Cessation ⌁ Draco Malfoy [3/4] ✔

6

It turned out that the Minister had arrived to hand Harry, Ron and Hermione what Dumbledore had left for them. He'd given Harry the golden Snitch, for some odd reason; Ron a deluminator; and Hermione Tales of Beedle the Bard. They were passed around the table in the garden when the trio returned, after having heard yelling coming from the house. The Minister left immediately. 

The next day at 3 o'clock, guests began to arrive for Bill and Fleur's wedding. Emma was left to stare at herself in the mirror for several minutes as everyone else rushed to get ready for the wedding. She wore a dark blue dress that fell to her knees, which she thought went well with her pale skin. The first dress she was offered showed a bit of her cleavage as the chest area of the dress fell down in a V, but this one went straight across her chest and had a lovely, soft feeling.   

After pulling her brown hair over her shoulders, Emma approached the door. There was a very small old lady wandering the house, speaking rather loudly and rudely. Wincing, Emma tried brushing past her and just managed to narrowly escape until -

"And who might you be?" the old woman barked at Emma, and she knew for sure that this was the Weasley childrens' great Aunt Muriel, from what she had been told. 

"Er, hello," she said nervously. The old woman may not have been able to do much, but she was definitely scary. "I'm Emma."

"Emma who?" the woman continued to bark. 

"Emma Baranov."

"Who?"

"Baranov," Emma said louder. 

Emma could tell Muriel was racking her brains to try and figure out whether she knew the Baranov family or not, but Emma would never find out if the older woman did. 

"Great Aunt Muriel!" said one of the twins, and Emma felt them appear by either side of her. "Fred and me are very happy to see you."

"Yes," Fred said brightly, holding something out to her in his hand. "Would you like any sweets? Any preferences? A cup of tea?"

Aunt Muriel turned away and walked off muttering profanities to herself. Emma thought she heard the old lady saying something along the lines of, "...not very happy to see you," and it happened to be the nicest thing that slipped out of old Muriel's mouth. 

"Lovely woman," said Emma. 

"Eh, she's rude to everyone. Me and George set off a Dungbomb under her chair at dinner and she's avoided us ever since," Fred grinned, reaching over to give his twin a high five. "But we saw her giving you a hard time and immediately came to the rescue."

"My heroes," Emma said loudly, bowing. 

Emma followed the twins to the huge white marquee, where the wedding would be held, and saw quite a bunch of people. There were seats lined up at the front of the marquee where Bill and Fleur would be married, and tables around the opposite end draped in white tablecloths and fancy white chairs. 

"I bet you anything Fleur will make everyone faint," Emma said, imagining the bride emerging from the back of the marquee, looking as breathtaking as ever. Emma would be lying if she said she didn't want to look like Fleur. "She's already so beautiful."

Fred and George turned around and eyed Emma up and down. 

"Well you look nice," the said in sync. 

"And I must admit those brown eyes look great," Fred added, winking his own brown eyes.

Emma laughed. "Thanks."

She was reminded of the very first time she met the twins on the train. 

The twins wandered off toward Harry, - who was disguised as a redheaded Muggle boy to blend in with the Weasleys - Ron and Hermione. She caught Harry's eye and offered him a smile. 

"Hello, Emma," a voice said from behind. Emma turned around. "You look lovely."

"Hi, Remus," Emma smiled, looking around him. "Where's Tonks?" 

Remus pointed over by Harry, where Tonks was talking with him quietly.  

Emma stared at Harry's former Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for a moment, noticing just how stressed he looked because of his...problem. She had not spoken with him much, and he had not spoken with her much, but he somehow figured her out quite easily. 

"I know what you are going to ask me," the man said quietly, staring right back at her. "I haven't heard from your father for a while now. None of us have. He's a stubborn man on a mission."

"He's a stubborn man who's going to get himself killed," Emma muttered. 

"Your father is determined to catch your mother's killer, just because we haven't heard from him doesn't mean -"

"It could," Emma argued, feeling the happiness of the wedding leave her immediately. Inhaling, she tried to keep her mind from wandering. "Sorry."

"You know, when you were born James and Lily asked me to be your Godfather," Remus said, smiling a tired smile. Emma was glad the subject was changed, but was more surprised. 

"Really?"

He nodded. "I refused, of course."

"You shouldn't have. I mean, I don't regret going with my parents, but things could've been different had I gone with you. You shouldn't have."

"I'm a Werewolf, Emma," Remus shook his head. "I could never parent a child - not even back then. Eventually after refusing a thousand times, Sirius ended up being your Godfather as well as Harry's."

Emma felt the urge to just talk and talk, and not even attend the wedding, as selfish as it was. But speaking about James and Lily made her want to sit down and listen to the people who knew them well, speak. It was nice hearing about them. 

"You know what happened right?" Emma said. "The night you-know-who came..."

Remus hesitated to react or respond, before finally looking around to see that nobody was close enough to listen. The last thing they wanted was for someone to realise that James and Lily's daughter was right inside that very marquee instead of non-existent or in the ground. 

"Yes," he said quietly. "Lily and James were not going to...they discussed handing you off to somebody else until you-know-who was dealt with -"

"They were going to give me away?" Emma said, although hurt, she partly understood. 

"It would've been safest for you. You know the stories, you-know-who only wanted Harry. Lily and James were going to protect him, and they did for as long as they could, but he came to soon -"

"Time to take our seats," said 'Cousin Barny' from behind Emma. 

She looked back at Remus with a desperate look. "Can we talk some more after the wedding? Please?"

"No, I don't think we should -"

"Please? I hardly ever hear about them."

Emma was dragged away by the redheaded Muggle boy, and sat down beside him in the second row behind Fred and George. The crowd fell silent minutes later as Fleur and her father walked up the aisle, followed by Ginny and Gabrielle.