Chapter Three
He straightened. “Of course, please sit." He gestured to one of the chairs in front of the desk. Hermione tentatively pulled out a chair. She perched on the edge of it, watching Malfoy, who was leaning on the desk. His fingers interlocked as he watched her over them.
Hermione bowed her head, “Malfoy."
He raised his eyebrow, “Call me Draco, please."
“Malfoy, I shouldn’t, I’m not that familiar with you." she shook her head, no, she shouldn’t call him Draco, he had saved her, and yes she was grateful, however, she needed to maintain her principles.
A small frown marred his lips. “But I wish to call you Hermione, may I do that?”
She sucked in a breath, her cheeks going pink, “I supposed so."
He smiled, “then Hermione, you should call me Draco.”
“Oh, no, I don’t think it’s my place…”
“I insist."
She sucked in a breath, she supposed she should do as he asked, he was her host, and he had saved her. She should try and placate him. After all, she was going to ask something of him. “Alright, Draco”
He smiled, revealing each of his perfectly symmetrical, white teeth. His teeth had always been that way. Hermione had always lamented the fact that if he had met her parents, they would have been very impressed. It looked as though he had never eaten a single sweet. Dentists like that sort of thing. “Good." He leaned back. Now, Hermione, how may I help you?”
She sucked in a breath, “Well, Draco…” he raised his brows. “I was wondering when–actually if– you were going to let me go."
He frowned at that. “Why?”
She looked up at him, making eye contact with his striking silver eyes. “Pardon?”
“Do you wish to go? Are the accommodations not to your liking? Do you think yourself better of them? Is my presence really too much that it’s driving you to your death?” he stood up, and rounding the desk leaned into her space. “So Granger, which is it."
She opened her mouth, “I don’t-” she shook her head, “I don’t want to impose."
“Don’t worry Hermione." The way he said her name made her shiver, it was like a caress, gentle and soft as if he had said it countless times before, “You could never impose." he cleared his throat, “Unfortunately I will not be letting you go."
Her mouth popped open, “What, no why?”
Malfoy stood up. His shirt billowed behind him as he rounded the desk. Hermione stiffened as he pulled her chair back. Stepping in front of her, he leaned against the desk. “Because Hermione, " he said, reaching out, his fingers barely grazing her cheek. She flinched, and he scoffed, looking away. “I owe you a life debt, and the Malfoys.” He looked back at her, his fingers stroking the side of her face. He gripped her chin. “Take that very seriously.”
His eyes met hers and Hermione felt herself combust. She didn't move, she couldn’t. Draco Malfoy was standing before her, almost between her legs. His hands had stroked her face oh so tenderly.
“So Hermione, I will not let you leave, because I know that if you leave you will go back to your precious Harry Potter, and that,” his thumb stroked the side of her jaw, “will get you killed,”
Hermione hadn't thought life debts were real, they seemed too fantastical, too magical. Yes, she was a Witch, the brighter Witch of her age, and she knew magic, some magic even Pure blooded adults didn’t know. She looked at Malfoy, he could be lying, what did a life debt even entail? Did this mean he had to repay her? Keeping her captive was not the way to do that. Malfoy stepped even closer to her, his hand still holding her chin.
“Oh, What are you doing?”
“Hold on,”
She opened her mouth to say something but the floor was pulled out from under her. She screamed her hands clawing for purchase, she grabbed onto something, pulling herself tight against it. The falling stopped. She opened her eyes to find herself in an internally different room. Her eyes widened as she realized where they were. A library! Joy filled her, or it did until she realized what she had grabbed onto. Her face? The side of it was pressed firmly into Malfoys lower abbs. The had that had been on her chin? Holding the other side of her head and gently stroking her hair. Her arms? Wrapped around his thighs, her hands dangerously closer to his ass. With a yell of surprise, she pushed him away, detangling their limbs.
“You apparated us!” she turned to him, her tone accusatory. “With no warning!”
He shrugged, “I thought you’d be excited to see the library,” he waved his arm, gesturing to the shelves upon shelves of books. “You can research how to end the life debt if you want, I haven’t seem to have found anything,”
She nodded, her eyes on the tall shelves of books, there must have been millions of them. It was so much larger than the Hogwarts library.
“It’s a magical room,” he puffed out his chest, “they are very rare and hard to make,” he waved up to the vaulted ceilings, “this one has an extension charm, and…” he cleared his throat, then with a firm voice he said, “bring me a book on life debts,” he held out his hand and waited. A loud pop filled the room and a book appeared on his hand. “In true Malfoy excellence, it is the best of its kind.”
Hermione scoffed, her hands itching to snatch the book from Malfoy.
“I’ll leave you to it I suppose, find a way to rid us of this bothersome bond,”
She levelled him with a glare, “Believe me no one wants that more than me,”
~~~
As Draco left the library, he couldn’t help but smirk. He returned to his office, remembering the way Granger—no, the way Hermione had clasped his legs, holding on to them as if they were her lifeline. He sat down, tilted his head back, and groaned. The burst of pride he had felt at the admiration in her eyes when she saw his library had him preening.
He closed his eyes. As a Legilimens, his mind was in impeccable order. He couldsense everyone near him, his mother, a floor above. His mind drifted aroundhers, not wanting to breach her privacy by entering her thoughts. Narcissa had quietthoughts. They were organized and protected–they had to be that way. Raising a noseyLegilimens was hard. All he could hear was her thinking about dinner, and her plans to havea big ‘family dinner’, with herself, Draco, and their new guest. He smiled a the thought. However, as interesting as his mother was he wasn’t looking to eavesdrop on her thoughts. He rummaged through his mind, finding a deep gold thread, giving it a tug he followed it to Hermione.
She sat, lounging in a chaise, a book propped on her lap, blankets and pillows surrounded her. Her thoughts were loud and surprisingly cluttered. Draco would have thought that someone like her, a good, prim, and proper, girl, would have organized thoughts. But no, her mind was a cluttered mess, always on, always thinking, he hadn’t realized just how smart she was. He tugged at the bond, watching to see if she did anything. She kept reading, only stopping to scratch her neck. He tugged again, harder this time. Still nothing. He ground his teeth, frustrated. He drifted further into her thoughts, using them as a substitute for Hermione's lack of reaction to the bond. Her surface-level thoughts were about the book, the life debt, and how she was going to get rid of it. Draco suppressed a smirk at that, pushing past the surface-level thought he found her recent memories, the one of her being snatched, the useless Weasly. Her sacrifice, so selfless his Hermione, they would have to work on that.
Pulling out his stationary he made note of the Death Eaters that took her.
He pushed further, her thoughts lamented the lack of muggle products for her skin and hair, odd liquids and creams. He made another note to get one of the elves to ask her about it. He kept pushing, his thoughts changed like tides and he pushed until he found something he liked. Her memory of walking into his office, of seeing him in his rumpled state, he felt her flush in embarrassment and he preened. He watched as she noted his chest, his abbs. He threw his head back groaning. She hadn't even thought of anything to elicit and he could feel his cock stirring He wanted to push forwards, and he could feel more memories, he salivated at the thought of them, at the idea of knowing what Hermione Granger thought of him. But no, if he wanted this to work out he had to do it the normal way, he had to do it on her terms.