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Chapter 14: Dishonesty:

Several days had passed. Draco spent them enjoying his new role as "boyfriend". They still fought over petty little things, but for the most part, they enjoyed each other's company. They still hadn't left her parents' house, and Harry had stopped by a couple of times, and told them there were still no leads on the Mud Ones. Draco didn't mind. He liked the little routine that they had started. He had been lonely and desperate most of his life. He did not mind some bliss.

Hermione told Draco that her parents were due to come home in a week. She didn't think they should still be there when they came back. Draco didn't think they should leave. He asked Hermione if she was ashamed of him. She told him that she just wanted to protect her parents from harm. Gee, that made sense.

Therefore, Draco arranged with Potter to take Hermione to Malfoy Manor. The place was like a fort, and no one could enter if Draco wanted to keep them out. Therefore, that was where they went.

"We won't have to be here long, I'm sure," Draco explained to Hermione.

"It's just that I miss my job, and my friends, and my flat. This is no reflection on you; I just want my life back," Hermione complained as she sat down across from Draco in the formal dining room, waiting to be served lunch the first day they arrived.

Draco stood up and went to stand by her chair. It never dawned on him that she might miss things. He didn't have a real job, he had no friends, and his apartment was just an apartment, but of course, Hermione would miss these types of things. "Hermione, I know it won't be long now. Potter already has a plan to draw them out, so no worries." He bent down and kissed the top of her head, then sat back down.

Actually, the plan to lure the Mud Ones out in the open was actually Draco's plan. Potter did not want to go ahead with it, because he thought it was too dangerous, but Draco wanted to find this group and make them pay for everything that had happened to Hermione. After Lunch, Draco took Hermione on a tour of the house. It really was a rather large and depressing place. He asked Hermione if she would want to live here after they married, and she gave him a look that looked as if she had just eaten something sour, so he took that as a no. That was just as well. He didn't want to live here either.

They had been sitting out in the gardens one day, when Hermione mentioned that the gardens were the nicest part of the house. He thought so, too. Even though it was autumn, the garden was full of colour and life. They sat under a pear tree, and she said, "Tell me about growing up here."

"It was okay," was his meager response.

"Be a bit more expansive with your answer," she goaded.

"Really," he said, "I don't want to take about my childhood. My parents loved me the best they could, I was spoiled and given everything, and I was selfish and a brat. End of my life story." He had been leaning against the tree, and she had been leaning against his chest. She turned in his arms when he said that, and looked at him, but she never asked him about his childhood again.

"Tell me about your childhood, princess," he said mocking.

"My dad called me princess," she said with a smile.

"You were probably doted on and praised at every second," Draco reproached. "Oh look, our little Hermione tied her own shoe, isn't she great? Oh joy, little Hermione read her first book and we love her so. Oh my, our little Hermione is married to a Death Eater, we shall cut our wrists." She turned in his arms again and frowned at him. "That last one is yet to come. I'm sure that's what your parents will say."

She pulled away from him. "My parents will accept you and come to love you, because I do, and because they are wonderful people," she said with a 'so there' tone. "Where are your parents?" she wondered.

"They live in Florence, Italy now," Draco told her.

"Are you going to tell them you're marrying a Mudblood?" she asked.

"I might; I might not," he answered. He didn't correct the Mudblood part.

"What does that mean?" she asked with anger.

He sighed, and then said, "We don't see each other much any more. No real reason, but my life is my own, and I do with it what I want."

At that second, Harry Potter came walking out of the house, toward the gardens.

"Your house isn't too well protected, Malfoy," he said as he approached them, "I was just admitted entrance by your house elves." He gave Hermione his hand to help her stand.

"Yes well, Potty, my house elves only admit those whom I have already told them to admit, so that shows what you know," Draco said as he stood. He sounded like a five year old.

"Are you ready to go?" Harry asked.

Hermione looked at one man then the other and said, "Where are we going?"

"Malfoy, do you tell her anything?" Harry asked with a point.

"No," Draco said with a glare.

"Hermione, we're all going to the Ministry today. We're going to the registry office. You're getting married today. There's a team of Aurors waiting for you outside," Harry told her.

Her eyes became as big as saucers, and she said, "We're getting married today? When was this decided? I don't want to get married at some registrar's office. I want a big wedding in my parent's back garden, with all my friends and family!"

Draco moved his head side to side, in a mocking tone, as she spoke, so she hit his arm hard.

Draco told her, "You can still have all of that later. I just want to go ahead and get married now. Can't you do this for me?"

"What is the purpose of this?" she asked.

"Don't you want to get married?" Harry asked.

"Mind your own business, Potter," Draco told him.

"Yes, I want to get married, I just don't understand why we have to do it this way, at this time," she explained.

"What if the Mud Ones kills me?" Draco asked, trying to make her feel guilty. "Don't you want to have all my money?"

"What a perfectly morbid thought, you dolt," she told him, hitting him again.

"If we're going to do this," Harry started, "we have got to go now."

"Well, Granger?" Draco asked her, with one eyebrow raised.

"Fine!" She threw her hands up in defeat.

They arrived at the Ministry, and to say they were well protected would have been an understatement. There were as many as ten Aurors around them. They entered the registrar's office, and the ceremony took all of five minutes. They signed the necessary forms, and then they left the office.

"I thought it was a nice ceremony," Draco said with sarcasm. Hermione frowned during the whole thing. "Hermione, you'll get your big garden wedding, I promise." He pulled her into a tight hug. "It just dawned on me; I didn't get to kiss the bride."

"That's because we got married in a registrar's office," Hermione told him with disdain.

"Well, let's remedy that." Draco cleared his throat and said, "I may now kiss the bride." He bent his head to hers, and he gave her a sweet, but longing, kiss on her lips. He pulled away for a second, and then leaned his head the other direction, and he wrapped his arms around her tighter and he kissed her again. She opened her mouth to him, and they kissed each other hard, oblivious to the fact that they were standing in the hallway at the Ministry of Magic, and there were many people all around.

"I love you," she told him.

"I love you as well," he said back.

"We should get you back," Harry interrupted.

"Potter is such a stick in the mud, isn't he?" Draco asked Hermione. She nodded her head yes.

They walked back to the lobby and waiting by the many fireplaces to go back to Malfoy Manor by floo, when Draco dropped Hermione's hand and said, "I want to go over there and get a paper." He walked away from her and started over to the paper stand, which was in the lobby.

Harry shouted over the throng of people, "Malfoy, it's time to go!"

Draco turned around to give Harry a rude gesture; and that was when Draco was surrounded by a swarm of tall figures, dressed all in white with black mask. It seemed as if they appeared out of thin air. Hermione screamed. Harry pulled her aside and the other Aurors started firing spells and curses after the men. It was pure chaos. Ministry visitors and employees were running everywhere. Wizards and Witches were screaming. There were spells, curses, and flashes of light and smoke. Hermione raised her head to look for Malfoy. Harry was still on top of her. Draco saw that Hermione was safe, just before he disappeared.

(Coming up in Chapter 15, not all is as it appears)