Out of Hand by relativelypositive
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I make no money from the use of J.K. Rowling's characters.
Chapter 24
Draco listened as calmly as he could. He already knew his mother did not approve of his engagement. He was a little surprised she wasn't more accepting of Granger as a person, blood status notwithstanding, simply because she was brave and had convictions. His mother knew he was not unhappy with the engagement, and he thought she'd try to accept it for his sake. Maybe it was too soon.
There were confused murmurs throughout the crowd.
"We are a private family, despite how often we are in the forefront of current events, so I will only make one more point. I do not wish to make our private affairs public, but in light of certain events, I feel I must be clear."
She lightly cleared her throat again. She scanned the crowd and settled her gaze on Draco and Granger.
"I do not oppose my son's marriage to Miss Granger because she is a Muggleborn."
She narrowed her focus to Draco alone.
"I oppose this marriage because she does not love him."
She stepped away from the podium and left the hall. Draco went to follow her, but Granger pulled him back.
She pointed up to the podium and Draco looked to see Luna Lovegood holding a huge box.
"Many of us here are not Muggleborns, but we support our friends. The Quibbler will be letting the world know about what happened to Hermione. What really happened to Hermione. Hi, Hermione!"
She made a tiny wave in their direction with just her fingers, not letting go of the box.
"I read the funniest thing in the paper this morning! Are you feeling like yourself today?"
Draco hoped she was kidding. And he hoped she wasn't actually trying to have a conversation with Granger from clear across the Great Hall.
"We're glad to have you back. I haven't figured out how Pansy possessed you yet, but I believe it to be dark, dark magic. I'll let you know what I discover. My father is working on it as well."
"I guess she means well," whispered Hermione.
"How many other people don't know what happened? Should we set the record straight?" Draco wondered aloud.
"Hermione, would you come up here?" Lovegood beckoned.
"I don't want to go up there." Granger stated drily.
"You could try to refuse," one of the twins said, "but your adoring public would like to see you…even if you don't want to be seen."
Everyone turned to see if Granger would comply with Lovegood's request.
"Everyone's staring at me already. I might as well go."
She finally detached her hand from Draco's, and he took that as his cue to let her go alone. He watched the crowd part to give her a straight shot to the podium.
His future wife. That was just insane. But he was looking forward to it.
"They love her," he said quietly to himself.
"Yeah. Always have. Even before the article people looked up to her," one of the twins responded.
"I hope you're prepared to be a trophy husband," the other one remarked.
"What does that mean?"
"It means you'll be the arm candy in this couple. She's always going to be a force of nature. You'll just be along for the ride, pretty boy," one teased.
"That's why we're here. We think that she's wonderful. She has a cleverness that borders on devious. You'll appreciate that, Malfoy. We've found that supporting Hermione only does everyone good."
"We're jealous of you."
Draco took his eyes off Hermione for a moment to look at the twins in surprise.
"You are?"
"Hell yes. We've been fighting over which one of us was going to get to marry her if Ron didn't step up soon."
"We never had a problem with you, Malfoy, but you've never been a real stand up guy, you know? That'll have to change," the other one added.
He knew his life was going to change drastically. It had already started.
Granger made it to the podium and tried to bravely look out over the crowd.
Draco could tell she was embarrassed. But she smiled.
"Hermione, I have the best surprise for you!"
Lovegood shoved the giant box into Granger's arms and Granger's smile widened as she looked at her friend.
"Thanks, Luna."
Granger set down the box and pulled off the lid. She quickly stepped away from it and looked at Draco in alarm.
She looked bewildered, and a little scared.
Lovegood reached into the box and pulled out what looked like a lion's head.
"Is that what I think it is?" one the twins asked in disbelief.
"It can't be. That'd just be insane," the other one answered.
Lovegood beamed with pride. "I made it for you! It's your hair!"
Granger was speechless.
"I found it when I was being a social butterfly! Your hair is…was…so distinctive. I knew it was yours!"
Granger stepped away from it, but Lovegood advanced on her while lifting up the headdress.
"You've always had the mane of a lion, you Gryffindor, now you can display it in all its glory!"
Granger gave up and let the crazy girl put the contraption on her head.
The crowd laughed and cheered.
"What is going on?"
Draco turned to see Granger's parents coming up behind him.
'Have you met Luna Lovegood?" he asked.
"I don't think so. I think I'd remember her," Granger's mother laughed. "That looks like…oh, no."
"Cath, we need a picture of that."
"I think everyone will have a picture of that," one of the twins remarked. He pointed to Rita Skeeter and her photographer. They were writing furiously and diligently photographing the event, respectively.
"Is that the reporter that wrote this article?" Granger's mother inquired, still clutching his father's paper.
"Yep," one of the twins replied. "Don't worry, we have a plan to take care of her."
Draco smiled. He bet they did.
He turned to glance back at Granger, who was hugging Lovegood while trying to keep the headdress on. He smiled, then turned back to her parents.
"Where's my father?"
Granger's father answered, "Dumbledore called the Aurors. Snape was against that for some reason, but I don't understand why! Hermione is still a child. She may have said some inappropriate things, but your father deserves punishment for hitting her. That is never right."
Draco felt himself blush. He didn't completely disagree. But he didn't think of Granger as a child.
He looked back up at her. She was now alone at the podium, still wearing that ridiculous thing. She was laughing at something someone said, and Draco thought she was beautiful.
"Hi, everybody," Hermione greeted. "I'd like to thank you all for supporting this cause. Ummm, well, Narcissa Malfoy was right."
The crowd's mood swiftly changed from jovial to serious. They were tuned in to Granger, and Draco was proud.
She took off the lion's head and carefully set it down.
"If I had known that what I thought was harmless teasing would end up in an irrevocable engagement, I would not have said…what I said."
She paused and gave him a reassuring smile.
"I'd really like to get back to the Hospital Wing, so I'm going to say this quickly. I'm engaged to Draco Malfoy. He's not that bad. At least not as bad as I thought he was. I don't love him. He doesn't love me. It's okay. We'll deal. Pansy Parkinson Polyjuiced herself with my hair, that's where the article came from, if you hadn't already figured that out. I'm assuming most of you knew it was something like that, since I wasn't lynched when I came in here today."
She took a deep breath.
"While this sit-in is great, I think you should be going to class in shifts so you don't fall behind. And please, some of you, it's been over two days. Go take a shower. You know who you are."
She smiled as the crowd giggled a bit. There were a few uncomfortable titters. They did, indeed, know who they were.
"Don't forget to be practical. We'll get our class. You just wait and see."
"You should go join her," one of the twins flicked Draco on the arm.
"No, she's in her element."
"But you can tell she's also in pain," her mother protested. "If I went up there it would be her mommy coming to her rescue. You can go get her and make it look all cute and supportive."
"Yeah?"
"Definitely."
He smiled at Hermione's parents for the first time. Maybe they weren't so bad.
He moved around the perimeter of the room until he was next to Granger. The crowd didn't know what to make of his appearance, he could tell. They waited expectantly, and Draco knew what he wanted to do.
He retrieved the discarded lion's head and gently perched it back on her head.
He scrutinized her for a moment, welts and bruises and all, then smirked.
"Now that's sexy."
She let out a loud bark of laughter, and playfully punched him in the stomach.
He played along, and pretended her punch made him double over.
She took advantage of the temporary evening out of their heights, grabbed his face, and kissed him.
A/N:
Yay! I had to…because I had to reward my 300(!) followers! I know, it's about time. To them, it's only been a few days!
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