Now I know that you're all looking forward to this chapter so I wont keep you...

Disclaimer: Not Mine...

Marriage and Living Dead

Once the door was closed Draco walked down the hall at a quick pace. Hermione was pulled along behind him until they reached a small sitting room Hermione had never been in. He entered throwing her hand away from him as if it were contaminated. His back was to her as he spoke.

"It's over." He said one hand on his hip the other on his forehead, his fingers rubbing his temples. "It's over!" He bellowed turning to face her.

His eyes were fiery and filled with all sorts of emotions that Hermione couldn't recognize. She just watched him as he plopped into a chair rubbing his temples again. She could feel the frustration and anger in the air around her making it heavy. But she had no idea why he was so angry and frustrated.

"That's it. We're trapped. We can never get out of this." Draco said the anger coating his words making Hermione flinch slightly.

Her eyes were still watery from crying as she stared at him, something that made the fury grow. He couldn't stand to see her; he wanted to hurt her. She had done nothing to get them out of this. She hadn't used that brain of hers to concoct some scheme. Some trick that would alert her friends to where she was, something, anything. All she had done was to cause herself to receive a punishment she would never escape.

"But you knew that already." Hermione said softly, her voice shaky and weak, much like it had been during the ceremony.

"Why didn't you do something? Fight him. If you're so damn brave. If your not afraid of him, not afraid to utter his name why the hell didn't you fight him."

"Because look where running got me Draco." She said as she paced before him nervously. "He would have done ten times worse had I tried anything like contacting the order."

"What could be worse. He can't kill you, all he can do is beat you."

"Now you know that's not true. He could make life for a me an even greater hell than it had been." She said her eyes narrowing. "Besides why was I the one that had to do something? Why couldn't you have sent a message to the order or something, alert them."

"I'd be in the same boat as you that's why. I'm under constant surveillance around here. Everyone knows where I am and what I'm doing all the time."

They remained in silence for a moment or two before Hermione spoke again. Her voice was soft and the sound of it woke Draco from his brooding thoughts.

"Why are we here Draco?"

"I was told by the Dark Lord to come back here and await instructions." Draco said looking up at her. She still stood in the center of the room walking about every few minutes, her heels clicking on the floor.

"Will you sit down." Draco said annoyance clear in her voice.

"I don't want to wrinkle the dress." Hermione said narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Why you'll never where it again." Draco said.

Hermione just glared at him. She turned away and walked to the window where she pulled the curtains apart slightly to gaze out at the sky above. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was shinning down on the house as if it were a perfect day.

She was thinking about how angry he was making her and how she wanted to calm down when she felt him near her. She didn't know how she knew but she did. It was like she could sense his power, their power.

"What do you want?" she asked as his hand touched her shoulder.

"I'm angry all right." He said as he turned her around to face him. He was so close that Hermione felt a little trapped.

"I can tell."

"I'm not angry at you really. I'm angry at the whole thing. I mean I can't believe it happened. I don't want to believe it." He said staring into her eyes.

She had been crying earlier but you wouldn't even be able to tell now. She looked like a stunning young woman who had just been married, except for the look of misery. Draco wished then that she had been Pureblood. Had she been this would have been fine. He would have been happy to marry her. But alas she was a Mudblood and this was not fine.

"Well it's not like we can change anything. We're married. We have to be together. I don't like it and neither do you but we are. We might as well just get on with our lives together because trying to act normally will just be to much of a hassle."

"Are you suggesting we just learn to get along?" Draco asked.

"That's exactly what she's suggesting, Draco." Said the voice of Voldemort behind them.

Draco spun around and stared at his master a moment before bowing deeply. Hermione just stood there, her eyes fixed on him. She wished that she could kill him. She wished that she could make him suffer such a horrible pain that he wanted to die.

"Sit down." He said motioning to a couch.

Draco who knew that she would refuse to listen pulled Hermione to the couch. But when she reached it Hermione sat on her own, without having to be told thought she looked a little put off. She smoothed out the dress as best as she could before looking up at Voldemort.

"Here is what is to happen. Your reception is being held at Malfoy Manor. The guests are currently making their way there. Your mother is there along with your father and I shall be on my way shortly. You two are to go upstairs and change out of your wedding attire. There are clothes waiting for you, simple yet formal wear. A house elf will come to you when you are to Floo together to the Manor. Do you understand?"

"Yes my Lord." Draco said bowing his head.

Voldemort smiled his wicked smile sending shivers up Hermione's spine. That smile was never good. He left them a moment later, his long black robes flowing behind him.

After Voldemort left, the two rose and went upstairs to their separate rooms and changed. Draco was finished in a matter of seconds, only really having to change from one dress shirt to a different one. The difference between them was the new one was silk.

Wondering what was taking Hermione so long, Draco left his room and walked down the hall to hers. He knocked on the door only to hear rustling and a little shriek. Draco panicked and opened the door only to see Hermione on the floor.

"What the hell happened?" he asked looking at the mass of white that surrounded her. She was still wearing the wedding dress as she sat on the floor. She looked comical sitting there the dress puffed up around her like a cloud.

'She looks like an angel floating on a cloud.' Draco thought only to scold himself.

"I can't get the dress off. When I went to open the door for you I tripped because I'm not wearing my shoes so the dress is too long." She said giggling a little at herself.

Her face was flushed, probably from attempting to get the dress off. The free pieces of hair hung beside her face as her eyes shimmered with amusement. Draco laughed at her as she nearly fell again trying to get up. He reached out his arms and helped her up.

When Hermione was standing again she realized how close her and Draco were. A blush crept on her face, something she couldn't hide. She tried to turn away but Draco reached out, and stopped her. His fingers barely touched her chin, but all the strength in the world wouldn't have been able to move her face.

Their eyes connected a moment before their lips and Draco saw it in her eyes. He saw that same look he had seen before, but it still made no sense to him. He couldn't register it with any emotion.

Draco caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers as he kissed her. They weren't hungry and demanding kisses like ones they'd shared before, they were soft and gentle. Draco was surprised at his own gentleness. He had never been that way before with anyone, even Marie. But something within him told him to be slow with her.

Hermione didn't move. She just closed her eyes and allowed his lips to touch hers. She was fighting him without him even knowing it. She was fighting the feelings and the compulsions that she had. Her body wanted desperately to react, to respond to his touch, but she wouldn't allow it.

When Draco broke the kiss he opened his eyes and looked at her. They were still dangerously close, his lips brushing hers even as he breathed. That close up Hermione had to fight harder to resist him and that's when he realized. That's when he figured it out.

"You like this don't you?" he asked her ending the question with a kiss.

When he broke it Hermione gave her head the smallest shake.

Draco moved his hands about her waist pulling her body against his own. She didn't push him away or fight but allowed him to hold her. His arms wrapped about her while hers stayed by her sides.

"You're lying. I know you like it, I can see it in your eyes." Draco said kissing her a little deeper this time. He even went so far as to nibble her bottom lip a little.

"You're wrong." She said softly against his lips, her eyes half closed as she spoke.

"Then why haven't you pushed me away?" he asked in a whisper his lips touching hers with every syllable.

Hermione lost all control. She could no longer keep her body from reacting, being so close to him. When he kissed her that time, she kissed back sending electric sparks through her body.

Both felt the power; much like their wedding kiss, as their lips stayed connected. It was like static build up. The electricity between them was amazing. Draco however still had himself under control and knew to stop her before something happened.

"I told you, you were lying." He said turning away from her and leaving the room and Hermione standing there completely floored.

Draco held a triumphant smirk as he headed back to his room to await the house elf.

Hermione was furious with herself. She couldn't believe that she had allowed herself to give into him. She should have known he was trying to trick her into admitting something. And she had without even speaking. Her giving in and kissing back had said enough.

Frustrated with her lack of self control Hermione walked to the bathroom to attempt to get the dress off again though she was sure that she wouldn't be able to.

She fought with the zipper behind her all the while wondering why it wouldn't come off. It had slipped on and off so easily the day before. But now it was being so difficult. Or maybe it was the fact that she couldn't stop her hands from shaking that was making it impossible to unzip the dress.

She struggled for another few minutes before there was a knock on the door. She called for whomever it was to enter as she still stood before the mirror in the bathroom. She didn't look up from the zipper in her reflection to see who it was that stood in her doorway.

"What do you want?" she demanded, thinking it was Draco, but when she finally did look up to see who it was behind her, she wished it had been.

'What could be taking her so long?' Draco thought as he walked back down the hall to Hermione's room. But when he reached the door he immediately knew that something was wrong.

The door was wide open and the room within looked a mess. The furniture was ripped apart almost as if an animal had done it. Draco saw the stuffing in some chairs lying about on the floor and feathers from her pillows strewn across the floor. He walked to the bathroom where it was even worse.

The mirror was shattered into a thousand pieces. The door was almost ripped right of the hinges, a huge gouge in the center. It looked almost as if someone had tried to cut it in half.

That was when he saw it. Blood splattered on the wall and the door. There were drops all around on the floor and he saw some on the carpet. He however couldn't find Hermione. She was gone.

Immediately his mind went blank. Something had gone terribly wrong. His wife was missing only minutes before they were to arrive at their reception party. He had to alert the Dark Lord.

Draco ran from the room and sprinted down the hall.

"Is anyone here!" he screamed as he ran.

There was no reply when he reached the stairs. He looked about hoping someone would come walking out of a room, having heard his shouts. But nothing like that ever happened to him. He never was able to get the easy way out of anything.

Deciding he could waist no more time he took his wand out and used it to write a letter. The paper and quill appeared in mid air and began to compose the letter all on their own. When it was finished Draco snapped his fingers. When the elf appeared he handed the letter to him and told him where to take it.

When the elf was gone Draco hurried back to the room and began checking for clues. He saw that there were droplets of blood staining the carpet leading out of the bathroom. Maybe they led to where Hermione was?

Draco followed the drops, which were few and far between. They led out the door and down the hall to the right. They grew even further apart the further he went. But at the end of the hall just before the servants staircase was a large splatter of blood across the wall and a small puddle on the ground.

Draco knew that he had to find her. He had to help her. There was no choice. If something happened to her he would be dead, and not figuratively. He hurried down the stairs reaching the kitchen and the servants quarters. The blood splatters were larger again making him nervous. That meant that her blood was flowing more and not staying within her body where it belonged.

Toward the back door of the house Draco found a bloody knife lying on the floor surrounded by a puddle. He just stared down at it, his mind blank. Then he looked at the back door, which was wide open and lost all hope of finding Hermione.

'She could be anywhere.' He thought walking through the backdoor and standing on the lawn. 'Or she could be dead.'

"Hermione!" he screamed hoping she was still conscious and could respond.

He listened carefully for anything. The rustling of bushes, the snap of a twig, anything. But there was nothing, not a single sound, to help him find her. He looked around the grass and saw that the blood splatters continued. They seemed to head toward the forest that surrounded the house.

"Hermione!" he screamed again as he sprinted to the edge of the forest.

He knew that the Dark Lord was on his way, but he had to follow the blood trail. What if he could reach her before the person did something with her. What if he could save her?

He hurried into the forest loosing the trail of blood but he used his skills at tracking, which his father had insisted he learn as a child, to follow their trail. As he hurried deeper into the forest her screamed her name repeatedly. He was beginning to think that she was gone forever when he heard something.

"No! Hel-pmm!" It was the sound of Hermione's voice followed by a splash.

Draco knew exactly where they were and he was only a few meters off their trail. He cut through the thick underbrush, heading for the buildings that had been constructed in the middle of these woods for the torture of muggles and wizards the Dark Lord chose.

There was a lake nearby the building and as it loomed up from the green forest around him Draco made a sharp right. He sprinted through the forest, dodging the trees as best he could. The lake was deep and had been created on the Dark Lord's orders but for what he had no idea.

He stopped at the bank seeing the murky water rippling violently. It looked as if there was some sort of fight happening below the surface. He couldn't tell what it was that was attacking Hermione, but he knew that she wouldn't last much longer because she was under the water and needed to breathe. He started to remove his shoes and prepare to jump in when a hand slammed onto his shoulder.

"Step aside." Said Voldemort his voice calm but Draco knew that he was furious.

Draco moved to stand by his father's side. They watched on, as did many others as Voldemort removed his wand from his robes and waved it. An amazing white light erupted from the end and hit the lake. The water parted and lifted up into the air as if it were only a drop.

With the water now removed Draco could see the bottom of the lake. It was a huge muddy hole in the ground and in the center still in her dress lay Hermione. Surrounding her, until her body was almost completely obscured however, were hundreds of people.

It was like something out of a child's ghost story. Fighting to get a piece of her were Inferi. Their skin was green and blue and they looked horrifying. They scrambled about slowly trying to get just close enough to rip off a piece of flesh from Hermione's breathless body.

Inferi were the living dead. They were corpses that the Dark Lord had put under a spell that became reanimated and attacked the living. All that had to happen for them to attack was for a living being to disturb their resting place, in this case the lake, or for the Dark Lord to command them.

She was lifted out of the hole and the water fell like a waterfall back into place crushing the Inferi under it's power. She was lying on the bank of the river her once white dress now a dull and dirty brown. Her hair was sopping and her face was tinted blue. There was another stain on the dress besides the mud from the water and that was blood.

There was a stab wound in her side that had stained most of the side of her beautiful wedding gown. Some of the Inferi had gotten to her and she was scratched and battered. Had she been breathing Draco was sure she would have been fine, but she wasn't breathing. He was fairly sure that she had died for the second time while in their care.

So did I trick you? You guys should kno that nothing is ever as it seems in this story...things that take a day in this story take like three chapters...plus I couldn't do what you expected so quickly...I had to throw something in to mix it up...and I hope it worked...anyway...I'll post the beatings chap soon...kk

Starry