and to this day, when everything breaks, you are the anchor that holds me

[cleverness]

As the sun began to deep from its early afternoon high, birds chirped as they flew through the woods, lingering around the Nook and watching curiously as people gathered from around the city. Flowers bloomed from the branches, uncharacteristically bright and large for the season, aided by a touch of magic. Not far from the house, a small babbling brook snaked through the fields, giving pets and wildlife alike the chance to run around and splash in a bit of water. The wedding decor had been designed to blend into the countryside, tables held up by tree trunks, and shade overhead provided by the stretch of vines and blossoms. The scent in the air was subtle and sweet, light floral mingling with the smell of baked goods wafting from the buffet table. At the end of the table stood a large cake, with white frosting and decorated with orange blossoms and clementines. If one looked closely enough, they would notice that one of the fruits was different than the rest, painted a subtle gold, and occasionally flying around the cake with a rapid beating of delicate wings.

The wedding was a small and intimate affair, meant to be more of a celebration than a formal occasion, and guests mingled with wine and cheer before the time came for the ceremony to begin.


Ron had felt as if he was going to lose his breakfast for most of the day. The truth was, he'd barely eaten at all that morning, anxious about the late afternoon ceremony. In some ways, it reminded him of ages ago, of his first Quidditch match as Keeper back at Hogwarts, his stomach was in knots, he felt peaky, and without realizing it that morning, he'd been so distracted by his own thoughts that he'd idly managed to cast a spell that left a small raincloud lingering over his head for nearly an hour before he managed to rid himself of it.

He knew that he was mental for it, for being worried about any of this. He and Hermione had been together ages now. They loved each other, and this was the next thing. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with that bloody amazing woman, but there was still the slightest bit of worry that she'd think better of it— of him— and tell him to sod off. He hadn't had thoughts like that, when it came to Hermione, in ages, but somehow it'd all come flooding back in the hours before the wedding.

Even standing there, waiting for her to walk down the aisle, he tried to push those thoughts away, tried not to look too nervous, like his stomach didn't feel like a crumpled bit of parchment. At least, if it all went sour, he only really knew a handful of people who'd turned up today. And Charlie wasn't George or Ginny, so he wouldn't give him too hard a time about it.

But the thing Ron didn't expect, standing there feeling like he might pass out, what he hadn't prepared himself for, was how she looked when he finally saw her. Because once he finally saw Hermione in her dress, walking toward him, this bloody amazing woman who'd chosen him when she could have had anyone, all the worry melted away. The parchment uncrumpled itself, and he was left grinning so hard he couldn't imagine ever being this happy again in his life.


All throughout the morning, Hermione's heart fluttered in her chest. Even as she listened to the guests mingling in the distance, there was something about the day that didn't feel quite real, even as she worked on zipping her dress and arranging her hair just so. While she had asked a guest or two for help on occasion, Hermione spent most of the morning preparing on her own, letting the enormity of everything that had led her and Ron to this point sink in. She had known, practically since their first year at Hogwarts, that Ron was a person whom Hermione would spend the rest of her years standing alongside. But the depth of what they felt for one another, the deepening of those emotions as they bloomed into something deeper and intangible, was something she never could have anticipated all of those years ago.

Now, she couldn't imagine wanting a single day away from him. As Hermione gazed in the mirror, she noticed how it softened her appearance. Her cheeks, dusted pink even without the help of blush. Quietly, she stole a moment to peek through the window, where Ron and Charlie were speaking in the distance. Everything about the day felt right. Everything was coming together, the final missing pieces of the puzzle.

By the time she made her way to the aisle, Hermione was already beaming, fingers trembling as they held onto her bouquet. Petals of light pink and orange lined the path she took, guests turned their heads to rest upon the bride, and sweet woodwind music played in the distance — but in the moment, Hermione only had eyes for Ron. As she came to a stop across from him, she reached a hand out to lace with his own, and silently murmured, I love you.


Ron had spent hours the day before trying to put the right words together, even though he knew that he was rubbish at that sort of thing. Reports, papers… mostly he just tried to get out of doing them, but this wasn't something Ron wanted to skive off. It was more important than almost anything.

In the end, he'd come up with something, and he'd written it out on a bit of parchment that he'd folded up and put in the pocket of his jacket, but he'd begun to think he wouldn't need it after all.

"Hermione, you've been my best friend, my teacher, my soul mate. You've managed to put up with me for over a decade now, and if you were going to think better of it, I s'pose you would've done it by now. Sometimes— right now, especially— I can't believe I've gotten this lucky. I love you, Hermione. You've been making me a better person since we first met, all those years ago as kids. And I promise that— that I'll keep working at it for as long as we're together, which is the rest of our lives, I hope. I promise we'll keep learning from each other, and that I'll always be there.

"A long time ago, I got lost, and it took a little ball of light to bring me back to you, to bring me home again. But I promise to never leave again. You're my home now, and you always will be."


As Hermione listened to Ron speak, she felt her chest grow tight and her eyes mist over, but she did her best to take the whole moment in, committing every detail to memory. The bright blue of Ron's eyes, as clear as the sky above. The way his hair caught the sunlight. The gentle brush of the wind as he spoke, grass waving merrily in the distance. She ducked her head for only a moment, smiling to herself, knowing that she could never forget the way that her heart felt right then, full to burst.

"As a child, I had always been somewhat of a precocious little thing. I knew how to consume books as though I was breathing air, and I kept my nose buried in them, day after day, like they were my entire world. But from the moment that you entered my life, Ron, you showed me that there was so much more to the world than what I could learn in the shelves of a library. You taught me the value of friendship, you showed me what true bravery meant. And what you taught me, above all else, is about love. What it's like to grow together, and what it's like to feel as though there's another person in the world who completes you. Who makes your world whole. Who shows you, every day, how life can be lived to its fullest.

"You say that you feel like you're lucky, but I feel like I've been the fortunate one to have found my soulmate so early in life. And I can't wait to spend the rest of that life with you."

Trembling hands relaxed as Hermione watched Ron slide the ring onto her finger, and she glanced up with a soft laugh. His warm arms wrapped around her, and Hermione pushed herself onto her toes, hand curling against his chest as she pressed her lips to his.


[ gathering for ronmione wedding! let us know if you're requesting ron, hermione, or both! tag in and be merry. ♥ ]

Comments

[dragonsandquidditch]

"I can hardly believe it," he tells them with a laugh and a shake of his head. "And you can't blame me, can you? I need another young mind to corrupt with thoughts of dragons and Quidditch. Kidding," he adds with an exaggerated wink and another chuckle. "Truly, it wouldn't be a Weasley wedding without one of us giving you both grief, now would it?"

[teaandsympathy]

Molly did loosen her hold on Charlie after a moment, but didn't step away yet. She shook her head, though, at his question. "There isn't much about today I can believe," she admitted, perhaps more honestly than she should have. "I keep hoping it's all a dream, and I'll wake up with you all snug in your beds at the Burrow and in need of a good breakfast to come downstairs to."

[ghost_holder]

"Never," Aggie says sweetly.

She's heard of Hogwarts, though only in vague mentions from Hermione. What she's heard makes her long to see it. She can only imagine what it must be like to go to a school where magic is taught and freely used rather than hidden in shame.

"I would have loved to go to a magic school, even if my grades weren't good."

[beyoncepadthai]

Mindy's really just here to look. She waits until after the ceremony, too, and she is totally too good of a person to steal their food and booze when she's not invited. But there was no way she was missing out on Ron and Hermione's wedding just because she had the misfortune of not knowing they were in the city, or engaged, until way too late.

It's practically her right as a Harry Potter fan, anyway, she's pretty sure.

Of course it's gorgeous. It's kind of annoying, these kids getting married before she's even met The One, but given the amount of knocked up twenty-somethings she sees on a daily basis it seems like a growing trend. Spotting a glimpse of white she figures must be Hermione, it's all she can do not to rush over and say hello. She resists.

God, she deserves a medal for this. Or at least one of those pastries on the table right over there.

[exitthewallflower]

"I am totally proud of you, you know." I slide into the seat next to Aggie, handing her a small plate of goodies and a drink. I'd been running late, but I made it just in time for the beginning of the ceremony and just in time to realize that Aggie had somehow stumbled across the mother of the groom. Go figure. Only here, right?

[ghost_holder]

She smiles, glad that Barbara made it. She's not sure if Barbara actually knows the wedding party, but she knows her guardian does like to meet the people in her life. With Hermione as one of her teachers, it seems doubly important.

"It does solve the problem of not knowing what to give as a wedding gift."

[dragonsandquidditch]

"Blimey, did you just arrive in Darrow today?" Charlie pulls back, staring at her when she mentions that. "God, well. That's one way to spend your first day in an alternate dimension, I suppose."

"I'm always in need of a good breakfast to come downstairs too," he points out with a wicked grin. "If you're offering."

[ferretface_git]

He'd had no intention of showing up at this fiasco. He certainly didn't give a damn about either of them, would really rather forget that phase of his life, if he could, the island included. There was absolutely no reason for him to show his face.

And yet, he found himself apparating to the edge of their property, just as the ceremony had come to a close. The guests were milling about, now, wine in hand, their happiness and warmth palpable.

He didn't belong there.

Still, when he caught sight of another crasher lingering on the outskirts, he apparated to her side. "If you're here to try and steal the groom away, I think you might be a bit late."

[teaandsympathy]

Molly nodded. "Just hours. If I hadn't run into a girl who was coming here today, or if she hadn't asked if I knew Ron, well... I would've missed the wedding entirely." Scanning the people milling around the garden, Molly found the girl and nodded toward her. "Agatha. She's a dear, and would be, even if I didn't owe her."

Pushing away thoughts of what she might have missed, Molly turned her thoughts to something much easier. Fussing over her children. "You are looking a bit undernourished. Haven't had a proper fry up lately, I suppose."

[teaandsympathy]

"And why wouldn't your grades be good?" Molly asked, never happy at seeing a child talk down about themselves. It just set them up for heartache, to her mind. "Hogwarts has some of the finest teachers around." Well... "Or it did."

Then a thought occurred to her that hadn't in all the rush of information before. "Wait. Are you saying there isn't a school of magic here?" Of course it wouldn't have been the same as Hogwarts, no place could be, but no school of magic at all, that was hard to believe.

[ghost_holder]

"I don't know," Aggie says, smiling a little. "I only mean that I'd have been happy just to have a school of magic. The world I came from before here..." She frowns a little and then shakes her head. It's not that she doesn't want to tell Molly her story, but it's just too dark for such a happy day.

"No, not really. I've learned a lot of magic from the different people here, like Hermione. And my guardian, Barbara, doesn't have magic but she lets me take classes in dancing and martial arts and things."

[teaandsympathy]

"No school for magic," she murmured half to herself, shaking her head in disbelief or regret or both, even Molly couldn't have said. "That's a shame. Hogwarts was unlike anywhere else. But I suppose I'll have a lot to get used to here."

[ghost_holder]

"I go to regular school, for math and history and things," Aggie says. "It's a lot different from the things I learned in Blithe Hollow, but it was also three hundred years in the past."

[cleverness]

It wasn't long after the vows were exchanged that Hermione lost her shoes, preferring to brave the grassy fields barefoot and dancing with everyone she encountered. She'd managed to find the perfect angle at which to hold her skirt to prevent it from tripping her — perhaps with the help of a little magic as well — and was overjoyed to spend her time celebrating with friends and family.

Spotting Flavia by the refreshments, Hermione hurried over, beaming widely.

"Flavia! I'm so glad that you could come," she greets, cheeks pink with excitement. "Your dress looks absolutely lovely. Would you like a piece of the wedding cake? I don't know how we'll ever finish it all."

[cleverness]

Words escape Hermione when she finally spots Agatha in the wedding party, having heard the story of how Molly managed to find her way to the ceremony. She's cried enough today that there shouldn't be any tears left, and yet Hermione's cheeks are wet when she makes her way over to Agatha, quickly reaching out and not minding the potential of staining her dress as she crouches down to give the girl a tight hug.

"Agatha," she finally manages after a moment. "Agatha, thank you so much. I don't know how the two of you managed such a fortuitous meeting, but thank you for guiding Ron's mother here to the wedding. I can't begin to explain how much it means to the both of us."

[cleverness]

With a softly overwhelmed sob, Hermione quickly raised both of her hands to her face, face warm and tears already threatening to spill over. Having spent so many years over at the Weasleys' residence, seeing Molly arrive was akin to having her own mother at her wedding. Warm, welcoming, and above all, exactly what Darrow needed in order to feel like home.

"I can't believe you're here," Hermione admitted, sounding far too young as she reached her arms out to cling to Molly in a hug, trying to keep her breath even. "I feel like I'm dreaming right now. Everything about this day, I... I don't know what to say. I'm so happy that you made it."

Hermione turned to glance at Ron, trying to dry one of her cheeks with the back of a hand. "I suppose if I ever believed in signs, now would be the time," she joked with a broken laugh, holding her free hand out to pull Ron back into the embrace.

[pointzerothree]

Once, what at least feels like a long time ago, Eduardo is pretty sure he would just about have gone crazy at the prospect of being invited to the wedding of two Harry Potter characters. He wasn't as into the book series as some other people he knew were, but he enjoyed them a lot, and even accounting for the fact that he would have had to see it as a possibility in the first place, something like this would have seemed like an unbelievably big deal.

It's still that, but now, it's just because it's someone he cares about walking down the aisle. He'd never realized it before, but he's pretty sure that Hermione is the first friend of his to get married, which seems quietly significant in its own right. It makes it hard not to wonder, just a little, about what the future might hold for him, especially seeing the way Hermione and Ron look at each other. The feeling he sees reflected there is one he's incredibly familiar with.

For the time being, though, all of that takes a back burner. It would be difficult to focus on anything other than the events of the afternoon, anyway, with such a nice gathering that he's just glad he's gotten to be a part of, everything about as beautiful as he would have expected it to be. Waiting for an opportunity to greet the bride, he heads over to get a drink, barely able to stop smiling, the mood fairly infectious.

[driven_as_hell]

Emmett is pretty sure it's the sort of thing that's supposed to carry a lot of weight, going as someone's date to a wedding. After all, it's primarily for Elle that he's here, being passingly acquainted with the bride and not having met the groom yet. Instead, it's as natural as everything else has been with her, holding her hand as the ceremony comes to an end, smiling down at her. Whatever it means, he's glad to be here.

When he can, he keeps mostly to her side, not knowing most of the other people here, either. She's far better at mingling, anyway. Still, he offers up a smile and a nod of greeting for someone passing by. He doesn't have to be close to either the bride or groom to be thoroughly enjoying the occasion.

[ghost_holder]

"I never thought much of weddings, in Blithe Hollow," Aggie admits. "They were never as lovely as this." She looks up at the beautiful decorations, pointedly away from Charlie even as she hands him the packet of tissues she'd been told to carry. Being the peculiar--and dead--sort, Aggie rarely finds herself moved to cry, but now she can see why it was insisted upon.

[ghost_holder]

The strength of Hermione's embrace and emotion are so startling that Aggie doesn't know what to say for a moment besides, "Aggie. Please call me Aggie."

It's been a strange, wonderfully lucky day. If Barbara hadn't been running late or Aggie hadn't decided to walk or a hundred other tiny things. She's just lucky that Mrs. Weasley had given her name so quickly, making the decision quick and easy to make.

"It was just, you know..." If Yuuko were here, Aggie thinks she'd have used that word she likes so much. Hitsuuzen. "Everything lined up."

[teaandsympathy]

Muggle school, then, but this was a Muggle city mostly from what Molly could see. But then... Molly's eyes widened. "Three hundred years? Really? Well, you did say time does strange things here."

[dragonsandquidditch]

"And the entire city would have known your wrath," he tells her, unable to resist teasing his mum just a little bit. He would have felt awful, had she not been able to attend. His mother always did excel at functions like weddings; it's one of the many ways that make her such a great mother.

"Oh, yes, we've met!" He says when she points out the witch he'd run into at the festival. "She seems like a lovely young girl. She was very keen on dragons when we spoke." This might be something of an exaggeration purely to wind his mum up a bit.

"Nothing in Romania compares to your cooking, ma," he tells her.

[dragonsandquidditch]

"Oh, thank you," he tells her, gratefully accepting the tissues before putting them to use. "I admit, I'm not the wedding sort, myself but today has been beautiful all around. Being the older brother of the groom though, I might be biased," he admits with a sheepish grin. "What is this Blithe Hollow like, where you're from?"

[ghost_holder]

"I left from 2012 though...it's..." Aggie frowns, because it's a very dark story for sch a happy wedding.

"It's a long story and it's not a very nice one for a day like today."

[ghost_holder]

"Awful," Aggie says flatly. She'd seen glimpses of that awful town while she was buried, waiting. They had made a mockery and profited from her death.

"It's much better here."