Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, though I really wish I did.
Lost in This Moment
"What the fuck is wrong with me?"
The next day, after an early lunch, Harry and Hermione left Grimmauld Place for the Burrow. Hermione was wearing the lilac dress and matching heels as she had mentioned the day before while Harry was indeed wearing the same dress robes he had since fourth year. There was one major difference since when he bought them: after Hermione continuously joked that he would look like all the other guys there, he had changed the color of the robes to white. Though the wedding wasn't until three o'clock, Harry was required to be there early since he was one of the ushers. Hermione decided to be of help by assisting Ginny and Gabrielle with their preparations if they needed it.
They Apparated to the Burrow and went inside to find people scrambling around, either looking for something they had misplaced or attempting to stay out of the way of a rampaging Mrs. Weasley. It didn't surprise either of them to find Ron sitting at the table eating.
"Hey what are you two doing here so early?" he asked. "The wedding's not for another three hours."
"Fleur insisted on me getting here early since I'm an usher. She told me the day after I got out of the hospital and didn't give me much of a choice."
"RONALD WEASLEY!" Mrs. Weasley's voice made all three of them jump. "Why are you sitting here eating?! You should be getting ready for your brother's wedding!" She turned to Harry and Hermione. "I love your dress robes Harry, you did a great job with the color change; and Hermione, you look so beautiful, dear. NOW!" she added, turning back to her son before walking back out of the kitchen.
"Yeah, she does," Harry whispered in Hermione's ear, referencing the compliment Mrs. Weasley just paid her. She beamed at him, instantly knowing what he meant and sensing the sincerity behind his words.
"She's been worse than Fleur has this past week," Ron randomly told them, completely oblivious to the moment the two of them were sharing. "You'd think this was her wedding." When he realized no one was listening to him, he left the kitchen, grumbling under his breath the entire time. He passed Fleur as she descended the stairs.
"'Arry, could I speak with you moment please?" Harry looked at Hermione who shrugged, evidently unaware of what Fleur wanted to talk about, and followed the older woman to her makeshift dressing room on the next floor. "I really want to zank you for coming today 'Arry. I know zat you 'ave not completely recovered from last week. I was very worried about you. I-we were all worried zat we were going to lose you.
"You 'ave always been kind to me 'Arry, even before you saved Gabrielle. I regret to say zat at first I did not return zat kindness. I 'ave come to know more about you over ze past two years and I think of you as a younger brother. William and I are going to live on ze coast in a place called Shell Cottage. I want you to know zat you and 'Ermione are welcome zere anytime you want. Zat is all I 'ave to repay you with at zis time unfortunately. I only wish zere was more I could do for you."
"You've done more than enough already, Fleur. It means a lot that we're always welcome at your place. The fact that you care so much means more than you could ever know." He smiled at her and she hugged him. "I'll let you go so you can get ready for your big day," he told her after several long seconds. "And I know it's a bit too early but congratulations." She beamed and thanked him before shooing him out the door and continuing to get ready.
"What did she want?" Hermione asked when Harry came back downstairs. He relayed to her what Fleur had told him. "Wow I didn't expect that. It was really nice of her. I guess she feels bad that you're here when she thinks you should be resting."
When Ron reappeared a few minutes later, now wearing a borrowed pair of his older brother's dress robes, Hermione went upstairs to help the two bridesmaids if they needed it. An hour and a half later at two o'clock the first guests began arriving. The first ones there were members of the Order, meaning that Harry could neglect his duties as an usher for a little while longer. At two-fifteen, he had to start showing people to their seats and headed outside to the marquee. A line quickly began to form and seemed to grow larger in an instant; it was everything Harry, Ron, Fred, and George could do to keep up with everyone. The next half an hour was spent showing people to their seats and trying to avoid talking to people for too long. Finally, ten minutes before three, the vast majority of people were seated and waiting; it was also at this time that Hermione made her reappearance.
"Your mum's in a fit to tied, Ron. Ginny's only just now gotten ready. If this wedding doesn't start at exactly three, no one's going to be happy."
"Three o'clock, three-oh-one, what difference does it make? By the end of the day they're going to be married and happy, that's what matters. Besides, it's not her wedding. I don't know what her problem is. Maybe someone should Stun her until it's all over." The three of them started laughing until a familiar voice broke up the laughter.
"You look vunderful, Herm-own-ninny." They all turned to see Viktor Krum standing at the entrance to the marquee, looking at Hermione appreciatively. Jealousy surged through Harry and for a moment he was tempted to curse Krum into oblivion. He quickly got himself under control though, telling himself that Hermione was in a relationship with him, that she loved him, and that, as much as Krum may fancy her, she felt nothing for him. He could compliment her all he wanted but it wouldn't matter, because she was with Harry and she was happy. Sensing his jealousy, Hermione put her arm through his, an act that Krum was not blind to.
"Ah, so you two are together now? That's good, I'm happy for both of you. I know I vos jealous ven I vos at Hogwarts for the Trivizard Tournament but I have had time to think since then. You two are good together." Harry looked at Hermione, who was smiling at him, and returned her smile with one of his own. He held out his hand to Krum, who took it.
"Thanks, Krum. Sorry if I looked like I wanted to curse you for a second there."
"It is of no concern," Krum replied, waving away Harry's apology. "I did not mean to make you jealous. I was unaware that you two vere together. And please call me Viktor. After all ve have been through, there is no need for such distance between us."
"Well I admit it's good to see you again, Viktor. I didn't expect you to be here. I'll show you to your seat if you want." Krum followed Harry to his seat, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George walking behind them to their own seats. When everyone had finally taken their seat, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came down the aisle, smiling and waving.
When the two elder Weasleys had taken their own seats Bill and Charlie stood up at the front of the marquee, both wearing large white roses on the front of their dress robes. Everyone fell silent as music came from what seemed to be the golden balloons against the ceiling and they all turned to look at the entrance. A great sigh issued from the assembly when Fleur and Monsieur Delacour came walking up the aisle, followed by Ginny and Gabrielle. Fleur was wearing a simple white dress and seemed to emit a silvery glow while Ginny and Gabrielle were both wearing golden dresses and looked prettier than usual.
"Ladies and gentlemen," a familiar voice began. Harry was only slightly surprised to see the same wizard who presided at Dumbledore's funeral standing in front of Bill and Fleur. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls. Do you, William Arthur, take Fleur Isabelle..."
The sound of noses being blown into handkerchiefs all around the tent indicated that most women, and a few of the men, were crying. Mrs. Weasley and Madame Delacour were sobbing into scraps of lace in the front row. Trumpet-like sounds from the back meant that Hagrid had taken out one of his own giant handkerchiefs. Hermione turned and beamed at Harry, her eyes full of tears as well. He smiled at her and took her right hand in his while wrapping his left arm around her shoulders.
"...then I now declare you bonded for life." The wizard waved his wand high over the heads of Bill and Fleur; a shower of stars fell upon them and spiraled around their now entwined figures as the golden balloons overhead burst open. Birds of paradise and tiny golden bells came out and added their own music to the now thunderous applause emanating from the tent.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" the wizard called again. "If you would please stand!" Everyone did so and the wizard waved his wand again. The tent was instantly transformed into a reception area, complete with a dance floor. The band began playing as waiters popped up all around, carrying trays of pumpkin juice, butterbeer, firewhiskey, tarts, and sandwiches. Harry, Ron, and Hermione each grabbed a butterbeer (Harry also picked up a firewhiskey to share with Hermione) and found a table with Luna Lovegood and a man who could only have been her father.
"Hey Luna," Ron said as they approached. "Is it alright if we sit down?"
"Of course," Luna happily responded. "This is my father," she continued, gesturing to him. "Daddy, this is Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter." Xenophilius Lovegood enthusiastically shook each one of their hands as Luna introduced them.
"Luna has mentioned all of you many times. I'm glad that she has such good friends to look out for her while she's at Hogwarts." In his enthusiasm, Xenophilius knocked his empty goblet on the floor. As he leaned down to pick it up a necklace fell out of the neck of his robes. Hermione gave a very audible gasp when she saw it.
"Mr. Lovegood, what is that symbol on your necklace? I've seen it before but I don't know what it means."
"This is the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, Ms. Granger. The line in the middle is the Elder Wand, the circle is the Resurrection Stone, and the triangle is the Cloak of Invisibility."
"You mean the Deathly Hallows from The Tales of Beedle the Bard? I thought that was just a story. They can't be real can they?"
"It is true, there is no evidence that the Hallows are real but that also means there's nothing out there to dispute the fact that they exist. Many of us believe that the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility do indeed exist. There have actually been several claims over the years of certain people owning the Elder Wand, though its current whereabouts is unknown."
"But how can anything bring back the dead?"
"You have to pay attention to the story, Ms. Granger. It said that Cadmus Peverell's fiancée wasn't fully alive and that she was sorrowful. It's believed that the Stone may bring people in an ethereal state, similar to a ghost."
"What about the Cloak?" Ron interjected. "What's so special about it? There has to be many invisibility cloaks in the world."
"Other invisibility cloaks are either made from the hair of a Demiguise or by having a very strong disillusionment charm or bedazzling hex put on them. They tend to become less effective with age, rip, or the user can be revealed with certain spells. This Cloak has retained its power throughout the years, suffers no wear from age, and protects the wearer from the spells that affect normal cloaks." Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked at each other, all thinking the same thing: the description fit Harry's cloak perfectly. Apparently not taking notice of this, Xenophilius announced that he was going to give Bill and Fleur their wedding present and departed from the table.
"That sounds exactly like your cloak," Ron told Harry as soon as Xenophilius was out of earshot. "It belonged to your dad, so it has to be at least forty years old, and it's still as effective as it was when you got it six years ago. There's no sign of it aging either. It still looks like new."
"Oh you have one of the Hallows, Harry?" Luna asked, picking up on the conversation.
"It's possible, Luna. We're not really sure yet."
"Well Daddy will still be excited."
"Actually Luna, I'd really appreciate it if you don't tell your dad. I wouldn't want it to get out to the wrong people that I have one of the Deathly Hallows."
"Oh so it's a secret?"
"Er, yes, that's right. It's a secret, Luna, so you can't tell anyone. Even your dad." Luna looked excited at Harry's words.
"No one's ever told me a secret before," she said. "I won't tell anyone."
"Thanks Luna," Harry responded, smiling. He turned to Hermione and asked, "where'd you see that symbol anyway 'Mione?"
"It's over The Tale of the Three Brothers in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, the book that Dumbledore left me. I started reading it while you were in St. Mungo's and the symbol wasn't in the rune translation book. It's been bothering me for the past week. It looked like Dumbledore, or someone, inked it in. I wonder if they knew what it means."
"You said it was over The Tale of the Three Brothers?" Ron asked. At Hermione's nod he said, "I'm willing to bet that whoever put it in there knew perfectly well what it means. It can't be a coincidence that they drew it over the story of how the Deathly Hallows were created."
"Could that be the reason Dumbledore left me this book?" Hermione pondered, looking at Harry. He shrugged.
"It's possible."
"It's really lucky that we found out about it though. There was no guarantee that I'd even read the book, let alone notice that symbol. And it was just luck that we saw Mr. Lovegood's necklace."
"It seems to me that a lot of Dumbledore's original planning involved luck. I guess he had his reasons for not telling us everything though. I just wish I knew what they were." They sat in silence for a couple of minutes until the band finished their current song. Luna started swaying in her seat when the next one began.
"Ooh, I love this song," she said. Harry grinned at Hermione and lightly kicked Ron's foot, motioning to Luna when the redhead looked at him. It took Ron a few seconds to realize what Harry was implying. When he refused, Hermione leaned over and whispered something in Luna's ear. "Come dance with me, Ronald." Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Ron by the hand and pulled him to dance floor; Ron used his free hand to give a very rude hand gesture to Harry and Hermione as the younger girl was leading him away.
The two of them sat at the table watching Luna dance and Ron fumble around for the entirety of the song, doing their best not to laugh at the redhead. They barely managed to see Ron's failed attempt at escape when the song ended before Viktor Krum sat down at the table.
"I saw you two talking vith that man over there earlier," Krum began, pointing at Mr. Lovegood. "Do you know him?"
"Not really," Harry responded, "we only met him today. Why?"
"Because if he vos not a guest of Fleur's I vould duel him right now. He has the symbol of Gindelvald around his neck." Harry and Hermione looked at each other.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"I am very sure, Herm-own-ninny. That symbol vos carved into vun of the valls in Durmstrang. I know that he vos never very powerful here, they say he feared Dumbledore and rightly so, but he vos a terror in Bulgaria. He killed my grandfather. Some people thought it vould be cool to copy the symbol in their books and notes but those of us vho lost family to Grindelvald showed them how vrong they vere."
"Well in his defense, Mr. Lovegood probably doesn't know that it's the same symbol Grindelwald used. Apparently that's originally the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. That doesn't make it any less terrible that the symbol is associated with Grindelwald but that's not what it originally meant. And like you said, Grindelwald wasn't nearly as big here as he was in your country, so it's not surprising that he doesn't know about its association with Grindelwald." Krum didn't want to admit it but it seemed that Hermione was right. Grumbling under his breath, he left the table and picked up a bottle of firewhiskey as he walked out of the tent.
"So Grindelwald used the symbol too," Harry said, turning to Hermione. "Dumbledore gave you a book that he used to own that has the symbol in it, Grindelwald used it, and Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald. What's the connection between them?"
"Well Dumbledore seemed to know what the symbol meant, so it's likely that he knew about it before Grindelwald started using it. We know that it represents the Deathly Hallows and if we accept the Deathly Hallows as real then maybe he's trying to give us a clue? Maybe we need to find the Hallows and use them against Voldemort?"
"It's possible. It's just something else to look for though. Where the hell would we even go about looking for the other two anyway?"
"I don't know. Let's not worry about this right now sweetheart. We're at Bill and Fleur's wedding so let's just enjoy ourselves today. We're allowed to enjoy a day free of anything to do with Voldemort every once in a while. We still need to go congratulate them by the way. It looks like they're relatively free now."
Without waiting for an answer, Hermione rose from the table, grabbed Harry's hand, and pulled him through the crowd to the two newlyweds. Mrs. Weasley and Monsieur Delacour were talking to them when Hermione finally managed to make her way across the room. Noticing the teens, they took their leave and Bill and Fleur turned to face their next congratulators.
"Congratulations you two," Hermione began. "We're so happy for both of you."
"Yeah thanks for inviting us," Harry added. "It really means a lot. It's been really nice today. We've really enjoyed it."
"Harry, we're just glad that you were able to make it. We were all scared to death that you wouldn't make it last week. The fact that you're here means a lot to us mate." Before anyone could say anything else, Bill hit his glass with a fork, getting the attention of everyone in the tent. "As most of you know, our good friend Harry Potter was in an explosion last week that almost claimed his life. For a while we weren't sure if he would live, let alone be able to come to a wedding, but here he is with us today.
"Fleur and I are so happy that he's able to be here, especially given everything that he's been through lately. Right now, our entire freedom rests mainly on his shoulders. Harry does so much for all of us, more than he realizes actually, so I'd just like to take a moment to recognize that." He raised his glass. "To Harry."
"To Harry." Everyone echoed the cheer and raised their own glasses before drinking deeply. Harry had a very modest look on his face, unsure as to why everyone thought so highly of him just because he was standing up to Voldemort. Before he had much time to think about it though, the band had started playing again and he was being led to the dance floor by Fleur while Bill and Hermione were on their own way. Though he admittedly wasn't the best dancer, Harry enjoyed himself as he danced with the newest member of the Weasley clan. When the song was over he gave Fleur a somewhat emotional hug and received a kiss on his cheek as a reward. The band started playing a slow song and Harry made his way over to Hermione.
"Do you want to dance?" he asked, offering her his hand.
"Harry Potter, since when do you dance?" Hermione joked, taking his offered hand and starting to dance with him.
"I don't," he replied. "But I know that you want to and as long as we're doing something together that's all that matters to me. I don't think I'm a bad dancer and if you want to dance then I'd like to." Hermione smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. About a minute went by before she noticed that most people were looking at either them or Bill and Fleur.
"They're looking at us," she told Harry, slightly disgusted. "You'd think that we're the ones who got married today. Even here you don't get to be a regular person!"
"Yeah," Harry responded nonchalant, looking around. The look on his face showed that he wasn't happy that people were paying attention to them instead of the newlyweds but he apparently wasn't upset over it, if the sound of his voice was any indication.
"It doesn't bother you?"
"Well I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me, this is Bill and Fleur's wedding not ours, but right now I'm not paying any attention to them. All I care about is being here with you and being able to relax and hold you. Right now all that matters to me is that we're here with the people closest to us on a day that we don't have to worry about Voldemort. We're free to be the thirty-two year olds we are." Hermione gave a mirthful scoff at his sarcasm before laying her head back on his shoulder.
The rest of the day passed by quickly. Looking back neither Harry nor Hermione would remember much. They remembered Ron and Luna dancing for most of the rest of the time. Ron got more comfortable as the day turned to night and the two of them grew closer. Hermione and Ron also shared a few dances while Harry even danced a couple of times with Luna. The entire day was spent relaxing and nothing more was said about Voldemort or the Deathly Hallows. By ten o'clock, the reception had wound down and most people had left. Harry and Hermione stayed at the Burrow for another two hours visiting with the Weasleys and the new happy couple. At midnight they decided it was time for them to leave as well. They went back to Grimmauld Place and both were asleep by one.
Hermione's eyes had a green glow as they snapped open. She rolled to her side and looked at the clock. She had only been asleep for a couple of hours before the nightmare jarred her from her sleep. In her mind's eye she could still see Bellatrix standing over the lifeless body of her daughter. She looked at Harry and was glad to see that he was still sleeping. The last thing she wanted right now was to talk about this.
She didn't know why she kept having this nightmare. It made absolutely no sense to her. If there was a spell that could produce nightmares like that then she'd be slightly more understanding but she knew there wasn't. Besides, even if there was she knew that whoever cast it would have to be able to get into the house; if someone could get into the house without them knowing, then having nightmares would be the least of her worries.
The only comfort she had was that it was highly unlikely that the dream would ever be a reality. Since she and Harry had already agreed to always used the Contraception Charm whenever they slept together there was no way they could have a baby now. They also agreed that they weren't going to even think about starting a family until Voldemort was killed. For all the comfort that offered though, it still didn't keep her from waking up in the dead of night with the vision of her own death and a green light playing in her head.
"What the fuck is wrong with me?" she wondered aloud. She rolled over and closed her eyes. Within minutes she had fallen back into a very uneasy sleep.
Author's Note: There's two things I want to point out. First of all, I'll admit that I took some of this chapter straight from the book, mainly the part about the ceremony and Krum's speech about Grindelwald. Second of all, in this story the Contraception Charm is 100% effective. So as long as it's used there's absolutely no chance of having a baby.