Chapter Eight: The Wedding

De-gnome the garden and break out the flowers. It's time for Bill and Fleur's wedding! In order for Harry to attend the special day without being noticed, he has taken Polyjuice Potion, transforming him into a redheaded Weasley-cousin named "Barny." Harry, Ron, Fred and George are the ushers for the event.

Fred complains that he won't go through this when he gets married. George mentions that Mrs. Weasley cried that morning over Percy not coming. The twins fall over each other to escort the veela cousins, while other colorful characters arrive.

Tonks apologizes to Harry for leaving so abruptly the night before, explaining that the Ministry is being quite anti-werewolf. Harry dismisses it, but not without noticing the careworn look on Lupin's face.

We meet Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna's dad, dressed in bright yellow robes. After a small hello to the gnomes (or, more properly, "Gernumbli gardenisi"), Luna joins her father a moment later. Despite the Polyjuice Potion disguise, Luna recognizes Harry, claiming she knew it was him from his expression.

Ron appears with a scathing older witch on his arm, who is introduced to Barny as Auntie Muriel. Muriel proceeds to insult the Weasleys by saying they breed like gnomes, insulting Fleur since she is French, states she would have liked to meet Harry Potter but since he made an excuse to not be there, he may not be as unintelligent as the news photos depict. After all these commentaries, Auntie Muriel then declares her frailty, requiring a seat. After all, the spunky Auntie Muriel is 107 years old.

Enter Viktor Krum as a guest of Fleur. Hermione is surprised enough to drop her handbag, "which made a thump quite disproportionate to its size." Ron is less than thrilled at his arrival. Cousin Barny/Harry sensibly seats Krum, who notes that Ron isn't pleased to see him.

The wedding proceeds. Fleur emits a luminosity which beautifies everyone around. Once she joined Bill, he looks as though "he had never met Fenrir Greyback." (How romantic) After the ceremony, the festivities begin.

Viktor joins the table with Ron, Harry, and Hermione, to Ron's great displeasure. Ron brusquely asks Hermione to dance, leading her away. Krum scowls at Xenophilius from across the room. Krum informs Barny/Harry that the symbol Xenophilius is wearing is Grindelwald's sign. Krum's grandfather was killed by Grindelwald. Krum recognized the symbol from Durmstrang, where Grindelwald had carved it into a wall in his days as a student.

Harry feebly tries to explain the Lovegoods to Krum, but he continues to glower, drawing his wand. That's when Harry exclaims, "Gregorovitch!" Harry remembers the weighing of the wands before the Triwizard Tournament, and realizes that Gregorovitch isn't a Quidditch player, but a wandmaker. He concludes that Voldemort might be looking for Gregorovitch to obtain a wand more powerful than Harry's.

Krum makes remarks about Ginny, leaving Harry quite jealous. Krum stalks off wondering, "Vot is the point of being an international Quidditch player if all the good-looking girls are taken?" (My fave line)

Harry sits with Elphias Doge, the writer of Dumbledore's obituary, and reveals his true identity. Harry asks Doge about the Rita Skeeter article which proclaims Dumbledore's participation in the dark arts. Doge is incensed by it, and is infuriated even more when dear Auntie Muriel interrupts.

According to Muriel, Dumbledore's sister Ariana was treated like a squib by their mother Kendra, keeping Ariana locked in the basement while Dumbledore was off at Hogwarts. Doge counters that Ariana was frail and in poor health. Muriel spits back that her cousin was a Healer at St. Mungo's and knew that Ariana had never been brought there.

When Kendra died, Albus was forced to be the head of the family. When Ariana died shortly thereafter, Aberforth blamed Albus. Aberforth punched Albus in the nose, breaking it, at Ariana's funeral. Albus did not fight back. Muriel’s learned this information while eavesdropping on a converstaion between Bathilda Bagshot and Muriel's mother. Muriel speculates that Bathilda, the author of A History of Magic, was the source of Rita Skeeter's information for the biography on Dumbledore.

Harry is then further surprised to learn that not only does Bathilda Bagshot live in Godric's Hollow, but the Dumbledores lived there as well. Harry is trying to digest all that he has heard when Kingsley Shaklebolt's lynx patronus arrives in the middle of the dance floor. It disturbingly declares, "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."

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How delighted I was to see this wedding so like a typical muggle one. There are the eccentric guests (Xenophilius and Luna) and the acidic, gossipy relative, Auntie Muriel. Throw in a jealous Ron, a longing Harry, and looking-for-action Viktor and you have every wedding I have attended in the last decade. Haha.

I had to look up the root of Xenophilius's name and was happy to discover that JKR did not disappoint. Xenophilia is defined as "attraction to or admiration of strangers or foreigners or of anything foreign or strange." (www.yourdictionary.com) Perfect for the editor-in-chief of the wizarding world's version of The Weekly World News.

When Ron compliments Hermione's appearance, she playfully echoes his earlier words, "Always the tone of surprise." They are easily growing closer to each other and to that moment that's been building since book one. I was psyched reading that.

Did anyone guess why does Hermione's purse emitted a loud clunk when she dropped it? On the original read, I thought it was to show how taken aback she was by seeing Krum. Who knew that so much stuff was crammed into it?!

How does Luna see through Harry's disguise? Her perception shows that there is a reason she is a Ravenclaw.

The line that Fred says about "When I get married..." made me wonder if he would have be able to overpower Mrs. Weasley when it comes to a wedding. Now, it brings me a little sniffle.

Krum's appearance was key in many ways: he ignites that jealous spark in Harry over Ginny, he talks about Grindelwald (the first time since book one with Dumbledore's chocolate frog card. Very useful, that card, as it also helped them discover who Nicolas Flamel was), and his wand reminds Harry who Gregorovitch is.

I wondered what exactly Voldemort wants from Gregorovitch: a new wand from a different maker to overcome the problem he had while in pursuit of Harry? A more powerful wand? To learn something about wand traditions and stories?
What is the truth behind Dumbledore's past? Is any of what Muriel says true? Why would Ariana be treated like a squib by her mom? Does Dumbledore have a dark, hidden past? Harry realizes again how little he truly knows about Dumbledore. And so do we. Harry needs to realize as Sirius wisely pointed out once that the world is not all good wizards and Death Eaters. I was ready for Albus to be given some dimension, not just a white wizard-mentor figure.

Why didn't Dumbledore ever mention that he had lived in Godric's Hollow? Was it to avoid any awkward questions from Harry about DD's family? Were Albus's feelings of guilt over Ariana's death the reason that he identified with - and believed - Snape's guilt over Lily's death?

With the death of Scrimgeour and the fall of the Ministry, will chaos reign or will some kind of new order be put into place?

Good review, rictusempre!

I personally enjoyed the description of the wedding. I liked all the details like the womens' hats having real birds of paradise and exotic flowers, the phoenixes on the cake and so on. How about Aunt Muriel's comment--'What is Xeno Lovegood wearing; he looks like an omelete!' (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

I was expecting to have Harry dance ONE dance with Ginny, but he didn't. He didn't dance at all, but he managed to talk to E. Doge and Aunt Muriel about AD which was much more on his mind. He still doesn't know much and he doesn't know who to believe. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

Hermione's bag--it must be small and dainty as befitting a wedding handbag. Perhaps with bugle beads and a rhinestone ot two. I couldn't imagine why it made such a loud disporportionate noise....... We find out in the next chapter of course, but at the time, I couldn't imagine what was in there.

This particular chapter didn't have a huge effect on me, mainly because we knew it was coming (the wedding), and it was something we had to sit through until whatever was going to happen after it. It was obvious that SOMETHING was indeed going to happen, something big, right at the moment Bill and Fleur said their vows, or after.

And - we have the announcement by Kingsley.

Aunt Muriel was the highlight of the chapter. What a rude, dribbling bint!

Enjoyed reading your review, Ric.

Yeah, I wondered how that clunky clutch bag would turn out to be significant. We didn't have to wait long!
I like the way Jo throws in that Harry, who was never taken anywhere nice by the Dursley's, didn't have any muggle weddings to compare this to. As Ric says, it wasn't all that different.
I thought it great that Fred shows his disfigured brother no mercy when it comes to trolling for girls. (I'd forgotten that forward looking remark by Fred. Do you suppose Jo deliberately arranged for the doomed brother to say that?) And don't you suppose Muriel was fun to write?
Nice point about that chocolate frog card that was introduced almost at the very beginning. (Except for Harry's encounter with the snake at the zoo, the Phoenix core wand, and Sirius' bike, is there any "important clue" we get sooner?)
It's interesting to me that Doge, who really has no evidence except his trust in Dumbledore, (he's obviously not versed in the details), turns out to be right about Ariana. She was indeed ill -- mentally ill, and not so much delicate as in frail, as requiring delicate handling. Suppose Jo wants to teach a little lesson about believing gossip too easily? Looking at the trash can on her web site, it's obvious that she's had it up to here with some misinformation/twisted facts that have been attached to her life. Also, I get the feeling in retrospect that D didn't so much lie about his past as just chose to keep his mouth shut and let people embroider their own versions.
Like Linda, I too wanted Harry to ask Genny to dance. If Ron hadn't barged in where he wasn't wanted, would he have?
But then again, we have absolutely no evidence that his protestations in GOF that he didn't know how to dance have been altered in any way. He barely danced with his date at the Yule Ball then! ( I remember wishing Miss Patel would anoint the idiot with pumpkin juice.) So maybe it's just as well for Miss Weasley's toes that Jo couldn't work that in...

Thanks, TWZRD, for reminding me that Harry doesn't know how to dance. I had forgotten that. On further musing, I guess H and G had their moment together in G's room and that sevred the purpose of showing the readers that they still felt deeply about each other, but now was not the time nor the place for love. There's a war on, folks!

I think it would have been a riot to write Aunt Muriel! I haven't been to many weddings myself, but I believe there is always an old maiden aunt in attendence, and she is almost always more or less just like that. Imagine informing Hermione that she has skinny legs!

I didn't note it on first read, but on the second I sure did. It's funny becuase in movies, anyone who says they have a plan for life after such and such event I KNOW will be killed. You might as well be wearing a red shirt with a bullseye on it. After George was maimed, I figured he'd live. I still can't figure out how I missed this with Fred, unless mentally I lumped the two together....Drat 20/20 hindsight.

Great summary, Ric! But, like Beri, I must say I was unaffected by this chapter. The only thing that caugh my eye was the fact that Luna recognized Harry right away. I wish J.K. had made those two a pair, instead of that sugarish/melodramatic/empty thing he had with Ginny. Hary + Luna? Much more intriguint and interesting, if you ask me!

This is a little beside the point, but did any of you fellow pensievers ever have to go to ballroom dancing lessons when you were young? I did. It was in the early 1960's. A whole bunch of kids would put on a dress or suit and tie and white gloves every Saturday evening and learn how to waltz, fox trot and cha cha cha. The boys weren't really into it of course (sort of like GoF movie), but the girls loved it on the whole. Being a dancer anyway, it was rather easy for me. My favorite was the waltz. At the end of the year, there was a formal dress ball. My mother, grandmother and I sewed a long dress in royal blue velvet for it--it was stunning.

I looked gorgeous and so did my boyfriend at the time. The ball itself was a complete let-down. Every single girl was wearing a white dress--I thought I was crashing a mass wedding. The music was popular music of the day and everybody danced popular dances of the day. I was so disappointed that I never got to waltz!

The lessons were not wasted on me though because I did have to dance those dances we learned in some shows I was in, but what a waste for the others! What was the point of learning that stuff if we weren't even going to dance them at the end of term ball? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hissyfit.gif)

Like Maria in WSS, only instead of the only girl in white, you were the only one in blue. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)
Sounds like they were trying to get another wear of out of some communion dresses.
I remember sewing gowns with mom, only mine were for concerts, not dances. (My family didn't do social dancing. When I tried to learn as an adult, I quickly realized that at the times when others go dancing, I go to work, so there's no point.)

Anyhow, it's a funny tale, and typical, I'm afraid. So much for preparation and skill...

And how many of us wondered if even the "new and improved" Ron would have thought to ask Hermione to dance if Crum hadn't sat down at the table? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wicked.gif)

You probably got more out of your long dresses (for concerts) than I did for that dance, TWZRD: My mother wore that dress in concerts afterwards. She was part of a medieval music group and the members would sometimes dress in long gowns/dresses.

As for the blinding white shine at that dance, I always thought that their dresses were more wedding dress-in advance than christening garb. At least they got to wear it twice.

Did any of you fellow pensievers have to learn how to sew/use a sewing pattern at junior high school? Although my daughter learned embroidery and rug making at school (a nun's school), using a sewing machine was not on the agenda. Nowadays, it's much cheaper to buy off the rack, but at the time--1960's--it was cheaper to make your own clothes. Time's change.

Excellent point about Ron! If Krum had not sat down at their table, Ron would very probably not have asked Hermione to dance at all. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)