Noontime on New Year's Eve embraced a cozy, wintry atmosphere. The mismatched rooftops of the buildings in Diagon Alley were uniformly dressed in snow, and the awnings overflowed with white flurry. Christmas lights decorated every pillar and windowsill in sight. The alleys bustled with witches and wizards, scurrying from one building to the next, trying to complete last minute tasks before today's early closing time. In a secluded, calm alleyway in the midst of the whirlpool of Diagon Alley, stood a five story chapel, where Draco Lucius Malfoy and Hermione Jean Granger were about to be wed.
"Blimey, Blaise! We aren't at one of those shoddy pubs that you go to pick up women. Do you think you could button your shirt all the way up for once?" Draco snarled at his best man as Blaise grudgingly fixed his collar.
"Crabbe! Goyle! Where are bow ties I gave you? Do I have to dress you two halfwits myself?"
"Uh, well you see..we sort-of lost 'em. Well Goyle did, really. See, he gave 'em to me, but I didn't want to lose it, so I have 'em back and well...yeah." Crabbe mumbled under his breath, as he squirmed under Draco's glare.
"Don't mind him. He's just cranky 'cus he knows Granger's going to have his head if everything isn't flawless. It's not our fault he's marrying "The World's Worst Stickler." Blaise retorted.
Goyle let out a forced laugh as he responded, "Sorry Draco, we'll go look for the bowties. Come on, Crabbe."
Ginny sighed out of exhaustion as she casted the finishing spells on Hermione's winged eyeliner. "You really must learn to stay still, Hermione. The way you keep flinching, one would think you've never seen a mascara brush in your life."
Hermione winced again, this time at the thought of having to apply makeup on a regular basis. "Sorry, Ginny, but how was I supposed to know you weren't going to shank me in the eye with that little, pointy thing?"
Ginny scoffed and rolled her eyes as she suddenly noted Harry sticking his head into the doorframe.
"Well you look..different," Harry remarked as he squinted at Hermione through his glasses.
"Different?! How different?! What type of different?!" Hermione screeched as she frantically examined her face in the mirror.
"Relax, Hermione. I meant you look stunning," Harry answered with a sparkling smile that instantly relieved Hermione of her uneasiness and reminded her of why she trusted him to be the one to walk her down the aisle.
The past couple years without her parents had been agonizing. The grief she felt today from obliviating her parents felt as strong as it did that day. She still remembered how her dad would walk her to the neighborhood library. Hermione teared up at the thought of him being unable to walk her down the aisle on this day. But as usual, she pushed away the thought, rationalizing that wiping their memory was the right thing to do.
"Well, I'll leave you to dress," Harry said before leaving the dressing room.
"Sorry if Harry upset you. You know he can be a bit unintelligent when it comes to saying the right thing sometimes," Ginny hushed as she promptly waived off her husband. "We've only got two hours left, so let's get you into that dress, shall we?"
Hermione's dress was a porcelain-white, trumpet gown. A wide, portrait neckline and sleeves that rested on her shoulder blades led into a tight-fitting bustier that hugged her body down to mid-hip and then spread out into a skirt that barely brushed the ground. But the dress that had fit flawlessly at her last dress fitting now hung loose as fabric bunched up in the curves of her body that were fleshed out more than a month ago.
"I guess I've slimmed down a bit over the past few weeks," Hermione reckoned as she examined herself in the full-length mirror with displeasure and mortification. "Between the cases at the Department of Mysteries, the wedding planning and the petty arguments Narcissa, I've been incredibly stressed. I should've known the stress and the skipped meals would add up."
"You really need to start taking care of yourself. When was the last time you ate?" Ginny questioned, and right on queue, Hermione's famished belly let out a low groan.
"Yesterday morning, but I'm fine...really," Hermione plead, trying harder to reassure her stomach rather than to reassure Ginny.
"Well the wedding doesn't start for at least another hour and a half; I'm sure you have time to grab a quick bite. For God's sake, we can't have you pass out of exhaustion in the middle of your own wedding," Ginny argued as she reached into her purse and handed Hermione two Galleons. "Go find yourself something to eat, and don't you dare come back until you're well fed."
Hermione reluctantly accepted the Galleons before as she shuffled down the hallway to take the elevator down to the ground floor.
"Is there ever an able moment where you aren't snogging a mirror, bloke? Honestly, I swear you're more in love with yourself than you are with your fiancé," Blaise quipped as he watched Draco pop his collar and wink at himself.
Draco chuckled and spinned around to face Blaise. Before he could snap out a killer retort, Draco suddenly realized that Crabbe and Goyle had not returned. He was too busy catcalling himself to notice that the two elephants were not in the room. "Blaise, we have to find them! The wedding starts in an hour and a half, and who knows many chocolate frogs and cauldron cakes they could've already stolen from the reception?"
Before Blaise could rationalize that the two nitwits were probably just napping in the restroom as usual, Draco stormed out of the dressing room to find Crabbe and Goyle.
Hermione opened the double doors of the chapel to greet a steady stream of snowfall, whisking through the brisk wind before flying at her face. The hem of her skirt bunched up in her fist as she trudged along, and her feet sunk through the snow to the cobblestone. She made her way towards Gringotts, the only building she could recognize from afar with the sleet. As she approached Gringotts, she noticed the dim light pulsing from the tiny window of the ice cream parlor. Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour was a run-down, one room shack on the corner across from Gringotts, right next to the Second-Hand Bookshop that Hermione had visited on numerous occasions when shopping with the Weasley's. Hermione hurried across the street and pushed open the dinky, green door of the parlor.
Inside, the parlor was lit only by a single incandescent light bulb dangling from the center of the ceiling. On the small countertop sat a massive, decorative No Melt Ice Cream Sundae with every ice cream flavor imaginable, topped with Bertie Bott's Jelly Beans, Fizzing Whizzbees and Chocolate Cauldrons. Under the countertop was an array of a dozen ice-cream flavors and racks of assorted treats. Hermione ordered a dozen Ginger Newt Biscuits to-go and headed back to the chapel. She called the lift to the ground floor, shuffles inside when the doors slid open, she pressed the fifth-floor button to take her back up to her dressing room.
Draco collapsed in the second-floor hallway after hour of aimlessly rushing around the building in search for Crabbe and Goyle. Defeated and empty-handed, he got up and made his way to the lift. When the lift arrived, Draco was astounded to see his bride-to-be, dressed in her wedding gown, covered in snow and drenched in water, sloppily stuffing biscuits into her mouth.
"Well, you look...different," Draco muttered, still in shock. He stepped into the lift before the doors slid shut.
Hermione grimaced at him, certain that this time it wasn't meant as a compliment.
"Well the dress is gorgeous. The portrait neckline really suits you. You've got beautiful..urm shoulders," Draco hesitantly finished, only adding to the awkwardness. "...So what brings you to the lift this fine afternoon?"
"Mm mrm mmrrmmph," Hermione replied stuffing her mouth with another Ginger Newt. She paused to swallow before clarifying, "I was starving, so I went out to Florean's Ice Cream Parlor."
Draco chuckled at the site of her earnestly scarfing her biscuits. He took a couple steps towards her before pulling her close and giving her a sweet peck on her ginger-powdered lips.
"Mmm, delicious. I see we are going to the same floor," Draco commented as he side-glanced the tiny red glow next to the fifth-floor button. "I could have sworn the trip down was much quicker."
"Wait a minute, are we even moving?" Hermione asked, the pitch of her voice rising with every word, filled with panic. "This can't be happening again!" She hectically jabbed the reopen button before trying to rip the doors apart with all the strength she could muster.
"Alohamora! Confringo! Deletrius!" Hermione yelled into the crack between the doors, babbling every potential, wandless spell she could remember. "Open Sesame! Oh, for god's sake! Draco, help me pry them open. You grab that door and we'll pull on three."
After twenty minutes of vigorous and fruitless yanking, the couple finally gave up.
"Let's-huh-take a break. We'll try-huh huh-again in 5," Hermione puffed.
Exhausted, Draco replied, "it's no use, sweetheart. We're stuck."
Three hours has past, which had been three hours too many of Hermione trying to teach Draco how to play "I Spy."
"I don't get it. How could muggles possibly "spy with their little eyes" something that's not there without a crystal ball?" Draco asked.
"For the thirtieth time, it doesn't have to be right in front of you, you can just make it up," Hermione replied, exasperated.
"Oh, so I could Accio something instead."
"Yes, but muggles can't...Y-you don't need...It's jus-just...Honestly, I give up," Hermione huffed, throwing her hands up with a shrug.
"Sorry. Can I have a Newt, please?" Draco begged.
Hermione reached for her box of treats and opened it to find a single Newt left. "Maybe we could split it?" She carefully broke the last Newt into two equal pieces before handing Draco half. "Do you, Draco Lucius Malfoy, take me to be your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish always?"
Draco looked at her inquisitively before snickering. "I do," he said as he accepted her Newt. "Do you, Hermione Jean Granger, take me to be your husband?"
"Of course, I do!" she exclaimed before she threw her hands around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.
Mid-kiss, the elevator doors blasted open to reveal Harry, Ginny and Blaise, exhausted and mildly exasperated.
"Where have you two been the past three hours?" Harry questioned.
"What does it look like Boy-Wonder? We've been stuck in this hell hole. Or did you think we missed our own wedding for laughs?" Draco responded, annoyed.
Crabbe and Goyle finally arrived to the party. "Oh, there you are. Look, Draco! We found our bow ties!" Goyle exclaimed enthusiastically. He pointed at the plate of cake he was holding, "since you never showed, Crabbe and I thought we'd go ahead, do you guys a favor, and cut the cake. Do you guys want some?"
Both Draco and Hermione angrily eyed the twins before turning toward each other. As they caught eyes, they telepathically realized the absurdity and the unfortunateness of the situation, and began to laugh hysterically while the others stared, befuddled.
After a couple seconds of gasping for air, Draco panted, "thanks, but no thanks Goyle. I think I've had too much dessert for one day," before pulling his fiancé in for a passionate kiss.