A/N - Do you see what happens when you flatter me? I got so many lovely reviews (26, in fact, the most for any chapter so far), that I wanted to reward you all by updating a day early. I've been doing this too much lately, but what can I say? You guys are too sweet! Besides, I'm sort of celebrating because I made it past a nasty bit of writers' block in Chapter 15 that had me struggling for a couple of days...but that's all done with now and I'm happy. So in honor of wonderful reviewers and no more writers' block, here is Chapter 12, a whole day early. Enjoy!

Draco didn't go home Saturday night. He had decided, after their search for a countercurse had failed that afternoon, that it was time he had a chat with his mother.

He found Narcissa sitting in the library of the Manor, calmly sipping a cup of tea and reading a thin volume of poetry. Draco sighed. She looked so innocent that he really didn't want to confront her about the ring at all. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. Narcissa looked up, and almost immediately her beautiful features lit up from within as she gifted her son with a glittering smile.

"Oh Ducky! I didn't expect to see you again so soon," she exclaimed and tilted her cheek up to allow him to kiss her. She patted the settee, inviting him to sit with her.

"Mother," he began seriously, sitting down, "we need to talk." Narcissa's smile faded and she rearranged her countenance into an expression of concern. She placed her thin white hand over Draco's on the settee between them and leaned forward to listen.

"Yes, darling?"

"That ring," Draco continued, feeling wretched, but plowing through his rehearsed dialogue anyway. "You knew it was cursed?" Narcissa didn't look surprised, only a bit sheepish as she replied.

"Well, yes, darling…but don't go getting all worked up!" she added with a sharp look as Draco opened his mouth to speak. He closed his mouth obediently and gave her a look of his own. Well?

"The ring has an enchantment upon it, yes, but I would hardly call it a curse, Ducky. It simply acts as a bond, sealing two people together when they make a promise to become married. It's a bit more binding than an actual engagement, but not quite so much as a real marriage, you see?" she explained. Draco stared at her. Not quite so much as a real marriage…

"Darling, are you all right?" Narcissa asked, looking rather alarmed as her son didn't speak but continued to stare at her blankly. "Draco!" He snapped back to life at once.

"Mother, is it possible to get out of an engagement once the promise has been made?"

"What are you asking?" she replied, her tone suddenly sharp. "What's the matter? Has something happened between you and Hermione?"

Draco sighed. He knew his mother wasn't going to understand, and he didn't want to break her heart by telling her the truth. She honestly believed he was in love with Hermione.

"No, Mother, I was just…curious," he said weakly. One glance at Narcissa said she wasn't buying his brand of bollocks.

"Draco," she said sternly, "not for nothing have I raised you these past twenty-two years. I know you better than you do, and I know there's something you're not telling me."

Draco raked a hand through his hair. He decided to tell her the truth. He would just leave some parts out of it.

"She doesn't love me," he finally said. "Marrying me would be an enormous mistake for her…I can't let her throw away her life just so I can be happy." There. That was completely true. Marrying him would be a mistake. And it was true that Hermione was doing this so he would be happy, only in the original plan he would be happy by himself, and she wasn't really doing this for him.

Narcissa looked at him for a long moment. She seemed to be debating something within herself. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft and low, and Draco was certain if he hadn't been so near to her he wouldn't have heard her at all.

"Have you spoken to your father about this?" Draco nodded, his eyes never leaving hers. Narcissa pressed her lips together and took a shallow breath. Then she inclined her head slightly and continued.

"Lucius is a clever man…he knows much about Dark Magic…he even thinks he knows the secret of the ring that binds you and Hermione. But he doesn't. The magic that resides in that ring has more to do with light than it does with darkness…no matter what he's told you. There lies within the ring a magic so powerful that it cannot be broken…or fooled by any ordinary means. It—"

Narcissa stopped short and her eyes fixed on a point just over Draco's shoulder. Her mouth contorted into a grim smile as she nodded, and Draco turned around to see his father standing in the doorway.

"Speak of the devil," he muttered.

"Ah, Draco, what's the matter? Have you had a lover's spat with Miss Granger?"

"That wouldn't be any of your business, now would it, Father?" Draco retorted, his fists clenching.

"Well, boys, I think it's far too late for us to be up having a family meeting," Narcissa interjected, standing up and placing herself between her husband and son. She looked round at Draco. "Isn't it time for you to be getting home, Ducky?"

"Yes, Mother," he replied, standing up as well. He ignored his father's scathing look as he kissed Narcissa on the cheek, then he swept from the room without another word.

Hermione woke up Sunday morning with a headache. She had been up late into the night, as she had gone with Harry and Ron to the Burrow to explain things to the Weasley's before the Sunday Prophet heralded the news of Hermione and Draco's engagement to the masses. Hermione wanted to tell her friends in person, rather than have them find out from a biased and probably skewed news story.

They had taken it rather well, and Mr. Weasley had promised to do some digging at work and find out if anyone knew anything about cursed rings that wouldn't come off. That had made Hermione feel better. When they asked her, as she knew they would, what she was going to tell her parents, she had answered with the only logical thing she could think of. She wouldn't tell them about the engagement, at least not right now. There was no reason for it, it wasn't like they subscribed to the Prophet or anything, and she didn't want them to worry about her.

Hermione had plans to spend Sunday with Ron and Harry, as usual. Only today they were headed back to the Malfoy Winter Estate so they could do some more research. Their plan was to spend the entire day in the library. Then, if they didn't find it today, she was prepared to search every single day after work and during lunch breaks until she found that countercurse. She knew there must be one. She had hope. She had a plan.

But nothing could have prepared her for what she read in the paper that morning.

Draco was sitting in his flat at the kitchen table, eating french toast and waiting for the owl that would bring him the Sunday Prophet. He knew there would be a big story on the events of Friday night, and for some reason that made his stomach clench uncomfortably so that he couldn't even enjoy his toast. He dropped it on his plate in disgust and began impatiently drumming his fingers on the tabletop.

The next moment he heard a tapping at his window. About time, he thought darkly as he stood to let the owl in. But to his surprise he saw not the generic barn owl that always brought the paper, but a tawny owl that he immediately recognized as belonging to Hermione. He opened the window and the bird fluttered in, landing beside him and holding out its leg tamely. As he took the scroll from the owl's leg, the barn owl with the Prophet came swooping up. Draco growled. He pushed five knuts into the pouch around the barn owl's leg, and as it swooped off, he decided to read Hermione's note first.

Meet me downstairs in one minute.

That was it. Draco turned it over expectantly, but there was nothing else written. He rolled his eyes and, thankful that he was already dressed, headed out the door and down to the lobby of his apartment building. She was waiting for him, looking rather flustered, but shushed him when he tried to ask her what was going on.

"Let's go upstairs," she suggested. He was rather taken aback. Who did she think she was, just inviting herself up to his flat? Well, she's your fiancee, a voice in his head whispered. But still, Draco's apartment was his one refuge where no one ever went but him. He never even brought girls there, to be perfectly honest. It was his own personal sanctuary from the storm. And here stood Hermione Granger, brazenly inviting herself up. The universe must be turned upside down.

"Er," he stuttered, but Hermione just nodded curtly and took his arm to steer him back to the lift. A moment later they were standing at his front door, then they were standing in his living room. It felt somehow intrusive to have her there, standing amongst his private things, almost intimate. She didn't seem to notice that he was uncomfortable at all, but immediately launched into her speech, pacing the length of his living room as she spoke.

"Have you read the paper this morning? Oh, Draco, what are we going to do? This can't be happening, I mean, this wasn't supposed to happen! How are we going to get out of this? June 22nd is only two weeks away! And we haven't even figured out how to get out of the stupid engagement, let alone—"

"Woah, woah, slow down just a minute," Draco grabbed her by the arm to stop her pacing, which was beginning to make him quite dizzy. "What are you talking about?"

"The paper, Draco, the paper!" she said impatiently. He continued to stare at her blankly, and she rolled her eyes and pulled a copy of the Sunday Prophet from her pocket, waving it in front of his face. He grabbed it, scanning the front page, his eyes widening as he took it all in.

The article was announcing their engagement, yes, that much Draco had expected. It had details of the party, what Hermione's dress looked like, who the guests were. The next paragraph was the part that made him feel like his insides were coiling and twisting like a large snake made of Fiendfyre.

"They fucking set a date for us to get married," he said blankly. Hermione nodded, sinking down on the couch and burying her face in her hands. Draco was speechless; possibly for the first time in his life he had no idea what to do, nor did he have anyone to blame but himself. He found himself dropping on to the couch beside Hermione.

"What are we going to do?" she asked, not moving her face from her hands, so that her words were slightly muffled. He looked at her, and she peered up between her fingers at him.

"I don't know," he said simply. "I just don't know."

"Did you have any luck talking to your mum?" Hermione had known Draco was going to ask his mother about the ring; he had told her of his plan just before they all left the library the night before. Suddenly Draco remembered his conversation with Narcissa and felt a bit better.

"She said that this ring made our engagement a bit more than a regular engagement, but not as binding as a real marriage," he explained. Hermione's face dropped instantly. "But she also said that it wasn't a curse, exactly. Some kind of old magic that even Father doesn't know about. Said it couldn't be broken or fooled by ordinary means or something like that, and that it was more light than dark," he finished. His own words confused him a bit, and he was surprised when Hermione's face lit up.

"You do realize what this means, don't you?" she asked excitedly. "It means that there's a way out! There's a way out!" she said again, jumping up off the couch and doing a little dance. Draco watched her with an expression that was half-amused, half-disgusted with her little display. When she saw his face she stopped abruptly and blushed crimson.

"If you're quite done?" he said sardonically, raising his eyebrows. He waited for her to nod before continuing. "How exactly are we supposed to know how to break through this old magic? And in the span of two weeks?"

"I don't know. But we'll find a way, won't we? We don't have a choice," Hermione replied, sitting back down beside him and staring at the fireplace in front of them. She looked resigned but a little worried, too. Draco felt exactly the same way, except that there was a bit of hopelessness thrown in for good measure. What were they going to do?

A/N 2- Coming next chapter: Promotions and magic rings! Revelations and decisions! What exactly is it that holds the ring on Hermione's finger? What will Draco do when he finds out? It all begins with a strange moonlight visit...