By the time we had all eaten and packed up ready to go back to the burrow to get ready for the party it was 5pm, the other guests would be arriving at 6 which gave us an hour to get ready, which was not enough time according to Lavender, Parvati and Padma.
It was already planned that the girls would get ready in Ginny's room and the boys in Harry's then once we were ready we were all going to help Molly set up the tables outside. We were instructed by George to wear happy summery clothes and nothing black, unfortunately for me I hardly owned any clothes at the burrow leaving me to borrow Ginny's clothes. I would have gone home to pick up some of my own however Kingsley said it had been attacked, thank god my parents were still in Australia. Apparently they are being located by some aurors and these aurors will contact me as soon as they are found. I felt someone squeeze my hand bringing me out of my thoughts.
"You ok?" Ron gazed down to me looking concerned and not letting go of my hands.
"I was just thinking about my parents." He must have noticed the sadness in my voice as he stopped walking making me stop with him. He grabbed me a turned towards me before cradling my face in his hands.
"Mione, they are going to be ok, the aurors will find you then sort out the transport and we will go to Australia to get them." We? He said we right? "Until then I'm sorry you are stuck in our loony house." He smiled slightly to show he was trying to lighten the mood.
"There is no where I would rather be Ron, I'm just worried, it's been a month, why haven't they been found yet?" My eyes began to fill with tears which I immediately tried to blink away but not before a couple escaped being wiped away by Ron's thumbs. "Anyway, today is about celebration of life, no tears, well no more." I smiled at him, he knew I wanted to drop the subject so continued holding my hand all the way to the Burrow.
We were greeted by Molly who rushed us straight up the stairs, Arthur was sat casually reading the newspaper, seemingly oblivious to the stampede of teenagers now in his house. The girls all went into Ginny's room so I followed, reluctantly letting go of Ron's hand as they boys continued into Harry's room. As soon as the door shut I was bombarded with questions.
"Oh my god Hermione, you are Ron! When did you get together?"
"When did you first kiss?"
"How did he ask you out? I bet it was so cute after all this time!"
"Wow guys, let a girl sit down at least before attacking her." I was thankful that Ginny was here with me.
"Errr" I didn't know where to start, I don't want everyone to know the personal details of me and Ron. "We got together after the battle kind of naturally, I kissed him during a battle and that was it."
"That's it?" Padma seemed shocked when I nodded.
"Oh right… Ginny, what about you and Harry?" Lavender obviously wanted to get some gossip from one of us, mine and Ron's story must not have been exciting enough for them. I just smiled as Ginny wore the same look of horror as I must have done moments ago.
"Oh you know, just the usual, boy's meets girl, he left for a year, I have been in love with him for years and so I snogged his face off and here we are." Uh oh, I knew what was coming now.
"You are in love with him? No way, what's that like?" The twins were both excited by this and wanted to hear the answer to Lavenders question as much as Lavender herself. This was way too much girl talk to me so I tried to change the subject.
"Luna, how is your dad?" The other girls must have forgotten about her since they all turned to look when I mentioned her name. After a response for Luna I had to get out of there.
"I'm going to get my stuff from my room." Oh no, now they know I have a separate room, they are going to ask questions. I left quickly as I heard them ask Ginny where my room was, god I hope she makes something up.
I was out of breath by the time I swung open the bedroom door and found Ron laying on the bed flicking through a book.
"What happened to you?" He laughed as he noticed my quick breathing and red face. I jumped onto the bed next to him and snuggled down into his side.
"I ran away from the gossiping girls downstairs. Why are you here?"
"I'm sick of Seamus asking me… inappropriate questions. I needed a break so said I was getting my stuff." I laughed and explained that was my excuse as well. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, I rolled my head into the crook of Ron's head and groaned, couldn't we have 5 minutes alone today?
Ron laughed. "I bet it's only Harry." He said to me before asking whoever it was what they wanted. I didn't know who is was but I felt Ron stiffen and a girly "Oh."
I turned to find Lavender and the twins at the door with Ginny stood behind looking apologetic. I instantly sat up, Ron groaned and threw one arm over his face to cover his eyes.
"Err hi…" What was I supposed to say, this is so bad.
"Oh sorry Hermione, we just wanted to come up to your room and see if you were coming to get ready, I wanted to try out some hairstyles on you all." I tried not to groan at the thought of someone pulling at my hair but Lavender seemed excited to try.
"She will be down in five more minutes and I don't want you to try straighten her hair, I like it how it is." Ron said whilst pulling me back down onto the bed causing me to blush.
"Right ok, see you in a minute." Ginny said walking to the front of the group before grabbing the door handle and pulling it closed, mouthing a "sorry" to me just before the door closed.
"Ron that was rude." I tried to scold him but my voice sounded relieved giving me away and making Ron laugh.
"I need five minutes of peace with you before anyone else comes to get us." He said before rolling over to face me so our eyes were in line.
"Hi." He whispered.
"Hi yourself" I whispered before pressing my lips against his. We continued to kiss for a few minutes before I remembered the girls were waiting for me downstairs.
"I better go" I said before starting to move away.
"NO" Ron practically shouted before pinning me to the bed with his body and kissing me again. I smiled into the kiss but knew it wouldn't be easy to leave.
"Ron, I have to go get ready, we have a party to attend in case you forgot." I said against his lips making him smile.
"Why don't we have a party of our own up here?" He said smirking against my lips, I slapped him playfully before kissing him once more and pushing him off me. Jumping up as soon as his body moved, allowing me enough room, making a break for my clothes and the door.
"Baby, don't do this." His voice was soft but I could hear a smile to it. I looked back to see him pouting at me.
"Bye Ron." I said quickly, grabbing my stuff and running out the door before I could change my mind. I smiled all the way to Ginny's room but the smile was wiped off my face when I realised this would be hell.
Lavender hardly spent any time on my hair since Ron's instructions not to straighten it made it too hard for her to handle, I was ready within a few minutes dressed in a pale yellow dress that was tight around my chest and waist but with a fanned out skirt that nearly reached my knees. My hair was curly, as always, tied into a simple low bun with some unruly curls sticking out in different directions, all the girls except Luna, who was in her own world as usual, insisted I put some make up on so allowed them to put a tiny amount of mascara on and some clear lip gloss. Harry had come in a few minutes previously to tell us that the boys were going to set up outside.
As we all left the Burrow and went to the garden we saw that the boys were moving around the tables and chairs without magic. Seamus was grumbling about how they were wizards who didn't need this hassle but Ron and Harry were getting on with it. Molly always said that we should learn the muggle way of doing things as well. I couldn't complain today as I watched Ron lift a stack of chairs, I could see his muscles through his tight shirt. He looked up and grinned when he saw me so I flashed him a huge smile. The garden was pretty much set up with one long table in the middle where I guessed we would all eat at and then a few smaller ones around where I presumed the food and drinks would be.
The boys were finishing up and walking towards us, the butterflies started to rise in my stomach as Ron got closer and closer. When he reached me he grabbed my hand and span me around, whistling as I did so.
"You look great." He said when I stopped and placed his hands on my hips, mine were now against his chest.
"You're not too bad yourself." I teased getting lost in his sparkling blue eyes. He was grinning down at me staring into my eyes. I could spend the rest of my life with Ron looking into his eyes, they hold so much emotion that it can be overwhelming. His eyes flicked down to my lips and he licked his own in response before leaning down for a soft kiss. He was stopped though by a shout from Padma.
"Ron, you will ruin her lip-gloss." Ron closed his eyes and tried to stop the growl of frustration escaping. I however couldn't care less about my lip gloss and kissed Ron anyway who was shocked and took a second to respond before smiling against my lips.
"Why do we bother?" I heard one of the twins ask the other. This made me and Ron laugh and have to pull away. The fact that they were so upset by my lip-gloss getting ruined was hilarious and Ron evidently thought so too.
"Damn Hermione, your lip gloss is ruined." Ron said before laughing again. "I don't know why you bother with her either girls, she's a lost cause." I slapped Ron playfully, he turned back to me. "Why do you have lip-gloss on anyway and what's on your eyelashes?"
"Honestly Ron, it makes girls look better." Parvati said, Ron seemed outraged by this.
"Why the hell have you got it on, you don't need this stuff and I like you how you are without this stuff on your face, you are perfect anyway so you can't look any better." The other girls were shocked into silence as Ron said this to me, I myself also didn't know what to say, how he can be so clueless about girls one minute and the next say the most amazing thing to me, is shocking. I just beamed at him with my eyes filling slightly, he thinks I'm perfect!
"Wait, what? Why are you crying, is this one of those times that I have said something good?" He was so cute when he was confused so I just nodded and kissed him to stop him talking.
"Even though this lip stuff tastes nice I prefer your natural taste." He said winking down at me.
"I will remember that next time" I laughed. He kissed me once again.
"Ron, Hermione, you have guests, can't you keep your lips away from one another until the end of the party, Ron go help George." Ron laughed at his mother's words whereas my face was probably the colour of a tomato, he looked down at me before laughing more and pulling me into his chest and leaning down to my ear.
"You are adorable, I love you Mione." His voice now serious. Before he pulled away I whispered back to him.
"I love you too Ron." He pressed a kiss onto my cheek which earned a tut from Molly who was wearing a huge smile, before leaving me to go to George. Molly then pulled me into a hug of her own which shocked me.
"I'm so glad to have you in our family Hermione." She squeezed me tightly before pulling away with a smile on her face.
"It's an honour to be part of your family." She smiled even wider now before leaving to fetch the food.
Once all the food was set out and everyone started to get drinks, guests started arriving. Arthur charmed a muggle stereo to play music for us all night. I was surprised by how many people actually turned up and wondered how we would all fit at the tables. I felt arms around my stomach and relaxed when I looked down recognising them as Ron's arms. I don't know why I expect it to be anyone else but after nearly a year on the run I'm still jumpy and expect I will be for a while to come.
"Hey beautiful, you want a drink or dance?" He whispers in my ear, I look over to the stereo and see many couples and a few singles dancing along to the music.
"Yea let's go!" We danced away for what felt like minutes but must have been hours since it was now getting dark, realising it was time to leave the dance floor we went for some food and drinks.
"Hermione dear, could you help Ginny inside? I have asked her to get some more drinks out the kitchen." Molly said as me and Ron approached the table. I went inside to find Ginny and found her in the kitchen trying to balance the drinks on a tray.
"Hey, need help?" I offered already starting to help her, just as I was placing more drinks on the table a huge shiver passed down my back.
"You ok?" Ginny asked looking concerned.
"Something's wrong, I can feel it." Every hair on my body stood up and I instantly felt cold. Something was definitely wrong.
