The Wedding of the Year (Aiden, Mimosa, Mercy & Sebastian)

As the date grew closer to the eight of June, so did Mimosa Harrington's excitement. In fact, Clara would have sworn the child was off the charts as she packed for the short trip to Venice, the nine year old even forgetting her irritation for chores and running around trying to help Clara just for somewhere to direct her boundless energies towards.

The night before she was due to travel with Grandpa to pick up Mercy, the child could hardly sleep. And was Clara a less patient person, she would have given Mimosa a few drops of cough syrup with her nightly milk. As it was, Clara sat awake with the child until three a.m. finally passing out beside an already asleep Mimosa. Clara wouldn't have chosen motherhood in the way that it had chosen her, but the witch couldn't deny she rocked at it!

The next day - and having taken into count all the different timezone they'd be whizzing through, Mimosa and Kit left. The entire journey would be by planes since Mimosa could not temperate without possible risk so Clara didn't envy ehr best friend who would have to fold his tall frame into airplane seats for the better part of the next twenty four hours. the things they id for their kids.

The journey to Cork, Ireland was as expected. The in flight movie was not enough to keep Mimosa occupied and that in turn ensured her grandfather couldn't get any sleep. the duo did have fun snapping pictures on the plane, talking about perspective and how to make the person in seat F3 look more photogenic with a popcorn hovering on his nose, moving every time he took a breath in and exhales in his sleep.

By the time they touched down at the airport, Mimosa's lack of sleep was catching up with her, resulting in the child rubbing her eyes as they headed for the taxi that would take them to Mercy's address. The child of course fell asleep through the drive but it gave Kit and the cabby a good opportunity for some not to child safe conversation topics. As the car stopped at Mercy's home, Mimosa was gently awoken to go greet ehr friend.

The child nearly jumped out of the vehicle to go hug Mercy who stood waiting at the gate with her mother. And while the girls chattered away, Kit and Mrs. Williams discussed the travel plans further before the two girls were bustled into the cab and sped off to the airport for the last leg of the journey.

The gods must have smiled down upon Kit for on the flight to Venice, both girls fell soundly asleep, holding on to each other as if they were clutching their favorite teddy bears. When Sebastian met them at the Venice air terminal, they both took a child each, looking so much like the haggard but proud parents Kit was sure Sebastian would one day become. Both men knew this was the only quiet time they would get before the girls woke up and the wedding excitement hit anew, so neither roused the child they carried but instead quietly transferred the girls to the hotel and tucked them in.

The next morning, the chaos hit. The girls wanted to do everything in one day and had no time to do it all in. Still Sebastian was a gracious host, entertaining them throughout the day despite his own preparations for the big day tomorrow. Finally, when the girls were tired out and Sebastian sent to his own room, the exhaustion hit once more. Before bed, Mimosa brushed her hair a hundred times, making sure they were shiny enough for tomorrow. She then proceeded to offer to do the same for Mercy. The girls fell asleep once more on the large comfortable bed, dreaming about tomorrow and the adventure the day would bring.

It normally took Mercy about three to five days to fully recover from an episode. With a full moon on the fourth, leaving on the eighth was cutting it a little close, but there was really nothing she could do--and so what if she was a little tired? She could handle it. Her mam, however, fretted over her all day on the seventh, making Mercy rest as she packed her bags for her. Though she protested, she ended up sleeping most of the day, and woke up the next morning feeling almost like her usual self.

She spent the morning pacing in front of the clock in her kitchen, watching the minutes tick by. She'd never been more excited in her life--she was getting on a plane for the first time! With one of her best friends! And going to Italy! Every few moments, she went into the other room to look out the window, then returned, fidgeting all the while with random objects that she picked up from the counter and rolled between her fingers.

Her dad attempted to distract her with a hearty breakfast, but, though she ate it with gusto, she did so in front of the window, keeping one eye on it at all times.

At last, the hour arrived. Mercy leapt from her position as soon as the cab came into view, and charged into the hallway, nearly crashing into her mam. The woman just chuckled and picked up Mercy's luggage from its place by the door. Mercy ran to her dad and hugged him tightly before following her mother out the door to the front gate.

Mercy hadn't seen Mimosa since the Halloween Ball in October, but their reunion was as natural as if they'd never been apart. They met with hugs and giggles, and chatted happily all the way to the airport after saying a quick goodbye to Mercy's mam.

Mercy didn't remember much about the plane ride, apart from taking off. She spent a good twenty minutes with her nose pressed against the window, mouth agape as she gazed down at the world disappearing below. She decided she loved flying in airplanes almost as much as on broomsticks. The rest of the trip was a blur.

She remembered waking up briefly when they landed, and blearily looking around as they disembarked. Then she must have fallen asleep again, because the next thing she knew, she was wrapped in a fluffy blanket, her feet entangled with Mimosa's as they shared a huge bed, light filtering in through the windows of their hotel room.

The next day passed in a frenzy of activity. Mimosa's Uncle Seb (not her real uncle, Mercy had discovered) was super fun and brought them almost everywhere they wanted to go. Mimosa led the way for the most part, as Mercy wasn't sure of all the sights that Italy had to offer.

Mercy spent a good portion of the day peppering Sebastian with questions about his quidditch career--his favourite brooms, his best moments on the field, his worst injuries--anything that came to mind, she asked. He was very obliging, so she eventually moved on from quidditch to other subjects, like Italy, his wedding, and his fiance. Mercy didn't really meet Aiden until the rehearsal that evening, but she thought the way Sebastian talked about him was the most adorable thing ever, so she had a very high opinion of him by the time they met.

By the time they returned to their hotel room, Mercy was exhausted. She hadn't quite gotten her full energy back yet, so the day wore her out more than it normally would have. Still, she was quite content, especially after settling down with a movie and copious amounts of food.

After they kicked Sebastian out, Mercy and Mimosa chatted for another hour or so, discussing anything and everything like a proper sleepover. Mercy even let the other girl brush her hair, despite insisting that it was too short to make much difference. As the night dragged on, the two girls crawled into bed, content in each other's company, and eagerly awaiting the next day's festivities.

On the morning of the wedding, Mimosa was roused gently by her Uncle Sebastian. The child had only resisted for the scant minute she hadn't realized where she was. Upon opening her bright blue eyes and seeing the Quidditch coach instead of the usual Clara, the little witch had let out a squeal which had done more to wake Mercy up than all of Uncle Seb's gentle words.

Once both girls were well and truly awake, and Mimosa was all but dancing on her feet as she rushed to and from the large walk in closet where her and Mercy's clothes hung, Uncle Seb ordered them breakfast and watched them eat - never touching a bite himself - before leaving them to get dressed.

"Okay, I'm off to shower," Mimosa announced to Mercy once uncle Seb had left. "I have some hairspray that makes your hair looks amazing even after being washed. You can borrow it too," she declared before disappearing into the bathroom. The child merged twenty minutes later in a large fluffy towel and ran to tag Mercy.

"You're it," she giggled before disappearing into the closet. Her dress was perfectly steamed and ready and though she was rightly too young for makeup, Mimosa did have her special hairspray and a little bit of lip color. Her own excitement and joy would add the pink to her cheeks and the glimmer to her eyes. The American model changed quickly, moving into the dress with slow, careful precision like she'd been taught from a young age. Some of the dresses she wore had to be returned undamaged and by now, she was an old hand at this.

Once the little witch had slid into ehr navy dress, she frowned at the full length mirror. It wasn't sitting properly. Another moment of scrutiny made her realize it needed zipping up of course. Relieved, the child reached for the zipper - only to realize she couldn't.

"Mercy!" she called out, panicking. What if no one helped her do up her dress? What if she had to walk down the aisle looking all out of shape? What if the dress fell down? "Mercy!! Can you please please come and help me?" Luckily he Gryffindor came to her aid and soon enough, the dress sat snugly on Mimosa's short frame.

After that, it was only a matter of getting Mercy dressed. The older witch's outfit took a lot longer than Mimosa's but the young model tried to help as much as she can. When Mercy was done, Mimosa had to grin, a grin that stretched from ear to ear when seh saw them both in the mirror.

"Okay, I think we might look even better than my uncles," the brunette giggled before pulling out her phone and taking a few selfies. She had promised Jacques and Elenore pictures after all. As soon as they were done, Uncle Seb was knocking once again. And not too long later, he had bundled them up into a car and was driving to the church where he and Uncle Aiden would marry.

Mercy awoke to an excited squeal from her best friend and shot up, bleary-eyed and slightly disoriented. The importance of the day quickly came back to her though, and she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and jumped from the bed. When breakfast arrived, she sped through it, still chewing when she pulled open the closet and removed her outfit.

She waited as patiently as she could for Mimosa to finish her shower. She paced around the room, doing everything she could think of to get ready before she took a shower herself. She gathered all the pieces of her suit, and collected a small tin of hair gel that her mam had packed for her. She fidgeted a little bit, adjusting miniscule details here and there, and admiring the two outfits: her mam was really good at matching things, the two blues were exactly the same shade.

When Mimosa tagged her, she giggled and grabbed all of her stuff, running into the bathroom and taking the fastest shower possible. She was in the middle of drying off, when she heard her friend's panicked voice calling her name. Quickly wrapping her towel around her, she called back, "Coming!" and burst out of the bathroom to see what was wrong. She was relieved to find nothing seriously amiss, and gladly zipped up the back of Mimosa's dress for her. She admired the younger witch in her outfit for a moment, before returning to the bathroom to retrieve her own.

After thoroughly drying off, especially her hair, she got to work with all of the different pieces of her suit. She was excited to wear it in public--she'd only ever tried it on in the fitting room before. She pulled on her nice trousers and buttoned up her shirt, then slid her vest over her shoulders and buttoned that up as well. Mimosa helped her into her suit jacket, and she pulled on her socks and her fancy shoes. Then she pulled out a navy blue bowtie from her trunk and stood in front of the mirror, tying and adjusting it exactly the way her dad had showed her: cross it over, pull it up, bend it back, loop it around, fold it over, pull it through.

When that was done, she grabbed her tin of gel, and enlisted Mimosa's help in gelling her hair back. When they washed their hands and stood back to look at themselves in the mirror, Mercy grinned for a split second, before composing her face into a "cool" look and posing with her arms crossed in front of her chest. She ran a hand through her hair and did a little nod and wink at Mimosa in the mirror, then burst out laughing.

She posed for Mimosa's pictures, and took a few of her own to send back to her parents. Soon enough, Mimosa's uncle Seb joined them, and they all piled into the car, the air practically crackling with excited energy.