Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.

Chapter 14 Double Dating

"Do you have house elves?" Katherine asked Blaise. "Hermione hates it when people own them."

Blaise, Draco, Hermione, and Katherine went out to dinner the day before Katherine's birthday. She and Blaise were equally protective of Hermione, even though Draco had a feeling that she could beat both their arses in a duel.

"No. When I want something done, I do it myself," Blaise said darkly.

Although she didn't let her guard down, Katherine nodded as if Blaise wasn't being overdramatic. "If you were in a burning building and only had time to push Hermione out of it or run before it collapsed, what would you do?"

"Kat!" Hermione cried while Draco sunk in his seat. Hopefully none of the other patrons could hear his lovely fiancé.

"I'd tackle her so we'd both get out and survive," Blaise answered slyly.

"So you wouldn't consider dying for her?" Katherine narrowed her eyes as if Blaise just said he'd kill Hermione for money like his mother did to all of her husbands.

"And you wonder why it took Hermione so long to tell you," Draco mumbled. He was beginning to regret this whole "double dating thing."

Katherine ignored him and leaned back in her seat, waiting for Blaise's answer. He was surprised that Hermione hadn't threatened to leave. At least Blaise wasn't bothered by the pressure. Judging by the subtle smirk on his face, he seemed to be trying to think of an answer that would upset Katherine the most.

Finally, Blaise leaned forward and whispered, "I'm willing to kill for her."

Hermione put her face in her hands, and they heard a muffled, "Can't we just have a nice meal together?"

Draco could tell that Katherine wanted to stubbornly (and childishly) say no. In fact, it was killing her to stop bothering Blaise. After mumbling to herself for a moment, she finally gave up on the interrogation only to challenge him. "I'm getting the ghost pepper wings."

Blaise detected her challenging tone in an instant. "I'll get the same. With hot sauce on the side."

"Me too."

When it was finally over, Hermione threw herself face down on her bed. If she was honest, it went a lot better than she expected. That didn't make it any easier.

Blaise sat next to her and ran a hand through her hair. "You know I couldn't let her win."

Hermione turned around to face him and laughed quietly. After the wings, Kat ordered the restaurant's spiciest chili. "I thought she was going to throw up."

Blaise grinned. "I thought she was going to cry. Do you think Draco would flip out on me if she made herself sick?"

"No. He knows what she's like." Hermione smiled and started playing with his fingers before linking them with hers. They both managed to eat both dishes, but she had a feeling that Kat was either lying in bed or getting sick at the toilet right now. "Thank you for putting up with her. I won't subject you to Ginny. She's just plain mean."

Blaise's smile widened. "Not to worry. I'll pass her challenge too."

Kat had a feeling that Narcissa knew Draco was desperate to see her wedding dress. When they went out to breakfast late one Sunday morning, she couldn't stop talking about it.

They were in a restaurant so fancy that Kat was sure a pancake would cost more than her outfit. She glanced at the Malfoys, who again, were all dressed up. That probably wasn't the case for them.

"You should see it Draco," Narcissa gushed as the food arrived. "It is so cute, and I can't wait to see your face when you see her in May!"

"Will it have a look of horror?" Draco asked as lightly as he could as he stabbed at his scrambled eggs with his fork.

Kat scowled as she slowly chewed on her pancake and watched Narcissa try to reassure him without giving away any details. If he didn't trust her to pick the right dress, then she was going to have to mess with him. "And I only spent like 30 galleons on it too."

Draco immediately started choking. The meal they were having was probably going to cost more than that, judging by the atmosphere. They were overlooking the ocean and everything somehow managed to look brand new and antique at the same time. "You spent what?" he choked out in between coughs. "Katherine, the cheapest dresses I wanted you to look at were fifty times that price."

Kat shrugged, loving every minute of this. "Oh, well, it was on sale at the Muggle place I went. It was less than a 104 pounds, so that's about 30 galleons."

"You bought a Muggle dress," Lucius hissed, starting to get just as upset as Draco. This was just getting better and better.

"Yeah." Kat nodded. "When I saw it from the window on the clearance rack, I just had to get it!"

"So Katherine…" Narcissa must be on to her and smiled as she cut up her lobster omelet. "Have you decided where you want to live after the wedding? You can't keep jumping between Grimmauld and the Manor forever."

Oh she's good, Kat thought as Draco started grumbling about impulse buys. She still felt funny at the Manor, and usually only slept there because she didn't want Teddy to ask why her door was locked sometimes. Well two can play at that game. "I don't think it's that much of a problem. I mean, try as they might, I don't think Sirius and Remus are going to have another baby. And if those two jackrabbits somehow manage the impossible, there are still several extra bedrooms."

Lucius pushed away his plate at the implication that Sirius and Remus had sex like rabbits, but Narcissa didn't bat an eye. "Yes, but what about when you and Draco decide to start a family? Draco cried until he turned dark red whenever he had to suffer through a floo trip."

"Well, Mother, there's plenty of time for that." Draco laughed awkwardly, trying to keep the peace.

Kat frowned. She hadn't thought of that. "How far of a drive do you think it is? Can't be more than three hours. Babies like car rides."

Narcissa cut in before Draco could object. "I don't know if that's a good idea, Katherine. I've been told that you crashed your car a while back. Was that February two years ago? Draco was awfully sick."

"Okay. Okay." Kat held her hands up. She didn't have much of a defense for that… "I will admit, that was my fault. I was speeding. And there was ice. I was trying to make the light, and then when I hit the other car I got t-boned by the car who had the green light… Anyway, I don't drive like that with Teddy in the car. And babies have car seats to keep them safe."

"I am not putting our child in that machine!" Draco snapped. "I don't even like you in it."

They immediately started bickering, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Narcissa smirk and whisper something to Lucius. He chuckled, and since Kat was only half paying attention to what she was saying to Draco, she let it slip that Madam Pomfrey gave her a potion to regrow her spleen anyway, so it didn't matter that the Muggles had to cut it out. That, of course, freaked him out even more, and the next day, Kat couldn't find her car keys anywhere.

After having to get a new key made, which cost more than her wedding dress, and having to promise Draco a million times that she would drive more carefully in the future, Kat needed a break from Malfoys and drama in general. She thought she would find that with a tea date with Teddy and Victoire, but she had no such luck.

They were sitting in Victoire's room with her toy tea set, cookies, and a tea pot full of milk. Victoire was about two and a half now, so Kat expected her to still be sweet like Teddy. However, she even managed to give Draco a run for his money.

"Are you sure you don't want to be flower girl?" Kat asked gently. Fleur would be heartbroken if her little girl wasn't.

Victoire folded her arms over her chest and had such an angry pout on her face that one would've thought she was being asked to eat dirt or kill her first born or something. "No."

"Not even for a new toy?" Draco pressed. He was immediately enamored with her because she looked like she could be his daughter. "I'll buy you anything you want."

Victoire lit up for a moment, but then she must have realized that to get the toy, she would have still to be flower girl. "No!"

"I'll be flower boy!" Teddy offered loudly as he munched on a chocolate chip cookie.

Kat ruffled his hair bright blue hair. "You're ring boy silly!"

"I ring boy!" Victoire yelled, sounding insulted that she wasn't offered the position.

"Sweetheart, you're a girl," Draco tried. Kat covered her mouth. That was the worst thing he could say. Victoire didn't understand the difference between the sexes yet, so sometimes she said she was a boy and others a girl, usually depending on what was most convenient for her at the time.

As she predicted, Victoire turned bright red and threw a cookie at Draco. "I ring boy!"

She ran away crying, probably to tell Fleur that Draco was being mean to her. Kat sighed. Well, they didn't call it the Terrible Twos for nothing…

"I don't like her anymore." Teddy eyed the doorway warily as they heard Victoire wailing downstairs while Fleur tried to tell her that she could be a boy but that her mother really wanted her to be flower girl… boy.

"She might just need a nap." Draco looked at Kat, silently saying, Please tell me she just needs a nap. Victoire could be very sweet, when she got her way. She probably didn't even know what a ring bearer was, but she didn't like flowers because, ironically enough, they made Bill sneeze. Poor Fleur.

"Well…" Kat was hesitant to say that Victoire had tantrums often lately, but Teddy, who had been stuck playing with her one time too many, didn't mind horrifying Draco with epic tales of the little girl not wanting to share. She didn't want Victoire to be ring bearer because she thought the toddler might lose or worse eat the rings. Hopefully she would change her mind by May.

Because her engagement party was in a six months, Kat forced herself over Theodore Nott's house to have dinner with Nott and Pansy Parkinson. The only good part was learning that Pansy's engagement story was even more awkward than hers.

"Nearly a year went by." Pansy gazed at Theo lovingly as if the story was funny and cute. To be honest, Kat thought it was a little sad. Then again, she was used to friends who prided themselves in being brave. "I couldn't take it anymore. So I just slipped the ring on and went about my business as usual."

"I didn't notice at first." Theo ran his thumb over Pansy's engagement ring. "I was so afraid of her saying no. Our life is perfect. Why change it?"

Because perfect is boring, Kat thought. You two are boring. She glanced at Draco, who must have read her mind and was trying to keep a straight face. Perhaps this was Pansy's and Nott's way of showing off… "Oh. I didn't think much of it. It just popped out of my mouth, you know?"

Clearly, by their blank stares, they didn't know. Maybe it was a Slytherin thing, wanting to have everything planned out to perfection. She thought it would be more of a Ravenclaw trait, but she had a feeling Pansy would be having a crisis is her flower girl was acting like Vicky.

"We don't want you to feel like we're racing to the altar." Pansy's tone made Kat think that was exactly what she wanted. "But since our wedding will be smaller, we're thinking February. We only have our friends, my mother, and a few cousins left."

"Valentine's Day?" Kat snorted at how ridiculous she thought it was, but the awkward silence that followed told her that was exactly what Pansy and Nott wanted. "Oh…"

"Your dress will be red, I think." Pansy eyed her. Kat didn't dare to risk making a joke about baby cupid's hanging from the ceiling. Once she ate all her food, she'd pretend to feel sick so she could leave. "I don't care if you don't want to be a bridesmaid. I will not have you distracting my guests with whatever you decide to show up in. That orange bridesmaid dress you sent me a picture of made me want to puke. The purple dress however…"

Of course she had to pick the one Hermione liked and not the one she liked! Kat finished her wine before answering. She was going to need it. "Our engagement party is in the beginning of April. So I completely understand if you want to stay on an extended honeymoon and can't come."

Pansy clucked in disapproval and wagged her finger at her. "Nice try. But it isn't quiet Slytherin worthy, Potter. A true Slytherin would have moved the party up to the end of February."

"Well damn…" Kat was beginning to think that Draco was right and that she should hope for the best, that Pansy and Ginny would fight to the death. "You'll miss my bachelorette party though. Ginny wants to have it on the 28th of February to celebrate the start of the Quidditch season."

"Oh?" Pansy raised an eyebrow. "So a party for you has turned into a party for her?"

"We decided together." Kat glanced at Draco but then remembered that he didn't like Ginny and wasn't likely to defend her. "And she's the only one who's willing to get wasted with me."

"So you can come home with another tattoo?" Draco groused.

"Are you two doing couple's counseling before the wedding?" If she didn't know better, she would've thought that Nott was changing the subject for her benefit. The glint in his eyes told her otherwise though. "Pansy's mother is making us."

Kat tried to wave him off. "That isn't necessary."

"Actually…" Draco shifted uncomfortably in his seat. No! They couldn't see a therapist! They always threw ridiculous words around like anger issues and forgiveness. "Mother made us an appointment for the beginning of December."

"I think it's a terrible idea," Kat said before she could stop herself. "I mean, anything we've needed to say we've already screamed at each other."

Pansy erupted in that shrieking laughter that had been like nails on a chalkboard to Kat since first year. Thinking it was equally funny, Nott leaned over the table and whispered loudly to Draco, "I'd move that appointment up if I were you."

Roller skating with Dudley. Kat was actually looking forward to this double date because she was eager to meet her cousin's new girlfriend. Little did she know, she already did.

"Cho!" Kat was beyond shocked, but Draco didn't seem to recognize her. "No way! H-how? He still refers to me as having freaky powers!"

Dudley must say the same thing to his girlfriend because Cho smiled like she thought it was a term of endearment and linked her arm in his. "He was in my group therapy session at a local community center. I referred him to one of my professors for proper therapy because when he asked me out for coffee after a few meetings, I couldn't say no."

Kat was tempted to ask why. When it was clear that Draco was going to actually do it, she stomped on his foot. She gestured to the roller skating rink they were about to walk into before he could think another rude thing to say. "I bet Draco will fall more than Dudley."

Cho gave Dudley a once over. Dudley wasn't as wide as he was tall like when they were teenagers, but it was clear that he wasn't very active. "It's a bet."

"The dress is hideous," Ginny told Draco a few weeks later while they ate at the Leakey Cauldron. She was annoyed because Kat jokingly called lunch with her and her brother a double date. Also, she didn't like that the bow on the dress was Slytherin green. "It has this huge, obnoxious bow on it."

"I think it looks great!" Ron said with a mouth full of a tuna fish sandwich.

Draco looked at him with disgust. "Somehow that doesn't comfort me much," he drawled. "I can still remember your dress robes from fourth year as if it were yesterday, Weasley."

Kat rolled her eyes. "He didn't choose them. Ron's a nice guy, Draco. I want you two to be friends."

Ron and Draco looked at each other as if she asked them to kiss on the mouth. Maybe friends was asking for too much. Friendly acquaintances sounded much more feasible.

Ginny wasn't going to give up on Kat getting a new dress without a fight. "When Kat showed us, she was wearing green lipstick."

"Okay. I will admit that did look dumb," Kat confessed. She could sense Draco going into panic mode. "But when Hermione did my makeup with it, it looked nice! Blaise agreed."

"Blaise?" Draco repeated. "Has everyone seen this dress but me?"

Tom the bartender smiled as he brought Ron an extra order of fries. "It looks stunning, Mr. Malfoy. The dress is absolutely stunning."

Kat smiled guiltily when Draco glared at her. "I'm excited! It's not every day I find a dress that everyone else likes! Hermione and Ginny usually have to shop for me."

"I do think you should let mum add the rhinestones," Ron said before shoving several fries into his mouth. Kat had a feeling Draco would have a stroke if she had fake stones on the dress. "Is Vicky going to get a matching one?"

Ginny snickered before stealing a fry from Ron. "Vicky refuses to wear anything but her unicorn pajamas right now. I don't know what Phlegm is going to do when she outgrows them."

Kat shrugged. "I think I'm going to try to convince her the day of. Fleur said she wouldn't mind if I bought her a kitten."

"I didn't know what the term spoiled rotten meant until that day," Draco muttered. As soon as the words left his mouth, everyone immediately started laughing at him, causing him to stare. "What?"

"Oi!" Ron yelled loudly enough for all to hear. "Mr. Nimbus Two Thousand and One wants to know what's so funny!"

Draco's face turned red as the other people in the Leaky Cauldron stared. Kat put an arm around his shoulder but instead of defending him, told Ginny and Ron about the picture she saw of him when he was around Victoire's age. Narcissa was trying to dress him in a Quidditch Costume, and he was literally kicking and screaming while his grandmother tried to bribe him with a giant lollipop. She could only imagine what their children would turn out like. She couldn't wait.

Hi! I didn't want to skip right to the wedding, although it was rather tempting. So I figured I'd write a nice fluffy chapter until I knew what to put in between. Up next will be the couple's counseling and I might jump to some of the parties I mentioned. Unless anyone wants to see something else in between? I'm open to suggestions!

Thanks for the reviews cookyc, justaislinn, gr8rockstarrox, and Imnotsurereally!

Justaislinn- My interpretation of Kat is that she's selfish and childish because she wasn't able to be selfish and childish at a time when it was age appropriate, so I suppose our interpretations match up! :) Also, I made her a reckless driver because I see the way she drives as something Uncle Vernon would complain about. Like how in the first book, he was complaining about things like that on the way to the zoo.