Author's Note - Updated November 16th 2011.
For those of you who felt like the reviewer 'Lame of You' – I do sincerely apologize about making this chapter an author's note. I have been in the other position, as a reviewer who thought she was getting a chapter update and instead got bs. That said, I find it very rude of him/her to wish me ill while I'm trying to accomplish my dreams. I don't want a reader who feels that way so please feel free to take your patronage elsewhere.

This chapter is quite chaotic because I ended up cutting so much of the old stuff and blending two chapters. Remember to check out my profile for more information about my Dean and Luna story, and my Ron & Padma story (both of which are UP and RUNNING). I would love it if you guys still went ahead and voted for me on thegleeproject website - my user name is chibichichio. =. Note: none of my MAM stories are DH compliant. At all.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter! That last cliffie was a bit much!

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Eleventh Cycle

Hath No Fury

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"I…I-"

No.

The heat exploded out of 'merely uncomfortable' into 'painful'. I was horrified. I was completely and totally horrified. I'd turned to see an extremely infuriated pale-turning-quickly-pink Malfoy glowering above me – with my arm in a grip that threatened bruises and a face that promised retribution. This was not happening. This was not happening. I was in an alternate reality that had allowed for nightmares to come to life. I was not actually staring down the man I loathed while he looked back like the feeling was mutual.

No, no, no. This was not happening.

"So sorry to interrupt this little love fest, but would you mind explaining to me what in the seven hells is going on here?"

His nails bit into my arm. I feel as if I stared and stared and stared because I certainly didn't have an answer for him. The heat revved itself up like a Muggle engine and pain licked up the sides of my head. Realization kicked me in the face – it wasn't the club or the packed bodies. It was him, all this fire in my brain, all this heat was in fact a dangerous anger that I didn't think I had even begun to feel.

This is really happening.

I knew what it looked like. I knew for myself that I hadn't planned on and would never actually do anything that might purposely cause him excruciating and lasting pain. But the heat that I had felt was radiating off of him was hurting me.

He yanked me, hard, into his body like he was going to begin squeezing me to death. It looked like he thought better of that before he shook me.

"And why are you dressed like this in public? "

I bristled.

"What are you talking about?" I tried to shake off the grip that Malfoy had on my upper arms but it was immovable. "Dressed like what? And there's nothing going on here so if you don't remove your hands from me in a moment, I'm going to make sure you can never do so again."

He snarled.

He actually physically snarled at me.

And the bond, which is what I was beginning to understand this was, reflected his emotions right back. The heat whipped and crackled.

"Like a whore plying her trade to the general public," he said angrily, shaking me again. "As if your name isn't connected to one of the oldest wizarding lines in the country."

Like… I blinked, stared at him, blinked again. Whore?

A whore?

"And not only are you dressed like one, you do a grand impression of one," he continued.

He began to drag me through the crowd, making a scene as he violently shoved many people out of the way to get to his desired destination. I was so shocked, so bloody well shocked, that I could only stare at him as a strange feeling filled my chest. It took me a moment to recognize it as rage.

"Don't speak to her like that."

A large hand had enveloped my free one, gentle in comparison to Malfoy.

I turned.

Robert Callahan was now holding on to me as well.

Professor Trelawney might call me entirely blind in matters of the third eye but I swear to you that I had a vision of bloodshed. I hadn't the faintest idea who might come out the victor (and heaven knows that I wanted Malfoy to be the one to bleed) but I had no idea where Ginny was, couldn't get to my wand, and had no desire to cause a scene. I cleared my throat-

"Release her hand," the blond said softly. "Immediately."

Robert visibly bristled. I butted in while Malfoy's anger all but fried my brain through the bond.

"Malfoy, don't-"

"Not before you do the same," Robert growled right back.

The tension in the air shot up and the people who had been violently dancing around us started to take notice. Rob and Malfoy both seemed to forget about me and stepped closer to each other, looking one another up and down. I was still clamped in two grips – Robert and Malfoy didn't look like they were letting go of me anytime soon but they didn't look like they were backing down from the pending fight either.

"Malfoy," I hissed, "let go of my arm. I will not ask you again."

Never let it be said stubbornness is not a trait of the Pureblood wizard. Malfoy was apparently deaf to all my threats. His eyes never left Robert's, he didn't so much as blink in my direction to signify that he had heard me.

"Do you know this guy?" Robert's question was directed at me but his eyes were sizing up Malfoy, whose height mirrored his own down to the inch. "The lady set let go."

"She's not going anywhere."

God, the heat...my head...my voice came out with a little less force when I spoke again.

"Yes, he's-"

"I would hope so," Malfoy interrupted again. "I'm her fiancée."

My eyes snapped over to the pale face.

So it was only convenient to claim me in the presence of men? Was he just telling lies at this point or did he not understand that he actually had to propose to be considered a future husband? After he'd said- he'd actually implied – that he wouldn't be forced to be with me by any means?

After storming off at the park, thrusting me into meeting his mother, intimating that if he were inclined to sexual violence he would have to be forced to be with me, after calling me a whore, he wanted to blithely – blithely! – claim me as his betrothed?

"He's your what?" Robert had finally peeled his gaze off of Draco and looked over at me with those dark green eyes of his.

"He's not my fiancée," I said faintly. "He's nothing to me."

"What's going on here?"

Thank God.

Ginny's voice had never sounded sweeter. With a sigh of relief I turned to Ginny who was making her way through the crowd and had pushed her way through the circle of onlookers that now surrounded Malfoy, Robert and I. Whatever shock she felt when she saw Malfoy was expertly hidden and her gaze focused on the pale hand that gripped my upper arm. Immediately, the blue eyes were narrowed.

"The both of you need to let go of her."

Robert's grip loosened, lowered, until his fingers were touching mine - as if he couldn't be completely sure that Malfoy wouldn't toss me over his shoulders and run off into the night. Malfoy's grip never loosened.

Ginny's mouth moved, and Malfoy withdrew his hands with a hiss.

"I wasn't going to ask again," Ginny said loudly and wrapped an arm around me, "and you are apparently hard of hearing."

Malfoy took a step towards her that screamed 'danger' but Robert, good man that he was, immediately headed him off. He was dead serious, and impressively deadly with it.

"Touch either of them and I'll lay you out." He closed the gap between himself and Malfoy, got so close that I gasped. Silence, except for the throbbing beating music, was spreading outward slowly but surely and the crowd was stopping to watch. "Talk to either of them and I will lay you out. I don't know who you think you are or where you come from, but that is not how you treat women. Much less the woman you're involved with, or her friends."

The heat in my head had lowered to manageable levels yet it was almost worse, like a low-key blaze that would burst into a razing fire if I looked away for any length of time. I didn't dare open my eyes as Gin ran hands over me, as if she were checking for bruises.

"As touching as your show of concern is," Malfoy's cold voice flickered in and out, "I can speak to my fiancée anyway I fucking want. You have nothing to do with it."

My new-found Divination powers kicked in.

Just in time to see Malfoy deliver a punch that snapped Robert's head like a ball on a string. The Irishman recovered immediately, followed it with an uppercut that looked incredibly painful. This was not good.

This was really not good.

Both Ginny and I were forgotten as the two men began to pull out fists and legs as they really got into it. I looked long enough to see Malfoy pull back a pale fist and smash it full-force into Robert's chiseled cheek. The jeers began as the crowd jostled for prime places to see the fight.

"Bloody hell, wands? The purse, the purse?" The little black bag was still on my shoulders - I dug into it before handing Ginny our wands. "Body-bind?"

"Read my mind," she said grimly. "I'll take Robert. You hit that blond imbecile."

The body bind was instantaneous - their bodies straightened in mid-punch; totally frozen and totally helpless and prone on the ground. I shot up a spark into the air to scare the crowd backwards, to prevent a stampede that would crush the two still men. People roared with disbelief as we stopped anything else from happening and we heard and ignored the screeching and the jeers.

Ginny and I wasted no time in hurrying over to kneel down besides Rob. The left side of his face looked like it was going to be a proud shade of purple under the hour, one of his eyes was swollen shut, and there was smeared blood at the corner of his mouth. I looked over at Gin and sighed.

"You surely know how to pick your friends, Gin," I said. "Honestly.

She released the body-bind and he rolled his shoulder. Robert's face immediately turned dark.

"Who is he?"

Gin sighed.

"Hold still."

She waved her wand once and flicked her wrist before passing it over his face. Robert winced when the blood at his mouth trickled but moved his gaze to my face.

"Who is he?"

"The man I'm being forced to marry."

I fell silent, helped the healing process along. Perhaps the man I was being forced to marry had heard me – my head was going to suddenly explode any minute now.

"A Marriage Law?"

"Thank you for that." I touched his arm carefully, certain that even though he was holding it awkwardly he hadn't broken anything, then pointed a wand at his face. "It won't mend anything that's broken but it'll take care of just about everything else."

"Thanks."

"Please don't mention it," I smiled faintly. "The knight in shining armor bit makes up for it."

I stood, closed my eyes again and concentrated on the bond. There had to be a way to mute all this emotion, or turn it down, or turn it back on him. When I was ready, I walked over to the blond who was equally as wounded.

What right did he have to be angry?

For a moment, I had to breathe deeply. It was either that or kick him while he was down.

"Malfoy." I forced my face into a neutral expression. "You will not do anything rash if I release the spell. Blink once if you agree, twice if you don't."

He stared at me balefully.

"You have to promise me that you're not going to do anything rash if I release the spell," I repeated slowly. "Blink once if you agree, blink twice if you don't."

Malfoy blinked twice.

If I were to be truthful, I'd really hoped he would blink once but known otherwise. Outwardly, my face was a mask of calm indifference.

"I'm not going to release this," I said in a calm tone and folded my hands in my lap. "I'm going to keep you on the ground incapacitated. If I must I will sedate you, and send a note to your house to have someone come retrieve you. If you would simply agree to behave, you could be free. There's no point to this."

"Really, Drake. There isn't." An unfamiliar voice rang behind me and I turned around and looked up to see a man all in black standing tall next to my kneeled figure. Handsome in the dimness was a silver glinting ring in his left ear with four others flanking him - one relatively tall one dressed in dark blue, a rather wide one in green, and a rather attractive one another who wore a white tee shirt with a dark green zip up jacket over it. They looked familiar.

Wait-

He smiled and bowed from the waist.

"I apologize on his behalf." What was more, he actually sounded like he meant it. "I'm Blaise Zabini – we were in the same Year at Hogwarts and you probably know Crabbe, Goyle and Nott."

Of course. Malfoy's bestmates...he gestured in turn at each of the men who stood with the most perfectly expressionless faces I'd ever seen. I inclined my aching head and he continued.

"We'll take him off your hands."

I dare say I was happy enough to kiss him gratefully.

"That…" I sighed, "that would be most appreciated."

Funnily enough, even Crabbe and Goyle inclined their heads. That I wasn't expecting at all.

When Ginny joined us a moment later, Blaise Zabini bowed again.

"Do you two need assistance getting home?" asked Zabini.

We shook our heads.

"Get home safely then." They inclined their heads politely - what reality was I living in that they were being...polite? - and turned as one with Malfoy floating before them. "We'll release it after you've left."

It was the one saving grace of the night.

"Wasn't he something of a supremacist before?" Ginny asked thoughtfully as we watched him go. "Still good looking as ever though."

"Impeccable manners too," I murmured. "I can't understand why he would call that idiot a friend. What happened to Robert?"

"Apparently, the owners of the club aren't here. Otherwise, they would have broken up that fight. So, that means Robert probably isn't in too much trouble. He's in the back right now, and the owners are being informed about the brawl."

I sighed again, shoved the hair out of my face.

"I'm not sure whether to cry or laugh at this point. My head aches."

She looked interested.

"What happened?"

"The bond," I said wearily. "Anything he feels, you feel."

Her eyebrows shot up.

"You're kidding?" I shook my head as we made our way towards the exit. "Merlin, I am so so sorry then. I can't imagine what that would feel like. Need to stop by somewhere and get drugs on the ride home?"

I nodded wearily.

"And you still have that dinner party tomorrow," she rubbed my arm sympathetically. "I can simply sleep over tonight and help you cook tomorrow. We can get Luna to come early and make drinks since she can't possibly ruin those."

Good God, I had almost forgotten about that. I have no idea what my face must have looked like but it must have showed.

She smiled.

"Don't worry about a thing, 'Mione. Drugs, sleep-over, me cooking." She hailed the cab with a smile. "I've got everything under control."

oo

"Oi mate! Pass me the butterbeer on your left!" Ron nudged Neville with his elbow while indicating the tall clear glass of frothy yellow butterbeer on Neville's left. "Don't hog it all."

I rolled my eyes before snagging a piping hot roll from the serving platter Dean was holding towards me. My luncheon was well underway and everyone was busy fighting over the food or eating it. Ginny had helped me rearrange the living room to make space for the long wooden table that I had pushed up against the fireplace, and my two maroon three-seater couches and single arm-chair were arranged around it.

Dean, casually dressed in jeans and loose black t-shirt, was barely fitting his long and muscular body on one of the couches. There was just no accommodating his size without magic and I'd tried to minimize magic use in this apartment as much possible. Luna must have done something though to make it so the two of them could sit together. They sat with their heads together talking to each other, with smart comments from the Wealsey twins every now and then.

One of the twins said something I couldn't quite catch and Dean and Luna broke apart.

"George, if you don't stop interrupting me…" Dean's handsome face was twisted into a genuine frown presently.

"George! George!" shouted an irate freckled red-head on the floor as he pointed at his identical twin brother. "That's George, you blooming idiot! My name is Fred!"

The whole company broke out into laughter as Dean's eyes widened at his mistake and then narrowed again.

"Doesn't matter," he said in a clipped voice. "Just stop interrupting me!"

"Doesn't…doesn't matter?"

I ignored the brawl that was beginning as I continued to observe my party from afar.

Harry was sprawled out on my floor with the twins, while Ron and Neville stretched out languidly on a different couch across from Dean and Luna. Neville floated the butterbeer over to Ron before laughing at a joke that Harry told all the boys. The mini-drama that Fred was acting out seemed to be entertaining the lot of them.

"I'm a person, Dean!" Fred was still going on about the mistake. He raised his hands in an overly dramatic gesture then clapped both over the middle of his chest.

"I'm a person with feelings, and you-"

"Oh, get over yourself, mate!" Ron rolled his eyes as I attempted not to do the same. My attention drifted off as I continued to observe. Dean and Luna had become re-engaged in conversation since Dean had pointedly chosen to ignore Fred.

Ginny appeared by my side, holding a mug of tea.

"I would have never put those two together," I murmured over my own mug. "It's so odd."

"You wouldn't have put yourself and Malfoy together, would you?" Ginny took a sip of her own orange soda as well as we both spared a wondering glance over at the two in question.

"But Dean and Luna?" I asked.

I continued to stare at the couple in a sort of bemused and confused way. Knowing them individually but seeing them together but knowing that they were together, was an odd feeling. And it was because I would never have put them together as a couple in my life. The Ministry was definitely taking chances with this affair.

"I know," Ginny agreed with a nod and we turned to each other again. "Knowing those two, I wouldn't have imagined that at all. But if they are really destined for each other, they've known about the other all along."

"I suppose," I shrugged.

I'd known him all along and it didn't help anything in the least. In fact, a history of hatred was making anything new remarkably impossible. I couldn't understand how the government could have twisted my life, all our lives, and made it binding enough to create mental bonds.

Bonds.

I didn't want to be bonded to him, for any reason. I didn't want any of this.

"You really aren't much of a romantic, are you?"

Ginny was unaware of all my inner turmoil.

"Oh, don't misunderstand me," I tilted my head with a knowing look. "Every girl has a bit of a romantic in her and I might just have my moments. What girl doesn't want romance? But I know myself – and I know him."

"It'll work out with Dean and Luna in the end though," Ginny said as she took another sip and then reached a hand up to feel if the white clips she had used to pin either side of her hair back were still in place.

I hoped so, because I would hate to see two of my best friends depressed over each other.

"But Neville and Cho is also another ridiculous couple set up," I said changing the cup.

"You know," Ginny said lowering her cup a bit and looking thoughtful though maintaining eye contact. "It's not that I don't think much of Cho because she definitely protected her family in the best way she knew how during the War and almost all of the Changs came out intact…It's that she seemed to be a little emotionally unbalanced when we were still at ole' Hogwarts and I still think that that unbalance is there…"

"And you don't want to see Neville get hurt."

Neville hadn't said too much about his affairs with Cho but we all got the feeling that it wasn't going well at all. Neville was so much more introverted than before the War but he was still one of the most sweet-natured and honestly good people I knew. I hadn't really ever heard him insult anyone besides Professor Snape and that was way back when. I felt like if Neville needed our help with her, he would wait until the last possible minute to get it just because he was a pretty private person.

"The boys will know more about it than we do."

"They will…they probably already do. Speaking of which, I have yet to talk to Ron about him and Padma. What's been going on?"

"Actually," Ginny said with a strange incredulous look on her face. "It's going…well. I can't believe that idiot hasn't messed up yet."

"Have you seen her yet?"

Ginny shook her head. "Not as yet but she's scheduled to come over to the Burrow tomorrow to meet Mum and Dad."

My eyes widened as I looked at Ginny in surprise.

"Really? That's good!"

"I know," Ginny agreed with me. From the couches a loud burst of laughter arose as Fred and George teamed up to tackle Dean on the couch. Luna nimbly floated out of attacking range and wondered over to Neville. They smiled at each other and rolled their eyes before striking up a new conversation.

"I have so much to do although I've covered my entire set of Healing books in between all the busy-body-ness of the last four days. But I still have to do it again-"

Just then, I heard the clicking of nails on the window - owl mail. The party paused momentarily before starting up again as Ginny and I made our way to the other side of the room to get it. I waved them onwards, the conversations restarted.

It was his owl.

"Malfoy?" Ginny asked.

"Yes," I replied with a touch of grimness. What does that prick want now?

Clearly, his creature didn't like me any better than I liked him. It dropped the letter promptly and wheeled back into the sky. I split it open.

Granger,

Your presence is desired tomorrow afternoon at Malfoy Manor around four thirty o'clock. Dress appropriately.

D.M.

I stared.

And then flipped the parchment over to see if anything else was written because, surely, this couldn't be all.

No apology.

No acknowledgment of the night before.

No mention of his incredibly poor behavior.

No 'please', no courtesy, nothing.

I reread it and rage curled in my chest.

"Read it," I snarled and shoved at Ginny. "The nerve!"

Her face darkened.

"Is this his mother requesting your presence or is it him?"

I shook, curled my fists.

"I will go regardless."

She snorted, balled the note up and handed it back to me.

"What does he mean 'dress appropriately'?" She shook her head again. "Do the very opposite. I'll help you get ready tomorrow."

"You alright, 'Mione?" I looked over to see Harry frowning up at me. "What is it?"

"Nothing," I said through gritted teeth. "Nothing at all."

Dress appropriately, I thought coldly to myself. We'll just see about that.