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You Are Invited To The Wedding Of
Draco Lucius Malfoy
&
Hermione Jean Granger
Join Them At Malfoy Manor For A Special Day Of Love And Enchantment.
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Narcissa Malfoy was always described to be a woman of leisure. Narcissa Malfoy was literally the definition of calm and collected. Even if you look into a Muggle dictionary, you will find ‘Narcissa Malfoy (née Black)’ under those two words. The second wizarding war had messed things up for the Malfoy family. Behind the scenes, Narcissa slowly broke down. But in front of company, whether that was just family members or the whole crowd of Death Eaters and the Dark Lord, she was always the woman that everyone knew her to be. Calm and collected. Hidden behind her occlumency shields. However, the day of Draco and Hermione’s wedding called forth a completely different side of the woman. No one had ever seen this side of Narcissa before. Not even her sisters, Andy and Bella, or her husband, Lucius, had seen this new side of her.
Nevertheless, today was the wedding of her only son and the love of his life, which meant that Narcissa, alongside Ginny Weasley and Pansy Parkinson, were chasing around the entirety of Malfoy Manor, making sure that everything and everyone was accounted for. If something wasn’t accounted for then perhaps the three women could have started having a panic attack over things not being perfect for the couple.
“Are the band all in their rightful place? All accounted for?” Narcissa read off her checklist, not glancing up towards the two young women. Pansy and Ginny were trailing slowly after Narcissa, both reading off their own matching individual checklists. Containing a full schedule with timestamps for everyone to hit, if they weren’t on schedule then the whole day was ruined. Narcissa had been in charge of planning the whole wedding, alongside Hermione’s mother, Jean Granger, of course. Jean had suggested, pretty earlier on into the couple’s engagement, that they should just hire a Muggle or wizard wedding planner, then the stress wouldn’t be on the both of them to plan out this entire wedding. But, Narcissa got her way. She always did. You just cannot say no to Narcissa Malfoy. Narcissa claimed that there was a pureblood tradition where the mothers of both sides of the engaged couple had to plan the wedding. The entire thing. This is now how Jean had ended up being roped up into the planning. She didn’t mind. It was just a struggle at times.
Glancing down at her notebook, before looking back towards Narcissa’s body, Pansy started informing Narcissa on the band situation, “I checked in with the whole band as I had noticed they were spending a long time around the bar. Supposedly they were only refilling their water bottles, but you could practically taste all of the firewhiskey that was radiating the atmosphere around them.” Pansy shuddered. “Ginny, I believe, had sent them back to the stands before they got even drunker. I had to walk away. The smell was getting too much.” Pansy continued informing Narcissa. The older woman stopped in her tracks at not hearing Ginny speak. Ginny was still a bit nervous in front of Narcissa. Intimated by her elegance and the power that Narcissa held. Ginny was one powerful witch but no one in the pureblood community compared to Narcissa and the Malfoy family. Narcissa cleared her throat, waiting for the continuation of the update on the wedding band. Ginny nodded, her bright orange coloured ponytail bouncing as she moved her head slightly up and down, confirming that the band had been sent back to the stands, not allowed any more alcohol until deep into the evening celebrations, their tails between their legs. Pansy hoped that Ginny had used her motherly instinct and given the band a right telling off.
Narcissa turned back around, facing the front, and continued walking, her gate held so much power as she continued to check off things of the miles long list, “all of the flowers are accounted for and sorted out? Everyone that will need some of the flowers knows where they can be found?” Narcissa questioned as the rustle of multiple pieces of parchment echoed around the long corridor. The three women made their way slowly towards the kitchens, where hundreds of small house-elves were starting on their catered meals for the wedding ahead of them. Pansy flicked through her wedding planning notebook, looking for the specific page on the whereabouts and detailed notes on the flower arrangements. Each of the women had colour-coded notebooks. Hermione would be so incredibly proud of two of her best friends and her future mother in law for listening to several speeches from Hermione about how colour coding helped to keep organised. The flower arrangements had been coded in a pale green colour, which Pansy flicked forward to easily.
“I need to make sure that all the groomsmen have their buttonholes sorted, that is listed just under helping Granger get ready. No doubt, Blaise has coxed the other boys into taking firewhiskey shots with him. Most likely to calm down Theo more so than Draco, though they are probably both bundles of nerves, and Theo isn’t even the one getting married.” Pansy giggled to herself at the thought of Blaise digging out multiple bottles of different aged firewhiskey sneakily from the Malfoy Manor cellar. Promising that a couple of drinks should calm down Draco and a probably peaky looking Theo. Merlin help Oliver when he decides to propose to Theo or they even discuss their preparations for their future.
“Have all of the house-elves catered enough food for all of our guests? Has there been a checklist or some sort of organisational chart made up? Have any of the house-elves been informed of anyone’s specific dietary requirements? That is something necessary for us to have answered.” Narcissa’s questions hovered in the space of the kitchen air as Ginny and Pansy tried to sneak a small bite of something to eat, after having to miss breakfast this morning. The two women were only able to just about finish their one cup of coffee this morning before Narcissa had urgently called them over to the manor. Apparently, there was an “emergency”, though upon arriving at the manor, the two women had discovered that in fact there was no emergency, Narcissa just wanted a head start of making sure things were ready.
Mippy, the small female house elf that was clearly becoming everyone’s favourite but was Narcissa’s main elf, moved gracefully forward, placing a freshly baked almond croissant into Pansy and Ginny’s hands, not hiding it at all from Narcissa. If anything, Narcissa would have allowed Mippy to shower the two young women in numerous amounts of breakfast foods if there was any time for that of course. The house-elf, already dressed in a smart-looking pale pink pantsuit, smiled up at Ginny and Pansy, waggling her ears, before walking towards her mistress, Narcissa. “Mippy has everyone’s food accounted for and Mippy has a hand scripted parchment with all of the dietary requirements, if Mistress requires to see it then Mippy can quickly acquire it.” Mippy gleamed up at Narcissa, as the women continued her inspections of all the food that the house-elves had been preparing for days before in the run-up to the wedding. Narcissa checked her list to make sure the menu had been stuck to, which it had. She nodded to her elf, smiling as Mippy quickly clicked her fingers to bring forth the parchment with all the detailed dietary requirements.
“Do all of our guests know where they are sitting through the ceremony?” Narcissa continued her checks down her alphabetised list as the three women made their way out of the kitchen, Ginny and Pansy finishing up their third warm almond croissant. They started the walk back up the manor stairs, slowly strutting towards the gardens, where the wedding ceremony, the bonding ceremony, and then the reception would be taking place. Ginny and Pansy followed loyally behind Narcissa, each of the two checking their times on their wands. Regularly checking to see whether they were behind schedule at all, the two girls tended to lose track of the times, especially when it came to spending time with their partners. Ginny and Pansy unsurprisingly discovered that they were actually ahead of their schedule. Of course they were, they had Narcissa Malfoy in charge of everything.
“The guest boards are already up and in their correct places. Pansy and I made sure that it was the first thing we did once we had arrived this morning. It was completed before the groomsmen had even woken up.” Ginny informed Narcissa as they walked towards the arranged seating area and the grand gazebo, centred right in the centre. The band were performing their last minute final practices, checking they knew every song that had been requested by Narcissa. A collection of house-elves were putting the final touches on the flower arrangements that were surrounding the seating area. The pure white peacocks were screeching loudly in another part of the garden, having been “banished” from the part of the garden where the wedding was happening. No one wanted screeching peacocks at their wedding.
“Do Hermione’s parents-” Narcissa started, getting distracted by a house-elf asking for comments on the flower arrangements. After giving her commentary on how everything was looking incredibly perfect, she continued, “apologises, right let me start again. Do Hermione’s parents know where to go around the manor and where to find Hermione? This of course is more directed at Richard than Jean.” Narcissa directed the question towards Ginny, knowing that out of the two young women, Ginny had a better relationship with Jean and Richard Granger. Narcissa seemed closer to Jean out of the two Granger parents, though it did take a while for both parents to start seeing eye to eye. Narcissa always thanked Merlin that Lucius never met the Grangers. He was always commenting about the lack of respect the Weasleys had for themselves, and they were purebloods, so Merlin knows what he would have thought of the Grangers. It took them a while to see eye to eye after the Grangers realised that it was Draco Malfoy and his Slytherin gang who were the ones terrorizing Hermione throughout her first years at Hogwarts.
“Jean knows where Hermione is getting ready, so she promised me that she would make sure that Richard doesn’t get lost,” Ginny responded. “We don’t want another hedge maze incident!” Ginny giggled to herself at the memory of the hedge maze incident. She remembered it like it just happened yesterday. It was a summer day, and Narcissa had decided to throw a party. She invited as many people as she could, which included the Grangers. Near the end of the party, they decided to sit inside, choosing the drawing room. Richard, commenting that he wouldn’t be too long, excused himself to the bathroom. Almost two hours later, Mippy apparated into the drawing room, informing all of them that Richard had lost his way back to the drawing room and somehow ended up in the hedge maze. He was lost for over an hour in the maze.
“Has anyone got word on whether Lucius will be attending the wedding?” Narcissa asked Ginny and Pansy quietly. She didn't want any of the house-elves getting false hope that Lucius would be attending. It could potentially cause a panic-induced riot to happen. Mippy would sadly be the only house-elf excited for Master Lucius to be attending his only son’s wedding. Mippy constantly wished that Master Lucius would come home properly. She believed that Lucius was a good man, never done anything wrong in his life.
“No word as of yet. We believe that the Wizengamot declined our request but decided not to inform any of us. Probably still trying to “rescue” Granger from the greasy grasps of a former Malfoy Death Eater.” Pansy commented. Ginny and Pansy both checked the time again on their wands, then turned down to reflect upon their schedules. “Well, duty calls. Time to start heading and helping Granger with her makeup, need to make her at least look respectful for today.” Pansy smirked, as she excused herself away from Narcissa, Ginny trasping slowly behind her.
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Hermione paced around her ‘getting ready’ room in the manor. Why shouldn’t she have just got ready in her and Draco’s bedroom? She thought. I just want to see Draco. Perhaps I could sneak off and find him. She knew she wasn’t allowed. It was like she was locked in this room. The room was kitted out with a range of expensive Muggle and Wizarding brands of makeup and other things to help Pansy and Ginny help Hermione get ready. Hermione recognised some of the names, they basically leapt out at her, after Pansy had sorted out all of the makeup that she had already owned, it was part of Pansy making Hermione fit to be with a member of the sacred twenty-eight. Ginny and Pansy were supposed to have come straight to this room once they had arrived at the manor this morning. Hermione had definitely felt the magic in the protection wards around the manor change, accepting people in, meaning that Mippy had let the two of them in at the front gate. Why hadn’t they come upstairs yet? She thought.
She gazed out of the window, staring down at the muster of white peacocks strutting around the garden. Not even allowed to look at the preparations for her own wedding. Hermione laughed to herself at a thought. Give one of those pure white peacocks a long platinum blonde wig, put some greying bits in it for realism, and then also a snake walking cane with green emeralds for the eyes. Because, then, if her future father in law, Lucius Malfoy, couldn’t attend the wedding then they could just turn one of the peacocks into Lucius. Hermione’s loud, piercing laugh bounced on the walls of the room as the door burst open.
“Sorry for us being sort of late.” Pansy checked the time on her wand, “never mind we are earlier than we originally organised. Narcissa called us over earlier to check through all our lists. We have already had to go through a ton of things.” Pansy announced as Hermione turned towards the bedroom door, viewing a smiling Pansy and Ginny. Of course, Narcissa had called them over at the crack of dawn. Pansy and Ginny would have come over in the middle of the night if Narcissa had called them over. The two girls always answered all of Narcissa’s beckoning calls.
“Right well, nothing really matters now because we are finally here.” Pansy rolled her eyes, closing the door behind herself and Ginny.
“Correct, your problems are now solved.” Ginny started, “and no, Hermione, we haven’t the groomsmen at all this morning. Pansy can go check on them, see if they have drunk themselves into a slurring mess, once we have finished helping you get ready.” Ginny commented as she noticed the eager look covering Hermione’s face. The ginger girl walked over to the vanity table, Pansy following closely behind her.
Pansy looked over all of the makeup that was laying out and started picking out all of the items that she wanted to use on Hermione’s face. Hermione tried to walk over and see what things Pansy had started picking out, but Ginny forced her down sitting into one of the chairs, conveniently away from all of the mirrors. Looking around the room, Hermione realised something. Gazing around again, she realised that in fact that all of the mirrors had been covered in dark green cloth, a classic Slytherin colour. Hermione, only now, regretted showing both of these girls classic teen Muggle films because the majority of them featured makeover scenes. Pansy and Ginny instantly became obsessed with them. Walking around the house quoting the film's iconic lines, which really annoyed Harry and Neville, quite quickly actually. Pansy especially loved the makeover scene that was included in the film, The Princess Diaries, because she liked to constantly comment on the character of Mia’s hair, and said that Hermione and Mia could have been twins.
“Did you follow my list of all the things you needed to have done this morning, Granger?” Pansy’s strict tone burst Hermione out of her daydreaming about spending days cuddled up on the sofa with Draco. Pansy continued her snuffling through all of the makeup that she had already chosen, glazing over her list, making sure the choices were correct with what Narcissa must have wanted Hermione’s makeup to be like.
“Yes, Pans.” Hermione rolled her eyes. “I followed all of your rules exactly as you had them written out. I didn’t stray off the path.” Hermione retorted back as Pansy heels clicked on the floor as she walked up behind Hermione, clearly observing the uncontrolled frizz that was called Hermione’s hair. “You remember that we aren’t going all out with my hair, right? Draco loves my natural hair, he loves all of my frizziness. He wants it ‘natural’.” Hermione smiled, her heart filling with the warmth of remembering how Draco’s hands would curl up in her hair as they kissed softly, passionately and lazily.
Pansy rolled her eyes at the reddish pink colouring on Hermione’s cheeks, “yes, well, we all know about Draco’s obsession with the lion mane. Draco used to openly talk about it in the common room, practically to anyone that would listen to him had to hear about it. He’d talk about how much he ‘hated’ your hair. Always getting in the way during lessons. Always distracting him during quidditch matches. Always getting frizzier during Potions, and again he’d complain that it was in his way. Everyone in that common room, especially myself, Theo and Blaise, knew how much he secretly wanted to reach out and touch it.” Pansy giggled loudly as she pushed her hands tightly through Hermione’s knotty hair. “Merlin’s fucking beard, Granger, have you ever tried putting a brush through this mess?” Pansy continued exclaiming as she reached for the hairbrush that was left laying on the vanity and started to drag it through Hermione’s hair, trying her best not to hurt Hermione at all.
“Pansy, would you maybe try and at least be careful with Hermione’s hair. Draco likes it natural, remember. ” Ginny scolded, changing her tone to mocking. “Look, I know a spell that will be able to handle the whole hair situation. Can I trust you with starting on the makeup?” Ginny continued asking Pansy, as she moved Pansy out of the way. Grabbing her wand off the vanity, Ginny started working on Hermione’s hair. Simultaneously, Pansy started working on Hermione’s makeup, half using Muggle items but also using her wand at the same time. The three girls conversed about a smattering of things. Ginny’s recent promotion within her quidditch team, Holyhead Harpies. Pansy announced her recent engagement to Neville to the two girls which caused more excitement to float around the room. Hermione and Ginny both glared down at Pansy’s stomach, who quickly realised what the two Gryffindors were doing and slapped them both. Hard.
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Hermione gazed back at her reflection, looking closer at all of the intricate details, in the now uncovered mirror, the Slytherin green cloth flung and was somewhere discarded on the floor or laying on the bed. She was shocked. Check for her pulse because Hermione could be passing away from her shock. Probably had pure shock covering her entire face right now. She was absolutely shocked at just how glamorous Ginny and Pansy had made her look.
“If I didn’t already know that magic existed then I would have to one-hundred per cent claim that you two had definitely just performed it this morning,” Hermione exclaimed as her smile got even bigger, showing off her perfect teeth. Of course, she had to have perfect teeth. Dentist parents, remember. Ginny and Pansy took a couple of steps back to observe their magnificent work.
Ginny and Pansy hadn’t done too much about Hermione’s whole hair situation. The curls were tighter, yes. That exaggerated just how gorgeous Hermione’s natural curls were. Exaggerate the lion mane. Ginny made sure to keep to her promise to Hermione, thank Merlin and Circe. Draco, hopefully, would be a tearful mess when she finally gets to walk down the aisle and meet him at the other end. Don’t even get Hermione started on the incredible makeup that Pansy had plastered on her face. She looked like an absolute vision. Perfectly gorgeous. Sort of like an angel. Did that then sort of make Draco a devil? She thought as non-angelic thoughts and memories popped into her head. She pushed them away. Later. There was time for all of that later. Now was definitely not the time to start thinking about her and Draco in all of those sinful positions. There was going to be loads of time for all of those things later. After the reception. In the privacy of their bedroom.
“Well, how do you like it all, Granger?” Pansy tapped heavily on Hermione’s shoulders, bringing her back from her devilish thoughts, back to reality. Her wedding day. Hermione greatly hoped that two of her best friends weren’t able to see the most likely bright red tomato blush under all of the makeup that Pansy had delicately placed on her face. Thank Merlin. Thank Circe. Thank even bloody Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin that two of her best friends hadn’t suddenly learned the skill of Legilimency. Hermione couldn’t be able to deal with the idea that people would be able to see what thoughts she was having right now. These thoughts weren’t practically wedding day appropriate.
“Pans, I love it. Of course, I love it.” Hermione smiled, as Pansy and Ginny hugged her from behind and smiles covering all three of their faces. “You both did a wonderful job. Do you think it is enough to bring him to his knees?” Hermione smirked, radiating Slytherin energy as the perfected Slytherin smirk lit up her face. Moments where the smirk was painted on Hermione’s face always reminded Pansy of sixth year. A sixth year spent worrying that her best friend and ex-boyfriend was alone somewhere in the castle, crying over the stinging mark on his left forearm. She caught him crying in an alcove. But instead of alone, Draco was cuddled in the arms of the beloved Gryffindor’s princess. Pansy had her first glimpses of what a proper, loving relationship looked like when she first caught Draco and Hermione huddled together. Shock hit her first but knowing that Draco hadn’t loved her like that for a while, she was accepting of the two forbidden lovers.
“Right, well suppose I have to go perform all of my motherly duties and go check on the groomsmen. Hopefully, Theo hasn’t gotten too drunk, we don’t really want a repeat performance of what happened at Ginny and Scarhead’s wedding.” Pansy commented, basically flinging the memory of drunk Theo at Ginny and Harry’s wedding back into everyone’s heads, which was not a picture anyone wanted to relive.
“Oh yeah, please. Continue. Do remind me more of how an incredibly drunk Theodore Nott decided that it would be a fantastic idea to strip completely naked in front of all my relatives and friends, then proceed to proclaim his undying love for Oliver Wood in front of everyone. And oh do I mean everyone. I had house-elves complaining. Only one person found it romantic, and that was my great-great-grandmother who is basically deaf.” Ginny shivered at the memory, her voice oozing with sarcasm. Ginny turned back towards Hermione, who was smiling at remembering the memory from the girl’s wedding. “Hermione, don’t you dare laugh.” Ginny’s motherly tone, sounding like Molly Weasley, burst out as she helped Hermione stand up.
Ginny helps Hermione climb into her wedding dress, buttoning it up magically at the back as Pansy starts putting some of the finishing touches to Hermione’s makeup. She sprayed some of the expensive Muggle setting spray over Hermione’s face, waving her wand to instantly dry the spray-on Hermione’s face. Ginny ruffled up the tightly coiled curls, letting them fall down Hermione’s back.
Hermione walked carefully over to the full-length mirror, her dress swaying around her as she walked, which was situated next to the bedroom door. Even though she knew what her wedding dress looked like, Hermione couldn’t help but admire the thing. It was simply the most perfect thing. She loved it so much. Pansy and Ginny stood behind Hermione admiring the wedding dress, Ginny was already perfectly ready for the wedding. But Pansy, however, had half her makeup on but she still was wearing the bridesmaid bathrobe that Jean Granger had brought the whole bride team. Even Narcissa had one, but she had stated early on, that no one would be able to get her to wear the bathrobe. People tried. Pansy, though, practically lived in it. If it was socially acceptable to wear the fluffiest robe ever then Pansy definitely would wear the thing every day. If she didn’t have high pureblood standards forced into her then she would turn up to Hermione’s wedding wearing it. She laughed quietly to herself at the thought that would definitely be Posy Parkinson’s nightmare. Her only daughter. No, wait, her only child wearing a bathrobe to the wedding of the decade. Posy would probably want Pansy to stage an intervention and try getting Draco back for herself. Granted, Posy doesn’t even know about Pansy's engagement to Neville. Pansy wasn’t going to be the one to tell her either, if Posy found out about it from the Daily Prophet then Pansy couldn’t give two shits.
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With a couple of vials of sober-up potion securely in her pockets of the bathrobe, Pansy walked down a couple of long corridors before reaching the quarters that she knew the boys were staying in. It wasn't usually Draco’s quarters, usually reserved for guests but they needed Hermione and Draco as far away from each other as possible. As she reached the quarters, she could practically already smell the firewhiskey and other alcohol mixing together and floating around in the atmosphere. She was surprised that she couldn’t smell it on the opposite side of the manor, where Hermione and Ginny were still getting ready. Though Narcissa probably set wards or something so Hermione wasn’t worried about how drunk the boys were getting to calm their nerves or just drinking because Blaise had put them up to something. Pansy tried not to gag. She tried not to vomit more likely, as she heavily knocked on the bedroom door.
“Pans, for fuck sake, you could just come in, you know. Everyone is dressed. You’ve seen ⅔ of the people in this room naked before so nothing would change if you came in and we weren’t decent, perhaps you are worried that you will discover that getting with Longbottom was a mistake.” Blaise shouted loudly from behind the door, she could basically hear the smirk dripping off his voice as it was probably stretched wide across his face.
Pansy slowly entered the boy’s room, worried that in fact one of the boys was going to be completely naked and she would have to find a way to be oblivated and hope that no one asked questions as to what she had seen. As she entered the room, she was hit with the awful smelling mixture of multiple colognes, firewhiskey and some sort of other alcohol, and the distinct smell of green apples that everyone was so used to after being surrounded by the smell. Draco was somewhat obsessed with green apples. The mixture hit the back of Pansy’s throat, the overwhelming feeling to gag comes back again. She glances around the bedroom. It looked like some sort of messed up, weird looking renaissance painting. Definitely not what you find in an art gallery. It was quite funny, but Pansy was more worried about the boy’s well-being than anything else.
Looking around the room again, she spotted Theo. He was laying, more like stretched out, across the old, thirteenth-century chaise lounge. It was like something out of that one Muggle film that Hermione made the girls watch months and months ago. His smart, dark grey, suit trousers were buttoned up wrong. The second sign was that he was very much drunk. His shirt was around here somewhere after announcing to the room when Pansy entered it that it was very much “missing”. The curly haired young man kept breaking out into song, one specific song. Singing about his love for Oliver Wood, who was properly off somewhere, trying to find a sober-up potion for his boyfriend.
Pansy continued to look around, soon spotting Blaise. He was the picture of elegance. Of fucking course he was. He was holding onto the top of a bottle of non-alcoholic elf wine while trying to aim grapes into Theo’s mouth. Blaise was already dressed in his dark grey suit, looking like he had been ready for hours already. Clearly, in that time he’d gotten bored and that was when the alcohol had been passed over to Theo and Draco. Speaking of Draco.
She tried looking for Draco. He was nowhere to be found in the main bedroom. Following the scent of green apples and musky cologne, Pansy found the blonde staring back at his reflection in the ensuite bathroom. Pansy couldn’t tell whether Draco’s eyes looked like that because he had been crying nonstop or because he was trying his best not to blackout.
“Pansy fucking Parkinson!” Draco exclaimed loudly, the noise bouncing around the bathroom walls and probably entering the main room. “Do you know that I’m getting married today? She is very fucking beautiful. Have you seen Granger’s wedding dress yet?” He questioned, slurring over all of the letters in his sentences. He pulled Pansy closer into a tight hug as she moved them both back into the main bedroom. Theo looked like he was falling asleep on the chaise and Blaise was still throwing grapes at him, his aim getting better suddenly.
Draco pulled Pansy closer, dancing the waltz around the bedroom as he hummed a song. Theo kept falling further into the chaise lounge, slightly snoring, as Blaise kept annoyingly flinging dark red grapes into his own and Theo’s gaping mouth. Theo woke up with a start just as a grape knocked him lightly on the head. Blaise laughed at the shocked and worried expression painted on Theo’s face.
The door opened suddenly, revealing a stressed looking Oliver, a quite pissed looking Narcissa and a group of well-dressed house-elves also with anger painted across their little faces. At the look of his mother’s face, Draco instantly pushed Pansy away from him, stopped humming and quickly acted as if he was completely sober. No alcohol was in his system. None at all.
“Mother-” Draco started, focusing on keeping himself standing upright, trying not to make it obvious that he was clearly using the wall as leverage.
“Don’t ‘mother’ me, young man. Pansy, dear, please give them their sober-up potions and quickly return back to Hermione’s quarters.” Narcissa clipped, smiling at Pansy, as Oliver and the collection of house-elves swiftly entered the bedroom.
Pansy poured the sober-up potion into Theo’s mouth after helping him sit up properly on the chaise lounge. Not wanting any repeat performance from Ginny and Harry’s wedding. She passed over the other vials of the potion to Oliver, knowing that he and the house-elves would look after and keep the boys in check. She kissed Draco on the cheek before flying speedily out of the bedroom quarters.
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Jean and Richard made their way up the long pavement, leading up to the front door of Malfoy Manor. The albino peacocks were squawking loudly like they were protesting not being allowed to walk around the gardens like usual. What a wonderfully warm welcome! Richard thought as he smiled at Jean and the small house-elf. This was one of the wizarding customs that he thought was quite weird. The couple followed the house-elf up towards the bedroom quarters where the sound of three girls giggling could be heard loudly.
Knocking on the door, “is everyone decent?” Jean questioned as the giggling quietened down.
“Just come in mum,” Hermione shouted out and Jean opened the bedroom door. She walked in, striding over to stand with Ginny and Pansy to hide away Hermione. For the grand reveal. “Dad, are you here?” Hermione asked, her smile getting bigger but also anxious that her father would hate the dress.”
“Yes, my little Mione, I’m here. Shall I close my eyes?” Richard commented as he stepped further into the bedroom, closing the door with a firm shut behind him. He stepped forward a couple more times before closing his eyes. The three women smiled at each other, before slowly moving out of the way. Hermione shuffled forward, holding onto her mother’s hand as her dress ruffled around her as she stepped. Her mother stroked her thumb across Hermione’s knuckles, quietly humming the beginning notes of La Vie en Rose.
“Dad, are you ready?” Hermione questioned as she noticed her father shuffled forward after hearing her voice. “Okay, you can uncover your eyes now, dad!” Hermione excitedly exclaimed as Jean slowly stopped stroking her thumb across Hermione’s knuckles.
Richard slowly uncovered his eyes and opened them. He slowly looked up from the floor, gazing over Hermione’s wedding dress then looked into golden brown eyes. Golden brown met golden brown. He looked over her properly.
“Hermione, my darling, you look amazing. Radiant even. I can’t even find the words right now to describe how beautiful you look my darling. Oh, Hermione, you look so grown up. Where has my little girl gone? Draco is a very lucky man indeed.” Richard smiled bigger as he waddled closer and hugged Hermione.
After what felt like hours of Richard and the girls fawning over Hermione, the girls finished getting ready themselves which allowed for Richard to pull Hermione to the side where no one else could hear their conversation.
Passing over an envelope to Hermione, he looked sad, “this was sent to the house. He must not have remembered to actually send it here. Perhaps he didn’t want Narcissa or Draco to accidentally open it and read whatever awful prejudice spew is contained within the envelope.” He doesn’t look up at Hermione, “please, don’t let your mother read whatever is in that letter. I don’t practically want to know either my darling, but just know that whatever you decide to do today know that your mother and I support you. But Draco does love you. No matter what his father says, Draco loves you and basically worships the ground you walk on.” Richard kissed her cheek before stepping away, walking over towards the three women.
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Dear Miss Granger,
Congratulations to you on your wedding day. Please give my love to Narcissa and Draco, I am missing them terribly. Now I will only keep this short. I wouldn’t want to keep you from infiltrating my family, would I?
Apologies again for not being able to attend what the Daily Prophet seems to be calling ‘the wedding of the decade’. I was pleasantly shocked that the new Potters didn't take that title. But then again, the public always expected the little orphan Potter to marry the only female Weasley child.
Wish I could attend this wedding, honestly, if just to save my Draco from a lifetime of dread and regret. Narcissa may have given you both her blessings but she isn’t technically classed as the head of the household.
Draco is the head of the household. Hermione angrily thought as she looked back down at the letter and continued to read.
Draco shouldn’t be marrying you, Miss Granger. You may think that you have fooled the public and Narcissa but I know the truth. You have Draco under some sort of spell, don’t you? What is it? Strong fucking love potion or is it an unforgivable that you are using on my son, fucking Imperius is it? Confess now Miss Granger and then Draco won’t be as hurt. Confess now and perhaps your precious ickle Ministry won’t be sending you to Azkaban, or perhaps they will send you here. We could then spend our time together and I’d make sure everyone knows what a disgusting little Mudblood you are.
You have no right to take the Malfoy name. You and Draco are tainting my name. Narcissa had no fucking right to give you her blessing. If I ever get out of Azkaban then mark my words that something will happen to end your marriage with Draco. Even if that means ending the Malfoy name, at least it will have ended with the saints that are myself and Narcissa.
Yours truly,
Lucius Malfoy
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Fucking Lucius Malfoy had no right to threaten her like that. There was no way he’d get out. He was a Death Eater. Voldemort lived under his fucking roof. She would marry Draco and Lucius would never be able to hurt either of them. Narcissa loved them together, bloody hell she was playing matchmaker the entire time but Draco was too “innocent” to take notice of what she was doing. She angrily thought as she stomped over to the lit fireplace and chucked the envelope and the letter into the roaring fire, engulfing both pieces of parchment into flames and getting rid of all the hurtful things Lucius has ever said to Hermione.
Ginny and Pansy nodded, meaning that it was almost time for things to start. But that first meant that Hermione needed to partake in one of the only Muggle traditions she would be performing during her wedding.
Something old, which symbolizes our lives prior to when we become intertwined and offers a chance to honour the family heritage. Hermione was gifted her late grandmother’s necklace which was always passed down through the generations and was always worn at the wedding, and also worn when the relative had passed away, so Hermione had already been sadly gifted the necklace during her fifth year when her grandmother passed away.
Something new, which reflects the future shared life that Draco and Hermione will have together, so the couple decided to get small matching tattoos. Of course, they already sort of had matching tattoos with their marks being on their left forearms, but Hermione wanted something positive and Draco loved the idea. It sounds cheesy but they decided to just get a small heart tattooed on their ankles, no one else except the two of them would see it.
Something borrowed, which usually just means incorporating an item that belongs to a family member of a dear friend for good luck. It seemed stupid but technically they were “borrowing” the tradition of using the Manor gardens for their wedding. Hermione didn’t really see it as borrowing because she loved to continue the tradition but it fits for the muggle traditions.
Something blue, which symbolizes fidelity and purity. Hermione was wearing the periwinkle blue earrings that her mother had brought her for the yule ball back in her fourth year. The same ones she was wearing when she wished that she could dance with Draco. Declare her love for him. Not giving one shit about what people think as she steps on her tiptoes to kiss him.
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Hermione watched secretly as Ginny and Pansy walked down the aisle, both clearly smiling at their partners as if Harry and Neville’s faces were anything but smiles. Hermione held onto her father’s arm, gripping tighter as the nerves continued to wash over her. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. She repeated to herself over and over again at the same rhythm of the strokes against her knuckles as her father tried to calm her down.
Richard kissed Hermione’s forehead, whispering words of encouragement as the band started playing the wedding march. Hermione and Richard stepped forward. She took several deep breaths to calm herself down. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. She repeated to herself over and over again at the same rhythm of the strokes against her knuckles as her father continued trying to calm her down.
They started slowly walking down the aisle, smiling at all their friends and family that sat mixed on both sides. They didn’t want to make people “choose” a side, it would have made Draco’s side look so empty, so people sat whether they wanted, it didn’t mean they loved Hermione or Draco more, they just wanted to sit in that particular spot. Theo and Blaise looked up from next to Draco, and they smiled at her. That helped to calm her nerves. Seeing his two best friends, and her two best friends, smiled genuinely at her helped to remind her that things were okay. Lucius wasn’t here. He wasn’t going to stop the wedding. Draco loved her. And she loved him.
“I love you Draco.” She declared to him as she kissed him. She repeated it again and again throughout the day, making sure that all of the words sank into his skin. She wanted to make sure he knew how much he was loved. She kept declaring those four words.
Something that Hermione noticed throughout the entire ceremony and the soul binding was that Draco’s genuine smile didn’t leave his face at all. He smiled at her throughout the entire thing while probably only half-listening to the Ministry official’s speech. Though when it came to making their vows to each other, he listened with intent. His eyes glazed with tears at Hermione’s words. Her poetry. She promised and declared their words to each other.
“Always and forever.”
Draco later told her that he wanted his full attention on her because she was glowing. He described her as golden, claiming that she was golden the whole day. The sparkle of her periwinkle blue earrings glistened in the golden sun rays as it shone brightly down upon the newlywed couple.
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Their wedding flew past them in a complete euphoric blur and there was no mischievous looking Lucius Malfoy insight. Thank Merlin for that. Declarations of ‘I love you wife’ and ‘I love you husband’ were whispered to each other during the gorgeous five-course meal, prepped lovingly by their house-elves. Of course, including Mippy’s famous pumpkin soup that was wonderful year-round and always graced their table during Christmas Day.
The clink of a silver spoon against a glass pulled Draco’s attention away from Hermione’s glowing golden eyes. He looked up to notice several members of his family and friends holding onto Muggle microphones. Hermione had said it was easier to control the volume by using microphones instead of holding a wand to your neck. Also, there were several muggles in attendance that didn’t really know about Hermione’s magical powers. Oh no, their friends and family holding microphones only meant one fucking thing. It was time for speeches. Draco wondered if he could sneak off with Hermione and have no one realise that they’ve gone. Hopefully, Theo and Blaise had listened to Narcissa and Hermione’s threats about no funny business during the speeches. They didn’t really want speeches but Narcissa and all their friends basically insisted that they needed to stick to the tradition of speeches.
“So, I remember my little girl writing home constantly in her first year talking about this blonde kid in her year but in a different house. She was claiming that he was a bit of a bully but Hermione kept talking about how she couldn’t stop thinking about-”
“-how soft her hair looked. He used to constantly talk about how ridiculous Granger’s hair looked but everyone secretly knew-”
“-they used to meet in alcoves during our sixth year. Technically they weren’t doing anything wrong, they were just usually cuddling but on occasions when things at school were bad then I occasionally caught them-”
“-kissing once, so Richard used to make Hermione keep her bedroom door open whenever the two of them came around visiting or were home for Christmas. Even though Hermione and Draco were both adults, Richard wanted to make sure they were behaving.”
Draco held Hermione closer as the stories of their friends and family witnessed them falling in love floated around the room, reminding them both of how much love there was between the two. No matter what Lucius Malfoy threatened or what the Daily Prophet reported of their love for each other. They truly loved each other. Nothing would tear them apart because they had each other.
“To Hermione and Draco!” Richard cheered as he raised his glass, smiling down at his daughter and new son-in-law.
Everyone raised up their glasses, some stood to cheers towards Hermione and Draco but they only took notice of seven specific people.
“Hermione and Draco!” Pansy exclaimed from the table nearest them, standing next to Neville, who was smiling widely and raising his glass towards them both. He mouthed “congratulations” as he wrapped his arm around Pansy’s waist.
“Hermione and Draco!” Theo raised his glass, winking at Hermione which instinctively made Draco pull her closer to him, even though he knew Theo would never do anything with Hermione which would be portraying his best friend. Stood next to Theo, staring lovingly at his partner, Oliver Wood. Another Gryffindor, who had managed to tame a snake into falling in love with them.
“Hermione and Draco!” Blaise announced, loudly. Blaise stood next to Luna, already looking like she was ready to pop even though she was only about six months pregnant. Blaise glanced lovingly down at Luna. Those children are going to be so loved. Hermione thought as she smiled at the both of them.
“Hermione and Draco!” Ginny and Harry both announced as Harry put a protective hand over Ginny’s stomach, not realising that both Hermione and Draco were staring at them. Draco now owned Hermione several galleons because she had predicted that Ginny and Harry were having a child but hadn’t told anyone yet.
“Hermione and Draco!” Jean and Richard smiled as Jean wiped away her tears. Jean, and Narcissa but she was better at hiding her tears, had been a mess the entire day and kept having to borrow Richard handkerchief to wipe away all of her tears. She couldn’t believe how proud of her daughter she was and soon enough Hermione and Draco, hopefully, would be having their own children to be proud of. One day they would be the emotional ones at their children’s weddings.
“Hermione and Draco!” Narcissa called out, smiling at her son and daughter in law. Proud. That was what she was. In times of prejudice and unsure whether they would see each other at the end of the day, the couple fought through that on opposite sides of the war and made it out on the other side, alive and well. They had love. They showed the public that you could be from opposite sides and classed as ‘forbidden lovers’ and still make it out. Still make it to their own wedding and would one day grace the world with children.
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As Hermione and Draco shared their first private dance together, swirling around the outside dance floor. Luckily they had already sent everyone home and off to bed, so they could share the first dance together in private. The stars shone brightly. Draco kissed her forehead as he twirled her around the floor. He softly sang La Vie en Rose into her ear as they twirled around the floor. Love and happiness engulfed them as they finished dancing as Draco continued to softly sing La Vie en Rose.
“I love you, Draco. Always and forever, remember.” Hermione declared to the stars, spotting Draco’s constellation as she kissed his lips.
“I love you, Hermione. Always and forever.” He declared back as he swept her into his arms and stepped onto the Malfoy Manor entrance flooring. Entering their house together, the first time as a married couple.
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