This, and My Heart Beside

July 19, 1997
Bordeaux, France

"This," Ginny said, "is a monstrosity."

"It's not that bad," Hermione said, trying to smooth down the layers and layers of tulle. True, Ginny did look like a young ballerina at her first recital, but she'd seen worse when she was seven and a flower girl in Aunt Donna's wedding.

Ginny gave her a hard look in the mirror. "It is that bad. It's like Phlegm ate a lot of Fizzing Whizbees before picking this out."

"Gabrielle looks all right in hers," Hermione pointed out, using a small Temporary Sticking Charm to stick down a ruffle threatening to eat Ginny's face.

"Gabrielle is eleven. It's okay for eleven-year-olds to wear ruffles and balloon sleeves. Ugh." Ginny made a face and tugged at one of the rosettes on the skirt.

The only mercy about the dress, Hermione thought, was that Fleur had had the sense to pick a color that both Ginny and Gabrielle looked good in: a pale gold, with touches of canary yellow. The dress, though, was beribboned in places it didn't need ribbons, poofy in places it didn't need to poof, and studded with rosettes in places no sane person would put one.

"At least you won't have to wear it that long," Hermione said, helpful.

"No, but everyone will be taking pictures of me wearing it." Ginny tossed her hair and scowled.

There was a knock on the door. "Hermione?" Harry's voice said.

She pulled open the bedroom door. "Harry?"

He stood there, looking sheepish. "I couldn't get the tie right. Ron told me you could do it."

"Oh, honestly, Harry," she said, taking the tie from him. "You can't tie a bowtie?"

"It kept coming out lopsided." He tilted his chin up and stood on his tiptoes, and Hermione smothered a smile at the gesture; Harry still wasn't used to the growth spurt he'd experienced recently. She tied the tie neatly and evenly, and patted him on the chest a little.

"There you go, Harry. Really, now."

"Thanks," he said, reaching up to adjust the tie a little, pulling it off center. "You look really nice, Hermione."

"Oh, thank you," she said, smoothing her skirt down. After hours of shopping in both Muggle stores and wizarding ones, she finally found a lilac tea-length dress at Debenham's, not too fancy, not too casual. She was touched that he noticed.

Harry leaned to his right, trying to see into the room, and Hermione snorted, standing aside. "Ginny, you look . . .," he said, and faltered.

She nodded. "I know. I look like a ballet troupe exploded. You don't have to say anything."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, but Hermione noted shrewdly that he had That Look, staring at Ginny -- That Look was the look Ron wore when looking at her (and, occasionally, at Fleur, if she caught him by surprise.)

"Go back to the other bedroom, Harry," Hermione said, nudging him gently. "I have to help Ginny finish getting ready. Keep Ron out of trouble."

"I always do," Harry said, stepping out of the doorway. Hermione snapped it shut and rolled her eyes.

"That boy," she said. "I don't know what I'm going to do with him. He wants to go hunt for the Horcruxes -- I think we're leaving after this."

Ginny scowled. "Idiot. He's got to do it, I know he does, but the way he's going about it, he's going to get himself killed."

Hermione kept her silence. Ginny's views on Harry were complicated these days and ranged from resignation to anger to sadness to even a certain twisted humor.

Frowning, Ginny sat before the mirror and started applying the glamour charms for her makeup, experimenting with various eyeshadow shades. With an obvious change of topic, she said, "I still can't believe Bill's getting married. And to that . . . that . . . sow."

"Fleur isn't that bad," said Hermione, who privately thought that Fleur was as stuck-up and insufferable as ever, but she had been marvelous during Bill's convalescence. "And it isn't like you'll see her that often. They're going to be in Thailand for a month after this."

Ginny pursed her lips and paused in applying blush. "I just want this to be over."

*****

It was, soon enough. Fleur was resplendent in diamonds and her gown, white satin with some embroidery and a long train. The red scars crisscrossing Bill's face couldn't obscure his joy as he stood through the ceremony. They were flanked by Ginny and Gabrielle, Fleur's bridesmaids, and Charlie and a teenager named Michel, Fleur's cousin, Bill's groomsmen.

Hermione sat in the family row, with Harry on one side and Ron on the other, and observed. In the row in front of her, Molly Weasley sobbed through the ceremony, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. The twins seemed to be suppressing mirth throughout the entire thing.

The ceremony was shorter than Hermione, used to Anglican weddings, was expecting. The celebrant from the Département des Mariages said a few words about why they had gathered and delivered a short meditation on love, then began the ritual commitment questioning. First Bill, then Fleur, promised to love and comfort, honor and protect the other. Bill seemed to choke up as he said, "I will," but Fleur's voice was clear and rang out as she declared, "I will."

The vows were different than she was used to, and she made a note to ask Ron if Fleur and Bill had written their own vows or if these were wizarding vows. Although his voice broke in spots, Bill made it through, saying, "I, Bill, offer myself to you, Fleur, to be your husband. I promise to love you and to honor our love always. I will respect your strengths and accept your weaknesses. I will be faithful and love you with all my heart, and strive for our happiness, harmony, and future together, as long as I shall live. In the presence of our friends and family I make this vow."

Fleur blinked away tears, but slowly and steadily said, "I, Fleur, offer myself to you, Bill, to be your wife. I promise to love you and to 'onor our love for always. I respect your strength and accept your weaknesses. I will be faithful and love you with all my 'eart, and strive for our 'appiness, 'armony and future together, as long as I shall live. In the presence of our friends and family, I make this vow."

After Fleur finished speaking, Hermione heard a trumpet blast that could only have been Madame Maxime blowing her nose. There were some murmured words over the rings, which glowed briefly as Fleur and Bill slid them onto each other's fingers, and then they held hands as the celebrant said, "Bill and Fleur, may your lives together be joyful and content, and may your love be as bright as the stars, warm as the sun, accepting as the ocean, and enduring as the mountains. It is my honor and my right to pronounce you husband and wife. You may now seal this union with a kiss."

Fleur grabbed Bill, kissing him amid cheers and applause from the gathered group. Fred and George both waved their wands and called "Avis!", sending off a flock of white doves which soared above the ceremony. Laughing, Bill and Fleur joined hands again and led the recessional. Hermione watched Ginny go by with an expression of ecstatic relief. Ron squeezed her hand, and she smiled.

*****

The dinner and reception were held that evening, the chairs and wedding arch having been cleared away and replaced with tables, with a space for dancing left open in the middle. Fairy lights had been strung around the area, and candles glowed on every table.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were seated at a table with the twins for dinner, and Hermione worked her way through the roast chicken, silent and amused as the boys discussed England's chances in next year's Quidditch World Cup. Every now and then she would catch Ginny's eye and they would roll their eyes at each other -- Ginny was seated next to Michel at the head table, and from what Hermione could tell, he was doing his best to chat her up.

Charlie gave a toast to the couple, Bill grinning and Fleur looking amused, and then they each gave a short speech. As people started to finish eating, a band set up their equipment at one end of the dance floor. Fleur and Bill cut the wedding cake, feeding each other small bites, and Hermione giggled at the revolted look on Ginny's face.

After that, the band started playing, mostly wizarding tunes. One of the giggly French girls in attendance, a friend of Fleur's from Beauxbatons, asked Harry to dance, and he accepted, although he looked slightly startled about the situation.

As the sun set, the fireflies came out, small flashes of green light bobbing in midair. Ron fidgeted as Hermione worked her way through the chocolate gateau. As soon as she laid down her fork, he burst out, "Hermione, do you want to dance?"

She looked at him, smiled, and made a note to apologize to Padma Patil the next time she saw her. "Of course," she said, letting Ron take her by the hand and lead her onto the dance floor.

More couples came onto the floor. Hermione saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley go by, beaming at each other and doing a spirited two-step. Fred and his date Angelina Johnson seemed to be swing dancing on one edge of the dance floor. Ginny twirled by, dancing with Michel, and she caught Hermione's eye and grimaced. At one point Hermione saw Gabrielle and Harry go by; Gabrielle seemed to be leading things.

The evening drew on, and the band switched to playing slower songs. Hermione and Ron swayed to the beat together, close enough that she could hear his heartbeat. Through the crowds she saw Bill and Fleur dancing together, entwined, swaying slowly, and looking utterly at peace and content with each other. She may be insufferable, Hermione thought, but he loves her, and that makes her all right.

She felt Ron turn to follow her gaze. "Think that'll be us someday?" he asked hesitantly.

Hermione looked up at him, at this boy who was becoming a man before her eyes, and understood the looks on Bill and Fleur's faces.

She smiled. "Of course."