Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing with her world

Chapter 13: Either way you choose, you cannot win.

A/N: a bit of bad language in this one, just to warn you. ENJOY!

And so there was Draco, sitting the in Great Hall, waiting for that night so that he may learn about what happened with his Uncle and this strange girl.

She really was strange to him. Hermione Granger, so unusual yet so strong, she had lived a hard life in her short years yet at this moment was being terrified by the fact that she had very, very recently been reunited with her love but was currently dating her best friend/hero. He needed to find out what happened before she self-destructed.

That night, Hermione wearily walked into her common room. Her day had been hell. Everywhere she turned, questions were flung at her face about why she had "pitched a spazz", as one 5th year had asked, or she heard the whisperings of the rumors floating around. Even Harry and Ron wouldn't leave her alone.

Ron was a bit gentler about it. He only asked what happened, took her answer when she said that she didn't want to talk about it, and didn't talk about it the rest of the day. He even went so far as to tell off a group of 3rd year Hufflepuffs that wouldn't leave her alone.

But Harry, being the boyfriend was different. Harry had asked her about why she had said Professor Snape's name in the Infirmary, but she having no answer, or at least one that was suitable for Harry, had received a none too kind punishment for insolence and arrogance. All Hermione wanted to do now was sit in her nice, comfy chair, in front of the fire, with her well-worn Hogwarts: A History, and fall asleep. But she had about as much luck that night as Snape had had a few days before. Draco was sitting in her chair as she came into the common room.

"Please, Malfoy, get up. I am really not in the mood for any of your games. I just want to relax." Hermione pleaded with him, sounding very stressed. She placed her hand on her forehead and sighed deeply.

Draco stood up and swept his hand, bowing slightly, and allowed her to sit down. He took a place at the couch and getting as close to her chair as he could get. "Hermione, I need to talk to you."

As he said these words a look of pain rushed to her face. The usually rosy cheeks blanched. Her head rolled back to lean on the back of the chair and she closed her eyes. "No, Draco, no talking. I just want to have peace and quiet. I can't talk about it any more." Hermione sighed.

"But I know the facts of what happened to him after he 'died in your arms'." Draco made quotation marks in the air. Hermione's ears perked up at this. He finally had her attention.

"How do you know about that? I only told two people, no one else knows."

"I didn't hear it from one of your sources, Hermione. I had a source that was there with your lover, Severus, when he returned from his trip. And oh, yes it is reliable." He saw the look on her face as she tried desperately to think of who could have been there. Draco just sat there and let the light shine above her head before he nodded. "That's right, Hermione. My father was there with Uncle Severus, and he, which means now I, know everything of what went on."

Hermione looked at Draco, her expression of fear and complete terror. "Oh, my gods! You know? Please, Draco, don't tell anyone, don't tell Harry, please. I'll be good, I won't see Severus, just please don't tell Harry." Her eyes flashed wildly as she got down on her knees by his legs and grabbed a hold of him, shaking terribly.

"What are you going on about, Granger? Why would I tell Potter anything?" She still didn't let go, become even more frightened. "And why…what has he been doing to you?" His mind went clear as the remembrances of those times he would see the two of them in the hall together, Harry's fingers turning white as he gripped her sides, and Hermione slightly grimacing but showing very little pain. "Hermione?" He joined her on the floor. "Tell me please." He implored her, but she just shrank back from him, and shook her head like a little child. "Look, you tell me and I'll tell you something, alright?"

Hermione looked up at him and saw the concern. "Yeah, alright." And the story just poured out of her mouth. Draco somewhere throughout the story had stood up, laughed, cried silently, smashed his fist against the wall, and swore that he would kill that Potter for touching her.

"He's been doing that to you, since you began dating? Why have you put up with this? You're so much stronger then this, I know you can beat this."

"No, no. Sirius said that if I date Harry I will forget all about Severus and I will be happy." Hermione put on a brave face as she spoke her mantra out loud. Her head rocked back and forth as she repeated this quietly to herself.

Draco, with a bit of loose bandaging on his knuckles, came up to her and stood her up. He walked her over to a mirror that was in the very corner of the room, a change Hermione had made almost instantly. "Hermione, look at yourself. You can't go on living like this. You need to get away from Harry or he is going to kill you."

Draco forcefully turned Hermione's head towards the mirror and made her look at her reflection.

Hermione gasped at what she saw, and big drops of tears rolled down her face. Her skin had become pale and sallow, losing the entirety of the healthy glow she had gained during the summer. She was nursing a black eye, and a swollen lip that she had received that evening. Her hair had gone back to its frizzy state and her robes hung loosely on her tired form. Hermione had stared at herself as long as she could before ripping her eyes away and grasping to Draco, sobbing into his robes.

"See, he is killing you slowly. If you don't get out now, you are going to die."

Hermione wiped her nose on her sleeve and dried her tears. She smiled at him and shook her head. "Yeah, but Draco if I leave him now, he'll kill me and you and Severus, just to try and look for the reason why I left him. So no matter what I choose I will die anyway. At least with this way, I'll be able to watch Severus, and make sure the rest of my friends will be happy. Even if I am not"

Draco swallowed what she had said and vowed to make sure that she would be happy, and that Harry was going to pay oh, so dearly for what he was doing to his new found friend. The solemn moment hung in the air, as Hermione dried the rest of her tears, got rid of her sniffles and laughed a bit at her foolishness.

"Now, Draco, I think it's time that you held up on your end of the bargain. Tell me your story." Hermione looked at him in eyes and smiled a bit as he squirmed a bit under her gaze.

Draco laughed and led her back to the couch. "Oh, so now its time for my story? Well you see it started about 18 years ago when my father, very randy at the time most likely, and mother, who probably…"

"Stop, oh gods, just stop right now." Hermione held her hand up to her mouth. "If you continue I think I may throw up." Hermione was laughing very hard and Draco was glad to see her face brighten. "You know what I mean."

Draco shook his head. "Ah yes that story." He moved to pace in front of the fireplace. "You see my father was the biggest hero to me. What he said and did was what I believed to be right. This was how I thought till this last summer. He sat me down about 3 weeks ago, and said 'Draco, listen to me now. I have been a spy since before you were born. I took the Dark Mark when I was young and foolish. I did not understand the consequences. After Lily and James died, I couldn't take it anymore. I and your Uncle Severus went to find Dumbledore to confess our sins. We never would have thought that we would receive mercy. We did but with a price. The two of us have been spies ever since. And though, I know how dangerous it is, I think it is time you joined me.' " Draco stopped his pacing a looked at Hermione for the reaction to hearing the name of her lover. But her face was blank, just listening to the story. "I, of course, agreed. I never really believed in the whole 'Purebloods supremacy' or anything but I thought my father did. Now, I can finally fight for what I, myself, believe in and not what anyone else tells me to believe in. So in the next two months, I will be taking the Dark Mark and join my father as a spy." Draco had paced through out his tale but Hermione had watched him the whole way.

"Wow that is a story." Hermione stated. "Do you know when you are going to take the Dark Mark?"

"Why, your not planning on joining me are you?"

Hermione shook her head and stood next to him. "Of course not. I just want to know so I can be here to help you and most likely heal you, after you get back." Draco faced her and kissed her chastely on the cheek.

"I had better not do that in front of Uncle Severus. He would hex my balls off."

Headmaster Dumbledore entered Severus's offices as he had so many times before. "So, I'm guessing you've heard the rumors. I don't know if I can go through that again. I have too much in front of me right now, to be so overtly concerned with her." Severus stood up and smashed his fist straight through the marble of his fireplace. "God, damn her. If she just would have fucking stayed away or not helped me when I showed up at her door step, it would all be fine. But no, that little know-it-all Mud-blood bitch had to play savior."

He took his vengeance out on some meaningless vase and breathed heavily for a second, before hearing the Headmaster.

"Severus, settle down. It does not matter what she did or not, we can not change what has happened now." Dumbledore led the fuming man to his chair. "And just think, it may be different next time you two meet." Dumbledore said this cryptically but Severus didn't really catch on, he was much too worried about the next Potions class.

"Albus, don't be such a fool and don't try to turn me into one either. Nothing good can come of this. Nothing. She will be hurt beyond recognition and so will I." Severus sighed and sat down ungracefully. "Why did she have to come back? Why did I have to come back?"

"You know those answers, my boy. So don't ask me. She will come back for you, you know. Please think before you push her away. You must think of what she went through in the duration of your stay with her." Dumbledore sat down also. "You showed up on her doorstep, broken and exhausted. She fell in love with you and you with her. And then as your time together dwindled down, she lost her virginity to you and held you as you almost died in her arms. I don't know how she was even able to arrive back at school."

"But I did not react the way she did the first time I saw her. I remained calm and locked myself away from the temptation like any normal wizard may."

Dumbledore laughed. "Well, no you did not react the way she did. But I do remember you as you returned from that trip long ago, I was with you when her name was called during her Sorting Ceremony, and I was also with you when you saw her as she got off that train this year."

"But, Albus what can I do? She is with that Potter now. I see them together in the halls; he keeps his hands on her and is very protective, as I would be. There is nothing I can do. I am lost to her."

Potions had soon came around and all the students in Hermione's class were waiting anxiously to see her reaction this time. But there would be none. Hermione was the first to enter the class, after she made sure that Professor Snape was in there, and she was the first to leave, rushing out of the room. Hermione didn't raise her hand to answer questions and Snape didn't even look her way when he would be asking. The two of them basically ignored each other. He also side-stepped her table when stalking through the aisles checking potions and Hermione would keep her head down the whole class, stiffening when he would stride very quickly past her table.

The first part of the school year passed in relative calm, after the incident. And most students had moved from it and on to other rumors that were passing en masse through out the school. Hermione was sticking next to Harry more in public but in private would run from him and dash to her rooms. She was slowly getting away from his tyranny and Draco couldn't be happier. But, of course, he couldn't show this in front of his housemates. He had to keep up the façade of 'Death Eater in training'.

A large, beautiful eagle soared into the common room and Draco rushed to it. He ripped open the letter and recognized his father's handwriting.

Draco,

It is time. I shall come and gather you tomorrow night at 11 o'clock sharp. Be ready and make me proud.

L.M.

So the time had finally come, and Draco would be made into to a Death Eater. Hermione entered the room as he read the letter and held his hand as they both gathered up the courage for they must soon face.

"Severus I am not sure if I can let Draco go through this." Lucius Malfoy was sitting in his old friend's study, waiting very impatiently until 11 o'clock, when he was to pick up his son.

Severus sat next to his friend and patted him on the back. "You must. The Dark Lord will be even more suspicious of you if you would not let him become a Death Eater. And what we need now are forces inside getting information. He trusts you more then me, and the Order needs you right now."

"I know this, but it is still hard to put him in such danger."

The clock rang 11 times, and the two of them flooed to the Head Boy's common room. They entered the room to see Draco and Hermione sitting together, waiting. Lucius stared at Hermione not believing that Potter's girl had grown up so wonderfully, but lingered no longer as he felt Severus stiffen terribly at his right.

Lucius cleared his throat and the two of them looked up. Hermione met eyes with Severus for an instant before wishing Draco good luck, kissing him on the cheek, and running up stairs. That kiss made Severus angrier then he would show and his wicked jealously reared its ugly head. His fists clenched and unclenched viciously at his side.

"Are you ready, Draco?" Lucius asked breaking through the stony silence.

Draco nodded his head. "Yes, father. I'm ready."

Lucius walked to his son and gave him a rare hug. Father and son stood there for seconds before the Mark on both Lucius and Severus's arm began to burn. The moment was broken as reality hit. "Now you remember what you must do? Keep your head clear of any thoughts, show no pain or emotions of any kind, and be always reverent and subservient, do not forget your place. Do you understand?"

"I do, please, let's just go." Draco put on the blank face and readied himself for what was to come.

The three of them went through a series of passageways and tunnels till they reached the outside, and then they walked to the Hogwarts main gates. Soon all that was left of them were footprints and the great sense of foreboding that hung in the air, as they went to meet their fate.

A/N: Thank you guys so much for such great reviews. I love you so much. And I know a lot of you have said how much you really want Harry to get what he deserves, don't worry he will, and it will be fun for me to write.

I know that Draco seems a bit OC but, I like Draco, he's a great character and I don't like to make him evil. So just remember that he acts the same he always has in public and just lets his true colors shine through when he is alone with the few people he considers his real friends.

I got this out fast just for you guys, I hope you like and please review, I do love them so. BYE! BIG BIG SMILEY FACE