"Do you think that we can come up with a counter-curse for this? I mean, I haven't made many original spells, have you?"
"Well, I have come up with a few, nothing really complicated though, nor powerful. And this counter-curse is going to have to be powerful if it's going to work," Hermione admitted, blushing.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at that, you are quite brilliant," Draco praised, suddenly noticing how close they were, looking at the same book.
"Do you think we could come up with a spell? I mean, you've been really nice and all but, I'd rather not be magically bound to someone the rest of my life, at least not at 17," Hermione joked, trying to hold off her fear.
"Yea, that would be something wouldn't it, the Gryffindor Princess bound to the Slytherin God at such a young age. Even marriages can be terminated easier than this," Draco admitted with a smile.
Hermione laughed at those school nicknames, unsure of how they got started, and who started them. "Oh that reminds me, I've got a nickname for you, and it's even a play on mine in a way, want to hear it?"
Draco nodded his head eagerly, not sure why he was feeling so excited.
"Well, I got it from a Muggle gambling saying, something which I find even more fitting," Hermione chuckled.
"Yea, years ago I might have been horrified to be named after anything Muggle. But if it's a gambling saying I might know it," Draco shared.
"Well I was thinking of calling you Ace, like my ace in the hole, since you're helping me," she revealed with a smile, waiting to see his reaction.
"I like that, Ace, that's a name reserved for someone cool. And you're Curlicue with your pretty curls."
"Or Cue for short, and you'd be…" Hermione started
"A?" Draco guess, the realization suddenly hitting him, "Oh, like Q&A, I like that. It reminds me of being at school, because everyone in Slytherin always came to me for answers."
"Exactly, I figured since we were the top two students in our class, it fit on all fronts, I'm glad you like it Ace," she finished, trying out the new name.
The both of them laughed and relaxed into the couch, for once feeling like they weren't trapped in the Manor with Death Eaters; it was a wonderful feeling. The pair of them began looking through the Latin translations, thinking of a way to make a spell to free her. Poppy found them there a little bit later, wondering why they hadn't called for breakfast.
"Oh hi Poppy, I forgot all about breakfast, although now that I think about it, I am rather hungry. Do you think we could have pancakes?" Hermione wondered.
Poppy nodded her head in response, pancakes would be easy. Poppy smiled at the pair and made her way to the kitchen.
"Do you think, that maybe the counter-curse would need blood, like the first spell? Hermione asked uneasily, not wanting to spill any more blood.
"I hope not, Dark Magic can require blood but not much Light Magic needs it. Although, it might be necessary to release the bind on you, hopefully we won't have to find out," Draco admitted.
Hermione nodded her head, unsure she could cast a spell requiring blood. Suddenly Hermione remembered what she had been thinking about the other night, wondering if she could ask Draco about it. She tried to put it from her mind as they ate a late breakfast together, just enjoying his company and his dedication to finding a way out for her.
"You know, I was wondering, what do you think I should say tomorrow, after I give the Weasley's your note?"
"Well, let's see," she mused, pulling the note out of her pocket, "'Dear Order Members, I, Hermione, want to tell you that due to some unforeseen circumstance, I am stuck at the Malfoy Manor. Draco has decided to help me escape. I want to ask that you please consider bringing Draco and Mrs. Malfoy under Order protection, they are willing to cooperate fully with us and help our cause. Without his help I would surely be dead by now, he is willingly passing on my messages in order to ease my burden. Yours, Hermione.' Most likely the first thing they are going to want to know is if it's true, and what unforeseen circumstance it is that is holding me here.
"Clearly they'll think I've been held hostage here, being abused and threatened into giving up information. So they'll wonder how it is that I've passed on these notes to you. It's best to be truthful, that You-Know-Who bound me to you. Maybe they'll even know what spell he used, if it's not one he created recently. They'll want to know why you changed your mind about being on his side."
"I can answer all of their questions I'm sure, I just don't want to say anything that might make them think I'm lying or hurting you. I don't want to make any more mistakes you know?" Draco told her.
Hermione looked at him with a sympathetic face, knowing it wasn't going to be that easy for him. He was essentially heading into the lion's den for her, they wouldn't be easy on him. At least this time she'd be with Mrs. Malfoy until he returned, that should keep her safe. Until Friday that is, then she'd be at the mercy of the enemy, especially Bellatrix; Hermione shuddered at the thought of being in the same room as her again, hand coming up to her neck.
"What's wrong Cue?" Draco asked, feeling her shudder next to him.
"I was thinking about Friday, and what might happen. I'll be in the same room as Bellatrix again, I don't know if I can face her," she confessed.
"I won't let her do anything to you, she'll taunt you, but it's my job to punish you how I see fit, not hers. She won't be able to torture you like last time, I think she wants to see if I'll do it more than to see you get punished really. She thinks I'm too soft, and wants me to be more like her."
"Your aunt is a psycho!"
"Imagine having her be related to you, of having to call her Aunt, knowing that you share the same blood."
"At least you are nothing like her, you turned out good Ace, believe me."
Draco nodded his head, feeling better after hearing her; it was good to know that someone saw him for him and not for his family. He was soon lost in his thoughts, mind wandering back to his mission. Hermione, it seemed, was able to read his thoughts, asking him a question.
"What is it that you do for the evil snake?"
"Well, usually I just deliver things, letters or packages. I usually have no idea what's in them, but sometimes I do. I know every time I go to Cobb & Webb's I'm delivering a list of items the Dark Lord wants. Every few days I'm sent there to pick up packages and bring them home or bring them to someone else. I don't know what the objects are, what they do, and I probably don't want to know. Other times I think I'm just passing on messages or battle plans. I think that he doesn't want to have any large meetings so that way we aren't all caught at the same time. And everyone is being kept in the loop via those messages, it would also make it hard for the Order to intercept the notes. If they did, they'd only get a small part of the larger picture, so I guess it's smart.
"I've never opened the packages, that would be a mistake, so I can't tell the Order what's in them or what is being planned, but I can tell them who I've delivered to and where I've met them. Do you think they'd accept that from me?"
"Anything you tell us would be a great help I'm sure. And maybe your mom knows more about it, since she talks with your father. And there might be more that you can tell us, that you don't think is important, or haven't even thought was significant."
"That's a good point, I guess I'll have to bring some of these books too, maybe that will help. I can tell them what kind of wards and enchantments we have at the Manor too, and how often the Dark Lord comes, no one but him can even Apparate into the Manor directly," Draco added, thinking of what else he might know.
"Draco, I want to ask a favor of you, even though you've already done so much for me," Hermione said, interrupting his thoughts.
"Is this the thing you were thinking about yesterday?"
"Yea, and I don't think I want an answer right away, so can I ask and have you promise not to mention it until after dinner? I'll be too embarrassed to talk about it I think, and I want you to think about it before you answer," Hermione told him shyly.
"Um sure, I'll do my best, I don't want you to be embarrassed," he tried to assure her.
Hermione took a deep breath before continuing, "Well um, I've been thinking about what happened with Lucius and um, what might have happened if you hadn't come in. And then I think about what might happen on Friday; I'm kinda a-a- virginwillyouhavesexwithmebeforethen? Hermione suddenly blurted out, face turning red.
Draco's eyes widened as he registered what she just told him, she was a virgin? As he thought about it, he wasn't entirely surprised, not because she was unattractive, but because she seemed to be the type that wouldn't have sex frivolously, it had to have meaning. Plus she had spent most of her older teenage years fighting evil, there really wasn't much time for such things. But she wanted him to take her virginity? Well, it wasn't like she could have Prince Charming come over for a visit, he realized; and she wanted it to happen on her own terms. He kept his promise and didn't respond right away, just nodded his head to assure her that he'd heard. He had a lot of thinking to do, was he capable of taking that from her, he really didn't deserve it.
Hermione willed her blush to go away, but at least Draco hadn't laughed at her. She thought he may have, her being a studious bookwork and a prude, of course she wouldn't have lowered herself by having sex, but he didn't say anything about her lack of sex being obvious. The old Draco would have given her endless amounts of grief for such a confession; he really had changed. She noticed the deep look in his eyes, he was seriously contemplating her question; she knew he probably didn't have qualms about her not being a Pureblood anymore, even Lucius didn't mind, as long as it was just sex. And Hermione tried to tell herself that's all it would be, just sex so that way if anything else happened, she wouldn't have that stolen from her as well.
Despite the heavy question hanging in the air, the pair managed to continue reading through the books. The found a few examples of spells similar to the Imperious Curse but not as strong, but those didn't come with any counter-curses either.
"Maybe, they are similar, I know that you can overcome the Imperious Curse if you have a strong enough will, do you think that may help here too?"
"You think you can overcome it by willing yourself free? You think it would be that easy?" Draco asked, hopeful.
"Might as well try it right? Order me to do something and I'll try to not to it."
"Um, okay, let's see," Draco paused, thinking of something easy to resist. "Go get me a glass of juice."
Hermione stood up and was halfway to the pantry before she realized she had even got up. When she tried to resist, it felt like she was watching herself from afar; she could easily think about sitting back down and ignoring the order but her body simply refused. It wasn't like when they learned about the curse in her 4th year, there was no voice telling her that she wanted to get the juice. There was just bodily obedience and nothing she could do about it
"That's interesting," Hermione shared as she handed him the glass.
"What is?"
"It's really nothing like the Imperious Curse. Remember when Professor Moody, well, the imposter Moody performed it on us a few years ago? That time I could hear his voice, repeating to me that I wanted to jump on the desk. I felt like jumping would be the most rewarding thing in the world, I wanted to jump."
"Yea, I do remember that, he had us all do some stupid things to show us how the curse worked. I also remember how it felt to cast it, it feels nothing like this," Draco reminded her somberly. He had used it on Madame Rosmerta last year, to get her to ambush a student.
"When I cast it, I remember having to focus, really focus on making her do what I wanted. Plus I had to be precise or she could have interpreted it a few different ways. Just now, I simply said I wanted juice."
"I had forgotten about that, it seems so long ago now. At first, I didn't even realize I had gotten up from the couch; then I told myself over and over that I didn't want to get the glass, but I got it anyways. There was no telling myself not to, it was like an out of body experience almost."
"Well, I guess it wasn't going to be that easy, too bad," he sighed.
"Maybe not, but at least we learned that it's not based the same as the Imperious Curse, that can help us when we come up with a spell."
Draco smiled at her, she was always looking on the bright side. No wonder she was so strong and a valued friend of Potter; him and Weasley must be beside themselves over her. He knew he would be if she had been her friend all those years; maybe if they had been friends, he wouldn't be here, and neither would she. Before either of them could say anything else, they heard a pair of doors open. Both of them froze, unsure what she should do, Poppy hadn't come to warn them, was she in trouble? Suddenly Narcissa came into the library, smiling at them both.
"Mother, you scared us half to death!"