This couldn't be happening. Any moment now, Hermione was going to snap out of it and realize that she had zoned out to the drone of the other brides-to-be chattering endlessly about lace and frills and dress styles. Unfortunately, she quickly realised that this was no nightmare that her apprehensive subconscious had dredged up, but cold hard reality. Why was it that every time she and Draco seemed to make progress, he had to turn around and be an arse? She didn't know how long she could continue this way. It was incredibly frustrating, and now that she actually cared, hurtful. The worst part was that she had no choice, she had to keep enduring this, there was no way out. To think that she had sided with him over Ron! She had been loyal, and here he was backstabbing her to that dreadful Slytherin Pukey or Pucey or whatever. Whipping out her wand, she marched over to him and put her wand to his throat. Her fury was such that he backed up until she had him pinned to the wall with her wand and anger. The time that she had punched him in third year flashed across Draco's mind.

"I will marry you Malfoy, because I have no other choice. But if you think that I am willing now, you're wrong. I was actually beginning to think that there were worse things, but now I'd sooner duel Voldemort than marry you. You're a despicable human being and I'm ashamed that I'll be known as your wife."

As she turned to storm away, Draco saw that her anger did not quite hide the hurt that was evident on her face. The site made his gut twist.

She stopped at the edge of the silent room, (they had quite effectively captured the attention of everyone in the room,) and turned to say,

"And if you think that I will ever pin you up against a wall again like just now because of passionate feelings of any sort, you're wrong. After we've had the necessary number of children, your man-parts can shrivel up from misuse for all I care." Shooting him a scathing look, she stalked out of the room with Ginny and Parvati right on her heels.

As soon as Hermione had left, Astoria sidled up to him and blew him a kiss saying,

"Nice one Drakey. You've very nearly gotten rid of her. Soon we can be together."

Draco looked at her in utter disbelief and contempt. "I always knew you were stupid, but I never knew you were quite so delusional."

Astoria laughed airily and reaching out, began to massage his shoulders. "Oh Drakey, you're just tense, it'll all—"

"Get. Off. Of. Me." Draco said in that way of his that had Astoria backing away quickly.

"Aww, calm down Draco man, no need to get riled up, she is just a mudblood after all." Adrien said.

It was now Draco's turn to have his wand to someone's throat.

"Shut it, Pucey!" he snarled. Then, at the look of disbelief on Adrien's face, because he didn't quite want to let go of the act until he had sorted out this terrible mess between himself and Hermione, Draco added, "She is still my fiancée."

"Barely." Blaise muttered.

xxxxx

"Hermione I am so sorry!" Parvati said breathlessly. (Hermione was fastwhen she was angry.)

"I'm going to kill that ferret!" Ginny said angrily.

"Stop."

Her two friends looked at her in confusion.

"What-what do you mean?" Parvati asked timidly.

"I don't need your pity!" Hermione burst out. "I know that you are both happy with your marriage arrangements. You're just here for me out of pity and I don't want it!"

"Mione, we're here because we're your friends," Ginny began.

"GO!"

Casting one-another a sideways glance, her two friends quietly left her as she demanded, leaving Hermione more alone than ever.

xxxxx

"Hey Mione," Harry Potter said quietly as he gently sat down next to his distraught best friend a while later.

Hermione did not reply right away, choosing to bury her face in Harry's familiar shoulder. Harry just sat patiently, letting her lead. Eventually, she whispered,

"I was beginning to like him."

Squeezing her shoulder, Harry simply said, "I know." Inside, he was burning with contempt at the man who had caused his best friend this pain, but Harry had learned a lot last year, and he knew that his anger was not what Hermione and Malfoy needed. They needed to figure things out—they had no choice.

Hermione's voice shook with her next words.

"Why Harry? Why?"

Harry thought carefully before replying, "Because he's a Slytherin, and you're a Gryffindor. And try as people might, some problems don't fix themselves overnight. But they can be fixed, there just might be some hurt along the way."

"Clearly." He added to himself.

xxxxx

Draco paced back and forth in his and Hermione's room, every once in a while casting a nervous glance at the door through which Hermione would undoubtedly eventually enter. This scene and these feelings were becoming all too familiar, Draco thought rancorously. Yet this time, the blame rested squarely on his shoulders. And he simply had to patch things up. For though he and Hermione didn't have to get along to be married, though he could continue to be an embittered, nasty Slytherin and side with his housemates and still tie the knot, he didn't want to. For truthfully, Draco cared for the clever Gryffindor. He wanted to make the marriage work. He truly felt badly about how he had hurt her, and he wanted to make amends. At that moment, the Gryffindor in question flounced into the room. Draco's stomach leapt into his throat. Here it was. Here was his chance.

"Hermione, I—"

"Shut up." The anger and resentment in her voice made Draco feel like he'd been stupefied. While she had rarely been immediately forgiving, she had never sounded like this. Sure, she had sounded disgusted at him before, or like she despised him, but this time, hatred laced her voice. This went beyond dislike. This time, is outburst had been the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Never mind." Draco whispered, despair seizing him inwardly as he spoke.

"That's what I thought." Hermione snapped. As she said it, her voice shook, and that was a hundred times worse to Draco than the anger.

xxxxx

Later that evening as Draco lay alone in their room, (Hermione was out with Ginny and Parvati, no doubt cursing him at this very instant,) Draco decided that if Hermione wouldn't speak to him knowingly, the trick was to make her do it unwittingly. If he managed to get back into her good books that way, then he could truly apologize. "Among other things," he thought, as he fingered the ring that felt as though it was burning a hole in his pocket.

Draco was temporarily grateful for the solitude in their room as he got to work. Taking his textbook for History of Magic class that he had never, and would never open, he transfigured it into a simple-looking black book. He then flipped it open and tapped each side of the page. "His" appeared on the left side and "Hers" on the right. He then took his Divination textbook and did the same so that he had twin books before him. Grasping one of them, he dipped his eagle quill into some ink and began to write on the His side. As he did, the words began to flow not only into his book, but into the other as well, as though some magical being was penning the same words in the other book. Seeing this, Draco smiled as he wrote. This would work, he was sure of it.

Dear Hermione,

I am so sorry about what happened between you and your fiancée today. Though, knowing him, I am not surprised. The fact of the matter is, he doesn't deserve you. I wish the Sorting Hat had decided that I do. I have liked you from afar for many years. Though I know that I have absolutely no chance in the world now, thanks to this Marriage Law, I do know that you could use a friend now, and I would be more than happy to help you any way that I can. I understand if you don't want to write to someone that you don't know in some strange magical book, but if you do, know that I am here. Don't forget, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. ;)

Sincerely yours,

A Secret Admirer

When he had finished, he placed the other book with his letter on her pillow and as the finishing touch, conjured a single red rose that he lay atop it. Then, he hurried out of the room so as not to appear suspicious.

A while later, Hermione arrived at their room, feeling a lot better after making up with Ginny and Parvati, and then spending quite some time mocking the Slytherins to one another, (minus Blaise of course.) She was all set for a hot bath and a good night's sleep. When she entered their room however, she was stopped short by the sight of a red rose on her pillow. Thinking that it was a good will gesture from Draco, she marched over to the bed and banished it exasperatedly. Upon doing that however, she was once again surprised by a black book that lay innocently on her pillow. Not one to ever cause damage to a book of any kind, Hermione picked it up and carefully opened it. She knew that in the magical world, books could be incredibly dangerous. However, this one was unlike any she had ever seen. There was something inherently magical about it, and as she flipped through the pages, she saw that it was a diary of some sort, yet one that seemed designed for two people as the pages were divided into "His" and "Hers." When she got to the first page, she saw that the "His" side of the page had been filled in by a message from…a secret admirer? And he wanted to talk to her? She assumed that she was to write her reply on the other side of the page. But how would he read it? Was he going to sneak into her room and take the book to write his next letter? Well, there was only one way to find out. As practical as she was, Hermione also possessed a fierce curiosity, something that she developed no doubt from being friends with Harry and Ron for so long. Seizing a quill and some ink, she began to write her reply.

From where he sat in a secluded spot in the library, her fiancée smiled as words began to appear on the "Hers" side of his book. This would work, he just knew it.