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Visited Upon the Son

By: Sparkykiki
folder Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Draco/Hermione
Rating: Adult +
Chapters: 30
Views: 21,593
Reviews: 107
Recommended: 1
Currently Reading: 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
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Reception

Disclaimer: I live in Texas, not Scotland, so I am obviously not JK Rowling. I’m just playing with the wonderful characters that she created. I promise that I will put them back the way I found them when I’m done!

AN: Here’s the next chappie!! Thanks to all who reviewed. As always, please R&R. My muse loves the attention. Many thanks to my wonderful betas (princessg, Axellia, and Aphina) without whom this story would suck. Love y’all!

Visited Upon the Son

© SparkyCSI


Chapter 24. Reception


Hermione breathed a sigh of relief when she was able to sit down at the reception. Luckily, Molly had been well prepared and had set out a buffet of different foods. Hermione smiled as Ginny glowed during the reception line, although she was already thinking ahead to the speech that she was going to give.

She was lost in her thoughts, rehearsing her speech in her head when Draco sat down next to her, handing her a glass of champagne. “Mia, you look amazing,” he whispered in her ear.

Hermione felt a shiver run down her spine at his husky voice. “Thank you,” she returned softly as she accepted the glass from him. “I’m just glad that it’s over. It’s been such a stressful couple of days.”

Draco nodded as she took a sip. “I’m sorry that I covered for the twins,” he said feeling a twinge of regret.

Hermione laughed. “Don’t worry about it. If it got them to accept you then it was worth it and I’m not mad about it.”

Draco laughed as well. “Can you believe that in four months, we’ll be the ones standing in a receiving line in the spotlight?”

Hermione shrugged. “I know. I’m not sure what to do. I mean, I saw how much planning went into this wedding and I don’t know where we’re going to find the time. The N.E.W.T.S. are coming up and I’m going to spend most of my time doing private tutoring for students who want the extra help. Merlin knows that the last two years I’ve averaged about four hours of sleep a night the last six weeks of the term.”

Draco furrowed his brow. “Is it really that bad?”

Hermione smiled. “You know me, always the one to help someone who wants to learn, but it does get stressful. The plus to that is that the majority of my advanced students pass the exams.”

Draco shook his head, admiring the way that she strove to make sure her students did well. Shaking his head, he decided to steer the conversation in a different direction, to keep her mind off of the pending exams. “So, what kind of wedding do you want?”

Hermione got a thoughtful look on her face. “Well, when I was little I used to dream of my perfect wedding. It was always a big wedding that the church that my parents attended.” Her face fell a bit as she realized that her father would never walk her down the aisle. “Now, I don’t know. All of the family that knew I was a witch is dead. Killed by Death Eaters. I’m not close to the rest of my family; Merlin knows that I’m closer to the Weasley’s than I am to my family.”

“So we’ll have a small wedding,” Draco reassured her.

“Are you sure?” Hermione asked.

Draco took her hands in his. “I don’t care what kind of wedding we have. This day is for you. I want to see the same glow on your face that is on Ginny’s right now.”

Hermione looked at him, her eyes filling with tears. She was just about to respond when Molly interrupted her. “Mia dear, it’s time for the speeches.” Hermione nodded and gave Draco’s hands a squeeze before standing up. She walked calmly to the table where the cake was placed and tapped her champagne glass lightly, getting everyone’s attention.

“I met Ginny when I was twelve and I was still fairly new to the Wizarding world. My best friends were boys and needless to say I was clueless about some things. But with Ginny’s guidance, I somehow became more confidant as a witch. I learned from her example, because Merlin knows that one thing that Ginny doesn’t lack is confidence.” She paused whilst the crowd giggled. “Now, things haven’t been easy for any of us involved in the war and Ginny has had to bear more than most, but she bore that with grace. She has a strength that many people don’t realize. Maybe that comes from having six older brothers,” the crowd laughed again, “but she has endowed upon all those around her the strength to carry on with life after the loss of so many dear to us.

“Now I look at her, on her wedding day, glowing and in love. I know that she will be happy. So my advice to Lee is to always make her happy because if you ever hurt her, once she is done hexing you, I’ll hex whatever is left over.” She raised her glass in the air. “To Lee and Ginny, may you have a long and prosperous life.”

The assembled guests followed suit and with a murmur of “To Lee and Ginny” the guests took a drink.

Hermione moved out of the way and allowed the twins to begin their speech.

“We've known Lee since we started at Hogwarts and were sorted into Gryffindor," Fred began. "And since that day, we've heard many stories of his conquests."

"But now we must ask him not to share stories," George picked up. "Because, really mate, she's our sister!" The crowd laughed. "We know that as her brothers, we are supposed to threaten you that if you do anything to hurt her, you will be joining those that didn't make it out of the war.”

"But we believe that we have made it clear what our intentions are, right? Well then, to Ginny and Lee, hope this marriage is full of whatever the ones that last are filled with," Fred interjected.

"So to Ginny and Lee," George continued. "May you have a happy and fruitful marriage."

"Seriously mate, we want more nieces and nephews."

The crowd laughed loudly as they took another drink of the champagne.

Hermione shook her head as the twins set off some magical fireworks, lighting up the afternoon sky. She giggled as she moved towards Draco so the happy couple could cut the cake and serve each other a slice by linking their arms together. As they each took a small bite, one of the twins called out, “Come on! You can do better than that!”

So Ginny turned and stuck her tongue out at them before smearing the remainder of the cake in her hand all over Lee’s face. Lee looked shocked for a moment, before he returned the favor. By the time they were done, both had cake all over their faces and in their hair, much to Molly’s exasperation.

As the party progressed, Hermione felt herself begin to yawn, so when the happy couple decided to leave, she was grateful. She stood with the rest of the guests at the gate to the garden, waiting for the couple to reappear after changing their clothes. Once they came outside the crowd began to cheer and throw birdseed at them.

She watched in amusement as the birdseed (which the twins had charmed) continued to pelt the couple by itself without any help. She watched as the couple disappeared on the broom decorated with balloons and tin cans.

Once they were gone, Hermione tiredly made her way into the house and into the room that she had been sharing with Ginny. She shook out her hair, cleaned off the makeup and changed out of the dress into a comfortable pair of yoga pants and a cami. Molly had told her earlier in the day that she was making the rest of the family clean, so crawled into the bed and soon was fast asleep.

Draco watched as Hermione tiredly made her way into the house and quickly offered to help the rest of the family clean. Molly gave him an appreciative smile. “Thank you, dear,” she said as she began charming the left over food to store itself.

He nodded as he began to charm the dishes clean. Once they were done, Draco walked upstairs to check on Hermione. He knocked softly on the door but when there was no response, he cautiously opened the door.

He walked into the room and looked at her; she was tossing restlessly in the bed, the covers wrapped around her legs. His eyebrows drew together as she whimpered softly, her face changing from one of peace, to one of sheer terror.

Hermione was lost in a nightmare, darkness surrounded her. She held her hands out in front of her, trying to feel around, to orientate herself. She felt someone behind her, stalking her and knew that she only had a few precious seconds to escape. She heard the footsteps coming closer and began to stumble forward. She saw a faint light ahead and put on a burst of speed, only to stumble and fall meters from freedom.

With a cackle of maniacal laughter, Lucius levitated her quickly. “Now, now, my pet. Did you really think that you could escape me?”

Hermione’s terror filled eyes stared at him, fear settling into an icy pit in her stomach.

“NO!” she screamed as she awoke in a cold sweat.

Draco quickly gathered her into his arms, trying to soothe her. Her breathes were short as she panted in terror. “Shh. It’s all right, Mia. It was just a nightmare,” Draco said, trying to calm her.

Hermione flinched as Draco’s arms closed around her, but when she heard his voice she relaxed and let him soothe her. She drew in shuddering breaths as she felt her fear ebb away.

Draco ran his hands up and down her back until he felt her stop shuddering. He pulled away and looked at her with concerned eyes. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked lowly.

Hermione shook her head. “Not really, but thank you.”

Draco nodded as he pulled away, despondent at the thought that she still wasn’t comfortable enough with him to share her pain. He knew that she was holding back things that she needed to talk about, but he could do nothing to break down her walls. “I’ll let you get back to sleep then. You must be exhausted.”

Hermione bit her lip as she watched him walk away towards the door. She had seen the flash of hurt in his eyes and she wanted him to know that she did trust him; she just wasn’t comfortable sharing her nightmares with him. Just as he reached the door, she made her decision. “Draco?” she called out softly and when she turned around he quickly continued, “Would you stay with me?”

Draco looked at her in shock, before he turned back towards the bed. As he stood by the side, he looked deep into her chocolate eyes. “Are you sure?” At her nervous nod, he quickly stripped down to a T-shirt and his slacks and climbed into the bed with her. He gathered her into his arms, inhaling the slight vanilla scent that he’d begun to associate with her. This is going to be a long night, he thought.

Hermione sighed as his arms held her in comfort and feeling safe once again as she drifted off to sleep.

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AN: As promised, here is the chapter. And…I already have 25 back from my beta, so I’ll be posting that as normal next Thursday (if I don’t write anymore) or sooner if I can get 26 written.
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