December 11th, 1999

~ 1 week later ~

"This whole absurd idea that we will be having some big lavish event is giving me a headache," I said as I watched Blaise play with his quill instead of doing his Ruins homework.

"If I have to hear you go on about this wedding one more time I'm going to hurl myself off of the Astronomy Tower Granger," he said back not even looking up from his quill.

I huffed in annoyance and set down the planner that Mrs. Malfoy had sent me last week. She was going absolutely above and beyond for this wedding and I don't think she quite understands that me and Malfoy don't want all of the attention that a huge wedding will call to us. We are being forced to do this, but oddly enough Malfoy is just letting his mother do all of this unnecessary stuff without a complaint.

"Blaise she is trying to invite over 200 people!" I said loudly as I threw a pillow at his stupid head.

He caught the pillow and put it behind his head, casually leaning back while forgetting his homework all together.

"Draco told you his mom would be overbearing about this," he said laughing at my mad expression.

I just rolled my eyes and began to put my homework back into the right order. As I did this I heard a knock come from our portrait door.

Blaise leapt off the couch, a wide grin set on his tan face. He bounded over to the door and let the person in. As I saw a flash of red hair I instantly knew that Ginny was here.

"Are you still going on about that bloody planner 'Mione?" Ginny asked me as she made herself comfortable on our couch. Blaise sat himself beside her but not quite touching her form.

"Oh shove off Ginny, you've joined them already and now I only have Crooks on my team," I said as I went to my room to put away my homework and get ready for the day.

I put on a pair of muggle jeans along with my favorite maroon sweater, throwing my robes over the outfit. I put on some mascara, eyeliner, and swiped on some lip-gloss before I ran out the door grabbing my bag off my doorknob.

I slipped into the potions classroom and quickly took the first seat I saw so Slughorn wouldn't notice my tardiness.

"I never thought you could actually be late to class without getting physically ill," came a whispered voice in my ear.

I quickly whipped my head around and found myself trapped in Malfoy's silver gaze.

"If I wasn't out of breath and trying to learn I would slap that smirk off of your face Malfoy," I said harshly as I got out my parchment and quill to take my notes.

"Is that any way to talk to your fiancé?" Malfoy whispered back chuckling at my disgusted expression.

"Leave me alone Malfoy, it's bad enough that I have your mother owling my thirty times a day," I said back trying to take my notes and keep up this conversation.

I heard Malfoy sigh to my right but, much to my surprise, he left me alone for the rest of the lesson. I made my way out of the classroom in record time, not wanting to be late for Transfiguration too.

"Wait up Hermione!" I heard Harry call from behind me.

I came to a halt in the middle of the hallway causing several students to run into me and stare at me.

"Come on we gotta talk," Harry said pulling me along to McGonagall's class, walking way too fast for me to be able to keep up without him pulling me with.

We made it to the classroom with plenty of time to spare. Harry sat me down in a random seat and sat down next to me.

"Ron is on one today about you and Draco," Harry said trying to get his breathing to calm down.

"What do you mean?" I asked him as I got my supplies out once again for my notes.

"He has deluded himself into thinking that you like being paired up with him. That somehow you and Draco will be all in love and cuddled up instantly," he said, his breathing calmed down immensely.

I snorted and continued to date and label my notes before class.

"Hermione he is going to say something to you at lunch I just know it, you need to just let him get it off his chest and then take him outside and explain it all to him," Harry said running his hand through his already messy hair.

"If he decides he will make a scene then I will let him embarrass himself. I will not baby him Harry, I wouldn't even do that when we were together, and you know it," I said rolling my eyes.

Harry was just about to respond when McGonagall came into the room.

After that lesson it was time for lunch. I had been preparing myself for Ron and his temper all class period.

When I finally made my way into the Great Hall I saw that Ron was already there looking pretty pissed. I made my way over to him and sat down in front of him.

I had just begun to put different foods onto my plate when I heard him scoff.

I raised my head and an eyebrow at the noise, looking Ron in the eyes.

"Why are you sitting here?" Ron asked me in a harsh tone.

"This is my house table too Ron," I said and then went back to my plate.

"You could've fooled me with the way you rushed to sit next to that ferret this morning," he said under his breath.

"I was running late and rushed into class, sitting down into the first seat I saw Ronald. If you haven't noticed me and Malfoy are barely even talking, unlike you and Parkinson," I said after I chewed up the pineapple I was eating when he began to talk.

"Pansy didn't try to kill Dumbledore," he said rolling his eyes.

"No, she just wanted to give Harry to Voldemort that night," I said back in a clipped tone.

"She apologized for that," was all he said back.

"And the Malfoys were revealed as spies for the Order Ron," I said.

He just scoffed at me and continued to eat his lunch at a much faster rate than was acceptable.

I finished my small plate and got up to head to my dorm for my free period.

"Going to your Death Eater fiancé?" Ron asked at I turned to leave.

"Get over yourself Ronald Weasley," I said over my shoulder and began to walk towards the doors.

"You'll only ever be his Mudblood whore!" Ron said loud enough for the whole hall to hear and go deathly silent in seconds.

"He will never love you and will probably cheat on you within the first week of your sham of a marriage," he continued on in that cruel voice, one that I had never heard coming out of my best friend's mouth.

I felt the tears fall down my cheeks before I knew they had even gathered in my eyes. I quickly swiped them off my face with the backs of my hands.

"Ronald Weasley you absolutely disgust me. Do not ever talk to me again," I said before I ran out of the hall. I bumped into quite a few people, as that had gathered around to hear our fight.

I felt a pair of hands stop me and pull me off to the side. I tried to slip out of their grasp, but they held on with just enough force to keep me in place.

"What's wrong?" I heard the deep voice of Draco Malfoy ask me. I jerked and tried again to get out of his grasp.

I saw the annoyance on his face and decided I better get it over with and tell him.

"Ronald is in the Hall talking about how I'm your Mudblood whore," I said quietly, noticing the people who were lingering around where we were standing.

I looked up to see Malfoy's reaction only to have him start walking back towards the Hall, with me in tow behind him.

"No Malfoy I don't want to go back in there!" I yelled trying to get my arm out of his grasp.

He either didn't hear me or didn't care because he kept on walking into the large room, spotting Ron immediately and marched up to him.

"Oi Weasley! What's this I hear about you upsetting my fiancé?" Malfoy said, and I could hear the glare in his voice from my place behind him.

"What about it Malfoy? S'not like you care about her feelings," Ron said laughing at the thought of Malfoy caring about anyone other than himself.

"I happen to make it a habit to not let my fiancé bawl her eyes out for a no good like yourself. Do you want to apologize to her or are we going to do this the hard way?" Malfoy asked tugging me to his side, finally letting go of my wrist and resting his arm over my shoulders.

"Why would I do that when what I said is true. She's your Mudblood whore and will never be more than that ever," Ron said laughing.

What happened next must have even shocked the teachers because not one of them said anything for a solid minute after.

Draco had just punched Ron in the face and had apparently knocked him out because Ron didn't get back up to defend himself.

"Someone tell him if he does anything to upset Hermione again it'll be ten times worse," Malfoy said before he lead me out of the Great Hall.

We walked for a few minutes, until I was in front of my next class. I turned to Malfoy before he had the chance to run off without explaining what he just did to me.

"Why did you do that?" I asked him as I grabbed his sleeve and made him stay standing in front of me.

"He was saying horrible things to you," he said as if it were completely normal for him to stick up for me.

"That still doesn't tell me why you just hit him and said if he said anything else nasty to me you would hit him again," I said cocking my head to the side as I watched him fidget under my gaze.

"Mister Malfoy please follow me," I heard Sirius call from behind Malfoy.

I glared at the older man for interrupting my conversation, he smirked at me in return.

"I'll explain later," Malfoy said before he turned to follow Sirius.

I rolled my eyes and made my way into Flitwick's classroom.

Later that same day I was walking back to my room when I heard the whispers.

"I heard her and Malfoy have been seeing each other for a while now," said a fourth year Ravenclaw as I passed her and her friends.

"I heard he's using her for sex," her friend said back giggling.

That was actually one of the tamest ones that I had heard since the whole fiasco this morning.

I made my way to the portrait without coming across anymore of the giggling younger years.

"Victory," I said quickly to the portrait.

"Hermione nice to see you," Blaise said as I came into our living room, he was lounged on the sofa with Ginny sitting on the floor by his head.

"Ginny please know that I have no clue as to why Malfoy punched your brother earlier," I said quickly as I put my stuff down and sat down in front of her, grabbing her hands in my own.

"Oh, Malfoy already explained himself to me, no worries 'Mione," Ginny said laughing off my concern.

"So, he can explain himself to you but not to me? I should hex him," I said under my breath as I got up from my spot on the floor.

Ginny started laughing and Blaise was chuckling to himself, both of them looking behind me.

"Malfoy's right behind me, isn't he?" I asked as my cheeks heated up, my hands balling into fists.

"Come on and I'll explain myself," his voice came from behind me. I turned around and saw him leaning on my bedroom door.

I pushed past him into my room and heard him shut the door after himself, and I threw up a silencing charm on the room.

I looked at him expectantly as I sat down on my bed. Malfoy leaned back against the door, the perfect picture of calmness.

"Weasley was making an utter fool out of himself and he was hurting your feelings. Like it or not you're the future Lady Malfoy and I will not sit idly by and let people make a mockery of me and my family," Malfoy said in a rush, looking down at his fingernails throughout his little speech.

"So, you fought him like a muggle for your family name?" I asked him quite confused.

"Granger keep up, he was making a fool of himself in the first place and yes of course I was fighting him like a muggle. Why would I waste my magic on that idiot? He isn't worth the time it would take me to hex his sorry arse," Malfoy said sneering at the thought of using his precious magic on Ron.

I narrowed my eyes at him and opened my mouth to reply.

"That means you too Granger. You're a part of the Malfoy family now and will be treated as such from now on by me and my parents," he said before I could speak.

I closed my mouth and looked at him, really looked at Malfoy for a second.

This was a boy, no a man, who had been through a war just like the rest of us. Instead of having to worry about his friends and all of the other people in Hogwarts, he had to worry about his parents. He had to worry about Voldemort finding out that they were actually double crossing him and working for the Order. This was a man who had done everything he could for his family, everything to salvage the name that his family took such pride in.

"Why are you just looking at me like that?" Malfoy asked after a minute, an uncertain look on his pale face.

"I was just thinking, I kind of understand why you did what you did. Just don't make a habit of punching people for me Malfoy, the younger girls are already having too much fun speculating on our relationship," I said rolling my eyes as I remembered what I had overheard throughout the day.

"The good news is that the people who have chosen to leave Hogwarts are leaving tomorrow, and I put money on Weasley leaving with Pansy," Malfoy said scowling.

"Were you and Parkinson a thing when this came out?" I asked him curiously.

"Merlin no! Our parents wanted that to happen but me and Pans were too close for anything more than friendship. She's like my sister," Malfoy said chuckling.

I just nodded and sunk lower into my mattress, letting my head hit my pillow.

"Let me know if Weasley gives you any problems tomorrow Granger," Malfoy said as he opened my door.

"Okay," I replied back as my eyes drifted closed.

I woke up a few hours later, the sun had already set, and my room was now dark. I made my way out of bed and looked down at my rumpled clothes. I chuckled and changed into some fluffy pajama pants and a pink T-Shirt of Ginny's. I heard voices coming from the living room and made my way out there to investigate.

I was shocked to see Ginny, Blaise, Malfoy, Harry, and Luna sitting around the kitchen table playing a game of Exploding Snap. The current game was Harry versus Ginny and from my view point it looked like Harry was getting creamed.

"This has to be a dream," I said as I sat down between Blaise and Malfoy.

"Well Harry and Luna came by to see how you were doing and when they came in me, Ginny, and Draco were taking turns playing. They ended up staying and we all actually are getting on quite well," Blaise said laughing as Harry lost the game.

"Someone teach me how to play," I said smiling at the unusual group of people. Maybe this could become a regular thing.

Malfoy turned to me and pulled out another deck of cards and proceeded to explain the rules of the game to me in detail.

"Think you're ready to play?" he asked me after about thirty minutes of explaining things.

"Yeah let's play," I said grinning at him, he smiled back at me and it had to be the first time I'd ever seen him actually smile.

I ended up being pretty good at the game, winning three against Ginny, three against Blaise, and even once against Malfoy. We played for hours and by the time we all stopped it was way past midnight.

"How about you guys just stay here?" I asked as everyone was trying to figure out how to get back to their dormitories without being seen by the Prefects on duty.

Everyone's heads snapped around to look at me.

"What? We can transfigure some sleeping bags, and everyone can sleep in here like a big sleep over," I said laughing at the idea.

"Granger that actually sounds like fun," Blaise said grinning at me.

Everyone else seemed on board with the idea and we all began transfiguring objects into sleeping bags and cots.

It ended up being boys on one side and then the girls on the opposite side, totally unintentional but it worked out well.

They all ended up staying up later, Malfoy made tea for everyone, and before long almost everyone was asleep.

Everyone except me and Harry, both of us having trouble sleeping after the events of the past year.

"Hermione are we all going to be okay? Do you think you and Ron will make up?" Harry whispered from his sleeping bag on the other side of the room.

"I don't know Harry, the things he said to me were just awful. Everything will be okay though Harry," I said chewing on my thumbnail.

"What about you and Malfoy?" he asked hesitantly.

"I don't know Harry. We're going to have to learn how to live with it, there's no other option for us," I said back glancing over my sleeping bag at the sleeping blonde.

Harry didn't say anything back and he must've fell asleep because I heard his light snores a few minutes later.

I laid awake for a while thinking about what Harry had asked me. What if me and Malfoy simply could not get along? We had been getting along so far but what would happen when we graduated in a few short months?

I eventually fell into a restless sleep, having flashback dreams the whole night. I woke up at one point when the dreams began to get to be too much for me. I sat up and noticed that I wasn't the only one awake. Malfoy was sitting at the kitchen table, his head in his hands. It looked like he hadn't slept at all, the purple bags under his eyes contrasting with his pale skin.

"Are you alright Malfoy?" I asked quietly as I stood up from my spot on the ground.

His head whipped around, and I saw the tears in his silver eyes for a moment before he turned his back to me.

"I'm fine Granger," He bit out harshly.

"You look ill Malfoy, are you sure you're okay?" I asked making my way over to his rigid form.

"I said I was fine, now leave me alone!" he gritted out through his clenched teeth. The vein in his temple was jutting out so much that I was afraid it would burst any second.

I took a step back from him, knowing the signs of someone who didn't want to be bothered. I watched him as he gathered up his things and left through the portrait, his robe billowing out behind him as he turned towards the dungeons and out of my line of sight through he still open portrait.

I silently made my way over and closed the portrait, making sure it was securely shut before I made my way into my bedroom.

I laid down on my bed and tried to process what just happened. Malfoy was obviously bothered by something and he didn't seem to be enthused to tell me about what it was. He looked as though he hadn't gotten any sleep in days, but he had looked perfectly fine the past week not even a hair out of place like always. I wasn't even going to try to decipher the tears I saw in his eyes. Mainly because I now thought that the could've been a shadow of moon light flowing into the room from the high windows. He looked like he was wide awake, which meant that he had heard me and Harry talking earlier. I suddenly felt as though he had betrayed my trust and had listened in on the conversation without giving me and Harry the slightest clue that he was awake the whole time.

I was suddenly angry and ready to confront the blonde. I slipped on some house shoes and made my way into the living room. I made sure that everyone else was still asleep. Seeing that they were I slipped out of the room and shut the portrait behind me.

The whole way down to the dungeons I was going over exactly what I would say to Malfoy when I found him. About how he could've made it clear to me and Harry that he was awake. About how he had no right to snap at me like I was doing something wrong by waking up in my living room.

By the time I had made to the Slytherin entrance I had worked myself into a right fit about the whole situation.

"Purity," I said to the painting of a fair-haired mermaid that was the protector of Slytherin's common room. She let me in and shut after I had made my way into the cold room.