Hermione had been waiting all week for her meeting with the Minister, Mr. Fred Chugginton, she had hidden from everyone how badly she needed this promotion. Her tiny flat was days away from being repossessed, and her entire life was barely being held together by the small amount she did receive, this promotion meant the world to her.

Friday came much too slowly and when it did Hermione made sure she looked the part of council member before leaving for work that morning. Her hair was pulled straight back in a neat pony tail, her robes dry cleaned and pristine, her make up impeccable, all designed to accept her promotion. She waited patiently in Chugginton's waiting room, keeping her emotions hidden as she pretended to read the daily prophet.

She was starting to get a tad annoyed some minutes later when the Minister's door finally opened and out came a small smiling woman, with a tight bun on her head.

"Miss Granger, the Minister is ready for you"

Hermione forced herself to smile back, slowly making her way inside the Minister's office.

"Hermione" Chugginton smiled holding out a hand to her as he came around his desk. "It's a pleasure, I'm glad you could find the time to come see me"

"Of course Minister" hermione replied awkwardly not really knowing what he meant, of course she would see him, he was her boss.

"Please sit down" Chugginton motioned to the sofa next to the burning fire.

Hermione sat down, trying to control her breathing as she waited for Chugginton to proceed.

"Let me just say the work you have done for us has always been above board, your exploits in the war are well known and we are all grateful" Chugginton began.

Hermione continued smiling, urging him to continue having heard this time and time again.

"Which makes what I'm about to say so much more difficult" Chugginton masked his face to look disappointed, Hermione was a bit confused as to what was happening.

"We have to let you go, i'm sorry Hermione but your services are no longer needed, we know you will find employment else where with your impeccable skills"

Hermione had to really force herself not to start yelling obscenities at the Minister or to hysterically cry, this was not at all what she was expecting nor did she have a response.

"If you see Merissa in the waiting room she'll give you some references your superiors have supplied "Chugginton smiled walking back around his desk, clearly dismissing her.

"uh, thank you" Hermione managed as she rose to her feet and made her way out of the office, forgetting entirely to stop at the woman's desk to collect anything. Her life was indeed ruined now, what on earth was she going to do.

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Draco sat in his car outside of Hermione Granger's flat, patiently waiting for her to emerge. It had been three days since she had been fired from The Ministry and he was sure she would now be ready to hear him out. The entire thing could not have happened so well if he had planned it himself, which he would have, had the Minister not beaten him to it. Albert had advised him of Granger's current financial status and the juicy fact that The Ministry intended to fire her. Draco could not believe the Minister had the gall to fire one of the wars heroes or Harry Potter's best friend for that matter, but he didn't really want to know the whys it was enough that the whole thing placed Hermione Granger at his feet.

"Sir" Sniggles, his driver interrupted his thoughts; alerting him to the fact that Granger had opened the door to her flat and was busy locking it behind her. Well it was now or never Draco thought to himself, taking a deep breath before opening his car door.

To say that Hermione was surprised to see Draco Malfoy standing at the end of her drive way would have been an understatement, she looked as though she wanted to run. Draco simply continued to lean against his car hoping he seemed calm and in control as he watched the mirade of emotions play on her face. He waited until she had reached her fence before attempting to speak to her.

"Granger" he greeted coolly.

"Malfoy" she replied, crossing her arms against her chest protectively.

"I was wondering if I could have a few words with you, it won't take long." Draco asked, opening the door and gesturing for her to get in.

She simply stared at him as though she thought she'd finally lost her mind and was hallucinating.

"Granger, I'm not about to kidnap you the last thing I want is Potter and Weasel after me" Draco rolled his eyes, trying to keep his anger in check. He hated everything about this, asking Granger to get in his car was far beneath him, and the way she continued to look at him was grating on his nerves, it was a good thing his father was dead or he'd kill him all over again.

"Why?" she had regained her composure, and now had her hands on her hips shooting him daggers.

"As I've already told you I have a few things to discuss with you and I'd rather not do it on your lawn" Draco replied shortly.

"What on earth would you have to discuss with me Malfoy?" she asked.

Draco was ready to tell her off, slam the door and forget this entire thing, but the idea of giving up a vast fortune and his business stopped him.

"We can go anywhere you want if that would make you feel better" Draco replied evenly.

She thought for a moment.

"There's a café just up the road" she replied still shooting him daggers.

"Ok" he motioned for her to get in again.

"I'd rather walk" She replied curtly, and started making her way up the street.

Draco swore under his breath as he got back in his car, she was sorely going to pay for this, "follow her" he instructed the driver.

A few minutes later she'd walked into a small muggle café which looked cramped and dirty to Draco and had him seething once again, he was sure she was doing this on purpose to rile him. He got out and proceeded to follow her inside finding her seated in a wooden booth that brought the bile up in his throat. This was going to be a long meeting he thought to himself; he was already receiving looks from the muggles for his over the top attire.

"Would you like something to drink?" Hermione asked him as a waitress appeared.

He clenched his jaw eyeing her calmly; she was enjoying toying with him.

"A coffee is fine"

Hermione arched an eyebrow at him, surprised.

"Two cappuccinos please" she ordered turning her attention back to Draco.

"What is it that you have to discuss with me?" she asked.

"I have a proposition for you' he simply replied, leaning back against the booth.

"I'm dying to hear what kind of proposition that is" Hermione rolled her eyes ,half laughing.

This entire situation was utter craziness, who would have thought she'd be seated in a muggle café with Draco Malfoy, being propositioned. He must think I still work for The Ministry, she thought, with him every connection he made within The Ministry was a step further in regaining his rights on the board.

"I want you to marry me" he said simply.

"Oh!"

Neither had noticed the waitress reappear with their coffees clearly misreading the situation.

"Congratulations" she gushed at Hermione placing their coffees down ,before giving Draco a wink and leaving.

"What?" Hermione asked ,completely frozen.

"You seem to enjoy that word Granger, I'd have thought with your vast vocabulary you could come up with a response better than that one." Draco smirked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Why on earth would you ever ask me something like that?" Hermione whispered angrily, careful to keep a tight smile glued to her face, in case the waitress was still watching them.

"Its fairly simple Granger, greed" Draco answered, having regained the upper hand.

Hermione stared at him, this was not at all how she had planned her day, a bit of sulking yes, anger probably but not all directed at Draco Malfoy.

"I don't understand, why you would ever consider marrying me, a mu..." she'd almost said that dreadful word before she stopped herself. It would not do to put her self so far beneath him.

"A muggle"

"Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't, it's nothing personal I hadn't intended to marry for some time" Draco lied smoothly; it would not do to degrade her.

"Ok, so why now and why me of all people?" she asked carefully.

"I could rattle off some nonsense about your attributes, courage, your standing within the wizarding world but it would all be a lie and an insult to your intelligence" Draco replied truthfully, continuing to sip on his coffee.

"Fair enough, so why then?" Hermione nodded for him to continue.

"My father' Draco noticed how the mere mention of his father had hermione shuddering, and ignored it.

"As you know died over two weeks ago, he left everything to me which surprised none of us"

Hermione continued to nod, slightly intrigued at what he was getting at.

"What surprised me was the stipulation he placed on my inheritance, which was that I marry a muggle born" Draco explained casually.

Hermione surprised both of them by laughing out loud, she hadn't meant to but the idea that Lucius Malfoy pure blood fanatic would want his only heir to marry a muggle was plain absurd.

"I assure you I didn't find it in the least bit funny" Draco huffed, annoyed.

"I'm sorry Malfoy but it's obviously a forgery" Hermione replied, shaking her head.

"yes that's what I thought in the beginning but the firm that handled everything has been serving us for generations, and there were out side factors which lead me to believe that the will was not a forgery" Draco left out the letter, he was still in the process of trying to understand it himself, Granger didn't need to know anything.

"It's almost as though he wants to make you suffer" Hermione whispered, more to herself.

"Yes well, whatever his motives in order for me to touch one cent I need to marry a muggle born, stay married at least a year and I can not bribe the person it has to be all free will." Draco rattled off the memorized list of stipulations.

"And you thought that I would willingly, of my own free will ,agree to marry you" Hermione did not know who was worse his father or Malfoy.

"Yes" Draco enjoyed the look of surprise on her face at his confident reply.

"Especially if you were in financial straits, your whole life was falling apart and I could fix it all"

Hermione looked at him in horror, how did he know any of that let alone throw it in her face? Suddenly a thought dawned on her which made her forget her charade for the waitresses.

"You bribed the Minister to fire me!" she hissed at him, clenching her fists tightly.

"No, I had nothing to do with that" Draco shook his head seeing the disbelief in her face. "I'm not saying that I wouldn't have done so, but fortunately that was already happening when I found out"

"Really the Minister simply chose to fire me?" she shook her head in disbelief.

"Yes," Draco took out the small folder from his jacket's inside pocket and handed it to her. "His wife thought he was having an affair with you and threatened to leave him, as she is the one with the money he chose to fire you"

Hermione read the file in growing horror, how could that woman believe her to be as loose with her morals as to have a relationship with a married man, a man old enough to be her grandfather? The idea was insane. She pushed the folder back towards Malfoy wanting to get rid of the unclean feeling she felt.

"The rest is none of my business, all I needed to know was that I could help and you could help me" Draco continued, ignoring the look of sadness that had crept into Hermione's face.

"I thought you couldn't bribe me" she said softly.

"no but I can give you gifts which would make your life much better, and as you would be my wife you would be entitled to share in my fortune to clear any debts you may have."

Hermione nodded absently wondering how after all these years, Draco Malfoy was still able to get under her skin. If she had any sense whatsoever she would get up tell him to shove his proposition and leave ,and somehow work out what to do next, but as she had known this morning there wasn't anything she could do.

"I will think about it" she finally replied.

"I'll give you until tomorrow, owl me with your reply" Draco nodded rising to leave, quickly he felt around for some muggle notes and placed them on the table. "Don't keep me waiting"

Hermione did not watch him leave, still lost in her thoughts and wondering if Harry would believe her if she told him she was seriously considering marrying Draco Malfoy.

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Draco entered the drawing room, quite satisfied with himself. The meeting with Granger had gone better then he'd thought and although she had not given him an answer he was quite confident she would say yes, he'd left her no choice.

Narcissa noticed his demeanor as he lent to kiss her forehead, "how was your meeting?"

She asked casually.

"It went well" Draco half smirked.

"You mean she actually said yes?" Narcissa asked horrified.

"Not yet" Draco answered.

"She won't Draco if I've heard right she won't "Narcissa shook her head. "I think it's absurd you should have to lower yourself"

Draco noted the hint of resentment in his mother's voice but chose not to pry, he'd given up a long time ago trying to work his mother out.

" I need the west wing room set up for her, she'll need a bedroom and you'll have to make sure all the anti muggle paintings are put out of her way , we wouldn't want her to be accosted by them" Draco continued smoothly.

"Those are my family Draco, you can't expect me to accommodate her and not my family" Narcissa bit back annoyed.

"Mother put them in your bedroom, in a year you can pull them all out again." Draco started walking away stopping only to glance at his mother once more.

"We can do this mother"

Narcissa nodded in reply turning away from him.

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Hermione knew she was running out of time but still she sat on her bedroom floor a mind map drawn on a piece of paper, staring intently at all the pros and cons she had made about Draco's proposition. No matter how much she had tried to make the cons outweigh the pros, the map always pointed to accepting his proposition. Hermione sighed throwing the piece of paper away from her, resting her head on the mattress of her bed, closing her eyes. Her head hurt from all the thinking, she wished she could simply fall asleep and somehow her life would be back to normal. She was damned if she married the devil and damned if she didn't, either way her life would be in ruins, the extent would vary ,she was sure her friends would forgive her and after a year everything would be back on track, whereas if she didn't….

Hermione sat up and shouted at herself in her head, she was HERMIONE GRANGER, she had done things that had made her uncomfortable before this wasn't any different. Sure she would be married to possibly a very evil man, who had tortured her throughout her life and probably have killed her had he had the chance during the war, but at least her life would be sorted.

Sighing she grabbed a piece of paper and accepted Draco's proposal.

Draco was sitting in his study sipping on his favorite brandy and considering whether to call his woman of the moment, when a dishellveled owl landed on his desk, clearly having been in some sort of fight.

"Granger" Draco smiled having guessed his owl had recognized her owl and attacked it.

"My apologies, I will tell him not to attack you from now on" Draco murmured, grabbing the small piece of paper from the bird and dismissing it without another glance.

He smiled as he unfolded it and read the word, only one word that she had written on it.

Ok

Summoning his quill he quickly dictated a letter to Albert asking him to draw up a magical contract for the wedding and informing him of who his bride would be. Having sent it immediately on its way, he took one last gulp of his brandy and left to find his mother, she had a lot of organizing to do.

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'your kidding?" Harry laughed at her, running a hand through his scruffy brown hair.

"No Harry I'm not" she narrowed her gaze at him, annoyed he wasn't taking her seriously.

"You are getting married?" Harry raised an eyebrow, as though the idea was as strange as Ron wearing a pink too too.

"Yes Harry I am" she said staring hard at him.

"Well ummm who? Ron said you weren't seeing anyone" Harry asked confused.

"Well I don't share everything with Ron "Hermione lied.

Hermione had decided that her friends would believe that her marriage to Draco was a real one, it was far better the displeasure she would receive from them then the humiliation of admitting how really messed up her life was.

"so who is it?" Harry asked wondering how she had managed to have a relationship in the past year let alone be engaged, and not tell him about it.

"Draco Malfoy" she said softly, fighting the shudder that threatened to go through her.

Harry simply stared at her for a moment, his expression devoid of any emotion, for a minute Hermione wanted to shake him.

"Hermione" he began, clearly trying to control himself. "Tell me you're kidding"

She slowly shook her head, sadness gripping her at the damage she was inflicting on her friendship with Harry.

"Your telling me that you are marrying Malfoy" Harry reiterated.

She nodded, not trusting her voice.

"I guess the only thing left is to ask you why" he asked quietly.

"Well" Hermione began.

"Why would you carry on with Malfoy behind our backs?" he interrupted ,showing his anger for the first time. "Why would you even consider him or him you?"

Hermione knew what he meant, the idea of Draco Malfoy wanting to marry her was ludicrous, but his words still stung her.

"Maybe because I've found something inside him, maybe he found something inside of me he could love that obviously doesn't repel him" she raised her voice.

"Hermione I didn't mean that, the question here is not whether you are worthy of Malfoy, the fact is he's not worthy of you!" Harry argued.

"Harry I know I'm asking a lot of you, I don't pretend to know how you're feeling right now" Hermione whispered, her head lowered.

"I'm not your father Mione, I can't dictate how you live your life or whom you choose to share it with" he walked over to her, placing an arm around her in a comforting gesture.

"I know" she sniffed, the tears finally overflowing. She hated lying to Harry, he'd always been there for her, through thick or thin he had never deserted her and here she was seemingly betraying him and all that they had stood for.

"Please just trust me"

"Alright Mione, but you know Ron is not going to be as reasonable as I am" Harry half laughed, happy to see he'd made her smile at least.

"Ron's never been satisfied with any of my choices" she wiped away the tears.

"Yes well, this one is truly unbelievable" Harry shook his head, clearly still confused.

"After all of this can I ask one more favor of you?" she glanced at him, terrified she was asking too much.

"Fire away" Harry said, reassuring her.

"I know you said your not my father, but as it turns out I don't have one and well I will need someone to give me away" her voice trailed off, her eyes not meeting his.

Harry lifted her chin and forced her to look at him, "of course I will Hermione"

She started to cry all over again.