Been a while. Three weeks. It's almost Christmas. Time flies... I should be able to get another one in before Christmas, though. If you get bored before that and you didn't already see it, I posted up a fic I wrote for a challenge a couple of months ago. I'm still not going to post to ffnet anymore after I finish Bracelet, but, well, didn't finish Bracelet yet. XD More to the point, you've all been very nice about the longer waits between updates and I thought that fic might amuse you.

And... you all think you're so clever guessing at what will happen, eh? But I bet you didn't see all of this coming... Mwahahaha... (No, I'm not mentally unstable, thank you for asking!)


Hermione couldn't help but squirm a little uneasily in her seat as Draco's brooding features changed into a slow and rather menacing smile. Whatever evil thing he was about to demand, she would do it, she reminded herself. This was for a good cause. Theo probably wouldn't openly admit it, but he was obviously terribly bothered by his earlier friend's newfound indifference. So what if she had to bribe said friend to put that aside? In the end, everyone would benefit. Theo would be happier, she'd have a happier boyfriend and Draco would get whatever sick pleasure he got from tormenting her.

Come to think of it, maybe that wasn't a terribly good idea.

Draco leaned back in his chair and studied her steadily. "If you're willing to wear the jewelry again, we can discuss this."

She gaped, eyes wide and mouth open. "You want me to wear the bracelet again? After all that happened last time?"

He slowly shook his head, another one of those ominous smirks on his face. "Of course not. That would be insane, wouldn't it? And Theo would probably arrange for my slow and very painful death."

"Then what?" she was almost whispering.

"The ring," he quite simply said. "You will wear the ring. I'll wear the bracelet."

"What?"

"Oh, come on," he said a bit sardonically. "It's not as if you don't want to. And we'll even waive the whole contract this time. You simply do not have it in you to have any fun."

"Why would you even want that?" she hissed out between her teeth.

"I have my reasons," he said, not betraying a single thought. "But, of course, you don't have to do it. And I doubt that if you did do it, and Theo found out, he would be very happy."

"For how long?" Hermione bit out.

"Well, that depends. How long do you want to wear it? I was thinking no more than a few days, but you could always 'purchase' extra time." He leaned in to rest his elbows on the table and shot her an insufferable smile that clearly stated he didn't think she'd go for it.

"It's dangerous," she whispered, not wanting anyone in the library to accidentally overhear. "It's addictive."

He nodded. "Yeah, that's why I wouldn't recommend that you go over ten days or so. I don't think the effects before that are that bad. Or what do I know, really. I might just not have known."

Hermione closed her eyes. That jewelry was dangerous. Using it again was insane. She really shouldn't even consider this.

"Fine," she said rather tonelessly. "But only for a few days and then you do whatever you need to do to become friends with Theo again."

"Five days, then?" he asked.

She winced. "Three?"

"I'm not sure it'll really work in three days. It takes time."

"What exactly takes time?"

He looked directly at her. "For you to know what it's like."

She tried very hard not to widen her eyes. So that's what he wanted. A better understanding. She swallowed. This was a really, really, really bad idea. "Four days. And don't tell Theo."

His eyebrows shot up. "Keeping secrets from the boyfriend, are we?"

She bared her teeth at him. "No. I will tell him. You can get the pleasure of telling your girlfriend."

"Is that an order?" he lazily asked. "Because if it isn't, I don't see how this should hold any interest to her."

"Of course not," Hermione sarcastically replied. "Why would she care knowing that you'll have some other girl poking around in your head and potentially ordering you around?"

"Exactly," he said with a smug smile. "Bring the goodies down to the dungeons whenever you're ready."


As soon as Hermione left him alone, Draco's smile faltered and he buried his head in his hands. It would be hell to have her inside his head for even a few days. And she would know his feelings. There was really no way she wouldn't notice, was there? He didn't think he could control his emotions around her well enough for her not to be able to tell how he felt. He could try, but there really wasn't much chance of her missing it.

His pride would just have to take that hit. It wasn't as if there was a lot of it left anyway.

This was a crazy plan, he was willing to admit that, but he just wanted to know that in spite of everything she would have experienced a closeness with him that she'd never experience with anyone else. Theo might have her, but he'd have something Theo could never have. He would have her know him in a way she would never be able to replicate with anyone else. She may not fully experience this hell of feelings he was going through, but that was all right. He just wanted this.

It was rather wretched, but there it was. It wasn't as if he was really forcing it on her. She had agreed readily enough, hadn't she? All he had to do afterwards was try and get along better with Theo—which would be hell in itself, but he supposed he could pretend to be friends for the last five months of school. He had plenty of practice with fake smiles and insincere relationships to others. He just hadn't really wanted to do that with Theo because they had been friends not very long ago, and Draco still valued that.

But not as much as he would value this.

He slowly made his way to the dungeons, and was surprised to have her at his door less than half an hour later. The witch certainly didn't believe in wasting any time.

"He can't know exactly why I'm doing this," she said without preamble. "He would just get mad. So I'm coming up with another excuse and you won't tell him otherwise."

"Why do it if you think he'd get mad?" Draco couldn't help but ask.

She gave him a withering look. "Because you two are too thick to work out your differences yourselves."

"So? You get him all to yourself. Isn't that what birds want?"

"Yes, we just long for unhappy boyfriends," she sarcastically responded. "Really, Malfoy, you should stop generalizing so much. It might make for better actual understanding if you did." She put down the box she had brought and opened it. For a second she just stared at the contents, clearly wavering.

Time for a diversion before she changed her mind. "Are you planning to stay a bitch for the duration of this?"

Hermione's head snapped up and he could tell he'd annoyed her. It was so easy to do. "That's my prerogative, isn't it?" she fairly growled.

"Sure." He shrugged. "I just want to know so I can be prepared. It's not that time again, is it? Because then I'll reserve the right to wear full body armor."

Her eyes widened. "You are unbelievable!"

Draco grinned. "I know. But usually, when Astoria says it, it sounds a little more flattering." He reached out and took the bracelet from the box and snapped it shut around his own wrist, fighting the sudden wave of anxiety. It would be fine, he reminded himself. She would interpret everything he felt to fit the image she already had of him, so there was no real risk.

Maybe.

She had picked up the ring and was staring at it. Draco willed her to just put it on. "I don't think I can do this," she suddenly said, dropping the ring back into the box.

He sighed. Trust her to overthink this. "Of course you can, Granger. It's not really that difficult."

She shook her head. "No… it's too dangerous. Think of something else and I'll do that instead."

He clenched his jaw. They were alone in his room and she wanted him to think of something else he could want from her? He knew her thoughts didn't go in that direction at all, but it still felt as if she was mocking him.

"Have you already forgotten? After less than two months not wearing it?" he asked, hearing the sharpness of his own voice. "For a long time nothing happened. I actually quite enjoyed humiliating you, starving you, keeping you sleep-deprived… I guess I should have worked harder at ruining your reputation, though. Maybe I should have put you sleeping on my bed to better use, hm? After all, it would have been so easy to—"

With an unholy fire in her eyes, Hermione yanked the ring back out of the box and shoved it onto her finger.

Draco gasped mid-sentence and then frowned in disbelief and confusion. He wasn't supposed to feel anything. Only she was. He glanced at her to see that she was positively fuming, something very close to hatred in her eyes.

Oh, shit. Oh, no.

"Don't," he quickly said. "Take a deep breath, you don't really—" He stopped, breathing hard.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sounding very skeptical.

He made another desperate effort. "Calm down, Hermione. You don't want to do this. I didn't mean it, all right? I was just… just provoking…"

"I'm not doing anything!"

But she was. And she would think he was faking it because he'd run out of time for explanations. The slow itching heat on his skin erupted into a scorching fire and he heard himself cry out in agony as he dropped to his knees. All thought was obliviated and his whole world was pain. He knew she was talking to him, but he couldn't hear it. "Th-the ring," he tried to get out above the roar in his ears. "Remove… Mercy!"

He felt the wetness on his cheeks as if it were someone else's. This was unbearable. He felt as if he was being ripped apart from the inside out. If that wasn't enough… she was the one doing it. She was the one hating him enough to cause him this kind of pain. That hurt more than anything. She wanted to hurt him like this.

He knew she had reason, he knew she was justified, but to learn that the one you wanted to hurt the least wanted to hurt you the most, feeling it without a doubt, it was worse than the physical pain itself. It made him almost welcome that pain, because he knew that once it was gone and he had time to think he would suffer worse.

Suddenly it was gone, and he was on his hands and knees, unable to stop the ache inside of himself and unable to speak. It was a humiliating position, but he guessed that was what she wanted. He closed his eyes, trying to make the flow stop.

She was kneeling next to him. "What happened?" she asked in a clearly distressed voice. "I didn't… Malfoy, I didn't do this!"

Yes, you did. But he couldn't reply, not just now. He fought hard to control his breathing.

"And I didn't feel any pain, so I thought you were pulling something, but your skin…" She reached out to touch him and he scrambled away, not wanting her touch, and opening his eyes to see her stricken face. "I took it off," she quietly said, "as soon as I noticed. I'm sorry."

He looked down on his hand, seeing the angry red marks. "It's all right," he hoarsely replied. "It'll go away."

"Malfoy, I—"

"Please leave," he interrupted whatever she was going to say. "Just… leave." He couldn't bear to be in her presence, knowing just how much she must hate him for this to happen. He had thought he hated her when he had first worn the ring, but he had never allowed this to happen, not once. She must really want to see him suffer in hell. He fought back more despair, not wanting her to see him as this whimpering mess.

"Is this a reaction to our reversed positions?" she persisted.

He almost laughed at that. "Not now. Please." He looked at her as steadily as he could. "Leave."

She got to her feet, looking a bit unsteady, her eyes huge and contrite. "Is there anything I can—?"

"GO!"

She fled the room and he leaned back against the side of his bed, drew up his legs and rested his head on his arms, the loneliness overwhelming him. He knew he wasn't the best of people. He knew he was spoiled and arrogant and that he had a mean streak a mile wide. He knew she didn't fancy him. But he had tried his best to make up for everything in the only ways he knew how. It would never be enough, would it? She would never stop hating him.

The door opened. "Draco, what—?" There was a pause as Blaise took in the scene before him. Draco didn't respond. He was feeling too exhausted to explain. "I saw Granger leaving," Blaise finally said. "She seemed upset. I couldn't get her to say exactly what was going on. What the hell happened here?"

Oh, she just tortured me, nothing special. "Could you…" Draco hesitated and cleared his dry throat. "Could you get…" Who? Pansy? So he could lean on her again? She would come, sure. She would help him feel better. But how could he expect her to let go if he didn't? "Astoria," he heard himself say. "Could you make her come here?"

He would explain matters to Blaise later, but right now he wasn't what he needed to feel better. Blaise seemed to understand that and quietly left. Astoria would do nicely. She wasn't in love with him and considering what she had offered, this wouldn't be much. Just… comfort. He just needed to feel another human being.

He had a feeling that maybe he should get off the floor and straighten himself out, but he lacked the will to move. He drew one of his sleeves up to see that the angry red marks were prominent on his arms as well as his hands. Pushing his robes aside, he could also glimpse a bit of red on his shoulder. He didn't even want to go to the mirror to have a look at his face—he could only imagine how horrible he looked. It wouldn't last that long, though. Lasting marks wouldn't be very convenient to anyone using this jewellery.

For the first time he acknowledged that those who had made this bracelet might actually have been some sick bastards.

There was a soft knock on his door before it opened. "My, my, Malfoy. Inviting me to your room? That's a… new…" Astoria's voice faltered and he almost smiled at the shock on her face. "What happened?"

This was such a popular question with people today, wasn't it? "An accident," he just said.

In a way, he supposed it was. Hermione hadn't known that she needed to curb her emotions if she didn't want him to suffer. He'd never thought he needed to tell her to please not unleash her unadulterated hatred on him.

"Granger did this to you?" she demanded, kneeling next to him and carefully touching his cheek. He must look a fright then.

"It wasn't her fault," he murmured, not quite looking at her, wishing that Blaise hadn't told her that Hermione had been here.

She dropped her hand. "Why did you ask me to come here?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but found that he was embarrassed to ask this of her. Maybe he should just send her away and deal with it on his own. "I don't know," he muttered. "I just…" I need someone. He closed his eyes. Pathetic.

Then he felt her arms around him and he clung to her and to the thought that in spite of everything there were still arms in this world that would hold him.


"Were you ever controlled by my moods?"

He smiled at that. "I don't know if I can say I was controlled, but heavily influenced, yes."

"When?"

He shot her a don't-tell-me-you-don't-know look and she flushed crimson. "Oh." Well, she couldn't be blamed for not thinking about that when she was trying so hard to forget about it. "Well, that certainly won't happen again."

He smiled again, but this time it was a bit strained. "Is that a challenge?"

"What are you going to do?" she asked. "I'm the one wearing the ring, remember?" She wriggled her fingers, wincing at her own reminder.