Underworld
Summary: Harry and Hermione are Aurors at the top of their game. Draco Malfoy is the leader of the remaining uncaptured Death Eaters that hide in the untouchable criminal underbelly of London. When a terrible crime is committed, their worlds collide, forcing Hermione to revisit her buried history with Draco Malfoy.
Tags/Warnings: [Draco x Hermione], [Harry x Hermione] (i.e. Love triangle between the three main characters with Dramione as the main pairing), (Rated M: minor character death, kidnapping/imprisonment, language, violence, discussions about drug abuse, discussions about torture) Later chapters will feature adultery, threats of torture, explicit sexual content, dubious consent. Dark Draco, Possessive Draco, fantasy, drama. Inspiration: Hades x Persephone.
Note: Please read all tags before starting, as they imply this will be a darker story. I have tried to include all potential trigger warnings for future chapters, but I will continue to include warnings at the top of specific chapters as they come up. In regards to categorization, I'm unsure where this story falls, it works mostly as a EWE but can also be potentially classified as an AU? The opening paragraph will give you a good understanding of the world we are working in. A continuity change of note is that Hermione has been in love with Harry NOT Ron since the school days. Everything else can follow closely with canon up to before the epilogue.
Chapter One: Bait
Following the end of the War, those that had followed Voldemort receded into darkness, and the light shone brightly on magical Britain for a full three years. But that changed when one day, following a winter solstice, a new mysterious district appeared in Magical London. No one knows for sure how it appeared from nothingness, but the suspicion of dark, blood magic is strong. The district is thought to be small, approximately two hectares from the best expert's estimates, for no one that enters beyond the encircling walls tends to ever come out. It is said that those that followed Voldemort reside there in hiding, waiting for the right time to rise up and take back what was theirs. Until that day comes, they sit quietly in the shadows. Untouched by light, good, or any of those that walk outside its hundred-foot tall impenetrable walls. It's a place of mystery, a place of darkness, a place of lawlessness, and they call it… the Underworld…
Hermione and Harry arrived in front of the gates of the Underworld with a pop of apparition. Hermione saw immediately that the crime scene was already being analyzed to the fullest extent. There was the familiar yellow tape, the body lying in the center, as her co-workers milled around collecting evidence. Harry lifted the tape for her, and she ducked her head to get under it. She stepped forward allowing her to clearly see the identity of the victim for the first time. It was her childhood friend, Ron Weasley. Her and Harry's best friend lay there unmoving, blue spider-like veins spiralling all over his body, his eyes wide and open in death. She turned away at the sight, clutching into Harry. He held her close. She still couldn't believe Ron was gone. "Are you sure you want to do this case?" Harry whispered into her ear.
Hermione took in a deep shaky breath to center herself. She was an Auror for Merlin's sake. She had to keep it together. She'd seen death. But this was different. This was Ron. This was their best friend. Hermione took another breath to calm herself as she separated from Harry. He tried to connect with her eyes. She felt his fingers delicately tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "You don't have to do this."
She shook her head, there was no running from this. She met Harry's gaze. "We have to find out who did this."
"Oh, it's pretty obvious who did this," a voice said to her right.
Hermione separated from Harry to turn to the source, Seamus Finnigan, the lead crime scene investigator assigned to the case. He was slowly looking over Ron's body, examining him for evidence. Hermione drew closer, putting on her work hat. She pushed aside her pain for a moment to analyze properly what had happened. Ron was gone, but she could still help by putting away those responsible. It was her job to do just that. "Charon," Hermione said recognizing the blue spindle-like veins. She noticed they seemed to thicken and coalesce near his eyes.
"Charon?" Harry asked as he stepped forward beside her.
Seamus nodded. "Yup, it's the new drug on the market, hit the streets about 10 months ago, I'd say."
Hermione nodded to concur remembering having read through some of the case files on the drug a few weeks ago. "It's some dark magic, exclusively sold in the Underworld. The drug is injected into veins. Apparently, if enough of it passes through your system, you have to stay on it forever."
"How's that?" Harry asked.
Hermione took in a breath to steady herself once again. "Well, no one knows for sure how much one can take before you hit the necessary threshold. But once you've taken enough of it, and you withdraw, these veins start to show up." Hermione began, kneeling beside Ron's body to get a closer look. She had never seen its effects in person before.
"Exactly," Seamus chimed in, "if you stop taking the drug for an extended period of time, the veins begin to spread and if they make it to your brain…you die."
Harry looked thoughtful as Hermione stood. The gates caught her attention and she stepped around the scene to analyze where Ron's body was found. Judging on the proximity from the gates, it appeared that he had been thrown just outside the walls that led into the Underworld. "You think it was a message?" Harry asked appearing beside her.
Hermione turned to Harry, knowing the same as him that Ron had gone into the Underworld three months ago undercover. "You think his cover was blown and this was their retaliation?" Hermione asked.
"You honestly think Ron would take the drug willingly? Knowing the possible outcome?"
Hermione didn't want to think Ron had willingly taken the drug, but she couldn't say for sure. "Are we sure that the drug was the cause of death?" Hermione asked turning to Seamus. Perhaps if it could have been a fall from the wall.
Seamus nodded. "Yes. There is blunt force trauma to the head, but it was postmortem."
She stepped forward closer to the gates. She'd never been this close to the walls of the Underworld before. She took out her wand and ran it across the walls, they hummed in dark magic – wards to keep out unwanted visitors. Harry stepped beside her. "He would have had motive."
Hermione turned to Harry, knowing exactly who he was speaking of. Draco Malfoy was the rumored leader and drug dealer in the Underworld. Those same rumors said he ran things in the place, having taken over as leader of the dark forces since Voldemort's defeat. He had been evading capture for years within the walls, but Hermione wasn't sure if he was the one that did this. "Draco Malfoy is a sick and twisted man," she began, "But he's not careless. There's a reason he's still free. Why would he risk tossing Ron beyond the walls as a message? What is he trying to say?"
"It's obvious isn't it?" Harry began. Hermione turned to him. "He wants us to investigate. He's trying to lure me in as revenge for his parents and all his pureblooded, psychotic third cousins of his I've put away."
Hermione knew that was true. The pair of them had taken down more Death Eaters after the War than all the other Aurors combined in the entire department. Harry was the face of the Auror Department, he was even known as the Blood Hound because he didn't let any suspects get away once he caught onto their scents.
Another reason filtered through Hermione's mind though as an alternate possibility for this brutality. For Hermione had a sick feeling in her stomach that this message was more like bait, and it was intended specifically for her. She shivered at the thought. But she pushed it down best she could. She knew that couldn't be it. That had all been a long time ago.
Harry had to be the target. Harry was the one that had cost the most blood for people like Draco Malfoy. Harry had defeated Voldemort. Harry had put away Draco's Father in Askaban. Harry was the reason most of the Malfoy family fortune had been seized after the War. The message wasn't for her. It couldn't be.
"So, what do we do?" Hermione asked Harry.
"We go in. We find him. We put him away in Askaban where he belongs," Harry replied with a small shrug.
Hermione nodded as she turned back to the crime scene in front of her. They would succeed at exactly just that. They had to, for Ron.
Ron's funeral had been a tough affair for everyone. Harry had reassured Hermione countless times that it had been Ron's decision to enter the Underworld. But that knowledge didn't make it any easier for Hermione to accept. Hermione had barely been able to look Molly in the eyes due to the guilt she felt over her son's death. The War was over and that was supposed to mean everyone was safe. It was supposed to mean happily ever after. Even if he had volunteered to go undercover, Hermione knew they should have done it together. Nothing had ever happened when all three of them took on a task together.
It wasn't just at the Burrow that Hermione felt Ron's absence. Ron's death sat like a dark cloud over the Ministry. The first member of the Golden Trio to die, and so young. She could feel the sadness wherever she went, especially in the Department of Law Enforcement. The Auror Department was a family, many of them had started in the Room of Requirement as members of Dumbledore's Army. It stung to lose one of their own.
In the weeks following Ron's funeral, Harry and Hermione had spent the time working diligently to gather and prepare themselves for entering the Underworld. She could feel the determination in Harry to get revenge for his best friend, and Hermione felt equally passionate. She couldn't let Draco get away with this and not pay for what he had done to Ron. She had done her part of the preparation in the form of intelligence gathering, as she always did. She had confronted Dedalus Diggle, Ron's handler, while he was undercover, to get the correspondences received while Ron had been in the walls, but apparently, there had been none. Messages weren't able to be passed beyond the walls, and Ron had been scheduled to come out of the gates at the end of the next month with a full report. Leaving Hermione with no further information on what they were entering into.
She had still continued with her research, and at this point, Hermione was pretty sure she'd read every piece of literature on the place twice. What frustrated Hermione was that it wasn't much information to go around, only rumors on what could be going on in the place.
"So, tomorrow is the big day," Neville said, drawing Hermione from her thoughts. "You're really going to go into the Underworld tomorrow."
Word had spread like wildfire through the Department of their plans, and it didn't take long for everyone to know tomorrow was the big day. An unofficial get-together became of it, with many of their colleagues coming over for dinner to wish them luck on their mission. Hermione sat on a couch in her and Harry's flat. Harry had his arm around her. Harry shrugged turning to Hermione, she smiled in encouragement. "Have to, Malfoy sent a message. We'll respond. We can arrest him on suspicion of murder now."
"Wow," Neville said sitting back taking a swallow of his beer. "The great Harry Potter, Blood Hound on the force, going to take down the Underworld. I didn't really believe Seamus when he told me. I can't wait, honestly."
"Wait for what?" Harry asked amused.
"To see what's in there. You can't tell me that the two of you haven't been the least bit curious?"
"Well, you should have spoken up before, mate," Seamus replied collapsing on the couch with a beer. "We should have gotten Harry on the case, to begin with. He's never failed a mission, on his way to Department Head at this rate."
"I've never failed a mission with Hermione," Harry corrected. Hermione blushed. "People forget that I'm nothing without her."
"You're too modest, Harry," she said knowing full well he would most likely be able to do everything he did without her. Sure, she helped to fine-tune things a bit. Harry was bull-headed when he found a lead. Hermione helped him see things he would miss and worked with a bit more of her mind on her shoulders as opposed to pure doggedness. But that was what made them a great team.
He shook his head. "I couldn't do any of this without you, Hermione. I'm not going to let you forget it," he said to her with a smile. She smiled in return before she reached forward to take her drink off the coffee table. She took a sip letting the alcohol calm her nerves.
"What do you reckon is in there?" Seamus asked, "I'm taking bets." Everyone shrugged because no one had the slightest idea. There was a reason it was called the Underworld, no one had ever passed through the gates. "Come on Hermione, you're the brains, I'm sure you're the leading expert on the place at this point."
Hermione shook her head. "There isn't much research to go around really. Just rumors of lawlessness and chaos, drugs, and lots of dark magic."
"I heard it's just a place for the homeless to congregate, all the other stuff is overblown," Dean chimed in.
"No way, the place is screaming with dark magic. I'm sure it's where Voldemort's followers gather together and worship his effigy," Seamus said with confidence.
Hermione couldn't help but laugh into her drink at the dramatics. It was just a place, it had way too much mythos surrounding it for sure, and she didn't like the fact they were going in blind, but she refused to believe there was anything in there that she or Harry needed to be afraid of.
Because the true root of your fear is not the place, chimed in a small part of Hermione.
"Aren't you going to have a hard time entering the gates?" Neville asked.
Hermione shook her head. "No. According to the limited research available on the Underworld, it is actually quite easy to get into."
"It seems to be leaving that is the problem," Harry finished.
Hermione tipped her head back, finishing her drink. That was exactly what she was afraid of.
Hermione couldn't help but take Harry's hand as they walked up to the gates. Her heart was thudding in her chest in fear. She didn't have a good feeling about this. He was in there, and she didn't know how she was going to react to seeing him again. "You're shaking," Harry said as he came forward and pulled her into an embrace. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. "Maybe you shouldn't go in."
Hermione shook her head as she pulled him closer. "And who is going to take care of you?"
He placed a kiss on her temple. "Always so stubborn."
"None more than you," Hermione replied.
He chuckled lightly as Hermione pulled back away from him. "I'm with you," he said tucking a loose piece of her hair behind her ear.
A smile traced over Hermione's lips, it was the line they always said to each other when they needed strength. "Now until the end," she finished.
He gave her a gentle kiss in encouragement. She felt her heart flutter in her chest at his touch. He pulled back, placing his forehead against hers. She took a deep breath, taking in his scent. He smelled of home. "You know I would never let anything happen to you."
Hermione nodded taking another deep breath. "I know."
They held still there for a moment longer as Hermione built her courage. She had to fight this fear back. She was a Gryffindor for crying out loud. She could do this. She had to be strong now.
"For Ron," Harry said determinedly.
Hermione separated from him with her newfound strength. "For Ron."
Entering the gates of the Underworld was quite simple. They gave way the moment Harry reached out to them like the Underworld was beckoning the two of them inside. Harry looked to her and she nodded in encouragement. He stepped through, her hand still in his. When she crossed the threshold, she felt the magical wards glaze over her, touching every available surface of her body. A shiver ran down her spine with the contact, feeling strangely violated as she passed through the invisible barrier. She heard the gates creak shut and close behind them, locking in place. "I shouldn't have doubted you, Hermione. Have to admit it was extremely easy to enter."
"I told you so." Hermione had been the one to read extensively on that topic.
"I brought this metal lock pick for nothing," he jested, tapping his robe pocket.
A small smile escaped Hermione, despite herself. Metal was often a good way to get around magical wards. But Hermione had tried to tell Harry it wasn't needed. "You were just being thorough," she reassured him.
The two of them turned to observe the sight before them. The first thing she noticed was that there was strange darkness to the place. The sky was a hazy grey despite it being sunny just moments ago outside the gates. The buildings in front of her were dimly lit and most were black with soot.
Harry pulled out his wand and Hermione followed suit. They stepped further inside, as they began walking hand in hand into the place. It was quiet. Much quieter than she had anticipated. She saw a few sleeping forms on the side of the road, homeless people no doubt.
"Do you feel that?" Harry asked her.
She did. She could feel it humming around her. "Dark magic."
"This place is built on it."
Hermione nodded in agreement. They continued in further. Every building seemed to buzz with magic. She paused as her eyes spotted one building at the end of the street that stood out among the rest. It looked like a mansion, making the other houses appear like mere cottages in comparison. Harry saw it too. "You think he's there?" Harry asked.
She shrugged. "Could be, he was always a fan of the dramatics." Harry chuckled when she heard voices down an alley. She turned, raising her wand, but the voices disappeared down another corner. Overall, Hermione assessed that the place was eerie. There was a haunted quality to it all, something that felt wrong despite her not being able to place her finger on exactly what.
The unique sound of a spell whizzing through the air drew their attention to the left. "Take that, you bastard. That's what you get for fucking stealing!"
Hermione saw a man was hovering over another, his wand out. The other man cowering on the floor, his hands empty, shielding himself from the attacker. Harry looked at Hermione and they both knew what they were going to do. They ran over to the scene. She saw the attacker cast out a Cruciatis curse. Hermione's eyes widened at the brute force of it.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry said. The wand left the attacker's hand, flying through the air. Harry caught it with ease. "What is going on here?" Harry demanded.
"Oh, shove off. What are you the bloody Auror Department?" The attacker scoffed. "Give me my wand back, the bastard deserved it," he said kicking the already trembling man on the floor.
"Hey!" Hermione yelled stepping between them. Harry came and shoved the attacker back, effectively separating the two of them.
"We are the Auror Department, so why don't you just tell us what the man did to you. I'm sure it doesn't require violence…"
Hermione heard Harry continue to talk to the attacker as she placed her wand in her back pocket. She knelt beside the cowering man. His face was covered with a grey tattered cloak. He was wearing an interesting pair of gloves though. They were black with silver trim. Hermione only noticed because they looked much nicer than his cloak. She touched the man gently. "Hey," she said as he recoiled from her touch. She bent herself lower to meet his eye level. "Are you alright?"
The man slowly turned his face to her, and she saw it was an elderly gentleman. He looked too old and too vulnerable by the sight of him. She saw blue veins of Charon tracing up his neck; she swallowed at the sight. "Do you need help?" she asked him. He shook his head. He smiled a toothless grin at her. She smiled in return. "Why is this man hurting you?"
He shrugged before reaching into his robes. Hermione watched curiously as he pulled out a single galleon. Or she thought it was a galleon. It looked a little larger, a bit thicker as well, but it was a gold coin. It shined unusually bright in the darkness around them. "Did you steal this from him?" Hermione asked turning back to the attacker.
Harry was trying to get the man to calm down, but the attacker was still yelling profanities at Harry. She turned back to see the old man shake his head. He pushed the coin up to her. She leaned back reflexively. Hermione was unsure of the man's intentions, and she realized perhaps this man wasn't as innocent as he appeared.
"Harry?" Hermione called. She watched as Harry grabbed the attacker's arm before turning back to Hermione.
"Yeah?" he asked.
Hermione looked to the attacker. "Did this man steal this from you?" She gestured to the coin.
"Hermione…" Harry began as he threw the attacker back coming toward her. Hermione didn't understand when she turned to see the old man come forward. She leaned back in surprise, falling onto her behind. The old man pressed the coin into the bare skin on her chest.
"Harry!" she called back but her voice was caught in her throat. Magic pulling her away into the darkness.
Hermione heard the gold coin spinning on the stone floor when she arrived at her apparent destination. She had fallen onto her hands and knees at the surprise of the teleportation. She opened her eyes in confusion. She was in a dark room, but the coin was still gleaming and glittering in the darkness. She reached out to it, picking it up. It wasn't a standard galleon. The weight was wrong, and the engravings were wrong. But she supposed she was getting caught up in the details because the most important fact about the coin was that it was a portkey.
Hermione didn't understand what was going on. Why would the old man push a portkey at her? What did he have to gain?
She heard a soft hum in the distance. She tensed immediately, recognizing the voice. She felt her heart race and her stomach twist as she realized for the first time that she was in trouble. Her heart thudded in her chest as she looked up to the source. Her eyes travelling up to greet a man sitting atop some kind of throne. She looked around and saw she was, in fact, in some kind of throne room and he was perched upon it, lounging in ease.
She looked at herself, contradicting him entirely, still on the stone floor, bent like she was cowering before him.
"Granger," he breathed to her with a sick twisted smile. Hermione felt her heart pit into her stomach at the sight of him. This couldn't be happening right now. Her instincts had been dead on. She hated being fucking right about everything all the time. Why couldn't she have been wrong about something for once in her damn life? For in the throne sat the one man she dreaded meeting again. His pale blonde hair glimmering in the candlelight filling the room, his silver eyes glistening with pleasure. "I've been waiting."
Author's Note: Thank you for reading to the end of the first chapter! This is not the usual kind of story I'm used to writing, but Hades x Persephone Dramione was too irresistible :) So I guess I will be trying this whole multichapter thing. I should have the next chapter up soon!