So this chapter kind of flowed out rather quickly and I was pretty happy with it and wanted to post it right away. Sorry about any grammatical errors. I believe I caught most of them. If I missed any, feel free to let me know.

Hope you enjoy!

-x-

She laid in bed staring at the ceiling, sleep would not be coming easily tonight, or maybe it would, she wasn't too eager to find out. Between her recent bout of insomnia, and then the attack at the ministry, sleeping meant nightmares. She didn't want another night of them. Staying in bed seemed pointless by then so she opted to head downstairs, not at all surprised to find Draco in his usual spot at the counter, a glass of firewhiskey in hand with the bottle nearby. What surprised her was the empty glass at her spot.

"Expecting company?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Figured you may be in need of a drink tonight."

"You thought right." She sighed, taking a seat as Draco filled her glass.

"You okay?" He asked.

"I don't know if I'd say that. I'm dealing with it though."

There was a mutual silence between the pair as they nursed their drinks.

"What about you?" She asked. "How are you...handling the news?"

He gave a muffled laugh. "Ironic isn't it? He gets sent away for life but I'll still be forced into a marriage I don't want."

"Still be?"

He furrowed his brows. "You mean you didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"I was arranged to be married before he was sent away."

"What? I thought that was ruled unlawful decades ago?"

"It was, but it never stopped the pureblooded families. They just didn't parade it anymore."

"It's barbaric if you ask me."

He laughed. "I wouldn't go that far Granger, old fashioned sure, but not barbaric. Arranged marriages were common in the wizarding world a lot longer then the muggle world. Our population is a lot smaller you know."

"Still." She shrugged. "So who were you...betrothed to?"

He laughed again. "Astoria Greengrass. She's a remarkable woman. I'm sure we would have made a fine enough couple over time."

"Why'd you call it off then?"

"It was a mutual decision. We're great friends actually, known each other since we were kids. We both didn't want a marriage like that. We didn't want to have to learn to love each other."

"And now?"

"I won't ask that of her. She's been seeing someone for about a year now, and I've never seen her happier. If I told her what was going on, that I needed to marry to earn the head of my house, and to essentially stop Lucius, she'd do it without hesitation. It would break her heart though. She loves that man, that's who she is meant to be with." He had been staring down at his glass but when she didn't say anything he glanced up to find an oddly amused Hermione. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing. It's just...the tin man has a heart after all."

"The who has a heart?"

She shook her head. "Muggle reference. Sorry. I guess I just didn't think you could care so much about love is all."

"Well I'm not some closeted romantic if that's what you're thinking."

"I'm sure." She smirked from behind her glass.

"Wipe that smirk off your face Granger. I'm not."

"Is that right?"

He knew she was joking. How she could still manage after the day they had was beyond him. Everyone had their own way of dealing with trauma, perhaps this was hers. Whatever it was, he didn't exactly want to ruin it for her by making some backhanded comment.

"I'm not. I mean it's something I always wanted. To love someone and be loved in return. I could have learned to love Astoria eventually, but I didn't want it like that. Supposed to be natural not forced. You shouldn't have to learn to love someone"

"Well I'll admit the forced marriage is off, but the notion of learning to love someone is not completely unnatural if you think about it."

"How do you figure that?" He asked.

"Think about it. When you meet someone, you're not going to love them right away. You may not even like them. Over time you learn things about one another, things you like about them, things you hate. You learn about their past, what they want for their future and anything and everything in between. No one loves somebody right away, it happens over time."

He pursed his lips as he mulled over her thought. "That does make sense, I guess."

"So what do you plan on doing? Are you going to marry someone?" she took a slow sip from her glass.

He leaned back in his chair keeping his gaze on his glass. He exhaled deeply before sitting back up and running a hand through his hair.

"If Lucius has access to the manor, he has the library. That library was part of the reason Voldemort used my home for his headquarters. The texts my family hold go back centuries, including those that contain serious dark magic. They can't be destroyed, I tried. I only kept them to make sure they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. Couple that with him having access to the vaults as well, he has an unlimited amount of money to do whatever he wants."

He took a moment to collect his next thoughts. "The manor is laced with strong magic purposefully to protect the Malfoy head of house. Even if we get through the wards, he will have too great of an advantage. The best shot we have of capturing him and these other death eaters is by me doing this."

They took up silence for a good while. Both of them drinking from their glasses. Hermione felt an odd sense duty filling within her. For some reason, this man sitting before her, the same man who tormented her as a child, had done nothing but show concern for her well being. He had tried to protect her from his father's wrath. The day in her study when Harry showed up, he had stepped in front of her without hesitation. He wouldn't let her see details of the case to keep her safe. He warned her to be cautious every time she left the house. The look on his face when she stepped through the floo that afternoon was engrained in her mind. It had been a mixture of immense rage, yet worried at the same time. He had been so gentle as he tended to her wound, a gentleness she would never have guessed he was capable of. He had thought of her when he took his spot at the counter, retrieving a glass for her as well. Draco held her safety to great importance, despite her being horrid to him at times during his stay. Another pang of guilt.

"So who are you going to reach out to?"

"I have no clue. To be honest I don't much trust any of the women who would agree. Anyone else wouldn't have me."

"What do you mean 'wouldn't have you?'"

"You're not exactly the only witch who still thinks low of me Granger."

Her shoulders fell with defeat. "I'm sorry." she said.

"Why? I've no one to blame but myself."

"Because I've been unfair to you. Harry has told me for years that you changed. I was too ignorant to see it. You have made my safety a priority since this whole mess started. I haven't exactly shown my gratitude in the best of ways."

He shrugged. "You've yet to reprimand me for drinking through most of your liquor. I'd say thats a start."

She chuckled. "Yeah, well something tells me we both kind of need it at the moment."

"This is true." he said tipping his glass in her direction.

An idea suddenly came to Hermione, it was insane and she was taken aback at the thought. Her eyes darted around the room as her mind began to race.

"I know that look Granger...what is it?"

She seemed to snap out of her daze at his voice. "Nothing. It's...nevermind...it's mental."

"Granger..."

She fixed her eyes on his all the while wondering what the hell she was thinking. "What if...you and I...what if I agree?"

His brows furrowed as he wasn't sure what she was going on about. "Agree to what?"

She rolled her eyes. "To marry you."

He scoffed. "Funny Granger. Real comedian you are." he laughed.

"I'm being serious." She snapped back.

If at all possible, Draco's face seemed to pale even more than it already was. "Granger...I can't let you-"

"Before you object, hear me out. This is obviously a time sensitive issue. You said yourself that it will be hard to find someone to agree that is also trustworthy. If it were me, I already know what's going on, and we both know nothing will get out by me."

"Granger, it's not just-"

"And you also said the Manors magic protects the head of house, so I would presume it would also protect the wife, therefore I would still be safe."

He couldn't argue either one of her points. Her plan made perfect sense, but he knew once he revealed the requirement for the switch in status to be passed from Lucius to him, she would never agree.

"It's not that simple." he said.

"And why not?"

"Granger this is old magic we're dealing with. A regular wedding will not grant the switch."

"What are you talking about?"

"For it to take effect, we would have to be bonded. That means no divorce. That means, no one else for either one of us, ever."

She went silent as she racked her brain for any loophole she could think of, anyway to get around a bond preventing divorce. Nothing. She had worked on revision of marriage laws a few years back, unfortunately, there was no way out of a bonded union.

"If you're in, I am." she stated finally.

His eyes went wide with shock. "I'm not sure you understand. There would be no way out."

"Don't insult me Malfoy. I work in magical law, I know what a bonding entails."

"We can't stand each other, I hardly doubt tying us together for the next hundred or more years is worth four lives being spared. We can find another way to stop him."

"Not fast enough, and it's more then four lives."

"How is it more?"

"Revenge is a dangerous game Malfoy. He thinks killing the four of us will be it, and it can be done. It won't. He will want more. He will want more and more but nothing will be enough. He will get worse. He will keep killing until that pit subsides. But it will never subside. It won't take long for him to become the next Voldemort."

Draco thought long and hard about what she said. She was right. Harry had told him long ago how Voldemort became the Dark Lord. How he had taken out his revenge on his family for leaving him in that orphanage. How he had killed his father and grandparents, then pinned it all on his Uncle. It hadn't been enough. She was right.

"You sure about this? All the way? I mean it. No way out. We will be stuck with eachother until one of us dies."

"I know." she stated firmly.

"You can't kill me you know. The bond prevents that also."

She laughed. "I don't want to kill you Malfoy."

"Give it a few years." he quipped. Throwing a smirk her way. "You have to be sure."

"I'm sure. It's the only way to stop this before it gets out of hand."

He nodded. "We'll need to tell Harry. He can get Kingsley here to preform the bond."

"Harry is supposed to come by in the morning. We will tell him then. We should do it as soon as possible."

"Alright then." he stared at her for a moment before going on "I'm sorry you have to do this. I'm sorry my father is like this."

"I don't blame you. I really don't. You made the right choices in the end. He didn't. You have nothing to be sorry for."

He nodded. They sat quietly while they finished off their drinks. Hermione retired to the living room and clicked on the TV as a distraction from her racing mind. Draco went back to the study to look over a few more things. With the events of everything from the day and into the night he found it difficult to focus. After an hour he deciding to try and get at least a few hours of sleep. He stopped in the doorway when he caught sight of Hermione sleeping on the couch. His mind raced with thoughts of what they were getting into.

The idea of arranged marriage was something he had gotten used to long ago, but with Astoria he knew that one day they would love one another. With Hermione, he didn't see that happening. They had managed the past week or so sure, but there was an endpoint to it all. Once they were bonded there was no end anymore. While he didn't admit it to her, love was something he did indeed want. It didn't look like that was an option anymore. They would manage. They could live civilly, that much he was sure of. Love though? Doubtful. There was too much there from their past. Too much torment, too much pain, too much hatred. All of it due to him.

At that moment he didn't know what the future would hold for them, but there were more pressing matters at hand. She was right. Lucius had to be stopped. He was going to marry Hermione Granger.

It was his only choice.

-x-

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