Chapter 28 – The one where Draco and Harry both asks questions and the answer to both of them is, 'I do'

Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell over,
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before,
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.

Last six lines of Sonnet 30
William Shakespeare

Hermione woke up confused and dazed. She'd been dreaming of white dresses and flowers, engagement rings and Beethoven… in other words, she'd been dreaming of her wedding day. When she woke up she thought it was all real and that somehow, inexplicably, she had missed it, which was absurd in the extreme. How could she miss her own wedding?

Besides, she didn't have a white dress, did she? She didn't have a choice in the music that was going to be played. She didn't pick out her favourite flowers and she didn't even have an engagement ring.

In many ways this didn't feel like her wedding day. She felt as if she was hijacking someone else's dream wedding. She almost felt like a guest at her own wedding. She didn't even have the something old, something new, something borrowed or something blue, except she supposed she could consider the wedding ceremony as her 'something borrowed'.

In her dream wedding her parents were both by her side. Pachebel's Canon in D was playing on the long walk down the aisle, while Beethoven's Ode to Joy played afterwards. Lilacs and white roses made up her bouquet. Harry would read a poem by EE Cummings ('you carry my heart'), whether he would want to or not.

However, in her 'dream' wedding – from which she just awoke - she was walking down a long aisle toward something… something… but she didn't know what. The aisle continued forever – there was no end in sight – and soon it began to rain rice and flower petals. The rice pelted her face and shoulders and it irritated her more than it hurt.

There were people all around her, yet she didn't know a single soul, and the people began to cheer and congratulate her. They told her 'Best Wishes' on her marriage. Her parents weren't there, her friends weren't there.

In the end of the dream, when she finally reached the end of the aisle, there was no groom waiting for her. She turned toward the crowd of unfamiliar faces and they disappeared. She was all alone.

And still she felt rice and flower petals raining down on her.

Now that she was awake and had time to examine the dream she supposed it meant that she felt rushed and a bit disappointed that this wasn't her dream wedding but the dream wedding of another. She felt disappointed that her family and other friends wouldn't be here to join her. Staring at the ceiling overhead and taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes again, only to realize that today was her wedding day.

Goodness gracious. Today was her wedding day.

She felt something hit her on the cheek, then the chin, then the chest. Since she was now awake she knew it couldn't be the rice and flowers from her dream. Suddenly, something tickled her nose.

Opening her eyes again, quickly this time, she expected to see Draco Malfoy sitting on the side of her bed. Imagine her surprise when she saw Harry Potter throwing pieces of bread at her.

"What did you just do?" she asked with a hoarse voice.

"Why do you assume I did something?" He smiled and hid his hands behind his back.

"Did you throw something at me while I slept?" she asked, scooting toward the headboard. She only had to look around her to know the answer. Pieces of a croissant, along with crumbs and even a few blueberries, lay scattered around her. "Are you channeling Draco Malfoy now?"

"Could you insult me any more if you tried?" Harry said rhetorically, brushing his crumb-laden hands on his trousers. "Although I do admit he asked me to come in here and wake you up by throwing bits of food at you. I thought, why not?"

She picked up a blueberry, was about to throw it at him, but popped it in her mouth instead. "Why didn't he come in here and throw food at me himself? He seems to like doing that sort of thing."

"Something about your wedding day and bad luck seeing the bride and other such nonsense," he answered. "You're a hard one to wake up. I've been at it forever. It's your wedding day today, you know. I'm sure you have a bunch of girlie things to do." He reached down by her hip and picked up a crumb of bread and put it in his mouth.

She hummed a high pitch hum and replied, "Odd, that. I was dreaming of that very thing earlier, although in some ways it seemed more like a nightmare than a dream."

He climbed up next to her, crossed his legs at the ankles and said, "Undoubtedly you're right. You are marrying Draco Malfoy. That's enough to scare anyone witless, even you."

She turned toward him and said, "I'll ignore that comment, but only because I am, in fact, marrying Draco Malfoy. It is a bit scary, in more ways than one."

"The man of your dreams," he chirped, moving his head as he did, sarcastically at that.

"The man of my nightmares," she countered with a laugh.

"You stole my line," Harry joked.

"He stole my heart," she quipped.

"Don't make me gag," he retorted.

"Don't make me hex you," she laughed. "He's the man I love."

Harry was quick with, "He's the man I hate."

"The man I was meant to marry," she countered.

"Right, right, everyone knows he was your childhood sweetheart," he plied with a fake cough and then a sound of disgust at the end.

She literally choked on another blueberry at that remark. Coughing fiercely, she finally said, "More like my childhood enemy, as you well know."

"I was going to say that but didn't want to incur your wrath. The wrath of Hermione Granger is a thing of legends," he said slyly. "So tell me, Hermione, what will marriage to Draco Malfoy be like, do you suppose? It's not as if you two have dated for years, therefore, you don't know each others little quirks and such."

She threw back the covers and climbed out of bed. "You've known me for most of our lives. I think you know enough of my quirks and such." She went to the bathroom and closed the door.

Jumping from the bed, he went to the other side of the bathroom door and asked, "Yes, I know things about you… you're smart, you're a know-it-all, you're beautiful, you have dubious taste in fiancés, wonderful taste in friends, and you're apparently hard to wake in the morning because I was throwing pieces of croissant and berries at your head for a good five minutes before you finally awoke. I even know things about Draco Malfoy, such as he's rich, he's spoiled, he a pompous git, he does have a keen sense of style, as much as it pains me to admit it. But I don't know what things will be like between the two of you, and you don't know either, do you?"

She opened the door and faced him. "Goodness, Harry Potter, what a daunting question. I'm shocked you can ponder such things this early in the morning. Do you want me to admit that Draco and I don't know much about each other, yet we're getting married today?"

He poked her on the chest. "Bloody right I want you to admit it, but not to the point where I want you to have second thoughts and not to the point where I want to place obstacles in your way, but I want you to at least admit to me that this is all going a bit fast and you feel rushed about it all."

"I refuse to admit any such thing!" She slammed the door in his face again. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and stuck out her tongue… meaning it for Harry, but also at herself because she HAD been thinking such things.

He banged on the bathroom door and said, "He has ex-wives, illegitimate children, has had affairs, came here thinking he had to get engaged to a pureblood to ensure custody of said illegitimate child, etc, etc, etc." With each 'etc' he banged his fist on the bathroom door.

She opened the door again, this time with a towel around her body and said, "You sound like some pompous snob, Harry Potter, and if I didn't know you better, I think I'd be apt to not like you right now."

"Like me or not, you know I'm just saying aloud the things you're thinking to yourself." He had a 'so there' glare on his face.

"It almost sounds like you're trying to talk me out of this wedding today. Besides, he has full custody of Fiona now so he doesn't have to get married. And I'm not such a prize either. I have scar-headed friends and four previous engagements, the last one lasting seven years without resulting in a wedding. More to the point, he wants more children and that's the one thing in my life I'll never be able to accomplish. Taken on a whole that doesn't make me sound like a prize, either."

SLAM went the door for the third time.

Harry sat on the floor by the bathroom door to wait for her. She stepped into the shower, knowing he was waiting for her by the door and began to wash her hair.

She knew Harry had a point, but it rankled her to admit it. She also knew that as much as she hated to admit to being 'one of those women', she had dreamt of her wedding day ever since she was a little girl. She wanted the white, lacey dress, the bridesmaids, her dance with her father, the toasts from her friends, her favourite flowers as decorations, and her mother close to tears in the front row. If she and Draco hadn't been thrown together this past week, she didn't know if she would marry him at someone else's wedding.

For this was what this was. This was still Astoria Greengrass' wedding and Hermione felt like little more than a replacement bride.

Finishing with her shower, she towel dried her hair and patted dry her body, then wrapping it in a new towel she stepped out of the bathroom, sat down on the floor next to Harry and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I do love him, you know," she felt the need to say.

"I hate to admit it, but I know you do," he laughed. "But may I ask you a question?"

She nodded.

Looking down at his best friend, he asked, "Are you certain you aren't just marrying him to become a mother to Fiona?"

"I know that question should incite anger from me," she started, "but to be truthful, perhaps I am to a certain degree, or at least it started out that way."

"Now that the impediment to Malfoy's custody of his daughter is out of the way, why would you say you're marrying him so quickly? Why today? Why right now?" Harry reached for her hand and held it in both of his.

"You know, when I was engaged to Ron, I used to dream of my big wedding all the time. I never told a soul, but I thought about the music and the cake and the decorations." She sighed and lifted her head from his shoulder. "There are certain rules of engagement, at least in my mind. Rule number one is that you only become engaged if you truly see yourself walking down the aisle, and toward a future, with that man."

"And you did with Ron?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I did. I didn't with Anthony or Michael or heaven forbid, Roger Davies, but I did with Ron. I broke rule number one with all the rest."

"And Malfoy?" Harry waited for her answer.

"I haven't had time to dream about my idyllic wedding with Malfoy, to be honest," she admitted, "not counting my nightmare this morning." She smiled and withdrew her hand. "Rule number two of engagements is that you must see yourself having a future with the man you're to marry."

"You didn't see that with Ron," Harry assumed, therefore making it a statement, not a question.

"No, I did, at first. I wanted children with him. I wanted a home with him. But when we found out that I couldn't have children, he no longer wanted those things with me." She sounded sad and she hated that she sounded sad. "I knew, deep in my heart, even as I became engaged to the rest of them, that I would never have any of that, but that didn't matter, because I also knew deep in my heart that I was breaking another rule with them, and that I probably would never really marry them, which brings me to rule number three."

"Which is?" Harry asked with a grin.

"You shouldn't become engaged to a man unless you can be perfectly honest about rules number one and two. You have to be able to admit that you're still just a little girl at heart and you want the big wedding you've always dreamt you'd have, and that you want children and a future with him, even if you know that technically you can't have children of your own."

Harry looked as if he wanted to say something, but he closed his mouth, grasped her hand again, and stayed quiet.

"You don't have to say anything," she was quick to add. "I know those rules sound silly."

"Not at all," he placated. "But what I want to ask is, since you've seem to have broken all three of your little rules of engagement with Malfoy, why are you marrying him today? Why the rush? You could both leave here and plan your perfect wedding with all your family and friends in attendance, and you could plan your future with him, including Fiona and perhaps adoption if you'd so desire, and you could do all of this upfront and honestly, therefore not breaking a single rule of engagement."

Hermione made a distressing sound in the back of her throat and said, "Sometimes you're as dense as a doornail and other times you're so insightful that it scares me, Harry Potter."

"I don't think I should thank you for such a comment, but I shall anyway. Thank you." He kissed the top of her head, laughed, then stood up quickly and started for the door. Turning back before he walked through it he said, "No one would think less of you if you waited. Waiting doesn't mean you've changed your mind. Waiting doesn't mean that you believed anything Ginny Weasley said to you yesterday. Waiting doesn't have to mean that this is going to be another one of your long engagements without a wedding at the end. Waiting just means that you're following the rules. You've always been a rule follower, after all."

With that he left.

Hermione stood from her place on the floor, went back to the bathroom, whipped off her towel and decided to give the things Harry said careful consideration.

Draco Malfoy stood out on the balcony, in front of the door leading into Hermione's room. The door was partially open (he opened it right after Potter went in to wake her) and he was surprised neither of the former Gryffindors noticed. He frowned as they talked to each other. He frowned because he felt a tiny, infinitesimal amount of guilt that his little lion wasn't getting the wedding of her dreams. Mostly he frowned because it shouldn't have been Potter's place to have brought this to her attention.

It should have been his.

And she shouldn't be sharing her 'rules of engagement' with Potter. She should be sharing them with HIM, the man she was going to marry!

Apparating directly to the hallway when he heard Potter leave her room, he confronted the other man right outside the door, surprising him so much that Harry actually took a step backwards and reached for his wand.

"You scared me, Malfoy," Harry admitted, placing his wand back in his trouser pocket.

"Don't you say the nicest things," Draco said expressionlessly.

"Not usually, no," Harry replied. "And never to you."

"You were in there a bloody long time," Draco accused. "How long does it take to wake a woman up, I ask you? I take it you haven't had much experience with the matter. You're probably more used to putting them to sleep."

"Whatever, Malfoy," Harry said with a shrug, pushing the other man out of his way.

As Harry started to walk away, Draco reached out and pulled on his shoulder to make him stay. "What were you two talking about in there? She's not having regrets, is she? No second thoughts are there?" He knew that wasn't it, but he wanted Potter to admit it.

Staring directly into his eyes, Harry said, "I think those are questions you need to ask of her, Malfoy, not me. Excuse me." Harry walked away and Draco stayed right outside Hermione's door.

A few minutes later, Susan Bones walked down the hallway toward Hermione's door, saw Draco pacing outside it, and inquired, "Is Hermione awake yet?"

"Scarhead woke her up about a half an hour ago," he said, agitated.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" Susan asked. "It's after ten and the wedding's at noon."

"Is it?" Draco asked, sitting down on a bench outside his own bedroom door.

When Draco first awoke this morning he awoke with a large smile plastered on his face. Marriage to Hermione Granger would be akin to getting the best present of his entire life. Second to the birth of his children, this was the happiest day of his life. He felt like the luckiest sod on the face of the earth. He just didn't want Hermione to know that he felt that way yet. Yesterday, after the debacle with Ginny Weasley and dress shopping, he seriously thought that she might fly off the handle and cancel their wedding. Luckily for him she had a level head and could tell that Ginny Weasley was just playing a sore loser in this little play called 'Rules of Engagement'. Ginny was unhappy that everyone around her was happy – plain and simple.

And Hermione Granger realized that and didn't let it ruin things. Well, bravo for Hermione Granger and bravo for Draco Malfoy, also known as the luckiest man on earth. He was getting married today and wasn't that just utterly and simply grand?

Except somehow he felt as if with his joy he was causing Hermione sorrow. With his happiness she ran the risk of sadness.

"May I ask you a question, Susan?" Draco asked.

"I should point out that you just did, but you may ask me another one, Draco, if you'd like." She sat down next to him, took her glasses off her face and stuck them on top of her head, holding back her hair.

"What's your perfect wedding day?" he asked. That wasn't at all what he was going to ask, but it came out all the same.

"I'm not sure I've ever really considered it," she said, only to sigh and confess, "No, that's a lie. I hate to admit it, but I'm a normal woman, and I suppose I've spent a moment or two thinking about my dream wedding."

"Did you have a dream wedding with the Weasel?" Draco smirked and waited for the answer.

"We got married in front of an officiate at the registrar's office. It wasn't a dream so much as a matter of fact way of getting married," she said softly.

Draco asked, "Do you think everyone deserves their ideal of a dream wedding?"

"Deserve is an objective type of word to use in these instances. I suppose everyone is entitled to have what they want when it comes to their wedding day. Hermione's no exception." Susan looked down as she spoke. "And I think you may be asking me these things because you've come to realize that the wedding that's taking place today is Astoria's dream wedding and not Hermione's."

"Well," Draco began, "I didn't really realize that as much as I overheard my little lion admit that very thing to old four-eyes a moment ago." He looked up at the glasses sitting on top of her head and said, "No offense intended."

She actually laughed. "You could have called him by your old stand by… 'Scarhead'. I don't have a scar, so I wouldn't have been even slightly offended by that moniker. I'm not really offended by 'four eyes' either, though."

He shrugged. "You call him what you want and I'll call him what I want." They sat in silence for a while and he asked, "Why do you think she broke all her other engagements?"

"With Ron," she started, "she became engaged to him, at least in my humble opinion, because it was anticipated of them. He was her first love and she sincerely thought they would have a future together. That's why I married him, too. After Ron, I think she only became engaged because everyone around her was becoming engaged or getting married, or having children. She may be a modern woman, but she's also a traditionalist in many ways. I know she wants it all, and to her, having it all is being engaged, followed by a wedding, then a home and a family."

Raising his hands in the air he said, "And she's about to get all three today, by marrying me." He dropped his hands back to his lap and exhaled a long breath. "Why then does it feel as if I'm robbing her of something very important? Why do I feel as if I should woo her a while, ply her with sweets and gifts, put an extremely large and expensive ring on her finger, and then help her with mundane little things like seating charts and guests lists."

Susan laughed. "Exactly, because we all know she'd have her hands in every detail of her wedding."

Draco returned Susan's laugh. He mocked, "I can hear her now. 'You can't possibly sit Mrs. Weasley next to your Uncle Sebastian, Draco. He tortured and killed her uncle back in 1957'."

Playing along, Susan said, "She'd plan the menus, the music, the flowers, everything. The thought of someone else…"

"Especially Greg Goyle," Draco interrupted.

"…Planning her wedding," Susan continued, "would drive her insane."

Draco suddenly became solemn. "I'm taking all of that away from her, aren't I?"

"Not at all," Susan said, less than convinced.

"Why didn't she plan her little perfect wedding with those other chaps? Goldstein, Corner and what's his name?" Draco pulled on a frayed string on the hem of his cuff.

"Because they weren't the right men for her and you are. You're the answer to that equation, as you well know. She has the right man now, but the situation may not be perfect," Susan relayed.

Draco agreed with her.

"Do you want a big dream wedding?" Draco asked.

"Are you proposing?" she joked. "I thought you were marrying Hermione today."

"I thought that, too." It was Harry Potter who made this statement. He was walking back down the hall toward them. "Isn't one bride enough for you, Malfoy? Now you have to try to steal mine?"

"Am I yours?" Susan asked glibly.

"If you want to be," Harry replied. "Unless you're like Hermione and you want the big wedding and the white dress and the ring."

"At this point, I'd be happy with just a groom and a true proposal," Susan said, shocking herself a bit with that revelation.

"I'm available, if you'd like. I already told you that," Harry said, leaning casually against the wall. "So, do you want to marry me?"

Draco stood from the bench, made a strangled sound of disgust in the back of his throat and said, "As far as proposals go, that one was even worse than mine was. For goodness sakes, Potter, get down on your knee, declare your undying love, offer to have plastic surgery to remove your scar, and then tell her you'll buy her the largest effing sapphire in the world when you get back to London."

Susan smiled, looked at Draco and said, "I like sapphires."

Nodding his head and holding one hand out toward Susan, Draco said, "Well then, there you go."

"You might want to take your own advice, Malfoy," Harry said, patting the other man on the shoulder. "I happen to know Hermione likes emeralds and diamonds."

"She does?" Draco asked sheepishly.

A voice sounded from the room next to his. "I do." Hermione leaned against the doorjamb and said, "I really, really do."

Then Susan looked at Harry and said, "and to answer you're question, I do, too."