Hermione's Wedding

Mr. Granger was an insanely shy man and was quite frightened of being seen and having to talk to a large group of people, in fact Ms. Granger always lovingly joked that the reason he became a dentist was so that he could hide behind the mask. However, Mr. Granger was smitten with his daughter and consequently was fervent in his stance on speaking at her wedding. He was going to do it, even if he passed out three times in the process.

He had prepared himself for over a month, walked up and down his offices' length until there was a distinct depression in it and bounced ideas off of his wife until she rolled her eyes at the very mention of "Honey, how about...?" Even still, after all of the preparing he had done, he was nowhere near ready as he stood up to the podium in the small wizard's pub that his daughter had reserved for her "magical" reception. He licked his lips and shuffled the note cards he held.

"Good evening," he began with a smile, "and I welcome you all to this wonderful celebration. This is a most joyous festivity for me and my wife, being our only daughter's wedding. And what a daughter she is. She has grown up so incredibly fast, it seems like just yesterday she was taking her first step, and now she is all grown up and getting married.

"From the time that she was born we knew her to be unique, very much her own person. She learned to walk at 9 and a half months and since then has been moving at full force. At 3 she learned to read her first kiddie book and was reading Anna Karenina at 10. By the time she had received her letter it didn't come as any major surprise that our child was a one in a million type of girl. Now don't get me wrong, it shocked the hell out of me that there was a whole other world that I didn't know about. I didn't want to let her go to a big question mark that was brought to us by a Barn owl, but as her now husband will soon find out, you can not tell Hermione Granger what she can or can not do." There was a smattering of laughing as he took a sip of water and continued.

"I guess that is the general issue all fathers have to learn with their daughters... How to let them open their wings and learn to fly, I guess I just didn't know how close that metaphor could be..."

"Don't worry, she never quite learned to fly!" piped in one of Hermione's closest friends, Ron Weasley and the entire crowd laughed.

"Heh, well there is a comfort. Even still, it was a big step for me. One of many that would be proceeding. For the next few years, my little girl did the most dreadful thing that a girl could do to her father: she grew up. Each time I saw her she grew older and older and each holiday was packed with reminders of just how old she was and how much I had to let go of her. We couldn't really discuss her studies, as they were completely foreign to us. She with held more than one brush with death until much much later, a fact of which saved her from not being allowed to graduate from Hogwarts, let me tell you.

"And what is this all leading to, you might ask? No, I am not attempting a guilt trip of any sort, that is usually her mother's job." A light smack on his arm made the group laugh again. He turned to look as his daughter again, gave his wife his note careds and smiled softly. "No, this isn't a guilt trip. This is a reminder. Of what you might ask? Hermione, today I give you to Harry, as a father must eventually give his daughter away, but that doesn't mean you aren't still part of me. You will always be my little girl. And no matter where you go, what scary things you face, know that I will always be there, watching from the wings and giving you all the love and support that I have in my heart." Hermione dabbed at her face, tears fighting to get out.

"Dad..." she choked out.

"My little Hermione, my little book worm, even if you don't remember all that I just said, remember this. Look in all the books in the world, all the encyclopedias, and know: you will never find a father in any of those books who loves their daughter more than I love you." He leaned down and kissed her forehead. The room was silent, and then it burst into applause.

Mr. Granger gave a slight bow and sat down with an embarrassing thump. It had taken all his courage, but it was done, and he was glad that he had done it. His wife leaned over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, tears showing in her eyes.

"That was beautiful honey, absolutely beautiful."

He sighed contentedly, relieved that it was over. His wife again leaned close to him whispered:

"Now that you have done it tonight, it will be easy tomorrow at the regular reception."

There was a soft thump as Mr. Granger's head hit the table in front of him.