Chapter 34
Hermione creped around the building which Ron claimed Draco was being held in. The moment they had got the location, Hermione wanted to rush straight off and find him. It had been nearly an hour and a half by that point and Draco could already be dead; especially since they now knew that he was being held by the killer. But Harry had told her that they had to go with back up; there was no way the two of them would be enough. She knew he was right, no matter how much it killed her that they had to wait.
She was beyond furious at Ron. How stupid could he be to try and send Draco to his death? Did he really believe that she would stop loving Draco the moment he died and fall straight into his arms? She wanted to laugh at the absurdity of Ron's mind. Clearly he was extremely disturbed.
Ron was with them, with magical restraints on his hands which prevented him from escaping, preforming magic, or even stepping a hair out of line. He was only there to help them find the exact location of where Draco was dropped off. Besides, if he had given them the wrong address they would need to get the right one immediately. When she asked him where Draco was being held, she could tell the veritaserum was starting to wear off, so she had no way of knowing if he was telling her the truth, especially since you couldn't have two doses of the potion so close to each other.
They had five other Aurors with them. Harry wanted to get more, but most of them were already protecting the Anniversary Ball, and neither of them wanted to pull protection from the site, seeing how a bomb was nearly detonated there a short while ago. On top of that, it was hard to find spare Aurors without any notice. For all they knew, all of this could be some sort of sick diversion so the killer could make another attempt at the ball.
Ron had refused to say a word after the potion wore off completely. He was furious that they had drugged him while he was unaware of what was happening, especially since Harry was supposedly his friend. She knew how conflicted Harry was about the entire situation. He couldn't deny what Ron did was extremely wrong and would most likely lead to him being incarcerated; but that couldn't change the fact that they had been friends for nearly twelve years.
Hermione didn't mind the silence as much. She was pretty sure if Ron said another stupid word to her about getting back together that she would probably curse him straight into the next century. She felt so stupid for ever having feelings for him, especially since he turned out to be pretty much crazy. So during the silence, she mentally went over all the possibilities of what could happen. She tried to prepare herself for the worst case scenarios, but every time she tried, she felt like she would break. She couldn't afford to let herself feel vulnerable; not now, not when Draco's life depended on her staying calm.
"We need to split up," Harry informed her. "I can take the front, and you take the back. That way we can catch them off guard. We can surround the killer, so we leave them no chance other than to surrender to us."
Hermione agreed, "Keep Ron with you. I'm pretty sure if I was left alone with him the results wouldn't be pretty. And I don't want to have to see his face any longer than I have to."
Harry nodded, "Okay. Take two of the Aurors with you; I'll take the other three with me. I owled Kingsley before we left, so hopefully we can get a few more reinforcements soon. It all depends on if he's too busy with the ball and all the things that entails. I'll see you inside. But Hermione, promise me you'll be safe. Think with your head, not with your emotions. I know how much Draco means to you, but you cannot let that interfere with this case. If you do, then everything could become compromised."
"I know," Hermione said thickly. "Good luck, Harry." And with that she turned and walked with her miniature team. She hadn't done a lot of offense work with the Aurors lately, and whenever she got to a scene, the crime had already been done. It was strange, but not something she was untrained to do; she had received all the same training as the Aurors to help her qualify for her department, and it was finally beginning to pay off.
She walked around the other side of the building to where Ron had claimed the back door to be. But she hadn't taken more than a few steps before she felt herself being hit by a stunning spell. She fell to the ground, and the last thing she remembered was seeing a dark figure hover over her body.
Draco opened his eyes slowly as he tried to make out who the blurry figure above him was. He had been sceptical the entire way about the decision he had made to go with Weasley to save his family, but he did what had to be done.
Weasley had apparated him from outside the ball the moment they left the building. When he had arrived to the building, he had found himself immediately tied up and blindfolded so he couldn't see who it was that held him captive. His wand had been taken from him from the moment he was tied up so he couldn't even try to use that to help him escape or even try and find who was holding him. He had been left in what he perceived to be a dark room, but due to the blindfold over his eyes it easily could have been super bright and he just didn't know.
When his eyes finally adjusted, he saw who was standing in front of him; he saw the person who was responsible for the four deaths and one attempted murder. He just couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Hello, Draco," his ex-sister-in-law spoke softly. Daphne Greengrass was towering above him wearing the darkest midnight blue robes he had ever seen. There was a dark glint in her eyes; one he had never seen ever in the former Slytherin's eyes.
Daphne Greengrass had always been one of the softest Slytherins he had ever known. She had always been the quiet studious one. She had never got a bad grade, and she had never set a foot out of line. She had obeyed every single one of her family's orders. Based on her personality itself, she should have been placed in Ravenclaw, or even Hufflepuff. But few people knew that when she was sorted, she had begged the hat to place her in Slytherin so she didn't let down the family legacy.
She was the absolute last person he would have expected to be here.
"Surprised?" she asked in a cold tone. "I wouldn't be. Is it really that much of a shock that it would be me under the hood? Is it a surprise that I would hate all Death Eaters after what they did to me? After what they did to Blake?"
He felt the cold set in as he remembered what had happened all those years ago. He didn't know why it didn't click sooner. When he heard the names of the people who had been murdered so far he should have made the connection; he should have known. Maybe if he had, he would have known who the other targets would have been.
It was a few months into the war. Harry Potter and his friends were avoiding capture and Voldemort was raging on with his reign across Great Britain. The Death Eaters were each given tasks. There was a set organization to the way things worked. At the bottom were the Snatchers, meant to grab mudbloods and anyone who dared to say the Dark Lord's name. Then were the newcomers; they were the new blood who had no other family in the ranks of the Death Eaters. They were half bloods who claimed to hate one of their parents, or purebloods whose family had avoided the first war. Voldemort had said that he wanted to give them a chance to prove themselves, but they would have to work for it; really work for it.
Then, there were several ranks of Death Eaters rising up slowly, each wanting to be in the inner circle that Voldemort had. They all wanted to have that level of trust that Voldemort placed in the circle. Draco was somewhere in the middle. They were organised into groups; teams that would accompany them though all their missions and hunts. And in Draco's team were Adrian Pucey, Marcus Flint, Fredrick Gregson, Terrence Higgs, Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott. They were all Death Eaters who had parents somewhere in the ranks. Blaise's father had died early on in the first war, but Voldemort had been beyond determined to get him to be a part the Death Eaters. And when Voldemort wanted you, you couldn't say no.
All the tasks they had been given were menial ones. Track down a few people, place a couple dark spells. All things like that. None of them had committed murder, and none of them wanted to commit murder.
Then one day everything had changed. Bellatrix had been visiting the Greengrass family home to help make arrangements about Draco's pending engagement to Astoria when she had caught Daphne doing something that was unimaginable. She was caught with a mudblood.
Apparently Daphne had gotten together with Blake Shadows somewhere during their fifth year of school. They had fallen in love over study sessions in the library. He was a Ravenclaw with family who were both muggles and she was the forbidden Slytherin rich girl. But they pursued their relationship despite the consequences.
When Bellatrix had found out, she had been furious. Part of her wanted to sever the engagement between Draco and Astoria right there and then. But the contract was sealed with ancient magic, and nothing could break it. So she had done the next best thing; she had decided to help cleanse the family. Her parents had immediately agreed; wanting to save their family's reputation from tarnishing.
Voldemort had been pleased with the progress of Draco's team and had ordered Bellatrix to allow them to watch and allow them to help. He wanted to rise them up through the ranks, and something like this would be essential for that.
He had remembered the dread he had felt when he realised what was happening. None of them knew about Blake and Daphne. None of them knew what they were witnessing until it was far too late. He had remembered standing there feeling absolutely helpless as Blake's screams echoed off the walls. Daphne had been forced to watch, and she was down on the ground, crying loudly at the sight of her lover in pain in front of her. She had begged him to help; she had begged all of them to help. But there was nothing they could do, nothing any of them could do that wouldn't result in their deaths as well.
And when Blake's body laid cold and dead in front of them, none of them could say a word. He remembered looking over at his former classmate to see how she was handling the situation. Daphne's cries had stopped and instead she had a firm look over her face. She had got up off the floor and looked over at her boyfriend's killer.
"Thank you," she had said, surprising them all with her words and the coolness in her tone. "I realise now that I should not have fallen for someone so unworthy or unclean. You have helped and saved me from a life of impurity, and for that I am grateful. I shall try and find some way to repay you; repay all of you for your help." And with that she had walked right out of the room, carrying herself in a way none of them had ever seen her act before. Gone was the once timid and shy girl; in front of them was a strong woman who refused to let her true feelings show.
In hindsight, Draco should have given more thought to that night. He should have seen the double meanings in her words. But the war had stepped up from that point and he had been lost in an endless flurry of things happening. And when he had remembered what happened to Daphne, the war was long over, and she had been seeking help by that point to help her cope with her emotions. So he thought nothing of it; they all had lost people to the war after all.
"Daphne, please," Draco tried, "Bellatrix is dead. The person who murdered your boyfriend is dead."
"Fiancé," Daphne cried out. "He proposed to me that night, did you know that? We were going to run away and leave everything behind. He was over at my house to help me pack. And if your aunt hadn't walked in looking for my parents, we would have been long gone. I could have had a future with him; I could have had a family."
Draco's body chilled when she said that, "I'm so sorry," he told her sorrowfully. "I didn't know."
"Doesn't matter anyways," Daphne shrugged. "It doesn't change the fact that I killed everyone else who watched us that night, short of you and Theo. But soon you shall be dead, and it's only a matter of time before Nott dies as well. I told you all that I would repay you and here I am keeping my word."
"Would you really kill Theo?" Draco asked her softly. "He's in love with Pansy; your best friend is in love with the man you plan on murdering. Do you really think she could forgive you?"
Daphne laughed, "All of you stopped being my friend after that night. Slytherins are selfish; they only care for themselves. So no, it doesn't bother me. Besides, with all of you dead, then there are no witnesses to my vengeance. The Aurors are running around in circles trying to figure out who it is who is killing you lot. Once I'm done, I'll leave the magic world forever, just like we had planned all those years ago. I'll vanish, so that if they ever did catch on, they have no way of finding me."
"How did you change so much?" Draco asked in wonder. "You used to be so different."
"That was before I watched the man I loved be tortured and murdered in front of me for no other crime than his blood status!" Daphne yelled furiously. "So I'm sorry if I'm not the same sweet girl you once knew, but she died right there with him that night."
"I really am sorry," Draco said meaningfully. "If I had known in advance what was going to happen I would have tried to smuggle you both out safely. But I hope you know that there was nothing I could have done while he was being tortured. If I had tried I would have died, then Blake would still have been killed after."
"Do you want to know what the best part of all of this is?" Daphne asked, something flashing in her eyes. "That I got so much backlash for dating a muggleborn during the war. But then what do I see when I go to Diagon Alley? The Perfect Pureblood Prince himself dirtying himself and his family with a mudblood, eating ice cream together with no cares in the world. Where is the justice in that? The three of you were sitting together like a perfect little family with no repercussions. I tried to play that day off lightly. There was no way that Draco Bloody Malfoy would lower himself to be with a mudblood; not after his stance in the war and how he acted in school. But then article after article came out about you both and the perfect happy relationship you had." Daphne began throwing past editions of the Daily Prophet at him. He could see the headlines and knew that every single one of them were filled with his blossoming relationship
"How was it fair that after everything that happened, you were the one who got your happy ending with the mudblood, yet I was condemned for the same thing? You've received no opposition for your relationship, and you're being bloody praised for it. Everyone is so happy for you and Granger. But I was shamed for the same thing. Did you know my parents locked me up in my room after that night? They were worried I would find another mudblood to sully myself with. They cared so much about their bloody reputation that they didn't once consider what it would do to me to have to stay alone in a prison after he died. Do you even know what that's like?" Daphne said, voice breaking.
"Daphne, I am so sorry," Draco said gently as he tried to approach her. He stood carefully trying to make his way over to comfort his former classmate.
"Crucio," Daphne yelled as she realised he was getting closer to her. Draco dropped down to the ground and screamed in agony. "I didn't tell you this so I could get your sympathy! I told you this for one reason; because I want you to suffer just like I did. I want you to feel the same pain I felt when I watched Blake die. I knew the moment I hired Ron Wealsey to bring you to me that he would deliver more than that without knowing. Idiotic fool can't keep his mouth shut for more than a few seconds so it was only a matter of time before he went straight to Granger to tell her what happened. I knew she would come running here to save you."
Daphne left the room briefly as Draco attempted to process what she had said. He heard the door open again, and his captor came back, this time not alone. When she entered she was roughly dragging someone. She threw the unconscious body in front of Draco and laughed.
The blood drained from his face when he realised who it was, "Hermione!" he cried out as he took her in his arms and tried to wake her up.
"She's not dead; yet," Daphne laughed. "You see Draco, your punishment shall be different from everyone else. You're going to suffer the same way I did. You're going to watch Granger be tortured and punished for no other reason than for loving you and being loved by you. You're going to watch the life leave her eyes and know that you were responsible for her death. Then you're going to die just like the rest of your friends; mercilessly. "
A/N: How many of you saw that coming? I initially planned for Ron to be nothing more than someone who wanted Hermione back and was all talk, but I think it worked out far better this way. Thank you so much for all the amazing feedback, and be sure to let me know who you thought the killer was. Can't wait to see you all next time!