The Harry Potter universe and its characters are the sole property of J. K. Rowling. By using them below, I am in no way claiming them as my own.
Hermione's admission of exotic dancing had been enough to allay Draco's jealousy. He hadn't laughed so hard in his life, once he had heard about Hermione's seedy past.
Scowling, she tapped her foot impatiently and waited for him to finish.
'So... so...' he managed to get out, in-between bouts of laughter. 'Tell me again about the... the snake...'
She didn't oblige and scowled harder at him. Finally, she snapped.
'It's not funny!' Hermione stamped her foot like a toddler, sending Draco further into a fit of giggles.
'Do you still have the outfits?' She rolled her eyes and turned her back on him, choosing to instead face the door of his room. The chamber was very much like the one she had been forced into, in her own reality, but with a bit more green. Lucius Malfoy was nothing if not faithful to his house colours. Draco managed to subdue his laughter by biting the inside of his cheek, and moved behind her. Trying to be sympathetic to her plight, he placed a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. It wasn't everyday you found out you were a stripper.
She turned to face him and he did his best to stop grinning, imagining her shows. From her acceptance of the gesture, he had managed to achieve some kind of sombre look. She pouted at him.
'This is ridiculous.'
'It's not real,' he shrugged. He moved to sit on the edge of the bed, pulling Hermione gently along by the hand to stand in front of him.
'Did you figure out what we did wrong?' Draco grimaced and ran a hand over his head to neaten his hair.
'Well...'
'Draco?'
'We left Seamus' robe in the forest. You only returned Susan's, and let's face it, it was pretty knackered.'
Hermione frowned and looked away from him, thinking through the likelihood that something so simple might have caused such chaos.
With the hope of reassuring her further, he moved his hands down to hers and lifted them up to his chest. 'It's worth a try, right?'
'I suppose,' she shrugged glumly. Her expression began to soften as he moved his fingers from hers and up her arms. She winced slightly as they came into contact with the bruises on her wrist, making Draco pause. He lifted one arm up to examine a bruise which stretched across her skin like a bracelet.
'When did this happen?' Hermione frowned and pulled her arm from his grasp.
'Earlier. You were right about your father,' she added, trying to put on a brave face. 'I don't know what else I expected.'
'He hurt you?' Draco's look turned hard.
'Only a little,' she shrugged, trying to play down the encounter. 'Just what you see here.'
He began to seethe, his whole body overcome with anger at his father. It was one thing to abuse his son - Draco had put up with it for years, he was almost used to it in a way. He knew how to deal with these things. But Hermione? Not a chance.
'Draco,' she pleaded, placing a hand against his chest. 'We'll go back to the past and none of this well ever have happened, officially. It's not real.'
'Those bruises are real,' he argued, his eyes narrowing. 'Do you think he stopped there, with alternative-reality-you?'
'Alternative-reality-me isn't here,' Hermione replied. She was touched that he cared so highly about her alternative-self's wellbeing, even if the consideration wasn't completely logical. 'We don't know how she's dealing with it. Maybe she gives back as good as she gets.'
'No. No-one ever gets the upper-hand on my father.'
'Draco,' she whispered, her hands moving down to his hips. 'Alternative-me might not be on these business trips. She might even have a lover, who does treat her right. We don't know anything about this situation.' He didn't untense and Hermione leant forward, placing a kiss on his cheek. 'I'm touched you care so much about me, but we need to get our priorities sorted. Having it out with your father isn't necessary.'
'Daddy?' Elspeth asked, as Lucius picked her up from the small bed. The young child was still sleepy, yawning against his chest.
'Yes, Elspeth?' He replied, his hand reaching across to tickle her. She giggled, letting out a happy shriek.
'Who is that man?'
'The one you saw earlier?' Elspeth nodded, burrowing her head into his long blonde hair. 'That's your brother, Draco.'
The girl pouted, confused. Lucius set her back down on the bed and reached for her comb, so he might tackle the child's bed-head.
'But why was mummy kissing him?'
He paused, his hand gripping the metal comb.
'I'm sure she was just saying hello, darling, like this.' Lucius leant forward to kiss his daughter on the cheek and she giggled once more, brushing at the spot with her hands.
'No, daddy,' she replied sternly, shaking her head. 'Mummy was kissing him like you.'
'What did you see?' The sudden change in her father's tone caused tears to well up in Elspeth's eyes, as she assumed she had made him angry. 'Elspeth, what did you see?' He had no patience for the child's tears, which caused her to sob harder.
His grip on the comb increased until it snapped in his hand, a metal shard cutting open the palm. He pushed himself up from the bed, abandoning the crying child. A fire raged behind his eyes and he reached in his robes for his wand, angry.
'That witch!' He muttered under his breath, storming out of the room and into the main corridor. 'Betray me, will she? It'll be the last thing she ever does...'