Potions and Parchment Match

Hermione and Ginny sat quietly talking at a table in the far corner of the library. “I can’t believe that I was matched with Blaise Zabini!” Ginny said in surprise. “When I poured the potion on the parchment at first nothing happened and I thought I was going to be one of the unmatched people. Then his name appeared and I almost peed my pants! I mean really, can you imagine me and Blaise Zabini?” she asked.

Hermione grinned. “Its almost as good as me and Malfoy! I could hear his “bloody hell” comment across the room!”

It was Ginny’s turn to grin. “I would have loved to have been there and seen his face! I bet is was priceless!”

“I don’t know. I was too busy with my own shock and then seeing Pansy Parkinson’s name on Harry’s parchment. I actually thought that it would have been you and he.”

“Nah, Harry and I never really had anything between us. A few snogging sessions and my family pushing us together. I had a crush on him during my first year, but it ended long before we even got together. He was to much like my brother.”

“I wonder how he’ll do with Pansy. That is definitely a strange match.”

“Yeah, I guess so. I don’t really know her that well. I mean I know who she is and she has always hung out with Draco and been a bit bitchy, but I really don’t know her.”

“I wonder if she and Draco slept together. He told me he wasn’t a virgin.”

“Hermione Granger! You asked him if he was a virgin?” Ginny demanded.

“Well he asked me first!” she said defensively.

“Pureblood families expect their brides to come to them pure,” Ginny said.

“He told me he didn’t care if I was a virgin or not as long as I didn’t come to him pregnant.”

Ginny gasped. “He really said that?”

Hermione nodded. “He even told me I would be required to prove the night before the wedding that I wasn’t pregnant.”

“I hope the Zabini’s aren’t that strict. I won’t be coming to him as a pure bride.”

Hermione grinned. “Yeah, but you are a pureblood.”

“I don’t think that the Zabini’s ever cared about that. They stayed neutral during the war and I’ve never heard him spouting that pureblood crap that Malfoy did.”

Hermione thought for a moment. “Yeah, come to think of it, neither have I. So have you told your mum yet?”

Ginny snorted. “I didn’t have to. Ron, the town crier, owled her the second he found out. I got a howler from her demanding to know why I hadn’t informed her. I could have killed that big mouth git!”

“He picked a fight with Zabini when he found out too. Harry had to stop him from going after him when he made a comment about you being a good breeder.”

Ginny grinned. “If he thinks that I plan on spending the rest of my life pregnant like my mum, he’s in for a big surprise.”

“Have you guys talked yet?”

“Nope. We haven’t even acknowledged each other. I figured that I would let my mother arrange things with his mother and just show up when I had to. That’s usually how the pureblood weddings go anyway. I’d like you to stand up with me though,” she said with a smile.

Hermione nodded. “And of course I want you to stand up with me!”

“Of course! I should get going. I have to send an owl off to mum before she shows up here and hex’s me into next month. Gods, why did they have to do this now! My entire Christmas break is going to be filled with wedding crap!”

“Malfoy and I are getting married on January first. Don’t pick that date.”

“I’ll let mum know. I really don’t care what day we do it.”

“You sure are taking this well.”

“I honestly always assumed mum would find some wizard for me and demand that I marry him. You know how she is. I always figured I wouldn’t get much say in it so I never really thought much about it. This is pretty much the same thing, except for Mum deciding I actually might have a chance with this match.”

“My parents are going to flip. I sent an owl last night and I haven’t heard back from them yet. I expected a message with breakfast this morning.”

“Usually the longer it takes for parents to respond the worse it’s going to be.”

Hermione nodded her head in agreement. “I’ll see you later.”


Draco stood in the owlery petting his eagle hawk. His mother had sent him a note saying how pleased she was that he had been matched. She indicated that a late lunch would fit in well with her schedule and could they meet in Diagon Alley at Antonio’s. She would take care of the reservation.

Things were moving quickly. Yesterday he hadn’t thought past which witch he would shag next and today he was planning his wedding. He knew that there was chance that he would be matched, but he kept it in the back of his head trying not to dwell on it. He never would have guessed that Granger would be his bride. He had thought she was attractive in her own way, and he knew that she was brilliant, but she was still a Muggle and the best friend of Harry Potter. Although he and Harry were no longer enemies, there were still not the best of friends. He knew better than to make any moves on his friends. Now he was marrying Harry’s best friend and Harry was marrying his best friend.

Pansy was ecstatic. She had been in love with Harry since fifth year and had never thought he would look twice at her, and honestly he hadn’t. Now she was going to marry him and she couldn’t have been happier. She had spent two years planning the imaginary wedding and life that would never happen, and now in thirty days all of her dreams would come true. Potter pretty much just needed to show up, Pansy had already taken care of the rest.

He wondered if Potter had wondered if he and Pansy had been together. He had always thought that Hermione and Potter had. He had been quite happy that he would be her first and to know that Harry and her hand not been together. He and Pansy had been the best of friends since they were in diapers and neither one of them had ever thought of the other as more than just a sibling. They both knew that rumors flew about the two of them eventually marrying, but that was all it was, a rumor.

It was funny how things had worked out. He would marry Hermione, Pansy would marry Potter, and Blaise would marry Ginny Weasley. His two best friends were marrying Hermione’s two best friends. He was in a way glad about that because now he knew that he would still see his friends often. He knew that a lot of the time when a bloke married his wife stopped him from hanging out with all of his old friends. With her friends marrying his friends they were guaranteed to still see each other all the time.

With a final pat to his pet he walked back towards his room. He knew that this time of day Granger was usually at the library so he knew that he would have the place to himself. He was still trying to process the electric chemistry that flowed between he and Granger whenever they touched. It was an unexpected surprise. He had heard Sev talk about how the spell matched you based on intellectual compatibility and chemistry, but he still didn’t expect the reaction that they had.

He muttered the password to their dorm and the door swung open. He walked in and was surprised to see Hermione lying on the couch. Her eyes were closed and she was holding a book in her hands that layed gently across her chest. She was breathing evenly and he knew that she was asleep. He sat in the chair next to the couch and watched her sleep. He could see her eye movement under the closed lids and he wondered what she was dreaming about. He wondered if it was about him. She said that she didn’t think of him at all but he wondered if that was true. With the flames of desire that shot through both of them it would be hard to get that out of your mind, especially for someone as innocent as Hermione was.

A pop sounded behind him and a house elf appeared. “Master, Headmistress wants you and Miss Granger.”

“Now?” he asked.

“Yes, master.”

“Alright,” he said. He watched Hermione for another brief moment and then leaned down and whispered by her ear. “Wake up, Mione.”

She briefly stirred and then stilled again. “Hermione, wake up,” he said a bit louder. He gently shook her shoulder. Her eyes popped open in surprise and she gasped when she saw him so close.

“Draco!” she whispered.

He smiled. “You remembered my name,” he said.

“What’s wrong?”

“McGonagall wants to see us in her office.”

“Now?”

“Apparently so,” he said rising.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. A house elf just delivered the message.”

“Oh,” she said thinking.

“You know, if you want to keep lying there like that, I could join you and we could have a great session of “getting to know each other better” and snogging.”

Hermione immediately jumped up and then ran her hand through her fuzzy hair. “Let’s go,” she said walking towards the door.

Draco grinned at how predictable she was. “Granger, aren’t you going to do something with your hair?”

Hermione looked at him in surprise. “This is always how I wear my hair,” she said.

“I know. Why don’t you fix it?”

“I don’t have time to stand in front of the mirror playing with my hair. This way is easiest. I just pull it out of my face and away I go.”

“Come here,” he said holding out his hand.

“Malfoy,” she started.

“What’s my name?”

Hermione sighed. “Draco, we don’t have time for this.”

“Just come here, Granger.”

She took his hand and followed him to the mirror. She watched as he muttered a spell and waved his wand over her head. “Wow!” Her frizzy hair turned to soft silky curls that flowed softly down her back. “What was that spell again?” she asked in awe.

“Come on, McGonagall is waiting on us.”

“Why is it you expect me to call you Draco, but you continue to call me Granger?” she asked as they walked towards the headmistress’s office.

“It’s a sign of respect in. You call me by my first name and everyone assumes that you have accepted me and respect me.”

“So does that mean by calling me Granger you don’t accept or respect me?”

Draco grinned. “In the pureblood families image is everything. It must appear that the man is the head of his house. We will be looked down upon if you do not show me the proper respect in public.”

Hermione thought for a moment. “And when we are at home?” she asked.

Draco laughed. “You can call me Draco.”

“I can think of other names that would suit you better,” she muttered.

“Before long, the only name you’ll be wanting to call me is lover,” he predicted as they arrived at the statue blocking the entrance to McGonagalls office.

Hermione felt her face flame. “You wish, Malfoy.”

Draco grabbed Hermione and brought his face within an inch of hers. He could see the surprise in her eyes. “You must like my kisses, Granger.”

“Why is that, Malfoy?” she said stressing his last name.

“Because every time that you call me Malfoy from now on I will be kissing you,” he whispered taking her lips with his.

Hermione gasped and then pulled away. “You can’t do that!”

“Watch me!” he said pushing her against the stonewall.

“Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger, I see you have finally arrived,” Professor McGonagall said coming up behind them.

Draco slowly moved away from her and looked towards the headmistress. “Hermione had issues with her hair,” he said with a smirk.

Professor McGonagall looked at Hermione’s hair in surprise. In the seven years that she had attended Hogwarts she had only seemed it tamed one other time. She turned and looked again at Malfoy and then said, “Come, you have kept everyone waiting.”

Hermione and Draco turned to look at each other in wonder. Who could be there waiting for them?

Harry starred at Pansy in shock. “You want me to what?” he asked in horror.

“I just thought it would be nice if you wore pink dress robes to our wedding,” she said with a smile.

“I don’t know what planet you came from, but I am not and will not ever, wear pink dress robes.”

“But Harry! They would match so nicely with mine!” she pouted.

Harry rolled her eyes. “You might be used to getting your way by pouting, but it does not work with me. I will wear black dress robes, not pink.”

“Then I won’t show up for the wedding!” she threatened. He was ruining all of her plans that she had dreamed over for years.

Harry snorted. “Like you could live without your magic. I on the other hand spent the first eleven years of my life as a Muggle and could easily do so again.”

Pansy gasped. “You would live as a Muggle rather than wear a pink robe?”

Harry nodded his head. “Pansy, perhaps you should understand something about me right from the start. I have spent my entire life having people tell me what I could and couldn not do. I swore that once Voldemort was gone,” he stopped at her gasp.

“You can’t say his name!”

“Sure I can. As I was saying, I swore that once VOLDEMORT was gone, I would live my life for myself and would not tolerate anyone else telling me what to do. I would be more than happy to discuss things with you, but do not think that you can order me around,”

Pansy sighed. She had hoped that he would be easy to boss around. She knew that being married to a pureblood she never would have gotten away with the pink robes but she had not counted on Harry being so strong. She thought that he would be easy to control. “Would you wear green?” she asked.

It was Harry’s turn to sigh. “What color of green?” For the sake of peace in his marriage he was willing to compromise at times.

Pansy grinned. “How about a dark hunter green?”

Harry thought for a moment. He had been sure that she would say Slytherin green and he had been ready to veto it. “I guess I can live with that.”

“Yes!” she squealed throwing her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Harry!” she said kissing him lightly on his cheek.

Harry wrapped his arms around her waist and smiled. “I think that you will find that if you are willing to talk to me about what you need and what you want, I will be a very good listener and try to accommodate your wishes, Pansy. If you try to boss me around or manipulate me, you will find me a very stubborn wizard.”

She looked up into his bright green eyes and melted. She had dreamed of the moment he would take her into his arms this way. She had never really thought it would happen though. “Harry, will you kiss me?” she asked breathlessly.

“That is one wish that I would be more than happy to let you have your way with,” he said pressing his lips softly against hers. He reached his hand behind her head and pulled her closer to him deepening the kiss. She tasted of pumpkin juices and strawberries and he groaned. He felt the desire go straight to his loins and pulled away before he embarrassed himself.

“Harry,” she whispered looking at him.

He leaned over and pecked her gently on the cheek. “I need to go, I have quidditch practice now,” he said walking away.

Pansy stood in the same spot lost in her thoughts until Millicent finally shook her head in disgust and pulled her towards the dungeons. “God’s I’m glad I wasn’t matched!” she said shaking her head at her friend.