A/N: Okay, I know the whole arranged-marriage thing is totally overdone, but please give this character a chance before you write her off as a Mary Sue! If you look, you may even see her dad in the series... Anyway, please r&r!

Ever since our first year at Hogwarts, when we were both sorted into Slytherin, Draco Malfoy always seemed to have an eye on me. He never spoke to me, never interacted with me any more than was strictly necessary for our classes and such, but he did seem to observe me from a distance. I could never be sure of why. For some time I thought it was because he harbored a secret crush on me, but the summer of my 16th birthday, I found out that the actual reason was very different indeed.

My parents didn’t tell me why, they just said we were visiting another wizarding family with whom they’d been friends for many years. I didn’t question them because I imagined this little excursion would probably have little to do with me. Again, I was wrong. The night we arrived, while I was overseeing the house elves who were taking care of my things, my parents called me into a sitting room with our hosts, Lucius, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy.

“Good of you to come, Vindictus,” said Lucius Malfoy to my father. He was a tall, light-haired man whose slightly arrogant voice rather fit with his calmly intimidating appearance.

“Good of you to have us, Lucius,” replied my father with his usual smirk on his lips. Anyone who knew me would agree that I definitely took after my mother. “One can only hope we aren’t outwearing your hospitality in staying the night.”

“Hardly,” said Lucius’ wife, smiling a slightly artificial smile; I could tell all the adults in the room were a bit insincere, as though none of them really liked each other (even the ones who were married). When I looked at her, I realized that Narcissa really was beautiful, but she would’ve been far more so if she had seemed genuine in the slightest. Her son sat next to her in silence, fixing me with a steady, unreadable gaze. I made a point of not looking at him, so I couldn’t really tell what he looked like at the time. “How many times must we tell you, Vindictus; you and your family are welcome here?”

“In any case,” said her husband, waving aside the formalities. “I suppose the time has come for you to inform your daughter of her situation, since you chose not to do so before now.”

“A child shouldn’t have to fret over this sort of thing,” my father said, shaking his head. “I daresay informing Draco at such a young age may have had an effect on him.”

“Maria dear, you may want to brace yourself for this,” said my mother quietly into my ear, as though some huge metaphorical bombshell was about to be dropped directly onto my head. I glanced at her in confusion and she just shook her head, not looking at me and seeming a bit gloomy.

“Maria, do you think about your future?” asked my father, also not looking at me, gazing instead at the intricately woven rug beneath our feet.

“In moderation,” I replied reservedly. He laughed.

“Well, you must realize, then, that some aspects of that future are to be predetermined?” I was silent, just staring at him and wondering what he was talking about. While I was impatient, I saw that the other people in the room didn’t seem to be rushed in the slightest; they were simply watching and waiting for their turn. My father continued casually, “Such as who you are to marry, for instance…” My heart nearly stopped. Being that I wasn’t entirely dim, I had a fair idea of what he meant.

“Are you saying…” I began, using all of my willpower to contain an outraged shouting fit.

“That’s right, Maria,” he agreed, nodding and still avoiding my heated gaze. In fact, now he turned his eyes toward the man in front of him. “One day in the future…you and Draco here are to be wed.”

“And what…pray tell…led to this decision?” I asked through gritted teeth, still refusing to look at the boy my father was telling me I was betrothed to.

“Oh, don’t be naïve,” my father said, finally turning to look at me, his gaze hard and unblinking; I returned an identical stare. “You know as well as I that the Malfoys are some of the last remaining purebloods in the country. And we couldn’t very well have you marry anything less than that, now could we?” I sighed quietly, trying and failing to grasp my father’s reasoning. I realized that if my parents had made up their mind about this, there would be no getting out of it…for the time being.

“Very well…” I said quietly, deciding not to press the matter until I had a plan of action. “May I go? I’m exhausted. I’m sure that you can…explain the details to me later…”

“…hmm. Yes,” my father said, refusing to look at me once more. I left the room with my head held high, trying to avoid throwing myself on the ground and having a tantrum like a child. I was all too pleased to find my house elf waiting for me in my room.

“Hello, mistress,” she said, bowing so that her long ears flopped forward. I was forced to smile despite my current mood; this elf had looked after me since I was a child (my parents had never done much of that). She, however, noticed that I was upset as I walked over to my bed and sat down, pulling my hair out of its tight plait and allowing it to fall to my back. “Why what’s the matter, mistress? Yuka has spoken with the house elves of this family and they seems very nice; is the family not so nice?”

“Oh, it isn’t that…” I replied as she hopped up onto the bed behind me and began to brush out my hair. Since I was distraught, I didn’t oppose her as I normally would have. “Apparently, Yuka, I’m to be married. I was just informed of this decision a moment ago. My parents want me to marry that Malfoy boy…Draco.”

“Oh! Why mistress, isn’t that good?” she asked, her voice squeaky with excitement. “These Malfoys is a good family, and all purebloods, so why should you not want to marry Master Draco?”

“Because…I don’t even know him! I mean I’ve been in Slytherin him for the past 5 years and we’ve never spoken so much as 3 words to each other. Yuka, you know what I’ve always thought…ever since I was a child. You know that I want to marry someone that I’m in love with. And…I can’t marry someone I don’t even know. Especially someone who doesn’t seem particularly pleasant in any sense…”

“Ah. I’m sorry,” she replied, sounding a bit sad for me. “But perhaps if Mistress will give Master Draco a chance, she can still have her wish…” I glanced at her and she smiled back, causing me to smile as well. At this point, my door opened and I looked up to see my betrothed standing there and giving me the same look he had been earlier, although he looked as though he had a purpose now. He glanced at Yuka.

“You. Elf. Out,” he said, as though he was her master.

“M-mistress…” she stammered, glancing up at me. I nodded, keeping my eyes locked on Draco’s.

“It’s all right, Yuka. Go ahead.” With a loud crack she was gone. Draco and I just looked at each other for a moment. He was a few inches taller than I and his cold eyes seemed to glint as I stared at him, as though daring me to contradict him for coming in without permission. Finally I broke and looked away, picking up the brush Yuka had dropped and working on my hair again. “Is…there something I can help you with?” He closed the door, leaning against it.

“Any particular reason you left so soon? It rather annoyed our parents.”

“Good,” I said defiantly; I was fairly annoyed myself. “No offense to you, but I’m not terribly enthusiastic about this whole ‘arranged marriage’ bit.”

“Why’s that?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at me. He didn’t sound hurt, just curious, as though it was odd that I wasn’t jumping for joy at the prospect of marriage to him.

“Because I don’t know you!” I said honestly, throwing my brush down on the bed. “It’s nothing to do with you personally, I just…” I trailed off, realizing that I would sound stupid if I told him about my childish dreams of marrying someone for love. I suppose reality was not that kind.

“Well I’m not exactly relishing the idea either,” he said, swaggering his way slowly toward the bed on which I sat. “But I’m sure you’re smart enough to know that there’s no way of getting out of it, so…” He finally reached his destination, standing directly in front of me. He reached down and trailed long, pale fingers down my cheek, surprising me and sending a shiver up my spine. I glanced up to see him smirking down at me.

“We might as well make the best of it…”

“I-I…I don’t know what you’re…” I managed, standing and stepping away from him. He moved toward me again, backing me up against the wall and leaning forward on his arm so that his eyes were level with mine. No doubt he saw how frightened I was because he laughed condescendingly.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he breathed into my ear, causing my face to turn red. As presumptuous as he was being, and try as I might to hate him for it, a part of me couldn’t help but be attracted to his forcefulness…as well as the way he spoke to me…though I knew that what he was doing was highly improper. “You have no reason to be afraid of me…”

“I…I’m not,” I lied, trying (and failing) to sound more confident than I felt; usually I was exceedingly efficient at masking my feelings with defiance, but I had to admit that his unexpected actions had shaken me a bit.

“Is that so?” he asked, giving me a look. He leaned down just a little a kissed my neck once, causing me to gasp sharply; that made him laugh again. “All evidence to the contrary.”

“Looks can be deceiving,” I said, not meeting his commanding grey eyes. “After all, when I saw you, I…I never would’ve expected something like this…”

“That’s because you saw me around my parents,” he informed me, still smirking. “But you’re right; when I saw you, I didn’t expect you would be so easily intimidated…”

“I told you, I’m not afraid of you!” I growled rebelliously, glaring up at him. He laughed once more.

“Good…” He took a step back, then grabbed my wrist, pulling me forward into his arms and bringing our lips together. Judging from his cold regard for others and how casual he acted around me, I would’ve expected a kiss from Draco Malfoy to be dull and without passion. I was wrong there too. But this was probably the point where my being wrong meant the most.

That kiss was intense and captivating, and even though I knew it should never have happened at all, I couldn’t keep from wrapping my arms reflexively around his neck and kissing him back with everything I had. When he finally pulled away from me, I reluctantly let him, breathing heavily and turning away to hide the blush that heated my face, vaguely aware that he was laughing again.

“I didn’t expect that either…” he mused, releasing me and allowing me to stumble backward to sit on my bed, still fairly dazed. He went to the door and spoke without looking at me. “Oh, they sent me up here to tell you that you’ll be expected at dinner; an elf should let you know when to come.” With this, he swept out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

...

Since my parents didn’t know about my little…encounter with Draco, they took my silence that night at dinner as resignation to my fate. In truth, however, the reasons for my silence were twofold. 1) I was trying to think up ways to get out of my arranged marriage situation, 2) I was contemplating my betrothed. The entire time we sat at the table, while our parents discussed the business of the Dark Lord and my father bleated on about his new book, Draco kept glancing over and smirking at me, as though our kiss was a beloved secret that we shared. Personally, whenever I thought of it, I wanted to shower; just remembering that illicit contact made me feel dirty.

Thankfully, when I retired for the night, no one made any attempt to stop me, and Draco didn’t visit me in my room again. I was exceedingly glad that we would be leaving for Hogwarts the following morning and our rooms would be separated by gender. After what I’d learned that day and all the thinking I’d done, I was happy to find that my bed was very comfortable, and fell asleep almost instantly.