DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but the plot. Please don't sue me, I can't afford to pay for a decent lawyer.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, English isn't my mother tongue, so there might be plenty of grammatical and lexical mistakes in the following chapter. If you like the story and if you want me to keep it going, then you can bother and correct them (just send me an email or post a review). At the moment I don't have a beta-reader and I can only rely on me, my ego and my dictionary. Oh, and please be kind and review.
AND THEN WE WERE DEFEATED
***
Chapter 3
Resistance
She simply couldn't stop crying. They were keeping her in the dungeons for several hours now. Having seen Dumbledore had made things even more difficult for her. Tears kept rolling down her cheeks and dropped on her robe mingling with the spots of dried blood. Her situation was desperate, it couldn't get any worse for her. Hermione sobbed and ran her fingers through her hair, a desperate and useless effort to regain control over her body and her feelings. Leaning back against the freezing wall Hermione gazed absorbed in her thoughts at the low ceiling. She wondered what Harry and Ron were doing at the moment. Would they try to rescue her if they were still alive? She had to be strong, not such a broken wreck if she wanted to survive. There had to be a way to get out of here. Maybe they would bring her some food then she might be able to grab a wand and hex those deatheaters to the moon and back. But then the tears welled up again in her eyes and she buried her head in her arms, crouched down even lower and cried more violently than ever before in her life. She didn't even notice the door to her cell opened and a handsome young man entered the room.
***
He hadn't seen her for months. Not even in one of the last battles he had come near her. Draco couldn't remember that he had seen her like this before, although he had often dreamed of her being in such a horrible state. If he hadn't known that the weeping bundle in front of him was Hermione Granger, Hogwarts top student considered by so many people to be the most gifted and talented mudblood witch that had ever attended the school for Witchcraft and Wizardry and Potter's ever so faithful mudblood sidekick, he wouldn't have believed it. He had expected her to be silent, to be stubborn and reserved like she used to be back in school. Yet, the sight she presented to him right now disgusted him more than anything. Actually he had intended to torture her, to make her scream with pain, he wanted to be the one who caused her to break down entirely, but the girl slumped down in his dungeons had already surrendered.
Draco Malfoy starred at Hermione for several moments, then he went over to her and grabbing her robes he forced her to stand up.
***
Hermione was petrified when she was suddenly pulled to her feet. She hadn't sensed anybody else inside her cell and instantly stopped crying to look at the man who fiercely pressed her back against the rough stonewall. Draco Malfoy. She recognized him at once, he had only slightly changed. Malfoy appeared to have grown a few inches and from the force with which he held her up she guessed that he was rather muscular. Obviously her archenemy from Hogwarts had come to finish her off. Fear showed in Hermione's eyes and she didn't dare to breath.
"Granger." sneered the deatheater glaring at her and his voice sounding astonishing familiar. His grey eyes held something in them she couldn't quite define. He looked down at her torn robes, noticed her blood stained face and realized she must have been badly injured during the battleā¦.or afterwards, but someone had obviously taken care of her wounds and healed them although some minor bruises were still visible. Usually he wouldn't have cared what his victims looked like, but with this mudblood it was different. He wanted to break her and therefore she needed to be strong, she had to be worthy of being his enemy.
As if reading his mind Hermione suddenly straightened up. She had nothing to lose anymore and she was quite sure that she would die sometime within the next days, but she certainly wouldn't give in to Draco Malfoy. She was a Gryffindor and her pride forbade her to capitulate to this Slytherin bastard. In a last attempt to regain at least some of her dignity she summoned up all the strength left inside her and spit right in his face not knowing that she did just what he had hoped she would do.
Draco slowly wiped the spit away and looked at Hermione. He smirked, now he had what he wanted, he could see the glint of resistance in her eyes as he raised his hand and hit her hard across the face.
***
A few hours later Draco was called to his father's study. He entered the room a second time today and he felt as nervous as he had been earlier this day. Being quite sure that the Dark Lord was with Lucius he expected them to inform him on their future plans and at the moment he dreaded the thought of having to obey their commands more than anything else.
As he entered the study he could only see his father standing with the back to the fireplace.
"You're late." Lucius stated and anticipated an apology, but his son remained silent.
"Well, take a seat," the older man continued after a few moments, "the Dark Lord finally made up his plans about your future."
Draco scowled and even refused to sit down In his opinion his future belonged to him, no one should take any decisions on his life but him.
"You are going to marry and to raise an appropriate heir for our Lord. Your future wife will be a successful student of Durmstrang." Draco couldn't believe what he was just told. He was thunderstruck and speechless. This was his worst nightmare ever. He was not even 18 and he should have to marry a total stranger to raise the Dark Lord's heir? "Ridiculous." was all he could think of.
"You will meet the girl in three days. There is going to be an engagement party here in the Manor for the two of you where you're going to propose to her. "
Before his father could go on Draco left. He felt numb and empty as he ascended the stairs leading to the upper floor where his room was. There was absolutely no strength in his body anymore and his knees gave way as he staggered towards his bed. The young man wasn't angry or sad let alone happy. He was completely humiliated and confused as he collapsed onto his four-poster.
