Hermione's eyes sprung open and she immediately regretted it, the sun was streaming in through the window and flashed painfully in her eyes. Today, she was going wedding shopping with Pansy Parkinson. The shock of Pansy's suggestion that they all went shopping together was definitely a blow but not more than the blow that she was actually shopping for her and Draco Malfoy's wedding.
Swinging her legs free of the bed sheets and watched the sun rise casting a lazy brilliant golden glow over the room, fluffy clouds outlined the slender rising sun. Doing up her hair into a messy bun, she pulled on her usual attire, and went downstairs to the kitchen.
Ginny Weasley was cleaning dishes with a casually lazy flick of her wand as she walked in. There was pancakes and bacon awaiting Hermione on the table. Ron had nearly finished his own plate, and was busy wolfing down another bite. Harry was eating too and reading the Quibbler. Luna was also seated at the table, an odd pair of pink sunglasses with winged rims resting on her face.
"Oh good morning, Hermione!" Luna greeted the sleepy-eyed witch in her lofty voice. "Sleep well?"
"Alright, thanks." Hermione smiled softly as she took her seat.
"Fred and George are coming over later, 'Mione." Ron told her around a mouthful of food.
"Yes, and Bill and Fleur are coming tomorrow." Ginny added.
"What for?" Hermione asked, genuinely curious.
"Harry and I are having our wedding in four days!" Ginny grinned as she told her friend the news.
"That's brilliant, Ginny, congratulations." Hermione smiled at both Ginny and Harry.
"Thanks." Harry returned the smile and continued eating his breakfast.
"Aren't you supposed to be going somewhere with Parkinson today?" Ron asked, swallowing another gulp of food and then realizing, clearly disappointed, that he had finished all of his food.
"Oh yes, they're all going shopping for dresses. Hermione, Ginny, and Pansy. I'm going with Lavender, Padma and Parvati. I'm not entirely certain but I do believe Cho Chang is going with us too." Luna told them.
"Cho Chang's getting married? To who?" Harry asked and Ginny looked clearly uncomfortable and irked at the mention of Harry's ex.
"Ernie Macmillan." She answered before leaping up suddenly from her chair. "I almost forgot I'm meeting them in five minutes! I'll see you later, everyone."
There was a chorus of mumbled "Goodbye, Luna" and then she Disapparated.
"Speaking of meeting up," Hermione began, "Aren't we supposed to be meeting Pansy at the dress shop soon?"
"Oh, yeah," The ginger girl sighed, clearly not at all excited about this. "That's going to be a joy."
The sound of the lilting music and indecipherable chatter surrounded the three girls as they each pulled on different wedding gowns; Pansy's dresses were much less modest than the ones that Ginny and Hermione were trying on. After a tiresome hour or so of trying on unsuccessful dresses, Hermione finally pulled on the last one she had picked out. Exiting the changing room she made her way over to a full-length mirror. She gasped, startled by her own appearance.
The dress was sleeveless and traditionally white with a dip in the bust to show a modest amount of cleavage. The dress bodice was fitted, flared at the waist and tumbled into a sea of skirts. She reached up and pulled down her bun and let her hair fall heavily around her neck.
"Oh, Hermione, you look gorgeous!" Ginny exclaimed happily. Ginny herself was too wearing a dress. The dress was very simple; its flowing material belted high under the bosom with a white ribbon. The sleeves were elbow-length sleeves were tied with ribbon of the same color.
"Thanks, Gin." Hermione beamed. "And you look like Cinderella in that dress."
"Who?" Pansy and Ginny asked at the same time.
"Erm, never mind, it's a muggle story." She shook her head.
"What d'you think of my dress?" Pansy asked, clearing hating that the attention wasn't focused on her. Pansy's dress was far more low cut than Ginny's or Hermione's, white lace covering most of the front in intricate patterns, with a slit in the side that showed a bit of her leg up to mid-thigh.
"I, uh, think that Ron will like it." Hermione nodded encouragingly even though she thought Pansy looked a bit too revealing, leaving hardly anything to the imagination.
"Same here, you look, er, great." Ginny backed up Hermione's attempt to assure Pansy that they liked it.
"Thanks!" Pansy beamed, not noticing anything suspicious. Hastily, they changed back into their former outfits and bought the dresses. Hermione lingered by the tiaras, lifting one of them into her hands and delicately tracing the diamonds with her fingertips.
"Granger, Weasley, Parkinson."
A cold but familiar voice rang out from behind Hermione and she froze on the spot. Turning around, she saw Draco Malfoy, leaning casually against one of the walls.
"Thinking about dolling yourself up for me, Granger?" Draco smirked, eying the sparkling tiara in Hermione's hands and she immediately dropped it back down. "Cute."
She made a noise of disgust. "Don't flatter yourself."
He seemed to ignore this and he unpeeled himself from the wall and sauntered over to them. "Ready to go?"
"What?" Pansy seemed taken aback by this. "I thought we were meeting back at Blaise-"
"Well, I changed my mind, alright?" Draco said a little too quickly, his eyes flickering over to Hermione for a split second before returning to Pansy.
"Erm, okay, then. I just thought that I could've Apparated back on my own but-"
"Well, whatever, I'm here now anyway." He interrupted, taking Pansy by the hand and dragging her to his side.
"Wait, my dress," Pansy said, jerking her hand out of Draco's white-knuckled grip. She lifted up the dress, covered by a long, white plastic bag, with a simple murmur of wingardium leviosa. "Okay, I'll see you two some other time then."
Ginny was scrutinizing Draco suspiciously as his gaze once again shifted to Hermione who was tying her hair back up into a bun. Draco snatched Pansy's hand into his own.
"See you around, Granger."
"Er, bye, Malfoy."
His eyes surveyed Hermione for a lingering moment before Disapparating.
Ginny laid with her back cushioned by plush carpeting, her legs kicked up and resting against her bed, angled upwards from the floor. She was telling Hermione about the guests coming to her wedding as she stared up at the ceiling.
Hermione was flipping through a book, her legs stretched out in front of her and her back against the wall. At times like this, she usually found it quite easy to relax and kick back. Some days she felt like she was standing on the edge of a precipice, with everything that was to come stretched out in front of her along with everything that happened to her in the past.
But not today apparently,she found her thoughts plagued by none other than Draco. Hermione imagined herself grown and married to Malfoy with a little house and a baby to call her own, and tried to see herself happy there. It didn't work. But the idea still sat in her mind's eye, flipping over and over like a bad dream, each picture looking more wrong than the one before.
Shaking herself free of the reverie, she slammed the book shut and turned her attention onto Ginny.
"Besides, according to Dad, the Ministry's is putting a time limit on the marriages. If you want to get divorced, you can do so after five months of marriage. Not that it applies to Harry and I, I just thought you'd be interested in that bit of information." Ginny was saying.
Hermione breathed out for what felt like the first time in days. "I had thought that they wanted us to have children, wasn't that what one of the letters said?" Hermione pointed out.
"Yeah, but I guess the way they figure it, five months of regular sex with no magical or muggle protection should be enough time to impregnate a witch."
"I don't want to have babies with Draco." The childish sentence fell from her lips before she could hold it back.
"I'd be surprised if you wanted to." She chuckled as she climbed up into her bed. "But what was up with Draco just showing up at the dress shop today? Pansy didn't seem to have been expecting him."
"I was wondering the same thing."
"You don't reckon he was there to see you?"
"Me?" Hermione blinked. "I-no-why? He hates me."
"Well, he couldn't stop glancing at you, that's for sure. He was checking you out." Ginny dropped a playful at Hermione who looked flabbergasted.
"No! He wouldn't-you're being ridiculous. I'm going to bed, goodnight." And before Ginny could protest Hermione whisked her wand and the lights went out. A slow, burning heat crossed Hermione's cheeks and she buried herself beneath the covers. Silently hoping that Ginny was right.
A/N: Not much but I wanted to add in a bit of girl bonding time and them buying dresses. I enjoy fluffing up Pansy a bit ;P The next chapter will be Draco introducing Hermione to his mother and Ginny and Harry's wedding. Right now up until a little after the wedding, the story will be pretty upbeat, playful with some bickering, but later on the story will become a bit angst-y ;). Review please :D And if there's anything you'd like to request to happen in this story, by all means, go ahead.