Chapter 5: Two Hearts Beating as One

The next afternoon, Hermione was working her shift at Flourish and Blotts. The store was where students got their schoolbooks, but also ran a small boutique in the back that specialized in wedding attire. With her was her good friend Pavarti, along with a few other girls she knew from her Hogwarts days. While working, Hermione took chances to glance at the various books in the shop, then moved on to the clothing section, trying on different outfits and looking at herself in the mirror. The other girls watched, amused. They began to tease her.

"What has Cormac done to her? Confunded her or something?" Katie Bell wondered aloud.

Hermione, too happy about the new developments in her life, decided to play along. "Cormac? Why Cormac?" she asked mockingly.

"Maybe she's just showing off for us," Pavarti's twin, Padma, suggested.

"Katie, Padma, can you keep a secret?" Hermione asked. The girls rushed over to her, eagerly awaiting what she would tell them. After a moment's pause, Hermione announced, "No, I won't tell you."

The girls resumed their teasing. "She seems to have lost all those magnificent brains of hers," mused Katie.

"I certainly have! I've gone insane!" Hermione declared, flaunting another dress.

"Maybe you're right, Padma," agreed Katie. "She looks not quite herself."

"I do?" asked Hermione.

"And I think she's definitely keeping something from us!" Katie added.

"I am?"

"I do? I am? She's talking like one of those Muggle parrots! What's the matter with you Hermione?" asked Padma, completely giving up.

So Hermione went on to explain to them how she felt different, beautiful, needed. In short, she implied she was in love, but did not mention with whom. Finally, Pavarti came back to tell them that the store was about to close and that the girls should go home for the day. Padma and Katie quickly packed up and left. However, Pavarti and Hermione got into a dispute over who should close up the shop.

"Hermione, I'm always the last one out of the store."

"No, you go on, Pavarti, I'll lock up," Hermione insisted, not saying that the real reason she was staying behind was to wait for Ron.

Pavarti finally relented. "Alright, fine. It'll give me more time to get ready for my date with Draco after the rumble-" She stopped, realizing what she had just said, but Hermione noticed.

"Oh, Pavarti, please don't tell me Draco and the others are fighting with Harry and his mates," she pleaded.

Pavarti bit her lip. "They are, dear, but-"

"But what? Why do they have to fight?"

"It's just short temperament, Hermione. Try not to let it worry you."

Just as Pavarti was about to leave, Ron rushed in through the back door. "Am I late?" he asked, then stopped short when he saw Pavarti. Clearly, he was in fact early.

Pavarti's eyes narrowed. Like Draco had the night before, she recognized Ron too. Then, she broke into a mocking grin. "No, you go on, Pavarti, I'll lock up," she imitated Hermione's comment from earlier. She turned to Ron. "And what are you doing here? Don't you have any sense at all in your head, your own two feet on the ground?"

Ron disarmed her with his lop-sided grin. "We're not on the ground. We're 12 feet in the air," he said proudly as he lifted Hermione off her feet, both of them laughing. Their eyes were only for each other. When Ron had set her down again, Hermione pleaded with her. "Please, Pavarti, don't tell Draco what you've seen. You won't tell, will you?"

Pavarti was silent for a moment. She could see that the two were in love. Then she sighed. "How can I see what's 12 feet over my head?" she asked. Ron and Hermione grinned in gratitude and Pavarti left, but not before warning Hermione that she should be home ASAP.

As soon as Pavarti was gone, Hermione turned to face Ron. "Is there really going to be a rumble tonight?"

Ron stared at her. "How do you know that?"

"Pavarti told me just before you arrived."

Ron nodded. "Yes, Hermione, you heard true. But it isn't a rumble. Not anymore. It's just a fair fist-fight now. That's all it is. I convinced Draco and Harry to arrange a one-on-one, flesh-on-flesh." He smiled. "They'll be fighting each other with their bare hands. How much damage can they do?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Ever heard of a neck getting snapped?" She sighed. "Ron, I want you to promise me something."

"Anything, love."

"Promise me you'll go and stop it. I don't care if it's just a fistfight, I don't want a fight at all. Please, promise me."

And because all he wanted was to make her happy, Ron said, "Alright, love, I promise."

Hermione smiled. "Love? I rather like it when you call me that."

Ron grinned. "Well, what else can I call you? I love you, Hermione. I…I want to marry you."

Hermione's smile grew broader and she coyly walked away from him, leading him to the back of the shop. "Well, you know, if you want to marry me, you'll have to ask my father." She suddenly seized a mannequin that was dressed in a gentleman's clothes and began talking to it. "Daddy, this is my boyfriend, Ronald Weasley," she said, introducing Ron to the mannequin. Ron flowed with it. "May I have your daughter's hand?" he asked the Daddy mannequin, bowing to it dramatically. "He says yes!" squealed Hermione, and Ron shook hands with the mannequin's sleeve.

Hermione grabbed another mannequin, this time dressed in a woman's clothes. "Mother, is it alright if I marry Ron?" she asked. A pause and then, "She also says yes!" Ron kissed the lady mannequin's hand in gratitude.

"And now for the wedding!" cried Ron, getting into the performance now. Hermione plucked a third mannequin from the rack and began talking to it as if it were Pavarti. "Pavarti, you look gorgeous in pink," she trilled, as she made the Pavarti mannequin help her put a veil on her head.

"Here, we are, Harry." Said Ron, as he fiddled with a mannequin dressed in a tuxedo. Their set building done, the couple stared at the mannequins around them. There was a pause, and then the play continued with the wedding ceremony. The two shared their vows and kissed as the sun began to set over the horizon.