3 days later
Draco was walking down the hallway with Crabbe and Goyle, when they came across the Gryfindor trio. As they were approaching, Granger looked at him, then cocked her head towards Potter. He looked a bit confused, so she used her hand to mime talking, and cocked her head at Potter again, rolling her eyes. Draco's eyes lit with recognition. "Hey, Potty, your boyfriend is looking a bit sad today. Did you not drop the soap this morning?" he taunted. Harry pulled his wand from his pocket, "Shut up, Malfoy, or else!" he replied, red faced. The rest of the crew drew their wands as well.
Draco laughed, "Or Else?" he smirked "Or else, what? You gonna cry to mummy? Oh, wait, you can't."
"Harry, let it go, it's not worth it, you'll get detention." Hermione said, as she pulled on Harry's arm. Looking up at Draco, she mouthed, 'let him hex first, you just shield.' He nodded, signaling acceptance, though his eyes held a question.
"Stupefy!" Harry yelled. Draco shielded, but did not send a return hex. It was at this moment that Professor Snape came around the corner, "POTTER!" He shouted, "20 points from gryfindor, and detention with me tonight." Harry slumped, and Hermione gave him a look. Shaking her head she grabbed Harry, walked by the Slytherins. As she passed Draco, she brushed her hand against his robe, and he felt her slip something in his pocket. He walked away, and once he was out of sight, pulled out the note Hermione had slipped him.
DM,
Weasel is easy enough to get rid of, but Potter is a bit too persistant. Thanks for your help. Meet me tonight during his detention in the Room of Requirement. I have some ideas for your project. By the way, Snape will be trying to help you, but he is working for the Old Man. Don't trust him. If I can get a pensieve in the ROR tonight, I can show you proof. Please arrive at precisely 7:15. The ROR door will be visible, tap it with your wand 3 times, and say 'The Slytherin Gryffindor'. See you then.
-HG
Draco shook his head, who would have thought that Granger would set up Potter like that. Though it seems there is a lot to her that he didn't know.
7:15, outside the Room of Requirement
Draco arrived right on time, seeing the door, he followed the instructions given in the note. Opening the door, he saw a lounge room decorated quite similar to the Slytherin common room. "Granger?" he called.
"Over here" He heard her say, "On the Couch by the fireplace."
He strolled over and sat down next to her on the sofa. "Well," he said, "I'm still not sure why I should trust you."
She looked up at him, "I have my own reasons for hating the headmaster. Did you know that I am a year older than everyone else in our year?" she asked.
He looked surprised, "No, I didn't."
"My birthday is September 19th. I was visited by McGonagal when I was still 10. I should have started that year, and been the youngest in the class, but something happened between the visit and the start of the year. I told you about my dad. Well, that summer he had pissed off some rival, and they decided they wanted him to give them some money. Of course, he wasn't just going to give it to them, so they needed some collateral. That was me. It was mid august when they grabbed me. My dad held off paying them until January. The only reason he did end up paying them, is because they sent him my toe, and told him they would send another one every day until he paid. I am missing 3 toes on my left foot. I later found out that after I was taken, they sent a letter to Dumbledore asking if there was any magical way to find me. Dumbledore refused, saying that as I was a muggleborn, taken by muggles, there was nothing he could do. If Dumbledore had helped, I would have been rescued in time to start Hogwarts that fall, and I wouldn't have been kept in a cage for 5 months. When I got back home, they again asked Dumbledore if there was any magical ways of healing, as along with my toes, they had broken both my legs to keep me from escaping. I had severe damage to my wrists and neck from the chains they kept me in. Again, Dumbledore said that he couldn't help, as I was living in the muggle world. I was unable to walk until July of that year, and if you look close, you can still see some scars on my wrists and neck. I went to Hogwarts that fall, but I was quite upset with Dumbledore. There are other things too. Second year, I wasn't actually attacked by the basilisk. I had figured out what the monster was, and where the chamber was at, and I was at the owlery, sending a letter to the DMLE, when he came in and told me that I couldn't send the letter, because Harry had to fight the basilisk. He told me that I was getting in the way, and that 'for the greater good' I needed to be 'attacked' by the creature, to motivate Harry to fight it. He then cast an obliviate and some other spell to petrify me like the others. Luckliy for me, I had been reading up on occlumancy, and so during my time petrified, I organized my mind and built my walls. At that time I discovered he had obliviated me a couple of times first year as well. There have been more instances since, but after that I built a trigger in my mind, so I know if someone obliviates me, and then I can go recover the true memory. In summary, yes, I absolutely hate Dumbledore, and if you could pawn off your mission it would be my pleasure to do it for you."
Draco sat there, completely shocked at what she had told him. "wow." He said, "that's…wow." He thought about all that she had told him, and wondered how it was that she was able to put on the face of the Gryffindor Swot. "How have you not gone crazy?" He asked after a minute.
"By planning my revenge." She stated. "Did you know there is a prophecy about Harry and the Dark Lord?"
He looked up sharply, "No."
"There is." She replied. "It basicly says one has to kill the other. Once that happens the survivor is fair game. At this point, I plan to train Harry to the point that he kills the Dark Lord. He will then tragically succumb to his 'injuries'. By this time Dumbledore will be gone, and people will be looking for a new leader. I plan to give them one. Now that you know about this, we need to figure out a way for you to kill Dumbledore, and at the same time secretly convince the Light that you have switched sides. You won't, of course, but after the war is over, I will be needing a partner, what better publicity stunt than a reformed death eater marrying the new leader of the 'light'? I already have a few people in place in the ministry. Of course, they don't know who I really am. Has your father ever mentioned the name Morgan Lafayette to you?"
Draco's eyes went huge. "Morgan Lafayette!" he spluttered, "yes, I have heard that name. are you saying that is YOU!? Merlin's Balls, Granger, the rumors about her, I mean, you, bloody hell!"
"Oh?" she replied, cocking her head, "and what do the death eaters think, I only have one contact there, but he's a new recruit, so he doesn't hear much from the inner circle."
"You have a contact in the death eaters? Then again, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Lets just say that my crazy aunt looks up to Morgan. Its kind of creepy to hear her talk about you, especially now that I know it is you. Did you really do all of those things, or is it just rumors?" he asked warily.
She grinned at him, her eyes cold, yet he could see she was enjoying this. "Probably about half the rumors are true, though my favorite is the one they call 'the hag's tooth massacre', every time I hear that one, it gets better." She gave a dry chuckle, "in all honesty, I was in having a drink with a contact, and this drunk wizard comes up and grabs my arse. I really didn't care who he was, no one does that without my permission. I pointed my wand over my shoulder and crucio'd him. He went down screaming, so I silenced him, and continued my meeting. Not two minutes later, he came back, this time he brought 2 buddies, I guess he was offended or something. He tried to sneak up on me, but I saw him coming. He cast the AK at me, but I dodged. At this point I was getting pissed off, my contact had run off the second the guy came back. I AK'd his 2 buddies, and imperio'd him. I made him follow me outside. I didn't want to be banned from the Hag's Tooth after all, and they have that stupid no blood on the floor rule. He had really pissed me off, and this was also soon after school was out last summer, and I had yet to vent my school year frustration yet. Once we got outside I made him strip to his pants, didn't want to have to touch him myself, you see, and it is much easier to torture someone when you can see what you are doing. I made him lay down, and then stuck his body to the ground. Released the imperio at that point, he was making to much noise so I cut out his tounge. The idiot passed out so I had to cast the adviglio* on him. I crucio'd him again, then I started in with the summoning charms. Most people don't realize how usefull these are. If you only use a little power, the summoned object won't come to you, but it will pull towards you somewhat. So I started by lightly summoning his left eye, slowly exerting more pressure until it popped out. I was getting a little bored, plus I didn't want to stick around until the aurors showed up, so I summoned his heart out of his chest, stuck it in his mouth and went on my way. All in all probably about 5 minutes. Last time I heard it, there were 20 friends and 3 tortured idiots, and it happened on the bar itself. It does come in handy for fearmongering though." She finished her story looking thoughtful. By this time, Draco had turned quite green, "That's….um, nice, I guess?" he squeaked.
Hermione turned to look at him, "I hope I haven't freaked you out too much," she said, "I know that most people are offended by that kind of thing, but I was under the impression you grew up with it like I did."
Draco was slowly loosing his green tinge, as he replied, "Well, my father did instruct me on the use of dark curses after 1st year, and every summer since, but, torture is more my aunt's thing, and she's only been out for a year. Did your father really teach you to torture people?"
She gave a dark chuckle, "Not at first. My 'training' started with learning to resist torture. Have you ever heard of a muggle technique called waterboarding? It is when you are tied down a cloth pulled over your face, and then water is poured over it. That was my 'punishment' when I was 8. Other times it was a punch or two, or I'd get locked in a closet for a couple days, or something like that. Most kids get a spanking, but dad said this way I would learn my lesson, and build up a tolerance at the same time. At the time, I hated him for it, still do sometimes, but his 'training' did help me. I don't think I would have survived my time as captive when I was 11 without it. He used to make me sit and watch when he would break enemies, he would have me time it. I remember summer after 3th year, he decided that he would test me. I didn't know this at the time. He had an associate take me to a warehouse, where he proceeded to question me about my dad and his activities. They 'questioned' me for 7 hours before I became to damaged to talk, and I passed out for the final time. When I awoke, I was at home, and my dad was sitting by my bed. He told me he was very proud of me, and told me he had never seen anyone last that long without breaking or dying. He then told me he would start training me to do the 'questioning'. He didn't like the word torture, though that is what it was. It was his opinion that the best way to be good at torture is to have experience it yourself. He told me that someone who has been tortured can torture more effectively. It sounds horrible, but it's what I know."
Draco was looking appaled. "Holy fuck, Granger, that is insane. I mean, yeah, my father might have been a bit rough, but nothing like that! Damn!" Draco flopped back into the sofa. The two of them sat there for a few minutes just looking into the fire. Finally, Draco sat back up. "So Granger, you are basically telling me you are going to be the next Dark Lady as Morgan Lafayette, but be a politician as Hermione Granger, and basically take over the wizarding world, and you want me to be your partner? Did I understand you right?" Draco said, looking at her inquisively.
"Yes, pretty much. Once the Dark Lord is gone, I will need your help to start recruiting ex-death eaters. Hopefully most of the inner circle survives, and those who are willing will start making up ours. Inner Circle will know of the dual identity, others will believe that Hermione Granger is under Morgan's control through other means. Perhaps you, as my husband, will have done something, who knows. But in public, we will have to be seen as 'light'." Hermione summarized. "I also have an idea for our Dumbledore problem. The issue is that if someone else takes him out, the Dark Lord will at minimum punish you, and at worst, kill you and your family. I was wondering if there was any way we could trick him into coming here, have him and Potter battle, of course, dumledore would assist, and as he is already quite ill, the dark lord could probably take him out with ease. Then whoever is left of the battle between him and Potter, we get rid of. This would solve both issues, and also help accelerate my plans. You have a way for the death eaters to enter the school, right?" Draco nodded, "Yes."
"Then all we have to do is find a something that would convince him to come to the castle, alone, without telling any of his death eaters. Oh! I know he was desperate for the prophecy. What if you told him you overheard Harry talking to me about it, and then kidnapped me to the room here. I would tell Potter that I overheard you that you talking to Crabbe and Goyle about meeting the Dark Lord in this room, and that he should get Dumbledore and come quickly. We'd have to time it just right, but if we do it right, the Dark Lord would exit the cabinet, one of us destroys it, and then Potter and Dumbledore would enter the room, starting a duel. We stay hidden until it is over, and take out the remaining one. Our cover story would be that we were going down the hall, and heard the noises, and came to investigate. We will tell the light that when we came in Dumbledore and potter were down, and so together we got rid of the Dark Lord, but you can tell the death eaters, that He came through to get an update on your mission, but Potter and Dumbledore stumbled upon you, you fought, Potter went down, the dark lord went down, and then you took out Dumbledore. That should satisfy both sides, Morgan will then step in as a leader to help reorganize the death eaters. What do you think?"
Hermione looked over at Draco, who was staring at her open-mouthed. "That's brilliant! How did you come up with that so fast?!" Hermione shrugged, "I've always been good at plans." Draco shook his head, "How on earth did you get into Gryffindor?"
Hermione smirked at him, "Blame Dumbledore, he has instructed the hat not to place any muggleborns in slytherin. According to the hat, there are a few Slytherin muggleborns in each house. From what the hat told me when I stole him 1st year, Dumbledore knows that if muggleborns were sorted into Slytherin, some of the purebloods would change their opinions, which would then cause him to loose power. The 'light' side is made up of mostly muggleborns and halfbloods, if they were accepted on the 'dark' side as well, he would lose at least half of his supporters. He claims to support muggleborns, but he has actually proposed more anti-muggle and anti-muggleborn laws than your father. They just don't look like it from the surface. Remember second year, the Muggleborn protection act? It was a bunch of rules and loopholes that basically made it legal to kill any muggle that found out about magic. So you could technically walk up to a random muggle, show them your wand, and tell them what it was, and at that point it would be legal to kill them. This was allowed so that if a muggleborn was to be attacked they could retaliate without fear of prosecution. It also had provisions for so called 'exception permits', which could be given to a muggle in the know, but legally the wizard would become responsible for that muggle, and the muggle no longer had any rights, and would have to obey the wizard. These exception permits were to be issued to all muggleborn parents, with Dumbledore as the issuer. That is the ONLY reason the 'dark' was against it. Dumbledore could essentially control every muggleborn, by having their parents as collateral."
Draco gave a huge sigh. "Damn."
Hermione sighed as well, "Yeah, kinda throws everything upside down, huh. Remind me to tell you the story of how Dumbledore is the reason why the Dark Lord is so against muggles and muggleborns sometime. I have to get going back to the Gryffindors, Harry will be back soon, and he doesn't take obliviate as well as Ron, so if I am late I will have to actually come up with an excuse. Meet me here Saturday night; same time, same password. We can work on our plan, and figure out a time to have the confrontation." Hermione leaned over and kissed Draco soundly. She then quickly got up. "Goodnight Draco." She said, walking towards the door. "See you Saturday!"
"Goodnight." Draco groaned, "Oh, Granger, you're killing me here."