Chapter 1: Grab Your Hat And Fetch A Camera

A/N: Hope you like this, it's my first fic! The chapter title comes from She's A Handsome Woman by Panic! at the Disco.

Hermione smoothly adjusted the navy satin dress, rolled her ankles to stop her shoes from biting into her heels, and pulled back the curtain with a hesitant smile.

"Well? What do you think?"

Pansy looked up from the most recent issue of the Daily Prophet.

"I'm so jealous of you," she said teasingly, theatrically putting on a wistful face and her hand to her chest. "You're so gorgeous, and you haven't even done up your hair or put on makeup, ignoring the fact that you don't need it. I'm going to look like a pile of dragon dung next to you!"

Hermione laughed and walked over to sit next to her best friend, picking up her hands and swinging them around. "Me? Frizz-ball, know-it-all, eats-at-all-hours-of-the-day Hermione Granger?"

Pansy rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Oh yes, I forgot about that. You could eat nothing but Bertie Botts' for the next decade and not gain a single pound! Now stop putting yourself down and pay for that damn dress that makes you look like an absolute angel!"

Hermione did as she was bid with a laugh, and soon, they were walking arm-in-arm outside through the centre of London.

"I'm so excited for Luna and Dean" said Hermione as they paused to look at a window display full of glittering jewels. "They're so in love with each other … "

"And she's already three months preggers! Mind you, I have to say that I thought at first he only wanted to marry her because she was pregnant."

"Pants!" admonished Hermione, using the nickname she had coined for her friend. "He proposed a full month before they found out!"

"Yeah, but I didn't know that until about two weeks after he popped the question."

By now they had reached The Leaky Cauldron. Pushing the door open, they were greeted by a babble of talk, the tantalising aroma of oak-matured mead, and Tom, who smiled toothlessly at them from behind the bar.

Smiling back at him, they crossed the little pub and entered the courtyard outside. They weren't visiting Diagon Alley however. Both witches gripped each other tightly on the arm and turned on the spot, vanishing completely into thin air.

A split second later, they had arrived at Pansy's flat. Hermione giggled.

"Remember the time you had too much to drink and Disapparated in front of those Muggles? Lucky I grabbed you at the last moment and Apparated back to The Leaky Cauldron's front door."

Pansy laughed as well, joining her friend as they revisited that episode only a few months ago. "I still remember you trying to make up a story to explain what those poor souls had seen! Magicians practising randomly in the streets and then asking the viewer if they thought the trick had been convincing enough, what a laugh!"

"Well they did seem to think it was extremely convincing."

Pansy laughed once more as they reached her bedroom with an adjoining en suite. "Come on, let's get ready. The grand Thomas – Lovegood wedding starts in three hours and you only just bought your dress!"

An hour later, they were ready. Hermione had given her new dress a quick once-over with her wand ("Scourgify!"), and put it on, loving the feeling of feather-light satin gliding down her body as she slipped it over her head. The dress was shorter than the usual floaty gowns she wore to formal occasions, only reaching to her knees, but it was chic and demure so she didn't mind. It had a structured bodice and two thick straps reaching over her shoulders. Hermione had liked this dress even before she tried it on; it was different from her usual style, but at the same time, so similar. Classy, demure. Just in a different way this time. She slipped on her shoes, wriggling her pointer finger around the inside of the heel. They were new and hadn't been broken in properly yet; as a precaution, Hermione performed a Cushioning Charm on her feet before slipping them into the navy pumps. Her hair, better than it had been during her teenage years at Hogwarts, was still usually curly, with loose strands going haywire whenever there was moisture or static in the air. Now it had been perfectly tamed with one swish of Pansy's wand, resting at the top of her head in a chignon, tight enough to keep every hair in place, loose enough to look elegantly relaxed. Very subtle highlights had been added so that it complemented the deep navy sheen of her dress perfectly.

Pansy, on the other hand, had dressed in garishly bright colours, having remembered Luna's love for wearing sun colours to weddings. She had refused to wear yellow, saying that it made her look like a bumblebee, what with her raven-black hair, but had instead opted for bright orange. Hermione had jokingly asked her about her views on looking like a tiger, conjuring two pillows in mid-air as she spoke, in case she needed to defend herself, but Pansy had just laughed and told her she knew she didn't mean it. She'd been right; Hermione thought she looked amazing. The vivid orange contrasted sharply against Pansy's pale white skin and black hair, but she was still a vision. Sparkly sandals that threw out little lights whenever she walked completed her look.

"You look fantastic!" they both squealed at the same time, before cracking up.

"Okay, pull yourself together", said Hermione. "We're bridesmaids, we should've been there ten hours ago giggling and teasing the bride-to-be!"

"Oh of course," agreed Pansy with a look of mock-seriousness on her face. "How else will she know about that huge pimple that's just erupted on her forehead? Or about the bachelorette party photos being leaked to the Daily Prophet?"

"Pants!" shrieked Hermione. "We want Luna to be alive for her own wedding ceremony!"

Pansy had doubled up in hysterical laughter now, clutching at her beige leather sofa to keep standing. "Oh please, you know that would be hilarious! Can you imagine the look on her face if we told her the Prophet had photos of her doing Jelly Slug shots from – "

"I'm going, join me when your Essence of Insanity potion wears off," said Hermione, her voice shaking with laughter, and with a pop, she had disappeared. Pansy straightened up, still chuckling to herself as she remembered the party three weeks ago. She ran her hands over the chiffon, smoothing out any creases, grabbed her clutch and Hermione's, which the latter had left behind, and with a pop like Hermione's, Disapparated.

What do you guys think? Review please! (:

-MiniaturePuffskein