A/N- Its effing three in the morning here. So ignore the typos please.
CHAPTER 11
Draco Malfoy thought himself as an opportunist. He was taught to be an opportunist. When an opportunity presented itself in front of him, he never failed to grasp it and exploit it to its maximum extent.
He was never taught to give up or consider the morality of exploiting opportunities the way he did. In fact, he was often commended for his rational and callous decision making the way Malfoy men are supposed to make.
And for that exact reason, Draco Malfoy found himself on the Astronomy Tower.
As he was waiting for the opportunity to present itself in a moment or two, he found his thoughts wandering towards the girl with crazy brown curls who must be curled up on his bed in a deep slumber.
She was fighting him too hard, he mused angrily.
He couldn't understand why she wouldn't understand why he was doing what he was doing. And the earlier conversation Hermione had with his mother troubled him greatly.
Although his heart warmed at the thought that Hermione had defended herself angrily, claiming that she had indeed loved Draco, Draco knew that his mother's allegations of Hermione's 'infatuation' with Draco were not found in quicksand but on something more concrete and real.
Especially when Hermione said that she had moved on and she 'loved Draco. Past frigging tense.' He clenched his jaw angrily.
How could she say so? How could she forget so easily? How could she be such a bitch!?
He shook those angry thoughts away and decided it was time. He descended the stairs and caught the opportunity which he was waiting for –a glimpse of red hair.
He pulled out his wand and aimed it at the redhead.
It was time.
Hermione was sitting huddled up in the library where the elves had put up cushions and sheets spread out for her because she didn't find the huge loveseat placed near the fireplace comfortable and because she spent most of her time there.
For some reason she felt really frail and weak. She had been eating properly. She had also gone to see Narcissa earlier that day for their session.
She still didn't trust the woman completely.
Ironically, she trusted her enough to agree to let her into her head. She didn't really have much of a choice.
Her mind flitted to the events that took place earlier that morning. She had made her way to Narcissa's room. Secretly she had been craving this meeting. Another human contact was all she needed to feel a little better –a little alive.
"Good morning Miss Granger. How are you feeling today?" Narcissa had asked her with a sweet smile. Swell, Hermione wanted to say but instead opted for nodding curtly.
"Have some tea." Narcissa said motioning a house elf to pour tea. Hermione scrutinized the room warily before taking a seat opposite to Narcissa.
She was still quite unsure about how to proceed with this whole thing so she waited till Narcissa initiated their little project.
But surprisingly, Narcissa looked completely at ease, as if they were really just two friends having tea.
This unnerved and annoyed Hermione to no end. What games did she gave rolled up her sleeves?
Her nonchalance was an extremely loud Malfoy trait and reminded her too much of Draco which only aggravated her further.
"Are we going to begin with this or not?"Hermione asked after ten minutes of silence. Her question sounded extremely rude when said aloud and Hermione was just about to apologize, especially when she received a sharp look from Narcissa.
But she stayed her ground. She was kidnapped; she had no reason to apologize to anyone.
"Yes, Miss Granger, we will begin with our training. Can you hold your horses until after we are done with breakfast?" Narcissa said in an apathetic, cold voice which petrified any self-confidence Hermione had mustered.
She pouted but didn't say anything. Hermione sulkily sipped her tea while scrutinizing the lady in front of her.
Narcissa was looking out of the window they were sitting next to, into the gardens. Hermione followed her line of sight and felt a wave of nostalgia hit her.
The same gardens she and Draco used to sit and talk about...everything. Things were so simple, light and fun back then. But now they were all distorted and disgusting and unbearable.
"For a sixteen year old, Draco has seen more of the world than someone his age was supposed to. And he had to make decisions that normal sixteen year olds don't need to." Narcissa said suddenly.
"Yes, but so did Harry!" Hermione countered.
"Yes, but don't you understand, girl? Every person is different. We cannot control the places we come from. As a muggle born people would think you know it best." Hermione was about to interrupt when Narcissa cut her off by saying, "Being a Malfoy isn't easy."
"I don't wish to speak about this anymore. If you're done trying to sell me on Draco can we start the training?"
"Scared you might see goodness still lingers into this monster you've morphed into your head? He has the darkness and the light in him, Miss Granger. You cannot dismiss the light within him just because you can see his darkness; just like you don't want people to dismiss your intelligence or worth just because your low heritage was revealed."
"Low heritage? There is nothing wrong with being a muggle born. If you are too prejudiced to see it, then I feel sorry for you." Hermione said narrowing her eyes to slits. Narcissa sighed and put her tea cup down.
"That may be so, but I hope you understood the point I was trying to make. Considering how intelligent everyone claims you to be, I am sure you did." Her steely gaze cutting into Hermione's brown ones.
"So what you're trying to say is that beneath all that darkness of his he is a good little boy?" Hermione mocked.
"Precisely. He-"
"He tried to rape me", Hermione interrupted Narcissa. Hermione saw as Narcissa's mask of nonchalance slipped off and something akin to horror displayed as her eyes widened slightly and her mouth was set in a frown. She certainly wasn't expecting her little angel of a son to do something so abhorrent, Hermione thought snidely. A few moments of silence passed before Hermione took it on herself to break it by saying,
"You didn't know."
"No, I didn't. I am sorry Miss Granger, not only for what was done to and what you are being subjected to but also because I realized I need to be somewhere right now. I am sure we can start our lessons from tomorrow," Narcissa said in a soft, yet impersonal tone which surprised Hermione. Narcissa stood up abruptly and left the room before Hermione could think of something.
A door shut loudly making Hermione wince. She stared at the blond man who adorned a smile and gazed at her lovingly. His smile however faltered and he frowned.
"You look weak. Are you sick or something?" Draco stalked towards her and stretched a hand to touch her cheek when she flinched and pulled away.
"Don't touch me." She said through gritted teeth. His palm curled into an angry fist which he snatched back and let it lay against his thigh.
"I just wanted to see if you're okay or not." He said angrily.
"Yeah, well, thanks to your own actions I cannot bear to be touched by you." Her brown eyes cut into his grey ones.
"Who do you want to be touched by then, that weasel?" She heard him say. Her eyes snapped up to his'. Not because she found his words offensive or that they affected her in a way more than other words uttered by him did. But because the way he said. There was no anger in it. No jealousy. Only malice and...He was smirking. She assessed him warily.
"Yes. I want to be touched and held by Ronald." She said warily measuring his reaction.
"Too bad that is never going to happen. Ever."
"I'll get out of here one day." She vowed.
"Even if you get out of here it's never going to happen." Draco said feeling smug. He saw as different emotions played on Hermione's face. Her eyes widened a little as she drank in his words.
"What does that mean?" She said shakily.
"What do you think it means?"
"Don't play games with me, Malfoy! Tell me what the fuck you meant!" She barked angrily. Draco sent her an angry glare at the use of his last name by her.
"It means that the little Weasel is biting dust right now."
She stared at him for a really long time. Her small chest rising and falling as she took in his words.
"What?" She asked, a frown marring her perfect features. "What –what did you just say?"
Hermione felt her throat had become really dry. She suddenly felt really dizzy.
"I said that the weasel is dead. Dead and-"
But Hermione heard no more of what he was saying. She felt like throwing up. She could feel something coming.
Not puke but something else. Something like a storm she couldn't stop. She felt a palpable pain cripple her whole being –slice through her chest.
Ah yes, there It was. The crippling, paralyzing pain. Tears streamed down her face.
Several images her and Ron flashed. Ron her sweet love. Her sweet childhood friend. A gasp left Hermione as she realized, horrified, at the trauma Molly and Ginny must be suffering right now. And Fred and George. They had just lost their brother. And it was because of her. Because this maniac 'loved' her. Her hazy eyes shot an incredulous disgusted glare at Draco.
"...And now you'll be all mine. To take. I know it hurts for girls when it's their first time but don't worry I'll be really gentle-" When she realized what Draco was talking about she could taste the bile in her mouth.
But to her surprise and Draco's all that came out was a bark of laughter. His head snapped up, confusion written plainly in his eyes.
"Is that what you think? That I'll just be with you? I love Ronald. Even if he's dead I will always love him. Always." She could see Draco's face was tinted with pink now; the knuckles of his fist were white.
"And it's rather cute how you think you'll be my 'first'. Ronald was my first." She said triumphantly and wiped her tears.
Draco's face was set in stone as the words seeped in. "You let that Weasel fuck you?" He barked angrily.
"More than once." She said adorning a sweet smile even though her heart was breaking inside.
"What did you think I was doing at the Burrow, Draco?"
She could see the storm brew in his grey eyes but in that moment she didn't care. "And he was so good, Draco. It was perfect. Because we loved each other. And you and I will never have that"
Draco angrily hauled her up by her elbow and held her against him. "You're pathetic. You will never compare to him." She spat at him angrily.
"I didn't want to do this. But you leave me with no choice." His sickly sweet breath was fanning her face as he raised his wand and pointed it at her. She pushed against him roughly and fell on her ass. Horror was painted across her face as she said, "What –what are you doing?"
"I'm making you forget." He said calmly as he advanced towards her.
"No –no! You –you can't do that! You've taken everything from me! You've kidnapped me and brought me to live in this hellhole. Now you're going to take away my memories too? I won't let you –you asshole!" She said she started throwing books –which he deflected –at him.
"Please don't do this. I –I will do anything. Don't take away my memories of him. Please. It's all I have, Ma-Draco. Please. Don't.
"It will take away all that pain you must be feeling. And we can be like before. And it will also solve the problem of that little rendezvous with Aunt Bella." His voice deceptively calm. His determination and face was set in stone.
"What happened to you? What the hell did they do to you to make you like this?"
A steady stream of tears poured down her face as she asked steadily, "What all are you going to take away from me?"
He waited for a moment –as if deep in thought –before saying, "I want to erase all the memories of the Weasel-" Hermione gasped, "-But on second thought, I think the problem here is Hermione granger, and I want to erase her existence."
"No." Hermione gasped, unconsciously clutching her necklace which held her parent's pictures. "You can't do that to me. They are my parents, Draco. How can you think of doing such things to me?"
He sneered as he covered the distance between them, "How can you do this to me? How can you forget me so vilely and let that Weasel fuck you?" Hermione flinched at his language.
"You are accusing me of being vile?" She asked hotly. "I can't believe it. I am sure Narcissa will agree with me who the vile person is when it comes to you and I, Draco. Especially after the conversation I had with her."
"What conversation?" Draco's eyes were lit with suspicion and malice.
"The conversation where I told her the truth."
"And what exactly is that?" He dared to ask..
"That you tried to rape me, you asshole!" She shouted, unwilling to cower in the face of his towering, intimidating form.
"It wasn't rape. It was a misunderstanding. And I remember apologizing for that." He shrugged, moving away. He shrugged?
"How daft and thick can you be? This must be some sort of a coping or defence mechanism your mind has built to protect yourself from the truth. And your fucked up half-ass apologies were supposed to make what you did okay? Did you even feel sorry? You would be drowning in your guilt and not kidnapping me like this if you were sorry!"
"Shut up." Draco said angrily. Hermione ignored him and went on.
"-And it was RAPE! How fucking sick are you to say that itwas a misunderstanding!? And it doesn't matter what you do because-"
"Shut up," Draco whispered dangerously, stalking towards her. But Hermione didn't dare stop. The adrenaline coursing through her veins helped nullify her fear and she needed to say this before the adrenaline stopped.
"-It will always be one of the most traumatic experiences of my life! Fucking nothing can ever change that! Even if I don't remember, you will! And I hope you rot with the knowledge of this. So before you forget, let me spell it out to your again, 'IT WAS ATTEMPTED RAPE!' And I hate you. I hate you so much!" She screamed.
She didn't even realize until she had stopped crying that she had been crying the whole time. She felt pathetic and weak for the display of tears but in a way, her words and the salt of her tears were cathartic. Until she remembered again that Ron was alive no more.
"I need you to shut your fucking mouth." She could feel Draco's warm breath against her head but she was too taken by grief to retort or react.
"And you killed him. The one person who I truly love. You -You killed him." She whispered before breaking into sobs, wrapping her arms around herself. "He's dead. Oh Godric, I can't believe he -he's dead?" She felt like she was being given the Dementor's kiss -like all her happiness was being sucked in by someone.
"And he died. Because of me." She whispered, horror struck. Draco had killed him because he was jealous of her relationship with Ron. So it was her fault, wasn't it?
If she had never gotten involved with Ron, he would've been alive and happy right now. Ginny, George, Fred, Bill, Charlie and even Percy, for that matter, would have a brother. Molly would have her son. Harry would have his best friend.
Draco was startled to see Hermione rocking back and forth, her arms shielding her ears and her mouth replaying the same words again and again.
All my fault, they said.
Hermione felt arms still her rocking. She didn't realize she had been rocking but nevertheless she put her surprise aside and vehemently protested against the arms.
"Don't you ever dare touch me, you, you disgusting little piece of shit!" Red rimmed puffy eyes bore into cold grey ones, as Hermione spat the words at Draco. He clenched his jaw angrily and withdrew his hands which had curled into tight angry fists.
"I just wanted to comfort you." He said spitefully.
"Comfort me for the same pain that you've caused me?" She shook her head in disbelief, sporting a sad smile. "You're unbelievable. But then again, you always do that don't you. From the time I've met you all that you've caused me is unbearable pain, haven't you? And I was ready to move on! I was -I had moved on. With -With Ron." A fresh batch of tears streamed down Hermione's face.
Draco's anger broke and he was conflicted between comforting her and hurting her for saying such hurtful things to him.
"You should obliviate me." Hermione's steady cool voice surprised Draco, who was leaning against the bookshelf.
"You should obliviate me," Hermione said again. Her eyes and voice were empty of emotion. "I hate you," She said softly. Even though Draco's insides hurt at her words, he didn't fail to notice the casualness and the calmness of her voice. This disturbed him far more greatly than any words uttered by her in passion had.
"And I will always hate you. Guess there's only one way to get out of this 'messy' situation for you -obliviate me. But even Hermione Lyra will still never bow down to you, Malfoy. I will never be this person you want me to be. So there's only one solution."
Draco listened to her curiously.
"Kill me."
He didn't let the agonizing surprise he felt inside show as he said coldly, "You've had a rough day. You need to sleep."
"I could do it myself if you're not up to it. But I suppose killing Harry Potter's Mudblood friend would give you extra Death Eater Points..." She rambled on but when she saw that Draco was not going to humour her by even responding to her suggestion she sighed heavily and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes.
Draco sat on the loveseat and observed her for the longest. Her breathing slowed and slowed till soft snored emanated from her. He wanted to hold her soft, warm body against himself. He just wanted her to forget the pain she was going through. The pain he put her through -she had made that clear. He sighed.
He walked over to her and picked up her lanky form to tuck her into her bed. And just as he made his way out, a meek soft voice said, "I hope you get really hurt the next time you go into battle."
Draco didn't bother replying and grimly closed the door. At least she didn't wish him dead. Not directly, He thought this to himself. He was surprised by an elf popping up and telling him that his mother expected an audience with him right now. All Draco wanted to do was take a long warm bath but that evidently had to wait.
"You called for me, mother?"
His head whipped to the left violently and his cheek stung. His mother has slapped him. Slowly and incredulously he stared at his mother for an explanation. She was rubbing her right palm -probably the one with which she had smacked him. She wore the coldest expression Draco had ever seen her wear.
"Wh-" Draco began but he was cut off by a cold, "Sit down, Draco."
She motioned to the seat beside the window. "I think today is one day I can tell you son, that I truly, really ashamed of being your mother."
Her words cut through Draco like a Cruciatus curse-but it felt worse, because they were coming from his mother. It didn't take more than two seconds for Draco to put two and two together to conclude why his mother had uttered such cruel words.
"It was a misunderstanding." Draco defended himself. He made sure to keep his voice impersonal and nonchalant. He didn't want to show his mother that her words or her accusation had affected him in any sort.
"Misunderstanding." Narcissa said, her grey eyes cutting into Draco's. Even though anger had got the better of Narcissa, she had hoped vehemently that Draco would deny it. But Draco's juvenile and loathsome excuse caused Narcissa to taste bile in her mouth. The sound of her heart breaking was echoing in her body.
"You need to stop this son. I am going to arrange for that girl to back to her friends. To prevent further misunderstandings, of course."
Draco eyes his mother for a few moments before saying, "You would take away my rightful reward?"
"She is a person, Draco. Not an object to possess and show off."
"Careful now, Mother. It may look like you are questioning the great Dark Lord's way of doing things. Some might see it as treachery."
Draco saw amusedly as his mother's mask cracked and incredulousness was painted across her perfect features.
"Are -are you threatening me!?" She said in a low dangerous voice.
"Of course not. I am merely warning you." He smirked as he stood up. "You know how much I love you and it would hurt me immensely if anything would happen to you."
"I hope you know what you're doing, son," Is all Narcissa said as Draco took his leave. He closed the door behind him and sighed. Today had been a long day.
He opened the door to his bedroom –well, his and Hermione's –and slid in next to her and pulled her against him. He breathed in her earthy smell and her salty tears. And felt his body relax.
Yes, he knew exactly what he was doing.
A/N- HEYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Did you guys miss me? I sure did miss u guys! My exams were... okay okay (not that u guys care, LOL)
ANYWAY
READ AND REVIEW, LOVELIES. TELL ME WHAT THE EFF U THINK OF THIS CHAPTER AND SHIT, YEAH?
BTW,IS ANYBODY LOOKING FORWARD TO SMUT IN THIS STORY?
I am still conflicted whether to add it or not. Tell me what you think?
