Chapter 4

Hermione reached up instinctively to Malfoy's face. She brushed his tears away with her thumb and then met his gaze. His beautiful grey eyes looked tortured.

"Why are you crying?" Hermione asked gently.

"I'm scared," whispered Malfoy. He looked like a little lost boy. Hermione was about to ask why, but he continued.

"You don't understand what I'm expected to do. You're so innocent Hermione."

Hermione… Malfoy had never called her that before. It caught her off guard. It stirred up odd feelings in her. Malfoy continued,

"Do you know what I'm supposed to do with you? You were my present, a reward for becoming a Death Eater." Malfoy gazed down at his arm, to where a Dark Mark now lay. The sight of it made Hermione feel sick. It seemed to have the same effect on him too.

"Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" Malfoy asked gently. Hermione shook her head, although she had a pretty good idea of what it might involve. She didn't want to know the truth.

"I…" Malfoy faltered, and took a deep breath. "I have to treat you how someone of you blood status deserves to be treated. They want me to hurt you Hermione, and to…" He failed to get out the words. He didn't have to, as Hermione knew exactly what he meant. It was as she had expected. She was to suffer at the hands of Draco Malfoy. Why she had entertained the idea of anything else, she didn't know.

"I don't want to hurt you. I don't think I could. I'm not a good person, but I couldn't. Not to you." Malfoy let out a sob. Hermione didn't know what to do. Should she comfort the person deemed to be her torturer. Maybe he might not hurt her. But then again she wasn't stupid. She knew the consequences for him if he didn't.

When another sob racked through Malfoy's body, Hermione couldn't deny her instinctive need to comfort any longer. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight, just as he had done to her earlier. He hasn't hurt me yet, she thought, and he doesn't want to either. There must be something in that. Forget our history, this isn't the Malfoy I know, this one needs me.

The pair of them sat there holding each other tight, until Malfoy's tears, slowed and calmed. Hermione reached up once again to brush the tears from his face and eyes. Even now, with blotchy skin, and red puffy eyes, Hermione couldn't deny how beautiful this man was. She shook the thought from her mind.

"It's okay" she whispered, unsure of words.

"I don't know what to do,"

"You have to do, what you have to do," replied Hermione. "I don't want you to get hurt on account of me." She had to do this. She thought of all the others before, who had suffered at the hands of Death Eaters; the Longbottoms, who'd been tortured into madness. Would that be her?

"I can't hurt you Hermione. You don't understand." Malfoy looked tortured. "I can fake the bruises, and cuts…" He paused. "… but I can't… I can't fake…" Once again his words failed him. So that's what it boiled down to. He had to rape her to put it bluntly. Was he asking for permission?

"I'll do what I have to," said Hermione not meeting his gaze. She accepted her fate. It could be far worse. At least Malfoy was as uncomfortable with the situation as she was.

"It doesn't have to be right now," he offered. "We have some time."

"How long?" Hermione wanted to know where she stood.

"Maybe two weeks." She looked up at him. He looked disgusted with himself. He didn't want this, and neither did she.

"Can I have some time to myself?" Hermione asked.

When he nodded, she got up and walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She rested against it and slid down its length till she was sat on the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chest and held them against her. Once again she was crying. She didn't want this. Not for herself or for Malfoy. She'd always imagined she would give herself to Ron, but that seemed like such a foreign idea now. She was so inexperienced. She'd fumbled around with Victor Krum a couple of years ago, but that was an uncomfortable and awkward affair. Was it going to be the same with Malfoy? Would it hurt? She was so scared.

She pulled off Malfoy's pyjamas and climbed into his shower. She let the hot water flow over her aching body. It was so wonderful and soothing. She tried to shake the past couple of day's events from her mind as she went through the process of washing herself. She wondered who would tell her parents of her disappearance. Would it be Dumbledore? She didn't know what happened if a Hogwarts student went missing. What about Ron, Harry and the Order? Would they try and rescue her? Would it be too dangerous? Did they even know where she was? Once again hot tears began to flow freely down her face, and they blended in with the hot stream of water coming from the shower.

Eventually she decided that she had to get out and face Malfoy. She wished she knew what he was thinking. This man seemed so odd and foreign compared to the Malfoy she knew. She climbed out of the shower and dried her hair and body, and pulled back on Malfoy's navy pyjamas. They smelt really good. She opened bathroom door and stepped back into his bedroom.

Hermione looked around and saw that Malfoy was fast asleep in his large luxurious bed. He looked so peaceful and innocent. She was overwhelmed with a need to protect him. She didn't know where she was supposed to sleep, but decided that as he'd placed her in his bed earlier, that she should probably join him. She climbed into his bed alongside him, and enjoyed the warmth Malfoy was radiating. She resisted the urge to hold him in her arms like she had done so earlier. Hermione was very scared at what the future was going to hold, but as she drifted off to sleep she decided, it definitely wasn't his fault.