Chapter XII: finding what was there all along
--
"If people are truly, madly, deeply in love with each other, they will find a way."
-Anonymous
--
"So, Hermione, I was hoping to ask you something," Luna nervously approached her at the first of seven engagement parties that people had planned for her-needless to say, there was a lot of miscommunication between the various parties when they had learned of the upcoming nuptials.
"Sure, is anything wrong?" Hermione asked her with a concerned frown as Luna led her to a secluded corner of Grimmauld Place's ballroom, where Harry was throwing the fest.
"I was-well, I was hoping you'd do me a favor…" she stumbled slightly, taking Hermione off guard as she had only ever been acquainted with the serene, amusing Luna who never had a care in the world.
"Whatever it is, Luna, I'm here for you, no matter what," Hermione assured her, panicking slightly.
"I-I was hoping you'd be my maid of honor," she meekly told her, biting her lip slightly as a faint blush traveled across her face.
Hermione's jaw went slightly slack at the news; she stood there in a state of sheer, uncharacteristic, oblivion for what felt like hours before finally uttering the words that had been running through her mind repeatedly. "Why me?"
"Well-um, I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't have all that many really close mates-but you… I don't know, there's something about you that I've always liked… respected. And you did, technically, get Ron and me together when you set us up on that blind date…"
Hermione smiled widely, before pulling the girl into a tight embrace. "I'd love to, Luna; I just don't know why you'd ever want me of all people."
"We may not have spent as much time together as I'd like, but I don't know-I think there's something… it's as if the starwurst fairies are guiding us to one another, bringing us together as mates."
"I-I have no idea what that is, but I have a feeling I'll like learning about them," Hermione told her with an amused smile.
--
"Wotcher Harry," she surprised him by taking a seat by him on the couch. "You really never were one for parties, were you?"
"Well I like the talking to my mates part-just not all the other people who I don't know, especially when they start talking to me out of nowhere," he sheepishly admitted.
"Nice, so guess what!" she told him, a gleeful smile overtaking her face.
"What?" he asked her with a grin.
"You're looking at the new maid of honor!" she told him, hugging him in her state of excitement.
"Bloody hell!"
Hermione nodded elatedly. "Yeah, she asked me half an hour ago!"
"Well, you know what they say about the maid of honor and best man, don't you?" he asked her, wagging his eyebrows for emphasis.
"Nice, Harry, very gentleman like of you," she told him with a grin, ruffling his hair teasingly. "Now come on, let's dance!"
"Hermione," he whined petulantly, stiffly sitting on the couch as she tried to pull him off of it. "You know I hate dancing."
"Come on Harry, how many times do you have a chance to dance with someone as brilliant as me?" she asked with a wink.
He rolled his eyes as he got up. "Lead the way then."
"Told you she had him wrapped around her little finger," Neville whispered to Luna as the two watched Hermione drag Harry onto the dance floor, teaching the poor bloke how to maintain some sort of a rhythm.
"I think it's adorable," Luna giggled.
-->