"Come on, we practiced this a thousand times Draco. Where is your head?" Astoria hissed, stepping away from her newlywed husband.
The music stopped awkwardly, their first wedding dance incomplete. As the band panicked and all their parents glared at them, Draco's gaze left his bride and landed on the woman who truly owned his heart.
Hermione Granger's eyes were filled with tears as she met his gaze, her mouth fixed in a thin line, supressing her emotion. Their guests were frozen, the horrendous silence overwhelming.
Hermione blinked, a single tear escaping down her chiselled cheekbone as she turned, walking away calmly, her graceful body dignified, as though merely exiting for a breath of fresh air.
Once she had exited the gazebo she began to run, kicking off her heels as she ran across the sweeping lawns. Tears streamed down her cheeks, ruining perfect winged eyeliner, her broken heart pounding in her chest as ran away from the man she loved.
She reached the parking lot, startling the valet as she asked for her keys. They fetched them for her, taken aback by her emotional state, not interested enough to pry. It took time to find them, she was desperate to get away and couldn't help but pace impatiently until they delivered them to her.
She hurried to her car, once inside its safety she began sobbing in earnest, hitting the steering wheel in despair, cursing her own stupidity.
Why, oh why had she fallen in love with Draco Malfoy, a man she knew was engaged?
Why, for god's sake had she slept with him?
Why had she been stupid to imagine they had any kind of future together?
Hermione drove away from that wedding an inconsolable woman. She was wracked with regret and for the first time in her life, she was morally lost.
Her suffering was great, though outweighed by the guilt and despair that weighed down Draco Malfoy's shoulders as he watched her leave. It took him moment to recover before he turned back to his bride, bowing apologetically, his handsome face betraying none of his emotional turmoil as he took her back in his arms.
"Please, start the music."
The notes of their wedding song began, and dully, as if in a trance, he performed the steps, holding Astoria close, looking only at the wall behind her head.
The guests noted that his usual prowess on the dance floor wasn't present as he half-heartedly waltzed across the floor. His bride was clearly distressed at his poor performance but didn't pursue another awkward scene despite tripping over his misplaced feet several times.
When the dance finally ended Draco steered Astoria to their table, ignoring well-wishers as he collapsed in his seat in relief. He spent the evening staring at his plate, chewing but not tasting the expensive feast, smiling but not listening to his friends and family, his mind elsewhere.
More specifically, his mind with Hermione Granger.
Their affair had been passionate. It had lasted only for a few weeks, Hermione had only arrived back in town from her work overseas three months before the wedding.
They had reconnected instantly. Casual coffee dates turned into dinners, dinners turned into stolen kisses and stolen kisses had become wild, heated sex.
Only last night, his last as an unwed man, he'd ravished her in what would now be his marital bed.
She'd moaned as he'd licked, kissed, and sucked her to an intense orgasm. Then he'd penetrated her sweet core, her tightness squeezing him as he had pounded her until his eventual climax. And then he'd had her again, from behind. Then they'd showered together, splashing, and giggling like teenagers and napped a little. Then he was awakened by her lips around his cock, her delicate fingers and rosebud mouth working their magic until he was gripping the sheets and spilling his seed all over his stomach.
Sex with Hermione was warm, exciting, sensual, and so was loving her.
She wasn't cold and stiff like Astoria.
But he had married the later girl, and now Hermione was gone from his life.
Draco looked at the wedding ring on his finger, heart filled with a burning regret.
"What have I done?"