Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Of Dungeon Bats and Loony Lovegood ❯ A Bride’s Maid’s Tale ( Chapter 3 )

Of Dungeon Bats and Loony Lovegood

 

Chapter 3: A Bride's Maid's Tale

 

Once upon a summer the girl wished to be a dentist.

 

She'd stare at her big teeth in the mirror with a plan to fix them just as well as Mummy and Daddy did for other children. `As if by magic' her Grandma once told her, a phrase which would make a home for itself in her heart.

 

She loved her parents more than anything in the world - more than ice cream, more than fairytales and all the toys she'd ever played with or wanted. More than the color pink and the pretty little ribbons Nanny put in her hair.

 

And more than anything Hermione wanted to feel accepted and loved, which two hardworking parents seemed to overlook.

 

One day after a missed trip to the zoo, the girl lay crying on her bed, Mummy's card and penned love clutched in a wet hand. This was the third time that week something at the office had come up and now not even Nanny could soothe the girl's tears. That's when Lulu her doll had floated from across the room in a gesture of comfort. The exchange was quite strange, Hermione noted for a brief moment, but she was so sad it didn't matter.

 

Soon afterward more unexplained things happened. Tea cups would raise themselves at her miniature parties, cake would somehow find its way to her room. She'd play games on Nanny all day long, it was so fun! Mummy and Daddy would be very proud when they found out, she was sure. They might even remember her birthday this year.

 

But Mummy looked scared when she finally saw her daughter's gift, and Hermione grew angry at all these wonderful things. She cried when her dolls would come over; she broke all her tea cups in despair.

 

When a certain letter arrived on the eve of her eleventh birthday the girl felt a sudden throb of hope, misery, and excitement all in one. Mixed up in this new opportunity to prove her worth, she'd learn to misplace the need for acceptance and love onto others and become an overachiever, watching the resentment burrow deeper in the eyes of her parents, fearing their little girl was becoming some sort of...some sort of....

 

“Freak!”

 

Hermione stared at her reflection for quite some time, scanning the bright yellow gown with a look of revulsion.

 

Among its more modest oddities were several large misshapen bows of random placement, with the sole purpose (as far as the woman could tell) of ensuring the thing was ugly as sin. With hideous ruffled puff sleeves and a clumsy neckline, this satin disaster was definitely not going to be featured in Witch Weekly anytime soon.

 

“I look like I was raped by a Peep.” Hermione squeaked, lifting the layered hem as if it were a dirty diaper.

 

Laughter revealed another girl standing in the doorway behind her, similarly dressed in a much more understated version. Her red hair and pale skin contrasted poorly with the color, giving her rather ashy face a look of being tired. She folded her arms appraisingly and leaned against the frame.

 

“Nah, I'd say it's definitely you. I especially like that massive bow on the back. You never had so many curves.”

 

Ginny snorted when Hermione turned frantically to the side, a look of sheer terror spread upon her face. She groaned desperately.

 

“Remind me again why I'm doing this.”

 

“Because you're Luna's Maid-of-Honor; we like Luna, keep repeating that to yourself.”

 

The redhead crossed the room and helped adjust Hermione's gown, making her dress sit in a less awkward manner. The woman's butt still looked lumpy and deformed but not quite as frighteningly large.

 

“Please don't dress me like this for your wedding,” Hermione pleaded with the mirror version of her friend.

 

When Ginny took a good second to respond, the woman's anxiety doubled. She made to turn but Ginny held her shoulders still.

 

“Don't worry, Hermione - your dress won't be quite as bad as this one. Harry would never allow it.” Just when a sigh of relief escaped, Ginny continued. “It'll be pea green and have this big gold sash down the—”

 

“—Ginny!”

 

“Joking!”

 

The woman patted Hermione's shoulder as if sending her to a death most unfortunate, and shook her head.

 

“Just don't linger and people won't notice how terrible you look.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

When she had first agreed to be the Maid-of-Honor, Hermione should have known what it would entail. Merlin knew Luna had an odd sense of fashion. The woman just never imagined it would come to this.

 

As Ginny helped brush through her mop of curls, Hermione grimaced. She looked awful. Truly, truly awful.

 

“Ron was looking for you earlier,” Ginny snagged a knot and winced at Hermione's hiss of pain. She stopped long enough to catch a baleful glance, “Sorry. Didn't you brush this after you got out of the shower?”

 

`No' was the answer floating around Hermione's head as she weakly gave a nod. She was never one to mind her hair. Curiously though, the woman never felt more relieved to have such a bird's nest as she did in this very moment. It provided much-needed distraction.

 

“Anyway, I wish you'd quit torturing my poor brother and go talk to him already. He's been after your case for almost a month now.”

 

Hermione sighed, unable to meet the humorless eyes of her friend in the mirror. She just couldn't face Ron right now, not when his brain was so polluted by this new Marriage Law. The woman had made an effort to busy herself with anything and everything she could to keep avoiding him, and up until today that plan had gone pretty well. Luna's wedding, however, meant they'd be walking down the aisle together one way or another.

 

Ginny gave her a severe look over.

 

“You aren't seeing someone else, are you?”

 

When at last Hermione knew she couldn't dodge the topic any longer, something wonderful happened.

 

“Oh thank Merlin I've found you girls!”

 

The abrupt interruption caused both to jump and turn toward the door. A very distraught Molly panted onto the frame, catching her breath and waving away their assistance with an impatient hand.

 

“Mum?”

 

“Haven't seen Luna have you girls?”

 

Ginny exchanged a confused look with Hermione then shook her head.

 

“Not since this morning. She should be dressing in her room, I'd imagine.”

 

“She's nowhere to be had,” the woman confessed, rubbing her temple with a hand. “Went to check on her, find out if the dear needed any help getting into that...that gown. She wasn't there. I've raked the house from top to bottom.

 

“Not even in the garden.”

 

For a brief moment Hermione almost rejoiced in knowing she wouldn't have to walk down the aisle dressed like a creampuff. But she imagined that would be in poor taste and rubbed an arm in shame.

 

“Harry,” Ginny suddenly burst, catching the other two women off guard.

 

She shot an encouraging look toward Hermione, who had no comfort to give and shrugged. In a moment of frustrated eye rolling mishmash she elaborated, “He had to stop at Hogsmeade before the ceremony. I bet she's with him.”

 

“Hogsmeade?” Molly repeated incredulously, a sudden stab of anger erasing any anguish she may have felt. “A bride just leaving the day of her wedding to go run around town with another man?”

 

For Molly this was definitely a first. She had to sit and learn to breathe again. After a fashion, she discovered her hair was mussed and her gown desperately needed pressing and made a mental note of all the chores still needing attention around the house. She sniffled deeply at the hopelessness of it all.

 

“And Neville, what of that poor boy? Oh Merlin, he's been left at the altar...”

 

“Mum -” Ginny shook her head quickly, “there's no need to get him upset. Luna is coming back; she's got to be with Harry. I'm sure of it!”

 

“That's right,” said Hermione, finally finding her voice.

 

It sounded quite awkward as it interrupted this exchange but she pressed on anyway.

 

“You know Luna, always finding herself in odd places.” She forced a weak smile, “I'm sure she's with Harry, too. We shouldn't panic and we definitely shouldn't get anyone else panicking.”

 

Molly gave a small nod, hugging a handkerchief she had only just transfigured.

 

“I hope you both are right. I just have this horrible feeling something is wrong.”