Chapter: 4

Hermione's breathing stilled as her long-time rival grazed her cheek with his fingertips. When she felt his hand pull away, she released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

Her mind raced in that moment. Draco was the only familiar face she'd seen in months, and despite being her adversary, she knew one thing for certain, she would always be safer with the enemy she knew.

When Draco turned from her, Hermione bolted up right into a sitting position and snatched him by the wrist.

Startled, Draco tried to yank his hand away, but her grip was solid.

"Bloody Hell, Granger," He cursed in surprise.

"Malfoy, please," She begged, her big brown eyes pleading with his piercing blue gaze. "I need your help."

Draco stared after her, confused and awestruck, as she held onto him with a sad desperation in her eyes.

"I can't stay here," She told him in a quivering voice.

Draco stared at her a moment, unable to speak as he tried to absorb what she was saying.

"Sorry, Granger," He said after regaining his composure, his harsh, pitiless tone overtaking him once more. "I'm not in the market for a mudblood."

Hermione sat back and let his wrist slip from her grasp. "Then what are you doing in a place like this?"

She watched as Draco's eyes cast over her, taking in her battered body and weakened condition.

"Humoring Madam Red," He told her bitterly. "She sent every pureblood family worth mentioning an invitation. It's politics really."

"An invitation to what exactly?" She looked around, hopelessly, understanding nothing about how the other half lived.

"A mudblood of their choosing," He said, as if it were obvious.

"So we're to be passed around and … and ," She stopped and closed her eyes, unable to continue.

"Not exactly," He sighed before continuing. "This bed is a contract, and the only way that shackle is coming off your ankle is when some wizard decides to bind you to him."

"Bind me …," Hermione uttered the words, unsure of what they meant.

"It's an ancient pureblood tradition," Draco explained, "One that Madam Red has taken upon herself to recurrent with the return of the Dark Lord."

Hermione let the severity of the situation sink in for a moment. She wasn't sure which was worse, her previous thoughts of her body being used over and over again by countless strangers, or of being permanently bound to someone as a slave for the rest of her life and her free will being forfeit forever. She realized quickly, however, that her rights had been stripped from her a long time ago, when they threw her down in that pitch-black cell.

Hermione closed her eyes as the torturous words left her lips. "Could you do it?" She asked him with the last shred of bravery she had left.

Draco stared at her, his icy blue eyes narrowed in disbelief, as if he couldn't trust his own ears. "I don't think you heard me correctly, Granger," His deep voice said slowly, emphasizing each and every word for clarity's sake. "I would have to fuck you in order for that chain to come off, and then you would be bound to me for the rest of your miserable life-"

"I know the gravity of what I'm asking," Hermione interrupted him. "I no longer have control over what happens to me … just please, let me choose this one last thing."

Screams of agony could be heard coming from the room next door causing Hermione to wrap her arms protectively around herself.

"As entertaining as your proposition is, Granger," Draco said in a callous tone. "I have zero interest in being bound to you for the rest of my life."

Hermione stood up and pulled the heavy chain with her hands and dragged it until she was standing face to face with him. "Malfoy, Please … I know you despise me. I know you hate my filthy blood, but I promise, if you bind me to you, I'll make myself as scarce as possible, I'll do whatever it is you want me to do without complaint."

Draco looked down at her, his porcelain features unreadable as she searched his face.

"I'll make you a deal, Granger," He told her in a dangerously low voice. "If you can somehow, by the grace of Salazar, make me desire you even if only for a split second, I'll do what you ask." He told her. "Just remember, there's no going back once the deed is done and that shackle comes off. You belong to me then."