Whispers broke out aggressively around the room as Hermione stood at the headmistress' desk, the goblet hanging limply in her hand. She hadn't uttered a single word, she just stared into the silver eyes that haunted many of her nightmares, half expecting the world to collapse in on itself at any second.
Draco Malfoy stood before her, his eyes poring into hers, his face a mask devoid of any expression. McGonagall looked between them, shocked.
"Mr. Malfoy," she said, recovering slightly, "I'lll have to ask you to wait your turn, Miss Granger needs to read the name."
Draco Malfoy didn't move and Hermione looked down at the goblet once more.
"N- no Professor," she said, her voice shaking, "He's right. It says- it says Draco Malfoy."
She brought the goblet up to her face and her eyes widened. There was another collective gasp as McGonagall's hand flew to her chest.
"Very well then," she said, recollecting herself, "Professor Sprout is waiting outside with further instructions, you may both take your leave now."
Hermione felt as if she had fallen asleep at the wheel and someone else was pulling the strings on her body. Without saying another word, she turned on her heels and began to follow Malfoy out of the office. She was halfway there when she felt another set of eyes upon her. Instinctively, she turned, but regretted it immediately as she locked eyes with Ron. If he had looked sad and hopeful earlier, there were no traces of it left, his face was nothing but pure rage.
Shaken to her core, Hermione looked away and left the office. Outside, they were greeted by a solemn looking Professor Sprout. She was holding an old looking clipboard and was scribbling down on it. When Hermione and Malfoy walked out she let out a surprised gasp, but immediately tried to pass it off as cough. Unable to provide many words of comfort, she handed them each a thick envelope and told them to return to their common room, where they would find that one of the rooms had already been marked with their names.
They walked in silence but Hermione's head was screaming. She couldn't understand how this had happened, her left arm burned with the memory of her scars and she could feel her entire body shaking. When they reached the common room they found it empty, the rest of the couples were probably in their rooms figuring out how to deal with their own disasters, but the fires were burning and there seemed to be extra furniture.
When they reached the top of the stairs, they found that Hermione's room now had an additional plaque underneath her name which read:
Draco Malfoy
The room that had belonged to him the night before had its own set of plaques now. It belonged to someone else. Without a word, Malfoy pushed the door open and held it for Hermione to walk through. It looked exactly the same as it did that morning, except there were now two chests of drawers and some of Draco's belongings had been arranged on one of the bedside tables. Hermione glanced at the clock and saw that it was already past midnight. Normally, she would've cursed herself and headed straight to bed, but she wasn't her normal self anymore.
"I'll sleep on the floor," Malfoy suddenly said, grabbing a blanket and pillow from the bed. Before Hermione could say anything, he had disappeared behind the bed. Knowing that she preferred that to them sharing the bed together, she silently slipped into the bathroom to change into her pjs.
She lay in bed for hours, but sleep refused to come for her. Every time she closed her eyes, her scars burned as the memory of Bellatrix Lestrange carving her skin open flooded her mind. She wondered if Malfoy had managed to fall asleep on the floor, he hadn't hesitated when she had finished drinking from the goblet. He hadn't insulted her or fought off the policy. She had half expected him to claim his father would hear about it. But life after the war was also different for Malfoy. His father wasn't someone he'd want to mention inside school walls anymore. He was rotting in Azkaban along with the other Death Eaters that the Ministry had managed to capture.
Then, another thought popped into her head.
How had he known?
How had SHE known?
She replayed the events in McGonagall's office over and over in her head. She had drunk the contents of the goblet, and then she had simply known. Had Malfoy felt it too? The gravitational pull that even now, as they lay as far away from each other as they possibly could, tugged at her insides every so often.
She finally fell asleep, too exhausted to dream, and didn't wake up until late morning.
*****
She was woken up by the sound of water, pouring down on her. Slowly, she blinked and the light flooded into her eyes. It was too sunny outside for rain. Confused, she sat up slowly, her head spinning. After a few seconds, the events of last night came back to her, and she realized the water she was hearing was the bathroom shower. On her bedside table, lay a note in what she recognized as McGonagall's handwriting.
Classes canceled for you today. Enjoy the long weekend.
M.M.
A small wave of relief came over her as she realized that she hadn't in fact missed almost half a day of classes. She grabbed the thick envelope she had left on the table before going to bed and opened the seal. It was filled with several parchments. Pulling out the first, most official-looking one, she read:
By Decree of the Wizengamot and Ministry of Magic, the Urgent Re-population Policy N. 325 is now in effect.
Married couples must present themselves at the Ministry for an interview and further instruction regarding their child-bearing options
Unmarried individuals over the age of twenty must present to the Ministry to register their relationships and have three years to marry
Unmarried individuals who are not in a registered relationship by the end of the month will have a partner arranged for them and will have three years to marry
Wizards between the ages of seventeen and nineteen will be subjected to Anima Mea Fatum, to help them discover their soulmates so as to ensure successful pairings
Registered soulmates will be given three years to marry
Hermione felt her insides grow cold, she remembered McGonagall's scribbling and realized that she had been registering the couples for the Minister. Somewhere in the ministry, in a rolled-up piece of parchment, her name was now inked next to Draco Malfoy's binding them in a contract that neither one of them had wanted to enter.
Three years to marry.
She wondered what would happen if she refused, would they throw her, the witch that helped Harry Potter kill Voldemort, into Azkaban?
Rage flooded her veins, rage, and disbelief. Kingsley had known, he had allowed them to be ripped off their free will, thrown them into arranged marriages without so much as an apology. And Ron...
Oh, Ron.
The look in his face when she had walked up to McGonagall. He had cast her aside after Fred died, but she had seen it in his eyes at that moment, she had known that he had always thought they'd find their way back. Tears splashed onto the Ministry's announcement as she thought of the face of the boy she had loved.
Had.
Past tense.
She knew now that whatever she felt for Ron was going to disappear, she could already feel it slipping away. How could it not? When her entire being now knew she was meant for someone else, someone she hated. Ron would be nothing but an afterthought. That goblet, it hadn't given her true love, it had taken it away forever. She'd never be able to love, fully love, another man, because she knew who her soulmate was, and she knew she would never be able to love him.
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The Bond Of Fate - DracoxHermione
قصص الهواةThe war is over, but healing isn't easy. Harry Ron and Hermione return to Hogwarts for their last school year, but they soon realize it won't be the calm and uneventful year they were expecting. The Wizengamot has voted, loss of life during the Sec...
