# My Best Friend's Wedding

lissag7

Rating: PG
Genres: Romance, Humor
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 5
Published: 20/03/2004
Last Updated: 20/03/2004
Status: Completed

Takeoff on the Julia Roberts comedy. Harry tells Hermione that he is getting married, which causes Hermione to act in desperation, which causes Draco to sing a rather ridiculous song, which causes Ginny to get jealous...and so on and so forth. Chaos abounds.

## 1. The Announcement

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PG - English - Romance/Humor - Reviews: 194 - Published: 02-29-04 - Updated: 03-18-04 | id:1754686

document.write(''); My Best Friend’s Wedding
Author: lissag7
Summary: Takeoff on the Julia Roberts comedy. Harry tells Hermione that he is getting married, which causes Hermione to act in desperation, which causes Draco to sing a rather ridiculous song, which causes Ginny to get jealous and burn things...and so on and so forth. Chaos abounds.
Ships: H/Hr, G/D, some D/Hr, and R/OC
Author’s Note: So, I’m really sorry if someone’s already done this idea, but frankly there are so many fics that I can’t keep up. Otherwise, enjoy—laugh, cry, whatever—but please, please review!
Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me...sadly (sigh).
Chapter one: the Announcement
Hermione Granger was seated in a cafeteria, distractedly eating a tuna fish sandwich as she pored over some research for her latest project. Having graduated with the highest and most impressive NEWTS in Hogwarts’ History, Hermione had been widely expected to take a position as a teacher or a Ministry worker. And since she and Ron had been dating rather exclusively for their last year at Hogwarts, it was similarly expected that she would shortly thereafter become Hermione Weasley.
However, to the shock and disappointment of many, Hermione was neither a professor nor a ministry worker, and she most definitely was not Mrs. Ron Weasley. A year after graduation, she and Ron had broken things off, rather nastily actually, and were just now beginning to patch up the old wounds nearly two years later. She still loved him as a friend, but the boy could drive her absolutely mad.
As far as her profession went, Hermione had found that a career behind a desk just wasn’t exciting enough after years of being friends with Harry and Ron and battling Voldemort. Instead, she had almost accidentally fallen into reporting for the Daily Prophet, and she loved it more than she could have ever thought was possible.
“ What’s that you’re looking at, Mudblood?” Draco Malfoy inquired, dragging out a chair at her table and sitting down with her, uninvited.
Hermione barely glanced at him. “ Corruption in Hogsmeade,” she murmured, still sifting through her notes.
Draco smiled and watched her, his eyes following as a bit of tuna fell from her sandwich and dropped down her blouse. “ Ur, Granger...” A better idea seemed to strike him, and he reached toward her. “ Let me get that for you--”
Still without glancing at him, Hermione pushed his hand away. “ Nice try, Malfoy.”
“ Can’t blame a bloke for trying,” Draco pointed out, settling back in his chair. “Though you wouldn’t have minded a year or so ago...”
Hermione sighed as her thoughts wandered back. Upon joining the staff of the Daily Prophet, she’d been shocked and dismayed to find that Draco was her editor. True, he’d been helpful in the final battle with Voldemort, but he was still a nasty little ponce and she didn’t much fancy spending extra time with him.
However, after working a few months alongside Draco, she’d discovered that, along with being a nasty little ponce, he could also be quite charming. And once the banter and tension had become too much to bear, they’d carried on a brief and secret love affair. Unlike Ron, he’d proven to be quite mature about having a relationship, and even more mature about breaking up; if anything, their disastrous attempt at love had brought them closer together, and she now considered Draco to be one of her closest and dearest friends.
Not close enough to fish tuna out of her delicates, however.
Draco grinned at her now as if recognizing that she was remembering just how fond she was of him. “ I don’t see why our being broken up should make a difference, Granger. I’m still a man, you’re still a woman.” He stopped, raising a dubious eyebrow at her. “ You are still a woman, aren’t you Mudblood?”
Hermione was very much fighting the urge to smile. “ The difference, Draco, is that you’ve been dating Ginny Weasley in secret for the past three months.”
Draco stared at her, clearly taken aback, then glanced ever so subtly at Ginny, who was seated three tables away. Her long red hair was falling over her face, and she seemed to be deeply involved in the latest fashion article that she was writing, though every so often her gaze would wander over to Draco, and she would absently twirl her hair and smile.
“ What is it about women?” Draco demanded, though he was smiling. “ Can’t trust the lot of you to keep a bloody secret. You’re always sharing your little gossip in the powder room.”
“ Powder room?” Hermione repeated, arching an eyebrow. She shook her head at him. “ Besides, we’re hardly the ones who need to be analyzed. What is it about you and dating in secret anyway?”
Draco smiled demurely. “ Apparently, I would get hexed to Jupiter if certain people—namely Potty and Weasel-- ever found out that I was snogging their little sister/ long time best friend. I can only suppose that it’s because I’m not a very well-liked person.”
“ I can’t imagine why,” Hermione returned, just as innocent.
There was a mild commotion as an unfamiliar owl swept in through the window and dropped a parchment off in Hermione’s lap, not bothering to wait around for a reply. Frowning, Hermione unrolled the parchment and read the letter, hastily scratched in a familiar scrawl. Draco watched her with detached interest, his eyes wandering every so often over to Ginny.
“ Well?” he said finally when it was apparent that Hermione was finished.
She smiled. “ It’s from Harry. He wants to talk to me through the fire network at 2:00. I haven’t heard from him in ages—I wonder where he is...”
Draco scoffed at this. No matter how much he and Harry had been through together, there was still no love lost between them. “ Rather arrogant, isn’t he? He didn’t even wait around to see if you’d say yes—just assumed that you’d come running.”
Hermione shrugged. “ Well, he assumed right.” She gathered her notebooks together and flashed one final smile at Draco. “ Catch you later...”
She hurried away. Draco followed her departure and then felt himself be distracted by the sight of a certain redhead, making her way out the opposite door. He rose to his feet and followed after her.
He exited the double doors and turned the corner, searching for her. Abruptly, a hand reached out from a shadowed corridor and pulled him into its dark recesses. A moment later, he and Ginny were making out like a couple of school kids in the Astronomy Tower.
“ Hello to you, too,” Draco murmured after she’d finally given him time to catch his breath.
Ginny smiled coyly at him. “ Hello,” she said somewhat breathily.
Grinning, Draco leaned in to kiss her once more, but Ginny seemed suddenly preoccupied with something else. “ Who was that letter from, to Hermione?”
If there was anything more effective than a cold shower, it was mentioning Harry Potter. Draco ran a disappointed hand through his hair. “ From the infamous Boy Who Wouldn’t Die. Why?”
Ginny sighed. “ I was afraid that was it. Ron told me what Harry would be owling her about.”
Draco frowned at this. “ What do you mean?”
“ Let’s just say,” Ginny sighed, “ that things are about to get quite interesting...”
***
A short while later, Hermione found herself kneeling in front of the fireplace, anticipating the sight of Harry’s head in the flames. As she waited, she self-consciously ran a hand through her hair and straightened her clothes, though she immediately stopped herself. Why on earth was she feeling nervous? It was just Harry.
As if on cue, the fire gave a sudden roar, and there was Harry’s head, grinning at her. She was still taken aback by the sight of adult Harry. The mop of unruly black hair was there, and so were the familiar eyes and scar and even the same glasses which she was secretly quite glad to see he had kept, but there was no softness about his face now. He had a firm, hard jawline, well-defined cheekbones, a thick, strong neck. Still, despite all this, he was still her Harry.
“ Hermione, how are you?” he asked excitedly, seeming every bit as pleased to see her as she was to see him. “ It’s been ages...”
“ Too long,” Hermione agreed, resisting the urge to run her hand over Harry’s projected head. It looked so real... “ I’ve been doing wonderful—and you?”
“ Never better,” Harry informed her, echoing her same words to him from all those years ago. “ Actually, there’s something I have to tell you...something rather important.”
Hermione flushed with excitement for him. “ Have they finally enlisted you as an actual Auror?”
Harry’s face darkened. “ No...Mad Eye Moody says that I still need more time, despite the fact that I took on Voldemort by the time I was only...but never mind. That isn’t what I wanted to tell you.” He met her gaze squarely. “ I’m engaged, Hermione.”
For a moment, she merely stared at him, not processing the words. It sounded temporarily like a bunch of gibberish, like a different language or a secret code or gibberish of some sort. But then suddenly, the words were clicking into place, and she let out a little “Oh” of surprise and tried to lean up against her desk. Instead, she missed completely and fell rather heavily on the ground.
“ Hermione?” Harry inquired worriedly, apparently not able to see her anymore from his position.
“ I’m all right!” Hermione asserted quickly, pulling herself back into a sitting position. “ Sorry, Harry, you startled me. I fell over.”
Harry was grinning at her. “ Well, what do you think?”
Hermione ignored the question. “ Harry, where are you? Do I know this girl? How soon is this all happening?”
“ I’ll be at the Burrow by tomorrow,” Harry informed her, still giddy, “ the Weasleys have offered their home for the reception and for wedding headquarters. As for my fiancé, well, you’ve never met her before but her name is Kimmy and she’s the sweetest witch in the entire world. And we’ll be getting married on Sunday.”
“ Sunday?” Hermione squeaked, then managed to more composedly repeat, “Sunday? This Sunday? Harry, have you gone mad?”
He merely laughed. “ I know this is all happening rather quickly, but I’m going on extended leave to do undercover Muggle studies, and I want to take her with me. And I know that you’re busy, too, but I need you to be there, Hermione. Please tell me that you’ll be there?”
Hermione felt as though she’d been on the Swirling Cauldrons ride at Hogsmeade Fair for one too many rounds, but somehow, she found herself nodding. “ Of course, Harry. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. And congratulations.”
Harry grinned at her. “ Thanks, Hermione! I would kiss you if wouldn’t...you know, burn your face off. See you tomorrow at the Burrow—9:00, all right?”
And without waiting for a reply, he vanished.
Hermione continued to sit on the ground, staring at the now-empty fireplace. She had the oddest sensation that someone had ripped out her heart and was dancing the Irish jig over it, though she couldn’t for the life of her imagine why.
***
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## 2. Home, Home on the Burrow

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document.write(''); chapter two: Home, Home on the Burrow
Draco was waiting for Hermione by the time she stumbled into his office. Wordlessly, he handed her a butterbeer, which did little to make her tipsy but always managed to comfort her nonetheless, and then waited for her to speak.
“ Harry’s getting married,” Hermione informed him finally.
“ I know,” Draco replied.
For some reason, this made Hermione feel even worse. It was almost as though if no one else knew about it, it couldn’t be real.“ You know?”
Draco nodded. “ Ginny warned me. Thought you might be upset.”
“ I am,” Hermione returned morosely. She rested her elbows on Draco’s desk and buried her face in her hands. “ Oh, I’m a horrible person.”
“ So, it’s true then,” Draco said with a sigh. “ Blast—that means I own Ginny a Galleon.”
Hermione looked up, her face puzzled. “ What’s that?--you lost me. What did I just prove was true?”
“ You’ve been mad about Harry all these years,” Draco informed her as though it was perfectly obvious. “Apparently, everyone’s known it for some time, though I always thought you were more sensible than that. Mooning over Potty and not even being brave enough to say a word to his face--”
“ Hold on,” Hermione interjected, “ I am absolutely, positively not in love with Harry.”
Draco blinked at her in surprise, began to smile, then seemed to think better of it. “Are you certain?”
Hermione held up her three center fingers. “ Scout’s honor.”
“ You were never a scout,” Draco pointed out.
“ Fine, then, prefect’s honor.”
Draco seemed to accept this, though he still looked troubled. “ So then why are you so upset that Potter’s getting married?”
“ Because,” Hermione moaned, gripping the mug of her butterbeer though she had yet to drink it, “ I’ll be the last one of the trio not to be married. Ron married Lavender three months ago—sneaky tart, making moon eyes at Ron the entire time he was my boyfriend—and now Harry’s getting married. That leaves just me. And what if I don’t like this girl? I can already hardly stand Lavender, and I’m just beginning to be on speaking terms with Ron again. If Kimmy and I don’t get along, then I’ll be conveniently cut out of the group. They’ll go on couple’s excursions together and I’ll be sitting at home with my fifteen cats, knitting and reading badly written romance novels and dreaming about some man named Stone--”
“ So you’ve read that one?” Draco inquired with mock enthusiasm. “ Isn’t it absolutely divine when Stone and Violet steal those horses and ride on the beach?”
Hermione merely stared at him. “ I hardly think this is the time, Draco. I happen to be having a life crisis.”
“ This is not a life crisis,” Draco informed her. “ Once again, Granger, you’ve managed to blow things completely out of proportion. Now that we’ve established you aren’t in love with Potter, thus assuring me that you are an intelligent, reasonable human being, there is no huge problem here. In fact, I’d like my butter-beer-of-comfort back, please.”
Hermione ignored the last statement. “ How can you say that? My two best friends—ur, excluding present company—are leaving me behind. I’m going to be completely excluded.”
Draco shrugged. “ I’d say that you’re much better off without the two of them, anyway.”
“ Draco--”
“ Fine, fine.” Draco sighed. “ Hermione, listen. I happen to have observed the three of you over the years—most of the time plotting to get you expelled or severely deformed, of course—and though I hated you for most of that time, there was no denying that the three of you were inseparable. Connected at the hip. All those other clichés for friendship that make me want to hurl. Ron and Harry are not going to leave you behind.”
Hermione considered this for a moment, then smiled. “ Thanks, Malfoy. I suppose you’re right.”
“ I usually am.”
Hermione leaned back in her chair, more relaxed. “ Well, then, I suppose I’ll be taking off the rest of the week to go to my best friend’s wedding.” An odd feeling clutched at her heart, but she pushed it aside and then glanced up at Draco hopefully. “ I don’t suppose you’ll be attending?”
Draco snorted in derision. “ Yes, I’m usually on Potter’s top ten list of people he wants to have around.”
Hermione smiled at him knowingly. “ I thought you might be going with Ginny.”
“ And be jumped by all six of her brothers? No thank you.”
Hermione sighed. “ I suppose your right. Well, try not to let the office implode on itself while I’m gone.”
“ Good luck trying to get back in,” Draco retorted. “ I’m changing the locks.”
***
The next morning, Hermione found herself standing outside of the door to the Burrow. Despite Draco’s assurances to her the afternoon before, she felt the old anxiety returning at the prospect of meeting Harry’s fiancé. What if they didn’t get along? What if Harry let Kimmy convince him to give up on their friendship?
Pushing these fears aside—or rather, tucking them back for later—Hermione reached up and knocked on the door. She waited for a good minute or so, but no one responded. Frowning, Hermione pushed open the door. “ Hello?”
The Weasley home was surprisingly devoid of human beings, and it rather unnerved Hermione. Had she come too late? Had the plans changed and no one bothered to tell her? Was she being excluded already?
She wound through the house toward the back door and was relieved to hear voices coming from the back yard. Suddenly nervous, she dropped her suitcase by the back door, straightened herself out, then stepped onto the porch.
All eyes were immediately turned toward Hermione. Through the blur of red heads, she could barely make out any distinct features, save be for the familiar dark hair and emerald green eyes...
“ Hermione!” Harry cried eagerly, rushing to her before anyone else could get there. Forgetting her nervousness, she ran to him and they collided more than hugged, their lips accidentally brushing against each others’. Hermione blushed, but Harry merely laughed and pulled her into his arms, twirling her around.
“ It’s good to see you,” he exclaimed when he had finally set her down. “ I’m so glad you’re here.”
“ It’s good to see you, too,” Hermione returned sincerely.
Suddenly, the Weasleys were upon her. Ron was there first, hugging her tentatively before passing her to Lavender, who smiled with forced politeness. Mrs. Weasley fussed over her, and the older Weasley boys and their wives all shook her hand enthusiastically. Last as usual, Ginny gave her a warm and reassuring hug that let her know sanity still existed in this world. Finally, she was passed back to Harry.
“ There’s someone I’d like you to meet,” Harry said, his eyes sparkling.
He guided her over to a witch standing in the corner. She was blonde, beautifully structured, tanned, blue eyed...Pretty, Hermione determined glumly. If one liked that whole perfection thing.
“ Hermione,” she gushed, looking as nervous as Hermione felt, “ it’s so good to meet you. Harry’s told me so much about you. Of course, being in the wizarding world, I couldn’t help but hear about you...But meeting you in person...”
Hermione smiled weakly. “ Well, I hope I don’t disappoint.”
“ Of course not,” Kimmy assured her. “ I can’t wait to get to know you better. As a matter of fact...” She glanced at Harry. “ I know this will seem sort of sudden, but my best friend is studying witchcraft in America and can’t make it back for the wedding. I don’t have any sisters or female cousins, so I was wondering if you would be my maid of honor?”
Hermione stared at her dumbly. “ Me? I...are you sure?”
Kimmy took her hands. “ Of course I’m sure. Harry loves you so much, and I know he’d—we’d—love to have you in the wedding.”
“ Well, that’s very sweet of you, Kimmy,” Hermione said finally, “ I’d love to.”
With a squeal, Kimmy threw herself into Hermione’s arms, the force nearly throwing her off her feet. When Kimmy finally pulled back, her face was flushed with pleasure. “ Oh, I’m so glad. You’ll have to come shopping with us today, of course. The wedding is coming up so fast—there’s so much to do!”
Suddenly, there was a flurry of activity. Ron gathered the males together to begin fittings for tuxes, and Kimmy began to round up the females to head to Diagon Alley to search for bridesmaid dresses. Hermione stood, rather dumbfounded from the quickness of it all.
“ It’s all kind of crazy, isn’t it?” Harry murmured into her ear.
Hermione turned to him, grateful for the respite. “ I never imagined this would be happening so fast. I feel like we’ll barely get to see each other again, and then you’ll be married and gone studying Muggles for who knows how long...” She glanced up at him quickly. “ I’m sorry—I shouldn’t be complaining. This is your time. I’m just here to support you.”
Harry smiled at her. “ Don’t feel bad. I was actually thinking the same thing. In fact...” He glanced around, searching for his fiancé, then dragged Hermione purposefully over to her. “ Hey, Kim, do you mind if Hermione and I wander off for a while? It’s been ages since we’ve seen each other, and she can always get fitted for her dress tomorrow.”
Kimmy hesitated, but only momentarily. “ Well, sure. Why not?” She smiled at both of them. “ Have fun, you two.”
Grinning, Harry placed a hand on the small of Hermione’s back and led her into the house.
“ Where are we going?” Hermione inquired once they were inside.
“ You’ll see,” Harry returned, guiding her to the middle of the room. “ Now, hold onto me.”
“ What?” Hermione inquired dumbly, then flushed.
Harry laughed at her. “ I’m going to use a special portkey that D—that a friend gave to me, but it’ll only work for both of us if you’re holding on to me.”
“ Oh,” Hermione said agreeably, feeling quite stupid, “ Of course.”
Tentatively, she wrapped her arms around Harry’s waist, wondering why it suddenly seemed so odd to her to be holding Harry when she had held him countless times before. Once, she was brave enough to glance up at him, but she was so suddenly overwhelmed by their closeness that she quickly buried her gaze back into his sweater.
If Harry noticed any odd behavior, he didn’t let on. Taking out a small box from his pocket, he flipped open the lid, and there was a flash of light. Hermione tightened her grip around Harry, and in a matter of moments, they had landed on a grassy bank, a tangle of arm and legs.
Hastily, Hermione moved away from him, not wanting to think too much about how close their lips had been and where his hand had accidentally fallen. Harry seemed to be somewhat fazed, too, though it could have just been the travel.
“ Well?” he said, sweeping his arm. “ What do you think?”
It took Hermione a moment to realize that they were at Hogwarts, out by the lake where they had spent so many hours together, laughing and picnicking and watching the clouds. She stared in wonder. “ But...how? No one can apparate onto the grounds. I read it in--”
“ Hogwarts: A History,” Harry finished for her. He grinned impishly. “ Let’s just say that Dumbledore and I worked out a special system...in case of emergency, of course.”
Hermione smiled, shaking her head. “ Harry, I hardly think this constitutes as an emergency.”
“ Well, that’s entirely a matter of perspective, Hermione,” Harry informed her, seating himself on the grass. “ This happens to be one of the last times I’ll get to be alone with my best friend for a good, long while, so yes—I think that’s an emergency.”
Relenting, Hermione seated herself next to him, careful to keep a good distance away. For some reason, being near Harry was like an utterly new experience to her. Had he always smelt that good, she wondered?
The grounds were deserted for summer vacation, and if an occasional teacher happened to stroll by, they didn’t bother the pair, and so Hermione and Harry were left alone. They reminisced about old times at Hogwarts, spoke of Cho Chang and Viktor and Snape and McGonogal and anything else they could think of. And for a while, everything seemed to go back to normal, and Hermione felt herself relaxing in his presence. This was just Harry, after all. Just good ole’ Harry.
With a start, Hermione glanced around and realized that the sun was beginning to set. They’d been sitting and talking for hours. Hermione shivered abruptly, hugging herself. “ I’d forgotten how cold it can get out here at night.”
Harry scooted closer to her and wrapped an arm around her, using his hands to rub the goosebumps off the skin on her arms. “ Better?” he inquired.
Hermione felt a slow flush beginning somewhere in her abdomen and spreading throughout her entire body. Dear goodness, had his hands always felt that way?! “ Yes,” she choked out finally, part of her wanting him to stop before she did something embarrassing or desperate, and part of her wanting to see just where that might lead.
Harry stopped rubbing her arms, though he kept his arms around her. The previous thrill at his touch was beginning to fade, replaced by a dull and aching sadness that began to overwhelm her. She swallowed heavily, her mind reluctantly allowing her to go where she had never allowed it to go before.
How could I have not seen it? she wondered morosely.
“ It’s getting late,” Hermione pointed out softly. “We should, um, probably be getting back.”
“ Yeah.” Harry said, but didn’t move for a moment. “ Hermione?” he said after a moment.
She was scarcely trusting her voice now. “ Yes?”
He shook his head, seeming to think better of it. “ Nothing.” Abruptly, he rose to his feet, offering a hand to help her up. He was much stronger than she had anticipated, and as he pulled her to her feet, their faces brushed once again. Lip met lip.
Harry pulled back as though he had been burned. “ Sorry,” he said quickly, then pulled out the portkey. Wordlessly, Hermione put her arms around him, more miserable than she had ever been in her life.
That night, as she sat awake in Ginny’s room, listening to the gentle breathing of the younger girl, Hermione abruptly crossed over to the desk and pulled out a parchment. *Draco* she scratched out quickly, *I think we have a problem...*
***
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## 3. And the Plot Thickens

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document.write(''); chapter three: And the Plot Thickens...
The next morning, Hermione was roused rather unceremoniously from her sleep by an animated Kimmy, who literally pounced on her bed and squealed that ‘super fun wedding shopping’ was about to begin. Groaning, Hermione obediently got dressed, wondering all the while how it was humanly possible for anyone to be so utterly cheerful at 7:00 in the morning.
As Hermione made her way down the stairs, she was surprised to find that no one else seemed to be awake save be Kimmy, who was waiting for her in the living room. Hermione felt suddenly, inexplicably nervous. “ Isn’t, um...isn’t anyone else going?” she inquired in what she hoped was an off-handed voice.
“ I thought we’d go, just the two of us this morning,” Kimmy informed her, “ so that we can catch you up on all your shopping. The others will join us in a few hours. Besides, I’d like to have a word with you alone.”
*Oh, Merlin*, Hermione moaned inwardly. *She knows. She knows that I’m in love with Harry, and she’s going to murder me and throw me in the Thames while everyone else is sleeping...*
Meanwhile, Kimmy had continued to babble on in the sort of way that is only forgivable when done by Barbie-like blondes. “...we’ll have to travel by car, since we’ll be going to Muggle stores. My parents are both Muggles, and they’re dead set on my having a traditional wedding...you know how that is...”
They made their way out to the car, Hermione still not entirely certain that Kimmy wasn’t going to suddenly scream “Avada Kadavra” at her and then laugh gleefully over her corpse. However, no curse was uttered, Kimmy took the wheel, Hermione reluctantly got in after her, and then they were off.
“ Harry and you are very close,” Kimmy said after a moment of uncomfortable silence as they sped toward London, “ I know that. The entire wizarding world knows that, really. I read all those articles about you and Harry that Rita Skeeter wrote all those years ago--”
“ Those were completely untrue,” Hermione asserted quickly. “ Rita had it in for both of us.”
Kimmy nodded at this, as though she had been expecting that answer. “ Yes, that’s what Harry said. Still, so many of Harry’s old friends keep sounding surprised when he announces he’s engaged, and you’re not his bride to be.” She looked at Hermione pointedly.
Hermione felt a steady blush rising along her neck and spreading to her cheeks. “Kimmy, I don’t know what to say. What is your point in telling me all of this?”
“ My point,” Kimmy explained, “ is that I want you to know—no hard feelings.”
It was so completely the opposite of what Hermione had been expecting to hear that she would have spit out her drink-- had she been drinking anything, that is. “ Oh,” she said finally, “ thank you.”
Kimmy seemed to not have heard her. “ Harry has assured me time and time again that he doesn’t have any feelings toward you—none, whatsoever—and that he never could.”
Hermione glanced down to see if there was actually the handle of a blade protruding from her abdomen. The pain was so strong that she wouldn’t have been all that surprised to see one there.
“ Well,” she said finally, “ There you go.”
If Kimmy noticed that she had just inflicted considerable pain on her bridesmaid to be, she didn’t let on. “ Here’s the store!” she said in that same bubbly voice, pulling the car into a perfect parallel park that left Hermione gawking.
She ushered Hermione into the store with her, smiling familiarly at the clerk behind the counter. “ Sasha! How are you?”
“ Just divine,” Sasha, a tall and very exotic-looking woman with dark hair and almond shaped eyes, returned. “ You’re looking lovely, as usual.”
Kimmy smiled at this. “ Why, thank you.” She glanced over at Hermione, dragging her forward. “ This is my maid of honor, Hermione.”
Sasha stared at Hermione, seeming to have noticed her for the first time. She glanced from Kimmy to Hermione, and Hermione could only imagine the comparison that was being made. She suddenly felt horribly frumpy and lost in the masses of her still unwieldy hair.
“ Oh,” Sasha said finally. “ Nice to meet you, Hermione.”
From then on out, Sasha proceeded to ignore Hermione almost entirely. Every question she asked was directed toward Kimmy, and Kimmy answered on Hermione’s behalf as though she wasn’t even present.
“ As you know,” Kimmy informed Sasha, “ I want all of my bridesmaids to have unique dresses that really display their personality.” She stopped at a rack of dresses, pulling out a hideous, lime green number with puffy sleeves and yards of lace. “ Oh, Hermione, this is so you...”
Hermione had just opened her mouth to object when Sasha pulled out a pale pink, collared number that rather resembled something Neville Longbottom’s grandmother would wear. “ This could work,” she said, draping it over one arm.
They proceeded to pick out the ugliest, most hideous dresses that perhaps had ever been created. Hermione wondered idly why on earth anyone would make such dresses in the first place, unless they happened to be weapons of torture disguised as evening wear.
As Hermione glanced boredly around the shop, her gaze suddenly fell upon a shimmering, Champaign-colored dress on a corner rack. Wordlessly, she wandered over to it, fingering the fabric with almost reverent awe. When she checked the tag, she saw with some excitement that it was just her size.
“ What about this one?” she inquired, glancing back at the others.
Kimmy and Sasha stared at her, seeming to have temporarily forgotten she was there. Composing themselves, they made their way over to where Hermione stood and eyed the dress appraisingly.
“ Well, it is lovely,” Kimmy began tentatively, “ but...”
“ What?” Hermione inquired.
Kimmy and Sasha exchanged a glance. “ I don’t know that it would work for you, dear,” Sasha spoke up rather superciliously, “ you don’t, um, really have the body for it, if you know what I mean...”
Hermione felt her face flush with anger and embarrassment. Swallowing heavily, she raised her chin a fraction of an inch. “ I’d like to try it all the same,” she said tightly.
Sasha and Kimmy exchanged ‘the poor frumpy girl is being difficult’ looks and then forced smiles. “ If you’d like,” Kimmy returned finally.
A moment later, Hermione was in the dressing room. Fortunately, Sasha and Kimmy seemed to have other tasks to tend to, for they left her in there on her own. Fuming at the dozens of ugly dresses she had been presented with, Hermione pushed them defiantly aside and pulled off her clothes, slipping on the Champaign-colored gown.
She turned to glance at herself in the mirror and merely stared. It was as though she was an entirely different person. The warm color had brought out the subtle blonde highlights in her hair and made her skin and eyes absolutely glow. Her body, though perhaps not model-material, was being hugged in all the right places and looked positively stunning. She stared some more, not quite believing the transformation that had taken place.
A moment later, she heard muffled voices that she recognized as belonging to various members of the Weasley family. Still, she continued to stare at her reflection, embarrassed at how vain she was being but powerless to stop herself.
She slowly became aware that there seemed to be yelling coming from the other room, and she heard another distinct, familiar voice.
“ Draco!” she realized, and hurried out to save him.
George and Fred Weasley had Draco by both arms, and he and Ron seemed to be involved in some verbal argument. Ginny was watching from the side, obviously torn between intervening and not revealing her particular attachment to that member of the Malfoy family. Draco glanced over and spotted Hermione, looking relieved.
“ There you are,” he snapped, still a bit peevish from his argument with Ron, “will you please tell these Weasley goons to get off me?”
The three Weasley brothers turned to face Hermione and gawked. Draco, seeming to have regained himself a bit, let his jaw drop open at the sight of her. Hermione glanced quickly at Kimmy and Sasha and was perversely pleased to see that they, too, were staring.
Self-consciously, she tucked a strand of hair behind one ear. “ What is it?” she inquired demurely, though she was fully aware of the sight that she made.
“ That dress,” Ginny breathed, “ Oh, Hermione, it’s perfect.” She turned and glanced back at Kimmy. “ Don’t you think so?”
Kimmy’s face was unreadable for a moment, and then she smiled, perhaps a bit too brightly. “Yes, of course. You’ll have to wear that at the wedding, Hermione.”
By this time, Draco had managed to snap his mouth shut, though he was still eying her appreciatively. “ Yes, yes, the dress is lovely. Now can you tell these idiots to let me go?”
“ Fred, George,” Hermione implored.
Reluctantly, they released him, though Ron still looked rather upset about the entire thing. “ What the devil are you doing here, Malfoy?” he snarled.
“ As I’ve already explained,” Draco snapped back irritably, “ I’m here to see Hermione.”
“ I’ll bet you are,” Fred spoke up, his tone clearly hostile.
Ron folded his arms. “ You probably heard about the wedding and decided to come ruin things with your unusual gift for making people queasy.”
Draco opened his mouth to reply, but Hermione intervened quickly. “Actually, I asked Draco to come see me,” she said quickly, taking his hand—a gesture that wasn’t lost on the Weasley boys, nor on Ginny. “ I need to speak to him about...my article.”
Ron looked taken aback by this, and Draco smiled smugly at him. “ See?” he retorted, then turned to Hermione. “ Can we speak in private, luv?”
Hermione led him back to the dressing room, shutting the door firmly behind her. Draco glanced around at the dresses still on their hangars, making a face. “ Did Umbridge’s closet throw up, or something?” he inquired.
“ Now is not the time,” Hermione reminded him, running a hand through her hair. “ I’m going absolutely mad, Draco, and I think I might do something desperate.”
Draco frowned at this. “ Right, the letter. What was that all about, anyway? Errol woke me up at three in the morning.”
Hermione sighed dramatically and began pacing the room. “ You were right, Draco—you were right! Only, I didn’t know it at the time, and now it’s too late to do anything--”
Draco caught her by the arms and held her in place. “ Hermione, really, you’ve been doing a frighteningly good impression of an insane person lately. Now tell me, what’s going on?”
“ I’m in love with Harry,” she blurted out, and then covered her mouth quickly.
Draco stared at her. “ Blast,” he said finally, “ I owe Ginny a galleon again.”
“ Not really the point!” Hermione hissed, sinking down to the ground. “ Draco, what am I supposed to do?”
“ For starters, you should stop ruining that dress by sitting on the ground,” Draco informed her.
Hermione scrambled to her feet. Her heart might be breaking, but this was still the most beautiful dress she’d ever seen. She turned her back to Draco. “ Here, unzip me.”
Draco grinned gamely and complied. “ Anything else?”
“ Turn around.”
The smile disappearing from his face, Draco turned his back to her and proceeded to focus on a particularly ugly dress as Hermione changed back into her own clothing. When she was done, she turned him back around.
“ Well?” she inquired.
“ You have a bit of mustard on your shirt,” Draco pointed out.
Hermione glared at him. “ I meant about Harry. What am I supposed to do?”
Draco sighed. “ Oh, right. Well, I suppose what you first have to consider is why you’re in love with Harry. Have you really been harboring a crush on him all these years, or are you just jealous that some new chick is moving into your territory?”
Hermione chewed her lip, really considering this. “ I wish it was just some fleeting jealousy thing,” she said finally, “ but being with Harry yesterday, feeling his arms around me...How could I have been so stupid for so long, Draco? I must have loved him for ages, but I didn’t realize it until five days before his wedding!”
“ That does make things rather difficult,” Draco pointed out.
Hermione stared at her hands glumly. “ The real question is, could he ever feel the same way about me? Do I risk losing his friendship, or do I sit by and watch him marry someone else?”
Draco was silent for a moment, then reached out for her. “ Come here,” he said, drawing her into his embrace. “ Listen, Granger, I’m only gonna say this once, so you better pay attention: you are one heck of a woman. You’re smart and funny and sexy as anything, and Harry would have to be a real idiot not to see that.”
“ But what about Kimmy?” Hermione murmured into his shirt. “ Harry loves her...he wants to marry her. But if there’s a chance that he could ever love me...Oh, I’m so confused.”
“ Love can be that way,” Draco mused, then quickly added, “ Not that I’m speaking from experience, of course. But I hear that it can be quite puzzling.”
“ You have no idea.”
Draco pulled back and smiled down at her. “ Go for it,” he urged abruptly. “Take a chance.”
Hermione returned the smile. “ Really?”
Before Draco could reply, there was a knock on the door. “ Hermione?” came Harry’s muffled voice. “ Are you all right? I heard that you were in here with...” He pushed the door open to find Hermione in Draco’s embrace. “ Malfoy,” he finished finally.
Hermione moved away from Draco quickly. “ Harry, hi.” She glanced over at Draco. “ I can explain...”
And she opened her mouth to do just that, to explain that Draco was only a friend. But suddenly, her brain seemed to disconnect itself from the rest of her body, and her mouth was opening and her hand was gripping Draco’s and she was saying, “ Draco and I are engaged.”
In the moment of silence that ensued, Hermione’s brain miraculously returned to its original spot, and she realized with sudden horror what she had just done.
*Oh...CRAP.*
***
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## 4. Seeing Green

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Books » Harry Potter » My Best Friend's Wedding | text size: (+) : (-)

Author: Elizabeth5 |

PG - English - Romance/Humor - Reviews: 195 - Published: 02-29-04 - Updated: 03-18-04 | id:1754686

document.write(''); chapter four: Seeing Green
The whole discomfort over announcing a fake engagement might have not turned out to be such a monstrous mistake had circumstances been right. Hermione was just about to tell Harry that it was all a joke or a slip of the tongue or Turrets or SOMETHING when Mrs. Weasley rounded the corner, her eyes wide with shock.
“ I’m sorry to eavesdrop,” she said quickly, “ but did I just hear what I thought I heard? Our Hermione, engaged?”
And before Hermione could dissuade her, Mrs. Weasley was running out into the main room of the store, shouting the ‘blissful’ news to anyone who would listen. The next thing she knew, Hermione was being swept off to a congratulatory lunch party at a local Muggle restaurant, along with Draco, Harry, the Weasleys, and Kimmy.
However, though the purpose of the lunch was supposedly to celebrate, the only person who seemed happy about the entire thing was Mrs. Weasley. She kept crying and going on about how glad she was that Hermione was finally settling down, how she thought of her as a second daughter and so on and so forth. And though that was all very flattering, Hermione couldn’t help but notice the faces of all her friends around her. Fred, George, Ron, and even Mr. Weasley looked as though they were positively seething, Ginny seemed to be on the verge of homicide, and Harry was still refusing to meet her gaze. And Kimmy—
Well, come to think of it, Kimmy looked quite happy, as well. Not happy in the same sense as Mrs. Weasley...it was more a triumphant look, like she had just beat Ron at chess, or something.
Hermione still couldn’t bring herself to look at Draco. She could only imagine what he’d have to say to her when they were finally alone again.
“—when will the wedding be?” Kimmy was inquiring, watching Hermione closely. “ I hope Harry and I will be back from our honeymoon in time.”
Trying not to wince at the word ‘honeymoon’, Hermione forced a smile. “ Well, you know...things are still a bit uncertain.”
Mrs. Weasley beamed at them. “ Of course they are. But you two are planning on starting a family soon, aren’t you? Your children would be so lovely--”
“ Hold it!” Draco cried abruptly.
Hermione looked around in great surprise and wonder. The people in the room had literally frozen in place. Mrs. Weasley’s mouth was still open, and everyone else had been caught in mid-movement. Hermione turned to Draco wonderingly. “ You killed them...”
“ No, I didn’t,” Draco returned curtly, “ it’s just a spell that my father taught me before he...you know, went all insane and started trying to kill me.”
“ That’s very impressive magic,” Hermione felt herself babbling, “ I wonder if you could teach it to me sometime? I’m certain that I’ve never read anything on it...”
“ HERMIONE.”
She sighed. “ I know, I know. I’ve messed up horribly, Draco, and I’m sorry. Now Harry won’t even look at me, and Ginny looks absolutely livid--”
“ I don’t care what Ginny thinks,” Draco snapped peevishly, though she noticed that his face had grown a bit crimson at the mention of her name. “ But I refuse to be labeled as Mr. Hermione Granger when I’m not even getting any of the benefits!”
“ I’m sorry, Draco,” Hermione repeated. “ Believe me, I am. But it’s too late now-- we’ll just have to play along with it until I can come up with a good excuse for breaking it off with you.”
Draco raised an eyebrow. “ You, break it off with me? I don’t think so. If anyone is going to end our sham engagement, it’s going to be me.”
Hermione nodded quickly. “ Yes, of course. Whatever you say.” She turned to him desperately. “ Please, Draco, you have to help me with this. I’ll do anything you ask.”
He paused, seeming to contemplate this. “ You’ll pay that galleon that I owe Ginny?”
“ Of course.”
“ And you’ll tidy up my office and do my laundry for a month?”
“ Absolutely.”
“ And you’ll do an exotic dance dressed like Princess Leia with the whole golden bikini number?”
“ Draco...”
He grinned. “ Sorry, had to try. All right, fine, I’ll help you out.”
Hermione flew at him and hugged him tightly. “ Oh, thank you, Draco. I’ll love you forever for this.” She pulled back and studied him. “ Now, when you unfreeze time, I want you to find a way to explain things to Ginny.”
Draco seemed vaguely embarrassed. “ I already told you, I don’t care what she--”
“ I know you’re much too manly and callous to care about what she thinks,” Hermione returned impatiently, “ but for her peace of mind, and mine, will you please explain to her what’s going on?”
He gave a long, drawn out sigh. “ Fine...”
A moment later, the group was unfrozen again. “...with Draco’s lovely hair and skin and your eyes and bone structure...” Mrs. Weasley finished, and sighed.
Ginny rose to her feet abruptly. “ Excuse me, I need to powder my nose.” She turned and stalked away from the table.
Draco waited for a moment, then rose to his feet. “ I need to visit the little boys room, as long as we’re taking a break.” He rose to his feet, started to leave the table, then awkwardly turned back and squeezed Hermione’s hand. “ Be back in a flash, sweetheart.”
Mrs. Weasley and Kimmy “ahhed.” The men at the table looked disgusted.
Draco caught up with Ginny right before she made it into the bathroom. “Wait a moment, I’d like a word.”
Ginny glared at him. “ I have a few choice words for you, too, Malfoy.”
“ This isn’t what it looks like,” Draco informed her. “ I’m just doing Hermione a favor.”
“ Yes, that seems to be your specialty, doesn’t it?” Ginny retorted. “ You’re always falling all over Hermione. Why don’t you just admit that you’re in love with her, you slimy git? You’re worthless and foul and horrible and...your hair is utterly ridiculous!”
And with that, she stalked back toward the table.
Draco felt his own temper rising. “ My hair is ridiculous?” he repeated. “ My hair is ridiculous...?”
He returned to the table, taking his seat beside Hermione and scooting it closer to her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “ Are you cold, darling?” he inquired.
She stared at him blankly. “ No, I’m all right.”
Across the table, Ginny rolled her eyes.
“ Tell us,” Kimmy spoke up, smiling at them both. “ How did you propose to her,Draco?”
“ Oh, it was a very simple proposal, really,” Hermione spoke up quickly. “ He just got down on his knee one night and--”
“ Sweetheart,” Draco interrupted, “ we can tell them the truth. They’re our friends.” He cast his gaze around the table, smiling widely. “ Now, Hermy is going to be embarrassed when I tell you this, but I actually proposed to her in a karaoke bar.”
“ A karaoke bar?” Ron repeated dubiously.
Harry looked up. “ Hermione doesn’t sing,” he stated flatly.
“ Well, no, she can’t carry a tune, bless her soul,” Draco said, laughing and squeezing Hermione’s shoulder, “ but she absolutely loves going there with me. Anyway, I requested a special song--”
“ Which song was that?” Mrs. Weasley inquired.
Draco chewed his lips, glancing around the room. “ Well...hold on, I have an idea.” He rose from his seat abruptly and crossed over to an oddly shaped machine in the corner that the Weasleys couldn’t quite place but those who had been Muggle-raised could not help but recognize.
Placing a quarter in the jukebox, Draco pressed the appropriate button and then turned to Hermione as the first chords of the song began to play. “ You’re just too good to be true,” he sang along in a surprisingly good voice, “ can’t take my eyes off of you...”
He advanced toward her, drawing her to her feet despite her protests. “ You’d be like Heaven to touch,” at this he ran a hand along her cheek, “ I wanna hold you so much. At long last love has arrived, and I thank God I’m alive. You’re just too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you.”
As the music began to pick up, he jumped atop of the table suddenly, to the utter delight of Mrs. Weasley and Kimmy. “ I love you baby,” he belted, “ and if it’s quite all right, I need you baby...”
People were turning to stare now. Hermione turned a bright shade of magenta, wishing that her parents had never gotten tipsy that fateful evening twenty some odd years ago. She slid back into her chair, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze.
“ So let me love you, baby, let me love you!” At this, Draco glanced briefly over at Ginny before taking Hermione’s face into his hands and kissing her passionately.
All at once, the jukebox machine exploded, emitting a loud bang as it began to smoke horribly. Ron gave a tight grin. “ Sorry...my wand slipped.”
“ Oh, Draco,” Kimmy gushed, “ that was so romantic.”
Draco hopped down from the table and seated himself next to Hermione once more. “ You have no idea. Although, it can’t nearly begin to compare to the song Hermione sang me that night when we were alone together.”
All eyes were turned to Hermione, who sunk even lower in her seat. “ You sang Draco a song, dear?” Mrs. Weasley inquired. “ How lovely...which one was it?”
Draco nudged Hermione. “ Go on, Hermy, sing it for them.”
Hermione was going to murder Draco. She was going to chop him into little bits and then dance the mariachi over his mangled corpse.
Tentatively, she cleared her throat and began singing the only song she could think of. “At last, my love has come along--”
“ No, no,” Draco cut her off. “ It wasn’t that one, remember? It was...” He cleared his own throat and began. “ It’s getting hot in here, so take off--”
Hermione clapped a hand over his mouth. “ That’s private,” she hissed at him, suddenly very glad that no one present listened to much Muggle music. She wondered vaguely how Draco had ever heard the song and decided she’d rather not know.
“ Well, that’s lovely,” Kimmy said, snuggling up against Harry’s shoulder. “Don’t you think so, Harry?”
“ Yeah,” Harry grumbled, “ lovely.”
Mrs. Weasley glanced around the table, seeming to notice her children’s morose faces for the first time. “ For goodness sake, is the food sour, or something?”
“ Something’s sour, all right,” George returned under his breath, glaring at Draco.
Kimmy seemed to have not overheard. “ Draco, we’d love to have you at the wedding. Since Hermione is maid of honor, she’ll be escorted by Ron, as he’s Harry’s best man, but we do need another escort for Ginny.”
For the first time, Draco looked vaguely flustered. “ Well, you’ll have to ask Ginny.” he said finally.
All eyes turned to Ginny expectantly. She forced a smile. “ Why not? If Draco’s marrying Hermione than he’s practically part of the family now, isn’t he?”
“ Yay,” the three Weasley boys chorused at once.
Kimmy smiled broadly. “ Wonderful. We’ll take you to get your tux right after lunch, then. Hermione, do you want to come along?”
Hermione shook her head quickly. “ I’m not feeling too well...” she admitted honestly.
Mrs. Weasley frowned. “ I hope it’s not serious.”
“ No,” Hermione assured her quickly, “ I’m just a bit nauseous, is all.”
Was it just her imagination, or had Kimmy smiled at that last statement?
Harry looked up at Hermione for the first time that afternoon. “ I’m not feeling too great, either,” he informed her. “ We can go back to the Burrow together.”
If Kimmy had been smiling before, there was no trace of that now. “ But, Harry, we need to make those last adjustments on your suit...”
“ Ron’s my size,” Harry reminded her. “ He can stand in for me.” He rose to his feet and looked at Hermione questioningly. “ Ready?”
A moment later, they were out at the curb, heading toward an unfamiliar car. Hermione looked at it dubiously as Harry climbed into the passenger seat. “ Harry, I didn’t know you could drive.”
“ Kimmy taught me,” he informed her. “ Her parents are staunch Muggles and wanted to make sure I’d fit into their world. It isn’t so bad, really.”
They drove in silence back to the Burrow. Hermione had absolutely no idea what Harry was thinking. True, he’d seemed rather upset about her engagement, but so did Ron, Fred, and George; Draco sort of had that effect upon people. Still, it had seemed to her that she had seen some sort of spark in Harry’s eye. Jealousy? Anger? Surprise? She couldn’t be certain.
“ Hermione,” Harry said finally, “ I really don’t know what to say.”
*You and me both,* Hermione thought to herself.
Harry glanced over at her, searching her face. “ I would never have really paired you and Draco together,” he admitted.
Hermione shrugged, searching for the right words. “ Well, opposites attract, you know...” She laughed, though it sounded utterly forced, even to her own ears.
Harry pulled the car to the side of the rode abruptly, much to the annoyance of the cars behind him, who honked their horns rather loudly. Ignoring them, he turned to Hermione and looked at her intently. “ Hermione, listen, I think I know what’s going on.”
“ You do?” Hermione inquired, her voice tinged with panic. “ Harry, I can explain, honestly...”
Harry reached out and took her hands. “ You don’t have to go through with this. If it’s an issue of money, you know that I’ll support you.”
She stared at him, taken aback. “ Money?”
“ I don’t know what Malfoy’s told you,” Harry spat bitterly, “ but there are other ways around this. You don’t have to marry him just because you’re pregnant. I’ll take care of you, and your baby, too.”
Hermione’s mouth barely gaped open for a few moments, unable to form logical words. “ Pregnant?” she stammered finally. “ Harry, I am NOT pregnant.”
“ You’re not?” Harry said, and his voice was tinged with hopelessness now. “Then...why?”
Hermione was trying to think of a plausible lie, but she couldn’t help but hear Harry’s words echoing in her mind. “I’ll take care of you”, he’d said. “Honestly, Harry, you’re too good to be true,” she said, as tears spilled down her cheeks.
Harry reached out and took her into his arms. “ I’m sorry, Hermione, I guess I just don’t understand...I want the best for you. You deserve the best.”
His arms were so warm and his touch was so sweet and he smelled so good...She wished that she could melt into his embrace, that they’d never have to part again and that she could freeze the world like Draco had and it would just be her and Harry, forever in each other’s arms. She wanted so much to tell him, to let him know that she loved him and always would.
Instead, she found herself saying, “ I can’t explain it really, Harry. Sometimes you just do strange things for love...”
***
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## 5. Confessions

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PG - English - Romance/Humor - Reviews: 195 - Published: 02-29-04 - Updated: 03-18-04 | id:1754686

document.write(''); chapter five: Confessions
Harry didn’t say any more on the subject of her engagement to Draco, though Hermione often saw him and Ron muttering to each other and casting glances in her direction. To make matters worse, Ginny still wasn’t speaking to her, or Draco either for that matter, and Kimmy was floating around the place with a smug expression that seemed to be permanently etched on her features. Once again, Hermione cursed herself for her stupidity.
Finally, the day to end all days was drawing to a close. Hermione kept glancing at the clock, wondering how early she could plausibly sneak off to bed and regroup her thoughts. She forced herself to wait until 10:30 to yawn and rise to her feet.
“ Well, I’m exhausted,” she sighed, forcing a tight smile at everyone, “ from all the shopping fun, I suppose. I best get off to bed.”
Mrs. Weasley rose to her feet after her. “ Just a moment, dear, I’ll help you and Draco get set up in Bill’s old room.”
Hermione stared at her blankly. “ Bill’s room?” she managed finally. “ I thought I was staying with Ginny...”
“ Yes, well,” Mrs. Weasley looked quite flustered. “ It’s just...you and Draco are engaged, and I know how young couples can be and...well, the other boys are already situated and it would be just silly to move them around to make room for Draco...”
Understanding dawned on Hermione. None of the other boys wanted to bunk with Draco; he was going to be her roommate for the night. Ginny looked as though a vein might literally pop out of her skin. Lovely.
“ I’ll be heading off to bed then, too,” Draco said, clearly not wanting to be left alone with the others. He snuck a glance at Ginny before wrapping his arm around Hermione and whispering none-too-quietly, “ Come on, lover.”
Hermione resisted the urge to rip out his rib cage and instead turned to smile at the rest of the group. “ Goodnight, everyone.” She dared a glance at Harry, who looked quite grim, then turned and followed Mrs. Weasley down the hall.
“ ...it isn’t much,” Mrs. Weasley was saying as she opened the door to a small, dusty back room, “ but it’ll do for the next few days, I hope.” She smiled at Hermione and Draco, getting a bit misty-eyed. “ Goodnight, dears.”
As soon as she was gone, Hermione shut the door and whirled to face Draco. “What on EARTH were you doing this afternoon?”
Unfazed, Draco flopped down on the bed and propped up his head with one hand. “ You were the one who wanted to be my pretend-fiancé,” he reminded her, “ I was just playing the part.”
“ A fiancé from Hell,” Hermione snarled in return, folding her arms peevishly. “Honestly, don’t you think you were overdoing it just a tad?”
Draco merely yawned at this. “ Well, it worked. Harry was absolutely fuming.”
“ Yes, well, so were Ron and the Weasley brothers,” Hermione reminded him, “so that’s hardly a victory. And don’t try to turn this into some great philanthropic favor you’re doing for me. I saw the way you kept glancing at Ginny, trying to make her jealous. That wasn’t very nice of you, Draco.”
“ You little hypocrite,” Draco laughed. “ This whole thing is a ruse to make Harry jealous, and you berate me for doing the same to Ginny?”
Hermione opened her mouth, trying to form some sort of justification, but couldn’t find any. She sighed, relenting a bit. “ Sorry, just...try to tone it down a bit, won’t you?”
Draco shrugged. “ What can I say? I’m a natural thespian. But, for your sake, I’ll try.” He grinned at her impishly, then patted the spot on the bed beside him. “ Now, why don’t we relax a bit, hmm?”
Hermione ignored this. “ You know, Draco, you should really try to explain things to Ginny again. She’s an innocent victim in all of this, and I don’t want her to think we’re plotting against her.”
“ No need,” Draco said off-handedly.
Hermione frowned at him. “Draco...”
“ No need,” he repeated. “ I’m fairly certain that she just apparated into that wardrobe.”
Indeed, as Hermione turned, there came a great sneeze from the wardrobe behind her. Sighing, Hermione crossed over and pulled open the doors. “ Ginny?”
Ginny stumbled out, scowling indignantly at Draco. “ I don’t know how I ended up here,” she insisted, “ I was trying to go to the bathroom.”
Hermione took her hands. “ Ginny, I’m glad you’re here. This has all been a big misunderstanding, honestly. Draco and I are only pretending to be engaged. He was sort of roped into the entire thing—it’s my fault entirely!”
Ginny folded her arms skeptically. “ Then what was with the big show this afternoon?”
“ You know what a big drama queen Draco is,” Hermione reminded her.
Draco sat up. “ Hey!”
Hermione shrugged, then returned her focus to Ginny. “ Besides, I think he was only trying to make you jealous, anyway.”
Ginny turned slightly pink at this, though she was smiling. “ Really?”
“ No!” Draco protested from the bed. “ There is no reason I’d want to make HER jealous!”
As Ginny’s eyes began to darken again, Hermione hastily intervened. “ Oh, honestly, will the two of you start acting like grown-ups? Ginny, you’re mad about Draco, and Draco, you’re just as mad about Ginny, so why don’t the two of you admit it and then move on to more productive pastimes than making each other miserable?”
Draco and Ginny looked away from each other, clearly embarrassed, but finally ventured to meet gazes. In an instant, they had met in the middle of the room and were kissing passionately. “ I’m sorry I didn’t believe you!” Ginny gasped when they finally came up for air.
He shrugged. “ I forgive you.”
Ginny narrowed her eyebrows. “ Draco...”
“ And I’m sorry I led you on,” Draco sighed, clearly not liking having to apologize. “ I was only trying to make you jealous...and you look so cute when you’re angry...”
They proceeded to snog for the next few minutes as Hermione glanced around uncomfortably. Finally, Draco and Ginny broke apart, grinning stupidly at one another. Draco’s hair was mussed and he had lipstick all over his face, and Ginny looked little better.
A sudden thought seemed to strike Ginny, and she rounded on Hermione. “ Wait a moment. You said that Draco was pretending to be your fiancé to help you, but with what? What purpose could there possibly be in pretending to be engaged?”
Hermione exchanged an embarrassed glance with Draco. “ Well...that is...I was sort of trying to make someone jealous, too.”
Ginny’s eyes widened until they were two round, blue saucers. “ YOU’RE IN LOVE WITH HARRY?!!!” she screeched.
Draco covered her mouth quickly, and Hermione advanced toward her. “ Shh. Do you want everyone in the house to hear you?”
Ginny lowered her voice, though her eyes looked no less excited. “ You’re in love with Harry?” she repeated in a whisper.
Hermione nodded miserably. “ Yes, only I’m completely embarrassed about the entire thing and you can’t tell a SOUL, Ginny, swear to me.”
Ginny nodded quickly. “ Of course, I wouldn’t dream of it.” She smiled as the words processed in her mind. “ You in love with Harry--I knew it all along! It’s so perfect...”
“ I don’t see what’s perfect about it,” Hermione said sourly. “ Harry’s getting married on Sunday and I’ve only just realized that I love him, and now he’s going to leave me forever!”
There was a sudden knock on the door, and then Harry’s muffled voice entered the room. “ Hermione? Malfoy? Are you all right?”
“ Oh, Merlin!” Hermione hissed, turning frantically to Ginny. “ Quick, hide somewhere!”
As Ginny obediently ducked under the bed, Hermione turned to answer the door. Draco caught her arm. “ Wait a moment,” he instructed. He un-tucked her shirt and mussed her hair a bit. “ There,” he said, seeming pleased with himself, “ that’ll give Potter something to seethe about.”
Hermione opened the door at last. “ Harry, is there something wrong?” she said in what she hoped was the most natural voice possible.
Harry looked at her, confused. “ I was just about to ask you the same question. I thought I heard a yell come from the room, so I thought I’d see if everything was all right.”
Hermione glanced at Draco, then back at Harry. “ We’re fine in here,” she said, “it must have just been the wind, or something.”
Harry nodded at this, his gaze silently taking in Hermione’s disheveled state and the lipstick smeared across Draco’s face. His mouth narrowed into a straight line. “ Oh, well...have a good night, then.”
“ Goodnight, Harry,” Hermione said, and began to close the door.
There came a loud thump from under the bed. Instinctively, Harry grabbed Hermione’s arm and pushed her behind him. “ What was that?” he inquired, wand in hand.
Draco cleared his throat. “ I didn’t hear anything.”
“ There was definitely a noise,” Harry insisted.
“ Harry--” Hermione began. He turned to face her, and suddenly they were very, very close to one another, so that Hermione could see the white, whispy baby hairs on his face and sense the warmth coming from his body. She swallowed, struggling for composure. “ I- I’m sure it’s only your imagination, Harry.”
Harry stared back at her, seeming to have some great internal conflict in his mind. He glanced over at Draco and then wrenched suddenly away from Hermione, moving into the room. “Still, we should check, just in case...”
Hermione glanced at Draco desperately. He rose abruptly to his feet and cleared his throat. “ Don’t worry, Potter, I can take care of that.” he asserted, puffing out his chest. “ ‘Cuz I’m a man, and that’s what I do...man things. And afterward, I’ll get myself a steak, and some beer.”
Harry glanced at him doubtfully. “ Are you sure?”
Draco grabbed him by the arm and led him from the room. “ Yeah, yeah. If the bedroom’s a-rockin’, don’t come a-knockin’. Goodnight.” He pushed Harry out into the hallway and slammed the door shut after him. “ Geesh, what a pest.”
Ginny scrambled out from under the bed. “ That was close.”
Hermione had scarcely heard them. She sank down onto the bed and sighed deeply, burying her face into her hands. “ This isn’t working. Harry’s never going to see me as anything besides his buck-tooth, bushy-haired friend from Hogwarts.”
Draco stared at her. “ Are you an idiot, or something?” he inquired finally.
Hermione frowned and looked up at him. “ I beg your pardon?”
“ This engagement is eating Potter alive,” Draco informed her, as though it was completely obvious. “ Didn’t you see the way he was looking at you when you were standing all close together? He looked as though he would’ve grabbed you and thrown you onto the bed right then and there if I hadn’t been around.”
Hermione blushed at this. “ You’re only saying that...Harry would never--”
Ginny was staring at her now, too. “Hermione, please tell me you’re joking. There’s no way anyone could be that daft. Didn’t you see the way that Harry was watching you two at lunch today? He looked like he was about to kill someone.”
“ Your brothers and your father looked the same way,” Hermione pointed out.
Ginny shook her head. “ No—they were upset, mind you, but Harry looked utterly destroyed. I’m positive that he’s been in love with you for years...I’ve always thought so, and Kimmy must think so, too. Otherwise, why would she dress you in those frumpy outfits, and why did she look so incredibly pleased when you said you were engaged?”
Hermione felt her pulse quicken, despite herself. Could it really be that Harry returned her feelings? She’d always known that they were very close, of course, but...love? Her mind wandered back to a sort of montage of Harry. When Voldemort had nearly killed her, he’d seemed so very concerned...And when she’d gone to kiss him goodbye on the cheek at the end of sixth year, he’d turned so that their lips brushed...but that had been an accident, or so she’d thought...And then there was the way he was always owling her, wanting to know the little details of her day that no one else cared about...And whenever he visited, he looked happier and healthier than anytime else—everyone always commented on it...
Ginny was smiling at her encouragingly. “ Hermione, you have to tell him.”
Panic began to set in. “ What?”
Draco glanced at Ginny fondly. “Weasley’s right. We can’t keep leading him on like this—the man is getting married on Sunday. You need to tell him the truth, before it’s too late.”
Hermione was quiet for a moment, contemplating, and then she nodded. “ You’re right. I’ll just tell Harry. No more playing sneaky little games. I’ll own up to everything and...and hopefully he won’t hate me for it.”
“ He won’t,” Ginny assured her, leading her toward the door, “ Now GO!”
Hermione found herself out in the hallway. Panic set in again. She hadn’t meant to tell him so SOON. She’d wanted a moment or two to think about it...
*No,* Hermione’s reasonable voice—which had been noticeably missing the past few days—spoke up, *Go tell him now, Hermione, before you lose your nerve.*
Numbly, her legs began to take her down the hall, wobbling noticeably. “ Harry’s my friend,” she muttered to herself, “ he cares about me and I can tell him anything and--”
She rounded the corner and froze. Harry and Kimmy were standing in the middle of the kitchen, kissing ardently, too absorbed with one another to have even noticed her presence.
With an odd feeling of deadness spreading through her limbs, Hermione turned and hastily made her way in the other direction. She thought about going back to hide in her room, but Ginny and Draco would be there and she just couldn’t face them now...
Instead, she passed the bedroom and kept on walking out the front door and into the night.
***
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## 6. The One Less Traveled By

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document.write(''); chapter six: The One Less Traveled By
It was around ten the next morning that Hermione finally made her way back to the Burrow. She’d spent a good deal of the night wandering aimlessly, replaying the scene of Harry and Kimmy in the kitchen until she was utterly miserable. When it started to rain, she finally apparated to her office at the Daily Prophet and fell asleep at her desk. She woke up rather late, realized with a start that she’d been gone all night, and quickly apparated back to the front porch of the Burrow.
As she stepped into the house, the first sight that greeted her was of Draco shooting up from his seat on the couch, his eyes wide. Before she could even think of speaking, she had crushed her in his embrace. “ Thank goodness you’re all right,” he said, and then he looked angry. “ Why didn’t you let us know you were going?”
Ginny, who was only a few steps behind him, looked far more sympathetic. “Things didn’t work out with Harry,” she summed up quietly.
Hermione shook her head, fighting back the moisture in her eyes. “ I saw him with Kimmy and I just couldn’t go through with it.” She hastily wiped at her eyes with the back of one hand. “ I’m sorry that I caused so much trouble...I fell asleep in my office and lost track of the time.”
“ Well, you did cause trouble,” Draco snapped, “ We thought you had been killed or kidnapped or something. Everyone’s been searching all morning.” Before Hermione could reply, he whipped out a cell phone from his pocket, dialing quickly. “ Harry? She’s back. Yeah, she’s all right. Okay. Bye.”
Hermione was too busy being miserable to find the humor in the fact that two of the most powerful wizards in the world were communicating via cell phone. She made her way over to the couch, sinking down onto the cushions. Ginny placed a comforting arm around her, then glared up at Draco.
Relenting somewhat, Draco made his way over to her and seated himself on Hermione’s other side. “ Listen, I know you’ve been having a hard time with this, but let us know the next time you’re going to take off in the middle of the night, all right?”
Hermione nodded, sniffing pathetically. “ If it’s any consolation to you at all, I feel absolutely horrible.”
A smile tugged at the corner of Draco’s mouth. “ You look absolutely horrible, too.”
A bit more tactfully, Ginny inquired, “ Did you...um, did you sleep in your clothes all last night?”
Hermione nodded, and sniffed again before adding, “ And I think I’m coming down with a cold.”
Ginny exchanged a glance with Draco. “ Well, we’ll have to clean you up before Harry gets back...”
“ Why bother?” Hermione inquired helplessly. “ There’s no point. He’s in love with Kimmy, and they’re going to be married on Sunday, and that’s that.”
Before Draco or Ginny could reply, the door burst open and Harry, Kimmy, and the rest of the Weasleys spilled into the room. “ Thank goodness you’re all right!” Mrs. Weasley wailed at the sight of Hermione, her eyes bloodshot. “ We thought you were dead!”
Hermione forced a weak smile. “ Sorry to worry everyone. I, um, remembered a last minute change I had to make to my article before it went to press, and I sort of lost track of time.”
This explanation seemed to satisfy everyone. She was, after all, Hermione Granger.
“ Are you sure you’re all right, Hermione?” Harry inquired.
She glanced down at her hands, unable to look at him. “ Fine, Harry.”
“ Well, thank Merlin for that.” Kimmy gushed, smiling broadly and looking annoyingly put together, Hermione noted, compared to her own frumpy and frazzled state. “ And since Hermione’s all right and all is well, that means we can get on with scouting.”
“ Scouting?” Hermione repeated, not certain she had heard right.
Harry cleared his throat, glancing uneasily about the room. “ Well, apparently with all of the guests and all, the backyard of the Burrow isn’t going to be big enough for the wedding, like we originally planned.”
Hermione glanced at Mrs. Weasley, who was trying to look as though she didn’t care, though it had obviously been a wound to her pride to have her home called too small. Hermione’s mood darkened. Harry wouldn’t be callous enough to say such a thing to the Weasleys unless he’d been coerced to do so; she could easily imagine who was behind such a thing.
“ So,” Kimmy finished for him, still smiling, “ we’re going to go scouting for new locations. With everyone helping, I’m sure we can find a place in no time.”
Hermione could imagine about a thousand other things she’d rather be doing than helping to plan Harry’s wedding. Including swimming with sharks and having a root canal.
A sudden idea struck her, and she gave a pathetic cough. “ Sorry,” she rasped, “ I think I’m coming down with a cold. Do you mind if I hang back?”
Kimmy hardly looked affronted by this news; in fact, she could barely contain her enthusiasm. “ Well, if you’re sure...All right, come along, everyone. Let’s get going.”
Draco turned to Hermione. “ Do you want me to stay behind with you?”
Hermione glanced over and saw Ginny watching her hopefully. “ Oh, no,” she said, smiling at him, “ go on. I’m sure that you can find someone else to talk to. Maybe you and Ginny could talk about the paper...her latest article, perhaps.”
Draco looked as though he could barely contain his grin. “ Well, if you’re sure...”
Hermione watched as the others filed out of the house, but was surprised to see Ron lagging behind. He glanced at Hermione, then to Lavender. “ Um, sweetheart, I should probably catch up on some of my work today. Otherwise, I’ll be falling behind with the wedding and everything coming up...”
Lavender glanced at Hermione and looked less than pleased, though there was hardly anything she could say in front of everyone. “ All right, then,” she said in what was supposed to pass for a light voice, “ good luck.” She kissed him possessively and glanced at Hermione once more before departing out of the house.
Ron and Hermione were left alone. Hermione suddenly felt very nervous. She and Ron were beginning to patch things up since their break-up, true, but it had been ages since they’d been alone together. Usually, Harry was there to act as mediator. She could only imagine what kind of horrible arguments could spring up between them without someone to play peacemaker.
Ron looked equally awkward as he stood in the doorway, running a hand through his bright shock of red hair. “ Well,” he said finally, “ you look bloody awful.”
Hermione stared at him in shock. “ Excuse me?”
“ Look at you,” Ron said, gesturing toward her appearance. He ventured further into the room. “ I mean, usually when I see you, a part of me is kicking myself for letting you slip through my fingers. But not today. You look bloody awful, and I’m feeling pretty good about having moved on.”
Hermione was stunned. She wondered what sort of scathing remark she could hurl back in his direction, what sort of cutting remark would wipe that smug grin off his face...until she saw the sparkle in his eye and realized that he was purposefully goading her.
“ Well,” she said, appraising him with mock gravity, “ I’ve seen better.”
He grinned and crossed the room, sitting beside her on the couch. “ Well, then, we could both stand to use some improvement.”
“ Definitely,” Hermione said in the same overly serious tone.
Impulsively, Ron reached out and squeezed her arm. “ Seriously, how have you been? With all the whirlwind of Harry getting married, I feel like we haven’t gotten to talk at all. And now that you’re engaged to Malfoy, you know I won’t be visiting you anytime soon.”
Hermione laughed. “ Yes, well...I’m sure I’ll find a way to sneak off.”
“ We can have secret meetings,” Ron suggested, “ ditch the spouses, meet up in Hogsmeade—you me, Harry.”
She grinned at him. “ Well, that sounds lovely.”
By the time the others returned a few hours later, Hermione and Ron were still sitting on the couch, laughing and reminiscing about old times. Hermione couldn’t remember the last time she and Ron had had so much fun together, just the two of them. She no longer felt the old resentment toward him; that chapter of her life was over, and Ron could just be her friend now. It was...nice. She wondered if she could ever come to such a place with Harry.
The door opened and the rest of the group spilled into the room. Harry stopped at the sight of Hermione and Ron on the couch and grinned. “ Hey, what’s this? A meeting of the old trio without me?” he inquired.
“ Sorry Harry,” Ron said gravely, “ but we’ve been talking, and you’ve been voted out of the group.”
“ Come on,” Harry pleaded, “ give me one more chance.” He met Hermione’s gaze. “ Help me out, Mione.”
She forced a smile. “ How can I resist that face?” she inquired with a lightness she didn’t feel. She turned to Ron, whose face elicited far less complicated emotions. “Perhaps we ought to give him one more chance.”
“ Dinner tonight?” Harry inquired, grinning at the both of them. “ My treat?”
Ron glanced over at Lavender, who was glaring at the sight of him with Hermione on the couch. “ Well, as long as it’s your treat, let’s bring our respective others. I don’t think I can bear to spend another moment away from my wife.”
*Nice one, Ron* Hermione thought with a smile as she saw Lavender’s face visibly softening.
The plan was set. Hermione went to get changed, with Draco following obligingly behind her. “ How was it?” she inquired as soon as they were alone together.
Draco grinned. “ Well, Ginny and I left halfway through to, ur, take care of a problem at the paper. We were gone for quite a while—it was a very serious problem, after all.”
Hermione grinned in return. “ I’m sure...” She began browsing through the closet, then glanced back at Draco. “ Did they find a spot for the wedding, then?”
“ Hogwarts,” Draco returned.
“ Hogwarts?” Hermione repeated. “ I thought they were inviting a bunch of Muggle guests. Won’t that be a bit suspicious?”
“ Dumbledore’s promised that everyone will be on their best behavior,” Draco informed her, “ and after the Muggles leave, they won’t be able to remember how they got there. The grounds are actually quite lovely this time of year, so it will probably turn out pretty nice.”
Hermione frowned at this but didn’t comment. She was going to put this Harry thing behind her once and for all. Harry was going to get married, and she just had to accept it.
Draco swore under his breath, breaking her from her thoughts. “ What’s wrong?” Hermione called over her shoulder.
“ I spilt my cologne all over this shirt,” Draco informed her. “ Now I’m going to stink up the entire place.”
“ The laundry is just down the hall,” Hermione informed him. “ I’m sure Mrs. Weasley has something to take care of that.”
Grumbling, Draco departed from the room. Hermione took the opportunity to slip into what she often referred to as her Audrey Hepburn dress. It was simple and elegant and made her feel quite loverly.
She reached back to zip it up but found that her arms couldn’t quite reach. Tentatively, she stepped out into the hallway. “ Draco?” she called.
“ Need help with something?” came the voice she definitely didn’t want to hear.
Hermione turned and forced a smile at the sight of Harry. “ Oh, hi. I was just going to ask Draco to zip me up.”
“ I can do it.” Harry offered, stepping forward. Reluctantly, Hermione turned and allowed Harry to zip up the dress. She forced herself not to think of how nice Harry smelled, or how she could feel his breath on her neck, or how his hands accidentally brushed against the skin of her back and left her nerves tingling.
When he was done, she stepped away from him quickly and smiled. “ Well, thanks.” She turned and started to retreat to her room.
“ You look nice,” Harry called after her.
Hermione paused in the doorway, her heart throbbing now. “ Thanks,” she murmured, and shut the door firmly behind her.
In a matter of minutes, everyone was ready. After a few more minutes of arguing about where to go, the group ended up at a tiny restaurant just inside of Diagon Alley. Though Hermione had been dreading spending time with Kimmy and Harry, she found that it was actually a very enjoyable evening. The trio took the main spotlight, laughing over their adventures, and their partners respectfully listened in and only interjected here or there. Hermione found that as long as she could pretend Kimmy wasn’t there, it was all quite pleasant.
Afterward, as they walked out of the restaurant, Hermione was feeling as happy as she’d been in days when suddenly Kimmy let out a little shriek. “ Is that it, Draco?”
All gazes followed her extended index finger, which was pointing toward a karaoke bar across the street. Draco frowned at her until he remembered. “ Oh, right. Yes, that’s where I proposed to Hermione, all right.” He put an arm around her shoulder and grinned impishly at her.
“ Why don’t we go inside?” Kimmy suggested. “ I love karaoke...”
And so, Hermione found herself inside of a karaoke bar, a place as uncomfortable to her as a library was familiar. She sunk into a corner booth, hoping that none of the various spotlights floating around the place would be pointed toward her.
“ You should get up and sing a duet,” Lavender suggested to Draco and Hermione, smiling innocently.
Hermione resisted the urge to glare at her. Having been her former roommate, Lavender knew all too well how very tone deaf Hermione was. “ I’ll pass.” Hermione said firmly.
As Kimmy and Lavender walked up to the front of the room to sign up for turns, Draco kept glancing at his watch. Hermione turned to him finally. “ Is there somewhere you need to be?”
“ I, um,” he met her gaze desperately, “ I’m supposed to go do some last minute changes on an article.”
*Ginny* Hermione surmised easily.
“ You’ve been doing a lot of that,” Harry pointed out.
Draco shrugged nervously. “ What can I say? They’re slave drivers, the lot of them.” He glanced at Hermione. “ Do you mind?”
Hermione smiled at him; he’d really been a good sport throughout all this. “ Go on.”
Draco kissed her on the cheek and then practically dashed from the room, leaving her alone with Ron and Harry. “ Why aren’t the two of you singing?” she teased.
“ I’m allergic to microphones,” Ron spoke up quickly.
Harry grinned. “ Ditto.”
Hermione had just opened her mouth to reply when the announcer came over the speakers. “ Our next performer will be Miss Hermione Granger!”
Hermione stiffened, her gaze sweeping slowly to the front. Everyone in the bar was staring at her now, waiting expectantly.
“ Come on,” Lavender urged, taking Hermione by the arm, “ everyone’s waiting.”
“ Yes,” Kimmy agreed, “ and besides, you shouldn’t try to hide your talents, Hermione...”
And before she could even think to fight back, she was thrust onto the stage in the midst of the spotlight. Terrified, she stared out into the crowd, wishing that Voldemort would make a sudden comeback and kill her where she stood.
The music began to play. Hermione missed the first couple of words, but then began to stammer, “ I was petrified, kept thinking I could never live without you by my side...”
She was mortified, to say the least. Her voice, which in normal, un-stressful circumstances was horrid, was utterly wretched now that she was trembling with fear. This was horrible. This was by far the most humiliating thing that had ever happened to her... The music continued to play, but Hermione’s throat had constricted painfully and she could no longer form audible sounds.
And then suddenly, Harry was on the stage beside her, giving her a reassuring grin. “ But I grew strong, and I learned how to get along!” he belted.
Cor, his voice was awful. It was so awful, that Hermione found herself relaxing a bit. They began to sing with each other, both alternately more wretched than the other. The crowd was roaring with laughter now, but it was encouraging laughter, and Hermione felt herself laughing with them.
When the song was over, Harry and Hermione were both laughing too hard to stand on their own. Leaning heavily against one another, they made their way back to the booth and sat down. Kimmy and Lavender were both smiling, though neither one of them looked particularly pleased.
“ Well, that was nice,” Kimmy said.
Harry shook his head. “ No, it was utterly horrid. But I’ve never had more fun in my life.”
Hermione was laughing so hard she could hardly breathe. “ I think I might have an accident if I don’t get to the bathroom,” she gasped, sliding out of her seat and half running across the room. She could hear Ron and Harry laughing behind her.
“ Horrendous!” a man at the bar called out to her as she dashed passed. She waved at him briefly and then disappeared into the bathroom.
A moment later, her bladder was considerably better under control, and she began to make her way back toward the table. She stopped as she realized the booth had been deserted. Frowning, she glanced around the bar, searching for her party.
“...she was always like this,” a familiar voice came from around the wall. Hermione frowned; was that Lavender? “ Always had to be the center of attention. There were rumors going around school that she put a spell on Ron and Harry to make them befriend her.”
“ I think they do it out of pity,” came another voice. Kimmy. “ I mean, really, it’s rather pathetic, don’t you think? And have you seen the way Hermione moons over Harry? I almost feel sorry for her. There’s no way he’d ever touch THAT...”
Hermione felt as though she’d been punched in the gut. Was that what everyone thought of her? That she’d tricked Ron and Harry into being her friends? And what was worse, did everyone know how she felt about Harry? Did they feel sorry for her because it was so pitiful that she could even think he was in her league?
Blindly, she pushed her way through the crowd, racing toward the exit. “ Ho, Hermione,” she heard Ron call from the bar, but she ignored him.
She had made it out to the street by the time Harry caught up with her. “Hermione, wait. Where are you going?”
Trembling, she whirled to face him. “ Oh, Harry, don’t worry about me,” she rapidly shot off the words, scarcely knowing what she was saying, “ I just...I miss Draco so much, you know? And I need to be with him right now—you know how it is.”
It might have worked, too, had the tears not started spilling down her face.
“ Hermione!” Harry caught her arm and turned her to face him. “ What is it? Did something happen?”
Hermione wiped angrily at the tell-tale tears. “ Harry, I don’t think I can come to your wedding. I’m sorry, but things have come up and I just can’t be there.”
Harry’s face fell. “ But...you have to be there. You’re the most important one...” he trailed off as though he had said too much.
She scarcely seemed to notice. “ Oh, come off it, Harry. I’m not the most important one to anyone.”
“ What are you talking about?” Harry inquired, frowning. “ You’re engaged to Draco...surely he must--”
“ Draco doesn’t love me!” Hermione snapped. “ He’s in love with...someone else. But that doesn’t even matter. I’ll never have what Ron and Lavender have, or what you and Kimmy have.”
Harry stroked her arm soothingly. “ Of course you will, Hermione--”
She pushed him away. “ Don’t speak to me like that! I know what I’m saying. The man I love is in love with someone else. He’s the only one I’ll ever love—I know it—but he doesn’t want me.”
“ Draco,” Harry said dully.
Hermione pressed her eyes shut, failing to correct him. “ I’m tired of being second best,” she said quietly, looking away.
“ Hermione, you aren’t second best at anything,” Harry assured her. “ You’re the best person I know—the best out of all of us. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even be here.”
She sighed. “ I know, I know. Because I helped you defeat Voldemort.”
Harry gripped her arms. “ No. Because you are my conscience. Everything I do, I wonder what you’ll think of it. You guide me, Hermione. You’ve made me into the man I am today.”
The words hung in the air, beautiful and astounding. Harry released her and seemed to be embarrassed, though he continued to speak. “ How could you ever think that you’re second best? If it weren’t for the fact that you’re much too good for me...” But he stopped himself.
There are certain moments that are turning points. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and all that. And when those moments come, you have to choose one path or the other, but either way, there’s no turning back. Do you take the chance, or do you just keep going down the same road for the rest of your life?
She took the chance.
Suddenly, abruptly, before she could think too much about it, Hermione dove forward and kissed Harry. He tasted just as she had always imagined: warm, whole, electric. Only, unlike her imaginary scenarios, Harry wasn’t pushing her away from him with dismay or disgust; magically, it seemed, his arms were wrapping around her and his lips were crushing on top of her own. His hands were tangling in her hair, his body was pressed against her own, and she felt her own identity slipping away. She wasn’t Hermione any longer; she was Harry, she was his, and she never wanted it to end.
“ Hey, is everything--”
They jerked apart at the sound of Ron and turned to face him guiltily. His eyes were wide with shock, and he looked as though he wanted to kick himself. “ Sorry,” he said quickly, adding, “ Sorry,” once more before he fled back inside the bar.
Hermione glanced back at Harry and felt her heart drop. His eyes were wide with dismay, and he looked as though he could scarcely believe what had happened. Her worst nightmare was coming true; she’d finally told him the truth, and he was sickened by her.
She wanted to die.
Hastily, she turned and began to run again, just as she had run out of the club a few minutes earlier. Only this time, Harry didn’t call out to stop her.
***
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## 7. A Little Nudge

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document.write(''); chapter seven: A Little Nudge
Hermione was miserable. Harry was miserable. They were miserable together, but separately. Of course, seeing as how it was only two days before the wedding and everyone was hurrying in a mad rush to get things together, almost everyone seemed to be oblivious to their mutual misery, and so no embarrassing questions were asked and they were allowed to go on wallowing in their own self-pity.
Ginny observed this for as long as she could bear before finally pulling Draco aside. “ What is going on?” she inquired. “ Harry and Hermione both look utterly and completely wretched, and I haven’t heard a word from either one of them all morning. Something awful must have happened.”
“ That or they’re playing the quiet game,” Draco returned dryly.
Ginny merely frowned at this. “ Hermione didn’t mention to you that anything was going on, did she?” Draco shook his head. “ Me neither. It must have been really bad, or she would have told us about it.”
“ Want me to break Potter’s legs?” Draco inquired.
“ I hardly see how that would help.”
Draco shrugged. “ I’m sure it would help someone...”
The conversation might have continued, but Fred and George were eying them warily, and so they hastily split off into two different directions. It was half an hour later before they felt it was safe to talk again, and even then they did it under the ruse of setting up folding chairs and looked at each other as little as possible.
“ I think you should talk to Hermione,” Draco said under his breath.
“ Me?” Ginny returned. “ Why not you? You’re her pretend fiancé, after all.”
Draco looked vaguely uncomfortable. “ What if she starts crying or talks about her period? A man can’t deal with that sort of thing...”
Ginny rolled her eyes. “ I think you would have benefited vastly from having a sister, Draco.” She paused, seeming to think about this. “ Actually, no. That would be far too cruel a thing to do to a little girl. You’d no doubt be prettier than her, and she’d have all sorts of issues about feeling frumpy and ugly. So never mind—it’s best you’re an only child.”
Draco seemed torn between facial expressions. “ Um...thank you?” he said finally.
Ginny smiled at him, then abruptly cleared her throat and looked away. Draco glanced back to see Ron approaching. Uneasily, he wondered if Ron suspected anything. It wasn’t that he was afraid of Ginny’s six brothers...no, scratch that. He was definitely afraid.
To his surprise, Ron grabbed a few folding chairs and began to set up alongside them. “ Listen,” he said under his breath, “ has Hermione spoken to either one of you about last night?”
Draco and Ginny exchanged a glance. “ Last night?” Ginny said finally. “ What about last night?”
Ron sighed, and actually gave Draco a sympathetic look. “ Listen, Malfoy, there’s no easy way to say this...I saw Hermione kissing Harry last night.”
Draco tried his best to look horrified. “ I am shocked and appalled!” he said melodramatically, then blinked. “ All right, do go on. What happened next?”
As Ron furrowed his brow at Draco, Ginny quickly intervened. “ Dra—ur, Malfoy and I expected that something had happened. I mean, look at the two of them. They’re like walking zombies.”
“As opposed to crawling zombies,” Draco interjected, “ which are actually quite cheerful.”
Ron’s frown deepened. “ Have you been nipping a bit on the side, or something?”
Ginny gave an exasperated sigh. “ Ron, please--give us all the details. What did you see last night?”
Ron glanced over his shoulder, obviously not wanting anyone to overhear. “Well, we were at the karaoke bar and everything was going fine. Then all of a sudden, I see Hermione running past crying. And of course, Harry went running out after her--”
Ginny smiled. “Awww....”
Ron glanced at her quizzically, but continued nonetheless. “ Well, I thought I’d give them a moment—Harry’s always been much better at handling Hurricane Hermione, after all. But when they didn’t come back inside, I went out to go check on them, and I saw them going at it--”
“ On the open street?” Draco said, his voice a mixture of horror and delight.
Ginny rolled her eyes. “ Kissing, Draco.” She turned back to Ron. “ Well, what else?”
“ I went right back inside,” Ron said, “ but not before they’d seen me. Harry came in a moment later, but Hermione never came back. The rest of the night, Harry was doing his human vegetable impression, and now this morning they’re both acting catatonic.” He looked at Draco and Ginny suspiciously. “ And for some reason, I get the inkling that the two of you know what’s going on.”
Ginny sighed. “ All right, we’ll tell you, but only because you might be able to help. You can’t breathe a word of this to anyone, Ron.” He nodded quickly. “ Hermione is in love with Harry.”
Ron glanced quickly at Draco. “ Shocked and appalled!” Draco repeated, trying to look upset.
Ginny ignored him and studied her brother’s face. “ You know Harry better than anyone else. Is there a chance that he could be in love with Hermione, too?”
To her surprise, Ron began to laugh. He laughed so hard that he doubled over and his voice became hoarse. Tears were pooling from his eyes.
Ginny glanced around uncomfortably. “ Ron, I hardly think it’s all that funny...”
“ Good grief!” Ron gasped as soon as he was able to regain control of his voice. “Is everyone around here taking stupid pills?”
Draco eyed him warily. “ You’re certainly doing a good impression of it.”
“ Harry’s been in love with Hermione for ages,” Ron informed them. “ Simply mad about her. We almost stopped being friends because of it, though at the time he was being too thick-headed to realize that the reason he got so angry at me for dating Hermione was that he’s been in love with her since he was twelve. And now...he finally decided to get over Hermione and put her behind him, and she realizes she’s in love with him! It’s bloody ridiculous!”
Ginny looked at him anxiously. “ Well...this is just awful! They’re both in love with each other, but too stubborn to admit it! And his bloody wedding is in TWO DAYS!”
This seemed to sober Ron up. “ We can’t let him go through with it,” he said firmly. “ We have to make them admit that they’re in love with each other.”
Draco folded his arms. “ Yeah, but how?”
***
Saturday.
Hermione groaned inwardly as she rolled out of bed. It was Saturday. Which meant tomorrow was Sunday. Which meant that Harry would be getting married tomorrow. There was absolutely no point in getting out of bed, this morning or ever again.
But, get out of bed she did. And why? Because, aside from being the love of her life, Harry was also her best friend, and she couldn’t desert him now. No matter how painful it might be to watch him marry someone else.
The only solace was that Saturday would be blissfully busy. They would be doing the finishing touches on decorations all morning and afternoon, and then there would be a huge luncheon for family and friends, and then they would rehearse the wedding all night. Hopefully, with so many things to do, Hermione wouldn’t have time to be miserable.
The morning passed rather quickly. Kimmy was being completely anal about each and every little detail, but hating Kimmy was better than being jealous of Kimmy, and so Hermione took to it with full force. The luncheon passed by as a blur; she did her best to appear cheerful and thought it probably worked, not realizing that her frozen smile and stiff gestures rather reminded everyone around her of the time she’d been petrified her second year at Hogwarts.
Finally, it was time for the wedding rehearsal. This was destined to be the most painful part of Hermione’s day, she realized. Everyone was supposed to wear their actual wedding attire—save be Kimmy, who was sticking to the tradition that it was bad luck for the bride to see the groom in her wedding dress before the ceremony—and so Hermione would virtually be watching Harry and Kimmy get married over and over and over. Lovely.
The only consolation in this was that she got to wear her dress. Her beautiful, Champaign-colored dress that made her look radiant. Always a bridesmaid and never a bride, but at least she’d be one hot bridesmaid. That ought to even things out, right?
She took her sweet time getting ready, grateful to have a room to herself again. They were staying at Hogwarts that evening so that it would be easier to get ready for the wedding in the morning, and she had one of the old girls’ dormitories to herself. It was nice really, since she didn’t have to explain to Draco why she was crying in her sleep and why she couldn’t bear to look at herself in the mirror, even in her beautiful dress.
Almost the second that she’d finished dressing, there was a knock at her bedroom window. Frowning, Hermione crossed over and looked out, stunned to see Ron at the wheel of the old flying car that he and Harry had driven to school so many years before. Staring, she pushed open the window and proceeded to stammer for the next few minutes. “ What are you...where did you...? I thought it was lost somewhere in the Forbidden Forest.”
Ron grinned at her. “ Funny, it always seems to show up right when we need it the most.”
“ Need it the most?” Hermione repeated, confused.
Ron continued to grin. “ Sorry about this, Hermione.”
The door to her bedroom burst open, and Draco and Ginny rushed into the room. “Impedimento!” Ginny cried.
Hermione let out a little moan and collapsed, completely helpless. Draco caught her before she could hit the ground and moved her toward the open window.
By now, Ron had turned the car around so that the back was to the window. He popped open the trunk, revealing a similarly frozen Harry inside. Draco set her down gently and then gave her an apologetic smile. “ Sorry, luv. You’ll thank us later.”
And then he shut the trunk with a resounding thud.
***
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## 8. Surprise

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document.write(''); chapter eight: Surprise
By the time Hermione had finally regained the use of her limbs, Ron, Ginny, and Draco were long gone, and she and Harry had been dumped rather unceremoniously in the little secret chamber under the Weeping Willow.
And yet, somehow Hermione wasn’t upset about being hexed or trapped. She wasn’t even upset about being kidnapped. What bothered her was the fact that Harry was rather determinedly refusing to look at her. He was using all of his might to try and break free from the pit, as though being locked up with her was the worst fate imaginable.
“ Try the back passage,” he directed without bothering to glance back.
Wordlessly, Hermione moved to the back and began working on the door. She tried physical force and spells, then a combination of the two, but to no avail. It seemed that Ron, Ginny, and Draco had pooled together their various skills to make certain that Harry and Hermione couldn’t escape.
“ It’s no good,” Hermione said finally with a sigh, “ we’re trapped.”
Harry pounded his fist on the door. “ This can’t be happening.”
Hermione felt her heart tighten painfully. “ I know that this is hard for you, Harry, and I’m sorry, but at least we can try to make the best of things as long as we’re trapped down here.”
Harry remained silent and still refused to meet her gaze.
And suddenly, it was too much to bear. “ Honestly, Harry,” Hermione snapped, “I didn’t ask for this, either. And I know that it must be torture for you to be around me, but the least you could do is look at me.”
Slowly, tentatively, Harry raised his gaze. Hermione braced herself to see anger in his eyes, revulsion even. But to her complete and utter shock, there was hunger there, complete and unmasked desire.
“ I’ve been trying not to,” Harry said, his voice pained, “ Merlin, Hermione, you’re...beautiful.”
She stared at him, dumbfounded. “ It’s the dress,” she said finally, self-consciously, “ I think it must be enchanted, or something--”
Harry shook his head. “ No...it’s always. You’re always beautiful.”
It was such a sweet and lovely comment that Hermione didn’t know how to respond. Harry mistook her silence for disapproval and sighed, reaching to run a hand through his messy dark hair. “ Listen, I know you’re in love with Draco, and I can’t change that. But do you think you could ever...?”
Her heart was pounding now, hammering in her chest so painfully that she could scarcely breathe. “ What, Harry?”
“ Do you think you could ever love me?”
His eyes were so wide and vulnerable, and she saw suddenly not Harry the accomplished adult, but Harry the child, tucked away in the cupboard of the Dursley’s home, never experiencing love or real kindness until his twelfth birthday, still uncertain of it when it came his way.
A few tears tricked down her eyes and spilled, unnoticed, down her cheeks. “Oh, Harry, how can you even ask me that?” she inquired softly.
He looked away, once again misinterpreting her. Wordlessly, she moved to his side and took his face in her hands, cradling it. Every other time she’d been this close to Harry, she’d felt strange and nervous and awkward, but suddenly it just felt *right*. Hary looked at her questioningly, still uncertain.
The tears continued to run down her face. “ I’m in love with you,” Hermione informed him, “ I was too stupid to realize it, but I have been for years, and now...Harry, I know you love Kimmy, but if you love me at all or think you ever could, please don’t marry her today. Please, don’t--”
But she never finished the sentence. In a matter of moments, Harry’s face had gone from crushed to astounded, and suddenly his lips were upon hers. Her soul breathed a little sigh of joy, and she was so happy that she was laughing, and Harry was laughing, and they were kissing and laughing and crying all in one, and it was messy but beautiful and she never wanted it to end.
The sound of a throat clearing shattered the blissful reverie. Harry and Hermione looked up to see Kimmy standing in the now-open doorway, an oddly hollow look in her eyes.
“ Well, well, well,” she said, the bubbly exuberance gone from her voice, “ I had heard theories that the only cure for the imperius curse was true love, but I suppose the two of you have just verified it for certain. Congratulations.”
Hermione looked at her in shock. “ Imperius curse? You mean...?”
Kimmy smiled nastily. “ Yes, dear, stupid Hermione. Since the moment I met Harry, I’ve been manipulating him into loving me so that he would marry me. And it would have worked, if you hadn’t butted in.”
Harry looked equally stunned. “ What? But...why?”
“ It wasn’t for fame or power or anything like that, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Kimmy informed him evenly. “ It was to keep you from marrying her.” She looked pointedly at Hermione.
Hermione was growing progressively more and more confused. “ You went through this elaborate scheme and used an illegal curse just to keep Harry from marrying me? Do you really hate me that much?”
“Yes,” Kimmy returned unblinkingly, “ but not because I’m jealous or catty or anything like that. Suffice it to say, Harry, that the prophecy that linked you with Voldemort was not the only prophecy ever made about you.”
Seeing that she had their full attention now, Kimmy continued. “My great-grandmother was the great seer Cassandra Trelawney, and Sibyll Trelawney is my aunt. A few years ago, at what was about your fourth year of Hogwarts, my aunt made one final prediction about the great Harry Potter. Only, this one was witnessed only by Dumbledore, and he managed to keep it from reaching the rest of the wizarding world.
“ In the prophecy, it said that Harry would find his soulmate in his closest and most trusted friend, a talented muggle born witch, and that she would make him happier than any other person ever could.”
At this, she turned her gaze coldly to Hermione. “ But there was another part of the prophecy, one not quite so pleasant. Harry would love this woman, yes, but that love would eventually destroy him and everyone he loved, and it would eventually pave the way for the end of the wizarding world.”
She paused, letting the words sink in before adding, “ Dumbledore knew that he couldn’t let this happen, but as he watched the two of you grow closer and closer over the years, he knew that it was inevitable that you would fall in love and fulfill the prophecy... unless he took matters into his own hands.”
“ So he let you drug my mind,” Harry said hollowly, “ he let you manipulate me into thinking I was in love with you. Heck, he even provided the grounds for our wedding.”
“ That was a particularly nice touch, I thought,” Kimmy said, but not unkindly.
“ But the plan backfired on him,” Harry continued, his voice numb, “ because it set into motion the whole chain of events that made Hermione and I realize that we’re in love with each other.”
Kimmy shrugged. “I suppose it does have a nice sort of melodramatic flair about it.”
There was silence for a moment, and then Harry and Hermione looked at one another, their gazes clearly pained. “ What do you think about all of this?” Harry inquired finally.
“ I’m not sure what to think,” Hermione admitted. “ If it’s true...”
But it couldn’t be true. She couldn’t even bear to think of what that might mean.
There was only one answer, really. They had to speak to Dumbledore.
***
I thrive on reviews. Don’t make me starve!
A/N: Whoa...if you think you're surprised, imagine my own shock at the turn of events. I thought this was going to be one of the last chapters and that I'd wrap things up nice and tidy, but...What do you think? Should I go off on this, or should I rewrite the chapter and end it as a romantic comedy like it started? Oh, the quandary...

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## 9. The Prophecy

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document.write(''); chapter nine: The Prophecy
Dumbledore didn’t seem at all surprised to see Harry and Hermione. Which, granted, wasn’t really saying much, since Dumbledore hardly ever looked surprised. Still, Hermione couldn’t help but detect a certain resigned look in Dumbledore’s eyes as they came in, as though he had been expecting them.
“ Please, sit down,” he said graciously, motioning toward the two chairs in front of his desk, “ Miss Trelawney, you too.”
Kimmy took the seat next to Hermione but purposefully pulled it away, glaring coolly when Hermione glanced over and met her gaze.
When they were settled, Dumbledore clasped his hands together and ran his gaze over the assembled trio. “ I trust that your presence means that Kimmy has informed you of the prophecy.”
Harry nodded bitterly. “ Yeah, and of the conspiracy to cover it up.”
Dumbledore held his gaze, unblinking. “ I’m sorry that this was kept from you, Harry, and you as well, Hermione, but it was most important that we decipher the meaning of the prophecy before we made the two of you aware of it.”
Hermione frowned at this. “ The meaning of the prophecy? I thought that the meaning was pretty clear—my being in love with Harry will bring about his death and the destruction of the wizarding world.”
Harry looked over at her quickly but remained silent.
“ That is one interpretation,” Dumbledore began.
Kimmy’s face was positively livid. “ The only interpretation.”
Dumbledore ignored this outburst, his face impassioned. “ The actual wording of the prophecy reads that if Harry and you fall in love, it will bring an end to Harry and an end to the wizarding world as we know it.”
“ I don’t see how that’s much better,” Hermione admitted.
“ Not all endings are bad,” Dumbledore reminded Hermione gently, “ sometimes, one thing must end for another great thing to come to pass.”
There was silence as Dumbledore let his words sink in. “ Of course,” he said after a moment, “ that is also only an interpretation. Miss Trelawney and her family may very well be correct.”
Harry glared at Dumbledore. “ Well, if being in love with Hermione might bring about something good, why did you work so hard to keep us apart? Why did you allow Kimmy to manipulate me?”
Unflinchingly, Dumbledore met his gaze. “ Because we needed more time, Harry, to determine whether or not this prophecy was a good or bad omen. Of course, I didn’t realize that Miss Trelawney would take matters to such extremes...”
Kimmy shrugged. “ If our interpretation of the prophecy is correct—which it is—than there isn’t anything too drastic to be done to make sure that the two of you don’t end up together.”
“ It does all seem a little drastic, Professor Dumbledore,” Hermione said after a moment, “ Especially for something like a prophecy. They’ve been wrong before, haven’t they? And anyway, if it is our fate to fall in love, then there’s nothing that could have stopped it.”
Kimmy glared at her icily. “ We might not have been able to stop the two of you from falling in love, but there are ways to keep you apart.”
Harry placed a protective hand on Hermione’s arm. “ I don’t really like your tone, Kimmy. You make that sound like a threat.”
Kimmy merely shrugged. “ Maybe. Maybe not.” She glanced at Dumbledore. “ It all depends on whether or not he’ll cooperate in helping us keep you apart.”
“ The only way to do that would be through force or mind control,” Hermione pointed out, “ and there’s no way Professor Dumbledore would resort to that.”
“ Oh really?” Kimmy challenged. She turned her brilliant blue eyes to Dumbledore. “ Why don’t you explain to them, then, what you’ve already done to keep them apart?”
Slowly, Harry and Hermione turned their gazes to Dumbledore, who regarded them calmly. “ You must understand,” he began, “ that we only had your best interests and the best interest of the wizarding world at large in mind. We needed more time to analyze the prophecy--”
“ Why don’t you just get to the point?” Harry suggested coldly.
Dumbledore sighed. “ Your fourth year at Hogwarts, there were already signs that the two of you were beginning to develop feelings for one another. When Miss Granger was selected as the person whom Harry would miss the most, it seemed that the two of you had reached the point of no return.”
Hermione frowned. “ But I wasn’t chosen for Harry. I was chosen for Viktor, and Ron was chosen for Harry.”
“ They changed it,” Harry answered simply, looking sickened. “Changed our memories.”
Dumbledore nodded. “ We introduced Viktor, hoping that he could distract Miss Granger and allow us more time.”
Hermione stared at him in shock. “ Viktor was a double-agent? To keep me away from Harry?”
“ Yes,” Dumbledore affirmed, “ just as Opal Redding, the transfer student your seventh year, was meant as a distraction for Harry.”
They stared at him, uncomprehending. Dumbledore—DUMBLEDORE—had lied to them. He’d played with their emotions and manipulated them, all to keep them apart.
“So what are we supposed to do now?” Harry inquired bitterly. “ Shake your hand and say thanks for screwing with our lives all these years?”
Dumbledore sighed again. “ If it’s any consolation, it wasn’t an easy decision to make.”
Harry scowled at this. “ Oh, yes, what a wonderful consolation. That certainly makes up for everything.” He rose to his feet, looking questioningly at Hermione.
She hesitated, but only for a moment, then rose to follow after him.
“ I feel I don’t have to remind you,” Dumbledore called after them, “ that there is still a chance that the prophecy was an omen for death and destruction. The choice is yours to make, of course, but you must use caution in your judgment--”
They ignored this and continued out the door.
Harry kept walking long after leaving Dumbledore’s office, his pace brisk and rapid. Hermione was nearly running to catch up with him. “ Harry—Harry, wait a minute--”
He turned sharply, his eyes anguished. “ Is this the part where you tell me we should stay apart in case this prophecy is true?”
Hermione stopped in her tracks, staring at him. “ Is that what you want?” she inquired.
“ Of course not.”
She smiled, then shyly closed the distance between them. “ That’s not what I want, either.”
The hard edges on his face began to fade, and he returned her smile, though there was still worry mirrored in his emerald eyes. “ But what about the prophecy?” he inquired finally.
Hermione shrugged. “ What about it? You know I’ve never believed in Divination, Harry.”
“ But it predicted that you and I would fall in love, that we--”
“ So?” Hermione challenged. She took his hands and smiled up at him. “ Harry, I don’t believe that fate decides our lives. We make our own destinies. And being with you...kissing you, loving you...I’ve never been happier in my life. So when it comes down to it, I choose to be happy. I choose you.”
His mouth broke into a wide grin. “ Say it again.” Seeing the look on her face, he elaborated, “ The part about loving me. Say it again.”
“ I love you, Harry.”
“ I love you, too, Hermione.”
This time, it was Harry who closed the distance between them. They kissed sweetly, earnestly, oblivious to the rest of the world.
Further down the hall, Kimmy watched them from the shadows, and her eyes narrowed angrily.
***
I thrive on reviews. Don’t make me starve!
A/N: So, the votes are in, and according to almost unanimous requests, this will keep going down the new path. Hopefully, this chapter explained a bit more about the prophecy. Next chapter will be a bit more cheerful hopefully, and we'll get back to some of the other subplots and characters--like Draco, for those of you who are having a heart attack without him. Yeah, I admit it-- I miss him, too! ;) Thanks for all the reviews--you guys are awesome!

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## 10. So Happy Together

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document.write(''); chapter ten: So Happy Together
“ Are you sure you saw them come this way?” Ginny inquired as she, Ron, and Draco hurried down the hall.
“ I’m sure,” Ron said grimly. “ They were with Kimmy, and they were heading toward Dumbledore’s office. Now they’re gonna tell Dumbledore that we hexed them and kidnapped them, and he’ll send us to Azkaban. I knew this was a bad idea!”
“ It was YOUR idea,” Draco reminded him, “ and quite a deliciously underhanded one, too. I didn’t know you had it in you, Weasel.”
Ron had just opened his mouth to retort—probably something to the effect of telling Draco to shut up—when they turned the corner and stopped dead in their tracks.
Harry kissing Hermione.
Hermione kissing Harry.
Harry and Hermione kissing each other.
Sensing them, Hermione and Harry broke apart, blushing as they recognized their friends. “ Hi,” Harry said awkwardly.
Ginny’s blue eyes were wide. “ Please tell me that I’m not hallucinating.”
Hermione’s cheeks were positively crimson. “ You aren’t hallucinating,” she assured her.
Ginny let out a squeal and wrapped her arms around Hermione first, then Harry. “I just knew it would work—I just knew it!”
Ron grinned and pumped Harry’s hand energetically. “ Finally, mate. It only took you—what?—three years.”
Harry glanced over at Draco, his face suddenly guilty. “ Listen, Malfoy...Draco...I didn’t mean for you to find out this way.”
Draco stared at him, uncomprehending, then frowned. “ Oh, right. Well, I suspected all along.”
“ You did?” Harry returned, frowning. “ So then why did you propose to Hermione in the first place?”
Draco shrugged. “ Well, I thought I might as well get the benefits as long as you were otherwise preoccupied.”
As Harry’s face darkened, Hermione quickly intervened. “Well, all’s well that ends well, right?” She cast a quick warning glance at Draco, then reassuringly smiled up at Harry.
Ginny frowned as a sudden thought seemed to strike her. “Wait a minute—what about Kimmy? Have you told her yet?”
Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance. “ Well actually,” Hermione began, “ it’s a long story...”
She proceeded to tell them everything—about Kimmy’s deception, the prophecy, and Dumbledore’s participation. When she was done, Ron, Ginny, and even Draco were staring at her in shock.
“Suffice it to say,” Harry said dryly, “ Kimmy and I are no longer together.”
“ Darn.” Draco drawled. “ I thought you two crazy kids were gonna make it.”
For what was not the first time in his life—or that day, for that matter—Draco was ignored.
“ So what are you going to do about the prophecy?” Ron inquired, looking troubled.
Hermione smiled up at Harry. “ Nothing.”
“ Nothing?” Ginny echoed.
“ Nothing.” Harry confirmed, wrapping his arms around Hermione. “ We’ve been kept apart for too long to worry about some silly prophecy. I’m madly in love with this woman, and I don’t intend to let her go.”
As Ginny let out a wistful sigh, Ron abruptly began to sniff and looked away, blinking his eyes, which were suddenly quite shiny.
“ You all right, Weasel?” Draco inquired, grinning at him.
Ron wiped furiously at his eyes. “ I just got something in my eye, I think.”
Draco looked at him with mock soberness. “ Looks like a tear, Ron.”
“ Shut up Malfoy.”
A sudden thought seemed to strike Harry, and he reluctantly broke his gaze away from Hermione. “ Wait a minute—what about all the guests for the wedding? Is everyone just sitting down there waiting?”
“ We took care of that,” Ginny announced, grinning. “ As soon as we locked you and Hermione away, we wrote a fake note—supposedly from you—saying that you just couldn’t go through with it and that the wedding was off.”
Harry frowned. “ But what if it had turned out that I wasn’t really in love with Hermione, and that Kimmy wasn’t actually a psychotic zealot on a mission to destroy our love? You would have ruined my wedding for nothing.”
Draco shrugged. “ We were sort of banking on the hope that you and Hermione would work things out,” he admitted. “ Otherwise, we planned on keeping you down there until you did. Or until you both died from starvation.”
Harry merely stared at him for a moment. “ I fear you,” he said finally.
Hermione smiled fondly at their three friends. “Well, whatever the case may be, Harry and I are very grateful to you for...well, kidnapping us and trapping us in a dark, dank pit.” She met Harry’s gaze. “ Now, if the three of you don’t mind, Harry and I would like some time alone together.”
Without waiting for a response, they turned and walked down the hall together. A moment of silence passed, then Draco cleared his throat. “ Well, how do you like that? All we get is a thank you? I would have preferred a bag of galleons, myself.”
“ Shut up, Malfoy.” said Ginny and Ron in unison, though they were smiling.
***
The next few months were paradise for Harry and Hermione. They did virtually everything together; eating, hiking, talking, staring up at the clouds. Most importantly, they spent the time getting to know each other not as Harry and Hermione the best friends, but Harry and Hermione the couple.
If Hermione had ever worried about things being awkward with her newfound relationship with Harry, all of her fears had quickly been put aside. Though they had always been close, they were inseparable now. Hermione found all of her old restraints and self-consciousness slipping away; with Harry, she was beautiful and clever and funny and perfect. Nothing could bring her down.
For Harry, being loved by Hermione was the first perfect love he’d ever known. She loved him fully, uncompromisingly, even to the point of spoiling him. Even more importantly, he loved her the same way. The loneliness that had always inhabited his trademark green eyes was beginning to fade; it was such a startling transformation that people sometimes didn’t recognize him in the street, scar and all.
One night as they sat next to the fire, Harry’s head in Hermione’s lap, he gazed up at her, watching the flames flicker off her face. She was so beautiful it hurt him sometimes to look at her, to know that she loved him, for reasons he still could not comprehend.
Smiling, he reached up to stroke her face. “ I want to marry you,” he said.
Hermione smiled but didn’t look down at him. “ Is that a proposal?”
“ Not a very good one,” Harry admitted, “ but yes.” He ran his hand along her face, then down her neck and shoulders, eliciting a pleased sigh from her. Smiling, he continued tracing his fingers along her arm until he intertwined his fingers with her own. “After all, we were destined to be together, weren’t we?”
Hermione’s smile deepened, but still she refused to look at him. “ You can’t use an ancient prophecy to bully me into marrying you.”
Harry grinned at this and waited. When it was too much to bear, he prompted, “Well?”
“ Yes,” Hermione said simply.
A drop of moisture splashed against Harry’s glasses. With a start, he realized that Hermione was crying. Silently, he sat up, taking her face gently into his hands. “ Those are happy tears, I hope.”
“ The happiest,” Hermione assured him, and leaned in to kiss him soundly.
***
Elsewhere in the world, Kimmy was making her way up a darkened street, a hood pulled over her blonde hair. She glanced down to double-check the address, then stopped in front of a small, compact little home in the suburbs. Stealthily, she made her way up to the front door, knocking sharply.
A moment later, the door was answered. Kimmy drew back her hood, meeting the man’s gaze squarely. “ You don’t know me,” she said briskly, “ but my name is Kimmy Trelawney, and I need your help.”
The man looked suspicious. “ Why should I help you? I don’t even know you.” He began to close the door.
Before it could shut all the way, Kimmy called in, “ Because it will involve making Harry Potter miserable.”
There was a moment of hesitation, and then the door pulled open again, and she was met by a pair of curious eyes. “ I’m listening,” the man said.
***
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## 11. Something Blue

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document.write(''); chapter eleven: Something Blue
It was a beautiful wedding, to say the least. The backyard of the Burrow had been virtually transformed by the help of the Weasley family: the grass was green, the flowers were in full bloom, and there was a tangible feeling of magic in the air. Harry and the Weasley brothers looked quite dashing in their tuxes, and Ginny was lovely as usual in her cranberry red bridesmaid dress.
The true focus of the day, however, was Hermione. With her gown of pure white and her long golden-brown tresses, she truly resembled an angel. Harry had scarcely been able to stop staring at her all day, along with most of the other males in attendance. Despite this newfound attention, Hermione only had eyes for Harry; it was almost sickening how very cute they were with one another.
They made their rounds through the crowd, thanking everyone for coming. Practically all of their old friends had turned up—Hagrid, Professor McGonogal, Lupin, Tonks, Neville...the list went on and on. Only one person was noticeably absent: Dumbledore.
“ He probably thought we wouldn’t want him here after what happened,” Hermione informed Harry softly, sensing that he was upset. Even after everything that had happened, Dumbledore was one of Harry’s mentors, and his absence was keenly felt. “ And look—he sent a gift along with Professor McGonogal.”
Wordlessly, Harry pulled out the card. ‘Congratulations’, it read simply, ‘What will be will be.’
“ Nice and cryptic,” Harry said without emotion, and stuffed the card back in the envelope. He forced a smile at Hermione. “Come on, let’s get some punch...”
Ron met them at the punch table, accompanied by Lavender. He grinned at Harry and shook his hand eagerly, then kissed Hermione on the cheek “ Congratulations, both of you. I can’t believe it—my two best friends married. I’m either incredibly happy or wickedly drunk.”
“ A little of both, I’d say,” Lavender said fondly. She smiled tentatively at Hermione and gave her a hug. “ Congratulations. You too, Harry.”
Hermione smiled at Lavender. Over the past few weeks, she’d come to the conclusion that Lavender wasn’t really so bad. She seemed to understand Ron and Hermione’s friendship a bit more now and didn’t glare at Hermione nearly so often. And it definitely helped that Kimmy was no longer around to exercise a bad influence on her.
At the thought of Kimmy, Hermione’s face darkened. Harry turned to her inquisitively. “ What is it?”
“ Just thinking about Kimmy,” Hermione admitted. “I was afraid that she was going to try and ruin things today.”
Harry smiled. “ Well, she didn’t. You’re my wife now, and no one on earth can take you away from me.”
“ Care to challenge that?”
Harry and Hermione turned to see Draco, who looked quite handsome in his suit and seemed fully aware of that fact. “ Nice wedding, Potter. Mind if I steal the bride for a dance?”
“ Sure,” Harry said, his voice a bit tight. Hermione had explained to him that she and Draco were never really engaged, but Harry still didn’t particularly like the other man.
Hermione laughed as Draco moved in to dance with her, perhaps a bit closer than was necessary. “ You’re bound and determined to make Harry hate you for the rest of his life, aren’t you?” she inquired.
“ Some people collect stamps,” Draco returned, grinning, “ I collect arch nemeses.”
They were silent for a moment, swaying to the music. “It really was a beautiful wedding,” Draco complimented after a moment. “ I can’t believe that you’re an old married woman now, Granger.”
Hermione merely smiled. “ It’s Potter now, thank you very much. And besides, matrimony isn’t all that bad. You should try it sometime. I’m sure a certain Weasley would be a willing accomplice.”
Draco feigned surprise. “ Really? I never thought Fred liked me all that much.”
“ You know what I mean,” Hermione scolded gently. “ When are you and Ginny going to come out into the open? Come out of the closet, so to speak?”
“ I happen to like the closet,” Draco said defensively. “ People are always giving it a bad wrap, but it’s actually quite cozy.”
“ Draco...”
Draco grinned at her. “ No more questions, Miss—ur, Mrs. Potter. Just dancing.” And with that, he spun her around and dipped her low, eliciting a gleeful laugh from the blushing bride.
When the song came to an end, Harry appeared, grinning the same goofy grin that he’d been wearing all day. “ I’m cutting in, Malfoy,” he announced, and swept Hermione into his arms.
They proceeded to dance, clearly enjoying the closeness. “ Hello, Mr. Potter,” Hermione said demurely, grinning at him.
“ Hello, Mrs. Potter.” Harry returned gamely. “ Has anyone ever told you that you are quite the dancer?”
“ Oh, yes, all the time.” Hermione informed him. “ You, on the other hand, could use some a few lessons. You keep stepping on my dress, and it’s such a lovely dress...”
Harry grinned. “Can’t wait to get it off.”
“Harry!”
Harry’s smile only broadened. “How much longer do we have to stay here?”
Hermione tried to look stern, but couldn’t help the mirth that crept into the corner of her lips. “At least another half an hour, I’d say.”
“ Darn.”
Smiling now, Hermione leaned up and kissed him quickly on the lips. “ I’ll make it worth your wait.” she promised.
Harry had just opened his mouth to reply when suddenly, his gaze fixed on something behind her. He tensed. “ I don’t believe it...”
Curious, Hermione turned to see a large, bulky man, flanked by a rail-thin, horse-faced woman on one side and a younger, heavily corpulent man on the other. She turned back to Harry questioningly. “ Who...?” All of a sudden, it clicked. “ The Dursleys.”
There was no trace of a smile on Harry’s face now. “ I only invited them out of politeness...I didn’t think they’d actually come.” He looked down on his new wife grimly. “Well? Ready to meet the family?”
Hermione took his hand and squeezed it encouragingly. “ Whenever you are.”
They made their way through the crowd, stopping about three feet from the Dursleys. They looked decidedly uncomfortable and even a bit fearful amongst the wizarding crowd, as though they expected someone to jump out of the cake at any moment and hex them into oblivion.
“ Harry.” Vernon Dursley said finally.
“ Uncle Vernon.”
Vernon cleared his throat, tugging a bit at his collar. “ Well...ur...congratulations.”
Harry gave a forced smile. “ Um, thanks.” He glanced at Hermione. “ This is my wife, Hermione. Hermione, this is Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and my cousin Dudley.”
Hermione smiled at each of them in turn, not receiving much of a response until her gaze landed upon Dudley. He was perspiring buckets and leered at her crudely as their eyes met. Still forcing a smile, she stepped instinctively toward Harry.
“ It was so nice to meet you all,” she said, wrenching her gaze away from Dudley. “ Harry’s told me so much about you.”
This seemed to make Vernon even more uncomfortable. “ Yes, well...we can’t stay. Just stopped by to give you this.” He thrust a card into Harry’s hand and then abruptly walked away. Petunia hurried to follow him, but Dudley gave Hermione one last lingering glance before turning and hobbling away.
Harry stared after them in wonder, then glanced down at the card. “ I don’t believe it,” he said again.
“ Do you want to open it now?” Hermione inquired.
“Later.” Harry said, stuffing the card into his pocket. He grinned at her. “Now, how much longer do we have?”
Hermione sighed wistfully. “ A good fifteen minutes, at least...”
They proceeded to do all of the normal wedding things. Hermione threw the bouquet, and it was caught—rather prophetically, she thought—by Ginny, who blushed as red as her dress and hair. Harry removed the garter to various catcalls and whistles; it was caught by a very flustered-looking Hagrid.
Finally, it was time to leave. Hermione glanced at Harry and nearly laughed aloud at the jubilation on his face. “ Come on!” he instructed, taking her by the hand and nearly pulling her arm from its socket in his enthusiasm.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the Grand Fudge Hotel, named after the former minister of magic. Harry rushed to the front desk, practically out of breath by this time. “ Reservation for Potter, please.”
The clerk didn’t even glance up. “ I’m going to need to see some identification, please.”
Harry stared at her for a moment, and his green eyes filled with shock. “ I left my wallet at the Burrow!” he realized aloud.
“ Can’t let you have the room without identification,” the clerk said in a bored voice.
Harry glanced at Hermione, clearly flustered, then back at the clerk. “But...I’m Harry Potter! You know, the most recognizable wizard in the world?!” He pushed up his bangs. “ I have the scar to prove it!”
“Identification, please.”
Completely desolate, Harry lowered his head onto the desk. Wordlessly, Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out Harry’s wallet, nudging him with it.
“I saw you leave it on the punch table,” she informed him.
Harry promptly kissed her and then quickly fished out his I.D. “ There? See. Me. Harry Potter.” He wrapped an enthusiastic arm around Hermione. “ And this is my wife.”
The clerk yawned. “ Room 314. Here’s your room key. The Daily Prophet will be delivered to your door every morning and there’s a complimentary chocolate frog on your pillow--”
Harry didn’t bother to listen to the rest. Once again, he half-dragged Hermione to their room and eagerly pushed open the door, rushing inside. It took him a moment to realize that his bride hadn’t followed. He turned, surprised to see Hermione still in the hallway. “ Aren’t you coming?”
She smiled at him. “ I believe you’re supposed to carry me over the threshold.”
Grinning gamely, Harry moved out into the hallway and easily swept a giggling Hermione into his arms. “ So sorry, milady...it won’t happen again.”
And he kicked the door shut behind them.
***
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## 12. Angst

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PG - English - Romance/Humor - Reviews: 196 - Published: 02-29-04 - Updated: 03-18-04 | id:1754686

document.write(''); chapter twelve: Angst
Draco Malfoy was going mad. Absolutely stark raving mad. And he couldn’t blame it on a spell or a lack of sleep or anything like that. There was really only one thing that he could blame for it.
Her name was Ginny Weasley.
Draco had been with his fair share of witches. So many, in fact, that a group of wizards had once written a petition trying to force him out of the dating game so they’d stand a chance. Okay, so he couldn’t really remember if that had actually happened or if it was just a fantasy of his, but it was a nice thought. The point was, he’d been a very eligible bachelor, and he’d never once had the slightest inkling of settling down.
Hermione had been the closest he’d gotten, only it had been more because they got along so well than that he was in love with her. Not that she didn’t have her more attractive qualities, but he just didn’t feel that all-consuming passion with her.
Ginny had been very much the same as the other girls at first. He’d started out merely being attracted to her; she was, after all, a stunningly beautiful individual, a truly remarkable feat considering her genetics. But then she’d been surprisingly funny, and he’d found himself growing fond of her. That was where it should have stopped. The odd thing was, the more time he spent with her, the more time he wanted to spend with her. And the more he was around her, the more incredible she became. Was it possible for anyone to be so simultaneously graceful yet endearingly awkward, so mature yet adorably innocent?
Draco’s first inclination had been that she must be casting a spell on him. It came as a gradual and unsettling shock that she was, just not one with wands or incantations.
The thought was so unsettling, in fact, that he knew what he had to do. He just had to break up with her, and that’s all there was to it. Then he could move on to someone else, and Ginny would just become like a distant memory. And she could find someone who could appreciate her as she truly deserved.
He knocked on the door to her office, a bouquet of roses in one hand. This was the classy way to do things, he knew. Give the girl something pretty and she might be distracted enough not to get angry.
*All right,* Draco prepped himself, * Remember, let her down easy. It isn’t pleasant losing a looker like you, but we all have to have our disappointments in life...* With that clearly established in his mind, he pushed open the door.
Ginny was seated behind her desk, chewing thoughtfully on a pen, deep in thought. At the sight of Draco she grinned and rose to her feet.
Before he could stop her, she had kissed him with those warm Weasley lips and then pulled back, positively glowing at him. “ Draco, are these for me? How lovely...”
Draco swallowed heavily, trying to think of the best way to let her down. “ I love you and I want to marry you!” he burst out suddenly.
Where the heck did that come from??!!
Ginny stared at him, clutching the flowers. “ What?”
And Draco—Draco MALFOY—was babbling before he realized what could happen. “ It wasn’t supposed to be this way...you were just like a fling, you know? But then...cor, how did this happen? I can’t stop thinking about you and I get these warm fuzzy feelings that I used to think people only made up and I think I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Silence.
Ginny suddenly seemed very preoccupied. She moved around her desk and began sorting through her drawers. “ Today is awfully busy, Draco, I don’t know if I have the time...”
Draco stared at her dully. “ I somehow get the inkling that you’re not going to say ‘I Love You’ back.”
Ginny refused to meet his gaze. “ It’s...complicated.”
“ Not really,” he returned dryly, “ you just open your mouth and form the words--”
“ That’s not what I meant!” Ginny snapped, and finally met his gaze. “ Draco, you know my family. They’re just beginning to tolerate your existence, much less considering you as a member of the family. I couldn’t possibly...”
Draco stared at her, stunned. “ You’re embarrassed of me.”
She rubbed a tired hand over her face. “ I didn’t say that, Draco.”
“ You didn’t have to,” he retorted. “What, do you think it’s been all puppies and daisies falling in love with you? Your family is absolutely atrocious—who knew that the cure for not having enough money was having more children? And don’t even get me started on your brothers...pathetic losers, the lot of them.”
Ginny’s nostrils flared. “ Well at least my family has never gone insane and tried to murder me!”
It wasn’t an unjustified outburst, but it still hurt so badly that Draco felt as though he had no air in him. “ Well,” he croaked finally, “ it’s good we got this out in the open, isn’t it? I would hate to have wasted any more time on someone who thinks I’m not good enough for her.”
There was an awkward, painful silence. Draco wanted her to say anything, to either make him hate or love her with her response. But just as Ginny had opened her mouth, the door to the office flew open.
“Ginny!” her secretary, a plump but pretty girl named Ronda, cried. She glanced at Draco in surprise. “ Mr. Malfoy, we’ve been looking for you, too.”
Draco frowned at this. “ Why, what’s happened?”
“ Hermione’s missing.”
***
Harry and Hermione had fully intended to go to the beach. Harry specifically reserved a room by the ocean for that very same fact. Only, it was the fifth day into their honeymoon, and they hadn’t yet managed to leave the room yet.
Oh, they sincerely aimed to go down to the beach. Every morning they would wake up and vow that this would be the day. Only, something always seemed to come up. The first day, Harry had come out of the bathroom in just his swimming trunks, and his chest was so firm and lean that Hermione just couldn’t resist...The opposite problem occurred the next day when Hermione came out in her swimming suit, which happened to show off her legs rather nicely... Similar things kept coming up, only today Harry and Hermione were bound and determined that they would actually make it to the seashore.
Hermione came out of the bathroom first, a robe wrapped rather determinedly around her. Harry grinned at this and came forward, fingering the fabric. “ This is nice,” he said.
Hermione smiled at him reproachfully. “ Harry, you can’t possibly find anything sexy about this bathrobe.”
“ I would like to suggest otherwise.” Harry said solemnly, moving closer.
She giggled. “ Harry, I’m practically covered from head to foot. There is nothing remotely sexy showing.”
“ That’s what makes it fun,” Harry complimented. “ You’re like a birthday present that I get to unwrap...”
A few hours later, Hermione was back in her bathing suit and was practically forcing Harry into the bathroom to change. “ Honestly, Harry, we need to go outside for at least one day. Think of how nice it will be to tan...”
“ I don’t see why I can’t just change out here,” Harry argued, being purposefully difficult. “ We’re married now, after all.”
“ We’ve tried that before,” Hermione reminded him, blushing, “and it didn’t work.” Her eyes lingered on his body for a moment before she quickly shook her head. “Now get into the bathroom and CHANGE!”
Obligingly, Harry complied. It was only a few minutes later that he emerged, this time wearing a white t-shirt with his bathing suit for Hermione’s benefit. “ There, is that...” His voice drifted off as he looked around the room and realized that Hermione wasn’t there.
It looked as though there had been a struggle. The door was splintered as though someone had busted in, and various pieces of furniture were overturned.
Numbly, Harry stepped further into the room. “ Hermione?” he called out, knowing instinctively that it was futile.
His gaze caught on something in the corner. Slowly, tentatively, he made his way across the room, picking up Hermione’s wand from the dresser. A horrible sinking feeling overcame him, accompanied by an overwhelming wave of panic.
***
I thrive on reviews. Don’t make me starve!
A/N: Well, honestly, what did you expect from a chapter called 'Angst'? :) Thanks for all the reviews,and I'll try to keep cranking 'em out!

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## 13. Lost

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PG - English - Romance/Humor - Reviews: 193 - Published: 02-29-04 - Updated: 03-18-04 | id:1754686

document.write(''); chapter thirteen: Lost
By the time that Ron, Draco, and Ginny had made it to the hotel, investigators from the Ministry of Magic had already come and gone. Harry was sitting in the midst of the room, still in his bathing suit and t-shirt, looking horribly and miserably lost.
For a moment, they merely regarded him in silence, not knowing what they could possibly say to ease that kind of hurt. Ginny finally ventured, “ Harry? It’s us. We’re here to help.”
Harry’s eyes widened suddenly, and he shot to his feet. “ The card!” he gasped, moving over to closet and rummaging through its contents.
Ginny glanced back at Ron, careful not to look at Draco, then turned back to Harry. “ Um, Harry, what are you doing?”
“ The card,” Harry said frantically, “it has to be the card.”
Draco and Ron exchanged an uncomfortable glance. “ Ur,” Draco said finally, “is this one of the stages of grief, or something? Incoherent babbling?”
Ignoring them, Harry moved away from the closet. “ It’s not here...it has to be!” His gaze fell upon a nearby chair, where his suit coat had been discarded. Letting out a yell of triumph, he pulled out a sealed envelope from his tux pocket. Frantically, he ripped it open. The first thing to drop to the floor was a tiny, round metallic disk. The other was a purple colored fly that buzzed around impatiently.
Ron paled at the sight of the insect. “ That’s a Fly on the Wall. It acts sort of like a Muggle—what’s the name—a macaroni phone. You know, it lets people listen in on what’s going on.”
Harry picked up the disk. “ And this is a muggle device. Used as a sort of homing beacon.”
Draco frowned at this. “ You mean, someone’s been tracking you? But...why?”
Harry crumpled the card in his hand. “ The Dursleys. I should have known that they wouldn’t come to support me at my wedding. They planted these in the card so that they could keep an eye on us. And I bet they used the Fly on the Wall so they’d know when Hermione was alone.”
Ginny looked vaguely sickened. “ So they were listening...to everything?”
The implications of that statement drove into Harry’s core. Every intimate moment he’d shared with Hermione...every perfect, sweet moment...Someone had been listening in, intruding, forcing themselves in. He wanted to yell and vomit and bash his fist into the wall, all at once.
Ron was frowning, looking puzzled. “ You know I’m keen to place all the blame on the Dursleys, Harry—I’ve always hated those slimy gits—but do you really think they could have thought of this? And why would they go to all that trouble?”
“ You’re right.” Harry said glumly. “ They must have been working with someone else, someone who had an agenda and was just using the Dursleys to get to me.”
“ Kimmy.” all four said grimly.
Harry sighed. “ I was afraid this would happen. Hermione even--” But he stopped, because it was too painful to say her name.
“ We’ll find her, mate,” Ron said softly.
Ginny met his gaze earnestly. “ I’ll do whatever I can.”
“ We all will,” Draco added, uncharacteristically serious.
Harry took a moment, taking in a deep breath. Then he nodded grimly. “We’ll find her,” he said, more to himself than anyone else. “ We’ll find her.”
***
The first thing that Hermione became aware of when she regained consciousness was that she was bound at her wrists and ankles, the rope rubbing most painfully into her skin. The second was that she was in a chair, and that the table in front of her was set almost meticulously with an elaborate tea set.
Confused, her eyes drifted up to the face across the table. Kimmy. She smiled at Hermione coldly, her hands clasped daintily on top of the white lace tablecloth. “ Glad to see that you’re coming to, Hermione. We were worried about you.”
“ We?” Hermione inquired feebly. She followed Kimmy’s gaze to the back corner, where Dudley stood, watching her intently.
Kimmy leaned toward her, still smiling. “ It’s been so long, Hermione. There’s so much to catch up on. For starters, I hear that you’re a married woman now.”
Hermione remained silent.
“ It was a lovely wedding, by all accounts,” Kimmy continued, “ Dudley had only praising words for the bride. I thought about crashing the wedding, but then I thought I’d give you that one last memory to hold onto. It is the last time you’ll ever see Harry, after all.”
Somehow, through power of will that she didn’t know she possessed, Hermione managed to keep calm. “ What are you going to do with me?” she inquired.
“ Whatever it takes to keep you away from Harry.” Kimmy returned easily, shrugging as though it was of little consequence. “ We can’t have that prophecy coming true, now can we? But don’t worry, Hermione. It will all be quite civil here. So long as you’re a good girl, there will be tea to drink every morning and a warm bed to sleep in. We’re not monsters, you know.”
Hermione met her gaze coldly. “ You do an alarmingly good impersonation of it.”
Kimmy merely laughed at this, and then motioned to Dudley. “ Take Mrs. Potter to her room, please. She’s had a long day and she’ll like to rest, no doubt.”
Eagerly, Dudley came forward and wrapped his bulky arms around Hermione, half-dragging her down a long, barely lit hall to a corner room, complete with bars and padlocks. Dudley hesitated outside of the door, glancing over his shoulder, then slowly began to crawl his hands along the exposed skin on Hermione’s back.
She felt an explosion of fear hammer at her heart. “ Don’t you dare touch me,” she seethed in what she hoped was her most ominous voice, then reiterated, “ Don’t you DARE touch me!”
Dudley was silent for a moment, and then he half-threw her into the room, bolting the door behind her. Hermione waited until she was certain he was gone, then curled herself into a ball and wept.
***
I thrive on reviews. Don’t make me starve!
A/N: Yeah, I know it's getting kinda grim, but stick with me. I love happy endings. :)

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## 14. Into the Fire

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document.write(''); chapter fourteen: Into the Fire
It was well past midnight when Harry, Ron, Draco, and Ginny apparated onto the front porch of the Dursley home. Unconcerned with the lateness of the hour, Harry reached out and banged on the door as Ron pressed repeatedly on the doorbell in what was probably a most annoying pattern.
The lights switched on upstairs, and there was a great sputtering that could only have come from Vernon. Finally, the door swung open, revealing Vernon in pinstriped pajamas (though the vertical lines did little to slim him) and Petunia in a long flannel nightgown.
“ What is the meaning of this?” Vernon demanded, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of Harry. “ You...”
“ Sorry,” Harry snapped, pushing his way into the house. “I don’t have time for the verbal abuse tonight.” His friends followed after him, apparently not concerned that they hadn’t been invited.
Harry cast his gaze over to the fireplace, which had been rather determinedly bricked up. No wonder they hadn’t been able to come through the floo network. His anger mounting, Harry looked back to Uncle Vernon, who kept casting his eyes fitfully at the four wands that were drawn and aimed toward him. He gulped audibly.
“ Was it too much to ask?” Harry inquired bitterly. “ Was it too much to hope that you could just be happy for me? All those years, you never showed the least bit of kindness, but I thought...” He shook his head. “Never mind that now. Where’s Hermione?”
“ We don’t know anything about that.” Petunia snapped quickly.
Ron raised an eyebrow. “ Funny, ‘cuz it sure sounds like you do.”
Petunia cast a trembling gaze over the group. As her eyes fell upon Draco, he couldn’t resist himself and gave her a roguish wink. Petunia turned bright red and clutched at the collar of her nightgown.
Harry, in the meantime, had been busy looking around the house. It looked...different somehow. It took him a moment to realize that the television was nearly twice the size as it had been, and that the furniture was all new and quite expensive looking.
“ You sold me out,” Harry realized aloud. His eyes blazed. If they had betrayed him out of hatred, that would mean that they at least thought of their nephew from time to time...But this...they didn’t even care enough to hate him.
After two great strides, he was eye to eye with Vernon, who shrunk back despite himself at the glowering look in Harry’s eyes. “ How much did she pay you? How much did you hold out for to ruin my life?”
“ A thousand pounds,” Vernon mumbled, unable to meet Harry’s gaze.
Harry swallowed. “ You should have held out for more. She would have given it, you know, but you were so greedy that you couldn’t see that.”
Abruptly, he turned and began to move around them. “ Where are you going?” Petunia inquired, apparently horrified at the thought of Harry being in her home once more.
Ignoring her, Harry called back to the others, “ Ron, come and help me look for clues. Ginny, Draco, you keep an eye on those two.”
Ginny glanced quickly at Draco but looked away as soon as their gazes met. Draco let out a derisive laugh and then let his eyes wander around the room in order to distract himself. “ Nice place you got here,” he commented, “ but then, deception and bribery do have a way of providing luxury.” His thoughts turned grimly to his father. “I should know.”
Absently, he picked up a vase and began to turn it over in his hands. But the thought of Lucius seemed to have unleashed something in his brain, and at the memory of a pained scream from his mother—the last he ever heard from her—he dropped the vase. It shattered into a hundred pieces on the ground.
“ Draco!” Ginny said reproachfully. Instinctively, she bent down and began to gather the shards of glass.
From Vernon’s standpoint, he had a rather nice peephole down into Ginny’s blouse. He grinned, but a single scathing glanced from Draco wiped the expression from his face.
Angry now, Draco grabbed Ginny’s arm and pulled her to her feet. “ Leave it, Weasley. I’m sure they have a few extra pounds left over to replace it.”
A moment later, Harry and Ron reappeared in the living room. Ginny looked at them hopefully. “Anything?”
Ron shook his head. “ Not that we could find.” He turned a cold gaze to the Dursleys. “ Guess we’ll just have to do a little interrogating, then...”
Petunia stepped behind her husband’s bulk, trembling visibly, and Vernon’s face suddenly looked rather green. As Ron raised his wand ominously and began to move toward them, Harry unexpectedly intervened.
“ Hold it,” he said, looking troubled, “ Where’s Dudley?”
***
Hermione awoke a few hours later to find that a pair of cotton pajamas and some underwear had been placed in the corner of the room. She hesitated, not wanting to take anything from Kimmy, but it really was uncomfortable in her bathing suit and robe. Sighing, she took the proffered clothes and began to change.
Standing in the midst of the cold, dank cell, Hermione was suddenly overcome with the feeling that someone was watching her. Uneasily, she glanced back toward the doorway.
Dudley.
Hermione quickly covered herself with the robe and watched Dudley warily. He remained silent, merely staring, seeming to be having a great battle in his mind. His fat face was drenched in sweat, and his eyes bored into her, leering and lustful.
Finally, he seemed to come to a decision, and he glanced over his shoulder before stepping into the room, shutting the door behind him.
Hermione suddenly seemed to find her voice. “ I’ll fight you,” she promised him quietly, sincerely. “I’ll kick and scream and scratch. I’ll kill you if I get the chance—that I promise.”
This seemed to deter Dudley, and he stared at her again, occasionally reaching up to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Abruptly, he turned and left the room, leaving a trembling Hermione behind.
“ Oh, Harry,” she murmured as the tears began to trickle down her cheeks. “Where are you?”
***
I thrive on reviews. Don't make me starve!
A/N: I PROMISE it's going to get more cheerful soon! Really. Just stick with me!

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## 15. Obsession

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PG - English - Romance/Humor - Reviews: 196 - Published: 02-29-04 - Updated: 03-18-04 | id:1754686

document.write(''); chapter fifteen: Obsession
Hermione dreamt of Harry. She dreamt of his smile, his lips and teeth and the way his eyes glowed when he thought something was really funny. She dreamt of his laugh and how very contagious it could be. She dreamt of how it felt to be in his arms.
When she awoke, there was a dark figure across the room. She tensed, fearing that it was Dudley, but as her eyes cleared, she realized with a start that it was Kimmy. Silent, she watched as Kimmy held up her hand, admiring it. It took Hermione a moment to realize that Kimmy was wearing her wedding ring.
“ You must really be insane,” Hermione said, her voice trembling. Kimmy whirled around and looked at her guiltily. Quaking with rage, Hermione rose to her feet. “You’re absolutely daft if you think that this is going to help you win over Harry.”
Kimmy had composed herself by this time. “ Good morning, Hermione. How did you sleep?”
Hermione ignored the question. “ Is that what this is really all about? Your pathetic attempt to steal my husband?”
Kimmy smiled coolly. “ We’ve been over this, Hermione. I kidnapped you to keep an ancient prophecy from coming to pass--”
“ Funny thing is,” Hermione snapped, “ You’re the only one who seems to be working against this prophecy. At first, other people were helping you out, but everyone else seems to have given it up. So why is it that you’re the only one who still cares so very much?” She walked over until she and Kimmy were eye to eye. “Seems to me like maybe you started out working against the prophecy, but then you fell in love with Harry. And it seems to me that now you think there might be a chance of getting him back. But Harry isn’t that stupid, Kimmy. I’m positive that he knows you’re behind this, just as I’m positive that he’ll never, EVER touch you.”
The smile was gone from Kimmy’s face now. “ Don’t get angry, Hermione,” she sneered, “ it only makes you look more mousy and plain.” She glanced back toward the door. “Dudley, bring in the tea.”
Dudley brought in the tea set and put it down in a table in the center of the room. When he was done, he moved to the corner, smiling oddly at Hermione. She shuddered and looked away from him.
Kimmy sat down at the table, struggling to compose herself. “ Come and have tea, Hermione.”
Hermione wished that she could make some dramatic gesture like turning over the table or spitting on the food, but the truth was that she was absolutely ravenous. Calmly, she sat across from Kimmy and, glaring at the other woman, began to eat.
Kimmy was silent for a moment, merely watching her, and then she forced a smile. “ Truth be told, Hermione, your accusations aren’t so very far off-base. Somewhere along the line, I did fall in love with Harry. That’s why it’s so important for me to save him now.” She glared at Hermione meaningfully.
“ If you really loved Harry,” Hermione countered, “ you’d want him to be happy. You wouldn’t destroy his life this way.”
“ I’m not the one destined to destroy him,” Kimmy reminded her. “ And besides—who’s to say that I’m making Harry miserable? He may think he loves you now, but we had a connection together.”
Hermione glared at her. “ You were controlling his mind. You had a spell on him.”
Kimmy’s eyes gleamed. “ Or did I? I cast the spell, yes, but Harry’s proven himself to be able to withstand the Imperius curse before, hasn’t he? So he couldn’t have let me control him if he didn’t really want it.”
Her mouth gaping, Hermione tried to think of a proper response, but the truth was she had no argument for that. It was a little odd, wasn’t it? Why hadn’t Harry been able to ward of Kimmy when he could ward off other wizards who had performed the same spell?
Instead, Hermione looked at Kimmy earnestly, trying to appeal to the last shred of humanity and sanity in the other woman. “ Kimmy, please. I love Harry. I’m not going to destroy him. But me being away from him just might. He loves me, Kimmy--”
“ He won’t after today.” Kimmy said softly.
Hermione stared at her, a strange sense of foreboding overcoming her. “ What do you mean?”
All of a sudden, it seemed, Hermione’s body began to feel slow and sluggish. Her vision blurred in and out of focus before sharpening once more on Kimmy’s features. There was an odd gleam in Kimmy’s eye.
“ I figured it out.” Kimmy confided. “ What was the one thing that could make Harry stop loving you?”
“ Nothing,” Hermione said vehemently, though she was afraid now, “ there isn’t anything that could make him stop loving me, Kimmy.”
Kimmy shook her head. “ No matter how much Harry may think he loves you, Hermione, there’s one thing that he couldn’t stand. One thing that’s haunted him his entire life: The Dursleys.”
Hermione glanced over at Dudley. “ I don’t understand...”
She was becoming drowsier and drowsier by the minute. Her mind was wide awake, but her body was giving out on her. *The tea*, she realized with horror, *Kimmy put something in the tea...*
Kimmy was watching her intently. “ All his life, Harry’s been given Dudley’s hand me downs. His old clothes, his old room, his old toys. He developed quite a complex about it over the years, you know.”
Unable to hold herself up any longer, Hermione slumped to the ground. She closed her eyes, and when she had opened them again, Dudley was standing over her.
“ Harry won’t be able to handle having Dudley’s leftovers,” Kimmy said quietly, “not again.”
It took Hermione a moment to process this information, and with a sudden rush, she realized what the words meant.
She screamed.
***
It had taken them most of the night, but through the combined efforts of Ron, Draco, Harry, and Ginny, the Dursleys had finally cracked and given away the information.
After learning that Dudley was even more involved than Petunia or Vernon, Harry seemed to become even more enraged, if that was even possible. As Ginny tried to calm him, Draco and Ron took turns interrogating Vernon and Petunia, who turned out to be surprisingly stubborn. The two were nearly at their wits end when suddenly Petunia caught Draco’s eye and gave her head a little nod in Vernon’s direction.
Frowning, Draco glanced over at Ron. “ Ur, Weasel, why don’t we try splitting them up? That might make them crack faster. You take the whale, and I’ll take Mrs. Dursley, here.”
As soon as Ron and Vernon were out of the room, Draco began turning back to Petunia. “ So, you suddenly feel like--”
He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening at the sight of Petunia Dursley. She had hiked up her skirt to her knees, revealing two very knobby, pale legs, and was smiling at him in what was supposed to be a seductive manner.
Recovering his shock, Draco forced a grin. “ Why, you naughty little minx...”
Petunia flushed at this, obviously not accustomed to receiving compliments, but met Draco’s gaze with an almost sickening urgency. “ There’s always been something strangely intoxicating about a handsome wizard,” she informed him, licking her thin lips hungrily.
Forcing back a shudder, Draco continued to grin. “ And I’ve always had a thing for Muggles, myself. But before we can have any real fun, I’m afraid you’re gonna have to tell me where they’ve taken Hermione...”
A few minutes later, Draco called the others back into the room. “ I know where to go.” he informed them.
Harry merely stared at him for a moment and then crushed him in an enthusiastic embrace. “ How did you do it?”
Embarrassed, Draco pushed away from him, though he did look pleased with himself. “ Can’t help it that I’m irresistible to women...”
Ginny frowned at this.
After tying Vernon and a fuming Petunia in the living room, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Draco apparated to a nearby abandoned prison. Bracing themselves, they pushed open the doors and began to walk through.
There was a loud crack, and all but Harry were repelled backward. They hit the ground with a thud, discomfited but not really hurt.
“ Are you all right?” Harry inquired anxiously.
“ Don’t worry,” Ron called back sorely, “ my bones broke my fall.”
Ginny let out a groan. “ Kimmy must have charmed the door to keep everyone out,” she surmised.
Draco frowned. “ But for some reason, that doesn’t include you, Potter.”
There was silence as they tried to sort out what this meant. “ Do you think it’s some sort of trap?” Harry wondered aloud.
Before anyone could reply, a bloodcurdling scream filled the air. And suddenly, there was no time to worry about curses or traps.
“ Hermione!” Harry cried and raced toward the sound. His blood was pumping in his ears. Instinctively, he knew that if he didn’t get to Hermione soon, something horrible was going to happen...
He ran through various hallways, searching frantically until his eyes fell upon a single, barred door. Without hesitating, he threw himself into the room.
Hermione was on the ground, her body oddly limp, though her eyes were wide and filled with utmost terror. Dudley was kneeling beside her, using one hand to pin her down at the throat as the other hand began to slowly inch past her beltline. At the sight of Harry, Hermione let out a plaintive gasp. “ Harry!”
Harry’s green eyes flashed with rage, and he threw himself forward, crashing into the other man. Though Dudley was twice Harry’s size, the force of the blow threw him backward. Harry picked himself back up again, and in an instant, his wand was in hand, and he was shouting every non-illegal incantation that he could think of. By the time he was through, Dudley was unconscious on the ground, puss oozing from a face that looked even more like a pig than it had before.
Trembling now from his anger and from realizing what could have happened had he been only a moment later, Harry stumbled back over to his wife, falling beside her on his knees. “ Hermione...” Gingerly, he took her into his arms, cradling her. “ Are you all right? Oh, Merlin...I’m so sorry...”
“ I’m all right, Harry,” Hermione reassured him, though her voice was shaking, “Kimmy put something in my drink, but it’ll wear off I think...I’m just glad you’re here.” A sudden thought seemed to strike her, and she met his gaze earnestly. “ Harry, Kimmy’s still around here somewhere. She’s completely obsessed with you—I don’t know what sort of desperate thing she’ll do...”
There was a short, bitter laugh behind them. Harry turned to see Kimmy, her wand pulled and aimed at him, her eyes determined.
“ Hello, Harry. Long time no see.”
***
I thrive on reviews. Don’t make me starve!

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## 16. Showdown

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PG - English - Romance/Humor - Reviews: 196 - Published: 02-29-04 - Updated: 03-18-04 | id:1754686

document.write(''); chapter sixteen: Showdown
“Drop your wand,” Kimmy instructed coolly, her wand aimed at Harry’s skull. “Go on, do it.”
Reluctantly, Harry took out his wand and set it on the ground.
“ Accio wand,” Kimmy commanded, never taking her eyes from Harry. The wand flew into her hand and she pocketed it, smiling. “ There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Harry merely glared at her, too livid to speak. When he finally found his voice, it was trembling with anger. “You’ve taken this too far, Kimmy. Do you know what could have happened to Hermione? Do you realize how awful that would have been?”
Kimmy’s smile weakened visibly; her face remained hardened, but there was a flash of emotion in her blue eyes. “ I’m sorry,” she said, and sounded as though she really meant it, “ but it had to be done. It was for the best, Harry—you have to see that.”
“ Why don’t you tell him what you told me?” Hermione inquired. She was still very weak, but it seemed as though the potion was beginning to wear off. “Why don’t you tell him about your plan to get me out of the way so that you could keep him for yourself?”
Harry frowned at his ex-fiancé. “ What is she talking about, Kimmy?”
Kimmy kept the wand aimed firmly at Harry’s head, though this announcement seemed to unsettle her. “ I was only trying to prevent the prophecy...at first. That’s all I wanted. I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you.
“ But I did,” Kimmy continued, and there were tears swimming in her eyes now. “I’m in love with you, Harry.”
“ You certainly have a funny way of showing it,” Harry said, but there was no humor in his voice.
Kimmy met his gaze earnestly. “ More than anyone else, I needed to keep the prophecy from coming to pass, Harry. It says she’s going to destroy you. Why am I the only one who seems to care about that anymore?”
Harry felt vaguely sickened. How dare she try to justify this? How dare she think that her obsession with him validated kidnapping and abusing Hermione?
Misinterpreting his silence, Kimmy rushed on. “ We have a connection, Harry. Can’t you feel it? Your parents were both killed by Voldemort, and so were mine. You were raised by Muggles, and so was I. It isn’t too late, Harry. You can leave her now, and no one will know. No one will care. You’ll be safe, and we’ll be happy together—I know we will be.”
Harry was almost afraid to ask. “ And what about Hermione?”
There was a feverish intensity in Kimmy’s eyes now. “ We’ll do whatever you want with her. You can divorce her legally, or we can kill her now. We can even leave her here with Dudley, if you’d like. I’m sure he’ll take care of things for us...”
Harry had been angry before in his life. There’d been times when he’d argued against Draco, and times that Snape had treated him unfairly, and times when the entire school had turned against him. But with the rage he felt now—the overwhelming, all-consuming rage—he was surprised he didn’t implode on the spot.
Kimmy watched him hopefully. Slowly, angrily, Harry met her gaze with scathing eyes. “Never,” he spat out, “ Never! Even if Hermione was dead...even if there were no other witches in the world...even if we were the only two people on the planet—I’d never love you.” He shook his head incredulously. “ Did you honestly think that we could ride off into the sunset together? That we’d live happily ever after? I love this woman.” He looked down into Hermione’s eyes, which were swimming with tears. Again, he repeated, “ I love this woman, and you tried to keep us apart. You hurt her. And that means you hurt me, too.”
There was open anguish on Kimmy’s face, disbelief mingled with sorrow. “ But... you loved me once.”
“ You had me under the Imperius Curse,” Harry reminded her.
Kimmy shook her head. “ You’ve beaten that curse before, Harry. The only reason it could have worked on you this time was because you wanted it...”
Harry stared at her, truly astonished now. “ You really are insane, aren’t you? I don’t know what you did to the spell—how you made it work—but THAT WASN’T ME. I’ve never loved you. I’m in love with Hermione! I’m married to Hermione.”
Kimmy was silent for a moment, her head hung dejectedly, as Harry and Hermione both watched her anxiously.
“ You really love her?” Kimmy inquired, her voice subdued like that of a child who has just been reprimanded.
“ Yes.” Harry said firmly.
Kimmy lifted her head, her eyes filled with rage. “ Then you can die with her!” she spat, and lifted her wand.
“ Harry!”
Frantically, Harry flung himself over Hermione, trying to shield her with his body. *Is this how my mother felt?* he wondered. *Giving her life to save me when she didn’t know that it would work? Ready to die so long as she didn’t have to watch Voldemort kill someone she loved?*
“AVADA--”
There was a loud popping noise, and Harry closed his eyes. This was it. He was dead now. Kimmy had performed her curse, and he was dead. He only hoped someone could help Hermione...
“Expelliarmus!”
Harry looked up, surprised to find that he was still alive and even more surprised to see Dumbledore standing in the room. His face was flushed with righteous indignation, and his normally kind blue eyes blazed with anger. Effectively, his spell had disarmed Kimmy, and she was lying on the ground, stunned.
Dumbledore advanced toward her, a truly terrifying figure. “ Kimberly Trelawney,” he seethed, “ You have gone too far this time. The wizarding world will not stand for this. The memory of your great-grandmother will not stand for this. I will not stand for this!”
Kimmy was cowering beneath him now, weeping plaintively. “ I did it for love!” she gasped, “ I did it for love!”
“PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!”
Kimmy went silent, frozen, though she continued to watch them unblinkingly.
Dumbledore turned to Harry and Hermione, and suddenly he was Dumbledore again, and his face was kind and comforting. “ I apologize for being so late,” he said sincerely, “ but there was a rather advanced blocking charm that kept me from entering the building. Are you all right?”
“ I’m fine,” Harry said, “ but Kimmy’s drugged Hermione with something.”
Dumbledore frowned at this. “ Yes, we should get her help right away. I believe Poppy is already at Hogwarts, preparing for the new school year. You can take Hermione there if you’d like. As for me,” Dumbledore continued, “ I’ll be taking Miss Trelawney and Mr. Dursley to the proper authorities.”
Harry tried to reply, but suddenly his throat felt too constricted to speak. There was so much he wanted to say to Dumbledore, so many thanks he had to give. If it hadn’t been for him...
Dumbledore smiled at him kindly, seeming to sense the words. “ We can talk later,” he said gently, “ for now, I suggest you take your wife to see Madam Pomfrey.”
Harry nodded and obligingly gathered Hermione into his arms. When he was certain that she was comfortable and secure, he reached into his pocket and withdrew the special portkey that Dumbledore had given him so many years before.
In a flash, they were gone.
***
I thrive on reviews! Don't make me starve!
A/N: (*sighs and shakes her head at Kimmy). Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews! You guys really keep me on my toes, but in a good way. :)

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## 17. Reunion

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document.write(''); chapter seventeen: Reunion
Ron paced around anxiously in front of the doors to the prison as Draco and Ginny sat on opposite sides of the stairway, pointedly not looking at one another.
“ I hate this!” Ron snapped suddenly. “ I hate the waiting. What if something is happening in there? Harry and Hermione could be dying, and we have absolutely no idea!”
Draco glared over at him. “ That’s a cheerful thought, Weasel. And why you’re at it, why don’t we discuss the death of Santa Claus and the mutilation of the Easter Bunny?”
Ron scarcely seemed to have heard him. “ That’s it,” he said finally. “ I’m going around to see if there’s another way in.”
He took off, leaving Draco and Ginny alone. Ginny glanced over at Draco furtively. “ I hope Harry and Hermione are all right,” she said.
“ I’d rather not discuss it with you.”
Ginny glared at him. “ Is this the way it’s going to be from now on, Draco? Snide remarks and rudeness?”
Draco shrugged. “ You’re the one who thinks I’m not good enough. So yes, I think that gives me the right to be nasty.”
She rolled her eyes. “ Oh, very mature, Draco. You’re acting like a child.”
As if to prove her point, Draco countered, “ I know you are, but what am I?”
An angry silence settled between them. Draco rose to his feet abruptly and opened the doors to the prison. Ginny looked after him, a mixture of curiosity and worry in her eyes. “ What are you doing?”
“ If you must know, Weasel,” Draco retorted, “ I’m sick of sitting out here with you. I’m going to find a way in to help our friends.”
Before Ginny could stop him, he had raised his wand. “ Aloha mora!”
There was a crackling noise, and then Draco was hurled back through the air, landing with a sickening thud on the ground.
“ Draco!” Ginny screeched, rushing to his side. She fell down to her knees, gingerly stroking his ash-covered face. “ Are you all right?”
“ I’m fine,” Draco snapped back, utterly embarrassed. Quickly, he raised a hand to his hair, groaning as he realized that it was sticking up in all directions. “ My hair...”
Ginny looked as though she was fighting back tears. “ I think we should get you to a hospital, Draco. There might be some internal damage...”
“ Don’t worry about me,” Draco retorted. “ That isn’t your place, remember?”
Before she could reply, Ron came running around the side of the building. “ I just saw Dumbledore,” he informed them, “ he says that Harry and Hermione are all right—Hermione’s been taken to Madam Pomfrey at Hogwarts, but she should be okay. Dumbledore has Kimmy and Dudley in custody--” He stopped at the sight of Draco and grinned. “ Get in a fight with a toaster, Malfoy?”
“ Shove it, Weasel.” But Draco was smiling. Hermione was all right; they’d gotten there in time. “ Come on, then, let’s get to Hogwarts...”
Ron and Draco both started to walk away. Still sitting on the ground, Ginny looked up suddenly, her face determined. “ WAIT!”
The two men turned back to regard her curiously. Ginny scrambled to her feet, nervously wiping her palms off on her pants before moving to Draco’s side. Gulping audibly, she met Ron’s gaze and determinedly took Draco’s hand.
“ I’m in love with Draco,” Ginny announced dramatically, “ and he’s in love with me.” She took in a deep breath, bracing herself for Ron’s response.
Ron merely stared at them for a moment, then snorted. “ Well, duh.”
Draco and Ginny stared back at him. “ What do you mean ‘duh’?” Ginny retorted, clearly confused. “ We kept it a secret from everyone.”
Ron rolled his eyes. “ Honestly, Ginny...the two of you could have come up with a better excuse than running off to work on the paper every five seconds. I’ve read your article. It’s not THAT good.”
“ So,” Ginny said weakly, “ you know? Everyone knows?”
Ron nodded, as though it was all perfectly obvious.
Ginny turned to Draco, her face contrite as she began to babble. “ Draco, I’m so sorry...all this time, I was afraid to tell my family. I didn’t ever mean for you to think I was ashamed of you, or that I didn’t love you...I was just afraid of what would happen to YOU if my brothers found out. You know how they can be. I love them, but they blow everything out of proportion and they can be so protective and--”
Draco had apparently been waiting for a break in conversation to interject, but finally he resorted to kissing her soundly to shut her up. “ You’re cute when you’re flustered, Weasley,” he complimented, grinning.
She grinned back. “ And you’re cute when you’re covered with ash...” And with that, the two began to kiss once more.
Ron scrunched up his nose. “Agghh...just because I know doesn’t mean the two of you can snog in front of me. Geesh...”
***
Harry stared out of the hall window. He had hovered around Madam Pomfrey until she finally forced him out of the room, and now he was waiting out in the hall, anxious to see Hermione again. As he looked down upon the lake, his mind couldn’t help but wander to their fourth year at Hogwarts, when he and Ron had been in a row and Hermione had been his only friend. She’d brought him toast, and they’d walked around the lake, trying to figure out the first task for the Tri-Wizard tournament. It was one of his favorite memories.
There was the sound of a door shutting behind him, and Harry turned to see Hermione at the head of the hall. Their gazes met, and in a flash, they were running toward each other, ignoring the cat calls from the portraits on the wall.
“ Hermione!” Harry cried as they reached one another. He pulled her into his arms, never wanting to let go. She’d only been gone for a matter of days, but it had seemed like months, and when he thought of how close he had been to losing her...
“ Oh, Harry!” Hermione was sobbing now. “ I thought I’d never see you again!”
They pulled back and kissed properly. The portraits on the wall whistled their approval, and when Hermione pulled back, she was blushing. Harry affectionately brushed her hair from her face. “ Are you sure you’re all right?” he inquired. “ Has the potion worn off yet?”
“Mostly,” Hermione informed him. “ I’m still a bit woozy, but I think I’ll be all right.”
Harry was almost afraid to ask. “And Dudley...I wasn’t too late, was I?”
Hermione met his gaze somberly, then shook her head quickly. “ No,” she said quietly, “ you got there just in time, thank goodness.”
Harry enveloped her in his embrace again, clinging to her almost desperately. “Promise that you’ll never leave again.”
“Never again,” Hermione murmured, “ never never never.”
They were interrupted as someone cleared his throat behind them. They turned to see Dumbledore, watching them affectionately. “ Excuse me for interrupting,” he said kindly, “ I just wanted to make certain that Hermione is all right.”
Hermione leaned against Harry, smiling broadly. “ Never better.”
“ I’m glad.”
Harry took in a steadying breath. “ And what about Kimmy and Dudley? What’s happened to them?”
“ Kimmy is being held in the Ministry of Magic,” Dumbledore informed them. “Her trial will be held soon, and I have no doubt that she will be sent to Azkaban. As for Dudley, well...we managed to find some rather interesting illegal Muggle activities that your cousin has been involved in. I feel certain that the proper Muggle authorities will see that he receives his due punishment.”
Swallowing heavily, Harry reached out to grasp his hand. “ How can we ever thank you?”
Dumbledore shook his head. “ I was just wondering how I could ever ask the two of you to forgive me. My part in this was most abominable, and I fear that I will regret it for the rest of my life.”
“ What will be will be,” Harry informed him, echoing the words from Dumbledore’s card, “ It all worked out in the end, I suppose.”
Hermione frowned, seeming troubled by something. “ Professor Dumbledore? You don’t still believe in the prophecy, do you?”
Dumbledore nodded. “ How could I not, Hermione? After all, it has already come to pass.”
“ Already come to pass?” Harry said, frowning. “ But...”
“ The prophecy said that your love would bring an end to Harry,” Dumbledore explained. “ The Harry I first met was a lonely, desperately unhappy young man. The Harry I see now is happy and well-loved. Therefore, it is my belief that the old Harry has—metaphorically speaking, anyhow—come to an end.”
“ But what about the wizarding world?” Hermione reminded him. “ There hasn’t been anything that’s changed that yet.”
Dumbledore smiled at them, his eyes twinkling. “ I’d give that about nine months.” he said. “ Now, if you will excuse me, I must attend to some last minute preparations for the new school year. Enjoy the rest of your honeymoon.”
Harry and Hermione walked down the hall together, both seeming a bit confused at Dumbledore’s words. It took Harry a moment to understand the gist of what Dumbledore had said. “Nine months? Hermione, you aren’t...?”
Hermione’s eyes widened. “ What? No! At least...I don’t think so...”
Awestruck, they met each other’s gazed and grinned.
***
I thrive on reviews. Don’t make me starve!

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## 18. Epilogue

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Books » Harry Potter » My Best Friend's Wedding | text size: (+) : (-)

Author: Elizabeth5 |

PG - English - Romance/Humor - Reviews: 194 - Published: 02-29-04 - Updated: 03-18-04 | id:1754686

document.write(''); Epilogue
There had been polls running as to who would be prettier—the bride or the groom—and truly, it was a close contest. Draco was absolutely stunning in his black tux, but Ginny was equally breathtaking in her intricate gown with her red hair swept up in an elegant knot. In the end, those rooting for Ginny won—the goofy grin on Draco’s face gave Ginny the slight edge.
There had also been polls running as to which Weasley brother would try to ruin the wedding, but to everyone’s great surprise, all of the Weasley boys were on their best behavior. Not to say that the Weasleys had immediately welcomed Draco with open arms, but he was slowly winning them over. He’d had lengthy conversations with Charley about Dragons, Arthur about Muggles, Bill about fashion, and George and Fred about their departing prank from Hogwarts. After working together to save Hermione, Ron and Draco were now on speaking terms and were discovering that they actually liked each other, though neither would ever admit it. And Molly? She’d supported Draco from the very beginning...her grandchildren were going to be beautiful, after all.
The Burrow was swinging full force. To Draco’s consternation, Hagrid had arrived with the present of a baby fluffmudgeon, a tiny creature absolutely covered in fur that would have been utterly adorable if it weren’t for the fact that it flatulated rather loudly every three minutes or so. Despite this, Ginny seemed to absolutely adore the creature—she’d grown up with six brothers, after all, so a little farting now and then was not enough to deter her.
All of the other old friends from Hogwarts were there, too. Dumbledore, Professor McGonogal, Snape. Even Crabbe and Goyle had come, both looking rather jealous of the attention that Draco was lavishing upon Ginny. The boys had brightened considerably, though, when Ginny asked them if they’d be part of the security team for the mansion that she and Draco would be building.
Watching all of this, Hermione smiled and turned her gaze to Harry. He and Ron were currently involved in a deep conversation about Quidditch. Every so often, he’d gesture wildly, his face filled with laughter as Ron recounted some new trick called the Preter something or other. The conversation itself didn’t interest Hermione so much, but she marveled at how happy Harry was. She could remember not too long ago the skinny, lonely boy she’d met on the Hogwarts train. There were still traces of that boy, but Dumbledore had been right. The old, unhappy Harry had ended, and her Harry was at peace. She couldn’t ask for anything more.
Thinking of the prophecy, Hermione’s hand moved instinctively to her stomach, feeling the slight bulge there. Once again, Dumbledore had been right: she was three months along now, and the baby was growing, healthy and strong by all accounts. Even at so young an age, she could feel the power that surrounded her child. It was like electricity surging through her veins, like the physical manifestation of magic. Great things were going to come from this child, she knew. Great and marvelous things.
“ Hermione, are you all right?”
Startled, Hermione realized that she’d become lost in thoughts. She smiled at her husband, marveling at how things had turned out. Had it really only been little over a year since Harry gave her the news that he was engaged? Had she really ever existed without knowing that she loved this man, and that he loved her in return?
Life could be kind of wonderful sometimes.
She smiled at him, her eyes gleaming. “ Never better.” she said, and meant it.
Grinning, Harry took her hand, and they walked into the Burrow together.
***
I thrive on reviews. Don’t make me starve!
A/N: Yes, this is the end of my little story that started as a romantic comedy and somehow came to include a prophecy and kidnapping and all sorts of other fun things. Thanks so much for all of the reviews and wonderful support! As for the possibility of a sequel, I won't say never, but I will say not right now. However, if you're desperately wanting to read something, I do have another fic out called 'Death or Something Like It' (shameless self-promotion, I know). I don't pop out the chapters quite so fast on this one, but I do try to update every week or so. Anyway, thanks again for everything. H/Hr forever!

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