AN: I'm sorry it took me a little longer than normal to update. I hope you all like this chapter.
Drama with Ron and Ginny aside, Hermione thoroughly enjoyed her time at Hogwarts. Of course there were still things that could be improved up on but it was great to live life in a peaceful world with a dotting boyfriend and close friends. Even though the group of friends was very differently than she had imagined two years ago Hermione wouldn't trade them for anything.
The Monday after the Hogsmeade weekend Harry and Daphne officially informed everybody that they had agreed to honour the contract and that they would be wed after their graduation. Seeing the boy-how-won and the Slytherin ice princess together had stirred up some intense reactions. Especially within Gryffindor house. While Harry was still the hero people would be very brutal towards Daphne. Even when Harry defended her they wouldn't lay off. It got to the point where Harry made a statement that if the bullying was not stopped he would denounce being a Gryffindor.
He and Cygnus Greengrass also made an official statement about the engagement and the betrothal contract. It came in the Daily Prophet on Thursday. In the statement Harry pointed out that almost half of the students in Gryffindor house came from a pure-blood back ground and knew how these contracts worked. In his statement he said that there was no shame in being a pure-blood and obliging with pure-blood traditions as long as it was done in respect to others.
The existence of the contract was the final straw for Ginny though. Five minutes after the newspaper arrived she had let out a frustrated scream while inside the Great Hall. She got up and stalked over to where Harry had breakfast with Daphne, Torri, Draco, Theo and Hermione. The others were still in bed or on their way down.
"So, I have been lied to!" She growled to Harry. "For three years you used me and my family for your own pleasure. All the while you knew that you could never marry me."
"I found out about the contract just a few weeks ago. I broke things off with you because of that. I told you that." Harry said.
"Yeah right." She said. "You must have known forever. Like you said proper pureblood heirs know about this. You just led me on and made my mother think you would marry me. You are nothing but a liar!"
"Ginny!" Harry sighed. "You know as well as I do that I never knew about this contract."
"That's what you told me, yeah. Obviously you were lying. Ron was right, you are nothing but an attention seeking prat. You should have been with me! You should have been able to break the contract! You are powerful enough but yet this is just a way of getting more attention. Ditching the poor light witch to get the opportunity to convert a snake to the light! Well, I got news for you, those sneaky snakes are all worthless to save, they are dark to the core. She will murder you in your sleep! The whore is just waiting until she can get your…"
Hermione sadly shook her head. Ginny had taken the break up very hard and now that Daphne got all the attention for being Harry's fiancé it had just gotten all real and even harder.
"Enough!" Harry said and got up. He took looked down at Ginny very angrily. "You will not talk like that about my fiancé in front of me or her. I was ready to be a friend to you but now I want you out of my sight. I will not look at you again until you apologize."
"But Harry…" Ginny started.
"No, that's enough. Now go before I do something I will regret." Harry snapped at her. Ginny turned red in anger but turned away and walked out of the hall.
Not only inside the school were the reactions not always positive but also from the outside world. Especially Teen Witch Weekly seemed set on destroying anything Harry and Daphne tried to build up. Their reporting was based on the fact that the Greengrass house tried to turn Harry dark or that Harry was supposed to be the most desired bachelor and so needed to break off the engagement. Though the wards McGonagall had placed did seem to work properly, no cursed mail got into the great hall.
Sticking together as friends were supposed to do Daphne and Hermione became very close. Both girls never expected to even like each other but it seemed that they had much more in common than they had expected. Both girls loved to read and not only textbooks but also they shared a love for Shakespeare and Jane Austin. Not to mention that they could talk for hours about where they wanted to travel too and mythological places they wanted to see. By the time Halloween arrived Daphne had become something like a sister to Hermione.
Hermione also found herself enjoying the time she spent with all Draco's friends. Blaise was silly, Theo sometimes way too serious but kind and protective, Tracy was always there to ensure she and Daphne didn't spent all their time with books and Torri ensured that there was laughter. It was a blessing to her that Harry, Neville and Luna seemed to fit in perfectly.
The only thing Hermione worried about was the reaction from the Weasley's to her relationship with Draco. The Daily Prophet hadn't been kind towards them but with Harry and Daphne's engagement being much more important the coverage on them had been minimal.
George had sent her a letter telling her that Ron had been writing home with all sorts of lies about her. He also informed her that Arthur had written back that it was not nice to speak about a friend like that but it only got Ron ranting more and more.
However Hermione worried of how much Molly would believe her son and daughter. She hadn't forgotten the articles Skeeter wrote about her and Molly's reaction to them.
To her surprise, Molly had sent her a very friendly letter, which included an apology for Ron's behaviour. In the letter Molly told her that while disappointed that things hadn't worked out with Ron, as his mother she had never expected it to do so. She knew that Ron wanted different things from a woman then Hermione wanted from her life. The only negative note in the whole letter was that Molly wasn't too sure about Draco but she offered a place for him at her table next Christmas dinner.
To say that the letter had shocked both her and Draco was an understatement. Hermione had even used the floo to ensure that Molly hadn't been ill or Imperiused. A laughing Arthur had told her that Molly was feeling fine and that she just knew her son and Hermione pretty well.
It was the positive turn that Hermione had needed to pull through till Halloween.
"Hermione?" Draco called on the day before Halloween.
"Yes, I'm in the study!"
"Cygnus is here for the final details."
"Coming!"
Hermione quickly cleared away the last of the essays and headed out to the common room. She found Draco, Cygnus, Daphne, Harry and Minerva already there.
"Hello Cygnus. How are you?" Hermione said as she shook his hand.
"Really good. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. For the first time in seventy-five years a real Samhain ritual is performed at Hogwarts and shown to the young ones." Cygnus said with a wide smile. "I'm hoping to gain some interest for the studies into the ancient ways of magic. Even Minerva and Kingsley are positive about this. If this works out positively we might even get some laws changed to accommodate more in depth use of the ancient magics."
"I would love to learn more about it but I'm not sure if it's my path." Hermione said with a smile and sat down next to Draco.
"How far are you two with everything?" Minerva asked.
"The decoration is ready to go up. We will do that tonight after dinner." Draco said. "The band will arrive tomorrow after breakfast to set up a stage. We have arranged with the house-elves that lunch will be served in the common rooms. The drinks and food is all arranged and the only thing left is for Cygnus to select the location of the fire and altar."
Minerva nodded and looked at her list.
"What of the younger years and the costumes?"
"We have arranged that tonight all prefects will be on hand to help with the costumes. We have informed everybody up till fourth year that the prefects will be in the great hall until eight-thirty to help them with their costumes. All older then that should be able to do it themselves. After that the prefects will help us with the decorations." Hermione explained.
Minerva smiled and made a few notes.
"I'll inform the staff about these things so that they can help as well." Minerva said.
"Cygnus, could you give us an idea of your plans?" Draco asked.
"It's pretty straight forward." Cygnus said. "I was thinking about doing the ritual in the front courtyard. We can build a small fire and altar there. The idea is that we start the ritual in the entrance hall with all the students present. Then while I start the chant we will move outside where everybody can place their notes, wishes or dreams in the sacrificial prier. If everybody moves around the fire, it will evoke a very powerful magical force field. We start with the eight years and last will be the first years. So that everybody can see the ritual fully. Daphne and Astoria will be the acolytes for the ritual and Harry will act as a stabilizer."
"You need a stabilizer?" Minerva asked.
"I don't think I need him but it's a safety precaution as we have so many young magicals there who cannot yet fully control their magic. It's just to be sure."
Minerva nodded with a smile.
"I will tell the elves to build the prier and the altar for you."
"Thank you." Cygnus said. "I will give them the materials needed."
"Are there any risks we need to take into account during the ritual?" Hermione asked.
"Well there is always the risk of the magic getting out of control but Harry is very powerful and will be able to anchor everything. The other thing is the fire. The kids have to be on a safe distance." Cygnus said. "About ten feet would be enough."
Hermione nodded and wrote everything down.
"I will ensure that they keep a safe distance." Hermione said.
"It appears that everything is organized." Minerva said. "Cygnus, would you care for a drink up in my office or are you in a hurry?"
"I'd love too, Minerva."
Once the two adults, Harry and Daphne had left Hermione and Draco spent another hour to finalize all plans. After dinner they spent the rest of the evening decorating the great hall, helping out the prefects with the costumes of the youngsters and managing the elves so that everything was set in place for the big Halloween festivities the next day. It was late in the evening when both returned to their dorms.
"Is your costume ready?" Draco asked.
"Yes, it is. I have changed all feathers into black. Is your staff done?"
"Yes, it turned out to be better then I thought. Though I'm not going to do the beard thing."
"Why not?"
"It turned out that I'm allergic to the fabric and a localized hair growing charm is according to Flitwick not possible." Draco said.
"Awww, that is a shame." Hermione sighed. "Oh well, I just hope this will work out well."
"It will, Mia, don't get yourself worked up on it. I have a trick up my sleeve."
Hermione smiled at him and got up to get ready for bed. Tomorrow would be a busy day. It wouldn't be a good idea to start it with too little sleep.