A woman stood at the alter listening to the preacher giving vows to say. She repeated his words, "I, Hermione Granger, take thee, Fred Weasley, as my lawfully wedded husband…" Yes, that's right, Hermione was getting married at the age of twenty-three.

----------Five Years Earlier--------

Hermione sat at the Burrow with Ginny, George, Fred, and Fluer. Everyone else was gone because of the war with Voldemort and his followers. No word had confirmed that Harry or Ron were dead. They all hoped with their life that they would walk through the door that lead to the small, but cozy kitchen. Day after day those hopes were crushed.

Ginny had taken this the hardest. Her brother was most likely dead and same with the love of her life, Harry. Hermione came next. Her two best friends gone and she had no one to talk about all their inside jokes. On top of that Hermione and Ron had been going out. Today would have marked their two year anniversary of their relationship. She had barely cried this whole year Ron and Harry went missing in battle. Hermione snapped back to reality when she heard Ginny run out of the room followed closely by Fluer and George to comfort her. Hermione could hear her sobbing outside. She took one look at Fred and turned her head and started to really cry for the first time. Fred got up from his chair and held Hermione in a tight hug and tried to soothe her pain of the loss she endured. He knew she had liked Ron a lot and almost, possibly, loved him.

Hermione woke up with a start. Her head would rise then fall, rise then fall. She noticed her head was lying on a chest of someone. She turned her head and there was Fred. He was so peaceful as he slept, at that sudden realization Hermione felt as if she were in a trance. Ron and Fred looked a scary lot alike; don't get me wrong, so did George.

"You all right Hermione?" Fred asked. "Hermione! Hermione!"

"Wh…yes?" she said shaking herself out of her trance.

"Oka, you're alright. I wasn't so sure after seeing you look off to no where like that."

"I was just in a deep train of thoughts. Nothing to be worried about." She said in a solemn voice, and yet that didn't even convince herself that she was alright. She moved off of the bed and put her sweatshirt on. "I must have cried myself to sleep." She thought to herself. She walked to the window and gazed upon a gentle sunset. Her steps were quiet as a mouse that Fred would have had a hard time finding her if it was pitch dark.

Fred was lost in his thoughts of Hermione as he watched her lean on the window sill. Her check was resting lightly on her left hand. Oh, how he wished to be a glove on her hand. Ever since Ron and Harry went missing he was Hermione's closest confidant. She was used to telling her feelings to guys and that is why he was her closest confidant. Other than Ginny, that is, with some of her other problems. Fred had thus started to like Hermione more and more over the past year.

She turned around and saw Fred look at her in a new way. His eyes slightly glazed over that gave them an extra sparkle. 'It must be the light,' she thought. She walked over to the man and sat on the edge of the bed. Her head hung low and she spoke so quietly that he had to strain to hear her. "I can't believe they're really gone." Tears welled up in her beautiful caramel eyes.

"You don't know that. They could be lost, or still fighting," Fred said. His sympathetic, sky blue eyes assuring Hermione. He kept telling himself that and most of the time he believed his wishes.

"Do you truly believe that?" Hermione asked as a few silent tears left her eyes and rolled down her rosy cheeks.

"Of course I do," he said as he sat up and wiped away her tears. He pulled her into a hug. He had taken it as his unofficial role as her protector and comforter.

Later that night Hermione woke up screaming. Her nightmares consisted of Voldemort torturing and murdering her friends and family in front of her. She felt Fred sit on her bed, and she heard him whisper softly, "Shhh…everything's okay. I'm here, nothing's wrong."

"It was terrible. Everyone was murdered in front of me and I couldn't do anything to stop him."

The next day was not much different. Hope, tears, comfort, all the same. The next few weeks did lighten up a bit. Sunshine, no rain, few tears, and the small "family" shared a few laughs even. Everybody seemed to have a weight lifted off their shoulders. Fred and Hermione had grown closer over the few weeks.

"Dinair iz ready!" Fluer called from the kitchen.

"More useless food from Phglem." Ginny said annoyingly.

"She's trying the hardest she can. She's trying to be a mother-figure to us," George retorted. Although he didn't like Fluer very much he did appreciate what she was doing for them all.

After dinner Hermione strolled into the garden and sat down on the cool earth. She heard the faint rumble of thunder from the North. It was soon to be above the Burrow. Yet Hermione still stayed outside. A few minutes later it began to rain and steadily started to pour buckets of rain.

"Hermione!" Fred yelled out the door. When Hermione didn't respond or make any movement to get out of the rain he ran out to get her. "Hermione! We have to get inside! You'll catch your death out here." She didn't budge from her spot on the ground. So, Fred decided to pick her up and carry her inside. "You're above all this, Hermione! Harry, Ron, your parents, everyone would not want you to do this."

"I'm sorry. I've been having feelings of death, as if I'd be better off. I'm not how I used to be. I've lost my interest in books and knowledge and learning. This was has changed me so."

"You're not to blame. It's those blasted Death Eaters and Voldemort."

The Weasley family had learned to say you-know-who's name. It was their promise to Harry before he left to fight in the war. Though, most families in the magical world still shuddered at the mention of the name, Voldemort. They still refused to utter his name.