Recap: She turned her back, grabbed Draco's hand and walked calmly out of the store with purchases in hand. Draco was rather startled at his mistress' actions. She morphed from an amiable lady into an intimidating young woman. Somewhere in the back of his mind a voice whispered that it was a trait of a certain hostile Gryffindor girl.

Soon they were in front of the Leaky Cauldron, Hermione was slightly hesitant which created confusion in Draco.

'Oh… I'm in for it now. I hope the boys will understand!' Hermione thought as they came upon the entrance door.

Chapter 3: And It Begins

Luckily for Hermione the boys didn't appear to be around. After she owled the Ministry and Dumbledore, she went up to her room with Draco in tow.

He sat on the floor and waited for Hermione to come back. Then he realized that Hermione was taking a bath. He waited patiently and closed his eyes.

Half an hour later, he opened his eyelids and saw Hermione in a mere bathrobe walking into the room as scents of Jasmine and rain swirled around them.

It seemed as though she did not notice his presence. Draco was just about to greet Hermione when he saw her starting to untie her robe.

"Hermione! Please, excuse me, but I am still in your room…"

"…"

"Hermione. Excuse me, Hermione, please listen to me…", he kept his voice quiet, so as not to surprise the girl. He encountered many masters before that would immediately punish him for making mistakes- mistakes that weren't even his.

Draco could only watch as Hermione fiddled with the knot on her robe. Draco felt rather helpless, like this. He did not want to touch a lady when she was clothed only in a mere bathrobe, it would seem like he was invading personal space.

But as Draco kept on calling out to her, for her to listen to him, he stated to think of just leaving.

'No, I will do no such thing! With the door opening it'd let cold air in and someone else may see her in her sate of undress.' Came a voice in his mind.

Lately, in the past few hours that he had spent with Hermione, he started to feel like his old self again- of sorts, like he was… respected.

It sounded strange, but it was a though this Hermione knew something of the Draco Malfoy he use to be…

Of course that would have been possible, the information sheet probably would have mentioned his 'attitude' problem when his… enslavement first began.

Whenever Hermione would look at Draco, it held what many people high and low saw him with at Hogwarts.RespectIt was something he thought he'd never see again, it gave him hope. Yet the hope was so fragile that if whispered he was afraid that it would disappear, like so many other things in his world had.

Shaking thoughts of his enslavement, he began to silently wonder why Hermione was ignoring him.

'Have I already done something… something to displease Hermione?'

Then again, it couldn't be. Hermione was humming a tune in her mind and she acted as though she was not even aware of his presence.

Puzzled and confused, he took a closer look at her and saw small black things in her ears with cords that lead to the pocket of her bathrobe. …Earphones?

Concentrating on his sense of hearing, he heard music that came from them.

'I've heard of those, they come from the muggle world… they produce music…?'

Draco then understood that this could be the reason why she was not hearing his pleases.

Standing erect and still, he noticed that Hermione had not untied the knot of her bathrobe. Determined and ready, he walked calculated strides to her and held her shoulder firmly, yet gently, while looking heaven wards.

Hermione had nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt Draco's hand on her shoulder. Looking behind her, she saw Draco looking up at the ceiling while speaking to her.

"Hermione, please forgive me, but you came out of the bathroom so abruptly. I tried to catch your attention so that you would be aware that I, a male, is in your room so that you would not immediately take your robe off, but you were not able to hear me."

He paused for a while, swallowing, thinking how on earth he was going to tell her that he was trying to stop her from stripping off while he was in her room. He didn't want her to think he was enjoying this or found it amusing. He didn't want to humiliate his kind mistress. But before he could say another word, Hermione beat him to it.

"I'm sorry Draco, but I didn't hear what you were saying. I was wearing headphones. Do you mind repeating it?"

Draco tired not to face-fault. Hermione looked up at him expectantly.

"Ah… Hermione, I was saying that… I tired to warn you that I, a mile, was in your room… so that you will not… take your robe off… but you did not hear me. I apologize for not exiting your room when I realized that you were taking a bath."

Hermione looked at him. Then to Draco's utter dismay, Hermione made a move to take off her robe.

Immediately, Draco closed his eyes, then as if he really did not what to see what was in from of him, he slapped his hands over his eyes and turned around for good measure.

He honestly did not want to see whatever was under the robe- assuming that Hermione was stark naked- and it wasn't like he wouldn't find it appealing or anything, but… to him, it was just… wrong.

He heard rustling and a chair being moved.

"Draco, it's no problem at all, you know, it's not like-"

She cut herself off and took a long silent pause.

"Draco, uh, what're you doing? No, wait, better yet, why are you covering your eyes?"

Draco tensed, 'Did she want me to see her naked?' he wondered incredulously.

More of Draco muscles began to tense as he wondered with apprehension if Hermione was anything like his past mistresses… the mistresses that were a bit obsessed with the pleasures of the flesh. He had thought that Hermione was innocent and… to say that Hermione was going to do what every other female master had done to him this past summer made his blood run cold and his anger spike. The forced attention was most unpleasant.

Draco felt a soft hand on his, gently prying off his hands that were covering his eyes.

"Draco, is there some thing wrong? Are you all right?" Judging by her tone, Hermione was obviously starting to worry.

Opening his eyes, he saw that Hermione was wearing an emerald green, slick nightgown.

Draco's anger diminished immediately, he reprimanded himself for even thinking that way of his master- his friend. He let his past experiences of this summer overshadow the kindness and warmth that Hermione that shown him, and just assumed the worst.

Looking at her, he saw how the gown accented her nice soft curves and left a decent amount of creamy skin exposed. He's mind shifted slightly, as to wondering if she was untouched… if she was a virgin. Fighting back a blush, he replied to her.

"I… thought you were undressed."

The slightly confused face he made was cute, Hermione's eyes softened at the look. His comment, however, mad her blush like made, but his confused expression was so very cute to her.

'He's so cute' Hermione could hear herself in her mind's eye giggle.

The Draco Malfoy she knew never would of let confusion show or any emotion that could give any advantage to his audience or anything at all that would compromise his situation.

Laughing lightly, she told him that she wore her nightgown inside and only wore the robe since it was rather cold inside that bathroom.

Hermione sat on the bed and patted the spot next to her.

"Which reminds me, I have a couple of things I need to talk to you about."

Draco nearly panicked, wondering if he had done something wrong, but took a seat in the spot next to her obediently.

Hermione was silent for a while, wondering were to start.

"… I've owled the Ministry about the slave trader hoping that it's in their jurisdiction to apprehend him."

She paused, trying to find the right words.

"Did… Did you tell them about me?"

Hermione shifter and sighed, "No… but I did owl Dumbledore, I expect you still wanted to continue at Hogwarts this year…"

Draco looked down at his hands, "Well, yeah, but…"

After everything that's happened, he truthfully didn't know what to do.

"My… father will not be… happy with me…"

Hermione nodded, "I expect not, after all a mudblood bought you." She said dryly.

That caught Draco's attention; he's head snapped up and locked eyes with hers.

"Gr-Granger…?"

Hermione gave a slight nod.

All of these emotions suddenly flooded through Draco: shame, desperation, confusion, happiness, and relief. He struggled with his emotions for a while trying to comprehend that one of the Golden Trio, one of the people he made so miserable bought him and was so bloody nice to him! And… became so good-looking.

Overwhelmed by his relief and happiness, Draco threw his arms around and hugged Granger tight.

To say Draco caught Hermione by surprise would be a vast understatement; she thought for sure that he would recoil in discussed.

She wrapped her arms around him in return and gently rubbed his back, not really knowing what else to do.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you," he whispered and blushed a little, "you look… good."

Hermione pulled back a little and gave him a small smile.

"Thank you, the boys saw me and they were just like 'Oh it's just you, Hermione, we thought a hot girl was coming our way'. But anyway you don't look too bad yourself."

Draco gave her a stern look.

"Potty and Weasel are stupid. And wait till you see me when I get cleaned up," giving her a grin.

They both lightly laughed, it almost felt like they were old friends catching up.

Draco sunk back into Hermione's arms and for the first time in not only the summer, but since he was a small boy, Draco Malfoy felt he was truly safe.

"I'm glad it was you."

Hermione tighten her arms around him.

"Yeah can you imagine if the boys had found you."

"Yeah," Draco said dryly, "pay me back ten fold."

Hermione frowned and gently rubbed his back, "I'd like to think I've had better influence on them then that."

Draco have her a small grin, "Like they have you?"

A blush tinted Hermione's cheeks, "Now be fair. It was their bad influence that some how landed be wondering around Knockturn Alley, going into an illegal trading business, and…"

"Bought a slave," he finished for her.

Hermione looked down at him, combing her fingers through his hair absentmindedly.

"I'd like to think it a helping a fellow classmate out and gaining a friend while doing so," she said scrunching her nose in thought.

Draco sighed and tried to push himself more into Hermione, wanting to surround himself with her and her warmth.

"And what would they say about making friends with the enemy?"

Hermione knew when he said they, he was referring to Harry and Ron.

Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose slightly, "… Voldemort's the enemy. They don't have to like it, but they will have to accept it. Hell, they tell me all the time I should have gotten sorted into Slytherin."

"And what do you say?"

She paused before grinning, "I tell them it put me into Gryffindor to keep them out of trouble. Honestly Gryffindor boys are so rowdy!"

Draco chuckled at this and nuzzled deeper into her embrace.

Hermione gave a light sigh, "We should probably see if Tom has any extra room here, you don't wanna be stuck with me all night, do you?", she teased.

"Hermione as your slave," he paused when he felt her flinch, "um, let me rephrase that- I meant as a friend who wants to protect you, it's my duty and responsibility to stay near you at all times, in order to protect you from nay impending threat to your life."

Looking at Hermione seriously, making it known that he was taking her safety and his protection of her very seriously.

"Not that you're unable to yourself," he add sheepishly, he paused before adding, "I don't think it'd be so bad… being stuck with you all night I mean."

Commenting on her earlier… teasings

"You mean… you have to stay in my room?"

Yo DigiFox86 here, so well what'd ya think? Should I keep on trucking with this story or is it like a lost clause? Encouragement is always nice. Please chill if it takes me a while to post, as some of you already know I'm an active college student (full time) with a part time job, and other responsibilities, actually I probably spend more time writing stories then I do visiting with my friends, so a little appreciation would be thankful. My computer has also been on the fritz for about two months and my computer chair is VERY uncomfortable (it's new) and I can't afford a different one and looking down all the time at the computer gives me way wicked neck cramps.

FAQ: Hermione went though some changes this summer and also got more in touch with her feminine side. Draco's not a totally prick cause of what has happened to him in the summer. –It's called foreshadowing, people, not to mention patients, I will get the details in you just have to wait. If all the details where in the beginning there would not be much of a story now would there?

Thank You to all of those other patient souls out there and tell me not to rush it is MUCH appreciated!

Note: I don't own HP tho it'd be really cool if I did. Here's a shout out to LeSinner for this last chapter, it's been a pleasure workin' with ya-lol After this it's pure me, baby. At least for the time being.