Chapter 6

That Afternoon

Draco threw down his jacket on the silky spread of his four poster bed. And then, for good measure, he picked it up and threw it back down again.

Of all the bossy bints in England, no, in the world, his sodding soulmate had to be Hermione Fucking Granger. It couldn't be anyone else. Even Professor Sprout would have been preferable.

" Draco, are you home?" His mother's voice came from down the hallway.

" Just a moment, mother." He stared miserably at his now crumpled leather jacket, and then collapsed onto the bed in a heap. Maybe he'd take a nap. Maybe when he woke up, this whole situation would have turned out to be a bad dream.

Yes, that would be nice. He'd have a peaceful sunday in, perhaps he'd supervise the house elves as they cleaned a room. The manor had served as a temporary holding place for prisoners during the war, it's most notorious inmates being the Malfoys themselves. After his father's trial and Draco's own tribunal hearing had been complete, he'd begun the arduous process of converting the manor back to a livable space. He'd started with the meeting rooms, those were the easiest. And now he was halfway through holding cells, and last he'd clean up the torture chambers. It was relaxing, to start fresh again, making a sitting room or breakfast room out of a place where he'd once lived in fear for his life. Not to mention that it served as a final fuck you to the dark lord, and to his father.

" Draco!"

Draco found he could not move a muscle, " Mother, just five minutes, Salazar on a Saltine!"

The door to his bed chamber burst open, " Draco, I need to speak with you."

He buried his face in his covers, "What mother?"

" Have you read the prophet's news this morning?"

" You mean about the chudley cannons' keeper? I was as shocked as you!" He droned sardonically into his blankets.

" The marriage law, of course!"

" Yes mother," it would be so easy to fall asleep right here, with his face full of blankets. Merlin knew he needed it today.

" Pansy's mother just floored me. She's distraught. Completely collapsed. I mean, Draco, she's frantic!"

He turned over and stared at the green patterned canopy that hung over his bed, "Really Mother? What's that like?"

" Draco this is serious business!"

" I know it is mother, that's why I went down to the ministry this morning first thing."

" Well what did they say?"

" Well to start with someone fouled something up, but I have an appointment to get it ironed out friday morning. They gave me this," He swept his hand carelessly in the direction that of his fireplace, where the packet lay on the ground.

" Someone made a mistake? What do you mean?"

" Just some… ministry nonsense," He couldn't be bothered to explain all this rotten business until he was sure it was real, " Mother, would you mind if I took a nap? The ministry was just… swamped."

Draco could hear his mother's silent worrying and hand wringing, and under other circumstances he would have did what he could to soothe her, but this day was just too much.

" We'll discuss this at dinner, okay, mother? I promise."

She rested a hand on his knee, " Don't take on too much, Draco."

" I won't, mother."

She hesitated a moment, then left.

He stared up at the fine pattern on his canopy, letting his eyes get lost in the intertwining scaled bodies of endless headless snakes. Now he felt guilty. He considered getting up and apologizing, but probably wouldn't be able to properly explain what had caused him to act that way.

Green flames burst into life in his fireplace and he groaned.

" Draco, mate, Daphne Greengrass just flooed me that you made a scene at the Office of Marriage and Family."

Blaise Zabini stepped into his room without a care.

" Excuse you, this is my bedroom, Blaise, you can't just walk in without giving me fair warning!"

" I said 'Draco, mate.' Is that not enough for you, your highness?"

" I can't catch a break today," Draco sighed.

" So I take it something did happen?"

Draco rubbed his face, " What did you hear from Greengrass?"

Blaise raised one eyebrow officiously, " Well it must be true then."

" What?"

" That Granger's your soulmate match."

" Oh fucking fucking fucking hell," Draco sprang to his feet, " Are you kidding me? The last thing I need is Greengrass spreading that all over England. As if I wasn't a laughingstock already!"

" Alright, calm down Drake."

" Why should I, when the whole world's gone off the deep end?" He clenched his fists open and closed again and again, " People stepping uninvited out of my fireplace, vindictive soulmates, will the indignities never cease?"

" Everyone in England is going through the same thing as you, Drake. Hell, I'm still reeling. But nothing good will come of losing your temper."

" Is everyone going through the same thing as me? I'm not trying to be the martyr, Blaise, I'm telling you that this is extenuating circumstances," Draco began to pace," I wake up to this marriage law insanity, I go down to the ministry, obviously hoping that the prophet's gotten it royally fucked up, as they usually would. Come to find, not only have I got to concede to this… this… circus, but Granger is my fucking 'soulmate.' Not someone nice and stacked who doesn't think of me as a azkaban-dodging coward. Hermione Fucking Granger. And she's known for eight fucking years. It's more humiliating than even I can handle."

" Eight years? What do you mean?"

" She did the charm as a joke at school with the weaselette, some girly party game. And she was there at office, she saw me there and she knew."

" So it's true?"

" Of course it's true."

" Fucking hell," Blaise exclaimed.

" Exactly my sentiments. And now I have to read through that packet and hope to salazar's shins that there's some mistake or loophole or… some kind of something."

" I believe that we're all looking for that."

" Some more furiously than others," Draco replied, " I can only imagine the thorough search Granger is going to do."

" To avoid being saddled with you? She might kill herself looking for a way out," The handsome Italian settled into an easy posture on the bed.

" You're right. Actually…" Draco crossed to his desk briskly and pulled out two sheets of informal parchment, and penned a quick missive. He waved his wand insolently over the pages and, once satisfied, whistled for a house elf.

" Send this to Miss Hermione Granger with Fabienne. And if there's some way you could… lose it until late tonight… very late, Tibby."

The house elf squeaked and blushed, " Of course Master!"

"Drake, I don't like the look on your face," Blaise frowned.

" I'm just trying to save myself a lot of unnecessary legwork, if Granger is already doing a search."

" And if, in the process, you were to rile Granger up…?"

" Just a little love game with the soul of my soul, heart of my heart," Draco said through his teeth.