How It All Goes Down
The Wedding
- The next afternoon, wedding madness descends upon the Burrow. Everyone and their mom is there – literally. The place is overrun with Weasley relatives. Harry is disguised as redheaded "Cousin Barney."
- Fred and George run off to flirt with some of the pretty girls that have arrived (hopefully not more of their cousins). Clearly George isn't letting the unfortunate disappearance of his ear salt his game.
- Lupin and Tonks are in on Harry's disguise, and they apologize for fleeing the night before; the Ministry of Magic isn't so hot on werewolves, so the couple thought it would be better for Harry if they weren't at his birthday bash.
- Harry notices that Lupin's still looking glum for some reason.
- Harry finds Ron with a man who's a bit crazy looking, even by wizarding standards. He's wearing an outfit composed solely of fashion mistakes, the most interesting of which is an amulet with a strange symbol on it.
- Unsurprisingly, we find that this is the wacky Luna Lovegood's dad. Luna is also close behind – she shows up after she's had a chance to examine (and be bitten by) the Weasleys' many garden gnomes. Both Lovegoods are characteristically pleasant but barking mad.
- Ron's unpleasant Auntie Muriel is the next person we meet. She's a real piece of work. Enough said.
- Hermione breezes in, looking lovely. The gang jokes around until a surprising guest shows up – Viktor Krum.
- Hermione is pleasantly, if awkwardly surprised. Ron, however, is unpleasantly (and awkwardly) surprised by the arrival of his rival.
- Fortunately, it's time for the actual wedding ceremony. Fleur floats down the aisle, looking so beautiful that she even manages to make everyone else look better – she really outdid herself this time.
- A few teary eyes and sentimental musings later, the ceremony's over, and the party begins.
- Viktor Krum wants to know who Luna's father is – he seems upset by the older man for some reason. Ron answers, and then abruptly asks Hermione to dance.
- Harry (or rather, "Barney") takes over the conversation with Viktor. He learns that Viktor is upset by the odd amulet that Xenophilius is wearing – it's apparently the symbol of Grindelwald, the Dark wizard that Dumbledore defeated in 1945. Again, this is a clear reference to Hitler and the symbol of the Third Reich, the swastika (which was originally an ancient symbol representing good luck).
- Grindelwald, we learn, killed many people, including Viktor's grandfather. Viktor recognizes it from his school, Durmstrang, where Grindelwald carved it into the wall when he was a schoolboy.
- Harry tries to explain how batty and prone to odd decisions the Lovegoods are; he's certain that Xenophilius means no harm. Viktor is unimpressed, however, and draws his wand menacingly.
- This opens a door in Harry's brain – he knows who Gregorovitch is! The guy's a wandmaker… in fact, he made Viktor's wand, which is how Harry knows the name (he first heard it during the Triwizard Tournament in Book 4).
- Harry's got his odd dream vision figured out. Clearly Voldemort is still looking for an explanation for why Harry's wand was able to defeat him, even though he wasn't using his own wand.
- Viktor wanders off, and Harry runs into a figure we've heard of but never met, Elphias Doge (remember, he wrote Dumbledore's obituary in the Daily Prophet, and was his old friend).
- Harry reveals his true identity to Doge. He asks about the infuriating interview Rita Skeeter gave to the Prophet about her new book on Dumbledore. Doge immediately dismisses everything Skeeter says.
- The very mention of Rita Skeeter brings the dreaded Auntie Muriel over to join the conversation (she's a huge fan). Auntie Muriel believes all of the bad things Skeeter's said about Dumbledore, and picks a fight with Doge.
- It seems as though Dumbledore did have a lot of skeletons in his family closet, including a Squib (non-magical) sister whose death he may or may not have contributed to… it's all very intriguing.
- Harry doesn't know what to make of all this.
- Harry does gain an important piece of information – Rita Skeeter's source was Bathilda Bagshot, an old family friend of the Dumbledores. He also learns that the Dumbledore family lived in Godric's Hollow, just like his own parents – and that Bathilda still lives there to this day. Any doubt that was there before is gone; Harry has to go to Godric's Hollow.
- A Patronus in the shape of a lynx interrupts the wedding festivities. It's Kingsley Shacklebolt's, and it addresses the shocked crowd in his voice: the Ministry of Magic has been taken over by Death Eaters, and Scrimgeour has been killed. The Death Eaters are on their way.