The work of Wizengamot had lightened as September arrived. Hermione could finally take a rest from the heavy workload. The Wizengamot members rested in their common room and enjoyed themselves with Daily Prophets and chess game.

An owl flew into the room and dropped a letter into a middle-aged woman's hands. After the owl took flight, the woman smiled and she read it carefully. Lisa asked,

"Your daughter, Mrs Winter?"

"Yes, sorted into Gryffindor and she's talking the Gryffindor legendary trio," said Mrs. Winter, glancing at Hermione. "This reminds me of the good old days in Hogwarts. Those days in Hufflepuff were fun, if it isn't my daughter, probably my memories would soon fade away."

"So your daughter is acting like a continuation of your memories?"

"Indeed. It's always joyful being surrounded by children, once you have your own children, you will understand the joy."

Hermione was thinking of her dead mother. Was her presence a joy or a death omen? Surely she knew if it was not for her, the unbreakable agreement in between the two families would not be there, and everything would be as normal as possible. She could have been just a Muggle, just a Muggle who lived happily without knowing the wizarding world.

"Sometimes I wish I have children," said Lisa. "They bring so much fun. I only have my nephew, I always ask my brother to bring him over during summer holidays."

"Perhaps you will have to wait for a couple of years, Lisa," said Mrs. Winter. "For this stage, it would be the Malfoys' turn."

Everyone turned and looked at Hermione, the sudden attention made her uncomfortable and she bit her lips, wondering what she could do to get rid of such special heed.

"Mrs. Malfoy, has young Mr. Malfoy mentioned his stand on this subject?"

The surge of discomfort came as the strange title was mentioned, she would prefer people calling her old maiden name that was almost forgotten to her new distant title.

"What subject?" asked Hermione, trying to brush off her discomfort.

"Children, Mrs. Malfoy, children!"

She frowned and said,

"I have never heard him talking about that. And never would I wish to stay on this subject."

"You should talk to him about that some day. You know, the Malfoys are serious about that."

"A pure-blood producing factory?" asked Hermione with a hint of sneer. "I am not interested."

"Though You-Know-Who is gone, the family remains extremely loyal to their blood line as if their ultimate goal is to have as much pure-bloods as possible."

She simply could not imagine herself having children with Draco, his face was not attractive, and the platinum blonde hair and grey eyes were not her cup of tea. Dark hair and bright green eyes looked a lot better.

There was a crack and Harry appeared in the middle of the room, facing Hermione. Lisa squealed and blushed as soon as she saw him. Harry smiled at Hermione, said,

"Are you free tonight? We can go and check out things in that place."

Everyone eyed on Hermione, wondering what they were up to. Just when Hermione nodded, she saw Draco standing at the door, staring at Harry with hatred.

"Malfoy," said Harry coldly.

Draco raised his brow, then said to Hermione,

"Father has asked you to go home earlier for dinner."

She could feel everyone's curious stare, she glanced at Harry apologetically, then said to Malfoy,

"I will come to you later."

Draco waited for her outside, after she had packed everything, she headed out of the room and whispered 'sorry' to Harry before leaving. Draco was grinning as if he had won victoriously. He smirked and said,

"Potter, better get yourself a girlfriend, or else your evenings will be very lonely."

"Your reminders are unnecessary and unwelcomed."

Draco shrugged and his lips touched Hermione's cheek softly, which gave her a chill down to the spine. Harry glared at him, but he seemed to enjoy the taunt and he took Hermione away, with his arm wrapping around her waist.

Mostly, Hermione would take her dinner to her room, avoiding the conversations with 'her family'. But today she decided it would be best to have her first official and 'decent' dinner with the Malfoys. After all, she could not hide forever. Narcissa Malfoy was keeping a smile on her face and passed the lamb chops to Draco, who was just glancing at his plate.

"Oh, Hermione dear, please have some," said Narcissa, offering for some roasted beef. The smell did not attract her and she replied without looking at Narcissa,

"No, thank you. I am not a fan of roasted beef."

Narcissa was taken aback a little, for her life, no one had ever turned her down or treated her like any common witches. The Blacks and Malfoys were to be respected, no one, not even the Minister, had been disrespectful to them. Still, she forced out a smile, trying hard to control her temper.

"At least have some of our special…pumpkin juice," suggested Narcissa. "The cook has just harvested the pumpkins. Freshly made pumpkin juice is the best choice for beverage."

With a hint of doubt, Hermione raised her silver goblet. Looking at the shiny orange liquid, she had a slight feeling of discomfort and her mind was warning her not to drink, not even a touched on the lips. She looked back at Narcissa, who was eyeing on her and encouraging her to take a sip. Out of politeness, she took a sip, it was just as nice as those in Leaky Cauldron, Hogwarts and Three Broomsticks, only that it was sweeter than usual, it was almost like syrup and an alluring trap.

"Is it good?" asked Narcissa.

Hermione nodded and she put down her goblet, then she met Lucius' eyes, then his grin appeared, a grin that tried to appear to be friendly. Looking down at the plate, there was a heap of food, yet she had no appetite. So as quickly as possible, she headed back to the bedroom and got her night gown before entering the bathroom. It was strange that she did not use warm water to bath herself, normally she would surround herself with a pool of warm water, but this time as her foot dipped into the warm water, she immediately took her foot out as if it was burning hot. Once it changed into cold water, the great sensation cooled down her leg and she could feel the heat on her skin slowly faded away.

When she got out off water, she could still feel the heat radiating out from her body. Her hand felt on her forehead, it was boiling hot.

Swiftly, she got out off water and saw Draco putting something back into the drawer quickly. He drank from the goblet and watched her lay on the bed.

"What's wrong?" asked Malfoy, observing her scarlet face.

"Nothing, perhaps it is just a fever, it will be better tomorrow."

"I will get you some water," said Malfoy and she took out his wand, conjuring water into the goblet. Just when he helped her sitting up and let her drink the water, Hermione could feel her muscles shivering and Draco's eyes began dilating. His face got closer and closer, and his lips touched Hermione's hot lips. The kiss was different from those she had experienced earlier on, it was strangely tender and soft, her body was asking for more though she knew she did not want it. As she tried to push Draco aside and tell him to leave, his tongue intruded and touched hers. Having so little of such experience, she did not know what to do and she tried to push her aside, only finding her energy was slowly draining out of her body and she got colder and colder. Finally, her limbs were so feeble that she gave up struggling. Pink tinges appeared on his cheeks, and she could feel her collarbone burning hot as his fingers glided pass it. As his lips left, she realized that both of their clothes were gone and she was forced to examine his muscular built closely. Leaning against his warm chest, she could feel his heart bumping vigorously, his warm breath was deep and heavy as his fingers slid pass her face. Her mind got so swollen and heavy and she closed her eyes, her sense soon faded as his hands touched her bare skin and her waist…

As Hermione opened her eyes, she could see a white smooth block in front of her, it was warm and cuddly, and she could not help resting her head against it. Then, she looked up with her blurry sleepy eyes, the face was so familiar, the tall straight nose and platinum blonde hair …

She gasped and back away, her skin was cold as ice and she could feel an immense pain in her torso, so painful that she did not want to move at all. After a few tries, she managed to get her wand on the table next to the bed and she fell onto the floor. Luckily, there was the carpet that avoided her from colliding with the algid and indifferent marble floor. The quilt fell down and covered her whole body. When she tried to stand up, her legs were wobbly and they were shaking badly like jellies. With a few attempts, she managed to stand properly and she looked at Draco's face, his chest, then his waist…

A surge of heat gushed up to her brain and she whispered with her eyes closed,

"Accio!"

The nightgown flew to her hands and she quickly took a hot shower. As she came out, she remembered something, staggering towards the drawer, her hand pulled the drawer and took out a small bottle with blood red liquid swirling like whirlpool. Then she recalled the day when she saw Lucius holding it at the Diagon Alley…

"Hermione…"

Hermione closed her eyes and said after sensing the sinister but sweet alluring aroma,

"Amouroisson."

Draco frowned and glanced at the goblet. Hermione glared at him and flung the bottle onto the floor. The bottle smashed into pieces and the blood red liquid formed a puddle.

"You have disgusted me," said Hermione, gritting words through her teeth. "You are nothing but an abomination, you can never, never be like Harry."

"Why do you always like that Harry?" yelled Draco. "Harry this, Harry that, I am way better than him, he is a half-blood, and there is worthy of him."

"Don't insult him in front of me!"

"If it wasn't my father—"

"Your father!" shouted Hermione, clenching her fist. "It was all because of you and your parents! Do you think that I would want to marry such a disgusting man? I tell you, I will never love you and stay away from me!"

Just when Hermione headed to the door, Draco got out of bed and grabbed Hermione's wrist.

"Let go of me and put your clothes on!"

"Sshh…"

Hermione struggled and wriggled, finding herself powerless against him, her legs were still wobbling and her fingers were too weak to pull off his fingers. There were footsteps at the stairs and it came nearer and nearer.

At once, Draco wore his pants and suddenly pressed her against the wall, his lips pressed onto her lips and Hermione's complaint could not be heard. The servants who had just turned to the corridor gasped at the two and they hurried back downstairs, pretending as if they had seen nothing. Draco quickly let go and Hermione pushed him away, said,

"What are you doing—"

"At least we cannot let others know what has truly happened," explained Draco with his shaking tone. "You know what would happen if father knows what has just happened—"

"It's your father who—"

"It's all my idea!"

"That's a dirty trick—"

"If not, what can we do?"

"I will move downstairs, and never shall you enter my room," hissed Hermione and she dashed to the stairs, leaving him completely frustrated in the corridor.

Allow me to make an explanation of the term 'Amouroisson'.

Amouroisson is made up of three French words, 'amour', 'roi' and 'boisson', which means 'love', 'king' and 'drink'.

One single touch on the lips will have a great effect, and it will not fade away until the next morning.

That's all I can explain.