Disclaimer: I do not own….Draco Malfoy. Ha. You thought I was going to say Harry Potter, didn't you? Truth is, I wouldn't want to own the Harry Potter from this story, really. Only Draco, my dear sweet Draco….sighs…

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A/N: Ok, so I must warn you, Draco has some serious OOC-ness in this fic. If you don't like that, don't read it. I will probably get fewer flames if you stop now anyway.

Thank you to all those who reviewed my first chapter. It was very helpful in determining whether I wanted to continue this fic. Sorry it has taken so long.

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Chapter 2:

"Take care of my bride, Malfoy."

The words rang through Draco's head as he crawled out of bed the next morning. He could hardly believe that she was here, in his home. The only thing that made it a reality for him was Voldemorts' words echoing in his ears. Not that he agreed with what the Dark Lord, if he could be called that, had in mind, he just had to keep up the pretence, or suffer the dire consequences.

Sighing deeply, he threw the covers off himself and trudged into the bathroom to prepare for the undoubtedly odd begin to things.

 A few doors down in one of the guest rooms, the girl in Draco's thoughts was just waking as well. She however, was only thinking of events past, instead of what was to come.

Flashback

It was the day of her wedding. She was to marry the famous Harry Potter, her boyfriend for the last 3 years. Life as she knew it was perfect.

Her dress, which she had just gotten on, was fitting her to perfection. Her hair was done and not a single strand was falling out of place. Her makeup was perfect. Everything was going great. All she needed now were her shoes.

Looking around the room, she felt a twinge of terror take over her. Her wedding could not be ruined because of the absence of one measly pair of shoes! Then, a thought hit her; Ginny. Of course, as her Matron of Honour, Ginny would undoubtedly know where her MIA shoes were. After all, wasn't it her job to make sure that Hermione didn't fall apart on her big day?

She quickly opened the door to the hallway, and, after a quick check to make sure her groom to be wasn't lingering, she darted out and headed towards Ginny's room. It was about four doors down from her own, so it didn't take her long at all to reach it. She knocked softly before pushing the door open.

"Gin?" she said, attempting to locate the red head. As she walked further into the room, she noticed Ginny's dress strewn haphazardly across the back of a chair and a man's tuxedo on the floor.

'Oh, great,' she thought to herself, 'she couldn't even wait until the reception to shag one of the groomsmen!'

"Ginny? Where are you? I need my shoes!" she was hesitant, but the only sounds in the room were coming from the bathroom. The shower was running and she could hear noises she would rather not identify. Taking a deep breath, she grudgingly pushed open the bathroom door.

"Gin, I hate to interrupt, but this is im…" and she froze. She had been greeted with the faces of Ginny and …Harry.

Harry seemed to be at a loss for words, while Ginny quickly found her voice.

"Hermione? What are you doing here?" she asked, a fake laugh added in as an after thought. Hermione just continued to stare into Harry's green orbs.

"It's not what it looks like, honestly. We were just…er…" Ginny tried again.

By now, Harry had found his voice. "Mione, I'm sorry." was all he could come up with. No excuse perfectly rehearsed and imagined no nothing. Only, 'I'm sorry.'

This snapped Hermione out of her stupor. "How long?" she demanded.

The guilty two looked at each other. "Hermione, that hardly seems like the important thing here…" Ginny began, but Hermione silenced her with a mere glance.

"How long? Come on, I deserve to know how long I've been blinded by both your lies." Tears threatened to fall but she wouldn't let them. Not here, not in front of them.

Harry searched Ginny for an answer. "Uh…since Christmas…" he said. Hermione shuddered. It was now June. 'Of last year…" he finished.

Hermione nodded mutely. "Ok. Goodbye." she said, turning on her heel. Harry tried to stop her.

"Mione, wait. Talk to us, please?"

Hermione rounded on him. "Don't you ever call me that again, Mr. Potter." she spat at him. As she reached the door, she smiled feebly at them. "Thank you. Both of you." she said, and then added to herself, 'for ruining my life'.

From there, she walked quickly back to her room, and after ripping her wedding dress off and hexing it into a million tiny little pieces, she dressed in her normal clothes and apparated as far away from there as she possibly could.

Somehow, she ended up in muggle London. She walked aimlessly for hours. There was really no destination in her mind. Hell, she didn't even know what she was going to do with her life now. So lost in her thoughts was she that she didn't even notice the hooded figures as they surrounded her.

"Well, well, well. Look what the hippogriff carried in, boys!" came the icily familiar drawl of a man she should have known, but didn't because she couldn't bring herself to care. She didn't even fight them as they captured her and she had sat there numbly as they performed the crucio on her. Amazingly enough, she didn't even fight when they took her and presented her to Voldemort himself, who then proceeded to make her his bride to be.

For days, she had sat in the hole they'd stored her in, refusing to eat, drink, hell, sometimes even breath. It just wasn't worth it anymore. Life for her was at an end.

Then, a strange thing happened. She found herself being taken out of her cell, taken into the arms of some strong figure. Where she was going, she knew not, and frankly she didn't care. She would comply with whatever torture this person inflicted on her. Her life was in his hands now.

As he carried her up some stairs and laid her down into a bed, she recognised who he was. It was none other than Draco Malfoy, her enemy since her first year at school. Merlin, she could only imagine what he was going to do to her. Nevertheless, she reminded herself, she didn't care. And she still didn't care when she offered herself to him later that night.

However, things happened to her when he refused her that she couldn't explain. It was as if her wall had crumbled. Crying, she had questioned him, hurt that yet another had refused her. She had been shocked to hear from him that it wasn't that he was after, and then he had left, leaving her to fall into a fit-full slumber.

End Flashback

This morning when she opened her eyes, she felt like, to put it politely, shite. She was emotionally and physically drained. The only comfort to her was that she was now clean and sleeping on clean sheets in a clan bed. She didn't know what would happen next, but she concluded, it was better not to care. Then she wouldn't be hurt when she was let down.

 "Would sir like some breakfast, sir?" Tizzy asked her master as he emerged from the bathroom.

Draco ignored his protesting stomach. "No, but make sure that Ms. Granger gets something, Tiz." he told the little elf, who then left the room with a pop.

After the elf was gone, Draco sat down on his bed with a sigh and put his head in his hands. He had no idea where to go from here. He had brought her back gladly when Voldemort had told him to, partly because he wanted to get her out of there, to keep her safe, but he also did it for another reason that he couldn't quite understand at the moment.

Reluctantly, he got up. He decided that first he would concentrate on breaking the ice between them. He would have to win over her trust first.

 When he entered the room, she was nowhere to be seen. Upon stepping in further, he noticed the doors to the balcony open and the curtains blowing freely in the early morning breeze.

"Hermione?" he questioned, cautiously stepping outside.

She looked up at him as he entered, but there was something, some emotion, missing in her eyes.

He stood there, feeling rather awkward for a minute before deciding to end the uncomfortable silence. "So, uh, how was your night? I hope everything was fine for you." he said, settling himself into one of the chairs near hers.

"It was fine I suppose all things considered." she said to him flatly, all the while staring straight ahead at the woods that bordered Malfoy Manor.

"Alright. That's good." he didn't really know what to say to her, and she certainly wasn't making conversation any easier. "Listen, Hermione, I may have told you this already, but, I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe here." he said, trying to get her to relax. "I've…changed."

At this declaration, she turned to him. "Oh, really? Ands what's made you do the big 360 all of a sudden?" she asked him coldly.

"You wouldn't understand. But perhaps it's about the same as what's made you into this…this…half of your former self." he said before he could stop himself. Upon seeing the look on her face, he decided that maybe that wasn't the best thing to say to warm her to him. "Look, you're going to have to trust me."

She snorted. "Trust you? I don't trust anyone anymore. I find that trust is a useless emotion that will only get you hurt, in the end."

Suddenly, he remembered what she had said to him last night about somebody not wanting her. Smartly, he decided not to mention that.

"Yes, well, we agree on that to a certain extent." was the reply he gave. They were both silent for a few more minutes. "I know you don't want to be here, but while you are, can't we make a truce?"

She looked at him incredulously.

"See, the old, arrogant, smarmy little bastard I was never would have suggested that, would he? Let alone be willing to follow through with it." he asked, eyebrows raised in a similar way as the old Draco would have, this time they were raised in amusement, not belittlement.

Hermione hesitated. "I still don't trust you."

He smirked. This was not going to be easy. "Then don't trust me. I'll enjoy proving you wrong all the more in the end that way."

She almost smiled. Almost. "Fine. But, Draco?" she asked him.

"Yeah?"

Please don't hurt me." she said and a tear fell down her cheek.

He was speechless. All he could say to her was a brief, "I won't.", but even as he said it, he knew she didn't really believe it. And he knew now, more than ever, that he could not allow her to become Voldemorts bride. That would completely destroy her, if she wasn't too far-gone already.