I just fulfilled this on tumblr, so crossposting now.
Pairing: Dramione.
Tropes: Royalty AU & Everybody Knows/Mistaken For a Couple
Hermione Nott was used to assumptions, everyone had them. Most of the giggling witches in her father's court had long since decided that the rumor must be true. Of course it had been announced at her birth, only four months after the new Lord Malfoy was born.
Was anyone surprised by the turnout? For her to marry into the Malfoy family, a Pureblood family whose roots traveled back as surely as her own, it was everything. Honor was important. Accepting choices that were made for her that were for the best of the family.
Except, except - Draco Malfoy was a rampaging jerk, and she swore to Merlin and Morgana she would not have him.
Sorted into Gryffindor in her first year of Hogwarts, she didn't have to see him much. Though every once in a while she would spot a flash of blond hair in the crowd. He was in Slytherin just like every Malfoy before him, and her brother was sorted along with him.
While she knew the topic of their arranged marriage wasn't a hot topic for Theo, and Draco, it was for quite literally everyone else. In the first year she hardly talked to him. Her father wasn't content to force them together just yet considering they were only eleven.
The second year was where they hit a snag. They were always willing to ignore each other, and then Cormac McLaggen happened. As the daughter of a king, of course her classmates left her alone. She was never on the receiving end of a hex, or a prank despite being called the swottiest swot of them all.
But McLaggen had never been the brightest, and it was in the middle of a Potions class that he'd flung a potion onto her.
Malfoy pounced, drawing his wand from his robes, and casting a furious, "Stupefy!"
Rendered unconscious, Hermione didn't know of Malfoy's loud proclamation that no one was to hurt his betrothed.
The small mark made her life in Hogwarts that much worse, with everyone teasing her of how she was engaged, and at least Malfoy seemed to be in love with her. Grumbling to herself, she'd cornered him on the quidditch pitch after they'd stomped Gryffindor.
"They're still talking about it." She hissed in third year, finally unable to stand it any longer. "Malfoy, you have to set this straight."
"And what do you propose I do, Hermione?" Her name slid right off the tip of his tongue, sounding more charming than it should have. "Shall I just owl our fathers and request they tear up the bloody contract?" Malfoy hissed, leaning toward her. "Am I really the worst thing you can imagine?"
She skipped over that, believing it was only his wounded pride. "I don't care who you choose, but you need to take someone to Hogsmeade so the entirety of Hogwarts will get off my back!"
She'd always known he was attractive. With immaculate robes, and blond hair that always held her gaze, and eyes that reminded her of storms - of course she'd known.
But she'd never paid it any mind, and the Yule Ball shouldn't have been any different in their fourth year. Preoccupied with the anger at Ron, and leaving Krum to dance with Hannah Abbott, crying was how Malfoy found her.
"Hey," he began softly, sitting next to her. "What happened?"
"Ron." She muttered, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. "Shouldn't you be with Parkinson?"
"I saw you run out. You can't expect me not to come after you." Awkwardly, he slid an arm around her shoulders. "Weasley isn't worth the tears. Come on." He stood, holding his hand out.
Taking it even though she wasn't sure why, Hermione told him, "I'm not going back out there to dance, Malfoy."
He shrugged. "That's okay. We can dance here."
In their fifth year, they weren't quite as bothered by the teasing. Not after there had been a picture in the Daily Prophet of them dancing.
Because they had a secret.
She didn't know why she wanted to hide it, and neither did he. At least until they realized on a lazy Saturday afternoon in the Room of Requirement that they weren't ready to admit everyone had been right.
"You're so stubborn." He sighed, tipping her face up and kissing her softly. "Ridiculously even."
She grinned.
In seventh year, it was harder to hide. Between her course load - which was much more than anyone else signed up for -, and Draco's - who attended the same classes to be closer, but under the guise that she wasn't going to outdo him for marks.
Their fathers were already gearing up for damage control, for how to put their children together instead of against each other. But one day toward the end of the year as they waited for their final grades, they'd found out.
Her father was willing to let Draco out of the marriage contract if he wanted to be. For all he'd known, Hermione had spent the last eighteen years despising Malfoy, and he thought he was helping.
So when Lucius Malfoy agreed to have Draco marry Astoria Greengrass, all hell broke loose.
"I mean if you didn't want to marry me-" Hermione started, standing in the middle of the quidditch pitch with him.
"What the bloody hell are you on about?" He growled. "I've never wanted to marry anyone else!"
"You never had the choice!" She spluttered. "Just if - she's going to be around you more, and I want you to have the choice. I hated having decisions made for me. Don't you?"
He rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll tell you my decision tomorrow over breakfast then. Just know that it's the exact same as it's always been."
The following morning, she was buttering her toast when Ron's eyes widened across from her. "Uh, Hermione?" He said, his mouth full of food.
She turned, coming face to face with her boyfriend as he lowered to one knee. Turning around quickly to fully face him, her mouth died, and her butter knife slipped from her fingers.
Behind them Astoria Greengrass was surely furious, but Hermione didn't look. "Draco, what are you doing? We're already engaged, you know." She laughed, but grinned from ear to ear.
He smirked, taking her hand. "Maybe, but since you're all about choices, this is mine. I have never wanted to marry anyone else. I have loved you since before I knew what love was, and it would make me the happiest man alive if you would do me the honor of becoming my wife."
He pulled a box from his robes, flipping open a box to show a white gold band, with a raised sapphire in the middle. "You got sapphire." She murmured, raising her fingers to her lips. "That's my favorite."
"I'm not always nice; sometimes I'm a jerk, and sometimes you'll feel the need to put me back in my place, but -"
She nodded. "Yes. The answer is yes." Barely giving him time to slide the ring onto her finger, old magic washing over her, Hermione launched herself into his arms.