my best friends brother - fred weasley

lxxii. promised forever

Like almost everything else in our relationship, Fred and I's wedding was completely spontaneous. Despite Remus and basically everyone around us telling us to get married as soon as we could, it wasn't until two years after the war ended that it happened. 

"We should get married." Fred said one afternoon after dinner.

"What?" I choked on my tea at how abrupt he had been. 

"Oh no!" Teddy toddled in, patting me on the back with his tiny hand. 

"Thankyou, Teddy." I smiled down at him as he ran back to whatever toy he was playing with. "What?"

"We should get married. I know my mum wants us to. Everyone wants us to actually." He shrugged, placing his feet on the coffee table in front of us. 

"Feet off the table." I told him off out of habit, catching him repeating it to himself. "Do we even have time for a wedding? With the shop and everyone's job and-."

"We'll be the most important people of the day. If they don't come... would we even want them there?" 

"Where would we-."

"The Burrow. Everyone's going to be there tomorrow for the monthly dinner." Fred shrugged. I contemplated it while I watched Teddy build his blocks taller than he was, and then knock them all down with one kick. 

"We don't have anyone to officiate-." 

"My dad. He'll do it." He cut me off again. "I can send out the invitations now, all you have to do is say yes." He said, staring through his eyelashes at me. 

"Well..." I teased, holding my left hand out. "I don't know..." I wagged it in front of him. Less than a second later, he was kneeling in front of me, face to face with me. 

"Clover May-Lupin. Will you do me the honour and marry me, please." He pleaded, looking dead serious. 

"Hm. What do you think, Teddy?" I looked over to Teddy, who was just laughing at how Fred was kneeling. "Okay, I guess I'll marry you." I let Fred slip on the ring-pop candy he had been testing out for the store, it made your hair change colour depending on what flavour you had. 

⊱✿⊰

"Ron. I'm going to be sick." I said to Ron, looking out the kitchen window onto the lawn. Fred had invited more people than I had expected, and they were all waiting for me to walk down that aisle. 

"What are you so nervous about?" Ron said, checking his laming red hair in the mirror. 

"Everything." I turned to him, dropping the bouquet of tulips to my side. Ron noticed how nervous I looked in the reflection of mirror and turned to grab my shoulders. He pat my brown curls and tucked a strand behind my ear. 

"Listen. You look beautiful. I've literally grown up with you and can tell you. This is where you need to be, Clover. Your friends and family are out there to support you, Fred is literally going to pop from excitement, and Hermione planned the wedding. There is literally nothing that could go wrong." He reassured me. 

"But what if it does?" I stress to him, playing with the lace hem of my white dress. 

"Don't think about that." He looks down to Teddy and nods. Teddy nods back and marches his way out of the door, music starting as he leaves the door. We can hear the crowd gushing and cooing over him as he makes his way down the aisle with the rings. "Come on." Ron motions his head for me to stand next to him. With a deep breath I make my way over and loop my arm through his. The door opens and the crowd stands, all of them watching. My eyes trace up the aisle and see Fred standing at the end, his hand covering his mouth to hide his smile. Behind him, red and purple flowers drape the tent, making it look like its raining petals. my eyes linger on a few of the faces staring at me as Ron walks me down the aisle. Professor McGonagall, Professor Trelawney, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Luna Lovegood and Blaise Zabini. In the front row, Draco Malfoy is watching me with a smile, and next to him is my mother, also grinning at me as she takes a picture with her outdated camera. As Ron gives me to Fred, Fred can't help but flash me a goofy smile, so overcome with happiness. 

"Are you ready?" He whispered to me, taking my hands in his. 

"Of course." I whispered back. 

⊱✿⊰

"Now!" I stumbled onto the makeshift stage in the Weasley's backyard. At some point during the night, I had lost my shoes, and I had reached my alcohol limit a while ago. I was practically screaming into the microphone, as though the guests wouldn't be able to hear. Their heads all turned to watch me, taking  break from their dancing and sitting down for the speech. I swallowed hard to remember what I was saying. "Now. I would like to thank all. And I mean all. Of you for coming tonight, this was a very last minute plan, I didn't even know all of you liked me! That's not funny, I'm sorry." I muttered quietly. I caught a glimpse of Fred walking up the stage and I turned to him. "But I am so thankful, especially for this wonderful man, this tall, beautiful drink of water, if it wasn't for him. I don't know where I'd be. Over the past, like, seven years? However many years, he has been my rock. My go to person. If you told me, like, in my third year of school, that I would be marrying my best friends older brother... I would've cried." 

"Well. I think we all know where that was going, sorry Mrs. May." Fred laughed into the microphone, taking it out of my hands. He gestured for me to sit back down and I did so reluctantly, waiting for him to begin his speech. "Well, as my lovely wife just said, thankyou all for coming on such short notice, we appreciate it so much."

"Get some new material!" I yelled, trying my hardest to not laugh, but failing miserably.

"Okay, sorry." He laughed, shoving a hand in his pocket. "Clover and I met on her first day at Hogwarts, to me she was always 'Ron's best friend' y'know, just another person to protect at school, for the sake of my brother. It wasn't until she started dating the late Cedric Diggory, did we actually start to talk. And she's actually quite funny, believe it or not-."

"Boo!" I yelled at him.

"I was being generous, my love." He flashed a wink at me before continuing. "So anyway, she and Cedric had broken up, and I saw her the night of the Yule ball, I remember, she was so distraught and upset and betrayed by him, I just stopped everything I was doing just so I could comfort her. Once Cedric passed away and I saw her so hurt over his death, I just knew I never wanted to see her hurt ever again. She cared so deeply for someone who just-. Anyway." He stopped himself from rambling. "Over the next few months there was some.. flirting, some secret midnight-"

"Hey!" There was some commotion from Professor McGonagall, Molly and Ron. 

"Nothing too bad! Don't worry! But we had actually started dating in secret. It was quite fun actually. Anyway, that's how we ended up to today, only a few fights later, a few months away from each other. And unfortunately, I don't have George, or Remus Lupin to vouch for me. But the night of the Yule Ball, Clover and I had danced our own slow dance in the Gryffindor common room. And that night I told George. 'I'm going to spend forever with that girl.' and I sent Professor Lupin a letter asking if I could marry her when the time came." There were some gushing from the crowd. He continued on, raising his glass for a toast. 

"So five years later, here we are. The wedding that I promised your father, and here's to the forever that I promised."

⊱✿⊰The End⊱✿⊰