Things were going smoothly at the reserve. The staff had been trained so well that we weren't needed much on a day-to-day basis. Of course, Charlie still spent as much time as he could with the dragons and I was quite fond of the hatchery when I needed to unwind a bit. My research was going better than I could have dreamed and I was sending regular reports back to Mr. Erickson.

By the time our wedding date arrived, I was feeling like I was living a fairytale.

This was so far from the life I had imagined for myself, but in the best possible way. At one point, I thought I'd be murdered before I got the chance to finish school and now here I was, standing in a gorgeous white dress getting ready to marry my perfect match.

Charlie knocked on the closed door. "Are you ready?"

I quickly transfigured my dress and hair to help keep the surprise. "I'm ready!"

We apparated to the visitor center then walked casually to retrieve our portkey.

Charlie took my hands and looked at me seriously. "This is your last chance to back out."

I could see the worry on his face that I would do just that.

"Sorry Charlie Weasley, you're stuck with me." I hesitated. "Unless you're having second thoughts?"

"Absolutely not. I realize how lucky I am and I won't ever take that for granted. I promise."

"I love you, Charlie. Our life together is just beginning."

Arms still wrapped around my waist; Charlie placed a soft kiss on my lips. "The next time I kiss you, you'll be my wife." With a wicked smile, the port key took us to the burrow.

My head was spinning in nerves at what we were about to do, but Charlie kept his cool.

We weren't the last to arrive, so we took some time to socialize. I caught up a bit with Harry and Ginny while Charlie, keeping a close eye on me, chatted with Bill and Fleur.

Harry embraced me hard. "We've missed you! I can't believe you've been off playing with dragons and didn't tell us!"

"I can't believe you were off playing with my brother and didn't tell us!" Ginny was able to deliver that with a straight face that left me absolutely speechless. "I'm only kidding. I think you two could actually make a cute couple. He's the only one I know that reads nearly as much as you and has that soft spot for creatures. It kind of makes sense in an odd way."

"I'm sure glad you feel that way." I said nervously. I could tell Ron was listening, but he was trying to act like he wasn't paying attention. It was clear that he wasn't as thrilled with the situation as his sister was.

Thankfully, before I could ruin the surprise, the twins arrived with Katie and Angelina and their infants completing our group. Charlie casually made his way to my side just as Molly clapped her hands together.

"Wonderful! Everyone is here. Why don't we sit down and get started?"

Charlie cleared his throat. "Actually mum, since everyone is here, we have something we'd like to announce before dinner."

Molly's face drained of color. She was warming to the idea of us as a couple, but she clearly feared what was about to be said.

The room, or rather garden since we were all outside, was directed at us as Charlie cleared his throat. "I have asked Hermione to marry me and she said yes."

Though people were obviously shocked, the room erupted in applause. Molly looked near tears and I couldn't tell if they were happy or not.

Charlie motioned for them to quiet down. "I'm not quite done yet. When I say she has agreed to marry me, I mean right now." At this Molly began to fan herself. "So, if you all don't mind," He paused and I performed a complicated bit of magic moving all the chairs into rows neatly lined up in front of a rapidly forming floral arch. "Please have a seat and we will get started."

Fred and George were cheering and giving us high fives for our ingenious move. Harry moved towards me cautiously. "This is awfully fast Hermione. Are you sure about this?"

I took Harry's hands in mine. "Harry, when you realized Ginny was it for you, did you ever second guess it? Did you need to wait so long to get married, or were you already absolutely sure you had found the person you wanted to spend the rest of your life with, even as a sixteen-year-old?"

His features thawed with understanding. "Even though we were going through a lot, I knew there was no one else that would capture me the way she did."

I squeezed his hands. "And that's exactly how I feel about Charlie. He's my Ginny. I just had to go through a lot more bad dates than you did to find him."

Harry chuckled and nodded. "Right then. I guess I'll go grab a seat."

Molly had seemed to have regained her composure. "This is absolutely ridiculous. Having a wedding on a normal Sunday afternoon with no guests and no preparation."

Charlie winked at me as he dealt with his mum loud enough for everyone to hear. "That's where you're wrong mum. We prepared this exactly how we want it. Just the people who truly matter to us present to watch as we declare our everlasting love for each other before settling into a nice homecooked meal made by the best cook around."

Molly softened at that a bit and took her seat. Charlie tapped his wand on his shoulder and changed his clothes into some simple dress robes and met Percy at the arch. I transfigured my own dress into a simple gown. It had a sweetheart neckline and a fitted bodice covered in a simple but elegant lace design. A belt gave the dress some shape before flowing softly and freely to the ground. My loose curls came tumbling down and I was officially ready.

Charlie hadn't seen me yet and he looked quite pleased with the transformation if his smile was any indicator.

I walked shyly to meet him.

"You look absolutely breathtaking."

The look in his eye was that of pure love and I couldn't believe this was really happening.

"You are quite dashing yourself Mr. Weasley."

I only had eyes for Charlie and so I was quite startled when Percy cleared his throat and began. We had asked him to keep the ceremony simple. This was such a small gathering after all. We had chosen to do a traditional hand binding ceremony. This was a bit more binding that traditional vows, but we both agreed that this was it for us no matter what. All in all, it took about fifteen minutes from the start of the ceremony to our first kiss as husband and wife.

Charlie dipped me low and the twins provided plenty of wolf whistles to make me blush. When we were upright again, we turned to face our family.

There was a moment of silence as we all decided what to do before Harry got up from his seat to come offer his congratulations. The others quickly following including some fireworks courtesy of the twins (seriously, do they just carry that kind of stuff in their pockets?). The last to greet us was Molly and Arthur.

This was the reaction I had feared the most out of anyone. "I can't believe you two did that behind my back and robbed me the opportunity of a real wedding! Oh well, no use crying over that now. We have a feast to eat and I think I can make some quick changes to the cake to make it more appropriate for the occasion." She turned to me and offered a smile and a quick, "Welcome to the family dear." Before hustling off to the kitchen.

I let out a huff of air and turned to my now husband. "Well Mr. Weasley, I think we did it."

"That we did Mrs. Weasley." He turned me in his arms to face him and plant a chaste kiss. "I can't believe you're actually my wife. I have been dreaming of this moment since I showed up at your door to bring you to the reserve."

I was surprised by his statement. "That long?"

He nodded. "Admittedly, I had always held a bit of a torch for you, but it was never really given a chance to grow. You were a bit of a forbidden longing when you were with Ron, but even then I noticed you. Knowing I was going to be living with you, well, I knew I was in trouble. But here we are, and now we have our whole lives together."

It was my turn to kiss him. We were interrupted by Molly bringing out the food. Leave it to her to have a feast fit for a reception on a normal Sunday afternoon.

The rest of the day went quite lovely. We ate our fill and caught the rest of the family up on what had transpired to get us to this point. When we returned to the reserve, our staff was extremely surprised when we showed up in a wedding dress and dress robes. We simply shared the good news, accepted their well wishes, and enjoyed the rest of our day off sealing our new bond.