When he woke up the next morning it was to find that Hermione had already gotten up. He slipped downstairs to find most of the family eating breakfast. Hermione smiled up at him as she finished her last mouthful of porridge and (having washed up as quickly as possible) belted back upstairs to help Ginny get ready, the wedding was in 3 hours and there was a ridiculous amount to do.

Once Ginny's hair and makeup had been sorted, she had to be fitted into her dress, Susan's hair and makeup had to be done, he bridesmaid's dress had to be fitted to her as well. By that point they had less than an hour left. Guests were due to arrive soon and Ginny was beginning to hyperventilate. Hermione slipped her a diluted calming draft and threw on her own bridesmaid's dress; she piled her mass of curls into some sort of style, applied as little makeup as possible and, with all that done, went to check on everything one last time.

The food was ready, orchard had been well decorated and the music had been sorted out, Hermione carried the bouquets up to Ginny's room and, after calming her down again and helping Susan find a lost shoe, began to climb the stairs to Ron's room which was acting as a temporary dressing room for Harry and the Weasleys. She paused halfway up to catch her breath and swore to herself that she would never be a maid of honour again; this had to be more stressful than actually getting married. There wasn't much time to pause, though, because there was now only half an hour until the wedding and the first guests were beginning to arrive. On the way up the stairs she placated Aunt Muriel, who was muttering about disorganised weddings and 'too much noise' and helped to straighten Molly's hat, which was slightly lopsided.

Eventually, she actually reached the top room of the house and knocked on the door "are you all decent?" she called through the door

There was a pause before Fred's voice answered "define what you mean by decent"

She laughed and opened the door, "well, don't you all look smart?" she smiled at the Weasley men and Harry

"Well, I don't know" said George; winking at her "I reckon you could put us all to shame"

She ignored him and turned to Ron who was getting redder and redder with each failed attempt to sort out his collar.

"Come here" she said fondly, straightening it out in one deft move

"Thanks" he grinned at her

"That's alright" she smiled back, then she saw the twins and sighed "Fred, George, you know she will kill you if you wear pink dress robes to her wedding. Besides" she said, turning their robes back to black with a flick of her wand "it clashes with your hair"

She turned to face the others "Arthur, Ginny will be ready downstairs in about 20 minutes" he nodded, Harry looked up suddenly, he had been sat in the corner with his head in his hands.

"Hermione" he moaned, his hands shook and, for someone who had faced down death and saved the entire wizarding world, he looked petrified

"Oh, Harry" she whispered, rushing over to hug him "you'll be fine, I promise" he nodded but suddenly went green and sat down again very suddenly. Hermione knelt in front of him; to begin with it looked as though she would hug him again but then, it seemed, she finally ran out of patience. She slapped him, not hard but enough to make him sit up and pay attention.

"Oh for God's sake Harry!" she hissed "you love her, don't you?" he nodded "you were going to get married eventually, weren't you?" another nod "then strap on a pair!" Charlie looked at her wide-eyed; she was the last person he expected to say something like that, he was glad to see that he wasn't the only one looking shocked. She ignored their faces and continued in a far more even tone "Now you listen to me, you are going to behave like the Gryffindor you are. You are going to that orchard right now, understand? And then you are going to stand up and get married, alright?"

He looked at her, not daring to disagree in any way. He left with Ron and Arthur, none of them looking back as they left the room.

She turned to Bill and Charlie, the only two she hadn't addressed since entering the room. "Any problems?" she asked

"No, we're good" smiled Charlie

She sighed "well, thank God for that"

"To be fair, Hermione" Bill said, grinning "he's doing a lot better than I did on my wedding day"

She stared at him incredulously "you were that bad? But you're so laid back as to be almost horizontal!"

Bill laughed "the idea of getting married can seem quite daunting" he said, shrugging

"But you proposed to her!" she got no response "it was your idea to get married in the first place!" she got no response so she checked her watch "you need to get a move on, I'm going to go and fetch the bride" she left muttering something about men being 'such bloody babies"

The ceremony went fairly smoothly from then on. Once Harry and Ginny saw each other, all their nerves seemed to evaporate and Hermione could finally relax. Even so, it was a while before she had the time to sit down and catch her breath. She watched Harry and Ginny dance their first dance as a married couple. They practically glowed with happiness, all previous anxiety forgotten. She felt a lump form in her throat as she watched them, she doubted she would ever be that happy with anybody, let alone Charlie, she just wasn't that lucky. She was saved from her thoughts by Fred who made his way over to ask her to dance.

She agreed to one dance, fully intending to sit straight back down again afterwards, of course this didn't work. She danced wildly in the centre of the dance floor with Fred, laughing until she struggled to breathe. Then George demanded his turn so she did the same with him. Then Percy waltzed her stiffly round the room and so it went on. Finally, after she had danced with Bill, Ron, Kingsley, Dean, Seamus, Neville and (to her surprise) Malfoy she was able to slip quietly away for a moment's peace.

A/N here's the second chapter I promised, not as quickly as I had planned to put it up but still faster than I have been recently...it may be a while until the next chapter but review and let me know what you think!