Draco stood in the middle of the stairs cradling his throbbing arm. What the hell should he do now? He realised that someone else was coming up the stairs and he moved to one side so that they could pass. Instead, he heard them stop and turned to see that Theo had come after him. "Wow," he said. "Engaged, hey?"

Draco shot him a venomous look. "I can't deal with your shit right now," he snarled.

"I presume that Granger didn't take it well?" he asked, like he was oblivious to the murderous look that Draco was giving him.

"No, you could say that." Replied Draco through clenched teeth.

"Is it witnessed and official yet?" continued Theo.

"I don't see how it can be; the announcement ceremony is the Sunday after we get home."

"Then you can still get out of it." Said Theo simply.

"Can I?" said Draco despairingly. "You know that it can only be broken on the witches side, unless there is something objectionable about the brides behaviour or character. It would be mortifying for her, and damage her future prospects."

"Fuck that!" Said Theo emphatically. "Are you really that worried about damaging the prospects of a girl you don't know? Enough to spend the rest of your life with her?"

"What's the alternative?" Draco asked angrily. "The person I want has just hexed me. Even before that I had little hope that she would have me!"

"Merlin's beard, you loser! If you want her go and bloody get her! Tell your mother the wedding is off, and tell Granger you are marrying her instead. You're a Malfoy, you always get what you want!"

"When did you start giving advice?" asked Draco, bemused at Theo's vehement tone.

"As much as it pains me to say it, you are the only friend I have. And she seems to be good for you. You always were a miserable, arrogant arsehole and since you got with her, you have been less of all those things."

"Holy shit." Said Draco, in an attempt to deflect Theo's uncomfortable candour. "You are actually my friend? I just thought that you spoke to me by default!"

"You are such a knob!" said Theo in disgust. "Salazar knows what Granger sees in you!"

They both lapsed into silence, but Draco felt somewhat heartened. Theo was right; he could break it off. Goodness knows what kind of deal his mother had made with the Greengrass family to secure this engagement, but she would just have to get whatever it was she had bartered back.

Feeling the need to be proactive, Draco determined that he needed to speak to the Greengrass girl sooner rather than later. He and Theo went up to the common room, and he was unsurprised to see a gaggle of girls all talking rapidly in the seats in front of the fire. In the centre were Daphne and Astoria Greengrass, and the silence that fell at his approach left him in no doubt as to what they were speaking about.

Ignoring the hostile looks, he spoke directly to Astoria. "Can I have a word? Somewhere quieter?"

She tilted her head slightly, as if weighing him up. "Yes." She said finally, standing and weaving her way out of the chairs. Daphne also leapt up from her chair to follow, sour-faced and visibly fuming.

Draco fell in beside them, Astoria leading them out of the common room to one of the empty dungeon classrooms. Once inside, she turned to face him expectantly and he suddenly felt very discomfited; how did you tell someone you wanted to break off an engagement without being offensive?

"I'm presuming that the letter this morning was as much a surprise to you as it was to me?" He began.

"Not entirely," she replied. "I knew that my father would be making a match for me, but had no idea it would be so soon, nor who it would be. I'm rather shocked, I don't see how an alliance with your family would be beneficial now that you wield no influence at the ministry."

"That's true." Said Draco, feeling the sting of shame even as he realised that her acknowledgement of this made stating his case easier. "And I mean this as no slight to you, but I can't marry you."

Astoria went to reply, but Daphne cut her off. "What do you mean you "cant" marry her? You should be down on your knees in gratitude that you get a chance to marry into our family! Your family has nothing of value to offer ours, for goodness sake; you don't even have anywhere to live! How very dare you just come out and say you won't marry! Imagine if we all turned around and said that; there would be no purebloods left!"

Draco was about to respond, but Astoria beat him to it. "That's enough Daphne, he has come to speak to me." She turned back to Draco, "Why can't you marry me?"

"Uh, I…" Draco spluttered. Of all the things he was expecting, this direct question had not been one. "I have no way of supporting a wife…" he began, but seeing the look of disbelieving contempt on Astoria's face he realised that he needed to tell her the truth. "I want to marry someone else."

Astoria smiled slightly, whilst Daphne appeared apoplectic with rage. "You are trying to choose that prissy mudblood over my sister..?!" she shrieked, looking like she was about to leap and strangle Draco.

"Hush Daphne!" Snapped Astoria. "This has nothing to do with you and Cassius; stop leaping on everyone else who tries to be happy! You should speak to father about it!" Daphne glared at Astoria, but did fall silent.

Draco was lost; who was Cassius? Why the hell was Daphne so pissed off when the insult of his refusal was to Astoria? Astoria obviously felt his confusion; "Daphne is meant to be marrying Cassius Warrington in the summer; his father is a business associate of ours. Father wants to cement that connection, and of course, the choice of eligible pureblood wizards is rather limited…" Astoria arched her brow at him sardonically. He suppressed a smile; if it hadn't been for his feelings for Granger, he realised that Astoria would be a good match for him. She seemed reasonable about blood status, and obviously had a sense of humour.

"So, I'm guessing you aren't happy with the match?" he asked Daphne.

"The 'match' is fine! The 'match' makes sense, it's just him I can't stand!" said Daphne. "The thought of him touching me makes my skin crawl. And he knows it, and it amuses him!" There was a distinct shine of tears in her eyes now, and it made Draco uncomfortable. Draco then realised who Cassius was; Warrington had been a Chaser on the Quidditch team a few years ago. He recalled that Warrington was huge and neckless, with hooded sloth-like eyes. He had also particularly enjoyed violence, especially against those smaller and weaker than himself. He looked at Daphne with pity; being tied to someone she couldn't stand for the rest of her life would be hideous.

"You need to tell father that you don't like him!" said Astoria. "Even if he pushes the marriage ahead at least you will have tried!" Daphne looked sulky and it was obvious that this was a conversation that the sisters had had many times before.

"I'm sorry Daphne," said Draco sincerely. "It must be a difficult situation."

"Like you care!" she barked. "You always did do whatever you wanted, letting everyone else deal with the consequences!"

"And look where it has gotten me!" Snapped Draco, finally baited enough to respond. "Fortuneless and without 'anywhere to live'!"

"This isn't helping anything!" Astoria interjected firmly. "What do you propose we do?"

"I shall write to mother, telling her the engagement will not be going ahead, and I would appreciate it if you would do the same." Said Draco.

"I can write to father," she began, "but I won't outright refuse the engagement. I don't want to risk finding myself without anywhere to live…" She smirked at him.

"Thank you," he said. "That is all I can ask of you." He turned to Daphne, thinking to say something about Warrington, but changed his mind when he saw the mulish set of her mouth. He just nodded to them both instead, and turned for the door.

"Draco," said Astoria, as he reached for the door handle. "Good luck…"

Draco caught her eye and grinned, before stepping out into the corridor. It was ironic, he mused as he walked back to the dormitory that his mother had actually managed to find him a match he would have been pretty satisfied with if it had not been for his relationship with Granger.

He collected his bag with his quills and parchment in, and headed to the library for some quiet time to construct the letter to his mother. He had to be polite, but firm. No mention of feelings else he would be accused of behaving like a petulant child. He went to his and Grangers usual table, finding her absence was both a relief and upsetting at the same time. After half an hour of crossing out and rewriting he ended up with;

Mother,

I hope this letter finds you well. I was somewhat surprised to receive your previous letter, informing me that you had arranged an engagement for me with Astoria Greengrass. I would ask you to recall the conversation that we had just before my return to school, where we discussed my future marriage plans and how I am currently unable to support a wife and need to establish myself in a career upon leaving school before I could take on such a commitment. This situation has not changed, and neither have my feelings on the matter.

Astoria Greengrass is no doubt a pleasant and suitable witch, so it was with regret that I had to inform her that I could not honour the engagement. She will also write to her parents to inform them of the situation, so hopefully this matter will be satisfactorily resolved swiftly and with little inconvenience to all involved. I must also express my disappointment that you did not choose to discuss the matter with me first, which could have avoided any inconvenience to the Greengrass family or yourself.

Your loving son,

Draco.

It didn't say half of what he wanted to say but would hopefully show his mother that he was not going to be coerced into anything. After all, he was of age, and if they were going to stick to the pureblood tradition that his mother subscribed to, then he was the head of the household and all decisions should be his.

He took his letter to the owlery, ignoring the stares and whispers that followed him; he was used to it after all! Once this task was done, he realised that there was nothing else he could do tonight to try and rectify the situation. In fact, the only other thing he could do was talk to Granger, which would be problematic.

The problem was, he mused, that she was too bloody stubborn for her own good! She was so caught up in doing the "right" thing that she wouldn't allow him a chance to explain himself without interjecting her own opinion on the matter.

He went up to the dorm, deciding an early night was a good idea, plus he could do with going over his notes from his last alchemy lesson before his next appointment with McGonagall the following evening. Then it dawned on him; that was how he would talk to Granger, corner her after Alchemy. He would cast Petrificus Totalus on her if he had to! He lay behind the drawn curtains of his bed for many hours listening to the other occupants getting ready for bed and imagining what he would say before finally managing to get to sleep.

He woke early as usual, and decided that it may be prudent to have an early breakfast and make himself scarce until first period. There was no movement from the other beds as he gathered his washbag and sloped off to the prefects bathroom. By the time he was washed, shaved and dressed there were a few students appearing in the corridors, and the portraits had woken and started to talk. The great hall was pretty empty as he had hoped, although it seemed that someone else had had the same idea as him.

Granger was sitting at the Gryffindor table, head down reading a weighty looking tome. She looked collected and calm, rather like she had the day after her break up with Weasley. Draco sat down, positioning himself in her line of sight if she were to look up; she may want to pretend that everything was fine but he certainly wasn't going to. He wondered what she would do if he just went over and sat with her, told her how he felt and what he wanted.

He was lost in this reverie until he was distracted by Weaslette's arrival to the Gryffindor table, sliding in next to Hermione and causing her to look up. It seemed like she couldn't help but look over at the slytherin table because she immediately met his gaze before quickly looking away. He was then treated to a good glower from Ginny before she turned and blocked his view of Hermione, which he felt was a good cue for him to leave.

First period was transfiguration, and he was able to watch Hermione at his leisure from the back of the room. She was smiling and interacting with her friends as usual but there was a brittleness to her expression that hadn't been there before. It made him feel oddly satisfied; if she was upset then it showed she cared, and if she cared then he had a chance of getting her back.

Draco managed to ignore the whispers and stares until after third period when he was accosted by Potter. He had been half expecting it; Potter always had to stick his nose in anywhere that wasn't his business!

"Malfoy!" he barked, as the students streaming out of the greenhouses passed them in a rush to get to lunch. Draco rolled his eyes before turning to face him "What is it Potter?"

"You told me you wouldn't fuck her over!" he hissed. "And like a fool, I actually believed you!"

"I haven't fucked her over!" said Draco through clenched teeth, willing himself not to lose his temper and make things worse.

"You're engaged to someone else!" said Potter disbelievingly, "How can you say you haven't fucked her over?! You don't expect me to believe she knew about that and was fine with it!"

"Of course not." Said Draco contemptuously, annoyed that Potter would even consider that. "I didn't bloody well know about it, so how could she!"

Potter frowned at him. "What do you mean you didn't know? Seriously?"

"Seriously," Said Draco. "The first thing I knew about it was yesterday morning, about a minute before everyone else. Mother made arrangements." He added acerbically.

Potter frowned at him for another couple of moments. "Shit." He said flatly.

"Shit indeed." Said Draco, turning to leave.

"What are you going to do?" said Potter, making him pause.

"I'm still deciding." Said Draco, feeling suddenly hopeless. "First I need to get her to listen to me."

"Your mother?" asked Potter.

"No, Granger!" barked Draco. Bloody Potter, obtuse as always! "I don't give a fuck what my mother or anyone else wants! I'm sick of everyone having an opinion of what I'm doing or not doing. I'm in love with Hermione and I don't fucking care what anyone says, I just want to be with her…" He tailed off at the look on Potters face.

"You love her?" Potter said with a stupid expression. Draco immediately realised that he had revealed more than he meant to.

"Yeah. So what, Potter?" he confirmed gruffly before turning to leave again.

"Does she love you?" asked Harry quietly.

"I have no idea." Said Draco brusquely. He didn't need to get all touchy-feely with Potty; they didn't even like one another. "Although I imagine not at the moment."

"So you haven't told her?" Harry stated.

Draco clenched his jaw; why could the golden boy not take the hint!? "What's it got to do with you, Potter? And if you say "Hermione's my best friend" I will curse you into oblivion!"

"You're still a prat Malfoy. Hermione IS one of my best friends, and I would have thought that you would see an opportunity to get ahead. You're a slytherin aren't you?"

It took Draco a second to work out what Potter was offering. "Why would you help me?"

"Because despite the fact that you were a former arsehole, you and her seem to work. You are smart enough to keep up with her; sometimes when she goes off on a tangent I have no idea what she is talking about and she needs to be able to spar with someone as an equal." Potter looked vaguely nauseated admitting this, and Draco smiled inwardly.

"So, basically you are saying I'm smarter than you and weaselby?" said Draco with a smirk, unable to resist antagonising Potter.

"Really, Malfoy?" said Potter, sounding exasperated. "I'm offering to help you and you have to keep going with the insults?"

"Ok Potter, I'm done. What do you suggest?" Said Draco, realising that he may be grateful for an ally.

"Usually, I would say to tell her the truth," began Potter. "but if you haven't already told her that you love her then I wouldn't suggest leading with it. She is so stubborn, she will decide that you are just saying that because you want to get in her pants. So, tell her about the engagement being off and that you want to concentrate on your exams."

Two things occurred to Draco then; firstly Potter obviously didn't know that he and Hermione had already slept together, and secondly that Potter wasn't as completely clueless as he appeared!

"You think I should play it cool?" he said.

"Not cool as such," said Potter, "but Hermione will respect you more if you acknowledge that the drama of this situation has caused damage, and could interfere with studying for NEWT's. Downplaying the engagement is the biggest thing surely? All was going well until then?"

"Yes." Conceded Draco. Potter may actually have the right idea! "I was thinking of trying to speak to her after Alchemy tonight."

"Good idea" said Potter. "I'll ask her to meet me after and be purposefully late. Don't screw it up Malfoy, I won't help you again."

"Piss off Potter" said Draco, but was smirking as he made his way to the great hall for lunch.

Theo was waiting for him, looking surprisingly concerned. "What?" asked Draco, as he sat down.

"I was wondering where you were." Said Theo, quickly schooling his face into a picture of nonchalance. "I was thinking you may be hexed and shoved into a cupboard somewhere."

"Were you going to come looking for me?" mocked Draco, tossing a bit of pastry from his sausage roll at him.

"After I collected my camera…" sneered Theo through a mouthful of ham sandwich. "Got a plan to win back your girlfriend yet?"

"Maybe," said Draco, involuntarily looking over at the Gryffindor table.

"She's not there." Said Theo, being annoyingly perceptive. Oh well, thought Draco, no way she will miss alchemy.

He almost thought he had judged wrongly when he arrived at the transfiguration classroom that evening and there was no sign of her. McGonagall greeted him cheerfully, and he had already sat down and unpacked his things by the time Hermione entered the classroom. She hesitated for just a second before taking her usual seat next to him, and apologised to McGonagall for keeping her waiting.

Throughout the lesson Hermione was careful to be polite but cold to him, which made him both want to laugh and scream with frustration. A couple of times their arms brushed and she flinched away like he had burned her, and he found himself starting to get rather annoyed. She suddenly couldn't bear to touch him because of a letter from his mother?! He became more determined to have it out with her after class.

McGonagall must have noticed the change in the atmosphere, but she just set them some further reading and told them to pack the equipment away before leaving at the end of the lesson. As soon as she was out of the room Draco turned to the door and closed it with a "colloportus" charm.

"Draco…" began Hermione but he cut her off.

"No. You wouldn't listen yesterday, but you will today. My mother arranged an engagement with Astoria Greengrass without my knowledge." He started.

"That doesn't…" Hermione interjected.

"NO!" yelled Draco before she had a chance to get going. "Mother arranged it without my knowledge, and I have informed both her and Astoria that it will not be honoured. If you had given me a moment of your time yesterday then I would have told you this. You are treating me like I have betrayed you in some way, when I haven't done anything wrong." He gave her a moment to speak but she remained silent, just looking at him.

He realised that this was his moment to decide; did he trust Potters advice? "Look," he said, "I understand. You were very recently screwed over by Weasley, I can see why you would struggle to trust me, but it has shown me that you were right about something you said before."

He took a deep breath before continuing; he was going to kill Potter if this backfired on him! "This is our NEWT year, we only have five weeks left. We can't afford to mess this up and whatever our relationship is, or was, it's intense. I think that the best thing to do would be to concentrate on our studies, we can work out what's between us after we have sat our exams."

Hermione looked slightly shell-shocked. "You're right, of course." She said finally. "This is our NEWT year and we need to concentrate on that." They stood awkwardly for a second. "I said I would meet Harry…" she said gesturing to the door.

"Of course," said Draco, flicking his wand at the door with a silent "alohamora". "I'm sorry for shouting." He added, realising that there were tears forming in the witch's eyes. She grabbed her things and practically ran to the door, leaving Draco behind to clear up their mess.