Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling does.
Warning: I do believe my story might end up being a wee bit dark.
A/N: Thank you for the feedback!
Chapter Four
Hermione awoke, then wished she had remained unconscious. She groaned as she attempted to make herself more comfortable on the cold floor, and then cautiously opened her eyes expecting to see him glaring down on her from his throne-like chair.
He was gone.
She didn't know whether to be relieved or alarmed.
Her head felt heavy, and her body ached, almost as if every single bone and muscle in her body had been torn away from her, set on fire, and then repositioned to their rightful place.
She turned her head and saw an orange cloud swirling in the dreary sky outside the enchanted window. That was the same cloud she had briefly seen many witches gawking at when she was making her way towards the Great Hall earlier.
The sight of the bright cloud made her feel so calm and serene. It beckoned to her, full of tempting promises. As she struggled to stand in a daze, she finally took notice of the platinum chains encircling her ankles and wrists, but still mindlessly kept trying to make her way to the cloud. She pulled at the chains with force, uncaring of the pain that burst through her. They wouldn't budge.
Hermione's blank stare settled on the chains binding her to the upholstered chair. She frantically pulled like an enraged animal and redoubled her efforts. She needed to get closer to the beautiful cloud. Someone shifted in a bed that sat across the window, but she didn't notice. Her whole being was focused on the bright orange cloud.
The frenetic rattling of chains filled the luxurious and spacious confines of the bedroom, spilled out into the hallways, and most annoyingly into the ears of Draco Malfoy. He turned his head towards the irritating sound. In the middle of insulting the witch disrupting his peace, he stopped and searched into her unfocused brown eyes. They appeared glazed and lifeless. It almost seemed as if she couldn't see. Why was she trying to get to the window?
Two pairs of faint footsteps accompanied with muffled voices brought Draco out of his sleepy musings.
It took him a brief moment to realize that the sounds were approaching his bedroom. The same bedroom that happened to contain an almost naked mudblood chained to a chair. He easily distinguished the familiar voices. He quickly got up, threw his silk sheets aside, and forced himself to put aside thoughts of intense repulsion as he dissolved the platinum chains.
She hurriedly ran towards the window, but he quickly caught her arm, and wrapped it around on his own neck. He shook her out of her stupor, then picked her up in a fluid motion and shifted his gaze to the door, waiting for the right moment.
Hermione's eyes lost their hazy appearance as she started to take in her new surroundings. Her eyes widened in shock at finding herself wrapped around Malfoy. He was looking away from her. His hands were placed on her bottom.
She couldn't help the yelp of surprise that ripped from her throat at seeing how very close and pressed together their nearly naked bodies were. Her legs were straddling his lean, narrow hips. She could feel the warmth radiating from him. She shook her head in denial at the seemingly unrealistic position.
Turning, Draco let his gaze settle on the petite girl and how scared she looked with her big brown eyes searching for his in the dark. He grimaced at their near nudity and said, "Hold on." She didn't obey him, and instead tried to remove her arms and legs from him. He readjusted her with only his arms and replaced his hands on her bottom, while making his way to a corner. He carried her without strain or effort.
Hermione gasped as she felt her back touch the wall. Draco lowered her shivering body that was wrapped around him, so that it wouldn't it be silhouetted when they entered. He used the shadows cast by the cornering wall to blend her smaller shadow into his own larger one. She tried to look into his pale eyes pleadingly. "Please, don't do-" began Hermione.
"Shut up, mudblood. You'll play along and remain silent, understood?" he asked in a heated whisper. She looked at him with a confused gaze and simply nodded her head in submission.
Draco held her more tightly and slightly hesitated before searching out her lips in the dark with his middle finger; he barely grazed them, and then brought his lips down on hers. The kiss was exhilarating; he lost himself in pleasure as soon as they made contact.
He gripped her hair with his free hand, deliberately angling her face for better access. The sensations that coursed through him were inconceivable. Never before, even with the most experienced witches he had been with, had this sense of passion been present. He kissed her harder and deepened the kiss with his tongue, desperately trying to quench his newfound thirst for her.
Hermione emitted a soft cry of pain against his lips, but he ignored it and kissed her more passionately. His body began responding to her inexperience. She was so innocent, something he wasn't used to.
The rub of her delicate skin against his, the feel of her small chest pressed into his, the silky soft feel of her hair in his hand, all sent an overwhelming pang of desire throughout his body. She tried closing her legs when she felt his erection pressing into her core, but the act merely aroused him further. He adjusted her position, and his hands tightly gripped her bottom, holding her down in place. She was so naive, yet she was pushing him to the very edge.
He was close to losing control, when a bright light shattered the illusion.
. . .
Theo and Blaise had just gained entry into Draco's dorm room. It was darkened due to the lack of light, and windows. The only room that held windows in the blond's large dorm was his bedroom. They weren't necessarily real windows, but at least the enchantments provided some sort of illumination. The living room they were currently in was barely lit. No light was seen, other than that cast by the Draco's elaborate fireplace. However, the dying embers of the remaining fire, provided only the smallest of hints of soft light.
The light brunet was more than willing to go into Draco's room, and into his bathroom to retrieve the blue-eyed boy's wand, without the guide of a light, but he strongly suspected Blaise would not share his resolve.
Although it was never audibly confirmed within the trio, Draco and Theo were well aware of Blaise's fear of the dark, just as Draco and Blaise were aware of Theo's sensitivity when it came down to his delicate facial structure.
When Blaise and Theo were younger, boys that were much bigger than both of them had mercilessly terrorized them for their insecurities. Blaise was always ridiculed for using his wand to provide some sort of comfort in the permanently dimmed corridors of the school, and Theo was always mocked for looking effeminate. Once the two bullied victims became friends with Draco Malfoy, all the insults quickly ceased.
The Malfoy name itself was held in high regard by aristocrats worldwide, but Draco at a very young age had already established a frightening reputation of his own that demanded respect and fear. Not many wizards knew, but Draco did have a soft side to him, a soft side that was deeply embedded under his cruel, cold exterior.
Blaise could've sworn he heard chains rattling in their friend's bedroom, and decided to share this detail with his brunet friend that appeared to be oblivious or maybe deaf.
"Theo, did you hear that?" he inquired, trying very unsuccessfully to hide his rising fear.
Theo's head slightly turned from the bedroom door to look back at Blaise in the darkness.
"Hear what?" asked Theo with a bemused expression on his delicate features as he approached Draco's room. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't paid attention to his surroundings at all.
"I heard the sound of rattling chains... and whispers," said Blaise with a slightly panicked look.
"Oh, no, I didn't. The silencing darkness has yet to whisper to me," said Theo with a smirk in vain attempt to distract his friend from his rising panic that was very evident in his voice and blue eyes.
"Don't jest. I swear I heard something," insisted Blaise. He hated when Theo didn't take him seriously about serious matters.
Theo let out an exasperated sigh. "Blaise, just calm down. I'm sure it's the wind or something. Now let's get this over with," scolded Theo as he reached for Draco's bedroom door.
The paranoid wizard had his senses on high alert, and strained his ears when he heard yet another sound. He complained to Theo, again.
"Here, take my wand, and use it for lighting," replied an annoyed Theo as he abruptly thrust his wand into his companion's trembling hand.
They both reached for the door.
Blaise used Theo's now illuminated wand to look inside Draco's bedroom.
The sight that greeted the two Slytherins was one that they weren't expecting.
Draco's' smooth muscled back was to them, he appeared to be in a snogging session with a witch, but her identity was hidden by Draco's taller frame and other overcasting shadows. The only thing Theo and Blaise could see were two slender pale legs encircling his waist, tattered pieces of clothing everywhere, and sheets thrown carelessly on the marble floor.
"Oh. Sorry, Drake. We didn't know you were... uh busy. We'll wait outside," said Blaise hastily. Before Theo could make a crude comment, Blaise used a spell to abruptly shut the door.
Draco Malfoy groaned as reason returned to his senses. He quickly lifted his lips from Hermione's and whispered, "I'll be back. Don't move or say a word." Draco let go of her, removed himself from her thighs and walked into his bathroom.
Hermione merely shrank away from him when he eased himself from her, and sat on the floor. Her heart was racing as she grabbed a hold of what appeared to be a silk blanket and put it over her shivering shoulders. Draco Malfoy had just stolen her first kiss, and it seemed like he wanted more. She looked around for any sort of protection.
. . .
Theo looked at the closed bedroom door in front of him, and wondered what in the name of Merlin he had just seen. Blaise, on the other hand, was laughing.
"Can you believe it? This whole time he was enjoying himself while I almost died and you nearly fell out of a window searching for him," chuckled Blaise.
Theo would have laughed with him, but his mind was preoccupied with what he had seen on Draco's back. Blaise looked at Theo's pensive face and tentatively nudged him. "Did you hear me, Theo?" he asked.
"Did you see Draco's back?" asked Theo in return.
"Uh, yeah. What of it?" questioned Blaise in a perplexed voice.
"Well, what did you see?" pressed the impatient boy.
"Hmm, let's see... Oh, yeah! A back. What the hell else was I supposed to see? A foot?" retorted the blue-eyed boy with a small laugh.
Theo simply shook his head and drowned out the other Slytherin's comments, until Blaise threw a pillow at his head.
"You weren't even paying proper attention. You really are deaf," complained Blaise.
"Yeah? Well at least I'm not blind," retorted Theo as he still thought of the strange marking he had seen on Draco's back.
. . .
Draco entered his bathroom and immediately splashed water onto his face. He frantically brushed his teeth, too.
He had just kissed a filthy mudblood. Initially, he had done it to conceal her identity because it was the only way his friends wouldn't see her, but it had gotten so out of hand that he had almost gotten mad when his friends intervened and stopped him from getting some sort of release. He gagged, simply thinking about her body being taken by him made bile rise in his throat.
The uncomfortable tight feel of his pants angered him. How dare the mudblood seduce him? He was thoroughly disgusted with himself that he took a shower and scrubbed his fair skin raw in vain attempt to remove the lingering warmth of her skin on his. He kissed her, and he enjoyed it.
Worst of all, he wanted to do it again.
He had probably enjoyed it because he was still sleepy from being woken up so brusquely, he reasoned. A nagging voice kept telling him otherwise; however, he ignored the voice of reason and convinced himself that it was a mistake that he'd never make again.
Draco finally finished showering, and was about to brush his teeth yet again when he saw a wand. Not just any wand, Blaise's trademark blue wand. He picked it up and exited the bathroom and went to his bedroom wearing only pants that displayed the low marking on his hips.
He glanced around, now able to clearly see everything with the rays of the early sun uncovering everything in the darkness and replacing it with a pastel orange hue. He stretched his body and tried to locate his favorite silk shirt. He finally found it. It was draped around the filthy mudblood's thin shoulders. She was sleeping and using his shirt as a blanket. He stalked his way towards her, his face contorted in disgust.
. . .
Theo was almost falling asleep. Draco was taking an eternity. Blaise had fallen asleep on the couch with the wand that was still lit clutched in his dangling hand. The darkness of the living room and lack of enchanted windows made it hard to decipher the time, but the impatient wizard imagined it was dawn.
He went over to his slumbering companion to retrieve his wand, and was reaching out towards it when he saw blood on two of his fingers. Dried blood. He thought it was weird because the shards of the window had not cut him. He stayed there, shocked, with his extended hand over the light of his wand when it finally dawned on him.
. . .
Hermione pretended to be asleep, she was waiting for him. The shining beam emitting from the opening bathroom door gave her time to make last minute preparations. She steeled herself when she heard irate footsteps approaching in her direction.
Her heartbeat increased as her body tensed when she felt his hands on her thin shoulders, rough hands, painfully gripping her delicate flesh. It was now or never. In one quick, yet extremely clumsy movement, she slid her hand out of the black silk shirt and withdrew the dagger she had found on the marble floor near his boots.
She tried to stab him, but he was faster.
Much faster.
He ripped it out of her grasp. She stumbled back, crossing her arms around over her exposed body.
"Just let me go. I never did anything wrong to you," she pleaded in a small whisper. Tears were in her voice. She turned her face away, not wanting him to see her emotions so openly displayed in her big brown eyes.
"Mudblood," he addressed as he reached for her, long powerful fingers painfully closing around her forearm and pulling her towards his imposing figure. She could smell his minty breath on her face. "You kill me and you kill yourself. We need each other. Got that?" he asked with a sneer. She remained silent and simply blinked in shock.
He slowly drew up the dagger in front of her face and made a thin blue line across her pale cheek and said, "Try to harm me again, and I won't kill you, but I'll make your life a living hell."
She gulped, battling to keep her tears from springing forth.
"Why won't you let me go?" she whimpered as he pressed the sharp dagger near her neck.
He looked at her with his silvery eyes and what she saw in them made her shiver.
He didn't bother to answer her, but instead cast the same magical platinum chains on her and walked away. She tried to scream to him, but there was no sound.