The day of Ron and Hermione's wedding had finally arrived. Ron and Hermione had held the rehearsal dinner at the Burrow along with the rest of their families.
Hermione sat up in bed. It had just hit her that she was marrying Ron today. She looked over at Ron, who was asleep next to her and smiled. She was marrying the biggest git in the world and she loved it.
She placed a gentle kiss on her favorite freckle on Ron's face (the small one on the corner of his mouth) before getting up. She was sharing Ron's old room with him until they were to travel to Hogwarts for the wedding.
Hermione looked over at a nearby clock: six o'clock. She had an hour before the others would wake up. They were all due at Hogwarts at ten o' clock, when the wedding started.
She quickly got dressed, and then got out Hogwarts, a History. Despite the fact that it was her favorite book, she hadn't read it since she had been running from Voldemort with Harry and Ron.
She retreated back to Ron's old bed and sat up reading for an hour. At seven o'clock, she heard voices as others in the house started to stir. She closed her book and tried to shake Ron awake.
Ron groaned. "C'mon love, five more minutes."
"Ron, everyone else is up and we have to be at Hogwarts in an hour," Hermione said, still shaking him. "If you've forgotten, we're getting married at ten o'clock, Ronald Weasley."
At this, Ron's eyes flew open. "We are, aren't we?"
Hermione scoffed and sat up, suddenly furious with him that he would forget. She crossed her arms and turned her back to him, walking to the farthest end of the room away from him.
Ron sighed and got up. She felt his arms wrap around her waist and his voice in her ear. "Hermione, I'm sorry. I just forgot for a few minutes, that's all. You know I would never really forget our wedding day."
Hermione rolled her eyes and wiggled from his grip. "Alright. Look, all the girls and I are going to get to Hogwarts first, so you boys don't know where we're dressing."
Ron grinned. "Don't worry; I'll have Neville follow you."
Hermione gave him a deadly warning look, and Ron put his arms up in surrender. "I'm joking. So who's coming with you?"
"Ginny, Luna, my mother, your mother, possibly Fleur –"
Hermione was cut off when Ron's lips met hers. When they broke apart, Hermione raised her eyebrows in a challenge. "Were you getting bored?"
"Profoundly," Ron grinned. "I can tell you're stressed though. Please don't act like you need to talk with everyone today, Hermione, because you don't."
Hermione's eyes widened. How did he know she was stressing about that? "But Ron, they all are here for us, I think I'll need to get around to everyone –"
Ron's hands found her shoulders. "Hermione, I don't care. This isn't a family reunion, it's our wedding." He raised his eyebrows at her, and Hermione's eyes didn't leave his.
She sighed and looked away. "Alright, fine. I guess that makes more since than how I picture weddings."
Ron grinned and kissed her again. Hermione smiled. "Alright, I'm going to see if everyone is ready, and I'll see you at Hogwarts."
Clearly unable to help himself, Ron swooped in and kissed her again. Hermione breathed in his scent as she hugged him and left with her trunk.
The corridors of the Burrow were chaos. Mrs. Weasley was striding up and down the halls, banging on everyone's doors. She was just about to knock on Ron's when Hermione surfaced from his room.
"Oh! Hermione dear, are you ready to go?"
"Yes," Hermione said. "Where's Ginny?"
"She's in the kitchen, dear. You'll have to grab something quick to eat so we can get to Hogwarts."
Hermione nodded and climbed down the many sets of stairs…
Two and a half hours later, Hermione found herself in the Room of Requirement, a beautiful white dress flowing around her. Ginny had done a spell with Hermione's hair to make it more curly than frizzy. She then had pulled Hermione's hair up in a high plait and stuck roses into the elaborate curls. Hermione had never looked better.
"Well," Ginny proclaimed, "I think I have really outdone myself."
Hermione smiled and Ginny in the enormous mirror she stood in front of. "Thank you, Ginny. Modest, aren't you?"
Ginny grinned and pulled Hermione's arm. "C'mon, we should get ready to line up. You're marrying my brother in exactly –" Ginny checked her watch "- ten minutes."
Hermione couldn't help but smile. She was marrying Ron. She couldn't believe that the boy she had met twelve years ago, who had teased her, fought with her, laughed with her, cried with her, and drove her mad, was actually marrying her today.
Ginny shook her from her reverie by tugging on her arm again. "C'mon, Hermione, you want to marry Ron, don't you?"
Hermione nodded, but was silent as she grabbed the roses she would hold down the aisle off the dresser. She was much too happy to speak.
Ginny led Hermione down to the giant doors that led into the Hogwarts grounds. They were closed, and Hermione knew that behind the doors were dozens of people waiting to watch her get married, but more importantly, Ron was behind these doors, waiting to start their lives together.
Hermione and Ginny lined up behind Luna, who shot a genuine smile at Hermione, who grinned back.
The doors opened and Hermione saw Ron at the very end of the aisle standing next to Harry, grinning like an idiot. Hermione smiled back and grabbed his hand when she was close enough.
The preacher began the usual things preachers say at weddings, but Hermione barely heard. She kept her eyes straight ahead, but she felt Ron's eyes staring at her. She loved it when he stared at her when he thought she wasn't looking. It always seemed to be a constant game she liked to play.
From a distance, Hermione heard the preacher ask Ron, "Do you take this woman to be your wife, in sickness and in health, through life and death, to the end of time?"
But before Ron could as much as open his mouth, there were several pops behind them, and many people let out gasps of horror. Hermione closed her eyes, dreading what she was going to see when she turned around…
She spun around and was suddenly face to face with Lucius Malfoy and a number of other Death Eaters. She instinctively drew her wand, and she watched as Ron and Harry did the same, both sidestepping to stand in front of her.
Lucius Malfoy sneered. "So sorry to interrupt what seems like a very important wedding – a blood-traitor and a Mudblood? How interesting…"
Ron was shaking with rage in front of her. She understood how upset he got when others called her a Mudblood. "What d'you want, Malfoy? Haven't you gotten enough satisfaction torturing us five years ago?" he snapped, his wand shaking as it stayed pointed at Malfoy.
"Obviously not," Malfoy said coldly. "I've just decided to round up a few old friends and finish what the Dark Lord started."
Before Ron and Harry could react, Malfoy sent a nonverbal jet of green light at Hermione, who jumped out of the way just in time. Hermione felt her blood boil with twelve years' worth of hatred toward the Malfoy family. He had interrupted her wedding, the one day she had waited for her whole life…and now Lucius Malfoy planned to kill them all…
Seething, Hermione pushed past Ron and Harry and shouted for the first time in her life, "Crucio!"
Lucius Malfoy fell to the ground, screaming in pain and torture. At this, as if on cue, the Death Eaters behind him started sending lethal spells everywhere, and the crowd who had come to attend the wedding started screaming and fleeing the Hogwarts grounds.
Hermione, who was still stunned that she had cast the Cruciatus Curse, was shook from her reverie by Ron tugging on her arm. "Hermione, c'mon, we need to get you out of here!"
Hermione wiggled out of Ron's grip and suddenly felt like she had gone demented. She started to send the Cruciatus Curse at any Death Eater in sight. With every cast of the curse, she spoke through gritted teeth, "You think – you're going to come back – to my wedding after five years – and try – to kill us all –"
She knew she wasn't making much sense, but at the moment, she could care less. Everyone else seemed to be putting up fights around her, and before long, it seemed like a battle had broken out for the first time in five years.
She finally felt a hand close around her arm, and she turned with her wand pointed, expecting a Death Eater. Instead, she found herself face to face with Ron. "Hermione, you're going to get yourself killed! C'mon, you need to get out of here!"
"No Ron!" Hermione tried to escape Ron's grip, but his fingers simply tightened around her arm. Before she could stop him, he had Disapparated with her at his side.
She found herself in the Burrow, where there were no Death Eaters and no havoc. She pushed away from Ron, furious that he wouldn't let her fight. Despite her mood, she asked, "How did we get out of there? You can't Disapparate out of Hogwarts grounds."
Ron shrugged. "I don't know, I just tried it because it was the first thing I thought of. Maybe there are exceptions."
Hermione scoffed at how idiotic that sounded, and started to get ready to Disapparate again. "I'm going back."
"Oh, no you're not!" Ron said. "There's no way I'm letting you fight!"
"You're not my parents, Ron!" Hermione shot back.
"Maybe not," Ron started, "but I love you, and I will never forgive myself if you were killed because I let you fight!"
"Ron," Hermione's voice was a bit softer. "When you decided to propose to me, you knew what you were getting into. You know I'm not a girl who's going to stay home and knit and wait for her husband to come home like a good housewife. I'm always going to be right next to you." Hermione stood her on her toes to speak into his ear. "Because I do. I do take you to be my husband."
Ron's face lit up, then became serious again. "And I take you to be my wife. And a good husband always protects his wife. Hermione, I'm only thinking of you."
Hermione sighed, finally exhausted enough from arguing, to compromise. "Alright, what if you let me fight, and we just look out for each other?"
Ron looked as if he was debating in his head. Finally, he sighed. "Alright, fine. But if you get a scratch, just a scratch, you're coming straight home."
Hermione grinned and kissed him full on the mouth. Time to fight.
