Breakfast the next day was much the same, as was the rest of the day. Tensions ran high as hour after hour passed without any letters. Lunch passed and the whole of the afternoon crawled away, even Hermione gave up on trying to keep the peace. Eventually, as they were sat around the table for dinner and the sun was beginning to set, several dark specs appeared on the horizon. Ginny shrieked when she saw the seven owls swooping towards the kitchen, one after the other they flew through the window, deposited their letters and left again.

They each grabbed the letter addressed to them and tore it open. All except Hermione whose hand trembled as she stared at the address on the envelope; everything seemed to slide into slow motion. As if from afar, she heard Ron say

"Susan Bones? Not bad!" He grinned to himself in slight relief.

Fred and George high-fived, they had been matched with Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell, respectively. Harry grinned at Ginny who flung her arms around his neck and kissed him furiously.

Charlie looked at the name in his envelope and then looked at her, mouth slightly open. Ginny was talking to her but she couldn't process what was being said, the twins were looking at her in concern, Harry rested his hand on hers, Ron wrapped an arm around her shoulders but she couldn't focus. Her heart thudded in her ears and Charlie just stared.

"HERMIONE!" she jumped and looked at Ginny in shock "who did you get?"

Hermione shook her head and slid the envelope open. The letter was over a foot of parchment but she didn't read it, she just scanned it for the name at the bottom. Then she swallowed, refolded the letter, placed it back in the envelope and put the envelope back on the table. She looked up at Charlie

"You" she whispered

"Me" he nodded, looking as pale as she felt

"That's alright then" Ginny smiled "at least you know each other, you'll get on really well"

Hermione nodded and gave Charlie a weak smile. She was relieved, she knew Charlie was nice, he was kind and she would be safe with him. But marrying Charlie would mean moving to Romania, leaving everything she knew and held dear and, though she liked Charlie, she barely knew him. Everybody returned to their private conversations, Charlie spoke quietly to Bill and Hermione sat and stared at her hands. They shook, her heart grew louder in her ears and the heat of the room was oppressive. She couldn't breathe and she felt trapped, she rubbed a hand across her face in an attempt to calm herself but it didn't work, she had to run. She stood, very calmly, turned and slid out the kitchen door.

The second she was outside and away from prying eyes, she broke into a run and didn't stop until she reached the tree, under which they had all sat, only yesterday. She leant against it, gasping in the cool evening air, wrapping her arms around her middle.

"Hermione?" said Charlie, from a small distance away, he must have seen her leave and come to check up on her "Hermione, are you alright?"

"Of course I am" she tried her best to smile, she didn't want to offend him by admitting that she was terrified

"It's alright if you aren't" he said, stepping forward slowly "Everybody in the kitchen looks happy enough but they're all scared, too. They've all been forced to get married, a long time before any of them were ready"

"I don't know what's wrong with me" she whispered, looking at him properly "It could have been so much worse, but I can't help thinking that we barely know each other. I'm so scared."

"It's alright" he smiled a little "so am I, but 5 years aren't forever, we can deal with it and then we'll go our separate ways"

"But we're supposed to have a baby in that time"

He grimaced "I know, but the law may be repealed in that time. Anyhow, we'll deal with that problem when we get to it. I promise, I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, Hermione"

She smiled at his, this time she looked genuinely reassured "I know you wouldn't. Thank you, Charlie"

"For what?"

"For being so understanding"

They began to walk back to the Burrow and she shivered, he draped his arm over her shoulders, pulling her closer to warm her up. It was a totally platonic gesture, Hermione felt no more than if Harry or Ron had done the same and this comforted her even more, maybe they could survive the marriage as friends.

"It's alright" he paused, then he grinned "it's just one of my many attractive qualities. Besides, you've been spending all your time looking after all of us these past couple of days, it was probably time for you to vent a little anyway"

They saw Mrs Weasley's silhouette at the kitchen window as they neared the house. Hermione stopped dead, the look of terror suddenly back on her face

"Oh no" she whispered, wide eyed

"What is it?" Charlie looked at her, concerned

"Your mother is going to want to discuss wedding plans" she giggled

Now he looked worried "Oh crap, can we still make a run for it, has she seen us yet?"

"I'm afraid so" she grinned "come on then, time to face your mum"

Charlie's leave from the reserve was almost up, he left the next morning with a promise to write and arrange a date when they could meet and discuss everything. Now she had had time to think things over and calm down a little, she was glad to have gotten someone like Charlie. Alright, it wasn't ideal, she didn't know him that well and she was fairly certain that they didn't have anything in common. On the other hand, he was pleasant, they got on tolerably well and she knew he would never treat her badly.

She was bored, stuck at the Burrow now. Harry and Ginny hung round each other's necks and everywhere she looked she saw couples, holding hands, cuddling, feeding each other. Of course she wasn't jealous, why would she be? She wasn't that bothered by the fact that everybody else seemed ecstatic about the person they had been matched with.

She couldn't even escape from it at work, where nobody could talk of anything except the many upcoming weddings. 'You would have thought' she thought bitterly 'That, as healers, we could find something less trivial to talk about than who's marrying who'

She left the hospital on her lunch break, head bowed against the sunshine and, as a result, she didn't see the figure waiting for her outside the doors. In fact she walked right past him.

Charlie was startled "Hermione!" he called, dodging through the crowd after her.

She turned in surprise "Charlie" she smiled when she saw him "I thought you'd be at the reserve for a few weeks yet"

"I've got a couple of hours off, I thought we could go for lunch and sort out what we're going to do"

They went to a tiny café in Diagon Alley and, when the food they ordered arrived their conversation lapsed. Suddenly Charlie looked up

"Hermione" he paused "I understand you may not want to leave everything here and move to Romania with me. I just want you to know that we can stay here if you really want?"

"Really?" she was so relieved that for a few seconds she grinned like an idiot. Then she really looked at his face. He was smiling slightly but he didn't look happy. He loved the reserve in Romania, so she sighed. "Actually" she said, leaning forward slightly "I think I could move to Romania"