She blushed furiously as she stood up, clutching the snitch in her hand. "Hello Malfoy, how nice to see you." She said. He sneered at her and took a step back.
"I wish I could say the same for seeing you again however, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone less excited." He replied haughtily. She sighed and turned her back and was walking away when another voice made her stop.
"Draco?" a gentle voice said.
"What?" he snapped.
"Who was that?" it asked.
"No one." He muttered. Hermione turned to see Luna Lovegood standing next to a very irritated looking Malfoy. The Ravenclaw's eyes lit up at the sight of her friend and she ran to exchange hugs.
"Luna!" she said happily. "Oh I'm so happy to see you, I didn't expect to see you here." She stopped, suddenly seeing Draco's dark look from over her friend's shoulder. "Did you come here with Malfoy?" she asked. Luna pulled away from the hug to go and gently tug the Slytherin from his spot over to Hermione.
"Silly me," she said in her dreamy voice. "Hermione, this is Draco, but you probably already know each other." This was an understatement as they both glared at each other. "He's my fiancé." She said brightly.
Hermione gasped, looking at Luna, who seemed neither here nor there about it. "You're marrying Draco?" she said.
"Well don't look too happy about it Granger." he snarled. Luna left Draco's side to link her arm through her friend's.
"Oh don't worry so much Hermione," Luna said. "It's not so bad; he's really quite nice when we're alone together." She murmured.
Hermione looked at her friend, she was wearing all new robes and a shiny ring was on her finger, if he didn't like her at least he was treating her right Hermione thought to herself. A hand on her shoulder made her turn to see Bill, who had probably seen Draco near her and moved in to mediate.
"Is everything alright over here?" he asked, looking at Draco with distrust.
"Don't look at me like that Weasley!" Malfoy spat, reaching out and plucking Luna from my arm and dragging her over to him. "We're leaving." He said, forcing the little Lovegood along. Luna smiled and waved goodbye over her shoulder as Draco led her out of the shop.
"What was that all about?" another voice asked as Ron walked over, curious.
"Luna and Draco are getting married." I said sullenly. Ron looked gobsmacked as he stared at her.
"What?" Hermione shrugged. Luna had seemed so calm about it, as if she were discussing the weather outside. She knew that there had always been something off about Luna but being okay with her marriage to a Malfoy? Had he put her under the Imperius curse?
Bill shook his head. "There's nothing we can do about that, as long as you're alright Hermione, that's all I'm concerned about." He said, casually walking away to join his wife again.
Ron looked at her, to the doors where the two Malfoys had just left. "I hope she's going to be okay." He murmured, concerned for his friend.
I looked over at him, touched by his concern for Luna. "She'll be alright, I saw her, and he's taking care of her. She's got all new clothes, she just looks better. Maybe she even likes him."
"Her? Liking Draco Malfoy? Impossible." He scoffed. Hermione wasn't so sure of what was impossible nowadays and what was not, but she didn't want to have this conversation with Ron right now and so she merely nodded in agreement and walked back to the little case where the snitch belonged.
She briefly thought about buying one but dismissed the idea as stupid; she had no use for it. I could just keep it in a case like this one and just look at it. She told herself but waved that suggestion away. The little golden orb was for a sport, not a showpiece.
Fred was watching her from a ways away; she seemed so absorbed in the snitch. She had been holding it a minute before but had put it back, now presently, she picked it up again and began to examine it again. He didn't blame her for her attraction to the attraction to the little golden orb, he too used to love to look at it; the way is glinted in the light. Hermione didn't express any interest in quidditch though and he was glad that he might've found something he could connect with her on, no matter how small.
He made his way over to the cashier and looked at him. "How much for a snitch?" he asked. The cashier looked over idly.
"24 Galleons." Fred winced, he didn't have that kind of money just lying around. Sure there was the savings account but he and George were using that to get Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes off the ground. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bank note and wrote a check for the money he didn't have.
"Is there a chance that you can engrave it?" he asked. The cashier looked at him blankly.
"Y'mean like a keepsake?" he asked. Fred nodded. The man shook his head. "No, this is a sportshop, not a memorabilia store." He said.
"Right," Fred said, expecting that answer. He looked over to see that Hermione was gone, he spied her sitting outside on a bench, chatting with Ginny who had her arms loaded with shopping bags. He walked briskly over and snatched a snitch from the display and brought it to the counter. "Can you bag this up for me then?" he asked.
Hermione was listening to Ginny animatedly explain the purpose of some little brush that she had bought inside the shop when she saw Fred walk out leisurely, a smile on his face. He had a bag in his hands with something in it.
"What'd you get Fred?" George asked, looking over curiously. Fred wagged his eyebrows playfully.
"That is for me to know and you to find out dear brother." He said. George gave him a nasty look and Fred sighed. "Alright, alright, if you must know, I finally bought you that shag you've been looking for-!" he ducked as George threw his hat at him.
"You bastard!" George said, the two romped on the ground until Mrs. Weasley came out and chided them both.
"You two!" she trilled, they extracted themselves from each other and looked up at their mother with a grin.
"Sorry mum." They said in unison, causing Hermione and Ginny to giggle. Mrs. Weasley turned now to Hermione and helped the girl up.
"Come along my dear," she said happily. "We've got to go look at some dresses and robes for you." She said excitedly.
"What?" Hermione squeaked, looking over at Fred's dumbstruck face for support.
"Erm, mum, I don't know if she-,"
"Hush Fred." She said sharply as the group now began to move towards Madam Malkin's Robes. Hermione had a sickly feeling in her stomach as she walked into the store and saw the beautiful white dresses lining the mannequins.
"Mrs. Weasley I couldn't ask you to pay for all this it's just too much." Hermione said, trying a different tactic. But Molly Weasley would hear none of it as she ushered the little witch straight to an assistant.
"This young lady needs to be fitted with a wedding gown." She said proudly. The assistant raised an eyebrow to look at Hermione, who seemed absolutely mortified.
"Hm, yes, there's been a lot of demand for those lately." She said before taking out a tape measure and watching it magically take her various lengths and widths.
When Hermione was whisked away Fred got up and made to leave the store but Charlie caught his arm. "I don't think so," he said, smirking at his younger brother.
Fred wrenched his arm free and glared down at the older Weasley. "Sod off," he said, irritated. "I'm going to get something done for her. I'll be here by the time she gets back with the dress." He said. Charlie frowned at him but let him leave anyways.
Fred made quick time, finding a little jeweler's shop hidden in the avenues. He ducked in to see gold and silver adorning the walls and jewels lying in the glass viewing cases. "Hello?" he called into the empty store. Just then an old goblin came from behind the back and looked up at him.
"Can I help you?" he croaked, looking rather annoyed.
"Erm, yes," he fumbled with his bag and procured the snitch. "I need this engraved. Can you do it?" he asked. The goblin took the golden snitch and snorted.
"Oh course, what do you take me for?" he asked. Fred raised an eyebrow but didn't answer. "It'll be 56 galleons, and one week." He said.
Fred nearly choked on his last gulp of air. "56 galleons?" he said, this little monster had to be joking. The goblin stared at him expecting money to exchange hands. "I-I don't have the money right now." He said quickly. The goblin handed the snitch back.
"Then you don't have an engraving." He replied, retreating into the back room again. Fred sighed, looking down at the golden orb in its case. He tucked it back into the bag and began to walk back, attempting to formulate a plan.
Hermione couldn't bear to open her eyes to look at the dress; it would make this wedding too real. Mrs. Weasley's voice could be heard as she was talking to the assistant and then she entered the dressing room with a gasp.
"Oh Hermione," she said in a whisper. "You look beautiful." And that was when the little witch opened her eyes.
She saw a gorgeous girl looking back in the mirror. Her brown curls hanging down her back and her brown eyes wide with fear and confusion. She seemed so unsure, little tears could be seen in her eyes. Her dress was splendid however; pearls and lace with white silk adorned it, making it look like a dress that would be in one of the Muggle fairytales her mum used to tell her at night when she was little.
She spun around once to take a look at herself in the mirror and even managed a faint smile at how graceful her body looked. She turned to Mrs. Weasley; wiping the smile off of her face to once she was reminded again of her plight.
"I like it, but you don't need to buy it for me." She murmured. Molly Weasley looked at this girl, the girl who was to marry her Freddy, and shook her head.
"I can't allow you to go dressless." She said firmly.
"But it costs so much-,"
"Listen to me Hermione Granger," Mrs. Weasley said sharply. "This will be your first and hopefully only wedding. Someday if you do not go through with this you will regret it till the end of your days. This is will be your relationship starter with my son. I know a wedding isn't the best way to go about getting to know someone but it's the best thing we've got right now. Please go through with it, even if you don't love each other. Try and establish something, a friendship, a lifelong bond, something."
Hermione was taken aback my Mrs. Weasley's words but found that somewhere in them there was a truth that she could not ignore. Their wedding would be like their first date, and it would be a good beginning. She looked back at herself in the mirror and nodded, turning to her friend's mother.
Mrs. Weasley smiled. "I will not pretend to know how hard this is, I've never gone through something like this, but I admire your courage and hope that one day you can be happy with someone. Maybe not my son, but maybe another man." The woman embraced the girl before looking at the dress again. "Now," she beamed. "Would you like to show everyone?" she asked.
Fred had just opened the door to the robe shop and stepped inside when Hermione came out with her dress on. At first he thought it was another woman who was also being fitted at the same time, but when Ginny let out an astonished cry he knew it was her.
She was stunning; the dress hugged her body and flowed like it was made of white water rather than of fabric. Fred was no good with clothes but he knew that that was by far the best wedding dress he had ever seen. Hermione's eyes found his, standing in the entryway, and a slight blush crept into her cheeks as she shifted her gaze somewhere else.
"Fred Weasley!" his mother's voice rang out and he looked up to see her motioning towards her. He obeyed and walked over. "Compliment her on that dress, you've no idea how long it took me to get her into it and convince her to buy it." He nodded absentmindedly while she continued talking. "I'll use your brother for your measurements, go and spend a little time with her, she needs it."
He looked down at his little pint of a mum as she looked at Hermione with sparkling eyes. "Come along now dear, you need to go get changed again." She called, hurriedly shuffling the girl into the back again.
Fred thought fast and stopped her. "Hey, wait 'Mione!" he said, she halted and looked up at him, waiting. All her previous shyness and sweet nature gone, replaced with the usual fear and uncertainty.
"Yes Fred?" she said politely.
"You look great in the dress." He said, she smiled faintly at his compliment.
"Thank you, but to be honest, I'm terrified to wear it." She murmured. He looked at her, puzzled.
"Why's that?" he asked. She shrugged, shivering slightly as if it were a bad memory.
"I don't know, it just makes it so real." She said, looking up at him with scared eyes. He wasn't quite sure at how to reply to that, so he didn't, he just skipped the topic and moved right along to his next order of business.
"Get dressed and meet me outside the robe shop." He instructed. She had a big question mark on her face but obeyed his directions nevertheless and in a few moments she reemerged from the shop in her own clothes.
"Now," she said, attempting to be playful with him. He welcomed the change, he could do playful. "Where are we going?" she asked.
He laughed, offering her his arm, which she didn't take, but it didn't put him off one bit. "We're going off to look at books and I have a little surprise for you." He said happily. He enjoyed how her eyes lit up at the mention of the books and they both walked off in the direction of Flourish and Blotts with considerably lighter hearts.