It was a rainy day when the second letters came. Ron and Harry were aggravating Ginny and Hermione because they had nothing to do. Hermione told them there were lots to do, but they whined about how it was all 'girly' stuff that they could do. But whatever, Hermione didn't really care what was going on with them. She wanted to read this new book that came out about the effects of the Cruciatus curse.

She was in the middle of the first chapter when Harry yelled for everybody to come downstairs. Hermione suddenly went pale. She knew what these were. She had been expecting this for weeks now. Suddenly her body was shaking and there was a lump in her throat the size of Africa. She could barely muster the strength to get up and walk down the stairs.

Everybody looked grave. They would all be getting their spouses today. Everybody, including George and Charlie. These were the people that they were going to be paired up with for the rest of their lives. Everybody had their envelopes in their hand.

Mrs. Weasley looked like she was crying. "Whatever happens today, remember that you will all have a home here."

Charlie went first. As he was reading, his face got paler and paler. He went upstairs a few minutes later, never saying anything. George went after him, opening his and looking quite pleased. An actual smile spread across his face.

"You know, I guess marrying Angelina Johnson wouldn't be too bad!" George said.

"But aren't you already dating her?" Harry asked.

"Exactly!"

Harry shrugged. He looked at his envelope. He decided that he was going to go next. He gulped as he opened it. His face looked really grim as he read the paper. He looked at it for a few moments, and then looked up. "Ginny, open yours." He said. And she looked at him oddly and then she read hers.

She was in his arms less than two seconds later kissing his face. "We get to be together, Harry! Forever! This doesn't scare you, does it?" And they were back to kissing. Harry spun Ginny around ten times. They were a mush of black and red hair. Hermione swore that they were both crying together.

"We're getting married, baby! I always knew we were going to get married. I love you so much!" They went upstairs to 'celebrate'.

And then there were two. "I guess I'll go." Ron shrugged. Hermione could tell he was nervous. His ears were turning pink and he was wiping his hands on his pants. Hermione always knew that Ron was pretty pale, but when she saw the look on his face when he read the paper she thought he was a ghost.

"What does it say, Ron?" she asked. He sat down next to her.

"Well, the person I'm working with isn't my actual 'soul mate' or whatever you call it." Ron said. His ears were still a bright pink color. "I have to work with Pansy Parkinson this year. I think I'm going to puke."

"Ron, it could be worse." Hermione reasoned. "It could have been Millicent Bulstrode. Do you know who your future spouse is?"

Ron actually smiled at Hermione. "Yeah, Gabrielle Delacour. She's a bit younger, but that doesn't really matter. What matters is that I won't be having kids until Gabrielle graduates which isn't for another six years I think. I'm going to have to contact her you know? I'll talk to Bill and Fleur sometime soon. Open yours, Hermione."

Hermione was shaking. She didn't want to. But she had to. The rest of her life was in this piece of paper. The envelope was nice. It was from the ministry, of course.

Miss Hermione Granger –

We are here to inform you that your spouse for the project is your future spouse also. You will have three months to marry upon graduating Hogwarts.

Your baby will be made from a potion with DNA from you and your partner. It will show what one of your possible kids will look like. Concerning the rumours, you will not be 'pregnant'. The baby will be sleeping in your house, waiting for you after you give your DNA.

Remember that your spouse is your soul mate. We have developed the most advanced technology that allowed us to see the bonds between two souls. There is a zero chance of the ministry being wrong in their calculations, as this magic is always correct.

Your spouse is Draco Malfoy.

We hope that you live a happy future together,

The Ministry

Well, this was an interesting turn of events. She had to deal with this. She could get through it. She had dealt with worse things than this. She was starting to forgive Malfoy and Narcissa. Hermione had acted rashly that day at Andromeda's. It wasn't their fault that Lucius had cursed them for over fifteen years. God, Malfoy missed out on almost his whole life so far. Hermione had spent some time crying for them.

It was like Malfoy saw his life, but someone else acted it out for him. He couldn't control what he said or how he acted. It was awful. Hermione, knowing this, decided that she needed to give both Narcissa and Malfoy a chance.

"Who is it?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Draco Malfoy." answered Hermione.

Mrs. Weasley let out a small sigh. She couldn't think of anything to say. Neither could Hermione. Like she always did when she was mad lately, Hermione cooked with her mum. It really relieved her stress. Hermione loved how she could make just a few simple ingredients turn into a wonderful meal. She loved food. Her love for food came after the war and she moved in with the Weasley's. Hermione was so underweight when she came home. She loved being with Mrs. Weasley when she was making food. There was so much of it. Hermione gained five pounds the week after she came back.

When everything was simmering and there wasn't a lot left to do,Hermione went upstairs. She was interrupted by Charlie. His eyes were red and swollen, he had obviously been crying. "Can I talk to you, Hermione?" He asked.

Hermione tilted her head, her eyebrows were furrowed. "Is this about the letters?" she asked.

"Yeah." Charlie ushered her into his room. He immediately started crying as soon as Hermione closed the door. He was muttering unintelligible words.

Hermione rubbed his back as he cried. When he calmed down, Hermione decided that it would probably help if she asked him what was going on. "What's up, Charlie?"

"I think I want to kill myself, Hermione. I'm not even kidding." Charlie hiccupped.

"It can't be that bad, Charlie." Hermione said, rubbing his back still. "What's her name? If you don't mind me asking."

"Henry Gale." Charlie stated. And he started sobbing again. "I'm not gay, Hermione! I don't know what to do! They said that there is a zero chance of them being wrong, but they have to be!"

Hermione paled. Not that this was bad, this was just very unexpected. "Charlie, I think you need to accept the fact that your soul mate is a man. This doesn't make you any less of a wizard. In fact, one of the most famous wizards of all time was gay."

"Harry is gay?" Charlie questioned.

Hermione started laughing. "No, you silly! Dumbledore was gay!" Hermione had tears in her eyes because she was laughing so hard.

"Dumbledore was gay?!" Charlie nearly screeched. "I would have never thought!"

"Exactly." Hermione smiled. "It won't be so bad! Do you even know who this guy is?"

"He was Bill's year. I guess he's handsome. He was pretty nice to me too." He said. "I don't I can accept this whole gay thing soon, but I think I might be able too. I always thought I was straight. This is just… weird. I can't even grasp my head around this."

"You know, Charlie, have you ever thought you might be bisexual?" Hermione questioned. This was the strangest conversation of her life. She never thought she would ever have this conversation with anyone.

Charlie looked like he wanted to say something. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He tried again. "When I think back, I did have a crush on one guy. I thought it was just a man-crush and I brushed it off, but I realize it wasn't now. Hermione, what am I going to say to my parents? They'll disown me, I know it!"

"Hold up, Charlie! That is completely wrong. Your parents love you. Our parents love us. They are the most accepting family I have ever met! They took me in as their daughter – which is more than I could ever ask for. Don't put yourself down, Charlie. Mum and Dad will be proud of you. I know it."

Charlie rested his head on Hermione's shoulder. "You know, you're a lot better at this sister stuff than Ginny is."

Hermione laughed a little. "It's funny, because I was an only child my whole life. I'm going to go send a letter to my um, whatever you call the person – a spouse I guess?"

"Who were you partnered up with?" Charlie asked, sitting up. "I completely forgot about you! How are you handling the situation?"

"Well, it could be worse. I've been partnered up with Malfoy. I'm going to go send him a letter. He and I have a lot of talking to do."

Hermione walked upstairs. Charlie would be okay. This was definitely not the worst possible outcome of this situation. It was a very interesting outcome, but not the worst. When she got to her room, she immediately sat down to write a letter to Draco.

She didn't know what to write. She incessantly tapped her quill against the paper. She wrote three drafts of just a stupid letter that was literally just asking him to have tea. She finally wrote a letter about an hour later that she was happy with.

Dear Draco,

I guess I should be calling you that now because we're going to be married someday. There is no point in sugar-coating it; we're getting married.

I heard about what happened to you. I'm sorry. If you want to talk to someone about it, I guess I'm here.

I was actually wondering if we could talk about our circumstances over tea or something tomorrow afternoon, if that works for you. You are welcome here at the Burrow.

Sincerely,

Hermione Granger

PS. Teddy is welcome too.

It wasn't great, but it would do. She gave the letter to the Weasley's new owl, Eugene. Pig had a rather unfortunate accident a few months before. It was tragic, but they were okay. Eugene was a good owl.

Hermione continued reading her book while she was waiting for a reply, but she couldn't concentrate. She eventually fell asleep with her book on her face, which was rather uncomfortable, but she was too lazy to take it off.

She was awoken by a tap on her window. "Eugene!" She cried. "How long have you been there, buddy? Look! We got a letter!" She gave him a biscuit and he was off.

Hermione quickly tore the envelope apart and opened the letter.

Dear Hermione,

I suppose I have to call you Hermione now instead of Granger. That is the truth. You always liked to state things as they were. You haven't changed a bit.

Thanks, I guess, for offering to be a person to talk to. I think I might take you up on that. No one really gets me around here. It's great, but there is no one here the same age as me.

I actually have to watch Teddy tomorrow. You said he was welcome; would it be an issue if I brought him? He'll probably sleep the whole time, knowing him.

Anyways, I'm ranting.

Thanks I guess,

Draco

That was strange. She wasn't expecting Draco to be so kind. He seemed quiet. He seemed kind of awkward, actually. No longer was the prat that she knew (but that wasn't really him), but a shy young man. Strange.

Her life was just getting weirder with each passing day. She should probably go downstairs and tell everybody that Draco was coming over tomorrow. How would she tell them? How would everybody react? She didn't really care.

Hermione ran down the stairs (she felt like she was going up and down them a lot lately). Everybody was getting ready for dinner. "I just wanted to say," She started, "that Draco Malfoy is coming over for tea tomorrow. I don't want anyone saying anything to him, especially from you Ron."

"Don't accuse me of anything!" He said.

"I'm not. I'm sorry. I am just so nervous to meet him tomorrow." She sat down at the table and sighed. "What am I going to do? What am I going to wear? Ron, I'm freaking out."

"Hermione, I don't mean to be a twat but there's food on the table and usually Ginny helps you out with that stuff." Ron explained.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the help, Ron." She joked. She dug into her meal and shrugged everything off. She wasn't going to stress. It was dinner time.

After dinner Hermione and Ginny went upstairs to pick an outfit for tomorrow.

"You don't want to look like you're trying too hard, but you don't want to look like a total slob, either." Ginny explained. She held up a sage sundress to Hermione. "I think you should wear this."

Hermione tilted her head and contemplated it. It was really pretty and casual. The dress was fit and flare with a scoop neckline and it went down to her knees. "I think that would look nice. Are you sure it won't look like I'm trying too hard?"

"You'll look beautiful, Hermione! You always look beautiful. I would kill for hair like yours. Just let it do its natural thing and he'll fall for you like that!" Ginny snapped her fingers for exaggeration. She sat down on Hermione's bed. "Trust me, Hermione. He'll love you. You guys are both getting a second chance with life. And he's sexy."

Hermione laughed. "Ginny!"

"It's true! He's really sexy. He must get his hair highlighted because it's literally so perfect and his eyes are so unusual! Blue-grey is a rare color, you know and –"

"Be quiet! I think I've gotten the idea about how attractive Draco is. Harry might think you've got googly-eyes for Draco instead!" Hermione laughed.

"I'm going to bed!" Ginny said. "I'll help you with your makeup tomorrow!" And Ginny was gone.

"Makeup?!" Makeup was a pain in the butt, but Hermione had grown to like it. She was still by no means like Parvati or Lavender, but she enjoyed dressing up occasionally. There was an upcoming ball or charity dinner (Hermione didn't know what to call it) and Hermione was excited. She would probably bring Draco. The ball would be their first public appearance out. The media would have a frenzy if they were seen together. Hermione just wanted to keep everything quiet between her and her family for a while before everything started picking up. Before school started.

Hermione was rather nervous to get the baby. She had often thought of names, but she couldn't pick one out because she didn't know what the last name of the baby would be. She had thought of a few names, but with Draco he'd probably want astronomical names. Some of them weren't bad, she guessed. Hermione knew that the baby would have a hyphenated last name. Granger-Malfoy didn't sound too bad. In fact, it sounded kind of nice. She supposed that when she marries Draco she'll take his last name. Hermione Malfoy didn't sound too bad either. It actually sounded kind of nice.

Hermione didn't want to rile herself up too much which all these plans, so she went to bed and slept nicely for the first time in a while.

"There! You look perfect, Hermione!" Ginny dabbed a little bit of powder on Hermione's nose. She held up a mirror for Hermione to see.

Hermione had to agree with Ginny, she did look beautiful. Her eyes were enhanced with just a little black eyeliner, and her complexion was flawless with just a little foundation and blusher. She had some lipstick on, and she was lovely. Hermione put on the sage sundress that Ginny suggested, and she looked like a first class lady. She felt like a lady.

"It's perfect, Ginny! You're a genius." Hermione twirled in her dress. She felt stupid doing so, but she looked so pretty.

Thankfully her family decided that they would pretty much clear out the house. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had gone out shopping, and George was at the shop. Ginny said that she would stay in her room the whole time, Harry and Ron went to visit Neville, and Charlie decided to take a spontaneous trip to Egypt.

Just then she heard a knock on the door. Draco was here. Hermione gulped and fluttered downstairs.

There he was. He was holding Teddy like a pro. Teddy was looking up at the Burrow. Draco was looking at the top of the Burrow also, probably wondering how they constructed this beautiful house. Draco looked natural while holding Teddy. Hermione couldn't help but notice Teddy's hair, which was white blonde like Draco's. Draco looked different. Physically, he looked exactly the same. It was the way he held himself that was different. Maybe it was because he was holding a baby, but Hermione knew that Draco was a different man. His eyes looked kinder. He looked almost happy.

Hermione opened the door. "Hello, Draco! Why don't you come in?"

"Thanks, Hermione." He looked so unusual. Hermione took a good look at him. He didn't tilt his head upwards anymore, and his hair wasn't slicked back. He wasn't wearing one of those god awful wizarding suits either. Was he wearing muggle jeans? He was. "Are you staring at me?"

Hermione didn't know what to do. "You are um, just dressed very er, differently."

Draco shrugged. "Stuff happens. People change. Do you want to meet Teddy?"

There it was! A conversation starter. Hermione internally fist pumped. "I would love to! How do I hold him?"

"Well, Teddy can sit up on his own now so you don't have to hold him like a newborn. Just yeah, hold him like that." And Teddy was in Hermione's arms, giggling away. His eyes turned the color of Hermione's. "He likes you!" Draco exclaimed.

"Why hello, Teddy! How are you doing today?" Hermione sounded ridiculous. Her voice suddenly raised about seventeen octaves. She was probably making a fool out of herself. When had she become this insecure? She brushed that aside. Teddy giggled again at her. Wow, he was a happy baby.

"He really likes you. Teddy doesn't usually get along with strangers so well, but he seems to love you." Draco added. He looked so domestic with the diaper bag around his shoulder. Hermione hated to admit it, but he looked sexy.

"Should I play games with him? I really don't know what to do."

"No, it's about his naptime anyways. He'll fall asleep soon." Draco said, checking his watch.

"Do you want to sit? I can make some tea if you want." Hermione asked, motioning towards the kettle with her free hand.

"No, but thanks. I just had lunch." Draco sat down at the kitchen table. "We have a lot of stuff to talk about."

Uh oh, Hermione didn't think she was ready for the serious part of this meeting. She had a lot to talk about with Draco though. Hermione had a lot of questions for him and he probably had a lot of questions for her.

"What do you want to talk about?" Hermione asked, sitting down across from Draco. Teddy was still gurgling happily in her arms.

"Well, first I think we need to talk about the fact that we will be raising a child together in about a month." Draco started. "We need to about names for this baby. He or she will be very much real the nine months that we take care of him or her."

This wasn't the worst thing that they could talk about. "What were you thinking for the baby if it's a girl?"

"Well, at first I was thinking of an astronomical name but I wasn't too sure on how you would like that. I think I want to name her after a flower, if she happens to be a girl. You know me though, no plain names."

"As long as we don't name her Chrysanthemum then I think that would be nice. I was actually thinking of something along the same lines as that." Hermione said. This was freaky. Their minds ran on the same track.

"What about Anemone? Do you like that?" Draco asked. He stared at her blankly. Hermione stared blankly back. She almost wanted to laugh, but he looked pretty serious. "I'm kidding, Granger!"

Draco erupted into a fit of laughs. "You thought I was serious!" He laughed. He was nearly crying now. "That name is horrid!"

Hermione started laughing too. The two of them laughed for a few minutes, and then the reality of the situation kicked in and then the laughs died down pretty quick. She looked down at Teddy, who was sleeping peacefully in her arms. Thank god she didn't wake him up.

"But seriously, Draco, what were you thinking of a name?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Well I thought that Lily was out of the question, considering that's Potter's mum and he might want that name, and Rose is far too plain, maybe for the middle name I guess, and I didn't really like Violet so I did some researching on my own and discovered the name Azalea which I thought was quite nice. I ultimately decided that Azalea Colette sounded nice. What do you think?" Draco ranted.

"I completely agree with you. Azalea Colette sounds wonderful. I honestly thought this was going to be-"

"A lot more difficult?" Draco questioned. "Me too, Hermione. What were you thinking for a boy's name?"

"Hugo. I really like that name, but I don't think Hugo Granger-Malfoy sounds too good." Hermione said.

"So we're hyphenating our names?" asked Draco.

"We are, Draco. If you don't like it then I'm sorry because I want my name to be in there too." Hermione argued.

"No, it's not a problem. I guess I expected you to do that. I don't think Hugo is a great name, Hermione. I'm sorry, but it's actually kind of awful." Draco said. He looked like Hermione was going to yell at him. Was he scared of her? Was he scared that he said the wrong thing?

"The more I think of it, the more of an awful name it is! Thank you for telling me, Draco." Hermione laughed a little, and Draco looked a little relieved. This was going unexpectedly well. Almost too well. Hermione made a mental note to be cautious of what she said around Draco, because he seemed a little on edge. He just seemed nervous in general. Hermione would change that. She didn't want her kids to be raised in a household with parents that didn't trust each other. Hopefully, they could bond and at least become friends by the time they graduated Hogwarts.

Draco spoke up then. "I was thinking Augustus for a boy. Gus for short."

"No, Gus Granger-Malfoy just doesn't sound right."

Hermione and Draco played around with names for over an hour. They laughed at the awful ones, and they came close a few times but none of them sounded right. In that time Hermione had transfigured a leaf into a crib for Teddy to sleep in, and gotten some food for her and Draco. They were actually having a really good time. Hermione could feel a friendship coming about.

"What about Finn? Finn Granger-Malfoy? I don't think a middle name would sound right with that name, but I like it." Hermione suggested.

Draco contemplated it for a few moments. "I think I like it. I swear to God that if we don't have a boy then I might actually fling myself out of the nearest window."

Hermione laughed. "You can't do that! You can't just leave me all alone! What would I do without you?"

"You would be heartbroken and would lie in bed all day yearning for me and my beautiful locks." Draco swished his hair around.

Hermione fell in to a fit of giggles. "I really like this new you. It suits you."

Draco got serious then. "This is how I would have been, if my father hadn't-"

Hermione stopped him then. "Don't, Draco. Don't put yourself down. What's past is past, and we just need to keep on moving forward. It scares me, but we are going to have a future together. I will make sure with all the power within me that you turn out alright, which I know will happen because I always make sure that my friends are okay. I don't know if you consider me a friend, but in these two hours you have become my friend."

"You consider me a friend?" Draco asked. "I only have two friends outside of here. I don't even know if I can consider them friends, Hermione. You're just so genuine. Thank you."

Hermione decided then that she didn't like mushy Draco. Draco was obviously a broken creature, and her job was to nurse him back to health. Talking about it would help, even if Draco was very emotional.

"What was it like, being under the curse for long?" Hermione asked.

"I could think and everything, but I couldn't control my body. I did some horrible things, Hermione. Some people will never forgive me for what I did, and I don't think I could ever forgive myself for what I did." Draco started tearing up.

Hermione got up and sat down next to him. "Draco, it wasn't you. It's not your fault. Look at you now! You're a pretty amazing person I would say. If you were a bad person, would you be here right now? I don't think so."

"But I can't stop blaming myself! Why couldn't I have fought? I tried, Hermione. I did. Why wasn't I strong enough? I should have been strong enough. Do you remember during the battle, when my father called me to join him? That was me fighting him. All of sixth year I lost so much weight, because I was fighting him. I wasn't strong enough, and I will blame myself forever."

Draco was crying now.

Hermione rubbed his back. "It's okay, Draco. You'll be okay. I know it. Draco, you were strong enough to resist the curse even if just for a little bit. You fought, and that is unbelievable. I am sure your mother is unbelievably proud of you."

"She was." Draco smiled. "She's proud of the person I have become now. Have you seen her, Hermione? She's so healthy now. I'm so lucky to have her."

Obviously Draco was a mother's boy by the way he talked about her. Hermione thought it was pretty cute. Hermione thought Draco was cute in general. She liked his hair. She liked his nose. Nope, this wasn't a crush. Hermione brushed it off.

"It's obvious that you really love her, Draco. That's really sweet." Hermione soothed. Draco had calmed down by now. "Harry has a lot of respect for her."

"I think Potter isn't such a bad person, you know." Draco said. "I still think his ego is the size of Jupiter, but whatever."

There was still some Draco Malfoy in him. Hermione liked it. Hermione could tell that he still had a little bit of pride in there, and she was going to bring that out. She was going to build up his confidence so he could see himself for what he truly was; an inspiration. But for now, he was just Draco, a boy who was broken.

Hermione laughed. "Harry is an amazing person; I think that you guys are actually a lot alike. I see you guys being friends in the future."

"Really?" Draco questioned, his voice rising a little bit. "I'm trying to picture it. Nope I can't see it."

"Come on, Harry isn't that bad! I'm not too sure if you and Ron would get along."

"Nope. I don't see it." Draco stood up then. "I think I better be going. I'm going out to dinner with my mum tonight. Maybe, before the summer is over, you could join us?"

"I think I would like that." Hermione smiled.

Hermione got Teddy while Draco grabbed the diaper bag. Hermione still thought that he looked funny with a diaper bag.

"What? It's very fashionable." Draco joked.

"You look great, Malfoy."

"I know, Granger. See you later!" Draco said.

Yes, he was definitely on the mend. As soon as Draco closed the door Ginny was bounding down the stairs.

"How did it go? Is he still hot? I know that you put a charm on my room so that I couldn't hear anything. Thanks, Hermione. But seriously, how did it go?"

"It was great! Draco is definitely broken, but he's not repairable. He still carries some trademark Malfoy qualities, but they're barely there. I don't really want to talk about it. The stuff we talked about is kind of personal. But we did come up with names for the baby!"

"What's the baby's name?" Ginny questioned. Ginny looked like she was about to explode. This girl was way too nosy. That was Ginny though, and Hermione had accepted it a long time ago.

Oh, how Hermione liked stirring Ginny up. "I'm not telling you!" Hermione said in a sing song voice.

"You suck, Hermione Granger!"

A/N: Well there we have it! Chapter 3 is done! I hope you guys saw how conflicted Draco is. How he goes from one personality to the next. His egotistical self is comfortable for him, it's how he acted for fifteen years. His quieter self though reminds him of the harsh reality of what happened.

Oh! And what did you guys think of my plot twist with Charlie? I really wanted to stir some stuff up.

I won't be updating for a week or so, just to prepare you guys! Thanks again.