Since they had finally set a date for their upcoming wedding as well as a place, Cal and Bella had been fully immersed in their wedding plans, only taking time out for school, eating and sleep. They would meet every day and compare different things: napkins, napkin holders, champagne glasses, tablecloths, song choices, dinner choices, and, Cal's personal favorite, the cake tasting. They had gone the weekend before Christmas to a tiny little shop in Diagon Alley, recommended by Cal's mother, and had spent three or four hours tasting different kinds of cakes, finally settling on four tiered vanilla cake with cheesecake frosting, decorated with green ivy and pink flowers, with a tiny bride and groom on the top (The groom had pink hair, much to Cal's mother's chagrin).

Jean had graciously offered to let them use her backyard for the wedding, and her house for their reception. Ever since her naming as the Maid of Honor, she had been in a flurry, going and organzing half of the wedding overnight, then changing her mind about everything and restarting. She had been paying more attention to details than Cal and Bella had (Cal had no idea about things that were and were not allowed; if he had had his way, they would be getting married on a beach with Bella in the skimpiest bikini that he could find, as well as the other girls. Actually, he had broached the topic of a beach wedding, but it had been shot right down), and without her, he was fairly certain that their wedding would have ended up looking like some sort of sideshow.

They had been getting help from other people, of course, but Jean had been their biggest help so far. While others were upholding the tradition of not seeing the bride in her dress before the wedding, Jean had scoffed at it, bringing Cal along with her and Bella to pick out their dress, and then Cal's tuxedo. She had declared that he simply could not wear the one that he had worn for million times before; that he he needed a new tuxedo to get married in. And while he acknowledged that with Jean along, this meant that he couldn't get a bright pink tuxedo like he wanted, he was still grateful for all of her help. He had extended the invitation for Cliff to come along, but Jean had been adamant in her decision that they were not to bring her fiancee.

Which led him to where he was now, sitting on a chair, as he had been for the past six hours, watching as Jean picked out a million different things, most of them unknown to Cal, and forced Bella to put them on. He was just waiting for an incredibly short dress to pop up, but so far, he had had no luck in that department. A few of the ladies that were helping Jean and Bella out had commented that he and Bella looked far too young to be getting married, and when they had asked their ages, they had looked even more horrified. Apparently, in Muggle New York City, seventeen and eighteen was a little too young to be getting hitched. He had been giving one older lady the evil eye for the past half an hour now, convinced that she was getting too handsy with his Bella. He sighed. Only a few more hours of this, right?

Bella's future seemed to be coming out perfectly. She was a sixth year student at Hogwarts, well on her way of accomplishing her dreams of being a Healer. She had a wonderful, extraordinary, down right amazing person as her better half, and she was engaged to him. They had both lived through the fury of Richard Meyer, her father, on the incident of their first meeting. Then, of course, wedding plans were well on their way to full development.

That was all thanks to Jean, of course.

Bella and Cal had both agreed upon having a large roll for Ms. Halliwell in their wedding. After all, Jeany-bean had been there for the both of them during the best and worst times of their relationship. She had been a true friend, and Bell couldn't ask for anything more. What was better yet was that Jean seemed to enjoy planning this wedding. Bella, though ecstatic about the fact that she would be with Cal for the rest of her life, was not one for picking out color schemes, dresses, table clothes, dinners, and various other decorations. She was probably one of the few women on the face of the earth that had no idea what to do in a store without some sort of guiding hand. For instance, the Masquerade Ball last year: where Cal had purposed. Bella had such a stunning cobalt dress and it was thanks to Jean - she had given it to Bella to try on, after all.

Ah, but dresses, (and clothing in general) were her own downfall. She didn't know which way was which and what went wear, and nothing ever seemed to fit her! Bella Meyer was absurdly short compared to her fiance. If it wasn't for the fact that her body was developed otherwise, people might've mistaken her as a first or second year. Mercifully, Jean had offered to help Bella in that situation, too.

The brunette was currently standing in front of a mirror in her dressing room. The dress she had on was simple, yet pretty and fit Bella's style. Still, she wasn't sure if she liked it or not. And she always had this nagging worry that it would start to snow heavily on her wedding day and everything be ruined. Even if that wasn't the case, it would still be winter and this dress gave her arms and such to the cold. She doubted Cal would approve of her shifting to her nice, warm fox form as they got married. Sighing in defeat, she left the stall and walked out towards where Jean and Cal would be waiting - why Cal was there against the whole private dress rule, was beyond her.

Her shoulders were hunched a bit, but she gave a semi-convincing smile in attempt to give off that, "I'm enjoying this 100%!" vibe. "Alright, so, what do you two think about this one?" She hadn't really addressed the store clerks nearby - Bella wasn't exactly happy with them since they had accused her of being to young to get married.

Jean was so excited to see Bella in the dress she was trying on now. It was super cute and exactly Bella. She shifted in her seat a little, knowing that both Cal and Bella were both extremely bored. Jean had to admit it, trying on dresses did get quite tedious. She just had the happy face she kept on whenever she was around Cal and Bella, or anyone in that matter. To say that this wasn't hard for her was a boldface lie, but to say that it wasn't fun was also a lie. She turned to Cal at the sound of his voice and punched him lightly in the arm.

"Cal I am not having your future wife look like a hooker at her wedding thank you very much!" She laughed and shook her head. Cal loved doing everything he could to make it so that his fiancee could be in the skimpiest outfit ever. It was actually really cute. Jean ran her fingers through her boring hair as her thoughts trailed off.

She wanted to change her look. Maybe change her hair color, maybe get a whoel new wardrobe. That wouldn't be hard, she had been running her own store for almost four months and she had yet to wear any of her own clothes. She had been so busy lately the only thing she had really been wearing are jeans, hoodies, sweats, and converses. Maybe with the new year being here she should start really changing herself. She didn't really have anyone for opinions though. Cal only cared about Bella, Dawn was gone, and Cliff....didn't really give her a straight forward opinion. She really hated that sometimes, he was never his own person. She could go out wearing a toga and he would just smile.

It took her a while to realize that Cal said something and she turned to him. "What? Oh um nothing really, just hanging out I guess. He has been a little busy with school and me with the store so..." She sighed and looked at the other brides to be trying on dresses and their friends squealing and jumping up and down. She turned her head back to Cal. "Um, we haven't really started talking about it...so we have no clue yet." That was almost the truth. Truth was, Jean hadn't seen Cliff a whole lot since they got engaged. He wasn't around on her birthday, but he gave her a pretty bracelet. She didn't see him on Christmas either, she had his gift tucked in her closet for when she was going to see him again.

She looked up and saw Bella come out. The smile immediately came back on her face and she stood to look at Bella better. "I love this one! What do you guys think? She looked between Bella and Cal.

Cal figured that as soon as they were done with dress shopping, they could get something to eat, then go and look at tuxedos. He didn't understand why they had to go and get a totally new one; still, it might be fun. Bright pink was still an option in his mind, even if Jean would say no to it. Bella probably would care, just a little, but this was his wedding too, wasn't it? Uh, not according to his mother, it wasn't. When she had found out that they were engaged, Marie had gone totally nuts - in a good way - trying to make plans for when she and her future daughter-in-law could meet up and talk about wedding plans. Cal wasn't sure if Bella wanted her fiancee's mother's help in all of this, so he just told his mother he would try.

Emily had been positively over the moon happy when she had been asked to be one of Bella's bridesmaids. Of course, Bella hadn't met Cal's fourteen year old sister yet, but they were definitely going to like each other. Plus, wasn't it a custom to ask your fiancee's sister to be a bridesmaid, if you didn't already have a million friends lined up already? Matt, who had been lined up to be one of Cal's groomsmen, and would be the one to escort Emily down the aisle, had said no, saying that he would rather sit in the back or something. So now it was up to Fred to escort Emily down the aisle, something that he was sure Emily would love, since she had professed to having a crush on both of the Weasley twins, but George in particular.

>> "Cal I am not having your future wife look like a hooker at her wedding thank you very much!"

Cal stuck his tongue out at Jean, then rubbed his shoulder. When had Jean gotten so strong? "It's my wedding too! What if I want a totally hot wife coming down the aisle? Is that so wrong?" he countered, before realizing that maybe it was a little wrong. He didn't want Bella to be so hot that all of the guys there were drooling over her. Well. He might just have to rethink his ideas for the wedding. "Is the bikini option still open?" he bleated, trying to reach Bella through his mind, saying 'Abort mission! Abort mission!' but she wasn't an Legillimens, and he wasn't an Occlumens, so nothing happened. He was still sitting there, bored out of his skull, and Bella was still trying on dresses and Jean was still criticizing everything.

>> "Um, we haven't really started talking about it...so we have no clue yet."

"Really?" Cal made a face. He had never been Cliff's biggest fan, but he had figured that they would have at least made some steps towards actually getting married. He and Bella had been engaged for less than Jean and Cliff had, and they were already practically married. "At any rate, can I be your Maid of Honor? I'll wear a dress and everything!" He gave her puppy eyes, knowing that when they were kids, Jean had promised her Maid of Honor spot to Dawn, but with the blonde Hufflepuff gone, it was up to him to step in her place. The dress part was actually debatable, although if Jean really wanted him to wear one, he would. He'd just have to do a lot of waxing first.

The woman that he had tripped into was standing up, and glaring at him. She walked over to the woman at the desk, then pointed at Cal, and began to whisper behind her hand. Cal bet that it wasn't anything good, and once the two women began to walk in his direction, he scrambled to pull Bella back in the dressing room, and locked the door. "Okay, we're just hang in here for a moment, alright?" he told her, before peering out between the slats in the door. The women looked confused that he had suddenly disappeared, and shrugged, walking back to the counter. He breathed a sigh of relief, before looking back at Bella, then really taking in her dress. "I like it," he said, reaching down to touch the fabric.