Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, I do not own…
Harry awoke early the next morning, and for a moment he didn’t remember where he was. He soon recalled when he heard a loud snore from beside him and looked to see Ron’s fiery red hair sticking out from a mountain of bed sheets.
Harry crawled out of bed and tiptoed to the bathroom. Once he was cleaned and dressed he went downstairs where he could smell bacon frying in the kitchen. He saw that the dining room was empty, so he peered into the kitchen and saw Mrs.Weasley bustling about.
“Oh, good morning, dear. Did you sleep well?” Mrs.Weasley greeted Harry cheerfully when she saw him peeking through the doorway.
“I slept alright,” Harry replied, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. “Er... do you need any help, Mrs.Weasley?” he asked. Harry was afraid that if he let the silence continue for too long, Mrs.Weasley would start asking him about Ginny.
“That’s nice of you to offer, but I think I’ve got everything taken care of.” She smiled. “You might want to wake Ron up, though. If he doesn’t get up soon, you’ll be late!”
Harry, confused, said, “Late for what, Mrs.Weasley?”
“Didn’t I tell you? I guess not. With all the commotion last night, I forgot. You, Ron, and all the other groomsmen need to be fitted for dress robes today with Bill.”
“Oh, alright…” Harry replied, turning to go up the stairs. Harry had never been fond of clothes shopping, and spending hours trying to get fitted for dress robes was not something that he was really looking forward to.
When Harry reached Ron’s room, he opened the door and walked over to Ron’s bed.
“Ron, get up,” Harry said, shaking Ron by the shoulder.
“Spiders…get off… spiders…” Ron groaned, half asleep. Harry stifled a laugh, thinking about Ron’s fear of spiders. He shook Ron again.
“Ron, it’s Harry. Wake up.”
“Hairy spiders?!” Ron yelled, sitting up abruptly in his bed and looking around wildly.
Harry collapsed on the bed in a fit of laughter as Ron slowly began to fully wake up.
“What’s so funny?” Ron asked Harry, looking confused.
“Nothing, Ron, nothing at all,” Harry replied, trying to control his laughter. “Your mum is making breakfast, and she says that you need to get up or we will be late for the dress robe fitting.“
“Oh, okay,” Ron said groggily before stumbling out of bed.
Harry went back downstairs and saw that Bill and Charlie were already up.
“Hello, Harry,” Bill said, grinning.
“Hey,” Harry said.
“Harry, we’ll be Apparating to Diagon Alley to get the robes fitted. Since you and Ron don’t have your Apparition licenses yet, you will be Apparating with me, and Ron will be Apparating with Charlie.”
Harry stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch. He had been a Side-Along-Apparition before, and it wasn’t the most enjoyable experience. “Okay,” he said, sliding into a seat at the table.
Bill and Charlie turned back to each other, and began discussing some plans for the wedding.
“We just can’t fit that many people here,” Charlie said.
“I know, but Fluer has a large family.”
“Maybe we could use an enlargement charm on the house.”
“Mum would never allow it. You know how she always says, ‘One more charm on this place and it will fall right over!’”
“She’s just exaggerating…”
They went on talking for a few minutes, until one by one, the rest of the people in the household came downstairs. First was Pricilla, who complained loudly about how awful a night’s sleep she got, and how uncomfortable the bed was, and how “things of such low quality would never be allowed in France.”
Next were Lauren and Elizabeth, whose hair was messier than before. Elizabeth promptly told Pricilla, “If you think the bed is so bad, you can sleep outside tonight with the garden gnomes.” Pricilla shut her mouth very quickly and gave a “humph” of indignation.
After them came Fluer and Gabrielle. Then Hermione and Ginny “who was looking pointedly away from Harry- and lastly, Ron, who was still yawning widely.
Once everyone was sitting down at the table, Mrs.Weasley levitated plates full of food and pitchers full of pumpkin juice out to the table.
Breakfast passed without event; Fred and George did not try any tricks on Pricilla, but Harry suspected that the Pygmy Puff was not the only trick up their sleeves.
Once everyone was finished and all the breakfast things were picked up, Harry, Fred, George, Charlie, Ron and Bill walked out into the front yard. They were closely followed by Fluer, Gabrielle, Hermione, Ginny, Lauren, Pricilla, and Elizabeth.
“Are they coming, too?” Harry asked, glancing at Ginny.
“Yeah, they’re getting bridesmaid dresses, and Fleur is getting her wedding gown,” Ron replied.
Harry grabbed on to Bill’s arm, as Ron took hold of Charlie. Ginny and Hermione were Apparating together, as were Gabrielle and Fluer.
“Everybody ready?” Bill called. “Okay, on three. One… two… three….”
Suddenly, Harry had the familiar lurching feeling in his stomach that he'd had when he Apparated with Dumbledore.
Before he knew it, they were in Diagon Alley, in front of Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions.
They all went in, crowding the small shop. Madam Malkin came out from the back and Fleur stepped forward to talk to her.
“Ah, you must be Fleur Delacour. Let's see…” Madam Malkin looked down at a roll of parchment in her hand. “Ah, yes. You ordered six dress robes for groomsmen, one dress robe for the groom, six bridesmaid dresses, and one bridal gown.” She looked quickly around at the group. “But where is the sixth groomsmen?”
Harry realized that Percy would need dress robes for the wedding, too. But, Percy was not staying at the Weasley house, nor was he with them in the robe shop.
“He will be coming later,” Fleur replied.
“Alright,” Madam Malkin replied. “Now, why don’t we have the men go over here.” She pointed to one corner of fitting rooms. “And have the women go over here.” She pointed to another corner of fitting rooms.
They all divided up and went into their separate corners. Madam Malkin disappeared into a back room and reappeared a moment later with several large boxes floating behind her. She dropped a few into the men’s side of the shop, and the rest into the women’s side of the shop.
“Now, we’ll get the girls fitted first. Let’s see, seven bridesmaid dresses, that’s quite a lot…”
Harry did not hear anything else that she said, however, because she disappeared around the corner and into the other dressing room section.
“Ron?” Harry asked, pulling Ron into a corner with him. “Where is Percy? Why is he even in the wedding? I thought his last meeting with your mum and dad didn’t end too well.”
“Oh, well, he showed up here, just after I came back from Hogwarts. He was completely distraught after Dumbledore’s death. He said he’d made a terrible mistake, not believing you when you first said that You-Know-Who was back. He begged Mum and Dad to forgive him. Bill was there, too. He asked him right away to be in the wedding. It was a little strange; Percy has never been one to beg for forgiveness.”
Harry was a little speechless for a minute. Then he said, “Okay… and he’s coming here later?”
Ron nodded. “He had some work to finish up.” He gave a short laugh. “Some things never change.”
Harry had to grin at that. Percy had always been addicted to his work.
*~*~*~*
About thirty minutes later, a small tinkling bell signaled that the door was being opened. Harry looked over to see who it was. It was Percy.
Charlie had noticed him, too, and stood up to guide him over to where they were sitting.
“Er… hello there, Harry,” Percy muttered nervously. Harry couldn’t blame him for the way he was acting. After all, Percy had firmly believed that Harry was insane when he first claimed that Voldemort was back, and had even written a letter to Ron suggesting Ron “sever ties” with Harry.
“Hello, Percy,” Harry replied cordially. Even if Percy had apologized, Harry was not quite over that fact that Percy had thought of him as insane.
“Erm… could I talk to you for a moment? Over here, maybe?” Percy gestured to a somewhat secluded corner over by the door.
“I guess.” Harry shrugged and followed Percy into the corner.
“Well…I just wanted to say…” Percy stammered, apparently unsure of how to continue. “I’m… well… I’m sorry.” He finished quickly.
“For?” Harry prompted. He did not know why, but he wanted Percy to admit out loud to his face that he had thought him insane.
“Well… you know… that letter I sent to Ron back during your fifth year. I mentioned some things… I know I didn’t believe you. And I admit, I thought you might have been a bit insane. But I see now that you… weren’t…and… I’m sorry,” he finished, looking a bit red in the face.
“It’s not your fault. Everyone else in the wizarding world thought I’d lost it, too,” Harry said sarcastically.
“Yes, well…” Percy trailed off.
Harry did not get a chance to reply, however, because at that moment, Fleur came out of the dressing rooms, pulling a reluctant Ginny and Hermione behind her. When Harry saw what they were wearing, it was all he could do to hold back a laugh.
Hermione and Ginny were dressed in the most obnoxious pink, puffy dresses that Harry had ever seen. The sleeves were made of pink tulle, puffed out at lest four inches from the girl’s arms, and had huge bows attached to them. The skirt of the dress puffed out so far and was so bushy that you would have thought Hermione and Ginny were wearing giant hoops beneath their dresses. To top it all off, both Hermione and Ginny were wearing large, floppy hats that were attached to their heads with a purple ribbon that tied under their chin.
“Aren’t they just adorable, Bill?” Fleur gushed. “These dresses are just like the ones I wore once in a wedding when I was a child. I always thought they were lovely, and I am so glad that I was able to find someone who would make these dresses!”
Judging by the look on Bill’s face, he did not think they looked “adorable”, and he was having a very hard time keeping a straight face. “Fleur, whatever makes you happy,” was all he could manage to say without laughing.
Fleur beamed, and ushered Hermione and Ginny back into the fitting rooms, but not before Hermione could shoot Harry a look that clearly said, “Say anything about this, and I’ll use a very unpleasant jinx on you.”
Harry went back to where he had been sitting before, next to Ron, who was laughing so hard that tears were rolling down his face.
*~*~*~*
Twenty minutes later, Madam Malkin came over to where the men were sitting.
“Now, I have gotten them all fitted. It’s your turn,” she said, giving them a small smile.
Harry wandered just what kind of ridiculous outfit Fleur had picked out for him and the rest of the groomsmen as Madam Malkin began to unpack their dress robes. Surprisingly, she did not reveal anything puffy, lacy, or pink, but instead several very elegant-looking, but plain, black dress robes.
One by one, they tried them on while Madam Malkin took notes on where to take in, take out, or otherwise adjust each set of dress robes.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, everyone was finished. They were told that they would have to come in next week for another fitting. Harry hoped it would be the last one.
They all gathered outside Madam Malkin's shop. Harry once again grabbed a hold of Bill’s arm as Gabrielle held on to Fleur, Ron onto Charlie, and Ginny onto Hermione. Then, with a lurching in his stomach, they Apparated back to the Burrow.
Author’s Note: Words can not express how sorry I am that it took me so long to finish this chapter. I am really, REALLY sorry. But, this chapter is extra long, so it makes up for it, right? Hopefully it will not take me this long again. But, seeing as I am a procrastinator, it very well might. LOL. Anyways, I have a couple of announcements to make. Firstly, go to my authors page to check out my lovely new banner for this story. Also, I have created a little website about my fan fiction, and there is a link to another fan fic that I am Co-writing with a friend, plus a summary of a fan fic I might write in the future. Be sure to check it out! The link is on my author’s page. Also, don’t forget to leave a review if you have time! So far I have responded to every single one, and I will try to keep doing so in the future. Even if I don’t respond, I still read and appreciate every review. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! (OK, enough of this overly-long authors note. It is officially over. :) )