Before Victoire would allow Daniel to speak to his grandfather and arrange use of the family chateau in France for the wedding, she wanted to speak with her father. She and Daniel had talked everything through, and the wedding in France was what they both wanted, but she wanted to speak to her father to make sure he understood where they were coming from. After all, excluding her grandparents from the day didn't just affect her, it affected her parents and she didn't want her father to think she was making a mistake.
In order to talk to her father, Victoire asked him to join her for lunch and after grabbing a sandwich and a hot drink, they settled in a park just around the corner from St Mungo's. Nervously, she explained the decision she and Daniel had reached the previous evening, and why they both felt it was the best way to proceeded with their wedding.
"You don't have to justify yourself to me, Victoire," Bill assured his eldest daughter. "This is your wedding, and you have to do what is best for you and Daniel."
"This is what's best," Victoire confirmed. "I don't want to spend my wedding day worried that something is going to happen to ruin it. This way, I know the day will run exactly as we want, and we won't get any nasty surprises."
"After what happened yesterday, I can certainly understand that," Bill said reassuringly. "I can see why you can't trust Mum. To be honest, I'm not that surprised by Ron's actions, but I had hoped that Mum had stopped all this foolishness. But even when she seems to accept the way things stand with Daniel, something always seems to happen to make her revert to her original thinking."
"I do wish it didn't have to be this way," Victoire admitted with a sigh. "I know Gran is going to be upset, and poor Grandpa is missing out and he hasn't even done anything wrong."
"Dad will understand," Bill stated with confidence. "I went to The Burrow yesterday evening to make sure he knew what had happened, and he was not at all happy. So when he learns about your wedding, he will understand why you and Daniel have taken this route."
"I hope so," Victoire said with a sigh. "I really don't want to hurt him. If I could have him there, I would, but I can't ask him and not Gran. And I know that since we're holding the wedding at a Malfoy property, she couldn't bring Ron along with her, but that doesn't change the fact I'd be worried that she had some sort of trick up her sleeve. Even if it was just delivering a letter from him or something. I just worry she would ruin the day."
"You really don't have to defend your choices, Vic," Bill insisted, taking hold of his daughter's hand. "Your mother and I will fully support whatever choice you make. And quite frankly, Mum only has herself to blame for being excluded. After everything that has happened, Daniel was magnanimous enough to agree to her being part of the wedding, and she just threw it back in his face. Instead of being grateful, she had to push things, and now it's all gone wrong and she only has herself to blame."
"But there is going to be trouble when she finds out that we're already married and she missed everything," Victoire predicted.
"It's nothing that I can't handle," Bill assured her with a confident grin. "You just leave me to deal with your gran. You focus on your wedding. Has Daniel spoken to Lucius about using the chateau yet?"
"No, I wanted to talk to you first and let you know how things stood," Victoire replied. "But now we've talked, I can send a message to Daniel and he can arrange everything with Lucius. I just hope we can pull off a wedding at such short notice."
"Just how soon are we talking about here?" Bill asked.
"We were hoping for a few weeks' time," Victoire admitted. "With any luck, we can pick a weekend at the end of August, before Dominique, Louis and Lyra go back to school."
"That is quick," Bill said with a low whistle.
"We know, but we don't want anything fancy," Victoire said. "All we really want is to exchange our vows in front of the people we love the most."
"I'm sure if everyone pitches in then you will get the wedding of your dreams," Bill predicted, well aware that the people who cared for Victoire and Daniel would ensure that they got their dream wedding, even if it was very short notice.
Once Daniel and Victoire personally issued the invitations to their wedding, which was indeed to be held on the second to last weekend of August, everyone rallied into action to make sure the day was a success for the couple. Although alongside assisting with the wedding, there was also a flurry of action at Grimmauld Place as almost everyone involved with the wedding pitched in on turning the house into a home for the couple.
Each and every room was stripped and thoroughly cleaned with windows, skirting boards and anything else that was rotting getting replaced. The rooms were then decorated in neutral colours so that Daniel and Victoire could put their own stamp on the place when they moved in. However, until the young couple were ready to do just that, the place would be clean and tidy and more than ready to live in.
With some help, Neville transformed the bleak back yard of Grimmauld Place into a tranquil space where Daniel and Victoire could relax. The top part of the yard was transformed into a stone patio, while fake grass was laid on the rest of the garden and Neville added borders of beautiful and colourful flowers.
As Narcissa had promised, with the assistance of Bill and Draco, Lucius removed part of the wall where Walburga's portrait had hung for so many years, and the picture of the old battleaxe was removed to the Black vault in the depths of Gringotts. The wall was then replaced so that it was as good as new.
Narcissa also kept her promise to transform the family tree into something much nicer. With Severus's help, they repaired the areas where her Aunt had blasted family members from the tapestry when in her opinion they had betrayed the house of Black. They then re-charmed the family tree to update itself so that all the branches of the family were listed, even those that weren't actually Blacks like Hermione and Daniel. Once that was all done they used magic to brighten up the design and Narcissa even charmed the entire thing to arrange itself so that the part of the family featuring Daniel himself was the most prominent. That way when future generations of the family arrived, they would take pride of place on the family tapestry.
With such a short space of time before the wedding, the house wasn't quite ready by the time the weekend of the wedding arrived, but given Daniel and Victoire also had a honeymoon planned, the family were confident that by the time they returned home, Grimmauld Place would be ready to welcome them into their new life as Mr and Mrs Daniel Granger.
Running over the checklist in her hands, Hermione checked yet again that she hadn't forgotten anything. She was currently packing for the weekend, which she would be spending at the Malfoy chateau in France watching her oldest child getting married. The whole weekend was going to be a low-key celebration and Hermione was looking forward to it. The immediate family were heading to France that day, which was a Friday, while the rest of the guests would arrive on the Saturday morning and the wedding would take place on the Sunday.
Narcissa, Victoire and Fleur had already headed off to France that morning to make sure everything was in hand for the weekend. Draco had just left to make sure that Bill and Victoire's siblings made it safely to the chateau, while Hermione and Lyra would be joining them shortly. Lucius, Daniel and Severus were also due to be travelling to France once they were finished working, and since Scorpius was in the process of moving out, he'd decided that he could get himself to the chateau in time for the family meal that evening.
Hoping that Scorpius could indeed be trusted to get himself to France, Hermione popped to check that her daughter had everything for the weekend. As well as a checklist for herself and Draco, Hermione had also done one for Lyra, but when she went to hand it to her daughter, Lyra declared she didn't need it.
"I just don't want you to forget anything," Hermione said to her daughter, watching as she zipped up her overnight bag.
"I won't," Lyra replied with confidence. Giving her mother a grin, she picked up a piece of paper which had been lying on her bedside table and handed it to Hermione. When Hermione took the paper from her daughter, she laughed when she realised that Lyra had devised her own checklist for the weekend.
"I should have known you would be super organised," Hermione remarked.
"I am your daughter," Lyra replied with a shrug.
"That you are," Hermione agreed. "We'll be ready to go in five minutes. Don't forget your dress for the wedding," she added, gesturing to the garment bag hanging on Lyra's wardrobe as she left the room.
Five minutes later mother and daughter were in the floo room, with their bags and dresses. Hermione connected the floo, and sent Lyra on ahead of her while she checked the wards around the house were up and no-one could get inside once she'd left. Only once the house was secure did Hermione follow her daughter through the floo and to the Malfoy chateau.
Narcissa was waiting to greet Hermione upon her arrival, and she also delivered the good news that Scorpius had arrived earlier that afternoon. In fact, according to Narcissa, Scorpius had been lending a hand and had made himself useful as the final preparations for the wedding had been undertaken.
"Lyra's already headed up to her room," Narcissa informed her daughter-in-law. "You and Draco are in your usual room. And the rooms for everyone else are sorted for tomorrow."
"And everything else is ready?" Hermione checked.
"Everything is in hand," Narcissa confirmed with a smile. "It's going to be the perfect weekend. When Lucius arrives, I was going to have him charm the gardens for warm weather, but the forecast is good, so I don't know if I'll bother."
"I would still get him to do it," Hermione advised. "It's better safe than sorry. After all, weather forecasts can be wrong."
"You're right, we don't want to leave anything to chance," Narcissa decided with a firm nod of her head as Hermione headed off to unpack.
Hermione had only been to the Malfoy chateau a handful of times over the years, but she was easily able to find herself to the room she and Draco always used. The first thing she did was hang up her dress and Draco's suit for the wedding, as she didn't want anything to happen to them. She then unpacked the rest of their things, before heading out onto the balcony to grab some fresh air, and to enjoy the stunning view of the chateau's grounds.
Hermione was still standing on the balcony when she heard someone enter the bedroom. Not needing to turn around to know it was her husband, she stayed where she was and within moments a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and soft lips kissed the back of her neck.
"Has everyone arrived safely?" she asked, leaning back into Draco's embrace.
"I delivered Bill and the kids personally, and just as I was coming upstairs Daniel, father and Severus arrived," Draco confirmed. "So we're all here for today. Then tomorrow the rest of the guests arrive."
"And then on Sunday, Daniel gets married," Hermione finished with a sigh.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Draco checked, sensing his wife was feeling emotional.
"It is," Hermione answered, turning around to face her husband. "I couldn't be happier for him, and I think it will be a beautiful weekend. It's just sobering to think that Daniel is getting married and Scorpius is moving out. And within a few years, Lyra will be joining them."
"Peace at last," Draco joked. "I've only been waiting twenty one years to have you all to myself."
"You often have me to yourself," Hermione chuckled. "For years now, we've only had the kids in the school holidays. We get plenty of alone time."
"So you're not fretting about being left alone with only me for company?" Draco checked with a cheeky grin.
"Of course not," Hermione laughed. "I guess I'm just feeling old with two children flying the nest."
"I can think of a way to prove you're anything but old," Draco suggested with a smirk, his hands slowly wandering down towards his wife's backside.
"Has anyone ever told you that you've got a one track mind?" Hermione questioned with a tut, even as she snuggled closer to her husband.
"You may have mentioned it before," Draco admitted. "But you don't normally complain."
"Oh, I'm not complaining," Hermione purred with a smirk. "I'm more than happy with a quickie before dinner."
"I think we can do better than a quickie," Draco said, walking back towards the bed with his wife in his arms.
"Not before dinner, we can't," Hermione laughed. "But there's always after dinner. Now, weren't you supposed to be showing me that we're not too old?"
"I'm sure I can manage that," Draco promised as he and Hermione fell to the bed, locked in a passionate embrace as they set about making the most of their time before dinner.