Sorry, that I haven't updated in so long! Thanks to anyone who has reviewed or added this to their favorites. Your encouragement and support is amazing.
Once again only Ellie and Mamie belong to me.

Ellie watched Draco's face turn from cold and emotionless to some emotion she couldn't quite place.

"She just killed herself?" he asked after a moment of stunned silence. Ellie nodded and turned away again. She was so embarrassed to be seen crying.

"Yes. My mum seemed to think that she was trying to perform a counter curse or something and it backfired. Mamie and her fiancé found her the morning of the wedding, and they were devastated. And my dad…," Ellie felt herself choke up at the memory of it. She could still remember the day they had to put her father in an institution. It had been Mamie's idea after he wouldn't stop ranting at her.

"It's ok," Draco said as sympathetically as he could manage, "you don't need to tell me." Ellie smiled softly.

"No, I shouldn't get so upset over it," she smiled bitterly through her tears, "I was ten when it happened. But my dad, he refused to believe my sister was dead. We eventually had to put him in an institution." Draco and Ellie stood together awkwardly for a moment before Draco patted her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"I really am sorry," he said. Ellie laughed. It was the most emotion she'd seen from him in the two months she'd been living with the Malfoy's.

"The good news is that I think my sister may have known a way to reverse the spell. We just have to find out how," Ellie said with a small smile. Draco did his best to smile back, but it looked more like a very awkward smirk.

"We'll have to start looking together then," he said.

…

Over the next few weeks, Ellie and Draco looked through every single book in the Malfoy's extensive library. The problem was that although the Malfoy library seemed to have many books on old and dark magic, half of them were written in runes so Draco and Ellie had to take turns trying to decipher them.

"This is useless," Draco said one evening as they perused another illegible book, "I hardly passed ancient runes when I was at school, how can you expect me to read any of this." Ellie rolled her eyes.

"I'm not asking you to translate it word for word, Draco," She snapped, "You're just supposed to look for things that sound like they're related to this curse."

"How am I supposed to do that without translating everything?" He groaned as he leaned back in his chair. Ellie slammed her book shut.

"Stop being such a baby," she growled, "If you think this is so useless, than come up with a better idea." Ellie had never met anyone who knew how to push her buttons the way that Draco did.

"I think that we need to get out of this library for a while," Draco said, "Maybe we should try going to a book shop instead. It might be easier to find something helpful if we go to Diagon Alley." Or Knockturn Alley he added in his mind.

"It might help," Ellie shrugged, "If we don't find anything at least we'll be able to have some fun."

…

Ellie ran her fingers along the binding of the books as she passed by shelf after shelf in the book shop. From the small irritating feeling in her middle she could tell that Draco was about 4 or 5 shelves behind her and to her left.

"Excuse me," said a bossy voice behind her, "but do you need help finding anything." Ellie turned and saw a bushy haired girl wearing dark robes and a name tag which read "Hello, my name is HERMIONE" in a funny print.

"Um, I was just browsing really. I'm looking for something on, er, ancient marriage traditions," Ellie said. The girl nodded happily.

"Let's see," she said clapping her hands together, "It depends on how ancient we're talking but I think I know of some books that may help. Why are you looking for it anyway?" Ellie tried not to get to annoyed with the nosey girl.

"Oh, it's just something my grandmother told me a bit ago that I wanted to look up," Ellie lied, "My Gran is half crazy, but every once in a while she says a few things that are true." The bushy headed girl nodded as she led her down a few more aisles.

"And what did your grandmother tell you?" She asked.

"Um, well, she said something about people being, er, magically betrothed," Ellie felt guilty saying it as she and Draco had decided to keep their betrothal a secret.

"Oh, yes," the girl said with a smile, "centuries and centuries ago, witches and wizards were forced to marry each other by using a spell that is actually quite similar to the cruciatus curse. I'm not sure of the specifics of the curse, but from what I've read of it, I know that it made it nearly impossible for two people who were betrothed to separate. They stopped using it in the early 18th century." Ellie was no longer annoyed with the girl; instead, she was impressed that she had found a walking, talking encyclopedia.

"Why did they stop using it," Ellie asked, no longer afraid to reveal her interest in the curse.

"It's simple, really," the girl said in her know-it-all voice, "Someone found a counter curse, so it was useless. Oh here's a book on it, I believe." The girl handed Ellie a rather large book titled Marriage and Love in the 16th and 17th Century. It sounded like a terrible book.

"Thanks a lot, er… Hermione," she said as she lightly took the book and walked in the direction that she knew from the slight tugging of her insides led to Draco.

She was nearly a shelf away when she accidently ran into a young women peaking between the bookshelves.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Ellie exclaimed as she took in the shocked woman. She was tall and slender with reddish brown hair that fell limply down to her elbows.

"Oh, it's alright," the young woman grinned, "you only startled me." Ellie grinned and was about to move on when the woman added, "Aren't you the girl who's going to marry Draco Malfoy?" Ellie felt her grin fade into a grimmace and a small blush creep across her cheeks.

"Um… yes, I am," Ellie said slightly embarrassed, "I'm Ellie Bardot." The girl grinned back.

"I'm Daphne Greengrass, I used to go to school with Draco. He's quite a catch."

"Oh, well, thanks," Ellie said awkwardly. The girl just grinned.

"Well, maybe I'll see you later," Daphne said and then left Ellie alone. Ellie turned, this time making sure not to run into anyone, and continued towards Draco.

She found him running his fingers along the spines of some old books. Ellie leaned against the bookshelf as she watched him look at each title in frustration. Even with the funny look on his face, Ellie knew that he was still attractive. He was quite a catch, for any girl.

"I think I may have something useful," she finally said. Draco looked up.

"What did you find?" He asked taking the heavy book from her.

"Well, after I ran into the human encyclopedia, she told me that this book might have what we're looking for." The pair quickly paid for the book before anyone could see what they were buying and then headed to the Leaky Cauldron to get some dinner and privately inspect the book.

Over dinner and a glass of wine, the two inspected the index of the book and quickly turned to a section entitled "Betrothal". Draco read it for some time and then abruptly looked up. He had a disturbed look on his face.

"What is it?" Ellie asked excitedly, "What's the counter curse?" Draco frowned and shook his head.

"The last page of this section has been torn out," he said darkly, "the page that should say how the curse is performed and reversed. There's only a small notice at the bottom of the page saying that the ministry has requested that this page be omitted because the betrothal curse is now considered illegal." Ellie frowned too. This wasn't good news.

"So, we know that there is a counter curse, at least," she said quietly, "we just have to find out how to do it?" Draco nodded.

"I think if we go to Knockturn Alley, we could probably find a book that tells us the counter curse. We'd have to go tomorrow, though as most shops are probably closed by now." The two quickly finished their dinner and Ellie threw her cloak over her shoulders and made towards the fireplace so that they could floo home.

"I was thinking, Ellie," Draco said as he stared at the fire place, "Maybe we should stay here for the night. You know, to get away from my parents and our grandparents." Ellie looked up at him with raised eyebrows.

"Well, I suppose that could be fun," she said suspiciously.

And so, Draco ordered a room for them. Tom smiled wryly as he led them up the stairs. He handed Draco the key and motioned to the door.

"You're in luck Mr. Malfoy," he grinned, "This is the last available room we have available tonight." And with that he quickly walked off. Draco turned the key and opened the door. Ellie felt her jaw drop as she realized why Tom had been grinning and acting so funny.

In the center of the room was a single tiny bed.

I really like the next chapter (I'm almost done with it - I swear!) so I'll update soon!
Please review and tell me what you think so far!