Author's Note: I'm sorry for the delay in this chapter. I had hoped to get it up Monday, but this chapter proved a lot more difficult to write than I was expecting. I won't say anything else, because I don't want to give too much away, but I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations. I've had some awesome things come up lately. The office I've been temping for for nearly a year finally hired me permanently. Hello insurance! And sick days!

March: Family

Hermione took a deep breath, trying to keep her nerves steady. The last dinner hadn't gone poorly, right? They could all sit down like civilized folks. She smoothed the front of her dress. It was one of the ones Draco had picked out when they'd gone shopping the month before, green with an asymmetrical hemline. She thought ruefully about how a number of the things Draco had picked out were now in regular rotation in her closet. As much as she had balked at the time…she'd gotten used to them. She caught sight of Draco in the mirror as he came into the room, dressed as well. Muggle clothes were most definitely more flattering on him than robes. Hermione had insisted on Muggle clothes tonight, partly to keep her parents more at ease. The sight of her and Draco both in robes might make them fear they were going to lose her to the wizarding world.

Sometimes, trying to exist in both worlds was too much work. She put the thought out of her mind and did her best to look natural as Draco came in and stood behind her. "You look good," she said.

"And you look worried," he said, reading her face. He reached out and pushed her hair back behind her ear. "You look fine—your mother isn't going to have anything to get on your case about. I can be absolutely charming when need be; I won her over last time. And my mother seems to like you, and she certainly prefers Blaise over me." He squeezed her hand. "It's one night. We'll get through it. Let's go." It wasn't exactly true. It might just be one night now, but this charade still had weeks left to play itself out in. There would be more nights like this; he only hoped there might be a better way to weather them.

She sighed. "Let's go," she agreed. Ginny and Blaise were going to meet them at the Manor, and Draco and Hermione would pick up her parents and Apparate them in. Hermione had only had to make them travel that way a couple of times; it certainly wasn't any way they enjoyed traveling. It was best off to get started.

Draco wrapped his arms around her, and turned on his heel, Disapparating them both. They arrived in the Grangers' backyard with a pop of air. He released her from his arms, but kept his hand in hers as they approached the door and knocked.

It was only a few moments before the door opened, and David Granger was standing there, wrapped in a bathrobe. "Hermione, Draco, good to see you. We're just about ready."

"You're ready?" Hermione asked, skeptical.

"Well, sure, all of you wear robes for special occasions, right? I thought I'd dress to match," he said.

A voice behind him said, "David, stop teasing them. They look properly horrified by your behavior." Hermione's mother appeared, fully dressed for her excursion to Malfoy Manor.

David took off his robe, and he was in fact dressed in slacks and a polo underneath it. "I was just trying to have a little fun with them."

In just a few minutes all four of them were assembled in the backyard, ready to go. "I know it's been a while since I've side-along Apparated you anywhere. It's going to feel like you're being squeezed into a tight rubber tube. Since Draco knows our destination better than I do, he's going to control it. We're all going to hold hands and go at the same time." She arranged them all in a line, with Draco at one end and herself at the other. "On three," she said firmly. They counted and were off.

They appeared in the gardens outside the front of Malfoy Manor. David looked a little green, and Jane was taking slow, deep breaths. Hermione moved away to give them some space and went to stand by Draco. "I thought it might be best to Apparate here rather than directly to the house, that way it would give them a few minutes," he said quietly.

She approved. A few minutes to steady themselves here, and a few more to walk into the house was exactly what her parents needed. It's exactly what she would have done. She looked back after a moment and saw that a proper color seemed to have returned to her father's face, and her mother had more or less resumed a normal breathing pattern. "The gardens are rather lovely, aren't they?" she said conversationally.

Jane Granger nodded, took a gulp of air, and said, "Quite."

David, the more open of the two, simply said "I don't know how you stand traveling that way, no matter how fast it is."

Draco chuckled. "I felt the same way after Hermione made me ride that awful underground train."

The comment earned an approving chuckle from Hermione's father and the four of them proceeded along the path to the house. When they got to the door, Draco wondered whether he ought to knock, or just go in. He did live here, even if he had hardly been here this week. He decided to knock and then go in. He knocked and turned the handle, going in with Hermione just behind him. "Mother, we've arrived," he said, his voice carrying.

Almost immediately the four of them were greeted by Ivy. "Welcome, Master Draco, Miss Hermione, Mister, Missus," the house-elf greeted, bobbing her head. "Mistress Narcissa says to come this way."

Draco tried to gauge the Grangers' reactions to Ivy out of the corner of his eye, but with them behind him, it was no use. He'd doubted they'd met a house-elf before.

Blaise came out to greet him before they'd reached the sitting room.

"Glad to see you," Draco said, meaning it.

Blaise smirked. "Well, Ginny hasn't heard all of your embarrassing childhood stories yet. She's just in the sitting room with your mother."

Hermione glimpsed a look of pain on Draco's face. "And you left them in there alone?" he asked.

"Oh, she's not going to tell her anything I haven't already said," Blaise replied offhandedly. "Dr. Granger, Dr. Granger, lovely to meet you both. Blaise Zabini, right this way."

As the Grangers followed followed Blaise down the corridor into the sitting room, Draco couldn't quite suppress the wry smile on his face. "He is ridiculously good at ingratiating himself with parents," Draco said quietly.

"Well, we could use a little of that tonight," Hermione responded, just as quiet, speaking with her mouth just a few inches from his ear. She shuddered to think about how her parents might be stewing right now; she wondered if Narcissa had already spread the news about the wedding date. It hadn't even occurred to her until afterward that spreading the story in the Wizarding world might have ramifications for her in the Muggle one. She should have known it would, but eventually something had to drop. There were only so many balls she could keep in the air at once.

She watched as Narcissa greeted her parents and introduced Blaise properly, as well as Ginny, though they already knew her. "Draco, Hermione, it's so good of you to find the time in your busy schedules to visit." There was a hint of ice in her voice under the courtesy.

"Well, Mother, we knew we couldn't miss a gathering like this, though we did have to rearrange quite a few things we'd planned," Draco said dryly.

Jane's eyebrow went up a fraction of an inch. "Oh? Has Hermione finally become a social butterfly?" She didn't sound as if she believed it. "I do hope you're not neglecting sleep or dental hygiene over these outings."

"Mum, Draco's training with the Auror academy is very intense. We try to find new ways to rise to the challenge—it could save his life some day," Hermione said, looking at her mother. She reached to her side and took Draco's hand in hers, threading her fingers through his. "I want him by my side for a long time to come."

He gave her a sideways look and bent both of their arms, raising the back of her hand to kiss it. "I promise, I'm not going anywhere."

Ginny, as usual, had a knack for saying just the right thing to turn the conversation in the right direction. "Don't worry, I'm keeping a close eye on her. She still flosses every day."

David chuckled just a little, and there was a sort of more general easiness that crept into the room. Ivy reappeared quietly and announced that dinner was ready. As they all proceeded to the dining room, Hermione squeezed Draco's hand once and let go, managing to catch Narcissa while the others got ahead of them. She tried to speak as quietly as she could. "Narcissa, I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell my parents about the marriage law. I care about Draco very much. I don't want them to think that Draco and I are rushing into things just because of a bit of legislation."

Narcissa looked slightly sympathetic. "I do wish you would have told me sooner. I already sent them a copy of the paper with my invitation for them to come here tonight. I thought they should see the pictures. You and Draco just looked so right together."

Hermione felt her cheeks heat up, just a little. She'd seen the pictures. They were just two people, in the photos together. It hadn't been a totally painful process. Draco had made her laugh in the library, and she'd half wondered if Madam Pince was going to come tell them off for it. And the kiss was just…well, she was glad there wasn't a proper picture of it in the paper. "We're very happy together—it's why I was hoping to keep the information about the law away from my parents, so they wouldn't accuse me of rushing for the wrong reasons."

Narcissa gave Hermione a motherly look. "I know you love him. If your parents doubt your motives, intentions, or sanity, they can deal with me. Now hurry along."

They hurried along towards the dining room where Ivy was just seating the others. Hermione marveled at Narcissa's ability to hurry without ever looking rushed or with a hair falling out of place. Some people just had all the grace.

Hermione settled into her seat next to Draco.

"Everything alright?" he asked quietly.

"They've seen the paper," she whispered back.

"Oh."

Narcissa presided over the table while Ivy and Nettle served the guests. "Ivy is just the best cook. I don't know what I'd do without her," Narcissa said, once the elves had returned to the kitchen.

For a while, Blaise was able to more or less keep Narcissa's attention on safe topics, asking her about various things he knew she'd been involved with, or making note of some of the redecorating she'd done in the past couple of months. Ginny was equally successful at keeping the Grangers occupied through the first two or three courses. By the time the main course came about, there was no more deterring them.

"So, Hermione, you were planning to invite us to the wedding, weren't you?" her mother asked, as though it was the most natural change in conversation topics ever.

It wasn't. There was no conceivable way that she could have gotten from the topic of Ginny's upcoming Quidditch match and her prospects with the Holyhead Harpies (Blaise swore he'd seen a scout at her last match) to the newspaper and Hermione's upcoming marriage.

Hermione was ready. She'd done her homework and formulated a response to as many questions as she thought her parents might ask. "It wasn't that we were trying to exclude anyone. It was just that someone at the paper thought that we would make a great human interest story. I couldn't help but want to use the opportunity to promote my agenda for getting better warning labels on potions. And it's working. Just yesterday one of the smaller potions companies approached me, saying that they were interested in improving their labels and were wondering if my office could help."

Draco reached for Hermione's hand under the table and squeezed it discreetly. "If she could have found a way, we'd have talked about Potter's werewolf house as well, though he's doing pretty well on his own."

"And I'm not sure how much attention Harry wants drawn to it before it's self-sufficient," Hermione pointed out. "The point is, we had a good reason for doing the article. I hadn't realized the writer was going to include the date. Draco and I didn't want to announce a date to anyone until we'd had time to think about it. We only just decided recently, and we hadn't gotten around to telling anyone. It just sort of popped out when she asked the question."

Jane looked on the verge of saying something, but David said something quietly to her. She pursed her lips, but said nothing more.

Nettle cleared the table as Ivy set the desserts out.

Narcissa wasn't willing to let whatever it was pass. She smiled. "Jane, we're all family here, what's troubling you? I'll admit I wasn't pleased when I read the paper. I was insulted that my son didn't think enough of me to share something as important as that with me first, particularly when I've done nothing but be supportive and offer to help plan the wedding." She took a sip of her wine.

Jane's eyes narrowed, looking across the table. Her gaze rested on her daughter for a moment before shifting to Narcissa. "Narcissa, I appreciate that you've taken Hermione in under your wing lately. I have seen some positive changes in her recently. But the fact of the matter is, you are not family, and I don't know what my daughter was thinking, but I intend to speak with her in private to find out."

Hermione wracked her brain for something, anything, to say, that wouldn't make her sound like a child. There was nothing she could say that wouldn't sound defensive at this point. She was about ready to open her mouth and take her chances with whatever words fell out when Narcissa interceded on her behalf. "Jane, respect your daughter enough to believe that she knows her own mind. I can imagine any number of reasons you wouldn't have chosen my son for you daughter. Regardless, they've chosen one another and didn't and don't need your permission." Her tone was chilly, to say the very least.

"No one speaks to my wife that way."

"They didn't choose each other. It's clear this is a political stunt. And if it's not a stunt, Hermione is only involved with him because she needs to save everyone," Jane said. "She always has, from a cat in the hedge with a hurt paw, to boys falling behind in class." She continued on with other examples, talking right over Ginny.

Ginny tried to interrupt Jane, as the woman seemed inclined to keep talking. "I've never Hermione happier than she's been the last few months."

Hermione got fed up with the lot of them and cast a silencing spell on them all. She knew it was a bad idea for all sorts of reasons, not least because her parents would be wholly shocked and hurt at the prospect of their daughter turning her magic on them. It was damn hard to keep her story intact when her mother wasn't entirely wrong about some of the things she'd said. She breathed heavily, looking around the room. When exactly had she gotten to her feet? "Now, I want you all to listen closely. I haven't been this happy since my early days with Ron, if I was ever this happy before. Draco and I have so much more in common. He sees me and knows me in a way I'm not sure Ron ever managed. Mum, I wouldn't commit my life to someone just for the sake of a political agenda. In case you haven't realized it, Ginny and Ron and Fred and George and a hundred other people are victims of this law. Don't you think if this was just a case of me trying to save someone who needs saving, I'd have picked my best friend of the past decade?" HSe looked around the room. "He's counting on me to overturn this law and so are the seventh years at Hogwarts." She was silent for a moment and looked at Draco for an instant before returning her attention to the rest of the room. "I don't know how exactly we came together but we did, and it works, and we're happy." It wasn't exactly the calm and reasonable speech she had planned, but it would have to do. She undid the silencing spell, ready for all hell to break loose.

Draco put an arm around her and whispered in her ear. "You're brilliant." He looked around at Hermione's parents and his mother.

David whispered to his wife, "Not now, we'll talk to her later."

Jane did her best not to grind her teeth; grinding your teeth was poor dental health. David was right. They could talk to her later, which is what he'd suggested before this little outburst. "Narcissa, thank you for a lovely dinner. Draco, Hermione, I'm sure we'll see you soon. GInny, would you mind taking us home?"

"I'm not really the best candidate. It's been a long time since I've been to your house, and it was only just the once or twice. I wouldn't want to splinch you," Ginny explained awkwardly.

"I'll do it," Draco volunteered, surprising everyone. He saw the look Hermione gave him and kissed her temple. "I'll be fine," he said quietly. "I'll see you at home."

Hermione watched as Draco walked her parents out.

Narcissa was seated at the table, looking natural. As Ginny and Blaise tried to make excuses to leave, she tutted them. "Don't be silly. Someone should stay to enjoy the dessert. Ivy does make quite a lovely creme brûlée."

The look Narcissa gave Hermione convinced her to sit back in her seat, even for just a minute, and at least crack the hard sugar surface of the dessert.

As the rest of them ate their dessert (or at least moved their spoons around and occasionally put them in their mouths, Narcissa turned her attention to Blaise. "Don't be a stranger. I expect I shall be seeing even less of Draco in the days to come than I have been seeing him lately."

"Of course I'll still stop by. Someone has to come check on you and your suitors," Blaise offered genially. "Otherwise they might get up to something nefarious. Or you might."

Narcissa chuckled. "You know me too well, Blaise. Forgive me for not walking the two of you out, but I'd like a word with Hermione for a moment."

Ginny hugged Hermione and Blaise pecked Narcissa on the cheek, and the two of them appeared relieved to be walking away. Hermione was left alone with Narcissa. Not even the house-elves were in sight.

Narcissa sat in her seat, cool, calm, and collected. She looked utterly at ease. "Is there anything you'd like to tell me, Hermione?"

"I can't think of anything," Hermione said.

She smiled then, the cat with the canary inches away. "Let me rephrase that. Is there anything you don't want to tell me that I ought to know anyway?" She paused for a beat, waiting for a response. When Hermione said nothing, she continued. "Nothing about how you two really are plotting to overthrow the marriage law?"

Something in Narcissa's voice caught her attention. She looked at Narcissa and realized the woman did not look in the least bit surprised or upset. And she hadn't through most of the dinner argument. She thought about denying it, but the look on Narcissa's face told her that it was long past the time for that. "How long have you known?" she asked.

"How long have I known that my son would do anything to get me to stop nagging him? Why, most of his life." She smiled. "Are you asking how long I've known that you think you're faking this engagement? Well, months." Her smile broadened. "You may think this whole thing was Draco's idea. He may even think this whole thing was his idea, but the truth is, I know whose idea it truly was. Mine."

Hermione was speechless for several heartbeats before she managed to choke out one word. "Yours?"

"You may have been the smartest witch of your age, my dear, but I've got years of experience on you." She leaned back slightly in her seat, stretching her back with the grace of a cat without ever letting her arms leave the table. "Oh, Hermione. Hermione. It's all over your face. I knew you would be. I tried to tell you last fall."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're smitten with him. Even if you don't see it yet, I do." There was a smugly satisfied smile on her face.

"Narcissa," Hermione started.

The woman gave a demure shrug. "You don't need to say anything right now. In fact, I'd prefer if you didn't."

Her mouth started working again. "What do you mean? That's it? You're just going to tell me that you know we've faked the whole relationship and that's it? If you knew, why did you argue with my parents?"

"Hermione, I've already explained myself once, which frankly is once more than I usually explain myself. In the meantime, simply carry on. You still have a court battle to fight, and I don't intend to deter you. In the meantime, we shall all proceed as we have for the last several months. I've given Nettle some wedding invitations for you to look at. You needn't look at them now. Take them back to your flat and look at them with Draco at your leisure." She summoned the house-elf to her side.

Hermione's mind was still reeling when she arrived home. She'd taken the Floo network. She wasn't sure she could hold herself together well enough to Apparate without splinching. Narcissa. Narcissa was taking the credit for Draco and Hermione being in a "relationship." Could she be right? Hermione and Draco had tried to stay one step ahead of the witch for months now. It had been Draco's idea to stop his mother's endless nagging by teaming up with Hermione and faking the relationship. Hadn't it?

Oh Merlin.

Had Narcissa been playing chess while they were playing checkers? Or was she bluffing? And if Narcissa had been one step ahead of them the whole time, what was her endgame? If she knew they were faking their relationship, their engagement, why did she say so in front of Hermione's parents? Why had she sent her home with a massive pile of sample invitations to look through?

Draco spotted Hermione from the kitchen, and saw her standing in front of the fireplace. He came out to meet her. "Hermione, are you alright? You look like you've seen a vampire. Or worse, my mother. What did she do to you?"

"Oh. Nothing. She sent me home with a stack of sample invitations to look at. Have we got any wine?"

Draco raised his eyebrow fractionally, wondering what his mother had done to her. "I'll get some." He went into the kitchen and came out with a bottle in one hand and two glasses in the other. "You were brilliant tonight, by the way." He lounged on the chair as she sprawled out on the couch, depositing the hefty parcel of wedding invitations on the coffee table. He poured her a glass and handed it across to her. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone silence my mother before. Would you do it again for my birthday?"

"If you behave," she said, though she hardly had the energy left to joke. She stared into her glass. "My parents are going to be horrified. Using magic against them when they can't…it's crossing a line. I try very hard not to cross that line, but I just had to do something. She was blasting holes in our story and everyone was arguing."

"They will get over it. You didn't hurt them."

"But I could have. And they knew it. And silencing them is proof of it. Or a reminder of it. And it's one I shouldn't give. I'll have to apologize at some point, when they're willing to speak to me again. Did they get home alright?"

He sipped his wine. "They did. Didn't say much to me on the way, but your father did at least thank me for transporting them. Your mother looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't decide what, so she didn't say anything." He watched as the kitten meandered over towards them and, surprisingly, chose Draco to curl up on top of.

Hermione almost snickered as she saw the faint look of surprise on Draco's face, followed by resignation as he scratched Monarch behind the ear. They seemed to be growing on one another. "Did Ginny come back here?"

"No, she must have gone back with Blaise. Did they stay long?"

"Only long enough for your mother to guilt them into eating dessert." Hermione rolled her shoulders, trying to get the ache out. She'd gotten so tense during the the dinner. The things Narcissa had said were still rattling around her head.

"Shoulders bothering you?"

She rolled her eyes. "You're so preceptive."

He scoffed. "Well, I was going to offer to help, but if you're going to take that attitude…"

Hermione let her head fall to the side, looking at him. "I don't have the energy to take any sort of attitude at the moment. Visiting the Weasleys made me think that family gatherings were pretty easy, but after tonight, I'm thinking maybe that was only easy because they weren't really my family. But I always felt like they were." They were all family, weren't they? Wasn't she part of it? "You're as much a Weasley as Potter is, which is to say, if Molly Weasley can't have you as a daughter-in-law, she'd be thrilled to adopt you," Draco drawled. His head was propped up by his hand, his elbow resting on the arm of the chair. "Do you want me to do something about your back, or not?"

She looked at him, just a touch skeptically. "You can fix this?"

"Probably."

She sighed. "Give it a shot."

He dislodged the cat from his lap and stood up, standing over her on the couch and motioning her to turn around. When she was sitting sideways on one half of the couch, he sat behind her. He clapped his hands together once and rubbed them together, warming them up. He hesitated only a moment before pushing Hermione's hair in front of her shoulder, baring her back. He rested his fingers on top of her shoulders and pressed the heels of his hands into her shoulder blades, beginning to work his magic. It had been a long time since he'd bothered to give anyone else a massage. He let his hands work over the spots he could feel were tight. Occasionally he felt Hermione wince as he touched a particularly tender spot, and once or twice he thought he heard a pleased sigh. Enough of her back was bare that he was mostly in contact with her skin. "Is this helping?" he finally asked.

"Hmm?" she asked. She opened her eyes.

He chuckled, and was close enough to her that she could feel his breath on her skin as his hands continued to work. She winced again as he worked his thumb into the knot on her right shoulder blade, but she gritted her teeth and it eased.

She was relaxed enough to almost just let herself lean against him, but then the massage would have stopped. Besides, she knew there was no reason to do it. Instead, she let herself lean against the back of the couch with one arm. "Draco?"

"Something wrong?"

She took a deep breath and let it go. "Do you think there's any chance your mother suspects us?"

He frowned, and his hands stopped moving, still resting on her back. "Not as far as I know. We've been compliant enough to keep her from being excessively interfering but obstinate enough to keep our act from being too obvious. Did she say something?"

Hermione ignored the question. "If she did suspect, what do you think she'd do?"

Draco wondered what it was his mother had said to her. If his mother threw a stone in the cauldron now, just when he'd decided he had a more important goal than just overturning the law, there was gong to be hell to pay. "It would depend on what she ultimately wanted. She's used to getting her own way, and would adjust her strategy as necessary to get whatever she wants." He paused for a moment. "You were brilliant tonight. Unless she's said something to make you worry, don't. Between the two of us, we can manage her."

She had her doubts, but said nothing more for the moment. Did it matter whether Narcissa knew they were faking the relationship? Did it matter whether Narcissa knew they were faking the relationship but seemed to think Hermione had fallen for Draco anyway? It was all ridiculous. And none of it mattered. They only had a few more weeks to get this law overturned. And if Narcissa wanted Hermione and Draco together as she had said, then what did any of it matter? She clearly wasn't going to interfere, as long as it continued to look like things were…progressing. The matriarch would be disappointed of course when everything was over, but there was no help for that. Hermione rolled her shoulders were more time. "My back feels a lot better. Thanks."

"Anytime."

It wasn't long before they were both changed and in bed for the night. The thoughts chasing themselves around in Hermione's head didn't really bear dwelling on. Hermione and Draco both lay in the dark, on opposite sides of the bed. She tried to relax, letting her breathing deepen as if she was asleep. Anything would be better than letting her mind worry about Narcissa. She was hovering just on the edge of actual sleep when she felt an arm move to rest across her midsection. She tried not to make any obvious motions. She listened to the sound of Draco's breathing and couldn't decide if he was awake or asleep. It didn't matter. In just a few short moments, she was most definitely asleep.

Blaise and Ginny were lying in bed. They'd been relieved to get away from Narcissa tonight, though they'd had their own thoughts about Hermione's tirade in front of her parents. Maybe she'd come to her senses sooner than they'd given her credit for. Or maybe not. Blaise looked around the room, seeing signs of both Ginny and himself, though he'd cleared extra space to allow for the rest of her belongings when they talked about moving in together.

"When are you going to move the rest of your stuff in here?" he asked, since his mind was on the subject.

"Well, I'm not in any rush. As long as my stuff is at Hermione's flat, and I could theoretically come home, they have a reason to keep sharing her room, don't they?"

Blaise grinned and kissed her. "You are devious. I knew there was a reason I loved you."

"Only one?" she teased.

"Well…you would have been perfect if you'd agreed to run away with me. It's much more boring to hide in plain sight like this and go to work every day."

She rolled over, propping herself up on her elbows as she looked at him. "You wouldn't love me as much if I had. I wouldn't be me if I was going to just totally abandon everything for you." She paused, grinning at him, "Though I won't say you haven't made the idea exceedingly tempting."

"Well, maybe I just need to be more a little more tempting."

"Feel free to try…"

Author's Note: Well? I'm anxious to know what you think. I wrote part of Hermione's scene with Narcissa months ago and have been itching to put it in the story. It didn't quite go in the way I had originally anticipated, but anyway, I'm sitting here on the edge my seat waiting to see what you think.

UPDATE 4/6: I'm heading out of town in an hour on a cruise. Hopefully I will have lots of time to write. I'm sorry I didn't get the next chapter up this past week, it's been a bit of a crazy one. I'll be back in a week. I'll try to post again before I get back. Thanks, everybody!