The Wedding Part 1
Hermione awoke in the middle of a nightmare. Another one in a list of terrible dreams she'd been having over the past week; all depicting the same doubts she'd had since the proposal over a year ago: 'was he the one? Or was she making a huge mistake?' This and some other questions had been swirling inside her head for some time now, specially since they had set up a date for the ceremony, a date that would definitely change most of her life and would have a huge impact on her future.
With these thoughts in mind, she opened her eyes once more and looked at the alarm clock resting on her bedside table; it appeared to be mocking her for not being able to fall asleep as it read 4:07 a.m. Hermione sighed as she threw off the flimsy covers off of herself and stepped away from the now tousled bed and out of her dark room, as she scanned the dimly-lit hallway leading to the sitting room of her 2 bedroom flat, her doubts kept tugging at the back of her mind, almost yelling at her for not being able to find a proper answer to most of her insecurities.
Making her way to the kitchen one of her thoughts became much more intense than those of the wedding, she thought of the one person that could help her in this kind of situation, her best friend for 12 years Harry Potter. Hermione's first impulse was to floo him, but after some fleeting moments of adrenaline-filled thoughts a pang of sorrow fell upon her, Harry was living with his now fiancée Ginny Weasley (much to the dismay of Molly Weasley) and if Ginny found Hermione's head calling Harry from the fire in the middle of the night her initial reaction would not be a pleasant one. After some pondering and a glass of iced-water Hermione's rushed idea was replaced by a more rational option, to write a note to Harry, telling him to meet her tomorrow early for some talking. With those thoughts in mind Hermione walked to her studio to put in writing most of what she'd been thinking that night.
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On the other side of London a very disgruntled Harry lied awake in his bed, his mind was also twirling with thoughts of the upcoming wedding between his two best friends; not sure of his own feelings for Ginny and strangely annoyed with all of the wedding paraphernalia Mrs. Weasley was organizing, he couldn't help but to feel stranded and lonely, as if half of his own body was missing, or as if half of his very soul was about to be removed.
He'd been having these thoughts for over year now 'the same amount of time since they got engaged' whispered a little voice in his head that sounded a lot like Fred's, Harry's immediate reaction was to deny the whole thing, get off that train of thought and try to feel happy for them, but the truth was that he felt that he had made the most terrible mistake of his life that winter's night, nearly five years ago…
…it was now that Ron was here again that Harry fully realized how much his absence had cost them.
"She's like my sister," he went on. "I love her like a sister and I reckon she feels the same way about me. It's always been like that. I thought you knew."
And at the time it wasn't a lie; but it was neither the truth, he just hadn't realized it yet. But by the time the war was over and the threat of Voldemort was gone, there was more time for him to analyze all of what had really happened, time to clear some of his feelings towards Hermione, that due to the current situation had grown more painful with each passing day.
He pulled himself away from them, all of them, not wanting for them to know how he really felt; it was then when Ginny started to approach him again, she became his flame and to a certain degree his outlet, all the passion, despair or anxiety that he felt he could unleash it with her and that was the only way he could be near them and pretend to be just a friend; as all of these thoughts kept swirling through his mind a soft tap was heard from the window beside his bed, Hermione's boreal owl, Apollo was outside, waiting with a small scroll attached to his leg. Harry opened his window, thankful that Ginny had decided to spend the night at The Burrow because of the wedding preparations, and opened the parchment; in Hermione's neat writing, what seemed to be a rush note was scribbled.
Meet me tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. in the clearing behind The Burrow. It's urgent, I need to talk, I need you. Don't reply, just attend.
Love, H
After he read the note what seemed to be a hundred times, he folded it neatly and slipped it inside his top drawer, he turned to Apollo, who had been perched at his side and quietly said "You know where the perch is, take a rest and eat something, oh and don't worry about Lucy, she's with Ginny at The Burrow" Apollo understood every word he said, or at least he appeared to, and did just what Harry told him but not without giving him a look of reproach.
Harry returned to his bed, with one thought in mind: to meet Hermione tomorrow without losing the so very thin façade that led to his true feelings for her.