The Wedding Planner
Chapter Five
Albus Dumbledore swept regally through the dimly lit halls of Hogwarts, muttering to himself. Students moved out of the way of his imposing figure, some commenting (after he was out of earshot of course) about his resemblance to a certain Potions master due to the scowl that he wore. Two first year Hufflepuff students actually fainted and had to be taken to the infirmary for a healthy dose of chocolate. This regal sweeping was the subject of much speculation by the student body who witnessed said sweeping, for all agreed that they had heretofore thought that Professor Snape held the exclusive rights to that particular walk.
Then again, Professor Dumbledore had never before encountered Ms. Gwendolyn Lockhart, Wedding Planner Extraordinaire. It wasn't the first time that Albus Dumbledore had been tempted to hex his wayward Professor, however it was the first time that he had felt this strongly about wanting to cast said hex.
The muttering was precisely this, which hex to cast and when. Followed by whether or not to submit one Miss Hermione Granger to the same. After all, it was she that had manipulated the entire situation, albeit with the help of his favorite teacher.
They would pay. Oh how they would pay for the prior three hours of his time.
He had been sincerely honored that Hermione Granger, the smartest witch at Hogwarts would want him as her surrogate father and he hadn't really minded that fact that he would have to pay for the wedding that she was for all intents and purposes forced to agree to. He had even relented to her heartfelt pleas in regards to the hiring of a wedding planner. After all, she had taken his busy schedule into consideration, or so he thought. He had assumed, his first mistake he admitted to himself, that this wedding planner would be a bored wife of a wealthy wizard.
But noooo.
He was stuck with, although not for very long if he could help it, the sister of his former Defense Against The Dark Arts Professor. The one Professor that he had regretted hiring. The worst mistake he had ever made as Headmaster.
When Minerva found out about all of this she would laugh for weeks, perhaps years.
"Bugger!" he shouted. Another Hufflepuff, this time a sixth year had the misfortune to be in the vicinity of his expletive. She promptly fainted. "Double Bugger!" he muttered.
Word of Albus' rant soon reached the ears of the newly betrothed and their best man and it was decided that a quick confab would be in order. Severus was near the point of panic, for he had never heard of his boss causing a Hufflepuff to swoon.
"That's my frickin job!" he muttered as he un-warded the door to his private chambers.
"What?" Hermione questioned.
"Nothing," he replied as he ushered his students into the sitting room. "Albus is on a rampage, Miss Granger. What is your solution to this little problem?"
Hermione was for once in her life completely gobsmacked.
This wasn't due to the fact that the man who could ruin her school career was currently scaring the student body, but rather because his chambers were, she decided rather plain.
Standard area rug, comfortable couch the obligatory book shelves ('Nothing to rival the Restricted Section?' she gasped mentally) and a fireplace. Where were the whips and chains? Where were the devices of torture? Where were the legendary tomes containing dark spells and potions recipes?
"Miss Granger!" Snape yelled, drawing her attention back to the reason she was being allowed into his inner sanctum in the first place.
"Sorry Severus!" she exclaimed with a shake of her head. "We were going to confab about Professor Dumbledore?"
"Yes," he answered. Indicating a black chair made of rich Corinthian Leather. It wasn't the most comfortable looking chair in the room. Draco had snagged the overstuffed club chair covered in a cheerful chintz and was looking rather smug about it.
With an exasperated sigh, she plopped herself into the offered seat and said, "Well, Uncle Albus is-"
"Uncle Albus!" Draco interrupted with a hoot of laughter.
"Yes Draco," she answered with a grin. "I think it's appropriate, don't you? After all he is acting as my father now, and paying for this wedding."
"Speaking of which," Snape said as he tried to conceal a grin. "We have a meeting with Ms. Lockhart tomorrow morning. We need to decide a few things."
Hermione thought for a moment and then chuckled, "Well every good Muggle wedding has a color scheme. I have decided on Ecru and Ivory."
"Forgive me, but aren't Ecru and Ivory the same colors?" Draco asked before he could stop himself.
"No, they are two totally different colors," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "It is also, customary for the bride to have attendants besides her Maid of Honor."
"Go on, Hermione," Snape encouraged in a smooth tone.
"Well, Draco is your best man, so I shall have to have Ginny as my Maid of Honor. I was also thinking that perhaps I could ask some of the girls to act as maids. This means that you, Severus, need to have an equal number of groomsmen. Then it is also customary to have a big party after the ceremony. Food and drink are served, and of course there must be dancing so a band of some sort would be in order. I have some ideas along the lines of who should entertain."
"Fine then, but what about Professor Dumbledore?" Draco asked. "He is storming around the castle causing Hufflepuffs to faint. Not that I care about that of course. I am more concerned about my neck. What are we going to do about that?"
Hermione smiled a truly beatific smile.
Draco gulped. He had been unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of one of those smiles before and it had taken him nearly a week to recover from the creative hex that followed said smile.
Severus turned an even paler shade of pale as he regarded her countenance.
"Leave Uncle Albus to me," she murmured. "So let's head to dinner. Perhaps the situation will handle it's self."
The Great Hall was a bustle of activity as the students found and settled into their seats for supper. The talk of the hall, was of course, Professor Dumbledore's unusual behavior. Those who had not had the good fortune to witness the prior acts, were quickly relieved of their disbelief, as their venerated Headmaster swept into the Hall and took his seat at the Head Table.
No one, they agreed amongst themselves, had ever seen him looking quite so stern. They had all seen the pictures of him, during the Final Battle, in the Daily Prophet. Even in the heat of battle, his face had been almost calm.
"He was muttering something about Snape," Seamus whispered to Ron.
This bit of news elicited a smile from the redhead. "Maybe he's going to fire Snape!" he whispered back excitedly.
"Speaking of Snape," Neville whispered turning his head to the main doors of the hall.
It was as if a 'Silencio' had been cast over the room. All whispered conversation came to a sudden halt as Professor Snape strode into the room, followed closely by Hermione and Draco.
With a scowl, the Man in Black made his way forward in between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables, as was his custom. His glances back and forth at the students sitting there, dared anyone to say anything. For once, the brave lions of were silent, and the badgers cowered visibly.
Hermione and Draco both noted the barely concealed anger on the face of the Headmaster.
"Worse then I thought,' Draco whispered. "If you have something planned Granger, now would be the right time to get to it!"
Hermione ran forward, at a jog, reaching Snape as he neared the Head Table. Grabbing his hand from behind, she pulled him backwards toward her. Spinning him around, she ignored the startled look on his face and said in a voice loud enough to carry through out the room,
"Severus darling, may I sit with you?" Then standing on tip toe, she pressed a kiss to his lips, "Please?"
The sound of a Hufflepuff body, hitting the floor in a faint shattered the silence.
Chapter Five
Albus Dumbledore swept regally through the dimly lit halls of Hogwarts, muttering to himself. Students moved out of the way of his imposing figure, some commenting (after he was out of earshot of course) about his resemblance to a certain Potions master due to the scowl that he wore. Two first year Hufflepuff students actually fainted and had to be taken to the infirmary for a healthy dose of chocolate. This regal sweeping was the subject of much speculation by the student body who witnessed said sweeping, for all agreed that they had heretofore thought that Professor Snape held the exclusive rights to that particular walk.
Then again, Professor Dumbledore had never before encountered Ms. Gwendolyn Lockhart, Wedding Planner Extraordinaire. It wasn't the first time that Albus Dumbledore had been tempted to hex his wayward Professor, however it was the first time that he had felt this strongly about wanting to cast said hex.
The muttering was precisely this, which hex to cast and when. Followed by whether or not to submit one Miss Hermione Granger to the same. After all, it was she that had manipulated the entire situation, albeit with the help of his favorite teacher.
They would pay. Oh how they would pay for the prior three hours of his time.
He had been sincerely honored that Hermione Granger, the smartest witch at Hogwarts would want him as her surrogate father and he hadn't really minded that fact that he would have to pay for the wedding that she was for all intents and purposes forced to agree to. He had even relented to her heartfelt pleas in regards to the hiring of a wedding planner. After all, she had taken his busy schedule into consideration, or so he thought. He had assumed, his first mistake he admitted to himself, that this wedding planner would be a bored wife of a wealthy wizard.
But noooo.
He was stuck with, although not for very long if he could help it, the sister of his former Defense Against The Dark Arts Professor. The one Professor that he had regretted hiring. The worst mistake he had ever made as Headmaster.
When Minerva found out about all of this she would laugh for weeks, perhaps years.
"Bugger!" he shouted. Another Hufflepuff, this time a sixth year had the misfortune to be in the vicinity of his expletive. She promptly fainted. "Double Bugger!" he muttered.
Word of Albus' rant soon reached the ears of the newly betrothed and their best man and it was decided that a quick confab would be in order. Severus was near the point of panic, for he had never heard of his boss causing a Hufflepuff to swoon.
"That's my frickin job!" he muttered as he un-warded the door to his private chambers.
"What?" Hermione questioned.
"Nothing," he replied as he ushered his students into the sitting room. "Albus is on a rampage, Miss Granger. What is your solution to this little problem?"
Hermione was for once in her life completely gobsmacked.
This wasn't due to the fact that the man who could ruin her school career was currently scaring the student body, but rather because his chambers were, she decided rather plain.
Standard area rug, comfortable couch the obligatory book shelves ('Nothing to rival the Restricted Section?' she gasped mentally) and a fireplace. Where were the whips and chains? Where were the devices of torture? Where were the legendary tomes containing dark spells and potions recipes?
"Miss Granger!" Snape yelled, drawing her attention back to the reason she was being allowed into his inner sanctum in the first place.
"Sorry Severus!" she exclaimed with a shake of her head. "We were going to confab about Professor Dumbledore?"
"Yes," he answered. Indicating a black chair made of rich Corinthian Leather. It wasn't the most comfortable looking chair in the room. Draco had snagged the overstuffed club chair covered in a cheerful chintz and was looking rather smug about it.
With an exasperated sigh, she plopped herself into the offered seat and said, "Well, Uncle Albus is-"
"Uncle Albus!" Draco interrupted with a hoot of laughter.
"Yes Draco," she answered with a grin. "I think it's appropriate, don't you? After all he is acting as my father now, and paying for this wedding."
"Speaking of which," Snape said as he tried to conceal a grin. "We have a meeting with Ms. Lockhart tomorrow morning. We need to decide a few things."
Hermione thought for a moment and then chuckled, "Well every good Muggle wedding has a color scheme. I have decided on Ecru and Ivory."
"Forgive me, but aren't Ecru and Ivory the same colors?" Draco asked before he could stop himself.
"No, they are two totally different colors," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "It is also, customary for the bride to have attendants besides her Maid of Honor."
"Go on, Hermione," Snape encouraged in a smooth tone.
"Well, Draco is your best man, so I shall have to have Ginny as my Maid of Honor. I was also thinking that perhaps I could ask some of the girls to act as maids. This means that you, Severus, need to have an equal number of groomsmen. Then it is also customary to have a big party after the ceremony. Food and drink are served, and of course there must be dancing so a band of some sort would be in order. I have some ideas along the lines of who should entertain."
"Fine then, but what about Professor Dumbledore?" Draco asked. "He is storming around the castle causing Hufflepuffs to faint. Not that I care about that of course. I am more concerned about my neck. What are we going to do about that?"
Hermione smiled a truly beatific smile.
Draco gulped. He had been unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of one of those smiles before and it had taken him nearly a week to recover from the creative hex that followed said smile.
Severus turned an even paler shade of pale as he regarded her countenance.
"Leave Uncle Albus to me," she murmured. "So let's head to dinner. Perhaps the situation will handle it's self."
The Great Hall was a bustle of activity as the students found and settled into their seats for supper. The talk of the hall, was of course, Professor Dumbledore's unusual behavior. Those who had not had the good fortune to witness the prior acts, were quickly relieved of their disbelief, as their venerated Headmaster swept into the Hall and took his seat at the Head Table.
No one, they agreed amongst themselves, had ever seen him looking quite so stern. They had all seen the pictures of him, during the Final Battle, in the Daily Prophet. Even in the heat of battle, his face had been almost calm.
"He was muttering something about Snape," Seamus whispered to Ron.
This bit of news elicited a smile from the redhead. "Maybe he's going to fire Snape!" he whispered back excitedly.
"Speaking of Snape," Neville whispered turning his head to the main doors of the hall.
It was as if a 'Silencio' had been cast over the room. All whispered conversation came to a sudden halt as Professor Snape strode into the room, followed closely by Hermione and Draco.
With a scowl, the Man in Black made his way forward in between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables, as was his custom. His glances back and forth at the students sitting there, dared anyone to say anything. For once, the brave lions of were silent, and the badgers cowered visibly.
Hermione and Draco both noted the barely concealed anger on the face of the Headmaster.
"Worse then I thought,' Draco whispered. "If you have something planned Granger, now would be the right time to get to it!"
Hermione ran forward, at a jog, reaching Snape as he neared the Head Table. Grabbing his hand from behind, she pulled him backwards toward her. Spinning him around, she ignored the startled look on his face and said in a voice loud enough to carry through out the room,
"Severus darling, may I sit with you?" Then standing on tip toe, she pressed a kiss to his lips, "Please?"
The sound of a Hufflepuff body, hitting the floor in a faint shattered the silence.