Prologue

It was dark and desolate everywhere he turned, almost as if all the life had been sucked from the very room that surrounded him. Eerie shadows danced menacingly across the hard stone floors of the hall. The only light was emitted by small candles placed randomly around the room. As he entered the cavernous space of what was once a ballroom, he noticed he hadn't been the only one summoned this evening. Around the room stood Death Eaters of his generation, none of them any older than nineteen. They were all gathering around an elegant high backed chair that stood in the middle of the space, where the Dark Lord was currently residing.

"Ah, young Draco, you have finally arrived, and now our meeting can commence." The Dark Lord seemed to be in the highest of spirits as he could manage. Someone had done excellent work for him recently. Perhaps a troublesome family of mudbloods had been taken care of, or he had new and willing recruits.

Voldemort spoke again, this time in the direction of a man by the name of Theodore Nott. "Nott, you may now proceed to tell us of your ingenious plan."

"Thank you my lord," he said bowing his head in respect. "As we should all know, the Ministry has recently been overthrown by men of our forces. This gives us an upper hand for the time being, but it can be assumed it's not to last. It seems inevitable that a war shall be fought soon enough in order to gain Harry Potter as an asset. I have been given intel that the Order are increasing their numbers rapidly. While we still hold more power, we are lacking in numbers."

Nott paused to look around the men that had now taken their seats at a conjured table. "In order to gain more followers, and at the same time stall all of the Order's movements and recruiting, I have come up with a plan to dishevel the Wizarding community into utter chaos," he paused again, but this time it seemed to be more for dramatic effect.

"Gentlemen, what are your thoughts on marriage?"

The room broke out into mumbled chatter, much like a courtroom would after an interesting piece of evidence has been revealed.

Voldemort raised his hand to silence the young men before him. "Continue," he said facing Nott.

"My proposal is a marriage law. Each of us would be assigned a member of the Order to guard, and keep contained from the other members. This will create an air of vulnerability around the school, leaving a wide opening for the elders to form an attack, with minimal to no casualties to us." His speech was received with the loudest silence ever.

Draco mulled over what had just been proposed, it seemed logical and tactical. They would be playing to the Order's weaknesses.

"I like it," he concluded to no one in particular. Nott gave an arrogant smirk, his plan had been received rather well.

"How do we plan on deciding our spouses?" Draco's best friend, Blaise Zabini inquired.

All heads turned at the sound of a throaty cough was heard, as a signal their lord was about to speak. "It seems to me as though you have all been doing incredible work as of late. I believe allowing you to choose your spouse would be a decent enough reward. After all, this woman will be warming your bed." A devilish grin crossed his flattened features. The men gave horrid, and hungry laughs in agreement and excitement.

Draco wondered what it would be like to have a helpless little Gryffindor in his bed. Perhaps he would choose the Brown girl, or one of the Patil twins. or maybe...

"My Lord, I wish to have Hermione Granger." The silence that followed was deafening.

Draco found it bothersome no one bothered to say anything. "She is said to be the most intelligent witch of our time, and is the closest woman to Potter. I have faith in my abilities that I will be able to reign in her fiery temper, with the right motivations," he smirked. "You have my word that she will make no personal contact with any member of the Order, with me as her husband."

This time the Dark Lord responded rather quickly. "It seems as though you have given this much thought Draco. Very well, you may have the little witch."

"Thank you, My Lord." Draco bowed deeply before returning to his quiet thoughts.

He was going to marry the mudblood, Hermione Granger. His mother would love planning the wedding, and his father would hate who she was, but would be pleased the Dark Lord had entrusted this job to him. He wondered how Hermione would take it, not well obviously. How would she adapt to being the perfect high society, pureblooded wife he expected her to be? It would be a long road, with many fights, that much he was sure of. She would undoubtedly become everything he wanted her to be regardless of if she wished it or not. After all, he did have and extraordinarily large reputation to protect, and his wife wasn't going to lessen that in any way. The main thing he had to worry about was making sure the crafty little witch didn't slip through his fingers, and manage to get back to Potter and Weasley.

"...Draco. Draco? Mate," He was being shaken out of his reverie. His steely eyes came back into focus, and saw that it had only been Blaise. "Time to go mate, we have classes in the morning."

The pair of them walked out into the chilly October air, until they reached the wrought iron gates of Malfoy Manor. From there they apparated to just outside the grounds of Hogwarts, to find Snape waiting for them impatiently.