"I'm going to start from the beginning, Hermione," Draco told her,
ignoring the snide looks from his father. "I didn't want to marry you at
first, but after a while, the idea grew on me. After all, you were no
longer the buck-toothed, funny haired girl you were when you first came to
Hogwarts. You were catching all the eyes of the guys in the school during
our sixth and seventh years and I felt incredibly proud to be engaged to
you." He took a deep breath. "I was so excited at the prospect of having
the title of your husband that I didn't think of all that came with it.
During the ceremony, my mind reeled and I found myself really listening to
what the minister was saying." He glared at Lucius. "Could I really care
for you? Could I really stay by your side for all eternity? Could we
really put behind us the years of torture we endured together to live a
life as a married couple? I didn't think so. And I became scared. I
became very scared that what I had planned for us in life wasn't enough. I
hated feeling so insecure so I covered it up by playing the part of the
jerk."
"Right." Hermione's voice was soft and she wasn't sure whether or not to believe him. He had just described the way she had felt for the longest time, but from his point of view. Could he be telling the truth or was he pulling her leg as some sort of mean prank?
"But you grew on me again, Hermione. I found myself becoming more attached and protective of you. Hobbs, my partner at work, used to go to Hogwarts, only he finished his seventh year when we were in third. He kept making fun of you at the office one day and I kept standing up for you. 'What's the matter?' he had asked me. 'Do you really have feelings for the twit?' And I have to admit, Hermione, I answered yes." He sighed heavily again. "I answered yes, Hermione, because I did care. I do." His eyes were shining and pure, making Hermione want to lash out in fury. "Love is a strong emotion and it's something that takes time to get in to," Draco continued, "so I won't say I love you. But I do care for you deeply and I only changed my attitude after the wedding because I was scared that I wouldn't be able to provide for the two of us properly."
"How sweet," Lucius said from a dark corner where he had leaned against the wall. Draco glared angrily at him.
"I haven't got to the best part," he said, facing his father but speaking to Hermione. "My dear old dad here decided that he wanted to play the part of the slime for once and pulled a pretty nasty trick on us."
"What is it?" Hermione asked, almost afraid to know.
Draco looked back and forth from Lucius, who was shaking his head, to Hermione, who was shaking all over. "Did you ever wonder," he began slowly, "why the wedding ceremony was moved up so many times?"
Hermione nodded slowly. "At first it was going to be three years after school. Then one year. Then at the end of that year. Then at the beginning of fall. Why?" Her heart had begun to race.
"It seems that my father here, which I'm almost disgusted to call him, decided it would be 'funny' if he hired a fake minister to oversee the ceremony."
The words took a few minutes to lodge in Hermione' brain. A fake minister? She glanced back at forth between Lucius and Draco. Lucius was looking grim, but the faint remnants of a smile remained on his lips. Draco, on the other hand, was looking positively ill. "A fake minister," she repeated slowly. "So that would mean?"
"Yes," Draco confirmed. "You and I are not really married."
Hermione felt her entire world turn upside down. Her stomach flopped and her head swirled. She wasn't Mrs. Draco Malfoy. She didn't have to be here. She didn't have to live in this house, day after day and be bored out of her mind. She didn't have to do it! So why wasn't she feeling happy?
Rage, hot white, boiling rage, bubbled up inside her as she stared at Lucius' smirking face. "An innocent joke," he claimed.
Yeah, an innocent joke. That's all it was, wasn't it? An innocent joke. Toying with two people's personal lives. Making them live a life of hell together, almost killing each other in the process. Making each of them want to scream and vent their frustrations of inadequacy on each other. Just an innocent joke. Right.
"You're sick," Hermione said, looking back and forth between the two generations of Malfoys in front of her. "You're completely sick."
"I didn't have anything to do with it!" Draco cried. "The other day, remember the night I came home really angry? Hobbs had been saying that the whole thing was a sham and he had heard it from my father himself. I told Hobbs that he was wrong and my father was a lot of things but he was not a liar. Apparently I was wrong." He glared at Lucius.
"I went to Malfoy Manor that night, determined to sort things out, but as soon as he heard what I was there for, to confirm the rumours, he refused to see me. I sent him owl after owl in the past few weeks, but to no avail. He either ignored my requests in the letters, or ignored my letters completely. It made me sick."
"You finally annoyed me so much that I came to visit," Lucius said in his sickening voice.
"And brought with you the news I didn't want to hear," Draco said, not taking his glaring eyes off of Lucius.
"So that's what you were yelling about," Hermione said as it finally dawned on her. She felt incredibly slow at this point. "I heard you in the office. Lucius said something about finding you a wife and you said that there was only one problem."
"Yeah," Draco replied, sitting up straighter. "That you weren't really my wife. He then proposed the fact that we have another wedding and this time get a real minister in. But there were two problems with that. One, I can't trust this man." He gestured towards Lucius in the shadows who immediately gave a 'who, me?' look. "Second of all, is you, Hermione."
"Me?"
"Yes, you. You're not Mrs. Malfoy. You can leave. If you want, you can walk out that door and never turn back. And I have to say, I wish I could do the same." He lowered his head and Hermione immediately felt remorse. Guilt swept through her body as she planned her life ahead of her in her mind: going to the Burrow, telling everyone it was all a sham. Mrs. Weasley would make a celebratory dinner and Ron would be happy again. She would live with them for a while, before Ron proposed to her and they lived happily ever after. After all, she couldn't go home to her parents again.
Her parents. Did they know about the fake minister? Were they a part of the whole scam? She didn't really want to know. She looked at Draco's sad face and contemplated how it would be for her to leave him here. The guilt would eat at her for the rest of her life.
"I have to think about this," she said, standing up. "I'll let you know as soon as I've thought about it. Although I know it's a rough decision to wait for, I have to ask you to please not pester me about it. I need my time." She rounded on Lucius then, fury in her eyes.
"As for you, I do not think you are even close to being worthy of living on this planet. Let alone the fact that you led so many people on, you hurt your one and only son and this is a greater crime than the one you originally committed. I hope you will think long and hard before trying to meddle in anyone else's lives." She turned on her heels and marched out of the room and up the giant staircase to the bedroom, where she threw herself on the bed and waited for the tears to come.
Strangely enough, they didn't. She felt hollow inside, like no emotion had ever settled there. It was strange; ever since the engagement had been announced, she wanted to curl up and die. She would have given anything to have someone tell her that it was all a joke and that she didn't really have to marry Draco Malfoy. She would have been so happy if this had all happened months ago.
But now, she had grown oddly attached to having Draco around. It was natural to have him come home after work and for the two of them to spend quality time in silence in the sitting room for hours at a time. It was natural for her to roll over in the middle of the night and see him beside her. It was natural for him to wrap his arms around her in his sleep and for the two of them to lie there, entwined together, sleeping peacefully. It had only been a month, but everything seemed so accepted now. She took it all for granted.
Her mind was emotionally full. Pulling the covers up over her, she drifted in and out of sleep for several hours, feeling that it was her only escape from the cruel hand Fate had suddenly dealt her.
"Right." Hermione's voice was soft and she wasn't sure whether or not to believe him. He had just described the way she had felt for the longest time, but from his point of view. Could he be telling the truth or was he pulling her leg as some sort of mean prank?
"But you grew on me again, Hermione. I found myself becoming more attached and protective of you. Hobbs, my partner at work, used to go to Hogwarts, only he finished his seventh year when we were in third. He kept making fun of you at the office one day and I kept standing up for you. 'What's the matter?' he had asked me. 'Do you really have feelings for the twit?' And I have to admit, Hermione, I answered yes." He sighed heavily again. "I answered yes, Hermione, because I did care. I do." His eyes were shining and pure, making Hermione want to lash out in fury. "Love is a strong emotion and it's something that takes time to get in to," Draco continued, "so I won't say I love you. But I do care for you deeply and I only changed my attitude after the wedding because I was scared that I wouldn't be able to provide for the two of us properly."
"How sweet," Lucius said from a dark corner where he had leaned against the wall. Draco glared angrily at him.
"I haven't got to the best part," he said, facing his father but speaking to Hermione. "My dear old dad here decided that he wanted to play the part of the slime for once and pulled a pretty nasty trick on us."
"What is it?" Hermione asked, almost afraid to know.
Draco looked back and forth from Lucius, who was shaking his head, to Hermione, who was shaking all over. "Did you ever wonder," he began slowly, "why the wedding ceremony was moved up so many times?"
Hermione nodded slowly. "At first it was going to be three years after school. Then one year. Then at the end of that year. Then at the beginning of fall. Why?" Her heart had begun to race.
"It seems that my father here, which I'm almost disgusted to call him, decided it would be 'funny' if he hired a fake minister to oversee the ceremony."
The words took a few minutes to lodge in Hermione' brain. A fake minister? She glanced back at forth between Lucius and Draco. Lucius was looking grim, but the faint remnants of a smile remained on his lips. Draco, on the other hand, was looking positively ill. "A fake minister," she repeated slowly. "So that would mean?"
"Yes," Draco confirmed. "You and I are not really married."
Hermione felt her entire world turn upside down. Her stomach flopped and her head swirled. She wasn't Mrs. Draco Malfoy. She didn't have to be here. She didn't have to live in this house, day after day and be bored out of her mind. She didn't have to do it! So why wasn't she feeling happy?
Rage, hot white, boiling rage, bubbled up inside her as she stared at Lucius' smirking face. "An innocent joke," he claimed.
Yeah, an innocent joke. That's all it was, wasn't it? An innocent joke. Toying with two people's personal lives. Making them live a life of hell together, almost killing each other in the process. Making each of them want to scream and vent their frustrations of inadequacy on each other. Just an innocent joke. Right.
"You're sick," Hermione said, looking back and forth between the two generations of Malfoys in front of her. "You're completely sick."
"I didn't have anything to do with it!" Draco cried. "The other day, remember the night I came home really angry? Hobbs had been saying that the whole thing was a sham and he had heard it from my father himself. I told Hobbs that he was wrong and my father was a lot of things but he was not a liar. Apparently I was wrong." He glared at Lucius.
"I went to Malfoy Manor that night, determined to sort things out, but as soon as he heard what I was there for, to confirm the rumours, he refused to see me. I sent him owl after owl in the past few weeks, but to no avail. He either ignored my requests in the letters, or ignored my letters completely. It made me sick."
"You finally annoyed me so much that I came to visit," Lucius said in his sickening voice.
"And brought with you the news I didn't want to hear," Draco said, not taking his glaring eyes off of Lucius.
"So that's what you were yelling about," Hermione said as it finally dawned on her. She felt incredibly slow at this point. "I heard you in the office. Lucius said something about finding you a wife and you said that there was only one problem."
"Yeah," Draco replied, sitting up straighter. "That you weren't really my wife. He then proposed the fact that we have another wedding and this time get a real minister in. But there were two problems with that. One, I can't trust this man." He gestured towards Lucius in the shadows who immediately gave a 'who, me?' look. "Second of all, is you, Hermione."
"Me?"
"Yes, you. You're not Mrs. Malfoy. You can leave. If you want, you can walk out that door and never turn back. And I have to say, I wish I could do the same." He lowered his head and Hermione immediately felt remorse. Guilt swept through her body as she planned her life ahead of her in her mind: going to the Burrow, telling everyone it was all a sham. Mrs. Weasley would make a celebratory dinner and Ron would be happy again. She would live with them for a while, before Ron proposed to her and they lived happily ever after. After all, she couldn't go home to her parents again.
Her parents. Did they know about the fake minister? Were they a part of the whole scam? She didn't really want to know. She looked at Draco's sad face and contemplated how it would be for her to leave him here. The guilt would eat at her for the rest of her life.
"I have to think about this," she said, standing up. "I'll let you know as soon as I've thought about it. Although I know it's a rough decision to wait for, I have to ask you to please not pester me about it. I need my time." She rounded on Lucius then, fury in her eyes.
"As for you, I do not think you are even close to being worthy of living on this planet. Let alone the fact that you led so many people on, you hurt your one and only son and this is a greater crime than the one you originally committed. I hope you will think long and hard before trying to meddle in anyone else's lives." She turned on her heels and marched out of the room and up the giant staircase to the bedroom, where she threw herself on the bed and waited for the tears to come.
Strangely enough, they didn't. She felt hollow inside, like no emotion had ever settled there. It was strange; ever since the engagement had been announced, she wanted to curl up and die. She would have given anything to have someone tell her that it was all a joke and that she didn't really have to marry Draco Malfoy. She would have been so happy if this had all happened months ago.
But now, she had grown oddly attached to having Draco around. It was natural to have him come home after work and for the two of them to spend quality time in silence in the sitting room for hours at a time. It was natural for her to roll over in the middle of the night and see him beside her. It was natural for him to wrap his arms around her in his sleep and for the two of them to lie there, entwined together, sleeping peacefully. It had only been a month, but everything seemed so accepted now. She took it all for granted.
Her mind was emotionally full. Pulling the covers up over her, she drifted in and out of sleep for several hours, feeling that it was her only escape from the cruel hand Fate had suddenly dealt her.
