Ch 114: A Wedding to Remember
Rose and Hugo were sitting in one of the old Sunday school rooms in the basement of the church playing with the babies, and Hermione was storming through every other room in the church looking for her husband, whom she was sure she would murder as soon as she found him. How could he just up and vanish at a time like this? The wedding was set to start in thirty minutes! For crying out loud, he was supposed to walk the bride down the aisle. And he knew how sensitive of a subject this was for both Fatima and Matthew. But, no, he couldn't just sit calmly in the tuxedo for an hour. He had to go and disappear. Rose and Hugo said he had stuck his head to see them just after they'd all arrived at the church. According to them, he'd said he had to check on something and that he'd be right back. But that was over an hour ago.
At least Fatima hadn't caught on yet. She was blissfully unaware of the whole debacle as she finished getting ready. Hermione popped back upstairs to the sanctuary where guests were starting to arrive. Despite being from magical families, it was to be a decidedly muggle affair so that all of Fatima and Matthew's school and work friends could be there to celebrate with them.
Hermione checked her watch again. Only fifteen minutes left. She'd tried Ron's cell so many times it was immediately rolling to voicemail now. She called both Ginny and Harry's cell phones again, but hit voicemail messages for both. She hung up in aggravation, momentarily wishing she was on a "real" phone so she could slam the receiver down to vent her frustration. What in the hell was she going to tell Fatima!?
Heading back down the hallway she ran into her mum. "Still no sign of Ron?" Jean asked.
"What do you think?" Hermione scowled back. "I swear to God when I get my hands on him I will kill him! What was he thinking? Mum, what are we going to do?"
"Well, we'll just have your dad do it. He's not in a tuxedo, and they've only met a few times, but it will be perfectly fine."
"I can't believe this is happening," Hermione sighed as she ran her fingers through her wild curls. "Maybe – maybe he'll show up. I can't imagine where he went, but really, he'll be back, right?"
"He wasn't with Matthew and the groomsmen?"
"No," Hermione said. "I checked twice. She sighed and looked at her watch again. "Well, it is almost down to ten minutes now. Will you take the children up to the sanctuary and then go find Dad and let him know to hang out in the back in case we need him to step in? Then you head to the back of the church to help corral the bridal party, alright? I'll go find Fatima and escort her and the bridesmaids upstairs to get everyone in the right place and make sure we don't lose anyone else."
Jean smiled at her. "Hermione, dear, take a deep breath. You know whatever he is up to has got to be important. He wouldn't do this on purpose for no good reason."
"I know," Hermione sniffed wiping her fingers under her eyes. "Which is precisely why I am teetering back and forth between being furious and terrified. What if something happened?"
"Don't borrow troubles that aren't here yet. I'm sure it will all be fine. But right now you need to look happy and go fetch the bride. This is her day, and she doesn't need any additional reasons to be sad with her family already being absurd."
"You're right. Sorry. I'll go find her. I just don't want her to think Ron's abandoned her after her family already did."
"She would never think that, Hermione. You two have practically become family to her."
Hermione smiled. "Thanks, Mum. For everything."
Jean winked and headed off to find Michael to step in as the understudy to walk Fatima down the aisle as Hermione made her way to the room where Fatima and her friends were getting ready. Before long she had all of the young ladies headed up to the sanctuary with their flowers in hand, with Fatima just behind them. She was carrying Fatima's flowers and helping keep her dress and veil off the old floors as they made their way up the stairs. She wasn't quite sure what she was going to say to Fatima if Ron wasn't up there waiting for them, but she was sure she'd figure something out.
The bridesmaids were lined up in the entryway just behind the sanctuary doors, while Hermione steered Fatima into the small parlor just off the hall.
"Where's Ron?" Fatima asked as they walked into the room. "I thought he was meeting us up here."
"Um," Hermione stammered. "You know him, he probably mixed up the meeting place. Let me check back in the entryway and get him."
"OK," Fatima said nervously. "But hurry, ok? They are about to start the first song for everyone to walk in."
"Right," Hermione nodded as she snuck out the door hoping beyond hope that her husband would magically appear at the front door of the church. She walked into the entry way and saw her mum who simply smiled at her.
"I think we need Dad," Hermione said sadly.
"Oh no we don't," beamed Jean. "You married a winner, dear."
"He's back?"
"Even better," said Jean as she gestured her head towards the door.
Hermione turned to look where her mum was staring, and she could hardly believe her eyes. There was Ron in his lovely tuxedo escorting an Indian couple into the church followed by several younger family members. Ron caught her eye and smiled.
"Mr. and Mrs. Argawal, please let me introduce you to my wife, Hermione. Hermione, these are Fatima's parents."
Hermione looked at Ron in awe. She felt the tears try to sneak to her eyes and quickly blinked them back.
"So lovely to meet you," she said. "Fatima will be so thrilled that you are here. Would you like me to take you to her?"
The woman nodded. "Children," she said to the collection of young adults with them, "why don't you go get us seats. I need to quickly see your sister." They all filed into the church as Hermione led her parents to the door of the parlor.
She knocked quietly on the door. "Fatima? There is a couple here who would really like to see you before the ceremony starts."
Fatima looked up with a confused look. "Hermione, can't it wait? I'm about to get married here!"
Hermione smiled and walked into the room holding Ron's hand. The two of them stepped to the side and stood against the wall as the other couple walked in.
"It has waited far too long as it is, and no, it cannot wait any longer," said her father as he walked into the room with his wife at his side.
"Father! Mother! What?"
"We owe you many apologies, sweet one," he said. "And, there will be time for that later. But, we wanted to be sure you knew that you had our blessing before you get married. You are an amazing young woman and our daughter. You have taken what we mistakenly saw as a burden and turned it into a blessing. And we are very lucky you have found a young man who loves and cherishes you for who you are. We need to learn from him. And we promise to try."
Fatima placed her hands together and gave a slight bow of respect to her parents as they touched her head and gave their blessings. Then she wiped away her tears quickly.
"Thank you. Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me to have your blessing and your presence here today."
"Oh, I think we have a bit of an idea," her mum said, glancing over to Ron.
Hermione looked up at him as he smiled at the woman with a small nod. She couldn't help but let go of his hand to slide one arm around his back as the other gently touched his chest, pulling him even closer.
"Now, I need to go get seated with your brothers and sisters. And your father needs to walk you down the aisle, I believe. You are a beautiful, beautiful, bride, my dear."
"Thank you, Mother," Fatima said, once again trying not to cry. Her mother gave her a small kiss on her cheek and headed into the sanctuary. And, as the door opened they could all hear the organ music begin to play the prelude for the bridesmaids to start walking down the aisle.
"Come, sweet one," her father said as he extended an arm to Fatima, and they walked towards the entry of the sanctuary. Hermione walked behind her, ensuring that the veil and train of her dress looked perfect as she walked down the aisle on her father's arm.
A moment later the organ switched to "Here Comes The Bride," and they started down the aisle as Ron and Hermione stood in the back. Matthew's face as he not only saw his gorgeous bride but also realized who was walking her towards him was priceless.
When they reached the end, the vicar asked "Who gives this bride to be wed?"
Mr. Argawal stood tall and proud as he smiled at his daughter. "Her mother and I do with our deepest blessings." And with that he moved his daughter's hand into Matthew's. He simply nodded and said, "Thank you, sir. Thank you. I love your daughter so much."
"We know you do son. And we are very grateful." With that he gave a brief nod and went to sit next to his wife.
Hermione glanced at her mum who was sitting with her four children. The children were smiling while Jean was sobbing openly. Then she looked up at Ron, who was watching the wedding.
"You are the most amazing man I have ever known, Ron Weasley. Absolutely amazing."
"Bet you weren't saying that thirty minutes ago," he smirked.
She blushed guiltily and chuckled against his chest as she smacked his arm lightly. Then she turned her head to watch their friends exchange vows while she still held her husband tightly in her arms.
Following the ceremony, Matthew and Fatima had practically fallen over themselves thanking Ron for bringing her parents to the wedding before they had to leave to get pictures taken before the reception.
Hermione turned to Ron when they were finally alone and asked, "So, what exactly did you do to get them to change their mind?"
"Well," Ron shrugged, "I didn't actually have a plan. I just woke up this morning and realized I wanted to give them a chance to redeem themselves before it was too late. And, as someone who has screwed up royally in the past, I was trying to have some compassion."
Hermione arched an eyebrow. "So, you didn't confund them. Compassion brought them?"
"Uh, not exactly," he admitted. "But I did just show up at their front door in my muggle tuxedo."
"Oh my," she laughed.
"And, between the shock of finding, well, a celebrity war hero, on their doorstep and me reminding them of what the point of the war actually was – well – it helped make them more receptive. And then I just explained how amazing Fatima was, and how crucial she was to both the magical and muggle societies. And I told them how fantastic Matthew was and all that he does for both worlds as well, including working directly with both Harry and myself. Name dropping can help every now and then I guess."
"So, basically you shamed them into coming?"
"Well, I would say I shamed them into hearing me out. As did the idea of the Prophet tomorrow showing a picture of me giving his daughter away. But then once I had their attention, to their credit, they really did come around. And we would have been here sooner, but her mum tried on four different saris before she found the one she deemed acceptable."
Hermione was shaking her head and smiling. "Well, they all looked genuinely pleased to be here in the end. And Mr. Argawal looked proud as punch as he walked her down the aisle."
"Yeah. He did," smiled Ron.
A few hours later they were all at the reception. Between the six Weasleys and the two Grangers, they practically made up a whole table of their own. Knowing they had to leave soon to go back to school, both Rose and Hugo were very reluctant to let go of the babies. Hermione had managed to pry the little ones out of their hands and into the arms of her parents just long enough for Ron to dance with Rose while she danced with Hugo. But after one song, they both ditched their parents for the twins. Realizing they'd both been abandoned on the dance floor, Ron laughed as he made his way over to his wife.
"Dance with me? I seem to have found myself without a partner just now."
"Always," she smiled as she slipped her arm over his shoulder. "Though, I had hoped you'd realized by now that you will never be without a partner, love."
He grinned, pulling her closer to him. "Glad to be wrong on that one," he said softly.
They danced slowly as the music played in the background. Ron looked down at his wife, whose head was leaning against his chest as they danced. He could tell that her eyes were practically closed as she sighed contentedly. He allowed himself to close his eyes as well and suddenly it felt as if no one else existed but him and his witch.
"You know," he whispered, "this reminds me of when we first met."
"I was thinking the same thing."
"I was already head over heels for you by the end of the first song."
"Well, I was done for as well. You were quite the smooth dancer having had to go to all those Weasley weddings, not to mention waltzing lessons from McGonagall."
"Thanks for that memory," he laughed. "But I was hardly smooth. Did you know that I had never asked a woman to dance before?"
"Seriously?" she asked, pulling her head away from his chest for a moment so she could see his eyes.
"Yeah," he admitted.
"Probably just because all those crazy witches were throwing themselves – and their knickers - at you. You'd never had a chance."
"What I'd never had," he said softly, "was proper motivation. No one had ever taken my breath away like you did."
"I love you," she sighed, nuzzling his chest. "And some days I still have to pinch myself to try to believe it's all real."
He chuckled. "Those four over there don't feel all kinds of real? I know it's not a dream when I'm changing muddy nappies at three in the morning."
She laughed. "Still a dream come true. Just maybe a scene or two I'd like to skip through."
"Nah," he said as he unexpectedly twirled her to the music. "There isn't a single moment with you I want to skip."
"Well you are all kinds of a romantic sweet talker tonight, aren't you Mr. Weasley? What got into you?"
He gave her that lopsided grin that could still make her weak in the knees. "Dunno. Just grateful I guess. I mean, well, look at them," he said gesturing his head towards the kids.
Hugo and Rose were both standing up holding the babies. Hugo held Hazel to his chest pretending to dance with her while Rose did the same with Ryan. Hermione couldn't help but smile at the sight.
"Precious," she sighed.
"Yeah," he agreed. "And, well, when I watched Mr. Argawal walk Fatima down the aisle, well, she looks a lot like…"
"Like Rose. I know. It had me in tears when we bought the dress. I feel like I could blink and tomorrow she'll be the bride, you know?"
"I know," he sighed. "And while I dread the idea of her being that old or that, well, I just dread the whole dating thing in general. But, I hope all four of our kids can be as happy as Fatima and Matthew were today, you know?"
"They will be."
"How are you so confident?"
"Because they're surrounded with love. And I believe they have enough examples around them of what love and marriage and family can really be like if they make sure they find the right partner and then keep working at it. They won't settle. They already know the magic of unexpected family. And once you know how good it can be you really can't ever settle or go back, can you?"
"No. No you can't," he whispered into her curls as he pulled her closer.
Hermione nuzzled his chest again, and glanced to her left and saw Matthew dancing with Fatima's mother. "But we can't ever take it for granted either," she said. "What you did with the Argawals today was amazing. But it sort of slaps you in the face, you know? They desperately wanted what they thought was best for their daughter. And in that desire for her happiness they forgot the most important part – and that was to simply love her. I hope we never fall into that trap."
"I don't think we'd do that with our kids, do you?" he asked earnestly.
"I hope not," she mused. "But we can't do that with each other either. We can't forget that just loving each other is first, and everything else is secondary. Even if we don't agree on something - I just can't ever imagine being separated from you like Fatima was from her parents all these years. Promise me we won't ever get to the point where we are just going through the motions to keep it easy."
"Well," he smiled as he spun her again. "I don't think that is a problem. See, one of the things that is so special about us, love, is we duke it out. We fight, we compromise or realize we were wrong and make up and move on. Neither of us slinks away politely to avoid a scene."
She laughed out loud at the image that it came out as a snort. "No, I suppose not. We have both been accused of many, many things. But, avoiding scenes and polite indifference have certainly never made that list."
They both laughed at that and then their eyes met. And once again everything else faded to the back. They stilled on the dance floor, no longer hearing the music - only the heartbeats and the breath of the other. Ron moved his right hand to her face, gently cupping her cheek and trailing his thumb under her eye. She felt like she was swimming in his brilliant blue eyes, and she lightly scraped her fingers through the hair on the back of his head. They both felt the heat searing between them and yet despite the yearning, time seemed to stand still.
"I will always, always fight for you - and for us," he whispered.
"So will I," she whispered back as his lips captured hers.
They kissed there on the dance floor, neither willing to let go first, so lost in each other that they were oblivious to the world around them.
Hugo saw his parents kissing passionately and rolled his eyes as he laughed and shook his head. "Sorry Hazel," he whispered into his little sister's ear. "Mum and Dad can be ridiculous sometimes. I've been trying to get them to knock it off or at least limit it to when they're alone, but it obviously hasn't worked. Maybe you and Ryan will have more luck than I did." Then he laughed again, "But, just in case, I promise I'll check that we have fresh batteries in the smoke detectors at home before Rose and me head back up to Hogwarts."
A/N: Thank you so, so much for sticking with this story all the way to the end!
I had so much fun writing this, and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing from you along the way. I will probably take a break from posting to FF for a while, but not a break from writing. I am already about 30 chapters into my next long piece. It will be a canon story that starts tat the end of DH. It has been strange mentally jumping between the almost 40 year olds in this story and the traumatized teenagers in this new one, but it has been really fun as well. A number of people have asked if I will be writing a sequel to this story, and the answer is a solid "maybe." I am so in love with these characters and am not ready to let them go completely. But, I felt the story needed to have a defined end so it didn't just go forever like a soap opera. And, hopefully you feel like it did have a conclusion of sorts. But, I could very well write more in the future, just not immediately. And, of course, I have about 10 other story ideas that I may someday get to.
Also - I am planning to go back through and edit the many (sorry) typos as well as spelling and grammar errors I missed the first time through. So - if you see that a chapter is posted - don't get excited thinking it is a new part of the story - its just corrections.
For a long time I was slightly embarrassed at the how much I was enjoying reading and writing FF and how much time I spent on it. But, while I don't fit the stereotypical FF demographic, I have found that there are some really amazing writers and great works out there. We happen to be jumping off of stories and characters that have already been imagined and developed. And we aren't getting paid, but I have found that it allows us to get back to the actual joy of just writing. You can explore ideas, imagine how circumstances would impact different personalities and really get into difficult issues of trauma, loneliness, grief, love, family, forgiveness and growth. So, I hope this work has allowed people to think about things a little differently for a while and to possibly re-frame some existing preconceptions about what family means or who our families are. It may be obvious by now, but my family was brought together by the miracle of adoption. And it has been such an incredible blessing in my life. It is not a quick or easy path, and I certainly would have loved to have been able to magic the process along at different points, but if any of you are considering adoption or in the middle of that process - know that it is so worth it. Families, whether made up of biological relatives, adoptive, step, single parents, straight parents, gay parents, grandparents, neighbors, or chosen friends - are the core of our lives. They take a lot of commitment and work, and they drive us all crazy - but in the end they are everything, and they really can be magical.
A few last thoughts...
I want to give kudos to the folks who really make such an incredible effort to post reviews - and some after almost every chapter! It means more than you know.
I have so appreciated all of the personal messages, and I have felt horrible that I haven't been good at writing back, but please know your words meant a lot.
As I have found many stories by reading the reviews of other stories I have liked, please take a moment to share / suggest / recommend any great Romione fics (or other pairings as well) out there that someone who enjoyed this story might like.
And finally - if you can't find a story that really speaks to you…then I encourage you to write it yourself. I did, and it has been a blast. Thanks so much….carrytheotter
