Underworld

Chapter Specific Warnings: post-trauma, language, adultery, drug abuse, sexual content.

Chapter 8: Eternity
[Final Chapter]

Hermione sat on the couch in her and Harry's flat.

Her flat she told herself.

Her home.

Hermione looked outside and saw the sun had set. She'd been free for about ten hours now. For some reason being back here felt strange. Being anywhere but in her tiny little room felt strange. She had spent six nights trapped in that room. And yet for some reason, it felt so much longer than that.

Her vision was suddenly blocked by a cup of tea. She followed it up to see Harry, a crooked smile tracing his face. She took it carefully before moving over to allow him to sit beside her. He placed an arm around her. She leaned against him. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Tired," was all she could admit to.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," Harry said, kissing her on the head. He'd apologized constantly over the course of the day. And she had stopped bothering to tell him to stop. She knew he felt bad about what she'd been through, but she also knew it wasn't his fault. "Are you ready to talk about it?"

She'd been pretty quiet throughout the day, trying to process everything she had been through. She was still so very confused about how to feel. Unsure how to accept or even process everything that had happened. She'd seen Draco again after all these years. She'd fought with him, ran away from him. He'd healed her multiple times, protected her. They ate together, slept together, made love together, and in the end…he just gave her back.

Had she been used?

She felt like one of the many reasons for this pit in her stomach was at this hurt that he hadn't tried to keep her. He'd locked her up, told her she'd never go anywhere without him, and then when times got a little rough he'd just told her to leave? He had just told her to go? And right after he'd slept with her. Perhaps that was all he had wanted? Was he simply finished with her now because he had got what he wanted? Had his fill? Proved that she still wanted him after all these years? Proved a part of her still cared?

Hermione pushed those thoughts away as she had kept doing constantly since her return. Because she knew that those thoughts made no sense. She was happy to be free. She was happy to be in Harry's arms again. Happy to be home again. She wanted her freedom and she got it. In fact, the reason she was free was her doing. She had worked her skills as she had said she would. It had been her intention all along to use him, to make him put his guard down and she had so effortlessly succeeded. She had manipulated him so well that he even apologized to her for taking her in the first place. She had been fucking brilliant. She had done so well. She had earned her freedom from that wretched place.

Hermione took a sip of tea to calm all the thoughts in her mind. "There's not much to say," she replied.

"He held you, hostage, for a week," Harry reminded her.

Hermione sighed before taking a second sip of tea. She placed her head on his chest. She knew he wouldn't ask so many questions if she did that. He pulled her in closer as Hermione nestled into him. "Can we talk about it some other time?" Hermione asked. "I just want to enjoy being home." He didn't reply as he held her close and Hermione closed her eyes, willing her thoughts away.

Hermione spent the next few days at home. She was still trying to recover from everything. She just felt so mentally dazed and confused. She didn't know what to think anymore about her time with Draco. Nor did she know how to deal with it all. She told herself each day she'd come to terms with something. The first day she'd come to terms with everything that had happened. She went through the course of events and accepted that it happened. The second day she spent telling herself that a lot of what she was feeling wasn't her fault. She had been a victim and it was natural to undergo different emotions and feelings. Today she had spent telling herself that it didn't matter what had happened in there, none of it meant anything. None of it was normal. The situation had been manipulated the entire time to fit Draco and that wasn't her fault.

Hermione heard their flat door open and she turned from her seat on the couch to see Harry walk in through the door. She smiled, happy for the distraction, she went to greet him. "How are you feeling?" Harry asked pulling her into his arms. Hermione leaned into his touch as she held him close.

"Better."

"I'm glad," he said kissing her head.

Hermione smiled as she held him for just a bit longer before they separated. Hermione saw a briefcase on the table. He only ever had that when it was time to prosecute a case. She stood up straight, "Who's being prosecuted?"

"Draco Malfoy." She could see the seriousness in Harry's voice. She knew that determination within him. "We're putting together the case now and then we'll use his capture to take down the entire Underworld District. It's time that we stop letting the area be separate from the law."

Hermione remembered what Draco had told her, how it was a place for those that knew there was nowhere else for them. She swallowed hesitantly. "Are you sure you have the evidence?"

"Yes. We have Ron's case, and now we have you," he said, releasing her as he headed into the bedroom, no doubt to change.

Hermione trailed after him. "He's a very powerful man," Hermione called out.

"He is," Harry replied, "and we've let him gain that power by not checking him. But now we've got him. There's not a chance of him avoiding this."

Hermione entered the bedroom as she sat down on the bed watching Harry change. "How do you mean?"

She watched as he removed his outer coat. "We have your testimony, and with what you told me about how to gain entrance, we can actually enter and seize the entire damn place."

Hermione remembered having told him about the peculiarities of the wards on the gates. She had opened up about most of her experiences in the Underworld. She left out certain bits, the part where Draco tried to seduce her. The parts where she tried to seduce him. The parts when she had slept with Draco. But she'd been honest with Harry about a lot of the other bits. She wondered for the first time if she should have been. Harry came forward then pulling her off the bed. He kissed her. "I'll make sure he pays for what he did to you. And Greyback. I promise."

Hermione hadn't meant to tell Harry about Greyback, but when he woke her up from a nightmare of slate-colored eyes and the smell of death, she hadn't had a choice. Hermione knew for the last part of her healing was telling Harry the entire truth. She knew that she had to tell him eventually and to beg for his forgiveness. She had cheated. She had gone behind his back. But a part of her kept screaming the entire time that she was a prisoner. She had been forced into it against her will. She did what she had done to escape. It wasn't her fault. But that didn't make it any easier for her to tell herself. Hermione tried her best to smile, but she knew she was doing a poor job at it.

So instead, she leaned in and kissed him. She couldn't tell him yet the truth of everything that happened in those walls, but it didn't mean she didn't love him. Everything she had done had been with the one purpose of returning to him. To get right back here with him. He returned the kiss, deepening it immediately. She knew what Harry wanted. He'd been waiting for her these past few days. He kissed her every day to see if she was ready. Hermione relaxed herself letting his tongue run over hers.

Hermione tried to ignore the fact that it felt wrong. She tried to ignore the fact that it barely made her heart stir. The fact that it barely excited her. She tried to relax into his touch as he pulled her closer, but she could barely keep it together. He pulled away from her as he leaned down and kissed her jaw. She leaned away to give him access as he kissed his way down the column of her neck.

She closed her eyes to just feel.

A pair of silver eyes haunted her as they stared down at her. Silver eyes filled with desire as she felt him thrust into her. Her body stirred.

Her eyes snapped open, effectively cutting off the fantasy, remembering who it was that she was with at this moment. Harry was fiddling with the bottom of her jumper. His fingers dancing over her skin. He felt her tense immediately. He pulled away and looked at her questioningly. She saw the disappointment trace his face as he let her go.

Hermione quickly grabbed his sleeve before he could retreat. She knew she was being ridiculous. She knew Harry was the one she wanted, the one she had begged to return to. Harry was the one she loved. She brought his lips to hers again cradling his face in her hands. He returned it eagerly as she wrapped her arms around him, pulling herself up on her toes. She tried to forget everything. She wanted to forget everything. Everything with Draco had been a mistake. Draco was and had always been a mistake. She loved Harry and he loved her. That was all the two of them would ever need.

Hermione lay in bed when it was finished. She could hear Harry's soft breaths on her neck. She looked over to him. He was sleeping peacefully, content. She on the other hand felt...unfulfilled. She sighed. Seeing he was asleep she stood and headed to the bathroom. She picked up Harry's discarded shirt on the floor as she pulled it over her, leaving it unbuttoned. She walked into the bathroom closing the door as softly she could to avoid waking him. She turned on the light. She flicked the tap for the faucet and she ran her hands beneath the water, scooping it up to splash onto her face. She didn't know why this was happening. She knew she shouldn't let Draco get to her like this.

"I don't need you to change your mind, Granger. I just need you to come to a realization."

She hated Draco so much. She shook her head. He wasn't right. She didn't need him. She didn't want him. She had slept with him, yes, and she had enjoyed it, yes. But she had been forced into the situation because he had kidnapped her. She had been his prisoner for crying out loud.

And she hated being in that dreadful place. Every second was torture. Wasn't it?

Of course, it had been, she reassured herself.

Every second of it?

She was his prisoner the entire time.

Not at the end.

She remembered the morning after. He'd left his wand out on the nightstand. He'd let her out of the room. They'd walked down the corridor together. He'd returned her wand to her. She had every fucking opportunity to escape. She could have hexed him into another dimension at any moment. But she hadn't.

Instead, she had put her wand down.

Instead, she had made love to him.

She had wanted it.

Needed it. Needed every single second with him.

Hermione shuddered at the realization. Maybe Draco had been right, maybe Harry wasn't the one that satisfied her in bed. But that didn't mean she didn't love him. It didn't mean that he wasn't her best friend. It didn't mean they didn't make a great team. Harry needed her and she needed him.

"That makes you stick next to Potter despite the fact that you know he will never satisfy you. You stick by him because you know that is what you should do."

That wasn't true. She loved Harry. She did. She'd loved Harry since as long as she could remember. Harry was all she had ever wanted. She'd do anything for him.

But then why did being here feel so wrong? Why did being in her own flat feel so wrong? Everything had felt wrong since she'd been back.

Because you miss Draco.

Hermione felt her heart pit into her stomach as the thought entered her mind for the first time. She grasped the counter for support. She did miss him. She missed talking to Draco. She missed their arguments, their fights, the twisted way he cared about her. She missed his touch, his taste, the way he made her feel so fucking alive.

It terrified her.

She looked up to meet her reflection in the mirror. She saw the war in her eyes. The two sides of her battling between what it was that she should do, and what it was that she wanted. She didn't want it to be there. She wanted it all to go away. She didn't need this realization, she wanted to go back. She wanted to go back to two weeks ago, before all this. When things were simple. When things made sense. She never should have gone in beyond the gates, she shouldn't have given him the chance to do this to her.

Hermione felt the haunting memories that she had suppressed bubbling back to the surface. Because the truth was that she had told herself the same thing so many years ago, and yet the moment she'd been in contact with him again, even after so long, he still had the exact same effect on her. She had still desperately wanted him despite him caging her against her will. She hadn't even minded it in the end. To herself, she was finally ready to admit the truth. She hadn't left for her own freedom. Hermione had left to protect his.

"You don't have to hide here how you feel Granger, you just have to accept what it is that you want."

She took in a shaky breath as she looked up in the mirror. She knew exactly what she wanted.

She wanted Draco.

She bit her lip, turning off the faucet. It couldn't be, she told herself. She just needed more time. She was just confused and traumatized was all. It had been a long week and he had been her only source of human contact. It was natural for her to have grown an unusual attachment to him. That had to be it. Time would make it all better, time would make this all go away. She stood up stepping away from the mirror.

The movement caught her attention on something. Something that traced her skin. She moved Harry's shirt aside on her abdomen to get a closer look. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. This couldn't be. This couldn't be right. She had to be dreaming because this wasn't possible. Her fingers traced right beside her naval over a familiar shade of blue associated with Charon. It was faint and small, only one single small line on her skin, but it was there, a Charon vein tainting her skin.

She felt anger flood through her. This couldn't be right. He couldn't have done this. He wouldn't have had the audacity to do this to her.

He had fucking drugged her.

"Hermione?" Hermione jumped up covering herself immediately as she turned to see Harry standing in the doorway. "You alright? You didn't seem to hear me calling."

"I'm fine," Hermione said, clutching Harry's shirt over her, hiding her defiled skin. She felt tears prickling at the corner of her eyes despite herself, the emotions of not knowing how else to comprehend what was happening bursting forward in the only way they knew how.

Draco had drugged her.

Harry came forward pulling her into an embrace. She rested her head on his chest as he held her securely against him. Draco had used her. Released her knowing he had chained her to his side forever. "I'm going to fucking kill him for whatever it is that he did to you." Hermione sniffled as she felt his arms pull her closer. She gripped Harry's shirt, twisting the fabric between her fingers, pulling it over her body to hide her tainted skin. "Everything is going to be okay, Hermione. You're safe now. I'm never going to let anything happen to you. I'm with you."

She was now dependent on Charon.

"You're going to learn to love this place."

She would have to go back within the walls.

"It's some dark magic, exclusively sold in the Underworld."

She would need to return to him for future doses.

"If you stop taking the drug for an extended period of time, the veins begin to spread."

Flashes of Ron's death crept into her head, all the Charon veins she'd seen on the people within the Underworld. She felt the fear wash over her at the thought of returning to him, returning within the walls once again. She could see herself taking the drug in his presence once again.

"Charon unlocks your desires while giving you the greatest pleasure you could possibly even imagine."

And she knew exactly when it had happened; understood now the overwhelming desire she had felt that day. She knew he must have drugged her somehow when she shared the meal with him. It explained how much she had needed him that day. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. Drugged, her deepest desire had been to sleep with a man that had chained her to his side forever.

"This place will be our sanctuary."

The tears continued to fall as she pulled Harry close, knowing the lies between them were only just beginning.

Draco sat in his desk chair, looking out his window that overlooked the Underworld, drink in hand. He was wearing a silk black robe haphazardly put on. He swirled the drink in his hand before taking a sip. Business was good. Charon was making him ridiculous amounts of money, especially with the new more potent edible form that hit the market two days ago. He would soon have endless power in this place. He smiled at the thought of it all, how everything in his vision would soon bend to his will.

He thought through once again the course of events that had transpired between him and Granger. He couldn't help but grin at how perfectly to plan everything had went. He knew the moment he saw her on the floor in his throne room that she still wanted him. All he had to do was unlock her desire. He knew she'd attempt an escape; knew he could use it against her to reach her breaking point. She made it so easy.

Of course, there was the hiccup with Greyback. If ham-handed kitten-loving Kerry had done his job right, Granger rightfully wouldn't have gone anywhere near the Den. Draco hadn't intended any real harm to come to her. But Draco liked to focus on the positives, and the fact was that Granger had provided the excuse he had been looking for to target the wolves. And with them properly disposed of, there was no other faction within the Underworld to challenge his rule.

Draco knew deep down that wasn't the full truth. He would have taken out anyone that dared to touch her. He honestly couldn't remember a time he had almost lost his cool more than when he saw Greyback's face in the crook of her neck. He had the audacity to think he could touch her. Though Draco had to admit, thinking of Greyback in the dungeons made him smile. Draco was quite proud that his wolf hunt served as a warning to the entire Underworld to stay away from what was his.

Because Hermione Granger, she belonged to him. She just had to realize it.

He remembered how easily she'd conceded. He knew an injection would never work, so instead, he created a different plan. He knew he had to get her to eat in front of him, and how simple it was for him to manipulate the situation so that when the time came, she took the drug without a second thought. It had been a prototype, the drug had never been used in an edible form before, but the way she screamed in pleasure that afternoon when he took her told him it had worked. Charon always brought people to the height of their pleasures. It unlocked personal desires and she had been begging for him to take her that day.

But to be sure of her feelings, he tested it. He had placed his wand in clear sight for her, paraded her around the house the next morning, and she hadn't even tried to escape. And when he returned her wand to her…she had initiated it herself, encouraged Draco to take her again as Potter pathetically attempted to break through the impenetrable walls. He grinned at the thought of repeat sessions. One dose of Charon was now all it took to bring someone into the Underworld. He smiled at the thought that she would start showing soon. His brand on her would soon be apparent for even Potter to see.

Draco heard the pop announcing Ethel into his bedroom. "Master Draco."

"What?" Draco replied not turning from his seat.

"Master has a visitor."

Draco tilted his head in excitement. "Who?"

"It's Miss. Miss is returned."

A toothy grin escaped Draco's lips. "Where is she?" Draco asked turning to face Ethel.

"Miss in the sitting room, Master."

Draco grinned. "Thank you, Ethel," he said finishing off his drink before standing up to look himself over in the mirror. He decided to change to greet his guest.

He grabbed a shirt when he heard it. "Ethel offered refreshment Master, but Miss refused," Ethel said clearly frustrated with her inability to properly attend guests.

Draco smirked as he turned to his little house-elf. "Don't worry about that, Ethel. Did Miss bring anyone with her?"

"No, Master, Miss alone."

Interesting. "Thank you, Ethel, you may go."

"Yes, Master," she said before popping out of the room.

Draco finished getting dressed. Approving his look in the mirror, Draco grinned as he walked to his bedroom door. She was back, just as he predicted. And she hadn't even brought Potter to support her.

Hermione Granger was his. Had been since the day he took her for the first time. She tried to tell herself she wasn't. Tried to run away to Potter. Told Draco he wasn't worthy. Draco had spent years being tortured, being pushed down, fighting to keep his heart beating and his brain functioning. And every time he wanted to give in, he had remembered her voice. He had remembered her words. For she had challenged him that last night in Hogwarts and he fantasized about this moment since then. Hermione Granger willingly coming to him, just like before. Just like all those lonely Friday nights in the Room of Requirement.

He stopped at the bottom of the staircase and looked over his lovely prize. She was sitting on the couch looking off into the distance. Her mind elsewhere.

Looking at her now, all of it had been worth it. "Granger." She turned to face him. He looked into the same beautiful golden eyes he looked into all those nights back at Hogwarts, they held the same uncertainty mixed with frustration and desire they always held whenever he looked within them. He smiled at the sight. "I've been waiting."

Hermione Granger was finally his, now, until forever.

…And in the Underworld, a leader soon emerged, Draco Malfoy. A man of equal parts power and mystery. He brought with him a magic that chained people to the Underworld. And with this power, it didn't take long for the entire district to bow to his every whim. But the power of the Underworld wasn't enough. And in the darkness, he grew lonely. In the shadows of the Underworld, he desired a companion. But there was only one that he wanted, a Golden Girl trapped in the world outside his gates. She was trapped at the side of his sworn enemy known as the Blood Hound, a man that controlled the outside world with fear. Draco broke her chains, freeing the Golden Girl, he brought her into the Underworld to rule at his side.

The Blood Hound was furious, vowing revenge against Draco for taking his prize. And fearing war, the Golden Girl returned to the outside world. She returned to the Blood Hound to placate his need for violence, and the Blood Hound, ever at her whim, couldn't smite the Underworld at her pleading. But chained at the Blood Hound's side, the Golden Girl grew saddened. And the Blood Hound, seeing the tears of his Golden Girl allowed her a visit back within the gates. And she returned to once again be reunited with Draco. And as a compromise amongst all parties, it was decided that she would spend time at both their sides.

But slowly, over time, her absences lengthened, over time her trips into the Underworld lasted longer each visit. Until eventually, seeing where the Golden Girl's heart truly belonged, the Blood Hound relinquished his hold on the Golden Girl. And with her freedom, the Golden Girl was able to return to Draco Malfoy's side. Reunited for the final time she was now always at his side, as he was always at hers. The two of them united as one, their love a beautiful, burning symbol of everlasting eternity…

At least…that's what the legends say.

End

Author's Sign Off: Thank you so much for reading to the end of my little Hades x Persephone Dramione story! I appreciate all of you that followed along and dropped lovely comments along the way. This was definitely the most ambitious story I've tried to write, and while it got a bit dark at times, I've had fun every step of the way. I know the ending isn't quite a happily ever after, or perhaps what was expected, but my goal was to stick as close as I could to the themes/plot of the Hades x Persephone mythology. Thank you again to everyone that stuck through this journey with me! I hope you all enjoyed the ride :) Happy 2021! xoxo Roo