Disclaimer: I own nothing, all Harry Potter characters, places, etc belong to JKR

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Chapter 6

The next day seemed to have started out normal. Hermione stretched sleepily as she remembered that she had to meet up with the Head Boy, Anthony Goldstein from Ravenclaw (they were announced at the feast by Dumbledore), before the first lesson to agree on a time they can meet and discuss Head duties. As she thought of the events of the night before, she was pretty satisfied. Draco was fairly bearable; they walked back to their rooms together. In fact, it was a bit unnerving that he was being nice to her. It made her think that he's planning something particularly evil.

As she walked out of the bedroom after a refreshing shower, she found Draco waiting for her. She informed him that she had to go to breakfast earlier to meet Anthony.

"Oh, right…" Draco said, his brows furrowed, trying to recall who the hell Anthony was and why she had to meet him. "Why, again?"

"You're hopeless." Hermione announced cheerily. "He's Head Boy, remember? We have to discuss things so we have to set up an appointment." she almost made it seem like it was a bloody business meeting or something.

Draco didn't even try to hide that he was annoyed.

"What about our very important… umm, fake relationship duties?" he improvised.

"Okay, nice try, Malfoy.." Hermione raised an eyebrow. "And what would those be?"

"Oh, not much." Draco grinned. "Just snogging in public and such." he winked at her.

"I don't have time for this…" Hermione said tiredly, hurrying out of the room, leaving an astonished Draco behind. He was gaping at the door in disbelief.

'Oh, so that's how we'll play, Granger. How dare she walk out on me like that…' he thought grimly. 'Good to know, very good to know indeed.'

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Draco was glaring at Hermione angrily during breakfast. He followed her after she left their room and watched her talk to that stuck up looking Goldencrantz or Rosenstein or whatever his name is. That git even made her laugh and touched her arm in a friendly way. Draco was beyond pissed. People didn't just touch his things without consequences. He'll have to pay, and he'll have to pay big-time, Draco decided.

'And how dare SHE?' he fumed to himself. 'We're supposed to be playing our parts! But does the little unbelievably gorgeous know-it-all realise that? Nooo…'

As he was glaring daggers first at Hermione and then Rosenstein, his expression turned murderous, and the piece of toast he was holding in one hand got completely crushed and fell on his plate as mere crumbs. His behaviour even got Pansy's attention, who clearly decided to completely ignore him after the announcement the day before. The other Slytherins already got past that, since whatever Draco did was unquestionable. They chatted away while eating, not noticing Draco's quietness.

"Draco, what's wrong?" Pansy whined next to him. "Did you finally break it off with the Mudblood? 'Cause I'm willing to forgive you…" she babbled on with a hopeful expression on her face.

When Draco didn't react after the first couple of minutes, she started tugging at his shirt. This got Draco's attention, but obviously he was not happy about the distraction, judging by the sinister look on his face. Though, Pansy seemed to be oblivious to this.

"Draco? Did you even hear me?" she continued as he now turned his glare at her. "Did you dump the Mudblood alrea…" she was cut short however, because the I'll-murder-you-right-now-if-you-don't-shut-up look on Draco's face silenced her.

"What did you just call my fiancé?..." Draco's deadly stare and his ice cold tone basically served as huge neon signs above his head saying "WARNING! If you say the wrong thing, I'll RIP YOUR HEART OUT!". Everyone around Draco who heard him suddenly seemed to have remembered that they had to be somewhere else and left in a heartbeat. But apparently Pansy was as aware as a sheep would have been, and carried on.

"You know, the Mudblood. I can't believe you are engaged to her…" but she couldn't finish, because that was when Draco's spell hit her right between her eyes. Suddenly, her ears started to grow, and they had white fur growing on them. She looked at Draco in shock, who smirked right back at her; finally he could relieve his anger somehow. Pansy had tears in her eyes by now, as she realised that she started growing huge front teeth and circular horns. By now, everyone around her was rolling around in laughter; the uproar was growing quickly as the other houses saw her as well.

She tried to shout desperately, but only a noise that sounded like "Baaa-baaa" came out of her mouth. Her eyes opened wide and her hands quickly covered her mouth.

"Look, Pansy turned into a sheep!" Ron shouted to Harry and Hermione, trying to communicate through the laughter and shouting of the others. Harry and Hermione looked at each other questioningly, then shrugged and stood up to see what Ron was talking about. They were quick enough to see Pansy run crying from the hall, McGonagall and a couple of teachers running after her.

Hermione looked at the Slytherin table, and saw Draco roaring with laughter in the middle of the commotion. She narrowed her eyes in understanding, and followed McGonagall with her eyes as she made her way back to Draco. The Hall fell silent once again. It was obvious that Draco was trying to control himself, keeping the smile from coming back to his face.

"What was that about, Mr Malfoy?" McGonagall glared at him, she obviously didn't find the situation as extremely funny as he did. "I demand explanation NOW."

"Well, now at least her appearance and her intelligence match." Draco said, trying very hard not to burst out in laughter, provoking laughter from certain parts of the Hall.

"In that case, you'll have detention every Saturday with me for four weeks and I'll also take 100 points from Slytherin." McGonagall said, raising her eyebrows, starting to turn back to the teachers' table.

"No, wait professor!" Draco said quickly, suddenly sensing the seriousness of the situation. "I did that because she insulted my fiancé." he said looking down, as McGonagall turned back to him. Several students looked at Hermione at this, who blushed slightly.

"Did she really?" McGonagall asked, eyeing Draco suspiciously. Draco nodded. "Well, in that case you don't get detention Mr Malfoy. The points are still deducted though. And no arguing!" she added sternly, as Draco opened his mouth to speak.

Draco nodded in defeat, muttering "Sorry, professor…".

Slowly everyone returned to their breakfast, but they only had a couple of minutes left before classes, so Hermione quickly packed her things and left Harry and Ron to stuff everything that remained on the table into their mouths.

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They had Transfiguration first, this year the Gryffindors had it together with the Slytherins. Hermione was the first one in the classroom; she started unpacking her quills and parchments as the other students started showing up. Draco arrived before Harry and Ron and took the opportunity to take the seat next to Hermione's. As Hermione gave him an incredulous look, Draco looked at her pointedly, reminding her of their situation. As she sighed in defeat, he slowly put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer causally. He was just waiting for the right moment, which came exactly when Harry and Ron walked in.

Hermione didn't notice though, so she looked at Draco suspiciously as he leaned closer. When he placed a small and gentle kiss on her neck and then blew in her ear, she shivered and felt goose bumps on her back, her breath getting hitched in her throat. After the first shock, she looked at him questioningly and got lost for a second in his lust-filled eyes as he gave her a seductive look. Then she felt like she was drawn to him by a magnet or something as they both leaned forward and their lips slowly met.

Draco's hand moved up to hold her head as he moved closer and dipped her head back slightly to deepen the kiss. As he did this, Hermione automatically opened her mouth a bit, granting his eager tongue access to hers. Her arms unconsciously moved to his head, getting entangled in his soft, silky hair.

Harry and Ron stood open mouthed in the doorway, staring at them with eyes wide open, along with most of the other students in the room. Ron's face slowly turned green as the couple's actions got more and more passionate.

"Why can't I look away?!" Harry muttered, mostly to himself, but Ron heard it and thought that it accurately described his own feelings at that moment.

To their relief, McGonagall chose that moment to enter the classroom. She looked around for a second before she found the cause of the silent observation.

"Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger, that's quite enough." she said impatiently, as she made her way to her desk. "Don't force me to give you detention for the high disturbance of my students' cerebration." she shook her head disapprovingly as Hermione jumped away from Draco, looking like a deer caught in the headlight. "And Mr Malfoy, be careful, you've already had a warning today." she added, erasing the smug look from Draco's face.

During the lesson, Harry and Ron seemed to have regained consciousness; they even gave Hermione small but reassuring smiles. Hermione felt quite relieved that she got away with that, but she still stared daggers at Draco whenever he looked at her. She couldn't stop him from smirking though…

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Later that day, after their classes finished, Draco and Hermione both received a short letter from Dumbledore inviting them to his office for a quick meeting. They met in front of the gargoyle. Draco winked at Hermione suggestively, but she simply ignored him, entering the headmaster's office. Draco followed her, smiling to himself.

"Good evening, my dears!" Dumbledore greeted them with a warm smile.

"Good evening, professor!" they answered and they sat in the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk, looking at him expectantly.

"I'm afraid, I have some bad news…" he started, looking at his hands that he rested on his desk. Draco and Hermione looked at each other worriedly and then looked back at Dumbledore, waiting for him to continue. "As you know, the Order has been keeping an eye on Hogwarts as well as other important places. They reported to me earlier today that they suspect the presence of a spy in the school, sent or hired by Greyback himself, to prove to him that your relationship is a fraud." Hermione's eyes widened in fear, Draco glanced at her anxiously. "As we do not know the identity of this spy, there is not much we can do about the situation, apart from being extra careful about being discovered. Also, in the light of the seriousness of these new circumstances, I strongly recommend that you got married as soon as possible."

Hermione couldn't believe her ears. She gasped loudly as she heard Dumbledore say the word "married" and looked at Draco, clearly in despair. Draco personally didn't really think that this would change much about the state they were in now; they already lived together and had to act like they were in love. But for some strange reason he wanted to comfort Hermione, so he turned to Dumbledore.

"But professor, would that really make Greyback believe that we are serious about this?" he inquired calmly. "I mean the fact that we are engaged clearly hasn't."

"Well, I believe that it is important that we at least try." Dumbledore answered, with a curious glint in his eyes. "Furthermore, a proper wizard-witch wedding will create a special bond between you two, which is also good for safety reasons, because there will be a strong connection between you." he added. "However, this is your choice entirely; you can decide on your own and let me know the answer."

Hermione seemed contemplative for a couple of seconds, then looked straight at Dumbledore.

"If this is what it takes to protect myself from that monster, I will do it gladly, professor." she said bravely. "If Draco agrees of course." she added, looking at Draco.

"I agree as well." Draco nodded, smiling at Hermione reassuringly. "When should we do it then?" he asked, glancing at Dumbledore.

"Well, I believe we should give it about two months, considering all the planning and preparing that must be done. Also it will be more believable if we wait a bit first." Dumbledore said.

"Alright then." Hermione agreed, shivering slightly. "Two months it is." Draco simply nodded.

"That's settled then." Dumbledore concluded, smiling brightly. "If anything else occurs, I'll let you know."

Draco and Hermione left the office and parted shortly after, since Hermione had to meet Anthony in a couple of minutes and Draco wanted to return to their rooms to digest this new piece of information and to try to figure out who this mysterious spy might be.

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Greyback glared at the young wizard before him suspiciously.

"Are you sure you can do this alone?" he demanded, his eyes almost glowing in the barely lit room.

"Of course I can." the wizard answered, self-confidence radiating off him. Greyback considered him for a minute, then slowly nodded.

"Well, then…" he snorted. "Do not disappoint me, Mr Zabini.. You know the consequences." he added threateningly.

Blaise Zabini just stared back at him, determination set on his face.

"I won't disappoint you." he stated, a dark smile on his face. "Malfoy will certainly not get away with this…"

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A/N: Whew! That's another chapter done.. Let me know what you think, any feedback is appreciated!! So please please please REVIEW!! ;)