Twelve Kisses

Deathly Hallows: The Wedding Kiss

Everything in bold is taken directly from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and is not written by me.

Song lyric: 'I wonder why it is that I don't argue like this with anyone but you." -Corinne Bailey Rae Like A Star shall also be in bold.

The vows were exchanged. The beautiful bride had been kissed. And Ron Weasley was ready to punch a git in the face.

Why the hell did Fleur invite that tosser, Viktor Krum? How dare she! Surely she knew that Ron despised him more than Voldemort.

And what the bloody hell was he playing at, telling Hermione she was beautiful? Hermione was more than that. She looked absolutely gorgeous, she already knew that. She didn't need a prat like him to tell her.

And now he was coming over to where they were sitting? 'Oh no old man. You will not win this round.' said Ron to himself.

Viktor Krum had dropped into Luna's vacant seat. Hermione looked pleasurably flustered but this time Krum had not come to compliment her. With a scowl on his face he said, "Who is that man in the yellow?"

"That's Xenophilius Lovegood, he's the father of a friend of ours," said Ron. His pugnacious tone indicated that they were not about to laugh at Xenophilius, despite the clear provocation.

"Come and dance," he added abruptly to Hermione.

She looked taken aback, but pleased too, and got up.

Ron took Hermione by the hand and led her to the middle of the dance floor. A slow song had began to play. Ron placed his hands on Hermione's waist as she nervously put her hands on Ron's shoulders.

"Don't be nervous." said Ron. "One thing I do know how to do well is dance. As many weddings I have been to in my short lifetime, I had better know."

Hermione smiled, nerves slowly leaving as she moved her hands from Ron shoulder's to the back of his neck. Ron then pulled Hermione in a bit closer to him as he moved his hands to the small of her back.

The two swayed to the rhythm of the music, their eyes locked on each others. Ron spun Hermione out and then back into him again, causing her to feel as if she were lighter than air.

"So the Weasley King really can dance? I must say I am impressed." said Hermione grinning.

"Skilled in the air as well as on the ground." laughed Ron.

"Well this is very nice." said Hermione, lightly stroking Ron's hair.

"It is. I'm kind of glad that I asked you before Vicky did." said Ron, instantly wanting to take the words back.

Hermione stopped moving and glared up at Ron. "Are you serious? You just asked me to dance so VIKTOR couldn't? Oh you are so insufferable Ronald Weasley!" she shouted, turning and walking away angrily towards the opening of the tent.

"Shit." said Ron following after her.

Hermione was furious. How dare he! Viktor was nothing but a friend, something she had reiterated numerous times to Ron, and he still hadn't gotten it through his thick skull. She didn't want to be anywhere near the prat, so she walked out to the tree that sat in front of the Weasley's pond.

Unfortunately for her, Ron had followed her every step of the way.

"Mione please don't be like this." he said when he had caught up with her.

"You should tell yourself that! Why did you just ruin a perfectly good moment with your jealousy? Here I am thinking that you wanted to dance with me because it meant something to you, when really you just didn't want Viktor around me!"

"Hermione Granger that's not true! It did mean something to me. It does. But you're right. I didn't want him around you. You still don't seem to get it do you?"

"Get what Ronald?!" yelled Hermione, standing up. "That you are blindly jealous of someone that you need not be jealous of?!"

"No! That I just want you to myself!" yelled Ron. "You should know this by now. Krum likes you, and he is better than me, and I don't want to be that best friend that just gets caught in the bloody friend zone when that git is around. I don't want to lose you to him. I don't want to lose you to anyone. I care too much about you!"

Ron put his arms around Hermione and crushed her into him. Hermione lifted her arms and put them around him, hugging him back.

"Why do we always do this to each other?" asked Hermione, her ear buried into Ron's chest, listening to his heartbeat, it slowly becoming her favorite sound.

Ron grinned and put his chin on top of Hermione's head. "Would we be us if we didn't make shit complicated?"

"Language...and probably not. I wonder why it is. I don't argue like this with anyone but you." said Hermione.

"Same here. But I like to argue with you. I'd rather argue with you than not go for months speaking to you." said Ron, taking Hermione by the chin.

He kissed her forehead tenderly and sweetly. He kept his lips on her forehead as they slowly swayed to the music that they could faintly hear in the background.

Ron opened his eyes to look deep into Hermione's big brown ones. He could feel the words hanging on his tongue, begging to be said.

"Hermione, I...hold up."

Ron saw the reflection of a light in Hermione's eyes. He looked up and behind him and spied what appeared to be a shooting star. Only it was much bigger and seemed to be shooting towards the tent. Hermione and Ron ran as fast as they could back to it. They ran up to Harry, him standing around as if he was in a trance.

Something large and silver came falling through the canopy over the dance floor. Graceful and gleaming, the lynx landed lightly in the middle of the astonished dancers. Heads turned, as those nearest it froze absurdly in mid-dance. Then the Patronus's mouth opened wide and it spoke in the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."

Everything seemed fuzzy, slow. Many people were only just realizing that something strange had happened; heads were still turning toward the silver cat as it vanished. Silence spread outward in cold ripples from the place where the Patronus had landed. Then somebody screamed.

Ron took off after the scream that had belonged to Ginny to see if she was okay

Harry and Hermione threw themselves into the panicking crowd. Guests were sprinting in all directions; many were Disapparating; the protective enchantments around the Burrow had broken.

"Ron!" Hermione cried. "Ron, where are you?"

As they pushed their way across the dance floor, Harry saw cloaked and masked figures appearing in the crowd; then he saw Lupin and Tonks, their wands raised, and heard both of them shout, "Protego!", a cry that was echoed on all sides.

"Ron! Ron!" Hermione called, half sobbing as she and Harry were buffered by terrified guests: Harry seized her hand to make sure they weren't separated as a streak of light whizzed over their heads, whether a protective charm or something more sinister he did not know.

And then Ron was there. He caught hold of Hermione's free arm, and Harry felt her turn on the spot; sight and sound were extinguished as darkness pressed in upon him; all he could feel was Hermione's hand as he was squeezed through space and time, away from the Burrow, away from the descending Death Eaters, away, perhaps, from Voldemort himself.