Lost Image | dramione

2 | the petition

"I... I don't understand," Hermione managed, a sentence she wasn't sure she had ever had to utter in the presence of an educator. And it was a lie. She understood. She just didn't want to.

Three petitions had been made for her. The maximum number. And none of them were from Ron.

"Miss Granger, your case is undoubtedly a special one," McGonagall continued, her lips pursed and her hands folded on the desk in front of her. "And by special, I mean someone coordinated this."

Hermione started. The Headmistress was being very blunt, but of course she was right. "Three pure-blood families? Or are you saying it's a Death Eater collaboration? Is this a trap?" There were many suspected Death Eaters who didn't make it to their court dates, and probably many more that remained undiscovered...

McGonagall stared at her for a long, hard moment, considering. Then, she said something unexpected. "Mr. Malfoy's petition is the only one I can assure you is safe."

Hermione's mouth gaped open as she struggled for words. She had heard what McGonagall said, but the words didn't make sense put together in that order in a sentence."I don't understand," she repeated lamely.

McGonagall stood up, walking towards a nearby window. It was a cloudy, dreary day outside, which seemed to match the mood of the majority of the older student population. "Many people are interested in the safety of those who defeated Lord Voldemort, especially when word of this Marriage Law and its safety implications came about. Our Minister of Magic included."

"Are... are you trying to tell me that Kingsley Shacklebolt wants me to marry Malfoy?" Too much. This was too much to take in.

McGonagall gave her a small, tired smile. "I wouldn't go so far as to say that. We do know this much: The Malfoy family is in no way friends with the remaining clusters of Death Eaters. In fact, their participation in events leading to the end of the Battle of Hogwarts has earned Lucius and Narcissa several assassination attempts."

Hermione stared. Just how powerful a presence were the last dredges of Voldemort's minions?

"As far as regular society goes, they are a family that once had a very respectable name that has been dragged through the mud. In the end, they wouldn't harm a hair on your head. They wouldn't dare."

"I... you don't know that."

McGonagall stared, raising her eyebrows. Before she could say anything, however, Hermione interrupted.

"Unless there's something else you're not telling me."

"Miss Granger, you have three choices. There is Theodore Nott... Nott's father is still on the run, though we have evidence to suggest he was one of those who attempted to kill Lucius Malfoy. Harringer is thirty years old and wasn't booked as a Death Eater because of "insufficient evidence." He doesn't bare the Mark, however the Order has informed me that he was indeed responsible for several muggle murders during the year of Voldemort's reign. They don't have hard evidence, but I was told quite firmly to keep his proposal from going through at all costs."

Hermione was silent, listening. Nott, Harringer, or Malfoy. She was caught between a rock and a hard place, where her only hope of escape was a boy who, frankly, disgusted her with both his attitude and treatment of her over the years.

But as she had been thinking earlier, he wasn't evil.

"Is there more? You must have another reason why you would suggest Malfoy...Nott might not be so bad, right? Maybe he doesn't have contact with his father..."

McGonagall's face made it clear that she suspected otherwise. Hermione sighed, and was about to leave the room in the same fit as Parkinson when McGonagall spoke again.