A/N: Back again! Hiya! Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter, and hope you all continue to read my story! I want to give a shout-out to MrsSnape2u for favoriting my story, and for my first review. I would also like to thank ixlikexsumxone, jessirose85, pinpin95, and Tempted Sacrifice for being the first to put my story on their alert list!

Chapter 2- Of Love and Schemes

Hermione woke up the next morning, completely disoriented. She had no idea where she was, how she had gotten there, or what she was doing there. She jumped out of bed and turned around. When she noticed Draco Malfoy sleeping peacefully in the bed next to hers, she let out a high-pitched scream. Draco immediately shot up and leaped to his feet.

"What? Where? What's going on?" he slurred, his voice husky with sleep. All of the events of the past couple of days hit Hermione like a train, and she swayed on her feet. However, before she could fall, Draco's hand shot out and encircled her wrist, pulling her upright.

"Merlin woman, is this how you normally wake up? I bet Potter doesn't take too kindly to that." Hermione sat back down on the bed, feeling more tired than ever.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. She really was. Draco looked over at her after hearing her speak so meekly. Looking at her, he noticed that her attire was hardly appropriate.

"Put on some clothes on, Mudblood. I don't know what you're trying to show me, but I don't want to see it," he said rudely.

Hermione grabbed her robe and wrapped it around her waist, thinking that he must have forgotten that he had told her last night that he'd given up 'mudblood'.

"Malfoy, I'm not trying to show you anything. You could go die, for all I care," she snapped back.

This was not her morning, not her week, month, or year.

"Good to know," he replied. Hermione decided to leave it at that. She quickly took a shower, washed her hair and put on a pretty, new sundress she had found at one of her favorite shops. There was a knock at the door.

"Hurry up already. You're dreadfully ugly as it is. Spending loads of time in the bathroom won't make you prettier," Draco called. She opened the door and flounced past him.

"Huh, Granger. I take it back. You can actually look not ugly, if you put in the effort."

"Thank you for the compliment, Malfoy." She said sarcastically as he closed the door. Hermione did not feel like going downstairs and socializing, so she sat on the couch to read. Suddenly the door to the bathroom opened and Draco stood there, only in his towel.

"Sorry, I forgot my clothes out here." He said as he blushed to the roots of his hair. Did Draco Malfoy just apologize to me? Hermione thought. This was already bizarre enough. Once she raised her head, Draco was already halfway in the bathroom.

She heard a knock on the door and got up to answer.

"Hermione?" Ginny called through the door. She tumbled in the room as soon as Hermione opened the door. Ginny just hugged her and wouldn't let go.

"God, Hermione, this is terrible. I mean, Seamus is a good bloke and all, but it's just so uncomfortable. I'm in love with Harry, 'Mione." A tear slid down her cheek and she roughly wiped it away.

"Listen to me, complaining, when you're stuck with Malfoy. I mean Seamus might be a bit awkward, but at least he wasn't a Death Eater." She said. Ginny was in such a flurry that neither of them heard the shower shut off or the door open.

"It's great to know what your opinion of me is," came Draco's voice. He was drying his hair on a towel.

"Excuse me." Ginny said, and rushed out the door. She was a brave girl, but she didn't want to cross anyone she might have to live with for a year. She feared it might be a little late.

"As you said, and as much as it pains me to admit, we have to cooperate. I'm going to be your husband for a year, so I suggest your friends get over their prejudice." He said darkly.

"You obviously weren't supposed to hear that." Hermione snapped.

"Well, all the better that I did ,then, is it not?" He countered. "I live cleanly, Granger. What I did 4 years ago was a survival strategy. I had no choice. So I won't let anyone judge me for it." Hermione just stared at him. "Now I'm going to get breakfast. You can stay there and continue gaping, if you would like." He smirked.

Hermione went downstairs, and found that most of the couples were already there. Ron and Ginny were sitting together across from Lavender and Seamus, Millicent and Zabini were eating their breakfast while warily staring at each other. Fred and George were talking by the corner and Romilda was staring at them. Demelza and Dean were sitting playing wizard chess. Marcus and Ritchie were talking to Harry about Quidditch. Parvati, Luna, Katie, and Susan, however, were nowhere to be found. Draco was off by himself sulking over toast, surely angry at Millicent and Zabini for not obeying him when he asked to be released. Hermione got herself a bowl of cereal and went over to sit on the couch. Harry quickly joined her, still in his pajamas. It seemed as if she and Draco were the only ones who had felt too indecent.

"Did he try anything?" Harry whispered in her ear. She scoffed.

"He thinks I'm disgusting. Don't worry about me." Harry changed the subject.

"So, Ron is pretty torn up about everything, after all these years. Would it be so hard to just forgive him?"

"Yes, Harry. It's plenty hard. We've already had this discussion." She didn't feel hungry anymore. She got up and went to her room, which gave her privacy but no comfort. She didn't know how long she had sat on her bed, just staring out the window when there was a knock on the door. "WHAT? Can't you just leave me be?" She shouted.

Draco opened the door. "Gladly, but I'm afraid Amora wants you. Actually, she wants everyone to go downstairs. She's going to tell us the big surprise."

"Okay everyone, this is the big surprise: You're all getting married today!" Everyone stared at Amora, clearly not excited. She beamed at them. "Come on! You're going to have to be together for a year, might as well be okay with it."

Dean spoke up. "We are okay with it, we just aren't happy and excited about it."

"Speak for yourself," whispered Romilda Vane, looking sideways at George, while he looked astounded.

"So when are we supposed to be ready?" The always practical Hermione asked. "Well we're leaving right now, so no time to change!" This immediately raised protests.

"I am NOT getting married in my pajamas!" Katie, Parvati, Susan, Romilda, and Demelza all said in unison.

"All right, all right, go get changed." All of the girls rushed upstairs, except for Luna, who was already in a dress, Millicent, who didn't seem to care, and Ginny who walked slowly and despondently, because she didn't really care either. Hermione decided to go upstairs with Ginny and help her.

While Ginny showered, Hermione put on some simple, pretty make up, because she figured this would make the papers and she wanted to at least look presentable. She did her hair up in a bun.

"Knock knock," called Seamus from outside the door, as Ginny came out of the bathroom in a simple right-above-the-knee green strapless dress that made her hair pop and her eyes twinkle. "Whoa," whispered Seamus. "You-you-you-uhh," he stammered.

"She does look great, doesn't she Seamus?" Hermione said.

"Mhm." Seamus replied, and gulped audibly. He took his clothes and ran in the shower. Hermione and Ginny decided to go to Hermione's room, to give Seamus space, since Draco had already showered. There, Hermione tied Ginny's hair into loose braids and put on little hints of soft green eye shadow. She looked quite beautiful. That was before she started to cry.

"Oh Hermione, I wanted to look like this for Harry." She wailed.

"Now, don't ruin your makeup." Hermione chided softly while patting her on the back.

"How insensible of you." Draco said behind her, with a smirk on his face. He knelt next to Ginny's chair. "Weaslette, it's going to be all right. You'll have Granger and your stupid brother here for you. It's only a year. You'll be fine. Don't ruin your pretty makeup."

With that, he stood up and walked out of the room. "Did he just try to comfort me?" Ginny asked her tears all dried up from astonishment. Who was this, and where was the real Draco Malfoy?

Three hours later, everyone was assembled downstairs. All of the girls were in dresses and the boys in shirts and ties. They were all looking at a very disgruntled Amora who was ranting about punctuality. "I should not have had to wait THREE HOURS for you to simply make yourselves decent." She fumed.

"Well, you didn't exactly give us a time when we should be ready," said Ginny.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" You could hear a pin drop. Amora was usually so cheerful and happy. "The car has been waiting for us. We will now depart." She said, quickly lapsing back into calmness. They all filed out of the house, the enchantments that kept them trapped temporarily lifted. They all slowly got in the car, but George lingered outside, looking every which way. He looked really strained, like he couldn't concentrate hard enough. "ARGH," he screamed, then made a run for it. Amora was too fast for him though. She conjured a rope and lassoed him into the car. "

I wouldn't advise for any of you to try anything like that." She said calmly.

The weddings were…interesting. Lavender couldn't even bring herself to look at Harry when she said 'I do', and they didn't kiss each other oon the cheek. Ginny burst out crying and Seamus kissed her on the forehead walked out at the kiss the bride part. Ron looked as bright as tomato throughout the whole thing, and when he leaned to give Parvati a kiss she slapped him across the face. Fred and Demelza giggled their way through the whole ceremony and Amora had to clear her throat for them to pull apart and stop kissing. George looked solemn and Romilda was fidgeting. When the priest said "you may kiss the bride" Romilda threw her arms around George's shoulders and kissed him full on the lips. Katie burst into tears when that happened and ran out of the room, George hot on her heels. Romilda screamed, "Baby, where are you going?" Dean and Luna were the most collected couple by far. They said their I dos and Dean simply kissed Luna's hand. Throughout their whole wedding, Marcus had to hold Katie upright and lead her back to her seat, since she couldn't see from the tears in her eyes. Ritchie and Susan stared shyly at each other and their kiss was like a first date goodnight kiss. Millicent and Zabini argued and interrupted the priest and in the end, Millicent punched Zabini in the face, which would have been amusing, except everyone felt awful.

Then the time came for Malfoy and Hermione. They both walked to take their places next to the priest. Malfoy had a foul look on his face, and Hermione looked determined. She was trying to convince herself that everything would turn out all right. Draco on the other hand, was furious. Sure, he had discovered that Granger could clean up pretty nicely, but she was still Muggleborn. He had been raised to marry a Pureblood. He wanted to marry someone with wealth, power and status. He wanted to marry someone he could flaunt to his friends. But no, he was stuck with , since he had to be married to her, couldn't he have his fun? He was going to keep her on her toes, on the edge of her seat. He would play.

While Draco was musing Hermione examined his face. What she saw there ignited a craving to understand. What almost no one knew about her, was that she had asked Professor Dumbledore to teach her the basics of Legilimency. With much practice, she had become quite good at it, but used it only when she needed to. She deemed this one of those moments. As she poked and prodded at the corners of Draco's mind, she was shocked to find out that Malfoy planned to play around with her feelings. However, she soon met a wall of resistance, and looking over at Malfoy, she saw him giving her a look of pure hatred. Two can play this game, she said to herself. The priest went through the motions quickly. Malfoy spat out his "I do" and Hermione said hers emotionlessly. The moment of truth came. You may kiss the bride. Draco grabbed Hermione around the waist and pulled her towards him. He slowly leaned down while looking straight in her eyes. He couldn't help but notice that they held a mischievous twinkle. She closed the gap in between them, which he was not expecting. Their lips worked against each others, a battle for power, a kind of game they were playing. They had both expected the other to pull away rather quickly, but now neither wanted to give in. They stayed locked in an embrace, getting deeper into that hateful, passionate kiss. Hermione couldn't help but feel shivers where Draco's hands were resting, basking in his warmth and yet feeling completely disgusted all at the same time. Draco wondered at how soft Hermione felt, how good she smelled, and how much he despised her. Amora cleared her throat and they leaped away from each other. Draco stared at Hermione accusingly. She shrugged at him. She turned to look at their 'audience'. Ron had his head in his hands, Harry looked murderous and everyone else's jaws were hitting the floor. "Well, we can all head back to your home now."

The couples walked into their living room and stopped in their tracks. Their families were all here.

"You all get a joint reception!" Amora said happily. Everyone immediately ran to their families and hugged them and kissed them. Ginny was hugging Mrs. Weasley tightly and crying while Mr. Weasley looked on, completely bewildered. Hermione saw Harry standing awkwardly by himself, not knowing what to do. She took his hand and started leading him towards her mum and dad. Suddenly Draco was standing right in front of them, and he wrenched Hermione's hand from Harry's and held it in his own.

"Don't touch my wife." He spat at Harry.

"Let me go, Malfoy!" Hermione protested, while he smirked.

"I will not, Malfoy." It then struck Hermione that she was really Mrs. Draco Malfoy. "Has quite an effect on you, doesn't it?" Draco whispered in her ear.

Harry pushed him away. "Shove off, Malfoy." He said forcefully. "She's my wife. She needs to meet my parents, and I her's. Not you. It really does suck not to have a family, doesn't it?" Malfoy shot back.

A sound like a whip cracked through the room. Draco was holding his cheek. Hermione had lost her temper and struck him across the face. He shot her a look of pure hatred and ran up the stairs. She saw his parents looking at her venomously. Everyone in the room was staring at her and Harry. She pretended like nothing happened and took Harry's hand. They talked to her parents for a bit, and then went to talk to the Weasleys. Hermione couldn't help but wonder at what Draco was doing. She didn't feel one bit sorry, but she did think they started off at the wrong foot. It wasn't her fault, though. Of all people, why did she have to get paired with Malfoy? Why did she have to carry his name? This year was going to be pure hell, and Hermione couldn't help but be scared.

A/N: Hope you liked it! Pretty please review, or otherwise I won't know what you think!