The Trio

Caught! The Snatchers have caught the Trio. Coming full circle back to Malfoy Manor!

Hermione stared at the Snatcher. He was coming right at her. He only addressed Harry in an absent sort of way. He stopped in front of her and reached for her hair. "And you, my lovely, what do they call you?" he leaned in, almost as if he was about to kiss her. Hermione flinched away from him.

"Penelope Clearwater, half blood." She whimpered.

He was distracted by his men, not finding Harry's fake name on their list. He looked at Fen, who nodded at him. He turned back to her and smiled. He motioned the Snatcher behind her to release her as he took her arms.

"I think not, sweetheart." She almost fainted as Greyback walked over and held up a wanted poster beside her face. It was an older picture but obviously her. Greyback arched a brow and looked at her. She sighed and nodded. It was no good to deny it. They had surely known who they were already. He and Greyback smiled at each other. Then Greyback turned to her.

"How about you take that Stinging Jinx off Potter, missy?" the werewolf asked. She took at him, startled. He laughed at her, "I used to be a wizard, darling, I know my spells. Take the spell off him. We mean you no harm. We just need you to come with us. I got a friend, needing to see you."

Hermione waved her wand at Harry, whose face shrank back to its normal shape. She was allowed to go and sit with the boys while the Snatchers set up camp. Obviously they were preparing to eat as a fire was being built and a frying pan was brought out.

Knowing they had been probably been outdoors for a while and judging by how thin they looked, Greyback figured they would be starving for some real food. Their camp cook was fixing a load of sausages for lunch. He made sure the Trio was given the first heaping serving. As fast as they were eaten, he knew he'd been right. It had been a while since their last solid meal. When everyone had eaten, he made sure the Trio was given a second helping and they began breaking camp as the teens ate. Once they were finished, he took Weasley, another Snatcher named Bilby took Potter and Scabior took Granger.

It was all he could do not to burst out laughing at Granger, fussing at his boy over personal boundaries. All around them, his other boys were chuckling, too. They all knew what Scabior's idea of personal boundaries were and holding a pretty girl right against him wasn't it! She had a lot to learn about him!

"Seriously, why do you have to have me right against you?! Have you no idea about personal boundaries?! Get off me and quit touching me, oh my gods!" Hermione exclaimed. She shoved Scabior away long enough to kick him in the shin. That would show the moron! He yelped in pain, snarled at her angrily and was about to grab her back when Greyback interrupted their fight.

"Ok, ok, break it up, you two, break it up!" she gasped and visibly gulped as Greyback shoved Ron at Scabior and took HER arm instead. To her surprise, he looked down and reassured her. "No worries now, missy, we'll be there soon and all will be well."

Harry got brave enough then to ask him their destination. "Where are we going?" At Greyback's steady look, he quickly rephrased the question. "Please, sir, where are we going?"

"Never you mind, Potter, nothing's going to happen to you, so rest easy." Hermione looked back at Harry. He looked helplessly at her. She tried not to think of where they could be going or what would happen to them once they got there. She watched as the Snatchers walked all around them. She couldn't help but notice how they all, except Scabior and now Greyback, seemed to be giving her a wide berth. It made her feel better, on one hand, because she knew she wouldn't have to worry about most of them attacking her. On the other hand, now she had to worry about which of the two of them would be the first one to attack her, Scabior or Greyback.

After walking for a few hours, they came to a valley. At the end of it sat a huge house. At Greyback's grunt of satisfaction, she looked up. "Malfoy Manor, missy. We're here." She swallowed hard and looked at Harry again. His eyes had grown huge at Greyback's words.

Suddenly, as they were walking up the trail to the gate, Greyback grabbed Ron and pulled him away from Scabior. He gently shoved Hermione towards him. "You're the one the Dark Lord wanted to see bringing her in, boy. Just don't get fresh with her in front of him and you might make it out with your bollocks still intact." Greyback smiled as his son's eyes widened. Hermione hissed angrily as the boy, once again, pulled her flush against him. She began pushing and shoving at his arm again.

They were herded through the gate and up the stairs. She heard Harry gulp loudly as they were pushed into the drawing room. She really paid no attention to their surroundings until she, Harry and Ron were forced to kneel down. Then she heard it.

"Rise, my friends, let me see them." That hissing voice could only belong to one man. She looked up and Voldemort was gliding towards them. He stopped at Harry. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "The war is over, Harry Potter, do not attack me and I will not be forced to kill you."

"The Death Eaters are still attacking people, you call that over?" Harry snapped.

"No, I call that retaliation. Your Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry keep killing innocent people for no more than a connection to me or my followers, do you honestly think we're going to sit back and allow it?" Voldemort hissed angrily at him. "My people have not instigated an attack on any of your people for a while now, nor any Muggles or even Muggleborns. Can your side say the same?"

Hermione frowned as he made a good point. She HADN'T heard of any attacks from the Death Eaters but she had heard of other attacks by the Ministry. Attacks that seemed aimed at anyone with the slightest Death Eater connection. She could tell when Harry made the connection as well. His eyes shot over and met hers. Had Dumbledore and the Order been misleading them all this time?! Harry answered him slowly. "No sir, I can't. I don't know what's been going on lately."

"Rest assured, Harry Potter, this war is over. I simply want to come to an understanding and sign a peace treaty with the Ministry and also the Order of the Phoenix. I have a copy for my side already drafted, now I just need someone to draft a copy for the other side. Perhaps, Miss Granger?" she watched fearfully as he walked closer to her. Whereas she'd just been struggling to get away from Scabior, mow she was cowering into his arms.

"Miss Granger, how lovely to see you. I hope they didn't treat you too badly? I need your help with a small matter. A peace treaty. Come, child, sit. Nobody will harm you or your friends." She accepted the hand he held out. She glanced, confused, at Harry. He looked as dumbstruck as her. Neither of them could figure it out. Here they were in Death Eater central and not a one of them at so much as offered to attack them. As Voldemort led her to a chair in front of his desk, Draco and some of his friends filed into the room and slouched to the floor on the wall opposite of the Snatchers.

With a wave of his hand, Voldemort sent a roll of parchment gently into Hermione's grasp. "Please, my child, take a moment and look that over." She unfilled the parchment and looked down. It was, indeed, a draft of a peace treaty. Surprisingly, the first item on his list was amnesty for Draco and the younger members of his Death Eaters who hadn't been made to kill someone in order to join. The next item was just as surprising: he and the older, established Death Eaters were willing to go to Azkaban or, in some cases, return to Azkaban and repay their debt to society. There were a few conditions, however, that Hermione actually thought were quite reasonable: no guards were allowed to beat or mistreat them, no torture and, most importantly, no dementors.

He wanted it known that his group, the Death Eaters, were now a political party. They were not interested in fighting anymore. They did still have political agendas they wanted to advocate. They wanted tighter security measures established for unintentional use of magic in front of muggles. They also wanted a school or classes, at the very least, established for Muggleborn or Muggle raised students: for example, herself and Mr. Potter. She had come to the Magical world with little to no idea what to expect, as had Harry. The schools or classes would be ideal to help students come to grips with their magic and reduce the amount of stress that caused accidental bursts of magic. It would also give Muggle parents or guardians the chance to learn and accept their child's Magical heritage. If a child was found to be in an abusive situation, they would be removed and integrated into a Magical family.

At this point, Hermione expressed the wish that this particular point would have been established seventeen years ago, for Harry's sake. Then Dumbledore would never have been able to leave him with the Dursleys for most of his academic career. Voldemort flicked a brow as he glanced at Harry. He had included that point because of his own childhood, he hadn't realized that Harry's childhood was just as bad. All in all, Hermione was becoming more engrossed in the document. She was astounded at all the good points it actually was trying to bring into play.

He smiled at her. He didn't intend to tell her right away that she was his daughter. First he wanted her to trust him as 'Lord Voldemort'. Once she was more at ease with him, then he would drop the persona and reveal himself. At this point, he would be shooting himself in the foot because she would never accept him at this fragile stage. Right now, as she worked on reading through the draft he'd so carefully drawn up, he thought he could see small tendrils of trust just beginning to grow.

As it grew late, he called a halt. Narcissa and Bellatrix came to show her to her room. Lucius, the LeStrange brothers and Dolohov showed Ron and Harry to their rooms. They were careful to keep the three of them fairly close to each other.

After everyone but Fenrir left, Tom dropped his Voldemort persona and sighed. "Well, Fen, what do you think? Did I do good? Is there any chance at all that she will accept me?" Fenrir smiled at his old friend. "You're doing great. She was really interested in that draft. Just keep working with her to further establish those ideas and she'll be more then proud to call you father."

Tom hoped it wouldn't take too long to win Hermione's trust. Though he hadn't said anything to his followers yet, once she trusted him, he was hoping to persuade her to bring her mother back into the picture. All these years, he'd never forgotten the beautiful muggle and he was hoping she'd finally been able to leave the lying, cheating bastard who had sent her into his arms that night. It was his dearest hope that he, Hermione and Isabelle would be able to be a family of their own.

"How does your boy feel about her, now that they've actually met face to face?" Tom asked Fen. Fenrir burst out laughing. "Well, put it this way, Tom. She'll definitely be teaching him about personal boundaries if they say around each other long enough." He shook his head. "They fussed and fought until I had to separate them on the way here, mostly because he wanted to keep her right dead against him."

Tom laughed. From the little he'd seen as they were entering the drawing room, that sounded about right. "My daughter needs a bodyguard. I'm assuming he wouldn't turn down the opportunity to be near her, then?"

"That would be a dream come true for him. He didn't want to let her go when you took her to the chair over there." Fen looked down. "Where was Nagini? I'm surprised she want here to check the girl out."

"I told Nagini to stay out of sight until I can bring the two of them together. She frightens most people. I don't want Hermione to be one of them. I want to be there when they meet, to keep Hermione calm." Tom said absently. "How is your mate, Fen? I know you were gone for a while. How did she react to you when you finally got back?"

"Cassie? She had taken someone else and was trying to establish them in my place. I sent them packing and I have a new mate, this one has already been named my Alpha female. Her name is Mary. She's beautiful and she already gets along with my boy, Scabior." Fen replied, smiling as he thought of Mary. He needed to go back soon. He dearly missed her.

Upstairs in her room, Hermione w's being given a tour by Narcissa. "This is your bathroom. This will be your closet. We really need to go shopping soon. Maybe the Dark Lord will allow us a shopping trip tomorrow. If not, I'm sure Tattings and Twilfit will be happy to send an employee here. As long as they have your measurements and a general idea of colours that suit you, they can pretty much make any kind of outfit you ask for. Bella and I have been planning to go shopping for a while, but we hadn't gotten around to it yet." Hermione was intrigued enough to ask. "Why would I need clothes, I'm not going to be here very long."

"Oh, my dear." Bella finally spoke up. "You ARE going to be here a while. It's going to take lots of time to get that treaty perfected. Then you have to draft a copy of the other side's demands. Then they have to mesh enough to satisfy both sides. No, no, no, dearie, you'll be here for quite a while. Our master is very exacting and he wants this treaty to be just right for everyone."

Hermione was slightly uneasy after hearing that but she tried not to let it show. Narcissa pulled a set of beautiful blue dress robes out of the wardrobe. "There are a few dress robes here but I'm not sure if they will fit right. At the time I ordered them, we had no way of knowing what size you wore. But if you want to put them on, we can adjust them for tonight and after that maybe we can find some handy spell books in the library, ok?" Hermione nodded shyly. "Just to let you know, we dress for dinner and the Dark Lord will expect you and your friends to attend. They have a few dress robes in their rooms as well."

Hermione took a deep breath after they left, wishing that Ginny Weasley was here with her. Anytime she'd had to dress up, Ginny, Lavender, Parvati and Padma ere always there to help her with her hair and makeup. As she stood staring at the beautiful robes laid out for her, there was a knock on the door. "Come in." she called. She was astonished when Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis walked in. "Good evening, Granger, how are you? Narcissa had Draco send us over. She wanted to help you with your hair but was afraid she would upset you in some way. So, can we help?" Hermione smiled tentatively. "Yes, please. I'm not the best in the world with makeup and hair."

The Slytherin girls swarmed Hermione and pulled her over to the dressing table. They sat her down, then looked over the colour palette on the makeup laid out on the table. As Millicent and Tracey worked on her hair, Daphne and Pansy worked on her makeup. The four of them speculated as to who she was being prettied up for. Hermione was astounded that they would think that. "I'm not being prettied up for anyone. I'm just here to help draft a peace treaty between your side and mine. That's it."

Outwardly, the girls accepted that explanation, all the while, knowing she was the Dark Lord's daughter. They also knew, though he hadn't said in so many words, that he was already considering matches for her. Among those being considered was Draco and his friends, Blaise, Theo, Marcus and Aidan, most of whose fathers were in his Inner Circle. Blaise's mother hosted quite a few dinner parties a year for him. Now, they were sure that Hermione would start being groomed to take over hosting duties.

Dinner was a lively affair as the adults all sat at one table and the teens were all seated at another smaller table. To the surprise of most of them, one of the wolf pups, Scabior, was at their table. He sat across from Hermione. He didn't speak to her or any of the girls. Instead, he and the boys carried on an obviously much argued discussion about Quidditch.

After dinner, the teens all changed into comfortable clothes and went to the back yard. It was here that Scabior and Hermione had their next conflict. As she, Harry and Ron speculated on how long they were actually going to be held here, the boys were talking to Scabior about hinting and taking down people. He was telling the about standing guard over Grimmauld Place. It was going to be his job, along with a few other wizards and Snatchers, to deliver a copy of the treaty, when Voldemort and Hermione both were satisfied with it, to both Grimmauld Place and the Order as well as the Ministry. He was laughingly calling it the name he'd heard Fenrir calling it, the Order of the Flaming Chicken.

"Excuse me, that's not what it's called." Hermione told him, narrowing her eyes. He turned and strolled over to her. "Oh, yeah? What is it called then?"

"It's the Order of the Phoenix, if you must know." He snorted. "Phoenix, chicken, same thing."

"A Phoenix is NOT a chicken! It's a mythical bird that bursts into flames!" she insisted. He looked away from her and smiled at the other boys, all of whom were watching the two of them intently. "A bird is a bed, a chicken is a bird, doll, same thing!"

"No! No, it's NOT the same thing! A Phoenix isn't real, a chicken is!" she thrilled.

"A Phoenix isn't real? So how do you explain that bird that Dumbledore had? Unless it was actually a chicken." He chided.

Hermione growled at him. "A Phoenix is Not a chicken!"

"How do you know, it lays eggs. I know, I've seen them. Chickens lay eggs." He smiled smugly at her.

"It's not a chicken , it's NOT A CHICKEN!" she screamed.

"Ha, ha, it's a flaming chicken, is what it is!" Scabior laughed. Hermione screamed incoherently, jumped up, grabbed a long stick off Fe ground and proceeded to chase him around the yard screaming. "IT'S A PHOENIX, NKT A CHICKEN!" Scabior was so delighted he couldn't hide it as he cavorted just out of her range, chanting. 'FLAMING, CHICKEN, FLAMING, CHICKEN!"

Tom and Fenrir came out in time to see the chase. At the sight of their grown kids acting like children, they both doubled over laughing, especially when they listened to WHAT they were yelling. They quickly decided to let them fight it out skedaddled back into the Manor.