If they take one more picture, Ron fumed silently, just one more, I’m going jinx every single one of them. Ron plastered a smile on his face for the four thousandth time as Charlie joggled him on the left and his Grannie Weasley clutched his arm for dear life on the right. I hate ginger-haired people, he thought rather illogically, surrounded by relatives on all sides. He shoved Charlie extra hard to vent his frustration.
“Hey, Ron, watch it, mate!” Charlie cried, amiably enough, and pushed him back, nearly sending him into a nosedive on top of Ginny and Gabrielle.
“Ron! Cut it out, will you?” Ginny turned and scowled at him. “This isn’t a joke! Let’s just do this before I commit murder, alright?”
“Yes, honestly, Ronnikins, what’s your problem?” George piped up from behind him, in his left ear.
“He’s in luurrrrvvve, Georgie, can’t you tell? He’s practically floating!” Fred giggled into his right ear. And, as the twins snickered, Ron’s feet left the ground and he actually did begin to float, first a few inches off the ground, then nearly a foot, now three, then “
“Fred! George! You gits-get me-let me-” As he struggled to find his wand, the tip of his dress shoe knocked Fleur smack in the middle of her elaborate hairdo. She turned to Ron and he almost fell out of the air in fear.
“Ronald! What eez zee meaning of zees? We are trying to take a beautiful picture here, zees is not the time for “ how do you say “ goofing off!” She stomped her foot, and with a graceful wave of her wand, Ron tumbled out of the air, taking the twins, his Grannie Weasley and Ginny with him to the ground.
“Ron!!!!” Several dozen people yelped at him. He helped his grandmother to her feet, as the twin clutched each other in hysterics and the expression on Ginny’s flushed face fluctuated between anger and amusement.
“Bloody relatives,” Ron muttered quietly, ignoring everyone’s indignant shouts. But he couldn’t help grinning a bit as his crazy, loud, shoving, cackling family gathered back together for one more photo of the happy event.
* * *
The minute the family group dispersed throughout the yard, Ron eyes began roaming the reception, hoping to catch sight of a particularly impressive cloud of brown hair and a certain light purple dress. He wandered through the well-dressed crowd, getting a bit frustrated. Where IS she? This is starting to get ridiculous “
“Whatcha lookin’ for, Ronnie?” George, on his right.
“I think the question is who is he looking for, George old chap, right, Ronald?” Fred, on his left. Ron felt his ears begin to boil scarlet. “Wouldn’t be, let’s say, a bright, bossy, bushy-haired bird we all know and love, would it?”
“Well asked, Fred,” George said, impressed.
“Cheers, George!” Fred smiled at his twin. “So, Ronald darling, what’s your plan of attack, hmmm?” The twins had now surrounded him, their arms slung genially around his shoulders.
“What d’you mean?” Ron asked glumly, not even bothering to deny he was looking for Hermione.
“Well, son, have you snogged her yet?” George queried. “That’s a good place to start, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
“What?!? I mean, well, the thing is “” Ron stammered, and he could feel his face flushing.
“I agree with George, dear brother…a kiss is as good a place to start as any, and this has been going on for far too long, if you ask me,” Fred thumped him hard on the back.
“You know, you really aren’t helping, you two, and if you want the truth, I tried yesterday but bloody mum interrupted with all of her wedding-decorating nonsense,” Ron trailed off, throwing his hands into the air. He still hadn’t found her, either…
“Ok, here’s what you do,” George took him by the shoulders, and for once, he seemed earnest. “Just go over to her. Don’t mull it over, or think too hard about it, just “
“”compliment her, say something about her hair or her dress or something “” Fred interjected.
“Yes! That’s it! Try to say something funny or remind her of something from the past that you shared that was special”” George continued seamlessly.
“Right! Right! That’s the ticket, then you just take her face in your hands and, if I really have to explain to you what happens next, well, mate, you really are a bit thick and I don’t “”
“STOP!!! Will you two give it a rest?!?” Ron shouted. “Look, I know you are just trying to help, but if I could just find her, I could take it from there, alright?”
His brothers glanced at each other and shrugged. “Why didn’t you just say so, Ron?” George began.
“She’s right over there!” They chimed together, and Ron followed their pointing fingers to the sight of her, Hermione, sitting on a bench away from the crowd, her violet dress and glittering hair sparkling in the darkening twilight.
“Go on then, man!” George encouraged.
“Yeah, Ron, feel free to borrow the ‘Weasley Twins’ Yet-To-Fail Plan of Wooing the Woman You Want’ “ hey, I really like the sound of that George, you know we could “” and with a final thump on the back, Fred and George ambled away from him, talking excitedly.
* * *
Once he spotted her, he hurried through the celebrating throng to reach the spot where she sat, gazing dreamily at the wedding reception. Then, for some reason, he slowed down. He took a moment just to look at her unawares, before she realized he was there. For about the hundredth time in the last few months, Ron thought again of how different she seemed to him now, and yet still so much like the Hermione he’d always known. She looked up, and he saw both of those people “ the girl who’d admonished him and corrected his homework dozens of times and this new, shining amazing person. She was smiling at him expectantly.
“Hey, I found you,” he couldn’t think of anything else to say. He walked over and sat down next to her, his trousered leg pressing against her bare knee. It was really unbelievable how nervous someone he’d known for six years could make him. His stomach was rolling crazily “I may never be able to eat again.” He lamented, staring at her confused face.
“Were you looking for dinner or for me?” She said huffily, and suddenly she was the old Hermione again, which gave him the bravery to continue.
“Oh, well, erm, you know, I was looking for you, not dinner, I haven’t had much of an appetite recently,” he stammered. God. He just, as his brothers noted, had to go for it. Say something nice to her…compliment her dress or her hair, he mentally reviewed Fred’s advice, then spoke “Not that you were particularly hard to find.” He smiled at the wonderful cloud of sparkling brown hair.
“Rhinestones an improvement on pancakes, I hope?” She replied, and if he wasn’t mistaken, she seemed to be, well, flirting with him…
“No. I mean, yes. I mean, I’m glad you left it down. You look more like yourself that way,” he said truthfully. Not like she did at the Yule Ball a few years ago. She looked like a stranger! You walked right past her, remember? You didn’t even know it was her. The girl in front of him now seemed to be a combination of that pretty stranger and the bossy first-year who’d told him he had dirt on his nose. He grinned, suddenly remembering something. For all the scrapes she’d gotten him out of, there was a time where he’d saved her hide. And it made him a bit braver. He moved closer to her on the bench. “You know, I was just thinking about trolls.”
“Ron, it’s official. I have no idea what you are talking about.” This was such a Hermione-ish thing to say, he couldn’t contain himself. He wanted, no needed, to touch that crazy head of hair. He plunged his hand into it, resting on the back of her neck. She made a small sound.
“Well,” he said, knowing the moment had come at last, “Well, I was just thinking, that if Harry and I hadn’t saved you from that mountain troll first year, I may, to this day, just think of you, as, well…” he trailed off. He couldn’t imagine not knowing her, or loving her the way he did right now.
“An insufferable know-it-all?” She interjected, most decidedly not sounding like herself, her voice very small and sort of breathless. He brown eyes seemed to fill her face, and he could see a tiny freckle high on one cheekbone. “But I am an insufferable know-it-all.” He chuckled. It really was true, but he realized he didn’t want her any other way.
“Yes, yes you are,” he whispered, surrounded by the dizzying, sweet scent of all those wonderful brown curls, he put his other hand on her face, stroked the freckle he had just noticed. “But, you’re my insufferable-know-it-all, Hermione Granger.” What a relief, a pleasure, to say it at last, and then he kissed her, and Ron honestly didn’t care if his mum needed something, if the twins were snickering across the lawn, or if the entire family was gather around them. All that matter was her.
The Time is Now by Hermione816
Chapter Notes: How did Ron pluck up the courage from the last chapter, you ask? Well, with a little help from Fred and George, of course!