Chapter Nine
The Wedding Dress

Hermione woke early that morning. She wasn't too fast these days, so she took her time pulling herself up to sit in bed. Slowly, she pulled the covers back, and separated her legs one at a time to slide off the bed. She rubbed her eyes and yawned and had a look at the time. Then she slowly shuffled forwards until her feet made contact with the ground. When she felt the familiar coldness, she pulled herself slowly off the bed, and stepped into her slippers, and put on her robe. She slowly made her way down stairs, grasping onto the railings for support. When she reached the bottom step, she stopped for a few moments, swaying side to side. After the threatened faint had passed, she shuffled her legs forward to the kitchen, where a fresh pot of coffee was waiting for her.

"Ron?" she croaked. He hadn't been in bed. "Ron?"
"Hey!" Ginny said, walking into the kitchen. Her hair was wet and she had one of their big towels wrapped and tucked over her body. She pulled a chair out and helped Hermione sit down, then got out her favourite mug and poured the coffee in. "Here, drink," she said firmly putting it down in front of her, and going to the spare room.
"Ron?" Hermione asked a bit louder, but there was nothing. She ran her hands through her barley there hair, and yawned again. "OH MY GOSH!" She yelled. She had completely forgotten.

"WHAT? What's wrong? Where does it hurt?" Ginny asked, running into the room, with her pants in her hand.
Hermione looked over and up at Ginny. "I'm... today?" she gasped.
She smiled, "Yes silly, today you are getting married!"
Hermione turned back and drank her coffee, whilst Ginny pulled her pants on and tugged the brush through her hair.

They sat down together and had a small breakfast, before the doorbell rang. Ginny hopped up to go and answer it - it was Hermione's mother and father, her cousin and her baby. Idina walked in and lent down to give Hermione a kiss and hug, then gave her Lucy, who was one. Hermione gave Lucy a big hug and kiss, and said "Lucy Cabootie you are SO BIG! Yes you are," and gave her some more hugs.
"Hi darling," her mother said. Both parents bent to greet her. Ginny got them all a mug of coffee, and made a decaf for Idina, who pulled out a bottle of expressed milk and heated it in the microwave.
The doorbell rang again and this time Hermione stood up to answer it. It was Luna, who wandered in and said "Hello Hermione, you look very tired. I do hope you wake up soon," and gave her a warm hug, which lingered a moment more than most people's hugs. This was something Hermione loved about Luna.
"Hi Luna, come in!"
They went to the kitchen, where the chatter had become louder, and Hermione went to the medication drawer to pull out her tablets to have. There were a lot, and it took her almost 10 minutes to swallow them; one, by one.

After another half hour, Fleur, baby Victorie, Angelina, baby Fred, the hairstylist and makeup artist had arrived. The children were all playing together, or asleep, as Ginny, Hermione, Idina and Luna got ready. They had their hair in loose ringlets, and their makeup simple with dark eyes. Then it came time for getting dresses on.
The bridesmaid dresses were silk, long, very thin strapped, and deep red. They lung to the girls figures and hung off them once it reached the waist. Hermione put on her Grandmother's wedding dress. It needed to be altered, because Hermione had lost far too much weight to fill it in. The bodice was cut into a sweetheart style, and was quite tight until it reached her waist, where it flowed out and rested perfectly around her.

She descended the stairs with her bridesmaids in front of her, and everyone stopped and watched her, with tears flowing down their faces. They all looked so different and beautiful blended together; Ginny with her long red hair, Luna with her long blonde hair, Idina with her long black hair, and Hermione with her short brown hair. But then it hit her again. The faint that was threatening to ruin her day.