Here we go with chapter 21. Two more and an epilogue. This one is the bachelor and bachelorette parties, the next will be the wedding. That might actually take two. And if it does, there'll be an extra chapter. So, we'll just see where my muse leads me as far as that is concerned. The chapter after the wedding will cover a birth, or six. Actually, you know what? That might end up taking two as well. In any case, I will be finishing up soon. Definitely by the time the voting concludes on the 22nd. I don't want this to take more than a month. Especially with college starting and everything. I don't want this, which I desperately love, getting in the way of my schoolwork, which unfortunately enough has to come first. I also think I may retire after the completion of Seven Years Later. I think that my work is done and that I should concentrate on my life and school. So, review, because this may be your last chance to tell me what you think about my writing.
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Ron raced up and down the stairs, trying to do a million things all at once. Ginny was calmly doing the same thing. He didn't know how his sister did it, especially carting a two month old baby while she did it. "Ginny! Did you make the reservations for Harry at Madam Rosmerta's?"
"Two weeks ago Ron, though it's just wonderful of you to ask me the day of the parties. I can't believe you're going to get him drunk the night before his wedding."
Ron grinned from ear to ear. "Hey, it's my last chance to get nice and smashed before Luna has the triplets."
Luna had announced her pregnancy a full month after Hermione, and the women, along with Lily, were all enjoying their pregnancies. Lily was six months with the twins, Hermione was five months with her one baby, a boy, and Luna was at four months with the triplets. The men were amazed. Draco was still bragging about starting a trend.
"And what the hell was Hermione thinking, going to a spa for her bachelorette?"
"That she's five months pregnant, can barely see her feet, and can't drink anything with alcohol in it?" Ginny asked sweetly. "Get a clue, Ronald. She needs a night of relaxation before she walks down the aisle. So we're going to have mud masks, and facials and get our toenails painted. We'll have a sauna and get haircuts and our eyebrows waxed."
"That sounds like torture." Draco said, shuddering as he walked down the stairs. "Why would you put yourself through that, Ginevra?"
"Because it's fun. And relaxing. And I really need a pedicure."
"No arguments there."
Ginny slapped her husband's arm, handed him Carys. "Thanks. Here hold her while I go make sure Hermione and Luna are all packed. We're meeting Lily and the Weasley women for dinner in half an hour."
Draco gladly took their daughter, still wondering if there was anyway of talking Ginny into letting him take her with them instead of leaving her with Molly. Not that he minded Molly taking Carys, because he didn't. he just wanted his daughter with him if she wasn't with Ginny.
Ron looked down and noticed that he had somehow ended up with Ginny's clipboard. Curious, he scanned through the itinerary. "Draco," Ron said, shocked. "Ginny didn't get any strippers."
"Harry and Hermione don't want them. They agreed on that." Draco said nonchalantly, bouncing his daughter. He walked down the stairs, talking as he went. "Though, if you would have taken responsibility for planning Harry's bachelor party, then we would have been able to surprise and embarrass him."
Ron just looked at Draco. "My wife is four months pregnant with triplets. I work every day, have games and practices and travelling. At least Ginny can do a lot. And you stay at home everyday with Carys running your empire. So I don't want to hear how I've been shirking my duties as a Best Man because I still have a thousand things to do every day."
Draco was hiding the chuckle threatening to burst out of him very well. "All right, Ron. Calm down. We're all married men. Or at least, most of us are. We'll have fun anyway. The twins are bringing some of their tricks, I'm sure, and Madame Rosemerta has promised never ending firewhiskey. Don't worry about it. Everything is going to be fine."
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Ginny knocked on Hermione's door, and her friend opened it not five seconds later. She was carrying a duffel bag since the women were spending the night at Hogwarts after the party and staying in Hermione's quarters in the teacher's wing. Harry and the men were also staying there, though they were staying in a special visitors' dormitory.
"Ready?" Ginny asked brightly, slipping her arm through Hermione's.
"Yeah. This is going to be fun, huh?"
"Oh yeah." Ginny laughed. "Ron's been so busy that I offered to plan the bachelor party too. Madame Rosmerta's has been transferred into a spa as well. Waxing, maincures, pedicures, mud masks, a steam room."
Hermione's eyes widened. "You didn't!"
"I did. Of course, they only have to deal with that for an hour and a half and then Madame Rosmerta is going to start serving them their whiskey. They'll be drunk by nine thirty. The only problem is, Draco likes going to the spa with me."
"He does?"
"Of course he does. He may have done a complete one eighty as far as behavior, but he's still the same old Draco. He'll never shy away from good shaped eyebrows, soft hands and a fifty galleon haircut."
Hermione rolled his eyes. "I've never managed to talk Harry into any of that stuff." She smiled, knocked on Luna's door. "Not that it bothers me. I think it would be weird for Harry to get a manicure and waxed eyebrows. Though I wouldn't care about the regular haircuts. I have to threaten him with bodily harm or no sex to get him to cut it twice a year."
Luna opened the door. "Let's go, ladies. The sooner we get there, the sooner it's over and the sooner tomorrow comes and Hermione gets hitched."
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Harry was blindfolded. Ron was on one side, Draco was on the other, leading him somewhere. All he knew was that he had Apparated into Hogsmeade and met the men at Hogwarts. They'd promptly blindfolded him and taken him somewhere. They'd also cast a spell on him so that he couldn't hear anything. Which meant that he had no idea where they were going, except for that it had to be in another country because he'd been walking for over an hour.
He'd though he'd heard Ginny mention something about the Leaky Cauldron, but he couldn't imagine Draco and Ron wanting to walk to Diagon Alley. But knowing Ginny, they could be headed to the local zoo to see a dragon exhibit. She didn't want them getting drunk or doing anything stupid or wild, so she'd probably arranged something tame.
Not that he wanted to get drunk and be wild and do something stupid. He didn't. He'd gone as far as telling Ron and Ginny that he didn't want any strippers, no dancers, no clubs and nothing the least bit questionable. He didn't want to wake up on his wedding day wondering if he'd done something stupid while at his bachelor party. That wouldn't put a good start on the day and the last thing he wanted was for his wedding day to be anything less than perfect.
And he definitely didn't want to embarrass his fiancee. She'd worked unbelievably hard to make the day perfect, and everything she'd done required him to show up on time, in costume, and ready to get the show on the road. He had even agreed to wear a Muggle tuxedo, despite the fact that he was much more comfortable in formal robes. Hermione wanted what Hermione wanted, and what she wanted for her wedding, she got.
Draco reached over and removed the blindfold from Harry's eyes. "And, we're here."
Harry looked around, and saw that they were at Madame Rosmerta's. He glared at Harry and Ron. "You walked me around Hogsmeade for an hour when it was only a fifteen minute walk to Rosmerta's."
Draco grinned. "We couldn't have you figuring out where we were going, now could we?" he asked innocently, opening the door. The three men walked in and stopped, staring at the scene that greeted them.
All the Weasley men, Wood, James, Sirius, and Lupin were sitting in recliner chairs, getting face masks, pedicures, facials and eyebrow waxings. Harry turned around and tried to escape, but Draco and Ron were blocking his path, trying to figure out what was going on.
He turned back to the bar, locked eyes with Rosmerta. "What is going on? Where is your bar?"
Rosmerta grabbed all three men and led them to chairs. "Ginny arranged for you to have a mini spa. This is only until nine thirty, but Ginny wants you all well groomed for the wedding tomorrow. Draco, you're starting with a sauna to open your pores for the eyebrow treatment and facial. Harry, you're heading to hair for a cut, and Ron, go over there to the mani/pedi station."
88888888888888888888888888888888888
Hermione examined her toenails, satisfied with the results. They were light lavender, and sparkly. Ginny had gone a bit bolder with a teal color that matched her Maid of Honor dress, and had them striped in green. Hermione eyed them, wondering if she shouldn't do something of the same.
Alisa leaned over, "I really like those colors." She said, fluffing her hair. Her blonde locks had been cut to just below her collarbone.
"So do I. I'm seriously considering stealing the idea."
Ginny grinned at the two women. "Go right ahead. It was her idea in the first place." She gestured to the pedicurist. "Just don't steal my colors."
Hermione considered a little longer. "What do you think, Alisa? Pink, or silver?"
Alisa studied Hermione's toes. "Go with that hot pink. It'll stand out with the lavender. I'm thinking about going with purple."
Hermione looked at Alisa's polish, which was silver. "That would be good." She looked around the spa curiously. "Have you seen Luna lately? Those witches got ahold of her hair and she doesn't even look like the same person."
Ginny caught sight of Luna and gasped. The woman's hair had been cut to her shoulder blades, and layered around her face sleekly. It was very flattering. The color had been richened from the mousy brown that it typically was to a deep chocolate color and then highlighted with caramel and honey strands.
"Oh wow. That is a change. She really doesn't look like herself."
"It's amazing what they can do here." Alisa said contentedly, enjoying her manicure. "What shall we do next? Sauna? Waxing? Facial? Mud mask? Steam room? Ooh, deep muscle, stone and oil massage?"
Hermione groaned. "Is there a choice of all of the above?"
Ginny laughed. "You're the bride. What the bride wants, the bride gets. If you want it all, you get it all." She signaled to an employee. "Chocolate truffle?"
Hermione settled back in her chair, laughing. "Why the hell not? I'm pregnant. I'd might as well eat what I want."
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Harry was drinking for the sole purpose of forgetting the fact that his eyebrows had been waxed, he'd been forcibly given a facial, his nails had been done, his feet scrubbed, and his body rubbed from head to toe.
Well, that last part wasn't so bad, but all the rest? Torture. He threw back another shot of firewhiskey, both hating and loving the burning sensation that spread through his body. He didn't drink often. Didn't much care for the taste. He'd have a beer with Ron, Wood and Draco during a Muggle soccer game, have a glass of wine with dinner, but that was it. He hated the taste of hard liquor, and only consumed it on special occasions. Like three years earlier when he'd gotten drunk with his father, Ron, Draco, Sirius and Lupin. And when he desperately wanted to forget that his eyebrows had been waxed.
"How ya feelin' there, Potter, my boy?" Draco asked, slinging an arm around Harry's shoulders. The next shot of whiskey Harry had been considering taking sloshed all over the counter.
"Drunk." He sat the glass down. "But not nearly drunk enough."
"Ron's completely smashed." Draco pointed to the youngest Weasley male, who was dancing on the bar. James and Sirius, also relatively sober, were standing below, ready to catch when Ron inevitably fell.
"That's just the way he wants it." Harry looked at Draco. "You wanna get out of here?"
Draco pretended to take that the wrong way. "I thought you weren't that drunk? You have to be pretty drunk to hit on me."
"I wasn't hitting on you, asshole. I'm getting married tomorrow. I want to get Hermione something to wear with her dress. I figure you're the best person to take with me."
Draco sat his glass down. He was still hoping to share a room with his wife and daughter, so he'd stuck with water and butterbeer. Nothing that would impair his judgement. "Let's go then. I know just the thing. Remember, my friend, I've seen her dress, and you haven't."
Harry grimaced. "Don't remind me."
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
There you have it. Chapter 21. I hope you enjoyed it. I was originally planning to make the drunk scene more reminiscent of the one earlier in the story, but I decided that the chapter didn't call for it. It just seemed a little inappropriate for the way I wanted everything to go. Next chapter, or perhaps 2, will be the wedding. Those will be up tomorrow and the next day. So the wedding will be finished by Monday. Stay tuned! Don't forget to review, because, again, this may be one your last chances to do so as I am seriously considering retiring after this. Let me know what you think, and definitely vote in the competition!
-->