His Veela Heritage by RiverWriter

chapter 28

Andromeda walked up behind Hermione and gently rested her hands on the younger witch's shoulders as they both regarded her reflection in the mirror.

"Cissy, could you give us a moment?"Andromeda asked the blonde witch who was busying herself straightening Hermione's gown to perfection.

"Of course!" She gave the train one final tug and then with an affectionate squeeze of Hermione's upper arm and a smile, she retreated from the room.

As soon as the door clicked closed Andromeda reached around and took Hermione's hands from where they had been hovering around her abdomen and brought them to her sides. "Nobody is going to be able to tell just by looking at you Hermione, but if you keep doing that everyone will know. Narcissa would surely have figured it out by now if she wasn't so preoccupied making sure everything is perfect."

Hermione took a deep breath. "Are you sure? Draco swears there's a bump."

"Draco is besotted with the idea of this pregnancy, not to mention that he has superhuman senses, but in this case I think he is seeing what he wants to see- proof of his child growing inside of you. But to the rest of us you look no different."

Hermione nodded as she tried to convince herself of the truth of Andromeda's words.

"Now, how are you feeling? I'm sorry your mother isn't here, it should be her with you in this moment, but it is my honor to be the one who is."

Hermione shook her head. "I'm happy you're here, Andromeda. I don't know what I would do without you."

She leaned down and gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek and then smiled at their reflection in the mirror.

"Your mum wasn't at your wedding either," Hermione said softly.

Andromeda chuckled, it was only slightly tinged with bitterness. "That was more of a blessing than anything else."

"It still must have hurt," Hermione whispered.

"It did," she acknowledged with a slight inclination of her head. "It pales in comparison to how much it would have hurt when I was just a girl, and it means almost nothing to me now. But I don't think we ever truly outgrow wanting our parents approval. However, in the end, it was for the best that neither of my parents were present. My choices were beyond their understanding."

Hermione took a deep breath and centered herself. She wouldn't get upset and ruin this day- or worse- make herself all splotchy. "This might make me a terrible person but I feel the same way. I mean, I'd love to have my parents at my wedding but not like this. I'd just be worried about them the whole time. I do hope they come around eventually, maybe with the baby," she shrugged, "but that's just as likely to make things worse. They already think I'm too young to get married."

"I'm sure they had very different plans for your life. And from their perspective the magical world has not been kind to you."

"It's my choice to stay here," she said stubbornly, "I can't just stop being a witch." It was an argument she'd gone around with her parents a million times, it had never budged them. They could not ignore or forget the way she had spelled them during the war without their permission; especially in the face of her decision to marry a man whom she'd continually written to them as being a bully and a bigot. Any discussion of his heritage as a veela was a non starter.

"Of course it is, but it's a choice they apparently need time to get used to," Andromeda said, managing to sound both soothing and forthright.

"Thank you." She reached up to squeeze Andromeda's hands which were once again resting on her shoulders.