A Sacrifice for Love

A/N--- Thank you everyone for your reviews. I don’t like this chapter much, it didn’t come out the way I had planned but unfortunately the character get stubborn and do things their own way. And don’t worry next chapter, I get back to Snape. Please review.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Sometime after midnight, Harry Potter woke up in his bed. Since the fall of Voldemort, his nightmares had grown worse and he had become an extremely restless sleeper. He rolled over to see if Ron was awake and found his bed was empty. He was likely in the common room, snogging a pretty Gryffindor, Harry thought.

He got out of bed, pulled on a robe and slipped downstairs. He didn’t want to interrupt Ron but he didn’t want to stay in bed either when he couldn’t sleep. He peeked into the common room. Ron was there but he was alone. He was staring into the fire with a morose look on his face. Harry hadn’t seen that look since their fourth year, when he found out Hermione had been Krum’s date to the Yule Ball.

“Worried about Hermione?” Harry asked, walking across the room to sit in a chair. Ron jerked and then glared at Harry.

“Can’t you make a bloody sound when you come in? I just about had a heart attack”

Harry shrugged. “Hermione will be fine.” He said, reassuringly.

Ron snorted. “I know that. I’m not worried about her. If anyone can take care of themselves, it’s Hermione. I’m almost sorry for Snape.”

Harry smiled softly. Hermione would be a handful for any wizard. “She is formidable. Voldemort should be happy he did not have to face her.” He joked.

Ron laughed. “I think she took out half the Death Eaters by herself. Loads of people came up to me and said she saved their lives. She is something else.” He said admiringly.

Harry nodded a bit impatiently. He knew something was bothering Ron and wasn’t about to be distracted by Ron’s babbling. “So if you aren’t thinking of Hermione, what is on your mind?” he asked.

Ron made a face. “Do you think Malfoy changed? I mean really changed?”

Harry gave his best friend a considering look and thought he understood what Ron meant. When he had come back to the Library earlier that day, Parkinson had been sitting on Ron’s lap and they had been kissing. They had quickly jumped apart, of course, but he was sure Malfoy had known what had happened when he walked in a few minutes later.

“Well,” he said slowly, “It is common knowledge Parkinson and Malfoy have been engaged since third year. I heard their parents didn’t want to take any chances of them falling for someone... inappropriate...” he stopped when Ron put his head into his hands and groaned.

“Third year? I didn’t know! I don’t know what to do, Harry. Bloody hell!” Ron said his voice muffled.

Harry gaped at him. First Hermione with Snape and now Ron had it for Pansy Parkinson. His best friends had obviously gone mad, but then, he reasoned, they always had been. Weren’t they friends with him? And was he any different? He now could call Draco Malfoy friend and not choke on it. The war had changed them all.

“How long?” Harry asked curiously.

Ron lifted his head and gave Harry a lopsided grin. “Since second year. We were in the Library and... Well I made her laugh.”

“Well, mate, you can only try. She obviously likes you some if she was snogging you in the library. I’ve never even seen her and Malfoy hold hands” Harry said encouragingly.

Ron gave him a hopeful look. “You think?”

When Harry nodded, he grinned. “Oh and I can’t wait to see the look on Malfoy’s face.”




In the Slytherin dungeon, two people sat in the common room. Draco was attempting to read a Potions book. He was trying to study but the other person in the common room was distracting him. Pansy Parkinson lay on a couch on the opposite side of the room playing with her wand and staring dreamily into space. Every once in a while she would reach up, touch her lips and smile.

“Damn it! Quit thinking about him. I am the one you are going to marry.” He finally snapped.

Pansy jerked upright and gave him a guilty look. “What do you mean? Who am I thinking about?” she asked. Draco snapped the book shut and glared at her fiercely.

“I know you kissed him. It’s obvious. You just need to remember who I am to you.” he sneered.

Her eyes blazed and she stood up. “Who you are? Oh I know who you are, Mister Malfoy. You are the fool I am supposed to spend the rest of my life with. The fool who doesn’t care if I snog any of his fellow Slytherins senseless in front of him but I dare to kiss Ron Weasley just once and you are acting the jealous boyfriend. I won’t have it. Not when you have never even kissed me once in your life, Draco Malfoy.” She ranted.

Draco crossed the floor, swept her into his arms and pressed his lips to hers.



“Harry, what are you doing?” Ron hissed as Harry dragged him through the portrait hole and into the hall. Harry grinned at him unrepentantly. He was not going to turn a blind eye to Ron and his feelings.

“You can tell her how you feel and I need to talk to Malfoy about the Snape-Hermione scheme. We may need a backup plan. C’mon!” Ron dragged his feet as much as possible. This was something he didn’t want to do yet.

“But we don’t know where the Slytherin rooms are and what if they are in bed?” he argued. Harry didn’t stop.

“It is down in the dungeons, of course. I think I can find it. We were just there last night. If not, we will have to do a little searching. If they are asleep, which I highly doubt, we will wake them.” Harry said logically. Ron groaned.



Draco pulled away from a stunned Pansy. She gave him a goofy smile and began to laugh. He stared at her, his pride stung. At least Hermione hadn’t laughed or he may have been devastated, he thought. When she saw the look in his eyes, Pansy sobered.

“You are good, Draco, but it was different with him. Ever since second year, I have had a crush on him. We met in the Library and he made me laugh. And then when he hit you and he kept trying to curse you with that broken wand...” she said dreamily.

Draco stared at her, wondering for a second time that day, what if. What if he had wooed Pansy the way she deserved, would she have looked like that when she spoke of him? He suddenly felt depressed and as if his world was slipping away. Things had always had their place in his life and now they were changing.

“You know we are engaged?” he said bitingly, perversely pleased when she blushed.

She turned her head away from him and nodded. “Oh yes, I remember that very well, Draco. I was chosen to carry the future Malfoy heirs.” She said somewhat bitterly and he understood. Most of their lives, they could only associate themselves with certain people due to bloodlines.

Pansy had been chosen for him because she was Pureblood and had no black marks on her ancestry. There had been a few other choices, including Millicent Bulstrode but Lucius Malfoy had relented and affianced his son with someone that was at least presentable. They were expected to marry and have a litter of Purebloods to continue the important work of Muggle extermination.

But with the Dark Lord dead, that had changed. Both were now orphaned, as their parents had been killed in the battle or sent to Azkaban. Draco and Pansy both hadn’t cared about blood, showing this when they turned against their parents and families and joined the Order.

Unfortunately, they were engaged and in the Wizarding world, it was not something easily broken. During the engagement ceremony, the couple was bonded. It was similar to a Fidelity Charm. Neither could actually join with someone that was not their other half, though kissing and other actions could be possible. Neither knew how to get out of it.

“So do you feel this strongly about him?” Draco asked curiously and Pansy smiled.

“Oh he is wonderful. He is impossibly funny and brave and so handsome.” She gushed.

Draco made a disgusted face. It figured he would lose her to the Weasel. Nothing else in his life had been going right. Hadn’t he just discovered he had a crush on Hermione Granger, the one person his godfather was in love with and to become friends with Potter...

“Alright I get it, you love him... so does he love you?”

Pansy’s face fell. “I don’t know. He... well he had a reputation for being charming... he may have just wanted to snog...” she said weakly.

Draco stared at her thoughtfully for a moment. “Then he would be a fool. An even bigger fool than I am, for not seeing what I had before I lost it. I seem to be playing matchmaker a lot lately.” He admitted dryly and Pansy laughed. She kissed him on the cheek and sat down.

“So we will break the engagement? You don’t mind?” she asked.

He smirked at her. “Of course, I mind. I mind being tossed over for that red headed weasel. But the world had changed, or at least it will. It won’t matter if my children are Pureblood or Halfblood or Squibs. You don’t love me, I don’t love you. I don’t see why there would be any reason for us to get married.”

She squealed and jumped up again to hug him. “Oh thank you, Draco. Thank you thank you thank you.” He hugged her back and then gently pushed her away.

“First we have to find a way to release the bonding.” He said. She frowned and nodded.

“Well then let’s go ask Professor Snape. He should know something about it.” She said reasonably and Draco narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.

“Alright. I want to see if Hermione left anything of him after this afternoon.” He agreed.

They walked to the entrance and with a wave of Draco’s wand, a hole opened. Surprisingly enough, they were face to face with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

“I said we would find it, didn’t I? They just made it a little easier.” Harry told Ron, who rolled his eyes.

Draco raised an eyebrow. “Missing us already?” he asked dryly. Harry grinned at him.

“Not quite. Ron wanted to tell Parkinson something. I wanted to ask you about this scheme you have with Hermione. Can we come in?”

Draco stepped aside and let them enter. Ron whispered something to Pansy and she giggled. Draco gave them a disgusted look and turned to Harry.

“What did you want to know?” he asked, ignoring Ron and Pansy.

Harry grinned. “What was the plan? If this thing doesn’t work out, we may need to use it.” He explained. Draco nodded, thinking so much could go wrong, like Snape and Hermione actually getting to know each other. He stifled a laugh.

“Well” Draco drawled. “I thought about just throwing them together and then when Hermione came up with the personal ad idea, I thought about writing to Snape as if I were Hermione. I mean, just look at him. He is head over heels for her.”

Harry nodded thoughtfully. It wasn’t a bad idea and if it didn’t work out between them, they could try it. He thought he knew Hermione well enough to write letters as if he were her. But then again, he thought, the Hermione he thought he knew would never have fallen for Severus Snape.

Draco was watching Ron and Pansy out of the corner of his eye. They had moved over to a couch and were talking softly. Harry noticed this and wondered if it was about to blow up. To his surprise, Draco just rolled his eyes.

“The things I do for people” Draco groaned. “I’m turning into quite the matchmaker. Fancy anyone, Harry?”

Harry grimaced and held up a hand. “I have Ginny, thank you. She is more than enough for me.”

Draco frowned. “How is she doing? Did they identify the curse?”

Harry shook his head “Not yet. They are working on it though. And she is doing wonderful now. She recognizes most of her family and sometimes she knows who I am. At first she had no idea.”

Draco nodded and turned to the couple on the couch, who had started kissing. He made a face.

“Well want to go over our Potions work, Potter? I’m sure we will have plenty of time with those two occupied.”

Harry stared at him in amazement. Maybe Draco Malfoy had changed. They walked over to one of the desks and began to work on their homework.