Well, this is chapter two, it's a bit random and more pointed than the other, and rather short i know. But don't worry, they get longer as they go. As always, i hope you like it. :-))

A giant thanks to my beta-reader Alix33- this story would be heinously punctuated without her.



February 14th

It was bloody irony that they had set the date for St. Valentine 's Day… Hermione glanced down at her high-heels and winced.

Dressing up for this was probably a mistake.

He'd probably show up in jeans and a t-shirt just to make her look stupid. Or Eager.

At this point, the second seemed dramatically worse.

The thin wizard with a beaked nose stared distractedly at her. He was in charge of Ceremonies of Magical Binding blah blah blah.

In essence, he married witches and wizards. However, this was done in the magical sense of the word. Which was much more permanent.

"Are you here for a binding ceremony?" he asked suddenly in a surprising baritone for one so frail-looking.

No, She thought rebelliously I'm just here in 2-inch heels and a fancy dress that I spent way too much money on, for kicks.

However, seeing, as he probably wouldn't care, she merely said

"Yes, I am."
He peered around the waiting room, looking for the usual second person needed for the spell.

"You appear to be missing something vital."

He said it very kindly, as if he were worried that she had forgotten.
She sighed, and felt her head begin to pound.

"He's coming. He said that he'd be late."
"Ah…"

The skinny wizard turned back to his papers and ignored her.

"Sorry I'm late, Granger..."

The blond coolly strode through the door, looking impeccable as usual. A sharp black suit set his eyes and hair off perfectly, Hermione noted. Feeling a bit annoyed that he always looked completely at ease, and haughtily bored with the world around him. It was at times like these that she was reminded of his relation to the late Sirius Black. Although she'd never been forced to marry Sirius; she'd never wanted to throw the late Mr. Black across the room with a well placed spell either. But there was that regality about him that was almost tangible…

At least he'd dressed up. She wouldn't look too ridiculous.

He seemed to take in her appearance with the same amount of surprise that she looked at him.

"It's fine," she replied shortly, standing and only wobbling slightly on her heels.
Draco automatically shot a hand out to steady her, but it dropped short as she righted herself quickly. He thankfully saw that she had not noticed his almost heroics.

They turned in unison to the wizard that Hermione had been speaking to earlier; he was watching them with slight bemusement.

"Are you two ready now?"
They both took a deep breath, and nodded.


"You are hereby bound for a year and a day..."
"A year and a day?" Draco interrupted before Hermione could. "I think you're a bit confused, Mr. Tylei...as far as I know, marriage is supposed to last a bit longer." His voice was wry and vaguely sarcastic. Hermione wondered if the elderly wizard had noticed Malfoy's tone.
Mr. Tylei raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Then…you don't know about the clause?"

Hermione frowned.

"What clause?"
He cleared his throat importantly.

"Because of the recent influx of young witches and wizards in to get married before the Marriage Law expires; there have been some circumstances where the arrangements which were made in haste prove to be completely unlivable."
Like this one? thought Hermione unhappily.

"And so a new clause was instituted, for the Witches and Wizards who marry now, they have a year and a day to decide whether or not to make the marriage magically legal. Or to separate."
"What do you mean magically legal?" asked Draco, his eyes narrowed yet again.

Mr. Tylei coughed uncomfortably into his fist.

"By… well… you know… um… consummating the relationship."

Both Draco and Hermione looked completely nonplussed at this revelation.
"You mean to make it legal we have to...?"
"Yes." finished Tylei. Looking relieved that he didn't have to explain further. "That is actually an old type of binding to prove that the marriage was real. Now it has been instituted to finish the Marriage Binding Spell."

Draco coughed and Hermione stared into space.

"If the marriage is not made legal by the end of the year and the day, then you will be required to find another possible candidate before the deadline, or the Ministry will choose for you."
Hermione got the mental picture of Umbridge bending gleefully over a parchment full of Argus Filch-Type names.

"We understand." She muttered, and Draco nodded.

"Good..." said Tylei "So glad you understand that all right, although clearly that won't be a problem for you two, you're both so obviously in love."
Hermione choked and Malfoy paled. They only made eye contact once, and in their defense, it was completely accidental. They immediately looked away, both fighting the urge to gag.

"Now if you two will make your way out, I have another appointment in a few minutes."


Hermione sat in the restaurant, thankfully taking off the heels that were slowly murdering her feet.

She stared down at the rather large diamond ring on her finger.

Draco had given it to her without a shred of feeling. He merely handed her the ring box in the restaurant some minutes after they Disapparated out of the Ministry.

His band was a single white gold circlet encrusted with small diamonds and emeralds around the edge.

Hermione's ring could probably pick its teeth with his.

"You will be coming to live at the manor won't you?" he asked very suddenly.

Hermione jerked from admiring her ring and stared at him.

"At your house?"
He smirked.

"It's your house too now, Granger."
"I'm not Granger anymore." she retorted.

Hermione Malfoy.

It both fascinated and repulsed her.

"So you are," he replied, taking a quick sip of his drink. She did the same.

The pause drug on.

"Your parents live there." Hermione muttered finally. Draco managed a confused frown before he answered.

"Yes. They do. What of it?"
Her eyes met his evenly.

"They hate me."
"No they don't."
She laughed.

"Yes they do. They hate me like you do. For what I am."
"Did." He answered, gray eyes flashing "Like I did. I married you, didn't I?"
"For convenience sake."
Another too long pause.

"So what if they do?" he asked.

"I don't want to live in a house with people who blame me for ruining their son's life."

He managed a single angry chuckle.

"They've done well enough by themselves, Granger. I doubt that you'll outdo them."
Her eyes were drawn to the spot where his Dark Mark was, underneath the black sleeve.

He noticed her stare and smiled mirthlessly.

She blushed and dropped her gaze.

"It still would be awkward."
He sighed. "I am the lord of the house now. They will do what I say."
"That doesn't make it any better."
"You're impossible you know that?"
She smirked.

"Isn't that why you married me? Or was it for my body?"

The waiter returned a moment later interrupting the conversation.

As soon as they were alone

"I thought girls didn't make inappropriate jokes?"
Hermione laughed

"Perhaps your pansy Slytherin girls didn't. But in Gryffindor, you fight for your own. Besides, my two best friends were boys, and we were mates at their most disgusting moments of life. You can imagine that I barely escaped with my naturally naïve disposition."

There was another odd moment where he almost smiled at her wry joke. He used her own tactic and changed the subject.

"Do you really refuse to come live at the Manor?"
The topic change struck her off guard.

"I don't really refuse. I just don't see how it would be profitable for me to go there when clearly we're going to have to find different mates as soon as the year and the day is up."

"Why do you say that?" he asked, surprised

She laughed.

"Well clearly we're never going to… you know."
"Have sex?"
The waiter appeared again with their main entrée. They ordered with only the barest traces of decorum, waiting until the waiter was just out of earshot to continue.

"Yes, have sex," she answered quickly, watching him carefully for a reaction. He made none and sipped his soup.

She wondered if he practiced being cold, or if he were born with a naturally glacial disposition.

"How do you know we wouldn't?" He asked suddenly.
She glanced up from her salad to his unreadable face. "As if you would sully your private bits with Mudblood. Or even worse, help create a little Half-Blood."
"Half-Blood's aren't so bad," he mused, ignoring her insinuations. "I've known several that aren't all wonky, including your friend Potter."
"You don't hate Harry either?" she raised her eyebrow in surprise "Merlin's hat, Malfoy, you've had a change of heart. A year ago and you would have Avada Kedavra'd him in the blink of an eye. Without orders."
His eyes dropped to his Dark Mark unconsciously and Hermione immediately regretted her flippant tone.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, twisting the ring on her finger.

"Don't be," he replied without emotion.

And they found that there was nothing more to say.


Anyway, i'll be uploading soon, review if you like it. :-) it makes me rather happy when you do.

Until next time,

Red