Author's Note: This is the final chapter of the story. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and read this story :)
Chapter 5 This love
We tend to think that life will be perfect if we just find Mr. or Mrs. Right. We yearn for the one who will love us no matter what, who understands us and makes us feel special every day for the rest of our lives. We will know instinctively if it is the right one - the one love that will last a lifetime. If it is the right one the butterflies in your stomach will stay and living together will always be easy and full of joy. Right? - Well, maybe if you are a character from a fairy tale.
Hermione and Bill had decided to take things slow and Bill got out of his way to take her out to romantic yet inventive dates. Bill also decided to take on different responsibilities in his job so that he didn't have to travel much anymore. It wasn't much of a sacrifice, he had enjoyed his travels but felt that he had different priorities now, namely Hermione and his family.
They got along wonderfully, they shared many of the same interests and everything seemed just so perfect. That feeling lasted for about six months, then the first quarrels started. It was nothing serious and their love for each other was still strong. So after being together for a little over a year, Bill finally proposed.
He took her to a picnic in the park. It was spring and the days slowly started to get warmer. After eating some homemade strawberry cake he gathered all his courage to finally pop the question. His nervousness surprised him a little, he was so sure that he wanted this and he was almost sure that she would say yes. Nevertheless, instead of the eloquent speech he had prepared in his head, all he could say in a shaky voice was: "Hermione will you be my wife?" She was sitting across from him and the seconds that it took her to process what he had just said, to her eyes widening and then a radiant smile to spread across her face until she finally wrapped her arms around him and said "yes" seemed to go by very slow.
Molly Weasley and Jean Granger both wept with joy when they were told the news. They instantly started to make plans for the wedding. It was when they teamed up and were thinking about hiring a harpist and that she should have eight bridesmaids and wanted to decorate the venue with real fairies and pink roses that they decided to elope. It took Molly and Jean months to forgive but everybody else was secretly relieved.
Being newlyweds gave their relationship a fresh spark. During the first year of their marriage they travelled as often as possible. Hermione hadn't seen much of the world so far, so Bill showed her some of his favourite places and they discovered some new ones together as well.
Close to their second anniversary they got an addition to their small family. Rose Ginevra was born and even though she was a fairly quiet child who would observe everything around her with huge brown eyes, she kept her parents busy for a while. Two years later Hugo Charlie was born. Hermione always said that if he had been the first born there wouldn't have been a second child. He was crying constantly it seemed.
They were busy with work, diapers, running noses, birthday parties and family reunions. So it wasn't until a few weeks after they had sent Hugo to Hogwarts for the first time and it was just the two of them in their house that they slowly realised that the passion in their relationship seemed to be gone. They both spend more and more time at work or separately with friends. It took them a while to become fully aware that everyday life had consumed their relationship and that they had drifted apart.
They tried to ignore it at first, thinking that it was normal and that it was not too bad after all. But they started to argue more and more and it took them longer to make up again. By the time Hugo was in his third and Rose in her fifth year in Hogwarts they decided to separate. They wanted to keep it a secret for as long as possible.
They both went on a few awkward dates with other people but they soon came independently to the same conclusion. They expected their respective partners to act the way they were used to from each other. They remembered all the things that they cherished about the other person and they realised that the things that bothered them about each other like hair in the sink, or socks on the bedroom floor, her perfectionism or his temper were really small in comparison to how much they still did love each other. After all the love had never left or vanquished it was simply buried underneath all their duties, obligations and anger.
So after being secretly separated for three months they decided to give their relationship another go. Only this time a lot more aware that they wanted to be with each other and that in order to make it work they had to make an effort to not let other things distract them or seem more important all the time.
In the end that experience had brought them closer together. As did many other experiences good and bad, like when Hugo got seriously injured during a quidditch match, or when Rose graduated from Hogwarts top of her year, when they held their first grandchild in their arms, and then the second and third, or when they lost their parents one by one. But also the small everyday things brought them closer like being curled up on the couch together reading, going to a concert together or walking hand in hand. They would still fight and annoy each other but they knew that their love was stronger and worth protecting and fighting for.