Okay, this chapter has a LOT of flashbacks but I'm used to how inconvenient it is when you can't tell the flashbacks from the real things so all the flashbacks have dates and are written in Italics.

Chapter 2: The Curse of Power

Hermione WAS married to Draco Malfoy but not because she loved him or felt anything except pure dislike for him but because she had been forced into a marriage with him…she didn't even know why they had chosen her but with all the pureblooded skanks out there, they couldn't find one?

She remembered what she considered the worst day of her life like it was yesterday. It was May 29, 2001 and they had been married around five months ago.

That fateful morning Hermione had been locked away as a prisoner in Malfoy Manor, the old lair of the Malfoys, during the war. She had been captured when fighting Bellatrix Lestrange during a surprise final attack on Hogwarts. Actually, she had been fighting Dolohov but as she cast her final stupefy spell on him, she saw Bellatrix about to cast the Killing Curse on Trelawney, who had been unsuccessfully fighting her.

As soon as she saw Dolohov slump down on the floor, Hermione threw a disarming spell at Bellatrix and they started fighting. Unfortunately another Death Eater had somehow appeared from behind Bellatrix and they both cornered her. Hermione hadn't understood why they hadn't just killed her.

Malfoy Manor, November

Hermione heard footsteps down the corridor of the dark dungeon. Hermione had a whole little cell to herself, separate from the other FEW lucky prisoners. But having a whole cell wasn't much, it was cramped and cold and dingy. But Hermione hadn't been the brightest witch of her age for nothing. She had wandlessly gotten out of the chains but couldn't do anything about the cell bars because they had anti-escapists charms on them.

'Draco, it is not up to you to decide your life. Especially after you did last year. If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be here right now.'

Hermione heard and recognized Lucius's voice and figured out that somebody else was with him.

They both arrived at Hermione's cell. Lucius had been walking with Draco, who at the moment was quite shocked at the site before him. Granger had scratches and scars all over her. He was not used to seeing the snappish, fiery Hermione Granger like this.

'Malfoy? What's he doing here?' Hermione thought as she sat up from her slumped position.

'Fa…ther. You're kidding right? I mean, Father this must be a joke. She's a…a mudblood!'

'No, Draco I am not joking. You have to do it. No other choice…or would you rather die the cruel death at the hands of The Dark Lord?'

Both of them turned back to Hermione.

"You mudblood are going to have the honor of holding the Malfoy line."

Hermione looked shot a quizzical sort of glare at Lucius.

Lucius smirked, "Ah, yes. Well, I do not know why but The Dark Lord commands that…you marry. That you marry Draco."

Draco looked away with repulsion on his face. Hermione's eyes went wide and she spoke the first word she had said in almost a week.

"What?"

Draco looked up at her voice, his smirk gone but his face still emotionless.

Lucius glowered at her, "You will be marrying my son, Draco Malfoy."

Hermione almost fainted, she thought she was hallucinating. Then suddenly a smirk crawled up her face and she looked up, "I think I'm going crazy here. I actually thought you just told me to marry him…" she said this and glanced sharply at Draco who was being very indifferent.

Lucius narrowed his eyes and looked away, "You will be marrying him and that is ALL. Now I will leave as I have already exchanged too many words with a mudblood.'

He was about to leave when…

"What if I don't? What IF I don't marry him? You can't come in and ask me to marry Malfoy! What're you going to do about it?"

"What am I going to do about it? Oh, I'm not going to do anything…the Dark Lord will. He will kill your family if you don't. Simple as that."

Hermione opened her mouth but then closed it and then she opened it again, "WHY…why do I…ME, why do I have to marry him? I never did anything that could possibly make Voldemort change his mind about muggle-borns then why condemn me to this fate?"

Lucius raised an eyebrow, "I don't know what he wants Draco to do with mudblood filth like you, but his commands are meant to be followed, not questioned. And his name is not meant to be said."

Draco looked at his father and then at Hermione because, apparently they had forgotten he existed. Had been fiercely arguing with Lucius since he had received the news, yelling, shouting spells at random inanimate things, cursing the house-elves and even threatening to kill Hermione.

But there was nothing he could do, Lucius had power over him, power he didn't appreciate but had to follow in fear of his life.

Draco looked away from the conversation and down the long corridor, how the mighty had fallen.

With a swish of his cloak, Lucius strode away and Draco shot a look of contempt at Hermione before he walked away as well.

Hermione contemplated her horrible fate and pushed her down so the other prisoners wouldn't hear her sobs.

…..

Hermione had been forced to marry Draco Malfoy.

What had happened was that Voldemort knew something of Hermione like how she was the brightest witch of her age or at least had been at Hogwarts and he also knew something the Deatheaters and Harry and Ron didn't know: Hermione had power, maybe not as much as Harry or him but she had a lot of power that could turn against him. Voldemort needed to harness that power somehow, he couldn't do it himself but ah, a betrothal….a marriage but to whom…? And then it occurred to him, Draco Malfoy. He still needed to get his Dark Mark and could indeed be persuaded to marry a mudblood…eventually.

He told Lucius immediately that he wanted Draco to fulfill a task and that if he managed to make good of his second chance, he could receive the Mark.

When Lucius found out what the "task at hand" was, he was utterly speechless. The Dark Lord was asking him to stain the prefect Malfoy Pureblood line that had been bred since …since LONG. How could he follow this order? But…he had to, didn't he? There was not other choice for him or for Draco.

Hermione was "freed" four days later but she was then told she had only five more days. Draco received this news as well and he sulked.

Hermione and Draco were married on January 24, 2001. The deal was that they would have to stay married and neither on could kill the other or themselves, in fact. They would have to stay married until one died naturally otherwise if any attempt was made at freedom, both would die.

They were married in a short ceremony done by a trusted deatheater that used to be minister. Hermione's parents were informed and Hermione spent her last few days with her parents in her house, crying and hoping. Hoping someone would save her. Harry and Ron and the others could not be informed until after the wedding.

Afterwards, almost a month later…Draco and Hermione were living together in a hell of sorts but for a better choice of words, Malfoy Manor. Hermione hadn't even gone out yet, which meant she hadn't seen Harry or Ron for almost a month. Hermione spent all her days in her and Draco's room. The brighter side of things was that Draco was almost never at home because of the War-he was always with the deatheaters at their actual layer because obviously he couldn't take part in the battle, The Dark Lord wouldn't let him-- but almost everyday Hermione heard screams of tortured prisoners and traitors. Cruciosand Avada Kedavrasrang throughout the house nearly everyday. Malfoy Manor had a whole trunk of spells put on it to make it untraceable and as protected as possible. Nobody could apparate into the house unless they were allowed.

One day a house-elf pooped into her room without her asking and started hyperventilating. Hermione almost laughed but then she asked what was the matter. The house-elf gave her momentous news: The War was over…after almost half a year. He said the Dark Side had lost and that was all he knew except…that Master was dead. Lucius had been killed by one of the aurors. Harry had defeated Voldemort that very day in a heated face-off, with Ron, with Ginny, without Hermione. Hermione had always expected the trio to win the last battle against Voldemort but she hadn't expected Ginny to be part of the equation.

She had never found out the reason for her marriage but the question was still there, always revolving around her, posing in her every breath.

Later Hermione found that Harry had many serious injuries but he was getting better and almost a week later, she was surprised to see Draco standing at the door of their bedroom. He looked as Draco as ever actually except for the fact that he looked as if he had starved in the past few days gaunt and…pale, as always though.

Malfoy Manor, March 1,

Hermione turned, startled by the sudden slamming of the door behind her. She turned from her spot on the bed and gasped.

"Surprised Granger? You thought I was dead? You thought one of the aurors had killed me? Or did you WISH it? Why did you stay then? Why didn't you leave? Well, as you see, I'm alive. Though I can't say as much for some of my friends…my father's friends…my father and…oh yes, that muggle-loving fool…Arter Weasley?Or how about McGonagall? And then there's Parvati Patil and Cho Chang but they weren't that clot to you, were they? I might as well tell you, Snape died but so did Charlie Weasley.", Draco named off at least five more casualties to Hermione who was white with shock. She expected to fain but somehow when Draco ended his little tirade, she managed not to. Draco stared at a speechless, motionless Hermione and went to sit down in one of their chairs.

There were many deaths but everything turned out all right, as Hermione found out later. The aurors had managed to capture almost all of the deatheaters. Hermione and Draco shared a bed, as was expected, but Hermione slept to far left side of the bed and Draco to the far right.

About a week later, at one of their silent dinners, Draco spoke:

March 7,

Draco looked up at Hermione, who was eating her dinner in tiny bits and suddenly spoke, "We're moving."

Hermione looked up at him quizzically, "What?"

"We're leaving this Manor."

Hermione tilted her head a little to one side and said, "Why? Doesn't this house hold like centuries of Malfoy history or something?"

Draco tried to speak as little as possible, "Exactly. Too much history, too many pasts."

Hermione looked back at her plate, "Where're we going?"

"I've bought another mansion near London, but in the country. This one had been sold."

"How did you sell…?"

"I have connections." And it was left at that.

Draco and Hermione moved around two weeks later and Draco received Mail from the Ministry of Magic. It said that they would have a hearing for him to decide if he was responsible for any deaths.

Obviously, Draco got off scotch free after almost a two-hour trial in front of the Wizengamot. The verdict was that since Draco had not killed any person or persons, he could not be sentenced to Azkaban as a deatheater. Hermione had not gone to the trial, she hadn't gone anywhere after they moved either.

But finally, one day when Draco was out(he could show his face in public now), Hermione decide that she couldn't live in fear any longer.

March 20,

Hermione stood in front of a door. It was a very familiar door that she had grown to love. Behind that door, there were people that she loved even more.

She could smell the spring in the air and the food smells drifting out from the house. It was the Weasley house and Hermione was finally coming out from hiding.

She raised he hand in a fist, about to knock at the door but pulled back suddenly…the same fears kept making her nauseous and doubtful.

'What if they shun me? The hate Malfoy but then, so do I. I'll explain it to them. I'm sure they'll understand.", Hermione lied to herself. Her heart was in her throat and she felt sick and she could almost feel her knees shaking, she was that scared.

And then she knocked.

Two minutes of waiting…and Ron opened the door. As soon as he saw who it was, he started to open his mouth but closed it again. There was a bit of stuttering and then

"HARRY. MUM! GINNY! ANYBODY!"

Hermione almost laughed at his face-it looked completely terrified.

Minutes later, Hermione was standing in a kitchen full of many shocked people: Molly, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Fred and George, Lupin, Tonks and on.

Harry was the first one to speak:

"Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"Weren't you dead? What happened to you?

And from there on, Hermione was faced with tons of questions.

"Were you with Voldemort?"

"How come you never came back?"

"Haven't you been eating?"

"How do we know you're not an imposter?"

"Why didn't you fight in the War if you managed to escape?"

"Where were you?"

Hermione felt overwhelmed with all the questions so sat down on one of the chairs.

"No I wasn't dead. Yes I was with Voldemort. I'm not an imposter because I know that Ron used to have dreams of spiders taking over the world in First Year. I guess I haven't been eating."…She answered all the questions that didn't have to do with Draco in any way.

Lupin raised an eyebrow, "You've avoided some questions. Why?"

Hermione didn't meet anyone's eyes because she knew that they already had discovered her secret.

"I…I was at Malfoy Manor…and um…"

The crowd waited for her to go on.

"Actually, could I just talk to Ginny first?"

Ginny looked at her mother and then at Harry and Ron.

Molly sighed and nodded, "Yes. Go Ginny dear."

Ginny walked over to where Hermione was sitting. Hermione stared at the other people and then said "Alone?"

Everybody started moving and talking at the same time and they exited into the living room.

"So what's up? I mean, you know…" Ginny leaned against the counter and said.

Hermione looked down and said, "I'm…married."

Ginny's mouth dropped open, "What? Huh? To who? Ron and you weren't secretly meeting, were you? Is that the ring? You disappeared to GET MARRIED? You know what? I never thought of you as the married type."

Ginny grabbed Hermione's left hand and ogled at the large ring that Malfoy had oh so generously gifted her. It was a Malfoy heirloom and had the Malfoy Crest on it.

Hermione gave a light smile before she shook her head.

"It was an arranged marriage."

Ginny raised an eyebrow at Hermione and looked from her to the ring she was holding before suddenly screaming, "HERMIONE! NO…"

"MALFOY? WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?"

Obviously Ginny had figured out who it was from Hermione saying she was at Malfoy Manor earlier. And apparently she had seen the crest on the ring.

And so it spilled out. Everything. How he had threatened to kill her parents, the moving, and all the details. She trusted Ginny not to explode and that's why she was telling her. When she ended:

"But…now can't you like divorce him? I mean it doesn't matter right? And why did they want you to marry him to the pint that they would kill your parents for it?" Ginny rested her chin on her palms as she spoke.

"The contract Lucius made said that if either one of us were to divorce, we would both die afterwards. And I don't know why they wanted me to marry Malfoy. I wish I did but I don't."

Minutes later, they went into the living room where everybody was sill sitting and talking. The minute the girls walked in, everybody shut up.

Ginny told everybody to not react violently when Hermione told them what had happened but this only made everybody more anxious.

Hermione stepped out from behind Ginny and said, "I'm…I got…I have…I'm married to Draco Malfoy."

There had been an uproar and Ron had walked away after cruelly screaming towards Hermione who started crying. Harry controlled his anger and then asked her to tell them what happened. She told everyone all that she could and finally, they understood her point of view. It was still awkward seeing Ron though, as a wife to someone else… not him.

Malfoy let her visit them; he knew there wasn't anything she could do about their arrangement. None of them could. Voldemort's spells and mind were too clever for the mind of any auror any ministry of magic Official.

When Hermione had been at Hogwarts, she had expected to be a successful workingwoman at this point and maybe engaged to Ron…not married to her worst enemy without a job or a life and having friends that were getting tired of her.

Hermione did work a little though; every Friday issue of the Daily Prophet had a little article by her on various topics.

Hermione actually planned to visit the Weasley's today and she was just telling Malfoy that.

"Malfoy."

"What?"

"I'm leaving for the Weasley's."

"Go! I don't CARE."

"Fine."

Draco and Hermione, obviously didn't even talk a lot. Because in the earlier days of their marriage, when they had bothered to, it had just resulted in furious fights.

How was it? No flames…a certain NINU shud know that. Anyway…R&R!