto the bed as she resumed brushing her hair.
“What’s this about the music, Charlie?” Hermione asked as soon as she closed the door to Ginny’s room.
“It’s not the music…it’s Ron. He’s out in the backyard.”
“What’s he doing here? I just sent an owl to him a few minutes ago.” Hermione said, completely baffled as to why Ron would be here right now. “Did he and Harry finally decide to show up?”
“That’s what I’ve come to get you about. He apparated to the backyard not a moment ago saying that he needed to see you right away but he refused to come up here after you. So, he asked me to come instead.”
Confused, Hermione frowned, “Well, why would he not come up here himself. I don’t understand?”
“Apparently he doesn’t want to get stopped by Mum or Ginny because he knows they’ll both have loads of questions and he doesn’t appear to have the answers to them yet.”
“Charlie, please. Help me out a little here. What is going on?” She was about to lose what little patience that she had left if he didn’t hurry up and explain things.
“Harry’s not with Ron.”
Hermione only stood there with a questioning look on her face.
Charlie continued, knowing that this next bit would not be pleasant news. “Ron doesn’t know where Harry is.”
Hermione came bursting through the back door heading straight for Ron, with Charlie following. As she approached him, she softly punched him on the arm.
“What the hell do you mean you don’t know where Harry is?” she said, trying to stay as quiet as she could so that Mrs. Weasley wouldn’t suspect anything.
Ron looked at her with wide eyes, “I just don’t know.”
“You were in the same flat with him! How do you not know where is?” Her voice started to rise.
“Shhh…do you want Mum to find out about this?”
She let her voice drop slightly and said, “Well, if you don’t start explaining yourself, I will tell her and Ginny personally-.”
“Fine, fine! Just shush!” Ron said interrupting her before she could get any louder.
She stood with her hands on her hips and tapping her foot, waiting on him to fill her and Charlie in. Hermione really lacked a certain amount of patience sometimes.
“After breakfast this morning, everything seemed perfectly fine. We were having a little chat in the sitting room when he suddenly stopped the conversation and said ‘well, it’s getting pretty late. I’d better start getting ready.’ I said ok, thinking everything was quite normal; I mean the guy did have to get ready. So, I went in the other bedroom, got cleaned up and dressed, and when I came out, his bedroom door was still closed.
“So, I knocked on his door and called for him, to see if he was ready to head here but he didn’t answer. I knocked again and turned the doorknob and when I walked in, I didn’t see him anywhere. I even looked all over the rest of the flat in case I had missed him before. He was just…gone. No sign of him or where he’d gone to.”
Hermione was more confused than ever. “I don’t get it. That doesn’t sound like Harry at all.” She tried to think of what it was that may have caused him to need immediate escape and suddenly shot another sharp look at Ron. “What exactly did you two chat about?”
“Erm…well, we were kind of reminiscing on our old Hogwarts days. You know how we all first met and then he got off onto a Ginny tangent. He talked about seeing her that first day at the train station, and then our second year when we brought him back to the Burrow. We both laughed recalling Ginny as she came barreling down the stairs that morning and was absolutely gob smacked to see Harry at our kitchen table. Then… his face changed when he mentioned how he found her in the Chamber of Secrets. You know, he never really told me exactly how he found her, until this morning.
“He said, once he got down there, he saw her body just lying on the ground. She wasn’t moving at all. He ran as fast as he could and thought her dead, when he finally reached her. When he realized that Tom Riddle had been behind everything, he blamed himself for Riddle even being able to get to Ginny. That’s when he looked at me, in all seriousness, and said ‘Ron, if Voldemort had gotten to her again… I don’t know what I would have done. If I’d lost her…I don’t think I could live…not without her.’”
Hermione stood there with her mouth agape. “Why in heaven’s name did you let him start talking about that?!”
Ron’s eyes grew wider, “I didn’t let him start talking about it; he just kind of…went there. How was I supposed to know that he was going to start talking about all of that? Besides, I told him that everything was ok. He didn’t have to worry about all of that because Voldemort was gone and that danger wasn’t there anymore.”
“Well…what did he do when you told him that?”
“He just shook his head and said, ‘I guess you’re right mate. No need to worry about all of that anymore.’ That’s when he said he’d better get up and get ready.”
“Urgh!” Hermione sounded as she rolled her eyes. “I swear, he better not be pulling another bloody noble hero act on her again, because if he is, she’ll kill him, herself.”
She began delegating orders now, “Ron, you go back to the flat, make sure that he didn’t come back and then head to The Leaky Cauldron to see if he’s there. If not, come back here immediately. Charlie, check by the pond, he likes to spend a lot of time there. I’ll go inside to make sure that they don’t get wind of him not being here yet.”
They all went in different directions, rushing to find him, in hopes that he didn’t make a stupid mistake.
Harry always liked the peace and quiet here. It was somewhere he could go and think about whatever was on his mind. Today seemed like a perfect time to visit because there certainly were a lot of things running through his head.
The warm sunlight shone on him, as a breeze rustled through the trees. He was standing by the pond in handsome dress robes with his tie hanging undone around his neck while he slowly discarded one flower petal at a time, from the stem he now held in his hand.
This day wasn’t turning out as well as he had hoped it would have, so far. What was wrong with him? Can I really call this wedding off?, he thought.
Never in a million years would Harry have ever thought to call off his wedding with Ginny, but after this morning, he couldn’t help but think that was what he had to do. What if I am putting her in danger by marrying her? I can’t do that to her. She deserves so much more… much more…than me.
He pulled off another flower petal and watched it as it floated down onto the water. He saw ripples form, spreading across the pond’s surface and smiled as he remembered one afternoon that he and Ginny spent here.
She’d been sitting at the bank of the pond on a blanket that Harry brought. They just finished a nice little picnic and were now enjoying each other’s company. With both of them working, it was a rare occasion when they could have a day like this, together.
Harry lay next to her, on the blanket, facing her direction. He had his arms under his head, propping himself up slightly so that he could see her properly, and he smiled, watching her pull a petal off of the flower that was in her hand. He could tell that she was thinking, quite seriously, about something as she observed the petal, holding it in the air, above the water, and letting it go.
Knowing that Harry was watching her, she said, “It’s quite fascinating…watching ripples.”
He had a small smirk on his face, “fascinating? Why?”
“If you think about it, it only takes one small thing to affect the whole surface. One small touch and the movement can be felt as far as the ripple can be carried.” She paused as he continued watching her, observing every expression on her face, the sun in her hair; she reached out her hand to touch the water, like the flower petal had just done. “It’s the same way with people. One person can affect so many others.” She spoke with such a gentle tone and then took in a breath before continuing. “You have that affect on me, Harry,” she said as she slowly looked into his emerald eyes.
Harry sat up, raising his hand to her cheek, caressing it sweetly and then running his fingers through her hair.
She saw the longing look that now lay in his eyes and she spoke again. “It doesn’t matter where you are or how strong or weak you may be, I still feel you,” she said, taking his had from her cheek and kissing it tenderly. “I always seem to have this connection with you, like I know when you’re going through something, anything. Even when you were gone, fighting Voldemort, I felt you. You were always with me. You’re always in here,” she smiled as she took his hand and placed it over her heart. “You’re my soul mate, Harry.”
He felt her breathing heavily, desire clearly seen in her eyes. “You’re always here too, Gin,” Harry said, taking her other hand and placing it over his heart. He leaned in kissing her with such intimacy.
After several long moments, she pulled back, with a raised eyebrow and muttered, “And don’t even think about acting all noble-like again. If you try to go, I’m going to go with you. We’re one soul now, you and me. I’ll never let you go.”
A smile played on his face as he looked at her, “Don’t worry, love. You couldn’t get rid of me, even if you wanted to.”
They both chuckled lightly and suddenly, Harry was back in present day.
He blinked trying to bring things back into focus. What had he been thinking, almost calling off the wedding?
She was right, of course. They could sense anything the other was feeling. He never took it very seriously, that day that she told him they were soul mates. But right now, he had such an overwhelming feeling of worry in the pit of his stomach that he knew it was what she was feeling at this exact moment; he knew, it had everything to do with him.
A noise came from the brush behind him, startling Harry as he turned to find Charlie. “Charlie? What are you doing here?”
“Harry! There you are. I could ask you the same thing you know?” Charlie said, walking over to him. “You’ve got Hermione worried sick. Come on, we need to get you up to the house.”
“Er…hang on a minute, Charlie. Does Ginny know about me running off?” Harry asked.
Charlie had already starting heading back for the house, but turned around when Harry hadn’t followed. “I don’t think so. Hermione was trying to avoid telling her. Or at least, she was attempting to for as long as she could. Why?”
“I don’t know…just a feeling.” Harry shook his head, clearing it. Maybe he was wrong about this worrying feeling.
“Well, I know that she did have Hermione owl Ron earlier trying to find out why you weren’t at the house already. You’ll have to ask Hermione when we get back to the house.” Charlie said, picking back up in step.
Harry wasn’t looking forward to facing Hermione, but before he could do that, he had to see Ginny and make sure that she was alright. Doing this, however, would be a difficult task. After all, Mrs. Weasley refused to let him see her before the wedding. Sneaking past her would be hard enough as it is.
Harry still hadn’t moved from the spot he was in, when he spoke to Charlie again. “Erm…Charlie?”
“Harry, what’s the matter? Why are you still standing there? We need to move; else you’ll have several women on your case for delaying the wedding.”
“Charlie…I need your help. I need to see Ginny.” Harry said hesitantly. He knew he was asking a lot of Charlie by this one simple request.
He looked back at Harry with an utterly stunned expression. “Are you completely mental? You’re going to get us both hexed!”
“Please, Charlie. You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t really important. I just need to see her for…a moment. That’s all.” Harry pleaded.
“That’s all?! You’re asking a hell of a lot.” Charlie bit his cheek, deciding on whether he was going to risk his neck for his future brother in-law. “Fine…but, I have to tell you, the best option that you’ve got is to climb up to her window.”
“What?!” Harry said looking at him in disbelief.
“You want to risk it even more by going through that busy house?” Charlie asked. He saw the answer clearly displayed on Harry’s face, “yeah…I didn’t think so.”
“Well…can’t I at least use a broom to just…fly up?”
“Nope, I can tell you that right now. Mum’s put a no-fly charm around the whole house. It’ll knock you straight off your broom if you tried to fly within ten feet of it.”
“W-well…” Harry studdered, “…why don’t I just apparate up to her room?” He said, catching Charlie laughing heartily.
“That’s not going to happen either. It’s like Hogwarts around here. No apparating in or out of the house, at least not today.” Charlie smiled at Harry. “She figured you might try getting up to see Ginny.”
With a hurt look on his face, Harry tried to think of some way that maybe she’d forgotten. “Well, surely there’s something-.”
“Not a thing, Harry. She’s got you covered in every possible way…magically that is. Nothing you try is going to work, unless you try climbing up. Mum doesn’t think like a muggle…much.”
“Much?! Are you telling me there’s a possible chance she’s got some way of keeping me from climbing up?” he asked with concern.
“Well,” Charlie answered, “I know of all the magical ways that she has the house protected. But, my guess is that she didn’t think of stopping you from just climbing up.”
Resigning with a sigh, Harry mumbled, “fine,” as he started to follow Charlie.
Once they reached the house, Charlie told him, “Right…all you need to do is climb up the trellis, then go left and edge your way on that piece of wood siding there,” he said, pointing to a thin strip of wood that stuck out from the side of the house.
“Not afraid now, are you?” Charlie asked as he saw Harry swallow roughly.
“No-,” Harry choked, “not at all.”
He slowly began to climb up the trellis. Everything was going quite smoothly, so far and his heart lightened with relief.
As he got about half way up, he heard someone say something to him. He looked back down at Charlie, who had his feet firmly planted on the ground. “What’s that? Did you say something?”
Charlie looked up at Harry as if he’d lost his mind, “What are you on about? I didn’t say anything.”
Harry frowned and turned back, continuing his climb. After only making it a little further up, he heard a voice again. This time, he clearly heard what was being said.
“Think you’re being smart, Mini-Marauder? Better think again…”
He whipped his head around, in search of where the voice was coming from. “Wha-?” He looked back at Charlie, trying to see if he was just playing a dirty trick on him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t. He was trying to keep a look out in case anyone decided to come around the corner unexpectedly.
Harry shook his head. I’m losing my mind. Great, just what I need, he thought, as he started climbing again. But, the voice didn’t seem to go away.
“Harry, if we’ve told you once, we’ve told you a million times…no peeking.”
This time, Harry could have sworn that the voice came from a ladybug that had been flying near him. No, ladybugs don’t talk. I’ve got to get inside before Mrs. Weasley catches me. But, as he reached his hand further, to pull himself up, the voice came again.
“Suit yourself…we’ve warned you…”
It was coming from the ladybug. He tried swatting it away, but it just kept coming back.
Finally reaching her window, he was just about to open it when he found a note attached. It read, “Nighty Night. Hope you enjoy your nap.” And out like a light, Harry went.
He woke up a minute later when Charlie let out with a loud clap right in front of his face.
“Wha- what … happened?” Harry asked as Charlie reached down to help him up.
“You fell on me, that’s what happened. What made you fall?”
“I don’t know. There was some ladybug talking in my ear and then when I got up to Ginny’s window, there was some note attached to it. It said…” he tried recalling the words, “‘Nighty night…hope you enjoy your nap’ and that’s the last thing I remember.” Harry said. He was completely confused as to what had just happened to him.
“A ladybug was talking to you?” Charlie looked up to the window, but saw no note attached. “Are you sure there was a note there Harry?” he said as he looked back down, finding the ladybug that Harry was talking about, swarming around the both of them.
“Ha ha ha! We told you. You should have listened.” With its last words, it flew off.
Charlie rolled his eyes and groaned, “Fred and George; I should have known. But, I thought after the loads of crap that mum had put them through, they never would have sided with her.”
Harry wasn’t worried about Fred and George any longer. He was too concerned with his dress robes, which were now dirty from the fall.
“She’s going to kill me.”
“Who?”
“Gin…my dress robes are filthy.” He said, trying to rid himself of the stains.
“Hold still. I’ll clean you up.” Charlie spoke a couple of cleaning charms and his suit was like new again.
“Thanks mate,” Harry said as he admired his clean dress robes.
“Well, I guess that’s the end of the line for your trying. You’ll just have to wait another hour or so until the ceremony starts.” Charlie began to walk back to the house, “we’d better find Hermione and let her know that you’re here.”
“Charlie, wait…” Harry said as he ran to catch up with him. “I still need to get up there and see Ginny. I don’t want to wait until the wedding.”
He sighed loudly, “Do you ever give up?”
“Not when it comes to Ginny, I don’t.” Harry answered honestly.
Giving in one last time, Charlie said with a sigh, “fine. But we’re going to have to do this the hard way now. Straight through the house is our only option. We’ll just have to keep a sharp look out. Let’s go around to the front door. We have a greater chance of missing mum that way; she should be in the kitchen.”
Harry nodded and followed Charlie around to the front of the house. “Ok, hang back a bit until I give you the signal.”
“Ok.”
Charlie opened the door and looked around to make sure that the coast was clear. He walked across the hallway to the stairs and motioned for Harry.
Harry walked in cautiously, looking around and was able to make it safely to the stairwell. He let out a sigh of relief and started to climb the stairs behind Charlie, when voices caught them both.
“Not trying anything else now are we Harry?”
“Yeah, I mean…we wouldn’t want anything else to happen.”
Harry and Charlie both turned around to see Fred and George standing there, taunting them.
“I’m not trying anything, guys. I’m just trying to find…Hermione.” Harry cleared his throat. “By the way, what did you do to me?!”
“Oh…you like it, do you?” Fred smirked.
“It’s a new invention we’re working on…still in the testing phase, of course.” George added.
“Yeah, it’s called ‘Hypno-Notes’. Whatever is written on the note causes its reader to do exactly what it says.”
“Right…so if you wanted someone to fall in love with you-”
“…but you don’t want to wait to make a love potion-”
“-You just get one of these ‘Hypno-Notes’ that says ‘I love you and I’m so happy that you said that you love me too.’-”
“So, you give it to whoever you want to fall in love with you and voila…we’ve got a couple of love birds on our hands.” Fred finished.
Realization dawned on Harry. “So, when it said ‘hope you enjoy your nap’, it put me to sleep?”
Fred and George both smiled, “Yep.”
“Brilliant, right?” asked George.
“I think you’re both going to be in big trouble if try to sell those to anyone.” Harry said.
“Yeah…well, we have had our fair share of problems with the Ministry over them. They don’t want some of them to get into the wrong hands.”
“But they only hypnotize you for a few minutes, that’s all.”
“Only a few minutes? I don’t think I would have woken up as quickly as I did had Charlie not…found me and woke me up.” Harry didn’t really like this trick.
“No…trust us, you would’ve woken up shortly after-” Fred said apologetically.
“-I was the first test subject for the nap note. Only out for five minutes.” George nodded.
Charlie interrupted the conversation to which Harry was quite thankful. “Well, I’m sure Harry would love to hear more about this, but we’ve got to find Hermione and then he’s got to finish getting ready for the wedding. And, I believe you two have some chairs to finish setting up. Am I right?” he said pulling Harry along.
Fred and George both frowned at Charlie and muttered, “yeah, yeah.”
“Try not to get into any more trouble Harry, alright?”
“Yeah, we’d prefer you alive when you marry our baby sister.”
They walked away laughing heartily as Harry pleaded, under his breath, that they didn’t have any more tricks up their sleeves for him.
Charlie and Harry were finally able to make it up the stairs to Ginny’s room without any further interruptions. It was a good thing that they were able to bypass Mrs. Weasley completely; Fred and George were hard enough to escape from.
“Ok…I’m going to peek in and see if Hermione is in Ginny’s room. She should be. So, you hide in this closet until I can get her downstairs.”
“How exactly do you plan on doing that?” Harry asked.
“You just leave it to me. But, once you’ve finished talking to Ginny about what it is that is so gosh darn important that you had to see her before the wedding, head down to the kitchen, that is after you tidy yourself up completely,” Charlie said looking at Harry’s hair, “…that’s where I’m sending Hermione. Got it?”
Harry nodded as he opened the nearest closet door and stepped in.
“Leave it open just a little so that you can hear when Hermione and I leave.”
“Ok,” he said, closing the door but leaving it slightly ajar. He heard Charlie walk down the hallway to Ginny’s room and knock on the door. Then, he heard his voice, muffled, as he asked for Hermione. A moment later, Harry heard Hermione’s shoes, as she walked out of the room and into the hallway, closing a door behind her.
“I found Harry,” he heard Charlie say, “out by the pond, just like you said.” Harry cursed. Hermione knew him too well.
“Thank Merlin. Well, where is he?” Hermione said shrilly.
“He’s in the bathroom. He still had a bit of getting ready to do but he should be out shortly. He said as soon as he’s done, he’ll meet you in the kitchen to see if you or Mrs. Weasley needed him to do anything else.”
“Fine. I’d better find Ron too and tell him that we’ve found Harry. Thanks for your help Charlie,” Hermione said, giving him a warm hug.
“No problem. Well, since that’s taken care of, I’ll walk down with you to the kitchen. I’ve got to head back outside to make sure that Fred and George aren’t tearing things to pieces. You can’t leave them unsupervised for one moment; I don’t know how they manage to run a shop, much less do it quite successfully.”
Harry heard them laugh and then listened more closely as the sound of their footsteps faded away. Once he couldn’t hear them any longer, Harry opened the door slowly and peeked around the hallway. There was no one around, much to his delight.
He walked quietly down the hallway to Ginny’s door and knocked on it lightly.
“Who is it?” he heard her call.
Harry turned the doorknob and said, “it’s me, Gin.”
“Harry?” she said as her face lit up with a smile and her breathing became quick.
He started opening the door, “yeah…I’m coming in-”
“No!” Ginny ran to the door and pushed it shut quickly. As she did, Harry’s head hit it and he let out with a muffled groan.
“Ow…” he said, biting his lip, trying his best not to give himself away. “What did you do that for?”
Ginny spoke through the door. “Harry, you know you can’t see me before the wedding.”
He grumbled, “yeah. So I’ve been told. I’ve tried everything I could think of to get up here to talk to you.”
A smile playing on her small face, “you did?”
“Yeah. Charlie tried helping me, but then I fell off the trellis, no thanks to your brothers.”
“Are you ok?” she asked frantically.
“Well, I was doing ok until you hit me in the head just now.”
“Sorry, Harry. I know it’s a stupid tradition, but I don’t want to jinx anything. Mum would be proud to know that I’ve finally come around to seeing her side of things.”
He smirked at Ginny’s comment, but quickly moved on, “Listen Gin, I’ve got to make this quick before anyone finds out where I am. I just wanted to make sure that you were ok. I got this strange feeling that you weren’t doing too well; like you were worried or something.”
“You could say that,” she said half laughing. “I was worried about you. Hermione said that you hadn’t made it here yet, so I had her owl Ron to find out what was going on. Where were you Harry?”
“I just needed some time to myself to think things over; that’s all. So, I apparated over to the pond.” He heard her take in a quivering breath.
“Your not…n-not backing out are you…Harry?”
“No, Gin. No. I could never leave you. I’m sorry if I scared you. I just needed to get some fresh air before everyone smothered me again.” He sighed, “I never knew weddings involved so much.”
She laughed weakly, “I know what you mean. With everything going on today, the only thing that I really wanted, I couldn’t have. All I wanted was you, Harry. I’m so glad that you’re here.”
“Gin, there’s no place that I’d rather be than with you,” he said as he tried opening the door again.
“Harry! No. I already told you that you can’t come in.” She was trying to push back on the door to close it.
“I won’t come in; I promise. Just stop pushing on the door for a second, ok?”
When he felt her stop trying to force the door to close, he opened it a little more and reached his hand through the opening. “Give me your hand.”
She brought her hand slowly to his, and felt his warm embrace as he locked his fingers with hers.
“Gin, I love you and you are about to make me the happiest man on earth. In an hour, I’m going to stand downstairs and see the most beautiful woman walk down the aisle and take my hand, just like this. I’m going to look into your beautiful brown eyes and give my entire life to you and only you.” He felt her squeeze his hand slightly and smiled because he knew that she was too overcome with emotions to speak.
She wiped a tear away and sniffled quietly, “I love you Harry. You always seem to know exactly what I need.”
“Well, you did say that we were soul mates.”
She giggled lightly, “yeah, I did.”
Harry pulled her hand up slightly, as he lowered his head to give it a gentle kiss. He could just imagine her face, flushed and smiling lovingly. Oh how he desperately wanted to see her, but he respected her wishes.
“Gin…I’m going to head downstairs now. I’ll see you soon, ok?”
“Ok,” she said, barely letting his hand go. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” and down the stairs he went as she closed the door to finish getting ready.
The sun was beginning to set and there was a slight breeze in the air as Harry stood at the end of the aisle, with Ron by his side. He started to fidget a little as he heard the music start playing. Ron noticed instantly and patted his back.
“It’ll be alright mate. This is the woman of your dreams remember? Despite the fact that she is my sister, you know.”
He chuckled a little and let his nervousness fade away. “Thanks, Ron.”
Harry looked back down the aisle and saw Hermione walking towards them. He thought that she looked wonderful and he was betting good money that Ron was now having just as hard of a time standing there as he was. He smiled at her as she stood across the aisle from them and then turned to look back down the aisle.
A new song started to fill the air. As a surprise for Ginny, Harry had asked Hermione to have it played when she walked down the aisle. His heart melted as he looked up and saw her there on her father’s arm and heard these words:
…I’m alive, I’m in love, you complete me
Now I see what love means
It’s so unbelievable and I don’t want to let it go…
I feel like you’ve always been forever a part of me
It’s so unbelievable to finally be in love
Somewhere I never thought I’d be.
He stood there watching her walk towards him. His eyes traveled up her body, noticing every detail of her features. When his eyes finally met hers, she was smiling back with tears welling up. She didn’t even know that Harry had planned to have this song played.
A tear slowly rolled down her cheek; she’d been trying to keep from crying all day, but she couldn’t help but give in when she saw his face and witnessed this small gesture of his love for her.
Harry breathed deeply, his chest rising and falling heavily; her beauty overwhelmed him. Normally, Ginny was one for something simple, but today…today she rendered him more than speechless, more than immovable; he couldn’t even form a single thought.
Her dress was absolutely gorgeous. The boat neck of the gown draped on her shoulders, baring her creamy skin, as the bodice held to her slender figure. Past her torso, the dress fanned out in particular princess form, with her train trailing behind her.
Harry saw small jewels, red ones, placed daintily along the bottom of her dress. He was having a very hard time keeping himself from falling over, and as Ginny and Mr. Weasley approached him, his soon to be father-in-law placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder, steadying him.
Bringing his surroundings back into focus, Harry smiled at Mr. Weasley in thanks and watched him as he turned to his daughter. He lifted her veil, kissed her sweetly on her cheek and stepped back to look at her once more. Mr. Weasley smiled mistily at Ginny and wiped away a small strand of hair that had fallen. “My baby girl is getting married.”
She sniffled a little, holding back a fresh batch of tears that were ready to pour. Her mouth trembled, forming a sad smile at him as she nodded in answer.
“I love you Ginny, my darling.”
“I love you too, daddy,” Ginny said as she leaned forward on her tiptoes to place a small kiss on his cheek.
He stood up straight again and glanced at Harry. “You make sure to take very good care of my baby.”
Harry chuckled lightly as he heard Ginny whisper “Dad!” and then nudge him in the side. “You don’t have anything to worry about, sir. I will do everything in my power to make sure that her life is a long and happy one.”
“I know you will, son,” Mr. Weasley said, embracing Harry. He then took Ginny’s hand and placed it in Harry’s and smiled at the both of them before walking to his seat next to Mrs. Weasley, who was already crying.
The ceremony seemed to go smoothly; no complications or impending danger to interrupt them. They had exchanged vows lovingly, mostly of the traditional nature, but with a few personal touches of their own added.
Their gaze was fixed on each other the whole time; both of them realizing just how thankful they were to even have this day come true. As they stood there transfixed, neither one of them heard the minister say, “you may now kiss the bride”.
Suddenly, laughter from their friends and family shook Harry out of the trance that he had been in.
Ron poked him in the back. “Mate! Snap to.”
“Huh, wha-?” he stuttered, looking around to find out what he had just missed.
The minister looked back at both of them. “I said, you may now kiss the bride.”
“Oh…OH!” his eyes grew wide; he couldn’t believe that he’d missed that part. “Right…can’t forget that,” and a few of their guests giggled again while Mrs. Weasley proceeded to give Harry a quite indignant look.
Ron cleared his throat loudly and Harry looked at Ginny and whispered, “one moment.” He turned around to Ron who began making sure that his dress robes were straight and clean. He sprayed cologne on him lightly, and then gave him a little breath freshener… just in case. Reaching into his pockets, Ron pulled out a comb and mirror so that Harry could make sure that he looked sharp for his bride.
For the first few moments, Ginny stood there gaping at him, not believing that he just told her to hold on before he kissed her. But as he ‘primped’ himself, she couldn’t help but laugh. She was laughing so much now that tears were falling again and everyone else roared in laughter with her.
Harry cleared his throat and turned around to face Ginny as if he hadn’t just interrupted their wedding. “Now, where were we? Ah…” he said, remembering his place.
She was laughing too hard to concentrate on snogging her newly pronounced husband properly. He noticed this and cocked his head to one side, looking at her with a furrowed brow. His eyes quickly grew wide when a thought crossed his mind. Harry raised a hand to lift her veil and she fell silent at the look on his face. He wasn’t playing around any longer; he was absolutely serious.
Her laughter slowly faded away, but the grin that had been affixed to her face still remained. She blushed as he touched her cheek and told her that he loved her.
“Oh, Harry…” and before she could get another word in edge wise, he pulled her close and kissed her passionately. The world that was around them now fell away into nothingness and they were the only two that existed. That is, until enough hooting and hollering from a select few, Fred and George included, brought them back to their senses.
Harry pulled away slightly, parting from Ginny’s lips and he stared at her as she stood frozen with her head bowed back. She slowly opened her eyes, looking up at him and breathing heavily, “wow.”
Harry chuckled at her and they both straightened up as the minister cleared his throat. They turned around to a sea of faces that made up their guests and heard the minister announce, “I now give you Mr. and Mrs. Potter.”
Clapping erupted as Harry held out his arm for Ginny and she took it, letting him lead her back down the aisle.
Harry and Ginny sat at the table attempting to eat a lovely meal. Unfortunately several people that proceeded to congratulate them constantly approached making it quite difficult to even get a bite.
Mr. Weasley stepped up behind Ginny and said, “may I have this dance, sweetheart?”
Without turning around, she smiled and looked at Harry, “I’ll be right back.”
He was able to finally tear away from Fred and George, who had been hounding him again about their ‘Hypno Notes’, to see Ginny and Mr. Weasley take the dance floor.
The piano ballad that was being played, lead them along as Harry saw her laughing and talking with her father. He could see Mr. Weasley trying his hardest to fight back the tears. Ginny said something to him again and Harry saw the words on her lips, “oh Daddy…” and then she laid her head on his chest.
Harry decided that as soon as she finished this dance with her father, he wanted to dance with his newly wed wife. First dances are very important…and I know she certainly thinks that they are…Harry thought. A smile formed at the corner of his mouth and he stood up and walked out towards them as the song ended.
Ginny kissed her father’s cheek compassionately and heard Harry as he spoke to him. “Sir, may I cut in?”
“Oh, by all means,” said Mr. Weasley taking a step back. “I am so proud that you are a part of our family. Of course, I’ve always thought of you as a son, but now, it’s official.” He smiled and hugged Harry tightly. “I love you son,” he said in a choked voice.
“I love you too…Dad.” Harry replied, as tears filled both of their eyes.
Ginny tapped Harry on the shoulder, “as happy as I am to see you and my father like this, I believe the next dance is ours, right?” she said, trying to lighten their spirits.
“You certainly are right, Gin…and I’ve got a treat for you.” Harry said.
“Oh…another treat? I feel so loved. So, tell me. What is it? Is it a special song by the band?”
Harry grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close. “No, not by the band.”
“Oh…is it my little swish-and-flick-song treat by the famous Mr. Potter?”
“My darling, you know me too well…”
“No, you know me too well. You know I love it when you do that.” Ginny smiled at him as he pulled his wand from his pocket and indeed, gave it a little swish and flick towards the sky. All around, everyone could hear the music that Harry had conjured.
“You know…I really do love that song that you picked for the wedding. It’s absolutely beautiful.”
“Ah…just you wait. Listen to this,” he said with a smirk.
Here we are on earth together
It’s you and I, God has made us fall in love, it’s true
I’ve really found someone like you
Will it safe, the love you feel for me, will it safe
That you will be by my side to see me through
Until my life is through…
They began to dance slowly and Harry relished in this feeling, her in his arms. He was so happy that he had the rest of his life to have her this way.
…In my mind we can conquer the world in love
You and I. You and I. You and I…
“Harry…I love this song.”
“I thought you might,” he spoke softly. “You know, I’m getting a little tired of having to talk to all of these people. All I want to do is whisk you away, right now. So, let’s do it; let’s go.”
“Harry, this is our wedding reception. We can’t walk out. For heaven’s sake, we’re the guests of honor. I think someone might notice if we just left,” Ginny said, completely shocked that he would even suggest that they leave early.
“Gin, we can’t be expected to stay here until every last guest has left. Come on, we’ll get to see everyone again in a couple of weeks after the honeymoon. Once the song ends and everyone else gets up to dance, I say that we catch Ron, Hermione and your family and tell them all goodbye, and head off. Sounds like a brilliant plan to me.”
“Well, you sure do think a lot of yourself, don’t you? Having thought of this ‘brilliant plan’.” she said raising an eyebrow. She considered his suggestion as she caught a glance at some of her relatives beaming at her ready to pounce on any opportunity to talk to her and her new husband. “Well, I suppose we would be hard to spot leaving if everyone was out on the dance floor.”
“Oh…so you’re coming around to my side of things now, are you?”
“Don’t get cocky with me, Mr. Potter.” Ginny narrowed her eyes at him. “We’re living together now. So, you won’t be able to easily escape my wrath any longer.”
“Easy Gin…I’m just teasing, you know that. Besides we should be enjoying our first dance, not trying to scare me witless.”
Ginny chuckled. “Right then…let’s enjoy this moment a wee bit longer, then we can run off to do…other things.”
“Why Mrs. Potter, I do believe that your innocent side is not as innocent as you make it out to be.”
“Well, you’ll soon- ah…”
“What? WHAT?”
A grin spread across her face again, “Mrs….Potter. Mrs. Ginny Potter.”
Harry looked at her as if she was absolutely crazy. “What? You didn’t think of this before?”
“Yeah, I did. I mean I knew it worked that way but I never really let it sink in. Mrs. Ginny Potter.” Her smile grew wider. “Ah…I love it.”
Harry laughed at her, “Gin, you are absolutely wonderful.” He leaned down and kissed her, then she rested against him as they listened to the rest of the song.
…I’ve found my strength in you…
Cause in my mind you will stay here always, in love
You and I. You and I. You and I.
As everyone else got up to dance to the next song, Ginny and Harry slipped away to give their goodbyes to the Weasleys and Hermione, finally allowing him to whisk her away.
“So, where are we going?” she asked as they grabbed their bags and headed out the front door.
“It’s a surprise.”
“Well, if you’re going to keep up with these surprises, I might just decide to keep you around,” she said raising an eyebrow.
Harry’s mouth gaped open in shock, “keep me around, aye? Honey, you couldn’t get rid of me even if you wanted to.”
Catching her off guard, he stole a kiss from her and Disapparated them both from the Burrow.