Chapter 1 - What Hermione wants.
Quick note I fairly obviously don't own any of the characters in this story. All belong to the fabulous J.K.
This Chapter has not yet been Beta-d. I searched in vain but no such luck. If anyone is dying to correct it for me let me know and I'll happily let you.
It was nearing 8 o'clock and the bar was filled with all kinds of unusual, loud, inebriated people. Perhaps most unusual of all however, was the brown haired woman sitting upright in the corner on her own, in a black halter neck dress. Her focus was on the door, so much so she failed to notice the stares she was receiving from many of the men in the bar, or else she was trying to ignore them. She checked her watch and glanced around the bar with a sigh, she'd already been hit on three times that evening and desperately wanted to leave. Her fingers tapped against the wood and she found that the rhythm was strangely soothing. She was just about to sigh and perform some kind of stomping away act when the stunning red-head that she had been waiting for burst through the doors. She sauntered over to her friend, her light green summer dress swaying provocatively. Giving her an apologetic smile and a kiss on the cheek she explained why she was so late, then crossed her fingers and hoped for the best.
"Honestly Ginny it's fine, I'm just glad you're here." Hermione said.
"Good, now where's the barman, I need a drink!" She exclaimed, looking around the room expectantly as if he should just appear out of nowhere simply because she wished him to.
"Oh can't we go somewhere else? I know I picked this place but I never expected it to be so…crazy."
Just then, as if to illustrate her point, a group of giggling 20-somethings all wearing an insane amount of pink burst through the door. They were loud and proud, according to their matching headbands. They were all also wearing the same kind of half excited half drunk smile that one can only achieve once they have drunk so much that the world seems like a rosy, candy clouds and rainbows kind of place.
"No!" Ginny squealed, now watching the group of girls with interest. "This place looks like fun, besides, you need to let your hair down what with all the planning you've been doing."
Meanwhile, the drunken rabble had begun to sing - "You're getting married in the morning…"
"but it's so loud in here I can barely hear myself think." Hermione protested.
"Ding, dong the bells are gonna chime…"
"So? Just enjoy it doing nothing for once will you! Plus you've made me so stressed with this bloody wedding that I need a good night out. Hey look, she's dancing on the table." Ginny giggled.
The group of girls had climbed onto a table and added dance moves to their song, laughing hysterically they began to shout-
"PULL OUT HIS TODGER, OHH WHAT A WHOPPER! NOW GET YOU TO THE CHURCH ON TIME!" They finished, to a raucous applause from the other bar-goers and proceeded to fall over each other as they clambered off of the table. As they neared the two friends, Ginny noticed that they were all wearing similar badges. The barman finally noticed that Ginny and Hermione were waiting and turned towards them.
"What can I get you two lovely ladies then?"
"Just a mineral water please-" Hermione began, before being interrupted by an exasperated Ginny.
"No, you need a good alcoholic drink, two strong vodka and cokes please." She had spent so much time around muggles while planning the wedding that she had learnt a lot of worldly, useful information. Such as which drinks were weak, which were strong and which would make her sing the wizarding anthem and then puke like a little baby.
They sat in silence until the drinks arrived, watching the other inhabitants of the bar. Hermione sat, sipping her drink and trying to ignore the taste, she had never been one for vodka. Ginny however, drained her glass within a few seconds and slammed it down on the bar.
"Hey Hermione, what's a Hen Night Girl?" She asked, tilting her head and reading from the badge on the girl closest to her.
"It's nothing, just a silly muggle tradition." Hermione replied, desperately trying to avoid what she knew was probably coming. The last thing she wanted was a hen night planned by Ginny, their ideas of a fun night were decidedly different, although she wasn't sure she had the strength to argue, that week had been a particularly tiring one, how was she to know that planning a wedding would be such a stressful ordeal? She had mentioned this to her Husband-to-be only the day before, he had then asked her who she was and what she had done with Hermione Granger. You see Hermione was undoubtedly, one of the smartest people in the wizarding world, surely she would have had enough life experience to realise that weddings are not the sort of events which go off without a hitch. Unfortunately, the planning of this one this one had gone off with a crash, a bang and several dancing leprechauns.
"Go on, spill." Ginny probed, eager to learn more about the strange custom which made it acceptable for a group of girls to get blind drunk and dance provocatively on a table.
"Well it's like a party for the bride and her friends, the night before the wedding. Usually the maid of honour organises it and-"
"What?!" said Ginny incredulously, appalled by the possibility of being denied this fantastic opportunity to throw her best friend a party. "Were you going to tell me about this little tradition?"
"Well no I wasn't, I don't really want a hen night you see and I figured you had enough to be doing already without planning a night out as well."
"Hermione Granger do you not know your future sister in law at all?! I'm planning this hen night whether you like it or not, there's no way you're denying me the opportunity of a lifetime missy."
Now what with Ginny being Ginny and all, she was having visions of a very exciting night out, all the little details were grouping together in her head, the people she would invite, what they would do, where they go and how much Hermione could take to drink the night before her wedding.
"No listen Ginny it's okay, I really don't want a fuss-"
"If you don't want a fuss why on earth are you getting married?! You are aware that on your wedding day everyone will be fussing over you aren't?"
"Yes but-"
"Good then that's settled, I'll start planning straight away, this is going to be so much fun!" Hermione's face arranged itself into a look of pure horror at these words, she didn't even want to think about what Ginny would plan, all she knew was to get through the evening she was sure to need a substantial amount of alcohol in her bloodstream. Ginny's face on the other hand, bore a smile of pure delight, she would need to start organising straight away. Her enthusiasm soon ran away with her and her mental plans turned into more of a mental three-ring-circus, complete with lions, elephants and a trapeze artist who looked suspiciously like Hermione.
"So anyway, the florist finally got back to me about the changes I made to the bouquet, he said it's all fine which is a relief because I thought tha-"
"Are your muggle friends coming to the wedding or not?"
"Well, I think so, well only a few of them and they already know about wizards and stuff anyway so it's-"
"Great! I'll invite them along too" Ginny exclaimed, glancing down at her napkin. Hermione chanced a glance too and found a list of people that were presumably being invited to the hen night.
"I do not, under any circumstances, want Lavender and Parvarti there." Her tone was such that Ginny knew there was no chance of persuading her. Hermione had a strange way of commanding and manipulating, you knew that you were being manipulated, but there was nothing that you could do about it. Over the years Ginny had become adept at squirming her way around Hermione, twisting things so that that went her way. This time however, she knew that there was no chance of changing her mind. In Ginny's head, Hermione was simply stubborn and determined not to have a good time with her friends. In reality, Hermione was determined not to let anything ruin her wedding and having Lavender and Parvarti along to an evening that she didn't want anyway seemed a sure fire way to do just that.
"Okay, what about Luna? Can she come?"
Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, I suppose so." Feeling that Luna's strangeness would be easier to put up with than Lavender and Parvati's incessant need to know everything about everyone. "I really don't want a big thing Gin, surely you can understand that."
"Yeah, yeah that's fine" She replied, clearly not paying any attention. "Hermione, how do you feel about strippers?"
Hermione's face fell, it was sure to be one long night. She attempted one last time at changing the topic of conversation but soon called a halt to the evening after realising the only thing Ginny had on her mind was the Hen party, or evening of impending doom as she had re-christened it. They left the muggle pub, found a dark alley and apparated to their respective houses; Hermione to a house in the country, where she found her beloved tucked up in bed and snoring like a rhino, Ginny to a small flat in the centre of muggle London, it was close her workplace and quite cute, besides, it wasn't as if she had the need for anything bigger.