Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters solely belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. I'm just playing with it.
Chapter 13
"How does anyone find their way in here?" Hermione mutters, walking through a corridor, trying to find her way to Pansy. It had seemed so easy when Pansy had walked her to the patio this afternoon. Now she is certain she is hopelessly lost.
"For the past five minutes I've been trying to find out where you are going," a very familiar voice says behind her, "but it appears you're only walking in circles, my love."
Relieved, though she doesn't exactly know why, she turns around. Draco is smiling at her as he comes closer.
"Only, guided by your feelings, it appears that you are lost?" he asks while taking her in his arms. "Lucky I found you then," he continues. Hermione has been rendered speechless and it isn't something that happens to her easily.
He bends down and kisses her, Hermione not fighting him. As he deepened the kiss, something stirs within her. Why isn't she fighting against any of this? Why does she so easily go along with this all day, while deep inside she wants to scream?
He releases her but keeps a hand loosely in his, smiles at her and asks, "How was your day, Sophia?"
Somehow in Hermione snaps and as she realizes something is wrong she shakes her hand out of his. "What have you done to me?" she demands.
"I don't know where you are going with this, Sophia." A smirk appears on his face.
"Stop that! Stop calling me Sophia. I'm not your precious Sophia! Maybe I used to be, but I can't remember her. She is gone, Malfoy!" Hermione shouts, feeling stunned afterwards. There is her anger, the one thing she's been missing, and she hadn't even known till now. With wonder in her bright blue eyes, she looks up at Draco, who is still smirking at her.
"What did you do to me?" she asks again, narrowing her eyes.
His smirk widens for a second and at first she doesn't think he will answer her, but before she can make any threats, he speaks.
"As you probably already found out, I am able to feel your emotions when they are heightened." He waits until she nods before continuing. "But not only can I feel them, I can also heighten an emotion, like I did today with your feelings due to our mating, or diminish an emotion, like I did today with your anger."
"You did what!" Hermione yells. She can't believe he has tampered with her emotions without her knowing it. That's what has been off the whole day.
"Sweetie, calm down. I have a reason." Draco looked slightly panicked at her outburst. Hermione wonders why. Had he forgotten who he is dealing with?
"Well then, share with me your amazing reason. Because that's what it has to be for me to ever even consider forgiving you for that," she said smiling unkindly and crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"I did it because I could feel how angry you were but also how conflicted you were. I wanted you to show you how you feel about me, and that these feelings are there. If your angry wasn't diminished, you would only be focusing on that because I'm the 'bad guy' or 'ferret boy'." Hermione can't help but smile as he makes quotations marks in the air and doesn't even realize that he's stepping closer to her. "You see, sweetie, I know you. Even though you think I don't. And because of that I want to make a peace offering to you: I will call you Hermione. Even though your real name is Sophia, I don't really mind it. But I can't speak for my parents, as you as well as I know that they're really old school," Draco winks at this, making Hermione laugh.
"Will you forgive me, Hermione?" Draco pouts in an adorable way, as he takes her hands in his.
"Merlin, I should be so angry with you but somehow you seem to take all my anger away," Hermione wonders aloud.
"I didn't do it. You did it yourself this time," Draco defends himself.
"What is happening to me?" Hermione wonders again, staring past Draco. She hasn't asked him the question, he knows that, but nevertheless he answers.
"It's because you are my mate and you can't stay mad at me. Nor can I be mad at you, or live without you."
"You're making an illogical comparison," she says, guiding her eyes back to him.
"I know," Draco smiles, "but I made my point didn't I?"
Hermione just nods and casts her eyes downright.
"Now," Draco whispers, lifting her chin up so he can look into her eyes, "would you like to have dinner with me?"
His grey eyes bore into her bright blue ones, which were for a moment unreadable. But she makes up her mind and nods. Draco smiles and leans in for another lingering kiss before he pulls her with him to the garden, where he arranged for them to eat. He knows Hermione has been indoors too long for her liking.
XXX
"No, Draco. I will not accept this!"
Blaise looks surprised at Pansy's angry tone. He opens the door fully and enters, in the middle of an argument. Pansy and Draco are standing in front of each other, the former's finger pointing accusingly at the latter. Hermione is sitting on the sofa behind Draco, her legs tucked beside her and an amused smile on her lips. All three of them look up surprised at Blaise's entrance.
"What's going on?" he asks, making his way to the sofas after closing the door behind him.
"Draco forbid Hermione from going outside. Even just in the garden," Pansy explains to Blaise, her eyes still accusingly fixated on Draco.
"Yes, I am aware of that. But that's the best for now, don't you think?" Blaise says casually, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before making his way to the liquor cabinet.
"But that's not the point, Blaise!" Pansy says with a sigh, turning her head away from Draco to look at her boyfriend, who is pouring himself a drink.
"Then what is?" he asks, placing a bottle of Firewhisky back in the cabinet.
"I want Hermione to be able to go into the garden with me." She turns back to Draco and continues in an angry tone. "Or how else am I to keep her busy while you are away? Seriously, Draco, I think she should be allowed to just go in the garden by herself. It's not like she can leave it if you forbid her. What are you afraid she is going to do? Try to kill you with the thorns of roses or alarm the Order by setting a huge fire so they can see the smoke?"
Hermione laughs at this, making everyone look at her in surprise. "Oh, what?" she says, a little embarrassed. "If I were to try to kill you, I could find better objects in this house, believe me."
Draco at first looks shocked and then furious at Pansy, who is smiling at Hermione. "Don't give her any ideas, Pansy." It is nothing more than a low hiss but it is utterly terrifying, making Hermione stop laughing at once and stare at his back with an expression Blaise can't really place.
"Draco, they're just fooling around." Blaise eases the tension immediately with those words. He makes his way to the sofas and sits in the one in front of Hermione. Pansy and Draco are still standing in the middle facing each other.
"And I think Pansy is right," Blaise says, taking a sip of his Firewhisky.
Hermione sighs, thinking the whole argument will start all over again but instead Draco just nods. "Too much?" he asks Blaise.
Blaise shrugs. "Don't blame you."
Hermione suddenly sees Draco and Blaise's relationship in a different light. They aren't just good friends like she'd always thought but brothers, thus giving Blaise privileges no one else can have.
Just as suddenly, Hermione also wonders what rank Draco is as a Death Eater. She hadn't seen him the whole day and she knows from Pansy that Blaise has been with him this afternoon. Also, how did he manage to get Voldemort to look for her, making her more urgent than looking for Harry?
She is disturbed from her thoughts when Draco turns around to her. He bends close to her, his face only inches from hers, just like earlier that morning. And just like that morning, she is mesmerized by his grey orbs. "You are able to go into the garden of this house but cannot go further, unless with me or Blaise."
His grey eyes flash silver again and Hermione feels how the new commands take effect on her.
Draco turns away from her and look at Pansy, who is still standing on the same spot. "Happy now?"
She just grins. "Very happy." Draco tries to hide his grin as he makes his way to the liquor cabinet.
Pansy takes a seat next to Blaise, who takes her hand in his and another swig of his glass.
"Now, on a happier note, what are you going to do tomorrow?" She asks Draco brightly, her eyes following him as he goes to sit next to Hermione and casually places an arm around her shoulders. Making her lean into him.
"What about tomorrow?" he asks, taking a sip while his hand plays with Hermione's hair.
"Draco!" Pansy says. "It's your birthday, you should do something. Or else I will."
"Pansy… I think Draco would rather spend the day with Hermione than throw a party," Blaise says, placing his empty glass on the table beside him.
"Besides, what is it with you today that's making you so pushy?" Draco asks, wondering.
"That's Hermione's good influences," Pansy beams.
"Don't get me into this, Pansy," Hermione warns.
"Why not? It is, after all, because of you that I feel so happy."
"Leave out the plotting and organizing then," Hermione comments back. This grabs Draco's attention. He looks, shocked, at Hermione. "What plotting?"
"No need to get so concerned, I'm not plotting anything for the moment, unfortunately." He looks relieved at this and places a kiss on her cheek and then her shoulder. "Good." He whispers so only she can hear.
"But Pansy is," she then says.
"Oh Hermione, don't spoil the surprise, would you," Pansy sighs.
"What surprise?" Draco asks, intrigued.
"Don't you dare use your powers to make her tell you, Draco Malfoy," Pansy threatens.
"Is that a threat or a challenge?" Draco asks, meanwhile kissing every inch of Hermione's skin in his sight.
Pansy doesn't answer but she keeps a close eye on Draco.
"Why does he still succeed in baiting you, even after all these years?" Blaise asks, bringing Pansy closer to him.
"Because I'm good at it," Draco laughs, pulling his head away from Hermione.
"Oh, you're such a prat sometimes," Pansy says half-heartedly.
Draco goes to stand. "Well, it's getting late. I'll see you two tomorrow," he says and while waiting on Hermione, who is slipping her shoes on, he adds, "Blaise, will you two stay here? We need to leave early in the morning."
"But-" Pansy starts to protest.
"Don't worry, Pans, we'll be back in the afternoon." He takes Hermione's hand and walks with her out of the sitting room.
XXX
Hermione leans back against the kitchen counter, watching Pansy wave her wand around the kitchen, making pans, spoons and other utensils fly about as they prepared food. Pansy has sent the house-elves away from the kitchen, wanting to prepare the food herself. They had left eventually, although grudgingly.
After sitting around in her room for a few hours, worrying about Harry, Ginny and Ron and trying to figure out how she can get them to know she is here so that she can escape (though she doubts that she will succeed), she gives up and decides to find something to take her mind off it. For a moment she forgets about everything she worries about, as she remembers that she has always found that the best remedy is to find someone else. After walking around the house and opening doors, with a bit of luck she finds Pansy busy in the kitchen.
It is still early but Pansy is already preparing food for that night. The big surprise is that Pansy has invited Draco's friends over for his birthday party. Although he had said that he doesn't want anything, Pansy knows that he will be happy with the surprise.
"Are you even considering helping me, or not at all?" Pansy turns around to look at Hermione, her brown eyes piercing Hermione's blue ones.
Hermione smirks, noticing the playfulness of Pansy's tone. "It's very interesting to see how will you work so hard and fail."
Pansy looks shocked and playfully hurt for a moment, before she throws a towel her way. "You would be better to help me instead of watching me struggle. I've never been able to cook." She turns around again to the stove where she notices that the green vegetables she was baking are now black. "You see!" she cries, throwing her hands up in the air instead of lifting the pan off the stove.
Hermione laughs and pushes herself off the kitchen counter. She makes her way to Pansy, shuts the stove off and takes the burned vegetables off. "What I don't understand is why you insist on cooking yourself-" Hermione turns around and sees a floating pan coming her way. She quickly ducks out of the way and then, eying the pan bouncing into the wall behind her, continues, "-when you obviously can't cook."
"But, Hermione! Otherwise it isn't something personal. And I want it to be something special. Especially since he turns 21 and we found you again." Pansy is pacing the kitchen, easily ducking the floating obstacles. If she is conscious or not of doing that, Hermione doesn't know. Nor does she understand how the objects have doubled in the meantime and are suddenly starting to target them.
"But why-" Hermione ducks again from a floating spoon. "-go through all that trouble for a party he doesn't even want?"
Pansy turns to Hermione again. "He does want it, he is just saying that because he doesn't want it to seem that he does. If you still had your memories you would know that."
Hermione twists a lock of hair in her fingers. "That does sound complicated. Why can't he just say he wants you to throw a party?"
Pansy laughs at this and takes a step backwards so a saucepan can pass without hitting her. "It is Draco we're talking about, Hermione."
Hermione doesn't have time to reflect on this. The pan, which had tried to hit her a few moments ago, ceases hitting the wall and hits the back of her head with full force. "Ow," Hermione murmurs before she drops to the ground, not losing consciousness but seeing the room spin.
"Hermione! Oh Merlin, are you alright?" Pansy sounds concerned to Hermione but she can't see properly so she closes her eyes. When the woozing in her ears ceases she crackes one eye open. Relieved to see the world steady again, she cracked the other one open. Pansy has bent down on her knees and is looking worriedly at Hermione, sitting on the ground. "Fine," Hermione grunts out as a late response to Pansy's question. Her hand tentatively pats the back of her head where there definitely will be a bump growing. She winces slightly.
"Oh, Draco is surely going to kill me!" Pansy says worriedly, standing up again and stretching an arm out to Hermione.
"He will not if you stop these things from flying around right now," Hermione grunts, standing slightly unsteadily on her legs.
"But they are cooking," Pansy says defensively.
Hermione stops rubbing her head and looks at Pansy with a look that says, 'Seriously?' Pansy understands immediately and pulls out her wand. "Fine." She mutters a spell and the pans and other cutlery immediately stop flying about. "But will you help me cook?" Pansy puts her nicest smile on and looked pleadingly at Hermione, who sighs but nods. It is not like she has anything else to do. And she is still working on a plan to try to escape here.
"What were you going to prepare?" Hermione asks, making her way to the sink to wash her hands.
"I don't know. Aren't some vegetables, potatoes and meat enough?" Pansy asks while picking up some cutlery from the floor.
"Which ones?" Hermione asks, closing the tap and picking up a towel.
"I don't know." Pansy drops her load on the table in the middle of the kitchen.
"Oh boy," Hermione sighs, dropping the towel.
AN: … I wanted to put something rather light in at the end, … I hope you liked it! =)
Again a great thanks to my lovely beta Sarah Liz B, who always points out to me the things I overlook.