Ginny's Fate

The Runaway Bride

'Ginny,' Fleur was calling after her as she ran. 'Ginny. Ginny, wake up! Ginny! Zis is not ze time for sleeping! My wedding is in 8 hours!' Fleur began shaking Ginny's shoulders and Ginny opened her eyes, only to realize Fleur was actually calling her name. 'Good, now get dressed and come downstairs quickly, zer is a change of plan in ze ceremony.' Ginny got out of bed as Fleur left the room, rolling her eyes and wishing she had locked her door last night. She quickly changed out of her pajamas and made her way downstairs. When she entered the kitchen, she saw all the female occupants of the house there. She saw Hermione, dozing off, with her bushy brown hair against the chair, acting as a pillow. She also saw Gabrielle and Fleur talking quickly in French while Mrs. Weasley made breakfast. 'Ginny dear, come help me set the table please,' said Mrs. Weasley, and Ginny, quite surprised that her mother had called her "dear" went to Mrs. Weasley's aide. 'So, sweetie, is it true?' Mrs. Weasley asked excitedly as she handed Ginny five plates.

'What is?' Ginny asked, wondering what on earth her mother was on about.

'Well,' said Mrs. Weasley, a thin smile stretching across her face. 'Last month Ron sent me an owl from Hogwarts, saying that you and Harry, well, that you were an item. I would have asked you about it before, but with what happened with Bill and all, I didn't really -'

Ginny felt herself go red. She couldn't let her mother know about this. It would only make things more awkward, if that was even possible.

'Ginny? Sweetie? Are you listening to me?

'What? Yeah.'

'So? Is it?'

'No,' Ginny said trying to sound casual.

'Oh, but why would Ron -'

'He probably thought it was funny.'

'I See. You know you don't have to hide anything from me, right? I mean, if it was true -'

'It's not,' Ginny snapped.

'Oh, all right.' Mrs. Weasley looked quite disappointed. 'Could you put the plates on the table then?' she said in a defeated voice.

Ginny put the plates on the table and sat down beside Hermione who was dozing off again. She shook Hermione awake. 'Do you know what time is it?' she asked her.

Hermione looked at her watch. 'Five fifteen,' she yawned.

Ginny turned to glare at Fleur. 'Why did you wake us up so early?' she asked her. 'Your wedding is at one o'clock. Even if you had woken us up at nine we would have time to spare.'

'No we wouldn't!' Fleur retorted. 'As I told you, zer 'as been a change in ze ceremony. My best friend, 'oo is my maid of honor sent an owl last night, saying she couldn't come because 'er mozer just died.' Fleur didn't sound sorry at all as she said this. 'So now, Gabrielle 'as to be my maid of honor, and as we are one bride's maid short, 'Ermione 'as to fill 'er spot.'

And she launched into yet another one of her horribly boring lectures about the wedding ceremony.

After what seemed like centuries, Fleur straightened up and asked, 'So, do you all understand what you are supposed to do?'

Ginny, Hermione and Gabrielle all nodded and Mrs. Weasley burst into tears. 'Oh, you're going to be my daughter!' and she flung her arms around her future daughter-in-law. After a few sickening moments during which Mrs. Weasley and Fleur both sobbed into each other's shoulders, they broke apart and Mrs. Weasley held Fleur's shoulders and took a deep breath. 'Do take care of Bill for me, won't you?'

Fleur, who still had tears pouring out of her huge blue eyes, nodded as she wiped them with the palms of her hands.

And it struck Ginny for the first time. Even though Fleur was completely hopeless as a human being, she really cared about Bill, and maybe that's all Bill really needed, especially now.

Fleur took a deep, shuddering breath and got out of her seat. 'All right, let's go get ready for my wedding!' she said ecstatically and she ran out of the kitchen, Gabrielle and Mrs. Weasley right behind her.

Hermione, who had been awake for some time now, turned to look at Ginny. 'Let's go try on our bride's maid's dresses,' she said excitedly, and grabbing Ginny's arm, she led her to the living-room where there were three, pallid pink dresses lying on the sofa, one, substantially smaller than the other two.

'OK, girls, all you have to do now is try your dresses on just to see if they fit right. But you have to wait, Fleur's in the bathroom trying on -'

She was cut off because at that moment, the bathroom door opened and Fleur came out, wearing a breathtaking silk gown.

'Oh, Fleur, you look absolutely beautiful!' Mrs. Weasley said, tears pouring from her eyes once again.

And she was quite right. Even now, with her silvery blonde hair in a loose bun and no make up on her face, what so ever, Fleur looked more beautiful than any bride Ginny could ever have imagined.

'Oh honey, the dress looks perfect on you! Let's get your hair and make up done and you'll be ready just in time!' said Mrs. Weasley excitedly. 'All right girls, you can try on your dresses now. When you're done, come upstairs to my bedroom so I can do your hair and makeup,' she added absent-mindedly, and then she left the room, taking Fleur along with her.

'You can go first,' Ginny said slowly to Gabrielle, taking her dress off the sofa and handing it to her. Ginny knew Gabrielle barely understood any English so she was relieved when Gabrielle nodded and entered the bathroom with her dress.

'That was really nice of you,' Hermione said with a small smile.

'Is it so unbelievable to see me do something nice?' Ginny teased.

'No, of course not! It's just that you've never really been nice to Fleur or her sister before.'

'Well, she's going to marry my brother and there is nothing I can do about it. Might as well just accept the facts and get on with my life.'

'Good for you Ginny,' Hermione said approvingly as the bathroom door opened and Gabrielle came out in her pink bride's maid dress. Ginny had to admit that for an eleven year old, she looked very pretty. Gabrielle quietly made her way up the stairs and a few seconds later, Ginny heard a scraping of chairs and Fleur's scream: 'Oh, tu est très belle, ma chere!'

'You can go if you like,' Ginny said to Hermione, and without further ado, Hermione grabbed her dress and ran into the bathroom. The reason Ginny had allowed Gabrielle and Hermione go before her was that she was scared of how she would look in her bride's maid's dress. Why had Fleur picked pink? Ginny had a nasty feeling she was going to look awful in it. She was just thinking about wearing some sort of headpiece that would hide her hair when Hermione came out of the bathroom, positively beaming.

'I love it!' she exclaimed and she ran up the stairs to Mrs. Weasley's bedroom.

A feeling of gloom spreading over her, Ginny grabbed her dress and entered the bathroom, even though no one was outside. She just felt more comfortable in there because there was no chance of someone accidentally walking in on her while she was changing.

She changed as slowly as possible, dreading to look at herself in the mirror afterwards. When she was done, she squinted at the mirror, not really wanting to look at herself, and she was shocked. She opened her eyes wider and stared at her reflection.

She looked ... absolutely great! Somehow, the pink dress was complementing her fiery red hair. Ginny smiled at her reflection, relieved that she wouldn't have to wear a headpiece in order to look good in this dress. She left the bathroom and made her way up the stairs.

When she entered her mother's bedroom, she heard a loud squeal. Fleur, half her hair in an elegant bun, the other half flowing down her shoulder, jumped out of her seat and gave Ginny a bone-crushing hug. She then let go of Ginny and gave her a warm smile. Ginny felt the corners of her mouth twitch and before she knew it, she was smiling at Fleur for the first time in her life.

'You look so beautiful, Ginny! I was scared ze dress was going to clash with your 'air, but it looks perfect!' Fleur hugged Ginny again and then went back to her seat so that Mrs. Weasley could finish her hair and make up.

Fleur took an exceptionally long time to get ready, but it was worth it, because when she was done she looked completely flawless.

As Mrs. Weasley did the bride's maids' hair and make up, Fleur stood in front of the full-length mirror next to Mrs. Weasley's bed and admired herself.

At long last, they were all done, and they all looked rather beautiful. However, none of them compared to Fleur.

Mrs. Weasley quickly got dressed and checked her watch. 'Oh my goodness! The ceremony's going to start in ten minutes,' she said frantically. 'The guests should be arriving any time now.'

And sure enough, they could hear distant cracking noises, telling them the guests were apparating on their backyard, where the ceremony was to take place.

Mrs. Weasley looked nervously out the window and appareted to the backyard with a loud crack.

Ginny, who had never been a bride's maid before was not sure what she was supposed to do. Now that she thought about it, it wouldn't have hurt to actually listen to Fleur's lectures.

'Um ... do we go out now, or do we stay here?' she asked no one in particular.

'You stay, of course!' said Fleur hysterically. She had stopped admiring herself in the mirror and now looked slightly green. She collapsed on Mrs. Weasley's bed, and then took no less than three deep breaths.

Ginny caught Hermione's eye and they exchanged puzzled looks. As Fleur started to sob hysterically, Hermione jerked her head towards her and gave Ginny a meaningful glance. Ginny rolled her eyes and reluctantly moved closer to Fleur.

'Is something wrong?' she asked uncertainly.

'I'm going to be married ...' she said, more to herself than to Ginny.

'But that's a good thing isn't?' Ginny asked.

'I don't know ... what if it doesn't work out? What if Bill isn't my soul mate?' Fleur sounded quite panicked. Ginny, who couldn't help rolling her eyes, looked at Hermione as though expecting her to fix this. Ginny didn't know what to say to Fleur. She, personally, didn't buy all this soul mate nonsense. If two people loved each other, they loved each other, and if they didn't, they didn't. She didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

Fleur suddenly stood up, seeming to have made her mind up at last. Ginny was relieved because she thought that Fleur had come to her senses and was going to walk down that aisle in peace now. She couldn't have been more wrong.

'I don't think I can do zis. I 'ave to leave now. Tell Bill I am very sorry, Ginny. Gabrielle, nous allons á la maison.' Fleur held out her hand and Gabrielle took it.

Ginny stared at Fleur for a few seconds, completely flabbergasted. 'WHAT?!' she screamed as soon as she got her voice back. 'AFTER EVERYTHING YOU PUT US THROUGH, YOU'RE JUST GOING TO LEAVE BILL? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?' Ginny was panicking. The wedding ceremony was starting in less than five minutes and the bride was about run away! She turned around and looked at Hermione. 'Hermione! Do something!' she said desperately.

Hermione moved towards Fleur and Gabrielle, rather cautiously. 'You're just nervous Fleur,' she said in an oddly comforting voice. 'If you don't walk down that aisle now, you're going to regret it for the rest of your life. I mean, what if Bill is your soul mate? You and Bill have been going out for three years. If he wasn't your soul mate, you would have broken up by now. Believe me; three hours from now, at your wedding reception, you're going to look back and wonder how you could consider leaving Bill even for a second.' Hermione gave Fleur a comforting smile.

Ginny simply stared, completely dumbfounded. How could Hermione come up with all this junk on such short notice?

Fleur, whose bright blue eyes were sparkling with tears, hugged Hermione.

'I don't know 'ow I will ever be able to thank you, 'Ermione!'

Hermione merely smiled and said: 'Let's go. The wedding ceremony's about to start anytime now.'

Fleur nodded vigorously and ran down the stairs, still holding Gabrielle's hand.

'How did you think of all that so fast?' Ginny asked Hermione, completely amazed.

'Oh, it's nothing,' said Hermione, slightly blushing. 'I just saw this sort of thing a lot in Muggle movies.' She smiled, and then checked her watch quickly. 'We have to hurry, the wedding is going to start in less than three minutes!' she said frantically and she ran down the stairs.

The weather outside was fantastic. It was sunny, but there was also a light breeze.

As they all stood waiting for the music to play, Ginny saw Charlie, Ron, Harry and an elderly man she assumed was Fleur's father walking towards them. They were each carrying a bouquet of flowers and came to a halt right in front of them. Fleur immediately flung her arms around the elderly man and spoke quickly to him in French. When Fleur let go of the man, he smiled at her and kissed her forehead. Then, he turned his gaze to Gabrielle and hugged her too. At last, the music started to play and Ron came forward and stood right in front of Hermione. His ears were almost as red as his hair when he handed Hermione his bouquet of flowers. He then offered his arm to Hermione, staring at his shoes and mumbling something under his breath. Hermione, who was quite red herself, smiled slightly as she took Ron's arm. As Ron and Hermione made their way slowly down the aisle, Ginny moved towards Charlie and was just about to take the bouquet of flowers from him when Charlie did something very strange. He quickly glanced at Harry, who was standing in the background, and then moved swiftly towards Gabrielle. He gave her his bouquet of flowers and offered her his hand. Gabrielle smiled shyly and took it and they made their way down the aisle.

Ginny had a shrewd feeling that Charlie knew about her relationship with Harry. Had Ron told every single person on the planet? She just didn't understand why Ron was so overprotective of her. He alone had been more concerned and intrusive with her love life than the rest of the Weasley family put together.

Ginny stood there, drowned in angry thoughts towards her brother, completely ignorant of the time and place until she heard someone clearing their throat in the distance. Ginny jerked her head towards the source of noise and saw Fleur glaring at her.

'What are you waiting for Ginny? I said to count to five, not fifteen!'

Ginny quickly glanced at Harry, who was now scratching the back of his neck and staring at his shoes.

Fleur looked at Ginny, and then at Harry and gave a loud sigh of exasperation. She then grabbed both their arms and pushed them on the aisle.

Ginny looked around. Everyone was staring curiously at them. Ginny thought it best to just look ahead and tried very hard to avoid the staring eyes. As she slowly made her way down the long aisle, she felt Harry taking her hand and her heart skipped a beat.

Ginny felt like she was floating and tried to suppress a smile but failed.

All too soon, they reached the end of the aisle and Harry let go of Ginny's hand. He then stood between Ron and Charlie who were standing next to Bill.

As Ginny came to a halt between Hermione and Gabrielle she saw Bill's face up close. He was an awful mess. Ginny could barely recognize him with all the cuts and scars on his face. No one who saw him now could even imagine that Bill was once the most handsome of the Weasley boys.

Bill was biting his lower lip and staring anxiously at the aisle, waiting for Fleur to come out.

As the guests all stood up and Fleur entered, holding her father's arm, Ginny's eye's drifted to Harry who quickly shifted his gaze to Fleur and stared at her with concentration.

Harry's cheeks were rosy red and his jet-black hair was messier than ever. In Ginny's opinion, Harry's hair was one of his best features. But then again, in Ginny's opinion, Harry was perfect. He was the sweetest, kindest, bravest, and not to mention the most handsome man she had ever met. As Ginny stared at Harry, she noticed something that definitely wasn't there a month ago. Harry's once smooth face was now full of tiny stubble. In fact, the stubble was so small that it was barely noticeable.

'I do!' Fleur's shrill voice brought Ginny back to reality and made her realize that she had been avidly staring at Harry for the past five minutes. She felt herself go red and focused her attention on Bill and Fleur.

'You may now kiss the bride,' the priest said, and Fleur and Bill kissed.

As Ginny watched them, she felt truly happy for Bill for the first time.