Everyone has been so lovely in their comments, thank you!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Now - talking about a wedding and a little drama...
Chapter 12
Lucius led the trio back downstairs to the ground floor and summoned an elf, ordering tea in the conservatory when they returned inside. Draco smiled and started leading Hermione by the hand through the expansive ballroom and outside to one of the gardens. There were flowerbeds filled to the brim with color, however, most of the space was a large, manicured verdant lawn. Hermione had an urge to take off her shoes and run barefoot through the thick grass.
"This is where we are planning to set up the ceremony," Lucius stated, coming up behind Hermione and looping his arms around her waist.
"We would set up the seating here on the grass," Draco gestured with his free hand, as the other still held Hermione's. "We will create the archway down this lane for the ritual. The arch shape helps to ground the magic required for the bonding. You will walk toward us down this lane."
Hermione looked around, trying to picture what Draco described.
"Please be forgiving Tinky the interruption," the little elf popped a few feet away from them. "The ladies to make the wedding has arrived and is walking toward the Manor."
"Thank you, Tinky," Lucius nodded. "You may intercept them and bring them here."
Almost instantaneously, Tinky popped back with two witches in tow. One of the witches was older, around Professor McGonagall's age while the other looked only a few years older than Hermione.
"Madame Selwyn," Lucius greeted the older witch with a nod. "You know Draco. This is our fiancée, Miss Hermione Granger."
"Charmed," the witch nodded in return. She looked down at Hermione critically, studying the young witch. Hermione was sure she detected a touch of disdain and returned the severe Mme. Selwyn's stare with one of her own. After a moment, Hermione thought she saw the older witch's thin lips twitch slightly in amusement. "I am Adrastreia Selwyn. This is Yoana Yaxley. She will be assisting me."
Hermione turned to the younger witch, and did not at all appreciate what she saw. The name Yaxley already predisposed her to dislike the other witch; but that feeling was cemented when she saw Yoana looking Draco up and down, in a very predatory fashion. The young witch was even slowly edging toward him, and Hermione felt her magic start to hum a bit more than usual. Hermione wondered if the two knew each other or had been involved. She quirked her brow at Draco, who looked puzzled by her silent question. Hermione nodded her head toward the inappropriate Yoana with a quizzical expression. Draco then seemed to realize what she was asking, as his brow un-furrowed in understanding. He then shook his head, responding in the negative.
"Miss Yaxley," Hermione stated sternly, "When you are done ogling my fiancé, I would be happy to make your acquaintance."
This seemed to snap the young witch from her Draco-appreciation, and earned the assistant a very stern reproving glare from her employer.
"I apologize, Miss Granger," Yoana said coldly. The disdain for the Muggle-born witch was clear on her face. "I am pleased to meet you."
"Hopefully you are better at planning a wedding than you are at lying," Hermione snorted. She had always been one to speak her mind, and she did not plan to break that habit anytime soon.
"I see you have found the strong witch you were looking for, Lord Malfoy," Mme. Selwyn stated, seeming to nod with approval.
"We have Adrastreia," Lucius smiled, squeezing Hermione a bit tighter. "We really have."
"Miss Yaxley, that means you better watch yourself," Mme. Selwyn told her assistant with a bored indifference. "Miss Granger likely has the power, and I would dare say willingness, to hex you in any number of unpleasant ways if you overstep your bounds."
"I am not frightened of an upstart Mudblood," Yoana sneered. "You have no business trying to force herself into the pureblood aristocracy, where you do not belong. The Malfoys should be marrying a pureblood witch."
"Like you perhaps?" Hermione asked, her eyes blazing with anger. She could feel her magic starting to swell in response to her feelings.
"Yes," Yoana answered haughtily. "I would be better for both of them. I am their equal. They should marry me and I should be the future Lady Malfoy, not you."
"You're not my equal," Hermione intoned coldly. She did not respond kindly to any witch thinking she could take Hermione's wizards. Maybe Lucius' territoriality was rubbing off on her. On the other hand, maybe she just could not stand snotty bitches that didn't know when to shut up.
Before Yoana could reach for her wand, Hermione's wand was raised and she had fired off her first curse.
"Confuto," Hermione stated clearly. The other witch's eyes widened as she found her mouth sealed shut. Only a muffled shriek was heard. Hermione seriously doubted the other witch had mastered nonverbal spells, so Yoana had no defense. She was beginning to look a bit frightened. "That was for your nasty language. It will wear off sometime in the next twenty-four hours. You should read that new treaty we have more carefully. Using terms like Mudblood is classified as inciting hatred and could be punishable by law."
When Hermione raised her wand again, Yoana looked frantically over to Mme. Selwyn and then over to the Malfoys. Hermione assumed she was seeking assistance, but she had the wrong crowd. Hermione had just met Mme. Selwyn, but she assumed the older witch felt she had done her duty by warning Yoana, and would not put herself out in any way.
"Defloccatus," Hermione said, narrowing her eyes. The other witch stood still for a moment, unclear about what happened, until a light breeze blew. Yoana's hands immediately went to her head, now bald when a moment before wavy auburn locks had been twisted up onto a bun. "That was for challenging me for what is mine. Your statement earlier constituted a challenge to my station as the Malfoy fiancée and future Lady Malfoy."
Yoana froze for a moment at Hermione's last phrase. Reading that pureblood etiquette book, Hermione found it fascinating that a member, or perspective member, of the aristocracy could challenge the station of another. In making the challenge, the challenger basically says they are willing to duel to the death. If the challenger wins, they get the spoils of the title. While it was not used to challenge marriage contracts, Yoana stating she should be the future Lady Malfoy in front of that person technically met the criteria for a challenge. They were easy to make, but purebloods raised with these rules knew how to watch their language, usually.
"Since you are clearly out of your depth, the only thing you will lose today is your hair," Hermione continued. It would be within her rights to kill anyone who challenges her station – not that she would, but Yoana did not know that. "I've added a little something…extra to the baldness spell that prohibits you from using magic to re-grow your hair or to hide your head. This way you will feel the punishment and you can be walking reminder to other pureblood bitches that think they can trifle with me."
"Tinky!" Draco called the little elf, who arrived immediately. "Take Miss Yaxley to the Floo in the drawing room and see her out. She is no longer welcome. You will have to shout her destination for her, because she cannot speak."
In a moment, Yoana Yaxley was gone.
"I am sorry for any inconvenience, Madame Selwyn," Hermione turned to the older witch.
"Miss Yaxley was a good assistant," Mme. Selwyn sighed a bit dramatically. "She had no originality or creativity, but she followed orders precisely. Oh well, no matter. I have other assistants who can work on this wedding. A wedding this size and in such short time, I will not be able to do alone. Fiona Macmillan is a reliable girl with some common sense."
"Let us show you what Draco and I pictured so far for the ceremony," Lucius offered Mme. Selwyn his arm and began strolling down the white gravel lane, telling her what Draco had been describing to Hermione right before they arrived.
"That was wonderful," Draco smiled as he pulled Hermione to him. "You were magnificent. I am so turned on right now."
"I didn't do it to light your fire, Draco," Hermione chided lightly as she leaned into his much larger frame. Draco pressed his hips forward slightly and she could feel how turned on he was. The bulge seemed quite large, even under several layers of fabric. Hermione thought of seeing and touching exactly what was pressing against her and felt herself grow damp.
"You are so sexy," Draco murmured as he bent down to capture her lips in his. His kiss was demanding and passionate. Hermione felt herself melting into the younger Malfoy, her hands reaching to grip his back muscles to keep herself steady. One of Draco's hands moved down to her rear and he tried to press her hips into him even though they were already as close as possible. His other hand was snaking up her shirt, rubbing up her ribs and toying with the edge of her bra. Hermione felt rational thought slipping away, intoxicated by Draco.
The sound of a throat clearing did eventually register and Hermione pulled back from Draco, who was reluctant to let her go.
"Adrastreia and I are heading inside through the ballroom," Lucius reported. His eyes were dancing with lust and amusement. "Tea should be ready in the conservatory. Do accompany us."
Hermione began disentangling herself from Draco, smoothing her shirt down and blushing a bit. She tried to stop the blushing. Hermione logically knew there was nothing wrong with kissing her fiancé - even though they were doing more than just kissing. She had never really been in an adult romantic relationship though, so was new to things like public display of affection. Draco tucked her hand into the crook of his arm and the pair followed Lucius and Mme. Selwyn into the Manor.
"After the ceremony, our guests may come into the ballroom for hors d'oeuvres and drinks, while we set up the receiving line at this end of the room," Lucius explained, gesturing as the group walked slowly through the room.
Mme. Selwyn's shrewd eyes surveyed the area with a sort of ruthless precision. Hermione pictured the severe older woman as a military general doing reconnaissance and giggled softly to herself. Those Malfoys, ever vigilant to her mood, turned to see what she found funny.
"Don't mind me," Hermione giggled. "It's just, the way Madame Selwyn was looking around had me imagining her as general preparing for an invasion, no disrespect intended."
"None taken girl," Mme. Selwyn nodded regally. "You are not wrong. Planning and organizing a wedding is very much like going into battle, especially this wedding. A traditional Malfoy wedding is a sentinel event in the pureblood nobility. It must go perfectly, and I will make that happen."
"After the receiving line is done," Lucius continued, smiling, "dinner will be held in the formal dining room. While it is large, some temporary expansion charms may be necessary to fit our guests comfortably."
"That room is huge!" Hermione blurted out. "Exactly how many people are you expecting?"
"Our side of the guest list is just over three hundred," Draco reported. "We will need your guest list to get the total count. I expect there will be some overlap, like Kingsley and Severus, but probably not too much."
Hermione paled a bit. This would be huge. She was not sure she even knew three hundred people. Clearly, they were inviting anyone in their lives, not just friends – or even people they liked. She was certain that even between the two of them, Lucius and Draco did not like over three hundred people. They barely tolerated a few dozen people, and really seemed fond of half that.
Hermione did some quick calculations in her head. If she added up everyone from the Order of the Phoenix, Order allies, Dumbledore's Army, Hogwarts' staff, the Weasley Family, her parents, and her few friends that aren't already accounted for by one of those previous categories…she would have less than a hundred for her list. If she allowed everyone to bring a guest though, that would increase her list. Then Hermione realized that most of the people on her guest list would likely pick a date that was also on her guest list, so she sighed.
"Well I certainly do not have three hundred," Hermione reported. "I will write up a guest list, but I doubt it will be more than ninety or a hundred."
"Provide me with your list tomorrow," Mme. Selwyn instructed. "I will combine it with the Malfoy list and have Miss Macmillan send out invitations the next day. Do you wish to allow your unmarried guests to bring a date?"
"It seems like all of Wizarding Britain is already invited," Hermione shrugged. "So they may as well bring dates. It is more than likely that their date will already be invited anyway."
The group finally made it to the conservatory, where a much-needed tea was waiting for them. Everyone sat, and again, Hermione found herself wedged between Lucius and Draco while Mme. Selwyn got her own chair. Hermione sat back and relaxed, enjoying the delicate tea provided by the elves. The talk turned immediately to wedding décor. Mme. Selwyn produced a self-writing quill and parchment that hovered discreetly at her elbow, taking notes as they talked.
Lucius and Draco seemed to prefer green and silver, like the Slytherins they were. As much as Hermione loved her Gryffindor colors, the mix of red and green was unappealing to her outside of Christmas. The group generally agreed that red and green was not a good summer wedding combination. Hermione suggested they focus on silver and gold instead, which both Lucius and Draco liked. Mme. Selwyn approved of silver, gold, and ivory as the wedding colors.
Mme. Selwyn then forced them each to boil down their ideal wedding in a few phrases. Lucius wanted traditional, elegant, and quality. Draco expressed a desire for something a little surprising, extravagant, and fun. Hermione smirked at lips a bit at how well their wedding descriptions fit themselves. Hermione wanted it to be warm, pictured lots of lights and flowers, and wanted to have a good time.
It turned out that wizarding and Muggle weddings had a fair amount in common. The ceremony would start in the evening, followed by the receiving line. During the receiving line, guests would have hors d'oeuvre and drinks while a string quartet played, allowing for mingling and conversation. Then everyone would adjourn to the dining room, which would be set with round tables that seat twelve – necessitating about forty tables. After dinner, the ballroom would be reopened and there would be dancing.
Lucius insisted on a traditional full dinner, which would have ten courses. Hermione then insisted that some of these courses integrate Muggle food and that the pudding course be replaced with wedding cake. Draco did not care what they ate as long as it tasted good. Mme. Selwyn knew a half-blood chef that was familiar with Muggle food. She offered to have a menu for them to approve in one week's time.
Draco did have strong opinions about the after dinner dancing, as did Lucius. It was finally agreed to begin the evening with more traditional, classical musical fare – as Lucius wanted. After about an hour, the band would change to one that could play more current, popular wizarding music, as well as the occasional Muggle song.
Hermione, ever the pragmatist, wondered about security. A few months ago, many of their guests were on opposite sides of a war. It would be in poor taste for them to require guests give up their wands, but Mme. Selwyn had experience with security. The invitations would be charmed to serve as identification for each guest, and they would not be able to enter without it. Things like Glamours or Polyjuice would not be able to trick the invitation charm, so an imposter would be stopped at the wards. The existing wards already kept out people with cursed or dangerous objects, even if they had an invitation. Extra wards would be erected that would not allow guests to perform curses or hexes and would, in fact, dampen all guest's ability to use magic.
Mme. Selwyn wrapped up their meeting, stating she had a lot of work to do. In the coming few days, she would hire a fleet of decorators, a chef, several photographers, at least three musical groups, and security personnel. She informed Hermione that she would be at her home Wednesday with a dressmaker, and that she would owl the exact time. Tinky was summoned to show Mme. Selwyn out.
"I like her," Hermione smiled. "She is so no-nonsense."
"She is also well respected and has been doing this for decades," Lucius said, leaning back on the couch.
All three of them were somewhat sprawled out, having had a very busy day. Lucius tugged at Hermione's torso, so that she was more laying across the couch rather than sitting on it. She soon had her head in Lucius' lap, while her legs rested across Draco. Lucius began unbraiding her hair and combing his fingers through it while Draco removed her shoes, dropping them on the floor. They just sat in silence for a while, resting.
"That talk about security reminded me of something I promised Harry," Hermione finally said, feeling quite relaxed. "He is concerned for my safety."
"Your safety?" Draco became more alert. "Surely he does not think we would harm you!"
"Oh no, nothing like that," Hermione soothed. She reached out and took one of Draco's hands in hers. "He found a journal by Cassiopeia Black. She had written a catalog of sorts about the pureblood aristocracy during her lifetime. Cassiopeia wrote that a Malfoy plural marriage should be every upper class witch's primary goal in life. That if the opportunity to marry two Malfoys ever arises then a witch should lie, cheat, steal, and kill to become that bride. Naturally, Harry began to worry that some crazy witch would try to take me out of the picture. He made me promise not to go anywhere by myself until after the wedding."
"That was smart of Potter," Draco nodded. "He is not entirely wrong to be concerned. Many, if not the majority, of witches in our social circle will take issue with you. Being Muggle-born will of course set you apart, but regardless of your birth, there would be jealousy and attempts to undermine our relationship before the permanent bonds are set. The marriage contract is in place and most people would not do anything to purposely disrupt that. The biggest problems you run into will likely be with someone like that Miss Yaxley, a stupid witch who can't control her mouth. While we are confident that you can handle any witch that comes your way, as you so wonderfully did today, it can't hurt to take someone with you when you go places. You never know when someone will try to get you while your back is turned, so it would be safer."
"It may sound paranoid," Lucius said somewhat sternly, "but do not accept anything from people you don't know very well. Do not take packages, food, beverages…anything. It would smart to use a Revealing charm on all your incoming post as well. Since Narcissa died, we have been approached, both separately and together, by witches wanting to marry us. We have not entertained these witches in any way, but a few have tried more underhanded tactics, like trying to slip one of us Amortentia."
Hermione gasped. That love potion was powerful and could easily take one of her fiancés away from her, making him think himself in love with someone else.
"Don't worry," Draco soothed, rubbing Hermione's feet. "We have both been inoculated against that and other less powerful love potions. All Malfoy men are. Only someone who knows our inoculation and has the power to create new potions could possibly brew one that stands a chance of affecting us. The only living Potion Master with that information and skill is Severus."
That did make her feel better and Hermione relaxed again. It seems like Harry was right, she really would have to watch her back until the marriage ceremony was completed.
I made up spells using an English to Latin translator. The University of Notre Dame has a very thorough English to Latin, which is the one I used.
Next - some lemons & limes...