PRANKSTER [1] ↝ C. DIGGORY

epilogue | 1999

"And do you, Clarissa Cedrella Weasley, take this man to be your husband?"

"I mean, if I have to," Clary said, hearing a gasp from the front row and knowing her mother would never let her live it down, even if she hadn't been able to resist. "I'm kidding, of course." she clarified to their spectators before turning back to a bewildered Cedric with a cheesy grin. "I do."

"Well, by the power vested in me by the Ministry of Magic," Kingsley Shacklebolt announced, "I now pronounce you man and wife. Cedric, you may kiss your bride."

"I mean, if I have to." Cedric muttered with a smirk, pulling Clary into his arms as he kissed her, cheers rising from around them above the waves crashing onto the shores of Shell Cottage, after Bill and Fleur had graciously allowed them to use their home as the site of their wedding.

When the newlyweds finally broke from their kiss, Clary looked around in awe, Cedric's arm wrapping around her shoulders as her eyes scanned the faces of their guests. To her right stood Vasantha, Fleur, Ginny, Katie, and Hermione, matching blue bouquets in their hands, the same shade of which she'd dyed Cedric's hair using the homemade Colovhairia charm over six years before. On Cedric's left stood Newt, Viktor, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Ron, Harry, and George, the latter occupying two spots for the missing presence next to him, all donning bowties of the same shade of blue.

It hadn't been an easy road after their time at Hogwarts had come to an end. Even during their seventh year, with the Ministry of Magic claiming Harry had been lying about the Dark Lord's return, and stating that, with Cedric's condition that night in the graveyard, he'd been in no state to say whether or not Harry's claims were the truth, the boys pushed through, determined to prove it, one way or another. Cedric had helped Harry teach the students to fight back that year against the Ministry's oppression, and unwillingness to teach their students, combining their abilities to ensure that Dumbledore's Army had been the best it could be.

As for Clary, upon finally finishing school, she'd opened the joke shop with Fred and George, claiming that, as the years went on, more and more people were in need of a good laugh. She and her friends had all enlisted in the Order the instant they'd graduated, much as Newt and Vasantha's uncle Remus and his friends, Harry's parents included, had done when they were their age, as well as Remus re-enlisting with Sirius Black when Dumbledore had chosen to reform the group. Although Sirius had died in the Department of Mysteries before Clary and her friends had finished school and were able to fully join as members, she'd enjoyed the small chances she'd had to get to know him at the Order's safe house during her seventh year at school.

Everyone had lost someone in the war, and after Clary had almost lost Cedric in her sixth year of school, she hadn't been prepared to lose Fred when the time came. When the wall had collapsed in the corridor, she'd been too busy laughing at Percy's feeble attempt at a joke to realize that her triplet had been standing too close to the blast until it had been much too late. Clary and George were never quite the same without him, always feeling his presence, even if he wasn't physically around.

Things at the Burrow had also changed following the loss of Fred in the Battle of Hogwarts, leading Clary to move in with Cedric in an apartment in London a few weeks later, not too far from the Ministry, where he'd begun working in the Department of Magical Games and Sports, coordinating the Quidditch World Cup every year, which he found much more entertaining than a standard Ministry desk job. And the flat was close enough to the Leaky Cauldron that she could walk to the joke shop every day following its grand re-opening. While the shop had never been more successful, every day came with the overwhelming absence of Fred, a constant reminder of the one they lost. She'd helped Vasantha and George keep the shop running for a few more months, until the day she'd walked into Chaser tryouts for the Pride of Portree Quidditch team and emerged with a jersey of her own a few hours later.

And so it was, on the one year anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, that Clary and Cedric finally said their 'I do's' surrounded by their friends and family in a new age for the Wizarding World, one of hope, light, and if Clary and her friends had their way, a little bit of mischief. If anything, the past few years had taught them just how short life truly was, and they were determined to live theirs the best way they possibly knew how.

"What are you looking at?" Cedric asked Clary as they stood on the dance floor that evening, swaying back and forth as the music of Celestina Warbeck drifted through a gramophone that Arthur had borrowed from work for the occasion, eyebrows furrowed slightly as he watched his wife's gaze trained intently on him.

Nearby, Hermione was attempting to teach Ron to waltz, the redheaded young man stepping on his girlfriend's feet every few steps, and George twirled Vasantha as she giggled, the new diamond ring sparkling on her finger after their engagement a few weeks before. Newt and Katie camped out near the dessert table, one of Molly Weasley's signature sugar cookies in each of the Scamander boy's hands.

"I'm looking at the idiot I get to annoy for the rest of my life," she said sweetly, her voice low enough that only he could hear.

"You know, I've heard he can be quite annoying at times, as well." he said, pulling her closer with a loving grin. "But for some reason, she also chose to be annoyed by him for the rest of her life."

"She lucked out I guess." Clary said simply, eyes finally wandering around to the rest of the dancing guests. "Did you know?" she asked then. "That day with the raincloud in first year. Could you ever have guessed where we'd end up?"

"You pranking me for years, absolutely." he scoffed, the grin still etched on his face. "But all this, everything after that, never in a million years."

"Well, so sorry to that eleven year old boy, but I think he's stuck with her." she chuckled slightly.

Cedric smiled wider, his hands still resting firmly on her waist while they danced. "Trust me," he said, "there's no place he'd rather be."

THE END

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

thank you all for reading prankster!

this is the second story i've completed on this account, and i'm so sad that it's finally over. this has been my baby for so long now, and these characters are so near and dear to my heart. thank you all for having loved them as much as i do.

the story may be "over," but there's still two parts left to be posted, so look out for those coming very soon!

-xoxo liv