Winning Over Slytherin | Draco Malfoy

Chapter 3: Home

"How stupid could you be Malorie? I mean... Malfoy? Seriously? You were Twelve years old! You should never have agreed!" Hermione yelled.

"Be quiet. It's Dumbledore... I doubt he was giving me much of a choice." I tried to explain it to her.

"Ok. Ok. But this makes no sense-- you can't have marks on your back from a vow, unless you broke it. However, he could have... no he could never... but he could have..." Hermione muttered and paced the room, just as she does when she is thinking deeply about something.

"Mione stop muttering and explain this to me please."

"He could have bonded you to him."

"Bonded me?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"So you would feel whatever he feels."

I felt panic settle into my body. "Is that permanent? Can it be broken?"

"Yes. But only if the wizard who made it dies."

Pfft. Dumbledore's like a thousand years old, he won't die anytime soon.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I got up and slammed my fist on the wooden table, making me wince in pain. "Wait. So if I am... 'bonded' to him or whatever, that means he was getting hit. Who the hell is hitting him?"

"Probably his father, with that cane he always carries around."

"What a jerk. I--" I felt a smack on the back of my head, this time not as hard, it might've been his father's hand. "I need to go." I got up off the ground and pulled on a denim jacket.

"Malorie. You aren't stupid enough to be planning on going to Malfoy Manor, right?" Hermione walked towards the door and tried to block it.

"Right..." my voice rose in pitch due to my lie. "Totally."

"Malorie. Don't. It's none of your business. This is family business, not yours."

I looked straight into her eyes, a challenge not many would try against Hermione Granger. "It is my business. I vowed to protect him. And I will. Even if it's from his own family."

"No. I highly doubt that's what Dumbledore meant. I think family business is family business, not for you to get involved in. A lot of parents are like that, a lot of fathers hit their--" Hermione stopped herself and glanced at me warily.

"Go ahead continue. A lot of parents hit their children. It starts off with a smack, then it moves on to a full on whack with their cane, then they punch you in the face, then they are pushing you to the floor, then they kick you while you're on the ground, because they are bloody cowards!" I yelled and tried to control my breathing as I recalled the dark parts of my past, before showing up on the Grangers' doorstep with bruises on my stomach and a healing bruise on my cheek, my birth mother would never have let him hit me.

"Malorie, I know. I'm so sorry about what happened to you."

"You get it now? You get why I have to go?" I pressured her.

"Fine, but I'm going with you." Mione slipped on her grey sweatshirt.

"No. They're going to be mean to you when they know you're muggle born."

"They think you're muggle born, what's the difference? You won't tell them about your birth parents either, will you?" she took her wand and handed me my own.

"Not unless it's necessary."

"All right, let's go get in trouble." I rolled my eyes and Hermione quickly grabbed a hairbrush she had turned into a portkey over the summer. She held onto it, as did I and I quickly saw all my surroundings blur, feeling nauseous at how fast I was spinning to get to the location.