A sharp knock on the door demanded attention over the hum of noises in the Burrow.

Whoever the visitor is, Ginny thought, he couldn’t have chosen a worse time to call on us. She was about to ignore the knock and let someone else worry about their unexpected visitor when her mother’s voice rang through the house, “Ginny dear, can you open the door, please?”

With a sigh Ginny put Hermione’s shoes down, plastered a fake smile on her tired face and crossed to the door. Her smile vanished as soon as she saw whom she had opened the door to.

“What do you want? You have no right to be here!”

“Who’s there, Ginny?” Her mother’s voice was closer now and a second later a squeal announced her arrival in the front room. She rushed past Ginny but stopped short of hugging their visitor, unsure how to proceed.

“Percy! What a nice surprise to see you. And you’re here just in time for Ron’s wedding, too.” Her mother gave him a beaming smile, tears glistening in her eyes. “We’re glad to have you with us, dear.”

“No, we’re not! He’s not welcome here,” Ron butted into the conversation. He must have joined them while Ginny had been busy glaring at Percy, because she hadn’t heard him enter the room.

“Ron, he’s your brother! Of course he’s welcome. Just imagine, the whole family will be here for your wedding.”

“He’s no brother of mine,” Ron exclaimed.

A dry cough interrupted the heated exchange. Percy was still standing outside the door, making no move to come in. A sneer twisted his lips as he watched the scene unfold in front of him.

Finally, when he was sure that he had their undivided attention, he spoke, “I’m here on behalf of the Minister of Magic to ensure that the proper Concealment Charms have been put in place and that no Muggle will witness any kind of magic during tomorrow’s ceremony.”

Ginny could see the light in her mother’s eyes dying; her smile vanished leaving behind no traces of its former existence. “But Percy…” The tears in her eyes spilled over onto her cheeks, but they were no longer tears of joy.

“Mum, come with me,” Ginny whispered, putting her arms around her mother’s weeping form and gently leading her out of the room.

**

Ron glared at the back of his sister’s head as she left the room with their mother. He wanted nothing to do with Percy, but he couldn’t close the door on the Ministry’s delegate either. Turning his glare back on Percy he crossed his arms over his chest and waited for him to speak.

The two brothers locked gazes. Their hostility permeated the air around them. Neither was happy with this arrangement, and both were too stubborn to try and get along, even if it meant leaving each other’s presence sooner.

Percy, seeing that Ron wouldn’t invite him in, finally relented and asked, “Which church are you getting married in?”

“St. Mary’s.”

“Why did you decide to get married in a Muggle church?” Percy was all business now. The only thing missing was he starting to scribble notes on a piece of parchment, Ron thought derisively.

“Hermione’s mum insisted,” Ron said.

**

“You want my daughter to marry in your garden? That’s unacceptable!” Mrs Granger’s voice rang loud and clear through the Burrow. Ron’s parents had invited Mr. And Mrs Granger to discuss plans for the upcoming wedding and now both sets of parents, Hermione and Ron were sitting in the kitchen, drinking tea and eating biscuits.

Traditionally wizarding weddings always took place outside. A binding ceremony of this magnitude was closely linked with the elements and the magical current in nature, performing it inside would only weaken the bond.

Trying to explain that to Muggles was another matter. Ron let Hermione and his mother do most of the talking; he couldn’t understand why Hermione’s mother made such a big deal out of it. What was so special about getting married in a church anyway? Marrying at home in the garden was so much more convenient.

But Hermione’s mother wouldn’t be deterred, “What would the family say? Hermione needs to have a proper wedding, like all her cousins.”

“But mum, a Muggle wedding is simply impossible. The church walls would weaken the magic,” Hermione tried to reason.

“I don’t care! My daughter is getting a normal wedding, with a white wedding gown and a priest conducting the ceremony.”

They argued back and force for what seemed like hours, but Ron quickly lost interest in the conversation.

**

Percy frowned. “Couldn’t you make her see that a muggle wedding is impossible?”

“She didn’t want to see,” Ron said through gritted teeth. Percy’s pompous manner was irritating him to no end. Even looking completely ridiculous while completing his work on the doorstep he managed to sound condescending.

“What about binding spells? How will you cast them in front of Muggles? You can’t obliviate all you guests!” Percy’s frown deepened.

“We’re casting a binding spell on the rings. Hermione came up with it. Our vows contain the incantation that activates the spell,” Ron explained. He wasn’t sure how the spell actually worked, but he knew what was supposed to happen.

Percy pursed his lips. He didn’t look happy about this arrangement. “And you’re sure that there won’t be any signs of magic, nothing the Muggles could see?”

“The rings glow when the spell is activated, but they will just think the sunlight reflected off them.” Ron was quickly getting tired of Percy’s endless questions. He felt as if he was in school again and no one trusted him to know what he was doing. A lot of thought had gone into the spell, Hermione was aware of each and every detail, but Percy just had to go and make this more difficult than it needed to be.

“Sunlight? Inside a church?”

Ron almost rolled his eyes at that. “Of course not inside the church! We’re having the ceremony in the church garden.”

**

The sun was beating down on them from a cloudless sky. Their clothes were sweaty and sticking to their bodies from the long walk, but Hermione, Ron and their respective parents had finally reached Ottery St. Catchpole. The summer heat had made the walk seem longer than usual and everyone was glad when St. Mary’s came into view.

Ron had never been to a Muggle church. He had no idea what to expect, he just hoped Mrs Granger would like it. He didn’t much care for the church; all he wanted was to get the wedding over and done with. He had known that his mum would make it a large affair, but he had never imagined arguments over terribly unimportant things like churches and food.

“Oh it’s lovely,” Mrs Granger exclaimed.

Although he didn’t see what was so special about St. Mary’s, Ron was glad that Hermione’s mother liked it. At least the problem of where to marry was sorted now.

Drawn by the sound of their voices, a short grey-haired man stepped out of the house next to the church. “Welcome my friends, I am Father Paul, the priest of this village. How can I be of service to you today?”

“My daughter is getting married,” Mrs Granger started to explain. “We’re having the reception at the groom’s house, which is just outside the village. Your church would be perfect for the ceremony.”

“I assure you that will be no problem. I have conducted quite a few weddings in my time here, and they are indeed the most beautiful of ceremonies.”

“We have one slightly unusual request, though,” Hermione said.

“We’d like the wedding to be outside,” Ron’s mother joined the conversation.

“That is an unusual request indeed,” Father Paul admitted, “there has never been an outdoors wedding in this parish before.”

“But it would be possible?”

“Yes, yes I think it would. Leave everything to me, I’d be glad to organise the ceremony for you,” Father Paul literally beamed at them, eager to prove his worth.

**

“I see,” Percy said after a moment of silence. “When will you cast the Concealment Charms on the house?”

“Tomorrow morning, long before any of the guests arrive for the reception.” Ron looked Percy up and down, wondering if he should ask, but finally decided that if he didn’t ask, Percy would probably invite himself anyway, “Do you want to be here while we cast them?”

“That would be best, I think.” Surprise was written in every line of Percy’s face, obviously he had expected an argument about his presence.

**

While Ron was answering Percy’s questions, Ginny had led their mother into the sitting room and hugged her tight while she cried. Thankfully she had remembered a dozen things she still had to organize and gone back to work, tears still streaming down her cheeks, after only a few minutes.

Ginny wasn’t convinced, but if her mother thought forgetting about the incident was the way to go, so she would oblige her for now. Picking up Hermione’s shoes once again she hurried up the stairs to Percy’s old room, where Hermione was staying until after the wedding.

When no one answered her knock, Ginny slowly opened the door. “Hermione? I’m coming in.”

The room was dark. At first Ginny thought Hermione had gone to sleep, but a quick inspection showed that the bed was empty. Surprised Ginny crossed the room to look out the window. Where could Hermione have gone to?

It was late and slowly getting dark outside, but Ginny thought she saw someone standing near the pond. What was Hermione doing out there? Was she having doubts about marrying Ron? Putting the shoes down next to the dresser, Ginny left the room again.

Her mother was still bustling around the house, making sure that everything was perfect for the reception. Ginny was tired, for days she had done nothing but clean the house or cook food for the wedding. Therefore she slipped quietly out the backdoor and walked towards the pond before her mother had the chance to give her yet another task. There was no doubt now that the silhouette she had seen from the window did indeed belong to Hermione.

“Hey,” Ginny whispered as she came to stand beside the older girl. “What are you doing out here?”

“I had to get out and clear my head, think about things, you know,” Hermione replied, also in a whisper.

“Having doubts about marrying my brother?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it doubts.” Hermione stayed silent for a minute, gathering her thoughts, “It’s not even a bad feeling. I know that my life will change completely tomorrow, and I’m happy about it. But it also scares me, you know? It’s like leaving school, you know something great lies in front of you, but you also don’t want what you have now to end. I’m at the same time frightened and ecstatic about the wedding.”

Ginny nodded, not sure if she understood exactly what Hermione meant.

“I’m asking myself, what if something happens? What if all we do is fight? What if living together doesn’t work out? There’s so much that could go wrong, but at the same time I know that we’ve been through a lot together. We’ve fought, but we always made up again. I know him better than I know anyone else, but still he manages to catch me completely off-guard sometimes. I just don’t know what to expect.”

Silence engulfed the two young women. Ginny wasn’t sure if she was meant to say something profound now, but even if she was, she wouldn’t know what to say in a situation like this. Hermione seemed contend just to stand there, gazing across the pond and over the fields behind the garden, watching the sun set and the darkness around them grow.