Disclaimer: No I do not own the Harry Potter characters. The only things that are mine are the plot and the things that you don't recognize from the books. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling
Title: At the Beat of a HammerChapter Seven
The week rushed by Hermione quickly, but not unnoticed. Every day she saw her friends cuddling on the couches near the fireplace, obviously in love. Every day she watched them, mourning the loss of something she never had and now will never have. She would never be able to do that now, not once in her lifetime, now that she was engaged to Malfoy. She always had the option to do what Malfoy was doing and enjoy her last free moments with a random Gryffindor but she couldn't bring herself to cheat on her fiancé, even if he was Malfoy. With a sigh she turned her attention back to her friends who were in the middle of a conversation she was supposed to pay attention to.
"…haven't had a decent meal in days! Or at least not at any times I'm supposed to. I swear that if we didn't know how to get to the kitchens I'd have lost a few pounds by now. Just thinking about that ferret and his pureblooded whore makes me want to hurl." Ron's face showed disgust, and even turned a peculiar shade of green.
"Yeah, that was pretty bad." Ginny made an imput to the conversation before turning back to kiss her boyfriend.
Harry frowned but didn't have time to remark because Ron started talking heatedly about his missed food again.
"Pretty bad! Blimey it was bloody terrifying. I'm going to have nightmares."
"Yes, I agree with you Ron." Hermione smiled at him. She already was having nightmares about Malfoy, whether it did or didn't have anything to do with Pansy.
"At least someone agrees with me." Ron smiled back and offered her some of the candy he was eating. "Chocolate frog?"
"No thank you. Even though I really want to take it, I'm watching what I eat because my dress for the ball won't be making any allowances." She smiled again. Inside she was hoping that the girls will snatch this topic up and continue talking about the ball. Hermione didn't want to talk about her fiancé or anything related to him.
Her plan worked like a charm when Parvatti exclaimed, "So you went to buy the dress? What does it look like?"
"Yeah, yesterday Harry went to the Quidditch shop and I went into the dress store. You'll see it at the ball."
"Oh come on 'Mione! Why won't you tell us?" Lavender joined the conversation. The girl sat there, wrapped in Ron's arms, with a big smile on her face. These kinds of conversations, about clothes and makeup and other things related, where her favorite.
"It's a surprise." Hermione shrugged. She really didn't want to talk at the moment, she would much rather listen to her friends' conversation so that she could get distracted from that one thing that has been on her mind all week.
The girls continued to talk about dresses and other ball-related things. Around midnight they all tiptoed up to bed, falling asleep quickly, tired from the week's events.
Morning found Hermione curled up under the blanket, her head buried in her pillow. Dawn was a few minutes away when she heard someone calling her name and poking her gently with something.
"Miss Granger, wake up."
After a few more pokes her eyes fluttered open and she saw Professor McGonnagal standing over her. The head of Gryffindor house came to wake her up? What was so important? Hermione sat up in bed, pulling the covers closer around herself to keep warm.
"What's wrong Professor?" She whispered, obviously worried.
"Nothing is wrong, Miss Granger. But you do have an appointment with your future mother-in-law in a few minutes and I don't think it would be right if you were late."
Hermione gasped. She had completely forgotten that Narcissa Malfoy would be paying her a visit today. She jumped out of bed and ran for the chest that held her clothers.
"Get dressed and come down to the common room as quickly as possible. I would advise to not to keep Mrs. Malfoy waiting, ever." With those words, McGonnagal left the dormitory and left Hermione to get dressed.
Within five minutes, Hermione was rushing out of her the girls dorm in her Hogwarts uniform. Her hair was brushed, even though it didn't look like it, and bounced up and down as she ran down the stairs. The common room was deserted so she didn't need to explain to anyone her rushing off to somewhere with Professor McGonnagal at the break of dawn.
A few minutes and many hallways later, they were in front of a room that Hermione didn't recognize. The door was a massive slab of oak. The girl was almost afraid to go inside.
"Alohamora." The Transfiguration professor opened the door and walked through. Hermione's jaw dropped at what she saw. The room looked out of place in the middle of dusty classrooms at Hogwarts. One wall was completely covered by a mahogany book shelf, which was filled with enough books to make the girl gasp. The rug that stretched was traditional with a trace of maroon here and there that picked up on the color of the wood. There was also a large leather couch and a few matching chairs surrounding a coffee table. A chandelier and a fireplace finished off the room.
It looked so extravagant that Hermione thought it was some trick of illusion, maybe it was a spell to make her see something that wasn't there. She blinked, hoping that this room would be replaces by a dark classroom. Then she'd know what to do because standing in this room, she was almost afraid to sit down.
"This is the meeting room. Whenever visitors come to Hogwarts and they have to talk to someone they use this room for that purpose. The minister of magic often talks to Professor Dumbledore here instead of the Headmaster's office. This is where you will meet Mrs. Malfoy whenever she requests." Professor McGonnagal turned around and headed for the door. "I trust you can make yourself comfortable on the couch Miss Granger."
And just like that, Hermione was left all alone in the foreign room. However, she wasn't alone for long. Ten seconds later she heard a loud sound and a green fire blazed from the fireplace. The Gryffindor froze in place as Narcissa Malfoy stepped into the room.
She was wearing a lavender silk robe with pears around her wrists and neck. In every way, she looked very expensive and perfect. Her hair was elegantly pulled over and back and adorned with a pearl pin. She would have been beautiful if the strong disgust didn't show on her face. It was as if she was sniffing fresh dung.
Hermione thought that her disgusted expression couldn't get any worse but she was wrong, as soon as her future mother-in-law saw her it got about twice as bad. Hermione stood still as the adult witch looked over her critically.
"So you're the Mudblood who my son has to marry?" Her voice was flat and held just as much disgust as her face did. She sneered and pointed to the couch. "Sit."
Hermione didn't like being addressed as if she was a dog, but she was too scared of the woman to not comply. Who wouldn't be afraid of You-Know-Who's right hand man's wife? Coming to that conclusion, the Gryffindor stiffly walked over to the couch and sat down. She sat very still with her eyes lower to her hands on her lap.
"Now, here are a few things you need to know before we begin. For one, you should be very glad that I value Draco's life more than anything otherwise you'd already be dead. You listen to what I tell you and you follow the rules, because you don't ever want to find out what the concequences will be if you don't. I hate you and Draco hates you. We're only tolerating you because if the two of you don't get married then he will be worse then dead. Do you understand that Mudblood? You're not going to expect any special treatment just because you're the Mudblood that they chose to marry my Draco. You're on the lowest step on the social ladder so never talk back to me. Actually, don't talk unless you are asked." Narcissa finished her speech off with a sneer.
All throughout this time, Hermione stared at her hands. Her eyes were watering and it took a lot of concentration to ensure that she didn't let the tears fall. She had a feeling that that won't be tolerated.
"Now, when you are addressing me you can call me Narcissa. I'll only have to refer to you by your actual name in public. What is your name, Mudblood?"
Hermione remained silent.
"I asked you a question Mudblood."
"Hermione." She answered quietly. It was harder to fight back the tears now, but she had to do it. She couldn't appear weak. You can cry later, she told herself and raised her head higher to look at Narcissa. "When is the wedding going to be?"
"Anxious aren't we?" Narcissa smirked and sat herself down gracefully onto the seat across from Hermione.
To get this over with, Hermione answered the question in her head but didn't voice any of it out loud.
"Very well, we might as well get down to business. I don't have all day to waste on you. Of course, Draco's wedding has to be perfect, but I'd rather not have to deal with you. I would do just that, but Dumbledore and the court seem to think that you deserve a say in the subject matter."
Hermione just nodded, and waited for any further details to her wedding.
"Here's what has been set already. The wedding will be on January twenty-second. It will be held at the Malfoy Mannor. There won't be a reception. There won't be a honeymoon. Those things aren't needed. You can, right now, choose three things that you will have a say on for the wedding and that's all. Other things will be handled by me."
The girl just sat there for a moment, evaluating her options. She took a deep breath and announced her decision. "I want to be able to choose my bridesmaids and my maid of honor. I would also like it if I was able to choose my own dress. I would also want Malfoy to wear a suit. Not a tuxedo, not a robe, but a suit."
"Fine. But everything else is my decision. Do you agree to that?"
"Yes."
"Very well." Narcissa continued her questions. She had things to do, and in truth she needed a shower after spending so much time in the same room as a Mudblood. "Now, who would be your maid of honor and your brides maids?"
"Maid of Honor will be Ginny Weasley, the bri.." Hermione was interrupted to Narcissa's outraged exclamation.
"You can't expect me to have a Weasley in the wedding? I doubt she'd be able to pay for the dress anyways."
"She's coming and if I have to I'll buy the dress for her." The sentence came out of Hermione's mouth with a slight growl evident in her voice. Now that shock and most of the fright wore away she was actually able to get angry. "The bridesmaids are Lavender Brown and Parvatti Patil."
Narcissa sighed, she did say that the girl could choose the people who would fill those positions. She couldn't go back on her word, that kind of publicity wasn't good for a Malfoy. "Very well. This is all we really need to discuss today. I will help Draco choose his suit sometime closer to the wedding. Next week I will come by to get the measurements for the wedding dress and you can tell the people what you would want in the dress then. Think of it this week, Draco's bride has to look perfect."
With those words she got up and quickly walked to the fireplace. Before she used to the flue powder to get back to the Malfoy Mannor she mumbled something about taking a nice long bath and getting rid of these soiled robes. "Stupid, dirty, contagious Mudbloods." With those words she was gone in a burst of green.
Hermione walked out of the room, the information that she just got stuffed into her brain left her shaken.
AN: I really wanted to add something about 'stirred' at the end but it sounded too corny. Here's a faster update and a much longer chapter. It's not that good, I don't think. But I still don't have a beta reader. Xx
Thank you : TomFeltonsDancer, HGDM lova, Gothhottie, and BlueEyedDolly
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