Lost Image | dramione

4 | the secret marriage

She would wait until the absolute last minute to make her decision. Not that there was much to decide. Even if she wasn't generally creeped out by Nott, she had been warned off him by two people. Malfoy wasn't a great person, but he probably didn't actually mean her harm. She would rather stick with the monster that she knew than the unknown.

She had to keep that little flutter of hope in her heart that maybe, just maybe, the Ministry would make an exception for Ron. She didn't love him, but she could be happy with him. They would argue, he would be childish, and she'd be frustrated by his disinterest in higher learning, but they could make it work. She adored the Weasleys, and chances were good that they'd even be living in her own house with her family.

But with Malfoy, everything was wrong. She couldn't be happy with him, in that house where so many atrocities were committed. He said she wouldn't have to ever see him, but she doubted that very much. His family had obviously pushed him to agree to this, and they would want to take advantage of her hero status to build their reputation as "reformed Death Eaters." She had no doubt that the two of them would have to see each other sometimes, to keep up appearances.

Not that she would have to agree to such things.

It occurred to her, then, that there was one silver lining to this whole thing: Lucius Malfoy was not going to be a problem. He'd been sent to Azkaban, she remembered, but she wasn't certain how long his sentence was. Probably not as long as Death Eaters who participated in the final Battle of Hogwarts, but still longer than she expected this Marriage Law to last.

She made her way down to breakfast- she had had a hard night. She just couldn't sleep, wondering what other answers the Room of Requirement library might hold. She had limited time to study, though, unless she skipped classes in the coming weeks... she hated to do it, but she might have to. Learning all she could would be the only thing that could sooth her.

Harry and Ron were already at breakfast, the two boys curiously early. They both looked up at her as she entered the Hall, then continued talking to each other in low voices.

She walked up to them, feeling worried. What was wrong now?

"Hermione!" Ron hissed, pulling her down to sit by him. "I'm so sorry! I'm just... I don't know how to tell you this..."

She waited, her heart beating fast. What could possibly upset him this much? He rested his head in his hands, not meeting her eyes, and spoke very quickly. "I sent the owl in late. I know I was supposed to send it that night, but I sent it the following morning, and now my petition was rejected, and I got a letter from the ministry saying you already had three offers and Hermione I..."

She put a hand on his shoulder, forcing herself to smile and speak calmly. "Ron. It's okay. You were already too late the morning petitions were being accepted." She turned to look at Harry across the table, fixing him with a meaningful stare. "Many offers were made for me, starting at exactly midnight by people who knew this was coming."

Ron looked up, alarmed, and Harry looked around them quickly, leaning across the table towards her. "Hermione..." He began, but Ron interrupted.

"Who? Who petitioned for you!? Will you be okay? How can they do this!?"

She shook her head. "I really, really don't want to talk about who right now. Let's just say that if there's no way out of this, at the very least there's one person on the list who isn't trying to kill me."

"To... kill you?" Ron said, looking towards Harry. Harry didn't seem surprised.

"That's why so many offered for you so quickly- unconvicted Death Eaters and supporters, most likely. You're the only one of the three of us who could be hurt by this Law," Harry said, explaining for Ron's benefit.