A/N: So far, you have read Severus, Lucius, and Barty's independent storylines. We've already established the fact that Severus will be the cool and quiet type, Lucius will be the flirtatious womanizer type, while Barty will be the insane and possessive type. We hope you like Draco, who has matured into the gentleman you see here (ugh. the annoying 'nice guy') from the little brat he used to be. It was difficult to get a good inspiration/idea for his unique storyline. So please enjoy Draco's story.
Draco paced back and forth as he watched the other Death Eaters within the room. He could only hope that Hermione Granger would choose wisely.
She has to choose me. She needs to choose me.
He didn't dare approach Hermione, as he was the youngest member of the elite force and the one with the least seniority. Trying to claim the prize before anyone else had a say would be seen as impertinent behavior and he could be punished for it, depending on the Lord's mood.
Hermione's eyes scanned each man's face, before it stopped at Draco's. His whole body turned rigid with apprehension when he saw Hermione's wrist twitching.
Her index finger, he soon realized, was pointed in his direction.
The Gryffindor had selected him. He gave an imperceptible sigh of relief, and then allowed the corners of his lips to rise into a smug smile.
Squaring his shoulders, Draco confidently strode over to Hermione, who had struggled into a sitting position from her original prostration in front of the Dark Lord.
"My Lord," the blond murmured, bending low into a bow. At Voldemort's acknowledging nod, Draco bent further and gave Hermione a charming grin, before reaching forwards and scooping her whole body up in his arms.
Hermione gave an alarmed little squeak at her sudden departure from the ground.
Chuckling at Granger's terror - he was reminded of her incredible distaste for anything that took her feet off the ground - he turned around to march out of the room when his eyes clashed with his father's. The lingering smile playing with his lips immediately slid off when he identified the lust-filled leer Lucius usually gave the women he identified as his newest prey.
Too busy furiously glaring at the older Malfoy, Draco only peripherally acknowledged the other threats in the room - namely, the disinterested Dark Lord, the dangerously restless Barty, and the sullenly glowering Severus. His father's predatorial expression displeased him greatly. He wanted - no, he needed to protect Granger.
As soon as he stepped fully into the hallway, Hermione began to wiggle furiously in his arms; he easily adjusted her weight to account for her movements.
"This," she told him angrily, "is highly degrading. Were the chains not enough or something?"
Draco sighed at her bullheaded defiance. He really was glad that she had chosen him, but he could already tell that she'd be trouble to take care of.
If she had talked this way to any of the other men in that room…
As his grip tightened, he noticed how thin Hermione Granger had become: he could feel each individual rib against his fingers and her sharp hip bone pressing into his arm.
Worriedly, he asked, "When was the last time you ate anything of substance?"
"Why do you care?" She spat. A scowl crinkled her brows as her stomach gave an angry grumble at the mention of food.
Draco grinned at her embarrassed expression. "Let's go get some food into you then."
Hermione nodded bemusedly at his peculiarly kind demeanor. He continued to carry her downstairs where he could hear people partying.
He whispered into her ears, "Please do try to behave, Granger. The people in the next room may not be happy to see you... er... alive."
Hermione snorted. "No, really? What gave you that impression?"
Draco rolled his eyes at his former classmate's cheeky attitude.
I guess she hasn't changed since our time at Hogwarts… if anyone's changed, it's me.
The other Death Eaters had been unreservedly rambunctious during the wild celebration, but as Draco walked into the room, they quieted. Everyone's eyes fell on the girl who was in Draco's embrace.
The female Death Eater who had been hanging on Draco's arm earlier began to glare furiously at Hermione. "Is that Hermione Granger?!"
The sound of her name made all the Death Eaters stiffen warily, until they saw the girl's pathetic state.
The enraged witch continued, "Why is that filthy mudblood alive? What is she doing in your arms Draco?"
Draco could feel the Gryffindor's skin practically radiate with contempt at the slur. He recalled his second year at Hogwarts: when he insulted her, she had cried with humiliation.
Then he remembered his third year when he had taunted the 'Golden Trio'... and Hermione had punched him in the face. That smack had focused his attention onto her for the rest of his Hogwart years - his father hadn't even laid hand to his face before, and she wasn't even the slightest bit afraid of his family's wrath.
Hermione hand scrambled for her wand, but she quickly realized that she was unarmed. The death eaters immediately picked up on her defenselessness and mocked her mercilessly.
"How's Potter, mudblood? He dead enough for yeh?" one jeered.
The crowd guffawed at the comment.
A particular perverse man yelled, "Maybe she's hiding Potty and Weasel under her rags! Why don't you drop them and show us?"
The other male Death Eaters clapped at the suggestion.
A younger male Death Eater sneered, "I bet you missed being fucked by all those Gryffindors every night."
Then an older witch said, "Is that why you have the girl with you Draco? Is she your new little whore?"
The hot, angry tears flooded clouding Hermione's vision and the endless howls of laughter caused Draco to snap. Recalling the faces of those who had humiliated Hermione, he gripped his wand tightly and lashed out at all of them, crucios rolling easily off his tongue. Making sure Hermione was facing away from him, Draco took the liberty to smirk cruelly at the squirming masses of trash on the ground. One did not enter into the service of the Dark Lord without being mutated in some way.
How dare they mock Hermione in front of me? How dare they degrade her so?!
Screams and shrieks echoed throughout the room, catching the elder Malfoys' attention. Narcissa instinctively knew that her son was upset, but Lucius was furious with his son's outrageous behaviour.
Lucius forcibly grabbed Draco's arm and hissed in his ear, "What the hell do you think you are doing? Are you trying to tarnish our family's image?!"
Draco snapped his father's hand away and hissed back, "It's far more humiliating for a Malfoy to stand still and do nothing when one's-" he glanced at Granger "-property is being ridiculed. I refuse to be that pathetic."
Unwilling to listen to his father's rant, Draco speedily piled food onto a platter and whisked Hermione away to his bedroom.
When the two entered the room, Draco set Hermione on an armchair and passed her the pile of food. He reached in his pocket and flicked out a fag from a small white carton, keeping his eyes on the Gryffindor the whole time.
"Since when did you start smoking?"
"During our sixth year. Eat."
Hermione obviously disapproved of his smoking habit, but she kept silent and rubbed at her eyes, choosing to start on the food instead.
"Hermione," Her head shot up in surprise. "May I call you that?"
The Gryffindor glared at his attempt at familiarity and Draco sighed. "Fine. I won't call you by your first name. Granger, I'm sorry. About everything. Your situation, the earlier mess, and our time at Hogwarts. I'm sorry about a lot of things."
He inhaled the cancerous smoke and lowered his eyes to the floor.
He could hear Granger choke in shock at his apology. "You clearly need to quit smoking; you must have developed a malignant growth in your brain, to have had your mental processes so scrambled. The arrogant ferret I know would never apologize," she scoffed.
Draco chuckled at her comment. "You mean the arrogant ferret you knew. People mature as they age, Granger."
Hermione observed Draco quizzically and shifted her armchair closer to him. She had to wonder if he was telling the truth. Draco gazed into her eyes before throwing out the cigarette out the open window.
How can I keep Hermione Granger alive? What can I do for her?
His brows furrowed together as he thought. He did have an idea - problem was, would Hermione agree to it?
"Granger, what would you do for to survive?"
She replied, "At this point, the natural reply would be 'anything', but I can't quite agree with that. I would try to survive, but there are some things that I just can't bear to do."
"Let me propose a deal: become my girlfriend. It's for your benefit; I know it's crazy, but it's probably your best option for now."
The witch's fiery eyes widened, and Draco added, "Please don't punch me this time. I'm not joking around."
"Why should I become your girlfriend?" she hissed, appalled at the thought.
He sighed. "It should keep you from having to go through an episode like the one earlier. My status can provide you security from a majority of the Death Eaters. I don't want you to deal with any more of their crap. You've already endured so much."
Her almond eyes closed as the girl remembered the war, the blood, and the Death Eaters. Her eyes reopened when she felt his large, warm hands envelop her smaller ones.
Draco continued, "Hermion- Granger, you chose me - I'm still not sure why - so you need to trust me. Look, the last person I wanted you to choose was my father - he would definitely touch you in more than one way. Then there's my godfather, whose thoughts are always a mystery since he's a master at occlumency. Even I don't know whose side he's on, only that he and my father make an incredibly dangerous duo. As for Barty Crouch Jr. and Lord Voldemort... Well, they'd sooner kill you than feed you."
Hermione glared at Draco. "What about you? Aren't you part of that group?"
The young Malfoy's expression turned morose and frustrated. "No, I was coerced into joining them. My family was under the threat of torture until death if I didn't succeed. Besides, I am a Malfoy after all, and my father is an elite member of the Death Eaters. I didn't really know what I was getting into at first, but now... I'm just sick of it all. It twists you up inside, ruins your sense of self little by little. It kills all of the things that can make a person good, like your sense of trust, your honesty, and your sanity. I don't want to become a merciless killer like Barty or Aunt Bellatrix or the Dark Lord."
Draco was shocked when Hermione embraced him. She said, "I understand. I know you aren't lying. I just- I never even suspected that you were also hurt from this stupid war."
Feeling a bit awkward at this display of emotion, he went for a distraction. "We are going to need to re-establish your status at another party."
Her face paled in horror. "I need to attend another party?"
He nodded at her question. "Yes, but this one will be considerably more formal. It'll be like a ball, like the one that was held at Hogwarts during our fourth year, rather than the barbaric congregation of idiots you saw today."
Hermione cringed at the memory; the ball had started well, but she had gotten into that fight with Ronald and Harry.
"They're just going to pick another fight with me," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
Draco stood up and looked down at her small frame. He tried to reassure her by projecting confidence as well as he could. "They won't dare repeat their mistakes again. Now you will be part of 'us' instead of an outsider and enemy."
Draco allowed Hermione to fall asleep on his bed as he mulled over preparations for the ball. He would need to get a suitable dress tailored for the witch and get his own outfit prepared.
He summoned an elf and ordered it to send the proposition to his mother. She would make his father agree, and then the Malfoy patriarch would convince Severus and the Dark Lord.
Exhausted, he approached his bed and gave the sleeping beauty a warm smile.
I suppose this will be our first act as a 'couple'.
Hesitantly, he climbed into bed and fell asleep while holding Hermione in his arms.
Please review! Thanks to the increase of followers and favourites. Brings me a lot of joy. I am sorry for posting this chapter...really wanted to post this chapter last Saturday, on my birthday. It would have been fun to celebrate it with Harry Potter fans. I got to play Quidditch though. Anyways, please do review! Thanks. Cheers.