Chapter 9 – The Contract

"I know you are really angry that I put the body bind curse on you. But you left with no choice." I told a petrified Hermione. I turned to Draco, "What do you think we should now?"

"We could tell her." Draco suggested uncomfortably.

"Or we could obliviate her." I saw the alarm in Hermione eyes. "I'm kidding. It's not everyday that I get to put a curse on you, thought I might as well have some fun." I started putting silencing and locking charms on the door.

"You sure you want to tell her? She could tell Weasel and Pothead." Draco interrupted me.

"I think once she knows everything, she won't tell them. We can always ask her to make an unbreakable vow after we tell her."

He nodded, "Fine. Tell her."

"Do you want to do the honours?"

"You do it, I'll add bits and pieces here and there."

"H, I'm going to tell you a story. It's a long one but I'll try to make it short and concise for your convenience. It all started when Voldemort disappeared after killing Harry's parents. It's funny how everything starts from there."

"You are straying, Nat." Draco informed me.

"Right. As you know all of the death eaters were brought to trial after that. The ones who were tactful and smart somehow found a way out of Askaban. My granpa, Jonah Shepherd was the Chief Warlock at that time. Now granpa wouldn't take bribe from anyone. So these death eaters bribed the members of the Wizengamot or called in favours with them. Though there was sufficient evidence against most of them, the Wizengamot said that it was not enough evidence and blah, blah! You get the gist."

"In extreme cases, of course, the Wizengamot, sent them to Askaban because then the people would question the sanctity of the Wizengamot." Draco added.

"That's true. So, one such trial was of Abraxas Malfoy and Lucius Malfoy, Drco's grandfather and father. There was enough evidence against them but they had paid of the Wizengamot pretty well. No matter what granpa said against them, they had a counter, which satisfied the members. Finally granpa went on to say that the Malfoys believed in pureblood supremacy and that such sort of thinking would be detrimental to the Wizarding world."

"This seemed to have worked because everyone knows that is true. This alone could have gotten them locked up for five years. Even the Malfoys looked like they didn't know what to say. Finally, Abraxas Malfoy said that they don't have such beliefs. They believe in things that will take the wizarding world to a new heights."

"To prove his point, he proposed marriage between Nat and I." Draco said.

I narrowed my eyes at him because I wanted to tell her this part, "That's true. Granpa refused quickly. Abraxas had expected that. He wanted Granpa to refuse it."

"He said that Nat's grandfather was doing all this because of his personal vendatta against my grandfather. Once Grandfather pointed this out, the Wizengamot put pressure on Nat's grandfather. The Chief Warlock has to be unbiased. They were trying to use his loyalty for his position against him." Draco said.

"Granpa said that he couldn't decide for his son's daughter. The marriage contract for their daughter would be my parents' decision not his. At this Abraxas Malfoy chided him by saying that he is the head of the Shepherd family and he can make decisions for members of his family."

Draco smiled and said, "But things work differently at the Shepherd household. Nat's grandfather said that his children were capable of making their decisions unlike Abraxas' child. That sentence still pisses off my father even today. Jonah Shepherd said that if this has to happen then it would happen only when his son and daughter-in-law agreed to this."

I continued, "The Wizengamot seemed satisfied with this argument and the adjourned the trial for a while. Once granpa mentioned this at home, dad was completely against it. Dad is sort of anti-marriage contracts. He doesn't like the concept of marrying someone because of a contract. My mom thought about it. She knew that the Chief Warlock position meant to granpa. She said they would agree on if they got the final say on the contract. Each and every term of the marriage contract had to be approved by my parents."

"There was a closed room meeting in between the Malfoys, the Shepherds and some of the important members of the Wizengamot including Dumbledore. The Malfoys proposed the first contract and we rejected it completely."

"My family tried to argued with hers but her family was very adamant about the terms of terms and conditions they wanted. Dumbledore said that it was the Malfoys that needed this contract not the Shepherds, so they should agree to the terms the Shepherds want or go through a fair trial. Begrudgingly, they agreed." Draco said.

"It took them more than an year to finalise the contract. So after Draco's third birthday, we got engaged. We exchanged rings and all." I pulled out a chain from under my shirt and showed her a simple silver band on it. "Draco has his under his shirt. We were kids so my parents didn't want any big rings being exchanged."

"Since our engagement, we've been friends. I used to play a lot at her home or her grandparents' home. We got to know we were engaged only after our tenth birthdays. Her family and my mother and my grandmother explained each and everything on the contract. So, one of the terms of the contract is to spend some time together. At Hogwarts, we have to spend at least an hour together every week." Draco was looking at me when he said that. "I've spent some of my most happiest times at your home, Nat."

"I know, me too. My home wouldn't have been so much fun if you were not there with me." I winked at him. I turned to Hermione, "H, I'm going to remove the curse now. But please don't run. We can talk about this. You can ask me anything you want about this contract."

I waved my wand and Hermione was able to move again. She glared at me for a few minutes. She sighed and said, "I need to sit down. This is too much to take in." She sat down at the nearest bench. "But…all this time…this is a lot."

"Ya, I know. I remember feeling this way when I was told about this. But I've had time to get used to it."

"Why? Why would Malfoy's grandfather propose something like this?"

"We have made a few guesses in the past. I think because he can use Nat as a bargaining chip in the future. But the terms that Nat's family set were ironclad. Nat is not even allowed to come to the Malfoy Manor without at least two adults from her family accompanying her." Draco explained.

"Bargaining chip? I don't get it." Hermione asked. She looked shocked that Draco was talking properly with her.

"If at all my grandfather had had his way, he could have gotten the Shepherds to do our bidding while using Nat as a bait. Maybe he would have gotten the Shepherds to join the death eaters."

"But Nat if you love Harry how can you marry Malfoy?"

"Ever since we were told about the contract, we've been researching about marriage contracts and finding ways to end it. Till now, we found nothing. For some weird reason, no book mentions how to end one. This leads me to believe that breaking a marriage contract is either very difficult to end or it's a very simple fix that any person can break it."

"So that's what you do? Research when you both meet up?"

I looked on the floor, "Actually no. We talk. He helps me with Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Potions."

"What? Why don't you come to me?" She looked offended. "I didn't think he was good enough to tutor someone." She looked at him with disbelief.

"Hey, FYI, I'm pretty good at studies." Draco said a bit arrogantly.

I put my hand on Draco's, "Draco, don't get angry. Calm down." I looked at Hermione, "H, contrary to your opinion of him, he is actually very intelligent. In fact, Draco, Blaise Zabini, Padma Patil, Susan Bones and Dean have a strong fight going on for the second rank in the class. His father may have bought him a place on the Slytherin Quidditch team but he is actually good. He secretly tutors even other students."

"You know about that?" Draco asked me with disbelief written all over his face.

"Just because I don't keep an eye on all the time, doesn't mean I don't know things." I smirked at him.

"But why don't you come to me?" I could tell Hermione felt really bad.

"I tried but you tend to forget that I'm not as fast as you when it comes to grasping some subjects, H. But Draco knows I'm a slow learner and he's patient with me. Besides, Harry and Ron come to you and I know they are a handful."

"I still don't understand his behaviour?" She pointed at Draco like was an animal in a zoo. It was comical to see the expressions on their faces. Maybe, they both would be great together.

"He doesn't really have a problem with muggle-borns but he has to keep up appearances. If he behaves like a 'blood-traitor', someone will report back to his father and we don't want that."

"You don't have a problem with muggle-borns?" She asked him in shock.

He shook his head, "My father told me all these things about them but I couldn't bring myself to believe it because by then I had spent enough time at Nat's home. Nat's mom is a muggle-born. She is always so nice to me. She bakes me chocolate chip cookies. How can I not like someone who bakes cookies for me?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"You like muggle-borns only because they bake cookies?" Hermione asked incredulously.

I think the whole contract thing must have messed with her head. She is asking such stupid questions.

"No, Nat's mom is a very nice woman. Even my mother doesn't really have a problem with them. Her sister married one though she was forced to break contact with her. She has to keep up appearances as well." Draco answered.

"But why didn't tell us about this before?"

"H, would you be friends with me if I had told you that I'm friends with Draco? For Gods sake, you punched the guy in the third year! Being friends with him seems impossible to you, imagine if I had told you that I was engaged to him. H, Draco is my best friend. Harry, Ron and you are also my best friends but there are things, which I can share with Draco and not with you three. He is my rock. He knows me inside out. He'll never hurt me." I declared proudly.

He smiled at me, "She's my best friend. Apart from her, my only friend is Blaise. And he knows too." He told me.

"I had a feeling you told Blaise."

"He once caught us as we were leaving from our secret rendezvous. He asked me about it and I told him as vaguely as possible that we are engaged."

"So, you're not friends with Pansy Parkinson?" Hermione asked out of nowhere.

Draco's face went dark at Pansy's name and started laughing.

"Don't take her name." He said like it was physically hurting him to talk about her.

Hermione looked at me for an explanation, "Draco had a little crush on her so he asked her to the ball last year but it seemed to have given her a wrong impression. She began thinking that he is in love with her. Since then he has lost every little feeling he had for her. And she keeps throwing herself at him every opportunity she gets. Let's just say that this year has been tough on him."

Hermione didn't know if she should laugh or be concerned for Draco. "It's okay, H, you can laugh. He won't hex you in my presence."

She ignored me. She was thinking hard about something, "If you both are engaged, then there be some clause in your contract that says that you can't date someone else or something along those lines?"

"After we started researching marriage contracts we found out that most contracts have a clause about dating others or having sex with others. We were not told anything about such clause. So, I asked Father about this. He told me that they wanted to add a clause that would restrict Nat from dating or sleeping with someone else. Nat's family refused and they said it was non-negotiable." Draco told her.

"Why only Nat?" Hermione asked.

Draco huffed, "Breaking rules of a marriage contract have dire consequences. In case such a clause was in place, there's a possibility of losing her magic or lose her sanity or she could die. In that case, I would have been freed from the contract."

"Why the whole meeting clause then?"

"Well, you see if we are unsuccessful in finding a way out of the contract and we have to get married then at least we are friends and we know each other well enough to live a comfortable life." I told her dejectedly.

"Why do you want to end the contract? You both seem 'comfortable'. I'm sorry, I don't know what other word to use."

I gave Hermione a glare. Draco answered, "You see, Nat's family is big on the whole love thing. Her parents fell in love with each other at Hogwarts. One of her uncles fell in love with her aunt while they were working together. Another uncle of hers fell in love with a muggle and they are got married and have good life together. Her grandfather fell in love with her grandmother. The list goes on. So, even Nat wants to fall in love with someone."

"I don't know how to explain it to you. I want to feel love. With Draco, I have a great friendship something that can't be replaced. But I want to be in love with someone before I get married to that person. Love is not comfortable. Love is crazy. If I'm in love with someone than I'm probably going to hate the person with equal passion. That person will make me feel extreme emotions, like how I feel for Harry now. But right now, I'm sad and disappointed in him. But that doesn't change that I love him." I explained. "Besides, I don't want to be the only one in my family who didn't marry for love."

Hermione looked shocked by my explanation. Draco knew this already. He looked sad but he covered it up quickly before I could say anything.

"If Nat and I ended up together there wouldn't be this 'chemistry' that she's looking for." Draco drawled.

"Yes, so H, you cannot tell anyone." I told her.

She looked like she was deciding what to say, "Okay. I won't tell anyone about this."

"I was hoping you'd no. I really wanted to use a spell on you again." I grinned at her.


Sorry, it took me long to post this chapter! i wrote one draft earlier, i didn't like it so i had to change it again! I want to thank the people who have reviewed or have marked the story as your favourite or following the story! i received some really sweet guest reviews! thank you! normally i personally thank the reviewers!

I want to let all the readers know that i'm not going anywhere until i finish the story! i'll not leave the story in between!

Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

Neepa :-)