Disclaimer: No, I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I would be rich and I would have more than 10 worth of savings. Nah, I'm just borrowing them for a while to entertain myself and hopefully others.

Title: At the Beat of a Hammer
Chapter Two

Leaning casually against the stands on the Quidditch Pitch at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy waited for his friend to come down and join him for practice. Blaise Zabini, a fellow Slytherin, was due to meet him here at this very spot fifteen minutes ago, but there was still no sign of the boy.

Draco tapped his foot impatiently and continued to stare off into the distance, his cold gray eyes slightly unfocused. Malfoy's platinum blonde hair was gelled back with an extreme amount of goop so that his hair would remain perfect and would not be disturbed by the strong wind. His skin was as pale as ever, a shade of alabaster that was almost translucent. He wore the black school robes that were adorned by the colors of the Slytherin house – green and silver. All in all, he looked like he did on any other day.

Just as he was about to give up and get onto his broom for solo practice, the sullen-looking boy emerged from the other side of the field. He was wearing the same clothes as Draco, but that's where the similarities ended. The newcomer had dark brown hair that was cut short so that nothing distracted the viewer from his eyes that looked like pools of molten chocolate. His complexion was rather tan, the darkest shade of a healthy tan one could have.

Even though Blaise was very much different from Draco in appearance, the two had very similar interests in life and got along very well from an early age. They grew up together, and now that they were at school their friendship didn't diminish.

Malfoy smirked. "What have you been up to Zabini? You were supposed to meet me here fifteen minutes ago." He threw the comment at his best friend while putting his left foot over his broom, getting ready to mount it. Draco didn't really mean it

"I umm got an owl from your mom…" Blaise looked down at the ground at the ground.

Both of them knew that something important had happened for Mrs. Malfoy to contact Blaise, she only did that in situations when there were urgent news for Draco and she had to get it to him by stealthy means.

"You read it, right? What's it about?" Draco asked, getting off of the broom. Whatever this was, it deserved his attention. "Wait… was Father sentenced yet?"

"Yes, that's what the letter is about."

"Alright, tell me." Draco took a deep breath and leaned more against the stands, he knew that whatever was to come next wouldn't be the best thing he would hear in his life, and boy was he right.

"Well, they decided to avoid the Kiss so they gave him life in Azkaban…" Blaise was interrupted by Draco.

"That isn't bad at all, I mean they didn't decide to give him the kiss. That really isn't…" Draco was rambling on and on, his father did get sentenced and he had perfect right to do it, but he had to stop short because Blaise held up his hand.

"That's not all."

"What else can they add when he's locked up for life?"

The brunette took a deep breath. "The other part sort of includes you. That's why your mom sent me the owl."

"What did Mother say then?" Malfoy was getting frustrated.

"Shut it. Stop interrupting me Malfoy and then I might get to the end of the story by tomorrow. So, they found out what your dad was most afraid of and that's where you come in. The jury decided that to hurt your father the most, was to destroy his pureblood legacy. Meaning you will have to marry a muggle-born witch. It's law. Breaking this law is punishable by the Kiss."

"Really?" Draco smirked, it seemed to him that Zabini was making this whole thing up so he expected his friend to confess at any minute.

"Want to read the letter yourself?" Blaise offered his friend the piece of parchment, wrinkled from the many times he folded it while fidgeting.

Draco snatched the paper and scanned it over quickly, then again and one more time to be sure. It confirmed everything that Blaise said. He fell back against the stand, he would have let himself collapse onto the ground but he couldn't appear weak. He was driven up the wall by emotion, mostly confusion at this time because the information hasn't fully sunken it yet. Of course, none of it showed on his face.

"Did they, umm, by any chance give a name?"

"Hermione Granger." Blaise answered plainly and took a step to the side, not wanting to stand in the way of Draco's rampage.

"WHAT! I'm going to marry Potty's little mudblood? A MUDBLOOD! Me?" He shook with anger. "They can't expect me to marry her. She's a flunkie of the Boy-Who-Just-Wouldn't-Die."

"Look, it's final. You should go speak with Dumbledore, maybe he can tell you more."

"Right, the old man would know the solution to this. I mean, A MUDBLOOD." Draco rushed off toward the Headmaster's office, shouting curses at the younger students as they wandered the hallways that morning.

AN: Yeah, this isn't the best chapter but meh. I hope it isn't too bad. What do you think? Thank you to Hdfan, the first reviewer.
-Brokken