Chapter 5 is ready to go! Enjoy!
As luck would have it, Marie did not get to meet up with her Hermione before her wedding. Instead, a week and a half before marrying to love of her life, Marie fell ill. Violently ill. Between the fever, the puking, the body aches and cramps, and having to deal with both Draco and Blaise being sweet, overprotective shitheads, Marie wasn't sure which was the worst part of these past few days. Thankfully, the fever and body aches seemed to subside after a few days, but her stomach was still in knots and there were still bouts of nausea. While she wasn't able to see Hermione in person, Marie did make time to talk to her friend on the phone.
"Marie, stop being ridiculous. You know all you have to do is say the word and I would be over there in a heartbeat."
"I know, because you're an absolute doll," Marie said groggily, "but I don't know what I have and I don't want to pass it to you. " Marie heard her front door open and the voices of her two favorite English men enter her home. "Plus, Blaise and Draco are on a hundred right now and I care about you way too much to subject you to them."
Hermione laughed over the other end of the phone. "You're so kind. Well, I'll let you go so you can try to get some rest. Love you!"
"Love you too, darlin'! See you soon, babe." Marie ended the call, before getting out of bed to check on Draco and Blaise. Truth be told, she was insanely grateful for her boys. While they may have been going slightly overboard, they were doing a great job taking care of her. Draco took the lead of getting the photos from the shoot edited and to the appropriate magazines and onto Sincerely, Marie's website (though Marie had to walk Draco through how to use her computer, and no, it didn't involved throwing her brand new Mac at the wall) and Blaise tried to make her mom's healing soup (though he did almost burn her kitchen down…and the soup came out beyond terrible). They weren't perfect, and they were hers. And though she braced herself for whatever they were doing in her kitchen, Marie knew she wouldn't have it any other way. Blaise and Draco were putting away medicine and starting a pot of soup, something they could make that didn't result in flames, when Marie padded barefoot into the kitchen. Blaise smiled and walked over to his future bride.
"Hello, beautiful," he said in his low voice that made Marie weak in the knees every time.
"Ha, I feel anything but beautiful right now," Marie retorted. The past few days, Marie could barely sit up or move, let alone put on real clothes or do something to her hair. Today was the first day Marie actually attempted to "get dressed" and it resulted in a simple grey romper. Her hair was tied up with a scarf, the style resembling a pineapple. Nope, Marie can't say "beautiful" described anything she felt these past few days.
Blaise walked over to Marie and wrapped his arms around her. "You're always beautiful, darling. Not always glamorous, but always without a doubt beautiful," he said, placing a gentle kiss to the top of her forehead.
"Hate to ruin your moment," Draco said closing the cabinet door rather forcefully, "but I'm ruining your moment."
"You're such a buzz kill, I hope you know that," Marie teased, leaving her fiancé's embrace to give Draco a hug and kiss on the cheek, "Thank you for my medicine and my soup."
Draco hugged his friend back, and went back to stirring the chicken and rice soup. Draco hated seeing Marie sick; he had only experienced it a few times since her move to London and it terrified him. Marie was insanely energetic and fiercely independent, and when she got sick all of it disappeared. She was still independent, if not more when she was sick, but her energy levels dropped and Draco hated to see him friend like that. Getting sick barely a week before her wedding, Draco imagined, was the last thing on her to-do list. Both Draco and Blaise knew it stressed her out and that was probably part of the reason her stomach was still messing with her, but they did their best to make sure she was taken care of these past few days.
Draco still couldn't believe his best friends were getting married. As he poured the soup in to three bowls and put some crackers on a plate, he watched them discuss wedding details at the kitchen table and couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. Jealousy? No, not jealousy. Longing, maybe? Draco couldn't name it, but he knew what Blaise and Marie had was something he wanted for himself. If Draco was going to be completely honest with himself, the bachelor life was starting to get old. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy weren't necessarily the best example for a healthy and loving marriage, so Draco figured he could spare himself the drama by just avoiding it all together. But as he watched his friends fall in love with each other, he soon started to feel that he was missing out on something. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the bachelor life, but it didn't feel as fulfilling anymore. His mind wandered to seeing Granger at the photo shoot, and he felt his heart start to beat faster for God knows what reason. He hadn't seen or heard from the girl since they graduated, so him still thinking about her since the shoot confused him. From what he's heard though the grapevine, she had worked at the Ministry for sometime before starting her dance studio, which he had to assume was in Muggle London because he hadn't seen or heard of it. Draco couldn't deny Granger had grown into a gorgeous woman, but remembering how she was in school made his hard-on deflate. Draco got over his prejudice against non-Purebloods so long ago, it would probably shock most of the Wizarding community, so that wasn't why he hated the brunette. No, he hated her because she was annoying and so damn self-righteous. Someone had to put her ground her and keep her head from getting too big with air during school, right? Then he thought about what Marie said during their lunch that day, and he knew she was right. He hated when she was right. He wouldn't admit he "had a thing" for Granger because of course that wasn't the case. No…no, definitely not…Draco thought as he brought the soup and crackers to Marie and Blaise before sitting down with his own bowl, joining the conversation about seating charts and something else wedding related. Draco settled to pushing the confusing feelings to the back of his mind. He'd sort them out eventually.
….
Draco and Blaise had to fight for Marie to rest the last few days before the wedding ("What do you mean 'go lie down'? I have my dress to finish, I have your suit jacket to finish pinning…'), but despite all the push and pull, Marie's mystery illness finally cleared. The boys decided that Draco should spend the night at her apartment the night before the wedding just in case there was another wave of illness, and also to help her pack her apartment the next morning. 'Let us take care of you, dammit' they had said; by this point Marie's eyes started to glow a gold color around the irises, something that only happened when she was getting truly angry, so the boys decided to stop pushing it. In the end, Marie begrudgingly agreed that it would be best for Draco to stay so the morning could be quick and painless. Marie and Blaise decided to live in the Zabini Estate in Wizarding London once they were married, and while it was a decision she was happy with, it brought up some uncomfortable feelings for Marie concerning her new married life. Marie had trouble sleeping that night and ended up watching the sunrise from her balcony that morning. As she stirred the mixture of hot water, honey, lemon, and cinnamon in her mug, she thought about the day ahead. Today was the day she would become Mrs. Blaise Zabini. Mrs. Marie DuPonte Zabini, she thought looking down at her ruby and diamond engagement ring. Marie could feel her stomach churning and she was pretty sure it wasn't another wave of nausea. She took a sip of the hot drink as she sat with her thoughts, and she heard the shutter of Draco's camera go off behind her.
"I'm sorry if I woke you up," she said, making room for Draco on patio furniture.
"No worries, I'm usually up around this time anyways," Draco said taking a seat next to her, "You, on the other hand, usually are not. Anything on your mind?"
Marie didn't respond immediately as she continued to gaze at the ring gracing her left hand. Draco noticed her line of vision, but chose not say anything. Instead, he took some shots of the sunrise and the city skyline; Marie would talk when she was ready. After a few minutes of calm silence between the two, Marie put her mug down on the table in front of her and leaned over onto Draco's shoulder.
"I'm sorry I was such a pain these past few days."
"You were no where close to being a pain, darling. Knowing you, I would've been more shocked if you didn't push back." Draco placed his camera on the table and put his arm around her shoulders and rested his head atop of hers. "I just wish you would let us take care of you more."
"That's just it, though. I don't need you to take care of me; I can take care of myself. Just because I'm sick, or I'm getting married, or whatever doesn't mean I need for you guys tripping over yourselves to take care of me."
"We know you don't need us, silly girl. We know you're fiercely independent, and it's one of the many things we love about you. We don't do it because you need us to, we do it because we want to and you deserve it. You don't have to be strong all the time, Marie."
Marie had trying to hold back tears all morning, but she couldn't them back anymore. She had no doubt about wanting to marry Blaise and spend the rest of her life with him, but she was terrified about being a wife to one the Wizarding London's most elite pureblood bachelors. While Marie had an amazing love template looking at her parents' relationship, who would be celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary next month, Marie knew she couldn't fool herself that the rules weren't going to be different in the Wizarding world. Most of the pureblood wives she saw were more of the socialite type, and while it was fine, it definitely wasn't Marie. She already stood out in their world, being the Black American with the strange accent (Blaise was black so that wasn't so much the standout part as much as it was being Black American), and the fact that she was such a polar opposite from the norm made Marie a little nervous about navigating this new territory. Draco just sat quietly, giving her space to cry and gently rubbing her arm. After it seemed she had gotten the majority of her feelings out, Draco spoke.
"Marie, you are one of the most special people I've ever met. You're such a gem and no one can ever take that away from you. Knowing you has made me a better man, and it damn sure made Blaise a better man. The love you two have for each other is a rarity in this world, and yes you both may trip along the way, but you two are going to create what you want your marriage to look like and your love is going to carry it through. Don't worry about if you're going to be like everyone else because you were never meant to be like everyone else. You were meant to be Marie DuPonte and, between you and me, she's pretty badass." Draco poked her in the side at the last bit of his speech, knowing she was ticklish.
Marie giggled and wiped the silent tears that had started to fall down her cheeks at her friend's kind words. Draco wasn't a super emotional guy, but he had his moments. Draco reached out to tap Marie's nose lightly, causing her to laugh airily at her friend's silliness. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as he hugged her just as tightly back and said softly, "You're going to be perfect."
So I thought about ending this chapter with Draco or Marie providing some comic relief at the end of their intimate moment, but in the end I think it's best I didn't. I wanted to show a more tender side to Draco; he can be a sweetheart when he wants to be haha. Next chapter is going to be the wedding which I am soooo excited to write and will definitely include more Draco/Hermione goodness! :D Keep the reviews coming; they are truly wonderful and special! xx