Their Greatest Mistake

hey guys! thanks so much for the reviews, they really keep me writing.

i meant to get this up yesterday, but we lost power, so it didn't happen. hopefully I can get the next chapter up tomorrow.

xx

Suzz

**

Hermione slammed the door to the bathroom behind her and locked it quickly with her wand. She slid down the length of the door to land on the floor, and hung her head in between her knees. She was so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could she? Just because she and Ron had a fight didn’t mean she had the right to go out and not only sleep with someone, it had to be Draco Malfoy, and she had to do things with him she hadn’t even done with Ron.

A groan escaped her, and she wiped her eyes as tears threatened to spill. It was quiet out in his room; had he left? It would serve both of them right. She knew that he hadn’t recognized her the night before, even knew that no one probably would recognize her. It wasn’t that she had gotten some huge makeover, because she hadn’t, or that she had suddenly filled out, because that hadn’t happened either. No one from Hogwarts except for Harry and the Weasleys had seen her out of loose fitting robes since the summer before fourth year, and in the three years that had followed she had slowly gained a bigger chest. It was perfectly normal, and she doubted that Harry and Ron even noticed since they saw her on such a regular basis.

As for him, she had probably just been drunk enough to recognize him, but barely, and not enough to know who he was. A quick glance this morning had showed that his hair was much shorter than it had been at the mass funeral for all who died in the final battle two months prior. A part of her hung over brain mentioned that he was quite good looking. “Of course,” she muttered into her knees. “The one part of my brain that functions is the part that likes him.”

Slowly she pulled herself off of the floor and turned the faucets to the tub on. While it filled with water, she looked in the cupboards under the sink for some sort of headache remedy, or better yet, a Hangover potion. While there was no Hangover potion, there was a headache potion and something that helped the nausea. Feeling much better, but still unable to remember much, Hermione got into the tub.

The plus side of sleeping with Draco Malfoy was that he was filthy rich. This meant that his tub was, like his bed, several times larger than the ones at Hogwarts and there was every possible type of hair potion. Once she finished with her bath, there was a very fluffy towel waiting for her, and not only toothbrushes and toothpaste, but a mouth rinse potion (similar to Muggle mouth wash) so she could the taste of him out her mouth. If she was going to sleep with him, she was going to do it right.

But what was she going to tell Ron? And the Weasleys must be worried sick; she had left in a huff and no one knew where she had gone. What was she going to do?

In her clothes again, she began to pace the large bathroom, thinking aloud. “The whole fight was Ron’s fault in the first place, and now I’ve gone and made it all my fault! We both know that I can’t blame it on him, and if I did, he’d call me on it. He didn’t ask me to go out, get drunk, and sleep with Malfoy. Oh Merlin!” she cried, and sank down on the floor again, putting her face in her hands.

That was when she felt it. It was something cold, like metal, on her left ring finger. In absolute horror, she looked down at her finger.

A think platinum band was wrapped around it, and the words “Nullus Discidium” were engraved in cursive. Her first reaction was to try to tug it off, but it wouldn’t budge. From that she was able to discover what it was. It was a wedding band, and seeing as she didn’t remember getting married, she most likely was married to Malfoy.

This realization earned a scream.

* * *

Draco had lifted his head out of his hands. Granger was in the bathroom, screaming her head off, which most likely meant that she had discovered the fact that they were now bound by a power much higher than whatever Muggles believed made miracles happen.

After five minutes of constant screaming, Draco knew that if he didn’t get her to shut up soon, the House Elves would start to worry, and his mother would be summoned from whatever villa she was spending her life at since his father’s death three months prior. That left him no choice: Granger had to shut up, and immediately. He’d give her some Hangover potion, allow for her memories to come back, and then they’d head down to Dumbledore’s so he could explain the specifics of the marriage. As every Wizard marriage was different, is was necessary that he explain exactly what they chose to put in the fine print.

Of course, considering his ring said “together always” in Latin, it was a good guess that getting an annulment or a divorce, seeing as she was a Muggle, were impossible without being in extreme physical pain. “I wonder what her ring says,” he mused, and then rose from the chair. There was no time like the present to deal with it.

Suddenly, Draco found himself doubled up in laughter at the irony of the situation. Immediately he heard a ‘click’ and then a clothed Granger stood in the doorway. Quickly he controlled himself and threw on his pants and trousers, and then a shirt. She glared at him before saying, “And what, exactly, is so funny about us being married?”

Again Draco chuckled, and it took a few moments before he could answer her. “I was just thinking that ol’ Lucius is probably turning in his grave right now. After working hard for years to keep me from thinking anything but hatred to anyone Muggleborn, I’ve gone and married one. Ridiculous.”

She crossed her arms and scowled at him, and didn’t even crack a smile. Draco rolled his eyes and took out another vial of Hangover potion from the cupboard. “Here, for your hangover,” he said as he tossed the potion over to her. Immediately she uncorked it and swallowed its contents, waiting a moment for it to take its time.

They stood like that, on opposite ends of the room, looking at each other, for a few minutes, and then Hermione closed her eyes and Draco knew she was remember from the night before. Giving her a few moments to herself, he swiftly walked past her into the bathroom to take a quick bath.

By the time that he had finished his bath and had changed into clean clothes, she was pacing the room, waiting for him to come out. A part of him couldn’t help but make a snide comment. “Waiting for me? If I had known you were that eager, I would have unlocked the bathroom door.” This earned him another glare, and he could see her hand itch in its eagerness to slap him.

Instead, she came up so she was inches from his face. “You prick,” she hissed, a far cry from the minx of his memories. “Take me to Dumbledore. I need to know the specifics of our marriage contract immediately, and then I need to let the Weasleys know that I’m all right.”

Draco felt his customary sneer forming on his face as he replied, “Staying with the Weasels, are we? Tut tut, what will your boyfriend think of you now?”

The words evidently cut deeper than Draco intended them to, and her bottom lip trembled as she struggled to keep her voice steady. “Don’t speak of things you don’t know, Malfoy,” she whispered.