"I have warned you. If something happens to you, I will personally raze the entire order. That isn't a threat. That is a promise. Consider your survival as much a necessity to the survival of the resistance as Potter's. If you die, I will kill every last one of them."
My thoughts:
Part One of the Manacled Series:
07.10.2024: The setting is post war, and we are introduced to an imprisoned Hermione Granger. Umbridge decided it was a great idea to deprive her of any sounds of smells for sixteen months. Hermione was pulled from her cell and taken to some healers for 'evaluation' but she went into shock and blacked out which has her brought to another healer who rips into Umbridge and gives us a little more insight into what Hermione was dealing with.
- What did Hermione hide without her knowing she hide anything at all?
I knew this book was going to be a rough read from all the other reviews and what people had talked about in the various groups for fanfic, but damn I was not prepared for my mind to visually show me everyone hanging in the great hall rotting after they were murdered.
We learn that the manacles she- and others- are wearing are made of copper which is a natural conductor of magic, and Hermione has a theory that the dragon heartstring from her wand is imbued within making them attuned to her specifically. Which ensures she won't be able to perform or practice magic with them in place. They also hold a tracking spell, so even if she were able to escape the school it would be rather easy for them to track her down and drag her right back to the school.
Chapter Two comes our swinging with a homage to the handmaidens tales- more specifically Janine in the form of Hannah Abbott. Hannah said she tried to escape and Umbridge took her eye out with her wand before making the healers scar her in order to send everyone else a message.
Ginny is dead, curtsy to the High Reeve, that mysterious sick dog of Voldemort's. It is started that the Dark lord doesn't go out and about much so he sends the High Reeve (Draco) to do all of his dirty work which ends in someone being killed with the killing curse.
Sin Lin did a very good job at inducting Hermione into the breeding program in the efforts of getting the secrets her mind is holding by magical pregnancy. And naturally she is assigned to the High Reeve.
After she was released from the medical wing and placed back with all the other girls, Umbridge had everyone knocked out and new manacles attached to their wrists. These were marked with the wizard they belonged to 'Property of the High Reeve' and they had another use, to cause pain if the wearer tried picking anything up that could cause them harm or their owners-very clever.
The Rules:
1) You will be quiet.
2) You will be obedient.
3) You will not hurt anyone.
4) You will not offend the wives.
5) You will not resist when bedded.
6) After being bedded you will not move for ten minutes.
7) You will do everything to get pregnant quickly and produce healthy children.
8) You will not have sex with any man but the one designated.
The garments offered to the girls are your standard handmaiden red, and no underwear which I find uncomfortable.
Draco interrupted her attempt at killing herself, and arguses with her a little, but there is something more there than that is being said. During her time with Draco she resisted a poem in the attempts to block it all out - 'I felt a funeral, in my brain, and mourners to and fro. I felt a funeral, in my brain, and mourners to and fro, kept treading - treading - till it seemed that sense was breaking through... that sense was breaking through - and what they were all seated. A service, like a drum - kept beating - beating - till i thought my mind was going numb.'
This happens for five days, and then she is left to her own devices, which she uses to force herself to explore the world around her. She also has it in her mind to find something to use in efforts of murdering Draco-this is flawed since the manacles will not allow her to do such a thing-and only ends up finding a fire poker which she cannot touch.
She is outside and Draco is reading a paper that gives way to her realization that the dark lord was using her as bait to trap any remaining resistance members out of hiding. It is another clever maneuver that I am enjoying.
A mediocre pet peeve I have found, is while I understand communicating how everything is affecting Hermione and where her mind state is, why is it the only thing we are focusing on? It has become repetitive without the addition of new information, its rather annoying. I am only on chapter eight, and I have a fear this is going to be a repeating problem throughout the three-part book.
07.11.2024: While she is having her 'outside' time she throws off the cape Draco gave her to stay warm-- as it is wintertime -- and then she decides to hide behind the house and attempt to freeze herself to death, only for Draco to find her and warm her enough to save her life. Then they go inside where she finds the newspaper article and decides to read it, where she gets a little more information on her fate as a surrogate mother to high wizard lords.
Dumbledors death is unlike the one we all know in the clock tower, where is surrounded by death eaters, Draco raises his wand and cannot throw the death curse before Snape steps in to aid him.
07.13.2024: I finished part one and have so many notes to get through, firstly (this is a personal ick) the amount of time spent focusing on her not being able to go into open spaces by herself or without the influence of Draco and the manacles was annoying as shit. Now, on to the rest, clearly the memories she is hiding directly correlate to Draco and her's relationship, and I am 99.9 percent sure Draco was the one who destroyed the horcruxes around Umbridges neck. It is the only thing that makes any sense. There are no more Order members, except for the one who is under the nose of the Dark lord, the only one who no one would think is apart of the Order.
Draco Malfoy.
Now, onto Mr. Graham Montague, his fixation on owning Hermione is astounding and frankly gross in the most gross way possible. To add to this, the way Draco rips his guts out of him shows Draco feels far more than loyalty to the dark lord. He is starting to lose control on the feelings he is hiding from the dark lord and everyone else. It also showed when he came all the way back from Romania to stop his wife from plucking Hermione's eyes out of her head, and then again when he turned up home drunk and made out with her. It was confirmed (for me) when she showed up pregnant which threw her into a tailspin and Draco immediately went to calm her down, and that wasn't out of obligation to the Dark Lord.
Another personal ick of mine, is the redundant explanation given and then a page or two later the same question that has been answered is being asked once again. That is frustrating and it takes away from the emersion of the story.
Part Two of the Manacled Series:
We are in March 2002 nearly 6 years after the death of Albus Dumbledore. The setting is a makeshift hospital where Hermione is making her rounds and explaining what happened to the patients in the hospital.
07.14.2024: I have left off on chapter 44 and thought it was time to update my blog as I have so many notes and marked portions in the first half of part two. We left off - note wise - before the deal was struck with Draco Malfoy. He would be a double agent, a spy for the Order in return he is to be granted a full pardon and Hermione Granger, during and after the war, she is to be his and only his. (God do I love that) and when they first meet up in a random safe location he gives her a black metal ring - much like the one we were told he was wearing in Part one, the same ring Hermione wanted to steal and Draco asked her not to, well now we know why, there is an emotional tie to it - and then he tries to provoke her by kissing her in his way of stating, she is his and he can do with her as he pleases, it is a part of the deal she agreed to make with him.
During most of the time together in the beginning he is teaching her 'Legilimency' in the hopes she can shield herself in the case she is caught, Draco doesn't want to be caught too. She picks it up fairly quickly, and they then move onto dueling as she is no longer allowed in the field unless it to heal someone who is in desperate need of it. I made many crass notes about this, as is sits with me wrong, she is one of the strongest witches with an amazing handle on her wand work, yet she is being thrown to the side for healing reasons. I get it she is dedicated, smart, and picks up on things quickly, it doesn't mean use her in one place and only one place.
Anywho, the next stop is her in the forest of Dean foraging for fluxweed which she can only harvest under a full moon, during that time she was ambushed by a pack of werewolves. She gets out unscathed but ends up at the shack she uses to meet Draco which sets off the alarms and he comes running only to scold her and send her home.
After some time Draco shows up with a punishment injury given to him by the Dark Lord in the form of runes carved into his back with dark magic and venom I believe, either way, Hermione takes it upon herself to heal him as best as she can. During which time she learns he is afraid of physical touch - no shit, the man has been hurt most of his life by the people he trusted most - and she decides to use this to her advantage.
All the while reading this, I have the same thought over and over, Draco isn't the villain, while yes, he has done terrible things, it is all due to who he was forced to serve. He is alone in the world, in a world that hates him for everything that has ever happened regardless of his involvement. All he desires from Hermione is the same love and devotion she gives freely to those who she calls friends, to those who throw her away when it is easy to do so. Harry and Ron are not her friends in this story, they are the ones who have carved hatred into a space where it shouldn't have ever been with the justification 'Your my friend, I was venting.' no that isn't how that works when all you do is shit on her.
During her time alone with Draco she is starting to break through his steel walls which only scares him, and he dumps the cold truth of what happened to Collin all the while slipping up and showing he never wanted to hurt or kill anyone, and the way of using the death curse was out of mercy rather than malice.
Fast forward, Ginny is hit in the face with a rotting curse by Draco's father while she, Ron and Harry were out hunting for the horcruxes. She is rushed to Hermione who heals her as usual - What if Hermione got smacked with a new curse? Who would save her? Oh, that is right no one because they haven't had the for-thought to train anyone else and only rely on one person for it all. - when she is done and letting Ginny rest, she finds the dagger Ron used to cut away the rotting flesh off his sisters face and runs a test to find that the curse is now imbued within the dagger meaning anyone cut with it will get the rotting curse. 
She mentions this at the meeting with Kingsley, and Mad eye moody, Harry gets pissed off and tells Hermione she is a terrible person and friend for only worrying about the mission and not her friends fragile feelings. Then later he says sorry like it is magically going to make everything better, the damage he caused is done, and now he needs to face it.
She and Draco meet back up so she can start healing the scars from the runes on his back in a way they won't pull at his shoulders and make moving hard or uncomfortable. During this time Draco gets hammered - he is in pain physically so justifiable. - and after she is done, she remembers she didn't bring the potion to sober him up meaning she now is dealing with a drunk Draco. He convinces her to stay and drink with him, and during that time she and he start getting deeper into the raw emotions and thoughts, which all starts when he asks her to let him see her hair down. 
They make out, hard, and then heavy petting on his end before they stop abruptly as she is about to cry. Again. Boner killer.
In the morning, she wakes up and heads home, but when she gets back to the shack with Draco, he is nowhere to be found but there is scroll with information on it. It is around this time she realizes she feels abandoned by him, and that hurts her. The realization of her feelings growing for Draco, I think scares her a little more than she thought it would.
When they finally reunite Draco is cold, and I cannot blame him. The fear he must have been rejected, or worse abandoned like so many others have done to him would make anyone shield themselves.
She is called away by Kingsley who takes her to rando cave to help none other than Mr. Graham Montague who is graveling injured, he also promises to make Hermione his personal sex slave at the end of the war when the Dark Lord wins. Thankfully we already know what happens to him in Part one.
Back to reading!
07.16.2024: Where did we leave off last? Ah yes, there was the cave part alright, well after that Draco finds a new way to teach her how to duel properly, they dance! The Waltz to be exact, but it is a rather interesting part since he is proficient at the waltz and our girl looks like a newborn giraffe. Which is also when he opens up a little about his aunt and how she loved to dance.
"You are the worst dance instructor on the planet." she snarled and jerked her trousers up to find a purple bruise already blooming across her shin.
"However, shall I live?" he said dryly, without even looking down at her. "My secret ambition is crushed." 
It made me giggle. It was a nice break in all the seriousness around them both. Then we are stepping into the conversation of Harry being an idiot in sorts for not allowing anyone to use the dark arts while fighting, Draco shares the same sentiment as Hermione. They should be using it, and they aren't going to win with just 'light' magic.
Darco gives a little insight on the dark lord and his dislike for mud-bloods, which is one of the big things from the movies and books, it turns out he doesn't actually care, its merely a distraction in his bigger endeavor of power.
During Christmas, Hermione gives Draco a magical medical pack for her peace of mind, and he gives her two goblin-wrought daggers dipped in manticore blood meaning the one he had died from the elements. It was a nice moment, both of them giving one another something that will in the end keep them safe, without expressing that they actually care for one another.
The one thing that has been driving me crazy is a singular question: What happens if Hermione is cursed, who is going to save her in the order? And in the same I can answer that! NO ONE! All the other healers are basically useless! And what happened when she was cursed? Who healed and saved her? DRACO DID!
After she spends some time with Draco, she headed to Ron's family's home to celebrate with them. Here Molly gives her a knitted sweater in emerald, green, and guess who has to comment on it? Ron! This biggest dickhead in the whole book -Harry is a close second- we also find out that even if they win the war, she can never have her parents back as she is over the five-year period of oblivation reversal. After that conversation with Harry the topic of dark arts comes up again and boom Harry reverts to his true piece of shit self and goes after her, in his defense though, she is baiting him into it so she can push him away in the attempt to protect him.
We are given a little more into Draco and Hermione's relationship growing after they are together for the first time, which she justifies as a means in controlling him to save him from Moody and Kingsley outing him.
Further in, Ron is captured, and Harry takes Hermione, Tonks and Lupin on a suicide mission to rescue him. During this time Hermione is well aware it is a trap and Draco is trying to call her through the ring, over and over again but she is forced to ignore it. When they leave the building, it is shown that there are wards in place making it impossible for them travel, and then boom a hundred or so death eaters arrive along with a werewolf. They are getting their asses handed to them, Ron is getting mauled by a werewolf and Hermione shoots a dark curse to make it turn to ashes.
Then, Draco shows up and he be pissed, he kills all the death eaters and makes a b line towards his girl, all the while she is nearly bleeding out. He ends up saving everyone and takes Hermione away to heal her.
After all that it is still too much hate from the people in the order that call her friend, and the only one pointing it out is Draco, and he is also the only one who is trying to save her life.
At the end of Part 2 we are shown what happens when the Order loses the war, Harry is killed by the dark lord and then he throws are rotting curse at Harrys body before stringing it up. Hermione has to sit there and watch as her friends scream in pain from the acts of Malfoy getting his revenge for his wife though his wife was killed by another death eater. It was a rough thing to read. So be warned and ready to feel a lot of not so nice emotions.
Part Three of the Manacled Series:
07.17.2024: We are back in present time, and she is having a hard time adjusting and arranging her memories in order to make it all make sense. Draco during this time is doing his best to be understanding but at the same time the dude is over here plotting his own death so she and the baby can escape. That alone broke me a little more, the willingness he has to save the person he loves even at the cost of his own life is amazing.
07.19.2024: Welp, it's over, I finished it all and I don't think I like the way it ended. It was so logical lmao, I wanted the expected, the impossible, not reality. While I was disappointed, it all made sense, though I feel awful for Aurore, she should have gone to Hogwarts like James, where it all began, I see why it didn't happen but she missed the magic her parent's felt.
All in all i enjoyed it, there were parts i hated and parts I loved, I would recommend this to anyone who loves HP and wants it to last forever.