12:13pm - Three hours, forty-seven minutes until the wedding.

Hermione had spent the morning pacing.

She'd woken up at seven on the dot and paced the apartment for nearly two hours, she'd arrived at the burrow at ten, an hour early, to have her hair and make-up done and paced in the garden for an hour watching the snow fall , and now she was ready. She was stood in Ginny's bedroom, wearing a dark pink, fitted dress that made her legs look longer, her waist look slimmer and her boobs look bigger. She was wearing heels that were far too high and more jewellery than she would ever choose to wear. Her hair was clipped up, scraped back away from her face so it felt uncomfortably on view and it trailed down her back reaching past the low-cut back-line of the dress. She was definitely ready to play her part, but she could help but feel nervous.

She wasn't nervous about Ginny not showing up, that was the only thing she was sure of. Ginny would not show up. Everything had gone to plan last night and in Hermione's eyes Ginny was no longer due to get married today. The wedding ceremony would happen and Hermione considered it her job to keep the charade going until everyone realised there was no bride. After all, as maid of honour she had to perform her duties respectfully.

12:25pm - Three hours, thirty-five minutes until the wedding.

"Hermione!" Molly called up the stairs, her voice cheerful with a stressed undertone.

Hermione sped out of Ginny's room and leant over the banister to see Molly peering up three floors down. "What is it?" she asked, innocently.

"Have you heard from Ginny? Only, she's already half an hour late..."

"She just owled me." Hermione cut her off, lying expertly. "She said she slept in, she has to have a shower before she gets here."

"But Marie is waiting down here to do her hair!" Molly shrieked, not at Hermione, just in stress.

Hermione waggled an empty piece of paper down at Molly, "She says she'll do her own make-up, she'll be here within the hour."

Molly shrieked again in frustration before storming back into the kitchen. Hermione headed into Ginny's room again and led on the bed. That part was easy enough, but it was going to get harder. All she could do for now was wait.

01:04pm - Two hours, fifty-six minutes until the wedding.

Hermione sat in the kitchen, drinking tea with Marie. She'd let Marie do her make-up properly, just to pass time.

Molly was out in the yard, directing caterers and sending her second howler to Ginny.

It was getting harder and harder to make excuses.

01:37pm - Two hours, twenty-three minutes until the wedding.

Hermione opened her eyes to see the ceiling of Ginny's bedroom. Realising she must've fallen asleep she got up and looked in the mirror and at the time. It was nearly twenty to two, she'd only been asleep twenty minutes but that was twenty minutes too long. After making sure her hair was still in place and none of her make-up had smudged she rushed down the stairs, her mind running through excuses and plans to make sure everything went to plan and Ginny's absence was accepted for a little while longer.

The other Bridesmaids were here now in the kitchen, Gabriella, Georgia, Luna and Hannah. They all looked like a scene out of a movie, rushing round excitedly, picking up flowers and bracelets and handbags. it was only when Hermione reached their circle that she realised what they were all fussing about.

Ginny was here.

02:29pm - One hour, thirty-one minutes until the wedding.

Hermione still couldn't believe she was here, standing in the kitchen in her pyjamas with her hair and make-up done. Hermione had sat in the corner and watched as Marie transformed Ginny into the perfect, blushing, winter bride.

Hermione had tried to discretely prevent them all leaving, she'd used wordless, wandless magic and quietly piled snow up thickly around the doors of the burrow (Mrs Weasley had insisted that Ginny not use magic to get to the church, for fear of anything going wrong) but Mrs Weasley had noticed the snow and already had Bill, Charlie and Percy, shovelling it their tuxes. It appeared Molly was so scared using magic would set something on fire, or make things worse so the boys were forbidden to use magic for anything. Charlie had received a ten minutes bollocking after summoning the shovels from the shed all the way down the end of the garden because of the 'risk' he was taking.

Hermione had done things she never dreamed she'd do at her best friend's wedding: She "accidentally" stood on Georgia's dress and ripped the skirt, she'd "tripped" and thrown flour over all the bouquets, she'd forced Ron to send an owl saying he'd lost his bow tie, she'd transfigured the wedding cake so Mrs. Weasley thought the wrong one had arrived.

Still everything went without a hitch. It wasn't working.

03:19pm - Forty-one minutes until the wedding.

Ginny ushered all the girls out of her room, desperate for peace. She hadn't enjoyed this morning but she'd acted very... matrimonial, without actually saying anything. She was getting better at lying.

There was only one thing left before the fifteen minute drive to the church in Puckleberry; the dress. Ginny was still in her Albert the Animagus pyjamas. The second she closed the door she heard a voice below on the next floor:

"Hermione, she's just getting dressed..."

"FUCK OFF!"

03:23pm - Thirty-seven minutes until the wedding.

There was a loud crack behind her and as Ginny turned around to meet the intruder in her room, an collision echoed through the room, it took a second for Ginny to realise Hermione had just slapped her.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley I have never been so ANGRY at you in my entire life!" Hermione screamed, waving her wand in the air. Ginny felt the weird trickling sensation down her spine that meant Hermione had just performed the spell that meant no one outside the room could hear inside. "I'VE NEVER BEEN SO ANGRY AT ANYONE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! What the bloody hell are you doing?"

Ginny gave Hermione her best blank look. "I'm getting ready for my wedding."

Hermione appeared to turn molten before Ginny's very eyes. "Don't pull that shit with me. You might fool everyone else but I can see how red and puffy your eyes are under all that make-up. What do you think you're doing marrying Greg?"

"Greg and I have been engaged for months. I said yes. Therefore we're getting married."

Hermione sighed loudly, turning round she picked up a bottle of perfume and stealthily and violently launched it at one of Ginny's bedroom walls, it bounced at first and didn't smash until it hit the bedstead, covering GInny's bed and her wedding dress in glass and perfume.

"That was all very well," Hermione growled menacingly, "Until you turned anorexic, Greg started beating you, raping you, oh... and what was that last thing... oh yeah, YOU HAD SEX WITH HARRY LAST NIGHT!"

The words hit Ginny like a slap from a gust of wind, she heard them and she wanted to die but she hadn't gone through all the years of pain to be broken half an hour before her wedding.

Ginny's eyes appeared to darken as she spoke; "Hermione," she replied, warning in her tone. "I'm getting married in half an hour, you're going to be there. You have to be there, you're my best friend." Ginny spoke as if she were rehearsing parts in a play, that neither of them wanted to be in. "All I have to do is walk down the aisle. All you have to do is lead me there. Then we can carry on in peace."

Hermione stood, drowning in submission. After everything that had happened in the last few days, she'd just... ran out of ammo. She had nothing to say, she'd could think of nothing to do. It was over... she'd failed. Her arms felt so heavy as she realised there was nothing she could do anymore. She didn't blame Ginny, or Harry, or even Greg... she didn't even blame herself.

"Life is shit," Hermione grumbled bluntly, Ginny replied with a sarcastic smile as she pulled her wand out of her pyjamas and cleaned all the glass off her dress. Hermione watched.

"Help me get it on would you?" Ginny asked, no emotion in her voice. "We've got twenty minutes."