"Draco." his father's voice called him. "We have negotiated a marriage contract with the Lovegoods. I need you to wake now so we can discuss this."
His eyes fluttered slowly.
"Do NOT say you're not going to not going to marry her." His mother warned.
Draco opened his eyes to find his parents sitting on one side of the bed, with Luna and a man who was obviously her father sitting on the other.
"We've signed a marriage contract for the moment to reduce the health risks to both you and Luna. Apparently she experienced milder forms of the same symptoms when she and Neville Longbottom," Lucius said the name like a curse. "had spoken of the possibility of getting married. Bill Weasley is continuing to look into breaking the Vow, and of course, we will terminate the contract if he is able to do so."
Draco nodded.
"Meanwhile," his father continued. "We're going to leave you alone for a bit. The staff is going to bring you something to eat in a moment, and then Daphne will be here in an hour to speak with you."
He nodded again, staring at the ceiling, not speaking, not looking at his family, not acknowledging his new fiancee's soft. "Goodbye Draco."
Outside the hospital room, Luna turned to the Malfoys. "Good night. I suppose I'll be seeing you soon."
Her supposed future in laws turned and walked away.
Lucius and Narcissa had dinner in an exlcusive resturant in Diagon Alley. At the conclusion of their meal, Lucius escorted his wife to the floo to see her home, and then walked to the colorful shop down the street.
He found the proprietors on the sales floor.
"Gentlemen," he addressed. "The store closes in ten minutes. I shall be waiting to speak with you when it does."
The twins nodded. "We've been somewhat expecting you." one of them answered.
Lucius nodded curtly and went to stand next to the door labeled "Office." Once the store was emptied, the lights were dimmed, and the door was locked, one of the twins came to Lucius.
"Come on upstairs to the office." he invited.
Lucius looked at him, then at the door beside him.
"Oh, that's the loo." the twin informed him. "This is a joke shop."
Lucius was taken to a surprisingly large and comfortable office and offered tea, which he politely declined.
"We've heard ... " one of the twins began.
"...that apparently the Vow is binding ..." the other chimed in.
"...and we're very sorry..."
"...about that. We didn't..."
"...realize at the time..."
"...the seriousness of something like that."
Both twins seemed, for once in their lives, to be serious and contrite.
"I understand that you were children, and I am certain that you were not aware of the scope of your actions at the time." Lucius looked from one to the other. "Your eldest brother is attempting to find a way to circumvent the curse. In the event he is unable to do so, my son will be force to marry Miss Lovegood. There is the matter of a marriage contract I had negotiated with Robert Greengrass for Draco to marry his middle daughter. In the event Draco and Daphne do not wed, I am obligated to pay Greengrass one hundred thousand galleons. In this case, I am certain the Wizengamot would agree with me that the two of you should be held liable for the sum."
The twins paled. "We understand that you should not have to pay for the broken contract in this case..."
"...but that is a lot of money to come up with..."
"...on short notice. We just made a very large investment..."
"...in our fall product line that's left us a bit short..."
"...of available cash at the moment. If we could..."
"...perhaps pay half and then work out terms for the rest..."
"...I assure you we are good for it."
Lucius looked around the office. "Anyone can see that your business is wildly successful and will certainly generate the income to cover the debt over time. However, acceptance of terms would be up to Greengrass, rather than myself. And we may even be discussing the matter prematurely. Your brother may be able to break this ridiculous Vow and such negotiations would be rendered unnecessary. I just wanted to prepare you in a worst case scenario." He pushed himself to his feet.
The twins stood as well. "We do appreciate..."
"...your understanding and we do hope..."
"...that Bill is able to break the Vow..."
"...for everyone's sake."
Lucius simply gave a curt nod. "Good evening gentlemen."
The twins led him to the floo and waited politely until he left.
One looked at the other as the green flames died down.
"Freddie, someone has been feeding that man way too much U No Poo."
"How are you feeling?" Draco's mother asked when his parents returned the following morning.
"Fine, I suppose." he shrugged. "The healer said earlier that they want me to stay until we found out what's going on with the Vow, so I don't say something I shouldn't and have to be rushed back again."
"Weasley is supposed to be here shortly to update us on what he's found." Lucius informed him. "How did things go with Daphne last night?"
Draco's face screwed up into a grimace. "Um, not well. She wasn't pleased about the marriage contract with Lovegood, even if it is only temporary. We started arguing. I slipped and said something I shouldn't have and she really lost it."
"What did you say?" Lucius gave him a withering look.
"That I hoped when her father reinstated the marriage contract it would be Astoria instead of Daphne." Draco pinched the bridge of his nose.
"That's horrible." His mother exclaimed. "No wonder the poor girl was angry with you."
She chattered on about the latest society gossip until there was a discreet knock at the door. Bill Weasley entered with the Lovegoods right behind him.
Lucius once again created the table and chairs for them to gather round.
"Why?" Bill asked.
"I feel more comfortable this way." Lucius shrugged.
"I hope you have good news for us." Draco began.
"Not really." Bill sighed. "I've researched ancient Merlinian law, wizarding common law, each word of the Vow, and even the origins and parameters of the Unbreakable Vow spell itself. Unintentionally, Draco and Luna made an extremely binding Vow with very little room to attempt to cancel it."
"But there is a way, right?" Xeno Lovegood asked him.
Bill spread parchments on the table. "What it's going to come down to is, they're going to have to get married. Both of them vowed, and if they don't do it soon, both of them will sicken. We're not sure if they will actually die, or just fall into a coma."
He looked around the table at four shocked faces and one mildly curious one.
"They have to consummate the marriage, and at least once, they have to ... um, not take precautions that would prevent them from having a child."
"But is there a way out after that?" Draco pressed.
"Possibly." Bill shuffled the parchments. "According to ancient Merlinian law, if a married couple has lived together 90 days and the wife truly does not please the husband, he may come before the Wizengamot and state his grievances, and request a divorce. I'm not sure how strong the disagreements would have to be to end the marriage without invoking the sinister side of the vow."
"What if she did something to truly cause me to be upset with her, like shagging Longbottom?" Draco asked.
Bill looked at Draco, and then Luna, before answering. "I don't know. Obviously, it would give you a valid reason to demand a divorce. But since she did vow to be a proper wife, and that's not something a proper wife would do, it could cause her harm."
"Our son would be divorced?" Narcissa nearly choked on the word.
"Would you rather him get divorced, or remain married to her?" Lucius muttered.
"That was uncalled for." Bill informed them with a frosty look.
"Oh." Narcissa looked down the table, as if she had forgotten the Lovegoods were there.
"I do apologize." Lucius told them, not at all looking apologetic. "I should not have said anything so improper."
"I suppose we should arrange the wedding." Narcissa sighed. "The sooner the better. The quicker we can get this over with, the sooner we can pass the three months and extricate them from the situation."
They quickly agreed that the marriage would take place the following weekend. No need for delay, and no one was interested in having the huge wedding for over a thousand guests which had been planned for Draco previously. They would be wed in the garden of the Manor, or the drawing room in the case of inclement weather.
Satisfied the plans were complete, Lucius excused himself to report to Robert Greengrass what they had learned. Narcissa left to confer with the house elves as to what needed to be done to facilitate the wedding. Xeno Lovegood had to get back to work at The Quibbler. Bill left, promising to continue looking into any other way around the Vow.
Which left only Luna and Draco. "I'm going to run an errand, and I'll be back in an hour." she told him. "That will give you time to get your shower and situate yourself. We probably should get to know one another since we're going to be married."
He didn't answer, just scowled at her.
"I'll see you in a bit, Draco." she smiled as she left.
Luna returned, as promised, an hour later with a shopping bag, which she held up. "I brought you a gift."
"Plan to poison me before the ceremony, do you?" he asked eyeing the bag suspiciously. Especially after it moved.
"No silly." she smiled, setting the bag beside him on the bed.
He opened the bag cautiously, and a head popped up.
"It's a ferret." he shrank back, looking from the animal to her nervously. "That's not funny, Loony."
"You said you liked ferrets." she tilted her head at him curiously.
"That was before I was turned into one." he watched the animal as if expecting it to attack.
She reached into the bag and lifted it out, holding it where he could see. "Don't be afraid of him. Animals can sense when you're nervous."
"Why on earth would you get me a ferret?" he raised one eyebrow.
"Because I thought we should make the best of the situation. Go back to the reasons we made the Vow. You wanted a pet ferret and you were fascinated by my round house. I wanted lots of pudding." she stroked the creature's head.
"It's not that simple, Luna." he sighed.
"Of course it is." she shrugged. "Most people overcomplicate things."
He cautiously reached over and stroked the ferret's head. "What is its name?"
"He doesn't have a name yet." she placed the pet in his arms "He's your pet. You pick his name."
"Luna," he sighed. "It was kind of you to buy me a gift, but I don't know about this. I've never had a pet before."
"It will be fine." she assured. "I'll help you take care of him. I think a ferret is actually a very good choice for you. They're very intelligent and playful."
"Thank you. I think." he gave her a half hearted smile.