The Bracelet, Chapter 87/103
Mods, am I overdoing the tags?
Title: The Bracelet
Author: AkashaTheKitty
Characters: Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson, Ron Weasley, Theodore Nott (whew)
Genres: Drama, Friendship, Hogwarts Years, Humor, Romance
Warnings: HBP Spoilers, although slightly incompatible.
Overall Rating: R
Summary: When Hermione Granger loses a bet she was sure she'd win to Draco Malfoy, it's the beginning of her own personal hell. And his.
Go here if you didn't read previous chapters.
Hermione peeked through an open doorway and saw absolutely nothing. The darkness was absolute. It didn't matter, though, because the action was just a way to pretend she didn't notice how Malfoy was sulking.
The Astronomy Tower, indeed. The two of them, undisturbed, under the stars….
No. She couldn't do that. Where had the suggestion come from, anyway? One second he'd basically been telling her that people-including himself-found her well-meaning advice intrusive and annoying and the next…. He'd probably just suggested it because he hated the rounds and wanted to do something else. Not because he wanted to be alone with her. Wouldn't it have been embarrassing to go with him only to realize that he actually hadn't meant anything with the invitation?
She was so confused she almost wanted to cry. She wanted this night to be over.
"Can I ask you something?" he suddenly asked.
She felt like saying no, but curiosity got the better of her and she ended up with a cautious, "What?"
There was a brief silence where he seemed to gather his thoughts. "When you accuse me of spreading stories and whatever else you can think of, is it because you actually believe it or is it just…?"
Still feeling cautious, Hermione didn't feel like answering only half a question. "Just what?"
Again he spent a moment figuring out what words to put together. "Just a way to keep me at a distance?"
Why would I need you at a distance? She almost voiced the question, but then realized how loaded it was. She was barely coping as it was, so she'd rather not go there. "I wouldn't accuse you of something if I didn't think you were capable of it," she said instead.
"But I didn't do it!" he exclaimed, stopping up. "I never even mentioned that I'd been with you to anyone! Blaise was just bothering me as usual! I said I didn't need his help, so he drew some conclusions a bit too loudly, and Theo overheard. That's all, I swear." When Hermione didn't respond, he continued, "Why would I want to hurt Theo like that? He's the one that made me Deputy Head Boy and thought I was worth helping-and he called me a friend when hardly anyone else did. I already hurt him far more than I should have by putting the bracelet on you and refusing to take it off after realizing he had feelings for you."
"We should have removed it," Hermione muttered, walking on, afraid to look at Draco when he was being this honest. She didn't need to go there.
"Yeah…" Draco half-heartedly agreed at Hermione's back. Just imagine all the trouble they could have avoided if he'd never become addicted to her feelings. If he'd never kissed her…. The truth was that he was glad he'd gone through with it. He'd lost one of his best friends and had fallen hopelessly for someone who barely even liked him, but somehow it still felt like it had been worth it. Like he was a better person for it.
"It would have saved me a lot of humiliation and inconvenience, and you a silly short-lived infatuation, a friend and a girlfriend," she said, as if to convince him.
He noticed that her very simplified list didn't include a boyfriend on her end. He wondered whether that was on purpose or just an oversight.
He also wondered whether she actually believed that his 'silly infatuation' had been that short-lived.
"Pansy and I were due for a break-up anyway," he said, keeping his observations to himself. "So you can cross that off the list of casualties."
"Oh."
"But that's beside the point." He took a few long steps, bringing him in front of her, making her almost bump into him. "I did not spread any stories about us," he said as if he didn't notice her stopping so quickly she almost stumbled in order not to walk into him.
In order not to touch him.
"So you say," she warily replied. "It's been duly noted."
"Duly noted is not good enough. Why would I even lie about this?"
"I don't know. To fool me again?" she suggested.
He shook his head, hating that she didn't just believe him. "But following your logic I already achieved my goal. Wouldn't it be better to rub it in your face? Make you suffer?"
She flinched. She honestly thought he would do that? That didn't feel nice. In fact, it felt like a girl he was in love with had just told him she thought he was the lowest of the low. Oh wait, that did just happen.
"Yeah," she muttered, "but not as good as rubbing in my face that I trusted you enough to do it twice."
So that was her fear? Draco had done and said some low things in his life and there were a lot of them that he didn't even regret, but it had never even occurred to him to get intimate with Hermione just to use it to humiliate her.
"Then don't do it again," he quietly said, feeling like he just couldn't win. The thing was, however, that while he did madly want her and had hoped that it could eventually become a possibility that she'd want him again, he could easily live without sleeping with her if he had to. He just wanted to be around her without her being all stiff and suspicious and hurt because she worried what he might do. "Let's just be friends."
He could hardly believe he'd said that last bit. Friends. They'd never been friends. She didn't want to be his friend. Hell, he wasn't sure he could rightfully call himself her friend when he wanted so much more.
"Friends?" she incredulously asked, confirming his thoughts.
"Friendly?" he suggested. "I don't know, Granger, just… I'm not as dedicated to hurting you as you seem to think. Not at all, actually. Your caution is all for nothing."
"Just to be sure…" she said, looking a bit confused. "You do realize that friends would be a step up, right?"
"Anything would be. But if we agree to be friends, then you won't have to worry, and maybe we could actually act somewhat normal around each other."
"No, see," she said, waving her finger at him. "That's not how it works. I'll be forever trying to figure out your agenda."
"That sounds exhausting."
"It is!" She looked frustrated. Good. He wasn't the only one feeling that way, then.
"There is no agenda," he quietly said. It was only a small lie. To want to be around her wasn't really an agenda per se, was it? It was not a mean agenda, in any case.
"But I can't be sure of that, can I?" She began pacing in front of him, obviously thinking hard about this.
"You have to trust me on some level, Granger," Draco sighed. "Otherwise, what are you going to do? Lay awake at night, afraid that I might think up yet another nefarious scheme?"
"I only see one solution," Hermione muttered to herself. "It's insane, but the only way I can know. Of course, he might not want to do it…."
"If you're talking about me, I'll do it if it's within reason," Draco offered.
"Oh, I'm sure it's far outside of reason," she assured him. "Let's go to your room."
"What about the rounds?"
She shrugged. "The shadows aren't attacking anyone tonight."
The trip down to the dungeon wasn't long by any means; it just felt that way. Hermione was nervously walking as fast as she could without running and Malfoy just followed quietly.
He was right that it was exhausting not to trust him, to always expect him to make a turn for the worse. The fact that she still physically wanted him only made it ten times worse. They would have to stay at school together for a couple more months and avoiding him seemed entirely out of the question since they seemed to keep being thrown together. What drove him to want to be around her, she wasn't entirely sure, but lust was probably a factor, even if spite should turn out to be the real reason.
She could really see no other way than what had just occurred to her, but she wasn't sure she could go through with it. It scared her. She would possibly be playing right into his hand.
But then she would know and there would be no way for him to appeal to her anymore. Not physically and certainly not in any other way.
"Are you going to tell me what it is you want me to do now?" he asked as soon as they'd entered his room.
Hermione opened her mouth to try to explain and then grimaced. "It's going to sound stupid."
"Ok. I'll keep an open mind." He looked at her expectantly.
She grimaced again. "I want you to… I mean, I think we should… um… I think this is best solved by… if we should perhaps… sleep together."
He didn't even bat an eyelid. "So, when you say sleep together…"
"Sex, Malfoy," she curtly interrupted. "I mean sex."
"And this will solve our problem how?"
He wanted her to explain? He didn't just jump at the chance to have sex? That didn't bode well. Hermione's heart sank. Still, she could hardly run away with her tail between her legs, so she braced herself and said, "Basically, I expect you to show your true colors after that."
"And how do you know I wouldn't just 'fool you' again?" His facial expression was worthy of Theo. That couldn't be a good thing.
She shrugged and looked away. "After two times the count hardly matters and if you were to ridicule me, you'd have to do it before everyone is too immersed in studying for their NEWTs to care. That leaves only little time."
"So why not just wait it out?"
Yes, why not just wait it out? Could it be that maybe she was letting her hormones dictate her course of action? She hesitated.
No, her reasons were sound. Weren't they? Maybe he could be the judge of that. Not that he seemed that enthusiastic. "Because your request for friendship seemed to insinuate that you might be messing with me even after school finishes. I'm not entirely sure what damage you could do then, but I'm sure I'd 'lose sleep' worrying about it."
"So let me get this straight… I have to sleep with you if I want to be friends with you?" His voice was perfectly calm, but she got the feeling that he wasn't liking the suggestion one bit.
Oh, this was not going the way she'd thought, much less hoped, at all. Well, at least she'd learned something; Draco was, indeed, over his lust.
Now, wasn't that embarrassing?
She was more than a little disappointed as well. At least she thought it was disappointment she was feeling. So much for struggling with whether to do this or not. So much for her worries about giving in to him.
He didn't want her at all.
"You don't have to do anything," she said as calmly as was humanly possible in the face of this revelation. "I just thought it would be easier. Of course you shouldn't do anything you don't want to do. I… um, I just wasn't sure that would be a problem. I'm sorry."
She turned away, her vision blurring and her hands shaking. She'd never felt this humiliated in her life. Maybe once or twice in the last year it had come close, but this…. She swallowed. This, he could certainly use to ridicule her with. So, in a way, she had achieved what she'd set out to do, hadn't she?
Only, she'd hoped it would have been done more pleasantly. Kisses and caresses beat humiliating rejection every time.
Quickly, before he noticed that she was actually dumb enough to be close to tears-from her mortification, of course-she reached for the door. She had to get out of there. She had to get to her own safe, warm bed where she could lament the loss of her pride and self-respect.
She had only just opened the door when it slammed shut again. Draco was nowhere near her, so she could only assume that he'd got out his wand and used magic. How overbearing! Couldn't he just have asked her to wait, like a normal person?
"I didn't say no," he said.
Her fists clenched. Either he was an idiot or he was playing with her. Either way, her humiliation combined with his inconsideration already had her well on her way to furious. "Then you might have made an effort to seem more positive about the idea-at least if you wanted to appear like you weren't a sadistic prick!" she scathingly replied without turning around.
"You just told me that you want to sleep with me to prove I'm an arsehole. Was I supposed to jump for joy?"
"Then just say no."
"No, I'm not saying no." Suddenly she could feel him standing closely behind her. "I hate your reasons, but I'm not saying no."
She smiled self-deprecatingly. No, of course he wasn't going to say no. Sex was sex, even if he didn't particularly want her, right? The idea just seemed worse and worse, but at the same time... she wanted to lean back against him and just forget that he was a mean and spiteful git.
The strange and inappropriate urge confused her to no end and she found that, unsurprisingly, it hurt to want someone who showed very little sign of wanting her back.
Good thing it was only physical.
He lowered his head until his lips were brushing her earlobe. "Did you change your mind?" he whispered.
She should. She should walk right out of there and not look back.
"I hate you," she breathed.
His head jerked back as if in surprise and he was quiet for a while. "I see," he finally said, his voice carefully neutral. "I'm sorry that you feel that way."
She slowly turned around, feeling a little satisfaction at the bewilderment in his eyes. "Does that change your mind?"
His eyes became inscrutable, but his jaw was clenched, confirming that her statement bothered him. "No," he finally forced out. "But it does change the rules a bit."
"The rules?" She frowned, momentarily forgetting she resented him. "I wasn't aware we had rules now."
The pain in Draco's chest was so overpowering that he could swear it was a real physical pain. He knew that she didn't truly hate him, but the words had been spoken and he had a silly urge to make her take them back.
He had to play this carefully, though, or she'd leave. He'd probably been a little too harsh on her after she'd told him her plan, but the thought that she would offer him something he craved so much so carelessly and not think more highly of it than use it as a means to a rather insignificant end… it had made him angry. She didn't have to love him, but if she was offering to sleep with him, couldn't she at least do so because of passion? Because she wanted him?
For a few insane minutes, he had wanted to hurt her, to make her bleed.
Then he'd realized he had hurt her and it hadn't given him any gratification at all. But her retaliation…. Words weren't supposed to carry that kind of power, were they?
"So, what's changed?" she prodded him again.
He blinked. Right. He had to stay focused. "You say you don't trust me," he hoarsely said.
"That's hardly new."
"You want to use this as a test to see if you're right or if I can at least be trusted a little bit, yeah?"
"Yes, very nice recap, Malfoy."
He turned away from her and took the two steps over to his desk where a certain wooden box had been sitting for more than a month now. He knew the exact second she realized what he was reaching for, because her breath hitched.
"No!" she quickly said. "Not on your life! I'm not going there again. Forget it."
He slowly opened the box, looking at the platinum bracelet and ring inside. "I'll let you choose. It doesn't matter which one you wear."
"Choose? I'm not wearing either of those things again. They're dangerous."
"Just for the night," he whispered. "It's the only way for your little test to actually make sense. So, what'll it be, Granger? Will you command me at the expense of knowing exactly what I'm feeling, or will you let me command you while having no secrets of your own? Either way, tomorrow you should have no excuse not to trust me anymore… unless, of course, you're right about me."
Title: The Bracelet
Author: AkashaTheKitty
Characters: Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson, Ron Weasley, Theodore Nott (whew)
Genres: Drama, Friendship, Hogwarts Years, Humor, Romance
Warnings: HBP Spoilers, although slightly incompatible.
Overall Rating: R
Summary: When Hermione Granger loses a bet she was sure she'd win to Draco Malfoy, it's the beginning of her own personal hell. And his.
Go here if you didn't read previous chapters.
Hermione peeked through an open doorway and saw absolutely nothing. The darkness was absolute. It didn't matter, though, because the action was just a way to pretend she didn't notice how Malfoy was sulking.
The Astronomy Tower, indeed. The two of them, undisturbed, under the stars….
No. She couldn't do that. Where had the suggestion come from, anyway? One second he'd basically been telling her that people-including himself-found her well-meaning advice intrusive and annoying and the next…. He'd probably just suggested it because he hated the rounds and wanted to do something else. Not because he wanted to be alone with her. Wouldn't it have been embarrassing to go with him only to realize that he actually hadn't meant anything with the invitation?
She was so confused she almost wanted to cry. She wanted this night to be over.
"Can I ask you something?" he suddenly asked.
She felt like saying no, but curiosity got the better of her and she ended up with a cautious, "What?"
There was a brief silence where he seemed to gather his thoughts. "When you accuse me of spreading stories and whatever else you can think of, is it because you actually believe it or is it just…?"
Still feeling cautious, Hermione didn't feel like answering only half a question. "Just what?"
Again he spent a moment figuring out what words to put together. "Just a way to keep me at a distance?"
Why would I need you at a distance? She almost voiced the question, but then realized how loaded it was. She was barely coping as it was, so she'd rather not go there. "I wouldn't accuse you of something if I didn't think you were capable of it," she said instead.
"But I didn't do it!" he exclaimed, stopping up. "I never even mentioned that I'd been with you to anyone! Blaise was just bothering me as usual! I said I didn't need his help, so he drew some conclusions a bit too loudly, and Theo overheard. That's all, I swear." When Hermione didn't respond, he continued, "Why would I want to hurt Theo like that? He's the one that made me Deputy Head Boy and thought I was worth helping-and he called me a friend when hardly anyone else did. I already hurt him far more than I should have by putting the bracelet on you and refusing to take it off after realizing he had feelings for you."
"We should have removed it," Hermione muttered, walking on, afraid to look at Draco when he was being this honest. She didn't need to go there.
"Yeah…" Draco half-heartedly agreed at Hermione's back. Just imagine all the trouble they could have avoided if he'd never become addicted to her feelings. If he'd never kissed her…. The truth was that he was glad he'd gone through with it. He'd lost one of his best friends and had fallen hopelessly for someone who barely even liked him, but somehow it still felt like it had been worth it. Like he was a better person for it.
"It would have saved me a lot of humiliation and inconvenience, and you a silly short-lived infatuation, a friend and a girlfriend," she said, as if to convince him.
He noticed that her very simplified list didn't include a boyfriend on her end. He wondered whether that was on purpose or just an oversight.
He also wondered whether she actually believed that his 'silly infatuation' had been that short-lived.
"Pansy and I were due for a break-up anyway," he said, keeping his observations to himself. "So you can cross that off the list of casualties."
"Oh."
"But that's beside the point." He took a few long steps, bringing him in front of her, making her almost bump into him. "I did not spread any stories about us," he said as if he didn't notice her stopping so quickly she almost stumbled in order not to walk into him.
In order not to touch him.
"So you say," she warily replied. "It's been duly noted."
"Duly noted is not good enough. Why would I even lie about this?"
"I don't know. To fool me again?" she suggested.
He shook his head, hating that she didn't just believe him. "But following your logic I already achieved my goal. Wouldn't it be better to rub it in your face? Make you suffer?"
She flinched. She honestly thought he would do that? That didn't feel nice. In fact, it felt like a girl he was in love with had just told him she thought he was the lowest of the low. Oh wait, that did just happen.
"Yeah," she muttered, "but not as good as rubbing in my face that I trusted you enough to do it twice."
So that was her fear? Draco had done and said some low things in his life and there were a lot of them that he didn't even regret, but it had never even occurred to him to get intimate with Hermione just to use it to humiliate her.
"Then don't do it again," he quietly said, feeling like he just couldn't win. The thing was, however, that while he did madly want her and had hoped that it could eventually become a possibility that she'd want him again, he could easily live without sleeping with her if he had to. He just wanted to be around her without her being all stiff and suspicious and hurt because she worried what he might do. "Let's just be friends."
He could hardly believe he'd said that last bit. Friends. They'd never been friends. She didn't want to be his friend. Hell, he wasn't sure he could rightfully call himself her friend when he wanted so much more.
"Friends?" she incredulously asked, confirming his thoughts.
"Friendly?" he suggested. "I don't know, Granger, just… I'm not as dedicated to hurting you as you seem to think. Not at all, actually. Your caution is all for nothing."
"Just to be sure…" she said, looking a bit confused. "You do realize that friends would be a step up, right?"
"Anything would be. But if we agree to be friends, then you won't have to worry, and maybe we could actually act somewhat normal around each other."
"No, see," she said, waving her finger at him. "That's not how it works. I'll be forever trying to figure out your agenda."
"That sounds exhausting."
"It is!" She looked frustrated. Good. He wasn't the only one feeling that way, then.
"There is no agenda," he quietly said. It was only a small lie. To want to be around her wasn't really an agenda per se, was it? It was not a mean agenda, in any case.
"But I can't be sure of that, can I?" She began pacing in front of him, obviously thinking hard about this.
"You have to trust me on some level, Granger," Draco sighed. "Otherwise, what are you going to do? Lay awake at night, afraid that I might think up yet another nefarious scheme?"
"I only see one solution," Hermione muttered to herself. "It's insane, but the only way I can know. Of course, he might not want to do it…."
"If you're talking about me, I'll do it if it's within reason," Draco offered.
"Oh, I'm sure it's far outside of reason," she assured him. "Let's go to your room."
"What about the rounds?"
She shrugged. "The shadows aren't attacking anyone tonight."
The trip down to the dungeon wasn't long by any means; it just felt that way. Hermione was nervously walking as fast as she could without running and Malfoy just followed quietly.
He was right that it was exhausting not to trust him, to always expect him to make a turn for the worse. The fact that she still physically wanted him only made it ten times worse. They would have to stay at school together for a couple more months and avoiding him seemed entirely out of the question since they seemed to keep being thrown together. What drove him to want to be around her, she wasn't entirely sure, but lust was probably a factor, even if spite should turn out to be the real reason.
She could really see no other way than what had just occurred to her, but she wasn't sure she could go through with it. It scared her. She would possibly be playing right into his hand.
But then she would know and there would be no way for him to appeal to her anymore. Not physically and certainly not in any other way.
"Are you going to tell me what it is you want me to do now?" he asked as soon as they'd entered his room.
Hermione opened her mouth to try to explain and then grimaced. "It's going to sound stupid."
"Ok. I'll keep an open mind." He looked at her expectantly.
She grimaced again. "I want you to… I mean, I think we should… um… I think this is best solved by… if we should perhaps… sleep together."
He didn't even bat an eyelid. "So, when you say sleep together…"
"Sex, Malfoy," she curtly interrupted. "I mean sex."
"And this will solve our problem how?"
He wanted her to explain? He didn't just jump at the chance to have sex? That didn't bode well. Hermione's heart sank. Still, she could hardly run away with her tail between her legs, so she braced herself and said, "Basically, I expect you to show your true colors after that."
"And how do you know I wouldn't just 'fool you' again?" His facial expression was worthy of Theo. That couldn't be a good thing.
She shrugged and looked away. "After two times the count hardly matters and if you were to ridicule me, you'd have to do it before everyone is too immersed in studying for their NEWTs to care. That leaves only little time."
"So why not just wait it out?"
Yes, why not just wait it out? Could it be that maybe she was letting her hormones dictate her course of action? She hesitated.
No, her reasons were sound. Weren't they? Maybe he could be the judge of that. Not that he seemed that enthusiastic. "Because your request for friendship seemed to insinuate that you might be messing with me even after school finishes. I'm not entirely sure what damage you could do then, but I'm sure I'd 'lose sleep' worrying about it."
"So let me get this straight… I have to sleep with you if I want to be friends with you?" His voice was perfectly calm, but she got the feeling that he wasn't liking the suggestion one bit.
Oh, this was not going the way she'd thought, much less hoped, at all. Well, at least she'd learned something; Draco was, indeed, over his lust.
Now, wasn't that embarrassing?
She was more than a little disappointed as well. At least she thought it was disappointment she was feeling. So much for struggling with whether to do this or not. So much for her worries about giving in to him.
He didn't want her at all.
"You don't have to do anything," she said as calmly as was humanly possible in the face of this revelation. "I just thought it would be easier. Of course you shouldn't do anything you don't want to do. I… um, I just wasn't sure that would be a problem. I'm sorry."
She turned away, her vision blurring and her hands shaking. She'd never felt this humiliated in her life. Maybe once or twice in the last year it had come close, but this…. She swallowed. This, he could certainly use to ridicule her with. So, in a way, she had achieved what she'd set out to do, hadn't she?
Only, she'd hoped it would have been done more pleasantly. Kisses and caresses beat humiliating rejection every time.
Quickly, before he noticed that she was actually dumb enough to be close to tears-from her mortification, of course-she reached for the door. She had to get out of there. She had to get to her own safe, warm bed where she could lament the loss of her pride and self-respect.
She had only just opened the door when it slammed shut again. Draco was nowhere near her, so she could only assume that he'd got out his wand and used magic. How overbearing! Couldn't he just have asked her to wait, like a normal person?
"I didn't say no," he said.
Her fists clenched. Either he was an idiot or he was playing with her. Either way, her humiliation combined with his inconsideration already had her well on her way to furious. "Then you might have made an effort to seem more positive about the idea-at least if you wanted to appear like you weren't a sadistic prick!" she scathingly replied without turning around.
"You just told me that you want to sleep with me to prove I'm an arsehole. Was I supposed to jump for joy?"
"Then just say no."
"No, I'm not saying no." Suddenly she could feel him standing closely behind her. "I hate your reasons, but I'm not saying no."
She smiled self-deprecatingly. No, of course he wasn't going to say no. Sex was sex, even if he didn't particularly want her, right? The idea just seemed worse and worse, but at the same time... she wanted to lean back against him and just forget that he was a mean and spiteful git.
The strange and inappropriate urge confused her to no end and she found that, unsurprisingly, it hurt to want someone who showed very little sign of wanting her back.
Good thing it was only physical.
He lowered his head until his lips were brushing her earlobe. "Did you change your mind?" he whispered.
She should. She should walk right out of there and not look back.
"I hate you," she breathed.
His head jerked back as if in surprise and he was quiet for a while. "I see," he finally said, his voice carefully neutral. "I'm sorry that you feel that way."
She slowly turned around, feeling a little satisfaction at the bewilderment in his eyes. "Does that change your mind?"
His eyes became inscrutable, but his jaw was clenched, confirming that her statement bothered him. "No," he finally forced out. "But it does change the rules a bit."
"The rules?" She frowned, momentarily forgetting she resented him. "I wasn't aware we had rules now."
The pain in Draco's chest was so overpowering that he could swear it was a real physical pain. He knew that she didn't truly hate him, but the words had been spoken and he had a silly urge to make her take them back.
He had to play this carefully, though, or she'd leave. He'd probably been a little too harsh on her after she'd told him her plan, but the thought that she would offer him something he craved so much so carelessly and not think more highly of it than use it as a means to a rather insignificant end… it had made him angry. She didn't have to love him, but if she was offering to sleep with him, couldn't she at least do so because of passion? Because she wanted him?
For a few insane minutes, he had wanted to hurt her, to make her bleed.
Then he'd realized he had hurt her and it hadn't given him any gratification at all. But her retaliation…. Words weren't supposed to carry that kind of power, were they?
"So, what's changed?" she prodded him again.
He blinked. Right. He had to stay focused. "You say you don't trust me," he hoarsely said.
"That's hardly new."
"You want to use this as a test to see if you're right or if I can at least be trusted a little bit, yeah?"
"Yes, very nice recap, Malfoy."
He turned away from her and took the two steps over to his desk where a certain wooden box had been sitting for more than a month now. He knew the exact second she realized what he was reaching for, because her breath hitched.
"No!" she quickly said. "Not on your life! I'm not going there again. Forget it."
He slowly opened the box, looking at the platinum bracelet and ring inside. "I'll let you choose. It doesn't matter which one you wear."
"Choose? I'm not wearing either of those things again. They're dangerous."
"Just for the night," he whispered. "It's the only way for your little test to actually make sense. So, what'll it be, Granger? Will you command me at the expense of knowing exactly what I'm feeling, or will you let me command you while having no secrets of your own? Either way, tomorrow you should have no excuse not to trust me anymore… unless, of course, you're right about me."