Prompt/Title: Steps
Character(s): Hermione Granger
Summary: The day that starts the rest of her life.
Rating: T
Word count: 690 according to wordcounter . net
Author's notes: Part of the 20 Prompts, 20 Drabbles challenge
Thank you to winterwood11 for the beta.
All drabbles are part of the same timeline but not in any particular order.
Disclaimer: If I owned the HP universe, this whole thing would be real. And I'd have a lot of money. Lots of it.

Thirty Steps

She watched him lean from one foot to the other. She would never admit it, but she was surprised to see him still standing there. She had really expected him not to be there. When she was speaking with Ron and Harry the night before, Ron had put the idea in her head that this was just the culmination of years worth of plotting, that she would end up embarrassed in front of one hundred guests, and the rest of the Wizarding world.

She really hoped Draco would hit him.

Never mind that Pansy had slapped him and told him to bugger off.

As she continued walking forward, she mused how she liked Pansy. Pansy was a great friend and Hermione was lucky to have her in her life; Especially when Ron was being an arse.

Hermione's thoughts on the matter intensified as she watched Pansy glare at Ron to stop fidgeting and ruining Hermione's special day. Yes, making Pansy a bridesmaid was a good decision.

Just another thing to thank Draco for.

Twenty Steps

She also had to thank Tracey, her other lovely Slytherin bridesmaid. She was just stepping into place on the dais. If it wasn't for her, Hermione would never have acted on the childhood crush she had on Draco. Even if her acting on it meant convincing Chuck to give everyone fake ecstasy pills and Adrian telling Draco all the symptoms of being high, herself pretending to be on Muggle drugs, blurting out random definitions leading to the two of them snogging... In front of everyone. She couldn't wait for the day that she told Draco about how Slytherin she had been.

Maybe she'd tell him tonight, right before they consummated this whole thing.

It would make for excellent sex.

Ten Steps

She walked closer as Luna stepped into her place. She could see his steel-grey eyes clearly as he smiled at her. She loved how that smile was meant just for her, bugger the rest of the room. She would spend the rest of her life looking into those eyes, without regretting this day even once.

Yes, he had made fun of her all those years ago, but he looked fit doing so. Plus, there was that whole "boys pull the hair of the girls they like" things. Draco made fun of her hair, so she took what she could get.

And in a way, she should probably thank Ron. He did mess things up that fateful day which allowed Hermione the opportunity to learn about Draco's crush on her. A crush she couldn't believe was true. Thankfully, Luna and Ginny convinced her to listen to Tracey and the lot of them began scheming.

She wanted to blame spending too much time with Draco for the Slytherin tactics she used, but she knew she couldn't. This was before then and would make him love her all the more.

Okay, she would prefer him not to punch Ron.

Five Steps

She continued to walk forward as Ginny, her final bridesmaid, took her place. She would never regret today. All her friends and family were here to witness her take the step into her future.

She would never regret this day, or any of the days leading up to this. Well, maybe when she crashed her father's car. She could live without that day.

Or maybe not. It had led to a wonderful evening at Hawksmoor, to late reservations, a wonderful steak dinner, and Draco telling her how much he loved her.

It was actually pretty wonderful.

But not as wonderful as right now.

One Step

She handed her bouquet to Ginny and gave a final smile to her parents who stood in the first row. She turned and looked at the beautiful, gorgeous man that she was going to spend the rest of her life with.

Hermione placed her hand into his, and gave him her brightest smile, the one that he didn't realise was meant only for him, when he squeezed her hand. And then, the two took that final step.

Her Future