The Cost of Friendship

Chapter Seven

The Countdown

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As the days continued to roll by the tension between the four of them continued to mount. The wedding was now only two weeks away and Hermione had completely gone off the deep end. She was shouting at the florists, harassing the bakery over the cake and jumping on Ginny for not having the new S.P.E.W. office complete. If Hermione took on anymore she may possibly explode.

Everyone was avoiding Hermione as much as possible except for Ron who seemed to have a new found love for his soon to be wife. He was eagerly awaiting the wedding and didn't seem to mind that he was still living with Ginny and Harry. In fact he seemed to be overly happy about them being together and stopped covering his eyes each time they kissed in front of him. And most surprising of all was the fact that Ron actually agreed to ware his fathers dress robes to the wedding, making Mrs. Weasley extremely happy.

Hermione was currently pacing back and forth around her apartment and talking to herself about various things involving the wedding. "I have the band, and food worked out. The flowers will be on time, as will the cake. Ginny is covering both offices while were on holiday…" Her list seemed to go on and on. Her hair was frazzled; she had dark circles under her eyes and looked as if she hadn't slept in months.

Ginny came in the front door carrying a rather large box that was hiding her face, the moment she stepped and shut the door she dropped the box on the floor. She stopped and leaned up against the wall to catch her breath, apparently the box was rather heavy. After wiping her forehead with the sleeve of her robe she walked over to the kitchen to get a glass of water. With her glass in tow she walked over to Hermione and stood the way of the path she made by pacing.

Ginny sipped her water with one hand and put the other on her hip. "Hermione, you have a package."

Hermione ignored her and continued pacing, making a loop around Ginny as if she was an obstacle to avoid. She continued talking to herself, "The dresses have been fitted, Ron has his robes and Harry his. I still need make the favors and finish the seating chart…"

"Hermione will you listen to yourself you sound like a mad woman." Ginny said with a smile.

"Watch it Gin, this will be you soon." Hermione said warningly as she continued her pacing.

Ginny who had just taken a rather large gulp of water started to choke and splutter. She finally managed to say with a horse voice, "What do you know?"

Hermione finally stopped and looked at her, "Nothing but he's bound to ask you isn't he?"

Ginny looked nervous as she sat her glass down on table and started to walk back towards the front door. "I umm…I need to get back to…work…yeah work…" Ginny stuttered as she opened the front door and walked out without shutting it again.

Hermione watched her leave and said with a wicked smile, "She is so easy, and every time I mention marriage to Harry she freaks out and runs away. At least I know how to get her to leave me alone."

Just then Ron walked through the open front door and looked at Hermione strangely. "Hey, I just saw Ginny walking down the stairs looking frantic what did you do to her?" Ron said as he entered the room but didn't notice the rather large box on the floor and tripped over it. "Oy! What's with this box?" He said as he rubbed the spot he hit on his head.

"Oh I almost forgot, that should be my gown or could be the bridesmaids…not sure." Hermione said happily as she walked over and pulled Ron off the box.

Hermione started to open it and suddenly saw a flash of bright white fabric and shut it again. She pulled out her wand and levitated the box, tossing it haphazardly in her room then locking the door it was behind. Ron was giving her a what the hell is wrong with you look as she put her wand back in her pocket and smiled sweetly.

"What did you do that for; I want to see the dresses." Ron said.

"That Ronald was my gown and its bad luck for the groom to see the gown before the wedding. I need to pull it out and get all the wrinkles out of it anyways." Hermione said.

"Well let me help you then…" Ron said as he stared towards Hermione's bedroom and her wedding dress.

Hermione quickly ran in front of Ron and said, "Oh no you don't!"

Ron smiled innocently and said, "Fine then I'm not going to show you my dress robes."

"Oh, some threat Ronald; I saw them along time ago. Your mother showed them to me."

Ron looked stunned then turned to leave. "Right well I'm off; I told Gin that I'd help her unpack the last of the boxes in the new office."

Ron left and the moment he did Hermione ran to her room, unlock the door and brought the box back out into the main room. She quickly unfolded the top, untied a large lace ribbon and pulled out her dress. With her wand she made hook appear, hanging in mid air. She hung the dress on the hook and started to smooth out the fabric with her fingers. After spending several moments dancing around and hugging her dress out of delight she pulled out her wand once more and started shooting a soft stream of steam over it, getting out the wrinkles.

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"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE BAND CAN'T MAKE IT?" Hermione yelled as loud as she could.

"Well miss the drummer is ill, he was bitten by hickypunk."

"A HICKYPUNK! You have got be kidding me, why the hell was he swimming, its bloody cold outside." Hermione said as her eyes seemed to pop out of her head.

Hermione was currently sitting at a small table, inside of Madam Puddifoot's talking to a short, bald wizard in pink robes named Jevius, the manager of the Wicked Witches, the hottest band in the wizarding world. Jevius had told Hermione weeks ago that they were available to play at her wedding that was only a week away. Hermione hadn't bothered book a back up band and was now on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Everyone in the shop was looking at her as if she was a ticking bomb.

Hermione waved her hands in the air, trying to calm herself down. She sat back down in her chair and pushed her hair back. "Alright Jevius, who else can you get to play at my wedding?"

"Well, that the thing miss, all the bands are booked. There isn't enough notice to find someone else. I am sorry." Jevius said quickly as if saying it fast would help.

Hermione started to grind her teeth and looked as if she was going to yell again but managed to steady herself. "Alright then, I want my deposit back."

"Yes miss, I figured you would here you go. One hundred and twenty galleons."

Hermione snatched the bag of coins from his hand, put them in her pocket and stood up. She didn't even say goodbye as she headed for the back stairs of the shop and walked up to her S.P.E.W. office. It was late in the day and the only people who were still working was Ron and the house elf named Tany they hired about a month back. Hermione walked over to Ron's desk and pulled out the coins. Sat them on his desk and smiled sweetly.

"Are you giving me an advance on my paycheck?" Ron said excitedly.

"No Ron, this is the deposit for the band." Hermione said, trying to keep her cool.

"Why do you have it?"

"Because Ron, we…have…NO BAND!" Hermione said loudly causing Tany to squeak, jump up and run out the door. Hermione was too angry to even try to laugh at this.

"Alright Hermione, calm down I'm sure we can find someone to play. If not we can find one of those muggle whatyamacallits, CD players." Ron said.

Hermione looked like the time had come for her to explode. Her cheeks flamed bright red and her hair seemed to almost stand on end as she advanced on Ron. She gritted her teeth and said, "I will not dance on my wedding day to a CD player."

Ron looked afraid for his life as he pushed his chair back up against the wall because Hermione was so close he could see himself in her eyes. He somehow managed to stand up and walk around Hermione who followed him with her gaze. "Alright Hermione, we knew something was bound to happen. Let me take care of it, I have wanted to help, please don't stress about this I'll handle it."

Hermione's face and body relaxed as she turned and sat down in Ron's now empty seat. She took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes quickly as she said, "Alright Ron, I'll let you deal with it."

Ron looked surprised at first but then quickly relived. "Good, I won't let you down."

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"Harry don't mess with that, you'll get it dirty." Ginny said.

"My hands are clean, see…" Harry said as he held out his hands to Ginny for inspection.

"Alright but if your going to bug me then your going to sit down and help." Ginny replied.

Ginny was currently lying on the floor of Harry's bedroom tying red ribbons onto little gold baskets filled with Honeydukes finest chocolate. Harry was trying to get Ginny's attention anyway he could but nothing could take her away from her current task. So defeated he sat down and leaned up against his bed. Ginny handed him ribbon and baskets then went back to work on her own.

"So these are for the wedding I take it." Harry said as he watched Ginny tying ribbons, while he was trying to get the hang of it.

"No, there decorations for your room."

"Oh very funny." Harry said with a smile. "Hey Ginny, can I ask you something."

Ginny stopped her tying and looked up, "Sure, what's up?"

"Do you ever, I mean to say…do you ever think about us?" Harry asked nervously.

"I think about you all the time." Ginny replied.

"And I do you but I mean…do you ever think about our future, like would you ever want to…you know…" Harry said lamely.

For some reason Ginny didn't want to think about this topic, she liked things the way they were, why did he have to ruin it. "I don't know Harry." Ginny said, avoiding his eyes.

"Oh, well I was just wondering." Harry said sadly as he managed to tie up his finger instead of the miniature basket.

Ginny sat up and put her hand on Harry's foot, which was the closest body part to her. "Look Harry, I'm not saying I don't ever want to get married, I just haven't really thought about it you know. I have been busy, you know that."

"Right, I know Gin…its okay."

Harry and Ginny continued to tie bows and avoid each others eyes. They sat in silence for almost an hour until Harry tied on the last bow then quickly left the room, leaving Ginny to clean up. Ginny knew that Harry was hoping to have a more in depth conversation but she was feeling just as stressed as Hermione was and just couldn't deal with Harry's mood or the idea of another wedding just now.

The tension leading up to Hermione and Ron's wedding was nerve wrecking. Harry continued to be cold to Ginny and Hermione resorted to avoiding everyone so she wouldn't blow up again. Ron was nowhere to be seen as he hunted for a band and Ginny was the only one left to finish all the last minute preparations.

Chapter to be continued…