(A/N: I am sooooo, so sorry for not posting in so long. I really do apologize. But I have a few newer stories, plus my trade school and college occupied my time. I also had trouble remembering some of the things happened in the story. I shouldn't have deleted the original version. Forgive me for not posting much, much sooner.)

After that day, everything was pretty much the same for Hermione. She did the work that Lucius had assigned or ordered her to do. Plus, there may have been something that Draco wanted her for.

She only worked with Lisette if she had the prepare and serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the Malfoys. When she was tending to the rooms downstairs, she was alone. Lisette and the other servants, on the other hand, worked upstairs. Lisette had explained to her that "Master Malfoy" did not allow his Muggle-born servants to work upstairs unless he told them to.

"Why?" Hermione had inquired.

"'E didn't say eet, but I am quite sure zat eet is because 'e thinks that Muggle-borns are too low to," she responded.

Hermione snorted and rolled her eyes. "I'm certain that that is the reason."

She always had her meals with Lisette too. They often talked about the Voldemort and the missions that the Death Eaters were given. They shared opinions on how terrible the Wizarding World had become.

Unfortunately, Hermione and Lisette did not have much time for chit-chat. They both had a lot of work to do in the daytime. Everything slowed down at night because there was less to do. Besides that, Lucius had reprimanded them once for talking when they were supposed to be doing their duties.

"The next time I catch you, you two will be fortunate if I do not decide to flay you to within an inch of your lives," he had threatened.

"Yes, sir," they murmured.

Hermione and Lisette chose to save their conversations for mealtimes after this. They would also talk while they were cooking or washing dishes, if they were able to. But they always had to listen to make sure that Lucius or Draco were not coming.

Luckily for Hermione, Lucius had not punished her in any way very often after her first and second days in the manor. There were four instances when he did, but he did not do anything other than yell and slap her once each time.

Pretty soon, she learned how to evade his wrath almost completely. She did what she was told to do instead of trying to rebel against him. She checked to make sure that her tasks were done and well done. She fixed her mistakes if there were any.

This did not mean that Hermione was growing to like her job as a servant. Quite the contrary. She was just trying to make things a little more easier for herself. She wanted to make the best that she could out of the situation that she was in. It was the only thing that she was able to do, other than make things worse.

She spent unknown amounts of time every night thinking of her best friends Harry and Ron after she had gone to bed. She had been so devastated when they had been killed several months ago. She missed them so terribly. The memory of them still caused her a great deal of pain. She cried herself to sleep and found dry teardrops on her pillow in the morning.

Lisette sympathized with her. None of her family members or friends were dead that she knew of. However, when Voldemort rose to power, she had never seen them again. They had all been scattered.

"Do you have an idea of where they might be?" Hermione queried one evening as they were washing the dishes.

"No. I wish zat I did. But you know zat You-Know-'Oo wished to separate families. 'E always wants to make us suffer. Eet will make 'im upset to see any of us 'appy," Lisette grumbled.

"I agree with you on that."

Unbeknownst to Hermione, Lucius was constantly watching her. And it was not just because she was a new servant, and he needed to be certain that she could meet his expectations.

He did not know it, but he was fascinated by her. There was something that was drawing him to her.

Something about her reminds me of...no. It is impossible. Perhaps it is just a trick of my mind, Lucius said to himself one day.

XXX

Before Hermione knew it, she had been working in the Malfoy Manor for three weeks. Three very long weeks. She almost could not believe it.

At the moment, she and Lisette were in the kitchen, preparing dinner. They were chatting about something that Lucius told Draco about earlier that morning.

"I felt sorry about the weezard zat the Death Eaters killed. 'E 'ad 'elped so many 'alf-blood and Muggle-born weezards and weetches escape servitude. You can bet zat You-Know-'Oo will make them-the Death Eaters-keep a close lookout for anyone 'oo may be doing that same thing," Lisette pointed out.

"Yes. And there will not be much that anyone can do to stop it. Rebelling would not likely do any good, since the people who choose to will likely be murdered," Hermione whispered, grimacing slightly. She had cut her finger over ten minutes ago. Her bandaged cut was still hurting.

Lisette shook her head and exhaled deeply. "I don't theenk zat it can get any worse than zis, 'Ermione. But I don't see 'ow it can get better for us."

"Me neither..."

"What did I tell you two the other day about talking while you are working?" a low voice hissed.

They pivoted to see Lucius standing in the kitchen doorway. Neither of them were able to reply.

He frowned at them. "I think that I need to separate the both of you until you have learned your lesson."

And with that, he gripped Hermione's upper arm. "Come with me."

He pulled her out of the kitchen and down the hall to the library. Then he released her.

"I want you to tidy this room up. Dust is beginning to appear on the furniture, and the carpet needs to be swept. When you are finished in here, you will clean the parlor. After that, you will serve dinner with Lisette...without conversation. Do you understand me?" he demanded.

"Yes, sir," Hermione responded.

"I hope that you do, for your sake. Now get in there before I decide to punish you worse than I ever had since you came here."

Hermione quickly entered the library. When Lucius was gone, she sighed wearily, then began to dust and sweep the room. As she did, she often paused to admire a few things. The Malfoys did have wonderful possessions, if anything could be said about them.

Too bad they are not as wonderful as their trinkets, she thought.

It was a while before she was done, and not a moment too soon. She heard somebody coming down the stairs and turned to see Lucius.

"That library had better be clean. I like to read in there, you know," he added in an exasperated voice.

He inspected the room with narrowed eyes. "Mmm. It looks perfect. You cleaned this room better than that Mudblood Lisette ever has."

"Don't say that about her. Lisette cleans well, and she is a very hard worker," Hermione retorted. She did not mean to say anything, but she couldn't help herself.

Lucius slapped her so hard that her face burned. "You will not speak out of turn, and you will not talk back to me," he snarled. Then he grabbed her hair and yanked her to the parlor's entrance.

"OUCH! You're hurting me!"

"I will hurt you even more if you disrespect me again! Now get in here and clean the room. And you had better finish in time to serve dinner."

When she just glared at him mutinously, he shoved her into the room.

"I told you to get in there!" he hissed. He closed the door and she heard it being locked from the outside.

Hermione drooped before looking over the parlor. Just seeing how much more dust there was than there had been in the library made her exhausted.

She listened to make sure that Lucius had gone, then sat down on a chair that felt very comfortable. It would not hurt to rest for several minutes. After that, she could dust the room and head to the kitchen.

Perhaps she was more tired than she thought. Her eyes grew heavy within a couple of minutes. She attempted to wake herself up, but she quickly dozed off.

Hermione was not certain of how long she had slept. But the next thing she knew, she was aroused by a man who was screaming at the top of his voice.

"WAKE UP! HOW DARE YOU FALL ASLEEP WHEN YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO BE FULFILLING YOUR DUTIES?!" Lucius bellowed, snatching her off of the chair.

She trembled violently as she fixed her clothes. She knew that Lucius was really going to punish her now. "I-I apologize. I-I-I'm s-sorry, s-sir," she stammered.

"You are sorry?! You certainly will be after I am through with you!"

And then he started to beat her. Hermione wept and yelled loudly for him to give her mercy as he punched and kicked her over and over again.

It felt like days had passed before he grew tired. In reality, only five minutes had. Lucius scowled at her as she laid on the floor, crying and whimpering in pain.

"Now you are sorry," Lucius murmured. He walked over to the door. "Lisette! Get in here and clean this useless girl up! Do not take too long. The both of you still need to serve dinner!"

He picked Hermione up roughly. "And if you spill even one drop while you are serving our meal, you will definitely wish that you had not."

She nodded rapidly and he let her go. Lisette entered the parlor and helped her limp to the bathroom upstairs.

"Oh, my God, 'Ermione! What 'appened?" she queried in a whisper.

Hermione choked on a sob. "Master Malfoy beat me," she groaned.

Lisette shook her head as she pursed her lips. "I am so sorry, love. I really am."

They walked into the bathroom. She made Hermione sit on the toilet before tending to her injuries.

"Eet is a pity," Lisette sighed after a moment. "Master Malfoy rarely beat 'is servants when 'is wife was alive. The 'uman servants, anyway. But after she 'ad been tortured and killed, 'e is nearly always angry or sad. But anyone would be if they saw their wife die, without being able to do a thing about eet. I 'eard 'im crying once...in the privacy of 'is room. I will admeet that I cried too when I saw her being killed."

"I almost forgot that his wife Narcissa had been murdered by the Order. I almost feel sorry for him now."

"Me too. She was 'alf a decent woman. She was civil to us servants when she was in a good mood, but when she wasn't, she preferred to be left alone. In a way, she kept 'er son and Malfoy Malfoy 'appy. Now eet takes just a leetle bit of something to make 'im fly into a rage," she concluded.

"Ohhhh. I know that he must miss her. I understand how hard it is to lose someone that you love. I lost my two best friends, Harry and Ron. I actually had feelings for Ron, but...he will never know it."

A tear slid down her face. Lisette wiped it away and hugged her.

"Everything will be all right, love. Per'aps you will find someone else."

Hermione sniffled. "I hope so."

Lisette quickly finished tending to her, and then they went back downstairs.

Fortunately for Hermione, she was able to serve Lucius and Draco their meal without dropping the trays that she carried. This was saying something. Her bruised arms ached so badly that it was a wonder that she could hold them at all. Lucius watched her, his eyes telling her that he dared her to drop the trays.

The rest of the evening went by peacefully. Hermione, Lisette, and the other servants had their own dinner. The dishes were washed and dried. The other chores were finished.

At ten o'clock, Hermione went to the cellar. She changed into her pajamas, then laid on the bed, wincing. Her body was still aching from the beating that Lucius had given her. Just thinking about it made her depressed.

Still, it was almost nothing compared to imagining what happened to his wife, Narcissa. She could sympathize, having witnessed Harry and Ron being tortured before the were murdered.

Hermione exhaled deeply before turning off the light. Harry, Ron, and Narcissa floated in her mind as she drifted off to sleep.

((A/N: PLEASE REVIEW! I will try to update this soon, I promise. Prepare for tissues (for Hermione), and pitchforks, torches, and other weapons in the next chapter (for Lucius.) ))