When Marigold arrived with the other bridesmaids, in dress robes of deep cornflower and her long blonde curls in a plaited half-up style, James’s eyes practically popped out of his skull. Victoire was beautiful, but to James, there seemed to be light coming from Marigold.

 “You must be Marigold?” a middle-aged man with severe scars approached her.

 Marigold was a little startled upon noticing him, but she tried her best to hide her shock.

 “It’s nice to meet you,” she shook the man’s hand, smiling.

 “I believe we haven’t met yet,” the woman next to him, who looked very much like Victoire, smiled kindly. “My name is Fleur.”

 “And I’m Bill,” the man added. “We’re Victoire’s parents.”

 “It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” Marigold said politely.

 “Marigold!” Louis called.

 “Louis!” she called back, waving at him.

 “It was nice talking to you, Marigold,” Bill said before walking away with Fleur.

 As Marigold went over to talk to Louis, James continued to stare at her from a distance.

* * *

 During the banquet, the guests happily ate and congratulated Teddy and Victoire, the stars of the day. Lorenzo, the best man, didn’t touch anything on his plate; he looked like he was hyperventilating.

 “I have a sieve full of sifted thistles and a sieve full of unsifted thistles because I am a thistle sifter,” he whispered.

 “You’ll be fine,” Marigold reassured him.

 Sirius poured Lorenzo a glass of firewhisky.

 “Not too much, Sirius,” Remus warned him. “We don’t want him to get drunk.”

 “Don’t worry,” Sirius replied.

 Lorenzo chugged the glass and put it back down on the table.

 “Thank you, Sirius,” he said. “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”

 Sirius pat Lorenzo on the shoulder before he stood up.

 “Sonorus,” Lorenzo whispered, then started speaking a little more clearly. “Testing, testing, one, two, three.”

 Marigold gave him a thumbs-up.

 “Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please?” Lorenzo asked, his voice loud and clear.

 The other guests turned to face him.

 “If you still don’t know my name by now, you’re at the wrong wedding. The exit is right there.” he pointed at the exit, chuckling. “Just kidding, don’t go anywhere. My name is Lorenzo Santini, and it is a great honour to be here on this beautiful day as the friend of Teddy and Victoire.”

 “First, I would like to thank Teddy’s stepfather, Mr Sirius Black, for helping me write this bloody speech. And yes, Sirius, I will give you ten Galleons after this.”

 Sirius winked in response.

 “Although Teddy and I attended Hogwarts together, we, unfortunately, didn’t know each other even though we were stuck there together for seven years since I was in Gryffindor and Teddy in Hufflepuff.” Lorenzo continued. “To be honest, at that time, I thought that Teddy was a huge git. He had the best scores in our year. He became Prefect and later Head Boy. What a goody-two-shoes.”

 Everyone else, even Teddy, laughed in response. James choked on his food and Marigold, who was sitting next to him, thumped him on the back.

 “But now, I am honoured to call myself a friend of this handsome, kind, hard-working, and… Teddy, I can’t read your handwriting here.”

 The audience laughed out loud again.

 “Anyways, I first met Teddy on the first day of our three very long years of Auror training. Now, you may be surprised to find out that our Teddy nearly failed his Auror exams, the clumsy idiot.” Lorenzo said, looking over at Teddy with a proud smirk on his face.

 “But Teddy, even though I may be a better wizard, and more handsome -” Lorenzo continued, as Teddy shot him a dirty look. “just kidding, mate - the true winner is you. You’re the one who’s lucky enough to land yourself someone as beautiful, brilliant and talented as Victoire.”

 Victoire beamed with gratitude.

 “I would like to offer a special shoutout to Teddy’s mother, Dora Tonks, a hero who gave up her own life for a better wizarding world.”

 When Lorenzo said those words, Sirius and Remus looked down. Sirius even teared up a little.

 “But a wise man, Sirius, of course, once said, “the ones that love us never really leave us.” Lorenzo continued, looking over at Sirius, which made him smile. “Mrs Tonks may not be sitting here today, but she is with us in heart and spirit. Toast to Mrs Tonks for giving us this incredible man I am proud to call my friend.”

 The guests clinked their glasses together.

 “To my mother,” Teddy said.

 “To Dora,” Remus added.

 “Another wise man that I like to call Albus Dumbledore once said, “differences are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.” Lorenzo continued. “Of course, like every couple, Teddy and Victoire are different, but their love for each other will hold them together until the very end.”

 The audience erupted in applause.

* * *

 After everyone finished their dinner, the orchestra members, who were sitting at the back table, picked up their instruments and assembled themselves; they started playing Salut d’Amour.

 Teddy and Victoire got up from the table to the audience’s cheers and applause. They admiringly watched the couple dance.

 “Shall we?” Remus asked.

 “I would love to,” Sirius smiled shyly, taking his hand.

 The other guests also started getting up from the table one by one to join the dance floor. James looked over at Marigold.

 “Goldie, would you like to…?”

 Marigold nodded in response, blushing; she and James headed to the dance floor hand-in-hand.

 Marigold was quite nervous since she had never done proper dancing, but she and James enjoyed themselves. Marigold felt something she had never felt before.

 Sirius and Remus looked over at Marigold and James; they couldn’t help but smile to see how happy the youngsters were.