{WEDDING} Do You Take This Woman?

[Esteban Carlos Rodriguez]

The big day had arrived. Christmas Eve 2022. The day that Esteban Rodriguez and Dahlia Hubertus were to be married. The whole country had been preparing for the big day, flags lined the streets along with many people who had been camping out just to get a good spot for the following day. A national holiday had been an excuse for a day off work and many people had decided to use this to plant themselves in front of their muggle television sets to watch the show. Thousands of plastic dolls had been made, posters put up and even a selection of limited edition stamps commissioned, with the happy couple on.

The colours of red, yellow and blue were hung in every shop window, the three primary colours, united in both flags of Spain and Sweden. Journalists from across the world had made their way to Madrid, each bringing with them various TV personalities and film crews. You could hardly walk down the street without hearing at least eight different languages and seeing eight bossy producers order around their tv crew minions to get them some sort of fancy coffee.

The Palacio Real was playing host to many foreign dignitaries as well as the entire Swedish Royal family and their entourage. And still there were rooms to spare. The palace was alive with activity, everyone bustling about determined to finalise everything ready for the big day. Place cars had been written, the large dining table set for the reception and even the band had had a sound check. But that was yesterday, today, was an entirely different matter.

Esteban had risen early and spent most of the hours since pacing about his room. It was when the tiny clock on the mantlepiece struck five that everything seemed to swing into action. Everything had to run to a strict schedule and there was absolutely no time to waste, in fact the poor lad who had been assigned the job of waking the prince up looked positively relieved when he found him already wide awake and pacing around the room.

The only person he really wanted to see was Dahlia, but he knew that there was absolutely no chance of that until he was standing at the altar and she was walking down the aisle. She wasn't even in the palace that morning. She and her bridesmaids had stayed in the Grand Hotel in the centre of Madrid, as to avoid them both coming across each other by accident. Everthing had been meticulously planned, right down to the very last detail of what shade of green should be used for the tiny leaves around the base of the wedding cake.

He began to dress as slowly as possible, staring at his somewhat pale reflection in the mirror above the mantlepiece. He was donning the clothes of a much older man, not a boy. A boy of sixteen did not belong in full military regalia, but this was the tradition and Esteban did not wish to upset his parents on a day such as this. The navy jacket was heavy and very warm, so it was a good thing that their parents had decided upon a Christmas wedding. He fiddled with the gold brocade, as one of the footmen entered to help him pin the sash securely.

Esteban stared out of the window, watching as the snow fell upon the heads of the crowd who were clinging to the gates. It was almost mesmorising to watch them, in fact, he wished he was among them and not in the position he was now. But with the sound of the door closing, he was brought back down to earth. He picked up his wand from the bedside table and tucked it safely into his jacket. Just in case.

A blanket ban upon magic had been imposed for the day. After all, most of the population of his country were muggles and they couldn't find out that half of their royal family were in fact witches and wizards. The whole world had to be kept completely in the dark, which was proving to be easier said than done so far. There had been no major slipups to date and Esteban prayed that it would remain that way.

His thoughts had drifted off to that of Dahlia when a swift knock on the door and then a loud bang as the door was flung open, focused his mind. Nathan Hagrid had arrived. The best man. Esteban smiled, "Feliz navidad, my good friend, although I feel I can't really concentrate on Christmas right at this moment". He chuckled quietly, shaking his head as Nate made some crack about no one really caring what happened anyway and that everyone would rather watch the latest episode of muggle Spanish soap operas than the wedding.

In no time at all the hustle and bustle began. Esteban put up no resistance, going wherever he was told to go and smiling for photographs with his parents. As various people swarmed around him, directing him towards the main doors, Esteban took a deep breath, before stepping out onto the crisp snow and walking down the steps to climb into the awaiting carriage. He couldn't help but smile as Nate took his seat beside him, looking rather smart in a contrasting military regalia of England.

The horses took off at a steady trot and the carriage rolled out of the grounds and out onto the streets. The buzz and excitement washed over the young prince as he waved and smiled at those who had camped out outside the palace. A sea of Spanish flags greeted them as the carriage proceeded up the road. Nate alughed and waved at the large cluster of British Union flags that dominated a particular section of the pavement. The Hogwarts contingent had indeed turned out in force. Of course some had been lucky enough to be given rooms within the palace, but most had set up camp in a field on the outskirts of Madrid and rumour had it that the after party to end all after parties had been planned for later that evening. And if it was anything like the stag party, it would be amazing. Nate was, of course, taking all of the credit for this.

Ten minutes and a lot of hand waving later, the carriage pulled up outside the Cathedral. The door was opened and Esteban stepped out and was met by a wall of sound. He blushed, waving to the crowd quickly, wanting to get inside as quickly as possible so as to not embarass himself. When he was motioned forward, along with Nate, they both walked through the snow and stepped onto the royal red carpet, before walking side by side into the Cathedral.

They were both escourted into the side chapel, after shaking the hands of various dignitaries who all wished Esteban luck in many different languages. As soon as the doors to the little chapel closed behind them, Esteban sat down, staring at the floor. "I never thought people would actually...you know, turn up." He paused, turning to look up at his best man, praying with all his heart that his fiancee would turn up.

"Me voy a casar"

[Dahlia Cecile Hubertus]

spain was in chaos that week. but it was a good sort of chaos, the one that ignited the blood, made you excited to wake up every morning and even more excited to sleep at night, if only to be one day closer to the big day. and the big day in question was christmas eve.

for on christmas eve 2022, was one of the most prestigious weddings of the century, between the princess of sweden and the prince of spain. reporters were flocking to madrid to catch any glimpse of the royal families, to make a story out of any scrap of information they could find about the two who were getting married on christmas eve. and of course, the spanish people loved the attention. they made up wild tales, rumors, a few complained in heavy detail. but it was safe to say that the media had itself very firmly in the business of the royal family.

of course, one of the only people who wasn't happy about the wedding was miss dahlia hubertus, the princess in question who was the one to be getting married. and the reason she wasn't exactly happy about it was because at that moment, she was being squeezed into perhaps the most uncomfortable contraption ever built: a corset.

it was the morning of christmas eve, and her mother had ordered the servants to get her into the corset, no matter what it took. so after lots of chasing around, and a bit of a tantrum on dahlia's end, she was standing as tall as she was able, sucking in all her breath as her maid threaded up the back of the thing, sufficiently cutting off her air supply.

light-headed and severely disgruntled, dahlia collapsed in a huff into the armchair she'd been leaning on for the past half hour. she felt like her middle was about to explode. but then again, she had only herself to blame. her mother had warned her that if she couldn't keep off the crab cakes, she wouldn't fit the dress. and if a corset was the only thing that allowed her to still fit, then so be it.

but that didn't mean she had to like it. hell, the thing was cutting off her circulation. she tried her best to ignore it, and by the time the makeup artist her mother had hired was halfway done with her eye makeup, dahlia hardly noticed she was even wearing a corset anymore. she sat through at least an hour of primping and curling and pinning until her hair was complete, and another hour of make-up application before she was deemed ready to put the dress on. she'd awoken before sunrise, and by the time she was pulling her white gown on, the sun was a quarter of the way through the sky.

she needed three maids to help her into the dress. her mother had wanted an extravagent gown with pearls and diamonds threaded in, but dahlia had had madge put her foot down, and they'd ended up with quite a simple one. granted, it had a massive train but dahlia figured she could handle that. by the time she stood back and looked in the full-length mirror on the inside of her dresser, dahlia did a double take. she hardly even recognized herself.

but it was almost time to go, and her maids were rushing her out the door to meet up with her bridesmaids. and off the went. dahlia was put in the first carriage with her mother and father. her bridesmaids went behind her. half of them she hardly knew, and were members of other royal families, simply asked to be a part of the wedding for show. her sisters were back there somewhere, as well as the grimaldi girls, and esteban's sister, aurelia. there were multiple carriages for the entourage.

and the streets were packed. dahlia spent the entire drive to the church smiling and waving until her hand felt like it would fall off. but she enjoyed it. the people cheered for her when she passed, and when she finally exited the carriage, a few of them wished her good luck, and threw flowers at her. they were quite sweet, considering they were spanish, and weren't even her own people. but then again, she'd be their queen one day, once esteban's parents passed away. it was a stifling thought, even now, as she stood at the doors of the church.

and it was then that a wave of terror broke on the shores of her mind. standing at the entrance to the church, at the edge of her future, she was suddenly struck with the thought that this was final, that there was no going back. she sucked in a breath. if she was going to be with esteban, then so be it. he loved her, and, well, she supposed she loved him as well. she was fifteen years old, and in a moment, she'd be walking down the aisle. it was a scary thought. but then again, it was a scary world that they lived in.

dahlia and her bridesmaids were whisked off to little rooms off to the side of the chapel, to freshen up and prepare. the wedding wasn't set to start for a little while yet, and dahlia needed a moment to catch her breath and clear her head. she sat down heavily on a plush arm chair, her chin in her hands, thinking. her dress poufed out around her, the train trailing on the ground. oh jesus, she was getting married.

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[Margareta Beatrisa Hubertus]

The months of planning heading up to the wedding found Madge and her mother at the short end of each other's tempers. Despite of herself, she had gotten short with the crown princess of Sweden on more than one occasion. The future queens of Sweden just did not see eye to eye on what was going on. How could any parent force their child into a marriage at fifteen and sixteen? Still she did her best to see that compromises were made to insure that Dahl got what she wanted. Other than calling the whole thing off for a later date when the couple was older and out of school. That was the one thing her mother would not bend on. The eldest Hubertus could make all the promises in the world and nothing would break her mother on something she had her mind set to. And she had worked herself into a hole she could not work herself out of with her mother. Still didn't stop her from trying her best to soften the situation for two of the most important people in her life.

Christmas eve morning came all to soon, still though, when she woke to the unfamiliar surroundings she almost made herself believe that the last months had been nothing but an odd dream. That was until she heard the shuffle of feet, catching her attention to her maid, Hilda, who held the bag with her bridesmaid dress in it. Telling her in fast Swedish that it was time to get out of bed and get ready for the day ahead. And to not act like the stubborn creature she was known to be. She couldn't find herself able to be cross with the older woman, for she had been with Madge since young, only excused from her duties to serve the eldest daughter of the Swedish Heir when she was at school. Any other time Hilda fondly henpecked her young charge, much to Madge's chagrin.

As quickly as humanly possible Madge was laced into the forget-me not blue dress that she was to wear as bridal maid to her sister. Then off the hair and make up, before she knew it she was standing with the other girls listening to her mother bark orders at them. One could mistaken this day for the Crown Princess if they didn't know any better. She had a made a quick assestment of the other girls, sighing a happy sigh that Eliza had actually put on her dress and opted out on wearing black ... or worst a wedding dress.

The carriage ride to the church had been thankfully short, filled with waving and full ... almost fake smiles. Although she could not help but rub her jaw once away from the prying eyes of cameras. Thankfully turned toward the arriving carriages that brought the many royal guests to the wedding. Placing her bouquet down on a table she went to a mirror and tidied up her hair back to perfection. Her mother would have a fit if one hair was out sorts. Blue eyes watched the mirror as Dahl plopped down in the nearest chair. "Is there anything you need or want me to do?" she turned as the question fell from her lips, moving over to her sister's side.