Hermione finished pinning up her long hair before returning to Draco's bedroom to dress for dinner. After spending most of the afternoon in Draco's room the blond had eventually convinced Hermione to let him give her a tour of the manor. After a tour of the manor, Draco and Hermione then returned to Draco's room to get ready for dinner.
When Hermione emerged from the en-suite bathroom she found that Draco was already dressed and was standing out on his balcony. Hermione pulled on the black dress she had laid out on Draco's bed before slipping on her heels and joining her boyfriend on the balcony.
"Are you alright?" Draco asked as Hermione appeared at his side. "If you don't feel like it we don't have to go down to dinner."
"I want to go," Hermione replied. "Your parents have been kind enough to allow me to stay the weekend so I don't want to be rude. Besides I want them to like me."
"They already like you," Draco pointed out.
"I also want to discuss my plans for revenge," she added.
Draco turned slightly so he could see Hermione properly. "Are you still certain about that? Once father is involved he won't back off, there will be no changing your mind after tonight."
"I know, Hermione replied, her face set in steely determination. "But after what I witnessed this afternoon I want vengeance more than anything."
"As long as you're sure, I'm with you all the way," Draco said, lightly pecking Hermione on the cheek. "Should we go downstairs?"
Hermione nodded and took hold of Draco's hand. Together the couple headed downstairs to the formal dining room. When they arrived they found Severus Snape had only just arrived himself and the adults were just settling into their seats. After greetings were exchanged everyone sat down and dinner was served.
For the first part of dinner, conversation was stilted and slightly awkward. Severus wasn't sure what to call Hermione and was clearly worried in case she held his former allegiance to the Order against him. By the time dessert was served Hermione had reassured Severus she trusted him so the potions master was finally more relaxed and at ease.
"Are we ever going to discuss your comment about retaliation?" Lucius finally asked Hermione when there was a slight lull in the conversation. He'd been dying to ask all evening but it wasn't until near the end of the meal that Lucius had found an appropriate opportunity to twist the subject towards Hermione's mysterious comment.
"Yes, I definitely want to discuss it," Hermione smirked.
Lucius, Narcissa and Severus all exchanged a look at Hermione's smirk, she looked eerily like her father when she did that. There was also a glint of evil in her eyes that was pure Tom.
"Shall we retire to the front room, we can have a drink while we discuss things," Narcissa suggested. She had a feeling that Hermione was planning on revealing a plan for revenge and she wanted to ensure the plans wouldn't backfire and hurt the people she loved.
At Narcissa's suggestion everyone moved into the front room and settled down with a drink. Hermione and Draco sat on one of the sofas while Narcissa and Lucius occupied the second one and Severus had settled himself on the chair nearest the fireplace.
Hermione waited until everyone was settled before she spoke. "I want vengeance on Dumbledore and the Order. They need to pay for what they've done. I'm hoping you'll all help me."
"Of course we'll help," Lucius replied, checking that Narcissa was supportive. A small nod from his wife showed she was on-side and would help in any way she could.
"I'm in," Severus said when Hermione turned her attention to him. "I assume you've already got the beginnings of a plan."
"Yes, I do," Hermione smiled, surprised that Severus could read her so well. "I want the whole Order to suffer but I mainly want to concentrate on Dumbledore and all those that know what he did with me."
"Are you sure about that, Athena?" Narcissa asked. "You personally know everyone who knows about your true identity. They're your friends."
"No, they're not." Hermione shook her head stubbornly. "They befriended me on Dumbledore's orders to keep me on their side. They've done nothing but lie to me since I met them."
"What about Potty and the Weasel?" Draco asked, using his old nicknames for Hermione's two annoying friends. "I'm guessing they don't know who you really are. Can you really cope with turning on them?"
"I know if I target their parents they're both going to get hurt, but I can't help that," Hermione responded. It was actually Harry and Ron that were the only potential problems with her plan. "Their parents all had a part in Dumbledore's plan, James even killed my mother. I can't let them get away with that."
"Would it help if you knew how they felt about your kidnapping?" Lucius asked, a plan starting to form.
"Probably. I'm guessing with the way they're so against Slytherins they won't exactly be appalled by Dumbledore's actions. I don't want to just assume that though, I would quite like to know what they do think about what happened. But they don't know anything about me, I can't tell them the story as I'm not supposed to know," Hermione pointed out. "And I highly doubt their parents would tell them, they've kept my identity a secret for all this time."
"They might tell if they were forced into it," Lucius said. "You said you wanted the whole Order to suffer, well I can re-start the Death Eater attacks and focus on the Order."
"I like that," Hermione said. "But how does that force Dumbledore and the others into telling the truth to Harry and Ron?"
"I thought that with every attack we could leave the message we're looking for you," Lucius suggested. "Dumbledore and the others are going to worry about us knowing you're not really dead, they'll also have to explain what really happened to the rest of the Order. I think that will cause problems and unrest within the enemy camp."
Hermione nodded appreciatively at Lucius's ideas. She could already picture the turbulence it would cause amongst the Order when they discovered Dumbledore had lied to them. "It's a great plan so far, but I still don't get where Harry and Ron come into it."
"I'm getting there. Honestly, you're as impatient as Tom, he'd always try to rush me when I was plotting," Lucius chuckled, seeing more and more of Tom in his daughter. "As you say, I'm pretty sure they won't include your friends in the loop. That's why we launch an attack near to the school and make sure your little friends know the reason we're attacking."
"Potter and Weasley will not be able to resist asking for answers," Severus added, seeing the potential in Lucius's plan.
"I suppose it could work," Hermione mused. "It needs some more working out but it could get me what I need to know."
"Leave the details to me," Lucius said. "All you need to do is find out what your friends think of their parent's actions after they know what happened to you."
"Okay." Hermione nodded. "I want to do that quite quickly, I need to know Harry and Ron's reactions before I involve them any more than I have to. If they respond like I hope, I won't hurt them any more than necessary but if they respond like I fear they will, they'll find themselves a part of my plan."
"There's more to your plan?" Narcissa asked.
"Yes, the Death Eater attacks are for the rest of the Order but I plan on destroying the lives of everyone who knew what Dumbledore did," Hermione answered. "Plus Dumbledore and James killed my parents, they're going to pay the ultimate price for that."
"By the ultimate price, you mean death," Severus stated, surprised Hermione had embraced her dark side so easily.
"Yes, by the time school's over for the year Dumbledore and James will be dead. And Lily, Molly, Arthur and Sirius will all have their lives in tatters," Hermione said firmly. "I then intend to walk away and never have contact with any of them again."
"What are you planning on doing to them?" Draco asked, knowing his girlfriend already had the start of a plan for each of them.
"As I said, I want Dumbledore and James dead. Preferably the way they killed my parents," Hermione said, closing her eyes briefly as she thought about the awful way her parents lost their lives.
"Killing them in their beds is going to be difficult," Lucius said.
"I actually have the beginnings of a plan for both of them, but we can go into details later," Hermione reassured Lucius. "I also know how to destroy Lily and Molly. Unfortunately I have no idea on Sirius or Arthur, although if something could happen to Arthur that could also help Molly suffer."
"How about a werewolf attack?" Lucius asked, an evil grim forming on his face. "I know a werewolf, he's pretty vicious and would love the opportunity to attack the Order."
"Yeah, we could work with that," Hermione agreed with a nod. "Although we need a plan for Sirius."
"We'll think of something," Lucius promised. "What plans did you have for the women?"
"Well the way to destroy Molly is through her children. We can target them and make sure their entire lives fall apart. I don't want any of them killed or seriously hurt but there's plenty of other things we can do to them," Hermione said sombrely. She wasn't happy with targeting the Weasley children but she knew it was the best way to get to Molly. "That combined with Arthur's attack should have her a mess by the end of the year."
"What about Lily?" Severus asked. While his feelings for Lily had long since dispersed he was still sad about her being caught up in the plot for revenge.
"Well she'll have James's death to cope with, that'll be the start. I was then thinking after he was dead she could discover he was cheating on her," Hermione explained. "I'm sure we can fake a romance somehow."
"I'm sure we can," Lucius responded, knowing it would be easy to gain evidence of a fake affair.
"Are you alright with this, Severus?" Narcissa asked, noticing the dark haired man had gone quiet as Hermione explained her idea.
"Yes," Severus nodded. "I'm fine."
"Good." Hermione smiled at her potions professor, she knew they would probably need him as her plans kicked into action. "I know some plans need working on but at least we have the basics sorted."
"We have all summer to perfect them," Draco said to his girlfriend.
"Actually we don't," Hermione said. "Harry, Ron and their families are back off holiday next week. I'll be expected to spend time with them, then I'm going on holiday myself the last two weeks of the holidays. So after this weekend, I'll not be coming to the Manor as often."
"That could be a good thing," Lucius said. "We don't want anyone to know you know who you really are. So acting like nothing has changed is for the best."
"What about when the plan progresses, surely suspicion's going to fall on Athena," Narcissa said. "Dumbledore's going to have to wonder if she knows the truth."
"Don't worry, Narcissa, they're going to have no reason to doubt me," Hermione reassured her boyfriend's mother. "I actually have an idea that'll make them suspect me even less," she added, fidgeting nervously.
"What sort of an idea?" Draco asked his girlfriend. Her fidgeting had alerted him to the fact that whatever she had decided she wasn't comfortable with.
"I'll tell you later," Hermione said, grimacing at the thought of how Draco would react to her plan.
"Narcissa has a point," Severus said, interrupting whatever Draco was going to say next. "No matter how unlikely it seems that Hermione knows the truth, Dumbledore will investigate the possibility."
"He won't find anything," Hermione shrugged. "Draco and I have managed to keep our relationship a secret for years, we can manage one final year."
"It's too risky," Severus said. "I think before you return to school you both need to master occlumency."
"That's an excellent idea," Narcissa said. "They're both smart enough to pick it up easily and with both of us helping, they should be fine by the time they return to school."
"What's occlumency?" Hermione asked, never having heard of the term.
Narcissa and Severus explained the art of occlumency and why they felt Hermione and Draco should learn it. Both Hermione and Draco agreed it would be useful and they made plans to start developing their skills the next day.
After discussing occulemency for a while talk turned back to Hermione's plans for vengeance. For a few hours the five sat around, forming solid plans for the upcoming year. Hermione made it clear that everything had to happen throughout her and Draco's last year at school, by the time she left school she wanted to forget all about Dumbledore and the Order and concentrate on her future.
G.O.V.
"Are you going to tell me the idea you didn't want to mention downstairs?" Draco asked his girlfriend as he emerged from the bathroom.
"You won't like it," Hermione sighed. Ever since she had had the idea of how to appear even more innocent she knew it wasn't going to go down well with Draco.
"I gathered that," Draco muttered. "Although you hardly look keen yourself."
"I'm not," Hermione admitted. "But what I'm about to suggest will make the Order less likely to suspect I know the truth."
"What's your plan, then?" Draco asked, climbing into bed next to Hermione.
"I'm going to go out with Ron," Hermione said quietly.
"No." Draco shook his head stubbornly. "That's not happening."
"It'll only be pretend. If I'm dating Ron, no-one will suspect I'm behind everything that's going on," Hermione said, defending her idea.
"I get the reasoning behind it and it makes sense," Draco admitted. "What I don't like is the thought of the Weasel having his hands all over my girlfriend."
"His hands won't be all over me," Hermione insisted. "I can date Ron and not have to do more than occasionally kiss him."
"He's not going to settle for that," Draco snorted. "No-one in their right mind would date you and settle for the occasional kiss."
"Ron will," Hermione insisted. "You're forgetting that he sees me as his nerdy, bookworm friend who has no experience with boys. I can play up that image and tell him I want to take things slowly."
"I still don't like it," Draco moaned. "Even an occasional kiss with the Weasel is too much."
"You're not jealous are you?" Hermione teased, suddenly realising the perfect way to get Draco to agree to her idea.
"As if," Draco snorted.
"You have no reason to be jealous," Hermione said as she moved to straddle Draco. "I have no interest in Ron whatsoever. He's just providing me with a cover."
"That better be all he's doing," Draco muttered.
Hermione smiled at Draco's attitude, she always loved to see his jealous possessive side. "How about I show you who I really want," she whispered in his ear.
Draco's murmur of agreement turned into a moan as Hermione rocked her hips against his as her lips descended onto his neck. As Hermione began kissing her way down his body Draco knew that he would go along with whatever plan she decided. He absolutely loathed the idea of her pretending to date the Weasel but he knew that it was him she loved and no fake relationship with a ginger tosspot was going to destroy what they had.