Chapter thirteen: the difference between this day and the other 364 days
Hermione sat in front of the mirror while Mrs Edgar busied herself with Hermione's hair. Hermione had this heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach; the day had finally arrived. This afternoon, Hermione was going to become Mrs Hermione Malfoy. Hermione shuddered involuntarily at the thought of being part of this family; she could hardly stand them let alone be one of them. Hermione shook her head and Mrs Edgar told her off, 'No moving, dear. Your hair isn't finished yet.' Hermione let out a gusty sigh and looked up at her reflection. Just looking at her hair, one could tell the family was rich. Her hair was in an artistic bun with some curls flowing freely. To match her dress, diamonds, pearls and beads of jade were scattered through her hair. Hermione brought a hand up to her hair and fiddled with a pearl that sat just above her brow. Her hand was quickly slapped away and she dropped it back into her lap. It was going to be a long day.
Hermione stood at the back door and looked at the garden in amazement. It had been completely transformed. Before it was beautiful but not like this. They had decided on holding the ceremony and the reception outside just before dusk because dusk was supposedly the 'magical time'. Hermione scowled and guests coming in tried to give her a reassuring smile; it didn't work. Hermione looked out at the garden that looked very similar to the jungle opposite her room but white silk placed around the garden. Mrs Edgar came up behind Hermione and whispered in her ear, 'The ceremony is about to begin and it would be unwise to keep any Malfoy waiting.' Hermione turned around and walked with Mrs Edgar back into the manor for some last minute preparations.
Draco stood at the altar waiting for the piano to begin; until the ceremony was over he was going to be so uncomfortable. He had made out with Hermione, sure. But he didn't actually know her. In fact the only thing he really knew was that she was friends with Harry Potter, Draco shifted and hoped that the ceremony begun soon, he wasn't trustworthy to be left to his own imagination. Suddenly the piano began and he turned around to see Hermione walking towards him. He had never felt so nervous in his entire life.
Hermione heard the music begin and took a deep breath; it was time to walk down the aisle. How ironic, the day she had been waiting for her whole life was just a sham. She was getting married to her school enemy. She realised that although they had been physically close, she knew nothing about Draco other than the fact that he was the 'Prince of Slytherin'. Hermione laughed and took the first step to sealing her doom. As she was walking down the aisle, Draco turned to face her. Hermione's eyes locked with his and she realised that, in a weird twisted way, Draco was the best man she could ever hope to be forced into a marriage with.
The ceremony itself didn't last very long but for Draco, it seemed to last a lifetime. He was aware of Hermione standing beside him to whole time. Every few minutes he would glance over at her and felt horrible because she looked so worried. He couldn't figure out why she looked sad though, she could have had it a lot worse. He knew for a fact that Avery had petitioned for her hand in marriage, wasn't she glad she didn't get him? As soon as the ceremony was over there were cheers of congratulations all around but all Draco could focus on was the fact that he was married. At seventeen he was married, to the biggest nerd in school. But he couldn't really complain, Hermione made him feel happy and she made him smile. He hadn't done either of those things in a long time.
Hermione was relieved the ceremony was over; standing there next to Draco was torture! She was conscious of Draco the entire time and she felt his eyes on her every so often. Hermione looked over at him now; he seemed so happy and relaxed with the rest of the Malfoy's. Hermione was still getting over the fact that when they returned to school they would be married. She didn't know how she was supposed to stand nighttimes in her dorm. All the girls will ask her about it, it would be awful. Hermione was so distracted that she didn't even notice when Draco came to stand beside her. She only noticed when he put his arm around her shoulders.
'Would you like do dance, Malfoy?' Draco laughed at his own joke, 'I'm going to have to call you by your first name now, seeing as it would be strange to call my wife by her new last name wouldn't it?' Draco felt so nervous; the guys at school would laugh at him if they saw him like this. He was nervous around his own wife. Draco held at his hand and Hermione delicately placed her hand in his. Draco gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and led her to the dance floor. A slow song started to play and Hermione placed her head on Draco's shoulder. Draco then let the rest of the world disappear and just focused on Hermione.
Hermione stood there, slowly moving to the music. She recognised the song as a muggle one, it was odd that the Malfoy's would play muggle music. But Hermione, ceased to care as Draco drew her closer in the middle of the dance. She forgot about the other people there and just thought about her head on Draco's shoulder. She realised that this was the best part of the day. Neither Hermione nor Draco noticed that everybody else had stopped dancing and were just watching the young couple. Everyone agreed that they looked beautiful together.