"You have got to be kidding me." Hermione said as she sat down on the floor. "You mean to tell me that you, Draco Malfoy, Slytherin, former Death Eater and son of a Death Eater, is hunting for horcruxes to destroy the Dark Lord?"
"Yes." Malfoy answered plainly.
"Do you think I'm completely stupid?!" she huffed in an outrage. "I don't know how you found out we were looking for horcruxes, but if you think for one second that I'm going to believe you…"
She stopped talking as a curious expression overcame Malfoy's face. In fact, it looked very much like surprise, and it was of the most expressive faces she'd ever seen him pull.
"What's the face for?" she asked quite defensively.
"Wait… that's what you've been doing with Potty and the Weasel?! You've been looking for horcruxes all along?"
It was amazing how Malfoy could still look like he was chewing on a lemon when surprised. Hermione was trying to figure out if he'd changed his allegiance even a little, but his views on 'pureblood' relations had obviously not.
"What else would we have been doing?" she asked as her eyes looked to the ceiling.
"Well, I don't know… Hiding maybe?" he answered with a sarcastic voice.
"Wow Malfoy, I didn't know you cared."
"Like I would," he sniggered, "That's just what everyone assumed. But hunting for horcruxes… well it's just insane with danger."
"Are you saying I can't take danger Malfoy?" she answered coldly as she found herself undermined by him again.
"Well Potty and the Weasel are stupid enough to do it, but I didn't think you'd tag along…"
He blinked as Hermione's wand suddenly came very close to his nose.
"Keep talking Malfoy. Go on. Tell me more about how superior you are to all of us. Either that and I make your face look like Goyle's foot, or you tell me exactly how far you've gotten with your little horcrux adventure."
He simply looked up at her as she practically spat out the words, remembering the power of her stunning spell earlier and the effect it would have on his face if she did it again as she stood right in front of him. His mouth tightened. Hermione on the other hand was fighting back a lot of anger. She'd grown impatient of their bickering, and even though she didn't trust him for a second, she needed to get any information possible that could help Harry, Ron and her find the horcruxes. They had run out of ideas as to where to look already and Malfoy might lead them a step forward.
Malfoy at least, seemed to have gotten the picture. He sat quietly until she lowered her wand, and then started talking.
Draco Malfoy was swearing to himself as he walked through the aisles of the Room of Requirement. Granger had managed to overpower him and make him talk so easily that he felt like the biggest idiot to walk this planet. After Largebottom and the Weasel of course. Those two were so useless that it was laughable no matter how many times you thought about it.
Malfoy appeared for a fleeting moment in a forest with twisted, ancient trees, before apparating back to his manor. The Malfoy Manor, once home to a rich and powerful, ancient family of purebloods, had now become headquarters for Voldemort's army. As Draco strode down the alleyway, he looked up at the massive, perfect walls now protecting the foulest creature he'd come to cross paths with. Lord Voldemort however, had more important things to do than always be at Malfoy Manor, so Malfoy could come in an out of his house without being suspected too much.
As he came through the door, he glanced at a tall and stiff black-haired figure that was looking at him. With a scowl, he retreated to his room and Snape followed. As he closed the door on them, Malfoy looked at him and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Professor, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked.
Severus Snape threw a piercing look at him and answered:
"Hermione Granger is at Hogwarts."
"I know," said Draco with a matter-of-fact voice, "We bumped into each other as she came crashing through a window. Any ideas how that happened?"
Snape simply glared suspiciously at Draco, then changed subjects.
"What is your next assignment from The Dark Lord?" he said in his slow, cold voice.
"Well I wouldn't say that's any of your business, but as you did own my trust, I guess I could tell you."
Snape smirked but remained silent.
"I'm to find Dolohov. He seems to have disappeared."
At that he could have sworn he heard Snape snicker.
"Well, that should take a long time." Said Severus nevertheless as Draco turned to his desk, looking busy. "Also, you might be interested to know that the Lovegood girl had been caught. She is now downstairs for interrogation."
Malfoy glanced back at his old potion's master. Was he supposed to care about this? Snape simply walked over to him and put a copy of The Daily Prophet on the desk before turning to leave. Then he stopped. Suddenly he grabbed Draco by his collar and, ignoring the look of hatred boring right through his skull, he said in a low hiss:
"Don't think you are better than me at this. I've been here from before you were born and it would do you well to remember that. Try to blackmail me once more and I'll make you disappear, understood?"
Malfoy looked up at him but stayed silent. Taking that his point had been understood; Snape let go, pulled on his sleeves to look proper again and walked to the door. However, he stopped once again and said:
"When are you going to tell her?"
"None of your business." He replied.
So without another word, Snape walked out the door. Draco growled before slumping down in his chair. Well he had been wrong to try and blackmail him, but still; it had been worth it. He glanced at The Daily Prophet and sat up as the cover picture caught his eye. Luna Lovegood was smiling up at him in her usual, dreamy way, waving at the cameraman.
EDITOR OF THE QUIBLER ARRESTED FOR PROFANITY AS HIS DAUGHTER IS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY FOR
QUESTIONING.
A few lines underneath explained how the Lovegood blondie had been taken by the Wizarding Forces (otherwise known as Death Eaters by everyone else) to be questioned about her complicity with the infamous Harry Potter.
He lent back into his chair as he thought furiously. If the Lovegood girl knew anything about what Potter and his sidekicks had been doing during the summer, the Dark Lord was going to become unstoppable and all his efforts would have been for nothing. There was a knock on the door and Malfoy stared at it angrily. Was there no way to have peace for one second?
He opened up and a messy-haired, dirty-faced Death Eater looked back at him.
"Stan," he said to the man, with a tone that clearly showed how much he was disgusted by him. Didn't the man ever wash his hair? "What can I do for you?"
Stan Shunpike had joined Voldemort's cause a few weeks back. No one had bothered learning his last name. After all, he was a lower ring member.
"It's the Lovegood girl Mr Malfoy, she won't stop talking!"
Malfoy lifted a genuinely surprised eyebrow.
"What?" he said.
"Well she won't stop sayin' rubbish." He said and put his hands up in an eerie way as he said with a dreamy voice: " 'The nargles'll get you' or 'beware the fluffy radish'. We can't make any sense out'f her. Earlier Jugson started torturing her and she told him he had an ugly face. Nothin' else, just that. We can't crack her."
Malfoy held back a snicker as he remembered how weird she was even at school. They had no chance.
"So?"
"Um.. we need veritaresum."
"Veritaserum" he corrected in a low growl. "Go ask Snape, he would know best."
"Well no, he just left for somewhere."
The young blond sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Go, I'll bring it down." He said, and he walked out and straight past Stan.
He went down a narrow staircase on his right and made his way to an office that stood in a large corridor. It was filled with cauldrons and a heavy desk stood on one side. The walls were covered in books, some of them locked in chains, and in the corner, left open, was a closet filled up to the ceiling in bottles. He strode over and ran through the vials before pulling out a little blue one. "This should do it," he thought as he pocketed it.
He closed the office and made his way down to the dungeons. Yes, the Malfoy Manor had dungeons. Being a great wizarding family didn't specifically mean you had to have a great personal history. And the Malfoy family history was definitely a little dodgy.
As he walked down the steps that lead to the dungeons, a long, high-pitched scream reached his ears, sending a chill down his spine. Gritting his teeth, he opened the door and stepped into what had unofficially become the torture room. An array of knives and very pointed objects sat on a shelf on the right hand side, but for the moment Luna Lovegood was screaming as a result from Jugson's Cruciatus.
The moment Draco Malfoy stepped in, Jugson lifted the curse. Glad to see that the Malfoy name still inspired respect and fear, he turned to the Death Eaters' victim as he realized she had started talking again.
"It won't work you know," she said in her dreamy voice. "Rastimions only come out to play with werewolves. You look pretty human to me."
Malfoy crouched down in front of her and she looked straight through him.
"Hi there Loony Lovegood, haven't seen you in a while. Remember me?"
"Hello Draco Malfoy," she said mater-of-factly as she focused on his face. "Haven't seen you in a while. You look good."
"Yes well…" he trailed off as he thought about the whole situation. "Better than you anyway."
As he stared at her hazy gaze he sincerely hoped she wasn't as loony as she seemed. He pulled out the blue vial from his pocket and put it in front of his face for her to see.
"This is Veritaserum." He continued. "It's going to make you tell us everything we want to know. Every secret, every thought will be ours, and you won't be able to lie or withhold the truth from us. Do you understand?"
"She doesn't need explain Malfoy" said Jugson from behind him. "Just give it to her already."
"Yeah," added Stan. "She's loony anyways."
But Malfoy ignored them and didn't turn his look away from Luna. For a few seconds she seemed to be staring back at him, and then her gaze became unfocused again and he frowned. There was nothing else left to do but to make her swallow the whole thing. She drank it as though his words had washed over her like air.
Satisfied, Jugson took a step forward and Malfoy went to lean against the wall.
"So," said the Death Eater as he cupped his victims face in a painful grip. "Where is Harry Potter?"
SO guys, developments, bit of mystery (if I've done it right^^), thanks for the few critical reviews that helped me change a few details! I'm just reaaally hoping you still like the whole plot development, but if you could drop a review telling me what you think that. would. be. awesome! :D (I'm struggling to know if you all like it a lot or not or what to change to make it better ^^")
Anyways, In comes Luna! (off to write so more now :) )
xx