Neville was busy in his shop putting everything together to create a dozen centre pieces for the upcoming Lovegood/Malfoy Wedding. He loved winter weddings. The wide range of evergreens, holly and numerous varieties of red and white flowers, gave him the perfect pallet to work with, normally. The fact that one of the parties insisted that yellow was lucky for weddings and the other party had expressed a preference for golden roses, made his designs a little more tricky than usual, but it wouldn’t be his dream job, if there weren’t any challenges.
In the end he decided to go with traditional red, green and gold, with some touches of yellow.
He had made a list and was now checking it. Twice, he thought with a grin, in reference to the time of year.
- Sprigs of Holly (check)
- Silver fir cuttings (check)
- Ivy (check)
- Pine Cones (check) [Must remember to transfigure some of them gold]
- Red Berries (check)
- Cinnamon sticks (check) [For scent. Maybe transfigure some of them gold also]
- Red Velvet Roses (check)
- Golden Roses (check) [Mental note, must remember to thank Draco for supplying these]
- Mimosa (check) [to satisfy the requirement for yellow]
- Red and Yellow (bi-colour) Freesias (check) [You could not beat Freesias for fragrance and the yellow hearts would fit in with the yellow theme]
- Eucalyptus twigs (check)
- Lots of Lemons (check)
He had seen the idea for lining the inside of glass vases with lemon slices in some Muggle magazine, which was a great visual effect and would at the same time satisfy the yellow theme for one half of the wedding party. He was looking forward to start working on his creations, knowing that he had plenty of time to perfect them, as the wedding wasn’t for another three days.
He had been informed of the date of the wedding six months ago and preparations were under control. The bride and groom were mature enough to not have any last minute jitters and had left most of the planning to the Best Man and Bride’s Maid, who would also act as the parties who would be giving the Bride and Groom away. Despite the fact that the tradition of giving the Bride away was very outdated, it was a nice touch that the Bride’s Maid was giving the Groom away and the Best Man was giving the Bride away.
Neville was still merrily humming along to the traditional muggle Christmas song, Santa Claus is coming to Town, as he was checking his list for the second time, when Draco barged into the shop in a flap.
‘We never checked the Moon phases,’ he said with a groan.
‘When we were setting the date for the wedding,’ I mean, he added.
‘It is a full moon! What are the chances that the one day in the month that we organise a wedding coincides with a full moon?’ Draco lamented.
About 1 in 31 when that month is December, Neville felt like saying, but he wisely held his tongue.
Draco and himself got on well enough these days, but he wasn’t foolish enough to upset the guy more then he already seemed to be.
‘Apparently it is bad luck to marry during a full moon and with some of the guests having had close encounters with werewolves is their past, a full moon would not be ideal.’
Neville wondered how Bill and Remus would feel about having their condition being described thus, but again wisely held his tongue.
Draco genuinely seemed upset about the whole full moon thing and after a while Neville took pity on him.
‘You can always change the date, you know,’ he finally suggested, against his better judgement.
‘Could we? No we couldn’t, there is too much to do,’ Draco said despondently.
‘Why couldn’t you?’ Neville said as he started to list all the reasons why they could on his fingers:
- Molly is doing the catering and she is always super prepared and can always enlist the help of Ginny and Fleur, if need be. He knew that sounded sexist, but the men in that household were no cooks;
- I am doing the flowers and as you can see, I am all set to start work on them;
- Hermione is officiating and you know that she has been preparing for this for months;
- The Weasley men are plentiful in number to set up the venue in no time;
- Sirius is doing the party music and no doubt has all his Muggle records lined up for weeks by now;
- The harpist for the entrance music is supposed to be a surprise, but I have it on good authority that she can make it any time. She wouldn’t miss this for the world;
- It is only a relatively small wedding party and most of the guests have an official role or are involved in the organisation;
- Asking some of the other guests to give us a hand, will only add to the relaxed atmosphere of the wedding.
- And the last time I looked, we were all reasonably competent wizards, so that should count for something;
So I do not see why you couldn’t move the wedding,’ Neville concluded, having reached the last finger on his hands.
‘Could we do it tomorrow?’ Draco said, looking as innocent as a new born unicorn foal, but Neville knew he had been played and not for the first time.
Draco clearly had weighed all the options before barging in here and had tricked Neville into pointing out that the perceived obstacles weren’t as bad as they seemed and now he was backed into a proverbial corner without any excuses as to why the wedding could not take place tomorrow.
Under normal circumstances, he would have asked Luna to assist him, as they regularly worked together, but given her central role to these nuptials, asking her to help him last minute would not be fair. She would of course insist to help out, if he asked, because that was who she was. Luna had always been the least selfish person he knew and he hated seeing people taking advantage of her good heart. If she hadn’t been spoken for already, he would make a play for her.
‘Fine,’ Neville sighed eventually, ‘If you can convince all the others to help out, I can have the floral arrangements done by tomorrow.’
‘Thanks, Nev, you are the best,’ Draco grinned, as he left the shop.
‘Don’t you bloody well forget that the next time I need a favour,’ Neville grumbled under his breath, but Draco was no longer within hearing distance.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Everybody must have worked around the clock from the moment Draco put the word out that the wedding was moved up to the following day. Everything looked beautiful and as perfect as if this had been the planned day all along. Neville even managed to create some extra flower arrangements to adorn the walk from the entrance gate of the park to the old Muggle band stand, where the couple were going to exchange their vows in front of their families and friends.
The intimate setting of the band stand suited the nature of the wedding, as the couple had only a very small family left.
The wedding guests were seated in rows on either side of the steps to the band stand, but all rose as the harpist began to play a traditional Muggle Wedding March, signalling that the couple was ready to make their entrance.
Draco walked up the path accompanied by his mother Narcissa, followed by Luna on the arm of her father Xenophilius.
When they reached the band stand, Narcissa gave a small shriek of delight, as she recognised the harpist as her sister Andromeda. Luna only stiffened slightly at the resemblance to the other sister, who thankfully no longer roamed this earth. Nobody minded that the two sisters dispensed with decorum to give each other a warm hug. It had been too long.
Hermione called everyone back to the task at hand, by starting the ceremony, in typical fashion.
‘Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the union of Xenofilius Lovegood and Narcissa Malfoy…’
This was an emotional ceremony for all the people gathered there that day. Nobody wanted to think about the war and about the loved ones they lost, but without the war, Xenophilius and Narcissa would never have met, as they would never have attended a support group for families that had been traumatised by the war. It had taken the Lovegoods a long time to accept that Draco and his mother had been in a sense victims, despite the fact that they had been co-operating with the Dark Lord. Luna was the first to admit that even during her captivity, she never had the feeling that Draco wanted to do the things he was forced to do, but had been powerless to make a stand for fear of what they would do to his family. Luna herself was living proof of what methods the Dark Lord employed. Narcissa was equally fearful of what would become of Draco, if she did not obey. Over the course of the support group sessions, the two families had learned to value each other’s opinions and the more they got to know each other, the deeper their appreciation grew. When news of Lucius’ death in prison reached them, it was Xenophilius who comforted Narcissa and helped her organise his funeral and settle his affairs. That was over a year ago now and the two families had grown close in that time.
When Hermione reached the ‘You can now kiss the bride’ part, Luna clapped her hands enthusiastically and threw rice and yellow rose petals over the happy couple, which was the signal for Fred and George to set off some of their party-streamers and confetti cannons.
The wedding ceremony was followed by a drinks reception, and a fabulous four-course dinner, in Malfoy Manor, now owned by Draco and tastefully redecorated with the help of Luna and their friends, to ensure that no traces of the Dark Lord or any dark wizard artifacts remained.
Since the war ended and all her children had left home, Molly had started her own catering business Molly’s Mouthwatering Meals.
Fortunately, none of the wedding courses included Molly’s famous Chili dogs. Harry had warned Draco well in advance to steer well clear of that particular Weasley family favourite. Not that a feast in the Malfoy Manor would ever include such an unusual menu item, no matter how popular it was at other occasions. Having fallen from grace a few times in the recent past, had not diminished any of the Malfoy snobbishness, Draco was quick to acknowledge unashamedly.
Having been given detailed instructions as to the favourite dishes of the bride and groom, the wedding was beautifully catered by Molly and her team of helpers, who had outdone themselves with the three-tier wedding cake decorated with an intricate arrangement of sugar flowers that mimicked the floral arrangements designed by Neville.
This would be a wedding people would not forget easily, if only due to the Dirigible plum extract Luna had secretly added to the welcome cocktail at the reception. It was a project she and Neville had worked on for some time, once Neville worked out how to isolate that particular property from this unique plant.
The guests danced long into the night to an eclectic selection of Muggle bands, courtesy of Sirius Black, DJ Extraordinaire, ably assisted by his long-time partner, Remus, who thankfully did not seem in any way affected by the current phase of the moon, just by the proximity of the dogstar.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When Draco was informed about the wedding, he had taken his future step-father aside and told him that his mother was an excellent dancer.
‘I will expect you to guide her properly around the dance floor. I am willing to teach you how to dance before the big day, but I will not stand for my mother being humiliated on her own wedding day by an incompetent dancer.’
At this Xenophilius had burst out laughing.
‘You are a good son, Draco,’ Xenophilius replied, ‘but just because I sometimes choose to be unconventional, does not mean I was not brought up as a proper pure-blood. I have you know that I was ballroom champion two years running in my younger days. I will sweep your mother off her feet with the best waltz she has ever danced.’
‘I wish you luck with that,’ Draco smirked. ‘I have you know my parents were the best dancers among their group of friends.’
A shadow slid across his face, as he remembered the many balls and galas his parents had hosted for their friends, many of whom were now dead or imprisoned or wanted nothing to do with them anymore.
Xenophilius put a protective arm around him.
‘Remember what they said in our support group. There will be times when something will trigger a memory that will make you feel sad or uncomfortable. Treasure the good memories and try not to dwell on the bad ones. Live in the moment and for the future, but don’t dwell too much on the past.’
‘I know,’ Draco said, ‘but sometimes it is difficult.’
‘I know,’ Xenophilius agreed and they had sat in silence for some time afterwards.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
True to his word, Xenophilius led his bride along the dance floor with the expertise and grace of a professional dancer and the newlyweds cut quite a dash on the dance floor. When they passed Draco, Xenophilius gave his stepson a wink and received a grin and a thumbs up in return, when Xenophilius twirled his wife around.
Luna and Eloise also seemed to enjoy Sirius choice of music. They spent most of the night on the dance floor and at times could be heard singing along to some of the Muggle songs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When Draco found Neville in the rose-garden later that night, looking up at the not-quite-full-moon, he only felt a slight pang of guilt for the exhausted florist.
‘You outdid yourself, Neville,’ he said, as he approached him.
‘Thank you. I know you played me like a fiddle, as usual, but I am glad it all turned out well. These golden roses truly are a remarkable sight,’ he said, pointing at, what up to now had been, Narcissa’s beautiful rose-garden.
‘Feel free to take cuttings, or come and take some any time you like, ‘ Draco said, suddenly overcome with a sense of gratitude for all Neville had done to make this day so special for his mother. On impulse, he hugged the boy who could do more magic with flowers and his green fingers than the average wizard could do with a wand.
‘Thanks, Draco,’ Neville said, shocked at this display of affection.
‘I might take you up on that, one of these days. And… if you ever need help with your garden, just let me know, I would be happy to work in such a wonderful garden any time.’
He nearly added ‘for free’, but then remembered that he, Neville Longbottom, was now a professional botanist, florist, landscape designer and gardening expert and would charge for his services accordingly.