Ch 10: Abuse, Amazement, and an Ounce of Audacity

When Draco returned to his chambers he was stuffed to the brim with food, sick of being praised for having publically shagged the girl that he most definitely had romantic feelings for, and weighted down with her dinner (which he had disillusioned and tucked into the largest pocket of his robes. He made sure no one was around when he entered the room and let out a sigh of relief when he spotted his former professor sitting calmly in a chair with Hermione perched on his lap, still naked.

"It took you long enough," Hermione complained, climbing off of Snape and pulling her clothes back on hastily, not at all pleased with the situation she had been put in for the last hour.

"He was only doing his duty," Snape informed her before Draco could protest or give any explanation. "He had to make it seem as though he had not a care in the world and leaving me to 'have my way' with you was a bit of genius." He turned to Draco. "Are they all satisfied?"

"For the time being," the blond replied. "I'm pretty sure Mulciber wanted to curse me for not giving him charge of 'my whore' instead of you, but he'll keep his place."

"You'd better hope so. We heard scuffling outside the door quite a few times and I suspected that there were people checking up on us. Ms. Granger had to vocalize for nearly the entire time you were away just in case, which is probably why she's so testy."

"I am not testy!" she piped up from behind him, but both men ignored her protests.

"Thank you, sir," Draco said, looking deeply into the eyes of the other man. He knew that Snape understood his predicament, and just in case he opened his mind so the older man could see. There was an almost imperceptible nod from the potions master and Draco felt a bit of relief. At last someone knew of his feelings for his former rival.

"I'll try to check up on you two as much as possible to make it seem like I'm an intimate friend who's…shall we say sharing in the benefits of having a sex slave?" Snape told Draco. "I'll let them know about everything…"

Draco realized that the older man was speaking about the Order and thanked him once more before he left the room. He felt a spark of hope for his escape plans as he stared at the door where the older man had departed. If the Order knew about the plan sooner, it would be easier to get help from them, especially now that Hermione and he were on good terms. Very good terms, in fact. He turned around to smile at her and found her with her nose already buried in a book; his smile widened.

"Does nothing shake you?" he asked.

She looked up at him with a slight frown. "What do you mean?"

"Well your reputation is shit now and you've just spent an hour naked and straddling your former teacher," Draco pointed out.

Hermione snorted. "I don't care what these people think of me, anyway. And as for Snape…it was a survival tactic." She shrugged and the grin continued to spread over Draco's features. Hermione Granger was truly an amazing creature, he said to himself. Not many girls would have allowed themselves to be so freely used even if it meant survival. She, however, understood that people had to do things they didn't necessarily approve of to get by during wartime.

He climbed into bed beside her and held her close to his side. She looked at him curiously for a moment and receiving no explanation, returned to reading her book. Draco decided that the next day would be spent planning an escape. He watched her read for a while, then turned over and fell asleep, dreaming of a time when they could be together in front of the entire world.

Draco had decided to keep his mother in the dark about everything he was planning until the last possible moment so as to keep her from being interrogated by some suspicious asshole. He went about his day as per usual, getting breakfast and then sneaking food up to Hermione, and then sitting with her while they discussed possibilities for escape. They had decided to get word to the order via Snape about their plans and wait for their approval to try breaking out as it was most likely the best option they had for success.

Things were going so well that Draco was more than a little surprised when he was dragged into his father's office just before dinner. He struggled to see who had grabbed him from behind and caught a flash of white-blond hair before he relaxed. His father locked the door and turned a sneering gaze upon him when silencing charms had been performed about the room.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lucius demanded of his son. Draco looked bewildered by the question and opened his mouth to ask for clarity when he was hit hard across the cheek with his father's staff. "You've become infatuated with that mudblood!" Lucius accused as Draco brought a hand up to his cheek.

"You know nothing about me, Father!" Draco said coldly, malice exuding from his gray eyes.

"I know enough to realize that you think she'll save your ass. You think she'll want you after Potter falls? The Dark Lord won't keep her around forever and he certainly won't let you have her all to yourself. She'll come to hate you, if she doesn't already. She's only using you to survive."
"She's not!" Draco roared. "She's a slave," he said heavily when his father's eyes flashed. He had just admitted that he felt something and knew his evil father had caught the hint. "She means nothing more than a good fuck…"

"You'd better hope things stay that way," Lucius threatened. Draco narrowed his eyes as his father turned away. "And do something about that bruise before you go to dinner."

Draco was furious. How dare his own father do such things to him. Draco knew that the older man was probably envious of his status in the eyes of the Dark Lord, but he had hoped that his own flesh and blood would understand that it was all being done for the good of the Malfoy family. He stalked up to his quarters, fuming. He had no intention of going to dinner, though he knew that Lucius would be even more angry with him. He simply didn't care. He wanted out of the manor as soon as possible.

"What happened?" Hermione asked when he entered the room.

"My father will pay," he muttered darkly as he cast the usual charms around the room. He was determined to work things out in the escape plan as soon as possible.