Written for the 'Truth or Dare' Flash Fiction Competition in Dumbledore's Armada.
Much love to my beta, iwasbotwp, for her time and encouragement.
Prompt: Dare: (Trope) Accidental Marriage/Bonding
Granger was making that distracting noise with her mouth again and Draco was forced to admit to himself that he had begun to find it more endearing than annoying.
For the past two months, they had spent nearly every waking hour together. They spent some time preparing for their NEWTS, of course, as they had discovered they made excellent study partners at the beginning of the year when they had been paired for a project in Ancient Runes, but the vast majority of their days had unfortunately been spent researching.
Quite frankly, Draco was getting absolutely sick of it. Not only had they scoured every relevant shelf of the Hogwarts Library, they had also taken advantage of their privilege as Eighth Years to spend many weekends desperately searching the library at Malfoy Manor for solutions. As far as he could tell, there was nothing to be done about their problem. But Granger never had been one to admit defeat and he wasn't enough of a git to let her keep looking on her own. It was his fault, after all.
It had all started when they had been working on a project together for History of Magic at the end of their Easter Break. They had been sitting with a book between them on the table, reading through ancient bonding rituals, trying to discover how House Elf bonds had formed and changed over the centuries. Granger had haltingly read the first two lines of a short passage out loud. When she had paused to ponder the Latin, he'd muttered the last two lines under his breath, completing the small paragraph.
The swirl of golden lights surrounding them had been impossible to miss in the candle-lit glow of the library at dusk. They had stared at each other.
"What just happened, Malfoy?" Granger asked very quietly, glancing around to see if anyone was near enough to notice.
"I'm not sure. Um, we should probably translate whatever passage we just read out though. It might help." Draco reached for the book on the table in front of her, but she stayed his movement with a hand to his wrist as her face paled dramatically.
"Please tell me you didn't just speak the remainder of the incantation I was working on out loud." There was panic in her eyes and he couldn't help but recognize that what he had done was monumentally stupid. It generally wasn't wise to read anything in any magical text out loud without verifying it was harmless first.
"And if I did?" he asked hesitantly.
Granger grabbed her wand and drew a pattern in the air between them. A golden orb appeared and hovered there, illuminating her face as her eyes grew wide.
"What does it mean?" He asked, though the sinking feeling in his gut told him he knew exactly what it meant.
The whisper from her lips was quiet, but unmistakable, "It means we're magically bonded."
Like fools, they'd gone and practically married each other by accident. Of course, it was worse than simply being married, because the ancient spell didn't have a known means of reversal. Not that facts stopped Granger from trying. So far, in the past nine weeks, all they had determined was that one of them dying would probably set the other free rather than killing them.
Movement caught his eye and Draco looked over to see her absent-mindedly tucking a curl that had fallen loose from her bun behind her ear. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as she read, absorbed by the material in front of her.
Draco clenched his teeth to contain the groan that threatened to escape. She was going to drive him barmy. If there was an inconvenience to spending every moment of the past two months with the woman seated to his right, it was definitely that he had fallen head over heels in love with her. Meanwhile, she had essentially been searching for a means to divorce him.
Could he really live with himself if he didn't say anything?
"Granger?"
"Yes, Draco?" She replied without looking up.
The sound of his name on her lips was going to be his undoing.
"Hermione?" he tried tentatively.
Her eyes lifted from the page in surprise and she turned towards him.
"Is something wrong? I don't think you've ever used my name before." The nervousness in her tone was immediately apparent to him.
"Granger is also your name, the last I checked," he teased.
"You know what I mean. And don't change the subject," she huffed, still holding eye contact.
"It's just, I was thinking—" Draco started to panic, unsure of how to say what he desperately needed to. The silence stretched between them until she finally put him out of his misery.
"I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific, I'm no Legilimens." Her lips tilted up, hinting at a smirk.
The light from the sunset outside changed slightly and began reflecting through the thick panes of the library windows, bouncing off her hair and face. Her eyes danced with good humour, the way they always did when she was trying to cheer him up. She looked so beautiful to him in that moment that he simply couldn't help the smile that bloomed on his own face in return. The joy he felt at being here with her bolstered his courage.
"We've spent so many hours researching our...situation." He was terrified of scaring her away by coming on too strongly. Merlin forbid he make her feel pressured or trapped. It was best to proceed with caution. "Our NEWTS start on Monday, maybe it's time we considered another solution."
Hermione blinked at him several times like an animal captivated by wandlight.
"I wasn't aware there were other possible solutions available," she said, her smile giving way to a frown. "What other options do we have?"
"We could stay bonded." He hesitated, feeling uncertain. Turning his whole body toward her, he gently took her hand in his. "We could give this a try."
Hermione stared down at their joined hands, but she didn't pull away and Draco held his breath. After what seemed an eternity, he felt her gently squeeze his fingers with her own.
"I didn't know that was something you might consider," she said, as she lifted her face back to his and gazed at him with wide eyes. "I'm not opposed if you aren't."
"I'm not at all opposed. In fact, I think I'd like it very much," he said tenderly.
Hermione seemed to contemplate his words briefly before answering him. "I think I would like that too."
Draco lifted his hand to tuck away her stubborn curl and found his fingertips lingering at her jaw on the way back, as he cupped her cheek reverently.
"May I?"
Hermione flew at him and crashed her lips against his as her arms wrapped around him. Tangling his fingers into her hair, he pulled her to him until she slid into his lap. She tasted of peppermint and the soft pleading sounds she made as they snogged were addictive. Then her stomach growled loudly. She froze in his arms and giggled.
Reluctantly, he pulled away. The shy smile gracing her features as she stood off his lap made his stomach swoop pleasantly.
"Come have dinner with me?" he asked, hopefully, as he started directing their things into their bags with his wand.
She nodded, flushed and dishevelled, accepting her bag from him as they made their way out of the library and toward the great hall.
They walked in comfortable silence for several paces, until Hermione cleared her throat lightly, catching his attention. "I can't believe we wasted so many hours researching when we could have been doing that instead."
Draco laughed and reached for her hand, which she settled into his. "It seems we have a lot of lost time to make up for."