Weddings with Weasleys
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Part Two- Awkward Situations
"Hermione Granger?!?" Ron yelled.
"Do you know any other Hermiones?" George retorted.
"Well," Molly said hastily, "I suggest we get started. We have seven weddings to plan! I'll just go drop letters to all the future Weasley wives...and Remus, of course."
"Mum, I'd better go write to mine, especially since we don't even know her," Charlie said. He and Molly hurried upstairs.
"It's like bloody Christmas morning for Mum, isn't it?" Fred joked. His other brothers and Harry scowled at him.
Just then they heard someone tumble out of the fireplace. Ginny smiled excitedly. "I'll go," she exclaimed.
She ran into the living room to find Remus Lupin brushing soot from his robes. He looked up at her and grinned, his hazel eyes twinkling. Ginny ran into his outstretched arms and hugged him fiercely.
"How'd you do it?" she asked in a whisper.
"Kingsley," he replied with a wink. "His wife works over in the Matrimonial Department at the Ministry, and when Kings gave me a heads-up about this law, I told him about us. His wife made sure we got matched together."
"That settles it then," Ginny said beaming. "We're naming our first child after Kingsley."
"Drat, I was hoping to name it after my father," Remus replied with a smile. They stared at each other for a moment before Remus cleared his throat nervously. "Yes, well...I'd been planning on doing this for a while now, before the law was passed, but at any rate..." He pulled small box from his pocket and knelt down on one knee. "Ginny, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
"Oh, Remus!" Ginny cried. "Yes, of course."
What happened next could only be called a series of unfortunate events. Remus pulled the ring from the box at the same time someone tumbled from the fireplace. Hermione stumbled into Remus, knocking the ring across the room. Luckily, Fred and George entered the room at that moment, and George managed to catch the ring.
He crossed the room to return it to Remus, who was now standing and rubbing his injured knee. Unfortunately, George tripped on the rug and landed on his knees in front of Hermione, still holding the ring!
George raised his head up to meet Hermione's gaze. He blushed at the shocked look on her face. "Sorry," he mumbled and thrust the ring back at Remus. The elder man gently pushed the ring onto Ginny's finger just as Molly came into the room.
"Mum, look!" Ginny cried, showing her mother the ring Remus had given her. It was a pink diamond in the shape of a heart, surrounded by a thin band.
"Lovely," Molly commented. "Remus, I must say I'm surprised that you were matched with my daughter, even more than I'm surprised that you were included in the lottery."
"Yes, well, I suppose the Ministry needed every able-bodied male, eh?" he replied nervously.
"Indeed," Molly said curtly. She turned to Hermione and George who were standing there carefully not looking at each other. "Well, I suppose we'd better get started. When do you two want to get married?"
"Molly, dear, might I make a suggestion?" Arthur Weasley interrupted.
"Arthur, when did you get here?" Molly asked.
"Just now, dear," he replied. "I've been in the kitchen with Ron and Harry. Now, as I was saying, why don't we have all the weddings over the course of a week? There's seven weddings, so we can have one each day of the week."
"Arthur, that's a wonderful idea!" Molly cried happily. "Who wants to go first?" she asked as the other bridegrooms entered the room.
No one said anything for several moments, and most of the men looked at the floor as if it held the secret to life on it. Finally Charlie spoke up.
"I'll do it. I'll go first," he said grimly. "I just owled this Cassandra person to meet me at the Leaky Cauldron this afternoon."
"Oh, wonderful!" Arthur said. "Charlie, you'll be Sunday. Now, Ron, how about you next?"
Ron shrugged carelessly. "If it's okay with Katie, that's fine. New term doesn't start for another month." Ron taught Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts, where Katie Bell was the flying instructor.
"I'll be Tuesday," Harry said slightly more enthusiastic than Ron.
"Oh, splendid! Who's next?" asked Molly.
"Me," Percy said bitterly.
"Oh, good, Percy and Tonks on Wednesday," Arthur concluded, jotting everything down onto a calendar.
"Tonks?" Remus asked incredulously.
"Yes, Tonks," Percy said.
"We'll be Thursday," Ginny spoke up, grasping Remus' hand.
"Me and Angelina'll be Friday, then," Fred interjected.
"That just leaves George and Hermione," Molly said happily. "You two on Saturday. Let's say in two weeks?"
"Three, if you don't mind," Remus corrected. "I have...er...somewhere to be in two weeks."
"Full moon," Harry whispered to Ron, who nodded in response.
"Wonderful!" Molly squealed. "Now, why don't you all go talk to your fiancés? In fact, bring them all over for dinner. I'll owl Bill and Fleur to come too!"
With that, everyone dispersed to his or her various homes or jobs. Remus and Ginny Apparated to Ginny's flat to discuss wedding plans and probably shag. Ron Flooed back to Hogwarts to talk to Katie. Harry left out the kitchen door, intent on hiking up the road to the Lovegood's to talk to Luna before their shift started at the Department of Mysteries. Percy immediately Apparated to the Ministry, saying he would have his secretary set up a meeting with Tonks before the day was over. Charlie went upstairs to his old bedroom to sleep, since he'd left Romania very early that morning. Fred hurried to Diagon Alley to open the shop.
George and Hermione were left alone in the living room, too stunned from the events of the morning to go anywhere. She looked over at him and took in his appearance. She hadn't seen him in a while. After she left Hogwarts four years before, she'd only seen George on occasional holidays. And she never frequented Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes if she could help it.
He wasn't tall and lanky like Bill, Percy and Ron. Rather, he was the shorter, stockier build of Mrs. Weasley and Charlie. Hermione had never really noticed it before, but Ginny looked remarkably more like the twins than anyone else in the family. George's shoulders had broadened since he'd left school, and he was wearing his hair longer, almost to his shoulders, but he let it hang loose, rather than pulling it back like Bill did. Right now, however, it was tousled since he'd been rudely awakened that morning. His blue eyes still retained their mischievous glint, and he smiled weakly at Hermione. She noticed, amidst all the freckles on his face, one in the left corner of his mouth. She found herself wondering if Fred also had a matching freckle there as well.
George cleared his throat nervously. "So I guess we're getting married," he said stupidly. He was embarrassed to be standing next to his future wife in nothing but his boxers and a shirt, with messed-up hair and morning breath.
"So it would seem," Hermione replied quietly. "If you don't mind, I need to get to work. I'm late as it is."
"Yes, of course," George replied. "I'll just see you later then." He was slightly disappointed in her reaction, but he decided to dismiss it for now.
"Sure," she said.
When Hermione entered her office at Gringott's, she wasn't all that surprised to find Bill Weasley waiting for her with his feet propped up on her desk. He smiled warmly at her, but she just rolled her eyes.
"I assume you've heard," she commented dryly.
"Mum just owled me. I've never seen her this excited, not even when Fleur and I found out we were having twins," Bill said. "So in a few weeks time, not only will I be your boss, but your brother-in-law as well. Excellent!"
"It's not," Hermione said sharply. "This is the worst thing that could happen."
"Hermione, it can't be that bad," Bill argued. "George's a nice bloke, comes from good stock."
"How can you joke about this?" she yelled. "I don't want to get married right now! There're so many things I wanted to do before I got married."
Bill dropped his bemused smile and stood. "Hermione," he began, "you can't plan your life out. Something will always throw a kink in it. You just have to go with it. Besides, it's not like you and George are in love. Just get married and live your own lives."
"But we have to have a baby within a year!" she bemoaned.
"What?" Bill cried. "Mum didn't tell me that!"
"Now do see why I'm so upset?" Hermione asked. "Look, I can't talk about this now. We have that meeting with Griphook this morning."
"Okay, I'll see you in a bit, then," Bill said in a somewhat defeated tone before he left Hermione to her thoughts.
Hermione met Ginny for lunch later that day, intent on asking her for advice concerning George. But first she wanted to know about Ginny's and Remus' secret relationship.
"How did you two get together? When did this happen?" Hermione asked.
Ginny grinned and admired her ring again before answering. "It was about six months ago we ran into each other at Flourish and Blotts. He was trying to find a gift for the two Aurors who'd just finished training with him, and we just got to chatting. I mentioned that I ran the Apothecary and was the Potions Mistress there. He asked if I could make the Wolfsbane Potion. You know Remus has never been good with potions. And we just started seeing each other after that. He's quite wonderful."
"I'm glad you're happy," Hermione said, "but why didn't you ever tell anyone?"
"Come off it, Hermione, you know how my mum would have reacted," Ginny said bitterly. "This way, she doesn't have a say-so."
"I can't believe I never knew," Hermione said thoughtfully.
"Two words, Hermione," Ginny said with a wink, "Silencing Charms." She giggled, and Hermione blushed.
"Well, I can't say I'm not upset you didn't tell me, but I do understand," Hermione said.
"So what about you and George?" Ginny asked, changing the subject.
"What about us?" Hermione replied. "We have to get married. I'm not happy about it, but it's what I have to do."
"Oh, Hermione, it won't be that bad," Ginny said, patting her friend's hand. "At least you know George and like him."
"He's alright, I suppose," Hermione said with a shrug. "But I wanted to love my husband. And I can't see myself loving George. I mean, he's so immature. He's a perpetual jokester. He can't ever be serious. He's-"
"Standing right here," came a voice from behind Hermione. She turned and looked into George's blue eyes. It was obvious that she'd hurt his feelings.
"George, I'm sorry," she said hurriedly. "I just meant that we're total opposites, and we've never really been great friends. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
"It's okay," he replied, taking a seat next to her. "I know this is going to be difficult."
"Oh, it won't be so bad, you two," Ginny said.
"Of course you don't care, Ginny. You get to marry someone you actually like," Hermione retorted.
"Hey," George exclaimed, "I take offense to that! I'm not entirely unlikeable!"
"That's not what I meant," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
Ginny glanced from her brother to her friend and stood quickly. "I think I'll be going now. See you both tonight." She paid for her lunch and quickly walked away.
"She thinks she's got everyone fooled," George mused. At Hermione's puzzled expression, he said, "Everyone but Mum knows about her and Remus, even Dad. What's even more disturbing is that while my sister is excellent at Silencing Charms, her Locking Charms could use some work. I had the unfortunate opportunity to walk in on them once. Ginny doesn't know, but I was begging Fred to Obliviate me when I got back home." George shuddered at the memory.
Hermione giggled, and George beamed that he'd made her laugh. "Hermione," he began slowly, "I know we to have dinner with my whole family tonight, but I wanted to ask if you were busy tomorrow night?"
"Er, no, I don't think so," she replied. "What'd you have in mind?"
"Well, I thought I could come over for dinner and we could talk about all this," he said nervously.
"And I supposed you expect me to cook?" Hermione asked angrily.
"On the contrary, I'll cook," George replied. "I just didn't want to invite you over to my place. Fred and Angelina will be there." He wrinkled his nose at the thought, causing Hermione to laugh again.
"That'd be nice, George. Thank you," Hermione replied.
"Well," George said, standing, "I need to get back to the shop. I'll see you tonight."
"Yes, tonight," Hermione replied with a small smile.