Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Author note: I want to thank my beta reader, , for all her patience and help. I don't know what to do without your suggestions!
This is my first story and even if it presents an unordinary couple, I hope you'll appreciate it and you'll review. For me, it is very important to read your impressions and your wants through a review!
When she was younger, she believed that life was about books, about knowledge, about being the best at everything. And for a girl who was too smart compared to other children, that worked just fine. Being superior to her peers made it easier to wake up every morning, despite knowing that everyone at school would make fun of her. One day, she knew, her hard work would pay off and she would prove to the world how strong she had become.
Of course, at that time, she didn't know that she was indeed a very special and powerful person who in less than ten years would become the smartest witch of her age. She also didn't know that she would befriend Harry Potter, or that this friendship would bring so many troubles to her otherwise boring life.
But spending every day trying to stay alive and fight against the Dark Lord in The Second Wizarding War could really change someone's perspective about life. Nothing compared with the dirt, the blood and the pain that remained etched in people's souls. Nobody taught adolescents what death was, or what it meant to lose a friend. The Death Eaters glorified the wizarding history, claiming they were more wise, more powerful than any Muggle, but their vision of the world never came to light. And even if it had, Hermione thought, it wouldn't have mattered, because even the strongest wizard was not wise or powerful enough to stop the one thing neither wizards nor Muggles could battle: death.
When she came to understand this, Hermione felt tired of everything. She was sick of studying like crazy, sick of being always the best and sick of fighting those psychopaths who only wanted power. She didn't have enough energy to spend the rest of her life catching criminals as an Auror and she surely didn't feel so generous to dedicate her time working as a Healer. Even if everybody expected great things from her, as a war heroine, she wanted a single thing: peace.
Now, after almost four years, it was really funny that, at first, nobody believed she would succeed. Doing something so out of character created many conflicts with the people who loved her. Only Harry, who had spent his entire life saving the world, understood her need to live simply and to do something ordinary from time to time. But even he, after a long talk a year ago, confessed he thought that she was just going through a phase, that she would get bored. Fortunately, he was wrong: not living up to her war legacy was one of her best decisions and she has never felt the urge to change it, just like she had never resumed her relationship with Ron.
Things hadn't ended badly between her and the redhead, but it was just hard for them to give up the idea that they could never be more than friends. The truth was that no matter how much they tried, The War had changed them too much for their relationship to work. She couldn't be what he was looking for, because after the Final Battle she had decided to spend her twenties finding her true love, travelling and working in a great field. Some might say that even after her unexpected break-up with Ron, she still hadn't accomplished these things, but that wasn't true. She had a great job and enough time to do everything she wanted: reading, travelling and visiting her friends.
Realizing that she has spent enough time focusing on her own problems, Hermione looked over the catalogue, thinking about what kind of floral arrangement would please her clients. If someone had told her before that she was going to plan weddings, she would have thought that it was a bad joke. But now, after three years, sitting behind a desk and organizing every single detail that made a wedding unforgettable was an important part of her life.
At first, Lucky One was just a distant dream, especially for someone like her, who still didn't give a damn about fashion. No matter how good she was at researching and planning things, she never had the patience to check on the latest trends. That's why she had no other choice but to hire Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil as fashion-consultants. All they had to do was to keep themselves informed on the latest trends and to look out for the best hair salons, bridal shops and bakeries in town. She would never become friends with them, no matter how much time they spent together. Over the years, however, a certain companionship (absolutely necessary in this field) had developed between them.
The sound of her phone didn't surprise her like it used to and she answered with an ease learnt over years:
"Good afternoon! Hermione Granger on the phone," she answered politely.
"Oh, thank God! It's me, Adele," the voice on the other end said enthusiastically. "I thought that I would never be able to reach you. It took me a good few minutes to figure out how this stuff works, and besides, I was afraid that I didn't write your number in my agenda."
To say Hermione was shocked would have been an understatement. A year ago, the Ministry of Magic has decided to allow the use of electronic devices for a better understanding of the Muggles' culture. Of course, a large number of wizards and witches didn't even consider using such things, but eventually, the people closer to her and her clients got used to them. That was why it was such a big surprise to receive a phone call from no other than Adele Dupont, one of the best wedding planners in the Wizarding world. The two of them met some time ago, at a wedding exhibition in Paris. It was weird for such different individuals to hit it off right away, but soon they began to send each other materials and share their opinions.
"Why, for Merlin's sake, didn't you send me a letter?"
"You'll never believe what happened to me. I was supposed to go to a meeting with one of my clients, in the Muggle district of Paris, when I was hit by that stupid thing that Muggles call a bicycle or something. Can you believe it?"
"Actually, yes, I can," Hermione said, smiling. It was natural for magical people to forget about Muggles' ways of life, especially if they didn't understand their inventions.
"Anyway, I don't know how, but I ended up in one of their hospitals with a broken leg. Can you imagine that I'm stuck here, without any healing potions or magical aids? All I've got are some candies these Muggles call 'painkillers' that don't do a damn thing." And I can't even take a potion, because I don't have any with me and even so, the doctors will know that it is unnatural for me to recover so quickly. Just my luck!"
"Oh, that really sucks. Can I do anything? Should I come there?"
"Mon Dieu, no! Listen, I called you because I really need a huge favor. You see, I was supposed to organize one of the most important weddings of this year. These clients come from a very old and rich family of purebloods, and they want everything to be perfect within a very short space of time. But now, because of my leg, I'm stuck here and all the arrangements for the wedding must be completed by October twenty-fifth. I need you to organize this wedding and to make sure that everything goes as it should."
For a minute, Hermione was tempted to refuse. Her entire agenda was full until November fifteenth. On the other hand, Adele was a good friend of hers, and if she didn't save the wedding, her friend's reputation would be ruined.
"Alright, but wouldn't be difficult for your clients to travel from France to London each week?"
"You shouldn't worry about that. They want what is the best and on top of that, they don't even live in France: they are from London. The Malfoy family – you should know them."
It was one of those rare moments which left Hermione completely speechless. Even if she had changed her life style, that didn't mean she had forgotten everything that ever happened to her. Being captured and tortured in Malfoy Manor wasn't one of her most pleasant memories and she wanted nothing to do with organizing their fucking wedding. For a couple of weeks now, the papers had been writing about the pureblood marriage between Draco Malfoy and Astoria Greengrass. It was, naturally, the event of the year and she wasn't stupid enough to spend her time on it.
"Look" said Adele, "Monsieur Malfoy has told me about your problems in the past, but…"
"Then you should know that it isn't fair to ask me such a thing." Hermione's tone was sharper than she intended.
"He wasn't too pleased either, but you don't need to meet them regularly in order to plan their wedding. I'm sure that Mademoiselle Greengrass would be more than happy to send you her opinions and tastes via owl. And you can ask Lavender or Parvati to talk to them sometimes. What I ask for you is to give it a try and at the same time save my reputation. Please."
"Nothing good will come out of this, but I accept." Why did she feel like she was doing a deal with the devil? Oh yes, because Malfoy was evil embodied.
"Thank you so much! I owe you one."
"You can be sure of that."
"Monsieur Malfoy will send you a letter as soon as possible to pick a day and hour suitable for a meeting. My doctor is coming, so I need to hang up. Au revoir!"
"Take care! Au revoir!"
She was left alone, looking incredulously at the phone. However, she didn't have enough time to fully understand what had just happened, because suddenly, a dark and regal owl sat upon her window sill. With trembling hands, she took the letter, on which was written in long and elegant handwriting:
In order to discuss at length the arrangements regarding my son's wedding, come to Malfoy Manor, tomorrow, at 8 P.M.
And in that moment, Hermione understood why she hated so much the whole Malfoy family, especially the Malfoy's patriarch: that wasn't a plea, not even a question. It was a demand.