The Marauder's Daughter

BLACK DAHLIAS

josephine lupin-black

Ginny woke me up that morning at Hogwarts and practically had to drag me out of bed.

"Ginny, give me five more minutes," I muttered as I shoved my face back down into my pillow and covered my face with my blanket.

"You have fifteen minutes to get ready, and you're hair is going to take ten of those minutes to brush," she told me with a chuckle and a yank of my blanket. "Now, get up."

I rolled over and sat up slowly, stretching my arms. "Seriously, I only have fifteen minutes."

She smirked. "You might have a little more than fifteen minutes-"

I grabbed my pillow and smacked her arm with it, sending her tumbling down back onto her bed with a thud. We laughed and I stood up and walked to the lavatory and began getting dressed.

Ginny had left to go meet up with Hermione and Luna in the Great Hall, and I continued to get ready.

I hastily pulled on a pair of black jeans and tucked my sweater into the top right side of the waistband. I pulled on my jacket as I ran down the steps to the Great Hall, jumping over the trick step.

Finally, I arrived at the doors to the entrance of Hogwarts was, where Ginny, Hermione, and Luna were waiting.

"There you are," Hermione said as I walked over. "Come on, it's going to be a long cold walk to the station."

We walked through the foot tall snow the best we could, trudging through the cold wind. I glanced over and saw Draco trudging along with his friends, a fake smile plastered to his face.

I looked back over at the girls and finally decided to tell them. "Uhm-" I cleared my throat, "-I invited Draco to my wedding."

The girls didn't speak, they just stopped walking and looked at me.

"Are you kidding me?" Hermione asked. "After all the things he's done and said-"

I put my hand up. "Listen, Draco is my cousin, and though it may not seem like it he's actually very nice, he just puts up this cold front to keep people away from him. He...he feels like a burden on anyone he befriends, or tries to, so he either tries too hard and comes off as rude, or he just bullies you to hide the pain."

Ginny looked at me and crossed her arms. "Oh, so have you invited the whole of the Death Eaters?" she asked. "I mean, is Bellatrix and Lucius going to be there? Are they going to ruin this for Freddie?!"

I was taken aback by her outburst and looked down. "Actually, no, I wasn't inviting them. I-I wanted to invite Snape but I think it'd be too much and-"

Luna smiled at me sweetly, Hermione and Ginny still extremely angry with me.

"I think it's lovely, Joey," she said warmly. "They're your family, and you should invite who you want. I'm sure Draco isn't as mean as he acts."

I smiled at her back. "Thank you, Luna. Also, I still need a maid of honor, and the other two of you and Angelina will be my bridesmaids. So, you three choose amongst you."

Luna was the only one to really talk to me the rest of the way to the station, but when we boarded and took our seats in our compartment Hermione looked at me apologetically.

"I-I'm sorry," she told me. "He's your family, and he should be allowed to come. And though I don't like him, I won't make a fuss out of it at the wedding, because it's your day and I wouldn't want to ruin it."

"Me too," Ginny smiled.

"Oh no, don't apologize," I smiled. "I should've asked you first since we're doing it at the Burrow. After all, it is your house, Ginny."