Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the songs mentioned in this fic. They belong to their rightful owners.

A/N: Another one of those "silly thoughts late at night" fics. Enjoy!

White Veil

A Dramione Fic

By: Mystical Pen

Part 1: Red

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

Blaise looked to his right, his eyes immediately falling on the shiny shoes of his best mate, tapping rapidly against the packed soil of the Malfoy backyard. The wet grass was dripping dews onto the handsome leather of the footwear, but the blond didn't seem to care as he looked at the empty space in front of him. His hands were wringing his wrists nervously.

"Mate, would you stop doing that?!" Blaise looked up to Draco's face, a scowl dimming his own. "It's irritating. If you don't, I'll take those off of your feet and Banish it along with all your other shoes. You'll end up going to your wedding in only your socks!"

His own sour glower twisted Draco's face as he turned to Blaise. "Oh, sod off!" He only went back to his nervous tapping. This time, though, he proceeded to fiddle with his collar and his tie, alternating from loosening and tightening it around his neck.

"What are you even nervous of?" Blaise asked as he slapped Draco's hand away from the blond's collar, much to the latter's irritation. "She will come, Draco. Just give the fidgeting a rest, yeah?"

Draco rolled his eyes at Blaise. "You want me to be honest, Blaise?" He raised his eyebrows questioningly at his best friend, before proceeding to the answer even without a reply. "I'm not nervous she wouldn't come. I actually wish she wouldn't. Then, I wouldn't have to pretend I'm happy. I just want to die now than be married."

A scoff came from Blaise. "Don't be dramatic, you tosser. It's not your style."

"Just because it's not my style, doesn't mean it's gonna stop. Because this wedding clearly isn't my style as well, but it's not stopping, is it? So sod off my drama. It's not gonna leave anytime soon."

"Obviously, this isn't your style," Blaise said, rolling his eyes at his whiner of a best friend. "After all, it was your mother who arranged this whole wedding while you sulked in your office and drowned yourself in your work."

"Can you blame me?" asked the blond. "I don't want this, Blaise." Draco's eyes shone with grief and irritation combined, something a groom shouldn't be feeling on the day of his wedding. He sighed heavily before combing his hands through his hair.

In that moment, it was Blaise's turn to sigh. Maybe he wasn't showing it, but even he was sad for his best friend that day. Clearly, even in his grief, the best man supported the groom. He couldn't blame him though. After all, he was right. This wasn't Draco's choice. It was all his parents' choice. It wasn't much that Draco hated his soon-to-be wife. To be honest, she was dear to him as well. But the truth was, she wasn't dear enough for him to want her to be his wife. At the end of the day, Pansy will always be just another best friend in Draco's eyes. All three of them, the supposed members of the 'Silver Trio', knew that, especially Pansy.

At the thought of Pansy, a lump lodged its way into Blaise's throat. He'd always pretended he didn't care about it, he'd always acted like this whole ordeal, this whole wedding, was a problem to Draco alone. But unknown to everybody, this was a hit to the gut and a lunge to the heart for Blaise as well. He had been successful through all the years in hiding his feelings for Pansy. He'd been successful in hiding it even from her and Draco. Apparently, he had inherited his mother's acting skills. Nobody ever suspected anything.

If it were his choice, Blaise would have gladly told Pansy about his feelings. He would have been brave to tell her about how much he was in love with her. He would have stepped out of his pantomime shoes and just admit to everything. He would have done it years ago. To be honest, he'd actually started to do something about it years ago. He'd known about the fixed marriage between Pansy and Draco. He'd tried to do something about it. He'd even gone and talked to Pansy's father about it. But that, instead of fixing things, had only wrecked everything.

He wasn't good enough for Pansy, that was what her father had told him. Even though it wasn't a problem to other families, the reputation of Blaise's mother was a clear problem to the Parkinson's. They didn't trust Blaise. They all expected him to be the same as his mother. And that had erased all chances of a future with Pansy. Her father had told Blaise that no good will ever come to their daughter if she married him. So sent him away, they did. They made him promise to not do anything to ruin the future that Draco and Pansy would have, because that future was the best that Pansy could be given. And he did promise. He kept it, because really, he didn't have any choice at all. And as much as it hurt to admit, it was true. Although it wouldn't be all paradise, being with Draco, having a family with him would be the best choice for a future for Pansy. After all, she looked like she was in love with the Malfoy. It was Blaise versus Draco, and Draco had always won.

"Then don't do it." Easier said than done, Blaise knew. But right then, he really couldn't say anything else to his best friend that would make the latter feel any better. That was aside from the fact that he himself was starting to feel wretched about this. "If you don't want it, don't push through it. Pansy would understand. She knows." He couldn't help but feel hopeful. If Draco messed this up, then maybe he would be out of the choices for Pansy. Maybe then, Blaise could be one of the choices.

"You very well know it doesn't work that way, Blaise, just as Pansy knows too." Draco tangled his fingers in his hair at the base of his neck. He didn't even care if his hair was starting to point to different directions. For once in his life, he wanted to look his worst. Maybe if he did, his mother would realize how much of hell she was making her son's life to be. "If I don't marry her, Mum will just look for someone else to betroth to me. I have to marry, whether or not I'm in love with the bride. It's a responsibility. I'm even lucky it's Pansy."

'Yeah, you're lucky,' Blaise had to fight the urge to say the words out loud. As much as he wanted to sabotage the wedding, he knew it would be bad for all of them, especially him, if he did it. He would only look worse in the eyes of Pansy's parents if he wrecked it. And then there was the problem regarding Pansy. He didn't even know what she felt for him. There wasn't a way Blaise could stop this wedding without it backfiring on him. There was only one way for this wedding to not happen, outside interference would be needed. Interference that didn't involve Blaise.

To be quite honest, there was another way for Draco to escape this wedding without being arranged with someone else as well. His mother did give him a choice. As long as he got to marry, the bride wasn't a problem. His mother gave him two choices. Those were a.) Narcissa would choose the bride for convenience or b.) Draco would marry the woman he loved. A few years ago, Draco would have gladly chosen the second. He would have gladly stolen the woman he loved in the middle of the night and married her even without any grand ceremonies, but at the moment, that was an impossibility. It became that way since that night the only woman he'd ever loved said goodbye to him…said goodbye and never came back.

"Then stop whining. Or better yet, go and marry the woman you're really in love with," Blaise suggested, as if he was reading Draco's mind. It wasn't that difficult to read the Malfoy's mind though, seeing as he'd gotten that glassy look in his eyes once more, something that always happened whenever he thought of her. "Find her and marry her. Problem solved."

Sighing once more, Draco looked Blaise in the eyes. "If only it was that easy, Blaise. I'd wanted to do that, mate. I've wanted to just leave everything and lunge at her the moment I saw her at Hogwarts that last day of the Final Battle. We all know I would have done it. But even before I was able to, she was gone. Gone from the castle, gone from the Wizarding World, gone from my life."

The sharp talons of pain clenched at Draco's heart as his mind wandered off to that day during the final battle. It was early that day when he saw her, looking dishevelled, ragged and suffering scratches and wounds. All he wanted to do then was to run to her, wrap her in his arms and escape everything to make sure she would be safe. But that clearly wasn't what she wanted. She hadn't even talked at him. It was like he never mattered even as he ran and stood in front of her, almost pleading for her to give them time to talk. She had dismissed him with nothing more than just 'I can't right now. There's something more important to be done.' And do that 'something', she really did. She went off to save the world with the two most important people in her life, leaving Draco, the third most important, with his heart shattering into a million pieces. She had succeeded then, she was able to help the saving of the world. Draco had hoped she would come back to him right after, but that was another hope gone to the winds. Nothing of the sort happened. Like what was said, she just vanished off the face of the Earth, leaving nothing for Draco to hold on to.

"Mate," Blaise started, his mood sympathizing with Draco's. He brought his hand around the blond's shoulders, tapping his shoulder supportively, but that was all he was able to do. The only thing he could do for his friend was be there, be there and watch his friend hurt, because really, there was nothing else to be done. He even had nothing left to say.

Draco sensed the lack of advice, the lack of soothing words. It had been years since it happened. Blaise had already said everything that could be advised, same as Draco had already done everything that could be done. And after everything, there was no result. So really, Draco couldn't blame Blaise for coming up with nothing to say. Instead, he just gave his loyal best friend an understanding nod before playfully brushing his arm off his shoulders.

"Now, do your job while I walk around and greet visitors."

Blaise knew that was alternative words to: 'Now, let me go and leave me to my woes.' So instead of contradicting Draco, he just nodded and slapped the blond's back while uttering a teasing, "Yeah, get out of here, you're intruding in my job." And with that, Blaise was left alone in front of the low back gates of the Malfoy backyard to welcome the popping visitors.

The Slytherin tried to shake off the heaviness of the mood that had settled not only on Draco's back, but also on his. He wasn't Draco and there was no way he could fully understand the difficulty of living a Malfoy life, but in a way, having seen everything that had happened from the outside of the 'dancefloor', he knew how messed up Draco's world had become. Now, he felt how heavy this situation really was. Gone was the easy and playful Blaise. In his place was the contemplating one, ever worrying for his best mate's welfare.

People might not think so because they were Slytherin – they were born to care the most for themselves – but the truth was, Blaise cared a lot for Draco. Growing up in a family where his mother only cared for her wealth, her men and a combination of the two, Blaise didn't feel like he belonged somewhere. It was only after he'd met Draco that he felt like he had a place in the world. It was Draco who he treated as his family. They were more than best friends. They were brothers. That was how much he cared for the Malfoy, but of course he wouldn't say that out loud, especially not in front of Draco. Lest, he wouldn't hear the last of it. So, trying to go back to his job, Blaise just shook those thoughts out of his mind. If Draco was trying hard to get into the proper mood again, he should at least try as well. He was his best man, after all.

Pop

The sound of someone apparating made Blaise look up from staring at the carpet of grass under his shoes. He plastered a wide grin on his face, ready to greet the person that was walking towards him. It was a woman, that was clear from the shape of her body. She was wearing a dress…a red dress…and a hat that covered her face…a red hat. Immediately, a frown replaced Blaise's grin. The woman was wearing all reds in a wedding. Huh.

It wasn't that it was illegal to wear red in a wedding. But seeing as everyone had always worn either white or any light shaded dresses and dress robes in these kinds of occasions, it was peculiar that someone would wear something as strikingly coloured as a red dress. Unless of course, this woman wanted to steal all the attention from the bride, which would be bad, considering that the bride was Pansy. Blaise knew more than anybody that Pansy hated when attention was stolen from her. Blaise needed to know who she was and why she decided to wear red, to know her intentions.

"Ahem. Good morning, Madame," Blaise greeted, plastering his grin back on his face. "I am the best man. I am in charge of knowing all the visitors. It's for security purposes. So, if it wouldn't be much of a bother, may I be honoured with your name?" The woman in front of him was much shorter than Blaise, but then again, with his towering height, almost everyone was much shorter than him. Because of this, though, he had to crouch lower to try and peek under the woman's hat that was covering her whole face except her lips that was coloured with thick lipstick, red lipstick.

Blaise leaned lower, still trying to look into the woman's face, but even before he was able to, the woman looked up, facing him directly while a very bright smile slowly stretching at her lips. She slightly tipped her hat upwards to reveal her face to the Slytherin, causing her brown curls to fall from where it was neatly tucked inside her hat. Her chocolate brown eyes glinted with glee as she looked up at Blaise.

"Hello, Blaise," the woman said, her voice sounding like silk carried by the gentle wind, "Long time no see."

Blaise's mouth fell open. He was convinced his jaw actually fell to the ground as he gazed at the woman in front of him. Unintelligible noises were his only reply to the woman mainly because that was the only response he could work at the moment. He just stood there, gaping at her.

The woman's smile turned to a smirk before she chuckled slightly. "Nice to see you again too, Blaise," she teased him, taking his speechlessness as a good sign. "So if you don't mind, I'm gonna go inside. See you around, dear." She didn't even wait for Blaise to respond. She just pulled her hat back down to cover the top of her face from view once again before proudly marching towards the venue of the wedding.

Blaise was only able to follow the woman's departure with his wide eyes. Even as she disappeared from his view, his surprise didn't cease its hold on him. The only words he could mutter were, "Holy shit." Irony and Fate seemed to have joined forces for this special day…

A/N: Part 1 done. This was supposed to be only a oneshot, but it was turning out to be quite long. And I don't want to bore you readers with something very tiring to the eyes, so I split it into two. I'll be uploading the next part tomorrow.

Oh, and the inspiration for this fic is Tay Swift's Speak Now. Well, obviously. :D

Anyway, tell me what you think. Send in a little review and make my day.

-xoxo Myst