A/N Wow. I just wanted to say thank you for the positive response this story has been getting. As you can probably tell, I prefer shorter but more frequent updates, and if that's alright with all of you I'll keep it that way. With that, I'll let you get on with the story. Please do let me know if you have comments/ideas/constructive criticism!
~Thanks to JK Rowling
Hermione could barely sleep a wink that night. She stayed awake tossing and turning, riddled with worries about the next day. Part of her was worried that she wouldn't get put with Ron. The other part was terrified that she would. The truth was that Hermione was coming to realize that she only loved Ron like a brother. She cared for him deeply, but not as a lover. She just wasn't attracted to him that way anymore. She needed someone more sophisticated, adventurous, and fresh.She'd known Ron for years, knew him like the back of her hand. There wasn't much left to discover with him. She just wondered if the Sorting Hat would realize that, or if her match existed at Hogwarts. On the other hand, maybe Ron was the safe bet. At least with him she knew she could depend on having a caring husband who really knew and respected her. Her mind kept going in circles.
The following morning, Hermione could barely touch her toast. Her stomach was in knots. Ginny wasn't doing much better.
"What if I don't get matched with you?" she asked Harry desperately, wringing her hands. "You're the one—what if, after everything, you get taken away from me?"
"I'm sure we will get put together. We're meant to be—the Sorting Hat will know." Harry comforted his distraught girlfriend.
"Don't worry Mione, the hat will know to put us together too," Ron told Hermione, thinking he was comforting her. All she could do was give him a weak smile, which he interpreted as nerves, as guilt settled in the pit of her stomach.
Over at the Slytherin table, Draco Malfoy nervously pushed his food around his plate, too unsettled to eat any of it. What if he didn't get paired with a Slytherin? No girl from any other house would accept him after his actions in previous years. Well, maybe a Hufflepuff could eventually, but he shuddered at the thought of having to marry one of them. Then there was the fact that he was expected to become a father. He had vowed never to become one after being raised by his own father. What if his children became like him? No one should become Draco Malfoy.
"My God, what if I get paired with a mudblood?" Theodore Nott complained. Could you imagine having to touch one of them?"
"Shut it Nott!" Draco snarled. "You know that stuff doesn't matter anymore!"
"Well well well, looks like Drakey's become a blood traitor. I wonder what daddy would think." Theo jeered.
"I don't love them, it's just that last year helped me get my priorities straight," Draco replied evenly.
Their fight was interrupted by McGonagall calling for their attention. Filch was standing next to her with a stool and the infamous Sorting Hat. Draco felt like vomiting.
As Filch set the hat on the stool and McGonagall produced an official looking parchment, you could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Many of the students looked nauseous. As Hermione scanned the faces of her peers, she made eye contact with Malfoy and was surprised to see the nervousness and fear she felt reflected in his stormy grey eyes.
"I will call the girls one by one by age, youngest to oldest. The hat will pair them with their…husband to be. Your pairing is final." McGonagall said, looking a little weak herself. "You should at least know, that the hat will pair you with the person it most feels you truly have the best chance of building a good life with." She added kindly. With no further ado, the dreaded ceremony began.
"Lovegood, Luna."
Luna walked, no waltzed, up to the stool where she sat looking calm as a cucumber. After several moments, the hat called out,
"Theodore Nott!" and Luna got up and waltzed over to stand in front of an infuriated Theo.
"Hello," Luna said dreamily. "I'm a pureblood so you don't need to worry about that, although you really should work on getting over that, it really isn't very nice." Theo opened and closed his mouth but couldn't say anything. Luna looked at Blaise and Draco and said, "Must be the nargles." Looking at Theo again, she said, "I'm going to go wait with the girls while they get sorted, I'll see you after." And with that, she skipped off, leaving behind three dumbfounded Slytherins. Theo finally seemed to regain his ability to speak.
"Looney Lovegood?" he whispered hoarsely.
"Ah, the nargles finally let you talk?" Blaise sniggered.
"Weasley, Ginevra!"
"Sh, Potter's girlfriend is up!" Draco said.
Looking extremely worried, Ginny shakily took her place on the stool. The hat had barely touched her bright red hair before—
"Harry Potter!"
Ginny squealed and practically ripped the hat off before running into Harry's open arms and kissing him passionately.
"Of course Potter got his girl," Draco muttered. "Next it'll be Weasel and Granger."
Astoria Greengrass got called up next. Many of the boys interests' peaked as the beautiful blonde sat on the stool. Draco looked on with mixed feelings. In another life he would have been betrothed to her. He couldn't decide if it was better this way.
"Ronald Wesley!"
There was an audible gasp. Ron turned to Hermione.
"Th-there must have been a mistake," he gasped.
Hermione touched his arm.
"It's okay Ron," she said quietly. "We'll still have each other, just in a different way."
Ron looked hurt, as though he had expected her to put up a fight. But as Hermione watched him shakily walk over to Astoria Greengrass and awkwardly shake her hand, she knew: Ron wasn't the one. Then the realization hit her, that if she wasn't going to end up with Ron, she would be marrying some other guy in the room. As she looked around, she felt increasingly nervous as she realized that none of them appealed to her any more than Ron had.
"Sorry mate," Blaise said to Draco sympathetically as the Weasel went over and shook her hand.
"It's for the better," Draco said, more to convince himself. "That would have been a boring life."
"Yes, but it would have been one you could depend on." Theo pointed out.
"Aren't you a fountain of joy today, Nott!" Draco snarled at unhelpful Theo.
The sorting progressed quickly. Neville got paired with Hannah Abott, Dean Thomas with Padma Patil. Blaise did fairly well, getting paired with Parvati Patil. A distraught Pansy Parkinson was paired with an equally distraught Seamus Finnigan. Draco breathed a sigh of relief when Pansy was paired. He wished poor Seamus all the best. Everyone was relieved when Gregory Goyle got placed with Millicent Bullstrode, effectively taking care of one another for everyone else's sake. Daphne Greengrass got paired with Ernie MacMillan—that was a bit of a surprise. Then it was Hermione Granger's turn. Draco watched with interest. He wondered who would get stuck with the bookworm. It never even occurred to him that it could be himself.
As Hermione walked up to the stool, she felt as though she was walking to her doom. There were only a handful of boys left to get paired, and none of them were her friends. "Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about getting put with Malfoy," Hermione thought as she scanned the receding group of momentary bachelors. "We're certainly not 'meant to be.'" Then the hat was placed on her head and she focused on its little voice.
"Well well well, aren't we in a tizzy about this whole thing? For someone who just got forced to break up with her boyfriend, you seem to be handling it fairly well. But who to put you with? Life commitment's a big deal. Ahhh I see that you seek someone sophisticated, adventurous, and someone fresh, who you'll have the experience of getting to know. With that in mind, I know just who to put you with. And believe me, it's a fresh idea, not something you'd ever expect."
Before Hermione had time to fully process its words, the hat was speaking again, and this time to the room at large.
"Draco Malfoy!"
Hermione screamed. Fortunately not many people heard her over the din that was created at the hat's shocking words. The equally stunned blonde however, did hear, and her cry hurt him more than he was willing to admit.
"Oh well mate, blood doesn't really matter anymore right?" Theo sneered.
"Geez Theo, is it really the time?" Blaise snapped at him as he glanced at Draco worriedly. "Drake just got stuck with Granger forever."
The truth was, the issue of Granger's blood wasn't what was making Draco feel like he wanted to throw up at his engagement proclamation. It was that now, he'd have to live with Hermione Granger, Hogwarts' resident bookworm and know-it-all, for the rest of his life. He'd have to see her accusatory glance every day. There'd be nowhere for him to hide with his guilt, because she'd know. He realized that with her, he'd be stuck doing what he knew how to do best—hiding all of his pain and insecurities behind a sneering mask of taunts and jeers. He'd have to go at her with full force, because otherwise he'd have to let her in, and Draco simply couldn't do that.
Hermione was bordering on hyperventilating. Had the hat really just condemned her to marry Draco Malfoy, bane of her existence? Even if the war had changed him, no one could change that much in a year. This must be some sick joke. The hat was supposed to be smart for heaven's sake!
"Geez Granger, I never thought you to be the melodramatic type," that cold, cold voice drawled. "Nosy, bossy, infuriating, yes but—"
"Oh can it Malfoy!" Hermione snapped. "I'm in no mood for your twisted games. My life has effectively just been ruined and—"
"You think I'm jumping for joy?" Don't forget I have to marry you!"
"I think I've gotten the shorter end of this stick," Hermione snarled in a very un-Hermione way.
"That is enough everyone." McGonagall cut in to the din. "Now that you have all been paired, you may retire to your respective common rooms. We will meet again this time tomorrow to go over details of your new living quarters and marriage course. I expect that you would all like some time to yourselves before then, so, until tomorrow."
"One last night of freedom," Parvati murmured to Hermione as they watched their respective Slytherin husbands-to-be stalk away.
I hope that you like the couples, if not please bear with me, I spent a long time matching them and picked them all for a reason. If you are really unhappy, pm me—I'll be happy to explain my logic behind them. Until next time!
