Turn 5 of 36

Draco signs and then they have a moment in private

Draco picks up the quill.

He does not look at his mother. He does not look at Thicknesse. He looks at Hermione — a long, searching look that she cannot interpret and does not try to — and then he signs. His hand moves with the same deliberate steadiness hers did, each stroke precise and final, and when the binding magic activates a second time it pulses through the room like a held breath released. The contract glows amber again, deeper now, warmer, and the parchment seems to sink into the desk as though it has finally found its weight.

Narcissa closes her eyes. It lasts only a moment. When she opens them, she is once again the woman who entered the room — composed, angular, untouchable. She turns to Thicknesse with an expression that dares him to comment, and he does not. The clerk by the bookshelf is staring at the contract with the particular fascination of a man who has witnessed something he will spend years trying to forget.

"The union is complete," Thicknesse says. He sounds exhausted.

"My office will forward the documentation regarding cohabitation and public conduct within the week. The thirty-day window begins today."

Narcissa collects her son with a look. They leave first — mother and son, walking side by side through the door without touching, without speaking, their matching silver-blond heads catching the candlelight as the corridor swallows them. Hermione remains seated. The contract lies on the desk, signed and binding, and she reads her own name next to his and feels nothing she can name.