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The next morning Draco followed through with his word and only strayed from her side when he went back to the manor to grab some clothes and quickly return back to her flat. As he was going back to work, Hermione decided to cancel the rest of her vacation and return to work with him. She dressed in her black pants, black cotton long sleeve shirt with matching boots "You look lovely Hermione. Are you ready to go?" She nodded and decided to forgo her usual cloak that she wore when working in the potion's lab. "Yes, I'm ready." Draco quickly kissed her forehead before grabbing her hand and apparating them both to the ministry. Once there Draco grabbed her hand to hold and the pair of them started walking towards the Auror office. "Oh wait, we need to go by my lab first. I need to grab my report about the mystery poison potion for the briefing today." Draco nodded and the two of them changed course for Hermione's potion lab, once she grabbed the report they went back towards the main Auror office, but Hermione stopped them just short of going in. "Oh by the way, I had a thought for the wedding I wanted to run by you. I was thinking of color scheme. I have it narrowed down to two options either: Midnight blue and pale yellow, or Midnight blue and coral. Which would you like?" Draco turned to look at her as he mulled over the two option's she had presented to him, finally several minutes later he gave her his reply "Midnight blue and pale yellow. I think that would be the best option." Hermione smiled and leaned up to kiss his check "That one was my favorite too. Thank you. I'll owl your mother after our meeting, I imagine she is eager to begin wedding planning." Draco smiled "Whatever makes you happy, now come on the meeting is starting."
The two of them walked into the already crowded room and took a seat towards the front, and Draco put his arm around her as the Minister walked in and began the meeting. "Ok ladies and gentlemen, We have had a rash of homicides. Auror Potter is here to talk through the peculiars of the case." Harry walked up in front of the crowd "So far we have found three bodies, two male and one female. The victims were heavily tortured before being force fed a poison. Potions Mistress Hermione will tell you more about that in a moment. According to our research the victims were either muggle born or half bloods. On the last body we found a note that read Death Eaters will rise again. We know that there were still Death Eaters on the run, but we never figured on anything like this happening. We need to re-double our efforts to round up the remaining Death Eaters and put them in Azkaban. Now Mistress Hermione will explain the potion that has been used at the crime scenes." Harry smiled at her as she walked up in front of the crowd. "Thank you Harry. The poison that is being used is one that I have never seen before, and it is quite deadly. I suspect that even a few drops coming in contact with your skin may be lethal or at the very least highly painful so be cautious at any future crime scenes. The ingredients we have been able to identify thus far are as follows: Angels Trumpet, Baneberry, splash of Boomslang, cowbang, essence of daisy root and dragon blood. There is also one ingredient that we have been unable to identify and.." "Unable to identify? Aren't you supposed to be the brightest witch of your generation?" someone yelled interrupting her speech. Hermione searched the crowd and found that Ron Weasley was the one who had interrupted her speech. Several of the other Auror's in attendance all looked shocked that her supposed friend would mock her like that. She narrowed her eyes at him as he smirked before continuing "Yes I am Auror Weasley. And unlike you who barely scrapped by with enough OWLS and NEWTS to become an Auror, I was offered this position because based on my scores I was overqualified." Hermione paused as the crowd snickered and Ron turned even redder than his hair, she could tell that he was furious. "Now if I may continue. The ingredients we have identified so far are poisonous in their own right, except lavender of course. But if you add these ingredients together, the resulting poison would be unusually strong. But the final ingredient is the one that is ultimately causing a very painful death. I am working closely with Master Snape to identify this compound and hope to have an answer for you shortly." Coming to the conclusion of her speech, the crowd began to disperse. Draco and Harry came running towards her; Draco reached her first and wrapped her in a hug while Harry was smiling "Great comeback on Weasley. He was made to look like the incompetent fool he was." Hermione laughed and then looked at Harry "He deserved it 'mione. I'm proud of you for holding your own. Just so you know Ron has been banned by the Minister from entering your lab, ever again under any circumstances. Now go back and get to work on identifying that unknown compound." Hermione nodded "I will Harry, thank you." Draco placed his hand on her back "Come I'll walk you to your lab." Hermione smiled and took his hand in hers again as they started walking again. "Will you owl your mother and see if she would join us for dinner at my flat tonight? We can all discuss the wedding." Draco nodded as he kissed the back of her hand "Of course, I'm sure she will be delighted. I have to get back to the Auror office, I'll come back later to pick you up." Hermione blushed as he kissed her hand, but stood and watched her fiancé walk away before sighing and walking into her lab.
A few hours later Hermione was close to a breakthrough on the mysterious poison. She was looking over her notes of the poison "The redness of the body could indicate a high temperature right before death. The muscles were still contracting, which is evident so the final ingredient in the poison was painful. Excruciating. But they didn't die immediately. The burns on their knees and elbows suggest they couldn't walk and crawl. Where have I heard of this before?" Hermione closed her eyes and searched for a memory when her eyes snapped open immediately when she remembered a half-forgotten memory "No there's no way. It can't be, it's to rare and so hard to get ahold of." She rose from her stool and went to her cabinet that was kept lock, it contained only the most dangerous potion ingredients. Retrieving a vial, Hermione went back to her desk and ran one final analysis and the results came back a perfect match "Basilisk venom. The final ingredient is Basilisk venom. Oh goodness. You mix all of these poisons together, three drops on the skin is enough to be lethal. You force a person to swallow it, they would be burning on the inside before death finally took them." Hermione started writing on a new report including all of the findings she had discovered in the last few hours. Including all the pictures from the crime scene and the bodies laying in the morgue. By the time she was finished three hours later, Hermione's report was nearly twenty pages long; her most detailed on since she had started working at the ministry.
Later that evening Hermione and Draco were setting up for dinner with Narcissa. A knock at the door and Draco's mother was suddenly in Hermione's flat. There was not a hair out of place on her head and she was dressed in a black and silver witches suit. As she stepped inside, she kissed her son's head and rushed to giver Hermione a hug. "Thank you for inviting me for dinner, I have missed the both of you." Hermione smiled and together the three of them sat and enjoyed the homemade pasta that had been prepared just shortly before Narcissa's arrival. Pleasant conversation filled the dinner table and shortly the meal was over. Hermione waved her wand and all the dirty dishes flew to the sink and began to wash themselves. "Thank you for coming. But I did have a question for you, Narcissa." Her future mother in law smiled as she sat down on the couch "Of course my dear, ask away." Hermione and Draco sat themselves down next to each other before Hermione continued "Well after the wedding Draco told me we would move into Malfoy Manor, as the next Lord and Lady Malfoy. But where will you and the current Lord Malfoy go?" Narcissa took a deep breath and grabbed Hermione's hand to pat it comfortingly "Don't worry. Me and Lucius will move to the new Malfoy Manor that was just constructed no more than a month ago. We will not be living together." Draco kissed Hermione's cheek "Don't worry. I know you are a little wary of Father right now, but you won't have to live with him. And don't worry he will grow on you." Hermione smiled at both her fiancé and future mother in law before Narcissa clapped her hands together "Well, we've got a wedding to plan! Have you two thought of anything you may want?" Draco nodded earnestly "Yes Mother, me and Hermione decided on Midnight blue and pale yellow almost the color of candlelight for the color scheme." Narcissa smiled even more widely if that was possible "Beautiful choices, it will give the wedding an elegant air. Now what of the wedding itself? Formal, casual, muggle, wizard?" Once again Draco looked at Hermione, wanting her input "I'd like it to be formal and wizarding, but not stuffy wizarding. Elegant and tastefully formal. Is that ok with you?" Hermione nodded "Yes that actually sounds perfect. And if its ok with the two of you, I would love to have the wedding in the back gardens of Malfoy Manor. It's so beautiful there, I fell in love with it the minute I saw it." Narcissa all but squealed as she threw her arms around her future daughter in law "Of course you can! It's a wonderful spot for a wedding." Draco squeezed Hermione's shoulder and held her a little tighter as he spoke "Well if it's in the rose garden then I think we have the flowers covered. Perhaps we could have steak and a vegetable medley for dinner, followed by wedding cake? Red velvet if at all possible, you know it's my favorite Mother." Hermione's eyes lit up at that "Red velvet is my favorite too!" Hermione and Draco stared into each others eyes for a few moments before returning their gaze to Narcissa "Now your groomsmen and bridesmaids?" Hermione went first "Ginny Weasley, Pansy Parkinson and Astoria Greengrass." Followed by Draco "Theo, Blaise and Harry." Narcissa's eyes softened at their choices "I'm sure they will be pleased to be involved. I think that's all I need for now. Hermione I will come by on Saturday to pick you up and we will go wedding dress shopping and a fitting. We only have three weeks left to plan, so much left to do." Hermione waved her wand and a small sketch appeared in her mother in laws hands "I've been giving thought to what I want my dress to look like. That is a rough design, I'd like the train to be a little longer and the veil lighter and maybe some diamonds in the design." Narcissa studied the design for a moment before she put it in her binder "I will contact the best wizarding designer, give her your idea and she will create a dress for you based on that. We will go see it together on Sunday." Hermione nodded in earnest "I'll bring along the key to my Gringotts vault to pay for it." Narcissa waved her hands "Nonsense, we will be paying for the wedding. It is our gift to the new Lord and Lady Malfoy." Hermione wanted to cry at Draco's mothers words "Thank you so much, it truly means the world to me." Narcissa stood and gathered her belongings as Draco and Hermione followed her to the door of the flat "I'll leave you two be for the evening, I'll see you both soon." As they opened the door to allow Narcissa to leave, everyone was shocked to see Lucius Malfoy standing there; holding his cane as per usual. "No need to look surprised, I've just come to escort my wife home. And I'd like a quick word with Miss. Granger." Draco moved to stand closer to his fiancé as Narcissa took her place beside her husband, as was fitting, but there was concern in her eyes; no one was quite sure what Lucius Malfoy was going to say. "Miss. Granger, I will not lie and say I am overly thrilled that my son has chosen to marry you and vice versa. I was raised in an age where a union like this would be unacceptable, but now we live in an age where times have change. But I can see that you make him very happy, happier than I have seen him in a very long time. So that means you two are going to be married and nothing is more important to me than family. While we may never be the best of friends, as part of my family I will protect and respect you. You have my word on that. As the soon to be Lady Malfoy, no one will ever harm you." Hermione stared open mouthed at her soon to be father in law "Thank you Lord Malfoy, honestly I do not know what to say. But I can promise I will accord the same respect to you." Lucius smiled ever so slightly, but Narcissa was openly beaming at her husband as she took her husbands arm. "Well I think we have accomplished quite a bit today. Hermione I will see you on Sunday." Blowing a kiss to the young couple, Lucius and Narcissa apparated away.
After shutting the door and taking a seat on the couch Hermione let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding "Your mother made that all seem rather easy. I was going crazy trying to plan the wedding while you were gone." Draco laughed as he walked to the window to look at the stars "Mother is something of a planner. She can make any event whatsoever happen and make it marvelous. I'm sure our wedding will be no different." Hermione sighed "I didn't expect that from your father. But I was surprised. I feel very welcome. He is right, we may not be best friends, but I feel like we can at least respect each other." Draco nodded as well "I never expected my father to even utter more than a few words to you. To see him willingly show up here and hold a civil conversation, it's rather shocking. There is hope for the future. But I do want to discuss something with you Hermione." Raising her eyebrow, she motioned for him to continue "My family life is similar to the life of an American celebrity. Even though there are no Kings and Queens in the wizarding world, we are sort of like Wizarding Royalty; as one of the oldest pureblood families left. Anytime we have to go into public for a party or appearance, we will have security accompanying us. Now of course we are allowed to defend ourselves, and I have no doubt to your abilities. But constant security measures are something you will have to get used too." Hermione nodded "I kinda figured. I won't pretend to be pleased by the fact that we will almost always have security around, but I understand why it is necessary." Draco crossed the room, took her hand and kissed it "You are an angel, honestly I don't know how I became so lucky. In a way thanks to the Marriage Law, I feel blessed." Hermione blushed and the two settled on the couch; talking until they fell asleep.
Sunday morning came bright and early and Narcissa was at Hermione's flat, waiting to take her shopping for the wedding dress. When Draco tried to follow them Narcissa stopped him, nearly body blocking him to prevent him from reaching the door "No son, this is for the girls. No men allowed, especially you." Draco's face furrowed as he held Hermione closer "But mother, I don't know if I should leave Hermione. With Weasley out there waiting to harass her…" Narcissa grabbed her son and future daughter in law "I will protect her son, you don't need to worry. I am quite an accomplished witch and if I remember so is Hermione here. We will be fine and we will be back in a few hours." Hermione looked nervous, but before leaving she turned to hug her fiancé "I'll be fine, I promise. But I adore you for wanting to protect me." Draco kissed her softly and returned her hug "I'll spend my life protecting you. Have fun, I'll be waiting for you." Draco watched as his mother and fiancé apparated away.
A moment later the two witches reappeared in the middle of Wizarding Paris, outside of a rather large dress shop. Hermione followed Narcissa in as they were greeted by a rather short witch "A madame Malfoy, welcome." Narcissa stooped so as to kiss the witch on both cheeks and stood smiling while pulling Hermione forward "Madame Louise, good to see you again. We are here to see my future daughter in laws wedding gown." She said motioning to Hermione. Madame Louise nodded enthusiastically as she used her wand to summon a garment bag from the corner of the store. With a flick of her wand the garment bag flew into dressing room 1 "Of course. Madame if you would please put this on, we will begin measurements." Hermione nodded and stepped into a dressing room and put her dress on, which was fairly easy considering the dress had a million buttons lining the back; the buttons seemed to do themselves. Stepping back out again, Hermione stared at herself in the mirror as Madame Louise started on the measurements and Narcissa stood observing with a smile on her face "There doesn't seem to be much alteration to be done." The Older witch mentioned. Madame Louise nodded as she poked and prodded with her wand "Of course not. The fabric has charms to automatically size to the witch who puts it on. Even the buttons are enchanted, to button on their own. It should fit like a second skin. Now I understand you want to add some jewels my dear?" She said addressing Hermione. Hermione nodded "Yes, I want the dress to sparkle when I move, but I don't want it to be over the top." Narcissa nodded in approval "How about a belt just under your bustline and then we can embue the dress with magic to make it sparkle?" The seamstress conjured a belt which automatically placed and sized itself just under the bride's bustline. Hermione nodded virgoursly and started to speak excitedly "Yes! And would it be possible to add a train? And a cathedral length veil?" Hermione stopped suddenly as she noticed the two women starring at her "I'm so sorry, I got carried away. Madame Louise please forget what I just said." She said quietly. Narcissa stepped up and grabbed Hermione's hands "No my dear, whatever you want you can have. I must insist. And its ok to be excited, this is your wedding after all. Now do you want the extended train and cathedral length veil?" Hermione nodded her head as a tear fell from her face "Yes please Narcissa. You don't know what this means to me." Narcissa kissed Hermione's check "Anything for you my dear." The rest of the dress fitting went smoothly with the alterations being put onto the dress perfectly. By the end of the appointment, the only thing that was left to do was embue the dress with magic to make it shimmer like a million diamonds. Madame Louise bowed them out of the shop a few hours later "The dress will be delivered the day before the wedding." Narcissa nodded "Please send it directly to Malfoy Manor."
Upon returning Hermione back to her flat Narcissa hugged her tightly, before Draco nearly came running to check and make sure his fiancé was ok. "Don't worry about a thing dear, I will make sure everything is perfect for your wedding day." The two women turned just in time to meet Draco coming into the living room, he wrapped Hermione in a tight hug and kissed her cheek "Did you have a good day with mother? Any problems?" Narcissa chuckled lightly while Hermione snuggled deeper into her fiancés arm "We had a wonderful day. And no, no problems. Funnily enough Ron was not hiding in a dress shop." At her comment everyone in the room burst into laughter, humor was a wonderful tool. "I know this isn't a laughing matter, I'm sorry." Narcissa moved further to the couple and hugged them both "Don't be sorry, sometimes you have to laugh." She blew them both a kiss and left the young couple to their own entertainment.