Author's Notes: First, I would like to give a shout out to Lissie1019, qwertyupzz, and Blueberry Babe for their reviews. It really means a lot when people take the time to leave me a comment or two when they read my stuff.
Second, I almost done with the revisions for the entire story. It's definitely not my greatest work, but I am proud of it. It also probably doesn't help that I'm not much of a D/Hr shipper anymore. :/ But I hope that this does read better than it used to and I hope that you all enjoy it. Thanks!
Sincerely,
Princess Pheonix Tears
Chapter Three
The next morning, Hermione and Malfoy were allowed to leave the Hospital Wing and attend their classes as normal. Harry and Ron had immediately started asking questions about where Hermione had been, but Hermione dodged all of their questions by saying that she didn't want to talk about what had happened just yet.
Hermione kept to herself all day, barely speaking to anyone other than the professors. At lunch, Ron and Harry tried to get her to talk. After several rounds of direct and indirect questioning, Hermione finally got frustrated and gave in to them.
Hermione sighed. "Dumbledore called me into his office yesterday. He said that my parents went to visit him and told him that I was their adopted daughter." She paused.
Harry's fork stopped halfway to his mouth as he stared at Hermione. "That's rough, Herm." He said quietly. He hesitated for a second before continuing. "But what does that have to do with Dumbledore? Why didn't they just tell you?"
Hermione felt tears well up in her eyes. She swallowed hard. "There's more." She whispered.
By this point, Ron had put his fork down and was listening intently, all of his attention was focused on Hermione. "Go on, 'Mione." He said gently.
Hermione took a deep breath. "My biological parents were magical. They…they were supporters of You-Know-Who. When they knew that they could be killed, they gave me up for adoption."
Harry and Ron looked at each other and then at her. "That can't be true!" Ron said, his shock was visibly overwhelming.
"Well believe it, it's true." Hermione said, suddenly very angry.
Harry looked up and his eyes darkened. "What do you want Malfoy?" He spat.
Hermione looked up and saw Malfoy standing behind her. He was glaring at Harry. "First off, I need to speak to Granger on matters that don't concern you, Potter, and second off, it is true what she just told you." Malfoy sneered. "So get used to it."
Hermione looked slightly shocked and a little confused for a moment before she got up and walked with Malfoy out of the Great Hall. When they were in the corridor, she turned to him.
"Why did you do that?" She demanded.
"Dumbledore wants to talk to us-"
"No! Why did you tell them that what I said was true! You said I would always be a mudblood to you! Why did you defend me?" Hermione said, angrily.
Malfoy shrugged, looking completely indifferent. "I suppose it doesn't matter how much we dislike the current situation. It's the truth and the sooner we can accept it, the easier it's going to be to fix it. There is no point in denying this wretched situation we find ourselves in. Besides, I like making Potter angry. Self righteous prick." He said coldly.
Hermione laughed bitterly. "I figured it had something to do with that. I do believe that there isn't one good bone in your body. I think you are completely incapable of being nice to anyone. The only person you care for is yourself. Well, maybe your Death Eater friends."
Malfoy whipped around and glared at her with all the intensity he could muster. "SHUT UP, GRANGER!" He roared at her. "Don't talk about things you know nothing about!"
Hermione was very frightened by this sudden display of pure hatred and anger, and she felt like she was going to cry as she watched him quickly walk away. Don't cry, Hermione, it's only Draco. She thought to herself. It's only Draco.
Hermione walked slowly to Dumbledore's office, replaying what had just happened in her mind. Sure she hated Malfoy, and she knew that he hated her, and it had never bothered her before. It had always been a mutual hatred. There were some things that you couldn't change, no matter how hard you tried and their hatred for one another was one of them. But the fierce rage coupled with the pure hatred that she had seen in his eyes had really scared her. Yes, they had gotten in fights before, both verbal and even physical, but he had never displayed such unadulterated rage before.
When she finally reached Dumbledore's office, she trembled slightly as she opened the door to go in. When she entered, she found Malfoy in the same seat he had been in the day before, and Dumbledore was sitting at his desk.
"Ms. Granger, please have a seat." He said kindly.
Hermione sat down and made herself comfortable, she let herself steal a glance at Malfoy out of her peripheral vision. He was staring straight forward with a glare on his face. He turned his head slightly and caught her gaze. He intensified his glare and Hermione quickly looked away.
"Now, I would like to start out by saying that I really think that it is in your best interest to try and become friends. I am not going to beat around the bush here, I know that you two don't like each other-"
"That's the understatement of the century." Malfoy said stonily.
Dumbledore looked down, through his half-mooned spectacles at Malfoy. "Ok, so you two hate each other, I understand that. You have since you met. But I would implore you to try and get along. It will only make the situation better.
"Now, for the second thing. I know that since you two hate each other, and because you are so young, neither of you want to get married. I hate to tell you that there is no way to get out of it. You have to get married. When your parents made the agreement, back when you were still babies, they put a binding spell on you; there would be terrible consequences if you would try to stop this. I don't even want to describe the kinds of horrors you will face if you don't go through with this. Believe me; I don't think this is a good idea. You are both too young, and too inexperienced at life, but that is not up for me to decide. You have to-"
"I can't believe this! I am being forced to marry someone that I hate more than anyone else in this world and there is nothing I can do about it?" Malfoy started yelling, cutting Dumbledore off. He stood up and started pacing in front of the desk. "I have had enough of this! I won't do it! I WON'T!"
By this time, Hermione had had enough herself. She stood up and turned to him. "Would you just stop it? My GOD! This is bad enough without you acting like a complete CHILD!" She screamed at him, her fists clenched at her sides.
"I won't be called a child by you!" He sneered with all the hatred and rage that was in him.
"Well, I wouldn't have to call you one if you would just stop acting like one! I am sure that if you stopped thinking about your own pathetic little self, you might be able to help me think of a way to stop this! Now, would you sit down and listen to the man, before I hex you, curse you, and jinx you into oblivion? Because believe me, I don't care if I do get expelled, if they lock me up and give me a Kiss, I would do it, if it rid the world of your pathetic, complaining arse!" She said slowly through her teeth. She took all the rage, the fury, the frustration, and the hatred that she had felt for him for the past seven years, and she let it shine through her chestnut brown eyes. She knew that she looked mean, and completely frightening, but she didn't care.
Malfoy looked truly frightened by her appearance, and he quietly sat back down in his chair.
Dumbledore shifted in his chair, a little uncomfortable, but he continued, not acknowledging the little scene that had just occurred. "Now, part of the agreement was that you two must be married by Ms. Granger's 18th birthday."
"My 18th birthday!" Hermione screeched as she stood up once again. "That's only four months away!"
"Now who's being the child?" Draco asked, snickering at her obviously startled appearance.
"Shut UP, Malfoy!" She yelled at him. "You want to get married in four months? Do you?"
Draco shook his head, not saying anything, obviously still slightly frightened that she would get pissed at him again.
"I didn't think so. Now, shut up." She said slowly. She turned back to Dumbledore. "Even if I was going to marry him, four months isn't long enough to plan a wedding! It certainly won't be long enough to come up with a way out of this-"
"Ms. Granger, I'm sorry, but there isn't a way out of this. Unless you want to suffer the consequences, there isn't a way out. I have thought of everything I can think of. I promise you. Believe me, I don't want this any more than you do, but there isn't a way out of it. People have been trying for centuries." Dumbledore said solemnly.
Hermione looked at him in shock as she slowly sank down in her chair. She shook her head. "I can't believe this." She whispered.
"Neither can I." Malfoy said. He looked over at her, and Hermione met his gaze. For the first time, she didn't see anger or hatred, but true distress. She gave a weak, forced smile and sighed in defeat.
"Are you absolutely sure?" She asked Dumbledore. He nodded slowly.
Later that night, Hermione was unable to sleep. She had spent the past several hours tossing and turning. She sat up in her bed and looked around. Finding that she didn't feel like reading or doing her homework for next week, she quietly got up and walked into her common room.
The fire was going and Hermione gave a small frown. The fire should have gone out hours ago, it usually went out if the room had been unoccupied for more than an hour. She could have sworn she heard Malfoy go to his room hours ago.
It should have gone out long ago. She thought to herself. She walked slowly towards the couch and chair that were in front of the fire, and she looked over. Draco Malfoy was sitting in the chair, his eyes staring aimlessly into the fire, almost as if he was mesmerized by it.
"Draco?" She asked softly. He jumped at the sound of her voice and turned to face her.
"Oh, what are you doing up?" He asked coldly, staring back into the fire.
"I couldn't sleep. What about you?"
"Same." Was the short reply.
Hermione sat on the couch, and stared into the fire as well. He obviously wasn't in the mood for talking, but that didn't stop her. "I can't believe this is happening." She whispered. "I keep wondering when am I going to wake from this horrid nightmare."
"I don't know, Granger, I just don't know."
