8/29

[deluminate]

He was supposed to give a speech.

Maybe it wasn't not a speech exactly, but he knew he was supposed to say something on Saturday, when he and Hermione got up in front of friends and family— though not as much family as Ron thought there'd be when this eventually happened— and got married.

He was rubbish at this stuff.

Reports when he was an Auror and when he'd had them for homework at Hogwarts... those had been the worst parts of all. He'd managed to skirt by in school by getting answers out of Hermione when he could, and he'd had a stack of overdue reports as long as his arm on his desk before he'd ended up in Darrow, so his track record with them wasn't particularly good.

This though, Ron wanted it to be something special. It wasn't every day you got married, and he wanted to make sure what he said on Saturday was perfect.

Sat at a picnic table in the park, Ron had managed about three words before he wanted to bin the bit of paper he was writing on. It wasn't good enough. Maybe he wasn't good enough. It'd crossed his mind a few times since Hermione had accepted his proposal, but stuck there with only a few words on the piece of paper in front of him, he couldn't push away a feeling in his gut that Hermione'd think better of it and decide it wasn't worth it after all.

"Bloody hell," Ron said, and crumpled up the paper shutting his eyes as he scrubbed one hand through his hair. He needed to pull himself together.

Comments

[beyoncepadthai]

Mindy thinks she might pass out.

Maybe she should be used to this by now. Her introduction to Darrow was through Blaine Anderson and she's met two Ryan Goslings and Captain America and Draco Malfoy knows her name (well, okay, he knows Mandy) but somehow this throws her off entirely. Ron Weasley. Or at the very least someone who looks eerily like him, since this place tends to do weird shit like that.

She should probably leave him alone before she really freaks out, but he seems kind of frustrated by something and it seems as good at time as any other to swoop in and have a chat. "Uh, hey," she says, pointing at the crumpled paper in his hands. "What are you writing, there?"

[deluminate]

He would have done this at home, but he was worried Hermione'd catch him and realize he'd put off writing this until the last minute. Somehow, they'd managed to go what seemed like ages without rowing, and today didn't seem like the day to put an end to that streak. Also, he reckoned there should be some bit of secrecy to all this, and a small part of him was worried she'd try to give him pointers on how to write it.

Eyes shut for a second, he hadn't expected someone to walk up to him, but he imagined he likely looked like he was in a bit of distress. Maybe because he was.

He paused once he looked up at the woman who'd approached, trying to decide if it was worth mentioning.

It was worth a shot.

"Um," Ron started, frowning, "wedding vows. Trying to, at least."

[beyoncepadthai]

"Wait, wedding vows?" Mindy asks, a little taken aback because no way is Ron Weasley old enough to be getting married. Looking him up and down, though, maybe he is. He's a lot older than she remembers him being in the last movie, and she starts to say something about that before she stops herself. Some people are weird about the whole being fictional scenario, and the boy seems confused enough as it is. "I mean, uh, when's the wedding?"

[deluminate]

He almost didn't want to say. He really shouldn't have left it off as long as he had, and if it were anything else, Hermione would have been able to remind him to get it done sooner. As it was, he reckoned that if she knew, she might shout at him for not having it settled yet.

"Tomorrow," he managed, shutting his eyes for a moment as he scrubbed one hand through his hair, fisting a tuft of it for a moment, "Not until late afternoon, but... tomorrow."

He swore under his breath, the realization of it bearing down on him all over again.

[beyoncepadthai]

"Wait? Tomorrow? Like... after this day tomorrow?" Mindy asks, a little in shock, although she's not really sure why. She's probably just projecting the fact that she's had her own wedding vows written since she saw her first Nora Ephron film considering Ron isn't exactly known as the, well, Hermione of the group. "That... is cutting it close. Do you have anything written," she gestures at the balled up piece of paper, "or is that... it?"

[notaretriever]

While they've really only met the one time, there's something about the way Ron's shoulders are set that draws Luke over to the table where he's sitting. He's been in Darrow for nearly a month now and while he's spent some of his time trying to figure out a way to get home, the truth is that Luke hasn't been trying nearly as hard as he thinks he should be. He misses Clary so much it makes his stomach ache, but being away from Jocelyn, being away from New York, being away from the fight... it's all rather nice in a way. He hates himself a little for thinking that way about Jocelyn, but it's not so difficult to go home anymore and not see that familiar flash of red hair.

His heart feels a little less heavy these days.

"Ron?" he asks, pausing beside his table. "Is everything alright?"

[deluminate]

He'd found himself a bit lost in the moment there, forgetting he was out in the park doing this and not at home. But as it was, he didn't want Hermione to know he'd put this off until the day before the ceremony. It wasn't as if he'd only just realized yesterday that he needed to do this, after all.

Ron looked up when someone called his name, frown fading just a bit once he realized it was a familiar face. He'd only met Luke once before— and it took a moment for him to recall his name— but it was better than a stranger thinking he'd lost it, probably.

"Yeah, sorry," he said, realizing he likely looked a bit in need of help just then.

Maybe because he was in need of help, but that was beside the point.

"Suppose I'm just... just a bit stuck, is all."

[notaretriever]

"Stuck on what?" Luke asks, glancing down before he looks away. There's a crumpled up paper, but that isn't an invitation to look at what Ron is working on, so instead of trying to stick his nose in where it might not be quite welcome, Luke instead slides onto the bench on the other side of the table, folding his hands against the top.

He's writing something, that much is clear, but it could be any number of things. It's not likely homework, which is really the only thing Luke has experience helping with, and even at that thought, there's a pang of longing to see Clary's homework spread out across the counter in his bookstore. He remembers getting on her case for making such a mess, but he'd always rather liked it.

[deluminate]

"Um. Wedding vows," Ron admitted, and he didn't know Luke very well, but with less than twenty-four hours before he was supposed to get married, he was feeling a bit desperate. Luke had been looking to own a bookstore, so maybe he knew something about writing. Maybe he'd have an idea or two.

Or maybe Ron was doomed. The only thing scarier than Hermione being annoyed, he thought, was Hermione being disappointed, and he was on the verge of being the cause of that, just now.

[notaretriever]

"So it's rather important," he says, spreading his hands on the table and looking down thoughtfully. He's never been married, but he's thought many times about what he might say to Jocelyn should the opportunity finally and truly present itself. He'd asked her to marry him once, though she'd declined and since then Luke has left it alone. But he knows what he would say.

"I've never been married," he says as a disclaimer. "But I know what it's like to dedicate your life to someone." Even if she had never really known that was what he'd been doing. "The only advice I can give is to say exactly what you feel. Why are you marrying her? Why did you ask her?"

[dragonsandquidditch]

Charlie is keen to spend as much of his time as possible out of doors, not overly fond of his apartment, grateful though he is the city provides him a place to live. He likes the park, especially. The families strolling through remind him of home, in a way. He grins as he passes a group of children flying a kite, shaped like a dragon. He misses his work quite a lot.

Considering his baby brother is getting married on Saturday, Charlie is less surprised to find him hunched over a table, playing at pieces of parchment.

"Having some pre-wedding jitters, are we?" He asks as he slides next to his brother on the bench of the table. "Anything I can help with?"

[deluminate]

If there was ever something Ron was grateful for, it was that his brother had turned up in time for all of this. Of course, it would have been even better to have him whole family there, Hermione's as well, and Harry, but he was grateful for Charlie all the same. Somehow, it made everything exponentially better, even just knowing his brother was around.

"No," Ron lied, covering the scribbles on parchment with one hand, hoping Charlie wouldn't see what a mess he was making of all this. But he remembered then that Charlie had been best man at Bill's wedding, so... maybe he'd know what in Merlin's name he was supposed to do here.

And how to stop himself thinking Hermione'd come to her senses and realize he might not be worth it, after all.

"I dunno, maybe." he admitted.

[dragonsandquidditch]

Not that Charlie knows much about weddings and those sorts of affairs. He'd served as best man to Bill, but in terms of understanding how they work, well. He leaves that sort of thing to his mum and people like her who seem to live for the event. He's never really considered marriage for himself other than in a vague, sometime-in-the-future sort of way; but, like dating in general, that fell in the way of him pursuing his work with dragons.

He's happy to offer Ron what advice he can give, though. As much as Charlie might dislike his own apartment and find himself baffled by certain aspects of the city, he greatly appreciates and enjoys the fact that he can see his baby brother so often, even if Ron is in a sort of slump, from what he can tell. That's what older brothers are for, right?

"Oh, Ron," Charlie shakes his head, a knowing grin on his face. "You'd think with George and Fred as brothers, you'd be able to lie better."

"Seriously, though. I've got some experience with weddings. Well, maybe not quite the experience you're going to have, but still. What's giving you trouble?"

[deluminate]

He scrubbed one hand through his hair then, frowning. He probably couldn't have lied about it properly even if he'd really tried just then, too worried about what might happen if he couldn't manage to get this worked out before tomorrow.

"I'm supposed to write wedding vows," he replied, trying to push away a feeling of uncertainty that kept creeping up in his stomach, as if something like this was reason for Hermione to rethink the entire thing.

[dragonsandquidditch]

"Tougher than any one of Professor Snape's essays, and you're not even graded on vows," Charlie agrees, shaking his head in sympathy. He leans forward to offer a comforting arm on his brother's shoulder, squeezing gently. "Don't worry yourself too much. The words will come when they want to, especially when you're not over thinking things."

[cleverness]

Ron had told the story at least a hundred times since the war. About a small light, one which had brought the sound of her voice to him, even when he was completely lost in the woods while searching for Hermione and Harry. He had regaled everyone he knew about how that light led him to them, even though Hermione had done her best to make their trail Untraceable.

Even though Hermione had never seen the Deluminator work in quite that way with her own eyes, she still did her best to conjure a small ball of light, warm in hue as it hovered over in Ron's direction. This close to the wedding, Hermione was sure that he was working on something she wasn't meant to look at. And so, she sent the light to draw his attention instead.

She waited for him to notice, laughing under her breath as she guided the light playfully with the point of her wand.

[deluminate]

Ron didn't notice the ball of light that Hermione had conjured at first, uncrumpling the bit of paper he'd just thought of discarding, in hopes that maybe he'd be able to salvage the rubbish he'd just written. He was beginning to wonder whether or not this entire thing was hopeless, that he'd still be trying to write it during the wedding. Or worse, that he wouldn't come up with anything at all.

After a moment, though, he caught sight of something bright in his periphery and swatted reflexively, not paying much attention to what it was until it wouldn't go away. Frowning, Ron swore, finally giving it his full attention until he finally noticed Hermione there with her wand out.

"Bloody hell, Hermione," he said, relieved at first, before it dawned on him that she was there and he was at in front of an unfinished version of something he should have already had done by now.

[cleverness]

"Sorry," she apologized, ducking her head with a brief laugh. She lingered at a distance, not wanting to get a glimpse of anything she wasn't meant to see — the paper that Ron was hunched over looked suspiciously like notes, and it wasn't hard to guess what he might be preparing them for.

"I just didn't want to interrupt your deep train of thought," Hermione said, lowering her wand and letting the light extinguish. "But I wanted to say hi. Ask how you're feeling. If you have any thoughts about dinner."

She rests against the trunk of a tree, crossing her arms loosely over her chest.

[deluminate]

The paper he'd had crumpled up in front of him, Ron quickly tucked into his pocket. Even though Hermione was keeping her distance at the moment, he didn't want her seeing what he had— or didn't— have written there.

"I dunno, I thought we'd do take away," Ron replied, and he'd grown to really like that particular Muggle invention. Usually he or Hermione were prone to making dinner, depending on who made it home first, but it didn't seem right, either of them cooking, considering how busy tomorrow would likely be.

He deliberately didn't answer the big about how he was feeling, not sure if it was best to get into what had been running through his head today.

[cleverness]

As soon as Hermione noticed that the paper was being tucked away, she made her way over to Ron's side. When she sat down next to him, Hermione reached out for his hand, lacing their fingers together and letting her thumb rub against the palm of his hand in a soft, soothing circular motion. It didn't surprise her that he might be feeling nerves in the moment. A wedding was a big occasion, after all.

"Take-away sounds good," Hermione murmured, leaning in to press a quick peck on Ron's cheek. She wasn't sure what she could do to help him relax, but she certainly didn't want to go without trying. "Nervous about the big day?" She gave his hand a small squeeze.

[ferretface_git]

He'd heard.

While he'd had limited interaction with Granger and her Ginger Git, there were certain things that managed to make their way back to him, the impending nuptials notwithstanding.

He hadn't been invited. Oddly, he found himself annoyed at the lack of inclusion, though he certainly wouldn't have attended. In fact, the thought of him as an invited guest to a Weasley wedding was downright obscene. Somehow, however, it only managed to remind him how utterly alone he was, in this city. Not that he had plans to admit a word of any of this, to himself or anyone else.

"Littering now, are you?" he drawled, "What would the wife say?"

[deluminate]

While Ron normally wouldn't have a cheerful greeting for Malfoy, no matter how much time had passed since their time at Hogwarts, today, it was doubly true. Consumed with trying to work out how to finish writing before he headed home to the Nook, he couldn't even manage a civil and neutral expression for the other man.

"Reckon she'd probably be annoyed," Ron replied, not sure whether or not Malfoy was just normally giving him grief or if he'd heard about the wedding. Hermione or maybe even Charlie might have run into him and mentioned it.

[ferretface_git]

Rolling his eyes, Draco contemplated simply turning and leaving Weasley be. It wasn't any fun at all, harassing someone who refused to take the bait.

Instead, he peered over Weasley's shoulder, asking, "What are you doing, anyway?"

[deluminate]

"Trying to get something written for tomorrow," he said, though Ron probably shouldn't have said anything at all. Even if Malfoy did know for sure about him and Hermione, he was sure that he'd take the opportunity to be a right git about it anyway. But after all this time, there was no stopping that, was there?

"Me and Hermione, we're getting married."

[ferretface_git]

"I heard," he said, matter of fact.

Then, because he couldn't simply leave it at that, he surprised absolutely no one by adding, "Though I can't believe she's left the vows in your hands. I was under the impression you and Potter made your way through school, copying her work. I stand corrected."