Disclaimer: In case you have been living in a cave on mars with your fingers in your ears for the last ten years or so; JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and all terms and characters associated with the fandom. I only own the story, some characterisations and an occasional OC, I try to limit them as much as possible. Song lyrics which may crop up now and then will be attributed as appropriate.

Chapter 7 - Tripped

"Tripped into a hole I dug every word

With my ear to the ground I loved what I heard

And I couldn't think of leaving while you're feeling down

I just rest my eyes and you blow town. …"

Bright eyes

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Things were awful.

Draco sat gloomily in an armchair in the living room of his house, Blaise sat opposite him, sipping from a half full glass of firewhiskey. He raised an eyebrow at his friend. "How can you just sit there drinking? Granger is in our house. Fucking Granger!"

Calming, Blaise placed his glass on the table and furrowed his brow a little. "What do you suggest I do? Act like you? Stick my pet lip out because I've not got my own way? Make the best of it. You've got Granger at your beck and call. Besides, you can't deny we need a servant, can you seriously take one more early morning howler from my mother?"

Draco shrugged. Truth be told, having a slave had sounded like a lot more fun when it had prospectively been Blaise's hot Chinese friend, opposed to the bushy haired Granger. Who despite her inferior blood had somehow always managed to get under his skin with some sarcastic, off the cuff remark. "I suppose your right, just let's get a house elf still, I don't want that filthy little mudblood preparing my food for too long."

"Then get up off your own arse for once and learn how to boil a kettle."

"Look Blaise, not all of us had step-fathers that insisted on teaching us survival skills."

"Have you heard yourself? Survival fucking skills? It's a fucking kettle. Put water in it, put it in on the stove, it's not advanced transfiguration for Merlin's sake!"

A small cough from the doorway interrupted them, looking round they saw that Hermione had changed from the torn and grotty clothes she had been wearing into the ones that Blaise had given her. A simple long black skirt and a plain black top, not quite the right fit, but close enough. Draco glared at his friend. "You better show her what's what then." He stood up and walked out of the room, shooting Hermione a dirty look as he did so.

Blaise raised his eyebrow and stood up, looking at Hermione. "Don't worry, your the reason he's in a bad mood, you'll get used to it.."

Something in the tone of his voice told Hermione that he was not joking, she merely nodded meekly, between the two of them, Blaise seemed like he would be the easier to get along with, he spoke to her at least. She imagined if she was stuck alone with the blonde haired Slytherin prince, things would be a lot different. She followed Blaise as he left the room and showed her down to the kitchen, which was huge. He pointed at various things in the room, telling her that once they had a house elf, they'd prefer to have them prepare meals, but as it stood, she would be required to make tea and meals.

He led her around the ground floor, showing her various rooms which she would be required to clean, the living room, the dining room, the parlour. The library and office were apparently out of bounds. He then led her up the stairs, telling her that only five rooms would require regular attention. His own, Draco's and their respective en suites, the main bathroom and guest room. Should they have more than one guest room needed, they would tell her as and when. Finally, he took her back downstairs, sitting in the armchair closest to the fire and picking up his glass of firewhiskey. He took a sip and raised an eyebrow to her. "Let me make things very clear to you Granger. I do not like you. And while you may think I am being 'nice' what I am doing is attempting to make a rather uncomfortable living situation, liveable. Myself and Draco are supposed to run the muggle re-assessment department, we are supposed to set a good example for the rest of the Wizarding world. No matter what might go on in other houses, we can't afford to have a damaged reputation. I don't expect you to like it here, but there are a lot worse places you could be." He leant forward, quirking his brow slightly. "Trust me on that. We are not immune to random spot checks from hit-wizards and the book says that we're not supposed to hurt the Muggleborn servants and while it could go on in every other house in the country and a blind eye could be turned, it cannot happen in this house. Similarly, if you run away, if you try to mount some new resistance, we'd be in more shit than you could ever imagine. You might wonder why I'm telling you this, well think, whatever might happen to us if you run and get caught, it would not be anywhere near as bad as what would happen to you. And if you can't think of your own neck on the public execution platform, then you better speak up now and we'll send you back to the ministry, saying your unsuitable for re-assignment."

Hermione cleared her throat a little. "And what would happen to me then?"

"You'd probably be taken out the back and killed."

"It doesn't look like I've got much choice does it?"

"Of course you've got a choice Granger, it just depends how attached you are to your head."

She held her silence for a moment, he was making it clear, he did not like her, he had no intention of doing her favours of any kind, but still, he'd be more amicable than Malfoy to talk to. "Can I ask something?"

"You can, whether I'll answer or not will be a different story, but go ahead."

"You said before, that someone else was supposed to be here, who was it?"

Blaise peered at her curiously, it was certainly a bold question to ask, but did not see the harm in answering it, seeing that it bore no difference now on the current situation. "It was supposed to be Su Li, Ravenclaw girl, our year at Hogwarts."

She cocked her head to the side slightly. "I know her but, wasn't she? Well, wasn't her father some sort of Gobstones player? He was a wizard wasn't he?"

"We'll leave it at that Granger. The 'getting to know you' crap has never been to my particular taste. You can start earning your keep by making yourself useful. There's clothes to be washed that you can get from my room, I wouldn't bother him right now if I were you."

She nodded and turned on her heels, leaving him to his firewhiskey while she travelled up the stairs and opened the door to his bedroom. Closing the door behind her she fumbled for the light, being raised in a muggle household did not stop her from missing her wand. It almost felt like a limb had been cut off and now she was trying to learn to live without magic again.

Her fingertips touched on what she guessed was a lamp when a cold set of fingers clamped around her wrist, causing her to gasp and she felt herself being pushed back against the wall, strong arms holding her in place. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and a cold set of grey eyes clamped onto hers, half hidden behind a fringe of white-blonde hair which could only belong to one person in this household. "We need to have a little chat Granger." She let out a hiss of air, if she had had her wand, there would be no way she would ever be scared of Draco Malfoy, but standing in the dark, his physical strength clearly more than hers, she could not help but worry. "I don't want you to start thinking stupid things like Blaise is soft just because he's the one who's shown you what's what in this place. His mother might think he's the carbon copy of his father in looks and personality, but trust me when I say this, he's very much his mothers son. And she's had seven husbands mysteriously die on her. Get my meaning?" Hermione nodded, Draco's forearm pressed across her chest a little harder. "Just because he's currently willing to follow the rules, doesn't mean he's going to forever. If he snaps, you don't want to be in his way, trust me. He might be more than able to perform a killing curse, but he'd take much more pleasure in strangling the life out of you with one hand and he could do it. So before you get any ideas about trying to get pally, pally with Blaise, bear this in mind; he'd rather die than fuck a mudblood and he'd kill a mudblood for trying it on with him, without thinking twice. You understanding this so far?"

She nodded and let out a quite; "yes." She hadn't got the impression that he seemed violent, in fact he seemed the calmer, more level headed of the two boys, but then again, all she knew about him was rumours in the classroom and girls whispers in the toilets back in the days Hogwarts.

"Good. One more thing if you ever even think about running, remember that your muggle parents might be a lot easier to find than you might think." He smirked at the look of fear in her eyes. "Oh yes, don't think you might have hidden them as well as you think."

Draco released his grip on her, giving her one last smirk he stalked from the room, leaving a slightly shaken Hermione gripping her chest and breathing heavily. She looked at the closed door, taking a deep gulp of air, in that moment swearing to herself, that she had to find a way out of this house. She had to find a way to escape, even if it meant she had to get rid of the two Slytherins to do so.

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Authors Notes:

Yes, I will update soon...

Special thanks to all those who reviewed, especially those who hadn't reviewed before because I love getting new feedback.

UBER Special thanks again to Bright eyes, without whom this fic would still be on chapter one...

Also I need to thank Peter whose computer I have accosted a lot today.

Also sugar, remember that description thing I wrote for you AGES ago for Draco when he moved into the kennet manor? For the bedroom? Could you email me it? It's saved on my fucked laptop so if you could send me asap then I will love you forever and send you many rainbows and puppies in the post...