Draco gripped the cold marble of the vanity between clenched fingers as he pulled himself to a semi-upright position, his groin throbbing from Granger's well-aimed kick to his nuts. Despite having been bludgeoned by Granger once, he had not expected a second attack, and certainly not to his bollocks. He was at a complete loss at what to do with Granger now that she was here. He'd fully expected her to wake up from her slumber in a weakened state and in need of an immense amount of mental and physical care. Care that his alpha had been aching to provide.
To say that he was surprised when she'd attacked him twice and then whispered sinfully into his ear that she was no longer a good girl, he'd be lying if it hadn't shaken something within him. But that left him at a loss as to what to do with her now. He certainly couldn't abandon her to try and survive on her own. His alpha growled menacingly at the thought.
"I don't mind a man on his knees, but I do have things to accomplish at some point today," Granger's voice carried impatiently from the bedroom, followed by drawers sliding open and slamming shut.
"If you hadn't kneed me in the groin, then I wouldn't have fallen, you psychopath," Draco called out in irritation as he moved from his knees to a standing position while gently assessing the damage to his genitals. Finding them a little tender but without permanent damage, he moved out of the bathroom and into his bedroom in search of Tornado Granger.
"If you hadn't been acting like an absolute prick, then I wouldn't have needed to teach you a lesson," Granger responded, her voice floating from the walk-in closet.
Draco shoved the door open and watched as she ruffled through his drawers, leaving the once neatly folded clothes in chaotic disarray of lumpy piles of fabric.
"Is there something I can help you find, or would you prefer to continue destroying my closet?" Draco asked as he watched the bald-headed fiend tear his perfectly organized space apart.
"You've already proven yourself completely useless, so I think I can handle it myself, thank you," Granger responded, every bit of Gryffindor arrogance ringing in her voice.
A ball of tension that had begun to form during his mission now pinched tightly in his abdomen as he tried to gain control of this situation with Granger. Had he known she would be so spectacularly insane upon awakening, he might not have bothered saving her. A thought that elicited a deep growl that resonated with fury from his alpha. The feelings emitting from that side of himself were nothing short of worshipful, while his rational mind knew that this woman would bring him nothing but trouble.
"Useless? Exactly how have I been useless? Was I useless when I saved your arse from the research center?" Draco asked as he watched Granger perform a bit of impressive wandless magic. After she'd donned a pair of his black joggers and a T, she waved her hand over herself, and the clothing shrank to fit her much smaller frame.
"Since you seem to have forgotten, I said thank you for that. It's probably the only useful thing you've done in years," Granger said with complete nonchalance as she shoved past him and pulled the heavy wooden door open that led to the rest of the house.
"Where do you think you're going?" Draco asked in annoyance while his body moved almost instinctively to follow her. Her scent wafted in her wake and left him feeling slightly dazed like he'd bathed in a vat of Amortentia.
"To find Pansy, of course," Granger said, throwing the words over her shoulder like he was a nuisance, wasting her time with asinine questions.
"Oh, silly me. I should have predicted exactly what that insane brain of yours was planning," Draco responded, voice dripping with sarcasm.
Draco strongly suspected that Granger had heard him but was choosing not to respond any further, and that pissed him off. He'd gone to great lengths at the expense of his station and his life in order to save Granger and the other omegas, and this was the thanks he got. Insults and disrespect.
With determined strides, Draco ate up the distance between Granger and himself; he gripped her narrow forearm, his fingers wrapping completely around the limb as he tugged her back towards himself and spun her around to face him.
"I have had a long fucking night, Granger, and I don't have the time or patience to deal with whatever is going on right now, but I need you to stop moving for two bloody seconds so we can figure out what our next move is," Draco commanded with all the authority of a war-hardened general.
"I don't know any other way to say this, Malfoy, but there is no we. I spent eight years of my life being injected with hormones, subjected to starvation, beatings, forced heat—"
"I get it, you—"
She poked his chest with her finger, cutting him off, her eyes blazing. "I'm not bloody finished. I had been forced to sleep in my own piss and shit when I passed out from heat deprivation studies, ripped my own hair out at the roots, and clawed at my skin until it was bloody because I was not allowed even the slightest bit of relief in having an alpha assist me through a heat. My head has been fucked with so many times that it's amazing I can form a coherent thought. And through all of that, through every second of torture, I had one thought that kept me going. Would you like to know what that was, Malfoy?" She let her hand sink, her breath heavy.
Draco swallowed around the thick lump in his throat, a ball of emotion he was terrified to put a name to, for it would break his tenuous hold on his beloved control. During his internal battle, he felt sick to his stomach but managed a nod in affirmation. What could possibly get a person through eight years of those living conditions?
"I'm going to kill that fucking snake if it's the last thing I do," Granger bit out with cold sincerity. Her eyes gleamed with manic excitement.
A laugh burst from Draco's lips. The action had become so unfamiliar to him that it sounded more like a strangled choking sound than the airy sound he remembered from his youth when he'd rib Pansy, Blaise, and Theo in the Slytherin common room.
Granger's eyes thinned to slits, and her lips sloped into a scowl as he slowly gathered himself.
"I didn't know you had it in you, Granger, but that was a good joke," Draco chuckled as he wiped a stray tear from his eye and took a deep breath.
"I'm not joking," Granger responded without humor, her eyes still pinched but less harsh, and her arms crossed over her chest in a defensive stance.
Draco's mind felt like it was encased in quicksand. His brain tried to process Granger's words but found them completely unbelievable.
"This isn't funny anymore, Granger. What the fuck are you on about?" Draco asked harshly while he took a step forward into Granger's personal space, his hands itching to shake the truth out of her.
"It isn't funny, and as I've already said, it isn't a joke. I am going to kill Voldemort," she said confidently and without budging when Draco moved even closer to her, the size difference obviously doing nothing to intimidate her.
"What is wrong with you? You must be more fucked in the head than I thought because you've completely lost the plot if you think I'm going to let you anywhere near the Dark Lord," Draco growled with all of the anger that had begun to build within himself. It was one of the few emotions he was comfortable with. The only one he would allow to permeate his thoughts.
"I might be fucked in the head, but at least I stand up for what I believe in and make my own choices. Look at you, a waste of space alpha that won't step a toe out of line for fear of suffering his master's wrath." Granger tilted her chin back to meet his gaze with a look of disgust, her scent souring with her heightened negative emotions. "You know, it's sad really. All those years, I thought after all of my suffering, if I ever escaped, maybe I would find my destined mate, and I just knew that man would be everything. He'd be strong, not just physically but mentally. I dreamed he would be just as dedicated as I to ending this horrible reign of tyranny. But look what I ended up with. A boy pretending to be a man in Death Eater robes playing at war." Her last words were spoken softly, but the conviction they held felt like physical blows.
Draco's chest heaved with barely restrained aggression. He'd received many insults and curses tossed his way throughout his life, but nothing had made him feel so raw, stripped bare as if he stood naked in the wind for Granger to evaluate his every flaw.
"You think I'm weak? I am the strongest of all of the Dark Lord's followers. I could kill you without a second thought. I have killed more people than you could fathom, and throughout this whole bloody war, I am the one who has survived, and I'm the one who is on top. While you've been sitting in a holding cell, I've been out fighting for my survival. I have mastered my emotions and, therefore, have eliminated any weaknesses you seem to think I have," Draco raged, his voice strained as he snarled his defenses.
"That's the thing, Malfoy. You aren't strong because you smother your emotions and your alpha instincts. That is part of what makes you weak. Real strength comes from feeling everything, all of the pain, sorrow, anger, and defeat, and still fighting despite those emotions. Without the bad, there is no good, so you have deprived yourself of happiness just so you can avoid a bit of pain. You want to be strong? Try feeling something for a change." Granger's gaze softened to one of pity, and that look on her face almost felled him.
"Fuck you, Granger. You don't know what it's been like out here, and you have no right to judge me," Draco spat defensively. His walls closed in as she attempted to obliterate his meticulously built shields.
"You're right. I don't know what it's like out here, but I do know what it takes to face your fears and do what's right. Can you say you've done that?" Her eyes were wide, her breathing even, as she studied him intently, waiting for an answer.
The sound of a door clicking as the handle turned sent Draco stumbling back a few paces. In frustration, he ran his hands through his hair, leaving it bedraggled.
"Everything okay out here?" Pansy asked as she stepped onto the landing, her eyes shining with amusement as she'd no doubt listened to the entire exchange.
Granger's bare feet padded across the wood floor as she ran to Pansy and took her in her arms. The two witches embraced and exchanged hushed whispers as Draco attempted to calm his racing heart.
How dare this fucking witch come in here after he saved her and attempt to upend his world completely? So, without a backward glance, Draco stomped down the stairs and grabbed his cloak before shoving through his front door and making his way to the apparition point. The more distance he could put between himself and Granger, the better.