Threat of Love

It was seven o'clock, and Hermione couldn't keep her mind off of Draco. At first, she just wondered what exactly the specifics were going to be; what she would have to do to make sure that her secret stayed a secret. But after a while, she stopped thinking of what she would protest to and what he would make her do; she just thought of him as a person, not a pureblood Slytherin snob. For one of the first times in her years at Hogwarts, she found her mind wandering during lessons.

"Hermione!" Ron whispered urgently through Professor Flitwick's lecture on bubble-head charms. "Why aren't you taking notes?"

"I have other things on my mind," she said, half-there, sounding more like Luna Lovegood than herself. She looked down at her parchment and was slightly surprised to find that there actually were a few lines scribbled down about sizing he bubble correctly. She was less surprised to see the doodles on the edges of the parchment. She saw a few things written in large, loopy letters that she didn't want anyone else to see, so she quickly crumpled up the parchment and pushed it to the very bottom of her bag. She got out a new piece, which remained completely blank for the remainder of the class.

Hermione was like that through the entire day. She couldn't concentrate at all, which Ron and Harry saw as quite suspicious. Especially when the piece of paper she had been doodling on in Charms fell out of her bag while she was walking to the library before dinner, and Ron picked it up.

His face turned immediately from curiosity to anger. "What do you know about this?" he asked Harry.

"What is it?" Ron shoved the parchment in his face. Harry had to stifle a laugh. "Is this a joke or something, Ron?"

"Why would I write a thing like that? It's... it's disgusting, is what it is! I - I'm going to kill him! I'm just going to go over to that little ferret, and murder him." Ron and Hermione had been sort of "unofficially" going out since the beginning of summer, and seeing the name "Draco Malfoy" written on Hermione's paper, circled with little hearts was far too much for him to deal with. He was still having trouble forgiving her for talking to Viktor Krum. And he was actually walking towards the Great Hall to find Malfoy, which, as Harry knew, wouldn't have been a wise decision. Harry grabbed Ron by the back of the robes and restrained him, which was no easy task.

"Why don't we wait to ask Hermione about it before we attack someone? Just to make sure it wasn't some kind of a mistake?" Ron stopped trying to escape Harry's grip, and seemed to calm down a little. He was out of his mind.

"Yeah, a mistake. Or a joke! I bet that's it. It was all just a joke, and any second, Hermione is going to come jumping out from behind a corner, laughing her head off, and I'm going to strangle her."

Harry noticed that Ron took a turn that would lead them to the library, not the Great Hall, and thought that Ron was serious. "Er, no, I don't think that strangling Hermione would do any good, either. We need to talk to her. You can't talk to someone after you've strangled them. Remember that. Talk first, kill later. Talk first, kill later." Ron started to repeat the phrase. Harry felt a little guilty about taking advantage of his friend's weakened emotional state, but quickly got over it. He turned Ron around, and they found their way to the Great Hall.

They waited at the door until they saw Hermione come in, and chose seats on either side of her, Ron breathing deeply so as to not try to hurt anyone. "Hey, guys! Ron, what's wrong?" she asked, seeing the strained look on his face.

"This is what's wrong, Hermione! Are you out of your bloody mind?!" Ron almost shouted, waving the parchment around wildly.

She reached out to grab it from him. "What's this? Let me see." As she recognized it, the look on her face changed rapidly to embarrassment. She snatched it away from him. "Has anyone else seen this?" she asked seriously and quietly.

"So it's true!" Harry joined the conversation. "You - You - You really li-" Hermione cut him off.

"Shh! Say that out loud, and I'll give you antennae!" Harry didn't want to know if Hermione was exaggerating, but he had a feeling she wasn't. Ron looked like he was about to scream.

"What's this about, Hermione?" Harry asked, trying to stay calm. He was trying to not believe it; Hermione and Malfoy? The prospect was laughable at best.

"Let's take a walk," she said, getting up. She saw that Draco was looking at her, and thought that if he knew that she told anyone about their agreement, he would change his mind and tell. So she whispered, "Wait a second, and listen carefully. I can't explain now. Stay there for exactly two minutes, then go to the Room of Requirement. Make sure you're not followed. Don't attract attention. I'll meet you there."

"What's her problem?" asked Harry when Hermione was gone. "She sounded like Mad-Eye Moody." Ron was looking at his watch. They sat at the table, pretending to eat, until two minutes had passed. Then, they followed Hermione's instructions, taking a much longer way than usual. They didn't see what the threat was, but they had learned by then that Hermione was always right, and it was better to just do what she said.

When they finally arrived at the Room of Requirement, they found Hermione standing with her back to the door. She turned around and they saw that her eyes were red and her cheeks were wet. Hermione never cried; something was seriously wrong.

"What's wrong?" asked Ron. He didn't look mad anymore, and his voice was worried.

"It's not real."

"What?"

"I swear, he's making me!" Harry and Ron were confused.

"You mean, Malfoy?" Ron guessed. Hermione nodded. "What's he making you do?" His anger was back, but directed towards a different target.

"I - I don't know yet," she admitted, feeling a bit foolish. "He's going to tell me later tonight." She grabbed Ron by the shoulder. "I don't want to, Ron. I honestly don't want to. But I - I have no choice. I'm so sorry."

"Hermione, no one can make you do anything you don't want to. You're the cleverest witch in our year. There's nothing he can do to you, Hermione. Nothing."

"Yes, there is."

"What's that?"

"I can't tell you. If he finds out I told you as much as I already have, I'm going to regret it. Just, remember what I said. Especially you, Ron. Whatever happens, know that I have no choice. Things might get weird for a while.

"Here, take these." She handed them each a galleon. "I've put a Protean Charm on them, just like the D.A. coins." She gave them both a hug and gave Ron a kiss. "Wait a few minutes before leaving, please. I don't want him to know I told you." She walked back to the Gryffindor common room and thought about what she had just done.

Of course, it was necessary for her to tell Ron and Harry that something was going on. But she wasn't too sure about not wanting to. Somewhere, deep in her subconscious, she had always wondered what it would be like to be with Malfoy, to be on the side of the bad guys. She couldn't just do whatever Draco told her to without telling her best friends why, though, even if she couldn't tell them everything. And she would have felt terrible if she had let Ron suffer like that, thinking she was cheating on him. She had to do something, and now she was free to succumb to the will of Draco Malfoy, her arch-enemy since her first year at Hogwarts. Not that she had a choice.