Prologue:
The very beginning…
They had hardly met, if ever and now the entire Order and her second family was trying to convince her that she had to marry him, for her own protection and for the protection of her best mates – Harry and Ron.
It all started a little like this….
They were given a secret mission and everybody except her unofficial surrogate mum Mrs. Molly Weasley was on her side. Molly Weasley just worried too much. They had a plan, they knew what to do. There were just a few glitches that had to be ironed out. All was set. But with Voldemort gaining power in the ministry, it would be extremely easy for them to track three young well-known wizards. The idea was simple really. On the tracker it wouldn't show the three young friends, instead it would show a family travelling with a friend – a combination that would raise lesser of an alarm if the relation was kept well hidden. She had two choices – either marry Harry (which she could not consider at all given that (a) Ginny would probably murder her in her sleep and (b) and more importantly, because it would feel a lot like incest!) Her other option was of course Ron… Ronald Billius Weasley, the boy she had been crushing on since time immemorable. But she knew she couldn't do that to him. If they ever got together, she wanted it to be because he cared for her as much as she did for him. Anything short of that would feel wrong to her and she just couldn't bring herself to do it. And that brought her back to her current predicament. Where did she go from here? She knew she had to be beside Harry, that was her place, she was very clear on that front. She had already obliviated her parents so there was no way back that side anymore, she thought, her eyes glistening slightly. It was these reasons that she found herself sitting in the cozy room, just under the den of the Burrow, discussing her un-enviable position with Mr. Weasley, the twins, Bill and a few members of the Order, namely, Professor Lupin, the new Mrs. Lupin aka Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt. Mrs. Weasley was of course absent. They had decided that once Harry got to the Burrow, in other two weeks' time, Hermione was to have her bags on her person every single minute, ready to leave, ensuring to have both Harry and Ron with her, to run at the slightest notice.
They had decided to use the ghoul in the dungeons as Ron (by charming him to look like Ron as much as possible) and report a severe bout of illness for his lack of attendance at Hogwarts. They now needed a good reason for Hermione to be skipping school too. If the authorities knew that they were together, they would be on their backs in no time, not that they had any hopes of the authorities believing them anyway. It was all a ruse to keep the ones they were leaving behind safe.
"Well, if you are planning on passing two of them off as related, I must say Arthur that Hermione would need to marry a Weasley, unless of course you decide to let Harry marry Ginny, making Ron and him brothers. As Hermione is not ready to marry Harry or Ron, those are the only choices we face," said Remus looking thoughtful.
"Hmm…I agree. Though we can't have Harry marrying Ginny as she is still underage; the ministry would know of it within a minute of their nuptials. Also, if Hermione marries one of my boys instead of some long lost cousins of ours, we have the added advantage of guaranteeing that her husband wouldn't turn his back on us mid-way and go prattling off to the other side," replied Arthur, deep in thought about which boy of his would be best suited for this new role. He would've recommended Percy, seeing as how Hermione seemed to have most in common with him, but alas, Percy had quit the family fold to prove himself. What exactly the boy was trying to prove was beyond Arthur, but he understood better than most that there were times when parents could only stand back and watch, hoping they had prepared their wards well enough to take on the world. His eldest and second, had after all taken life altering decisions and chosen extremely dangerous occupations as soon as they were out of Hogwarts and the twins hadn't even bothered with a simple 'by your leave' when they'd spectacularly over-ridden the eldest duo's passion for adventure and quit school and opened up a joke shop in Diagon Alley in the middle of a brewing war! And it was best for his sanity if he was left in the dark about his youngest's exploits, there was only so much a father could bear after all!
"Oh my! I know! She has to marry Charlie! He is the perfect solution!" exclaimed a very excited Tonks, cutting into Arthur's reverie, just as he was considering asking one of the twins to stand up for the task.
"Hear me out first," she warned before any of the others could voice their opinions against her idea. "He is my best friend so I can guarantee he'll treat her right. He is a member of the Order so we have that in place. He is studious and loves to read so they'll have something to talk about after the wedding. Unlike Bill, he is available, I know for sure because that guy never dates. Unlike Percy, he is not a git." Many of those present snorted at that. "Unlike the twins who are in the thick of things, he is not close enough to the scene and was specifically instructed to stay away in Romania by Dumbledore, so that way we can explain away her absence, however long it might be, even to Molly! She's been dreaming of the day when she can call Hermione her own, so she'll be too ecstatic to even consider foul play. And by marriage, she'll be related to Ron. It also gives us the added advantage of her name change. While she will be Mrs. Weasley, everyone's first and probably only guess would be Mrs. Ron Weasley, well, at least not Mrs. Charlie Weasley, giving us extra leverage and the kids some down time while they are in hiding carrying out their secret mission. In fact, if we hurry enough and keep our mouths shut, we can even merge their wedding time to coincide with Bill's so all the festivities would hide their wedding."
Everyone was in deep thought, weighing out her words and trying to find a hitch anywhere. So far all came up empty. After a good half hour, they all finally relented saying that that was probably their best idea so far and their safest bet. Everyone was then assigned different jobs. Tonks was to get in touch with Charlie personally, she being the only non-Weasley who could do it without raising suspicions. Mr. Weasley was to get a marriage registry certificate to officiate their wedding. He would explain it saying that he wanted to officiate his eldest son's wedding, as these licences were valid for one marriage only; he would later explain the other minister's arrival pleading a change in plan from Fleur's side who needed a Veela minister (who was already booked by them) to officiate their wedding. The wedding would take place in the wee hours of the morning on the day before Bill's wedding, to avoid the crowd and yet keep the suspicions at bay.
By the next two hours the entire wedding was planned. Arthur would officiate their union. Bill would be the best man and Kingsley and Remus their witnesses. Hermione refused to involve Ginny in this and spoke in clear terms about her not wanting any bridesmaid at all. She was however worn down by Tonks and finally realised that she in fact did not mind having Tonks by her side for those few minutes. Harry would walk her down the aisle, for she had to tell him about this fiasco of a wedding and she knew him well enough to know that he would want to be a part of it all, standing by her side. She would just wear her dress from Fleur's wedding and marry in it. It was unanimously decided that a white dress would raise too many questions. The Burrow was guarded enough but in such times you had to be cautious despite it all. Hermione refused to make matters difficult for everyone by being demanding in any way and therefore did not object to anything at all. Charlie would be requested to stay on till Harry, Ron and herself were to leave, on that same day he would leave too, leaving behind a long letter explaining to his mother how he had fancied the little Ms. Granger and now that she was of age he wanted her all to himself and was taking her along with him to the dragon reserve to keep her safe and away from all the bloodshed. Arthur promised to keep all safe from Molly's wrath after the letter and prevent her from going to the reserve at all costs citing Hermione's safety as a good reason to stay away and keep the ministry from finding out what had transpired. No one was to find out about this marriage except for the people present, Harry and of course Charlie. Mrs Weasley would be told of it at the very end. They were sure that it would take at least 4-5 months for the entire sham to be exposed and for the ministry to try to track them again with better information. Five months Hermione swore inwardly to use best.
Now all that was left to do was to gain the groom's approval but Tonks seemed too sure of herself and promised that she would swing by soon enough with a positive reply. Hermione and Remus both gave two identical small knowing smiles as Tonks had broken down their reservations pretty quickly too.
Tonks returned after three short days with a big smile, a 'Yes! He is willing to do it!' on her lips and a small letter and a beautiful dragon scale bookmark for Hermione from her husband-to-be. In two more weeks Hermione was going to be a Mrs. Weasley, Mrs. Charlie Weasley. That was when the entire thing sank in and Hermione promptly fainted!