A/N: Hello my beautiful beautiful readers! You. Are. Amazing. I love you all. Seriously. Love.

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Chapter 10 – Unexpected

The day of the party dawned and Hermione was still at a loss on whether she would say yes to Ron or not. She didn't really have any other options at this stage and if she didn't say yes to him tonight then she would have to marry someone of another house. Through the week she'd been receiving owl upon owl with invitations and requests from men, for her to accompany them to the party this evening so they could see if they have a potential together. The most interesting had been from Blaise Zabini which, after Ginny's warning, she'd been expecting. She hadn't dismissed him as a possibility, yes he'd had a reputation at school, similar to that of Draco's but he was a kind sole. They worked in the same department at the ministry for many years but rarely spoke. However, after seeing that he was capable of harming his best friend in a drunken rage on the night of the 5th Anniversary Ball, it made her rather sceptical.

She had yet to receive any such letter from Draco Malfoy. This disappointed her and she didn't really understand why. Perhaps all this attention was going to her head or perhaps she'd just read into what had passed between them too much. Either way she was sure everything would be revealed at the party tonight.

"Here Draco," his mother said passing him a small box, "When the time is right you will give her this."

He opened to box a looked at the beautiful emerald ring, whose band was a snake that held the gem in its mouth. "Mother, this ring is beautiful."

"And very old. It's an heirloom Draco. Look after it." She said closing to the lid of the box that was still in his hands, "Once that ring is on her finger she will not be able to take it off and the engagement will have to go through. That ring holds very old magic that means it can do that."

Draco nodded and stowed the box in his breast pocket. "How do I get her to choose me? What can I offer her?" he asked; remembering Blaise's words from the other night.

"Son, you are the Malfoy heir, your partnership with her will be legendary. The 'Gryffindor Princess' marries the 'Slytherin Prince' it's a match made in heaven."

"Yes mother. Will you be attending the party tonight?" he asked.

"No I shall not. I think it's best to leave you alone. If you need me at any point, to distract Blaise or some other suitor bid on Hermione, then call me and I shall help."

"Thank you." He brought her closer to him and kissed her on both cheeks. He gave her a smile and headed for the door.

"Oh and Draco?" she called. He stopped and looked back at his mother. "Don't forget, she's really rather pretty. A marriage to her will not be a bad thing." She smiled which her son returned and then closed the great front door behind him.

Ron was angry. He'd been trying to intercept Hermione's post, seeing who she was getting offers from. No one that he deemed a threat thankfully, however one person did surprise him. The letter Hermione received from Harry had shocked him. His best friend asking her not to accept his proposal seemed like betrayal. He'd been tempted to destroy the letter or change some words but he knew that Harry would ask her and he would be found out. The owl had broken its wing when as he caught it which slowed it down. He kept it in his house that night, cared for it before releasing it the next morning with a more healed but not fixed wing. That had given him time to reach Hermione first.

She had been reluctant and had not given him a definite answer, another betrayal. Surely she would have accepted straight away due to their friendship. Friends have to stick together at times like this, do they not? Who else would she marry? Tonight would be the decider. If she didn't say yes before tomorrow then she would have to marry a non-Gryffindor, an option that he knew she wouldn't choose lightly.

There was a knock at Hermione's door. Strange, most people that visited her used the floo network unless they were muggles and even then some still did. She walked over to her front door and looked though the peephole. She drew in a short breathe as she realised who her visitor was and shrunk away from the door.

"Hermione?" the voice called. "Are you in? I would have used floo, but I didn't want to seem rude appearing in your sitting room suddenly."

She steadied her breathing till it sounded almost half normal. How was it he even sounded smug through a bloody door? She reached for the handle, counted to five and then pulled the door open. Draco Malfoy stood on her steps dressed in a suit as if ready for tonight already, or perhaps he always wore that, she didn't really know.

"Draco." She smiled awkwardly, "What brings you here?" she asked but did not let him in yet.

"There are a few matters that I wish to discuss with you." He began. She raised her eyebrows in her confusion. "Would it be alright if we spoke inside?"

She mentally shook herself as she was getting over the shock of Draco Malfoy being on her doorstep asking to come in, "yes! Yes of course." She almost jumped, "Come right through, can I get you anything to drink?"

"A firewhiskey wouldn't go a miss." He smirked, "Or does our Gryffindor Princess not have such a thing in her house." Stupid Malfoy, always sounding so smug and making her feel like they were at school again.

She composed her face, narrowed her eyes and allowed the corner of her mouth to smile, "Two firewhiskey's it is." And she summoned two glasses and her bottle of drink from the kitchen. She'd changed since Hogwarts, Draco was almost impressed by her confidence.

After she had poured the liquid, passed Draco his drink and taken a deep sip herself; she looked up at him from her position on the seat opposite. "So what is it you that you wanted to talk about?"

"Ah, yes." He remembered, "I purely wanted to come over and escort you to the party but I'd hoped we could get to know each other first." He said plainly as if this was normal.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and tried to figure out what he was up to. Surely he couldn't be here because of the marriage law? "And what did you think we would talk about Malfoy? We were such great friends at school." She asked sarcastically.

He smiled "A catch up perhaps?" he stood up from his seat and sat down next to her, "A reminisce of old times?" he stared deeply into her eyes. She melted under his gaze but managed to hold a straight face. She wanted to shuffle back slightly as his proximity was causing her some discomfort but she restrained the urge.

"I have to get ready for tonight." She said quickly.

He finally dropped his eyes from hers, he looked almost disappointed. "Of course, of course. Will you let me return and accompany you to the party? A beautiful woman such as yourself should not enter these things alone."

"Umm, yeah sure. Why not?" her mask had slipped but this request and statement was so unexpected that it was hard to remain unemotional.

A/N: so what did you think? Im currently in the process of writing the next chapter so if you're lucky you might even get the next one tonight or early tomorrow morning (if you live in a different time zone to me then later on today...?). Anyway I felt it was high time we had a bit more of Dramione. More will follow do not fear!

please please please continue to review and follow and fav and read i check the numbers every morning after i post a chapter and it makes me so so sos os so so sos os sos os os os sosossoso so incredibly happy to see how many people have read and enjoyed my story! I feel like I have a special connection with each and every one of you. Do you feel like that? I feel like that when I read a someone's story as well. I like it :)

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