Went back and fixed a mistake in the last chapter. I realized that Ginny will still have her year of Hogwarts to attend after her birthday comes and it would make much more sense for them to be married after her graduation instead. R&R, critic always welcome.
xxx
Lucius and Narcissa had intended to keep their son in the dark about the arrangement until that Weasley girl came of age, hoping for him to enjoy his life and freedom without the feeling that each day brought him closer to losing those things. It would be best if he wasn't given so much time to build a bitter mindset toward the arrangement, as neither had any intentions of canceling it.
Unfortunately, two months before his Hogwarts graduation, he began writing to them about the new girl he was seeing at Hogwarts, a fifth year Slytherin named Astoria Greengrass. He described her as regal and stunning and speculated that his parents would adore her.
"You know Draco; he never keeps one girl for very long. It won't become serious." Lucius had assured Narcissa when she voiced worries to her husband. But when the two were still quite attached at the celebration taking place after his graduation, they both realized that perhaps their son had suddenly given up his seemingly perpetual bachelorhood.
"I will not make the mistake that muggle-loving Arthur Weasley is making!" Narcissa hissed as Draco and the girl greeted the guests at the celebration, his arm protective around her waist. "He's clearly yet to have told his daughter, she's still seeing Harry Potter, Lucius. She will be furious when he tells her she's wasted her time going and falling in love with that boy when they never had a chance. I will not let Draco hate us anymore than he already might."
Lucius looked conflicted but over their years together, had learned when to give into his wife and nodded his head in agreement. "You're right, darling. After the guests leave, we'll tell him."
And so, four hours later the three Malfoys' sat together in the elegant family room, tea and biscuits set out before them as Lucius and Narcissa traded uncertain glances until Draco finally cleared his throat.
"Mother, father," he began, looking at them suspiciously. "What do you have to say to me? Is this about Astoria? Surely you approve, she's quite lovely, I assure you."
Narcissa held up a hand to stop him, looking pained. "She is a lovely girl, Draco."
He looked proud at having chosen someone she approved of and was not expecting the words that followed from her mouth. "But you must stop seeing her. It will never be able to go anywhere, Draco."
"Why's that! She's a pureblood!" He exclaimed.
Lucius sighed; a hand covering his wife's to stop her from becoming upset as he spoke over her. "And she will make another man a wonderful bride. Unfortunately, that man cannot be you, not when we have already selected you another beautiful witch as a bride-to-be."
It took Draco a very long few moments to process this and Narcissa seemed worried he would drop the teacup in his hand with the stunned look upon his face. But then his expression darkened as he steadied his gray-eyed gaze on his parents once more. "You have already what? I am of age. I am my own man, a decision such as that is mine and mine alone. How dare you? You never believed I would actually accept this girl, did you?"
"It doesn't matter." Lucius told him. "The contract has been signed. It is binding, you have no choice. The only way to get out of it is if you truly become your 'own man' as you put it, and disinherit yourself. You must cease being the Malfoy heir."
Narcissa and Lucius both knew that their son was lying when he suddenly jumped to his feet and spat that he would do just that. His tone had held no real conviction and Draco knew no life outside of that as a wealthy, respectable Malfoy. Nonetheless, neither was pleased when he apparated from the home suddenly and Narcissa looked close to tears. "It will all be alright, love." Lucius assured her, rubbing the back of her hand gently.
Xx
Months later, Ginny Weasley returned to the burrow on the evening of her birthday after a day out with Harry, who had remained her loving boyfriend since his fifth year. She'd expected the chorus of 'happy birthday's that greeted her when she walked in the door and her mother's arms around her, embracing her for a long while as she tearfully stated that her last baby was now all grown up and off to her last year at Hogwarts.
"You've received your final Hogwarts letter as well, dear. Oh, this is such a significant moment, Ginny."
As she laughed embarrassedly and mumbled a thank you to her mother, Ginny tore open the letter, the usual list of supplies needed as well as the stressing of how important the N.E. would be. And a surprise awaited her, shock flitting into her chocolate eyes and Molly Weasley bursting into tears as the unmistakable Head Girl badge fell into her palm. She stared, gaping.
"Oh, Ginny!" Molly cried, sweeping her into her arms again as Hermione suddenly looked just as excited, telling Ginny all about her new responsibilities and the like and Fred and George cracked a joke about how disappointed they were in her. Harry slung an arm around her shoulders when Molly released her, pressed a kiss to her cheek and told her 'congratulations'.
"Alright, alright. Let's let the birthday girl breathe a bit. This is a big day," Arthur interrupted, beaming as he pulled his wife away from Ginny and Harry. Only then did she notice the enormous cake, lit up with candles and taking up half of the table and the gifts stacked in a high pile behind it.
"Guys, this is brilliant, but you didn't have to go to all this trouble." She insisted, unable to stop the smile that spread across her face as she looked around the group of people filling the Weasley kitchen, already a large number with her huge family, and adding to it her own Hogwarts friends and several members of the Order. When it had been Harry's birthday, such a group and all the gifts and cake was to be expected, but she hadn't expected much more than a nice family dinner and a few cards for her own. After all, she was only Ginny Weasley.
After a long, loud song wishing her a happy birthday, she was finally ushered to sit at the head of the table with the rest of the group, while Arthur and Molly stood and cleared his throat, smiling lovingly at her. "I can still remember the day you were born, the little baby girl I had always wanted." Arthur started, ignoring another crack from George about knowing Ron had always been unwanted. "You've always been a bright, happy young lady and you've grown up beautifully. Your mother and I are so proud of you, Gin."
Their speech went on for a few more minutes, recounting accomplishments of hers and rambling about what a brave, strong girl she was and how much they loved her. Then boxes were being placed in front of her to open and she was genuinely thanking everyone as she opened their gifts, shocked that everybody seemed to have gotten her something she had wanted or needed without her ever having mentioned most of the items.
"Everything is so wonderful, everyone. Thank you so much, you really didn't have to." She said, smiling at the group around her. I am lucky she found herself thinking as she looked at each grinning face, more happy blessings being echoed at her. "I'm giving you my gift later, after things have calmed down a bit. I don't want to overload the excitement." Harry's laughter filled voice drifted into her ear, drawing her from her thoughts and she stared into his eyes, so filled with love for her, puzzled. "Your gift? But you took me out to eat. It was lovely." And it had been, just the two of them at an exquisite little restaurant in muggle London, where they had sat at a table out on a balcony and watched the sky begin to grow pink and golden. She'd thought that was her gift, but Harry, having never had any real birthday celebrations before he turned eleven, had always taken things above and beyond.
He just smiled wider and kissed her quickly as Arthur began to cut pieces of the cake. Finally, things had settled down a bit and the home had cleared out some, leaving only the Weasley family, Hermione and Harry in the kitchen, laughing and recounting old memories.
"I suppose there's no better time than now," Harry said suddenly as a moment of silence broke into the conversation, beaming confidently at Ginny as his hand dipped into his robes. Whatever he had been about to say was interrupted by the arrival of a massive black owl landing on the table, a small package in its talons with a letter on top.
"It's from the Malfoy family." Ron stated, looking disgusted as Ginny took hold of the package. Arthur and Molly exchanged glances, looking nervous. "Ginny dear, maybe you should wait to-"
But she didn't listen, pulling open the letter that was addressed to her and unfolding it as she read out loud.
"Ginevra,
I wish you a most lovely day today and congratulate you on your coming of age. This will be an important year for you to come as you embark on the next chapter of your life and enter your final year at Hogwarts. You are a remarkable young woman and I am so delighted to have you joining our family. I am certain that you will be a most worthy carrier of the Malfoy name. I wish you and your parents to join us at the Manor for dinner in three days so we may get to know one another and a writer for the Prophet may take a photo of you and Draco for the announcement of your engagement. Dress in formal wear. I greatly look forward to meeting you. Enclosed is the ring that my father gave to my mother when he proposed to her. It is only right that it is now passed down to you, as my to be daughter-in-law.
Sincerely,
Narcissa Malfoy"
She looked up, meeting silence and shocked expressions before her eyes finally settled on the twins. "You two are ridiculous." She told them, "You can't even give it a rest on my birthday. Is this going to explode when I pull the bow off?" She gestured toward the wrapped box, still sitting on the table.
"Gin, we didn't send you that."
"Brilliant idea though, you should have seen the look on your face."
"Mum still looks ready to be sick." Fred added with a lighthearted laugh, silenced at the look his mother shot him as Arthur looked at a loss for words.
"It's not a prank." He finally said, looking at the letter in her hands. "Ginny dear, perhaps we should talk about this tomorrow. It's already been an eventful day."
She stared back at him in disbelief. "Talk about…? No, you can't possibly be serious about this."
"I know you must be surprised but you must see the positive outcome this union could have, Ginny. Bringing our families together would do wondrous things for everyone." Molly attempted, not even looking convinced of this as the words left her mouth.
"Mum, dad, I don't know what is going through your heads but I will not, I can't, marry Draco Malfoy. I'm still in school! And I'm with Harry!"
Molly sighed. "We shouldn't have kept you from this news for so long. We just wanted you to enjoy your youth without this hanging over your head, and I admit I wondered if they would even want to go through with it at the very end of things."
"What do you mean by that? How long has this thing been set up?" She demanded, her hand finding Harry's and holding tight to it, as if she had no idea what she would do if she wasn't gripping his fingers. Everybody else had remained silent, watching the scene unfold between Ginny and her parents with mixed expressions. It was clear that this news had stunned the entire group into silence.
"Since Lucius Malfoy stopped by on Harry's birthday last year." Arthur admitted, shame shading his features. "When the ministry shut down my old department all those years ago, Lucius Malfoy helped to keep us paying our bills. It took a great deal of time for me to go to him for the help, but it was necessary. We signed a magical, binding contract. He had come that day to collect the money I owed him, which I didn't have." Arthur paused, searching his daughter's face and finding an emotionless mask before he continued, guilt coating his words. "The contract never stated the debt had to be paid back in money and he noticed you that day, Ginny, and he wanted you promised to Draco. He was hardly asking, there wasn't even a choice, you see."
Harry interrupted then, squeezing Ginny's hand reassuringly. "So I'll pay off whatever you owed back then. I'll pay back double if I have to," he said. "Then it'll be cleared and this marriage contract won't exist anymore, right?"
Molly hesitated, and then shook her head sadly. "Harry, you wonderful, wonderful boy. If only it were that easy, though. You see, the contract is binding. The only way out of it is a divorce- which can only be granted after the couple has been together a minimum of two years. It's a very old thing, and rather commonplace in pureblood families. Why, if I hadn't met Arthur in school, my mother had always intended to promise me to someone so you see, it isn't so unusual, dear."
"Yet you haven't done it with anyone else. And this was to clear a debt, using me. You can't excuse it away, mum! I just... I want to go to bed." She finally sighed, head spinning. In a matter of hours, her life had completely been flipped, the future she had envisioned with Harry wiped away just like that. She pulled her hand from his and left the room, but he caught up with her at the bottom of the staircase.
"Ginny, listen…"
"There's no point, Harry. You heard them. I'm stuck, doomed to be a bloody Malfoy."
"No," Harry insisted, cupping her cheeks with his hands lightly. "Maybe not. If there is a way around this, I will find it. Maybe the ministry can do something about it, pull some strings or something." He frowned, it was no secret that Harry detested his unavoidable publicity, the way that he could get by with very nearly anything being that he was 'The Chosen One', but all he wanted was equal treatment. Indeed, if there was anyone that an allegedly binding, magical marriage contract could be broken for, it would be Harry Potter. "Look, I know this is hardly the best time, but if – no,when this whole thing is sorted out, I want to marry you, Ginny. I want to build our life together. I want you." As he was speaking, he had fished into his robes and was now holding out his hand, palm up, where a white-gold ring sat in the middle, a large rock of a diamond shining beautifully and Ginny found she was at a loss for words.
Though she didn't care one bit for Draco, was it fair to either of them to accept Harry's ring? They couldn't be engaged, not truly, when she was technically engaged to be Draco's wife. But Harry seemed to know exactly what she was thinking as he plunged on. "Even if you do get stuck in this thing, I want you to have my ring. Even if you don't wear it, it's yours. You're mine where it really matters, no matter if your last name becomes 'Malfoy' or not and as soon as those two years end, I'll still be here and you'll become my wife then, and this mess will become a distant memory." He had pressed the ring into her hand, knowing it wouldn't be quite appropriate to slip it onto her finger, and kissed her on the forehead with that, wishing her a final happy birthday and good night's rest before he turned and walked out of sight, leaving Ginny to her thoughts.
She had always been so certain that it would be her and Harry, not for one single second had she doubted it and it felt as though everything had just come crashing down around her. Her wonderful birthday had ended dreadfully and she had no idea how she was expected to get through the upcoming school year knowing that once it ended, she was destined to become Mrs. Ginny Malfoy. She nearly shuddered at the thought, it just sounded so unbelievably wrong.
The only thing that she had to comfort her as she drifted to sleep was the thought that maybe, just maybe, there was some hope that she could get out of it, that Harry could get her out of this mess or that the Malfoy family would suddenly wake up and remember that she was a Weasley and they were the poor, lowly blood traitors that weren't fit to so much as kick a Malfoy house elf. And how in the world had they managed to get Draco agreed to this, she wondered, finding that a very difficult thought to wrap her mind around. Even greater than that, how was she to make it through a formal dinner with Lucius, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy in just a couple of days as well as pose for pictures, pretending to be pleased that she was suddenly going from Harry Potter's girlfriend (and, she thought bitterly, the prophet would surely get in a good jab at her for that) to the cruel, egotistical, self-entitled prat that was Draco Malfoy?
The last thought on her mind before she fell asleep was that this was bound to be a very long, very unbearable two years she would have to endure before her life could finally be 'right' again.
to be continued.