Dramione- When You Don't See Me

23. Weasley Wedding

Song: Vanilla Twilight- Owl City

Hermione woke from her nap a bit startled. She had gotten off work early as business was slower and they had a new intern who was working with the manager during nights. With her spare time she'd planned on taking an uninterrupted nap. The owl hadn't gotten the message. Knight was at her window, pecking away like always. She took the letter and pet the owl, he bit her hand in affection. After the owl had left she popped off the wax seal on the parchment.

"Dearest Hermione,
Nope, still not calling you Herms. You'll have to impatiently wait, maybe I'll change the dearest one of these times, I'll find something to do. Anyways, I'm sure you're wondering how it went with my parents yesterday.

Terribly, it went terribly. My mother is still being forced to follow everything my father says. My father is still just as prejudice and rude. My mother promised he'd be on his best behavior but he, of course, had to say the m word and yell at me about having pureblooded heirs. She agreed with him up until he called her sister a disgrace to the family. He actually stood up to yell at me about how i can't marry a halfblood or a muggleborn. I told him I do whatever I damn well please. I'm not letting him push me around, he already made my childhood hell.

Before I left, he told me he'd remove me from the tapestry and take my inheritance if I marry a muggleborn. I told him I don't care, I hate my family anyways. My mother says she'll stay in my life, told her it wouldn't happen unless she has an unbreakable vow with me to not tell my father a thing. She says she loves me but I know she's lying to me. Why would she love me? It makes no sense.

I'm sure you don't want to hear my sob story, so I'll end it here. I hope things are going well in Italy, Hermione. I love you, last night only made me miss you more. Did I mention I love you?
-Draco"

Hermione noticed Draco's letters had gotten a bit more humorous and long. It was like he was using his letters as a personal journal. He always wrote what he was doing or thinking, it was kind of funny to be in his head. She smiled at the end. Maybe he did love her but that didn't prove he hadn't cheated on her. She still loved him a lot, even after two months, she still wanted him to come pick her up in his arms. She wanted him to twirl her and tell her she was the most beautiful girl in the world even in her pajamas, with a tear stained face, and her knotted hair. She wanted him back.

She charmed the letter and set it on the stack. It was getting rather tall, the last letter made them all fall over. "Damnit. Come on, get back where you were." She talked to the letters like they could somehow hear her. Hermione picked them all up off of the fridge and set them in a box on the kitchen counter. She assumed they could just stay there for now. No one ever came to her apartment, except the owls, so it's not like it'd matter.

She found herself reading his latest letter again. He'd mentioned marrying a muggleborn. Did he want to marry her? Her heart melted and her stomach filled with butterflies at the thought of it. She could imagine herself in a beautiful white gown, her family in the audience. She could imagine her mother crying and Draco being handsome in a suit. He would cry as she reached the alter with her dad. She shook the thoughts from her head, she was getting too into the fantasy.

Hermione wished he hadn't sent the letter by 5pm. Throughout the day she couldn't help but play with her name or think about random things she'd like at the wedding. She thought Hermione Jean Malfoy sounded like a rather beautiful name, one she would never hold.

She thought about writing back to him, like she always did. Once again, she decided it was a bad idea. She still didn't believe Draco was innocent, even if he loved her enough to get kicked from his family.

She ate some food she'd brought from the Cafe. She messed up an order and saved it instead of throwing it out. It was a bagel with cream cheese when the customer wanted butter. It was still delicious and she was glad to have something to eat, work was getting more demanding now that she wasn't as new.

Cedric had been coming by less but they were getting along better now that they understood each other a little more. They actually started listening to one another. Cedric had stopped asking her about Draco and Ron, she stopped ignoring him as much. She can't say she didn't still ignore his sports talk. She didn't even like Quidditch, she surely didn't like football.

Thinking of weddings again, Hermione had gone to the Potter's wedding not too long ago. She had been Ginny's maid of honor, she couldn't help but cry when Arthur gave Ginny away. Her best friends were getting married. The only part she hated was having Ron walk her down the isle as he was the best man. He didn't want to hold her arm, he kept his hand on her lower back and it kept drifting downward. She was so happy to be away from him as she came to Ginny's side.

Their wedding was the 10th of November and it was rather cold, they did it at Godric's hallow near the graves so Harry's parents could participate. Luna had seen it as a good idea and Ginny loved it so much she'd convinced Harry. They had originally planned for Ron to walk up with Luna and Hermione to go with Draco but she really didn't want to see Draco and Ginny decided to uninvite him. She felt bad he was missing his friend's wedding because she was upset with him. Hermione regretted telling Harry she didn't want Draco to come right when reception came around.

He would've loved to be there. Ginny was already pregnant before the wedding so there wasn't any alcohol but there was lots of dancing. Hermione knew Draco liked dancing, she sat out most of it until Harry called her over to cheer her up a little. Harry was the only person to dance with her the whole night, she was the replacement for when a normal groom would dance with his mother. She'd told him to dance with Mrs. Weasley but he didn't want to. He talked to her the whole time as her head laid agaist his chest, even Harry was taller than her but not by too much.

They talked about how she was doing in Italy, he hadn't seen her since she moved, none of them had. Harry told her she looked a lot thinner and needed to focus on herself more. She knew it was true. She had enough money to feed herself and pay rent with the money from the war and Café. She just never used her money for food, she always ate the reject meals and tiny snacks. She still wasn't that hungry even after so long. He tried talking her into coming for dinner but she was too afraid of Draco showing up. She didn't want to start crying in front of the Weasleys, they'd seen her cry maybe twice and she didn't want it to become a normal thing.

Harry kissed her forhead before they pulled away from each other. He knew she'd be leaving and was too shy to tell him goodbye. He told her to take care of herself and that him and the Weasleys loved her. She broke and immediately went home. She couldn't even bring herself to say goodbye to Ginny, she just gave her a wave. Ginny understood Hermione was going through a lot and just waved back with a sad smile.

Hermione came out of her memory and back to the present date, November 22nd. She let her breathing steady and looked back at the letter filled box.

"I'm not gonna write to him." She kept telling herself.

She had been saying this for 62 days. 62 letters sat in the box in front of her, they are all crammed in as the box was tiny. He really didn't lie when he said he'd send one every day till she replied. She wondered how many more she'd receive before she gave in or he lost hope. How odd would it be if he actually stopped on the 76th like he'd joked?

-1480