Disclaimer: See Prologue

Thank you all for your reviews! You guys are so awesome, despite the laziness of me- I'm afraid I don't want to take the time at this point to list you all. I love you all, though!

Here is the much anticipated, very long next chapter! I was hit with a rather brilliant idea as I was typing this. It goes a little off course, but I feel it works. I also apologize for taking so long with this chapter. My story, Coyote Ugly, is nearing its finish and I have another story that is going to go up when it is done that I'm also working on. This one has been on the back burner for a while and I think it finally paid off...as you can see.

Kisses!

Allison

Chapter 6

"I refuse to have a muggle wedding! It'll be too expensive!"

"Too bad! I've already got it planned, approved by your mother, and ordered!"

"Damn it, Granger!"

"Go ahead! Hit me! DO IT! SEE IF YOU'RE MAN ENOUGH!" There was a silence. "That's what I thought!"

"And you had damned well better show up for the muggle ceremony AS WELL AS the wizarding ceremony, Draco Alexander Malfoy, or so help me you'll be paying for both ceremonies twice!"

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"The muggle ceremony is planned so that it's BEFORE the wizarding ceremony! If you don't show up to my muggle ceremony, I won't show up to your wizard ceremony!"

"WHAT!"

"That's what you get for making ME plan the wedding BY MYSELF!"

"LIKE I REALLY WANT TO MARRY YOU, MUDBLOOD!"

"WELL IT'S NOT LIKE I HAVE MUCH CHOICE IN THE MATTER EITHER, IS IT, MALFOY!"

Conversations like this one rang throughout Hogwarts on a fairly regular basis in the three weeks since the teenagers had signed the contract. Even the ever-twinkly Albus Dumbledore was beginning to sigh in frustration as Hermione Granger-soon-to-be-Malfoy and her intended, Draco, battled it out over every single detail. Living arrangements, wedding plans, schooling plans...even when they would have their kids. Hogwarts had become their battlefield, and the entirity of its occupants were the casualties. Even Peeves had the sense not to mess with either one after they stormed away from their latest fight. And the teachers? If it had been bad before, it was Hell in Hogwarts now.

As the big day drew nearer, Pansy, Hermione, and Ginny began spending obscene ammounts of time together, talking. Draco, Harry, and Ron would glare at the closed door to Hermione's room warily, looking at each other in mild disgust. For Hermione, Harry and Ron had called a truce with Draco. To avoid being socked at the top of his fiancee's strength, Draco had agreed. That didn't mean, however, that they enjoyed each others' presence. Far from it. All three men paced outside of Hermione's door...Draco because being a courteous host was something that had been drilled into him from birth and Harry and Ron because they weren't sure they wanted to leave Hermione and Ginny alone with the two Slytherins.

"I don't think I can do this..." Hermione said to Pansy and Ginny after one particularly nasty row with Malfoy. "We can't even begin to get along while we're only sharing a bathroom and a kitchen! What'll happen when we have to share a bedroom, too?"

"Why don't you ask Natasha if she'll leave your room up just in case you guys get in a fight...that way you can escape each other and cool down." Pansy suggested.

"No good..." Hermione shook her head. "It was in the contract- we MUST share a room at all times."

"What does Lucius want you to do, kill each other?" Ginny asked. "I can't believe Dumbledore would go for that..."

"I think you underestimate the ammount of Slytherin cunning that our dear Headmaster holds within him." Hermione snorted, falling back on her bed with a sigh. "He'll only see it as the perfect opportunity for his blasted Unity Campaign." She shook her head and sighed. "Oh bleeding well. At least I got Lucius to pledge his protection to my entire muggle family." She said.

"Say what!" Pansy asked.

"It was in the part of the contract that I sent to him editing it. It was still there when I double-checked it before signing it and Draco made mention of it, too...so I know it wasn't a trick." Hermione said as she sighed and got out her manicure set, beginning to work on Pansy's hands. The pureblooded girls had never had one before...and they'd fallen in love with them.

SCENEBREAKSCENEBREAKSCENEBREAK

Draco paced. "I can't believe she wants to get married on new year's eve." He muttered. "Does she have any idea how much that's going to cost?"

"It's always been her favorite holiday." Ron shrugged. "She always talked about spending New Year's Eve at her paternal grandmother's house." He sighed and picked up his potions essay, reading over it again. "Oi...I'll never get this polished enough that SNAPE will want to accept it." He sighed and put it back down, looking up at Harry. Harry just shrugged and finished his last sentence before sprinkling sand over his own essay to dry the ink.

"Malfoy...Hermione is rarely predictable." He said as he poured the extra sand back into its container. "And I'm finding with Kayla that it's best just to smile and nod when a woman approaches you with a plan...less chance of a fight that way." He and the sixth year Gryffindor had been dating for the past year...now that the marriage law had come out they were marrying. She was a muggleborn, so his petition had been legit. Unfortunately for poor Harry...Kayla wore the pants in the relationship.

"Whipped..." Ron murmured with a snort and Draco had to smirk in agreement.

"I am NOT whipped." Harry muttered sullenly. "No more so than Ron. I heard Melissa telling Kayla that Ron had agreed to wearing a purple tuxedo because it would match her wedding dress in THEIR muggle wedding." Draco snorted and busied himself making a snack in the small kitchen.

"You think that's funny, Malfoy?" Ron half-stood, fists balled.

"Oh not at all, Weasley." Draco said, mildly. "After all, it IS an every day occurance that you two concede to the demands of your lovely young ladies." He set out small sandwiches and tea for the visitors, taking some for himself. Suddenly, Hermione emerged from her bedroom.

"Natasha!" She called. When the woman appeared in her Victorian portrait, Hermione smiled. "Is there any way for you to set up another sitting room with a password for me?"

"Why?" Natasha looked suspicously at the teenager.

"Well...I just thought that I may need somewhere to go to cool off if Mal-Draco and I have a spat sometimes." She said.

Natasha still looked uncertain, but she said calmly. "I will talk it over with Albus." And then she was gone, back to her hallway portrait. Pansy and Ginny looked amused as they watched Draco's eyes rivet themselves to Hermione as she walked in. Exchanging glances, they headed for the door.

"I'll see you later, Mione." Ginny called. "I have an essay for McGonagall due tomorrow."

"And I have that potions essay to start." Pansy said. "See you tomorrow in classes, Hermione. Draco." She nodded. "Potter, Weasley, close your mouths...we know we're hot." She grinned at the incredulous looks from the two men, as her comment had made no sense whatsoever.

Natasha appeared, suddenly. "The Misses Watkins and Gray are here." She announced.

"That's our cue." Harry said, standing up and picking up his things. "Kayla said she wanted me to look at flowers with her before bed."

"Melissa wants me to colour-coordinate our outfits for tomorrow." Ron made a face as he picked up his own things. "Blimey you're lucky, Harry."

Hermione and Draco exchanged amused glances as they watched their visitors disappear out the door. They then realized that they were actually being friendly towards each other, stiffened, and stormed into their respective rooms.

SCENEBREAKSCENEBREAKSCENEBREAK

Several days later, Hermione was eating her customary toast when Draco's Eagle Owl landed before her. She glanced across the hall at Draco, who shrugged, and took the letter from the owl, who then flew over to his master with a delivery. Opening it, she read it over. Once. Twice. Thrice. Each time she confirmed her first impression of the letter, her face changed colors. From Pale to Green to Red. Standing up, she stammered out an excuse and moved swiftly towards the Slytherin table.

"You said we could have Christmas at my parents' while I broke the news to them!" Hermione snapped out the moment her fiance turned towards her.

"How the Bleeding Hell was I supposed to know that father would demand our presence at the Christmas Ball?" Draco snapped, sighing when he saw the tears lingering behind the anger and relaxing. "We'll get this sorted out, Hermione. The Christmas Ball isn't until the twenty-fifth. We could still spend Christmas Eve at your Parents' and go from there to the Manor."

Blaise and Pansy looked at each other and mouthed one word together "WHIPPED"

Draco and Hermione shot the other two simultaneously dirty looks before continuing their conversation. "But I was so hoping to...oh well, nevermind. You're right. That's the best thing to do..." Hermione said, after some consideration. "I've got to write Mum about the change in plans! If we go to the Burrow for the first two days, we can go to my house on the Twenty-Second, and from there to the Manor for the ball and another day after that for you to sleep off your hangover- don't look at me like that you know as well as I do how well you recover after a night of drinking, and I'm sure there will be plenty of that at the Ball- before we have to return to the muggle world so that your mother, my mother, Ginny, Pansy and I can finish the arrangements for the muggle ceremony." Hermione clapped her hands together in glee at these plans and rushed off.

Draco watched her with a bemused look on her face before shaking his head and going back to his oatmeal, murmuring. "Bloody Woman..." But the statement lacked venom, and Pansy and Blaise grinned even wider before standing up and hurrying off to class.

Hermione sent one of the school's barn owls off with letters for Mrs Weasley and her own mother, Annelise Granger to inform them of the slight change in plans before hurrying down to Snape's class, to find him in as foul a mood as the Defense Teacher had been. Hermione knew that he had been counting on her to be able to get him out of having to marry a stranger, but she still felt that marrying straight into the heart of one of the more infamous Death Eater families to be the best thing to do...if the stupidest.

As she sat with Draco, meekly working on the potion that they had been assigned, there was a knock on the door and Minister Fudge swept in without waiting for an answer. "Severus, I really must insist on speaking with you..." He turned to the class. "Students, this is Professor Bordon. She will be your substitute for the time being." Hermione's eyes widened as she slowly scraped ingrediants into the potion from the small cutting board, staring at Fudge before turning to look at Draco, who was equally pale.

"Severus Snape, under the decree of the new law recently passed, I'm afraid I must ask you for your wand." Tonks the Auror said. She glanced across the room and met Hermione's eyes. Hermione snapped into action, grabbing an ingrediant from a jar and muttering a spell. She stood and hurried forward.

"Before you go, Professor, I need to ask you a question about the properties of the Polyjuice Potion." She said, touching his arm and slipping the fake wand that she had just conjured up his sleeve, grasping his real wand and sliding it smoothly up her own sleeve.

"There is no time for that, Girl!" Fudge roared. "Return to your seat at once! Mr. Snape, your wand!"

Tonks met the Potions Professor's eyes as she took the "wand" firmly between both hands and snapped it smoothly in half. The rest of the class watched in horror as their Potions Professor's face turned to devastation and he slumped, following Tonks silently out of the room. In the back, Pansy let out a soft sob. Blaise put his head in his hands, and Draco's hand reached for and gripped Hermione's as if she were a lifeline. Hermione met Harry's gaze across the room from where he had a hand on Pany's back lightly, and then she turned and looked to Ron, where he and Ian Stryke were speaking quietly. They met her eyes and nodded.

Hermione smirked and, for the first time in two years, raised her hand.

"Yes Miss...er..."

"Granger, Professor. I was wondering...would you think that the heart ring of Oak or Aspen was better for this potion?" She motioned to the cauldrons steaming all around. The entire NEWTS Potions class turned to stare at her. Everyone in there knew that Aspen would melt the cauldrons and that Oak would cause an explosion...so what was she doing?

"Oh...Oak, of course..." The phony teacher stammered after a glance at Fudge. Hermione looked at Draco, who handed her the ingrediant silently. She turned and made sure Ron and Harry were ready at once and together they tossed the oak into their cauldrons. As Hermione was in the front, center of the room and the boys were in each back corner, the chaos was complete and immediate. All three cauldrons exploded, showering the students who hadn't caught on in time to put up a shielding spell, and when they hurried off to the hospital wing, Hermione, looking much like a goddess as the glowing bits of potion fell around her but none touched her, turned to Fudge with a Snape-worthy sneer.

"It would seem, Minister, that your substitute Potions Professor is as incompetent at potions as you are at being the Minister of Magic. We could teach ourselves more in one class hour than that blubbering imbecile could teach us in three years." She drawled. "Thank you but no thank you, we will keep Professor Snape."

"That is not possible, Miss Granger." Fudge sputtered, turning purple.

"Oh but I assure you, it is." Hermione said, already on her way to the class's fireplace. "There's the door." She pointed. "Feel free to help yourself out."

When he remained there, sputtering, Draco rose to his feet with his infamous smirk. "It seems that our dear Minister needs some help finding the doorway."

"Shall we?" Ron and Harry stood.

"Let's." Blaise stood as well and the four boys forcibly took the arms of both Minister and Substitute, escorting them rather roughly out the door and slamming it.

"Lock it!" Hermione warned as she took some floo powder from above the fire place. "Lock it well!" The four boys fired every locking spell that they could possibly imagine at the door, finally turning to look at Hermione as she tossed the floo powder into the fireplace.

"Professor Dumbledore!" She said, and the professor's head appeared in the fire. "Minister Fudge was just here...he's taken Professor Snape!"

"Did he leave you a substitute?"

"The substitute found herself in over her head." Draco drawled, walking up beside Hermione. "She was escorted out."

"We have the doors locked, but I don't think it will keep them long, Professor." Harry added as he walked up to Hermione's other side.

"I believe that this is Professor Stryke's planning period." Dumbledore said, gravely. "I know that she has a fireplace in her room, as well."

"Will do, Professor." Hermione said.

"Was anyone hurt?"

"They went to the Hospital Wing immediately..." Draco said. "There were only one or two."

"Good, then." Dumbledore said. "I will go and attempt to save our wayward Potions Master. Miss Granger...you know what to do."

"Yes, Professor." Hermione said. When the green flames disappeared, she turned to the class. "Right then...we're going to Professor Stryke. Harry and Ron will go first to inform her of what's happened, and Draco and I will go last to insure that everyone gets there. Fudge is sure to be right pissed about being outwitted by a group of Seventh Years, and he's not going to be happy when the locking spells on that door wear off." She said, taking the jar of floo powder off of the mantle and holding it. "One at a time, now...Harry, you go first. Professor Stryke will be in her office, I think."

"Right." Harry grabbed some powder. "Professor Stryke's Office!" And he disappeared. Ron was soon afterwards, followed by Blaise, Pansy, Ian, Will, and the rest of their class in turn. Draco paused as he was about to go through, turning to her.

"I'm glad I'm marrying a brilliant witch." He said, smirking and kissing her hard as he threw the floo powder in. "Professor Stryke's Office!"

Hermione knew that time was running out, and she took a pinch of floo powder in her hand as she looked around the room carefully to see if anyone had forgotten anything. She spotted her wand on the desk beside Draco's and she cursed, picking hers up and whispering. "Accio, wands!" Shoving the class's wands into her bag, she turned in fear as the door swung open to reveal the minister. Taking off at a run, she made for the fireplace. He moved to intercept her, and she threw the floo powder into the fireplace followed by her bag...which held all of the wands save for Professor Snape's. "PROFESSOR STRYKE'S OFFICE!" The bag disappeared with a flash as Fudge tripped her roughly and she fell. Her head came in contact with the desk and all went black.