The Shotgun Bride

Chapter Sixteen: White Wedding.

Draco was wondering if they were doing the right thing when his dad yelled for him.

"I'm coming!" he yelled back, and made his way into the living room. Lucius was sitting in his favorite chair, and looked mostly sober.

"Sit down, boy," Lucius said. Draco obeyed.

"What's up?" Draco asked. His father never randomly called him in to talk, as it was becoming increasingly evident that that was what was happening. This probably had something to do with the wedding.

"Well, boy, as it seems that you're doing a good thing and marrying that Weasley girl, I thought I would help you out a bit."

"Help me out?" Draco asked, perplexed. Lucius hadn't helped him out in a couple of years, preferring the 'he'll figure it out' method of teenager rearing.

Lucius reached into the front pocket of his flannel shirt, and pulled out something. Two somethings. "These were my parent's wedding bands," he said. "The damn minister tried to get me to bury them with the old bastard and Momma, but I wasn't about to thrown perfectly good gold in the ground to rot."

Draco accepted the two rings, and inspected them closely. The larger was plain gold, while the daintier ring had an inscription on the inside. "I will cherish you forever." He wondered if the inscription was referring to the ring or the wife.

"Thanks," he said, surprised that his father had thought of giving these rings to him.

"Don't mention it. Ever," Lucius said. "My sister would have a conniption if she knew these weren't underground."

Draco couldn't help but laugh, glad that his father was the opportunist that he was.

Lucius looked at those rings for a minute, and then said, "I'm proud of you, you know. I might not tell you, but you've turned out alright."

"You've been alright too," Draco said. "And just to set your mind at ease... Me and Ginny decided that we aren't up to this big hoopla of a wedding Mom and them are wanting."

Lucius smiled as he took a swig of his Bud. "Thank God for that... Want me to break that to your ma so you don't have to?"

"That would be great," Draco said, feeling relieved. "And do you think Mom could, you know, call the Weasleys?"

"I might be able to convince her to," replied Lucius. "Go on, now."

Draco hurried out of the room.

A little while later, he pulled up in front of the Weasley's house and honked the horn.

Inside, Ginny was frantically shoving what she thought she would need into a duffel bag. Looking around her room, she decided that she had everything she needed. Then she remembered to grab some clean socks, and then zipped her bag. Leaving her room in a rush, Ginny called to her mother, "We're going out! Be back sometime!"

She then ran out the door to where Draco was waiting in the driveway.

**

"This is it," said Draco seriously as he stared at the building. They were sitting in the idling car, both feeling the immensity of what they were about to do.

"No turning back," said Ginny, resting a hand on her still-flat stomach.

"Are you sure you don't want to have the wedding your mother is planning?" he asked.

Ginny gave him the look she reserved for especially stupid comments. "Of course I don't... that would be the worst wedding ever. That ho Hermione as my bridesmaid? Fleur hitting on you during the ceremony? Our fathers getting into a fistfight and knocking over the cake special-ordered from Wal-mart? I'd much rather not face all that."

"But are you okay with getting married here? I know it's probably not what you planned..."

"Not at all, but then..." Ginny said, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "You aren't exactly what I planned either."

Draco grinned. "My mother is going to have a cow when she hears about this."

Ginny laughed. "Mine'll probably never let me hear the end of it. 'How could you do that?' she'll say. She'll go on and on about all her plans and how pretty it would have been..."

"But we both know it would be a disaster."

"Yeah," Ginny said with a giggle. "What if Pansy had shown up?"

"I woulda got free entertainment. Though I just realized that I don't get a bachelor party this way..." Draco said.

"And I won't get my bachelorette party... I was looking forward to that stripper, too. Hermione was hiring Oliver Wood." Ginny said thoughtfully.

"Oliver Wood? The old QB for Gryffindor?" Draco snorted. "Why would you want to see him when you've got me?"

Ginny diplomatically decided to not comment. There had been many a fierce battle amongst the girls over who had the best body, Draco or Oliver, and she had wanted find out for herself. Not firsthand, of course. Just some close observations.

"You know," she said. "We don't have to mention this until after the parties."

Draco gave her a look. "Do you really want me to go to a bachelor's party after we're already married?"

"Well," Ginny said, thinking wistfully of Oliver Wood's famous gyrations. "Probably not."

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she replied. "Though I do rather wish that I'd bought a dress."

"What's wrong with what you're wearing?" Draco asked.

"It just isn't a big frilly wedding dress like my Barbies always had," Ginny said. She was wearing a white lace-trimmed tank top with a short denim skirt. Draco had dressed up in black jeans and a plain black t-shirt. "Wait," she said. "Do I have something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue?"

She took inventory of her outfit. "Well, I bought the top last week- that counts as new, right?"

"Right," Draco said.

"And my engagement ring is old," she continued. "But I'm not wearing blue! Or something borrowed! We can't get married yet!"

Draco opened the glove box, rooted around, and came up with a black bandana. "You can borrow this," he said, rolling it up and reaching over to raise her skirt up some. He then tied the bandana around her leg garter-style.

He then opened the car door, and disappeared around the back of the car. Ginny sat there, straightening her skirt and hair and making sure that her make-up was perfect until Draco reappeared a minute later. "Here's your something blue," he said, holding out a small bluebell obviously picked from the real estate office next door's flowerbed.

Ginny giggled as he tucked it behind her ear, kissing her softly.

"Ready now?" Draco asked.

Ginny licked her lips nervously and nodded.

Draco shifted the car into get, and pulled around to the rear of the building, where they passed under an sign that read, "The Tunnel of Love." White plastic bells and streamers decorated the entrance to the tunnel, which in all actuality was nothing more than a glorified car port.

Draco pulled the car to a stop outside of a small window that slid open just like at a McDonald's drive through.

"Welcome to the Tunnel of Love, the only drive-through wedding chapel in the county! I need to see two forms of identification, including one picture I.D for each of you," said the squeaky-voiced, acne-scarred employee with a nametag that said, "Stan".

Draco and Ginny both dug out the requested identification, and handed them to Stan.

"Alrighty," said Stan, looking over the driver's licenses and library cards. "This looks to be all in order. Just let me fill out these forms, and we'll get to the vows."

He shut the window, and disappeared into the building.

Ginny giggled madly. "I can't believe you talked me into getting married in this car."

"I love this car!" said Draco. "And it is the reason we're getting hitched, ain't it?"

"True," Ginny said with a wistful glance at the backseat.

Just then, Stan showed back up at the window. "Are you ready to take your vows?"

"Yeah," Draco and Ginny replied.

"Okay. Do you, Ginny Sue Weasley, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold, all that yadda, til death do you part?"

"I do," Ginny said.

"And do you, Draco Ashley Malfoy, take this--" Stan was suddenly interrupted by Ginny's mad snort of laughter.

"What?" snapped Draco.

Ginny had her head thrown back, shrieking with laughter. "Your middle name is Ashley?"

"Yes," said Draco stiffly. "I'm trying to marry you, woman, so stop laughing at me."

"Okay," said Ginny, trying to regain her composure. "But I have to ask... how'd you end up with that name?"

"Can't we just get married?" Draco pleaded.

"Not until I find out," Ginny said primly.

"My mom's big into Gone with the Wind, okay?" said Draco hurriedly, then addressed Stan. "Continue, now."

"No, wait," said Ginny. "So how come you never mentioned your middle name before now?"

"Did it ever come up?" Draco asked despairingly. Of all the conversations to be having during his wedding, this had never even come to mind. It was bad enough that his mother used to use his full name to call him into the house for supper during his childhood. Those taunting, cruel remarks from the trailer park kids after hearing his mother bellow, "Draco Ashley Malfoy, get your ass in here for supper!" still haunted his dreams.

"No, but I think you should have told me!" Ginny said.

Stan, watching from his window, looked decidedly uncomfortable.

"Gin, can't we discuss this later?" Draco asked.

"I suppose," Ginny said. Then she giggled, and muttered, "Ashley."

Draco glared at her before turning to Stan. "Get on with it."

"Okay. Do you, Draco Ashley Malfoy, take this woman to be- whoops!" Stan dropped the card he was reading the vow from. He bent over, searching for it. "Where is it, where is it... Damn! It fell in the crack!" Stan stood. "I mostly remember the words... Do you, Draco Ashley Malfoy, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife, til death do you part?"

"I do," said Draco quickly, sliding his grandmother's wedding band on Ginny's finger. She slid his grandfather's ring on his finger, and they grinned at each other.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride," said Stan, peering into the car intently. His eyes were glued on Ginny.

"Do you mind?" said Draco.

"Not at all. Have at her," said Stan.

Draco seemed to growl, and moved to open his door to beat the kid's face in.

"Wait!" said Ginny, grabbing his arm. "Kiss me first, damn it! Then you can beat on the twerp all you want."

They both looked at each other, and seemed to realize the absurdity of the situation. Draco leaned in, and kissed his wife soundly on the lips. His wife leaned in, and responded eagerly. Their first kiss as a wedded couple deepened, and intensified, and they only remembered their audience as Draco was sliding his hand up Ginny's skirt and they heard a distinct moan coming from outside the car.

They broke apart abruptly, and looked up to Stan, who was watching with a distinctly pervy look on his face. "Dude, she's hot," he said, eyes glued on the amount of thigh now visible.

Draco glared, and said, "Get us our marriage certificate, you inbred halfwit."

Stan quickly offered a piece of paper and their identification. "That'll be sixty-five bucks."

Draco snorted, and said, "Has this been filed yet?"

"Yeah, it's done automatically," Stan replied.

Draco peeled out of the Tunnel of Love, Ginny laughing gleefully in the seat beside him, leaving Stan coughing in a cloud of exhaust behind them.

**