EPILOGUE:
Hermione's POV:
Watching Alice glide down the aisle was like a dream. Silky white material fluttered in the slight breeze, her golden eyes were shining like the brightest suns and her spiky hair was an inky halo around her head. She was stunning, dressed in a white satin dress-robes embroidered with crystals that flickered different colors with each movement.
As she reached me the look of pure love on her face, combined with the flowing smile escaping her pink painted lips, made tears well up in my eyes, threatening to spill down my face.
She reached out and gently grasped my hands, pulling them up between us, threading our fingers together. Before us Minerva, dressed in the traditional rich purple robes of a minister, started speaking, but her words washed over me, and for once I wasn't listening to my former professor- all I could do, all I could think about, was the tidal wave of emotions I was experiencing. And most prominent of those emtions, my love for the beautiful, radiant creature in front of me. Alice.
And then Alice's rosy lips parted, and she was speaking. "I've waited a hundred years to find my soul mate. Every day I prayed would be the day I found them. Every day I would dream about what they could be like, but each and every dream, pales in comparison to you. You are both nothing like I expected, and everything I could ever have dreamed of. I love you, Hermione. I love you more then I've ever loved anything or anyone in my entire existence. And nothing would make me happier then spending the rest of my existence by your side. When I'm with you, I can't see what my future holds, but I do know, with absolute certainty, that I don't have one without you."
I was crying now, crying silent tears that streamed down my cheeks, half blinding me. Then it was my turn, and I was choking out words. "I was drowning, Alice. I was starting to wonder why I was even trying, trying to be happy, trying to make it through each day. And then I met you. Alice, when I say 'I do', I'm not just repeating words spoken millions of times over. I'm saying I'll be here for you forever. You are the woman of my dreams, my pixie in shining armor, my treasure, and I'm never happier, more at peace or more in love then when I'm with you. I know I'm not perfect, that what we have is about as far from conventional as possible, but I also know that we fit together perfectly, and that when I say I love you, I mean it. I love you."
Alice's eyes are swimming with tears she can't shed, and then Minerva is speaking again. "Do you have the rings?" Harry steps forwards and presents the rings, two slim shining bands of silver, embedded with a row of tiny diamonds that glittered like stars. Although you couldn't see it, I knew that on the inside of the band there was a single Latin phrase etched- In Aeternum. Forever.
It's my turn to speak again, and I have to take a deep breath before I recite the words I memorized the night before. "I, Hermione Jane Granger-Swan, take thee, Mary Alice Branden-Cullen, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for all of eternity. I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, a symbol that with all that I am, and all that I have, I love you and honor you." My voice shook as I slid the ring onto Alice's dainty finger. Alice smiles, a beaming, radiant smile, before speaking.
"I, Mary Alice Branden-Cullen, take thee, Hermione Jane Granger-Swan, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for all of eternity. I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, a symbol that with all that I am, and all that I have, I love you and honor you." Alice told me, her eyes a brilliant gold as she looked straight at me, even as her dainty fingers slid a ring onto my own.
Minerva smiled at us, a suspiciously watery smile, then started speaking again, her voice loud and authoritive, with a strong undercurrent of emotion. "Then with the power vested in me as Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, member of the International Confederation of Witches and Wizards, Chief Witch of the Wizengamot, and Grand Sorcereress, I declare you bonded for life. You may kiss your bride."
I pulled Alice tight to me, and she wrapped her hand in my hair then pulled my lips down to hers.
The kiss itself was exquisite. I had never felt anything like it before, it was like liquid fire was running through my veins instead of blood, and every nerve in my body was alive with electricity.
I lost myself in Alice's touch, the feel of her lips on mine, our bodies pressed tightly together, her arms cradling me, as stars began pouring from the tip of Minerva's wand, and raining over us. Colors and light engulfed us, and I could feel the forces around me, and throughout my body. I knew, instinctively, that it was Alice loving me, our souls entwining, merging, bonding. As our kiss deepened the light became blinding and I had to close my eyes. A bizarre sensation ran through me, causing me to cry out softly, but not in pain.
Slowly, brightness faded, and our lips broke apart, my need for oxygen making my head spin. I hadn't even opened my eyes before I realized that I felt different, but the change was hard to quantify. I couldn't figure out how to define it. Then when I opened my eyes, I found myself staring directly into the most brilliant pair of shining emerald green eyes I'd ever seen, eyes so bright, it seemed like they were actually glowing.
However, after a second look, I realized that it wasn't because the eyes in front of me were so vibrant that they were glowing themselves, instead it was Alice's face that seemed to have an iridescent quality to it. A sheen of happiness had been applied to her flawless skin like a clear gloss. Alice's eyes, which had been gold for as long as I had known her, were now a rich, vibrant green that anyone looking at them might have trouble believing they were natural. In truth, I wasn't even sure that we would be able to pass them off as contacts.
It took me a second to expand my focus so I could take in all of the figure before me, which forced me to, yet again, re-evaluate- it wasn't just Alice's face that was glowing, it was Alice herself, and it wasn't the kind of sparkling a vampire put off when hit by direct sunlight, rather it seemed her entire body was practically aglow with unadulterated joy.
It was hard to tell which was more powerful, the look of happiness on Alice's face, or the look of contentment.
As I stared at my soul-mate, the woman who was now my wife, and I hers, simply being in her presence made me feel euphoric. Ignoring the audience, the small crowd of friends and family watching us, I let myself take in the other changes Alice had gone through from our bonding. Some were so subtle that they might be unnoticed by all, however, I had spent more than just a little time exploring and loving every inch of Alice's body, as of late, so even the smallest of changes were obvious to me.
Besides the difference in eye color, the second thing that I noticed was that Alice's skin was slightly less pale. Although still creamy white, her skin no longer seemed to have the same kind of chalk white consistency of other vampires. Her hair was glossy, and pitch black as a raven's feathers, but it was several inches longer, and it framed her face in a striking fashion. The length helping to soften her narrow and angular features. It made her look older, less like a teenager, more like a young woman.
Slowly, I reached up with a tentative hand and the tips of my fingers brushed gently across the skin of Alice's cheek. Then, in what I would later regard as one of my top three least eloquent moments of all time, I finally got up the nerve to speak. "Hi." I smiled, and Alice laughed, a bright, amused, twinkling sound. And instead of immediately responding verbally, Alice pressed her body forwards against me and captured my lips, again, with a gentle kiss, but one full of emotion. Even that gentle kiss sent electricity pulsing through me, my body practically vibrating in response to her touch.
The kiss lasted for several moments before the catcalls from the audience- or, to be more specific, from Emmett- caused Alice pulled back a bit and roll her eyes at her brother, before murmuring softly in reply, "Hi yourself."
I laughed, wrapping my arms around Alice, turning to face my friends, my family, a massive smile on my face, as I held my soul-mate tight to me, knowing that she was mine forever, and I was hers. That thought alone was enough to cause a tear to slide down my cheek as the enormity of that sentiment settled in my mind. I turned to Alice, and wasn't surprised to see her eyes shining with tears too, tears that she couldn't shed, but were still real.
"I love you." I smiled, and Alice sniffed.
"I love you too. Now stop crying, you're smudging your make-up. It took me forever to get it right." I can't help but snort slightly at her statement.
As we made our way down the tiny aisle, marked by a row of white roses on either side of the sand, I felt like I was floating. Above us, the sun was slowly setting, lighting up the sky and the ocean in red, pink, orange and gold- Alice had decided on a beach wedding, one under the sunset- she was right, as usual. It was perfect.
The guests, a small crowd of only our closest friends, began lining up to give congratulations, as was custom, and it was everything I could do not to cry. Fleur wrapped her arms around me as she dabbed at her eyes with a piece of silk, reminding me of her mother at the Veela's own wedding. "You are so beautiful, ma cherie, I am so happy for you." Fleur sniffed, delicately.
"And you're glowing, Fleur." I smiled at her, and she looks down at the small curve of her now visible stomach, at the young life growing inside her, and pulls a face.
"Being pregnant is nozzing like zee movies," she grumbles, "I am sore, cranky, tired and fat." I laughed, and smiled at her.
"I love you Fleur." I tell my bridesmaid, and she smiled.
"I know, ma ange. Now enjoy zee reception." She ordered, before gliding off.
"She's beautiful." Alice commented, staring at Fleur wide-eyed, once the Veela was out of earshot.
"She is," I agreed, before grinning at my bride, "but nowhere near as beautiful as you, ma petit lutin." Alice's lips twitched.
"My little elf?"
"Pixie," I corrected, "You look like a pixie... although," I touched her hair, gently, curling the longer strands around a finger, "less so now, my dear."
"You sound very English when you speak like that," Alice snickered, before reaching up to touch her hair, running her fingers through it, marveling.
"I am never ever, ever cutting it. I've had short hair for over a century, and it wasn't even my choice. The orderlies chopped it all off when I went into the asylum." She pouted, "Before that my hair was long enough to sit on, just like a proper lady from that time."
"If you wanted longer hair, you should have just told me," I tell her, leaning over and pressing my lips against hers, briefly. "I could have grown it to your ankles with a flick of my wand."
"Now you tell me? Now you tell me!" Alice asked, incredulously, "do you have any idea how many different hairstyles I could have had for our wedding?" I couldn't help it. I laughed and laughed and laughed, attracting several amused looks.
"Oh sweetheart, you're gorgeous, you know?"
"So are you. And now we're going to live happily ever after." She sighed. I instantly winced.
"Oh bloody hell, Alice, now you've jinxed us!"
"Huh?" She asked, confused.
"Whenever someone says that, you know something bad is going to happen."
"What on earth could possibly go wrong now?" She asked.
"Merlin knows," I sighed, before smiling, "let's dance, my beautiful bride."
"Yes. Let's dance." Alice smiled, pulling me into her arms.