A/N: This story is a bit different from what I've written before. I usually don't write very dark stuff, because I tend to be "light" in nature, but I, too, have my dark moments, and I figured I'd transform them into fiction. So this story is about a rather abusive Draco Malfoy that has set his mind to have Hermione Granger - and have her he will, whether she wants it or not.
The story starts at the beginning of the Half Blood Prince, so expect things to deviate from canon from that point on – basically I'll still follow JK's storyline for HBP, but with considerable modifications of my own. I wanted to write a story where characters such as Dumbledore and Fred are still alive, because all of my other Harry Potter stories (with just one exception) take place after the Battle of Hogwarts.
Rated M for adult content later on in the story - sexual content with darker themes like bondage as well as 'mild-ish' psychological/physical abuse/violence. And although the story is not excessively dark or traumatic, consider yourselves forewarned, it is not for the faint-hearted either! If this isn't your cup of tea, don't read this story!
Oh, also, I created the mood of the story around one of my favourite angsty song, 'Time is Running Out' (Muse), because I think it really fits my story perfectly, so for those of you who know it, you'll notice the chapters are named after the song lyrics. If you want, you can listen to it on repeat while reading, I did the same while writing.
I usually alternate between Hermione and Draco's p.o.v. in each chapter of my stories, but this time, at least for the first couple of entries, I preferred using only one of the two perspectives, alternating between them.
That being said, hope you enjoy the story and if you do, don't hesitate to review!
Fifty shades of green and silver, scarlet and gold
Chapter 1 - I think I'm drowning, asphyxiated
(Hermione p.o.v.)
Ever since the word was out that Voldemort was back, things had changed drastically in the wizarding world – and Diagon Alley was no exception. It was no longer the lively place Hermione remembered, but a dreary copy of it, with shops that displayed boarded windows and large Ministry of Magic posters that gave security advice or presented moving black-and-white photographs of Death Eaters on the loose. Hermione was sad that shop owners like Ollivander and Florean Fortescue were missing – in fact, it wasn't just that their whereabouts were unknown, but it wasn't even certain whether they were still alive or not, and even if they were alive, they were presumably prisoners of the Death Eaters.
But that was the new world they had to live in and feeling sad about it wasn't going to help things. Hermione was determined to make the best of each day, and the fact that she was finally out of the Burrow (where she had spent quite some time that summer) and away from Fleur Delacour, was something worth celebrating.
She needed new robes and fortunately Mrs. Weasley agreed to let her, Harry and Ron go to Madam Malkin's with only Hagrid for protection. As they entered the shop, Hermione heard an all too familiar voice.
"… not a child, in case you haven't noticed, Mother. I am perfectly capable of doing my shopping alone."
Malfoy! And apparently his mother was there with him, which was pretty bad. Lucius Malfoy was locked up in Azkaban after the battle at the Department of Mysteries, so now more than ever there was animosity between the Malfoys and them.
Hermione saw Malfoy stride over to the mirror to examine himself in his new dark green robes and she knew it was only a matter of time before he saw them. And indeed, it only took him a few more moments before he noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione reflected over his shoulder. His light gray eyes narrowed.
"If you're wondering what the smell is, Mother, a Mudblood just walked in," he said and Hermione felt her temper rising. However, Harry and Ron both had their wands out so she knew she had to be the mature one if she wanted to avoid another clash. Besides, she didn't want Malfoy to know how much his insults were affecting her.
"No, don't, honestly, it's not worth it", she whispered.
"Yeah, like you'd dare do magic out of school," sneered Malfoy. "Who blacked your eye, Granger? I want to send them flowers."
Hermione was seething on the inside but before she could let her temper run wild, Madam Malkin intervened, not that Narcissa Malfoy would have any of it. Harry stood up to her, which was good, but he was perhaps a bit too keen on a fight.
Draco Malfoy was keen as well but luckily the confrontation ended without any incidents, with the two Malfoys leaving Madam Malkin's shop to take their business elsewhere.
Good riddance, Hermione thought as she tried to get over the Malfoys' insults. She should have been immune to them by now, but it still hurt to be called such names simply because her parents had no magical blood.
Fred and George's shop helped take her mind off things, because it presented an assortment of magical goods, one more eccentric than the other. She had a hard time focusing on any one item, there were so many of them, so colourful, and there were so many people inside, browsing.
She managed to squeeze through to a large display near the counter and she started reading the information on one of the Patented Daydream Charms boxes, which sounded very interesting to say the least.
Although unknown to anyone other than herself and Ginny, Hermione was a romantic, so she was attracted by the description of the product that promised a top-quality, highly realistic, thirty-minute daydream, virtually undetectable, which was a plus when you shared a common room and a dormitory with other people. Well, she could always draw the curtains of her four poster bed, but that would only raise suspicion regarding what she was up to.
"You know, that really is extraordinary magic!" she told Ginny, but it was one of her brothers who gave her a reply.
"For that, Hermione, you can have one for free", Fred offered generously.
Hermione smiled at him while carefully putting the box in her bag – she'd have to give it a try soon.
"What's happened to your eye, Hermione?"
"Your punching telescope," she said ruefully. Earlier she made the mistake of fiddling with one of the twins' untested products which had punched her in the eye, and none of Mrs. Weasley's remedies had worked to remove her panda look.
"Oh blimey, I forgot about those," said Fred. "Here —" he said, pulling a tub out of his pocket and handing it to her.
After being reassured that it was safe to use, Hermione dabbed her black eye with the paste and then she and Ginny pored over the Patented Daydream Charms. Hermione had no idea how much time had passed before Fred was back and enthusiastic about promoting his merchandise.
Ginny was interested in getting a Pygmy Puff but Hermione was distracted by the fact that out the window she could see Draco Malfoy hurrying up the street - alone.
"Wonder where his mummy is?" Harry said, frowning. He and Ron had seen Malfoy as well.
"Given her the slip by the looks of it," Ron figured.
"Why, though?" Hermione asked, puzzled. It was interesting that he had ditched his mother, it probably meant that he was up to something.
Harry was thinking the same thing, because he pulled his Invisibility Cloak out of the bag and, although hesitant, Hermione joined him and Ron underneath it and they silently slipped out of the shop.
By the time they got out onto the street Malfoy had disappeared but eventually they saw him – entering Knockturn Alley, not that it was any surprise.
They ventured in after him, surprised that the street was just as deserted as Diagon Alley. Hermione would have thought that what with the Dark Lord being back, there would be a frenzy of activity in these shops, which were mostly dedicated to the Dark Arts.
Malfoy entered Borgin and Burkes, a shop which sold a wide variety of sinister objects, and he was talking to the proprietor of shop.
"If only we could hear what they're saying!" Hermione said wistfully.
"We can!" said Ron excitedly. Hermione was thrilled to see he had a pair of Extendable Ears with him.
Unfortunately the conversation didn't prove to be very enlightening, all they could ascertain was that Draco wanted something from the shop, and that he didn't want anyone to find out about it.
And in that case, it was best to find out if they could, so Hermione came up with an idea.
"You two stay here," she whispered to them then boldly entered the shop.
She tried to be subtle about finding out what Malfoy was interested in but she could tell the proprietor was getting suspicious, so she tried a different approach, hoping against hope that it'd work.
"The thing is, that… er… boy who was in here just now, Draco Malfoy, well, he's a friend of mine, and I want to get him a birthday present, but if he's already reserved anything, I obviously don't want to get him the same thing, so… um…"
"Out," he said sharply. "Get out!"
Hermione did not wait to be asked twice, and together with Harry and Ron, she made her way back to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, unsatisfied with what little they found out.
One week before it was time to head back to Hogwarts, Harry was still as preoccupied with Malfoy's fishy behaviour as Hermione was. In fact he came up with a theory that was shocking – he thought Malfoy took his father's place as a Death Eater!
Ron was sceptic about it and Hermione tended to agree with him, but then Harry pointed out a very interesting fact: back at Madam Malkin's, she hadn't even touched Malfoy, yet he yelled and jerked his arm away from her when she went to roll up his sleeve – his left sleeve, covering his left arm. That could very well mean that he'd been recently branded with the Dark Mark.
Hermione wasn't convinced, but then Harry argued that in Borgin and Burkes, he'd shown the proprietor something they hadn't been able to see, something that seriously scared Borgin – and what could be scarier than the Dark Mark?
Unfortunately, they didn't know anything for sure, so they could only speculate, and Hermione wasn't very keen on doing that.
The first of September arrived before long and it was time to go back to Hogwarts. Hermione was somewhat anxious about this new school year, what with Voldemort being out there, but she was still determined to learn as much as she possibly could so that she would be prepared for the war that was inevitably drawing near.
As Gryffndor Prefects, she and Ron had to join the prefects from the other houses in a special train carriage where the Head Boy and Girl would instruct them of their duties – not that Hermione wasn't perfectly aware of what her responsibilities were. However, this year, the lecture was much longer than usual and when it was finally finished, Ron suddenly cried out.
"Hermione, hurry, or we'll miss the trolley witch! I can't believe it's so late already", he complained then ran out the door, not waiting for her.
"We're supposed to be patrolling the corridors, Ronald, not getting food!" she shouted after him, though she blushed a little that they had made a scene.
Luckily, the others didn't seem to mind, as they also left one by one. Hermione was still gathering her notes when she suddenly realized she wasn't alone - someone had stayed behind with her.
"Can he even afford to buy anything from the trolley? He'll probably just leech off of Potter", said a drawling voice behind her.
Hermione quickly turned around and, as expected, Draco Malfoy was there, an insufferable expression on his already insufferable, albeit indisputably handsome face.
"What's it to you?" she snapped, not in the mood for his pettiness. She headed towards the door but he surprised her by grabbing her hand, none too gentle.
"Loathe as I am to admit it, you're quite right, Granger. What Weaselbee does isn't worth wasting one thought on, I have better things to."
"Wonderful", Hermione spit out, "then perhaps you can start by unhanding me", she said, unnerved by how her skin tingled where his fingers held her fast. "As it happens, I too, have better things to do than waste another moment of my time on you."
She tried to be as acid as possible, but the truth was that it was decidedly difficult for her to maintain a cool exterior. His presence in the small train carriage seemed to saturate the space, and his proximity, not to mention his scent, did weird things to her head. She felt dizzy… like she was drowning, asphyxiated….
"You've got that backwards, Granger. My time is too precious to waste so you should be grateful I'm giving you the time of day."
"That's one 'favour' I can do without, Malfoy", Hermione said, and she drew her wand out, pointing it directly at his pretty face.
"Ooooh, feisty – but we both know that wand is an empty threat. I'm sure you wouldn't use magic and cause trouble. You are, after all, a Prefect, so you have to be a model for the rest of the students."
He knew how to push her buttons, but Hermione wasn't going to go down without a fight.
"I'm glad you remembered I'm a Prefect, because that means I won't hesitate to act in order to ensure that students behave – all students, and that includes you, Malfoy, even if you are a Prefect yourself... Not that your current actions are in any way befitting your station", she added.
"What current actions might you be referring to?" he asked, an ironic smile playing on his lips. "I'm merely socializing with my fellow Prefect, which should be a perfectly acceptable mode of conduct."
"Is that what you call this? I call it restraining me against my will, so let go now, or I won't be held accountable for the consequences", she threatened and several sparks shot out of the tip of her wand.
It had been involuntary, but apparently enough to make Malfoy let go of her arm.
"See you later, Granger", he said pleasantly as she slammed the door of the train carriage in his smiling face.
The rest of the train ride went by in a blur, as Hermione saw red after her meeting with Malfoy. Not even the carriage ride from Hogsmeade to the castle calmed her down, though the cool evening air did help a bit. She wandered why Harry wasn't there with them but she supposed they could have gotten separated on the way – her mind simply wasn't in it to dig further.
The Start-of-term feast didn't do much good for her disposition either, especially when she saw Harry's bloody nose, and then found out that Professor Slughorn would be teaching Potions while Snape would be taking over Defence Against the Dark Arts. And then there was Dumbledore's speech about Voldemort and the Death Eaters…
However, Hermione had no time to dwell on that, she had to lead the first year Gryffindors to their Common Room, and she was doubly annoyed that Ron didn't assist her, preferring to stay behind with Harry instead. So much for his duties as Prefect! He might have been considerate enough to help her with this task, but no, that was asking too much of Ron.
Once she was finally in her dormitory, Hermione started taking off her clothes, thinking that as soon as she was in her PJs, she'd get into bed, try that Daydream charm and probably fall asleep before the charm wore off.
However, she stopped short before pulling her nightgown on, because she noticed something dark on her arm. When she looked closer, sure enough, there were five round bruises on her arm – exactly in the place where Malfoy's fingers had bit into her skin earlier!
Hermione had half a mind to go straight to McGonagall first thing in the morning, to show her the marks and ask her to deduct points from Slytherin for it, but then thought better of it. She didn't want to let Malfoy know he'd upset her.
Exhaustion took over and she fell into a dreamless sleep.
The next morning, as she headed towards the Great Hall with Harry and Ron, they discussed what had happened to Harry's nose (Malfoy had gotten the better of him and broken it): Ron had already heard the story, but Harry told her everything, not leaving out any details of what he'd overheard Malfoy saying.
Hermione could tell that Harry was now fully convinced that Malfoy was a Death Eater.
"Come on, Harry, he was just showing off for Parkinson… What kind of mission would You-Know-Who have given him?" Ron asked, unimpressed with what Harry had just shared.
Hermione wasn't certain things were quite so simple and she said so.
"Well, I don't know… It would be like Malfoy to make himself seem more important than he is… but that's a big lie to tell…"
"Exactly," Harry agreed, and he looked like he wanted to continue arguing the point, however at that moment they reached the Gryffindor table and Ron got too wrapped up in eating to carry on with any civilized conversation.
Hermione herself was in no mood to speculate on whether Malfoy was truly a Death Eater or just boasting for his girlfriend's sake, so she focused on her food as well, that is, until an owl she was not familiar with dropped a small parcel in front of her, then flew away.
Hermione wasn't expecting any packages so she quickly opened the parcel, very intrigued, and drew in a sharp breath when she saw what was inside: a black lace tattoo choker with a black diamond pendant… at least, she thought it was a diamond, it certainly didn't look like an ordinary rhinestone. It must have been extremely expensive and it looked amazing.
If she didn't know better, she would have thought that perhaps the owl hadn't delivered the parcel to the right person, but she saw her name clear as day, written on the paper wrappings. However, there was no indication as to who had sent the choker, neither on the wrappings nor inside of the parcel.
"Woah, who sent that to you, Hermione?" Ginny asked, sounding thoroughly impressed.
"I have no idea…" she trailed off, nonplussed.
Could it have been Ron? The question was out before she was able to stop herself in order to think things through.
"Ron? Did you…?", again, she couldn't finish her sentence, but there was no need to.
"What?" Ron asked, his mouth filled with food, his expression completely blank – he hadn't noticed the parcel and what was in it.
"Never mind", Hermione said quickly, shaking her head in disbelief that she had entertained such a foolish notion even for a second.
Not only was the gift too expensive for Ron to afford, but he'd never be so considerate as to give her such a nice present. He wasn't exactly the flowers and chocolate type and besides, they were officially just friends, nothing more…
When Ginny made a gesture like she was going to touch the diamond pendant, Hermione prevented her from doing so, drawing the magnificent piece of jewellery away, so Ginny couldn't reach it.
"Wait, we don't know who sent it, perhaps it's not safe to touch", she warned.
By then, her gift was drawing quite a lot of attention. The entire Gryffindor table seemed to have gathered round to admire it, Lavender and Parvati oooh-ing loudly, and even Luna had come over to admire the beautiful choker.
Hermione could feel herself go red in the face, for once not relishing in the fact that she was the focus of everyone's attention. Ron had finally stopped eating and was looking at her weirdly.
"There's no note?" he asked sourly, and if she had any lingering doubts about him being the one who sent the gift, Hermione could now rest assured that he was not. Ron's tone and expression suggested that he thought she had a secret or not-so-secret admirer that she hadn't told him about.
"No", she said in a small voice.
Could Viktor have sent it, Hermione wondered, but quickly dismissed the idea. While he did hold her in high regard and could probably afford to send her such an expensive gift, surely he would have sent her a note along with it, despite being rather shy. What was the point in sending a gift and not signing your name?
The unknown filled her with dread and for the second time that day she felt like she was asphyxiating, and it reminded her about the person who had first made her feel that way – Draco Malfoy.
He was rich enough to afford something like that choker, but why would he send it to her? Unless it was cursed, which was entirely possible, and the reason why she had warned Ginny not to touch it in the first place.
Even the name 'choker' sounded sinister when associated with Draco Malfoy, like if he'd have given her the item, his intentions would have been for it to literally 'choke her'. The word sent her thinking of asphyxiation again, and whether it was the power of thought or simply too many candles and too many people gathered in the Great Hall, Hermione really felt like she had no air.
She breathed slowly, trying to calm her erratic heartbeat and then ventured a look at the Slytherin table, quickly lowering her gaze when she noticed Malfoy was watching her. However, the other Slytherins were clearly curious about what was happening too, so it wasn't like he was the only one looking. Any one of them could have held a grudge against her, the Gryffindor 'mudblood', and most were rich enough to afford sending her a cursed item.
"I'll go ask Professor McGonagall whether she can detect any dark magic on it", she declared, deciding that she'd been in the the spotlight for quite long enough and it was time to do something to elucidate the mystery.
"Safer that way", Harry agreed.
She walked briskly to the staff table and after politely greeting everyone, she addressed her Head of House and Deputy Headmistress.
"Professor McGonagall", she said, "I just received this item – it doesn't say who it's from and I'm afraid it might be cursed. Do you think you could tell me whether it's safe to touch it or not?"
Professor McGonagall took the parcel, careful not to directly touch the choker and looked at it closely.
"Why would you suspect it might be cursed, Miss Granger?"
"I don't really have any reason to suspect that, but wouldn't it be better to err on the side of caution? Besides, I find it peculiar that whoever sent the choker didn't deem it appropriate to add a note stating their name and the reason for sending me something like this", she said. "I realize that everything the owls bring in from outside is being checked, so in theory the choker can't be infused with dark magic, but I just have a bad feeling about it."
Hermione hoped she didn't sound foolish and cowardly – it would be completely unfit for an almost-placed-in-Ravenclaw student of Gryffindor House. However, something simply didn't add up and she preferred to be safe than sorry.
"In light of recent events, perhaps you're right to be cautious", Professor McGonagall said, as she waved her wand over the choker, chanting several spells out of which Hermione recognized a few as detection spells.
"I can't detect anything wrong with it. Severus, seeing as you're the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, would you care to take a look?" McGonagall asked Snape.
"Of course, Headmistress", he replied as he took hold of the parcel, and chanting spells over it.
"I don't detect any dark magic either", he declared after several minutes of intent spell casting.
"May I see it too, Miss Granger?" Dumbledore himself asked, and Hermione passed him the choker, being extra careful to only touch the paper wrapping and not the choker itself.
Hermione observed as Dumbledore cast several nonverbal spells, but in the end he arrived at the same conclusion.
"You must have a great admirer, Miss Granger, and no wonder, you're so accomplished. The necklace is safe. " the headmaster declared. "However, just to be on the safe side, I'll touch it first", he continued, and then used a finger of his undamaged hand (Hermione wandered what had happened to the other one to make it look so blackened and… well, lifeless) to poke the choker.
Nothing happened, and Hermione released a breath she didn't know she was holding.
However, the fact that the necklace wasn't cursed was more puzzling than if it had been…
"Perhaps you'd like to put it on now, so that we can make sure that nothing happens when you touch it, Miss Granger", Dumbledore suggested. "Perhaps if it is an ill-intended 'gift', someone might have enchanted it in such way that it only has an effect on you, the intended 'target'."
Hermione saw the sense in that and with a slightly trembling hand she touched the choker with one finger, just like the headmaster had done.
Once again, nothing happened.
Encouraged, Hermione placed the choker around her neck and clasped it shut… and at that very moment she felt a slight tingle go through her body.
She told herself it was nothing, just the effect of the the cold pendant of the choker touching the flushed skin of her neck, but she had a feeling that wasn't all there was to it.
However, she felt foolish telling the professors that she felt a 'tingle' – and they were all clearly waiting for her to say something.
"Well, Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Uhm… I guess everything's OK", she said, gulping away her unease. "Sorry to have bothered you."
"It was no bother, Miss Granger, that's what we're here for. Now go enjoy the meal with your friends", Dumbledore said kindly.
As she made her way back to the Gryffindor table, Ginny was practically bouncing on her seat with excitement.
"I take it the choker's safe?" the redhead asked.
"That's the general opinion", Hermione replied quietly, not wanting to draw more attention.
"Then you actually have a secret admirer, I wonder who it could be…" Ginny trailed off, her eyes wandering wildly about the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. No one in their right mind would have looked at the Slytherin table.
"Who cares? If he doesn't have the courage to sign his name when sending a present, then he's probably not a Gryffindor, and not worth thinking about twice", Ron argued belligerently.
"Oh, like you're so very courageous when it comes to love. Wait, I forget, you have no love life", Ginny teased mercilessly.
Hermione tuned out their banter, and considered whether people would think her cowardly if she just retired and went to the library to do some reading before the first class began. She didn't want to look as if she was running away so she patiently waited for her friends to finish eating.
As they headed to class, she kept fingering the choker, wondering who could have sent it to her and why.
Luckily, Gryffindors had no classes with Slytherin that first day, so she didn't have to put up with any teasing from them - Hermione was sure they'd make really rude comments about the entire situation.
The day passed by quickly and by the time she went up to her dormitory, Hermione had forgotten all about the mysterious gift, her head filled with all the new things she'd learned during classes.
She made a bit of small talk with Parvati but then she let the Indian girl chat with her best friend, Lavender, and she changed into her nightgown.
When getting ready for bed, Hermione realized that she still had the choker on and was just about to unclasp it and take it off her neck, when she decided she'd leave it on. She liked the way it felt against her skin, warm now, perhaps even warmer than her skin, which was strange, but Hermione was too tired to try and make sense of it.
She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow but she had a fitful sleep filled with nightmares in which she was drowning – slowly asphyxiating as her lungs filled with water instead of the much needed air.
The following morning it took Hermione a while to get over the strong impression that the nightmares of drowning had on her, and as she exited the dormitory to meet up with Harry and Ron, she had the random thought that water was the element associated with Slytherin house.
