AN: So this is the chapter that begins to go deeper into this whole Betrothal Tradition, it gets a little confusing, please ask if you have any questions, hope you enjoy. –Mirioux

We Are

…what about the world today,

What about the place that we call home,

We've never been so many,

And we've never been so alone,

Keep watching from your picket fence,

You keep talking but it makes no sense,

You say we're not responsible

But we are, we are.

You wash your hands,

You come out clean,

You fail to recognize the enemies with in,

You say we're not responsible

But we are, we are

We are,

One step forward,

Making two steps back,

My oh my,

Riding piggy on the bad boys back for life,

Lining up for the grand illusion,

No answers for no questions asked…

Performed By: Ana

The Return to Hogwarts

"You know, this hasn't been too horrible, at least not with out current arrangement," Draco commented as he stood next to Hermione on platform 9 ¾.

"Yes, I agree, except for the mind to mind connection, which might I add is getting a little bit out of control here," Hermione growled, she was grumpy and she wasn't about to play nice with him after the way he had entered her room and ripped the sheets off of her bed at seven-thirty that morning; only to reveal that she slept in a camisole and a pair of booty shorts. He had stared in awe at her flawless body until she had pierced the silence with a blood curdling scream.

"Look, I said I was sorry about that," he protested, 'Even if I didn't mean it,' he continued on it thought.

'I heard that,' she rudely reminded him of their now almost constant presence in the other's mind.

'I'm sorry I can't control what I think sometimes, and I thought you'd enjoy knowing that I find your body beautiful…why did I just tell you that?' Draco sighed, noting that he had made Hermione blush slightly.

'That's beside the point that you violated my personal space, not to mention eye fucked the hell out of me,' she shouted silently at him, and left him standing there as she boarded the train.

"How did you know that? You were asleep." Draco demanded scrambling after her.

"Mind reading, hello, did you miss that part, or just forget?" She snapped entering an empty train compartment, and slamming the door in his face.

His face twisted in irritation as he quickly re-opened the door and entered, "How can I make this up to you? We can't let everyone know that we aren't in love or at least in perfect harmony with one another, not that it's that hard to see we are in constant disarray,"

"Apologize to me and mean it." She remarked opening one of the many books she had brought for the trip.

"I'm not going to apologize then,"

"Well, I'm not going to play this ridiculous pureblood game then," she answered rolling her eyes at the idea.

She infuriated Draco, how could he possibly win this argument? She was impossible to get along and deal with. All she wanted to do was bicker so she could force him to compromise with her, which he despised her for, but at the same time was amazed at how well she could manipulate him, with out him knowing it when it was happening. "Alright fine, I'm sorry for invading you space without permission, but I'm not sorry for looking at a perfection such as the female body," He announced, pleading on his knees with her, "Now will you please make both of us look good since we have to go see Dumbledore?"

"Fine," she hissed, as they left the compartment to find Professor Dumbledore. Draco gingerly placed his arm around Hermione's waist lightly, and they both plastered their best fake smiles on their faces.

Almost immediately, the entire student body that was out and about in the corridors trying to find a train compartment, began pointing fingers and whispering about them. 'Oh for goodness sake, this is getting ridiculous,' Hermione thought, disgusted by the actions of her fellow classmates.

'They're just shocked. It's not every day that you see the two most infamous enemies to the death in the school acting all lovey dovey with each other. Hell, they'd be surprised if we were just getting along.' Draco laughed slightly as he thought this.

"This is hopeless, what were they thinking when they decided we would be perfect for each other? This clearly is not going to work out for us," Hermione muttered as she stormed off ahead of Draco.

'That certainly doesn't make things any easier,' Draco thought as he continued down the corridor.

He entered the compartment that housed professor Dumbledore and sat down quietly next to Hermione. "Ah, Mr. Malfoy, good to see you could make it. I was about to announce to Miss Granger that the two of you have been made Head Boy and Head Girl." Professor Dumbledore greeted cheerfully. "Now it has come to my attention that you two are engaged, my congratulations to both of you."

"Thank you Professor," Draco and Hermione chirped in unison, and then scowled at one another.

"Now, here are you Head badges, and your lists of duties. Please feel free to enjoy the rest of your journey, the prefects as you know, will be in charge of hall monitoring."

The couple bid him farewell and exited the room, back into the corridor of judgmental peers. Hermione immediately whisked away from Draco in search of solitary refuge from him and everyone else. He wasn't quite sure why he was following her, he just felt like it was the right thing to do. "Stop following me, I don't want to have anything to do with you," she snarled looking over her shoulder to give him the death glare.

"Well you don't exactly have a choice in the matter Granger," he growled in reply as he shoved her into their compartment and locked the door behind him. "Now you need

To get over you high and mighty self and realize that your life, as well as mine is at risk if we can't get along; there is more to a Betrothal Right than just the Blood Pact. Our parents practically sold us to each other, when we were born our souls were sown together; that is what makes us destined to be together whether we like it or not, and we won't ever be able to love any one if we can't learn to love each other!" Draco shouted hoping that maybe now she would get the message, as he cornered Hermione against the far wall of the compartment.

"I…I'm sorry, I didn't realize so much was at stake…" She whimpered as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Of course you didn't, but I don't think it will really change anything now that you know, so if you don't care about our lives, and you want a war, then you've got one," he whispered in her ear. He took her face in his hands and kissed her hard, and began to leave her to cry by herself.

"Please, don't leave me…" She choked as he stopped at the door. "I'm sorry, I can change, just give me a chance to adjust to the 'new' you…" she pleaded as she pulled her crumpled body into a standing position.

"Give me one good reason why I should? I've tried to be civil to you, I've even gone as far as to be exceedingly nice to you, and for what, so you can shoot me down and accuse me of being Lucius?" he demanded coldly.

"Because you aren't your father, and forgiveness would really prove to me that you are nothing like him…" She realized as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"How can I resist you when you look as helpless as you truly are," Draco teased as he drew Hermione into a heartfelt hug, not sure why he had done so.

She clung to him, crying hysterically, there was just something comforting about his arms being around her. She felt as if nothing in the world could hurt her. "Why would they do this to us?" She sobbed, begging Draco to answer her question.

"They thought that we would grow up together and fall in love anyway. My mother was your birth mother's best friend, that's why they did the blood pact, that's how close they were. They were closer than sisters, and they did everything together. Narcissa loved Danielle more than she loved Andromeda and Bellatrix and my mother was devastated when your parents died," he explained to her as they sat down, "I didn't know your parents, but from what my mother has told me about them, they loved you very much, and they wanted to keep you safe at all costs…this is them…my mother, and Danielle, your mother…" he trailed off as he dug into his pocket for the crumpled picture. " I found this a couple days ago, and I've been waiting for the right time to give it to you."

She took the photograph from him and saw a younger, more vibrant and carefree Narcissa Malfoy, and another young woman, both had new borns in their arms, "My mother…Danielle?"

"Yes, and by the looks of it, I'd say that you get your looks from her," he said pointing out the same honey brown locks of hair, in a mane of curls, only Danielle's was much more tamable.

"Thank you Draco, this means a lot to me," Hermione said, planting a soft kiss on his check quickly, and leaving the Heads' train compartment.

She went in search of Ginny and Harry, she found them quickly, along with Ron, Neville, and Luna, and told them everything that had happened, and showed them the picture that Draco had given to her.

"Wow, that was really unlike him to give you something so sentimental." Harry snorted, slightly put off by Malfoy's antics, making it a little bit hard to hate him as much.

"I know, but he's really trying hard to prove to me that he's nothing like Lucius. I'm actually quite impressed with his progress," Hermione blurted out before thinking.

"I think that it was very sweet of him," Ginny gushed with a sigh.

"You girls are bloody mental." Ron snapped, going back to his chocolate frogs, and quidditch catalog.

"Well, I better get back; I still have to change into my robes. See you guys at the feast." She waved to them and left their room. 'Maybe he really is trying to change…' she thought as she re-entered the Head's compartment, only to find Draco seemingly asleep on the bench. 'That's so like him.' She giggled to herself and changed into her school robes.