About Bloody Time
-August 5th, 2006-
Albert wasn't used to being at Hogwarts during the holidays, but he was honored to be invited on such a day as this. He followed his date for the evening through the streets of Hogsmead. She was his classmate and Creative Director, Gemma Travers. They walked up to the gates of Hogwarts. Since she came from a family of Wizards, she offered her parents could get him through the Floo network, then they could take the Knight Bus to Hogsmead together. Albert hadn't been sure how he'd get there on his own, considering his parents were muggles and had no idea about magical transportation.
Miss Fyre had asked for the two of them personally at the bottom of the wedding invitations, writing that she wanted to give them an opportunity to have an article about it for the Gazette.
There was a small line to get onto the grounds, as it appeared Mr. Filch was checking everyone's belongings and bags. Mr. Filch was actually wearing tattered dress robes and Mrs. Noris had an ugly pink bow around her neck.
Gemma was wearing a simple baby blue dress and had a matching bow in her red hair, it flopped a bit as she walked. She checked her dark brown bag for her camera. "Can you believe it? We might be the only students invited."
"Yeah, it's crazy. To think, we could have one of the best opening articles the Gazette has ever had." He followed her, nervously and became uncomfortable from the way she held his hand. He let go when they got in line, he didn't need to be nervous today. He fixed his dark blue necktie.
"Maybe, but you have to admit the article about the Battle of the Ministry in Nineteen-Ninety-Six was a pretty wicked opening article." Gemma laughed but looked at his neck tie. "Do you want me to fix that?"
He nodded, "If you don't mind."
She fixed his tie as they stood in line behind a man with long dreadlocks. He wore green dress robes and the woman on his arm wore a long green dress to match.
Albert recognized him immediately as he turned his head to look at the olive skinned woman. He was the famous radio personality for the WWN, Lee Jordan. Albert listened to his show frequently. He was bloody funny.
"Not going to lie, I may have had a nightmare about this when I was eighteen." Lee Jordan, revealed to the woman who Albert assumed was his wife. Her face looked familiar, but he couldn't place where he'd seen her before.
The woman proceeded to hit him directly in the stomach, making Albert and Gemma quietly laugh between them.
"Honestly Lee?" The woman asked with two raised eyebrows and a roll of her eyes.
"What Gen? It's not a nightmare now." Lee Jordan chuckled at his wife's punch. "Besides in the nightmare I had, they had a Niffler officiating."
His wife didn't laugh, just rolled her eyes.
"I'm obviously thrilled to be here today." Mr. Jordan kept insisting. "Not at all uncomfortable."
Albert stifled another laugh. He knew the many stories about Mr. Jordan and Miss Fyre from their school days, before their Potterwatch notoriety. He'd even found their initials carved in the stone wall of the One Eyed Witch passageway.
He looked at Mr. Jordan's hand and saw a little scar on his hand, it read: I Will Not Speak Out.
Mr. and Mrs. Jordan made it through Filch's inspection, even though he gave Mr. Jordan a real stink eye.
Gemma and Albert survived their inspections with Filch. They made their way to the grounds, following the crowd behind the greenhouses.
It was beautiful on the grounds, where simple wooden chairs were set for the ceremony and little black flowers lined the aisle. There was a large arch made of black trees and covered in deep green vines. The vines looked like they were moving.
There were about a hundred and fifty people or so. All of his Professors were present, like Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick. Even Professor Binns floated with the other ghosts near the back.
He saw so many famous faces, even The Minister Of Magic was there. Albert had never seen him in person. He was laughing with a red haired man with large scars across his face.
"Oh no," Gemma whispered and pointed towards the back on the left side, "Slughorn."
Albert grimaced, he couldn't stand Professor Slughorn. He seemed like a fame hungry old man. Slughorn liked Albert and Gemma. He kept inviting them to join the stuffy and very boring Slug Club. They kept finding excuses not to join.
Albert and Gemma took their seats near the middle on the right. There were two old and wrinkly women, with big hats they could hide behind.
"Apparently, they couldn't find either of them this morning. They thought they'd run off on some sort of insane adventure again." Albert overheard one woman tell the other. This woman wore a hat with big green leaves around the brim.
"Obviously they were found." The other woman in a large green hat with a badger atop it remarked.
"Yes, but can you believe they were found sleeping beneath his bed?"
Albert chuckled a little to himself, he couldn't imagine someone as austere as Miss Fyre, asleep beneath a bed with his Herbology Professor. He'd hardly believed they were getting married. Simple, down to earth Professor Longbottom marrying the very articulate Samantha Fyre seemed almost incredible. Rumors had been circulating the school about them for nearly two years. It all began when he brought her to a few Quidditch games.
A bunch of the older students would tease the quiet professor and ask him if he had a girlfriend. He'd laugh and roll his eyes, while his ears turned a shade of pink. He never really gave anyone a real answer.
Marcus, Albert's little brother insisted he'd seen Professor Longbottom and Miss Fyre snogging in the greenhouses. He lost ten points from Hufflepuff for spreading rumors, but Albert suspected at least the snogging part was true.
"I wonder why they are having the ceremony here, of all places?" The woman with the green leaf hat asked.
"I heard the Headmistress insisted they have it here."
"Such a shame, especially since it breaks our Longbottom family tradition."
The badger hat lady grunted, "Well the Fyre woman is already breaking our bloodline. Half blood and her muggle father is actually present. What a disgrace!"
Albert noticed a small blue beetle on his shoulder. He flicked it off. This was his only set of dress robes, he couldn't have them ruined by a beetle chewing at them.
Gemma swatted the beetle with his notepad as it landed on her lap.
He grabbed it from her hands, "Hey, don't get beetle guts on my notepad."
"Excuse me." A man's voice asked and Albert looked up. He stopped breathing as he looked into the green eyes behind the round glasses. "Are these seats taken?"
It was Harry Potter. THE Harry Potter, who had defeated Voldemort. He had a tiny swaddled baby in his arms. Behind him was a red haired man and a bushy haired woman in a lavender dress. She also had a baby in her arms. Harry Potter was motioning to the seats beside Gemma. Gemma was awestruck and Albert deduced he'd never seen her quieter.
Albert couldn't speak either just stood up to let them in.
"All right then." The red haired man said with a giddy smile. Albert could smell whiskey on him as he slid past.
The three took their seats. Gemma and Albert couldn't keep themselves from staring.
"Well, it doesn't seem like there are too many explosions quite yet. Or weird Narfaler creatures or whatever Luna's always on about." The red haired man observed. "It's actually quite simple."
The woman scolded him and handed him her baby, who was in a very ruffly lavender dress, "Honestly Ronald, do you really believe Luna would be that outrageous?"
Albert realized that the red haired man was Ron Weasley, war hero and Auror. He assumed the woman beside Gemma was Hermione Granger, the well renowned lawyer and war hero.
Both Harry and Ron replied simultaneously, "It's Luna!"
"Well, from the looks of things so far, I can assume Luna only has their best interests at heart." Hermione said looking around.
"Wait, do you mean Luna Lovegood?" Gemma asked looking very enthralled, "The Magizoologist who discovered the subspecies of Thestral in Mexico?"
Hermione turned to Gemma, she looked her over with a smile, "Of course. It is very nice to sit next to a young lady with intellect. What is your name?"
"Gemma Travers mam." She reached out her hand to shake, "You are Hermione Granger right?"
Hermione nodded before pointing at Albert who's heart dropped, "And who is your date there?"
"I'm Albert Blythe." He reached out a hand and she shook his hand firmly.
"How do you two know the bride and groom?" Hermione asked sweetly.
"Well, Professor Longbottom is our Herbology teacher of course." Gemma admitted, "But we're both members of the Hogwarts Gazette and Miss Fyre's been mentoring us. She invited Albert and I personally, so we could start the year with an article about their wedding."
"Oh great." Ron said with a roll of his eyes and leaned closer to Harry, "You picked the seats next to Samantha Fyre Junior."
"Thank you." Both Albert and Gemma responded with wide eyes.
Harry and Hermione both laughed in response.
"I was on the Gazette, only for a year, my schedule was too busy." Hermione explained, "What jobs do you two have?"
Gemma reached into her bag and pulled out her camera, "Well I'm the Photographer and Creative Director, Albert's the Editor-in-Chief."
The trio exchanged a sorrowful look between each other as they noticed the camera.
"That's lovely." Hermione managed to blurt. The trio turned to look at another set of people who had just arrived and took seats behind them. It was another trio of wizards. They all seemed to know each other and ecstatically exchanged greetings.
Hermione introduced them to the little group. Apparently, they had been classmates and members of Dumbledore's army.
The man named Seamus pointed between himself and the man named Dean. "He was our roommate in Gryffindor tower. Harry and Ron too of course. Wasn't Samantha in your dorm Hermione?"
Hermione laughed and nodded.
"I was on the Gazette with them both." The man referred to as Ernie explained. "But I was in Hufflepuff."
"So how is our Neville as a teacher?" Seamus asked leaning against the chair behind Albert.
"Oh, he's one of our favorites." Gemma exclaimed looking back at them. "He's wicked smart and super cool."
"She's only saying that because she and all of the girls in our year fancy him." Albert blurted out with a laugh. He hated that she admired anyone. He wasn't sure why it bothered him. He regretted the statement as it came out. Gemma's eyes shot downward.
Gemma elbowed him in the stomach, "Do not."
The little group around them began laughing, except Hermione who looked mortified for Gemma.
Dean elbowed Ernie beside him, "Never imagined he'd be the one to be any kind of educator."
"Let alone a popular one." Ernie agreed.
"I mean, I don't think we ever thought he'd actually get married either." Seamus laughed.
Dean whispered to Gemma. "Seamus only says that because he's mad he's not marrying Sam today. She turned down a date with him in sixth year and he has never recovered."
Gemma giggled a little bit. Albert noticed she seemed to be feeling better after his snide comment.
Albert found it incredible anyone could refer to Miss Fyre so casually. To call her 'Sam' seemed so odd.
A hush fell over the crowd as the Headmistress made her way to the front of the beautiful archway. There was no music, but the wind around them seemed to rustle the forbidden forest in a beautiful chorus. Albert grabbed his notebook, to take an account for the Gazette accurately.
The Headmistress was followed by Professor Longbottom who wore gray dress robes with a maroon bow tie. He fidgeted with the tie as he stood at the front. He had a gold medal pinned above his chest. Albert recognized it as the Order of Merlin medal.
Three little children dressed in white and a red haired woman came next. The little girl was no more than maybe two. She had a hard time walking up the aisle, but the boy beside her, who was maybe seven or eight, held her hand. In his other hand was a little pink Pygmy Puff with a hair bow who was cooing excitedly. They made it to the second row and into the arms of Lee Jordan and his wife.
Harry was smiling widely at the red haired woman and the little black haired boy who followed and sat near the front. The little boy held the leash to a very large Pygmy Puff who was making the boy giggle.
Albert recognized the woman, she was Ginny Potter. She was the former keeper for the Holyhead Harpies and the current Sports Editor at the Daily Prophet. He'd seen the pictures of her on the wall of the Gazette room, arm in arm with a young Samantha Fyre. She wore a form fitting maroon dress with little embroidered flowers on it.
Next up the aisle came another woman in a maroon dress, but her dress was less form fitting with tulle and she wore large bright yellow flowers in her hair. The flowers in her hair matched a bouquet in her hands.
"That's Luna Lovegood." Gemma whispered to Albert.
She was accompanied by a man with a long dark ponytail who looked nervous as everyone stared at him. He had a giant sunflower boutonnière. He stared at the floor and didn't make eye contact with anyone.
"Who's the man?" Albert whispered to Gemma. He needed his name for the article, but didn't recognize him from anywhere.
Hermione answered instead, "Jack Fyre, Sam's brother."
Albert remembered reading about her brother and his incredibly dark history. He also knew about the upcoming trial regarding his time as a Death Eater.
Miss Fyre's brother went and stood on the bride's side and Miss Lovegood stood beside Professor Longbottom.
Professor McGonagall motioned for everyone to rise.
Everyone turned to see Miss Fyre, arm in arm with both of her parents, in an apparent break of wedding tradition. Her father was in a simple black suit and was crying. Her mother was in a set of black dress robes and wore a fascinator with a Vulture head attached to it.
Miss Fyre had apparently chosen to break tradition quite a bit. Instead of a bride's white dress, she wore a long flowing gray dress. Instead of a veil, she wore a crown of little black flowers in her pinned up hair. In her hands she held a simple bouquet of the same flowers with a single sunflower.
Albert recognized the black flowers as Moly. Professor Longbottom always said they were his favorite when they worked with them in his class.
Miss Fyre stood straight as they walked, a small golden metal pinned above her heart. A very tiny black dragon flew above her head as she walked. Albert recognized Duke from her visit to the Gazette.
There was a bit of a unified gasp as she walked past each line of guests, everyone reacting to the back of her dress. Albert swore he could hear a slight sob from Hermione and another from Ernie as she passed.
The back of Ms. Fyre's dress was sheer from the waist up, showing dark burn scars. Little silver and gold embroidered stars climbed up her back and neck following the pattern of scars that covered Miss Fyre.
Miss Fyre seemed unfazed by the reactions around her, but smiled widely as she reached Professor Longbottom. The two seemed to be laughing like small children as she handed her bouquet to her brother and her mother fixed her train. She reached across and fixed Professor Longbottom's tie, which caused more laughter between the pair.
"Good evening." Professor McGonagall said, sounding like she did at the beginning of term every year. "Welcome to this joyous occasion."
It was hard to hear the Headmistress say anything else, as the crowd around them all seemed to be in outrageous fits of sobbing. Albert turned his head to see that at the front, the only dry eyed ones included the bride's mother, who seemed rather without tears. However, she smiled with pure joy at her daughter. Beside her sat an old woman with a large hat who was also without tears, but beamed with pride.
Directly behind the bride's parents, Professor Sprout was crying quite intensely, dabbing her eyes aggressively and leaning on Professor Flitwick who was patting her back and crying along. Hagrid who sat on a large special bench in the back, was sobbing into what looked like a large table cloth. Albert had never considered any of his Professors crying before.
As he turned back to look at the archway. He noticed even Professor McGonagall had stopped to wipe tears away from her eyes.
Hermione continued her sobs as Ron reached and held her hand.
The rest of the ceremony continued in elegant simplicity. One of the more interesting parts was when Duke the Dragon flew away to the castle and came back with the wedding rings and dropped them into the hands of Miss Lovegood.
Everyone around them was still sobbing as the ceremony came to a close. Even the mother of the bride and the older woman beside her, were dabbing their eyes by the end.
The only completely dry eyed ones now, were the bride and groom. Who were still laughing like they were having a very private conversation.
As McGonagall pronounced them wed, Miss Fyre practically leapt onto Professor Longbottom to kiss him.
The ceremony fully finished in a very loud applause. There was a loud bang as a red haired wizard, who Albert swore was the man who owned Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, shot a rocket into the sky.
Gemma and Albert followed everyone up to the castle. The little gaggle of Gryffindor graduates stayed with them, as if concerned for the children being on their own. They were again behind the older whispering women.
"A gray dress?" One woman whispered to the other. "Quite a fashion statement."
"I assume she didn't want anyone having misconceptions. She's not exactly the most innocent of women, now is she?" The lady with the large badger hat responded.
"You don't truly believe everything Rita writes do you?"
"Excuse me," Hermione interjected to the two women, "For your information, the bride wore a gray dress because she has outward reactions to negative emotions due to her trauma from the war. A suppressant to her medical condition is of course, Black Onyx. The bride's mother sewed it into every inch of the dress so that she could enjoy a peaceful day."
"Yeah, Sam's no floozy, she's just messed up in the brain is all." Ron tried qualifying.
"Honestly Ronald!" Hermione crossed her arms.
"Well, we all are a little bit."
The two women stared at the group, as if to respond negatively, but they took one good look at who they would be arguing and hushed themselves. Albert noticed the same little blue beetle climbing on the badger's head.
"Also mam, you have a beetle crawling in your hat." Albert mentioned pointing to the badger.
"You've got to be joking." Hermione lifted her wand and the beetle zoomed into her hand. She held the beetle tightly before reaching into her bag and shoving the beetle into a jar she had with her. "Bloody woman."
The old women looked highly confused.
"She's a collector." Harry qualified as the women quietly continued their walk away from the group.
"Give her here." Ron said motioning for the jar and trading with his wife, handing her the ruffled baby. He nudged into Albert's side. "Good eye kid, we've been trying to catch this damn beetle all day."
"Ronald! Watch your swearing around children!" Hermione scolded covering the baby's ears. She looked too young to speak. "I'm already worried Rose's vocabulary is ruined."
Harry held up the baby in his arms, "You are ruined Albus."
Ron paid his wife no mind. He shoved the jar into a pocket in his dress robes "Bloody good wedding present though, wish someone had done this at our wedding."
"I mean honestly, Sam did keep her in a jar on her window sill during both of our weddings." Harry chuckled. "She'd have never let us toss her though."
"You all aren't actually going to go through with your plan are you?" Hermione asked her eyes darting around. "Not that she doesn't deserve it, but letting Neville throw her off the Astronomy tower, is a bit extreme."
"If Sam isn't going to fire her, then it's up to us." Ernie continued.
"Could you imagine if she wrote about what those women were saying?" Seamus asked.
"Besides, we won't actually let her hit the ground. We aren't murderers after all." Dean insisted and crossed his arms. "Lee's got a whole plan to catch her."
"We're just going to scare her is all." Ron responded.
Albert wondered why they were referring to the beetle as a she and why it would be murder to toss a beetle off the Astronomy tower. His confusion must have been obvious as Hermione addressed him.
"Neville hates beetles, they eat his Venomous Tentacular." Hermione explained.
They ended up inside the great hall, which had spared the normal four house tables for a dozen smaller ones and a dance floor. The ceiling still sparkled with stars and candles, but green vines decorated every arbor.
They checked for their seats. Albert, Gemma and Ernie were at a table near the back left side. They arrived at the table, which was covered in a cloth that seemed to have golden writing embroidered into it.
There were two tables with this special cloth. A sign inside a bouquet of sunflowers upon the table, signaled the significance.
Reserved for Hogwarts Gazette Members/Alumni
Albert's heart beat out of his chest, how exciting to have such an honor. He put his notebook beside his plate. He noticed a small bar had been set up near the back with large barrels of Butterbeer.
"I'll get us Butterbeer." Albert offered to Gemma as others began sitting down.
Albert walked over to the little bar where a grumbling old man stood behind it. He was about to hand Albert the Butterbeers but Miss Lovegood sprinted up.
"Having a lovely time Aberforth? " Miss Lovegood asked the old bar tender.
"Oh of course Miss Lovegood." Aberforth nodded with a smile, he had an old ugly set of dress robes on. "Beautiful ceremony, bloody shame everyone was crying so loudly though."
"I'm sure you didn't shed a tear." Miss Lovegood rolled her eyes.
"Not a single one." Aberforth chuckled but Albert didn't believe it.
"Now the bride insisted I give you this, she's refusing your charity." Miss Lovegood handed him a small brown bag.
He handed it back. "You tell her that the drinks are a wedding present. Besides, I'm celebrating. I will officially never see Neville waiting for her, in the Hogshead, ever again."
He and Luna began laughing heartily. Aberforth handed Albert two big jugs of Butterbeer.
Albert walked away with a Butterbeer in each hand. Why would Professor Longbottom have been sitting alone in a trashy place like the Hogshead?
He passed the bride's parents who were at a table with Professor McGonagall. Her father was looking around in awe.
"So this is Hogwarts?" He asked with a giant gaping smile. "I understand why you three like it so much. It's incredible."
"If you'd like a tour, I'd be more than honored Mr. Fyre." McGonagall offered kindly.
"Would I?" Mr. Fyre's eyes lit up and he sat a little straighter.
"Once the standard traditions are through, I'll take you both around. Belle's never seen the Gazette headquarters. I think you would love to see where Samantha spent all of her time." McGonagall continued. "I'll also show you the greenhouses where your new son works."
"Which I've always found ironic, Sammy always hated Herbology." Mrs. Fyre interjected looking Professor McGonagall over. "Yet somehow she took it in sixth year, when she had planned on dropping."
McGonagall said before taking a sip of wine, "If there had been a conspiracy, there are, at least two other contributors. One of which, had them pegged for each other, in first year."
Albert couldn't believe what he'd heard as he continued his way to his table. It was fuller now, with several others around the two tables.
"Albert!" Gemma exclaimed as he sat down. She motioned to the man behind him. "This is Dennis and his girlfriend Rose. They were the Editor in Chief and Creative Director directly before Prentice and Helen, when we joined the Gazette!"
He shook hands with them and they all began trading stories about the Gazette and Miss Fyre. Albert spent a bit of time taking notes about the evening and the things he had heard.
Dinner was served, no house elves, but the food did just appear like the beginning of term. Cake was cut and served, a lemon flavor that he wasn't sure he was fond of.
There was a toast from the bride's brother, who it seemed had no trouble ranting away for a bit. Albert really didn't pay attention to most of it.
"So I mean, I guess love exists right? I'm pretty sure true love doesn't actually exist though. It's a made up thing to trap men into long term relationships." Miss Fyre's brother said as he finally reached a conclusion, making his sister's smile disappear. "But, I know true incandescent happiness through companionship probably exists. So I guess marriage can potentially work."
It seemed everyone in the room took a long sigh of relief.
He lifted his goblet up high. "So let's raise a toast to my sister, and the idiot who's been willing to marry her since first year." The whole room began laughing.
Miss Lovegood followed the bride's brother. She stood in front of everyone where the teacher's table normally was.
"Well, Jack, that was a really interesting point of view." She smiled but looked dottily around the room. "Now, I am known to get distracted when I give speeches and I believe Jack has trailed off enough for any wedding speech. So, I decided instead of giving a toast, I would instead turn it over to these gentlemen right here."
Luna pointed over to eight men who waved and were carrying instruments into the Great Hall.
Albert and Gemma both stood from their chairs as they saw who it was. It was the Weird Sisters. The Weird Sisters were a very popular rock band.
The band's frontman, Wagtail, who's long black hair had started to gray, stood up to the microphone, "Thank you dear Luna."
Albert turned his head to look at Miss Fyre and Professor Longbottom. Professor Longbottom was laughing and Miss Fyre seemed to be in some kind of slight shock.
Wagtail flipped his long hair out of his face, "Nearly a decade ago, Duke and I went to this totally boring party at Hogwarts. It was thrown by our least favorite Professor." Wagtail pointed over to Slughorn who looked both mortified and amused with a big goblet in his hand, "Give it up for Professor Slughorn."
Slughorn waved a little and forced applause followed.
"Anyway." Wagtail continued, after pulling a flask from his suit jacket, "At this terribly dull and very droll party, we were introduced to two very cool and interesting people." He took a drink from the flask. "We may or may not have shared a bit of fire whiskey."
Professor Longbottom and Miss Fyre exchanged a look of slight embarrassment and they began laughing like school children again. Albert couldn't believe that they had once shared fire whiskey with the Weird Sisters.
"We also exchanged stories, and the whole evening turned quite a bit around." Wagtail and Duke both laughed, "Before they left, I pulled over Samantha, she's the bride if you didn't know." He pointed at Miss Fyre who was now completely red, "And I handed her my card, telling her to get a hold of me if she and her boyfriend ever got married. And do you know what she responded?"
No one answered, but a few small laughs were heard throughout.
"She said, 'I'm focused on my education.'" He said, to which the crowd began roaring with laughter. "To which I asked about that gentleman," He pointed now to Professor Longbottom, "I told her, he'd probably do the job just fine."
Everyone really was laughing now.
"Then recently, tonight actually, we found out we weren't the only ones who had thought that they should just get it over with, and do it already-get married I mean."
"Isn't that the bloody truth?" Professor Sprout loudly, and Albert suspected, drunkenly proclaimed.
Wagtail chuckled again and held his flask up, "So can I request now, before we play the song for the first dance, that we raise a small toast?"
Everyone in the room, including Albert, held up a glass.
"So to the newlyweds, may we all unanimously say, it's about bloody time." Wagtail proclaimed before taking a drink from his flask.
Albert suspected that Miss Fyre and Professor Longbottom heartily agreed, as while everyone else took a drink, they kissed.
Gemma pulled out her camera and took a picture of the moment.
The dancing began. Albert wasn't much of a dancer, but Gemma drug him out. He was horrible and stepped on her feet.
After a little bit, the couple began visiting tables and laughing with their guests.
Miss Fyre and Professor Longbottom were talking to a few people at the table next to them. Miss Fyre had Lee Jordan's daughter on her hip and was twirling around with her.
They finished their time at that table. They talked to a few more former Gazette members before sliding over to Albert and Gemma.
Miss Fyre sat down beside Albert and Professor Longbottom stood behind her, sipping on a small flask.
"Are you two are having a nice time?" Professor Longbottom asked.
"Of course Professor and Miss Fyre, I mean Mrs. Longbottom." Gemma laughed.
"You two can call me Samantha for today, please." Samantha insisted with a big smile as Professor Longbottom handed her the flask. She took a quick swig before continuing, "And in the future, you can stick to Ms. Fyre."
"You look like a princess mam." Gemma observed.
Samantha turned a little red. She pulled one of the Moly flowers from her hair. She placed it behind Gemma's ear. "So do you."
Lee Jordan ran up behind Professor Longbottom and patted his back, "Come on lover boy. We've got a wedding present for you."
Samantha raised a dangerous looking eyebrow at Mr. Jordan.
"Oh nothing to worry about beautiful." Lee laughed and kissed her cheek. Samantha pushed Lee's face away from her, her scarred hand in full view.
Lee laughed jestingly, but stopped as he saw Samantha's husband give a disproving look.
As if in expressed apology, Lee Jordan nudged Professor Longbottom in the arm. He nodded towards the entrance where a bit of a group had gathered. This group included Harry and his wife, Ron and Hermione, Dean, Ernie and Seamus. There were a few other red heads, and the bride's brother who joined them as well. They were passing around the jar with the beetle inside.
Professor Longbottom's expression lit up when he saw the jar. He kissed Samantha quickly before walking away with Lee to join the group. She smiled at her husband, but her eyes looked at Albert's notebook on the table.
The group left in a slight parade, holding the jar aloft. They exited towards the Astronomy tower.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but did I see you writing?" Samantha asked. Albert turned away from the spontaneous parade. Samantha's eyes darted towards his hands, which were covered in ink.
"It's for the Gazette of course." Albert blurted out.
Samantha laughed heartily and tossed her head back, a few stray curls fell about her face. "You really do give me a run for my money on ambition."
"Thank you!" He sat up a little straighter. He liked the way Gemma smiled with pride at him. "I just couldn't let this day go without some kind of recording."
"How about something bigger than the Gazette? How'd you like it to be in the Prophet?"
"Wicked!" He said a little louder than he meant.
"And I'd like any photographs you've taken Miss Travers."
Gemma nodded ecstatically.
"We'd be honored, mam." He felt his heartbeat faster than ever but he wondered why they were tearing up. "I'll get it sent to you before the end of the week."
"Send it to Fritz at the Daily Prophet in Diagon Alley." Samantha blushed a little, " I've got to spend some time away with Neville, thank him for a thing or two. Honeymoon and all."
"Oh I forgot mam. It could be one of the most important articles I ever write so I got carried away."
"Join me for a dance Albert?" Samantha asked reaching out her hand and standing up. The stars on her back sparkled with her every movement. "If you don't mind I steal your date Miss Travers?"
Gemma touched the flower behind her ear. "I don't mind."
Albert's heart jumped as he stood up and went with her to the dance floor.
"Can I tell you a secret Albert?" Samantha asked as he tried not to step on her feet.
"Of course, if it isn't interesting enough to publish."
She laughed heartily, "You remind me of a boy I knew growing up."
Albert had never been so complimented in his life. He had an idea who she was referring to. His picture was beside her's in the Gazette headquarters. He'd passed away in the Battle of Hogwarts.
"Every day I wonder what he'd have done with his life." She continued, "If I've learned anything in my life though, it's that you can't dwell on the past."
Albert nodded.
"He may not have been able to live his life, but promise me you will?"
"I promise."
"Now forgive me, I know it's a wedding, but I shouldn't be crying." She quickly pulled a kerchief from her pocket and dabbed her eyes before returning to their dance.
He felt a brief tap on his shoulder. It was Professor Longbottom who was smiling very giddily. "Mind if I cut in Albert?"
"Of course Professor." Albert said noticing his smile went away after seeing Samantha.
"What's wrong Sam?" Professor Longbottom asked before taking his wife into his arms.
As Albert sat back down he watched the newlywed couple, now dancing closely in an embrace. Samantha no longer looked at her husband the way she had when she'd walked down the aisle, now her head rested on his chest and tears were falling from her eyes.
Professor Longbottom whispered something to her. She looked up at him and kissed him quickly. Her smile returned as her small dragon flew onto her shoulder and curled up into a ball there.
Gemma snapped a quick picture as they smiled at each other.
Albert had never thought of Samantha Fyre truly as anything more than a hero really. She was someone to admire for her heroism and good deeds. At that moment, she became a human in Albert's eyes. Her great deeds transformed from amazing feats of bravery, to simple acts of survival. She was someone who had witnessed horrors.
He pulled out his notebook again and told himself as he watched her dance, that someday he would write her story, in a raw, real way. He would immortalize what she'd done, but he'd find a way to show she was in fact, a person.
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-The Flight of The Vulture-
-An Incendio Prequel
Coming Soon