TWENTY-ONE
Monday, 11 April 2005
Hermione had gotten back to the Manor a few minutes before the House Elves brought up dinner. She had put it under a stasis charm before taking a shower and then sat on the window sill to eat. She vanished the plate and decided to lay down. She hadn't been able to keep her eyes open long, but when she opened them, it was to the sunlight streaming in through the windows and a pair of arms around her waist. For a few seconds, her thoughts turned to one man before she realized the danger and remembered who it was curled up behind her.
The days that followed went by in a blur. Riddle spent his days planning a counter strike, assuring his newly acquired territories that they were safe, and other political necessities. Hermione spent hers with Narcissa. It was truly amazing and annoying how many details there were. It seemed every day there were five more she never in a million years would have thought needed to be picked.
The only time she had to herself were a few short hours after dinner. Since the length of time before Riddle joined her in their room varied from night to night, she hadn't been able to slip away to see Draco. When she had left Grimmauld nearly a week ago, he had promised he would lay as low as possible while they planned the attack and that he would let her know via the coin when he was about to strike. And then again when it was over so she would know he was safe. It was a toss up as to when they would see each other again, but neither of them said that aloud as they parted ways.
Sunday was the most time alone she had had to herself, but even then, Alecto was always at her side. She knew Riddle had ordered a closer eye watched on her; for her safety of course, but it was still annoying. It was when she retreated to her room to retire that Narcissa informed her of their full schedule for the following day. Hermione tried her best to resist the urge to groan before telling her they would meet after breakfast.
Full and dressed for the day, Hermione took her time in meeting Narcissa in one of the parlor rooms on the north side of the Manor. There, they finalized the color scheme and spent far too long going over a seating arrangement for guests that Hermione had no attention span for. It wasn't as though she cared who was invited and who was not; it was all for show anyway.
She did, however, enjoy the bit of planning that came before lunch. A little after eleven, Narcissa escorted her down to the gardens. At the end of the terrace sat the gazebo. With Spring in the air, the flowers were in full bloom and made the garden spectacular. It was something she had to admire about this place; even if it was her prison. Under the gazebo sat a table big enough for six and normally that was it, but today, there was a buffet table set up in the background. Upon that table sat samples of cake. Enough samples that if she ate one bite from each, she wouldn't even need lunch.
"Is there a particular flavor you don't like?" Narcissa asked as they sat at the table.
"Anything coconut," Hermione replied immediately. "And carrot." Five samples disappeared from the buffet table before Hermione's eyes widened. "We could do just a basic vanilla."
"On your wedding day?" Narcissa replied, clearly affronted at the plainness. She waved a hand at Hermione as the first choice landed in front of them. Hermione felt better know the amount of plates laid out were doubles; one for each of them per flavor. "Besides, the cake itself will be three tiers. You could have a different flavor in each tier."
"I suppose one of those should be lemon," Hermione said, the fork in her hand pausing on its way to her mouth.
"Is that your favorite flavor?" Narcissa asked, taking a small bite.
Hermione swallowed hard and gave a small shake of her head. "It's his," she said after a moment, buying herself some time by quickly taking her own bite. She chewed as slow as humanly possible while she let it sink in; the fact that she knew Riddle's favorite flavor of sweets so readily. She wasn't even sure what made her so certain; he mostly skipped dessert.
Hermione was as silent as possible as they went through the remaining flavors. The ones that she shook her head at disappeared immediately and were replaced by something else. By the time they were finished, they had settled on two of the three tiers. The bottom one was her choice; almond cake with milk chocolate ganache while the middle layer would be a lemon cake with raspberry filling and white chocolate frosting. It was the top tier that she told Narcissa to choose. It ended up being a dark chocolate with vanilla frosting. Something Hermione didn't need to be told was Draco's favorite.
With a small sliver of each of their chosen combinations, Hermione left the gardens in search of Riddle. She had learned from one of the elves that he was indeed within the Manor and had been for awhile. She instructed them to set up for lunch in the dining room for however many people were around and set off to the ballroom that had been turned into a strategy room.
When she entered, five faces turned towards her; Lucius, Bellatrix, Charlie, Blaise, and Riddle. Bellatrix was the only one that scowled, something she did right back as she continued her approach. "My lady," Lucius said, tipping his head down in greeting. Charlie and Zabini mumbled the same and copied his actions a moment later.
"Will you excuse us?" she asked, though they knew better than to think it was truly a question.
"Hermione-"
"It's lunchtime," she said, cutting Riddle off. "Surely you can take a break, no?" With that, she set the plate on the table as she gave him her sweetest smile.
His eyes flashed as he held her gaze, but after a moment he gave the command and soon, they were alone. "What are you doing?" he asked, pressing her up against the table like she knew he would.
"Is this what the rest of my life is going to be like once we're married? You spend all day playing politics with your minions and I mill about with the other ladies in waiting?" she snapped, glaring up at him through her lashes. "If that's what you think-"
"You will do whatever it is I tell you to do."
"This is not the fucking middle ages, Riddle. I refuse to sit around like some housewife twiddling my thumbs. That isn't the partnership I signed up for." She pushed him away from her just enough where she could get relief from the edge of the table against her back. "I haven't felt like this much of a prisoner since before you decided to trust me again."
"Your safety-"
The hand she slapped over her mouth wasn't fast enough to keep in the harsh bout of laughter that erupted. "My safety? Please. You haven't given two shits about me since-"
His fingers were around her throat in an instant. He pushed her against the table once more, stretching her out over it. He loomed over her; his eyes spitting daggers at her as she stared up at him. "Have I not given you everything you asked for? Have I not done my best to treat you as an equal? To let you walk free instead of chaining you in the dungeon to rot like I do with all the others that share your blood status?"
She snorted at that and pushed back; their magics clashing in the air around them. He relinquished his hold, but whether it was because he wanted to or her magic had won the battle, she wasn't sure. He kept her there, pinned between him and the table; his hand sliding back to wrap around her hair.
"Any harm that has come to you since being with me has been of your own doing," he stated. "You will be my queen in every sense of the word, but in order to do that, you have to remain alive."
"Until you force that bond on me and steal my magic." His eyes flashed again and her smirk disappeared. "Will you kill me once you have it? I assume that's all you were after to begin with."
He leaned in; his lips ghosting over hers for a moment before sliding over to her ear. He tugged on her hair, angling her head back. She shivered when his breath warmed her skin as he spoke. "I have yet to decide." He nipped at her earlobe before pulling away abruptly, making her stumble in his absence. "I will admit, your current attitude is swaying me one way over the other."
She rolled her eyes as she plucked at her clothes. "You've had this long to kill me; I doubt you ever actually could."
"Then I suggest you stop trying to give a reason," he said, but she saw the way his lips twitched. He reached for her then, his hands coming to rest softly at her hips. "I had figured you would not want any part in the destruction of the Resistance."
Her eyes widened at that and her smile disappeared.
"That is why I have been excluding you," he said. "But by all means, if you would-"
"No," she interrupted, her voice nothing more than a squeak of surprise.
He inclined his head. "Once they are dealt with and no longer a threat, things will return. I did mean it though," he said, reaching up to tuck some of her curls behind her ear. "If necessary, I will lock you up for your own safety."
"How kind," she replied with a roll of her eyes. He stepped back and offered her his hand. She took it, but after a step, paused to look at the plate. "I thought you might want to try the flavors I selected."
"No time," he said, waving his wand to make the plate disappear. "We had just received a lead on a possible attack. When lunch is over, we will go right back to planning how to stop it."
She was jarred right out of her momentary disappointment with a jolt of fear to her stomach. "An attack?" she asked, pulling her hand from his as they stepped into the hall.
He quirked a brow at her. "Do you want to know?"
Her head shook before she had officially made up her mind. "I think I'll leave you to it then."
"What about lunch?" he asked when she took a step backwards.
"I filled up on cake," she said, which was more or less the truth. She had been hoping for something savory to get the sweet out of her mouth, but given his recent statement, she wasn't sure the cake was going to stay down much longer. She desperately tried not to think of the plans Draco had for the lab as she continued to back away. "I'll see you tonight."
He said nothing as he watched her go and just as she suspected, the moment she shut the door to her room, nausea got the best of her. She barely made it to the toilet before she emptied her stomach. For the rest of the afternoon, she Occluded in the hopes it would help with her rising panic, but in the end, it took a Calming Draught to give her any reprieve.
She couldn't wait for the day when this was no longer her life. It was pure hell knowing there was nothing more she could do to help the Resistance with their attack on the lab. To help calm her even more, she clutched at the coin in the pocket of her dress she had made with magic. She was counting down the days until she could see Draco again; she just hoped it was sooner rather than later.
Wednesday, 13 April 2005
The night before they were to attack the lab, Draco sat at Shell Cottage with the remaining Weasley's. Victorie had been put to bed before he'd gotten there. The rest of them gathered in the living room to watch something on the Muggle television, but it wasn't long after his arrival before Bill and Fleur went off to their room. George was quick to leave Ginny and Draco alone in the living room after that. It was strange to see the lone twin void of all humor, though he understood the reason.
"You really think she won't betray us?" Ginny asked when they were alone.
Aside from Blaise, Ginny was the only one that knew Hermione was the one giving them their new intel. Ever since he had told her the truth about everything, she had let go of a lot of her anger towards Hermione, but he could tell there wasn't a whole lot of trust there. Not that he blamed her; there was times where he still went through moments of internal debate on whether or not he trusted her too.
"If she betrays us, it won't be her fault."
Ginny frowned at him. "That makes no sense, Draco. You have to be sure. There are a lot of lives at stake. If we fail-"
"We won't fail," he interrupted, the conviction in his voice surprising both of them. "We can't." He didn't have to say that they only got one shot at it.
"You don't know that," she insisted. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be so negative about this, but we've tried this before, Draco. More than once we've had this plan and each one was worse than the last."
"We've never had this much intel before," he countered. "And we have a full plan; one with insider help. We have everyone we can be a part of this to make sure it works."
Ginny pushed herself up off the couch, shaking her head as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I know you trust her and everything, but what if he's got her brainwashed to the point where even you can't see that? What if this really is a set up and you're too blind to see it?"
"Gin-"
"I've been possessed by him before, you know," she stated, cutting him off. "Your father saw to that when he slipped me that fucking diary."
Draco winced at the memory. He had been too young to fully understand what was happening then, but he understood it now. "I promise you, she's of sound mind. She wants him dead just as much as we do. More than we do."
She wet her lips and stared down at Draco where he was perched on the edge of his seat. "For all our sakes, I hope so. It would be a real shame to get everyone killed because you listened to your cock over your brain."
His lips twitched at the same time hers did. "She does not have that kind of sway over me," he assured her.
"She does," she snorted. "And clearly her cunt has a magic all of its own if it can affect you after a seven-year draught and earn a spot on a throne beside the Dark Lord."
Draco scowled at her, but wisely kept his mouth shut.
"You should go home and get some rest. The last thing we need is for anyone to be sleep deprived."
He stood up then and carded a hand through his hair. "On that note…"
She surprised him by wrapping her arms around him and resting her head against his chest. He responded immediately by holding her back; drawing the strength she lent him. "If we come out on the side of victory tomorrow-"
"When," he corrected, talking over her.
"I want to talk to her."
He swallowed hard, but found himself nodding above her. "I'm sure she'd be happy to see you."
"We'll see," she said with a slight laugh as she pulled away. "Night, Malfoy."
"Night," he said, waiting for her to disappear up the stairs before returning to Grimmauld.
Thursday, 14 April 2005
Hermione couldn't sleep.
Even with a Calming Draught in her system and the physical exertion from when Riddle had joined her for bed, sleep eluded her. Once she was sure he was asleep, she summoned the coin that was linked to Draco's and moved to the window seat. There, she sat, staring out over the grounds of the Manor; the coin grasped tightly in one hand while the other played with the necklace at her throat.
The sun had only just begun to rise above the horizon when she felt the burn against her palm. She checked it immediately though she knew what she would see. Sure enough, it was Draco's signal that their attack on the lab had begun. Now she just had to wait for him to activate the coin once more to let her know he made it out.
As she suspected, it not much time had passed from Draco's signal to when an urgent knock sounded on the door, rousing Riddle from sleep. She made a pocket in the lining of her robe and stashed the coin there before he could see as he launched out of bed to answer Dolohov on the other side. The door was slammed shut with enough force it splintered, but Hermione didn't even flinch. She simply watched as Riddle summoned clothes for the day and dressed at record speeds.
He barely looked at her while he gave the order for her to stay inside the room until he returned. She felt him put up extra wards and then, a moment later, he was gone and she was alone.
His departure was a stark contrast to his return before the sun had even begun to set later that afternoon. Where he had been angered then, he was now subdued. Having nodded off at some point during her worry earlier in the day, Hermione came awake to his head between her thighs; the fog of sleep being replaced with the bliss of sweet release. Forcing the guilt down, she had played along, teasing him about his good mood. His reply was to initiate their first round on the bed and the second in the shower before informing her there was something he wanted her to see.
The threat in his words, the malicious glee in his eyes, and the fact that Draco had yet to alert her he was safe set off every red flag within her.
And when they left the Manor only to appear in Manchester in front of the lab, she knew something had gone horribly wrong.