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Chapter Twenty one

My leader, my hero the zero

You know how some times people go around saying that thing could be worse then they were at that moment?

Well Hermione had the feeling that there really was not any thing worse then what was going on right now, she was about to go to dinner at Malfoy manner and to make matters worse she had now found out that his grandfather was the person who set the spells up that were attacking her friends.

As Hermione looked at herself in the mirror she started to wonder if things like this really were hurting people more then they were meant to.

To think that he had been so in love and gotten so hurt that he was willing to hurt people was unthinkable for Hermione but in some ways she thought that she could understand.

She tried to think about how much it must have hurt to have your heart broken but she found that she could not think of any thing.

After all, Hermione had never even been in love with some one so she had never even come close to having her heart broken.

"There" Pansy said as she carefully rapped a piece of hair around the bun that she had placed in her hair "All done. You look lovely"

With a deep sigh Hermione got up from her bed and looked at herself and she was in fact shocked with that was looking back at her.

She did look good.

Deciding that she needed to make a good impression Hermione had tried to look her best. The girls had picked out a dress for her to wear, nothing special but still some thing that they would like. It was a light blue dress that stopped just above her knees with a slightly low down V neck.

They had kept her make up nice and simple after all, Ginny had said, it wasn't like she really needed it after all. They had placed a small amount of blush to give her face some colour and then some matching eye shadow, a little bit of mascara and finally a small touch of eye liner to give her eyes the finishing touch.

But what had really made Hermione top and give herself a second look was how her hair looked. It was tided back tightly into a bun and she had some small curls running down both sides of her face.

It was true that Hermione would have never personally picked out some thing like this for herself but she could not help but look it.

All of the girls got up from the bed of the chairs that had been placed in her room to get a better look and Hermione could feel her stomach turn.

She looked what she did and she would do almost any thing to help her girls but Hermione was starting to wonder if this was such a good idea.

If some thing had gone wrong when Helen had done it then how was she going to do some thing like this right?

What if some thing went wrong and there was nothing that she could about it? This was the Malfoys after all, for all she knew she could have been walking into a trap of some kind, his grandfather could have some how known that she was a member and now he wanted her too.

This could go wrong.

"Hermione?"

Katie's voice seemed to snap her out of her thought and she turned to her.

"Yeah?"

"I said are you ready to go?"

No. no I want to stay here. I don't care if I let any one down, I just can not go.

But that's were the problem was, right there. Hermione did care about what the girls thought of her, even if she had been a member for a long time now Hermione some how thought

"Yeah, I am ready"

"Good because Dumbledore is waiting for you, it think he wants to talk to you first"

Hermione nodded slightly, she had not wanted to tell him but she knew that if he did not know then she would never had been able to leave school grounds.

She sighed, maybe this would not be so bad.

--

In some ways the house looked just the way that Hermione always thought that it would.

Hermione had never been to a palace before but Hermione had a weird feeling that this house was slightly bigger then one, not that this surprised her.

It was no secret that the Malfoys had money and she knew from personal experience that they liked to show it off when they could.

At first the house seemed to look beautiful to Hermione but the only problem seemed to be that the closer they got to it and the longer she looked at it the darker and more hunted it seemed to become, it was like it was changing before her very eyes.

The cold looking stone walls were now a dark blank instead of the grey colour that they once were and the grass that surrounded the house did not look as green as it had done at first glance.

Every thing about it looked dark and Hermione smiled to herself.

The house seemed to match the mood that she was in.

She looked over to the person sitting next to her and sighed. This was just silly, Dumbledore had been informed that she was going to be leaving Hogwarts and he had insisted that he take charge of her getting there and her return.

The only thing that he had not mentioned was that she was not going to be alone.

She personally found this to be a little too much for her, every one was acting like she was in some kind of danger and they did not even know the full story behind why she was going in the first place, not that that was a bad thing.

He must have sensed her looking because the next second Billy Weasley turned to her and smiled like he had only just seen her.

"You alright Hermione?"

She nodded.

"Yeah I am alright"

His smile widened but she knew that he did not mean it, the truth behind it was that she knew that he wanted to know why she was even going to the Malfoys.

She had a feeling that every one who knew she was going did.

Not that she could tell them.

Hermione suddenly thought of some thing and her heart beat started to fasten before she asked:

"Um…so Bill, tell me, where did you spend Christmas this year, you been at home or are you some where else this year…"

As though he read her mind he simple replied:

"I am not going to tell Harry and Ron where you are going or that I have even seen you if that is what you are worried about"

Her shoulders sagged in relief and she let out a breath that she had not know she had been holding as she muttered a small:

"Thank you"

Bill raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms as he asked:

"So I think that I am going to take that as a sign that you really do not want them to know about all of this then"

"No, I would rather that they did not know"

"Which I believe would lead to the simple question of why"

Hermione thought about her answer for a second before she answered with a small shrug.

"I do not want them to know about this because I simple believe that it is none of their business Professor Lupin"

Remus opened his mouth to reply but Hermione carried on.

"And there is also the small fact that knowing them they will find out and come to the wrong kind of conclusion and that…that is not some thing that I think I want to go threw right now"

He opened his mouth as though to say some thing but looked at her for another second and just closed it with out comment.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence.

--

After a few short goodbyes and Hermione promising then she was going to be out side waiting for them in three hours time Hermione suddenly found herself standing outside the door of Malfoy manner with a brass door knocker in the shape of a gargoyle staring her in the face.

Suddenly she felt like she had been sucked into a muggle horror movie and she was the silly little blond girl who was stupid enough to knock on the door.

She was by no means a stupid person but after a deep breath she found herself raising her hand and knocking on the door.

As Hermione waited for some one to open it she tried to calm herself down for a second.

What she was doing was both foolish and stupid, not to mention the fact that she was putting herself in some kind of danger but, as she kept on telling herself, this whole thing was not about her and it never was going to be.

This was about the girls.

With out any kind of warning the doors suddenly busted opened and Hermione found herself wondering if she was every going to do any thing for herself.

As soon as the women who answered the door came into view Hermione knew who she was, she had lightly blond hair, blue eyes and she was wearing a simple black dress.

It was Draco's mother, they had only ever met once in her fourth year but Hermione knew that she would have known who she was anyway.

"Hello!" the women smiled as she welcomed Hermione in and she had to stop herself from taking a step back, in the time that they had known each other she would not have thought that she was a smiling kind of person, she always seemed very kept to herself.

"You must be Draco's friends Hermione"

Hermione had to hold back a shudder, her and Draco Malfoy, friends?

The very thought of it made her feel ill and yet here she was acting like she was Draco's kind of but not really girl friend.

"Pleased to meet you Mrs.Malfoy" she muttered as she held out her hand but the women just waved away her hand and hugged Hermione like it was some thing that they had always done.

"You have no idea how pleased I am to have you here"

Hermione did not know what to say.

--

Draco's point of view:

The world had to be coming to some kind of end because there was no way that some thing like this could really be happening.

My mother was standing in the main door way and she was hugging Hermione Granger like it was nothing odd at all.

The mud blood.

Harry Potters best friend.

It was true that my mother had always said that she had nothing against muggle borns but seeing this just seemed unreal.

I had just been on my way to answer the door and before I could even get down the first step my mother had beaten me too it.

"Draco"

At the sound of my fathers voice I jumped slightly and turned around to face him, considering every thing This was the first time that he had spoken to me.

"Yes father?"

"Granger is here then"

It was a statement, not a question but I still nodded any way.

He went to move past me but stopped when he was standing next to me, I had grown a great deal since first year but some thing told me that I was never going to be as tall a he was.

I was never going to be any thing like him.

"I am doing this for one reason Draco and one reason only, their happiness. Let me assure you that if your Grandmother was not here then you would be out of here by now and that thing would never have been any where near my house"

I nodded slightly, some thing told me that he was not going to be able to say any thing.

"If any thing goes wrong today and if some thing happens to make your Grandmother of your Grandfather unhappy then you are going to be the one that will pay for it"

He leaned in slightly and his voice dropped as he asked:

"Do you understand me Draco?"

I nodded once more and he started to walk off.

I suddenly found myself wondering if his voice had ever been welcoming.

After a second I could remember nothing and that was one of the saddest things that I had realised in a very long time.

--

"So Hermione what would you like to do when you have finished Hogwarts?"

Hermione tried to smile but she did not think that she was pulling it off that well, the end of school seemed like such a long time away and although people thought that Hermione knew what she wanted to do with her life the truth was that she had no idea.

Thinking that she had to say some thing she simply said:

"I was thinking about becoming a Healer"

In some ways this was true, Hermione had always dreamed of being a doctor when she was younger and did not know that she was a witch.

"A Healer? Well that sounds like a wonderful idea! I am sure that would be perfect for you!"

Considering that they had only just meet Hermione had no idea how she had come to this conclusion but decided not to say any thing.

"Thank you"

And then, just like Hermione had thought there would be, there was silence and much to Hermione disappointment it was not even the comfortable kind.

The doors to the front room open and for the first time in her like Hermione was glade to see Draco Malfoy.

"Mother" he greeting with a small smile and then turned to Hermione. "Hermione, how nice to see you again, I trust your holidays were well?"

"Formal much?" Hermione thought to herself before smiling.

"Hello, I had a wonderful Christmas thank you, I hope you did also"

His smile dropped slightly.

"Considering every thing"

There was another small silence before Draco's mother interrupted it.

"Draco, any news on when your Grandparents will be joining us?"

"I believe they will be here soon, they are just getting granddad ready and I think Grandmother will be here shortly, after all you know how much she wants to meet Hermione"

His mother smiled.

"Don't I know it, it is all she has been talking about for the last few days, if you will excuse me I…I am needed in the kitchens"

Within a second she was out of her chair and out the door and Hermione smiled slightly, it seemed that she thought they would want some time alone but she did not think that that would be needed.

But just as soon as that thought had gone out of her mind Draco walked up to the chair she was sitting in, took hold of her hand, pulled her up and hugged her tightly.

This was new.

And…not all that bad.

He pulled away and Hermione thought that he was going to release her but Hermione soon found out that he had no intentions of doing any such thing, he once again pulled her to him and instead kissed her, full on the mouth, just like he had done before he had left Hogwarts.

And once again Hermione found the same thing happening, her legs started to shake slightly and if it had not been for his tight grip she was such that she would have fell.

With out a second thought she had rapped her hands around his neck and was kissing his with as much force as he was kissing her.

It was so different.

So good.

But oh so wrong.

She hated him and every thing that he did, all the girls that he had kissed like this was just games to him, to him she was just a game and nothing more, to her he was jut a job that needed to be done.

But hey, Hermione thought as he deepened the kiss even more (How many hands did this guy have?) all work and no play…

"Oh, excuse me!"

They broke apart suddenly and Hermione could feel her cheeks started to burn, that was not good, her gaze went to the fire and stayed there, she could not believe that that had just happened.

"Grandmother" Draco said in a chocked voice "We were just…um…that is to say…"

The women laughed and Hermione's heart felt like it was going to stop and Hermione had a weird feeling go threw her body, like some one had just thrown a bucket of water over her head.

There was some thing about that laugh.

"Oh I think I know just what you where doing dear boy! And so, you much be this Hermione that Draco had been talking about!"

At the sound of some one walking up to her Hermione turned her head and stopped as did the women.

"You" Hermione muttered helplessly as she looked at Helen.

She was a Malfoy, she was a Death Eaters mother.

And she knew what Hermione was up to.

This was not good.

Oh no, poor Hermione, what to do?

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Harald xxx