After 7 months of planning, they were finally getting married.

And today, was the day. The day that he was getting married, to Hermione Granger, no less. The wedding was for them and a decent amount of friends and family. Hermione, of course, had to have Harry and the Weasleys. Breaking the rules, Hermione insisted that Harry and Ron be her "groom of honors." Draco's best man, Blaise, who he had played with on the Puddlemere team with, was now his best friend. He went to Drumstrang, and transferred to Hogwarts during 7th year.

So here he was. Standing at the altar with Dumbledore as the one who will be tying the knot between them, so to speak. As the music began to play, Draco looked anxiously at the doors. One by one, Hermione and Draco's friends walked down. Yes, Draco had friends, who would have known? After graduating, he had been accepted as Seeker for professional Quidditch. Being a coincidence, Harry had applied for the sport as a Chaser, and is now co-captain with Draco. Not that Draco minded, he secretly sees Harry as a friend, but he will never admit that to anyone. Well, maybe Hermione.

As Harry walked down with Ginny, he couldn't help but crack a small smile. Hermione was soon to be next right after Ron and Lavender.

"She looks beautiful, Draco," Harry said as he stood by his side, "Her dress, as white as doves, she's gorgeous. Take care of her, man." Harry said in a stern voice.

"Always," reassured Draco.

As they were softly speaking to each other, Ron and Lavender had already gone where they had needed to be, the wedding march had came on.

Taking a deep breath, Draco stood at the altar. After a minute and no sign of Hermione, he started to get worried. Quiet whispers and mumbling were heard across the hall. He glanced questionably at Harry, who looked confused as well.

The door opened suddenly, startling everyone. All eyes were at the door as Hermione stumbled in. Draco looked on in shock, seeing her holding the door for leverage so she would not fall over, her hair was disarray, cuts and bruises were seen across her arms, and with a red hand print on her cheek. What scared him the most was where her hand was, clutching her side as blood stained her white dress red, a dagger sticking from her side.

Hermione looked up, catching Draco's eyes whispering, "Draco," before stumbling forward.

"Hermione!" Draco had yelled as he ran to her, Harry and Ron hot on his tail.

Once he reached her, he pressed his hand on her side, trying to stop the bleeding.

Hermione looked at Draco and saw tears welled up in his eyes. Reaching up, she placed a bloody hand on his cheek, "Don't cry," she whispered weakly.

Frantic, he looked around for assistance.

"Ron, what's happening? You're a doctor, help her!" yelled Draco.

"Draco, calm down, it's going to be okay," Ron said checking Hermione over.

A cruel laugh was heard throughout the hall, "My my, Draco. How dare you defy me and marry a mudblood?" Lucius asked.

Draco's head snapped up towards his father, his eyes burning with hate.

Rage build up Draco, after all these years, he had decided to come back to ruin his wedding day? The day that was supposed to be the happiest day of his life?

"What did you do? She didn't do anything! She's innocent, she didn't hurt anyone," Draco said as he stood up.

"Didn't do anything? Do you really expect me to face the Dark Lord and say that my son has betrayed us just to fuck the mudblood?" Lucius hissed.

"I didn't betray you just to fuck the mudblood, you bastard," he said pulling out his wand, "she was there for me, unlike you, Stupefy!"

Lucius moved out of the way, narrowly dodging the sudden spell. "So that's it? You're going to betray us like this? You fool! Serpentosia!"

"Protego!" Draco yelled.

Lucius smirked, "Well, well. May I say you've improved, Draco? You never blocked any of my spells before. Let's settle this the old way," he said as he stared straight in Draco's eyes.

Knowing what he was talking about, Draco looked around. Everyone who attended the wedding was now out of the chapel and safe, leaving only Draco, Harry, Ron, Hermione and a few death eaters.

"Have it your way," he said as he threw his wand to the floor.

"Draco!" "What the hell are you doing, you bloody idiot!" Harry and Ron exclaimed.

Seeing Lucius drop his wand as well, Harry and Ron looked on as a sword appeared in Draco and Lucius' hand.

Standing across from each other, they both bowed in a duel tradition. Swords clashing and grunting was heard throughout the chapel, Ron and Harry keeping a wary eye on the death eaters as they stood protectively close to Hermione.

Ducking Lucius' swing sword, Draco swung the sword toward his feet, Lucius also jumping to avoid contact. Many times they had dueled for practice when he was young, each time Lucius coming out as 

the victor. Looking over at Hermione, he saw that she was still on the floor, Ron trying to stop the bleeding.

A sudden slice to his arm brought him out of his trance, grabbing bicep.

"What, can't even defend your bitch, son?" Lucius laughed. "You were always useless, just like your mother."

Pent up with rage, Draco yelled as he charged toward his father, knocking them both down. A struggle with one sword took place, both men brawling for dominance. A sudden gasp was heard; the unmistakenable noise of a sword piercing through skin was heard. Harry and Ron looked on shocked as Draco and Lucius both looked dead on into each other's eyes.

Draco pushed the sword deeper into Lucius, taking in the vicious pleasure as his father's face contorted with pain.

"Rot in hell, asshole," he said full with hatred.

When Lucius eyes closed, Draco looked up from his place. Standing up, he glared at the death eaters, who were now chained to the walls, courtesy of Harry and Ron. Each bewildered on what to do now that their commander had died.

Slowly limping toward Hermione, he nodded at Harry and Ron, who were now rounding up the death eaters.

Before he reached her, he heard a forced laugh from behind. Turning around, he saw Lucius with a sadistic smile, point his wand above the ceiling. Right above Hermione, "Confringo" he said as he took his last breath.

A red light flew from his wand, hitting the ceiling. Debris fell on the unexpecting Hermione as Draco looked on horrified. A scream echoed through the walls, followed by a chorus of "Hermione!" was heard as each ran toward her, each struggling to move all the plaster and debris around.

"Here!" Ron yelled as he saw her hand. Once they had her out, Draco stared at Hermione's appearance. What meant to be white, her dress was stained red from head to toe, not a spot white. Cuts and bruises were all over her body, face ashen.

"We have to get her to the hospital," Harry said as he helped Draco pick her up.

Harry looked at Ron and Draco, and then toward the tied death eaters, "I'll catch up, I'll get these bastards to Azkaban and I'll be over there as soon as possible, GO!"

Hurriedly, both men aparated to the hospital in front of shocked nurses and doctors.

"Doctor Weasley? What happened?" One of the nurses asked as she levitated Hermione to a bed.

Ron looked around frantically , "She's been stabbed and the ceiling collapse on her, I need Doctor Cayden, GO FIND HIM," he yelled.

The nurses looked at each other, never seeing the usually calm doctor act out of character. One nurse hurriedly went out as the others stayed to help Ron.

"Sir, you need to leave the room," a nurse told Draco.

"What? NO, that's my fiancée, I can't leave," he said adamantly.

The middle-aged nurse gave a once over at Draco, seeing man in distress, in a tuxedo no less. It was a no brainer that he was the groom and the woman on the bed was his soon to be wife.

Gently, she led him out the door, "Come on, the doctors need space in order to help your wife, sir."

Helplessly, Draco let her lead him to the waiting room, his face blank.

"She's not my wife," he whispered. The nurse looked up at him questionably, but he kept staring straight ahead.

"She was stabbed before she even made it down the aisle," he paused and took a deep breath, "it's all my fault."

"Now, now, it's not your fault, son. Do you want to drink anything?" she said gently. Poor man, he must be going through hell right now, she thought.

Not getting a response, she got up and went to get him a cup of coffee, squeezing his shoulder as she walked by.

Draco eyes traveled to the wall ahead of him to his hands, drenched with dried blood. Hermione's blood. Clenching his fists, he couldn't help the tears that slowly fell down his cheeks. What was he going to do if she didn't make it? She was there whenever he needed to talk; she was there to put up with his personal demons. They were supposed to be happily married and on their honeymoon right now, but instead, here they were, in a hospital with her fighting for her life. Seeing all the blood on her was a nightmare.

He knew that there would be a battle with Lucius since his mysterious disappearance, but he didn't imagine it being on his wedding day. Damn fucking bastard, he thought. Of all days, he just had to ruin his wedding day? He felt someone grab his hand and placed a warm cup in his hands. Looking up, he saw the same nurse smiling at him as she sat down.

"Thank you," he croaked. He couldn't be mean to the woman, seeing as though she reminded him of his grandmother. It wasn't known to the public, but Draco had loved his grandmother, visiting her often until her timely death.

"You're welcome, if you need anything, wheter to talk or another cup of coffee, I'll be sitting over there at that desk. If I'm not there, look for a Nurse Jenn," she said.

Nodding, he stared into his cup, brown coffee topped with whipped cream and a cherry, he couldn't help but remember when his grandmother did that. Whenever he was at his grandmother's, he would innocently ask her for ice cream. Now, when his mother was there, she rejected the idea. But when she wasn't, his granny Malfoy would sneak a bowl to him whenever she's not looking.

Several hours past and it seemed like an eternity. Harry and his mother now sitting by his side, Hermione's family left to rest. Harry offered his apartment to them, seeing as though it would be a hassle to go back to the muggle world.

"Harry," he sat, hunched over with his elbows on his knees, head in his hands, "What's taking so long? What if something goes wrong?"

Harry looked over from his place from the window, head turning as he heard him speak. Not a word was said for a good hour.

"She's going to be fine," Harry stated strongly, "has she ever disappointed you? She always came through,"

"Draco, honey, you've been sitting there for at least five hours," Narcrissa looked at her distressed son, blood still on his hands. With a wave of her wand, she cleaned up his appearance, "You need to rest. What would Hermione say if she saw you like this?"

"I would give anything for her to see me," he said as a tear escaped his eye. Her face softened as she pulled him into a hug. Draco hugged his mom like he did when he was a child, just like when he was hiding from Lucius whenever he felt the need to 'punish' his son.

Harry looked on at the duo, never seeing Draco in such a vulnerable way. He also blamed himself for not protecting Hermione. It happened so sudden that he couldn't react. Everyone thought Lucius was finally dead, but the damn bloke had one more spell in him, and unfortunately, he was directed at Hermione.

Ron came into the room, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Ron, how is she?" Harry asked as he walked towards him.

Draco looked up as he heard Harry, pulling quickly out of his mother's arms and looked hopefully at Ron.

Sighing, Ron looked them, "She lost a lot of blood, had to have at least three to four bags of blood transfused into her. We… we lost her once, but she came back. We had to take the dagger out," Ron choked as he went on, "It was deep, about 5 inches in, It almost hit her lung, but it barely missed, right now she's in a critical state. She's going to be in observation for a couple of hours."

Draco looked appalled when he said that they had lost her, what he was going to do if they did? "Can we see her?" he pleaded.

"Only one at a time. Room 112," Draco stood up, looking at Harry.

"Go, Draco," Harry nodded. Draco looked at each of the men, walking toward Hermione's room.

When he stepped in, his throat clenched at the sight. Hermione laid on the bed motionless with wires and tubes sticking almost every inch of her body. A slow beep was head throughout the room. The cuts and bruises were healing from the healing potions they had given her, but some were still noticeably there.

Walking toward the bed, Draco gently clasped her hand in his. "Hey," he choked out. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." He cried.

Pulling himself together, he brought her hand to his cheek. Closing his eyes, he kissed her fingers. "I know you wanted the wedding to be perfect. God knows how long you were planning this with my mother. But please, I'll do anything; I'll even dye my hair permanently pink if you want. Just come back."

He looked at her face, willing her to open her eyes and say something. When he got no response, he closed his eyes tightly, praying to Merlin that she'll be okay.


Have the other chapter all written out. Just wanted to add a little suspense. Reviews are much appreciated! :D - xlina