The halls of the castle were grand. The marble-lined floors and walls made it seem more like a museum than a home. However, Draco supposed that it was a museum as daily tours were going through with different nobles, great assemblies, and all the bloody advisors, not to mention the visitors from various countries always in and out. Everyone wanted to see Buckingham Palace and the grandeur that the royal family lived in.
Draco and Theo were currently walking down the hall of portraits that lined the walls, showcasing the Malfoy line and how they'd been seated on the throne since 925 A.D. Never had there been a shift in their power, and though Draco was still content with his cousin's Luna's eldest son being his successor, his mother was not.
"Who does Mother have coming for tea today?" Draco inquired, walking past his great-great-great grandfather's portrait, who scowled at Draco's casual friendship with the heir of the house of Nott.
Though Theo's father and Draco's grandfather had been good friends, there had been a scandal surrounding the death of Theo's mother in which the Nott family had fallen out of favor. When Draco and Theo met at Eton, their friendship had been easy to fall into. When both attended Oxford, their bond only grew. Theo, having more freedom than Draco, went on a grand tour following the end of their school days while Draco stepped into his role as Crowned Prince and took up a military career as was expected.
Theo's travels had been for pleasure; Draco's had been for war and diplomacy. When they came together again after Theo returned to England at age five and twenty, the two had drunk themselves under the table. They agreed that Theo would be his highest advisor for the army due to the unique knowledge of the different countries Theo had gathered during his years abroad. Theo had learned things from the commonwealth that Draco never did in all his travels, making Theo's perspective most valuable.
Neither had ever looked back after that.
"I haven't the slightest idea," Theo answered, his hands clasped behind his head while his sword clanked against his side and his wand tucked behind his ear. "I'm hopeful it's not the Carrow twins again; those girls are ghastly. Takes away all the fun of shagging twins when they're better off with bags over their heads."
"Well, I'll be!" one of Draco's ancestors replied to Theo, but the pair kept walking, ignoring the outraged woman.
"No, I don't think Mother will put either of us through that again. She dismissed them after only twenty minutes. One tried to play the pianoforte, but I'd wager she'd never had a lesson." Draco looked out the floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the front entrance, noticing a carriage coming up the path. It looked familiar, but it was still some distance away, and Draco couldn't make out the markings to identify what family it belonged to. "Regardless, it appears my mother still intends to make a match. Shall we escape to the courtyard and spar to prolong my suffering?"
The smirk on Theo's face was all Draco needed to see before the two were heading down the hall and the servants' passage.
It wasn't that Draco didn't take his position seriously. He did, in fact, very much appreciate and acknowledge the responsibility that hung on his shoulders—being responsible for all his people and ensuring the crown met their needs, working with the various land owners, the villages, and the coastal cities to ensure that his country ran smoothly. Draco also had a relationship with his people, listening to their concerns and then taking all of that into account while passing new laws and deciding on what tax would be collected. He also took care to keep his relations with other countries as a priority and then was in charge of all military operations.
Truthfully, he desired to be such a well-rounded prince who would one day wear the crown and the responsibility of it all that had kept any thoughts of marriage or children far from his mind. He didn't purposefully skive off that responsibility and hand it over to his cousin, but she had met and fallen in love with an Italian nobleman, and they had children.
Draco didn't see the point in trying to fill his life with a woman, especially one who would never understand the pressures he was under. One whose head was full of air, her only thoughts were the balls she could throw, the gowns she would wear, and the jewels she would own. Draco had no want or need for such a bride.
Draco was pleased to find Sir Shaklebolt working with the recruits to their ranks as he and Theo stepped into the courtyard from a hidden exit. The older man stood with his back stiff and barked orders at the young men, who were all trying to hide their fear.
"You serve the crown! This position is the highest honor to have bestowed upon you!" The knight shouted. His purple robes marked his position as Draco's general. He had dark skin, a shaved head, and dark, calculating eyes. He was a proud and powerful man and one of the few who could wield the power to command and ride a dragon. It took immense courage and determination to be able to gain the loyalty of one, but Sir Shaklebolt had. He had also been the one who had first trained Draco in swordsmanship and dueling.
Kingsley Shacklebolt was one of the few people that Draco looked up to and admired.
"Sir Shaklebolt," Draco announced, walking into the training session. Instantly, all fifty men and his general dropped to one knee; their heads bowed in a sign of respect for their Prince.
"Your Highness," Kingsley said, not looking up from his position, "I did not realize that you intended to join us today."
"Yes, well, Nott and I were just out, ready to run and do a few surveys. I thought we'd stop to see how training was going," Draco answered smoothly. Standing from his knelt position, Kingsley smiled down at Draco. He stood five inches taller than Draco, though the difference bothered Draco none.
"Were you now?" Kingsley asked, his dark eyes mischievous. "I recall hearing rumors from the servants that The Queen was having a duchess and a baron's daughter over for tea to discuss something. You wouldn't happen to be avoiding her, now would you?"
Next to him, Theo laughed, joking with Kingsley, calling him an even bigger gossip than the women of the ton, but Draco couldn't concentrate on anything they were saying enough to respond.
It couldn't be Pansy and Hermione, could it? With his thoughts racing, not hearing a word that either man was saying, Draco found himself saying his goodbyes and leaving Theo behind with Kingsley as he dashed back into the castle and up the stairs towards his mother's library, where she would have taken tea if she had met Pansy. The women conducted the informality, a show of their familiarity and friendship. Draco had no desire to interrupt his mother's conversation or meet another debutant if it were anyone other than Pansy and Hermione.
Moments later, Draco was standing in his mother's wing in record time, taking the steps two at a time. A servant was stepping out the door and jumping when she spotted Draco, who was more than likely looking disheveled.
"Miss, please tell me, who is my mother meeting with?" He asked, not caring that the girl hadn't shown him his due respect in her surprise.
"The Duchess of Sussex and Lady Hermione Granger," the girl finally fumbled out, dropping her head so that he saw her bonnet instead of her face. "Would you like for me to announce you, sir?" She asked, still not standing upright.
"No, that's quite alright. I'd find it rather entertaining to surprise my mother. You may go," he dismissed, and the girl hurried away without any hast.
Draco crept into the room, his dragonhide boots heavy against the floor, but Draco had trained with Kingsley enough that he'd learned the art of stealth.
"And you're sure that Draco finds no interest in either of the Carrow sisters? Their lineage is impeccable." He heard his mother saying, and Draco was thankful she couldn't see the face he was making at the mention of the tone-deaf sisters. "What about Philadelphia Selwyn?"
"She is the younger sister of Rebecca Rowle, whom Prince Draco had already insulted when Lady Rowle attempted to make a match between her daughter and Prince Draco."
"Hm," he heard his mother grunt, unlike her usual poised and proper self. "We may need to extend our search into other countries."
"Didn't Prince Draco already turn down the Princess of Spain? When he met Princess Luna's sister-in-law, he said nothing to her and left her in such a state she ran from the dining hall in tears." He heard Pansy respond and thought back to the interaction that had just happened earlier in the month with the Princess and when he'd met Blaise's family. He couldn't remember the sister; he'd only stopped to visit Luna and her family because he'd already been in Italy to negotiate a trade agreement between the countries. "If I may, one of Draco's complaints has been the immaturity of the debutantes he's met."
"Well, if he was concerned about an age gap, Draco shouldn't have put off marriage," he heard his mother say, and Draco could only roll his eyes. His mother and Pansy were indeed the same.
"Because of that, I propose we expand our search into some of the younger spinsters," Pansy said but was quickly followed up by the clanking of a tea set, the only indication that a third person was present.
Apologies were mumbled by this third person, the voice so low that Draco couldn't truly hear the words or identify who had spoken. There was a pause and a shuffle of cloth, and then his mother spoke again. "A spinster?" she sounded skeptical at the suggestion. "Do we know any spinsters that would be acceptable?"
"We do, Your Majesty. Lady Hermione is a spinster and the daughter of a muggle baron. She was born with the gift, and though her bloodline has no magic, she possesses it and is a powerful witch." This time, Pansy's words came with the choking sound of someone gasping for air as if she'd just taken a sip of tea, not realizing what Pansy was about to say. "Draco met her at my ball, and then I watched their interaction in my drawing room. I believe that he would be most agreeable to the match."
The sitting room was silent, and Draco so desperately wished he could see Hermione's face as he knew she was most likely sputtering. He put a hand to his mouth to quiet himself but still intently listened.
"He showed an interest?" His mother finally asked; he knew she was now scrutinizing Lady Hermione more intensely than she probably had when Pansy had introduced them. "Any you, Lady Hermione? What are your thoughts on the idea of marrying my son?"
The silence was heavy, and Draco was hanging on every breath, waiting for her answer. He knew Lady Hermione favored him because she had laid with him the first time they'd met and had given her innocence to him. He was sure that the way her body had reacted to him and the banter between them in Pansy's drawing-room hadn't been his imagination.
"You have a fine son, Your Majesty," Hermione finally answered, and Draco smirked. It didn't take much for Draco to begin picturing what it would be like to be married to Lady Hermione Granger. She was intelligent; he'd gathered as much from her choice of leisure reading. She had a sharp tongue; she'd have to if she were friends with Pansy because Pansy would never allow someone dull to stay in her home for the season. And for someone to befriend Pansy, they would have to be witty and cunning. "However, I have no intentions of marrying."
All the images of her squirming body under his while he brought her to peak after peak vanished with her statement. She what ?
"You see, Your Majesty, I'm already age thirty. I'll be one and thirty in September; I would never enter a marriage with the duty of giving your crown an heir at such an age." Hermione concluded, and Draco stood in the shadows, stunned by what he'd just heard.
"Hm, yes, I see," his mother said, her tone thoughtful. "Then Pansy, I would like a list of any spinster daughters between the ages of five and twenty and eight and twenty. Lady Hermione raises a good point: a marriage is pointless if there is to be no heir."
Having heard enough, Draco turned from the conversation, deciding it would be best not to let the women know that he had heard anything. Now that the idea was out there, the only thing that Draco could picture was Lady Hermione as his bride.
No, she no longer had her purity, but he could deal with that. A well-placed bribe to whoever inspected with Draco's assurance that he knew she would not be his virgin bride would take care of the hurdle. His mind raced at all the possibilities of what a life with Hermione might entail, and as Draco slipped from his mother's library, he smiled. If Lady Hermione needed to be courted and wooed into accepting his hand in marriage, Draco would do that. Simply put, Draco didn't think he'd find anyone other than Lady Hermione whom he would wish to marry, and now that the idea was planted, Draco concluded he'd make it his very mission.
Notes:
A few discussion questions:
Why do we think that Hermione is against marriage? How do we believe Draco will be wooing Hermione? Also, the accidental pregnancy tag is there with forced marriage, so we know what's coming. How will that play out now that we know Draco has decided Hermione will be his bride? How will Hermione respond?
Also, thoughts on Pansy, Narcissa, Theo, and Kingsley as characters