In-Laws

In Laws

By: Tassana Burrfoot



Chapter Thirteen





"How long does it take for six women to shop for one dress?" Draco asked as he stirred his firewhiskey.



Blaise glanced at his watch. "Thus far? Nine hours and twenty-three minutes," he answered, giving Draco a sly grin.



Draco shook his head. He would never understand women, he knew. Nine hours, six women, one dress. He hated to think about the rest of the wedding details.



Thankfully, most of the planning was done. They were to have the wedding in the gardens. Hermione was to move into the Manor about two weeks before the wedding to help Narcissa prepare things. Draco would leave about a week later. Then, the guests would arrive a few days before the wedding. The reception would take place in the grand ballroom. The feast was to be set in the dining hall. The priest had already been by once, to check things over and council the bride and groom.



With Potter\'s and Hermione\'s influence, Mr. Ollivander had been convinced to fashion a new wand for Lucius. Draco could not have been more grateful. Over the past week or two, his father had taken to borrowing Draco\'s wand. (And not returning it in due course.)



Now the four men sat in the drawing room, drinking firewhiskey, and conversing lightly over the upcoming nuptials. Draco knew his father wasn\'t pleased over the matter. While Hermione had done well serving the family, Lucius\' pureblood ways were hard to overcome. No Malfoy had ever married a Muggle-born before. And with Draco being an only child, he was the last in line. The fate of the family rested in his loins.



Lucius glanced at his only child. Narcissa had not been able to bare a child since their son\'s birth. She was frail and had almost lost Draco. Before Draco, they had had several miscarriages. It was feared she\'d never bare a child. And then, when Draco was born, the child was nearly dead. Narcissa was nearly dead. Lucius was torn between joy of his son\'s birth and fear that he would lose his entire family in one day. Abraxas hadn\'t been any help, either. The old rotter had suggested offing Narcissa and finding a more suitable bride.



And now, Draco, Lucius\' pride and joy, was going to marry a Muggle-born. Abraxas was, no doubt, flipping in his grave. Though his father had never been the greatest of fathers, Lucius still had a hard time disregarding the old sod\'s sentiment. He had no desire to see his son wed to filth. After all, for all Granger had done for his family, she was still tainted. Dirty.



Harry wasn\'t very thrilled about the prospects either. Harry loved Hermione. She was the sister he had never had. And he worried for her happiness. The Malfoys wouldn\'t be easy to live with, he knew. Course, Hermione was smart and stubborn. If anyone could take on the snobbish family, it was she.



Blaise was pretty happy, though. He had witnessed Granger over the past few months and couldn\'t deny her love for Draco. She was actually more than Draco deserved, in Blaise\'s opinion. But, all the same, the Slytherin couldn\'t be happier for the couple. They gave him high hopes for his own bride-to-be.



Regardless of how anyone felt, Draco could not wait to begin his life with his wife. Nothing else in the world mattered to him more. He wondered how many children they would have and had to stop himself from smiling stupidly.



The front door opened and shut and the four men stood. Moments later, Narcissa entered the drawing room, having divested her cloak in the entrance hall. She looked tired, but incredibly satisfied.



"How did it go?" Draco ventured, moving to sit next to his mother on the couch.



Narcissa shrugged. She snapped her fingers for a house-elf for a glass of red wine and sighed. "Not too bad, actually," she responded after taking a sip of her wine. "It was tiring. We tried loads of dresses and couldn\'t find anything she liked. Hermione can be horribly picky. But, when we were just about to call it a day, that Weasley girl found the perfect dress."



"Why didn\'t you just have it custom made?" Lucius asked, wrinkling his nose in distaste.



She glanced at him and sighed, "I asked the same thing, but Hermione insisted on shopping for the dress. She said it was more exciting this way."



Harry smiled. "It\'s probably a tradition in her family. Many Muggles shop for dresses that are already made."



"But she\'s not a Muggle," Blaise argued.



Harry shrugged and placed his glass on an end table. "She was raised by Muggles. You\'ll find she does a lot of things \'the Muggle way\' simply because that\'s what she\'s used to," he returned.



Draco glanced at the Gryffindor curiously. "You were raised by Muggles," he pressed. "I don\'t see you doing things \'the Muggle way.\'"



Harry laughed, "You\'d be surprised, Malfoy. Besides, they didn\'t raise me. They ignored me. I pretty much raised myself."



"It doesn\'t matter," Lucius sneered. "The dress is bought and paid for. I assume you used our accounts, darling?"



Narcissa pursed her lips. "I tried," she told him. "But, Hermione refused to let me. Instead, her mother paid for the dress."



Lucius\' eyes narrowed and he raised an eyebrow. "See that Mrs. Granger receives money back. The Mudblood is our charge now and I will not have her using her parents\' money for things. You will take the Maid of Honour dress hunting tomorrow, or is she to be fitted? Who is the Maid of Honour, by the way?"



"Ginny Weasley," Draco answered. "And I\'d really appreciate it if you didn\'t call Hermione that name."



Lucius waved the comment away and looked to his wife. Narcissa shrugged. "I suppose we could fit her, though I\'m sure Hermione will want to take her dress shopping along with her bride\'s maids. Miss Patel and Miss Lovegood have filled those spots."



"Who is Lovegood walking with?" Blaise asked, looking at Narcissa with a curious eye.



Again, the woman shrugged. "I honestly do not know."



(II)



Hermione plopped onto the couch in her parents\' home. She wasn\'t exactly thrilled to be going to Malfoy Manor. It was to be expected that she would eventually move there, but she really did not see the point in staying two weeks under the same roof with Lucius Malfoy without Draco\'s support. Thank the gods she\'d have Narcissa.



"I still cannot believe you are marrying Draco Malfoy," Ginny said as she plopped down next to Hermione.



"Actually, they are already married," Luna corrected, wistfully. "This is just a ceremony where they give vows to one another."



Ginny pursed her lips. "Either way, it\'s still incredible," she said. "Who would have thought? Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger."



Padma grinned. "Do you blame her? Besides, there was always speculation in school."



"What speculation?" Hermione asked, glancing at the Indian.



"Come off it, Hermione," Padma chided. "The Gryffindor Princess and the Slytherin Prince? If people weren\'t fantasizing about Harry and Ginny, then it was either you or Draco. Of course, there were those who believed you\'d end up with Ron, but many saw great potential in you and Draco."



Hermione bit her lip. "I didn\'t know I was part of a spectator\'s sport," she retorted.



"Aside from Ginny, you were the most beautiful girl in Gryffindor," Luna said softly. "There wasn\'t a boy in school who wouldn\'t have dated you. I think the only thing that held them back was the idea that you were already taken."



Padma nodded. "Many people thought you and Ron were a couple until he started dating Lavender Brown. And even after that, they still thought it."



"But all this time it was Draco," Ginny swooned.



Even Luna seemed mystified by the thought. Hermione chortled, "You all were interested in him?"



The three girls looked at each other and shook their heads. "We weren\'t that dumb," Ginny stated.



Padma smiled. "I think it was after the Yule Ball. Rumours started flying across the school. Apparently someone had seen Draco\'s reaction to you."



Luna nodded. "Draco Malfoy lost his heart that night. Right under Pansy Parkinson\'s piggy nose. She never saw it coming, did not see it leave. Even now, she hasn\'t realized that she\'s lost a game that was never played," she said.



Hermione was overwhelmed. The whole school had known about Draco\'s change of heart. Everyone had seen it... except for her.



"Why didn\'t you tell me?" she asked, looking at Ginny.



Ginny snorted, "Are you kidding? Tell the Gryffindor Princess that the Slytherin Prince was crushing on her? Nevermind the fact that he\'s a known Muggle-hater or that she was supposed to be with my brother."



"You wouldn\'t have listened or cared," Padma pointed out. "Besides, Draco was in denial. He would never had admitted it, even if you had believed us."



Hermione sighed. What they said was true. She wouldn\'t have believed them and Draco would have denied the claims. "I\'m surprised Parvarti and Lavender never let anything slip," she admitted.



"Actually, they did," Ginny told her. "Quite a few times. But you three, you, Harry, and Ron, were too busy to notice. At one point, Parvarti even practically shouted it, but you didn\'t hear. You were too busy trying to conjure a Patronis. I was actually surprised when your Patronis ended up being a ferret."



"It\'s not," Hermione argued. "It\'s an otter."



"I learned so much in the D.A.," Luna observed. "I wonder if Harry will make teaching his career. He would be a good Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."



The other three looked at her curiously. A silence fell over them for a moment while each female got lost in her own thoughts. It was a comfortable, compatible silence that Hermione had long grown accustomed to being around Draco.



"This wedding is going to be great," Ginny said, breaking the silence. "From what Narcissa was telling me, they\'ll even have reporters there, thought she\'s not allowing Rita Skeeter anywhere near the manor. It\'ll be the most talked about wedding in England, and, possibly, Europe."



Hermione shook her head. "I really could care less for all the pomp and circumstance," she commented.



Padma shrugged. "You haven\'t much choice. You\'re a celebrity and you\'re marrying one of the wealthiest wizard heirs in Europe. You should count your blessings that Lucius is allowing the publicity," she informed.



Hermione raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"



The Ravenclaw sighed, "The Malfoys are on of this oldest pureblood families. No offense, but you are a Muggle-born. A marriage like yours is frowned upon in pureblood society. Even my parents were shocked when I told them, and they are liberals. And, when you consider Narcissa had disowned her own sister when Andromeda Black married Ted Tonks..."



"But Draco and I are all ready married!" Hermione cried, aspirated. "This is just a show!"



"And that\'s what makes this even more confusing," Ginny told her. "Most people wait until after the ceremony before they consummate and sign the paperwork. What you and Draco are doing, while not unheard of, is a bit unorthodox."



Padma agreed, "Most couples who do it this way are expecting a wee one."



"But, I\'m not!" Hermione shouted, standing up.



"We know you aren\'t," Ginny assured her gently. "We\'re just preparing you. While you are at the Manor the last week, people will start to arrive for the ceremony. The first few days there, you\'ll be expected to help Narcissa and the servants clean and secure all Malfoy possessions. You\'ll be expected to help prepare the extra rooms to accommodate guests like your parents, family members, and the wedding party. Those people will arrive a few days before the ceremony and you\'ll be expected to be prim and proper."



"They will judge you on everything, Hermione," Padma told her, somberly. "And those pureblood wretches can be quite harsh."



Hermione already knew all of this. She was quite prepared to help Narcissa with decorated the manor and getting it prepared for the guests. Her main concern was getting along with Lucius for two weeks. She knew he hated her. And while Narcissa was pleasant enough, Hermione had a feeling the pureblood witch was putting on a show for the others to see. She had no idea what to expect from her in-laws.



"Hermione?" her mother called coming into the living room. She was holding a paper and had a confused look on her face. "I think there\'s been a mistake."



Amy handed her daughter the paper and Hermione looked at it. It was her parents\' bank statement. At the bottom, she saw where the money had been drawn to pay for the dress. And...



Hermione saw red. "I\'ll kill him!" she growled.



The same exact amount that had been taken out for the dress had been paid back to the Grangers by one Lucius Malfoy.