"Ron," Hermione laughed. "You keep saying that."
"Well it was our wedding, Hermione. You, me, a magical wedding official, a couple rings ..."
"I know, Ron, I was there. I was the one in white."
He laughed and lifted her up into his arms and headed for the bedroom. "I still can't believe you agreed to marry me like that."
"How could I not? You were just so cute," she smiled as she pecked him on the lips.
"I had no idea there was a magical, uhm, stay-up-in-the-air-box like the Knight Bus," Ron said in amazement as he looked out the window of the fastest airplane on the planet.
"It's an airplane, Ronald, and you need to take one when you're going half-way across the world."
"We could have used a broom," Ron groused.
"It would have made us plottable and I don't like flying with nothing around me," Hermione stated.
"But you like this? Hurling across the world in a tin box?"
"Much better than doing the same thing on a broom."
Ron sighed and closed his eyes. "Mum and Dad are going to kill me when they find out where we're going."
"You're the one who picked Australia," Hermione retorted.
"Why not? It's warm, beautiful, far from England, and they speak our language."
Hermione laughed at him and placed a kiss on his lips. "I love you."
"I love you too," he smiled. His smile faded and he looked at her seriously. "I want to talk to you about something."
"Okay," she said with a nervous tone. "Is everything okay?"
"Uhm, yeah. I just ... there's this ... okay," he exhaled. "You love me, right?"
"Of course I do, Ronald. I just told you that."
"I mean the forever, real kind of love. The kind that won't end because of a particularly bad row," he added.
"Yes, Ronald. I love you in the real, forever sort of way that I always have. Don't you realize that if my love for you had died it would have happened when you were with Lavender? I was so angry about you and her. I mean, you and I had a date ... I finally plucked up the courage to ask you out, since I knew you never would, and the next thing I knew you were sucking off her face. You had broken my heart before that, Ron, but I thought I was going to die in that moment."
"I am so sorry, love. I really am. I ... with the Felix ... I was being stupid and she latched on and I knew about you and Krum and it KILLED me that you would rather snog him than me," he replied.
"I know. I was so angry with you about the Yule Ball that year so when Viktor tried to kiss me, I let him. We both knew it was wrong but I was being defiant. I did it to hurt you but could never bring myself to tell you. I thought you saw me as an innocent, immature, stupid girl when you said he was too old for me. It hurt me."
"Looks like we've given each other enough heartache to last a lifetime," he said as the plane landed.
She stood up and moved to exit the plane but he stopped her. "Wait!" he cried. "I have to do this on British property."
"What?" she asked in a confused voice as Ron jumped up and knelt in front of her. "I'm tired of breaking your heart. I love you so much and I want to love you for the rest of my life. I want to hold you in my arms. I want to hold our children in my arms. I want you to be mine and only mine forever."
"I will be," she whispered.
"Let's make it permanent, then," he said. "Will you marry me?" he asked as he produced a tiny black box from his pocket. He opened it and showed her a beautiful golden band with a solitaire diamond in the center of it. When she didn't say anything he started fidgeting. "Hermione, everyone's staring at us and it's killing me. You can say no if you want but could you get that part over with if you are?"
"Oh, Ron!" Hermione exhaled. "I ... I ... I ... YES!" she screeched. "Of COURSE I'll marry you!" she cried as she threw herself at him.
He slid the ring on her finger and gave her a soft kiss. "Thank you."
The plane emptied and Hermione and Ron were the last ones off. The warm air of the Australian climate hit them in the face and they both smiled.
He laid her down on the bed and climbed on top of her. "You had me real nervous there for a minute, love. I really didn't know what to think when you didn't answer me."
"I was shocked, Ronald. I didn't expect you to propose to me like that!" she laughed.
"We both know that we're both in so much danger that it's likely that one or both of us won't make it out of this thing alive. We can run and we can hide, but we'll eventually have to go back and when we do ..." he trailed off, leaving the end of the sentence for her to finish.
"Shhh," she whispered as she put her finger to her lips. "Let's not think about the future just now. Let's think about us, Mr. Weasley."
"My pleasure, Mrs. Weasley," he whispered as he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, his hands traveling down to the hem of her dress.
"Okay, so ... we have to find somewhere to live," Hermione told him.
"We have to get married first," Ron told her.
"What! We just got engaged a few minutes ago."
"We got engaged two hours ago and ... well, if we don't get married we have to have two different rooms in the flat or house."
"Why?" she asked.
He blushed scarlet. "Weasley's have this ... magic ... that prevents us from ... you know ... before marriage. And that ring," he said as he pointed to her hand, "has magic in it that would repel me away from you if we tried anything past kisses before we got married. It was my Grandmum's. It was charmed so randy buggers like me can't get to innocent girls like you before the wedding."
"So you could have tried something before the engagement?" she asked.
"Probably. But I wouldn't have," he added.
"I know that, love," she said.
"I want to spend our first night here together as man and wife. If ... if you don't want to I won't bug you about it."
"I'll need to go buy a dress. See if you can find someone that can marry us this afternoon. I'll meet you ..." she said, looking around the street, "... at that coffee shop in two hours. You think you can find someone before then?"
"What do I tell them?"
"That we've run away from home because your family won't accept me because of my bloodline," she told him. "You're family's not easily known over here ... like it would have been if we stayed in Europe. Someone will be able to understand that and then ... we'll get married."
They went their separate ways, Hermione to find a dress and some flowers and Ron to find a wedding official.
When they met up again two hours later, both looked tired but happy. "Well?" she asked.
"How does 12:30 sound? Over in the harbor?"
"Really?" she smiled.
"He said he would be there. I told him all about you and he said he would be happy to do it for us."
"Well, that means I only have an hour to get ready so I'll meet you there?"
"I can't wait," he replied.
"I love you," she whispered before getting on her toes and pecking him on the lips.
"I love you," he said as they parted ways.
Two hours later, Ron watched Hermione, in a summer-ish white dress holding lilies, her hair pulled back partially with little flowers in it, walking towards him with a smile on her face.
The ceremony was beautiful, both opting to write personal vows, and it was over as quickly as it had begun. They placed matching gold bands on the other's finger and they were husband and wife.
They kissed and thanked the official before strolling off together. It was time to find a flat.
"Oh, Ron," Hermione moaned as he moved over her. "This is ..."
"I'm sorry it hurt the first time, love. Does it feel better now?" he asked.
"Much," she breathed as she moved in rhythm with him. "Don't ... don't stop that's just ..." her voice trailed off into a loud moan. "I don't want to know ..." she said, "where you learned to do this."
"You're teaching me right now," he moaned in return. "This is new. For both of us."
"I'm glad," she exhaled as she tilted her head back and allowed him to feast on her neck.
"Me too," he groaned as his breath quickened. "Hermione, I ..."
"Me too. Oh, Ron!" she cried as they toppled over the edge together.
He rolled off of her and pulled her to his side. "Wow."
"Mmm," she agreed as she snuggled down into his sweaty chest.
"It's going to hurt you too much for a while before we can do that again," Ron told her.
"How do you know this stuff?" she asked with a giggle.
"I have five older brothers, 'Mione. You don't think they've imparted wisdom on me?"
"Well, someone knew what they were talking about," she told him. "Because that thing you did with your nose ... I ... you have to do that every time."
"My pleasure," he told his wife with a smile.
"No," she said with a cheeky grin. "MY pleasure."
They laughed for a bit, kissing in between giggles, and finally allowed exhaustion to take over. Both feel into a peaceful sleep, Hermione in Ron's arms.
Back in Ottery St. Catchpole, the Weasleys, Harry, and members of the Order were completely unaware of what was happening on the other side of the world.
"They'll do the right thing, Molly," Lupin said. "He'll protect her and she him. It's give and take with those two."
"Zey'll keell each ozzer before zey evair geet eet right," Fleur said.
Bill chucked. "They've been getting it right all day."
"I can't believe it was only this morning that everything happened," Fred said quietly.
"I can't believe our git of a brother kidnapped Hermione and dragged her clear out of protection," George added.
"I can," Arthur said. When everyone turned to look at him he looked to Harry for assistance.
"First Year he hurt her feelings and she was attacked by a troll. He could have left her there for the professors to find, but he took action," Harry said. "If he hadn't used the one spell she'd been trying to help him with, she would have been dead. He protected her."
"His Second Year," Fred said, "Malfoy called her that name and Ron jumped in right away. Ended up belching slugs for her."
"And then after she was pe-petrified," Ginny said as Harry wrapped his arm around her, "he went up there every day."
"And he followed the spiders into the Dark Forest with me so we could talk to Aragog. He hates spiders but he knew it would help bring Hermione back," Harry continued. "And then Third Year he stood up between me and Hermione and Sirius Black when we thought he was trying to kill me. And he was so mad at her about Scabbers but he said he would help her with Hagrid's appeal after he told Ron that she was all torn up and crying all the time over their row."
"Fourth Year," Fred said with a laugh, "was when we all figured it out. That ruddy Yule Ball. Did you see his pitiful attempt at asking her?"
"He was modeling after you, git," Harry laughed.
"He should have known Hermione and Angelina wouldn't have reacted the same way," George retorted.
"I couldn't believe my ears when Ron flat out called Krum a pumpkin head and then accused her of fraternizing with the enemy. I didn't know whether to laugh or scream." Harry shook his head in remembrance.
"What about that shouting match in Gryffindor Tower?" George asked. "That was brilliant."
"It was scary," Harry corrected. "She was livid and devastated at the same time."
"All she kept talking about before Viktor asked her was how much she wanted Ron to ask her. It was sad knowing how much she fancied him and he would never do anything about it," Ginny added.
"We all thought it was going to come to a head in the summer before Fifth Year," Molly added. "I had my eye on those two praying I wouldn't catch my baby boy doing anything inappropriate to that girl in Sirius' house."
"She was too busy still making Ron jealous by writing Viktor all the time," Ginny said.
"Do you remember the look on her face when Luna started flirting with Ron?" Harry laughed. "Luna's the one who made her kiss him in the first place."
"They kissed!" cried Fred, George, and Molly at the same time.
"She kissed him on the cheek as a distraction," Harry corrected. "That was the day the Slytherins started with those badges and all that rot. He was mesmerized all the way out to the pitch."
"And then when we got split up in the Department of Mysteries all he cared about was finding you guys and protecting you. When he got hit with that spell I was terrified," Ginny admitted. "It meant that he wouldn't be able to protect you and that it would kill him when the spell was lifted. I hate to admit that I was right."
"He wouldn't leave the hospital wing until she was almost completely healed. He blamed himself even after Hermione explained that it was really her fault. He even made her promise to never try new methods out in a real battle," Harry said.
"Last year was a whole new mess," Ginny said. "With Slughorn and ... just everything."
"Did you know she Confunded McLaggen when you were shooting on him, Gin?" When Ginny shook her head, Harry began laughing. "She wanted Ron in that position so bad and she knew he'd worked himself into a ball of nerves and that he was truly the best for the job, so she did. It was brilliant."
"And then she asked him to Slughorn's Christmas Party. And then you had to go give him Felix and she tried to make him see that he didn't need it and he got mad ... and then Lavender ... and McLaggen ... and it was horrible," Ginny recalled.
"And then Ron got poisoned and she lost it. She found out and ran straight to the hospital wing. She didn't leave until Madam Pomfrey kicked her out. And when he called out to her ... it seemed like something had changed. They've been closer ever since," Harry said.
"I'll bet ten galleons they're even closer right now," Fred whispered.
"Make it twenty and throw in that they've already consummated their relationship," George retorted and they shook hands.
Little did they know that halfway across the world, Ron and Hermione were consummating their marriage. Again.