Orb of Pertraho
A FanFic by Elabeth Nightsong
Hello everyone! Just a little author's note to start things off. This is my second story, which I have posted, and like my first it is currently finished; so have no fear this story is complete and will all be posted fairly quickly! The last time I posted everything at once it took a few days for the whole fic to show up online, so please be patient, it is all going to get there.
I should also point out that I don't own Harry Potter or any of his friends. I invented a couple of characters for this story but most are the work of J.K. Rowling. Just in case you didn't already know.
That's about all. The disclaimer is for all the following chapters and this will be the last author's note I do, except for a few scatted about the fic explaining various things.
I hope you enjoy my fic.
Elabeth N.
Chapter One
The sun streamed into Hermione's room, falling across her face as she slept. She was at home for the holiday's and found she had been studying late every night. It was now about ten in the morning and she was still in bed, but that had become the norm for the bookworm.
Her mother was outside making the most of the beautiful summer sunshine by tending to the garden. Her father was sitting at the table in the kitchen reading the paper and having a cup of tea.
Yes, everything was peaceful for the Granger family on this particular Sunday morning late in August. If this story was going to be any more cliché, I'd have birds singing in the trees and little squirrels and bunnies running about the garden. But I don't want to, mainly because the person who stepped out of the expensive-looking car that pulled up at ten-fifteen would probably have kicked those poor creatures; and I don't want to promote violence to animals.
Anyway, yes, at ten-fifteen an expensive-looking car pulled up outside the Granger's residence. Six people walked up the path to the door. Only one of them would have kicked the animals and that someone was Draco Malfoy. Malfoy along with Malfoy and Malfoy… err, perhaps I should clarify that. Draco, along with his parents, Lucius and Narcissa, walked up the path to the Granger home with looks of disdain on each of their faces. The other people who walked up the path with them were Mr. and Mrs. Roget and a rather stern-faced man who appeared to be from the Ministry of Magic.
When they reached the door, Mr. Applegate, the chap from the ministry, had to knock; no one else seemed willing to do so. It was Mr. Granger who opened the door and looked out at the collection of people so clearly of wizard-kind. (AN: I doubt the Malfoys would be caught dead in muggle clothes; Draco maybe, but not Lucius or Narcissa.)
It was rather fortunate that there were no muggles about the street, it was noon and they were all working, otherwise the ministry might have kicked up a stick over two people very obviously dressed in wizard's robes; although that was an easy problem to deal with… fancy dress party.
"Can I help you?" Mr. Granger asked politely, a quiver of fear resonating through his voice; he recognized Lucius from in Flourish and Blotts, where they had previously met.
"Are you Mr. Carl Granger? Surrogate-father to a Ms. Hermione Granger of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" Applegate asked very formally.
"Yes." Hermione's father replied.
"Good." Applegate replied and pushed past Carl with the five purebloods following closely. They made their way into the living room and, without any invitation, sat down
"Look," Carl crossed his arms. "what is this all about?"
"This is Mr. and Mrs. Roget," Mr. Applegate motioned to the people in question, "they are Hermione's biological parents."
There was a pause where everyone just looked at each other; well, everyone but Draco, who had stood up and was fiddling with things on the mantelpiece.
"And…?" Mr. Granger prompted.
"We want her back." Mr. Roget's voice oozed with conviction; he didn't seem to be prepared to negotiate on the matter.
"Well you can't have her."
"I'm sorry Mr. Granger, but they can." Applegate pulled a piece of parchment from his folder and handed it to Carl, not sounding sorry at all.
"Carl, honey, what's going on?" Mrs. Granger entered the room, pulling off her gardening gloves.
"This is Mr. and Mrs. Roget; they are Hermione's biological parents." Carl looked down at the scroll in his hands, "They want her back."
"What?" Mrs. Granger dropped the gloves onto the floor, "No, you can't have my baby."
Lucius smirked at the distraught surrogate-mother: he loved seeing muggles in pain and emotional pain was always so much more satisfying. He had discovered this several years ago and was delighted to find that, for reasons he didn't understand, emotional pain seemed to cause a person more distress.
"They can," Mr. Applegate droned, his voice monotone and factual, "Wizard law states that a child given up for adoption may be reclaimed by the blood parents without hesitation, provided the blood parents have a valid reason that has been cleared by the department of deaths, births and marriages."
At these words Mr. Applegate drew from his folder another scroll and handed it to Mr. Granger. Carl read down the scroll: it was a form requesting the return of Hermione Roget/Granger to her original parents because…
"To pay off a debt?" Mr. Granger yelled dumbfounded, "How can that possibly be a valid reason?"
Mr. Applegate smiled unpleasantly, "In wizarding society that is a perfectly plausible reason."
"You know we are going to dispute this," Mrs. Granger glared at the Roget's, "You can't take Hermione away from us."
"We can and we will." Mrs. Roget stood up, "We have every right to take her today and we intend to. You may dispute this, but even if you win she will already be wed and a wizarding marriage is binding for life."
"No," Mrs. Granger sobbed weakly, "You can't do this."
Draco turned around, "Father?"
"What?" Lucius asked harshly.
"You're not going to make me marry the mudblood as payment for some stupid debt, are you?"
"Oh, how very observant of you Draco." Lucius's voice dripped with malice. He then turned his attention to the Grangers, "Now produce this girl so we can leave this…" he paused, looking about the room in disgust, "…place."
"Hermione's still in her room," Mr. Granger mumbled loud enough to be heard, "She's sleeping."
"At this time of day!" Narcissa spoke, "Well, we'll have to break that habit. Draco, fetch her so we can be gone from this place."
Draco put down the figurine of an owl he'd been looking at and shuffled off in search of Hermione's room. At the top of a flight of stairs, mentally laughing that the house was only big enough to have one flight, he came across a room with a plaque upon the door. "Hermione's Room: Knock before you enter," he read.
Ignoring the sign, he opened the door and entered the bedroom of the sleeping witch. Hermione was still in bed, her eye's shut and a soft smile playing across her lips. Draco smirked. 'Look at the Mudblood sleeping there; she looks so cute. Shame I have to wake her. Maybe I can have some fun with this. Wait; cute? Where did that come from? Oh, who cares? What I really need is the best way of waking her up.'
Draco's mind mapped his movements quickly and he walked over. Leaning on the bed, he gently shook her awake. Hermione opened her eyes and looked up at him with her toffee-coloured eyes. They stayed there for a minute, brown eyes locked on grey. Then Hermione decided to break the tension by screaming.
Draco squeezed his eyes shut and blocked his ears as the force of the horrible shriek hit him.
"Bloody hell, Granger! What was that for?" He took his hands off of his ears; it wouldn't be surprising if they were bleeding, he thought.
"What the…" Hermione started, then to avoid swearing she started again, "What are you doing in my room!"
"I was sent to fetch you." Draco returned his hands to his ears, "Did you have to scream so loudly?"
Hermione ignored him, "Fetch me? Why?"
"Something about you being pureblood and having to marry me. God! You scream like a banshee..."
"Pureblood?" Hermione's eyes were wide in shock, "Marry you? This is a bad dream… a really bad dream!"
"Yes, yes, no, now come on, I haven't got all day and I don't want to spend anymore time here." Draco grabbed Hermione's wrist and pulled her out of bed. He intended to pull her out the door and downstairs to his family but instead found himself looking at her. She was wearing a large t-shirt that just came to the top of her legs. His eyes travelled down her legs which were shapely and smooth.
"Wow." Draco muttered, "Damn, Granger!" He grinned arrogantly at the girl and winked suggestively, making a vivid red colour come to her face…
Smack! Hermione slapped Draco, and in his stunned silence pushed him out the door, shutting and locking it behind him. She quickly dressed, ignoring the banging and yelling coming from Draco as he demanded entry. When she was finished she opened the door; it had been silent for a minute and she quickly discovered why. Lucius had joined Draco on the landing outside her room.
Hermione squeaked and tried to shut the door but Lucius was too quick. He stormed into her room and glared at her. Draco seemed to be irritated that his father was fighting his battles for him.
"Look, you little witch, you will behave and you will be coming with us now!" Lucius raised his hand to strike Hermione. Hermione flinched back, readying herself for the ringed hand to collide with her face...
Draco stepped forward. "I think I can handle this now, father."
Lucius cast a doubtful look in his son's direction. "I sincerely doubt that."
"I have to learn sometime how to deal with her myself; I may as well start now."
Hermione unclenched her eyes. Draco had just stopped his father from hitting her. 'So he can do it himself…He can hit me himself….' Her mind reasoned.
Draco shooed his father from the room and turned back to face Hermione. "You shouldn't make him angry. That's the first thing you will have to learn while living with us."
"I'm not going to live with you." Hermione's face looked determined now that Lucius was no longer present. "My parents won't let you take me away."
Draco smirked, "Don't you know? The Grangers are not your parents."
"I know they are not my blood parents, but they are the people who raised me; they love me like parents should and they won't let you take me away."
"They have no say in the matter. Now pack your things; we leave in five minutes." With that Draco left the room to wait in the lounge with the adults.
Ten minutes later Hermione descended the stairs, her case, magically lightened and enlarged on the inside, grasped firmly in her hands. The scene she walked into was tense and she was sure that if she dropped a pin she would have heard it hit the carpet.
"Thank god." Lucius stood up and made for the exit.
"Not so fast, Mr. Malfoy: I want to check the paperwork before I go anywhere with anyone." Hermione put her case down and sat defiantly on the arm of the chair her father, Mr. Granger, was in.
"Hermione dear, your mother and I-" At this the Roget's rolled their eyes, "-have already been over the papers; there is nothing we can do."
"But we can fight it, can't we?" Hermione's eyes pleaded to her parents.
"I'm so sorry, Hermione dear." Mrs. Granger stood up and hugged her daughter, tears in her eyes, "There's nothing we can do."
"We'll write to you often, darling." Carl pulled the girl he'd raised into a hug.
"Don't see how you'll manage that." Narcissa drawled, "You don't have an owl and we don't receive muggle post; the thought of such a thing taking place!" Narcissa shuddered melodramatically.
Hermione was sobbing, clinging to the people who had always been there for her. "No." she sobbed, "I'm not leaving you."
"Yes you are, now come on." Lucius wrapped his hand around Hermione's wrist and, with more force than was necessary, dragged her out of the house.
The Rogets followed, looking pleased that they had paid off their debts. Narcissa cast one final glance around the muggle abode with disgust and left. Mr. Applegate apparated away, probably back to the ministry to destroy someone else's life.
The last to leave was Draco; he looked apologetically at the Granger's. "I am so sorry about this. I am as much of a victim as you in this matter. I know you probably won't believe me; but I will take good care of your daughter and when it is possible I'll try and bring her back to visit, although I don't know when that can be. You should be able to see why; you have met my parents, after all." Draco picked up Hermione's trunk, "I am so sorry." The door shut magically behind him as he returned his face back to its usual smirk.
Mrs. Granger fell to the floor, her husband standing over her looking defeated.
The ride to the Malfoy Manor was horrible for Hermione. She was forced to sit between Lucius and Draco, two of her least favourite people.
Hermione looked across at the people who had abandoned her at birth. She had never known why she had been left at birth; she had always imagined something romantic like they had to let her go to save her. When she had learned she was a witch she had thought that maybe they asked muggles to raise her so that she could be safe from Voldemort.
Occasionally she would consider looking up in books and records to find out who her real parents were. But she had always decided not to; she had thought that there was a good reason why she had been put up for adoption. She also felt that this was, in a way, betraying her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. They were as good a pair of parents as anyone could ever hope for; she had somehow felt that looking for her birth parents might be, in some small way, letting them down.
Now she believed differently. No longer did she think anything romantic and heroic about her birth parents. These people didn't care about her; they didn't want her, that's why they had thrown her away. Because they didn't want a daughter, probably didn't even want a child. Hermione no longer wanted anything to do with these people who used her, marrying her off to pay of their debts. Who did they think they were?
After driving for an hour the car stopped and the Roget's stepped out.
"I take it the debt is repaid Mr. Malfoy?" Mr. Roget questioned.
"Yes it is, now be gone from my sight and may I never lay eyes on you again." Lucius spat.
Hermione still had tears in her eyes when the car stopped for a second time. Lucius helped his wife from the car in a rare show of consideration and love, or possibly just courtesy, and led her up the steps, leaving Hermione and Draco sitting in the car. Draco made to leave but stopped, seeing that Hermione was not going to move on her own.
"Come on, Mudblood." Draco prompted, hoping to make Hermione move, or at least have her react in some way.
Hermione continued to cry, making no effort to conceal the tears rolling down her cheeks. Draco reached out to wipe away a tear but Hermione flinched back.
"Why are you doing this to me?" she asked.
"I'm not." Draco sounded angry, "I can assure you that this is the last thing that I want. Do you think that I would really want to marry one of my worst enemy's best friends? If you do, then you aren't anywhere near as smart as you claim to be."
Hermione turned her head away from Draco and continued to cry. After about fifteen minutes of just sitting there Draco had had enough. "Out." he demanded.
Hermione didn't move. Sighing, Draco pulled out his wand, "Granger, don't make me do this to you." Hermione surprised Draco by laughing at the treat.
"Do you really think that you can hurt me any more?"
Draco smirked, "I do believe I could; because, believe it or not, your life is not over."
"Well do your worst; I'm not moving." Hermione folded her arms; she was most definitely not going to make things easy for Draco Malfoy. Worst indeed- how could things be worse than kidnapping her from her family and forbidding her from ever seeing them again?
Draco's smirk became more evil, if that is at all possible. He lifted his wand and placed the full body bind on Hermione, then carried her out of the car and up to the manor.
Hermione looked up at the manor; it was very black. The stone walls looked like they might have been made out of obsidian or more likely black slate, there were wrought iron bars on most of the windows and it seemed to have been used as decoration on large portions of the house. No light shone from the windows. The whole house gave off an evil, sickly feel and Hermione would have screamed had she been able to. Draco carried her up the black steps to the old black-stained wooden door. The door creaked open without Malfoy having to turn the wrought iron door knob. Once inside the door closed itself again with the same ominous creak.
Draco harshly plonked Hermione into a chair. "I'm going to release the spell in a second and I don't want you to do anything you'll regret, ok?"
With a flick of the wand Draco removed the spell and Hermione was able to jump up and run back towards the front doors. Before she reached them, however, she was hit in the back with the same curse. Draco put her back on the chair and wandered off.
Hermione had time to take in her surroundings. The foyer she now found herself in was, if at all possible, darker and more depressing than the outside of the house. The room was large and grand; anybody could see that it was impressive in size and probably very expensive, but whoever did the decorating failed to realise that there was actually colour in the world. The parts of the room that weren't black were different shades of grey, mostly very dark. The portraits that lined the walls were in colour, but the colour was faded and difficult to see, the way old paintings get with a yellowing brown look. They were all in desperate need of restoration. The house had a deathly silence to it. Hermione felt sure that if a pin were to drop, whatever was lurking in the shadows would pounce on the unsuspecting pin and obliterate it. Hermione, needless to say, hardly dared to breathe for fear of evoking such a response from the house.
As the hours ticked away, Hermione noticed that the house was freezing. The warmth of the mid-summer's day seemed unable to penetrate into the Malfoy Manor. Hermione spent the two, possibly three, hours she was forced to stay sitting in the chair by the front door shivering in both fear and cold. Every once in a while the deathly silence was broken by the sound of tiny feet on the black marble floor. Hermione was sure that these were the sounds of house elves scurrying about their business.
Somewhere in the depths of the house a clock struck the hour; Hermione counted as the gong sounded twice. It was two o'clock. Four hours ago she was at home asleep in her bed and now she was entombed within the horror house that was Malfoy Manor. A tear ran down her face as she shut her eyes trying to block out the eerie entrance hall.
"You're not still crying, are you mudblood." A harsh voice cut through her thoughts. Hermione opened her eyes and looked at the man standing before her. Unable to reply she had to be content with glaring as best she could.
"Come on, follow me." Draco began to walk away. He must have noticed that Hermione had not followed because he stopped and turned around. "What are you waiting for?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. 'I can't move because YOU put a spell on me you stupid git.' Hermione screamed in her head.
Draco seemed to realise because he waved his wand and Hermione felt her body relax.
"This way." Draco started off down the hall again, forcing Hermione to have to run to catch up.
The rest of the house was much like the entrance room: bleak and unyielding. Hermione was sure she would never be able to remember her way around this house; every one of the hallways looked the same.
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked.
"To get ready," came the short reply.
"For what?"
"The wedding." Draco mocked the sentence, "If you could call it that."
"What?" Hermione cried, exasperated, "I have to marry you today?"
Draco stopped, causing Hermione to bump into the back of him. "Look, Granger, I don't like this any more than you do. I sure as hell never thought I'd end up married to you. I haven't had any more time to get used to this than you. I found out this morning too. We are in the same boat! "
"If you don't want to and I certainly don't want to, why do we have to?" Hermione asked, "Couldn't we just say no?"
Draco rolled his eyes, "No, we couldn't. Once my father gets an idea into his head then there is nothing anyone can do about it. If you say no then he'll either kill someone you love or care for just to make you marry, or kill you out of spite. If I say no, I'd be disowned, but not before enduring the beating of a lifetime. Lucius would beat me till near death and heal me, just to start over. Trust me, Granger; there is no way out of this."
Hermione looked shocked at Draco's words. "Your father wouldn't really hit you for disobedience, would he? You are his son, after all."
Draco's laugh was hollow. "Sure, that's what Lucius cares about, family. Ha, he doesn't give a damn about me."
Hermione stared after Draco as he walked down the hall. It took her a moment to realise she was meant to be following him.
The next time he stopped Draco opened a door and beckoned Hermione to follow him inside. There was a house-elf waiting in the room. It was playing with the hem of its pillowcase. Hermione noted the look of fear in the elf's eyes and immediately felt sorry for the poor creature.
"This is Mipsy; she is your house elf. You can do anything you please with her… except set her free, of course. Is that understood?"
Hermione nodded.
"Good." Draco turned to address the elf, "You are to help Granger into her dress and make sure she is ready for the ceremony."
Hermione was then left alone with the elf. "Would Miss like Mipsy's help getting into her dress?" The elf motioned to a dress spread out on a chair.
Hermione shook her head, "I can manage myself thank you."
Mipsy bowed and took two steps back to allow Hermione better access to the dress. Hermione was please to find that the dress wasn't black, it was a dark green velvet number. The neckline went from shoulder to shoulder in a wide scoop. The sleeves to the dress were long and flowed well past her hands. It was indeed a beautiful gown. Mipsy fixed Hermione's hair so that half fell in curls down her back and the rest was piled on top in a loose bun, Two strands fell down; one either side of her face, framing it. A light application of make-up was applied to Hermione's face. She wore no jewellery besides a fine black choker.
Hermione looked in a mirror. Her look was stunning; she had no idea that she could look so good in a dress. She'd never even considered wearing green before, but she was forced to admit that she looked good. 'In this particular shade.' She insisted to herself, not wanting to appear Syltherin-ish in any way, shape or form.
"Might Mipsy say something, Miss?" The house elf looked up at Hermione.
"Of course." Hermione replied kindly, she might not be able to set the elf free but Draco had mentioned nothing about being nice to her.
"Miss looks really beautiful."
"Thank you"
"But Miss would look so much nicer if Miss smiled." The elf clapped her hands over her mouth, shocked by her own daring.
"I don't feel like smiling at the moment." Hermione replied turning back to the mirror.
"Mipsy is sorry Miss. Mipsy should not have spoken ill of Miss." The little elf picked up a hairbrush and made to hit itself on the head with it.
"No." Hermione dashed over to the little elf, "Please don't ever punish yourself."
"But Mipsy did wrong. Mipsy must be punished."
"Not for this. You are not to punish yourself, ever." Hermione insisted. The elf looked reluctant but put down the brush anyway.
"Thank you." Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.
Hermione was about to sink into the only chair in the room when a knock sounded at the door. Without waiting for a reply Draco swung open the door and marched into the room.
Hermione turned to face him; he was dressed in very formal black robes. His normally slicked back hair was falling loosely around his face, making Hermione realise how long it really was.
Draco seemed to be staring at Hermione as well. He seemed to take a minute to compose himself and fix his face into the usual smirk.
"Come." He ordered. He turned to leave the room but instead of just walking off like before he waited to make sure that Hermione was following.
"What's this going to entail?" Hermione asked after they had been walking for five minutes; it was a big house.
"What do you mean?" Draco shot a glare at her.
"I've never been to a wizard wedding before." Hermione fidgeted with the sleeve of her gown.
"It's not really a wedding," Draco sounded disappointed, "it's more of a paper signing ceremony. You just have to listen and sign a couple of pieces of paper."
"Oh." Hermione sounded disappointed. She had always pictured a glamorous church wedding, her in a white gown, the groom… well she hadn't really decided on a groom, but she was sure it would not have been Draco Malfoy.
"If this was going to be a real wedding it would be fairly similar to those things that muggles do, but with robes. Instead of vows the couple chant an incantation. We'll have to do the incantation today but it won't be anything fancy." Draco stopped outside a heavy oak door. "Before we go in, I have to say something."
There was a little pause before Hermione realised she was meant to respond to that, "Err… ok."
"Listen carefully: this was not my idea. I want this even less than you do." Hermione scoffed; less than her indeed! "I have no choice and neither do you, so let's try and make this as bearable for both our sakes. Truce?" Draco held out his hand.
Hermione looked at it suspiciously, could she really trust Draco? Deciding that this was about the one thing today that was going to be beneficial to her, she took his hand and shook. "Truce." She smiled.
The door next to them opened and Lucius stood there, glaring at the two young people. "In." he demanded. Hermione and Draco quickly obeyed; Lucius was not the type of person you wanted to cross at the best of times.
Hermione and Draco entered the small dark room, lit only by a fire burning brightly in the hearth. Narcissa was sitting in a large black leather chair by the flickering flame. A large, aged wooden desk had been placed in the centre of the room facing the door; behind it stood Mr. Applegate, who glanced up at the two teenagers as they walked through the door before turning back to his papers. There were two hard wooden chairs in front of the desk, it was into these that Lucius directed his son and soon to be daughter-in-law. Then he shooed Applegate from behind the desk before taking his seat at it.
"Well let's get this over with." Applegate clapped his hands together and a scroll appeared. "Sign this please everybody."
Hermione was the last to take the quill. The paper was similar to that of a marriage certificate in the muggle world, and there was a place for the bride and groom, as well as the witnesses to the marriage. In this case there was also a place for guardian's signatures because both Hermione and Draco were underage.
When Hermione put the quill down Mr. Applegate whipped the scroll from her and double checked everything was in order before duplicating it and handing a copy over to Lucius. Lucius took the duplicated scroll and placed it securely within his breast pocket, an evil smirk on his face. Clearly the smirk was a Malfoy trait; had Hermione been in a better state of mind she might have joked about having to learn it to join the family.
"Well now all you have to do is say the incantation and I can return to work." Mr. Applegate smiled eerily, pulling a small piece of parchment from his robe pocket. "You two stand up and stay this together."
Draco stood. Taking the paper, he waited for Hermione to follow. When they were standing next to each other they slowly began to say the incantation, in perfect sync.
A white light surrounded the now married couple. Hermione was amazed to see a ring form on her left hand. It was a platinum serpent with an emerald in its mouth. Hermione was impressed with the ring and the spell. It was really beautiful, although far too Slytherin-esque for her liking.
"Ok, all done." Mr. Applegate cried, and with a pop disappeared.
"Right." Lucius smirked, "Now that that's out of the way, I have work to do."
Lucius strode out of the room. Narcissa turned to the two newlyweds. "Congratulations, you two did a good job." Draco scowled. "Now Draco, escort Hermione to your room and keep out of my way for the rest of the day."
Narcissa moved towards the door. Draco followed her out, leaving Hermione alone in the office.
"Mother," Draco stepped in front of Narcissa, "What do you mean my room?"
"Your room." Narcissa repeated, "I didn't think you would be so incompetent that you don't know what your room is."
"I know what my room is, mother; what I don't get is why Granger is staying there. There are enough rooms in this house for her to have her own room."
"Draco, you are a married man now. You will share a bed with your wife, end of story!" Narcissa turned her back on her son and walked off, leaving him standing flabbergasted in the hall.
After a moment, Draco turned around and walked back into the office. "Granger, follow me." he hissed at her. Hermione turned her face up at him and he noted the tears falling down her face onto her beautiful gown.
'Oh crap, why does she have to go all teary on me? It's not like it's even my fault. She looks really beautiful when she cries. Did I just think that? I think Granger is beautiful? Well, she is my wife... Bah! I still hate her, ruining my life like this... Not that she had any say in the matter... Aw… she's so cute when she cries... What kind of sadistic person thinks someone is cute when they cry? But she looks so sad, like a little lost puppy... NO! No, I'm Draco Malfoy: I do not think people are cute! I do not liken a person to a puppy, especially not Mudblood Granger, although she's really a pureblood and now a Malfoy. "Hermione Malfoy", ick, what a horrible combination.'
Hermione looked up at Draco's face; it didn't have the same sharp edge that it normally did. 'Is he pitying me? The sodding prick! I hate him. Stupid... sodding… prick... he ruined my life. Although to be fair, he didn't have any more of a choice in the matter than I did. This probably stuffed up his life as much as mine; he probably wanted to marry Pansy Parkinson. But he's still mean and horrible to me, always calling me Mudblood, or spitting out my name with such contempt. Who would have thought you could make Granger sound like a swear word! But it's not so: I'm a Malfoy now, a pureblood Malfoy. Hermione Malfoy. That just sounds wrong, and I mean wrong with a capital W.'
Draco sat down next to his wife, "Cheer up, Gra… Mal… Hermi… err… Hermione."
Hermione looked at him; it was strange how a look could convey so much. The look Hermione now gave Draco conveyed her dislike for him, her misery at being in this situation, being married to him, and her desire for him to remove his arm from around her shoulders where it had just landed in an attempt to comfort her.
Words can say a lot, too.
"I hate you."
"The feeling's mutual, Hermione."
"Good."
"Can we get on with this now? We're are only going to have to be here for another four days and once we are back at Hogwarts we can ignore each other as much as we want."
"Then at the end of the year we have to live the rest of our lives together." Hermione sobbed.
"How about we just focus on the now and not the future?" Draco put his arm back around Hermione, "Live in the moment, isn't that what you muggles are always saying?"
"The now sucks."
"True, but…" Draco paused, "Ok, I can't think of anything better. But we'll work on it together. We're the two smartest students at Hogwarts: between us we should be able to come up with something positive. Like I mentioned, we're in this together, whether we like it or not."
"I can think of a positive." Hermione brightened a little.
"Yeah?"
"You can't call me Mudblood anymore." Hermione smiled.
Draco smiled too. "No, I guess I can't. Now that you're all cheered up I'll show you to our room."
"Our room?" Hermione's small smile vanished.
"Yes. Mother insists; there is nothing I can do." Draco frowned. "But I can promise you this: I have absolutely no intention of touching you."