Rose Among the Thorns

Chapter 9- Wedding Bells

One Month Later...

The brilliant morning sunlight spilled through Hermione's parted curtains, causing her to drag a pillow over her head to block out the light. Half an hour later she rubbed her eyes and crawled out of bed. She had decided to skip mass this morning as it would be included in the ceremony this evening After a quick shower she pulled on a pair of jeans and a Weird Sisters t-shirt Ginny had given her for her birthday and left to do her Sunday shopping before getting ready for Hannah and Susan's double wedding that evening.

It had been nearly a month since Harry's birthday, and Hermione had been invited to at least a dozen weddings, and had been asked to be in the wedding party of three more: Luna, Lavender, Susan, and Hannah were all getting married within the month. Lavender had decided that Justin really was who she wanted to spend eternity with; Susan and Dean and Hannah and Neville had all hit it off at the party and were getting married in a double ceremony. All four women had asked Hermione to be a bridesmaid in their wedding parties.

In the flurry of wedding preparations for her friends, Hermione had forgotten about her own marriage proposals, or lack of them. She was fairly certain that if he did indeed petition for her, Goyle wouldn't be the only wizard who would do so. Although she wasn't the prettiest girl while at school, Hermione had been fairly well liked, and her reputation as a bossy know-it-all had diminished, at least a little, in the few short years since she had left school.

Hannah and Susan had decided that the bridesmaids would wear midnight blue, off the shoulder gowns with silver roses embroidered along the hems, the groomsmen black dress robes and midnight blue vests with silver roses to match the bridesmaids. Lavender and Ginny were bridesmaids as well; Seamus, Ernie MacMillan and Harry were the groomsmen. Hermione had told Ginny she would be at her cottage by two; her watch read 1:52, so she picked up her dress, hung neatly in a bag, and Flooed to Harry and Ginny's home, called 'Leon Cottage,' located on the outskirts of Godric's Hollow.

Seconds later Hermione stepped out of the fireplace into the kitchen, where Ginny was fussing with Harry's hair, attempting in vain to comb it flat.

"Honestly, can't you do anything with this?" she asked him exasperatedly.

He grinned at Hermione. "Nope. It didn't lay flat for our wedding, so I doubt it will for this one."

Ginny gave up and dropped the comb onto the table. "Well, go on then. We'll meet you at the church."

Harry kissed his wife on the cheek and picked up his dress robes. He walked out into the front garden, waved goodbye through the window, and Disapparated.

"Susan said they wanted us there by 5:00 so we've got a bit." Ginny told Hermione.

They sat down at the table, Ginny handed Hermione a plate of freshly baked cookies and a glass of milk.

"So how's married life going?" Hermione asked her best friend, munching on the oatmeal raisin sweet she had chosen.

"Most of the time, great. Sometimes Harry does annoying things, like throwing his dirty robes on the floor instead of in the hamper or leaving the toilet seat up, but otherwise I'm really enjoying it." Ginny paused. "Speaking of married life, have you gotten any proposals?"

Hermione shook her head. "Not a single one."

Ginny looked slightly worried. "But you've only got a month left. And...He hasn't petitioned yet?"

"Goyle? No. Hopefully Malfoy was bluffing and he never intended to."

"But if no one does..." Ginny trailed off.

"I'll find someone," Hermione assured her. "Even if I have to owl Victor to come and help me. I'll not be trapped in a marriage not of my choosing."

Hermione decided it would be best to steer the conversation to something else, so she asked Ginny about the Holyhead Harpies' season. One hour later they left the kitchen to get ready. Several years previously Hermione had cut her hair up to her shoulders and started using small amounts of Sleekeazys Hair Potion regularly, somewhat reducing its resemblance to an overgrown brown shrubbery. Both Hermione and Ginny wore their hair up in simple yet elegant knots. At 4:30 they admired themselves in the mirror.

"Well, if you haven't got a proposal yet, you will after tonight," Ginny told Hermione mischievously.

Hermione laughed and looked at her reflection. She did look rather good; she was actually wearing lipstick and her hair was mostly under control.

They Disapparated from the front garden to the same church in Godric's Hollow Hermione and Harry had visited while on their hunt for horcruxes, and where Ginny and Harry were married only a few months ago. In the cemetery behind the church they could see Harry standing over his parent's graves. They walked up to him, Ginny taking his hand and Hermione wrapped an arm around his shoulder. He had placed a large bouquet of wildflowers against the headstone. After a few minutes of silence, they walked back up to the church.

~~~~~~~

The service was beautiful; afterwards the newlyweds and their guests relocated back to Hannah's family home in Kent, the garden decorated with gardenias and live fairies. After dancing with a dozen different young men, Hermione slipped off to one of the tables located along the edge of the makeshift dance floor. She smiled at Susan and Hannah, dancing with their new husbands, Dean and Neville. Hermione was very happy for her friends; even in these miserable times they had found love.

The seat next to her creaked as someone sat down. She turned to see Charlie, looking very nice in a set of forest green dress robes. It had been a long time since they'd had a real conversation together.

"How've you..." he started.

"How are..."she asked, speaking at the same time.

They laughed. "You go," Hermione told him.

Charlie shook his head. "Ladies first."

Hermione covered her mouth with her hands. "A gentleman in the Weasley family!" She lowered her voice in a mock-whisper. "Don't let your brothers hear about that."

He chuckled. "I'd never hear the end of it from the twins."

Hermione smiled. "So how are George and Verity?"

"We're expecting the big announcement any day now." Charlie smiled. "Fred and Katie are getting married in two weeks, I expect they'll want a grand double ceremony as well."

She nodded. "I got their invitation, along with about a dozen others."

"Any luck for you yet?" he asked conversationally.

Hermione shook her head. "No, and I haven't heard from Goyle either," she replied to his questioning glance.

"That's good." He looked up as a pretty blonde woman in a tea length lilac dress strode over.

"Well, that's my date, I'd better be off," he told her. "See you around."

She smiled. "See you."

~~~~~~~

As she sat in the second row next to Fleur and Bill at Fred and George's wedding, she thought back at the several ceremonies she had attended in the past two weeks. Lavender and Justin's had been beautiful and terribly romantic, Luna's had been unique- all of the bridesmaids had been barefoot and the groomsmen carried nets in case there were any Wrackspurts on the loose.

It seemed as though everyone except Hermione was worried about her lack of petitions.

"Malfoy's got something up his sleeve, I know it!" Harry had told her emphatically several days past.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You've been saying that since we were eleven years old, Harry. It's time to give that up."

"It is rather suspicious, Hermione," Remus had told her.

"You might want to take some nice young wizards into consideration," Mrs. Weasley had said.

In the end Hermione had conceded, meeting several young men for lunch, but none had really sparked her interest. Now, as she sat at the twins' wedding, she realized she only had two weeks left. "Damn," she thought. "Damn."

~~~~~~~

Hermione didn't eat anything at the wedding feast afterwards. It seemed that the twins had planted several of their edible WWW jokes in the food; Ernie had turned into a canary four times, his feathers were finally molting off, and Neville had fainted twice after accidentally ingesting Fainting Fancies. Other than the tainted food everyone was having a marvelous time. Fred and George had set off a magnificent fireworks display that had lasted nearly an hour. They had hired a raucous punk band called the "Hippogriff Hustlers" to play, and even Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were dancing to the loud, up-tempo music.

It was nearly six in the morning when Hermione finally returned home. She kicked the high-heeled shoes off of her aching feet; she had spent most of the night swirling from partner to partner on the wild dance floor. Her head reeled from the glasses of delicious champagne she had drunk throughout the night. Hermione drew a hangover potion from her refrigerator and drained the entire bottle, knowing the painful consequences if she did not. Without even changing out of her dress she fell onto the sofa and almost immediately fell asleep.

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