A Young Wizard's Journey - Rising Phoenix

Separation

Three o'clock on the following afternoon found Harry, Ron, Y/N, Fred, and George standing outside the great white marquee in the orchard, awaiting the arrival of the wedding guests.

Harry had taken a large dose of Polyjuice Potion and was now the double of a redheaded muggle boy from the local village, Ottery St. Catchpole, from whom Fred had stolen hairs using a Summoning Charm. The plan was to introduce Harry as "Cousin Barny" and trust to the great number of Weasley relatives to camouflage him.

Y/N had also been provided with some hairs, but he had opted instead to refuse to take it until pushed into a corner. His presence at the wedding would not attract as much attention as Harry's and some rowdy guests letting some information slip on him would be neither here nor there. As of right now, where Harry was hiding was of a much greater concern to the Death Eaters.

All of them were clutching seating plans, so that they could help show people to the right seats. A host of white-robed waiters had arrived an hour earlier, along with a golden-jacketed band, and all of these wizards were currently sitting a short distance away under a tree; Y/N could see a blue haze of pipe smoke issuing from the spot.

Behind them, the entrance to the marquee revealed rows and rows of fragile golden chairs set on either side of a long purple carpet. The supporting poles were entwined with white and gold flowers.

Fred and George had fastened an enormous bunch of golden balloons over the exact point where Bill and Fleur would shortly become husband and wife. Outside, butterflies and bees were hovering lazily over the grass and hedgerow.

'When I get married,' said Fred, tugging at the collar of his own robes, 'I won't be bothering with any of this nonsense. You can all wear what you like, and I'll put a full Body-Bind Curse on Mum until it's all over.'

'She wasn't too bad this morning, considering,' said George. 'Cried a bit about Percy not being here, but who wants him? Oh blimey, brace yourselves- here they come, look.'

Brightly coloured figures were appearing, one by one, out of nowhere at the distant boundary of the yard. Within minutes a procession had formed, which began to snake its way up through the garden toward the marquee. Exotic flowers and bewitched birds fluttered on the witches' hats, while precious gems glittered from many of the wizards' cravats; a hum of excited chatter grew louder and louder, drowning the sound of the bees as the crowd approached the tent.

'Excellent, I think I see a few veela cousins,' said George, craning his neck for a better look. 'They'll need help understanding our English customs, I'll look after them.'

'Not so fast, Your Holeyness,' said Fred, and darting past the gaggle of middle-aged witches heading the procession, he said, 'Here, permettez-moi to assister vous,' to a pair of French girls, who giggled and allowed him to escort them inside. George was left to deal with the middle-aged witches and Ron took charge of Mr Weasley's old Ministry colleague Perkins, while a rather deaf old couple fell to Harry's lot. Y/N was granted Tonks and Remus.

'Wotcher!' Tonks had turned blonde for the occasion. 'Arthur told us Harry is the one with the curly hair?' she enquired, and Y/N nodded.

'What happened last night?' Y/N asked, as he led them toward their assigned seats.

'The Ministry's being very anti-werewolf at the moment, and we thought our presence might not do Harry any favours.'

'He's not after favours with the Ministry, I know that, but I'm sure he'll be grateful for you trying either way,' said Y/N.

He allowed them to drop into their seats before turning and heading back over toward the entrance where Hagrid was causing a certain amount of disruption.