Chapter 7
Draco poured boiling water into his travel mug; he had less than an hour until he had to meet Potter. Today was the final day to present all their evidence to convince the ministry that they should exonerate an alpha werewolf that had 'gone mad' and killed his mate rapist.
The case had been easy enough to put together with all of the laws Hermione had worked tirelessly to pass.
Grabbing his files and mug, Draco made for his floo. Interrupted as he was collecting floo powder by a knock on his front door. The sun had just barely risen over the horizon; not many people would be awake yet.
Adjusting his files all into his left arm, Draco opened the door. His breath caught in his throat.
"Hi."
Her words were a soft whisper, the sounds dying before they could reach his ears, but his eyes locked in on her lips. Saw the plump flesh formed around the world, her hands clasped together in front of her, nervously fiddling with her fingers.
Draco felt the weight of his files leave his grasp, the rustling sound they made as they found their resting place against the tile floor. His coffee soaking threw them; the lid had popped off when he unknowingly dropped it upon seeing her face.
Hermione dropped to her knees, muttering as she tried to save the crispt papers from the brown stair of the spreading coffee. All Draco could do was stare dumbly down at her as she moved, curly hair inches longer than he remembered flying about.
She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her wand; Draco lunched for her wrist, grabbing it tightly, forcing Hermione to drop the offending object. She hissed and pulled away from him; frightened, Draco did not allow her to break his hold.
Hauling her onto her feet, he glared at her nostrils, flaring.
"Who the hell are you?" His wand out and pointed at her throat.
Hermione raised her free hand, "Draco, it's me. The first time we tried to be intimate together, I was so nervous that I locked myself in the bathroom, and it took you nearly ten minutes to convince me to come out. Instead of having sex that night, you sat with me in front of the fire, and we talked all night long."
Tears threatened to spill down his cheeks; Draco gasped a breath and pulled Hermione into his body. She hugged him back tightly, arm circling his waist. She pressed her cold little nose into his chest.
He shushed her sobs, pulling back to whip her tears away despite his own cheeks being watered.
His brain tried to catch him up, and all he could see was the last moment before she disappeared, the look of shock on her face. The same look he saw in his mind every morning since she was taken.
"How can you be here? Potter and I tried every damn thing. There are dozens of potions brewing in our bathroom right now in the hopes that I could make something that would bring you back to me."
"It took me a long time to escape. Once I did, it only took me a week to find the right people to help get me home."
"Seven months." Draco gasped; he knew exactly how long she had been gone.
"That's how long it took him to die."
.
Draco begged, and when that did not work, he dragged Hermione to see a doctor. After some lengthy tests and a loud interruption by Harry and Ginny Potter, Hermione was let out. There was nothing physically or mentally wrong with her.
Harry and Draco smothered her with their proximity, both seeming to find a way to be touching her all any possible second.
"Levi is dead, Harry; there is no one to give a statement about. I just really want to go home and shower."
They had no idea what she had endured these last seven months. They missed her, and she can understand that she spent her time away wishing for her version of them too. Right now, they were smothering her, and all Hermione wanted was to get away from them.
At least the Harry, on the other side, was more or less the best friend she remembered. He made her feel safe, and he loved her; she had less of a problem with Harry than she did with her boyfriend.
Rationally Hermione could understand that they were not the same man, that her Draco was loving and passionate and would do anything for her. But so had another lifeline Draco, she could see the parallels, and it freaked her the fuck out.
When she went home with him that night, they crawled into bed together, and he kissed her shoulder and told her he loved her. It was all Hermione could do not to shrug away from his embrace. Her heart raced loudly in her chest until. Finally, she could escape once she fell asleep.
Hermione paced the length of her living room, trying to be rational about her situation. All she could see was the other Draco and the things he had done and what she had endured to get back to her Draco. All so she could what? Be scared and not even sleep in the same bed as him.
She needed to see Harry; she needed to have someone tell her how silly she was being. Hermione had kept herself from talking in detail about her months away; she was not ready to talk about it. She did not want her boyfriend and her best friend obsessed and worrying over her, not while she needed space.
She left Draco a note on their kitchen counter and headed to Harry.
"Hermione?"
Harry had run into his living room in his pyjamas with his glasses while he rubbed at his eyes. It was nearly one in the morning, and she had clearly woken him up. Her eyes jumped to the redhead behind him; Ginny looked more than just annoyed.
"I'm so sorry; I shouldn't have come here, especially not at his hour."
Harry reached out to her. "You are welcome here any time 'Mione; you know that. Where is Draco? Are you ok?"
Hermione backed up toward the floo; she should leave and go back home to Draco. This was foolish, she was being so silly, and she was intruding.
The floo roared, and Hermione spun around in time to see Draco charge out of the floo.
"What the hell, Hermione? Why did you take off in the middle of the night?"
Hermione tripped over the coffee table, and harry stepped up to catch her. Hermione shrieked and jumped away from his hands out in front of her.
"I'm sorry." Her body was trembling. "I shouldn't have left-"
Draco looked mortified at her response to him, "Darling, it's alright."
Hermione's back hit a wall, and tears sprung from her eyes. She sank to the floor, pulling her knees into her chest.
"Hermione," Harry approached her slowly, "Tell me what's going on; we can help."
She shook her head. Finally, something the great Harry Potter could not fix, herself.
Month One
"Levi, you cannot keep me here; I have a family to get home to."
"Draco needs you, mom. He's been lost without you, and he needs you back."
Hermione tucked her curls behind her ear, "I'm not who he wants."
"You are Hermione Granger; you are exactly the girl that he wants."
Shortly after arriving, Draco had Levi show Hermione to 'her room.' He apparently had to go and take care of something 'someone' before he could be with her. Hermione had freaked out and panicked, thinking he was going to kill someone. Levi had said that Draco had taken girls to his bed since she left, always girls that looked nothing like her, but they were always muggle-borns.
"No, she and I may have the same face and name, but we are not going to behave the same. Our lives have been very different."
"Maybe in the last years of it, things diverged, but for the first 18 years, things were pretty much one and the same. It doesn't even matter at this point; I want to know my mother, and Draco needs you."
Hermione shook her head. "I am sorry, but I am not your mother. It sucks you only lived with stories of her from a man who is not related to you by blood; I am sorry you suffered from that loss and that you were not conceived out of love. Though I am sure, despite your conception, your mother cared and loved for you deeply because I would have. You have to send me home."
Levi looked her over with gentle eyes before they froze over; Hermione's heart jolted in her chest. She had seen the same look from Draco before when he occluded. Apparently, Levi also had the skill or at least was taught it.
"No." He gestured around the space. "This is your room; it has your old clothes and everything still in its place. Make yourself comfortable; Draco should be back soon."
Just like that, she was alone and baffled; what in the hell was happening?
Draco did come and find her, only 40 minutes after she had last seen him. He knocked as he entered, not waiting for an invitation and walked right up to her kissing her before burying his nose in her hair and circling her arms around her. Hermione froze, shocked at the bold action.
"Draco, I-"
He moaned loudly, pulling her impossibly tight to his body. She froze, tensing up. This man was Draco Malfoy, but he was not her boyfriend. Her brain and body were having a hard time communicating that to each other.
"I've missed you." He whispered into her mouth.
"Wait-" Another kiss. "We should talk."
Forehead pressed to hers, he shook his head. "We can do whatever you want, love."
Draco pulled her to the bed, seating her nearly on top of himself. Hermione tried to make space, but his tight grip would not allow it.
"I'm sorry for your loss; losing someone you love can be really hard. Levi told me some of what you both went through together; I can't imagine. I have a life and friends waiting for me back home; they would be going through the same loss you are feeling right now if I don't get back soon."
"You aren't going anywhere."
Hermione broke free and got to her feet. "I will not stay here; I am sorry you are in pain, but I-"
He grabbed onto her, and for the first time, Hermione looked into his nearly blackened eyes. She gasped, trying to lean away. What the hell had he done to himself? His near-obsidian eyes made him look possessed.
"They always take you away from me, not this time. We'll be happy again, Hermione."
She rubbed her forehead, "I am already happy with my life and my friends."
"You're friends? We can go see them tomorrow. The Potters are just a floo call away."
"No! You aren't understanding me."
Draco's eyes darkened, and he grabbed her, throwing her down onto the bed and climbing on after her. Hermione struggled, terrified by the look in his eyes. He may have the same face, but she was dealing with a different Draco Malfoy.
His limbs caged in hers, and his face dropped to be inches away from hers. "I don't know what I need to explain to you, love. You left me for thirty years; I raised the kid, and took care of him. He is smart like you, he reads more books than I can keep up with, and he is top of his class, just like you were. I made sure he was everything you would want him to be. In the end, he was able to bring you back to me."
Hermione tried her best to control her nerves. "But I'm not her."
"You are."
His hands caressed her face, hair, and body. He dropped his head down and kissed her shoulder. When he pulled back, Hermione was once again greeted with Black eyes and not the cool grey she was used to.
"What happened to you?"
Draco's face hardened, and he climbed off of her. "Get comfortable. I'll see you tomorrow morning for breakfast."
Then he just left. Hermione ran after him but was stopped at the door. There was magic surrounding it, keeping her inside. She found the same thing when she tried both of the windows. She had her wand and tried every spell in the book to make a dent in his magic, but it was impossible. After three hours, she was sweaty and exhausted.
Instead of getting into the bed, Hermione curled up on the small loveseat under one of the room's windows. She needed to get out of here. It was clear this Draco had gone mental and taken her son right there with him. Levi had said Draco had gone mad when she died; he had not been exaggerating. The blackness of his eyes made her think he was either self-medicating or he had been taken over by the overuse of dark magic.
Somewhere between all her theorizing, Hermione fell asleep. She was woke in the morning by a feather-light tough on her forehead.
She inhaled deeply, her eye fluttering open. When she saw him in front of her, Hermione started to smile until her eyes met his pitch-black ones. Hermione jolted backward.
"I heard you up for most of the night and wanted to allow you a couple of extra hours to sleep in. Poppy has kept a plate warm for you."
Hermione's heart sank as she remembered her predicament.
"Where is Levi?"
"He takes his tea outside in the orchard with a nice book this time of the morning. I am sure he wouldn't mind an interruption for you."
Hermione shook her head; she could not bring herself to look at the kid right now. "Draco, I need to get back home."
His face hardened. "I had hoped last night would be enough time; you were always a stubborn one. Come for breakfast."
Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not hungry."
"Levi said you hadn't eaten dinner last night; you must be hungry."
"My boyfriend and I were on the way home with dinner when he kidnapped me."
"A boy needs his mother; you saw what happened to Potter when he lost his."
Hermione got to her feet, shoving Draco away. "He is thirty years old, and I don't really think what he is looking for is a mommy!"
"How would you know? You left us."
"She wasn't me! From what Levi explained to me, you can blame your master for what happened to me. My body was taken over and used, and I died because of it."
Draco flinched, "I had no idea the dark lord was planning to use you like that. He kept that from me. I would have never allowed it, would have forced you to leave with me like I had wanted to all along. If you had just agreed and not stayed behind to feed information to the order, you would still be alive."
"I died in childbirth."
"No child of mine would have harmed you."
"It's not Levi's fault! Is that why he did this? You made him feel guilty, told him my dying was his fault?"
Draco got up in her face, "I loved that boy. I took care of him! He is dying, and I can not save him. When he dies, that will be the last of you."
"I did not go through what you and she went through. We won our war. I never 'died' Lillianna Peters' doesn't exist to me!"
"You will." With a rough push, Draco invaded her mind. He pumped her full of his memories of the two of them during the war and the nine months after.
He may have been a little more tainted, but he was much the same as her Draco in these memories. He was warm and kind to her and even made an effort with her friends. He had done a lot more deep for the madman, and it had tainted his soul, but it only showed in tiny moments and was never directed at her. She saw the moment she gave birth and felt the warmth in Draco's chest.
Then she saw his fear, felt his anger and pain and right before her eyes closed. She heard him screaming for her.
Hermione blinked away the memories, clearing her vision. Draco stood patiently in front of her holding her steady by her arms.
"Now you know everything."
Hermione's head ached with all the new information. She had seen and felt everything through his eyes; it had been manic and overwhelming. She wondered if this was how her Draco felt in her time.
.
The first two months were much the same. Draco came to her every morning, and Hermione asked to go home. Levi was scarce most of the time. Hermione saw him while she roamed the manor and the grounds. He smiled at her but mainly left her alone.
Partway into her third month here, Levi got physically sick; he looked pale and had coughed up blood more than a few times. While her attempts to leave and find a way out were met with no result, Hermione needed something to focus on. So she focused on Levi.
"You have a potions lab here, right?"
Draco nodded at Hermione, "Yes, in my wing, up on the second floor."
"Perfect." Hermione turned and headed in that direction. "Follow me.
Draco followed her closely, almost on top of her. This was the first time in months she had approached him for something other than wanting to leave him.
"What kind of potion are you looking for?"
"Levi is getting sicker. He is in a lot of pain; I remember once Lupin taught me something that equates to muggle morphine. It might take me a couple tired to perfect it, but we won't need it till the end anyway."
"The end?"
"Morphine is used for pain management, but given too much can almost shock your body; it will be a mercy in the end."
Draco grabbed Hermione's arm, pulling her to a stop. "You are not killing him."
"He'll be wanting me too the more this progresses. He looked miserable today. Besides, I don't plan to give him so much that he dies, just enough to settle him into a deep sleep as his passing can be peaceful." Draco lets Hermionie pull her arm away. "I may not be his mom, but I still care."
"Ok, I will help you."
"Alright."
They worked together silently for hours; it was kind of peaceful, in a way. She should tell Draco felt that too; he made moves to brush her arm any chance he got.
"Draco!"
They turned as Levi entered. He had obviously been looking for him.
"What are you guys doing?" Surprised to see Hermione in Draco's lab.
She smiled at him, "Just working on a little something I learned back in my time."
"What do you need?" Draco asked.
Levi looked between the two. "I thought the three of us should go out for lunch. Soon enough, I won't be able to leave the ground, and it would be nice to get out while I still can."
Hermione's heart dropped to her stomach. She had not given much thought to the world outside of the manner. Voldemort was dead, but this world was not her own; evil roamed the streets, and muggle-borns were in hiding.
She may have stolen Draco's paper and gone through it, reading all the horrible information being spewed. She had to take some of it with a grain of salt, but it could not all be lies. Not when similar versions happened in her world.
Draco shook his head, "You know she can't. Not-" He stopped himself.
"Why can't I? Embarrassed to be seen with a mud-"
Draco spun around and bent over her, forcing her back down on the lab table. A most uncomfortable position. Hermione felt his hand pressing into her collarbone.
"You are supposed to be dead. It was announced in the papers, and many celebrated in the streets. If you go out there now, it may very well cost you your life."
"You can't intend for me to stay on the property forever?" Not that she was not planning her exit all hours of the day.
Levi walked over to the table and picked up a bottle. "A little cup of pollyjuice and she will be unrecognizable."
Hermione studies Draco, his face so close to hers. He looked silimar to her Draco, but his eyes were darker and angrier.
"You will not use that word in our home." His tone was chillingly calm.
Hermione pushed against him, forcing him back so she could stand straighter. "This is not my home."
Draco's fists clenched; he took a shaky breath in his nose and huffed it out. "Still so stubborn."
"You can't keep me here."
Hermione watched his eyes turn black. He grabbed her arm and disappeared into a bedroom. Of rick woods and dark silks.
He pushed her back onto the bed and straddles her hips, strapping her hands to the headboard.
"Stop! No! Draco!" She bucked, panicking.
Draco ran his palm down her body, shushing her. Draco meant for it to be calming but his warm pal. One she had felt hundreds of times before from her Draco, it always made her feel safe and turned her on, but now it made her push back into the bed.
"You're safe, darling."
"I want to get up, LEVI!"
"Our walls are silenced, love; he can't hear you."
Hermione closed her eyes, trying to focus and use her brain to tamp down her panic.
"Draco, please don't do this."
"You aren't giving me a choice Hermione. You keep resisting me."
"How would you feel if someone came and took your Hermione from you?"
Draco stiffened on top of her, "Someone did, and I took him and loved him like he was my own, for you."
"For Her. I am not her!"
"Yes. You. Are!" He growled, grabbing her chin and dropping his body over her. "The sooner you learn that, the better."
Words were not getting her anywhere; Hermione clenched her jaw. She was done talking to him. As unhinged as he seemed, she was pretty sure he would not assault her or physically harm her.
Draco stared into her eyes, thumb brushing her lower lip. He breathed her in, closing his eyes. Restraining himself, Draco pulled back, climbing off the bed.
He kept her there for hours before coming back to relieve her. Silently Hermione climbed off the bed, completely ignoring Draco. Stomping to her room, she slammed the door. In the morning, when she woke up, her door was removed.
"What the hell?"
Draco walked into view, leaning in the doorway. "You will act accordingly while in my home."
"Tying guests to your bed, is that commonplace?"
His blonde head ticked to the side, "You're different. "
Hermione got up off the bed; she slinked toward him. "How?"
"I also would like you to start wearing the clothes in the walk-in. For months you have been cleaning and wearing a version of the outfit I have brought you home in. As sexy as these jeans are put on something else."
"Bite me."
He smirked. "Is that an invitation?"
"Get out."
"Get dressed."
"I am." Hermione shoved passed him.
Draco grabbed her bicep, dragging her across the room and into the closet. Draco pulled an outfit down off of the hangers, holding it out to her.
It was silk and thin; Hermione wanted to punch him in the nose.
"Change, or I'll do it for you." She stared at him, challenging him. "Fine."
Hermione thought he was going to use magic to replace her clothes, but when his fingers popped the button on her jeans, Hermione slapped his hand away, only for him to slap hers back.
Draco pushed her back into the wall, pinning her there with his body. His dick was hard against her hip.
"I've watched you parade around my house for almost three months now. I haven't taken anyone to my bed since you arrived, and you continuously insist on testing me."
"What do you want from me, Draco? Honestly. What did you expect to come from napping me and bringing me here?"
"I expected you to search the grounds every night for an exit like you've been doing. I expected you to be nervous and cautious at first, but then when you realized you would be happy here, you would submit."
Hermione laughed in his face. "I may not have known your Hermione, but I know for a fact she wouldn't have submitted to you, and neither will I."
"Won't you?" He cocked his brow. "Levi told me who you were with when he found you. Did you not submit to him."
Flashes of nights in their bed came rolling through her mind, and Hermione reddened in fury when she felt Draco brush against her mind, seeing what she was seeing.
"I thought so." He muttered.
"You son of a bitch!" Hermione balled up her fist and punched him in the nose. "Never ever enter my head, ever!"
Draco grabbed her and, without a word, stormed through his home, dragging her behind him. Hermione struggled and tried furiously to pull her arm out of his grasp. How dare he freely enter her mind like that!
Draco would never dare to do something like that to her, these two men may share the same face and name, but they are not the same.
"Let go of me! LEVI!" She yelled to the only other person on this property.
She thought of all people; maybe her son would come and save her from this bizzaro Draco. The other man was nowhere to be seen; whether he was still outside and had not heard her or whether he was ignoring her, Hermione was unsure.
She was made up of the same atoms as the women who gave birth to him, they even wore the same face, but this guy did not know her. Nor did he have any sense of loyalty toward her, not like he did Draco? The man who took him in and raised him.
Once she got away from this loon, she would need to find Levi and question him. She wondered if Draco were as kind to him as a boy as they both previously claimed or if there was a nefarious secret the two held together.
"You want to be rude and ungrateful, fine! You can stay down here until you feel differently." Draco dragged her into a dungeon, and Hermione stumbled.
No way was he doing this. "Don't hold your breath!" She snapped as he locked her in.
The bastard kept her down there for two months! Every morning and evening, he would come in and lean against the wall across from her. Every time he would caress, lick and warp her mind. Conditioning her to him. Every day Hermione would swear, yell and go on at him. Telling him to stay the fuck out of her head.
Then something happened. Draco came down into the seller just like he had the last sixty-nine days. Hermione was sleeping, and when he brushed against her mind, she hummed in contentment, eyes fluttering open.
She walked over to the bars holding her back from him and smiled softly at him. Draco stepped forward, and she reached her hand toward him.
"Hello, Darling. Ready to see our son?"
Hermione nodded; that sounded nice. She held his hand, letting Draco lead her into his room of black silk and warm wood.
The three of them sat outside under a large tree. Hermione asked Levi about his life, and the two men went back and forth, sharing tales. Draco, however, was more than happy to let Levi do most of the talking while he gazed at his beloved.
She smiled softly and nodded her head at their stories. He brushed against her mind with no acknowledgement from her.
Draco relaxed into the grass, sliding closer to Hermione. She was finally right next to him where she should be.
