A galleon is still £5/$10.

I'm so tired...


Draco added his name next to Hermione's on the contract and then once again stood back to watch as Hermione fidgeted and stared at the box.

"Want me to show you how to open it?" he coolly asked.

Her eyes snapped to him and narrowed, pinning him with all her dislike. He just raised an amused eyebrow.

Finally, she reached out for the box and flipped it open, staring into it.

Draco sighed impatiently. "Get moving, Granger. I don't have all night."

She sneered at him, but finally she plucked out the bracelet and slid it on, thrusting the box at Draco, so he could help himself to the ring. He did so, very slowly, enjoying her look of fear and loathing. She knew he wouldn't go easy on her. She knew this would quite possibly be the worst month of her life. She knew what he was capable of. He looked her straight in the eye and smirked as he slid on the ring, feeling the slight tingle of magic and the intoxicating knowledge that he was in complete control. He could do practically anything to her.

"I can't allow this," Nott calmly said, and Draco's head whipped up to look at the other Slytherin, who was now standing with the contract in his hand. From the look on his face, he had read it and guessed everything from it.

"It's not for you to allow or disallow," Draco bit off. "It's done. She agreed to it herself."

"You realize that if you do this, I can no longer condone you being Deputy?" Nott asked.

Draco nodded. "I suspected as much."

"It doesn't change anything?" Nott asked.

Draco slowly shook his head. No. Some things were simply worth more.

Nott sighed. "You leave me no choice. I have to speak to Dumbledore. You're looking at expulsion."

Draco's lips thinned and he went a little pale. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to that."

"But it still won't change anything?" Nott asked, sounding as if he already knew the answer.

"No," Draco confirmed.

"Be reasonable, Draco. If you're expelled, you still can't use it."

"Can't I?" Draco asked, his eyes glinting dangerously. "You don't know this magic, Theo. You don't know what it can do."

"So, you're willing to throw away your education to get back at some girl who's annoyed you? Don't you realize how stupid this is?" Nott threw down the parchment and glared at Draco, who was struck dumb by the intensity in the other boy's eyes. He'd never seen this level of emotion from Nott.

"I agreed to it," Hermione quietly said. Draco's eyes shifted to her. She was looking pale and staring at the bracelet around her wrist. He knew she was terrified of what he planned to do to her. "I agreed," she repeated. "And if you turn him in, you'll have to turn me in, too, and we'll… we'll both get expelled." Tears were welling in her eyes.

Nott blinked. "Don't be silly, Granger. This would be your first lapse of judgment; Dumbledore would go easy on you."

Hermione slowly raised her head to look at Nott. "Not my first lapse, no. I used it on Draco a few days ago, against his will. I'm sure he'll tell Dumbledore about that if he's to be expelled for this."

Draco was gaping at Hermione, stunned by her honesty. Didn't she realize that if she played along with Nott, she had a decent chance of getting him kicked out with no repercussions of her own? He somehow knew that she did realize, and that stunned him all the more. He couldn't even gather himself enough to smirk or gloat at Nott; he just stared at his willing Muggleborn slave.

Nott was looking very angry. It was really uncanny. "Do you want to wear the bracelet, Granger?" he asked. "Do you want him to abuse and humiliate you? Because I guarantee you – he will."

Hermione sniffed and swallowed, visibly fighting back the tears. "No, I don't want it," she finally replied in a shaky voice. "And I do wish that I hadn't come here tonight. But I came, because I thought I'd win. It was a fair contest. I have to pay the price."

Draco slowly closed his mouth and scowled. He didn't know how to feel about her defending the bet. Well, if she thought he'd go easier on her for that reason, she had another thing coming!

Nott sneered. "Dumbledore won't expel you, when I tell him about this. Whatever you've done couldn't have been that bad. If it had been, I'm sure Draco would have told me about it – for hours." Draco scowled at his fellow Slytherin's clear intention of saving Granger. What was up with that?

"Maybe not," Hermione conceded. "But I'll lose Head Girl, and the humiliation of that will probably cause me to leave Hogwarts anyway."

Nott shook his head. "You wouldn't. You care too much about your future."

"I care more about my integrity."

"Why are you being so bloody insistent?" Nott fairly shouted. Draco had never heard him raise his voice even once before in the six years he'd known him.

Hermione got to her feet and planted her fists on the table, leaning towards Nott. "Because I have honor," she hissed. "I know it's a foreign concept to you lot, and I'm sure Malfoy would long have had the bracelet off by now, but I agreed and I signed a contract twice and I'm keeping this thing on even if it kills me!"

Nott threw down the parchment. "It's on your own head, then," he growled. "Just don't come crawling to me for help when he finds a way around every single one of these terms." He stalked over to his desk, ignoring the two of them.

She had pacified Theo? Way to go, Granger! That had to be a first.

"And he keeps Deputy, too," Hermione added to Nott's back.

Bloody Hell, you're pushing your luck now.

Nott whirled around. "What?"

"You can't take away his status without explanation. I don't want to have to explain things to Dumbledore."

"I'll say the two of you aren't getting along."

"I'll dispute it," Hermione said without blinking an eye. "And how will you prove that we haven't learned to get along? I'm thinking that I will be spending a lot of time around Malfoy the next thirty days without any actual fighting. You would be proud of us, I'm sure."

Nott sneered and then looked at Draco. "Get out," he spat before turning back to his parchments.

Draco knew that he was the only one being thrown out. It seemed that Theo actually liked Granger, and he knew Draco well enough to be furious just knowing what he now could and would do to her. Theo had, in short, chosen his side.

Draco took a step closer to Hermione, who seemed to have forgotten all about him, looking thoughtfully at Theo. "Smart move," he breathed near her ear, almost making her jump. "I just might go a little easier on you now."

She shot him a haughty glance. "Don't do me any favors, Malfoy."

He smirked. "Careful, Granger, or I just might think you like it rough," he said in a voice too low for Nott to hear. He then yawned and raised his voice to say, "I'd best be going to bed, then. Goodnight, Theo."

Theo didn't reply. Granger, on the other hand, checked the time and gasped. "Oh, no, Ron is probably waiting," she mumbled, gathering up her parchments and quills.

Weasley was waiting for her? At this time? No interfering with personal relationships, she had tried to get him to sign Draco grinned. This was just too delicious. "Best be getting used to wearing that bracelet, Granger. I don't think you should be going back to the Gryffindor Tower tonight."

She stared at him blankly. "What?"

"I don't care where you go or whether you sleep… But it won't be at the Gryffindor Tower. Goodnight." He turned around and, whistling a cheery tune, he strolled from the room.

"Is it too soon to say 'I told you so'?" Nott asked in a dry voice without turning around.

Hermione scowled. "It's his prerogative. And he could have ordered worse." She looked to the couch. It would have to do. Ron would be angry with her, but she could just tell him that she'd fallen asleep while working. It wouldn't actually be the first time.

"You can use my bed," Nott said.

Hermione's eyes widened. "What?" she croaked.

Nott smirked slightly and turned his head a little. "Heads have private rooms, remember? And I'm not planning on going back tonight. So, if you want a bed, you can use mine."

Why was he offering his bed after everything that had just transpired? Hermione shook her head. "Thanks," she mumbled. "But… I can't be spending an entire night at the Slytherin male dormitories!" She blushed at the thought alone.

Nott shrugged. "Suit yourself. And be careful what you say when Draco is around. If he heard you say something like that, he would order that you sleep there."

Hermione shook her head again. "The contract says—"

"Nothing sexual about sleeping, Granger," Nott interrupted. "And he might not care if you have to spend your nights on the bathroom floor. Just be careful."

"It also said not to do anything that could get me expelled," she pointed out.

"A few indiscretions would hardly get you expelled," Nott said. "Besides, with both the Head Boy and Deputy Head Boy living in those quarters, it would be easy to come up with a somewhat plausible explanation for nobody to believe. I'll just need this one lamp here; it shouldn't bother you too much if you plan on sleeping on the sofa."

Hermione knew she was being dismissed, and with a sigh she went over to the couch in search for some rest.


The next day found Draco lounging in the Slytherin common room with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. Theo entered through the wall, yawned and then scowled at the other boy. Draco just mutely challenged him to lecture him again.

"You couldn't have come up with something better?" Theo asked, sitting down across from Draco, all emotion gone from his face.

Draco was confused for a second. "Something better than what?"

"Making her sleep on the couch in the office? You don't think that was just petty?"

Draco's smirk returned. "I didn't tell her where to sleep. I'm surprised you didn't offer her your bed."

"I did," Nott said without a change of expression. "She didn't take it."

Draco did a double take. "You did what?"

Theo shrugged. "You didn't answer my question."

Draco scowled at the other Slytherin. He'd have to make sure that Nott couldn't interfere in the future. An evil grin spread across his face. Perhaps it was good that he knew to be careful already. "It might have been petty," he conceded. "But today she's got a sore back, a crick in her neck and a headache from fighting with Weasley all morning. I think that's quite an accomplishment, don't you?"

Theo looked at him strangely. "You saw her already?"

"No, I missed breakfast and even though I can use the ring to summon her, I'm not sure she'd understand the summons. She's smart and all, but I didn't tell her that I could do that."

"Then how do you know?" Theo asked.

Draco looked at him questioningly. "How do I know what?"

"How do you know that she's uncomfortable and that she's been fighting with Weasley?"

"Oh." Draco waved his hand dismissively. "Simple deduction. I'm willing to bet that I'm right, though."

"No thank you," Theo drily said. "I'll take none of your bets."


Hermione had a sore back, a crick in her neck and a headache from fighting with Ron for the past hour. And she was exhausted. The couch in the Heads' office really wasn't that comfortable, and as soon as she'd had lunch, she had every intention of going to her room for a nap.

"A word, Granger."

Damn, she hadn't made it to the Great Hall yet. Belatedly, she realized that she hadn't put anything in the contract about not starving her to death. On the other hand, what fun could he have with a dead slave? He chuckled softly and she had the impression that he knew exactly what she was thinking. Well, it was natural for her to have these thoughts.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" she asked.

"I'll be giving you a quick course in what the bracelet does and how to obey me and if you're good…" He leaned in closer. "I might even let you go eat after."

Hermione wanted to make a retort, but at that moment her stomach rumbled, revealing that she hadn't had breakfast. She pressed her lips into a thin line and glared at him.

He grinned. "We'll be getting along just fine," he said. "It's really simple, actually. If I give you a direct order, you will feel compelled to obey. If my intentions are clear to you, you will feel a pull towards doing what I want – do feel free to follow that pull. If I want your presence, you will know the when and where, and you will feel a pull that will grow stronger the longer you ignore it. Do not ignore it unless you have an excuse involving someone bleeding to death and you being the only one around to save them."

Hermione crossed her arms, scowling at him. "Anything else?"

He smirked, making it somewhat clear to her that there were things she still didn't know. "Not presently, no."

"And were you going to share these extra features with me if I had won?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why would I?"

"Who would have thought a stupid silver bracelet could be this evil?" she grumbled.

Draco stared at her.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm sorry," he insincerely said. "Sometimes I forget how common you are."

She scowled but didn't comment.

"This," he said as if talking to a child, "is a platinum bracelet. Those things are called diamonds. Even without the magic it's worth a good 500 galleons, possibly a little more, seeing as it's quite old by now."

Hermione stared at it. "You're joking!" she exclaimed. "It's just a stupid bracelet; it can't be worth that much!"

"No, it's not worth 500 galleons," he agreed. "With the magic and as a set with the ring, it's probably closer to 5,000 galleons. It might have been more, only, the magic is a little bit archaic for most people's tastes, plus it's highly illegal. So, you see… It's worth more than several of you and I'm quite happy that there's no way for you to lose it without losing your hand first."

He left her to stare at the bracelet around her wrist that might as well have been polished nickel and paste for all she knew.


Next Chapter: Blaise has some interesting theories about what Theo and Draco have been up to. "I was just wondering what the two of you were doing out, by yourselves, that has you in such a disgustingly good mood and Theo now sleeping, if I'm not very much mistaken…"