Flames will be used to cremate Dumbledore when he dies.

Nothing is mine. Please don't call the place with the padded walls.

"But father!" protested Draco Malfoy. "I don't want to marry!"

"Nonsense, boy," drawled Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father. "I have already picked the best woman for you. "It's all settled."

Draco scowled. He did not want to marry, at least not yet. After all, he was only a seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Draco glared at his tall, intimidating father and sighed. This was not what he wanted, but he couldn't change what his father had done.

Lucius, seeing his son's resent of the news, pulled out his wand and pointed it at Draco. "Draco, Voldemort is gaining power. Ever since I escaped Azkaban, the stupid Order has been after me. If I am captured again and you become a Death Eater, which you will, and you get caught as well, I will have no heir to carry on the Malfoy line. You need to marry."

"Umm..." Draco started. This wasn't too bad now that his father had pointed out why he needed to marry, but what if his father had picked someone he didn't like, or even worse, a Mudblood. "Father, who am I going to marry?"

"You won't be disappointed," drawled Lucius, putting his wand back inside his billowing black robes.

Draco raised a pale blond eyebrow. "Who is it?"

"You won't be disappointed," Lucius repeated. "She's a fine young lady."

"Do I know her?" Draco asked. He was getting curious. If this girl was not going to disappoint him, he needed to know who it was. Perhaps it was Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, or worse, Hermione Granger.

"You may. She goes to Hogwarts," Lucius said.

"What does she look like?"

Lucius smirked. "She's a bit on the, erm, short side, if I do say so myself. She has thick brown hair and brown eyes, I think."

Draco gaped at his father. Surely he was not betrothed to Hermione Granger! The other girls he knew from school did not fit that appearance. "Is this girl named Hermione Granger?"

"You'll have to see for yourself," Lucius said dryly. "Close your eyes. I'll fetch her."

Draco, who felt the anger sharks swimming in his head, closed his eyes and waited. He could not marry Hermione, he wouldn't. He'd rather eat a granny alive than marry that stupid Mudblood. He couldn't be betrothed to Hermione. She wasn't a pureblood, so that eliminated her. But what if Lucius Malfoy had something up his sleeve that required him to marry a Mudblood?

"Open your eyes, Draco," drawled Lucius.

Draco opened his eyes. His father was standing in front of him, and a brown cat that he recognized as Mrs. Norris was on the table. Where was his fiancé?

"Father, where is she?"

Lucius laughed evilly. "She's on the table, Draco."

Tell me what you think. Was it predictable, poorly written, or just plain old bad? Be constructive, please.

-Christie-