The Marriage Decree

Chapter 8: The Big Day - Hermione's POV

They both must have fallen asleep at some point, though as they are awoken by Molly the next morning when she throws Ginny's bedroom door wide open.

"Rise and shine my dears. Breakfast is downstairs if you're hungry. You're probably feeling too nervous to eat..." Molly starts but stops when Ginny jumps out of bed, pulls on her dressing gown and races downstairs for food.

"I'm sorry Molly but I don't think I can stomach food right now." Hermione apologises holding her stomach. She feels like she might throw up at any time.

"Don't worry Hermione," Molly reassures her then closes the door leaving her lying in her makeshift bed.

Blaise wakes him up far too early at nine o'clock. He's shaking his shoulders excitedly and Draco feels sorry for whoever's getting paired with his friend.

"Come on Draco. Today's the big day. Gharther's made us a feast for breakfast and we need a shower." Blaise rambles on until Draco climbs out of bed and heads into his bathroom to get away from him.

He stares at his reflection in his mirror above the sink. He looks shattered. He only got about four hours sleep last night. Or rather this morning. He has heavy bags under his eyes and his skin look grey. He splashes his face with cold water to wake himself up but it doesn't work very well. He grabs his dressing gown and makes his way down to the dining room where Blaise, Mr and Mrs Stonage and his Mother are already sat eating.

Draco sits down in his usual seat. Gharther really has outdone himself this morning. He takes a slice of toast, nibbling on it for a few minutes before giving up on food altogether. His stomach is flipping around inside him so much so that he feels like he might throw up at any moment.

"Excuse me." Draco excuses himself getting up from the table and going back upstairs to his bedroom.

He turns the shower on cold hoping that an ice cold shower will wake him up but he just ends up cold and shivering so he turns it up hot which help sooth his nerves a little. He stares at his reflections again once he's out the shower, with a fluffy blue towel wrapped around his hips. His face looks a little less grey but he still looks like crap. He picks his wand up and waves it over his face muttering a spell he perfected in his seventh year at Hogwarts when he lived off two hours' sleep every night. He watches as his face brightens considerably and the bags under his eyes completely disappear. He exits his bathroom to find Blaise lying on his bed reading today's Daily Prophet which must have just been delivered.

"Nearly the entire paper is dedicated to The Partner's Ceremony. There's a list of everybody who's getting paired with a picture of them. I'm not going to lie Draco but you look kind of intimidating." Blaise hands the paper over to him.

They've reused the picture that was taken at his trial last summer. It was taken as he stood tall in front of his Father, glaring him down. He was trying to give his Father the impression that he wasn't terrified of him anymore which was a complete lie at the time. Now his Father's in Azkaban he sees no point in being scared of him for the foreseeable future. When he gets out in fourteen years, Draco's sure everything will just go back to how it was beforehand with his Father scaring him into doing his dirty work. Maybe he can take his wife and child and just run away. They could go live in America. He's heard they have a great wizarding school over there. Draco shakes his head handing the paper back to Blaise. He isn't going to run away from his Father. It'll just prove him right.

Blaise throws the paper down on the Draco's desk then goes into the bathroom to take a shower. Draco takes advantage of having his bedroom to himself to get dressed in his wedding robes. His Mother really does know him well. He's always loved wearing velvet. He runs his fingers gently down his velvet torso. He loves the way the fabric feels beneath his fingertips. He checks his grandfather clock. It's twenty to ten. He knocks on his bathroom door.