Title: The Pink Tie
Ship: Draco/Ginny...a little H/Hr and R/L

Name/Pen Name: Husker_fan_2006
Word Count: 2,767
Theme #/Theme: #5
Challenge Count: "1/7 finished"

Rating: G

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Summary: It's after the final battle and everything is returning to normal, or as normal as the wizarding world can be. Prior to the fall of Voldemort, Malfoy changed sides, and slowly gained the trust of the Light side. After the fall of Voldemort, he and Ginny began dating, and are engaged to be married. It's two years since the end of the war, and a few months before the wedding.

It's a story about revenge, the form of revenge being a pink tie.


A/N: I'm sorry if the summary isn't the greatest, but hopefully the ficlet will be better. Enjoy!

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"Now, Ginny, what so important that you had to drag me from St. Mungo's to show me, I was about to get this really good case, a witch came in with her husband who was covered in huge green boils." Healer Hermione Granger said as she and Ginny Weasley, soon to be Malfoy were walking down the streets of muggle London.

"Eww, gross."

"And they're everywhere, I'm talking everywhere, on…everything, and she said she cursed him, gave him the boils for cheating on her, but he's not admitting it was her, or that he cheated."

"You know, that's really a sign of a good healer, one who laughs about the ailments of her patients when she's outside the hospital."

"I actually applaud the wife for the jinx; some of those boils were as big as a fist." Hermione put her fist up to emphasize how big they were."

"Why, do you want to know how she did it so you can keep it in mind for when you and Harry get married?"

"No, because Harry would never cheat on me. But it serves the guy right for cheating on his wife."

"You're right, I'm sure if I was a healer, I'd think it was funny too, but I'm not, so I just think it's gross."

"Anyways, Ginny, what did you drag me out here for?" Hermione said as they turned the corner and were in front of the little wedding shop they were headed for.

"I need your opinion on something for the wedding. Tux ties."

"That's what was so important that you got me from work? Tux ties?"

"I like to think everything about my wedding is important, thank you very much. No matter how small of a detail. And since you're my maid of honor, I need your help in making these decisions, since my fiancé refuses to help."

"Why, it's not like you take my opinions anyway. I think the last opinion I gave you, you told me to shut up and stay the bloody hell out of it." Ginny ignored Hermione's comment.

"Ok, Draco said he didn't want to be bothered with tiny details, he wanted me to pick out what kind of tuxes I liked, and he'd just go and get fitted for them."

"All right?"

"So, I have the tux picked out, and I just need your opinion on the ties." Hermione held open the door for Ginny, and rolled her eyes once Ginny had gone inside and her back was to Hermione. She left work to pick out ties? Couldn't this have waited? When Hermione got to the counter, Ginny was already talking with the clerk, and she brought out a book labeled, "Weasley/Malfoy Wedding" and set it in front of Ginny before leaving again. Ginny flipped it open to a picture of the groom's tux that she picked out, and the clerk returned, this time carrying an assortment of ties.

"Ok, the colors for the wedding are light pink and light green. So, I was thinking light pink and green ties for the tuxes. One color for Draco, the other for the groomsmen."

"Somehow, Ginny, I think green for all of them is going to go over better than pink."

"Yes, I thought of that, but, green is such a…Slytherin color even if this shade is pale. And I think that kind of labels Draco, and kind of comes off that he hasn't changed, and his still the way he was before. And he never wears bright colors, he should every once in a while."

"So, let me get this straight, you're going to make Draco wear a pink tie?" Hermione said brightly.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I think I want to be there when when you tell him this." Hermione said, laughing. "You really want to intentionally start this big of a fight before you're married?"

"Well, if he doesn't like it, than he should've offered to be more involved in the planning process, instead of making me do it all. Just like your patient with the green boils, he ended up like that because he cheated on his wife and she took out her revenge, Draco's refused to help me, and a pink tie is my revenge."

"You've been hanging around Draco too long, Ginny, you're starting to get these low, sneaky plots going on like he does." Ginny smiled.


"So I should do the light pink for Draco and the light green for Harry, Ron, and Neville?"

"Sure. If you like." Ginny grinned.

"I think I like it. Can you and Harry be over for dinner tomorrow night? I'm inviting the wedding party over so we can discuss the wedding so far."

"Is this where you're going to tell Draco about the tie?"

"Yep."

"Then definitely count us in."


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Thunder rumbled overhead as Ginny finished putting the last plate around the dining room table in preparation for her dinner for her wedding party guests that evening. She counted plates making sure she counted right the first time. Ginny didn't really notice the rain begin to pour or really the storm that was coming until she saw a bright flash of light and huge crack of thunder, making her jump. Just then, three of her dinner guests, Harry, Hermione, and Ron, burst through the door, soaking wet and laughing.

"Ron, that is the last time we listen to you about taking muggle transportation, we're soaked now thanks to you!" Hermione said, shaking the water from her coat and wringing out the water from her hair.

"Well, then it's good you know of an excellent drying charm, Hermione." Ron said, also taking his coat off and shaking the water from it, and then took his friends' coats from them and hung them up in the closet by the door. Hermione pulled out her wand and performed the incantation to dry both herself and Harry off. They started to walk away, but Ron stopped them.

"Hey, what about me?"

"You can your own, Ronald, since it's your fault we got wet in the first place," Hermione said with a grin. Ron glared at her and pulled his wand out and did the drying charm. Ginny came to the entryway to greet her guests.

"It's storming outside I see."

"Yes, and thanks to your brother we all got soaked out in the pouring rain, because muggle taxis will only take you to the end of the walk and you have a very long front walk up to your house."

"It's not that bad Hermione," Ron said, giving his sister a hug, and turning back to his friend, "You over exaggerate."

"And from what I hear, Ginny, there'll be a storm brewing here inside this house too pretty soon," Harry said smiling. Ginny looked at Hermione.

"You told him?"

"Of course I told him. It pertains to the wedding, he should know about it…" Ginny gave her friend an unconvinced look.

"Yeah right, that's not the reason why you told him and you know it."

"Well, true, but I just couldn't resist, I had to tell him. It's just too funny."

"It's going to be hilarious to see the look on Draco's face when he finds out about his tie," Ron said, joining the conversation. Ginny gave Hermione another look of disbelief.

"You told Ron too?"

"Actually, I didn't," Hermione pointed at Harry. "He did." Ginny gave Harry the same look she gave Hermione.

"Hey, like her, I couldn't resist."

"Do you two have no self-control?"

"Some things," Harry said.

"Sometimes," Hermione said. Ginny rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Oh, and as long as we're on the topic of who knows and who doesn't, Luna knows," Ron put in.

"You told Luna? My God, you lot have probably ruined it. Draco'll probably know about it already."

"Is he home yet?" Hermione asked.

"No."

"Oh, because I was going to say that if he was home and in a good mood, then he hasn't found out yet." Ginny gave them all annoyed looks.

"Well, in my defense, I had to tell Luna," Ron said. "We're married; a married couple has to tell each other everything."

"That's not true," Hermione said. "Where'd you hear that?"

"I read it in a book, for your information."

"That doesn't necessarily mean it's true, Ron."

"Wow, I never thought I'd hear you contradicting a book, Hermione."

"Well I never thought I hear of you actually reading a book, Ronald." Ron opened his mouth to retort, but Hermione said, "And Quidditch Through the Ages does not count." Ron glared at Hermione, but didn't say anything, and Hermione flashed him a smile.

"By the way, Ron, where is Luna?" Ginny asked, directing the conversation to something more important than listening to her brother and best friend argue.

"Still at work, she had to stay late because there was a possible sighting of a Crumple Horned Snorkack or something or other. I didn't catch the whole story; she was really excited and was talking really fast. She said she probably wouldn't make it for dinner, but will try to get here as soon as possible for the wedding plans," Ron sighed and went a little pink as he said his next sentence. "And if she doesn't make it in time, I'm supposed to stand in her place for plans. Give my opinion and such." Ginny's face brightened up.

"Ooh, can we dress you in a pretty pink dress, Ron?"

"You do that, and I'll never speak to you again, Ginny. I will refuse to be in your wedding." Ginny laughed.

"Don't worry Ron; I don't have the dresses yet. We're just going to look at pictures tonight. And besides, I don't think anyone would want to see you in a dress." Harry laughed.

"Oh I would, I'd take pictures. I'm very sure Fred and George would love to see them too." Ron punched Harry in the arm. Harry laughed again.

"Alright, relax Ron, I'm just kidding."

"Alright, and our cousin Sara sent me an owl this afternoon and she can't make it because her daughter is ill, and Neville sent an owl also saying he can't make it because he's got some plant emergency, something like that. So I guess it's just the five of us until Luna gets here. And it'll be about a half hour until Draco gets home from work, and about a half hour to forty-five minutes until dinner is ready."

"Do you need any help getting everything ready?" Hermione offered.

"Um, I don't think so; could you fill water glasses for me?" Hermione nodded and said, "Sure." Hermione and Ginny went into the kitchen, and Harry and Ron took a seat at the table.

"So, Harry, did you hear about the Cannons' win the other day?" Harry smiled.

"It was barely a win, Ron."

"They still won, I'm telling you, it'll be them for the World Cup this year."

"No, it'll probably be Bulgaria again. As much as I hate to admit this, considering he's my fiancé's ex-boyfriend, but Krum is one of the best Seekers they've had. He's hard to beat." Ron grinned.

"So you don't really want them to win?" Harry shrugged and shook his head.

"I don't know."

"Is it for that reason, because their Seeker used to date your fiancé?"

"No."

"Liar. And you forget, I used to date your fiancé too."

"That doesn't count. That was a, what did you call it? Moment of insanity?"

"Those were her words, not mine."

"Then what would you call it?"

"I don't know, but whatever you call it, it lasted a few weeks, that's more than a lot of people's relationships last."

"The reason why I don't really care who wins the Cup is that I haven't been able really to follow Quidditch much this year. All these missions arresting the last of the Death Eaters has been keeping me busy and it's hard to find time to follow it. When I'm home, I'd rather be spending my time with Hermione rather than reading up on the latest matches. I don't have a cushy office job like you where I can keep up with Quidditch."

"Hey, I happen to like my job. A cushy office is just fine for me."

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About an hour and a half later, Draco had come home, dinner had been eaten, and Luna had arrived, and Ginny pulled out her wedding book. Draco sighed when he saw it.

"Ginny, did we really have to have a dinner to talk about this, I said you should just make the decisions, that way it takes less time, and you know what you want."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I figured the people in our wedding party would like to know what they're involved in, so when the day of the wedding comes around they know what's going on."

"Alright, like I said before, I really don't care about what you choose, anything you choose will be lovely, and it will be a beautiful wedding. My opinion matters little."

"Trust me, Draco, I think you'll want to stay for this," Harry said.

"Why?"

"Just trust me." Ginny pulled out the pictures of the dresses and tuxes and sample material and handed one to each person.

"They had this fancy computer thing that you could design dresses and tuxes anyway you wanted. You could mix and match however you wanted, it was really interesting. Here are the tuxes you will wear, Harry and Ron, and Draco…" Ginny handed her fiancé a picture of his tux, and he froze when he saw the color of the tie.

"Um, Gin, is this the final picture?"

"Yep, all you have to do is go to get it fitted." Everyone around the table was biting their bottom lips to keep from laughing.

"Even the tie is right?"

"Yep." Draco gave a small laugh.

"You can't possibly expect me to wear that." Ginny smiled sweetly.

"Of course I do. You said you didn't want to be involved in the decisions; it was too much work, so I made the decision. Your groomsmen will be wearing green ties, you'll wear pink." Draco's jaw dropped and he looked at all the smiling faces around the table.

"You all knew about this?"

"Yep, I told you you'd want to stay," Harry said. "Aren't you glad you did?" Draco gave him a sarcastic nod.

"Think of it as her own version of green boils," Hermione said in the same sweet tone of voice Ginny used.

"Maybe next time, Draco," Ginny said, the sweetness gone from her voice, and replaced with a serious tone. "you'll not blow this whole type of thing off. You'll offer to help me, because you never know what kind of decisions I'll make. You might not like them." Ginny then showed off the ideas for the bridesmaids' dresses and the sample materials, leaving Draco in a state of shock.

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Three months later, the wedding went off without any problems, and Draco wore his pink tie. At the reception, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Luna were sitting at their table, watching the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Draco Malfoy dancing their first dance as husband and wife. Luna sighed dreamily.

"They make a lovely couple, don't they?"

"Yeah, I'm alright with it, as long as I don't think of the things he's going to be doing to my sister tonight," Ron said bitterly, making the other three laugh. "So, did he offer to help with the rest of the plans?" Hermione and Luna nodded.

"Yep, and without a fuss and everything," Luna said.

"And he even wore the pink tie," Hermione said with a laugh. The dance ended and the guests applauded for the new couple. Soon everyone was going out onto the dance floor; Ron stood and turned to his wife.

"Well, Mrs. Lovegood-Weasley, would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to." She took his offered hand and they went out onto the dance floor.

"Well, one thing I've learned from this, I'll have to make sure and help with the wedding plans, right?" Harry said, turning to his fiancé.

"You'd better, or you might be wearing the pink tie."

"Or end up with green boils."

"No, the green boils are for worse situations. You don't want to get into those situations."

"No, I don't think so either. Those types of situations could end in me losing you, and I don't want to do that."

"Aww, that's sweet."

"And so would the future Mrs. Potter like to dance?" Hermione smiled.

"She'd love to."

A/N: Oh my gosh, I made it! I was afraid it was going to be a lot longer than three thousand words but I did it!! Hope you enjoyed it!

Okay I enjoyed the basic plotline. But the dialogue was pretty bad, unnatural, cluttered, and sagging in many areas. Plus the ending was very abrupt. Was expecting some more Draco!Embarrasment at the wedding. He kind of just accepted things too smoothly. Anticlimactic and the dialogue could use lots of work. Still, all the other elements were there.... 3 stars.

Where to begin...

Let me guess...you sat down and just wrote it.
If that is indeed the case, you have to change your style...

For one, when you have an idea, jot it down, and let it be the climax of the story. Work you way up to it, and then wind down nicely...skipping the wedding leaves a gaping hole in the plot, and if you want this fic to fly, you need to probably finish the story on the eve of the wedding, not three months after it...

And the story was largely dialogue...but I also agree with the above review that it's unnatural...some more character interaction, in terms of Draco protesting would do a load of good to the fic...right now, it's much too one sided, and Draco has way too little stage time...

I thought it was a funny and original idea. I also would have liked more of a fight from Draco, about the tie. It was still good though. Great Job!