Chapter 1- Bachelorette's Dare

HPOV

Morning.

My absolute favourite time of day. Seriously, it is!

Waking up next to Ron, my heart, my life, was always a breathtaking, overwhelming experience.

Our life has been extremely tumultuous but out of all that turmoil came the serenity, acceptance and love that we have now.

Just as Ron began to stir on that fateful morning, I heard my stomach protest its disapproval of not being fed as soon as I awoke.

"Good morning, Hermoine" my fiancé's groggy voice greeted me.

I smiled and returned the sentiment.

We both got ready for our day.

Our last day as single people; our last day as two, separate individuals. After today it would be mere hours until we became Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Weasley and I couldn't wait, and from Ron's actions for the past couple of days, it was obvious that neither could he.

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"Open up you two or I swear on Merlin's grave I'll come in after you!"

Great.

Separation time…

I honestly never thought it would have been this hard to let go of Ron. I mean logically I understood why it would be a bit difficult to leave him since we spent the better part of our adolescent lives together. But somewhere deep inside I also knew that the reason ran deeper than simple childhood attachment.

"Hermoine, Ron! I'm serious. Open this door this instant."

I walked towards Ginny's voice knowing that she very well would do as she said she would and destroy our front door.

As I got to it I heard my future sister-in-law's voice murmur the beginnings of a spell. I pulled open the door quickly before she got a chance to finish.

Her surprised face caused me to break into laughter.

"Oh shut up you prat! You scared me half to death. I wasn't expecting you to actually answer it."

"Yes well I know you Ginny Potter! I am quite fond of my front door thank you very much! Now come in, you're letting in all the cold air."

"No time. We're leaving. I hope you're ready to go. We have a lot to do today."

"Don't you want to see your brother?"

"What for? I saw him every single day for most of my life. I think I can survive one day without seeing his ugly mug."

"Ginny!" I chastised her.

"What? Because you're in love with him doesn't mean that I have to be to. Besides I'm quite happy with Harry thank you very much." She chuckled and I couldn't help but grin along with her.

"Fine. Let me just go tell him bye. I'll be right back."

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"So where to first?"

"Well I thought we'd participate in a few muggle rituals, you know as a sort of goodbye to the way things used to be and embrace the new life."

"Muggle rituals? Like what exactly?"

"The spa of course. I did some research on the inter- intra-"

"Internet?"

"Yes that. I had help from your parents-"

"My parents? They helped you navigate the internet? I didn't even know they knew what it was."

"Well not exactly. They offered me suggestions and then mentioned it and we figured it out together. Any way they helped me with the planning. I invited a few of your muggle friends with the internet. Your mum was telling me what she did for her bachelorette party and so we called up a spa and well…yeah. So are you excited?"

"Yes. I haven't been to a spa in ages. The last time I went to one was when my mum and I went the weekend of her Wedding Anniversary."

"Our appointment is for twelve. So that gives us one hour. We're heading to Grimmauld Place where everyone is meeting up. Then I have to put a few charms in place to make the place muggle friendly for when your friends arrive. They should be coming for eleven forty-five. Then we're going to drive over. The place is called…um…the Palladium Day Spa. Ever heard of it?"

"Yes. It's highly acclaimed in the muggle world. You did good. But it's terribly expensive. You shouldn't have-"

"Oh stop it Hermione. It's already spent okay so stop complaining. Come on let's go!"

With those final parting words she apparated home and left me standing in front of my home, stunned.

Well ok then.

I apparated to number 12 Grimmauld Place and immediately went inside of the Potter household.

"Welcome Miss Granger!" greeted Kreacher, Harry's house elf. He was dressed rather smartly in a miniature butler's outfit signifying his status as a free servant rather than the slaves of old. His pointed ears and frail body show the true age belied by his chipper misdemeanour and energetic gait. He must be ancient by now, I thought to myself vaguely.

Ever since the end of the Second Wizarding War he's become so pleasant. I remember when he used to ignore me and throw me dirty looks because I was nothing more than a 'filthy Mudblood'. But now it was nothing but kindness. He had made a complete three-sixty when he discovered the truth about Regulus' connection with the Dark Lord.

"Hermione! Hurry up. I'm in the kitchen" Ginny's impatient voice called to me.

You would think that since it was my special occasion I would get some sort of deference but not with Ginny. Everything was business as usual.

I walk through the now familiar house of two of my best friends and into the kitchen. Seated at the dining table was Harry and he was feeding an eighteen month old Lily. Ginny, the ball of energy that she is, was doing a million things at once. She had, in one corner of the room, an enchanted quill making place cards for the wedding while in another corner she had charmed little picture frames with an image of Ron and I after we announced our engagement to place themselves into gift boxes which were then tied with ribbon. On top of that she was conducting numerous spells to make the house appear normal to muggles, a feat which was only necessary because she insisted that, as Maid of Honour, she had to host the bachelorette party. She also insisted that, since I belonged to both worlds guests from both worlds should be invited. I don't know how she was going to explain the wedding ceremony to them however, but that was entirely up to her.

I decided to ask her anyway.

"Ginny, how exactly do you plan to maintain the Secrecy Laws while still having non-magical persons in attendance at my wedding?"

"I'm shocked you haven't figured it out yet Hermione. It's rather simple. We allow them to go through the entire thing unhindered and then either I obliviate them or use the confundus charm to change the memory they have. Either way they'll be very unsure of what exactly took place at the ceremony. They'll just know that it was a beautiful ceremony and you and Ron were the perfect couple."

"Oh. How could I have missed that? This wedding must really be affecting my brain functions."

"Yes well, that's what love does to you doesn't it. Do you remember when Harry and I got married? It was ridiculous. We were both running around like headless chickens and if it wasn't for you and Ron I don't know what would have happened."

"That's true."

As I said that I remembered quite vividly how nervous Harry had been that Ginny had changed her mind and wasn't going to show up. I also remember distinctly that Ginny began to fret that Harry had finally gotten bored of her and was going to stand her up to go in search of newer, more exciting pastures. It had been quite a task for both Ron and I to convince the two stubborn individuals that they were wrong. In the end it took us thirty minutes and two Nerviviend potions to fortify them. After that, the entire ceremony ran smoothly and as the potions wore off the two of them realized that their love was too strong to be dissolved so easily. Then one year later they had Lily and Ron had proposed to me. So much has happened since then.

"Earth to Hermione!"

"Huh? Oh sorry. I was just thinking about your wedding and how much has happened since then."

"Time does fly by doesn't it? Just think Lily's already eighteen months. Pretty soon she'll be running around this place causing chaos. She's already started externalizing her powers. Yesterday she made her mobile float around the room. She nearly took Harry's eye out."

"You're kidding! Wow. She's getting so big. Pretty soon she'll be off to Hogwarts."

"Oy! I'll have none of that from you two. That's not going to be happening for quite a few years yet thank you very much."

"He's a bit touchy about the idea of his little girl growing up and meeting boys. Merlin forbid she actually gets married someday."

"My daughter is never getting married. She's going to become a celibate healer at St. Mungo's and everyone'll be happier for it!"

"Sure darling." Ginny turned away from her husband and gave me a knowing smirk.

Poor guy he'll probably burst a blood vessel when she starts dating and Merlin help the poor sod who decides he wants to marry her.

"So anyway, are you going to tell me what else is on the agenda?"

"Fat chance at that happening!" Harry's voice shouted. "She wouldn't even tell me and I have nothing to gain from knowing."

"Exactly" she chimed triumphantly but then she added "actually you do. You and Ron could possible crash our ladies night and that would be terribly inconvenient." I had the sudden urge to hex her but, of course, I didn't. I'd learnt a lot of self control after the years of knowing Ron. If not she would probably be speaking out of a rather large and uncomfortable elephant's trunk right now!

Lucky girl!

She must have sensed my mood because she suddenly hustled over to where Harry and Lily were sitting and took the child in her arms as though using her as a shield against my anger. She knew that, with Lily in her hand, I would never do anything.

"So what do I do in the mean time then since I obviously can't help…?" I left it open ended in the event that she decided that I could help her get things settled for today.

"Here, play with Lily until mummy get's here. That should occupy you for a while."

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"Welcome to the Palladium Day Spa, please enjoy your experience. Do you have an appointment?"

"Yes. It's under Potter."

"Ah yes, Potter. Right this way please."

The perfectly manicured and impeccably dressed brunette led us through the gold and glass doors of the reception area towards the spa. She told us that because of our large group we had to have an entire room just for us, which quite frankly was fine by me.

Ginny had gone all out with her invitations. She invited three girls from my neighbourhood who I was particularly close to. Stacia Ridgewood, Lisa Matthews and Rachel Moore were the only girls on my street who had had no problems speaking with me even though everyone else felt I was a little weird and snobbish. They went to the local high school while I was away at Hogwarts and now they were enrolled at the local college. I admired their grit, their style but more so their personalities. They were friendly, personable but most of all they were genuine. It was hard to find truly genuine people anymore. Everyone was always self seeking and would step on someone if they believed it would get them ahead.

Ginny of course invited Luna and the Patil sisters. Our friendship with these girls had remained strong after we left school in fact we'd become even closer in the years following our graduation. Four of my cousins were also invited along. Nadine Granger and Aloysia St. Gerard I could tolerate, but I couldn't for the life of me understand what would possess Ginny to invite Stephanie and Roshida, Nadine's sisters, along as well. I guess she was trying to be diplomatic but for crying out loud these girls were no better than a bunch of Veela!

The first thing we did as we got there and had changed out of our street clothes was to head to the sauna to relax. We sat there for fifteen minutes and then we were quickly ushered out and onto the next round of treatment. We sat in our chairs and had our manicures and pedicures done. I went simple and just had a French tip done in an elegant ivory colour. Once that was over we had facials and massages. All of this was completed in four hours, how it was managed I would never truly understand but by four o'clock we were piling into the rented stretch limousine and on our way to destination number two.

"So are you going to tell me now?"

"Nope. You'll see it when you get there, ok? So don't ask me again or I will...do something unmentionable in present company, to you."

"You are so hostile. Why am I friends with you again?"

"Because you have no choice. And you love me."

Her grin just caused me to burst out laughing. This girl is certainly one of a kind.

"So Hermione, cousin dear, how has your day been going so far?" the sickly sweet voice of Roshida asked. Something about her voice reminded me of Umbridge and that only brought back terrible images of when she taught at Hogwarts. A shiver involuntarily ran down my spine.

"It's been great. Have you been enjoying yourself ladies?"

Assents were replied back at me with great enthusiasm. The faces smiling back at me only caused me to be even more anxious for the next event.

The limousine came to a stop and Ginny announced "We're here ladies. Let's go!"

I was the last to exit and when I finally looked up at the building in front of me I let out an audible gasp.

"Oh Ginny!"

"Yes, I know, I'm absolutely awesome! You are very welcome."

She had arranged for us to go to a Carnival. There were rides everywhere and lots of muggle foods that I hadn't eaten in years. It wasn't a typical bachelorette type activity but I didn't care, it was my

day.

"A Carnival? I mean really, how old are we anyway?"

"Oh shut up Stephanie!" I shouted. I really was not in the mood to deal with their snotty behaviour. This was about me so they could just jump the hell off of a bridge for all I cared!

The look on Stephanie's face when I turned to look at her was priceless and I honestly wished I had a camera at that point. As if reading my mind a flash went off from somewhere behind me and I spun to see who took the picture.

Luna?

"She was absolutely covered in wrackspurts. I couldn't bypass the opportunity to document such a magnificent sight."

Ginny, the Patil sisters and myself broke out into giggles as I heard Stephanie ask what a wrackspurt was.

We spent three hours at the Carnival but then Ginny was suddenly rounding us up and herding us back into the limo.

"Ok ladies when we get back to the house we need to get changed as quickly as possible. No time for stopping and chatting or we'll be late. Which would be absolutely unacceptable."

Late? Changed? Where the hell was this girl carrying me?

Not even fifteen minutes later we were back at the Potter household. I felt my entire body relax with the familiarity of it all. My heart ached to be home though. I was ready to get back to Ron, as dependent as that sounded, it was the truth.

Ginny told us we all had one hour to be ready to leave. 'One hour for ten girls to get ready? Is she mad?' I thought to myself.

Surprisingly enough, it happened. Within the hour we were all ready to head to destination number three. I began to understand why we went to the spa at the beginning of the day because I was exhausted!

The limo driver looked irritated that his day wasn't quite over just yet and I was honestly able to sympathize. Poor guy.

There was an awkward silence surrounding us in the limo because Stephanie and Roshida would not stop pouting. I was on the verge of telling them to go home when we pulled up to our next stop.

As we got out I noticed that the building was very old.

"What is this place Ginny?"

She turned to me with the most brilliant smile on her face "it's an opera house. I know you said you've always wanted to go so...here we are."

"Oh Ginny! Thank you. I don't know what to say."

"I never thought I'd see the day" said Parvati and all I could do was laugh.

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"Okay before we call it a night Hermione let's play a game of truth or dare" pleaded Ginny. The others had gone home so that it was only the two of us and Luna who had stayed over because she didn't want to be home alone.

Luna nodded eagerly, quite excited to play the muggle game.

"Sure."

Ginny quickly got up from where she was perched on the couch and got a glass bottle which she then rested on the table situated in the centre of the room. She then spun it and it landed on Luna.

"Luna, truth or dare?"

"It doesn't really matter either way does it? But I suppose if I must choose I'll pick truth."

"Are you and Neville secretly an item but you two are two afraid to tell us?"

Luna's blush was evident on her normally very pale face. In all the years I've known her I never saw her flustered before so, when I saw that blush I knew the answer to the question even before she gave her answer.

"No we're not."

Or at least I thought I knew what her answer was going to be. So what the hell was that blush about then?

"Really? Wow. I honestly thought you two were something more. The way he looks at you... oh well. It's your turn to spin now Luna."

It landed on Ginny.

"I choose truth."

"Hmm...What shall I ask you? How far along are you?"

Ginny turned an almost green colour at that question. She looked at me nervously before she averted her gaze.

What the hell?

"How did you know Luna?"

"It's your turn to answer questions right now Ginny, not mine."

"Fine. I'm five weeks. I found out last week."

"You're pregnant and you didn't tell me Ginny?" I asked, absolutely outraged by the fact that she kept this secret from me.

"Well you were so caught up in the wedding that I didn't want to take away your thunder. I was planning to tell you as soon as you and Ron came back from your honeymoon I swear."

"Fine. It's your turn again."

Once more the bottle landed on Luna. What the hell? Ugh.

"Perfect. Truth or dare Luna?"

"Truth. No wait I want dare!"

"Too late. You already chose truth. Now spill! What was that blush about earlier when I asked you about Neville?"

"Nothing."

"Luna, you have to answer or we are going to have to make you do something very unpleasant or embarrassing. Or both" I informed her.

"Fine. I may have a bit of a crush on him. Please do not say anything to anyone. Okay?"

"No problem" both Ginny and I repeated.

She spun the bottle and this time it landed on me. Finally!

"I choose dare Luna. These questions are a bit too intense for my liking."

"You're such a coward Hermione. Even Luna faced the fire. What are you so scared of anyway?"

"You. Now what's my dare Luna?"

She reached into her bag and handed me a time turner. I looked at her quizzically before she told me what she wanted me to do.

"I want you to go to dinner with James Potter."

A/N: This story idea was an alphabet challenge from saphire butterfly. So? What do you think? Please leave a review and let me know you're out there and reading my stuff...