Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! This chapter's not really one of my best, but I'd love to hear what you think of it. Do review and let me know! This is Harry's speech at his wedding reception.
Harry stood up and looked around the packed room rather nervously. He was glad that, for once, the people staring at him were friends and family; but he still had to give a speech and he was anxious about what to say. Everyone looked at him expectantly. As the groom, he knew he should just thank everyone for turning up and the Weasley family for accepting him as a son-in-law but that just seemed too impersonal. He wished he'd listened to Hermione and written out a speech beforehand. He took a deep breath in an effort to pull himself together. He shouldn't have to be scared of looking stupid in front of these people. They were practically family! He suddenly smiled; he knew exactly what to say.
"I've always been a Seeker," Harry began. "Once, I had a little conversation with two amazing people who are no longer with us. They were there when I was born and were among the first people to hold me. You all know them – Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Well, Sirius told me I was an ugly, scrawny little thing –"
"That's not changed, mate!" Ron called to general laughter.
"Thanks, Ron, that really helps my self-esteem," Harry waved back. "Anyway, the first thing Sirius told my dad was that I'd need lots of feeding up if I was to be a great Chaser like him. But then, apparently, I opened my eyes, pushed my little fist out through the blankets and waved it around looking for my dad. Remus smiled and told Sirius that he didn't think I'd be a Chaser. I was a born Seeker. How right he was.
"I'd always wanted a proper family and that was taken away from me early in life. The first time I got on the train to Hogwarts, I met Ron. I think one of the first things I told him was that I'd always wanted three wizard brothers. When the food trolley came around I shared everything I bought with him."
"You bought almost the whole trolley," George interrupted with a grin.
"I needed feeding up, remember?" Harry countered with a wink. "The thing is, I wanted to share things just because I finally had someone to share with. When Christmas came around, I wasn't happy because I got presents, I was happy because I had someone who wanted to send me presents. I was happy because someone sent me presents that they usually reserved for their family. I still have all those jumpers, Mrs. Weasley."
"Why Harry, I never did send you any jumpers or Christmas presents," said Angelina with an innocent look. "Neither did I," added Fleur. "I don't think I did either," said Audrey, joining in the fun. Molly was dabbing at her eyes but she chuckled along with everyone else.
Harry grinned. "I suppose there are many Mrs. Weasleys now. In third year, I met Remus and Sirius. You can't imagine how happy I was when I found out who they really were. I had actually found people who were almost family to me. I remember Sirius always being the adult I wanted to ask for help. It was like I could see something of my parents through them. In my fourth year, after the third task, Mrs. Weasley – sorry, Molly – hugged me like I was her own son. Just before my fifth year at Hogwarts, she actually said that I was as good as her own son. Even when her Boggart turned into corpses of her children, I was among them.
"Why am I giving you a brief account of my whole life and how is it connected to me being a Seeker? You see, Seekers search for things and what I've been looking for was a family. What I'm trying to say by relating all those little incidents from my life is that I've always been looking for people who would treat me as a brother or as a son and I've found such people too. More than anyone else, however, the Weasleys have always treated me as one of their own. To them, I haven't been Ron's best friend or Ginny's boyfriend. I've practically been Harry Weasley. And today, I've officially found what I've been Seeking for so long.
"The Weasleys have done so much for me over the years. They think they should be repaying me for saving most of their family members when really; I should be repaying them for all the love and kindness they've shown me."
Harry looked around affectionately at the nine redheads he was so fond of. "Let me tell you, they're not easy to live with. Percy spouts rules at you all the time, Charlie always wants to be outdoors, Bill…well, Bill's the coolest of them all, really, so no complaints there."
Bill raised his arms in mock triumph as the room burst into applause and laughter.
Harry continued. "Fred and George were hard enough to deal with together. Now, George seems to be channeling Fred's spirit too; he's being twice as mischievous. Just today, he's been running around asking people which ear he should be wearing. I've seen loads of choices – everything from elephant ears to mouse ears. Apparently, he's got to look his best for his baby sister's wedding."
George stood up and wiggled the fake pointy ear he had stuck on to much laughter.
"He's even been popping out of random corners wearing a Voldemort mask," Harry went on. "Ron's been issuing all sorts of threats to me all day in case I get cold feet. The Weasleys are some of the craziest people you could be related to. But you know what, it doesn't matter. No family's easy to live with. People say you can't choose your family but I'm glad that the Weasleys chose me. And the icing on the cake is that from today, I get to officially be related to these amazing people now by marrying the most perfect woman in the universe." He smiled at Ginny. "So, I just want to say thank you to all the Weasleys for taking me in."
Harry sat down as the room erupted into cheers and applause. Many people had often pitied him for being an orphan. They thought he had the worst luck in the world. He had lost his parents, many of his friends, he'd been forced to fight Voldemort…yes, Harry had had a lot of bad luck before. But as he looked around at his new family, as he looked at his new wife smiling at him as she squeezed his hand, Harry couldn't help feeling he was the luckiest man in the world.
Like I said, not one of my best chapters. I hope it at least made sense to everyone...Do review :)
This is the last chapter for this story. I've used Harry as Seeker and the prompt "icing on the cake" for a-trip-to-honeydukes' Magic Number Competition.