A/N: Gosh! So sorry it took me so long. I've been freakishly busy these past few days and I finally got around to writing a chapter. Sorry, it's a bit shorter than the other ones but I should have more time to write in this next week, so don't fret. Anyways, leave me a review. And PLEASE PEOPLE! Make them a bit longer. I really want to know what you think about the story. Yes it's great that you like it, but I want your feedback!

A Mudblood's Slave?

Draco looked in the mirror, his face slightly tinged from the steam in the shower. He held his collar in his pale fingers, his hair slicked back against his head. Hermione had long since gone to bed, and he'd been standing here quietly for a half an hour, trying to figure out what it was he meant to do.

"You're free now!" his mind screamed at him. "Go while she's asleep!" He put the collar down on sink and pulled his robes on. But somehow this didn't feel right. He supposed it was hard to gain Hermione's trust in the first place. But to lose it? Wouldn't that just be total hell in a hand basket?

He exited the bathroom and stood still in the hallway for a bit, looking in on Hermione to make sure she was still asleep. Snowflake laid by Granger's head, her eyes shut slightly as though she were dozing, but Draco didn't know the kitten was fully aware he was there.

She watched him with her gray eyes narrowed, her ears back complacently.

Draco caught his pet's eyes and felt a chill go down his spine as she stared at him in the dark.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" he whispered. The small cat hopped down from the bed and came up to him, sitting in front of him sternly. "Oh stop it. It's not as if she'll miss me anyway," he snapped, bending down to pluck Snowflake off of her little fuzzy white behind. The cat sighed, staring down at him. He then set her on his shoulder and crept to the front door.

When he reached for the handle she sunk her claws into the flesh of his shoulder and he hissed a sharp intake of breath.

"What's the matter with you tonight?" Draco snapped. The cat's ears went back again and a small growl escaped her throat. He sighed.

"You don't want me to go do you?" he asked. The kitten gave him a look that said simply: "Well, isn't it obvious?"

He then opened the door and headed outside, walking along side the massive house he was currently remodeling. He then lay in the grass that was outside of his window, with the kitten sitting patiently beside him.

"You know," Draco murmured, more to himself then anyone else. "I can't help but feel like I know you from somewhere."

The kitten watched him through gray-blue eyes.

"You're so familiar, yet I can't place you at all," Draco replied, now looking at Snowflake who was stocking a bug in the grass. "You sort of remind me of my mother I guess. I don't know why."

The kitten suddenly perked up in the green grass, letting a low growl escape her. She was looking deeply into the trees.

"What is it?" Draco asked sitting up and looking in the direction of Snowflake.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the darkness, Lucius Malfoy sat, just outside the boundaries of Hermione's Death Eater ward. His eyes widened when he saw the little white cat looking straight at him in the still of the night. The cat bounded towards him and he immediately disappeared with a soft pop.

Snowflake froze, her ears back, pointed towards her tail. Had she just seen who she thought she'd seen? Could it be so? She suddenly felt a muscular and calloused hand wrap around her middle and pick her up. She was spun around so that her small face was put right in front of Draco's.

"What was it?" he asked. Snowflake just looked at him and began to purr when he held her against his chest. "Must have been an animal or something," he murmured to himself. He then entered the cottage and set Snowflake down on the table, to find Hermione standing in the doorway of the kitchen, holding a glass of water.

"What were you doing outside?" she asked with a frown. She still seemed to be half asleep, not really noticing the big details. Such as, Draco wasn't wearing his collar. Draco was still dressed in his robes.

"I thought I'd get a bit of fresh air," Draco replied with a smile. He then slipped off the outer layer of his robes and began to slip off his under shirt. Hermione quickly looked away.

"Why are you undressing in the kitchen?" she asked.

"I don't know," Draco shrugged. He threw his over robes around his shoulders, in hopes of shielding his neck from her. "It just seemed like the thing to do at the time."

"Well stop it," Hermione snapped. "Go to your room and do it."

"Right-o captain!" Draco said. And with that he hurriedly passed her and made his way to the bathroom, to find his collar there, where he'd left it. He quickly slipped it back on and hurried away down the hall into his small, plain bedroom.

He then laid down on his bed, letting out a huge sigh. What had he been thinking? He could've gone! But where would he have gone? To his father? The man who was partly responsible for all that had happened to Draco in the last few years? He found he had no desire to bring the Death Eaters back into light. He wanted them to stay hidden and gone from his life where they belonged forever.

He sighed and slipped his black muscle shirt off, lying down on his cool gray sheets. Besides, in his opinion, he had it pretty damn good right now. Truthfully, this had been the happiest he'd ever been in a long time. Why should he want to get rid of that feeling, just to stay loyal to his father? He owed nothing to a man who put his, Draco's, life in danger countless times before. He owed nothing to the man who was responsible for his mother's death. If anyone was to be blamed for the fall of the Malfoy Empire, it was his father, Lucius.

The last time he'd seen his mother, she had been pregnant with his twin sisters, although she wasn't showing yet. That was the day Draco and Lucius decided it was best to keep their distance from Narcissa Malfoy. It had been a sad, awful day for Draco, for he knew he might never see his mother again. But for different reasons. He'd always thought that it was he who would die on the battlefield. But it had been Narcissa who'd gone before him. And for some reason, that just wasn't right.

After the untimely death of Narcissa Malfoy, Draco had become bitter and resentful of his father. And that feeling had never gone away.

His eyes began to flicker shut, and slowly they stayed closed for longer amounts of time. And after a long while, they didn't open again. That night, Draco dreamt something strange…

A young blonde woman was standing in a deserted classroom. She was sitting at a dusty, old, and rickety desk reading a book. Something was very familiar about this woman and Draco strived to see her up close, but he couldn't move any further. Then quite suddenly the young woman closed her eyes as if in deep concentration, and she lifted her head. This was when Draco recognized her as his mother. She began to change, sprouting fur all over her body, long whiskers growing out of her face, which was taking on the form of a feline…

And his mind went blank as someone was shaking him awake. Hermione stood over him, and he saw it was still dark.

"What?" he snapped, propping himself up on his elbows.

"You woke me up," Hermione said, looking worriedly at him. "And the kitten's doing something weird."

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked sitting up. "What do you mean I woke you up?"

Hermione paused for a moment.

"Well," she began cautiously. "You were calling out for your mother…"

Draco's face turned a deep red and he looked away from her.

"And with all of your bellowing, Snowflake came to wake me up," Hermione said. "Except when she was meowing, it sounded like she was trying to call me a mudblood…"

Draco laughed.

"Don't be ridiculous Granger," Draco drawled, lying back down, his head propped on his arms.

"Well how do you explain this then?" Hermione snapped, pulling down her nightshirt. There were two neat scratches there that looked suspiciously like an "N" and an "M."

Draco's mind wandered back to his dream, although he didn't know what it meant. And suddenly he looked over, and his eyes fell on Snowflake, who was sitting in his doorway, with her ears back, looking slightly agitated.

"Good Lord," he whispered.

A/N: Mkay. Well. Interesting little chapter. Hope you liked it.