Hermione slept fairly well with Draco beside her, but they were woken up in the morning my Mrs. Malfoy walking into the room. As she saw them, or rather Hermione, she stopped in her tracks. "It's unseemly to have servants sleeping in your bed, Draco," she stated coldly."You need to learn to knock mother," Draco returned while sitting up."Haven't you got duties," Mrs. Malfoy snapped at Hermione, who scrambled out of bed and tried to dress, but had to stop when her bracelet wouldn't let her finish. Draco walked around to removed and replaced the bracelet."I would like her to wear appropriate servants dresses," Mrs. Malfoy said."This dress is more than appropriate for the duties she serves," Draco said salaciously.Mrs. Malfoy made a loud huff, before saying that Lucius wanted to speak to him before breakfast.Hermione rushed downstairs to prepare for the breakfast service. Breakfast was a rushed affair as the men were about to head off somewhere. There wasn't much talk, but Draco was clearly excited about the day. Mrs. Malfoy was nervous as she was every time Draco spent the day on missions with his father.Hermione spent the rest of the morning polishing one of the main staircases in the house. The wood was beautiful, but it had been neglected for some time. Hermione managed to make the wood gleam beautifully again. She actually liked working on it. It wasn't the staircases fault it was stuck in this house serving this god awful family. It was stuck her just as much as she was. But she could restore it to its intended glory.At lunchtime she had to bring Mrs. Malfoy her lunch in her sitting room. The beautiful woman looked up as Hermione quietly entered the room. She watched Hermione as she placed the tray on the small table that served Mrs. Malfoy's meals when she was alone."My son seems quite taken with you," she said as she walked over to the table. "It will pass, but you provide him with some measure of comfort for the moment." Hermione didn't say anything, but continued to serve up the bits and pieces of the meal service."It is difficult times and they do seem to need comfort to cope with the difficult tasks they must perform," she continued and Hermione got the feeling that these were thoughts Mrs. Malfoy had developed some time ago. Hermione didn't particularly care to listen while Mrs. Malfoy prattled on. "... they seem to require attendance for the baser parts of their beings. They are but men in the end. I suppose I have to accept that my son is no longer the boy I have always known, but a man now with base urges."As Hermione was done, she went to leave, but Mrs. Malfoy stopped her in a steely voice. "I'll remind you girl, that my son may make use of you for a while, but don't forget that you are but a servant and he will soon grow tired of you."Hermione nodded to let the woman know she understood. Sooner rather than later, she thought to herself.She searched the garden for Neville in the afternoon. He wasn't there. He wasn't supposed to be but she looked anyway. She still spent around half an hour in the garden, she had a feeling that there wouldn't be any more garden visits until Draco had tired of her. It might be quite soon, the novelty of her humiliating position and the power he had over her would probably be wearing off soon.In the afternoon, Hermione was cleaning the music room. Some of the instruments looked like they were centuries old. None used in the last 50 years. Some had so much dust inside they were practically useless. After an hour scrubbing, Draco burst through the door."I hate it when you're not in my door when I get home," he said angrily."I didn't know..." she started, but couldn't finish her sentence as Draco roughly grabbed her and bent her over the pianoforte. Hermione tried to remain passive, but his hand in her hair was hurting her. Although that was not anywhere near the pain she felt when he yanked down her underwear and entered her from behind. The pain was searing and intensified with each rough thrust accompanied by growling grunts. Hermione's hipbones were roughly grazing against the wood of the piano underneath her and the pain was bringing tears to her eyes. She didn't notice him finishing, other than the slow let up off the pain. He was lying on top of her gathering his breath back."I don't know what I would do if you weren't here," he said between breaths.I don't know, Hermione thought to herself, maybe rape someone else."I hate this fucking war," he continued. "I hate everything about it."He slowly pulled out of her and went to zip himself up. Hermione stayed where she was. She didn't want to look at him. She hated him at this moment. All the things he did to her before, she didn't hate him, she was totally indifferent, but now she hated him. And she had started talking back in her mind too. She wasn't pleased. Hate wasn't indifference and it was indifference she needed.He was saying something else, but she wasn't paying attention. She reckoned she would be in pain all day and that was good. Pain was dehumanising.She was right, she was in pain all day. Her hip bones had deep purple bruises on them, not to mention her poor abused insides. She was practicing her indifference all evening. Dinner was a quiet affair. Lucius was clearly tired and disappointed about the day. Draco was still seethingly angry. Mrs. Malfoy was quietly relieved that her small flock was safely home."Isn't it time you start looking for a bride, Draco?" she said brightly trying to lighten the mood."We're in the middle of a war mother. Not exactly the time for weddings.""Nonsense," Mrs. Malfoy continued. "It is the perfect time for a celebration. And it would be good for you to have someone look after you.""I am perfectly adequately catered for in that department, mother.""Don't be ridiculous. A servant can never bring the comfort that a wife can," she countered."Mother," Draco said exasperatedly."Your mother is right," Lucius said. "Maybe it's time you start looking at securing an heir.""I'm not fucking getting married," he yelled. "I have enough to worry about to have to run around some insipid girl whose main aim in life is to clear Diagon Alley of all material substance." Draco made a show of losing his appetite and left.There wasn't much talk between the other two afterwards. Lucius eventually excused himself and left as well.Hermione took her ordered bath after dinner. She had been bleeding a bit and her bruises were absolutely raw. She struggled to suppress her disgust and hatred. Having Neville around wasn't going to help either. She loved seeing him and it made her happy, more dreaded emotions. Maybe she was reacting so strongly now because Neville was around. But she wasn't sure she would trade Neville for complete indifference. If she was indifferent these things would not bother her at all, there were no relevant choices, no tradeoffs, no hope.Draco was sitting at his desk reading some papers while she was bathing. It was completely quiet with the only sound being scribbles from his quill and the clunk of his whiskey glass whenever he returned it to the table.When she returned to the bedroom wrapped in the black towel, he called her over to him and made her stand between his knees. "All clean and warm," he said as he gently tugged the towel until it fell. He was gently stroking her thighs with his fingers. One of his hands moved to the dark purple bruise on her hips. "I hurt you," he said matter of factly. "My mother always chided me for damaging my toys."He pulled out his wands and healed both of the bruises."Merlin I want you tonight, but I will let you heal," he said in a husky voice.Instead, Hermione had to take him in her mouth. He made a great shuddering exhale as she took the head in her mouth. His entire body was tensing under her administrations. He begged her to fondle his balls, and she could only comply. As he was getting closer, he told her that he wanted her to swallow. His breath was becoming rougher and faster as he got closer, but she could hear him gritting his teeth as he came. She swallowed, but wanted to throw up out of disgust. She chided herself for her lack of indifference. Her barrier was just a thin replica of what it was and she needed to do a much better job of rebuilding it. Afterwards he led her over to the bed and made her get in while he undressed. Once completely stripped, he pulled her naked body to him and settled down to sleep.Hermione stayed awake for a while. She could hear his breathing slow down and deepen as he fell asleep. She still hated him. She couldn't understand him. He full on raped her, then snuggled up to her like she was his teddy bear. He wasn't humiliating her anymore, maybe because she didn't respond. She had thought this was about her, but lately it seemed to have been about him. He really was seeking comfort in her. Now he even fed his anger into her. He was turning to her when he was feeling good and he was turning to her when he was feeling bad. She wasn't entirely sure where in the process of him getting tired of her this fit into. Something was telling her that things may be going in the opposite direction, even though she did her best to be, as he said, 'the worst fuck in the world'.
