Snapshots of a Wedding

SNAPSHOTS OF A WEDDING

"The leaves of memory seemed to make a mournful rustling in the dark."

-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

[...Something Borrowed...]

"Sit there and explain to me what just happened," Arthur Weasley demanded.

He flung Ron into a chair and stared down at him. He wasn't angry but he wasn't necessarily happy either. He was trying to figure out why he had just witnessed his son beating on his best friend. It wasn't like those two to argue, much less have an all-out tussle. But yet when he had arrived, Arthur Weasley had to struggle to pull his son off of Harry. Now, he wanted to know why.

Ron sat fuming as he stared at his father. He was angry beyond words, proof positive by the fact that he couldn't bring himself to say anything without shouting. Strangely enough, his father allowed him to scream and rant, just so long as Ron told him what happened. When Ron was done, he sat back in his chair, looking more ruffled then had been a few moments before.

"So you're telling me," started Arthur, sitting down to the table, "that you overheard Cho and Harry talking about how they had sex?"

"I did," Ron replied, clenching his jaw to prevent himself from saying something reproachful. Instead, he chose to watch Luna as she entered the kitchen and took a seat in a chair at the far end of the kitchen.

"So you decided to punch him?" Arthur asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"And then had an all out brawl?"

"Guess so."

"Without finding out if it was true?"

Ron couldn't hold his tongue any longer. "What the bloody hell was I supposed to think when it was as good as a downright confession?" He jumped up, slammed his fist on the table and yelled, "Harry cheated on Ginny dad! You should be questioning him not me!"

"Ronald-"

"No one believes that Harry would do something like that," James interrupted, walking into the kitchen with Sirius and Neville right behind him.

"Of course you would think that," Ron jeered, eying James, "with you being his bloody dad and all."

"Whether I'm his father or not I know the kind of person Harry is," James said calmly, sitting down across from Arthur. "I know my son would never do anything to intentionally hurt Ginny."

"I thought so to. But you saw how he didn't try to deny what he did," Ron said, sitting back down.

No one said anything and Ron went quiet. Nobody had ever seen him this angry. His face was red and flushed from his rage and there was a vein popping in his forehead. His jaw was clasped so tightly that it looked as though it was wired shut and his fists were balled up just as securely, like there was a prize within them that he was not ready to set free.

"Ron," Sirius started, when the silence became unbearable, "it does seem a bit suspicious that Harry has this memory that contradicts what we believe."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, looking at Sirius with a questioning look.

"Well," James answered, "Harry seems to think that this affair with Cho happened at a point where he and Ginny had split over fear of getting married."

"But that's preposterous," Ron said, getting angrier instead of reassured. "Neither of them has ever been afraid of getting married. This is just some bull-shot story concocted to keep Harry out of hot water."

"No it's not, Ron," said Luna. She had been watching quietly from afar but stood up as she said this and walked over to take a seat at the table. "It's not just a made up story."

Neville nodded his head in agreement. "Ron, Harry seriously believes that that's what happened. He says this memory is there but it just doesn't feel...right."

Ron looked at Neville but didn't say anything. He couldn't understand what they were saying to him. Were they trying to tell him that Harry had thought he and Ginny had split up and that drove him to sleep with Cho?

"It just doesn't make sense," he finally uttered.

"Exactly the point Ronald," Sirius said, throwing his hands up. "It's just too bizarre to believe."

"So where's Harry now?" Ron asked, looking around as though he might have overlooked Harry's presence in the room. "Why isn't he here trying to defend himself?"

"Harry's gone to try and figure out the truth," Neville responded. "He said he should be back in about an hour or two."

Ron nodded and stood up. He had to go clear his head and so he pushed open the back door and walked outside. The sun was beginning to set and the sky had turned a bleeding red. Ron glanced down at his watch, which read 5:54 P.M., and then stuck his hands in his pockets. Harry had until at least 7 o'clock to be back and for his sake, he had better come back with some answers. Or else Ron wouldn't be as nice as last time.

...........................................................................................................................................................................

The sunset illuminated the sky eerily behind Harry as he stood transfixed in front of his parent's home. This had been the first place he chose to look for his mother; he knew she had to have some kind of play in this. It just seemed very plausible that if there was a plan to destroy his relationship with Ginny, his mother would jump on the opportunity to do so. And if Molly Weasley was involved, his mother had to be as well.

Harry heaved an irritated sigh, trying to relinquish all his anger so that he wouldn't over react; it would only make things more difficult if he did. Finally, he pushed open the front gate and walked the path of the stone steps that lead to the front door. Choosing not to knock, he unlocked it using the Alohomora charm and then walked inside. The house was in darkness except for a few lit candles that cast shadows on the walls.

"Anybody here?" he spoke through the darkness.

"Ah, Harry dear," a voice sounded from far off and Molly Weasley appeared in the doorway. She raised her wand and the lights came on fully. "I knew it wouldn't be long before you came."

Not surprised at all to see her, Harry asked firmly, "Where's my mother?"

"Right here," Lily Potter replied, appearing next to Molly, followed predictably by Cho Chang. "Finally came to your senses?"

Harry ignored her comment. "What's going on here?" He gave them a stern look but all three played the fool.

"What do you mean, dear?" Molly asked as innocently as possible. "We were just having a spot of tea."

"Cut the crap Mrs. Weasley," Harry yelled. He had not time for fake pleasantries. He wanted, no he needed answers and he was going to get them. "I want to know why it is I seem to think that I had an affair with Cho."

"Because you did, Harry," Cho replied, stepping out of the line. "Don't you remember?"

"Yeah I do," Harry said, looking her straight in the eye but with a not-so-pleasant expression, "but strangely enough I have a hard time believing it."

Cho gave a slight chuckle. "How can you not believe what's in your own mind, Harry? That's just a brush of insanity."

"Better insane, than delusional," Harry pelted at her. "I don't know how it happened or why but I know it didn't happen as easily as you're trying to make it seem so I want to know now how it is that we could have possibly slept together."

"Because the truth is you care more about me than Ginny."

Harry gave a bitter laugh. "Like bloody hell I do."

"Cho's a better choice," Lily interrupted, walking over to Harry and touching his arm. "She'll let you live your life like you're supposed to."

"I am living my life like I'm supposed to," Harry retorted, "and I'm going to live that life with Ginny. Now tell me the truth!"

"The truth is that you want Cho. You always have and you always will."

"I want Ginny!" Harry clenched his jaw, suppressing an urge to hex Cho, who was standing there with a malicious grin on her face.

"I'm your mother," Lily responded, her voice becoming stern. "I know what's best for you!"

Harry felt the anger boil inside of him. How could she know what's best for him when she was here trying to take away the one thing in his life that he truly wanted and force him into something he clearly did not want to be apart of? Her hand on his arm started to irritate him and Harry flung it off and faced her fully. His voice became cold and harsh as he spoke.

"You're no mother of mine."

Lily Potter's unyielding demeanor quickly melted away and she felt a rush of tears fill her eyes. The look on Harry's face was piercing her and the words he just spoke hit her like a whetted and cold knife. Her pride and joy, her own son - whom she loved more than anything in the world - had just disowned her. It was the breaking point and Lily Potter couldn't stop the wave of tears from falling down her cheeks.

"It wasn't my idea," she blurted out unexpectedly, her voice breaking into incoherent sobs. "It wasn't - I didn't want - be happy - couldn't face it - I couldn't handle-"

"Get a hold of yourself Lily." Molly Weasley had emerged beside her and was shaking her. This, however, only made Lily Potter's regression worse and she sobbed louder and yanked herself out of Molly's grasp.

"I modified your memory, Harry," she confessed.

"You did what?!?"

Lily nodded as fresh tears fell. "I did it when you were leaving for the Burrow. That's why I stopped you on the stairs and why it seemed as though nothing happened during those few moments. I modified your memory and then just walked past you. It was a bit of a messy job but it worked all the same. And we tried to do the same to Ginny, you know, make her think the same thing you did about the break up. But there wasn't enough time and we had to do our best to go with what we had. And it seemed to have been effective-"

"Until now," Molly said bitterly, looking at Lily disapprovingly.

"I had no choice!" Lily cried at her. "You heard what he told me. He said I wasn't his mother. I can't lose my son. It's the exact thing I was trying to avoid by getting into this mess."

"You did it because you were afraid of losing me?" Harry asked, his anger subsiding slightly but being replaced by resentment.

Lily nodded and looked at him. "I was so afraid that if you married Ginny, she would take you away from me and I would lose my only son."

"And I suppose that's why you did it as well, Mrs. Weasley?"

Molly, who had remained firm in her stance, seemed to have broken as well when Harry looked at her. She gazed at him remorsefully and a frown formed on her face.

"Oh Harry dear, I have the same fear as your mother. Ginny is my only girl and my youngest child." She shook her head as if to shake away the threat of tears. "I couldn't stand the possibility of losing her or that she wouldn't need me anymore."

"So, because of this ridiculous fear," Harry said, closing his eyes to contain his anger, "you resorted to something so elaborate and so snide as to create a fake memory so that Ginny would be too furious with me to continue with the wedding?"

Lily and Molly nodded but dared not speak.

"That's just selfish," Harry spat at them. "And how could you think for one minute that I'd chose her," he said, jerking his hand angrily towards Cho.

"You chose me once before didn't you?" Cho said, folding her arms.

"That was a long time ago," Harry said, looking at her pointedly. "And it will be a mistake I dare not repeat."

Cho gasped as though insulted and unfolded her arms. "I've been through hell and back and I went along with this bloody plan and all I get in the end is insults and petty jabs?" She stared at Lily and Molly. "You promised me Harry!"

"A grave mistake," Molly said with unmistakable regret in her voice.

"And a promise we will not keep," Lily shot at her, finally composing herself.

Cho made to grab her wand as if she was ready to duel for Harry but before she had even managed to extract it good enough, she looked up to see two pointing at her. Even though their faces were tear-stained, the angered and severe look on Molly and Lily's faces were obvious.

"I think it's best you leave Ms. Chang," Lily said, stepping closer to her. "If you know what's good for you."

"No," Harry quickly shouted, pushing down his mother's hand. "We need her."

"Oh, Harry I knew you couldn't let me-"

"Not for that!" Cho jumped at the boom of Harry's voice but Harry ignored her and said, "You're going to tell Ginny the truth mom and Cho's coming to prove it."

Harry quickly grabbed Cho by her upper arm, ignoring her screeches as though he was hurting her. Lily and Molly obliged to Harry's insisting on returning to the Burrow to tell everyone the truth and the four of them left the house quickly.

Harry prayed, as they walked down the stone path towards the gate, that it was not too late.

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

"Why do you look so happy, Neville?" Luna asked, turning to face him.

Neville started and looked around before turning to face Luna. Everyone in the kitchen had resolved to being absorbed in their own thoughts after Ron had left the kitchen. James, Sirius and Arthur were conversing in low whispers. Fred and George, who had remained quiet throughout the entire conversation were watching them, stopping once in a while to say something to each other. Luna had sat humming an unrecognizable song and only just noticed that Neville had been sitting next to her with a slight smile on his face.

"What do you mean?" he answered, his smile getting bigger.

"Well," she said, "you're smiling when there's nothing really going on."

"I'm just thinking."

"Oh really," said Luna, turning sideways in her chair. "What about?"

Neville stammered a bit. He couldn't come right out and tell her what he was thinking about; it would seem tactless, ridiculous almost. He had been thinking about how Sirius had picked up on his feelings for Luna and how he had finally come to the realization that he was in love with her. He couldn't exactly tell her that he was also thinking about what would happen the day he confessed all of this to her; how he imagined she would smile that dreamy smile of hers and say 'I love you too' and how they would walk down the aisle together a few months later. Luckily, his need to answer was interrupted when Remus appeared suddenly at the door and walked in, his face wearing a rare smile.

"Hey, where's Ginny?" he asked slightly out of breath and not noticing when Ron came up behind him; the sound of Ron's voice startled him a bit.

"We don't know," Ron said, walking back into the kitchen. "We're waiting on Harry too."

"I thought he was here?" Remus asked, utterly confused. Ron shook his head to say no and Remus asked, "Well where is he? Did something happen?"

"Well, Remus," Fred said, "let's just say that when you sent me and George here back-"

"- we returned to find that things were not exactly," George paused for a moment then continued, "pleasant."

"See things just kind of-"

"- went haywire-"

"- so we're all just here-"

"- waiting to see what comes about."

"Excuse me?" Remus said, not at all informed by Fred and George's explanation.

Arthur shushed Fred who had just begun to attempt to explain what happened. He turned to Remus and told him the story, ending to where they were all waiting to see who turns up first to figure out what's going to happen with the wedding.

"But I mean, it sounds like a simple misunderstanding," Remus commented, looking at everyone one by one.

"No," Ron interjected, "it sounds as if Harry's a great big git who needs to get his face bashed in one more time."

"That's real mature Ronald," Arthur chastised.

Ron scowled but sat down and stayed quiet nonetheless. Remus was still a bit unsure about what was happening, as was everyone else. The room stayed quiet for a few moments until Ginny and Hermione arrived suddenly, slightly damp and smelling of salty sea water. Ron jumped up immediately and walked over to them.

"Where the bloody hell have you two been?" he asked, staring mainly at Hermione but it was Ginny who answered.

"Thinking," she said, noticing how Hermione was avoiding Ron's gaze by drying the sleeve of her robe. "We would have been back sooner but I wanted to calm down for a bit."

"You could've at least told someone. We were worried sick!" Ron continued to look at Hermione but she paid no attention to him.

"I don't need your reprimands Ron," Ginny scolded. "Where's Harry?"

"He's not here," Ron replied. "Do you need help with that?" Ron asked Hermione, noticing that she was having trouble reaching a part of her robe to dry it off.

"I'm fine, Ron," she said a little too harshly. "I can handle things on my own you know!"

Ron's anger returned. "I bet you would like to handle everything on your own wouldn't you? Good old independent Hermione; doesn't need anyone, even when they have a role to play too."

"Ron I don-"

"Will you two please quit it for two seconds?" Ginny shouted. "Now," she said, turning back to everyone else, "did Harry say where he was going?"

"Not exactly," James replied.

Ginny nodded absentmindedly. So Harry just left? Just like that? Didn't stay to try and redeem himself. He just up and left? The thought didn't sit too well with Ginny and she suddenly felt even more betrayed.

"Ginny," Remus said, shaking her from her thoughts. "I have some good news."

Strangely, Ginny didn't get excited. "What is it?"

Remus took out a small box, a ring box by the look of it. "I found the rings." He handed the small package over. "Well they're not you and Harry's but they are wedding rings nonetheless. They were my parent's own that they left to me when they died. I know it's not exactly what you wanted but I figured they were elegant enough. You could use them to fill that old wedding cliché. You know, something old, something new-"

"Something borrowed, something blue," Ginny finished and opened the box. "They're beautiful, Remus."

Remus smiled, pleased with himself. "I thought you'd like them."

Ginny looked down at the rings. They were gold with perfectly cut diamonds inlayed throughout the bands. The bride's ring had a triple-sized diamond elevated in the center and glistened when Ginny tipped it slightly to examine it better.

The rings, which would give any bride-to-be an elated feeling, only made the bulge in Ginny's throat drop to her stomach. She was disappointed knowing that Harry had left instead of waiting around to talk to her and felt stupid that she had made an effort to come back. She looked over at Hermione. It was her idea to come back and try and talk to Harry yet she couldn't help but feel a pang of anger as she watched Hermione deliberately avert Ron's gaze and move every time he tried to get her attention.

She sighed and looked down at the ring. These were supposed to the symbol of her and Harry's everlasting union, yet he had been out there making other unions of his own. Ginny slammed the box shut at the thought and forced it back in Remus' hand, causing his smile to slip away from his face.

"What's the matter?" he asked. "I thought you liked them."

"Doesn't matter," she said, blinking back tears. "There's not going to be a wedding." She looked around at everyone and, assuring them that they had not misunderstood her, said, "The wedding's off."

She turned without so much as another, single glance at anyone and disappeared up the stairs, her heart getting heavier with each step. It was the last thing she dreamed would happen today but she had done it nonetheless. She couldn't marry Harry. He wanted Cho and now he could have her. Finally reaching her bedroom, Ginny slammed the door shut and immediately sank on her bed, burying her face in the pillows and allowing the looming tears to fall.

So much for the happiest day of her life.

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Coming up...[...Something Blue...]