I'm afraid I have a confession to make. The reason that these updates are getting pumped out faster and faster is because I have a History paper that I don't want to do. I don't know why, but it makes me want to write fanfic more as it gets closer and closer. This is absolutely disastrous for my grade, but positively wonderful for you guys!
"Things are shaping up to be pretty odd./ Little deaths in musical beds./ So it seems I'm someone I've never met./ You will only hear these elegant crimes,/ Fall on your ears from criminal dimes./ They spill unfound from a pretty mouth./ Everybody gets there and everybody gets their, and everybody gets their way./ I never said I missed her when everybody kissed her,/ Now I'm the only one to blame..." – Panic! At the Disco, "That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)"
Granger had been silent for a scarily long time, and pale for even longer. Granted, she had always been pale, but the point being was that she had been even paler for longer than a scarily long time. Blaise and Draco were watching her carefully as her eyes kept skimming over and over the paper, absently flexing and relaxing her right hand just as Blaise had been doing earlier.
She'd already told Jacob to handle the rest of the appointments, that she was taking the rest of the day off, before she came to Malfoy Manor. They'd been forced to tell her the real circumstances of Blaise's previous engagement, and swore her to secrecy. Apparently, they didn't need to, as she had taken an oath of silence for herself.
"There's no way to break an Unbreakable Vow other than death," she said monotonously, although they weren't sure if she were speaking to them or herself, so they merely nodded. "The rest of this damn thing is ironclad though. Clauses so we're faithful to each other, protection of each other, at least two children within eight years. Why two and why eight?"
"Greengrasses are big on their traditions," Draco supplied quietly. "But Malfoy traditions trumped, so Astoria and I are only legally guaranteed one."
"And if we don't do all of that, we die," Blaise hummed, Granger nodding back at them as they both returned to their silence. Again, it wasn't uncomfortable being silent with Granger, but the air was thick and there certainly was a lot to think about. It was certainly a very serious day once your life and the end of it was put into question, Blaise decided.
"If this were simply a legal mistake, we'd be able to at least fight it," Draco spoke wearily, rubbing at his face and sighing, "But with magic and bindings and all of this bullshit, we can't even argue or try anything else."
"Maybe my life would've been easier if I'd stayed a Muggle," Granger murmured thoughtfully, and Blaise was actually quite concerned she'd be going into shock if she wasn't already.
"You'd be bored being a Muggle," Draco corrected her, and she hummed her agreement.
Blaise sighed, dragging his hands through his hair and looked pleadingly at Granger. His fiancé. Future wife. Future mother of his children. Merlin, he felt like throwing up. "Do you want a drink? Because I want a drink."
"Normally I'd decline, but I think today is a special occasion," she smirked wryly, "After all, I did get engaged."
Blaise snorted, rising from his seat and rifling through Draco's secret stash without permission. The blonde in question rose, stretching and grunting when something popped, frowning down at his desk.
"I'm going to check on Astoria, we can sort through this tomorrow once you two have gotten smashed for the evening," he said before looking over at Granger and arching an eyebrow. "I don't think it'd be safe for you to be here. Or Blaise's, for that matter. Suffice it to say that I believe Daphne to be certifiably insane after this stunt."
Blaise handed her a tumbler of firewhiskey, to which she saluted to Draco. "Here, here!" And with that, she tipped her head back and took the shot like a champ, surprising the boys immensely. She stood, washing the glass with her wand and settling it back in Draco's stash. "Come on, Blaise, we can get drunk at my place. I'll even let you crash on my couch."
"What a wonderful way to end the evening," he said, and even he weren't sure if he were joking or not, but he followed her through the Floo all the same.
Her apartment wasn't exactly small for one person and a cat, but it wasn't really built for having another person inhabit the area at the same time either. To make things easier, Blaise assumed his spot on the couch and kicked off his shoes, as Granger had done, and waited as she padded barefoot into her kitchen. He looked around at the mantle and surrounding bookshelves of the wall he was facing, smiling idly at the amount of pictures she had of her friends, family and even her cat. There were some newspaper clippings that he hadn't even taken a second glance at when they were first in print, things with headlines like "Weasley Wizarding Wheezes Back on Firm Feet!" or "Quibbler Daughter Takes Over Daily Prophet!" He got up to read that one, as it informed him that Luna Lovegood, only daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood, owner of the Quibbler, had become the head of the newspaper. He felt his blood stirring, wondering why the barmy woman hadn't cleared his name when she downright knew he'd done nothing wrong, when Granger called from the kitchen.
"I have butterbeer, white wine, and something weird that Luna brought me from Prussia," she announced, "Which would you like?"
"Whatever seems the strongest," he called back, retaking his spot on the couch as he heard glasses and plates clinking behind him. Just as he was thinking he ought to be helping somehow, a heavy weight settled in his lap, and he looked down in surprise to find big yellow eyes set in a squashed-in face staring back at him. They stared at each other, waiting for the other's next move, and Granger took her spot on the small two-seat couch next to him, holding two wine glasses, a plate of reheated lasagna with two forks, and a strange blue bottle with a long skinny neck and decorative glasswork surrounding it, as if the thing were nestled in a glass tumbleweed.
"Here," she said, levitating the plate and offering him a glass as well as the other one as she settled the bottle in her lap and starting trying to pry the top off. "Oh, come on, Luna!" she almost whined, "You can't give me liquor that I can't even open! It's just not fair!"
Blaise traded items with her, looking intently at the bottle as he twisted and turned it, the cat in his lap sniffing it in its form of contribution, before turning it completely upside down and unhooking something. The glasswork shifted just an inch, leaving the top accessible. "Barmy, but brilliant if there are children in the house."
"I agree," she said as he poured the two glasses, the two grimacing down at the bubbling, black liquid. It looked far less appealing once it was out of the pretty bottle, but Blaise took a deep breath and took a sip warily before beaming.
"It tastes like candy floss!" he said before taking another one.
Hermione smiled and did the same, humming her appreciation that it wasn't utterly disgusting, and took a fork and began to eat. She motioned to the other one as she chewed, covering her mouth as she swallowed before speaking. "Eat, it'll absorb some of the alcohol."
He did as she said, mentally repeating to himself that not everyone could cook like his grandmother, and was pleasantly surprised with the result. "This is great, did you cook this?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes, sorry that it's left over though," she waved a hand through the air as she sipped the sweet alcoholic drink. "I make large portions and live off of them for about a week. You're lucky that this was only from last night."
He chuckled, taking another bite and humming. "My grandmother would be happy, she loves cooking. My mother, on the other hand, loves baking."
Hermione leaned back against the couch, completely relaxed now that the contract and their impending marriage was out of sight and out of mind for now. "I'm dreadful at baking, I'm afraid. What's your family like?"
"Oh, well," he blinked, surprised that someone actually wanted to know. "There's my grandmother, she was my father's mother, and she lives in Italy. We visit her frequently, and it's wonderful to go and see some of my heritage. Then, my mother, who kept my father's last name throughout all of her different marriages. She has Italian ancestors and parents, but was born and raised in England, which is why we live here, although she's fluent in Italian. My father built our manor for her, and put up with the horrible weather for her. He was killed in the First War, after I was born, so I don't know all that much about him." He was surprised by how freely he was speaking, and wished that he could blame the entirety of it on the alcohol, but he knew that this spewing of words was bound to happen at some point. He'd been on an emotional ride today, and stressed out and anxious, and whenever he was stressed out and anxious, he gabbed. Granger, however, seemed happy to listen. "Evangeline is my older sister, eight years older than me, and she's great. She was my closest friend growing up, and she would tell me all of these different stories about Mama and my father. She lives in a tiny villa in Italy now, pursuing something with art, but we're proud of her. She's an amazing artist. Then there's me, and then my little sister Lia. Lia is about to turn four in November, but she's as smart as could be."
"They all sound wonderful," Granger finally spoke, and Blaise nodded as he absently pet the orange cat on his lap, making it vibrate and attempt to purr. Granger noticed and smiled, patting the cat on the head. "Crookshanks likes you, by the way."
"Oh, is that his name?" he looked down just as the yellow eyes looked up, and the cat nodded. Blaise furrowed his brows and glanced at his glass, wondered if he'd already drank too much, and Granger giggled.
"It's a secret, but Crookshanks is half-Kneazle," she supplied, curling up and tucking her legs underneath. "I was curious, so I got a DNA test on him. I always knew he was too smart for his own good."
"Explains that, then," Blaise nodded, "Why is it a secret? And what's DNA?"
"DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, and it is the chemical composition of each and every living creature, as each strand has different sequences that determines the characteristics of each person. They're passed down from parents to offspring," she answered, and Blaise nodded along dumbly, knowing that he was already far too drunk to comprehend all of this. "As for it being a secret – I love watching my friends get freaked out when he acts too smart for a plain house cat."
Blaise chuckled, and Crookshanks seemed to appreciate that they were talking about him, as he purred louder. By now his brain was numbing, and he was pleased that the sweet drink was taking all of the stress out for him, and Granger seemed to be thinking the same thing. But, he was still quite confused, and had a lot of questions for her.
"What are we going to do?" he asked, and she sighed as she sadly nudged the empty plate and forks onto the coffee table, nursing her glass and frowning at nothing.
"I guess we'll have to go through with it, won't we?" she asked, taking a sip. "It's about the only thing we can do without dying."
At the last word, Crookshanks stopped purring and lifted his head to look at his owner, almost glaring to get some answers out of her. Blaise kept petting him, and quickly explained to him.
"Granger and I accidentally were bound to a magically enhanced contract to get married to each other. An Unbreakable Vow by contract, actually," he explained, and the cat seemed grateful and resumed purring. "So," he turned back to Granger, "Will this be difficult for you to plan?"
"Oh God, I do have to plan it, don't I?" she cried, throwing an arm over her eyes and groaning. "I didn't even think of that, or telling my parents, or telling my friends. Oh, they're going to go ballistic, thinking that Malfoy put me up to it or something."
"They can get over it, nothing we can do about it anyway," he shrugged, scratching at Crookshanks's ear. "Whatever you want, I can pay for, by the way. No reason you should be able to have your dream wedding because of this, even if it is to me rather than the Weasley."
Granger scoffed, rolling her eyes at him as she sipped her drink, "To be honest, I never really had a dream wedding, and if I did, it certainly wouldn't feature Ron. Don't get me wrong, he's a great friend, but a horrid boyfriend. He never actually knew my birthday until three years ago."
"Dodged an Avada with that one, then," he chuckled, Crookshanks doubling his purring as he seemed to agree. "But, really, you never thought of your wedding? Not even as a little girl?"
Granger hummed, turning thoughtful, and began to tug on a wayward curl and let it spring back into place, and then spoke, "I thought of my dream college, if that counts?"
Blaise snorted, and it was just his luck that he'd been taking a drink, and he was mortified that it shot out of his nose. But damn if it didn't burn like hell though! He quickly waved his wand to clean up the mess before clutching his sinuses, Granger chuckling nearby as she took her wand and began to sort out the burning he was going through.
"Oh, fuck you, Granger, why'd you have to have a sense of humor right when I took a drink?" he asked, clutching at his head and wondering if taking another sip was safe around her if she was going to start being funny.
"I've always had a sense of humor, most people just don't notice it until they're smashed," she huffed, taking a drink and grinning back at him.
"Forgive me, then, I'll be sure to notice from now on," he grinned, smoothing his hair back.
They kept drinking for a while, until they realized that the liquor decided when they had enough. The taste went from candy floss to steamed broccoli, which made the two retch and splutter before deciding it was time for bed. Granger got a couple of blankets and a pillow for Blaise, magicking it to form a makeshift bed for him as he cleaned up and set the half-full glasses inside the fridge, just so they wouldn't go to waste. Blaise thanked her for the drinks, food and place to sleep, and she merely waved her hand through the air.
"Don't worry about it, we are engaged anyway," she said, and the two only smiled at it, since it really was quite funny now that they were three sheets to the wind. He crawled into bed and let her turn out the lights around him as she scooped up Crookshanks and went into her own bedroom with a very soft "Goodnight, Blaise."
"Goodnight, Hermione," he called back as he drifted off very soundly.
Oh fucking hell, maybe it was all just a really weird dream. Maybe it was still Wednesday night, and the entirety of Thursday had just been a weird dream produced from his euphoria of being a free man. But his head was pounding, and he kept feeling something furry rub against the arm that was hanging down, so he opened his eyes and groaned when he was met with Granger's flat and Granger's cat ramming his face into his arm and trying to get his attention.
"What, cat, what do you want?" he sighed, looking blearily over the side of the couch at it and feeling the room begin to spin. Crookshanks hopped up onto his chest, dropping something cold and hard onto his shirt, and Blaise sincerely hoped it wasn't a skeleton of something, but instead it was a small vial of a familiar murky liquid. "You brought me a hangover potion?" he asked the creature, before it dawned on him, "Right, half-Kneazle. Well, thanks, mate. Did you get some for Granger, too?" He would hate to down the whole thing and leave her to suffer all day.
Crookshanks gave a short meow before nodding, watching as he downed the small vial and leaned back to relax with a sigh. Crookshanks took this moment to curl up on his chest and purr, probably hoping for a small nap. As the potion took effect, Blaise heard water running and realized that Granger was already up, and had probably allowed to let him sleep in. Or maybe she just wasn't ready to deal with him and everything else yet, he honestly couldn't blame her. "Say, what time does Granger have work?" he asked, feeling silly for asking the cat, "We still need to go see Draco, and I'd hate for her to be late."
The cat gave ten short chirps before going back to sleep, and Blaise sighed when he noticed it was just nearing seven-thirty. Surely it wouldn't take hours to talk to Draco. Blaise blindly searched for his wand, the cat still sleeping soundly on his chest, and cast a spell to clean his teeth and clean his hair. He could shave when he got home, he reassured as he patted and rubbed his cheek and chin. He turned his attention onto Crookshanks, smiling at the furry beast as it began to purr. He vaguely remembered Draco complaining about the thing back at Hogwarts, that it was ugly and mangy and absolutely horrid, but Blaise thought differently. He could see where Granger would find him cute, and the animal surely worshipped her and cared for her a great deal. So he thought of it as an honor to be accepted by Crookshanks, especially since they were going to have to deal with each other come the wedding.
Blaise paused, and Crookshanks opened an eye to check on him. He had no idea how long they had to get married. For all he knew, it could be today, or next week, or any period of time. It certainly wasn't yesterday, as they were alive enough to get drunk, but how was he supposed to know exactly when the deadline was?
"Alright, I'm all ready to go," Granger called as she clicked around her room and checked on various things in there. "Crookshanks, you're all fed, my bed's made, clothes and towel are in the hamper…" she trailed off, thinking of other things to check on, and made her way to the living room, where she stopped and blinked at the Slytherin graduate lying on her couch and stroking her cat. She smiled, feeling rather hopeful that maybe everything would turn out, and quickly dropped it when Blaise looked up at her.
She was wearing black slacks again, this time with a silver blouse, and Blaise wondered if silver were considered a color or an accessory to the monochrome trend she continuously committed. In any case, he picked Crookshanks up and stood, settling the complaining feline into his former spot, which was still nice and warm for him to curl up and go back to sleep.
"I'm ready," he said, taking a deep breath and sighing as they headed to the Floo. They called out for the Manor, and were relocated to Draco's office, where he and Astoria were going over something and speaking quietly to each other.
"I don't know why we can't just use the Malfoy family crib, darling," Draco murmured, and Astoria gave a soft snort as she circled something, no doubt a crib that she liked.
"Darling, that thing is a cherished family heirloom, yes, but I want something for our own. I'm getting very tired of upholding so many traditions, especially when they only seem pointless," she answered before looking up and smiling happily at the two. "Good morning! I'm sorry to have rushed out of here like that last night, my family is not being incredibly supportive of me and I couldn't take it for much longer, but I do want you to know that I am on your sides. If either of you need me for anything, please know that I am here." Everyone knew that this was mainly directed at Granger, but the brunette still smiled and thanked her.
"Now, upon going over this with my lovely partner," Draco said, smiling over at Astoria before going back to Blaise and Granger with his normal, neutral expression. "We've noticed a few things, such as a time limit." The two tensed at this, but Astoria took over.
"You'll have to get married before or on December fifth of this year, and absolutely no dating anyone else for this amount of time."
"As you noticed, you have eight years after your marriage to produce a child, but the second one must come at least three years or less after that."
"What if we have twins?" Blaise considered dully, and Astoria shrugged casually.
"Then considered it fulfilled," she said before frowning, "And I'm afraid, as you may have guessed, there's no room for divorce." The two nodded, having discussed that option extensively last night before realizing that they wouldn't want to do that to the children they were required to have. Blaise was proud of them both, mainly himself, for handling things so maturely. "I suggest telling your families and closest friends right away, but try not to let this get into the public too much. It could still be considered an arranged marriage by the Ministry, and will only make things worse."
Granger nodded, staying silent as she waited for any further instructions, but Blaise spoke next.
"Would you like to come and meet my family?" he asked, and she blinked at him in surprise. "I'll tell them beforehand, I promise, but I can assure you that things will go over better if you take the time to meet them."
"That sounds like an excellent idea, but it may be a while before you can meet mine," Granger answered, "I plan to give them time to adapt to the idea of everything, and letting them choose when to meet you, if that's alright."
"Of course," he nodded, and they turned when they heard Draco scoff.
"Why do I get the feeling that you two may end up thanking Daphne for all of this?" he asked.
"Oh, no, I never will, simply for the fact I have to tell Harry and the Weasleys," Granger said as she stood with a grim face. "I have to go and set up everything for work, it seems that a few of the brides took offense for my absence yesterday and decided to trash the offices. If you need me, please send an owl."
The three nodded, watching as she disappeared in the green flames, and Astoria rounded on Blaise with a wicked grin.
"I can't wait to see what your family thinks of her, ooh, you'll have to tell me everything, Blaise!" she crowed as Blaise grumbled back at her.
"I'm going to go back to bed for a few more hours before I do any such thing," he sniffed as he stood, straightening his clothes and glancing over the pictures and descriptions of baby cribs. He pointed to one, idly, and said, "I think Draco likes that one." Thus, the two were distracted, and he was left to Floo back to his apartment and flop into bed, completely exhausted and wondering why he actually missed being in Granger's flat.
I wanted to get back to Draco and Astoria before I ended the chapter, so sorry if it isn't as fleshed out as some of you may have hoped.
Please review and let me know what you think!