I awoke early that morning that my life was about to be changed forever. I sat up in my bed and look groggily at my alarm clock. i Jeesh /i I thought. i It's only 7:30 am. /i I climbed out of bed and stripped myself of my moon and star pajama set. Looking in my wardrobe I picked out a pair of my perfect fitting jeans and a pretty pink top with straps. I walked over to my mirror and admired the new me. I had changed a lot since my 6th year at Hogwarts. I now had long legs, a curved figure and my hair was straight and sleek. I thought I looked rather good compared to what I had looked like not only a month ago. I decided to go downstairs and greet my mother and father. They were muggles of course and didn't need to know I had put a permanent straightening solution on my hair with magic. Of course they thought I had got it done at the muggle hair dresser. As if. Why pay when I could do it free myself. Walking down the stairs I saw my mother and father sitting together on the large leather settee. I could see they were in great discussion for they hadn't even noticed me as I entered the room. br /
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"Morning mother. Morning father." I said cheerfully as I passed them making my way towards the kitchen for some cereal. Deciding on cornflakes I picked up the packet and took a bowl out of the cupboard. It was then my father entered with worry plastered over every inch of his ageing face. br /
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"What's wrong father?" I asked full of concern. br /
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"Please come through to the living room. Your mother and I have to tell you something that may shock you." Father walked back through through to the living and I followed a little worried. br /
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"Sit Hermione dear, we have some bad news!" came the voice of my mother. I obeyed of course and prepared myself for the worst. br /
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"You are betrothed to a young man." the voice of my father seemed so distant, so weak as he said this. A thousand questions exploded into my head. br /
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"WHAT? Who is it? When did this happen? Why me?" My head was already pounding. I would not even get to chose the man of my dreams. I am dating Ron. How will he cope? Please let my future fiance at least be a wizard I thought. br /
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"You see before you were born your father and I were in a lot of trouble. You see we are actually squibs. Not magical but yes Hermione, you are a pure-blood witch. We were in trouble with Voldemort. Yes Hermione we know who he is and we know of Harry Potter the boy who lived and how you have been a target of him!" br /
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"WHAT. YOU'RE KIDDING RIGHT. I'M A MUDBLOOD. YOU ARE MUGGLES. THIS IS A REALLY SICK JOKE!" I felt really sick at this point. I was expecting them to say i Only Joking /i any minute now. Of course that didn't happen. br /
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"Please calm down Hermione. You have every right to be angry with us but please hear us out." A tear rolled down my mother's cheek. br /
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"Ok but be quick. Don't drag it out!" I was really beginning to feel sick now. br /
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"Ok then. So Voldemort was after us I was heavily pregnant with you. He was going to kill us which of course would have resulted in your death also.That was until a death eater called Lucius Malfoy stepped into the picture. He offered to help us get out of the situation on one condition which was of course to have you betrothed to his baby boy. Now that you are both over 17 both of you have found out today. We will go to meet your new fiance at 3pm. You may phone your friends and let them know until then. You may ask why we lived as muggles - we thought it would be better to let you grow up away from the magical world and hoped you might not possess the magical powers like your father and I. Unfortunately that didn't happen and now you are to marry some time soon. I believe the boy also attends Hogwarts." br /
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I felt like I had been slapped extremely hard across my face. Did this mean I, Hermione Granger was engaged to the one and only Draco Malfoy. I couldn't keep my anger in. br /
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"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME I AM ENGAGED TO DRACO MALFOY?" br /
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"Ah so you know him?" my father asked pleased that at least it wasn't a stranger. br /
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"TO RIGHT I KNOW HIM. HE HAPPENED TO TORMENT ME FOR THE PAST 6 YEARS. CALLED ME A LOW-DOWN MUDBLOOD. WE HATE EACH OTHERS GUTS! I CAN'T MARRY THAT STUPID GIT!" br /
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"Oh this is bad!" my mother exclaimed tearfully. "You can't escape this I'm afraid. You have to marry him and it is illegal for pure blood wizards to divorce. I am so sorry dear!" br /
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I couldn't take it anymore. I stormed up to my room screaming totally neglecting my hunger pains. I picked up my muggle mobile phone and punched in the Burrow's house number. Best tell Ron first I thought. This is going to be a difficult life I thought. br /
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I looked at my watch. It was 2:45. We were about to leave to visit the Malfoys. We were travelling by Floo Powder. At first I was shocked my parents knew about it but then I remembered that they were squibs. I still couldn't grasp the information that I was actually a pure-blood. I suddenly remembered my friends. How they had all reacted over the phone. Ron understood but seemed very upset whereas Harry was going beserk. They had both agreed to keep it quiet for the moment, Ron saying he would only tell his family. br /
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My father stood in the fire place first clutching his powder. "Malfoy Manor" he said loud and clear. The flames turned green and he vanished in a flash. It was my turn. My mum handed me a small bag which contained an awful lot of Floo Powder for it's size. My hand reached in and took a small amount. I stepped in the fire place and like my dad I said "Malfy Manor!".I started spinning around. I managed to open my eyes and I could see lots of fireplaces swirling around me. Eventually I stopped with a great thud and groggily looked around. i Certainly not a very welcoming place /i I thought looking at the room around me. The walls were of stone as was the floor. The furniture was black and the table was brown. Looking at it all made me shiver. It was then I realized I was not alone. Lucius was sitting on the couch next to my father talking to him about the wedding. Narcissa had been sitting on the other couch but was now rushing over to see me. She gave me a small hug and smiled. br /
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"You're here at last. Draco's been looking forward to this haven't you son!" she turned her head to look at her son who was sitting on the armchair and gave him a meaningful stare. br /
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"Mmmm yes whatever!" he said. He certainly looked as displeased as I was. At that moment my mother was walking out of the fire place. Everyone, bar Draco and myself, greeted each other like old friends. When they had all finished their cosy chat Narcissa turned to Draco and I. br /
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"So Hermione, when do you want to go shopping for your wedding dress?" she asked politely. It was that question which made me actually realize what was happening. It all seemed so more real now. It seemed that Draco got the same affect as me from this simple question for he looked horrified. br /
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"I...uh...um...anytime!" I struggled to speak because I now had a very dry throat. br /
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"Tomorrow it will be then!" Lucius said. I felt extremely dizzy now. I'm actually getting married. Oh my god I'm going to be sick I thought. br /
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"Before we go on planning this wedding," Narcissa cut in, "There are a few Malfoy rules you must follow Hermione. There are 8 in total. The first one is you will of course live in the Malfoy Manor from now on and yes that means starting from tonight. We will of course magic your things here. The second is that you and Draco will share a room and bed." My jaw dropped. Bloody hell living with Malfoy would be bad enough but SHARING A BED. It seemed that Draco already knew these rules for his face was expressionless. br /
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"The third rule is that you must always act in love even if you actually are not. The fourth is that you will attend all public events with Draco in and out of school including Yule Balls etc. The fifth is that you may NEVER and i repeat NEVER cheat on each other wether you want to or not. The sixth is of course you cannot be divorced. The seventh is you must have a child by the age of 20 and finally the eighth is whilst you are in the Malfoy Manor you are entitled to help yourself and go anywhere except the top left room in the North Tower which is of course Lucius' study room. That is all. You may go upstairs to your room with Draco and write out all the guests you wish to be at your wedding." br /
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Draco and I stood up and I followed him out of the room and up 2 floors along a longish corridor and went into the second room on the left. My Hogwarts trunk and my suitcase was at the bottom of my bed. Wait no...our bed. It was so damn weird to share with Malfoy. Thank god the bed was king size. br /
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"I knew as much about this as you did before today before you ask!" Malfoy spat. br /
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"I wasn't going to ask you that. I was going to ask if you ever knew I was a pure-blood." I said. br /
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"No I didn't." br /
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"Oh ok." br /
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I sat on the edge of the bed and took a piece of paper off of the desk next to the bed and began to write a list of guests. I stopped half way through. I hadn't asked him the question that had been bugging me most. br /
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"Is there any way around the Malfoy rules?" I asked uncomfortably. br /
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"No. You get 3 previous chances to break them but if you break them a fourth time then you get killed. Except for the fifth rule. If you break that rule ever you get killed!" he said carelessly. I gasped. I mean I didn't think it would ever reach killing. br /
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"What even you would get killed?" I asked. br /
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"Yes." br /
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"And will everyone at Hogwarts find out?" br /
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"Yes." br /
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"WHAT?" I screamed. br /
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"You heard me perfectly. It will be a bit obvious considering you will have an engagement ring, your name will soon be Hermione Malfoy and my father is having words with Dumbledore to transfer you into the Slytherin house!" This seemed to give him satisfaction that I would no longer be Gryffindor. I however lost it. br /
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"YOU MEAN I'M GONNA BE A BLOODY SLYTHERIN. NO WAY!" br /
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"You have no choice. My mother forget to tell you never to disobey my father as it might be the last thing you do." br /
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I sat on the bed forgetting about the guest list. What would Ron and Harry say if they knew I was to become a Slytherin? With those irritating thoughts on my mind I fell into a deep sleep.