Harry Potter stormed into Ron Weasleys bedroom holding a small rectangular piece of cardboard. He yanked a copy of the Quibbler Ron was currently reading out of his hand and threw it across the room. Ron looked up in surprise.
"What d'ya do that for?"
Harry thrust the piece of cardboard into his best friends' chest. "Read it." He said quietly. Rons eyes quickly scanned the card, a disgusted look creeping over his face. After a few seconds of stunned silence he whispered four words.
"You must be joking."
"This is no joke." Harry spat out. He was more angry than disgusted. He took the wedding invitation from Ron and read it again. You have been invited to the wedding of Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. He scrunched up the invitation and threw it across the room. He then looked at Ron expectantly.
"What?" Ron asked.
"What?!" Harry yelled. "What? We have to stop this! We can't let Hermione marry Malfoy. We have-"
"No! Harry, if she wants to marry him she should. We agreed to be happy for them, remember. We should respect her decision." Harry looked at Ron dumbfounded, then turned and stormed out the room.
As soon as the door slammed shut Ron began to sob quietly. Hermione was getting married in two days time, and he couldn't stop her, could he?
Later that evening
Ron walked into the kitchen of the Burrow and was met with a very subdued atmosphere. There was an envelope on the table and written on it, in Hermione's tiny handwriting was the word Ron. Harry, Ginny, Fred, George and Mrs. Weasley watched Ron carefully. He picked up the envelope and opened it, knowing what would be inside. His invitation was exactly the same as Harry's. He threw it in the bin, turned around and walked back to his room once again weeping silently.
Harry felt a deep sympathy for Ron. He knew that Hermione and Ron belonged together and he was just as shocked when Hermione had announced that she was going out with Draco.
She said that Draco clamed he had been under the Imperus Curse by his father ever since Voldemort had came back, but now that Lucius was in Azkaban, the curse had lifted. The worst part of this obvious lie Harry thought Is that Hermione believes him.
Two days later
Ron watched from his bedroom window as most of his family his family, who were all dressed in their best dress robes, assembled in the back garden to apparate to the wedding. As Fred left the now-empty field he glanced up at the clock on the wall and saw the time, 10:30. Ten minutes till the wedding.
Ron left his room fifteen minutes later. He walked down to the kitchen where Harry and Ginny were talking quietly.
"I didn't think you would go." Harry told Ron quietly.
"Why?" Ron asked quickly. Almost too quickly.
"Because you love her!" Ginny said, as if it was obvious. Ron just stared at her. "Oh, come on. You got jealous when you found out that she was going out with Vicktor Krum and the only reason you went out with Lavender Brown was to make Hermione jealous. And do you know what the funny thing is? She liked you anyway, ever since the first year of Hogwarts, after you saved her from the troll! And now you two have been playing silly games for the last bloody decade and look where it got you both, she's getting hitched to feel loved, and you're moping about the house."
There was a few seconds silence, then Ron said quietly, "How do you know that?"
"She told me! Ron, your being an idiot. She's about to be married to Malfoy in about five minutes, and your doing nothing to stop her. She's only marrying Malfoy because she couldn't get you, Ron."
Ron quickly ran upstairs to his room.
Harry shot a quizzical look at Ginny. "Did Hermione really tell you all that?"
"No." Ginny smiled. "But someone had to convince him to have a go, because you were doing a terrible job. They belong together."
Ron reappeared, practically jumping down the stairs. He was holding his wand.
"Get your coat." Ron said confidently. "We've got a wedding to crash."
Pop!
They arrived at the church just in time. Harry noted that there were many more visitors on Hermiones side than there were on Draco's. The rest must be in Azkaban Harry thought smugly. He turned to Ron.
"Are you sure about this?" He asked, suddenly realising that Ron was about to ruin the supposedly happiest day of Hermiones life.
"I've got to try. She's worth it." Ron stepped forward. Draco was about to put a ring on Hermiones finger. "NO! Hermione, stop!"
"So cliché." Ginny whispered to Harry, who suppressed a smile.
Malfoy was millimetres away from slipping the ring on Hermiones finger. Hermione turned and faced Ron.
"Hermione, don't marry… I mean, give me a try… I love you." He spluttered. His face was as red as his hair now, and he was finding it hard to keep standing. He was suddenly aware that all eyes were on him.
A laugh erupted from Malfoy. "Aww… Is little weasel in love? Too late. She's mine." He took his wand out from his elegant dress robes and pointed it at Ron.
"Leave now, weasel, and you won't get hurt."
Ron stared at Hermione. "You don't love him, do you? Not really, not like I love you." He finished quietly. A laugh broke out from Malfoy.
"Aww… icle weasel loves the mudblood!" Malfoy in a sickly sweet voice, but his expression changed to shock a flash of green light erupted from Ron's wand, which he had quickly taken from his pocket. For a moment everyone was quiet, in shock. Then they saw Malfoy, who still had shock etched over his face. A woman Ron recognised as Malfoys mother stood up and pushed herself toward her son.
"Dracy! Are you alright? Speak to me! Please, pl-" She stopped as Malfoy opened his mouth. She waited for a few seconds but no wards came out, only slugs.
Ron looked to Hermione and he saw her smile. She ran to Ron and kissed him. He quickly pulled away, winked at Malfoy and apparated them both to a romantic Caribbean hotel.
Mrs. Granger recovered first, and walked over to Draco, a hint of recognition crossing her eyes. "You've called her a mudblood before, haven't you? Second year! She cried over that. You made my daughter cry, and yet you clamed to love her? You think that because you have a wand you're better than everybody else, well your wrong!"
Draco's mother looked at Mrs. Granger. "How dare you talk to my son! Your lucky your daughter was chosen by Draco! Your mudblood daughter doesn't even deserve to live!" Narcissa swiftly pulled out her wand and pointed it at Mrs. Granger who stared coolly at it, and to everybody's amazement, laughted.
"You couldn't use that on me. There are laws against using magic on 'muggles', and terrible punishments, you can get sent to Azkiba." There was such venom in Mrs. Grangers voice that no-one dared to correct her. "Ah, but of course, you want to join your worthless husband." There was a silent gasp as everybody took in what the muggle had just said.
Narcissa looked furious. "Avada Ked-" but before she could finish the killing curse, she was slapped sharply across the face by the woman standing opposite her.
"One-nil to the muggles." Mrs. Granger said. She then walked over to her chair, took her coat and walked out of the room.
Later that night
Draco waited outside a tall oak door. He was sobbing quietly and was close to vomiting from fear. This was it. The end. The tall oak door slowly opened and Draco winced as he saw his master. He bent down on one knee, and mumbled something he hoped sounded like an apology.
"Stand, Draco." The cold voice commanded. "Your mumbling won't save you now. I needed that girl wed to you for a very important reason. Do you know why?"
Draco shook his head.
"Of course you don't, dear boy. And it is because of failures like this why that is so. Sadly, Draco, you are going down the same path as your father, and so ultimately, you will face the same demise."
There was a long silence until Draco finally mastered his voice. "I'm sorry my Lord."
"Do NOT lie to me, boy. You are not sorry, just fearful. You do not truly repent." An evil, ugly smile spread across Voldemorts face as he took out is wand. "But you will repent. Crucio!"
A terrible pain spread throughout Dracos body. He felt like he was going to explode. He wanted to explode, just to escape the pain that gripped him inside and out. Voldemort lifted the curse, but by then Draco had given up.