Chapter 29
Hermione forced herself to smile as the cameras clicked for what seemed like the hundredth time. The bridesmaids and Groomsmen had one last photo to take before the bride and groom were ready to make their first entrance from the Burrow as a married couple. The ceremony had gone off swimmingly. The Ministry official did the service clearly and loudly while someone from the Italian ministry repeated it softly in Blaise’s native tongue for his family and friends in the room. They’d exchanged personalized vows (that made some people gasp at the knowledge that they’d previously been together) before proclaiming their rediscovered passion for one another and their hope for the marriage to be long and happy. Finally, they’d had their magic tied, the officiant proclaimed them married, and they kissed (a bit too long if the throat-clearing from the audience, primarily Molly, was anything to go by).
“Alright, everyone. That’s it for pictures. The bride and groom should be out soon, feel free to help yourselves to some of the finger foods while you wait!” Hermione was already walking off as the photographer finished speaking, rubbing her cheeks as she went to get rid of some of the soreness. She grabbed a couple of crostini’s and made her way to the long front table where the wedding party was seated.
“Feeling peckish are we?” She turned to see Draco following her to the table. She’d been posing with him in most of the group photos (both because he was her fiance and because he was her opposite in the processional) so she shouldn’t have been surprised he was walking the same path as her.
“All I’ve eaten today was a scone. I don’t feel like waiting till dinner to eat, sue me.” She grumbled hostilely.
“Someone got up on the wrong side of the broom today.”
“Sorry,” she told him mockingly with a shrug.
“Did the Weasle’s er- the Weasley’s not know that Weaslette and Blaise were together at Hogwarts?” He asked, pulling out her chair for her. She looked at him sideways.
“No. Ginny didn’t tell anyone until after the pairing announcement. And even then she only told our friends. I think Molly and Arthur would have had a heart attack if she told them sooner.”
“I thought it was common knowledge.” Draco shrugged. “So, where did you run off to last night? I was going to ask you to dance but you were nowhere to be found.” Mione snorted.
“Why?”
“Because we’re getting married in a week, shouldn’t we share a dance at our dear friends’ wedding?” He said it with a straight face but his voice was dripping in sarcasm.
“Well I left at nine to get some rest for today, but before then you had plenty of opportunities to find me. If this is some kind of weird pure-blood courting bull shite, don’t worry about it. I’m not much of a dancer.” She started her last crostini as the music stopped and shifted.
“Now announcing the newlyweds, Ginevra and Blaise Zabini!” The conductor called out as they started in on the song for the first dance. The band’s singers started as Blaise and Ginny began their dance and Hermoine looked on at the happiness shining on her friend’s face. Ginny seemed lost in her own world, a large smile on her face as she and Blaise gazed at each other while they moved out their duet. Where Harry and Astoria’s song had been sweet and slow (and a song she knew by heart as her parents had played it throughout her childhood), theirs was a brighter, pop-y song that had come out recently over the wizarding wireless.
When they finished Hermione cheered and clapped along with the others in attendance. Blaise guided his bride back to the long table they had set up for the parents, bridesmaids, and groomsmen and Ginny took a seat.
“Thank you all for coming. We would like to say that having each of you here has made this night so special. This night has been incredible for me and my bride. Please enjoy the meal and the rest of the evening. Enjoy the food!” Blaise announced before taking his seat. Hermione resisted a sigh of malcontented as her food appeared before her. While she was happy to be eating, she knew that elf labour had been used to make the food and was unhappy that Ginny had gone that route when deciding on her dinner options. Draco moved to his own seat on the other end of the table as Angelina shooed him out of her chair, breaking Mione out of her dissatisfaction.
“Ugh, I’m starved. I should have eaten more this morning. What’d you get?” Angie asked as she sat down.
“I got the,” she picked up the place card that had appeared in front of her with the food, “‘Florentine lasagna with chicken, spinach, and pecorino,’. What about you?”
“The ‘Pan-seared Branzino with potatoes, cherry tomatoes, and black olives,’” Angelina quoted back with a snicker. “So formal. Georgie and I almost went with this company, I’m glad we just let Molly cook. Much less fancy but much more intimate, yeah?” Hermione shook her head in agreement and tucked into her dinner.
“My treasure, I’d like to finally introduce you to my Mamma. Mamma, this is Ginny.” She overheard Blaise proclaiming from a couple of seats over. She turned and saw Gin extend her hand to the elegantly dressed woman who didn’t look old enough to have a twenty-one-year-old son.
“Red hair, huh? So you're the gold-digging whore who broke my baby's heart?”
“Mamma! What the hell?”
“Um,” Ginny sputtered, her hand still outstretched. Hermione raised an eyebrow and ignored her food in favour of watching the drama no one else seemed to be paying attention to.
“Don't say bullshit, puppy. Isn't this the girl you spent months crying over?”
“Mamma, don't be rude. I love her!” Hermione missed what else was said, Blaise and his mother became quieter as they argued, but poor Ginny looked positively confused (and slightly offended) as she let her arm fall to the table and gently picked up her fork. A little while later, after Hermione had nearly finished her food, the two finally stopped whisper yelling at each other and Blaise’s mum let out a sigh before extending her hand out to Ginny.
“Belisencia Esposito-Pamphili. But you may call me Mrs Pamphili.” Hermione cringed at the formality in the older woman’s voice as she addressed her new daughter in law.
“G-Ginny Weas- er, Zabini. Nice to finally meet you. Blaise talks about you all the time.”
• • •
By the time dinner was done the tension had seemed to dissipate somewhat. Luckily Molly and Arthur hadn’t overheard the way Mrs Pamphili was talking to their daughter, as it would have caused a fight to break out. However, Ginny and the older woman had sat next to each other without another word between them. Mione felt bad for her friend because she’d previously expressed how excited she was to meet Blaise’s family but she couldn’t exactly help dissipate the tension. It wasn’t her place and she had no idea what the problem actually was (she didn’t speak Italian so she wasn’t sure what had transpired between the groom and his mum). Thankfully after the parent dances Ginny and Blaise were so busy making rounds to all of their guests there wasn’t time for the bride to dwell on the awkward situation. Hermione spent the time mingling with friends and munching on the available snacks before Malfoy asked her to dance.
“M-Draco, I already told you. I’m not a good dancer.” She reminded him as he pulled her to the dance floor.
“Probably because you’ve never had a good partner.” He put his hand on her waist and she put her’s on his shoulder as they started to gently sway. “I heard Blaise’s mum chew out Weaslette at dinner. That’s gonna be a hard parent to win over, Mama Bella is very against most girls Blaise gets serious with but especially when the break up ends badly.”
“Oh, was that what their discussion was about? I couldn’t understand a word of it, but it seemed kind of harsh.”
“She called Weaslette-”
“Ginny, Draco. Her name is Ginny. And her last name is Zabini now. You’ll probably want to get used to calling the Gryffindors by their names.” Hermione hinted none too subtly.
“Fine then, she called Ginny a gold-digging whore.”
“She did what?” Hermione demanded, standing still on the dance floor as she swivelled her head to find the older witch who dared insult her friend on her wedding day. Draco pulled her a little tighter as he restarted their dance.
“Leave it. You do not want to get in the middle of that. Trust me. We- Ginny, will need to prove herself to Mama Bella or she’ll never be accepted as a part of Blaise’s life. Trust me, when he dated Tori and they broke up it took her years to get back on his mum’s good side.”
“When did Blaise date Stori?”
“They dated for a couple of months in eighth year. She was his rebound after We- Ginny.”
“Oh. How did-”
“Repeat that, I dare you!” Hermione turned to see Fleur, chest puffed up and being held back by her husband, staring down two dark haired women on the other side of the backyard.
“Uh-oh,” Draco mumbled under his breath.
“What? Who are those women?” Mione asked him as she tried to strain her ears to overhear what was going on.
“Those are Blaise’s older sisters, Rella and Cece. They aren’t very happy with We- Ginny either.”
“Why is Fleur freaking out though?” Hermione pulled out of her dance (ignoring the twinge of sadness at their abandoned touch when she did) and headed over to the seething blonde.
“Shut the fuck up, you bitches! Fuck you and your mother. Why the hell are you talking about my sister-in-law? Huh? Screw you!”
“Fleur!” Hermione gasped, appalled at her friend’s language and decidedly angry at the other girls as well. Fleur was not easy to get rilled up and pissed off so they must have really been taking digs at Ginny if they got the part-veela swearing in front of her children. Bill finally got his wife away from the conflict zone and into a chair, rubbing her shoulders.
“What is going on, baby?” He asked his wife softly, doing his best to calm her down without attracting further attention.
“They are calling Ginny a whore, and making death threats. They don't know I understand them, obviously. I will not stand for this!” She raged.
“Baby, you’re nine months pregnant. You can’t be trying to fight people. Especially not when Ginny is perfectly capable of handling them on her own.” Bill looked ready to go after them himself but seeing as he was one of the only semi-level headed ones of the Weasley clan it was more likely he would just speak to Blaise about the way his family was already treating Gin. Hermione started storming away, prepared to use her fists or wand as she deemed necessary to stop people from ruining her friend’s evening. Ginny was one of the lucky ones, she got to marry a man she loved. And no one was going to taint her memory of what was supposed to be one of the best days of her life if Hermione had anything to say about it.
“Where are you going?” She startled somewhat, not realising Harry had come up behind her.
“To give those girls a piece of my mind.” He grabbed her arm, bringing her to a stop.
“Let go of me, Harry. I’m not in the mood. The way Blaise’s family is treating Ginny is not ok,”
“Why don’t you go cool off? As someone who’s been on the receiving end of ‘a piece of your mind’ I’m almost certain anything you do will just make things worse.” He didn’t seem particularly set one way or the other. In fact, his grip loosened in a way that seemed to imply he was all too happy to let her go attack the people causing problems. “Let’s get some drinks and let Bill handle this.”
“I can’t drink right now, so no.” She grumbled, standing still but still threatening to continue her rampage.
“What do you mean you can’t drink right now?”
“I took a potion this morning after a panic attack, so not only am I dealing with the side effects of coming off of it, but I can’t enjoy any of the wine around here either. These people have been talking shite about Ginny since the reception started and I am done letting them!” She was about to pull out of Harry’s grip and continue her rampage when she noticed Ginny nearing her new sisters-in-law. She couldn’t hear it from where she stood but she could certainly almost feel the force with which the red head’s hand came in contact with one of the other girl’s faces. Hermione shared a look with Harry before they both started walking to their friend’s side.
“-And I may not be your first choice, but I love him. I will always love him, and nothing you do or say will change that. But I don’t take shite from anyone. ESPECIALLY at my wedding.” Mione heard as they neared the commotion.
“Blaise, are you really going to let her talk to us like this?” The taller of the two sisters demanded, an incensed expression on her face.
“She can talk to you however she pleases. You forget, sisters, that she is my wife now. I have had multiple guests tell me how you two idiots have been talking about her. I love you both but I will not tolerate you degrading her. Apologize to her or leave. I won’t speak to you again until you do.”
“Fine. Sorry.” One said.
“Stupid freaking british girl. Fine! I’m sorry.” The other added, both walking off sulking after being chewed out.
“You ok, Red?” Blaise asked Ginny.
“I’m fine, it’s just annoying,” she grumbled under her breath. “Sorry for the commotion everyone! Please, go back to enjoying the party!” The small crowd that had gathered dissipated somewhat, people throwing side-eyed looks at the bride and groom as they went back to their other conversations. “I’ll be right back, Blaise. My mum looks ready to throw a hex.” Hermione and Harry caught up with Ginny before she could walk far.
“Are you alright, Gin? I know you can handle yourself but they were so rude.” Mione grit her teeth in anger for her friend.
“Yeah. I kind of expected this after Blaise told me they knew about what happened between us. I just didn’t expect them to cause problems today.” She crossed her arms in exasperation. “I’ve dealt with worse, especially when I dated Harry. Trust me, I’m fine.”
“Let me know if you need help bat-boogying anyone.”
“I will,” Gin chuckled. “I gotta go cool mum and dad off, I’ll come talk to you again after, yeah?” She said, already walking away.
“Ok, good luck diffusing that situation,” Hermione mumbled the last part to herself, knowing full well which parent the Weasley kids got their temper from.