To Brew A Scandal by stars_in_motion

Chapter 13

- NOT MY STORY!! ALL CREDITS TO @stars_in_motion ON A03!!

Weeks of worrying, meeting with friends, transformations in dressing rooms, attending balls—all for her to marry Draco Malfoy.

It felt like some horrible joke.

Though some weddings were held within the lower courts of the Ministry, her father would not have been permitted to enter as a muggle. It began a scramble to find any Ministry worker who could officiate their wedding.

Late into the night, an eagle arrived from Malfoy informing her of the agreed upon time, place, and officiant. In the end, it was Percy Weasley who had all the accreditations necessary with very little fanfare. A practical man, Percy was nothing close to a romantic. But this wedding was far from a love match for them, nothing more than a charade of Society expectations and a business transaction.

It was fitting that Percy be the one to wed them.

They would marry in her garden in the early afternoon, allowing for her father to attend, and an appropriate excuse to avoid a large reception instead of having the ceremony take place at the Manor. Malfoy also informed her that he would be bringing a friend or two, along with his mother.

The thought of having Narcissa Malfoy in her home sent her stomach careening to the floor, though she did not voice her objections. This was his mother, and his wedding as well.

Hermione would've given anything to have her mother beside her.

Molly did what she could with the small garden, hanging candlelights and flowers. Hermione suspected she had stayed up all night making hor d'oeuvres and cakes for their small reception, doing what she could to make this wedding as formal as possible.

"You are marrying a duke, for Merlin's sake," Molly exclaimed, as she transfigured multiple trays of food onto hovering tables the moment she stepped through the Floo. Ginny took her hand and brought her up the stairs to her room to get ready.

The two women fussed over Hermione's curls for what felt like ages, and Hermione did her best to sit still. Hanging outside her dresser was the dress she was meant to wear in only a few hours.

In the middle of her mental spiral the night before, Hermione realised in their haste that she had no time at all to procure a wedding dress.

"I don't have a dress," she exclaimed over the pot of tea that Mr. Crookshanks had brought her that night, but had since long gone cold. "I have many dresses, yes, but not a wedding dress!"

"Don't know much about wizard fashion, my dear, but there is a wedding dress in this house," her father called out from the other room.

Her mother's wedding dress. Most women continued to wear their dresses after the wedding, for practical purposes, but her father had made enough money that her mother's wedding dress was kept for admiration only.

And admire she did. In perfect shape, as though it was made of magic, not a stitch out of place, and no signs of browning on the white fabric. Though the style was a bit dated, it would do just fine. Molly assisted in dressing her, and they both sighed in relief that it fit her as perfectly as any tailored dress should.

"Gorgeous, my dear," Molly complimented softly. Ginny, though she tried her best to hide it, sniffled in the corner. Hermione said nothing, though for the first moment in many days, her heart felt strangely at ease.

When her father arrived on the upper landing, dressed in his best suit, Molly and Ginny left to join the crowd growing in their sitting room.

Turning to look at herself in the mirror, the ghost of her mother's reflection beamed back at her.