Chapter 1- The Unexpected Visit
It was the last week of the summer holidays before the seventh year of school was to begin at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hermione Granger was sitting luxuriously on her violet sofa, engrossed in her History Of Magic textbook. It had been a very eventful summer for her friends and herself.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Professor Dumbledore and most of the other students (excluding almost all the Slytherins for obvious reasons) and professors from Hogwarts had spent a great deal of it with a war against Lord Voldemort, who had finally been defeated. He had met a proper end, death of the worst kind.
After putting the images and memories of the recent events out of her mind, Hermione hoped to spend what was left of her summer in peace. She was really getting absorbed in her textbook, when a burst of emerald green flames in her fireplace caught her eye.
She looked up and upon seeing the people standing in her fireplace, she let out a loud gasp. She rubbed her eyes and looked up at the fireplace again, hoping that she was just imagining who she saw. To her disappointment and horror, they were still there, eyes fixed on her.
“It can’t be,” Hermione said, putting her textbook down beside her. “What in the world are you doing here?!”
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Draco Malfoy was sitting on a deep green, velvet couch in the Malfoy manor, polishing his broom. He had been observing his father all morning. He did not seem quite himself. In fact, Lucius Malfoy had been behaving quite oddly ever since the Dark Lord’s demise. He was still the same, but yet somehow different.
“Draco,” Mr. Malfoy said after a few moments of pacing on the ancient rug that sat in front of the fireplace, “go and get changed.”
Draco looked up at his father. “What for?”
“We’re going somewhere.”
“Where? And what’s wrong with what I'm wearing?”
“Don’t question me, Draco,” Mr. Malfoy said in a menacing voice. “Just do as I say. Now go and get changed.”
My father’s going mad, Draco thought as he headed up to his room. He changed out from what he was wearing and into a pair of black pants and a grey shirt, before throwing his robes over himself. He made his way downstairs and saw his mother and father waiting by the fireplace. Draco guessed that they were traveling by Floo Powder. He was very tempted to ask his father where they were headed to once again, but he decided it would be best if he kept his mouth shut.
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Hermione watched as the Malfoys stepped out of her fireplace and saw that Draco wore an expression quite similar to hers; one of pure shock and surprise.
“What the hell are we doing in this Mudblood’s house, father?!” Draco asked, staring hard at Hermione.
“Watch your tongue, Malfoy!” Hermione said. “You're standing in my house. I don’t appreciate you insulting me in my own house.”
“Oh yeah?” Draco looked at her threateningly. “What are you going to do about it, Mudblood?”
“Silence, Draco!” Mr. Malfoy said angrily, poking his son in the back with the tip of his wand. “That is not how you talk to a lady.” He looked up at Hermione and gave her a tight smile, which made him seem rather constipated. “Hello Mud-Miss Granger,” Mr. Malfoy said, covering his mistake quickly, “are your parents at home? I need to have a word with them.”
Hermione eyed Mr. Malfoy suspiciously. “And what is it regarding?” She did not trust the Malfoys, so there was certainly no way she wanted her parents speaking to them.
“Look, Miss Granger,” Narcissa Malfoy said with an air of superiority, “we’re here to speak to the adults of this household. Where are they?”
“Mother, why would you want to speak to those stupid muggles?” Draco asked, still looking at Hermione with annoyance.
Mrs. Malfoy shot Draco a look that told him to remain quiet.
Before Hermione could say anything else, her parents came trotting down from their bedroom. She groaned. She honestly did not want them talking to the Malfoys. The Grangers seemed slightly puzzled seeing unfamiliar people standing in their living room.
“Yes, may we help you?” Mr. Granger said uncertainly as he approached the Malfoys.
“Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Granger, it’s a pleasure to finally meet the both of you,” Mr. Malfoy gushed, gliding forward to shake their hands a little too enthusiastically. “I'm Lucuis Malfoy, this is my wife, Narcissa Malfoy and my son, Draco Malfoy.”
Mrs. Malfoy gave a small smile. “Pleasure to meet you,” she said with the same air of superiority. She looked like she was getting bored with all the small talk.
Draco chose to remain silent in all of this before his parents tell him to shut up once more. He looked around the Granger household and noticed the stark contrasts to his own home. For one thing, it was much brighter in here, as compared to his gloomy and dreary mansion. It was also much smaller here, he observed with slight disgust.
Mrs. Granger looked from one Malfoy to the next. “I've heard about you all from Hermione,” she said, her eyes finally settling on Draco, “especially about you.”
Mr. Malfoy let out a chuckle, sounding more like he was clearing his throat. “I hope Miss Granger has said nice things about us.”
Mrs. Granger shook her head. “Not exactly, no.”
Mr. Malfoy attempted to chuckle again. “I guess Draco and Miss Granger have never been all that friendly.”
“That’s an understatement,” Hermione said loudly.
“You're a funny girl, Miss Granger,” Mr. Malfoy said with that same constipated smile. “Well, I came here in hope of changing things between you and Draco.”
Hermione did not quite like the sound of that. She fidgeted uneasily on the spot and wondered what Mr. Malfoy had in mind.
“Father, things between the Mudblood and me are just the way it should be,” Draco said with a tinge of apprehension.
Mr. Malfoy ignored Draco and looked at the Grangers. “Mr. and Mrs. Granger, I come here today with a marriage proposal. I want my son to wed your daughter.”
Hermione’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened at Mr. Malfoy’s statement. Her parents gasped while Draco looked like he was about to pass out. The only two people who appeared calm were Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.
“NO WAY!” Draco and Hermione yelled in unison after a moment of silence.
“Mr. Malfoy, our daughter’s far too young for marriage. She hasn’t even turned eighteen just as yet,” Mr. Granger informed. “Besides, I don’t think it’s a very good idea to get””
“Don’t be silly, Mr. Granger,” Mr. Malfoy interrupted, “I think it’s a perfect idea! Don’t you think so, Narcissa?”
“I think it’s a fantastic idea,” Mrs. Malfoy agreed, still wearing a blank expression.
“I don’t think it’s a fantastic idea!” Draco exclaimed. “I think it’s stupid! Father, have you gone crazy?”
“Draco, if you cease to remain quiet, I’ll be forced to put a Silencing Charm on you,” Mr. Malfoy said irritably.
Draco folded his arms angrily and cursed under his breath. Everyone’s telling me to shut up! And father’s treating me like a little kid! How can he expect me to marry that filthy little Mudblood?
Hermione glared hard at Mr. Malfoy. “I know what this about. I finally figured it out,” she seethed, arms folded. “You want your son to marry me because you want to gain the respect of the Wizarding World once more.”
“I don’t know what you're talking about, Miss Granger.”
But Hermione continued, disregarding Mr. Malfoy, “After Voldemort was defeated, you were lucky not to be found guilty for being a Death-Eater. The Ministry Of Magic acquitted you, but you were still not fully accepted by the Wizarding world. Most witches and wizards were certain of your connection with Voldermort, so they refused to treat you with any respect whatsoever.
“So, here you are today, wanting your son, your only pureblood heir, to marry me, a Mudblood, just so that you, Lucius Malfoy, can gain the same prestige and status you once had among wizards and witches. By getting your only son married to a muggle-born, you want to show the Wizarding World that you're truly at peace with muggles and muggle-born wizards and witches. But I'm not going to let that happen, Mr. Malfoy. There’s no way I'm going to marry your son and give you that satisfaction of power once more.”
Draco had the urge to move forward and teach Hermione a good lesson, but he couldn’t help wonder if she was right. It did make sense. His father wouldn’t mind ruining his son’s future to get what he wanted.
“You have a very vivid imagination, I must say,” Mr. Malfoy said coolly. “You're right about peace between wizards and muggles. That’s what I want and nothing more. I'm not interested in power and status.”
“I'm sure you aren’t,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes. “Nothing you say is going to convince me to marry your son. There’s just no way. We hate each other and enmity is the only relationship we’ll ever have.”
“Well, there are other ways of convincing you, you know.”, Mr. Malfoy said silkily, wand slightly raised.
Mr. Granger placed his hand on his daughter’s shoulder protectively. “Mr. Malfoy, I have to ask you and your family to leave right now. As you can see, we do not approve this proposal and from the looks of it, neither does your son. There is no point forcing this upon them, so please leave.”
The sides of Mr. Malfoy’s lips twisted up into a small smile. “Maybe with Draco and Miss Granger living together the same dormitory, things may change. For the better, I hope.”
Draco turned to his father, a look of perplexity on his pale face.
“What do you mean?” Hermione asked, voicing Draco’s confusion.
“Don’t you know, Miss Granger?” Mr. Malfoy asked, smirking. “Draco’s the new Head Boy. And I know for a fact that you're the new Head Girl.”
Hermione frowned. “You must be mistaken. The new Head Boy is Terry Smithers from Ravenclaw. I was informed of that in the letter I received from Hogwarts.”
Mr. Malfoy’s smirk remained in place. “Let’s just say that Mr. Smithers has met with a rather unfortunate accident and is unable to perform his duty as Head Boy for the next month or two. In fact, he won’t even be able to attend school.”
Hermione fought the compulsion to whip out her wand and curse Mr. Malfoy. “What did you do to him?!”, she demanded.
“So with some convincing from Professor Snape,”, Mr. Malfoy continued as though he had not heard Hermione’s question, “Dumbledore has decided that Draco shall carry out the duties of Head Boy instead of Mr. Smithers.”
Draco seemed delighted at the prospect of being Head Boy and he gave Hermione a smug smile. Hermione wanted to kill him.
“Maybe then the two of you will learn to put your differences aside and who knows? Anything can happen,” Mr. Malfoy said with a glint in his eye.
“There’s no way anything’s happening,” Hermione said, throwing Draco a dirty look. “No way at all.”
“I’ll agree with the Mudblood for once,” Draco said, casting Hermione an equally dirty look. “Nothing will be happening.”
“Mr. Malfoy, I'm going to ask you yet again to leave my house,” Mr. Granger said with as much patience as he could muster. “Now.”
“Let me know if you change your mind, Mr. and Mrs. Granger.”
“I'm sure we will,” Hermione muttered sarcastically.
Exchanging one last look of loathing with Hermione, Draco walked towards the fireplace and in a blink of an eye, the Malfoys disappeared into the emerald green flames.
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