Chapter 15

"Let go of me right now!" Hermione demanded as they arrived at Malfoy Manor, but Draco wouldn't, he dragged her to his study and locked the door.

"Where is your wand?" He asked and he rummaged through his desk.

She wouldn't answer. It was in the bag she dropped when Narcissa made her jump. He grabbed her by the neck and popped the cork off a vial in his other hand. Hermione fought as he shoved it into her mouth.

"Drink it!" He yelled. Hermione spat it out, but it wouldn't do any good. She recognised the taste of veritas serum.

"Get you hands off me!" She demanded.

"Who are you?" He yelled back. "Where's my wife?"

"I told you who I was but you didn't believe me." Hermione defended herself.

"Is that you in there, Granger?" He demanded. "Did you steal my wife's body?"

"Yes, I mean no." Hermione started. The pressure of Draco's hand on her neck was getting really painful. "Take your hands off me."

"Not until I know what the fuck you are up to." He said sharply.

"I'm not up to anything." She said. "This just happened."

"Did you murder my wife?" He asked.

"No!" Hermione responded. "She was gone. Apparently. I don't know. Its what I've been told."

"Told by whom?"

"Nearly Headless Nick."

"The Gryffindor Ghost?"

"Yes."

"What interest would a ghost have in this?"

"No interest, I just asked him for advice." She said. "You are choking me."

Draco increased the pressure on her neck.

"What have you done with my wife?"

"I didn't do anything." She croaked. "She died."

The pressure eased somewhat on her neck when realisation sunk in.

"Did you kill my wife, Granger?" He said quietly and coldly.

"No, she was already gone by the time I ... showed up."

"Who killed her?" He said and the pressure on her neck increased.

"I don't know. I don't think anybody did. I think she hit her head in the bathroom and just died in her sleep."

"And co-incidentally you showed up in her body. I don't buy it for one second, Granger." He spat. "Is Potter in on this?"

"No!" She said. "He doesn't even believe me."

"What about Nott? Did you organise this with Nott."

"Nott?" She said. "No Nott is Astoria's business."

He was quiet for a second.

"I caught you with him." He said after a while.

"That was something Pansy set up." Hermione said.

"What does Pansy have to do with this?"

"I'm not sure, she organised that you would catch Astoria and Nott."

"Pansy wouldn't do that." He said.

"I'm pretty sure she would." Hermione said. "I suspect that she had a hand in Astoria's and Nott's relationship all along. But I don't know, I wasn't there."

"Pansy wouldn't be capable of this." He said. "Nott maybe, but not this."

"Did nearly Nearly Headless Nick help you do this?" He resumed on track with his interrogation.

"No." Hermione said.

"Then who?" Draco demanded with even more pressure. Hermione clawed at his arms but he was incredibly strong. Much stronger than she would have ever given him credit for. Hermione wouldn't answer.

"I command you to answer." He said appealing to the veritas serum coursing through her.

"You did."

"Liar!"

"You called for me." She said.

"I didn't." He yelled.

"I was dead and you wished for me, so I was drawn here and there happened to be a vacant body available, so here I am." Hermione said. "I obviously have no memory of it, I just woke up here."

"I don't believe you." He said but she saw uncertainty.

"So you're dead." He said. "It was your body that was buried? Or was it someone else?"

"It was me, mine." She said. "I'm dead and you caused me to detour from wherever it was I was supposed to go."

"That's ridiculous." He said but the uncertainty as there in his features. "And what is your purpose?"

"I don't have a purpose."

"Why did you seduce me?" He said quietly. The pressure went back on her throat, but she refused to answer.

"Why?" He repeated louder this time. Hermione ignored him again, but the veritas serum was burning her from the inside.

"Answer me." He commanded.

"Because I am barren." She finally spat out. She closed her eyes with the humiliation. It was something she didn't want to admit to, especially with him, who had been so insistent that she was an aberration of nature. Her barrenness only gave credence to the philosophy.

"So you decided to fuck me?" He said incredulously.

"You were the only option." She said. "I had this new body which was capable and you were the only option."

"So this is some kind of sick ploy to get in my pants?" He said viciously.

"No!" Hermione yelled.

"Really, because you were kind of begging for it, Granger." He said. "What? The Weasel wasn't able to give you a good one, so you had to seek out someone who could?"

"You're revolting." Hermione spat.

"You didn't seem to think so a few months back." He almost teased. "I always knew you wanted me."

"Please." Hermione said with sharpness. "You literally were the last man on earth due to that stupid marriage clause."

"And you suffered for the cause, is it?" He said.

"Yes." Hermione said. She wasn't sure how that managed to come out through the veritas serum. On some level she believed it, on the other hand, she was aware that she had enjoyed that particular sacrifice a little too much. He seemed to be aware of this too.

"You're a whore, just like her." He said and finally released her.

Hermione massaged her objecting throat.

"I am nothing like her." Hermione stated. "And don't tell me you didn't care about her. You practically strangled me with concern that someone had murdered her."

"She is a Malfoy and no matter what, we take care of our own." He spat.

"You kicked her out." Hermione challenged.

Draco huffed and refused to answer.

"So now I am stuck with you, is that it?" He said.

Hermione didn't answer, it wasn't something she was ready to accept or acknowledge. If there was a way out of this, she still wanted to find it.

"Well, congratulations Granger, you finally managed to become someone in this society, even though you had to steal it." He said and walked towards the door.

"I didn't do this, Draco." She yelled after him. "You did."

She heard his footsteps retreating down the hall.

"Well, that went well." She said to an empty room. At least she had someone who believed her. Although she suspected he still believed that she had done this for some nefarious reason.

She had a quick look around the room. Her photo was still on his desk. He had some issue with her, she recognised. He had been uncertain when she said he had wished for her. It was a sheer impossibility that he had feelings for her. He certainly didn't act like it, calling her a whore and the like. He really was a pig, by the way.

Hermione walked back to her room. She didn't know what else to do. Her things from her apartment were all there, including the bag with her wand. Hermione sighed with relief.

Red the elf was carting thing about.

"The Master has said that you should stay here for the time being." The elf said apologetically.

"What does that mean?" Hermione asked with exasperation.

"He has adjusted the wards." The elf said.

"To keep me in." She finished for him. "The bastard."

The elf cringed, bowed and popped away. Hermione released another bone wracking sigh. Back here, she thought to herself. Things were finally starting to work in the muggle world. She threw herself on the large bed and just lay there staring that the roof.

After a while a soft knock on the door told her someone was there. It sure wasn't Draco, he wouldn't softly knock.

"Come in." She said after a moment's hesitation.

Harry's head popped through the door.

"You." She said and grabbed the bag on her bed. "You are the suckiest friend ever." She said and started to swat him with the bag. "You totally sold me out."

"I had to, they had a court order." He said. "I would lose my job."

"Oh." She said with indignity. "There's the Gryffindor spirit." She yelled. "I am going to tell Ginny on you. No, I am going to tell Molly." She said with gravitas. "She will send you a Howler at work, so everyone can see what a crappy friend you are."

"I'm sorry." He said. "I didn't have a choice. And you kind of are his wife."

"I am not." She said with indignity, but knew that technically it was a lie.

"What am I going to do, Harry?"

"I don't know, Mione." He said.

"Do you believe me?" She asked.

"Nobody beats me like you do. No one would dare, except maybe Ginny."

"Ha,ha." She said. "You really did deserve it."

"I can accept that." He said. "I really didn't have a choice. I am compelled to tell the truth in a professional capacity."

"Well I will keep that in mind, if I ever have to run away in someone else's body again."

"They are treating you alright, though?" He asked.

"Malfoy just interrogated me for murdering his wife." Hermione said. "If you call that alright treatment, then I guess yes."

"What happened?" He said.

"I don't know." She said. "According to Nearly Headless Nick, Astoria's body was vacant by the time I showed or else I wouldn't have been able to enter it. The elf said she hit her head in the bathroom, but I don't know. I was busy being crushed by a chimney."

"Someone must have done this." He said, his auror mind working away.

"I don't know." She said and guessed the veritas serum had worn off. She certainly wasn't going to layout the theory that Malfoy was madly in love with her and called her spirit to him, because it was utterly ridiculous.

"I have to go." He said. "Let me know if you find out anything. We will solve this Mione."

She wasn't sure there was much to solve or do about it when solved. But she was glad she had Harry on her side again. He seemed to believe her. At least she had her friend back. He still deserved a few more beatings with hard and awkward objects though.