Harry and Hermione had gotten to bed early the previous evening because they knew Harry had to be rested for his departure the following morning. When Harry awoke for breakfast he found Bill and Sean eating their porridge at the table and Fleur noticeably absent. "This is ridiculous" Bill was muttering to himself more than anyone else, "who the heck started this stupid tradition of not seeing the bride the day of the wedding?"
"I believe that it was the ancient Hebrews" Sean replied.
"You know everything don't you?" Bill inquired.
"Hardly" Sean simply said.
"Good morning Bill, Sean" Harry said to them as he came up.
"Morning'" they both said.
"Mum prepared some porridge for us over there" Bill said gesturing toward the pot on the oven burner. "All the women are upstairs helping Fleur get ready for the wedding," Bill continued, "and they won't let us up there."
"It's tradition." Harry stated simply as he got himself a bowl of porridge and joined Bill and Sean.
"Where is everybody else?" Harry asked wondering about the people who were there last night and all the other guests that he figured would be there.
"Most of them will be apparating here in about three hours," Bill said glancing at the clock on the wall.
A few moments after this Ron and the twins apparated into the room, "Hi ya Harry" Ron greeted as they came in dressed in their best dress robes. Harry realized that he needed to go change into his dress robes and Bill and Sean went to do the same as they finished their breakfast.
Bill was correct in his estimation, because for the next two hours different people were apparating onto the Burrow grounds where Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, Ron, and Ginny waited to greet the guests and show them to the prepared area. Harry was inside in his dress robes, he did not want to attract attention to himself and take attention away from the bride and groom. He agreed to come out with the groom and his best man. He wondered how Sean would be dressed, seeing as how he was a Muggle, he wondered if he would wear a tuxedo or other kind of formal Muggle clothing, or if he would just try to blend in by wearing dress robes.
He was soon shown his answer when Sean came down the stairs. His hair was in his usual spiked up crew cut; he was clean-shaven and dressed in what were strange clothes to Harry. He had black dress shoes and socks on his feet and a kilt in the Clan O'Sullivan pattern, tucked into the kilt was a long sleeved white dress shirt and over that he had a dark blue dress coat with shiny brass buttons.
"This is one of my traditions" Sean said to Harry when he could see him trying to decipher why he was dressed like he was. "I was willing to wear the dress robes you wizards wear, but Bill wouldn't have it."
"I think that looks really cool" Harry said.
"Thanks" Sean answered simply.
"Where's Bill?" Harry asked.
"He and his dad are having a little chat before the ceremony starts."
Up in Bill's room, Mr. Weasley was helping him straighten up his robes in front of the mirror in the room. Bill had his long hair tied back in his usual ponytail and even had his dragon fang earring on, because Fleur liked it so much.
"How do I look?" Bill asked his dad.
"You look great son" Mr. Weasley answered and then sighed as he looked at his own reflection next to his son in the mirror.
"I am very proud of you son" Mr. Weasley began, "but if you will take some marital advice from someone who has been on that road for a little while. Just remember that marriage is a compromise and that the best thing you can do most of the time is to simply listen."
Bill turned to face his father, a look of content on his face as he placed a hand on his father's shoulder. "Thanks for everything dad," he began "the only thing I hope with all this is that I can be at least half the husband and father you are" Bill said with feeling before embracing his father.
After a minute or two, the father and his eldest son came apart and faced each other for a moment before Mr. Weasley spoke, "let's you get on with the rest of your life."
Bill nodded and they continued downstairs and found Harry and Sean waiting for them in the main room. Harry and Mr. Weasley went ahead to be seated, leaving Bill and Sean to wait a few minutes before going out themselves. Fleur was upstairs with her mother, and the fact that she was so close to him was egging Bill to no end.
"Well" Sean began, "as you well know I have absolutely no advice that I could offer you in this matter," he paused with an effect that obviously said "celibate monk", "all I can say is to use the same care and devotion in this as you use in everything…and then some."
"Let's go then," Bill said, Sean nodded and they made their journey out to the designated spot. The crowd was on their feet as the groom and his best man made their way to where an elderly wizard dressed in a special robe stood to perform the ceremony. They took their places, Bill at the center and Sean to his side.
After a few minutes, the bride and her mother made their way to the steeple, her beauty inspired gasps from those assembled. Fleur in all her Veela beauty was dressed in a gorgeous white wedding dress; complete with the goblin-made tiara Mrs. Weasley had given her for the wedding. The dress accentuated her curves and brought out her fair skin. A veil had been added to the dress, it only partly obscured her beautiful face. As she approached, her father took over for her mother as he went to give the bride away. Bill and Sean had turned to face the arriving duo, Sean remained in his place and stood straight and tall as if at attention for some kind of military ceremony. Bill was trying to do the same, but anyone with their eyes on him could tell that he was slouching slightly.
Harry had found a seat between Hermione and Ron and was now standing with the rest of those assembled. Hermione had reached over and taken Harry's hand, Ron hadn't noticed because he was fixated on the approaching bride. Fleur arrived next to Bill, who took her hand in his as they kneeled before the elder wizard who began the ceremony.
"Those assembled here are gathered to witness the solemn union of this man and this woman in holy matrimony." As he spoke Bill kept trying to look straight ahead but found himself sneaking glances at Fleur, and he was flattered to see that she was doing the same. "Who comes to give the bride away?"
"I dieu" Fleur's father replied with a slightly choked-up tone to his voice.
"William Arthur Weasley," the elder wizard said to Bill, "do you take this woman, Fleur Delacour to be your sworn bride to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in richer or poorer, for better or worse, in this life and the next?"
Harry noticed something interesting in that the elder never said, "'til death do you part," Hermione had also noticed and had given Harry's hand a squeeze which Harry returned. "I do" Bill answered.
The elder then turned to Fleur and repeated the phrase, to which she also responded in the affirmative. "Will the best man please present the rings?" Sean walked up to Bill and Fleur and handed each of them a ring.
As they took the rings, the elder wizard made an announcement, "these rings, once applied cannot be removed, they are made from the same gold, and therefore will always be a part of each other. The wearers have now sworn to take on the same oath, to be together forever, in this life and the next." At the conclusion of this, Fleur placed the ring in her hand onto Bill's finger and said "with zis ring, I zee wed."
Bill then placed the ring in his hand onto Fleur's finger and said, "With this ring I thee wed."
"I now pronounce you forever wed" the elder wizard stated pulling out his wand and casting a charm on the couples rings. "You may kiss the bride" with this Bill reached out and removed the veil obscuring Fleur's face, he looked her in the eyes for a few seconds to see the thrilled look on her face before kissing her tenderly and officially proclaiming their marriage to the world.
The couple marched away to the house and Mrs. Weasley got to the front to announce the gathering a few meters away with refreshments and music and dancing for the assembled guests and adding that the newlyweds would be arriving shortly. Sure enough, in a few moments Bill and Fleur Weasley arrived and began accepting congratulations from the various guests.
To Bill's delight and Sean's chagrin, Bill received many questions about the best man from many of the female guests such as "is he married?" or "does he like older women?" or even "would he consider a quick one or is he waiting for marriage first?"
Mr. Weasley got up to make a toast and to begin the ceremony, the various guests reached for their drinking glasses to toast the bride and groom.
"Welcome" Mr. Weasley began, "I know that it is tradition for the father of the bride to be the master of ceremonies. But since the bride and groom were insistent on having the wedding here at our humble home and Jacques doesn't feel comfortable with his command of the English language, he asked me to handle the position."
Mr. Weasley then raised his glass and began "I would therefore like to propose a toast to Bill and Fleur, may their lives be long and their marriage a blissful experience they will always treasure." A chorus of here here's echoed through the Burrow grounds as those assembled raised their glasses and joined in the toast.
"While he did not feel comfortable with being the master of ceremonies," Mr. Weasley continued after the toast, "Jacques did prepare some words of encouragement for his daughter and new son-in-law. He had originally written them out and asked me to read them, but gratefully now, he can say them in person, and my son Bill's best man, Sean O'Sullivan, will translate."
After Mr. Weasley finished, Sean, who had moved next to Fleur's father Jacques, said something to Jacques and the two of them came to where Mr. Weasley had been standing. Jacques would say a few words and then pause for Sean to translate.
"This a very proud moment for my wife and I" Sean translated, "when we are seeing our oldest child, our beautiful daughter Fleur given in holy matrimony to a wonderful young man." Fleur reacted before the others since she could understand the French, and she was stifling tears of joy.
"I am very proud to entrust the bride, my beloved daughter Fleur, to the care of this wonderful young man, Bill Weasley. You have my blessing, and my most sincere wishes for happiness and prosperity." Sean concluded translating to a chorus of love-struck sighs and awns from the females in attendance.
"Well now" Mr. Weasley said, "please enjoy the music and feel free to enjoy dancing, we would like to start with the bride and groom enjoying the first dance." Harry's gift for the wedding had been to hire the Weird Sisters to play the wedding, they began to play and Bill and Fleur enjoyed their dance to the soft and romantically melodic music.
Hermione and Harry watched the couple enjoy their dance, both of them were imagining what it would be like if things were different. They were imagining being married themselves after graduation, not having to worry about the dark lord or some mysterious guardian, they were wishing that they could be free to love and go through the normal motions of two people who had found each other and wanted to spend forever together.
The Weird Sisters ended the song and the festivities resumed with some people dancing to the music and others enjoying some of the food and drink that was provided (Bill had provided Sean with a liter of Canada Dry). Fleur and Bill were accepting congratulations from several of the guests when Sean came up to offer his own.
"Congratulations" Sean said, first to Bill in English and then to Fleur in French.
"Thanks" Bill said.
He was followed by Fleur saying "Merci beaucoux Sean" before kissing him on each of his cheeks.
"Sean," Bill said to his friend, "I was wondering if you would do me a favor."
"What" Sean asked with curiosity.
"It would mean a lot to my sister if you would dance with her."
"It would?" Sean asked with apparent disbelief.
"Oh yeah," Bill said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "she fancies you."
"As does every other woman here" Fleur added in French.
Having lived in a monastery since he was five and only leaving to kill vampires or other demons, he didn't really know anything about women or how to notice when they thought he was attractive. He realized that Ginny had insisted on spending time with him when she had the opportunity, such as when he would go to take care of the horses, and that it would be a nice way to repay his friend and his family.
"Alright," Sean said, "I'll ask your sister for a dance."
"Thanks Sean" Bill said, "it will really make her day, or lifetime for that matter."
"We'll see," Sean ended as he walked off to find Ginny. He found her sitting off to the side and caught her stealing a glance at him, after Bill's announcement to him he was becoming better at seeing when women were staring at him…and he realized that almost all of them were doing it all the time.
Ginny gasped when she saw that Sean, dressed in his Celtic clothing making him look like some kind of knight or romantic figure from a fairy tale or similar kind of story book, the man she described as gorgeous only days before and who she thought made every man she had ever laid eyes on, even Harry, look like the winner of the Ugliest Man in the World contest, was walking right toward her.
Sean knelt in front of Ginny and took her hand in his "Ginerva Weasley," he began bringing her hand to his lips, "would you honor me with a dance" he finished kissing her hand after the last words.
Ginny couldn't speak for what seemed like hours, she was taken aback by this gallant cavalier gentleman, the kind of man every girl dreams of having sweep her off her feet, coming to her, of all the other women there who were swooning over him, and asked her to dance. "Uh," Ginny began struggling to get out one simple three-letter word, "y-y-y-" she stammered before blurting out a fast "yes!"
Sean was a little surprised that she said yes, but he stood on his feet and offered her his arm, which she took hurriedly and jubilantly. The song that was playing was slow, but not so slow to be an awkward dance. Sean and Ginny went to the area in front of the band and began to dance slowly. Ginny wanted to take full advantage of this opportunity, so she wrapped her arms around Sean's neck, causing Sean to instinctively place his arms around her waist.
"Harry look!" Hermione squealed in delight from where they stood by Bill and Fleur as they were offering them their congratulations.
Harry turned to see Ginny dancing very closely with Sean. Harry was thrilled to see Ginny with Sean, ever since he had learned of Voldemort manipulating him to be with Ginny and him realizing that he was in love with Hermione, he worried about Ginny being heartbroken. But seeing her with Sean, Harry knew that she would be just fine.
Ginny wanted to talk to Sean, but she had no idea what to say, she thought of the first thing that came to her mind. "Does it hurt when you do the splits?" she immediately wished that she could take back what she said and ask something different of him.
But Sean answered her with his usual monotone, which assured Ginny that she had not destroyed this opportunity, "of course" Sean started, "but the point of it is to learn to will yourself through the pain."
Ginny wanted to keep the conversation going, so she asked something about the most obvious feature of Sean at this point. "Why are you dressed like that?" she asked referring to his Celtic clothes.
"These clothes are traditional of my ancestry, the pattern on the kilt is that of the Celtic clan from which my ancestors come, and the coat and shoes make it formal." Sean finished with a tone that highlighted his thick accent and conveyed the pride he felt in his heritage.
Ginny looked at Sean with a very dreamy expression as the music stopped and she regretfully let go of Sean. But before she could thank him for making her day with his gallantry and asking her to dance, Sean spoke to her.
"Would you like to experience something else Celtic?" he asked her with a hint of longing.
"Sure" she responded
"Excuse me for a moment" Sean politely stated.
"He is so cavalier" Ginny thought to herself as she nodded for him to go on.
Sean walked over to where the Weird Sisters were sitting and playing and said something to them. Ginny couldn't hear what was being said, but by the nods that Sean was exchanging with the musicians she figured that whatever he was asking could be accommodated. Harry, Hermione, Bill, and Fleur did not want to go and dance themselves because they wanted to watch Ginny and Sean…the two couples held hands and watched with happy feelings as they saw the little sister and the cavalier.
Sean came back to Ginny and took her hands in his, "just follow my lead," he told her, "and you will be fine." The Weird Sisters changed their instruments and prepared to play. A few moments later they began, there was a moment of pause as the guests were unfamiliar with the traditional Celtic music that was now being played and cleared out from the dance area. But this was the music that Sean loved, and now he would show his best friend's sister the dance that accompanied it.
They began to dance as the sisters played fiddle, bodhran, a harp, and a Celtic whistle to complete the song. Later they began to spin in the middle of the dance area as the music came to that point. After a few moments, the waltz part commenced again until a little later when the Sisters hit the last few bars and Sean brought Ginny down into a low dip to end the dance. Ginny was wearing a very modest dress, so the dip didn't reveal too much of her young and slender body, rather, Ginny could feel the air go through the slits of the dress and felt her eyes close as she took in the euphoria of being held by Sean O'Sullivan, the cavalier Celtic dreamboat.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked on, with the rest of the guests, at the two people in the dance area. Ginny was still down in the dip, and Sean was very, there was no better adjective to describe him, cavalier. He held Ginny in a position that would send any parent into convulsions. But Mrs. Weasley couldn't help but turn to her husband and say, "don't they look wonderful together, Sean is such a wonderful young man."
"If there was any way for them to be together," Arthur began, "I would give them my blessing in a heart beat."
Sean was amazed at how well Ginny had followed his lead during the song and brought her up after a few moments, it was obvious she was still stuck in her euphoria.
"Are you alright?" Sean asked after a moment.
"I have never been better in my entire life" Ginny said to him in as excited a tone as she could muster after having her breath taken away.
"You are a very good dancer, thanks very much for the dance" Sean said, "I had never danced with a woman before."
"You can't be serious," Ginny said with undisguised surprise and astonishment. "Aye" Sean responded, as he took her hand one last time and brought it to his lips before escorting her back to her seat.
"Wow" was all Bill could say after Sean escorted Ginny back to her seat where he gave her a respectful bow before taking his leave. "I never knew Sean could dance like that" Bill ended.
"I think it was great" Hermione retorted, "with all that's happened, Ginny deserved that perfect dance," the rest of them agreed with Hermione.
"I know that we won't be able to top that" Harry began, "but Hermione, would you dance with me?"
"Of course I will," she said back to Harry with love in her eyes.
The Weird Sisters had begun to play another slow song when Harry and Hermione came to the dance area. Harry placed his right hand on Hermione's hip and took her right hand in his left, and Hermione placed her left hand on Harry's shoulder. As they danced, Harry moved Hermione's right hand so that the back of it was facing him, and then he brought it to his chest.
Hermione leaned against him and enjoyed the feel of him, Harry had become strong after six years of playing Quidditch and his growth spurts had caused him to fill out fairly nicely…he was lean like Sean, but he did not have the build. Harry held Hermione's hand tightly to him before breaking the silence between them.
"Second year" he said.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"That was when I first fell in love with you. When I saw you paralyzed in the hospital wing, I felt lower than I ever had before. And then when you came into the Great Hall and gave me my first hug, I never looked at you the same way again."
Hermione leaned back against Harry, and then Harry spoke again, "hey, look at that." Harry gestured towards where Ginny was sitting, and Hermione turned to see Ginny surrounded by several females who were enthusiastically asking her questions and begging for information.
"They must be asking her about Sean" Harry said, "his fan club makes mine at Hogwarts look like nothing."
"Can you blame them" Hermione said, "he's a total dreamboat…but don't worry, I prefer you." They smiled at Ginny who smiled back at them.
"If you fell for me back in second year," Hermione spoke to Harry, "then why did it take four years for you to do anything?" she asked him with a mixture of honest inquiring and regret at how little time they would now have together.
"Lots of reasons" Harry began, "Third year there was the whole deal with Sirius, fourth year I was infatuated with Cho, trying to convince myself that you and I were just friends. Fifth year when things fell apart with Cho, I started having my dreams and was wrapped up with the DA. And then sixth year I thought you and Ron were going to become an item, and Voldemort was manipulating me to pursue Ginny."
Harry concluded his explanation and then let silence come back into this great moment he was having with his true love Hermione. Hermione had been pondering what Harry had said, wishing that these things were different, wishing that they could have more time and that Harry could truly be the boy who lived, and not just the boy who survived to hide.
Then Hermione realized something, "Harry" she asked.
"Hmm?" he responded.
"Did you ever wonder why Voldemort never tried to put a rift between you and me last year?"
Harry was slightly taken aback when he realized that Hermione had been thinking the same thing that had been occupying his mind for the past while when he was at Grimmauld Place.
"Yeah, I have wondered that."
"Then it would interest you to know that while you were going out with Ginny…" Hermione paused "I was extremely jealous."
Then it dawned on Harry, Voldemort knew that he was in love with Hermione, even before he acknowledged it, and now he was more determined than ever to vanquish the Dark Lord once and for all.
As the song ended, Harry and Hermione did not come apart, but stayed for a moment just enjoying the feel of each other and wanting to preserve the moment, they didn't know when the next one like this would be. Harry and Hermione stayed together and danced until the ceremonies were concluded about an hour and a half later.
"The Delacours and Weasleys" Mr. Weasley began, "would like to thank all of you for coming out," Mr. Weasley stated as he began to bring the ceremony to a close. "The bride and groom will now take goodbyes as they prepare to depart for their honeymoon." Bill and Fleur had already lined up and were accepting congratulations and fond farewells.
Sean made it a point to be the last one to approach the bride and groom, as he did, Fleur kissed him on both of his cheeks and spoke to him in French. "Bill is so very fortunate to have a friend like you" she began, "and I look forward to enjoying association with you for many years to come."
"Likewise" was all Sean could say…and he did so in French.
"Thanks for being here Sean" Bill said as he extended his hand.
"Thanks for having me" Sean replied as he shook his friend's hand.
"Thanks also for dancing with my little sister," Bill continued, "I don't know if you noticed, but she's been on cloud nine since then."
"It was the least I could do, your sister is a wonderful young girl."
After saying this, Sean produced two items in his hands, "my gifts" he said. The one on the left he gave to Fleur, it was a medallion with a beautiful jade stone at the end in the shape of a clover.
"It's beautiful," Fleur said in French.
"That's Jade" Sean said pointing to the stone, "in the shape of a shamrock, it is said to bring the wearer good fortune, which is what I wish for you and Bill."
Fleur blurted out another "merci beaucaux" to Sean and kissed him on both of his cheeks again.
The object in Sean's right hand he gave to Bill, it was a .44 caliber revolver, something Bill had never seen before. He looked expectantly at Sean waiting for him to shed some light on the object in his hand.
"It's loaded with silver bullets" Sean said to Bill "this is for the next time you see that wolf." Sean ended, as the awkward look on Bill's face didn't change.
Bill then told Sean the reason, "I don't know what this is or how to use it" Bill stated matter of factly.
Sean paused to think for a moment then gave the best brief explanation he could think of "Hold it with the barrel" he pointed to the end of the barrel "forward, grip it like this" he added gripping the butt with his middle ring and pinky fingers and his index finger on the trigger, "and then squeeze." Sean finished his explanation and then asked Bill to hold the gun as he had shown him, first putting the safety on. After Bill had done it satisfactorily, Sean added one last word, "only use it on a werewolf and never even hold it unless in that situation…it will kill anything you shoot with it."
Sean paused to look at his friend who held his gift up and eyed it with wonder, "a real Muggle weapon" he thought to himself, "and it will kill a werewolf…it will kill Greyback.
Sean broke the silence, "May God go with you both in your new life," Sean finished before Bill brought him into a masculine embrace.
"If you need to get in touch with any of the Order of the Phoenix, I had Lupin take Regal to 12 Grimmauld Place after the meeting, and he will be sending you a note when they start meeting there" Bill said to Sean."
Harry had agreed to let the Weasleys and Grangers use his house as a shelter for the summer, with the promise that they care for Hedwig in his absence. In the Order of St. George they used falcons to communicate, Bill and the rest of the Phoenix members felt this would be the best way to communicate since the Death Eaters would be looking for owls. Sean had a Lanner Flacon named Regal, which he named Regal because of the majesty that seemed to surround him. "I understand," Sean said, "all is ready, you go and enjoy your week together without worries."
With that the bride and groom bid one final fond goodbye as Fleur turned her back to the clamoring females and prepared to toss the bouquet. As they all jockeyed for position, Fleur tossed it up in the air and it came down into the hands of one of the guests who was a fairly large woman with many ugly features who had now been given a glower of hope for an otherwise bleak future.
Bill then prepared to toss the garder, and as he did he realized that there weren't nearly as many single men there as there were single women. He tossed it and it fell into the hands of Sean O'Sullivan. Sean knew the tradition of slipping the garder onto the leg of the woman who caught the bouquet, and he approached the woman with a bow and then after kissing her hand simply said, "may I do the honors milady?" The woman nearly fainted with joy from this and managed a nod, with that he slipped the garder onto her leg, and she was thrilled to see that there was no apprehension in Sean or dread at what he was doing, he finished and then thanked her for allowing him to complete the task.
This last gesture sent all the females into squeals seeing how cavalier the dreamy best man was to all women. Bill's last thought before he and Fleur proceeded into the carriage that would take them to the boat to the honeymoon place, which they decided would be the South of France, was how if Sean was ever released from the Order of St. George he would have women breaking down his door.
After all the guests had gone clean up began, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron began transfiguring the chairs back into walnuts while Charlie, Percy, and the twins began to gather up the leftover food and drink. Sean had meant to help, but he was still shocked to see them changing the chairs into nuts, and then seeing Ron eat a couple of them, and then seeing the others conjure up containers out of nowhere to store the food and drink.
"Hey," Ginny said lightly shaking his shoulder.
"What?" Sean questioned after being brought to reality.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Sean responded, "this is just all so new to me. I have never seen this sort of thing before, all Dumbledore would do is say an incantation or something simple…nothing like this."
"You knew Dumbledore?" Ginny asked Sean with awe streaming across her face.
"Aye," Sean said, "Dumbledore would visit the organization I am affiliated with and would ask us to work with him and he would help us out." Sean paused then gave a sigh "He was a good man, I was sorry to hear of his death."
Ginny didn't really know what to say, she had a million questions rolling through her mind all at once. She was however broken out of her thoughts when Charlie found her and Sean and said that they were done and they go inside now. Sean went off to prepare the horses and Ginny followed Charlie and the other Weasleys back to the Burrow, night had fallen and they knew that Mrs. Weasley would be beside herself with Bill's leaving and the knowledge of Harry departing in the morning.
Harry and Hermione had stayed behind to look at the stars, "they're very beautiful" Hermione said as she moved next to Harry and moved his arm to rest around her shoulders as she leaned her head onto Harry's chest.
"I know," Harry replied, "the stars really are great out here where there aren't any street lights."
Hermione smiled and tilted Harry's head so that he could see into her eyes. "I wasn't talking about the stars," she said with a grin, "I was talking about your eyes."
Harry grinned at Hermione and then moved his lips to hers as they put their arms around each other. They came apart for air, and then Harry spoke, "it was a nice wedding wasn't it?"
"Ever since I was a little girl" Hermione began, "I dreamed of what my own wedding would be like, and I hope it is like Bill and Fleur's…except for the bride and groom will be different and Ron will most likely be your best man."
Harry smiled; the fact that Hermione had implied that he would be the groom at her wedding was not lost on him. "You want me to be the groom." Harry stated with no tone of question in his voice. Hermione would have smiled at this, but she knew full well that he was leaving with Sean in the morning and that she may very well never see him again. She was determined to make the most of this night with Harry, she would not regret anything, and she would ensure that he would leave knowing that she loved him and would be waiting for him.
"Harry" she said in an almost deathly soft voice, "this could be the last time that we…"
She stopped as Harry gently placed a finger on her lips to silence her. "Don't talk like that Hermione" Harry took his finger away from her lips, "I'll be coming back, if for no other reason than for you…I have too much to live for now." As Harry ended this he took Hermione's hand and placed it on his chest and then took her other hand in his, "I love you" he said clearly and distinctly.
Tears were welling up in her eyes as she stared into his emerald green eyes and could see nothing but honesty and sincerity. She blinked, letting the tears slide down her face as she tightened her hold on him and said in an elated tone "I am so in love with you Harry James Potter." And with this she closed the gap between them, pressing her lips against his in a very passionate open-mouth kiss that took both their breaths away.
They would kiss and then both open their mouths against each other to take in air, then they would resume their private goodbye. With each kiss, Hermione felt that she would melt right there in Harry's arms, and Harry felt that he had at last filled the void in his life…he had found the missing part of his soul and was now snogging her and being snogged himself in return. Harry held Hermione and then got down on his knees, gently placing Hermione on her back on the ground. The two of them did not break their long open-mouthed kissing until it was getting to the point that Harry knew he could no longer control himself…he broke the kiss.
Hermione moaned in complaint and tried to pull Harry down to her, but Harry didn't budge. "I can't control myself any longer" Harry confessed, "if I keep going we will end up doing something neither of us are ready for." Hermione nodded in understanding as Harry helped her up to her feet and placed a quick kiss on her mouth. "We should be getting back," Harry said "I want to say goodbye to the Weasleys and I don't know how many of them will be awake or here to see me off."
Hermione was weeping, "you shouldn't have to be leaving," she sobbed into his chest. Harry held her there and knew he had to be strong…for the both of them.
"I have to do this" Harry paused after saying this, "I will not fail, and I will come back to you. But until then..." As Harry said this he began feeling around in his pocket at the going away present, but he could not figure out how to give it to her or what to say.
"What?" Hermione asked Harry with genuine curiosity. Harry backed off giving her the present at the moment, but chose to say something.
"I just want to be sure that you know that I will be thinking about you and hoping to be back with you soon."
"And I will be waiting for you when," Hermione emphasized 'when' "you get back."
"Thank you" Harry said, "for everything."
They kissed one last time, a long, love-filled, passionate kiss. "I love you Hermione Jane Granger" Harry said to her.
"I love you Harry James Potter" Hermione answered back. They then made their way back to the Burrow, hand in hand, not caring who knew what had happened.