The two couples spent the next weeks entirely in one another’s company. Many late nights were spent by Ron and Hermione deciding on colors, flowers, food, entertainment, and guests for their upcoming wedding. Ginny spent her days absorbed in thoughts of her own wedding still so far away. Harry spent every moment by her side, but his thoughts were occupied with his parents. Living in their old house only made his thoughts more intense. He knew that they would hate to miss his big day, but they would have loved Ginny. That thought gave him comfort as the days went by.
The time came to decide whether Ginny would come to live with Harry now, later in their engagement, or after the wedding entirely. “What do you want to do?” asked Harry, oblivious to the intensity of the decision she was making. All he thought about was her, them, their relationship. Ginny was also thinking about her mother…
“If it were up to me, I’d be living with you already, but I know that’s not what my parents want, and I have no idea what you want…” Ginny was so frustrated with the idea that she was almost in tears yet again. This whole wedding ordeal was causing her rock solid character to shift and break under the pressure. The pain of her emotions was causing Harry grief as well, but of an entirely different kind; Harry knew that this was the sort of thing that they would have to deal with for the rest of their lives together, and he, ready to accept this, made no sort of effort against it. He wanted to Ginny to know that the rock she stood on was solid and that he was not going to go soft on her.
“If it pleases you, I see no reason why you shouldn’t come live with me now,” Harry replied honestly. “You’ll be living here eventually anyway…and a house is a house right?”
“I’d love nothing more than to move in with you right now, Harry,” Ginny said matter-of-factly, “but I’m afraid that perhaps we better wait until after Ron and Hermione’s wedding. That will give my mother more time to get used to it, not to mention give us more time to figure out exactly what’s happening. I don’t really give a damn what she thinks, but I want her to be at our wedding so it’s better not to upset her. And I don’t know about you, but I’m still in shock at everything. It’s all happening so fast!”
“I agree,” said Harry, not choosing to point out that it was her fault that it was doing so. “And good point about your mother. I don’t want to be on her bad side.” He spent several moments in deliberation. “How about late September then?”
“September sounds nice,” said Ginny as her voice slowly faded away into the thoughts of autumn’s leaves and changing temperatures.
“Ginny!” Harry and Ginny turned at the sound of Hermione’s voice from the hall. “Can you come here for a moment?” There was no hiding the hint of excitement in her voice.
“I think she has her dress,” Ginny explained. “She was going to pick them up sometime this week. She probably has the bride’s maid dresses too. That means I’ll need to try mine on. You better wait here. I don’t know if Hermione is going to want you to see or not since you’re the best man. She might think you’ll squeal to Ron or something.” Ginny smiled before she continued, “Hermione seems to be a very old fashioned bride so far.”
“That’s fine,” Harry said, picking up a book he had been reading the night before. “I’ll just continue my book while I wait. Lupin told me last week that it was one of my father’s favorites. I didn’t think he seemed the reading type, but the book is good so far.” Settling deeper into his seat, Harry pried the book open the marked page and pretended to start reading.
Ginny kissed him quickly on the cheek. “It helps if you are holding the book the right way.” She laughed and rushed from the room screaming, “Coming, Hermione!” leaving Harry flushed and embarrassed in her wake.
Ginny walked into the guest room where Hermione was pulling dressed out of bags and laying them over the bed and chest of drawers. “Which one is mine?” Ginny asked, unable to contain neither her curiosity nor her excitement.
Hermione jumped in surprise. “Oh! Ginny, I didn’t hear you come in!” She went over to the bed and picked up a dress that was a lovely pale blue with taffeta and sheer. Ginny gasped, Oh, Hermione! These are beautiful!”
“I hoped you would like it,” said Hermione. “I only wanted the best for my maid of honor. The bridesmaid’s look similar, but yours is strapless and has a fuller skirt. The other dresses,” said Hermione as she held one up for Ginny to see, “are smaller and have thin straps. I wanted them to be yellow, but Ron wasn’t for the idea. He told me yellow was too girly for his standards and that I needed a different color, so I talked to Fleur about a week ago and she suggested I go with blue to match Ron’s eyes.” Hermione batted her eyelashes ridiculously and laughed. “I didn’t like the reason all that much, but I decided to go with pale blue anyway. You’ll look gorgeous! You should try it on.”
“I will as soon as you show me yours,” said Ginny with a smirk. “Let’s see,” she said, walking around the bed. “One for me, one for Fleur, one for Luna, one for Tonks, and one for your cousin….could that be yours still in the bag, then?”
“Stop teasing!” said Hermione with a strained high-pitched laugh. “These dresses are all blue, and you know mine is white. Why do you want to see it so bad, anyway?”
“It’s your special day and you’re my best friend! I want to see how beautiful you are going to be.” Ginny sat on the bed, flipped her hair over her shoulder dramatically, and stared at Hermione. “Well, let’s have it then.”
“It’s not very extravagant,” mused Hermione as she fumbled with the bag, “but here it is.” She pulled out a long white dress and Ginny’s jaw hit the floor in shock. The dress was made from thin silk except for the sleeves, which were beaded and slightly off the shoulder. There were small beaded flowers trailing from the top to the floor that added a touch of elegance. It was simple, but completely perfect.
“Well, what do you think?” asked Hermione, unable to hide the nervous tone in her voice.
“It’s gorgeous,” said Ginny in awe. “You’ll be the most beautiful bride ever.”
“Only until your wedding,” said Hermione. “I’m sure you’ll be able to top me with ease. You were always one of the prettiest girls in school.”
“But I don’t see how I could be more beautiful when you have the most perfect dress ever made!” Ginny fingered the beads on the dress and sighed.
“Ginny, don’t worry,” said Hermione gently. “You’d look amazing even if you were clad in house-elf attire.”
Ginny laughed, but her face turned bright red. “It doesn’t matter to as long as Harry is at my side.”
***
Even the weather was in attendance on the day of Ron and Hermione’s wedding. The sun was in the sky and there was not a cloud in sight. The day was warm, but a pleasant breeze was blowing. The birds were chirping and even the gnomes were staying inside their holes.
Ginny tiptoed into Percy’s room to wake Hermione who had stayed there overnight. “Ride and shine,” she said quietly.
Hermione sat up and rubbed her eyes. “I’ve been awake for a while,” she admitted. “You know very well that no one can sleep in on their wedding day.”
“I know,” said Ginny gently. “You are about to embark on a crazy adventure. Ron always keeps us on our toes, so I know he’ll do a good job of keeping you on yours.”
Hermione laughed and crawled out of bed. “He’s had me on my toes since I was eleven.”
“So are you excited for your honeymoon to Italy?” asked Ginny as she sat on the bed next to Hermione and took her hand. “I’m going to miss you so much. You know that, right?”
“I’m excited about the trip and I’m going to miss you too, Ginny. It’s only for two weeks, so I’ll be back before you know it.” Hermione hugged Ginny and the two friends embraced their last free moment together before the wedding.
“Now don’t cry,” said Ginny. “I would hate myself forever if I made you cry on your wedding day!”
“Better to get it out now, right?” Hermione blinked her eyes to keep back the tears. “It was so nice of Percy to let me use his room last night. I know that he was working the last shift at the Ministry anyway, but it was still nice.”
“He only wants the best for you too, even if he is a git,” laughed Ginny. “Oh, by the way, your cousin Maria is here. My mother is making her taste-test the food. I don’t know if she realizes what she got herself into, but she was too busy staring at anything and everything to notice. It’s strange having a Muggle in the house…”
Hermione joined Ginny’s laughter. “I better go rescue her before something bad happens. She always knew I was a witch because she was one of the first people I told, but she’s never seen anything magical before.”
“You can tell,” said Ginny. “You better let me go get her because Ron might be downstairs, and you know the rule.”
“I can’t see Ron until the wedding,” chanted Hermione. “I know.” She flopped back down onto the pillow in disgust.
“I’ll go and save her for you.” Ginny flounced to the door.
“Thanks, Ginny!” Hermione called after her.
“Oh, and I might as well bring up your mother,” added Ginny. “She has all of her Muggle hair…er…stuff, ready to go.”
“Oh joy,” said Hermione sarcastically. “After she’s done, we can always do some touch ups with my wand.”
Ginny left the room and Hermione got off of the bed and walked over to the window. She saw Bill and Charlie flocking chairs into the backyard. Fred and George were currently trying to set up a large arbor at the end of the garden, but people kept running past and knocking it over before they could get it anchored. Hermione laughed as she watched Crookshanks run around everyone’s ankles, sometimes causing him or her to fall over or drop whatever they were holding. She turned and saw Mr. Weasley on the steps.
“Mr. Weasley!” she called. “Can you bring Crookshanks in? I think he’s causing trouble to everyone outside.”
Mr. Weasley stopped. He had an armload of dress robes that he was carrying up the stairs for the men. “As soon as I get these upstairs, I’ll do just that.” He panted under the weight of the robes and began to continue up the steps.
“Do you need some help?” she asked, rushing to the door, eager for any chance to get out of the room and maybe even sneak a private few minutes with Ron before their big moment even it was breaking all the rules.
Ginny suddenly appeared behind him and lifted half the pile from his arms. “I got it, Dad. I know you hate to admit it, but you’re getting a bit old for this.”
“Don’t remind me,” he said bitterly, but a little more warmly he added, “but thank you, Ginny.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Sighing in disappointment, Hermione returned to the window to continue people watching. All of a sudden she was bombarded with a load of excited girls. Her mother and cousin Maria were at the front of the pack. Behind them Hermione saw Luna Lovegood, Tonks (looking quite out of place with baby blue hair), Fleur, Fleur’s sister Gabrielle, and Mrs. Weasley.
Hermione was suddenly caught in a whirlwind of hair and makeup. Ginny joined them moments later, but instead of helping, she merely sat on the bed and watched. After several moments, everyone backed away and Hermione’s mother handed her a mirror. She looked into it and hardly recognized herself. Her eyes were more stunning than she believed possible and her entire face seemed to shimmer. Her hair was pulled up tightly in curls that cascaded down to her shoulders and a small crown of flowers was set around it. “Doesn’t anyone just say ‘hello’ anymore?” she managed to sigh.
Hermione leaned over and kissed her mother on the cheek and then hugged her cousin Maria warmly. “I haven’t seen you in ages!” she exclaimed. “How are you?”
“Good,” chirped Maria, “but apparently not as good as you. You’re getting married! When did this happen?”
“About nine years ago actually….” said Hermione. “But it’s so good to see you!”
“Luna!” cried Hermione. “You look good. Did you get a new haircut?”
“No, Ginny put makeup on me earlier. She figured out what she was doing after a few minutes. Does it look alright?” Luna fingered her face gingerly, obviously new to any sort of beauty products.
“Alright? You look amazing!” said Hermione. “You could be the bride today if I didn’t know any better.”
Luna laughed. “No I can’t be because I’m leaving tonight with Daddy to go to Australia. He thinks there might be some Zingwangers there….”
“I’m not even going to ask,” laughed Hermione, used to Luna’s creative imagination and her father’s fantastic ‘discoveries’.
“I’ve never worn a lot of makeup before,” continued Luna. “It’s almost like having your face painted, really…”
Hermione nodded and smiled before turning to Tonks. “Tonks, it’s good to see you too!” said Hermione as she received another hug. “How is Teddy these days?”
“Fantastic. He’s downstairs with Remus at the moment, but you won’t recognize him when you see him. He looks so much like his father though…except the hair of course. The hair is mine.” Hermione and Tonks shared a laugh at the mention of young Teddy’s hair, which was often outrageous colors just like his mother’s.
“How old is he now? Almost two already?”
Tonks nodded. “He’s already walking and talking up a storm and””
“Zis day is about you, not Tonks,” interrupted Fleur. “I remember my wedding day. ‘Eet vas over two years ago now, but I ‘ope ‘zat ‘zis day will be just as nice for you.”
“Thank you,” said Hermione sincerely, but giving Tonks a sympathetic smile. She mouthed, ‘You can tell me later,’ and the two shared a silent laugh.
“Now, everyone into Ginny’s room to get changed,” said Mrs. Weasley as she started shoving people out. “You’ve all helped enough! Out, out!” Soon the room was empty except for Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, and Hermione’s mother.
“Would you like to get into your dress now, Dear?” asked Mrs. Weasley. “The wedding starts in less than an hour.”
“That would be fine,” said Hermione, breathing deeply, the scent of excitement completely coating her throat.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” asked her mother nervously, giving Hermione’s hand a small squeeze.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life.”
Dream Come True by rupertgrintlover13
Chapter Notes: I am SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY! I have been gone for almost.....*cringes* a year! I know! But I'm back!! I know that lot's of you have been waiting for updates on this and I hope it hasn't been too long for you to get back into the story. I appreciate all the wonderful comments while I've been gone and I'm so happy that you are enjoying the story thus far. Happy Reading!
Chapter Endnotes: Keep reading and this entire story will be up hopefully before you know it!