cleverness: (laughter)
Hermione Granger ([personal profile] cleverness) wrote2014-08-30 01:17 pm

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

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. ♥ ]
thefourthone: (wtf and also stfu)

[personal profile] thefourthone 2014-09-07 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
It takes until the reception until Steph even notices her doppelgänger. Her taller, prettier doppelgänger and damn, that is just not fair. Evil twins should not be dressed better than her.

She does some subtle recon, but clone Steph seems to know everyone at the wedding and definitely isn't just there for nefarious purposes. Everything seems perfectly ordinary which is very suspicious.

Finally, Steph goes for the direct approach.

"Sooooo..." She says as she comes up to her twin. Up close, Doppelgänger Steph looks older than her too. "I see that seem to have the same face."
beyondtheblonde: (no more whining and blaming)

[personal profile] beyondtheblonde 2014-09-14 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
"We do, don't we," Elle says, looking at the other girl through slightly narrowed eyes. This isn't even the first time this has happened to her. Since the other her isn't just taking this in stride, she's pretty sure this isn't Caroline, but maybe Caroline thinks she's not Elle. It's so hard to be sure in this city.

"Caroline?" Better to check, she decides.
thefourthone: (wtf and also stfu)

[personal profile] thefourthone 2014-09-15 12:19 am (UTC)(link)
"Caro- there's another one?!" It comes out way louder and higher than Steph intends, but, oh God, there are other hers just wandering around the city!

"How many are there?" Steph asks in what she tries to make a very reasonable and not hysterical tone of voice. "Is this a whole thing?"
beyondtheblonde: (I need a salon)

[personal profile] beyondtheblonde 2014-09-23 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, my god," Elle says, a heavy exhale, and she feels totally bad for this other girl, not to mention kind of embarrassed for the mistake. Like she's supposed to be able to tell them apart! All she knows is there's her and not-her. And also-not-her, apparently. "I am so sorry to break it to you like that. I thought, well, you're not me, so, like, you're probably Caroline, but you are clearly not. So that makes a grand total of three of us, I guess. Which I guess qualifies as a whole thing. It kind of depends on your definition of 'a thing,' but I think it totally counts. I'm Elle."

She almost offers her hand, but that's too weird.
thefourthone: (Default)

[personal profile] thefourthone 2014-09-24 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
She doesn't even know what to say so just brings her hand up in an awkward little wave. "Um, hi. I'm Steph." Their accents are different, now that she's listening, so Elle isn't from some alternate Gotham. Unless it was in California, and some sort of sunny tropical Gotham is too weird to imagine. Probably not Hogwarts either. "So...no chance we were twins separated at birth, is there? Since there's three."
beyondtheblonde: (we both have dreams to make true)

[personal profile] beyondtheblonde 2014-09-27 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
"Probably not," Elle says thoughtfully. "I mean, my mom is not one to keep details to herself, so she'd definitely have mentioned if I had a twin. But maybe you and Caroline. We could all be sisters." Steph is a real cutie, and it's not beyond belief that she might have sisters somewhere. Maybe her dad had kids he didn't know about before he got married, but the timelines are all screwy because of the whole weird multidimensional thing. She's heard a couple people call them doppelgangers, but that's not the only possibility.
thefourthone: (Default)

[personal profile] thefourthone 2014-09-28 10:06 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, maybe..." Steph trails off as she considers that. There's no chance that her parents would have adopted her--she had definitely been an accident, no way did they want a baby--but the coincidence is too weird. "I'm from Gotham. You're from...California? Where's Caroline from?"
beyondtheblonde: (somebody's judgment was poor)

[personal profile] beyondtheblonde 2014-09-29 07:01 pm (UTC)(link)
"Virginia somewhere," Elle says thoughtfully. "Gotham's not near there, is it? That's a big city, right?" She's heard of it for sure. That's where Batman is from, but Darrow's kind of weird. She doesn't really think the whole fictional/not fictional divide affects much of anything, even in this case. It's all just some totally bizarre mish-mash.
thefourthone: (Default)

[personal profile] thefourthone 2014-10-01 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, it's in Jersey." A fact that the rest of New Jersey was not really happy about, but Steph secretly thinks they're just jealous. Most gargoyles (and murder) per capita in the nation, take that!

"Maybe we're related somehow," Steph finally says with a nod. "Or it's a weird alternate universe thing. Or our moms were abducted by aliens and we're clones that were scattered around the world to do...evil alien stuff. I dunno."
beyondtheblonde: (guess you never can tell)

[personal profile] beyondtheblonde 2014-10-01 10:31 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ooh," Elle says with a little shudder, "I hope not. I am way too busy for evil alien stuff. They gotta give a girl a head's up for that! My schedule is packed solid." Already she thinks she likes this one better. She's got a good sense of humor and a good attitude about something is undeniably bizarre. At this point, Elle's pretty sure there just aren't any answers and all she can do is keep rolling with it, hoping for things to work themselves out.
thefourthone: (Default)

[personal profile] thefourthone 2014-10-07 03:33 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, I mean, if I start oozing green blood or something I'll be pretty pissed." If she turned out to be an alien, maybe she'd wind up with super powers or something like Starfire. Or try to destroy the earth. Steph contemplates that for a moment and shakes her head to refocus on Elle.

"I'm 16. You're...older, aren't you?" Elle seems like she really has her shit together, way more than Steph feels.
beyondtheblonde: (looks like I found a cure)

[personal profile] beyondtheblonde 2014-10-12 09:12 pm (UTC)(link)
It takes Elle a moment to answer, mostly because she has to fight with her vocal cords to keep from saying 22. "23," she says, a little triumphant. For the first few months after a birthday, it is an absolute struggle for her to remember the change. "So you're like a baby clone. That is so not how I would expect things to work. But hey, it's Darrow. I guess expecting things to go a certain way is silly around here."
thefourthone: (Default)

[personal profile] thefourthone 2014-10-12 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"Just gotta roll with the punches, I guess." Seeing Elle and watching her own face looking back at her is still super weird but also they're trapped in a parallel universe city, so weird is par for the course. "So- are you in college or something?"

Even though it's not really as though Elle is an adult version of Steph, she still sort of hopes that Elle's kicking ass and taking names being an awesome grown-up.
beyondtheblonde: (but‚ hey‚ last year I was her)

[personal profile] beyondtheblonde 2014-10-14 08:42 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, I actually graduated last year," Elle says. "I'm in law school now. About to start my second year, actually, which is crazy. I totally didn't think I'd make it through the first one when I started." Of course, when she started, she hadn't even been thinking about graduating. The way she figured it, she'd win Warner back before the semester was even over, there'd be a wedding, and then silly things like being a lawyer wouldn't matter. Man, was she ever wrong.
thefourthone: (Default)

[personal profile] thefourthone 2014-10-16 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
"Law school...wow." Steph's a little wide-eyed because, wow, law school. This is clearly the genius cloned alien baby. She laughs, a little embarrassed. "I can barely handle high school."
beyondtheblonde: (then we will see who walks the walk)

[personal profile] beyondtheblonde 2014-10-19 06:45 pm (UTC)(link)
"High school is a nightmare, right?" Elle shakes her head, letting out a laugh. Now that she's in her second year of law school, she has somewhat more control over which courses she's taking, and hard as it is, it's still better than high school. At least she's invested in the material. "You'll get through it, promise. How many years left, two?"