Chapter 2

Hermione curled up in her large bed, her knees almost touching her forehead, falling tears narrowly missing her legs as they dripped from her face. Narcissa was being as pleasant as could be, even if things were a little forced, but that didn't stop Hermione from feeling utterly alone in this house. She'd already been living at Malfoy Manor for over a week and had spoken to no one except Narcissa. Well, other than small arguments with Draco, but she didn't think that counted.

If only things were different between them.

Hermione was also fairly certain that she heard someone walking around at night, quick light footsteps, and she could also swear she heard a male speaking to Draco in his room some evenings. Sternly. Draco went out every night and she could hear him stumbling down the hallway late at night, obviously drunk, and then she would hear this stern voice that was vaguely familiar almost giving him shit in his room.

Someone clearly didn't want Draco drinking as much as he did.

She sniffled and pulled her iPod from underneath her pillows, plugging the earphones into her ears and shuffling through the list until she found a song that would allow her to let her tears fall freely. She listened to a few songs before pulling herself together, unplugging when she decided she needed to use the loo.

She threw a dressing gown over her nightclothes and left the confines of her bedroom to make her way down the dark halls to the closest bathroom, which was in all reality only a few doors away.

Hermione stared at her face in the mirror as she washed her hands, she looked the same, but she felt like a completely different person. She had nothing going for her, no job, no boyfriend, a maniac killer out to get her.

She was a sad excuse for a human being and she knew it. She had the potential to be something amazing when she was younger, but that all fizzled away after the war, after her parents' death. She was left alone to her own devices with two boys who were clearly confused between the lines of friendship and relationship.

She sighed and cupped her hands, gathering water there to splash on her face.

Hermione stepped from the bathroom a few moments later, right into the path of a clearly inebriated and volatile Draco Malfoy. She instantly took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she was sure was about to come.

Draco pulled to an immediate stop when he saw her, his lip curling into the usual sneer he wore around her now; it was unfortunate that it automatically came upon his features because it ruined his looks and made him look ugly, which he was far from.

He was staring at her closely with his somewhat strange silver eyes, unnerving her completely.

"You must feel pretty good about yourself right now," he stated seriously, but Hermione could hear the small slur in his words.

"What could possibly make you think that I feel good about anything?"

"Oh please," he scoffed, "Potter and Weasley are running around ensuring your safety, doing everything in their power to make sure their precious little princess is kept safe from the mad killer. You're back to make my life a living hell, which I'm sure is just the topping on the cauldron cake for you - like you haven't done enough."

Hermione sighed.

"I never wanted it to be like this between us, Draco."

"Well it is!" he spat, "it is, and it's your own fault!"

Hermione could already feel the tightening in her throat, because unfortunately for her… he was completely right. Well not completely, he had his hand in everything too, but she felt like it was her fault because she hadn't been able to hold on to what she wanted… so she had let it go. It was easier that way.

"My mum is running around making sure that everything will be just perfect for your stay here, and I'm sure my house is a huge step up from whatever hovel you came from."

"Is that jealousy I detect in your tone, Draco?" Hermione asked mockingly, refraining from rolling her eyes and trying to keep herself together.

He laughed.

"I'm far from jealous, Granger. I have everything I could possibly wish for… you on the other hand, you have nothing. You had to stoop as low as staying in my manor just to ensure your protection. Looks like it will always be me who protects you."

Well, that hit a nerve.

"Don't even begin to act like you know what's been going on with me the last four years, you spoiled wanker. Too bad you couldn't buy yourself a new personality or some decent friends. Maybe you could pay a girl to put up with you long enough to want more than a quick shag."

He was on her before she could even react, before she could even feel the proper amount of regret for the words that had just slipped off her tongue. The moment she said them she wished she could cram them back into her mouth. He pressed a forearm across her chest and pinned her against the wall, his face inches from hers, the rage simmering in his eyes almost made her cower in fear.

She couldn't remember a time where she ever felt she would be on the receiving end of this particular look of his.

"I know I took a vow to ensure your safety from a serial killer, but don't for one moment think that I'm going to go out of my way to make you feel wanted here. You think you know so much about me, you little bitch, you think because of our past that you can talk to me that way?!" Draco was so angry he was spitting with his words now, "You think because of what you did to me that you have some sort of power over me? Guess again, you little whore, I don't want you here and I will never want you here!"

Despite it all, even knowing that Draco was drunk and was probably just trying to make her feel even worse about herself than she already did, she found herself blinking back tears and doing everything in her power to still her slightly quivering chin.

She was such an idiot.

His arm tightened on her chest even more, almost slipping up to her neck, and she could see the sparks of rage in his eyes and the sheen to his skin that proved just how angry he really was by this little encounter. He brought his wand up to her eye level with his free hand and waggled it for emphasis.

"I'll tell you what, I'll even do the honours of a well-aimed Obliviation charm. Merlin fucking knows I would be happy to see you packing and heading back to the muggle world, somewhere I would never have to see you again."

He pressed harder into her for a moment before backing off quickly and entering the bathroom she had just vacated, slamming the door behind him.

Hermione slid down the wall slowly, crumpling on the plush carpet as tears poured down her cheeks.

/

Hermione made it back to her room before Draco came out of the loo, mostly in fear of what would happen if he ran into her again. She was determined to avoid him at all costs, now. She would have been stupid to think that he wouldn't take out his anger on her at some point, but she wasn't quite expecting him to say that he would do the honours of obliviating her.

She didn't leave her room or unlock her door for three days; she wouldn't put it passed him to do exactly as he threatened. Not then, anyway.

Draco awoke the next morning with a raging hangover, but he was blissfully unaware of the hate and venom he had spewed at Hermione the night before. If he had remembered the things he said he would have been more than a little bit ashamed; he didn't hate the girl… oh no. He cared for her more than he would like to admit, and that's why he was so angry. He was so angry because he still had some feelings for her. This was the reason he went out and got loaded every night of his life with Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini… she was the reason.

Draco downed a hangover potion and got up to start getting ready for work.

"What's going on with Hermione?" Narcissa asked the room at large on the third day of Hermione's confinement.

No one answered her; not immediately anyway.

"Miss says she wants no company," one of the house elves informed the room.

"Well that's just ridiculous. Did she say why?"

The elf shot a nervous glance at Draco before she said, "Miss seems… afraid and very sad, Mistress, but she won't give Milly any esplanations."

The moment the elf looked at him he suddenly remembered pinning Hermione to the wall and the look of pure emotional pain on her face, but he had no idea what he had said.

The look the elf shot her son wasn't lost on Narcissa, and she threw her cloth napkin onto the table and pierced her son with angry blue eyes.

He looked away guiltily.

"What have you done?"

He shrugged, stood up from the table and walked away toward the front doors.

"I'll be flooing Severus, Draco!" Narcissa snapped at his back before rushing out of the dining room and up the stairs.

"Hermione, let me in. If you don't open this door within the next three minutes I will blow it down. I have my wand on me." Narcissa threatened as she released a quick Patronus that streaked down the hall and out the nearest window. Draco was at the other end of the hall watching, he had decided he'd rather know what he'd said, especially since it seemed as though his mother had just called for Severus.

Severus Snape had taken it upon himself to take over for Lucius's spot in Draco's life. He was a lot easier on the boy, but didn't let him get away with too much, and since it seemed as though he was starting a tentative relationship with Narcissa… well he was serious about keeping Draco in line and his mother happy. Severus knew everything about the past, too, which would make everything harder, Draco was sure.

He had been to the manor every evening and seemed to just know when Draco had been out drinking; he didn't shy away from letting him know exactly how they felt about it.

"You have one minute left," Narcissa called, and miraculously, Hermione's door popped open.

Narcissa entered and closed the door slightly behind her; Draco crossed the hall in a few long strides and hovered outside the door where he would remain unseen. He took a deep breath and waited to hear the blow of what it was he had said to the witch.

He wasn't sure he even wanted to know. He peeked through the door that had been left slightly ajar and could see Hermione walking back toward her bed; her now usually neat hair was in complete disarray and as she turned toward the door to get back into her bed he saw that her cheeks were wet with tears.

"Do you hear that?" eleven year old Draco asked his large dim-witted friend, Greg.

"Huh?" the hulking figure asked, looking up at Draco with confused eyes.

Draco waved him off and walked toward a closed door, turning his ear to it so he could hear what was happening inside better.

"Someone's crying in here," he said, turning back to Goyle, but he was surprised to see that his friend had disappeared, probably back down to their common room on his own. Draco stood still and listened to the sobbing closer, he surmised it was a female by the hiccupping words of 'stupid' and 'have no friends' he could pick up on.

Draco opened the door slowly, glad to note that it wasn't a creaky one. He slipped inside almost silently and closed the door softly behind him, turning around and instantly recognizing that it was Hermione Granger from Gryffindor house. Her knees were pulled up and her arms were wrapped around them, her cheek resting on her knees while her body shook with sobs.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked, feeling like an idiot when she was clearly not okay.

Her head jerked up and Draco swallowed a lump in his throat when he saw her dark brown eyes blazing at him, she was clearly surprised to see him there but that didn't stop her anger at being caught in such a weak looking position.

"Get out," she whispered, pointing a shaking finger at the door.

Draco didn't move.

They stared at each other in near silence for a moment, the only sound Granger was making was a slight sniffling and Draco was about to open his mouth to ask if she needed help before she suddenly jumped to her feet and slipped around him. Hermione Granger ripped the door open and was running away from him down the hall before he could even blink.

Draco was left standing alone for a few moments before following her out, wondering just what had happened to make her seek out an empty classroom to cry in.

Narcissa watched Hermione crawl back into her bed and pull the blankets up to her chin.

"Are you ill?" she asked the younger witch, concern etching her features. Hermione was quite pale and had dark rings underneath her eyes, her cheeks damp with tears and her hair was straggly and unkempt as she shivered.

"I'm fine."

"You are clearly not fine, Hermione. Please tell me what's happened."

Hermione gave a very unladylike snort of laughter and then an almost insane peal of laughter.

"I knew that staying here was going to be a challenge, but I didn't expect to be accosted by your darling son as soon as I was."

"What do you mean by accosted?" Narcissa asked curiously, completely ignoring the slight made against Draco.

"I don't exactly appreciate being reminded that I am nothing. I don't need to be treated that way by someone I haven't even set eyes on in four years. I know that I have nothing in my life and that I'm no saint, and I know I have no one who really cares. I don't however, expect someone to tell me to make things easier on the world by allowing him to obliviate me to send me packing back to the muggle world where I belong."

Narcissa looked as though someone had slapped her and in the hallway Draco rubbed a hand over his face in pure, unadulterated shame. He jumped about two feet off the floor when he felt someone touch his arm. Severus. The dark haired man gripped Draco above the elbow and pulled him down the hall and away from his eavesdropping post.

"You don't have 'nothing' dear, you have friends who care about you. We're here to ensure your safety. You're a young beautiful witch who has a full life ahead of her."

Hermione cut Narcissa's rant short with another snort.

"You have no idea what the life ahead of me holds, Narcissa, and neither do I, but if I were to make a guess I'd say it's probably nothing good. I'd say that it would probably be very much like my life up this point."

Hermione was purposely being vague, she knew that Narcissa really didn't know anything at all about her.

"I know you're completely grown up now, Hermione," Narcissa started, "but it would be a lie if I said I never wanted a daughter. I would be thrilled if you would allow me to be there for you in any way you need me. If you need someone to talk to, please feel free to talk to me."

Hermione stayed silent and continued to stare at the nearest wall.

"Did my son actually offer to Obliviate you?"

Hermione's breath hitched, which in itself was enough of an answer for Narcissa.

"Hermione… if you need to talk to someone, please, please talk to me."

"My parents died three years ago, did you know that?" Her resolve crumbling in an instant. The tone Narcissa was using was enough to make her begin to cry again, but instead she decided to launch into the story that barely anyone knew.

"No, dear. I had no idea."

"In a car crash. A drunk driver hit them and their car careened off of the highway and into a small pond. Not small enough, unfortunately. They drowned before the drunk had even managed to call 911."

Narcissa didn't know what a lot of those words meant, but she knew for certain what 'drowned' meant.

"When I found out, I was eighteen years old, fresh from a war and trying to figure out what it was I wanted to do with my life. Everything was put on hold while I planned their funeral, packed and sold their house, and found myself somewhere to live."

Hermione wasn't planning on spilling everything out like this, but once she began talking she was unable to stop.

"I was never a popular girl in school, and the 'fame' that came after the war wasn't something I wanted to deal with. People would pretend to be my friend just so they could be noticed themselves, men would grope at me and try to bed me just for the conquest. I had two friends… eighteen years old and two whole friends to call my own; Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, and neither were really there for me when I needed them. Harry was busy planning his wedding with Ginny and Ron was out living it up with the fame he had finally achieved. My point is, I was alone.

"I got an inheritance when my parents died, plus I got the money from their house and also selling their dental practice. I bought a small flat and stayed there. I didn't go out much, I didn't work, and I kept to myself. I saw my two friends maybe once a week, but that was it. I feel like most of my life has been… just bad luck. I have bad luck, and that's that.

"I don't know what Draco has told you about Hogwarts, but there were instances there where my luck was clear as a bell, and unfortunately for me it was only Draco that really knew about some of the things that had happened to me – and not because I told him in the beginning. I had the type of luck where if something awful or embarrassing happened to me, it was always Draco who just so happened to be there to witness it, or to find me afterward, and unfortunately for me, there were a whopping three students in our school who were nice to me, so the instances were aplenty.

"Bad Luck, Narcissa. Then before I was shipped here I started getting letters. Demeaning, demoralizing, awful letters. Letters that explained to me in great detail about how I don't deserve to be in the wizarding world, especially not with my 'stolen' magic. How I was going to be attacked gruesomely before I was murdered. Actually – "

Hermione threw the blankets back and Narcissa watched her cautiously, worried about the girls mindset. She rushed to the vanity table and pulled a small drawer out, ripping out two pieces of parchment and stumbling back to her bed. She threw the letter and photograph at Narcissa, "Just read it for yourself."

"Hermione, I don't know if – "

"Just read it."

Narcissa looked at the letter in her trembling hand and started to read it slowly, terrified for the girl sitting before her just from reading the text. Specific words like 'Rope' 'Blade' and 'Rape' jumped off the page immediately, and Narcissa had to slow herself down so she could read the entire letter. Once she had completed it she dropped it on the floor immediately and looked next at the photograph, which she flung away from her hand the moment the loop played through the first time.

"I got that letter the evening I came to your home, the rest have been taken away from me as evidence."

Narcissa had no words.

"So, the whole reason for me telling you these things and showing you that is because your son came to me in the corridor three nights ago and basically confirmed all of my worst suspicions about myself. He brought up feelings in me that I hadn't felt in a long time and treated me in a way I never thought I'd experience from him, I thought that since he actually does know plenty of things about me that he wouldn't be so horrible and harsh, I was stupid enough to think that I mattered to him, even a little bit."

"Get up," Narcissa demanded suddenly, and Hermione obeyed just out of shock at the woman's tone.

The blonde witch grabbed the brunette's arm and pulled her directly out of the bedroom, down the hall to the bathroom. She threw the door open and pushed Hermione inside.

"Shower. Clean yourself up. I'm going to find my son and when I get back I at least expect you back in your room ready to come down for dinner."

"Narcissa, I am seriously not in the mood to sit at the table for a cheerful little family meal."

"I did not ask if you if you were in the mood. I'll be back shortly."

Hermione stood in the bathroom door, watching Narcissa stalk away with purpose and figured she would probably be better off to just listen.

/

"What are you doing?" Severus hissed the second they were around the corner.

"I'm trying to listen and see exactly what it was I did to Hermione, not that you would even know what I'm talking about, since you've just arrived."

"Your mother explained it to me in her Patronus, and why don't you know what you did to that poor girl? Oh wait, let me guess. Too drunk."

Draco stayed silent, walking beside Severus in the direction of the study that used to belong to his father.

"This is beginning to become a problem with you, Draco, and it needs to stop now."

Draco scoffed.

"I'm serious. If you're causing issues like this for no reason and don't even remember what you said, it's a problem. It stops now."

"No reason?! She… she…" Draco was spluttering, now, and waving his hands in the air.

"She left you, yes, I know."

"Severus," Draco said in a warning voice, his eyes narrowing instantly.

"She was seventeen and had a ridiculous amount of things that were coming to fruition, Draco, you can hardly blame her for doing what was right. Especially when you were still, technically, a Death Eater – "

"I don't want to talk about this," Draco snapped, barging into the study and throwing himself down into an armchair.

Severus didn't respond and they both fell into silence, both of them thinking their own thoughts.

Draco was pissed, to put it bluntly, about everything that had to do with Hermione at that moment in time, and he found it easier to be mean and hateful toward her than to bring up their past, and she truthfully did still annoy the piss out of him in a moment.

"Have you completely lost your mind?!" Narcissa screamed as she exploded through the door, causing both Draco and Severus to flinch as the woman stormed into the study.

Neither answered her.

"Draco! I'm talking to you!" the blond wizard blanched at his mother's tone.

"I haven't lost my mind, no."

"Do you have any idea what that girl up there has been through in the last few years? And to say the things that you said to her?! You must be insane. And what is she talking about, bad luck and you always being around? I haven't been informed about any of this!"

Draco decided it would be in his best interest if he just kept his mouth shut and inspected his shoes, he didn't really feel like he needed to inform his mother of everything that had happened between him and the witch during their school years. She knew most of the things that brought about the change in him, anyway, so she shouldn't really be complaining.

"Narcissa," Severus started, standing up with concern in his voice and features.

Draco looked back at his mother and was surprised to see that she had two twin tear tracks running down her cheeks.

"I'm completely disappointed in you, Draco. There should never be a circumstance in your life when you tell someone that you'll gladly obliviate them so they can go back to their rightful place. You have no idea what's been happening with her recently,"

"I don't care what's been happening," Draco spat suddenly, annoyed. Even though he did care about everything she had been through, back then and now. He had been around for all of it when they were younger, he had provided the shoulder that she cried on and she knew back then that he cared. A lot. Draco felt awful for saying the things he had said to her, though, that was harsh – even for him.

"Watch your tone," Severus snarled.

"Go get ready for dinner," Narcissa snapped at her son, who didn't need to be told twice.

"Is everything alright?" Severus asked, moving around his desk to stand before his girlfriend.

"I read a letter."

"A letter?"

"One of the letters that Hermione has been receiving from the serial killer."

"That bad?"

"I can't even explain it to you. That poor girl…" Narcissa gave Severus a shorter version of what she had been told by Hermione, and had the distinct feeling that he knew what Hermione was referring to about her time in school.

He didn't share the information though.

"I better go if you're getting ready for dinner. I'll come back tonight."

"I think we can inform her of your place in our family soon enough," Narcissa replied, moving forward into Severus's embrace.

/

Narcissa knocked on Hermione's door lightly before opening it a crack, glad to see the girl was wearing a sundress and brushing her hair.

"You look better already" Narcissa said, smiling.

Hermione dabbed on some lip gloss, smiling back and accompanying the older witch downstairs.

/

Dinner was tense. 'Tense' was actually a massive understatement.

Hermione stared at her plate most of the time while words between mother and son floated around her, but she could distinctly hear the stiffness in their tones.

After eating a total of six bites, Hermione asked if she could be excused.

"Actually, dear, I was hoping you would accompany me for a walk around the gardens. You've been cooped up much too long."

Hermione nodded.

"Wonderful!"

Draco scowled and left the table without even requesting permission.

Hermione grimaced.