A/N: In this chapter, I struggled with whose POV it should come from. The previous seven have been from Harry's POV, but I think that there is a lot of back ground information that is important, and I just don't want characters just talking to each other to get it out. If you people completely hate it, I might release the other version of chapter eight (the one from Harry's POV). Just let me know.
Bound by Malfoy
Hermione could hear some humming as she came to, and she wondered if it was a side effect of the hex that was thrown at her. Having never quite been so directly hit, she wasn't sure. Her eye lids fluttered for a moment before she opened her eyes to find that she was in a dimly lit room. She didn't move, not that she could have if she had wanted to move. Aware that there was another person in the room, she closed her eyes and peered out of the tiny slits.
She hadn't seen him in three years, but she knew Draco Malfoy better than most. At the moment, he looked distressed. Hermione could see why. Her wrists were bound together tightly and he was in the process of binding her ankles. She knew she should have struggled, but it was already too late. He had just finished putting the finishing touches on the charmed ropes.
"I hate that I have to do this to you," Draco said as he took the seat beside the bed she was on, tied. He lowered his head as if he was in shame.
"Draco?" Hermione asked slowly, making him aware that she was awake. He looked up at once, his head jerked back to look at her in a startled way.
"Hermione," Draco said with a pained expression on his face. His hands were clasped together in front of him, as if he had been interrupted in prayer.
"What have you done, Draco? Where are we? Why did you stun me and tie me up in these ropes?" Hermione asked him. He looked like he was struggling internally for his own answers.
"I never meant to hurt you, Hermione," Draco said quietly.
"I know that, Draco, but you shouldn't have taken Teddy. Is he ok?" Hermione asked. She tried to look around but was limited because of the velvet drapes drawn around the bed. "Is he here?"
"He is fine, and yes he is here," Draco said with a sigh. He smiled slightly. "It is good to see you again, Hermione."
"Why, Draco? Why did you attack me?" Hermione asked. Draco shook his head.
"I was aiming for Potter and you just stepped into my line of sight, the door slammed, I don't know. I don't know why. I knew he was at your house; I followed him from the airport. I tried to hit him with my car, polyjuiced as an old man, but then I saw Ron arguing with you and I wanted him dead. I hate what he did to you, Hermione," Draco said quietly. He looked away, as if embarrassed by what he felt. "You know, I never stopped caring for you. I should have, but I couldn't."
"I know," Hermione said softly. She looked at her hands, resting still on her stomach. She wasn't surprised to see Draco's hands around hers. She had become fond of his touch, once upon a time ago when she was trapped in a loveless marriage.
"We are at Malfoy Manor," Draco said as he placed his forehead against her heart. She could feel her shirt dampen with tears.
"Draco, hon, what is wrong?" Hermione asked. He shook his head.
"I don't want to do this," Draco said. He was shaking, and all he wanted was comfort. He had never turned to anyone for comfort, sans Moaning Myrtle in his sixth year. That was until he and Hermione began working on the project together. He had already been affected, and Hermione was the first person he had ever told that didn't recoil from him. She embraced him, warmly, and told him that everything was going to be ok. Wolfsbane potion would keep his condition manageable until they found a cure.
"Drake, sweetie, then don't do it," Hermione coaxed lovingly. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."
"I have to, Hermione," Draco said in a pleading tone. He begged her to understand. "My dad can't accept that I am what I am. He thinks he will get back in the good graces of his old chums if I finally defeat Harry Potter. If I can do what Lord Voldemort can't."
"That's not you, Draco. You are a sweet guy, and though you would like everyone to believe you are a cold hearted killer, I know you aren't," Hermione said as she slid over, allowing Draco access to the bed she was perched upon. Draco didn't think twice about it, just placed his head on her shoulder, and draped his arm over her.
"I love you so much, Hermione, it hurts," Draco whispered. "I never knew love could hurt like this."
"Draco, I wish you wouldn't say stuff like that," Hermione said as she tried to summon her wand. Where ever it was, it wasn't there in the house with her. She looked over at Draco, whose head had remained on her heart, though the closeness of his face to her breasts sent blood rushing to her face.
"I know," Draco said quietly. He didn't say anything more.
"How long do you intend to keep me here, Draco, because eventually I am going to need to eat and drink, shower, and use the facilities," Hermione asked after a while, breaking the silence.
"Not long," Draco sighed as he climbed from the bed reluctantly. He walked over to the desk and pulled a book out of the top drawer. Hermione watched him curiously.
"Whose room is this?" Hermione asked, though she was certain she already knew the answer.
"Mine," Draco said as he pulled out a quill and some ink and begun writing in the book. "Dad wanted me to tie you up and throw you in the dungeon for now, but I couldn't risk you getting sick down there. So, I brought you up to my room."
"What are you doing, Draco?" Hermione asked. Draco looked over his shoulder at her and tried to smile.
"I am sending Harry a message. I know he isn't going to want to leave you too long in his nemesis's captivity," Draco said quietly. "Perhaps you will be home in your bed with Harry by nightfall."
"How do you know Harry was in my bed with me last night?" Hermione asked suspiciously.
"The book," Draco said simply as he turned back to the book he had pulled out.
"You sent Harry the book?" Hermione asked. Draco nodded but didn't look at her. "You made him believe it was from Neville and Luna."
"I had to make him believe nothing, he did it on his own," Draco said flatly as he scribed the words in the book that would be read by Harry whenever he next looked to the book, as they cleared Draco's own copy of the book.
"Draco, what has happened to you since we last saw each other?" Hermione asked as she begun to struggle with the charmed ropes that seemed hell bent on keeping her tied.
"I told you then, I can't live with out you," Draco said quietly.
"And I told you I don't love you like that, no matter how I try, and you know I really did try to love you like that. I really did," Hermione said emphatically. Draco spun around, anger on his face.
"Do you think I want to love you like I do? Do you know what it is like to love someone so much that you feel like you would rather die than to not be with that person?" Draco asked angrily. He stood up and began pacing. "Do you know what it is like to be looked at by your father as if you are inferior because of what you are and who you love. You were the only one who accepted me as I am; you are the only one who never wanted to change me. All I ever wanted to do was be normal."
"There is no such thing as normal," Hermione said bitterly.
"You said you loved me," Draco said defeated. He hung his head low.
"I do love you, Drake, I do," Hermione said.
"Just not as much as you love Harry," Draco said with great understanding. He didn't look at her.
"Even if you went through with this and killed Harry, you and I could never be together, Draco. Don't you understand that?" Hermione said as Draco sat down next to her. Hermione struggled to a sitting position, throwing her bound wrists up and over Draco's head.
"Yeah," Draco said as he hugged her back. He laughed. "Who would have thought that we would be hugging in my bed all those years ago when we were in school together?"
"Who would have thought that we would have had a year long affair," Hermione said quietly, wondering whether or Harry was already on his way to save her and Teddy.
"Too bad Ron caught on, it was fun," Draco teased as he nuzzled her neck slightly. "You still smell the same."
"Draco, Ron never caught on," Hermione said as she felt his mouth touch her neck. She shivered, feeling herself slipping under that drunken lust that she felt when they were sleeping together. "I told Ron about us."
"What?" Draco said pulling away from her. Hermione was thankful for the break of touch between them, before thing got out of control, and she knew they would. As much of a pompous arse Draco had been in school, Hermione had to admit that he was definitely worth the risk to her marriage. He did things with and to Hermione that her imagination could never conjure.
"I told Ron about you and me sleeping together in the lab," Hermione said quietly. She looked at Draco who looked hurt and betrayed, and guilt washed over her again. It was the same look Ron had given her when she confessed it to him.
"Why?" Draco asked hysterically. He was trembling, from anger or hurt, Hermione didn't know.
"Draco, it was wrong," Hermione said slowly. She felt that as if she was ending it with him all over again, a tear escaped her eye. "I am sorry, but I shouldn't have ever encouraged you. I shouldn't have come crying to you about a baby and all of my problems."
"You shouldn't have kissed me back," Draco said coldly as he crossed the room. He looked at the clock above the fireplace. His face was stony cold, and almost cruel as he looked at her. "Your knight in shining amour will be here soon, Hermione. Let's hope that you love him more than you loved me, and let's hope he kills me because I can't stand the thought of living another moment knowing you ended our relationship. I can't live another moment knowing you and I will never have our `Happily Ever After'."
"Draco, wait!" Hermione called as Draco stalked out of the room. Hermione went to follow him, but with her ankles bound, she fell hard on the floor, unable to catch herself effectively with her wrists bound the way they were. She struggled to sit but found the awkward position unchanging. She rested her face against the flagstone floor, the cool stone canceling out the hot tears that seemed to pour from her eyes, despite her best efforts not to cry.
`Hurry up Harry, and for Merlin's sake, don't fail,' Hermione thought with her eyes clenched, hoping that Harry could hear her thoughts. She knew it was impossible, but she hope her knew how much she needed him.
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