The Wedding

herdanhar

Rating: PG
Genres: Angst, Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 7
Published: 13/01/2008
Last Updated: 26/05/2008
Status: in_progress

On the eve of her wedding day Hermione gets cold feet, as she turns to Harry for help, they unknowingly unleash a series of acts that will make them realize that things aren't always what they are supposed to be. Set after Deathly Hallows, no epilogue.

Chapters

1. The Doubts

2. The Talk

3. Their Resolution

4. The Aftermath

5. The In-Between Part 1

6. The In-Between Part 2

7. The In-Between Part 3

1. The Doubts

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.

2. The Talk

The Talk

Morning came too soon for both Hermione and Harry, neither of them knowing that the other had not been able to sleep either and that since they were to meet each other a strange and unsettling feeling had settled on both of their bodies.

It was a quarter to eight when Harry apparated just outside of The Burrow and quietly made his way towards the little clearing behind the house, the same clearing in which they used to play Quidditch during the summer before the war. As he approached his destination the distinctive figure of a petite and slim girl appeared before him, she was sitting on the grass and hadn’t notice the man standing just a couple of feet behind her, she seemed to be deep in thought.

“Hermione,” Harry said softly from where he was standing; she turned to see him. “You arrived early, how long have you been here?”

“Um… I am not sure Harry, maybe an hour and a half, when I got here it was still dark” She said, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Why did you do that? I mean you told me to meet you here at eight, not sooner.” Harry stared at her, trying to understand her actions, but mostly feeling puzzled.

“Well, for starters I didn’t want you to wake up so early, and I wanted to think… to be by myself for a while.” As she spoke she felt like a wave of peace washed over her body, talking to Harry always made her feel that way. “And I got to see the sunrise; you know how beautiful it is in this time of year.”

“Ok, I understand” Harry’s face softened at her words as he sat next to her on the grass. “And you are right; this is a beautiful morning, even better for the wedding”

“Yeah, the wedding…” She trailed off. “That is what I wanted to talk to you about; I’m just not sure about this whole thing, I mean I know that Ron loves me, but is it enough?, do you think that we could make it work even with all of our constant fighting and such?”

He wanted to tell her to leave Ron and elope with him, that he loved her more than life itself, that he could make all of her doubts go away; but he couldn’t do that to her or to Ron, he couldn’t destroy their happiness, not if she didn’t love him back. It would all be too much for her, and he would not bear to hear her telling him that she didn’t love him. So he responded the only way he knew how “It’s the regular cold feet you are getting, I’m sure it happens to everyone in your situation, though I wouldn’t really know right?” He finished with a feeble laugh, more out of nervousness than anything else.

“Maybe you are right,” Hermione answered “but what if you are not? What if I’m about to ruin everything with this wedding?” her words were so truthful that it made Harry believe that maybe, just maybe, she wanted him to stop her, to take her away. She turned to see him, in her eyes was a sort of pleading, but in a second it was gone. He thought he imagined it.

“Hermione, you can’t possibly think that, there’s no reason for you and Ron to not be together,” Harry said this as an attempt to remember that she was his best friend and nothing more, but in Hermione’s mind it sounded as if he were telling her to go ahead and do it, “I mean you love Ron, don’t you?” he finished, the tingle of hope in his voice went unnoticed.

“What? Oh, sure, of course I love him, I mean he’s the only boyfriend I’ve ever had; pretty much the only boy that’s ever noticed me actually, and he is really sweet and kind, and he loves me, right? I mean there is not one reason in this world why I shouldn’t love him, right?” her voice was filled with an uncertainty that was rarely showed.

“So there is your answer,” Harry said as he stood up and held out a hand to Hermione, his voice had a tingle of bitterness. “Go marry Ron and be happy, just do what your heart tells you and forget about the rest world”

Hermione stood up and turned to face Harry, her mind telling her to stop thinking about him and what he’d just said, “Yes, you are probably right, I mean you are right, I should do what my heart tells me…” She sounded defeated, “I mean, I have every reason to marry Ron, but maybe I just need a reason to not marry him” her words came out as nothing but a mere whisper, yet in Harry’s ears they seemed loud as a scream.

He was gobsmacked. “You don’t mean that,” he told her. “You can’t possibly mean that, this is the way things are supposed to be, you are supposed to be happy with Ron!” his voice raised closely to a scream.

“What do you mean by supposed to be happy with Ron? I am not a consolation prize for him! What do you mean with this Harry? For once tell me the truth ‘cause honestly I’m tired of deciphering your cryptic messages into something partially coherent” Hermione’s words were harsh, but the amount of frustration she’d had been bottling for years was worth it.

“I mean you are with him, you love him, and at first I felt lonely and estranged but he’s my best mate and you are with him so I must be happy about you two, right? And the thing is I’m not happy with it.” Harry said panting, his voice trying to achieve a level of calmness that he was certainly not feeling, her previous words had hit him like a slap in the face and now he couldn’t run away from them.

Hermione remained quiet for some time after his sudden outburst, but when she spoke her words had determination imprinted all over them “Why?”

This question startled Harry “What do you mean why?”

Again her voice was filled with determination “Why aren’t you happy? Why are you so miserable about us getting married? Because as far as I remember you are in a very nice relationship with Ginny, you two are like the golden couple of ‘Witch Weekly’, remember? You are made for each other; and you have to admit that every other girl fails in comparison with Ginny” with this last statement she was in the verge of tears and started to make her way out of the clearing. “Hermione! Wait! Where are you going? You can’t say those things and then walk away…” He caught her by the arm and both of them stayed still.

“What more do you want from me Harry?” Hermione said exasperated, not facing him.

“I want you to turn around and look at me, just look at me, Hermione.” His words were calm, ‘almost disturbingly calm’ Hermione thought.

Hermione did what was she was told, and slowly turned to face Harry.

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A/N: Thanks to everyone for the reviews, it’s completely flattering. Really thanks a lot, it means a lot to me, specially this being my first Portkey fic.

3. Their Resolution

“I want you to turn around and look at me, just look at me, Hermione.” His words were calm, ‘almost disturbingly calm’ Hermione thought.

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Hermione did what was she was told, and slowly turned to face Harry. His eyes were full of a raw emotion she hadn’t seen in a long time, “I am sorry, very sorry.” He muttered, a startled Hermione spoke softly “what are you —” but her words were sharply cut by his lips crashing on to hers; kissing each other with an unknown passion for both of them. After what seemed like hours, they broke the kiss, panting for air. An awkward atmosphere surrounded them as the disengaged from their embrace and slowly backed away from each other.

Hermione’s mind was racing, ‘Did he really do that? Was he kissing me? Did he mean that to happen? Does this mean he loves me? He kissed me like if he loved me but…’ “Hermione?” Harry’s voice brought her back from her silent reverie and as she looked at him the tears that had been kept in the back of her eyes started to spill freely all over her face, Harry too was crying.

“Hermione, I’m sorry, I don’t know what came onto me, I’m sorry, this was all a huge—” Harry’s apologetic babbling was interrupted by Hermione’s fierce voice even through her tears

“Don’t, don’t you dare apologize! Don’t say it was all a huge mistake, Harry, just don’t say it!”

Harry stood there, rooted to the ground, looking at her, his expression was the one of a deer caught in the lights, “but… what do you mean? We can’t do this Hermione, it is wrong, Ron’s my best friend and you are with him, I tried to walk away from you, I tried to stop loving you, but I can’t, it just won’t go away! I can’t help it!”

“Why didn’t you say something? Why did you wait until now? Now that I’m engaged, now when I’m about to be married to Ron! Why didn’t you say something before you broke my heart?” Her silent sobs turned into full bawling at this point; at the sight of this Harry attempted to comfort her, but Hermione took a step away from him, away from his embrace, away from the pain his recent words had inflicted on her.

“I couldn’t tell you! Ron’s my best mate and it wasn’t fair, it isn’t fair! He keeps thinking that I’ve got everything in the bloody world, but he’s the one that has everything I ever wanted, he’s got a family, he’s not a marked man, he wasn’t stalked by a psycho killer since he was born!… and now… now he has you; and if you leave him, he’ll die, you weren’t there, you didn’t see him…” Harry’s words were fast and quiet; his voice was drenched in despair as the memories of the day when he gave her up flooded back to him.

“What are you talking about? When didn’t I see him?” Hermione demanded, and Harry told her the truth about the day when Ron destroyed the locket, and everything that the locket tried to use against Ron, until the part when he told Ron the biggest lie of his entire life. “…he was devastated, and I was utterly confused, up until that moment I hadn’t even thought about what you meant to me, so I told Ron what I thought I knew… that I loved you like a sister, that you most probably felt the same way about me. That was the day I gave up on you; I’ve regretted it ever since...” He finished, feeling defeated, he told her everything that was to be told and now he felt empty, not knowing what would happen now.

“How on Earth could you assume such thing Harry? You never asked me about my feelings towards Ron, or towards you for that matter, you and Ron played with my affections like I was some prize to be won! And during all that time that we spent without Ron during the Horcrux Hunt, you could barely look at me! You’d rather look at some spot on the Marauder’s Map! How do you think that made me feel Harry? It was then when I realized that you could never love me the way I’d wanted… and I too gave up on you! But if you waited this long to tell me how you felt…” Hermione sighed, feeling a loss of words so profound and that so rarely occurred that it made her come to a halt in the conversation.

When she spoke again, her tone was determined and uncharacteristically harsh “If you waited all this time to tell me about your true feelings, if you had to see me with another man to realize them, it means that I was nothing but a whim for you, a pretty idea of something you couldn’t have, a capricious concept and nothing more, and to be honest Harry, you have already broken my heart too many times for me to allow you to this now, now, from all times you had to choose the day I promised Ron to marry him to tell me about this. I can’t do this, not to me, not to Ron and not to the Weasleys. I loved you, Harry. I really did… and now… I just don’t know how I feel anymore.”

Hermione turned on her heels and left the clearing, Harry didn’t even try to stop her. She left him alone and with that single thought in mind he collapsed onto the ground, crying, as the sun shined through the February clouds he could still hear the muffled steps and sobs of Hermione in the distance, it still was a beautiful morning but in Harry’s eyes it was the most gray and horrid morning of his whole life.

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A/N: Thanks again for the reviews, it’s the greatest pleasure for a writer to get feedback on your work; and thanks a lot to my beta ShadowCat. I wanted to clearify, I’m not a native speaker, so I’m bound to have some mistakes, please feel free to point them out, also, the chapters aren’t long, I know, I will certainly try to write more often and well… more. Also the first 5 ½ chapters are already written, so I will post them as soon as possible. Again thanks a lot

4. The Aftermath

Life seemed to be passing by in slow motion, everyone was there, their family and friends, everyone was dressed up, everything was ready. It all looked like a big blur to him, like it was a swirling mass of colours and noises, and still he couldn’t figure out why he was still there… standing in the aisle under the white arch, their white arch.

He still felt like if all this time he’d been trying to catch smoke with his bare hand, she had always been his smoke, never his flame… even all those years ago he’d known that her soul would always burn for someone else, not for him… That turned out to be his biggest regret, his biggest mistake; falling in love with the wrong woman, falling for someone that would never fall back, being an idiot in front of her by asking her to love him back, he’d regret it forever and yet cherish the fact that she was the most important part of his life.

That was the reason why he was standing here today, despite all of what he’d heard barely hours ago, despite how his heart had broken into little pieces after what she’d said, despite all of the lying that all of them had gone through for all of this time, despite all of that, he still loved her. He loved her more than words could express, and certainly his words or actions hadn’t been enough to keep her by his side. It was in the middle of his silent reminiscence about the recent events that a dreamy voice seemed to pull him out of his self absorption.

“Are you feeling well? You don’t look very good…” Luna Lovegood’s frame was standing in front of him, looking straight at him with her big blue eyes, “Though I think it is very understandable for you to feel this way, I mean the love of your life just left you for your best friend, but it’s okay, I mean, she wasn’t meant for you”

Her words struck him like lightning and suddenly he was standing to his full length, with his head hovering above hers “What do you mean she wasn’t meant for me? Everyone knew we were prefect for each other!” He almost yelled at her, what an arrogant little witch, the nerve!

“Not even you believe that bollocks, Ronald,” Luna said, unnerved by the sudden outburst of raw emotion her redheaded friend had just displayed “we all knew that Harry and Hermione were in love and completely perfect for each other, it’s just that you Weasleys have the tendency of being completely daft when it comes to things that are right in front of your nose…” and with those lingering words swirling in his mind Luna turned on her heel and left him.

Thoughts of how it seemed that Harry and Hermione were always more connected with each other, how they always seemed to know what the other one was thinking, and how she always loved Harry and not him were coming back to him… Now he remembered. Now he understood.

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A/N: This can barely be called a chapter, but a longer one is to come, and I can assure that it will explain everything.

5. The In-Between Part 1

Three hours earlier

Hermione was sitting in front of the vanity, looking at herself wearing the wedding dress, staring into her own eyes, trying hard not to cry every time she thought about what had happened earlier.

Harry’s word still stung inside her heart, inside her soul. ‘Maybe… maybe…’ She kept thinking... if she just had the courage to call off the wedding, to leave Ron, to forget about the Weasleys. “No, I can’t do that, it’s wrong, so very wrong… but… maybe…” She whispered to herself.

“Maybe what?” Ron blurted out from the threshold, “What can’t you do?”

“Ron! What are you doing here? You know it is bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony.” Hermione said blushing, hoping that Ron hadn’t heard everything she said.

“Since when do you care about luck?” He said jokingly “I just wanted to see you, see how you were. But anyway, what were you talking about? What can’t you do?” Ron said as he approached her, all the time Hermione remained sitting in front of the vanity.

“It’s nothing, I was just thinking aloud… Really, it doesn’t mean anything” She was lying, and even Ron could tell…

“Oh, come on, I can see you’re lying, Herms…” His sentence was interrupted by Hermione’s irritated response

“Don’t call me Herms. I’ve told you on many occasions to not call me Herms… or Hermy for that matter; I really don’t like it.”

“Hermione, calm down, I understand that you are nervous because of the wedding, but really… you’ve been strangely jumpy all day; is there something wrong?” As he said this, Ron sat down next to her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

Hermione stood up suddenly, not being able to bear the idea of having to break Ron’s heart with all of her renewed feelings for Harry; she walked away from him, as if by keeping her distance from Ron she could also keep her feelings on check. “I think it would be best for you to leave now, Ron… I need to be alone right now…”

“You aren’t getting second thoughts now, are you? Please say you aren’t because this is starting to make me feel really uncomfortable… I mean, Herms, we’ve been waiting too long for this to finally happen…” Ron’s face was draining from color as his initial suspicions seemed to be about to get confirmed, yet he tried to keep a certain upbeat tone as he spoke.

Hermione turned around to face Ron, her expression was indescribable, though her eyes were filled with annoyance and something more, something that Ron couldn’t really put his finger on.

“Do you even listen to me, Ron? I’ve just told you, less than five minutes ago to not call me Herms, and what do you mean with ‘for this to finally happen’? We have only been engaged for about a year, you make this sound like an achievement and not a celebration…” Hermione was bubbling up inside, she was boiling, she knew that this kind of heart telling argument was something that her and Ron had on rare occasions, and that everything she just said and was about to say would change their relationship forever.

“Hermione, what are you talking about?” Ron’s voice was calm, filled with uncertainty and a pang of hurt, his face was completely pale and tears had started to form behind his eyes. “This is an achievement for us; we can finally be together, the way it is supposed to be. You sound as if you don’t want to marry me. Yesterday you were fine; and now I come here, only to find you whispering about how everything is ‘completely wrong’ or some other nonsense, would you care to explain your sudden decision to me? Or is that something else that you were just thinking aloud.”

“I never wanted things to be this way Ron; but I talked with Harry today—” Her words were abruptly interrupted by Ron’s sudden outburst.

“So, you speak to Harry but not to me now? Is this some other matter in which only ‘your dearest Harry” can understand you? Because we all know that he will always understand; with all of your silent conversations and meaningful gazes, how could I, simple and always annoying Ron, understand anything that comes out of your mouth?!”

He screamed those final words, his face, once drained from all colour now sported a vivid shade of red that would rapidly turn to purple.

“What are you implying, Ron? Because all of this time it’s been me the one that has never left your side, everytime you needed me I was there for you. And you shouldn’t express yourself about Harry that way! He’s been nothing to you but a great friend, the fact that he doesn’t even hold resentment for you after what you did… You should be happy to be his friend ‘cause he’s showed you nothing but love and trust, and everytime you feel jealous of him, you end up acting like a twelve-year-old boy!”

Hermione was angry and upset, she couldn’t believe that Ron had actually dared to imply that her and Harry… it was just inconceivable. Angry tears were running down her face, and the previous concern that she’d felt for making a scandal on her wedding day had been completely discarded after she heard what Ron last spoke.

“There you go again defending him, you always chose him over me! Who you say to be in love with; don’t you think it’s completely natural for me to doubt just how well you two get along—”

SMACK! She slapped Ron across the face with as much strenght as she could manage only to momentarily spin around and leave the room in tears.

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A/N: Thanks again for the amazing response, for the great reviews and for the encourgament to keep on writing. I’m hoping this will start to explain what happened, though it’s just the first part; by the way this was the last pre-written chapter, so the updates from now on will be posted on a slower pace, I’m a really slow writer.

6. The In-Between Part 2

The In-Between Part 2

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Ron was instantly quieted and as he slowly came back to his senses, he reached for the doorknob and decidedly ran after Hermione.

“Hermione! Hermione, come back!” He yelled as he ran down the stairs. “Hermione! Please, just stop!”.

With all of the noise, more of the Weasleys started to leave their respective bedrooms to check what was the cause of the ruckus. “What is going on in here?” Ginny asked as she entered the kitchen, closely followed for what seemd to be a very stressed Mrs. Weasley.

Hermione had just entered the room crying, followed by a very startled and upset Ron. Harry was sitting in across the table, apparently drinking a cup of tea.

“Hermione, I’m sorry, it’s the stress of the wedding, it’s starting to make me act terrible, I didn’t know what I was saying. I’m sorry” Ron pleaded, Hermione was still giving him her back, and staring hard at her shoes, knowing that if she dared to look up, a pair of confused green eyes would meet hers.

“How could you, Ron? How dare you disrespect me like that? I have told you time and time again that I have chosen YOU” Hermione said coldly and quietly from where she was standing. “Though right now, I’m not sure why I have done so.”

“Hermione, you don’t mean that. I know that you don’t mean that.” Harry said from where he was sitted. His voice seemed strained, and when Hermione looked up, his eyes were weary and looked desperately at her, his words were lying, but his gaze was not.

Hermione turned around and spoke directly to Ron, her voice stilled with a wave of chillness, but she was determined nonetheless. “Time and time again the only thing we seem to do is fight, we don’t argue, we simply bicker and end up insulting one another, I’m tired of it, Ron. Honestly, I’m not sure If I can even take it anymore. It’s destroying me, us…”

Ron’s face turned even paler. His mouth was dry, the love of his life was dumping him, on their wedding day… This had to be the most terrible experince he had gone through ever since the death of Fred.

“Hermione, dear; You must be under a lot of pressure right now… We all know you don’t mean that. This is the way things are supposed to be.” Molly Weasley’s words cut through the trio’s building tension like a knife. It seemed to pull them out of all of their reveries.

“Mum, please don’t get involved, this is between Hermione and me, and just us.” Ron replied; though his answer was easily discarded by Mrs. Weasley hasty huffs.

“Ron, this is a family celebration; it involves us all…” Mrs. Weasley’s voice was as the one you’d use to speak to a small child. She approached the fighting couple and said “Now, Hermione dear, please apologize to Ron; and Ron you do the same. This way things will go back to normal and we will be able to have a wedding today and forget about this nonsense.”

“Nonsense? Mrs. Weasley, I think this is everything but nonsense… I mean, it’s really important to solve this problems now; before the guests start to arrive” Harry said, as he stood up to face Mrs. Weasley.

Hermione was extremely shocked, both from Harry´s words and Mrs. Weasley intrusion, “I think we can settle this by ourselves, with no one interfering…” she spoke, and with a sudden move she walked away from both Mrs. Weasley and Harry, and spoke directly at Ron.

“This isn’t working anymore, Ron. Not for me and definetely not for you; we are just so hurtful towards each other… it’s just not right. I love you, but I don’t want to be in a marriage in which we disrespect each other so… I’m sorry…” Hermione spoke clearly and without stopping at any sort of distraction, then she turned around and started to make it to the door.

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A/N: Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews, this chapter is small, skywalker girl called it a chaplet so that’s what I’m calling this. So this is one of the newly written chapters, and I’m not completely sure where this story is going, if you have any suggestion don’t hesitate to let me know, I can promise you I will take it into consideration.

7. The In-Between Part 3

The In-Between Part 3

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“You can’t leave” Ginny spoke as she moved to stand in front of Hermione. Her voice cracked at the sudden glare that poured from Hermione’s eyes; “I… won’t let you”.

“Move away, Ginny…” Hermione said in a tired voice, her frustration towards the redhead slowly upbuilding. Still Ginny didn’t stepped back or made any attempt to let her go.

“No. I’m not going ot let you do this. You can’t just come here today and say that you won’t marry my brother. You don’t get to destroy this over a whim” Ginny managed to say this with her eyes focused on Hermione’s, not letting go of the brunette’s ferial gaze, her feet were still firmly planted on the ground and she had no intention to move untill Hermione understood.

“Move now, Ginny” For a second time that day, Harry’s word startled Hermione and everyone else around them.

“We are all going to sit down and resolve this situation, before the guests arrive” Ginny responded, looking at Harry. “It’s clear that we are in a predicament here, but it’s nothing that can’t be fixed”

“Ginny. Don’t. Please.” Ron spoke from the corner where he was standing. “ I’m sure you mean well, but I don’t think it’s necessary, this is over, just let Hermione leave peacefully” He sounded defeated and terribly sad.

“You heard Ron, please Ginny let’s not turn this into a bigger problem” Harry said.

“I’m not turning anything into a problem, Harry. I’m trying to help; this is just a row that got out of control.” Ginny said, again turning to Harry, her gaze shifting from Ron to Hermione.

All of the other Weasleys were quiet, unbelievably quiet. Arthur was pale, Molly was staring at the kitchen floor, George and Bill were sitted by the kitchen table, everyone seemed too upset or shocked to dare speak.

“This isn’t a row out of control, Gin, this time it’s for real, I’m tired…” Hermione said, still standing in the doorway, waiting for Ginny to move out of the way.

“Hermione, please just think this through!” Ginny answered her, looking at her in the eye.

“I’ve given this enough thought, believe me. I know that your intentions aren’t mean spirited, but really this is getting ridiculous” Hermione´s words carried a long strain of untrust and uncertainty.

She was aware of Ginny’s subtle anger starting to reflect on her words. Words of comfort but drained in a certain harshness that she couldn’t quite identify.

“No, Hermione, you are getting ridiculous. This situation is completely ludicrous. I mean, come on, you know you are just stirring some bridal scandal, so why don’t you just give it up already; kiss and make up, end this whole business” Ginny spoke loud and clear, with a sweet little voice that reminded Harry of Umbridge.

“Ginny stop! you are gonna make things worse.” Ron said forcefully. “You can’t fix what is not yours to fix. Just stop it.”

“Ron, you don’t underestand, I’m doing this for you.” Ginny told Rom in a little voice. “You can’t let Hermione do this to you. It’s not correct!”

“This isn’t about correct or incorrect. It’s about… My wedding just got called off! I can’t deal with you trying to be super girl or something” Ron’s face was totally drained of colour, his lips were pressed tightly together.

“I’m doing this for you Ron!” Ginny hissed taking a step forward, but not really moving from her spot in front of the door.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that” Hermione muttered, feeling the aggravation of Ginny’s words hiting her straight in the face, as a cold shiver of uncertainty crawled up her spine.

“What did you say? Honestly Hermione, how dare you say things like that when it is you the one that has disrupted the happiness of this day” Ginny finally errupted, her voice hard and cold.

“You little—” Hermione was sharply interrupted.

“Stop it! Both of you, this immature banter is taking us anywhere!” Ron shouted “Ginny, Hermione doesn’t want to marry me,” He said this with bitterness imprinted in his voice. “She has her reasons, and I don’t want to marry someone who does’t want me”

“What? You can’t possibly be on her side… She’s ruining everything!” Ginny almost shouted from across the room

“What is she ruining, Ginny? Your brother’s happiness or your own?” Harry asked her, not really expecting an answer; “She has every right and reason to want to leave, she has just called off her wedding, in front of too many people, just step aside and allow her to leave”

Hermione stared at the scene gobsmacked , this was certainly not happening… her entire wedding day, the day she was supposed to be the happiest person in the entire world had fallen appart right in front of her eyes, and now her best friend was defending her form the attacks of his own fiancée.

“You can’t be serious, Harry. You act as if what she is doing is okay, she’s just being a little brat” Ginny spat from where she was standing, not really looking at Harry, her eyes fixed on Hermione.

“Don’t call her that!” Harry shouted, his ever-on-the-edge temper finally unleashed.

“Why souldn’t I? It’s the truth, and there you go again protecting her, she is not yours to protect!”

“Who says that?! I can protect whoever I want to!” Harry yelled, choking back what he trully wanted to say.

“If everyone is done discussing my life, just thought you should know that I am leaving” Hermione said as she opened the door and exited the house, instantly quieting the discussion raging inside the kitchen.

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A/N: Thanks again to all of those that reviewed my story, sorry for the amount of time that I kept you waiting, school and other stuff had been keeping me from writing, I can’t make any promises but I will certainly try to bake a new chapter ASAP. I still don’t know where this story is going, so any kind of suggestion will be taken into consideration.