Pleasant Chains: Of Beds and Bondage

Chapter 4 - A New World

Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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To Draco's great dismay, Professor McGonagall nullified the previous academic year as soon as she assumed the role of Headmaster.

No graduation ceremony followed the Battle of Hogwarts.

Instead, seventh year students were invited to return to the castle the following autumn to properly complete their magical educations.

Draco sighed to himself that September as he found himself riding the train that he had vowed her would never board again.

He scowled as he stared out the window at the passing landscape that rolled by.

The anticipated loneliness of the coming months and years seemed daunting.

His parents had privately commended his decision to throw Harry his wand in the battle's final moments, although publicly, they had denounced their son's actions.

Cast out from both their friends and from those who followed the path of good, the Malfoys found themselves without hardly anyone at all except each other.

Draco had always been prone to long sessions of brooding, but in that empty train compartment, as he glanced around, he wished that Goyle or Blaise would have been kind enough to sit with him.

It would have at least given him a moment's respite from his own self-hatred.

A sudden shadow from a passing figure caused him to leave his inner musings for a split second and look up....only to see Hermione pass by his train compartment's window.

Draco frowned as he imagined her on her way to join her two friends in their comfortable car while they reveled in their victory.

He grit his teeth as he wondered how she could be so blind.

Of course Weasley and Potter were her best friends, they could share her through each cycle and never have to bother with finding their own mates.

As he lamented the fact he could not be either of them, the shadow passed a second time and he looked up to see Hermione walking the opposite way down the hall as she passed by his train compartment's window once more.

Curious, Draco stood, opened the door, and shouted at her as he stuck his head into the hall, "GRANGER!"

Hermione stopped abruptly and turned to meet his gaze, "........Hello, Malfoy."

"What are you doing stomping up and down out here?" He demanded, "Forget where the loo is after all this time?"

"Actually, I've nowhere to sit." Hermione snapped as she clutched the books she held against her chest.

"Where's Weasley and Potter?" Draco frowned.

"Not here!" She exclaimed, "I expect they're at the Ministry, halfway through Auror orientation by now."

"Don't you have to have a diploma for that?" Draco scowled.

"Apparently not....if you've defeated the Dark Lord." Hermione shrugged.

It took Draco a split second to recover himself after the sunlight rolled through a nearby window and highlighted Hermione's brown hair in an almost ethereal glow.

"Well......." He stammered, determined to work against his dry throat, "Surely there's plenty of students who'd enjoy you sitting with them, give them a good retelling of the battle."

"That's just it, I'm not interested in talking about the war!" Hermione said with a frustrated gasp. A sadness Draco had never seen there before came into her eyes as she looked at him and sighed, "I just want to sit and read, that's all."