Author's Note:

I would love reviews! I am trying to take into account where the readers want the story to go so please make suggestions! You can also check my original pieces on u/967214/p-m-e-black. My tumblr is .com. Feel free to message me. Thanks.

Special Thanks:

u/4315530/dorothymalfoy

Chapter 17-

Draco stood there in shock. Lucius' platinum blonde hair swept down onto his shoulders in a curtain as he held fast to Hermione. Hermione's eyes were wide and full of fear as Lucius clenched down onto her harder, jamming her wand into her throat.

"I...I thought the ministry…" Draco began to stutter as he looked at the bedraggled man in front of him. It was obvious that Lucius hadn't had a meal in a while, his unshaven face barely hiding his gaunt features.

"You thought wrong. Now tell me why you have taken up with this disgusting little…" Lucius gray eyes flashed maliciously.

"Father!" Draco yelled as he took a step toward the disheveled man and Hermione.

"Son? What has happened to you? Has she poisoned your mind. " Lucius' eyes narrowed at his child. Draco's eyes shifted back and forth. Hermione swore that there was trepidation floating in his gray eyes. Was he questioning everything that had gone on between them? She squeezed her eyes shut not wanting to look him in the eye. Draco stared at his father carefully.

"Let her go father." Draco's voice came out very calmly.

"No Draco. We couldn't deliver Potter successfully to the Dark Lord because of your mother, I can at least dispose of his little friend." Lucius' vicious tone came out more like a slur. Draco saw the man before him no longer was his father but a blonde apparition, ghostley and haunted.

"Father…" Draco was afraid to move. Lucius was obviously not in his right mind which made him even more dangerous.

"What...what happened to my mother?" Draco almost whispered as he saw Lucius' eyes narrow severely.

"Your mother! Your mother is a traitor…" Lucius spat out as he wrenched Hermione's head back painfully.

"Why did you go with us if you felt she was a traitor?" Draco was fighting hard not to lose his temper.

"You son...you. There is still hope for you! You are meant to be a powerful wizard, one the Dark Lord would be proud of, one that I would be proud of." Lucius drew out the last comment as he searched his son's eyes.

"Help me dispose of her...help us." All Draco had ever wanted his whole life was to make his father proud, to be the wizard his father so desperately wanted him to be. He would have given anything to be just like the tall blonde pureblood. He watched his father carefully and took a step toward him, his shoulders slumped.

"I want more than anything to make you proud father. Let me." Draco replied as he put his hand out to take Hermione's wand. Lucius looked at his son suspiciously, his stubbled chin slightly twitching but then slowly handed him the magical instrument. He pushed Hermione forward by the neck hard so that she landed onto her knees, her joints cracking as she hit the hardwood floor. She sat on the floor in a heap, her hair cascading over her face with her her head pitched forward. She didn't want to look at Draco. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her eyes when he killed her. She thought that after everything she had gone through with him he wouldn't be so quick to side with his deranged father but apparently she thought wrong.

"Look at me." Draco almost whispered as he stared down at the mop of curls, her eyes never glancing up. Hermione didn't reply.

"I SAID LOOK AT ME!" Draco screamed, his voice cracking.

"Enjoy this Draco!" Lucius snarled, his yellowed teeth bared behind a wicked smile. Hermione finally raised her amber eyes to meet Draco's. She wasn't going to cry, she wasn't going to show him her heart breaking into a million shards. She looked up at him defiantly.

"Won't it be poetic, the young heroine lured to her death by her most hated enemy and by her own wand no less." Lucius smiled down at the back of Hermione's head. Hermione locked eyes with Draco as she clenched her hands into fists. She was preparing for the onslaught. Knowing the Malfoy's, he would most likely torture her for a bit and then finally end it. She was going to be made an example of. Draco ground his teeth as he looked down at her, the grip on her wand causing his pale knuckles to turn even whiter.

"You know son, the only reason that I'm here is because the others were looking for you. I told them that you wouldn't betray us, you would redeem yourself with the Dark Lord. They...they saw you with her...in the woods...they thought...they thought you had protected her." Lucius seemed as if he were falling apart at the seams just mentioning the idea of his son's possible unfaithfulness to himself and the other deatheaters. Draco slightly twitched. So they had been seen. He took a deep sigh as he watched his father cast his eyes back to Hermione.

"So how does it feel to fall in love with someone who was only using you?" Lucius asked as he placed his hand on her scalp, slowly pulling a loose tendril with his fingers. Hermione couldn't stand the idea of him touching her. She could feel the bile rise in her throat as he twisted one of her curls in his fingers. Draco glanced at his father and his strange display. He then turned his gray eyes on Hermione, his eyebrows furrowing at what Lucius had said. Hermione of course wasn't going to reply to Lucius.

"Of course the muggleborn doesn't feel she needs to answer me does she? That's alright. Don't you worry . When this is all through, we'll take care of your parents for you." Lucius added. Hermione's eyes went wide.

"You didn't think anybody knew? Of course we did. It's just a matter of time before they are located." Lucius smiled and pulled the lock hard, almost ripping it out of her head. Hermione ground her teeth at the pain. She continued to stare Draco down.

"I couldn't be prouder son." Lucius added, a chuckle escaping his dry parched lips.

"Father...it wasn't the ministry that took you?" Draco asked, pulling his father's attention back to himself.

"Of course not. I...I told them, the others...I...we didn't run...we...we were merely devising another plan. They...they were really looking for you son." Lucius' eyes whirred in his head as he laughed uncomfortably.

"So you told the Dark Lord's men where to find me." Draco replied dryly.

"Only...only for us Draco...to save us." Lucius slightly grinned. He quickly turned his attention to the forgotten muggleborn woman on the floor.

"Do it Draco, make me proud!" Lucius finally said as he took a step away from Hermione. Draco looked down carefully at Hermione, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Hermione?" Draco muttered. Hermione pursed her lips together as she looked at the slytherin with disgust.

Images of Draco and her lying in his bed flashed before her eyes. She couldn't block out the feeling of his mouth still buzzing on her lips, his taste, his smell.

She couldn't forget his face when his ink marred wrist grabbed her bloodied and scarred arm, pulling her up to safety. It was everything and yet at that moment to the young cruel man above her, it must have been nothing.

She glanced down at her 'mudblood' scar and back to his mark. That's all they were, just stains that had been placed on their once pristine skin to delineate who they were. They were placed there not by choice but by those who felt they knew the wizarding world best. But who were Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger? Were they pureblood and mudblood? Were they enemies? Were they friends? Were they…? Hermione couldn't think past it. She couldn't allow her mind to say those words. Not after he stood above her, her own instrument in his pale hands, pointed at her heart. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It was about to come any moment.

"I love you." It was the slightest whisper, barely audible. Hermione's eyes shot open as she saw Draco's hand shoot forward. His pale gray eyes never left hers.

"STUPEFY!" With a sickening crack the sound of a body hitting the wall echoed throughout the manor.