11 REASONS GENERAL THEME: 11 Reasons why Draco and Hermione Belong Together
CHARACTER/S/PAIRINGS: Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger
TITLE: The One Who Knows
RATING: PG
WARNINGS/DISCLAIMERS: Don't own Harry Potter
WORD COUNT: 1398
PROMPT: Table 1 (Human Anatomy)—Fingers
NOTES: Many thanks to my betas, Z and eilonwy!

ooo

Time it was I had a dream. You're the dream come true.
Dar Williams – The One Who Knows

ooo

The atmosphere was bright and joyous, not a frown on any face. Hermione's father, Charles, was in the middle of a long monologue about his daughter. He'd been talking for the past twenty minutes but had only gotten through her birth and the first few years of her life. Hermione knew he was just getting started and that the only reason people were allowing him to continue was the continuous flow of butterbeer and firewhiskey supplied by the hostess of the event.

A large crowd of people, both Muggle and magical, were gathered in a large, private room in The Dorchester hotel in London. Narcissa had gone all out with the decorations, china, silver, crystal, and roses galore. She'd even hired a chef from an uppity Muggle restaurant in the city, bypassing the catering services offered by the hotel. Live musicians and an opera singer were the entertainment, and artisans had handcrafted the offerings on the dessert table – twelve different cakes, each an exquisite piece of art on their own.

It was more than Hermione could ever have imagined.

Charles was still talking about the time when Hermione learned to ride a bike when Draco leaned over to her.

"Hey," he whispered.

"What?" she whispered back. It was perfectly fine for them to be seen talking, but she didn't want to be rude. They were sitting at the front of the room, at a long table with their closest friends, a spotlight literally shining down on them.

"Lots of spunk, that one," her father was saying. "Skinned knees didn't matter to her. She didn't stop trying to ride that bike for three days straight."

Her father looked her way, and the whole room seemed to follow suit. His eyes shone bright with love and adoration as he said something about her courage and determination. Hermione blushed under the attention, and smiled warmly at her dad.

"Hey," Draco said again, poking her on the arm to get her attention again.

"What?" she whispered back, smiling politely at Ginny when she sent them a puzzled look.

"Let's get married tonight," he said, his eyes twinkling.

She looked at him with a frozen smile, surprised. "But, we're getting married tomorrow, Draco," she said through her smile.

"I know that," he said, shifting to face her. He nonchalantly took her hand. "But I know you, and you're miserable. My mother and yours have taken this whole thing over and turned it into their show. All about them."

Hermione started to speak but her father had just said something apparently quite funny and everyone looked at them. She smiled politely, and soon their attention was on Mr. Granger once again.

"Let me finish," Draco said out of the corner of his mouth. "I happen to know that you did not want to get married in a church, with roses and daisies, in front of half the wizarding world and two hundred of your parents' closest acquaintances."

"I – "

"You want something simple, yet romantic and heartfelt. Right?"

"Well, yes," she replied. They had to take long pauses in the conversation so as not to draw attention to the fact that they weren't actually listening. "But it's all planned, Draco. We can't change it now, the day before."

"We won't. We'll just get married tonight, the way we want, and then we'll do the whole thing tomorrow for them. What do you say?"

"I don't know…"

Clapping interrupted them and they turned to find everyone staring at them. Hermione smiled somewhat nervously and her father spoke.

"Are you ready for the toasts?" he asked boisterously.

"Oh yes, please," Draco replied, flashing an easy smile.

An hour later, they were dancing, almost too exhausted to move, using each other to keep upright.

"I have a confession to make," Draco whispered.

"Oh? What's that?"

"A few months ago I asked Fred Weasley to become a deputy registrar, whatever that is. You know, so he can officially marry us."

Hermione stopped moving and looked at Draco. "You did what?"

He merely smiled at her, ignoring her exclamation. "Come on, love," he whispered in her ear. "Marry me tonight. It'll be perfect. Just me and you and the stars."

"And Fred Weasley, apparently."

He chuckled, "And Fred Weasley. And two witnesses."

Hermione shook her head in amusement.

They began to move again, and were silent for a few moments. "Forget all this other stuff. The huge guest list, the extravagant…everything. They're just the trappings of love; I want you, and only you."

She smiled and shook her head in disbelief. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Completely. I have the place picked out, you look beautiful; I'm ready, you're ready. Let's be spontaneous."

"Except you've been planning this for awhile."

He grinned. "Well, yeah, besides that."

"You really want to do this?"

"Yes. Don't you?"

She sighed and considered his question. It was true that Narcissa and her mother – and even Molly as well – had ceased listening to what she wanted only a few weeks into the planning. It had turned into something of a battle of one-upmanship, and they hadn't meant for it to, but in the end, the ceremony planned for the next day had only one thing in common with Hermione's vision: Draco.

At first, she had been caught up in the idea of the big, fancy wedding – Narcissa had made it sound so grand and captivating. Very quickly though, she realized it wasn't for her. Hermione had allowed herself a few hours to imagine what she really wanted for her wedding day, and it turned out to be the complete opposite of what their mothers wanted. She was her parents' only child – only daughter – and they wanted to really make an impression on their friends.

Hermione's image for her wedding came to be very simple – something outdoors, either on a beach or in a large, flower-studded meadow, a simple dress, a few hand-picked flowers, their closest friends and family and, of course, Draco. Afterwards, they'd go to the Burrow for a delicious meal and she and Draco would slip away, unnoticed, to start their life together.

"Well?" he asked, taking her in his arms and moving her across the floor to avoid suspicious looks.

"What about…well, everything. Will we tell anyone?"

"It's after midnight, so technically, it is tomorrow. No one has to know, only those you want to tell. I saw you at the rehearsal tonight, and you were on the verge of tears the entire time. And when Molly and Mum started a rather heated conversation about Tonks and her shoes, I thought you would finally lose it. I kept waiting for you to blow up at them, finally let out all the anxiety and stress you've bottled in during this whole…process. Really remind people that you're Hermione Granger-soon-to-be-Malfoy, and that you always get what you want and you can wield a wand with more skill than anyone I know."

She laughed and squeezed his hand. "I love you, you know that?"

"So… that means you're in?"

"How can you be sure that nothing will go wrong? That we won't get caught? And what about tomorrow? Are we just going to show up like we're supposed to and go through another wedding?"

"Yes. But we'll already be married, you see. So… none of that has to matter. We'll have this huge secret, just us."

"I bet it would help relieve a lot of the stress or anxiety I might feel tomorrow, knowing that no matter what happens, I'm already married to you."

"Exactly."

She smiled, feeling a rush of excitement, relief and adoration for the man beside her. "Okay. I'm in."

Two hours later, beneath a blanket of stars, Hermione and Draco got married. She held a small bouquet of flowers he'd picked for her as they walked through the field he'd chosen. Hermione wore the dress she'd worn for the rehearsal and Draco left the top button of his shirt open.

He'd bought them a set of special rings – not the ones their mothers had chosen – simple antique gold bands, hers thin with a single sapphire in the middle. When he slipped it onto her finger, he smiled and she felt his love in radiating waves. Inscribed inside both rings was a phrase only they understood: the one who knows.

ooo

A/N: More to come!