Disclaimer: Anything you recognize in this story is not mine.

Honeymoon.

Chapter 1

"I'm ready," Hermione said, taking off her silk robe. Just a few months earlier she would have been shy about walking around clad in only her bra and knickers but after three months of intense dieting and exercising, though she would never admit it publicly, she wished she had more opportunities to show off her tone body not just in front of her bride's maids.

"I never understood why the brides always get their make-up done before wearing their gowns," Hermione's best friend Ginny Potter, née Weasley, wondered as she took the strapless wedding gown off the hanger. The gown had a beautiful asymmetrical bodice that was beaded with pearls that fell onto a full chiffon skirt. Hermione had designed it herself to make it one-of-a-kind. Each pearl was hand sewn by her to make the dress perfect even though there was a simple spell that would've made the work seconds instead of the days she'd spent crouched over the satin dress. "Shouldn't they wear their dress before the make-up?"

"No," Lavender said. "You don't want to mistakenly stain the dress. What bride wants to walk down the aisle with a huge blob of foundation on her chest? Didn't you figure that out at your own wedding?"

Hermione being the muggle-born witch she was, she wanted everything about her wedding as muggle as possible. Even down to the finest details. It wasn't that she was marrying a muggle but ever since she was little, even before she found out that she was a witch, she had a dream wedding already planned out. There was nothing that was going to stop her from getting it.

"Plus, wearing the gown has to be the last thing in preparations. How will you ooh and aah soon after the bride wears the dress if her face still looks like crap?" Luna Zabini née asked. "You need the full effect." She said dramatically.

"I think Blaise is wearing off on you" Hermione teased. "Ginny does have a point. What if my dress gets stained by all this make-up?" She pointed at her face. She had put a charm on her dress wear no magic can alter the dress. The make-up artist had done a wonderful job and she didn't want to undo it mistakenly wiping her her face with her dress.

Luna sighed audibly. "Am I the only one with a brain here? You put your feet in first." She wanted to say 'duh' but she held it in. She didn't want them teasing how much she was like Blaise again.

After a few minutes of very careful tugging and stretching, Hermione stood still as Ginny finished lacing up the bodice.

"Aww," the chorus began. She wasn't the first girl of the lot of them to get married but every bride was a queen on their wedding day. "You look so beautiful."

She laughed at their chorus and turned around to look at her reflection in the mirrors behind her. At 5'4 she wasn't the tallest girl in the world but she was content with her height. When she was younger and even just a few months ago she didn't think her body filled out the way she thought it should and she wanted to be in another body like a models. But not anymore, she thought, twirling around and laughing as her huge skirt created a breeze around her. She had managed to drop down two sizes and was loving every bit of it.

"You're going to get dizzy!" Ginny warned, grabbing her shoulders to stop her. She dragged Hermione and put her in her dressing chair. "Let C-c..," she stammered, glancing at the make-up artist as she tried to remember her name. It wasn't that she was inconsiderate enough to not learn her name; it was her brain that was already brimming with emotions created from seeing her best friend getting married after all that has happened throughout the years. "Let her touch up your make-up so that we can head out to the wedding hall. We don't want to keep the groom waiting."

As the hairstylist straightened her hair, Hermione stared at herself in the mirror. After four years of dating and one year of wedding plans, in mere minutes was about to get married to the man of her dreams.

She looked down at her square cut 2 carat diamond ring on her left hand and smirked. Man of her dreams? More like the man of every women's dreams. And she wasn't just saying that, he'd been named one of the most eligible bachelors by both WitchWeekly and the Daily Prophet. At 6'1, he was lean, handsome, and generous. He was pretty much the type of guy you read about in romance novels—he knew it too. When they fought, she found his arrogance annoying but other times, she was proud of his self-confidence. He was smart, thorough and unyielding about his needs, which was why he was one of the rising stars at his investment bank both in the muggle and wizarding world and why Hermione had worn her hair pin straight for almost five years now.

"Ouch," she yelped as the straightening iron touch her scalp. "I thought you were done with my hair!"

"I'm just doing the finishing touches," the unsympathetic hairsylist said. The client's hair was much curlier and unruly than she expected, so it had taken an unusually long time to do.

Hermione turned her attention back to her reflection. She was never considered as pretty or beautiful throughout her life but now that she had lost some weight, she herself considered that she could pass off as pretty. She was a balanced combination of her parents—taking her mother's bright brown eyes and pert nose and her father's very distinct heart shaped but thin lips. Before meeting Chris, she had always tried to create the illusion of fuller lips with a lip liner and lipstick and even some charms but she stopped after he insisted that he loved her just the way she was.

She readjusted herself on the chair and sighed dreamily. Chris wasn't the man she would've picked out for herself but apparently, Merlin had much greater plans.

Their initial meeting wasn't one of the magical or graceful moments she would've wanted. She was running late as it was to meet an editor to show her new winter designs, but she had to stop by her favorite café in muggle London for a cup of coffee and she was delayed even further by the long line. As she ran down the streets to make it to her office before the editor arrived, she bumped into him and spilled her coffee down his crisp, white shirt.

Being the gentleman that he was, instead of becoming irate, he gave her his card and had been very gracious about letting her pay for his dry cleaning. She would've casted a stain removing spell but she thought he was a muggle. The next day, when she dropped by his office to pick up his stained shirt, he'd insisted on taking her out to lunch and the rest, as they said, was history. What made things a lot easier was that he was a wizard too.

Ginny bent over and placed her hand on her best friend's shoulders. "Ready?" she asked as she looked at Hermione's reflection.

She nodded. "Yes, I'm ready."

As Ginny helped her stand up, Hermione reflected on what she just said. After all the stress and aggravation that had come with planning the wedding, making the perfect dress, finding the perfect hall, perfect cake, perfect centerpieces, perfect flowers and they all complemented the perfect man.

She suddenly jumped up and down. "I'M GETTING MARRIED!" she yelled before all the women in the room gathered around and hugged her.

"You're so beautiful," Harry said, covering his mouth with his hands as he stared at her in awe. She just walked out of the hotel and was about to get into the waiting limo.

She reached over and hugged him. "Thanks Harry." She shook her head and laughed when she noticed the tears developing in his eyes. He was her best friend since age 11. They were there for each other throughout their years at Hogwarts, through the war, and life afterwards. He was there for her when her parents were killed by Death Eaters who still had a grudge on them after the war. He was there for her like a brother she never had. No he was going to walk her down the aisle so she could marry the man of her dreams.

"Ready to take the deepest plunge of your life? " He teased.

She took a deep breath. "Ready as I'll ever be."

He took her hand and with the help of Ginny, got her and her yards and yards of chiffon inside the car. He shut the door and waved as Hermione and her bride's maids got into the limo. "See you at the wedding hall!"

"What time is it?" Harry asked.

"Add five minutes to what I said last time," Lavender snapped.

It had been two hours since she arrived at the hall and Hermione's make-up had already began to bleed. She looked at the watch Chris had given her a few months earlier. She'd already called him at least fifteen times in the last hour and all she got was his voicemail. His parents were also bewildered by his absence and the groomsmen said that everything had been fine when they left him earlier in the day. So why wasn't he or his best man answering their phones?

Hermione drummed her fingers on the table as she tried to rack her brain for an explanation. She at first chuckled at the idea that he picked the worst time to prove to the rest of the world he too could be tardy, but two hours? That was just plain ridiculous. Had they got into an accident? She suggested calling all the local hospitals but everyone had told her to wait a little longer. But if nothing was wrong, why wasn't he calling her?

The door creaked open and Molly Weasley stuck her head in. Molly had become a second mother to her after her parents had passed away. She gave Hermione the thumbs up. "Hang in there deary," she encouraged, her shaky voice betraying her true feelings. "With the rain, the traffic must be hell now."

Hermione nodded. "I'm sure you're right Molly." It had rained shortly after she arrived at the church but it hadn't lasted for more than fifteen minutes.

"Of course I'm right." Molly grinned. "Be patient. I'll go out there and keep Chris's parents company."

As soon as she shut the door, the room once again fell into silence.

"What time is it?" Harry asked about two minutes later.

What time was it? Hermione glanced at her watch. It was getting closer and closer to the time dread would being to set in.