After The War (Romione & Hinny fan fiction)

Dancing With You

She shouldn't slow down.
Her legs hurt like hell.
She shouldn't stop now, she knew that.
Her feet were on fire.
She couldn't stop now.
Every muscle in her body was was screaming for her to stop.
But she wouldn't stop. Not now.
Her knees ached under her weight. It felt like she'd been running for ages.
The girl kept running.

"Hermione!" Ron's familiar voice almost made her jump. It almost made her turn.
"What do you want?" she snarled.
"It's Crookshanks. I found him in our room. I'd warned you he shouldn't be let around the house when we're not there. Your dress -- it's been teared to shreds."
Hermione's eyes widened. She kept walking. Ron wasn't that far behind now.
"The wedding is canceled." she heard him say.
"Why?" she cried without looking at him, "Can't you marry me in another dress?"
"No!" Ron shouted, "It's tradition, Hermione! You can't get married without a proper dress. Mum would kill me."
"She wouldn't."
"She would." he argued, his steps getting heavier as he tried to keep up.
"If you're so willing for us to get married, Ron - if you really want me - you'd take me as your bride even in a coconut bikini. Who cares about the dress, anyway?" she cried.
She could hear the panic in her own voice now.
"Have you got any idea of who we are?" Ron sounded angrier than ever. "We're famous, Hermione, have you forgotten that? There will be reporters and fans and photos. I refuse to get married like that!"
Hermione felt tears threatening her eyes. "We could at least -"
"Shut up!" Ron snapped. "Please."
Hermione couldn't take it anymore. She turned. A scream left her lips, it was both horror and surprise. It hung in the air between them.
Ron's face was blurred, as if he'd been a drawing someone had tried to erase, but hadn't done the job properly.

"Hermione."
She felt hands on her shoulders, shaking her gently.
"Please, Mione. Wake up."
Ron? But then...
"Ron?"
"I'm here, Mione. I'm here."
She forced her eyes to open, and found herself in her and Ron's bedroom. The window she'd forgotten to close the night before was wide open, letting in a chilly air that made the sweat on her feel like ice. She shivered.
Ron noticed and hurriedly closed the window. He hesitated a moment.
"Mione, do you want me to --"
"Stay." she said, "Please."
Ron took fresh sheets from the wardrobe and laid it around her shoulders, then proceeded to strip out the damp bedclothes. He laid near her in the bed, and Hermione was grateful to lean into him and feel home again.

She didn't know how much they stayed there in silence, but she eventually fell back asleep and when she opened her eyes again the sunlight was streaming in the window, filling up the room.
Ron was sitting up on the bed near her already, reading a letter that bore his elder brother's signature.
When he spotted Hermione's opened eyes he smiled at her and folded the letter back into the envelope, "Good morning."
"Morning."
Ron kissed the top of her head. "Happy birthday, sweetheart."
"Thank you." Hermione popped up her head on her elbow to look at him, but she winced at the sudden pain the movement provoked in her head.
"Are you all right?" he whispered.
Hermione nodded. "It was just a dream."
"Wanna talk about it?"
She shook her head.
"Very well then. I made breakfast." He was meaning before she'd screamed like a banshee, Hermione knew that. Had it been very loud? For how long had Ron been trying to wake her when she'd finally opened her eyes?
She was too tired to think. But thoughts came anyway.

It was her birthday. September 19th.
That meant her wedding was in five days.

That also meant she was twenty-four now. If she looked back, she had thousands of memories that made her feel like she'd lived forever, but at the same time all of the memories were so vivid it seemed like yesterday that she'd crossed the Great Hall for the first time.
Just five years before she'd been having her last year at Hogwarts, after all.

Ron returned with a tray just a few minutes later. On it there was an assortment of her favourite flavors of Cauldron Cakes and croissants, along with a cup of tea and hand-made cookie on which Ron had written 'happy birthday love' as neatly as he could.
She grinned. "Thanks Ron!"