New update, yay! So I'm back at school now (booooo!) so the next update might be a little while, but the good part is I know how the story is going to end so CL&PS will be wrapping up in the next 2-3 chapters + wedding outtakes (waaah!). But let's go back to celebrating the new chapter, yaaaay!

Marie hosted a Mardi Gras dinner at her home that February, inviting her new friend Ginny and her husband and brother. It may have slipped her mind to tell her husband and best friend of her invited guests until they Floo'd in with Hermione; 'well, y'all would've pitched a fit if I said something beforehand', she told them when the two Slytherin wizards raised their eyebrows at her. That's the beautiful thing about a good meal, you see; even the worst of enemies can learn to get along and be merry. Marie did a full spread of New Orleans and other southern classics: chicken-Andouille gumbo, red beans and rice, collard greens, Creole okra, candied yams, Cajun fried shrimp, the works. She even made a traditional king cake, explaining whoever found the baby in their slice would have good fortune for the rest of the year; this prompted Draco, Blaise, Ginny, and Ron to very quickly spit out the bite of cake they had in their mouths and ask how Marie could be so cruel to cook a baby in her cake?! Hermione and Harry chuckled and continued to eat, as Marie tried not to laugh at the others' outrageous line of thinking and amended her explanation for the others at the table; it was just a tiny plastic baby doll, promise! As it turns out, it was Ron who found the tiny doll in his slice after getting over the baby scare. After dinner, the group convened in the sitting room with an assortment of whiskeys and bourbons while those who haven't seen each other caught each other up on their lives over that last few years. Marie and Ron made eye contact at one point during conversation, and Ron help his hand up in surrender, nonverbally referring to their last encounter. Marie silently raised her glass to him with a smirk, as if to say 'told you so'.

No one made a direct comment about Draco and Hermione sitting next to each other, Hermione comfortably tucked into his side as his arm wrapped around her. It was just silently confirmed that they were, in fact and officially, together.

….

The first time Hermione said "I love you" to Draco was a complete accident. It was late March when Draco stopped by Hermione's studio after a private lesson with two of her advanced students preparing for a duet performance at the showcase. He had to stop by Marie's boutique later that afternoon but wanted to say hi and see if Hermione wanted to get a quick bite to eat. Hermione had to take a rain check on lunch, but asked if Draco could walk with her to check on something at the venue for the dinner in June. Somehow, the reservation fell through and the venue would not be available at the June date she requested and put a deposit down for. Hermione could feel her vision tunneling and her nose flaring; one thing she could not tolerate is people messing up her finances and her money. Not to mention, the fundraiser dinner and showcase had been at the same venue for the past two years so why all of a sudden is there a problem. Hermione sat with the manager for almost an hour only to continue to hear "I'm sorry, Ms. Granger, but there is nothing we can do." Hermione took her tight ballet bun out as it was causing her already forming headache to become worse. Sitting outside the manager's office, Hermione closed her eyes tightly and started rubbing her temples trying to come up with a plan B that could be pulled off with such short notice. She never noticed Draco go back inside to speak with the manager, and come back out with a written and signed confirmation for the venue and a check for half of her deposit for the trouble and inconvenience. Draco wasn't sure if Hermione was breathing and took a step towards her before the girl leapt into his arms, kissing him fully on the lips. She giggled as he spun her around and, without even thinking about the words before they escaped her, exclaimed, "I love you!" Both people froze at the declaration. Hermione climbed out of Draco's arms and took a few steps back from the still-frozen blond. Without looking each other fully in the eye, they confirmed their date for the following evening and went about their way, Draco to Marie's boutique and Hermione back to her studio. They didn't address Hermione's outburst outside during their date, outside of a single comment from her: "I mean it, by the way." Ever since then, Draco was all out of sorts. Love? She really loved him? How could she? They hadn't really known each other that long…I mean, outside of their years in school but that couldn't count. He was a terror to the poor girl. And they had only been dating for what, 6-7 months? No way you could fall in love that fast. These thoughts were keeping him awake at night, and taking a chance that either Marie or Blaise would be awake at two in the morning, Draco Floo'd to the Zabini Estate.

Marie was in the study, sketching out an outfit design for Hermione as a surprise birthday gift. The dinner and showcase always fell around the time of her birthday and, in true Hermione fashion, she was so focused on making sure everything went smoothly she had a habit of neglecting herself. So Marie wanted to create something special and unique for her friend to wear for the dinner and showcase, yes because it was her birthday but also why need a reason to do something nice for a friend? However, that nice thing was turning out to be a lot more difficult that Marie anticipated. Ripping out the third page from her sketchpad and throwing it across the room, Marie exhaled loudly and took a sip from her glass of water (her stomach had been rather unsettled the past few days and was part of the reason she was awake now) and was about to start on page number four when she heard the Floo go off in the other room. She didn't know exactly what time it was, but she knew it was too damn late for someone to Floo into her home unannounced. Though she had on nothing but yoga shorts and Blaise's old Hogwarts sweatshirt and her hair was flat-twisted down the back of her head, Marie tiptoed out of the study, her steps silenced by her mix-matched socks. Making her way down the hallway towards the kitchen, where the footsteps on the intruder seemed to be. Right as Marie raised her right hand to send a silent curse towards the intruder from around the corner, he spoke, "Hello? Blaise or Marie, that you?" and she instantly recognized the baritone voice. When she walked around the corner into the kitchen, Marie found Draco helping himself to a bowl of gumbo and glass of water.

"Have you lost your mind? What exactly made you think droppin' by unannounced was a good idea?" Marie ran her hand down her face and Blaise came rushing into the kitchen, wand in hand wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants resting rather low on his hips.

"What's going on? Marie, are you o-" he finally registered who the person Floo-ing into his home at the ass crack of dawn was, "what the fuck, Draco? Seriously?"

"I didn't mean to startle you all, I just…well…I couldn't sleep," Draco said, his eyes trained to his food. Marie silently took note of how Draco seemed to fumble with the fork, playing with the food in the bowl rather than his usual antic of devouring the food, as Blaise continued to talk to his friend.

"You couldn't sleep? So you come to our house unannounced at two in the got damn morning, because you couldn't sleep?" Blaise closed his eyes and ran his free hand down his face. "Marie…get your friend because I'm too tired for his shit right now." He turned to go back upstairs.

"Lose the sweats by the time I'm upstairs, babe," Marie said towards his retreating figure, swatting playfully at his rather taunt backside. Blaise sent a wink to his wife over his shoulder before disappearing around the corner. Marie smirked as she bit her bottom lip, thinking about what lied beneath those sweatpants and all of the possibilities that awaited her when she got upstairs.

"You both are disgusting," Draco moved from the kitchen to the sitting room, making himself comfortable on the couch.

"Do you see what I get to sleep beside every night? Yes, I'm tryna tap that every chance I get!" Marie said sitting next to the blond, her New Orleans drawl heavier due to the late hour. "And you're not allowed to talk about "disgusting", Mr. Four-some."

"That was one time, and it was amazing."

"Right," Marie rolled her eyes, "But, for real, why are you here?"

Draco silently started playing with his food again. Marie sat across from him, with her arms crossed waiting for him to speak. After a few minutes of silence, Marie tapped her toe against his leg.

"Come on, Luke, talk to me. What's goin' on?"

Draco laughed under his breath at the nickname. He had told Marie about his family and his feelings towards his father, Lucius, and how it bothered him that he had to live with the man's name as part of his so Marie started calling him Luke as a way to reframe his negativity towards the name. It was something she still would do occasionally especially when she could feel something with bothering him. He placed his still full bowl on the table, and sighed deeply as he leaned back against the couch.

"When did you know you were in love with Blaise?"

"The same night I met him," Marie answered without hesitation, "you introduced us, and when I shook his hand, I just knew."

"Okay, but how?"

Marie tilted her head to the side. "Why the sudden interest?"

Draco ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. "Hermione said she loved me. Initially it was after the whole venue thing so I thought she was just really excited, you know? She didn't really mean it like that. Then we went out the next night, and she said she means it…she means it. I just….why? How?"

Marie rested her chin in the palm of her hand and just looked at her friend. There were very few times before now that Marie had seen Draco so distraught, the other times usually concerning his family life. From what she's been told, his childhood was less than extraordinary and his parents weren't exactly a bright and shiny example of a healthy relationship. It made complete sense why Draco would be so lost when it came to love; he'd never seen or truly experienced it. Sure he loved Marie, but it was a platonic, sibling type of love. Being in love with another human being? That's the hard part.

"During your welcome party when I first moved, before you even introduced me to Blaise, we happened to make eye contact and…I dunno, I can't really describe it, Draco. I saw him and I saw my husband; I saw my future. I saw little black babies with thick curly hair and English-New Orleans hybrid accents. I can't explain it, but I knew I was in love."

"Were you scared?"

"Terrified!" Marie chuckled, "I was absolutely terrified! I remember the exact moment he said "I love you", too. We'd barely been dating a year and we were supposed to go out one night, but I had just finished working with a disaster of a bride and wedding party that I had completely forgotten and so here he is at my door looking absolutely delicious and I look like hell. I answered the door in a freakin' onesie, Draco…with the feet! That's how bad we're talkin'! Anyways, long story short, I changed and we ended up making dessert together and drinking wine and I remember I said something slick and without skippin' a beat he responded with, 'You're lucky I love you so damn much.'"

Draco stared off into the distance as he contemplated Marie's responses to his questions. Marie said she was scared when he said he loved her, but she said herself she knew she loved him from the moment they met. Something wasn't adding up.

"How did you know it was real?"

"I didn't." Draco looked at her questioningly. "I didn't know if it was real or not. But I knew I trusted him, and I trusted me. So I gave him my heart, and it was one of the best decisions I've made to date."

Marie stood up and stretched her arms above her head. "Now...I have a naked husband upstairs that I'd like to do naughty things with, but I can see the wheels in your head still turning so I'll leave you with this," she squatted in front of the blond and took his face in her hands, "stop overthinking and overanalyzing it and just trust it. Hermione says she loves you, so trust that she means it. And trust your own feelings about her, too…'cause they are the purest and most honest feelings I have felt outside of my parents and Blaise." Marie kissed the top of his head as Draco's eyes widened; he'd never said anything about how he was in love with Hermione.

"I'm a sensor, remember?" Marie answered his unspoken question, ruffling his hair as she walked past him. "I love you dearly, but you gotta get out of my house now."

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