Sorry the update took forever. Personal issues ate into my writing time and yeah, just happy to be back. Please forgive me.

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McGonagall stood at the gates of Hogwarts, a bent old elf stood by her side as they watched the owls arriving with the early morning mail. The owls themselves would sit dutifully in the highest windows of the Great Hall till they spotted the intended student or professor belonging to the letter or package they held.

No one was entirely sure how the owl's knew what package or letter belonged to who but today many of those owls found themselves empty handed (clawed?).

"How many does that make, Kreature?" she asked quietly as a small pile of parchment, envelopes and red paper went up in flames just beyond the other side of large gates

Due to the many wards around the school such curses and cursed objects never made it onto the grounds. Not through the mail at least.

"Twelve so far today, Headmistress. Twelve have been blasted by the wards. Old Kreature was watching for them as instructed, Kreature was." the shriveled elf tilted his head, fixing one eye on the tall witch as he asked in his rough voice, "Kreature should tell the Master?"

"Not yet. The return addresses should have appeared on the singed papers despite how careful their senders may have been." McGonagall sniffed and looked around in the early morning light, disgusted with the actions of those trying to curse her students, "They never take into account that the school is protected by far older magics that are stronger than anything they could create in a lifetime." she glanced back at the school in the distance, the students would be gathering for breakfast, "Trace them to their senders and give me the names. I will speak to the Minister. Also, I shall tell Potter and his Matches together after dinner. They seem to be doing well as a triad and I don't want to darken their day. It can wait till tonight. To be quite frank, I am surprised at how well they are getting along."

"Kreature is proud to serve the Houses of Black and Malfoy." the elf croaked and straightened up as best as his old bones would let him.

"And house Granger?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow, interested to see if the elf still held some hatred towards his muggle born, soon to be Mistress Malfory-Potter.

"The small House of Granger is temporarily gone, Kreature heard. Mistress is already of house Black. Keeps Master happy. Is nice to Kreature even when Kreature repeats old Mistress' words. Old Habits, Kreature tries to break. Ministry was correct to match them with Master Malfoy. Strong magics and deep connections." the old elf mutter to himself for a minute in a tone too low for the Headmistress to catch any of what was said but there was no menace in his eyes or voice.

The old elf actually looked quite happy as he spoke about his family.

Kreature lifted his head as if he suddenly remembered she was there and they both watched as yet another owl headed for the school was suddenly robbed of it package by the wards.

Someone had tried to send something large.

"This is getting out of hand." The Headmistress sighed, gently massaging the bridge of her nose. It was only 7 in the morning and she could see that it was going to be a long day.

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The morning was quieter than Harry had expected. There were stares and even a few unkind things said about the three of them emerging from Hermione's room for the second morning in a row but Professor Flitwick, who just so happened to be nearby, quickly reprimanded and took points away from the students.

"There will be an adjustment period." The tiny professor said as he magically pulled aside those who had hooted at Harry and his matches on their way into breakfast, "And if the Ministry so feels inclined, you lot will be matched in 3 years when the Binding is due to be called upon next."

And that was it until classes started. Everyone pointed but nothing was said directly to them as the walked to Charms together.

Draco fell back a few steps in the crowded hallway and had taken a hold of Harry's robes to keep from getting separated.

Normally Harry would have expected someone to point out that fact.

Loudly.

But then again the one would normally be making fun of him in such a moment was the one holding onto the back of his robes.

How things had changed.

Harry was smiling when they entered the classroom.

To everyone's relief many of the Professors greeted them as Slughorn had the day before, with a cheerful smile and the invitation for Matches to work together (if one's Match(es) was in the class, of course).

"You may sit as you wish." Flitwick motioned around the room, his eyes lingering on the trio, "So long as your studies are not effected."

Which seemed to be the sentiments of all their professor's that day. They encouraged Harry, Hermione and Draco to work together as they looked on curiously.

"Is it me or are the teachers all just waiting for us to start fighting?" Draco has asked Harry in a whisper making the dark haired boy snort.

"Yeah, they do." Harry whispered back with a grin, "I'm still waiting for it myself."

"Give it time." Hermione sighed, "But if you keep talking and making me miss what the professor is saying I will jinx you both purple."

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Hermione found it rather refreshing that the teachers were acting like nothing had really changed. No one had felt the need to give any speeches about marriage or partnerships and for that she was very grateful. She didn't want to be used as an example or treated like they were special. She just wanted to get through her classes and start on her essays.

There were already three essays due by the end of the following week and while she knew for a fact her notes were very detailed she was still planning on reading more on the subjects in the library later.

Between the Binding and the stares from her classmates, Hermione felt like there were enough distractions in her day and she couldn't afford to be distracted. Not with 5 months left in her school career.

Her goal, as always, was to graduate with top grades in all her classes and testings and thankfully the Professors seemed to be focused on the same goal as her. They kept the classes 'no nonsense' and quickly stopped the whispers and jokes as soon as they started and treated each and every student the same as they had before the Holiday Break had changed their lives forever.

Being in a classroom was the only real peace Hermione had felt outside of her own dorm room in the last 48 hours.

The hallways and Great Hall were a different story. So many pointing fingers and open stares. The younger students didn't even try to lower their voices or stop their pointing. Only the teachers were able to get them to move along to their own classes with threats of (more?) points being taken and detention being handed out.

"I've thought of more questions." Hermione bounced a bit as she linked her arms through theirs as she squeezed in between her Matches as they walked to dinner, "First, Draco-"

"I've got a question for you." Draco stopped short just outside the Great hall, pinning the small brunette with a look "And no, I won't ask what the reward is for behaving. You've made it very clear that we won't find out yet. Fine, I get it. I will honestly try to stay out of trouble, because my curiosity is most definitely peaked but before we go in for dinner and you quiz me, tell me, back in third year when you punched me- you had your wand held to my throat first..." Draco tilted his head as he watched her face, " What were you going to do? It's not like you could have known any powerful curses."

"Huh, I never thought of that." Harry looked at Hermione curiously, "What were you planning to do?"

Without missing a beat Hermione tilted her chin up and said "I was going to shrink his tongue and vocal cords. So even if they fixed one the other would still be an issue. I mean, growing a tongue back to full size takes a lot longer than shrinking one." Hermione grinned from Harry to Draco, looking angelically innocent as she added, "I had read about the spells a month or so before that and would have loved to see if they worked. O well, I'm sure the occasion will come again." she walked away from them making her way into the Great Hall just a few steps ahead of them.

"She's terrifying, yeah?" Draco asked Harry quietly but couldn't stop the grin that spread across his face, "Sexy as hell but terrifying."

"I heard that." Hermione called over her shoulder, feeling her face heat up significantly.

Draco had just called her sexy and there had been no sign of joking in his voice. She quickened her pace to reach their usual spot first and just hoped no one would notice the pink tinge that warmed her face.

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Harry had been watching Hermione as she ate. For the first time all day she had ceased her constant questioning of Draco and seemed distracted during the end of the meal.

Just as Dinner wrapped up and dessert appeared, a lumpy package was dropped into Draco's lap distracting them all and drawing the attention of the other Triad who had started eating their meals with them. Safety in numbers, according to Hannah.

"Who's that from?" Luna looked away from her food, dessert toppling from her fork as she lost interest in it.

"I am not sure." Draco admitted, turned the package carefully. He was fully aware that it could have be something awful sent by his father.

"That's Molly's handwriting." Harry pointed to far right corner of the crumpled looking brown paper wrapping.

"What's mum sending you?" Ginny asked from a few seats down, leaning forward over her plate to get a look at what Draco had gotten.

"It's your Weasley Sweater." Hermione grinned, "Molly outdid herself. It's only been eight days since she promised to make you one."

Draco went very still for a moment before looking at his Matches,one on either side of him "I really wasn't expecting this."

"Open it up." Hermione nudged him with her elbow, "See if she got the sizing right."

"O-ok.." she had never seen Draco handle anything so gently.

He pulled the twine slowly and carefully unfolded the brown wrappings.

Inside was a dark green sweater with a white letter 'D' on the front.

The blonde stood suddenly and slipped out of his school robes as half the hall watched. He tossed his robes and jumper into Hermione's lap before sliding the green sweater on over his white button up.

"Looks like a perfect fit." Hermione smiled and turned to Harry, "What do you think?"

"What?" Harry blushed. He'd been caught staring, "O, it looks good. Molly is a talented knitter."

"It is really lovely on you." Luna said as Hannah nodded.

"That was really nice of her." Neville smiled nervously, trying to act like the entire table and most of the hall wasn't watching them as Draco retook his seat.

"Looks good, Malfoy." Ginny gave him a thumbs up and a big smile from her seat as Seamus tried to get her attention back on him.

"Thank you." Draco sat up straighter and Hermione would have sworn Draco looked proud to be wearing a Weasley sweater. That was definitely something she had never expected to see and it made her deeply happy.

A dignified school owl landed in front of Hermione, drawing her attention away from how handsome Draco looked in his old house colors.

She took the parchment the owl offered and unrolled it carefully at arms length as Harry fed the bird some fruit from his tart.

It would be a while till she trusted mail since those howlers had arrived disguised as letters and nearly set her room on fire once they were done screaming at her about blood purity and her dirty ancestry.

"O, it's from the Headmistress." Hermione pulled the letter closer and read it quickly, "She would like the three of us to go to her office at 8 tonight. She has some worries she would like to discuss. Well that doesn't sound very good."

"It probably has to do with my father." Draco straightened his sweater and slowly dug into the chocolate cake that had been forgotten on the plate before him, "I wonder what his approach will be this time. I remember when I first said your name at home." His glanced in Hermione's direction before taking his belonging back from her lap, "I was told to refer to you only with insults unless I wanted to shame my pureblood ancestors. Everything is about being judged in my family. Merlin forbid we look soft or weak at any point. When I got my acceptance letter I was given "the talk" about how a pureblood acts and speaks to muggleborns and lose lesser than ourselves."

There was silence for a moment as everyone took in Draco's quiet confession.

"Harry's aunt and uncle hate magic and put bars on his windows." Ginny suddenly took the seat next to Hannah, breaking the silence and making the small group all turn to her at once, "They also starved him most of the time while his overweight, bully of a cousin got whatever he wanted."

"Gin!" Harry said her name loudly, hoping to keep her from saying anything else, "I told Ron about all that years ago."

"Geez, Ginny." Ron scowled at his sister from the other end of the table, "You weren't suppose to tell him I told you."

Neville and Hannah quickly dropped their attention to the desserts before them. Neville looked like her was going to be ill and just pushed his cake around the plate.

"Look," Harry shot Ginny a nasty look before looking around at his friends and Matches, "It wasn't that bad once I got accepted here. Let's drop it."

"My brother's had to pull bars off his windows to rescue him right before their second year." Ginny's voice was quieter this time but it was the look on her face that caught Draco's attention.

She was angry but she also wanted him to realize he wasn't the only one with a crappy childhood.

"Ginny, drop it." Harry leaned forward and spoke quietly and quickly, "Or I will tell Ron what happened to his beloved first broom."

"Consider it dropped." She smiled brightly just as Ron asked from from his far away seat, "Wait, did Harry say my name? Gin? I thought we were talking about what Harry's crazy relatives did to him."

But Ginny was suddnly gone from her seat and at the opposite end of the table from Ron chatting with her friends.

"And what did they do?" Draco's joy over his sweater had been dampened by the thoughts of father being a racist git but now, now his sweater and the thank you letter he had been mentally composing to Mrs Weasley were put on the back burner.

"Draco, we can talk about this later." Hermione placed a hand on his arm, speaking quietly "Harry's childhood doesn't need to be common knowledge."

Neville and Hannah were still staring avidly at their plates as they pretended to hear nothing being said across the table from them. They looked extremely uncomfortable but Luna looked from one person to the next before turning to Ginny and asking loudly, "Where's Seamus?"

Once again Harry realized how much he appreciated Luna's friendship.

"He's off pouting somewhere because Draco got one of mum's sweaters before he did." Ginny grabbed a roll and smiled right at Hermione as she walked back over, "How is sharing a room with the two of them? Does Draco snore?"

"Excuse me?" Draco'a voice was still dark from his anger. Even as everyone else was wondering about Seamus he was thinking of evil slow acts of torture to bring upon Harry's relatives as he ignored the fact that a just a year ago he would not have cared at all if Harry was being tormented by his own relatives. It seemed to be a growing trend after all.

"Remember what I said in potions." Hermione nudged his side as his hand was going for his wand, "Please don't curse my friend or your thirty days will start over."

"So what are your rules exactly?" Draco's tone changed and Hermione was suddenly the focus of both his and Harry's attention. There would be plenty of time to learn about Harry's past it seemed.

She was far more interesting at the moment. Also he doubted she would let it slide even if he only cursed Ginny a little bit.

"We can talk about it later." Hermione was bright red as she muttered those words to her dessert plate.

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Minerva watched as the information sunk in for the three standing before her desk.

"Death Eaters are trying to stop this?" Draco had meant to sound unimpressed but his voice came out rough and worried, "Why do they care? My family betrayed the Dark Lord to save their own skins."

"Since the Dark Lord fell many of those who still remained faithful to him were captured, aside from a scant few who seem to continuosly be one step ahead of the Ministry's Aurors." McGonagall let out a deep sigh as she rubbed at her temples, "We are all doing our best to keep the students safe but there has been an influx of threats. It is my wish and my advice that you do not walk alone outside this castle. Within these walls you will be safe enough but I would still advise caution."

"But again I must ask why?" Draco shook his head, "Caution has always been at the top of my list these past few years, Headmistress. What I am questioning is; why the Death Eaters would care who I was Matched to?"

"Many of us feel it is due to your lineage." the older woman sighed again, truly looking tired "Betrayal is forgivable if the bloodlines can be saved or strengthened. It has been that way for centuries among the pureblood families."

"Is there anything we can do?" Hermione asked, standing between her Matches, "Are there names attached to these threats?"

"Kreature has taken it upon himself to monitor all mail that makes it through the wards coming into the school. He and two other elves have volunteered to keep the students safe. While it is true that the wards keep curses and such nastiness outside the grounds it does not stop ingredients or supplies for such things from crossing through. This morning a large batch of cursed pox potion and a sleeping drought were found among packages addressed to one of you. They were packaged in such a way that whomever opened them would get the full effect of both potions. And no I will tell you who was sent what." she pointedly looked at Draco before continuing, "I have informed the Minister and his reply was quick but his opinion was quite clear." the Headmistress watched as Hermione took her Matches hands while she worried over this new information.

"It was not my intention to scare you but to arm you with knowledge and warn you to use caution until these matters have been taken care of. You will only be receiving mail that has been thoroughly examined." The Headmistress looked from one to the next, "I know you lot can survive anything but the Minister and Ministry believe you will truly be beyond threat once the Binding is complete. Such Magics are nigh impossible to undo unless the parties involved agree to it."

"You mean once we're married?" Harry asked, stepping closer to Hermione as he glanced over her head at Draco's profile.

"Yes that is what I mean, Mr Potter. So do be careful these next few months and though I never thought I would be uttering these words, marrying sooner rather than later may be in your best interest but it is your choice to make and I urge you to explore all of your options. "

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The door to Hermione's room was hardly latched behind them when the chair at her desk burst into flames. She turned quickly, raising an eyebrow at the two young men behind her.

Harry looked just as surprised as she felt.

"I can't believe this is happening." Draco waved his wand and put out the flames with a flick of his wrist, "I need to blow something up before I pick a fight with one of you."

"I would appreciate it if you don't take your anger out on my furniture. That smell is going to be hard to get rid of." Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and watched as Draco had to fight back his reply, which was no doubt going to be something mean.

"I need to take it out on something." Draco's voice was dark and promised violence.

Hermione stood there staring at the angry blond before nodding, "Fine, follow us."

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"Iv'e been to the room of requirement before, if you had forgotten." Draco tried not to sneer at his Matches as the door appeared in a far away hallway leading to the room of secrets.

"As have we." Hermione pushed the door wide to reveal a large room equipped with practice dummies and different objects stationed around the room, "I created an obstacle course of sorts for the DA to help train us to duel and defend on the run. I haven't used it in a few months but still find it a great way to reduce my stress and anger."

With a quick wand movement the room light up and dummies started moving around the space. Some even had magical shields appear and disappear as they moved but Draco didn't see a pattern or timing to it all.

That didn't stop him from being impressed.

"No wonder the Dark Idiot fell. He only ever trained his followers in torture. He never would have given us the knowledge to survive in a battlefield. We were told to stand our ground and toss curse after curse. It was all about what curse to throw, not how or when. Voldemort never stood a chance against you lot." Draco could see the grin spreading on Hermione's face as she smiled at him and Harry.

"Right." Harry cleared his throat and pulled his wand, "Want me to show you how it's done or just jump in and protect your back till you get the hang of it?"

"Protect my back from what?" Draco asked since it didn't seem any of the dummies would be cursing him where he stood.

"From me." Hermione held her wand out before her and smiled, "Knock back charms and stupify will be coming your way in, 5, 4, 3-"

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