Hermione groaned; she didn't want to wake up. Her time with Draco last night had been so amazing that she didn't want to risk opening her eyes, just in case it all disappeared. Distantly, she could hear the sound of water running. It seemed that Draco had already gotten up and was taking a shower.

'I hope he doesn't take up all the hot water', Hermione thought.

With another groan, she tried to turn herself over, only to realise that she couldn't move. Hermione's eyes flew open and everything that had happened that day came back to her with a painful urgency: Gloria, Greg and her passing out. Her head twisted about frantically as she took in her unfamiliar surroundings. She was lying on a stiff bed in a sparsely furnished room. A weak light streamed in through a thin pair of red and white gingham curtains. Cardboard boxes lined one side of the room and an old wooden wardrobe stood on the other. It looked very much like an ordinary spare room.

Hermione strained against the invisible bonds that held her to the bed. It was then that she realised that only her arms were bound. As Hermione kicked and struggled around trying to free herself, the door creaked open and Gloria stepped into the room. She shut the door again with a gentle click and faced Hermione with a benevolent smile.

'Greg was worried that you were feeling poorly. So I suggested that you have a lie down.'

'I was feeling fine until you drugged my tea', Hermione said softly, testing her suspicions.

'Now, now, that's no way to speak to your future grandmother-in-law.'

'Well, it just so happens that Greg and I have pleaded irreconcilable differences and decided to go our separate ways.'

'Oh well, I never truly expected it to last anyway. All that matters is that you're here now.'

Hermione stared at the elderly woman incredulously.

'I don't know what part Greg is playing in this crazy plot, but why on Earth would you drug me and hold me captive in your spare room? You barely even know me', Hermione cried angrily.

Gloria shook her head, her smile still firmly in place. 'That's not true, Hermione. I know all that I need to know about you. You have something that belongs to me. Now that you're here, I'd like to see it returned.'

Hermione would have laughed if she wasn't the one tied down to a bed. This was playing out like a terrible James Bond movie. The grandmotherly villains were always the ones you underestimated. What was it about her that attracted the attention of slightly insane wizards? 'Do I have a sign on my back screaming "Accost me, I'm bound to have something you want"', Hermione thought hopelessly. And the worst part of all was not that she had gone out of her way to apologise to a slimy, lying hairball by the name of Greg, or that she had then been drugged and held captive by his insanely chipper grandmother. No, she was quietly confident that she would be able to handle Gloria and Greg. What she wasn't looking forward to was the knowing I-told-you-so look she was bound to receive from Draco. Just thinking about it made her blood simmer.

Hermione didn't bother to keep the anger out of her voice. She was in no mood for humouring the elderly lady. 'Look Gloria, I just met you today. I have no idea what you think I have of yours, but why don't you just release your binding spell on me and we can talk about this like rational beings.'

Hermione's eyes narrowed as Gloria's smile broadened. Clearly, 'rational' had not been the right word to use. Anyone who smiled as much as she did had to be criminally insane. Hermione didn't know why she hadn't picked up on it earlier. It certainly would have saved her a lot of time.

Gloria completely ignored Hermione's suggestion. 'I have been searching for it for over fifty years. In this past year, I knew that it was finally within my grasp, but even I didn't expect you to walk right up to me and flash it in my face', Gloria's voice dropped to a whisper.

Hermione sighed. Draco's ring had brought her nothing but pain from the moment she had first laid eyes on it ten years before. She should have known this would have something to do with it.

'You want the Malfoy ring. You're the one that Draco said has been looking for it.'

Gloria's smile finally faltered as she spat at Draco's name. 'That boy is a disgrace to the Malfoy name. He gave up the Malfoy ring. And for what? To go about the world playing clever assassin, only to come crawling back to you and become a lowly security guard. He was weak. His grandfather would have been ashamed of him.'

'You don't know anything about Draco or the Malfoy family, if you think that Draco is weak. He was the only one strong enough to escape the insanity', Hermione hit back.

Gloria paced around the bed, twirling her wand in her fingers with surprising agility. 'I understand your need to defend Draco. You're obviously in love with him. Why else would you keep his ring after he had abandoned you? You believe that I don't know what I'm doing here. I hope it doesn't come as too much of a surprise when I prove you wrong.'

Hermione bared her teeth at Gloria in a mixture of anger and frustration, but the older woman simply laughed it off and continued to pace around the bed.

'I know all there is to know about the Malfoy family', she continued, 'I should have been a part of the Malfoys.'

Hermione watched as the elderly grandmother's eyes glazed over with memories. As she began to tell the tale of her past, Hermione watched the carelessly twirling wand in Gloria's hand and waited for the opportune moment.

'I first saw the ring over fifty years ago and I knew that it was destined to be mine. Abraxas Malfoy was the most powerful wizard that I had ever known. He seduced me with his power and cunning but I fell in love with the man. I gave myself to him, body and soul.'

Hermione would have scoffed, but she had no wish to break Gloria out of her reverie. She just needed to get to that wand, somehow. Carefully, so as not to attract Gloria's attention, Hermione began to pull at her bonds. Gloria's distraction meant that her spell was weaker. Hermione stifled a scream of pain as her muscles protested at her insistent tugging. With a slightly sickening pop, she managed to get one hand out from beneath the spell-bind.

'Abraxas told me that only those worthy of the Malfoy name could see the family ring. And in that moment, I knew that he loved me too', Gloria paused and her facial features hardened, 'Then he drew out a knife and stabbed me six times in the chest. He walked away from me laughing. I remember that Abraxas always had the most beautiful laugh.'

Hermione froze mid-struggle, at the sickening imagery. Gloria had spoken of Abraxus's attempted murder with a purposeful strength, as if she understood his reasons for it and supported him.

'That's the reason you want this ring? You've spent the majority of your life pining for a man who stabbed and left you for dead?' Hermione's voice choked with the horror she felt at Gloria's words.

Gloria's eyes narrowed as she stalked towards Hermione. 'It was a test! Abraxas needed a woman of strength and power by his side. And I proved precisely how strong I could be…But I was too late. By the time I recovered, his family had forced him to marry that insipid fool of a witch, Evangeline.'

Hermione ignored the burning pain of her freed wrist. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

'You're a mudblood, aren't you?' Hermione said softly, realisation finally dawning.

'How dare you?' Gloria spat at her in anger, but Hermione but cut her off before she could continue. She felt a rage boiling inside her: for Gloria, for what Abraxas had done to this woman, and for what Gloria had done to herself. Hermione didn't understand how she could feel so strongly for this woman, but she directed her anger at the only target available.

'You are, aren't you? And I bet that Grandpa Malfoy never told you the other purpose for the Malfoy ring', Hermione continued recklessly, 'The ring acts as a beacon for their initiation into manhood. They believed that the cold-blooded murder of a female mudblood would make men out of them. The ring shows the Malfoy men their first victim.'

Gloria bared her teeth at Hermione and advanced at her with anger blazing in her eyes. Hermione watch her carefully. She needed Gloria to come close enough for her to steal the older woman's wand. Without remorse, Hermione continued to taunt her.

'You were nothing to him but a whore and some target practice. It didn't even matter that he hadn't even done a proper job of killing you. He would have gone on to kill hundreds of other mudbloods. You were that insignificant to him.'

Gloria let out a feral growl and clamped her hands around Hermione's neck. Hermione lunged forward to reach for the wand as it fell to the floor but Gloria forced her back against the bed. Hermione had not expected such strength. She had clearly underestimated the madness that drove Gloria. As the insanity overtook Greg's grandmother, Hermione felt the lingering bonds at her wrist loosen, then snap. Hermione's legs kicked wildly in the air, as she clawed at the hand gripping at her throat with her free hand. Gloria stared down at her without blinking, a smile growing on her lips. Every part of Hermione's body was now shrieking for air and she tried pushing Gloria away. But the older woman's grip was too strong and Hermione's strength was rapidly waning. Locked in their furious struggle, neither of the women noticed the gentle knock at the door, before it creaked open quietly.

'Are you alright, Herm— What the hell? Nan, what are you doing?' Greg rushed towards his grandmother. Wrapping his arms around her waist, Greg wrenched Gloria away from Hermione. Hermione collapsed off the bed and onto her knees as Greg held his grandmother back. Air burned a path down her throat and into her lungs, but Hermione gulped it in welcomingly. She could hear Greg trying desperately to soothe Gloria's manic shrieking. Even with her oxygen-starved mind, Hermione knew she had to get to Gloria's wand. She didn't want to give the older woman a single chance to bind her up again. Hermione's fingers fumbled around the floor before curling around the thin, warm wand. Although, her entire body protested at the move, Hermione forced herself to stand up. She held up the wand in front of her defensively as she faced Gloria.

Gloria was no longer shrieking. Greg now rocked his grandmother gently, holding her in a loose grip and whispering softly in her ear. The wild look in her eyes had been replaced by the smiling calm, once more. But Hermione knew that she had to be wary around both facades. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that issued forth was a harsh croak. Greg's head shot up. Too late did Hermione realise that she had distracted Greg sufficiently for Gloria to pull out of Greg's arms and push her grandson towards Hermione. Greg collapsed into Hermione roughly. As she caught an elbow in the side, Hermione felt the wand slip out of her hand. They both fell to the floor with a painful thud. Hermione tried to get up as quickly as possible but her legs tangled with Greg's making it impossible to move. She decided to roll over in an attempt to protect Greg from his grandmother's madness, but it was too late. Greg looked down at Hermione in surprise as he was lifted up into the air, then thrown against the old wardrobe. He hit it with a sickening crunch, before slumping down to the floor.

Hermione quickly jumped up onto her feet, once again. Gloria spun around to face Hermione with her wand gripped tightly in her hand.

'Greg's a good boy, but he just doesn't understand how much this means to me. Oh, he was certainly willing enough to get the ring from you. "But I won't hurt her, Nan, Hermione doesn't deserve that", he would say. Well, he just didn't understand that sometimes you have to go that one step further to get what you want.'

'Greg played a part in your effort to get the ring?'

'Of course, he did. When I finally discovered that you held the Malfoy ring, I pointed you out to Greg. Oh, he didn't realise what I wanted from you, at first. He just thought I was a fan of yours. Greg would go out on his dates with you and come back talking about how wonderful you were. I had to remind him several times that you had my ring and I wanted it back. Greg's usually been so good at making sure I got what I wanted.'

'He was the one who trashed my house and attacked Draco and me at the park.'

'You really are intelligent, Hermione. Little wonder that you were Minister of Magic at such a young age.'

'I still am the Minister of Magic', Hermione growled.

'Yes, but not for long', Gloria's manic smile lit up as she raised her wand at Hermione, 'Now give me the ring.'

'You would go to all this trouble: Injuring your precious grandson, and killing me, just to get your hands on this ring. Despite the fact that it has brought you nothing but pain.'

'You should know, Hermione. I'm sure you would do exactly the same thing.'

Hermione gaped at her in bewilderment, but she had no idea what to say in response to Gloria's ludicrous comment.

'Oh, you stand there, shaking with dignified anger but you're just like me, Hermione. You too have felt the power of the Malfoy men and seen the glory of the Malfoy ring. Draco left his ring for you, and you kept it: pining, as you say, for over ten years for a man who abandoned you.'

Hermione shook her head. She refused to acknowledge even the smallest inkling of truth in Gloria's words.

'You don't know anything about me, Gloria', Hermione managed calmly, 'If you want this ring so badly, then you can have it.' She pulled at her ring finger and pitched across the room. Gloria's head turned at the feint and Hermione took the opportunity to lunge at the other woman. They both fell to the floor in a scramble of limbs. Gloria's wand flew out of her grasp, but Hermione didn't bother to reach for it. She didn't need it quite, yet. Hermione was so pissed off right now that if she held a wand in her hand, everything in her sight might just explode. Gloria bit at Hermione's shoulder, but she barely felt it. Hermione forced the older woman against the floor with a very firm arm against Gloria's collarbone. She used her own body weight to subdue Gloria's legs and she made sure that she had the grandmother's full attention.

'I am nothing like you. For one thing, I have enough self respect for myself to know when I'm not loved. I also know how to appreciate the people who do love me. Now, clearly your grandson loves you very much, or he wouldn't have catered to your every whim and fancy. But if you continue to treat him like a simple pawn in your battle to make up for an affair gone wrong, then you're going to lose him and you'll be nothing but a twisted old lady who was too afraid to experience real love.'

Gloria glowered at Hermione ferociously. It was clear that none of Hermione's words had changed anything for her. Hermione gave a shrug and carefully reached out for the wand. She raised it and began reciting the binding spell that Gloria had used on her, but stopped mid-way as a groan sounded behind her.

'Don't, Hermione', Greg pleaded, 'I'm sorry for what she's done to you, but you have to understand: she's sick. Don't do anything to hurt her. She's all I have left' Hermione finished the spell off quickly, making sure she bound Gloria's mouth and feet as well, before turning to glare at him coldly. 'I'm not a murderer, Greg', she said angrily.

Greg sighed. 'I wouldn't blame you', he said as he touched his fingers gingerly to his blood matted hair.

'I don't like you very much at the moment, Greg. So if you could just give me the explanation you know I deserve about your part in all of this, then I will be free to waltz out of here without another thought for you or your grandmother again.'

He grimaced but began quickly, 'She probably told you that she set us up, Hermione. And she did, but I fell in love with you. No, don't shake your head. It's true. Nan just kept at me, saying you had her ring and she had to have it back. After I failed to get it from you, she went absolutely crazy. I thought it would be wise if we just took a break for a while to give her time to calm down. That's why I reacted the way I did when you told me about your being a witch. I'm sorry, Hermione. I never dreamed that she would hurt anyone. I certainly never realised her obsession would go this far.'

'You let it get this far, Greg. You thought you were humouring her when you started seeing me to get to the ring, but you were playing right into her plans.'

Greg looked at the floor, refusing to meet her eyes.

'She even convinced you to break into my house and attack Draco.'

'I'm sorry, Hermione, but what can I say? I lost my parents when I was five years old. My grandmother is the only person I have left in this world. I would do anything for her. Is that so wrong?'

'It is when you're hurting people.'

'I never meant for anyone to get hurt.'

'Well, your grandmother certainly had no qualms about it. Besides the fact that she was intent on killing me, she could have killed you when she carelessly swept you aside', Hermione retorted, 'If you truly want to do what's best for your grandmother then you will make sure that she gets help. If you let her continue on her obsessive path, she's not only going to get herself killed but she's going to drag you down with her.'

'But how do I find help for her, if she doesn't want it?'

The idea flashed into Hermione's mind so suddenly that she didn't want to give herself too much time to think about it. Without responding, Hermione turned away from Greg, gripping Gloria's wand tightly in her hand. Hermione moved so quickly that Greg had no time to protest. She whispered the severing charm and cut off her left wedding finger with a scream.

The door burst open with a yell, and Hermione was vaguely aware of Draco entering the room. Through her haze of pain, she ignored his sudden appearance and reached down for her severed finger. With a trembling hand, she pulled the curiously cold ring from her dismembered digit and held it in her right palm. Draco was at her side now. With cold precision, he reached for her loose finger and clasped it tightly to its original position. He began to whisper, and Hermione shook as she felt the tendons, bones and ligaments of her finger begin to re-attach. When it was done, Draco released her hand. Without saying a word to him, Hermione strode towards Gloria. The older woman was staring to kill, but Hermione took no notice of it. She took hold of Gloria's hands, which were bound on her lap, and forced them open.

'You and I are very different people, Gloria. I don't need to love Draco. I just do. And if there comes a time when he doesn't love me anymore, well, I won't let that ruin the rest of my life. Stop letting this obsession for a completely unworthy man rule your life, and find another driving force. I hope this helps you find some semblance of happiness.'

Hermione dropped the bloody ring into Gloria's open palms. With a flick of the wand, Gloria came unbound. She curled over the ring with tears running down her face.

'Finally…I've finally gotten it. It's mine', she cried as she rocked back and forth.

Hermione made her way towards Draco and Greg. Her head was spinning and her legs threatened to buckle under her. Beyond the pain and weariness she felt, Hermione felt a flicker of fear at the thought becoming just like Gloria. She looked up and Draco's worried gaze effectively extinguished her fear. They were definitely different, Gloria and her. When she reached Draco's side, she grabbed onto his arm and hung on like a limpet.

'How long have you been here, Draco?' Hermione mumbled drowsily.

'I got here just in time to see Greggy boy, here, get thrown around', Draco drawled as only he could, throwing a piercing glare in Greg's direction. Greg tried to match Draco's stare but it wasn't quite the same when accompanied by a creeping blush.

'And you didn't come rushing in here to play hero? I must say I'm impressed.' Hermione could hear that her voice was weakening and her strength was draining. Draco turned to look at her. Very gently, he swung her into his arms, never breaking eye contact.

'I didn't want to steal your thunder.'

'You came all the way to Greg's place because you thought I was in trouble, then decided to play spectator?'

'My instincts were telling me that you were in trouble. Then, they told me that you could handle it. And I always listen to my instincts.'

Hermione smiled weakly and let her head drop to his shoulder. Draco turned to leave the room when Greg decided to speak up.

'Hermione, maybe I should call an ambulance or something', he muttered helplessly.

'Leave it, Johnson. Hermione and I are going home. We don't need your ambulance. But I do have one last warning for you', Draco gently placed Hermione back on her feet. He swung his fist at Greg with such speed, that the other man barely had time to react. Greg flinched as he waited for the painful contact…but it never happened. He opened his eyes to see Draco's fist hovering barely a breath from his nose.

'If you or your grandmother come near Hermione again, I will personally tear you apart without even touching you', Draco whispered with an evil smile.

Greg looked to Hermione frantically, but she had her eyes closed as she clung onto Draco's arm. In another swift movement, Draco swept Hermione back into his arms.

'You're not seriously throwing away our relationship for him, are you? I love you, Hermione', Greg pleaded.

Hermione simply shook her head and sighed. 'Don't, Greg. I trust Draco. And he obviously trusts me. For me, trust is a lot harder to achieve than love. Maybe in a year or two I'll have forgotten about your lies and you grandmother enough for me to talk to you again, but until then, this is goodbye.'

Draco strode out of the house without waiting for Greg's reply. As he stepped out into the chilly evening air, Hermione closed her eyes again and let the warm darkness envelope her.

A/N: I'd just like to dedicate this chapter to Computer boy who wrote me the funniest review for my last chapter: 'for some odd reason, Gloria reminds me of Satan. is that normal?' I nearly fell off my swiss ball when I read that… Also like to thank all my other reviewers and readers too, hope you're still enjoying my work. And in case any of you are wondering, it's not quite over yet…luv HObYtLaH ;0)