Chapter 4 - And A Beautiful Princess

Chapter 4 – And A Beautiful Princess

The sound of pouring water woke Hermione from her nap. Looking for the source of the sound, she noticed a young girl preparing what looked like a bath. She was surprised that she had fallen asleep trying to figure out how to get back to Hogwarts. The stress and surprises had tired her more than she had realized. She threw back the coverlet and approached the steaming tub.

"Oh, miss, you startled me. Would you like me to lay out your gown for the evening?"

"Yes, thank you." Hermione was happy to discover lavender had been added to her bath. She soaked in the tub until the water had cooled and then climbed out to prepare for the evening.

"Oh, how lovely! Thank you." The maid gave her a surprised look but did not say anything. She helped Hermione dress in a soft silk gown of light apricot. There was a darker band of apricot satin just below her breasts. Since Hermione had cut her hair a couple of years ago, it was too short to put up in the fashionable chignon. Instead, the little maid added a gold net like cap that complimented her gown.

"Hermne, you have exactly two minutes before father comes up here and drags you down by your hair," Draco warned her as he leaned casually against her door.

Hermione nodded, grabbed the shawl and reticule the maid handed her, and walked out of the door. Draco followed lazily along behind.

"About time you got down here, young lady. How many times do I have to tell you, do not keep the horses waiting once they are hitched to the carriage?" Lucius sighed and chucked Hermione under her chin.

He turned as his wife, Narcissa, came down the stairs dressed in a beautiful emerald green gown. Hermione was starting to think that she had stumbled into Wonderland when Narcissa patted her cheek lovingly as she and Lucius walked out of the house. Draco and Hermione followed them and all four got into the elegant black carriage waiting at the foot of the stairs.

The house they pulled up to was a solid brick mansion. Lucius helped his wife down and started up the stairs. Draco turned and helped Hermione down and they followed their parents through the doors to meet their hostess.

"Draco, when you said supper, I was thinking of something smaller. There have to be about twenty people here." Hermione felt panic rising and took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. Fortunately, she recognized most of the people present.

"This is a dinner for just family and close friends. You know most of these people. Are you sure you are feeling all right? See, there is Lady Minerva." Hermione did see and could feel the blood draining from her face. Standing in front of her was Minerva McGonagall, or at least somebody who looked an awful lot like her.

"Hermione, how nice of you to join us this evening. It has been a long time. You are right, Lucius, she has grown into a lovely young woman."

"Thank you, Your Grace." Hermione could only mutter a greeting in response. She joined Draco in the drawing room.

"I see that you have met my 'Mother,' Miss Malfoy," she heard a voice hiss in her ear.

"Yes. Well, I hear that you know who my 'Father' is, Your Grace," she retorted.

"Did you notice who my brother is? I can barely tolerate Potter on the rare occasions when we are required to attend Order meetings. Are you sure you want to continue with this charade?"

"I do not think having Draco as a brother is any better. Besides, Harry is not that bad. And yes, we need to continue with this pretense. I still do not know how we are going to get out of this."

"Well, I do know that we cannot do any magic. I tried to hex Potter when he hugged me and nothing happened. Oh no, here come my 'friends.'"

"Miss Malfoy," Remus said, coming up to her and Severus. Ron and Remus both kissed her hand in greeting. "How nice of you to join us this evening. It has been a while since we were all together."

"Yes, well, it is a pleasure to be here. Thank you."

"Hermione! Oh my, how wonderful to see you!" Hermione was knocked back a step by a small whirlwind in a gauzy cream dress.

"Ginny! What are you doing here?" Hermione asked before she could stop herself.

"Well, we are family friends of the Snape family. Oh, you mean what am I doing back from France? Well, Bill and his wife decided that they needed time to get to know their new baby alone, so I came home early. Ron invited me to be his dinner guest tonight, and I am so glad I decided to come. Much better than helping Uncle Dumbledore make lemon ice." Ginny looked at her close friend and noticed that something was bothering her.

"Well, I am glad you are back. You should come tomorrow for tea. And bring your mother. I would love to know how your family has been doing and how Paris was." Hermione could not get over how elegant Ginny was with her hair gathered up on her head, and the cream gown made her skin just glow. She watched Draco's eyes follow Ginny around the room. She was happy to see this as they had started dating each other around the time she started working for the Ministry.

Looking around, Ginny asked Harry, "Harry, do you know where my parents have gone off to?"

"Here they come, and not a moment too soon, as Jeffrey is announcing dinner."

Everybody filed into the dining room. Hermione, escorted by Severus, noticed that Draco was escorting Ginny. As she settled down to the first course, Hermione relaxed and let the conversation flow around her. Severus ate little, but refrained from scowling at everyone at the table and kept his sarcastic remarks to a minimum.

The only surreal moments were when Minerva and Narcissa discussed the joys and sorrows of motherhood, and when Lucius made witty comments that set the whole table laughing. Severus was sure he would need a memory modification charm of some sort to deal with the images of Lucius flirting lightly with Minerva.

The tinkling of silver on fine crystal ceased all conversations. Minerva and Lucius both stood up and looked at Hermione and Severus. Severus could feel his stomach clench and saw the apprehension in Hermione's face.

"I would like everyone in this room to know how honored Lord Lucius, Lady Narcissa and I are tonight to have you all here to witness such a happy moment for our two families." Hermione now wished she had not eaten the aspic. She was sure she could feel it wiggling in her stomach.

"Last night, Lucius and Severus met and agreed to put past grudges behind them in order to forge a new friendship. As part of this agreement, Lucius has agreed to give his consent for Hermione Malfoy to marry His Grace, my son, Severus." Minerva raised her wine glass in a toast to the newly engaged couple.

Hermione felt all of the blood drain from her face. She looked from the very happy and satisfied faces of her family and friends to that of Severus, her new fiancé. She felt Ginny give her a hug and vaguely heard words of congratulations being directed at her. She took one look at Severus and knew she had to get him out of the room before he said or did something he would later regret. She grabbed his arm and propelled him through the dining room door, across the hall and into the parlor.

She heard what sounded like teeth gnashing together. Looking up, she saw that his jaw muscles were indeed tightly clenched. She braced herself for the explosion she knew would follow.

"What in Merlin's name is going on! I have to endure relatives that I would rather use as specimens in experiments! I have to tolerate Trelawney as a mistress. I was forced to hear myself being called 'Sev' by those lunatics you call friends! Now I have to marry you!?"

"Do not think I enjoyed today either, you great insensitive prat!" Hermione felt tears prickle behind her eyes. She would rather prance through naked than marry this man, but how dare he act so outraged! She was the one who was being treated unfairly. "I do not think overreacting is going to help this situation. And what do you mean, you have a mistress?"

"Overreacting? I am overreacting?"

"Well, you are the one who is yelling. It appears that you wanted this marriage earlier. Why do you have a mistress?"

"That was not me. If you recall, I was not 'here' last night."

"Fine, be insensitive and point that out!" Hermione turned and quickly rubbed the tears from her eyes.

"Why are you crying? I cannot believe this. Control yourself. You should be honored to be marrying me."

"Give me one good reason."

This stumped Severus. "Well...For one...Hmmm. You just should!"

The muted sounds of people's voices alerted Hermione to their audience. Quickly composing herself, she turned to Severus, "Okay. I will marry you. But I want you to know, this is not over. People are listening, and I suppose we have already created enough of a scene. Thank Merlin it was only these few. And get rid of your mistress!"

"I agree. But do not think for one minute, I am going to play the besotted lover or the henpecked husband. I will give you a list of rules before the wedding. The only reason I will get rid of Trelawney is because I cannot stand that frumpy fraud, not because you demand it."

Hermione rolled her eyes and walked to open the door. Sighing heavily, Severus followed behind.

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Author's Notes: Many thanks to my beta, Tinnidawg! Without her, this chapter would make absolutely no sense! I am so glad to those of you leaving reviews, they definitely motivate me!