Witches Are. Witches Do.

Chapter 10

As Harry sat still while the hairdresser tamed her wild curls into something befitting a bride, she realized she was full of conflicting emotions. There were nerves, definitely, but there was also plenty of anticipation and excitement.

She was about to marry Tom Riddle, the man she'd once despised for all but tricking her into a betrothal contract, and she couldn't be happier. She knew that her journey towards this moment in her life had been an odd one, full of shocks and surprises, but now that her wedding was imminent Harry found that she was mostly just eager to start her married life with Riddle.

No, with Tom.

It was her wedding day and from now on she would call her beloved by his first name, as she'd vowed to herself.

Harry couldn't wait to start the rest of her life with her husband Tom.

As her witnesses, Harry had chosen her mother, her sister Hyacinth and Hermione. All of them kept close to Harry as she got ready with the help of a few professionals. Once everyone was done, Harry looked at herself in the mirror and hardly recognized the young woman she saw there. The ivory wedding robes made her look like a woman of nobility, especially with the way the hairdresser had pinned up her dark hair, leaving her neck bare and drawing attention to Slytherin's locket, which she still wore. The beautician had applied very natural make-up which one hardly noticed, but which did add a lot of maturity to Harry's face.

"You look so beautiful," Hermione said with a little sigh.

"You truly look like the wife of the Minister for Magic," Lily added with a reassuring smile as she ushered Harry away from the mirror. "It's time to go to Hogwarts."

Harry gave them both grateful smiles even though her stomach quietly churned with nerves. She wasn't nervous about marrying Tom, not at all. But she was genuinely worried she might mess up something during the ceremony in front of 500 of Britain's most important witches and wizards.

They apparated to outside Hogwarts' gates, even though Harry didn't officially have her apparition license yet. She had an appointment for that at the Ministry in a week's time.

Minerva McGonagall stood waiting for them. "You look absolutely lovely, Harriet."

"Thank you, Headmistress," Harry said with a polite little nod. "And thank you again for letting us use Hogwarts for our wedding. I couldn't imagine a better location."

McGonagall nodded in return and led them through the gates and inside the castle. There they found an empty classroom which had been turned into a reception room for Harry to meet her father and the rest of her immediate family.

Hermione kept asking Lily all sorts of questions about her job as a Healer and Harry tuned them out before long. She knew that was Hermione's way of dealing with her own nerves. Half an hour later Harry's family was told to find their seats and positions as needed, and that left Harry alone with her father.

"You look beautiful, darling," James said, and he looked like he meant it. Over the past few months James and Sirius seemed to have come to some sort of understanding about Harry's wedding to Tom Riddle. They still didn't seem overly enthused by it, but at least they stopped looking like they were planning to commit first degree murder every hour of the day.

"Thanks, Dad." Harry gave her father a reassuring smile as she placed her hand in the crook of his elbow. James got a little frown on his face and looked like he might want to say more but Harry quickly cut him off. "I'm happy. I really am. Even if the contract was dissolved right here and now I'd still marry Tom."

That seemed to take James aback for a moment, but then he got a thoughtful look on his face and he managed a small smile. "If you're sure, Harriet."

"I am." Harry inhaled a deep breath and let her father guide her out into the corridor and towards the Great Hall.