THE WOLVES | R.L.

Chapter 20

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter World belongs to J.K. Rowling.

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Chapter 20

"Sorry I didn't have a ring," Remus said sheepishly, "I just..."

"No," Ardelle put a hand over his, "It's fine. It was natural—and I might like dramatics sometimes, that was perfect. And it doesn't matter if I have a ring or not—I like to believe that a simple ring cannot define our relationship—while we're dating, and as best friends, Remus."

Remus smiled, "Right. Well...do you want to have an official wedding ceremony, or...?"

"I don't think we need a big wedding," Ardelle admitted, "Especially not in these times. We can just have a wedding between our friends and probably the," She lowered her voice, "Order Members."

"Okay," Remus said softly, "Well, let's go and join the others, shall we?"

"Of course." Ardelle grinned, and dragged Remus to where James, Sirius, Marlene, Lily and Peter were—the two of them laughing as they joined their friends.

***

Despite their conversation earlier, the next morning, Remus had still conjured two identical rings and approached Ardelle with a smile.

The rings were silver—with a glimmering diamond.

They were simple, but beautiful.

"There," Remus said, "I feel like even though a ring cannot define us, it's still...I still want to wear rings—you know, just so that...everybody knows."

"Okay," Ardelle said, smiling as Remus slid the ring onto her finger, "Thank you." She paused, swallowing before she said shyly, "I...I love you, Rem."

"I love you too, Ardie." Remus kissed her forehead before saying, "Well...it's our second last day at Hogwarts, and we'll be leaving tomorrow. A-are you afraid, Ardie? Are you...?"

"Yes," Ardelle admitted, "I am afraid."

The two of them both sighed.

After a long moment, Ardelle asked, "Are you going home, or would you like to come to Potter Mansion?"

"I...I think I'd like to go home, first. My father will be a part of it," Remus gave her a meaningful look, and she nodded, "But my mother...well, she's a muggle—and as lovely and kind as she is, I don't think it'd be wise to bring her into the Wizarding World. My father will probably have minimal contact with...us...because he'll want to take care of my mother during the war. So...I'd like to say goodbye to them first, and then...do you mind if I go to Potter Mansion?"

"Of course!" Ardelle said with a bright smile, her eyes lighting up enthusiastically, "James, Sirius, Peter, Marls and Lily will all be visiting—it'll be so much fun."

"Thanks, Ardie," He squeezed her hand, giving her a smile, "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it," Ardelle responded lightly.

***

Ardelle sighed as she packed up her things from her dormitory.

"Are you sad, Ardie?" Lily asked as she shoved her clothes into her trunk, "Will you miss Hogwarts after we leave tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah," Ardelle sighed, but then she added jokingly, "But I think Hogwarts will miss me more than I'll miss it."

Dorcas and Marlene rolled their eyes, while Alice and Mary giggled.

"Of course," Lily said wryly, "Sometimes I forget that you're James' twin sister."

Ardelle just winked at them, and they all rolled their eyes at her

Ardelle shoved her final items into her trunk and said, "Done."

"Good for you," Marlene said dryly, "Excellent. I honestly don't really care."

"You guys are so mean," Ardelle said, pouting mockingly.

"Wait—oh, Merlin, Ardelle—is that a ring on your finger?" Lily cried excitedly, and Ardelle instinctively and hastily curled up her fingers, hiding her ring from view.

"Uh—no," Ardelle said quickly, taking a step backwards, "What ring?"

Mary said, "Oh, Ardelle, just let us see it!"

With a sigh, Ardelle stretched out her fingers and allowed the girls to take a look at the ring.

"It's so beautiful!" Alice gushed, "Why didn't you tell us earlier that you're engaged?"

"Remus, right?" Dorcas asked with a smile.

"Yeah," Ardelle replied, blushing.

Desperate to take the attention off of herself, she asked the girls, "When are you guys getting engaged? Or are you considering marriage at all?"

"Sirius and I aren't getting married," Marlene said.

Lily asked, "Why not?"

Marlene explained, "Too complicated. Besides, neither of us really want to get married—but just because we don't want to get married doesn't mean that we don't like each other—besides, we haven't really dated for long enough to get married, anyway."

"You've dated for a year," Alice said, "Isn't that...?"

"Yeah, I know," Marlene said, "Mainly just neither of us think it's necessary to get married, at least at this point in time."

"Right, okay," Lily said with a nod.

"What about you, Lils?" Mary asked Lily, who sighed.

"I don't know," Lily said, "I mean, James and I have talked about it and agreed that sometime in the future we do want to get married—but...just not right now."

"Alice? What about you and Frank?" Marlene asked, turning to said girl, who shrugged.

"Same as Lils, really," Alice said with a smile.

"Dor? Mary?" Ardelle asked, turning to the said girls.

"We're not getting married anytime soon," Dorcas said lightly.

"Yeah, me neither," Mary agreed.

There was a moment of silence between them.

"Anyway, enough such conversations about the future. I'm going to write a letter to my mother about my engagement so that I can go home without worrying about being yelled at," Ardelle said with a grin, "Let's just finish packing and then we can enjoy our final evening at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Author's Note:

Hi! Thanks for reading this chapter. If you liked it, do leave a vote or a comment to let me know that you enjoyed it!

Some questions for you guys to answer in the comments:

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