A/N: Wow! You guys are GREAT! Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews. But what's with the one to five words? I love your feedback and opinions! Anyway, on to where we left off last chapter.

A Mudblood's Slave?

Draco sat at the table with a stuffed chicken platter in front of him. He ate slowly as he listened to Hermione and his father converse of trivial things, or to put it quite frankly, things that bored him to death. He found himself wondering if this was how the legendary romance goon, Lucius Malfoy, caught his mother. He hoped not, or else his mother certainly did have low expectations when she was a girl. Perhaps she was obese with low self-esteem?

Draco smirked evilly at his baked potato as he applied all the seasonings to it, such as green onion, bacon bits, cheese, sour cream, and butter. He then returned back to eating his stuffed chicken, as Lucius gave him a disgusted look.

"Draco, use your silverware!" Hermione snapped. Draco put down his stuffed chicken breast and wiped his fingers on his robes. At this, both Hermione and his father looked quite disturbed. He then picked up his utensils as though they would break between his fingers and began to cut into the chicken breast. He knew he was driving his father crazy with his dastardly table manners.

Hermione rolled her eyes and returned her attention to Lucius.

"What were you saying Mr. Llewellyn?" she asked with a smile.

"Please, Hermione, call me Matthias," Lucius said, reaching across the table and squeezing Hermione's hand. She smiled, blushing a little, before drawing her hand back and placing it in her lap. Lucius looked slightly put off by this, but he tried not to let it show.

"What were you saying Matthias?" she asked, the candlelight glimmering in her deep brown eyes.

Lucius smiled slowly at her, all the while marveling at this dainty little creature. She was so unreadable that it terrified him. Him! Of all people! It was hard to tell if she was actually falling for his elaborate masquerade, Matthias Llewellyn, or if she was just covering for being completely bored. Lucius was an old fashioned man. He didn't know what the rules of dating were, in this new generation.

"Do you really want to hear more about my wife?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Yes, I think she's very interesting," Hermione replied. It seemed Draco was coming into the conversation for the first time this evening. He perked up immediately and stared at his father expectantly.

"My wife, Linda, was a very special woman," he replied. "When we first met, we went to school together. She was smart, sassy, and not to mention, she didn't want a thing to do with me." Lucius chuckled and Hermione giggled. She'd always loved these types of stories. She used to make her mother tell her how she, and Mr. Granger met and fell in love, over and over again. "Of course, it's the ones that ignore you completely that you want to go after… Remember that Mr. Malfoy," he told his son. "Because then you have to work for her. And in the end, your work will pay off and bring you huge rewards in life.

"Anyway. She was a tall, blonde headed woman. Very beautiful and of course, she excelled in everything she did, if a book was included. She was complete rubbish at Quidditch," Lucius went on. "She used to fall off of my broom all the time. Slip right off the end! She broke her tailbone on one occasion."

Draco chuckled, picturing his mother trying to ride a broom.

"Of course it was very painful, but it healed quickly with the help of our school healer," Lucius said. A dreamy look came over him for a moment, and he seemed a bit sad. "I do miss her most days."

"I know this is very inappropriate," Hermione began apologetically. "But I really need to go to the woman's lavatory!"

"Oh, please, be my guest, Miss Granger," Lucius said politely. Hermione jumped up and hurried away.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about mum?" Draco inquired.

"You never asked," Lucius said. "But enough about me. Let's talk about you!"

All kindness disappeared from Draco's father as he peered at his son, disdainfully.

"What is going on between you and the mudblood?" Lucius snapped. His eyes suddenly turned gray, and penetrated deep inside Draco's mind. Draco let him dig around a bit, seeing as there was nothing he needed to hide. Truthfully, although he did feel indebted to Hermione, he had no real feelings for her. At least not romantically.

"Father don't be ridiculous," Draco murmured. Lucius withdrew himself from Draco's thoughts, being satisfied with what he found.

"I should say you put on quite a show, but I'm quite ashamed that you are grateful to be serving this mudblood," Lucius whispered venomously. "The world is not as bad as you seem to think it is."

"Yeah not so bad for you," Draco snapped. "You can change your appearance and dart around being someone your not! But me, I'm stuck in my skin!"

"You're a wimp," Lucius snapped. "But don't worry. I've come up with a plan to get you out of her grasp."

"Right," Draco rolled his eyes. "And what is it?"

"Get her to take off your collar," he said. Honestly, he'd just come up with this plan two seconds ago, after rummaging around in Draco's memories. "Seeing as she lets you put it back on yourself, just wait to shower right before she goes to bed. Then come to me…"

Draco raised his eyebrows. Lucius had dug deep in such little time. Hermione had Death Eater wards up all around her house. Lucius couldn't even penetrate the walls, seeing as he was one of Voldemort's men. She had adjusted it for Draco Malfoy, and Draco Malfoy alone. He was the only one that could get past the ward without setting it off. And seeing as she always made him wear his collar, except for showers, he couldn't leave the ward unless she herself was leaving with him. It was a nice little set up, but if Draco manipulated Hermione into taking his collar off he'd feel…well… guilty.

And his father was worrying him. What exactly was he planning to do? More and more so lately, Draco had been leaning away from his father's ways. He knew that it did have a bit to do with Hermione's influence. She'd shown him a different life style, that didn't include saying:

"Yes master, anything you want."

Draco had always hated taking orders in that manner. He sighed, and returned to his food.

"I don't know father," Draco said. "Why don't you put up your sword?"

"What do you mean?" Lucius asked. He shut his eyes for a full minute and when he opened them, they were green again.

"Why don't you let go of all this nonsense? Go on with your life…let go of your prejudices. In the end it got you nowhere. And it got mother killed. You can escape and live your life as a free man! And it's not horrible having to live with Granger," Draco said cautiously. "She's made it easier for me."

Lucius looked livid, as Draco had never seen before.

"Let go?" he growled, very slowly.

"Father, if you haven't noticed yet, we lost! Our cause was pointless by the end of the war. Why hold on to something that wasn't ever meant to be?" Draco asked.

"Sorry that took so long!" Hermione said sitting back down. "There was a really long line!"

Lucius put on his fake smile and nodded politely.

"No problem at all Hermione," he said. Draco was looking at him worriedly. "But I daresay, I should be getting back to the hotel. I feel slightly ill."

"Oh no!" Hermione said. "What's wrong?"

"My stomach is slightly…er…upset," Lucius muttered. "I'll be off. Thank you for a wonderful evening." He then kissed Hermione's hand, got up and hurried from the restaurant.

Draco stared after him, his brow furrowed.

"Poor thing," Hermione said after a moment. "I hope he feels better."

"I'm sure he will," Draco muttered.

A/N: Alright. Here you are. Hoped you enjoyed it. You know the drill. Leave me a review, please! Love your opinions. :D