Booths with games, food and trinkets to buy were set up along the street and rides were set up on the edge of the town. The golden trio was spending a growingly rare day together joined by Ginny. They played the games and rode the rides laughing together and gossiping about the couples. Ron spent ten minutes furious and then a full hour sulking when he found out Draco had made Hermione's list but besides that one outburst the friends were able to relax, put the stress of forced marriage behind them and just have fun. It was exactly the kind of day Hermione needed.
By lunch the four friends were joined by various other friends but for the most part they stuck to themselves. Walking back to the school they heard noises coming from the shrieking shack.
"Someone forgot a silencing spell." Ron snickered.
They all laughed trying to figure out which couple it was and then discussed the couples they saw pairing off, some seemingly great matches, some just ok and others completely bizarre to them but like Ron pointed out, Hermione was being courted by two Slytherins, one who'd been her childhood tormentor. It didn't get much odder from the outside looking in than that.
When she finally curled into bed that night Hermione closed her eyes with a sigh and for the first time all week slept soundly and dreamlessly.
Sunday morning dawned and with it Hermione found herself faced with two Slytherin boys, neither looking happy.
"We'd like to clarify this whole sabotage interfere clause." Blaise was the one to speak up for them both.
"Clarify it?"
"We are both, well three, are trying to see if we could maintain a happy life together but its also about us competing with each other to show we'd be the best husband, we need to know what you think of as outside the parameters of us basically competing against each other."
"Yeah because if Blaise buys you a gift and I know what it is but get you something better first that might be clarified as sabotage."
Hermione rolled her eyes at them, "I'm not asking you not to be Slytherins, just, no hexing each other, plotting to ruin the time I spend with someone else or things like that. We can always talk about it later I just don't want to feel like a prize being fought over. I'm not a thing to be acquired."
Draco snorted and rolled his eyes, "Fine."
"Done." Blaise nodded.
"Who gets the first marriage trial?"
"Um…" Hermione frowned, "I'll have to talk to Professor McGonagall about how we go about all of that. I suppose we could draw straws or go alphabetically but it might depend on who else you're courting."
"Have you met me? Or listened to anything going on? I made a muggle born practically cry by asking her out or am a laughing stock to the others. The Malfoy pedestal has been knocked over, set on fire and pretty well pissed on." He snorted, "By my father himself no less since it was his fucking kowtowing and kneeling to the creepy, evil slime bag that got us practical pariahs."
"He means no one else is willing to look past the past and see Draco and not just Malfoy." Daphne added with a roll of her eyes as she came to sit at the Gryffindor table with her friends. With everything going on, slowly the tables had begun to migrate, at least the upper years had, to breakfast or lunch with friends in all houses, only supper seemed to be kept house specific.
"Both witches I thought could be possibilities used me to get engaged to another bloke." Blaise added with a shrug of his shoulders.
"You're still looking though right, I mean you have a month." Both boys shrugged.
"If you choose Kiril we'll go into muggle London." Draco gave a defeated sigh.
"I heard you can buy wives some places there." Blaise added. "You get a wife and they get to move away from whatever pit they live in."
"They'll still look." Daphne comforted her friend while shooting the boys a glare. "Why don't we talk with McGonagall and we can talk even more on Wednesday.
"Kiril is coming tomorrow. I suppose the details can wait until Wednesday." Hermione agreed.
Blaise and Draco nodded and left.
"You or me I can live with."
"We can't sabotage him." Blaise sighed, "It's in the bloody contract, brilliant bloody witch knows us to well."
"Right, she said not to sabotage each other no hexing and that, she never said anything about helping each other though."
"Helping each other?"
"We can help each other, make her want us over him."
"Knock him out of the running and then its just between you and me."
"Right and either way…"
"We'll be ok."
"Right."
"Right." The Slytherins shared a smirk and nodded.
"They'll find some way around this sabotage thing." Daphne whispered to Hermione.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "I know, I never expected them not to be the sleaky bastards they are, just hopefully to keep it from becoming about one upping each other."
"Right." Daphne nodded with a sigh as Ginny joined them.
Hermione excused herself from her friends to go find her professor and hopefully get hers and the headmistress's advice.
"Miss Granger." McGonagall smiled at her favorite student warmly.
"I was hoping to discuss my courtship with you headmistress."
"Of course, please come in."
Hermione left her headmistress's office in a surprised daze making her way to the library to hopefully concentrate on her studies.
That night at the feast attention was called as yet another surprising announcement was made.
"If all of our students and professors affected by the law would remain after the feast we have two rather important topics to discuss." McGonagall announced during the meal.
Thirty minutes later the hall had emptied of younger students.
"The first thing I would like to discuss with you is regarding courtship, betrothal and marriage." McGonagall smiled grimly at them. "This is a rather unique situation we find ourselves in and some adjustments must be made. As you are all aware, we are doing our best, here at Hogwarts and the other schools as well as out in the world, to accommodate. Several of you are now engaged and will shortly be married and others are preparing to begin official periods of courtship, many of you are still searching out possibilities and with the extension I urge you not to rush any more than you have to." She smiled at them before continuing. "For those of you engaged or married upon your return after the winter holidays, arrangements are being made for private dormatories so that you may continue your educations. For all students who have returned this year in the hopes of writing the NEWTs they missed last year, you may choose to return or you may apply for special dispensation to continue your studies on your own time. You may come and go from the school seeking help from you professors as you require it but will not be assigned a timetable nor expected to remain here as you all ought to have already graduated. For those students seeking courtship or engagements through the other schools special arrangements are also being made both here and at the other schools to accommodate the couples in classes so that you may go back and forth or remain and complete their education, as Mr Kalen is doing. You will receive a degree from your own school, all the classes you take and requirements for those will remain the same for your own school and the credit for them transferred back to the originating institution, thus though Mr Kalen has opted to remain here with us, he will be graduating with his peers at Durmstang."
"So will married or engaged couples be cohabitating?" Ginny asked hiding a blush.
"Engaged couples may request the concession but yes married couples will automatically be moved into these dorms."
They discussed the changes that would be made and how students could apply for a more self-disciplined form of continuing before moving on to the second topic of the evening.
"Babies." Madame Pomfry got up and stated. "I am aware all of you know how they are created and about the act itself so we will be picking up from the moment the wizard's seed, his sperm, has fertilized the egg within the witch."
Three hours later they returned to their dorms, their heads overfull with knowledge of pregnancy and the changes to a woman's body, the mood swings and cravings, the dos and don'ts in muggle society and how those differed in the wizarding world to practices of other magical beings. Some of it was gross, some of it strange and some of it rather interesting but it felt like their brains were stuffed overfull.
Monday morning Hermione woke up nervous. Kiril was supposed to arrive, when would he get there, would he come straight to the school, would things feel different, would they be the same? To many questions spun in her head. So many she walked right past the wizard in question.
Kiril caught her arm as she walked by, her brow adorably crinkled as she thought.
Caught by surprise Hermione spun with a frown though instantly a grin broke across her face. "You're here." She breathed.
Kiril nodded, "I said I would be."
"I didn't think you'd get here so soon, I thought maybe lunch but worried it might be dinner before you got in."
Kiril shook his head giving her a crooked smile, "I missed you."
Hermione grinned at him, "I missed you too."
"I'm sorry you never got my letters."
She shook her head, "I'm sorry you thought I was ignoring them."
She shifted feeling awkward and Kiril tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "Why are you nervous?"
Hermione shook her head and shrugged, "I… I don't know." She chuckled. "I suppose I don't know how to act or what to say or do."
"Whatever you like." He shrugged, "We don't need to pretend with each other Amstra."
At the endearment Hermione flung herself into his arms and hugged him. Kiril laughed and tilted her head so he could kiss her.
Hermione blushed as she pushed away from him. "What is it?" Hermione shrugged. "The other two?" He pressed.
"It's strange to me, I'm practically dating, more than dating three wizards. I don't want to hurt anyone or do anything… wrong."
"For us Amstra it is only wrong if it feels bad. If you do not wish me to kiss you, I wont but when you are with me you will be mine and when you are with them you will be theres. So you give each relationship its fair chance."
"You're all here though." She blushed, "I'm with all of you really."
Kiril nodded, "You would rather come to me?"
Hermione shook her head, "No, I don't know. It's all just new and I feel like I'm doing something wrong to them with you or you with one of them."
"You aren't. They and I know of each other and what we do or don't is between us, what you do or don't do with them is between you, I wont say it wont bother me but I accept it, as they do and as you must."
"How did things with Anya go?"
"We get along as well in person as we did on parchment." He shrugged, "I do not wish to speak of Anya though, nor of them, only of us."
Hemrione smiled at him and nodded, "Ok." Then she frowned, "Only…"
"What?"
"They're here."
"Yes." He nodded, "I know."
"I mean, I have class with them today."
Kiril kissed her temple, "Then I will walk you to class and you will find me later. Dinner in town maybe?"
Hermione smiled and nodded hugging him, "Ok."
At the door to her class he lifted her hand, turned it and kissed her wrist just above the charm bracelet. "I'm glad to see you wear this."
"I never took it off." She breathed. Kiril shot her a heart-stopping grin.
"Go, learn." He nodded to the door. "I'll see you later."
Daphne had saved her a seat and she sat down with a blush as she glanced at Draco and Blaise at their own table.
"They're still working together?" Hermione whispered as she watched them prepare their potion.
"They're best mates Mione. They both might want to be the one you choose but they want each other to be happy too, they wont let this come between them." Daphne whispered back.
Hermione nodded relieved and they focused on their own potion.
The next few days went by easily. Kiril was polite and friendly to Draco and Blaise who were unfailingly polite back to him and kept as close a friendship with each other as before, if not more so as the two wizards, along with Theo were most often together in class as well as out.
Harry and Ron both liked Kiril. Ron firmly rooting for the Bulgarian against the Slytherins, Harry would only say he wanted her happy, Ginny liked all three but preferred Draco for his central location being in London alone, Daphne seemed to root for Blaise, Astoria didn't have a preference but like Harry just wanted her to be happy. The rest of the student population was gossiping and taking poles on who she'd end up with.
They all kept everything very friendly and Hermione could almost forget she was being courted by them and not just friends with all three, none of them seemed jealous of her time, none of them pushed for anything more physical than a hug or kiss to her temple, hand or in Kiril's case, her wrist.
After a week Kiril had to go back to school and Hermione threw herself into her studies. If people had thought she'd lived in the library or behind a book in years past it was nothing to the next weeks. All was made clear when, accompanied by Lara Wells, Hermione went to the Ministry of Magic by special request and sat her NEWTs. It was Christmas holidays and Hermione went to spend it with the Weasley's, she had agreed with all three wizards that at their end she'd spend a week getting to know each of them and then each would have his month of being 'married' to her.
The Yule Ball took place at Hogwarts with all three schools attending though Hermione did not go with any of her three suitors she did dance with all of them and had a lovely night.
It was New Year when she received her NEWT results. Hermione had been set to take Potions, Herbology, DADA, Ancient Runes, Charms and Transfiguration at the start of term but she'd also decided to sit Astronomy, Arithmancy, History of Magic and Magical Theory. Hermione sighed and sank into a chair as she read her marks.
The room went silent as they looked to her when a tear began to fall down her cheek.
"Hermione." Molly questioned softly.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked taking the paper. "S, what's an S?"
"Stupendous." Percy whispered dropping into his chair and gapin at her, "Only a dozen wizards in the history or the wizarding world ever achieved an S on their NEWTs, its practically impossible."
"What classes?" Ron asked grabbing the paper.
"Blimey Hermione!" Ron read the paper, "Potions S, Herbology O, DADA S, Ancient Runes S, Charms S, Transfiguration O, Astronomy O, Arthimancy S, History of Magic O and Magical Theory S. Six, you got six S grades!"
"Six?" Percy gasped sitting down in his chair, "You got six S level NEWTs."
"We always knew you were the brightest witch of our age."
Percy snorted, "Of our age, cripes Ronald, Dumbledore only got five S NEWTs, no ones ever gotten six, not since… since MERLIN!" He shouted.
"I'm surprised you didn't get an S in Transfiguration." Harry frowned, "I thought you were better at it than Charms."
Hermione blushed, "The only thing I can think that I missed was the examiner asked if I was close to becoming an Animagus."
"You have to be one to get an S." Percy nodded. "Is that why it says upon firther review on the bottom? Are they retesting you for another S?" He demanded.
Hermione shrugged. "I don't know."
"We have to celebrate!" Molly jumped up clapping, "Imagine, one of my kids, six S NEWTs." She muttered puttering abut the kitchen.
"Brilliant Hermione."" Harry whispered hugging her.
She turned to him, "I did Harry." She whispered. "I aced all of them." Tears stung her eyes.
"They'd be so proud." He whispered back hugging her again.
Hermione nodded into his shoulder and swallowed back the lump. Harry got it, he understood, no one knew better than him what it was to miss your parents, to want them to be proud of you.
They pulled apart and laughed at Molly whipping the kitchen up in a magical cooking frenzy.
"Go on and play outside you lot. We're having a feast!" She beamed at Hermione before turning back to the stove.
"It's freezing outside." Ron grumbled as they all trudged out of the kitchen.
"Let's just play a game in the sitting room." Bill sighed leading them in.
"Riddle Draw?" Geroge suggested.
"Yeah." Ginny bounced.
The siblings conjured a board, magical markers and a container of cards before explaining the rules. It was like Pictionary so Harry and Hermione caught on quickly. Instead of a thing they had to draw each team got a riddle, they had two minutes to solve it and draw the answer for their team to guess before the other team did.
After an hour they were called back in to the feast Molly had made for dinner. It was a loud and boisterous night of more games. The following day the students returning to school spent time packing. Hermione began to pack to spend her month 'married' to Draco. The boys had agreed to alphabetical order. It was going to be an interesting month, an interesting few months. Hermione was sure she was more nervous than she was for even her NEWTs.
