Chapter 8: The Wedding Blues

Hermione was looking over final details with Narcissa as Draco appeared. The hundreds of thousands shutter clicks and flashes of cameras were driving Hermione up the wall with annoyance. She knew they were expected, but hell... did they have to take so many pictures? Five or six each was plenty, right? Hell no. They had just settled down and stopped taking her picture and then that ass of a fiance, if you could even call him a fiance, had to show up and disturb the peace that was starting to come down. It made it all one hundred times worse when he put his arm around her waist lovingly and kissed her temple.

"How are the plans coming, darling?" Hermione gave him a sideways look out of the corner of her eye. She didn't appreciate the doting nicknames, regardless of how "in love" they were to the public.

"Just peachy, Drakie." Hermione slid as much venom as she could into the name, and it didn't go unnoticed. She prided herself in the displeased look that crossed his face. There was only one girl in his life that ever called him Drakie and he wanted to hex her into the last century for it every time. "Though, shnookums... have we made sure that extra security will be out front to keep out a certain ex of mine?"

He was beginning to grip her waist tightly in a way that actually hurt her a little. "I'll go make sure of that, Pookie. Don't worry. Everything will go perfectly today." He placed a "sweet" kiss to her lips but what the crowd couldn't see was the way he bit her lip harshly. As he drew back, he growled in a low tone, "Don't you ever use petnames with me again." He very much appeared to be whispering sweet nothings to her, but she knew better. The poison that dripped from his voice was her caffeine. She was going to make his honeymoon a living hell.

Draco walked away promptly to make sure security was tight and everything was set. The rehearsal was going to start soon and he wanted it to go smoothely.

"Granger! Where's your parents? Your dad has to be here to hand you off." Draco walked into her changing room unannounced and the six girls stared at him with fury. "What?"

"Draco, can't you see that we are getting dressed?" The Maid of Honor stood up.

"Only you five need to be changing clothes. Granger needs to stay in her pre-wedding dress for rehearsal."

"But we still have make up and hair and nails to do. And she's your fiance, surely you can be a little more civil with her. Her name is Hermione, and soon she'll be a Malfoy."

"Dear Sweet Merlin, how long are you birds going to spend. I want this over with." He chose to ignore Ginny's rant.

"Who knows. Now get out. Some of us happen to be wanting to change and a male being in the room is just unnerving." One of the four bride's maids, Luna, stepped in.

"It looks like she's quite comfortable with my presence." Draco pointed to Lavender Brown, another Bride's Maid, who happened to be in nothing but a pair of pink panties. Lavender turned back and gave him her best fuck you look before continuing. "Besides, I've seen enough naked women in my life to not be surprised. It's not like I'd rape any of you."

"What, we not as pretty as your wife to be?" Lavender said sarcastically. It was no secret she was jealous for Hermione getting to marry Draco. Truth be told she had always had a thing for him and really wanted to sleep with him back in the day, but Draco never once looked her way despite her many attempts.

"You're not smart enough, Brown. Case closed. I didn't fuck you then, you won't get it now. If anything, Hermione marrying me is doing me the biggest favor ever. She may not be the most gorgeous girl on the planet, but she is smart and will stimulate the brain cells for me. She's keeping horny hoes like you off me." He smirked as Lavender pulled her dress up over her bra-less boobs and had Padma zip her up. Patil was busy doing everone's make up.

"I appreciate the... half-assed, compliments, Draco; but, you don't need to talk to my friends with such rude words. We'll be out shortly. My parents will arrive by portkey in..."Hermione checked her watch before continuing, "three minutes and forty-six seconds." Draco hopped up and walked out to greet the Grangers without another word.

"Hermione, I can't believe you're marrying him." Ginny gave a pout when Hermione smiled.

"He's not this bad one on one. He's just nervous." Hermione felt bad lieing, but she had to seem like they were in love; and she didn't want her friends to worry too much about her marrying their worst enemy.

"I wish we could see in him what you do... that would make things a lot easier on us." Luna laughed at Ginny's comment before piping up, "You don't want to see things the way she does... or do you want to fuck Draco just as bad as the rest of us?" Ginny and Hermione's jaws practically hit the floor. It was no secret about Lavender, but Luna and the twins too? There was a shocker.

"Oh come on. He may be an ass.."

"But Draco has one sweet body!" The twins said in unison, giggling and blushing as they pictured him with his quidditch-toned abs.

The time flew by until they left for the rehearsal and lunch. The rehearsal was only for participants. The guests would be arriving later to witness the ceremony.

When Hermione finally got to eat lunch, she wasn't hungry. Her stomach was a jumble of nerves and butterflies, bile and acid. She didn't know whether she was feeling nauseous from getting married, or if it was who she was marrying; but her discomfort was obvious and Draco poked her under the table, placing a napkin with writing on it. He promptly excused himself to use the restroom and prepare for the ceremony. A few moments later, Hermione followed suit.

"Draco?" Hermione called out quietly as she entered the dim, empty room. It seemed to just be an old room that was now used for storage. The dust was thick and heavy and was making the atmosphere rather creepy on her already tossed around nerves.

"Over here, Granger." Hermione rolled her eyes as she followed his voice around a large stack of something covered by sheets. Where they were was blocked and not viewable from the door, perfect for them to talk quietly without being disturbed.

"Stop calling me Granger." She said as she rounded the corner, nearly bumping straight into him.

"We'll see. Look, what's got you bothered?"

"You... you really have to ask that? I thought it was obvious."

"You don't want to get married? Yeah that's obvious, but you have to and you know it so why would that destroy your nerves?"

"I don't know. I feel like something is going to go badly for me. And I really don't want to kiss you in front of all those people." Draco's eyes got wide. He'd forgotten about the kiss. Taking notice, Hermione turned on him. "And what? Did you magically forget about that? It's not like its a problem for you. You're used to lieing to people. You're used to acting. You do a damn good job of pretending to care about me to the public."

"Well, its good to know that you notice my hard work to keep from barfing. Glad you can hold your disgust back too!" His retort was angry, his last sentence sarcastic and hateful.

"Just because I'm not used to lieing to the world doesn't give you a right to say I'm not trying. I have to marry into a family that hates my blood. None of you bothered to get to know me. You didn't give a fuck about who I was. Because of what I am you and your family wanted me dead. And now I have to marry this. I have to go into the beasts' den and just wait to get killed. How the hell do I know that I won't just get locked in a dungeon somewhere?"

"Lucius has already said no to me doing that." Draco replied flatly, deflating Hermione's argument and stopping her in her tracks.

"You seriously thought about locking me up?"

"Yes, and disowning the kid we're required to have. But Lucius said that I had to treat you with respect. I won't lie to you. I really hate the idea of marrying you. Lucius does too. We tried to buy me out of this, and I tried to get you to introduce me to some special friends; but you failed to deliver. Here's your prize. Don't be disappointed though. I came out on the short end of the stick here."

"Oh? And how do you figure that crappy logic?"

"Easy. I'm every witch's dream man. I'm young, toned, handsome, suave, rich, proper, well mannered. I've spent my whole life living in this world. I've been rated London's Top Prized Bachelor every month since I was sixteen. Witches everywhere want to marry me. Do you know how much hate mail is delivered to my house everyday? By the way, its all addressed to you. Do you know how much of a hit my reputation is taking with this? I'm trying to save our dignity by pretending we're in love because that's the only thing keeping everyone supporting us. If they knew it was a sham... I hate to think of the consequences. You'd be murdered by my adoring fans and many lovers" He left off there. He had a funny way of making it sound like that entire egotistical spill was all for her in the end.

"Lovers? Weren't you engaged to Astoria?"

"I was. But do you honestly think a rich proper girl would want me for me? She was in tears for losing her ticket to easyville. She lost the Malfoy name and fortune. She didn't give a damn about me."

"Yet you wanted to marry someone like her and treating the girls with a brain, like myself, as if they were mud under your shoe. All of that for an image? You're sick. You're twisted."

"I'm normal. This isn't reality anymore, Hermione. We're in the upperclass. Everyone up here is fake. You need to get used to this now. I had affairs with girls who got to like me for my body, not my name."

"That's nothing to be proud of."

"Maybe to someone who doesn't understand this world. But trust me, it's much better."

She almost felt bad for him. Marrying into girls he knew he wouldn't love, girls he knew didn't love him and never would. It was depressing to her. Her parents had only ever wanted one thing for her. They wanted her to be happy. Here she was, not happy and all; and Draco was miserable. But the funny thing was, he was handling this whole situation with a lot more grace than she was. God, I'm acting like a totally spoiled brat.

Hermione changed into her wedding dress, it was the traditional white princess dress, with a strapless bodice and layers and layers of frilly poof. To be honest, she couldn't have dreamt of a better dress.

Her father met her at the back of the aisle and took her arm. "Are you sure you want to go through with this, doll? It's not to late" Oh yes it is.

"Yes, Daddy. Draco and his family will take wonderful care of me. His mother and I get along so well."

"What about the dad?"

"We... don't see eye to eye... but don't worry!" She wanted to ease his mind quickly before the march started. "Draco and his mom will take wonderful care of me. I'm sure, in time, Mr. Malfoy will come around, too." Pssh, as if.

Before her dad could reply, the march started and everyone turned to watch Hermione and her father walk down the aisle.

As Hermione had predicted, her side of the church was nearly empty and Draco's was standing room only. Is this what happens when rich people marry outside of wealth? Apparently. Cameras were flashing like mad and a lot of gasps and whispers could be heard when Hermione stepped into view. The women on both sides were crying, though Hermione had a feeling that Draco's side was morning the loss of a great catch. She, as terrible as this sounded, felt somewhat smug. She caught Draco Malfoy. Sure, it was bcause the law forced them together. But he couldn't leave her. They would have somewhat of a family together. He couldn't cheat on her. She ultimately felt safe. She would never be loved, but she could never be really hurt, could she?

She didn't have time to finish all her thoughts. Before she knew it, she stood in front of a very nervous looking Draco. His best man, Blaise Zabini, and his groom's men, crabbe, goyle, and marcus flint, all stood behind him. She handed her bouquet of white lilies to Ginny and her father, rather reluctantly, placed her hand in Draco's. She tried her best to smile at Draco, but she failed miserably and her tears started to well up. Of course it would be now that her tears would try to come up. Draco took her other hand in what appeared to be a comforting motion and they both turned to look at the Minister. There were ministry officials present to assure that the union was legal and official and the Minister didn't seem to have any issues with them watching the service.

When it came time for the vows, Draco squeazed her hand harshly. How long had she not been paying attention to the man? When did her wedding band get on her finger? Better one yet, when did she put Draco's on his finger?

"Do you, Draco Lucius Malfoy, take Hermione Jean Granger to be your lawfully bound wife? Under penalty of exhile, do you solemnly swear to remain faithful, honest, and caring towards your wife until death do you part?"

"I do." His voice was unfaultering and his face was unmoving. He was emotionless and broken. Hermione's heart went out to the boy. She hated him yes. But here was this man who did everything in his power to please those above him. He was the ultimate door mat. Always doing the work, and always the one who would suffer in the end. Hermione thought back to the days when he raped her. She was suddenly feeling very remorseful. She had yelled at him and blamed him for all these years. Man, I'm a bitch.

"I do." Her voice came on its own. She had no time to think, no time to contemplate her life with him. All she had was that moment. She knew she would spend the rest of their lives trying to make him happy. She would probably never love him, but after all he'd suffered, all that he'd endured, she wanted him to at least be happy.

She never heard the consent for the kiss, she never heard the crowd burst out into joyful clapping and tears. She couldn't see all the flashes of the cameras as the reporters went mad for pictures.

All she knew at that moment was that Draco Malfoy had the softest lips and the sweetest kiss that she had ever experienced, not that Krum and Ron were much to brag on. She certainly was glad that when Draco stepped forward to kiss her, he wrapped his arm around her waist; otherwise she'd be kissing the floor by now.

A/N ::

OMG Another chapter written. This one... while I was writing it... I just started feeling so bad for Draco. I wanted to focus a bit more on him, and his feelings. Well, Hermione's take on his feelings. We pretty much know he'll do anything to kiss up to those above him.

SOOOO! Who wants to see Hermione's gorgeous dress? I really want a dress like this when I get married *drools* (which, hopefully, won't be many years from now ^_~ I'm going on 4 years with my boyfriend and as soon as I graduate college, do some traveling, and get my career settled, we're getting married! ... that's a lot to do before then LOL Oh well... here's hoping!)

Hermione's wedding dress::

http:/ www . wedding-wedding . cn / wedding / pics / 2009 / 10 / Wedding _ Dress _ Rose _ . jpg

Remove all the spaces, ne?