Fic Summary: Seto Kaiba prided himself on being prepared. He had five different contingencies built into his dueling deck. ...So why didn't he come up with one for this? And when did planning his wedding become so...complicated?
AKA Seto and Hermione's journey from the engagement to the altar, from the good to the bad and everything in-between.
[Future fic, post Of Lost Swords and Shadow Magic, AU]
Chapter 4 Summary: Seto and Hermione finally have a talk.
Fic summary: [Future fic, post Of Lost Swords and Shadow Magic]
Seto Kaiba prided himself on being prepared. He had five different contingency plans in his own dueling deck. ...So why didn't he come up with one for this? And when did planning his wedding become so...so complicated?
AKA - Seto and Hermione's journey from engagement to the alter doesn't quite go as expected. But that doesn't make it any less memorable.
Chapter 3: Hogwarts: A History Part III can be found on AO3!
[Post-OLSSM] Seto Kaiba prided himself on being prepared. He had five different contingency plans in his own dueling deck. ...So why didn't he come up with one for this? And when did planning his wedding become so...so complicated?
AKA - Seto and Hermione's journey from engagement to the alter doesn't quite go as expected. But that doesn't make it any less memorable.
Mokuba bit his lip. Was she about to cry? …Over a book?
“I didn’t realize it meant so much to you,” he said, “If you knew it was missing for so long, I would have gone looking for it ages ago.”
She didn’t respond to him. How did Hermione go from happy to almost catatonic in such a short period of time? Clearly, there was something he was missing.
His eyes scanned over the desk. The phone sat plugged in next to the laptop. So she did find the charger then. There was that.
Another book sat on the desk, and Mokuba tilted his head to read the title on the spine.
Hogwarts: A History.
Wait – wasn’t that the same book in her lap? Did Seto have his own copy? Shoot – if that was the case, why didn’t he tell her hers was here the entire time? Seto had to know how important it was to her, so why wouldn’t he have told her where it was? This didn’t make any sense at all.
“This isn’t about finding your book, is it?”
She shook her head again.
Mokuba frowned. How was he supposed to help if she stayed silent this entire time? What the heck could have happened?
“…Is it because Seto’s sick? I mean, I’m pretty bummed about it, but it’s like you and Roland said, he’ll be better in a few days…” Even if we have to spike his food with Pepperup to do it…
Hermione shook her head again, and with a shaky hand, held it out to him. “…I…” she started and then stopped. Mokuba just stood there and waited for her to find her voice again. “…I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
Fic Summary:
[Future fic, post Of Lost Swords and Shadow Magic, AU]
Seto Kaiba prided himself on being prepared. He had five different contingencies built into his dueling deck. ...So why didn't he come up with one for this? And when did planning his wedding become so...complicated?
AKA Seto and Hermione's journey from the engagement to the altar, from the good to the bad and everything in-between.
He turned his wrist to check his watch, and shook his head. There was still plenty of time before their late dinner reservation. They hadn’t even made it to the one exhibit Hermione wanted to see yet, clear in the opposite wing of the museum.
She smiled, and with her arm still looped around his own, guided him into the next gallery. Her heels clacked against the hardwood floors.
They weren’t alone in this room, and a couple of the other visitors glanced at them and then whispered to each other. Hermione ignored them in favor of the row of paintings along the first wall.
She had first blushed at their starting point in the museum, and had whispered in his ear, almost uncomfortably, of the people who fixed them long looks on their arrival.
“I think we’re too overdressed,” she had said, and for the first time since putting it on, felt awkward in the dress she had picked out with Ginny and subsequently teased him with at his bedside. No one else seemed to be as put-together, and a small part of her wished she planned for a less-formal dinner after their tour.
“Ignore them,” he had said, without skipping a beat, with a smirk on his face. “They don’t matter.” The odds are they were staring at him, or them, collectively; not necessarily her dress: a flowy, midnight-blue number. The hem swirled around her knees as they moved through the halls, and the sequins scattered across the bodice shimmered like stars under the ceiling lights. He rather liked it.
I'll bet Gozaburo Kaiba ranting about love wasn't on anyone's bingo card.
It was, however, on mine.
Seto turned away from them and glanced down at his and Hermione’s hooked arms. Years (almost a lifetime) ago, he would never have caught himself arms-locked with anyone else. That lesson was engrained early on, before the old man ever considered taking him and Mokuba out together in public, back when Mokuba would cling to him constantly as a coping mechanism in their first uncertain days under Gozaburo’s roof.
And later, when Gozaburo had taken him to one of his business deals, in a test of how much he had learned, had scoffed in the limousine at a couple smiling and walking hand in hand, clearly in love.
“Fools. Public displays like that are inappropriate. To show your true emotions for the world to see is to open yourself up to ruin.”
Seto had furrowed his brow; he had read and memorized Kaiba Corporation’s bylaws, including a very specific one about succession, and since Gozaburo had started on the topic…
“Won’t I be expected to find and marry someone? Won’t we need to be seen in public together?”
“Yes,” Gozaburo said, and lit his cigar, “But love and marriage are not the same, and do not belong together.”
Seto blinked, uncertain. This wasn’t a something they had ever discussed before.
Gozaburo waved the cigar at him. “Marriage, first and foremost, is a business transaction between two families. Hers will gain influence and financial security. We will gain the continuation of the family line and legacy. Marriage for love exists only in fairy tales.
“Love,” he spat, “is not a strength and life isn’t a fairy tale. There no sugar-coated happy endings. The world is not run on love, but power, influence, and wealth.
Life is a constant war, an endless game of wits. Those who control the board win the game. The orphanage fed you childish stories of magic and fantasy. There is no magic in the real world; here you outsmart and exploit your enemy’s weaknesses to survive. And love is the greatest weakness of them all. Do you know why?
“It’s because love is a parasite; a drug. A temporary, fleeting feeling romanticized in books to the extent that society is fooled into thinking it is necessary. Love is manipulation. If your enemies think you love something, they will grab hold and twist it until you abide by their rules. And that means you’ve lost control of the game.
“Do you understand me, boy? Once you love, it’s over. And that thing, that person, becomes a liability. Forever. You may win your fight, and the game may go on, but there will be countless others. Your foes will learn and adapt, and they will keep learning and adapting, until you lose.
Fic Summary:
Seto Kaiba prided himself on being prepared. He had five different contingencies built into his dueling deck. ...So why didn't he come up with one for this? And when did planning his wedding become so...complicated?
AKA a series of moments covering Seto and Hermione's journey from the engagement to the alter.
Read on: AO3
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You're not wrong if you think the summary sounds familiar. I've revived the ancient Nerdship Wedding fic from its 5-year abandonment in the Shadow Realm to give it the glow-up it deserves. And also continue the plot past Chapter 3.
I didn't want to completely erase the original content so anyone who enjoyed it can still return back to it. I also am extra sentimental about all my old works, no matter how atrocious the original writing was, and sometimes it's fun to look back to see how things have improved over the years!
So this year, my birthday gift to me, and to the handful of fellow Nerdshippers, is this new-and-improved fic.
