Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(195) The Wedding

Florence didn't expect to wake up as early as she did, fluttering her eyes open to see that the sun was barely over the horizon, and most of the people in the house were still fast asleep. She decided to bask in the silence for as long as she could, having full knowledge of the chaotic day ahead of her. Fred was still lightly snoring beside her, Florence doing her best to slip out of his arms without waking him, before tiptoeing out of the room and down the stairs to get a cup of tea.

Harry was also awake, too, sitting alone at the dining table with his own cup of tea, the brew still fresh as Florence could see steam rising faintly as she descended down the stairs as quietly as she could, also making sure not to wake any of the occupants sleeping in the living room. He swiveled around just as he saw her from the corner of his eyes, greeting her, "Good morning, Florence."

"Good morning Harry. Is there still hot water in the kettle?"

"I believe so," he replies, as Florence opens one of the cupboards to look through what type of tea Molly had. She eventually settles on Chamomile, taking her cup to the table and sitting across from Harry, who looked like he was lost in thought, "Big day today, yeah?"

"Yeah, I guess." he mumbled, "It's all I've been hearing about for a while now.... this wedding."

"The festivities will be a nice change of pace after what's been happening recently, don't you think? It gives us a bit of an opportunity to celebrate something, preoccupy our thoughts from the things we've lost even just for awhile." Florence said.

"Well I don't know how exciting it will be seeing as I'm probably going to have to put on a ridiculous disguise for the afterparty." he said in a defeatist tone, Florence not really knowing what to say in response to that, "Oh... I'm sorry about that."

"Don't apologize..." he sighed, "I'm sorry, that was a little rude, crushing your attempt to lift my spirits like that. I appreciate it, I do, it's just—"

"You don't have to explain, Harry. You're going through the most right now. I can only imagine how stressful this whole thing must be for you...." she said, taking a sip from her cup of tea before speaking once more, "I heard through a grapevine that you're leaving tomorrow, after all of this?"

He nodded, "Dumbledore's asked me to take care of a few things."

"So I've heard." Florence replied, "I'm sorry about that."

Harry's brows drew together, "Sorry about what?"

"I'm sorry that you're the one who has to take care of all of it. Its too much of a responsibility to put on someone." she told him, "I don't think its very fair. And I don't think it's right that life's been so unfair to you."

Oddly enough, Harry cracked a small smile at this, "Well, I can hardly say this is new to me. It's all I've been doing for most of my life. But thank you, Florence, for the concern. I'll be fine, though, hopefully."

"There's not much I can do but if you ever think that you'll need my help in fulfilling your mission... you can come to me, okay? Anything at all that I can help you with."

"Okay."

As the sun ascended higher into the sky, everyone in the house started to stir awake, which began the hectic day that ensued. Florence was not the one getting married that morning, however for some reason seeing everyone frantic in that way made her feel as though it was her wedding that was going to happen in a few hours. There was a lot of bathroom traffic among the occupants of the Burrow, most of the morning spent waiting to get a turn at the showers, seeing as the Burrow only had two available bathrooms. Fred had made a cheeky suggestion that he and Florence should shower together, however was shot down almost instantaneously as the thought of doing anything remotely unholy in Fred's childhood home made Florence want to dig her own grave.