Okay, so I want to put in a fair amount of warnings. This story will not be for everyone. This story will potentially be upsetting to you. Please, please, please do not read this story if you are sensitive to non-con/rape or dubious consent. This is not in any way a glorification of said topics.
In this fic, Draco Malfoy is not a good person. However, there might be parts where you might forget this, especially the parts told from Hermione's perspective, but please keep in mind that he is not a good person. If you want to read something happier and fluffier, I'd recommend reading another fic of mine called 'Snakes and Sunflowers'.
This story is canon up until The Half-Blood Prince, with a few exceptions that will be explained in the first chapter.
Fair warning, there will not be an ending in which Hermione escapes or snaps out of anything.
I'm estimating this fic to end up at about 25 chapters, and I have 10 1/2 already written. That being said, I'm not sure if I will be updating on a consistent basis, although I might be, depending on my inspiration to write. If you are interested in beta-ing this work for me, please comment that you would be able to, I'd really appreciate it :)
I do not own the Harry Potter Universe or any of the Harry Potter characters.
Before you read this chapter, I'd like to say that Harry, Ron and Ginny are not bad friends. Hermione just has an anxiety disorder, although I don't state it explicitly. She's going to overthink things and be desperate for constant positive reinforcement and affirmation, and feel as if all of her friends secretly hate her when that is far from the case. Untreated, undiagnosed and unacknowledged anxiety disorders can quite frankly twist your life and your thoughts, and I speak from personal experience. If you find yourself identifying with any of Hermione's though patterns in this chapter, I highly recommend seeking therapy or a doctor, and I promise, it will start to get better.
With all of that out of the way, here is the first chapter of For His Juliet .
It all bitterly stung.
How Harry was cheating in Potions with his stupid book-and worse, not only getting away with it but getting praised by Professor Slughorn. How she and Ron were finally getting somewhere, until he found out that she had had her first kiss with Viktor Krum ages ago. Not that that had really meant anything, either, she and Viktor were barely even friends anymore, with his letters having dwindled since that summer, so what did Ron have to be jealous about?
How Ron was on the Quidditch team, because of her, and Harry had used his first opportunity to blatantly disregard the rules of the sport they were so obsessed with. To give Ron some of the Felix Felicis. Harry had sworn up and down to her that he hadn't done so, but Hermione was certain that he was lying, and that what he was doing was wrong.
And then there was how Ron was now snogging Lavender Brown, the girl that had utterly tormented Hermionefor years. And Ron knew it. He knew how Lavender would pick at her hair, her teeth, her personality, her grades, her everything. He had heard the cruel remarks from Lavender that would go straight to Hermione's core, and hit her where it hurt the most. Ron had seen more than enough of Hermione's tears at the girl's words to know how casually Lavender would cut her down, without batting an eye. How easily and eagerly the girl would belittle her. And even still, Ron stuck his tongue down Lavender's throat.
So Hermione had fled the Gryffindor common room that was roaring with festivity, and down the corridors of Hogwarts, to a large bay window on the seventh floor that overlooked the grounds of Hogwarts. The bay window had been something Hermione had discovered in her third year when Ron and Harry had been angry with her - over the rat or maybe the broomstick- who knew. The window was a turn away from the Room of Requirements and the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, and the area was quite secluded. In the last three years, Hermione had not seen a single person whenever she retreated into her sanctuary. So, comforted by the fact that she would be unseen and unheard, she settled into the crook of the window, her face pressed up against the glass. The tears that she had desperately tried to keep at bay came in, in full force, as she choked on her sobs.
Hermione cried for everything she had held back on - how Ron was snogging Lavender, how Harry was a cheat and saw nothing wrong with it, how she could never beat him in Potions, despite every single inch of her success was fought for and won over by her own work. How everyone picked someone or something else over herself every single time, with the exception of her parents; even though they would, at times, pick their Dentistry Practice over her. Oh god, her parents.
How she was a month away from Winter Break, which meant going home and Obliviating her mum and dad, sending them to Australia, so they could be safe. How after wiping her parents' memories, the chances of being able to reverse such a thing would be slim to none. But she needed them to be safe, and this was the only way. How with the wave of a wand, she would become completely and hopelessly unimportant and unwanted to everyone, an afterthought, the last possible choice.
It harkened back to the time when she was a child, without a single friend. Too smart, too bushy, too enthusiastic; too much but somehow not enough. Never invited to birthday parties, sitting alone at lunch tables, and being picked last for every single team, all because she was simply too much and not enough. Even her parents would tell her to dial it back, or quiet herself. Worst of all was when they would suggest that she try to act a bit differently so she would finally make some friends. And that was without the bouts of accidental magic that would make everyone whisper about her as she walked by. Freak.
When she had gotten her Hogwarts letter, she had thought that perhaps she would be welcomed for once. She would finally belong. She would find someone who would choose her first. But all that hope, of course, was all for nought. 'Freak' turned into 'mudblood'. She was still far too much and not nearly enough. Even her friends, who she would move mountains for, she was never quite on the level with them she so desperately craved. The boys had chosen Quidditch and each other over her every single time, and each time it stung. How Ron chose Lavender over her. How Harry chose his stupid Potions book over her, despite the fact that it was dodgy and they didn't know who it came from. Not like they hadn't already dealt with a book that tried to kill people in second year. . How Ron and Harry would very occasionally come to her first - but only for homework and essays, wheedling her into doing most of the work and she'd end up writing pages and pages for them. Hermione was not naive enough to pretend that this wasn't exploitative and manipulative, and how it hurt every single time that they'd approach her would be for schoolwork, but by Merlin, she needed to be wanted, even if it was for something so self-serving on their parts. Hermione knew it wasn't intentional on Harry or Ron's part, but if anything, that made it sting all the more. She was but an afterthought, never the first choice.
And of course, there was always Ginny, but ever since Ginny started dating in her fourth year, Hermione's time with her friend was stretched thin between her latest boyfriend and quidditch. On top of that, Ginny was very popular within her own year, and had a lot of friends to keep up with. So Hermione barely ever even got to talk to Ginny.
And yet still, to her friends, she was too much. She talked too much about school or books or whatever she was interested in. She was too pushy, too emotional, too passionate, too much. She saw the eye-rolls from Ron and Harry whenever she mentioned Hogwarts: A History. She felt their eyes glaze over when she talked about what she had liked about in their classes that day. She heard the sighs of relief when she stopped talking about her latest passion. She knew they would rather talk about anything else than whatever she cared about, and it hurt. She listened to them talk about Quidditch for hours on end, could they not just listen to her talk about a book?
It all slowly ate away at her, bit by bit by bit.
Hermione's shoulders ached, her ribcage was shaking terribly, and her face was red and puffy as she cried for the hopelessness of everything, berating herself for her stupidity that she would ever think that anyone would ever choose her. Not Ron, not Harry, not a single soul in the world. And in her misery, Hermione never once noticed the pair of quicksilver eyes, watching her. The pair of eyes that always watched her.
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Draco came out from the Room of Requirements, where he had recently repaired the Vanishing Cabinet, and put his wand into the holster that rested against his right arm. Repairing the cabinet hadn't been hard. After all, being a Malfoy, he was extraordinarily talented and intelligent. His family had not gotten their piles of riches through stupidity or mistakes. And, as Draco was a Malfoy, he did not make mistakes.
What had happened earlier in the year with the necklace was not an accident. No, it was very purposeful. It was to lure Dumbledore into a false sense of security; to think that Draco was just a stupid and sloppy boy, in over his head; a desperate and pathetic child who could be mostly disregarded, or perhaps even convinced to join the Order. Draco smirked to himself. . That couldn't have been further from the truth. No, the necklace was most decidedly not an accident, and neither was the matter of the recipient.
Katie Bell. Ah, Katie Bell. A perfectly lovely and cheerful girl, by all accounts. Which was what made her the perfect victim for two reasons. First, nobody would suspect that someone would ever intentionally try to hurt sweet little Katie Bell, no the necklace had to have been meant for someone else. The second reason was that Bell was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and Draco needed her off. Why? Because she was a Chaser, and the Reserve Gryffindor Chaser was the mudblood, Dean Thomas. Dean Thomas was dating Weaslette, which was a doomed expedition from the start, and everybody knew it. Putting Thomas on the Gryffindor Team would have him spending more time with the youngest Weasley, fast-tracking their breakup, to propel Weaselette into Potter's arms. If Pothead was busy with Weaslette, he would have less time on his hands - less time to obsessively stalk Draco and act like he wasn't, and less time to spend with his friends. . While the first was merely annoying as Potter had all the stealth of a baby elephant, the more important reason, at least to Draco, was that with a new girlfriend, Potter would have very little time to spend with his friends. Draco didn't care about whether or not Pothead spent time with the Weasel, but he did care about the time that Potter spent with Hermione Granger.
Hermione Granger. Draco had fallen in love with the girl the moment he laid eyes on her for the first time on the Hogwarts Express, and had not looked back since. She was, quite simply, the most extraordinary witch Draco had ever known. She was wickedly intelligent and powerful, and was incredibly beautiful, the kind that everybody noticed immediately, even if she didn't know it herself. The one thing Draco was at least slightly grateful to Pothead and the Weasel was for how rabidly they guarded his Hermione. It made him not have to worry as much about most of the male Hogwarts population panting after what was his. The problem with that, though, was how close his Hermione was to the two idiots.
Thankfully, Potter had never taken an interest in Hermione, truly idiotic as he was to not recognize what a special thing he had right in front of him. But Weasley had noticed, which had truly surprised Draco, as he was the stupider of the pair. Or perhaps, he shouldn't be so surprised. After all, Weasley was only in touch with his baser instincts. It was a wonder that Weasley even had magic at all, as he acted no different than a Muggle. Draco sneered in disgust. Yes, Weasley would fit in amongst Muggles quite easily.
However, stupid as he was, Weasley hadn't noticed how beautiful Hermione was up until the Yule Ball, when Hermione's beauty was truly on full display. One would have to be utterly blind not to notice. But Draco had always known. Of course she was ethereal on the night of the Yule Ball, but she was quite nearly just as beautiful on a day-to-day basis. Of course, there was the slightly bushy hair, but that could be so easily fixed with the right products and enchantments, the kind that was typically hidden in family grimoires that Hermione did not yet have access to. And she did use to have two large front teeth, something Draco had known she had been rather self-conscious about, so he fixed them for her in fourth year. Well, he didn't shrink the teeth himself, but he did enlarge them, knowing that she would go to Madame Pomfrey to have them shrunk. And because she was so smart, he knew that she would take advantage of that, and get them to the size that she wanted.
But Weasley, the absolute moron, had noticed his Hermione. However, Draco wasn't a Slytherin for nothing, and over the past two years had taken steps to circumvent the Weasel from ever truly pursuing her. It wasn't all that hard to do, either, as the Malfoys had been pulling the strings of the Wizarding World and Hogwarts for hundreds and hundreds of years.
In fact, despite Dumbledore's pride in the fact that Hogwarts had no outside influence, that couldn't be further from the truth. Large chunks of Hogwarts were operated by the Malfoys, for instance, the entirety of Slytherin and most things that affected Hermione Granger, to name a few. Hermione's bed was made of the highest quality material, in contrast to her roommate's decade-old mattresses that were commonplace in Gryffindor. The house-elves always made her favourite foods, foods that weren't normally consistently offered at the other tables. Books she would complain about being missing or checked out in the library would mysteriously be there the next time she went, which was usually the very next day. There was a reason Hermione had been able to acquire a time-turner to attend more classes during third year, something that hadn't been granted to a student in eighty-five years. There was a reason that Umbridge didn't dare put her in detention.
When Rita Skeeter had initially written an article early in the Triwizard Tournament, insulting Hermione and insinuating she was romantically involved with Potter, the Malfoys, being a major shareholder in the Daily Prophet, had seen an early copy. Lucius had paid the reporter a visit and had encouraged Rita to change the article into something much more flattering, something that didn't romantically link her to Potter.
Skeeter had quickly changed the article to not mention Hermione, other than in passing as 'the top student of Hogwarts, a stunningly pretty girl,' and had doubled down on the Potter slander in the article to fill the gaps. The edition of the Prophet that covered the Yule Ball covered Hermione more in detail, with Rita singing her praises.
A few months later, Rita had sat her down for a 'Personal Interest' interview and Hermione had given the reporter scathing remarks, disparaging Skeeter and everything she had done in slandering Potter's name. The journalist had then skillfully spun the quotes into praises of every Triwizard Champion, with the notable exception of Potter. The article also included a record of Hermione's impressive grades and reprinted the stunning pictures of Hermione from the Yule Ball on the front of the Societal Pages, as she spun in the light of the decorations, looking absolutely heavenly. The Malfoys had been so pleased with how the article turned out, they had made a very generous donation to the Daily Prophet. Hermione was to be one day, a Malfoy, and Malfoys deserved the best.
Even the things that were initially detrimental to Hermione were to help her in the long run.
Draco had been the one to slip her the page of the Basilisk, and his smart girl carried around a mirror. She was petrified, and therefore rendered safe for the second semester of their second year. While the Malfoys were the ones to cause the Horcrux to wreak havoc on Hogwarts, under the Dark Lord's orders from the back of Quirrell, it was never to target her. No, it wasn't even to kill those at the school unworthy of being there, or even Weaselette, whom the diary had been given to. It was a sign to the Dark Lord's followers that he was to return soon. That the Heir of Slytherin was to return.
The cat hair that had replaced Bulstrode's in the Polyjuice Potion - his brilliant girl - was to keep Hermione from coming to the Slytherin common room with the two dunces. While she was stuck in the bathroom, Draco 'practiced' hexing 'Crabbe' and 'Goyle', while they asked him questions on the Chamber of Secrets. Questions that he gave them very few useful or even true answers to.
The hideous Weasley sweaters that got sent to her for Christmas were annually intercepted by Malfoy House Elves and given to Draco to burn. It was quite possibly one of his favorite parts of the holidays, watching Molly Weasley's hard work blacken and shrivel up. Draco knew that Hermione thought that they had forgotten her, or had chosen not to give her one, and ached for a sweater. Ached to belong with the Weasley family - just as the Weasley family wanted to take her into its fold, but she deserved so much better, and he simply wouldn't allow for her to settle. Not like that, and not for the Weasleys. Hermione wanted to belong with the Weasleys, but Draco would slaughter the entire family before he allowed that to happen - not that it would really even take all too much to get Draco to want to permanently end the Weasley line.
And even though Draco had called her a mudblood in second and part ways through third year, it was to teach her that mudbloods were bad. That mudbloods did not belong. That for as long as she was a mudblood, she wouldn't belong. But of course, like with all things, he would fix that for her. Draco had even stopped calling her a mudblood in third year to endear himself to her, convinced that she had gotten the idea into her head at the very least on a subconscious level.
Of course, there were bumps. Not mistakes, never mistakes, just bumps.
One of the more minor ones was the stupid hippogriff and the even stupider Sirius Black in third year. His Hermione was so compassionate, which was something that he loved about her. Her compassion would be much better, though, when it was properly redirected, away from Black and away from the bloody chicken. The hippogriff was a stupid beast that needed to be put down, and Sirius Black wasn't any different. While Black and the hippogriff escaped, no doubt at the hands of Potter and Dumbledore, who likely dragged Hermione into it as well, the situation was not all negative. It was the first time that he and Hermione had skin-on-skin contact, and while said contact was a slap, it hadn't hurt all that much, with Hermione being as small as she was. It was physical contact from her, something that Draco ached for, so whatever form it took didn't matter. As for Black, Aunt Bella had sent him into the Veil during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries last summer. Black was now trapped in limbo, stuck behind the Veil and unable to pass on to the afterlife or to see the living. The only way that his soul would ever pass onto the afterlife would be by escaping the Veil, something that would require someone on the other side performing some very Dark Magic. Dark enough that the Order would never even think to look for it.
And even if the Order attempted to retrieve his soul from the Veil in the future, it wouldn't be there anymore. Draco's mother had recently harvested Black's soul from the Veil and was planning to use it for a ritual. This was perhaps the worst fate Black could possibly face, as souls used in rituals would be husked of any happiness, any personality, and became Dementors. And the funny thing about Dementors? Well, they retained their human memories, but because they were Dark Beings, their soul would be twisted and contorted beyond recognition. Their mind was still there, at least in some semblance, but tucked away in a back room, where they could only watch their own actions. Even better was that Dementors tended to seek out those who were the most important to them during their lives, those that made them the most happy. So, in Dementor form, Black would be drawn to Potter and the half-breed Lupin, like a moth to a flame. Draco thought that it was a fitting fate for someone who had besmirched the Black family name.
One of the larger complications that the Malfoys had encountered was a man by the name of Viktor Krum. Draco had been well aware that during their fourth year, there had been nothing more than friendship between his Hermione and Krum. He had even let her go to the ball with Krum, because if she couldn't go with him, then she would go with the second most prestigious wizard at the ball. It had all remained well and good until the summer between fourth and fifth year, where Hermione visited Krum in Bulgaria. Just before she left, Krum had kissed his Hermione. While Hermione had pulled back and politely turned him down, Krum had touched what was not his to touch. Brainstorming and doling out Krum's punishment had been a nice father-son bonding activity for Draco and Lucius and in the end, they had arranged for Krum to break his leg pretty nastily in the middle of a game in a rather humiliating matter. They then cursed Krum to be physically unable to ride a broomstick, without feeling an immense amount of pain, comparative to the cruciatus. Unable to fly a broom, Krum was kicked off of the team fairly quickly, and his career was ruined. Draco had only then called it even and left Krum alone.
His mother, though, wasn't satisfied, outraged on the behalf of the girl who she had thought of as her daughter the moment Draco had first written home, informing his parents that he had found the girl who would be his wife. She had travelled all the way to Bulgaria to pay Krum a visit and had broken all of his bones slowly and methodically, in such a way that they couldn't be healed by magic. She then had Imperiused the Quidditch Player to stab himself with the sharpest object that he could find every time he thought of pursuing Hermione romantically.
While Bellatrix was thought of as the more vicious Black sister of the two of them - the blood traitor Andromeda excluded, naturally - Narcissa could more than hold her own, just as well as Bellatrix. The difference between the two was that she wasn't as loud about it, and she only saved her tricks for those she hated. Not to say that Narcissa didn't hate many people, on the contrary, she did. Anybody who dared try and cross the Black family, the Dark Lord, who was Draco's godfather, or the Malfoy family made it onto her list. Narcissa was nothing if not fiercely loyal to her family, her son's godfather, her husband, her son, and Hermione, someone who had been, albeit unknowingly, a part of her family since Draco's first year.
Another major hiccup was Hermione coming to the Battle of the Department of Mysteries at the end of their fifth year. Draco wanted to kill Potter for dragging his Hermione into danger like that, where she had ended up being cursed by Antonin Dolohov, leaving a large scar. Of course, his mother would be able to heal the scar completely once she had access to his Hermione, being immensely skilled in Dark Healing as she was, but in the meantime, Hermione had seemed to be managing.
As for Dolohov, Bellatrix had taught Draco how to use the Cruciatus Curse, and they used Dolohov as practice. It was not until long after Dolohov's mind was completely shattered and Draco had become bored of the man's screams, something that had taken three months, that Draco cast the killing curse on Dolohov.
Not only had Potter gotten Hermione almost killed, the Battle of Mysteries had also gotten Draco's father imprisoned in Azkaban. While Lucius was discretely rescued only a few months into his imprisonment, Potter had still sent his father to Azkaban. Lucius Malfoy's arrest had made pulling strings a little more difficult, but only slightly so. Money was still money, after all, no matter how dirty the pockets it comes from.
While his father had been imprisoned, Draco had filled the role of the right-hand man to the Dark Lord, while Lucius was in Azkaban. It was a role that had long awaited Draco since his birth when he had been designated as the Dark Lord's Heir as the Dark Lord's godson.
During that time, Draco had also taken the initiative to suggest a plan for breaking into Hogwarts and killing Dumbledore. Draco's reward for the task was to be Hermione Granger, alive, unharmed and excused of any transgressions committed against the Dark, to be captured by his Aunt Bellatrix when Draco killed Dumbledore.
The Dark Lord had already been terribly interested in Hermione. He had taken notice of her while he had possessed Quirrell, and not only just for Hermione's immense intelligence. Hermione Granger, by Merlin-given coincidence, was incredibly similar to the Dark Lord's dead daughter, Madeleine Rosier, who had died in 1980.
The one concern that the Dark Lord did have though in swaying her to their cause was with Hermione's blood status. Not that he minded all that much that she was a mudblood, being a half-blood himself. No, power could easily erase the issue of blood, and Hermione was certainly powerful. The concern lay with Hermione's likely trepidation with a side that was full of pureblood supremacists, with her blood being less than pure.
However, in the Black Family Grimoire, there was an old, complicated, and incredibly Dark ritual that would completely purify Hermione's blood. It was something similar to a Blood Adoption, although it differed in the feature that the parentage could come from people who were long dead, given that you had their blood. In addition, it completely erased any and all traces of the previous parentage legally, magically or otherwise, and would magically replace all records of the original parentage with the newly given parentage. As far as the rest of the world would know, according to all of Hermione's ministry records, she had always been a pureblood. The ritual was a Black Family Secret and involved such controversial ingredients such as a soul taken from the Veil, and the blood drained from a unicorn. In fact, the soul that was planned to be used was Sirius Black's, in some twist of irony.
The Dark Lord had agreed, his only condition being that one of the families that Hermione was adopted into was his own. He had then provided a vial of blood from Madeleine Rosier, his daughter and original heir. Madeleine had been born in 1960 to Hyacinth Rosier, and had remarkably similar colouring to Hermione Granger. They had the same golden brown hair, the same pale skin and the same tawny brown eyes. That's not where the similarities ended, either. Both were incredibly intelligent and magically gifted, with fiery tempers and passionate dispositions. And, even though she was directly descended from Salazar Slytherin, Madeleine, like Hermione, was sorted into Gryffindor. Madeleine had been killed by the Order of the Phoenix in the winter of 1980 and her relationship to the Dark Lord was only known by a select few people. In fact, only the Malfoys, the Blacks, Snape, Hyacinth Rosier, who had died in 1976, and the Dark Lord himself knew that Madeleine had been his daughter. While the Dark Lord was not a man of excess love, the love that he had was extended to a very short list of people, and his daughter had been on that list.
The other bloodline that was planned to be used was from Regulus Black, who had been the Heir to the House of Black before he had died in 1979. The purpose of this was to further cement Draco's claim over being the Heir to the House of Black. Draco's status as the Heir of the House of Black was only partially uncertain because Sirius Black III, who was the heir before he was disowned, had named Potter as his heir before he died. Although Black had been disowned from the Black family when he was sixteen, and had never been the Head of the House, there might be stronger resistance from the public in Draco inheriting the role of the Head of the House of Black over Potter, despite Draco's much stronger claim to the title. It also helped, of course, that Hermione's curls were similar to the curls of many of the Blacks, and her aristocratic features were similar enough to those commonly found in the Black family. In fact, Hermione was so physically similar to the two lines that the ritual wouldn't change her appearance at all.
Draco took this as a sign that it was meant to be. Hermione's capture would truly be a long time coming, and terribly useful to him, and to the Dark Side. She would provide a wife to Draco, a daughter figure to Narcissa, Bellatrix, and Lucius, and a non-existent, although much wanted, grandchild to the Dark Lord. Even still, that wasn't even mentioning the amount of plans she would be able to provide assistance with just by her existence. Propaganda to fully turn the public to their side, as well as financially securing the vast amount of wealth contained in the Black Family Vault, for example. Even his mother and his Aunt Bella had used the situation to their advantage, coercing Snape into an Unbreakable Vow as a part of a long-game effort to out the surly man as a spy. It was something both Black sisters had suspected for years, believing that he was at fault for Madeleine's death. While it was possible that Madeleine had been targeted simply for being such a skilled fighter for the Dark, it was highly likely that her true identity had been revealed to the Order. With the circle being so small, and consisting of Madeleine's family and closest of friends, it was more than likely that Snape was the leak. Narcissa and Bellatrix had been so close to Madeleine that they may as well have been sisters, so after Madeleine's untimely death, they had vowed to make whoever was responsible pay dearly.
Draco's thoughts were interrupted by fast-approaching footsteps, and he disillusioned himself as he watched Hermione Granger tear through the corridor, and down to her bay window, she liked to sit in, as if summoned by his thoughts. The window was something she had probably thought that only she knew, but of course, Draco made it his business to know everything about her.
Draco had been particularly skilled in Legilimency, having been trained in the Mind Arts since he was a young child, and was highly proficient, even before coming to Hogwarts. He was something of a prodigy in the art of magical manipulation of the mind. Using a very subtle Legilimency probe, Draco read through her thoughts. It was one of his favourite things to do. If he couldn't talk to her and know everything she thought, then he would simply read her thoughts.
Hermione's mind was completely preoccupied with the two halfwits she called friends. Potter and Weasley certainly didn't deserve her tears with their careless actions, beautiful as she was, even with puffy eyes and a red face.
Although, Draco chuckled to himself at the irony, he himself was partially responsible for said actions. For Pothead, the book he was so obsessed over was something Draco had stolen from Snape and had placed in the storage rooms of the Potions classroom. The book had a subtle compulsion charm keyed only for Potter to find, as he wouldn't have expected to be taking Potions, and therefore, wouldn't have bought a book for it. Draco knew that Potty would use the book to cheat through the class, and how that would irritate Hermione's sanctimonious ideals and drive a wedge between the two.
As for the Weasel, he was easily distractible. Draco had known how Lavender Brown had treated Hermione and had been waiting to get back at her for that for some time. Although this was only the beginning of his plans, he thought that spiking her drink with a rather dark and potent love potion that lasted eight months keyed to Ron Weasely was a nice start. The potion was fairly detrimental to the health of the drinker, but that was just an added bonus.
Draco knew that having one of her so-called best friends go out with one of her greatest tormentors would deeply hurt Hermione, but that was a necessary evil to ruin Weasley's chances. Still, he would make it up to her a thousand times over. But still, as a punishment to Weasley for being so weak, and for hurting his witch, Draco would make sure some poisoned mead would make its way into the hands of the ginger. It wouldn't kill him, even if nobody brewed an antidote or shoved a bezoar down his throat in time, but it would be unpleasant. When Draco killed the Weasel, he wouldn't make it nearly as nice and quick. No, he had multiple complex, drawn-out, and - most importantly - incredibly painful plans in his mind for Weasley's demise, just waiting to be used. While Potter was for the Dark Lord, the Weasel was for him. Even still, Draco hoped that as the Heir, the Dark Lord would allow him to spend some quality time with Potter.
Then, there was the Weaselette. In Draco's opinion, the bitch was a complete slag, nothing more than a cheap whore. And when he and the Dark Lord remade the Wizarding World, Ginevra Weasley's 'skills' would be put to use, and the girl would rue the day she ever spread her legs. Not that the Weaselette would've ever turned out any different, between her equally whorish mother who got pregnant at the age of seventeen, who was heavily pregnant during her wedding, and her overall low breeding.
When Hermione's thoughts turned to the upcoming Obliviation of her parents, Draco was once again struck by her intelligence. In fact, this was incredibly helpful to Draco's plans. Hermione would not have any parents coming after her, even though they were Muggles and couldn't do much of anything, it would still be inconvenient. And he wouldn't have to set up a tragic fate to befall her parents, which would undoubtedly upset his Hermione. No, them forgetting all about her by her own hand couldn't have been more opportune.
Draco's heart broke a little when his little witch thought about the rejection she had always faced, both in the Muggle and Magical world. How she was never chosen first, was never anybody's first priority. What little she knew. She most certainly was his first priority, and she was more than just his first choice. In fact, just the other day, he had crucio'd Ernie MacMillian to hell and back, before obliviating him, after finding out about the Hufflepuff's plans to ask his Hermione on a date to Hogsmeade.
And when Hermione started thinking about how terrible her friends were, Draco's mouth curled upward into a smirk. There was his brilliant girl. While he knew that her friends lamented her passions, lofty goals, and whip-sharp intelligence, Draco celebrated it.
"Oh, darling," Draco whispered, "You'll simply be unstoppable when you're a Malfoy."
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