Chapter 21

Hermione lay in bed the next morning sure she could feel Draco's spell churning away in her chest. It was probably only in her imagination, driven by the unfairness of having this imposed on her.

She expressly avoided considering why he was stopping her from going. He must be pretty sure that she was considering it. Which made her wonder if she really was. Would she go if she could? All the reasons for why she couldn't go were stopping her from thinking about if she wanted to. And laying there contemplating it, the inescapable conclusion was yes. And somehow Draco had known this, even before she did.

Whatever his reasons, the end result of his actions showed that he wasn't done with her. Or he hadn't decided he was done with her. This could mean complications with Mr. Merrimen. Why couldn't he just leave her alone?

Hermione found out what one of Draco's spells did a couple of days later as she walked past the entrance to the Ministry on her way to meet Connie. It stopped her from going near the Ministry. It literally pushed her away. She was only passing by but it reacted and pushed her across the street, making her fall over into a puddle.

Her anger flared up again and she tried to clean the mud off with her wand. She couldn't understand why he had done this. She could see a muggleborn guy walking into the ministry with their suitcase packed. Obviously someone who didn't understand that you weren't allowed to take anything with you. She watched as the young man walked purposefully into the Ministry.

She felt a stab of jealousy and it took her by surprise. She had to inch past the Ministry entrance on the other side of the street, cursing Draco the whole way. Then decided to put him out of her mind when she got to the other side. Obviously some new found way of torturing her, letting her stand by and watch while others went onto a shiny new life.

She met Connie in their usual cafe. Hermione felt definitively underdressed compared to Connie who was wearing a bright goldish orange dress which shimmered as the sun light struck it. Although her dowdy, ill fitting dress seemed to offend the purebloods even more than the bright dresses for some reason she couldn't fathom. She figured that they would be happier if she weren't screwing their husbands, but apparently not so. Hermione didn't care, actually she cared a lot less than she did a week ago.

She noted that she wasn't generally as angry as she was a week ago. Maybe knowing that there was a way out made her more tolerant, or dismissive. Maybe she was in the process of disengaging with this society, she wondered. A divorce process.

Connie, looking beautiful as ever, noted her drab dress.

"It might be hard to catch Mr. Merrimen's eye wearing dresses like that." Connie pointed out.

"Draco put a couple of spell on me to stop me leaving." Hermione blurted out, knowing it sounded abrupt, but it was related to their plans with Mr. Merrimen. It seemed to give Connie pause.

"Draco lost it when he found out about the new amendment." Connie said. "He was livid. His new girl was very flattered, but quite a few of us suspect his concerns lay elsewhere. He even went and argued with some of the Council members. Actually all of the purebloods are a little weary now. Don't want to lose their mistresses. Even Theo is being extra attentive at the moment."

"Are you considering going?" Hermione asked.

"Absolutely not." She snorted. "But Theo doesn't need to know that. Come to think of it, Draco did seem a little more blasé about it the last few days."

"Well he has effectively ensured that I can't, it seems." Hermione said bitterly. "He is not done with me and that is going to be a problem with any future plans."

"Is he in love with you?" Connie asked and it was Hermione's turn to snort.

"Please, this is Draco Malfoy we are talking about. He must have figured that my little scene in the club was to force his hand and he's not happy about it. The perfect revenge really."

"Still, pretty extreme." Connie said with uncertainty. Hermione knew that Connie was suspicious of both of their actions and intents, but there wasn't much she could do to convince her.

"He is not going to be happy until I am begging on my knees for him to take me back, so he can throw me a couple of knuts before telling me to fuck off. That is what he wants, total humiliation."

"Maybe." Connie said. "Maybe if that's what is needed then maybe that is what will have to happen."

"I would rather starve to death."

"Nothing has changed." Connie said exasperated. "You two are still playing the same game you were before this all started."

"Actually this goes way back." Hermione admitted. "We have a long history."

"That is constantly repeating itself." Connie said. "Would you leave if you could?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?" Connie. "There seemed to be some unfinished business here."

"And it will likely never be finished." Hermione said, not really knowing what she was admitting to.

"Well we can't go ahead with Mr. Merrimen. Draco will tear him apart. So now what?" Connie asked.

"I don't know." Hermione said with a sigh.

Hermione pondered what she had to do for a couple of days. Draco had effectively ruined her plans, yet again. He had her stuck. She couldn't leave and she couldn't get on with her life. She tried everything she could think of to discover the spells he'd placed on her, but her limited wand wouldn't do anything useful.

She was alone in the flat for once with Edna out visiting someone or other. The mood not reflecting the sunlight that was streaming into the small windows. A knock on the door disrupted her pacing. She went to open, completely baffled who it might be.

"Ron!" She noted with stunned surprised as she opened the door.

"Mione." He said quietly. Hermione was annoyed that he used such familiarity. "Can I come in?"

Hermione hesitated for a while, then opened the door wider to let him in. "If you must."

She had no idea why he was here. They didn't really have anything to say to each other as far as she was concerned.

He looked uncomfortable. He was quite tall for these small rooms. Well dressed. Much better than at Hogwarts. Obviously Pansy's influence.

"You look well." He said.

"I am fine." Hermione said. It was silent for a moment. "Why are you here?"

"I am sorry how things turned out." He said after a while.

"That's great Ron." She said with a tense smile, hoping he had said what he intended to and she could shovel him out of her flat now. She wasn't interested in his apology. They were done a long time ago.

"This isn't my fault." He said. "How things turned out. This is not how I would have wanted it."

"Really, complete subjugation of some people for no reason at all. That is not how it would have turned out if you had a choice? Just a slight misfortunate turn of events, was it? It seems to have worked out well for you." Hermione said.

"I love Pansy." He said as if trying to explain. "It was you or her, and I had a chance to be with her. I love her. And being with her couldn't include you. Don't you see? You were always strong. There was nothing I could do for you."

"I understand." She said. She did. Maybe not respect it, but she could understand.

"She is my family now. I love her."

"I know." Hermione said, not really wanting to talk about it. She could understand his choices and his dilemmas, but she didn't want to talk about it.

"Are you going to go?" He asked.

"To the muggle world?"

"I knew you would." Ron said. "I wanted to see you before you went. Wanted to explain."

"Do you think I should?" She wondered, so maybe you wouldn't feel so guilty for shafting me, she finished in her head.

"I would if I were you." He said and she believed his honesty.

"But I won't remember anything." She said. "I won't remember Harry."

"Harry will remember you." He said after a while. "If he was here, he'd probably be first in line."

"He wouldn't be eligible being a half blood."

"Harry would have hated this world." Ron said.

"And you don't?"

"This is where Pansy is, so this is where I am." Ron said. "Her love does come with some conditions."

The silence prevailed for a while.

"So I assume you are planning on going then?" He said.

"I can't." She responded. "Malfoy have cursed me so I can't."

"Malfoy? Draco Malfoy?" Ron asked. "I had heard some absurd rumour, but... I guess there was some truth to it."

Hermione didn't respond. She was not going to regale him with her tales.

"And he doesn't want you to go?"

"No."

"And you want to?"

"Yes."

"Then get a curse breaker." Ron suggested.

"This is dark magic, Ron. Stuff I have never come across. Some random street peddler isn't going to cut it." Hermione stated. "A real curse breaker costs a fortune and my vault at Gringotts is running a bit low." She said knowing full well that they both knew she'd never had one and she wasn't allowed one either.

"Fortunately, I married well." Ron said with a overly cheery smile. "Above my station, some say. I can give you the money."

"Its a lot of money, Ron."

"I don't mind." Ron said. "It's the least I could do. I hated knowing what's happened to you and if I had a way of changing things I would have. And now I can, so let me do this."

"Fine." She said. "Thanks."

"I'll find someone good and I will be back. Are you sure you want to go though?"

"Yes." Hermione said after a moment of hesitation.

Ron left Hermione with a lot of emotions. She suppressed most of them and focused on the hope. Hope for a better life away from this misery, sadness and unrelenting bitterness. A cruel world where people were awful and men gave you a glance of what they could be to yank it away again.