By Ange Black
Disclaimer: I own don't Harry Potter or Phantom of the Opera.
"Fear can turn to love - you'll learn to see,
to find the man behind the monster: this ...
repulsive carcass, who seems a beast, but secretly dreams of beauty, secretly, secretly…"
-I Remember/Stranger Than You Dreamt it
Phantom of the Opera
(A/N: I'm sorry for all the f-bombs, but isn't that the way you'd react if your best friend was being forced to marry someone who had bulled her at school. I mean, seriously, I'd be even worse, I would be turning over tables and, well, let's just say that the Minster of Magic's neck would be about two feet longer. I'm also really sorry that this next chapter has taken sooooo long! The computer I write on (a Mac) kind of had a bug and I refuse to type on a laptop with a giant crack in the screen. You can all thank my older brother and his anger management problems for that! Oh, yeah, I also made some spelling mistakes in the other chapters that will be corrected shortly.)
Chapter Four:
Even though Hermione had told her friend about her Minstry letter hours ago, there was still chaos at 227 Godric's Way.
Harry Potter was still ranting about the current Minster of Magic, meanwhile, his five-month-old son had woken up and Ginny had gone up to comfort him. Remus Lupin had sat quietly and his wife had been telling Hermione Granger soft words of encouragement, saying that "It'll never happen" and "The Wizengamot will put a stop to this". Molly and Lilly had also awoken, to the dismay of Ginny, who had a spent a portion of time to put the girls to bed that she should have spent with her friends.
"Daddy," Molly asked as she came in to the kitchen. "What's all the shouting about? Is He back?"
Harry stopped ranting and everyone at the table looked up to see Lilly and Molly in their matching silk pajamas that Harry had bought for them last year, when he had taken a business trip to China. Tonks hair turned back to pink and Hermione looked up for enough time for the girls to see that she had been crying.
Daddy, why is Ms. Hermione crying?" asked Lilly. Harry combed his fingers through his hair in frustration and ushered the girls out of the kitchen and back up the stairs where Ginny was trying to put their brother back to bed.
Hermione had been crying for the last three hours. First, it was that she was getting a little freaked out by Harry, but after the first hour she realized that she had to marry the man, no boy, whose father had killed her grandmother. And after that it had been that she was going to have to have a kid with him! That had been when she had really broken down.
When Harry and Ginny returned from the upstairs of their home, Ginny asked:
"When did they send you this letter?"
Hermione sniffed.
"Well, it was actually at the same time I got your letter." Hermione quivered. "Hedwig delivered it, she does that sometimes."
Hermione burst in to tears again and Ginny patted her on the shoulder. Harry offered her a tissue, but she shoved it away.
"Does Teddy know?" asked Tonks. Hermione wiped her nose with her fist.
"No, and I don't know how to tell him." She took a tissue from Harry and blew her nose very loudly. "I mean, we've been dating for three years and we've been living together for two…" Hermione was interrupted by the door opening.
"Hey!" called a voice from the foyer. "We're here! Time to get this party started!"
Ron Weasley and his fiancée Demelza Stone, or Mel, walked in to the kitchen. Ron and Hermione had dated after leaving Hogwarts, although had found that the relationship hadn't worked. Now, they were friends. Just friends. And both of them had a serious long -term relationship. Ron was now engaged to Mel, who had gone to The Salem Witch Institute for her magical schooling. Mel was a short young woman with long, black hair and eyes more blue than a clear sky. Mel was a pureblood, who actually had ancestors who had been tried in the Salem Witch Trials. It was Mel who brought Ron to the attention of what was going on with a shove.
"What's going on here?" Ron looked around the room at his friends. "Hermione what's wrong, why are you crying?"
Tonks handed Ron Hermione's Minstry letter. Ron and Mel read the entire thing in silence.
"Oh, my word!" exclaimed Mel, who usally never had a temper. "This is awful! Our Minstry would never do this!"
Mel, since she had only moved to Europe five years ago, still did not refer to the place as her home. Hermione thought that Mel's "un-Europism" (it was similar to being "un-American" in the United States.) was a tad snooty at first, but than realized that she was right! The American Minstry (or "Magical Government" as they called it) wouldn't do this!
Ron sat down next to Hermione and put his arm around her shoulders. Hermione sighed and put her face back onto the table practically bawling.
"It's okay." He whispered. "Everything is going to be fine, just go lie down a bit, Harry'll make you a calming potion and we'll be able to sort this all out."
In a trace, Hermione got up, walked in to the family and laid down on the soft crimson sofa. She looked around the room, which had been designed to look like Gryffindor Tower, and remembered all the great times she, Harry and Ron had had at Hogwarts. About a half hour later, Harry brought a steaming mug in from the kitchen. Even when Hermione had a whiff of the potion she felt better! It was times like this that she loved magic!
"Listen Hermione, I made this stuff strong." Harry warned. "I mean really, really strong. So please be careful and don't drink all of it because it could put you in permanent sleep. Please, be careful!"
Everyone watched as Hermione drank a few sips of the potion and fell asleep. Before she knew it, Hermione was floating among the stars.
Meanwhile, back at Draco's apartment, things had started to cool down a bit. Gold had exchanged hand many times over the past few hours everyone seemed to be in good spirits, especially when Draco had broken out the vodka.
"Draco, mate…" Goyle slurred. "I'm feelin' a bit woozy, wait while I go get some cola, will ya?" Draco nodded and Goyle got up to get his drink. When he was out of the room, Draco took a large sum of Goyle's gold and divided it between Blaise and himself. Blaise laughed horribly.
"That," said Draco while pointing at the kitchen. "is why I don't drink took much during card games that involves money. Blaise laughed again at Draco's joke.
Goyle came back in, sat down and looked at his gold.
"Did yous guys give me some gold?" asked Goyle. Draco chuckled.
"Nope. You must be seeing double." Draco replied. After a few minutes of play, Crabbe woke up from his nap. Where his mouth had been on his cards, you could see drips of slobber. He had fallen asleep almost right after Draco had gotten his letter.
"So," he said as if he hadn't been asleep." Whatya going to about that Mudblood girl?"
Draco hadn't though about what he was going to do about the Mudblood Granger. Maybe he could get back together with Pansy. Or maybe he could convince the Minstry that he was betrothed and that they could get out of it. But unfortunetly, their fathers had never really made an unbreakable vow, considering that both men were Deatheaters and were also busy trying to hide their contact with Voldemort at the time that Pansy and Draco had met. The dowry that had been talked of had also never been exchanged. Draco sighed.
"Well," he started. "Hopefully, I'm showing up to the court date with Pansy in tow and simply explaining that we're bethroughed. Umbridge still works there, she could probably get us out of it." But, Umbridge also hated Granger so much that she might actually go the other way around. Draco groaned.
"I have an idea!" said Blaise. "Why not kill her!"
Draco, Crabbe and Goyle shushed him.
"Dude," said Crabbe. "You do know that they still watch Draco. Even though he's free, they still think he's a Death Eater."
"Well he does has the Darkmark on his arm, duh!" said Blaise.
"Yes, I do." Draco replied. "But I regretted it once I forced Snape to kill Dumbledore. He's still serving time for that. Anyway, I got some Protection and Potter spoke up for me once I was caught. So, I'm out, but because Potter doesn't pay any attention to me like Dumbledore did to Snape, the Minstry watches my apartment and the mansion."
"Oh." Replied Blaise.
"Yeah." Said Draco. "Oh."
