Meant to Be

She was standing alone now in front of the mirror; everyone else had disappeared through the doorframe only moments before. She knew that she should be standing by the door waiting, but something was holding her back. There was a tiny voice inside her head that was pleading with her to reconsider, begging her to step out of the many folds of white and open her heart to him. She shook her head and sighed. Standing beyond that wall was a man to whom she had promised to give her eternal love and support, but standing just around that corner was…..

"Ready?" his body appeared in front of her, a tight-lipped smile on his face. She knew that he must be feeling absolutely awful right now. Asking him to do this for her suddenly seemed like a very bad idea as she looked up and met his eyes. They held a look of wistfulness, and a lost, resigned emptiness. Since her parents had been killed several years before by a band of Death Eaters, she needed someone else to escort her down the aisle and give her away, and he had been her first choice. Losing him, and eventually saving him, had led them all to appreciate what he meant to them. They had all become closer to him after that, but this change was always the most pronounced with her. Perhaps because she was still reeling from the loss of her parents, he filled the void in her life. When he had returned, suddenly he was her older brother, father, and hero, and she was his sister, confidant, and friend. At least, that's how she thought it was until last night.

"Hermione?" he asked, taking a step closer to her as she sighed and looked away from him, staring back at the mirror once again. Could she really go through with this? Could she really not?

The opening chords of a familiar tune began to drift into their ears. Panic began to squeeze at her insides; her head suddenly felt dizzy. Before she could even think to sit down though, he was beside her, holding her and steadying her. She moved her head back slightly so that she could see him.

"Did you really mean it?"

A look of extreme nervousness flashed in his eyes before he quickly shut it away.

"What are you talking about? Come on, we have to go."

"Last night. I wasn't sleeping, and we both know what I'm talking about. Did you mean it?"

He stepped away from her, looking horrified at this turn of events.

"You must have been dreaming. I didn't say anything that's worth discussing now, so let's just forget about it. Everyone's waiting for us now. Please." He said, looking intensely desperate, and for a moment she couldn't help but think how gorgeous he was, but she had to know.

"I know you're lying, and I am not moving from this spot until you tell me the truth. Did. You. Mean. It?" She was felt an unknown ferocity flowing through her veins; there was no time left for her to question what she was doing. As she looked at him, was it just her imagination or was she beginning to hear soft whispering above the music coming from the other side of the wall?

There was determination in her face; one look told him that she would not resign this battle. Normally, it was one of the things he loved about her. He looked down for a moment and took a breath before looking up and gently clasping her hands with his own. Her heart felt almost as if it stopped for a millisecond as his mouth opened, only to suddenly double as she comprehended what he had said.

"Yes. I did mean it." His right thumb was gently rubbing the skin between her thumb and forefinger, causing all rational thought to cease, as his left hand lifted to brush a curly tendril back behind her ear. "I have only ever lied to you once, and that was just now. I may have been completely pissed last night, but that doesn't change a word of what I said to you. I love you, Hermione Granger, completely and utterly, madly and desperately, and there is nothing that will ever change that."

She pulled her hands away and stepped back. Her head was spinning; this was not happening, this was a dream, and she was going to close her eyes and when she opened them he would be standing there looking at her like he had looked at her for the past four years. But as she opened her eyes to see him looking at her exactly the same way, she was hit with the realization that that was how he had looked at her for the past four years. His face had always held that intensity, that devotion, that….love when he gazed upon her own. She felt like she was suddenly seeing him for the first time, all the little things she had noticed one by one coming together to form a whole. Her heart swelled and she knew, knew from the tips of her toes to the twinkling tiara adorning her hair to the deepest corners of her soul, that –

"Hermione! What are you doing!" came the hissed whisper from the door. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized that the music had stopped. But she did not tear her gaze away from his.

"Hello! Earth to Hermione! Your fiancé, along with every person you've ever known in your life, are all sitting there waiting! What are you doing!" Ginny's words were quiet but forceful.

She remained motionless.

"Make something up." She stated quietly. Ginny's mouth dropped open.

"What are you doing? What are you talking about? Are you trying to –"

"Tell them I'm having a wardrobe malfunction, and I'll be there in a moment."

"Hermione, you look perfect, come on, let's –"

"Tell them." Ginny looked between them for a moment, confused at the obviously intense conversation she had wandered into, but no one even turned to look at her, and she knew she might as well do as she was told. She began moving towards the door. Hermione pulled her eyes away from his to follow the redhead's retreating form, watching to be sure that she was really leaving before drawing a breath.

"Sirius I –"

"Look Hermione –" he began at the same time, her warm honey brown eyes no longer distracting him, their loss drawing him out of his thoughts and back into reality. They both stopped at the interruption, but he continued before allowing himself to hear whatever she had to say.

"Genevra's right." At this, Ginny, who had just turned around the corner, poked her head back in. Sirius avoided looking at the amazing, beautiful woman in front of him by turning to her. "Tell them to restart the music, we're ready now." She nodded and hasted back around the doorframe.

"No Sirius listen, please, I –"

"Hermione, nothing that I have said to you changes what is going on here. This is what you want to do, and it's what you need to do. I wasn't supposed to fall in love with you, so that should not have any sway in this situation. Whether you want me to go throw myself off a cliff right now for being a disgusting pervert, or, well, something else, it doesn't matter. So please, just put it aside and let's go."

"But –"

"Please, don't. There is nothing else you need to say now except 'I do.' Don't make this any harder than it already is." He pleaded, gently tugging her towards the door.

"But I love you!" she cried as she wretched her arm out of his grasp, speaking rapidly and with desperation, feeling that otherwise she would never be able to get it all out. "I've always loved you Sirius, I have, I just didn't see and didn't want to see it because I was afraid, but I'm not afraid anymore, I'm not, we can leave right now and just go somewhere, anywhere, it doesn't matter, and we can be together and none of this will matter anymore." She buckled against his chest, clinging to him as if her every breath depended on it. "Please, oh please." She whispered, wishing she would never have to let him go.

He was vaguely aware that their march had started again, and the only logical thought in his mind was that if they didn't start moving in the next ten seconds, all hell would break loose. He felt his heart shatter as he quietly pulled himself away from her and looked into her eyes.

"If you love me at all Hermione, then please, just do this. We both know that's the way things were meant to be."

She knew how to read him. The matter was finished, topic now closed. There was nothing else she could do. She gave a small nod, and felt a solitary tear slide down her cheek. Taking a last sideway glance at the mirror, she couldn't help but notice the irony of the image: her in a wedding dress, him in a suit, standing side by side in a church. She quickly looked away to stop herself from collapsing in tears, and with that, he softly placed his arm in hers and led her through the doorway.

He felt his pulse quickening again as another few seconds passed. He felt jittery and light-headed; what was going on? Was she having second thoughts? He glanced to his right to look at Harry, who could do nothing but shrug. He was beginning to think that…..

She appeared at the end of the aisle, and he suddenly couldn't think anything at all.

Her normally curly hair was gathered in an elegant bun atop her head, held in place by a tiara encrusted with glittering stones, save for one tendril that was tucked delicately behind her ear. From the back edge of her headdress hung a long white veil, studded with what Ginny had insisted be real diamonds. Her face was done with natural makeup, but somehow it had completely enhanced her high cheekbones, full lips, and deep brown orbs. And her dress…his eyes drifted down and back up her form. Satin the color of snow, the skirt billowing from her small waist, and silver embroidery covering the fitted bodice that would later be his duty to remove. A princess, an angel, a goddess; words fluttered across his mind but none seemed enough to illustrate her beauty in that moment. She was breathtaking.

He watched as she slowly came towards him, Sirius gently holding her arm as he led her down the aisle. Ron´s heart thudded inside his chest with each of her graceful steps. They neared the bottom of the altar, and Sirius leaned down to place a single, sweet kiss on Hermione´s pale cheek before he let go of her hand to return to his seat. Several tears spilled out of her eyes as she let go of him, and Ron knew she wished her parents could be with them in this moment. They would have loved to see their daughter, so proud and strong, finding happiness with another. As Sirius gave her a final encouraging smile, with extreme effort, Ron pulled his eyes away to look to both sides of him; Harry, Neville, Dean and Seamus to his left, and Ginny, Luna, Parvati and Lavender to his right. His head was spinning; the happiness of the moment was too overwhelming. The two of them, surrounded by their closest friends, with all their loved ones looking on and giving their blessing a thousand times over. There was nothing else that could ever be this perfect. This, he knew, was the way that things were always meant to be.