Disclaimer : I own nothing that has anything to do with Harry Potter, thank you for your time - that is all.
A/N : Sorry this took so long to get out there! But from now on you wont have to wait more than a week for the latest chapters! Enjoy!
And Happy New Years to everyone! I hope 2006 is even better than 2005! And I hope everyone is having a nice, safe, happy holidays!
One Last Golden Day
The Robes and Flowers
Hermione's PoV
'Could this get any more boring?' I hear Ron mumble under his breath, no doubt hoping only Harry could hear him. I, of course, can hear him from across the room where Ginny and I are standing in front of a big oak framed mirror.
I shoot Ron a look that clearly tells him to keep quiet or I'll have to help him stifle his comments. Neither Ginny, nor I are having very much fun. Madame Posie, a good friend of Fleur's mother, is fitting our dresses for the wedding. Ginny, who happens to be one of the bride's maids covered in a very lavender looking, puffy, fabric. I, on the other hand, have no connection to the Weasley's or Delcore's so thankfully Fleur doesn't get to pick my dress.
'She looks like a pink poodle,' Harry says, nodding in Ginny's direction, doing his very best to keep a straight face and failing miserably.
I can't help but agree with him, though. Madame Posie has positioned her on a small stage in the center of the room and has begun to poke pins into the fabric she had draped over her the very moment we'd walked into her dress robes shop. Fleur had spent the entire time with her nose in the air, walking in circles around the platform Ginny was on, stopping every few steps to tell Madame Posie what she wanted or what still needed to be fixed.
Ginny and I are doing out best to stand still while the two fly back and forth between the two of us. With such little time left before the wedding they figure it's best to work on both of our dresses at the same time; not the best idea.
'I'm hungry. Hermione wouldn't let me eat this morning; can you believe her? She knows how I am if I don't eat,' Ron grumbles under his breath, shifting in his seat on the hard oak bench beside the fitting room door. I've stopped listening to them by now.
I roll my eyes and raise my arms in the air as Madame Posie orders. I look to my right, Ginny is pushing her red hair from her face, clearly thankful for the moment of peace as Fleur begins ordering the seamstress around; this time focusing on my dress.
My mum and dad had given me enough money to buy some new dress robes for the wedding; my old ones had stopped fitting me a while ago. Fleur doesn't seem to care that I don't like her suggestions for the dress, and instead just hushes me violently whenever I mention anything.
'You going to take her?' Harry mumbles, raising an eyebrow as he looks straight ahead, watching both Ginny and I as we exchange looks of horror at the fabric they've picked out for me; a pink tool with a sort of lace trimming, as Fleur mentions with a triumphant grin.
'What?' Ron asks, distractedly as he picks at a loose thread on his pant leg.
'Hermione. Are you going to ask her to the wedding?' Harry asks in a hushed whisper. My ears perk up, all of my attention now focused on the boys sitting across the room as I stare, frozen, at Madame Posie's hands as they weave the needle through the lace.
I can feel Ginny's eyes on me, boring into the side of my face with a smirk plastered across her's. I do my best not to blush as I wait for Ron's answer.
He coughs and shifts in his seat again, 'she's already going to the wedding, Harry. We weren't planning on asking her to stay up in Ginny's room while we're in the garden celebrating,' he stutters quietly, looking down at the floor.
'I meant-' Harry begins before Fleur, much to my displeasure, cuts him off.
'Yes! Zis eez perfect! Thank you, Madame Posie, thank you,' she exclaims, gripping the fabric of my dress in her hand.
I look down at her from the pedestal, thrown off by her completely out of the blue happiness. I quickly look back up at Ron and Harry, who are both watching us.
Ron catches my eye and looks away, giving his attention back to the thread on his pant leg. I shake my head and look back down at Fleur and Madame Posie, glaring daggers at the both of them as they grin and nod at each other.
The rest of the morning was spent much the same as it had started of as. Ginny and I stood for another couple of hours on the pedestal while the two wedding crazed women flew back and forth between the both of us, gabbing pins into the disgustingly colored fabric, sewing on lace, and adding puff to Ginny's sleeves. The boy sat, just like they had been, shifting in their seats, trying to get comfortable and whispering conversation between them.
Unfortunately their mumbles hold nothing of any interest after Fleur had interrupted them. The rest of the morning's conversation is only aimed at the current Quidditch scores and more silence than could be accounted for.
Finally when we have finished Fleur hands Madame Posie a bag of Galleons and ushers us out of her shop, leaving the dresses with the seamstress after making her promise to finish them first, before any other dress robes that have been ordered.
'Alright, now ve must go to the flower shop. It is just over 'ere,' Fleur says breathlessly as she walks toward a small shop which seems too small to fit all of the flowers inside because most of them are sitting in baskets outside of the shop door.
'Erm, Fleur? How about you go ahead in there and look at the flowers; we'll stay behind, maybe head over there to that cafe for some lunch? You can meet us back here,' Ginny suggests, doing her best to keep from whining as she points to the little restaurant across the street.
Fleur sighs, annoyed that we aren't being of any more help, then waves her hand defeated and turns back to the flower shop. Ginny turns to face us with a grin.
'Thank Merlin, I could barely keep from strangling her with that lace she used for your dress robes, Hermione,' she says, pulling a face at the thought of what we had to wear to the wedding.
'Let's go, I'm starving,' Ron says, grinning happily as he and Harry begin crossing the road to the restaurant.
'We heard,' Ginny smirks, mumbling loud enough for the both of them to hear as we follow them.
Ron blushes a bit and Harry's expression matches Ginny's perfectly. I look away, taking in the scenery as I do my best to ignore their teasing.
We are in Hogsmeade, though we'd never gone this far into the town. It seemed a lot smaller than the part we'd grown custom to visiting. Everything was much tinier, the shops, the roads, the restaurants. Just down the street is a store that looks as though it has been their forever, nearly abandon save for an old woman who is beating a rug on the front lawn, coughing uncontrollably as the dusty drifted past her. Across the road is the cafe which we're heading towards. It's small, with a patio out front, the table's small and round with large umbrellas floating above each one.
Harry tells the waiter we'd like a seat for four outside and the wizard leads us to one of the tables on the patio. We sit, Ginny and I across from Ron and Harry, as the waiter walks off, leaving us to get settled before ordering, the menu's appearing in front of us.
'So? I can't wait to see you two in those dresses at the wedding, Ginny I'm sure you'll look like the most beautiful poodle there,' Harry smiles pleasantly at her from above his menu which he doesn't take his eyes off of.
'Oh, well thank you, Harry, some time's you're just too kind,' she smiles back, kicking him under the table. Shrugging sweetly when he looks up at her, doing his best to keep a straight face.
'I wouldn't be so cocky, Harry,' Ron says, focusing fully on the wide selection of food printed on the menu, nearly drooling as his eyes run down the lists, 'you'll be meeting the family - all of them. I don't think Fred and George will be able to keep the knowledge of you and Ginny a secret for too long.'
Harry looks down at his menu again, it's obvious he doesn't know what to say to that. Ron is right, by the time Mrs. Weasley had welcomed all of the guests before the wedding began, Fred and George would have already mentioned that Harry Potter was there, and that he had nearly become a brother-in-law; though there might have been hope yet.
Every since he had arrived they had acted as though nothing had happened, as if they were just two good friends spending the summer together like always. They hadn't seemed to notice the longing looks that took over the other's faces whenever they weren't looking, though we had all seemed to catch a few of those through out the past evening.
Ginny seems determined not to break the friendly air between her and Harry though, because she manages to tear her eyes away from his face, the expression that is so obviously plastered all over it, and says with a teasing smile, 'well, Ron, I'm sure the twins wont forget to add that the famous Hermione Granger is in their presences, either. I mean, after all, you manage to mention her whenever we're visiting their house in the summers, don't you?'
Ron blushes a furious red but says nothing. I do my best to keep my eyes on the menu, though, because I know if I look up at him I'll only want to know what he's said about me.
'Alright, Ginny I think we won that one, now let's order,' Harry says triumphantly as she giggles in agreement, no longer embarrassed by the mention of their past relationship.
When the waiter comes back I've decided on just some Pumpkin Juice and a slice of pie, unlike Ron and Harry, I'm not very hungry. Ginny decides on a salad and the boys order nearly everything on the menu. The waiter looks horrified when he comes to take our orders; Ginny and I just shrug apologetically before he leaves our table again.
'I don't know how we're going to make it through this wedding alive, if Fleur drags me into one more pink shop I'm going to snap. I never thought being her maid of honor would be so much like a chore,' Ginny sighs, taking a gulp of the water that appears in front of her.
'Why didn't she ask Gabrielle to be her maid of honor? I mean, wouldn't she rather have her sister there instead of her soon to be sister-in-law?' Harry asks, stretching out in his chair, watching Ginny with a pleasant smile.
She rolls her eyes and rests her head in her hands, 'that's what I was hoping for, but apparently her sister can't come down here until the night before the wedding and Fleur wanted to have her maid of honor here to help her plan the whole thing.'
'I'm just happy Bill asked Charlie to be his best man, the only thing I have to do, according to Mum, is be there for the wedding,' Ron says happily.
'Then what are you doing here?' Harry asks, confused by this simple bit of logic. I smile and take a sip of water, as the day passes the sun seems to be getting more and more hot.
'It's pretty obvious, isn't Harry? I had to come, and I dragged Hermione with me, and why would Ron want to spend the day at the Burrow when she's not around to argue with?' Ginny smirks, leaning back in her seat comfortably.
'Then what does that say about Harry? Why did he come? Was it because he didn't want to spend time without you at the Burrow?' I shoot back quickly. They seem to have made it a game, embarrassing Ron and I, just to see our reactions.
Ron grins at me from across the table as they cough and busy themselves with their glasses. Finally the waiter comes to rescue them, though, and Ron and Harry inhale their food while Ginny and I do our best to seem invisible as the waiter watches them from cafe window behind us.
Once Ginny and I have gotten halfway through our light lunches Fleur calls out from across the street, 'everyone, come 'ere quickly. Put zat food down! Come now, I 'ave just remembered something.'
Reluctantly we scrap our chairs across the ground and Harry drops a few Galleons onto the table top as we all hurry back across the street to Fleur, who looks as though she's about to kill us if we don't walk any faster.
'I need to go back to zee Burrow, Molly 'az just sent me an owl; zee caterers have arrived, I have to go plan zee meals with them. Ginny, come,' she motions towards her, ''ere is my list, zee four of you can finish for me. I will see you all back home, thank you!'
And with that she disappears, leaving the four us of standing in the middle of the street. We are in Hogsmeade - alone. Freedom seems to catch us and pull us away as we stand their, grinning madly at each other.