Hello everyone! This is my first foray into the Harry Potter Universe in writing (mostly I stalk the HP fanfiction realm looking for tidbits of Dramione). Please excuse any inconsistencies in the HP universe as it is so vast I probably couldn't catch everything. I strive to make this story with as few inconsistencies as I can muster so please let me know if you do in fact catch any mistakes.
I wanted to write a story that has not been done before while using the "marriage first, love later" trope typically seen in Dramione fics (see marriage law fics). I would like to preface this by saying that means this story is a revisiting of common themes seen in most Dramione fics of this nature however, as the story progresses you will find that things end up being far different than before (hopefully). The reality is the set up of the story does require the typical set up of Ron/Hermione break up but...just give it a chance. ;) I find Draco's character to be highly ambitious and as such I feel that the sequence of events within this story might have been likely based on his personality type. This story will not focus heavily on the politics of his run for Minister unless it directly relates to his relationship with Hermione or the story plot just to keep it from becoming dry for both you and me. In this story, it is 2003 and the majority of the characters are 26, Hermione almost 27. I hope to keep this fairly light and eventually fluffy in nature with some angst thrown in there. The worst has already come to pass for our lovely friends and now we can have some real fun with them! ;)
So sit back, relax, and please enjoy the ride!
PLEASE READ: I feel that I need to say this since I have been receiving PMs and Reviews saying that this story has typical common story themes like Hermione is a prude, dresses badly, Ron cheats on her, she is alone, Draco is her savior (I've already addressed this from the start!) etc. My writing style is that where the readers will slowly learn more about the characters as I decide to let it known; I find that keeping that suspense makes a good read. Just because a magazine article you read through Draco says one thing, doesn't mean it's true! How many times have tabloids been totally wrong in real life? Good character development takes time so please don't jump the gun and think just because characters POVs you are reading through think something a certain way means its the reality in the universe. Everyone has a specific perception based on what their past, personality, etc. But real life is always different than what we view it and make assumptions as.
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I claim to own Harry Potter or any other characters/ideas from the books. This fan fiction is written purely for pleasure.
Chapter 1: The best ideas oft come from drunken nights
Surprisingly, it was Goyle who had given him the idea. Blaise, the means to put it into action.
It was a dreary Tuesday night and the Slytherin boys were already halfway to whiskey-sloshing drunk at the Leaky Cauldron. For Draco it was the proper way to toast such grey foggy days.
"And to you Draco, we toast your arse kissing for many more years to come!" Blaise raised a glass of whiskey, spilling half of it on the way up in the air to raucous cheers from the other men.
Draco couldn't help but raise a brow at his friend's drunken antics before breaking out into a smirk and raising his glass to meet the other three waiting for him. "Well we could say arse kissing is in your blood so to speak." Theo winked at Draco and gave him a cheeky grin.
"Not funny Nott…" Draco muttered through clenched teeth. If the brunette man noticed he made no inclination to correct himself.
"So what exactly are we toasting here, does this mean the investigation is complete?" Theo poured another round of liquid amber.
"Yes it came out inconclusive as we knew it would." Draco ran his finger around the rim of the glass in lazy circles. If he was being completely honest, the slight chance of a different result had kept him up for the better part of two weeks as the decision was deliberated by the Council of Magical Law. What usually took the system less than a day to pass judgement had been drawn out and splayed all over the Daily Prophet, if only to vex him.
"If you think about it, it was probably necessary just so they would get it over with and lay off your back." Blaise comforted, clapping Draco on the back to reinforce the effort.
Draco shoved the offending appendage off his shoulders and squared them with a huff. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."
"To be honest I'm partial to being on my back myself, why do all the work?" Theo tossed back another drink, albeit messily.
"Merlin control yourself Theo, do you know what being seen with a drunkard will do to me? They only just cleared me of any wrong doing."
Theo pouted in return. "Hmph, be a spoil sport why don't you Drakey-poo."
"I can't take you out in public can I?" Draco groaned, burying his head in his hands.
"Draco what happens to you now though? What does inconclusive really mean?" Blaise overshot the turning of his head, missing Draco completely as he spoke.
Draco rolled his eyes as his dark skinned friend corrected for his drunken state and turned back to face him. "It means," He drew out the words, as if describing a simple concept to a group of toddlers, "they couldn't find definitive proof that would lead them to believe I bought my position on the Wizengamot as many people have been theorizing." He couldn't help but sneer as he thought of the select few that had brought on the hellish past months.
"That means you get to keep your position?" Theo asked with twinkling eyes. He had been the first to use his best mate's position for personal gain.
"Well I wasn't proven guilty was I?"
"Wouldn't it be much better if you were the Minister of Magic? I mean, then no one could question you!" The largest man of the group piped in with gusto.
Theo was quick to gibe with a loose finger wag. "I think you got that wrong Goyle, the Wizengamot could question the Minister."
"Sure, but he already proved he got that spot fair and square! All you gotta do is prove it again." Goyle looked positively indignant, his voice rising an octave to match his insulted tone.
"No you know what, Goyle is onto something!" Blaise interjected, bursting out of his seat in the process. "What we need is a charismatic and strong leader, not that hovel that is pretty much unopposed and practically stealing the seat. The elections are coming up soon, it's not like you can't get a few favors and be considered in the running Draco."
"Well it's too bad everyone hates me, Death Eater spawn, Dark Lord follower and antithesis to the Golden Trio." Draco scoffed and swallowed his drink, wincing at the residual burn down his throat.
Goyle's eyes widened as he made a poor attempt to whisper. "Oh, did you hear that the Mudblood and Weasley broke up? Not much of a trio no more if you ask me."
"I can't believe she was able to stand that ginger weasel as long as she did, I mean his hair would probably clash with anything she decided to wear!" Theo threw his hands up in disgust.
Draco snickered. "When did you become some sort of fashionista, bruv? You going to wear a pretty pink tutu to the annual Malfoy Christmas party then are you?"
"Shove off Draco."
"Moving on…." Blaise interrupted the glaring standoff between Theo and Draco with a wave of his hand. "If you were smart, what you would do is get one of the Golden Trio to back you. Since they are the pride and joy of the wizarding world and all." He shrugged halfheartedly, none too impressed with the words he spoke. Goyle gave Blaise a look at the words 'Golden Trio'.
"Yeah I'd rather be flayed alive and fed to a hippogriff."
Theo grinned at that. "Be careful what you say, you already got a chunk taken out of you by one before."
"Oh sod off Theo I'm getting tired of your comebacks."
"Well Granger would be the biggest help, since you know, people hate you…for your purist ideals…under the Dark Lord." Blaise looked pensive, as if legitimately considering Draco's options.
"I think an issue we need to address here is you still calling him the Dark Lord-" Draco started.
Goyle spoke up at this moment, "Draco you did say the Dark Lord earl-" And was swiftly ignored.
Blaise instantly became defensive. "Well he was dark and he held dominion over others, what should I call him?! The Lord of Candies and Rainbows?"
"How about Voldemort, or better yet, You-Know-Who?" Theo prompted.
"Is that even the issue here?" Blaise bit out with growing frustration. "Just imagine it, Draco Malfoy for Minister of Magic!" He waved his hands around to punctuate his words. "Youngest to gain a seat in the Wizengamot and youngest to make it to Minister!"
Theo raised a brow and pointed to Draco with his crystal goblet. "Well he does have a point, you do have the minimum requirements met and there has never been an official age requirement what with that Weasley spawn in for the running…."
"As if I would even be given a chance!" Draco exclaimed, borderline exasperated with the conversation.
"I'm telling you," Blaise moved in closer to Draco, his eyes dead serious. "You get the Golden Trio, or whatever they're called now," he gave a pointed look at Goyle who started to open his mouth to protest. "To back you, any one of them, and you will win or my house is not Slytherin."
Draco slammed some galleons on the table and pushed away from the table to stand up. "You're drunk. Go home before I hex you." He turned to walk away.
"You're a betting man Draco, I know you are." Blaise called after him. "I bet you will be coming to me within a week wanting to run for Minister of Magic, mark my words."
Draco was a betting man, but not when it was against Blaise Zabini. He had a scary inclination to win every single time.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Draco hated when Blaise was right.
It had happened on three important occasions in his life and each time he had been bitter throughout the entire process. The first time, Blaise had said he would get jilted by the boy who lived- one Harry Potter- during their initial arrival at Hogwarts. Draco, who was not a betting man at the time, hurled insults at his snake-like friend as he gloated to the other Slytherins on how the short, bespectacled boy had made a right fool out of him.
Then, during their fourth year, Blaise had prophesized that if he asked Pansy Parkinson to the Yule Ball, she would become a thorn in his side quicker than one could say 'blasted blast-ended skrewts'. Extracting that under bite sporting leech from his love life had been a messy affair. Enough so that he had resorted to using the Imperius curse to dissuade her. During that traumatic series of events, Blaise's penchant for ragging on Draco had him considering maiming as a new method to shut the dark-skinned boy up.
Soon after, life for the Slytherin boys had gotten fairly dark, for lack of a better word, and their contact had been kept to a minimum. When they did meet, merriment and laughter were sparse between the hushed conversations of concern and despair as the mad man their families supported ruled over their lives with an iron fist. And yet when that all came to pass, Blaise had made him a betting man by telling him he could win a bid for a seat in the Wizengamot. A sucker's bet he could not pass up, Draco had followed along with his scheme, sending bribes to the other seat members through various organizations unaware -and untraceable- they were being used in such a manner as well as using his position as heir to one of the prestigious families of the Sacred Twenty-Eight to garner nomination. He had nothing to lose and a villa in Italy to gain.
At age twenty-three, Draco Lucius Malfoy had become the youngest wizard to have a seat with the Wizengamot. Typical days under this position consisted of tedious meetings in a stuffy room arguing with men that were quite past ripe in his opinion. However as the youngest man, and pureblooded death eater spawn to take a seat at the Wizengamot, talk began to spread. He had held the position for the better part of two years before rumors began circulating that his position was achieved through…less than genuine methods.
Well that part was technically true but that didn't mean he had done it with ill intentions. He had seen an opportunity to do some good and achieved a position in which he could give voice to the wizards and witches of his generation, even if he was the last person they would choose to be their mouthpiece. He was a fairly arrogant and sly man -as were the character traits of his school house and his family upbringing- which tended to rub people the wrong way, but he had found a way to atone for the sins he and his family committed during the war.
Luckily all fail safes in place worked perfectly and all bribes could not be traced back to him. The Council of Magical Law could not fault him for any pandering to the Wizengamot before he was appointed his position no matter how hard they tried, it simply wasn't illegal to put in a good word for oneself.
Draco Malfoy did not believe in superstitious mumbo jumbo -he'd lived a life of enough strife to know that situations occurred due to terrible, idiotic decisions and not fate or destiny- however when Blaise bet against his school house, he somehow always came out on top. This was enough reason for Draco to sincerely consider a run for Minister of Magic.
A run for Minister of Magic would need an extremely well thought out plan in order to be even remotely possible for a former death eater, willfully or not. Although Goyle had inadvertently come up with the idea, Blaise did make a good point in currying favor by associating with someone the wizarding public held in high esteem.
There were three people high enough to give him that boost, as Blaise had said, but only one viable option.
Hermione Granger.
The reality was, even if Draco was willing to throw away his pride and ask Potty or Weasel to come to his defense and support his bid for Minister (which he was not, thank you very much) he couldn't guarantee they wouldn't just laugh in his face and tout his shame in front of the rest of the former Order at their biweekly meetings to revel in their victory during the War (there was no proof such meetings occurred of course, though Draco wouldn't put it past those goody Gryffindors and friends). There was too much animosity and bitterness between the three for anything fruitful to come out of association with them, even if they had been civil to one another since the end of the War.
Hermione Granger on the other hand, although he had probably conducted his most grievous crimes against her amongst the three, was a lighter blow to his ego and she had the additional benefit of being a mudblood. If she was able to forgive and support him in front of Wizarding England, he would have significantly less trouble in running for the Minister position. Given that she was also considered the brightest witch of their age, any support she garnered to a potential candidate would sway even the worst critic to take notice instead of disregard him.
Draco couldn't help but smirk to himself as he walked the corridors of the Ministry of Magic. It seemed that his chances for Minister were being supported by divine intervention as well because Granger had just recently removed herself from the inner circle –or was kicked out, he didn't follow the news- of the only man currently making a visible effort to campaign for the position of Minister of Magic at this time: Percy Weasley.
The fact that Percy Weasley was his opposition helped immensely as he had a very grating personality and was not the most liked of the ginger haired rag tag group. He had climbed the ladder, surprisingly, through his connections to the Golden Trio and his propensity to kiss arse at every occasion that presented itself.
Draco was also a distinguished arse kisser but when he did so, it was notably smooth and charming. It was a skill lacked by many and, he thought, imbued at birth.
So the fact remained that Hermione Granger was a perfect candidate for a supporter to his cause. He would consider her for a high ranking position once he clinched the seat but if anyone caught wind of the proposition as the media was wont to do, it would only tarnish her name in support of him. However it might be a necessary risk as she was a right genius and could be an indispensable addition to his running party; she could outwit even the most seasoned politician and put them in their place with her smarting tongue.
Draco entered the mess hall, hoping to catch a glimpse of his current muse. He had been given explicit instructions –he couldn't remember the name from whom, it was irrelevant anyways- that the only time to catch her would be for exactly five minutes starting at 11:30am on Fridays, the only day she did not bring lunch to work. Based on his insider's perverse stalking, she would buy the quickest meal she could find and disappear into her crammed, cupboard like office on the second floor, the Department of Magical Law. Just based on her job, she was an excellent addition to any running party.
He made it at 11:27 but even after waiting for ten minutes, the brunette woman did not appear.
Draco couldn't help but curse to himself as he sat at the table closest to the door, picking at whatever had been served to him. He didn't eat here like the rest of the Ministry workers, he usually had delectable catered meals like the rest of the Wizengamot. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. What was he even doing here? What possessed him to seek Granger out, to make a proposition?
When his watch landed on 11:45 he decided to give up; he was not a patient man. As he stood to throw away his untouched meal, his eyes spotted something peculiar on the front page of a Witch Weekly magazine sitting innocently next to some airhead who was eating her meal with a friend.
"May I see that?" Draco inquired, already reaching for the interesting piece of literature. The girl swooned, giggled and gave him permission in one of the three typical responses women gave him when he asked them of anything. Not Granger though, that's the issue.
He never thought this was the light reading Goyle partook in because in huge, colorful lettering, the headline read: 'Golden Trio turned to Brass? Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley Devastated by Cheating Scandal'. The pictures accompanying the words depicted the Weasel looking a shade of red remarkably similar to his hair as he tried to cover his face from the flashing bulbs of cameras and ducked into a pub while on the other side of a cracked heart, a stone faced Hermione Granger could be seen walking briskly with her head down and refusing commentary, her eyes looking quite haunted.
Unable to believe the headline, Draco turned to the promised page of the magazine as stated on the front cover and began to read, his thoughts running a bloody American mile a minute.
Trouble in Paradise was in fact a leggy ex-girlfriend rumored to be a werewolf! Sources say that Ron Weasley, one-third of the Golden Trio that destroyed You-Know-Who and brought about an era of peace and prosperity, had been found by Hermione Granger in their bed with an old comrade in arms, Lavender Brown. Brown, a former school mate of the Golden Trio from their house, fought on the side of light with her classmates and famously voiced her relation to the aforementioned Weasley on numerous occasions to the media.
"Hermione was distraught at first when she found Ron and Lavender, she helped save Lavender from Fenrir Greyback in the war and all," The source states, who wished to remain anonymous due to their close proximity to the subjects in question, "But after a while she just became livid. Refused to come out of her parents' home for a week when it all first happened six month ago. After that though, she refuses to this day to talk to Ron and his family. They think she's the best thing that ever happened to him."
Granger, known for her consistent entry in the worst dressed list year after year, should perhaps change her wardrobe if she seeks to keep the men in her life aroun-
Draco scoffed and closed the offending paper, having read enough. He would have to make sure to rag on Goyle after reading that pile of garbage. Being enemies with the Golden Trio for as long as he was though, Draco could read their tells quite easily and he didn't doubt for a second that the break up was real and nasty. The series of events may not have panned out exactly like that over exaggerated drivel he just read but this, he could work with.
His mind had been racing as soon as his eyes landed on the front page, and as he continued to read his heart began to pound with the possibilities.
Draco Malfoy was a man of action and a man of opportunity. Ron Weasley had made an enemy of Hermione Granger, the one he needed to help bolster his image for a candidacy. Luck would have it that Ron Weasley was the brother of the only known person actively campaigning and his future opposition. Although it would be wrong of him to wish it upon Granger, it would work to his best interest if the Weasel did in fact cheat on her. It would be simple to turn the masses to Granger's side (soon to be his) in this drawn out break up and portray the Weasleys' as a family of skewed moral values.
It would also be easier to convince her to support him if their precious trio had been decimated at its core; trust. Even better, now that his object of interest was single he had the perfect plan to keep her at his side as an integral part of his running team, if he played his cards right.
Because Draco Malfoy had just figured out how he was going to win his bid for Minister of Magic.
He was going to marry the mudblood princess Hermione Granger. After all, if a muggleborn witch he bullied all through school and battled against during the war could see the good in him, all of wizarding Britain would too.
So there we go! Sorry for any grammatical issues, like I said, I am terrible at it! Also I do realize the Canon Lavender Brown dies during the war, but for the purpose of this story I did make her survive (it was only listed as an aftermath that she in fact died, when Hermione saves her she was still breathing/barely moving).
Like I said, yes there are the typical "Hermione broken and alone because Ron cheated on her" elements but this is only for the sake of setting up the story. I promise Hermione is not going to be a weak character and Draco is not some angel there to save her, if anything Draco will need Hermione more than anyone. They will be on equal grounds in this fic.
Please review and let me know what you think so far! Hopefully you'll enjoy the story!
Also if you have any recommendations for a better title I would love to hear them! I would definitely need a Beta also...;)
Until next time,
SnakesandLions