Hermione woke up with a feeling of trepidation. She was so comfortable in her warm bed that she couldn't understand why her stomach had decided that doing back-flips was a good way to start the day. Then it dawned on her: It was her wedding day. The past week had flown by in a complete blur. Hermione and Draco had taken the last week off work so that she and Narcissa could spend every day organising all the last minute details, while Draco busied himself with making sure the new master suites were completed in time and with the important task of the security at their wedding. Despite the extra time, Hermione just barely managed to get everything done. Their evenings had been just as busy. Draco and Hermione had visited her father again, this time with Julius and Narcissa, which had gone off smoothly much to everyone's relief. They had made an appearance at a popular Wizarding restaurant on Narcissa's insistence that they maintain their public profile, and had attended a small party thrown in their honour by the Magical Law Enforcement department at the Ministry. Despite this, Ginny had managed to whisk Hermione off to a girl's night with Fleur, Luna, Katie, Angelina, Hannah and (to Hermione's delight) Vanessa. Blaise had conveniently picked the same night to take Draco out with a few of their former Slytherin friends. To Hermione's amusement, Draco had been absolutely plastered when he returned. She grinned at the memory of him having an in-depth debate with himself about the various flavours of ice-cream, oblivious to the fact that Hermione was standing next to him, fixing him coffee. Apparently that was the least of embarrassing things that had taken place that night, but all the boys had been oddly tight lipped, afraid that if they brought up someone else's misadventure, their own would be dredged up too. Hermione shook her head. Boys.

She reluctantly threw her covers back as she made her way towards the bathroom to take a long bath. Narcissa's esteemed dressmaker was coming to the house at noon, which gave her about two hours to have a bath and breakfast. The battalion of Wizarding beauticians and hairdressers were due to arrive post lunch, and the guests were arriving at six. Hermione cringed inwardly at the thought, but let herself forget the upcoming annoyances of the day in the lavender scented bath. Thirty minutes later, Hermione had dressed herself in the first robes she laid her hands on and made her way downstairs to breakfast. To her surprise, only Narcissa and Julius were present there.

"Good morning, where's Draco?" asked Hermione, sitting down next to Julius and helping herself to eggs.

"It's bad luck to see the bride on her wedding day, so I sent him packing," said Narcissa unrepentantly, "He is probably at Blaise's, thinking of ways to send me to an early grave."

"I doubt that, he is completely devoted to you," said Hermione reassuringly, feeling slightly touched that Narcissa had sent Draco away over a superstition that it would bring their marriage better luck. She was rewarded by one of Narcissa's infrequent smiles.

"Are you nervous dear?" she asked Hermione, almost affectionately.

"Slightly," Hermione admitted, "But it'll pass I'm sure."

They finished their breakfast in silence as Julius read aloud from his book. He couldn't understand all the fuss that was taking place, but he supposed a party meant cake, which was always a good thing. Almost exactly at noon the Malfoys' dressmaker arrived, with a small convoy of seamstresses and assistants, much to Hermione's alarm. The dressmaker introduced himself as Gild Hockford, as he surveyed Hermione closely. He was the oddest man, who seemed to be in a constant state of indignation. He was only a couple of inches taller than Professor Flitwick, though had none of the teacher's good cheer.

Hermione and Narcissa followed him into one of the guest bedrooms, where they had decided that Hermione would be getting ready. Hermione watched with baited breath as Hockford unzipped her wedding dress from several protected casings. She had picked out the design from a book of sketches that he had sent her, and he had sent one of his assistants to take her measurements, so this was the first time Hermione would be seeing the dress she had picked –which her father had insisted paying for– properly made. Hockford, apparently, did not believe in trials and pre-wedding fittings. Hermione exhaled and felt a smile spread across her face as her dress was finally revealed. It was perfect. She had picked, with Narcissa's suggestions, a beautiful ivory coloured dress that was off the shoulder and tight until mid thigh, after which it flared out into a long beautiful train. The dress itself was made of glistening heavy-looking silk, and it had been embroidered with thousands of seed pearls and fiery white opals. The beautiful flowing skirt and train of the dress had hundreds of tiny diamonds set amidst the pearls and opals to make it shimmer subtly with every movement.

"And here is your veil," said Hockford, diverting Hermione's attention from her dress.

"That's almost as long as the train!" exclaimed Hermione in surprise at the ornate lace veil in front of her, "What if it gets caught on something and rips?"

"I assure you madam, all my handiwork have the strongest anti-rip charms known placed on them," said Hockford, crossing his arms looking surly.

"I have something that will go with the dress," interjected Narcissa quickly, "I wore it to my engagement party, but I thought it would be more to your taste than the tiara I wore to my wedding." She clapped her hands as a house-elf appeared, holding a thick wooden box. Narcissa stroked it with one elegant finger and it opened to reveal a beautiful circlet, set with fiery white opals.

"That's beautiful," said Hermione softly, touching the cool metal of the circlet. It looked almost like a large eternity ring; the intricate filigree work continued throughout the circlet. Narcissa was right, it was indeed more to her taste than a tiara would've been. It was sophisticatedly minimalistic.

"Goblin-made," said Narcissa as she showed Hockford, "I thought it would go with the dress. And it's a Black family antique."

Hockford nodded approvingly. He clearly had a lot of respect for the formidable woman.

Before Hermione knew it, lunch time had come and gone. To her great relief, her maid of honour, Ginny, had arrived at the Manor shortly after and had diverted Hermione's thoughts from nervous ones by speaking to her soothingly while Narcissa's beauticians attacked and polished every body part Hermione possessed, including some she didn't think anyone would ever bother to beautify. It was definitely calming to have Ginny around as the hairdressers tugged on Hermione's hair, all the while promising her that her hairstyle would last unscathed until she washed it with a special potion that they were leaving for her. At long last, Hermione was ready. She looked at herself as she stood in front of an engraved mirror. Her dress hugged her body, and showed off the inward curve of her waist and outward curve of her hips. Her hair had been arranged in perfect curls, and half of it had been piled up while the other half had been left down, with several tendrils curling around her face. The hairdressers had magicked several tiny opal flowers to sit amidst the loose curls, and Narcissa's circlet made her look almost regal. Hermione had been adamant that her makeup be just slightly heavier than normal, only enhancing her honey coloured eyes and pink cheeks. The long lace veil had been attached to the circlet, and it matched the long train in length as she had predicted. Hermione wore no jewellery except for small opal earrings and an ornate opal bangle.

"You look beautiful," said Ginny admiringly, smoothing her floor-long aquamarine dress.

"Thanks, I'm nervous as hell," admitted Hermione.

"Well, I've brought you a Firewhiskey," said a voice from the doorway. Hermione turned to find Harry and Ron standing in the doorway, Harry holding the promised glass of alcohol. She smiled and gave both boys a tight hug as she gratefully accepted the drink and downed it in a quick shot the way she had seen Draco do when he was anxious. She felt herself calm down as she surveyed the familiar faces and idly wondered how Draco's day was going. They were soon joined by Vanessa, who was one of Hermione's bridesmaids.

"Hermione, do you have something old, new, borrowed and blue?" asked Vanessa, as she fastened her earrings. Her dress was the same colour as Ginny's except it only fell to her knees.

"Well, I have plenty of things on that are new," said Hermione, "My jewellery is all old, the circlet is borrowed, but I don't think I have anything blue."

"Here," she said, holding out a small box, "I'll give you my wedding present a bit early then."

Hermione opened the box to find a beautiful silver anklet with a small sapphire flower-shaped clasp.

"It's beautiful Vanessa, thank you," said Hermione, touched, as she hugged her friend. There was a knock on the door and Narcissa walked in, looking stunning in an emerald green dress matched with fine diamond jewellery.

"You look perfect," she said, smiling at Hermione. Harry got up and shook Narcissa's hand, much to the older woman's surprise. Hermione could tell that she was touched. The next hour passed by quickly as they were joined by a teary Herman, her other bridesmaid Luna and Molly Weasley. Before Hermione knew it, it was time for the wedding ceremony to begin and the party made their way downstairs to the back gardens of the Manor. Everyone left to find their seats except for the bridesmaids, Ginny and Herman. Hermione couldn't remember being this nervous before. She felt as though she was about to take an exam that she was unprepared for. Herman gave her hand a sympathetic squeeze, as they heard the music start. Hermione was barely aware of when Vanessa and Luna had left, and all too soon Ginny gave Hermione a grin as she walked out, down the aisle. Hermione felt herself shudder before she forced a smile onto her face. It was time.

As Herman and Hermione walked outside, Hermione noticed the décor appreciatively. She had decided to go for a white and blue theme for her wedding. The gardens were perfectly manicured and lovely, and there were beautiful blue flower arrangements everywhere. Narcissa had truly outdone herself. At the end of the aisle, as planned, was a beautiful marble altar that had bright blue flowers curling around it. All the chairs were covered in white with a blue ribbon running through the back. It looked perfect. Hermione found herself smiling at all the familiar faces of her family and friends. The wedding was small- only about sixty people in total, as she had wanted. The heavy train of her dress was forcing her to take tiny steps, making the walk seem much longer than anticipated. Her eyes fell on her husband-to-be and all of a sudden she felt herself go red. He looked amazing, in silver robes that perfectly matched his eyes. He wore a long black cloak that beautifully complemented his robes. Hermione felt her stomach flip as she drew closer and closer towards him.

"She looks beautiful mate," whispered Blaise to Draco as they watched Hermione approach them. Draco felt himself nod at his best man, without taking his eyes off his bride. He wasn't sure if he had seen anyone look more beautiful than Hermione Granger did at that moment. And to think, she was going to be his wife in a few minutes time. Draco watched as Herman kissed his daughter on the cheek, and gave her hand to Draco, after giving him an affectionate pat on the back. Draco gently squeezed Hermione's hand, unable to take his eyes off her honey coloured ones. She looked back at him, emotions swirling in her beautiful eyes. He wasn't sure if it was wishful thinking, but he could see excitement and happiness along with nervous tension and anxiety. They turned to face the Minister as he started the ceremony. Hermione and Draco were both acutely aware of their proximity to each other. Hermione felt as though her hand was ablaze just from Draco's touch. He was glad to have the chance to look at her again as they dutifully repeated their wedding vows, all the while never breaking eye contact. Hermione felt a powerful stir of emotions as Draco slid an opal encrusted wedding ring through her finger, his hand slowly making semi-circles on the inside of her palm. Hermione almost shivered from the absence of Draco's touch as she broke the hold to get his wedding ring from Ginny's outstretched palm and placed it on his finger. She rested her fingernails on the small webs of skin between his fingers as she slowly slid the ring past his knuckle; her eyes never leaving his.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," said the Minister, "You may kiss the bride."

Draco felt an unknown excitement in the pit of his stomach as he leaned in, ready to give Hermione the best kiss of her life. He had never wanted to kiss someone as badly as he wanted to kiss her right then. After their almost-kiss the previous week, he had been waiting for this moment to arrive so that he could finally kiss her with the security that she wouldn't back away again. He almost groaned as his lips brushed against hers, already tasting their sweetness…

BOOM

Hermione and Draco felt themselves being thrown as an explosion occurred behind the altar. Draco quickly grabbed Hermione's hand as they flew through the air, though to their surprise instead of landing amidst the debris of their altar, they felt the familiar tug of a Portkey transporting them somewhere. They felt themselves land on uncomfortable rocky ground with a resounding thud. Hermione groaned and let go of Draco's hand as she tried to work out where she was. There was an overwhelmingly loud sound of running water coming from the right. Hermione gingerly propped herself up on her elbow and surveyed her surroundings. She heard Draco groan next to her as he stirred. Hermione saw a giant shoulder of rocks to her left, and craning her neck, realised that they were at the bottom of a cliff. Next to her, Draco sat up, rubbing his head slowly.

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking at him with concern.

"Never better, we're wandless and in an unknown place, I'm doing so well right now," he answered sarcastically, as he too looked around. There was a powerful current of water immediately to Draco's right. Hermione could feel the angry spray of water as it hit the rocks they were laying on. She stood up, forcefully dragging the train of her dress through the rocks to survey their surroundings. She heard Draco's footsteps as he joined her. As Hermione turned west to see the extent of the water body next to them, she gasped in horror.

"What? What's wrong?" asked Draco, instantly by her side.

"We're- we're on this tiny island of rocks, on the- on the top of a- a- waterfall," stammered Hermione in horror.

"Holy fuck."

Before either of them could say anything else, an angry wave of water hit the boulder they were standing on. To Hermione's horror, the boulder started to crumble away. Draco quickly pushed her onto the middle of the patch of rocks, but the current overtook him, and Hermione watched in shock as he was swept away with the crumbling remains of the boulder they had been standing on. Hermione felt as though time itself had slowed down, as she watched the blond head of her husband approach the edge of the waterfall. Hermione desperately wished she had a wand. Surely there had to be some way to save him? She had after all survived without magic for the first twelve years of her life. Thinking quickly Hermione frantically unpinned the circlet from her head, praying fervently that Hockford had not been exaggerating about the strength of the anti-rip charms on her veil, because she was about to put them to test.

"Malfoy, catch!" screamed Hermione, as she positioned herself as close to the edge of the water as she could, and threw him the free end of the veil, while holding on tightly to the circlet. She saw his head turn towards her before he was swept off the edge. Hermione felt as though she had stopped breathing, and was just about to break down in tears, when she felt a tug on the circlet. Draco had grabbed hold! Hermione clutched the circlet as tightly to her as she could, and tried to haul Draco back over the edge of the waterfall, against the current. She found herself thanking the Black ancestors for the goblin-made circlet, which was unlikely to break despite the current manhandling it was receiving. She almost cried with relief as she saw Draco clinging onto the veil determinedly, and she slowly pulled him towards the patch of rocks. She gave him her hand as he neared her, and used all her might to pull him back up towards safety. To her surprise, she had overestimated the amount of strength needed, and Draco managed to tumble her over as he landed on top of her.

Draco exhaled in relief as he felt himself back on solid land. Well back on soft curves at the very least. It was almost worth that harrowing ordeal just to get this close to heaven. Draco looked down at his wife, who was breathing rapidly in confusion at this sudden turn of events. The bodice of her white dress was slowly but surely turning translucent as the water from his robes seeped into her dress. Draco forced himself to avert his eyes. It was taking all his self control not to ravish her there and then. Even with his eyes averted, Draco could still picture the milky white tops of her breasts moving up and down as she breathed, unaware of how completely delectable she was. Fuck being good. I'm Draco fucking Malfoy.

Hermione was shocked as she felt Draco's mouth cover her own passionately. The kiss was slow and hot, as his tongue explored her mouth, tasting her. Hermione snaked her arms around his neck as she returned the kiss with a fervour she didn't know she possessed. She felt him thrust his hands roughly in her hair as he moaned and kissed her fiercely. Hermione was unsure of how long they laid there kissing, whilst feeling the spray of water splatter their entwined bodies. It was as though she couldn't get enough of him. The moonlight made everything feel surreal and Hermione felt her senses were in overdrive. She could feel Draco's body heat warming her own, as she smelt the salty air and felt the cool droplets on her burning skin. It was an exquisite sort torture when they finally broke apart.

"That was the kiss I meant to give you before we got so rudely whisked away from our own wedding," smirked Draco, as he surveyed Hermione's swollen lips.

"The guests would've been bored and started throwing things at us after the first thirty seconds of it," joked Hermione.

"I doubt you would've noticed," Draco's smirk widened. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Well, what now?" she asked as she forced herself into a sitting position.

"I'm going to send a message to the Manor, and have Mother send us a Portkey," said Draco as he softly blew on the owl-shaped thumb ring he always wore. To Hermione's surprise, the tiny owl became three dimensional, albeit still metallic and small, and flew off the ring into the distance.

"Where did you get that?" asked Hermione, impressed. To her surprise, Draco turned slightly red.

"I made it, thought it might come in handy, though I can't use it too much, the more frequently I use it, the more rest it seems to need," he said, "Anyways, looks like we're here for a while, it will taken them at least a few hours to receive the message and organise a Portkey, not to mention for him to fly back with it, so we might as well make ourselves comfortable."

Hermione nodded, as she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep from shivering. Draco noticed and pulled off his cloak –which was charmed to stay dry and warm– and placed it over them. He moved close to Hermione and wrapped an arm around her. They talked quietly while looking out at the spray of droplets aim for the unusually large full moon. It was beautifully serene, and Hermione felt herself fill up with happy warmth as she learned more about her husband. Despite the fact that they were only married because they had been cursed, their wedding had been interrupted by an explosion and the fact that Draco had almost drowned, she felt safe knowing that he was there with her and still had his arm wrapped around her.

Draco awoke the next morning to a sharp, insistent jab in his left forearm. He groaned as the repeated jabbing didn't stop. He opened an eye and saw nothing except a mass of brown curls. He blinked and carefully craned his neck, and realised that he had fallen asleep with one arm under Hermione's neck and the other thrown possessively over her hipbone. He was actually spooning her. Draco was immensely thankful that no one he knew was here to witness this nauseatingly tender moment. He slowly withdrew his arm from under the prison of Hermione's body and turned to discover the source of the insistent jabs. His tiny owl was back, and tied to it was one of Julius' small lightweight toy soldiers. Draco quickly shook Hermione awake, just as the sun was rising over the waterfall. Hermione woke up groggily.

"Wha-?" she asked, irritated. She was clearly not a morning person.

"Our Portkey is here, let's go home," said Draco, wrapping his cloak around his wife's shoulders. He swiftly picked up her circlet and veil and helped Hermione to her feet. For a second they stood there looking at each other as the sun rose behind them, but their moment was broken as the owl flew between them with the now glowing Portkey. They quickly put a finger on the soldier and felt themselves get transported. Hermione had barely felt the plushy carpet of the Manor under her feet, when she and Draco were swept into a rib-crushing hug by a frantic Narcissa.

"You're home, oh Merlin, we've been so worried," said Narcissa, near tears as she kissed both Hermione and Draco.

"We're fine Mother," said Draco, slowly backing away from his clinging mother, as Blaise crossed the room in two strides to hug the two women. Draco noticed Pansy in a corner, watching the scene, and walked over to give her a brisk hug. He knew her well enough to know that she hadn't slept a wink and had been trying to hold back tears at his disappearance all night. He patted her affectionately and drew her close again. They broke apart to find Hermione watching them.

"Uh, you remember Pans right, Granger?" he said nervously, unsure of what was going on behind the Gryffindor's honey eyes, but sensing disapproval in her stance.

"Yes, yes I do," she said softly.

"I'm glad you and Draco are safe," said Pansy, "Believe it or not, I was worried for both of you."

"Thank you," said Hermione simply, trying to focus on what Blaise had told her about Draco and Pansy being just like brother and sister.

"So, what the hell happened?" asked Blaise, changing the topic before the tension rose any further.

"Well, somehow when the blast happened, we fell on a Portkey that transported us to this island atop a waterfall where I fell and almost drowned, and Hermione had to rescue me, and then we sent you lot the message and came here," summarised Draco, sitting down at the table.

"That's it?" asked Blaise incredulously.

"Sorry that my drowning isn't exciting enough for you mate," said Draco drily.

"No, not that, you both weren't attacked or anything? Just sent off somewhere obscure and left completely unharmed until you found your way back home? Don't you think it's incredibly strange that someone would whisk you off your wedding by creating a diversion just to send you both somewhere random?" persisted Blaise, pulling out a chair and guiding a shaking Narcissa to it.

"Now that you mention it, yeah, it does seem a bit odd," Draco admitted, running his hands through his hair.

"What was the explosion at the wedding?" asked Hermione, as she and Pansy sat down on either side of Narcissa.

"Potter and Weasley were called on duty by our office to investigate, while I got assigned here in case anyone tried anything. We got an owl an hour ago saying that it was some muggle contraption called a bomb or something," said Blaise, as Hermione's eyes widened.

"But those are really dangerous!" she exclaimed in horror, "Was anyone killed?"

"No, thankfully," said Blaise, "There seems to have been a spell on it so that it just made an explosion and nothing else. Everyone was fine, though shaken up, after you disappeared. Valmont was beside himself at the breach-"

"Valmont? What does he care?" asked Hermione uneasily.

"He is the head of Security and Training," answered Draco instead, "I had his help and advice on the security arrangements for the wedding, and for screening the wedding presents."

"So you're saying that Valmont, someone who lost several family members in the war, and has every motive to have cursed us in the first place, was in charge of the security at our wedding?" Hermione stated incredulously.

"Hermione," Pansy interjected softly, "I know what you're trying to say, but believe me Valmont is not a bad person. He is misunderstood by a lot of people, but I've known him for many years and he would never ever do anything to harm people. He was decidedly neutral in the war because he loves peace too much. He would never do anything disruptive."

Feeling herself outnumbered, Hermione fell silent.

"Well, there is no point speculating amongst ourselves now, we'll go see Potter, Weasley and McGonagall as soon as we can," said Draco rubbing his brow in frustration.

"What's McGonagall's role in all this?" asked Hermione, remembering that the headmistress was the one who had been the one to promise them to each other.

"When Potter and Weasley found the correspondence between Avery and Nott discussing the curse, they weren't sure as to what it was," Draco explained, "So they went to McGonagall to seek permission to use the Hogwarts library to look it up," –Hermione beamed proudly– "and since McGonagall's mother was a pure-blood from one of the ancient families, she knew all about the curse and what had to be done. This took place a few hours prior to me taking you from your house. Long story short, Blaise and I were contacted, as they needed a pure-blood witness and Weasley had to rejoin Potter on another raid. And they decided that it'd be better for you to hear it from her as opposed to any of the other pure-bloods that could have helped on such short notice. She might know something about this that we haven't worked out."

Hermione nodded. Things were starting to make sense now. She turned to Blaise, "So you're working with Harry and Ron? Why don't I know about this? I knew you were an Auror too but I didn't realise you had been assigned to this case with them."

Blaise smirked, "Actually, since you lot skipped a year and graduated after the rest of us, I work above them, just under our department head. Potter, Weasley and I haven't had any cases together before this since they're still in their first year of training, but our head figured that since Draco is involved my attentions would be required here."

"Come off it," said Draco scowling, "I don't know why everyone thinks I'm about to hex Potter or Weasley any second. Hogwarts was years ago, and Potter and I settled our scores a long time back."

"Alright, alright," Blaise said, "We could stay here all day discussing how unfair it is that everyone still expects us to be the people we were at seventeen, but we do have more important things to worry about right now. I'd come with you both to McGonagall's but I think it will be better left up to Potter and Weasley because I have a meeting with our head right after lunch."

"We should all try and get a few hours of sleep, in that case," said Narcissa, "Don't forget, the reception is tonight."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Don't worry Mother, the entire time we were stranded we just kept thanking Merlin for the fact that we decided to hold the reception tonight instead of last night, otherwise we might've missed it, or shown up in the same clothes. The horror."

Narcissa glared as the table dissolved into laughter. They bid the others goodbye as Hermione and Draco slowly walked up to their rooms, both of them too tired to realise that they were meant to be sleeping in the master suites. Hermione numbly took off her dirt-stained wedding dress and pulled on her comfortable cotton nightgown. Her last coherent thought was that Narcissa's hairdressers had been right: her hair was still miraculously perfect. She had to send them and Hockford a thank you note once she woke up.

A/n: Thank you once again to all the readers of my story, I hope that you have enjoyed it! I would also like to extend a special thank you to all the people that take the time out to drop me a review and add me to their favourites/alerts list. It means a lot to me! Like every other writer, I love feedback, so if you have any comments please leave me a review as it will be greatly appreciated :)