So. Bad news first. My computer broke down. Permanently. Everything I have ever written, every picture I have taken and all the music I have... bought... are gone. The good news is that I had made a safe copy of this story, so I just have to rewrite the latest 4 chapters I had written. It will take some time, I'm still sulking and those chapters was really difficult to write...

So please give me encouragement and tell me that you would like to continue to read and that I have to pull myself together and rewrite it. I need it.


Chapter 7 – Inside Voldemort's net

When Saturday evening arrived, Hermione was really nervous. She still didn't believe that anything dangerous would happen to her. She was a Death Eater's wife now and Voldemort couldn't hurt her just because he liked too. Could he? Oh, well, he could, but she didn't think, he would. She just had to keep her mouth under control and possibly her mind too. She hadn't told anyone, she was going to see Voldemort. She trusted Severus and she didn't want to worry them. Hermione had just told them, she and Severus were going out and that they didn't have to worry. But now, she felt like she needed some help from Ginny.

Severus had bought a very expensive, beautiful dress and Hermione had no idea if she looked gorgeous in it, or if she looked like a slut. The dress was in a very dark shade of green. It came with an open back, all the way down to the small of the back. It was tied in the neck with a black band of silk. It also had a small neckline shaped as a V. Her shoes were in the same colour as the dress and had a low heel. The only jewellery, she had on, was her wedding ring. She also had applied some makeup. She had found a spell for it in Miss Muffin's Makeup Mix. It wasn't very dramatic, but it made her skin look flawless and her eyes look bigger. After some turns in front of the mirror, she decided that she could always keep her cloak on, if she didn't want to show her back. She sighed and left her bedroom.

Severus was waiting in the sitting room and, when she entered, his eyes widened. He was dressed in a black dress robe with accessories in silver. He looked very good and his hair looked cleaner. Hermione guessed he had started to borrow her shampoo.

"Well, you look absolute delicious," Severus said and kissed her hand. "I don't know if I will let the other Death Eaters near you."

"Do you think they will do something?"

"I think I will have something to say about that…" Severus muttered and took her into the study.

Some moments later, they had Apparated to the entrance of Malfoy Manor. Hermione felt her stomach turn, but she took a deep breath and started to walk with Severus to the house. When they got closer, they could hear voices and laughter. It looked like the feast was both held at the garden as well as in the house. Severus didn't lead her to voices, but to the entrance of the house itself. He knocked and just a few moments later, the door was opened by a House-elf. The elf took their cloaks and disappeared just before the Lord of the Manor arrived at their side.

"Severus, how good of you to join us," Lucius Malfoy said and shook Severus's hand.

When he turned to Hermione, she got the feeling she should run away as fast as she could. But she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. She held her ground and made a small smile, but she guessed it just look fake.

Lucius, on the other hand, had no problem with smiling. "Mrs Snape, may I say you look dashing? It's good to see Severus with such a lovely woman."

Lucius led them to the ballroom. "The Dark Lord hasn't arrived yet, but I have a lot of guests who are interested in your new wife, Severus."

"Who?" Severus asked quietly.

"Bella, she hasn't spoken of anything else for the last week."

Hermione felt her stomach turn again. She didn't want to see Bellatrix Lestrange. The woman was an insane killer! But Severus had a firm grip of her arm and he followed Lucius, whom led them to a woman completely dressed in black, who had long black hair almost as wild as Hermione's.

"Bellatrix," Lucius said. "Look who have joined us."

The woman turned around. The first thing Hermione thought of was how cold and calculating her eyes were. They did look insane, but there was something deeper, something even more frightening…

"Is this her?" Bella asked and stared at Hermione. "Is this the Mudblood?"

"I don't appreciate insults being thrown at my wife, Bella," Severus said coldly.

Bella looked at Severus and smiled nicely. "Don't be like that, Severus, I'm just curious… You have managed to take away her Mudblood-look. She could almost be one of us… unless…" Bella leant forward, placed a hand under Hermione's chin and smelled her hair. "Oh, Severus, she still smells like one…" then she stroked Hermione cheek. "Don't worry, sweetie, after some rounds with old Sevvie, you will go all the way from Mudblood to pureblood mistress. Doesn't that sound nice?"

Hermione bit her lip and tried not to cry. She would only look worse if she cried.

Lucius took a hold of Bella's arm. "No reason to be rude, Bella, she can't help that her parents are filth."

Okay, that was it. Hermione felt her anger rise. "Even if my parents are filth, Mr Malfoy, they seem to have raised a cleverer child than you lot manage to do."

Lucius' eyes turned cold as ice. "What did you say?"

Severus held his hands up. "Please, Lucius, she is a Gryffindor, they always have to defend themselves."

Lucius pressed his lips together, but didn't say anything. Instead Bella took over. "The Dark Lord is so looking forward to see you, Hermione!" She looked quite excited and if Hermione hadn't known better, she would have thought that Bella liked her and tried to be her friend.

"When will he arrive?" Severus asked.

"Sevvie…" Bella sighed. "The Dark Lord comes when he wants to please us with his presence. In the meantime, please say hello to Antonin!"

A middle-aged, dark-haired man turned around and looked down at them. He was almost a head taller than Severus and very well built over the shoulders. Hermione had to bend her head upwards to see his face.

"Snape," he nodded. "Congratulations on your marriage."

"Thank you, Dolohov," Severus answered. "My wife, Hermione."

Dolohov nodded to her too, and she was thankful, he didn't say anything.

"Pretty thing," said a male voice from behind them.

They turned around and she saw a much shorter man, who was also very muscular and had blood-red hair. Sometime ago, he might have been beautiful, but now he had a lot of scars in his face and a wicked smile.

"Really Snape, you are one lucky wizard. May I take a ride?"

"Absolutely not, Macnair," Severus took a harder grip of Hermione. "I have seen the way you treat women and I do not wish to clean up your mess."

Macnair eyed Hermione so lustfully, she blushed.

"I could play nice, Snape…"

"I highly doubt that."

Macnair winked at Hermione and disappeared into the crowd. She felt Severus relax a little and Bella dragged them away to meet other Death Eaters. Most of them were polite and didn't seem to care about Hermione. One or two cast a lustful eye at her, but Severus would just lay a protective arm around her waist and glare at them in the same way he would glare at a first year.

When they had been at the feast for almost an hour, the doors opened and everything stopped. A tall, thin man entered the room. He was dressed in a long black robe and cloak that was a huge contrast to the snow-white hands and face. The power, the man held, made her overwhelmed. The only thing she really saw in his face, were the big crimson eyes that seemed to be looking straight into her soul. The next moment everyone in the room bowed. Hermione bowed too. She felt the most intense respect for the man that had to be Lord Voldemort, and she felt a strange urge to please him. Until Severus pinched her arm and the magic broke and everything went back in motion. A lot of people went to the Dark Lord, who smiled at them and talked to them. Bella left their side and went to greet her Lord, but he declared silence.

"I have to have a word with my Death Eaters. Could everyone else wait in the garden?"

It wasn't a question and Severus pressed his lips together, before he sighed and ordered her to stay away from the others. When Hermione went to the garden, she discovered that only two other wives and she weren't Death Eaters. The other two glared at Hermione, before they disappeared into the darkness of the trees in the garden. Hermione sighed and stayed on the terrace. She could see into the ballroom through the glass doors, but she couldn't hear anything. Everyone in the room seemed to be talking to each other, while Voldemort was only nodding and pointing.

"Polyjuice Potion, works like a charm."

She gasped, turned around and was about to fall when she came face to face with Voldemort.

He smirked. "So this is the new Mrs Snape. I have wanted to see you for awhile now. But then again, you already know that, don't you?"

He had a very smooth voice that sent shivers down her spine, but he didn't look like he was going to hurt her, he looked more curious and playful.

"I-I wont help you to kill Harry," she burst out.

Voldemort chuckled. "Do you think I'm stupid? I don't want you to help me kill The-Boy-Who-Lived-To-Irritate-Me. I just want to talk to you. If I wanted to hurt Potter, I would already have killed you and sent your body to Hogwarts for Harry to find. Then he would be all crossed and come to me to 'make me pay' and I could have killed him quite easily."

Hermione frowned. That actually sounded like a very good plan. Harry would want revenge and he would probably make a lot of mistakes when he tried to find Voldemort. So why didn't Voldemort kill her?

Voldemort seemed to know what she was thinking. "You are too special to die, Hermione. I may call you that, I trust?"

She nodded. "Why am I special… and what are you planning to do with me? The reason you wanted me to marry Severus was to get to me, wasn't it?"

"So many questions, Hermione. You always ask the questions, don't you? You want to know everything … the brain behind Potter."

"So you want me away from Harry?"

"Yes."

"And why are you telling me this?"

Voldemort chuckled and Hermione started to relax. He wasn't so frightening when you were alone with him.

"I want to open your eyes, Hermione."

"What?"

Voldemort sighed theatrically. "I know you will never be a Death Eater, Hermione, and I will never try to make you one. But I think that you are like me in some ways… And I want you to see the whole picture. I guess Dumbledore has told you a lot about this war? How he is the good guy and I'm the evil guy?"

Hermione wanted to smile through the whole conversation. If someone had said she would be having a polite conversation with Voldemort sometime, she wouldn't have told that person to get their head examined.

"This war isn't about good and evil," Voldemort continued. "It's about different views. Right now, one side leads and that makes them look like the good ones… But most of them aren't any better than my Death Eaters."

Hermione frowned. "But you use Dark Magic and you are killing people… I'm sorry, but I think that is evil."

"Your side is killing a lot of people too in this war. Even I don't remember who started it, I didn't, whatever you may think. And about the Dark Magic… It's different from your magic, yes, but it isn't evil. It's selfish magic, but selfishness doesn't have to be evil. The strongest survives, Hermione, which is what this war is about."

"But why kill the muggles?"

"Because they are spreading and they kill us… But, of course, you haven't heard about that… There are a couple of muggles on top levels, who know about us. Presidents and people like them. We have to hide from them, because otherwise, they would try to kill more of us than they already have done. It shouldn't be like that. We should be able to live in the open."

Against her will, Hermione felt interested. "Why are you telling me this?"

Voldemort looked into the ballroom, where people still talked to each other. "Like I said, to open your eyes. I don't want you to fight me, Hermione, you are to powerful for that."

Hermione looked surprised. "You think I am powerful?"

Voldemort sneered. "Yes, Severus has told me about some of your performances."

"But I thought you hated Mudbloods?"

"No, I changed that thought almost fifteen years ago, but that is also one thing Dumbledore hasn't informed you about, has he?"

Hermione shook her head. "But it still seems like it. Bellatrix called me a Mudblood."

"That is how she is raised. I can't change everything in my Death Eaters. They are the ones who are killing Muggle-borns, because they feel threatened. I have found out some very interesting things about Muggle-borns being descendants from Squibs. Squibs get more children than witches do, and even if the first and second generation often are muggles, the third and the forth often holds a 'Muggle-born'."

Hermione was surprised and amazed. You could forget all about Voldemort's deeds by listening to him. He sounded so sane and even nice.

Voldemort stroked Hermione's cheek. "I hope you will learn something from this talk, Hermione. And if you studied the Dark Arts, you will find that they are not as dark as you may think."

He kissed her on the other cheek and disappeared into the shadows again. Hermione touched the place where his cold lips had touched her. She wanted to see him again. There was so much she wanted to ask him! She turned around and found Severus standing there with his arms crossed.

"What did you do?" asked Severus.

"I… The Dark Lord was here… We talked."

Severus frowned and Hermione blushed.

"You wouldn't be the first to fall for the charm of The Dark Lord's smooth tongue," Severus sighed and took her arm. "Let us go home."

Hermione just nodded.

SSSSSSS

"What did you think of the girl, Bella?"

"The Mudblood?" Bella giggled. "She is a cute one."

Voldemort chuckled. "I think so too."

They had retreated from the feast several hours ago. Voldemort had felt a bit horny and Bella had been more than happy to help. Now, she wouldn't be able to move for several hours, but Bella seemed to be very comfortable in the Dark Lord's bed. And Voldemort had no problem with having her there.

"Did you spill the potion in her drink?" he asked.

"Yes, Sevvie was very protective, but I saw her drinking it, so I don't think he noticed."

Voldemort smirked. "Well, it wasn't a dangerous potion. He will never notice she had taken it."

Bella turned around with difficulty. Voldemort could give her something for the ache she must be feeling, but he knew Bella loved a bit of pain. If he wanted, he could fuck her again and she would still have an orgasm. But then, there would be even more bloodstains on the bed and they were so hard to get rid of.

"Why do you want her to have that potion, my Lord?" Bella asked and stroked his chest with her long nails.

"I don't want to get any… surprises… too soon."

A tear fell over Bella's cheek. "I wish I could have helped you, Master."

"I know, Bella, I know. But that's impossible, we have already tried."

"I will kill him again…"

"No, Bella, that is unnecessary," Voldemort smirked. "I think your father has already suffered enough."

Bella giggled again. "Will I get to taste her?"

"We'll see. She has to trust me completely first."

"She will. She looked very interested."

"I noticed that too… I hope she will begin to study the Dark Arts."

"She will fall in your net! Like a fly in a spider's net… Can I have some spider-soup?"

"You have the most disgusting eating habits, Bella," Voldemort sighed, but he sat up in the bed. "Do we have any, Esmeralda?"

A quiet, young girl, who was sitting at the other side of the room, shook her head. She was spinning wool and humming quietly. She was the complete opposite to Bellatrix. Esmeralda was short and thin, with long blond hair that looked and felt like silk. She wasn't a witch, but her completely milk-white eyes gave a hint that she wasn't exactly a muggle either.

"Looks like you have to survive without it, Bella," Voldemort said, but he looked at the other girl in the room. "Do you wish to join us, Esmeralda? You must be tired."

The girl stopped and rose from the small stool. She moved with her head bowed, but without any difficulty. Sometimes, Voldemort forgot she was blind. She crawled up in the bed and Voldemort moved to his side so the small girl could lie between the two lovers. Voldemort stroked her cheek when she placed her head next to Bella's. "Have you seen something today, my child?"

"I saw the girl you have been talking about," Esmeralda said quietly.

She never showed any emotions. She was always quiet and ready to please. Voldemort wasn't capable of love, but he had nothing but warm feelings for the girl. She was like a favourite pet. A very useful pet. Even if Esmeralda was blind, she saw more things than any other person he had met. First, he had thought she was a seer, but she was not. She merely guessed the future from things she saw in the present, and her guesses were almost always right. Voldemort wanted to know exactly how she saw things that happened miles away, but he didn't work very hard to find out. He was only interested in hearing what was going to happen.

"She will fall for you," Esmeralda continued. "You just have to continue to speak with her."

"Excellent," Voldemort smirked and Bella giggled lightly.

"But if you get the girl, you will lose the man," Esmeralda said. "He wants her for himself."

"I thought so," Voldemort sighed. "But it doesn't matter; I can kill him later or make him change his mind."

"No, you can't."

"Ah, very well, I will see to that when it gets there."

Esmeralda turned around and placed a hand on his cheek. "Don't lie to her, Tom. She will figure it out."

"I won't, my dear…"

"Yes, you will…"

Voldemort sighed. "Esmeralda, you can't change my ways."

Esmeralda closed her blind eyes. "I'm tired, Tom."

But Voldemort felt horny again. "I will be quick, girl."

Voldemort smirked when he mounted the girl. She knew he did this as a reminder of his power. She had never really fought him, but they had some disagreements and he didn't want her to think that he would succumb to her. He was the Master as he would always be. Hermione would know that too.