Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, or any of either of their lackeys. Mmkay?

Author's note: Hey, hey. Here it is. Chapter eight. Can you believe it? I can't. Lol.

Previously: (With Hermione) "I can't wait until I have you," he whispered it almost maliciously just before he disappeared as if she had imagined the whole thing. But she couldn't have, she could still feel his cold touch on her skin.

(With Ginny) Ginny winked at Harry and departed.

Chapter Eight

Hermione was sitting on the couch in the living room of the Grangers' residence. She was shaking still. She had been sitting there for an hour, staring at nothing in particular and jumping at any and every noise. She felt so… dirty. His touch still lingered on her, his words still engraved in her mind. What did he mean by have me? And what terms? My father was a cruel bastard but torturing me even after he's fucking gone. That's sadistic.

Hours later, Hermione's mind kicked in and she got up. She didn't want to go back to the Daniels' house. The best she could think of was to apparate to the street and so she did. She stared at all of the houses, each blurring weirdly, and realized that they all had the same look to them.

She shook her head and started walking down the street. She paced up and down it, all the while holding her head in her hands. Her mind raced to find answers, anything that would calm her.

"Hermione?" a boy's voice called her name from behind.

She jumped up and around, half in fear. She sighed in relief upon seeing Draco and Blaise walking up to her.

"What's wrong?" Blaise asked.

"N-nothing, Blaise… just a bit jumpy today."

"Oh, you call him by his first name?" inquired Draco.

"I decided that he didn't do anything to me. He always just stood in your shadow."

"What did I do to you?"

"No comment," she snapped.

"Why?"

"You'll find out later."

"Well, then why don't you fill up the time with telling us why you're so jumpy?"

"I just am, okay?"

"No, don't lie to us."

"What if I can't tell you the truth?" she walked away without another word. She stormed up the stairs to her room on the fourth floor. She changed into a black dress that ended around her knees. She curled her hair and sat upon her vanity stool.

Tinker appeared in her room. "Miss, the Masters say it's time to go."

"Tell them I'm not ready, I'm not going. I don't want to go."

The elf came back a minute or so later. "They request that you come down stairs," she said and disappeared before Hermione could argue. So, Hermione groaned and trudged down the stairs. Her mother was impatiently tapping her foot on the floor at the end of the staircase. Her father had an angry look on his face and both hands in his pockets.

"What is this about not being ready and not going? You look fine," Lana stated.

"I don't want to go."

"You have to. We're expected. It's in our agreement."

"Well, I don't want to go," she raised her voice. "I've had a bad day and this whole thing is so fucking stupid! Who has a back to school dinner with neighbors?" she felt suddenly cold.

"It's with friends. You have to go." Casper took one hand out of his pockets. Hermione looked down to see him holding a wand. She looked around for another approach at the subject but then sighed in defeat.

"Don't expect me to be a sweet little angel," she muttered.

They left the house. Ginny had stood watching the whole thing.

"Dinner is wonderful Narcissa," complimented Lana.

"Yes, it is."

Hermione kept her head down and focused on pushing the food around on her plate. She only looked up when she felt someone tap her leg. It was Draco. He gave her a quizzical gaze, asking what's wrong with his eyes and pleading for an answer. She shook her head and resumed pushing food around. She wasn't hungry… just angry.

"You must eat something," Ginny whispered into Hermione's ear.

"No, I don't," she rubbed her arms subconsciously. Her body was still cold, like the night. Suddenly, she stopped and welcomed the cold to surround her. It was somehow… comforting.

"Please!"

"Fine," she put a piece of boiled carrot on her fork and ate it slowly.

"Well, are we all done?" Lucius asked. Everyone nodded and the plates were taken away. "Okay, I say that the parents go into the living room for a drink and the kids do as they wish."

"I'm going out," Hermione stated once he was finished.

"No, I'd prefer you stay here for a while longer. Unless you take Draco and Blaise with you."

"Fine," she spoke through gritted teeth. Once all of the adults were gone, Hermione turned to Draco. "Where's your room?"

"Follow me," he led her to the fourth floor. His room was as clean as could be.

"Is that your closet?" she pointed. He nodded. She sauntered to it and walked in as if it were her own. "Damn Malfoy, nothing normal? Ah ha!" She came out with jeans; a black wife beater and a black and gray button up. "Button from the bottom up and only halfway. Meet me at my house, my floor. The fourth. Blaise, go home and find something like this but not exactly alike please. Ginny, you know what you're wearing already, just come up to my floor once you're ready. Good bye." She apparated.

Hermione tore through her closet in search of the outfit she had planned on wearing. She finally found the tight low-rise blue jeans and her black racer back that ending an inch before the pants began. She lined her eyes in black and lightly dusted on black eye shadow. She heard two pops and knew it was Draco and Blaise. She slid her feet into her shoes and sat on the vanity counter. Ginny came up a few minutes later.

"Okay, apparate to in front of the Leaky Cauldron." Everyone obliged, and they were soon out on a dark street. Hermione started walking. They traveled a block before she turned down an alleyway. Hermione checked behind her as she slid her hand past the darkest brick on the wall that appeared to be a dead end. "Hurry!" she rushed through the wall.

"Hermione? Where are we?" wondered Ginny.

"Heaven's Hell. A club," she added the last part for Draco and Blaise. She walked in confidently, almost like she owned the place and that was what it seemed when the crowd parted just for her. Her friends watched as she whispered something into the DJs ear. He nodded with a small smile. She grinned in response and made her way back to the group. "Okay, that's Sampson," she pointed to the DJ. "He owns the club. It's a wizard club," she pause and smiled devilishly. "Now, forget everything and have some fun." She left them and suddenly they felt like outsiders. Hermione got into the middle of the dance floor and began to dance. She felt herself leave the pain. It was just whatever guy was behind her and her. She barely even noticed him. The lights blurred and the music was emphasized as it met her ears.

"What's wrong with her?" Blaise looked to Ginny for the answer.

"I don't know. She's angry and upset. She won't let me know or see why. I can't reach her, per say."

"Maybe I'll get it out of her," Draco walked towards her and pushed the guy behind her away, glaring until he left. He started to dance with her. Ginny shrugged and pulled Blaise onto the dance floor.

Hermione didn't want to take notice of a new guy being behind her. She knew it was Draco, and she knew he wanted to get her to talk to him. He smelled of sweet spices and rain. He intoxicated her and the lights lost all focus. When his arms wrapped protectively around her waist, warmth filled her body. The lights came back into their bright focus… the music went down to its actual level… the world fell into place around her.

"Hermione," his breath was hot on her skin. "I'm serious. What's wrong?"

"Damn it, Malfoy, nothing," she pushed him away and walked off the floor. Sampson beckoned her to him. He whispered something into her ear and she smiled, nodding all the while. Draco watched her perambulate to the back of the club, where the bar was. She jumped over the counter and started pointing at things and talking to a timid looking girl who was there. She laughed half-heartedly at random things and anyone who knew her would know that the smile wasn't all that real. Hermione twisted a bottle of fire whiskey in her hands perfectly and poured some into a glass. A guy took it, sloshing it all over. Hermione frowned and grabbed a rag, explaining something to the girl. She smiled the fake smile again and pointed to an almost invisible door in the corner of the club. She walked towards it, coming from behind the bar. The door was cracked open and before she had the chance to walk in on her own, she was pulled through. Draco rushed to the door although it seemed like it only got farther away.

Hermione gasped. The room was dark and the figure that held her against the wall was hard to make out. When she felt hands going up her shirt, a memory was triggered and the dark figure suddenly had a face in her mind. She pushed his hands down from under her shirt. She could hear Draco banging on the door and yelling for them to open up. In that instant, she wished he could get in. Jake's hands began searching up her shirt again. Tears pooled in her eyes. She thought she had run out of them. They stung her skin as they cascaded. She knew this would hurt mentally and physically.

"Jake, I don't understand what you want with me."

"I made an unbreakable vow," he pushed an awry curl behind her ear. "I have to carry it out eventually… or die."

"Well, then, die damn it, Jake. My father put me through hell most of his life and now you're falling in his shadow?"

"If you want to think of it that way," he leaned close to her. He brushed his lips against her and pulled yet another of his disappearing acts. Hermione felt disgusted… dirty. She fell to the floor with her arms around herself. Her body replaced all the warmth Draco had given her with the bone-chilling cold that had filled her before. Draco's yells broke through the fog of her tears and she stood again. She opened the door, said, "I have to go," and left.

Once home, she ran to the bathroom. She turned the shower to its hottest and tore her clothes off. When she stepped in, the water burned her body but she welcomed the pain. She took her sponge and lathered it with vanilla soap. She scrubbed her skin raw and still felt horridly dirty. She flicked the water off, wrapped the towel around her red body, and stepped out of the shower. She opened a drawer to the left under the sink and found her pajamas, fresh for the night. She put them on and traipsed into her room. Draco was on her bed. She jumped.

"Merlin, don't do that." An owl was next to him. He was stroking its feathers. Hermione walked to her bedside and took up the letter it had dropped. It was from Harry and Ron. Would they just give up already?

"Don't do what?" Draco finally spoke.

"Scare me," she threw the letter onto her desk and sat on her bed.

"Oh, and you didn't scare me a little while ago at the club? What happened there? Who pulled you into that room?"

"It's none of your damn business, Malfoy."

"I'm going to make it my fucking business."

She pulled her covers up her body and rolled onto her side to where he couldn't see the tears that drowned her eyes. "You can't, Malfoy. You just… can't."

"Why?"

"It's complicated… bound to happen… anywhere, anytime."

"So, tell me and I'll protect you from who or whatever."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"He's guardarlo."

Author's note: Okay, that's the end of the chapter and I have decided how to sort them… but I'm not going to tell you.

Please, please review!

Lots of love,

Heather