Is Love Blind?

Chapter 21 - Let The Debauchery Begin!

Hermione thought that she had made her desires clear. She didn't want a hen party, or bachelorette night, or whatever the hell you wanted to call it! 

Of the (admittedly limited) hen parties Hermione had attended, all had been an excuse to partake in an evening of unbridled debauchery. Contemporary muggle celebrations often involved lots of alcohol, male strippers, and fallic-shaped paraphernalia - all of which made Hermione feel very uncomfortable. Drunk women would ply the bride-to-be with alcohol, and joke about how this was her "last night of freedom!", as though entering into a marriage was akin to a prison sentence. 

Although traditionally held the night before the wedding, as a method to keep the bride separate from the groom to honor superstition, hen parties were more commonly held weeks before the ceremony in modern muggle culture. This would allow muggle women to recover from the event, and prevent the bride from looking rat-arsed on her big day. 

Hermione hated the custom, and she had told her friends exactly so. 

Katie's makeshift hen-party had been the most tolerable one she had attended. A small group of girls, camped out on couches in their pyjamas, swapping stories about their school-time trysts encouraged by a few bottles of wine. There had been no neon pink feather boas, cowgirl hats or scantily dressed false-policemen in sight. Hermione had admittedly enjoyed the evening greatly. 

Typically, a stag-do (or bachelor party) was held on the same evening as the hen-do. Historically, the stag party was a dinner party for the hen's male counterparts, hosted by the groom. Of course, things had changed in recent years, and the tradition of alcohol and strippers had taken over. 

On his stag night, Charlie had been stolen by his brothers and friends to play a game of strip Quidditch under the moonlight (or so Katie had told Hermione later). It was exactly as it sounded. The players, armed with bottles of tequila, would compete against each other and would be forced to remove an item of clothing should the opposite team score. 

Hermione was surprised that none of the men had been waddling around the wedding ceremony, complaining of splinters in delicate places. Perhaps they had healed themselves prior to arriving at The Burrow. 

There had been no mention of Severus's plans for his stag night. Hermione wasn't exactly sure whether he had enough friends to constitute a party, nevertheless would he actually want one. Part of her felt guilty when thinking that he might be alone in his house, just like any other non-descript evening, while she might be out celebrating her "freedom."

Above all, the thought of celebrating a forced marriage seemed silly. Hermione had marched in protest when The Postwar Population Planning Act had been announced. Hundreds of witches and wizards had done the same. The sad reality was, most of the people whom Hermione had met during the protests had also succumbed to the law. After it had become apparent that The Ministry's stance was immovable, her comrades had reluctantly married shortly after. 

She was a hypercrite, Hermione thought, planning to get married after she fought so hard to have the Law abolished. It had taken a lot of reasoning for Hermione to realise that she probably wasn't going to get married a second time. Even if The Ministry backed-down, and she was able to divorce Severus, Hermione doubted that the trauma of the event would ever allow her to marry again. Why not plan the wedding of her dreams?

If she was to give in to this Merlin-damned marriage law, then she would, but she would fight tooth-and-nail to keep her dignity intact. So it was decided, no hen-party. 

Hermione's friends, however, took no notice. 

_____

The Three Broomsticks was the chosen location - not one Hermione would have picked, mind you, but it worked out well all the same. Rosmerta had been kind enough to host the girls (and guys), given that it was a weeknight, and very few of her 'regulars' actually attended during the week. She had graciously offered to close later than usual for the occasion, and had even gone so far as to throw up some decorations.