Chapter Twenty-Six: The Marriage Contract

Her dress was a deep red this evening. The V-neckline was deep and the shoulders sleeveless. The skirt was grand and slightly poufy, with a chapel train. It was the kind of dress that looked good moving. Her hair was up again, it was less of a hassle that way, but she had worked pearls and ribbon in to it, which matched her simple earrings. Her neck was bare of necklaces, but a single strand of pearls served as a bracelet. As the sister of the betrothed, Hermione had to look spectacular.

She would not, actually, get to see Anna until the announcement was completed and the dance floor opened, so she spent the time beforehand looking around the room for people she knew and making polite conversation with some ministry employees.

There didn't seem to be many of her crowd present. None of her Hogwarts friends were there, though she'd spotted Pansy Parkinson and Gregory Goyle, arm in arm. Surprisingly, they were not bickering this evening, but sported large smiles. She greeted Neville's grandmother, but Augusta told Hermione that Neville was teaching this time of year, and couldn't come down for events. Blaise Zabini was sulking in a corner with a blonde who she couldn't see through the shadows, but she had never known him well, so small chat was not on her mind.

She was stopped by a trainee healer from St. Mungo's, who inquired after her new job, and asked her several questions about different procedures. She noted that while the trainee updated her on all the patients she had known, and most of the staff, she avoided talking about Anthony entirely.

Phoenixa Malfoy Parrol and her husband greeted Hermione warmly, as did Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy, both couple independently estatic to see her and inquiring after her new life. She did not, however, see Draco Malfoy among the crowd. She noted his absence with peaked interest – this was, after all, the engagement party of his gods-sister. Not to mention her own, more personal reasons for wishing he was near.

After a glass of champagne, and a particularly interesting story about a misuse of magic case involving a hair dryer and a ginger from one of the elder men in the conversation, a clock chime called all the guests to attention.

Elizabeth Lane and her husband came to the top of the stairway and smiled, arm in arm. Elizabeth looked around the room briefly, and then began, "Welcome, friends, guests, to the engagement party of our precious daughter. Thank you for responding to our invitation. In an effort to keep the speech-making to a minimum, I would like to introduce the newly engaged couple, Anna Elizabeth Lane and William Trenton Smith."

There was a general applause as Elizabeth and her husband stepped aside, and then, there was Anna, at the top of the stairs. She was in a sea blue dress, with a halter neckline and a slender skirt that went to the floor, leaving a chapel-length train. The fabric was supple and sparkling in the lights. Her hair was up, a mass of ringlets spilling to frame her face. Her chocolate brown eyes were alight with excitement, and her hand rested on the arm of the man beside her.

The couple began descending the staircase, and Hermione frowned. She recognized this boy from somewhere, but they were too far away to tell. She tapped her champagne glass with her finger and tried to place him. Then, as the couple stepped down to the dais and in to the center light of the room, she saw it. It was none other than Trent Smith, the muggle boy from the University.

Trent led Anna on to the dance floor and the violins struck up as they began the first dance. Gradually other couples joined them, until Hermione found herself looking at a full dance floor, wondering why in the world her younger sister had not owled her with the news.

At the first opportunity, Hermione cornered her sister. "Oh, that," Anna smiled ruefully, "He knew about the engagement as soon as it was made, and Mother asked him not to tell me. Problem was, he knew when he met me that I was a witch and didn't tell me he was a wizard, so I probably wouldn't have believes him in any case. Seems he didn't know you were a witch, though."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Interesting. How's that possible?"

Anna grimaced, "My name. I gave him my surname when we first met. He'd heard of my coming betrothal to the Aaderon heir."

Hermione paused for a moment before responding, "You're not referencing the Aaderons as in Healer Aaderon of St. Mungo's?"

"Well of course. How many of them do you think there are?" Anna said in a matter-of-fact tone, "their heir is the eldest son of the head healer at St. Mungo's."

Hermione looked aghast, "but he's nigh on twenty years older than you!"

"I know," Anna sipped her champagne, "but mother didn't care. She was trying to save the respectability of the family by marrying me off to someone with a good name. She had the whole contract drawn up while I was living with you."

"And dating Trent," Hermione noted.

Anna nodded, "And dating Trent. You really should have been there when I found out, Hermione. He was so pleased, and expected me to be happy right away. Except, well, I wasn't. I was pissed."

Hermione gave a smirk and shrugged, "I can imagine a bit. Your temper tends to be like mine."

"I poured coffee on him when I found out. Ruined his best dress robes. I then stomped on his foot, and paraded out of the room with my head high while he hopped around. Mother came after me to scold me, of course, but I think his relations found it funny. They're quite wonderful, you see. Nothing like out extended family. They're loud, and there are a million young kids, but they're fun, and, well, a family. I'm sure I wouldn't have been blessed with that if the contract had been completed with the Aaderon heir."

"So how did it change?" Hermione asked, curious.

"Well," Anna grinned again, "The contract was all drawn up, and my name was in it, you see, so I couldn't be taken out. But before Mother put the Aaderon heir's name in, she was stalled by Draco. Draco didn't want me married off to an older man with no sense of humor, but Mother was going to sign it anyways, because there were no suitable alternatives.

Draco's sister told me that somehow Draco found out I was dating someone, and he made the connection that it was Trent. He told Mother, you see, and convinced her to make the deal with the Krieger family instead, so at least it would be someone my age, and someone I liked to boot. I just wish I had been in on it from the start, rather than anyone's tool."

"Oh," Hermione had found out far more this day than she cared to admit. She let Anna jabber on about other things, but her mind was far from the party the rest of the evening. Her eyes meandered the room, and suddenly her eyes locked with a pair of grey eyes across the hall. Draco Malfoy had come to his god-sister's engagement party, after all. As soon as he saw Hermione, he turned and went out to one of the other rooms.

Without thinking, Hermione found herself handing her champagne glass off to someone and slipping out of the group. Her feet followed the path his had taken not a minute ago, and she found herself slipping out of the rooms where the party was occurring. She had not been this way in years. She ducked through a low door-hanging and followed the echo of footsteps down a long, narrow hallway that was unlit. Hearing a door creak in front of her, she quickened her pace and hoisted her skirts.

At the end of the hallway was a door with a brass handle. With an odd sense of foreboding and familiarity, she turned the handle and opened it. She was thrown back six years to a summer she had spent reading in this room. It was her little book-room. Every inch of wall was covered in bookshelves in this square room, and the cozy armchairs and little size tables looked as if she had just left them. The lighting was dim, and only when the candles flickered did she see that the door to the hidden stair was open a crack. She knew where this lead. It was to the balcony of the large library.

Stealing a moment to steady herself, she took a shaky breath and lit her wand tip with a quiet whisper of "lumos." She crept forward to the stairway and opened the door a bit more, stepping cautiously through it. She hear a noise right below her, and couldn't know what it was. Threading her way down the winding stairway, she exited on the second floor balcony of the library, from which she could see the rest of the massive room. The starlit skies shown through the great glass window and gave a pale light to corners of the room.

In one particular corner, she saw the figure of a tall man leaning down to embrace a woman. She heard a giggle and then, in a voice that was all too familiar, a girlish "Stop it!" She saw the head of the man turn down, and before she could pull her eyes away, saw the two begin to kiss.

Grateful for the darkness which masked all but their silhouettes, but horrified by the fact that she knew who they were, she crept backwards to the staircase, as quietly as possible. It was only when she had shut the door to the secret stair that she realized there were tears streaming down her cheeks. It had been the voice of Asteria Greengrass. She had gotten here too late.

Angry with herself, she fled the room, not looking where she was going. When she got halfway down the corridor, she ran straight in to someone. The figure in front of her gave an "Oof!" and stumbled backwards.

Hermione looked up and couldn't make out the figure in front of her, other than it was about her height. The person raised a wand and ignited the tip, throwing the scene into high relief. Elizabeth Lane was standing in front of her daughter, looking shaken but stately in her formal robes.

"Hermione! What are you doing back here?" Elizabeth demanded.

Hermione held her chin up defiantly and looked her birth mother straight in the eye. "Nothing, Mrs. Lane."

There was a flicker of pain across Elizabeth's face, but she did not ask other questions, and merely turned around to start walking away.

"Why did you do it?" Hermione's voice was so quiet it was almost deadly, but at the same time had the innocence of a wondering child about it.

Elizabeth stopped in her tracks. Not turning back, she asked, "Do what, dear?" Hermione walked up until she was right behind Elizabeth and said, right in to her ear, "Place your daughter in a marriage contract when you yourself know what it's like to love and be loved."

Elizabeth pursed her lips and closed her eyelids, then answered, "I don't know what you're talking about." Yet she did not move from where she stood, as if waiting for Hermione to respond.

"Yes, you do." Hermione stood, waiting, until Elizabeth rotated slowly on the spot and the two locked eyes. It was only then that Hermione continued. "I bought a villa in Sicily. I did some research in to its history."

Elizabeth's eyes widened in the wandlight, disbelieving. "But I sold the villa to a new healer at their hospital; we don't need it in the family anymore…"

"I'm a fully trained healer. And I happen to be working at that hospital." Hermione was loosing patience, "Were you or were you not in love with my birth father, Marcus Crouch, at the time of the first war?"

"It's irrelevant," Elizabeth quipped.

"No, it's not," Hermione said, a bit more gently, "not if it's the reason I'm standing here."

Elizabeth's eyes shifted here and there, as if sweeping the corridor to make sure no one was listening. "I was very young when I met Marcus. I didn't fully comprehend the dangers of the world." She took Hermione's hand in her own, "You must understand, what I'm doing for Anna, what I tried to do for you all those years ago; I didn't want you two to end up like me. Pregnant, eloped, then widowed. You can't begin to understand that pain, of not only losing the person you love, but in the process being disowned by your family. At least if you were married to good men, you'd be content and well cared for." As quickly as she had grasped Hermione's hand, she let it drop, and turned, rustling her skirts. Before Hermione knew it, she was standing in a dark corridor, by herself.