The couple wandered slowly back from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, in order to Apparate to Hermione’s parents’ house. Every few minutes, Hermione would sneak a peek at the ring on her finger. It felt so strange to have it there, but it was so right. The ring had belonged to her father’s mother who had died when Hermione was ten. Hermione had always loved the way it sparkled, and her father used to tell her that as a baby, they were often able to get her to stop crying by catching her attention with something shiny.
As they walked, they began to talk.
“When were you thinking we should get married?” Hermione asked.
“Um…I hadn’t really thought about it. I wanted to wait until you said yes first!”
“I suppose it would make most sense to wait a while, like Harry and Ginny. After all, you’ve got your training and I’ve only just started at the Ministry.”
She didn’t really sound very enthusiastic about the idea. Ron gave her a sideways look. “Is that really what you want?”
“Well, no. I’d really like to marry you as soon as possible, obviously, but I’m just trying to be practical.”
“It’s our wedding. Who needs practical? Let’s get married when we want, not when we think we should. Harry and Ginny may be doing the boring thing, but that’s no reason why we should have to wait.”
She smiled. “When should we do it then?”
“Before the end of the year?”
“So, a winter wedding?”
“I suppose.”
She was silent for a moment, but then slowly she nodded. “A winter wedding would be perfect.”
“That’s one decision down. And we’ve got six months “ how hard can it be?”
Nearly two months later, Hermione was finally able to answer his question with ‘very’.
She had no idea how much work was involved in planning a wedding, particularly when you were working a full time job. When they had told their parents, they had been surprised that they were planning to get married so quickly, but promised to help in any way possible. Hermione had also assumed that Ron might be around to help out, since they were both staying at The Burrow until the wedding, after which they would move into their own flat. Very quickly however, she found herself making plans alone.
The situation was not helped by the fact that she felt as if she were organising two weddings. Which, she mused one afternoon, as she browsed a brochure of flowers, was almost the truth.
In all her fantasies about getting married she had never once considered the issue of her blood-status. Which was strange really, given how important it had been in her life over the past few years. But as soon as she had sat down to actually plan the wedding of her dreams, the realities of her situation had suddenly hit her
She was a Muggle-born, which of course meant that all her relatives were Muggles, and none of them, except for her parents, had any idea that the wizarding world even existed. Therefore, inviting them to the traditional wizarding ceremony, which was legally required for their marriage to be officially recognised by the Ministry, was virtually impossible, unless she were to place a memory charm on them all afterwards which would mean they may as well never have been there in the first place.
Holding a Muggle ceremony presented similar problems for Ron’s side of the family, not to mention all of the couples’ friends. It was impossible to expect the many Weasley relatives to pretend to be Muggles for day without giving anything away. Their friends, of the younger and more tolerant generation, could probably be relied upon, but suggesting to Molly Weasley that any of her children could get married without every single available aunt, uncle and cousin present was a sheer impossibility. And anyway, as far as Hermione was concerned, it wasn’t really the point.
She was a witch and she wanted to be married as a witch to a wizard in a wizarding ceremony. It was as simple as that. Or at least it was to her “ but somehow their wedding was no longer about her, or Ron for that matter. She was constantly worrying about all the other people she had to please, and it was driving her absolutely crazy.
It was Molly who eventually came up with the solution “ or at least a solution that went some way to pleasing everyone. They would have two weddings “ a Muggle ceremony in her parents’ church, to which all the Muggle relatives, plus selected members of the Weasley family and their wizarding friends would be invited, followed by a wizarding ceremony and reception. The reception would be magical “ Hermione was insistent about that.
“And what about when all our friends and family ask us about the reception?” her mother had asked when Hermione had broken this news.
“You tell them there isn’t going to be one.”
Her mother had actually snorted at this. “No one will believe that “ they’ll think you just haven’t bothered to invite them “ this is going to cause so much trouble.”
“Just tell them that we haven’t got much money and can’t afford a reception if we want to have a honeymoon.”
“And that will make them think we’re poor, or mean, and won’t even provide for our own daughter’s wedding!”
“For goodness sake, Mum, I don’t care! This is my wedding and I will do it how I want, and if I want a wizarding reception then I will have one and your friends can just deal with it!”
She had then stormed out of the house and had arrived back at The Burrow in a terrible state. It took the best part of three days for Ron to calm her down enough to return to see her mum, at which point they’d had yet another argument.
“I understand that we can’t have everyone at your reception but I know your gran would be so sad to miss it,” she had said after they had both apologised for their previous conversation.
“But how could she? She doesn’t know anything about me or what I am.”
“But she’s your grandma. She’s family and she should be there.”
“Then you’re going to have to tell her about me.”
“Fine!”
There had been a pause while Hermione attempted to digest what she had just heard. Then finally, she whispered, “What?”
“We’ll tell her. You think we’re ashamed of you, don’t you, and that’s why we’ve never told anyone about you. Don’t argue!” she added as Hermione started to interrupt. “You may never have said anything but I could tell. I could see it in your face every time we had to lie “ to friends, neighbours, family “ especially your grandma, my own mother “ about your schooling. You thought we didn’t want to tell anyone, but for once you were wrong.
“Your father and I couldn’t be prouder of you than we are, and if we had our way, then we’d be shouting about your gifts from the rooftops. But we didn’t, because we honestly believed that we couldn’t and that we mustn’t if we were to protect you. First the school, and then you, rammed the importance of that secrecy statute thing down our throats and we truly believed we would get in to trouble if we told anyone.
“Then as you grew older, it became clear that you were involved in increasingly dangerous situations and you seemed constantly worried about anyone finding out the truth about you. We would never do anything to put you in danger, Hermione, so we continued to keep quiet. I think your grandma guessed that we weren’t always honest but as far as we were concerned, we were protecting you.”
“Last year, well, we don’t need to go through everything again, but clearly things were worse than they’d ever been before. And how could we tell your grandma about you when we couldn’t even remember you ourselves?”
Hermione had reddened. Her parents had been understandably displeased with her actions during the war, but she had explained to them how important it had been and how scared she was for them and they claimed to have understood. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop them occasionally bringing it up.
“Mum, you know why I did that.”
“Yes, darling, I do, but I need you to know why we kept you such a secret all these years. We thought we were doing what was best just as you did.”
Taking a deep breath, she had continued. “But, once we returned from Australia, it became clear that things were different; you were relaxed, happy and you were in love. Finally, it seemed that some of the fear had left you. And so now, I think we’re ready to share with your grandma exactly who you are.”
There was silence for a moment and then Hermione had leaned over and hugged her mum, allowing her tears to soak into the shoulder of her mother’s cardigan.
“Thank you,” she had whispered.
Now, three days later, Hermione was reading the flower brochure to pass the time before she and her mum were to go to her gran’s house and explain everything to her. Hermione had a nervous fluttery feeling in her stomach and was hoping that some wedding planning would help distract her. Unfortunately however, it was just reminding her of all the stresses of the last few weeks.
Now they had finally decided on the two weddings, she had to make all sorts of decisions about what would be the same and what would be different. Her dress, for example, would be the same as it was a huge expense and there was really very little difference between the dresses worn by Muggle and witch brides, unless of course she had wanted to wear robes. She had considered it, but her dream wedding dress was one part of her wedding she simply couldn’t let go.
Flowers on the other hand were a different matter. Hermione had never known much about symbolism but it turned that the wizarding world had completely different meanings and traditions behind their flowers. In order to do things ‘right’ and not create confusion for either side (though really she wasn’t sure how many people would know the exact the meaning behind every colour of every flower), there would be two lots of flowers. Which would be necessary anyway, as both The Burrow and the church would need decorating.
It was tradition to marry at the home of the bride, but Hermione’s parents’ house was simply not big enough for a wedding and there were no magical settlements nearby which would be suitable, so they had settled on just having the church wedding in her home town.
Hermione glanced at her watch; it was time to go.
She straightened her t-shirt and checked her hair in the mirror before turning on the spot and Apparating to her parents’ house, from where she and her parents would travel the short distance to her grandma’s.
She wondered how she would react. For so long Hermione had wanted to tell her the truth, but now that she was confronted with it, she wondered if it was a good idea. She had her wand with her, of course, and could easily prove what she was saying was true, but her grandma was an old woman “ what if the shock proved too much for her?
But her parents thought it was okay, and so she was just going to have to trust them.
None of them said very much in the car “ it seemed that they were all having the same quiet nerves. Not once, however, did anyone suggest that they turn back.
Hermione’s grandma was expecting them and immediately ushered them in to living room where she offered them tea and cake. Once they were all settled, Hermione looked to her mother, who cleared her throat nervously.
“Um, Mum, we’ve got something we’d like to tell you… about Hermione.”
The elderly lady immediately looked shocked. “You’re not pregnant are you, dear? Surely that’s not the reason for this wedding? I always thought that young man seemed so responsible.”
“He is! And no, it’s nothing like that,” Hermione interrupted, before her own mother continued.
“Well, we always told you that Hermione went to a boarding school when she was younger, which is true, except we weren’t completely honest about where she was going.”
“I thought so. You always seemed so nervous when you spoke about it. So, what’s the big family secret then?”
“Well, you see, Hermione was actually at a school for…for…specially gifted children. It was a school of magic. I know it sounds ridiculous and believe me, we found it hard enough to believe at first, but she’s a witch.”
There was silence. And then suddenly, a chuckle escaped the confused woman’s lips. “Do you honestly expect me to believe that? It’s a rather preposterous story!”
“I can prove it, Gran. Look.” Hermione took out her wand and pointed it at the tea service sitting on the small table. Instantly, it vanished. Her grandma shrieked.
“Get it back! That was a wedding present to Albert and me. Get it back now! And then you can explain yourself.”
Hermione flicked her wand again and the tea service reappeared, exactly as it had been, with no visible sign of damage at all.
“It’s really true, Gran. I am a witch and the school I went to taught me how to use magic and learn more about it. I really wanted to tell you but it was never right, but now I’m getting married and I want you to be there.”
“So all that rubbish about not being able to afford a reception “ that’s really because you want to have a witch wedding?”
“Yes. I want my friends and family from my old life to be there, which is why we’re having a service in a church, but afterwards there’ll be another celebration, for witches and wizards. Mum and Dad will be there, too, of course, and I really hope you will be. I am so sorry we never told you before, Gran, but I honestly wasn’t allowed to.”
Her grandmother pursed her lips. “Well, I can’t say I’m exactly impressed at having been lied to be my own family, but I know you, Hermione, and I’m sure you’ll have had your reasons. Now, this wizard wedding “ do I still wear my dress and hat, or will I need something else?”
Hermione laughed with relief. “Anything will be just fine. It’s unlikely that everyone will wear robes anyway. Some of our friends are coming to both weddings, so they’ll probably stick to Mug- ordinary clothes for the day.”
“Excellent! I bought a new hat from John Lewis last week and I did not want it to go to waste. It’s not every day your only granddaughter gets married after all.”
The rest of the afternoon was spent chatting and drinking tea, and by the time they left that evening, Hermione was feeling much more relaxed than she had that morning.
It didn’t last for long, however.
It was Saturday, and Ron had been working a full shift with George at the shop. He arrived back at The Burrow around eight and had obviously had a hard day.
“How was it?” Hermione asked sympathetically, once he had changed and joined her in the sitting room.
“It’s the last Saturday before term starts “ how do you think it was?” he snapped.
There was silence for a minute, and then he spoke again, the edge gone from his voice.
“Sorry, Hermione, it was just busy. I don’t feel I’ve stopped all day, and then George wanted to discuss some plans for a new shop in Hogsmeade with me and all I wanted was to come home.”
“It’s been so long since you’ve had a day off, Ron. It’s understandable that you’re tired. At least we’ve got tomorrow together.”
“Yeah, about that “ “ There was a long pause. “I’ve got to go to the Ministry.”
“What! But it’s been nearly three weeks since you last had a day when you weren’t either with George or at the Ministry. I thought you’d specifically asked for it off.”
“I know. I had, but there’s an extra training session, and I can’t really afford to miss it, not if I want to pass the exams next month.”
It was not enough to placate Hermione, however. “I just can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this before now. You can’t have only found about it today. And I’d planned so much for tomorrow. There’s still loads to do for the wedding and I really wanted us to do some of it together.”
“I’m sorry, Hermione, but I can’t miss this. It’s too important.”
“I’m starting to feel like everything is more important than me and this wedding.”
“Oh for Merlin’s sake, now you’re putting words in to my mouth. What do you want me to say to the Aurors who are coming in on their day off to run this course because they know we need it “ sorry but my girlfriend wants me to look at flowers? It’s not my fault that I can’t walk into every exam and get 112 per cent. I actually have to work for this.”
“Oh grow up. You’re not the only one working for things. I think I’ve moved on from a First year Charms Exam now. I don’t find everything easy, you know. You don’t think I still have to prove myself, because of who I am? And I’m working five days a week and still managing to plan this wedding on my own.”
“It’s a wedding. How hard can it be?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Ron knew they had been the wrong thing to say. Hermione’s already raised voice reached new levels and she glared at him.
“Well you wouldn’t know, would you, Ron? You have no idea how hard it can be to plan a wedding, or what I’ve had to deal with over the last couple of weeks, because you’ve not even tried to get involved. I’m starting to wonder whether I can even trust to get involved enough to turn up for the damn thing.”
“Stop being stupid. You’re blowing everything out of proportion. I’m just not prepared to sacrifice my training for one big party.”
“Then why did you bother asking me to marry you in the first place?” Hermione yelled, and stormed out of the room, leaving Ron feeling a little shell-shocked.
“Well, that’s just…” he spluttered to the empty room. Not really sure what he was supposed to do now, he decided to turn to the one person he usually turned to when he and Hermione were arguing. Leaving the house as quietly as possible, so as not to get the inevitable third degree from his mother, who had no doubt heard the entire argument, Ron turned and Apparated to Harry’s.