The Girl who Survived (Fred Weasley)

CH 97. A Wedding

A/N: Hello my lovely lovies!!

I want to start by saying a big thank you so much to all of you for understanding I needed a little break, but I've brought a bit of a longer chapter. On my end, this one is 11 pages and nearly 6K words so... Whew!

I know there were several of you that predicted where this story would go, but I'm noting if not a surprise artist lol. So sit back, Grab a cozy blanket, a nice drink (I'm enjoying some Yerba Mate) and a snack (I had a Pierogi not too long ago) and lets dive in! I'll be in the comments, please let me know your thoughts, opinions, predictions, anything!

Love and Veela weddings,

Val

A day made for celebration, gone wrong at every turn.

~Elodie's POV~

I stepped out of the tub, reaching for my towel, hung on the nearby bar. Wringing the excess water from my hair, I pushed it behind my shoulder as I stepped up to the sink and ran my hand over the fogged mirror.

Minor bruises on my legs from where George's trainers had been digging into me would have been visible. Though, it was nothing that couldn't be covered with a concealment charm. While none of us had been able to get much sleep, it's effects were visible under my eyes where circles matching the bruises began to set in.

"El?" I heard from the other side of the bathroom door accompanied by a knock. "Mind if I join?" Fred's voice carried through. "I was... hoping you could cut my hair?"

I looked at the door through the mirror, opening it without effort. "I'm actually just finishing up," I notified him as I eyed the ruffled mess atop his head. "But if you jump in I could take care of it," I said as I flipped the water on with a gesture of my hand.

I turned back to begin covering the dark circles on my face while he wasted no time in stripping down and hopping in the shower. The way we moved, carrying on with the most mundane tasks, almost as if it was normal. It caused a feeling to stir inside me. One that I didn't want to give power to. One that seemed like a looming cloud of depression, coming back, as if it had scheduled a visit.

"Think I'll wear the gold tie and shirt with the olive vest. What do you think, love?" He asked from the other side of the shower curtain.

"I like the Olive tie and shirt with the Gold vest better. It brings out the gold in your eyes," I said, opening the medicine cabinet and reaching for Ginny's blush to add a bit of color to my pale cheeks.

"Really? You think so?" He asked, sounding mischievously. "My pain strikingly handsome eyes that you can't help but fall into?" he added a bit more dramatically than necessary. He'd never know how true his statement was.

"Cheeky," I said flatly. Not wanting to boost his ego too much.

It had been like this for far longer than I'd liked. One of us trying to lighten the mood, while the other could only play along for so long. While everyone told us the first year of marriage would be the hardest, by no means did I expect the hard parts to hurt like this. A kind of hurt that neither one of us wanted to address. The kind of hurt that we both knew was my fault.

"Heared mum crying a bit this morning. Not taking it well that Percy's not coming," Fred said, trying to keep the conversation going in any direction, rather than just letting it die.

The water shut off as he reached his hand out to grab the second towell off the rack and quickly dry himself off before he stepped out. Through the mirror I caught a glimpse of his bare body, droplets of water trailing down. I wanted to keep looking, admire the masterpiece that was the man I loved more than I could have ever imagined. He caught my stare, shooting me a smile just before he wrapped the towel around his waist and began stepping closer to me.