Hermione ended her now useless privacy spell and turned away from Malfoy so she could compose herself. Of all the people in all the world, Malfoy was the absolute worst person she could think of to witness a personal fight between her and her boyfriend. She saw him push off the doorway and make his way towards her out of the corner of her eye, and she quickly made herself busy pulling her files out of her pocket and enlarging them so she could get to work on the appeal.
"Trouble in paradise?"
Hermione took a wet breath, insanely grateful that Ron had made her angry enough to keep her from crying, and ignored Malfoy's blatant probe for information. She wished she had a few minutes to check her face for blotchiness and down a quick calming draught that she kept in her purse. But he was here already, prowling about her space, demanding her attention.
Why was he here anyway? She didn't need to be sharing information with Malfoy. She didn't need to have meetings with him. She didn't need him and his rotten family for anything. Ron and Harry were her allies, not Malfoy. He was the enemy, had been the enemy for as long as she had been at Hogwarts. Now he decided he needed her for something and was all up in her space. In a corner of her mind, calm reason told her she was transferring her fury with Ron to a more worthy target. In a less altruistic corner of her mind, she told calm reason to take a hike.
"You're early."
He sat down and swung his feet around to prop them on her table, making her want to push the chair over so he would fall on his ass. Her beloved Hogwarts library was not his local pub and he had no business throwing up his feet like he belonged here. She restrained the impulse and moved her stuff further away from his feet. The bottoms of his shoes were pristine, just like the rest of him. She also scooted her inkwell a little further away to keep herself from giving in to the urge to dump it over his stupid shiny head.
"I wanted to get the meeting done early so we could go down and sign the engagement contract at the ministry before they close."
"My lawyer has advised me to wait on making a decision until the contract challenge mess has been worked out," she concentrated on straightening her folders and getting out a crisp clean new sheet of parchment, carefully not looking in his direction.
He tossed a folder on her perfectly straightened pile, causing the whole lot to skew. "My lawyer has advised us to move quickly. Your other suitors don't feel they are being afforded equal time and access and want to force you to do a minimum interview and date requirement with each of them. According to my source, a petition is being drafted and will be presented to the ministry first thing in the morning. We should sign the contract tonight, put the whole thing to bed."
Hermione's head whipped around, needing to see just how serious he was. He shrugged his shoulders, spreading his hands almost apologetically. Not a hint of smirk or smug, just the easy charm she had seen him use on others but never directed at her. She gaped for a second or two, trying to process. "How reliable is this information?"
"Independently verified, multiple sources."
She opened the folder he had tossed at her just to have something to do with her hands and saw it was a new marriage contract. He stayed silent while she tried to skim quickly, committing to memory, while at the same time letting her brain race ahead to figure out what to do. She felt like a rat in a maze, she just kept turning, just kept testing. No matter how she planned she just kept running into walls, and the only exit was the one they wanted her to take. She needed to quit running, quit trying to beat their system and climb the walls. She looked up at Malfoy. He was staring at her intently, watching her reaction to the contract, a study in seriousness.
Malfoy was used to taking shortcuts, he was used to getting his way. The question in this case: was he a wall, or was he a ladder?
"This contract is pretty much the same."
"Yeah, we just added that we will use our traditional engagement ceremony."
Hermione gave him a look. He couldn't really expect her to jump up, grab her coat, and run off to the ministry to get engaged to him. Expect her to agree to some super secret engagement ceremony. The silence stretched for a full minute before his feet came down and he leaned forward on his elbows, an earnest honest expression on his face that made her instantly wary and a sigh on his lips.
"Listen, the engagement ceremony is mostly a series of extreme protection spells and loyalty vows. I didn't want to do it because it's very intimate and meaningful to my family. We've never had a broken engagement. It's usually taken very seriously. I don't like taking something very sacred to me and making a mockery out of it. However, the spells can be broken, and the engagement is not magically permanent. It will buy us the time we need to dismantle this law and go our separate ways. The Ministry is forcing my hand here."
Hermione gnawed on her lip and tried to gauge his truthfulness. What she needed was a vial of truth serum, but she doubted he'd agree to take it. He made everything seem so reasonable and straightforward when she knew for a fact this whole thing was a convoluted mess. There were at least a dozen options that didn't involve her running off to the Ministry with him tonight, based on his word that things were going to get worse tomorrow if she didn't.
He leaned back, an exasperated sigh and frustration leaking out of his expression. He threw one arm up over the back of another chair and glared at her a bit as if she were the reason for this mess. She straightened her spine and glared right back. There was no reason on earth that his scowl should make her aware of his lips and the very real possibility of those lips at some point in the future touching hers.
"Look, Granger, I get that you don't like me much. Mutual. I get that you don't want to get engaged. Neither do I. But digging your heels in on this doesn't do any good. The engagement isn't important. We intend to break it when we dismantle the law. We need to get this red tape out of the way so we can focus on that."
He ran a hand through perfectly groomed hair, a habit she was now recognizing as a sign of frustration. "There is no pairing in the wizarding world as damaging to this law as ours will be. This is a tool to come at them from a very strong social standpoint. The head of my family is an actual, convicted Death Eater who has personally assaulted you as one of his many crimes. Our personal feud and incompatibility are well documented. Even the most hardened supporter of this law will see you as a victim, and our union as unacceptable."
"I'm not a victim," Hermione grated out, suddenly furious. Malfoy wanted to use her, the Ministry wanted to use her, her own boyfriend wanted to use her. She was not a tool to be used. "If I sign this document, I'm doing it of my own free will. That negates your whole argument."
He surged to his feet, pacing erratically even though his voice remained calm and even. "I know that. You know that. But you and I are not the people that need to have their minds changed. I already oppose this law, and so do you. You and I are a shining example of everything wrong with this law, a great way to show people exactly why this is wrong. No amount of pretty words about a better society makes victimizing individuals to further their agenda okay. Don't you see? My lawyers are going to have a field day with this. They plan to challenge thirteen points of the law that are insupportable, and all of those points come right back to us as an example of why this law is inhumane and unjustified."
He came to a stop in front of her, and she felt like she was five years old being lectured by the principal. She stood to correct the balance between them and hurled his file with his marriage contract at his stupid, too-handsome face. It did nothing for her temper when the folder went sideways and down and didn't come even close to hitting him. "I don't know why you think that you using me is any better than the stupid ministry using me. I don't want to marry you, and I shouldn't be forced to. You bringing pressure on me from one side and Ron from the other is just giving into their stupid law. I won't do it. I am not going to just go get engaged quietly, and then let you use me in some stupid political campaign to get your way."
She took a couple steps back, crossing her arms and creating a physical barrier between them. She didn't like how tall he had gotten. Craning her head back to maintain eye contact was annoying. Her blood pressure had skyrocketed and her pulse was throbbing so loud and quick that she could hear it pounding through her head. "I don't know what game you are playing here, but you can just forget about it. I won't be your pawn!"
"Damn it, you stubborn impossible woman!" Malfoy snapped, moving towards her two precise steps to maintain that looming effect he seemed to enjoy, suddenly just as angry and loud, and it was gratifying to see him finally lose his cool. People were not supposed to be all calm and collected all the time. "I'm probably the only one in this whole situation who is not trying to use you. I'm here, being totally open and honest, asking for your help and cooperation. That's the exact opposite of using you. I don't want to use you. I want to work with you to get something we both want!"
"I don't want to get engaged!" she screeched at him, lunging closer despite herself, totally losing the plot. She hated him even more for making her screech in her beloved library, but she couldn't help it. This wasn't rocket science. She didn't want to even pretend for one, hot second that she was going to comply with the Ministry. She didn't want to let them maneuver her anywhere closer to their goal of marrying her off. An engagement was a step in the wrong direction. Didn't he see that?
"Well, what the hell do you want me to do about that?" he exploded, taking two more steps, placing himself quite firmly in her personal space, glaring down at her hotly. "Do you have some way of avoiding the engagement requirement? Do you have some way of getting out of it? Are you planning on giving up your magic? Instead of screaming at me like a five-year-old that you don't want to do it, why don't you give me a damn solution, because I don't want to get engaged either! But, right now, I have to, and since I have to, I want to get it over with so I can focus on the much bigger problem which is that I don't want to marry you!"
She took a deep breath to calm herself and decided he was way too close for comfort. She turned and walked away from him before she did something she would regret like punching his lights out. "Why don't you just find someone else to bid on?" she snarled over her shoulder, crossing her arms and staring into the library stacks. "There are plenty of much more cooperative, easily-led girls who would be happy to be engaged to a Malfoy."
She felt more than saw him getting closer to her, and she wanted to turn and see just how close he was but also didn't want to look at him. Not knowing if he was a step closer or right up close and personal, set off all of her awareness, and she strained to hear him breathe. For some reason being in his presence seemed to make her hyper-aware of the space between them. When he finally spoke, low and quiet, she found herself concentrating more on measuring his distance than on how angry she was.
"Do you think that's fair? To let some girl think I want to marry her? What we have here is more honest; at least we know where we stand with each other. No romantic issues fogging up the moral landmines. I've told you why I want to be engaged to you. I think you are my best shot at not getting married."
She dug the heels of her hands into her eye sockets and tried to calm down. The Law, the Ministry, her suitors, Ron, pregnancy, Harry and Ginny. Her whole future was bearing down on her. On every side, she had people and pressures, and everyone wanted her to decide now now now about her entire future. She just needed to think it through. She just needed some time.
Time. That was what Malfoy was offering her.
She turned then, looking up at him, trying to read those changing eyes. He had been closer than she had guessed, and she found herself physically startled that he was not only within touching distance, but that her shoulder almost brushed up against him when she turned. She took a deep breath of her own, aware of his scent and his breath, and let go of her own temper. This was not Malfoy's fault and she didn't have a better plan. Hell, she had no plan. Malfoy was definitely beating her in the planning department. At least he had somewhere for them to start.
"Did you really hear that my suitors are planning a coup to make me date them?" she asked quietly, suddenly aware of how far sound traveled and that this should be a private conversation. The whole thing sounded so far-fetched, but so did this whole extreme situation.
"That is ruddy fact. Like it or not, we Malfoys own half the corrupt lawyers your suitors are using," he whispered back, his tone low and intimate and secretive. "We have dirt on just about everyone who matters. I've gotten a heads up about it from multiple people wanting to curry favor with me. My father is in prison, and people want to make nice with me now that I'm de-facto in charge of the Malfoy fortune and influence. I don't know for sure what the final petition is, but I'm sure you won't like it. I'm willing to bet an engagement on it I'm so sure."
"Make an oath to me, right now, that you will break this engagement agreement with me when we get the law repealed," she moved even closer to him, staring intently at his face, trying to read his expression, feeling like her whole life hinged on his answer. The silence of the library felt heavy and overwhelming and her whole body trembled with the tension.
If he had hesitated for even one second, she would have walked away, consequences be damned. But his answer was swift and low and serious, and, despite everything, she believed him. "I, Draco Lucius Malfoy, do solemnly swear I will not, in any way, impede Hermione Granger from legally breaking an engagement agreement with me under any circumstances."
This hushed moment between them felt sacred and powerful. She was not immune to the fact they were discussing an engagement and that Malfoy had just given her a solemn vow. Her nod felt like a promise in return, and she was almost lightheaded from the power of it.
"You'll need a witness," he said, stepping away from her, breaking the spell of intensity between them, once more dawning that cloak of ruthless practicality that she could almost admire. He stooped to pick up the folder she had flung, stuffing the now wrinkled contract inside. She was disturbed to find herself admiring his long lean lines and well-shaped behind. He turned to look at her, and she fought a blush, no idea where such a sideways thought had come from.
She wasn't the sort of girl who admired the physical, no matter how nice. And why would she be admiring the physical niceness of Malfoy when she knew the person inside that lovely package was very far from nice? That was a question to be turned over in her mind another time, far away from Malfoy and his stupid perceptiveness.
What had he said? Oh yes, witnesses. Ron was out of the question. She had reason to believe that Harry was busy. "I can go ask McGonagall."
~ Artismice ~
Spending her evening voluntarily walking into the Ministry to sign a contract with Draco flipping Malfoy seemed surreal. It was cold, a simple filing of paperwork with a signed witness. She had spent more effort getting her Muggle driving license. And yet, putting ink to paper had her hand shaking so badly she could hardly read her own signature.
There was no turning back now. She had agreed to this course of action. No matter what the fallout, she was committed to Malfoy's wild plan now. If the whole thing affected him at all, it didn't show. He didn't say a word throughout the entire process and only acknowledged her with a shallow nod when they arrived back on Hogwarts grounds before he walked away with his usual swiftness.
McGonagall took her arm as they made their way back into the school and quietly said, "I hope you know what you are doing."
"So do I." Hermione couldn't keep the bleakness from her tone and didn't try. "So do I."
~ Artismice ~
Endless thanks to LightofEvolution for all her feedback on this chapter. Her help is invaluable, the feedback is so appreciated, I can't even tell you! Also hugs to Barton81 who not only cleaned up my run-on sentences here but has gone back to some of the earlier chapters to do some grammar editing!