Harry's Seventeenth Birthday

After the wedding ceremony, there had originally been a grand ball where the guests could offer their blessings.

So when Moody finished speaking, Ron instinctively stood up, about to head toward the middle of the garden.

Before he could take a step, however, they were told there would be no ball. The wedding was over, since most people could not stay any longer.

Kingsley was the first to leave. He had hurried away from The Burrow halfway through the ceremony.

Voldemort and his Death Eaters had been trying to completely seize the Ministry of Magic. To stop them, Moody and Kingsley had rallied all the Aurors and Hit Wizards to watch their every move around the clock—coming to the wedding had been time they had barely managed to squeeze out.

Moody was naturally the second to leave, followed by the others who worked at the Ministry of Magic.

Even Remus Lupin and Tonks left.

It was their wedding night, so they certainly could not stay at The Burrow. Besides, they still had to see their families home.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the once-lively garden suddenly became empty.

The remaining Weasleys efficiently carried the tables, chairs, and other things back into the house.

At some point, the paintings responsible for playing music had also lost all their magic. The people inside had all been squeezed back into Hogwarts, leaving only a few blank frames on the chairs.

But Silvan did not throw them away. He gathered them up and stuffed them into his Mokeskin Pouch.

Although the magic on the frames had vanished, they were still genuine magical portrait technology, jointly created by McGonagall and Flitwick.

As long as they found a place with sufficient magic, they could continue to be used.

If they painted the