Chained To You
Chapter 3: Know Thy Enemy
Hermione didn't know whether to be appalled or amused, even as Malfoy began drawing up enough glasses for everybody while Blaise poured. She glanced at the rest of the Slytherins – all of whom seemed on board with the idea, and then at her fellow Gryffindors - who looked a little shocked and more than a little suspicious.
"You can't be serious?" Hermione asked of Zabini as he began passing out glasses of whiskey.
"Oh come on Granger," he ribbed her immediately, "Don't be dull. It's no secret that there's some tension between us all, and if we're going to live here harmoniously I think the best way to do that would be for us all to get to know each other a little better."
"How does drinking result in us knowing each other better?" Susan Bones asked, frowning.
"It'll loosen our tongues; help us relax," Theodore Nott told her. He sounded so sure of it that many of the others began to look like they might as well give it a go. All but the Gryffindors.
Thinking quickly before any kind of argument could spring up, Hermione tried to think of a way to incorporate the idea of them all learning to trust one another a little and not feeling the need to fight. She was mildly embarrassed with what she landed on, but it would have to do.
"I propose a game," Hermione said, taking the glass Malfoy skidded across the table to her and lifting it to her lips, sipping it easily to show she trusted that it wasn't poisoned.
"I love games!" Blaise Zabini said, a wicked smirk gracing his features that suggested he liked games of a more sinister, clothing-optional sort.
"Mind out of the gutter, Zabini," Hermione chided though she softened the admonishment with a grin, "Who here knows how to play Truth or Dare?"
"I think the more important question would be what rock have you been living under if you don't?" Malfoy intoned drily, smirking as he took a liberal gulp of his drink.
"Aren't we a little old for Truth or Dare?" Pansy Parkinson whined.
"Probably," Hermione shrugged a little, "But personally I'd kind of like the chance to do something silly and immature for a change…. Besides, we can incorporate Zabini's idea of all of us getting to know one another better. I propose we combine the notion of a truth or dare scenario with the game 'I never' – meaning that we go around in a circle saying things we have or haven't done. If you've done the thing, you take a drink and must submit to a truth or dare option and be instructed accordingly. If you don't feel comfortable answering the truth questions proposed to you then you do a dare instead. And since we might as well really loosen tongues if we want to get anywhere with the notion of trusting one another, you must also skol your drink every time you do a dare."
"What's 'I never'?" Parvati asked warily.
"Have you never played before?" Hermione asked, surprised by the Slytherin girl's question.
"I don't think that's a wizarding game, Granger," Blaise Zabini intoned, also frowning a little.
"Oh," Hermione said, "Well, 'I never' is a game where we go around in a circle and propose scenarios of something we have or haven't done. For example, I would say 'I've never eaten lamprey pie' and if you've done it, you must take a drink and submit to truth or dare. If you haven't the game continues until someone propose something someone has done."
"How wild are these scenarios allowed to get?" Theodore Nott wanted to know.
Hermione glanced around at the gathered group, realising in a hurry that people like Nott clearly had all kinds of exciting things they'd done, and probably wanted to know who else was a depraved soul. Whereas people like Susan Bones looked so sweet and innocent that Hermione worried they might offend the poor Hufflepuff's sensibilities. Biting her lip for a moment, Hermione considered the question carefully.
And then she made the mistake of meeting the daring and scornful gaze of Draco Malfoy. She could tell that he and the other Slytherins all thought she was too sensible and too much a stick-in-the-mud to play along with any kind of 'I never' instance that flirted with depravity.
Before she could think better of the situation, Hermione felt words pour out of her mouth.
"In the spirit of getting to know each other better, I suppose they can be as wild as you like Theodore," Hermione heard herself say and she caught the horrified look Neville and some of the others threw at her.
She also caught the way all of the Slytherins, particularly Malfoy, began to smirk like the cat who ate the canary.
"You can't be serious Hermione?" Parvati asked, "Do you really want to run the risk of some left-field sexual scenario 'I never'?"
"I don't see why not," Hermione shrugged, "After all, outside of Nott, who's really going to have had an orgy?"
Blaise started choking on his drink and Neville emitted a strange noise of surprise at Hermione's word choice.
"Well when you put it like that, where's the fun Granger?" Nott asked, though he looked wickedly amused by the idea of having them all think he'd had an orgy, "But were it the case that I'd had an orgy, the other people involved would also have had one."
"Have you had one?" Pansy Parkinson wanted to know, looking amused.
"You'll have to wait for the game to begin to find out," Nott told her, making most of the people at the table laughing at his evasiveness.
"There ought to be some conditions," Hermione decided, "For example, it's well and good to propose wild scenarios, but what guarantee do we have that we're all going to answer honestly?"
"And here I thought the goody-two-shoes of Gryffindor would be looking to exploit the rules and save herself some embarrassment by not imposing a truth charm," Malfoy drawled, sounding wickedly amused.
Hermione glanced at him.
"Within this group, I hardly think I'm the one prone to fibbing," she intoned, making sure to keep any tones of accusation out of her voice, "But there are some among us who might feel the need to keep such secrets close to their chest. And then how are we all going to get to know each other better?"
"Tell me you're joking?" Padma Patil asked, looking mildly concerned now.
"Not at all," Hermione felt a little smile slip across her face, "I have nothing to hide, after all. Do you?"
"I do," Seamus put his hand up, though he was grinning.
"Pretty sure no one cares that you buy Tornados undershorts, mate," Dean chuckled while Seamus blushed and began to laugh.
"Well isn't that a lovely image?" Pansy rolled her eyes sounding mildly ill.
"What about the dares?" Ernie MacMillan wanted to know, "Are there to be restrictions on what we can dare one another to do?"
"I suppose there had better be," Hermione sighed, "What about we say that there can be no daring people to do something that puts them in mortal danger, and no daring anyone to do something that breaks the law or the school rules? I don't fancy having McGonagall revoke our privileges on the first night."
"Good plan, Hermione," Neville said, having joined her in sipping form the cup he'd been given.
"Are we all agreed then?" Hannah Abbott asked.
"I think so," Hermione said, glancing around and seeing that everyone had begun to nod along.
"Does anyone else have more booze?" Seamus asked, "We're going to run out in a hurry if you have us sipping all night and skolling for the dares."
"We've got plenty," Blaise informed them, waving a hand toward himself and the rest of the Slytherins, who nodded.
"I've got some too," Dean said, "And I know where we can get plenty more."
"Aberforth won't sell us alcohol on the first night back," Hermione rolled her eyes, knowing that was exactly who he meant.
"Sure he will, he's quite fond of us. He'd probably appreciate the business too," Neville said.
"Aberforth?" Blaise asked.
"Aberforth Dumbledore," Hermione told him, "He's the publican of The Hog's Head and Professor Dumbledore's brother. He helped the D.A. get food and things during the siege when the Carrows were running things here."
"I wondered how you lot didn't starve to death," Pansy said, "Thought it must've been the elves."
"Who wants to start us off?" Zabini asked, clearly more interested in the game than in discussing the past.
Everyone looked a little reluctant, so Blaise spun one of the empty whiskey bottles.
"Bones, it's on you. What's something you've never done that you think any of us might've tried?" Zabini said, drinking liberally from his own glass.
"Oh… um… I don't know… what about… I've never… stayed awake for more than thirty-six hours straight?" the blushing girl asked.
Hermione wasn't the only one to put her finger down.
"What happens when we've done it?" Pansy asked.
"You have to skol your drink. And the person who gave the scenario chooses the truth or dare questions we have to answer. So Susan, you need to ask us all a truth or dare," Hermione explained.
"Alright, truth or dare?" She asked of the group at large since they'd all had to drink as a result of her scenario.
"Truth!" Most of the people called out, while there were a few dares requested too. Hermione herself decided to go with truth.
"Oh dear," Susan said, looking flustered, her cheeks beginning to turn pink from the alcohol consumption and from being on the spot, "Well, those of you who pick truth… What's your biggest regret?"
"Can we change to dare if we don't want to answer?" Padma Patil wanted to know.
"I suppose so," Hermione nodded, "But before the dares begin, everyone choosing truth should answer…. Let's start with you Neville, unless you pick dare?"
"No, I pick truth… My biggest regret would be… that I didn't get the chance to personally avenge my parents," he said before taking a liberal gulp of his drink. Hermione felt her heart squeeze for her friend.
"Seamus?" she asked when everyone was silent for a moment.
"I said some pretty awful things to a person that I never got the chance to take back," he answered before he too took a long drink.
Hermione felt her brow crinkle with worry when she realised that discussing their biggest regrets wasn't the best way to start a game that was supposed to be fun.
"My biggest regret," Parvati said, tapping one finger to her chin thoughtfully, "Was that I didn't let the Russian boy I met at the Yule Ball in fourth year do more than snog me. He'd have been a good lay."
Hermione didn't know who was the first to snort with laughter but slowly the whole table began to chuckle and then outright laugh when Parvati looked on rather proudly as though she was pleased to have changed the topic to something funny and silly.
"What about you Padma?" Hermione asked.
"I'm choosing dare," Padma said, her cheeks darkening a little – making Hermione wonder what she was so regretful about that she wouldn't share it.
"Alright then, Malfoy? Biggest regret?" Hermione asked, glancing across the table as they went in a circle answering Susan's question.
For a long moment he didn't react, and Hermione knew she wasn't the only one who flinched when he jerked up his sleeve to expose the Dark Mark still branded into his skin. It had faded from the writhing black blemish Hermione recalled all of the Death Eater's sporting, but it was still visible against his skin, a vivid shade of red like an angry scar.
"Fair enough," Hermione said quietly, realising he had no intention of speaking when he slowly began to tug his sleeve back down.
"Blaise?" she asked.
Blaise Zabini copied Draco Malfoy, also raising his sleeve to expose the vivid red of the Dark Mark on his forearm. Around the entire circle of Slytherins it went, Greg Goyle, Theo Nott, Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davis all lifting their sleeves to expose their Dark Marks as being the biggest regrets in their lives. The mood at the table grew sombre.
"Hannah, what about you?" Hermione asked as the Slytherins all set about lowering their sleeves once more.
"My biggest regret is being too young and too silly to be able to comprehend the psychological hardship my mother faced when my Dad left us. I regret not understanding her pain and making it worse by childishly asking when he was coming back and why he never saw us anymore," Hannah admitted in a soft voice, her eyes faraway.
"What about you Granger?" Nott asked when it came to be her turn.
Hermione had to think hard about it. She didn't have many regrets. She'd lived her life in a way that had made her happy.
"Regret all that crazy studying?" Neville asked, nudging her with a little grin.
"Of course not," Hermione chuckled. As she pondered the question, Hermione found her fingers once again tracing the familiar lines of the pendant that hung around her neck and the answer occurred to her.
"My biggest regret," she said slowly as she lifted her head to stare across the table meaningfully at Malfoy, "Was forgetting to say thank you."
She wondered if she imagined the way his grey eyes widened just a little bit as he noticed her toying with the pendant he'd given her, understanding of exactly what she meant dawning on him.
"You forgot your manners?" Seamus asked, looking surprised.
"I was a little preoccupied at the time, and forgot to say so," Hermione nodded, choosing not to elaborate when Malfoy glanced away from her gaze as though uncomfortable with the reminder of what he'd done.
"Alright, that's everyone's truth out of the way," Susan said, clearly pleased with what she'd learned from her peers, "Now it's time for the dares."
Padma look nervous. She'd been the only one in the gathered group to choose dare and Hermione found herself wondering once again what she regretted so much that she wouldn't share it.
"Padma, I dare you to…" Susan paused for dramatic effect, "Snog the hottest boy in the room, in your opinion."
"Seriously?" Padma asked and Hermione thought for a moment that Padma was offended before a slow, almost predatory smile spread across her face.
"Unless you prefer girls," Blaise threw in, "Because I would love to watch you snogging any of the fine ladies here."
Padma rolled her eyes at Blaise while Pansy swatted him for being so lecherous. Hermione couldn't help but smile when Padma got to her feet and began stalking slowly around the table, lingering objectively on several of the gathered boys as though debating which she found to be the hottest. Everyone seemed a little surprised when she pounced on Seamus, snogging him so soundly that the Irish boy pulled her down into his lap, not wanting to let her go.
Cheers and laughter came from the gathered group when the snogging pair finally broke apart before the game moved on. When it came to Hermione's turn for an 'I never' scenario, she found herself trying to think of something really interesting and exciting. They already covered who was and wasn't a virgin and no surprise the only virgins at the table had been Neville, Susan, Hannah and Ernie. Everyone else, including Hermione, had had sex at least once.
As the night wore on the questions grew more and more outrageous and the alcohol plied them all into easy-going cheer and good spirits. The later the night grew the more some of them began to retire to beds. Susan stumbling away and almost falling over Ernie who had passed out on the way to his room. Hermione herself was feeling well and truly tipsy and thinking of something that wasn't wildly outrageous or inappropriate was difficult.
"I've never been skinny dipping," she settled on, wondering how many other people in the room had. She laughed a bit when all the Slytherins including Malfoy and Goyle indicated that they had and Hermione found herself feeling sorry for whichever poor soul had been skinny dipping with Goyle. She also couldn't believe her eyes when Neville indicated he had, and she chuckled when the Patil twins said they had too.
"How can you not have been skinny dipping Hermione?" Parvati asked her seriously, looking mildly incredulous.
"The opportunity never arose," Hermione shrugged.
"I'm so daring you to skinny dip the next time it's on me to dare people," Parvati told her and Hermione felt her stomach drop at the very idea of going skinny dipping in front of all these people.
"Alright Granger, hit us with your Truth or Dare options," Blaise intoned and Hermione eyed them all speculatively.
"Hmm… Ok, Truth question is: who, if anyone, in this room have you ever had a sexual fantasy about that you've yet to indulge?" Hermione asked them all slyly, unable to keep her eyes from dancing across the faces of the gathered group.
"Parvati and Padma – at the same time, of course," Blaise admitted immediately, taking it upon himself to go first and slurring his words a little due to his level of intoxication. Both girls blushed, but Blaise was far from finished "And there was one about Daphne that she refuses to let me try. Had one about you the other night too, Granger."
Hermione eyed him speculatively, giggling a little while Daphne rolled her eyes, clearly aware of whatever fantasy he was speaking of and thinking it was too foolish or too humiliating to try. Hermione imagined that being that he was Blaise Zabini, it would most likely be a combination of both. She didn't doubt he had eclectic and rather dark desires.
"Charming," Hermione replied.
"I'll share it with you sometime if you're interested Granger," Blaise promised, winking sloppily and swaying a little in his seat. He'd been hitting the bottle hard and had chosen dare on a number of occasions, having to skol much more alcohol than the rest of them as a result.
"Pansy, anyone here striking your fancy you've yet to approach with the fantasy?" Hermione asked, moving the game along and choosing to ignore Blaise's offer.
Pansy pursed her lips speculatively for a moment, clearly debating whether or not to admit her fantasy.
"Dean," she admitted finally after long moments of silence and Dean glanced at her in surprise. Hermione couldn't tell what he thought of having the pug-nosed girl fantasising about him.
"What about you Daphne?" Hermione asked the blonde girl. She was bookish and blonde and she reminded Hermione of the type of 'librarian' one might see in a pornographic film.
"I enact all my fantasies," Daphne said primly, "Those I don't are much too depraved to admit to."
"And yet you still won't let me lick honey off your…" Blaise began before Daphne silenced him, eyeing him in annoyance.
"If you bring that up again I'm going to bite you somewhere incredibly unpleasant Blaise Zabini," the blonde girl informed him and Hermione couldn't help but laugh when he paled slightly.
"Malfoy?" Hermione asked, finding herself curious about his answer.
He eyed her for a moment in silence.
"Dare me," he challenged rather than admitting to his fantasies and Hermione felt her curiosity spike dramatically.
"Ok," Hermione replied immediately, "I dare you to enact the fantasy."
"Now?" he asked, looking mildly alarmed and also wickedly amused.
"Unless you're too scared."
"You really don't want me to do that in front of people, Granger," he informed her, his grey eyes fixed on her in a way that made her tingly.
"Fine," Hermione sighed, realising he wouldn't do whatever it was he fantasised about in front of so many people, "But the dare stands. At some stage you will have to act on your fantasy with whoever it is you have them about."
"Consider it done," he replied, a smirk crawling across his face in a way that was entirely predatory.