Disclaimer: All these wonderful people belong to Jo Rowling, not me.
"Lights"
By WitchyWays13
The day started out cool and crisp. A perfect late summer morning. The tall grasses in the fields surrounding the Burrow were golden against a blue bowl of sky. Standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Hermione thought she couldn't have ordered better weather. It was the one unknown thing that had worried her to no end.
The marquee was set up in the side yard. It was big, but not nearly as large as the one at Harry and Ginny's wedding. They'd gotten married two years ago, on a warm spring afternoon. The guest list had included over four hundred people - it seemed everyone in the wizarding world had wanted to witness the Chosen One marrying his chosen one. Hermione was glad when Ron had insisted on only family and friends at their wedding. Still, Ron's family alone counted forty-five people. Hermione's family of two uncles, one aunt and three cousins seemed tiny.
Hermione was, by her very nature, a worrier. She had planned every minute detail, her organizational skills on full display. The flowers: white roses and lily of the valley. The cake: four tiers, fruitcake with almond filling. The ushers' outfits and bridesmaids' dresses all arranged. Ron's dress robes pressed and ready. Hermione's dress: white lace and satin, modified from her mother's own wedding dress. Everything was prepared. It was going to go off without a hitch.
The first snag came when the chairs were delivered late. Nothing too bad, just a little inconvenience. It was then discovered that Dominique and Louis, Bill and Fleur's youngest children, had snuck down from their beds and ate a large chunk of the cake's bottom tier. Molly had tried to keep this from Hermione, but naturally she found out. The children were punished by putting them on garden gnome-ridding duty. Molly fixed the cake.
Hermione's dress, which had fit her like a glove two weeks ago, was too loose now. Too nervous to trust herself to shrink it, she asked Ginny to do so. She shrunk it a bit too much, and Hermione consoled herself with the fact that she just wouldn't sit down during the reception. Everything would still be okay...
In the pre-wedding jumble of confusion and preparation, the children were forgotten about. They were discovered later that afternoon badly sunburned, and Louis had three gnome bites on his hand. Dominique had dissolved into misery, and cried throughout the process of being dolled up by her mother. She and her older sister Victoire quarreled over their flowered headbands, which had led to Victoire's being unceremoniously torn from her hair and thrown out the window. The children were once again punished.
George and Angelina's son Freddie, an infant of ten months, proceeded to scream inconsolably during the process of the guests being seated. Angelina, exhausted and embarrassed, missed the ceremony. Hagrid had once again misunderstood instructions and broke three chairs, instead of sitting upon the bench set out for him.
By the time Hermione heard the music that was her cue to walk down the aisle, she was a nervous wreck. Her dress, a bit too tight, felt damp from her panicked sweat. Her hair, liberally done up with Sleakeazy's Hair Potion, had frizzed up around her hairline. She was practically hyperventilating when she felt her father's hand touch her arm. Hermione looked into her father's smiling face, and found the comfort she so desperately needed. She turned towards the opening of the marquee, took a deep breath, and walked into it.
She was never aware of the eyes on her. She could barely feel her father's arm linked with her own. Hermione could only see him - Ron. He stood at the front of the marquee, in neatly pressed black dress robes. His red hair shone in the light of hundreds of tiny round balls of light. Hermione thought at first they were fireflies, but they were silver, not green. Not unlike the gleaming light that surrounds a patronus. She made a mental note to ask Ron about them when she heard the tufty-haired minister's voice.
"Dearly beloved..."
She drowned out the sound of his voice, lost in Ron's sparkling slate-blue eyes. Before she knew it, Ron had slipped a golden ring onto her finger, and handed her one to put on him. Her hands felt numb, and she fumbled, chuffing out a laugh in the process. Her ears caught Ron's voice saying "I do," then the minister's voice said something she couldn't distinguish.
Ron looked at her expectantly. Ginny, standing beside Hermione, nudged her gently. Somehow she managed to blurt out "I do." More words from the minister, then Ron's lips met her own. Everyone around them exploded into applause and cheers.
They had done it. In a blur, it was over. They were married.
Several hours later, Hermione sat at the head table under the marquee. She was more exhausted than she'd ever felt before. Her feet and back ached, she was drowsy from champagne, and she wanted nothing more than to rid herself of the too-tight dress. Ron came up beside her. They looked out at the marquee, now empty of guests. Half-full champagne flutes and plates of wedding cake crumbs littered the tables. A discarded pair of shoes - no doubt Ginny's - sat in the center of the dance floor. The night air under the marquee felt cool, the sky dark as pitch outside.
The balls of light still glowed brightly, swaying without a breeze, suspended in midair. They had illuminated the guests as they danced and ate, yet Hermione had no idea what they were or how they had gotten there. In the excitement of the evening she'd forgotten to ask Ron.
She turned to him. "Ron... what are these lights?" Her arm swung out and gestured towards them. The closest to her swayed to her hand, she had expected it to be hot but instead it was as if there was nothing there. She was mystified.
"Do you remember," Ron said, "The Forest of Dean? The night I came back after leaving you and Harry?" Hermione nodded. As if she could forget...
"I told you about Dumbledore's Deluminator, how it made a ball of light appear to lead me to you." Ron continued. Hermione nodded again, tears springing to her eyes.
"These balls of light are just like that one was. The one that brought me back home - back to you. Your love is my guiding light. I will never, ever leave you again. I love you, Hermione Weasley."
He leaned towards her and planted a kiss upon her forehead. She wept, tears of joy streaming down her face. Though her wedding day hadn't gone exactly as she planned, the end result was well worth it.
-End-
Author's notes: I highly recommend DazzleMe7's brilliant YouTube video "Lights Will Guide You Home" to accompany this. Find it here: wwwdotyoutubedotcom/watch?v=_wSvadXodV0 (just take out the "dots," natch.) It was my inspiration for this story. :)