Yours, Forever

Gisele had stopped being nervous the moment she had left the Hayes wedding. There had been no doubts or backward glances when the pair had arrived in the Caribbean and the chilly world of England was entirely forgotten as they lay on the beach together, soaking in the sun that they had both missed. That had been four days ago and since then the pair had gotten into the great adventure of doing nothing. Every morning they were able to wake up late, bodies slightly tangled and with the smells of their small town filtering through the mostly open windows.

Gisele was sure that Della had managed to find the smallest and quaintest down in all of the Caribbean. White beaches met the warm waters on almost all coasts and only a small marina on the other side of the island brought people in and out. They had rented a cabin on the outskirts of the town, making them part of civilization but with limitless privacy if desired. With this seclusion the girls had taken time to talk like they hadn’t in years and enjoy other activities that didn’t involve leaving their room. It had barely taken any time at all for the girls to agree that they couldn’t leave this paradise without doing one important thing – getting married.

It should have been a bigger or harder decision for the young Ravenclaw to make. She was only seventeen, had been with Della for only about a year, and had only just reunited with her after she had broken out of prison. There were so many reasons that it made no sense to make the (arguably) biggest decision of her life but Gisele couldn’t really process or understand any of them fully. She had fallen in love with Cordella Quinn – blonde or brunette – and couldn’t imagine the horror of returning to England and being matched with some random man.

Gisele looked down at her long white dress that she had purchased on a trip into town the day before. While the sundress wasn’t quite the wedding gown she had fantasized about as a little girl, it was soft and flowing and she didn’t have to wear a bra with it. On her feet were flat sandals and her face was scrubbed clean of any makeup, leaving her looking more like a beach-goer than a bride. But it felt right for the occasion and Gisele knew she wouldn’t trade this scene for any pureblood posh party that her parents could throw.

The brunette bride took a deep breath, not out of nerves but rather in some vein attempt to soak up the giddy feeling that was building in her stomach. There were no crowds waiting in expectation or relatives to judge her. There was only Cordella, and she was everything.

Gisele stepped out of their small cabin and the hot tropical sun beat at her skin, though not unpleasantly. Della was already outside but not yet by the unofficial official that they had hired to perform the small ceremony. A smile broke out on Gisele’s face, her spirit souring with her girlfriend and the official both in sight, the reality of what was about to happen finally settling in. She reached Della and took her fugitive’s hand, walking with her towards the water, where the official was waiting with surprising patience. The sandy beach became a makeshift aisle as the girls walked side by side and the waves lapping at the shore was their precession march. When they had arrived at their destination Gisele squeezed her girlfriend’s hand but didn’t let go.

“You ready?”

It had been a flurry of action, like sporadic and enigmatic snow with all the delight and excitement in the world but little direction. Their snow was heavy and flyaway and ridiculous yet it held a special kind of feeling in it that was especially endearing. But it was snow that they were hurrying away from, away from the cold and the iciness of Britain and it was into the Caribbean or wherever it was their Apparative nonsense had taken them. They were away, they were gone. Merlin, they were free. Free from everything, everyone, and they could be together.

They wouldn’t have waited so long if it had not been for the sunshine and the sea. Freedom had finally taken its hold of her. With Robin she’d still been contained but with Gisele, by the sea, she was free. It hadn’t been long before Della had stripped off, to hell with bathing costumes, and allowed her body to be enveloped by the sunshine and the water that surrounded their little secluded shack that was enough for them to sleep and eat in. The bars they’d prowl were inland a little bit but that wasn’t what they needed in the first few days. They needed to reacquaint themselves with each other and make sure this was exactly what they both wanted. And they did.

It was an inevitability really, that they’d be together. Cordella remembered the first time she’d set eyes on Gisele and had been dizzy about her ever since. Gis had had her ups and downs, they both had, but Della knew that there was no one else she would’ve rather been with. She knew Gis inside out. Gis knew her just as well. She didn’t know anyone else who she wanted to be with or who wanted to be with her. She needed Gisele like air. There was no one else. There would never ever be anyone else.

“Been ready forever,” Della murmured, bringing Gis’s hand to her lips.

The idea was not to have too much formality as nothing in their lives had ever been formal. As they reached their witness-cum-official, Della found herself wondering whether Gis would’ve wanted something else – something better. A big church, a puffy dress and too much makeup – would she have wanted that? Della honestly doubted it.

“You look beautiful,” the brunette reminded her wife-to-be with an open, easy smile.

Then, the ceremony began and the priest began speaking whatever nonsense he came up with. It was short and sweet but enough and Della found the vows coming easily, as though she’d not planned them at all. She’d written something down but it certainly wasn’t what spilled from her mouth.

“I will be with you in everything. I haven’t always been and I hate that I haven’t but now… but now that’s going to change. You are going to be mine, sweetheart, and I’m going to be yours and I’m going to look after you and when we’re old and ugly I’m going to put your socks on and kiss your toes and I’m going to love you ever single day because you’re the only one that I have ever, truly loved, Gisele Delacour. I adore the very ground you walk upon. I love your laugh, your real, stupid laugh, and the way your eyes glint in the sunshine or when you see something you wand but you play it down for a smile – ‘oh, you don’t have to get that’ – but I do because I want to see you smile. I want to see you smile every day and know it was me who did that. And I will. I’m going to. Because I love you more than anything or anyone else on this planet and I will do anything, I will move mountains and oceans and countries to make sure that you are by my side always. I promise you, beautiful, I’m yours.”