Seasons of the Heart
By Sapphire Aster
Prologue: Memories and Wedding Bells
Verbena Baltizare, sat at her vanity. Her usually curly blonde hair was pulled back into a tight bun at the base of her neck, and her eyes slightly swollen and red from crying. Her white dress decorated with pearls and lace, bellowed all around her, and her veil lay across the bed, waiting to be put on. A blue garter sat next to her on a dark, rose colored stool. She knew deep down that she should be happy and excited; for it was her wedding and she‘d only been dreaming of this day for her entire life! But she couldn’t help but feel a little sadness. The voices of her bridal court could be heard in the next room; laughing and drinking champagne. She looked around her bright colored room, and saw her memories. She started to think, “This is my home. The room I grew up in. My brothers picked on me here. I hid in here when I got in trouble for using magic on my brothers. Now, there will be no laughter, no jokes. No one to give me away today.”
She saw pictures on the walls of birthdays, Christmases, her family, fishing trips, camping trips, some of her drawings and paintings. Her queen sized bed with the red and gold afghan her mother had made when she had found out Verbena’s house colors. Her Hogwarts’ robes folded nicely on her trunk; her wand laying on a red and gold pillow with Gryffindor written on it, all her school books, and past work (that included potions and spell books) in a glass and mahogany bookshelf in the corner. As she turned, her eyes came to a stop on a picture of Hermione and herself at the graduation party that she had thrown for all the seventh years. Their whole class came including those in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, except the Slytherins, no idea were they went, but they had an idea. Her eyes filled once again with of tears. “Damn it! Why 'Mione? Why did you do it?” Slamming her fist on to the vanity, she knocked over a picture of Harry, Ron, Hermione and herself, sitting by the lake during their 6th year at Hogwarts. All smiles and waving. She remembered that Neville had taken the picture, which brought a smile to her tear stained face.
It had been five years since the last battle with Voldemort. All the lives that were lost or damaged, young and old. Neville Longbottom, one of her closest and dearest friends, now lays in St. Mungo’s hospital, with his parents, driven mad by a spell sent by Adam Keegan, an old schoolmate of theirs. But he choose to fight along side Voldemort than against him. The spell was meant for Hermione, who had killed his wife, Neva Jacobi; a girl in Ginny’s class but a Hufflepuff. Neville had pushed her out of the way at the last minute and had taken the full blow of the spell. Dean Thomas, Ginny’s ex-boyfriend, was killed by Draco Malfoy’s father. Verbena continued to stare at the picture losing herself into the memories she hadn’t thought about since it happened.
She was standing by a bolder throwing out hexes, charms and curses. When she stepped out to fire, she came face to face with Bellatrix Black. From the corner of her eye she caught site of Harry crouching down behind a bush with Ron who was bleeding, getting ready to send out his own set of spells. A voice drew her mind back towards Bellatrix; it all happened so fast. A flash of green light had caught her attention. Bellatrix had cast the Killing Curse. It never touched her because someone had jumped in the way, knocking her to the ground...
A knock at the door startled her back to reality. “V? Ten minutes, girl! Also, there's some people here to see you, may they come in?” the voice was of her maid-of-honor and best friend Ginny Weasley.
Wiping her eyes once again, she called out, “Yes.”
In walked Fred and George Weasley, Ginny’s twin brothers. Their red hair no longer its fiery red, but a deep Autumn color. They were dressed in black tuxedos with red and gold boutonnières. Verbena stood and turned to her friends. Smiling, she embraced them and kissed them each on the cheek.
“You made it!!” she said, as a single tear started down her cheek.
Patting her cheek George said, “Of course we came! We couldn’t miss this wedding! Besides, we’re giving you away, silly.” Despite a deep scar that ran across George’s face; which happened during the final battle, he was still a very handsome young man.
Fred exclaimed, “Yeah, We’re the Fathers of the Bride!” picking her up and swinging her around, with a large goofy grin on his face. Laughing Verbena yelled for him to put her down.
When Fred did put her down George got serious and whispered, “Don’t drink the champagne that’s in the other room.”
”Why?” asked Verbena, trying to catch her breath.
“You’ll see...” he started to count on his fingers from five. When he got to one, they all turned towards the door from which on the other side, came a shriek.
“OH MY GOD! KATIE, YOUR MOUTH IS BLACK!”
“WELL YOURS IS PURPLE, FLEUR!”
There was a loud BANG, which sounded like the bathroom door slamming.
Laughing, Verbena turned back to her friends, “Do I want to know??”
Fred burst out laughing, “We put a little charm onto a couple of the bottles.”
At that moment, a very mad and bright pink mouthed Ginny walked in.
“FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY! WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN DID YOU DO?? YOU COULD HAVE RUINED V’S WEDDING!”
Her face was almost the same color as her mouth.
Verbena who was doubled over from laughing so hard, tried to speak but couldn’t. She looked up at Ginny, took one look at her mouth and started to laugh all over again. Her memories and sadness forgotten for now...