This story, being a wedding present for someone who had a wedding and asked for a wedding themed story, is full of fluff, attempts to be amusing and hopefully tries to convey the characters' love in those crazy days of wedding preparations. Which happened to be... 500, not less.

I tried to give it a "500 Days of Summer" style, in case it's not too obvious, and seriously, I would have written about more days, haha. Many thanks to exartemarte, who beta-read this.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of JK Rowling. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

500 Days of Wedding

The window of Ron's bedroom opened, revealing for a moment a full, orange moon, which was almost immediately obscured by the room's owner.

'Ron? What are you doing here?' Hermione exclaimed, sitting up to confirm that she was not dreaming and that her soon-to-be husband was indeed climbing in through the window.

'You're not asleep, good,' Ron said with a grin, finally stepping down and propping his broomstick against the wall.

'I couldn't. But you shouldn't be here, anyway. What do you mean by climbing through people's windows at the dead of the night?'

'All right, first of all, I'm not climbing through people's windows, only yours,' Ron replied, crossing to the bed. 'Second, I thought that if I Apparated, you might jinx the hell out of me.'

'I might,' conceded Hermione.

'And last but not least, I think you staying here is stupid. We've been living together for two years, and if it was just to be prepared for tomorrow, you could Apparate in a second and be done with it.'

'And what if it was so a certain someone wouldn't attempt to break our no-sex deal?' Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.

'I wasn't going to, I'm not here to ravish you... much as I'd like to,' Ron answered.

'Who said I was talking about you?'

'You shameless witch,' said Ron, taking in Hermione's smirk.

He climbed on the bed next to her and kissed her softly. 'Have some self-control, will you?'

'I'll do my best. But do tell, what brings you here?'

'I couldn't sleep either.' He looked at her and smiled. 'And I wanted to spend my last night as a single man with you.'

'Oh, so are you getting married tomorrow?'

'I believe so. Provided the napkin rings are the same shade of blue as my eyes...'

'Here we go again.' Hermione rolled her eyes, but he could feel the warmth of a blush creeping up her face.

Day (495)

'No, I don't want to change it with magic! It's not a question of what I can do; we are paying for that cake and it should be what I asked for!'

Yelled wedding arrangements had become an every day thing as the big day approached, which was why Ron decided to avoid the kitchen for a while and say hello when things were calmer.

'Hey, Dad.'

'Well, darling, of course you're right, but since it's done—' Ron heard his mum saying, in a conciliatory tone.

'Hi, Ron. You might want to sit down here; it seems like dinner will be a while yet,' his father said to him from the sofa that dominated the flat's small living room.

'—it will be remade, I've already told her—'

'What are you watching?' Ron asked, glancing at the TV set.

'I still don't understand why you chose a Muggle cake-maker. And why does it matter that it's a slightly different shade of blue?'

'Sports... How great would it be if they had Quidditch? I mean, you can't compare it to watching a match live, but it'd be useful on occasions.'

'Because they are delicious, beautiful and simple, in contrast to what the bakers' shops in Diagon Alley offer. I didn't want a... a singing cake, or the filling to jump inside people's stomachs...'

'Yeah... You know, yesterday I saw a programme about a man who collected stuff, like watches. I thought you'd like it.'

'And as for the colour, it's supposed to match the rest of the scheme: it's not a carnival! It's the exact shade of Ron's eyes, and I gave her a piece of fabric as a reference,' added Hermione, as she entered the living room, followed by Molly wearing her most patient look. Hermione walked up to Ron and kissed him, before saying, 'Dinner is almost ready.'

'I'm sorry, but I don't think Ron's eyes are that shade,' said Mrs Weasley.

'Well, no, not naturally... only some times,' said Hermione, cupping Ron's face and looking at him in a way that almost made him forget that his parents were right there—

'Shall we serve dinner now?' Molly said, a little too loudly.

'I'm sorry you've got such a lunatic bride,' Hermione sighed, lying on her side. Ron positioned himself next to her, his eyes fixed on hers. 'Do you still feel like marrying her?'

'Only if she'll have me. And even if she wouldn't, I would insist.'

Day (470)

Ron gritted his teeth and rubbed his temple, in an attempt to avoid the oncoming headache.

'Could you please stop talking about the wedding for a while, calm down and come and have lunch with me?' he asked.

Hermione glared at him from behind a pile of folders, brochures and rolls of parchment.

'Why, is it giving you a headache?' she asked moodily. How am I supposed to feel, then, given that I'm the one in charge of everything while you've hardly helped at all?'

'You don't want my help, Hermione; you love being in charge! And I couldn't care less about the centrepieces, or the invitations; you knew that and said it didn't matter. You knew I wanted a small affair, with just our relatives and close friends—'

'And you knew that it wouldn't be possible! We have so many acquaintances, and lots of people who have helped us; we can't just decide not to invite them to our wedding!'

Ron reached her desk in two strides and jabbed a finger at an open folder, where Hermione had been revising over and over the seating plan they had supposedly finalised the previous night.

'All I'm saying is that you're going too far. You're going mental over it! It's a wedding, not a bloody ministry report, or... or a plan to break into Gringotts. It's supposed to be simple, fun! Isn't it?'

'I'm certainly not having fun, Ron!' Hermione said, standing up and snatching back the seating plan. 'You obviously have no idea what it's like, planning something like this—'

'And what is that supposed to mean?'

'—this is difficult, you're not helping, and I'm doing my best!' Hermione finished, ignoring Ron.

'I'm only saying that when I proposed to you, all I was thinking of was how much I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you!' Ron replied, softening his voice. 'In my list I only had "proposing", "getting married", "getting a proper house"... Planning a wedding was never a problem to me, and I didn't think it would be to you either. If I'd known otherwise—'

He stopped dead as he caught the dangerous glint that had appeared in Hermione's eyes.

'If you'd known otherwise, what? Let's hear the end of that sentence,' she said coldly.

'I wasn't implying... I meant that we could have eloped, or—'

'You know who I am, Ron, you know how I like things to be. So... what, if you had thought about it you wouldn't have proposed to me?' she asked, standing right in front of him defiantly.

'No!'

'If this has become too much for you to handle, you can walk away now, Ron!' Hermione yelled. 'It wouldn't be the first time, would it?'

She turned her back to him, the stony look on Ron's face the last thing she saw, but Hermione didn't care in the heat of the moment. Before she got back to her desk, though, she found herself pressed between Ron and the wall, her hands held tightly by his on either side of her head. Besides anger, Hermione saw pain in his eyes, and she regretted every word she'd said.

'You know I'll never leave you again,' Ron said roughly. 'I promised. You know that. Don't you?'

She nodded, swallowing the knot in her throat.

'Then don't ever say anything like that again.'

Hermione put a hand behind his neck and pulled him closer, then pressed a single kiss against his lips.

'I won't let you go either. I promised, too. Did you know that?'

'Yes,' Ron said before kissing her back.

It didn't take long to turn into something else, deeper, knowing and passionate, as it usually did. Once again, Hermione wondered whether these abrupt changes of mood were good for their physical health, before her mind became too foggy for rational thought.

However, the singsong noise of Ron's watch reached her, wherever Hermione was; he groaned but persisted, sliding his hands further up the skin of her back.

'Ron.' She cleared her throat. 'Ron, it's time...'

'All right, all right, I heard it!' He looked at her in the eye. 'So, here we go again, until this bloody wedding is over.'

She shook her head and smiled.

'Not any more. And I'll tell you what... Tonight there'll be no planning. I'm all yours.'

'Really?'

'Yes. Besides, I still have to get that bridal glow, or whatever it is.'

'I've heard it takes almost a month... twice a day, to get a proper glow, you know.'

Ron kissed her one last time and turned to go. As he opened the door, Hermione called out, 'I've heard it takes a little more.'

He stared at her, frozen in his tracks.

'Suddenly I don't feel like eloping.'

'Do you think I'm glowing enough?'

'You're glowing so bright that it's blinding me,' Ron joked, covering his eyes. 'But maybe if we'd had sex today as well...'

'I'd be tired, distracted, and half of the things we needed done would still be waiting.'

'And that's your wedding glow!' Ron chuckled. 'Have you ever seen a relaxed bride? They all look frightening until they're walking down the aisle.

'Thank you, Ron,' Hermione said, scowling and hitting him on a shoulder. 'Oh, I forgot to tell you: Viktor finally confirmed that he's free and he'll be coming with a partner.'

'The dickhead's coming, great news.' Ron rolled his eyes.

'Don't call him that, Ron. You promised you'd be nice!'

In the moonlit room, he could see she looked apprehensive. Frankly, there was no reason. It had been a long time ago when he had stopped worrying about Viktor Krum or anyone else.

'I will be. After all, I'll be too busy waiting for you at the end of the aisle,' he replied, entwining their fingers together.

Day (37)

The scratching of the quill across the parchment joined the buzzing of the bees as if it was just another sound of nature in the relative quiet. Hermione was sitting under the cool shadow of an ancient oak tree at The Burrow, not far from the orchard where Ron, Harry, Ginny and Charlie, who had come to visit, were playing Quidditch. She, on the other hand, was busy writing a long list.

'Boo!' Ron shouted, Apparating right in front of her and waving his arms so as to startle her. Even though Hermione squirmed slightly, she rolled eyes before saying, 'I knew the match was over.'

She looked up at him, squinting in the spring sun. Ron was sweaty; the tee shirt he was wearing clung to his torso, highlighting his modest muscles. His face seemed more freckled than usual, his red hair was messed up from the game, and he was grinning at her.

'What're you doing there?' he asked, standing behind Hermione to look over her shoulder, bending down to kiss the top of her head.

'The guest list.'

'Oh, er...' Ron stepped back. 'I'll leave you, then, I should have a shower—'

'You come back here,' Hermione replied, grabbing his arm as he tried to leave.

'Really, Hermione, you're doing well without me.' Ron tried to walk, but he was dragging Hermione along; she didn't let go, digging her heels into the ground.

'You—have—to help—me!' Hermione drew out her wand. 'I'll jinx you if you don't come back!'

Ron laughed, still trying to break free. 'I won't be of much help if you do.' Before he knew it, Hermione had flicked her wand in his direction and he was hanging downwards by the ankle.

'Hermione! Put me down, I was joking!'

'Will you help me, then?' Hermione asked, looking menacing.

'Yes... yes, I will!'

'All right,' Hermione replied, smiling, and she silently casted a Cushioning Charm on the ground before murmuring, 'Liberacorpus!'

'Now, please stop acting like a fool and come here,' said Hermione, crawling back under the oak tree and reaching for her parchment and quill. Sighing, Ron caught up with her, lying on his stomach on the ground next to her.

'Can I have a look at that?' Ron asked, and took the list that she handed him.

'I didn't add any of your relatives; I think it's better if you do it... although maybe your mother has already done it,' Hermione said, as Ron scanned the list.

'The teachers from Hogwarts?' Ron asked, somewhat shocked.

'Well, of course, Ron! After all they've done for us... And we're friends with most of them, how could we not invite them to our wedding?'

'But why all of them? Right, never mind.' Ron scratched his ear as he continued reading, mouthing the names of guests. 'The people from the office, the staff at George's shop, aha...' His eyes went down the list until they found something apparently alarming.

'Krum?'

'What's wrong with him?' Hermione asked, defiantly.

'You can't be serious,' said Ron, sitting up. 'Why are you inviting him?'

'Why not? We're friends—' Hermione retorted, cut off by Ron's snort.

'You can't invite the bloke after what happened.'

'And what's that, may I ask?'

'You went out with him, then broke up; after that you've barely had contact,' Ron said grumpily, the last statement sounding more as if it was to convince himself. 'We've talked about this before!'

'Yes, we have, and I thought I made it clear that we ended up as friends,' Hermione replied, snatching the parchment from Ron's hands.

'Besides, I'm not asking you to invite him.'

Ron looked surprised.

'Good. Because we're—'

'I'm just letting you know,' said Hermione firmly.

'Really? Well, what would you think if I invited Lavender?'

Hermione blinked, confused.

'Ron, didn't you just read the list? We are inviting Lavender!'

Ron jumped to his feet.

'Hermione! You're joking, right? This is a joke list?' he asked, hopeful, but Hermione shook her head, glaring at him.

'Come on! That'd be awkward. We can't invite them, neither of them.'

'Please, Ron, that's really immature. Lavender was our classmate. It'd be simply rude to invite the rest of our Gryffindor classmates but not her! And even if my friendship with Viktor isn't very close, we're penpals and he does care about me, as a friend,' she added. 'You know, he's a nice person, you just never gave him a chance,' Hermione pointed, going back to her list.

'I don't care if he's the nicest bloke in the whole world. I'm against the idea, and if you don't give a damn for my opinion, I don't know why the bloody hell you asked for it in the first place,' Ron retorted, striding away from her, toward the house.

'All right, let's call off the wedding!' Hermione shouted back.

Ron stopped on his tracks.

'You... you don't... want to marry me?' Ron mumbled, still not turning round.

'No, I do want to,' Hermione said, nonchalantly, 'but it's quite obvious that we'll never agree, isn't it? So what's the point? There will always be thousands of things we won't agree about. It could be a problem in the long term, don't you think? Yes... I think we would be better not marrying at all,' Hermione concluded, nodding to herself and scratching her chin with the quill.

'Wait, wait: you're giving up, just like that?' Ron ran up to her and threw himself down to the ground beside her. 'Listen, if you want to marry me, I want to marry you, we can't just give up—'

'Why not? We haven't bought anything yet, so that won't be a problem; as for our families, they'll get used to the idea,' Hermione told him still looking absent-mindedly at the distance. 'Really, Ron, it won't be a problem; we're already living together, but if it's too awkward or if it becomes unbearable with time, we can always go our separate ways...'

Ron looked desperate.

'You don't want to live with me either?'

Hermione raised her eyebrows, but before she could answer, Ron grabbed her hands and forced her to look at him.

'I don't want us to go our separates ways. I want us to be married!'

'Well, of course, me too, but...'

'Bloody hell, will you stop this nonsense?' said Ron, shaking her lightly by the shoulders. 'I get your point, we can't give up whenever we argue and if we don't agree with each other's opinions, then one of us has to yield. If it will stop you from throwing away the whole wedding thing, then I... I'm the one yielding this time,' said Ron, sighing.

Amused, Hermione shook her head, cupping Ron's face in her hands and moving closer.

'I'm glad you made up your mind. Throwing away the wedding, are you mental?' she whispered at last, before kissing him.

'You drive me mental. Were you pulling my leg?' Ron inquired, half responding to her kiss.

'Merlin's beard, no. I was being serious. So, are we agreed on the guest list?' Hermione asked, giving him a little smile.

'I suppose,' Ron conceded, frowning at her, torn between amusement and disbelief. 'But you know what, Granger, next time you'll be the one yielding!'

'Well,' Hermione began slowly, 'are you scared?'

'Scared? Why, are you going to look that hideous?' Ron asked, chuckling, which earned him a loud smack on his bare arm. 'I'm not scared. Just nervous. You know, that I'll do what I usually do, screw up and ruin it for you...'

Hermione pressed a hand against his chest, snuggling closer.

'You won't. I realize I've been a harpy in the few last months, especially the last few weeks, getting everything ready... but Ron, tomorrow I won't care about any of that. I already don't care.'

She smiled at his incredulous face.

'It'll be about us, nothing else. Won't it?'

'Oh, I thought the point of a wedding was to celebrate other people's happiness,' he joked, slapping his forehead.

'Shut up already.' Hermione kissed him and burrowed her face into his chest. Then, she looked up at him. 'You'll stay with me?'

'Yes. I'll be gone before you wake up.'

'All right. Goodnight,' she said with a content sight, as they both closed their eyes.

Day (500)

And so the morning came, clear blue skies and a typically warm summer's day. Hermione's mind was busy checking everything that had been done or needed to be done, from the moment she woke up until she stepped into her father's car. This, done wisely, helped her to keep her nerves at bay.

The wedding ceremony and reception were being held at a hall in the village of Ottery St. Catchpole that served for all kinds of important wizarding events in the area. The place was magnificent, and could be adapted for any occasion. The ceiling was much like the Hogwarts Great Hall, only smaller, and the stone walls had been magically compressed for the event into wide square columns, so that they would feel as if they were outdoors.

As she sat in the car, Hermione felt slightly dizzy in anticipation. The journey was short, especially by car, and they were there before she could finish accommodating the skirts of her dress. Her father opened the door for her, and Hermione stepped down from the car, catching the inner side of her bloody long skirt. Oh, the price of vanity! She knew that the charm would still be working for a couple more hours, and yet she could not help checking her hair in the car window.

'You look beautiful, darling,' her father said, smiling, as he offered his arm.

As soon as she set foot in the entrance, Hermione felt overcome with joy. Every head turned to look at her (had they really invited that many people?), but her eyes were fixed on the one who had spotted her first.

From the farthest end of the aisle, she could see that Ron's eyes were wide open in awe, making her feel more self-conscious. He quickly looked her in the eye and gave her a nervous smile, prompting her to join him.

It was a miracle that she didn't trip over, in her high-heeled sandals and the dress that felt tight around her body and kept getting in the way. However, Hermione walked down the aisle as if she was hovering on a particularly speedy cloud, as if Ron had Accio-ed her to him. She could feel her father pulling slightly as she dragged him along.

'Hey,' Ron whispered in amusement when she reached him. 'You seem to be in a hurry. Going somewhere?'

'No, not really. Just marrying someone,' she said, slightly out of breath, smiling at him.

Before he could answer, the wizard who would conduct the wedding cleared his throat softly, and the ceremony began. Hermione looked over Ron's shoulder, to where Harry stood. He caught her glance and smiled brightly at her before her gaze shifted back to Ron, looking more handsome than ever in his dark blue dress robes, and giving her an impossibly wide grin.

They said the customary vows after the wizard that would make them husband and wife, repeating every word fervently. When they finished, and as a shower of stars fell over them following the wizard's closing words, each of them felt the tiniest pull inside, as they kissed and the ancient magic bonded them together for life.

As evening fell, Ron led Hermione off the dance floor and behind a column, where he quietly Disapparated them. They opened their eyes to the cool breeze blowing on top of a small hill overlooking the village; they could see the venue of their wedding down below, alive with light and movement. After all the attention, the noise and the formalities, Hermione thought it felt nice to be surrounded only by silence, next to Ron.

Nevertheless, she asked, 'Why did you bring us here?'

'Well, it was getting quite surreal down there, don't you reckon?' Ron said, turning to look at her. 'I just needed to have you to myself for a minute.'

'You do realize that from now on you'll have me to yourself for life, don't you? I think that's actually the purpose of marriage,' she said, teasingly.

Ron snorted.

'Remember you'll have me too. For better or worse.'

'Heaven help me.'

They looked at each other and laughed. Ron pulled her closer and kissed her, their second kiss as a married couple.

'I know that. I just wanted a minute with you, to make sure it's not a dream,' Ron continued. 'And to tell you that you look stunning. And that you're the most wonderful person I've ever met. I know when I first said that I didn't mean it as much as I do now, but it's true.'

'Ron...' Hermione began softly, but he cut her off.

'No, let me finish. You can have your turn later.' Ron took a deep breath. 'I never guessed I'd end up marrying one of my best friends... although I'm glad it's not Harry.' Hermione smacked him across his chest. 'But it's the best thing ever. I love you.'

'I love you, too,' Hermione replied, blinking to clear up her blurry vision and feeling the tears welling up in her eyes. 'If I'm wonderful, it's because of you. You make me whole. And... you look really dapper today as well.'

Chuckling, Ron embraced her.

'Should we get back to our guests?' he asked, after a while.

'Yes,' Hermione replied, sighing. 'We should be leaving in a while, though. I'm exhausted...'

Ron kissed her again before taking her hand.

'Not too exhausted, I hope?'

Hermione smirked, shaking her head and looking sideways at him. It felt odd to be standing at the same level as his eyes.

'I haven't forgotten we have a long wedding night ahead. After all, a marriage isn't valid until it's consummated, right?'