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A sigh escaped Hermione as she watched the sun setting from where she was sitting on the decking outside of the Zabini house. She still couldn’t understand how her life had come to this point, even though she had been present during the entire chain of events. Kingsley, a man she had always looked up to, had passed a completely ridiculous law when she turned twenty-one that required all muggleborns to marry someone of pureblood descent. Harry had been Hermione’s first choice. If she was going to be forced to marry someone, then it might as well be her best friend, but the new law had stated that each Muggleborn would be assigned a spouse chosen by the Ministry.
Hermione had been furious at first. Who wouldn’t be? She hated being told what to do in general, but to have someone she had once respected take away her free choice and tether her to Blaise Zabini of all people, had made her so angry. She’d fought against it, tooth and nail, but then an owl had delivered her copy of a Ministry issued and Wizengamot approved court order. It stated that she was required by law to live with Blaise Zabini for a minimum period of twenty-eight days. She had thought that would be easy enough. A month wasn't so terribly long, especially compared to a lifelong commitment, til death do us part agreement… and his house was spacious enough that she figured she could spend the majority of those four weeks avoiding the Slytherin's company.
Things hadn’t quite turned out that way, however. She had only managed to avoid him for the first four days, and only because he was letting her have her space. On the fifth day, they had ended up dining together and Hermione found that she actually enjoyed his company despite her earlier misgivings. They spent more time together in the days that followed, and by the end of the month, Hermione found that she didn’t mind (too much) that she was about to be legally bound to Blaise. It was better to enter into a marriage with him than it was to start this entire process all over again, she thought grimly.
It wasn’t until they had been married for a year that Hermione realised she had developed true feelings for Blaise. It was strange, especially considering the intensity of those feelings. Her first crush had been Viktor Krum, but that really had just been a girlish fantasy come true. She had enjoyed being the centre of attention at the Yule Ball, savoured the admiring looks that came her way, but it wasn’t love.
And then there had been Ron. Ron who she had adored, but it had been a relationship grounded in sexual tension that had been building since their sixth year. Once they got it out of their system, the passion faded and they had found that they were better suited as friends. It had hurt, but Hermione had known even then that it wasn’t love.
Love was what she had with Blaise. Love was why she missed him so much right now when he wasn’t home with her. There had been an uprising just three months back. Other purebloods weren’t as content with the new laws as she and Blaise had been, and a group of Neo-Death Eaters had formed. They wanted the old ways to be reinstated, including the practices that had been abolished when Voldemort had been defeated.
The Order of the Phoenix had reformed when the threat to the wizarding community had been identified, and while Hermione had wanted to join them in the fight, Blaise had asked her to stay home and work in the background. Part of the marriage contract that she had signed stipulated that she must provide the House of Zabini with an heir, which she couldn’t do if she put her life in danger, though she had a feeling that this wasn’t the sole reason that Blaise didn’t want her to put herself in harm’s way. Hermione liked to think that wasn’t the only reason anyway.
She hadn’t seen Blaise in over a month now. He had joined the Order in her stead and been assigned to the front lines, in the thick of the fighting. It made her proud to see his incredible strength in standing up to his former friends who were attacking and killing muggleborns and muggleborn-sympathisers. She couldn't imagine that that would be easy for him. She certainly couldn't imagine having to fight the Weasleys if their situations were reversed.
Despite how proud she was of him, she still missed him and wished that he would come home. She longed to wrap her arms around him tightly and press kisses all over his cheeks. It would be pointless for her to have stayed home if he didn't come back to her in one piece but that was a revelation that had somehow escaped them both when he had offered to join the Order.
Watching the sunset was perhaps one of the few moments that she still felt connected to him, especially when she hadn't had any contact with him. They used to watch the setting sun and the colourful cloud displays on the horizon together and she hoped that wherever he was, he was able to watch the sunset. And maybe, just maybe, he was thinking about her too.