Disclaimer: I don't owe this world, JKR is the one with the magical touch.
Chapter 4 Explaining a little
The following weeks had flown by…pretty much the same as they always had for Hermione. Still busy with her work, the most noticeable changes had been in her friendships, which had intensified greatly. The trio had always stayed close, but it seemed that their bond had grown tighter. This was mostly because ever since Harry and Ginny had decided to get married, Hermione had become very involved in the planning of it all. She welcomed the change because she knew she needed it, but she wondered at the same time why the couple wanted her to be involved so much. They had asked her to help with everything, stating that she might have some ideas knowing about muggle weddings and such. She had looked at Harry questioningly, but she had to confess he knew almost nothing about them.
In the end, all this planning had led to days when she had to take time off from work, and now she could hardly ever be found at the Ministry during the weekends. No, there was something in the air, and a change of sorts was all Hermione could make of it.
Today was going to be one of those days that wasn’t anything like the ones she had experienced before this whole wedding thing had started. She was going to spend the whole day with Ginny. They would be going over the final details of the ceremony (which would probably change again because Ginny had seen or heard about something new). They also would be going over the final guest list to make sure everybody was invited, and so the owls could be send out the following day. After that, it would be lunch and dress shopping. Hermione felt giddy like a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl. She decided that she would take Ginny to that new store she had seen a few weeks ago. It was going to be a fun day. If only she could get Harry and Ginny to unhinge and get out of the bedroom!
She knocked on Ginny’s door, “Ginny will you please hurry up; we’ve got a lot to do today!” A slight groaning sound was all she could hear, “Hey, you were the one who wanted to start early, remember?”
“Okay coming Hermione, I’m coming. Hey stop it, you,” Hermione could hear her roommate giggle, and quickly moved away from the door. She had enough experience with the couple to have absolutely no intention to stay and listen to the sounds that were coming from inside the bedroom.
A few muffled sounds later, Ginny walked into the kitchen, dressed, and with a slightly guilty look on her face, “Sorry about that Hermione, but we…”
“Don’t worry about it. I know. You can’t really be together at #12 Grimmauld Place because they are still cleaning the place up. And your mother is making you stay at the Burrow until the wedding s as of tomorrow. I know Gin,” Hermione was laughing at the stunned look on Ginny’s face.
“Are we really that bad?”
“Yes, when you two are together you are, but you’re about to get married, and you won’t be together for a week, so you’re allowed,” Hermione couldn’t help it; Ginny’s happiness was making her smile.
“Thanks,” A blush as red as her hair was creeping up Ginny’s face.
After having a quick breakfast together and saying goodbye to Harry, both girls got up and apparated to a spot just outside the Hogwarts grounds. They silently walked up to the lake, and went to the spot that Harry had chosen for the wedding ceremony. As they sat on the grass, they went through the details.
“Oh, and I loved that thing about the white doves at the end that you told me about, but I still don’t understand why muggles would throw rice in the air. It would probably only get stuck in my hair or something!”
“Come to think of it, I don’t know either, but we can easily leave it out if you want.”
“Hmm,” Ginny thought aloud.
“So a definite no on the rice, and yes on the doves?”
“Yes that would be lovely,” Ginny was already dreaming again. Hermione looked at her friend and grinned. It was good to see Harry and Ginny in love.
“It’s going to be beautiful Ginny. The weather is going to be perfect. The ceremony will be a nice combination of wizard and muggle, and you two will finally be husband and wife,” Hermione assured her.
Ginny turned to her and smiled, “I know. I just wanted to make sure one last time that everything is perfect for next week.”
“It will be. We didn’t leave anything unaccounted for…even down to the seating arrangement during the ceremony. Well, except of course that you won’t tell me who will be sitting next to me.”
“No Hermione, I won’t tell,” Hermione had given Ginny an almost pleading look, but the Weasley girl had just smiled mysteriously back at her, “You’ll find out soon enough.”
It didn’t really matter to Hermione whether Ginny would tell her or not. She had her suspicions as to who the mystery guest was. There was one name on that guest list that was standing out in absence so much that it was almost screaming at her. It hadn’t helped her suspicions either that Ginny had made absolutely no comment about crushes or being in love or anything of that nature to her since their bickering a couple of weeks ago. Moving her hands over the grass to feel it tickle her palms, there was only one thing that Hermione was wondering about; whether she would be able to sit next to Severus Snape for an hour without getting into a fight with him. Since her graduation, fighting was something they had always done within a matter of minutes.
No, she wanted everything to be perfect for Harry and Ginny. On the other hand, she knew that her feelings for Severus, and his obvious dislike for her, would make them clash at some point during the day. She just hoped that the bride and groom wouldn’t notice it.
“Hermione? Hermione!” This time it was Ginny who noticed Hermione dreaming, “Oh for heavens sake, where are you?” Ginny was waving her hands in front of Hermione’s face, “Hello, Earth to Hermione Granger! What are you dreaming about?”
“Hmm? Oh, just that dress I told you about. I’ll show it to you this afternoon,” Hermione quickly recovered from the reverie she was in, and tried, but failed, to look innocent. Her friend, however, was not fooled, as she noticed the frown on Ginny’s face and the twinkle in her eyes at the same time. Had the person of her musings been that obvious? Deciding that she didn’t want to know, she stood up, cleaned her hands with a simple spell, and pulled Ginny up from the grass, “Come on Gin, I’m starving. Up to the Three Broomsticks.”
Enjoying their lunch in the familiar pub, Hermione was surprised to see the frown upon Ginny’s face was still there. Taking a sip from her pumpkin juice, she wondered why her friend was worried, even when everything was planned beyond perfection. She didn’t expect the question that was coming.
Ginny suddenly looked up from the salad she was eating, “Why do you like him so much?” Hermione was startled and nearly choked on her juice; she swallowed quickly before spraying the table. There was no doubt in her mind who her friend had meant, but the question had been so sincere that for a moment, she didn’t know how to answer.
“I don’t really know Gin,” Hermione managed to utter.
Ginny gave her a surprised look and snorted, “Every girl knows why,” she replied.
“Well I mean you know when I had that crush on him…”
“Your seventh year. It was hard to miss,” Ginny said. Now it was Hermione’s turn to be surprised, she raised a brow in question. She had always been fairly certain that nobody knew.
“Hard to miss when you’re me that is. We were already spending a lot of time together back then, remember? Harry and Ron were clueless though,” They both smiled, Hermione with a small sigh of relief, and Ginny looked at her expectantly again.
“It’s just that he’s an extremely intelligent, powerful wizard and skilled with his potions, which, of course, you have to be if you want to become a Potions Master. Anyways,” she sighed, “I started to notice these things about him.”
‘Not to mention the way his slender fingers seemed to work on their own, when his beautiful black eyes scanned the class that was before him,’ she thought.
“I just realised that he was similar to me in so many ways. His love for knowledge and solitude, and I felt that those were the things I was looking for. Not some guy, but this man was what I needed.”
“So why exactly did you two never…”
“Get together?” Hermione laughed bitterly, “Because it was against the school rules, but mostly because he disliked the very sight of me. To him, I was just the bushy haired know-it-all that started screwing up her potions in her NEWT year. After my graduation all we ever did was fight, and from that moment on I became even more ordered and busy in everything I did. Mostly so I would never fail in front of him again. I wanted him to be able to see that I was good enough for him, if he ever did take the time to notice that I was there,” Hermione swallowed hard. She had never told anyone what had happened in her NEWT year, now six years ago. Ginny thought it would be better to not go into the details. She had seen that there was more to the story, but she had also seen the bit of sadness that now lingered around Hermione’s eyes.
“You’re not the schoolgirl know-it-all he knew before.”
“Nope, but I doubt he will ever notice the change in me and suddenly decide that he likes what he sees.”
AN Well we know he definitely did notice her, especially the changes. What he thinks of her now, well just wait for the next chapter. Thanks to my lovely beta's, again :-)