Blind Date Surprises

A/N: Yay the wedding. Only the epilogue remains after this. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you so much for the reviews and just for reading. I do appreciate it, very much. And now..we go on...

Ch. 15 The Wedding

Hermione criticized her reflection in the mirror. “Oh, I look like a cumulonimbus.” She groaned. She was due in 2 weeks and had allowed Draco to convince her to marry him before the birth. “To make it official” he had said.

Her reflection reprimanded her for that decision now. She stared at herself. She had made her wedding dress since she could not find a maternity wedding gown.

It was calf-length, halter topped, ivory, and plain. She wore no jewelry since she was so puffy. She sighed. They had invited their closest friends and family over for a dinner. No one even knew yet that it was a wedding.

“Oh well, staring at my whaleness won’t make this easier.” She grabbed her lily bouquet and headed out the door.

Draco stood at the front of the table. It had been decided that he would be the one to tell the family since Hermione’s attire would be a giveaway.

He looked at all the faces before him. The Weasley’s were there, of course. Hermione’s parents, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and some blonde on his arm. Hermione had even convinced him to invite his parents, since they WERE his parents.

Clearing his throat, he gathered the attention of all. “Um, hi. Well, I know you are all here for dinner, but there is something else.” His palms were sweating, oh he couldn’t do this…but he had to.

“You see, Hermione has agreed to be my wife as you all know, and since you are all here, we decided to get married today.” He gulped.

“YES.” All eyes shifted to the petite redhead on Harry’s right. Ginny colored only a bit and shrugged her shoulders. “What? It is about time.” Draco smiled at the approval and bid them all follow him into the garden behind the house that he and Hermione had purchased.

His breath stopped as he saw her waiting at the end of the white carpet. Her hair had simple flowers adorning it; the breeze was making her curls flutter prettily. He knew it wasn’t traditional for the groom to walk the aisle, but at that moment he could picture no other way.

She smiled at him, the nervousness obvious to all who could look past the sheer love she held in her eyes, only for Draco. He knew at that moment that he would remember nothing of the day except how she looked.

He would never be able to remember what the ministry official looked like, or the clothing they all wore, but he would never forget how beautiful she looked as she watched him come close to her.

Hermione only had eyes for Draco. The moment he took her hand, all her nerves melted away. She knew the official was making a speech about the responsibilities expected of each during their lifetime, but she could not hear the words, too lost was she to Draco.

When the time came for objections to be made if necessary, all eyes shifted to the Malfoys. They rolled their eyes and waved for the official to continue, Hermione and Draco chuckled as the looked back to one another.

Finally, the official told Draco to thank Hermione for the both of them. Draco need not be told twice. He crashed his lips upon Hermione’s immediately, to the general laughter of the younger witnesses.

Hermione suddenly forcibly pushed him away. His hurt look was matched by the general outcry of the garden. It took them several moments to realize what was going on.

She was standing a few feet away from Draco, waving her arms frantically. Down the front and back of her dress was a huge, slightly pink, wet stain that was rapidly spreading.

“Oh merlin!” Draco shouted at her. “What do we do, Hermione?” She looked to be at a loss for the first time in her life, which scared Draco more than anything.

Molly Weasley and Narcissa Malfoy rushed forward. They pushed their past aside as they both took one of her arms and whispered soothing words to her as they led her into the house.

Draco was still standing frozen in place, not sure of exactly where he should be or what he should be doing. He decided to follow the women, wanting to be there when his child was born.

They had decided to have a natural, home delivery, though everyone called Hermione out of her damn mind for it. A mediwitch at St. Mungo’s was alerted to be on standby ‘just in case.’

Draco entered their bedroom to find Hermione propped up on the bed, smiling at him. He was confused, but went to her. “Not too bad, then?” he asked her.

She laughed, “Not yet, these things do take time, Draco.” He held her close and whispered, “We’re going to have a baby tonight.” She smiled, “Yes, or tomorrow, but it is still hard to believe.”

His mother kept advising him to go wait with the other men, but Draco refused to leave. The contractions were beginning to get harder and Hermione was now having to stand up, lean over the bed, and breathe through them while Draco rubbed her back.

A few hours later, Hermione complained that she was hot, so Draco removed the coverlet from her legs. He cried out for his mother when he saw the red stained sheets.

Narcissa came running to see what was wrong. “There is too much blood, mother. Do something, she’s dying!” Seeing the panicked look in Hermione’s eyes, she grabbed her sons arm and threw him from the room saying she will not have him causing problems.

Lucius and Arthur came to lead him to a chair in the den. Draco turned to his father, “There isn’t supposed to be so much blood, father, why did mother throw me out?” Lucius gave his son a supportive smile.

“Draco, childbirth is not a graceful or pretty scene. It often compares to the revels we were once forced to attend.” This made all the color leave Draco’s face.

He paced the floor for what seemed like an eternity. The occasional shout would force his eyes to the door. He had succumb to exhaustion and sat beside Harry on the floor, tapping his foot impatiently when a bloodcurdling scream sounded from the room.

Draco leapt to his feet and dashed to the door. On the couch, Arthur said, “Sounds like the baby’s head is coming.” Lucius nodded his head in agreement.

Kicking the door open, Draco bounded into the room to see his mother holding Hermione’s shoulders up while Molly was sitting between the laboring mother’s legs, busily working.

Draco’s eyes darted to Hermione’s opening where he saw it being stretched to ungodly proportions as a wet mat of curls tried to come out. He heard throbbing in his ears and then the world went dark.

His ears began to work before his eyes and he heard voices all around him. When he cracked his eyes open, he saw his mother, father, and Harry all looking at him, chuckling.

“What the bloody hell is so funny? Where is Hermione, is she alright?” He sat up too quickly and became nauseated.

“Easy there, son.” Lucius held his son’s arm to steady him. “Hermione is fine. She and the baby both did beautifully.” Arthur added. Draco breathed a sigh of relief as the men helped him up. He asked them what happened.

Harry, fulling laughing now was kind enough to answer. “You fainted, mate. You actually fainted.”

Draco was not amused and began to move towards the bedroom door. He slowly pushed it open. The sight on the bed was one of dreams.

Hermione was sitting up, her arms wrapped around a small bundle of blankets. Draco cautiously made his way over to them. He placed his arms around Hermione and peered into the blankets where a head and one tiny hand were visible.

Tears began to flood his face as he allowed the tiny hand to curl around his finger. He looked into the small face and the baby briefly opened an eye, it was slate blue. He gasped and looked at Hermione.

“I’d like you to meet your daughter, Draco.” She said and held the fragile gift out for him to hold. He shook his head and backed away a bit. “I don’t want to hurt her.” Hermione smiled, “Come on dad, hold your little girl.”

He carefully wrapped his arms around the baby. “What shall we call her?” Hermione asked Draco.

Thinking carefully, Draco whispered, “Autumn Rayne”. Hermione smiled and rubbed the child’s forehead.

“Did you hear that, Autumn, your daddy named you.” She whispered softly. Draco kissed Hermione gently on the lips. “Thank you Hermione.”

“I love you.” She said, her words laced with affection and happiness. “I love you, too.” He responded.

On the other side of the room, two mothers silently exited the room to give the young family a few moments before everyone in the county barged in.