01224 The Night

The so-called wedding rehearsal was really just a crowd of people laughing and horsing around.

For you could hardly expect a girl with Tonks's temperament to put on an elegant gown and walk down the carpet with any dignity.

Every time she tried, gathering the hem in both hands and attempting a few solemn steps, she couldn't help bursting into helpless laughter herself, usually somewhere around the third step, and then the mood would spin out of control.

The girls in the room would collapse into giggles along with her, one setting off the next until half the room was wheezing and wiping their eyes.

"Our wedding is tomorrow, Tonks—"

Whenever this happened, Remus would say it the same way every time, half a sigh and half a plea, drawing her name out at the end. He'd look at her with eyes both resigned and loving trying to steer everything back onto the proper path.

"Oh, you know I prefer to be a bit unconventional, Remus—"

Tonks, for her part, would toss the line back without a shred of remorse, drawing out unconventional as if she were rather proud of the word, and eye him provocatively over her shoulder.

Put a group of young people in the prime of life together, and there was always endless talk and fun to be had.

Laughter rose and fell around the little front room like a tide, someone's joke set off another round of giggling just as it seemed to be dying down.

Bryan, who usually took the lead on any occasion, stood to one side for most of it, smiling, silently watching everything unfold.

"When I was travelling and working, I learned some knowledge about how to take care of yourself so that both the baby and the mother are in better condition." Fleur said lightly. "If you're interested, Tonks, I can teach you—"

Fleur, who after several months in the workplace had picked up a touch of refinement, was soon 'showing her true colours'.

She sat in her chair with her legs crossed elegantly at the ankle, twirling a strand of silvery hair without pause, her charm with nowhere to settle sent Bill into one dizzy spell of distraction after another, so that he answered Percy's last remark a full ten seconds late and clearly had no idea what Percy had actually said.

"Oh, of course, Fleur, I'd love to hear it!"

The words burst out of Tonks almost before Fleur had finished, pitched high with eagerness.

When it came to the subject of children, her maternal instincts overpowered her skittish nature. She leaned forward in her chair, hands clasped under her chin, and looked at Fleur with eager anticipation.

The girls were all keenly interested in the topic, drawing their chairs a little closer, and even Percy and Bill listened with relish.

Tonks's father had slipped away some time ago to prepare a guest room for Bryan. Though he knew the chance of sleeping tonight was slim, Bryan nodded his thanks and didn't stop him.

Mrs. Weasley and Tonks's mother, having learned that Bryan hadn't yet had dinner, exchanged a look and hurried off to the kitchen together.

"Want to talk?"

Remus had been listening carefully to Fleur's tips on child and pregnancy care too but the smile on his face couldn't fully mask the worry in his heart, and from time to time his gaze drifted past the firelight to the dark window, as though he expected to see something out there in the field.

So, when Bryan made the invitation, Remus agreed instantly.

The instant the door closed behind them, the smile vanished from Remus's face.

He and Bryan walked out over the soft purple carpet, past the glowing white marquee with its gold-wound poles, and stopped at the vow platform, where two posts stood waiting, garlanded but still bare of the ribbons that would dress them tomorrow.

Beyond the tent's open flap, the fields lay dark and silent under the stars.

"Tonks isn't very fond of a traditional life—"

Taking a deep breath, Remus turned to Bryan with a somewhat guilty smile.

"She loves adventure; that's why she chose to become an Auror. But she told me before—" he paused, "—that once the baby is born, she plans to leave the Ministry."

"Why?"

Bryan asked, though there was little surprise in his tone either.

"She said that one of us should focus on a career while the other looks after the family. Andromeda and Ted are getting on in years, and Tonks will need to look after the baby and them. Being an Auror is no longer right for her—"

Bryan said nothing.

Remus was a mature, middle-aged wizard now, grey already threading through his sandy hair though he was not yet old, and he understood that for the sake of a family, both husband and wife had to make sacrifices.

What he was telling Bryan was only a way of easing the guilt in his heart, feeling his wife was giving up more of herself than he was.

"How are things with Voldemort?"

After a few minutes of calming down, Remus let out a long breath, and his gaze grew much steadier.

"To keep Tonks and her parents from any danger, I've stayed here this whole time. I haven't even gone to the workshop. I thought Voldemort would make his move before the wedding—"

"Oh, as I see it, Voldemort certainly intended to—"

Wind stirred the reed beds as Bryan gazed out over the boundless wilderness.

"So that's why you came early?"

Remus froze, then turned grim. "Do I need to move Tonks and the others right now, Bryan?"

"Oh, ha ha, don't be so tense, Remus—"

Bryan laughed it off and patted Remus's shoulder. "Whether it's Voldemort or his Death Eaters, I don't think any of them will come to disturb your wedding. He's only planning a little scheme somewhere else—"

After a few seconds of silence, Remus's brow furrowed, then relaxed again, and he said hesitantly, "Then you shouldn't have come here early, Bryan. Even with Albus at Hogwarts, it would be safer if you were there—"

He trailed off at the end.

"I came here precisely to tell you this, Remus—"

Bryan smiled gently. "There's nothing to worry about. Hold your wedding in peace… Hm, perhaps the biggest trouble you'll meet at the wedding is that a few guests might turn up late—"

Before Remus could ask what that meant, the door behind them opened once more, spilling warm lamplight across the carpet, and Bill strolled over with a light step, hands still in his trouser pockets.

"A gentleman shouldn't leave his wife alone for too long on the eve of the wedding, Remus."

Bill delivered it with mock solemnity, the corner of his mouth twitching, clearly enjoying himself at Remus's expense.

Remus gave a wry smile, rubbing the back of his neck.

He knew Tonks must have been complaining about his absence, so with an apologetic nod to Bryan he hurried back into the house.

"It all feels like a dream, doesn't it?"

Bill said it half to Bryan and half to the dark field beyond the tent.

In the stirring of the breeze, the two fang-shaped earrings hanging from his earlobe jingled faintly. He and Bryan exchanged a glance and laughed and then he slung an arm familiarly around Bryan's shoulders.

"I'd wager even you never expected to achieve what you have today, Bryan?"

Bill said, his tone heavy with emotion and tinged with a faint admiration.

Bryan shook his head with a chuckle. He offered no explanation, no defence, only let the silence stand where an answer might have gone.

Both Bill and Charlie were remarkably gifted wizards, each with accomplishments in his own field that ordinary people could never match, a curse-breaker who had walked tombs no living wizard had dared enter, a dragon-keeper who wrestled creatures twenty feet long.

But they couldn't compare with him.

He himself was an anomaly that had luckily slipped free of the unbreakable laws of the universe.

A bug in this Harry Potter world.

"This age needed a wizard like me, so here I am—"

Bryan said it with a smile.

"Oh, that doesn't sound very modest—"

Bill shook his head, clicking his tongue. "Back when we were at Hogwarts, you… Hm, well, people do change—"

"Which do you prefer?"

Bryan asked with interest. "I mean, the me from Hogwarts, or the me of now?"

The question was a little beyond what Bill had expected. He propped his chin on his hand and thought for a while, his gaze going distant, sifting through some old memory, before breaking into a grin.

"The you of now, I'd say… A bit more human warmth. Oh, speaking of which, I remember that the last time we met, I asked you about the identity of the witch who attacked us back then—"

Bill blinked and asked curiously, "But you never told me—"

"Ah, that poor little thing—"

Bryan shook his head, and his meaning was unclear. "Forget her, Bill. There's no need to pursue it anymore."

Bill opened his mouth to say more, his curiosity was not satisfied, but seeing the content, tranquil smile on the face of Bryan, who was gazing up at the stars as though the matter had already settled itself somewhere far above them, he shook his head with a laugh of his own, patted Bryan's shoulder, and asked nothing further.

Mrs. Weasley, approaching with a tray balanced expertly on one arm, found Bill and Bryan leaning on the railing like brothers, admiring the night.

She stood stunned for a moment at the sight, then broke into a smile too.

Catching the scent of food on the air, Bill glanced back over his shoulder, patted Bryan's shoulder once more, and turned to head inside, already quickening his step.

"Ah, thank you, Mrs. Weasley—"

Bryan straightened up from the railing, glanced at the pan-seared lamb chops she was carrying and, as his eyes fell on the exquisite, translucent emerald brooch pinned to her chest, said admiringly,

 

"I seem to have forgotten to compliment your brooch, Mrs. Weasley. It's lovely. I'd guess it came from the goblins—"

"Oh, Arthur gave it to me—"

Mrs. Weasley said, beaming, her smile holding some modesty and some satisfaction.

"I told Arthur to return it."

She pressed on quickly. "His work these days leaves him open to far greater criticism, so even though our finances have improved, we'd do best to stay as frugal as ever. And this brooch… Oh, I don't mean to show off, but it really is worth a great deal…"

She caught herself, hearing how that sounded, and backtracked at once.

"Ah, I mean, it's far too extravagant—"

Her words tumbled over one another.

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