Chapter Ten
"Where's Flint?" Theodore asked.
Hermione could not move. She felt as if she wasn't breathing and she was almost certain she was turning a sick tint of blue. She might die from the lack of oxygen. Her emotions were running wild and it took all the energy she had to just stand still.
Breathe, she told herself. She let out a deep breath. But she still felt weak. Her Theo was here, in front of her. And he was the enemy.
"Daphne?" Theodore stared at her intently.
"He's somewhere… he's supposed to be here," Hermione answered in a small voice. Her heart was beating faster than she'd imagined hearts could beat. There were so many things that she wanted to say, so many questions that needed answering, and so many things she wanted to do to Theodore. But her mind could only answer his questions. She was frozen.
"Is there something wrong?" He asked curiously.
"No. I mean, we weren't successful," Hermione said with a little more confidence that she imagined Daphne had in the presence of Theodore. What was that Draco had told her about their relationship?
She wished she had listened to him. She also hoped he was done with whatever he was doing. If anything, she grudgingly hoped Draco at least got out alive. He deserved to suffer alone for everything he had put her through. Well no, she actually did care about him. She cared enough to not want him to suffer death at the hands of his old allies.
Theodore stared at her with an unreadable expression. "That's to be expected. Hermione and Malfoy weren't going to be easy to find. Just as all the others who struggled… We'd offered them the chance to become slaves, to join us, even, didn't we? They refused. Such a pity."
Hermione just stared. She couldn't feel her body. This wasn't the man she loved. Did that man ever exist?
"Not everyone is dead, of course. Not everyone showed up to that stupid Peace Ball. Some are still in hiding. Others chose to join us, others we've made slaves, others live among the muggles…" He made a disgusted noise at the word. "Blood purity is so important for our world. We can't have it tainted anymore. Blood-traitors can be handled, but the mudbloods… they've got to go. All of them. They are endangering our magic."
Hermione felt sick all of a sudden, and even worse when she glanced at a handful of purity and muggle-born prejudice pamphlets on his desk. Here was the man she loved, her only positive thought for the last year and the one she felt so guilty about possibly betraying, telling her that purebloods were superior and muggle-borns were endangering them. What rubbish. Why was he telling Daphne all this? Wasn't this supposed to be a meeting where she informed him of her recent search?
"Hermione Granger, though, she is the last mudblood. We got rid of the others, didn't we?"
He called her mudblood. He'd never used that word on her once. It hurt to hear it come out of his mouth and she slightly cringed.
He took slow steps towards her. Being in close proximity with him and everything she was discovering was making her dizzy. How close were Theodore and Daphne? She really wished she'd listened to Draco… wasn't Astoria saying something about Daphne messing around with Marcus? Why was Theodore getting closer and closer?
She took a step back in an attempt to keep distance between them. She flinched again when she backed into the wall. He saw and looked amused. He stepped even closer and Hermione could feel something going terribly wrong with her body.
Theodore stared at her the way a predator stared at its prey. She knew that look. She even loved that look. It once made her excited. But it only scared her now. Why was he looking at Daphne like that?
Your wand, she told herself. But she couldn't bring up her hand. She was too weak and frail and confused. It was like the strength she built up in the past year dwindled in the presence of the man she loved, the man she thought was dead, the man she was secretly living for. Why didn't Draco tell her the truth?
Theodore put a thumb on her lips and stroked it softly. She was surely going to die. His touch was what she dreamed of constantly. She never imagined she was dreaming of the enemy.
What are you doing? She wanted to say in Daphne's voice, but the only sense her body was responding to was Theodore's soft lips now on her own.
She couldn't do this.
Why didn't you tell me, Draco?
Her sudden anger at Draco was starting to make her senses more clear.
Theodore moved towards her ear and whispered, "The hair doesn't suit you, Lovely."
Her eyes went wide and she finally snapped back to reality. Lovely, he said. She'd been transformed minutes before and she suspected he knew once she walked into the room that it wasn't really Daphne. She shoved him away from her hard. He fell to the floor and she attempted to run to the door, but her grabbed her leg and tripped her. She landed facedown on the floor and dropped her wand. She desperately crawled to reach for it, but he pulled her back and she landed a kick on his arm. She crawled again, this time trying to get up, but he just pulled her back down and turned her over on her back. She attempted to punch him in the face, but he grabbed both arms and pinned them down above her head.
He moved his head down towards her to look into her eyes while settling between her legs. He kissed her and she expected it to be rough, but it was soft. He was mocking her. She suddenly felt guilty for taunting Draco so much. It wasn't a nice feeling.
He pulled away and looked at her. "You're so cold tonight."
"Get off me," she said. She had to be tough. She remembered why she was here. She had to destroy everything here, but Merlin it hurt so much. She wondered how she hadn't managed to cry yet. She was sure she'd broken inside.
"Why? You allowed yourself to be so easily caught so there must be something about this situation that you like." He pressed himself against her.
"Stop," she said firmly. She had to keep reminding herself that no matter how good it felt to be this close to him, he was the enemy. And she hated him. She never knew that the lines between love and hate could be so close.
"You never told me to stop before. If I recall correctly, it was you who came up to me that first night. It was always you who said 'don't stop'." He smirked.
"Fuck you," was all she could manage to say.
"In due time," he said with a wink. He took one of his hands away from hers and casually ran them up and down her sides. "Tell me, Lovely. How did Malfoy manage to do it?"
She didn't want to fall for the bait. She didn't want to know what he was talking about. She'd discovered enough already to make her sick for weeks. She kept her mouth shut.
"I didn't think he'd be able to do it. He said he'd be able to get you to come here. I told him he was a fool. But he did it. What did he say, Hermione?"
She stared at him and tried to keep the confusion out of her eyes, but he saw it and he smirked again.
"What did he say to get you to trust him?" he asked again.
Draco wouldn't lie to her… would he?
Of course he would, she thought. He lied to her already.
She was so confused.
"Just fucking kill me already," Hermione spat out bitterly. She couldn't take this. The lies and secrets were all too much.
"Kill you? But this was all because of you, didn't you know?"
With all the energy she had left, she freed her arms and pushed him off. She crawled as fast as she could and grabbed her wand.
"I don't want to know anymore!" She stood up and pointed her wand at him threateningly on the floor. Kill him, the killer inside her said, it's what you came here to do!
But she couldn't do it. She just stood there with her wand pointed at him. She didn't know if she could trust Draco. She didn't know what the fuck went wrong in her judgment with Theodore. She didn't know what the fuck Harry was thinking leaving her alone like this. What she knew was that it was her fault. Everything was her fault.
A/N: Sorry for my lack of updates! But here it is, another cliffie! Let me know what you think! Thanks Sierra for the beta, and thanks to all the reads and reviews!