Wait ...

Wait ...

His fath- that was sick. That was sick, and wrong, and 'should never happen in the history of the universe' material.

He couldn't process this. There were a few drawn out moments in which he was frozen in what could only be described as disgust before he fi ally snapped to his sender and tried to comfort Hermione from this ... strange event.

He really didn't think this was in his capabilities to take care of, but if there was anything about friendship Hermione had taught him, it was that sometimes just being there was enough.

"Well, if it helps, and I'm not defending the way he's treating you in any way, it's probably gotten tedious to him. I mean, don't tell anyone and especially not him I told you this, but you'll be his third wife since he left Hogwarts. Before my mother there was some classmate he fancied, but he always closed his mind off before my legilimancy could pick up on much about her."

He said slowly as he resumed his rhythmic stroking of her back.

"And I'm also the second kid. Again, legilimancy couldn't pick up much, but I think all this is opening up old wounds and tearing them wide open."

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Hermione nodded and listened quietly, but even as she did that she was thinking of a plan that could help.

"I know! You can do it! You could polyjuice yourself as your father, and I'll have my wedding I want whilst no one else is any the wiser. I'd still be married to him but you can at least make my wedding possible. You'd be a decent actor. We could say hand-written vows, and you could pretend as your father you at least like me if not love me at the wedding. No one else would ever have to know besides my family, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and the rest of the Weasley family. It would be perfect! I'm sure Astoria wouldn't mind. She's always about making dreams come true, and god knows she knows I'm not interested in you like that. I'd have to have the wedding in six months so thats more then enough time to make the potion, you can easily get your father's hair, and voila! One wedding. He probably wouldn't even notice I'm gone."

She rambled, her hope at finding a solution clear in her sparkling eyes even as teary eyed as they looked.

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"Ouch, my pride 'Mione. And you called me an insensitive prat."

Draco smirked in amusement as Hermione mentioned not liking him in that way. Of course he didn't mind, he'd had a crush on her throughout Hogwarts - which was why he tortured her so relentlessly - but that was the past. He loved Astoria, and although him and Hermione were considerably close, it was in more of a brother-sister kind of way. Which made this whole thing even more weird.

Honestly he didn't think this could possibly be a good idea, but he knew if he didn't go along with it, Hermione would just drown herself in more and more books. Besides, he had his own plans formulating in the depths of his mind.

"I'll talk to Astoria about it, but I am not assuming her opinion anything. Merlin, she's more bipolar than a werewolf without their wolfsbane potions right now."

Yeah, he would know. He was one of the Healers at St. Mungo's who helped out newly transformed werewolves during their first few shifts, and most of them did not want to take the foul tasting potion.

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"Thankyou so much!"

Hermione gushed, flinging herself at him to give him a tight, warm hug whilst ignoring the romance book she had open that fell to the floor. She just as quickly flung herself back and began tidying herself up.

"I'll start planning right away and contacting the right people. I think dress shopping will be first. You can ask Astoria if she wants to come as well. She'd probably have a better idea of where to go anyway. Hm... I might see if my mum still has her wedding dress. I could wear it and have it altered a little. I think it would be kind of sweet."

She rambled, managing to easily find a piece of paper and a pen in her extendable handbag before she began to write notes on everything she would need to do.

"Oh, and I'll have to get the potions ingredients too."

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"Oomph-"

Draco rasped as Hermione borderline tackled him before letting him go just as quickly.

"Easy 'Mione, no need to break a couple centuries of careful breeding over a wedding. Besides I owe you, after helping me catch up on homework once I recovered from that quidditch accident in eighth year."

He smirked as he grabbed one of the shelves beside him to pull himself to his feet. Stretching his back out for a moment, he smiled down at his psudo-sister and held his hand out to help her out.

"Why don't you ask Astoria? She's over at Fortesque's with her sister right now."

He pointed out with a shrug, though otherwise remained silent while she rambled. He knew better than to disturb a rambling Hermione.

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"Hm... good idea!"

Hermione responded happily, already day dreaming about what she'd like for her big day. Gathering up her bag she tucked the romance novel back into its place on the shelf before heading towards the store's front door.

It didn't take her too long, not that she would have noticed with this new solution high she was on, to reach Fortesque's. It also wasn't hard to find the tall, thin, supermodel blonde pureblood that was Astoria Greengrass.

A frown briefly fell upon her face as she realised that was what Lucius would prefer in a wife. Not her; average height, dumpy with curves that weren't all in the right places due to over-indulgence after the end of the War, and wild, bushy hair that made everyone give a sneer of disgust and a mocking jeer.

Forcing herself to ignore this she made her way over to Astoria.

"Hello Astoria. I was wondering if you'd like to help me with my wedding, primarily with the dress. I was thinking of using my mother's, if she still has, but give it some alterations to fit my personality and figure. Oh! I hope you don't mind if I borrow your husband so he can look like his father and attend my wedding as the groom. You know I don't feel for Draco that way, and I just want to be able to have the wedding I've always dreamed of. Lucius wants us to just sign a piece of paper and I just... I can't do that. This may be the only wedding I ever have."

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Astoria smiled as she noticed Hermione walking towards her - the older girl having been a role model of hers while in Hogwarts - though frowned as she actually began speaking. Her brow creased in confusion as she exchanged a glance with her sister Daphne before looking behind Hermione as her husband appeared on the scene.

"Drae?"

She asked, looking for a clearer explanation. Or, any explanation for that matter.

"The Ministry matched Hermione and my father together.Hermione wants a wedding, but my father can't be bothered to have another, so the plan was make some polyjuice potion so I could stand in and Hermione can have her dream wedding."

Astoria arched an eyebrow and placed a hand on her hip.

"Oh, lighten up love, you know I only have eyes for you."

Astoria rolled her eyes lightly with an amused smirk to Draco before turning with a warm smile to Hermione.

"It won't be a problem, and I'd love to help however I can."

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"Really? ... Oh god! I could kiss you right now! You know, if you weren't you."

Hermione replied, her voice filled with amazement, disbelief, relief, and joy. She flung herself at him again, giving him a tight squeeze before turning back to Astoria with a huge smile, her eyes sparkling with tears of joy this time.

With a happy smile she plopped down onto a free seat and took out the sheet of paper she had been writing on.

"I was hoping you could be a bridesmaid as well as Ginny. You two are the only female friends I have, and well I'd absolutely love it if you were there. Now we should probably get the wedding organised first before we discuss anything about a hen night or a hen weekend. Oh! And I'd like to try and incorporate some wizarding traditions in both, although I don't know any so I hope you can help me with that Astoria."

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Astoria smiled and sat across from Hermione with Draco to her right.

"Alright, so a muggle wedding with traditions from, say, mine and Draco's wedding, right? Let's get started … "

---------------------------

"Astoria's been rather excited lately."

Lucius pointed out casually to his son as they walked down Knockturn Alley. The shops had all long since been shut down once the war was over, but something about the deserted peacefulness of the area made it a favorite place for the father-son duo.

"Well, she is pregnant. You know women and their hormones."

Draco said with an airy wave of his hand. Astoria had departed from their company as they went down Knockturn Alley and she instead headed down Diagon Alley to meet up with Hermione and Ginny, giggling like a school girl the entire time.

"And she's probably excited over the wedding tomorrow."

He added casually. Of course, this cause Lucius to fire a confused glance to his son.

"What wedding?"

Draco kept a mask of indifference despite how much he wanted to smirk.

"Your wedding. Or at least, Hermione's. Since you wouldn't have a wedding with her, I agreed to pose as you with the help of Polyjuice potion and help her have her picture perfect wedding. Astoria and Ginny Weasley have been helping her plan this since you two found out the Ministry had paired you up."

Lucius stared at his son in shock for several moments. He had said no, and she was doing it behind his back anyway?

How Slytherin of her, the clever girl.

"It's not happening."

He said firmly as they continued their slow, long strides through the abandoned alleyway.

"You're not posing as me. If she's willing to go through all this trouble ... I might as well go through with it. But not a word to her."

Draco managed a small smirk as he nodded to his father, sliding his hands down in his pockets. He was silent for several moments, letting the sounds of their footsteps fill the air for a while longer.

"Reminds you of her, hmm? Hermione's stubbornness?"

Lucius arched a questioning eyebrow at his son.

"Her?"

"Y'know, your Hogwarts sweetheart."

"That was long before your time, how do you know about her?"

"Your occlumency is getting rusty, I can almost read your feelings again."

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Hermione couldn't help but be thoroughly excited. Not only was her dream wedding tomorrow but she had also managed to reverse the memory charm on her parents. They would be there to attend her wedding. They were still on shaky terms due to the spell but they were working back that trust one step at a time.

She was stood staring at her wedding dress, breathless with anticipation. It took a lot of her energy into making sure she believed this was a real wedding with a real, loving man at the end of the aisle just so she could have one nice memory to treasure from this whole situation. Of course there was always her logic at the back of her mind reminding her of the truth but she did her best to ignore that.

She knew she had one chance at this. It was highly unlikely the Ministry would stop the law, and if they did there was an even slimmer chance of there being a way to end the marriage. She knew enough about the wizarding world that a divorce rarely, if ever, happened. She was also pretty sure the Ministry only agreed to allow Lucius and Narcissa to divorce because it gave them another healthy, fertile male which she guessed was probably sorely lacking after the last War.

"Tomorrow's the day."

She mentioned, her happy gaze turning to Astoria and Ginny blissfully unaware of Draco and Lucius' current conversation.

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Astoria nodded and giggled, smiling at Hermione as she placed her hands on her swollen stomach. She was almost as excited as Hermione; she'd never been to a muggle wedding before, and even though this one had some wizarding elements, it was still a whole new, strange world.

"Congrats, Hermione. This is so exciting."

Ginny said with a smile as she hugged her best friend. She was so happy to be here for Hermione. Yeah, she knew it wasn't exactly what she would have wanted, but it was still exciting all the same.

"Mhmm. I thought Scorpius would be then newest addition to the Malfoy family, looks like you beat him to it."

Astoria laughed, shaking her head lightly as she smiled to Hermione.

"I thought you didn't know if it was a boy or a girl."

"No, Draco doesn't know if it's a boy or a girl."

Astoria corrected with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

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Hermione smiled happily.

"Yes it is. I can't wait to walk down that aisle and..."

However at that part of the sentence she stopped and frowned. In that moment she found it hard to keep herself immersed in her own pretence as what she wanted to say was 'see a man that loves me and I love at the end of the aisle'. Neither of which was true. She felt an ache in her heart at that, rubbing it with a palm of her hand as she tried to force the negative thoughts away.

Fortunately Ginny and Astoria helped with that as they talked about Astoria's pregnancy.

"Its a boy! Wow! I can't wait to see Draco's face. You know though, I've always wondered if Malfoys were only capable of producing men. Do you think there's some kind of curse preventing girls from being born?"

She asked with a playful grin, plopping down onto the sofa besides her two female friends.

She refused to acknowledge that she would be forced to have two children in a few very short years with Lucius Malfoy. That was a whole can of worms that would only spiral her emotions out of control.

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"That seems logical, boys or twins at least. I think Draco's aunt Roxanne was the first female Malfoy born in a long time, and even then she's still twin to Lucius, so that's still another male in the line."

Astoria laughed, leaning back against he seat and relaxing, or at least trying to with the constant kicks to her stomach.

"Draco's son alright, little troublemaker."

She murmured faux begrudgingly before turning from her thoughts as she looked to Hermione.

"That was exhausting though, I can't believe muggle weddings are so much more complicated than wizarding weddings. Though maybe it's just because I'm not a muggle born."

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It didn't seem long at all before one day bled into night, and then a new day began. Her wedding day. It certainly went by fast as before she knew it she was standing in the church just beyond the doors that would reveal the aisle she would be walking on any moment now.

Hermione was feeling anxious and nervous now. It wasn't just about the fact this was all a play, one she didn't admit to her parents as she wanted them to believe all of this was real - she was even considering having Draco be on hand at all times to play his father when her parents wanted to meet him - but it was also about the fact she was really getting married. Of course she wasn't really getting married today but tomorrow to a man who saw her as nothing but dirt - lower then a house elf in his eyes and she was going to have to bear his children one day soon.

Astoria had been amazing and had managed to wrestle her hair into a bun on the top of her head with a braided plait surrounding it (done with her own hair), with a nice fringe and a few curls either side of her face. Hermione was wearing her mother's dress but with it altered a bit to fit her body. It was shoulder-less, with a sweetheart neckline, and was floor length that clung to her upper torso all the way to the bottom of her hips before cascading downwards. The dress was a snow white with small glittering pearls over the 'corset' portion of the dress and a few on the hem of the dress in a zoomed-in effect of a snowy pattern. A pair of white wedges, which were very short, accompanied the dress. The wedding dress was her something old, her shoes were something new - found with the help of Ginny in Diagon Alley - and her something blue was the sparkling, glimmering, and more importantly fluttering (with the help of a little magic) two butterfly clips either side of her head.

Upon hearing the music she gave a nervous but happy smile, firmly embracing the premise of true love that was the wedding, towards her father before he led her down the aisle with a beautiful bouquet of white lillies.

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Lucius found himself exasperated as he stood waiting for a muggle ceremony. What part of his mind thought this was a good idea? He could have just let Draco impersonate him, that would have been the easier of the two options. However, he had always been possessive, though why he was suddenly possessive of Granger-a muggle born half his age-was beyond him.

The music started and he was prepared for the worst, however what he saw was nothing like what he expected. What he saw brought back memories he thought had been locked away long ago. Even he had to admit the Granger girl looked ... decent. Merlin, she looked beautiful, but that didn't distract from the demons ready to burst from his closet and devour him on the spot.

Memories from long ago flooded his mind, and the emotions that came with them made the Malfoy patriarch ready to break down and cry. However, he would not do that. He was Lucius Malfoy, he did not simply cry. Not in public at least.

His eyes went out of focus for just a moment, but he was quick to get a grip on his emotions, and was soon focused once again on his soon-to-be wife. He even managed a smile as watched her walking down the aisle, examining her dress and hair with mild and easily masked curiosity.

Hermione still didn't know it was really him, that the ceremony was really going to marry them, and that, he knew, was for the better. Draco stood in the back corner where Hermione wouldn't see him until the ceremony was over. By then he could determine how good his own acting skills were, after going through an entire ceremony pretending he felt anything for the witch before him.

He supposed he did, at least, respect her will, and admire her cunning. However that in no way equated to love. No matter what his son believed, the girl in front of him and his Hogwarts sweetheart were nothing alike. Nothing ...

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