**George’s POV**
The night before the wedding I’m sitting at home in front of the fire with Maddie, going over last minute details.
“Are you sure you don’t want to have a proper honeymoon?” I ask for the billionth time, “it’s not too late. We could go to Paris-”
Maddie laughs.
“I’ve told you a million times,” she says sweetly, “I don’t want to spend my honeymoon anywhere but our own house. Which, by the way, I am dying to see. I still can’t believe you bought a house without telling me!”
“You’ll love it,” I assure her. She bites her lip and I know she’s trying to resist asking me more about it.
“What’s it like?” she bursts out. I just laugh.
“You’ll see tomorrow,” I reply. She gives me a frustrated look, but moves on.
“I think we might have actually covered everything,” she says slowly, checking off her list, “have you written your speech?”
“No, I’ve forgotten,” I reply sarcastically. She ignores me.
“And now all we have to do is hope the weather is nice and Lith is in a good mood,” Maddie says, sitting back with a smile. I lean over and give her a soft kiss.
“Oh my gosh,” she cries suddenly, sitting upright, “we haven’t got a ring bearer!”
“Breathe,” I say quickly, “I’m going to have them both, remember?”
“Oh, right,” she sighs, relaxing again, “I’m just terrified I’ve forgotten something.”
“We’ll be fine. Everything will sort itself out,” I tell her soothingly, “now, you’d better take Alithea to your dad’s place and get her into bed or she’ll be crabby tomorrow. And get yourself some sleep too.”
“Right,” Maddie says, smiling, “I hope Ginny’s been keeping an eye on her. She learnt to walk so fast and now she’s into everything.”
Maddie gets up and stretches. Her shirt lifts up and I catch a glimpse of her stomach.
“You’re showing,” I point out. She glances nervously at the kitchen, shushing me.
“I know,” she hisses, “don’t draw attention to it. Ginny!”
“Yeah?”
“Time to go!”
Ginny walks in, carry a bag and Alithea.
“Mummy!” Alithea cries, holding her hands out. Maddie takes her and hands her to me.
“Say goodnight to Daddy, we’ll see him tomorrow,” she says. I give Alithea a cuddle.
“Be good for Mum,” I tell her. I stand up and kiss Maddie. She catches me around the neck and holds me tight. After a minute Ginny clears her throat loudly and we break apart.
“See you tomorrow,” I breathe, handing Alithea over, “don’t be late.”
“I love you,” Maddie says meaningfully. She doesn’t say it often, but I know every time she does it’s completely sincere.
“I love you too.”
She takes Ginny’s arm and they disapparate.
“FRED!” I yell up the stairs.
“WHAT?”
“I FORGOT TO WRITE MY SPEECH!”
I hear Fred laughing as he walks down the stairs.
“You’re such a fail,” he chortles.
“Shut up and help me,” I snap.
“I can’t believe you forgot!” he says, conjuring some parchment and a quill, “I’ve even written mine!”
“How should I start it?”
“This won’t be very good, because I forgot to write it until last night…”
I narrow my eyes at my brother. He grins and takes the quill. He write for a few minutes, then hands me the parchment. I read it over then look up at him.
“That’s ridiculous,” I tell him. He laughs.
“Better than what you wrote.”
I roll my eyes.
“How about ‘From the very first moment I saw you I thought you were the cutest eleven year old in the world’?”
“Go with it,” Fred shrugs.
An hour later I hand Fred my speech. He reads through it, looking highly amused.
“That’s so sappy!” he laughs, “it’s perfect.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yeah,” he says, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye. I sigh and glance at the clock.
“Well, it’ll have to do,” I say, “I can’t believe that tomorrow I’m getting married.”
**Maddie’s POV**
As soon as we arrive at Dad’s place I get Alithea and Ginny to bed. Then I go over the plans again, checking and re-checking until my eyes ache.
“You should be sleeping,” Dad says, walking in with two cups of tea.
“I know, I’m just freaking out,” I say, taking on of the cups of tea, “thanks.”
We sit quietly for a while, sipping tea.
“Are you sure about this?” Dad asks, “you’re so young…”
“I’m positive,” I reply firmly.
“I wasn’t much older than you when you were born,” Dad says absently, “only about twenty…”
“Do you regret it?” I ask quietly. He looks over at me and smiles.
“Not one bit,” he replies earnestly, “now, bed!”
I obediently climb the stairs and get into my pyjamas. I open the window and stare up at the stars. This is the last time Maddison Black will ever look at the stars.
I climb into bed and look at the photos on my wall. There’s a picture of Fred, George and I one Christmas sitting around the Christmas tree at the Burrow. Another picture is of George and I walking around the garden, hand in hand. The most recent picture is of the two of us and Alithea. I watch as George brushes my cheek with his hand. The picture me blushes lightly. I roll onto my back and look up at the dark canopy. The nerves in my stomach have settled down slightly and have been replaced with excitement.
Tomorrow, I’ve getting married!