Sometimes It's Good to be Bad

Chapter 13 The Wedding


Ron was forced to go back to The Burrow overnight, leaving Harry and Hermione at Grimmauld Place with Lupin and Tonks. Before the two went to their rooms for the night, though, they were disturbed by noises they heard coming from one of the upstairs rooms. When they realized that the two Order members had forgotton to cast a silencing charm on their room, Hermione started laughing while Harry looked distinctly uncomfortable.

An owl appeared in the middle of the night, pecking at Hermione's window. When she took the note from its leg it flew away before she could offer it anything. She read the letter, burning it after she was done. It hadn't said anything that she wasn't expecting.

The next morning was slow, leaving the four to have a nice breakfast with a lot of laughing speculation as to the bustle that must be going on at the Burrow. Hermione and Harry practiced their wordless magic for a while. Harry was finally improving some. After lunch when everyone went to get ready for the wedding.

Hermione put on a yellow knee length spaghetti strap dress with small purple flowers patterned on it underneath open free flowing matching purple robes, along with the locket as her only jewelry. She once again did her hair in two french braids, ending them with gold rubber bands. Her lips were the pink gloss (it was the only lipstick she owned) and light green shadow with brown liner accentuated her eyes. When she came out of her room to meet the others, Harry's jaw practically fell to the floor. "Problem, Harry?" she asked.

"Nooooo...." he answered slowly. "You look..... girly."

"Why, thanks." she answered, rolling her eyes as Tonks said "I think the word you're looking for is 'beautiful', Harry." That only caused him to blush and look away.

"Well, Harry. You look quite un-girly." He was handsome in his robes, which were the exact shade of his eyes and reached the floor. They were held together by four gold ties, and one could see his white button-down shirt and khakis underneath. His blush only deepened before he muttered a "thanks" in return.

The group apparated to a spot down the road from the Burrow, owing to extreme safety measures. They walked to the Burrow where they were greeted by a cute little French boy who escorted them to the paddock where the Weasleys usually played quidditch on. Once there, they were seated by Ron (who also had trouble lifting his jaw from the ground) on the side of the groom. The entire area had been transformed into a fairy tale. Though it was the middle of July, the place looked as though there had recently been an ice storm, but when the sun hit the crystalline branches the ice did not melt. And while the ground shimmered, it was not slippery.

The chairs were all white, while the arbor at the end of the aisle was covered in blue and white flowers, the aise leading up to it strewn with the same flowers, a charm placed on them to not wilt or crush under people's feet.

Soon Bill and the ceremony's officiate were standing under the arbor and a violinist sitting off to the side started to play, signaling the first of the wedding party to walk down the aisle. The ushers wore white robes with frost blue cravats while their female counterparts were robed in the same blue, their hair decorated to look as though snow was clinging to the strands. When the bride finally made her way forward the entire audience was agog. She looked like a winter nymph, her long white gown fitted at the sweetheart bodice, the skirt decorated at the edging with frost blue eye beads in a lace pattern. Her hair was let to flow freely from under the tiara borrowed from Great-Auntie Muriel, the expression on her face was once of complete content and happiness. Bill looked as though he had died and gone to heaven.

The ceremony was typically boring. Hermione looked around, thinking about how there were so many crazy women... and a few men. She had never understood how weddings made people cry. The woman three chairs down from her was practically a fountain; her sniffling was so loud she was practically snorting. Hermione gave the woman a disdainful glance before turning forward, giving the occasion all the reverence that is expected.

Afterwards the guests mingled while the wedding party took pictures. Hermione was engaged in an animated conversation with Gabrielle in French. Harry came over from talking with Mad-Eye and put his arm over Hermione's shoulder, looking from one girl to the next in amazement. After a minute of this he hadn't gone away, and they turned to him. "Yes?"

"Just, I didn't know you could speak French, Hermione."

"Well, aside from you never asked, have you not noticed that almost every holiday I spent with my parents, we went to France. It was their favorite place to visit, " she said with a wan smile. "I learned when I was little so I could understand what everyone was saying."

He shook his head in understanding and tightened his grip around her shoulders in a quick hug before saying "Sorry."

"Don't be. It was an honest question," she responded before Gabrielle excused herself.

Soon the pictures were done and the meal was served. Just as soon the food was gone and the reception had started in earnest. After the newlyweds had their first dance, Ron escorted Hermione to the dance floor. He was a much better dancer than he had been at the Yule Ball (despite the fact that he didn't dance then... just was horrified at the thought of McGonagall having a waist). Half an hour later Hermione was dancing to an upbeat song with Ginny when the air changed. Not a second later, all hell broke loose. When the Death Eaters found the anti-aparation wards were too strong to break through, they instead went just outside the Weasley's property and stalked in, crashing the wedding.

There was screaming, followed by jets of color flying through the air. Hermione's first reaction was to take in the scene before her, looking for where the small children were, and if their parents were getting them out of harm's way. When she saw they were all huddled under the arbor with a protective bubble over them, she turned to the battle.

It was a small wedding, despite the vastness of the families involved with only around thirty guests. Though there were less than half that amount of invaders, they had the element of surprise on their side. From the looks of it, Fleur was the main contender. After all, she WAS the bride, and this was her wedding they had just ruined. Hermione ran over to Harry's side trying to protect him, throwing jinx after jinx. She threw a stunner at a Death Eater, only to "accidentally" hit an auror who was obviously going to run into the line of fire. Not three seconds later, she herself was stunned from behind and everything went black.