DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER!
The Serpents' Child
Chapter 19
"Enjoying your party?" Hermione turned her head and froze in horror. Antonin Dolohov stood on her left, too close for comfort. Her eyes took in his face, a face she could never forget. It was just like she remembered from the Department of Mysteries battle; ear-length shaggy black hair, a carefully groomed beard, dark piercing eyes. But he had scars on his face that hadn't been there that night when he'd Cursed her. He smirked down at her terrified face. "So you do remember me." He laughed, snatching her champagne flute out of her trembling hands. "Wouldn't want you to drop that, would we? I do believe it's pure crystal." He put the glass on the table behind them.
"What do you want?" She managed to force out of her throat, although she only spoke barely above a whisper.
"This is your 'Coming Out' ball. You're being introduced to everyone who is a possible future spouse, as well as anyone who may be of assistance to you in your future. I merely wanted to formerly introduce myself to such a beautiful witch." The way he looked at her as he said 'beautiful' made her skin crawl. He straightened up and held out his hand. "Antonin Mathias Dolohov, madam." Hermione didn't know what to do; Narcissa hadn't coached her for this situation! "You extend your right hand, take mine and I kiss the back of your hand. You then say your full name." He instructed in a dangerous whisper. 'Dangerous' as in 'predatory'.
"I-I don't-"
His hand grabbed her hand by her fingers, pulled it up to his mouth and pressed his lips to the back of her moisturised hand. His lips were soft and warm, but his beard scratched her skin a little. "I'll let your lack of manners slide, seeing as your name was announced rather loudly when you descended the staircase on your arrival." He kept hold of her hand, lowering it only slightly so they could look at each other's faces. "I think you surprised a lot of people tonight, Hermione. Most of the people in this room have only ever known you as the mudblooded best friend of Potter. When you entered the room in that dress," He leered down at her, "I think every man in this room wanted you. Myself included." He rasped, stepping closer to her.
She flustered. "You maim me, only a few months ago, and now you're telling me that you desire me?" She gasped out.
He laughed. "Not quite. I'm telling you that I want to fuck you." He growled, cupping between her legs with his large hand.
Only a second later before Hermione could even take a step back, his hand was gone, his grip on her hand was gone and he was gasping in pain. Hermione looked down quickly, seeing equally large hands bending both Dolohov's wrists back at awkward angles. She looked back up and saw Rodolphus standing in front of her and next to Dolohov, rage clearly displayed on his face. Where had he come from, Hermione wondered as Rodolphus leant into his ear.
"If you touch my daughter again-" He whispered calmly, emotion only being shown on his face.
"You'll what? Kill me?" Dolohov taunted. With that, Rodolphus twisted Dolohov's wrists, snapping them both with a pair of loud cracks. Hermione flinched. Dolohov's nostrils flared with pain, though he only grunted.
"If you touch her again, this'll seem like a hangnail compared to what I'll do to you. Stay away from my daughter." He growled back, letting go of his 'colleague's' wrists, placing Hermione's hand in the crook on his arm and escorting her away from the glaring man.
!"!
"You didn't have to do that."
"Defend my daughter's honour? Of course I did. In all honesty, I've waited seventeen years to be able to do that."
Hermione smiled ruefully, accepting the crystal tumbler filled with a small measure of brandy. After Rodolphus had 'dealt with' Dolohov, he had escorted her to Lucius' office - the ball was being held at Malfoy Manor seeing as the Ministry was being slow in officially signing over the rights to Lestrange Manor back to Rodolphus. "I mean you didn't have to break both his wrists."
"Well," He paused, sipping his own brandy, whose measure was a lot bigger than hers, "That was a long time coming as well. I've wanted to...Deal with him ever since he cursed you."
"And by 'deal with' you mean-"
"You don't need to know what I mean, sweetheart." Hermione sighed tiredly. "What?"
"Would you please stop treating me like I'm a child? I know exactly what you mean when you say 'deal with Dolohov'. Should you ever feel the need to 'deal with him' in future, you don't need to dance around me."
Rodolphus laughed. "Then shall I tell you how your mother smashed bottles over his head after we had all returned here that night? Or how I had glass lodged in my knuckles after punching him a dozen times?"
"Only a dozen?" She teased as she downed her brandy, grimacing as it burnt her throat.
"Still can't take your brandy." He teased affectionately, taking the glass off her.
"What did Voldemort say to you two after you beat up Dolohov?"
"I told them," A voice from the back of the room hissed. They both spun around to see Voldemort emerge from the shadows, His long black robes exchanged for a set of black dress robes, a tie the same colour as Hermione's dress, "That I didn't mind that once, as long as it didn't happen again."
"My Lord, we weren't aware that You were attending tonight." Rodolphus gushed, bowing from the waist. Hermione quickly stood up and curtseyed.
"I have business with several of your guests; I thought I would come to where they all were. Also, I wouldn't mind a dance with your daughter, if you have no objections."
On the inside, Hermione was screaming her objections. There was no way that she was going to dance with that man! Or creature, whatever He was! How could He even think that she would dance with Him? It was a ridiculous idea, thinking that she would even consider- "Of course I have no objections, my Lord." Rodolphus put his hand on the small of Hermione's back, nudging her forward a few steps. "Shall I find those whom You have business with, my Lord?"
"For now, your wife, nephew and his parents will do; I will seek out the others myself later." He nodded his head towards the door of the study, clearly telling Rodolphus to leave the room. He gave his daughter a quick glance and encouraging smile, before leaving without looking back, closing the door behind him. "You look every beautiful tonight, Hermione." As He said this, she noticed with a sliver of fear that He locked and warded the door.
"Thank you, my Lord." She ducked her head, fearing that if He looked at her, He would see how afraid she was. She heard footsteps approach her, the warmth of a body come in front of her and a fingertip nudge her chin up. To her immense surprise, and relief, what she saw when she looked up was not what she expected. His milk-white skin was now tanned. His bald head was covered in thick light brown hair. His eyes were a deep blue. He had a nose, and a wonderful mouth. He was, all in all, very very handsome. She spoke without realising. "Wow."
He laughed at her, showing her his perfect teeth. "I take it that you were not expecting this."
She stuttered before composing herself. "No."
"Is it an improvement?" He asked, taking her right hand in his left, and resting his right hand on the small of her back as He pulled her closer and into a dancing stance, never breaking eye contact.
"Well…I…It's just…"
"You seem to be struggling to find the words. Perhaps you're wondering what it is you think I want to hear." He brought his head marginally closer to hers. "The truth, Hermione, is what I always want to hear. Now answer my question."
She swallowed before speaking. "Yes, it's a large improvement. I much prefer this face to the other one."
He smiled. "Well answered, Hermione." Out of nowhere, ballroom music started playing through the room, making Hermione look around for the source of the sound. "Take your stance, Hermione, this is a waltz."
"Pardon?"
"We are going to dance."
"When You said You wanted to dance, I assumed You meant in the ballroom."
"Why, when I can have you alone?" Hermione flushed and didn't answer, placing her left hand on his shoulder, waiting for the eighth beat before commencing with the steps to the dance. It was a slower dance than the one she had had with her father. "Have you been reading the books I suggested to you?"
"Yes, I have, I started the last one last night."
"What are your thoughts so far? Have I brought you around to My way of thinking?" He teased, not truly serious as He grasped Hermione's hips to lift her into the air, lowering her back down gracefully, slipping back into the steps effortlessly. Who knew Lord Voldemort could dance?
"If you mean, have I developed the desire to become a Death Eater simply after reading a few books, then the answer is no. I understand now that not everything can be defined as either black or white, but that doesn't mean I want to be on the darker end of the spectrum." She replied honestly and firmly.
He laughed. "I'm almost glad that you were sent away to those muggles."
Now that truly did confound Hermione. She stared up at Him in amazement. "Would You care to expand on that?"
"Despite what many people think, I do enjoy having honest and open conversations with people. But being who I am-"
"People are not always honest."
"No, they are honest; they know what I would do to them if I discovered that they were lying. But with their honesty comes weakness."
"Weakness?"
"They speak the truth, yes, but they say it with forced apologies and excuses. If one of My Death Eaters fails a mission, I would rather hear them tell me so plainly, rather than try to explain their failure in a way that they think will please Me. If you had stayed with your parents, I have no doubt that you would have become a mistress of – how do you Gryffindors put it? – 'sucking up'."
"You Slytherins seem to call it 'paraphrasing'." She remarked as she dipped under His arm in a twirl.
He teased back, pulling her body slightly closer than it had been before the twirl. "I call it weakness. I expect obedience from my supporters, of course, but that often garners 'paraphrasing'."
"So You're saying that You like the fact that I'm…What, opinionated?"
He stopped dancing with her, moving His hand to cup the back of her head in His large hand. "To put it simply, yes I do. But make no mistake, Hermione, I expect obedience from you too."
Suddenly, the door to the library opened, voices entering the room. Hermione almost jumped away from Voldemort, who had changed His appearance back to its normal state, spinning around to look at her parents, the three Malfoys and a man Hermione didn't know.
"Milord." They all chorused, the men bowed from the waist and the women curtseyed.
"Ladies, gentlemen. Thank you for the dance, Hermione; you can return to the ballroom with your father now. Rabastan, it's good to see you again."
"Milord." The new man murmured with a bow of his head.
"You can also go back to the ballroom. Draco, Lucius, Narcissa, Bellatrix, come in. We have something to discuss."
!"!
Hermione walked back to the ballroom with Rodolphus and the man named Rabastan, who hadn't said another word since they were removed from the library. Rodolphus guided them over to the beverage table, selecting a glass of champagne for Hermione and two glasses of blood red wine for himself and Rabastan. As they all took their first sips, Hermione looked to her father.
"Father, aren't you going to introduce us?" She nodded her head at Rabastan.
He laughed. "I'm surprised that you can't guess who he is. You look like your mother; Draco looks like Lucius; who does Rabastan look like?"
Now that Hermione looked closely enough, Rabastan did seem to look a little like her father, with hair of a dark brown colour instead of black, and dark blue eyes instead of brown. But everything else was there. "Well he's clearly a Lestrange."
"I'm the baby brother to your wonderful father." Rabastan teased, sipping his wine.
"Another uncle?" She smiled. "Well it's nice to meet you."
"And the same to you; this is only the second time I've ever met you."
Her eyes widened in surprise as she swallowed her mouthful of champagne. Rodolphus answered her unspoken question. "Rabastan has been undercover since you were born. He was sent south the day after you joined our family."
"South, doing what?" She asked, genuinely curious.
Rabastan waved off her question with a shake of his hand. "Nothing interesting. Tell me about yourself, dear niece. Are you more like my sister-in-law or my brother? You look like her, but is there any of the Lestrange line in you apart from your eyes?" He asked with a smile.
Hermione was about to answer, when she caught sight of something in the corner of her eye. Draco appeared back in the ballroom after coming down the corridor which led to the library. He was paler than usual, Narcissa was at his side, her arm entwined with his, seemingly supporting some of his weight as Lucius was on his other side, doing the same. They slipped along the side of the ballroom, going further into the house down a small corridor. Bellatrix emerged from where Draco and his parents had done, her face a cross between pride and concern.
Just what had happened in there?
!"!
A/N[1]: As a quick foreword, I would like to apologise to anyone who may have been offended by a joke I made in my last chapter. When Hermione was learning to dance and she asked Blaise if he could dance, he replied 'of course I can, I'm black'. I would like to say that that line was only intended to be humorous and not offensive in the slightest, and I deeply apologise to anybody who was upset by it.
A/N[2]: For future reference, my 'human' Voldemort looks like Ralph Fiennes, in his mid-thirties.
A/N[3]: Due to the sheer level of reviews and PMs concerning something key to the story, I'm going to have to give a firm spoiler out and that's something I hate doing, but the amount of people that keep saying this to me is really starting to annoy me; Hermione IS going to be with Blaise Zabini in both this story and the series. Blaise is her one true love. That is how this story will work. It is going to happen. Yes, there will be heavy HGxLV LATER in the story, but not yet. Also, I know we've not seen a lot of Voldemort so far in the story, but that is simply because he's not that important AT THIS STAGE of the story. If you don't like either of these facts, then either stop reading this story or stop moaning to me about it. 'I don't want Hermione to be with Blaise!', 'Where's Voldemort? Why isn't he in it?', 'Make Hermione do this!', 'Make Hermione do that!', 'Make this happen!', 'Make that happen!', 'I want this!', 'I want that!' I'm the one writing this story, thus I will write it how I want and I will put what I want in it. Simples. And relating back to A/N[1], 'my' Blaise Zabini is a black French-Italian. Not a 'dirty Ethiopian' as one reviewer – who I hope is ashamed of themselves for saying that! – called him after ORDERING me not to have the HGxBZ pairing in MY story. Sorry about the rant but my points still stand.
A/N[4]: We will soon see just how disgusting Antonin Dolohov is. But don't worry, I don't let bad deeds go unpunished…