A/n: Here it is! The test! Dun dunn dunnnn! There's also a little reference to the movie Boondock Saints. I'll give a cookie to whoever gets it! Don't worry, this is not the end! There all be an epilogue to tie it all together and in which I'll ask a big question about what you'd like to see in my next story, though I don't think the next story I speak of will be posted up right away. For now, just take in all this!
BuckNC- Yeah I know, pop quizzes are torture! Hermione KNEW that the cradle was dangerous and she planned on taking the pain herself, but Ron grabbed her and thus got the pain himself. It's just as much his fault, really.
Trixie7- I think the same thing. That doesn't make for much of a story. Plus, solving the curse was my main priority in writing this.
Lucidity- Thank you! Honestly, I never really know if I do well with characterization. I'm more comfortable with Ron's POV than Hermione's, but the story sort of requires me to switch off between the two.
MmmMmmGood- I actually thought the crib idea was going out on a limb. You liked it? Woohoo!
Hipchick- The 'they'll destroy us' kind of gave me the chills too. It seemed appropriate. Now you'll get to see how Hermione handles herself in a test she can't study for!
Cursed Wedlock by MyKonstantine.
Chapter 15: Dinner with Disaster
Hermione fell back on to her bed at the Burrow. It was the last day she'd be able to do so, she realized with a bit of nostalgia and regret.
It's not that she didn't want to move in to a place of her own with Ron, but so much had happened at the Burrow. This was the place she went to after she'd first asked if it was okay to sleep over a boy's house. To this day she still smiled back in the image of her father's eyes bulging out of his head at the very question.
Then there was fourth year, where Hermione had stayed at The Burrow just before the Quidditch World Cup. She'd met the entire Weasley family that year. Charlie and Hermione had quite a discussion about the symbolism Charlie's Romanian dragon tattoos. She'd been just slightly repulsed by Bill's gigantic fang earring, but his hair was awfully cool.
The Burrow got very limited use the next three years, as the Weasley were in hiding at 12 Grimmauld Place. It wasn't until the end of the war shortly before Hogwart's graduation that the Weasley family saw their precious home again. Harry and Hermione were there when they first came back.
The most important role The Burrow had played to Hermione was a home after the war. Hermione had known that after all the things she'd seen in the wizarding world, she could never go back to live in the muggle world. She's been offered several positions at the Ministry, including the one she presently had as a case researcher for the Department of Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures, but she didn't have a place to live.
Molly Weasley and her gracious family had asked her to stay with them, and now two years later she was leaving them.
There was a knock on the door. "Hermione? Are you decent?"
Well, she was leaving most of them. She was still taking this one with her.
"Yes, Ron. Come in."
A bare-chested Ron strutted into the bedroom where all their clothes were packed away in several small suitcases. "Sorry." Ron said. "I forgot to get a t-shirt."
Hermione snorted. Chances are he 'forgot' his shirt on purpose when he gone downstairs earlier. He'd love for Hermione to ogle his almost muscular chest, so she made sure she kept her face firmly stuck in the magazine she held in hand just to defy him.
As she stared downwards and pretended to look at the moving picture in front of her, she wondered whether Ron's ego was simultaneously deflating or not. She could hear him moving, but there were no noises that sounded like a suitcase being tampered with.
She quickly found that Ron's ego hadn't deflated a pinch. Ron laid himself down on the bed next to Hermione, still shirtless. "That's not a book. What are you looking at?"
Moving the magazine towards him a bit, Hermione revealed to Ron an image of a happy woman smiling in a doorway wearing a risqué bridal robe.
"Don't you think it's a little early to be looking for wedding robes?" Ron asked, excited but a little confused.
"Harry and Ginny's wedding is in two weeks."
Ron's face went from slight confusion to pure bewilderment. "But Ginny already has a robe, doesn't she?"
Hermione was trying to be subtle. It was apparent at that moment that Ron was never very good at picking up on subtleties. She'd have to spell it out for him as usual.
"Ron, we still have this curse over our heads. The test not might come before Harry and Ginny's wedding. I'm looking at robes for me."
"In case we have to have an emergency wedding?" Ron's eyes widened in shock.
Hermione smiled at Ron's use of the term 'emergency wedding.' That was, in fact, what it would be, but hearing the phrase aloud made it difficult to hold back foolish schoolgirl giggles. Trying her best to maintain herself, Hermione simply looked back to her magazine.
Ron was silent for a long time before Hermione dared to look back at him. The look on his face was sullen yet at the same time pensive. She began to study his strong jaw line and scrunched freckles, but stopped when she realized his bright blue eyes with unusually long eyelashes were boring down on her.
"The test will come before the wedding, you know. It has to." His words were strong and comforting, but she couldn't be sure.
After all, Hermione was the guardian. She was supposed to know what was going to happen and how to stop it, but she didn't. She didn't have a clue.
"There's no guarantees." Hermione whispered in just as comforting a voice.
A grin spread across Hermione's face as she felt the warmth of an arm wrapping around her and giving her a quick squeeze. "The date doesn't matter. You're stuck with me no matter what."
"Stuck with you is appropriate." Hermione squirmed as she spoke, trying to loosen Ron's death grip on her.
Taking the hint, Ron let go completely and clambered out of bed to retrieve a shirt.
"Harry and Ginny want us to go over their house for dinner around four today. Ginny's cooking roast beef."
"Ginny cooks?"
Ron shrugged. "She's been learning for a while. I guess it's the maternal instinct." He pulled a blue shirt down over his head. "Harry's not dead yet, so I agreed to eat over there when I get home from work. You going to meet us there?"
Hermione sighed. She'd planned on spending the day researching and devising a plan just in case there was an emergency wedding and then looking into possible challenges brought forth by curses and how to defend oneself against them, but a little dinner in between wouldn't hurt.
"Alright." She agreed, putting the bridal magazine down. "But if I get any good research tips, I might have to bring them to Ginny's, if I remember to get there at all."
Ron eyed Hermione suspiciously. "If you're not there by four thirty, I'm coming back to the Burrow and dragging your arse there."
"Ronald Weasley, get to work." Hermione shot back in reply. She wasn't trying to get out of going to Ginny's dinner, but there were much more important things to worry about at the moment. There was a curse after them. There was a wedding coming up, possibly two. There was work to be done.
Plus, if Hermione didn't research, who would? Harry and Ginny were too busy planning a wedding and preparing to have a baby. Ron would pass out on the research book and wake up three hours later with a large ink stain covering the side of his face.
Ron shook his head at Hermione with both amusement and frustration before apparating with a soft popping sound.
With Ron out of sight, Hermione realized that this wedding plan wasn't going to be easy. She was the brightest witch in Hogwarts, but she was socially inept! She'd never had to plan anything formal in her life!
Suddenly, a wave of realization hit Hermione as the smell of fresh bacon rose up from the first floor. There was only one person left in the Weasley household. That one person was exactly what she needed.
Hermione snatched the magazine up and hurried down the stairs so quickly that she almost tripped over her own feet. Feeling rather foolish, Hermione reminded herself that it wouldn't have been the first time she'd fallen down those stairs.
Despite her stumbling act to the kitchen table, she was still greeted with a cheerful "Good morning, Hermione!"
"G'morning Molly." Hermione let out a sigh of relief when her bottom settled into the chair. She managed to run through the house with excitement without breaking anything.
"I told you a million times dear, call me Mum." Molly came towards the table with two plates in her hands. "I thought you'd appreciate some breakfast."
"Thank you." Hermione rattled off quickly. "I actually had a few questions for you, Molly.. Mum."
Molly looked quite pleased with Hermione calling her mum. The day Hermione and Ron had announced engagement, Mrs. Weasley claimed that she always knew Hermione would be calling her mum someday.
Molly's eyes caught the bridal book on the table. "Does this have anything to do with marrying my son?"
Hermione nodded. She could feel a slight blush rising up her cheeks, but she couldn't exactly pinpoint the cause. Embarrassment? Shyness? Excitement? All of the above?
"If there's no progression with the curse before Harry and Ginny's wedding date in two weeks, then Ron and I are getting married at the same area of Hogwarts in one week and six days. Molly, I haven't planned a thing yet!"
To Hermione's surprise, Molly laughed, her aging eyes sparkling in the morning light. "It's never easy, mine certainly wasn't. Let's start with the basics."
"Thank you so much."
Molly waved her hand to indicate that it was no problem. "You'll do fine. This is all just a test of your patience, dear."
"Everything seems to be a test these days."
Hermione apparated to The Cottage, which was the new nickname for Harry and Ginny's house, just after four o'clock. The couple was greeting Ron when she arrived.
"You made it!"
"Yes, I made it." Hermione shot Ron a sarcastic smile. "That also means I didn't come up with a hint of information about your ancient relatives' little plan."
A look of concern clouded over Harry's face. "You not still researching that, are you?"
"Hermione, I thought we discussed it." Ginny added. The couple was already learning to pair up against others. If their children ever got caught starting trouble, they wouldn't stand a chance. "There's no planned defense mechanism you can use against this test. There's no way to predict this."
"What am I supposed to do before it comes then?" Hermione questioned, tucking herself in her seat.
Ginny placed a full plate in front of Hermione. "Eat your mashed potatoes."
"Thanks Gin." "No problem."
There were several loud clanks as silverware began crashing into dinner plates, cutting roast beef and clinging to vegetables. Ron stumbled with his knife as he cut through the tough roast beef, placing a few fingers down on the meat while he cut it with the knife dangerously close.
"You're going to cut your hand open like that." Hermione chided in between bites of corn.
"I can very well cut my own meat, thanks."
Harry stifled a laugh. Ron glanced up at him, waiting for an explanation as to what was so funny, but Harry quickly averted the attention away from him. "It's getting dark earlier than usual tonight."
Ron's look softened and he slowly nodded at the change of subject. Hermione internally let out a sigh of relief. No brawls in the kitchen during dinner? Excellent!
Everything went back to normal dinner etiquette.. for about three seconds.
"FUCK! ASS!" Ron's voice echoed through the house as he dropped his sharp knife on to the table. Blood was slowly oozing out of the cut on his finger.
Ginny gasped. "Ron! Do not swear in front of my child!"
"It's not even born yet! It can't hear me!"
"How do you know that?"
"Just take my word for it and stop me from bleeding!"
Rolling her eyes, Hermione got up and examined the cut. It wasn't too deep.
"Wash it out in the sink and I'll heal it for you." She gave Ron as her verdict. Sometimes she felt bad for Ron's mum. Ron was a man. A strong willed man who required the care of a five-year-old even though he was just weeks away from his twentieth birthday.
Hermione couldn't help but smirk and shake her head as Ron mumbled curses all the way to the sink. He flicked on the faucet and let out a loud hiss as the water fell over his finger. He seemed a bit weary staring down at the blood washing away, so Hermione wasn't surprised when he began to stare out the window instead.
However, she was surprised when a grabbed his wand suddenly and screamed out "Harry! Get over here! Now!"
Sensing the urgency in Ron's voice, Harry rushed over. Hermione and Ginny stood up, but stayed at the table until Harry waved them over with the warning of "It wasn't getting dark early."
"What do you mean?" Ginny asked as she shuffled closer.
Harry simply pointed out the window. Hermione's eyes grew as wide as saucers when she noticed the thick black cloud in the distance. It was tumbling toward The Cottage at an unbelievable pace.
Then Hermione realized that it wasn't just a cloud of smoke. It was several individual objects moving forward. Her eyes focused and she gasped aloud at the clear-cut image in front of her.
"Dementors."
"Thousands of them."
Harry turned away and gagged on his digesting dinner. He looked as if he was about to fall to pieces at any second. "This is it."
Everyone was silent. Hands were clenched and hearts were pumping at rapid paces. Their skin was ice white, but their brains we overheating.
Harry was right. This was it.
An instinct that Hermione didn't even know she had kicked in. Hermione had experienced the raw survival instinct during the war against Voldemort, but this feeling wasn't exactly the same. It was strength, empowerment, and a sense of belonging. For once in her life, Hermione Granger was positive about was she was doing.
"Get your wands out and go outside!" She shouted to the others even though she was just as frightened as they were.
"What?"
"Just do it!" She insisted. "We all know how to produce a proper patronus!"
"There's too many!" Ginny squealed, but headed toward the door anyway. The silent rolling cloud of dementors tumbled toward them still.
Harry was by far the worst as they stepped into the darkening yard. Hermione could only imagine the gruesome sounds he was already hearing in the distance.
"Happy memories!" Hermione reminded them.
With no hesitation, she pointed her wand forward and thought of the day Ron proposed to her. "Expecto Patronum!"
A wispy form of a phoenix sprouted from her wand. It flew shakily through the crowd and burst apart after contact with its first dementor.
She wasn't powerful enough. She was too scared.
All around her she could see weak patronuses that took out a few dementors here and there. There was Harry's stag, Ginny's unicorn, and Ron's wolf appearing over and over again. But she saw even more failed attempts. Silvery slices falling apart as soon as they appeared.
It wasn't working. The dementors came forward as a tremendous pace. The loss of a few others didn't mean them hesitate at all.
Hermione's breath hitched and she slowly lowered her wand. One of the others screamed "Hermione! No!" She just couldn't continue. She needed something. She needed an answer.
The scene continued at an ultra slow speed. She looked down the line to her left. The first thing she saw was Ronald Weasley's red hair and freckled face in all its glory as he threw out another attempt at a patronus. Beside him was his fiery sister, who screamed out the incantation with a look of sheer determination. She held one hand with Harry Potter. He looked weary as he sent out the most stags he'd ever had to in his life. Every time he looked just about done, he'd glance over at Ginny and some force of strength seemed to be renewed.
Hermione hurled her wand forward and screamed "Expecto Patronum!" Her phoenix took out the largest amount of dementors so far. After that, she could see Harry, Ginny, and Ron throwing out slightly stronger forms as well, but it wasn't enough. It was never enough.
She didn't understand it. They were all fighting! They were all fighting side by side!
They were all there. They were all facing their final task. They were all failing.
The dementors were less than a quidditch field away now. They were beginning to flood Hermione's sense, bringing back some of her worst memories. More than just that, she could see her visions. Ginny's bleeding hand, Ginny's dead body, and her own form walking down the isle.
That's when it hit her like a pile of bricks. Whoever she saw in her visions, whether it was an image of herself or Ginny, they were always alone. Nobody was there to save him or try to stop them. "We're doing this wrong!"
Ron and Harry stopped quickly, but Ginny continued to an exhausted pace. Hermione grabbed her by the arm and forces her wand down. "No! Listen to me! We're going to die if we keep doing this!"
"What do we do?" Ginny cried out in reply.
"Together!" Hermione screamed out, fighting away strange sounds and horrible memories. "We're worthless unless we say the incantation together!"
"Won't that backfire?" Harry questioned.
Hermione thought carefully. Mixed magic could be extremely dangerous and often deadly, but it was a risk she was willing to take. If they didn't, they would die anyway.
"It's the only way!" She announced. "Now everyone needs to cast their patronus on three!"
Each of them turned toward their extremely close enemies.
"One!"
Four wands poked out of the human wall.
"Two!"
Four souls scourged up the best memories they could possibly think of.
"Three!"
Out of four wands came the brightest flash of light Hermione had ever witnessed. She couldn't exactly make out the shape in front of her, but it was a gigantic beast with wings. It moved forward toward the dementors, creating a filmy white shield between them and the foursome.
The ground was trembling underneath them so violently that Hermione lost her balance. She was sure she wasn't the only one on the ground, but she could barely see at all.
Suddenly the trembling stopped and Hermione realized she wasn't on the ground anymore at all. The Patronus shield had lifted them off the ground. It had encompassed them in a shining sheer bubble.
Voices whispered ever so softly around her, echoing off the bubble and back into her ears.
"They did it?" "Yes. The guardian's powerful."
The gruff male voice hesitated. "They're all powerful, but why should we trust them, Gweneveire?"
"They passed our test, and so they are our kin."
Hermione could still feel a strange floating presence moments later when she clutched the grass in her hands. She was on the ground. Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness of Harry and Ginny's yard without the shining patronus in it. Thoroughly searching the scene, Hermione found her loves one in the same positions and no dementors in sight.
Ron was the first to speak. "Was that patronus a bloody hippogriff?"
"I thought it was a dragon." Harry suggested.
They all spent a moment catching each other's eyes and confirming their existence.
"We're alive." Ginny whispered to her brother, who smiled heartily before embracing her. Ron caught Hermione's eye as he held his sister and pulled Hermione into the embrace as well.
Squeezing them both with all her might, she could see the tears spilling down from Ginny's cheeks as Ron pulled Harry into the giant hug. They were all together again
"Oh thank Merlin! We're alive!"
There's lot stuffed into one chapter, but I hope it didn't throw anything off! What did you think of it? I'd love your input on it all!