Chapter Twelve.
After Lucius's explanation about what had supposedly happened to her, Hermione had refused to leave the bedroom she'd been given. For days she hadn't even thought about leaving the room, but boredom eventually began to set in. Stuck in the room she could do nothing, but maybe if she explored the place she could find a way out of her prison.
Hermione still hadn't wanted anyone to know she was exploring the manor, so she always waited until Draco was out. It hadn't taken her long to realise that she and Draco were the only people with rooms in this particular portion of the manor. It also hadn't taken her long to realise that Draco headed downstairs early on a morning and didn't appear again until early evening. More than likely he was working during the day, which gave her ample opportunity to explore.
When Hermione began to explore, she soon discovered that nearby there were enough rooms to make living in one part of the manor possible. No doubt she was in Draco's personal wing of the manor, meaning she wasn't likely to bump into anyone but Draco. Even so, Hermione was very careful and never ventured out of her room at a time when she thought she might be caught. She may have been given free run of the manor, but that didn't mean she wanted anyone to know she was starting to take advantage of her limited bit of freedom.
Hermione had gotten quite good at sneaking around when Draco was either out or in bed, so she was rather shocked when one night she'd been caught. She'd been convinced Draco was in his room for the night when she'd gone wandering to the library. She'd been researching the wards of the manor, hoping to break through them, but she'd fallen asleep beside the fire. When she'd woke up and found Draco watching her, she'd been shocked. But that was nothing compared to how she felt after their little chat. Draco's words had left her reeling, and for days she'd refused to deal with the doubts that were creeping into her head.
However, it had been two days since her conversation with Draco and Hermione knew she had to start facing reality. As much as she didn't want to admit it, a lot of what he'd said had made sense. Hiding from the facts wasn't getting her anywhere, she had to face her demons and accept that things might not be quite as they appeared.
In an attempt to clear her mind, Hermione had exited her bedroom and slowly crept down the stairs. Some fresh air was just what she needed, she doubted it was good for the baby or her to be holed up in her room all day. Hermione was relieved when she didn't run into anyone as she descended the stairs and found her way outside. The fresh air immediately had Hermione feeling much better. The occasional chill in the air let her know autumn was well and truly setting in, but it was still warm enough for her to enjoy a stroll in the gardens. Hermione spent a few moments taking in the beautiful gardens and stunning array of flowers, before settling down on a bench beside a large rose bush.
Even though she didn't want to, Hermione let herself think about what Draco had said a few days previously. Truthfully, she'd already noticed her relationship with Ron wasn't how she remembered it. Reading together was just one of the many ways in which her memories didn't match her experiences of the last few months living with Ron. It was now becoming increasingly clear that her memories weren't of Ron, they were of someone else.
Thinking about her memories, Hermione found the vast majority of them took place in the head dorms. The memories of Ron that took place elsewhere in the school, like the prefect's bathroom or the room of requirement, could easily be genuine, but she was slowly accepting that the memories in the head dorms weren't of Ron. It just didn't make any sense that she and Ron would be so intimate in the head dorms, not with Draco around.
Dozens of Hermione's memories involved curling up on the sofa in the common room, reading together. Not only would Ron not be comfortable just sitting reading, Draco wouldn't just stay out of the way if Ron was in the head dorms. Then there was the memories of using the common room for sex. Again, it made no sense that she and Ron would be using the common room when the Head Boy could just walk in at any minute. Hermione also had loads of memories of falling asleep next to Ron and waking up next to him the next morning. She could now see that Ron would never have stayed the night in the head dorms, it just wouldn't have happened without Draco kicking up a fuss. And in all of Hermione's memories, Draco never appeared complaining about Hermione and Ron being in the head dorms.
The longer Hermione sat thinking, the more convinced she became that she'd made a massive mistake in her final year at Hogwarts. She was becoming increasingly convinced that she'd had an ill-advised fling with Draco. She'd likely fallen for his charms, and ended up betraying Ron in the worst possible way. Unfortunately, that meant the baby she was carrying was most likely Draco's.
"Please no," Hermione whispered, tears falling from her eyes as she contemplated the possibility she was carrying a Malfoy.
With the realisation that she'd likely been involved with Draco back in school, Hermione had to wonder who had altered her memories. Had she come to her senses and realised what a mistake she'd made and tried to fix things? Or had someone else discovered what was going on and acted to save her relationship with Ron and the rest of the Order? Harry was the most likely possibility of someone finding out and trying to fix things, but she suspected she'd done this herself. She was beginning to think she'd finally come to her senses and tried to fix a horrid mistake.
There was no doubt in Hermione's mind that Draco had just been using her back in school. Whether he'd just wanted information from her, or whether he wanted her to join the dark, she wasn't sure. But she was sure that he didn't love her. There was no way he would love a muggleborn, and that was what she was. She didn't know why the dark felt the need to try and pretend she was someone she wasn't, but she certainly wasn't believing their lies about her parentage. No doubt it was more trickery to try to get her believe that she was with Draco.
"May I join you?" a quite voice asked, jolting Hermione from her thoughts.
Hermione looked up to find Adele standing in front of her. Despite herself, Hermione rather liked Adele. She just wished that she didn't keep insisting she was her mother. As long as she kept claiming to be her mother, Hermione was steering clear of the older witch.
"I was just about to head back indoors," Hermione said.
"Please, just stay for five minutes," Adele pleaded. "I just want to check you're okay."
"I'm as okay as I can be considering I'm a prisoner," Hermione retorted sharply as Adele settled herself beside her on the bench.
"You don't know how much I wish things could be different, Hermione," Adele sighed. "I blame myself for all this."
"Why?"
"Because I asked Lucius and Severus to pass you off as a muggleborn when it was time for you to start school," Adele replied. "I was so worried about the Order finding out about you, I did everything I could to prevent that. I thought making you attend school as a muggleborn would keep you under their radar. I never expected you to end up in Gryffindor and forced to befriend Potter and his ginger sidekick."
"I wasn't forced to befriend Harry and Ron," Hermione snapped. "They became my friends when they saved me from a troll. Our friendship is genuine."
"I should have put an end to this charade years ago," Adele said, carrying on as though Hermione hadn't spoken. "I hated the fact you were close to the Order, but your father insisted you were safe. I should have put my foot down and demanded you be pulled out."
"Just stop it!" Hermione screamed as she jumped to her feet. "You are not my mother, and Voldemort is not my father. Just stop with the lies. I don't know why you feel the need to tell such lies. This is all because of the baby, isn't it? You found out I was pregnant, and realised it must be Malfoy's child. So you snatched me and tried to get me to remember, but for some reason you've added all these extra lies about my parents. I will never believe you, so just stop it."
Turning on her heel, Hermione fled back towards the manor, never realising she'd told Adele much more than she'd intended. For the first time, she'd admitted out loud that the baby she was carrying was Draco's. She'd also admitted that she was starting to believe some of what she was being told, giving Adele hope she would soon start to believe everything.
Ron and Harry were both at The Burrow, sitting despairingly at the kitchen table while Molly bustled around making tea. For two weeks there'd been a constant presence at Malfoy Manor as the Order looked to find a weak spot in the wards surrounding the property, but so far they'd found nothing. They hadn't even seen Hermione, so they had no idea what state she was in. Considering who she was, they doubted she was being kept as a prisoner, but she also didn't seem to be roaming around the place.
"We're not getting her back, are we?" Ron muttered, more to himself than to Harry.
"Of course we are," Harry replied confidently, even though he didn't feel it. Dumbledore was unsure of how they could save Hermione, which didn't lead to optimism on his part.
"Be realistic, Harry," Ron snorted. "She's at Malfoy Manor, and the place is practically impenetrable."
"Maybe Snape will be able to help," Harry suggested with a grimace. He hated thinking that Snape could be of any help to them, but at this point he was looking like their best bet.
When Dumbledore had informed the Order that Hermione had been taken, he'd asked Snape to find out everything he could. A few days later Snape had returned with the news that Voldemort had announced they had captured Hermione. Snape claimed he didn't know where Hermione was located, but he promised to do everything he could to find out. However, so far he'd failed to come up with anything that could help them.
"It's a bad thing when we're relying on Snape," Ron grumbled. "How we do even know we can trust him?"
"We can't," Harry admitted. "But we have to trust Dumbledore, and he trusts Snape."
"No offence, but Dumbledore isn't exactly doing much to help us, is he?" Ron said. "He can't even break into the manor. And he was the one who assured us that Hermione was safe and that the dark couldn't get to her."
"Dumbledore couldn't have known what was going to happen," Harry said, immediately jumping to the defence of the headmaster. "He couldn't have predicated the dark would snatch Hermione in broad daylight."
"I guess not," Ron conceded. If he was going to blame Dumbledore, then he really had to blame everyone. They'd all been satisfied that Hermione was safe, and not one of them had suggested that they should keep her locked up for her own safety.
"Here comes Fred and George," Molly announced happily, breaking into the pair's conversation.
Fred and George had been on duty at the manor all afternoon, not that Harry and Ron were expecting any news. For weeks nothing had happened, and they didn't see why today would be any different. However, when Fred and George burst into the kitchen it was clear that something had them buzzing.
"What is it?" Ron demanded.
"We saw Hermione," Fred answered with a smile. "And she looks okay."
"Sit, explain," Molly ordered.
Fred and George took their seats and proceeded to explain how they were on duty and had spotted Hermione emerging from the manor. Using a pair of strong binoculars, the twins had watched Hermione as she'd walked around the gardens before settling on a bench. They also explained how an older woman had approached Hermione and the pair talked, before Hermione yelled at her and went storming back to the manor.
"Who was the woman?" Harry asked.
"We've never seen her before," George replied.
"We did get some pictures though," Fred added as he pulled a camera from his jacket pocket. "When they're developed we may be able to work out who she is."
"Could you hear any of what was being said?" Ron asked.
"Of course not," George answered. "We were too far away. We needed the binoculars to get a good look at what was going on."
"But Hermione looked to be yelling at the woman?" Harry checked.
"That's what it looked like," Fred said. "We took plenty of pictures, so maybe they can help work out what was going on."
"I'll call Dumbledore and let him know what's going on," Molly announced as she jumped to her feet.
An hour later, Dumbledore and a select group of the Order were at The Burrow as the last of the pictures Fred and George had taken were developed. With all the pictures developed, they were spread out across the table and the group had an idea of what had happened at the manor that afternoon. They also had several good pictures of the mystery woman Hermione had been arguing with.
"She looks like Hermione," Molly whispered as she studied one of the pictures. "I think this is her mother."
"I'm inclined to agree with Molly," Dumbledore said. "Now we've got a picture, we might be able to identify her."
"Do you think identifying her mother will help us?" Arthur asked.
"Hopefully," Dumbledore answered. "It'll certainly give us more insight into Voldemort and his life."
"I just wish we knew what they were saying," Harry grumbled, looking at the picture where Hermione looked to be screaming at the older witch.
"Unless we can develop some sort of bug, then we're just going to have to be content to watch," Dumbledore said. "And don't forget we don't want all of the Order listening to what's going on. I think for now, we'll settle for watching and taking pictures. At least we know Hermione is safe, and judging from these pictures, things aren't all cosy at the manor."
"But will we ever get her back?" Ron asked.
"I have faith," Dumbledore said. "Now we know she can enter and leave the manor itself, I'll talk to Severus about seeing if he can find out more about her situation. We might be able to pass a message to her, telling her not to give up hope. We'll get her back, I know we will."