1So, basically, you can all thank my cousin, for updating...lol. She gets on my case and is basically the only reason I'm updating, cause I just lose track of things. Lol, love ya, Kahla!

Chapter 19: A Secret Wedding

Hermione woke up feeling very satisfied, but couldn't quite remember why. The sun was shining on her face, and she looked around her.

'Am I...where I think I am? Oh...my...God...I'm in a Gryffindor tower! Oh...wait.'

Suddenly, all her memories came back to her in a rush. She was sent to kill Arthur Weasley. But when she found him, she couldn't. She...she and Draco decided to start a secret life. Together, and without Voldemort...her father. And then they found Gryffindor..and...

And here Hermione blushed. Suddenly, the sheets next to her started stirring, and from out of them came Draco Malfoy.

'How ironic...a Gryffindor and a Slytherin, making love in a Gryffindor tower. I guess he'd be seen as a-'

"Traitor." Draco had cut her off here. But he pulled her closer. "And the funny thing is," he whispered into her ear, "I don't give a damn."

"Morning to you, too, sunshine." Hermione giggled.

Draco's face broke into a smile, and he suddenly looked angelic.

"Good morning. So I guess this is where our new lives start...in a bed." He changed his smile to be devilish. "I can definitely live with that."

He pulled the covers off of them abruptly, and then started to tickle Hermione. She shrieked, and started chucking pillows at him, but he was not to be deterred. He just kept on tickling her and tickling her, and she kept backing up and away until, all of a sudden, she couldn't back away anymore. Her back was to a wall.

"Now I have you where I want you." Draco stated quietly. He stopped tickling her, and took the pillows from her hands. He dropped them to the floor, then grabbed her wrists. He put them over her head, holding them there with one hand.

With the other, he pulled her waist in to him. They stared into each others eyes, and a moment seemed to become a lifetime as chocolate defied the laws of physics and melted silver. Then he gently set his lips onto hers.

But Hermione didn't want to have anything to do with gentle. With one swift motion, she twisted her wrists so that they were free, and threw her arms around Draco's neck. She entangled his silky locks around her fingers, as he fell backwards from the weight of her falling onto him. She pulled away and looked into his eyes.

"You'll never have any idea how much I love you. And I know that we fight. Often. But that doesn't now and will never change the fact of how I feel for you." Her confession became quieter and quieter as she continued speaking.

"Ditto. Marry me?"

"Of course."

As he pulled her to him, a fierce battle of tongues ensued. But it was nowhere near as fierce as the cry of anger halfway across England.

-x-

Voldemort was in a rage, screaming and pointing his wand at random objects to destroy. It didn't matter if it was a book...a statue...a fireplace...or even a house elf. They all got ruined. Or you see, gentle as he could be with Hermione, Voldemort was still himself. And he had a nasty mean streak in him when he became upset.

He had had Lucius follow around his son and Voldemort's daughter to make sure that nothing went amiss. And he had just found out how terribly wrong he had been, trusting Hermione to leave with her boyfriend, and still expect her to return.

"Lying! Schemes! Leaving the dark side to a life of hiding? ABSURD! How does she ever think she will get away with this? When you find her next, Lucius...bring her to me."

Voldemort's eyes were glowing red, as they usually did when he became as angry as he was.

"My Lord, you do not wish me to harm her? Kill her?"

"No." Voldemort's eyes became two smoldering slits. "Bring her to me...I shall deal with her myself. She thinks she's so clever, escaping me this way. Does the foolish child not realize that Potter's parents did the exact same thing? They won't fool me with some silly little charm. I will find a way to get her Secret Keeper - it is Arthur Weasley, correct? - to tell me her location. And when I find her, I will not kill her. No." His eyes closed even farther. "I will kill Draco."

Lucius gasped. "My son? My Lord, you cannot punish my family simply because the daughter YOU chose to keep is an insufferable--"

"An insufferable WHAT, Lucius? That the daughter I chose to raise above all others, the girl I chose to take into my family, the girl I CHOSE to take under my wing, Hermione, is an insufferable...brat? Or were you thinking worse? Of course you were, I'm a Leglimens. Lucius, killing your son would punish her in a way we never could...she loves the boy, Lucius. LOVE. And taking away her loved one would punish her internally for all eternity."

"But...My Lord...my son..."

"Will die for the cause. Hermione knows everything that goes on here. And who do you follow, anyway, Lucius? Me, or your...heart?" He said this last word as though it were poison. Lucius bowed his head.

"You, My Lord...of course."

And without further word to the man to whom he had just promised his son's life, he turned from the room and left. He couldn't let Voldemort see his tears.

-x-

Draco and Hermione were standing before an unknown minister, in a private area of the Forbidden Forest. For, here, they could hide from anybody trying to track them down magically. (A/N I'm not sure if it can do that...but pretend it can.)

They were wearing the clothes they had arrived at Hogwarts' grounds in, nothing special. But it would always be special to them, for this was their wedding day.

Hermione held a bouquet of wild flowers she had picked from the forest, not quite knowing whether or not they were dangerous. Not quite caring, either, for today she married the man of her dreams, the light of her life.

She couldn't be happier.

And as for Draco, well, he felt quite the same. He looked at his beautiful young bride the whole time the minister was talking. The smile couldn't leave his face, and he couldn't be more thrilled.

"And now, Draco Lucius Malfoy, you may kiss the bride."

A grin spread across his face.

"With pleasure." And without further ado, he dipped Hermione backwards, taking her into a breath-taking kiss.

Arthur Weasley, who was witness to the event, and gave the bride away, was crying. Happy little tears streamed down his face, and he was smiling as only a real father figure could.

They had no clue of Voldemort's plan for them.