Wedding Day Blues… Or Blacks
Harry had been awoken by a very excited Mrs. Weasley at 5 in the morning, causing Harry to moan and curse under his breathe. The excitement of that kiss with Ginny before bed last night had made him stay awake most of the night analyzing the situation. After several hours of thought though he hadn't got anywhere on this and was still where he was at Dumbledore's funeral. He wanted to be with her but couldn't, but turning down that girl was seemingly impossible, for a certain part of his body he couldn't control anyway. He had of course come up with a plan, he was Harry Potter after all, he had faced so many confrontations that plan making came naturally to him. The plan was simple really, ask Hermione what to do. He grinned at the simplicity and brilliance of his plan, and he knew it would get to her in the end anyway, he would just be cutting out his poor attempt at handling the situation.
Harry was taking longer than everyone else to get ready, they all seemed done in half an hour. This confused Harry more than anything as he thought of the hours Hermione had taken for the Yule Ball and the hours Ginny took practically everyday, wasn't a wedding much bigger than that he asked himself as shouts of impatience came from the kitchen.
`Hurry the hell up mate!' Ron bellowed up the stairs as Harry descended them, he had had a quick look in the mirror and was grinning softly. He knew he was looking rather good today, the new dress robes were fantastic.
`Hold your hair…' Harry said rounding the corner to the kitchen, pausing mid sentence at the sight before him.
`What are you wearing?' Harry stammered out.
`I think the question is what are you wearing, Harry, or is formal attire on the list for breakfast now?' Hermione teased softly as Harry felt his face flush and the whole room burst into laughter at Harry's mistake. He knew if he looked at a mirror now he wouldn't be looking cool or handsome, but like someone had been on holiday to the sun and forgot their sunscreen.
`We've got hours left before the wedding and a lot of work to do still' Mrs. Weasley stated softly for Harry.
`Although you look rather fetching today, I must say Mr. Potter' George said in a girly giggle.
`Except the face, why would you want to paint yourself?' Fred asked in an innocently concerned voice.
`And such a nasty color as red? Clashes with you're eyes that does' George pointed out helpfully.
`Shit…I mean damn, no one told me!' Harry said agitated, causing the room to break into even louder laughter. He could at least take advantage of the situation `I'll go get changed then, could you bring me up some breakfast, Hermione, I'm starving' Harry noticed her nod staring interestedly at him, but Ginny looked murderous, if he lasted a moment he knew she'd offer to bring it up instead, so he bounded out the room and up to his.
Looking into the mirror at his dressed up self he couldn't help but find it a little funny and let out a small laugh. As he removed the dress robes and his shirt he started to look through his draws for a top, scanning for something simple and clean.
`Um…Harry…I brought your food up' Hermione said in a weird strained voice. Harry Jumped around, he had already forgotten about Hermione bringing the food and since when was she ever not punctual. He felt awkward all of a sudden, he was half naked in front of his best friend and by the blush that had flared up on her cheeks and the way her eyes tried not to look at him he knew she felt just as awkward. Harry couldn't believe that in 6 years of living so close together that this had never happened, well a first for everything had always been integral to Harry's unexpected lifestyle. Harry quickly put on a simple light blue long sleeve t-shirt, before turning to Hermione, who was still blushing profusely, looking down at her feet. Harry couldn't believe how awkward this situation was, the silence was starting to kill him.
`So, um, thanks for the breakfast… it looks great, so…' The silence was really worrying, he knew he just had to push through, so he sat down on his bed and gestured for her to join him. She paused for a moment, before looking at him in the eyes while smiling and joined him. This was the second awkward moment between and it had already passed, he knew it would but it was good to see it happening so quickly and completely, it was the reason she was his best friend. But Harry couldn't help but think on that in 3 days they had had 2 really awkward moments. One had been where Hermione was half naked, and this one he was. How had this not happened already and why was it bothering him quite so much? She was looking so much better nowadays, that was going to lead to problems, she was no longer the sexless person she use to be, she was a woman. They had been hugging and having physical contact for over half a decade already so why had it gotten weird lately…How was this going to affect them from now on. They were going to spend a lot of time in close company for however long the hunt for the Horcruxes would take to find and destroy them, and then there was Voldemort after that. So unless Harry managed to get himself killed sometime soon they were going to be spending a lot of time together for at least a year or two judging from the information, or lack of he had been gathering…
`Harry, you've gone silent and staring into space for about a minute, what you thinking?' Hermione asked slightly agitated.
`What?' Harry stumbled out, `Just about…' Harry looked around for anything to say at which moment Crookshanks came bumbling into the room searching for something or other `Cats' Harry said instantly condemning himself for the lamest cover story of all time as Hermione frowned at him, `Just that how… if cats could fly, what would their wings be? Their arms, or tail?' This was getting worse and worse.
`Flying cats?' Hermione asked eyes burrowed staring at Harry `that sounds…interesting. So what did you want?' Hermione had evidently given up the question about the cats realizing she was onto a loser. Harry sighed inwardly as he had already set himself to sticking with the flying cats cover story and had been wildly thinking through some more interesting ideas.
`So I wanted to talk about Ginny…' Harry said as Hermione stiffened slightly, `I don't know what to do, and kind of wanted you're ideas'.
`Well,' Hermione started in her sensible voice `Well I saw how you were watching Ginny yesterday, weddings are very romantic, and you could dance with her or…'
Harry had cut her off by holding up his hand `I meant how to stop her from trying anything. I don't want to be with her… I mean I can't be with her' Harry said with finality etched in his voice.
`Oh, well are you sure' Hermione asked and Harry only answered with a simple nod `You'll just have to try and avoid her, I know it's insensitive and she will be very mad, but it's only for a few hours…'
`How can I ignore her, I'm at her house!' Harry said exasperated, then it hit him `Could you hang out with me, you know be my date, well not a real date obviously but… well you know.' Harry was blushing slightly.
`Oh, um… well I'll tell Ron, and he'll be fine, um, with it… I'm sure' Hermione stuttered before regrouping herself into a cheery smile `I'd love to Harry, but I must warn you that I love dancing, and you will not be a bad date Harry Potter! You get, well dressed, and we've got to put the clothes… I mean the chairs and stuff in place… bye' and Hermione bounded out of the room.
Harry smiled in defeat, today was going to be very interesting at the least. Harry got changed into a pair of jeans and trainers and checked in the mirror. He was deliberately taking his time, he knew he had a morning of hard tedious work setting everything up, even before the actual wedding took place. Looking at himself in the mirror he saw the look of foreboding upon his face and he sighed. `Time to go to work' he said a little grumpily before attaching a smile to his face and leaving the reflection upon the mirror to go downstairs.
Harry was a little tired but excited none the less, as the prospect of Bill and Fleur's wedding was now on him. He had helped set up all the lighting, tables, chairs and cutlery amongst a hundred other jobs. He was amazed at how much work actually went into a wedding, if he could help it would definitely not be having one for himself, finally Harry had agreed with Voldemort on something, although for obvious different reasons.
He was now sat in the rows of chairs looking up at Bill and Fleur. Fleur was as beautiful as ever, possibly even more so judging by the gaping staring of half the men at the wedding, staring after her with their mouths' open, a little bit of drool occasionally dripping from their mouths. She was dressed in a long wonderful white wedding dress, the train reaching meters behind her, slightly silvery too Harry noticed, which matched her hair and held the rays of the suns. Bill on the other hand was looking a bit better, a little less like moody, but still not good. He was still heavily scarred and limping from a stick, but at least you could tell he was Bill now, and was decked out in beautiful dark robes, less like his usual cool outfit of dragon leather but elegant and smart.
Harry was dressed, for the second time that day, and knew he was looking rather good again as he was attracting a fair amount of attention himself. He was sat next to Hermione who looked elegant in a simple low cut light yellow dress with a reasonably long cut skirt bottom. She often looked at Harry and smiled, the day was perfect for nearly everyone. Ginny had watched the two of them constantly, and Harry could tell that she was extremely angry and that he had better be on his guard today, she wasn't finished with him. She was of course looking as beautiful as ever, but Harry wasn't allowing this too affect him as he knew he had too be strong today, tonight he would be back in Grimmauld and could keep his distance again. Ron though wasn't looking much better, he kept on looking over at him and Hermione with a curious look on his face, Harry knew why as he thought that Ron and her would go together. He did'nt blame Ron, he would of been mad if he had stolen Hermione from him, Harry realizd that he had been mad about that yesterday and knew how Ron must be feeling. Although today was perfect he was looking forward to it being over, many people were looking at him either questioningly, adoringly or angrily, but he wouldn't miss this wedding for anything, and Hermione was looking really good, she was a good date.
`You're staring blankly again?' Hermione whispered again as the wedding couple kissed, he couldn't help but wonder how much had he missed while he was thinking, over analyzing too much like usual. `So what was it this time?' she asked again quietly as they stood up to clap the happy couple as they made their way back down the aisle.
Why did she have to ask that again, she must have such fantastic intuition `Um…One Tree Hill…you know the TV show', They had watched it quite a lot over the summer, but my god this excuse was possibly even lamer than before, and last time had been about cats. `You know, that wedding episode…' Harry added trying desperately to save himself.
Hermione blanked at Harry in obvious shock before regrouping as they went to the marquee for the wedding dinner, `If you don't want to tell me, Harry James Potter, you don't have to, but please stop making up such ludicrous cover stories' she said in his ear before rushing over to Bill to congratulate him. As he watched her talking animatedly to Bill and Fleur he couldn't help but think about what was going on, things were getting weird this year, but before he could carry on with this train of though, he was interrupted, and for once not by Hermione.
`Potter, here you are' came a growl that Harry recognized as Moody `You've been hiding yourself well, constant vigilance you seem to have'. Moody sounded a bit impressed.
`Coming from you that's sure a great compliment' Harry said unsure of how to react to Moody seemingly comparing the two of them, `So how are things?'
`Death Eaters have been active, as you well know, but we've got something more…interesting, cant talk here obviously, any of the guests could be Death Eaters, but take this letter and it'll explain what I mean' and with this Moody skulked off. Harry looked at the letter briefly before tucking it into his inside pocket, he would wait till after the wedding to see what it was.
He walked around the marquee, he had bumped into many people he knew, most of the Gryffindors' were invited as long with many from the other houses including Luna Lovegood, wearing a positively normal silver dress, normal for her anyway as she had her usual cork necklace and wand tucked behind her ear, she had come straight over to Harry.
`Hi, it's a weird wedding isn't it?' Luna said in her usual slow dreamy way. What was weird Harry had no idea of, but as he knew Luna well he knew he'd find out briefly `I haven't seen a single Shorshock, and their always at weddings…I guess they'd of probably have been held up in Austria, you know with the Crazabelg siting out there.'
Harry could barely stop himself from laughing out loud, Luna always had this effect on him, he couldn't help it, and she was hysterical. He was spared the description of what a Shorshock or Crazabelg was by a voice he instantly recognized calling him over to a nearby seat, which Harry quickly joined.
`So, how you been holding up Harry?' Lupin said in an appraising way, Harry quickly realized that Tonks was there beside him and had her hand was entwined with Lupins'. `Wotcher Harry' Tonks asked.
`Hi Tonks, I'm good, honestly!' Harry added as Lupin looked unconvinced at him, Harry decided to change the subject `so, you two a couple yet?'
Lupin blushed at this but Tonks had beamed, telling Harry that they indeed were `we've been, well, seeing each other…hope you're ok with it Harry?' Lupin asked seriously, Harry figured that being the last Marauder, except Wormtail and he didn't count, must have meant that he had to carry the whole protectiveness on his shoulders.
`Of course I'm fine with it, better than fine' Harry announced whole heartedly, Lupin and Tonks beamed at each other, Harry knew they were in love and this pleased him immensely. No one deserved love more than Lupin, or at least no one that Harry had ever met, or was ever going to meet. He wanted to leave them to this wonderful day, maybe their wedding would be next. He saw Hermione wave over to him and do a funny little mime of dancing, causing Harry to let out a laugh.
`I've got to get going, I've promised Hermione a dance and she'll kill me if I don't' Harry said cheerily causing Lupin to raise an eyebrow `We're here as friends' he added maybe a touch too strong. He bid them goodbye and made his way across the room to Hermione who was stood sill waiting for him to make his way to her.
A small girl with blazing red hair suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking Hermione from his view. Ginny had a huge flirty smile playing on her lips as she took Harry's hand in her's, `Let's dance Harry, I know we couldn't come together, you being so noble and all, but we could leave together…' the flirting sound of her voice hinting to Harry what she exactly meant.
`Ginny, I cant, we cant, you know this' Harry said firmly.
`But it's only one day, a taste of what will happen after you defeat you-know-who' Ginny said, slightly confused at Harry's behavior.
This angered Harry, he was the one fighting Voldemort and all she could think of was them living happily together after his death, not considering the fact that he was facing the darkest and most powerful wizard in the world! `For FUCK sake Ginny, can't you pay attention to what I'm saying? Is it the I can't part? Or the we shouldn't thing? Its not the we can't part is it? Because I think that's the strongest part of the argument' he was being too harsh, she had tears in her eyes, but his anger wouldn't let him stop, he had to make his point `tell me so you can help me to help you understand, I'll write a whole essay if you need it…' Harry knew he had gone too far, she had broken down into tears.
Luckily for him Hermione had seen it and had run up to him, she took him by the hand and dragged him away. His head was swimming with what he had just done, he had just made Ginny cry in front of everyone and the Weasleys were going to be mad at him, he had ruined the wedding. He was never going back to the Burrow again, at least not for about a decade. Hermione had led him to the small pond a little away from the property, and they sat down on a log overlooking it.
`Hermione…' Harry said quietly after a few minutes of silence in which he collected his thoughts, `I'm sorry I swore'. The two looked at each other and Hermione laughed softly at this.
`Don't be silly, although why did you go so mad at her, that wasn't really the right thing to do' Hermione said softly but slightly strictly, leaning towards him and placing her head on his shoulder while holding his hand.
`I know, I know' Harry sighed, Hermione always had the ability to calm him down and make him see what was right `She made me so mad, I can't do it anymore with her. I don't know if I ever will, I care for her but we have such different lives. I don't know what will happen, I don't even think I'll live long enough to date her, Voldemort will probably kill me…'
`And I thought I'd never agree with you on anything Potter…' came a voice Harry knew but it was the voice he least expected to hear here, the voice screamed `Expelliarmus' disarming the pair of them. Harry was now unarmed with a known death eater. And once again he had brought a person he truly loved along with him. They would both probably die, Hermione would die because of him. The thought that Hermione could die just because he had made a mistake was tearing at him, he would get out of this, he would get Hermione out of this…
`So, you came, I wouldn't have given you an invitation myself, but it's not my wedding…' Harry said coldly, he had to try and keep talking, the longer he lived the more chance he could save Hermione, `Now, you wont be expecting me to talk formally with you, would you? I think from here on I'll be calling you Severus…'
*
So that's chapter 6. I told you a lot would happen.
Well now onto the bad issues. I held this chapter back a day hoping I wouldn't have to say this, but 4 reviews for the last chapter! That sucked! You should all be ashamed of yourselves, except the few people who actually reviewed (I LOVE YOU ALL!). I have the next chapter written already, but going to take my time, I want some reviews! If people actually review the chapter, It'll be up in a day, if a few review a couple days, if no one reviews then a week or two! I may be bluffing with two weeks, but I will hold out for as long as I can…
Well anyway, sorry for that, but please carry on reading the story, and please review! Thank you and hope you enjoyed it.
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