Darkness is My Light

Chapter 2

~*~*~*~

All she had done was blinked, and then she was here. The question was, where here was. Hermione wasn't sure of the answer. But when she looked up at Draco Malfoy, then at the wall behind him, then back at him, it was obvious; they were at his house. The walls perfectly matched the paintings, which completely matched his clothing's color and style. Which was, in Hermione's opinion, utterly sad.

Draco seemed to notice what she saw and let go of her hand. He turned his back on her and began to walk away, his robes billowing out from his body. "Wait!"

Draco turned to look at Hermione. "What?"

"Why am I here, at your house, what do I do now, and are you just going to leave me here?" she said in a bit of a panicked fear. She wasn't sure being locked up in Draco Malfoy's house was the safest thing. Then again, neither was being locked up in Harry's.

"First of all, I just saved you. I have lived through history enough; I didn't survive just to watch it repeated. Second, you will be safe here, because we won't hurt you here. Third, you can do whatever you want...within good judgement. Fourth, I am not leaving at all. Just going somewhere else in the manor. Do you have another string of questions to ask me?" Draco managed to say all of this in a way that made him seen both irritated and protective all at once.

Hermione scowled. "There is no need to be rude, especially when you brought me here against my will."

"I saved you."

She paused. "Putting that aside, if you don't hurt me, I should be fine. What did you mean we? Don't you live alone?"

"No."

"I mean besides your servants and house elves."

"I know."

"-And their families."

"I know that."

"Well, then who lives here with you? It doesn't take a genius to look at this place and know that you aren't married. Besides I don't think you could land a girl, or a guy."

"Oh, I'm hurt. That has shattered my fragile heart, and I shall never be the same again," Draco said sarcastically to shut Hermione up. "There is one other person in this house, besides you," he added as Hermione opened her mouth. "You can go anywhere in the house except the locked corridor on the second floor. I'll have the house elves make up a bed for you, other than that, you are free to do whatever you want."

"What if I choose to apperate away from this place?" Hermione stated the question with defiance.

"First of all, you don't know where you are, and that complicates things, now doesn't it? If you choose to use floo powder, since unlike apperation, you don't need to know where you are, I doubt you would want to go back to an abusing lover," Draco was practically yelling at the notion. Hermione figured that abuse affected him deeper than one would think. She opened her mouth to say something, but soon realized that she couldn't disagree with his last statement and quickly shut it again. Draco flexed and balled his hands several times before he could finally look back at Hermione. "I have something to take care of, if you want answers, I'll see you in the morning. Ask any elf or servant if you wish for something, and later, if you wish, Delia here will show you to your room." Draco pointed at the little girl sleeping on a couch. Hermione figured that she was family of a maid or worker, but it seemed she was totally happy at the Malfoy manor. She was dressed in a silk shirt and a matching blue satin skirt; the blanket she had was clean and embroidered. It seemed that even the servants were like a part of the family.

Draco turned and again began to leave. He stopped at the door, however, and looked back. "However, I have a feeling you will be spending a lot of time in this room above all else." Then he was gone.

Hermione suddenly realized that Draco had not said who else actually lived in the house. Interesting...

She shook off whatever shock she still had. Harry can't find me here. And so far Malfoy has been a-somewhat-gentleman. This may not be all that bad... Hermione's thoughts drifted in and out of topic. She then remembered what Draco had only moments ago said: I have a feeling you will be spending a lot of time in this room.

"Now why did he say that?" She muttered to herself. However, she soon answered her question when she turned around. The room was a wall-to-wall, floor to twelve-foot ceiling, corner to corner library. The first image that surfaced within her numbed mind was of an old movie, Beauty and the Beast. She had never been much of a movie child, but she never could forget the library in that movie. She had envied the characters for months after seeing it. Then, the rational part of her mind stated that the room must have been at least twice as big as the one from the movie, and four times as big as the library at Hogwarts. She was dazed, like she had died and gone to heaven, which she hoped wasn't the case.

"Not too bad, not at all..."