Summary: Harry and Hermione along with their significant others decided to write their own vows for their respective weddings.
Disclaimer: All characters are from Mrs. Rowling's mind.
Harry paced nervously in front of the café of where he was meeting Hermione for their weekly lunch. This had become their weekly tradition ever since Ron had asked Hermione to marry him and Harry has asked Ginny. Now there were only days before their double wedding.
"What had I been thinking?" Harry asked himself. His right hand came up to run through his jet black hair making it messier than normal.
"Wow," a voice called out to him. He turned and found himself face to face with his best friend.
The first aspect of the women standing in front of him that Harry noticed was the overly bushy brown hair. Nothing, not even age seemed to tame the wild mess that was Hermione's hair. The next feature he noticed was her kind, brown eyes. Those eyes were the key to her soul, and possible held the key to his if he looked hard enough.
"Did you mess it up just for little old me?" She jokingly said as she ran her hand through Harry's messy hair trying to tame it. "I have to say I always loved the rugged look but tame it down a bit."
He grinned at her. Harry was glad that after all these years of Hermione being serious and studious she had found a kind of peace. It had come after she graduate from Hogwarts. She was the only one of the three of them to go back and finish up. Harry said he would join her, but when push came to shove he found he could not attend Hogwarts without Dumbledore there.
Now three years later they were getting married. They were becoming grown-ups, and it frankly scared the hell out of Harry. If Voldemort came back to life Harry would gladly face him all over again then having to face the next few days. For the wedding was in four days three hours and sixteen minutes.
"So," Hermione said as she led him to their table at the back of the quiet café.
It was a typical London café. Fashioned after the French style ones, but serving the usual English fare of chips and fish and ploughman's lunch. It was also Harry and Hermione's favorite place to meet. It had the built in charm of being slightly quirky and yet it was run by two squibs so there was no chance of them being seen by any wizarding press; not that there was anything to see.
"How is work going?" Harry asked as their usual waitress, Nancy, put two glasses of water down in front of them and then left to get their usual orders. "And how long have we've been coming here?"
"Work is good, and we have been coming here for about three years." She said smartly back to him. "But, it has been more frequent since our respective engagements. And we always order the same thing."
"Remember the time we brought Ron here?" Harry said with a grin as he remembered that day. Hermione also smiled at that, but to Harry her smile looked at little forced.
"Yes, I do." She said, "Of course we also ended up having to pay for half the dishes he broke when he decided to accio himself a glass."
Both of them ended up chuckling at the shared memory of Ron ducking under the table as close to 200 hundred glasses came flying his way. If it wasn't for Harry's quick thinking with a shield charm all three of them would have been sporting some serious injuries from that mishap. Not to mention it took them close to three hours to get all the memories modified from the muggles who witnessed what happened.
"How is work going for you, Harry?"
"I think I'm going to quit."
Hermione took this declaration with her usual demureness. She waited for him to explain everything, and Harry took a breath before he dove in to what was becoming yet another huge mess in his life.
"How long have I been fighting dark wizards?"
"Ten years or so…" Hermione counted his six years at Hogwarts and the horcrux hunt.
"Exactly," Harry slammed his right palm down on their table. "I'm tired of always being the one to do the right thing. I want something new. I want to be able to not be looking over my shoulder all the time. I want to relax."
"So what do you have planned?"
Harry had been giving this a lot of thought over the past few months. He didn't vocalize it to anyone, but today he decided he had to. And the first person he wanted to tell his grand plan to was Hermione. She had been there for everything and helped him get through anything. It was the logical choice.
"Remember the DA?" Hermione let out a slight chuckle at his question. "Of course you do you started it. But remember how everyone thought I was so good at teaching them?"
"I was one of those people, Harry." She smiled slightly at him and he grinned back at her. "Are you telling me you want to teach?"
At her question Harry could only nod. She knew him to well, he thought.
"Ah well isn't this perfect?" Harry looked questioningly at her for a second before she broke out in giggles.
Before either got a chance to explain their meals were set before them. Hermione had a cob salad and Harry had his traditional fish and chips. They had a rule of no talking during the actual meal portion of lunch. It was their time to reflect on what had been spoken and what would be spoken.
Harry usually used the time to think about his latest case, but lately he found himself thinking about what was going to be happening in four days three hours and four minutes. He knew he wanted to get married. It had always been something he pictured doing, but now as the day drew closer he felt like something was off.
Both couples last month had decided to write their own vows. Harry knew that Ginny already had hers written, but he couldn't figure out what to say. Maybe, he thought, Hermione would have some insight. She, after all, was much better spoken than he was.
Nancy twenty minutes later came and cleared the plates. She quickly came back with their tea and assured them there was no rush. They already knew this. Just as Nancy already knew that they would be spending the next hour and half talking. She would supply them with fresh tea every twenty-five minutes and Harry would leave her a generous tip.
"What were you going to say before our meals arrived?" Harry asked as he put two sugars in his tea.
"I was going to say," Hermione said with a smile as she added just lemon to her cup. "That Professor McGonagall offered me the librarian position at Hogwarts starting this fall."
"Did you accept?"
"Did you?" She asked over her tea cup.
"Yes…wait…how did you know I've already been offered the position of Defense Against the Darks Arts Professor?"
Harry watched as Hermione set down her tea cup. She smirked at him for a moment before she opened her mouth to speak. After a second she closed it with a shake of her head. Harry, for some unknown reason also found himself shaking his head.
"How are your vows coming?" She said after the moment passed.
"Terrible…you?"
"Same," her nose crinkled at that thought. "I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to say but every time I start to write I find myself writing about something else, anything else."
"You never answered my question?" Harry reached across the table and grabbed her left hand in his.
"Yes," she said. "I'm going to be Hogwarts newest book keeper."
"You'll make Madam Pince proud." He teasingly said back to her.
"I bet I know that library better than her after all these years…" Hermione let out a sigh at this. "But I'm guessing you," she drew out the last word for a second. "Need some help with your vows too?"
Harry didn't even need to answer her question. She was after all the smartest witch of their generation. For the next hour they talked about little things. From how they were going to tell Ron and Ginny their new careers to where they were going on their honeymoons.
"Ron has his stag night tonight," Hermione said suddenly after they finished talking about Winky. The little house-elf had become rather attached to Hermione even though she now resided in Grimmauld place with Kreacher and Harry.
"Ginny has her hen night tonight, too."
"When is yours?" They both spoke at the same time causing each other to laugh. "I'm not having one."
"Okay," Harry said after a pause from the laughter. "We have to stop speaking in unison."
It was at this moment that Harry realized their tiny lunch café was empty. They had once again seen out the lunch crowd. Nancy smiled as she met his gaze from all the way across the room. She just nodded at him as he threw two twenty pound notes on the table.
"Well," Hermione said with a sigh. "We did it again."
Harry watched as she gathered her bag and coat. He realized with a pang in his heart that he was going to miss these Wednesday afternoon lunches. Nothing was going to be the same in four days two hours and twenty-seven minutes.
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