Only plot is mine!

When Mare woke up the next morning, the first thing she did was look out the window over her bed. Outside, the sky was gray and it was drizzling and hailing slightly. She sighed. Great, she thought, it's my wedding day and it's raining. What a wonderful combination. She put a robe on over her pajamas so she could go out to the common room and hopefully see a smiling face. The girls' dormitory was deserted, so she left alone and sat in the big chair in front of the fireplace to ponder her life, which was slowly crumbling before her eyes. In the middle of her musings, however, she heard a step on the stairs coming from the boys' dormitories. She looked up and saw Ash on the top step just looking at her in a way that he'd never looked at her before; a mix of pain, longing, and regret, and it made her want to hold him.

Once he saw that she was looking, he descended the staircase and walked over and sat in a chair opposite her. At first, all he did was stare into the unlit grate of the fireplace, but eventually, he made himself turn around to face her. Then, he spoke.

"I just wanted to tell you good luck today, you know, before everything happens and you become a claimed woman and everything." It came out fast and he turned away from her before giving her a chance to reply.

She looked at his back, then stood up, walked over to him, and took his hand. "Ash, look at me." She waited to continue speaking until he finally did look at her. "You know how I feel about the whole ownership of women by men thing, but I just want you to know that even before this crazy mission and engagement, I was a claimed woman. I was engaged by fate. To you, all right? You were the first sane guy to really see me. I know that I can go up to you and say 'will you come outside and stargaze with me,' and you won't look at me like I have some sort of problem and suggest we go to mouse races or football games instead. I admit that sometimes you drive me crazy, but that's to be expected. We have more in common then we seem to realize, and I love you.Don't go around thinking that a bogus engagement and marriage will change that. In fact, it might be in shambles from the beginning. Are you coming, by the way?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't think I will."

She grinned at him. "You might want to. Hermione's going to be there, and something really interesting that would require you to save my butt might happen." She winked, and left him alone in the common room feeling stunned.


When she got down to breakfast, she found Harry, Ron, and Hermione already at the table. Hermione was clutching a large bouquet of pink and white roses. Mare barely glanced at them as she sat down and shoveled some eggs on to her plate.

"So, Hermione," she said, indicating the roses, "are those from Draco? Did he get them for you?"

Hermione put them down on the table and shoved them toward her. "No, they're for you. They're from Draco's parents."

"Really? How sweet." Mare picked up the roses and made a catch for the thin slip of white paper that was serving as the card. She missed however, and Harry, with his Quidditch reflexes, caught it instead, then opened it up and read it out loud for the four of them to hear.

Dearest Marie,

We wanted to welcome you into the family and give you best wishes with your marriage to Draco. He could not have picked a better witch to marry. The whole family is coming to the wedding, and we can't wait to meet your parents and see you at Malfoy Manor after the honeymoon.

Love and best wishes,

Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy (Mum and Dad)

After Harry finished reading, he had to stuff toast in his mouth to keep from laughing. Ron was not so successful. He snorted, inhaling orange juice up his nose and spraying it so Hermione's schoolbook pages were soaked.

"Ron, Harry, for God's sake grow up!" Hermione remonstrated, drying her book pages with her wand, then stowing it in her book bag. Then, she looked over at Mare and saw the look on her face.

"Mare, what's the matter?" she asked.

Mary-Lynnette was staring at the card as if it had sprouted a mouth and started talking to her. "They want to meet my parents. How can they do that? And what will they think when they find out I'm not a real witch after all?"

Harry laughed before Hermione could speak. "If this is a bogus marriage, why do you care so much? Besides, Lucius and Narcissa could be dead by the end of the day."

Mare looked at him and nodded. "I hope you're right. And I hope I can last that long."


The white dress was incredibly tight, and Mary-Lynnette couldn't breathe. But she had seen herself in the mirror once, and she looked good. Besides that, Hermione had just come into her dressing room and told her that Ash had shown up.

She managed to breathe a tiny sigh of relief. Good, she thought, that means I get to live. She walked over to the door and opened it, watching the people milling about before the wedding began. She could see Draco's parents, as well as some of his other relatives that she hadn't met yet. Just as she was about to duck back into the room, Narcissa spotted her looking out and bounded over to her, grabbing her hand and yanking her out of the dressing room, bringing her face to face with the unknown relatives.

"See Bella, this is the girl Draco's going to be marrying in a few minutes," Narcissa gushed. "Didn't I tell you she was gorgeous?" Since Narcissa wasn't speaking to her, Mary-Lynnette looked around some more, and was surprised to see Blaise Zambini, a Slytherin housemate of Draco's who was known for being very particular about the girls he dated, leering at her. Pansy Parkinson was beside him scowling at her out of red-rimmed eyes.

"Marie," all of a sudden, Mare was snapped out of her shocked reverie by Narcissa's voice. "Marie, this is my sister Bellatrix and her husband Rudolphus." Mare managed to smile and shake both their hands. After that, Narcissa let her go, and she went back to her dressing room to continue her people-watching. Draco came out of his own room a few minutes later looking almost too handsome in a set of dark-green dress robes. Blaise hit him on the shoulder whispered something to him that caused Draco to grin as they both turned their eyes toward her hiding place.

Finally, Harry came to knock on her door. "Mare, it's time," he said so only she could hear. She got up from the chaise and walked to the door, opening it to reveal Harry holding out his arm so he could escort her and give her away.

She took it calmly, and they walked to the doors leading into the church sanctuary. Then, they waited. Finally, it was time for her to show her face, and when she and Harry entered, the room filled with gasps of awe. Draco looked stunned, and when she looked at the rows to the side, Ash's mouth was almost to the floor.

Then, she got to the front of the room and she and Harry parted. After that, the priest said the wedding vows, and all was well until he got to the part about 'speak now, or forever hold your peace.' He never finished that line. Halfway through, the far wall of the church suddenly was blasted to pieces. Then, a tall red-eyed man stepped through the wreckage. Mare expected people to scream, but since most of the people were death-eaters, no one did. They merely stood up and pulled out their wands. Harry had his out as well, and the other members of the Order were quickly following suit. Mare could do nothing but stand there and try to stay alive. The fighting began and the fire raged. At one point, Mare was hit by a spell, nothing too bad. She tried to run, but the smoke made it difficult to see. Then, she tripped over a small piece of rubble and fell to the ground. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, and she could feel something wet and sticky running down the front of her. She felt the exposed area of skin above her neckline and gasped. She was bleeding, and badly. And she had to breathe some good air soon. Barely a minute later, strong hands grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up, dragging her out the ruined wall and into the dark night. The last thing she remembered before she passed out was herself trying to get back and help Harry, and Ash, her rescuer, saying "there's nothing you can do for them now."


The next time she awoke, she was on her living room couch in Briar Creek with the girls, Mark, Ash and Ash's parents standing over her.

"Are you all right, Mary-Lynnette?" Rowan asked, looking worried and gently taking her hand.

She nodded. "Fine, I think. It will be awhile before I go to Europe again, though."

Everyone laughed. Then, the phone rang. Ash got up to answer it.

"How long have I been unconscious?" she asked Jade.

"About three weeks," Jade answered. "We were beginning to wonder if you'd ever wake up."

Then, Ash came back to the living room, grinning. He held out the phone to Mare. "It's for you," he told her. "It's Hermione."

Mare quickly grabbed the phone away from him.

"Hello?"

"Mare, is that you? Are you all right?"

"Yes, Hermione, I'm fine. What happened?"

"Well, I have some good news and some bad news."

Mare's heart sank.

"What's the good news?"

"We won! The Order managed to finish Voldemort off!"

"And what's the bad news?"

"Your in-laws are dead. But, if they weren't, they'd be my in-laws now. Draco proposed to me!"

Mary-Lynnette smiled. "Good for you, Hermione. I hope you and Draco will be really happy."

"We will. But I wouldn't mind doing a boyfriend swap once I convert Draco to a hunter and Ash changes you."

Mary-Lynnette smiled to herself. "In your dreams, Hermione."

Then, she put the phone down to look at Ash who had been motioning to her.

"Hermione, would you hold for a moment?" Then, she got up and took the phone with her as she and Ash went out on the porch to talk. By the time she came back, she had a question to ask Hermione.

"Hermione, would you mind having you and Draco's first outing as an engaged couple be to Ash's and my wedding?"

She heard Hermione gasp. "But I thought you guys were already married!"

"Hermione, I would hardly call a five-minute ceremony at a drive-through chapel a wedding."

"Well, Mare, in that case, we'll be there!" then, they said goodbye, and Mare went outside and she and Ash looked at the stars and each other until the sun came up.

The End