Bill and Fleur had chosen a beautiful day to get married. There was sunlight and gentle breezes and the beautiful air of summer just before it turns to fall. Birds were chirping and the early guests and assorted family members were milling about, eager to socialize before the ceremony.
Hermione was no exception. She and Ron were walking side by side, watching contentedly as more guests slowly arrived at the apparition spot. Hermione was waiting with baited breath for someone to arrive, hint, hint. Fleur had Viktor Krum and she was extremely excited to see him after so long. When he arrived, Hermione sucked in a breath.
He looked good in his formal finery. She hadn't seen him dressed so formally since the Yule Ball in their Fourth Year. Even though that night had ultimately ended in disaster, she remembered it fondly as one of the most romantic and – cliché though it may sound – magical nights of her life. The year they dated had been the best of her life and she regretted breaking up with Viktor.
In fact… come to think of it she no longer remembered why their relationship had fallen apart. She realized that one day she was madly in love with Viktor and the next she just suddenly wanted to be with Ron. Emotions didn't change like that, or at least they weren't meant to without outside interference. She at that point realized that Ron must have given her a love potion, and felt like such an idiot for not having realized it earlier.
Coming back to herself, she realized Ron still had his arm around her. Revolted by what she had just discovered about their false relationship, Hermione pushed him off of her and slapped him hard across the face. Ron, of course is clueless that the potion has worn off due to the bond between Hermione and Viktor coming to the forefront again.
"What was that for?!" Ron yelled.
"For love potioning me into believing I was in love with you! I'm not an idiot! You should have know that I would have figured it out eventually!" Hermione yelled.
Reacting impulsively, Ron took offense to Hermione's words and the scene she was starting and raised his arm as though to land a blow backhanded. It never connected.
Somehow Viktor had materialized at Hermione's side and promptly snagged Ron's wrist, saying, "It is not polite to hit a lady."
"She's not a lady she's my girlfriend!" Ron spluttered in protest. "And it's none of your business!"
"And that makes it okay to hit her?" Viktor asked, tightening his grip to a painful degree.
"Not anymore I'm not! We're over Ron Weasley and I never want to see you again!" Hermione yelled.
"One moment please," Viktor requested politely, nodding slightly to Hermione as he excused himself.
At which point Viktor picked Ron up by the front of the robes, hoisted him above his head, took several steps and threw him from the tent. Ron was shouting his protests all the way and flailing madly, but to no avail. Viktor's strength outmatched him easily.
Seeing this and having heard the argument that sparked it, Fred and George silently cast a spell on the ground Ron was sitting on, turning it into a mud-pit nearly a foot deep and making the unfortunate redhead sink in quickly, staining his robes. George promptly cast Levicorpus on him while Fred silenced their little brother.
"Don't worry about a thing," he offered.
"We've got this," his twin assured.
A moment later, Harry emerged from inside having only heard the tail end of the argument at a distance. "What was that all about and what has Ron done wrong now?" he wondered tiredly. He'd only just finished breaking up with a very persistent Ginny and really didn't have the patience to deal with much more chaos, particularly of the younger Weasley variety. He didn't quite feel up to talking to anyone just yet or even rescuing Ron from whatever the twins had cooked up for him so he headed over to the food bar for something to drink.
"I'm sorry about him," Charlie apologized earnestly. "That was incredibly out of line for him and we'll be talking to him about that. In depth." The seriousness on Charlie's face seemed to imply that he would be doing more than just talking to his younger brother, but nobody seemed against the idea. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that not all of us Weasleys are like him, you see? So if you ever need anything, just send me an owl or a patronus. Anything I can do to help family, you know? And Hermione, you and Harry really are family to us, whether you choose to associate with Ron or not. We've got no choice but to be his brothers but if you choose to block him out please don't cut us out too."
"Oh I would never," Hermione assured him honestly. "You guys are like a second family to me, and for Harry too. You know how the Dursleys are. We'd never cut you out of our lives."
Then, before Charlie could answer, Kingsley's patronus arrived and everything dissolved into chaos. There were people screaming and shouting and running and dissaperating on all sides. Some spells were shot into the air, whether to maintain order or locate missing family members no one could tell.
"Go! Get out of here!" Charlie ordered. "We'll be fine! Just get Harry and go!"
"Harry!" Hermione shouted, whirling about to look for him, "Harry! Where are you?!" She was too short to see him in the crowd and too quiet to make herself heard.
"This vay!" Viktor bellowed over the noise, "I see him!" With his massive strength and size, the Bulgarian easily cleared a path for the smaller girl, guiding him safely to her friend's side.
"Harry! There you are, grab hold!" Hermione ordered, taking his arm in hers firmly.
"Hermione! What-" But Harry didn't get to finish that sentence.
Krum realized they were about to dissaperate and reached out to grab hold of Hermione's arm. "Vait", he requested, "Ve need to talk," just as they dissapperated, leaving nothing but an empty space where they had been.