CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT

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December 25th 2006 PT1

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As far as Charlie was aware, he woke up on Christmas morning to an exciting but perfectly normal day, to be filled with presents and family, plus a ridiculous amount of food. As Hermione woke up, though, she felt the butterflies gather in her stomach as she thought of what was to come, listening to the man who would be her husband by lunchtime and their two boys as they enjoyed their seemingly normal Christmas morning. As planned, before she even got out of bed, she sent a patronus to Ginny to come and collect her in twenty minutes, enacting the start of their plan before she got out of bed and walked into the living room, only to be almost knocked backwards by Arty as he flew into her.

"Morning my little love," she chuckled as she hugged him, "and why are you so excited?"

"Mummy!" Arty squealed, rolling his eyes, "it's Christmas!"

"Is it?!" Hermione asked with false shock as she looked up to find Charlie grinning at her, cradling Remus in his arms, "oh damn, I forgot!"

"No you didn't!" Arty grinned, poking her in the tummy, "even if you did, Santa didn't! Look, look!"

Hermione grinned, kissing Charlie on the way past as Arty dragged her towards the tree and bounced excitedly when he showed her the massive pile of presents. As soon as Hermione said he could start unwrapping, Arty began tearing at the paper on each gift and pretty soon their living room was a chaotic mess of colours and patterns that, on any other day of the year, would drive her absolutely barmy. All was normal until the floo roared and an apparently frantic Ginny ran out.

"Hermione!" She shouted, coming to an abrupt halt as she took in the mess, "what happened here?"

"He did," Charlie laughed, pointing at Arty who merely grinned as he played with his new toys, "what's up sis?"

"I need Hermione and I need her right now," she said dramatically as Hermione, making herself appear concerned, got up and came over, "there's been a disaster with Harry's present and I need you to come fix it!"

"Can't you fix it?" Charlie asked and Ginny groaned, rolling her eyes.

"You know I'm rubbish at repairing spells, Charlie," she sighed, very convincingly, before turning to Hermione, "pleeeeeeeeeeeease. I'll owe you big time!"

"Alright, fine," Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes and trying desperately not to laugh as she turned to Charlie, "why don't I take Remus with me and you spend the morning with Charlie? I can meet you here at lunch?"

"It's going to take that long?" Charlie frowned, turning to his sister, who sighed and nodded dramatically.

"It must be a big problem for Ginny to rush over here, Charlie," Hermione sighed, looking apologetic, "I'm sorry, but at least you can spend some one on one time with Arty like you've wanted?"

"I suppose that's true," he nodded, sighing before he turned and jabbed a finger at Ginny, "you owe me."

"Thank you!" Ginny squealed, throwing her arms around Charlie's neck and winking at Hermione over his shoulder, "I'll go and get some stuff for Ree while you get dressed, Hermione?"

While Ginny packed a bag for Remus, Hermione went into her own bedroom and pulled on the comfiest clothes she could find that still looked dinner worthy, before she returned to the living room and kissed Charlie goodbye. He was sitting cross legged on the floor with Arty, playing with a quidditch set that sat between them, so she didn't think she or Remus would be too missed for the next few hours. She and Ginny both managed to keep their straight, apologetic faces together until they stepped out of the floo in Grimmauld Place, taking one look at each other and falling into fits of laughter.

"Oh god!" Hermione cried through tears of mirth, "I feel so bad! Did you see his face?!"

"I know!" Ginny sighed, wiping her eyes and shaking her head, "poor man has no idea what's to come."

"It went alright, then?" Harry asked, grinning as he stepped into the room and Hermione nodded, sighing.

"Worked perfectly," she said, unable to stop smiling as she handed Remus over to him and kissed him on the cheek, "where are the boys?"

"Already at mums," Ginny shrugged, "they really wanted to show off their presents so Harry flooed them over a while ago."

"Bless them," Hermione chuckled, turning to Harry, "you know your plan?"

"Yes, Hermione," he sighed, having gone through this with her a hundred times in the last month, "Kingsley is coming to dinner, so we all need to wear suits because Molly wants to make a good impression."

"And if he questions it?" She prodded and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Threaten to fetch Molly."

"Good," Hermione grinned, nodding, "now Kingsley will be waiting for me at the edge of the glade at 12 sharp, Molly and everyone else think that we're having dinner at the cottage and will be there before we are for the ceremony at 12:30. I will alert you with the DA coin when I see them coming, so you can meet them in the glade and maximise confusion. That's when Kingsley, Ginny and I will make our entrance. Okay?"

"And why does everyone else think we're dressing up?" Harry frowned and Hermione sighed as Ginny stepped forward.

"Fancy dress, Harry," she groaned, "I told you this!"

"Just getting my story straight," he mumbled, pulling funny faces at Remus, "don't want to mess this up for mummy, do we? No we don't!"

"Alright you bug softie," Ginny chuckled, rolling her eyes as she kissed his cheek, "look after this one while we go and get ready, got it?"

"Yes yes," he sighed, rolling his eyes and as she and Ginny left the room, she heard him mutter under his breath, presumably to Remus, "women are bloody mental."

"Oi!" She shouted back, grinning when Ginny shouted it too in perfect sync, before hearing him snort.

She couldn't believe that in less than three hours she would be Mrs Weasley, married to the man who had stolen her heart so long ago. Her family was finally going to share a single last name and it filled her heart with joy as she thought about that fact. Thinking back to the morning of Ginny's wedding to Harry, she recalled how nervous and fretful Ginny had been, pacing her room at the Burrow with a constant frown on her face. Quite the opposite, Hermione felt like she was floating on cloud nine as she prepared to marry the man she loved.