"Learning, doubting, and hoping, could really kill a person all at once." Hermione Granger now must move in with the Malfoy's, after Lucius came to her with a bargain, one of which was not in her favor in either choice she made. Why Hermione in particular has to marry Draco Malfoy, will be explained in this chapter. "Why would the girl, whom he had seemed to hate more then anyone else over the years, be the one that he was going to have to marry?"

Chapter 1: Learning, Doubting, Hoping

"Hermione, I have no choice. I have to leave, and you know it's only for the best." Ron had explained, while we were in the middle of an argument- or, how I would like to put it to make it sound nicer, a simple disagreement.

I watched as he began to shove clothes into a simple backpack, moving rather quickly, as though he was in such a rush to get away from me, which I knew wasn't the case, but when the man you love is about to leave you for one of the most heroic reasons you can think of, all you can really be is over-dramatic and over emotional. Running a hand through my hair, I walked back and forth, on the opposite side of the bed, while he looked through his dresser on the opposite side of the bed, from where I was.

"So you're just going to leave, then? Throw yourself into a war that seems as though will never end." I spat, grabbing his back pack and taking all the clothes out, only to begin to fold them neatly and place them back into the bag, looking up every once and a while to see what he was doing.

I needed to keep my hands busy, so then I didn't end up slapping him or grabbing for my wand so then I could hex him into oblivion and make him unable to remember that he was just about to leave me and his family. "The more help the Order and the Ministry gets, the sooner it will all come to an end... you know that, Mione." He said, grabbing his wallet, and watching as I re-packed his bag for him, smiling a bit.

My eyes met his, and my heart sunk.He moved from where he was, and walked over to me, placing his hands on my waist and forcing me to look into those big blue eyes of his head, those eyes that I couldn't say no to any longer, those eyes that gave me butterflies at just the first sight of them. Now I know plenty of people who have blue eyes, but those eyes never looked back at me like these did. No matter what, even when we would argue, I knew when he looked at me there was care in his eyes, and that care never caused me to doubt how much he loved me.

"I love you, Hermione." He told me, and placed his hand under my chin to make me look at him when I had turned my head away, "I love you more then life itself..."

"Then why are you doing this?" I exclaimed, my voice letting out a bit of a yelp as I fought to stop myself from crying and hid my emotions, "Why are you leaving me? Why won't you let me come with you?"

I never really realized when Ron had become such a bold romantic. Half the time he just had that goofy grin on his face, and barely was ever half as smooth as some of the other men I had met over the years, and barely had any sweet talking abilities left in his tall, lanky body, but there were times when suddenly I would melt not only under his eyes, but under the sound of his soothing voice. When did his voice become soothing? I'm not exactly sure... maybe it's an ability gained after sex and marriage.

"Hermione..." Ron said, with a sigh, now looking away from me, his hands still place gently on my waist, where I would have preferred him to keep them for the rest of our years together, rather then separate from me, "You know how bad things are now. Shops in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade are shutting down because there's students dying in front of their doorsteps. Hogwart's is falling apart... you know they haven't been able to find a headmaster that could have kept it together as well as Dumbledore did. The war is spreading, and it'll only be too soon until it gets as close as here. Now, if anything, I would prefer to have the brightest witch of my age to be with my family, rather then with me. Most importantly though, I would prefer to have the woman I love more then anything else in the world, here and safe, then in danger with me."

I bit my lip. His words weren't making this any easier, and nether was that cute smile he gave me after saying all of that. "I won't feel safe without you with me." I told him, my voice beginning to crack slightly.

This constant determination of mine to get him to stay was beginning to annoy him a bit, and I could tell by the slight twitch of his eyebrow as he let out a breath while he looked at me again. Ronald Weasley had, for the first time, bit his tongue, and decided not to argue back with me, pulling me close and leaning in to give me one of those kisses that left me begging for more, only to pull away after a moment, and lean his head up against my own. "I'll come back to you... I promise." He had said, and with that, he grabbed his bag, and walked out of our bedroom, unable to look at me again, probably because he was afraid that if he did, he would've stayed.

I should've made him look at me again.

"Hermione, get up!" Ginny had said that morning, shaking me hard to get me up, "The Malfoy's driver is here to... to take you..."

Yes, I had told her everything that Lucius had told me, and even though she had felt some relax that her brother was still alive, or so it seemed, she at least acted as though she felt bad for me, and showed the greatest appreciation that I was doing this for her brother.

Ever since Harry had... passed away, I had turned to Ginny to talk to. Harry had been my best friend after all, and I could've told him anything, and whether he understood it or not, the fact that I could just tell him made me feel so much better. I suppose the fact that Harry had dated Ginny, and had confided in her before he... passed away, had made me talk to her like I had to him.

Turning over I got up, my hair a complete mess, and rubbed my eyes a bit, as I nodded and waved her off, only to sit in my room in complete silence, as though I could sit and let time wash my problem away.

My bags weren't packed that morning. To be perfectly honest, I had figured that if I took a lot of time to get ready that the driver would have just driven off, but once again, this optimistic way of thinking for me all came crashing down when I saw a man standing at the doorway, twirling a pair of car keys around his fingers. "This isn't right!" Mrs. Weasley tried to say in my defense, as if the driver could do something about it, "No girl should have to do this."

The man frowned, looking down at Mrs. Weasley, since he had been rather tall. "Cry me a river and build me a bridge, Mrs." He said, dully, looking around, and his eyes had stopped with sudden interest when they landed on me.

I had never found myself attractive. It still makes me laugh today, remembering the look on that mans face, like I was his lunch, and he was very hungry for it. In school I had been more concentrated on my school work or the S.P.E.W rather then the way I looked, although, there was that every once and a while, in particular in my seventh year, where I had to look just right... for Ron.

Thinking about him made me wonder more and more where he was, and if he had just given up on trying to escape from where he was, or if this whole thing was just a bluff. If Ron was actually dead, and I was really falling into Lucius' trap, or if Ron was actually free, fighting in the war, and completely healthy, and I was just making one of the worst mistakes in my life. It would all come out when the divorce papers came to me, that is, if Lucius took the papers for Ron to sign first.

The image of him seeing the papers after I signed them first was like shoving a knife into my heart. What if he just gave up trying to get out if he saw that... that is, if he was even alive, or if he was even in the prison. Oh, everything was so confusing then, and I had so many questions, but one that came around often, consisted of just two words. Why me?

There were so many others who were purebloods and probably willing to marry Draco Malfoy, so why me? Why would the girl, whom he had seemed to hate more then anyone else over the years, be the one that he was going to have to marry?

The man took off his hat suddenly, and fixed his dark brown hair, and his light hazel eyes met mine. "Are you Hermione Granger?" He asked, his voice much more... maybe a better way to describe it would be, firmer, then it had been when he was speaking with Mrs. Weasley, as if he was trying to speak more manly.

"Yes." I said, rather coldly, because I knew exactly what he was there for.

To take me away from the place that I was actually happy in, even though the man I loved more then anything else in the world wasn't there with me. "Well then, it's surly a pleasure to be driving you. I'm Jonathan Mikhail." He said, sticking out his hand, politely.

As far as I was concerned, any man associated with Lucius Malfoy was no one that I would like to have been friendly towards, so I simply stared at the hand, not shaking it, and said, my voice as icy as I could possibly make it, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Jonathan took back his hand, obviously resisting to frown a bit as he placed his hat back on the top of his head and then looked back at me, the hunger in his eyes fading slightly, most likely because of my un-welcoming attitude with him. "Well, we should be off then. No need to keep Mr. Malfoy waiting." He said, walking towards the front door of the burrow and opening it, rolling his eyes as the bolts of the door squeaked as the door opened.

I sighed, and looked over at Mrs. Weasley. As far as I was concerned, there would be no more crying. I just would not allow it, after all, I had been crying ever since Ron had left and that was a while ago, and it seemed as though crying had just brought me more bad luck. More importantly though, I would not let Draco Malfoy have the simple pleasure of seeing me cry. Oh no, he could just forget about that, because it just would not happen, ever... or at least, as long as I could hold it off.

Mrs. Weasley looked over at me, and a sudden warm smile ran over her face. The smile that obviously proved that she felt that not even she could make things better for me now. There was no hope left for me... or at least that's what everyone else thought. I, on the other hand, still believed that Ron would save me, and to believe something like that took every last bit of hope out of me, which basically meant that I was praying to merlin that nothing else this bad could possibly happen to me, but when I think on it now, I was obviously forgetting then, that I didn't have very good luck.

"Good luck, dear." Mrs. Weasley said, giving me a big hug that made me never want to let go, as I took in the scent of her perfume, and as I began to shut my eyes as I was embraced in the hug, I heard her mutter, "Merlin knows you're going to need it."

I acted as though I hadn't heard it when she released me from the hug, and turned to face Jonathan. When he felt my gaze on him, he bent down slowly, pointing outwards, as though he was showing a Queen the path to her room or something. I, however, surly did not feel like a Queen, and if I had, I probably would have been one that resembled the Queen in Alice Wonderland, because, at that moment, I wanted to cut off the head of anyone who assisted Lucius Malfoy in this dreadful task.

"Ladies first, of course." Jonathan said, looking up from bowing his head and pointing to glance over at me, with a big white smile plastered over his tan colored face.

"If you were a real gentleman, you wouldn't be apart of any of this." I said, in a matter-of-fact tone, as I walked passed him, through the opened door, my hands clenching on tightly to the holders of my bags.

Now he couldn't help, but frown as he said his Goodbye's to Mrs. Weasley, who I could have sworn I heard her curse him, as she shut the door to the Burrow. I sat in the back seat, preferring to sit back there rather then sit next to him. If anything, I was planning to be as stiff as I possibly could be since Mrs. Weasley was no longer around.

I watched as Jonathan got into the car, taking a seat, and turning on the car. The first few minutes of the ride to the Malfoy Mansion had been a rather quiet one. I noticed the glances Jonathan had taken in my direction every so often out of the rear view mirror. "You really should try smiling," Jonathan said, when he finally decided to speak, "Every man loves a happy woman."

This brought a chuckle to escape from my lips. He obviously did not know anything about what he was getting himself into when he decided to speak to me at the certain time. What was it with people and their really bad timing around me? "I already have a man who loves me," I said, stiffly, looking out the window, "And I don't need to smile for him to know it."

Jonathan let out another sigh, looking forward, but didn't stop talking just yet. "Well, you mine as well get over him. Chances are he won't survive a week once the divorce papers are signed." He said, as if he was a know it all.

This angered me... a bit. "You have no idea what you're talking about! You don't even know him, so you shouldn't just assume that he won't last..." I refrained from telling him of my hopes that Ron would save me, like he was Prince Charming or something, for the fear of just getting laughed at.

Maybe there was no point in having hope... I still can't believe that I hadn't given up on Ron at that point in time...

Jonathan, however, found this all funny anyway, without me mentioning the Prince Charming part, as he let out a light laugh. "I know I don't know him, Miss, but I do happen to know Lucius Malfoy. Now do you really think he'll let your dear, sweet, husband survive after the divorce papers are signed?"

I didn't respond to that, obviously beginning to think on that fact as well, and ignored Jonathan when he added, "That's exactly what I thought."

The rest of the car ride was quiet. I had far too much on my mind to talk; that, and I figured the more I talked to this man, the more I would learn... the more I would doubt... the more I would hope, and a girl can only with stand so much of all three. Learning, doubting, and hoping, could really kill a person all at once.

I knew we were getting close when I began to feel that the car wasn't shaking as much. The road we had taken was filled with gravel, it was as if we were just driving through a random field, as though we were taking a short cut, but soon I learned that we were going up on a dirt path. It came to my attention that the Malfoy Manor was surly not where it used to be, and I wondered why. Moving on, though, the car drove more smoothly at a certain point, and that's when I noticed the nice pavement, and knew that only the Malfoy's would spend this much time on their drive way, for within the pavement were glints of gold and silver, and every once and a while, we would see the signature of Slytherin drawn into it, which was normally a snake, or just the letter "S".

Even the driveway was leading us further upward. Why were they living so far away from everyone else? "This is so strange... I never expected the Malfoy's to be so..."

"Distant?"

Looking up suddenly, and over at Jonathan I bit my lip. Were the Malfoy's... no, they couldn't really be, hiding... could they? I didn't bother asking about that though, because by the time I could come up with just the right question to ask, the car had come to a gentle halt, in front of two gigantic silver doors. The door of the car was opened, and Jonathan muttered, "Come now, dear. Time is of the essence."

I stepped out of the car and realized that I was not only being thrown into a marriage, but thrown into a life style that was the complete opposite of what I was use to. These people had no real value's, because they got everything. How can you value something that you can get with the simple snap of your fingers?

There was a bit of a silence as I heard the back trunk of the car shut, as I stood in front of the car, looking up at the unbelievably large mansion, the car door still hung open, and my eyes squinting at the sunlight that reflected off the silver doors.

The front of the house consisted of a white exterior texture, with two large windows that reached from the top and to the bottom of the whole first floor on opposite sides of the large door, both windows covered with black colored silk curtains, and with bushes all along the wall, parting from the point the windows met the door, and then starting over again once it met the second window on the opposite side.

With a gulp, I watched as Jonathan moved forward, my bags in his hands, and walked up the porch steps towards the doors. Moving suddenly, I grabbed both of my bags out of his hands, stopping him. Once I grabbed them, I looked up at him, and found that our eyes had met.

He had that looked back in his eyes again. That look like he wanted me so bad. Oh merlin... I thought to myself, but found myself not looking away from his gaze. I was having another one of my mischievous moments. Maybe I was doing it just to taunt the man, because I knew he would never get me, or maybe I was just doing it to plead with him, as though there was still a chance that he could help me. Either way, the gaze was soon broken, with another mans voice.

"Mr. Mikhail, I'm assuming that this is the girl that you've been assigned in bringing here, for young Mr. Malfoy." A man said, his voice at medium level, and he stood very tall, a bit more then about 6''2 if anything.

"Ah... yes, yes sir. Here she is..." Jonathan said, looking at the man and giving him a small, quick smile, and then murmured quietly, "In the flesh..."

"Locomotor Mortis!" Malfoy exclaimed, his patience with me obviously dispersing after a few moments of just being within the same room as me.

There was one thing that was for sure though. Nether of us wanted to get married to the other. It was something that we didn't need to verbally agree on, it was just sort of... there. Why it was though, I had yet to find out, because from the moment that I had stepped into the gigantic study, that I had figured I was probably going to spend most of my time in because of all the books, Malfoy had yet to speak a word... until he casted the spell of course.

My breaths came out slowly after a moment, my legs unable to move even the slightest bit. It had certainly shut me up, which was probably his main reason of casting the spell on me in the first... either that, or he just felt like being cruel... nether of the two choices seemed as unlikeable at the other.

"Are you going to keep quiet now?" He asked, walking back over to the long table that stretched vertically along the large room, and sitting on it, his white-blond hair covering his ice-cold blue eyes.

When I first took sight of those eyes I jumped, and even after that I found myself still doing it, even if you couldn't exactly see me do it. They were so cold... and over the years the anger hadn't lessened within them. It gave you a feeling as though you didn't know what he was capable of, and it was scary, and at the moment the fear was at it's worse.

I was going to have to marry this man? This man whose hated me, and probably still does... this man with the eyes of ice, who could simply kill me once he found something better. I guess this is the part of the story where I tell all of you that I just gave up on Ron, and figured that I would never get out of this hell hole that I was placed in, and bowed down to Malfoy as though he was my King? Well, let me be the first to tell you, that if your looking for something like that, some story about a girl acting as though she's Malfoy's slave, then you better go up to the type right corner of the computer and click the button that has a small X on it, because it simply isn't happening.

Frankly, as I sat there, with my legs frozen and pathetic, and his eyes obviously glaring down at me past the few strands of his hair that were covering them, my hope had never been stronger. I knew Ron would save me from this one day, maybe not at the moment, but I would find him, and that was just that. I knew it by the look in Malfoy's eyes. The doubt. He was doubting something, I could tell, but it wasn't the marriage.

It seemed that the two of us, as we sat there in silence, had come to another final decision, it was going to happen. This marriage was going to take place.

Finally I nodded, unable to stand waiting any longer for the unbelievably long and eccentric explanation on why I would have to marry him; Draco Malfoy. The thing was, it wasn't as long as I thought it would be, actually, when I asked him why I had to marry him, he explained it all in six words and about eight syllables to be exact;

"Because you're the only one left."

Authors Note: I know, it took forever, I know, I know, I know, but with my vacation, another vacation, and school starting up again (im a freshman) it was just really hard, especially when I wanted to get another story out and published. Anywhoo, here it is, I hope it was interesting enough for you. Did you expect his explanation to be how it was? Well, I told you that you would learn why Hermione had to marry Malfoy... I never told you that you would learn every single reason whys she would have to marry him. Hehe, that's next chapter, but, moving back to this chapter, what did you think of it? What are your (nice and kind) thoughts and word of wisdom that are polite and helpful? Sorry if I messed up on grammar and spelling, thank you so much for all who reviewed!