Chapter 5
Oh…HOLY SKINNER!
Hermione took me into her room fifteen minutes later, my old dorm mates following me.
"I called them." Hermione explained as Pansy Parkinson tossed a deep purple dress at me.
"If we're going to make Malfoy really sorry," Monique Clearwater said, pulling her blonde hair into a ponytail. "we're going to have to make you look the prettiest you've ever been."
I was pushed into Hermione's desk chair and swivelled around, Monique, Amelia Finch and Lexi McMaster working on my hair as Rose Yaxley worked on my makeup.
"Malfoy's going to realize that his joke was the stupidest thing he's ever done." Rose said as Hermione laid the dress out, grabbing a set of high heels to match it.
Monique pulled my hair up into a low bun, pinning it into place as Rose put pale pink lip gloss on, nodding to Hermione as I stood up.
Hermione settled the dress onto me, zipping it up as I put my heels on before inspecting myself.
The dress was a very dark purple with a tulle skirt made from three layers, each one longer than the last. The spaghetti straps hugged my shoulders as I slipped the heels on, standing.
"Well, be brutal." I said, turning around. "How do I look?"
"Fabulous." Pansy said.
"Absolutely stunning." Monique said with a bright smile.
"Malfoy is going to be very sorry." Rose said with a grin as if she knew something I didn't.
I creased my eyebrows together. "Do you know something I don't?" I asked.
Rose shook her head. "Oh, no." She said brightly. "Just saying he'll be sorry." Rose grinned.
"You got it." I said. "Hermione, you're a miracle worker." I said, admiring my hair.
Hermione nodded, smiling and I stood. "Any last minute advice?" I asked.
"Keep your head held high." Pansy said, clapping me over the back.
"Always look down on him." Monique said.
"Don't pass out." Rose said with the grin back on her face. "Crying's ok, but don't pass out, whatever you do."
Hermione looked to her, eyebrows creased. "What does that have to do with anything?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing." Rose said with a grin before giving me a push. "Go on, now. Don't be scared."
I took a deep breath, taking a step out of Hermione's room and into the common room.
Jason took one look at me and gaped. "Lucy Griffith?" he asked, standing up.
"Yes, my name's Lucy Griffith." I said sarcastically.
"Wow, Hannah?" Jason said, gaping some more. "You look like you could be headlining in Atlantic City."
"Thank you." I said with a blush.
"What's the occasion?" Jason asked.
"Draco wants to talk." I said with a scoff. "Proposing to my best friend, he's probably going to ditch me." I said.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Jason said. "Hey, if you ever need a shoulder to cry on, you can always come to me." Jason said with a smile.
"Thanks." I said with a smile as Ernie came down, brushing his teeth in his boxers.
When he saw me dressed the way I was, out came his toothbrush and toothpaste and drool fell down his chin and onto his bare chest.
"Hannah!?" Ernie gaped, choking on toothpaste. "Holy fuck, you look as if you should be starring in Phantom of the Opera!"
I blushed. "Thank you, MacMillan." I said with a blush, putting a hand on my hip as Harry's door opened.
"HANNAH!?" Harry shouted with Hannah Abbott. "Holy hell, you look…look…uh…?"
"I think the word you're looking for, Harry, is hot." James said with a grin.
"Hey, that is my sister!" Harry shouted at James. "You look like you should be singing chorus with the Symphony Orchestra!"
I blushed. "Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me…I have a date and I don't wish to be delayed." I said, sweeping out of the dorm and wrapping my Invisibility Cloak around myself making to sneak into the Entrance Hall.
The minute I was out of the dorm, though, there was a flurry of rose petals leading to the Entrance Hall with a note.
I picked it up and looked down at it, cocking an eyebrow.
Follow the petals.
"Uh…ok." I said, shrugging and following the petals down to the Entrance Hall.
As I went, the castle ghosts were whispering to themselves, staring at where I was.
I swallowed when I got to the Entrance Hall, taking my cloak off and opening the door, stashing my Cloak into my purse as I suddenly saw illumination in the sky.
White tapered candles were floating skyward, illuminating the rose scattered pathway into the Forest.
I took a deep breath and took a step onto the grounds, holding my head up high as I moved to the edge of the forest.
I licked my lips, swallowing as I took a step into the Forest.
The minute I was in, I heard voices.
"I can't do it! I can't do this, Alexander!" Draco hissed.
"Malfoy, Malfoy!" Sheila was hissing. "Relax, you'll be fine."
"She's fucking furious at me!" Draco hissed.
"Just talk to her." Sheila said. "She'll understand."
"How the fuck am I going to get it out?" Draco asked.
"Malfoy, Malfoy!" Sheila said. "She loves you. You'll be fine!" she said. "Do you have it?"
"No, I just set all this up and left it at my Manor!" Draco said. "Yes, I have the god damned thing!"
I was able to see the two of them now and I felt Fireball hop onto my shoulder, eyes alight.
"Hi, buddy." I whispered, petting him.
Fireball looked at me with tear filled eyes. Something told me there was something he wanted to tell me.
"If only you could talk, my friend." I said, kissing his little cheek before he flew onto Sheila's shoulder.
"What is it?" Sheila asked as Fireball made signs with his claws. "She's coming!?"
"Shit!" Draco hissed, pacing again. "Get out of here! Go! HIDE!"
"Ok, ok." Sheila said. "Jeez, someone's a testy ferret."
"A testy ferret who's going to kick your fucking ass if you don't get the fuck into the bushes in two seconds!" Draco hissed.
"Ok, ok, Skinner, Fanelli and Faksa! Oh, great, now Hannah's got me doing it!" Sheila said, grabbing her violin case and coming to meet me.
"I'd wait a minute, he's having a prima donna moment." Sheila whispered.
"I am not, Alexander!" Draco hissed.
"Are so!" Sheila hissed.
Draco took a deep breath. "Ok, ok, I'm fine." Draco said.
Sheila nodded, giving me a shove.
"Hey! Watch the hair!" I hissed.
Sheila grinned. "Just get the fuck out there." she said.
I nodded, stepping into the clearing and crossing my arms. "Ok, I'm here, what do you want?" I asked.
"To talk." Draco said.
"What's there to talk about?" I asked. "You fucking proposed to my best friend!" I growled. "In a place that anyone could have seen you, too. Not very bright." I said.
"Hannah, I can explain." Draco said.
I scoffed "Oh, I'd love to hear this. Unless you don't like the thought of my brother and best friend pounding your face in, it'd better be a damn good explanation. It took everything I had to keep you safe today, I don't think I can hold them back much longer."
"Alexander wasn't the one I was proposing to!" Draco said defensively.
"Oh, really, then why the Skinner did you say 'Sheila Alexander, will you marry me?'" I asked, crossing my arms. "Was there an invisible Sheila Alexander next to her?"
"Hannah!" Draco said. "Will you please just listen to what I have to say for five minutes?"
I sighed. "Alright. I'll give you five minutes to convince me why I shouldn't turn around and go back to my dorm."
Draco sighed, licking his lips before beginning, nodding to someone in the background.
As quickly as he turned back to me, Sheila had gotten out her violin and started playing.
And then it clicked.
Oh, my Skinner. I thought. This can't be…maybe…
"I'm not perfect, I'm pretty sure this afternoon proved it. Despite how many times I've tried to prove it otherwise, I'm not. I'm about as far from perfect as anyone could be."
"You think?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Draco rolled his eyes and continued. "Look back at our first years of Hogwarts. I wish I could have changed it. Change how I treated your brother and your friends. I wish I could take everything I said back. And that I kissed you sooner." Draco smirked.
I rolled my eyes and risked a grin. Even I had to admit that I wanted him to kiss me when we were eleven.
"I won't deny that I had other girlfriends. Some with a better temper. Others that were taller."
I shot him a dirty look.
"But none of them were as fair of face. And the ones with the better tempers weren't as fun as you with your fiery personality.
You may be short, but you've filled quite a few tall orders in your time. I don't need to tell you that."
I smirked.
"There was no other girl for me that I had ever encountered…at least until I met you.
You saved my life. It was because of you that I didn't succumb to the fate my father had in store for me with the Dark Lord.
Thanks to you I stood up to my father and didn't become a Death Eater. Who knows where I'd be if it wasn't for you. Probably in Azkaban or being watched by the Ministry. You're the reason that I didn't turn out like my father.
Fuck Alexander, it's you I want to hold for the rest of my life." Draco said, brushing my cheek. "I want to be the one to give you the life that you've never had and always deserved. I want to be the one to wipe your tears and treat you like the princess you are. I want to make you forget the life you knew before, show you the world. Give to you at least a fraction of what you've done for me and the world. No, not just by being Harley Quinn and bumping off the Dark Lord. Harley Quinn was the beacon for the world, the one sliver of visible hope. Hannah Potter was the one to change me for the better. The private hope that I could actually be saved."
I wanted to speak, but I was stunned into silence. At the moment, he was making an excellent case for himself as to why I shouldn't punch him in the Malfoy family jewels.
"You're everything to me…and…and I can't imagine a world without you." Draco said, taking my left hand.
I gasped. This WAS what I had thought. HOLY SKINNER! THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING!
"I don't want Alexander." Draco said, digging around in his pocket. "I want…no, need you."
My eyes widened when he held up a black box.
"I've fallen for every one of your little quirks. Like every time you eat a gummy bear or worm you eat the head first to keep it from suffering and burst into tears when someone eats it tail first, the way you play with your ponytail or suck on a Sugar Quill whenever you're bored. The way you bite your lip when you're flattered or nervous. When your nose twitches when you lie and scrunches up when you concentrate really hard on Necromancy. Oddly enough, when you babble about saving me during your dream of saving Jeff Skinner from cookie stealing pirates with a brainwashed Batman and Robin. And the way you bury into my chest and sob, needing me to comfort you every time you have your nightmare about the Hippogriffs making you their Queen and forcing you to do the ceremonial coronation tap dance while singing the Badger Song, which frankly, I don't get.
"You say we've been through so much in this clearing, and I agree, from first kiss to rendezvouses." Draco said with a smirk. "But there's still one thing that has to be done." he added.
I gasped, clapping my free hand over my mouth, eyes welled with tears as Draco opened the box.
Inside the box was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen in my entire life. Even more so than any of Aunt Petunia's jewellery.
It was silver with an emerald embedded band and large diamond solitaire surrounded with smaller diamonds.
"I love you. Only you." Draco said. "You're the only one I want to be with." he told me, wiping my eyes and getting on one knee.
I gasped again, eyes welling with tears. This was really happening!
"Hannah Lillian Isabella Marie Potter, will you do me the absolute honour of marrying me?"
Ok, NOW you can start crying! I thought as I started crying. How could I have jumped to conclusions like that!?
I got on my knees, throwing myself into Draco's arms and bursting into tears.
I should have known! He wasn't proposing to Sheila! He was practicing to propose to me!
"Yes!" I sobbed into his shoulder when I could think straight from the shock of what had just happened. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes." I whispered as Draco wrapped his arms around me, tilting my head up to kiss me, sealing the deal.
I cupped his face, drawing him closer as he cradled my neck gently, tracing my scar. He pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms around me again.
We sat there in blissed out silence for a few moments before I realized that there was one thing missing from this otherwise perfect moment.
"Draco?" I whispered against him.
"Hmm?" Draco said, mindlessly playing with a lock of my hair.
"Are you going to put that ring on me or am I going to have to do it myself?" I asked with a tearful smile.
"Hmm? Oh, right." Draco said, grabbing the ring from the box and taking my hand, sliding the ring gently over my finger.
How he had known my size, I never guessed, but it fit perfectly.
Draco wrapped his arms around me, rocking me gently.
"Get out of here." Draco whispered, a rustling in the bushes reaching my ears soon after, the violin music stopping, showing that Sheila had gone.
She seemed to have cleared up, because the petals were long gone.
But I hadn't noticed. I was too content, listening to Draco's heart beating, staring down at my engagement ring, which was winking at me in the moonlight.
I smiled, sighing contently when a warm blanket was wrapped around me, causing me to turn in Draco's arms, placing my ear over his chest as I thought.
Hannah Malfoy. That had a nice ring to it.
But then again, so did the thought of waking up every morning to Draco next to me.
"Are we going to tell your father?" I asked.
"No, fuck no. He'll just try to stop us." Draco whispered, playing with my hair. "But I don't care if we have to elope in America, so long as you're with me."
I smiled, feeling my thoughts start to drift in the tell tale sign I was ready for bed. I rubbed my eyes and made to stand up, only to have Draco grip my arms and pull me back down again.
"Oh, no, you don't." Draco whispered, pulling me back down. "I said I was going to take care of you and damn it, I'm going to fulfill that."
I smiled as I was lifted up, bridal style and carried back to the castle, cuddling into Draco's chest, starting to fall asleep.
I was getting married. The war was over, I could get my life back, and I was getting married! Now the world made sense again. Man was I ever dumb!
Ah, well, at least I had planning my wedding to look forward to.
Draco had laid me in my bed as Hellion hopped up next to me, curling into my side as I curled up into Alejandro, what had just happened ringing through my head still even after I had fallen asleep.
The first thing the next morning, I owed Sheila an apology…and a lot of thanks.
