You Can't Own Me

by PnkWednesdays

In a post-war era where Voldemort wins, the muggleborn witches were ultimately able to serve a purpose after all. "The Lounge" was a buffet of forbidden fruits in masks, it was a place a wanton and abandon, a place for some to go to have a good time. For others, like Hermione who had been forced into servitude there it was a prison decorated to cater to pureblood whimsy.

7. Chapter 7

**I do not own the rights to any Characters in this Fanfiction, those all solely belong to JK Rowling herself. I just claim the plunnie

Myself

I'm better by myself

I'm better by myself

I don't need no one else

I'm better by myself

Myself

Self

I don't know who to trust

These days everyone's shady

Fool me once, I'm on my own

There is no second time, baby

That's the shit I don't like

Please no yes, no maybes

What else?

I'm better by myself

I'm better by myself

I don't need no one else

I'm better by myself

Myself

Hermione woke with a start, that uneasy feeling that she was no longer alone with the little elf snoring beside her in the room. But she did not move, nor did she dare open her eyes. Trying to keep her breathing slow and rhythmic, mimicking that of the tiny body pressed snuggly against her, she listened intently for whatever had disturbed her sleep.

Rustling paper, ever so gently, not too different from the sound of a page being turned in a book.

Someone was in there with them. She knew that for sure. Her anxiety skyrocketed as she tried to determine what to do next.

She lay their focusing on her breathing trying to think of ways to get them both out safely. As it was it did not sound like the person was sitting too far off from where they were lying asleep.

"Stop pretending to still be asleep, I already know you're awake."

The sound of the wizard's voice behind her had her flying into an upright position and turning to face him.

"Malfoy…" her voice was hardly a breathless whisper. All the adrenaline had yet to stop coursing through her body. "When did you get back?"

"Better question." The blonde wizard snapped his book shut and strode over to her crouching down to examine her closer. "Who did this to your face?"

"Oh, it's nothing really." She attempted to change the subject, "Did you have any luck?"

"It certainly looks like something." He squinted at Hermione for a moment longer before really taking in the state of the room around them. In no way was it messy, but it most definitely looked a tad bit more lived in than usual.

"Hey Pod."

"Yes master?" the little elf yawned and rubbed at his eyes. Turning to find his master still studying the witch on the makeshift bed next to him,

"Who did this to Hermione while I was away?"

At this Pod glanced over to her apologetically. "It was the mean mistress master, Storia."

"Astoria was here?" he looked her in the eyes in question.

She gave a slight nod. Not really having any other choice.

"And what did she want?"

"You, for the most part."

"Uh huh," Draco rubbed his chin eyeing her face before reaching out and touching each of her wounds gently. "And the other part?"

"Information."

Humorlessly, Draco rolled his eyes. Hermione was getting the picture of an extremely rocky marriage, and she was no longer sure who was to blame.

He instructed Poderick to retrieve a medi-kit and the little elf popped out of the room.

"I am terribly sorry that she did this to you Hermione. It will not happen again. I swear to it." He steadily met her eyes until she gave him a single nod in understanding.

"Alright let's get you up and taken care of." Malfoy took her small tan hand in his larger pale one and led her out of the office and down to her bathroom.

Wrapping his hands around her waist he gently lifted her and placed her, so she was sitting on the ledge of the sink, with her back towards the mirror. He stood between her legs their faces only inches apart as he inspected and cleaned the scratches Astoria had left behind.

Shaking his head, he mumbled something to himself.

Hermione was just about to ask what he was thinking about when Pod popped into the bathroom carrying the kit full of medical potions and salves.

With an astute and steady hand, Draco reached for one vial after another, applying each one systematically with a very deft hand.

"You're oddly good at this."

He put one potion down and in between applications his hand came to rest on her thigh. She tried to ignore the jolt that the heat of his touch sent straight to her core. She tried to blame it on simply not seeing him for a handful of days.

A grunt. "Lots of practice. Good news you shouldn't scar."

Clearly, she was not having the same effect on him. Hermione focused on her breathing and not how good the way the man simply inches away from kissing her smelled.

Keep it together.

"Oh." Well that was a plus at least.

Her breath fanned across his face when she spoke and he paused taking stock of their proximity, his hand poised above her cheek. The way his thighs brushed right against her bare ones.

When he looked up, she could see the intimate knowledge that if he pulled her a few centimeters closer to the edge they would be in complete contact with one another. She felt her own arousal fan as she watched his eyes heat.

Ever so slowly he brought his face closer to hers, pausing in the air space around her to take in the entirety of the scene before him one more time.

Her on the sink nearly bare assed, legs practically wrapped around him, and only a few thin strips of fabric between them. He started to breathe heavier his excitement growing more palpable.

He focused once more on her lips and Hermione closed her eyes anticipating the moment his warm lips would touch hers, but a rap sounded on the window instead. The owl at the window abruptly ending the moment.

Hermione warred with a sinking feeling of disappointment as Draco's attention turned away from her and to owl consistently pecking away at the window.

"That's Astoria's owl." Draco grumbled making his way over to the window to receive the missive.

Hermione watched from her place, abandoned on the sink, as he took the scroll from the bird before he unraveled and read it over a few times prior to shaking his head in dismay. Curious she almost asked what was in the letter, but still knew not to overstep certain bounds. Astoria was still his wife.

"I've got to go see Astoria. Something is going on and I don't know what it is." He turned from her and started to make his way out of the bathroom. "I'll call for you whenever this is all sorted out."

Oh! Okay.

She knew her dismissals when she heard them.

Malfoy wasted no time leaving her behind in the suite. He promptly put on his coat and stepped into the fireplace, flooing directly to Malfoy manor.

Well then… she guessed when the wife came calling.

Hopping off the sink Hermione was just about to shut the bathroom door when she saw the partially rolled piece of parchment on the floor. With no one there to see her she didn't see the harm in taking a peek.

Her eyes instantly narrowed in on the words. Draco may not have known what this letter was about, but she did entirely.

When Hermione walked into the girl's den complete and utter chaos erupted around her. The bodies pressed in around her grabbing and demanding answers. Hermione was not even going to have a moments breath to prepare for the task at hand. Lucky for her she was extremely quick to think on her feet.

It was not as though they didn't call her the brightest witch of their age for a reason.

"Say it isn't true!" "Hermione you have got to save us." "What are we going to do?" Question after question railroaded her, throwing her off her senses. She was still trying to sort everyone out when a sudden silence descended the group.

A flash of red hair and the girls parted the crowd allowing Hermione her first sight of Ginny in days. Her green eyes were aflame and livid as she stood with her fists poised on her hips. Behind her Pavarti stood nearby offing her support, though not quite as sure of herself Hermione noted. She could practically feel the fury blasting off Ginny from where she stood a mere ten feet away.

"Go on, tell them!"

"Tell them what exactly?" Hermione asked slowly and carefully. Surely Ginny, her most trusted friend and confidant, had not betrayed her trust. She began to narrow her eye at the other witch.

"Tell them everything you told me. Tell them why we are really here Hermione!" Her beloved friend practically shouted at her across the room. Hermione felt something begin to coil low in her gut.

That bitch.

One simple thing. She only had to follow one simple thing, and here we are finally getting somewhere!

She should have known better, she only had herself to blame really, but still…

Eyes still narrowed at Ginny she smirked at the red head who was literally flaming from head to toe.

"Oh, you mean this?" And she wordlessly and wandlessly, crafted a ball of blue energy in her hand. She watched in satisfaction as everyone's jaw, including Ginny's, practically hit the floor.

She had been practicing. Ever since her encounter with Astoria she noticed the magic creeping closer to the surface. It had become easier to manipulate and control. It had started out as just a few sparks between her fingers then gradually a small glowing orb in the palm of her hand. It was her raw magical energy, having been pulled from her core and having nowhere to go, it began to manifest physically. She, of course, had not told Malfoy of this development.

While yes, Hermione did not have a wand, she lobbed the orb across the room shattering a vase and leaving a scorch mark on the wall behind it, she was now still able to pack a punch.

Gasps surrounded her at her display of magical power. The girls surrounding her in complete dismay as to how she had gotten her magic back but was still wearing magic inhibiting brand.

It was something she would never forget, as one by one they were all filed into a room, bare and shivering in the dungeon-like hall. One by one they had been pulled forward and held down on a table, then one of the worst things that could happen to a witch, to any magical being really happened. They locked their magic away. With an archaic spell and rune branded into their sides they had been effectively neutralized.

Until now.

Now she had magic back, and if she were correct she may be able to teach them to replicate the process. It wouldn't work with all the girls if her theories were correct of course, but anyone else was better than none.

"Ladies, I got my magic back." She cocked her head to the side meeting the green eyes across the room in challenge, "Is that what she told you?"

She bet the nosey bint left that part out.

One eyebrow lifted in Ginny's direction at the silence that stifled the room. Everyone was still in shock at her demonstration just moments before. She continued making her way through the now silenced and officially manageable hoard of terrified women. She crossed the room, making a point of directly passing by Ginny without so much as a sideways glance and climbed to the fourth step before turning to face them all.

Looking out she saw such a mix of faces, some she grew up with, passing down the hall at school, others had been rounded up from other parts of the area, several girls from Beaux Batons, and even more that came from places that she couldn't fathom how they had landed in Voldemort's clutches. But here despite what once used to make them all different, their skin, hair, eyes, and even language, they were all the same. They were all one and maybe Ginny had had something to it in telling them she decided as she looked down on their scared eyes as they looked back up at her, with something akin to hope.

She sighed. It was always her.

Always.

"Yes. What Ginevra has presumably said is true." Another round of gasps of shock and outrage filled the room. "But seeing as I was not here, I was not privy to the information that was shared." She gave another pointed, heated look in her friend's direction.

Surveying the room once again, this time resonating power across them, using her will to help subdue the situation at hand. Ginny may have done some major damage, but this was still a game and Hermione had still not showed all of her cards yet.

"Gin…" Green eyes flashed to hers in surprise, the last thing she had expected was to be called out directly in such a genuinely concerned tone.

Ginny always forgot to play.

"Can you go ahead and fill me in on what I missed while I was away?" All the other girls would defer to the redhead, she was, after all, the proverbial second in command.

To her credit, as Hermione knew she would, Ginny did not balk down from the challenge. Squaring her shoulders, she met Hermione's glare with a burning one of her own. The tension radiating between the two witches was enough to probably make the other girls want to flee the room alone, had it not been for the subject at hand.

"I informed them about the truth behind the night of the gala, what happened to the missing girls and where the actually went. I also let them know that this is the fate of us all unless we find a way out of here." Ginny then turned to meet the eyes of as many of the girls around her as she could, trying to sway them to the imaginary line in the sand that had been drawn between them. "They had just as much right to as we did. Their situation is no different than ours!"

At her last declaration she earned her nods of agreement and Hermione saw a few eyes flash in suspicion in her direction.

"Well maybe not yours, considering you never have to stay the night here anymore if you don't want to, do you Hermione?"

Ah, Ginny had come out to play after all.

No matter, this only makes the game more interesting. It had been a while since she had had to put someone back in their place, yet alone it had never been her closest friend before. But she had been prepared for this, she had seen the signs coming. The little tells of envy, all the while not realizing what Hermione was really going through. Even if she gathered more girls to her side, she could not win. She had nothing to offer them, and Hermione, well, she now had everything. The growing number of glares could come all they wanted, none of it made a difference, just like none of them were willing to go out and make a real difference. Not like she was.

"Why didn't you want us to know, Hermione?" Pavarti, ever Ginny's trusted sidekick. She probably could not have been happier when Hermione had started getting called away to Malfoy's side more and more frequently.

"It is not that I did not want all of you to know. Of course, you all needed to know, to which Ginny and I had even come to an agreement." Pulling Ginny back in to back her story, she looked to her and paused waiting for her confirmation, as reluctant as it may have been given. "I just wanted to ensure I had all the facts before coming to you, and I wanted a plan of action to give you."

"And yes," she started.

One step down.

"I do spend most of my time away now."

Step two.

"And every time I come back."

Her foot connected with the last step.

"I come back with more than any witch had brought back before"

Upon reach the floor she crossed the room to stand before Ginny and Pavarti, but along the way she continued to elaborate.

"I have returned with information of who owns us, the truth about what happened that night at the gala, and the fact that there is something going on in the background trying to help."

Stopping before the two witches who watched her with calculating eyes, she brought her hand up to allow an orange orb to hover in the air above her fingertips.

"Not to mention I brought back magic." She cocked her head and studied the two of them inquisitively, pausing as though giving herself time to think over her next question. "What exactly have the two of you ever returned with?"

Checkmate.

Cruel calculation passed before both of their eyes as both witches, wisely, declined to answer. With their eyes down turned, Hermione turned to face the rest of the group, their faces wavering, fear still evident, but the anger fading away to small flickers of hope on the faces of some and a newly found determination on others. Some, just over the situation in its entirety, chose to walk out of the room, unsurprisingly Cherry's group being one of them.

With that having been handled Hermione took her usual place in the oversized chair nearest to the fireplace, knowing the remainder of the girls would follow. Ginny would of course still take her usual seat on the chair directly across from her, this way they could always watch each other's backs if need be. Pavarti always chose to sit on a floor cushion strategically placed between the two witches, back towards the fireplace. They never had a blind spot, except for when Hermione was not there. She felt a pang of regret, but quickly reminded herself of what she was doing, and doing for them all.

Everything was officially set in place for what she needed to tell them, and the ones she needed to tell were the ones who had remained.

Nodding towards Ginny she started. "As I said earlier, what Ginny has told you all is true. But losing our heads is not going to help us in a time like this." She tried to meet as many of them with the sternest look she could give. "If we are going to survive, we have to remain calm and most of all undetected. If this is something you feel like you cannot do, I am going to ask you to leave the room now."

She paused. Waited. Not a single girl looking back at her made a single move. She knew most if not all that had made it to this point were strong and resilient, but this, this would be one of the largest trials the had yet to face. This was going to require quite a lot of cooperation to pull off what Hermione had planned, and that meant they would have to trust each other implicitly.

"From this point forward anything that is said within these four walls does not leave them. That includes not sharing with the girls who already left. If you aren't in now you aren't in ever."

Pavarti produced a parchment much like the one Hermione had used back for DA, only this one had much dire consequences. Their lives were at stake, possibly even Malfoy's.

Silver gray eyes flashed across her mind along with a slight pang of guilt.

One by one the girls lined up to sign their name to the parchment, not a single witch asked what the punishment would be. Not a single one cared, nor was she concerned in the slightest. The three women watching could not be prouder of the bravery of the women filing before them. After all the trials they had been through during and after the war, the horrors many of them still faced on a daily basis, and knowing what their futures held, they still were willing to stand and do anything that was possible to help save each other.

This, Hermione thought, these witches willing to stand with her were worth risking everything for.

Platinum hair and a perfect smile.

Again, she felt the slight pang of betrayal, somewhere deep down in her gut. This betrayal would be huge, it would not go unnoticed, neither unpunished.

But they were everything, and she would stand for them.

The last time Hermione had stood at this door with this much trepidation had been the very first day Dublin had so rudely pulled her from the stage mid dance. That moment had changed her life from that moment on. It was like a fuse had been lit and everything was burning around her towards some cascading end, one that she was beginning to realize she may have extraordinarily little control over. Her heart was nearly pounding out of her chest and she had yet to muster up the courage to actually open the door, or even reach for the handle for that matter.

What would happen if she turned and left? What if she just went back to her room and ignored his summons? What would the worst thing be that he could do?

Breathe. Just Breathe.

Thoughts and images raced through her head of all the various possibilities of the things that Draco may do, just to punish her.

How far would he go this time?

Steeling herself she took a deep breath and reached for the knob and pulled. Her hand only trembled slightly, but her legs carried her steady into the room.

Malfoy stood with his back to her, his elbow raised against the wall as he leaned and looked out the wall of glass. A glass of fire whisky hanging in his other hand.

She watched him watch her approach in the reflection.

His eyes were cutting and cold.

Her heart stuttered.

This was it. This was the moment he would figure everything out.

Breathe in.

"Princess," she watched as he brought the glass of whisky up to his lips, "so glad you decided to grace me with your presence."

Long quiet exhale.

"Not that I really had a choice, did I?" She held her head high. She knew he could forcibly make her bend to his will as part of the contract, but until he pulled that into play, she would not be weak. She was done having him push her around, and this time it was just her and him: no Theo in sight.

He tossed her his trademark smirk from school, which was more of a sneer mixed with a snarl if anything, she had always thought.

"There is always a choice, Princess."

Cold steel eyes met heated amber ones through the glass in a challenge of wills. The anger and betrayal radiating from him was almost enough to make her break right there on the spot, but she would never let him know. She stood tall and looked him dead on, refusing to be the one to speak first, watching as the anger only boiled beneath his surface.

When he finally broke the silence, it was with one word, but it was the one word she did not know how to answer.

"Why?" It was a quiet, heavy demand. It was louder than if he had shouted it at her from across the room.

She paused. Stammering, she had anticipated this question, but nothing she had come up with in her mind seemed like the right thing to say in front of the wizard standing in a rage in front of her. Each explanation she had come up with seemed more convoluted than the last or gave too much away for the girls. In the end, for once, Hermione Jean Granger, did not know the right answer for once.

Unfortunately.

Glass shattered on the wall behind her. Malfoy, eyes ablaze and fuming, stormed over to the insubordinate witch, sans his glass of whisky.

"Why would you disobey me like that Granger?" He snarled at her, invading her space and backing her into the wall, glass crunched beneath their feet.

She could smell the fire whisky on his breath as he closed in, breathing in her air. She could feel her panic rising, she looked towards the exits and halls, and contemplated if she could make it to her bedroom before he caught her. Maybe if she blasted him with a little magic first.

Her eyes turned back to the wizard who was watching her desperation with a sick look of pleasure. It told her she would not be going anywhere, he would make sure of that, of that Hermione was sure.

"I told you implicitly not to tell anyone what you knew. What I allowed you to know." Seething he glared down at her through slitted eyes. "Now. I. Want. To. Know. Why!" He slammed both of his hands against the wall next to her head, just close enough to make her jump.

Her pulse quickened at the realization that he essentially had her caged in. Feeling trapped she felt her panic begin to rise again, and she focused on her breathing as the wizard in front of her raged on.

"And of course, it had to be Astoria of all people who had to tell me the news, it couldn't have just been one of the house elves for Merlin's sake! No, it had to be the wife who just could not wait to tell me how my 'prized mudblood whore' was running around leaking information behind my back!"

The panic stopped. She felt herself settle and calm, resolving herself for whatever fate may come her direction. Regardless of what she did or said here, she highly doubted much would change the outcome. She stood at a light shining through the glass just past the side of his head. Switch by switch she shut down each emotion and feeling, locking down preparing herself for what was to come.

He leaned in and grabbed her chin, cruelly squeezing right where Astoria had left marks of her own days before, triggering a raging fire inside of her. Again, he sneered, "Why?"

"Because you can't own me." The words were a quiet slip of the tongue. She had not meant for them to tumble out nor had she even realized she had been thinking them, but it seemed one switch had yet to be flipped.

"Excuse me? I'm not quite sure I heard you correctly." Head tilting to the side he eyed her queerly, as though she had just grown a second head, but his voice still held just as much menace as it had before.

Anger bubbling over Hermione jerked her jaw out of his hand.

Never again!

"You. Can't. Own. Me." She spoke each word slowly and deliberately, if not a tad loud as well.

She pushed him hard on his shoulders shoving him away from her, but he hardly budged. Instead he simply laughed, mirthlessly.

"I hate to break it to you Princess, but I kind of do." Crouching down he chased her head until she was forced to hold his gaze. "And not only do I own you, but I own all of your little friends too…for now at least. It would serve you well to remember that."

She narrowed her eyes at his threat. "You can't own human beings, Malfoy."

He rose back to his full height making her follow his eye with the tilt of his finger on her chin. "I allow you everything you have. It is by my grace that you all live the way you do." He narrowed his eyes into slits, "I could end it. I could turn this club into an operation run more like the other establishments of its ilk."

"No matter what you did you could control me entirely Malfoy, I will always have my own will." She spat up at him. He could bring on his punishments, the girls' plan was solid enough. If enough of them could learn how to pull magic from their patrons, they could create their own little battle cell and get out of here.

When Malfoy had not been around, she had spent some time researching the spells he had used to override the magic inhibiting brand that had been burned into her skin upon her categorization into the "of use mudblood" classification. After a few days of digging she had uncovered the exact ancient ritual he had spoken of, the only issue was there had to be at least some sort of emotional connection there for the spell to work. All the girls could try to reach out with their magic, but if a patron was unreceptive to them then there was going to be no exchanging of power. But they only needed a few, just a few.

"Oh, is that so?"

Too late, she felt his fingers twine in her hair. She fought back the yelp when he pulled her hair hard, leading her in front of him, through the living area, down the hall, and into his bedroom, the entire time her mind was racing, trying to think of potential ways to over power him. Escape was no longer an option until he was no longer an obstacle.

"Do you know what the other ones are like?" He pulled her body back against him roughly. "The other auction houses?"

Hermione felt herself suck in a breath at his open use of the phrase. How cold and callous? To call the place where other witches, humans lived until… until…

Her mind trailed off because he forcefully tugged her hair first to the left then to the right and then back again. Shaking her head "no" for her.

He was such a bloody prick.

"Well let me enlighten you." He traced his wand down her black satin blouse, magically popping off the buttons and exposing her black lace covered breasts. He hummed appreciatively, "I knew that was a good decision, making standard black lace the basic issued under garment set. You really do fill out it so nicely." His hot breath ghosted across her ear causing chills to race down her spine. "See at a different auction house you wouldn't have this shirt," he traced his wand down the back seam of her skirt slicing it open as well allowing it to fall to the floor, "you would not have this."

She cringed as she felt his hand harshly groping and grabbing at her. It was almost laughable how quickly the situations could change from one morning to an evening. In fact, she probably would laugh if she could, but the damned wizard had yet to let her hair free and she was too busy trying not to wince.

"Hmm, well you most definitely wouldn't have these." Deciding to opt for sheer force Malfoy first ripped her bra away from her chest, which he quickly followed with tearing away the black lace knickers, leaving her completely exposed before him.

She stumbled only staying upright by his hold upon her head and laughed dismally.

"Don't you think its funny Malfoy that you always seem to get me down to nothing but my shoes. I wonder if that's your true kink?"

He jerked her back roughly and snarled in her ear. Hermione felt her skin crawl.

"They would put you in a cell, maybe it'd have a bed, maybe a toilet if you're lucky…" he flattened his hand on her chest hand ran it down the front of her. "If you are in one of the real lucky ones, you will get a gown to wear, oh well let us call it what it really is, an over sized jumper. That is how you would stay," he pressed her against him, "until they lined you up for auction for an offering. In a small room, hardly clothed, hardly fed, and all alone…until you're not alone any longer."

The moment his hand loosened in her hair she jerked away, turning on the spot to face him. Her breaths coming out in rapid gulps. She looked at the way he eyed her, almost curiously, like he could not possibly fathom what she would try to do next.

"That is absolutely abhorrent!" What he had just described was sick and disgusting and so vile that she had wanted to vomit right then and there.

"Precisely why you need to be grateful, witch!"

"Grateful!?" Hermione balked at the audacity. Her enslaver telling her to be grateful. Grateful for being put on display, for being used as a sex object, for being treated as less than human since the war.

"Yes, grateful! You practically have it made here."

She could not stop her hand from flying out and striking him in the face. The contact stung and she partly regretted the action for that fact alone, but the fiery blaze in his eyes when his gaze returned to meet hers was enough to make her blood run cold, or it would be if she had given a shit that day.

"Who are you to tell me how grateful I should be? Your life is golden, your blood pure." She spit the last word out with so much acridity and venom that she could taste it. "Here we are Draco, and we both know I was the better wizard, stronger."

"For fuck sake Granger! What else do you want me to do?"

"Not be a deatheater." The retort flew from her mouth and she watched as it landed home right on its mark. His face looked like she had slapped him, but only for a split second before he slipped his mask back on.

"Well, too damn late for that Princess. That is what I am and not only that, but…" Malfoy trailed off, his eyes looking away in irritation, leaving his sentence left unsaid.

"But what Malfoy?"

"Lay off it Granger."

"But… but what Malfoy. But you own me? Was that it? Are we back to that again?"

Hermione took two steps back putting more distance between them. She looked him up and down, daring him to not answer her.

"Fuck Granger, yes! That is exactly it! I. FUCKING. OWN. YOU!" He shouted finally. Irate and flushed he closed the distance between them in one step of his own, staring her down.

Magic like electricity danced around her head at her will, a simple display, before she called it down her shoulder and to her fingertips where she shaped it into a ball. She tossed it in the air and caught it again looking at him smugly. As far as he were aware, she had only been able to do small things up to this point, trivial really, lights, accioing fruits and dishes, stupid things really.

This he had not seen.

He eyed her blue ball of magic warily but did not budge. Instead he cocked his crooked grin and looked back up at her. "You really want to have a go at this Granger?" He flicked his wand out silently, a display of his own. A warning that she was currently outmatched.

She reached up with the hand glowing blue with energy and stroked along his jaw, only releasing enough power to make his hairs stand on end.

"You would already be dead by now." She cooed condescendingly.

Growling he grabbed both of her hands and pulled her to him.

With a glare she let more power go enough to sting just a bit, but he just gritted his teeth and bore deep into her eyes, refusing to let go of his hold of her.

"Damn it, Hermione what is it that you want?" He half shouted half snarled in her face.

"I want out!" she screamed finally at a loss for what else to say. "I want us all out. And by any means necessary." She finished a little quieter a little more subdued.

Malfoy just stared into her eyes again, searching her depths, looking and reading. He was always trying to find her hidden truths, the things he knew she was never going to say, but that was just the way of it. She had a loyalty to them, he was a bystander, a way to a potential means.

Her heart twinged.

"Any means necessary." It was a declaration of clarification, not a question.

Hermione nodded. "Any means."

"Okay."

Hermione froze. Slow and startling recognition gradually taking over.

"What?"

"I said okay." The anger left his eyes, and he shrugged his shoulders, "Now we have a better understanding of each other."

"And you, you're just going to take that? You couldn't possibly…" Her sentence was cut off by a pair of lips colliding down with hers.

He allowed the kiss to linger before slowly pulling away. He looked her in the eyes again this time in question. "We have a better understanding now?"

All she could do was nod stupidly. How had she misjudged this? Draco truly cared for her and her wellbeing. She thought back on their past few times together and while sure some moments could get misconstrued, really… he had been letting her lead it all lately hadn't he?

"We have an understanding." She reached for his shirt and tore it open before using its remains to bring his lips crashing onto hers.

He was giving her both worlds.

And she was allowing herself to have them. She was allowing herself to have him.

Draco met her back with a passion that Hermione could only describe as soul shattering. He delved into her mouth deepening their kiss until she could feel the little tendrils of his magic, but this time they were a little different. This time the magic showed her flashes of images.

Images of her, memories. His memories of her she quickly realized.

He showed her the first time he came to start to respect her, which incidentally was the moment she punched him in third year. He showed her herself at the Yule ball with Krum and the feeling of jealousy he did not quite understand. They started coming faster then more of her at school, snippets of him watching her when no one was looking. Fantasies he began to have of her. Then to when she would dance at the club, and he would watch. He would watch all the time.

Hermione had never felt sexier than she did seeing herself through his eyes, and every memory where she had turned him on in some way had only added fuel to her fire. By the end of the barrage she was completely drenched.

She needed him inside of her, desperately.

She continued to pull at him until they reached his bed where he lifted her with ease and placed her on the surface before crawling over her. There was a rush, a hurriedness, a total hunger Hermione had not known she had felt for the wizard above her until just now. If the first time she had given in just a little bit had been because he had offered hope. This time it was because

They both watched, breathe intermingling as she worried at the buttons on his pants, before undoing his zipper and sliding them down his hips eagerly. When her hand made its way back up, she allowed it to boldly brush against the already straining erection at her fingertips.

He would pick today to not wear shorts. She lifted an eyebrow at him, and he shot her one back in return. In response she wrapped her hand around his shaft pumping once, twice.

He hissed and worked his pants off the rest of the way. In return his fingers found their way to her slit. He lightly slid his finger up and down the outer folds of her center, before circling her entrance with one finger and thrusting in.

"Always so wet Princess…"

She moaned at the feel of him stretching inside her, and when he added a second finger, breathless she began to roll her hips to meet his.

"Gods Hermione you're so fucking gorgeous." The words tumbled from his lips between kisses as he lavished her chest. His words no longer passing right over her but now seeming to settle and drape over the surface of her skin.

Bringing his mouth back to hers he brought her kiss to match the rhythm of the strokes of his fingers inside her. His body lorded over her as he drove her to her edge, devouring his name on his lips. He slowly withdrew his fingers and slid the rest of his body between her legs. He ground against her entrance and met her eyes, a question as he acknowledged that they were indeed equals.

A tear slipped out of one of Hermione's eyes as she nodded. This time when he entered her, the walls she had kept between them were gone. She allowed herself to feel what she had not before. She wrapped her legs around his body possessively as she claimed his mouth demanding more of him.

He thrust harder going deeper causing her to cry out. Draco set a demanding pace, claiming and taking from her, she could feel the difference in the way he touched her. The desperation to hold onto something that was finally real, finally entirely freely given.

Hitching her leg up at the knee Draco shifted his hips just enough that every move he made only pressed on her g-spot from a new angle. Hermione almost cried from the overwhelming sensation of it.

"Oh Gods! Draco!" She knew in the morning he would have streaks of blood trailing down his back from the tracks her nails were leaving, but it was everything she could do to hold on to the man atop her.

"Hermione." He grunted in her ear. "Tell me."

"Fuck! Tell you what?" she managed between pants.

He chuckled and rolled his hips devilishly harder.

She yelled out in ecstasy.

"Tell me you're mine." A whisper in her ear.

She felt herself clench around him.

"Fuck..." He thrust into her harder with a little less control.

"Who's are you Hermione?" He wound his hand in her hair, panting into her face. "Say it."

"Oh, Draco. Fuck," she felt herself start to climb to that peak and Draco held her there not letting her move beyond her point of pleasure no matter how torturous it was for either of them.

She could give him this. This time it would cost her nothing, this time it would not be a lie. In some twisted way this was the man she craved.

A slow grin spread across her face.

"I'm yours." She grabbed a fist full of platinum blonde hair and pulled his mouth back to hers, her hips meeting his erratic thrusts as they both reached their peak.

"Say it again. Say you're mine!" he demanded thrusting harder hitting the same spot over and over, she felt tingling in her toes and at the top of her head right as her vision began to dim.

"Gods, I'm yours Draco Malfoy." Hermione thought she heard herself scream followed by a haze of contentment.

They lay there together in a tangled mess of sheets and limbs. This time Hermione felt raw and exposed, she had yet to succumb to the desire to throw back up her shields. She had decided as long as he was willing to keep his down that she would do so as well.

She allowed herself the time to take in his features while he watched her take him in. She studied his fingers and hands, ran her hands over his face. The only other man she had been with was Ron, and apart from their frenzied trysts or various other activities she had never really had the time to look at him as the man that he was. She traced her fingers up a path on his left arm, stopping just before she got to the slithering skull and snake mark. The very idea made her want to vomit, but he had explained his entire situation, and truly he had just been in the wrong family on the wrong side. Well she supposed right side since the did win.

He, in turn, marveled at the buoyancy of her curls and ran his hands repeatedly over her curves. He obsessed over every inch of her body in a way Hermione had never thought possibly, inquiring to where she had received every scar, even down to the ones from childhood.

Then he wanted to know about what her life was genuinely like now. She told him of life down in the dollhouse. What it was like with the girls, their experiences, their current level of fear and he nodded in understanding.

"But Hermione, I still have to ask your logic behind telling them."

She paused in thought. She supposed this was a moment for trust and the argument was already behind them.

Presuming it to be safe enough she started to explain, "To put it quite simply, they had a right to know. I am no better than them so I had no right to be privy to the knowledge when they would not. We stick together and work together. It is the only way we can make it, Draco." Her eyes pleaded with him to understand.

Once again, he simply nodded and answered with an okay and left it at that. He did however make one request.

"About the dollhouse." The hesitance in his voice gave her pause.

"Yes?"

"I would like you to stay here permanently. I have warded the grounds against Astoria, so she will not be able to get to you in here again. Plus, it is simply better for one of us to continue working on our research when I have to leave."

She thought about it and realized she had quite the question of her own. One that had been eating away at her for weeks.

"Draco, can I ask you a question first? Just where is it you go when you leave? I get that you are looking for leads but I also get this feeling that you go because you have to go not because it is a choice you are making." Her brown eyes watched him astutely. Carefully dissecting his every move for any minor tell.

He blinked slowly.

"Granger you always were too nosey for your own good." He sighed, roving his hand over his face. "Look, I will tell you if that is what you truly wish, but I am going to warn you that you will not like it. I Might I just suggest a different time?"

Watching him she took in his suddenly exhausted appearance at just her merely bringing up the subject. Whatever it was must have been a massive weight to carry and quite honestly Hermione felt like she might have just enough of her own right that moment. With having to juggle both her commitment to Draco and the girls, that was not even mentioning the Astoria factor, she really didn't feel as though she had the breadth to take on anyone else's load.

"Okay, another time." She agreed.

"But the girls…and Ginny and Pavarti." Hesitation laced her voice as she thought about his request. Yes, it did make sense for the sake of their studies, but what of the girls' own work?

"Yes, of course you could permit guests at your will while I am away as well."

Was he serious?

"Draco, are you being serious right now?"

He gave her a dry stare. "Do I look like I could be any more serious right now?"

"Alright."

He graced her with a crooked smile and a peck on the lips.

She had never thought she would be so caught off guard by such an innocent action, but again Draco Malfoy did something that simply defied her odds.

Somehow in that moment, after everything, felt even more intimate than the act they had just done before. Simply laying there together, finally getting to teach each other, to see one another.

Hermione packed the remainder of her meager belongings in the expandable trunk Draco had given her. He had just left again on one his outings and Hermione had decided that was as good a time as any tend to what she needed to in the dollhouse and tidy up loose ends.

"I just still don't understand why you have to move into his suite." Ginny fussed at the door as she continued to watch her friend prepare to leave.

"I told you already," she spun around to make she grabbed everything out of her set of drawers. "it will just make everything a lot easier."

Grabbing the last of her shoes from the closet and stuffing them in the bag she turned surveying the room.

"Well that's the last of it."

"Whatever." Ginny begrudgingly crossed her arms. Hermione could tell she was still cross with her.

"Gin, look, if this is the only way we can get our hands on a wand then I have to take it." She pleaded with her best friend to understand some of the logic behind her reasoning. If any piece would appease her surely the procurement of a wand would!

"You know that is the only reason I am even allowing this to happen in the first place."

"Not like either of us had much of a choice." Hermione muttered under her breath.

"Are we so sure about that?" Her friend looked her directly in the eyes and called her out on her blatant lie.

Hermione gaped, trying to think of something anything to come up with to say. But what was she to say, she herself didn't when the lie had even begun? And even then, it had been mostly to herself really.

"I am your best friend and I'm not blind. I've seen the way you light up when you talk about him. I'm not entirely sure what goes on up there, but I do know it must not all be bad."

She went to interject, but the red haired witch held up a hand.

"All I hope is that when the time comes you don't forget whose side you're really on."

Tears began to mist her eyes as Ginny turned to walk out of the now spartan room. "I won't," she choked out her promise before her friend left the room.

The light shone on her, silhouetting her frame, highlighting all the different facets of red and orange in her hair, in the doorway. She turned to the side before departing one final piece of guidance.

"With a wand Hermione…. There are three potential ways out of here for us, not just the two."

**A/N: So things are going to get a little crazy from here so bear with me. Also thank you all for reading and I really love you comments and feedback! Its like writers crack, I could live on it 😊