In the end can they just pretend?
Ronald Weasley had hit rock bottom, his life as he knew it was over. He had lost everything. Well not everything, but it felt like the life he had imagined for himself was over. And his family wasn't helping him. Th...
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It would be that following Saturday when Claudia would next think of Ron Weasley's proposal. When she found something that she could use to ensure that they mutually benefitted from the deal they were thinking of striking up.
The cause of this had elapsed from one simple dress fitting. Claudia had been honoured to have been asked to be the Maid of Honour for her closest childhood friend. Astoria Greengrass was getting married to the boy she had fallen for. And had wanted her best friend by her side. And Claudia would never deny anything Astoria wanted. She knew her time with her best friend was limited and therefore would do anything possible to ensure that she lived the best life possible.
The union between Astoria Greengrass and Draco Malfoy had been one of which was not exactly unexpected but also not completely guaranteed. Claudia's own big sister had been Draco's girlfriend for most of the boy's teenaged years and for his first year post Hogwarts. But the pair broke it off, their conflicting personalities and views upon what they wanted in the future had eventually made it so they could no longer make their relationship work. And that was where Astoria entered the picture. The pair had been 'matched' by their parents. No official arranged marriage had been set up, but they had been pushed together by their parents. Luckily the pair had fallen for each other in the purest of ways. And the wedding was set to go ahead like both of their mothers had been hoping for.
And with the wedding date approaching in the next three weeks, it was all go when it came to the preparation. This was the final dress fitting for the bridal party where they would be able to take the altered gowns home in the next few days. Astoria's bridal party was very small only consisting of two bridesmaids and the maid of honour. She had asked her older sister to be a bridesmaid and the final member of their childhood friendship group. Harper Collins was the third and final member of the close friendship group they had formed during their school years.
Harper was the loudest member of the friendship group and probably the only one people would have remembered from school. Claudia knew she left little of an impression upon people, other than the one she was raised to leave. That of a sophisticated pureblood heiress who studied hard and gained good grades. Astoria would have come across as overly kind who loved plants and was a member of the school choir. Whereas, Harper was probably the most social, she would have been known to many people outside of their house; she was a part of the quidditch team, prefect and eventual head girl for their year.
The bridal party would be wearing a pastel blue dress for the wedding, a colour which complimented most of them. It draped the body well with a soft cut neckline that gave what the consultant had called a romantic look, and very much trendy in the muggle bridal world. Something that Astoria had wanted more than anything, a mash between worlds bringing muggle culture into the traditional Wizarding wedding. A way to gently nudge her family into accepting more.
Claudia would be behind the curtain trying on her dress when Astoria presented her condition to her. The voice of her friends could be heard clearly from the chairs they were sat on a few feet away.
"Claudia have you found yourself a date yet?" Astoria questioned. It was not exactly a requirement that both of her friends brought a date with them to the wedding. But as it was, Claudia was the only one to not have a date to bring to the wedding, and the last thing Astoria wanted was for the woman to be stuck with either all their parents and being forced to dance with a load of creeps who were looking for an arranged marriage.
"Maybe?" Claudia responded her mind having gone straight to the ginger haired man who had been sat in her office only a few days prior.
"What do you mean maybe? Has someone finally caught our Claudie's attention?" Harper's voice teased from the changing room beside her.
"Not exactly."
"For Merlin's sake Claudia. You're going to end up a spinster." Astoria's words were not harsh, they were purely joking considering the girls were only 22 years old. They had plenty of time to dance around the dating pool, to find someone they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with. She just wanted her friends to be happy.
"You know that's not true. Not everyone can just have their perfect person walk into their life without any prompting prior." Claudia sighed as she finally completed zipping the dress up. Taking a moment to look at herself in the mirror noting that the dress was not something she would have chosen for herself. But getting ready to shake the look of displeasure off her face knowing it was not something her friends should see.
"I'm not sure I mean if it was to happen it would happen to you." Harper had exited the changing room first and had turned to Claudia when the slightly older woman had opened her curtains.
"I know I have good luck but it's not that good girls."
"Stop trying to change the topic, who is your maybe?" Astoria's tone was accusing as she highlighted Claudia's attempt to avoid talking about what she had raised to their attention.
"Well it's a bit of a strange situation you see." Claudia paused not sure whether this would be something she actually wanted to share with the others now she was about to.
"Nope, you can't stop there. Now you've started." Harper voiced and the three all paused as they waited for Claudia to pick the conversation up.
"Okay so, Ron Weasley appeared in my office a few days back now with a sort of proposal." Claudia stopped again, wondering how to phrase the next bit. "He asked if I would be willing to play house with him. He needs a fake girlfriend to bring to a load of family events over the summer."
"Are you going to do it?"
"I didn't really see any benefit for myself."
"Claudia!" Astoria exclaimed and the called woman turned to her friend in confusion. "One big one, the look on your parents face when you bring him and introduce him as your boyfriend." Astoria offered and Claudia laughed she hadn't considered her parents reaction. Now that would be comical. Actually bringing a Weasley to any event would be comical to see how many people would be upset by their presence. It could be a fun little game.
"Please do it. It could be like a real life book. Or one of those moving muggle pictures." Harper didn't beg but her voice had a pleading undertone.
"I suppose I could do it, and if he came to the wedding it wouldn't just be him asking for events." Claudia shrugged but her mind had already come to the conclusion that she would seek him out and take up his offer.
She couldn't wait to see the Groom's face when his childhood enemy was on the dance floor of his wedding day.
