RP: Tonight, Tomorrow, Forever

[pb_percy]

Characters: Percy Weasley, Cho Chang, George Weasley
Date: April 4th, 2000 | Late Morning
Location: Dunsley Hall | Whitby Beach
Status: Very, very Private!
Summary: Wedding bells! Percy and Cho tie the knot.
Completion: Incomplete

Comments

[pb_george]

The shop had been calm all morning. After the April Fools rush, nothing short of a stampede would have caused the employees to blink an eye anyway, but by normal standards it was quiet. George had spent a large part of the day secluded in his workshop under the guise of creating products so Verity could restock the shelves. He'd done a bit of work but the main focus had been his secret attire.

George had little option. The robes he’d worn at Bill’s wedding where too starchy and constricting for a wedding on the beach. Then there were the scratchy hand-me-downs, thread bare and embarrassing that George would sooner light on fire than wear. Or possibly light them on fire while wearing them; he’d heard that could tickle quite pleasurably if done correctly.

Lastly where the dark, barely used dress robes Arthur had provided for Fred's funeral, shoved somewhere in the back of his wardrobe. Aside from being too morbid, George hadn’t the heart to unearth them yet.

No shoes. Basing his judgment off Cho’s request, George discarded all options and invented a fourth; just a simple button down and jacket, familiar but dressy. Into the pockets he packed Percy's requested items and a few tricks of his own. At half past noon, George left the shop with a quick goodbye to Verity and a mumbled excuse about visiting his brother. It wasn’t entirely untrue and his attire was carefully covered under his date that evening with Katie.

Arriving at Dunsley Hall, George began looking for his brother and soon to be sister. The weather was vastly different from the last time he had set out on such a search. Instead of losing his extremities to the cold, the sun warmed them. The breeze was like a gentle kiss against his cheek and when he breathed it was of oceans and spring, not blizzards and death.

He felt vaguely silly, walking around the muggle grounds without shoes and turned up trousers, a dinner jacket but no tie and as always, his missing ear. At least the wizarding community in Diagon Alley had stopped staring, or if they did they were at the very least subtle; muggles, on the other hand openly gawked. George repressed the desire to fire off a Whizbang in one particularly wide-eye lad’s trousers and instead kept his head down and continued looking for Percy and Cho, who at least would great him warmly and only point out his maimed features out of love.

[pb_percy]

How strange indeed.

The walk had lasted longer than Percy had expected--they were practically lounging like lizards, taking in as much of the sun and warmth as possible before even thinking about going back to the room to change.

It was he who spotted George first, looking at once wonderful and comical; leaving behind a trail of whispers and wide eyes long enough to produce a gentle roll of the eyes.

"George, over here!" Percy called. He and Cho had circled their way back to the bench for the second time, hands interlocked and kicking playfully at each other. Upon noticing that George had taken the request of no shoes far to literally, he laughed aloud after standing to greet him with a tight hug.

"You do realize the no shoes bit applied to the ceremony alone?" He said, pulling a pant leg up to reveal the now dew-covered black and gold shoes. "But I don't think the staff will mind too badly. We already confused them enough when we got here. Thanks for coming, George." He said again, surprised to find himself starting to tear.

[pb_cho]

Cho bounced up after Percy, looking thrilled. "George! Hi!"

And she stood by idly as the brothers embraced -- but it wasn't because she felt left out anymore. It wasn't that she didn't belong to the family. Perhaps the feeling was only so pronounced because of the date: this was where it would start, after all, and nothing had ruined the sentiment yet. But... As it was, she felt awfully affectionate towards everyone and everything, and when Percy pulled away it was her turn to give George a shy but firm embrace.

"Glad to see you," she offered cheerily. At the sight of his feet there was a vague attempt to hide laughter -- not entirely successful -- and Cho slipped her own shoes off to match. "Nice day."

[pb_george]

'Precisely my thought,' George punctuated, keeping Cho close despite her timid embrace. She was going to be one of the family, after all, and long, sometimes too-tight hugs from George were one of the things she would have to get used to. Eventually, George let her go and produced from his breast pocket thimble-sized shoes, just to prove an undisclosed point to Percy.

'See?' he noted, placing them safely back in his pocket. 'I have a smoking hot date of my own tonight, so...

'How are you two? Ready for me to take this mutt of your hands, Cho?' George sparked, patting Percy firmly on the back. Percy and Cho might be eloping, might have their own ideas of how they wanted the day to run but George had a few of his own as well. And sending his brother off to the alter without at least one male-bonding drink wasn't going to pass by un-protested.

[pb_percy]

"Who's a mutt?" Percy shot back playfully. "Last I heard you had the monopoly on scruffy." He took note of the shoes with a satisfactory nod, but when mention came of taking him off Cho's hands, Percy blinked.

"There's plenty of time before we need to get ready," Percy pointed out, checking his watch. The first of few surprises that day would only have about an hour before it was ready, and he wanted to be there with Cho when it showed up. "I'd say take off your shoes and get comfortable, but it seems I'm late to the train myself on that." The shoes and socks came off regardless.

[pb_cho]

Cho leaned over to inspect the time, capturing Percy's wrist in her fingers. "Today really is going by slowly."

She could've sworn it had been hours. Then again, she'd proved horrible at estimating when she was simultaneously elated and so nervous her hands shook when they weren't firmly clasped in someone else's. Then again, that might also just be excitement.

The point was, Cho felt like a walking conglomerate of everything it was possible to be feeling at the moment, and some feelings more pronounced than others; she wondered if it was obvious in the way she spoke, which was perhaps a little too pitchy, a pinch lost. "What shall we do? If you'd like to go off and do.. Manly things... I can go back upstairs and wait."

Not necessarily what she wanted to do, but there it was. "Plenty of time, all that."

[pb_percy]

A mock love-lorn sigh escaped Percy. "If you're sure... although knowing how long it takes you to get dressed nice on a normal day I'm surprised you didn't shoo me away sooner." He teased, raising his arm to kiss the top of Cho's hand. "And if I'm not mistaken, the bride isn't supposed to see the groom before the wedding." Of course they'd properly defiled that tradition ages ago.

"I'm pretty sure we'll need shoes to get into the bar though." The socks and shoes were replaced as they started to make their way back through the courtyard to the dining area. "I trust you were able to get away without raising too many eyebrows?" He asked, turning to George just as they stepped onto the patio and through the doors.

[pb_george]

Unshrinking his shoes and socks discretely, George followed Percy in action and direction. His feet felt strange now. The little pebbles and particles that clung to his skin and had been welcomed while he padded around heel-toe to the earth were now invasive, parasites inside his own shoes. It would feel good later to rub his feet in the sand.

'Verity commented on my attire. Something about being a whipped little slave to Katie's every whim but I told her I liked it like that.'

[pb_percy]

"I would think she sees enough stuffed shirts at the Ministry to not want anything to do with them privately."

Admittedly, watching George squirm in his shoes was, at least, mildly amusing. For a split second Percy thought about repeating something he used to say when they were younger about who or what generally got the last laugh--but today was not the day. Instead, they got to the bar in the dining area and Percy kissed Cho on both cheeks, both hands holding hers.

"I'm sure there are plenty of bride-ly things you can think of doing while George tries not to get me pissed." A pointed but playful look was cast at the only other red head. Percy deliberated seating himself immediately but shrugged and slid onto a stool.

[pb_cho]

"If you get pissed you'll never hear the end of it," Cho said, wagging her finger playfully. "Kidding. Except, really, you wouldn't."

She shot George a 'warning' look, breaking into a halfway smirk in the middle of it, and flounced off to get ready. Percy wasn't kidding when he said it took her a long time to get ready; that was no exaggeration, especially considering what she would be getting ready for today.

[pb_george]

When Cho had gone, George turned to Percy, gave him a long, studious look before proceeding, then turned to the barkeep and ordered two shots of the house best - whatever alcohol that happened to be. It didn't need to be a lot. It didn't need to be strong. It just needed to be good.

George paid - without wincing - when the total came up and handed what appeared to be some kind of malt whiskey over to Percy, keeping his own glass.

'I just figured you deserved at least one glass of something for a send off... Mum'll berate you about the wedding but that's nothing if the rest of our siblings find out I let you get married without at least one drink in you.'

[pb_percy]

Percy leaned into the bar a little, lips tugging into a smile at the drink.

"Yes, because ceremonies of this solemn nature can never be preformed sober. Cheers." He held up the glass and a second later tipped it back down his throat. It was whiskey alright, from the strength of it bottled sometime in the 17th century. "At least now..." He said after a moment. "I have the fallback of saying I'd been drinking right before it happened."

The glass was placed gingerly down on the bar while he gave his stomach and throat a short time to recover. "So how is living together working out?" He asked after a pause. "And I'm sorry I never sent you anything for your birthday."

[pb_george]

'It's always good to have an alibi,' George toasted. He knocked back his own glass and swirled the alcohol against his tongue and cheeks before letting it slip down his throat. A blaze of heat crawled down from his mouth, reaching his belly several seconds after the alcohol. 'Oh.. that was good,' he whispered.

The barkeep cleared their glasses with a knowing smile and George turned to Percy. It was so good just being there with him, and of course extremely special as George was the only family member there to support his marriage. Two years ago, if someone had predicted he'd be here today, with Percy of all of his siblings, George would never have believed the prophecy.

'Don't worry about it,' George said honestly, 'I had enough surprises on the day.' Thinking about it again George almost wanted another drink.

'Living with Katie's... yeah. Perfect, really.'

[pb_percy]

The subtle way that George inflected 'surprises' sounded like several stories for another time. It was enough to know that he was happy, at least where Katie was concerned. It was also hard not to look back on what had gotten them to where they were--Percy less than an hour and a half from the altar and George probably happier than he'd managed in a long time. True, some hurts would never really heal but they survived it all up until now.

"Yeah, perfect is a good word." A pause. "I thought it would take ages to get used to Cho being there but after a while it felt like she was always there, you know?"

[pb_george]

George thought of Katie. The way she fit precisely against his chest as they slept, the warmth of her neck when he kissed it wantonly after sex; George smiled over her laughter on the weekends and her cuddly tiredness at the end of a long work day. He was already there - George never had to get used to her because Katie had always been there. As a friend, first, then a lover; he liked the latter better.

'Yeah. I do,' returning Percy's pause and smile. 'I guess it's a good thing you're marrying Cho then, eh?'

[pb_percy]

"How about another one on me, for our girls?" Percy ordered another shot of whatever they'd had before and passed the full shot glass to his brother. "Probably the best idea I've ever had. And you know me, full of brilliant ideas." He laughed, staring at the shot glass still on the bar. "More like daft. Mom's going to hate me." After a slight shake of his head, Percy downed the second shot.