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"You've gone off your rocker." Hermione whispered her dark chocolate eyes wide, as well as her jaw dropped. For once, she felt the twilight zone. She clenched the blankets even tighter in her hands, and her muscles all the way down to her toes tightened in repulsion.
"Ms. Granger, for the time being, I will accept your accusation." Professor Dumbledore chuckled, and smiled at her. Standing up, he turned to the newest person in the room.
"Let me introduce you to your fiancé, Mr. Malfoy. However, I am slightly certain you two are somewhat acquainted." His tense attitude seemed to have disappeared altogether, as if the displeasure of both students was enough to almost make him giddy.
"Dumbledore, you told me a student of muggle birth, NOT HER!" Draco announced. He starred at Hermione, and grew angry.
"You agreed to this Mr. Malfoy, you swore an oath to your godfather, to me, to your mother-" The aged professor, smirked at him, and cocked his head to the left, as if to wait for a dispute.
Draco stood there for a while, not saying a word, glaring at Hermione, then Dumbledore. He wore all black, making his pale skin almost glow in contrast. Hermione had never been in such civil, intimate quarters with him, and she was fascinated with his composure. Why did he promise his mother to help Dumbledore?
"What are you doing here?" She heard herself asking. She covered her mouth with her hand so quickly; it was as if she had blurted out an obscene secret.
He failed to acknowledge her, but he did get out of his state long enough to look at Dumbledore to nod in agreement.
"Only on the condition that she never talks." He said, throwing a strained smirk in her direction.
Dumbledore chuckled, and Hermione dropped her hand.
"No Granger, you were right in the beginning-" He made motioned to put her hand back over her lips.
"I won't do it." Hermione contested.
"Anyone but him, I'll marry anyone but him." She slid off the bed, and stood up, her head got cloudy from the sedative elixir, and she nearly fell back onto the bed.
"Are you drunk Granger?" Draco asked, amused and also serious.
"Oh piss off Malfoy. Professor, my answer is no, I can't accept your offer. Not if he is to be my husband." She shook her head, and regretted it immediately, she watched as the room circled twice without her moving, and felt her stomach churn.
"Ms.Granger, I know that this is a hard turn of events, especially within the last few hours. You must trust me when I tell you that if there were any other way to accommodate you, and still be in line to get the same result, I would take that road. However, we do not have the time, or the same opportunity." He shook his head, and walked towards her, making her sit down in a chair.
She slowly put her head down into her hands, and groaned. There was no way that Dumbledore would put her in this position if it wasn't the greatest chance for success. In her defense however, it was impossible. He was an imbecile.
Draco watched her as she ignored both his and the professor, and rested her head in her hands. He should have known it would be her that he'd be stuck marrying. He knew what he was meant to do, but her. Hermione fucking Granger. He sat in the chair parallel to hers, and rolled his eyes. Dumbledore was an ass. He walked in expecting anyone but her.
Dumbledore clapped his hands, bringing them both out of their dreamy state. Hermione groaned lightly, and Draco grinned at the reaction.
"Let me explain the situation to you Ms.Granger, perhaps you will reconsider your position on the matter." He said looking at her with a twinkle that suddenly grew mischievous.
She nodded, and Draco leaned his head back, appearing to be bored and uncaring as if he was hearing it for the millionth time.
Well too bad, Hermione thought, I hope he falls over.
"We had gotten wind of the bill in advance, as you can see; we needed to be prepared for the reaction of the female population." He began. Hermione felt a stab of betrayal; even her favorite professors knew and didn't warn them of the atrocity.
"Not to long after we were informed of that bill, Mr.Malfoy became part of our unit. An informant, offering to help us stop the dark lord." He stopped, and Hermione raised an eyebrow in the direction of Draco.
Why the hell would he, of all people, want to help Dumbledore?
"He informed us that his initiation into the dark lord's inner circle was nearing, and that before he was inducted, he was required to devise a plan that portrayed his skills. Something that would make the dark lord need him, keep him close, let him know what weaknesses they had." He paused, and grabbed a lemon drop out of thin air.
Even Draco gawked at that.
"So in thinking of a plan, the bill came into play. Suddenly, magical families around the world would be taking in muggle born witches as their newest family members. So what would happen if the faithful, pure sidekick of The-Boy-Who-Lived married the son of a purebred who values his bloodline like a leprechaun values his money?" He paused, and Hermione starred at him.
"He'd be mad, and he'd kill the girl in question. That would be me professor, I'd rather not die, and have Hermione Malfoy on my headstone." She said, exasperated with the concocted idea that seemed to have no grounds for logic.
He laughed, and Draco rolled his, muttering something along the lines of "Trust me, they'd kill me first."
"Not if the new inductee presented a plan that brought down the adversary of Voldemort" At that Draco visibly tensed.
"And how would that happen-" Hermione stopped, the cloudiness stopped, and she nearly wished for it to come back.
"Your going to use me again Harry, aren't you." She said, her voice shook lightly, and she looked at him with hope that he would change his mind.
"If Mr.Malfoy convinced them, that by making you fall in love with him, you would break down the structure of his adversary. If by marrying you, you caused chaos and a sense of who to trust within the Light side, and bringing what is the most exceptional brain in an era onto their side." He looked at Draco who was finally at attention.
"Then he'd be welcomed to the inner circle, and you would be untouched, both of you are public figures, remember that. You would appear to be bringing unity to the community on the outside. Behind closed doors, they would use you to get information, and we could detect spies within our own system. You'd get inside information, learn there trades, and you'd protect one another."
Hermione pursed her lips, and looked at Draco. Sure, she had looked at him before, but not like this. She couldn't imagine what it would be like, having to pretend to love him! It wasn't possible. No matter how well they played the game, he was who he was, and she was not going to change.
"Professor my answer is still no." Hermione said, her gut felt as if a cold knife ran into it.
The man before her nodded, and stood up.
"Ms.Granger, I would never cause you to do something that would be against your will, but I beg you, on behalf of the wizarding community, for the future, do this, and I will get you out." He looked at her with the utmost sincerity that of course, only Dumbledore contained.
Draco sat up in his seat and looked at her as if he was challenging her. Egging her on to say no, to disappoint him, to back out. For the first time, she wanted to indulge his sick brain.
"Professor- I…" Her head pounded.
"Will I be able to tell anyone? Anyone at all?" She asked.
Dumbledore nodded.
"Only one, for both of you, in case anything ever happens to me, you'll both be exempt from confinement. But beware, if you do tell anyone, they could blow your entire cover, and you could be killed before I could even protect you." She nodded; it was what she had thought.
"What about my friends? What about my family?" She began, panicked, as if the decision had already been made.
"How will they ever forgive me?" She asked him, her eyes pleading with him to change his mind.
The aged man sighed, and smiled slightly. His eyes never lost their sparkle, but they were full of sadness, almost too much to look at.
"If they are the people, that you and I believe them to be, then when the time comes, you'll know what to do."
Hermione strained a smile, and said nothing.
Draco gave a frustrated sigh and stood up.
"Her answer is no, she's too afraid of losing her darling admirers-" He paused and faced Hermione.
"You're wasting our time, now either answer the question and get it over with, or I'll answer it for you, in favor of both of us."
Hermione starred at him, her blood boiling.
"It's a tough decision FERRET, that's why I need to think it through, or maybe thinking is something you're not too familiar with." She snapped back, standing up, not caring that her brain wanted to explode out of her scalp.
Draco grinned.
"Good, now that we've stopped playing miss innocent indecisive, it's a yes or no answer. You just nod your head for a yes-" He exaggerated the motions as he spoke.
"And shake your head for a no."
Neither noticed that the headmaster slipped away from the room as they argued.
"You know if you cared about ANYONE else, you'd realize why this was hard for me. What the hell are you playing at anyway, pretending to be the repentant asshole or something?" She placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side, waiting for him to answer.
He glared at her, and ran his hand through his hair.
"I'm here because I chose to be here. Nobody saved me, nobody gave me the divine speech about me working for good and leaving the dark side. So don't get any ideas on thinking I've got some calling. I did it because I did, end of story-" He hissed.
"No, if I'm going to be forced to marry someone like you, I deserve an answer." She countered, not backing down for a moment.
"Well then you don't have to worry, no ones forcing you, you can say no. This is what I've been waiting for you to say, all you have to do is give us a freaking answer."
"And what happens to you Malfoy, if I don't say yes. I'm not an idiot, if I don't say yes, then the whole plan goes to shit, then you're stuck having to act like Snape the rest of your life without me as your protection. See, if you screw up-which you probably will, because you don't have the willpower-and I'm NOT there, then they'll kill you. But if I'm there, and you screw up, you're able to use me as leverage, they can't kill you, because the whole world will know you married me, and if the happy integrated family is gone, then they'll all be suspects, you dear ol' daddy included." She shouted, panting for air.
"Then what are you waiting for, oh savior of the world. If you're role is so damn important, why don't you answer the fucking question." He challenged.
She opened her mouth to say something, when she stopped herself.
"I…" She murmured, not able to find the words.
"That's right, because when it comes down to it Granger, your still just a sidekick." Draco walked out and left Hermione in the room.
Hermione didn't watch him leave, she didn't cry, she just stared at the spot that he stood in, and replayed the words in her head.
"Well, now, you'll have to excuse me, I did not mean to leave without a proper goodbye." Dumbledore walked in as if nothing had happened.
Hermione shook her head out of her stupor.
"Not at all professor, it's quite fine." She said, nodding as if trying to convince herself that it was.
"Ah, Mr. Malfoy left, I see, well Ms. Granger, I'd like for you to give me your answer by the days end. Lemon drop?"
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Hermione walked along the bridge and leaned against the railing that overlooked the lake. She wrapped her arms around her chest and rubbed her arms to get warm. The crisp air bit at her nose, and she reveled in how calm it made her feel. If only this could last forever, she thought.
"Granger, don't look so depressed, it's not like you're-"
Without opening her eyes she said.
"Shut up Malfoy, leave me alone."
She could feel the heat of his body as he leaned on the pole next to her. She opened her eyes and turned to him.
"It's not like you're going to die." He finished, a smug look written all over her face.
"Oh trust me Malfoy, if I were to have to choose between marrying you, or dying." She paused, and scoffed.
"I think it's easy to say that the depressed look would go to the wedding day."
He grinned and placed her face close enough to her face where the heat of his breath trailed her jaw line.
"Granger, after the wedding night, you wouldn't be able to make a face, let alone attempt to be depressed. That is, if you're virgin-" He emphasized on the word.
"Mind can contemplate what I mean by that."
Hermione shivered inwardly and pushed him away, swatting her hand at him, as if he were an insect that she wished to shoo. However, it didn't stop the goose bumps from scaling up her arms and down to her thighs.
"Stop being a pervert; just tell me why you're doing this." She questioned him again, this time, less demanding.
His arrogant demeanor dropped slightly, and it was as if he visibly humanized himself to her. It made Hermione cock her head to the side, as if to analyze him.
"Your weasel friend is in the around the corner, with that freckled speck of a wizard and the slobbery fool, Longbottum. I'm going to propose to you right now, and you're going to make the decision, if you make me look stupid, it's done, no going back. If you say yes, no going back." He began to get down on one knee, unveiling a large square diamond that looked as if it would sink her to the bottom of the lake, even through the bridge.
"Malfoy, don't you fucking dare. I'll run." She warned her eyes wide. She whipped her head back, and could hear her three friends coming towards them.
"If you want to run, you can run." He said nonchalant, expecting her to back out anyway.
He starred at her from below, and she glared at him from above. For a second, she realized she'd never truly witnessed the color of his eyes. Dark blue, light blue and gray all swirled into an endless circle.
He watched her terrified face, and it seemed magnified from below. Though he didn't feel bad for putting her on the spot, he had questionable feelings regarding her terror.
"Malfoy, put that away now, or I swear, I'll curse you." She warned, the voices getting louder and the footsteps bounding towards them.
"Malfoy!" She yelled.
"Yes or no, or I'll tell them we fucked, which is worse. Fucking me, or marrying me, take your pick, but you'd better hurry the hell up." His voice was sharp, and she knew he was not trying to prove he could do it, he really expect this to be the answer.
"Hermione! Is that you?" Ron yelled from a distance much closer, than she anticipated. She could hear their pounding footsteps, almost as loud as her heart.
"Hermione!"
"Malfoy, leave." She hissed, still unmoving, terrified of actually making a move.
"Granger, you disappoint me. Here, I expected a Gryfindor." Just as he finished saying that, the footsteps stopped and Hermione whipped around, with wide eyes.
The three boys looked at her as if she were crazy.
"Hermione, I know this is a hard time for you and all being that you're going to be banished and all, and well, I'm just wondering, are you talking to yourself?" Neville asked timidly.
She let out a breath as if someone had literally pushed it out of her stomach.
"What?!" She asked, completely confused.
"Well, we heard voices, and no one else is here but you…and well, we didn't hear any footsteps, and…" Seamus trailed off, as if trying not to say it.
"And are we the ones hearing things, or are you just fucking batty is what we're asking." Ron cut in, blowing his long red hair out of his eyes.
Hermione whipped around, and no one was there, no one down the bridge way, just her. It was if he just, disappeared out of the air. He was smart, but not that damn smart. She kept her back to them when she felt a fabric touch the low part of her thigh.
She gulped, and also grew angry. He was making her look like some psycho, head case, and what was worse, she could feel the fabric sliding up and down her calves. Something that no one did, especially not Draco freaking Malfoy.
"Um, just rehearsing a speech, that's all. What're you three doing running down here as if you're a band of Robin Hoods?" She said indignantly, gulping as the fabric continued to run their course on her legs.
"Well we-"
"Nothing. You boys should be studying! You need to be-"
"Oi, we got in eh Neville, Ron, let's get out of here, before SHE starts assigning the homework." Seamus said, groaning.
"You think you're better than us or something Hermione?" Ron asked, taking a step closer to her, and the hidden Draco.
"Excuse-" She was cut off.
"Forget it; you don't listen to anything anyway…" He snapped, turned and stormed off. Hermione stepped back at the comment.
"Ron…"
"Forget it." She heard, as the three walked away.
When they finally were out of earshot, Hermione kicked where she last felt Draco.
"Shit!" She heard, and she winced, as she toe began to throb in her shoes.
She pulled the cloak off of his head, and he sat on the ground, still smirking. She leered at him.
"What are you doing!? And where did you get that, I mean, it's a rare item. What is it with you people and just giving away something that rare to a freaking child?" She grumbled, thinking about her anti-invisible cloak in Hogwarts argument that she'd had with Harry and Ron.
He stood up and shrugged.
"What question do you want me to answer: What I'm doing, why I have a cloak, or why I'm asking you to marry me?" He asked, patronizing her with his tone.
"Why are you doing any of this?" Hermione asked her hands up in the air, frustrated.
"Well-" He started grinning, as if he was about to take another joke on her behalf.
"This isn't a fucking joke Malfoy! This is my life! This is your life! If we do this, I have to trust you, and I can't trust someone who turns on his father, and I don't even know the freaking reason." She yelled, as if she were at her wits end. She shook her head at him, and began to walk away.
Draco watched her, and how frustrated as she was. He rolled his eyes at the spectacle, and sighed.
"Alright, Granger." She paused, not turning, but keeping her back faced towards him.
"I did it because my mom that everyone gets to see, the blonde walking zombie…isn't my mother. My mother wasn't pureblood; she's a poor ass half-blood."
Hermione whipped around, her eyes even wider than when she first read that paper.
"So are you going to marry me? Or not?"
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"Hermione, it's like three in the morning, are you alright, what's wrong, what happened?" Harry yelled sitting up in his bed.
Hermione covered his mouth and shook her head.
He groped around his end table to find his glasses, and slide them on the tip of his nose up-side down.
"Harry…um…meet me in the common room."
Harry stood up, and Hermione blushed. He was wearing only a loose pair of boxers, showing almost all of his body. She'd seen him in those same boxers except he was a scrawny awkward twelve year old, and she had no whims about seeing a boy.
Harry was not a boy any longer however. He was chiseled and shaped, however, pale, but his dark hair and striking eyes, pulled it off. For a second, she almost caught herself checking him out.
"Five minutes…" He muttered, oblivious to her reddening face.
She nodded and went downstairs, wrapping himself up in a blanket and sitting next to the fire. She and Harry did this all the time; someone would wake the other up. Usually, Harry set Hedwig over to the Prefect's common room or Hermione would sneak up into the boy's tower. She didn't know how it started, but she knew when.
It had started around the time the Ron had changed. When Percy started acting better than him, when Sirius died, and when Harry and Hermione started talking. Maybe Hermione had it wrong. Maybe Ron had changed when Harry and Hermione started these talks. Right around the time that Ginny showed interest in Harry as well. Did she ruin their relationship?
"Whatever you're thinking, you're probably wrong." Harry grumbled, walking up to her in an oversized sweater and sweat pants.
Hermione jumped and smiled, showing Harry she wasn't mad.
"I don't know about that." Hermione told him, rolling her eyes.
He flopped onto the ground next to her, and nudged her shoulders.
"What's wrong? I mean, besides the obvious reasons." He asked. Hermione sighed, and starred at the fire.
"If Dumbledore asked you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?" She asked.
Harry laughed, and shrugged.
"Probably" he answered.
"And if he asked you to be a muggle again would you?" She asked, not once taking her eyes off the fire.
He let out a long breath.
"Crap, I don't know, maybe? I trust Dumbledore, just like everybody else, I mean, he's never steered us wrong. Except maybe when he ordered me to stay with the Dursley's, I still think that's a mistake." He said a little bitter at the end.
Hermione nodded, in agreement.
"I second that motion." He nodded again, and they both said nothing.
Hermione turned to look at him; he was starring off into space as well.
"Harry." She asked, her voiced somewhat shaking. He turned to look at her, confused as to why she looked as if she was going to burst into tears at even the slightest sad sound.
"Hermione, what's-" He paused and starred at her and she put her hand to her face, wiping a tear away.
"What's that on your hand?" He asked, alarmed, grabbing her hand, almost roughly.
Hermione gaped at him.
"Hermione!" He nearly yelled.
"Harry keep your voice down." She warned, motioning with her hands for him to be quiet.
"Hermione, explain to me why you've got a diamond the size of my head on your finger." He said in a hushed voice that seemed to be struggling with screaming in frustration.
"Harry, what if Dumbledore asked you to marry Draco Malfoy?" She asked, her eyes watering over, and the hand which he held in his, shaking.
Harry looked at her with a mixture of disgust and surprise, his mouth dropped open in his shock.
"Draco Malfoy?" He repeated, in disbelief, as if he was hoping she would say no that it wasn't what she meant to have said.
"Yes, Harry…Draco Malfoy?" She answered, nodding over and over again, like it would make it truer.
"Draco Malfoy?"
"Yes, Harry-"
"As in most likely to be Voldemorts successor Draco Malfoy?"
"YES HARRY!" She hissed, getting irritated.
His head pounded, and the world seemed to be the one hammering the nail into it.
"Why?"
Hermione began to explain everything to him. Everything from Dumbledore's explanation, to her role, to what happen in the room, and on the bridge, even Draco's big secret. He sat there, floored, but listening to every word.
"So you're, the…next…Mrs.Malfoy then mum?" He asked, almost hoping that the answer would change any minute now.
She winced, grimaced, and cringed all at the same time, creating an all over disgusted face, and nodding at the same time, causing Harry to chuckle slightly and a little uncomfortably.
"Ron'll never understand. You know that right?" He told her, groaning into his hands.
That's when Hermione's heart dropped. She already felt that she and Ginny were the reasons that Ron had become some asshole to the masses, but now, he would consider her a traitor, and would never forgive her.
"We can't tell Ron, Harry. No one must ever know."
"Not even Ron!" Harry asked frustrated.
"He'd tell the world, you know that. I can only tell you, that way if I blow cover, or if when it's over, I don't get put into Azkaban. You need to pretend to hate me like everyone else will." She told him, getting more upset by the second.
Harry starred at her, and at the fire. Hermione tried to read his face, but failed. He was like a mask, slack and unable to show any other emotion. Until finally he stood up and began to walk towards the boys tower.
He stopped and turned towards her, his face crumbling.
"I could never hate someone I love. Even if I can't have them."
He nodded, and Hermione felt her mouth opening in surprise.
"Harry-"
Without another word, he walked up the tower, leaving Hermione alone in the Gryfindor common room, with a Slythern's ring.
Authors Note: I was so amazed with the responses for the first chapter; you all honestly have no idea how touched I was. I know that it doesn't answer all the questions yet, but you have to trust me when I say, I'm trying to build it up, and it'll all come together in the end. Please keep reading and please keep reviewing, it's what gets me to update faster, and attempt to write more, and please as many of my beloved readers as I can. I love you all. Devine