Memories of the Past, Secrets Revealed

Chapter 13: Unwelcome News

By Babmidnight

Disclaimers: Harry Potter characters aren't mine.  If it were, I'm sure many of us would be making characters do what we want more freely.....lol J

Author's notes: Don't flame me, if I'm in the mood I will bitch back at you, and trust me you don't want to piss me off!!!  You may ask the last person who flamed me, they didn't get a very nice response and ended up having their last question thrown back at them and used against them.  Don't like, don't read!  It's that easy.  Flamers will be reported....don't think I'd think twice about it!  I finally got past my writers block, thanks to Ronnie.  I have a lot going on in school, so I might not update again for awhile, but at least this time I'll have a direction to go. J

Rated: Rated PG 13 still. J

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Hermione opened her eyes the next morning, the sun shinning into her eyes.

'Only a week left of winter break' thought Hermione.  Hermione rolled over on her side closing her eyes again, not ready to get up.  She opened her eyes again when she realized there was another body next to her.  She sat bolt up right.  Draco Malfoy was lying right next to her.  She looked down at her clothes and noticed that she still had her dress on.  She put her hand on Draco's shoulder and shook him awake.  He rolled over in response.

"No mother, I don't want to get up yet" muttered Draco.

"Draco Malfoy, I am not your mother, now get up!" replied Hermione.

Draco's eyes opened and starred back at Hermione.

"No you're definitely not my mother" replied Draco, still half asleep.

"Draco, what are you doing in my room?" asked Hermione.

"You fell asleep last night in the garden.  I brought you up here last night, and you wouldn't let me go to my room, so I fell asleep here" commented Draco watching Hermione's face turn into a surprised expression.

"Thank you, but if you wouldn't mind, I need to shower and change, so could you go leave and go to your own room?" asked Hermione politely.

Draco smirked at this.

"You mean I can't join you in the shower or watch you change?" asked Draco.

Hermione glared at him for that comment.

"Absolutely not! Hell would have to freeze over before I let you do either" demanded Hermione.

"but hell has froze over" replied Draco.

"Like hell it has, and where would that be?" commented Hermione.

"Minnesota in America, mighty cold out there I've heard" commented Draco.

"Well sorry, but that's not hell, now get out before I consider jinxing you" demanded Hermione.

"Alright, alright, I'm going, see you at breakfast then" replied Draco.

Hermione watched Draco leave the room.  She got up out of the bed and walked over to her dresser and got some clothes out.  She took them with her and took her shower.  She stepped out and laid her dress from the night before on the bed.  She muttered a quick spell for her hair so it wouldn't become frizzy.  She opened the door and saw Draco leaving his bedroom, his hair all gelled.  The two of them walked down the stairs towards the dinning room where the breakfast could be found. 

Kenneth watched Hermione and Draco come down the stairs and walked into the dinning room.  He looked back down at his newspaper, thinking.  Yes it would work.  The plan was in place, and the two didn't even know about it.  Lucius came strolling into the living room, where the Christmas tree was still in place, and sat in a chair near by him, with a smirk on his face.

"Mind if I speak with you?" asked Lucius with a slight demand in it.  Kenneth nodded, stood up and stepped into his study with Lucius right behind him.  He sat down and waited for Lucius to speak.

"Do you remember what we arranged when Draco and Hermione were young?" asked Lucius.  Kenneth nodded at this.

"Now that Hermione knows about her heritage, I think it's time for our agreement to finally start to move forward" said Lucius.

Kenneth nodded in agreement, his hands under his chin.

"Yes, I was thinking along the same lines.  Has Draco known about this?" asked Kenneth.

"He knew he was set up to marry someone, but never who" replied Lucius.

"Well then, I'll pull Hermione aside, you can tell Draco.  We'll make the announcement about the engagement on New Year's eve, the last party of the winter break before they go back to school" said Kenneth.

Lucius nodded, stood up and walked out of the room.  Kenneth pushed out his chair, walked around the desk and walked over to the doorway.  He opened the door and starred at Hermione talking with her friends, having finished breakfast already.  He watched Lucius pull Draco aside and talk to him briefly.  Draco's eyes went wide and starred at Hermione.  Lucius said something else to him, which Kenneth couldn't hear from this distance, but assumed it had to do with the engagement announcement on New Year's Eve.  Draco nodded his head in response to what his father had told him and walked back over to the Trio trying to act normally.  Kenneth stepped out of the doorway and walked over to Hermione.

"Hermione, I need to speak to you for a moment.  Follow me please" asked Kenneth.

Hermione followed her father into the study and sat down in a chair, watching her father pace.

"I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but these plans were made many years ago" said Kenneth.

Hermione nodded in response, wondering what plans these were.  Kenneth sat down and started speaking.

"To put it bluntly Hermione, Lucius and I agreed on an arranged marriage, back when your mother and I were still married.  You are betrothed to Draco Malfoy" said Kenneth.

Hermione starred at him in shock.

"What! I can't marry him! I don't even love him! Can't you pull out of the arrangement?" asked Hermione.

"No I can't, and neither can you.  We made a pact, and in the wizarding world a pact can't be broken.  We agreed that if one breaks the pact and pulls out, they would have to provide a heir for that family or both" said Kenneth.

Hermione starred at her father.  She was doomed.  No matter what she would end up having Draco Malfoy's children.  Yeah, he was good looking, but she did not love him.

"Hermione, as a pureblood, you need to marry a pureblood.  You have to understand that, and it is better you marry someone who is high up in society.  Our family is well known, it would be bad if you married anything but a pureblood.  We will be making the engagement announcement on New Year's Eve.  I recommend you be prepared for it, get to know Draco in the mean time, that is at least five days for you to get used to the idea of marrying him" said Kenneth.

Kenneth watched Hermione get up and make her way to the door.

"Hermione?" spoke Kenneth.

Hermione turned her head towards him, tears in her eyes; her hand on the door but still closed.  Kenneth stood up and came a bit closer to her.

"I'm sorry about this, but you may know that I am a death eater, but I'm a spy for Dumbledore.  Remember that, and keep in mind, Draco may not follow in his father's steps, he just may be on the side of light.  Chin up Hermione, be brave, I wouldn't have done this if I knew it wouldn't turn out to be good for you" said Kenneth in a soft fatherly voice.

Hermione opened the door and stepped out of the room.  She made her way over to Draco, Harry and Ron.  She wiped her tears before anyone could notice and smiled at Harry and Ron.  Harry and Ron were playing chess.  They had found a chess board lying around, so Kenneth let them use it.  Draco was helping Harry, who looked like was winning for once.  Hermione sat next to Draco.  Draco looked up at her and smiled. 

"Checkmate!" cried Harry, happy to finally when a game after seven years of trying to beat Ron.  Hermione smiled at Harry. 

Draco, Ron and Harry went on playing chess for a bit, while Hermione pulled out a book and started reading. 

"Hey Draco, you know the way around this place don't you?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, why?" asked Draco

Harry and Ron looked at each other and smiled.

"Well we were wondering if you could show us around, like exploring and finding secret passages" replied Harry.

Draco smiled at this, always loving to get into a bit of trouble.

"Come on then" said Draco.

They started to walk out of the room, but realized Hermione wasn't behind them.  They all stopped and noticed that she hadn't even heard the conversation. They all smiled and smirked.  Harry stood in front of Hermione, while Ron and Draco on the side.

"Are you going to come with us Hermione?" asked Harry.

"huh, what?" asked Hermione.  Ron took the book she had in her hand, marked it, and closed it.  Draco grabbed her hand and pulled her up.  Hermione flew into his arms, from the force he pulled at.

"Not so hard Draco" said Hermione.  The boys turned and started to walk out with Draco dragging Hermione behind him.

"We're going to go explore your father's house Hermione, and you're coming with us" said Draco, amused at Hermione who looked like she didn't want to explore and get into trouble.

They turned down a dark corner and disappeared into the darkness, with Hermione still trying to convince them to turn back, with no success.