Author’s Note: I’m SO sorry that it took me so long to update. But, I made this chapter fairly long, so it makes up for it, right? ;) Anyways, the next chapter is the one everyone has been waiting for: The Wedding! I will try to not make the wait in between chapters as long as it was this time, but school has me really busy and the fact that I am a natural procrastinator makes it hard for me to tell you exactly when the next chapter will be out. I hope you enjoy this chapter. There isn’t much humor in it, but there is a bit of a surprise at the end. (In my opinion, although some of you may have seen it coming) Also, please leave a review if you have the time, I read all of them and respond to almost every one. Okay, enough of this overly-long author’s note. Enjoy the chapter!
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Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, I do not own. (*Sigh*)
Chapter 5: The Wedding Rehearsal
The next couple of weeks after the dress robe fitting passed in a blur for Harry. He, Ron, and Hermione had to help everyone get ready for the wedding. They helped Mrs. Weasley with the cooking and cleaning. They made several trips to Diagon Alley with Fleur to purchase things needed for the wedding. They also had to get every one of Fleur’s fifty family members that were coming for the wedding settled in. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had added countless rooms by magic, so that the house looked even more like it was about to burst at the seams.
Fleur’s family was an interesting bunch, to say the least. There was Fleur’s Mother, Rose, who talked in such a heavy French accent that no one knew what she was saying half the time. Then there was Fleur’s cousin, Edward, who was awful at magic, and could not perform a spell without something going horribly wrong. (They found this out the hard way when he tried to levitate his luggage, but instead caused it to sprout legs and run away. “Happens every time,” Edward had said with a mournful sigh.) There was also an assortment of aunts, uncles, and other cousins that had the same line of thinking as Pricilla, that France was better, and that they were better than everyone else. Although, they were not as vocal about there opinions as Pricilla, for which Harry glad.
Whenever the three of them did have a few moments of peace, Ron and Harry usually spent it flying around on their brooms in the backyard, while Hermione read down on the grass below. Harry knew, of course, that he should be spending his free time planning what he was going to do after the wedding. But he could not bring himself to think about it right now, and did whatever he could to keep his mind off of it.
Almost two weeks passed, and soon there was only one day left until the wedding. The day before the wedding, Fleur made and announcement at breakfast, which they had taken to eating outside, as the number of people staying in the house increased.
“Tonight,” she said “We will ‘ave ze wedding rehearsal. Anyone who is in ze wedding should come down to ze dining room at four o’ clock today.
After Fleur’s announcement, everyone began talking again; everyone except for Harry, who had become suddenly nervous. He had successfully managed to avoid Ginny up until that point, even though she had tried to talk to him several times. Tonight, however, it would be impossible to ignore her. They would have to walk down the aisle together during the rehearsal. Chances were Ginny would try to talk to him again. But this time, he wouldn’t be able to ignore her.
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At four o’ clock that day, Harry made his way downstairs. He dragged his feet as much as he could, pretending to be engrossed in the various moving pictures on the wall in the hallway leading down the stairs.
“You’re going to have to talk to her eventually,” Ron said as he turned around on the stairs to face Harry.
“I know you’re right. But what am I going to say?” Harry sighed as he continued to make his way down the stairs.
Ron didn’t seem to have an answer to that, and continued down in front of Harry.
All of the groomsmen and bridesmaids, including Ginny, were already in the dining room when Harry and Ron finally entered.
“Ah, there they are,” Bill said as he noticed them enter the room. “Nice of you to join us,” he teased as he gave Ron a playful clap on the back.
Ron mumbled something that Harry couldn’t hear as Fleur cleared her throat for attention.
“Now zat we are all ‘ere, lets go out into ze backyard to start ze rehearsal,” Fleur instructed.
The group made their way through the kitchen and into the Weasley’s backyard. Harry stayed toward the back, avoiding Ginny, who was talking animatedly to Gabrielle and Hermione.
He felt like a coward. He knew he shouldn’t be avoiding Ginny. They had been friends before they ever started going out. Why should things be awkward between them now?
Because you’re making them awkward, a little voice inside his head told him. She wants to talk to you, but do you listen? No. You make up excuses and run away from her.
Harry told the voice inside his head to go away.
They were in the backyard now. Harry looked around and noticed how differently things were set up than they were this morning.
There were two groups of chairs. Each group had eight rows of chairs with four chairs in each row. In between the two groups of chairs, there was a five foot space that was the aisle down which Fleur and all the groomsmen and bridesmaids would be walking. In the front of all the chairs, there was an archway, which Fleur and Bill would be standing under during the ceremony. Right now, it was plain and white, but Harry had overheard Fleur discussing plans to decorate it before the wedding tomorrow. Further away from the chairs, there were about ten large round tables set up in a corner of the yard where the reception would be taking place.
Bill cleared his throat to get the attention of the group. “Okay, would everyone please find their respective wedding partners?”
Harry’s stomach gave a lurch. This was it. He couldn’t avoid Ginny any longer. He realized that his hands were beginning to sweat, and he wiped them off on his robes. He looked around, hoping to stall for time. He suddenly decided to become very interested in tying the laces of his trainers.
As he untied and retied the knot for the third time, he became aware of somebody standing next to him. He didn’t need to look up to know who it was.
“Harry,” Ginny said gently as he stood up, avoiding eye contact.
“Harry,” she said again, moving so that their eyes met. “I…” She began.
“We should be joining the others,” Harry said shortly.
She smiled wearily. “Of course.” She sighed and turned to walk towards the rest of the group.
Harry knew what she wanted. He knew she wanted to talk to him. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t deal with trying to explain again why they couldn’t be together, because even as he recited the reasons over and over again to himself, they seemed to have lost all meaning. Every time he said to himself that she could get hurt, he remembered what she had said to him down by the lake on the day of Dumbledore’s funeral. “What if I don’t care?”
She doesn’t care…Harry thought to himself.
But I do…
Maybe she’s over me…
She never gave up on me before…
I’ll be putting her in danger…
She’s already in danger…
These thoughts and others had been going through Harry’s head since he had broken up with her that day at Hogwarts.
He was pulled away from his thoughts very suddenly when he almost ran into Ginny, who had stopped abruptly,
“Sorry,” Harry mumbled, averting his gaze. Ginny smiled, but remained silent.
Just then, Fleur started giving directions. “All ze bridesmaids line up on ze left, and all ze groomsmen line up on ze right.” Harry got in a single file line behind Ron and the other groomsmen near the right section of chairs. Fleur began repositioning them until Charlie was first, then Ron, then Percy, then Fred, George, and finally, Harry.
Near the left section of chairs, Fleur arranged the girls so Pricilla was first, then Gabrielle, then Hermione, Lauren, then Elizabeth, with Ginny standing in the back.
Fleur began instructing them on how they were to walk down the aisle. From what Harry understood -it was hard to understand anything with Fred and George making faces and doing imitations in an attempt to get Lauren and Elizabeth to laugh- Fleur wanted each groomsmen and bridesmaid to walk from each side, meet in the middle, link arms, and walk down the aisle. Once they got to the end of the aisle, they would separate again, and the bridesmaids would stand on the left side with the groomsmen standing to the right.
“Now, when you ‘ear ze music start, Charlie and Pricilla should come and walk down ze aisle like I said. Then, Gabrielle and Ron should start down ze aisle when Pricilla and Charlie are ‘alf way down ze aisle. Then, ze rest of you should follow.” She stopped and pulled out her wand. She pointed it at a small wireless that Harry had just realized was sitting on one of the chairs. “Remember, begin when you ‘ear ze music.” She flicked her wand and the sound of the wedding march began.
Pricilla and Charlie walked from their lines, met in the middle, linked arms, and slowly made their way down the aisle. Pricilla had a look on her face like she smelled something foul -as was her custom- and Charlie looked extremely uncomfortable.
When they made it about half way down the aisle, Gabrielle and Ron left their places in the line and walked down the aisle. This continued as Percy and Hermione, Fred and Lauren, and George and Elizabeth walked down the aisle. (Although Fred and George went down the aisle at more of a skip then a walk, which elicited a cold glare from Fleur.) Finally, Harry and Ginny were the only ones left to go.
Harry’s hands began to sweat as he walked toward the middle to link arms with Ginny. He tried to ignore the tingling sensation that went up his arm as she touched him, and the smell of her hair that reminded him of the love potion he had made last year.
The walk down the aisle was one of the longest walks of Harry’s life. At last, they came to the end of the aisle and separated, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. When he took his place in line, he looked back at Ginny and realized that her face was flushed, as he became aware of the warmth in his own cheeks.
Fleur made them go through the routine several times, with each time being more and more uncomfortable for Harry. The more he was around her, the more he wanted to talk to her, but if he talked to her, he wasn’t sure he would be able to resist getting back together with her.
Finally, they were allowed to go in the house. Harry tried to leave quickly, but a hand grabbing his arm stopped him. He turned around to see who the hand belonged to, and found himself looking right into Ginny’s face.
“Harry, we need to talk.” She said it gently, but there was a firmness in her voice that showed Harry he could not avoid her any longer.
“Okay.” Harry said, his muscles tensing up as Ginny released his arm. They began to walk around the chairs in the yard, while everybody else went inside the house.
They left the main area of the yard, and went up a small hill behind the Weasley’s house, walking in silence.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” Ginny said, breaking the silence. It was not a question, but a statement of fact.
“I’m sorry,” Harry apologized. There was no use in denying it. She already knew. He didn’t know what else to say, so he stayed quiet.
“Me too,” was Ginny’s reply. “I’ve wanted to talk to you, Harry, about what you said on the day of Dumbledore’s funeral. I was hoping maybe I could change your mind. But I’m guessing your mind is made up.” She smiled slightly, but it was a humorless smile.
Harry was afraid to reply. His mind was screaming, Say something, you idiot! Tell her you’re sorry; tell her you want to get back together! You know you want to! Instead, he averted his gaze and looked out at the setting sun.
Ginny did not seemed surprised or upset by Harry’s silence, but continued on. “I’m guessing Ron told you that Fleur was told to pair us together for the wedding?”
Harry turned away from looking at the sunset and stared at Ginny, surprised. He nodded at her, wondering what she would say next.
“I’m also guessing that Ron told you my mum was the one who asked Fleur to put us together, at least, that is what he told me he thought when he came to ‘break to news’ to me last month.” Harry nodded again. “Well, it wasn’t she who told Fleur to put us together, Harry. It was me.”
By this point, Harry’s mouth was hanging open in surprise, and he was too stunned to say anything except, “Why?”
Ginny gave a small laugh. “I guess I thought it would give us an excuse to be together. I guess I thought that if you spent time with me, then you would change your mind and want to get back together. I guess I was wrong.”
Harry wanted to say something, but he couldn’t think of anything. I’m sorry he wanted to say. I wish things were different. I never wanted to hurt you.
“Ginny, I…” He began.
“Harry! Ginny! Come inside, it’s time for dinner!” Mrs.Weasley’s voice rang out across the yard.
“We better go inside,” Ginny said, before Harry could continue.
She turned and made her way down the hill, through the backyard, and into the house, leaving Harry alone, wondering how he was ever going to defeat Voldemort when he could barely even talk to his ex-girlfriend.