"Oh this would be a lovely color, wouldn't it?"

Hermione tilted her head to the side as though that would help her make up her mind. "Maybe… Or perhaps this one?"

Ginny pursed her lips. "Possibility, but it's not too dark? Far be it from me to make the final decisions for your wedding, but a summer ceremony should be lively."

"Yes, yes, you are right about that."

"What are you two doing?"

Hermione and Ginny turned away from the color palette a bridal boutique shoppe owner had loaned the bride-to-be. The new voice belonged to the future groom and Ron was leaning over the pair of women sitting on the sofa to take a look at their activities.

"Trying to figure out the right color for the bridesmaids gowns." Hermione answered him a smile. She was met with a bewildered look on Ron's face, however, as he stared at the color palette in her hands.

"Hermione, they're all pink."

"They are not!" Ginny scolded her brother as she snatched the palette from her friend's grasp and raised it closer to her brother's face. "This one is pink, but this other one is blush, and this one's rose –oh, Hermione, rose! It's perfect!"

"Ginny, I think you're right!" Hermione exclaimed as she reached for the color palette back. "It's dark enough for my liking, but it still gives off that lively, summery feel you were talking about. That's the one!"

"Great, we can head back to the boutique tomorrow!"

"Absolutely. And now you know what color the inside of your tuxedo vest has to be." Hermione grinned to Ron. He stared from the palette to his fiancée's face repeatedly before he let the corners of his mouth tug upwards.

"Are you sure me and the guys can't wear dress robes?"

"No!" Hermione and Ginny shouted. That's why Ron had begun smiling. He knew what their reaction would be and he got a good kick out of it whenever he suggested something that would ruffle their feathers.

"You, Harry, Fred, and George should start your fittings early." Hermione told him. Ron took a deep breath knowing full well it would be futile to say this next bit, but he figured he'd give it a go anyway.

"Hermione, you do realize that the wedding's eight months away, right?"

"And the earlier we get these things taken care of-"

"The less hectic it'll be later on." Ron finished with a grin. Hermione shook her head at him and let a smile come to her lips as well.

"If you know what I'm going to say, why do you ask questions like these?"

"Because the way you snap back at me is oddly attractive."

Hermione laughed and welcomed a kiss from Ron before he walked off to find his best man somewhere in the house. She turned back to her beaming maid of honor who sighed in contentment as her gaze fluctuated between her brother and almost sister-in-law.

"I'm so happy for you both." Ginny said. "The two of you together is long overdue."

"Gin, we've been together for a little over three years."

"That's not what I meant."

Hermione bit her lower lip and nodded. Yes, she knew what she meant. Sometimes she thought that this pending wedding meant more to everyone else around her than to her or Ron. She could understand why, although it still nerve-wrecked her whenever someone either outright brought it up or discreetly hinted at "the barrier" that had kept her and Ron apart all this time.

"Hey, have you guys seen Ron?" Harry asked as he rolled up to them. Ginny gave him a quizzical look.

"Ron didn't find you? Merlin, the house isn't that big."

Harry shrugged. "Guess it's one more round I go to find him then. Oh, Hermione, this just came for you."

"Thanks, Harry." Hermione said appreciatively as she took the letter from him. While Harry walked off to continue his manhunt for Ron and Ginny moved onto looking at bridesmaid dress patterns instead of colors, Hermione was reading the brief letter sent by the Marriage Registration Department located in the Ministry of Magic.

"What does the letter say?"

"The Marriage Registration Department wants me to head down there. Preferably today, they added."

"Oh, your marriage license must be ready!" Ginny squealed excitedly. "I'm actually surprised they didn't ask you to come get it sooner. Didn't you and Ron file for that a month ago?"

"We did, but it doesn't matter now. So long as we can finally get it. I'll just find Ron and-"

"Eh, you'd better just go and get it yourself. If my husband and your fiancé can't find each other after they've been looking for the past ten minutes, you'd better not waste your time."

Hermione stifled a laugh. "Okay, fine, yes. Let him know where I've gone, alright?"

"Will do! And I'll have a slew of dress types for you to look over when you get back!"

Yes. Hermione thought to herself as she grabbed her bag from the floor and headed to the fireplace. Definitely more excited than Ron and I combined. She took a satisfying breath as she dropped down enough Floo Powder and allowed the emerald flames to whisk her away to the public Floo hub not more than two blocks away from the Ministry. The illustrious building was buzzing with witches and wizards filtering in and out; some with complacent expressions on their faces while others were boldly wearing an invisible "kill me now" sign on their foreheads. Whatever ailed the latter group Hermione hoped things would look up for them as she continued her way past the crowd, into the lift, and to the appropriate floor that would take her to the Marriage Registration Department.

The last time she was here it was with Ron and it had taken them ages to finally meet with a kind elderly witch who recognized them immediately. She was ecstatic, over the moon really, to be the one to issue Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley a marriage license. It had been a decade since the war had ended and even now people still reacted to either she, Ron, or Harry with extreme gratitude for their efforts. This had been no different and it had also made filing for their marriage license an even longer process.

But now Hermione was here and she smiled broadly as she walked up to a wizard's window. "Hi, I'm here to pick up my marriage license?"

"Your name?"

"Hermione Granger,"

The wizard had had his glasses on top of his head. When they slipped down and fitted neatly over his eyes, his gaze lighted up and Hermione immediately felt her cheeks redden.

"Oh, Miss Granger! A pleasure, a right pleasure! You're getting married to Ronald Weasley, aren't you? Let me check on that license for you!"

"Thank you," Hermione said politely. The wizard disappeared from the window which afforded her the opportunity to realize that several pairs of eyes had darted in her direction. That only made her skin flush even further and she tapped her foot anxiously for the wizard to come back. After an agonizing two minutes, almost three, a door to her far left had opened. A pretty, middle-aged woman had walked out and, without closing the door behind her, had strode down the aisle until she was neatly by Hermione's side.

"Miss Granger, it's lovely to meet you. My name is Agnes Canterbury."

Ms. Canterbury reached out her hand to Hermione who took it cordially, but all the while with a confused look on her face.

"It's nice to meet you as well. Um...is there something wrong?"

"There's...a slight complication, yes. Would you mind following me to my office?"

Hermione frowned, but obliged anyway. She followed the witch down the aisle and back to the door which led them to a corridor filled with nothing but offices. Eventually they entered the last one at the end of the hall and both women took their respective seats –one behind the modestly-sized desk and the other, befuddled and sitting in a plush leather chair.

"You said there was a complication?" Hermione asked. "Did my fiancé and I fill out some of the paperwork incorrectly?"

"No, no, it has nothing to do with the particular marriage license that both you and Mr. Weasley filed. On the contrary, it would have been given to you the same week you had registered for it, but…"

"But?"

"A discrepancy came up." Ms. Canterbury said reluctantly. "We assumed that the discrepancy was a mistake and we were doing all that we could on our end to right it, but it doesn't seem to be working so we wanted to reach out to you."

Hermione felt her throat run dry. She wanted to say something, anything, but did it matter? It shouldn't have mattered. It had been taken care of years ago. So why would it matter now?

"We have in our records –and I do apologize for this," Ms. Canterbury said with a small chuckle. "That you're married to Mr. Draco Malfoy."

The witch was laughing now, however professional she was keeping it, and was obviously waiting for Hermione to join in. The laughter turned into an awkward one when she realized that she was the only one in a fit of hysterics. Ms. Canterbury stopped soon enough, her eyes growing wide at the young heroine bashfully running her right hand up her other arm.

"We took care of the divorce a long time ago." Hermione told her, trying her best to ignore the shocked expression the woman was giving her. "Why is this coming up?"

Ms. Canterbury blinked repeatedly as though to bring herself back. "Uh...well...uh… There's no divorce on record, Miss Granger. It shows here that the two of you are still married."

Hermione's eyes bulged. "Surely you must be joking!"

"I'm afraid not. There must have been a clerical error of some sort at the time of your filing. As it stands you are indeed married to Mr. Malfoy."

Hermione felt sick. Her head felt light and her body was stiff. Still married…? Still married?How could this be? She and Draco went down to this same department four years ago to finalize their divorce and it had been assured to them that everything was set. That they were officially single. There had been no need for her to change her name as she had never changed it in the first place. It was fine. It was supposed to be fine. And now "the barrier" that most people claimed to have kept her and Ron apart for a solid three years was back in their lives, keeping them apart yet again.

"Draco and I need a divorce right now." Hermione said quickly. "Ms. Canterbury, please."

"Well, as you know it's much easier getting married than getting divorced." Ms. Canterbury began as she rose from her seat to rifle through a cabinet drawer or two. "Wizarding marriages are considered binding-"

"Yes, yes, I know, and we did everything that we were supposed to."

Ms. Canterbury arched a brow. "You met with the marriage official who performed the ceremony in the first place?"

"Yes."

"And talked out your and Mr. Malfoy's differences with him?"

"Yes."

"And you...broke the vows?"

Hermione frowned. She hated remembering that part. When witches and wizards got married, their vows were a connection of their hearts, and the magic imbued in a wedding ceremony made that connection very real. In a divorce it was the breaking of those vows, of that connection. When the marriage official went about it for her and Draco, it had been a rather...unbearable process. She literally felt her heart break.

"Yes." She said softly, her hand absentmindedly running over her chest. She looked up at Ms. Canterbury whose eyes had softened at the display. Hermione removed her hand and cupped it with the other. "And the only thing that was left was to sign the divorce papers, which we did."

"Well, it appears that those papers were never processed. You and Mr. Malfoy may be unlinked magically, but in the eyes of wizarding law, you're still Mrs. Malfoy."

Ms. Canterbury had finally stopped shuffling through her cabinet drawers and unrolled some parchment in front of Hermione. She recognized it as a new set of divorce papers. "Since you had managed to do everything else for the divorce, the signing of these will make it final."

"Oh, thank you." Hermione said with relief. She rolled up the parchment pieces and eagerly stuffed it into her bag. "Thank you so much. I'll sign these, have Draco sign them-"

Hermione paused. Have Draco sign them… Her heart slowed just at the mere thought of it. She could very well tie the divorce papers to the leg of an owl and send it off, but she'd drive herself mad if she had. What if the owl lost them? What if something happened to the owl? What if Draco was away and it took the bird too long to reach him? And then to fly back? All of the negatives of sending the blessed parchment roll by owl were rolling around in her mind and she couldn't bring herself to do it. No more screw ups this time. She wanted to make sure these papers were signed and as soon as possible.

She would have to go see Draco in person.

Author's note: Hello! So my imagination went a little nuts and it spewed this out :). Please feel free to leave a review and I hope that you stick around to see how this mess plays out!

-WP