CHAPTER 15
Ten minutes later, Draco got up and took a shower. He dressed and waited for Hermione to finish.
They walked downstairs for breakfast, but before they went into the dining room, Narcissa grabbed them. "Did your father beat you again last night?" Draco looked down at the floor but didn't answer. I saw blood on the carpet. Don't try to protect him, Draco."
"I'm not, Mom." He looked up into her eyes.
"So did he hit you?"
"Yes. He beat me till my nose and lip were bleeding and my eye was black and I had bruises all over my body! There! Are you happy now? Can we eat now?" he yelled, getting annoyed. He hated talking about his beatings.
"It doesn't look like he got you that bad," Narcissa noted.
"If you don't know, here's a little news flash for ya. I'm dating the smartest witch in the school. She knows all those spells to get rid of bruises. Now, can Hermione and I please eat?"
"Fine. But why do you always blow me off when he hits you?"
"Maybe because I hate talking about it, okay? I hate when he hits me! I hate when he makes me feel like I'm a little kid! I hate it that no matter what he does I can't answer him! I hate him and I never wanna be like him!" Draco yelled.
He turned to look at Hermione. She was standing there, stiff as a board, with wide eyes. Then he looked down at his hand that was holding Hermione's. It was crushing her fingers together and obviously causing her a lot of pain.
"I'm so sorry," he said letting go. He was so shocked. He didn't even realize that he was gripping her hand so tight. "'Mione, are you okay?"
She nodded slightly and looked down at her hand. She was able to mover her fingers, which meant that nothing was broken. "I'm fine. What about you? I've never seen you that angry. I'm actually scared."
"I'll be okay," he reassured her. "I don't wanna scare you."
She nodded and they walked into the dining room to eat breakfast. Breakfast was much more enjoyable than dinner. Draco and Hermione were the only two there, and they talked.
"Do you always fight with your parents?" Hermione asked.
"Not always, but sometimes. As you probably figured out, I don't like to talk about when my father beats me. And I only told you because you deserve to know. I don't wanna keep anything from you."
"I won't keep anything from you either. You're the only person that knows I've cut myself. I don't think I'd be able to lie to you anyway."
"Hey, I'm going to Diagon Alley today to get your Christmas present. You wanna come with me? Of course we'll have to split up and bring back packs to put each other's gift in. After we're done we could we could get lunch at the Leaky Cauldron," Draco suggested.
"Yeah, sure."
After breakfast, they headed up to Draco's room. They were using his fireplace to floo.
Hermione went first. She threw the powder in and when the flames turned green, she said very clearly, "Diagon Alley!"
After she was gone, Draco did the same and a few seconds later, he came out in Madame Malkin's.
Draco turned to Hermione and said, "Meet me in the Leaky Cauldron at two."
"Okay. I'll see you then."
They kissed quickly and then headed their separate directions. ~ At two, Draco headed for the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione was already at a booth waiting for him. Draco spotted her and headed over to where she was.
They both had backpacks that held each other's present. Draco placed his on the booth next to him.
"So what'd you get me?" he asked with an innocent smile.
"Nothing. What'd you get me?"
"Well if you got me nothing, then I got you nothing."
"Fine. That's fair."
They ordered their food and ate without much talking. This time, however, Hermione wasn't uncomfortable. She was actually happy for the silence. It was pleasant enough just to be in each other's company.
When they finished, Draco paid and asked Tom if he could use his fireplace. Tom said they could, and Draco and Hermione headed back to the Malfoy Manor.
They came out in the main fireplace and were heading to the elevator and heard Lucius call from his office, "Draco, come in here for a minute. We need to talk."
"Yes, Father. I'll be right there." He saw Hermione's eyes get wide and said to her, "I'll be fine. It can't be anything too serious or he would have used that stupid charm, even though I am right in front of his office. Go up to my room. I'll be up there in no more than five minutes."
Hermione nodded and did as she was told, even though she was reluctant. Draco headed into Lucius' office to see what he wanted.
"You called me, Father."
"Yes. Did you tell your mother what happened?" Draco looked down. "How many times have I told you not to tell her? When you do, she comes to me and gets all teary eyed. You can't tell her!" he roared.
"It wasn't my fault," Draco answered calmly. "She saw the blood, she knew what happened and I wasn't gunna tell her, but I got mad and slipped. I swear, I wasn't planning on saying anything."
"You have to learn to bite your tongue, Draco! And you're supposed to obey your Father! I'll teach you!"
He punched Draco in the cheek and a bruise began to form. "I can see that you're becoming resistant to pain," Lucius commented, and punched him in the side.
Draco gritted his teeth and stood still, looking straight ahead and hating his father more with every passing second.
Seeing Draco's lack of reaction, Lucius kicked out his legs and then began kicking his face and legs.
After a few minutes of kicking, Lucius commanded Draco to get up, and he did as he was told. "Now get out of my sight and never mention a word of this to anyone."
"Yes sir." Draco turned and left. He looked worse than he had the night before. His nose and lip were bleeding again, but he also had blood dripping down his face from under his silver-blonde hair. He could feel the bruises forming on his back and chest.
Hermione figured that since Draco hadn't come back yet that he had been beaten again. She already had a wet towel and her wand ready when Draco came in and lay down on his bed.
This time Hermione healed his bruises and cuts first, then cleaned the blood out of his face and hair.
"I hate him," Draco stated simply. "He beat me 'cause Mom found out. I don't know what the hell his problem is. Some days I wish I would just die. I hate coming home. When I graduate, I'm taking you and we're gunna live in a big house in the middle of nowhere. No one is gunna know where we live. The only way that people we know will be able to get in and out is to either floo or apparate."
Hermione smiled and lay down with her head on his chest. "I'd like that," she said.
Draco smiled and began to absent-mindedly stroke her hair. "My goal for the rest of vacation is to not get my father mad. I don't wanna get beat again. I don't like having you see me like that. I know how much it hurts you to see me all bruised and bloody."
"He scares me. My father doesn't even scare me that much. I'm afraid that if I'm not careful, he'll hit me like he hits you. I know that my father won't do that to me, but I'm not sure about yours."
"'Mione, I would never let him touch you, EVER! I promise, he won't come near you, okay?"
Hermione stayed quiet and just listened to the sound of his heartbeat, she found it very comforting. ~ Two days later it was Christmas, and Draco had managed to stay out of Lucius' way. Hermione had been staying in Draco's room at night because she felt protected when Draco was around.
She woke up with Draco's strong arms around her and wriggled free so she could brush her teeth and go to her room to get his present.
When she got back his eyes were opened.
"Merry Christmas, 'Mione."
"Merry Christmas, Draco." She went back to his bed and kissed him.
She pulled a long, slender box out from behind her back. It was wrapped in very pretty silver paper.
"What's this?"
"A box filled with tissue paper," she answered sarcastically.
"Really? That's just what I've always wanted!! How the hell did you guess?"
They both started laughing as he began to pull the paper off. He lifted the lid off the box and inside laid the new Lightning Bolt 420. Draco's eyes almost popped out of his head and he looked from the broom to Hermione and from Hermione to the broom."
"H-How'd you get this? It's like 300 galleons!"
"Well I've been saving my money since I started at Hogwarts. I was planning on using it for a special occasion and in my mind this is a special occasion."
"Thank you so much." He hugged her so tight that she could hardly breathe.
"Draco you're killing me."
"Oh right, sorry."
"That's okay."
"Listen, I can't give you your gift in here. Get dressed and meet me by the back door downstairs."
Hermione got curious, so she ran to her room to get dressed.
Draco did a quick changing spell and ran outside to set everything up.
When Hermione got outside, she didn't find Draco, she found a note.
Follow the roses. Tow for every year that I've loved you. One for each month we've been together. You'll find me under the largest tree in the Most secluded part of the forest that is straight ahead.
Hermione followed the instructions and picked up the roses as she went along. She picked up eleven and ended up near a large tree and Draco was leaning up against it, smiling.
"Okay, so now that we're out here, what's this all about?" she asked.
"It's about this." He stepped up to her and kissed her. It was a very passionate kiss that clearly said that he loved her and wanted to be with her forever.
"Hermione, I love you with all my heart, and I know that you love me. I know we haven't been dating very long, but I definitely know that I can't live without you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He got down on one knee and pulled a small box out of his pocket. "Hermione Ann Riddle, will you marry me?"
"Yes! Oh my God, yes!!" She had tears of joy streaming down her face as Draco placed the ring on her finger. The ring was gold and had a single diamond in it.
She pulled him up off the ground and kissed him. A light snow began to fall around them. So far, it was turning out to be the perfect Christmas.
After an hour of just holding each other, they went back inside. Their hair had snow in it, but neither one of them was in the slightest bit cold.
They walked into the living room and Narcissa asked, "Where were you? You're both covered in snow. Aren't you cold? What were you doing?"
"Mom, chill out. We're not cold. We were out in the forest, and I was giving Hermione he Christmas present."
"Which is?"
"We're engaged."
"Oh, I'm so happy for the both of you!" she squealed. She looked at the ring on Hermione's hand. "That is such a lovely ring. Where'd you buy it, Draco?"
"In Diagon Alley."
"How much was it?" she asked.
"That's not important, but if you really must know, it was 400 galleons."
Hermione didn't think that he'd spend that much money just on a ring, and then the roses, and then building up the courage to ask, and then setting everything up in less than five minutes. "You didn't have that," Hermione said quietly.
"And you didn't have to buy me a new broom."
"What broom?" Narcissa asked.
"I bought him the Lightning Bolt 420," Hermione answered.
"Those are like 300 galleons!" Narcissa almost yelled.
Both Draco and Hermione were getting embarrassed. "Listen, Mom, we're gunna go back upstairs."
"You can go after you open the rest of your presents."
"Okay," they said together.
Draco got a new set of Quidditch balls from his parents, and the key to a new house in a very remote area for when he got out of school. He also got candy from Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle.
The Malfoys bought Hermione an invisibility cloak. She thanked them about a million times. She wasn't expecting to get anything else, but there were two other packages with her name on them. The first was from Voldemort. It was a green bracelet and was made out of all expensive green gems. On each gem was a silver snake. The other box was bigger. There was a card on it. She opened the card first, it said:
Slytherin Bitch, We hope you have a horrible Christmas and you Rot in the Malfoy Manor. We thought that you'd Appreciate this. It's slimy and slithers around, Just like you. Enjoy your new.pet.
Signed, The Gryffindor House.
Every Gryffindor had signed it. Hermione wasn't fazed, but Draco looked like he wanted to kill every one of them.
Hermione unwrapped the package and revealed a large glass cage with a black snake that was patterned with green and silver diamonds.
"He's really pretty," she said.
"Don't touch it yet. It may be poisonous or charmed so that when something goes in the cage he'll kill it. We can bring it upstairs and do spells that will make sure he's not."
Hermione nodded and they grabbed their gifts and brought them up to Draco's room.
Draco conjured up a rat and threw it in the cage. As soon as the snake saw it coming down, he picked up his head and caught it before it could reach the bottom. It clamped its jaws down and swallowed it.
"Well he looked hungry," Draco commented. "Imagine if that was your hand. They probably charmed it to kill anything that goes in the cage."
Draco took out his wand and muttered a few spells. It's eyes changed from a bright red to a gentle blue.
"It's changing," said Hermione. "Its eyes turned blue and his fangs aren't as long, and they're dry, there's nothing dripping off them."
"I told you they did something to him." He dropped in another rat, but the snake hardly noticed. "You can pick him up now."
Hermione put her hand in the cage and pulled the snake out. He began crawling up her arm, around her neck and down her other arm.
"I like him. I think I'll name him Salazar."
Ten minutes later, Draco got up and took a shower. He dressed and waited for Hermione to finish.
They walked downstairs for breakfast, but before they went into the dining room, Narcissa grabbed them. "Did your father beat you again last night?" Draco looked down at the floor but didn't answer. I saw blood on the carpet. Don't try to protect him, Draco."
"I'm not, Mom." He looked up into her eyes.
"So did he hit you?"
"Yes. He beat me till my nose and lip were bleeding and my eye was black and I had bruises all over my body! There! Are you happy now? Can we eat now?" he yelled, getting annoyed. He hated talking about his beatings.
"It doesn't look like he got you that bad," Narcissa noted.
"If you don't know, here's a little news flash for ya. I'm dating the smartest witch in the school. She knows all those spells to get rid of bruises. Now, can Hermione and I please eat?"
"Fine. But why do you always blow me off when he hits you?"
"Maybe because I hate talking about it, okay? I hate when he hits me! I hate when he makes me feel like I'm a little kid! I hate it that no matter what he does I can't answer him! I hate him and I never wanna be like him!" Draco yelled.
He turned to look at Hermione. She was standing there, stiff as a board, with wide eyes. Then he looked down at his hand that was holding Hermione's. It was crushing her fingers together and obviously causing her a lot of pain.
"I'm so sorry," he said letting go. He was so shocked. He didn't even realize that he was gripping her hand so tight. "'Mione, are you okay?"
She nodded slightly and looked down at her hand. She was able to mover her fingers, which meant that nothing was broken. "I'm fine. What about you? I've never seen you that angry. I'm actually scared."
"I'll be okay," he reassured her. "I don't wanna scare you."
She nodded and they walked into the dining room to eat breakfast. Breakfast was much more enjoyable than dinner. Draco and Hermione were the only two there, and they talked.
"Do you always fight with your parents?" Hermione asked.
"Not always, but sometimes. As you probably figured out, I don't like to talk about when my father beats me. And I only told you because you deserve to know. I don't wanna keep anything from you."
"I won't keep anything from you either. You're the only person that knows I've cut myself. I don't think I'd be able to lie to you anyway."
"Hey, I'm going to Diagon Alley today to get your Christmas present. You wanna come with me? Of course we'll have to split up and bring back packs to put each other's gift in. After we're done we could we could get lunch at the Leaky Cauldron," Draco suggested.
"Yeah, sure."
After breakfast, they headed up to Draco's room. They were using his fireplace to floo.
Hermione went first. She threw the powder in and when the flames turned green, she said very clearly, "Diagon Alley!"
After she was gone, Draco did the same and a few seconds later, he came out in Madame Malkin's.
Draco turned to Hermione and said, "Meet me in the Leaky Cauldron at two."
"Okay. I'll see you then."
They kissed quickly and then headed their separate directions. ~ At two, Draco headed for the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione was already at a booth waiting for him. Draco spotted her and headed over to where she was.
They both had backpacks that held each other's present. Draco placed his on the booth next to him.
"So what'd you get me?" he asked with an innocent smile.
"Nothing. What'd you get me?"
"Well if you got me nothing, then I got you nothing."
"Fine. That's fair."
They ordered their food and ate without much talking. This time, however, Hermione wasn't uncomfortable. She was actually happy for the silence. It was pleasant enough just to be in each other's company.
When they finished, Draco paid and asked Tom if he could use his fireplace. Tom said they could, and Draco and Hermione headed back to the Malfoy Manor.
They came out in the main fireplace and were heading to the elevator and heard Lucius call from his office, "Draco, come in here for a minute. We need to talk."
"Yes, Father. I'll be right there." He saw Hermione's eyes get wide and said to her, "I'll be fine. It can't be anything too serious or he would have used that stupid charm, even though I am right in front of his office. Go up to my room. I'll be up there in no more than five minutes."
Hermione nodded and did as she was told, even though she was reluctant. Draco headed into Lucius' office to see what he wanted.
"You called me, Father."
"Yes. Did you tell your mother what happened?" Draco looked down. "How many times have I told you not to tell her? When you do, she comes to me and gets all teary eyed. You can't tell her!" he roared.
"It wasn't my fault," Draco answered calmly. "She saw the blood, she knew what happened and I wasn't gunna tell her, but I got mad and slipped. I swear, I wasn't planning on saying anything."
"You have to learn to bite your tongue, Draco! And you're supposed to obey your Father! I'll teach you!"
He punched Draco in the cheek and a bruise began to form. "I can see that you're becoming resistant to pain," Lucius commented, and punched him in the side.
Draco gritted his teeth and stood still, looking straight ahead and hating his father more with every passing second.
Seeing Draco's lack of reaction, Lucius kicked out his legs and then began kicking his face and legs.
After a few minutes of kicking, Lucius commanded Draco to get up, and he did as he was told. "Now get out of my sight and never mention a word of this to anyone."
"Yes sir." Draco turned and left. He looked worse than he had the night before. His nose and lip were bleeding again, but he also had blood dripping down his face from under his silver-blonde hair. He could feel the bruises forming on his back and chest.
Hermione figured that since Draco hadn't come back yet that he had been beaten again. She already had a wet towel and her wand ready when Draco came in and lay down on his bed.
This time Hermione healed his bruises and cuts first, then cleaned the blood out of his face and hair.
"I hate him," Draco stated simply. "He beat me 'cause Mom found out. I don't know what the hell his problem is. Some days I wish I would just die. I hate coming home. When I graduate, I'm taking you and we're gunna live in a big house in the middle of nowhere. No one is gunna know where we live. The only way that people we know will be able to get in and out is to either floo or apparate."
Hermione smiled and lay down with her head on his chest. "I'd like that," she said.
Draco smiled and began to absent-mindedly stroke her hair. "My goal for the rest of vacation is to not get my father mad. I don't wanna get beat again. I don't like having you see me like that. I know how much it hurts you to see me all bruised and bloody."
"He scares me. My father doesn't even scare me that much. I'm afraid that if I'm not careful, he'll hit me like he hits you. I know that my father won't do that to me, but I'm not sure about yours."
"'Mione, I would never let him touch you, EVER! I promise, he won't come near you, okay?"
Hermione stayed quiet and just listened to the sound of his heartbeat, she found it very comforting. ~ Two days later it was Christmas, and Draco had managed to stay out of Lucius' way. Hermione had been staying in Draco's room at night because she felt protected when Draco was around.
She woke up with Draco's strong arms around her and wriggled free so she could brush her teeth and go to her room to get his present.
When she got back his eyes were opened.
"Merry Christmas, 'Mione."
"Merry Christmas, Draco." She went back to his bed and kissed him.
She pulled a long, slender box out from behind her back. It was wrapped in very pretty silver paper.
"What's this?"
"A box filled with tissue paper," she answered sarcastically.
"Really? That's just what I've always wanted!! How the hell did you guess?"
They both started laughing as he began to pull the paper off. He lifted the lid off the box and inside laid the new Lightning Bolt 420. Draco's eyes almost popped out of his head and he looked from the broom to Hermione and from Hermione to the broom."
"H-How'd you get this? It's like 300 galleons!"
"Well I've been saving my money since I started at Hogwarts. I was planning on using it for a special occasion and in my mind this is a special occasion."
"Thank you so much." He hugged her so tight that she could hardly breathe.
"Draco you're killing me."
"Oh right, sorry."
"That's okay."
"Listen, I can't give you your gift in here. Get dressed and meet me by the back door downstairs."
Hermione got curious, so she ran to her room to get dressed.
Draco did a quick changing spell and ran outside to set everything up.
When Hermione got outside, she didn't find Draco, she found a note.
Follow the roses. Tow for every year that I've loved you. One for each month we've been together. You'll find me under the largest tree in the Most secluded part of the forest that is straight ahead.
Hermione followed the instructions and picked up the roses as she went along. She picked up eleven and ended up near a large tree and Draco was leaning up against it, smiling.
"Okay, so now that we're out here, what's this all about?" she asked.
"It's about this." He stepped up to her and kissed her. It was a very passionate kiss that clearly said that he loved her and wanted to be with her forever.
"Hermione, I love you with all my heart, and I know that you love me. I know we haven't been dating very long, but I definitely know that I can't live without you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He got down on one knee and pulled a small box out of his pocket. "Hermione Ann Riddle, will you marry me?"
"Yes! Oh my God, yes!!" She had tears of joy streaming down her face as Draco placed the ring on her finger. The ring was gold and had a single diamond in it.
She pulled him up off the ground and kissed him. A light snow began to fall around them. So far, it was turning out to be the perfect Christmas.
After an hour of just holding each other, they went back inside. Their hair had snow in it, but neither one of them was in the slightest bit cold.
They walked into the living room and Narcissa asked, "Where were you? You're both covered in snow. Aren't you cold? What were you doing?"
"Mom, chill out. We're not cold. We were out in the forest, and I was giving Hermione he Christmas present."
"Which is?"
"We're engaged."
"Oh, I'm so happy for the both of you!" she squealed. She looked at the ring on Hermione's hand. "That is such a lovely ring. Where'd you buy it, Draco?"
"In Diagon Alley."
"How much was it?" she asked.
"That's not important, but if you really must know, it was 400 galleons."
Hermione didn't think that he'd spend that much money just on a ring, and then the roses, and then building up the courage to ask, and then setting everything up in less than five minutes. "You didn't have that," Hermione said quietly.
"And you didn't have to buy me a new broom."
"What broom?" Narcissa asked.
"I bought him the Lightning Bolt 420," Hermione answered.
"Those are like 300 galleons!" Narcissa almost yelled.
Both Draco and Hermione were getting embarrassed. "Listen, Mom, we're gunna go back upstairs."
"You can go after you open the rest of your presents."
"Okay," they said together.
Draco got a new set of Quidditch balls from his parents, and the key to a new house in a very remote area for when he got out of school. He also got candy from Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle.
The Malfoys bought Hermione an invisibility cloak. She thanked them about a million times. She wasn't expecting to get anything else, but there were two other packages with her name on them. The first was from Voldemort. It was a green bracelet and was made out of all expensive green gems. On each gem was a silver snake. The other box was bigger. There was a card on it. She opened the card first, it said:
Slytherin Bitch, We hope you have a horrible Christmas and you Rot in the Malfoy Manor. We thought that you'd Appreciate this. It's slimy and slithers around, Just like you. Enjoy your new.pet.
Signed, The Gryffindor House.
Every Gryffindor had signed it. Hermione wasn't fazed, but Draco looked like he wanted to kill every one of them.
Hermione unwrapped the package and revealed a large glass cage with a black snake that was patterned with green and silver diamonds.
"He's really pretty," she said.
"Don't touch it yet. It may be poisonous or charmed so that when something goes in the cage he'll kill it. We can bring it upstairs and do spells that will make sure he's not."
Hermione nodded and they grabbed their gifts and brought them up to Draco's room.
Draco conjured up a rat and threw it in the cage. As soon as the snake saw it coming down, he picked up his head and caught it before it could reach the bottom. It clamped its jaws down and swallowed it.
"Well he looked hungry," Draco commented. "Imagine if that was your hand. They probably charmed it to kill anything that goes in the cage."
Draco took out his wand and muttered a few spells. It's eyes changed from a bright red to a gentle blue.
"It's changing," said Hermione. "Its eyes turned blue and his fangs aren't as long, and they're dry, there's nothing dripping off them."
"I told you they did something to him." He dropped in another rat, but the snake hardly noticed. "You can pick him up now."
Hermione put her hand in the cage and pulled the snake out. He began crawling up her arm, around her neck and down her other arm.
"I like him. I think I'll name him Salazar."