Entry tags:

fic: taming the weasleys, hermione/percy, lavender/charlie, rating: adult

Taming the Weasleys - 7/11 - Adult - Percy/Hermione, Charlie/Lavender
Title: Taming the Weasleys (7/11)
Author: silvernatasha
Rating: Adult
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Summary: Despite their mother's nagging, Charlie and Percy Weasley are perfectly happy being single and have no intention of settling down and getting married. The women in their lives, however, have other ideas.
Ships: Percy/Hermione, Charlie/Lavender, slight Charlie/Angelina, slight Fred/Angelina.
A/N: Written for midsummerfest and loosely based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. View the dramatis personae here.
Word Count: 2084.

Chapter Seven: In Which Percy and Hermione Get Married

Ron knocked on Hermione’s door. “Hermione? Are you nearly ready?” As far as Ron was concerned, this was all very surreal; Hermione was marrying Percy.

It was mid February and, by all accounts, it was a lovely, sunny day outside, if a little chilly. The world hadn’t started spinning backwards yet, although Ron was prepared for that to start happening. Or was Hell going to start freezing over? He knew better than anyone that Hermione and Percy’s relationship wasn’t what it seemed, but he couldn’t think for the life of him how things had got this far.

They were both too stubborn to call things off, and so this misguided (at least in Ron’s opinion) wedding was going ahead. A part of him had hoped that one of them would have caved and admitted that this was all a big mistake but, right now, Hermione was getting into her wedding dress.

“You can come in, Ron.” For once in his life, Ron was glad that Hermione sounded nervous. Normally, Hermione fairly confident and knew what she wanted; it would normally be a bad thing for a bride to sound so scared on her wedding day. Today, it could only be good. Or at least that was what Ron hoped.

He pushed open the door to find Hermione sitting on her bed in her wedding dress, fiddling with the necklace that she was going to be wearing. She had a nearly-empty glass of wine in the other hand; what remained of the bottle was sitting atop the dresser. “You look lovely,” Ron offered.

Her dress was a deep cream, suiting her colouring. It was strapless and simple, but the skirt flared out, creating an elegant shape. Hermione frowned, her gaze focused on the necklace. Molly Weasley had given it to her, having worn it at her own wedding. “I don’t think I can do this, Ron.”

Ron sighed in relief. “Thank god you’ve come to your senses. About bloody time. You almost had me believing that you were going to go through with this.” He paused. “Shall I go and owl Percy and tell him the wedding’s off?”

Looking up at him, there was an expression of confusion written on Hermione’s face. “What? No, that’s not what I meant, Ron.” She stood up, moving so that she could look at her reflection in a full-length mirror. “I mean, I can’t do this wearing this.” She shifted a little uncomfortably, trying to adjust the dress. “It’s just not… right.”

Ron scratched his neck. “Um, Hermione, what exactly do you plan to wear instead?” The wedding was in half an hour - there wasn’t exactly time to go out and buy a new dress and he seriously doubted that she had a back-up dress hidden in the back of her wardrobe.

She nibbled on her bottom lip and the uneasy feeling that had been bubbling in the pit of Ron’s stomach all morning rose to the surface. After a moment of hesitation, Hermione crossed to her wardrobe, opening the door. She pulled out a coat hanger and Ron’s face fell as he saw what was hanging on it.

It wasn’t exactly a wedding dress.

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I’m not.” Hermione smiled at her intended outfit. “You don’t think Percy’ll mind, do you?” There was a devilish glint in her eye and Ron swallowed, loosening his tie.

Composing himself, Ron managed to say, “I think he’ll be… horrified. Appalled.” Ron blinked. Was he dreaming? “Are you completely crazy? I - I… I didn’t even know you liked… that sort of thing.”

Hermione shrugged. “I suppose it’s not to everyone’s taste.”

Ron nodded. “Yeah, that’s true.” He was looking at Hermione with new eyes now. “It kind of makes sense in a way.” Tilting his head, Ron studied Hermione’s outfit. “I think I had a dream about you wearing something like that once.”

She looked slightly surprised. “Really?”

“Yeah. It was back when we were doing OWLs and you were being a slaver driver getting me and Harry to study.” Ron’s cheeks flushed and he cleared his throat. “Are you sure you want to wear that?”

Hermione raised her eyebrows at Ron’s confession and he had the horrible feeling that she would use this information against him in the future. She downed the wine that was left in her glass, grimacing at the taste. “Positive.”

---

Percy gave Charlie a push and a glare. “Go and find out what’s happening,” he told him sharply. “She’s twenty minutes late. Twenty minutes.” Percy pushed up his glasses. “There must be something wrong.”

Charlie sighed. “Okay. I’ll go and find out what’s happening.” Flashing a grin at the people who were congregated to watch the ceremony, Charlie broke away from Percy, who was waiting rather impatiently for Hermione to arrive, and strode quickly out of the room to where the bridesmaids were waiting.

“Afternoon, ladies.” He beamed at them, trying not to belie his nervousness. Even though it wasn’t his wedding, formal occasions like this always made him feel a little jittery. When I get married, I don’t want it to be anything like this. Inwardly, Charlie frowned. Since when had he thought about getting married? It seemed as though all his mother’s nagging was getting through to him. “You’re all looking lovely, today.”

Angelina smiled, fiddling with the neckline of her purple dress, blushing as Charlie kissed her on the cheek; she was a little more annoyed when he gave Lavender a kiss, though slightly amused when Ginny just scowled at him and ruffled his hair when he tried to kiss her.

A little miffed that Charlie had also greeted Lavender with a kiss and a little more coldly than she had intended, Angelina said, “Hermione did a good job picking the dresses.” Considering that the three of them had very different colouring, this was even more surprising. Mainly, though, she was just glad that there wasn’t lots of lace and ruffles.

“That she did,” Charlie agreed. “Speaking of Hermione, do any of you happen to know what’s happened to my brother’s charming bride? She seems to be running a little late. Percy’s getting a bit…”

“Pissed off?” Ginny suggested innocently, raising her eyebrows. She found that the volatile natures of brothers such as Percy and Ron were an endless source of amusement. Ginny still wasn’t entirely sure why Hermione was willing to marry Percy, but was fairly certain that it was one of those ‘love moves in mysterious ways’ type of things. Then again, if anyone could put up with Percy until death they do part, it would be Hermione.

Nodding, Charlie agreed, “Something like that.” He tugged on the collar of his shirt; he’d always found formalwear too constricting and so the combination of a suit and the building tension about this wedding was starting to get to him.

Lavender frowned. “We’d noticed. It’s not like Hermione to be late at all. I almost expected her to be early.” She tilted her head, curls bouncing.

Ginny nodded in agreement. “I know what you mean.” She glanced at Charlie. “Do you want me to go and see what’s happened to her? I can Apparate over to her place, if you want.”

At that moment, Ron chose to appear, his face flushed. “Right. We’re here. Hermione’s, um… ready.” He raked a hand through his hair and offered a nervous smile.

Charlie was relieved at that. “Okay. Great. I’ll go tell Percy.” He smiled. “I can’t wait to see the look on his face when she walks down the aisle.”

Ron swallowed. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I expect it’ll be a bit of a surprise.”

Percy had chosen Pachabel’s Canon to accompany Hermione down the aisle. They were having a civil ceremony rather than holding the wedding in a church and it was being presided over by a Ministry official who looked even more nervous than Percy; Percy wasn’t exactly having second thoughts, but he was musing over their motives for this marriage.

It was hardly love and they were probably just going to be contributing to divorce statistics, but there was no way that he was going to back down to Hermione’s challenge now, especially as the music had just started and the bridesmaids were all progressing towards him.

Percy glanced at Charlie, who was standing beside him again. He had chosen him as his best man as Charlie as was the brother who seemed to have the most similar views on marriage to him. It seemed fitting.

Charlie murmured, “Is it me, or do they look a tad nervous?”

“I was going to say scared,” Percy agreed, straightening up. Something didn’t quite sit right with him. He would freely admit that he wasn’t the most intuitive person, nor was he particularly empathetic. However, even Percy knew nerves when he saw them and, when Ginny gave him and Charlie that wide-eyed ‘help me’ sort of look, he was seriously disconcerted.

As Percy was the owner of a magazine that focused on pictures of nude witches in varying poses, there was very little that could shock him. The most, erm, interesting photo shoot that Percy had ever watched being done involved two witches in dominatrix gear with whips.

Dominatrix gear that looked a lot like what Hermione was currently.

Only, somehow, Hermione had managed to get white dominatrix gear. Percy was also faintly glad that that she didn’t have a whip.

Beside him, Charlie cleared his throat. “Perce… did you…?”

“No.”

“So you didn’t know that she…?”

“Definitely not.”

Was it just Percy, or was it a little hot?

When Hermione came to stand beside him, Percy hissed, “What the hell are you wearing?”

Hermione looked at him, smiling. “What, this?”

“What happened to your dress? You look ridiculous.”

Her look was icy and she took Percy’s hand, digging her nails into his skin. “It’s me you’re marrying, not my clothes.”

---

“What do you mean you’re leaving?” Charlie asked. “The reception has barely started.” Molly and Arthur were hosting the wedding reception at The Burrow, making it a very intimate family affair. Considering the spectacle at the wedding itself, Percy was glad about his.

He gritted his teeth. “My darling wife,” he ground out, “has just informed me that our Portkey to Padua is several hours earlier than I had anticipated.”

Charlie raised his eyebrows. “Off for some bondage fun?” he teased.

Percy, however, did not take this well. “That’s uncalled for.”

“It’s funny, Percy. Lighten up. God, your wedding pictures are going to be hilarious.” Charlie grinned, tugging off his tie, pleased that all the formal stuff was out of the way. “Who’d’ve thought that Hermione Granger liked that sort of thing in the bedroom?”

Percy had just about perfected his scowl. “So she’s a dominatrix.” He could hardly believe that he was defending Hermione, considering how she had completely and utterly humiliated him at the wedding. “At least I’m not being tutored by a Playwizard centrefold.”

Charlie frowned. “What? Who?” Raising his eyebrows and nodding slightly, Percy indicated towards the door. Lavender was standing there holding an empty glass, her chin set firmly having clearly heard what Percy said. “Lavender? What’s he on about?”

She looked past him to Percy. After a moment, she ground out, “It wasn’t the centrefold.”

“You were in Playwizard?”

Lavender looked down at the floor. “I just came out here to…” She held up her glass. “But, now that I think about it, I think maybe I should… That I should go and…” she licked her lips, “be somewhere that isn’t here.”

“You’re leaving?” Charlie asked, a little dismayed. He cleared his throat, wishing his voice hadn’t suddenly shifted so high.

Glancing briefly at Percy, Lavender’s gaze settled on Charlie. “Actually, I think I might go outside and get a bit of fresh air.” She looked icily at Percy. “It’s a bit sour in here.” She put her empty glass down a little forcefully before flouncing out of the room, her dress swishing around her ankles.

Charlie glared at Percy, his fists clenching. “Now look what you’ve gone and done.”

Percy actually took a step back; he tried a nonchalant shrug. “What are you getting all riled up about? It’s not like you’re sleeping with her. And I’m hardly the one who took her clothes off and took the pictures.”

“Fuck off. You’ve upset her!”

Percy frowned. “I still don’t understand why you’re so upset.”

After a moment, Charlie unclenched his fists. “I don’t, either.”