Disclaimer: Hm, as I said so many times before...I don't own Harry. If I owned Harry, I wouldn't post on fanfiction.net, I would patiently wait for the release of my next book and not spoil my income by granting you free access to the story on the internet.

Author's note: Thanks to those really nice people who bothered to review the very first chapters of my story. Please, feel free to post as many reviews as you like, but don't forget that reviews drive me to my keyboard (literally!) and the more you post, the more chapters you get. Criticism is always welcome. 

I know you are waiting for a little bit more action. There'll be some in the next chapter, which will be longer than the others I have posted so far, I promise. However, as this is going to turn out as a really very long story I needed to elaborate on the basic plot, the characters and their inert struggles first.

***

And Then We Were Defeated

Chapter 6

Take it or leave it?

Draco heard the heavy oak door shut behind him and a little sigh escaped his lips. Proposing to the mudblood had so far been the most difficult and the weirdest part of his plan. He was pretty sure that everything would work out the way he wanted it to. A confident grin spreading on his face he made his way through the great halls of Malfoy Manor back upstairs to his room where he got rid of his clothes and flopped down on his bed. He didn't care the least that he had left his robes in a messy pile on the floor. As usual the house elves would clean up for him later. All he had to do now was waiting for Hermione's decision and she wouldn't dare turn down his proposal.

He had nearly dozed off into a dreamless sleep when he was woken by a soft popping noise announcing the arrival of a house elf. The elf stumbled away from his master's bed, his lower lip trembling with fear, because he realized he had evidently disturbed Draco. The boy's eyes narrowed with anger and he sat up focusing on the little creature. Dobby's whole body was now shaking and he stood routed to the spot, not daring to move an inch. He tried to apologize to his master, but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth, he was to terrified.

"Don't even dare try to insult  me with your excuses, elf. Go punish yourself before I take care of a proper punishment myself." Draco said in a dangerously calm way. "No, wait." he added. "I've got another order for you. Go prepare the room next to mine. My fiancée is going to stay with us from tonight on,  so make sure there are suitable dress robes arranged for her. You may leave now." Dobby vanished, his pop almost sounding relieved.

Draco lay back on his soft satin pillows and within seconds he wiped the unpleasant incident off his mind and it didn't take him long to fall asleep.

***

The study was warmed by a blazing, great fire in the fireplace, which was the only source of light, and a cosy warmth had spread in the otherwise barely illuminated room. In one of the squashy and extremely comfortable armchairs arranged around the fireside sat a small, meagre figure, its face hidden by a dark hood. Only two gleaming eyes were visible form time to time when he turned his head to gaze in the fire.

A deatheater entered, bowed and seated himself in another chair. Both sat facing each other and finally the hooded figure started to talk in a very low, hardly audible voice.

"And you are really sure that he's stupid enough not to notice anything?"

"Absolutely. Although I wouldn't call him stupid. In my opinion he is rather, well, naïve and perhaps even more than only predictable. His reaction was exactly the one we had expected." the other answered slightly smiling.

"All right. You take care of our next step then. Be careful not to spoil my plans, but stay in touch with me. The little brat is in for a rough awakening that's for sure."

The deatheater stood up, bowed again and then hurriedly left the study leaving the other behind.

Only a few minutes later someone knocked at the door and entered immediately without waiting for a reply. Lucius stormed eagerly into the room and headed towards his master to receive his latest orders for  his son's engagement and wedding. He hadn't been informed about the bride's identity yet, but he supposed that she was a well-educated pureblood from Durmstrang, who was as loyal towards the Dark Lord as he and Draco were themselves. Lucius Malfoy wouldn't even dare dream that his idea of a decent bride did neither go along with Draco's nor with Voldemort's.

***

Hermione was lying on the floor having a silent fume. Since Malfoy had left she found herself in a certain state of distress mixed with confusion. She was perfectly aware that she sooner or later would have to make a decision, probably rather sooner than later, which was another cause of her irritability at the moment. What had gotten into Draco Malfoy to think of marrying her? She snorted. But obviously she didn't have much of a choice if she wanted to stay alive and, well, Hermione had definitely no intention of quitting life for a Malfoy…or anybody else in that case, even if this would mean she had to change her surname from Granger to Malfoy. But what would Harry and Ron think of her if they were still alive and found out about the marriage? And Sirius and Hagrid? They wouldn't think she had betrayed them, would they? More likely they would believe she was under the Imperius Course. However, somehow she had the feeling that agreeing to marry Malfoy was some kind of betrayal. Besides, she was sure that Malfoy had something in mind, she couldn't trust him. Usually he wouldn't falter to kill her unless he got an advantage out of it. What if all this was only a trap to get Harry and the others to the Manor in a desperate effort to rescue her? With some many deatheaters around they would certainly be killed in less than a second. Hermione buried her head in her hands and silent tears started flowing down her cheeks.

The more she thought about the deal, the more confused she got. She couldn't make up her mind, because she didn't know what to do. Take it or leave it? The question appeared to be simple, nevertheless, to answer it seemed to be impossible for her.

Hermione had to think of a way that would get her out of this mess. After all she was Hogwart's smartest student in more than a century. She needed to make a perfect plan and it was obvious that, as a first step, she had to get out of this dungeon. Then she would have to play for time until she could get a message to Harry.