Brontide

Chapter Eighteen

For the next few days, the four of us flitted in and out of the Burrow to help Mrs. Weasley prepare for Bill and Fleur's wedding when we weren't working. She was immensely stressed out, what with the event extremely close and the fact that Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't planning on going to Hogwarts in September. They'd been left an important mission by Dumbledore and were refusing to tell her anything about it. I tried my best to stay out of her way and busied myself with organizing wedding presents with Ginny and helping Rae create decorations. The huge white tent that would house the wedding guests was set up in the orchard. Charlie Weasley had arrived from Romania and, much to his displeasure, was forced to endure his mother cutting his hair. We celebrated Harry's seventeenth birthday the day before the wedding, with a surprise and rather unpleasant visit from the Minister of Magic.

We stayed the night at the Burrow and woke up early the next morning to chaos. Clothes were thrown around haphazardly, Mrs. Weasley wanted everyone washed and dressed before the guests started arriving and footsteps thundered as people went up and down the stairs. I took a bath and threw on a robe, moving aside as Rae hurried into the bathroom. I went back to Fred and George's room, where they were still lying in bed half awake. I rifled through the bag I'd brought with me and pulled out the dress I planned to wear; a strappy, deep navy floor-length gown made of velvet. It was still in the bag I'd gotten it in, and Fred poked his head up from his pillow to see what I had.

"What's that?" he grumbled, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"My dress," I told him matter-of-factly, brushing out my wet hair. "Are either of you ever going to get up? I fear your mother will resort to dressing you herself."

Fred mumbled something incoherent and rolled over, pulling his blankets over his head. George was only slightly more cooperative.

"People don't start getting here 'til three, we've got loads of time," he stated, lying on his bed with his arms behind his head.

I threw the brush back in my bag, glaring back and forth at the two of them. "Seriously, get up. You're not leaving me to your mother's mercy by myself, I'm scared to go downstairs."

Fred called me something that sounded remarkably like the word "numpty" and I yanked the pillow out from under him, hitting the back of his head with it repeatedly. He covered his head and tried to shield himself while George snickered loudly from behind me. I put an end to that when I switched to George's side of the room, beating him with the pillow next. Eventually, they got tired of this and shambled out of bed, scratching their stomachs and rubbing their eyes.

When Rae got out of the bath we kicked them out of their room so we could get dressed. I was trying to figure out how to style my hair using magic, having never really succeeded at it and Rae was no better. She'd let her hair grow a bit and it was now around bob length. Not having much to do with it she clipped some of it back with a few pretty pins, and I zipped her into her dress; a pretty, one-shoulder violet dress that went down to around mid-calf. I settled with putting my hair half up and half down, making some loose curls. I slipped on my dress and put on some silver slingback heels, along with a bit of makeup.

Unfortunately, George had been wrong; it wasn't too much longer before three o'clock rolled around, and gradually everyone started making their way downstairs. Fred, George, Ron, and Harry were nowhere to be found, as they were at the marquee entrance with seating plans, ready to greet the guests. I walked into the kitchen to find Mrs. Weasley, all dressed up in a beautiful set of amethyst colored dress robes, sobbing on her husband and muttering about Percy not being there. He patted her back and looked at me and Rae as we entered the room, giving us a smile and a small nod. Mrs. Weasley wiped her eyes and tried to compose herself, turning to us with a bright smile.