Lights of Questionable Faith

Lovely Reviewers:

Voracious Reader - Yes, Hermione has the power!

Lauriurix - Of course, he told her he wants the unicorns to be her friends at the wedding 'night'.

andarte - I know. It is beautiful...and in Yorkshire! *happy dance* You're so sweet.

maddie50 - Hermione is just being a woman in a tiff and might remain in said tiff for a while considering some of the less than savory details that will occur during and after the wedding.

HermioneMalfoyFan - There is nothing glamorous about being raped...which some people will never understand. Disappointment is a bitch. It can be crippling with some people, but with others it is as fleeting as doe that discovers she is being watched. I'm rather used to it at this point though.

Too bad you didn't have a moment to trip him on the stairs...Bastard!

I find with languages that what helps me most is practicing by talking with someone who speaks it fluently. I read Japanese and speak it to a lesser amount now (no one to practice with.), Latin (which isn't spoken anyway any longer!), and German to a much lesser extent than the first. My mother wouldn't let me take French in high school. It really annoyed me. I like languages.

Lucius is rather a control freak. Isn't he? And obsessive.

Ron is fiery!! He is a redhead...he's supposed to be! hehe.

Abraxas' idea for Lucius to marry Narcissa. Narcissa was rather fond of the blonde HOTTIE HOT HOT PANTS!

Yay for meeting people! That sounds like fun!

Heidi191976 - Just keep reading the story and you will find out!

meankitty69 - I've been quite cruel to Lucius, haven't I? He is more obsessed than in love right now, I am thinking.

mibella - Well, the next chapter has arrived.

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My hands are still a bit screwy, so the next chapters could be a few days until coming. I hope that's okay. I ended up getting to clean the kitchen twice yesterday, thanks to my roommates lack of cleanliness. I am just glad that tomorrow, she leaves for the weekend again! That way, I can spend almost 72 hours dreaming of how she might not return.

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For Hermione, the week was over all too quickly. She was looking forward to the wedding if only because it would mean that she would no longer have all of the fussing women hovering around her. Didn’t they understand that she didn’t want to get married? Didn’t they understand that she didn’t want to be with man who was a death eater?

Andromeda, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley had been holy terrors. They hated whom she was marrying, but were excited as all women at the thought of a wedding to plan and with only a week to do it. They had been shocked when Lucius sent a detailed description to Andromeda of what and where the reception would be held.

The nightmare continued as she was forced her to stand still for almost four hours while the top designer in Silverturn Alley. Several Slytherin females, including Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode, had been good enough to make disparaging comments about her and how she was going to be “Lucius Malfoy’s mudblood whore.” She’d been dragged to the jewelry store the day after her robes were completed. She been forced to design a wedding band for a man that she didn’t know anymore. She could only have a few people witness the binding thanks to Lucius insisting on the ceremony being traditional, which meant that each of them could only have four people there to represent them. She had chosen Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Andromeda. Molly had huffed a little bit at her choice but had quickly understood. She had been shocked when she realized what would happen within two hours of the end of the ceremony while the reception was beginning.

“Harry and I will walk you to the binding circle, Hermione,” Ron said. He still wasn’t totally calm about the situation, but he was determined to be there for Hermione in case the elder Malfoy tried to be rough with her.

“Only two women who are close to me can walk me to the circle, Ron. You know that,” Hermione said, sliding her head down to rest on her arms in the white bridal tent at Malham Cove before dawn.

“You look beautiful, Hermione,” Harry said, leaning over to hug her.

“Don’t touch her, Harry,” Andromeda said.

“Why?”

“Because today, she will cease to be a maiden, and her husband-to-be is the only allowed to touch her. You may seek his permission to hug her after today, but today she is only for him.”

“She doesn’t want it!” Ron said, pounding a hand into his fist. “She’ll fight the bond.”

“You can’t fight the bond. It will happen if it will happen.”

“But she doesn’t want it.”

“The magics don’t care. They will complete them. Hermione will be Lucius’ forever after this day. It doesn’t mean that they will love, but they will have a bond like none Hermione has ever known. Hermione will be able to both feel and block Lucius’ emotions. I am not sure what sorts of rituals and bonds he has in mind. He wouldn’t share them with me,” Andromeda said, and a sadness came into her eyes. She looked away as she thought about Ted, her dead husband. “And unfortunately, Hermione has no say in what she is bound to according to the law. He is completely in charge of the whole thing.”

“Why will they show up two hours late to the reception?” Harry asked.

Ginny laughed.

“You don’t know about Wizard weddings, do you Harry?” Ginny asked with sparkling brown eyes.

“No,” Harry said.

Hermione stood up with tears in her eyes.

“He will put me in his bed, take my virginity, and then I have to go with him to the reception with the sheet that will be stained with virgin’s blood, my blood, to prove that we are properly married to all of our friends,” Hermione said, stalking out of the tent.

On the other side of a small creek, she saw the grey silk tent that was where Lucius was preparing for the day. She reached up and ran her hand along the chain he had sent to Andromeda. He had insisted to Andromeda that it be around Hermione’s neck. She felt like a dog or cat with the necklace around her neck bearing the Malfoy coat-of-arms pendant. She wanted to rip it from her neck and throw it at Lucius feet before spitting in his face. He was not being a gentlewizard in his courting. He was a manipulative bastard. He had no right.

“Hermione,” Draco said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I need to talk to you.”

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Lucius plucked at imaginary fuzzies on his crystal white robes and rocked on the balls of his feet with a smile on his face.

Hermione would never leave him after today. His eternally. Not even death would part them. They would die as one. She would love him; maybe not right away. But she must know that she would love him. She would give him children.

“Father, are you sure about this?” Draco asked, lifting the heavy white cloak and helping his father to fasten it.

“Are you questioning me, Draco?” Lucius asked, turning and cupping his only child's cheek.

“No, Father. I simply do not understand this fixation with Granger.”

“Miss Granger!” Lucius barked.

“Soon to be Mrs. Malfoy,” Draco whispered soothingly as he allowed his hands to rest on his beloved father’s shoulders for a moment.

Lucius puffed with pride and brushed at the cloak’s silk lining that shimmered a deep green in the light of the floating candles. He turned this way and that examining himself for the slightest mar. He brushed at imaginary bits of fluff and stuck his chin out.

“I’ll be right back, Father,” Draco said, standing at the tent flap and watching his father preen like a peacock.

“Do you have the ring?” Lucius asked, gazing at his son’s reflection.

“Yes,” Draco said, gazing back.

Severus squeezed Draco’s shoulder. He looked at his godfather who nodded to him to go ahead and go.

Draco slipped out of the tent.

“Lucius, are you feeling alright?” Severus asked, watching Lucius turn and examine himself.

“Never better,” Lucius answered taking the white satin gloves from his vanity and pulling them on gently. “Can you believe it Severus?”

“Believe what, Lucius?”

“Believe that after twenty-six years, I found her. And she will be mine, forevermore.”

“You think that she will be happy being manipulated?”

“Are you questioning me?” Mr. Malfoy demanded, slamming a hand down on the vanity top.

“No,” Severus said. “I just want you to think through what you are doing, and remind you that you can stop this madness.”

“She will love me.”

“But does she love her freedom more?”

“She will love me,” Lucius said sliding down into the chair and staring blankly at his expression. “She will be happy, have everything she could want. She will be cherished above all my other possessions.”

Severus shook his head.

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“What do you want, Malfoy?”

“Call me Draco,” Draco said, approaching her.

“What do you want?”

“Look, I know you don’t want to marry my father.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

“I know you don’t want to marry my father, but he isn’t right. He hasn’t been fully right for a long time.”

“If he ever was,” Hermione muttered.

“Be nice to him, whether you want to be with him or not. I know you are hurting, but he is really sick. He needs you, and he needs you to be good to him,” Draco said. “Please.”

“He needs to know how he is making me feel. What about me?”

“Please, Hermione. Please,” Draco said. He looked toward the east. “The binding is going to be soon. I have to go to my father.”

Hermione turned her back to him and walked to the tent where Andromeda and Ginny were waiting with the veil to cover her face and the cloak to wrap about her shoulders. Harry and Ron stood there with wands pointed at Draco.

“Hermione, it’s time to put on the veil.”

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Well, that is all for now lovelies. Please drop a review. Poor Lucius...he is having a difficult time of it.

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