Chapter 48: Romantic Romione Wedding
The snow-capped landscape just outside the Burrow's kitchen window was as silent as the grave, all the more so because it was the middle of this Christmas Eve night. Bright whiteness from the newly fallen drifts was reflected brilliantly, if not quite blindingly, by the full moon above.
For most of the Christmas Eves of his life, at least thus far, Harry Potter had never known the experience of going to bed with that Christmas morning feeling, the anticipation of opening presents. Until he had arrived at Hogwarts, he had never received any kind of Christmas presents of value, the Dursleys always withholding the best from him.
Well, now he was about to receive the greatest Christmas present of all: the sanctifying of the marriage of his two best mates to each other.
Trust Hermione to plan her wedding on and around an actual holiday, and the biggest one of the year at that. It was a shock that Ron hadn't immediately vetoed the idea as right mental. Then again, perhaps Ron recognized the benefit of a holiday wedding as much as his bride-to-be did: in this way, the man could be reasonably counted on to never, ever forget the date of his anniversary. He would never have the excuse.
Sneaking a small sip of butterbeer, Harry returned the bottle to the fridge whose light now backlit him as much as the full moon reflecting off the snow outside illuminated his front. He stole back upstairs and crawled into bed beside Ginny, the pair of them bunking in her childhood bedroom just for the night. He felt his wife stir and cuddle into him, but she did not wake.
He sighed and tried to catch some sleep. Tomorrow would be the…. he actually had to take a moment to count…. the fourth Weasley wedding conducted on this property. All indications pointed it to being the biggest, craziest nuptials yet. After Ron and Hermione, the only Weasley sibling who had yet to marry (barring Charlie suddenly renouncing his bachelor lifestyle) was George to Angelina. That pair seemed to be taking their sweet bloody time, even more than some had thought Ron and Hermione were. Harry said, let them. He was pretty sure after tomorrow – today (he turned his head to check the time on the alarm clock), everyone would be content to not be throwing together a wedding for quite a while.
He must have actually managed to doze off, for before he knew it, Ginny was shaking him awake. "We have to help the little ones open their presents!" She playfully whacked her husband over the head with her pillow until he stumbled out from under the coverlet and began his dreary march to the shower.
Perhaps in recognition of the madness that she was imposing upon the family into which she was marrying, Hermione had graciously allocated for a clear demarcation in observance of each solemn event. Christmas festivities were to take place in the morning, before everyone broke to prepare for the wedding nuptials that evening.
Andromeda came by with a Teddy so brimming with energy, Harry had to wonder whether his godson had been caffeinated to ensure he got through the entire day. Remus and Tonks's son was dressed in a smart little three-piece suit for his upcoming duties as the ring bearer on behalf of his godmother. Upon seeing him, the bride absolutely gushed. "You look so handsome, my little man!"
"OI!" Ron faux-pouted at inherently sensing how his future wife was calling someone who wasn't him handsome…. even though he couldn't see the exchange.
"Granny?" Teddy tugged on his grandmother's sleeve. "Why is Unca Ron blindfolded?"
"Well, it's bad luck for him to see your auntie before the wedding, precious." There was a loud bump, followed by Ron swearing loudly as he walked into the coffee table.
In a normal year, present time in the Weasley household often took up much of the day. Christmas 2002, however, would see everyone go through his or her gifts at rapid speed. The adults tried to keep some of the magic from being rushed, for the sake of the little ones: from his godfather, Teddy received a toy broom similar to the one that Sirius had given Harry.
"Honey," Ginny floated, concerned. "Don't you think our Ted is….?"
"What? Too young to have his own broom? Gin, he's four! When Sirius gave me mine, I was still living with my parents; I was only a year! Probably far too young for me to be flying, in retrospect. Teddy will be fine!" Even so, Andromeda was exceedingly careful not to let the boy ruin his three-piece suit, ensuring that the broom did not achieve lift of a more than a few inches off the ground.
At 2 and a half, little Victoire had become adept at a kind of stomping form of walking everywhere, and she waded into the pile of presents with a precocious gusto that amused all of the adults involved. Fleur, enraptured by her little girl, would murmur to her encouragingly in French, as mother and daughter opened her toys together.
Still blindfolded, Ron, as the groom, had to have everyone else pass his presents to him. This made his unwrapping of the gifts less clean than Harry was sure the man's fiancée would have preferred, but it couldn't be helped. Just as it couldn't be helped how everyone roared with laughter upon Ron opening the Christmas gift from his bride.
Seated across from the man who was soon to be her husband, Hermione's smirk was deviously wicked in its mirth. "Happy Christmas, love."
"Here, now! What's all this then?" Ron tried to identify the gift by touch, even as Andromeda and Fleur dove to respectively shield Teddy and Victoire from getting a good look at it by sight.
Hermione's grin only broadened. "Oh, just a little preview of what you'll be getting tonight…" The laughter crescendoed at how Ron was now blushing as red as his hair.
Ginny leaned into Harry. "Thank Merlin Hermione's parents aren't here yet, eh?"
Too right to that. By the time the Grangers did arrive at late morning, most of those involved in the wedding party had already split to get ready…. and Harry had made sure that the offending piece of lingerie bequeathed to Ron by his future wife had been properly stowed and hidden.
It was a sunlit, cloudless day for this Christmas morning, picturesque and ice blue. Harry helped his father-in-law and brothers-in-law conduct Strengthening Charms on the tent to reinforce it, as well as Augamenti to remove fallen snow off the top so that the canvas didn't sag. Then the Chosen One dashed upstairs to get ready.
He found his wife adorning a pearl necklace he had gifted her for her birthday last year. Ginny slipped into her pumps.
"Did the lovebirds say where they would be going for the honeymoon?" she asked, now moving to put in her earrings.
"Not Australia. That's all I know. I think Hermione is keeping it deliberately vague. She doesn't want anyone at the Prophet to catch wind and send paparazzi after them."
"Well, wherever it is, I hope for their sake, it is somewhere warm!" Ginny shivered against the draft coming in through the ajar window; her husband crossed the room to replace the sash and latch the pane down tightly. "At least we were sensible enough not to get married on one of the coldest days of the year!"
"I don't think our Hermione is necessarily viewing getting married on Christmas Day as sensible. Just practical."
Ginny smirked. "If Ron ever forgets his anniversary…."
"Oh, he won't. Not now. That's the beauty of it." Turning her to face him, Harry appraised her once and, smiling, pecked Ginny tenderly on the lips. She touched his face.
"Come on, Chosen One. Let's go take our places."
Harry found an un-blindfolded and nervous Ron fiddling with his cufflinks. He looked dashing in his tuxedo, and when the best mates locked eyes, Ron chuckled tightly. "Thank Merlin it's not the dress robes from my Great Aunt Tessie!"
If that was the groom's best attempt at a joke, Harry was grateful for it, and laughed along. Light humor would settle the man's nerves.
As it was getting on evening, a twenty-piece orchestra began to play the wedding march. Harry and Ron straightened and observed as the rest of the wedding party filed in. Luna, on her boyfriend Rolf's arm, looked as serene as ever, even as her fancy dress was for once understated and strictly matched the color scheme Hermione had laid out for her bridesmaids.
"I do hope old Neville isn't too cut up seeing Lu like this!" Ron murmured to Harry.
Harry shrugged, scanning the congregation to spot their old friend, but he couldn't see him. "Perhaps he's over it. I did hear a curious rumor: Dean told me, who heard it from Seamus who heard it from Parvati that Neville is seeing Hannah Abbott."
"That Hufflepuff who was in the DA with us? Bartends the Leaky?"
"The very same."
A hush now fell over the crowd as the bride rounded the corner on her father's arm. Hermione's smile was bashful and breathless; at her side, David Granger appeared tense. But the man refused to get emotional until he had passed his only daughter off to her future. Harry had to help the beclemnt and overcome gentleman to his seat.
At the officiant's podium, George grinned from ear to…. well, not-ear as he lifted his hands for quiet. Harry had to believe that Hermione had allowed for Ron's brother to marry them as a strategic decision: if George was here and could thus have an eye kept on him, he wouldn't be off elsewhere plotting mischief.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony….."
"Finally, and thank Merlin!" Ginny catcalled, causing the solemn tension to break as everyone broke out into chuckles. Harry grinned. He hoped his wife wasn't already too buzzed.
Awws went up all around as Victoire, the flower girl and guided by her mother, plodded up the aisle, casting daisy petals that blended in with the snow. Teddy soon followed, performing a kind of strutting, high-knee goosestep that had everybody in stitches. Kneeling beside her godson so that her bridal skirts fanned out like blossoming flower petals, Hermione whispered something to him before pecking his cheek and putting him on a path towards his grandmother.
Ron and Hermione's vows were traditional, each of them solemnly and yet breathlessly stating that with these rings, they were wed. The bride only improvised at the end, moisture dancing in her brown eyes as she murmured, "Thank you for always being there. Thank you for saving me." At this, Ron appeared deeply moved.
"By the power vested in me as…." George frowned. "Well, I'm ruddy not sure what powers I'm granted as a mere joke shop owner, but sod it – I now pronounce these two as husband and wife – thank Merlin!" he adlibbed, taking on an echo of his sister at the end. "You may now kiss the bride."
Hermione seemed contemplative and overcome with emotion as she touched her husband's face, caressing the smooth skin along his jawline. Leaning in, their eyes growing lidded and heavy with love, the newlyweds' lips met; Harry thought he heard Hermione let out a happy gasp before she melted into the embrace completely.
Suddenly, a tornado of magical light swirled around the newly declared Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, causing Hermione to clutch at Ron tightly, even as the gust threatened an updraft that billowed up her skirts in an unflattering, Marilyn Monroe-like fashion. Ron held his bride close and deepened their wedding kiss. And as Ron and Hermione Weasley embraced and kissed, there was a piercing shriek that heralded fireworks pealing and exploding in the Christmas night sky above the fields of Devonshire.
Ron and Hermione sensuously broke apart to wild applause.
"George!" Hermione immediately admonished her brother-in-law, annoyed that he had outsmarted her best-laid plans. Though she was smiling, shaking her head.
"What?" George pulled off his best attempt at faux-innocence.
The reception was lively. Ron and Hermione happily danced at their wedding, and Harry couldn't help but see the dancing light of joy in Hermione's eyes, especially when she realized who was serenading them. She turned to her husband, shocked delight in her eyes.
"Rod Stewart? You got Rod Stewart to perform at our wedding?!"
Ron grinned bashfully, self-deprecating. "Phil Collins wasn't available…. Or Elton John…. Or Paul McCartney…."
Hermione kissed him happily and soundly to shut him up.
Everyone was quite taken when the ring bearer asked his auntie for a dance, and Harry waved his wand through a set of Photography Charms to capture the sight of a radiant godmother dancing with her godson.
Hermione looked resplendent, effervescent. Her happiness could not be contained, and Harry was thrilled to see it, laughing as his new sister-in-law insisted on taking him for a dance.
"You seem happy."
"I am," Hermione looked up at her best mate and beamed. "I'm now family by marriage to my two best friends! It's more than I could have ever dreamed…"
Harry grinned down at her. "Well, I for one, have always considered you to be part of my family, whether you married our Ron or not…."
Standing on her tiptoes, Hermione kissed him on the cheek.
"Mind if I cut in?" a deep baritone caused the best mates spin around. "You look vunderful, Hermione!"
The new Mrs. Weasley gasped. "Viktor!" she yelped. "Goodness, I…. what a surprise!" she platonically embraced him, even as she glanced back at Harry with a baffled expression on her face. For his part, Harry had to be grateful that, even if the Bulgarian Quidditch champion had gatecrashed a wedding, the man had 1. refrained from objecting, and 2. gotten the bride's name right. The Chosen One thought that his best mates had agreed not to invite….
"She didn't invite him; I did."
Harry turned to see that Ron, as if reading his thoughts, had materialized at his side, watching his wife share a hug with her one-time…. Harry guessed flame? Hermione had never given any sort of confirmation in all these years, except to say that she and Krum had never kissed. Hermione now flitted back over to her husband, her brown eyes alive with questions.
"I thought we said…."
Ron just shook his head, even as he reached around his bride to give Viktor a firm handshake before the Quidditch star ambled away. "I owled an extra invitation to the tosser. I…. I just wanted you to be happy."
Beaming, Hermione reached up and kissed him soundly on the mouth. "I love you."
Viktor wasn't the only surprise guest. Lavender Brown made an appearance, much to Ron's flustered shock. There were dark circles under the pretty blonde's eyes, and Harry internally winced: just last night had been the final full moon of this cycle; Lavender had to be exhausted. All the same, it pleased Harry to see Lavender and Hermione embrace like friends, all animosity forgotten.
"Take care of him?" Lavender whispered to the once rival who had bested her.
Hermione beamed wetly. "I will." As Lavender moved away, Hermione suddenly let out a surprised yelp as her husband swept his bride into a dip and kissed her senselessly on the mouth.
When they broke apart, Hermione was blinking rapidly, flabbergasted. "What…. what was that for?" she asked, breathlessly.
"To tell you I love you," Ron grinned at her lovingly. "You didn't have to invite…"
"…. But I did," Hermione smiled. "It wasn't as though there were any nefarious intentions. Past is in the past, right?" Giggling, the newlyweds embraced and kissed again.
"All right, you lovebirds! It's time to cut the cake!" Ginny's voice wafted over to them.
Ron and Hermione, still beaming into each other's eyes, reverently cut their wedding cake. Ron dutifully accepted his wife feeding him a piece. But when Hermione opened her mouth to have the favor returned…
…. A smirking Ron missed her mouth completely and mushed the slice of cake directly in his bride's face, sliming her. Gasps of shock and then unbidden chuckles and laughter rose up as Hermione gaped at all assembled.
"You've got cake on your nose, by the way. Did you know? Just there," Ron crowed.
It took Hermione all of a beat to recognize the inside joke, from when they had first met as children. Harry got it, too, now holding his sides with laughter, a laughter that peaked when Hermione seized a fistful of cake and began chasing her husband around and around the marquee tent with it, yelling, "You…. complete….. ARSE, Ronald Weasley!"
Everyone watched as Hermione took aim and fired, her cake projectile landing right in the back of Ron's head and sending him down like ninepins into the snow. The bride's laughter pitched into a shriek as she tripped over her husband's sprawled form and collapsed in the drifts. Laughing, Ron and Hermione rolled around in the snow until bride was straddling and then snogging groom.
At ceremony's end, a snow-soaked Ron and Hermione were herded by well wishers to their waiting car – Arthur's old Ford Anglia, souped up and borrowed from their brother-in-law and sister-in-law. From the passenger seat, Hermione tearfully waved goodbye to all their loved ones as Ron steered the Anglia to lift off into the night.
Just before the car was but a speck on the horizon, Harry watched as his best mates leaned in and shared a long kiss, the words JUST MARRIED displayed prominently on the Anglia's back bumper.
Later that night, in their far away honeymoon suite, the new Mr. and Mrs. Weasley embraced and kissed heatedly. Hermione let out a sigh of contentment into the passionate snog as her husband now divested her of her wedding dress, shrugging the garment off her shoulders so that it now pooled with a rustle at their feet.
Stepping gracefully out of it, Hermione turned, now in nothing but her undergarments, and studied how Ron was gawping at her, transfixed. Wordlessly, she shimmied out of her panties and then slowly reached around to deliberately unhook her bra, letting the lingerie fall away. Her bare breasts hung free like apples, the winter's chill kissing her pebbled nipples.
Ron couldn't get out of his tuxedo, cummerbund and shirt collar fast enough. Brown eyes dark and hungry with desire, Hermione slowly retreated to the bed and laid down upon it; Ron crawled lustily after her.
She glanced down between them, orbs expanding at the proof of his wanting her. True, she had seen the man in his glory, years ago in Australia, but this…. this held more gravitas than that first night they had been intimate, for then, they had only used their mouths to pleasure one another. Now…..
"Are you afraid?" Ron whispered.
Hermione shook her head with a content smile. She had never felt so safe in her life. "No….." Kissing him langorously, she softly spread her legs for her lover, her husband, squirming so as to better guide him to her entrance, line up their bodies. Their bodies that would soon be joined.
Blue eyes met brown. Hermione gulped. "Put your hands on me, Ronald…." She whispered.
Ron kissed his bride, long and lingering. The snog quickly deepened, and soon they were clutching bare skin and experimentally rocking against each other.
Still, it was a shock when Ron mounted her…. and mated with her. Greedily gripping his bare buttocks in her fists, Hermione flopped her head back into the pillows as she and Ron began to rut against each other in heat. His large, calloused, strong and meaty hands glided up to amorously cup the swell of her breasts, and Hermione moaned piteously. Her breathing had become heavy, ragged and labored.
"Huhhh….. Uhhhhh….. Errrrrr…. Hmmmmmmm… Mmmmmmmm….. R-Ron…"
"Bloody hell, Hermione…"
"I….. Ron, I love you….."
"Godric, I love you too…"
Their gazes locked. "Then show me," Hermione hissed.
Ron groaned and began to thrust with abandon into her soaked and fluttering walls. Beneath him, Hermione continued to cry out and thrash, her arms encircling her husband's rippling shoulder blades, her nails digging into the skin there as he bore down.
"Ugghhhhh… Uhhhhhh….. Ohhhhhh….. Ohh…. Oh, my goodness… Yes, Ron! Yes, Ronald, that's it! Come inside me! Bloody hell, put a baby in me! I just want you to finish me o-ahhhhhh… Ahhhhhhhhh…. AHHHHHHHHHH! Ah - ! – Ahhhhhh….."
Hermione's walls clenched about him, trapping Ron, milking him. Along the bedspread, her toes curled.
She came. With a happy shout, she achieved completion in the moment before her husband, swaying above her, seized and spilt, ejaculated all he had inside of her.
After her lover and spouse had been brought to orgasm, Ron told the beautiful, brilliant, brunette witch that he loved her.
Hermione said it back, kissing him tenderly.
"…. I love you too, Ronnie."
Ron smirked. "That's my new pet name, eh?"
She shrugged. "Well, it's damn better than Won-Won."
A beat before Ron burst into laughter and drew his wife's naked form close, the pair of newlyweds cuddling and kissing.
Ron and Hermione would spend half of their wedding night – hours upon hours – snogging and making hot, raw, passionate love.