Truth or Dare ✔️

AE - 21

Hermione sat at the dressing table staring at her reflection in the mirror before her. Hearing a knock on her door, she rose wearily from the chair and shuffled toward it, her slippered feet sliding on the highly polished hardwood floor.

Constance held out a glass toward her. "Drink this, you'll feel better," she said with authority.

Sniffing at the contents of the crystal glass, she raised her brow. "Ginger ale?"

Constance nodded. "Mais oui, ma chérie, it'll help to calm your stomach. You must be quite nervous, yes?"

"A little, I suppose?" She opened the door further. "Where are my manners? Come in, won't you?"

Constance smiled and nodded. "It's your special day today! Are you excited?"

Hermine frowned. "Actually, I just want to get it over with. Sirius was right. It's merely a formality...we're already married."

Constance sat on the edge of Hermione's bed. "I suppose so?" She glanced over toward the pearl-colored gown suspended before the the picture window. "I don't think we've had this many guests who weren't related in the house in forty years...your friends are delightful, 'Mione. All of them...Nymphadora..."

"Tonks was quite the riot, I agree!"

Constance shook her head. "Tonks...Yes. I have to remember to call her Tonks...I keep forgetting!"

Hermione smiled as she sipped on the carbonated beverage.

"Sirius had quite an evening..."

Hermione took a larger amount of the drink into her mouth than she had meant to and gulped it down. "Oh?"

"Oh yes...mother was quite amused."

The young witch closed her eyes. "Oh god, what did he do?"

"Well, they climbed up to the roof and were singing sea shanties at the top of their lungs."

"They?"

Constance nodded. "Mmhmm. The whole bunch. I heard that even Professor Lupin was in on it...as well as Harry...I don't believe that Ronald consumed as much as they did, as his memory was quite vivid, but I'm certain he has all kinds of stories to tell!"

A quiet laugh merged from Hermione throat and then quickly turned into a great belly-laugh. She shook her head. "I can only imagine. I really must floo him and..."

"No Darling, I'm afraid you can't. He can't see you before the ceremony. Speaking of which, breakfast should be ready about now and then after, we'll get you all sorted, alright?"

Hermione nodded. "Are my parents here yet?

"Oh dear, yes! I completely forgot! Regulus said that they rang up the house and are about an hour away and that was about forty-five minutes ago."

Hermione nodded and sighed.

"Don't worry, we won't start without them Chérie..."

"Thank you. I'll be down directly."

Hermione drank the rest of her ginger ale and slipped into a pair of cream-colored trousers and a white blouse. She donned her mother's pearls as well as her pearl earrings, slipped her feet into a pair of cream-colored pumps and stared at her wild bedhead in the mirror. She sighed and pointed her wand and cast a hair charm, calming the frizzies from her hair.

She heard a knock on her door again and opened it to find Ron. "Mornin' Mione," he said quietly.

She looked up into his blue eyes. "Ronald! What a surprise..."