A/N: Beta'd by the lovely Tina, AdAsttra, who doesn't yell at me when there are several hundred new words added every time she opens the doc. Thank you, my darling.
It is going to be a couple months before the next chapter comes out. I have had some serious health issues lately and although I am doing better I want to be able to devote the time and effort into it that it deserves and right now I am not able to do that.
But I am not disappearing entirely. I have a few fest pieces I am eager to work on and I am hoping to finish up another one of my stories (Light Years) in the coming weeks so This Bitter Earth is going to be put on hiatus while I take care of myself and a few easier, fun things.
Thank you everyone for reading, for sticking with this story during its WIP stage, and for commenting and supporting me and being honestly the best fucking readers a writer could ever ask for. I love you all dearly.
xx, Ik.
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Trigger Warning- Death.
Soundtrack- "Nails" by Call Me Karizma and "Heart of Wool" by Acollective
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FOURTEEN
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Draco swiped his hand across the mirror and found his own piercing eyes glaring back at him.
What the fuck had he done?
Granger hated him. She hated him for locking her up in here, for lying to her about his mark, for putting her under the imperius curse and then leaving her, hurt and covered in mud, and then stealing her away from the people she actually wanted to be with.
She didn't want him. She was just drunk.
He knew the feeling well. Waking up in the morning and rolling over to see last night's mistake snoring on your pillow. How many girls had he given some pathetic excuse about an early morning Quidditch practice and watched as the realization that the night before was nothing like what they thought it was glimmered in their tea-filled eyes?
He couldn't stand to be in the position he had put so many others in so, as soon as dawn lifted its fucking cursed head, Draco stood up, looked down at Granger still sleeping, and did the only thing he could think of.
He hid in the bathroom.
He had to face her eventually but he would do it when he was good and ready. When he was angry and able to hate her a little again.
Draco sighed.
Granger wasn't the one he hated. It was that prick looking back at him in the silver glass.
He wished Ghostie was here. She'd come floating out of the toilet and he would hold back a retch as she whizzed over to him. She'd make fun of him for running from a girl, and he would tell her to get bent and they would stand—or in her case float—around awkwardly for a moment before he snapped and said that it was just a drunken mistake and didn't mean anything and he shouldn't have to hide because it was his room anyways and…
He looked over to where he imagined Ghostie would be.
There was only steam left over from the scalding shower he had stood under for almost an hour, hoping that some sort of clarity would come to him but all he could think about was her.
The way she looked, spread open and all his. The way she sounded, sweetly begging just like she used to. And how she fucking tasted… sweet like honey, but sharp too. A rich tangy taste that he had wanted more of ever since that day in the forest. He would have gorged himself on her all night if she hadn't passed out.
Draco had half a mind to keep going. See if he could wake her up with another orgasm, but she had slept fitfully the night before and laid out on the chaise, Granger looked more at peace than she had since he brought her here.
He'd taken enough from her.
He could at least give her the night to rest before she had to wake up and remember what she had let him do to her.
But, fuck, he couldn't say that he wouldn't do it all over if he opened that door and she had that bottle back in her hand; that sweet smile on her face again. Even knowing it was for someone else. He might not have been the one to make her smile, but he certainly made her come.
What was he doing? Stealing away the first time she was actually happy again just so he could get back in between her legs? He didn't think she had been that drunk, but after laying awake all of the previous night and sobering up himself, he realized that there was no way that an uninebriated Granger would ever have let him do that to her.
Shit. If she had trusted him before, she sure as hell didn't now.
Draco picked up the blade on the counter and it gleamed in the light. Without giving it too much thought, he pressed it against his neck and swiped it across his skin quickly, slicing off the small white hairs that had grown there. He kept at it until his face was bare and smooth.
Running his hand over his angled jaw, Draco thought about the night before.
If that was the last taste he got of Granger, at least it was a good one. And it had been so good. The best. Having her at his mercy again and lavishing her with pleasure until she was senseless and weak and, fuck, she had been so fucking wet and all he wanted to do was fuck her until he was buried so far deep in her that he never had to come back out. Never had to be without.
Always with her, in her.
He set his silver blade down next to her green toothbrush.
The war would be over soon whether he was a part of it or not. Potter's little escapade yesterday meant one thing—he was getting worried. They couldn't keep holding out and they needed to strike, to force the Dark Lord's hand so they would have a shot, no matter how small, for their stupid fucking Gryffindor spirit to get them killed in the name of unicorns and puffskeins.
He thought about letting Granger out. Maybe doing what she said and running off together. He might consider it, if she wouldn't run straight to Scarhead and Weaselbee and try to save the world again. Fucking Gryffindors and their willingness to die for the stupid noble causes they believed in.
He stared at himself in the mirror again, chest all fucked up and eyes as cold as steel.
If only she believed in him. If only she loved him again.
He wondered if he would ever regret this trade; her love for her life. He didn't think so. There were a great many things Draco regretted, but keeping Granger alive, and with him, was not one of them.
He wasn't sure he regretted last night either. Maybe that was why he had marked up her thigh again. Proof that there was some part of her, and some part of him, that was the same as it had been before.
That the war hadn't changed them, at least not for good.
But the mark wasn't there for good either. Last time she had put a stasis charm on it to keep it just long enough for him to watch it fade from her skin. This time he'd have to heal it himself.
He didn't want to, but he didn't think he had it in him to watch it slowly heal and disappear. Not removed by magic, but just by time and nature.
Her bruises would fade, but his marks were here to stay.
Draco tucked the towel tighter around his hips, since it had slipped a little during his morning moping, and decided that now was as good a time as any to have to face what he did and suffer the consequences.
Normally he covered the scars on his chest and thigh with his white shirt and black boxer briefs, but today his shower had leaked onto the tile floor and his clothes lay in a wrinkled, wet mess at his feet.
His armor was gone.
At least it would make it easy for Granger to deal him a crippling blow when he walked out of here with nothing hiding what he truly was: a fucked-up ruin of a human being.
She would probably shout at him; call him the same things his mother had. Maybe even worse. He deserved worse. But after seeing the melted chocolate color of her eyes last night as she came again and again, he wasn't sure he'd be able to take seeing them narrow in hate at him for the same reason.
Draco opened the door.
She was standing right there, waiting on him.
Granger had come to him.
Probably to try and kill him. He thought about the straight razor he had left sitting on the counter behind him.
Her big brown eyes sparked, lighting up like burnt cinnamon. He wished she didn't look like this. Wished she wasn't so beautiful when she was angry. It would be easier to take his punishment of her eternal loathing if she wasn't looking up at him with those big doe eyes and her pretty pink mouth open in a small o.
"There's something I need to tell you."
Draco readied himself to hear her say everything he feared. No amount of crucio-ing would even begin to compare with the way she was about to break his heart. Forever. For good.
Hiding behind his white walls, Draco waited, trembling and terrified.
Granger lifted her chin.
"I love you."
He thought he had gotten all the liquor out of his blood in the steam of the shower, but he supposed not. He must have still been drunk if he thought he just heard Granger say—
"Did you hear me? Draco—I love you."
Wait.
It was happening again. She was saying it again.
He didn't feel drunk. He hadn't even cut himself shaving, which was nothing short of a miracle because even with the charmed razor, he hadn't really bothered to try to protect his skin from the sharp blade.
Hermione's hands cupped his face.
Woah. What.
Her eyes were shining brightly, as rich as melted chocolate and he could smell that intoxicating scent of warm vanilla and sweet cinnamon that always clung to her. Draco inhaled deeply, unable to stop himself from taking that small bit of her for himself.
"Draco," she said his name softly, "I never stopped loving you. I— I think I stopped loving myself for a while, but never you." He looked deep into her eyes. She… wasn't lying… "Always you. Only you."
He was falling. He was flying. He was floating in his own body, his own head, unable to stay where he belonged because Granger had just said she loved him. No, more than that; that she did and currently does love him. Always. Him.
She continued to speak. "I… don't know how we're going to do this, but… I trust you. I love you."
A part of him wanted to stay standing right here and listen to her say those words over and over, but a bigger, harder, part of him wanted something else.
Draco grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her middle and lifted her up to him. Granger pressed her mouth to his and kissed him. Oh fucking hell, she kissed him like she never had before. Her lips moved frantically and with a wild pressure so strong that he felt like he could almost taste her need on her tongue as she pressed it into his, slipping a moan into his mouth that echoed the emotion of the words she had just spoken to him.
She loved him. Granger loved him.
And fuck, he loved her.
Draco growled, sliding a hand up into her messy curls, and crushed her face against his own, noses digging into each other's cheeks and lips pressed hard against teeth. His other hand spread over her ass, hauling her up higher so she was sitting on his hips, and he felt her wrap her legs around him.
Oh hell.
He turned them around, slamming her back against the wall and distantly heard the tear of the tapestry from where it hung. Granger's hands were around the back of his neck, digging into his shoulders and running up into his hair like they had last night.
Even the small memory of that was enough to make his cock twitch and swell almost painfully. He needed her. Now.
And forever.
She gave a high pitched whine as he pressed his hips into her, grinding his hard cock against her warm center. With her back firmly against the wall, Draco briefly took his hand away to pull at the towel around his waist and let it fall to the floor as he grabbed at her again, needing his hands on her now more than ever.
Her arm looped around the back of his neck, holding herself up as her other hand landed under his shoulder, pulling him fully against her as her warm fucking legs wrapped around him, locking at his lower back.
He couldn't close his eyes, even as she kissed him; he couldn't stop staring at her face, trying to make sure this was real. It felt real. Shit, it felt… like nothing ever had before. Granger's lips moved with his, matching his movements with a ferocious passion. Draco couldn't help himself, he latched onto it with his teeth and bit. Hard.
Everything about her was sloping sides and soft curves and oh fuck she felt so good. He couldn't touch enough of her. He grabbed her tit, squeezing it and shoving it back into her chest, working his fingers against the soft skin before tightening them around her nipple and pulling.
Then he was driving his fingers over her neck, not stopping until they were tangled up in her hair. It was all ribbons of caramel curls and he fisted them into his hand, crushing them and using his grip to control her head. He positioned her so he could assault her mouth with his own, bringing his teeth back to the tender spot on her lip to make her shiver in his arms.
He felt the breath hitch in her chest before she released it in a weak, submissive moan. Draco pulled back slightly from her mouth, lapping at her sore lip gently, and watched as the pink swelled into a deep red. Her eyes darkened, widened and locked onto his.
Here she was, his girl, his slut, his Granger.
"I want you, Draco." It was mumbled, tumbled words, tripping over lips and tongues, but said nonetheless. "I want this."
He didn't need anything more than that; than her.
Draco reached in between them and parted her with his fingers, angling his hips forward and slid his cock against her, warm and wet and waiting for him. She wiggled on him, her pussy dripping onto his cock as he probed for the hot center of her, finally lining himself up. Draco pressed her harder into the wall and slammed his lips back on hers. He put a gentle pressure on the spot he had bitten moments ago, waiting until she gave a small shiver, and then thrust himself inside her.
Granger Granger Granger.
She was all around him. Arms and lips and hair and fucking cunt squeezing him so tight he couldn't get more than a few inches inside her before she clamped down so hard it almost forced him out.
"Oh fuck!"
His face fell into the tangled mess of curls in front of him.
"Oh my God, Draco!"
Her nails dug into his back. One set across the top of his shoulders and the other right in between the blades, both short and sharp from her incessant picking and both clinging to him desperately as he pulled his few inches out, trying to shove them in farther.
"Ah!"
Draco brought his lips to her ear, pressing them in, and hissed out, "You feel so good. So fucking tight." He kissed her ear, running his tongue along the edge. "But I can't get in. You've got to let me in, Granger. Let me in."
He felt a tremor pass through her body and she closed in on him again before nodding and tightening her legs around him as she tried to push her hips forward. "Please," she breathed out. "Keep talking to me so I can…" Granger swallowed a breath. "I need you."
Damn right she fucking needed him. And he needed her. Holy fucking hell, he needed her. Needed to be back inside her and with her again. Because then everything would be okay again. He needed to make her heart beat and her pussy drip for him. And Granger had always loved his nasty little whispers, the dirty girl.
His sweet, dirty girl who wanted him to fuck her again.
Draco groaned as he gripped himself and pulled out of her. Granger gasped at the feeling.
"Don't worry, Sweetheart." He couldn't help but grin. "Just have to work you up a bit more. You're not used to anything but those little fingers are you? And they're nothing like my big cock." He slid himself against her, letting his head glide over her clit and Granger stuttered out a breath.
"That's what you said last night, when I had my fingers inside you. Bet that felt so good, didn't it, kitten?"
She closed her eyes, head falling back to rest on the tapestry.
Draco narrowed his tongue and licked a thin line from her collar bone to the back of her ear, sliding two fingers inside her warmth as he did. It felt just as good as it did last night. So fucking soft, closing in on him with a tight pressure.
God, he couldn't wait to get his cock back in here.
"You like coming for me, don't you?"
"Yes," she breathed and he pulled at one of the straps on her lacy dress with his teeth.
Draco wanted her bare.
"You love it." He worked his fingers within her a bit faster, spreading them and stretching her just a little.
"I love it," she repeated, without having to be told to do so.
Fucking perfect, she was. Always had been. Always would be.
She had relaxed a little, ready for him now. Draco lined his dick up in his palm, ready to replace his fingers. "You love me."
Granger opened her big doe eyes. "I love you."
Draco slid into her again and this time made it halfway before she cried out.
"Good girl."
"Yes!"
Within three more thrusts he was sheathed inside her, lost in the sensation; barely able to contain himself as he fucked himself into her mercilessly.
Granger clung onto him. Long ago, he had joked that she had claws, but now it actually felt as if she did. Her nails were digging into his back as her whole body moved with each of his strokes. Draco pressed her harder into the wall, quickening his pace, and felt his blood race with heat and lust and… her.
He was starting to pant, to sweat, as he pressed his body harder against her small one. How many times had he longed to feel her body pressed against his chest? And now she was and Draco was crushing her against the wall, threatening to fuck her straight through it. His back was on fire with seared lines and Granger was clinging onto him hard enough to break the skin. He didn't care. He loved it. He would let her make his back match his chest as long as she didn't let go.
Draco sucked on her neck, feeling her pulse race under the surface and resting his teeth on the soft skin there as he hissed, brows tightening at the sound of Granger's heavy breaths and high moans as he pumped himself into the absofuckinglutely delicious heat between her legs.
Granger was just as much inside of him as he was her right now. It was her love that was driving him on, her love that was giving him strength, her love that was making him come.
Oh shit.
Draco gritted his teeth and slowed to deep, heavy strokes.
Granger pushed one hand up into his hair and Draco's eyes rolled in his head. She wrapped it around the back of his neck and looked up at him through lowered lids, her dark eyes bright with desire.
"Draco," she mewled out his name.
"Granger," Draco gasped, grabbing her face,spreading his fingers into her hair and over the side of her neck.
"You feel…" her mouth was open, small breaths passing through it, "so good."
His cock was pulsing in her, straining as he tried not to lose control. It had been so long since he had felt any relief other than his own stimulation. And fucking hell, that couldn't even begin to compare to this, to her.
"I know, pet," Draco forced out, breathing heavily. "You like having my cock filling up your little pussy?"
"Yes," she whined.
"You want to come on it?" He needed it, needed her. He would spend the rest of the day fucking her soft, hard, with his fingers, tongue, cock, everything— he just needed her to come right now because his balls were already aching to empty themselves and her quivering cunt was the perfect place for that.
"Mmm," she moaned, brows pulling together and lids sliding closed.
Draco paused. "No?" The fuck kind of game was this? She'd fuck him, but not let him make her come? Was this some sort of punishment?
Shit, he'd rather her have her flay the skin off his back than let him in here just to tease him.
Draco pulled her away from the wall, seating her fully on his thick cock and glared as her big eyes opened wide at the feeling.
Good. Break.
"I think you've forgotten how this works." He smirked briefly and then ground his teeth together. She was clenching around him and he was about to fucking lose it.
"Show me," she purred.
Oh, this fucking bitch… She was going to make him earn it. Her easy orgasms last night were a gift, a peace offering. Now, Granger was going to make him pay.
Good thing he was filthy rich. And good thing he was just plain filthy.
"You asked for it." Draco turned around and lifted her quickly from himself, throwing her face down on the bed. "Slut."
Granger barely had time to take a breath before he had pulled her lacy dress over her head and took her tawny curls in his fist, pulling her head back roughly so her spine curved, stretching down to her round little ass. Beautiful. She was so goddamn beautiful.
He smacked his hand across her ass and savored the small yelp she emitted as the creamy skin there flushed red, each of his fingers perfectly splayed out across her in a dark imprint.
His.
He did it again, and again, pulling back on her hair until she was almost sitting up, tits bared and shaking a little every time his hand came down against her. He could have spent the rest of the day and half the night teasing and torturing her body until she was senseless, and he might still do that, but first, he needed to take her, have her, love her again.
"Had enough?" Draco murmured silky, rubbing his palm over her heated skin and down in between her legs to find a wet mess waiting for him.
Shit. She still looked so innocent, so pure, but the fact that Granger got off on him beating her just as much as he did made Draco grab at her hip possessively, digging his fingers in around the bone. She was all he wanted, his only.
"I want…" she managed between heavy breaths. Draco leaned down, stepping on either side of her legs and lowering his face to rest beside hers. Her cheek was warm and Draco trailed his other hand over her ass and in between her legs, lightly grazing over her cunt and feeling the same heat there.
Granger swallowed as best she could with her head pulled back. He watched the skin of her throat move, knowing that her pulse was racing right under the surface. Just like his. "I want you inside me."
Draco played with her tits, rolling her nipple between his fingers and pulling on it, only letting it go when she struggled and whimpered.
"Beg me."
His cock was aching, so fucking hard it hurt, and all he wanted to do was bury it back inside her and never fucking take it out. For some modicum of relief, he rested it against her red ass cheeks, reaching down to spank it against her a few times.
Letting her hair go, Draco allowed Granger to drop back to the bed. She twisted around, turning on her back and looking up at him. Her cheeks were flushed with want, lips open and gasping and her eyes… goddamn her eyes were deep, dark pools; thick and wet with lust.
"Oh God," she said in a high pitched voice, reaching her hands down her body, "Draco…"
His heart beat unhealthily fast in his chest and his cock jumped, twitching and eager as his name passed between her bruised lips.
But she didn't follow it up with eternal declarations of love or promises to suck his cock everyday as penance. She was holding out on him, not begging him or letting herself come until he… until he made her.
Silly girl. She might be brilliant, but he was deviant.
"Is this what my pretty little whore wants?" He slipped his hand in between her legs, pushing his fingers back in her and reaching up to thrum her clit. His eyes slid to the purple bruise on the inside of her thigh, the one he had left again last night. He reached out and touched it. Granger cried out in pain and pleasure.
Draco wasn't sure he had ever heard a more beautiful sound.
She looked half wild.
Thick, wild curls spread out around her, her hands fisted the duvet under her, clawing into it as she had done him. Granger arched her back, pushing her hips up and fucking his hand, all the while moaning like a filthy fucking whore.
"Draco!"
His whore. His girl. His fucking—
"That's it," Draco panted, watching Granger toss and turn on his bed. "You're close now, aren't you?"
She groaned, biting her lip and wincing as she fought the feeling. Draco laughed darkly. Such a sweet girl, thinking she could hold out on him. But Draco had spent months—years—thinking of every way he could make her come. He wasn't going to let her stubborn little ass stop him from getting what he wanted.
And what he wanted was her, shaking and screaming his name.
"You look so hot like this," Draco admitted, needing to gather his thoughts to stop himself from just… attacking her. "I love hearing you beg, Sweetheart. Beg me. Beg me for my cock and I'll give it to you."
Her eyes flew open, full of sparks and flames as she bit down harder on her lip, sending a shiver through her body and making her walls flutter around his fingers. Draco drove them in deeper.
"Please," she gasped. "Please. Please!"
"Please what, kitten?" He smiled, unable to stop it as it spread across his face.
She fell back and gave a few whining pants. "Please fuck my pussy. It's yours. I'm yours."
Draco ripped her legs open, throwing them wide and shoved her further onto the bed. Then, he dove. He crushed her body with his, remembering his scars were there only when her soft skin pressed against them. He leaned back only far enough to angle himself just right and slid into her warmth again.
"Oh God!" Her eyes squeezed shut.
Draco hovered over her. "No Granger, only me."
Her eyes flew open, molten chocolate that he wanted to lick up. "Draco!"
He groaned, snapping his hips against hers and unleashing himself on her. Giving her everything, everything he had held back, everything he had saved—for her. While she merely curled her nails into him, holding on as her body absorbed every one of his deep thrusts.
Granger shattered with a glorious scream. Draco bit down on her neck, sucking and licking and leaving marks all along her skin, one right after another as she came, cried, and weakened under him. His sweet girl. His whole heart. Right here in his arms again.
And never fucking leaving him this time.
"I love you," Draco said in a low voice, breathing in her rich scent of cinnamon and vanilla. "Fuck, Granger, I love you."
Her voice quivered as she said, "I love you too."
His spine stiffened, a heavy pressure of need weighing down on him.
"Shit, I'm going to come. I'm going to come for you, Hermione."
"Don't!"
What… the FUCK. She couldn't possibly be serious right now.
Draco felt her tighten with nervousness and it did nothing to help him hold back from spilling everything inside her warm little cunt.
"I stopped taking the potion. You… you can't."
Oh fucking hell. Draco heard a small desperate moan and realized it came from him.
"I—" He was still fucking her. He couldn't stop.
"Draco, don't."
Such a cruel fate…
Oh, fuck this.
He pulled himself from her with a pained hiss. He wrapped one hand around her throat and closed in on it, watching her eyes go wide again in that way he loved. Good. He tightened his hold, knowing she would feel it on all the bruised spots he had marked her with.
"You fucking little slut," he growled, working his hand over himself and rubbing the head of his thick cock against her clit. Granger squirmed and he watched sparks shoot off deep in her eyes.
"This pussy is mine," he rasped and came against her wet folds. "You like that? Getting your cunt coated in my come? You dirty fucking whore…" Draco released her throat and she gasped down breath once more. "Come."
Granger did as she was told. Her body gave itself over to him, surrendered to him as he painted her clit white, coaxing more from himself as he slid his cock against her, emptying himself on her instead of inside where he belonged.
Granger's moans quieted, turning into wanton gasps as Draco lowered himself back against her, covering her body with his own.
And then, he kissed her.
Not a hungry, rough kiss like the ones he had bestowed on her before, but a deep, passionate one. His blood was still pumping, but it flowed with ease now. He was tired, but not too tired to suck her sore lip, massaging it between his. He had always run after their encounters, terrified by the open feeling in his chest, but now… Now he filled it with her.
And Granger let him.
.
Draco Malfoy had died.
He had died and gone to heaven.
It was the only logical explanation as to why Granger was lightly dozing on top of him, her head on his stomach and her arm thrown over his hips while he lazily played with her hair. Draco picked up a twisted curl and let it drop back down into the tangles before doing it again, running the lock of hair over his fingers and smiling at the feel of it.
He looked down over his chest, his smile wavering a little at the sight of his scars. Still, Granger hadn't minded them. He had to admit, it felt nice to have her tits bouncing against them, making the blood underneath them move quicker every time her nipples brushed across one of them.
His smile returned, pulling at the corners of his mouth and he felt as Granger took in a deep breath and then released it. She nuzzled her face into him and curled her leg over his, covering the clawed mess of skin left by Greyback with her soft, warm thigh. Her mark against his scar.
Yeah. He was in heaven. By some mistake, he was sure, but he wasn't about to point it out and correct it.
He never said he deserved to be here, just that he was.
And he was never, ever leaving.
He finally had his girl and as far as he was concerned, they could wait out the rest of the war hidden away here, in their bed.
He'd put the bars of the cage up and throw his wand out, locking them both inside together.
Right where they fucking belonged. Together.
His heart sped up a little. Granger had come back to him and it was going to be like this, just like this, from now on.
Oh. He was getting hard again.
Draco lifted his head up from the arm curled behind it. Granger had gotten enough rest to be refreshed enough to give him a blowjob.
Draco pushed his fingers into her hair, massing her scalp, and reached with his other hand to take hers, sliding it a few inches down to where is cock was waiting.
"Wake up, kitten," he purred and Granger gave a sleepy little moan. Draco smiled, his eyes closing for a second at the wonderful sound. The feel of her hand on his cock made it harden some more. He pulled her hair back from around her face and she pushed it against his side again as he lightly caressed her cheek. "Wanna give me head?"
"Mmm, Draco…" She moaned lightly. "I'm tired."
"I know, Sweetheart. What if I promise to come fast? Or you can just open your mouth and I'll fuck it a little."
She breathed out a small laugh and languorously pushed herself up some. Draco did his best not to look at her tits, just sitting there all pink and perky… He wanted them in his mouth. And now, he could do just that.
Draco grabbed her and hauled her body up his, ignoring the small squeal of surprise as he lifted her into the air and sat her down on his stomach, the tip of his cock brushing nicely against her ass cheeks.
"Maybe a lot."
Granger smiled.
Fuck, it was that happy little smile he loved so much. The one where her rosy cheeks pressed up into her eyes and her sweet lips spread wide so he could see her pretty pink tongue lying right behind her teeth. Draco slid his hands over her waist, resting them on her hips, squeezing them possessively.
She kept smiling, tucking her hair behind her ears and even letting a small laugh come through. It made her eyes shine even brighter. Brighter than they ever had in any of his fantasies. None of them, not a single fucking one, was as good as this. As good as her.
His girl.
His beautiful, smart, funny, hot, wonderful girl. His sexy little slut.
Draco reached around Granger's back and smacked her ass, making her jump up with a small cry.
She landed on the bed next to him, crashing into the tumbled blankets, still laughing.
Draco grinned at her as she blinked her big doe eyes back up at him. He stretched his arm back, resting his head on it and suggestively stroked his cock with his other hand. Granger glanced down at it and bit her lip, an eager hunger in her eyes.
Raising one brow slightly, Draco lowered his voice just a little. "Come on, pet. You know you want to."
Granger's face flushed with color. And excitement. She got on her hands and knees and— holy fucking shit… She crawled down to his dick.
Oh hell. Oh God. Oh fuck…
Fuck everything that wasn't his fucking girl in his fucking bed who was just about to suck his cock like she was made to.
Draco's lids fluttered as warmth closed around him.
Made for him.
She was fucking made perfectly for him. All his. No one else's.
"Oh, Granger," he said, voice almost breaking as she wrapped her hand around him, moving it in time with her mouth. "Yeah, suck it like that."
Her tongue flicked against him as she hollowed her cheeks, pulling herself back only to sink down and let her lips meet her fingers, tightening around him as best as she could.
He watched her tits move, swaying just a little as she moved, using her whole body as momentum to push her mouth farther on his cock. How the fuck was this happening? How the hell did he get this? Get her?
He didn't care. All that mattered was that he had her. And that they would never, ever, be separated again.
He'd bring the whole fucking Manor down around them before he let her out.
"Fuck, Sweetheart," Draco panted as she moved her hand to cup his balls and slid her lips farther down his length. "Feels so good, yeah, mmm. More."
Granger did as she was told and held herself down on him. He could feel the back of her throat pressing against the tip of his cock and tightening, trying to keep him out.
None of that, not anymore.
Draco grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her up a little, seeing the tears lining her beautiful eyes and then slid her head back down forcefully, breaking through the tight muscles and into her warm throat.
"Oh shit, yes!"
Granger gave a small little moan and Draco held her there for a moment more, just enjoying the slick warmth of her mouth before letting her up.
She pulled back, coughing a little, and tears spilled over onto her red cheeks. Then, she smiled again and Draco's heart might have caught on fire. He didn't have time to check because she lowered her head once more and ran her tongue from the base of his cock to the tip and licked at it a few times like it was her favorite treat.
Which, he decided, it was. She must really love him to worship his dick the way she was right now, kissing it from base to tip, sucking on it and flicking her tongue back and forth.
Draco took a shaking breath, muscles tightening into sharp lines and making his scars stand out even starker than they normally did. But she didn't care. Granger ran her hand up his body, sliding her soft palm up to his chest, and then dragged her nails back down to grab his cock and pump it into her mouth.
Yeah. She loved him.
No one sucked a dick like that without being at least a little into the person it was attached to.
And no one sucked a dick like Granger.
"Don't swallow," Draco rasped and she glanced up at him, nonplussed. Poor little smart girl didn't understand. That was okay. He'd tell her what to do. "Hold it in your mouth. I want to see it."
He could tell she was feeling shy about it, so Draco reached down to run his hand over the side of her head, pushing the tips of his fingers into her caramel curls. "You're so beautiful. So I want to see my come sitting in that pretty mouth of yours, okay?"
Granger's cheeks flushed and he was sure that if his cock hadn't still been in her mouth, she would be biting her lip right now. He almost pulled her off just so he could see it, but she felt too good. And he was close.
She nodded and he brushed a few of the tears off her face with his thumb, sticking it in his mouth and savoring the taste of them, of her, as she bent her head back to him again.
Draco let out a deep breath and lowered the timbre of his voice. "Suck it, whore."
Granger obeyed. Draco groaned, his whole body stiffening until the only part of him that didn't feel solid was the rush of blood racing down into his dick. He was close, so close, and Granger was working him to the point of popping.
His balls tightened, heavy and ready, but Draco held on just a little bit longer. How many times had he thought about her with his cock in her mouth and now it was finally happening again. Just like before.
No, better than before.
So much better.
Granger gave a small moan as his come shot into her mouth and that wonderful, sweet little noise made him lose all sense of composure. Grabbing onto the back of her head to hold it in place, Draco bucked his hips up, fucking her mouth until he was gasping and shaking. He fell back against the pillow, spent and spoiled.
Granger was sitting up, wiping at her bottom lip.
He couldn't sit up yet, but he could bring her down to him. His hand closed around her wrist and she gave a muffled cry as Draco pulled her down and against him, wrapping his arm around her frame and twisting on his side to hover over her.
She gave him a cheeky smile, keeping her mouth closed.
Draco grinned down at her, lids heavy, but heart light, and tapped her swollen lips. "Let me see, kitten."
She blinked her big doe eyes innocently and Draco almost didn't even care about seeing it as long as he got to keep looking into them, but then, she opened her lips and pushed her tongue up to show him she had done what he had kept his creamy white come sitting in her mouth, ready for his inspection and approval.
Draco ran two fingers along her tongue, rubbing against the soft skin as she stuck her tongue out further. He pulled back, letting a thin trail connect from her mouth to the tip of his finger and Granger eagerly leaned up, licking it off of his fingers and pulling it back into her mouth.
Draco was stunned.
He was pretty sure his own mouth was hanging open as Granger looked up at him, giggling with his come on her tongue.
"You are so fucking sexy," he breathed out. "Now be a good girl and swallow it."
Her lips snapped together and he watched her throat dip, making his heart skip a beat. Granger proudly opened her mouth back up with a small "Aah!" to show him she had done exactly what he told her to.
He damn near asked her to marry him right then. He wanted to. He wanted her, this, forever. It wasn't the first time the thought crossed his mind, but now it lingered a bit longer before reality seeped back in and reminded him that the only legal claim he could ever lay on her would be that of ownership, not matrimony.
A new fantasy. It was fitting, since she was making all his other ones come true.
Draco fondled her tits, rubbing his hands over them gently, careful not to revive the bruises he had left on them earlier today.
Granger sighed, rolling her head on the pillow, tangled curls spread out around her like a halo.
He couldn't give her a ring, but he could still give her what she deserved.
"Are you sore?" he asked.
"Yeah, a… a little," she admitted sheepishly. As if she had anything to be embarrassed about.
She'd taken everything he had given her and begged for more. Draco couldn't have asked for anything—anyone—better.
"A warm bath would help with that." He nuzzled his face into her neck and hair, breathing in deeply. Hermione. "You've got a long night ahead of you, Sweetheart."
He'd never been much for aftercare, only doing what was required, but Granger was different. He wanted to take care of her. Wanted to give back what she had given to him.
"Can we have bubbles?"
We. Good little kitten was already including him in the plans. God, she really was perfect.
He palmed her chest. "Can't see your tits if there are bubbles." Draco nibbled on her collarbone.
She whined. He lifted his head at the noise and oh shit. Granger was pouting with her bottom lip poking out, red and still swollen from sucking greedily at him just minutes ago. He had to stop himself from reaching up and biting it.
Actually, no. He didn't.
Draco growled and latched his teeth onto her lip, pressing them in and pulling on it. Her hands landed on his chest, the scars flaring with heat as she touched them. Draco gave her juicy little lip one final bite and released it.
She pulled it into her mouth, sucking on it.
He would never get tired of seeing her lying underneath him, looking so innocent when she was just as fucking filthy as he was.
"Yes, we can have bubbles." He rolled his eyes.
She smiled. For him. And Draco smiled back.
"Now what do you say, pet?"
She batted her thick lashes. "Thank you, sir."
Holy fucking shit. He didn't care that he had just come. He was going to fuck her in that bath and make her thank him for every thrust.
Draco smacked her thigh. "Go be a good girl and get it running."
He released her and Granger jumped up, bounding off to the bathroom.
Draco sank back against the mattress, hand on his stomach, his dark mark turned down to hide it. Tilting his head back to look above him, Draco saw the chains hanging from the headboard; shackles open, but able to be locked back together in a moment. He would eventually have to return to some semblance of work again. At the very least, he would have to take care of his charges down in the cellar.
He glanced at the bathroom where he could hear water rushing, his rooms and amenities long since charmed to obey Granger's wishes as well, but only through his good graces. She was still a… guest here. She didn't belong. Yet her existence was leaps and bounds more comfortable than the two people Draco was also responsible for. Maybe he should allow them to bathe too.
The Dark Lord surely couldn't punish him for allowing that small mercy. It would be a mercy for them as well not to have to endure the rank smell whenever his Master ordered him back down there again.
What would Granger think if she knew that Lovegood was being held captive a few floors below her? And… what did he think about that? He'd never really liked the girl but, then again, he'd never really known her either. Just some weird Ravenclaw that thought the sun shone out of Potter's ass and shopped for jewelry in the greenhouses. She was idealistic and dumb. Stupid enough to follow that idiot to the Ministry to risk her neck for no good reason. They could have been killed. Hell, Granger almost was.
He sat up and his sexy girl came to stand in the doorway of the bathroom, leading against it a little with a towel wrapped around her and that stupid green toothbrush hanging out of her mouth.
She could never know. And with her locked up in here, she never would. He was safe. They were safe. Here. Nowhere else.
Because in here he could be who she wanted him to be, but out there…
Out there, he was who he had to be.
"Go ahead, Sweetheart. I'll be there in a minute."
She smiled around the toothbrush. Cute, even if it was a Muggle thing.
"Don't take too long." She turned and headed back in, throwing the towel out the door and onto the floor.
He wouldn't. He just wanted to get a few candles and… he looked up at the chains hanging above his head.
No. He'd save those for later. Now, he was going to take care of her, just like he had on the first night he had brought her here. Run his hands over her body softly, gently. Relax all her sore muscles he had used earlier. And then fuck her slowly as the bubbles popped around them. Then after he'd pampered her and treated her like the queen she was, he'd chain her up and fuck her like a whore.
The sound of water seemed to grow louder and Draco almost didn't hear the thuds on the other side of the door. But it was enough to jolt him from his bliss-induced haze and throw him back into the survival mindset that had gotten him through everything so far.
Draco stood up and quickly pulled on the first items of clothing he could find, ignoring the fact that they were his hunting gear. He shrugged on a coat over a clean white shirt and shoved his bare feet into his boots, flicking his wand to lace them as he started towards the door.
At the last minute he waved his wand over his shoulder and the door to the bathroom closed softly.
He slammed the bedroom door shut.
The loud banging continued, coming from outside the double doors of his study. He knew who it was before he even opened the door. Only the snakehead of his Father's walking stick made that kind of noise. The banging didn't cease until he wrenched the door open.
"Father—"
Draco stopped short. Lucius looked almost rabid, eyes wide and wild in his head, hands shaking, but not from a tremor of a fit, but from excitement. Anticipation.
He grabbed onto Draco's shirt, balling it in his fist.
"Draco, you must come quickly," he rushed out, his words slipping over one another, and Draco could smell the madeira wine Lucius was so fond of on his breath. He tried to pull away, but his Father leaned in closer. "We have him!" Lucius' voice shook and Draco went still. "We have him— We have Potter!"
.
Hermione sat on the edge of the tub, her feet dangling in the water. She waited, but Draco did not follow her in. Huffing, she pulled her legs out; rivulets of water running down her calves as she yanked the door open.
The bedroom was empty.
She stepped inside. The bed was still rumpled and unmade, but the wardrobe was open.
And his Death Eater uniform was gone.
Hermione's heart sunk inside her until it hit a strange bubbling concoction of worry and fear.
Her lace dress was still on the floor and she picked it up, slipping it over herself. At some point in the last few months, the small scraps of thin fabric had almost become comforting. In a weird, confusing way. She didn't dwell on it, not when her brain was already rushing ahead with a thousand thoughts about where Draco was or could be.
He wouldn't… he wouldn't have left her here, not after…
But he had. The evidence was indisputable. She didn't like being wrong; she wasn't used to it. And right now Hermione refused to accept that she was. Draco wouldn't have left her to go do whatever he did when he wasn't here.
He wouldn't. She trusted him.
Before she could even try to come up with an alternative to the empty room and missing clothes, her attention was stolen by the raised voices coming from the study.
Draco's and… someone else who sounded very much like him. Slurred yet frantic, arguing against Draco's deep and controlled voice.
"It's not."
"But it could be! We need you to confirm the identity."
She grabbed the doorknob and it twisted under her hand as she whispered incantations to break through the wards by force. She didn't have time to dance around it right now. Hermione wasn't going to let Draco just sink back to the depths from which she had dove down to retrieve him.
And if he wanted to throw his life away then he would have to throw hers away with it. Hermione cracked open the door, peering through into the study.
Draco had his arms crossed over his chest, head thrown to the side with a look of bored disdain across his features. Still, she could see the tightness in his jaw. His father stood in front of him, his back to her.
Hermione pulled back, flattening herself against the wall as Draco's cold eyes roved across the room to the slightly ajar door.
"I don't have time for you to drag me around for every specky—"
Thud.
"You will do as you are commanded!"
"Get the fuck off of me," Draco growled.
"Waste of my blood!" There was the sound of flesh hitting flesh and Hermione's heart beat faster, pushing cold fear through her veins.
"If you touch me again," Draco said in a low, dangerous voice, "I'll fucking kill you."
"You dare raise your wand to me? To me? Your father?!" Lucius sounded crazed, deranged and Hermione began to worry what he might do to Draco. Or, what Draco might do to him.
Draco slowly snarled, "Fuck you."
There was a heavy, wet thud quickly followed by a groan and the sound of shelves, books, and something much heavier crashing to the ground.
Had… Had Draco just cursed his Father? Or had he…
Hermione peered around the edge of the door, unable to stop herself and needing to see what had happened. One way or the other.
The world grew smaller around her and all she seemed to be able to see was Draco crumpled against one of the bookcases along the wall, books and relics tossed around him as thick, red blood leaked from his head onto his white shirt in fat drops.
Lucius stood over him, his walking stick raised to strike again.
"NO!"
The word was out of her mouth before she could stop it. Her thoughts always had been quicker than her actions, yet somehow she had pulled the door open and taken two steps into the study. Hopefully Godric Gryffindor was proud of her boldness because, right now, Hermione was terrified of it.
Lucius spun around, pale grey eyes sickeningly bright as they flashed at her.
"You!"
Hermione froze in place. This was not like when she was caught before; Lucius Malfoy knew exactly who she was.
And she knew who he was too— a loyal servant of Lord Voldemort.
He looked her over, flinty eyes as cold as ice as they swept over her, hovering on the marks on her neck before flitting to the room behind her; the bed, the chains…
Hermione hoped Harry wasn't actually downstairs. She hoped he had put her wand to good use and stayed hidden because right now, she felt like she would do anything to have it back in her hand and Draco's father looked murderous.
"THIS?!" Lucius shouted down at his son. "This is what you've been doing, locked up here? A filthy fucking Mudblood? HER?!"
Lucius kicked out at his son and Draco grunted as his Father's shoe collided with the side of his head.
"Stop!" Hermione cried as Draco slumped over and landed on a pile of fallen books.
She looked down at him, barely conscious. His eyes were rolling in his head as blood seeped into them. Slowly, he blinked and seemed to focus on her.
She couldn't stop staring at him, at the blood. There was so much of it, but underneath the mess was still him, still Draco. With no marble mask to be found. It might have been her imagination, but she was pretty sure that Draco was either sneering or… smiling.
He took a few heavy breaths and finally forced out, "Her…"
.
Draco opened his eyes as he hit the floor. He was… in the drawing room. What the hell was he doing in here? Something made a pained noise but… he didn't have the energy to move and see where it was coming from. His head felt too heavy and he let it fall back down.
Draco closed his eyes again, the familiar room fading as darkness closed in around him.
They opened up again when someone screamed. He knew that scream. He knew it well. It took effort; an actual intentional thought to make his lids lift and when they did, it took what he guessed was a couple of seconds to be able to actually focus on something. His Mother's heel. She was standing in front of him.
"What did you do to him?!"
"I— I didn't!"
"Liar!" There was no mistaking that screech. Bellatrix.
"I swear," she pleaded. Then, she screamed again.
Granger.
His chest emptied and then filled with stone.
Granger was screaming. Granger was… here? Downstairs? What…?
Everything was muddled and Draco groaned, trying to remember how he got here.
Granger curled on him. Granger with the toothbrush. And then… a thud. And nothing.
He looked up at his Mother, for some explanation or… something. She merely glanced back over her shoulder at him, crystal blue eyes wide with shock. She broke their gaze and moved to the side to allow him to see his aunt's back, twisting curls spilling down her black robes.
"Please, please! I didn't do anything to him! I don't even have a wand!"
"Lying slut!"
There was a crack of a slap and he heard Granger's little gasp and then there she was— lying on the ground, tears spilling from her big doe eyes, looking straight at him. The same lip he had been nibbling on this morning was cut open and bleeding. Her body was barely covered by the tiny lace dress and every mark he had made on her stood out darkly on her. Worst of all was that she was bound in the chains from their bed.
"Her…" Draco's voice sounded very far away. Farther than Granger.
Pain bloomed in his abdomen, hot and sick. Draco curled with the force of it. "Shut up," his Father hissed viciously down at him, a black shoe raised to kick at him again.
"Lucius!" His Mother scolded and knelt beside him, picking Draco's head up and resting it against her legs.
Draco coughed, forcing air into his lungs. As soon as he was able to fill them again, they emptied at the sound of another one of Granger's screams.
Bellatrix was sitting on top of her, a mad, terrifying smile cracking her face open to reveal those hideous, black crusted teeth.
"You don't need a wand to enchant a man, girlie," Bellatrix said in such a sweet voice that Draco almost gagged. "Not when you're so… pretty." She dragged the flat side of her knife across Granger's face. "We can fix that though."
Icy terror shot through his veins.
Bellatrix.
Bellatrix had Granger. Had Hermione. His girl. His heart. The ice reached it then shattered as it beat hot, strong blood.
"No!"
He had only made it to his knees, but Bellatrix's knife paused as her attention turned on him.
Neither of them saw the streak of ginger until it was too late.
"ARGH!" Bellatrix tried to dislodge the cat's claws from her face, neck and chest. Crookshanks spit and hissed, attacking her as viciously as any full sized lion.
Draco swayed, feeling something warm leaking down the side of his face and burning in his eye until he couldn't see out of it. Falling forward onto his hands and knees, his arms trembled in an effort to hold him up. If this even was up. Everything was spinning and swaying.
"Disgusting beast!" Bellatrix threw the cat from her. Crookshanks landed, claws scratching against the floor as he slid backwards.
He hissed, readying another attack on the older witch. Draco saw his aunt whip her wand in his direction, her scratched and torn face twisting in revolt at the sight of Granger's cat.
Their cat.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The green light blinded him in the one eye not filled with his red blood before it faded.
Draco's heart stopped beating, but the wail of despair that came from Granger spurred it into motion again.
"CROOKSHANKS!"
She was twisting under Bellatrix's weight, fighting to get to the still form of fur lying in between them.
"NO! NO!" she cried, dislodging his aunt enough to get one of her chained arms out from under Bellatrix's knees and using it to try and claw her way across the dark wood floor. "CROOKSHANKS!"
Draco looked down and saw a small puddle of red below where his head hung heavily from his shoulders. The floor was under him. Which meant he could push on it to stand up.
To get to her.
Before Bellatrix turned her wand on Granger and ended her just as quickly as she had the little creature that Draco had taken care of all these long months. And had failed to protect.
He wouldn't let that happen to Granger. He'd kill before he let that happen to her.
Draco got to his feet, pulling himself up and fighting the sick sense of vertigo as he reached his full height.
He raised his wand and pointed it at Bellatrix.
His aunt had returned her attention back to Granger and pinned the chains to the ground once more. "You might have struck his fancy, but I'll teach you what you really are." She pressed the tip of the knife into the arm that Granger was trying to reach her dead cat with.
Her scream tore through Draco's very soul.
"Don't… touch… her."
Bellatrix looked up at him, licking her lips. It was hard to focus on anything right now and his throat felt tight and hard. He blinked some of the blood from his eye, his arm wavering as he stood unsteady on his feet.
"Draco—" His Father tried to stop him, grabbing his arm and pulling his wand away from Bellatrix.
Draco couldn't fight against the movement, so he leaned into it, letting his Father's forceful momentum add weight behind the hand he balled into a fist and made it collide with the face that looked so much like his own.
"Draco, no!" His Mother stepped between them as Draco readied his wand to fire at his Father instead. "Please!" She spread out her arms, shielding the bleeding, weakened man behind her. "He's your Father."
Draco glared at her, cold fury coursing through him.
"He stopped being my Father the day he chose his Lord over his own family!" he spat.
His Mother's deep blue eyes flickered up to his brow, from where a strange numbness was spreading, and then dropped her eyes to the floor.
"Traitor!" Bellatrix cawed, forgetting the girl trapped under her for just a moment and reaching for her wand again. "For her?!"
Draco turned away from his family at the sound of Granger's petrified whimper. He had put those chains on her, he had brought her here. This was his fault.
"I said," Draco's voice lowered to a dangerous rumble, "to get the fuck off my girl."
"Crucio!"
The curse hit Draco's wand hand, his left hand, and spread up his arm in slithering ribbons of agony. Stretching across his chest, it felt like it was ripping into the very lines of his muscles, turning them useless; into meat. He couldn't do anything but try to contain the pain within his skin but, as long as Bellatrix was torturing him, she wasn't hurting Granger.
Draco grit his teeth and bore it.
Granger looked up at him, tears boiling in her eyes and tangled curls spilling across the hard floor. He could see his own anguish written across her face. He could withstand the Cruciatus curse better than most, but he knew first hand what it could do to a body.
And when Bellatrix was done with him, she'd go back to Granger. She was going to die here. Here, where he brought her to be safe, but instead he had damned her right along himself.
No.
Draco's muscles screamed in protest under the corrosive dark magic.
He took a step forward.
Some of the sick light in Bellatrix's eyes flickered.
"Get—"
"Crucio!" She cast it again and the pain whipped around him, making him convulse and tremble.
The scars on Draco's chest stretched and tightened. Each one felt like it was alive with liquid flame. Oh. No, that was just more blood.
Another step, this one longer with his boots dragging across the floor, but he took it all the same.
"Off—"
Bellatrix was breathing heavily, panicked at the fact that her curse was not stopping Draco from making his way across the room towards them. Blood flowed freely from his head, running in a thick river down his neck and soaking the collar of his coat and front of his shirt.
It was red, just like the blood on her arm.
Just like the curse coming at him.
"Crucio! Crucio! Crucio!"
His muscles tightened so hard that he felt them rip. His bones shook inside him. The white walls of his mind cracked and splintered.
And she came tumbling through. Everything, anything. Every single memory, thought, idea of her rushed through his mind. Granger Granger Granger.
There was a crash in the stairwell leading to the cellar, but Draco barely registered it, intently focused on the view in front of him.
She was so much more than his girl. His only, and only she mattered right now.
He had to do something to help her. He aimed his wand at his aunt's heart. It hadn't worked on Theo, but Bellatrix had trained him herself and Draco was nothing if not persistent.
He felt the curse pulse through him, tangling his veins into knots and burning with an icy freeze. He was wearing down, giving in to the pain that he had kept controlled for so long. He stumbled, barely managing to stay on his feet. The color drained from his vision and he knew what would come next, knew what was happening to him.
He was… failing.
His throat closed, unable to stay open as the muscles in his neck tightened. He couldn't breathe, couldn't… cast.
Useless.
Still, Draco tried. "Her—"
"HERMIONE!"
Draco threw Hermione his wand, and fell to his hands and knees.
Bellatrix's beady obsidian eyes watched it soar through the air.
Granger caught it with her outstretched hand and a burst of light exploded from it.
There was a crack that had nothing to do with magic and Draco landed on the floor again. Pain radiating through his arm and into every single inch of his body. Was this what it felt like to die? It seemed to be taking longer than he thought it would.
He hoped Hermione would find a way out now that she was armed. He hoped it would be soon so she wouldn't have to see…
He knew she would get out, clever little witch that she was. Still, Draco would have liked to watch Granger using his wand to kill that bitch of a cunt though.
People were shouting. Lots of people. He saw his Mother firing curses, his Father hiding behind a wing-backed chair before pulling her down with him, away from the fray.
He couldn't see; the blood was dripping into both of his eyes and blinding him.
"We have to go! NOW!"
"No! I won't leave him!" Granger's hands were on him. They felt nice.
He'd like to die in her arms.
"Are you fucking crazy?!"
"Let go of me!"
Granger's hands left him. Draco frowned.
Why wasn't he dead yet?
"Hermione, he's not worth it!" He knew that voice, but… he couldn't remember.
"I'm not going without him!"
It's okay, Sweetheart. I won't be here much longer.
"We don't have time for this! Take him too!" A different voice, also familiar, but not the one who was yelling at Granger.
"WHAT?!"
"Grab him, Ron!"
Draco roared in pain as scorching agony engulfed his arm.
"You're hurting him!"
"Not yet, I'm not."
"Hurry, Harry Potter!"
Was that a fucking elf? What the actual fuck was going on? Where was Granger?
"Grang-er-er…"
"I'm here." Her voice was soft, but loud in his ear. "You're going to be okay. We're going to be okay, just… trust me." She took her hand in his, holding onto it tight as the chains around her wrists clinked.
Draco swallowed, tasting blood.
Trust her.
Could he?
Draco didn't get a choice because the next second he was being squeezed so tightly against her that he couldn't breathe and then…
Then he fell.
Granger fell beside him, her hand still holding his.
She hadn't let go, and neither had he.
.