Looking For A Warning Sign

By: Morrigan Raven

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Notes: Sorry it took me so long to post this, and sorry for grammar/spelling mistakes.

Thanks for the likes/kudos, reviews and all that. ?

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Chapter 2: His Greatest Lie

"I love her like a sister and I reckon she feels the same way about me" Harry knew he was lying when he said that. At least on his part, he did not thought of Hermione as his sister but he was sure she saw him as a brother and he tried to fulfill that role for her, thinking that's what she wanted. But his eyes would always find her, it will take him a while before he realized what he was doing and then he would then advert his eyes away from her. He had believed no one had noticed his slips, but someone had.

"If any of my brothers looked at me like that, I would hex their bollocks off" Ginny had told him. She had noticed the longing looks he kept throwing Hermione's way. She didn't even look angry, just sad. And he, very intelligently had answered "Wha..?"

She had laughed at him then and followed with a "You should tell her before is too late" she gave him a quick peck on his check and walked away leaving him alone. It was several months before she spoke to him again.

He had never dared to even hint at his true feelings, to afraid to be rejected and making things awkward or of loosing her, so, he continued with the lie that he did not love her in a romantic sense, but Ginny words haunted him and by the time he had gathered enough courage to do it… It was to late, Ron had proposed and she had said "Yes".

The next thing he knew, the three of them had gone to tell the news to Hermione's parents, their relationship had been strained since she restored their memories. They had chosen to remain in Australia, they were a little resentful that she hadn't trusted them with the truth and they disapproved of Ron. To make things more awkward, they had believed that Harry was her boyfriend and were very disappointed when Ron had almost growled "I'M her boyfriend!".

Hermione's parents had completely refused to assist to their wedding, Hermione had been heartbroken and Ron hadn't cared at all, he might had even been relieved. Harry did his best to comfort Hermione, specially after she had a big fight with Ron about it. He had advised her that maybe they could have another weeding, and all muggle-wedding in Australia with only their closest friends and she had liked the idea, Ron not so much.

Harry kept mediating between their fights. The next one had been about changing her last name, he couldn't offer any advise on that since he had allowed himself to fantasize just for a moment about her becoming 'Hermione Jean Potter', so he had just told her it might be a bloke thing, wanting to have the woman their love use their last name. Hermione had sighed exasperatedly and very reluctantly accept to be 'Hermione Jean Granger-Weasley'.

Another fight between the couple had come while deciding at what time the wedding should take place. Hermione wanted it to be at night while Ron wanted to be at midday. Harry had commented that he too would like the wedding to be early, saying he would want to marry the woman he loves as soon as possible, which caused Hermione to concede to Ron's wishes.

Then came the fight over a small wedding or a big wedding. Harry had commented that though he hates crowds, he could understand Ron's wish to have a big wedding. He explained that he would want as many people to witness his good fortune about finding the love of his life and bonding his life to her. Hermione had responded with a sigh and agreed to Ron's wishes yet again.

He didn't know if he should be relieved or disappointed that his opinion was not asked about her wedding dress, and after the incident with Ron ruining it, Harry noticed a change in behavior from Molly and Ginny, thought Ginny, now a famous quidditch player and was away with her team, she had told him she would be back to help with preparations, but now had changed her mind and said she wouldn't be back until the day before the wedding. And Molly, who had been a nightmare on her other sons weddings, now didn't offered any help and very reluctantly had agreed to help with the preparation of the food. Harry promised himself to have a chat with both women and their strange behavior.

Since visiting Hermione's parents, Ron had been almost hostile towards Harry, so he was not surprised when Ron had asked George to be his best-man. He was surprised however, when Hermione asked him to be her 'Man-Of-Honor' and, being unable to deny her anything, he reluctantly agreed. After that Ron didn't bothered to hide his hostility towards Harry. And Harry tried his best to appease them both.

Noticing how stressed Hermione was by preparing everything else for the wedding alone, since Molly still refused to help with anything, Harry offered his help. He hadn't know how many details were necessary for a wedding but he endured through all of it for her, and it helped that he started to pretend it was all for them, that it was their wedding. Though at the end of it all he was a little depressed since it was not their wedding but hers and Ron.

With everything ready, all that was left to do was wait for 'the big day' so Harry decided it was time to have that chat with Molly, Ginny would have to wait until she came back. He went to The Burrow and cut to the chase asking Molly directly why hadn't she helped Hermione with the wedding, her answer had been "Because she has to realize how her life with Ron will be. He will leave all the work for her, he will rarely take her opinion in consideration if at all. Do I need to go on? I love my son but he's ill fitted for Hermione. I love her like she was my own and want what's best for her and, sadly, that's not Ron" She gave Harry a pointed look and with a pat on his cheek, she finished "It's not to late, you know?".

Harry was very conflicted on what to do, for the moment he choose to try and do something he was sure would make Hermione happy and got an international port-key to Australia. He visited her parents and tried to convince them to come to the wedding. But they had argued "We just can't watch her ruin her life like that! That boy is not right for her!"

"That might be true, but if her marriage fails, she might choose to stay with him just to not be alone, to have a family. Please, be there for her, so she knows she won't be alone" Harry argued back.

Hermione's parent shared a look between them before replaying "We can't be there for the wedding, but we would like for her to come and visit us soon, maybe… we could have a little ceremony here"

"Yes! She'll want that!" Harry had exclaimed happily. He accepted their offer to stay for tea. They asked him about their time at Hogwarts, about the war and about his feeling for their daughter, they had noticed it too. All he could tell them was "She is… like my sister and Hermione loves Ron" and they looked skeptic but did not pressure him further and with that he returned home.

The wedding day had finally come… and it was a mess. Harry had tried to talk to Ginny but she had told him the same as Molly. Fleur too had joined the conversation and they both had called him a fool before leaving to do who knows what. Getting ready he figured.

He looked at the skies with worry that it might rain. He then noticed the very early arrival of one Lavender Brown and Harry narrowed his eyes as she made her way towards Ron but was relieved to see George pull Ron away to inspect the carriages. That relief lasted but a few seconds for they seemed to be testing some new product from their joke shop and suddenly both carriages fell apart and were covered in a slimy pink substance and nothing seemed to be able to fix the damn things. Ron was panicking while George seemed to be enjoying the chaos.

"It's alright! We're in a quidditch pitch! There must be some brooms somewhere!" George said between laughs. Ron liked the idea but Harry knew Hermione was not going to be happy about it. Harry narrowed his eyes at George who just winked at him. Luckily they did found some brooms.

"When you get Hermione, ask her about the rings! I left them at the kitchen counter!" And with that, Ron flew away, hopefully to finish getting ready. George took two brooms and shoved one towards Harry while saying "Go get her!" and took flight on the other one following after Ron. Harry just shook his head not really understanding what was going on. He took flight as well and went for Hermione.

He landed outside her cabin. He knocked at the door and waited. When she opened the door, he could tell she was distraught, he supposed it was nerves and she must be sad that her parents are not here. He thought she looked beautiful and told her so.

"You look very handsome and I look like a marshmallow! You need your glasses fixed!" Hermione looked at the broom suspiciously "And what's that?"

"First off, you could be wearing a dress made of old rags and still look beautiful! And second…" Harry nervously scratched the back of his neck "There was an incident with the carriages" And he cursed Ron under his breath.

"What happened?" Hermione shook her head and continued "No, don't tell me. I bet Ron did something stupid"

Harry chuckled, nodding his head. "Luckily, there were some brooms available. So I'll fly you there! But first, I need the rings"

"The rings!? Ron has them" Hermione seemed to be about to have a panic attack.

"Ron said he left them at your flat" Harry tried to stay calm.

"He didn't…" Hermione trailed off then exclaimed "Oh God! I forgot the rings!" She placed both of her hand over her mouth, her eyes widening in horror.

"Don't worry. I'll fly out of the wards and apparate to your flat, grab them and be right back" Harry tried to comfort her. He wanted to pull her in a hug but feared that could set her off. He turned around to leave but it started to rain heavily forcing them to go inside the cabin to avoid getting soaked.

Harry got worried when Hermione started to laugh almost hysterically. He pulled her into a hug "It will be alright, we will think of something"

His worries only increased as she started chanting "I can't do this! I can't do this!" She started sobbing then "I can't marry Ron!"

And Harry was at a loss on what to do so he pulled her tighter against him, rubbing her back, he waited until she calmed down and her sobs subsided before saying "I know everything looks bad now, but I'm sure that you will feel better once you see Ron"

"No it won't!" Hermione was almost hysterical now "I don't love him, not like I should!"

Harry felt guilty at how happy and hopeful those word made him "What do you want to do? Do you… do you want to leave?"

"What!?" Hermione pulled away from him, and Harry couldn't tell if she was relieved of appalled at the idea.

"It the job of the best man and maid of honor, in this case man-of-honor, to provide for an escape plan" he smiled nervously.

"Really?" Hermione looked so very relieved he felt better at proposing the idea.

"If that's really what you want, I will help you. All I want is for you to be happy" Harry pulled the port-key out "I actually planed to give you this as a wedding present. I made some arrangements to get you and Ron to Australia. I know how much you wanted your parents to be here so I spoke with them, and though I couldn't convince them to come to the wedding, they want you to visit them and…" he scratched the back of his neck "You were supposed to take Ron so they could get to know each other better, but I guess you could go on your own"

"Come with me?" Hermione took his hands in hers and squeezed them. Hope filled Harry's heart. It really wasn't too late yet.

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Notes: Plotting and helpful Weasleys! ?

Sorry it took so long to post this. What's that saying "You want to make God laugh, tell him your plans" yeah, I didn't get to play as much of the video-games I wanted to play. I've been having some health issues, some sleeping problems that make those health issues even worse but I'm testing some new meds, they help a little. Hopefully I will have the next chapter up soon. And sorry it ended in the same cliffhanger ?

Hope you liked it. And again sorry for my grammar and spelling mistakes.