Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Loved	By : Dazzlious Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Het - Male/Female Views: 5761 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from J K Rowling's fantastic books or films, I'm just borrowing and playing with them for a little while and get no monetary reward for doing so.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Julia went through her wardrobe at least a dozen times trying to find an outfit to wear to Ginny and Draco’s wedding, but nothing she tried on was suitable. This was not aided by the fact that every time she looked in the mirror she could see Crystal standing next to her, the tall, beautiful girl looking so much younger, thinner and sexier than she. Several lunchtime shopping trips followed, both with Bertha and Ginny, with whom she had once again started meeting up. But as the big day got ever closer, Julia’s despair at finding something to wear was almost becoming a bigger problem than the prospect of finally seeing Lucius again.
‘Well, I thought that multi-coloured dress you tried on in Monsoon the other day looked good on you,’ Bertha told her as Julia once again bemoaned the waste of a lunch break while the three women sat in Starbucks waiting for the sandwiches they had ordered to be delivered.
‘What was that like?’ Ginny asked interestedly.
‘It was bright — you know, purples, oranges, hot pink, sort of a paisley pattern, I think. Maxi-length with a round low cut neckline. It was nice, looked good on her. It was quite modern but not too Muggle, if you know what I mean.’ Bertha poured two packets of brown sugar into her coffee and stirred it.
‘That sounds nice,’ Ginny said. ‘Perhaps you should get that one.’
Julia snorted. ‘It made me look like a multi-coloured whale. No chance of fading into the background in that.’ She picked up her mug and blew on her chai latte.
‘That’s your criterion, is it,’ Bertha asked, ‘to fade into the background? You should have said. I’m sure there’s plenty of “old lady” beige out there. Perhaps you should just go for tweed and a cardigan and have done with it.’
‘Is this to do with Chandelier?’ Ginny asked bluntly. ‘Because if it is I’d forget about her and what she’s going to look like. We all already know she’s too skinny and pretty for her own good, but we can’t do anything about that. Just forget she exists and go for something you feel comfortable in.’
Julia sighed. ‘But that’s just the point. I haven’t felt comfortable in anything I’ve tried. I look like a sack of potatoes in a dress — everything lumps and bumps in the wrong places. There’s nothing out there . . . and believe me, I’ve looked.’
‘What about Madam Malkin’s, then?’ Ginny said. ‘She’s made you some fabulous clothes in the past, and they always fit perfectly. Why don’t you go and see her?’
Julia signalled as her name was called out and watched as a tall, thin boy with a rather ratty-looking face and shoulder-length, stringy hair came towards them carrying three plates.
‘Not being funny, Ginny, but my wages don’t exactly stretch to Madam Malkin couture. Primark is more my price range these days,’ Julia said a little stiffly. She looked dubiously at the three identical-looking toasted sandwiches the boy dumped on the table before walking off without saying a word. ‘Which is which?’
‘This is the steak one,’ Ginny said, carefully lifting the corner of the sandwich closest to her. ‘That’s yours, isn’t it, Bertha?’ She pushed the plate towards the other woman.
‘This is mine,’ Julia said peering at her plate. ‘Tuna cheese melt . . . I think.’
Ginny took a bite of the sandwich Bertha passed her way and nodded. ‘Ham, cheese, and mustard,’ she said, sounding satisfied.
They ate in silence. Julia was glad the food had arrived to get her out of having to discuss her finances any further. She didn’t want Ginny and Bertha to know how hard she was finding living on her own.
‘I was just thinking,’ Ginny said after she had finished her sandwich, a mouthful of hot chocolate washing down the final bite, ‘You could get a dress from Madam M and get Lucius to pay for it.’
Julia looked at Ginny in horror. She shook her head. ‘You’ve got to be joking, Ginny.’
‘I don’t see why not,’ Ginny persisted. ‘You know he’d buy it for you. He’d get you anything you want.’
‘It’s not happening,’ Julia replied adamantly. ‘Even if he would, I don’t want to end up being indebted to Lucius like that. I’m sure I can find something myself.’ She broke off and took a sip of her tea.
‘Can you?’ Ginny asked sceptically. ‘You haven’t exactly done that well so far, and not to put too fine a point on it, you’re running out of time.’
Julia sighed. ‘I know that, but I can’t use Madam Malkin’s.’ She looked at Ginny for a moment. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t let you down.’
Ginny grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly. ‘I know you won’t. And I know you’ll look great in whatever you choose. Are you still coming to the Burrow on Saturday?’
Julia nodded. ‘Of course I am. I’m not turning down the chance for a few free drinks. And it’ll give me an opportunity to get to know some people a bit better before the wedding.’
‘You don’t need to worry about that,’ Ginny replied confidently. ‘I’ve put you with my family, so you’ll be well away from Lucius and Chandelier. You probably won’t even have to go anywhere near them and can just forget they’re even there.’
Julia had a feeling that would be easier said than done. Even if she kept as far away from the couple as possible she was still going to know they were there and feel uncomfortable about it. Especially if Crystal was looking as stunning as Julia suspected she would.
‘I’m sure it will be fine,’ she said, giving Ginny a small smile, determined not to worry her friend. ‘Unless I end up in a bin liner.’ She grinned.
‘Some bin liners can be very stylish,’ Ginny said. She smiled too.
‘Just as long as you get a good quality heavy-duty one,’ Bertha chipped in, ‘with the right accessories it could be the hit of the wedding.’
‘Ah, but then I wouldn’t want to outdo the bride . . . or make her jealous,’ Julia said, ‘so maybe I’d better stick to finding something a little more conservative . . . so that looks like the tweed’s back in the frame.’
Bertha looked at her watch. ‘We’ve got to go, Ju. It’s almost two and we’ve got to be back for D section’s meeting.’ She stood up and began to put on her coat as Julia drained the last of her tea. ‘If I don’t see you before, have a lovely wedding, Ginny. I can’t wait to see the photos.’ She smiled at the red-haired woman. ‘And don’t worry, the diva here won’t be wearing tweed, I shall make sure of that.’
‘I just need to go to the loo,’ Julia said, grabbing her coat as she headed off towards the door signed for the bathrooms.
‘Do you think Julia will talk to Lucius . . . at the wedding, I mean?’ Bertha asked as she waited for Julia to return.
Ginny shrugged and sighed. ‘Gods, I really hope so. They’ve been apart for far too long. It’s completely mental when they’re still so much in love with each other.’
‘He’s not tried to make a go of it with the new one, then?’ Bertha asked interestedly.
Ginny snorted, ‘Not at all. He can’t stand her — neither can anyone else who’s met her, to be honest. She’s a complete gold-digger . . . and stupid as anything. Lucius tries to spend as little time with her as he can possibly get away with. She makes him pine for Julia even more.’
‘So why does Julia see her as such a threat, then?’ Bertha asked sounding confused.
‘I will admit she is incredibly beautiful,’ Ginny admitted with a sigh. ‘And she’s young, thin and got that model look about her. I think Julia seems to think that’s more Lucius type, when nothing could be further from the truth. He’s never been into younger women, at least not to have a proper relationship with. They don’t interest him much apart from what they’ll do for him sexually, and once they’ve done that he’s happy to discard them. Julia was just perfect for him and he completely adores her, even now — but I just can’t get her to give him a chance. She won’t even see him.’
‘Maybe at the wedding,’ Bertha said. ‘She won’t have much choice there, will she?’
‘I hope not,’ Ginny said. She stood up, putting on her own coat. ‘I understand that she’s unhappy about Crystal and that the Ministry of Magic will probably want to marry Lucius off to someone else once their two years is up. But Julia needs to recognise that he’s in love with her and that whatever the Ministry does, that will always be the case. They’ve both been miserable for so long because she’s being stubborn.’
‘Are you ready?’ Julia asked Bertha when she returned from the bathroom a couple of minutes later. She hugged Ginny tightly. ‘I’ll see you on Saturday.’
‘Good luck with the dress hunt,’ Ginny said, returning the hug. They released each other. ‘And enjoy the meeting,’ she added with a wicked grin as the women walked towards the door of the coffee shop.
‘Not much chance of that,’ Bertha retorted glumly. ‘Healer Smethwick’s in charge this afternoon so it’ll go on forever, probably.’
Julia groaned. ‘Oh, shit, I’d forgotten it was him otherwise I’d have had a double espresso instead of the chai. I’m going to have to doodle to stay awake now.’ She grabbed Bertha’s arm. ‘Come on, let’s go or we might never get out tonight.’
She waved at Ginny and followed Bertha out of the shop.

Julia was feeling sick. Her stomach was turning somersaults and she had the beginnings of what was shaping up to be a banging headache, which she knew was down to stress — the stress of being at Ginny and Draco’s wedding. From the moment she had walked through the door of Malfoy Manor she felt intensely uncomfortable, but after her promise to Draco she’d had no choice but to attend, even though she felt anything but in the mood for celebrating.
Moki opened the door to her and was quite clearly overjoyed at seeing her again, which gave her heart a twinge of pain at just how much she had missed the house and its inhabitants, even the house-elves. He directed her out into the garden where the wedding was to take place, and the whole time Julia panicked in case she bumped into Lucius.
However, it seemed he and the bimbo were otherwise engaged — her mind briefly envisaged the couple in the throes of passion but rejected it just as rapidly — and she made it through the house and out onto the sweeping lawn, now covered with a seating area created in readiness for the wedding, and a large marquee with its sides tied back where a band on a stage at the far end were currently playing a soft jazz number.
Julia looked around, feeling awkward and trying to find someone she knew well enough to join, not for the first time wishing that she had a few more friends. The only person she had spotted so far was Draco and he was surrounded by his friends, all male, talking and joking nervously as he waited for the ceremony to start. She could see Greg Goyle there, too, but she had little desire to talk to him, either. The last thing she needed at the moment was his flirty conversation.
She would have liked to speak to Ginny but knew that wasn’t going to be possible, surely the woman was having last-minute nerves of her own as she prepared for the biggest moment of her life, and she wouldn’t need her and her problems. But most of the women Julia had met at the bridal shower at the Burrow the week before were probably upstairs helping Ginny to get ready, and that left her at a bit of a loose end.
Julia didn’t feel confident enough to join an established group but standing alone made her obvious and vulnerable, especially if Lucius turned up. Panic began to rise again as she thought of her ex-husband and her eyes continued desperately scanning the groups to find anyone she knew.
Standing near to the marquee was a large group of youngsters who, with their red hair, were obviously related to Ginny. As she looked over at them Julia noticed that a young woman with long, pale blonde hair and dressed in yellow was waving at her. For a moment her heart stopped, thinking it was Crystal, but then she remembered that the woman, who she had met at the bridal shower, was called Luna and was a friend of Ginny’s.
Smiling, her heart pounding as it tried to regain its natural rhythm, Julia walked towards the group. She waved at Draco as she passed and he gave her a genuine smile. Luna was excited to see her and rapidly introduced her to the rest of the group who it turned out were, in the main, Ginny’s brothers and also, Julia was interested to discover, Harry Potter, who whilst very pleasant was completely disarming and gave no impression of being the hero she had read about in the newspapers.
Julia soon discovered that the rest of the Weasleys were just as friendly and were generally as wickedly funny as Ginny and they made her feel immediately welcome. Ginny’s oldest brother, Bill, who had obviously been very handsome before an accident that had left one side of his face badly scarred, introduced her to his wife, a pretty young French woman with a name perfect for her — Fleur — who Julia had also met at the bridal shower.
She was interested to meet the second oldest of the brothers, Charlie, who worked as a dragon keeper out in Romania, and was clearly totally in love with his job. He regaled them with stories about dragons, which had Luna in particular gasping with admiration. She also talked very briefly to the third brother, Percy, who was a bit stuffy and who she wasn’t at all surprised to find worked for the Ministry of Magic. His fiancée, Audrey, was a rather plain young woman but she seemed pleasant enough, although Julia couldn’t help wondering what it was she saw in Percy.
And then there was George, a good-looking man with a wicked sense of humour who she discovered was the proprietor of the massive joke shop in Diagon Alley, Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes. He was particularly good company and sat next to her when they took their places for the wedding, telling her all about his identical twin brother, Fred, who had died during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Julia felt intensely sorry for George and tried to imagine what it would be like to lose someone so much a part of you, then realised that was exactly what she had been through with Lucius — except that he was still alive, which in some ways was actually worse. George was upbeat about his loss, although he admitted that the first few years had been extremely difficult and he was only recently in a position to joke about it without getting upset.
The last brother was Ron, who Julia already recognised both from his escapades with Harry and Hermione against Voldemort and also because of his fame as a Quidditch player. She had expected him to be a little full of himself but was pleased to discover that he too was a pleasant young man who, like the rest of his family, appeared to be thoughtful and friendly.
She knew he hadn’t always been quite so thoughtful, though, as she remembered the stories Hermione had told her about him during the bridal shower. Hermione was Ron’s wife, and from what she had told Julia she had been in love with him throughout most of their time at school, although Ron, being a typical male, hadn’t realised for years. Hermione was currently with Ginny, carrying out her bridesmaid duties, while Ron waited downstairs with the rest of the family.
Julia was extremely grateful to Luna, who was decidedly odd but completely charming, for commenting on how nice her dress was when she was worrying about whether it was suitable for a wedding. Julia had finally bought a dress from the sale section of Marks and Spencer, two days before the wedding when desperation had forced her into making a snap purchase. Whilst it was definitely the best of the dresses she had tried on, she wasn’t completely confident that it was a good choice.
It was a mid-length floaty layered chiffon dress in white with a black pattern, sleeveless with a v-neck and back, with an empire line flaring skirt that did a good job of hiding her stomach. The dress had an extra piece in front that ran down the centre, which added an interesting focal point and lifted it out of the realm of a relatively boring garden party frock. She had teamed it with a black hat and mid-heeled sandals and interesting black, white, and silver jewellery, and a matching handbag finished the ensemble. Luna was so complimentary about it that Julia actually began to think it could compare favourably with the more obviously expensive gowns worn by many of the guests.
But then Lucius and Crystal entered the garden and all the confidence Julia had built up shattered and her stomach did another lurching somersault, leaving her with the urge to flee and also to throw up. Already impressively tall, Crystal wore gravity-defying high-heeled stiletto sandals that looked lethal and absolutely stunning. Her dress was an extremely short, one-shouldered tight-fitting sheath of pure gold covered with a diaphanous iridescent material that made her look like a beautiful and terrifying fairy queen. Her skin was tanned to a perfect golden-brown, her long pale blonde hair was flawlessly straight and flowing; the whole thing set off with chunky gold jewellery that Julia had absolutely no doubt was real.
Next to her Lucius was the perfect consort, immaculately dressed as always; the pale grey suit, the standard wedding garb for the men, fitting like a glove, the tailored frock coat buttoned over a forest green waistcoat and tie of a matching colour. His hair, too, was flowing and straight — they were the perfect couple presiding over the perfect wedding. Julia felt a catch in her throat and realised she had been holding her breath as the two of them walked imperiously down the carpet to take their place in the front row of chairs across from where Julia and the rest of her party were sitting.
‘She thinks a lot of herself, doesn’t she?’ George muttered quietly as the couple walked past them. ‘How much do you reckon that lot cost? She must be draining Lucius dry.’ He grinned. ‘The poor man must be counting down the days until he can get rid of her. He got caught by one of those Ministry of Magic pairings, and from what I’ve heard he can’t stand her. Mind you, Ginny says she’s a real bitch. Do you know her at all?’
Julia shook her head, not sure she was able to speak or at least that she wouldn’t say anything nasty about the woman she detested more than anyone in the world.
‘Of course, he’s had three wives,’ George continued conversationally, ‘as well as a whole host of mistresses — I suppose it’s the money that attracts them all, although he isn’t bad-looking for his age. That’s his first wife, Narcissa, over there.’
He pointed towards another tall, willowy blonde wearing a blue dress and of a similar age to Julia, who had joined Draco and his friends and was steadfastly ignoring Lucius in a way Julia wished she could manage. She stared at Narcissa with interest. She was very expensively dressed, too.
‘I wonder where the other one is?’ George said, looking around to see if he could spot the missing wife. ‘I’m actually interested to meet her,’ he admitted, sounding excited. ‘She was a Ministry pairing too, but apparently, Lucius fell head over heels in love with her and didn’t want to give her up, or so Ginny told me. Imagine that — he was a Death Eater and yet he fell in love with a Muggle-born. That must have been tough . . . for both of them.’
You have absolutely no idea, Julia thought, but still she said nothing, waiting to hear what else George was going to divulge.
‘I’m sure she’s supposed to be coming, too,’ George confided. ‘Apparently, she’s still in love with Lucius as well so she didn’t want to come — imagine how difficult that will be — but she’s really good friends with Ginny so felt she had to make an appearance even though it was going to break her heart to see Lucius with that slapper. It’s tragic if they really are still in love. Actually, it’ll be interesting to see how Lucius will react to seeing her. Ginny told me she’s refused point-blank to talk to him since their marriage was annulled, so this will be the first time they’ve seen each other in nearly two years — I wonder if they’ll still fancy each other?’
Sadly, yes . . . for me, at least, Julia thought miserably. She was trying hard to focus on George to stop herself from looking at Lucius, which she knew would just hurt her.
George looked directly at Julia and smiled. ‘Well, I don’t know what she’s like but she’s got to be better than golden girl. She’s spent all that money and you look much nicer than she does. I bet you didn’t spend anywhere near as much as her.’
‘No, I definitely didn’t. I got my outfit in the sales,’ Julia admitted with a laugh.
‘Well, you’d never know it. It looks lovely, really suits you,’ George complimented her with a grin, then he began looking around again. ‘I wonder if the other wife’s a blonde as well? There’s something creepy about all the Malfoys having the same colour hair.’
‘All you Weasleys have got red hair,’ Julia pointed out.
‘Only the actual family, though. We don’t go around marrying redheads. Honestly, if you get a chance, check out the portrait gallery upstairs in the west wing — there isn’t a single member of the Malfoy family who doesn’t have blonde hair. I think Ginny’s the first one in several centuries.’
‘The other wife isn’t blonde,’ Julia said carefully.
George looked surprised, then interested. ‘Do you know her, then?’
Julia nodded. ‘It’s me,’ she said quietly.
George looked stunned, then horrified. ‘Oh, shit, I’m so sorry, Julia. You should have told me to shut up and not be a prat. Merlin’s pants, I talk some crap sometimes.’
Julia gave him a small smile. ‘You’re not a prat, George. You didn’t know who I was. Anyway, it was useful. I mean, I didn’t know who Narcissa was until you pointed her out, and it was interesting to hear your view of Crystal, not biased by knowing who I was.’
‘Well, I was right about you looking better than her. You definitely do,’ George said. ‘So is it true that you haven’t spoken to Lucius at all since you split up?’ He suddenly seemed to realise he might be touching on a difficult subject for Julia. ‘Shit, I’ve done it again. Sorry, ignore me. I’m just being nosey.’
Julia was surprised that George’s questions weren’t annoying her as much as she would have thought. She guessed it was because he wasn’t as invested in her relationship with Lucius as Ginny was and was therefore less likely to judge her behaviour in the way Ginny had. And if he was going to get the gossip, Julia might as well set him straight.
‘I haven’t even seen him until today,’ she admitted. ‘I am still in love with him and Ginny and Draco tell me he’s in love with me, too, but he’s married to Crystal and I can’t get involved in that.’
George looked at her sympathetically and took her hand. ‘Did it really hurt, seeing him walk in with her just now?’
Julia nodded. ‘She’s just so beautiful — completely stunning — and they make a really good-looking couple.’
‘You suit him better, though,’ George said sincerely. ‘But I understand your reluctance to be anywhere near him . . . at least while he’s married to her.’
‘I wish Ginny and Draco understood that,’ Julia said. ‘They keep trying to get me to go back to him. Everyone seems to think it would be fine for us to continue to have a relationship . . . but it’s not fine for me. I want to be with him all the time, not just occasionally, and that can never happen while he’s married to someone else.’
‘That’s a really tough one,’ George said softly. ‘I can see what everyone’s thinking — that because you love each other you should want to stay together regardless — but it’s such a hard thing to actually achieve, especially when you had all that and it was taken away.’ He squeezed Julia’s hand as he studied her intently. ‘You’ve done so well in coming here today. Bloody hell, it must be really hard. I thought it was bad when I lost Fred — knowing that I’d never see him again, that part of me was gone forever — but this would be worse. Knowing that he was still alive but we couldn’t be together, that would be real hell.’
‘I just wish they wouldn’t keep trying to make me feel selfish for staying away from him,’ Julia said quietly. She could feel tears in her eyes and blinked to try to get rid of them. She wasn’t going to cry today. She had promised herself — no more crying over Lucius, especially in public. ‘I don’t think they understand just how much it hurts . . . and that it’s never going to get any better.’
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,’ George told her gently.
Julia shook her head and blinked again. She was having trouble shifting those blasted tears. ‘It wasn’t you,’ she assured him. ‘I was always going to be upset, nothing could stop that. But at least I’m not sitting here on my own and having to deal with it. I’ve got you to make me laugh with more of your witty observations.’
George gave her a wicked grin. ‘I’m at your service for as long as you need me, my lady,’ he assured her gallantly, then looked around at the assembled guests once more. ‘Oh, look, here come another couple of dog’s dinners,’ he said bitchily, pointing at Pansy Parkinson, wearing a hideous green flowery dress, who had just sat down next to Milicent Bulstrode, unwisely swathed in cerise, a few rows back on the groom’s side. ‘Yet more proof that all the money in the world doesn’t help to make you look good . . . although to be fair, Milicent would struggle in any circumstances.’
Julia slapped him playfully. ‘Stop it. Let’s play nice. The poor woman can’t help looking like that . . . although that colour really doesn’t go with her complexion.’
‘Spoilsport,’ George retorted, but he smiled as he said it.
‘I know what I meant to ask you,’ Julia said, tactfully changing the subject. ‘How did Percy turn out like he is? I mean, all you Weasleys are so witty and charming, and he’s . . . well, he’s . . . .’
‘Dull . . . pompous . . . a git?’ George supplied.
‘I was thinking stuffy but I guess those words would work just as well,’ Julia admitted. ‘And what does his girlfriend see in him?’
‘She’s just as dull as he is,’ George confided. ‘They make the perfect couple, actually. Percy’s always been a boring old git. He always was at school. He spent all his time aiming to be a Prefect and then Head Boy. It didn’t surprise anyone when he went into the Ministry of Magic.’ He frowned. ‘Actually, there was a bit of trouble with him when Voldemort first came back. We were all on Harry’s side, obviously, but Percy, prat that he is, sided with the Ministry instead. He ended up cutting himself off from us and it broke Mum’s heart. He came good in the end, but I still don’t trust the git. Percy’s only real interest is in Percy, and it always will be.’
‘Your poor mum,’ Julia said, thinking about Molly Weasley and the loss of her sons.
‘She got over it once he came back. Personally, I think she should have told him to bugger off for good. But she was missing Fred, and I suppose Percy’s better than nothing as far as she’s concerned.’
‘I don’t think missing your twin caused her to welcome Percy back,’ Julia said honestly. ‘She missed both of them equally, and at least she could get Percy back again.’ She looked at George, noticing his damaged ear, and thought of Bill. ‘She’s had to go through a lot, your mum — you didn’t come out of it unscathed.’ She indicated his ear. ‘Did you get that at the same time as . . . ?’ She broke off, not wanting to say.
George shook his head. ‘No, this happened earlier when we were trying to get Harry to a safe house. Professor Snape did it. He was trying to save Lupin’s life and caught me. It was an accident, although we didn’t know that at the time — we thought he was the enemy and I was just glad he didn’t kill me.’ He shrugged. ‘I don’t really notice it anymore.’
‘And Bill, what happened to him?’ Julia asked interestedly.
‘He was attacked by a werewolf,’ George said blithely.
‘A werewolf?’ Julia looked surprised. ‘Is he . . . ?’
George shook his head. ‘No. Fortunately, it wasn’t a full moon when he got bitten so he never turned. He just got that nasty scar and a taste for very rare steak. Mum was distraught at first because he was such a handsome chap before, but Fleur wanted to marry him anyway, so that helped, and once it became clear he wasn’t going to be a werewolf, Mum calmed down.’
‘Well, I think she’s done very well to keep it together considering the worry she must have had over you all.’ Julia looked around. Almost all the seats were filled now. ‘It must be due to start soon.’
George looked at his watch. ‘Five minutes . . . assuming Ginny gets her arse in gear.’ He chuckled. ‘Look at Draco. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him looking so nervous . . . or terrified. Mind you, if I was marrying Ginny I’d be terrified as well.’
Julia watched as Narcissa peeled away from her son’s side to take a seat a few rows back. She looked calm and collected and Julia was impressed; she wished she could be a bit more like that where Lucius was concerned. But then the difference was that Narcissa wasn’t in love with Lucius, had divorced him even, so she probably couldn’t care less about him or his bimbo wife. But Julia noticed that she still didn’t sit in the front row, even though as the mother of the groom she was perfectly entitled to do so, so she obviously didn’t feel that comfortable about being around her ex-husband.
Draco was walking towards the front accompanied by his best friend, Blaise Zabini, a tall, good-looking, dark-skinned man who she had met a few times and liked very much. Blaise smiled at her as they went past. Draco looked paler than normal, the stress evident on his face. Julia was sure he couldn’t focus on anyone at the moment, he was too worried about what was about to happen. Blaise took his arm and gently moved him into position, talking quietly to his friend as they waited.
Molly Weasley appeared now, accompanied by several other family members, and they hastened into their seats in front of where Julia and George were sitting. Molly turned round and beamed at Julia.
‘Hullo, Julia, it’s nice to see you made it. Ginny will be so pleased. I like your dress . . . very pretty. And I love that hat. I always mean to wear a hat but can never seem to find a decent one. Wherever did you get it?’
Julia leant forward to talk to Molly. ‘I got it from a Muggle shop called Marks and Spencer. It was in the sale. I like your dress. It’s a really pretty colour.’
Molly blushed at the compliment. ‘I thought I’d go with Ginny’s colour scheme. She and Draco have gone for their House colours, clothes-wise. Ginny’s wearing ivory, but she’s put Hermione in scarlet with gold jewellery. That bright red’s a bit young for me, though, so I went for maroon. It’s better on older skin and doesn’t clash with the hair quite so much.’ She looked up and smiled fondly. ‘Here we go.’
As if on cue, the band stopped playing the jazzy background music, turning instead to something more fitting for a wedding. The crowd fell silent and turned to watch as first Hermione, scattering red rose petals as she went, and then Ginny, holding onto her father’s arm, walked down the aisle towards the men waiting at the front.
Julia smiled. This was worth coming for. Regardless of what might still be to come, she was glad Draco had made her promise to come to the wedding and that she had made the effort. It was worth it just to see the look of happiness on Ginny’s face as she walked towards Draco. Julia found her heart beating faster as she gazed at them. She knew that look, just as she recognised the look Draco gave Ginny in return. It was the way she and Lucius used to look at each other, the look that said that as long as they were together everything was perfect with the world.
She turned her head for a moment and looked towards where Lucius was sitting, her smile faltering for a moment as a twinge of pain pulsed in her heart. Then she looked back at the soon-to-be-joined couple, the smile firmly back on her face.
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