Hey guys...soooo sorry it took so long but there has been a billion things going on...for one...i had my prom on the twentieth of May and I was crowned the Prom Queen...totally by accident by the way but thats a different story...then I've been doing all kinds of college stuff and now i have finals because I graduate high school in like a week...but I haven't forgot you! here is the next chapter...

Disclaimer: Not mine...

Everwood Manor

The sun rose on the horizon in a mess of pink and gold the next morning as always. It poured through the gap in the curtains and spilled across the room. Before falling asleep the night before Draco had used his wand to close the hangings on the bed so the light didn't penetrate inside and wake them early. It worked for the most part except for the tiny sliver that made it through and fell across the mass of blankets.

It had been Draco's plan not to wake up until much later than usual. He didn't want to have to wake up and immediately be taken away to some meeting he wasn't going to pay attention during anyway. He wanted to just relax. It wasn't however how it happened.

He had been sleeping peacefully until he felt something move. Normally he could sleep through anything but this time he was woken. His eyes opened slowly and things were a blur for a moment. But when his vision corrected Draco was astounded to find his arms wrapped about Hermione's middle.

His arms were wrapped about her, one arm beneath her body the other atop. Her back was pressed against his bare chest and he could feel every breath that she took. Her body was warm against him and he could feel that their legs were tangled together under the blankets. She was sleeping soundly in his arms as if she had always been sleeping there, as if she were meant to be there.

Draco couldn't think of a thing to do. He wanted to push her away but he remembered the pain she had been in the night before and if he did that she might wake up and be in pain again and frankly he didn't feel like having to deal with her. He just wanted to roll over and go to sleep but her tiny form was lying across his arm.

He laid there, one arm beneath Hermione, wondering if the girl would wake soon or roll over or something. His mind went over all the things that had happened the night before and over the last few weeks. They had been through a lot together and there would be much more to come. They would be together for a long time probably.

As he thought he felt her stir beside him. She was moving. She began to turn over, lifting herself in her sleep to turn and face him. In one quick motion he pulled his arm out from beneath her. When she settled she was curled against his side on arm tossed across his chest the other held close to her chest. Her chestnut hair spilled over her shoulders and all over her pillow. Some stray strands even ticked his shoulder, which her cheek was pressed against.

He wanted now to turn but to do that might wake his wife up again for she was still close to him. He could do nothing but lie there listening to the silence and feeling her small warm breaths against the skin of his shoulder. She looked like a little girl to him as he looked at her from the corner of his eye. Like a little girl who just fell asleep after a long day of playing. Her cheeks were rosy and she seemed to even smile in her sleep. But Draco knew that she wasn't as happy as a carefree little girl.

The rhythmic sounds of her breath against his shoulder made his eyes droop and he soon found himself dosing. Eventually he fell all the way under and was breathing as evenly as Hermione beside him. His blond hair fell onto his forehead as he turned in his sleep, his back to Hermione. But not even that could separate them as he had thought when he was awake.

Hermione's tiny body remained curled against him and that was how they were found an hour and a half later when Macnair was sent to wake them. He pulled the hangings apart and looked down on the sleeping couple. Had everyone approved their marriage he wouldn't have taken offense to it, but seeing as Hermione was a Mudblood, things were different. Macnair automatically looked disgusted as he shook Draco awake.

The boy opened his eyes at the feel of the rough hands moving his entire upper body back and forth. He turned on his back looking up at the man who thankfully blocked most of the morning sun from hitting his eyes. Hermione, he felt, was just beside him and hadn't been affected by the movements. His eyes turned to her for a mere second and in it he saw her looking as peaceful as if she'd died in her sleep.

"Time to get up. The Dark Lord wants you and your wife downstairs. Wants to eat with you." Macnair said glaring at Hermione. Draco didn't stop him but it annoyed him to see that she, now a Malfoy was being treated with such disrespect. "Get her up."

With that last order Macnair turned and left the bedside. Draco heard the door open then click shut again a moment later. He sat up leaning his upper body against the headboard. His arms stretched automatically above his head waking the toned muscles of his body. After he finished his stretch he reached down and shook Hermione on the shoulder.

Her eyes opened slowly and as they did, the tiny smile that had been playing across her lips as she slept vanished. She looked up at the ceiling then turned her head and looked up at Draco. Their eyes connected for a second before he turned away.

"We have to get ready. We're dinning with the Dark Lord." Draco said keeping his face diverted as he climbed from the bed.

As he left her she sat up, the sheets falling from around her. She stared after him not speaking but thinking of a million things to say. But she couldn't say them. She couldn't force herself to speak to him.

"Do you want the shower first?" he asked from somewhere across the room.

"No you take it. I'll go to my room and take one." She said making to leave the bed.

"This is your room. All your clothes have been moved to my closet. We're married, we don't need separate rooms." Draco's voice said from even further away. She assumed he was in the closet.

"Fine, just take one first." She said falling back into the bed.

She closed her eyes rubbing her temples. She was so frustrated by seeing his face that morning when she woke that she didn't want to argue. She wanted nothing more than to just not speak to him or hear his voice.

But of course she never would get what she wanted. Draco, when she opened her eyes, was standing just where her feet dangled over the edge of the bed. She lifted her head staring at him until she got annoyed at his lack of speech.

"What do you want?" she asked frustration escaping in her tone and forcefulness of her voice. She sat up her eyes level with his chest. She hated having to look up to him; it made her feel like she was inferior.

"Don't be so rude to me all the time. I haven't done anything to you remember." He said knowing he'd said the wrong thing as her eyes widened in initial shock then narrowed with fury.

"Haven't done anything to me eh? What a load of rubbish. You have done just as much to me as that so called Lord. Don't speak to me." She said turning her face away. She was much to tired, to argue with him but he seemed to think otherwise.

"What I said was not what I meant. I meant that I haven't done anything to deserve being treated so rudely. I was just trying to be nice offering the shower to you first. So just calm down all right. I don't want to start fighting so early."

Hermione turned to face him again and their eyes connected once more. She hated those eyes; those icy blue eyes, yet she loved them. She couldn't stand these feelings that she had for him, she couldn't stand the fact that she like him yet wanted to kill him all at the same time.

'Must things always be so confusing for me?' Hermione wondered as Malfoy broke eye connection and walked away.

After both Hermione and Draco were showered and dressed they stepped out of their room together and started toward the dinning room. Hermione was wearing a white prairie skirt, a light blue tank top, and black flip-flops that slapped the floor as she walked. Draco was beside her, wearing nice black pants and a white shirt. Hermione figured he always had to wear them when he was going to be in the presence of Voldemort.

They hadn't spoken since before Draco took his shower and Hermione was wondering if they could go on like that for the rest of the day. She knew that she had nothing to say to him but what about him?

They reached the dinning room and Draco entered first. Hermione frankly didn't want to enter at all but she knew to fight it would only land her in more trouble. She took her seat beside Draco and kept her eyes focused on the table. She didn't want to look at the man sitting at the head of the table.

"Good morning to the newly weds." Said Voldemort the stupid smirk planted on his face.

"Good Morning my Lord." Draco said.

Hermione couldn't understand why Draco could still treat that man like a master when he has done nothing but ruin his life. She was beginning to think that Draco was afraid. That was the only other thing. He was either scared or completely evil.

"You don't greet me Mrs. Malfoy?" Voldemort asked. Hermione noticed Lucius slight look of disgust at the name being used toward her.

"Good morning." Hermione mumbled softly under her breath hoping that he heard so she wouldn't have to repeat herself.

"How was your night? Slept well I do hope." Voldemort said smugly and Hermione raised her head and looked down the table at him.

"My Lord, is today the day when we are taken to the house?" Draco asked quickly saving Hermione from the wrath that she would have surely met.

"Yes. Today Lucius will take you and your bride to the house. The house elves are above packing up all your things."

"House?" Hermione asked as another set of house elves brought out their food. "What house?"

"The house that I acquired for you and Draco. It's not to far from here in fact so I will be able to keep an eye on you." Voldemort said picking up a fork.

Hermione suddenly remembered something that she had forgotten up until a few days before. The dream that she had back in Grimmauld Place. She remembered that there had been a box where a picture of a house fell out, and a sign. Could this be the house?

"Everwood Manor." Hermione said softly to herself not realizing she had spoken aloud.

"Pardon me?" Lucius said astonished. "What did you just say?"

"Everwood Manor."

"How did you know about that? Did a servant tell you?" Lucius asked.

"No. I had a dream."

"Another one?" Draco asked looking at Hermione confused.

"Tell me about this dream. Leave out nothing."

Hermione then spent the rest of the meal both eating and explaining about the dream that she had all that time ago. It seemed like months but however it had only been about a week. When it was over Voldemort excused him calling Lucius with him. Draco and Hermione were left sitting side by side at the table wondering what was to happen next.

They finished their meal and sat in silence for only a minute before being called away. Draco knew exactly where they were going for his father had told him all about the house, but he'd never actually been there. He wanted to know what the house looked like, for he would be the master of it. He wouldn't have to listen to his father's rules anymore but make his own, and the thought of that excited him.

Hermione was curious to know what her new prison would look like for she would never see the place as a home. It would never be friendly to her because she was forced to live there. She would never find comfort in its walls or the people within them. She would never have refuge under its roof. It would only be another cell, another locked door without a key.

So when they were led to the fireplace where they would Floo together to the Manor, Hermione felt a mixture of dread and sadness. She would be stuck in this new place with only Draco and his friends for comfort and who was to be sure what they would be like now that she was married to him. Who was to say he wouldn't become his old self and torture her continually, making her life a living hell?

She stepped into the green flames beside her husband a moment later and listened as his voice called out the name of her new prison. She felt his hand grab her own, not as a gesture of affection as one would think but as a movement of restraint just in case she tried to scoot out someone else's fireplace.

She shut her eyes tight feeling her body bump softly against his own. She wanted to stop herself for she had never really liked traveling by Floo. She hated the feeling that it brought to her stomach and being beside Draco at the moment was making the feeling worse. But soon the ride was over and she felt her feet touch the grate at the other end.

Eyes still closed she was pulled out of the fireplace. Her hand was still locked together with his and she felt him moving around beside her. She didn't want to open her eyes and look about at the place she was in. She didn't want to betray herself and start to like the place. She wanted to go back and live in the mansion with Voldemort for at least she knew she hated that place. She preferred to willingly live somewhere she hated that she was supposed to hate, rather than unwillingly live in a place she was supposed to hate, that she began to love.

But she had to open her eyes for she couldn't walk around forever with her eyes shut. When she did she saw that she was standing in a dinning room. There was a long elegant polished wood table with eight chairs positioned around it before her. There were paintings on the wall of wonderfully peaceful scenery and a crystal chandelier hanging above. A cabinet with frosted glass front doors stood against the wall; it was filled with hand painted china. Tiny tea cups, plates, bowls and other things sat decoratively behind the frosted glass. It looked beautiful though you could barely see it.

Her eyes drank in all that surrounded her as Draco stood beside her dusting off the soot on his clothes. When he lifted his head he looked just as astonished as she. It was the roar of the fire behind them that tore their eyes from their surroundings.

"Welcome to your home." Voldemort said before the grate where the green flames died away after his arrival.

He led them into the hall outside the doorway where Hermione saw portraits of meadows with swaying flowers and rivers with fluttering birds. He led them to the dazzling living room that contained, as did many living rooms of the wealthy, silky soft chairs and sofas polished wood tables and lamps made of shinning metal.

Each room held in it things more decorative and special than the last. It was when they finished the tour in the sitting room that Hermione learned just why the house was so wonderful. It had been furnished and designed entirely by Draco's mother. Narcissa had been the one to create their home.

"She wanted to give you both a gift that you would always remember." Voldemort said rolling his eyes slightly.

Hermione couldn't understand why she would do such a thing. Even if Narcissa didn't hate Hermione she still shouldn't have risked doing this for them. It might cause her trouble and Hermione didn't want that for the one person who was nice to her.

"This evening there will be a meeting held at the Malfoy Manor that I want you both to attend. Draco I expect that you will teach your wife the ways. You shall be there by seven thirty." Voldemort said as he rose to his feet.

He walked to the dinning room where Draco bid him and his father goodbye. Hermione was left behind to stare at the room around her. She was sitting on a high-backed sherry coloured armchair. There was another sitting next to hers with only a table between them. Two more were positioned on the other side of a black and sherry coloured throw rug that lay atop the soft white carpet. Another table sat between that pair as well. To her right was another grate though there was no fire burning. Just above the mantle hung a mirror and Hermione saw her husband enter the room as she looked into it.

"I don't want to go to the meeting. Why can't he let us be." Hermione said turning to face him as she spoke. Her eyes followed him as he walked over to the box window and sat down on the window seat. He pulled back the sheer white curtains and stared out upon his property.

It was just hitting Draco then how big this really was. This wasn't just some little plan the Dark Lord had cooked up for something bigger. This was the something bigger. Draco was married with a house now. Life was never ever going to be the same even if he was no longer married to her. People would always remember that they were married.

"The papers." He whispered.

Hermione heard him.

"What papers?" Hermione asked.

"The newspapers. They'll find out eventually and we'll be front page stuff." Draco said finally turning to look her way though he seemed to look through her.

"Why would our marriage be front page news Draco." Hermione said with an attitude. She didn't understand how big it was to the wizard world.

"Because of who I am and who you are. And what we both are." At her look of frustrated confusion Draco elaborated. "I am the son and heir of one of the richest pureblood families left in England. You are the best friend of the most famous wizard in the world, and you're a Muggleborn. Everyone knows how much we hate each other. Especially Rita Skeeter who, we both know, would be the first on the story and everyone else would take their cues from her. We're screwed."

"But they won't find out will they? This would have to be kept secret wouldn't it?"

"Why? It's perfectly legal to marry at our age. And of course they'll find out. We have to go back to school sometime. And my parents will most likely put in an announcement at the end of the summer. All Pureblood families put important events in the papers."

Hermione just looked at him a moment longer before she turned away. She should have known that something else would come up. There really weren't enough things for her to deal with, she knew there would be more. Nothing ever got easier when she was near Draco.

She would just have to take things as they came for a while until she could figure out how to get away from there. How long that would take she had no idea but she could wait.

"Well let's get on with it then. What do I have to know for this meeting tonight?" She asked, rising from the chair her eyes connecting with the icy ones that had been watching her every move.

Ok...so Let me know what you think about it...sorry again that it took so long...check out my myspace group...the link for it is in my profile...just copy and paste...

Starry