Chapter Text
2005
That day was sunny in The Burrow. A beautiful sun shone down on the entrance, where Hermione Granger was about to say "I do" to Ronald Weasley.
She was at the back of The Burrow, already dressed, whilst Luna and Ginny were putting the finishing touches to her make-up. The two girls, along with Molly Weasley, had spent a year organising Hermione’s wedding. At first, Hermione had been reluctant, as she wanted to be involved in all the wedding preparations. But her job at the Ministry, in the Department of Magical Security, kept her too busy for that. Likewise, she could find no other reason to keep postponing the wedding. Ron had proposed three years ago and the whole family seemed eager to see them married.
At first she had agreed, though she wasn’t entirely convinced. But that was what everyone expected of them: that they would get married, have children, and carry on the Weasley name.
So, when Molly started organising the wedding, Hermione could no longer put it off.
She should feel happy, but she wasn’t. Why didn’t she feel the happiness every bride should feel on her special day? Why did she have a knot in her stomach telling her that something wasn’t right? Hermione looked around her. The marquee she was in, her make-up, her dress: she hadn’t chosen any of it.
However, she hadn’t been able to say no when Molly had shown her every decoration, detail or item she’d bought for the wedding.
It was her wedding… but it didn’t feel like her own.
Hermione thought the feelings she was experiencing were nothing more than pre-wedding nerves. That, once she was standing at the altar, they would disappear. And she hoped that married life would be much better than her engagement had been.
She truly hoped so.
Ginny and Luna finished touching up the lipstick that had smudged whilst they were eating a doughnut. She hadn’t eaten a bite since the day before, when she had arrived at The Burrow to spend her last day as a single woman.
"You look lovely, Mione. I’m sure my brother will be moved to tears when he sees you," said Ginny, adjusting Hermione’s veil. She thought the whole veil business was ridiculous, but only Molly could swallow the fact that she was still a virgin after having lived with Ron for all those years.
She nodded. She could feel the words catching in her throat, struggling to come out. When she realised she hadn’t smiled the whole time, she forced a smile. It was so fake that she hoped none of her friends would notice.
"The guests are starting to arrive," said Luna from the other side of the room, looking towards the altar.
"Who has your mother invited?" asked Hermione. The fake smile remained on her face, forcing her to believe she was smiling sincerely.
"The players from Ron’s team, the team’s sponsors, a few people from the Ministry. But don’t worry, it’ll be an intimate wedding," replied Ginny.
She didn’t believe a word of what Ginny had just said. Not in the slightest.
An intimate wedding? Of all the Weasleys, the one who relished the media attention and loved the idea of no longer being from a humble background was Molly. She no longer expected her wedding to be an intimate affair.
Ginny and Luna left after a few minutes, leaving Hermione to have a moment to herself before the wedding. She spent her time playing with her wand and glancing every now and then at the clock they’d put up in the marquee.
But when Arthur didn’t turn up to walk her down the aisle —since, in the end, he still hadn’t managed to reverse her parents’ Olivate— she knew something was wrong.
She waited until past 3.40. Perhaps there was a delay with Ron’s suit.
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3:45. No one's was coming.
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3:54. Nothing.
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4:00.
At that moment, Hermione took off her veil and stepped out of the marquee, walking straight towards the altar. What was going on? She knew the moment she stepped out of the marquee and saw the faces of all the guests, her friends, and Molly crying in Arthur’s arms.
Has something happened to Ron?!
She thought, but she dismissed the idea immediately when she turned her head slightly and saw Ginny arguing with Harry.
"Why didn’t you stop him?! Why did you let him go?!"
It didn’t take her long to realise what was going on.
Even so, she approached them slowly and asked:
"Where’s Ron?" she said, almost in a whisper, clutching the fabric of her dress and crumpling it.
Her two friends stopped arguing. Ginny covered her face and began to sob quietly, whilst Harry ran a hand through his hair and moved closer to her.
"Mione… they’re looking for him, don’t worry," said Harry. His voice betrayed a nervousness he was clearly trying to control.
"What has he done, Harry? And don’t you dare lie to me or defend him."
He sighed. "He left a note… saying he has no intention of marrying you."
As soon as she heard those words, she felt as though the world had come to a standstill. She blinked slowly and remained silent for a few seconds, which, she was sure, must have seemed like an eternity to Harry.
When she came to her senses, she let out a dry laugh.
She could feel the eyes of all the guests fixed on her: eyes full of pity. The war heroine, the great Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of her generation, had left him standing at the altar.
She knew she had to get out of there. Immediately.
Hermione, with what little dignity she thought she had left, turned on her heel and headed for her tent. With Harry, Ginny, Neville and Luna following her.
Once inside, she began to remove the decorations from her hair, her lace gloves and her seven-centimetre heels, which were totally unsuitable for the floor of The Burrow. She felt she couldn’t breathe; being there was suffocating her. Even inside the tent, she could hear what all the people still in the wedding marquee were saying…
«Oh my God, he stood her up» «Not even a war heroine is spared from this sort of behaviour» «Has he been cheating on her all this time?»
She needed to get away or she’d explode. She needed to get back to her flat, crawl into bed and pretend that nothing that had happened over the last year regarding her wedding and her relationship had ever happened.
"Hermione, please, calm down. I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding. I’m sure Ron got nervous and that’s why he left, but George and Charlie have already gone out to look for him," said Ginny. She tried to move closer to Hermione, but Hermione pulled away instantly.
"No, Ginny. Your brother walked out. He left me, he abandoned me, and he didn’t have the decency to tell me he didn’t want this wedding."
Now it was Neville who was approaching her. "Hermione, I’m truly sorry, but you have to calm down. We can’t blame Ron until we know what caused this outburst."
"So now Ron’s the victim here?!" She no longer tried to feign calm. She was falling apart. "Ronald is a bloody coward who didn’t have the guts to tell Mum he didn’t want to marry me. That’s Ronald Weasley," she said, drawing out the words.
She felt the tears begin to roll slowly down her cheeks. But it wasn’t Ron’s fault; she wasn’t even sure she wanted to marry him. Their relationship was a mess. Ron had become a mess. He wasn’t the Ron she’d fallen in love with anymore. In fact, it hurt her how things had turned out; it hurt her how blatantly he’d left her, without saying a word, without explaining himself. But, above all, it hurt her to know how the wizarding world saw her.
«The Muggle-born, the Mudblood, abandoned at the altar by Ronald Weasley, owner of the Chudley team.»
Damn you, Ron Weasley. She thought.
"We’re going to put the wedding on hold for now. When Ron comes back, everything will sort itself out," said Ginny.
She closed her eyes for a moment. The very thought of seeing Ron again after what he’d done to her filled her with revulsion. And she was sure that, if she ever saw him again, she wouldn’t hesitate to cast a Furnunculus spell on him.
"You know, when he comes back, Ginny..." She finished taking the hairpins out of her hair, slipped on the trainers Molly had bought her with the word ‘bride’ embossed in gold, and continued. "Tell him from me to go to hell."
Before Harry, Ginny, Neville or Luna could even think of stopping her, she reached into the pocket of her white dress, pulled out her wand and Apparated straight to her flat.
When she arrived, she collapsed onto the floor, crying, utterly devastated by the actions of a cowardly man who had left her humiliated on a day that was supposed to be special for her. She wondered if she had ever really got to know Ronal Weasley.
Xoxo