Chapter Ten.
After Narcissa had left her alone, Hermione had taken a look around the bedroom she would be occupying. The room was a large room decorated in various shades of purple, and in other circumstances Hermione would have rather liked it. However, she was a prisoner and all she wanted was to be back at home with Ron and her friends.
The large wardrobe and several drawers contained clothes, all in her size. Half of the stuff was clearly brand new and had never been worn, but there was also a good portion of the clothing that had been worn before. Hermione just refused to believe that she'd been the one to wear it. In the adjoining bathroom, she found all the toiletries she would need. The shampoo was the same brand she used, but she was putting that down to the dark doing their homework. They were really going all out to try and convince her that she was Voldemort's daughter.
Inspecting the bookshelf, Hermione found almost everything on the shelves was stuff she'd either read, or would be interested in reading. The only section she wasn't going to consider looking at was several books on the dark arts. She wasn't going to turn to the dark, no matter what her captors did to her. As well as the books, Hermione found several pictures dotted around the room. The pictures all showed her at various stages of her life, and they nearly all included someone involved in her kidnapping. The younger pictures often showed her with the witch claiming to be her mother, while the older pictures showed her with Voldemort. She even found a picture of herself with Malfoy, looking entirely too cosy for her liking.
"They're all fake," Hermione muttered to herself as she gathered up all the pictures.
Looking around the room, for a suitable place to hide the pictures she spotted that the seat in front of the window was a chest. Opening up the chest, she threw the pictures into the darkness and slammed the lid closed. It was going to take more than some doctored pictures to break her. She was much stronger than the dark had given her credit for, and she had no intention of caving in and giving them what they wanted.
"Don't worry baby, well get out of here," Hermione whispered, gently rubbing her stomach. Although how she was going to achieve that, she had no idea.
Settling down beside the window, Hermione spent the remainder of the afternoon trying to think of a way out of her predicament. She was still no further forward when a house elf popped into her room and nervously cleared its throat.
"Miss Hermione, it's dinner time," The elf said. "Will you be joining the family for dinner?"
"No, I will not," Hermione replied.
"I'll bring dinner to you," The elf responded and dissapparated before Hermione had a chance to refuse.
Five minutes later the elf returned with a delicious looking plate of roast beef, vegetables and Yorkshire puddings. Hermione was tempted to be stubborn and refuse the food, but she hadn't eaten since breakfast and she had the baby to think about. Starving herself wasn't going to do her or the baby any good. Thanking the elf, Hermione settled down at the desk to eat her dinner.
After the elf had returned and taken away her plate, Hermione decided she might as well get ready for bed and try to get some sleep. After using the bathroom, she located a pair of new pyjamas and changed into them. Just as she was untying her hair for the night, she heard footsteps outside the bedroom. Grabbing her wand, Hermione listened as the footsteps halted outside the door. For several minutes she heard nothing, then all of the sudden the footsteps continued on past her door and minutes later she heard a door slamming further along the corridor.
Hermione waited for another minute before hesitantly crossing the room and opening her door. Peering out into the hallway, she saw nothing had been left outside her door, and there was no sign of anyone nearby. Remembering that Narcissa had said Malfoy's room was just down the hall, Hermione pulled her head back inside the room and locked the door when she shut it. It had clearly been Malfoy hovering around outside the room, and the last thing she wanted was to deal with him. It was bad enough the dark were trying to convince her that she was Voldemort's daughter, but she didn't want to hear any lies about how she'd been in love with the blond git who'd tormented her since she began school.
Refusing to dwell on the lies the dark were trying to get her to believe, Hermione crawled into the large double bed. Snuggling down, she wrapped the covers around herself and she drifted off to sleep, thoughts of being saved and reunited with her friends floating around her head.
"I don't need examining," Hermione hissed, glaring daggers at Narcissa, Adele and the healer they'd brought into her room.
Her first morning at Malfoy Manor had been spent in her room, with a house elf bringing her some breakfast, but shortly after she'd finished lunch the three women had arrived at her room. Narcissa had introduced the third woman as a private healer, and had told Hermione that they were going to check the baby.
"We need to check the baby is okay," Adele said soothingly. "And we need to know when it was conceived."
"The baby is not Malfoy's," Hermione insisted. "It doesn't matter when the baby was conceived, it's still Ron's child."
"I know that's what you believe, but you'll see the truth eventually," Narcissa sighed.
"Can you tell the paternity of the baby before it's born?" Hermione asked the healer. She didn't trust a private healer to run the tests and give truthful results, but if they could determine who the father was before the baby was born they might be able to get an impartial healer to run the tests.
"You can, but it can be dangerous for the baby," The healer answered. "I wouldn't recommend it."
"I'm not doing anything that might endanger my baby," Hermione answered.
"In that case, please let the healer look at you," Adele pleaded.
Hermione suspected that if she didn't give in she would be forced to undergo the examination, so she conceded and gave the healer permission to check her over. The healer examined Hermione for several minutes and ran a few tests on both her and the baby, before giving them both a clean bill of health. She then dropped the bombshell that the baby had been conceived the last night at Hogwarts. Narcissa and Adele were clearly thrilled by the news, but it changed nothing for Hermione. It just meant that her and Ron had been together their last night at school.
"I think Lucius and Severus might have some answers for us," Adele said, once the healer was finished and Narcissa was showing her out. "Will you please come downstairs and join us."
"Why would I want to join you as you just try to manipulate me?" Hermione questioned.
"Don't you want to know the truth?" Adele asked. "There has to be some part of you that senses how wrong things are. Somewhere deep inside you have doubts about what you know. There is something, even if you won't admit it, that doesn't quite feel right. I know you Hermione, on some level you know we're telling the truth."
Much to her chagrin, Hermione found herself identifying with what Adele was saying. She had to admit, there were things that didn't quite make sense, but even so that didn't mean the dark were telling the truth. Just because she had worries about why she didn't have the address of her parents in Australia, it didn't mean it was because they didn't exist. Even her niggling doubts could be explained away, and not by the dark claiming to be her family.
"Your father wants you there," Adele continued. "If you don't come down with us, he'll come and get you."
"He's not my father," Hermione hissed. "Stop calling him that."
"Whether you like it or not, we're you're parents," Adele said gently. "But please think about coming downstairs willingly. It will be easier for everyone."
"Fine," Hermione huffed as she got to her feet. "I'll come down, but I won't believe anything you lot say. I'm not falling for all these lies you're feeding me."
Adele nodded, and didn't bother arguing further. They all knew it was going to be a long road getting Hermione back, and they had to take it a step at a time. She wasn't going to believe them straight away, first they had to gain her trust and reassure her that they cared about her.
Hermione reluctantly followed Adele downstairs, and at the bottom of the stairs they joined up with Narcissa, who'd shown the healer out. Narcissa smiled warmly at Hermione, but she didn't comment on her presence as she led the way into the library. Hermione was fascinated by the towering bookshelves, but she didn't get a chance to have a good look as Narcissa led the way over a corner of the library that held a desk and several seats. Spread out over the desk were several books and scraps of parchment, which Lucius and Severus were studying.
"Hermione, it's nice to see you up and around," Severus said, offering the young girl a friendly smile.
Ignoring her former Professor, Hermione stalked over to the chair the furthest away and slumped down in it. She'd barely gotten herself settled when Voldemort strolled into the library alongside Draco. They both smiled slightly at the sight of Hermione, but neither of them spoke as everyone else sat down.
"Before we begin, how did the healer's visit go?" Draco asked eagerly.
"Hermione and the baby are both doing great," Narcissa replied. "And more importantly the baby was conceived the last night you were at Hogwarts."
"Which means nothing," Hermione muttered as Draco's face broke into a huge grin. She found it rather disconcerting that the sight of a smiling Draco produced a warm feeling inside of her, not that she was going to admit that to anyone.
"At least that's some good news," Voldemort replied, choosing not to respond to Hermione's grumblings. He doubted any good would come of pushing things with Hermione, no matter how much he wanted to drum it into her that she was his daughter. "Lucius, do you have anything useful?"
"I do," Lucius answered. "Although I should first say that I found traces of a tracking spell on Hermione."
"I placed a one on her so we could monitor her movements," Draco said.
"This one is different from the one you used," Lucius told his son. "This one is more advanced, and was cast several weeks ago. I'm fairly sure Dumbledore was the one to cast it on her."
"So the Order can locate Hermione," Narcissa said. "They know she's here."
"And they can rescue me," Hermione added with a smug smirk.
"They won't get into the manor, sweetheart," Lucius chuckled. "Even Dumbledore can't breach our wards. You're perfectly safe here."
"That's a matter of opinion," Hermione shot back. She knew it would be hard for the Order to rescue her, but at least she now knew they had a way of finding her. And if they knew where she was, eventually they'd find a way to free her.
"Are you going to remove the spell?" Adele asked.
"It's pointless," Voldemort said, answering before Lucius even opened his mouth. "The Order will now know where Hermione is, although I'm sure they suspected as much even without the tracking spell. Removing it isn't going to be necessary unless we move Hermione, which we aren't going to do. Besides, it might come in useful in the future. Hermione's safe, so I say we leave the spell intact."
"I also know what exactly the Order did to Hermione," Lucius said. "I found traces of a potion in her system. I didn't recognise the potion, so Severus helped me out."
"It's a very old potion that allows memories to be altered," Severus explained as all eyes turned to him. "The potion takes a few weeks to brew, and it has to be done perfectly. When administered, it alters the memories to become whatever the person brewing the potion wants."
"So Hermione still has her memories, they've just been altered?" Draco checked.
"Yes," Severus replied. "In her case I think Dumbledore has used the lies she told to integrate herself with the Order as a frame work. He replaced her memories of her parents with the muggles that we were using to pose as them when necessary. I think he did the same with Draco, turning Hermione's memories of him into memories of Weasley."
"Bastard," Draco hissed angrily. He already wanted to kill Weasley with as much pain as possible, but Dumbledore was the ringleader of this plan and as such he also deserved a painful death.
"Can you brew the antidote?" Adele questioned.
"There is no antidote," Lucius answered quietly. "The effects of the potion are permanent."
"There's no known antidote," Severus corrected. "The potion is centuries old, and hasn't been used in decades. No-one's really had a reason to find an antidote, but we do. I'm confident that in time I can make an antidote."
"How long will that take?" Narcissa asked.
"It's hard to say. It could be years," Severus admitted.
"So we're stuck," Draco spat in disgust. "Dumbledore has wrecked our lives and there's nothing we can do about it. Hermione is stuck without her true memories, and in a few months she's going to be giving birth to my son."
"Firstly, I have my true memories," Hermione snarled, jumping to her feet and glaring menacingly at Draco. "Dumbledore would never do what you lot are suggesting. And secondly, I'm having Ron's baby, not yours. And you certainly don't know it's a boy."
"First born Malfoys are always a boy," Draco retorted. "And you are carrying my child. I can even tell you in great detail how we conceived that baby."
"I won't believe you, any of you," Hermione hissed, before turning and fleeing from the room.
"Draco, leave her," Voldemort called as Draco got to his feet to go after his girlfriend.
"I need to talk to her," Draco insisted. "Maybe I can convince her I'm telling the truth. I know things about her, I would only know if I were being truthful."
"That's exactly why you need to approach this calmly," Voldemort said. "If Hermione's memories have just been altered, that means they're still there. We just have to convince her that our memories match up to some of hers, only hers contain different people. Forcing the issue when she's angry won't help matters."
"I guess not," Draco admitted with a sigh as he slumped back into his chair. He knew how stubborn Hermione was, and arguing with her when she was fired up was never a good idea.
"Severus, I want you to get started on brewing an antidote," Voldemort ordered.
"I'll help," Lucius offered. "We can brew it at the manor so Dumbledore won't discover what we're doing."
"I'll also be calling a Death Eater meeting in the coming days," Voldemort announced. "We're going to act as though Hermione is our prisoner, only we will know the truth. I also think it's time we upped the ante with the Order. Let's rattle them a bit."
"And what about Hermione?" Draco questioned. "How do we try and reach her?"
"Give her time," Voldemort advised. He wanted his daughter back this instant, but he was smart enough to know that wasn't going to happen, they needed to be patient. "When you approach her, do it calmly. But try and wait until she's feeling more settled. I know my daughter, and eventually her curiosity will win out and she'll start exploring the manor. That will be the perfect time to approach her."
Draco reluctantly agreed with Voldemort. It would be better to wait until Hermione was feeling more at ease in the manor, but that could still be another few weeks. Knowing his girlfriend she would stay in her room for as long as possible, but he would be patient. Eventually he'd get the chance to speak to Hermione, and when he did he was going to make sure he planted the seeds of doubt in her mind. He was going to make sure that she knew her memories of Weasley were false, they were really her memories of him.