37.

10th May 2002. 12 Grimmauld Place. London. Sitting Room.

'Hermione, what the hell is up with you recently? You never stop bloody smiling.'

The girl simply laughed at Ron, who was looking at her like she was mad. How could she possibly be mad when she had such wonderful friends?

'Oh, you,' she said, ruffling her friend's hair. That didn't necessarily help his mood. He looked to his other best friend for some support.

'Harry, please talk some sense into her, she's being weird.'

Hermione began laughing again and even Harry raised an eyebrow at her. He put down the Evening Prophet he had been reading and looked at her seriously.

'Come on, Hermione – spill it. What's really going on?'

'Nothing,' she admonished, looking incredulously at them both, 'Can't I just be happy without having a reason for it?'

'No. Since when have you ever been happy for no reason,' he replied with a sceptical expression, 'Is this because Viktor is here?'

The woman choked on the sip of tea she had just taken, clutching her chest as her eyes streamed.

'You are kidding, right? Of course it's not about that! You well know that we are just friends, Harry, nothing more!'

'Alright, alright, I was just asking,' Harry said, raising his hands in defence, 'But I will find out what's going on with you. Even if it isn't about Krum.'

Ron sniffed indignantly in the background, taking a drink of his tea. He still didn't like the Bulgarian very much, even after all these years. There were some things you just couldn't change. Hermione rolled her eyes.

'Well, it isn't. It isn't about anything. My life is just very good at the moment, okay? Am I allowed to be happy because of that?'

'Of course you are,' Ron interrupted, patting her hand, 'Sorry. I just don't think I've seen you this cheerful since school. You're always too busy working on something to be happy most of the time.'

Hermione shrugged her shoulders a little, swinging her legs up onto the couch and tucking them under herself.

'I guess so. Work was the most important thing for a while – and it still is very important – but I've realised that that's not what life is all about. Family, friends and happiness, that is the key.'

Harry nodded and let out a small chuckle, giving Ron a knowing glance before returning to the paper.

'How's the prep going for the Quidditch match anyway, Hermione?' the latter asked, 'Come to any more decisions about the players?'

'Not really, I just wanted Harry and Ginny to play and I think Draco is going to organise the rest. I don't really know anyone after all.'

'Oh, I could have helped with that,' Ron replied, looking serious all of a sudden, 'If you're looking for someone who'll put on a good show, you'd be best looking somewhere like the Wigtown Wanderers, most of their players are pretty fierce –'

'Honestly, Ron, there is virtually no point in telling me any of this,' Hermione interrupted with a raised hand and a chuckle, 'Speak to Draco about it if you want to, but I won't remember anything. You know Quidditch isn't my strong point.'

'True,' Ron admitted with a grin, 'I might do that though. Would be nice to be involved in some way.'

Whilst Harry and Ginny had both accepted Hermione's offer in playing the match, Ron had turned it down flat. Remembering his couple of years as Gryffindor Keeper, no doubt, he didn't feel he would be up to playing in front of hundreds of people – possibly thousands. It had been bad enough on his nerves in school, he had said.

'Feel free. I can send him an owl for you to let him know I'm bringing you on to consult with the players. You'll know what you're talking about at least.'

'Is Malfoy not into Quidditch?' Ron asked with a slightly scandalised look.

'No, I think he is, but he just doesn't seem to be as interested at the moment. You'll be more knowledgeable about it than he is. It would be a great help.'

'Sure, I'll do it,' he replied with a smile, leaning back in his chair and sighing as he looked at the time on his watch, 'Merlin, 8 o'clock on a Friday night and we're sitting in here doing nothing.'

'Where's Parvati?' Harry asked from behind his paper.

'She's off in France, doing some research … or an assignment. Or something like that anyway.'

'Lovely how much you pay attention to your girlfriend's life,' Hermione jested, dodging the cushion that he threw at her.

'I want to go out. Harry, fancy going out?'

'Suppose so,' the man replied, folding his paper up and throwing it on a nearby table, 'Better than being cooped up in here. Hermione?'

'No thanks,' she said, faking a yawn, 'I'm quite tired actually after this week, been really busy. Think I'm going to read a nice book and head to bed early.'

Ron rolled his eyes.

'Spoilsport.'

Hermione stuck her tongue out at him before moving from her seat to pick out a book. The boys were gone in a matter of minutes, merely picking up their jackets and leaving the house. She waited in silence until she heard the door slam and then sprang into action.

Throwing her book away, she walked over to the nearby fireplace and grabbed a small handful of floo powder. Hermione kneeled down and stuck her head in the grate and chucked the powder in after her.

'Malfoy Manor, Second Study!'

She held her breath as she experienced the horrible feeling of her head moving rapidly through hundreds of fireplaces without her body and coughed slightly as she appeared in Lucius's office. She hated this way of travelling just as much as she did flying, but it was the most efficient.

'Lucius? Lucius, are you here?'

There was nothing for a moment, but then the door suddenly flew open and the man himself entered the room, looking startled when he saw her face in his fire.

'Hermione, is everything alright?'

'Yes, yes, of course. I just wondered if you wanted to come over to mine for a drink. Harry and Ron have gone out for the night and it's Kreacher's night off too – we'll have the place to ourselves.'

Lucius smirked at her, raising an eyebrow. She glared at him, wishing she could raise her finger in order to scold him.

'Shut up, it is not what you're thinking. Just come over, alright? I don't particularly want to spend the night in here by myself. It is extremely creepy.'

'Your wish is my command,' Lucius replied, bowing his head, 'I'll bring some wine.'

'Lovely, see you in a minute.'

With great difficulty, Hermione pulled her head out of the fire and felt her head spinning all the way back to Grimmauld Place. After taking a deep breath and steadying herself, she stood up to quickly tidy the sitting room. Kreacher kept the place up to standard usually, but as soon as he had a night off Harry and Ron left the place like a dump.

Just as she was brushing the remnants of ash from her hair and trousers, the fireplace roared to life again and Lucius stepped out, with a bottle of wine in his hands.

'As requested,' he smirked. She tutted and walked over to grab the bottle from him – but not before he grabbed her arm and pulled her to his chest.

'Don't I deserve a friendlier greeting than that?'

Hermione narrowed her eyes at the man, but he wasn't having any of it. Grabbing her face with his hands, he pulled her in for a lingering, breath-taking kiss and she felt herself becoming calmer with each passing second. So calm, in fact, that she almost dropped the wine bottle. She pulled herself away from him, biting her bottom lip and pretended not to notice the way he was ogling her.

'Come on,' she said, taking his hand and pulling him along with her, 'Take a seat. I need to go down to the kitchen and grab a couple of glasses for this.'

'Don't be ridiculous, my dear,' Lucius said, taking the bottle back from her and guiding her to the armchair by the fire, 'I'll get the glasses. You can relax.'

He gave her one final smirk before striding from the room, looking more and more like his usual, regal self. Hermione had absolutely no shame in eyeing him up as he walked away – like Ginny had told her only weeks ago, Lucius was an extremely good-looking man for his age. She sighed in contentment, leaning her head back to rest it on the chair …

The front door knocker sounded.

Shit.

'Who could this be?' Hermione asked herself, feeling a little worried. She took out her wand as she wandered out into the hall and down the corridor towards the entrance to the house. It couldn't possibly be any of the Weasleys as they wouldn't have bothered knocking. She was also pretty sure no one else knew the location of the house bar some members of the order.

Gripping her wand, she grabbed the handle of the door and pulled it open.

It was Viktor.

She let out a small sigh of relief, stowing her wand in her back pocket.

'Viktor, hi,' she greeted, beyond thankful that it was him. Of course, Harry had told him the address on his second day in Britain – she had completely forgotten. In spite of him not being the best choice of visitor what with Lucius being here, it was an improvement on a family member. Both she and the elder Malfoy had agreed not to inform anybody just yet.

'Hermione,' the man said in reply. She noticed that Viktor's face appeared to be slightly blank. Almost like he had no expression in it whatsoever. Strange.

'Are you quite alright?' she asked him as she stood aside to let him in, 'You look a bit funny.'

'I do?' he replied, not looking her in the face as he walked inside Grimmauld Place and began to stride immediately down the corridor. Hermione, extremely confused, slammed the door and walked quickly after him, wondering what on earth was going on.

Viktor was searching the sitting room thoroughly, as if he was looking for something in particular.

'What are you doing here?' she asked, trying to get his attention, but he wasn't very interested. He tried to walk past her to get to the next room but she threw an arm out in front of him to block his passage.

'Viktor, answer my question please, what are you doing here?'

He stared at her with that same blank expression and she started to get a little frightened. Her heart began to race as he just continued to gaze at her, looking like a very out of place statue. Hermione felt the expression on her face contort into confusion.

All of a sudden, before she could even move to defend herself, Viktor rugby tackled her to the floor and she let out a scream as she felt him pin her down with his arms and legs. She started to really panic now. The man was looking absolutely possessed.

'Vhere is Potter?' he asked in a loud voice, gripping her wrists so painfully that she couldn't contain her squeals, 'VHERE IS POTTER?'

'What are you doing, Viktor, get off of me!'

He let go of her hand instantly and for a moment she thought he might release her – she thought wrong.

SMACK.

Hermione screamed again as the back of his hand struck her roughly across the face and she began to thrash even more, willing the tears not to fall from her eyes. What was he going to do to her? Why was this happening? She tried to wriggle out from beneath him again, but he held her in place, staring down at her form with that same blank look in his eyes. He was beginning to press himself down onto her even more, so much so that she was finding it difficult to breathe.

'Viktor, stop it, please –'

'STUPEFY!'

Her attacker fell on top of her with a loud thump and she felt the air being ripped completely from her lungs as she struggled to move his body off of her.

She saw Lucius's face, pale with rage, within moments and Hermione finally took a huge gulp of air as he successfully removed the man's bulk from on top of her. He was kneeling beside her instantly, looking more concerned than she had ever seen him in his life. He quickly pulled off his cardigan to place underneath her head and his hands began searching her body for injuries.

'What happened? I didn't even hear the bastard come in until you started screaming – Merlin, what did he do to you? If he has hurt you in any way, I will kill him.'

Hermione grimaced slightly, placing the palm of her hand to the cheek that Viktor had hit not moments ago.

'It's ok, you got him before he did anything serious. He just slapped me.'

Lucius's eyes flashed in anger and she saw his nostrils flare.

'He will be punished for daring to lay a hand on you. How did he get into the house?'

'I let him in,' she admitted, trying to sit up but being forced down by him again, 'I genuinely don't understand what just happened – we had been in contact all week, he took me out for lunch and he had even seen Ron and Harry again. He just went insane and started ransacking the house, asking me where Harry was.'

'He was looking for Potter?'

'Yeah, I don't know why. Viktor can see him any time he wants, why did he come barging into the house now? He looked so … impassive. He barely looked at me and when he did it was like the light had left his eyes, or something –'

'Idiot woman! How could you not spot the Imperius Curse when it was staring you in the face?'

Hermione gawked at him, the lightbulb in her head flashing as she realised what a fool she had been. Of course it was the Imperius, she just didn't recognise it. In her defence, she hadn't seen it used in years and didn't think she would need to see it again either. What was going on?

'Why was he under the Imperius curse, I don't understand!'

'Neither do I, but this is not the time to question it, we must leave here immediately.'

'What? We can't leave, someone is after Harry, we need to warn him!'

Lucius was wrapping Viktor up in ropes that were shooting out of his wand, just to ensure he couldn't escape. Hermione felt bile rise in her throat.

'I'll have Draco do it. Do you know where they went?'

'No,' Hermione admitted as a rush of emotion suddenly hit her and she found herself crying, 'I've no idea where they've gone. Oh, my God, they could be in danger!'

Lucius enveloped her in his arms as he tried to comfort her as best he could. He would never admit that he was just as terrified as she was right now. Someone had gotten into her house with very little effort and God knows what would have happened to her if he hadn't been here. He didn't even want to think about it.

'Come. We have to go. It is not safe here. We'll get Potter and Weasley, I promise. I must warn their family – we don't know who could be behind this.'

He removed his arms from around her and stood quickly, his hand gripping his wand so tightly she was surprised he hadn't snapped it in half.

'I am disabling the Floo network to the house before we leave. Just in case.'

He disappeared for no more than five seconds into the sitting room and Hermione took the chance to heave herself from the floor, staring at Viktor's unresponsive body as she did so.

She couldn't believe it had happened to him again. After all he had gone through during the Triwizard Tournament, someone had used him to get to Harry, just like last time. The tears didn't stop falling as she looked at him in pity.

Lucius strode towards her from the sitting room entrance and grabbed her arm.

'I will take you to the Manor first and come back for him. You are too shaken to travel alone.'

Hermione wanted to argue with him but couldn't bring herself to. Glancing one last time at Viktor, she walked back to the front door with Lucius and stepped outside, breathing in the fresh air gratefully. Maybe she should have gone out with Ron and Harry after all.

She didn't have much time to enjoy it, however, as Lucius turned on the spot almost instantly and they were gone.