After The War (Romione & Hinny fan fiction)

Dancing With You

Hermione forced her jaw shut and glanced briefly at Ginny.
Ginny grinned at her and disappeared somewhere behind her, probably to pick up her veil.

Suddenly Mr Granger was at her side, and Hermione was grateful to see someone familiar to loop her arm with, at least.
"You're late." Mr Granger wishpered, looking at the crowd of people. "But that's nothing to worry about. Are you ready, honey?"
Hermione nodded. Just as she took that decision her feet didn't sink in the sand anymore, the beat of her heart steadied and her face relaxed.
As she walked towards the aisle, she recognized a few faces in the crowd at her sides.
There were McGonagall, Dean, Seamus, Luna and Rolf along with little Lorcan and Lysander. She saw Neville waving at her in the corner of her eye and she smiled politely.

As soon as she caught a glimpse of Ron her smile turned into a grin.
He was wearing a black suit and his hair weas impeccably tidy. When his eyes met hers, Hermione recognized the twinkle in them. They only twinkled that way when he was really happy.
He took her hand and kissed her knuckles.
He leaned down to whisper in her ear, "You look lovely."

A shiver went down Hermione's spine, and she knew it had nothing to do with the wind.

She held his hand all the time while the vows were read. They exchanged rings. When it was time to kiss her husband, Hermione was the first to move and press her lips to Ron's.
They kissed as long as the cheers of the crowd lasted, then Hermione took a step back and her eyes met Harry's in the crowd. She felt her cheeks heat up and immediately looked away.
She hated when her cheeks betrayed her like that.

In less than ten minutes all the guests were sitting at the long tables and the sound of the sea covered by chattering and laughter.
Bottles of champagne flied over the tables and filled every empty glass they could find. Trays of appetizers were being chased by levitating bruschetta and veggie roll-ups.
Kreacher had evidently managed to persuade the Hogwarts Head Chef and the other eleves to come, because the roast and potatoes were exactly as Hermione remembered. Merlin, she missed that place.

"Oh, hi Hermione. You're not going to dance, then?" Luna's voice came from behind her shoulder, so Hermione turned to find her friend smiling at her.
"I... Maybe later." she took a sip of champagne and scanned the crowd, trying to find Ron's flaming hair. Unfortunately, that resulted to be more difficult than expected because there were way too many Weasleys attending the wedding.
"I'm waiting for that dance." said Luna casually.
"Mhm. I'm sure you won't miss it since we're going to be opening the dance, anyway."
"Thanks. I'll go and try to find Rolf now, I think I saw Lysander hiding behind a woman's dress over there. He keeps running away."
"All right. See you later, Luna. Thank you for the vase, by the way. It's really beautiful."
"You're welcome." Luna said in her distant voice, "It's been quite hard to paint, but the effect's all worth it, I think."
Hermione smiled, "I still can't believe you painted all that by yourself! It's huge --"
"Who painted what?" Neville was suddenly at Hermione's side, a girl with blonde hair pulled up in a long braid behind him.
Luna had mysteriously disappeared.
"Hello Neville. You didn't happen to see Ron, did you?"
"Yeah! He's over there with Dean. Oh look, he's coming here."
"Hullo my wife! Here you are." Ron's hand went to Hermione's back.
"Here I am."
"Hey Ron, congratulations!" said Neville brightly.
"Thank you, Neville."
"This is Hannah, by the way. You've already met her at our Dumbledore's Army meeting, of course."
The girl with the blonde braid grinned at them. "Congrats to the both of you!" she said cheerily, then she turned to Hermione "Your dress is lovely by the way."
"Thanks. So, you two are like... Together?"
Hannah gave her one of her radiant smiles. "Yes. We've been going out for a few months now, haven't we?" She took Neville's hand in hers.
Hermione made her best not to drop her jaw in surprise. Hannah... Abbott, of course! The Hufflepuff girl that had been in Dumbledore's Army for years. Why on earth had it taken it so much to recognize her?

"Well, I can't say that was very expected!" Ron said. Hermione nudged him in the arm with her elbow.
"Well Hannah, it's been great to see you again." Hermione said, "Are you lads hungry? The cake should be here in a couple minutes. I'm going to see if I can find Ginny."

The cake turned out to be just as massive as expected. In fact, Hermione thought Mrs Weasley really had outdone herself.
Butterflies hovered over the three-tiered wedding cake decorated with pink swags and roses.
A thin frosting inscription read 'And they lived happily ever after.'
Hermione found it difficult to stop smiling even as she lifted the knife to cut the first slice of cake. As she proceeded to slice the cake, she noticed a small writing on the side she'd missed before. The frosting was so thin the sentence wasn't readable if you didn't look closely enough.
It declared:

I'll be your Keeper.
I'll catch you and I'll carry you without ever letting you fall.
You're safe now, as long as you never let go.

Hermione glanced around to make sure no one was looking, then cut the large piece of cake with the inscription and kept that plate for herself.

She found Ron again only when it was time for them to dance.
She stood up on tiptoes and wishpered in his ear, careful to keep her voice low,
"Thanks for the sentence, it was really tasty."
Ron's eyes twinkled. "You found it, then. You smart woman."
"Shut up. Don't make me feel old."
"Smart girl, then. Okay now?"
"Quite. When did you become such a poet, by the way? I thought you didn't like writing."
"I don't." Ron confirmed, giving her the grin Hermione was secretly longing for. "But I did it for you."
Before Hermione could reply, music began to play.

"When you're ready, Mrs Weasley."
Hermione nodded. She put a hand Ron's back, an amused smile curling her lips. Ron flashed her another grin and his hands went to her hips.

So they danced.

And danced.

And danced.

And kept dancing after the sun had disappeared somewhere under the sea, and even all the guests had left the dancing floor.

Then, as sweat clinged to the boiling skin under her wedding dress and her feet hurt that Hermione knew she'd made the right choice.

She belonged there, in Ron's arms.

He was her friend, her soul mate, her lover.

She could see her future laying there in front of her, waiting to be written. It was blank parchment, and this time she would be the one holding the feather.

She and Ron would write their future together, side by side. At some point, their hands would meet under the desk and she'd hold his hand while writing.

But in that very moment, all Hermione could think of was that she was dancing with Ronald Weasley on a beach in California, her feet hurt, but she wouldn't stop. She couldn't stop.

She'd been running after happiness her entire life, she realized, but now that she'd finally caught it she'd hold on and she intended to never let go.