Author's Note: So I'm almost done going through with the spelling and grammar adjustments. I've stopped looking for Hermione OOC-ness because now she's been with the Death Eaters enough to have changed her personality a little more.


Chapter Twelve

"Now, Hermione," Narcissa stated, after they were sure that Ron had left, "we've got to start planning this wedding. There's so much to do, pick the dress, send out the invitations, get the decorator, the decorations… Come, come let's go shopping."

"Isn't it a little…well, late to go shopping?" Hermione grasped at any excuse she could use to postpone shopping for a wedding she wanted no part in. But she should have known better. These were Malfoy's.

"You wouldn't believe the places that open for you with the right… persuasion, if you will."

Grudgingly, Hermione followed Narcissa to the fireplace, where they Flooed to a shop that was completely black, filled with the exact thing that Hermione didn't want to see. Black wedding dresses was not something Hermione saw every day. But what else was she to expect in a Death Eater marriage?

"Narcissa, aren't wedding dresses supposed to be…well, white?"

"Maybe in any other marriage, but not in this one. Everyone who has ever gotten married within the Death Eaters has worn a black dress. It's a tradition," she handed Hermione half a dozen dresses, "Go try these on." Hermione knew that she would be in this shop for an incredibly long time unless she picked a dress.

Luckily for her, the third dress she tried on fit her tastes; or so she told Narcissa, because personally she didn't care what she wore, it was going to be the worst day of her life anyways. After buying the dress, Narcissa started prattling on about how now they should go look at invitations, but a searing pain on their left forearms cut them off. The Dark Mark. Hermione, being grateful for the interruption, Apparated quickly to where the meeting would take place.

Everyone was already there. She walked over to Ginny, and noticed that she was looking around intently, her eyes stopping on someone briefly before moving on. Finally, Hermione saw her eyes rest on one person. Snape? Why is she looking at Snape? Ginny's expression lit up and her eyes got very focused and narrow, like her mind was whizzing at a hundred miles an hour.

The door opened and in came the Dark Lord. Everyone bowed except Ginny. Hermione grabbed Ginny's hand and pulled her down.

"What are you doing?" Hermione whispered angrily, "That's the definition of a reason to get punishment. You can't just not bow."

"Sorry, I was thinking." Ginny replied, looking away and running a hand through her hair.

"Rise," the Dark Lord hissed, and they all did, "we have received word that the news of Ginny's death has been reported to the order. Ginny, I need to speak to you alone in my office. For everyone else, that is all."

The meeting broke up and Hermione watched Ginny follow the Dark Lord out the door. She saw Draco over by Lucius and Narcissa, and once she made eye contact with Lucius, he beckoned her over to them. As she walked, she realized that this was the first time being with Malfoy; out of a battle or the meetings, when he was her real fiancée. When she saw a small velvet box in his hand, she stopped in her tracks. Oh no, not here, not right now. I haven't had time for this to sink in. But she should have known she wasn't the only one in her thoughts.

Look, Granger, I don't want this anymore then you do, but at least I'm not acting like you're a goblin or a troll.

Hey, I have seen a troll; I'm definitely not acting like I did then.

That's not the point, Granger, the point is you're standing in the middle of the room because you don't want me to give you our engagement ring.

It's more than that, Malfoy.

Fine, you don't want to get married with me, and you don't want to have a kid with me, guess what, neither do I.

That wasn't very nice.

I'm not a nice person. Now get over here, people are starting to stare.

Looking around, Hermione saw at least seven people looking at her strangely. She took a deep breath and walked the rest of the way over to them. At least it's only in front of Lucius and Narcissa, Hermione thought, optimistically.

"Everyone!" Narcissa called, once Hermione had come over. Oh, damn. So much for that. As soon as everyone in the room had looked over, Malfoy began to talk.

"As everyone has heard, there is a prophecy that if fulfilled will help us win the war. The prophecy states that: the two who used to hate will be forced to come together to win the war for the Dark. Together they will be a force unbeatable by any foe. That at least, is how much of the prophecy that everyone knows. The Dark Lord has told me there is more to this prophecy," Hermione's breath caught in her throat. There was more?

"At the beginning of the prophecy it was talking about how the two used to hate. Well, there was one missing piece that has just been discovered. The exact line of the prophecy is: once banded together, the two that were once enemies, will end up meaning more to the other than the entire world," did that mean that…that we were going to fall in love? That doesn't seem possible. Malfoy continued, "And we know who the prophecy is about. It's about me… and it's about Gran--Hermione. And because of that, I would have to say that this time is as good as any to say, Hermione, will you marry me?"

For the first time in her life, Hermione saw something different in the eyes of Draco Malfoy. She saw fear, she saw … anxiety, and she realized that she had been thinking about this all wrong since she had found out. She had been thinking that this marriage was going to ruin her life. That she was going to miss out on true love. She had been selfish and stupid. Malfoy was going to be missing out on the same things. He wasn't going to get to fall in love, get nervous about whether his loved one would accept his proposal, he didn't get to have kids with someone he loved, his life was getting ruined just as much as hers was.

She realized that everyone was staring at her, waiting for her response. Did they actually expect her to say no to a prophecy that the Dark Lord wanted fulfilled? Not likely.

"Um…yes? Of course I will." She didn't know how to act. Happy? She wasn't. Sad? She wasn't sad exactly. Willing to serve to whatever the Dark Lord wanted? Yes, that was it, she supposed. But how did she put that into an emotion?

Malfoy opened the velvet box; the ring was beautiful, of course, as any ring bought by a Malfoy would be. She was shocked that it wasn't a black diamond or something, as the wedding dresses were. Instead it had a white gold band with a giant diamond in the middle, and two tiny diamonds fit into the side of the bigger one. She held out her left hand and he slid the ring onto her finger. Everyone clapped like it was a normal proposal that came from the heart, instead of a forced proposal backed up by threats if they didn't go through with it. People started coming up to congratulate them, and Hermione smiled and played along until the last one had left.

"The situation hasn't changed." Draco whispered to her as he pulled her from the crowd.

"What do you mean, 'the situation hasn't changed'?"

"You still have to stay in my room. But don't worry. I'm trying to find a way out of having to have a child. I know you wouldn't want that."

"It's not about what we want, Malfoy. It's about what we need to do to help our side win the war."

"You're saying that whatever they want us to do, you'd do it? Even have a child?"

"The Dark Lord is making us, Malfoy, and there is no point trying to get around it. You'll just get punished. We might as well accept what has to happen."

"Whatever you say, Granger."

"Soon enough you won't be able to call me that." Hermione said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Since when will that stop me?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "I'm going to go talk to Ginny. You're going to … go do something else." With that she walked away, and over to Ginny, who had just entered the room again.

"So… what did you talk about?"

"Just about going back tomorrow. Whoa, nice ring."

"Yes, it is nice, isn't it? And so the forced proposal begins."

"I heard that some arranged marriages turn out alright, even good. You know, that the two fall in love." Ginny explained. Hermione winced as she remembered the end of the prophecy. Were they going to fall in love? It didn't seem possible. With a sigh, Hermione said, "The meetings over, right? I think I'm just going to go to bed. In Malfoy's room, where Malfoy will be next to me. At least if I go now, I get a chance to get changed into my pajamas and stuff without him in there with me."

"Yeah, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"When are you leaving?"

"At 10:00am, but breakfast is--"

"9:00am. Right, that's the same time I had to leave. I'll see you at breakfast."

"Right, good luck in Malfoy's room."

Rolling her eyes, she headed out of the room and up the stairs. When she opened the door, she saw none other then Malfoy, walking past her with a toothbrush. Shirtless. But she was going to ignore that fact.

"Oh!" she said, jumping back slightly and tripping over the doorstop.

"I didn't think you--," Draco started the same time Hermione said, "I was going to try and get--," they both stopped talking, and were silent for a moment. Then he walked back into the bathroom and shut the door.

"Merlin, that wasn't awkward at all." Hermione muttered as she went over to the dresser, where she assumed her clothes had been put. She found them and grabbed a tank top and sweatpants before heading over to the bed. Since he was in the bathroom, she would have to change in there. Just as she pulled her t-shirt off, Malfoy came out of the bathroom. He stopped in his tracks, mumbled some sort of an apology, and then went back into the bathroom. She finished changing quickly and then went over to the bathroom door.

"Can I come in?"

The door opened and Hermione walked in. All of her bathroom supplies were by the sink, so Hermione grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste to brush her teeth. She didn't notice that Malfoy had left the room.

"So," she said, after spitting out the toothpaste, "is this going to get less--" she turned to see him gone, and stopped talking. Glancing out of the bathroom, she saw the lights in the bedroom were off and a figure was in the bed. Sighing, she walked into the room and went to the other side of the bed. She slid under the covers and fell asleep as far from Malfoy as possible.


It was late, really late, but he couldn't sleep. All he could think about was the girl next to him. He heard her breathing steadily and knew she wasn't awake, so he turned to his other side to look at her. She looked peaceful as she slept, her arm was resting under her head, and she had a slight smile on her face, like she was having a pleasant dream. He couldn't figure out his feelings for her. It wasn't…hate anymore, but it definitely wasn't love, or anything like it.

She intrigued him. That was it. Every second of every day he wondered what she was going to do next, and it was never what he expected. She was brave, and smart, and… well she was beautiful but he had been denying that since the beginning, since he walked into that broom closet. He did have to get married to her so it would be a lot easier now that he didn't hate her. He only wished that he knew her feelings for him. He saw a shimmer from her hand and saw the engagement ring. When he had bought it, he had only been thinking about getting the most expensive one there. Not because he wanted to impress her, but because he was a Malfoy and that's what he did. Now that he looked at it, he realized the ring didn't really look like the type of ring she would wear. She needed a simpler ring that was equally as beautiful. He sighed, and looked at her again. Was the only feeling he had for her intrigue? Or was it more?


Hermione hadn't had a lot of dreams in her life. There was a month or two when she was a child where she had a nightmare about a clown, and of course her seventh year of Hogwarts, where she became afraid to sleep because of the nightmares that would haunt her about her friends and family getting hurt. She had never had a good dream before. And she wasn't sure if this dream was considered good. Maybe the feeling of happiness was just apart of the dream. After all, Malfoy was in it. And she didn't know what she felt for him.

She and Malfoy both looked only three or four older than they did now. It had to be their anniversary of some sort, because he had given her a present, and then their two children; who looked around the ages of five and three years old, had come running up, both looking like a mix between Hermione and Draco. They said "happy anniversary" and gave them a drawing of their family. But then the dream turned bad, the Dark Lord came and demanded that he needed the children, that they were apart of another prophecy, that they were to be taken away to stay at the Dark Lord's manor. When Hermione had started crying and saying that he couldn't take their kids, he lifted his wand, preparing to curse her, probably with Crucio, but Draco stood in front of her. The Dark Lord smiled evilly and did the curse on Draco instead. That's when she woke up screaming.

"Granger? What the hell?" Malfoy sat up and turned the lamp on. She wasn't screaming anymore, her screaming had quickly turned into crying and shaking.

"Granger? Gra--Hermione? What's -- what's wrong?" This wasn't the type of situation that Draco was good at. She collapsed into his arms, still shaking.

Draco just kept repeating "it's okay," until she calmed down. Then he asked what he had before, "What's wrong?"

Hermione wasn't sure what was wrong. Was she scared because the dream might be true? That she might one day have feelings for Draco, that he would have strong enough feelings to protect her from being tortured, or that if that dream did come true, the Dark Lord would take away her children?


Editor's Note: I'll make this quick because I figure you'd rather hear from the author. All right, we're both very sorry about the delayed chapter but… Finals, midterms, stupid computers and other various stuff has been messing us up so yeah. But it's a long chapter to make up for it. She says the next one is half done so we'll try getting that one up quickly too. Thanks for sticking around!