I felt a bit nauseous as we spun around so when we landed I grabbed on to the closest object I could find, which of course, was none other than George.
“Easy there,” he said jokingly.
I smiled, and felt a tingling in my stomach.
“Where are we?”Ginny asked.
“Ottery St. Catchpole,” George said.
“I know that,” Ginny said, “but where’s our house? I don’t see it anywhere.”
“Let’s walk around for a bit,” George suggested, “we can ask for directions.”
“George, we can’t just ask for directions,” Ginny said exasperatedly, “muggles aren’t going to know where the Burrow is.”
George ignored her and walked up to the nearest house, knocking on the door. An old woman answered, looking expectantly at him.
“I was wondering if you knew where the Burrow was?” he asked politely.
“Why it’s right there!” she said, pointing, “You don’t recognize your own house?”
We all stared at the house, and sure enough it was the Burrow. It was cleaned up quite a bit, presumably for the wedding.
“Thank you!” we all called as we walked toward the house.
As we walked through the front door we were instantly bombarded by Mrs. Weasley.
“I thought you guys had gotten lost!” she said, “I was so worried.”
We trudged upstairs and put away our things.
The rest of the night spun around in a blur of red hair and tons of people. I was exhausted by the bed time, and I collapsed into dreamless slumber.
*
I woke up early the next day, and started to work on my hair and makeup. I knew from Yule Ball experience that it took a long time to make myself look good. Ginny joined me, and within about an hour we were ready.
We walked gracefully downstairs and a collective gasp sounded around the room.
“You two look so beautiful!” Mrs. Weasley said tearfully.
“You look nice,” Harry said to both of us, but mostly to Ginny.
Neither George nor Ron approached me directly, but they were both staring.
The whole family made their way to the white tent that was set up outside the Burrow, and the ceremony began. It was rather boring, but very happy. The whole time I watched Bill and Fleur together, I was hoping that I, one day, could find someone I loved as much as they loved each other.
While I was thinking this, I made slight eye contact with George. He nodded at me, and my decision was sealed.
*
I walked around the reception after the wedding, grabbing finger food from passing waiters and looking for Ron. I needed to tell him gently that I had chosen George.
I finally found him standing near one of the pillars, at the end of the tent.
“Hey Ron,” I said.
“You chose him,” he said flatly, without greeting, “I understand why you did it. I don’t need you to try and make me feel better, or tell me we can still be friends.”
“Ron—“ I said.
“I’m not angry Hermione,” he said, “just give me some time to cope with it and I’ll be fine. We can go back to the way we used to be.”
I wanted to say more to him, but I knew that it would just make matters worse.
I hugged him and walked away, looking for George.
When I finally found him, I saw he was talking to Ginny.
“Hey,” I said to both of them.
“I need some more punch,” Ginny said, walking away and looking meaningfully at me.
“I talked to Ron,” I said.
“You chose him then?” George said, sounding disappointed.
“No,” I said, “I told him that we just needed to be friends.”
“Oh,” he said, “so what does this mean.”
“I want to be with you,” I said.
George smiled—and Merlin, I loved that smile. It lit up the room.
I was happy.
A/N: Well it's the end! Thanks for sticking with me. I'm not exactly happy with this story, but its my first finished short story! Cheers, and check out my others!
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