Love Hurts - Sequel to Love Happens [A Draco/Hermione Love Story]

The Big Day

HERMIONE’S POV 

I let out a slow breath as I took in my reflection. I didn’t look like myself. The young woman I saw in the mirror looked haunted, she was like a hollow shell of a person. She looked exactly how I felt. Terrible. No one else seemed to notice though. Molly had been running around all day making sure everything was perfect, and Ginny was flittering around me, making sure I looked perfect.

The white dress looked amazing, and the veil was placed perfectly in my pinned up hair. Ginny had worked on making me look just right for hours. I was happy she was my maid of honour. She was able to take my mind off of things, talking about every thing she could possibly think of. Just blabbering on and on.

But then she left me alone, and my mind started to wander. My hands rested on my stomach, the memory still clear in my head. It was months ago, but it still haunted me. Every time I looked into Draco’s eyes, I saw what we could’ve had, and it upset me all over again. I put on a good façade though, acting had become my forte lately. It was when I was alone that I let my feelings show.

Narcissa, Draco and my friends had all been there to help me get through it, but after a few weeks they began expecting me to get over it, so instead of burdening them with my true feelings, I pretended to be okay again. Eventually Draco began bringing up the wedding again. For a while I was really excited, planning the event with Ginny, Molly and Narcissa, but then I realised what was happening. I was planning a huge wedding, a wedding that was meant to celebrate Draco, me and our child becoming a family. I realised I didn’t want this, but I felt bad for cancelling the whole thing, especially when I knew how much Draco wanted it.

I was fidgeting with some of the fabric on the skirt of the dress, when I heard a knock on the door.

         “Come in.” I sighed, thinking it was Ginny or Molly, wanting to get my opinion on something unimportant. I was still looking at my reflection when I heard a familiar voice.

         “Whoa, you look beautiful!” I smiled at the sound of Caleb’s voice and turned to face him. I hadn’t seen him since we both finished our last year at Hogwarts. I had actually been pretty mad at him for a while for kissing me like that the last time we actually talked with each other. But that was months ago and much had happened since then. I hadn’t told Draco that I’d invited Caleb to the wedding, he’d throw a fit and do something he might regret later on. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted Caleb to come until a week before the wedding. Something just clicked, and without any further doubt I sent him an owl with an invitation. He hadn’t replied but seeing him here, made me happy for the first time in a while.

         “You came.” I whispered. Caleb smirked and then he walked towards me throwing his arms around me, pulling me close in a hug. At first I was tense, but then, relaxing, I snaked my arms around his waist hugging him back.

         “Of course I came. Do you really think I’d miss this? Even though it was kind of last minute?” I could hear his smile in his voice. “Although,” he pulled away from me, and put a hand under my chin, making me look up at him, “I must say I was surprised by your invite. If I remember correctly we didn’t really end things on great terms.” He chuckled.

         “I know and I’m sorry. I really do want to be your friend, I just didn’t know what to do about… you know,” I hesitated, “I didn’t know how to act around you after you kissed me. Also, Draco was furious with you.” Caleb rolled his eyes.

         “How does he feel about you inviting me?” he inquired. I bit down on my lip and looked down at my feet. “He doesn’t know, does he?”

         “Well… no. To be fair, I didn’t even know I wanted you here until a week ago.” I tried making excuses. I knew it was completely unfair to Draco that I invited Caleb without telling him, but I just had a feeling in my gut telling me that Caleb needed to be here.

         “I feel very welcome.” Sarcasm dripped from his voice. He laughed and I got a sudden urge to hit him. I pushed him playfully and turned around to look into the mirror again. I looked different know than I had just moments ago. I was smiling genuinely; I looked happier than I had in a long time. Caleb stood behind me, facing the mirror as well. He was smiling too, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He was putting on a face, to hide his real feelings. Didn’t I know how that felt?

         “You really do look beautiful.” He said quietly, his voice so soft it made me shiver. I was about to turn around and reply when Ginny burst through the door yelling something about a flower crisis. She stopped dead when she saw Caleb.

         “Caleb? What are you doing here?” she snapped, startling me.

         “I was invited.” He explained casually, a small smirk played on his lips. Ginny looked at me and I smiled apologetically. I hadn’t told anyone about inviting Caleb, because I knew no one would like it. Draco had talked about him with basically everyone, which meant that no one liked him.

         “You should go, Caleb. I'll see you later.”  I told him, giving him a small smile. Glaring at Ginny, Caleb left the room. Ginny slammed the door after him and turned to face me.

We stood in silence for a while before I talked, “So you said something about missing flowers?” I tried, not really wanting to be confronted by Ginny.

         “What on earth are you thinking? Inviting that jerk to your wedding?” She boomed, “I won’t even think about what Draco will do if he finds out!”

         “Ginny, relax. Caleb is my friend so I invited him. I was freaking out about a week ago, and I needed a distraction so I wrote him a long letter and I sent the invitation with the letter. I didn’t even know he was coming.”

         “But-“

         “Go figure out the flower emergency okay? I cannot deal with your anger towards me right now.” I hissed at her. Ginny’s mouth hung open at my outburst. “I need some air. I can’t breathe.”

         “Sure. Okay. Here let me get the door for you.” Ginny seemed flustered. She ran to the door and opened it, holding it for me as I walked out of the room. Luckily I wasn’t far from the door leading out to the garden.

I regretted not bringing a coat with me the second I stepped out. It was late fall and in a wedding dress without sleeves, I was about to freeze my arms off. But I wasn’t ready to go back in. I wasn’t lying when I told Ginny I couldn’t breathe. I was panicking. Still out here in the open air I felt smothered. The dress was too tight and it felt like my hair was being pulled out by the roots. I wanted out.

My breathing became quicker and more ragged. I ran to the nearest tree, leaning against it. Looking up at the overcast sky I tried calming myself down, but to no use. I suddenly realised I couldn’t see properly and started blinking; making tears run down my cheeks.

My heart was beating unbelievably quick and even though it was freezing outside I found myself sweating. My whole body was shaking when I felt a cold hand on my shoulder.

         “Are you okay?” I blinked a couple of times and looked up into a pair of green eyes. Caleb looked worried. I sobbed instead of answering him, so he pulled me into his arms hugging me tightly. But I felt even more uncomfortable being in his arms than I had being alone. So I fought against his embrace, pushing him away.

         “Leave me alone!” I cried furiously. He looked surprised but then decided to back away.

         “Hermione…”

         “Leave!” Caleb hesitated for a moment before he turned on his heel and began walking away. “No wait.” I heard myself say.

         “What?” He sighed. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down a bit before looking up at him.

         “Can I ask a favour of you?”