Bite me Granger: a dramione fanfiction~

t h i r t y t h r e e

[Draco's POV]

Every single hotel had been booked out until late May next year. Draco didn't understand how muggles could have so many weddings. Literally every. Single. Day! How was that even possible! Not to mention he had to get fitted for a new suit and Hermione went dress shopping with Ginny and Luna who were going to be her bridesmaids. Hermione's parents had insisted that the bride's side pay for the cost of the wedding but he knew weddings were costly and that his mother wouldn't have anything less than a grand wedding so he made them agree to let him pay for at least half of it.

They were going to have the actual marriage ceremony at Malfoy Manor in the garden and the wedding reception will be held at Shell Cottage in curtesy of Bill and Fleur. His wedding with Astoria was held at a fancy muggle hotel in London. He remembered being excited for that day but it didn't feel right. It was like being half forced into an arranged marriage but this, this was real. But they were going to get married into another two months. Two months. He wasn't sure if it was a long time or a short time to have to wait, sometimes it'd feel like the sun had stopped moving across the sky but sometimes it felt like he could wake up and the next day would be the day of his wedding.

He didn't know if 'stressful' was the right word, it gave the whole occasion a negative meaning but to him it was a good kind of stressful. In about three hours time he had to go meet up with with Hermione at a bakery to order their wedding cake but he had to get rid of a lingering thought. Draco remembered everything that had happened to them at Hogwarts, including all the times that they shared together in the Prefect's Common room sipping butterbeer from their mugs, that one Hogwarts Christmas that they eventually got to spend together after years and years of hating and sneering insults at each other. It was probably the brightest Christmas Draco had ever had. But he still remembered the time that Pansy kept sneaking up on him, trying to break them up, the threat to Hermione that tore them apart in the first place.

Shaking his head, Draco grabbed the keys to his car and drove off.

[Hermione's POV]

Hermione had tried on about seventeen dresses and Ginny didn't like any of them.

"Oh, come on. This one's really nice!"

"'Nice' isn't good enough for a wedding dress," the ginger haired girl said as she went through the third rack of dresses, "and besides, you're getting married. You need to look the best on the best day of your life. Remember my wedding and you made me try on like a million dresses? You said that everything had to be perfect."

"I know but I've loved all the dresses so far, I'd be happy with any of them." Hermione grumbled through a smile. "Not to mention the fact that I have to meet up with Draco to organise our wedding cake."

"Hermione, how about this one?" Luna who had been searching through a different dress chirped up, "It's not the  traditional white but I think the colour suits you." She held up a beautiful white strapless dress that slowly blended into a sky blue then a sapphire blue at the hem of the dress. The skirt of the dress had been encrusted with shining white crystals that twinkled like stars against the dark sapphire blue.

"It's perfect!" She exclaimed as she cradled the dress in her arms.

"Well," Ginny gestured to the fitting room, "don't just stand there, try it on!"

Hermione stepped into the change room and carefully stepped into the dress. It's actually perfect. Even though she didn't grow up around Disney princesses and Barbie she felt, well, like a princess. The dress fell to the floor and the it puffed out just like the way she'd imagined it and the crystals, the crystals, it was like she way wearing the night sky, the crystals twinkled with every movement as she twirled around in the small room. It was a little too tight around the waist but it wasn't anything a little bit of magic couldn't fix.

She was a princess and Draco was going to be her prince.

Still half in awe, she drew back the curtains and gave her friends a small curtesy, smiling.

"Well?"

"Get this one." Ginny nodded and pointed at the dress, "This is what I'm talking about."

"It's beautiful, Hermione." Luna ran her fingers along the crystals, "It really brings out your eyes and your freckles."

Hermione grinned, "Well, now that I've got my dress, we need to pick yours."

She changed back into her clothes and handed the dress to the shopkeeper and the three of them rummaged through the racks of dresses again, looking for the dresses for her bridesmaid.

[Draco's POV]

Pansy wanted - well, demanded that they meet in the dead end of Knockturn Alley to make sure that no one would hear them talk. Draco shuddered as he walked down the barely-lit alley and pulled his beanie down further over his ears. It had been years since he had been down Knockturn Alley, sure it still sold all the dark and creepy artefacts but it didn't seem if was bearing down a burden on him anymore.

"It's been a long time, Draco." Pansy walked up from behind him with her hands in her pockets and a cigarette hanging from her cracked lips.

"Pansy," he said cooly and pressed his lips into a thin line. "I suppose you know what we're here for?"

"Not to make out, I suppose." She smirked, blowing smoke out of her mouth. She's broken and crippled to her very soul but she's still got it. Unbelievable. "It's about Granger."

"No, it's about why you attacked her and her parents."

"It wasn't me."

"No, it you under Astoria's skin. She wasn't there when you attacked. She was in Germany. So why?"

"You wanna know why?" Pansy walked up to him until they were inches away and looked him straight in the eye, "Did you know that my parents wanted me to marry you? Did you? When we were still somewhat together they practically had a whole future planned for me that revolved around you. But when they found out that you had gotten together with that mudblood, they were disappointed. Do you know what they did to me when their disappointed? They hexed me. They used the cruciatus curse on me. I couldn't eat for weeks. And when she scored better than me in duelling? They said that a mudblood shouldn't have beaten a pureblooded wizard in magic."

"I didn't know, I-"

"It was all because of her. I'm on the run now, hiding from my very own parents. Can you believe that?" She let it a shrill laugh, "Because of her they tore me apart. Even after You Know Who's death they didn't change. It only got worse."

"But it wasn't her fault." Draco had always known that her parents were big supporters of You Know Who but he had never known that they'd do something like that.

"Not directly it wasn't. But still. She's still the reason why I flinch at every noise, every motherfucking sound. I'm going to ruin your wedding. I'm going to ruin the both of you and I will. Break. Her. Right in front of your eyes while you helplessly stand there and watch her suffer. Just like that night at Malfoy Manor, when your aunt tortured her, when her screams echoed off the walls and you just watched."

CRACK!

And she was gone. Leaving Draco dreading the day that he'd have to see her again.