Author's Note: An update on my birthday! This chapter is unbeta'd. I hope you enjoy it though. Lyrics by Bright Eyes.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Contrast and compare between the busy ones
And the ones that don't care
Until there is no one that you really know

Hermione Granger was not a happy camper. No, she most definitely was not at all. She was the camper who's tent blew over and who's clothes were scattered while swimming in the lake in the middle of the night.

Well, maybe that was a bit of a strange analogy, but she was frustrated all the same.

It was Friday afternoon. Barely two hours ago Hermione had been sent a letter informing her of her possible husband. To her surprise, she had not one suitor asking for her hand in marriage, but she had three. Three separate men wanted to marry her.

Many girls would have considered themselves quite lucky to have three suitors, most receive just two from who'd she had heard from. Then again, there were always the exceedingly desired women such as Cho Chang who's suitor would come into both intelligence and money from her family. Girls like her would more than likely receive at least three suitors.

This was what startled Hermione to a degree. Sure, she was smart, but she knew that was almost all she had to offer. She wasn't being modest when she acknowledged that she wasn't beautiful. No, she was no toad, but she knew she was not the first thing to catch a man's eye.

Like the Weasleys, she had little money to offer. Her parents were successful dentists, but their money was next to worthless in the Wizarding World. She was having enough difficulty as it was with trying to find an explanation for her suddenly getting married to her parents.

And it would be even harder with the three she had to choose from. These people must have been barking mad to think she could even consider marrying any of the men listed on her letter.

Gregory Goyle, Zacharias Smith, and Draco Malfoy.

Zacharias was somewhat believable, considering their short period of 'dating' in sixth year, if she could call it that.

He was a nice boy. Well, nice enough for someone. Anyone, except Hermione. She learned with her private meeting with him at the Ministry which she had just left, thanking Merlin for being able to get out of there. She could not have a long enough conversation with him without wanting to wring his neck. And his arrogance was horrid, not even any graceful nature about it. Not that she would be interested if it was.

Though, that was basically how it was with any of the three.

The other two, however, completely shocked her. She knew that Draco wanted to get back into the limelight of society, which was probably why he wanted her. But she was not going to help out a former death eater for the fun of it, especially when it involved having his children.

Hermione sighed and stepped into the room to see Gregory Goyle facing the window. Despite her large knowledge of the law, she thought it best to hire a professional lawyer for herself as well. She closed the door, catching his attention as he spun to face her.

"Hullo," his deep voice rumbled.

Hermione cringed. "Hello, Goyle."

"Hello, Granger." he said nodding in her direction. "The years have done you well," He said, though she wasn't exactly sure what he meant by it.

"I'm not exactly sure what you mean." Hermione said lightly. "The years," She paused, trying to find a word to say that wouldn't sound too rude. "Haven't been harsh on you either." It may not have been the nicest compliment around, but it was the nicest one she could give him without lying. Too much.

"It would be nice, y'know." He seemed to get straight to the point. Hermione wasn't sure if she liked that or not, mainly because of the tone of his voice. It didn't indicate anything she would be pleased with. Her lawyer, Sebastian Ambrose, as well as his own looked at the two wearily.

"I don't really know what you're talking about," Hermione said glaring.

He smiled at her. "I have a good bit of money," Not that it mattered to her, but Hermione immediately knew he was lying. His family had lost almost all of their money to pay in fines for crimes committed against the Wizarding World, and still were serving their time in Azkaban.

Instinctively when he advanced towards her, she backed away. "No you don't. I don't care if you have money."

"We could have quite a few little ones running around. I best know with how," He paused, thinking of the right word to use. "happy I'd be with that, there'd be at least three youngsters. We could last, have a few kids or so. Maybe some more later on. Even if they're from a mudblood."

Hermione looked horrified. There was no way she wanted to think about conceiving with this...this boy. "Why in Merlin's beard do you want to marry me if I'm just a mudblood, then?" She hissed. When she entered the room, she had every intention of trying to have a civil conversation with him, but it just seemed impossible.

He reached out to stroke her face. "Always thought you were a pretty little thing, probably a lion just like at Hogwarts." She knew he wasn't talking about the animal in a friendly nature. She was disgusted.

"We're done here." Sebastian announced, showing Hermione to the door. She took no time as she sped out. "Your client obviously doesn't have any true genuine intention of marrying mine other than to get a shag," He said bluntly before closing the door.

Hermione let out a groan of annoyance. That meant she was either going to spend her next two years married to either an arrogant person or an idiot. Well, Draco Malfoy could fall under both categories. And now she had to have a personal meeting with him.

"Do I have to do this?" She asked, a plea hidden in her voice. "The only reason he wants to marry me is because he wants to redeem himself. I don't even see any need to meet with him." It wouldn't take a Ravenclaw to figure that out. Draco Malfoy cared about no one but himself, and in some way he thought that she could help.

For a moment, Sebastian looked quite frantic, but covered his expression quickly. "N-no, come along. I'm sure you can meet with him. He might just want to marry you!" He said a bit too cheerfully. Hermione eyed him suspiciously.

"There is no way that man wants to simply marry me. He detests me, just as much as I do him. Anyone who thinks a marriage between us is even possible is out of their right mind." Hermione laughed, and began to head out the door.

"Wait!" Sebastian called out, Hermione turned around. He had the door slightly opened, obviously wanting her to come inside. "You might still want to hear what he has to say."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Sebastian, come on. Maybe there's another at the desk," There must have been someone else available, another suitor who had been rejected. Any other. She stormed off to the assistant's desk, leaving a panicking Sebastian at the door still.

"Excuse me," Hermione smiled at the assistant. "I was just wondering if you had the list of the refused suitors currently so I could look at them. I'm not exactly pleased with my options and would like to know of the ones available if you could." She said sweetly.

The woman looked annoyed. "No. What you see is what you get. Sorry Miss, but if I let that go, no telling how many women would be badgering me right now. Should have gotten a boyfriend to ask for you if you don't like your options." The woman said bluntly.

Hermione looked with her mouth hanging open. This woman could not be serious. "I'm a personal friend of Kingsley Shacklebolt, if you wouldn't mind me speaking to him I - " Almost as if on cue, Kingsley walked by and stopped to greet Hermione.

"Oh, hello Hermione! It's been quite a long time, hasn't it? I assume you're here meeting your suitors?" He smiled at her, and Hermione nodded.

She looked up and held up a finger. "You see, sir, that was exactly what I was trying to get into contact with you about. I'm sorry to sound so picky, but my suitors are just absolutely horrid. The majority of them absolutely loathed me throughout school, and I am pretty sure they still do. There is no way a marriage between us could work."

Kingsley stared at her for a moment, absorbing in what she had said. He looked at her in sympathy. "I'm sorry, Hermione, but I can't let you just pick out any boy you want. The week has passed for that to happen. I allowed the girls to tell their mates or someone in mind to request for them so they would be able to choose themselves, but if I allowed you to choose someone else entirely then I would be showing favoritism." He said, Hermione's cheeks tinged pink.

"If I showed favoritism towards a person, all of them would be expecting me to let them just randomly choose after the law is already being set into action. I do hope you understand," He apologized. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to decide between the suitors you were given the choices of. I'm sure not all of them can be too bad."

Hermione looked away. "Then how do you match up the rejected suitors with other females?" She asked him. If there was a way to get out of marrying these boys then she was going to get him to tell her.

He paused once again. "You did notice how we've matched up everyone by age, correct?" She nodded in confirmation as though just realizing it. "Exactly. We don't want older wizards going for exceedingly young witches."

Hermione almost gagged at the thought. She hadn't thought about the possibility that some nasty wizards might be more interested in someone near teenage years than their own. She felt pity towards whoever had to marry Filch.

Shacklebolt continued. "The wizards rejected are given a list of still available women. Sadly some haven't been requested for at all given the difference in gender variation in the population, which is who are still available for request. There are simply more witches than wizards these days, even though it's not much at all."

Hermione nodded silently. Now she felt terribly rude. Here she had three people asking for her hand in marriage and was asking for another while some girls hadn't been asked for at all. There was no telling how horrible the girls might have felt at learning they were not asked for. They were merely considered the 'leftovers', she sincerely hoped they didn't see themselves that way.

" I understand. One of my suitors just will not marry me for any intention but to further himself in society, so I will choose between the remaining ones." She felt awkward for being so open to him at the moment.

"Who says I don't genuinely want to marry you?" A voice said from behind her. Hermione whipped her head around to see Draco Malfoy smirking back at her. "Hello, Granger."

"Malfoy." She said curtly. "Who said I was speaking about you at all?"

Kingsley looked at the clock above them. "I'm sorry, but I'm working on a case. We believe we might have found the location of Antonin Dolohov finally and I'm really pressed for time." Hermione noticed Draco looking uncomfortable at the mention of Dolohov's name.

Hermione nodded quickly and allowed him to pass. Now she felt guiltier for keeping him while he could be out catching one of the Death Eaters that had been remained being captured. And Hermione knew she would personally love to see Dolohov captured, especially after murdering Remus Lupin in the battle at Hogwarts.

"Now, shall we go discuss the terms of our marriage?" Draco brought her out of her thoughts with a charming smile, allowing her to pass him and walk to their room before him.

Hermione looked at him cautiously. It was a first for Draco Malfoy to be anything near chivalrous to her. His main concern was always himself, so something was most definitely up. Him wanting her to agree to marriage was what he wanted, obviously. She could guess that immediately, she wasn't the know-it-all merely at Hogwarts, after all. She walked slowly, glancing back to him occasionally. Each time, he merely smiled. It irked her to no end.

"Who says I'm agreeing at all?" She glared at him.

Draco wanted to laugh, but resisted.

In the room, Hermione's lawyer was already sitting down discussing things with his own. He could already see Hermione's surprise when she saw that Blaise was his lawyer. As soon as they noticed the pair had entered the room and closed the door, they cut off their conversation immediately. Hermione's lawyer had a frightened expression as he saw his client sit down when Draco pulled out her chair for her.

Good heavens he wanted to yank the chair out from under her just to see her fall.

Blaise noticed this, too, and gave him a warning look. Draco sighed and refrained from making the child-like gesture, sliding her slowly to the table before he returned to his own seat. "Since when is Blaise a lawyer?" Hermione asked, like the nosey witch she was.

"Since three years ago." Blaise confirmed. "Almost as long as I've been your lawyer's boss." He smirked. Hermione looked at Sebastian in surprise. "Thought you would have known at least some of that, Granger."

She was shocked. Of course she'd wanted to make sure she had a good lawyer, she had done her homework on the firm she hired Sebastian from. But she had never even heard that Blaise Zabini was his boss. "Isn't this a conflict of interests of some sort?" She questioned, almost certain that it was.

Blaise shrugged his shoulders. "In a sense, but only when we're discussing terms. Then again, we both have friend's interests at heart." Blaise's grin didn't seem as friendly as it was triumphant. "So there really isn't a problem. We wouldn't want to do anything dishonorable to a friend, now would we?" He asked, looking directly at Sebastian.

Draco was looking at Sebastian as well, who suddenly tugged on his tie.

"Well, then I don't see a reason to continue this meeting until our lawyers are changed. It would completely bias the terms." Hermione said, rising from her seat.

"Who's terms are we discussing? Are you saying you're going to marry me then?" Draco smirked when he saw Hermione blush slightly, and heard her mumble something like 'I didn't mean it that way'. It made him giddy to think he could annoy her simply like this. "Tell me, Granger, who else has asked you for marriage?" He asked, though already knowing the answer. He was a Malfoy after all, he had connections to find things out. He didn't even bother listening to what she replied with and instead pleasured himself with her even more angered look at the thought of the other two idiots.

It was hilarious once he'd heard of her other two suitors, he was surprised Hermione got any other suitors aside from her at all. How any man wanted to genuinely marry her he would never know. He wanted to throw a party with well things were working out.

"Ambrose. Come here," Blaise called from his office.

Sebastian entered the room and jumped when the door slammed shut behind him. Turning around, he noticed another man in the room with them with startlingly white blond hair. Blaise motioned for him to sit down in front of his desk. "You called for me, sir?"

"You are Hermione Granger's lawyer now, are you not?" He asked and Sebastian nodded, confused by the sudden question about one of his newer clients. "Oh, how rude of me. You know of Draco Malfoy,"

Sebastian looked back at the blond man who gave a curt nod. "Pleasure," Sebastian said quickly before returning his attention back to his employer. "Are you needing anything in specific?" He wondered, still confused by his purpose of being there.

" I have something to offer you, a proposition you could call it." Blaise smiled, looking back to Draco. "With the new marriage law in tact, I am going to be Draco's lawyer. And he has generously asked for your client's hand in marriage." Blaise explained.

Sebastian glanced back to Draco who now had a slight smirk on his face. "Oh, well, that's very nice. But I don't know what this has to do with me."

"You need to do something, a favor, for me. And Draco. You see, as much as Draco desires to marry this girl, she isn't exactly fond of him," He said lightly.

Draco coughed from the corner. "That would be an understatement."

Blaise gave him a look Sebastian couldn't quite define. "Anyways, he really wants her to accept his proposal. And that's where you come in." Blaise smiled at Sebastian, it made him nervous.

Enough with the side-talking, Blaise needed to get straight to the point. "I need you to do whatever it takes to get Hermione Granger to accept Draco as a husband."

Sebastian would have fell out of his chair had he not been holding onto the handles. "But it's Miss Granger's choice, I don't see how I could do much."

"You are her legal advisor, you give her advice on making good decisions. Whatever good or bad it might be, you will say whatever it takes to convince Miss Granger that marrying Draco is in her best interest." Blaise said it as if it were nothing.

His boss was advising him to lie to his client? Sebastian had known of his employer's previous shady dealings back in his teenage years, but never held any of it against him. His Slytherin nature was showing bright today.

"I'm sorry, sir. But what if I don't - '' Sebastian got cut off by Blaise holding up a hand to silence him.

"Then you will no longer be employed at this establishment." He said as if it were nothing.

Sebastian's mouth dropped open. "B-but that isn't even allowed! I have a family to feed. And quite honestly sir, you can't do that. It's blackmail!" He said boldly, cowering back down in his seat once Draco advanced towards them.

"You don't think I wouldn't, Ambrose?" Blaise asked. "I have more connections in this Ministry than you can even dream of, they won't see anything of me letting go of a minor employee." He smirked.

Hermione didn't even catch on to the fact that her lawyer was indeed not acting in her best interests. Yes, he was doing it for his family, but Draco found it quite funny nonetheless. "C'mon Granger, honestly. Could you imagine being a Goyle?" He laughed.

She narrowed her eyes. "Just as hard as I imagine being a Malfoy."

Draco rolled his eyes. "So you would rather marry Smith, then? Granger, he has no money. He has no intelligence, he has nothing to offer you. I could give you everything." He said simply.

"You in Azkaban?" Hermione couldn't help herself from making a low-blow, but Draco caught that she did not deny the comments about Zacharias either.

She knew Draco was supposed to be in Azkaban just as much as any of the other Death Eaters. The only reason he didn't have to serve a sentence was because he named and testified against many others. Which she felt was him cheating his way out of his punishment. If only they could find evidence of half of the things he'd done in the past, they could put him away like he deserved.

But perhaps she could be the one to do that.

If she married him, she would live in the Malfoy Mansion. If she married him, she would have access to everything involving his family. If she was discreet enough, she could possibly do it right under his very nose without him knowing.

And she could finally get justice to those he harmed in the past by putting him in Azkaban.

Draco glared at her. "No, darling." He almost cringed, barely able to even use that word in the way of referring to her. It sickened him. How long could he keep up this act until she agreed?

"I'm sorry I can't get that. You will come to learn that I have paid my dues." He almost looked as though he were in pain for a moment before recovering. "I can give you wealth, I can give you a title, I can give you - "

"You would know that I care for none of that." She spat. "You are absolutely horrid to even thinkI care for such things. This is preposterous altogether! I loathe you!" Oh, how she wished she had allowed Ron to ask for her.

"And I hate you, dear mudblood." Draco couldn't hold the comment back and received a nudge from Blaise in the ribcage. "But we can't always have what we want, now can we? We must play with the cards we are dealt with."

"Come on, now. Hermione." Sebastian said quietly. "This is your best bet. A marriage to Mr. Malfoy would secure many things for you in your future." Hermione looked at him like he'd gone mad.

"Zacharias may not be the most intelligent but he could at least not try to harm me." She argued.

Draco looked up at her. "I promise I would never harm you physically. We can set it in a magical agreement with the terms." He said quietly. "Granger, I'm just trying to make peace with things. Two years, that's all. Then we can part ways."

"That doesn't exclude mental abuse, which I am not tolerant of, nor was I back in Hogwarts!" She pointed out. "You're simply trying to make peace for your peers. You want to be right back into the status of society. You're just angry because the world was revealed to what horrid views you have."

She glared. "Two years? What about the child I would have to have in order to comply with the law? What would we do then? I figured you wouldn't want to taint the Malfoy name. If only Lucius could see," She said with a grin.

Draco resisted the urge to jump over the table and just name off the things he hated about her to her face. Especially since she'd brought his father into it. It seemed immature but a good rant would cool him off at least somewhat. If she agreed to this, he would be amazed if they lasted the entire two years without one of them 'mysteriously' dying.

"We could share custody and I pay money to you in order to help raise the child when you need it, or I could take sole custody of the child if you wished. Granger, think. You would rather marry a Hufflepuff with no brains or a monkey rather than me?" He asked as if it were a joke. "Sebastian even thinks it's a good idea, don't you Sebastian?" He smirked, Hermione turned her attention to her lawyer.

"Sebastian you can't possibly think this is a good idea!" Hermione almost yelled.

Sebastian looked between his client and the two males in front of him. "Hermione, think please before you decide simply on your past history with Mr. Malfoy. He is willing to arrange deals with you, which your other suitors have not even offered to mention. He could give you so many things to secure your future - "

Hermione groaned in annoyance. "I've done said I don't need titles or money!"

"But what about your future child, Miss Granger? Please think of them when making such a decision." he warned. "I have a family myself. I am a lawyer, and it is still a bit of a struggle to make ends meet. This would be a wise decision to marry Mr. Malfoy. For your child's sake if not your own."

Hermione looked around the room. "I need time to think about this,"

She walked out of the room, leaving a smirking Draco and Blaise and a bothered Sebastian Ambrose behind.