A/N: Hello All! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Thank you SO much for your support and your reviews. I'd like to thank: Aurore Goddess of Dawn, black moon inu, bluestriker666, catwoman4333, itoldyouso2718, Kahlan Lazuli, vampeen, x-hermalfoy, yellowlikethesun9628, and zozoissoocool for subscribing! Also, thank you to pinpin95, divdiv, ixlikexsumxone, bluestriker666, nature love 95, MrsSnape2u, and itoldyouso2718 for reviewing. I am also honored to have been favorited by divdiv, ixlikexsumxone, Kahlan Lazuli, nature love 95, yellowlikethesun9628, and zozoissoocool! LOVE YOU ALL! I love everyone who's read my story, regardless of whether or not they've subscribed, favorited or reviewed!

Chapter 3- Of Love and Weeping

Hermione was wary of going back upstairs. All the families had now left, and the last of all the couples had trickled to their rooms. Draco hadn't been downstairs since their little exhibition. He hadn't even come down to say to goodbye to his parents. They had spent the rest of the evening talking to the Zabini's and giving Hermione dirty looks. She had to go to sleep at some point, though, so she figured it was now or never. She walked up the steps and hesitantly knocked on the door. Hearing no response, she opened the door. She cautiously tiptoed in, thinking that maybe Draco was asleep, since all the lights were off. Draco was laying back on his bed, eyes closed, seemingly asleep. She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Hermione went to wash her face, brush her teeth and change into comfortable pajamas. She made sure not to make any noise as she climbed into her bed.

Hermione closed her eyes and tried to let sleep take over. Her mind was racing, though, and she wasn't feeling too happy. She couldn't believe that she was really Mrs.—

"Well, you had better believe it." She heard Draco's voice say. Hermione jumped up from her bed and stared at him, his chin propped up on his hand.

"OH! I didn't realize you were awake." She said.

"Obviously." He replied dryly.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Wait, what do you mean, 'you had better believe it'?" She questioned suspiciously.

"Look, you're just going to have to get used to being a wife, whether you want to or not. It's only a year." He replied calmly, while staring at the ceiling, ignoring her question.

Hermione only then remembered that he was a Legilimens too, and vowed to practice Occlumency whenever she wanted her thoughts to remain strictly with her.

"I won't be intruding your thoughts often; I honestly don't know why I did it just now," he said, sounding disgusted at himself. Hermione let that one slide by her.

"So we're going to cooperate, right?" Hermione asked him, not because she wanted to be closer to him, but because she didn't want this entire year to be a black mark on her life.

"Not after what you did today. Just make sure to keep your hands off of Potter and others. I plan on ignoring you for the remainder of the year. When I wake up tomorrow, it'll be as if you don't exist." Hermione just rolled her eyes at him.

"Good to know," she replied.

"What is it about Potter? Why did you defend him so fiercely?" Draco asked abruptly. He kept staring at the ceiling, cheeks burning. His curiosity was intense, but he couldn't believe he had let such feelings show. He was puzzled. Many girls had always wanted him, but no one had ever stood up for him like that. No one had ever shown him that type of affection. All of his friends had merely been followers, just going along with what he said, never really caring about him. Many of them resented him, as a matter of fact. He couldn't understand why Potter could have someone like that, and he couldn't.

"Because he's my brother and because I love him." She whispered softly, confused as to why he was asking, and thinking that it had been quite obvious. Draco turned so his back was to her, and stayed awake the whole night.

Hermione woke up quite late the next day, as if all of yesterday's events had thoroughly worn her out. They had, in truth. She was coming to realize that having an exciting life isn't always the best thing. Living with someone who hated her for an entire was going to be no easy feat. At least she had Ginny, Harry, and Ron to help her through it. They were going through so much as well, though, that it seemed like they wouldn't even be able to help each other. She rose slowly, seeing as there was no rush. She was stuck here for a year; there was nothing waiting for her. She looked over at Draco's bed, noticing it was empty; she sat up but didn't feel like leaving the warmth of her bed. Quite suddenly, her door flung open and there stood Harry. He had a cup of tea and a plate of toast on a tray, which he set on the bedside table. Once he'd done that, he threw himself on the bed next to her.

"Good morning to you." Hermione laughed.

He grinned at her and said, "Good morning, love." Hermione tucked into her breakfast.

"You know, if your husband wasn't Malfoy, I'd be really disgusted to lie on your bed." Hermione almost spit out her tea.

"What are you on about? I'm sure none of the other couples have… y'know, done anything," she said.

Harry just looked at her over the top of his glasses and laughed. "Yeah right," he whispered under his breath.

Hermione just looked at him and shook her head. She had to admit she was surprised at his composure. Ginny seemed to be much more upset about these arrangements than he was.

"Harry, aren't you in the least bit sad that you had to marry Lavender instead of Ginny?" Harry looked at her knowingly.

"Of course I am, but I choose to play with the cards life has dealt me. Maybe this year will spur me and Gin into action and we'll come to our senses and get married ourselves." Hermione just ran her hands through his hair. That had always been immensely comforting to him. She knew that Harry was dying inside. He was just staying strong to help Ginny, Ron, and her.

Hermione finished her breakfast and went downstairs with Harry to hang out with Ron and Ginny. Ginny sat on one side of Hermione with her head on her shoulder and Harry on the other side, holding her hand. Ron sat in front of the three of them. They were all pretty sad company, but it was better than being alone. Ron was trying to be civil with Parvati, but she kept shutting herself in the bathroom and sobbing for hours. Ginny and Seamus couldn't be in the same room together for more than 5 minutes. Harry was kind to Lavender, but they didn't really have much in common and couldn't sustain conversation. Hermione and Draco, well, they just weren't even trying to get along. Hermione looked around the room, searching for her husband. She saw him nowhere.

The house was quite vast, and she hadn't done any exploring, so she decided to look around. She walked out of the common room and down a corridor lined with endless rooms. There were rooms with Muggle exercise machines, and arcade machines. There was a room full with moving paintings that had quite a cacophony stirred up, and another with thousands of shelves of books, filled with pure silence. She heard weird animal sounds coming from a room to the left. When she walked in she discovered ten cages and tanks with the names of all the couples. Each case contained a magical creature.

The Potters' was a baby Phoenix, The Finnigans' was a Griffin, Mr. and Mrs. Ron Weasley's was a Hippogriff, Mr. and Mrs Fred Weasley's was an Imp, Mr. and Mrs. George Weasley was a Pixie, The Thomas' was a Grindylow, The Belby's was a Salamander, The Cootes' was a Puffskein, and The Zabini's was a Redcap. Hermione walked up to the last cage. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. Their creature was a beautiful little fairy sleeping peacefully, her small chest rising up and down. Hermione turned around only to realize that all of the creatures had fallen into a slumber. She could hear a piano softly from down the hall.

She followed the music to find a door ajar. She peered inside, seeing a bright room with all the instruments they could want. There were several violins, violas, cellos and basses, flutes, oboes, trumpets and trombones, cymbals, triangles, clarinet, French horns; basically everything they could need. And there, in the middle of it all sat none other than Draco Malfoy at the piano. His hands were gently moving over the keys. He was playing beautifully and intensely. Hermione felt something drawing her towards the piano, and it was as if she couldn't make her feet stop. The music picked up and became frantic and pleading and desperate, and Hermione Granger-no, Hermione Malfoy- couldn't stop her feet from moving.

Draco stopped abruptly and laid his head on his hands. The spell was broken. His shoulders trembled but he didn't make a sound. Hermione laid her hand on his shoulder, which caused him to scramble out of the bench.

"Here to have a nice laugh at me, yeah?" he said bitterly as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. His wife looked back at him, eyes brimming with compassion.

"Couldn't you just leave?" he said, as his eyes filled up again. He turned around and silently begged her to just leave him be. He felt terribly weak, letting her see him cry. He could only imagine that she was thinking he was pathetic. Ever since the war had ended, Draco had sat at the piano every morning and played, to make himself feel better. More often than not, he shed a few tears, as he remembered all the terrible things he'd done and regretted. It had become therapeutic, but no one had ever caught him at it. Why did it have to be Granger of all people? He was shocked to feel her arms slide around his middle from behind and hold him tight.

Hermione didn't really know why she was doing it, except that she felt horrible pity. He leaped back from her, his face screwed up in disgust. Hermione couldn't help but feel a tiny sting at his rebuke of her kindness.

"What are you doing?" he asked, haltingly.

"I-I honestly don't know," she replied and turned to leave the room. He caught her hand and pulled her to face him, looking down all the while.

"I-I-I," he tried to say, but lost his voice to tears again. He just slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against his chest. Hermione immediately tensed up and just held her arms at her side. Slowly, she relaxed and put her arms around him and hugged him fiercely. If asked later on, neither of them could ever recall how long they held each other. As they did, Hermione realized why she had hugged him first. She realized that growing up with parents who were Death Eaters must not have been easy and that being an only child could be lonely, as Hermione had experienced herself. She realized that Draco had grown up much too soon and had been forced to do things he didn't want to. He had been forced into becoming a man, when what he really wanted was to be free of obligation. What seemed like ages later, Draco's tears dried up and he reluctantly pulled himself away from her? It had felt so good to just hold her, and to let her hold him. He looked straight into her eyes and saw understanding, sadness and….pity?

"Look, Granger. I honestly don't need your pity. I know you're my "wife", but don't you ever touch me again. I don't touch Mudbloods and I don't interact with them, so, hell, don't even talk to me. My life was thrown to hell when I found out you were my match. Think about all those years at Hogwarts that I made you miserable and now I have live with you. Live with you! Share a room! Can you imagine how disgusted I feel in the mornings when I wake up and see you? Merlin, they couldn't have found me a better hell. So just stay away from me, because I just don't know what I might do," he spat venomously and fled the room, presumably for good.

Hermione turned to watch him, completely bewildered. She felt she had done the right thing. She could never go right with Draco Malfoy. She hated his name, but most of all she hated that it was her name now. She hated his existence, but now their lives were intertwined. Her life would be forever stained by this experience. She crumpled to the floor and cried for herself now. Life was going to be impossibly difficult for an entire year. It was going to be pure torture and hurt. She would never get along with her stupid excuse for a husband. She cried and cried and cursed his name.

Hours later, she heard footsteps outside the door. She tried to compose herself but it was much too hard. She looked up to find Ron standing there.

"Why are you crying? I've been looking everywhere for you," he asked hurriedly as he sat down across from her.

"You would think me stupid, if I told you," she replied shakily.

"Hermione, we're all in very difficult situations right now, and we all need each other," he said, gently.

Hermione just burst into sobs. "Oh 'Mione," he whispered as he moved closer to her and wrapped her up in his arms.

Hermione forgave Ron then, because she would need him throughout this whole year, and because he had proven he was sorry. She hadn't been held by him in so long, and it felt so good. They sat together on the floor, Ron slowly rocking her, until Hermione cried no more.

"Hermione, I want to apologize-" She put her finger over his lips, and stared in his eyes. She could find all she needed to know right there. They could move on, and they could be friends. She wanted no more from Ron. She made to get up and leave, but he grabbed her tighter and tilted her chin up. "I love you," he said. She could do nothing but stare, as he slowly brought his lips to meet hers in a gentle kiss. No sooner had their lips touched than Hermione found herself being whipped by a fierce wind and landing with a thud at the foot of Draco's bed. He jumped up, startled.

"How in Merlin's beard did you get here? And where have you been?" he asked, as if his previous anger had suddenly vanished.

"I don't know. I was with Ron and he…" she trailed off, embarrassed, for some reason, her cheeks burning.

"He what?" Draco asked forcefully.

"Well, he kissed me. Then I felt wind coming from everywhere and I landed here," she said all in one breath. "

He kissed you. Is it not clear that you are MY wife?" he snapped.

Hermione stared at him. "It's not like you care about me," she countered. He pulled her up roughly from the floor. "You're my wife. You will not go around kissing other people's husbands."

She tried to shake his hands away, but he was too strong.

"Do you really want to know where I've been?" He kept looking at her steadily.

"I've been crying my eyes out because I have a miserable excuse for a husband. I've been crying because now the filthiness of Malfoy stains my name. God help me, I've been crying because I hate you like I've never hated anyone, but yet I'm stuck with you. You're the bane of my existence. I will never be happy, because you're always in the way. We left Hogwarts and finally you couldn't torment me anymore. I hadn't seen you in years. So of course, fate had to find a way to throw us back together. I'm torn apart and it's all your fault. Why can't you just let me live? Why don't I have the right to be happy? Why do you haunt me? Draco Malfoy, I will make your life a living hell. Just you wait; you'll be scared of your shadow soon enough."

Draco's mouth was wide open. He'd never seen Hermione in such a rage. Her livid expressipn made her somehow beautiful. She was the image of perfection, almost like an illusion. He was transfixed; she was a sight to behold. But since Draco is a Malfoy, he quickly gathered his wits. As he opened his mouth to say something, Hermione's face took on a maniacal look.

"What's the matter, Malfoy? On your guard now," she said, and turned to walk away, before doing something that was at the tip of her fingers, something she would regret.

"You filth, you think you intimidate me?" Hermione whipped around, not knowing what came over her, and did something she would go on to regret for her entire life.

"CRUCIO!"

A/N: Cliffhanger! Pretty please review! I really like to know what you think about the way the story is going and all. I forgot the quote of the week for last week so here goes.

"Midas is king and he holds me so tight. And turns me to gold in the sunlight."- Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) by Florence + The Machine.

"So I left,
That is it.
That's my life,
Nothing is sacred.
I don't keep friends,
I keep acquainted,
I'm not a prophet,
But I'm here to profit.

That's all,
I'm gone!
That's my life,
Nothing is sacred.
I don't fall in love,
I just fake it.
I don't fall in love.
I don't fall in love." - At Least I'm Not As Sad As I Used To Be by Fun.