Wedding plans
Hermione opened her eyes and smiled as she stretched. For some reason, she wanted to keep her hand over her stomach. She wondered if she was already expecting a child. As many times as Finn had already taken her, without any hint of a contraceptive spell in use, she had no doubt she soon would be. The thought of cuddling and feeding a little blond haired, blue-eyed baby thrilled her. She couldn't contain her happy giggles. She sat up and gasped as a house elf popped up in front of her.
"Missy Hermione! I's been waiting for you to wake up! Master Finn told me to let you rest. When you's ready, I's to take you downstairs to him. I is Miffy." She introduced herself. Hermione slid out of bed and Miffy led her to the loo. There, she took a short bath and was dressed in a little black dress. As she had no possessions with her, she assumed it was another of his shirts transfigured to fit her. Waiting patiently as the little elf worked wonders on her hair, Hermione thought back to the moments before she and Finn had their last tumble. She frowned as her memory seemed a little fuzzy. 'Had something happened to her?' She shook off the thought as she prepared to meet Finn.
The quidditch practice was long over and Yaxley's group had gone to retrieve their belongings before returning and claiming a room. Everyone was sat at the table, watching as Finn fiddled with his napkin, clearly not wanting to start supper without Hermione. The door opened and little Miffy proudly walked in, leading Hermione by the hand. She took her all the way up, seating her to the right of her young master. Finn smiled, leaned down and hugged the elf. Hermione's heart melted as she watched. It was obvious that master and house elf held a very close connection to one another.
Once Hermione was seated, supper was served. The girls all watched as Hermione laughed, smiled, batted her eyes and flirted with Finn all through the meal. Never once did she say or do anything that alluded to the stormy past the two had shared. Angelina sighed inwardly. 'It was true, then. Thorfinn had Hermione under an Imperio spell. All the plans she had outlined were lost.' As soon as the meal was finished, they watched incredulously as she allowed Finn to scoop her into his arms and carry her back to bed.
The girls all stood and waited for permission to leave the room. Yaxley stood and led Padma back down to the library. "I'm told you enjoy learning different fashions?" Padma nodded shyly. He went to the top shelf and pulled down several volumes of fashions throughout the years. "We need more fashion designers in the Wizarding world. Would that be a field of study you and Parvati would enjoy learning?" Parvati had just walked in with Theo. She and Padma looked at each other and their eyes lit up.
Theo glanced at Draco, Marcus and Blaise and raised his brows. 'So that was the plan. Divide the girls and their interests. Keep them separated and they couldn't plan any kind of rebellion.' With that in mind, he sat down and allowed the twins to dominate his and Yaxley's conversation. Parvati was already setting aside colors which she said would complement all of the girls. Padma was already choosing designs for the dresses. "This shade of green will really bring out Angelina's eyes." Parvati held up a color chart. They called Angelina over as Padma held up a design for a strapless dress. "What do you think, Angelina, do you like it?"
Angelina stared at the color and design and had to admit that both were extremely flattering. "I like these. They're great!" Marco had followed her over. He cocked his head and looked between the designs and Angelina.
"You're going to look absolutely amazing, sweetheart. I can't see wait to see you in them." He pulled her back and whispered in her ear. "You'll look even more amazing out of them." He laughed as she covered her face.
Padma suddenly slumped dejectedly as she looked at Yaxley. "We can't do anything about dresses without our wands or any of the materials." Yaxley walked over to the Floo and threw some powder in.
"Malfoy Manor kitchen!" He shouted. A moment later, a house elf peered hesitantly through the flames. "Milly? Grab your daughters, your belongings and their belongings. Then bring your daughters through to Rowle Manor. Quickly now, before Bellatrix knows you're gone." He turned to look at them. "Milly and her daughters belong to me. Lucuis gifted Milly to me on my 21st birthday. Later that day, I gave her clothing. She's taken care of me ever since then even though I tried to free her. She says her service to me is in gratitude for freeing her but allowing her to remain with me." The Floo lit up as a house elf came out followed by three younger house elves. Milly came straight to Yaxley. "Milly, this is my bride. Her name is Padma, and she needs your help to make her wedding dress. This is her sister Parvati."
The elf's eyes lit up and she clapped her hands in delight. She turned and began directing her daughters as they laid out sections of material they'd brought with them. Yaxley told Padma. "They always helped Narcissa when she needed new dress robes. Before we left the manor or came through earlier, I told her to grab every bit of material she could find. Let Bellatrix use the shop dressmakers, we have Narcissa's own personal dressmakers right here." The twins watched happily as the elves displayed all the material they'd brought. While that was going on, Yaxley was putting his own wards onto the Floo, shutting it off to anyone except themselves.
Marcus guided Angelina over to the huge collection of Quidditch books Thorfinn had on hand. "I know how much you love playing Quidditch. Let's just let things get settled down a bit and I'll try to see if I can't get you back onto the pitch. But it can't be until after we have at least one child. I'm thinking the Dark Lord won't mind a lag after that, but he wants the first children born promptly. Ah!" He held his hand up as she started to protest. "It's not my call, Angelina! If I had my way about it, we would both still be out there on the pitch, playing right now. Don't you realize that! I'm as powerless here as you are! I'm not in charge of this whole operation! The Dark Lord is! If we don't have our first child promptly, he'll have no hesitation whatsoever about handing you over to McNair and Mulciber and pairing me up with a more compliant witch! I don't want another witch! I want YOU!" Angelina stared at him incredulously and then threw herself against him, much to his delight. She looked up at him and nodded. He sighed in relief. He hated keeping her away from the sport they both loved, but at the present time he had no choice about it.
Blaise and Hannah talked about her grandfather Tom who owned the Leaky Cauldron and how he had promised it to Hannah when she was old enough. "Grandpa Tom always said when I got old enough, he'd sign the Leaky Cauldron over to me. Now, I'm not sure what will happen to it." She worried about her grandfather. He was getting quite old and growing feeble. The last time she'd seen him, he was nothing but skin and bones. She'd almost been afraid to hug him. Of course, her parents were there to help out, but they weren't as interested in keeping the tavern open as she and Tom were. Everyone in the magical world knew if they needed a hot drink or room for the night, the Leaky Cauldron was the place to go.
Blaise took her hand into his. He balled it up and kissed the knuckles. "Hey, you don't worry about the Leaky Cauldron. Nothing is going to happen tonight. I'll buy it and put it into your name if anything happens to Tom. If it'll make you feel better. I'll hire a care witch and wizard to stay there with him at all times, even when your parents are there, too. We'll keep the Cauldron safe, all right?" Hannah smiled at him gratefully. She'd never have thought her inheritance would depend on the generosity of a Slytherin husband. Blaise made a mental note to himself to go ahead with the purchase of the tavern and the hiring of the care staff. Even if Tom was still hale and hardy at the end of the war, just doing this would ease Hannah's mind from worrying so much.
Draco got Luna seated in a corner telling him all about the Nargles swirling around everywhere. After that, he prompted her into telling him about some of the magical creatures she'd heard of and where they were located. She'd had plans to travel all over the world with her father. As she chatted about Augureys, Ashwinders, Lethifolds, Chizpurfles, Clabberts and Diricawls, Draco watched the excitement cross her face and vowed that, somehow, come hell or high water, he WOULD take her and her father to all of those locations and help them find every last one of those creatures.
They all relaxed as one by one the elves called them over and took their measurements. Each girl was draped in their own particular color and design. The twins got their matching dresses. The only one who wasn't fitted and measured was Hermione. After much discussion, even Yaxley declared he was not about to disturb them. "Will the officials come back if we aren't all married on the same day?" Padma asked him.
"Yes, they will make the rounds at least three times this week and maybe even next week until they're satisfied that all the weddings have been performed. We can all be married this week or if any of you wish to have a chance to plan a better ceremony, we can wait until next week. I'll leave it up to you, my sweet." He stroked Padma's cheek.
"I'm thinking that if we can get Hermione ready in a day or two, we can all get married at the end of next week and have the weddings at the Leaky Cauldron. We could have Hannah's grandfather walk us down the aisle, one by one. Would that be alright with you, Hannah?" Padma asked.
Hannah had a huge grin on her face. "That would be a wonderful idea and he'll love being able to walk us all down. Mum and dad eloped, and he never had a chance to walk her down."