Courage

-100-

Book: Courage
Chapter 100
Word Count: 4293

Three o'clock on the following afternoon found Harry, Ron, Fred, and George standing outside the great white marquee in the orchard, awaiting the arrival of the wedding guests. Layla had woken up soon after and decided to let the other girls sleep for a little while longer, joining the boys downstairs.

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.

All five 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. Layla could see a blue haze of pipe smoke issuing from the spot. Behind Layla, the entrance to the marquee revealed rows and rows of fragile golden hairs 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 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 colored 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 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 pretty 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, Harry took charge of a rather deaf old couple, and Layla wondered over to a group consisting of three pretty half-veela girls and a very handsome boy.

"Bonjour!" said Layla kindly. "Si vous voulez me suivre, je peux vous emmener à votre place? Si c'est ce que tu souhaites?" (Translation: Good morning! If you want to follow me, I can take you to your seats? If that's what you'd like?)

"Ce serait merveilleux!" said one of the pretty girls, her long silvery blonde hair tied up in a French brand. "Mon Dieu, votre français est exquis!" (Translation: That would be wonderful! My, your French is exquisite!)

"Merci, j'ai eu beaucoup de pratique au fil des années," said Layla, smiling happily. (Translation: Thank you, I've had a lot of practice over the years.)

Layla then led the four to their seats.

"Wotcher," said a familiar voice as she came out of the marquee again and found Tonks and Remus at the front of the queue. Tonks had turned blonde for the occasion.