Weak Ankles: Chapter 2

When she reached the last step, she caught a glimpse of Ron at the table and Aunt Muriel and Tonks standing at the counter before she was distracted by a scream coming from Mrs. Weasley outside in the courtyard.


Hermione’s first thought was, Death Eaters, and she quickly pulled out her wand.

“Elax, Erminee, it’s probly ‘ust some ‘oose ‘ow or sontin.”

“Oh, Ronald, don’t talk with your mouth full! Now, what did you say?”

Ron swallowed before turning towards Hermione. “I said, ‘It’s probably just a loose bow, or something!’ ”

Hermione sighed. He was probably right. Lately, Mrs. Weasley had been fretting over tiny details of the wedding. Overreacting, Ron called it. Hermione called it being considerate, but she had to admit, it did get a little bit annoying after a while.

Deciding it was better to check than worry about it, Hermione strode over to the door and entered the garden where the wedding was scheduled to take place.

“What is it Mrs. Wea . . . Oh, my!” Hermione exclaimed when she saw the garden. Mrs. Weasley was running around trying to catch the baby blue bows that used to be attached to the chairs. They must have been removed by the wind, or something, Hermione thought. As her brain finally clicked in to gear, she desperately tried to catch the bows as they swayed this way and that in the August wind.

“Ron! Help, NOW!” Hermione yelled in to the kitchen trying to get her fiancée’s attention. With her hands full of bows, she ran inside quickly to deposit them on the kitchen table and drag Ron outside to help.

Ron’s eyes became wide when he saw what had happened to the perfectly attached bows. “But I worked all afternoon on them last week!” Ron whined pathetically.

“Well, you obviously didn’t do a good enough job, then, did you, Ronald, so help get them back!” Hermione growled at him.

Ron’s eyes became even wider, and he started across the lawn catching every bow that flew in front of him. With a satisfied smile, Hermione caught all that were left while Mrs. Weasley went to get her wand.

“Should have put a sticking charm on them, but no, they just have to use that Muggle product, Chicken Tape, or whatever it’s called . . .” Mrs. Weasley muttered as she trudged inside. Hermione suppressed a giggle as she put the bows in a box and took them outside.

While she waited for Mrs. Weasley, she started attaching the bows that were in the box to the back of the chairs, but when Mrs. Weasley returned, she had a criticism to share, as she seemed to always have when it came to her son’s weddings.

“No, no, dear, you’re doing it wrong. They must be fluffed, so to speak, before you place the charm on them, or they’ll stay flat like that until you take them off. See, like this,” she showed Hermione.

Hermione smiled as she tried to take the comment nicely. From prior experience, she knew that if you only placed the charm on a small area directly in the center rather on the entire back of the bow as Mrs. Weasley was showing her, you could puff them up after the sticking charm was on them and they were fastened to the chairs, but knowing better than to argue, Hermione undid the charm on the bows and did as Mrs. Weasley instructed. But when Mrs. Weasley wasn’t looking, Hermione returned to her old routine of sticking the bow to the chair and then spreading it out. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, Hermione convinced herself. This isn’t a big deal, either.

Finally, once all of the bows were securely fastened to the back of every chair in the pavilion, Hermione ran back inside to take care of any more last minute details. Ron, as she saw when she entered the kitchen, had returned to his plate piled with food, but Harry was nowhere to be seen.

She quickly climbed the stairs to the boys’ room and knocked on the door. “Come in,” a voice called, and Hermione poked her head around the door to see Harry in his dress robes already and tying his shoes on the end of the bed. “Oh, it’s just you, Hermione,” Harry said and returned his attention to his shoes.

“Hello to you too,” Hermione replied in a mock offended tone. “Nice to see you’re actually getting ready. The groom is still stuffing his face with food.”

Harry chuckled. “That’s Ron for you!” he exclaimed, smirking. “Doesn’t even change on his wedding day. You’d think he’d have more respect on one of the most important days of his life!”

Hermione laughed. “Yes, well, that’s Ronald for you!” Harry joined in with laughter. “But if he eats any more, he might not be able to fit into his dress robes!”

“Oh, don’t worry!” Harry assured her. “I made sure at the fittings that Madame Malkin added a little fabric all the way around just in case this would happen. Not enough to notice otherwise, but enough to cover it so that he doesn’t have to take a potion for bloating right before the wedding, you never know about the side effects of those things!”

“Thank you so much, Harry, I don’t know what I’d do without you!” Hermione sighed in relief and gave Harry a quick hug.

“No problem, Mione!” Harry smiled. “Just looking out for my two best friends!”

Hermione closed the door with a smile and headed to get Ginny. It was about time they got their dresses on, and Hermione knew that Ginny would socialize with their guests until the start of the wedding if Hermione didn’t get her.

~•~•~•~

Aunt Muriel stood at the kitchen counter watching the action that took place during the morning hours. Watching Hermione and Mrs. Weasley run back and forth wasn’t enough action for her, so she decided to engage in a conversation with the only other woman in the room.

“You there, come here!” she barked at a tall woman in the corner with purple spiky hair.

Tonks looked around, surprised, but went over to stand beside Muriel.

“So, what relation are you to this lot?” Muriel asked.

“N-n-nothing, nothing at all!” Tonks stammered. She was intimidated by Muriel’s harsh tones. “I’m just a family friend.”

“Amazing,” Muriel scoffed. “I figured the only ones here this early were Weasleys. They breed like gnomes, those Weasleys do!”

“Y-y-yes,” Tonks stuttered. She figured the best thing to do right now would be to agree with Muriel.

Muriel looked at her, surprised. “You’re agreeing?”

“Well, I assumed that yes meant that I agreed.” Tonks was getting annoyed now with Muriel’s changing personality.

Muriel’s face turned sour. “Now, no need to get smart with me, young lady!”

“I-“ Tonks bit back the retort that was on her tongue, knowing that it was likely to get her kicked out of the kitchen for the time being, and she wanted to be as close to the action as Molly would let her, so long as she didn’t knock anything over.

Just then, Hermione ran past carrying an armful of blue bows. She deposited them on the table and ran back outside, tying her mane of hair back in a loose bun as she ran.

“Maybe I should go help-“ Tonks started out the door but was stopped by Muriel.

“Oh, no need, Molly will have everything under control, even without that muggleborn’s help.”

“But-“ Tonks complained.

“I’m telling you, Molly has everything under control!” Muriel insisted. “See, here they come now!”

Molly and Hermione came in windswept and paying no attention to their surroundings while looking around trying to find something.

"Ah, those Muggleborns," Muriel said with a chuckle. "Always running around like they think they're going to be the center of attention. I'd like to show them whose really boss."

Tonks looked around for someone to help her, but the only other two persons in the room were a frantic Molly and an even more frantic Hermione.

"They always seem to have weak ankles too, you know . . ."