Hermione gripped the hand in hers tightly, thinking for sure this was the last time it would bring her comfort.

The day passed by in a blur of laughter and heartache. Ginny and Harry were beaming the entire day, it was a wonder their faces weren't stuck in a permanent grin. She couldn't bring herself to move the few muscles in her face to even resemble a smile.

Hermione was happy for them, she was, but it was hard to view the happiness in her friends' relationship when hers was crumbling. And not even on her own volition. Ron still insisted that they would find a way out of this predicament. Hermione didn't blame him, she saw the revolting relationship him and Lavender had at Hogwarts. She herself didn't see a way out, not with the Minister sending daggers toward her and Ron's joined hands.

She was so tired of fighting. Sure, she did have some fight left in her and she wasn't going to make this easy, but she spent most of her childhood fighting for the greater good. It was hard keeping up the energy to continue fighting when it was obvious this wasn't meant to go her way.

She shut the door of her apartment hours later and let the silence envelope her.

She and Ron had been looking at houses to purchase before the letters were sent out. It only seemed fair that the law would come out after they decided on the next step in their relationship.

Her eyes burned and her sinuses prickled. Usually she missed Ron's messy presence, but now she was glad for his absence. She didn't want to be held and told everything would be all right. She wanted to wallow. She wanted to hurt and curse those that decided the betterment of the world was more important than her happiness. She didn't want to be reasonable. She wanted to hate. She wanted grieve the life she could have had. The life her friends were getting and she would never have.

The letters stated they have a month to marry their assigned partners. Every one of her friends has gotten together with their other person and talked weddings and homes and all else that came from joining your life with another person.

She refused.

She didn't want to be around Malfoy anymore than was needed. And it seemed he felt the same as she hadn't heard a thing from him. Not even a snooty letter delivered by a just as snooty owl.

But next week the month would be over. Next week she would be married. Next week she would be required to pack up her life and start her new one as Mrs. Malfoy.

The thought usually made her vomit, but today it made her kick over her entry table and slam a vase at the wall.

Next week, her life was changed forever. Tonight, she raged.

….

Have the halls of the Ministry always been this constricting? Has the air always been this thick?

A bite of pain from fingernails digging into palms was the only thing keeping Hermione grounded. It was the only thing keeping her from blacking out for the entire experience.

She had been sitting in the office of the marriage officiant for five minutes and she was already ready to blow this place up.

She and the officiant had been waiting for her betrothed to arrive and Hermione was getting sick of the old lady's pitying looks. If she glanced at her one more time, Hermione was going to—

The door flung into the wall and in strode the man of the hour.

Malfoy still had an air of pompousness about him that made Hermione want to slap him all over again. His hair was trimmed neatly on the sides, the top flopping artfully over his forehead. Just like in the later Hogwarts days, he wore a black suit and a sneer on his face.

Hermione had never wanted to set someone on fire so soon to them walking into a room before.

He plopped himself into the chair beside her and glared at the Ministry employee, ignoring her completely. She could feel his fury radiating off him. It strangely soothed her to know she wasn't alone in her anger.

"Right, now that all parties are accounted for, we may proceed," the lady said in her high pitched nasally tone. Hermione saw Malfoy cringe at the lady's voice from the corner of her eye, but he merely grunted in response.

The woman— who had told Hermione of her name at the beginning of the meeting, but Hermione had conveniently forgotten— rose from her seat and invited the two of them to follow her lead. With a wave of her wand the desk and chairs floated to the edges of the room, created a gap in the middle for them to stand.

"Now, if you would join hands," Malfoy sent the woman a glare so murderous, Hermione was surprised the woman hadn't dropped at the spot. "Or… maybe not."

They weren't required to hold hands until the end of the ceremony, but they were required to stand near each other, which Hermione was just as opposed to as Malfoy.

Hermione stared down at his shiny black dragon hide shoes while the woman went through the typical motions and wand waving, having them repeat lines of "blood of my blood" and "bone of my bone", the typical vows stated in most wizarding marriages. What was not typical was the Unbreakable Vow required of the couple. Since most of Hermione's friends went into their marriages willingly, they didn't require the Unbreakable Vow.

Malfoy's hand was tense and uncomfortably warm when it gripped hers tightly. A little too tightly. Hermione narrowed her eyes up at him when his grip tightened even more. He didn't loosen it one bit.

The woman twirled her wand around them, emitting a strand of gold light that wrapped around their hands, connecting them together. The magic pulsated, brightening and darkening as it snaked between them. Once the strand stopping its movements, it began to warm. The magic was engaging. This was happening. Hermione was marrying Draco Malfoy.

This isn't what she wanted. She wished she could have a wedding surrounded by friends. A day of love and happiness like Harry and Ginny's. No, her wedding day would consist of hopelessness and anger. She didn't want her friends to witness the disaster that was taking place, so she had to come to the Ministry for a small ceremony meant for most of the couples affected by the law that didn't know each other.

She hadn't really pictured her wedding day. She wasn't one of those little girls playing dress up with her mother's clothing pretending to marry her stuffies. But as she grew up and became more interested in boys, she would allow herself to daydream and picture who she would see at the end of the aisle. Usually it was whomever she had a crush on currently or it wasn't anyone in particular; often a faceless man that had no outstanding features. Lately the faceless groom in her mind had started to form freckles and red hair, but now the reality was her groom held a scowl and pointy lines.

Once the Ministry employee finished her chanting, the magic gave once last pulse of light before disappearing. Malfoy ripped his hand from hers before the light was even fully gone. The woman waved her wand and the furniture righted itself back in their previous positions in the cramped office.

Malfoy lowered into his seat, not bothering to glance back in her direction. He'd already done his part and looked in her eye and held her hand as they became husband and wife. Fortunately they weren't required to kiss like at muggle weddings. She's not sure she would've been able to keep her breakfast down if that happened.

"Right, let's get some of the paperwork finalized before I send you on your way." This lady must have had to perform these types of ceremonies constantly. She buzzed through the spells, paperwork, and reading that was required of Hermione and Malfoy, trying to move as quickly as possible.

"The last requirement is for the two of you to live together in one home," she must have sensed the panic on Hermione's face because she directed the next question to her. "Do you currently have somewhere you could both share?"

Hermione nodded quickly. She would feel much more comfortable in her own home rather than move out and share some gaudy old family home with Malfoy.

"Yes I have a flat in—"

"We will live in the Manor," Malfoy said flatly.

Hermione scoffed. "You are sorely mistaken if you think I am going to move into that torture palace."

The corned of Malfoy's lip twitched. "We will not be living in a minuscule flat where we can't hide from one another."

The woman opened her mouth to respond, but thought better of it and shut her lips before she could make matters worse.

Malfoy wasn't wrong though. Her flat only had two bedrooms and one living room cramped full of her items. If they sat in the room together, their shoulders would have to touch and Hermione wanted to avoid touch as much as possible. Maybe if she was in that retched manor, they wouldn't even see each other that often.

"Besides," Malfoy added, "I am required by law to live at the Manor for another 6 months."

Right. The house arrest. How could she have forgotten. He would've only gotten a special pass to visit the Ministry, and was probably escorted by an Auror. Maybe after the 6 months were up she could convince him to live somewhere where she hadn't been tortured.

"Fine," she gritted out. The quicker she agreed, the quicker they could move on and leave this office.

"Wonderful," the worker had the audacity to clap and sound cheerful. "Now if you would both sign on the line here, you can get going."

Hermione looked down at the parchment in front of her. The line for her to sign said Hermione Malfoy (née Granger): She frowned at it. Like hell she was going by Hermione Malfoy.

"Um, I was hoping to keep my last name."

A muscle in Malfoy's jaw twitched and his grip on the quill tightened.

"Unfortunately you are required by law to take your husband's name."

Hermione was getting really sick of the archaic ways of the magical world.

"Can I hyphenate it?"

Malfoy blew air out his nose, but still scribbled on his parchment.

The woman gave Hermione a pitied look that told her all she needed to know. She inwardly groaned and scribbled her new signature on the line, purposely pressing down hard causing the ink to blot on the page.

"Great, you two are free to go. Congrat—"

Malfoy stood, his chair scraping loudly on the floor interrupting the lady. He was out the door before she could finish her sentence.

"—lations. Hermione, you are to move into Malfoy Manor by the end of the week. Thank you for coming in."

Hermione nodded and made her way out of the office. As it was Wednesday already, she only had two days to pack up her belongings and start her new life. Her terrible, infuriating, maddening life.

With Draco Malfoy.

She hoped she got hit by a bus on her way home.