Chapter 41
My head was pounding when I woke up. I opened my eyes slightly and saw that I was not in my bed or even in my house. I squeezed my eyes shut; the pain in my head was unbearable. I opened them again and saw that I was in Sirius' room at Grimmauld.
I was on the floor and not in a proper bed at all, but at least I knew where I was. I was wearing leggings and a bra but nothing else. I forced myself to sit up as the bedroom door opened. Draco looked more pale than usual as he closed the door behind me.
"Oh, you're up," he said. He walked over to the bed and flopped face down onto it.
"Why am I on the floor? Where's my shirt?" I asked.
"You got vomit on your shirt," he said. "So you took it off. And you were puking into the rubbish bin for a while so you were asleep on the floor. I was very confused when I woke up next to Hermione."
"Right," I said. I had no recollection of any of this, but based on how I was feeling there was no need to dispute him. I got up from the floor and walked over to the bed, lying down beside him. "I feel like someone's hit me upside the head with a cauldron."
"I've been in and out puking for the last hour," Draco said. "Don't think we can get married because I'll die before then."
"The feeling is mutual," I said. "What time is it?"
"Nearly noon," Draco said. "Everyone is hung over and dying, by the way."
"Good," I said. The last thing I remembered was arriving at Grimmauld Place and Parvati initiating a game of Never Have I Ever.
"Did you have a fun evening?" Draco asked.
"What I remember of it," I said. "But remind me to never let Parvati pick the party games ever again."
"Agreed," Draco said, sitting up. "I'm going to go vomit again. Excuse me." He dashed from the room and out the door. I buried my face in my pillow.
I heard footsteps enter the room and a moment later there was someone beside me on the bed.
"Your shirt is gone," Hermione said.
"Draco said I puked on it," I said.
"I think I'm dying," she said.
"Me too," I said.
"Ginny and Ron are pretty sure they both woke up still drunk which means they're going to feel like absolute shit later," Hermione said.
"I've literally had a Dark Wizard in my head before and I don't think that was as bad as this hangover," I said.
"What a way to end your life as a single woman," Hermione said.
"I think even this was more of a hurrah than I needed," I said.
"It's Parvati's fault," Hermione said. She pat me on the back. "But just think. This time next Sunday you'll be Mrs. Hannah Malfoy."
"Potter-Malfoy," I corrected her. "And hopefully I won't be nearly this hungover."
888
The rest of the week went by in a blur. Last minute changes, touring the venue one last time, confirming the menu. Everything was going by so fast my head was spinning.
By the time Friday rolled around I was happy to be finally putting the whole wedding behind me.
I wasn't surprised to see Draco at the Burrow that morning. He'd been leaving his parents' house as soon as he got the opportunity every single day. He said they weren't arguing anymore, but also weren't speaking directly to each other and were sleeping in separate rooms. I felt bad, unable to imagine watching my family fall apart like that.
"Good morning, Hannah. And little Mira," Mrs. Weasley said. Her breakfast spread this morning was insane. Every inch of the table was covered in food. "I woke up early so I thought I'd just make a bit of breakfast."
"Is that really what happened or are you intentionally going overboard?" I asked. Mira had climbed up onto Draco's lap and was reaching out for a piece of sausage.
"She's going overboard," Mr. Weasley said from his seat, reading the Daily Prophet. "I've told her to relax, but she's all nerves."
"It's not every day your children go off and get married, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley said. Then she looked over at me. "Because that's what you are of course. You know that dear?"
"Of course I do," I said.
"It's not that I'm not happy for her, but we've already had Fred and Charlie. Ron'll be this year as well. And eventually Ginny and George. Even Percy," Mr. Weasley said.
"I can imagine the novelty wearing off," I said.
"There is no novelty in you starting your new life. Now sit down and eat," she said. The kitchen door opened and Harry and Ginny walked in.
"Merlin, mum. Think you might've gone a bit overboard," Ginny said. "Good thing I showed up to help. I did not inherit your skills in the kitchen."
"Neither did Hannah," Draco muttered.
"Mira doesn't complain about my cooking," I said.
"That's because she doesn't have the vocabulary for it yet," Draco said.
"Morning," Ron said walking to the kitchen, Kassia in tow.
"And how are the lovebirds?" Kassia asked.
"Wedding's off on account of Draco hating my cooking," I said.
"Can't fault him for that. You're a better potion's master than a chef," Ron said.
I rolled my eyes as I made a plate of food. "Jokes aside, is everyone ready for today and tomorrow because it's go time."
"Hannah, you've had Hermione running the itinerary down with us literally every day," Harry said.
"Yeah. We can't have both of you being crazy. It's no fair. One of you is supposed to balance the other out," Ron said.
"Don't forget you're still getting married in December," Ginny said. "We'll have to deal with them all over again."
Ron groaned. "Whose idea was it that they be friends?"
"I dunno. Who was it that made her feel so bad when we were kids that they made her cry?" I asked.
"That was both of you if I recall," Harry replied. He motioned to Draco. "You too."
"And she'll never let me forget it," Draco said.
Ron nodded. "Same."
888
"I wish you'd had a wedding shower," Hermione sighed. We were sitting at my house preparing for the rehearsal.
"Draco and I are the last people who need to be showered with anything from other people," I said. "I'd say we've both gotten a pretty good head start in life. I mean, his parents bought us a house. We're set."
"Yeah, but then I'd get to use the ribbons from your wedding gifts to make your bouquet for the rehearsal," Hermione said.
"What?" I asked.
"It's a muggle tradition," Hermione said. "And however many ribbons you break during the shower is how many babies you'll have."
I snorted. "That's very superstitious of you to say as someone who thinks divination is hokey."
"I have seen some compelling evidence that may have convinced me that it's not all a bunch of malarkey, but the ribbons is more a bit of fun rather than superstition," Hermione said. "Do you and Draco plan to have more children?"
"One or two maybe, though not any time soon obviously," I said. I sighed. "I feel guilty sometimes after losing the baby."
"That wasn't your fault," Hermione said.
"No, I know," I said. "It's just that… We were not in a good place to have another baby. And, like, I almost feel kind of relieved to not be pregnant anymore even though-."
"It's complicated, I understand," Hermione said. "You feel how you feel. No one else can tell you how you're supposed to feel after something like that."
I nodded and rested my head on her shoulder. "Maybe you should've been my children's godmother."
"Too late. You're already stuck with Ron," she said.
The front door opened and Draco rushed inside, Ron and Harry on his heels.
"What are you doing here? We're not supposed to meet up for another hour," I said. "It was in the itinerary."
"There's been a hiccup," Draco said.
"How big of a hiccup?" I asked, steeling myself for the bad news. I reminded myself that weddings never go according to plan so I should always prepare for some sort of disaster.
"A pretty significant one," Draco said. He sat down on the couch next me. "There was an incident at the venue. Everyone is safe and fine, but there were some underground Voldemort supporters about and they attacked the castle."
"Have they been rounded up?" I asked.
"Yes, yes, that's not the trouble," Draco said. "When I say they attacked the castle I mean they. . . They attacked the castle. It took pretty significant damage. It. . . We can't have the wedding there." I froze. I stared at him blankly. "Are you all right, Love?"
". . . There's no venue?" I asked. Draco nodded. "Our wedding is tomorrow and there's no venue? Never mind no venue, they were our caterer and our music and our flowers and chairs and linens. Draco—"
"Please calm down," he said.
"Calm down? Draco, this is not just a hiccup. This is our entire wedding," I said. "We're supposed to get married in less than 24 hours and you just told me that it's basically impossible. That everything we planned is absolutely gone." I was on my feet pacing the room. My heart was racing, I felt like I couldn't breathe.
"Let's get some air," Draco said, pulling me from the room and out into the back garden. He closed the door behind us. "Hannah, I need you to calm down."
"How can I calm down? It's ruined. It's all ruined," I said, my eye spilling over with tears. "What are we supposed to do?"
Draco sighed. "I suppose we'll have to postpone until-."
"Postpone less than 24 hours beforehand? Draco, we already lost a whole year because Voldemort and his stupid war. Now we're going to have to put it off even longer because of him from beyond the stupid grave?" I asked.
"It's not ideal, but what choice to we have?" he asked. I started to sob and Draco pulled me into his arm, I cried into his chest.
"Everything keeps going wrong," I sobbed. "What if it's a sign that we shouldn't do this?"
Draco scoffed. "You don't believe in signs, sweetheart. And neither do I."
"Then why does this keep happening?" I asked.
"Because people are assholes," Draco said. "But we can't let them win."
I lifted my head from his chest and wiped the tears from my eyes and nodded. "You're right. We'll just have to adjust. What's a few more months when you have forever. We can wait until they get the property fixed up or find somewhere else and-."
"Or, we say screw it and go get married," Draco said. "You, me, Mira, we'll grab Hermione and Blaise to be our witnesses, head down to the ministry and get hitched."
"You'd really do that?" I asked.
"I would do anything to be with you forever," Draco said. "Screw the cake, screw the guests, screw the pomp and circumstance, let's just go and elope and worry about the rest later."
It sounded so easy, so nice, to just have it be over and done with. But I shook my head.
"Mrs. Weasley would literally murder me. And so would your mother by the way," I said. There was an alternative, one that had been suggested in the very beginning that I was opposed to on principle, but my hand had been forced. "But, and this is the last thing I want to do, you do have rich parents who live in a castle on a huge property who wanted us to get married there in the first place."
Draco put his hands on my shoulders. "You realize what this means?"
I nodded. "I'm going to have to endure your mother saying 'I don't understand why you didn't have it here to begin with' when it all ends up coming together."
"Are you sure you can handle that?" he asked.
"I can handle anything if it means being with you forever," I said. He kissed me and took hold of my hand. "I'm sorry for the crazy person I'm about to turn into."
"I expect nothing less from you," he said.
I took a deep breath and pulled him inside. Kassia and Blaise had arrived now.
"So what's your plan?" Hermione asked.
"There will be a wedding. And there will be a wedding tomorrow," I said.
"What do we need to do?" Hermione asked.
"Harry, I need you to go to the Burrow, round up every Weasley who doesn't have a baby in their arms to write owls to everyone on my guest list and inform them that the venue is being changed to Malfoy Manor. Same date, same time, venue change only," I said. "Ron, you are in charge of tending to Mira. Hermione and Blaise you'll come with us to Malfoy Manor to handle literally anything I ask of you. Kassia, round up the rest of the wedding party and come to the manor. I have tasks for all of you, but you'll need to coordinate with each other."
"How did you come up with a plan in the span of thirty seconds?" Draco asked.
"Why are you asking questions and not disapparating to tell your parents the plan? Draco, we have less than a day to plan an entire wedding and you're dillydallying," I said.
"Of course, sorry," Draco said. He kissed and then apparated away.
I was about to go, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked over at Harry.
"One more second of dillydallying for me to tell you good luck," Harry said. I gave him a smile and nodded. "Also, I have the world's worst handwriting."
"I know," I said. "Address the one's for Draco's family. He'll thank you if they don't show up. I was looking forward to making a scene, but he won't want the trouble."
Harry pulled me into a hug and squeezed me tightly. "Today it really feels like I've known you all my life and not just for eight years."
"That's because you went into instant big brother mode the moment we met and you haven't turned it off," I said. "Which is interesting because we're only a few minutes apart."
"All the same," he said. He patted the top of my head. "Go plan your wedding."
