Again, so many fabulous reviews! Thank you, thank you! A nod to zeeksmom for the references to Colbert & Gable in "It Happened One Night" and Grant/Hepburn in "Bringing Up Baby"-wow what a fabulous compliment! I am honored to be compared to such sublime comedies. :)

We are almost to the end of everything I've written already, so posts are going to be slower. I've been on that euphoric first rush of a story, but I have to catch up on sleep sometime and do all the things in real life I've put off, like laundry and yardwork, etc. Just warning you it is coming. In a similar vein this is it, only one chapter today. I suppose a gentle slowdown is better, really. It might not be quite as polished as I'd like but that's the lack of sleep for you-nothing serious enough to warrant withholding it from you however. We will be seeing that coffee date next time, and what about that wedding? Stay tuned!


Hermione found it difficult to settle after Lucius left. There was no denying that he was serious about marrying immediately, but Hermione also wanted the full story about these attacks. The attack by Dolohov could have been a once-off, but an assailant lying in wait meant that something more was going on. She didn't know how successful she would be at getting Lucius to tell her everything, either. He was naturally reticent, and when she added in his background he would be unlikely to cave to her demands, justifying it to himself as protecting her. She would have to think about how best to convince him to tell her everything, but she could hardly sit on her hands either. That left her with the prospect of appealing to Kingsley Shacklebolt directly, and asking Ron if they had turned up anything. It was a decidedly unappealing prospect, as the chances of obtaining useful information were spotty at best, no matter where she looked.

Then there was the marriage that Lucius demanded would happen now. Hermione felt vaguely panicked about the whole thing. It was certainly NOT her idea of how she would be getting married. She would have preferred time to get to know him better, to avoid the blow-ups they seemed to have over every little thing. Hermione was pacing nervously, and wished she could talk to Ginny about it. Her friend always knew what to say about men, her advice about relationships more intuitive than Hermione's own feel for them. Maybe it came from the fact that she had six brothers, but she certainly knew how men ticked.

She looked at the clock—almost 1 AM. She was never going to sleep like this, her mind fluxing furiously through multiple channels, unable to concentrate on any one thing but not able to set any aside either. It was almost a relief when Ginny's horse galloped into the room, mouthing, "Ron just left here. I want to talk to you—come and get me, please."


"It's the middle of the night," Hermione protested weakly, but Ginny, clothed in her bathrobe, was ready to go as soon as she appeared on the front doorstep, opening the door without a word. Hermione was too tired to muffle the crack of her arrival, but offending Harry and Gin's neighbors was the last thing on her mind.

"That's irrelevant. Harry is perfectly capable of dealing with two sleeping children, and you're not going to lie to me and tell me you were all cozied up in bed asleep after that, are you?"

"Just go Hermione. I'll talk to Malfoy tomorrow," Harry called out sleepily from down the hall. "Doubt he'll let it rest anyhow."

"Fine. Hold on, Ginny." Hermione took Ginny's arm and brought them both back to her flat. It was an unpleasant echo of her arrival with Lucius hours before, and she couldn't help but let her eyes flick to the corner where the man had been, even though all the lights were on and Lucius had added the extra protections.

Ginny didn't miss the shiver and wasted no time in dragging Hermione to the couch. "Tell me what happened. Last we heard you were at Hogwarts—I assume you found a courtship ritual of some type."

Hermione's brief laugh had a slightly hysterical edge to it, and she got out, "I suppose you could say that," before she was convulsing in laughter over the whole chain of events, the whole sorry sordid lot, the ridiculous and magnificent and humbling and frightening mess until before she realized it she was crying onto Ginny's shoulder while her friend hugged her and soothed her.

"Oh, Hermione. Let it all out," Ginny murmured, waiting until her friend's sobs had slowed down and she was merely hiccoughing through her tears. Finally Hermione drew back and Ginny assessed her friend with an honest eye.

"You look terrible, Hermione."

Hermione laughed and blew her nose with the tissue that Ginny had wordlessly summoned while she waited patiently for Hermione to pull herself together.

"I'm engaged to Lucius," Hermione said after she dabbed at a few more tears with more tissues from the box.

"I assumed," Ginny said drily. "How did that come about?"

"He cast some sort of Beltane courting ritual on me Friday. We shared a Beltane cake at work—"

"You didn't tell me that—" Gin's raised eyebrow said it all.

"—and then there was the…" Hermione stopped as the blue line on her wrist flashed, which did not escape Ginny's eagle eye, "—and then when he kissed me at Malfoy Manor the other day, I felt myself spontaneously shed some magic, and I saw a white flash. I suppose that must have been the completion of the ritual…I'm not very sure, Lucius has been very close-mouthed about the whole thing. He's really insufferably high-handed, I know, it's not really a surprise, right? But he's also defended me twice from these attacks and for a few weeks he's been obviously pleasant at work, well as pleasant as a Malfoy ever gets toward me, anyhow…"

"Hermione, you're babbling. Stop talking for a second, please." Hermione stopped talking and looked at her best friend. Ginny was obviously tired, it being the middle of the night, but her mind was as active as ever and she regarded her with an affectionate face. "You're in danger of falling in love with the prat. Frankly, it sounds to me like he's led you a merry chase, and you didn't even know you were playing."

A hint of color crept up her neck and Ginny knew she was right. "Get off your high horse, Hermione Granger. I played enough Quidditch to recognize a game when I see one, and I suspect Lucius has been pursuing you for a good while without you even being aware of it."

Hermione sighed and folded one leg under her bum, a familiar stance from evenings spent at school or the Burrow for a good coze. "Maybe you're right. I don't know anything anymore—I was never very good at these types of flirtations, and heaven knows Lucius is a master. And now that someone was here in my flat—Lucius is insisting we marry immediately."

Ginny perked up at this bit of news. Ron hadn't said anything about that, and she said so. "Sorry, come again? You've gone from engaged to getting married in the span of one evening? Exactly when is 'immediately'?"

"Well Ron wouldn't know, would he? I was only TOLD that it was going to happen tomorrow by Lucius, without so much as a by your leave before he cracked away after casting the Fidelius charm and the Protego Horriblis here."

"Tomorrow? What, as in later today?" Ginny was incredulous, and leaned forward on the couch.

"Well it was after midnight so I don't know whether he meant today, Wednesday, or tomorrow, which would be Thursday. Oh, I've just realized—I'm supposed to have coffee with Neville tomorrow to discuss our match!" Hermione bit her lip and thrust her jaw slightly askew in a picture of fussing.

"Don't tell me you're actually thinking of going along with that?" Ginny's tone was slightly disapproving, and Hermione felt forced to defend Lucius' thinking.

"Well you can't blame him, can you? Every time the man turns around there is someone else prepared to hex me into oblivion—all he wants is to make sure I'm going to be safe, and from his perspective that means living at Malfoy Manor, with him as my husband!" Ginny's lips thinned and Hermione knew she was trying hard not to smirk.

"Don't you dare laugh at me Ginevra Potter! This isn't funny," Hermione said. Ginny grabbed her hands, which had started gesticulating, and pressed them down onto her lap. It was something that Hermione had tried hard to avoid after being teased about it during first year, but it always came to the fore when she was tired or overly emotional.

"Hermione, I love you. I'm going to give you some Dreamless Sleep and put you to bed, and tomorrow I am going to come back with Lavender and we are going to have a girls' day in. You can tell both of us all about Malfoy, as a reward to Lavender and myself for keeping our prats of husbands in line while you've been dancing to Luscious Lucius' tune. And by then I don't doubt you and your fiancé will have made the timing of your wedding abundantly clear, and we will plan that as well."

Hermione stared at Ginny and blurted out the first thing that came into her head. "But you haven't even asked about the attack, Gin." She had tried to say 'attacks' but the 's' wouldn't come out of her mouth, and she knew she had to ask Lucius to release her from the oath about the attack in Hogsmeade woods.

Ginny's mouth cracked into a wry smile. "After you helped take down the darkest wizard of all time, I don't think it's anything you can't handle. I think your bigger problem is going to be how to handle your husband!"


"Lucius, Fabian—Kingsley wants to see us now," Yaxley's head had popped into Underwood's office just after the memo arrived on Fabian's desk.

"Good news travels with great speed," Fabian muttered, then stood swiftly. "Let's go then. Hate to miss a good shit storm."

"Pity I forgot my repelling umbrella," Lucius said drily, eliciting a chuckle from Yaxley but none from Underwood. The man still didn't like him, which was fine, but at least he was prepared to overlook personal differences of opinion given the deteriorating situation regarding the Magical Research division's chief researcher. They rode in silence up to the Minister's office, and were ushered swiftly in to the plush room where Kingsley was waiting behind the broad desk, every inch the authoritative, no-nonsense man of wide reputation.

"What is behind these attacks on Hermione Granger?" Kingsley asked without preamble.

"I'd probably have more to say about that if Malfoy had shared a pertinent piece of information prior to this morning," Fabian complained, throwing Lucius under the oncoming train. He was fully prepared for such an eventuality, however, and turned to Yaxley.

"Calvin, you'll recall our conversations regarding the disruptions in the streets over the news of the mandatory testing. Perhaps you could enlighten Kingsley and Fabian as to our predictions of how this would go?"

"Of course, Lucius." Yaxley turned his attention to Kingsley, not as concerned about Underwood since the man technically reported to him. "Lucius, and others who share our mixed past, were naturally quite attentive to the results of Miss Granger's work. It is no secret that the hostility and racism that made the dark lord's rise possible are still lurking in the fabric of our society, and only time will suffice to clear its effects. Thus, when there were murmurs of retribution against the 'uppity Mudblood', Lucius and myself, as well as others, took it upon ourselves to keep a close ear to the ground for any movement toward an actual attack on Miss Granger."

"Since Miss Granger reports to me, I made it a personal mission of mine to be apprised of her whereabouts, and even tested the wards on her home to determine how vulnerable Miss Granger may be. Regardless of the rumors to the contrary, I do not make it a habit of dueling my employees in the workplace." Lucius sniffed and began to continue.

"Last week as Miss Granger was approaching Hogsmeade, she was attacked by Antonin Dolohov and three other assailants, whom I did not recognize. I had followed Miss Granger as it was widely known in the office that she was to meet her friends and at what time, and together we were able to beat off her attackers."

"And why was the Auror Department not informed of this?" Kingsley asked in his deep baritone, the same question that Underwood had just vouched in his own office before Yaxley interrupted them.

"It was quite clear that someone within my division was responsible for leaking the information. In order to preserve that link, I swore Miss Granger to silence on the matter, and further resolved to keep a very close eye on her. Yaxley has been attempting to trace the leak from my division, and I have been keeping track of her whereabouts since then, as Minerva McGonagall and Harry Potter can attest."

"And this is before you were matched to her?" Kingsley asked, reserving his own opinion about the matter. He was a masterful poker player, and his face remained impassive throughout. It was one of the reasons he was so good at his job.

"Yes. I admit that I was surprised by that information when I received it," Kingsley noted that Malfoy did not say when that was, "Given what I know of the probabilities, I was aware that even if Miss Granger received other matches, she would not find those avenues to be open to her. I assure you that since we have recently reached an understanding, she will shortly be under my personal protection as my wife. For the time being, I have strengthened the wards on her home and met with Fabian this morning to seek protection for her when she is out in public and I cannot be present." Which will be never, if I have anything to say about it, Lucius thought to himself.

Yaxley and Underwood were surprised by Lucius' announcement of his engagement, as the current betting pools making the rounds at the Ministry had said that she would take months to come around, and only perhaps after the visit of an Unspeakable. Kingsley did not seem surprised at all, which Lucius noted with suspicion.

"When is the happy occasion?" Kingsley asked, a slight twinkle in his eye.

"Tomorrow, if you must know," Lucius answered gruffly, and that managed to shock all three of them.

"Why the rush?" Underwood asked sourly, while Kingsley sat back in his chair and crossed his fingers in front of him.

"I say, Lucius, this could be quite valuable for the MLE. If we publicized the wedding, we could go a long way toward showing the community that these arranged marriages aren't quite so distasteful as they might think." Yaxley's eyes were bright, and Lucius knew he had to shut down this train of thought quite quickly.

"I don't believe that publicity is what is called for given that my fiancée has suffered two attacks on her person purely as a result of being the public face of the Ministry's research into the Squib problem." Lucius' voice was arctic, ridicule practically dripping from his tongue.

Kingsley had sat forward in his chair again and his eyes were calculating—a bad sign, in Lucius' experiences. "Yes, I think Calvin might be onto something. Not only would the Ministry be able to show the benefits of letting go of past concerns—"

You mean like the fact that she was tortured in my own home by a fellow Death Eater and she's still willing to marry me?, Lucius thought to himself sarcastically, his expression impassive—

"—but you would also be sending a very clear signal to those who are intent on harming Hermione that she has powerful allies within the magical community, including those who might otherwise be presumed to sympathize with their feelings."

Lucius knew this was the out he needed and he took it unhesitatingly. "But then those same displays will also convince those who know more about what is going to refrain from confiding in me in any way. If I am truly to be of service to my wife in this matter, they must be allowed to draw their own conclusions from such a hasty marriage."

"One would assume that marrying her so quickly would perhaps make some suspicious of your motives," Kingsley observed shrewdly.

"I can think of any number of reasons why I might wed her so precipitously but still maintain, ties, shall we say, to those who might share pertinent information." Lucius would not go further than that, and he could see that Kingsley knew it.

"Very well."

"I'd still like to make something of this, Lucius. Please, give me a bit of a break—the public are still writhing from the pain of so many of these matches, if they saw some pleasantness it could go a long way toward alleviating the protests and scuffles that keep breaking out." Calvin was pleading, but Lucius had had enough.

"I will not put my wife under the microscope of the public eye when she is already suffering from the burden of being responsible for the detection of this problem, as well as indirectly responsible for the implementation of its solution. She is continuing her research into the regulation of the gene—having press witches and wizards following her everywhere would make her life even more hellish than it already is."

Kingsley said nothing, was just studying him, while Underwood looked uncomfortable. Yaxley threw his hands up and said, "Fine, fine! Maybe when she's pregnant you'll be more willing to help me out a bit."

Lucius was not going to comment on the likelihood of impending parenthood in front of anyone other than Hermione, and kept his face impassive. Silence reigned for a brief minute, then Kingsley turned his attention to Underwood.

"What have you learned from the prisoner?"

The rest of the meeting passed quickly. The wizard had been a middling dueler but he was resistant to Veritaserum, which meant they were contemplating Legilimency. Lucius would have volunteered himself but they wouldn't have trusted his results anyway, so it wasn't worth even offering. Besides, he had enough on his plate as it was. He planned to take a little trip to Paris soon, and hopefully it would bear more fruit than any half-hearted cursing they could inflict on that pathetic excuse for a wizard currently in holding cell 402B.

"A word, Malfoy," Kingsley said as the other men exited his office. Lucius mentally steeled himself and sat back down on the chair he had temporarily vacated, a pleasant enough expression on his face. It was really too much to hope that Kingsley Shacklebolt, former member of the Order of the Phoenix, would let him swan off and marry the Golden Gryffindor without making his thoughts on the matter more explicit.

"You and I both know that Hermione would never agree to such a rapid conclusion to any agreement you may have reached. I've seen enough of the evolution of your thinking over the course of your tenure as the head of Magical Research to know that you haven't resorted to anything dark to compel her agreement, but somehow I suspect that you're moving things along at a more rapid rate than she would otherwise agree with. So, I'm going to ask you this once, very nicely and properly: what have you done?"

Kingsley's expression was forbidding and his eyes were hard if still pleasant. Lucius admired the man, even if he didn't particularly like him. He had been witness to enough of these types of private tête-a-têtes between the Minister and others to know that Kingsley wasn't above fighting dirty himself, his own wand having come out on a few memorable occasions. It was ruthlessness of a most admirable kind, and absolutely required to keep his job as Minister.

"We participated in the Beltane rite."

Kingsley processed this for a second. Lucius knew it was somewhat dangerous to admit that he had tampered with the wards on the matches, but Kingsley could have found that out easily enough if he went looking anyway.

"And the Sealing?"

"Accomplished Sunday."

Kingsley fixed him with a calculating glare. He didn't bother to accuse Lucius of gaining Hermione's participation via unwitting means—he was certain of that. No, the fact that Hermione herself had Sealed the agreement was damned interesting.

"Is she aware that she is responsible for the sudden necessity of the ceremony?"

Lucius did not appreciate that Kingsley was trying to behave as if he were Hermione's father, and drew himself up to his full height to look down his nose at the Minister. "I don't see how that is any of your business."

Kingsley regarded him shrewdly, then said, "Fine, if you want to play it that way. Now, what can you tell me about the French Ministry's puzzling silence regarding the Squib test? We've heard from every other Ministry around the world except for them."

"That would be a little 'quirk' of the French houses," Lucius murmured. It was very interesting that Kingsley was aware of the problem they were facing. He filed that piece of information away for further discussion with Draco.

"Would this 'quirk' also explain how it is that the Malfoys have never had a Squib born in nearly the six hundred years of recorded English births in that house?"

"It may," Lucius said. "You and I are well aware of the tendency of pureblood houses to mind their own business, Kingsley. Perhaps my wife might be able to crack that pattern once she is part of it."

"I see that we understand each other," Kingsley said, his eyes communicating more than the words. With that, he sat up straight and wordlessly shuffled his calendar forward. "When is the ceremony? I would like to wish you both joy."

"4 pm, in the gardens at Malfoy Manor. I will send an owl."

"Much appreciated." Kingsley's eyes were interested as he watched Lucius nod and leave. This was going to make many people very, very nervous.