Arranged Marriage

A Surprise for Hermione

Draco’s POV

He was starting to give up. He had been looking at rings for the whole afternoon and he still hadn’t found the right one. It was the fifteenth ring the sales man was showing him. This one was to extravagant. They were all wrong. He couldn’t picture Granger wearing any of the rings he had seen. Some were too simple for a know-it-all like her. Others were just too much. He thought Granger would like a more classic ring.

He wasn’t saying that he knew Granger. As a matter of fact, he knew nothing about her. But somehow he knew that she wouldn’t like a ring that was too dressy and neither too bland. Suddenly he saw it! The perfect ring! And it really was perfect. He could already picture Granger wearing it!

The band was classic and elegant and there was a part were there was a gentle curve. The gem was oval-shaped and it was a rich ruby surrounded on both sides by little diamonds on top of each other. He knew he had to get it, whatever the prize!

“Excuse me, sir”, he started to say, “I can’t help but admire that lovely ring. Could you be kind enough to get it out for me so I can see it better?” When it came to impress people with good manners, he was a champion. He watched as the sales man got out the perfect ring. He picked it up and started to examine it. Now that he was looking at it closely he loved it even more! The red colur of the ruby was what he like best… it reminded him of what a Gryffindor Granger used to be.

“How much are you charging for this fine ring, sir?”, he asked. It didn’t really matter since he was getting it anyway but it always did good to know before paying. As the sales man told him the price Draco’s jaw dropped open in surprise and desdain. The ring was only a thousand Galleons.

“Sir, are you sure the diamonds and ruby are real?” He knew it was wrong to doubt a probably experienced sales man but he couldn’t believe the price would be so cheap for such expensive stones.

The sales man smiled knowingly at him before replying. “I can assure you sir that these gems are a 100 % real. I can show you the certificate of proof if you don’t believe me. He hastened to continue when he saw Draco’s humiliated face. “I understand though why you would doubt me. The price is extremely low for such precious gems. I’ve tried to talk to the stores management about increasing the prices but he seems to think that the lower the prices the more customers will buy…I can’t help but disagree”.

Draco looked at the ring again and knew that he couldn’t care less about wether it was cheap or not…he was getting it. “The certificate won’t be needed, sir. I’ll take your word for it. I’d like this ring packed in its rightful box please and no wrapping…I’m going to need to open it later.

                     **************************************************

Hermione’s POV

 

Hermione was washing the dishes when she heard a knock on her door. Wiping her hands dry, she went and opened to door only to come face to face with Draco Malfoy. “I guess today is the day I get to find out what the men were asked to do”, she thought. She could see that Malfoy was very nervous and she couldn’t help but be excited and anxious as to why. She hoped that after Malfoy did what he had to do they would have some time to talk about their situation.

“Malfoy”, she started, “whatever are you doing here?” She tried to sound as polite and calm as possible. Malfoy visibly swallowed. Hermione was beginning to get worried. It had to be something pretty serious to get Malfoy to look as nervous as he did now.

“Um… hi Granger.How are you? Long time no see huh?”, said Malfoy. It was obvious to Hermione that he was playing for time. Since she was feeling a little sorry for him, she let him bide his time until he felt that he was ready. After all, she was 100% sure that he didn’t want to do this…was embarassed or something of the sort.

After a few seconds, he looked up at her and to her shock dropped on one knee. “What in the name of hell…”, she thought. Hermione was sure that her eyes were working against her because it couldn’t be possible that Draco Malfoy was on his knees. She was wrong. Her eyes weren’t the only thing working against her. Even her ears were making her here things that weren’t actually being said.

“Hermione….will you m-marry me?”, asked Malfoy. Hermione was sure her kness were going to give away. It just wasn’t possible… Draco Malfoy couldn’t be proposing to her. Suddenly she remembered the pack about the Marriage Law all girls had received and things started to make a little more sense to her. Malfoy was only proposing to her because of the stupid law. They probably made it as a rule for all men!

Hermione couldn’t believe she had thought Malfoy was doing this to ty and make them forget that they were forced into this. “Malfoy probably doesn’t even have these sort of feelings!”, she thought bitterly. It was then that Hermione saw Malfoy taking out a small, velvet box out of his pocket.

When she saw the beautiful ring inside it Hermione forget all the biterness she was feeing moments before because someone couldn’t have bought a ring that was so perfect for her without some thought. “Maybe Malfoy did try to make this better…”, she thought. Hermione suddenly realised that Malfoy was still waiting on one knee for her answer looking as anxious as ever.

“Yes…I will marry you…”, said Hermione. She knew she had no choice but it felt nice to know that she had actually had a normal marriage proposal were a man asked her to marry him on one knee and she got to say yes. She had to smile a little when she saw Malfoy sigh in relief. She could imagine how difficult this probably was for him. When she saw that he was now standing up she decided to ask him if they could talk. “It’s now or never”, she thought.

“Listen, um…Draco… I’m pretty sure that neither one of us wanted this marriage but it has happened and there’s nothing we can do about it. Before today we hadn’t seen each other ever since the war ended and I think it’s stupid to get into a marriage…even a forced one…without talking things through before. So…would you like to come in so that we could do…just that?”Hermione stopped to try and catch her breath while opening her door a little more to show Malfoy that she meant what she had said.

She saw Malfoy…Draco…getting up and anxiously waited his answer. Draco sighed. “I guess you’re right. The situation we’re in needs to be talked about. Before I come in though I want to make one thing absolutely clear.” Hermione started expecting the worse at this. “I get to choose were the marriage will take place”. Hermione’s mouth dropped open in surprise at this and Draco burst out laughing.

“Maybe this won’t be so bad”, thought Hermione.

                                                 **************************************

Author's Note : So? What do you think? Hope you enjoyed reading this new chapter! Next up will be Blaise's proposal and Ron's :)