Only If I Have To

For the next four days Draco and Hermione avoided each other at all costs, that last row between them had left them both with battered and bruised egos, and neither wanted to let the other now how much they were truly injured on the inside. If they crossed each other's paths they just quickly walked the other direction or speed passed the other looking at the ground pretending not to even know the other was in the same room.

The next day however, Vulcan came to visit Hermione, and after telling him the contents of their ruthless confrontations with one another he called them both together in hopes of finding a way to help them get along with each other at least.

"I think the system we have set up now works quite nicely," she mumbled barely loud enough to make sense of it.

Vulcan glared at her, "Hermione, the point of father sending you here wasn't just so that you would be safe, it was so you two could learn to co-exist with each other, and eventually become friends, or at the least tolerate each other enough to raise a child and be civil with one another." He explained, both she and Draco flinched at the thought of having a child together

"Why on Earth would I want to try to procreate with the likes of him? He's not even that good at Quidditch,"

"Because Father says it shall be so, and no one, not even you goes against what father wants!" Vulcan bellowed making Hermione cower in fear. "It is what is best for you both, and if you don't like it I suggest that you take it up with Father by your self Hermione, because I am not going to watch you insult and disgrace Father by not following his wishes,"

"What about what I want? No one ever thinks of that anymore do they? It's always about Father and his plans, I ask him for support on one thing, and he forces me into what I don't want!" Hermione felt tears stinging her eyes, she normally didn't let such issues bother her, but she was so hurt by her Father and Brother's disregard for her feelings that she lost control of her self and ran away sobbing.

Vulcan felt horrendous, and began to go after Hermione, "Wait, Vulcan, let me go. That way she can't blame you anymore than she already has." Draco stopped him, as he took the first step in taking a chance on getting to know Hermione better. He knocked on the door to Hermione's room.

"GO AWAY! I don't want to have anything to do with any of you!" she screamed relentlessly.

"Look Granger, I don't like this any more than you do, but I rather like living, and I believe that you do as well, so I think you should open the door so we can come to some sort of arrangement." Draco said, "Her-Hermione, please, just open the door, let's at least try to make this work somehow…" he stopped himself, not sure of what else there was for him to say on the matter, he just hoped that she would give him a chance. He wasn't quite sure why he even really cared in the first place, because he was most certain that death was much more bearable than having to spend the rest of his miserable life being married and faithful to only Hermione Granger.

She flung the door open, her hazel orbs raging in fury meeting his cold steel blue eyes, locking instinctively. She found that she couldn't stop herself, as she grabbed his neck, and forced her lips upon his, which at first he did nothing in return, but after recovering from his shock, he snaked his arms around her waist and they then retreated in into the privacy of her room, he ran his tongue allow the inside of her lips, and she slightly open her mouth to allow access. He then deepened the kiss with more passion than he had ever felt for anything in his life.

After a few minutes of this seemingly drunken snogging, they broke apart, and they both instantly came back to their senses, "Now how logical does it seem for us to be together if we are going to have moments like this of mistaken passion, and then avoid each other for days on end, until we have to come together again?" She asked as she pushed him out of her room and locked the door as he exited.

"What...? Wait…Hermione…" He once again began his protest from the other side of the door. "Hermione, I can make this work if you can!" he announced as he left her door way to go and let Vulcan know that if he had too he was willing to try to get along with Hermione and try to learn to love her.

"Well, how did that go?" Vulcan wonder, a look of mere amusement plastered on his face.

"Actually, I'm not sure if it went either way. But, I do want you to know that I will try to make this work, but only if I have to in order to keep my life," Draco explained.

"I knew one of you would come around sooner or later," Vulcan chuckled lightly, "I hoped it would be you, because I know the shortest way to get to Hermione's heart, and find out who she truly is, and in her heart is where you want to be."

"So, how exactly do you suggest I do this?" Draco wondered, Vulcan catching his curiosity much as he had expected to.

"I thought you might ask that. First things first, try to be nice to her, compliment her a lot; she loves it when the sons of Death Eaters notice her, especially when they find out who she is, you know, book work Hermione Granger. It's usually a culture shock for them when they think they've been playing into the filthy little Mud blood's hands, but back to the task at hand. My sister probably looks in the mirror to make sure she looks flawless every time she walks past a shiny surface. Probably doesn't look like she does, but it is after all in her nature to want to be the most attractive witch she knows of." Vulcan laughed as he said this. "Even when she had the glamour charm she can't help it, it might look as if she's just looking out the window, or staring at whatever it is that is encased in the shiny material, but she's really just admiring herself. My mother used to do it excessively when we were little, that's where she gets it from,"

"What else?"

"Well, you already know that she loves to dance, and she's brilliant at the Piano, I'm assuming that is what got you to this little avoidance arrangement, am I right?"

"How did you know?" Draco was impressed with Vulcan's knowledge of his sister's quirks.

"Ah, Hermione's always been really touchy about her music. She feels that she has lost the deep emotions that she used to feel when she first started playing the pieces that she had finished memorizing and could play by heart. And she didn't realize that when she started learning by ear that she had become consumed with emotions when she played, you can tell by her posture, her movements, everything she does when she plays tells a story about the way the piece she's playing makes her feel, but she doesn't see herself playing, so while she thinks she feels nothing, she's telling her audience the story of her life. That is what makes her so enjoyable to watch, it's why she's so good," Vulcan continued explaining Draco.

"Yeah, actually I noticed that she was rather withdrawn from the rest of the world around her when I got the chance to see her play a few days ago. That would explain why, actually it explains a lot about her, to be honest with you, a lot of things I never used to look at until you just pointed them out to me…"

"Any way, if you really want to get down to the striped real black and white Hermione get her to talk to you about anything, she will talk if you hint to her that you will at least act like you're listening, and if you aren't caught up with yourself while she's talking. She doesn't really have a favorite thing to talk about so just let the conversation flow, but good conversation starters are The-Boy-Who-Thinks-He's-Invincible, and Weasel Boy Wonder, just don't talk about anything that involves her being unreasonably smart, that aggravates her and well, you how she gets when she gets upset." Vulcan advised, patting him on the shoulder.

"Thanks man, you don't know how much this is really helping me out, and now that you've told me some of this stuff, I'm starting to see your sister in a different light." Draco hated to admit it but it was true.

"No problem, I've got to head out, my father's waiting on me, apparently one of Death Eaters has been interrogated by The Order Of Harry Potter's Wishes," Vulcan said bidding Draco a quick farewell and then apparating out of the Malfoy Manor.

"Yeah, good luck with that man," Draco sighed as he watched Vulcan leave the Malfoy premises.

Hermione didn't come down to dinner that evening, much to the surprise of the whole Malfoy family. So, Draco took it upon himself to bring her something to eat. He lightly knocked on the door and then left the plate of food outside of the door. He thought about leaving a note for her so that she would know it was him, but thought that was too simple, so he just left things, and hoped that she would ask if it was him.

As he was opening the door to his room, she opened the door to her room and saw the food, "I wasn't sure what you liked, so I just got you a little of everything," He commented as he began to enter his room.

"Draco-wait, um…thank you, you didn't have to do that…" She started, but he hushed her by shaking his head.

"No need to thank me. My family is supposed to treat you as a guest of honor, not a prisoner, no one should have to suffer going hungry for the night because of undesirable company," He remarked, an almost hurt look was on his face. "Vulcan asked me to say good bye to you for him, he said he's sorry as well,"

"It's not his fault, I over reacted. And I want to apologize for my, implication of us being together would be a disaster…" Hermione said, looking at the ground. "I know that my father is just looking out for what is best for me, and I'm sure that your father is doing the same…So, I'll try harder to like you…"

"Well, I appreciate that, and I will make the effort to like you as well…speaking of which, would you give me the honor of letting me take the Dark Lord's daughter out to a very posh very good restaurant for a simple dinner between two acquaintances tomorrow night? I think we could both use the chance to get out of this…over-stuffy rather over-whelming house," Draco suggested as he leaned against his door frame.

"I think that I can handle that, yes I would very much appreciate that. I of course shall have to find a suitable new dress for the occasion…"

"No need. I will have the house elves create something magnificent for you, I will meet you at the door at say…seven-thirty. Reservations will be at eight."

"Sounds fabulous," Hermione smiled.

"By the way, you look stunning when you play the piano…" he complimented as they each entered their own rooms. He shut his door and sighed with relief, 'That was easier than I thought it was going to be,' he thought to himself as he walked to his closet to choose himself something that would be suitable for the dinner that he had planned.

It took him only a half hour to find a teal button down silk shirt, with black slacks and a matching jacket, along with a black tie, and his favorite pair of black leather shoes. He then summoned Candy the house elf and told her that Hermione was going to need a top notch dress made for an outing to The Stuffed Olive Italian Restaurant, the color was to be teal or a deep plum.

She understood and went right to work, already knowing Hermione's measurements from a previous dress she had made for a dinner the week before.

The next morning Hermione woke up to find a beautifully crafted gown of Deep Plum. It was splashed with silver glitter, was a corset style top, with one slit on each side of the skirt up to the middle of her thigh. She put it on, only to find that it complimented all of her curves, and she looked like royalty in it. She couldn't wait until her dinner date with Draco that night.