Unbound

chapter nine.

It had become something of a hobby, breaking into Granger's mind and tearing his way through her memories to train her. Regardless if it was out of pure survival on both his end and hers, that didn't mean he couldn't have fun while doing it.

The Tuesday after he left the shack following her attempt at delving deep into his trauma, Draco came back and began his routine attacks on Granger's mind. Maybe this week's lessons were a bit rougher; pulling hurtful memories to the forefront of her mind and knocking down her filing cabinets as he chased her through the twists and turns of her mind.

It wasn't revenge ― per se, but he definitely came back this week with their last encounter in the forefront of his mind. It had only been their second meeting but he knew as he apparated away that he did not want to go running back to mummy once more. He needed to deal with things like the adult he was.

So apparating into a hotel suite he couldn't remember the name of even if the Dark Lord himself had his wand pointed to his chest, Draco drowned himself in the rest of the firewhiskey before he threw the bottle against the wall in an alcohol induced rage and hazy mental state.

He watched everything happen in slow motion, letting the bottle out of his hands and watching it crack against the walls. It shattered into hundreds of fragmented pieces, each catching the light as if they were tiny, cursed crystals. He found a strange sense of comfort in the way his half closed eyes took in the sight, reminding him how impermanent the world and everything in it was. He found his mind became far more poetic than he normally was while drunk.

It was not ten minutes later that when he regained consciousness he found himself on the cold tile floor of the little kitchen doing sit ups with small shards of glass in his skin, desperate for a release that would allow him to escape the memories that threatened to plague him.

He went to sleep not long after.

It had been expected of Hermione Granger, though. Trying to find a hole in Draco's great facade had almost been a given ― Draco expected nothing less. She was, and always would be, irrevocably and unwaveringly loyal to her Order, which made training Granger both a necessity and Draco's favorite form of entertainment.

Watching Granger internally flinch as Draco neared a memory that drew him in only made him run faster. He entered the memory, letting Hermione Granger, certified Golden Girl, catalogue every feature and missing curve of her body in a mirror beside her measly shower.

His spirits lifted as he felt Granger's embarrassment alongside his own plain amusement. He stayed in the memory after it had finished, letting it replay while he decided if he could watch more and pretend he had not seen a third of the Golden Trio nude.

Ultimately, he couldn't.

He withdrew from her mind and spoke. "Well, that certainly is one way to distract a legilimens," he said as his mouth turned up on its own volition. He fought a laugh back until the moment she opened her mouth.

She had glared up at him from her short stature, it was the only way she could meet his eye. It was almost comical the way she stared daggers into his eyes, as if she wanted nothing more than to curse him with every hex she knew.

"Pleased with your purchase?"

Draco couldn't hold in the small laugh that escaped his lips as his response came to mind. Merlin this witch made it far too easy to put her in her place.

"You're rather scrawny. If you'd sent me the memory beforehand, I might have asked for someone else." He let his eyes drop from hers and scan her body now that he knew what was underneath all the dirty clothes she wore. She brought her arms up and crossed them atop her chest when she finally followed his gaze. This was far too amusing.