"You have to talk to her sometime." Harry said to Ron, and he stared into the fire.
"I know." Ron told him. "I just couldn't bring myself to do it."
"Whatever." Harry said. There was an awkward silence. Nights in the common room just weren't the same without Hermione curled up on the armchair reading a book. They both looked to the corner she usually occupied, then looked away. Ron sighed.
"We should really talk to her tomorrow." Ron resolved. "We can't just write her out of our lives. Perhaps she is in trouble and can't tell us. I think we should at least give her a chance to explain herself, we've been through so much together."
"Yeah, me too." Harry agreed. They nodded to each other and then sat in silence some more.
"Granger, what are you doing?" Draco lounged on the bench, smirking up at her. She was standing on a wall on one foot, breathing in and out deeply with her eyes shut.
"Mental exercises." She said.
"More like exercises for the mental." He shook his head, and she opened one eye and shot him a dangerous look.
"I heard that, Malfoy."
"You were supposed to, Granger." He looked around the park. It was a hot day, and Helena was sun bathing, and the adults were walking around in deep conversation.
"Be quiet, will you, I'm centring my chi." Draco smirked at her, and then stood up. He grabbed her legs and she squealed as he lifted her.
"What are you doing you jerk?"
"I'm helping." He told her, and he walked over to the duck pond. "All those mental exercises must be exhausting, I'll cool you off."
"Don't you dare!" She wriggled, but he held tight.
"Was that a dare, Granger?"
"NO!" Hermione screamed, and he smirked, walking until he was knee high in the duck pond.
"In you go." He dunked her and she screamed, grabbing onto him and pulling him under too. "Granger!" They both emerged, soaking wet and in helpless laughter.
"It was your idea!" She said, and he grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him.
"Yeah, well." He splashed her and she screamed, splashing him back, the water fight continued until they were breathless and then they both crawled out of the pond, laughing helplessly as they struggled to be the first one onto dry land. They ended up falling over each other and landing in a pile.
The adults watched approvingly.
"They seemed to have taken a shine to each other." Lucius said. Clara rolled her eyes.
"I told you they would, as soon as her position was sorted out." Clara clicked her tongue. "Muggle born indeed."
"A regrettable turn of events that she made friends with whom she did." Narcissa commented. Clara looked at her and nodded.
"True, but things can't be perfect, now, can they?"
"No." They watched the two struggle to stand, whilst pushing the other to the ground.
Hermione curled up in a chair by the fire, pretending to read a book. Crookshanks sat on her lap, purring.
Draco played with his quill, parchment sitting in front of him on the table.
"Get on with your homework Draco." Hermione told him.
"I am, I am, it's just so boring…"
"You can't go to bed until you get it done, though, can you, Malfoy?" Hermione looked up at him with a half smile.
"No." He grinned back. "I'd better get it done, then, Malfoy." She yawned and got out of her chair, stretching.
"That's the great thing about not having any friends. No distractions from homework." Draco looked up and pouted at her.
"Aren't I enough of a distraction by myself?" He asked. Hermione shook her head and messed up his hair, earning herself a grin.
"Of course you are, darling." She told him, and then patted him on the head.
"Why do I get the feeling you're not being sincere?" He asked, pulling her into his lap.
"Why do I get the feeling you're not finishing your homework?" She said, looking over at his work. "I'd say you've still got a foot to go." She turned back to him. "See ya later." She stood and walked away into the bedroom with her book, leaving a frustrated Draco to get on with his work.
Hermione giggled as Draco fell off of the wall he was balancing on.
"That wasn't funny, Granger." He told her. She raised an eyebrow at him and walked up the path a little.
"Beg to differ, Malfoy."
"Hey! Come back!" He said, and when she didn't return, he walked quickly to catch up with her. "Where are you going?"
"For a walk." She told him, and he grinned.
"Alright, come on then." He led her up a different path.
"Where are we going?"
"For a walk." He mimicked her tone and she rolled her eyes, following him. He found a bench next to the river that ran through the city, and flopped onto it. He patted the bench next to him. "Come on Granger, I won't bite." He told her, and she sat. "Much."
"You know, you're different then I thought you were." She told him.
"So are you." He told her. They both dissolved into fits of giggles.
"I think you must be nicer in America."
"I think you are prettier in America." He returned, earning himself a glare.
"Take that back!" She told him, and he nodded.
"Okay, I take it back; I think you are pretty all over." He said and she pushed him away. "Oh, come on Granger, I was being serious!"
"Oh, shut it, Malfoy." She told him. "Ferrets just can't lie well."
"I'm not lying, Hermione." He said, sliding closer to her. "I like you in America." Before she knew what he was doing, he kissed her. The gesture delighted her for a second, and she returned his affections, but after a second, she tried to push him away, but he pre-empted her and ran his hands over her back, pulling her into him, making her weak to resist him.
"No." She said, pushing him hard in the chest. "I can't."
"Why not?" Draco cocked his head and smiled at her. "No one's about."
"I am Ron's girlfriend." She told him and he shook his head.
"What he doesn't know won't hurt him, Granger." Draco traced her jaw line with his finger. "There's no one here to watch us, no one would know. It can be our secret." He leaned into her.
"I'd know, and I can't keep secrets!" Hermione said, standing up. She left the boy, and he stared into the river. "It will never happen, Draco."
Hermione watched Draco sleep. The slight sheen of sweat on his forehead gave him an almost ethereal glow as he quietly snored, his arms wrapped possessively around her. She instinctively pressed herself to him, and he responded by shifting closer, making it easier for her to move closer. Silently, she wept into his chest.
"There is something I must tell you." Hermione's aunt woke her from her guilt racked thoughts about the kiss. She'd imagined herself apologising to Ron a thousand times, but having to start over, because, under the surface, she just wasn't sorry for it…
"What, Aunt Clara?" Hermione looked up. She'd mused for hours about her situation. She wasn't the same as Ron and Harry. They would find out about her father, they would know soon enough, and then what would she do?
"It's about you and Draco." She told her. Hermione looked up, did she know?
"What about me and Draco?" She asked innocently. Her Aunt sat on the sofa of their suite.
"Well, when your mother was at Hogwarts, she attracted the attention of two men. You father, and Lucius Malfoy."
"Seriously?" Hermione asked, her aunt nodded.
"She obviously went for your father, and was happy in her choice, but…" Aunt Clara said this quickly, but said the next words more slowly. "The relations between their family and ours have been complication, much more so since The Dark Lord was defeated. Lucius was angry that your mother didn't want him, so our parents made a decision," she sighed, "when you were a baby, and Draco was also an infant, you became betrothed."
"WHAT?" Hermione shouted, her Aunt closed her eyes and held up her hand.
"Yes, you and Draco are to be married."
"You can't do that to me!" Hermione said. "I love Ron Weasley!" Her aunt made a face.
"A Weasley!" Her aunt shuddered, her hand placed weakly on her forehead. "Your parents must be suffering intensely. No, it will not do for a Bellatour to go off with a Weasley. You will marry Draco."
"I'm not a Bellatour! I'm a Granger, and Granger's can do whatever they want!" Her aunt sighed and waved her hand.
"You're a descendant of the Bellatour family, and as such you must do your duty to your family and marry who you are told to. It is non negotiable. You will marry him next week."
"Next week!" Hermione exclaimed. "Why so soon? I am too young to be married! You could have told me sooner."
"What would have been the point?" Her Aunt asked. "You will be married, and that is that, it's not like I am asking you to join the Death Eaters, although an obvious lack of support would be dangerous." She looked at her niece pointedly. "It will not be long before his heir comes to start the second war. You must be married before that happens." She sighed. "Look, you will have an engagement dinner alone with him tonight, and we will start to arrange your wedding in the morning." She stood. "Go and prepare, I will check on you later."
Hermione woke up to find Draco sitting up, reading a book. She blinked in the light filtering through the window and stretched.
"What time is it?" She asked.
"Too early to think about moving." He told her. She sighed in relief, not wanting to leave the warmth of the bed yet. She mumbled a little and shifted a little away from Draco, making use of the space. Draco yawned, and lay back down, warming his torso under the covers.
"It is cold in October." He said. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Really?" She said sarcastically. He grinned and wrapped his freezing arms around her warm body, making her squeal.
"You're all nice and warm, though, my little wife." He said, kissing her shoulder.
"Get off!" She squealed, squirming ineffectually in his strong embrace.
"Why? You're warm, I'm not, share the body heat, Granger." He used her maiden name affectionately. "Unless you want to make some more heat?" He raised his eyebrow, and she shook her head at his blatant come on.
"Not whilst you're that cold, Malfoy." She bit her lip. "I like my men hot." She winked at him, mimicking his bluntness.
"Really?" He said. "I'll just stay like this for a while, then, I'll warm up in no time." Hermione shivered from the cold radiating from his arms. She sighed, and leaned into him, the cold not completely negating the comfort of having him so close to her.
"I think we better get moving soon." She said. He pouted.
"I was just getting warm."
"Well, you can go and hug a mug of hot chocolate."
"I thought I already was." Hermione rolled her eyes and pushed him away, climbing out of the bed and dressing. Draco watched her from the bed. She threw a shirt at him.
"Change." She instructed him, and then left the room.
Hermione walked into the restaurant with mixed feelings. She had tolerated, and even enjoyed, her time with Draco recently, finding he was not as bad as she had once thought, but to marry him? It was absurd, what would Harry and Ron say to her predicament?
Draco watched her arrive from the table, and then pulled her seat out for her, as he had done before. Hermione smiled and sat down, shifted uncomfortably in her chair whilst he sat in his. An awkward silence claimed them.
"So, your Aunt has spoken to you, then?" He asked politely. Hermione said nothing, but nodded. He nodded also. "My mother told me a few days ago."
"What?" Hermione looked at him astonished. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Draco shrugged. "I was told not to." He told her.
"So, when you kissed me yesterday, you already knew?" She asked him, and he nodded. "I see." She glared at the table cloth, wondering how foolish she could feel. "So you thought, 'hey, I'm gonna be stuck her, so I might as well get something out of it.'"
"Hermione, don't be that way." He told her, touching her hand. "Don't make this harder then it already is."
"How can it be any harder, Draco? How can I marry you? How can you marry me? We may be getting on now, but what about school? What are people going to say?" Draco sighed.
"I don't know." He said. "But it'll sure be a surprise to everyone." He grinned.
"Yeah, especially my boyfriend." Hermione muttered. Draco shook his head.
"Don't you see? You and Ron are on different sides of the war now. Voldemort may be gone for now, but another will take his place. You'll have to pick a side when that day comes."
"I am NOT siding with Voldemort!" She told him. "Just because my family did, doesn't mean I have to!" Draco sighed again.
"Why fight what's going to happen? We're to be wed." He told her. "Can we at least enjoy this?"
"ENJOY this? How can you be so calm about this? They're taking our lives away from us!" Draco shrugged.
"I've never really had any choice in my life anyway, I generally do what my parents tell me, always have done."
"That's horrible!" Hermione said, softening her voice.
"You get used to it." Draco told her.
"They can't do this to us!" Hermione said, clenching her fist. She stood up and began to walk away.
"Wait." He got up and grabbed her arm. "Where are you going?"
"Away from this ridiculous proceeding." She yanked her arm away. "I can't do this! This is an engagement dinner for an engagement that is not going to happen! I refuse to be engaged just because my aunt tells me to be." She left him standing in the middle of the restaurant.
"Are you alright?" Lavender tapped Hermione on the shoulder. "You've been spacing for the entire lesson." Hermione blinked and woke up from her dream, turning around and smiling at her friend.
"Fine, just tired." Lavender grinned.
"I'll bet, with your new sleeping arrangements, you lucky bitch." She winked and Hermione wrinkled her forehead.
"What?" Realisation hit her, "oh, of course. Yeah, something like that." She said to amuse her friend. Turning to the front of the class, she saw Professor Binns was still droning on in his monotone voice. She returned to her notes, but soon after the bell rang and she blinked, then packed up her things, preparing to find somewhere to spend lunch.
"Hermione?" She heard a sheepish voice from behind her say. She turned to find Harry and Ron standing there, shuffling their feet. "Hermione, can we talk?"
"Is this a joke?" She asked, suspiciously, the boys shook their heads.
"We really want to talk to you." Ron said. Hermione looked at their expressions, and then nodded.
"Okay, let's go." Hermione picked up her bag and they followed her out of the classroom. As she walked out into the hall, she saw Draco coming towards the classroom, coming to save her from her classmates, when he saw Harry and Ron he smiled at her and turned around, leaving before Harry and Ron spied him.
"So, how have you been?" Harry asked as they wandered the corridors the way they used to.
"Alright I suppose." Hermione replied. "How have you been?"
"Oh, the usual." Harry told her a little too casually. Ron remained silent. "How's married life treating you?" Hermione took a second to analyse his tone, and then answered.
"Can't really complain. He hasn't turned into a wife beater or anything." She shrugged. It didn't feel weird to be married to Draco anymore, but it certainly was strange to talk to Harry and Ron about it. It was like the two parts of her life didn't mesh together, and even though she was comfortable talking to Draco about her friends, she didn't like talking to them about him. She guessed she'd have to at some point.
"That great, huh?" Ron interjected. His indifferent tone hurt her, he seemed to have gone from hating her to just not caring. There was a gulf between them, one she felt acutely. What they didn't know was, one day, the war would start again, but this time she'd have switched sides…
"He's alright once you get to know him, you know." The boys snorted, but Hermione didn't pick them up on it, as she was not expecting them to accept him right away. "He's cares about me." She concluded, and they fell into silence.
"Do you want to go see Hagrid?" Harry suggested, and the others agreed. They turned around and went out into the cold October air. Hagrid welcomed them with a big grin and ushered them all into his cabin.
Their visit to Hagrid was short and uncomfortable. They sat and he made tea and they tried to talk about the things they usually talked about, but it was all wrong.
In silence Harry and Ron walked Hermione to her rooms. She opened the portrait, and Draco looked up from his position by the fire, reading a book. A purring Crookshanks lay on his lap on his back.
"Hello." He said. Harry nodded to him awkwardly, Ron looked away.
"Erm…" Hermione broke the silence. "I enjoyed our afternoon together." Hermione said. "I'm glad we're able to work around...this." She said. Harry and Ron said nothing, but kept their eyes on Malfoy, who had gone back to reading his book. "Speak tomorrow?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, we'll speak tomorrow." Harry told her, grasping her hand. He smiled at her, glanced at Draco and then turned around.
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." Ron told her, before following his friend.
Once the portrait was shut, Draco snapped his book shut, shooed Crookshanks from his lap and jumped up.
"That sounded good." Draco told her. "So they're talking to you again." Hermione sighed.
"I guess so." She said, sinking into an armchair. "They don't seem to still hate me, but they don't seem to really like me, either."
"I really don't know what to say." Draco told her, laying a hand on her shoulder. She rested her head on his hand.
"Neither do I." Hermione told him.