DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter. All the characters portraid are property of one brilliant J. K. Rowling. Only the plot is mine. I do not profit from this in any way.

Last time:

She took the letter and gave the owl a treat. She observed carefully the handwriting on the front of the envelope and recognized it. She had seen it before but she just couldn't quite place where. Not wanting to wait more and suffer in anticipation, she opened the envelope, took the sheet of parchment on the inside and opened it.

Dear Ms. Granger,

I hereby inform you of my wish to propose a marriage between yourself and my person. Having knowledge of the formal procedures I have sent a marriage proposal to the Ministry of Magic that should arrive soon after this letter.

I understand that the reason for my contact is not ordinary and most probably unexpected, but I can assure you I have all intentions of clarifying my intentions as soon as you agree to meet me.

With no further subject,

Draco Malfoy

Now:

No way. There had to be a mistake. There is no way this letter was intended to her. It just couldn't be. How could Draco Malfoy, Slytherin Prince, manipulative prick, be sending her, her, a letter? After all, she was only Granger, the Mudblood.

Hermione couldn't believe her eyes and she was seriously suspecting his intentions. Draco Malfoy had done nothing but torment her during their school years and never, ever said a single pleasant word towards her, so why would he propose to her after all this time? 'Oh wake up, Hermione! It's not like he is professing his undying love for you! He is, just like you, stuck to this stupid law and, just like you, has ran out of options. He didn't say a word about liking you, much less loving you. Grow up girl.'

It was hard to accept, but it was the truth. She was stuck, he was stuck. She didn't want to leave, he didn't want to leave. As simple as that. 'Ok, that I understand, but why me? I mean, he must be the guy with most connections she knew, and probably the majority were female, so why would he pick her amongst all of them when he hated her from the beginning?' She had to know, like she always had to know everything, so she only had one option.

And so, she began writing.

Dear Mr. Malfoy,

As astonished as I am by your letter, I think I have an idea of your reasons. Nevertheless, I would be pleased to hear them from you. I am willing to meet you in a public place, in a date and time of your choosing.

Best regards,

Hermione Granger

She couldn't believe herself. She was exchanging polite letters with Malfoy, calling each other by their full names, when just a few years ago they had traded insults of mudblood and ferret back and forth.

This was just wrong.

But she had to face it: the deadline was approaching and she didn't have a solution right up her sleeve like she used to have. This was just a problem too complicated for her to solve on her own, because it necessarily involved someone else's life and feelings. 'Feelings? Who in their right mind things about feelings? What's important is to have babies and populate the earth. What does it matter if you love or not the person you're having children and spending the rest of your time with? Nothing! What matters is who you marry, not if he/she will be a good parent or the kids will have a nice education. Lineage first!' Hermione thought sarcastically. Her hope was hanging by a thread and she was really starting to get desperate so she decided she was going to hold on to whatever opportunity came her way. If Malfoy was it, so be it.

…If he could convince her.

Just like he had written in his letter, the Ministry's owl flew by, not 20 minutes after his. It was carrying an envelope which Hermione grabbed. She opened the large envelope and there she found 5 documents attached to a letter.

Dear Miss Granger,

We are pleased to inform you that at 10.03am, June 6th of 2001, the Department of Marriage from the Ministry of Magic received a Marriage Proposal directed at your person, on the behalf of Mr. Draco Malfoy.

We have review the proposal and have found no objections to the marriage, according to the new rules of marriage presented by the Ministry of Magic.

Attached to this letter you will find:

(a) a copy of the Proposal of Marriage from the applicant;

(b) a copy of the rules that the contract must follow;

(c) a form of ACCEPTANCE of the proposal;

(d) a form of DENIAL of the proposal;

(e) an inquiry for the reasons of DENIAL of the proposal;

If you intend on ACCEPTING the proposal you shall fill document (c). In this case you will receive a letter with the applicant's contacts within 1 hour. The applicant will also receive a letter your contacts within the same period.

If you intend on DENYING the proposal you shall fill documents (d) AND (e).

It is highly recommended to keep documents (a) AND(b) for future reference.

For purposes of organization and decrease of the process delay you should send your answer to de Department of Marriage within 120 hours. Otherwise, the proposal will be automatically refused and you will automatically lose the right to send a Proposal to the applicant in question.

With the best regards,

Serena Johnson
DEPT. OF MARRIAGE

About an hour after she sent her answer to Malfoy, the previous owl came back with another piece of parchment.

I appreciate your trust and I understand the need of a public place, so I suggest we meet at The Three Broomsticks, in Hogsmead, a place I believe you are familiar with.

I am free Friday afternoon. Will 4pm be ok with you?

Draco Malfoy

'He already dropped the formalities' she thought. Well, in a way that could be a good thing because Hermione would feel even more awkward having to pretend they had never talked to each other before. 'If you call that thing we used to do talking…'

Her reply could not be simpler.

Friday, 4 pm. I will be there.

Hermione Granger

And so it was settled. In approximately 2 days she was going to have a date with Malfoy. 'Oh shut it already! It's not a date! You're going to meet him to understand why on earth he would ask you to marry him considering your past together. If he convinces you, then maybe, just maybe, you'll go on a real date.'

She didn't really know what she was supposed to think. This was such an extreme situation that her mind was racing. All that was left for her to do was prepare. Luckily, she had the present and the next two days off because she had already done the work for the week. Old habits die hard.

After all the morning fuss, Hermione decided it was a good opportunity to go out for lunch. Considering that her life was to be determined (at least to a certain point) by the Ministry, she might as well enjoy her few days or weeks left. And so she did. She went to Hogsmeade, lunched at a small restaurant she knew and then went shopping. Hermione wasn't used to spend copious amounts time searching store after store, trying to find the perfect outfit. She was a simple woman, who liked to dress nicely but confortably. It took her approximately one hour and a half to find the outfit she decided would be appropriate to meet Malfoy.

'Now that that's done, I am going to the…'

You already know where she went right?

'…bookstore.'

Not too difficult, right? To the bookstore she went. Now that's a place where Hermione Granger could spend hours on end and never be tired of it. Every day there were new books to discover and new worlds to explore. With a book she could enter a world of her own and never ever have to be concerned about an unnecessary law created by some ignoble people.

'Miss?' The bookshop keeper interrupted Hermione when she was reading a passage from an ancient book on the Goblin's Rebellions of the 17th century.

'Yes?'

'I apologize Miss, but it's almost closing time and I have to ask you to leave.' The old lady reminded Hermione of her own grandmother, always talking with a smile on her face and kindness to offer. The bookshop keeper was a small lady, with big blue eyes and the remnants of a long lost beauty. Hermione couldn't be other than nice to the lady, for she never complained about the long hours Hermione spent there, scrutinizing all books.

'Oh, yes, I'm sorry. I guess I have to go anyway. I haven't even realized the time passing by.'

'Oh don't you worry dear.' she smiled and looked at the books in Hermione's hands 'Are you going to take those?'

'Yes, please. These are such interesting books I just couldn't take my eyes off of them'.

'There aren't many people your age that like those types of books. I guess people think that what's past is past and is no longer worth their time.' The old lady gave Hermione a small smile while she scanned the bar codes 'We tend to forget that what are for us the past and the history, were the present and the life for all those people portrayed in those boring books.' By the time she finished the sentence, the lady had her eyes fixed on emptiness, what Hermione interpreted as her having been through some events that were now history.

The lady woke up from her reverie and then retrieved Hermione's money.

'I am so sorry dear. Sometimes I just fly to a different time and I get lost in it. Excuse an old lady remembering her golden days.'

'Please, don't apologize. Everybody has their own ways to fly away. I guess now there's a big list of people that wouldn't mind to do it.'

'You're talking about the new law, isn't it? I've heard of it. A customer told me all about it one of these days. Oh, look, he's exactly the only person your age I know – besides you – that buys books on Wizarding History.'

'That's funny. I guess I should try to find him then. Maybe we could have some interesting discussion about the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy of 1689. You don't happen to know his name, do you?' asked Hermione, her undying curiosity piqued by the possibility of knowing someone who would read the same boring books as her.

'No, dear, I don't know his name. Here you go.' the lady gave her the books and Hermione started to leave for the exit when the lady said 'All I know is that he has nice platinum blond hair; a nice young man, about your age, if I'm not mistaken. Maybe you can search for him around. His hair is hard to miss.' she smiled and finally said 'Goodbye my dear. I'll see you soon.'

Hermione bid the lady goodbye and turned her face around so that she could hide her shock from the woman. 'Malfoy? In a bookstore? Looking for History books? No, that's not possible! He couldn't. It must be another man. It has to be another person. He can't be the only platinum blond haired guy here… or can he?'

That night Hermione almost couldn't sleep. Almost. She couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of finally finding someone with common interests. Her friendship with Ron and Harry had been the best of her life, but they had interests that were in totally opposite sides: they loved to play Quidditch, she couldn't even fly straight; they loved chess, she thought they pieces crushed each other was barbaric; she liked to read as much as possible and they wouldn't even read what was asked of them; she cherished books and took care of them the best way possible, but they wouldn't mind to rip a few pages to play target-shooting on their free time. It was just too difficult to maintain a serious conversation about any subject she liked.

Right now, with Ron's death and Harry's absence, she needed to find someone to talk to or she would drive herself crazy.

'Well, I guess I know what I have to do. I'll have to explore this possibility the best way I can and try to create some sort of connection.'

AN: I hope you enjoyed the story so far. I know that some people may think this is going too slow but I believe these chapters are important to understand the connections and relations between the different characters. Please tell me what you think ;)
Once again, please forgive any grammar mistakes, for I am not an English native speaker :)