Chapter Four-Class Dismissed, Weddings Commence.

A.N.: Biiiggg thank-you's to everyone who reviewed. Whilst I would LOVE to name you all and personally respond to everything that you said, I really cannot keep up with who said what when and about what story. Don't be mad, just pity the poor, eccentric "Suffering-for-Her-Art"-ist. Love you all though! And excuse me if this is late or slow or horrible but I'm on Spring Break right now, and I have a bruised thumb-nail. Owee...

"Ye Gods!" Harry exclaimed to Ron, a table over from where Hermione and Malfoy were sitting. "They're laughing. Actually bloody laughing! I can't believe they haven't killed each other yet!"

"Yeah," agreed Ron. "Hey, what does 'Ye Gods' mean?"

"It's an expression, dumbarse," Harry muttered, rolling his eyes. (A.N.: In case you haven't noticed, I have a DEEP loathing for Ronald Weasley and all his being.)

Finally, the class was dismissed. Hermione said good-bye to Malfoy, saying she'd see him tomorrow and no earlier, as they'd finished the survey, to which he readily and vehemently agreed. She then met up with her fellow devil Trio-ers.

"Make any progress, boys?" she asked them on their way to dinner. "The 'weddings' are tomorrow, so I do hope that you have."

"Well, I still don't like Blaise, but she's decent. And Ron...well, I think Ron's been sniffing some of Snape's old vials of Future-Scrying Serum. He's either high, love struck, or really, really out of it."

" I see..." Hermione said as Ron proceeded to walk straight into the stair-railings without flinching.

" Ow," he muttered blandly, quite obviously off in Ron-land.

" Okaaay," his two friends murmured in unisonrolling their eyes and leaving him to do...whatever it was that he was doing...

" So," Hermione said, "Blaise isn't so bad if you can get past her being a bit, er, androgynous."

He laughed. " I hope you're right. How's the ferret?You didn't seem to have any problems today."

She shook her head and smiled. "Not really. He actually didn't give me any problems." She didn't care to elaborate.

"Well, good. I'm glad, but..." he trailed off.

"But Night?"

"Why? He's always hated us. Why is he being so agreeable?"

" I guess so we don't fail the assignment. We are the Heads after all. We can't afford to fail; it would set a bad example. Why? Did you think there was some ulteriormotive, you paranoid boy?" she asked jokingly. Personally, she thought she'd played it off quite well, thankyouverymuch. And she obviously had, because he didn't reply.

"See you tomorrow," she said. Then with false felicity: " We're all getting 'married'"

He shrugged, noncommital, with a tired smile. " O the joy. 'Night."

She grinned wearily in response. "'Night."

When the next day rolled around, Hermione stayed in bed awhile, wishing she could stay there. It was the day of the "weddings"and, in her mind, the onset of hell. Sure, Malfoy had been decent lately, but that had been for the, what, half and hour they'd spent on Snape's survey? (Which had been a total and complete waste of time, honestly. They'd learned nothing about one another that they'd hadn't known; he liked quidditch and sleeping, she liked books and muggle music. Who would've guessed that!) She didn't know if she was ready for dealing with him twenty-four/ seven.

Suddenly, she heard a loud series of BANG!s on her door. She groaned audibly. "I don't know who you are, but go boil your freaking head!"

There was another sharp series of knocks. Finally the thing flew open, revealing a positively apoplectic Malfoy glaring at her.

For a moment she was quite terrified. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

All he said was, "Look at yours bloody clock!"

Suddenly, she realized what time it was. "Ohmygod! I am so late! Breakfast is almost over. Thankyou, now please goaway!" she yelled quickly and unceremoniously slammed the door in his face.

Swearing vividly all the while, Hermione hastily dressed, put on makeup, and rushed downstairs. Many Gryffindor heads turned as she rushed into the Great Hall, robe and tie askew.

The boys both gave her oppugning looks, to be answered only by a muttered, "Slept late."

Fortunately for her, the Dreaded Commencement wasn't until the very end of the day. Unfortunately, this caused her to be extremely anxious all throughout her classes until then. Even the professors noticed it. They discussed here odd behavior at their staff meeting just before the Commencement Ceremony (aka 'mass weddings).

"It's out of character, to say the least," squeaked Prof. Flitwick.

"I'm a bit worried about her, Albus," added Prof. McGonagal. "Do you think it's wise, putting her with that Malfoy boy?"

"What's wrong with 'that Malfoy boy'?" Snape demanded. "If there's a problem with anyone, it's with your student!"

"Severus! Minerva!" the Headmaster commanded. "Be quiet. There's nothing wrong with either of the students."

"But they do hate each other," Madame Hooch pointed out. (AN: Thank you, Captain Obvious!) "What's to be done about that?"

"We can only wait and see," the Headmaster said with a smile , "but I must ask that all of you remember the case of Lilly Evans and James Potter. Most people don't realize that the line between love and hate is a thin one."

"You're not suggesting-" Snape was cut off.

"I am suggesting that we wait and see." Dumbledore emphasized with a mysterious smile.

"Oh my God," Hermione said. "What did I do to deserve this!"

"Nothing, of course, my commiserating Gryffie," Blaise grinned wryly. "None of us did, and yet...here we are."

They were wearing white robes and standing behind a curtain in the Great Hall. The Ceremonies were about to begin. It was just dumb luck that Hermione was standing by Blaise, who was actually a nice girl, if a little wild. She'd long since decided that crazy Miss Zabini would be good for Harry, who had been quite straight-laced lately. As for Ron, he'd been so out of it lately that they all knew who would rule the roost in his group. (coughPANSYcough)

As for her, the whole ceremony alone was nerve-wracking enough, and would be even if she was working with someone she actually liked. "Stupid project," she thought. To make matters worse, they were going alphabetically by the males' last name, putting her group near the end, thus forcing her to watch just about everyone else's ceremony, a mind-numbingly boring task.

"Psst," whispered someone from behind her. "Granger!"

She turned around. "Malfoy! What're you doing here? This is the girl's side!"

" I cannot go back over there," he said urgently, "until you tell your bloody bodyguards that I'm not going to kill you or something. If they keep harassing me, yes, I will beat them to a collective bloody pulp, but for the sake of keeping the peace, I would rather you said something."

Hermione almost looked impressed. "Well done," she said. " Had I been in your place, I might've already cursed their arses to the Astronomy Tower and back." She scribbled something on a bit of parchment she'd pulled from her bag and handed it to him. "If they keep heckling you, send them over here."

"Thanks," he said, sounding almost sincere. Then he smirked. "Next timeI'll take your approach first."

To his surprise, she replied, "You have my full permission." She then smirked of a caliber that the shocked Draco Malfoy could never dream of achieving and proceeded to kick him out of the girls' side.

There were two more groups before the Granger-Malfoy ceremony, and the term "nerve-wracking" was a gross understatement. However, Hermione, the paradigm of poise under pressure, had learned a few things:

A. As they walked out, a song was played, and everyone's was different. (She could guess what theirs would be.)

B. A traditional binding spell was cast. Easy.

C. There was, much to her immeasurable relief, none of that, "You may now..." nonsense and no vows. (She mentally chanted, "Thank you, God...Thank you, God...Thank you, God." )

"One," she thought. "There is one group left before I have to go up on the godforsaken stage they set up and have myself bound to someone I've hated for, let's see, hmm...seven years now. Well," she thought resignedly, "I guess it's my last chance to run for the hills."

Hermione restrained a laugh at the irony of it all when the headmaster called her name not two seconds after that last thought

She walked out from behind the curtain and towards the stage. Malfoy, on the other side of the room and doing the same, glanced over and caught Hermione by surprise and winked as "I Melt With You" by Modern English began to play.

"Oh, thank God!" Hermione exclaimed as they left the Hall.

"Honestly!" Malfoy agreed as they breezed into the foyer. "That sucked!"

She stopped in her tracks. "You do know that no normal people would actually be saying this after they were married, don't you?"

He cocked an eyebrow. "Yo do know that no normal people would be in this situation?"

"Good point."

AN: Okay, Chapter Four is DONE! Now, I command you to REVIEW if you wish to live! Mwahahahahahahaha!

Katelyn