Holy f-. You guys are unbelievable. This makes my crappy sh*itty life seem a bit more bearable, so thank you.

I feel a bit low, as you can tell. Been crazy busy and also trying to sort out my life, so forgive me for being a bit late with this chapter.

Love sent to: BustyxxxxWizard, iPodMint, tfobmv18, MeredithGlass, mirifaery, guardgirl414, TashaLyn13, dreadfuldelights, kh2020, reina13, Tishica, sweet-tang-honney, Ayriannah, missygrace101, cheerluver, cyn23, Fan1EdwardCullen, starlight1992, Sesshoumaruluver01, Chatterbox Eye DramioneBlossom, bunny08, ManhattanStreetLights, pippan121, scarredprincess, CFCRockAngel, Crossy, evergreeneyes, VoiletDhaliwal and firstEveningStar.

"Hello, Narcissa," smiled Hermione gently. "It's nice to see you again."

Narcissa smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Hello Hermione."

Chapter 23: Shock

Draco frowned as he heard the coldness in his mother's voice. He hoped that Hermione hadn't heard it as well, but then he saw her smile fade, and he realised that Narcissa hadn't been as nice to Hermione as she had promised. He squeezed Hermione's hand and felt a squeeze in return. Then Mr and Mrs Weasley came forward, and Hermione ran to meet them.

"Oh it's so great to see you guys! Mrs Weasley, it's so lovely to see you again! Draco, they're like my parents, and the whole Weasley clan is like my family," Hermione beamed as she gave Mrs Weasley a hug. Draco nodded at them, and shook their hands. Mrs Weasley laughed at his politeness, but he had only just met the women properly, he wasn't the type of person to randomly hug people.

For Hermione, it was nice to feel loved, and it made up for not having her parents there. Hermione had promised that she would arrange a time in the Christmas holidays to see them, but only if time allowed. She had sent them a letter explaining the whole marriage law thing at the beginning of the year. She had sent more letters since them detailing what was happening and how she had fallen in love with her partner. They replied to congratulate her, but admitted they were confused that she was partnered with her 'worst enemy'. Hermione laughed when she read it because, just like her parents, she was confused by it as well.

"Please Hermione; you can call us Molly and Arthur now. You've known us long enough and we will always be your family," Mrs Weasley replied, her face lit up with happiness.

Hermione glanced at Narcissa, who seemed to have a frown etched on her face. What is her problem?

"Hi Hermione," Angelina smiled. She had been invited by George, and of course, Hermione had not minded. Angelina had helped George grieve ever since Fred died. Fred... How she wished that he was still here. George hadn't been the same since he was killed.

Everyone greeted each other and Draco smiled and shook hands with the men.

"Where are Bill and Fleur?" Ginny asked quietly from Hermione's left.

"They'll be a bit late, Bill was working late tonight," Mr Weasley replied, not looking properly at his only daughter. But Hermione did. Ginny looked pale, paler than usual. She was about to ask her if she was feeling ok but Draco spoke first.

"That's great. Shall we head in now? The guests should start arriving now," Draco said politely. He held the door open for his mother and Mrs Weasley and was the last to see the room. He heard the gasps and he gasped himself when he saw his and Hermione's vision around him.

The room had no walls, and no ceiling. It was hovering in a protective bubble above the earth, with the stars shining brightly around them. It was like they were in space. The theme was, 'your love takes me to the moon,' and sure enough, the moon was right by them. It was so close you could see all the craters, it was beautiful.

Hermione squeezed his arm and said, "The moon looks so beautiful doesn't it?"

"Just like you," he replied before kissing her. And she was. Her face was framed by little ringlets, and the rest of her hair was pinned back, Pansy had charmed it extra long so it cascaded down her back. Hermione was wearing a strapless midnight blue dress, covered with small silver stars. Ginny was wearing a figure hugging black dress which fell to the floor leaving a little train behind her. She had straightened her hair and was wearing a black Alice band to keep it out of her eyes. Pansy was wearing silver, which brought out the silver flecks in her eyes. All colours you would associate with the night sky.

"Such a charmer," smiled Hermione when they came up for air.

"And you haven't seen half of it my dear," he smirked, winking at her. Hermione blushed and poked his arm.

"Shall we wait by the door? Ginny is putting the music on. It's so weird to not have any walls. You see everyone standing in the middle? They're probably afraid of falling of the edge. Thank goodness it's such a large space, and not many people coming, or else some would be petrified at the edge," Hermione said, giggling.

"Good idea, I think I can hear some people now," Draco replied and then heard the slow, romantic music of Jake Night, the new singer on the block. All the girls in the school had posters on their walls- not that he had seen, but from what he heard. Pansy had told him that Jake Night was quite the looker.

Draco glanced at the space, and saw his mother standing slightly at the edge of the crowd of Weasley's. He would feel reassured when some other guests came, and then he could make sure his mother was having a good time. Maybe he could talk to her and tell her to make more of an effort with his soon to be wife. He had no idea why she wasn't being friendly with Hermione, but he wanted it sorted out because he could tell it hurt Hermione, and he didn't like to see the love of his life in pain.

First to arrive was Ron and Luna, along with their roommates- Crabbe, Violet, Neville and Hannah.

"Ron!" Hermione beamed, hugging him. "It's so good to see you again! I feel like we haven't seen each other in weeks."

"That's probably because we haven't Hermione," Ron replied darkly. Hermione frowned, but before she could ask if he was alright, he had stormed off in the direction of his parents.

"Is Ron alright?" She asked Luna hesitantly.

"Oh...it's probably just a bad case of the Grumplies, they place bad thoughts in your minds instead of good ones," Luna replied dreamily.

Draco turned his snort of laughter into a cough, and felt a poke in his side.

"Oh right...maybe I'll get a chance to talk to him later then," Hermione replied weakly. "I...umm...love your outfit by the way. Very...unusual."

"You think so? I made it myself, with a little help from Violet and Hannah." Luna gave a little twirl and Hermione saw Violet and Hannah wince slightly. The colour was bright yellow, the colour you would usually paint a star as, but the reason why it was so unusual, was because it was in the shape of a star as well. It was a five pointed star, with her arms coming out of the two sides, the legs from the bottom two and her neck and head as the top one. She gave Luna top marks on her individuality, but she hoped that no-one would make fun of her; she didn't want anything to upset the party.

"Yes, it's absolutely marvellous," Draco smiled, smirking slightly. This earned him a nudge from Hermione.

"I'll see you later," Luna smiled airily, and seemingly danced her way over to Ron. Draco watched Mrs Weasley greet Luna warmly, already welcoming her into the family. A small part of him wished that his mother had done the same to Hermione.

Draco sighed and turned to watch Hermione greet Hannah and Neville. He smiled awkwardly at Neville, he had never realised how tall he had gotten. He still had some scars on his face, which thought was strange- maybe he wanted to keep them as a souvenir?

He greeted Crabbe and Violet. Was it also strange that he still called Crabbe by his second name instead of his first? He had never called him Vincent...Vincent didn't suit him; he was Crabbe, just like Goyle was Goyle.

The next to arrive were Lavender, Ernie, Parvati and Justin. Both couple's seem pretty happy, but then again, they were well suited to each other.

It was then that Draco realised these were mostly Hermione's friends. His closest friend was Blaise, then Crabbe and Goyle. Had he really only had those friends? And anyway, Blaise had on started being a close friend in the fifth year- when they had both joined the Inquisitional Squad that Umbridge had set up. He had only joined to gain Umbridge's approval, and also his father's. He quickly shut that topic out of his mind, he didn't want to think about his father when he could be enjoying some quality time with Hermione.

A tall, red haired man arrived next, accompanied by someone he vaguely recognised.

"Hello Hermione," Bill said kindly.

"Bill, Fleur. Thank you so much for coming, it means the world to me. I can't thank you enough for letting us stay with you last year," Hermione replied. "This is Draco."

Bill shook Draco's hand. He remembered where he recognised Fleur from. She had been from Beauxbatons in fourth year, competing in the Twiwizard Tournament. He didn't realise they were together.

Bill and Fleur made their way to where the Weasley's were congregating, whilst Draco and Hermione greeted the rest of the guests.

-

Ten minutes later, all the guests had arrived. The door closed and seemingly vanished. This gave a complete 360 degrees view of the space around them. Exclamations of awe could be heard around them.

Immediately, trays of butterbeer and other wizarding non alcoholic drinks appeared and hovered in thin air. The guests all took one and began to chat amongst themselves. Some- George and Angelina- had begun dancing to the music. The music, Hermione noticed, had been raised since it had been turned on.

"This is amazing, Draco. I'm so honoured to be a part of this, to be with you," Hermione whispered.

"You think I'm not? I love you, Hermione. And I can't wait for you to become my wife."

Hermione blushed and kissed him again.

A cough interrupted them. It was Narcissa. Hermione cursed under her breath, what did she want?

"Draco, darling. Could I possibly have the honour of announcing you to the group? I know everyone has already met you, but it would mean the world to me," she smiled at Draco.

A pause.

"Of course Mother. We'd be delighted," Draco said, squeezing Hermione's hand.

"Lovely," Narcissa beamed, without looking at Hermione.

She stood in front of Hermione and Draco, took out her wand, and placed it against her throat.

"Sonorous."

The group quietened down, and turned to face Narcissa.

"Good evening everyone. My name, as of course you are all aware, is Narcissa Malfoy, the mother of Draco Malfoy. I am delighted to be at this engagement party, as it celebrates the," she paused before giving a weak smile, "love between my darling son and....Hermione. Please, will you all raise your glasses as I announce the future heir of the Malfoy fortune and his soon to be wife...Draco and Hermione!"

Everyone cheered, and drunk their glass. Draco kissed Hermione again, and the crowd applauded. Hermione was embarrassed, she didn't want everyone watching her, but Draco was such a good kisser, she soon forgot where she was. It was only the two of them- and nothing else mattered.

They soon resurfaced, and found themselves surrounded by their friends. All except Ron. He was standing further back, with his parents and Luna. Luna looked as though she wanted to come and talk to Hermione, but Ron held her back.

Hermione noticed, and leant into Draco.

"Do you know what's wrong with Ron?"

Draco shrugged, "how should I know? You're the one who is friends with him."

"Hmm," Hermione grimaced.

Harry fought his way through the crowd and stood next to Hermione.

"Can I have this dance?" Harry laughed, but Hermione could tell he needed to talk to her.

"Of course!" She kissed Draco on the cheek as Harry led her to the middle of the room, where a few other couples were dancing.

"I saw what happened between you and Ron earlier...what's wrong with him?"

"You think I know? I have no idea! He seemed so mad at me, but I can't think for the life of me what I've done to make him so angry."

"Well...it's not like we've spent time with him. We only really see him in classes, and we sit with our partner's now. Maybe he feels left out?"

"Maybe..." Hermione muttered. "But why direct the anger at me? Surely he should be mad at everyone?"

"He could be mad at you more because he liked you more. You did become an item for a few months remember? He could feel that you're letting him down? I see him more than you anyway. And also, perhaps he didn't think you'd fall in love with Draco so quickly. Ron is quite stubborn, he might have got it into his head that you still liked him, and to see you with Draco is like a slap in the face."

"You seem to have put a lot of thought into this..." Hermione's eyebrows furrowed.

"Well...we see each other more...he talked to me about it," Harry's eyes fell to the floor.

"What?!" Hermione gasped.

"He's upset that you don't talk to him anymore, that you spend all your time with the Slytherin's."

"The Slytherin's? Has he not got over that yet? Isn't that part of what the marriage law is about? To unite the houses? If he is still prejudiced then-"

"Don't talk to me about this Hermione. This is between you and Ron." Harry interrupted quickly.

"Ugh! Harry, you've made me mad at my engagement party! Like I don't have enough to deal with right now," Hermione complained.

"What else is on your mind?" Harry asked, curiously.

"Nothing that I can't handle. Listen, I should talk to the other guests. I'll see you later." Hermione let go of Harry and made her way over to Ginny and Blaise, who were dancing in the corner of the room.

"Hey," she said.

Ginny raised her head slowly, "Hi Hermione. This party is gorgeous. It's such a lovely theme."

"Thanks. Ginny, can I talk to you in private? Sorry Blaise. Girl stuff."

"Say no more!" Blaise replied, before wandering off to talk to Draco and Narcissa.

They moved to the corner nearest the moon.

"Ginny, have you talked to Ron recently? Apparently he is really mad at me because I've been 'ignoring' him."

"Hmm?" Ginny said dreamily, gazing at the moon.

"Ginny, are you alright?"

"Of course I am. Why?"

"You look really pale," Hermione said, worriedly.

"I'm fine, Hermione. Ask the question again please."

"OK... Have you talked to Ron recently? He is mad at me because I've been 'ignoring' him. At least, that's what Harry said."

"Umm...not recently. He did say a while ago that he was feeling a bit left out, but we talked about that. You were going to arrange a night in or something."

"Merlin! I completely forgot," Hermione groaned. "So much has been going on lately."

"Yeah..." Ginny replied.

"Seriously Ginny, you don't look so good."

"God Hermione! If I say I'm fine, then I'm fine!"

"Sorry, I'm just worried. Don't let us fight again, Ginny. Listen, I'll go get you a drink and you can have a sit down yeah? Just ask for a chair and one will appear- it's the Room of Requirement," Hermione smiled.

"Sounds good. I'm really tired..."

"I'll be right back." Hermione said.

She ran off in the direction of the nearest hovering tray. She picked up a glass of butterbeer but before she could return to Ginny, someone moved in front of her.

"Ron! I've been meaning to talk to you."

"Sure you have," Ron remarked coldly.

"I really have," Hermione said quickly, "but with what with what everything that's been going on, I got completely sidetracked. I'm really sorry, forgive me?"

"What? Just like that?! You honestly expect me to forgive you as you completely abandon me and spend all your time with Malfoy and the other Slytherin's?"

"Hey! His name is Draco, and I love him. We're going to get married, just like Ginny is going marry Blaise and Harry is going to marry Pansy. Who cares what house they're from? What matters is that we love them," Hermione retorted, feeling her temper rising.

"How can you love them? They're disgusting. What about all the years that they bullied you? Bullied me! Does that not matter anymore?"

"That's in the past now. And it's not like we liked them either. We called them names, we cursed each other. They're not completely to blame."

"So that's it then? You're just gonna forget me because you've found the person you love?"

"Ron, I told you-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've been busy. Harry's been busy, but he still finds the time to talk to his best mate."

"Well, I'm sorry. What do you want me to do about it? I don't have that time turner anymore, it's not like I can go back in time and fix things for you."

Before Ron could retort back, screams erupted from the other side of the room.

"What the-"

"GINNY!" Blaise bellowed as he barged through the crowd.

Hermione dropped her glass and ran after him.

There, lying on the floor was Ginny. Unconscious.

Whoa. What did you think of that?!

Review please, it will make me smile, something I haven't done for a while.