Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor the characters – except the one I've made * le sigh* - but the wonderful J.K. Rowling does.

Author's Note : I've forgotten to thank those who followed, reviewed, favorited this story. It means a lot to me, that I'm not writing something crappy. I'll try to update faster though im not promising anything because school work has been a hassle. Please, please review on your thoughts, comments, suggestion, constructive criticism, so I would know where to trek. This is un-betad so if I make any mistakes I apologize though I check my story a million times before posting it. I do hope you enjoy this chapter. Well onward we go!

Previously on Reminisce

"Now Astoria, that's the part where you're wrong."Draco smirked which made Astoria pause in bewilderment.

"What are you getting at Draco?" Astoria asked him rather furious.

"Well, I'd rather you meet her" Draco paused. "Hermione, Darling why don't you come out of that alcove, I want you to personally meet Astoria Greengrass." Hermione's eyes widened he found out, fuck.

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Hermione's body was in a state of shock, she wished the floor would just open and eat her whole, she could feel every portrait in the castle laugh at her.

"Now now Hermione, I know you don't want her to see you but it's the only way" Draco said stressing on the 'see you' and the 'only way' part.

She was contemplating on running away from the scene not looking back but Draco's voice was the only thing that was holding her from doing just that.

A few moments later there was still no response from Hermione.

"Draco are you playing with me? It's not even a good joke" Astoria loudly stated. "Going so low as mentioning that mudlood are you that desperate" she chuckled.

When Hermione heard the statement she wanted to curse Astoria to the next millennia, this only made her want to shred the bitch into pieces. With that in mind, she braced herself, took a deep breath and walked slowly to where Draco was, to hell were the consequences. The expression on Astoria's face was priceless, it was more than enough for Hermione to let a smile appear on her face.

"There you are Hermione, I thought you were gone." Hermione notice the relief in his voice. Draco smiled at her but she could tell from his eyes that it was conveying kinds of messages. He held his hand out and Hermione reluctantly took his.

"bu- dr- - mud – Arghhhh!" Astoria screeched so loudly it made Hermione cringed.

"Astoria Greengrass I want you to meet my ever-loving fiancée Hermione Granger." Draco's hand went to the small of Hermione's back, she didn't know what to do so she opted by waving her hands at Astoria, who was now glaring at them especially her.

"Well this has been an experience, we should never do this again, goodbye Astoria, my fiancée and I got do something" Draco turned around leading Hermione along the way.

When they were a few feet away, Draco shouted "Oh Astoria what was it again, 'why do we need to delay the inevitable' you say? Well the inevitable would be for you to leave me alone 'cause we are never going to get married."

The shriek that came out of Astoria could be heard in every part of the castle.

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On the way to the common room both Hermione and Draco were silent, neither one wanted to disrupt the short time for either of them to think, for them it was the 'calm before the storm' as many phrase it. Every step vibrated through Hermione's head, it reminded her how close they are from their common room.

Thinking clearly now, Hermione's mind was trying to grasp the situation suddenly thrust on her. She was fuming no, it was not even close in describing what she was feeling now, if someone could come up with a name of a feeling that is mad, embarrassed, curious, and a lot more mixed together, she would give them every galleon she have.

Step, step, inhale, exhale, it was the sound that could be heard between the two. Step, step, step, inhale, exhale, stop, and inhale a big gulp of air.

They were now standing in front of the portrait, neither of them wanting to go inside but both wanted to face the situation. Draco made the first move and uttered the password, the portrait swung open and he let Hermione step inside first. The resounding thud of the portrait closing was the signal for the battle to begin.

"Hermione list-" he started.

"No stop Draco, let me say my piece first" she cut him off. "What the fuck – excuse me for my language" she said sarcastically "were you thinking? What game are you trying to pull off? What noticing me following you wasn't enough?" Draco tried to interrupt her but she held out both of her hands in front of him.

"Noooo, you will not butt in this is my time to talk, you've had enough time a while ago" she scowled at him.

"You had to drag me into your problem, what? Fighting every time we see each other isn't your cup of tea?" she huffed, she was struggling on not hexing him so bad his great-grandchild will feel it. "It was you who created this mess, you should fix it!" by this time Hermione was having a hard time breathing so she sat down on the couch near her.

"Hermione, I know this may come out as a bit a shock" she glared at him.

"I'll give you what shock is after I've hexed you –"

"Woah, Woah, don't get your knickers on a twist" Draco said quickly.

"Do you really have a death wish?" she whispered menacingly, making Draco take 5 steps away from her.

"Wait, let me explain, at least I owe you the story from the beginning" He sighed and ran his hands through his head. She could see he was having a hard time putting it into words which made Hermione feel a bit better.

"I" He started " – My – Arghh, Wait, let me think about what I'm going to say" He was now pacing in front of her.

"I'm Waiting" she said raising an eyebrow.

"You do know something about arranged marriages right?" she nodded. It was a simple question.

"Well it started with my obnoxious great-great-grandfather, you know him right" he asked but before Hermione could say anything Draco interrupted her.

"What am I saying, of course you know him" he scoffed. Hermione wanted to say no just to spite him but held her tongue for she wanted to know the full story.

"Go on Draco" she tapped her foot to give emphasis for him to hurry up.

"Well apparently he was a little sloshed... wait that's not the right adjective" he pondered for a moment.

"Smashed!" he said as if he had found a cure for some rare disease "Yup that's the right word" Hermione thought if he could have patted himself in the back he would have done just about that.

"He was so smashed that he penned a binding letter or contract for some, cursing every descendant he had" he looked pointedly at her. "It makes you want to give him the great great-grandfather of the year award don't you" he said with a sarcasm so thick you can cut it with a knife.

"But why'd he do that I mean there has to be some reason" Hermione tried to think of reasons for doing something so… so… she couldn't even find the right word.

"Well apparently one of his friends' sons married first than my great-grandfather and rubbed it in his face, so he made that bloody shite contract that the Malfoy descendants should already be married at a ripe age of 21 if not then consequences would be deadly." He said the last line with a shudder.

"Didn't any of you oppose this? I mean couldn't any of you destroy the contract? What happened to those who didn't follow the rule? What did – "

"Please Hermione one question at a time" she started breathing heavily just to calm herself.

"To answer all you questions – if I remember it correctly. First, of course most of the Malfoy's opposed this though my great great grandfather was, how should I say this, somehow scary as hell and the consequences were very dangerous if I say so myself" he sat himself in the couch farthest from her. He held a finger to stop the words coming out of Hermione's mouth.

"The first one who didn't follow the wretched contract was Grandfather Abraxas Brother"

"Wait isn't your grandfather an only child?"

"Exactly, that's the point apparently if you didn't follow the contract you'll be erased from the Malfoy clan never being remembered by anyone not blood related and stripped of your powers. The worst part is you're going to be – in one way or another – going to end up in the muggle world." Hermione could see Draco looking lost in thought - as if he was imagining it happen to himself.

"Then what would happen if the last Malfoy such as yourself would disobey it, wouldn't the Malfoy clan disappear from the Wizarding World?"

"Granger, I'm sure you're not that daft" he looked at her as if she was the silliest person in the entire world.

"Draco I'm not – Ahhh Astoria" she beamed at him.

"Wow Granger I was afraid being with Pothead and Weaselbee affected you, 10 points for Gryffindor." He clapped his hand to show how sarcastic he was.

"Hey, don't call Harry that, the other I don't care but Harry's still my friend." She huffed.

"Then another question… why didn't your grandfather's brother – "

"Moros, Grandfather Moros"

"Ok, The why didn't your grandfather Moros go to your grandfather Abraxas for help, I mean to help him break the curse or something, doesn't anyone care what happened to him?"

"Well Grandfather did try bringing him back but he couldn't, he failed."

"How?"

"Well when they tracked Moros in the muggle world apparently he'd forgotten everything related to magic including his family. He kept telling Grandfather he was Peter Landy an accountant." Hermione tried to imagine something like that happening to someone, the pain it brings, how horrible.

"But I still can't see Astoria being related to this, I mean yeah she's going to be your bride but what if you find someone else? And why'd she threatened you, how did she even know about the contract?"

"Well Astoria isn't really arranged to marry me but she has this sort of sick mind that I'll never find someone my family approves. The 'how-did-she-find-out' part was because of me."

"Elaborate"

"Well remember the war" Hermione winced.

"Who could forget?"

"Well before it, I wasn't sure if I was coming out alive so I started drinking in the Slytherin common room and Astoria was there, long story short I was so wasted that I said some things about the contract. Though, thank the lucky stars I didn't say anything important, just that I'll lose the inheritance and some shite." Hermione wanted to smack Draco in the head for being a git and putting them in this situation in the first place.

"Hold up, how did you even know I was following you?" Hermione asked out of the blue.

"Well I didn't, though I knew it was a girl following me, you do know you have quite heavy footsteps, I swear you could hear it from every part of Hogwarts made it really tricky finding out your gender" she blushed and Draco smirked.

"You're not helping yourself, do go on" Hermione said hotly.

"Well, I just prayed to Merlin that someone would be willing to go out and luckily you were. Who would have guessed but I do want to thank you for coming out. Gryffindor courage I might presume that pushed you." Hermione blushed again but for a different reason before.

There was a sudden silence that came between them.

"So will you help me Hermione" he was close enough to pleading but Hermione knows that Malfoy's do not plead… or do they? A thought crossed her mind.

"I don't know, after the suffering you let me experience before." She looked as if she was more inclined to say no.

"Argh Hermione, I thought we've moved past that already! And you owe me a favor, remember. "

Hermione forgot about the favor she owed but she hasn't learned a single thing from him.

"Hmmm, let me think about it. Please Draco I know this isn't the answer you've wanted but this" gesturing towards each other "is very hard to deal with, and for the record I hadn't learned anything from you. We keep on fighting with each other before we could finish even one potion" Draco had the nerve to snigger infront of her.

"I'll give you 3 days to think about it." Hermione was distraught on how to handle the information. Seeing this, Draco stood up quickly and walked to his room. She watched him until he could get to his door but before she could do anything he turned around and said "Hermione, Show me that Gryffindor courage." And in an instant he was gone.

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Hermione was a little hesitant to ask someone for help but she couldn't decide. One part of her wanted nothing to do with Draco and let him be married to Astoria, but another part of her – her so-called Gryffindor part – wanted to help someone who needs it, and frankly Draco needed it, badly. Her first choice was to go to the Gryffindor common room and seek Ginny's help.

"Ginny, what should I do?" Hermione said after she had related the story – excluding certain details – to Ginny.

"I don't really know 'Mione but you're the one whose good at making decisions like this, have you weighed the pros and cons?" Ginny asked a little amused.

"Oh bollocks Gin, you know I've had, I've done it a million times last night and even then I couldn't find an answer"

"Well then 'Mione, I don't know up to you I guess" Ginny said before taking a bite out of a sandwich.

"It's not like we could toss a coin and decide." Hermione grumbled, and grab a juice behind her noticing how Ginny's face lit up.

"Oh no no-no, are you daft?" Hermione wanted to smack herself for putting thoughts in Ginny's head.

"Why not it would be easier that way, at least you won't have to beat yourself up from thinking about it all the time" Hermione didn't like the idea.

"It's reckless, it's rash, and it's so out of control" Ginny smiled.

"That's why, I mean, when was the last time you did something you had no control over. Admit it, you miss the adventures you had with Harry and Ron." And Hermione really did, she missed having to sneak away from their room, she missed making maps and researches for them, heck she even missed having detention. It was a breath of fresh air from the life she was living now, and she could use it she presumed.

Hermione just nodded.

"I still don't know Ginny" she bit her bottom lip.

"Then don't worry I'll flip the coin and whatever comes out would be your answer." Ginny patted her robes to see if she had any sickle left inside her pockets.

A few moments later, she found one and was playing with it. "So Hermione are you ready?" Hermione nodded her head. Ginny was about to flip it when Hermione screamed.

"Wait! I'm not ready" she took a deep breath and nodded again. "Ok lay it on me" she eyed the coin warily. Ginny was mere second away from tossing it when Hermione screamed again.

"Wait! What if… what if..." Ginny didn't let her finish the sentence and flipped the coin rapidly catching it when it was about to land.

"Nooo" Hermione shouted.

"Really now Hermione I thought you were braver than that" Ginny laughed at her. She stuck her tongue out. "heads for yes, tails for no, yes?" she asked and Hermione nodded.

Ginny opened her right hand and when Hermione peeked she didn't see anything. She slapped Ginny on the shoulder.

"You're making fun of me" Hermione didn't want to look at Ginny's hand because part of her wanted it to be tails but a more greater part wanted it to be heads.

"Alright alright" Ginny touched her shoulder. Hermione's heartbeat was getting faster and faster as Ginny's hand opens slowly. When she opened it fully, she let Hermione see what her future my become, what it would be. After a few moments digesting what side it was Hermione stood up and brushed off her skirt.

"Well, I can't argue with that, thanks Gin, for helping me somewhat" she smiled at Ginny and hugged her. "I've got to tell Draco what I've decided"

"Ok, Goodluck" She smiled at her.

What Hermione didn't know was that the coin was charmed to have two heads instead of having a tail, but she didn't need to know that.

-See You Next Chapter!-

REVIEWfor SUGGESTIONSor any CLARIFICATIONS and MISTAKES...REVIEW

I hope you liked this chapter. The marriage contracts were something I've made up because marriage contracts were always made by the ministry, so I put my rendition of what it was. I do wish you would leave a review, not that I'm pestering you or anything just that reviews are like food to me. You wouldn't let me die now would you, just kidding.