A/N: OMG!!! I only posted one chapter less than 24 hours ago and I already have 24 reviews!!! God I have 24 reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cries You guys made me feel so special! Here's chapter 2... Enjoy...
Sleeping With the Enemy
Chapter Two
"Hermione, have you thought where you and Draco are going to live after the wedding?" Mrs. Weasley asked a week later, during breakfast.
Everybody fell silent and turned to look at Hermione, who turned a deep shade of crimson. "Well, I haven't really thought this through," she said, "I've been trying to enjoy the few days I still have until then."
"Oh, but darling, you and Draco must consider that," Mrs. Weasley went on. "Narcissa Malfoy sent me an owl this morning. She's inviting you to come to the Malfoy Manor, to discuss the details."
"I'll go with her," Ron said immediately, "in case Malfoy tries to hurt her or something."
"Don't be ridiculous, Ron," Mrs. Weasley snapped. "She's going to be his wife, he won't hurt her."
"I think that's exactly why he will hurt her," Ron insisted. "Obviously he doesn't want to marry her more than she does to him. If he kills her, he won't be forced to!"
"I think I should go," Ginny said, "because I can warn Malfoy that if he ever hurts Hermione or causes her pain of any kind, he will see what happens to someone who gets to be on the wrong side of my – "
"That's enough out of you!" Mrs. Weasley raised her voice. "None of you is going. If Hermione wants, I may go with her, because I know Narcissa. We have been good friends since Lucius was killed. Therefore, I'm the only one who can actually help and not make things worse."
"It's kind of hard to make things worse," Harry commented in Ginny's ear.
"All right," Hermione said after thinking for a moment. "Mrs. Weasley, I would love it if you come with me." Turning to her friends, she added: "I'm sorry, but I think she's right. You'll only make things worse than they already are. I'll tell you everything when I get back."
"So, right after you finish your breakfast," Mrs. Weasley instructed, "you go upstairs and wear something suitable."
"Can't I go in these clothes?" Hermione asked, looking at herself. Since it was a sunny day, she was wearing khaki shorts and a sleeveless, white blouse.
"Of course not, honey. You need something more appropriate, so nothing too short and exposing."
Hermione went upstairs and stood in front of her trunk, unsure what to do. She kneeled and started to look through her clothes. What kind clothes had Mrs. Weasley meant when she said "appropriate"? Was she supposed to wear a dress?
"Hermione, what did you pick?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she walked into the room. "What, you're not dressed yet?!" she asked in shock as she saw Hermione kneeling in front of her trunk.
"No, I don't know what to wear," Hermione answered. "What did you mean when you said 'appropriate'?"
Mrs. Weasley pushed her aside gently and started going through her trunk. "Hmm... not that... not that... definitely not that... well... there, that'll do" she cried in victory as she took out a pair of long, dark-blue pants, a white sweater and a vest that matched the pants, and handed the clothes to Hermione.
"But I'll look as if I'm going to a meeting at work or something," Hermione complained.
"It's a good thing," Mrs. Weasley replied firmly. "Now get dressed, honey, put on some make-up and do your hair. We're leaving in fifteen minutes."
Fifteen minutes later Hermione ran downstairs, wearing the fancy clothes, eye-liner and lipstick, with her hair loose (she hadn't had time to do it), feeling like a total idiot.
Mrs. Weasley grabbed her arm. "Come on! We should have been there already! Do you want to use Floo Powder, or is it okay to Apparate?"
"Let's Apparate," Hermione suggested quickly.
"Bye, everyone," Mrs. Weasley called behind her shoulder.
"Bye," everyone called and waved. With a loud pop, Hermione and Mrs. Weasley Disapparated.
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Hermione's first impression of the Malfoy Manor was that it was BIG. It was simply huge, almost as large as Hogwarts, with wide-open gardens all around it. Hermione couldn't help but remember that only two people lived in it. Why the hell did they need so much space?!
"Let's go in," Mrs. Weasley said and knocked on the huge iron gates.
A house-elf appeared immediately. He recognized Mrs. Weasley at once and invited the two of them to come in. They walked in after him, towards the great doors of the Manor. While walking, Hermione's eyes were wide-open with amazement and admiration. The garden was simply beautiful, and obviously, very well taken care of. One thing bothered her, however: not human hands had done this lovely job. House-elves had. Slaves.
If I'm actually going to live here, I'll FORCE Malfoy to pay them! She swore to herself.
As soon as they walked inside the Manor, which was beautiful, but cold- looking, with very high ceiling and stone walls, a tall, pretty, blond woman came towards them. "Hello, Molly," she said heartily, and the two of them kissed each other on the cheek. "And you must be Hermione," the woman added as she turned to Hermione and stretched out her hand for a shake. "It's a pleasure meeting you. I am Narcissa Black Malfoy, Draco's mother."
Hermione gave a half-hearted smile as she shook Narcissa's hand. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy," she said politely.
"Please, call me Narcissa," the woman grinned. "I will call Draco in immediately. Draco!" she called towards the stairs.
"What?" came the answer, by a voice Hermione had not heard in more than two months, and had hoped with all her heart she would never hear again.
"Our guests are here!" Narcissa called.
"They're your guests," Draco yelled back, still not bothering to come down the stairs.
Oh, yes. He had definitely changed A LOT, Hermione thought bitterly. Totally different than he used to be.
"Draco, come here," Narcissa raised her voice. "We are all waiting for you."
"Not now, Mom."
"Don't make me come up there and drag you all the way down here by the ears, Draco!" Narcissa said dangerously.
A loud groan came from upstairs. "All right, all right, I'm coming," Draco called. Hermione heard his footsteps as he left his room and walked towards the stairs. He then started going down. Hermione first saw his sneakers, then his jeans, then his sleeveless, light-green shirt, and then, finally – his face, the same face she had wished never to see again.
"You could have at least worn something appropriate," Narcissa scolded him, and Hermione was surprised from her tone, which resembled Mrs. Weasley's very much.
"Why? It's not like anyone important is here," Draco snapped. "Hi, Mrs. Weasley," he said apologetically, as if saying 'I didn't mean you, of course'.
Mrs. Weasley nodded at him and smiled. Narcissa, however, looked most unsatisfied. "You should watch your mouth when you're talking about your fiancee!" she scolded him again. "Now say hello. Politely!"
"Hi," Draco muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Hi," Hermione replied, narrowing her eyes at him. Oh, she hated every part of him, from his oiled, platinum-colored hair to his white sneakers.
"Good. Now let's all sit down and enjoy a nice cup of tea," Narcissa suggested as she walked towards the living room. Everyone else followed.
There were two comfortable-looking armchairs and a long, dark-green couch. Narcissa sat immediately into one of the armchairs and Mrs. Weasley sank into the other one. Obviously, it had been planned so that Draco and Hermione would have to sit together on the couch. They both twitched their faces as each of them sat at the far end of the couch, as far away from each other as they could.
Two house-elves appeared, carrying trays with cups of tea. They all drank quietly, until Narcissa broke the silence: "What's the date of the wedding, again?" she asked.
"September the 19th. It's my eighteenth birthday," Hermione answered gloomily.
"You're not even eighteen yet?" Draco snorted. "How did you fit into the same year as me then? I was eighteen last February."
"You should be thankful that my birthday is not on February, too," Hermione replied angrily, "because according to that stupid marriage law, we have to get married on my eighteenth birthday. If I had been born on February, we would have been married for seven months already, and probably both dead of frustration, so shut up."
"Did you hear her? She's telling me to shut up at my own house!" Draco called loudly, looking around as if searching for supporters.
"Well, it's going to be my house too, apparently," Hermione snapped back.
"Oh, so you do want to live here! That's great!" Narcissa cried happily. "Well, I'd better start looking for another place."
"Excuse me?" Hermione said in fright. "You mean you won't be living here with us?"
"Of course not, sweetheart!" Narcissa laughed. "A young couple should live on their own at first. I will only interrupt. No, three days after the wedding I'll be gone, at the very most. I really must start packing, then."
Draco glanced at Hermione, and his expression turned frightened as well. "No, Mom, you won't interrupt us at all!" he cried. "Stay with us here. Please?"
"I'm not going to argue on that," Narcissa announced. "All right, now that we've settled that, let's move on to other technical parts. Draco and Hermione, I will give you my bedroom, it's the largest one in the house. Molly and I will go and buy a double bed and everything else, of course."
"I'm not going to sleep in the same room with her," Draco snapped. "And most surely not in the same bed!"
"Oh, you've just broken my heart," Hermione replied coldly.
"Oh, but don't you know?" Narcissa's eyes widened in surprise.
"Know what?" Draco asked impatiently.
"You two will have to sleep in the same bed," Mrs. Weasley said.
"Excuse me?" Hermione cried.
"But hasn't Professor Dumbledore told you, Hermione?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Told me what?" Hermione asked nervously.
"Oh, and I forgot to tell Draco!" Narcissa cried, clapping her hands. "Well, I'm sorry, you two, but you must know this. Since you both agreed to get married, Dumbledore has informed the Ministry on that. They do that to every couple who is marrying due to that law – you're not the only ones. So now, you two are magically connected."
"What do you mean, we're magically connected?" Draco demanded.
"It means that if you sleep at the same house, you must sleep in the same bed together. And if you eat at the same time and place, you must eat together from the same table. And if you sit at the same room and there's a couch there, you must sit on it together. That is all, but it's valid for the next ten years. After that, they believe you'll get to like each other enough so you'll do that on your own."
Draco and Hermione both gazed at her, speechless and livid. Draco pulled himself together first: "You know it'll take much more than ten years to get us to actually like each other," he said nastily.
Hermione ignored him. "What will happen if we don't do those things, Narcissa? For example, what if we sleep in different beds?"
"If you do that once, you'll get a warning. Next time, the Ministry will make sure you'll both lose your jobs," Narcissa replied peacefully. "So I don't suggest you break these rules."
"I can't believe I'll have to share a bed with Granger," Draco muttered. "And speaking of Granger, will you keep your maiden name?" he asked, giving Hermione another nasty look.
"I would love to, actually – "Hermione began.
"You can't," Narcissa interrupted. "The law states clearly you must change your maiden name."
Hermione closed her eyes and sighed.
"So, I think we've settled down all the details," Narcissa said happily. "One last thing – you two will have to kiss on the ceremony, so you'd better practise now."
"WHAT?" Draco yelled.
"I'm not kissing him! Not now, not in the ceremony and not any other time!" Hermione prtested.
"Fine, you don't have to kiss now," Mrs. Weasley said. "Just keep in mind that you will have to kiss at the wedding."
Hermione rolled her eyes desperately and got to her feet. "Goodbye, then," she said warmly to Narcissa, who smiled and shook her hand again.
"Bye, Narcissa," said Mrs. Weasley and kissed her on the cheek again. "See ya, Draco."
"Bye, Mrs. Weasley," Draco said.
"Say goodbye to your fiancee!" Narcissa scolded.
"Bye," Draco muttered.
Hermione rolled her eyes impatiently once again, and wondered how many times she would have to do it in the future. "Bye," she muttered back. Then she and Mrs. Weasley went outside and Disapparated.
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A/N: So yeah, I've managed to update before camp, and it's even pretty long, isn't it? Hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for the great, numerous reviews, I love you! Bye!
Roni.