Amour

IMPEDIMENTA

[The above picture suggests the mood of the duo in the entire chapter- they are always looking at each-other and rolling their eyes 😂]
[And I admit that I have taken (and will be taking) help because I don't have any first-hand experience of Christian weddings and preparations, apart from what I've seen in movies or tv.]

Hermione huffed as she came into the bedroom carrying a truckload of bags full of clothes, shoes, ornaments and other articles, which she dumped at the foot of the bed. She went into the open arms of her lover, who massaged her tired legs and wiped the sweat off her face with great care. "Did you get everything you needed?"Snape asked. "More-or-less."Hermione replied, fanning herself."Take a look at your outfit for that day. But don't peek at my wedding gown!" Snape smiled,"I'm sure I'll like whatever you've picked up for me." Hermione gulped some water and asked him,"Have you had a talk with Lucius?" The way his face darkened, she understood that he hadn't or even if he had, he didn't wanna talk about it. So she took his hand in hers,"Come on, Sev-" "I don't understand why you insist on inviting the Malfoys, anyway? They are not my friends, if you are under the wrong impression. After what they did..."Snape grumbled. Hermione tried to reason,"You should be the last person to judge someone by their past mistakes. And Draco agreed to be the best man, didn't he?" Snape remembered his conversation with Draco that day at Hogwarts:
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When Hermione first broached the subject, they had both been confused. After she left them alone to talk, they had stared at each other for a considerable amount of time. Malfoy finally gave a snort and smirked,"I can't believe you are getting married. And to that Mud-" "If you ever utter that word again I will slice your tongue out of your throat!"Snape thundered. Malfoy checked himself and stared at him long before saying,"You are really in love, aren't you?" Snape didn't answer but his eyes softened, to reveal the truth behind them. "Wonder what it's like.."Malfoy murmured, with the slightest hint of a break in his voice,"This was what perhaps kept you buoyant, whereas we sank down to the deep dark trench." Snape let out a sigh; he didn't wanna go into all that again and neither could he bring himself to console him now. "So, about the question...the best man-" "Why can't you ask Potter or Weasley? Or even Lupin? They are 'men' and quite good at it."Malfoy said irritably. "They don't represent the groom's side. Now, I know you will agree that we aren't exactly friends, but I did save your life."Snape remarked,"This is the biggest and most important day of my life-" Malfoy made a face, saying,"Well...-" "No it is! It is. And I want to be up there with the person that I love and care for the most in the world. So I will do whatever it takes to make her happy. She has requested you and I want you to honour her request."Snape exclaimed. Malfoy blinked rapidly, still not uttering the words of consent.
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They were cuddling in the bed when there was a loud knock on the door, followed by frenzied screaming. Hermione huffed and got out of bed to answer it. "It's my wedding planner- she's driving me crazy!"she exclaimed, rolling her eyes. Snape straightened up,"Wedding planner? Who-" His question was answered as Ginny came charging in, instructions and information flying out of her mouth. "Hey, stop screaming, ok? Yeah, so halibut. No? Allright then salmon- either way, I don't- it doesn't matter to me."Hermione pitched in. "Well it matters to me!"Ginny squealed. She even barked orders at her ex-professor. "You are in charge of the invitation cards- remember the rehearsal dinner is at 1800 hours." "Uh huh. Sorry, what time is that again?"Snape muttered, afraid to get shouted at too. "You don't know millitary time?"Ginny looked bewildered. "I must've been in missile training the day they taught that."Snape said snarkily. But his sarcasm was not appreciated by the hyperactive girl right now. "It's six o'clock."Ginny snapped as she flipped open her phone,"Yes, Ginny Potter here. No, I don't wanna hear any excuses. How hard is it to make an ice-sculpture?" "Whoa, ice-sculpture? That sounds really fancy. I said I didn't want anything posh-"Hermione tried to argue but was silenced with a hand. "I don't want a harpist. Sev plays the violin and I like it too."she said and Ginny consented to that, somewhat begrudgingly. Ron and Harry pirouetted through the doorway in their groomsmen suits and shiny shoes to show them how good they fit. "Come into my room, right now."Ginny ordered and stalked away, pushing the boys out as well. "I said I was going to be okay with your friends, but I really can't handle them anymore."Snape murmured and Hermione gave him an apologetic look before they followed suit. In Ginny's room, the wall was covered with a big chart of things that needed to be done, headed 'Transport', 'Catering', 'Rehearsal', 'Wine' etc, some of them already ticked off. On the sidetable there was a cardboard 3D model of the reception venue. "The rehearsal is not for another five days, so calm down."Hermione told her. "Calm? I am calm."Ginny said, although she looked anything but. They sat on the bed and pored over the model. "Now. Seating arrangements. All good?"she showed her the nametags over the seats in the model. "You missed the Malfoys."Hermione pointed out. Snape plopped down on an armchair,"I don't think they're coming-" "They will be there."Hermione said confidently. "Whatever. Let's stick 'em by the bogs."Ginny said with a sweet face,"Okay. Serviettes." She pulled out a tray,"Swan, lotus or Opera house?" "Opera house, please. Where did you learn these Gin?"asked Hermione. "Something called a YouTube."Ginny mumled as her phone buzzed again,"What? No, I don't want lillies, I want azaleas and jasmine. Pardon?" She turned to Snape,"If you had a north-english cockney accent, and you said 'Fookinel', then what would you say it means?" Snape quirked up an eyebrow,"Fucking hell." Ginny went back to the phone,"You said 'fucking hell' to me? Screw you! I'm not paying you a penny." She threw down the phone while George popped his head in through the door,"I've arranged for the bulk order of the air lanterns and the fireworks. The workers at my shop would take care of that." It was such a heartbreaking moment to see his shop change its name from 'Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' to 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes', when Hermione had passed by it while they were shopping at Diagon-alley. Who knew, the placement of a tiny apostrophy could make all the difference in the world? But maybe because of all the excitement surrounding the wedding, everyone had locked away all their past woes and it was good to see George back in his elements. "I don't want any of your pranks on the wedding day, allright? No dungbombs, no vomiting pellets in the food, no fartmachines under the seats."Hermione warned. "Of course not! See, I'm holy."George put on a large grin and pointed at the hole where his ear used to be. "Fibbing, George. I can tell when you're fibbing."Came Molly's voice from the corridor where she was busy doing some other thing. George pulled a face at his mother and asked Snape,"Need any help picking out ties, socks, or...underwear?" "No thanks."Snape said curtly. Hermione was getting exasperated,"Look, I've smelled eleven different perfumes, sampled six different slices of cake, which all tasted identical to me. I like the bridesmaids in purple-" "Lilac!"snapped both Ginny and Snape. Hermione shot her fiancé a look. Apparently, Ginny had bitten his head off to make him remember all the details and he just shrugged at her. "Lilac."Hermione continued through gritted teeth,"There are no more decisions left to make. I don't fully remember the decisions we have made. I'm faking opinions and..it's exhausting. Can I please have a time out?" She left them in the room, still going over other details and came to the dining room. Molly had the whole table occupied with the little baskets that were full of chocolates and dry fruits, to be handed out to the guests, as a parting gift. Hermione munched on some of them but Molly scolded when Harry, Ron and George took fistfuls of them too. "That's for the wedding day, idiots!" "But mum, you didn't say anything to her!" "Quit goofing around, you jokers."Hermione suddenly had a thought and went up to them, speaking in a low voice,"I hope you guys have planned on giving Severus a bachelor party?" She watched their expressions which clearly stated that they hadn't thought of it before. "Yeah...well, I've been thinking about it."George confessed. "Look, he doesn't have any other friends who would arrange a stag night, so it has to be done by you. Now, I doubt whether he would appreciate it very much but I don't want him to miss out on anything. Take him out, do whatever men do at such parties, have a good time and make him feel as a part of your group."Hermione urged. Ron gave a pat on her shoulder,"Leave it to us. We'll try and gift him a night of a lifetime!" There was a grin on his face that made Hermione suspect his intentions. But atleast they were willing to cooperate; Snape had never seen himself as 'one of the boys' and she would be glad if he felt closer to the people she called 'friends'. As they were going away, Harry was saying,"Let's call Neville, Slughorn, Flitwick, Hagrid and oh, Remus too." "I have an idea!"George said, but they got out of earshot.................................
{The next day}
It's not like they weren't grateful that they were going to be married and they appreciated whatever help they were getting, but Ginny's obsessive behaviour was getting a little too much to handle. Because she didn't have the traditional wedding herself, she wanted everything to be spick-and-span for her best friend's big day. And Hermione knew she meant well but was a little tired of her friend's eccentricities. "No, just send me the cards, I'll write the messages myself. Or someone else will, whose handwriting is not as illegible as you."Ginny was instructing someone on the phone while pacing out in the back garden. "What did you want me to do with these corsages...?"Snape was utterly out of his depth and had to depend on his ex-student to give him orders and was also kinda afraid of making mistakes. Oh, how the tables have turned! But Hermione quickly rushed to him and snatching the things away from him she said in an urgent whisper,"I can't...Before she comes back, let's just get outta here! Please.." Snape saw his lover close to breaking point and willingly agreed. In fact, he had been waiting for her to ask. They needed to get out of this madness, atleast for a few hours- to find some respite. The boys weren't in, Arthur was at his office and Molly was taking a nap, so it was easy for them to sneak out, without any trouble. Together they trotted down the street and kept to muggle-London as they wanted to avoid the prying eyes of witches and wizards, among whom they were too famous. They found a quite cafe some blocks away and sat down at a table. "I'll have a large mocha, please."Hermione said, almost disappearing inside her seat. "Same, thank you."said Snape, thinking it was hopeless looking at the menu filled with names that he hadn't heard of. As the twilight slowly occured outside, they just sat there holding hands, enjoying the quiteness, that wasn't even broken by the traffic. But then the bell rang to announce a customer's arrival at the door and Hermione nearly spat out her coffee. And we thought we could be anonymous in a muggle area! "Don't look, it's Rita Skeeter!"Hermione tried to hide behind the menu. Skeeter didn't see them at first; she pulled down her glasses to inspect the cafe better before taking a seat. Snape sat up straight, not daring to turn around but he knew his black attire and hair were a dead giveaway. And soon enough, she spotted them, and Hermione saw that. Oh no, I'm not gonna let you squeeze out anotger juicy article at our expense. "Hey you...!"the inspecting journalist was calling out but Hermione grabbed Snape's hand and pulled him out. Skeeter was closer to the door, so they took the exit at the kitchen, running through the startled chefs and came out into a back alley. It was dark and deserted. They rushed down the long way and finally stopped at the end. Snape looked around the edge of the wall,"I don't think she's following us-" But he promptly bumped into Hermione, who had suddenly stopped and was staring straight ahead. Her mouth had dropped open in a horrified gape and she raised her hand to point at the other end of the alley. Snape followed her direction and saw a hooded figure standing there, only a silhouette could be distinguished in the low light, but it's eyes were burning red. This was a being they had had nightmares of countless number of times. Two more people appeared on either side of him, both of them hooded too and also wearing the masks of death-eaters. Snape and Hermione stood glued to the spot, hypnotized under the fiery stare of the one in the middle, the blood frozen in their veins. The Dark Lord has returned!