A/N – Welcome to this week's new story, which is a Dark Hermione. For those who don't like Dark Hermione stories, I will be publishing an extra story in a few weeks' time, which isn't dark. But for those who like a bit of Dark Hermione in their lives, I hope you enjoy this story. Daughter of Darkness has 17 chapters and updates will be Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Returning from the final quidditch practice of the term, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley chose to take the back way up to Gryffindor Tower. Their normal route took them through the main body of the castle, where they would be sure to run into someone, whereas the back route circumnavigated rarely used corridors and gave them some time alone to talk. The truth was, practice had not gone well and neither of them were confident that they could beat Slytherin in their final match in just a few days' time, which would mean Slytherin would win the quidditch cup.
And of course, neither Harry nor Ron could bear the thought of their arch-rivals winning the cup. Not when it was Ron's first year on the team, and Harry's first year as captain. But the sad fact was, they'd lost several valuable players this year and they were struggling to replace them. The two new beaters were okay, but not a patch on Fred and George Weasley, who had been so perfectly in sync due to the fact they were twins. They were also two magnificent chasers down with Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnett also having graduated the previous year. That wasn't to say the new players weren't good, but they weren't as good as those they were replacing, and Harry was worried. They'd only just snagged victories against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and even then he knew it was mainly down to his abilities as seeker. Whereas Slytherin had demolished their opposition this year and were looking more dangerous than Harry had ever seen them.
"I know it's not exactly playing fair, but we could be down to sabotage," Harry admitted to Ron once they were caught in the tangle of deserted corridors and the chance of being overheard was slender.
"In our position, they wouldn't think twice about doing the same thing," Ron replied. "In fact, if I remember correctly, they tried such a tactic in third year."
Harry nodded, recalling the incident where Draco Malfoy and his two goon friends, Crabbe and Goyle, dressed as Dementors to try and put him off his game. It hadn't worked as they'd been rumbled fairly quickly, but unfortunately a real Dementor had ended up invading the pitch and causing Harry to have a nasty fall.
"What do you think we can do?" Harry mused. "Unless we want to get caught, and have the quidditch cup taken off us anyway, we're going to have to be smart about it."
"How about trying to make most of the team sick?" Ron suggested. "You can't play quidditch if you're not well. If we could slip something into their food, they'll be taken ill and forced to forfeit the match."
Harry expressed his agreement for the plan, and they began discussing what they could slip into the Slytherins food or drink to cause them to come down with a sickness bug. The obvious answer was to use one of Fred and George's inventions, but the hard part was going to be getting it into the Slytherins systems. After all, it wasn't like they shared a table in The Great Hall and could slip some into their food. What they would likely have to do is manage to taint their food down in the kitchens, before it even reached The Great Hall.
Musing over how they could achieve that, and whether the Malfoys old house elf, Dobby, who happened to love Harry, could help, the pair failed to notice they were no longer alone in the deserted corridors. Ron was the first to spot that there was movement down the far end of the corridor they had just entered, but it was Harry who caught a glimpse of distinctive platinum blond hair and realised the person heading their way was none other than Draco Malfoy.
"He's the last person I want to see," Ron muttered.
"Me too," Harry agreed. "But I don't think he's seen us yet. Quick, into this alcove."
Just in front of the boys was an alcove, partly covered by an old tapestry, and they darted inside before the Slytherin got a chance to spot them. Holding their breath, they heard footsteps approaching where they were hiding. And then all of a sudden the footsteps stopped. Convinced Malfoy was standing outside having seen them hiding from him, Harry pressed his eye to the small gap at the side of the tapestry and breathed a sigh of relief that the Slytherin hadn't stopped beside the alcove. Instead, he's stopped at the deserted classroom next to the alcove and was pushing the door open. Harry gestured for Ron to join him, and shuffling over slightly, he made enough space so that both he and Ron could peek out into the corridor and see what was going on.
"I've got a message for you," Malfoy announced, leaning against the door of the empty classroom.
At first Harry and Ron thought he was talking to them, but then they heard the soft rumbling of someone inside the classroom, and knew whomever the Slytherin was talking to, it wasn't them. Not that they knew who he was talking to as the voice in the classroom was little more than a murmur. They couldn't even work out if they were male or female.
"The message is from father," Malfoy continued, his lips curling up into his familiar smirk. "He said to tell you that you're not to make any plans for the holidays. You are coming home, and you are staying at home all summer."
Whoever was in the classroom muttered a reply, and while Harry and Ron couldn't hear what was said, it made Malfoy chuckle.
"You may have father wrapped around your little finger, but he's not budging this time," Malfoy said, humour still evident in his voice. "For once, you are doing what you are told."
Again the person in the classroom responded in a way which made Malfoy chuckle.
"You might as well just give into the inevitable," Malfoy said with a shrug. "Father has spoken. He wants you at home for the summer, so at home you will be."
This time Harry and Ron heard a distinct hissing of the word shit, before whoever was in the classroom said more that they couldn't make out.
"Don't blame me, I'm just the messenger," Malfoy said, holding his hands up. "I'm just telling you what father said. If you want to argue, take it up with him. But you know as well as I do that when he insists on something, we have no choice but to obey. Even you, his little princess, has to do what they're told now and again."
Again, Harry and Ron heard the mumbling of a reply, but they couldn't make out the words. However, thanks to Malfoy's last sentence, they were pretty sure he was talking to a witch. And if they weren't mistaken, it sounded like that witch was his sister. But that wasn't right, as Malfoy didn't have a sister. He was an only child.
"As much as I would love to stay with you and wax lyrical about father the tyrant, I have to go," Malfoy said with a laugh. "Just remember that I am just the messenger. Don't take it out on me once we get home. Although, I will say that I'm rather pleased with father's decision. It would be nice to spend the whole summer with you. Especially as we have so little time together in school."
The witch in the classroom replied yet again in a voice too quiet for Harry and Ron to hear her. But again she made Malfoy laugh, and they watched as he blew her a kiss.
"Love you too," he called, turning on his heel and bypassing the alcove they were hiding in as he hurried down the corridor and out of sight.
Turning to look at one another, Harry and Ron didn't need to speak in order to share their thoughts as they were both thinking the same thing. They had just witnessed Malfoy passing a message onto his secret sister. But why was she such a secret? Why didn't everyone know that the Malfoys had a second child? Something fishy was going on, and Harry and Ron were determined to find out what.
Without speaking, neither of them moved from the alcove and they turned back to peek through the tapestry in the hopes of seeing Malfoy's mystery sister for themselves. And as luck would have it, they didn't have to wait for long before the door to the classroom was flung open fully and an irate looking witch emerged into the corridor. Glaring down the corridor in the direction Malfoy had departed, she muttered something under her breath and turned and stalked in the opposite direction. Only once she was completely out of sight, did Harry and Ron stagger out of the alcove.
"It can't be," Ron spluttered. "We must have been seeing things."
"We both saw the same thing, Ron," Harry whispered.
"But Hermione," Ron gasped, shaking his head to try and erase the image of their best friend, Hermione Granger, emerging from the classroom where Malfoy's secret sister had been.
"Okay, let's look at this logically," Harry muttered, pacing the floor in front of the now empty classroom. "Malfoy didn't actually call Hermione his sister."
"Not in so many words, but he was clearly passing a message from their father," Ron argued. "He mentioned father and home plenty of times."
"True," Harry conceded. "And he did say that she would be staying home all summer, implying that she doesn't usually spend her entire summer at home."
"Which Hermione doesn't," Ron said. "She's spent some time with us every summer for years."
"But are we really saying that Hermione is Malfoy's sister?" Harry questioned with a frown. "I know what we heard. But I just can't believe it. If she is a Malfoy, why keep it such a big secret? And why the muggleborn act?"
"I don't know," Ron admitted with a shrug. "Maybe she's only Malfoy's half-sister. I know Malfoy's birthday is at the end of the year, meaning she could be his full sister at a squeeze, but maybe she's the product of some fling Lucius had. Maybe that's why she's not an official Malfoy."
"Maybe," Harry conceded. "But it doesn't explain the muggleborn act. Even if she is Lucius's illegitimate daughter, why send her to school as a muggleborn? And why have her own brother call her names?"
"To get into your affections," Ron suggested. "What if the muggleborn act is for your sake, Harry. What if this has all been a ruse to gain your trust. What if she's in league with her father and brother and they're going to kidnap you for You-Know-Who? Because let's be honest, you would trust Hermione enough to meet her somewhere secluded without protection, wouldn't you?"
"I would," Harry admitted with a sinking feeling. Ron's words made complete sense and with each passing minute he was beginning to think he'd been well and truly played by Hermione. "But she has had years to lure me into a trap, and hasn't done so," he pointed out, trying to cling onto some small hope that they were mistaken. "In fact she's saved my life on several occasions."
"Only to suit her own purposes," Ron argued. "You-Know-Who needed your blood to bring himself back at the end of fourth year, if she knew that she would have been desperate to keep you alive. And since then, every time she's helped us has sealed our trust in her. If we hadn't heard this conversation this afternoon, we would have still trusted her. She could have led us both to our dooms, Harry."
"I guess so," Harry replied. "But I want to be sure before we do anything. Let's go back to Gryffindor Tower and ask her about the summer. We haven't made plans yet, and with the holidays only a few weeks away, it's only natural we should be wanting to know if she's coming to stay."
"And when she makes an excuse over why she can't come?" Ron asked.
"Then we know we heard what we think we heard," Harry replied. "And then we will go to Dumbledore and tell him everything. If we're right, Ron, then Hermione is dangerous, and we need to deal with her."
Hoping that they were wrong, and that Hermione would agree to visit them in the holidays, all the time knowing deep down that she wouldn't, Harry and Ron headed back to Gryffindor Tower. Their earlier plans to sabotage the Slytherin quidditch team were long forgotten as they focused on something much more important. With a traitor in their midst, there were more important things to worry about than a stupid quidditch match.
When they arrived back at Gryffindor tower, Ron's sister, Ginny, informed them that Hermione was up in her room, and since the boys couldn't get into the girls' dorms, all they could so was wait. When she did come down to the common room, she was looking her usual serene self, and both boys half wondered if they'd imagined the look of fury on her face earlier. In fact, she looked so innocent and so like the girl they both loved like a sister, they even doubted what they'd seen and heard with their own eyes and ears. Surely if they just asked Hermione, there would be a simple explanation for everything.
"We've been talking about the summer," Harry began, deciding to try his test before asking Hermione about what they'd heard. If she answered as he prayed she would, he would ask her about Malfoy and find out what was really going on, but if she answered as he feared she would, then he would know she couldn't be trusted.
"Yeah, we were just wondering how much time you would be spending with us," Ron added. "Last summer was great. You were with us virtually the entire holidays."
"I know," Hermione replied. "Which is why my parents are getting strict this year. I'm sorry, but I won't be able to come and visit in the summer like normal. I had a letter from my parents earlier and they've booked a long European holiday for us all. We leave the day after school finishes and don't come back until the final week of the holidays. As it is, it'll be a squeeze to fit in a trip to Diagon Alley."
"Damn, that's such a shame," Harry replied, trying to hide his heartbreak. Not only had Hermione done exactly as expected, but she'd lied with such ease that he knew that if he and Ron hadn't heard her talking to Malfoy, they would have believed every word that came out of her mouth.
"Bummer," Ron agreed.
"I'm so sorry guys," Hermione apologised, sounding genuinely upset at the idea of not seeing her best friends over the holidays. "I could try and spend the final few days of the holidays with you, but I can't promise anything. But I guess it's only for a few weeks. We'll be back at school in September before you know it."
Harry and Ron kept up their act of being upset that Hermione couldn't join them for summer for the rest of the afternoon. However, that wasn't what was upsetting them. What was upsetting them was the fact their best friend was a liar. She'd been lying to them for years, and no doubt scheming with her Death Eater father and no good brother. But not for much longer. Now Harry and Ron were onto her, they were going to make sure her evil schemes came to nothing. They were going to make sure that the Malfoys would come to regret placing a spy in their camp. And Hermione was certainly going to regret the lies she'd told, and the hurt she'd caused. Once Dumbledore knew what was going on, the entire thing would be sorted and whatever wicked plan the dark had come up with would be foiled before it yielded results.