A/N: Look! Another new update for you! Aren't you pleased? Thanks for all the love you've been giving this fic everyone. Rest assured I'm pecking away at new chapter for all your other favourites as well and I hope to update them again soon. Much love! xx-Kitten


Little Do You Know

By Kittenshift17


Chapter 9: A Sprinkle of Pixie Dust


Hermione sighed into Harry's neck as she hugged him fiercely. The chaos of the Weasley family was loud and Molly was exclaiming over the matches made for her children. She was an emotional wreck. Arthur had been forced to tuck a now-sobbing Ginny into his chest and so his sons were left to handle their crying mother. Harry, Hermione knew, felt like he'd let them down.

"It's not your fault, Harry," Hermione whispered in his hair, "It's not your fault that you and Ginny aren't compatible. It's not my fault or Ron's fault that we aren't either. Ginny will get over her shock and realise there must be something about Blaise that resulted in them being paired. The Weasley's aren't going to disown us just because we're not legally allowed to marry their children."

"They're my family. You and the Weasley's are all I've got left. Mum and Dad are gone. Sirius is gone. Remus is gone. Dumbledore's gone. You and the Weasley's are all I have!" Harry murmured quietly, clutching her to him as though he were a little boy rather than a grown man.

"And you'll always have us, Harry," Hermione whispered, "With my Mum and Dad still having no clue who I am, you're all I've got too, you know?"

"I can't believe that stupid hat put you with Malfoy," Harry mumbled, "He's horrid. You're too good for him, Hermione."

"Don't get me started on my match, Harry," Hermione sighed, carding her fingers through Harry's hair, "I don't know much about Tracy, but she must be decent if she'd been paired as being compatible with you."

"I don't want to marry her, Hermione. I want to marry Ginny. I love Ginny," Harry protested.

"I know, Harry," Hermione sighed, "I don't want to marry Malfoy either. I doubt Ron wants to marry Hannah and I know Ginny doesn't want to marry Blaise…. But we haven't got a choice."

"I wish we still had that time-turner," Harry whispered, "I'd go back a few hours, sneak off with Ginny and elope like Parkinson suggested."

"Oh, Harry," Hermione chuckled in spite of herself as she released her best friend and surrogate-brother to peering into his green eyes. He looked forlorn and saddened, "I'm going to do everything I can to find a loophole in this law and get us all out of it."

Harry gave her a half-heart lopsided grin.

"Even if you find a loophole, I don't think Malfoy will let you go easily, Hermione," he told her quietly, reaching up to tuck an unruly curl behind her ear, "He was on his feet and heading for you before the hat even announced that you two were paired. He was nice to you today about the game when he didn't have to be. You're even still wearing the jersey with his name on it."

Harry pointed at the word Malfoy scrawled across her chest.

"I don't know how he knew it was you he'd been paired with or why he decided to head you off before you could make a break for it, but I don't think he's going to let you go easily. I think he's got a thing for you, Hermione. Why else would he be using Legilimency on you?"

Hermione blanched at the very idea.

Malfoy had been unusually nice to her since this whole thing had been mentioned, but then Hermione had just put it down to the possibility of them being paired and not wanting to start something that would only cause problems later. Not that she wasn't still furious with him for using Legilimency on her. He had no right to her innermost thoughts.

"Even so Harry," Hermione shrugged, choosing to ignore his projections abut Malfoy for now, "Have you read about marriages in the magical world? They're not like muggle weddings. The magic is binding. If we marry these people like we've been told to, we're stuck with them for life. The only way out is if when one's spouse croaks."

She pulled the book on magical weddings she'd been reading that morning from her pocket, enlarging it once more before flipping it open to show him the passage about the binding spells used in the ceremonies.

"Bloody hell," Harry sighed, "But then again, much as none of us wants to go through with this mess, it's for the kids. You know? I mean, I don't want to marry some bird I don't even know. I don't want to see you stuck with Malfoy and Ginny stuck with Zabini. But if we don't do it; if everyone doesn't start pumping out kids soon, then some of those little shits inside there are going to be forced to marry people twice their age. And if I have to have kids with Tracy, I don't want to put the rugrats through a divorce."

Hermione blinked at him, realising he was right. She had a year to find some way to stop this nonsense or they would all be married and becoming parents much too soon. If she didn't find a loophole by then, they were all bollocksed.

"Oh Hermione, I haven't even asked you who you're paired with?" Mrs Weasley shuffled over, still crying before she pulled both Harry and Hermione into a cuddle.

"Erm… actually Mrs Weasley," Hermione blushed as she was released.

"What is that you're wearing, dear?" Molly asked suddenly when she'd released them, squinting at Hermione's chest where Malfoy's name was scrawled on the jersey she wore.

"Is that…?" Molly trailed off.

"The name of my fiancé?" Hermione sighed heavily, "Yeah. The hat stuck me with Malfoy."

"Oh dear," Molly said, paling horribly, "Oh this will never do! Ginny's pairing with that Zabini boy was bad enough but this… No, this can't be allowed. We'll speak to Kingsley. As Minister he might be able to do something. You can't marry that terrible boy, Hermione. Not after all he's done to you kids."

Molly's tears dried then as the seriousness of Hermione's pairing weighed on her mind heavily.

"I'll find a loophole around the law, Mrs Weasley," Hermione told her solemnly, "The minute I get my hands on that law I'm going over it with a fine-tooth comb. I'll find a way out of this."

Molly was nodding before a voice drawled from behind that made Hermione stiffen.

"What makes you think I'll let you go?" Malfoy's voice suddenly purred into her ear and Hermione stiffened to find him suddenly pressed against her back, his hands on her hips and holding her in place when she startled violently, her hand leaping for her wand and fumbling it thanks to the book she was still clutching.

"Malfoy," Harry growled at the blonde haired git when he caught Hermione's gasp, having been distracted momentarily by Mrs Weasley's questions about his pairing.

"Potter," Malfoy drawled and Hermione didn't have to see his face to know the blonde was smirking.

"Get your hands off Hermione, Malfoy," Harry demanded.

Malfoy chuckled darkly.

"Hermione Malfoy," he purred sinfully making the hairs on the back of Hermione's neck stand on end as he played with the way Harry's rushed demand hadn't quite allowed the full length of a pause between the names, slurring them together in a terrible display of foresight for Hermione's impending doom, "Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"No," she answered coldly, stomping on his foot. She tried very hard not to react to the sound of her first name rolling off his tongue. It sounded positively wicked, like a delectable sweet he'd enjoyed with fervour. She didn't think she'd ever heard him say her first name before and it unsettled her greatly to know that the sound gave her goosebumps.

He ignored the assault, one arm sliding around her stomach to hold her in place.

"Now, now. My name looks good on you, Granger," he retorted, sounding entirely too smug for his own good. Hermione hissed in protest when his free hand lifted to her chest and his fingers began tracing the lettering of the word 'Malfoy' where is was embroidered on the jersey she was wearing. She shivered when her struggling brought her into further contact with his lean body where he'd pressed himself against her back.

Her ear was tingling from his lips being pressed so close to it and her mind was thrumming strangely at the sound of her first name rolling off his tongue. No one had a right to sound so sinful and so enthralling whilst saying her name that way.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Hermione asked him, "Sniffing around for more broken bones? I'd be happy to get that bat and beat you with it again."

"You just want to go back to my dormitory, don't you Granger?" he taunted, still trailing his fingers over the lettering on her jersey.

"I'm going to maim you," she informed him, struggling again.

"I'd like to see you try," he purred into her ear, "My parents require a formal introduction to their future daughter-in-law."

"What?" Hermione yelped, forgetting her fury with him over his cheek when he mentioned that notion.

"I believe you heard me," he replied even, still holding her inappropriately.

"Would you get off me?" Hermione hissed at him, "What is your obsession with touching me today?"

"You're my betrothed," he shrugged, jostling her with the movement, though he did release her and step back slightly. Hermione hated the way her body tingled everywhere he'd touched her.

"I wasn't this morning when you sat me on your shoulders at the game," Hermione hissed in a whisper, spinning towards him with narrowed eyes. The Weasleys were all looking on and Ron looked furious. He was being restrained by Bill and Charlie while Percy and George held onto Harry to keep either of them from pouncing on Malfoy.

Hermione glared up into his pointed handsome face in frustration and he smirked widely. She flinched when he reached up and slid his thumb intimately along her lower lip, making Hermione gasp in surprise.

"Weren't you?" he asked his eyes boring into hers and Hermione narrowed them in return.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she snapped, glaring at him furiously.

"Figure it out," he retorted, "Now come with me. My parents don't like to be kept waiting."

He slid his thumb along her lower lip again, smirking even wider when she gasped a second time, the sensitive flesh tingling madly before he took hold of her hand and pulled on it, hauling her away easily.

"Stop manhandling me, Malfoy," Hermione snapped, trying to snatch her hand back from him, "You can't just drag me around and manipulate me at will. I will hex you again if you try. Now let go of me! I'm not about to meet your horrid parents. I have no intention of marrying you and so do not see the point."

Malfoy spun on her so quickly that Hermione hissed in surprise and stumbled right into him. His hands gripped her biceps tightly as he glared down into her face with a hint of fury in his grey eyes.

"Say anything like that again, Granger," he threatened darkly, "And I'll snog you. Right here. In front of everyone."

"Anything like what?" her eyes widened in confusion at his sudden animosity.

"Anything like that you're not going to marry me. You are. You have no bloody choice about it. Just like you have no choice about having to shag me and having to have kids with me. There is no way out of this. I've read the law. I know there's no loophole for you to exploit. Trust me, I'd have found it," he told her sternly, his hands tight around her arms but not so tight as to be painful, "You will marry me because if you don't we'll both have our magic drained and our memories wiped and be forced into the muggle world. And I will not let that happen."

Hermione blinked at him for several long seconds in silence, hearing the Weasleys and Harry calling after her, wanting to make sure she was alright.

"You've read the law?" Hermione asked, her mind suddenly clicking onto what he'd said.

He nodded sharply, releasing her arms once more and taking her hand again, intent on dragging her over to where his parents were. Hermione stumbled along behind him, her curiosity about the law overcoming her concern over being officially introduced to Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.

"What does it say? Do you have a copy? You might've missed something," Hermione questioned as she was hauled along behind him.

"There's no way out, Granger," he sighed, "Admirable as your passion for finding a way to be free of me is, you won't achieve your objective. The closest thing to a loophole is a clause exempting those among our age bracket incapable of conceiving life. We're all to be tested before we're allowed to marry. Anyone who is infertile need not participate in the weekly shagging clause because the goal of each union is to replenish the population. So unless you happen to be infertile, you're stuck with me. And even if you were infertile, we'd end up being one of those couples who have to adopt the cast-offs and orphans of others, so it's a null point."

"That's the only loophole?" Hermione demanded, tugging her hand free of his grip and shaking the too-long sleeves of the jersey she wore down over them. He'd made her drop her book over where the Weasley's were, so Hermione hoped Harry had picked it up before it could be ruined by the wet grass.

"There's nothing that touches on anything else? What about mental instability? Unfitness to be a parent? Disability?" she demanded.

"Do you have any of those things? I mean, I know you're barmy, but it clarifies that you must be clinically insane – as in locked up in St Mungo's, unfit to be around people in general," Malfoy replied evenly, snatching her wrist up when he saw she'd balled her fists around the sleeves of the jersey.

"Well, no, I don't. But there must be some way out of this!" Hermione protested, "I don't want to marry you. You've been horrible to me for the entire time I've known you!"

Malfoy stopped and turned slowly to look at her at her words and Hermione took a small step back from him, recalling his threat about snogging.

"I was looking out for you half the time, you know?" he asked, tilting his head speculatively at her, "I could've ratted you out when you were brought to the Manor. I knew it was Potter. If I'd identified you, you'd all be dead right now."

"You wished, loudly and in front of half the school, for my death Malfoy!" Hermione protested.

"When?" he frowned.

"Second year! You proclaimed after Mrs Norris was petrified that Mudbloods would be next. And then you said that you hoped the next person attacked would be me whilst wishing for the school to be closed!" Hermione snapped at him.

"I…" Malfoy frowned suddenly, "I said that to Crabbe and Goyle… how do you know about it?"

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise when he didn't even deny it.

"Harry and Ron were pretending to be Crabbe and Goyle to interrogate you about the Chamber of Secrets being opened," she admitted, "Polyjuice potion. I was meant to be there too, pretending to be Milly. But something went wrong."

"Those bastards interrogated me? How the hell did they get Polyjuice potion in second year?"

"I brewed it," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You brewed Polyjuice potion in second year? We don't even brew that at NEWT level!" he looked outraged.

"Try to remember that I'm brilliant, would you?" Hermione replied smugly, "What other exemptions are there to the law?"

"None Granger," he informed her, rolling his eyes at her comment, "The Ministry means to announce next week that they will give monetary incentives to all witches and wizards who conceive independently to further raise the population count. The only way we all get out of this is if, in the next year, the population count rises by at least a thousand. Which is pretty much impossible unless everyone still capable of bearing children has triplets or quadruplets."

He dragged her once more towards his parents and Hermione felt butterflies of nervousness and fear begin to revolt inside her stomach. They were very intimidating. In the months since the end of the war – when both Malfoys had looked rather ragged, run-down and stressed – Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were once again at their best.

Lucius especially looked much as he had done that Hermione could recall from her younger years meeting the man. His robes impeccable, his chin raised defiantly, his long blonde hair loose about his shoulder in thick, silky tresses. He was also scowling at her as though it were all her fault she'd been paired with Draco. Hermione had little knowledge of Draco's mother, Narcissa.

The woman was tall and she emanated power and grace. Dressed in the latest fashion trends for witches her age that Hermione had read about in the Prophet, her hair and make-up were perfect. She eyed Hermione speculatively, though Hermione didn't detect any hostility in her gaze the way she had done with Lucius. Narcissa's eyes raked over Hermione, taking in every detail and suddenly Hermione found herself feeling self-conscious.

Dressed in tights that were now slightly marked from her earlier Quidditch match, which were paired with Draco's too-large-on-her Slytherin jersey underneath her sundress and hoodie; her hair all in a mess, Hermione felt a little raggedy compared to the marvellously manicured Malfoys. Even Draco managed to look strapping and regal in his Quidditch gear, his thick blonde hair messy and hanging in his amused grey eyes.

Returning the favour, Hermione raked her gaze over both Malfoys before she turned to Draco and raised her eyebrows at him questioningly. Neither Malfoy spoke, so Hermione didn't either. She wasn't about to go out on a limb and introduce herself to them – proffering the proverbial olive branch – when they were making no such efforts at common courtesy.

Draco smirked at her for a long moment while Hermione stared at him, waiting for him to do the formal introductions. Hermione could tell he was getting a kick out of making her feel uncomfortable as she waited and so Hermione narrowed her eyes on him slightly and waited without displaying her impatience.

"Mother, Father may I formally introduce my new fiancé, Hermione Granger," Malfoy said finally, his smirk growing even wider as though he could tell she was irritated despite her efforts to conceal her emotions.

"Granger, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy," he went on.

"Miss Granger," Narcissa said, offering her a tight smile and a handshake.

Hermione eyed it for a moment, considering the notion of refusing to shake before deciding against it. Instead she extended her hand.

Or tried to.

Malfoy snorted at her when Hermione found her fists still clenched around the fabric of the jersey she'd pulled down over them to keep them warm. Sighing in annoyance Hermione jerked the sleeve up and shook Narcissa's cold hand heartily. Lucius was smirking now as well as Draco and Narcissa looked slightly amused.

"Mrs Malfoy," Hermione said tightly.

Lucius offered his hand to her next and Hermione shook it briskly too.

"Mr Malfoy," she inclined her head.

"Miss Granger," Lucius said, "Might we be also meeting your parents on this dreadful day?"

Hermione felt like she'd been kicked in the stomach at his words. She'd yet to be able to rectify the damage she'd done with her memory charm on her parents and so they were still living in Australia. Seeming to sense he'd said something to upset her, Lucius frowned slightly while Hermione balled her fist back inside her sleeve, and sucked her bottom lip into her mouth.

"They're muggles, Father," Draco reminded Lucius carefully, though he too seemed to notice she was upset about something, "They would be unable to come to Hogwarts or Hogsmeade."

"Indeed," Lucius said, curling his lip away from his teeth in disgust over the idea, "Another time then, perhaps? It wouldn't do to be strangers with my son's mother and father in law."

"My parents are…" Hermione began in a small voice, looking at her feet as she wrapped her arms around her stomach, trying not to cry over how much she suddenly missed her Mum and Dad.

"Oh Merlin, they're not dead, are they?" Narcissa blurted, looking horror-stricken.

"No they… erm… to protect them during the war I… well, I … modified their memories and sent then away from England. They… they no longer recall they have a daughter," Hermione admitted haltingly.

"Oh," Narcissa said awkwardly.

"I erm… I hadn't tried a memory charm before and I'm afraid I was a little too over-zealous with it. I didn't plan on surviving the war and I didn't them tortured for associating with me or suffering the grief of losing me. I've been unable to undo the modification as of yet," Hermione admitted, feeling small.

She jumped in surprise when Malfoy stepped a little closer to her until his shoulder brushed hers carefully in silent comfort over her parents.

"How unfortunate," Lucius said, not at all sounding like he thought it was unfortunate. He sounded relieved that he might never have to meet them, muggles that they were, "Tell me, Miss Granger, do you believe that you and my son are a compatible match?"

Hermione lifted her head at his tone, her eyes tightening slightly.

"No. I don't," she informed him before deciding she had had quiet enough of Malfoys for one day. Without another word Hermione turned on her heels and marched right back across the rolling grounds of Hogwarts towards the Weasely. She was rather proud of herself when she didn't even jump as thunder boomed overhead and another deluge began.