"DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THE PASSWORD?" A strangely familiar voice called.
"I have it written down somewhere," another said.
"Hurry up, my arm's killing me!" A third voice called. "Just knock on the door."
"Don't you lay one finger on me!" the Fat Lady piped shrilly.
Ginny pranced across the common room and quickly opened the portrait.
"GINNY!" several people called at once.
Hermione watched in a daze as several people spilled through the portrait hole. Mrs. Weasley was first; She was wearing a long, knitted shawl and carrying a bundle of blankets in her arms. Just over the brim of the blankets, Hermione could make out a tuft of violet hair. She was followed by Arthur and George Weasley, each of whom were carrying large traveling trunks. Bill Weasley and Fleur followed suit and stepped through the portrait hole, but all the while Hermione had hardly been paying attention. The person she was most interested to see, was the last person to enter the common room.
"RON!" Neville said with excitement as he leaped off the couch and ran to shake hands with his groomsman.
Hermione felt as though her heart had stopped and she had to remind herself to breath. She hardly noticed when Mrs. Weasley addressed her until she was pulled into an embrace.
"How are you dear?" Mrs. Weasley said warmly as she squeezed Hermione with one arm.
"I'm fine," she said softly. She glanced down and saw a pair of bright, blue eyes staring back at her.
"Hello, Teddy," Hermione cooed as she ran her fingers over his violet hair. "He's gotten so big!"
"Let me get him unwrapped and you can have him," Mrs. Weasley assured her. "I feel like my arm is going to fall off."
Desperate to avoid confrontation with Ron, Hermione followed Mrs. Weasley to the sofa and watched quietly while she peeled off the layers of blankets around the baby. Finally, Teddy spilled out onto her lap wearing a blue jumper.
Hermione held out her arms and smiled when Teddy reached out to her. She was hardly surprised when she scooped him into her arms and he wrapped one of his fat little hands in her hair.
"I should have warned you," Mrs. Weasley said sympathetically. "He likes to pull hair."
"I see that," Hermione winced.
It took several minutes to dislodge Teddy's hand from her locks, but he smiled all the while.
"Zo, where iz zee bride?" Fleur asked when everyone had settled down.
"She's went back to her common room," Ginny said.
"We'll get started in a bit then," Mrs. Weasley said.
Hermione passed Teddy to Ginny, who had been most anxious to see him, and tucked the box carrying her dress under her arm.
"I'll meet you lot in the Great Hall," Hermione said. She forced a halfhearted smile as she slipped though the portrait hole.
...x...x...x...
The group of people that had assembled to help decorate for the upcoming wedding was impressive. They had all gathered at the Gryffindor house table to go over Luna's vision, and as Hermione glanced around the room, she began to think they had too much help... but then again, it was Luna's wedding, and it was bound to be an impressive task.
Headmistress McGonagall, Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, and Hagrid had all volunteered their time, and were waiting to be given instructions. The Weasley family, including Arthur, George, Bill, Fleur, Ginny, and Ron were seated together at the table while Mrs. Weasley was tending to Teddy in the Gryffindor common room. And then there was Hermione, Cho, Neville, and Harry who were seated together quietly, watching as Luna placed an armful of rolled parchment on the table as well as several invitations.
"I've drawn up a few things that I would like," Luna said cheerfully, "and I've brought you all a mask, except for Hagrid. I'm still working on yours."
Hermione smiled as she imagined an enormous masquerade mask that she could easily wear around her waist as a belt.
The plans that Luna had drawn out were surprisingly detailed. Thank goodness for magic, Hermione thought to herself as she scanned over the plans. Luna was happily telling them about all of her plans and as Hermione looked up from the drawings, she heard something like, "...and if it could rain glitter, that would be pretty cool."
"So, let me get this straight," Ginny said, taking charge. "Hagrid will handle the four white Christmas trees while the girls handle the bows for the 400 guest chairs. We have an arbor to build, 50 centerpieces to make, and we have to work with the house elves as far as the menu is concerned."
Luna nodded and smiled widely. "That should get us started."
They started by making the house tables and the teacher's table all disappear. With the hall empty, they were now able to start from scratch to create Luna's perfect vision. Hermione had to admit, that the more progress they made, the more excited she was to see the finished product. It was definitely going to be a wedding to remember.
"I zimply love weddings," Fleur said with a happy smile as she finished off another chair. Ginny, Hermione, Cho, and Fleur each had a different color ribbon that they were tying around beautiful, white wooden chairs. They each flicked their wands and the ribbon sprang to life, flipping and looping itself into a perfect bow. Although they were making progress, they still had over 300 chairs to finish and Hermione had the uneasy feeling that they would never finish.
Hagrid drug in four enormous Christmas trees and Headmistress McGonagall and Professor Flitwick charmed them white. Then, they decorated them with glittering, shimmering ornaments and fuzzy silver garland. Professor Sprout had set to work on a centerpiece design; She had chosen several, beautifully colored flowers that danced around in a tall glass vase and she had charmed the pebbles in the bottom on the vase to change colors.
"It's perfect!" Luna exclaimed as she approved the centerpiece. "Only 49 to go!"
Hermione heard a disheartened chuckle from Professor Sprout as she set to work on her second masterpiece.
Luna and Neville had slipped off to the kitchens with Harry to go over the menu with the elves, and the Weasley boys had started working on building the arbor. In between her bows, Hermione would look up momentarily to see if Ron was looking her way, only to find that he was intent on the task at hand. Slightly disappointed, she would continue working on the chairs.
Because the Great Hall was no longer in any fit condition to host dinner, the students remaining at Hogwarts were allowed to order dinner from their common rooms while those who were working on the wedding simply conjured two tables in the middle of the Great Hall to eat. Not by coincidence, Ron sat at the opposite table from Hermione and did not make eye contact with her.
Looking around the Great Hall as she ate, Hermione had to admit that they had made incredible progress. The Christmas trees were complete and were glittering proudly in the four corners of the room and the arbor was almost finished; It was a large white arch laced with various flowers supplied by Professor Sprout. Over half of the chairs were complete, but they were still scattered throughout the hall. They still had the remainder of the week to finish all the projects, and Hermione was confident that everything would be ready.
After everyone had finished eating and the talk around the tables had died down, they all headed back to their designated rooms to tuck in for the night. Hermione headed back to her bed chamber, but she was hardly tired. Her mind was racing. Just as her fingertips reached the door handle, she got the irking feeling that she was being watched. Slowly, she reached for her wand and glanced down the corridor. Coming directly toward her was a tall, lanky figure with flaming red hair.
She gasped and felt a lump form in her throat. It was Ron.
What would she say to him? Was there anything that she could say? Their breakup had been somewhat pleasant, but there were still a lot of unresolved issues that were certain to resurface. And to further complicate matters, she had a new boyfriend. But still, they had been best friends at one time. Surely they could put everything behind them and go back to being friends.. right?
She stood frozen as Ron made his way toward her, his hands stuffed in his trouser stopped a few feet in front of Hermione and smiled nervously.
"Hello," he said, as calmly as he could manage.
"Erm.. hello."
A moment of awkward silence followed before Ron stretched his arms out to embrace Hermione.
"It's been a while," he said.
Hermione felt Ron's arms tighten around her, but she made no move to push him away. She wasn't sure what to do, but she closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest; She took in a deep breath of his cologne and felt a warmness spread over her body. He was so familiar, and yet she felt as though they were strangers.
"It has," she agreed.
They stood in the dark for a long moment, neither one knowing what to say. Ron then loosened his grip on her and let his arms fall to his side.
"How are you?" he asked, tucking his hands back into his pants pockets.
"I'm fine," she blushed. "And you?"
He shrugged. "I reckon I've been better."
Hermione tucked her hair behind her ear for something to do. She didn't want to meet Ron's gaze, but seemed incapable of keeping her eyes off him. She was taking in every detail of his familiar form, noticing how he had changed since their last encounter. His hair was shorter, and his eyes duller. He seemed to have lost a certain kind of luster. Hermione noticed guiltily that his clothes fit snugger because of his newly toned body.
"So," he said flatly. "Are you enjoying teaching?"
She nodded. "I am."
"That's good," he said. Hermione knew he was trying to make conversation, but it had never been one of his strong suits.
Hermione glanced around nervously. "Do you... want to walk with me?"
Ron raised an eyebrow. "It's late though."
"Yet you still came to see me," she reminded him.
With a sigh he nodded, and together they set off down the corridor.
