Chapter 2:
'Betrothed, to that hateful, cold, horrible man. How can that be?' she thinks to herself. She has so many questions. When do they have to be married, why they're betrothed to each other, and why she hadn't been told before now?
She pulls herself off the ground, he body weak from crying so hard, and decided to go to bed.
She walks into her room, which she's now seeing for the first time, and goes to her closet to find her nighty. She looks at it and takes in all the little details. It was powder pink with white lace trim, the neckline fell as low as it could go, and the bottom barely covered her ass. She bought it before the year started, she didn't really know why, except that it made her feel sexy. Right now, she needs to feel sexy.
She climbs in her huge bed and laid down for an unsettling sleep.
Hermione wakes with the sun in her face. She could have sworn she closed the blinds last night. 'Oh well.' She thinks to herself as she rolls over to try to fall back asleep, only to find herself face to face with Malfoy.
"MALFOY!!" She screams as she jumps to cover herself up with her blankets.
"What the FUCK are you doing in my room." She screams.
"Quiet," he growls, "You don't need to wake the whole castle. I just need to talk to you."
"Well, couldn't you wait until I got up and got dressed instead of ambushing me while I'm sleeping."
"Well, this way I know you can't try to blow me off and run for the door because you don't want me to see you in that little nighty you're wearing under that blanket."
Hermione is dumbstruck. 'How does he know what I'm wearing under my blankets? How long has he been in here?' she thinks to herself.
"Just listen, I know you probably have a lot of questions for me about what I told you last night, so I'll tell you everything I know." He tells her.
Hermione just shuts up and listens.
"My father told me a long time ago I was betrothed to marry the Nightly's little girl. Unfortunately, they had given her up for adoption when she was 7 months old because they did not want to be related to my father. You see, our father's used to be best friends back in school, but when they were in school, your father, David, was engaged to my mother. Then one day, my mother and father both got an owl from their parents telling them they were betrothed to each other, so she couldn't marry David. They tried to explain to him that she still loved him and it wasn't my father's fault, but he wouldn't listen. He was heart broken. So when they found out I was the only respectable pureblood male left, your parent's decided they would rather give up their only daughter than allow her to be related to my family."
Hermione just looks at him. She knows he's not lying, but it's still hard to believe him.
"Then my father told me they found the girl," he continued, "And she's you."
"The deal is you have to come home with me over Christmas break and we'll have the wedding then. You can invite anyone you want, yes even Potter and Weasley, but my mother is planning the whole thing. We have to have at least one boy and marry him off to some other pureblood girl, same with any other children we have."
"What make you think I'm going to marry you? I don't even like you." Hermione spat.
"This isn't any picnic for me either princess, but we have no choice." He hissed at her.
"Oh really, what exactly do you think will happen if I refuse?"
"My father will hunt you down and torture you until you either agree to marry or die." He said so plainly; Hermione knew he wasn't lying or even over exaggerating.
"God, I can't believe this." She said to herself.
"Believe me, I know. But you need to listen to me. If you're going to be my wife, there are a few things you need to understand." He said almost business like.
"First of all, what goes on behind closed doors stays behind closed doors. I don't need everyone knowing our business. Second of all, you treat me with respect and I'll treat you with respect. And lastly, don't you even back talk me. If you back talk I will lose my temper and believe me, you don't want that." He tells her sternly, his eyes never leaving hers.
She looks at him in absolute disbelief for a few seconds before answering, "Yah know what Malfoy, if we have to get married or die, then fine I'll marry you. But don't you think for one second that just because I'm going to be your wife I will come to your beck and call. I'm a human being and I deserve respect. I will tell my friends whatever I feel like, I will back talk if you insult me or provoke me, and you will get absolutely no respect until I see some."
Seconds after those words leave her mouth, Malfoy had pounced on top of her and pinned her to the bed. "Say it again you stupid bitch, I fucking dare you." He growls in her ear.
She looks him in the eyes, she can feel her legs going numb from the extra weight and paralyzing fear, but she looks him in the eyes and refuses to show her terror.
"You can beat me all you want Malfoy. You can punch me, kick me, curse me, but you will never break my spirit. I won't let you."
He looks at her in disbelief, and then he gets off the bed and heads for the door.
"Malfoy wait." Hermione calls.
He turns and faces her, the angry glare still lingering in his eyes.
"We can't live like this. If we have to get married, we can't spend our lives hating each other and making each other's lives miserable. Can we just agree to try and not hurt each other mentally or physically?"
He looks at her and a smirk spreads across his face.
"No." He answers and turns and leaves the room.
"Harry, Ron, Ginny, wait for me!" Hermione calls down the hall.
"Hey, how was your night with him." Ron asks.
"Worse than you could imagine." She replies.
They all go to the great hall for breakfast and she tells them the entire story, not leaving out a single detail.
"You have to marry, HIM?" Harry asked sounding so disappointed.
"Yes, It's not legally binding, but if I don't, God only knows what they'll do to me." She replies.
"Well, not to make your bad day worse, but you need to know something." Ginny tells her.
"What is it?" Hemione asks.
"We got a new defense against the dark arts teacher this year."
"Big surprise." They got a new one every year since they started at this school. Last year the poor woman had to quit because she became possessed by the wolsorp they were studying.
"Well, the bad news isn't that fact we got a new teacher, it's who the teacher is." Ginny told her.
"Who is it?" She asks, generally nervous now.
"Snape finally got the job."
"WHAT!!" Hermione screams jumping out of her seat. "But I have defense against the dark arts at one!"
"We know, we have it with you, remember?" Harry asks.
"Oh God. Well, who's the new potions teacher?" She asks.
"I don't remember his name, but he's the third to the left at the teacher's table." Ron told her.
Hermione looks over and sees an actually very handsome man. He had broad shoulders, very muscular body, a boyish face, and deep brown eyes.
"Well we have him first today, so we can really get to know him." Harry said.
"Good morning class. My name is Mr. Jackins. I'll be your potions teacher at least this year. Now everyone please get out your books, a quill, and some parchment. Turn to page 42 and I need someone to start reading on silicon-oxide. Yes I know it's very basic, but it's best not to start with something to hard. So who will volunteer to read?"
Of course Hemione's hand shot up in the air, surprisingly with several boys hands that don't volunteer for any other classes.
"Yes, Miss Granger."
"Before we go any further, ten points to Gryfindor for Miss Granger so graciously volunteering. Second of all, who can tell me about silicon-oxide?"
Hermione's hand was the only one who knew the answer. Mr. Jackins looked around.
"Yes, Miss Granger." He smiled, obviously impressed.
"Silicon-oxide is a muggle compound usually used in the muggle science chemistry for mixing their potions. But in magic, it can be a key ingredient for making almost any muggle object become magical. However, you need to be very careful with it for it is an unstable compound and an accident with it could be fatal.
"Very good, another 10 points to Gryfindor. Now will someone else volunteer to read further? Yes, Miss Padma, will you continue please."
"I really like him, he's so charismatic." Hermione told her friends.
"Yah, I'm sure you like him, Mrs. Malfoy." Harry reminds her.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Did you not see the way he was looking at you for most of the class?" Ron asks her in surprise.
"No, what are you talking about?" She asks, seriously clueless.
"He totally wants you Hermione." Harry tells her.
"But he's a teacher, not only a teacher, a Hogwarts teacher! He wouldn't go after a student."
Harry and Ron look at each other, than Harry looks at her and says, "I wouldn't be so sure Hermione, just watch your back."