Author's Note: Hello Everyone! This is my first fanfiction and I would love any feedback that you could give. Please don't be harsh, but please be honest! I don't own any of the characters. The amazing J.K. Rowling does, but I hope you like where my ideas have taken them! I really hope you enjoy the story.
Chapter One
Draco looked himself over in the mirror. He was dressed impeccably, not that that was a surprise. He was wearing tailored black robes that hugged his body closely, eluding to the masculine shape that hid beneath his robes. He wasn't wearing his most expensive robes, but a meeting at the ministry didn't call for anything nicer. This was perhaps already too overdressed for that place filled with mindless wizards and witches doing the bidding of whatever the ministry asked of them. He sneered at the thought of how many 'good' witches and wizards followed the corrupt Ministry when the Dark Lord was in control of it.
The Ministry had been so corrupted, Merlin, the whole bloody wizarding world had been so corrupted, so entangled in the mess, that the Ministry had forgiven almost everyone in the attempt to start over. Everyone had bloodied their hands in this war, whether they had wanted to or not. The Ministry had questioned everyone, with truth serum of course, to find out everyone's motives. Almost everyone, was guilty of committing heinous acts to protect those that they loved. Even the Malfoys had been excused for their crimes, once Draco was out of The Dark Lord's clutches, his family quickly turned their backs on The Dark Lord and did everything they could to help The Order in winning the war. It was concluded that the Malfoy's, just like everyone else, had been trying to protect their family. During the war, some were manipulated by the Ministry and other's manipulated by The Dark Lord. The Ministry decided the best route was to try and repair the wizarding world with what they had left of it, not try to rebuild everything from the ground up. They were going to make improvements to their world, but they could not afford to start completely fresh. The Wizarding World population had reached an all-time low and they could not afford to shun anyone from society if they could help it. At least, that was what they told everyone in the press release.
Thus, the ministry tried to repair the wizarding world.
Draco turned at the sound of the door opening, "Mother," he said as his eyes flicked to the witch entering the room.
Narcissa Malfoy, was a beautiful witch, she had sharp lines and a cold poise about her. Her hair was in a sleek bun and she frowned at him in worry. She was a strong and fierce women, especially when it concerned her son. He knew that she was worried about this meeting with the ministry and what it would mean for their family. She rushed to over to her son. Her arms enveloping him in a quick hug.
"My son, we must go, we cannot afford to keep the ministry waiting," she said as she brushed some hair out of his face. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning sharply and heading towards the door again.
Draco gave a slight nod of his head, knowing what his mother was hinting at. While they had been excused, they still had to be on their best behavior with the Ministry. They could not afford for the Ministry to doubt their loyalty for a second.
He followed his mother out of his room and down the dimly lit hallway. It was decorated expensively, having many generations of Malfoys build upon the wealth that was currently his home. The walls a light grey, almost silver color, that gave a nod to their Slytherin roots. While the color was not dreary, paired with the dim lighting, it did have the effect of giving off a rather foreboding feeling. The sense of dread passed over Draco as he tried to keep his face looking neutral. 'Whatever happened today was going to change their lives forever' he thought while his stomach turned with unease.
He followed his mother as she turned into the ballroom, where a small group was already waiting for them. Blaise immediately joined Draco by his side as they walked closer to the group. Draco mumbled to him under his breath, "Do you know what this is all about, mate?"
"Oi, of course I do."
Draco sharply turned his head to his friend and narrowed his eyes. He met Blaise's dark ones which crinkled slightly at the corners before he burst out laughing.
"You need to lighten up," Blaise said still chuckling, "why the hell would I know why we were being summoned to The Ministry. Maybe, they had decided that they will punish us after all. We are going to floo there and they are going to cart us all off straight to Azkaban." Blaise's face changed from one of joy, to one of worry, before slipping into a mask of indifference and shrugging at Draco before turning away.
Draco thought about this. It was possible of course, there was definitely resistance from some of the wizarding world to keep their families in wizarding society. Most of the elite families, in the past, had voiced hatred for mudbloods and have held a rather superior attitude. The Ministry to combat this resistance had released all of their interviews to the public, after seeing how genuinely sorry and broken they were in the interviews, the general public seemed to accept them and moved on. This had only been six months ago, so it was possible that there were some outcries again, but they had all been contributing members of society now. His mother even threw charities to help those orphaned in the war. They were by no means guilt free or completely changed, but they were obviously making an effort. None of them even really believed in blood status, only up playing it for The Dark Lord and other pure families, all playing a sick game to not get killed. It was astonishing really, how much support The Dark Lord gained by simply picking the right member in the family to threaten. Family was of the upmost importance to the elite wizarding families and The Dark Lord was a powerful wizard, no one had dared to cross him, not directly anyway. Some families of course, did support his cause though most were controlled by fear. None wanting to take the risk of destroying their families, they had done The Dark Lords bidding. In the Malfoy's case, Draco was the one threatened. His mother would have been heartbroken if anything had happened to him, most likely killing herself. Lucius would die if anything had happened to Narcissa. It was disgusting, but all of that was illuminated by their interviews with The Ministry, so what else could they want from them?
Before he could dwell on it further, the fireplace had turned a bright green indicating that The Ministry was ready for them. They all slowly made their way to the fireplace flooing with their families to The Ministry. Draco stood next to the fireplace waiting for his mother and father to reach him so they could arrive together. His mother squeezed his shoulder reassuringly before entering the fireplace with Lucius at her side. Draco took a deep breath and followed them through the Floo.
Draco instantly heard a sharp intake of breath from across the room. He slowly looked over towards the noise. They were in a large conference room in the Ministry. Decorated in purple, with a large black and white marble table dividing the room. Thick heavy purple curtains lined the windows, letting some light spill into the room. Across the room, were several other wizards and witches. Draco slowly recognized all of them, The Weasleys, The Lovegoods, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and Neville Longbottom. His face quickly turned into a sneer, his lips turning downward into a frown. 'What was going on?' He took a deep breath and quickly put on his face of indifference, he made his way to a velvet chair and sat down. He was sitting directly across from Hermione Granger. His mother sat down next to him, while his father remained standing, keeping a protective stance between his wife and son. His hand gently resting on Narcissa's shoulders while he tried to casually reassure her.
Draco was alert and slowly let his eyes drift around the room trying to make sense of why they were here. He slowly made unintentional eye contact with Hermione Granger, her eyes narrowed at him in confusion. 'So she must not have any idea why they were here either' he mused. He slowly took in her features. Her long brown hair had seemed to become more manageable. She seemed thinner, and he quickly registered the bags under her eyes, and the overall exhausted look about her face. The war seemed to have a lasting impact on everyone. She still held herself in the same proud stance that he remembered though. Her back was straight and her shoulders were drawn together giving her the appearance of being taller than she was. Her chin was tilted up and looking directly at him, refusing to back down from his scrutiny. He just smirked and raised an eyebrow at her, which only caused her to blush and narrow her eyes at him further.
A gavel sounded at the head of the table, where Kingsley Shacklebolt sat, the new head of the Ministry. He stood up. "Everyone, please quit down, I know you are all very eager to discover why this important meeting has been called, so please quit down and we can start."
The whispers that had quietly filled the room earlier had quickly vanished. Draco's eyes searched for Blaise around the table. His eyes quickly landing on him. He was a couple seats down from him but turned towards Draco when he felt his stare on him. Blaise looked slightly paler then normal, with a slight frown featuring his face. The fact that the Minister called this an important meeting was not sitting well with Blaise. Draco slowly nodded his head at him, reassuringly, and Zabini seemed to harden his features and turned back to the ministry having accepted the reassurance Draco gave him. Draco was always the one that his friends turned to. He was the leader and he would lead them through this meeting, even though he didn't know what this would mean for them. He would stay strong. The Minister had started talking again, so Draco decided to give his full attention to the man dressed in deep purple robes, not wanting to miss a single word of what he had to say.
"All of you sitting here have been at the forefront of this past war, witnessing horrors and destruction that I cannot begin to imagine. I will not reiterate the damage this past war has wrought down on us, you are all well aware of this tragedy." He paused making eye contact with everyone in the room before continuing. "I do not wish to revisit the past today, so instead we will talk about the future and the solutions we have come up with."
The tension in the room was thick, everyone wondering why the Minister had summoned them here to talk about a solution to a war that was over with and how this solution was related to them. Everyone around the table sat stiffly, all eyes trained on the Minister as he continued speaking.
"The population in the Wizarding world is at a record low," he continued, "This is a grave problem, if we do not try to resolve it, the Britain Wizarding World will cease to exist."
The sounds of shock, horror, and worry filled the room. Draco could feel his mother grab his hand and gently squeeze it under the table, causing him to look at her. Her concerned eyes searching his face. He squeezed her hand back and then pulled it away from her. Now was not the time to show weakness. He could hear the hushed tones from the other side of the room as they started talking amongst themselves. The volume increased echoing their worry. His side of the table remained rigid and quiet.
"We have a solution to this problem, a way to prevent that from happening, but it comes at a cost." He said with great regret in his voice. This shocked everyone into silence as the Minister continued, "This is a great cost that directly involves all of you. As I have mentioned, the population is at an all-time low. The council and I have agreed that a Marriage Law must be put into effect."
Everyone in the room gasped and an angry murmur filled the air. Draco's head started throbbing. 'A marriage law? That is absurd, there hasn't been one in place in centuries.' He could hear cries of protest echoing throughout the room. People angrily yelling their outrage. Voices shouting over one another to cry out in anger. The noise steadily becoming louder and louder, a crescendo of anger clouding the room.
"Enough," the Minister barked before the sound level could become unbearable. He waited until the rooms was silent again before continuing with his explanation. "This law will help save the wizarding world. I know it is a lot to ask of you all, and I know that you have all given up so much for the war, but the one year anniversary is fast approaching us and the wizarding world is doing nothing to ensure that we continue to thrive. Even though the war is over, the Britain Wizarding World could be the final fatality of this past war, if we do not try to redirect the course of destruction we are on. This marriage law, is the only way to save our population. All witches and wizards between the ages of 18 and 30 will be married by a Ministry chosen spouse and required to reproduce, this will help our numbers grow stronger and ensure that in the coming decades we will survive. This is not a law that we take lightly. We want everyone to have a successful marriage, and we have weighed out every single factor when making this decision, we have come up with a formula to ensure happiness and compatibility in these marriages."
Draco glanced around the room and saw variations of anger and shock on everyone's faces. He stared across from him at Hermione and saw a small frown on her face and her eyes scrunched in concentration. He could tell that she was lost in that head of hers, trying to figure a way out of this no doubt. She barely contained her trembling, from fear or anger, he couldn't tell.
"And that is the reason we have called you all here today." He heard the Minister say and quickly turned back to him. "We have already decided on suitable matches for all of you." Draco felt his body grow cold and stiffen at his words, the feeling of dread in his stomach grew to encompass the rest of his body now.
"With you lot," the Minister said with a movement of his hand toward them, "we will also be accomplishing another task of saving our world. All of you were at the forefronts of this war, some very publically on The Order's side." The Minister took a deep breathe before continuing. "Some prominent figures for Voldemort, despite the changing of alliances in the war, they are still viewed darkly. We need to prevent the division of our people again, prevent another war from brewing; we need to be a united front, and we will achieve that through you."
His voice hitting everyone like a ton of bricks. It felt like Draco was drowning, he was having trouble breathing and his throat seemed to be constricting around him. His head throbbed at what this meant. He was going to be paired with someone in this room and by the implications of what the Minister was saying, it was going to be one of the Gryffindors. He let out a slow hiss of breath and was about to say something when a strangled cry came directly across from him.
Hermione quickly stood up, her chair flying behind her and toppling over from the sudden movement. "You cannot be serious," she shouted, "I have fought for this war, I have given up many freedoms for this war, but now not only do you want me to give up my freedom of choosing who I marry, but you want to turn me into a show pony?!" Her eyes angry as they darted around the room, settling on Malfoy she gestured at him. "How could we have anything in common, how could a pairing with anyone on that side of the room make me happy?" She yelled, she turned her angry eyes back on the Minister. "I understand that they have been forgiven and I understand the ultimate part that they played in the war ensuring our victory, but we cannot have anything in common."
"Ms. Granger, I understand your concerns, but I assure you that we have a formula all worked out, and that you will be very happy if you only allow it," Kingsley responded to her.
"I'm already dating Ronald. I am happy already," she bit out at him venomously.
"That is an unfortunate sacrifice that you will ultimately have to make."
Draco glanced at Ron and found him very quit, his eyes were fixed on the table but his face was a dark shade of red. He looked like he was barely containing his rage. He glanced up at Draco and gave him a heated glare. Draco threw him a lazy smirk, amused by his inability to control his emotions.
Hermione slammed her fist down on the table making him jump. "I don't want to make any more sacrifices, haven't I lost enough?" she demanded.
"Miss Granger," the Minister said sharply, "You will remember your place. We are not doing this to punish you. We are doing this for the greater good of our world. We would not be resorting to such measures if we had another way to guarantee our survival in the coming centuries. Since this is not a decision we have made lightly, we have done everything to ensure the happiness of those involved. We did take in to account all previous relationships when making our pairings, unfortunately none of those pairings were favorable," his words laced with a hint of regret. "Furthermore, this is not a request."
He saw Harry and Ginny glance at each other before the sheweasel burst into tears. Her sobbing filling the room, laced with despair, her tears and cries mirroring everyone's thoughts gathered around the table. Hermione slowly picked up her chair and sat back down. Her shoulders now slouched in defeat at Kingsley's words. He could see the shimmering in her eyes, as she quickly blinked trying to stop the tears from overflowing. She took a couple of calming breathes before fixating on a spot on the table and staring at it. He glanced at Harry and saw that his face looked haunted. His face grimacing at every sob that the weasel made. His face paling more and more by the second. Draco leaned forward and put his elbows on the table. His one hand smoothing over his own face. 'So this would be their punishment,' he thought darkly to himself.
"I know that this may come as a shock to all of you and I truly am sorry for everything that you have gone through, but as Miss Granger pointed out, you will all be the examples of this law. You will lead the rest of this world out of the bleak future that we are currently headed towards. The wizarding world will be looking to you for guidance, and I expect you to ensure them that embracing this law with open arms is the only solution," he said pointedly. "There is no way around this law, if you try to flee or refuse, you will be stripped of your magic and memories. Your pairings will all be solidified by a binding ceremony, I do not need to tell the serious consequences that accompany this ceremony if you do not follow your oaths. Next week I will announce it to the rest of the world, and you are expected to attend the announcement happily with your partners," he said threateningly. He looked around the room waiting for acknowledgement from everyone before continuing. "Now I have all of your pairings, but I do want to make all of the rules clear before I give them to you. You will not do anything to harm your partner, the binding magic will backfire on you. You will live with your spouse, in a new home, that we have provided you. You will be seen out in public together at least two times a week. The binding ceremony will be performed today for everyone's safety, but you will be required to have a wedding ceremony at six months' time the latest. You will be expected to lay with your partner and you will be expected to have children. We will not be monitoring those activities right now, but," He said with a grim face, "do not make us have to."
His meaning was clear. We had to produce children or they would become more involved in our lives then they already were. Draco grimaced, we would be nothing more than puppets for the Ministry.
"These rules are exclusive to this group, and as such are very confidential. If word gets out that your pairings are not as solidified as they appear, then it could undermine the whole law and what we are trying to achieve here. We cannot allow that to happen. You will all be making an unbreakable vow before you leave this room to ensure the confidentiality of this information. There are more stipulations that we must go over before we get on with the pairings and the ceremony."
Kingsley explained the law and the rules that the rest of society would have to follow. We cannot cheat, we cannot harm the other person, we must sleep in the same bed, we must dedicate at least two hours of our day for pair bonding. Kingsley droned on and on. Our lives were basically going to be changed, we would have to be solely dedicated to our new partners and we had to be happy while doing it.
Draco quickly lost interest in all of these rules. He was never one to follow them anyway. He knew he would have to with these, but he would get a copy of the laws and read it when his head did not feel like it was going to explode. He looked across the table again and noticed all of the 'war heroes' where in some state of quiet distraught. Granger was still staring at the table, not moving, barely blinking biting her lip. She was clearly in a daze. The weasel's face was still bright red and he was clenching and unclenching his fist while staring at Kingsley. 'He looked like he was ready to lunge at him,' Draco thought with a smirk, 'That would be a sight to see." He continued down the line of 'war heroes' and saw that the sheweasel was still silently crying now. She had folded in on herself, becoming as small as possible. Harry Potter looked pale. 'Never thought he would see the day the golden boy was being used like a puppet," he thought darkly. He turned away from Potter and turned to Luna Lovegood. She was always a weird witch, but it seemed she was taking the news fairly well. She still had a grin plastered across her face and she seemed to genuinely be happy. She was still giving her upmost attention to the Minister. The only outward sign of distress she was giving was twirling a strand of hair around her finger. Neville, sitting beside her, was green and clammy. He looked like he was going to barf.
Disgusted, Draco turned his head to take in how his friends were fairing. He slowly worked his way down the line of Slytherins and smirked proudly at them. None of his friends displayed any emotions, all sat there rigid, and waiting dutifully to hear their pairings. His friends had all been prepared for the day they would be told to marry. They were all raised to expect an arranged marriage, and really that is all this was. The old wizarding ways engrained into them since birth didn't allow for them to wallow in their misery. They would respect their new partners and help create an amicable life together. They had been trained on how to be good husbands and wives. Trained in ways to get their arranged spouse to accept them and become willing of their alliance. While playing obedient lap dog for the Ministry was not something that they had expected, they were still prepared for it. They were all waiting for the day that they would be punished by the Ministry and this day had just come. The elite knew how to keep appearances up, they knew how to play happy family in society, so it really wasn't much of a sacrifice. He looked at his mother. She sat stiffly beside him, but no emotion betrayed her face. She felt his eyes on her and reached for his hand under the table again. "Now, your pairings." He heard Kingsley say. Everyone in the room suddenly at attention. He drew in a shaky breath and turned his head back to the Minister.
"I will announce your pairings and you will each meet at that end of the room." He gestured to where a large man in ceremonially robes stood behind a golden podium in the corner of the room. "You will then perform the vows of the binding ceremony. Once everyone has performed the binding ceremony, we will then discuss the order of the wedding ceremonies in a few months' times and give out the keys to your new houses." The Minister's face was contorted into a stern expression, as he paused for breath his expression smoothed out and he smiled. "Now the fun part, "he said cheerily trying to lighten the mood.
Draco narrowed his eyes at the sudden cheerfulness. The Minister was not a bad guy, he had done a lot of good for their society, but his bright mood just darkened everyone else's. It was like he was mocking their unfortunate fates. Like he was downplaying how drastically this was going to impact the rest of their lives. Draco rubbed his hand on his face again, suddenly exhausted with today's events.
"Mr. Harry Potter," Kingsley said. Everyone's breath caught in their throat to hear who The Chosen One would be paired with. "You will be paired with Daphne Greengrass, please head over to the podium, we will all bear witness to your binding."
Ginny started crying loudly again. Draco felt sorry for her, he really did. It could not have been easy for her to go from dating the boy-who-lived to having to witness him giving his life to another witch in under an hour. He saw Hermione get up and silently move towards the youngest Weasley offering her support in this difficult time. She wrapped her arms around her and looked towards the podium gravely. Draco saw Daphne walking towards the podium with silent confidence, her lips set in a grim line. This was a cruel thing that the Ministry was doing. This was all sprung on them so fast, how could they do anything but resent their partners.
Potter made his way over towards his new partner and offered out his hand to Daphne. She gently placed her hand in his and they slowly shook hands. Draco wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. They were going to be bond together and they just shook hands like it was a business meeting. 'I guess it was,' he thought bitterly to himself, 'just business to the Ministry. Our lives will be forever changed, but the Ministry doesn't care. Nope, nothing but business to them.' He shook his head sadly but kept his eyes glued on the couple.
The official grabbed both of their hand in his and started the ceremony. He started speaking in Latin, too quiet to be heard to everyone in the room, but they could feel the old magic in the room. The air thickening and cackling with the power. The official then placed both of their hands in each other, while he made symbols above their heads. The magic started swirling around the couples clasped hands. The magic in the room started growing and glowing around them. The official's movements became more frantic above their head. The magic drawing closer and closer to their clasped hands, encircling their wrists and arms. The magic shimmering as it moved over their combined bodies. Everyone in the room could feel the magic growing stronger, it caused Draco's hair to stand up from the powerful electrifying magic in the air. As the magic grew more potent it began to glow stronger, growing brighter and brighter with the officials words. The magic was so bright around their combined hands, it was getting hard to look at. Suddenly the official stopped all movement, not talking and no longer gesturing over their heads, the magic responded and stopped swirling around them, it let out one more bright pulse of life and then drew even tighter to their hands, looking like it was tethering them together. The light slowly began to fade around their combined hands and eventually went out.
Everyone in the room was frozen, including Harry and Daphne, they both stood with their hands clutching each other. They stared at each other with wide eyes as the power of the ceremony washed over them. The official patted both of their shoulders and then turned them to face the rest of the people in the room. The minister began clapping.
"Wonderful example of how the ceremony is supposed to go. Congratulations!" he said with flourish. "Please, come sit down and we will continue on with the next pairings."
Slowly Harry Potter and Daphne made their way to their seats. Harry paused behind Ginny and brushed his hand along her shoulder before squeezing it. He saw her draw in a shaky breath and turn towards him. Her hand found its way to his hand on top of her shoulder, and she patted it while a sad smile graced her face. He saw Harry rub his hand slowly down her arm before turning away to his chair. If Ginny and golden boy could move past this then the other war heroes would accept this and would put on a brave face for at least the rest of the meeting.
Slowly, one by one, the Minster called off the names of the pairings and the ceremony was performed. Ron Weasley and Pansy Parkinson. Theo Nott and Luna Lovegood. Neville Longbottom and Tracey Davis. Blaise Zabini and Ginny Weasley. Each ceremony crackling with the same magic as the first ceremony. Each ceremony reminding them that there was no escaping this powerful magic that bound them now.
Draco's name was the last to be called. He met the eyes of the witch across the table from him, the only other name that had yet to be called. Her brown eyes met his with disbelief. Even as she heard her name being called as his partner, shock crossed her face. He slowly got up and walked his way towards the end of the table. He grabbed her hand when she met him at the end of the table and bowed over it, placing a light kiss on the back of her hand.
"My dear," he said mockingly. He could see her eyes narrow and the anger that flashed behind them before she tried to jerk her hand away. He tightened his grip on her hand, not allowing her to remove it from his grasp. Instead he drew her closer to him and placed his hand on her back, leading her over towards the official.
The ceremony was performed just like the rest of them. Their clasped hands, forcing them to look at each other. Their eyes boring into each other. He could feel the power of the magic surrounding them and filling them up with the magic that would bind them forever. He could feel it wash over his body, the magic making him feel more powerful than he ever was. As the ceremony ended, he could see the awe in Granger's eyes as she felt the magic enter her body. The official grabbed them by the shoulders and turned them to face the rest of the room.
As he made his way to his seat he could feel the connection he now had with Granger. He could feel her discomfort. His eyes glanced at her and he was met with her frightened eyes. She could feel their connection too.
"Excellent," the Minister began, "Now that all the ceremonies have been performed, we will discuss housing, we have provided housing for you bunch. You will all be living on the same street. We hope that this will help you accept this and create a cohesive married life with each other while still having the support of your friends. It is getting late so we will perform the unbreakable vow ceremony for confidentiality and then we will allow you to leave. Parent's you will be able to contact your children tomorrow but tonight we request that you leave them alone so they can get to know their partner. You will all floo into your respective houses. Tomorrow we will owl you with the rest of the information that we did not get to discuss tonight. Also, before we finish I want to inform you that these matches were made using our formulas. We decided to inform you early of your partners to help the rest of the wizarding world accept this law, but these would have been your matches regardless. Please remember that these are your partners in life now. You should be able to achieve happiness with each other if you can get over your prejudices. Now, everyone please clasp hands."
Once all of the members of the room stood and clasped hands the minister proceeded to start the incantation for the unbreakable vow. Once again, power infiltrated the room and swirled around all of their connected hands. The pulsing signifying the end of the incantation.
His mother turned towards him and touched his cheek, before turning and leaving with his father in tow. All of the parents left their children to go home, whispering promises of contacting them tomorrow, and giving them false well wishes for a happy marriage. All of the children looked strained and exhausted from the day. Draco had to admit that he was drained. This day had taken a lot out of him. Old magic was strong and powerful, and they had performed it twice today, and if that wasn't enough his whole life had changed.
The couples slowly paired off with their intended as they made their way to the fireplace. He made his way towards Hermione and placed his hand on her back guiding her towards the fireplace that would floo them to their new house. Theirs. What a weird thought. He had to share his life with Hermione Granger. One third of the golden trio, how fitting, that the girl that he taunted in school would now be his cherished wife he thought with a sneer.
As he made his way toward the fireplace he noticed that all of his Slytherins were performing their rightful duties in their arranged marriages. All of the men stood close to their new wives with their hands on their back guiding them. That is what they were supposed to be. The guiding force in the marriage, the protector, the ones that took care of their families. All of the Slytherin girls were grabbing onto their new husbands, letting them lead them, letting their husbands feel needed. The Slytherins were not going to be the problem in these arranged marriages. They would do their duty to ensure a successful marriage. As the couples slowly disappeared into the floo network, he could see how uncomfortable the Gryffindors were with the situation and the attention they were receiving from their Slytherin counterparts. Even he could feel how stiff Hermione felt beneath his hand on her back, the magic that bound them making him hyperaware of her discomfort.
They slowly followed the line of couples towards the fireplaces, one by one, disappearing to their new homes. The minister stepped in front of their path before they could floo to their new home.
"I do not want to add more pressure onto either of you," the Minister said quickly, "but you both will be the main couple in this movement. You will have extra responsibilities than the other couples, so you will always need to be on your best behavior. You are both smart enough to understand the importance of this law and what it will mean if you fail even in the slightest." He placed two keys into their palms and moved out of their way. He gestured for them to walk through the fireplace to their new home. His threat echoing in their heads.
Draco took a deep breath and stepped through the fireplace with Hermione beside him. The flames enveloping him in and covering him with warmth.