Chapter 12
When Hermione woke up Saturday morning, she was covered in sweat and her sheets were damp. Her clit throbbed and she rubbed her legs together at the memory of her dream from last night. She cupped her palm over her cloth-covered mound and moaned at the feeling, still sensitive from her release during the night. In her dream, a man with sturdy muscles and strong, artistic hands had ravished her. Praising her intellect and her beauty alike while he drove himself into her, over and over and over again. And she hadn’t needed to help. Oh no, her dream hands had been tied softly to a bedpost somewhere above her head and the man's fingers, those skilful, sinful fingers had found just the right spot. Just the right rhythm. He knew how to press her buttons and he’d done it well. She didn’t recognize his face, he was probably some actor or model. Maybe from Silent Witness or Casualty. But right now she couldn’t care less. All she wanted was to relive that crashing feeling as she sank over the edge of pleasure. But the knocking at her door that had woken her up in the first place wasn’t going away so she knew she wouldn’t get the chance. She kicked off the covers that had wound themselves around her ankles in her late-night thrashing and walked angrily across the room to stop the offending noise at her door.
“What?” She accused as she swung the door open.
“Whoa. Good morning to you too,” Ginny said, hands up and asking forgiveness. “I thought we were getting brunch before our fitting later? You said we were gonna leave at ten thirty, why aren’t you ready?” Hermione looked over at her alarm clock and groaned as the blinking 1:22 stared back at her. Magic and electricity were not mutually exclusive, but it was hard to get them to work together cohesively. The electricity was glitchy at best (at least according to Brian Henlock, the muggleborn magical electrician. He was the first of his kind and had installed the wiring at Grimmauld place with a warning it could be spotty).
“Sorry, Gin. My alarm clock must have died again last night. Let me hop in the shower and get dressed.” She tiredly told the redhead. Ginny looked her up and down with a smirk.
“Please tell me you’ve got someone hiding in there that’s got you looking like that.”
“Gin!” Hermione cried while her face turned red.
“Oh, come on,” the girl said as her friend grabbed her towel and headed for the bathroom down the hall. “When’s the last time you had a good night of sex? A year? Two? Please tell me you have gotten some since breaking up with Ron.”
“There was no one here last night, and the last time I had sex was none of your business.”
“You haven’t had you? Oh, Mione, that’s just sad. We need to get you laid before you get stuck with tall, blonde, and prudish for the rest of your life.”
“Why? I’m perfectly content with my vibrator, I’m sure it does better than most men out there anyway. And I seem to recall a certain someone drooling over ‘tall, blonde, and prudish’ in fifth year. Didn’t you say he was a quote, unquote sex god according to the school gossip?”
“I still don’t know first hand if that’s true or not, so you better spill the deets after you get married. And a vibrator isn’t nearly as much fun as having a hard, throbbing man to play with.”
“Gin, I’m getting in the shower. Do you need to cool off before I do, or are you good?” Hermione giggled as her friend fanned herself playfully.
“Go, go. I still say you need to get some though!” She called as Hermione shut the door. Hermione shook her head with a smile and shucked Harry’s old quidditch jumper and her black boy shorts to step into the shower. One of the perks of magic, she’d come to realize since starting school eleven years ago, was the water was warm as soon as it started coming out. You just had to adjust how warm you wanted it. Having taken showers after her friends at various points in her life she knew everyone was a little different. Ginny preferred to take long, scalding showers that turned her skin red. Harry, on the other hand, liked to take somewhat quick showers in water warm enough to fog the mirror but not warm enough to burn. Ron enjoyed a good fifteen-minute shower. On the dot every time (something he had learned growing up with so many siblings and one shared bathroom), and lukewarm at best. Everyone was different and Hermione found it amusing how magic had adapted to allow such a feat to occur. If everyone had to wait for the shower to heat up, as she and Harry had had to growing up, she was sure it would all be different. But they had this luxury instead and she was living for it today as she stepped under the spray. The pressure was just right as it hit her skin, helping to unknot some of her tense muscles and helping her to wake up. If she had more time (and didn’t have Ginny waiting for her downstairs) she would take her sweet time and finish what her dream self had started earlier. But alas, she was in a rush. And her growling stomach didn’t want to wait until after today’s dress adventure to find food. She rinsed the shampoo and deep conditioner thoroughly before wrapping herself in her favourite fluffy, yellow, bath sheet. She used her hand to defog some of the mirror before brushing her teeth and tossing on a robe so her towel could dampen her hair instead of her now dry body. She walked back to her room and rummaged through her underwear drawer to try and figure out what she wanted to wear for the day. She decided on a nude strapless, underwire, push up bra and a pair of nude bikini panties. She wasn’t sure what kind of dress she’d get so she assumed the strapless bra would be best, and she didn’t want to walk around in a thong all day but felt her high waisted underwear would be too out of place under a wedding gown. She threw on a pale blue sundress and put her hair up into a makeshift bun before attempting to do her makeup. She accomplished her right eye wing but messed up her left a few times before it looked remotely decent or similar. Frustrated and put out, she scrubbed her face clean and threw on a more simple eyeliner and some lip gloss before heading down to meet Ginny. They threw on some flip flops and headed to their favourite bakery down the street to get some much-needed pastry and carbs before dealing with the rest of their day.
. . .
“So, how do you think everything will go today?” Ginny asked as the girls sat down.
“What do you mean?” Hermione asked distractedly as she looked over her receipt to make sure her order was correct. When the girls had been going to school still, they loved to come to The Baker’s Table when they were on holiday or had some free time (leaving campus unsupervised was only allowed for returning seventh and eighth years, something McGonagall had implemented for the older students who had more than grown up during the war). She loved the food and the staff was always friendly, but occasionally the registers didn’t work right and she’d end up with pretty much the exact opposite of what she’d ordered. Thankfully, this time the machines seemed to work properly.
“I mean,” Ginny said as she took the receipt from Hermione to look over her own order, “How do you think everything’s gonna go? I don’t know about you, but I am not looking forward to shopping with Pug-Faced Harpy. And I’m not sure how I feel about Greengrass either.”
“I ran into Astoria and Harry before my last appointment. She seemed pretty nice, so I don’t think there will be any problems with her. I’m hoping she’ll be able to reign in Parkinson, or at least keep her away from us while we’re shopping.”
“That would be great because honestly, I am having a hard enough time not flipping out on everyone without the added stress of dealing with her.”
“Tell me why this is a good idea again?”
“It was your idea!” Ginny giggled at her. “And because apparently, we all need to ‘get along’ or whatever.”
“Oh. Right.” Hermione remarked under her breath as the waitress set their food in front of them. Ginny tucked into her pancake-sausage rolls as Hermione took a sip of orange juice. “Godric, this is gonna suck. I’m gonna have to deal with Parkinson AND Malfoy’s mother. I don’t think I have the strength.” She added as she took a bite of her ham, egg, and cheese croissant.
“What!?” Ginny shrieked as the people at the table next to them turned to look.
“Huh?” Mione asked, confused.
“Why is Malfoy’s mother going to be there?”
“Oh. Because she’s planning most of the wedding. Which, I’m fine with as long as I have some input and what-not. I was more concerned with reigning in the guest list than paying attention to why she needed to be there but somehow the dress is a deciding factor for other things like centrepieces or something.”
“This is not good.” Gin told her friend seriously. “Like really not good. Mum and Dad hate the Malfoy’s. And Mum’s managed to weasel her way into coming today as well!” The girls stared at each other for a second in dread.
“Bugger.”
“We’re going to have to run some major interference today.”
“Hopefully they’ll be too busy trying to force dresses on us to notice one another?” Mione suggested helpfully.
“I doubt it, but maybe.” Gin replied with a shrug. “Either way it’s gonna suck. Do you know who else is coming today? I mean aside from us.”
“Um, I believe it’s you, me, Harry, Ron, their fiances, Malfoy, Neville, and Luna. Do you know if anyone else is going to be there?”
“Well, Angie and George are tagging along, and Katie, Lisa, Seamus, and Dean are gonna meet up with us at the flower shop later, not to mention Perce and Audrey may or may not come. Oh, and Fleur and the girls will be there to find flower girl and bridesmaid dresses.”
“Oh god,” Hermione groaned and put her palm to her forehead. “I didn’t even think of bridesmaids!”
“Fleur’s gonna be my maid of honour but I was hoping to ask you and Angie if you’d be bridesmaids as well,” Ginny told Hermione casually but with a glint of hope in her voice.
“Of course, Gin! I’d love to be in your wedding party. It’ll help distract me from my own. Slightly related,” Hermione chuckled, “would you be my maid of honour?”
“Sure,” Ginny laughed. “How much thought did you put into that, by the way?” She teased.
“Hey, I may not have been thinking about it too much recently but back when Ron and I were talking about getting engaged, you were my first choice!” Mione answered. The girls chuckled and finished eating so they could make it to the dress shop on time. “Narcissa is handling most of the wedding details so don’t worry about any ‘maid-of-honour duties’ or anything. You just have to show up and make sure I actually make it down the aisle.”
“Sweet, so I can just worry about the party and you not running away? Sounds like a plan.”
“What party?” Hermione asked as they took their garbage to the bin and exited the store.
“You know, the bachelorette party!” Gin said, doing a short Pump It dance as they walked. Mione chuckled at her friend.
“No, I don’t think so. I don’t need to get wasted and be ground on by sweaty girls the night before my wedding. It’s gonna be awful enough without adding a hangover to the mix.”
“What! No way, you have to have a party! You need to have fun before getting trapped with the old ball and chain, and we all need to let loose too since you’re the last one getting married. It’ll be one last hurrah for everyone.”
“I’m pretty sure a ‘ball and chain’ is the term used for the woman in the marriage.”
“Whatever! My point still stands, and who knows you may even meet someone.” Gin said mischievously.
“Gin, I can’t ‘meet someone'. I may not like Malfoy or have chosen him but I’m still not gonna sleep with someone else while I’m engaged or married.”
“Why not, you said so yourself you didn’t like or choose him. I’m sure he’ll be sleeping around too. Like I’ve mentioned before, no one will get hurt because we don’t know each other that well.”
“I know, but I still don’t feel right about it. I don’t really care if he sleeps around, I won’t.” Hermione said with finality as they turned a corner near Diagon Alley.
“Fine, no sleeping around. But I’m still throwing you a party. You aren’t getting out of it. If you think you’ll be too hungover to do anything the next day we just won’t have it the day before the wedding.”
“Well whatever day you pick, I’m busy... or sick. So, sorry, you’ll have to go without me to the club or wherever you’re planning ongoing.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna work. I’ll drag you if I have to, but you are gonna go and have fun. Afterwards, I’ll trap you in your room until the wedding for rest and pampering. And when your Dad comes to walk you d-” Ginny’s eyes went wide and she turned to look where Hermione had stopped on the sidewalk. “Oh, Mione. I’m sorry. I- I wasn’t thinking.” She said as she walked back to her friend. Hermione’s eyes were red and glistened with unshed tears.
“No, it’s...it’s ok. I guess it just hadn’t really sunk in yet that- that they... Godric, Gin, they won’t be there, will they? They won’t see me get married? My Dad won’t walk me down the aisle, my Mum won’t cry while I say my vows, they won’t be there for the first dance, or for me and my father to-” Hermione let out a soft sob as Ginny enveloped her in a hug. “I knew all of this. I already mourned all the things I won’t get with them, why am I crying damn it?”
“Because,” Ginny said as she rubbed her friend’s back, “it’s here now. It’s ok to cry and hurt about this, it’s all gonna be ok Mione. I’m so sorry.” They stood there for a few more minutes until Hermione was more in control of herself and they started walking again. The girls didn’t say anything else to each other again, just walked and let themselves be in their own worlds for a few minutes. When they arrived at the meeting place several people were already there. More people, in fact, than they had been expecting. All of Ginny’s brothers (except Charlie) were there with their spouses talking with Molly; Narcissa was there with Malfoy, Zabini, Goyle, and Montague; Astoria, Bulstrode, another girl Hermione vaguely recognized, and Parkinson nearby, and a few others standing around awkwardly or speaking with their intendeds. Hermione and Ginny looked at each other before walking off to divide and conquer the small crowd. Ginny to her mother, and Hermione towards Astoria, with a quick wave to Narcissa.
“Oh, Hermione! Nice to see you again.” Astoria chimed as she brought Hermione into a quick hug. Mione went stiff at the sudden proximity before recovering and hugging back until the girl brushed her cheeks to Hermione’s in la bise. “So I know you said it was fine to invite some friends but I hope it’s ok that I did. I was talking to Pansy about today, trying to get her to agree to come with me. I finally had to tell her Narcissa would be here for her to say yes,” the girl chuckled. “Anyway, Millie and Tracy overheard and wanted to tag along and Tracy is friends with Lavender and Parvati from work so she invited them, and Parvati is of course marrying Mr Wood, so she asked if he and Mr Jordan could come with Ms Chang. I know they had been friends of yours at school so I hope it’s ok that they came along?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” Hermione chuckled uneasily. Actually, there were quite a few more people here than she’d informed the shop would be coming so she wasn’t sure if it was ok or not. Hopefully, since the saleswoman had said they didn’t have anyone booked this weekend, it would be alright. “I’m going to go check us all in, see you inside!” She said over her shoulder as she started walking to the door. As she neared the entrance she was accosted by who she had thought was Ginny until the male voice spoke.
“Very sneaky, Granger. Telling my mother about this.” Malfoy said, a scowl evident in his voice as he opened the door for her.
“I haven’t the foggiest what you mean,” Hermione replied sweetly as she flagged down a passing worker. “Hi, Granger/Weasley/Potter Party checking in. I hope it’s ok but there are a few more of us than originally intended.” The woman nodded briskly and walked away while Malfoy grabbed her arm. He pulled her so she was facing him and she looked up into his face with a coy smile at his anger.
“You know exactly what I mean. You told my Mother I refused to come to this ridiculous affair and practically brainwashed the woman into thinking myself and my friends needed to be here for some reason. You made a big deal about making me ask you things the other day, and then you went right to my mother and didn’t ask me if I wanted to come today. Seems pretty hypocritical of you.”
“Malfoy, I did ask you if you wanted to come. I asked you the other day while we were discussing where we were going to hold the wedding.” She waved Ginny in as the attendant let her know they were ready and everyone started filing into the store and dispersing to the different size sections set up.
“No, you didn’t. I think I would remember if you’d mentioned this mess. You know, Mother dragged Blaise and Graham along today. They’re not happy either.”
“Well, I’m sorry that you have a selective memory, because I did tell you. But it’s not my fault who your mother thought to invite or that you didn’t remember my asking you.” She said as she started walking away towards the sixes section.
“I’m not done speaking, Granger,” Malfoy growled as he grabbed her arm. She turned and smirked at him as she pulled herself away from him.
“That’s too bad because I’m done listening. If you’ll excuse me now, I have to go find a wedding dress. I believe the men’s section is next door if you’d like to go look around, we should be done here in a few hours. Otherwise, I’m sure we could find a gown or two that would fit you today.” She told him before giggling and walking away. When she got to the rack she peeked over her shoulder to see him standing there with a dark scowl on his face before he turned to presumably go find a tux.
“That was hilarious.” She turned to see Parvati standing there with Susan Bones and Luna stifling laughter in the background. She smirked at them.
“Thanks,” Mione replied as she started sorting through the different gown selections. That was fun, perhaps today won’t be so bad after all. She thought to herself.
～Edited 19th Jan, 2022