A/N: Thanks to bluefairy, spaz141, Katakali, Emily (jinglez), sweetkiki456, lex, Hilary, claddagh ring, michou, KypDurron, HnH4EvA19, and other anonymous reviewers for your input!
For the easier reading, I've decided to put in parentheses who's point of view it is after each scene change. I hope it helps! (If there isn't one, it means that the PoV has remained the same from the previous scene.)
And just to clarify, whenever something's in italics, it's just the character thinking about something that happened before, OR it's his or her personal thoughts directed at another character, not to you, the readers. I know that probably seems confusing, but it's all pretty simple.
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summary: Harry is in love with Hermione, and everyone knows about it--everyone but Ron and Hermione. Who conveniently are now engaged, just as Harry was about to reveal his feelings. What's a poor bloke to do?
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My Best Friend's Wedding
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Chapter Two: Fight, part I
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(Harry)
I was frozen in my seat. No bloody way did Ron just ask that. I must be imagining it, some type of weird mental reaction to stress. Yeah, that has to be it. I mean...
"Yes! Yes, of course!"
No...
"R-really?"
Please...let this just be...not real....
"Yes, really!"
"Oh Merlin, Harry! Harry, Hermione's going to marry me!" My eyes snapped back to reality, peering at the face of my best mate. He was smiling, his cheeks flushed and his blue eyes alight with a fire I hadn't seen for...years.
"She said yes, Harry!" His hair was slightly ruffled in the back, where he had continuously raked his fingers from pure jitteriness.
"Harry?" I had it decided right then and there.
I smiled, laughing and clapping Ron in the back. "What did you expect her to say, you prat!" Hermione smiled, blushing as Ron gave her another one of those looks.
The ones that screamed, "I love you."
The looks that she should have been thrown from me.
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(Ginny)
I saw the entire thing.
The ring, the proposal, the smiles and laughter shared by the newly made fiances.
Harry's eyes.
Everyone knows that he's desperately head over heels for Hermione. How Hermione Granger, the smartest witch in the history of Hogwarts, was able to skim over that fact I do not know. Ron is one thing, he's the most oblivious bloke in the England. But Hermione?
And here Harry is, sitting through all this, smiling and laughing, clapping Ron on the back and congratulating the two of them.
With his fists clenched by his sides.
"I'm really sorry you guys, but I must get going," I interrupted, giving them a smile and rising from my chair. Draco raised his eyebrows at me, his eyes questioning. I gave him a smile, and from the way he frowned and sighed, I knew he understood.
"Yeah, we've got...plans." Draco added, raising from the table as well.
"Harry, you wouldn't be able to come with us, would u?" I asked, ignoring his look of surprise.
"What for?"
"Don't you remember?" After Harry shook his head, utterly confused, I laughed and merely grabbed his arm. "Come on Harry, you promised."
"Uh...allright," Harry whispered, getting up and nodding at Ron and Hermione. "I'll talk to the two of you later."
"Okay," Hermione replied, getting up as well. Giving Harry a hug, she pecked his cheek, and I saw Harry flinch involuntarily.
Once we were outside, Draco began to laugh. His head swooped backwards, hands on his belly, tears of laughter almost leaking out of his eyes.
"What's so damn funny," I heard Harry demand. Draco merely wiped his tears away, grabbing me by the waist and proceeding to walk down the sidewalk.
"Harry," I began, but Harry shook his head at me.
"Don't you start, Ginny."
"Start what, exactly?"
"I know what you're going to say."
"Oh, do you?"
"Yeah, in fact I do."
"Please do entertain me, then."
"You were going to go on about how I should just accept that Ron and Hermione are together, and that as their best mate it's in my best interest." I began to tense up. "Which is, of course, assuming that I'm in love with Hermione in the first place. Which I am not, and I hoped that you of all people didn't read those stupid newspaper articles and tabloids. I mean really Ginny, I'm happy for-"
"We don't figure out about you and Granger from some stupid articles," Draco interrupted.
"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean, Malfoy?"
"What, you haven't gotten any smarter since you graduated from Hogwarts?"
"Don't you even start with me, you-"
"Don't start with you? Please. You're a pathetic excuse of a man."
"What?!"
"Do you need new ears too, Potter? It's beginning to become too expensive to keep you updated now, isn't it? Maybe some things really are better in the trash."
"Why you-"
"That's enough," I said, stopping to glare at Draco. He shrugged at me, placing his hands in his pockets as he gave Harry a side glance.
"But I do have to say, Potter," Draco began. "I never thought that Granger would ever be more intimidating than the Dark Lord."
"What?"
"You could defeat Voldermort, but here you are, stumbling over pathetic excuses and pretending that you aren't in love with a woman, who just happens to be marrying your best mate because of your ignorance."
"My ignorance has nothing to do with them getting married, Malfoy. They're in love, happily blissful, and-"
"You don't understand, Potter," Draco muttered, his stormy eyes narrowing. "When you find her, you go after her. I would think that you, of all people, know how important it is to fucking fight."
Harry gaped, his green eyes blazing. Finally sighing, he rested his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slumped, suddenly exhausted.
"Trust me, Potter. Fight." Draco walked towards me, cupping my chin and leaning in for a sweet peck. "I can't guarantee that you'll win it, but would you rather watch Granger and Weasley live happily after, knowing that there was a chance you weren't the one who had to be 'Uncle Harry'?"
Harry stared at him for a bit, before giving a nod and walking ahead of us, disappearing into the darkness.
"Now...where were we?" Draco whispered huskily into my ear.
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(Harry)
Imagine, Draco Malfoy giving me love advice. I guess it makes sense, as he caught the unmatchable woman: Virginia Weasley. How they got together is quite the interesting story, I'll have to retell it some other time. It's bloody interesting. Probably the best-"
"-man."
"What?" I asked, snapping out of my stupor.
"Best man," Ron repeated, still smiling cheekily from yesturday's events. "You have to be my best man."
"Oh, Ron..." What the bloody fucking hell? There is no way I am going to stand next to you and just watch you marry Hermione. Or carry the rings. Or whatever the best man does.
"Don't act so surprised, Harry! Who else was I going to ask?"
"One of your brothers? I'm sure they'd love to, I mean-"
"Fred and George would probably make it their biggest prank," Ron interrupted. "They'd plant a stripper in the cake, or transfigure the rings into portkeys. As for Percy? No way. Do I even have to elaborate on that? Charlie and Percy can't make it...come on Harry, you know you're the only man for the job."
"You could always ask Draco." Ron snorted.
"Are you that desperate to get out of standing next to me in the most important day of my life?" Ron asked. I looked at him, startled, to catch his pleading eyes.
"Harry, I'll stand next to you at that final battle, we'll fight side by side," Ron whispered, although I could hear the fear trembling in his voice. "Most important day of your life. You'll..." I saw him gulp, but he tried to smile. "I'll see you after all this is over," he promised. "After you k-kill V-V-Voldemort."
"No, Ron, never," I whispered. "Just...yeah, sure, of course I'll be the best man." Ron smiled like nothing was wrong in the world. As if it was all meant to be.
And maybe it was.
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(Hermione)
"Do you really love him, Hermione?" Ginny asked me, her brown eyes gazing up at me.
"Ginny!"
"It's just a question."
"Do I really have to answer that?"
"Of course."
"But you already know the answer."
"No, I don't."
"What?" Ginny gave me a glare, and I sighed. "Fine...of course I love your brother."
"You can imagine yourself growing old with him, and all that?" Ginny whispered, fiddling with her red hair.
"Yes..." I answered slowly, narrowing my eyes at her. "Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm feeling like you're against Ron and me."
"No, not at all," Ginny answered breezily, getting up from the table to rummage around the kitchen. "I'm just curious."
"Whatever do you mean?" I asked, laughing. "Curious about what?"
"Like whatever happened to Harry." I froze, my eyes going wide as I looked up at Ginny. She gave me a knowing look, and I glanced away quickly, blushing.
"What about Harry."
"Oh don't you go there, Hermione."
"What? We were never like that."
"I remember a time when you wished the two of you were." I blushed even more profusely, a small smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.
"Well that was back in school, when I was still...infatuated...with the boy-who-lived."
"But it was so much more than that," Ginny answered, sitting back down to face me. "So much more. You weren't in love with the boy-who-lived, Herm. You were in love with Harry Potter."
"I wouldn't necessarily call it love," I replied, nibbling my lip nervously.
"That's not the point anyway," Ginny said, running her fingers through her hair. "So you're over him now?"
"What do you take me for, a smitten kitten? I got over him years ago."
"I just don't want you to make a mistake, Hermione," Ginny finally said. "Because knowing you, no matter what decision you make you're going to stick with it. I just want you to be sure that you're making the best decision. Not just a good one." I didn't reply. "Draco...everyone thought I was out of my mind." Ginny gave a small laugh, her eyes slightly glossy as she began reminiscing. "I was crazy about a Malfoy, it was worse than my Potter obsession. But...somehow it worked out."
"Weren't you ever scared though, Gin?"
"Of course. It's Draco Malfoy. There was always this nagging voice in the back of my mind, urging me to realize that he was just doing this to get back at Ron, or maybe to bring the Weasley's down for Voldemort, or something like that. But...I lost common sense when I was around him. I really did."
"What do you mean?"
"I knew that I wasn't supposed to like a guy like Draco. Fall for a Malfoy? I never thought that would happen. But...when I was with him...he made me feel like I was the most beautiful woman in the world. That I was perfect. And every girl deserves that."
"Ron does make me feel beautiful. And perfect."
"I know, Hermione. But I always believed that we weren't meant for one person, and one person only. There's many possibilities in the world. The thing is finding the best person for you, not that one. Can you honestly say that Ron is the best person for you?"
"Yes, of course," was my immediate answer. "I love Ron..."
"He doesn't love you, Hermione. Get over it. Get. Over. It. Harry's too good for you, anyway."
"Of course..."
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